A Catalyst For Rowing

     The Rowing team at Palmetto High was the guinea pig last year for Manatee County School District.  They were the only Manatee County School that had a rowing team.  This year Southeast has joined in on the mission to spread rowing throughout the county.  On Sunday Palmetto will be competing in the Sarasota 5000 rowing regatta in Osprey.  Southeast is unable to attend because they are waiting for their boats to come in.  Manatee and Lakewood Ranch High Schools want to start a rowing team but with the economy being as bad as it is, it is impossible to buy boats and equipment.
      Manatee High School principal, Bob Gagnon said he is hopeful that his students who are interested in rowing could participate this year with a program at Palmetto or Southeast.
     I think it is amazing that Palmetto was able to start this trend.  It is definitely going to help encourage Palmetto by competing against friends that might go to a different school in the district.  It is crazy that little Palmetto was able to start a catalyst for other schools to join in. I am excited to see Southeast and other programs grow because of Palmetto.

 

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Chocolate!

     Each year people eat chocolate. You never think someone is counting how much you spend on it.  There was a survey on USA Today about the top 5 chocolatiers of the world compared to USA in 2011.  The results may shock you.

     Freia is Norway's leading chocolate manufacturer.  Freia has been offering delicious chocolate treats since 1889.  By the 1900's Freia was the named the leading Norwegian brand in sweets. Freia is one reason that Norwegian chocolate leads the chocolate industry.  In Norway each person spends 209 dollars a year on chocolate.

     One of Ireland's most loved chocolatiers is Lily O'Brien.  Lily O'Brien is named after the founder’s daughter. Mary O'Brien discovered her love for chocolate after recovering from a severe illness. 

     Mary O'Brien made it her motto that "Each and every chocolate has been created from the passion and pleasure we all share - we hope you enjoy tasting them as much as we enjoy making them for you!" Annually, each person in Ireland pays 182 dollars for chocolate. 

     Auer chocolate is widely known in Switzerland.  They started their business in 1939. Their chocolate has continued on for 5 generations.  They are striving to better themselves each year.  Switzerland is said to be the major chocolatier of the world but in the count down they come in third.  Only 172 dollars is spent on chocolate by each person in Switzerland a year.

     Green and Black's are considered one of the UK's best chocolatiers. In 1944 they launched the world's first Fair-trade Mark product.  This chocolate is an organic chocolate. People in UK each buy 150 dollars worth of chocolate a year.

     Zotter Chocolate is the Austria's best chocolate brand.  Daily Telegraph says, "It has amazing flavors, with light and creamy fillings that include balsamic caramel or lime and honey." Josef Zotter the maker of Zotter chocolates says, "We are not just part "ORGANIC" but totally, we follow the "FAIR TRADE" principles not just in part but with full conviction, and we don't just pretend to produce chocolate but have the entire production process - from "BEAN-TO-BAR" - all under one roof."  In Austria each person spends an annual amount of 112 dollars on chocolate a year.

     Hershey is the USA's most popular brand.  Hershey started in 1894 after Milton Hershey decided to add a chocolate coating to his caramels.  In 1900 the first Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar was enjoyed by Americans.  USA is still lacking the chocolate lovers that Norway, Ireland, UK, and Austria have.  Sadly, Americans only eat 58 dollars worth of chocolate a year.  This is confusing since I always thought we were unhealthy people.  Perhaps we eat more candy than other countries around the world.

Safety over Security

            On Saturday, September 10th at around 12:30 in the morning there was a shooting at The Club Elite in Palmetto.  Twenty-two people were injured. Two people died including the bouncer and a twenty five year old.  Some believe it was a drive by where they shot everyone standing out front. The dead bodies were covering the ground to preserve evidence until about ten in the morning.  Some people believed they kept the bodies out just because they were African Americans.  When my dad got to work he said puddles of blood were surrounding the area.  This massacre has become big news in the area.  Now people in Palmetto do not feel save someone could drive by and shoot them down at any moment. 

            The case is still lacking the shooters identities but the streets have buzzed about who did it. Safety is the key issue behind finding the shooters.  People who know who did it are scared to tell officials.  They want to make sure they are safe and loved ones are safe.

            Rev. Cory Brinson of Spiritual House of Praise says, “The witnesses know that the criminals shot twenty-four people while trying to kill a few.  They would think nothing of shooting them, too.”

            I think that if I knew who it was it would be hard to stand up and say it.  I would fear for my safety.  You would have to trust the police force to protect you no matter what.  Hopefully someone will step up so that Palmetto can sleep at night.

Harmful or Harmless Homework?

         Homework is suppose to help you with your school work so that you can understand what you learned. Too much homework on the other hand is bad. If you are given too much homework you do not want to learn, you get frustrated, and it is hard to find time for other things. Teachers are suppose to allow only two hours of homework a day for high-schoolers. Some classes seem to think they are the only ones that assign homework and want to take both hours for their class. If a student goes beyond two hours of homework then their brain starts to shut down and they are not focused on the work which hinders the whole reason for homework. Many classes homework will last longer than two hours. If it hinders you to do more than two hours of homework then why do teachers want you to finish it in more than two hours.

         With the odd and even day schedule teachers are use to allowing four hours for homework instead of just two. They still need to allow time for other classes homework. It is harder for first period classes to maintain two hour homework when their other classes are given four hours. I experienced two hours of homework in only my first period class everyday for the first week of school. It was hard to keep up and now on the third week of school it is even harder to keep up.