The 2009-2010 edition of the LPPACS yearbook is available online now.
Visit: LuLu.com to get your copy today!

This year, as Lincoln Park welcomed back new and old students alike, they also welcomed for the first time a few new staff members. These new staff members range from teachers of math, English, and science, to people who work heavily with the administration.

One of those new additions to the staff of Lincoln Park is our new assistant principal, Jonathan Ludwig.

“I’m actually a working consultant for the National Network of Digital Schools,” said Ludwig. “I was asked in a meeting if I would be interested in [working at Lincoln Park], for the experience.”

His goal here is to work closely with the administration.

“Right now I’m getting to know the building, sitting through lunch, studying the attendance and then talking with the students who are late,” he said. “Just helping out.”

There are also a few new teachers in the academic field. A second Spanish teacher, Donald Wilson; two new math teachers – Sarah Marcy, who teaches Algebra 2, and Jerome Herring, who teaches geometry — and another English teacher, Ed Wesolowski, have all been hired this year, along with a new guidance counselor, Lynn Parr, who has a dual role and is working now as a chemistry teacher. There is also a new addition in the arts. The music department has welcomed instructor Christina Howell, as well.

But as for Ludwig, he’s adjusting to the ever changing environment of Lincoln Park.

“I hope it’s a positive year for everybody,” says Ludwig, “I hope to learn more and help out the administration.”

– Louis Ivan

Lincoln Park is going to be making books—books with spines and covers and designs. That’s right: BatCat, the new student press, has started its first year.

Last school year, the Literary Arts Department developed a class called Bookbinding in which students learned basic to advanced binding techniques and created their own books and journals. Since then, the idea has expanded into the start of a small, student-run press.

Deanna Mulye, the teacher who started Bookbinding here, said the press “was an expansion on what we already have. We wanted to do more with Media, and we had the resources. It seemed natural.”

The small press is run modestly. The staff consists of a mere six students, though there is also a section of the Media Arts Department dedicated to helping with the design and formatting aspect of the projects. There is only one single machine used to aid the staff with binding, and all binding and designs are to be done by Lincoln Park students.

BatCat’s mission statement, as summarized by Mulye, is to “publish works of high entertainment value, but also of high literary value…and to give students the opportunity to work in a semi-professional working environment.”

Submissions are not limited to alumni or students of Lincoln Park, however, and are open to anyone. Over the summer, the staff worked on promoting submissions through events like the Small Press Festival (SPF) in Pittsburgh. They did receive submissions from people (“mostly younger people,” said Mulye) not affiliated with the school. When asked if any of the outside works were to be published, she replied, “We haven’t made any solid decisions yet.”

The staff set a goal for the number of works it wants to publish, however. They are aiming for five books this year, “two definitely for the fall, possibly three,” said Mulye. The staff picked the works for their first two books, but production is sill in the editing and design phase.

Senior Courtney Druzak, staff manager of the press, said there will be “hundreds of copies of each [book we produce].”

When asked where books could be found, Druzak said that the press is “compiling a list of local bookstores. We can’t use big [chain] stores…but maybe small, local ones.”

For anyone interested in submitting, Mulye also stressed that the press is “open to a variety of genres.” For the books to be published in the spring, no definite selections have been made yet, and according to Mulye, the press will be reopening submissions “late this year.”

For more information, visit BatCat’s website:
http://www.batcatpress.com/

–Taylor Sirko

This Year students of LPPACS’s Literary and Media arts departments enjoyed two full days of the 2nd annual Synergy Festival, a fusion of word and image.  This year’s festival included a student video festival, the release of pulp. (the award winning student Literary and Art journal), art shows, student departmental and portfolio review awards, literary readings, and several distinguished guest speakers and workshops.  Our keynote speaker was Bill Hinzman, producer and zombi #1 in the Night of the Living Dead.  Other guests included Jim Duesing from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Art, Robert Tinnell from the Factory Digital Filmmaking Program at the Douglas School, and Josh Tonies From Pittsburgh Filmmakers.

Seen below is a media group student cutup animation that was created in Josh Tonies’ workshop at this year’s festival.

Cutup Animation with Synergy Guest Josh Tonies from Scott Andrew on Vimeo.

Media Arts Seniors Josh Slaby, Danette Hall, and Malachi McMahan, with the assistance of underclassmen Tyler Petz worked to create one last group animation project for the 2008-09 year.  This animation was loosely based on a screenplay written by senior Literary Arts student Amber Christian about a trip to an amusement park gone wrong. It was not completed in time to be shown at Synergy or other LPPACS events, so the students decided to post it to the Siren.

Enjoy!

Funsucker Animation from Scott Andrew on Vimeo.

Lincoln Park media arts department students, under the instruction of Mrs. Cassandra Patten are proud to announce the release of the 2008-09 Yearbook. This year, as a way to cut the expense for our school and student body, the staff decided to post the yearbook on lulu.com for purchase. The yearbook can only be purchased directly from the lulu.com website and is guaranteed to be a secure source for purchases of publications. Through working with lulu.com, the students were able to take complete control over their designs, and are excited to announce this year’s release.  Each copy will cost $43.00 (a massive savings from last year) and is an 8.25″ x 10.75″ 100 page full color casewrap-hardcover book.

Get your 2008-09 Yearbook today!

Interested in a specific area of Lincoln Park’s new major? View the listed areas below for further details.

Movement Dynamics:

A course that is the study of movement in relation to sports, stage, and dance. It’s a general health course that relates to healthy and safe living. In the time spent in this class, students will also be exposed to the break downs of muscle groups, showing which ones are used for specific movements and also how to strengthen certain muscles.

Sports and Art Psychology:

This part of the course focuses mush more on artistic and sports movement. For example, those who are dancers or athletes, this particular aspect of the course will give the participating students a background in athletics and experience in the injury course. Although it does seem to focus more on this specified area, it doesn’t mean it’s limited to people who are a part of these things.

First Aid Safety, CPR, and First Responder:

This particular class was made to give students the chance to experience handling certain situations pertaining to safety and health hazards. It will decompose steps and proccesses to follow when an injury takes place. It will also give students the chance to learn about your basic at home safety and other areas that may become useful at any given time.

Anatomy and Physiology:

This course will prepare students for a career in the medical fields. Anatomy being, the science or study of the shape and structure of organisms and their parts, will be the part of the class that students learn about things such as the human body, plant bodies, animal bodies, and other examinations. Physiology being, the branch of biology dealing with the functions and activities of living organisms and their parts, including all chemical and physical processes.

–Fawn Rawl

In its debut year, the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School opened to the public and offered a high class learning environment in both the fine arts and academics. Things are changing every day. It can easily be said that Lincoln Park is evolving year by year. Now in its third year of offering fine arts and academic courses, what else is there to ask but what next?         

At the end of this year, the eighth grade program will conclude its first full year in operation. At the beginning we started out with 50 eighth graders. After a few left in the fall, some in the administration were concerned. 

“We retained more kids than we thought we would,” says Principal P.K. Poling. “There are still more than 40 kids in the program, and that’s a positive.”

Dean of Academics Holly Castelli added that, “the eighth grade program has been wonderful, it has been a huge success.”           

CEO Mrs. Rebecca Manning confirms that next year, the program will stay closed to only the Music and Dance departments. After their eighth grade year, they can move into a different field of the arts, only if they pass the department evaluation.            

Another thing that has been on the minds of Lincoln Park students has been the curiosity of their being a Science Lab. This “work in progress” was rumored earlier this year, but nothing concrete has been done.           

“I’m a science teacher myself,” says Castelli. “Anything to help our Science Department will be great.” Wee Care, a Midland day care facility operating out of the Gym is due to move out soon, and as soon as they do, two rooms will be available, one for the classroom, and the other for the lab which will be used by Earth, and Physical Sciences, along with Biology and Chemistry.           

Poling agrees, that “…anytime you can give kids hands on labs, experience real things…research is pretty clear you learn science better that way.”           

So as Lincoln Park opened the third floor, LI Lab and the Ruth Building to students this year, a science lab in the gym is not too far away from that. The approximate 500 students that the school is welcoming, both back and for the first time, should be pleased. One of the future changes, for the sake of capacity is the cafeteria.

      What we need to think about is the fact that we are looking at around 500 students next year. This new cafeteria is a must just for capacity issues we have had this year, and what we may have with more students next year. When asked about the rumors, Manning answered shyly that “there are plans for a new cafeteria.” With all the secrecy and hush hush surrounding the subject, all that can be said is that there are plans.  

–Louis Ivan

     It’s your first day at a new school. You get your schedule, you meet your teachers, but best of all, you get your picture taken and it’s placed on a laminate. You’re excited about this. It’s legit now; you’re a student at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School, and you have proof. Within the following months, however, you’ll probably begin to neglect your ID; you may draw on it, chew on it, forget it at home permanently or even throw it away. But if you’re anything like the 99.4% of students who end up indifferent to their IDs, you definitely won’t wear it.

      According to a recent survey of 308 Lincoln Park students, only 0.6% of students wear their ID badges on a regular basis.  One of the two students who answered that he does wear it every day, Joshua Hulsizer, says he wears it because he’s “trying to encourage other people to wear them.”

      “I know it’s important to the safety and security of Lincoln Park,” he says.

      He also reveals that he created the original design, stating that there was supposed to be much more information on the badges.

      “There’s a spot for your arts major…it wasn’t designed to have that much white space,” he says, holding up a prototype. He also thinks that more people would wear them if they had more use.

      “If they had more of a function than security, people might use them more…I think if they maybe had to have them to buy lunch they’d use them more; …our student ID numbers should be on there,” he says. “I don’t think we should be able to open doors, but we should be able to scan it for lunches.”

      Even though most students don’t wear their IDs, 60% of students do admit to carrying their IDs with them every day. Ashley Perry, a third year student, said in a recent survey, “They’re fun to have, but not really needed.”

      Another student, eight grader Morgan Luxon, wrote, “I don’t think they are necessary. I think that’s because nobody checks to see if we’re wearing them. Why should we have to wear them if they don’t do anything?”

      P.K. Poling, Lincoln Park principal, says that at this time of year, it would be impractical to begin reinforcing IDs.

      “Once everyone knows everyone, we don’t crack down anymore…you see a kid walking, and you recognize the face, so you don’t even look for the badge.” 

      Students like Chanese Dockery agree. In her survey, she says, “…the principal and Mrs. Manning see who comes into the school every day, and I’m pretty sure that they remember our faces. I could see why they would have badges in the beginning of school, but after the first month or so, I don’t think they’re necessary.”

      Poling does agree with Hulsizer on the subject of functionality, however. He reveals that there is discussion of a new attendance policy that would require scannable ID badges for each student. Poling says he would expect a “definite increase” in people wearing their IDs if this plan is enacted for next year.

      “We would scan the IDs for attendance when they walked in…you’d have to have your ID badge to be counted as here.”

      But as of right now, 99.4% of the student body refuse to wear their IDs.

      “I think it’s a great idea,” Geofry Lawton writes, “but only if the school is willing to enforce the rules they make.”

–Taylor Sirko