By June Lee
 
 My junior year has been hard. I slept an average of just six hours per night. My work load was exhausting. The extracurricular activities were beyond demanding.
Now, the school year is finally winding down. Course request forms are complete. Advanced placement exams are over. The seniors are leaving. The summer is approaching.
Most importantly, I am ecstatic about my senior year.
However, there are a few annoyances that need to be addressed.
These problems are aggravating. They cause worry. They continue to irritate me.
But they can be easily fixed. Once fixed, …

By June Lee
Why do we join clubs? The primary motive would be our actual interest in getting involved.
There are other reasons, too.
We might want to show colleges what they want to see: having a life outside of academics. Or, we can’t stand being alone for one lunch when our friends are obligated to be at a meeting.
Unfortunately, we end up too ambitious, joining many clubs without limitations.
The participants in clubs are ultimately the same core group of people.
As a result, not as many students are involved in clubs as they …

By Blanche Brown

Step One: Familiarize Yourself

For those who are not yet hip enough (you will be if these guidelines are followed) to know, indie is a modern sub-culture that extols individuality and whose members have a certain contemptuous air that makes them desirous to all.
Indie is short for independent, originally taken from the Independent Music genre. It has developed into a concept of rebelling against mainstream culture, especially in regards to music and fashion, and its rules must be strictly adhered to.

Step Two: Attire

Examine your wardrobe. Did you find any …

By June Lee
On Feb. 20, 2000, Dale Pullen, who was a junior at Leon High School and a member of Capital Singers and Madrigal Singers, was ejected from his car seat and killed in an automobile accident.
This tragedy greatly affected the community and could have been prevented with just the click of a seat belt.
That weekend, Pullen went down to Alligator Point with his friends: Robby Redding, Jesse Parker and Chris Middlebrooks.
Pullen and his friends were driving back home from the beach that Saturday night. Redding was driving while Middlebrooks …

By June Lee

This past summer, I was shocked and upset to find out that Leon was a “C” school. How could this happen?
The school I had so much pride in was given this grade due to its performance on Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT).
If a school does not show a learning gain in its lowest 25 percent from this test, it will automatically be dropped a letter grade.
When the scores were added up this year, our grade was a “B,” but because of a drop in reading, the grade was …

By June Lee
Here are the things I’m looking forward to doing on Valentine’s Day:

Gloves and Scarf

I’m guessing that high school couples generally spend anywhere from $10 to $50 on Valentine’s gifts for each other.
Malls will be having special sales and deals just for this occasion. I intend on buying myself a new pair of gloves and a scarf for this chilly weather.

Hit the Gym

I want to go to the gym at least twice a week this year. At my gym, there is an Advanced Pilates class at 1:15 p.m. on …

By Steven Keller
In the wake of the biggest news of sports celebrity-dom ever, it’s time to take a look at how high school students see the world around them.
Tiger Woods was the most respected golfer on the Professional Golf Association Tour. He was seen in Gillette commercials, had magazine ads for his Tag Heuer campaign, but most importantly, had his own flavor of Gatorade.
As a casual golf-watcher, I thought he was master of the fairway, with nothing to worry about but his follow-through. His life was perfect, until the crash.
For …

By June Lee

This year, our usual half-day exam schedule has turned into full exam days. We also get out three days before Christmas.
Before complaining, the student body should know that the administration had no control over these full days.
The only control Leon had was over the arrangement of the schedule.
The full-day schedule, which was implemented by the school district, was necessary to reach the required number of hours in school. Even though the decision was passed by the school district, the fault should be placed on the state government.
According to …

By Amelia Keaton
The twentieth century has been a time of many changes, including the way we get our news.
Previously, people would go to the local market or look in their mailbox for their newspaper. Now, the news is just a click away, whether its on your desktop computer or your I-phone.
In fact, the story you are reading right this moment will never appear in print. If you’re reading this story, you’ve figured out that the news can get to you much quicker simply by going to leonhighlife.com.
The change in the …

By Steven Keller
I got her back.
My 1996 Honda Accord, affectionately named the “red bullet,” is back in working order after suffering water damage while it was parked in the senior bowl during the heavy flooding on Dec. 2.
It took almost a week for it to come back to me. The water damaged the computer in the car. The computer controls a ton of things on the car, including the radio, the airbags, anti-lock brakes and the air conditioning.
When I took it in initially, the problem was diagnosed as a wet ignition. …