Alex Carr's The Jaguars' Spot column for Wed., Dec. 16, 2009

It’s nearly half-time!

          With the end of the first semester rapidly coming to a close, kids are wondering how to get their grades up. The easy answer: tutoring. Get help from other students to help you understand those fuzzy concepts. And, you smarter kids out there, there’s no better way to strengthen your own knowledge of a subject than to teach someone else.

          Actually, many school study groups could really use more tutors. Sometimes there are as few as three tutors for as many as 50+ kids.

          Strangely, the chemistry study group is maybe the school’s most popular study group. I know, I know. You’d think it would be the PE or eating-lunch-in-the-quad study group, but, no ... it’s chemistry.

          VCHS sophomore Jeremy Halligan thinks tutoring is a great idea. “It’s really helped me with my chemistry studies and I think it’s a great tool every school should have and every student should take advantage of.”

Myth busted!

          A few of you newer Jags might have heard that freshmen and sophomore years do not count towards you final GPA. However sweet it might be for that to be true, it isn’t. Wake up and smell your future burning up before your very eyes! Freshmen and sophomore years are factored into your final GPA exactly the same way as junior and senior years.

          So don’t screw up your earlier years, Jags. If it’s too late and you already did, make sure your grades from here on are the absolute best you can do. You freshmen: Do it right. Take the time and effort to earn the A’s now. You’ll thank yourself later!

Winterfest is HERE!

          Don't forget Jags, this Friday will definitely be the absolute best Friday of your school year thus far (you know, unless you found a $20 bill in your jeans and used it to buy a lottery ticket which won you $100 million which you used to solve world hunger). Yup! It's Winterfest!

          Two things you'll want to bring to Winterfest are: 1) a wallet stuffed with money and 2) a stomach NOT stuffed with food.

          Actually, forget number one. You don’t really need THAT much money to satisfy even the most painful of teenage hunger pangs. Last year, for example, it only took five of my dollars to buy an entire box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts (True, the stomach pumping did cost a little extra but, luckily, there was a coupon in the box for 20% off stomach pumping!)

          In addition to all the fantastic food, it’s just a really fun place to hang out with a great atmosphere, music playing and lots more.

          You clubs that want to participate in Winterfest, make sure you’re signed up and ready to go.

          Also, another pretty cool thing is that VCHS Gold Cardholders get a ten-minute head start in the quad. Hey, that’s roughly how long it takes me to eat an entire box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts! Isn’t great when things work out like that?

Tell me about it!:

          The second progress report has been sent out, meaning 12 or so weeks of school have already gone by! That’s great news ... except for the part about progress reports …

          Kids around school have been telling me about their grades and some are saying they really to raise them or their parents are gonna kill them. The race is on to get those B’s to A’s, C’s to B’s, D’s to C’s and F’s to ... A’s (well, when you’re down THAT far you might as well dream big!).

          There’s a lot of great stuff to do at VCHS that can distract students from grades like sports and tons of other afterschool activities. But remember, Jags: STAY FOCUSED. It’s all about the GRADES!

          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).