Saber Roar Response

This article has been written in response to this advice column article.

Dear Delaney and Saber Slate staff,

The staff of The Saber Roar wants to thank you for some of your suggestions.  We were looking to the students for ideas as to what they want to see covered and you gave us a few good leads.  However, we also felt we needed to address a few misconceptions you may have about The Saber Roar and why it is played during the advisory block.

Why is it played during the advisory block?

The gold block time on Monday is called the advisory block.  It is a purposeful time together when all students are required to stay with their gold block teacher. Teachers confer with students around academic needs, but also to get to know the student and build a supportive community among all the gold block students.  Most students will be with that teacher for four years, so they really get to know each other. This is also a time to build a cohesive FHS community, and one of the ways we do this is by taking the time to share ten minutes watching The Saber Roar, where we see the great things students and staff are doing at FHS.

What is the Saber Roar? A class or club? 

The Saber Roar is a class.  It is not a club. What you see on The Saber Roar is our classwork.  We are learning in front of our audience. Not everything we do will be perfect.  Imagine listening to presentations in English class. Are all the presenters perfectly polished?  Do they reach the depth of content needed? Or is there a variety? We have on average about 3.5 hours of class time per week to produce a 7 to 12-minute show.  Since it is a class, we believe that everyone deserves an opportunity to try all the jobs, including hosts. We always work to become better. Mrs. Hepworth has helped our on-camera hosts work on being more comfortable and this comes with time.  When you wrote your suggestions, we had only produced 3 shows out of the 24 we do in a year.

Who gets to be on The Saber Roar?

To get into the Video Production Company class (TSR) we have taken two years of video production classes, Intro to Video and Advanced Video.  We then have to go through a job interview to be accepted in the TSR class. It is organized as a student-run production company. There are coordinating producers that run the overall production and show producers responsible for individual shows as well as mentoring the first-year TSR students.

What is the purpose of The Saber Roar?

We try to help build a stronger FHS community and we take that responsibility seriously.

We cover events around the school so students can be recognized for their hard work and take time to celebrate accomplishments.  Over the years we’ve covered conference champions, state qualifiers, musical performances, important fundraisers such as Relay for Life, March Madness, and more. We also try to advertise upcoming events and special projects.

We also use the time to educate students on people in our community and give all groups a voice.  We’ve done segments on Ramdan, the history of African American hair, March for Our Lives, Hispanic history, LGBTQ history, Native American Day of Mourning, Saber Spotlight and many more.  TSR started the Kindness Movement to create a more inclusive school. We ran the National P-Wats day to recognize our amazing security aide. We’ve surprised teachers for teacher appreciation week. We hope these moments give students a glimpse into someone else’s life, bring understanding and empathy for all.

We also try to entertain and involve students. We have done comedy sketches with students and teachers.  These are some of our most popular segments, but they are also the hardest to do well.  We’ve surprised students in class with giant cookies, played games like the hidden saber, given away tee shirts, and involved gold blocks in challenges and Gold Block Games; all in hopes of building a stronger, kinder, and more spirited community.

We grow as filmmakers and change agents.  We enter our work into many film festivals locally, nationally and internationally.  We invite filmmakers, documentarians, cinematographers and more into our classroom. We travel to films, events, and Los Angeles to grow and learn as a team and as people.

So we hope you find some value in the things we do.  We appreciate your suggestions and more leads are always appreciated.

Ms. DeClark, Ben the Diabetic, and the students of The Saber Roar

Saber Slate’s Top Classes

Hey freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, it’s almost time to submit your classes for the 2020-21 school year! As you’re looking at what courses to take on Xello, you’ll notice that there are hundreds of classes to choose from. To help you pick out the most beneficial (and fun!) classes, the Saber Slate has come up with a list of their top picks. 

#1 Recommendation: Free Block (Seniors Only)

  • It’s relaxing to have a break from classwork to leave school, do homework, catch up on sleep, hang out with friends… you name it!
  • If you qualify for a free block, take it. This should be an automatic pick. Even if you don’t have the means to go home during the school day, it’s still relaxing to just hang out in the library and not have to go to any classes.
  • Additionally, there are coffee makers in the library, you just need to bring your own mug and K-Cups. 

Art

  • Ceramics 1
    • Recommend this for students who are into art and like creating, or for students who want an interesting class
    • Nice and creative

Business

  • Personal Finance 
    • Recommended for: Everyone
    • You’ll actually use that kind of math later in life
    • Super helpful for budgeting, writing checks, buying cars, etc.
    • Either way, it’s going to be required for students graduating in the next few years

Engineering and Architecture

  • Programming 
    • Recommend this for students who want to find out how computers, websites, and software work
    • Get to write your own programs! 
    • If you’re strong in the logic used in math (especially algebra/calc), you’ll be strong in the logic used in programming
    • It really makes you think!

English

  • Film as Literature
    • You get to watch movies. Enough said.
  • Creative Writing
    • Explore all different types of writing
    • A great break from essay writing
    • Plenty of work time in class, barely any outside of class work 
  • AP Literature 
    • Get to read all types of fiction works from novels, plays, poetry

Enriched Virtual/Online

  • Take them, you can leave school
  • Work at your own pace

Math

  • Calc BC 
    • If you get recommended, you should sign up
      • It’s a really fun class
    • Related to physics
    • Super interesting, can be tough at times but you get to find out how certain equations are derived, how they relate to each other, and other cool calc concepts

Music

  • Band is fun if you’re willing to commit to marching band! 
  • Everyone should take at least one music class
    • Intro to Piano, Studio Tech or something, and Creating Music
    • Everyone listens to music so why not try to understand it a little better
    • More interesting/creative class than most of the academic classes
  • If you are in a choral or instrumental music class, you should always try to audition for the top ensemble, why not?
  • AP Music Theory
    • If you are good in music, then consider taking AP Music Theory
    • You get to understand music in a deeper way and it will help you in your normal music classes if you take them
    • But it can be a difficult AP course and there is some singing involved

PE/Health

  • Weight Training
    • It’s a very fun class
    • There isn’t a lot of running involved
    • Most days it’s kind of a free period to work out in the weight room
    • Also, learn about muscles which can relate to different science degrees
  • Dance 
    • Not your traditional PE class
    • More relaxation than sweating 
    • Come up with your own dances to the music of your choice at the end of each quarter
    • Get to do yoga and meditation (it really does help with stress relief!)
  • Personal Fitness and Wellness
    • You get to learn a bunch of different stretches and exercises
    • You learn different ways to stay healthy 
    • Practice meditation and yoga

Science

  • Forensic Science
    • Very interesting. It’s like being in a CSI show
    • Some parts can get kind of gross (such as looking at maggots)
      • I will be forever scarred by that class, but I still recommend
  • AP Chemistry 
    • It’s a tough class, no kidding, but the concepts and labs are so interesting and fun since you get to use all different types of chemicals

Social Studies

  • Practical Law
    • Best class
    • Mock trials are so fun
    • Need to know your rights!
    • Mr. Doucette is real cool
  • AP Psych 
    • Easiest AP class
    • Learn about how your brain works 
  • AP Macro
    • It’s a semester, and it’s an AP class
    • Learn about relevant economics
    • Helps you understand the economics talked about in the news and in politics
    • Relevant for anyone who wants to be an entrepreneur, and quite honestly, anyone who wants to have a job in the future

World Language

  • Any of them 
    • Interesting to learn how other cultures and languages are similar/different than ours
    • Exposes you to different types of people, countries, etc.
    • Makes you appreciate the diversity in our world
    • 2-3 years minimum required for most colleges… why not take it for free in high school? 
    • Make new friends 
    • You get to travel to different countries!

Internship/Aide Block

  • Youth Apprenticeship 
    • Find out what you really do on a typical work day in your interested field
    • Even if you end up not wanting to major in that field, at least you have that experience
    • Awesome for resumes/college apps
    • Can be paid!

These are just our top recommendations. We highly recommend you take at least some of these classes and explore the different courses our school has to offer, but in the end, the choice is up to you!