Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Mason TechOlympics participants earn second place at competition

Juliana Discher I Staff Writer


Mason TechOlympics participants sure knew the “code” to success.

The 2015 TechOlympics were held February 20-22 at the Millennium Hotel in downtown Cincinnati. This expo taught Mason students about topics in technology including healthcare, IT, business intelligence, and coding. Representatives from startup companies and big businesses attended to reach out and give advice to aspiring students. The participants competed against other schools in programming, network, and digital design. The goal of this expo was to encourage students to pursue their passions in technology.

The Mason participants, led by computer teacher, Greg Kummer, were: Raga Maddela, Lizzy Kong, Amy Huang, Alexander Shearer, Nick Rook, Charlie Yu, Andrew Rosin, Zach Rudy, Asa Maine, Noah Marsteller, Daniel Eichler, Sai Madichetty, Jake Belcastro, Paraj Arora, Vivek Vattyam, Amith Rao, Sreeram Venkatarao, Jeet Srivastava, Tyler Hilbert, Brennan Hoeting, Ben Rasmussen , Matthew Gibbs, Jake Frankel, Andy Trenaman, Ajay Patnaik, Clayton Lewis, Andrew Gao, Alexander Chung, Matthew Lucy, Evan Shearer, Kusha Ansari, Dariah Ansari, Sam Coyle, Michael Crawshaw, Ria Datla, and Sydney Braine.

Full Story: http://thecspn.com/?p=27728

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Sick of being sick

After fighting what seemed like just a persistent cold for two months, my mom finally forced me to go to the doctor. Although the doctor did a thorough examination (which included the worst form of torture--being touched by icey cold snake hands) she couldn't come to a conclusion on what my illness was. This required me to get a blood test (the second worst form of torture).

After much waiting and thumb twiddling, the dreaded results came back. My liver counts were off the charts. The doctor said I have mono and jaundice.

This is not the fun type of sickness where you feel kinda crummy for a day so you get to skip school and watch movies and eat ice cream and then go right back. I've already missed a week of school and I'm still not better. I'm not sure when I'll be able to go back full days, or even half days. I have a fever that seems like it won't go away, nausea, swollen glands like a chipmunk, a sore throat, and constant fatigue. Frankly, I'm not a happy camper right now.

I'm sick of getting more and more behind in school.

I'm sick of being teased because I have the 'kissing disease'.

I'm sick of looking like a cast member from Twilight.

I'm sick of not being able to hang out with my friends.

I'm sick of crappy daytime television.

I'm sick of having to miss fun events like my school's talent show.

I'm just sick of being sick.

My message for all of you is to appreciate your health . Appreciate being able to go to school and work. Appreciate that you can leave the house without feeling nauseous or faint. I know that once I'm feeling better, I'll sure as heck be taking advantage of every opportunity I get.