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%u25a0dacatioa W i m H m Education BdacatloaGrowing Up and Looking BackGetting Bdck into th*9 Swing of ThingsBY DENISE GRANOWITTERAs the summer comes to an end, I begin to reflect back upon my last five years at Packer Collegiate Institute. I have come to realize how much that school means to me and how important my senior year will be.Through the past years I have been aware of numerous changes that have taken place around me and within me. I have been able to see a change in my life, my approach, and my attitude about almost everything. I also have been able to see my school make major improvements to create a finer scholastic atmosphere. Aside from these two points there has been a tremendous change in my classmates. Once they were all involved in the %u2018 %u2018clique stage, %u2019 %u2019 but now your class is a %u201clarge family.%u201d Since we are all a lot older we are able to accept our many differences.Being involved in extra-curricular activities is a great, rewarding experience. There is always anactivity that different types of people can join. Naturally I have a few regrets about going back to school, such as a loss of freedom and spare time, especially when the pressures of school begin to mount up. The numerous activities can help students take their minds off of problems and schoolwork, obviously helping them to relax. For me, my great release of anxieties and pressures are in athletics. 1 believe there is an importance in getting involved outside your daily academic workload. When you are involved at Packer, or any other school, you become aware of the value in learning to communicate with others and try to work as part of a team.These things are not easy, but the atmosphere at Packer is created to make it easier.I will miss the teams I have been on, the newspaper I%u2019m much a part of, the yearbook, the committees and everything else at Packerwhich has been made available to my schoolmates and myself. But fortunately 1 have another year to change and grow along with Packer. This year I will be a senior%u2014one of many in many schools, a supposed leader, someone who has been through their share of errors, and someone with more experience who can help others get involved.During the past years I have struggled through tests, assignments and with teachers. I have tried to meet and conquer challenges. Many times too many of them stared me in the face at once. But I now realize that this is an excellent way to prepare myself for college. In college, so I have heard from friends, each day presents you with new decisions to make on your own. At Packer the same things occur daily. I have learned to sacrifice some enjoyment for a test. I am finally able to set my school priorities straight even though so much is available.Settling into school doesn%u2019t bother me. Actually, it rather excites me. Even shopping for school paraphernalia and clothes is a pleasant fall feeling. Re-adjusting to homework will be a drag at first, but I'll do it better this year because I can cope with it. It's my last year.irn looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. New faces, old friends. Returning to school gives me the chance to try m\\ hand at all the different courses I've signed up for. It also gives me the chance to start fresh with new teachers and their techniques. And lastly the challenge to grasp all of the new concepts which 1 must learn to understand the new things I%u2019m studying.Just thinking about starting a new semester with all new courses gives me a fresh and novel incentive.Learning Things theBY DAVID HABENSTREITSummer has a tendency of sneaking up on me; each year I refuse to acknowledge the need for making summer plans until June, at the earliest. This year was no exception. I didn%u2019t really notice that I w asn%u2019t doing anything this summer until July, at which point I couldn%u2019t make any rationalizations for the fact that 1 hadn%u2019t even begun to look for a job. Not that,I would mind being unemployed. T here%u2019s probably nothing I would%u2019ve liked more than to do absolutely nothing except for seeing friends and going to the beach. Unfortunately, my parents didn%u2019t agree; they insisted that I had to have some sort of %u201c structured activity%u201d this summer.So, one sunny July day I trudged over to the office of The PHOENIX. The editor was not there, but I left my name and number. During my five minutes there I had my first %u201c learning experience%u201d : I found out it can get very hot in that office.I decided that it would help my cause if I sent in a resume, so I typed up a little list of my scholastic accomplishments and made copies of some of my better term papers. About ten days later I received a call from Judy Linscott, the editor, and we arranged an appointment. After several days of worryingabput the interview, I found it was anti-climactic; the internship seemed to be mine if I wanted it, but Judy pointed out many reasons why I wouldn%u2019t want it: low pay for a week that usually works out longer than the theoretical 3%u2018/amaking several phone calls just to find out who to call, I found out that the Sanitation and Parks Departments were completely confused as to what the other was doing. It took several weeks for them to straighten the matter out. Another exper-%u201cEarly on I learned that theCity Bureaucracy is everythingeveryone says it is~and worse. 'days, a non-air-conditioned office, and general insanity on Mondays and Tuesdays (we go to press on Tuesdays).I took the job as a learning experience and indeed it was, in several ways. Of course, it gave me practice in covering and writing stories, but I found there was more to that than the glamour. Early on, I learned that the City bureaucracy is everything everyone says it is, and worse. I was looking into the Sanitation Department policy of dumping sweepings in Prospect Park, an assignment I thought would be very simple. Afterience I had with bureaucracy was when I was looking into a water main break. I made a call and the person I spoke to transferred me to another and I was then transferred to five other people. I was beginning to think that there was an infinite number of people who didn%u2019t have the information I needed, but could switch my call to someone else. Of course, that wasn%u2019t true; there was a finite number of people who didn%u2019t have the information I needed, but could let me speak to someone else, and my call was eventually switched back to the person to whom 1 hadHard Wayspoken originally. Hmmm...I wonder if they mention things like this in the journalism class offered at my school, Stuyvesant High School. I would tend to think not.The job was fairly difficult from the beginning, but things really started to heat up on Thursday, August 10, the day the pressmen struck the dailies. For the next' week The PHOENIX and The VILLAGER merged and came out daily. The result was that the office was in a state of chaos. Reporters from the striking daily papers,VILLAGER and The PHOENIX were .all working out of the PHOENIX office, and that meant a lack of desk space, typewriters and access to the phone. Still, we managed to put out papers the Friday of the strike and Tuesday through Friday of the following week, which still amazes me. Since then it%u2019s been twice a week, and it now seems as if having a whole week to get the paper together would be a tremendous luxury, while before the strike it always seemed to be a rush to meet deadlines.The increased production schedule has also caused problems in my personal life. You see. I%u2019ve been working long hours and that has my parents clamoring about my physical well-being (%u201c You%u2019re not eatingproper meals or getting enough sleep%u201d ) and my girlfriend Val, complaining that I never see her anymore. Such is the price 1 pay in this business, I suppose.Now with one week left until school, I am leaving The PHOENIX for a while as a full-time reporter, although I will stay on in some capacity during the school year. Working here has been an excellent learning experience. Although I know that I don%u2019t really feel it because I%u2019ve picked up things gradually. Still, if I compare what I know now and what I knew before the summer I would find a big difference. Working here has given me an experience Stuyvesant could never supply. Writing is a small part of what I%u2019ve learned from the job. As a matter of fact, one of the things I've had to do is \some of my grammar, i.e. write in less than technically perfect English in some cases to avoid stiffness. I also picked up a lot in terms of production and other nuts-and-bolts operations. One thing I still don%u2019t understand, however, and probably never will, is how the stories and ads fit exactly into each page. I don%u2019t mind, however; it%u2019s nice to have that mystery linger.M L m t A ContestA. Exciting prizes will be awarded for the MostOriginal, Most Beautiful and Best Statement, in twocategories: one/two-person banners, and more-thantwo-person banners.B. Banners must be made predominantly of cloth, and C. The banner contest is open to aii block andmust revolve on the theme of neighborhood, neighborhood organizations, institutions, churches,organization, or street. Banners may be made to be schools, civic and commercial organizations as well ascarried by one to five persons in the parade. individuals.m m m m m m m m m am m m am ssm m m m m m Bm m m am m am um | have a Spectacular concept in mind for my banner. m ^ s s s m s s s s m s s s s s m s s ^N a m e ....................................................................................................................................... Banner Categories (check one)Organization ...................................................................................................................... Done/two-person bannersAddress.............................................................................................................................. %u25a1 more--! nan-two person bannersPhone: Days ................................................Eves..............................................................Return this Form to the Atlantic Antic Office, 340 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn, 112)1.Additional forms available at the Atlantic Antic Office, or The Phoenix, 395 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn 11217.