As a junior, I have been preparing myself for the ACT and have been pushing myself to get the best grades possible. Because come senior year, my scores will be compared to the ACTs and GPAs of thousands of other high school students. The ACT is standardized so that if two students that live 1000 miles away get the same score, they demonstrate the same level of intelligence. Shouldn’t our grading scales be standardized, too?

At Sion, we work hard for our grades.

So why should they be degraded through an unorthodox grading scale? It is time Sion switches to the traditional grading scale because our hard work is misinterpreted through our unique grading scale.

A public school student and a Sion student can have the same percentage in a class but a different letter grade. The two students have both worked hard for their 92 percent but the other student’s grade is shown as an A, while the Sion student’s grade is shown as a B. It is only logical to want to be considered by college admissions with the same grading scale.

Although colleges take into consideration our odd grading scale, it is just a hassle to try to compare and compete with high schoolers who aren’t even graded at the same levels. A traditional grading scale (90 and above is an A, 80 to 90 is a B, and so on) would show our efforts through the same standardized level as most other high schools.

A lot of students may say that our grading scale motivates them to work harder for an A. But a student should see their hard work pay off with the same grading scale most local school districts use, such as Blue Valley and Shawnee Mission.

We are surrounded by an unfair disadvantage with our current grading scale. From my own experience, I would like to see a change to Sion’s grading scale because I know that every student here works hard in school. We slave over tests, projects and homework like our lives depend on it. And we will continue to do so, but, I think it’s only fair to see our work pay off through the national grading scale just like everyone else. Not only will this help our grades, but it will make it a lot easier for college admissions to evaluate our grades more accurately.

A vacation at sea seems like paradise for travelers. Sailing to stunning destinations all over the world. All-you-can-eat buffets of food with large platters of different meats, cheeses, fruits and seafoods. Don’t forget unlimited soft serve ice cream. Plenty of sunshine. Nice cabins and private balconies. And 24 hours of fun.

This was the dream for over 4,000 passengers as they boarded Carnival cruise ship Triumph on Feb. 7.

But their excitement eventually turned into their worst nightmare. Their four-day trip changed into a long eight-day one. Triumph drifted in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico for days. That would seem like eternity for most people. Travelers can’t even imagine the thought of being stranded at sea for days. It seems unlikely to happen nowadays. This was far from what they expected when they signed up for their dream vacation.

The third day of the voyage from Galveston, Texas to tropical Mexico was when their nightmare came true. An engine room fire caused by a fuel leak left Triumph stranded in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. One would find it difficult to imagine such a horrific situation. The bathrooms, elevators and refrigeration were completely shut down.

For safety reasons, Carnival Cruise Lines said they didn’t want to transport Triumph’s passengers to another vessel. Instead they decided to leave people stranded for days. The decision to tow the ship to land was made on Sunday, Feb. 10.

But, the situation on the ship was far more dangerous for passengers than having to transfer to another ship. The sanitation was wretched. People wore masks over their faces to try to avoid getting sick. Cabin carpets were drenched with urine. Toilets were overflowing and began seeping down the ship walls. The hallway floors would squish when people walked on them from urine seeping through the floors.

With sewage overtaking the ship, it was like a toilet floating at sea. Unrefrigerated food turned spoiled as the days went on. Only left with cold water, people were unable to shower for days. With the air conditioning out, the cabin rooms became too hot to sleep in. The smell people suffered from left them feeling nauseous.

The question is why couldn’t Carnival Triumph transfer its passengers to the other cruise ships delivering food to Triumph? For safety reasons, Carnival chose to keep the passengers on the ship rather than taking hours to transfer passengers to another ship. On any cruise, when pulling into ports, little dinghy takes passengers to land. So how is that safe to do when taking other passengers to another ship is not?

Carnival Cruise Lines provided passengers with a full refund, a free cruise in the future and $500 per person. These passengers shouldn’t have to think twice about never stepping on a Carnival Cruise again.

Overall, cruise lines need to be more prepared for these situations. Hopefully this will spark the legal departments of all cruise lines to take precautions in case this were to happen again. You would think Carnival would have better plans in order to get their passengers off the ship when emergency situations occur. The only positive thing resulting from this horrific situation is that all cruise lines will establish a better emergency protocol procedure preventing such an event to ever happen again.