December Journal

What is a perfect student?

Students meet various teachers in their lives that have their own character, personality, and unique teaching methods. Every teacher has their own expectations of what a perfect student should be like. In order to figure out what teachers await from students, we interviewed a few teachers from the American High School.

“A perfect student isn’t a person who achieves everything, but the person who tries and does their best!”- says Nana Mukeria, teacher of English language arts. Every student has their own characteristics and their own way of learning. Nana Mukeria believes that a perfect student doesn’t necessarily have to get high grades. It is far more important that a student tries and that they understand the given material.

To learn and develop, a student should also be engaged in class discussions and listen with great dedication. This statement is also approved by earth science/chemistry teacher John Match, who tells us that

“A student who is a good listener, who is organized, patient, and supportive is a perfect student.”

Mr. Match seeks academic curiosity and strong commitment from his students. Also, for him a perfect student is someone who bears responsibility and comes to class well prepared. Besides, he explains that it is equally important for students to be supportive peers, capable of team work and building on each other’s ideas.

Furthermore, a perfect student must be free and bold, openly stating his/her opinion. But, it is crucial that students base their judgment on facts and valid arguments that add value to

academic discussions.

“A perfect student is someone who comes up with opinion-based answers and continues the discussion.”- states Mikheil Barnovi, world history / USA history teacher. To him, it matters not only how students learn, but how they logically think and analyze information.

-By Nitsa Skhvitaridze, Elisabed Arveladze

What are American High School Students Passionate About?

American High School students are unique in many aspects, including the things they’re passionate about. From arts to sports to career aspirations, the range of interests in a small body of students is fascinating.

Because American High School promotes creativity and innovation, it provides an environment where artistic expression is greatly valued. Many students share the passion for art, photography, design, sculpture, etc. Whether they produce art themselves or simply admire others’ work, it is clear that students take great interest in fine arts. This interest further extends to performing arts. Many American High School Students play piano, guitar, and other instruments in a variety of genres, from jazz to classical music.

Sports is another field that many high school students are passionate about. Other than “traditional” sports like football and basketball, many students have expressed an increased interest in events like motor racing. The recent season of the famous Formula 1 championship has left many excited students bickering in the hallway, fighting for their favorite drivers.

What do American High School students think of their future careers? This is where their interests really diverge. Future lawyers, policymakers, economists, psychologists, doctors, architects, engineers, designers, and countless other professions are amidst the student body. What’s more interesting is how students constantly show these interests during every day occurrences: classes, breaks, lectures, etc. They organize events that correspond to their pursuits, participate in additional clubs and lectures, and demonstrate that being passionate about different subjects, fields, and ideas is what makes life interesting.

-By Nita Bakradze

American High School students respond to survey about Global Warming

Global warming is a very serious and urgent issue nowadays, and there are very gloomy predictions being made with the current rate of CO₂ emissions and food waste. Our school is dedicated to addressing this issue, so American High School students were asked to fill in a survey about climate change.These are the following responses: most of the students said that the environment around them was sort of clean and they also said that Air, noise, land, and water pollution bothered them the most. The majority of students said that if people work hard enough, global warming won’t be as dangerous as it is now. Only 2 people out of 8 buy environmentally friendly products, but the problem is, our country doesn’t produce that many environmentally friendly products so it is rare to see them in local shops. All the students hold onto their trash if there is no trash can around them, and none litter. respondents think that European school students can raise awareness and educate people about global warming by presenting more presentations so that the youth becomes more prone to protect the environment. Respondents said that the school government can organize some events such as collecting trash in a local park. The government should send emails to students telling them about the new improvements, while also including how each change could help our environment and inform teachers to tell their students about these changes and other changes they can make in their individual lives. Also, The school government can organize lectures about global warming which is mandatory for the students to attend. The school government should also promote recycling.

-By Nikoloz Chakhnashvili

Interview with Kato Bakradze, Alumna of American High School, Class of 2017

- Hello! On behalf of the American High School Newspaper, I want to thank you for agreeing to an interview.

- Hi! Thank you for inviting me.

- First of all, a question that many current high school students have is when the optimal time is to start preparing for college. When did you begin working on your application?

- Well, if you think about it, technically, all five years of high school serve towards preparation for college. However, I don’t think students should necessarily stress themselves out with that thought. During the first couple of years, I mostly focused on my academic work, and then my sophomore year, I started doing more extracurricular activities and preparing for additional tests. I do think it’s important to distribute your activities so that you don’t have to do all of them during the last few months. As for the application itself, I started working on it the summer before my senior year, so I would have more time to plan things out and work at a steady pace.

- How many universities did you apply to and why?

- I only applied to one university, since I submitted an early decision application. However, I had around 10 other universities on my list in case I didn’t accepted.

- How did you choose the right university for you?

- I always had my sights set on Yale. When I first started researching universities, there were a lot of them that I liked, but Yale always stood out to me. It was a combination of many different factors, really. The courses, professors, location, clubs and activities, campus, etc. I would say that the most important aspect is to make sure that your goals and interests align with what the university has to offer.

- How did you showcase your best qualities in your application?

- I mostly showcased my values and qualities in the personal essay and other writing supplements. These questions give you an opportunity to show your unique aspects and characteristics, and tell the university who you are outside of your grades, activities, etc.

- Let’s talk about the personal essay. A lot of students have a hard time coming up with topics for their essay and other writings. Do you have any advice?

I myself struggled with this, and the best thing I could tell you is that it doesn’t necessarily have to be an exceptionally creative topic that only one in a million could come up with. I mean, not everyone has experienced events or sudden realizations that make great stories. As long as your essay is authentic to who you are and showcases your values and characteristics, it’s okay to write about something ordinary that every person might experience. You just need to show that even though the topic might seem common, your way of telling it and applying it to yourself is unique.

- What strengths and weaknesses did you encounter during the writing process?

- As per your previous question, like many other students, the biggest weakness I encountered during the writing process was coming up with a good topic. I would stay up at night trying to think of bizarre concepts and ideas that I could use in my essay. However, as soon as I realized that I could just write about my authentic experiences, the entire process became easier. Since what I was writing wasn’t fake, the essays just flowed naturally and I didn’t have to force myself to write, which was probably the biggest strength.

- Did you have an interview with a representative from your university?

- Yes, I did.

- How did you prepare for it?

- Interviews have always been my forte, so I didn’t have to prepare that much. I did, however, think of some commonly asked questions during college interviews, just to make sure I was confident in my answers.

- Finally, do you have any uplifting advice to current seniors applying to colleges?

- My biggest advice would be to try not to stress yourselves out too much. Try to find a balance between your personal life and academic one. If you need to rest, definitely do so. Taking a few days off can make you feel much more refreshed and calm. The college application process is a very stressful one, so it’s important to focus on yourself and find methods that help you deal with such pressure the best. Finally, just trust yourself and be confident in your abilities.

-By Nita Bakradze

-By Nitsa Skhvitaridze, Elisabed Arveladze

Extracurricular activities and balancing them with our academic life

With the university season approaching, you may find yourself scratching your head, wondering what type of extracurricular activities you should add to your list. After all, these activities completely depend on you, your passions, and your time management skills.

Since extracurricular activities should not interfere with your academic life, you need to find activities that you will enjoy, and will have time for. Mariam Khatiashvili, Ph.D, Student Engagement Coordinator & Project Coordinator at European School answered the questions: “What advice do you have for students who want to improve their time management skills? How can a student have their extracurricular activities list full while also managing academic workload?”

"My suggestion to students who want to improve their time management skills would be to schedule tasks and deadlines, prioritize tasks and start them early. One of the best ways to balance academic workload with extracurricular activities might be to take advantage of the free time after developing a schedule.” She said. “Creating a schedule for tasks and deadlines can not only help to establish a routine, but preserves time, the most valuable resource. In general, prioritizing tasks leads to improved productivity, motivation and efficiency. Being early gives time to adjust. Finishing a project, homework or class assignment at the last moment can often be challenging. Starting them early allows more time to review and refocus. It is important to bear in mind that it saves time to re-work. Overall, I think these tips could be beneficial to accomplish better results in time, especially during the virtual and hybrid learning workload. Sustaining good time management skills is important to focus on the process of personal and professional development. Consequently, good results and success will follow."

Therefore, taking advantage of your free time, creating a schedule and prioritizing tasks helps you balance academic life with extracurricular activities. Nita Bakradze, a student at American High School also stated a similar approach to this topic – she expressed how much planning has affected her school work & extracurricular activities:

"The biggest advice I would give to other students would be to spend time planning. Don't be lazy with this, just plan out all the things you know you have to do, because that will make it so much easier to manage time. I've struggled myself with time management, especially while balancing extracurricular activities with academic life, but I took time to think about it and plan things out. Also, try not to overwhelm yourself. It's okay if you don't get everything done every day, and worrying about it will just make things worse. For example, one of the biggest extracurricular activities I have is playing piano. Every week, I have classes and I practice at home. However, if there is a day when I have too much school work, I try not to stress myself out too much about practicing, because I know I’ll have a lot more days for that. Really, it’s all about balance and finding a comfortable equilibrium for yourself.” Nino Tedoradze, also a student at American High School shared her tips on how to find this perfect equilibrium for yourself: “My main advice will be to respect your outside class activity as much as you respect other subjects, because not doing them with heart will be reflected on the work negatively.” When I asked her to share her advice on time management, she answered: “Personally, I manage my time by making bullet points of what I want to do, then I sort them by importance and deadlines, most important first and so on. I also have a Pomodoro timer to balance my work and breaks.” She also added that to manage extracurricular activities with academic workload, you should look at the schedule: “Even though I don't recommend scheduling your calendar by hours, you need to do it when you want to do extracurricular activities. Try planning how much time (approximately) is needed to do your work, and put it in the middle of your to-do list.”

As a student myself, I suggest the same as the people mentioned above. However, I’ll add that making time for extracurricular activities might be hard if you do not genuinely enjoy them. I would advise other students to choose the type of activities they enjoy doing or learning about. As a senior, I have participated in many activities which involved communication, such as a public speaking competition, a debate club, and the MUN (Model United Nations) Club, that is, because I truly value communication. Once you learn how to love the activities that you do, it will be easier for you to make time for them, since you will be more willing to “sacrifice” your free time.

To conclude, it’s important to learn how to plan ahead, and how to prioritize. You should learn how to create your own schedule, while also staying true to yourself. Don’t take activities that you do not enjoy doing or activities that are too time-consuming and do not fit in your schedule. It’s also very important to not overburden yourself – know your limits.

That being said, I wish all of you a successful application!

-By Sophie Darchiashvili

Tips from a Psychologist: Balancing your school life and personal life

While students have always reported high levels of stress, Covid-19 has worsened the situation significantly. 80% of students reported experiencing frequent stress during the pandemic. Such high levels of stress can negatively affect physical and mental health. Due to this, it’s important to learn how to manage your work in a way that minimises stress, so you can increase your productivity without sacrificing your health. This can be especially useful for upperclassmen who have college applications and admission tests to prepare for, which requires great time management skills.

Time management:

Scheduling your work can make you feel in control of your day, which is good for your mental health and outlook on studying, as it increases your confidence and self-efficacy.

1. Make a to-do list of ALL your tasks, even the smallest ones. Then, order everything by priority. If you have an essay due in 2 weeks, and a test in 2 days, the latter is probably more urgent.

2. When you have everything prioritised, pick out 2-3 most important tasks, and plan to do them today. If you choose too many tasks, you won’t be able to complete them, which can make you lose motivation. This way, you can spread out your work over a weekend, for example. Along with the most important tasks, you can also choose one easy/pleasant task to do, so you don’t get too bored.

3. Break down your work into smaller tasks. Instead of “Study for the biology exam,” you can try “Review cell structure and photosynthesis” in one study session. This is more realistic and manageable, and less stressful.

Studying efficiently:

Following your schedule is a big commitment, but each day it gets easier, because of how our brain exercises self-control. Here are some tips which can make you work more efficiently, therefore making it easier to follow through on your plans.

1. Study in the same spot

Organise a spot for studying, where you won’t have distractions, and ideally will have natural light. Don’t rest in this spot, and don’t study in other places. This will separate your work from your leisure, and when you go to your spot, your brain will be prepared to study. A good place for this would be a desk near a window.

2. Use the Pomodoro method

The famous pomodoro method consists of studying for 25 minutes and then taking a 5 minute break. After 3 cycles, you take a 15 minute break instead. This method has been scientifically proven to be optimal, because 25 minutes is long enough to get invested in your work, but not so long that you lose focus. Once you can do 25 minutes easily, you’re free to increase your study time.

3. Tell someone you’re going to study

If you tell someone about your goals, you’re more likely to stick to them.

4. Reward yourself

Everytime you reach a goal, reward yourself with something. This can be a snack for every page you read, or something bigger, like hanging out with your friends or shopping when you finish studying for an exam

General tips:

- If you find yourself studying at 3 am, nearly falling asleep, just go to sleep instead. If the homework is not SUPER urgent, it’s always better to go to sleep and do it later. Not only will you lose sleep, but your homework will be subpar as well, it’s a lose-lose situation. If your teacher allows you to submit the homework late, it’s best to go to sleep and be more prepared for work the next day.

- Don’t cram right before an exam. If you use the scheduling tips, you can plan off-days before your exam, which lets you relax. You probably won’t learn anything crucial right before your exam, and you might hurt your score by tiring yourself out. You can review quickly, for around 30 minutes, but after that it’s diminishing returns.

- At the end of the day, there are many circumstances which impact how much you can study and follow your schedules. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to be perfect, or it will make you more stressed than before. Resting and not getting perfect grades is the most ideal situation you can usually afford, but putting in effort to improve yourself and tackle your workload will prove helpful once you find your pace and pattern.

-By Mariam Chakhnashvili

Correlation between GPA and AP scores

We all place a lot of value on our GPA and our achievements, such as our AP and SAT test scores, but how much does our performance in school actually predict our performance on standardized tests? With skills acquired in 12^th grade AP Statistics class, we were able to calculate the correlation between real GPAs and AP scores from American High School students. It is worth noting that all of this data was provided to us anonymously, and it will be included in the newspaper anonymously as well. This data is confidential, therefore, no names were provided.

Let’s move onto our results. The correlation between the current semester unweighted GPA and average of all completed AP exam scores was 0.7858. This score can be interpreted as such: There is a 0.7858 correlation between AP scores and GPA, which means that the correlation is strong and positive. So 62% of the variation in AP scores can be explained by the variation of the GPA. This means that GPA is closely correlated with AP exam scores, and a high GPA predicts a high AP score. On the right, you can see the scatterplot of the GPA and AP scores of our students. The formula for the predictive line is -1.14+1.4x. With this formula, you can approximate your average AP scores by plugging in your GPA instead of x. If your GPA is 3.5, you can say that your predicted AP scores will be -1.14+1.4*3.5=3.76. Keep in mind that this is an approximate line, and you may be an outlier in this case.

-By Mariam Chakhnashvili

What could be improved in American High School?

While the American High School administration tries their best to make reach our school’s full potential, the student can also bring valuable feedback. Pointing out the flaws in our teaching system is not spiteful, but rather the opposite; when we point out our problems, the school can work with us and help us overcome them. In the spirit of free speech, human rights, equality, and cooperation, American High School students were asked to fill out a survey about the possible improvements in our school. Let’s move onto the findings.

First, the survey had many options that students could choose from to identify the current problems. Out of the 14 options, the most frequently voiced concern was the lack of education on practical topics, such as sex ed., finances, or healthcare. Some schools have variations of sex ed, and our AP Psychology course offers an overview of reproductive anatomy, puberty, and pregnancy, but this may not be sufficient. Not all students will take AP Psychology, and those who do are already 16 year old students, when sex ed classes are recommended to students aged 11-12 years. 78% of students chose this as something that could be improved in school. The next most popular options were “our involvement with global issues” such as global warming, “mental health support for students,” and “lack of extracurricular activities.” 56% of students chose these options, which means that these are very important flaws of our school, which should be addressed. For those who picked lack of extracurricular activities: you’re looking at one right now! If you have the desire to participate in the making of next semester’s newspaper, feel free to contact anyone who is listed as a participant.

Some issues which were picked less were student-teacher relationships, problems with the nurse, grading problems, unfair treatment of students, and the violation of student privacy. At the end of the survey, students had the option to choose which of their marked problems was the most important to fix. Most students picked mental health support for students, which is an understandable concern, considering that we have one psychologist (not the psychology teacher) and no one ever talks to them. Feel free to suggest ways to improve this problem, as well as read through other articles in this newspaper about mental health and stress. Next semester’s newspaper will also include an article about how mental health resources could be improved in school, and a research paper will be released on this topic by the Research AP students. Stay tuned!

-By Mariam Chakhnashvili

Editorial Board

Mariam Chakhnashvili, 12^th grade, editor-in-chief

Giorgi Ugulava, 12^th grade, lead designer/developer

Nita Bakradze, 12^th grade, staff writer/designer

Sophie Darchiashvili, 12^th grade, staff writer/designer

Nino Tedoradze, 10^th grade, staff designer

Nitsa Skhvitaridze, 8^th grade, staff writer

Elisabed Arveladze, 8^th grade, staff writer

Nikoloz Chakhnashvili, 8^th grade, staff writer

Advisory Board

Natia Tevzadze, Dean, American High School

Mariam Khatiashvili, Student Engagement Coordinator, American High School