A newspaper for students at Woodlawn High School.
Warrior News A Newspaper for Students at Woodlawn High School
Issue no. 1
Date 12/19/2024
Students Must Pass Each Quarter to Earn Course Credit By Warrior News Service, Arianna Logan and Mariyah Cross New BCPS Grading Policy
Students must pass each semester to earn course credit, according to Balti- more County Public School’s (BCPS) new semesterized grading policy. Students will earn 0.5 credit after a passing grade is achieved for Semester I (MP1, MP2) and students earn an- other 0.5 credit after a passing grade is achieved for Semester II (MP3, MP4, and final exam). “The new policy holds them account- able for maintaining effort, whereas before they were able to do less after passing one quarter for the year,” said
WHS staff development teacher Ms. Dumler. If a student earned a failing grade in any course during the first quarter, they must earn a grade of C or better in the second quarter to pass MP1 and MP2. The policy has received mixed reviews from students. “I feel that people should be doing their work. Getting an E is crazy. You just have to turn in some work,” said junior Victor A. “It [the policy] can lead to a lot of stu- dents failing. Just because they have a bad grade first quarter, they have to get an extremely good grade second quar - ter to pass the semester. It is setting kids up for failure. The first one [grading policy], you did not need to pass every quarter. That was reasonable. Someone could start off weak and come back very strong,” said senior Kyla C. “I think it helps students, those that had
the mindset of failing two semesters in a row and then passing two semesters,” said junior Dominic R. “I think with the new grading policy, students will be more on track of understanding the work instead of just failing two semes- ters.” “I feel like we should not have to pass all four quarters. I am in ninth grade, just coming straight out of middle school where the rules there were more lenient. I feel we were not prepared well enough,” said freshman Antonia O. “I think it encourages a more consistent effort throughout the year rather than trying to get everything done last min- ute,” said senior Tommie D. According to BCPS, this change aligns its practices with other school systems. “Because of current changes, it is im- portant to understand the new policy to ensure that they get credit,” said Mrs. Dumler.
Warrior News
Staff Writers Jamal Abdul Salaam Trey Bell Mariyah Cross Ashton Ford Jhann Gumeta Cameron Ladson Ah’Mya Lewis Kimberly Logan Cherish Marvin Toni Mebusaye, Hibba Nazir Abdulbasit Olapade Hassan Richardson
Students honored for achievements PLTW Biomedical Science Hosts White Coat Ceremony
Roger Scott Zuri Smith
Ta’mira Thomas Ronnie Tillery Staff Advisers Kimberley Simms Vanessa Hudson
Seniors were honored during the Proj- ect Lead the Way White Coat Ceremo- ny held on Dec. 5 in the MPR. Con- gratulations to Kameron B., Sarah E., Janiyah F., Azareia H., Ashlyn L., Lanaii S., and Kaja S.
Date 12/19/2024
Issue no. 1. Page 2
One-on-One with Coach Grandpre By Warrior News Service
How long have you served as the wrestling coach at WHS? I have been coaching for the last five years and volunteering eight years before that. I have three oth- er coaches, all who graduated from Woodlawn and wrestled here. I graduated in 2009 from Wood- lawn and wrestled for three years here myself. Describe your wrestling team this year. Do you have returning ath- letes? Is it a new team? Yes, I have majority new people meaning they are all starting from the very beginning. Wrestling is not just about being physically strong. You learn many different techniques and moves. So, the combination of physical training, mastering technique and mental understanding when/how to use everything will shape them into complete wrestlers. Your season began last week, Dec. 5 and you have another match slated for the week of Dec. 9, tell us how the team did in the match and who were your standout com- petitors? Our first match we ran into a team of experienced wrestlers. With a team of new people, they struggled to perform their moves and techniques on someone more experienced.
During our break between matches, we drilled what we expected to do in the match and were able to not just implement our moves but also win many of our matches. Share your coaching philosophy. My philosophy is simple: Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work. Throughout my close to 20-year history of wrestling and coaching in Maryland, we have been able to successfully bring new people into wrestling that are eager to learn and work hard. With those two, many have gone off to place top four in our county, our region and even the state champion- ship. Can students still join the team? If so, what characteristics are you searching for in an athlete? Unfortunately, the last date that the county lets students get certified for wrestling was this past Monday. With all the techniques we learn, it is difficult to come this late into the season not knowing any of the moves. We have the foundation and bases of our house complete and now we are filling it out to be complete. I’m also just looking for anyone ea- ger to learn and compete. Not afraid to put in work in order to get better. That drive comes from within. You
Coach Grandpre, wrestling coach
have to train hard, diet, drill wres- tling and study wrestling. How can WHS support your team? WHS can support us by coming to our matches and sharing our fund- raiser that I will send to everyone’s email soon Is there anything that you want to add? I am eager to see the growth and strides this group takes. The first couple of matches are the hardest. Once the nerves go away and we fix everyone’s faults, they will start winning more matches and beating the more experienced players. If you have questions about the wrestling team or want to further support Coach Grandpre, his email address is dgrandpre@bcps.org.
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