Senator Square: Carson High staff and students lead by giving through the holidays

This is the season for giving. Our students and staff at CHS have big hearts. Many Carson High School clubs and teams adopted families from the Empire School District for the Christmas holiday. Thank you to HOSA, FBLA, Boys’ basketball, boy’s baseball, Key Club, Link Crew, and Leadership classes for providing gifts and essentials to these families.

National Honor Society also took on many charitable activities and our choir and band programs also gathered food at their winter concerts to donate to local charities. Your donations made this Christmas very special for those in our community. I am always amazed out the outpouring of generosity from our students and families to others in need.

Senator Square will return Jan. 11. Until then, my wish to all of you is to have a very blessed holiday season. Let your hearts be full of happiness and giving during this winter season. See you next year!

NHS News
The following submitted by Nick Rosen, NHS Public Relations Officer. Another busy November and December has passed for National Honors Society at Carson High. We have been working of several projects over the last two months, and now most of them are ending.

One of these was the coat drive — an effort to provide warmth for kids in struggling families. It was a success, and 110 children in Carson City were given coats. We also did a food drive. National Honors Society donated $500 from fundraisers to struggling families of children at Empire Elementary, in order for them to have proper holiday dinners. We provided turkeys and pies as well as holiday food baskets for 50 families.

We also participated in the Toys for Tots program, which gives children from less fortunate families an opportunity to receive a toy for Christmas. NHS collected 2 full boxes of toys. We would like to thank everyone in NHS who participated in these events, as well as anyone else who contributed to the betterment of our community.​

Speech and Debate News
Carson High competed at the Reno tournament this weekend bringing home several honors. Head coach Patrick Mobley recently earned his Diamond Coach Award from the National Forensic League. Diamond Coach Awards reflect excellence and longevity in the activity.

Coaches receive one point for every ten merit points earned by their students; the First Diamond is earned when s/he receives 1,500 points and has been coaching in the League for at least five years. At the tournament the team did very well in speech events. Every CHS competitor placed in the top three in at least one preliminary round.

Fabian Francis took 6th place in novice foreign extemporaneous reporting on current world events. Jonas Allread took 5th place overall in speaker points in novice public forum debate. Duy Khanh Nguyen claimed 4th best speaking in novice Lincoln Douglas debate. Shaylin Segura took 4th place in senior impromptu speaking. This was her first tournament competing at the senior speech division. Partners and brothers Evan and Jonas Allred took 3rd place overall in novice public forum, debating the merits of private prisons. Luke Szatmary took 2nd place overall in senior impromptu speaking.

Sawyer Barnett took 2nd place overall with his original oratory on the fear of failure. In addition to the tournament Scarlett Baeza placed first in the Veterans of Foreign Wars Oratorical competition at the first level. Her piece now advances to the regional competition. Several Carson High Debaters will be competing in the American Legion Oratorical Competition this weekend.

Carson High also hosts the next league tournament January 23 and 24. We need close to 100 volunteer judges in order to have a successful tournament. No experience is required and judging is both rewarding and fun. Anyone interested can contact Patrick Mobley at pmobley@carson.k12.nv.us or call 283-1736.

Baseball Fundraiser
The CHS Baseball team and Boosters are hosting Dinner and Poker night Saturday January 24th at Silver Oak. Dinner tickets are $25 and Poker with dinner tickets are $60. Please email ebeen@carson.k12.nv.us if you would like to buy a ticket. 

Greater Nevada Contest
Attention all Carson High Student Creative Artists. The Greater Nevada Credit Union branch at Carson High School is sponsoring a Mural Contest open to all Carson High School Students- First prize is a $200 Amazon Gift Card, 2nd Prize is a $100 Amazon Gift Card. The winner will get to paint their awesome winning design on the whole wall right outside the CHS Greater Nevada Credit Union Branch.

The contest began Dec. 8 and entries are due by Jan. 8. Stop by the GNCU branch next to Student Finance at CHS, or see Mr. Malley to pick up an entry form and contest rules. Get creative and show us your talent.

Student of the Week
This week's student of the week is Curtis Basa. Curtis is a sophomore at Carson High. He is involved in National Honors Society and the Robotics Club, and was a part of the boys tennis team. Curtis conducts himself in a professional and respectful manner and is a role-model for others. He intellectually challenges himself with four honors-level courses and strives for excellence in all. Thank you Curtis for being an awesome student here at CHS!

Senior Spotlight
This week the Senior Spotlight is Ashley Lyford-McGowan. Ashley has a GPA of 3.93 and is carrying many Honors classes for her senior year. This is her fourth year in NJROTC. She is the Company Commander of Carson High School’s NJROTC unit. Ashley is in charge of over 230 NJROTC cadets, keeping them accountable with their academics and conduct in and out of school.

She has also been a Link Crew Leader for three years. After graduation Ashley plans on attending Western Nevada College to further her studies in American Sign Language. Her goal is to become a certified interpreter for the deaf and hard of hearing. After she completes her Deaf Studies, Ashley will be going into the Air Force. Carson High School is proud of Ashley and wish her the best of luck in the future.

— Angila Golik is a government teacher and a member of Senator Pride.