Alex Carr's The Jaguars' Spot column for Wed., Jun. 02, 2010

SOOO many talented Jags!

          The end of the school year also means the end -- at least until fall -- of all our great high school sports (although some sports, like baseball and football, will to be practicing most every day over summer). We’ve had some fantastic teams this year, many going on to CIF championships and further.

          To recognize these teams and the players on them, VCHS has awards ceremonies for each respective sport. For example, Wednesday, June 2, in the quad are the track and field awards. The following day will be the soccer awards in the Media Center. And on June 9 we have volley ball awards also in the Media Center. Then June 7 comes the big one: Athletic Awards night, where the athletes of the year and more will be announced in the gym.

          And let’s not forget the unbelievably great VCHS Marching Band, whose music inspires us at so many games. They will be honored along with Jazz Band at their own awards ceremony on Thursday June 3 in the Media Center.

          As well as athletics at VCHS, let’s make sure to give some recognition to the top ten VCHS scholars for the graduating class of 2010: Derek Armstrong, Lance Bell, Andrea Diaz, Sarah Duchnak, Lyle Mcllwain, Matthew Owensby, Brian Russell, Natalie Sanchez, Mohammad Sederat, and Tina Truong. These students have worked tirelessly to achieve a perfect GPA because they know that is going to help them tremendously in future endeavors. They and many, many others will be honored at the Senior Awards night June 8 in the Maxine.

          I think we should all now stand and give these amazing students a really long round of applause. Great job, Jaguars!

Tell me about it!:

          A few weeks ago, AP Euro teacher Mr. Tuttle told his classes they would be starting the much-anticipated Risk tournament. Since the classes had already taken both their AP test and finals, they had a little bit of spare time to play Risk, a game whose objective is to take your team to complete world domination. This is where the students in their classes find out who their real friends are.

          The kids started off by dividing themselves into five or six teams, each composed of a president, who selects the initial territories to be held. Then they elect a general, who decides troop placement; then a captain, who gives the battle orders; and, finally, an ambassador, who negotiates with the enemy teams.

          These negotiations are one of the most exciting aspects of the game. One team, for example, made alliances with two other teams in the beginning which gave then a much better chance to survive until the next round. Then, about halfway through the game, the team broke one of those alliances through an act widely referred to as “stabbing them in the back.” But it worked. At the end, only the two remaining teams in that original alliance were left on the globe. Then things got messy! Two hours of warfare later, the first team emerged bloody but victorious thanks in large part to the skillful tactics of the team’s general, Jeremy Halligan.

          In addition to becoming the supreme overlords of planet Earth, winning team members also got to pick the country they will write about for their end-of-the-year project. All in all, the kids said playing Risk was the perfect way to wrap up a year of studying alliances and famous battles in AP Euro.

          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).

          Read all of San Diego Press Club award-winner Alex Carr's columns at www.carrfamily.com.