We at The Catalyst are saddened to report the passing of one of our students, Rogelio “Roy” Silva.
Mr. Vilaubi offered these words, “The loss of Roy is truly a tragedy for his family and our school. Yet, the loving way his friends have reached out to each other and the Silva family is truly inspirational.”
The Catalyst will continue to report more on this story in our next issue.

On January 28th, 2008, a stabbing took place in which three minors were stabbed and had to be sent to a hospital. Two were sent home the following day and one was in there for a couple days.

This occurrence happened at a park located on Ocala Avenue. The stabbing was a gang situation that the students were involved in. The three boys that stabbed the other three boys are being charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon with gang enhancements. The situation was possibly gang related, but it most likely wasn’t. They found one boy near the stabbing, another in east side San Jose, and the other in downtown San Jose.

Students and teachers were given a survey on Friday, January 11, 2008. Based on this survey we learned that more than half of our school doesn’t know we have a newspaper website called The Catalyst.

All twelve LPS teachers took the survey. Only 58% have showed their students our newspaper website. A startling 42% admitted to us that they haven’t showed their students our newspaper website because they don’t have computer access.

There are 240 students in LPS, but only 121 (about 50%) students took the survey. Of those surveyed, 21% of them knew about our website and checked it out. A whopping 79% of the students didn’t even know we had a newspaper website.

If we work so hard to put this out for our school, then we should receive more appreciation. We feel that all the hard work we do is a waste of our time since nobody appreciates it. We don’t know the exact reason why most of our students haven’t seen our newspaper website. It may be that the teachers haven’t really showed it to them or that the students didn’t pay attention when their teacher showed it. We will never know; we just hope that we will get more school appreciation.

Many teachers said that they didn’t have computer access, but we believe that if they really appreciated our work they would find a way to show it. Devin, who is our Journalism teacher, offered to make copies of our articles to pass out during advisory. For those who did check our newspaper website, we want to thank you, and we will use your ideas in the future.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED ON VISITING OUR WEBSTIE YOU MAY GO TO WWW.CATALYST-LPS.COM/CATALYST. WE HOPE THAT YOU CAN TAKE SOMETIME TO CHECK IT OUT.

Why is it that many students choose not to do their homework? Do students realize that all they’re doing is wasting the learning environment? Teachers assign homework so that students can practice, or sometimes that piece of homework is needed for the next class time. It’s important for everyone to do their homework because that’s what keeps the class going. Pieces of homework are for students to go home and work on it individually. This is not meant to encourage teachers to give out more homework, instead for students to realize that they need to do their homework. For example, for every math class, I’m pretty sure that every teacher gives out some problems for them to be done at home.

Students need to do that homework because it is meant for students to practice with formulas and apply them to different problems. This is what makes a student most likely to succeed. This is where a student figures out if they understand the concepts that are being taught or if they need more help on it. It is work that needs to be worked on independently; the student benefits from it. Teachers assign homework so that the student can work on it, and then get some discussion going in the next class period. If 2/3 of the class didn’t do their homework then some class time needs to be set aside for that 2/3 of the class to catch up. If the problem is not being able to attempt the homework, then you should schedule some time after school with that teacher to receive help.

When I asked Vanessa Rocha, a senior, what she thought about students not completing their homework she said, “Some students don’t do their homework because they just don’t understand it…while others don’t do it because they just have so much going on that they can only do some of their homework assignments. Then there are those who just choose not to do it.” I think it’s true some may be going through a lot, and they should consult it with the teachers.

A sophomore, Angelica Solis, said “I think they are lazy, not learning what they suppose to and are messing up their future.”

One also needs to know how to balance out the amount of homework that’s assigned so that everything gets turned in on time. Teachers love it when students approach them on their own time to ask questions because that shows that they care for their education and also they are making sure they understands the material. Come to school to learn and gain some knowledge, do it for yourself and if you don’t, don’t ruin it for some one else who really cares about their education. BE RESPONSIBLE!!!!

Prince William, 25, the second-in-line for the throne of England, is nervous about his first solo pilot plane flight. He will also be flying the Grob 115E (a light helicopter) Tucano T1 plane and finally a squirrel helicopter. He also is two weeks into his training at the RAF’s Cranwell School in Lincolnshire, eastern England.

“It was one of those experiences when I thought … you know, hopefully I’ll get another practice,” Prince William said (Times Online, January 17, 2008). He was surprised when his instructor told him he was ready and to take over the controls earlier this month.

He will be following his father’s footsteps, Prince of Whales (Prince Charles) who earned his wings 35 years ago. His uncle, the Duke of York (Prince Andrew), was also a trained pilot who joined in combat in the Falklands War.

William is a second lieutenant with the Household Cavalry’s Blues and Royals. He will also start his final attachment in the royal navy probably in the early summer.

In January, after a year in the Blues and Royals he will go to the Royal Air Force, then to the Royal Navy. If he is finished with his training on time he will be able to graduate in April.

Information for this article was gathered from the following sources:

http://www.answers.com/topic/prince-william
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3205283.ece?token=null&offset=0
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080117/lf_nm_li fe/britain_william_dc_1

In Caracas, Venezuela gunmen held more than 30 people hostage, including children and women, inside a Venezuelan bank Tuesday, Jan 29 during a 24 hour standoff with police that began with a ruined robbery.

The hostage standoff began January 28th in the morning in the town in central Guarico state, southeast of Caracas. A police officer surprised the 4 gunman that was using a cash register. They held more than 30 people hostage when robbery went wrong.

A 2-week-old infant, a 10-year-old boy and a woman who was eight months pregnant was among about 34 hostages inside the bank. In a message to the hostage-takers, he said: “Everyone be calm, be conscious that it’s very different to face a trial for kidnapping and for homicide.” They are compromising with the robbers through radio.

They held the hostages for over 24 hours and negotiated to free the hostages for a getaway ambulance car. They were later stopped on the highway and arrested. There were 5 remaining hostages when the robbers laid down their weapons and got away. “This nightmare is over,” Gov. Eduardo Manuitt.