Alex Carr's The Jaguars' Spot column for Wed., Sept. 30, 2009

Go for the Gold!

The high school’s got a new way to incentivize kids to do better on the CST (California State Testing) exam ... and its great! The school has administered special gold cards to students who have achieved scores of Proficient or Advanced on their previous year’s CST. That’s a pretty exclusive club. So what’s so great about a gold card? Well, duh, it’s GOLD! (Don’t bother taking it to the mall and trying to buy a ton of luxury items. I tried that and it doesn’t work -- which those six mall security guards told me as they were escorting me off the property. Uh, oh. Do I lose my gold card for that?!)

Still, you DO get some pretty good perks. One of the coolest is that any junior or sophomore who can drive will be able to park on the REAL the parking lots, not the distant, dusty dirt lots where you have to constantly wait for caravans of camels to pass. And remember how hot it was last Friday? Well, to properly celebrate/christen/honor the gold cards’ arrival, Principal McCowan gave every “gold” kid a free frozen Popsicle from the Life-Skills class. I’m sure the school will offer many more perks for gold card holders in the future.

So, how do YOU get a gold card? Start studying!

ASE ... the ultimate school club?

In addition to all the great school clubs, I’ve been writing about recently, the school is offering something called After School Enrichment (ASE).

ASE is an after school program specifically designed to help students with academics. Having trouble in a specific class? Then go to ASE and get some one-on-one tutoring. You can get help in just about any subject. It also works the other way around: If you feel really solid in a subject, then help out a fellow Jag by tutoring him or her.

Tell me about it!

A lot of kids have told me it’s tough switching from summer mode to school mode. All of a sudden there are essays to be written, tests to be taken, in addition to all kinds of after school activities like sports and clubs. Just don’t overdo it, Jags. I know several kids who are doing Varsity sports as well as three or four AP or Pre-AP classes. All I’m gonna say is some of these kids are going to do OK but a couple of them are gonna blow a fuse. Make sure YOU’RE not heading for an overload.

Do you have a great item for this column? Tell me about it! Catch me on campus or shoot me an e-mail by going to my web page: www.carrfamily.com/alex.