Here at Ursuline, we are fortunate to host talented speakers and guests. I still remember some speakers from my freshman year, and I will remember them long after I have left the Academy.

Following their presentations, speakers are usually kind enough to ask us if we have any questions. But in this moment, there is great danger.

No, it’s not because of that momentary awkward silence in which everyone looks dumbly around the room at each other. What I find most upsetting is those who do garner the courage to ask a question: an ignorant question, that is.

While this may sound harsh or exceedingly judgmental, the reality is there are quite a number of questions that frankly are not appropriate to pose, especially to those who might be unfamiliar with the idiosyncrasies of Ursuline.

For example, should global students of the male persuasion happen to be presenting a PowerPoint on their Mexican culture, it would not be appropriate to inquire about their relationship status. And, hypothetically, it would also not be of proper tact to inquire, say, about the legal age to go clubbing in their country. Especially in front of a significant portion of the student body, teachers, and school administrators.

Now, what constitutes a stupid question? Perhaps some guidelines would be useful. Avoid discussing their personal relationships (marital/dating status would fall into this category). In fact, it’s probably best that you avoid their personal life in general (it’s none of your business). Other questions to avoid include the following: “Can we be Facebook friends?” “What is your sexual orientation?” “Are you with child?” and “What is your sign?”

Alas, stupid questions are not just limited to the presentation setting, they are also asked in the classroom. How many times have you heard this line: “I know this is a stupid question, but…”? This has always caused me a great deal of confusion. Said questioner knows they are asking a stupid question, yet is still willing to look like a fool and ask it anyway? Have you no dignity?

There are a few repercussions that come with asking a stupid question. First, it just makes you look like you do not know anything. Second, people will judge you. Third, if you are with a group (e.g. school, friends, or family), everyone will think those you are with are also dumb. Fourth, the questioner looks immature and appears to be unable to handle a serious situation.

So before you decide to ask your question, ask yourself these questions first: Would your grandmother support your question? Can you find the answer somewhere else? Will people laugh when they hear the question? Would St. Angela approve?

As Career Day nears and an influx of guests will be on the Ursuline campus, I ask you to really think before you pose a question. Because maybe, just maybe, it is a question that simply should not be asked.

I walk into Ursuline thinking today will be an ordinary day. Nothing too special. Just the usual chatter, massive food consumption, and complaints about homework.

What I find is an Ursuline I never knew existed.

The first thing I notice is that Haggar is quiet. It is not exactly silent, but the clamor I have learned to love has definitely calmed down. All the girls seem a little more conscious of their behavior. Everyone acts more purposefully, daintily, and, dare I say, more ladylike. But the biggest change I notice is the staring. From all around the lunchroom, I see girls with wide eyes staring in the same direction like zombies. Needless to say, this is a little creepy, so I start to wonder: what could they possibly be staring at?

Then, I realize what they are looking at.

There are boys in Ursuline.

BOYS.

HERE.

In URSULINE.

Yes, our sanctum of femininity has finally been disturbed by some Jesuit guys visiting their girlfriends at lunch. And I am scared. Not of the boys, per se. But of the strong reaction their presence has caused throughout our Academy.

All the girls around me give our visitors the level of attention generally reserved for celebrities. Lunchtime chatter has been replaced by voices whispering, “Who’s that guy? Where does he come from?” All thought of assignments and other obligations have been tossed aside. To put it simply, Ursuline has become a different school, and I feel awkward.

I want to hear that freshman rant about her English paper. I would love to see 20 sophomores sharing a pint of ice cream. At this moment, I would give anything to hear a group of seniors brag about how they haven’t showered in a week. I just want my school back and normalcy restored to my life.

And it is. When the boys leave five minutes later.

This must be the effect of going to an all-girls school: we reach the point where we do not know how to go to school with boys anymore. Yet as awkward as it is, the lack of boys is one of the things that defines Ursuline. It just isn’t Ursuline anymore when a teenage boy steps foot on campus.

—Penelope

      A superlative that nobody can pinpoint but everyone can recognize—once the winner is chosen, she always seems an obvious choice. The dictionary definition of ‘typical’ is “exhibiting the qualities, traits, or characteristics that identify a kind, class, group, or category.”

     By this definition, the Most Typical Ursuline Girl is the epitome of the Ursuline spirit—the one who best represents what it means to be an Ursuline girl. To most this would mean a smart, talented, professional girl who eats half of her body weight in ice cream every week and showers less often than that despite playing a sport and running a club and acting in the school play…A fearsome thing to behold, to be sure.

     So what does it really mean to be an Ursuline girl? The Bear Facts conducted a poll of Ursuline students, Jesuit and Cistercian boys and businesses in the area to find out what each group considered to be ‘typical’ of Ursuline girls.

Area Employees

      Have you ever wondered what the outside world thinks of Ursuline girls? Well, now we have some insight. The top five adjectives used to describe us by area employees are chatty, good customers, polite, nice, and preppy. “Maybe I’m biased because a lot of my customers are from Ursuline, but they are really nice and really polite. They’re some of my favorite customers,” remarked Dave S., manager of the Smoothie King on Forest Lane.

Jesuit Boys

     Tim N. sums up the Jesuit view of Ursuline best: “Through numerous encounters, the typical Ursuline girl has proved to be kind and considerate. She is generally open to lend a hand and prone to be outspoken and outgoing. She enjoys being with her friends, loves her free periods, and always complains about her homework load. Secretly, they all wish to be the only girl in attendance at Jesuit.” The top five adjectives from our brother school were nice, caring, social, stressed, and nonchalant.

Cistercian Boys

     Cistercian boys interviewed depicted Ursuline girls as nice, neurotic, classy, stressed and social. Senior Scott S. described ‘The Typical Ursuline Girl’ as “caring, compassionate and above reproach.” Different respondents compared Ursuline girls to everyone from the cast of ‘The Hills’ to Hockaday girls (Don’t worry, though. The general consensus is that Ursuline girls are at least classier and/or nicer than both).

Ursuline Girls

     The Ursuline community has spoken and the verdict is in. The top adjectives used to describe ourselves are stressed, hard-working, busy, smart, and hungry. In other words, we view ourselves as workaholics and derive a lot of pride and worth from our work and activities. Some notable adjectives also given were driven, vivacious, professional and tired. We also consider ourselves well-informed, green (skinned, from not showering) and global. Priya T. ‘10, had the perfect one-word description: “Atypical.”

     Now, to oppose the green movement in our day and age is the near equivalent of killing puppies. This, of course, is not my intention. It is rather to question a movement that remains largely infallible in our nation’s eyes: if a product has a ‘green’ label on it, we naturally assume that it must be infinitely superior.

     While in many cases this may very well be true, marketing products as ‘environmentally friendly’ or ‘green’ is largely hypocritical.

     Why? Because it encourages us to consume more. Sure a new energy efficient washing machine may save energy, but what happens to your old machine? Or any old appliance that is replaced for an ‘energy efficient’ one? 

     But the marketing does not stop at appliances. Certain clothing, cleaning products, why, even electronics are now marketed as ‘green.’ This idea needs to be re-evaluated: isn’t the goal to consume less? To conserve resources?

     The other day for example I was at a pet store where I saw a display of “Eco-friendly” dog collars. Naturally, I was curious to know just how dog collars could possibly be earth friendly. It turns out that these collars were not only made out of recycled materials, but were also manufactured using a process that emitted less carbon.

     While this is great and everything, wouldn’t it be more “Eco-friendly” to not buy your dog a fifth studded collar?

     Wouldn’t it be more environmentally friendly just not to buy anything? I believe the mantra is “reduce, reuse, recyle,” not “buy, buy, buy.”

     In truth, consumerism and environmentalism should be conflicting ideologies. But somehow, as ironic as a recycle truck that emits high quantities of toxic fumes, the two seem to have come together.

     But it seems that “going green” is more than a movement and a marketing strategy.  It also seems to be a fad: from drinking out of a Sigg to driving a Prius, saving the environment is in.

     Let’s just hope it’s a trend that lasts.

     Obviously, technology is supposed to make life easierrrrrrrr..r..jjl ifdeqn

     So sorry, I just had to restart my laptop 5 times, do my “please, please, PLEASE work” dance, and scream a few times to get it up and running again…That was fun.

     So right, technology. Technology is flkj dsf…,…,

     UGH! Once again, so sorry friends. I’ve been frantically saving everything on my laptop to a disk drive because I have that gut feeling that those two “issues” were just the beginning.  Do you want to hear how I got it working this time? I closed my eyes, and put my hand over the keyboard. Holding one hand up to the heavens, I yelled, “I heal you!!!” like a faith healer.  I think I might have scared my classmates…

     I swear this time I’ll get through a sentence. Now, Technckjvl

     Okay, so I got serious this time. I finally took my laptop to the Cave and Kyle told me I should come back tomorrow. You know what that means. Bye bye laptop, see you next week.  It’s not Kyle’s fault, though. Many laptops here have about the same number of problems as mine. He must be swamped, all the time. This breakdown is just unfortunate because now I have to redo my biology project.

     Oh well. Here goes. Technology is a tool we can use to increase efficiency and stay connected with the world around us.  Hey look, that’s a full sentence!!! Maybe I’ll be able to finished a para.ge gl`d

Garrrrr. Now, I’m mad. My hot spare broke down. I had to get a hot spare for my hot spare! And you remember that biology project I was working on. Gone. Again.

     You know, when my laptop is working, it is a thing of beauty. I can get all my homework done with a billion times the efficiency. My life is easier and I am more technologically aware because of it.  In fact, just the other day, my mother asked me to scan her computer for viruses and fix her internet so that it wouldn’t be so slow, and I knew how to address both those problems. 

     However, for those terrible, bleak days when technology doesn’t work, my world basically comes crashing down around me. 

     Now, I only have one more thing to sayfn bcvio wfbefo

     You know what? Forget it.

— Penelope

How will I miss thee, Trailer Park of Knowledge? Let me count the ways: I will miss your erratic heating system, chilling me to the bones in Spanish class and while making me sweat all my bodily fluids in English. Oh how’ll I will miss your long path of slush after a rainy day, forever staining my Saddle Oxford a grimy brown. And of course, let us not forget your super classy bathrooms, where it was a shock, a day worthy of celebration, when either the lock or the flush would actually work.

Oh Academic Village! How I loved walking through the freezing cold, the sheets of rain, and the fire (Okay, maybe not “fire” per say but summer in Texas sure feels like the inside of a volcano.). And do you remember the good times when you tried to deafen me with announcements every morning and afternoon?

Goodbye Academic Village, Adieu! I will miss punching in that high security code “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,” in order to reach a smelly, long lined bathroom. I love that during your brief stint at our institution, Texas had one of the rainiest Novembers on record. It gave me a chance to sport one of our stylish school ponchos that made everyone look like they were wearing ghost costumes gone terribly wrong.

If my sarcasm is too subtle for you, I’ll just straight out say it: I will NOT miss the Academic Village. I have to say I have never been so excited to see a demolition team in my life. I literally want to go over, put on a hard hat, and lend a hand. I won’t miss the Academic Village not only because of its bad appearance and reputation but also because I’m excited by the prospect of this new building, with so much potential.

Some might complain that the new building is so white that it gives them headaches, that none of the teachers can ever be found, and that the hand dyers in the new building never actually get your hands dry and that’s all true. However, I just want to remind them that we’re not finished nesting. This building is going to be a newer, better part of the Ursuline legacy than the Academic Village ever was.

—Penelope

     On YouTube, there is footage of cameramen interviewing people on the streets of New York City and asking them the date of the 9/11 attacks. The wrong answers from the people they show are shocking; not just because the date is in the name of the attacks, but because these were residents of the city that was actually attacked.

     Jay Leno has become famous for his Jaywalking segments. While it’s funny to watch people get stumped over questions about the government, historical figures or even the symbolism of our flag, it’s more than a little sad to see just how apathetic Americans are about their own country.

     Rick Shenkman, award-winning investigative journalist and founder of the website History News Network, tells us in his 2008 published book Just How Stupid Are We?  Facing the Truth about the American Voter that a recent poll found that only 20% of Americans knew that the term of a United States senator was six years.  How many senators are there?  Another poll found that the same 20% knew that there were 100 senators, though the number has remained the same for over 50 years. Sandra Day O’Connor was the first woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court.  Shenkman reports that fewer than half of Americans surveyed could tell you her name during the length of her entire tenure.

     We may feign surprise at these simple statistics, but surveys randomly done by past Bear Facts staff members reveal that we all have plenty to learn.  Perhaps we need to incorporate some days into our school years which are dedicated to understanding and celebrating what it means to be an American. We could attend workshops to understand our election system and hear speakers about our political and legal systems. We should honor our heroes of the past and those changing history in the present.

     If we can learn to appreciate our own country, we will be able to truly appreciate other countries of the world, enemies and allies, and the relationships that we have with them. At the risk of sounding overly nationalistic, America is a wonderful country that we should be proud of.  A good way to do that is to be knowledgeable about it.  Perhaps the best thing we can do for the rest of the world is to first learn about our country and the people we’ve put in charge.

And while the conditions at Ursuline have not come to that point (yet), there certainly are areas we could improve.

Yes, this article is going to be about our hygiene.

The fact that we have come to this point, my fellow students, is (A) comical, and (B) embarrassing.  We can all agree that one of the best perks of an all-girls school is the de-emphasis on personal appearance.  But a de-emphasis on personal hygiene?

The habit of not showering daily seems to have plagued our school. Just the other week, I was walking down the hall trying to cram for a test the next period. Despite my focus, I found myself overhearing some girls discussing their showering habits. “I haven’t showered for five days,” one girl said, and to my astonishment no one said a word. I restrained myself from telling the girl to go get in a shower, but I decided to leave them to their own cleaning habits.

Being clean is not only a common courtesy to those around you, but it also helps to keep you healthy. It is proven that those who shower and generally keep their bodies clean are healthier than those who do not shower often.

Girls will come up with many excuses for not showering, changing, or brushing: “I didn’t work out yesterday, so I don’t need to shower,” or “I’m just too lazy,” or, my personal favorite, “Why should I shower? There’s no one around that cares.”

Despite what the common conception may be, people cans still see (or smell) how long it’s been since you’ve stepped into a shower, used a hair brush, or changed out of your uniform.

Once Ursuline girls got into the habit of not caring about personal hygiene, things went downhill for us all. Really, showering, brushing your hair, and changing your clothes are not that difficult, considering that, well, we’re in high-school.

“But I’m so busy…I have no time!” you might say.

Now, I understand if you would rather watch the newest episode of Gossip Girl than change your clothes and such, but in the end you will feel much more refreshed having taken a stab at your personal hygiene.

Personally, I use showering as an excuse to set aside my Anatomy homework. It is one of the best distraction there is because it is necessary to your health. Parents cannot get mad at you for not studying if you are in the shower.  If you are updating your status on Facebook, on the other hand…

Changing out of your uniform also should become a priority.  It’s such a refreshing feeling to put on a clean, unwrinkled uniform rather than simply waking up in yesterday’s dirt and grime.   I personally like to leave school at school when I get home, so the idea of sleeping in my plaid skirt sounds like one of the least appealing things ever.

And so, fellow students, I want to encourage you to strive for better hygiene.  I have faith that, together, we can eliminate the all-girls school stench one person at a time.

—Lee W. ’10

    That would mean that I would have to arrive at school earlier than usual and ride a bus over to Jesuit. A BUS. I have nothing against buses, I have actually always been secretly jealous of the public school kids who get to ride the bus every morning, but this was not just any other school day, this was Ranger Day and I would be riding a bus to Jesuit. 

    But what was this new Ranger Day? What if I didn’t like it? And what was I supposed to do on Jesuit Spirit day?

     On Friday, October 23^rd, I arrived at Ursuline, loaded on to the bus and caravanned to Jesuit. Once we arrived the first thing I saw were boys, hundreds of boys, swarming the campus.  At that moment I decided that I was going to like Ranger Day.

      As I walked around Jesuit I spotted the Kweens of Krunk breaking it down with their new step routine in front of the Terry Center. Suddenly a swarm of girls dressed in red and blue passed me on their way to the Jesuit lower field to start the Powder Puff game.

      I followed the chanting junior and seniors to the field when a girl in a black suit and white and blue painted face suddenly appeared behind me. Almost peeing in my pants, I decided to watch the Powder Puff game from the junior sidelines.

      After about 45 minutes of trying to follow a confusing game of flag football, I made my way to the football field. The band played the Jesuit fight song as my friends and I crammed into the crowed stands to watch the Pep Rally.                              

     The Color Guard started off the performances with a routine, throwing flags into the air and miraculously catching them before they hit the ground. The Rangerettes’ performance left my legs in pain as I witnesses them practically kick their noses and then jump into the splits.                        

     Then the cheerleaders performed their Ranger Day routine, throwing girls into the air and flipping all over the field. They even attempted to spell out “JESUIT” with their pom poms.   After the cheerleaders’ routine, I heard a gun shot and two terrified freshman came bolting around the track pulling a jeering senior in a chariot. I don’t know how they made those chariots but they must have been lacking in both time and materials because the chariots did not look worthy to carry anything more than a basketball.

     In between the crashing of the chariots, I attempted to catch flying t-shirts launched by Jesuit boys from a hand-made t-shirt launcher. Unfortunately the boys were more interested in aiming the t-shirts for the guy with the giant target on his stomach than to me.

     As Ranger Day came to a close, I headed back to the bus, happy to have taken part in this new Ranger Day experience.

—Penelope

Much like “Serviam” and “Global education,” “sisterhood” is an Ursuline buzzword. We’re not just classmates, we’re sisters.

For the most part, we find this to hold true. We all have our close friends, our ‘sisters’ in the most literal sense of the word. But after years of homework and construction, plaid skirts and chemistry goggles, school masses and service projects, Christmas talent shows and Peace One Days, the bond we all share is more than just casual.

That could be one reason why our class pride is so strong. At intramurals time especially, when we all come together to paint the mural, decorate the hallways, and cheer for our volleyball players, it becomes obvious how unified our classes are.

But intra-class unity is one thing; inter-class unity is another.

While there are plenty of opportunities for girls from different grades to bond – sports teams, clubs, the performing arts, and our day-to-day classes – none of these opportunities forces us to reach out to girls of different grade levels. Only the Big Sis/Lil Sis program does that.

While meeting your sister – big or little – can be awkward at first, it opens the door to a friendship that probably would not have happened otherwise.

You can ignore the opportunity, ditch your sister for your friends at big sis/lil sis events and walk past her in the hallways without saying hi. Or you can take the opportunity.

It’s often easier to start the friendship than sustain it. After the initial locker decorating and picnic, big sis/lil sis events are few and far between. When they do happen, it’s not uncommon for the sisters to say hello to each other and not much else.

At a previous Senior-Sophomore picnic, when the sophomores brought desserts and the seniors brought drinks, there was little interaction between the classes. Sophomores stood around in circles talking with each other, and the seniors did the same. Some did not even talk to their Big Sis or Little Sis.

But at the 2009 Senior-Sophomore picnic, things were different. The sophomores brought their individual sisters lunch, forcing us to sit and eat together. It made a difference.

Seniors and sophomores, usually the more apathetic set of sisters, talked, ate and generally had a nice time. The talent show the Seniors put on, “Sister Stock,” provided some entertainment. Natalie R. and Kelsey R.’s performance of “Party in the U.A.” − a parody of Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.” − provided some comic relief.

It might have been a little awkward still, but an awkward relationship is better than no relationship at all.

Let’s keep this new, positive direction to strengthen the intra-class unity.