Alex Carr's The Jaguars' Spot column for Wed., Nov. 04, 2009

Bang, Bang ... it’s dead! ... or is it?

Kids in VCHS drama department have been telling me all week about the cancellation or, at the very least, postponement of their upcoming anti-school violence play, “Bang, Bang. You’re Dead.”

Bang Bang was initially scheduled to be performed sometime within the next week. It has been taken off of the school’s website and, as of this writing, does not yet show up at a later date.

Vice president of the drama club, Francisco Moncada, said, “I was disappointed to hear the play was postponed, I heard, until January. I just hope it isn’t one of those things that gets postponed forever.”

Drama class member Katelyn Collie said, “I was completely surprised. I just wish they had told us sooner. We’ve been rehearsing for weeks.”

I couldn’t get hold of Drama Class teacher and play director, John Ward, but I’ll talk to him in the coming week and report back to you what’s going on from his perspective.

The gold just keeps on giving!

I’m telling you, get a gold card next year, guys! The high school just came out with a poster that lists something like twenty events, deals, and discounts that are available only for gold card holders. (As I mentioned a few weeks back, gold cards are awarded to kids who get high scores on state standardized testing.)

Some of the perks were parking privileges, getting out early for Winterfest (an event that comes up later in the year), and tons of pretty cool free stuff like a barbecue, a breakfast, movie days, stuff from the student store (sorry, no iPhones!), admission to the tailgate party, and ... well, you get the idea.

VCHS senior Rebecca Stehly says gold cards are a great incentive for Jags. “I think it will really get kids to try to do better on the state testing and their studies in general in future years,” she said, adding, “I was surprised about the perks ... they actually have some really cool stuff!”

Tell me about it!

This week I hung out with VCHS Principal Ron McCowan and talked about upcoming events. He told me about something very cool happening this Friday. The KUSI TV station has a show called the Pigskin Report that airs highlights of high school football games from all over the San Diego area. This week, excerpts from a recent Jaguars football game will be shown. They even interviewed varsity football player Stanton Upson.

The day of the show, KUSI is actually coming out to the high school to tape a segment for their morning show -- you know, catch a little sunrise in the country (Note: it’s very similar to sunrise in the city!). The school is having a pep rally that morning and KUSI is going to measure how loud we can yell and cheer with this thing called a sonic meter.

Last week an Escondido high school, whose name doesn’t matter because ... duh ... they’re not US, was shown in the Pigskin Report. “It’s our goal to beat their decibel level!” McCowan said. The man has made it his raison d'être to outdo the other school (yes, I really DO know what that French phrase means!). So, it’s personal other school whose name doesn’t matter because you’re not US ... you better watch out!

Got a great item for this column? Tell me about it! Catch me on campus or go to my web page and shoot me an e-mail (www.carrfamily.com/alex).