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Community Corner

Timberland Nation

Cafeteria food, a T-shirt machine and even washers and dryers. Timberland High School has all the resources to be a ruling country. Why aren't we using these resources as much as we should?

Timberland High School could truly become its own country.

The cafeteria’s abundance of toasted ravioli and processed beans could provide us with mediocre yet sound food. The family consumer students could sew everyone’s clothes and the chemistry lab could provide us with heat by Bunsen burner during the cold nights. We even have thespians and the school band to provide entertainment for us when we’re bored.

Our high school has unlimited resources and is bursting with talent from students and faculty. Unfortunately, it takes a signature from Barack Obama and a trip to the moon in order to use these resources.

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This leads to my question of the week: Why aren’t we using the incredible resources that our school provides? 

One reason we can’t do that is the strict rules and policies on using equipment. I am not saying that there should not be rules. Some of the equipment at Timberland costs thousands of dollars and should rightfully be protected. But, there is a point when rules are strict to the point that it is almost impossible to accomplish anything.

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Responsible and productive students should be able to use the plentiful equipment and get help from faculty as much as possible. Honestly, the students who would be careless with equipment are most likely not the types of students that would be asking to use them for projects anyway.

Organizations at Timberland are very active and have an extensive amount of resources themselves. Student council has a multitude of paper and contacts. DECA has a T-shirt machine and a button maker. Art club has a poster-making machine, more paint than Picasso’s studio and advanced laptops with thousands of dollars worth of Adobe programs. The family consumer sciences department has washers, dryers, stoves and ovens. The theater and woodshop departments could even probably build a house with all the wood and tools they have. What would happen if we all worked together? What would happen if we all used what we had to produce something fantastic?

While the departments at Timberland all have different resources to provide, there is one thing that they all have in common: capable, creative and productive students and teachers. The leaders in these clubs and programs are active and responsible juniors and seniors. We are the next generation. The future is up to us and we are the student body that is going to move this country further. Yes, we are young, but we are a motivated, capable and technology savvy generation. We should be able to unify and help our school produce events and projects that will yield profit and pride.

Events such as the talent show, DECA fashion show and Mr. THS are all coming up soon. Instead of getting T-shirts from an outside T-shirt provider, we should work a deal out with DECA. Instead of drawing handwritten shoddy advertisements for events, we should be going to DECA and creative art students to help create ads and go to the art department to print off quality posters. Do you need help sewing a button onto your tux or dress for prom? Go to the FACS department to ask for help and use one of the many sewing machines.

We should all work together. Plus, by working together, we keep the school economy circling. We all host events and raise money; we can all pay each other for use of each other’s equipment and expertise.

Timberland can be more than just a school that we go to from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. It can be a nation: Timberland nation.  

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