On Wednesday, March 9th all Appleton North freshman attended presentations about the North Nine. Noctiluca collected information about three of the presentations.

The first presentation came from the Stand Up Club. The presentation started off with the “man box”, which includes certain stereotypes about men, and then, proceeded to the main topic about privilege. Stand Up Club defined privilege in society as having an advantage or disadvantage over others because of who you are. Some privileges may be based on race, gender, or economic standpoint. This presentation helped students to understand the importance of knowing privileges and keeping them in balance.

A presentation on responsibility was presented next from Appleton North’s Link Crew. Ironically, the students who were supposed to present this were not responsible enough to show up. Therefore, a teacher had to see the presentation, which consisted of clips from the movie “Coach Carter”, and link it to responsibility. The different clips showed the responsibilities of doing a team sport, while being a student.

The final, and most informational, presentation was about the effects of marijuana on the teen brain. The presentation was given by our very own school social worker, Debbie Strick. Marijuana has some serious and long several effects such as anxiety, brain damage, memory problems, loss of motivation, loss of concentration, decreasing motivation, and an overall lack of balance. One in six teens become addicted to marijuana and if used over time, from the time of being a teen, up to eight IQ points could be lost. We watched a video outlining the science behind addiction and anxiety or depression from marijuana, but the bottom line was, marijuana has so many negative effects on the body, especially a teenage one.

Thank you to all the presenters for giving the presentations to the freshman classes. The Noctiluca looks forward to future presentations!