by Beacon Staff Posted in PhotoBlog | No Comments »
Here’s a tip for those students who want to have their cake and eat it too… be creative in your baking.
When a certain STA Senior celebrated his 18th birthday on election day, his classmates wanted to celebrate it with a cake. One brilliant baker decorated the cake with the Normal distribution density curve and voila, you have a confection fitting for Mrs. Turner’s AP Stats Class!
by Mr. Christie Posted in Call for entries | No Comments »
We have openings for Sports, Music, Movies, Current Events, Arts and Culture and other reporters. If you’re interested in filling one of these spots, come to the meeting today after school in room 205. The meeting starts at 2:45 and should wrap up by 3:15.
by Beacon Staff Posted in Student Art | No Comments »
Mrs. Maskwa’s Art Classes are notorious for producing fantastic things, here are just a few examples. These are from the Honors Class and the Black and White Class. The works are by, in order, Morgan Bragger, Jess Jacques, Maxxwell Connelly and Kiah Begley.
.
The artists reserve all rights to these images.
by Beacon Staff Posted in PhotoBlog | No Comments »
Our Cross Country Team is normally so fast it’s hard to get a good picture of them, but here’s one sent to us by a parent taken at the JV State Meet. Thank you for sharing!
If you have pictures of one of our teams in action or, as is the case here, inaction, or other related STA pics, send them to Mr. Christie.
by Peter R Posted in This Month in History | No Comments »
October 1805
Trafalgar
During the Napoleonic Wars, the only force that prevented France from completely dominating Europe was the superior navy of the British Empire. It had frustrated Napoleon’s plans for conquest of Egypt when he was still a republican general; now, throughout the first decade of the nineteenth century, it would stymie him time and time again, though as Emperor of France he presided over the world’s greatest military.
Key to the success of the British navy was Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, immortalized by his enthralling charisma and unconventional tactics. Nelson was the flag officer who defeated the French in Egypt, at Copenhagen, and, climactically and decisively, off Cape Trafalgar, where he routed a combined Franco-Spanish fleet without losing a single vessel. But the victory cost him his life.
Under Napoleon, France ruled mainland Europe. What Nelson was at sea, Napoleon was on the continent, devastating opposing coalitions at Ulm, Austerlitz, and Friedland. In order to sap the profits of British naval power, Napoleon concocted the Continental System, shutting off all trade between Britain and the mainland. Then, when Britain, Austria, and Russia formed a coalition and went to war with France in 1805, Napoleon resolved to crush Britain on its own soil. To do so, he needed to control the surrounding waters, especially the English Channel through which the invasion force was to be transported.
Napoleon sought to merge his European and Caribbean fleets. The French admiral Villeneuve was bottled up in Toulon by the British, but at the emperor’s command he evaded Nelson, met up with the fleet in the West Indies, and arrived in Cadiz on August 28. Meanwhile, Napoleon was waging war in Austria. A British army threatened to enter Italy and attack him from the south, so he ordered Villeneuve to enter the Mediterranean and repel them. But Admiral Lord Nelson, whose fleet was lurking outside Cadiz, beat Villeneuve to Gibraltar, then turned around and sailed northwest to force a confrontation off Cape Trafalgar.
Villeneuve positioned his ships conventionally: a solid row that maximized firepower. But Nelson devised a bold method of attack—the division of his ships into two columns that would pierce the French line. Once the French were scattered, Nelson’s better trained sailors could pick them apart. The scheme worked to perfection; the French fleet was decimated and seven thousand men were captured, including Villeneuve—but in the heat of the conflict Nelson had been shot through the lung by an enemy marksman. He died several hours later, but at Trafalgar he secured British naval dominance and crushed any French hope for an invasion of Britain. Fittingly, his last words were “Thank God, I have done my duty.”
by Beacon Staff Posted in PhotoBlog | No Comments »
Click the thumbnails for full size.
by Beacon Staff Posted in Call for entries | No Comments »
The Beacon Writer Recruitment Meeting is coming soon. Listen for announcements, check this space. You don’t want to miss it. Seriously, we’re giving away free stuff AND you get to work for the coolest club in the school.
by Beacon Staff Posted in History, Actual News! Sort of.. | No Comments »
Below you’ll see pictures of the original letters sent from Dover Middle School students and from Garrison Elementary Students back in 2004 seeking that a new Virginia class submarine be named the USS New Hampshire. After years of waiting, SSN 778 will be commissioned the USS New Hampshire on October 25. An STA the was instrumental in getting the campaign started, and a videographer from the shipyard making a movie about the story recently visited STA to film.
by Beacon Staff Posted in Sports | No Comments »
Apparently tired of dominating the Volleyball Arena, the STA team has now taken up the Trapeze.
Here are some pix from their recent trip to The Jordan’s Furniture Entertainment Rotunda to participate in a class from the TSNY. As always, click on the pics for full size.
by Beacon Staff Posted in Spirit Week Rox | 3 Comments »
The Beacon Staff took an informal poll of itself and decided that Twin Day is one our top five favorite days of all of the Spirit Week Days, though we felt bad because several of our writers didn’t have twins. Fortunately, we all came dressed up like something out of a Rick Astley video as usual, so we all pretended we had twins and the day was saved.
On to the pictures:
Our favorite costume of the day- Garbage!
Two of the garbage cans fell over during Quiz Bowl and couldn’t right themselves. Fortunately the students were recycled.
There were too many great costumes and ideas to list them all here, but here’s a sampling:
The mimes said ” ,” which was ironic because in fact they seemed to scare the freshmen.
Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash to the third power.
Some of the Frosh were just big babies, but they did very well considering it’s their first Spirit Week.
Twin Day Firsts: The team on the left was the first team ever to win the coveted “Best Sledding or Mushing Costume, group” category without the use of sled dogs, while the team on the right was the first to win “Best Use of Boas” without live snakes.
Your Beacon Bits Staff was just given a fifteen yard penalty for bad jokes, and will have to run extra sprints after our meeting according to these two. We’ll stop here and look forward to tomorrow’s activities.