Shark News for Oct. 27

 Advantages of Going to School in Cedar Key

By Claire Brown, Shark Correspondent

1. Small class sizes: This year’s senior class consists of seven students on campus, this is the smallest class of this year. The larger classes barely exceed 20 students. These small numbers make it easier for teachers to give students individual attention, helping them in areas where they need it most.

2. Family-like feelings: Because of the small class sizes, students in a class develop a relationship much deeper than that of normal classmates. It's more of a brother and sister type bond that lasts long after graduation. 

3.  Opportunities: Because it is just a two-minute walk from the school to Joe Rains Beach, CKS students get opportunities that other Levy County students don't get. For example, students who took Mr. Whitman's Marine Science class would go to the beach at least once a month to pull the seine net and collect specimens for the fish tanks back in the classroom. I doubt there has ever been another classroom in Levy County that was home to six octopi.

4. Everyone gets a shot at Homecoming Court: In bigger schools, not every senior gets to run for Homecoming King/Queen their senior year. Instead, they must be nominated and a handful of boys and girls are chosen to participate. However, at Cedar Key School every senior gets to be a part of homecoming court, unless they choose not to.

5. High school students can interact with elementary students: Since the elementary, middle, and high school are all included to make up Cedar Key School as a whole, older Sharks are able to interact with the youngest Sharks. For example, Teen Trendsetters is a reading mentoring program where a high school student is paired with a second or third-grade student. These kinds of opportunities are rare in other schools. 

There is no doubt that Cedar Key School is unique in multiple ways. Most years, it is the smallest public school in the state. Although we would love to have a football team and a larger variety of classes and clubs, the good definitely outweighs the bad. 

Cedar Key Students are blessed, whether they realize it now or not.  

Let’s Go, Let’s Fight!

By Chloe Reynolds and Sarah Bartholemy Shark Correspondents

Come on mighty Sharks, you know what to do. You’ve got to rock with the purple and roll with the gold! The Cedar Key cheerleaders will definitely be rocking with the purple and rolling with the gold in their new uniforms this season. 

This year the squad has twelve cheerleaders, the biggest squad since Amy Parks has been the coach. With a big squad comes big ideas, which include pepping-up homecoming and home basketball games. Coach Amy will be looking into stunt classes for the cheerleaders, in order to add excitement to games and pep rallies. 

Of course, there is always a financial side to every activity, which is why the team is in the midst of planning several fund raisers, to pay for all of their needs. 

“It’s going to be a great year for cheer,” said Cedar Key cheerleader Claire Brown. “We have an incredible squad and you can definitely feel the love when we’re out there cheering.”

SGA's "Mock" City Hall Meeting

Whitney Tyler, Shark Correspondent

Cedar Key School’s Student Government Association (SGA) decided that for the 2011 Government Week, in October, they wanted to do something special. 

In September, SGA met in the Library and discussed the project. They wanted to plan a “mock” city hall meeting; and they wanted to do everything that came with that; running for city commissioner, applying for different city positions, campaigning, and then finally voting.  

After two weeks of planning, SGA students presented a plan to the middle and high school students by going to classes  and explaining what they were doing and how the students could sign up to run.

The different city positions that were available were Police Chief, Fire Chief, City Clerk, and Public Works.  On Wednesday, Sept. 28, there was a meet-and-great at lunch. The student Commissioner candidates lined at a table and their fellow students approached them to find out what they had to offer. Middle and High School students registered to vote for the Oct. 11 elections at their school that day, too.

A week later, the candidates campaigned with signs around the school; the following Tuesday elections occured. There were booths and ballots to vote for five commissioners. 

Once finished, the ballots were dropped into a box and were count by SGA members. 

The next morning the winners were announced; Commissioners – Tiqvah Cahours, Taylor Davison, Taryn Epperson, Patrick Jackson, and Kalei Wilson; Police Chief, – Tyler Anderson;  Fire Chief – Austin Pope; City Clerk – Emily Colson; Public Works – Kevin Carswell. The following week, the “staff” shadowed the real city staff, to find out how their jobs worked.