Chapel Day

December 8th is Chapel day, and as tradition we celebrate it every year. We start out the day with a mass, and this year every grade has prepared something unique and special to present. After that we will be organizing some activities for all the students to participate but it´s mainly for the elementary kids. Before Chapel used to be a comemoration that took the whole day but because last year some students decided to skip some activities the school thought it was better to cut down the time. Chapel day is a day that is always kept in our memories because for those who are in school since little they can probably remember all the fun years of games they had and enjoyed.

Big 8

After months of practice and games 8 different school meet at NR to compete against each other. Basketball and soccer games are held during the Big 8. The schools that participate are Chapel, Graded, EAC, PACA, EARJ, ASA, OLM, and EAB. It is very competitive between the schools but everybody enjoys it because we get to interact and meet people from different schools. Schools get together, support each other, and cheer for each other. It is a very uniting tournament and´for sure nobody gets out of their complaining. The girls basketball team came back with 4th place , the boys unfortunately were only able to make 6th place. In soccer the girls also got 3rd place and the boys 4th place. Participating in the Chapel sports team is an enriching activity so everybody should consider that for next semester.

Pep Rally

During the Blue and White day at the last period of the day the pep rally happens. All the students from grades 7-12 get together at the gym to participate in different games and activities. First all of the athletes in the teams are presented and then two people fro each grade participate in different games. Every year they vary but most of the time is a food competition game which the person who finishes eating their food first wins. There are the two cheerleading competitions the one from JV and the one from Varsity. There is also an activity where teachers play a certain sport against the students. Everybody enjoys watching the pep rally but the only complaint most people have is that it´s too short, but the administration only grants us one period.

Spirit Week

Every semester one week before our Chapel athletes travel to the Big 8/4 competitions there is always the spirit week. It's a week where we try to encourage and support the athletes by coming each day of the week dressed in a different theme to demostrate school spirit. The grade in which most people come dressed wins money. The executive STUCO members go every last period to count the students who came dressed and anounce the winners at the endo of the day. It´s a week that everybody ends up enjoying because everyone has a lot of fun dressing up and wearing clothes they would never wear. This semester Monday was pijama day, which is the day where most people come dressed because they just get up and go to school. Tuesday was nerd day which is the funniest day to see how people get dreeseed, everyone come with high waist pants, gel on their hair, and glasses. Wednesday is Retro Day so each person could choose the decade they wanted to come in, the school was literally full of hippies that day. Thursday was what was called "Senior" day (old people day) which was change not to offend people. Friday as always was blue and white day the colors that represent our school, and all the students came dressed that day. It is truly a fun, exciting, and engaging week for all the students.

Girls Basketball

This Friday EAC came to play another game against Chapel's basketball teams. The Girl's game started at 5:30, and since the second it started Chapel had control over the game, they were playing really well and were ahead in the score. When Campinas saw what was going on in the game they took more action and were able to score more baskets and equal up the score. The game was intense and both teams were playing very well. Some of the Chapel girls weren't playing to all their potential because they seemed to be very tired, and instead of replacing them for sometime while they rested, their coach decided to leave them playing. So at one point of the game Campinas overpassed Chapel's score. During the last quarter of the game the girls played full speed, they made impressive defenses, stole the ball and scored many baskets. Unfortunately it was not enough and EAC won the game, the bad thing is that for the next game they will have to go play against EAC again but it will have to be at Campinas. That was not such good news to the basketball team, but we all hope they will beat them at the next game!

Picture was taken from here.

7th Grade Fun Night

The 7th grade fun night is a traditional party held by STUCO to welcome the 7th graders to high school. Every generation of high school students has gone through it. It is generally on a Friday night and all of the 7th graders tend to attend, because it's an oppurtunity to have fun and know their classmates better. This year it will be a costume party and many fun games are being planned. The STUCO officers are putting a lot of work into it and we all really hope that all the 7th graders go and enjoy it. There will be delicious food, fun games, good music, and great company! Whats there more to ask? Its a night for them to forget their tests, homeworks, books, and just have fun!

This picture was found here.

Snack Bar

Chapel's snack bar is stocked with delicious and healthy treats for the students to eat during break, recess, or afterschool. Our bar is not exactly the best one, if we compared it to Graded's or St.Paul's our bar would be considered empty. Theirs is truly full of treats, they are not very healthy but they have more options. According to our administrators Chapel's bar is not like that because there is a rule stating that some specific things would be prohibited to be sold in the snack bars at schools. But apparently Chapel was the only school who decided to follow it, leaving its students with the desire for more. If the other schools have it, then it must not have been such a serious rule. Also during break our snack bar area ia a caos, because it's the time where every student is purchasing their chits, and who ever goes there may say it's not the most organized place there is. There is always people cutting line, students smudged and pushed by others. Although there are some teachers to watch and see whats going on, nobody can control what happens. The best way to fix all these problems would be if the school gave us a card where we could deposit our money and we could just go to the bar and the money we would have to pay would just be discounted from it. It would solve everyone a lot of problems. We hope that we can find a solution.

This picture was taken from here.

Common Assessments

Do common assessments really help teachers evaluate how students are doing? In my opinion I don't actually believe they help. The tests taken and homeworks done by the students are already a way to determine how they are doing, why add something more. One bad thing about them is that you can't study for them, because msot of them are writing essays, or answering questions from texts. That leaves us students with a small percentage of more chances of not going very well. English and Portuguese common assessments are understandable but Geography assessments for example are kind of unecessary and sometimes confusing. I belive there are various different ways teachers could try to see the overall understanding of the class, not by doing another tedious activity.

This image was taken from here.

New Printing Rule

From this week on Chapel has adapted a new printing rule to prevent the waste of paper. They have installed a program in which the computer counts the number of pages each student prints and each grade has a different numberof pages they may print. If one looks at this in an environmental way it is really a great way to help, and preserve our beautiful trees from being wasted by what the school considers nonsense. But sometimes the school just doesn''t understand that students have to utilize those papers and the numbers of papers we print is reflected on the amount of homework they give us. So if they are establishing an amount of papers that can be printed than we too should be able to estabilize the amount of homework they give us. Even the librarians have a printing quotas which they were critisizing because they have to print things for all the students and it is not their fault they have to do so, its their job. The school should really take all of this matters to consideration and make a better decision on how to waste less paper, because apparently this wasn't such a good solution.

This picture was taken from here

Chapel Vs. EAC

This Friday we had a basketball game against EAC at Campinas. It is not a game most of the students are thrilled about because we have to travel to Campinas on a Friday, and that kind of usually ruins the plans we have for the rest of the day. The games are supposed to start at 5 but it always starts about half an hour later. The girls played before but unfortunatley after a tough match, they ended up loosing. Right after their game the boys' game began, they were playing very well since the first whistle. By scoring many baskets and stealing many balls they were able to beat the EAC Giants! As soon as the end of game whistle was blown everybody flew to the bus so we could leave already. It was already pretty late, about 8:30, but everybody still insisted for us to stop to eat at McDonalds (which ended not even being McDonalds). Combining that and the transit we arrived at Chapel at about 10:45, very tired and exhausted but at least winners!

Chapel Cheerleaders

The Chapel Cheerleading squad is always alert and supporting our school throughout the basketball, volleybal, and futsal games. It is with a high spirit and with high kicks that we support our teams. Not do we only cheer during games but we always practice every week and create two different dances to perfrom at Big 8 and at our pep rally. One is a routine which has more cheerleader moves and requires the use of pom-poms, the other one is a dance that is more free and is generally based in a certain theme we choose. Sometimes we are not considered a sport or an important extra-curricular activity, but we actually are because we support our team and cheer the crowd up.

Click here to watch a video of the Chapel Cheerleaders!

College Fair

During this month many colleges have come to do presentations here at Chapel. We had a college Fair and many morning and lunch meetings were made for the students who were interested in hearing about that college. Most universities/ colleges were located at the U.S.A but we also had some from Canada. All of them seem to have a beautiful campus and a great variety of courses. For us students who have chosen to study abroad college fairs are very important, to see the different options that we have. Choosing our ideal college is very hard, because you must do a choice that might determine the rest of your life. First comes the part where one must choose the schools to apply, that requires a lot of research and help from the college counseler. The nerve-wrecking part is when you are waiting for their answer, you have already chosen them now you are hoping they choose you.

Picture found here

MUN

MUN is a very fun and enriching extra-curricular activiy that Chapel School offers. It is a simulation of the UN, students from various different schools come together to form this event. Students have to form groups of two and choose a country that they may represent. Then from a list of issues choosen by the organizers, they must choose an issue they will try to solve by giving ideas of what could be done. The students will then write a resolution expressing the things that would be better for their country and how it would be better for everyone else. It is a great experience that helps students develop their presentation and debate skills. This year SPMUN will be hosted by Chapel, so there is a lot of planning, organizing, and hard work to be done. Meetings have been taking place every Thursday until now, and all Chapel students participating are working very hard to be ready for the event. It will take place October 16 (Friday) and October 17 (Saturday), so many students participate that two days are needed to read most resolutions. During the second semester instead of SPMUN , we participate on the BRAMUN which is the Brazil MUN, which includes schools from every where in Brazil. The conference took place in Angra and we had a marvelous experience there. It would be something I would recommend for any student to join. It is certainly a lot of fun but a lot of effort and hard work is needed.

Picture foubd here.

Late Homework Policy

During the past few years teachers have tried to find a way to encourage the students to always do their homework and turn it in on time. Last year we had a very harsh policy, if you didn't turn your homework in the due date you got a zero. Many student's average went down because of that, because sometimes there was some incident or doughts and the homework wasn't completed. This year we have a better policy. If a student doesn't complete their homework they get a zero until they do turn it in and no points are taken off the homework. Now we have something called the Work Habits grades which is the one affected when we don't turn something in. The teachers will give you a zero in the work habits section but you can still get full credit for your homework. The only problem we are having this year is study session. Study session is kind of what we used to call detention, but now it is given por practically anything. If you don't complete your homework you get a study session to be completed during luch or afterschool, there you have to do your homework and write a reflection about why you didn't do it. But study sessions are also earned by tardies and bad behavior, so many students earn themselves the study session slip every day. We have practically no more line during lunch because everyone is at study session. The school should try to figure out why so many people are earning themselves one, because they are so many students that two rooms have to be used. Some teachers are exaggerating about giving them out, and I think that is one of the main problems.

Dress Code

Chapel´s dresscode is enforced by the school faculty and it requires students to follow it. It actually demands more of the girls than the boys. Girls can´t wear skirts less than one plam from the knee, and shorts two palms from the knee. Tanks tops are NOT allowed, even when it´s really hot. That is one of the worst rules, because during summer we just want to feeel fresh and cool ourselves with a basic tank top and we just can´t wear it. Boys are not allowed to let their underwear show, but they can easily cover it with their shirts. Most teachers don´t even check them. They always get away with it and everytime the girls are the ones that suffer with the dresscode. In my opinion is that they should make exceptions to the rules especially when its really hot, if the clothes don´t look inappropriate for the school environment then there isno harm in wearing them. The rule should be changed to: students should be allowed to wear t-shirts that do NOT show your bra strap. That will simplify the problems and the amounts of dress code warnings that students get.