Students of SIS, you have a very good reason to be proud to attend SIS because just recently, one of our seniors has become a National Merit Scholar! Say congratulations to Selena Leon Guerrero of the senior class of 2010!
The National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and college scholarships administered by National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately funded, non-profit organization. Headquarters are in Evanston, Illinois.
National Merit Scholarship Corporation manages two competitions every year for recognition and scholarships: the National Merit Scholarship Program, which is open to all students who meet entry requirements, and the National Achievement Scholarship Program which is only offered to African American students who wish to participate. Every year approximately 10,500 scholarships are awarded through National Merit Scholarship Corporation programs.
To enter the competition, a student must: be enrolled as a full time high school student advancing normally towards completing high school who plans to enroll full time in college in the fall after graduating from high school; a US citizen or heading towards becoming a US citizen at the earliest opportunity allowed by law; and take the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) in the thoroughly explained year of the high school program (usually the junior year at one’s own school).
There are a few complicated steps students must pass through to earn scholarships. They must first qualify to be a semifinalist through their PSAT and must then be chosen to move on. In August after the PSAT is taken, high school principals are mailed notifications about their Semifinalists. Principals communicate these results to their students. Those who are not chosen to be Semifinalists are "Commended", and receive a Letter of Commendation; they do not continue in the competition for Merit Scholarship awards. Semifinalists must meet the expectations of additional requirements and advance to the Finalist level to be considered for a scholarship.
About 15,000 of the 16,000 Semifinalists advance to Finalist standing by submitting SAT scores that confirm their PSAT/NMSQT performance, having an outstanding academic record, and being approved of and recommended by a high school official. They must also submit an application that includes high school courses and grades, extracurricular and volunteer activities, and a self-descriptive essay. The information that is collected about each Semifinalist is used later in the process to choose scholarship winners. All Finalists receive a Certificate of Merit in recognition of their outstanding performance in the competition.
Out of the 15,000 Finalists, about 8,200 receive Merit Scholarship awards. All Finalists are considered for one of the 2,500 National Merit $2,500 Scholarships. So, congratulations to Selena for her hard work and achievement.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Movies For the Month of February
For the month of February, there are a 7 good movies playing at Hollywood Theaters: Shutter Island, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Valentine’s Day, The Wolfman, From Paris with Love, Tooth Fairy, and Avatar.
Shutter Island stars Leonardo De Caprio and Mark Ruffalo as U.S. Marshals in 1954 investigating how a murderer disappeared from a hospital on Shutter Island (fictional). Chaos results for the Marshalls as they run into a web of fraud, a hurricane, and a deadly inmate riot that leaves them trapped on the island.
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, magical fantacy, stars Logan Lerman as Percy Jackson, a boy who finds out that he is the son of Poseidon and becomes the main suspect in the robbery of Zeus’ lightning bolt.
Valentine’s Day, a hilarious comedy, stars many very famous actors; Jessica Alba, Kathy Bates, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Hector Elizondo, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Taylor Lautner, George Lopez, Shirley Maclaine, Emma Roberts, Julia Roberts, and Taylor Swift. They appear as different couples in Los Angeles that make their way through love, romance, and heartbreak over the course of one day-Valentine’s Day.
The Wolf Man stars Benicio Del Toro as a noble man named Lawrence Talbot who copes with an ancient curse, searching his childhood homeland for his missing brother, while a bloodthirsty beast prowls the open land.
From Paris with Love stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers playing an intelligence operative working in the U.S. Ambassador’s office in France who partners up with a high-ranking U.S. agent, played by John Travolta, who was sent to Paris to stop a terrorist attack.
Tooth Fairy stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as a man named Derek who tells a 6-year-old girl that the tooth fairy does not exist and is left to save the tooth fairy kingdom.
Most people have already seen Avatar seeing as it came out last December and already know what the futuristic movie is about. But the movie is probably going to be gone soon, so for those who haven't seen it, it's recomended. But...for those who enjoy drama and were excited for the movie Dear John to be released, it did not come to Saipan. It was released in the states on February 4 but was not sent here. The movie stars Channing Tatum playing the role of a young soldier, John Tyree, who is on leave and falls in love with college student, Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried). The couple is parted when John goes back to work but stay in touch by sending love letters but the correspondence eventually leads to fateful consequences. It is now the number 1 movie in America.
There are a few movies coming out later this month that are said to be good: Cop Out, starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, The Crazies, staring Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Danielle Panabaker, and Joe Anderson, and Yellow Handkerchief starring William Hurt, Maria Bello, Kristen Stewart, and Eddie Redmayne. Let’s just hope they come here!
Shutter Island stars Leonardo De Caprio and Mark Ruffalo as U.S. Marshals in 1954 investigating how a murderer disappeared from a hospital on Shutter Island (fictional). Chaos results for the Marshalls as they run into a web of fraud, a hurricane, and a deadly inmate riot that leaves them trapped on the island.
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, magical fantacy, stars Logan Lerman as Percy Jackson, a boy who finds out that he is the son of Poseidon and becomes the main suspect in the robbery of Zeus’ lightning bolt.
Valentine’s Day, a hilarious comedy, stars many very famous actors; Jessica Alba, Kathy Bates, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Hector Elizondo, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Taylor Lautner, George Lopez, Shirley Maclaine, Emma Roberts, Julia Roberts, and Taylor Swift. They appear as different couples in Los Angeles that make their way through love, romance, and heartbreak over the course of one day-Valentine’s Day.
The Wolf Man stars Benicio Del Toro as a noble man named Lawrence Talbot who copes with an ancient curse, searching his childhood homeland for his missing brother, while a bloodthirsty beast prowls the open land.
From Paris with Love stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers playing an intelligence operative working in the U.S. Ambassador’s office in France who partners up with a high-ranking U.S. agent, played by John Travolta, who was sent to Paris to stop a terrorist attack.
Tooth Fairy stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as a man named Derek who tells a 6-year-old girl that the tooth fairy does not exist and is left to save the tooth fairy kingdom.
Most people have already seen Avatar seeing as it came out last December and already know what the futuristic movie is about. But the movie is probably going to be gone soon, so for those who haven't seen it, it's recomended. But...for those who enjoy drama and were excited for the movie Dear John to be released, it did not come to Saipan. It was released in the states on February 4 but was not sent here. The movie stars Channing Tatum playing the role of a young soldier, John Tyree, who is on leave and falls in love with college student, Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried). The couple is parted when John goes back to work but stay in touch by sending love letters but the correspondence eventually leads to fateful consequences. It is now the number 1 movie in America.
There are a few movies coming out later this month that are said to be good: Cop Out, starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, The Crazies, staring Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Danielle Panabaker, and Joe Anderson, and Yellow Handkerchief starring William Hurt, Maria Bello, Kristen Stewart, and Eddie Redmayne. Let’s just hope they come here!
By: Jessi Soll
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Girls Volleyball Team’s Winning Streak Ends
Last month SIS started up an all girls volleyball team and entered in the public high school league. The team got off to a great start, winning their 1st game in one hour against Saipan Southern High. They continued to win until they had their 1st loss against Kagman High. After that, they got back on their on their winning streak until they lost in a very close match against MHS. After a month of playing, the team was in 1st place out of seven teams and it was time for the playoffs. Their 1st game of the playoffs was to be against the winner of the match between Grace Christian and MHS. Grace won and it was time for SIS to beat them for the 3rd time and move up to the finals.
The team started off very poorly because they were very nervous. The score was 13-3 for Grace and suddenly, SIS started winning point after point until they got ahead. SIS was 3 points away from winning the first set and the tension started up again. Grace got the ball and shot up to win by 2 points. For the beginning of the 2nd set, SIS was in the lead. The score was pretty even between the 2 teams throughout the set until SIS got up to 23 points. They were 2 points away from winning to move on to a tie breaker, but the team started to get nervous because Grace was catching up, and they got up to win the 2nd set by 2 points, just like the first.
The match was exciting with some very exciting points which had the audience sitting on the tip of their seats. Players Emma McCullough-Stearns and Jessica made a few serving streaks, Shane Jones made some great tips, Amber Roberts made some winning spikes from some great serves from Oall Haag, and some great saves were made by Lani Russel and Jian Joyner. The playoffs were single-elimination, so after the close game, the team was out, and will probably end up in 3rd place. The team’s final game was very close, but not close enough.
The team started off very poorly because they were very nervous. The score was 13-3 for Grace and suddenly, SIS started winning point after point until they got ahead. SIS was 3 points away from winning the first set and the tension started up again. Grace got the ball and shot up to win by 2 points. For the beginning of the 2nd set, SIS was in the lead. The score was pretty even between the 2 teams throughout the set until SIS got up to 23 points. They were 2 points away from winning to move on to a tie breaker, but the team started to get nervous because Grace was catching up, and they got up to win the 2nd set by 2 points, just like the first.
The match was exciting with some very exciting points which had the audience sitting on the tip of their seats. Players Emma McCullough-Stearns and Jessica made a few serving streaks, Shane Jones made some great tips, Amber Roberts made some winning spikes from some great serves from Oall Haag, and some great saves were made by Lani Russel and Jian Joyner. The playoffs were single-elimination, so after the close game, the team was out, and will probably end up in 3rd place. The team’s final game was very close, but not close enough.
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