By Nadiya Scratchley

A peculiar, spooky sense of festivity has been lingering in the air all month long. As the 31st of October approached, the anticipation of Alpha students became evident. Walking through the hallways, you could hear students discussing costume ideas, celebration plans, and trick-or-treating routes. Decorations and posters for spooky events were being posted all around the school.

Finally, Halloween arrived and boy did Alpha deliver! Arriving to school Tuesday morning was almost scary, as half of the students weren’t even recognizable. The student population was decked out in fantastic costumes!

At lunch, most students headed to the cafeteria, where both the Music Council Bake Sale and the Drama Council Costume Contest were being held. It was a perfect set up. Students were able to buy treats and proceed to watch the elaborate costume contest while cheering on their peers. The contest was quite successful, with at least 30 competitors, three teachers as judges, popcorn, and music. Every costume was clever, scary or funny in their own way, but in the end, there could only be one winner. Danika Jones, as Bob Ross, won the contest, with Nathan Russo, as Joel Goodsen from Risky Business, coming in with a close second. Congratulations to them both!

This year’s Halloween celebrations at Alpha were a complete success. The costume turnout was great and the events ran smoothly. Here at Alpha Photojournalism, we sure had a great Halloween, and we hope you had a great Halloween too! Please enjoy this lovely photo gallery of some of the best Halloween highlights!

By Chadd Hennig

This is Part One of a four-part series. A new part will be published each issue. Read the story, then cast your vote for who you think murdered Garret here!

Louisa's POV
The lights flicker on and off as we sit in a tight circle, afraid of the impending doom lingering in the cabin corridor. 
    “So, we should probably talk about what happened,” Cody croaks, his voice sore from screaming. 
     “I mean, what is there to say?” Lexi replies as she gives Cody a snarky look which she holds for too long. 
     “Well, Garret’s dead. That’s a start, Lexi,” says Todd. Out of the four of us, Todd is seemingly the most affected by what just happened, given his shaky hands and eyes which continue to swell. 

By Victor Yin

​Upcoming Alpha graduates have no shortage of things to do, events to attend, and paperwork to fill out. Among these are University presentations. UBC came to Alpha on Wednesday, October 11th and SFU followed shortly after on Tuesday, October 17th.

Prospective Alpha students filled the library where the information sessions took place and left with one of the greatest gifts of all: a highly coveted, brand new 2018 university viewbook! This year, UBC has opted for a colourful cover split between their Vancouver and Okanagan campuses. SFU, on the other hand, decided to go for a more simple and sleek look with interesting image collages.

How are the application processes? All universities and colleges have already opened up their applications. At UBC, early admission closes on December 1st, along with any chances of winning entrance scholarships. However, if you miss the deadline, you still have until January 15th to complete your application and finish writing your Personal Profile essays. SFU is more lenient. Their deadlines are approaching on February 28th and applications consist of a simple click-and-submit process and no essay is required. Entrance scholarship applications are due on January 15th, however.

Indecisive Grade 12 students may also be pleased to hear about another exciting event to mark on their calendars! The Post Secondary Event at Alpha will be taking place on November 23rd from 6:00 - 8:00 pm in Alpha’s large gym. Representatives from several post-secondary institutions will be there to provide more information and handouts regarding their programs. 
​
As always, more information, handouts, and viewbooks can be found in the counselling office on the third floor. Talking to a counsellor may also be helpful to students who are still unsure about their life after Alpha Secondary. Either way, Alpha’s grads are in for a busy year.

By Nadiya Scratchley

Imagine this: nuts and bolts flying everywhere, robots dashing around playing fields, teens with controllers holding their breath until the final second of the game; this is the kind of action that went down at British Columbia's first VEX robotics qualifier of the season, hosted by Alpha Secondary. On October 14th 2017, 44 teams gathered in the large gym for a chance to show off their mechanical creations and technical abilities. The competitors came from all corners of BC, ranging from the Kootenays to Vancouver Island. 

The day started off at 7:00am, when the doors opened and competitors started filling  the large gym with 18’’ robots. After the opening ceremonies at 9:00am, where schedules were handed out and the national anthem was sung, the games began. This years game was called “In the Zone”, and the objective was to stack cones and move them into different zones of the 12’ by 12’ playing field. During each round, four robots were on the field at a time, paired up against each other. Each robot was controlled by a driver, and the rest of the team shouted out commands. There were a total of 66 rounds, lasting until 2pm when the top 16 teams were chosen to compete in the finals for a chance to get into the provincials. 

Much to Alpha’s delight, one of our home teams 502A was up in 7th place. West Vancouver’s team 1010X and Gladstone’s team 2A ended up winning the finals and being selected for provincials. However, Alpha still has many chances to qualify for  provincials as qualifiers are being held throughout BC every 2-3 weeks. We wish our robotics team the best of luck!

By Unnamed

​The Burnaby Youth Sustainability Network unites high school students from all areas of Burnaby who are interested in sustainable living. This year, the two Co-Chairs are once again from École Alpha Secondary: Carrie Ng and Victor Yin in Grade 12. Alpha has previously held strong leadership roles in BYSN in the past as well, with Sonya Kung as Chair in 2017 and Salina Kung in 2015.

BYSN held their first general meeting on Tuesday, October 10th in the Alpha library after school. Anyone is free to attend general meetings, from students to staff and parents. At this meeting Ben West and Mari McMillan came to talk about their solar energy initiatives as well as The Great Climate Race, a walking/running initiative that invites participants to promote the race against time to combat climate change.

Representatives from project S.A.V.E. also attended the meeting. Project S.A.V.E. is an organization from SFU focusing on collecting unwanted writing utensils from schools and institutions in order to either properly recycle them in collaboration with Staples, or redistribute them back into the community.
​
Other general meetings in the year will involve workshops in different schools around the district! The next upcoming workshop will take place during the General Meeting on November 7th at Alpha. The workshop will focus on sustainable consumerism and participants will be able to make their own DIY household products to take home, including soap and bath salts. The workshop is free but registration is required and closes on November 4th. Space is limited to 30 participants. More information and workshop registration information can all be found at facebook.com/thebysn.