GALWAY–As the end of the year draws closer, our annual Class elections approach.  After writing a new constitution for the Junior Class this year, our election procedures, types of positions, and roles for each officer have changed.  The Class Office will still be led by a President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary, but will be aided by two Sergeants at Arms and two co-historians. (For a full description of each position’s role in Class government, see below.)

Next year’s Class government will be in charge of organizing the Senior Class trip—an outing (or series of outings) that brings the Class together before graduation.  To adequately prepare for the trip, our Class officers will need to organize a variety of fundraisers to offset costs, communicate with administrators and Board members, advertise the event to seniors, and plan the trip itself.  Senior year will obviously be one of the most active for our Class government, and having dedicated leaders will be crucial for success.

If you are interested in running for an elected position, you will take part in a two-step process.  First, applicant will meet with Mr. Swain to schedule an interview.  In the interview, Mr. Swain will verify that you are qualified to lead our Class by discussing your experience, skills, and goals for next year.  If you are deemed eligible, you will be put on our election ballot.  Voting will take place on TUESDAY, MAY 29TH during homeroom, and results will be announced the following day on GTV.

Elected Positions:

1.     The President is the chief executive officer of the Class and is responsible for representing the Class at all events, activities, and fundraisers. The President will preside over meetings and may appoint cabinet members and officers as the need arises.  It is also his/her duty to serve as a liaison to the school administration and other Class Offices.

2.     The Vice President assists the President and will become President if there is a vacancy in that position.  (S)he will serve as a liaison to the Student Senate and other extra-curricular organizations.

3.     The Secretary will keep minutes at meetings and record and maintain Class records.  (S)he is responsible for communication to Class members regarding meetings and events.  The Secretary will call meetings to order and provide Class Officers with copies of the previous meeting’s minutes.

4.     The Treasurer will be in charge of all Class financial matters.  The Treasurer will collect monies and keep a record of Class members’ personal accounts.  The Treasurer will prepare a financial report for the Class at the beginning of each semester.  The Treasurer has the power to veto financial decisions passed by the Class Office, but may be overruled by a supermajority vote. 

5.     The Sergeant(s) at Arms will serve as executive assistants to all Class Officers and will help with the logistics of Class fundraisers and events.  At any given time, the Class Office may have up to three (3) Sergeants at Arms.  The Sergeant(s) reports to the Advisor, President, and Vice President, and may be assigned individual roles and responsibilities for the year (Prom, activism, etc.).

6.     The Historian is in charge of documenting and displaying all activities, fundraisers, and events the Class participates in.  They are required to post pictures of said occasions on the Class Facebook within two weeks of the event.  Additionally, the Historian is in charge of creating the Class slideshow for graduation.

Competition is vital for a democracy to remain strong.  After hosting lively elections last year, we hope to see as many students declare candidacy as possible.  For more information, speak to Joe English or Mr. Swain.  Support your class, and schedule an interview today!

A student votes in last year's election

By: Taylor Denton, Grade 7

Erica Culbert is a spunky, passionate, brunette. One thing she sis passionate about is The Hunger Games.

She owns all three books and has seen the movie.  “Why do you love the Hunger Games?” I asked her.  She answered, “Its like Twilight, but better.  The story line is amazing.  And, it’s very creative.”  She has a least favorite book out of the series.  It is Mockingjay.  She does not like the way it ended.  She said, “I want to rewrite the ending.  It ended too weird.  It left me with so many questions.” She is considering making a fan fiction version to Mockingjay.  The first book in the series is her favorite.  She didn’t want any characters to die.

Another thing she is passionate about is animals.  She goes to the animal shelter almost every Sunday with Silvia.  The dog she’s had for 13 years, died March 7.  His name was Dexter.  He was a yellow lab.  She hopes to get a new puppy soon.  She said “It feels so lonely without a dog at home.”

Erica is passionate about writing and drawing.  She would love to be an author or illustrator when she gets older.  She would love to be a teacher too because she loves kids and looks up to her mom, who’s a teacher.

Erica's Hunger Games collection

Here are the candidates (listed alphabetically):

President: Emily Bailey and Jenny Metzger

Vice President: Molly Mancini and Nichole Marchese

Secretary: Shelby Cull and Gabbi Urban

Treasurer: Cheyenne Baker, Brendon Kondrat and Jennica Nash

Sergeant at Arms: Amy Engle, Siramar Roman and Noah Wicks

Are you a candidate for office? Leave a comment below and tell why students should vote for you!

Brock Neahr is a very cool kid.  Brock’s life is full throttle almost twenty four- seven with all the hobbies he’s into, such as  hunting, fishing, dirtbiking, and tractor racing.

Brock is a big hunter and angler. Brock hunts a lot of animals including  squirrels, deer, water foul, and his favorite thing to hunt, turkeys. Turkeys are Brock’s favorite thing to hunt  because it is a  challenge. Brock fishes for bass, bullhead, trout, and pretty much every fresh water fish he can. Brock’s favorite fish to fish for is trout because he is very good at trout fishing, and his biggest trout was 27 inches. Brock also likes to shoot his guns for fun a lot. Brock enters shooting competitions once in a while and has won some of them before. His favorite gun to shoot and hunt deer with is his seven mil o eight rifle.

After hunting and fishing seasons are over and Brock isn’t doing much, he likes to go trapping. Brock likes to trap squirrels and pests,  such as rats and mice.

A school sport that Brock does is wrestling. Brock really enjoys wrestling and is very good at it. Brock likes to ride his dirt bike a lot because it is really fun.

A new thing Brock just started doing is lawn tractor racing. Brock just had his first race last weekend and won in his class. He enjoys it because it feels like your going extremely fast on a regular lawn tractor.

Although Brock’s life is full throttle, there are some events in his life that have threatened to slow him down.  Brock’s uncle, who he knew very well, passed away. His neighbor who he was very good friends with passed away. Brock’s favorite dogs have also passed away. Brock has gotten through all these tragedies by talking to someone about them.

Brock’s favorite place to go is Moose Pond because you catch big fish. Brock’s favorite place to eat is the C and R Restaurant because they have extremely good food.

GALWAY–With the varsity baseball season coming to an end for some schools, with the exception of Sectionals, many capital region players are just waiting for the Eastern New York Travel Baseball season to begin. The ENYTB baseball league is a highly competitive league in which travel teams can gain berths into state, regional, and national tournaments in such leagues as AABC (American Amateur Baseball Congress), PONY (Protect Our Nation’s Youth), and NABF (National Amateur Baseball Federation). For the second consecutive year, Galway will once again have their Dukes franchise representing the area.

ENYTB offers customized scheduling to most teams. Dukes games will normally be played on Wednesday nights, and then doubleheaders on Sundays, unless there is a holiday weekend. Registered at the 18U division, the Dukes will compete with the DevilsCats 17U, NYCD Knights 17U, Greenfield Yellowjackets 18U, Hoosic Valley Rangers 18U, Rotterdam Rangers 18U, Adirondack Hawks 17U, Ballston Cardinals 17U, Greenfield Spartans 17U, Sacandaga Patriots 17U, Tri-County Bees 17U, Schenectady/Schoharie County Vols 18U, Brunswick Buckeyes 17U, Rotterdam Storm 17U, and Clifton Park-Halfmoon Gators 17U.

The regular season division winner is guaranteed a berth in the AABC State Tournament on July 14th. Any teams that do not finish 1st will be given one final shot at clinching a spot by competing in the June Madness 18U tournament. The tournament is scheduled for June 22nd at fields to be determined in Waterford and Troy. There are only four teams registered to compete, including the Dukes.

Today, it was announced that the Dukes season opener will be played on Monday, May 28th. The Dukes will play host to the Brunswick Buckeyes 17U at the Galway High School Field. Game one is scheduled to get under way at 11am, with the second game planned to start approximately 20 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. All games are seven innings, however, doubleheaders will have a change of home team. In game one, the Dukes will be the home team, but Brunswick will be the home team for game two.

For those of you who are curious, the 2012 Galway Dukes roster is posted below. There are many new faces to the roster, as ENYTB does not have district limitations.

By Erica Culbert, Grade 7

Taylor Tracy Denton is  also known as Union Biter. She earned that nickname in English class one time when she couldn’t read Marc’s handwriting. Marc wrote onion instead of union. Taylor loves Twilight and vampires so much. I call her Union Biter. Taylor turns everything into a good time. She is such a fun person and she loves life. Taylor is cool and funny.

There are two things very important to Taylor- music and her family. Taylor has two houses, a mom, dad, stepdad, and her dad’s girlfriend. She has a total of six siblings, including stepbrothers and sisters. Taylor is an aunt. One of her stepsisters just had a baby boy, Paxton, who is Taylor’s nephew. Taylor especially loves her little brother, Logan, who’s six. “He has ADHD, ODD, and he tries to act older. One time Logan told his stepsister, Sarah, to stop being sarcastic. Taylor stated that Logan is adorable and funny. Logan once said “I don’t get bullies. They don’t make fun of me, they think I’m cute. Girls say I’m hot and sometimes they faint.”

Taylor’s favorite cousin is Mya. They have a lot of common interests. “She’s funny, she’s weird, and she cheers me up. When I broke my ankle, Mya was hopping around and being crazy. She was so spazzy, she ran into a pole. It really cheered me up and made me laugh,” Taylor says of Mya. Taylor and Mya both love Twilight. When they viewed it for the first time, they thought it was ridiculous how a vampire sparkles. They really got into it and now they’re OBBSESSED! They both love Jacob and werewolves.

Taylor and Mya also love music. Rap, hip hop, pop, rock, it doesn’t matter. “Music is very important to me. It really moves you. You can be yourself and find yourself. Music can fit any situation because there are so many different kinds. When I am upset, I just turn on a happy song. Music is my life.” Taylor’s favorite artists are Eminem, Joe Jonas, Bruno Mars, and 3 Days Grace. Mya and Taylor love to listen to Eminem and The Ready Set together. Mya took a hip hop dance class, so they both lean toward that genre of music. Taylor and Mya always have fun when they listen to music.

Taylor loves her family and music. They are so important to her. Music makes her happy and being with her family makes her feel at home, in her two houses.

By Brock Neahr, Grade 7

Alex is a hardcore country boy. He has dirt under his nails, wears plaid shirts and hunts. Perhaps we are long lost twins; I am a hardcore country boy too.

He likes to hunt deer. He goes with his dad. We both like to hunt everything we can get in our sights. Our favorites are turkeys and squirrels

On the weekends Alex has fun racing dirt bikes and fishing in the Hudson River. The biggest fish he has ever caught was a 30 inch striped bass. As you can see fishing is a big part in a country boy’s life.

We both have the same prized possession,  our dirt bikes and guns. Alex’s has a YZ85 and his model 94 Winchester 30-30.  I love my dirt bike and my 7 mil-08.

As you can see Alex and I both love to do things the good way, the country way.

GIT-R-DONE

By Austin Garney, Grade 7

Noah Farrell is a quiet, 14 year old, seventh grader who tries to get through the school day to go home and do what he loves. What Noah loves to do is to go fishing as often as possible. He started fishing when he was three years old. The first time he went fishing, he caught a sun fish.

Noah goes fishing everyday except on days when it is raining hard, hailing or snowing. Noah doesn’t catch a fish, kill it, cook it up, and then eat it. He catches fish and then lets them go.

Noah has only killed one fish and that was an accident.  Unfortunately, the hook was embedded in a fatal location.

Noah has only gone ice fishing once but quit because he thought it was pointless. Noah doesn’t think the fish are at their full activity level in those cold temperatures and the fishing isn’t the same.

Fishing is not the only thing that he likes to do. Noah also likes to play video games.

On May 3^rd, Galway business students traveled to the WNYT news station to be interviewed about the new coffee table book called Reflections of Galway from the Foothills of the Adirondacks.  Students were able to see all the different aspects of filming in a professional news station.  Students took a tour before the interview of the sets, control stations, and filing rooms.

The main event, however, was an interview of Joe English, Brian Mothon, and Mr. Swain about the coffee table book currently in production.  News reporter Phil Bayly, the primary anchorman for Forum 13 News, asked  questions about the upcoming book and the work that went into it.  The book was made possible by a grant awarded to Galway’s business program and Galway Public Library for $2,500, entitled: “The Galway Community in Images, Words, and Sound.” The grant, in part,  came from funds from the Saratoga Program for Arts Funding (SPAF), a part of the Decentralization re-grant program of the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA).

The segment was premiered at 6:00 am on Sunday, May 13^th. If you missed the show at 6:00 am on Mother’s Day, click here to see Brian Mothon and Joe English being interviewed by Phil Bayly on Channel 13 news.

To pre-order your book for only $29.95, contact Mr. Mark Swain at mcswain@galwaycsd.org today!  Check back this week for the intimate details on the book’s production and grand unveiling!

To increase community input and take advantage of the information and intellectual power of community members, the board created three stakeholder councils. The basis of these councils was for each group to protect a separate aspect of the school. An academic, athletic, and transportation committee was formed. These committees met at the beginning of the school year and put a lot of work and time into research and collaborative thinking to find better ways for the school to run. Some of the ideas were cost-saving, some were at no cost to the district and some did cost more money.

The complete presentations and documents created by the stakeholder councils can be found on the district website at http://www.galwaycsd.org/board_education.cfm?subpage=1413337

One of the things that most of the councils did to begin was to investigate the current structure of the school and the program. This data was then often compared to other schools and to companies that could be used for out-sourcing.

One of the things that the athletic stakeholder council investigated was the current salaries of the coaches as well as the transportation expenses. The salaries were compared between Galway coaches and the coaches of Burnt-Hills Ballston Lake School District. The suggestion of negotiating with the teachers’ union to reduce the number of chaperones at different events. The effect of this information currently is limited and the amount of money set aside for sports in the budget is approximately the amount it costs to run the current varsity program, although the actual programs that will be run next year are to be determined.

A major idea presented by the transportation stakeholders was a single run in the afternoon. The combination of the elementary and junior/senior high school into one run, theoretically is possible and would allow for a slightly longer high school day. This would save approximately $70,000 in fuel, tires and oil. However the three extra drivers needed to run extra bus runs, would cost the district approximately $66,000, so the savings are minimal. However, the board is considering this and the possibility of implementing this next year. Other ideas were also presented and can be seen in the group’s report.

The academic stakeholder council presented a multitude of ideas that ranged from basic levels to more complicated projects. Some of the basic cost-cutting ideas have yet to be responded to by the board. Cutting classes that have little attendance and reducing the number of study halls are incredibly simple plans that the council presented but the Board hasn’t given any comments regarding this, other than the general thank you to the different councils.

When the Board of Education creates councils to aid them they should be responding and interacting with these councils, as well as implementing simple plans and considering more complex plans in order to improve the education and the system in Galway.

Have you read the stakeholders’ reports? What ideas do you think could work for the district? Please leave a comment below…