Facebook has taken the online community by storm. Since its inception in 2004, Facebook has continuously expanded at an exponential rate. As of July 2011, Facebook, currently the world’s largest social media site, has over 750 million active users worldwide. However, once users have become enthralled in the world of Facebook, they are sensitive to any major changes that may potentially disrupt the experience.

Whenever Facebook decides to update or add a new feature to the site, the majority of users disapproves and complains. Throughout multiple changes, users have become increasingly disoriented, having to constantly adjust to Facebook’s whimsical nature. Instead of improving the site, Facebook’s attempted “updates” drive the company to increased customer dissatisfaction.

Recently, Facebook completely restructured its news feed, which is the list of recent friend activity on the home page. Previously, the news feed organized activity chronologically. Currently, Facebook ranks the incoming updates in order of importance and sorts them as top stories, recent stories, and Ticker stories.

Facebook launches the top stories to the forefront of the news feed where they remain until thwarted in importance by other posts. Other less popular information presents itself near the bottom as recent stories. Facebook then crams the rest of the information into Ticker, which is a small bar on the right side of the screen that continuously updates. Basically, Facebook took Twitter and compressed it to the length of a finger. If any friend does anything, it zooms to Twitt—I’m sorry, Ticker.

The primary concern with the new organization is the methodology behind the ranking of so-called importance. Most likely, the site uses a complex algorithm that factors in multiple variables and crunches out a top story. Despite all the technical talk, the stories feel arbitrarily chosen. Users have complained that a post with no activity surrounding it would end up as a top story when more popular ones would end up in the Ticker—only to be swallowed by the constant income of updates.

How can a post by Person A be any more important than a post by Person B if both have zero activity? How does Person A even end up at the top when he hasn’t been on Facebook for months? Millions of users have already voiced similar complaints over the Internet via status updates, blogs, and boards. Groups such as “We Hate the New Facebook” pop up with millions of members. In a poll conducted by the Wall Street Journal, 87% of voters stated that they are not happy with the new changes. They all want Facebook to do one more change: reverting to the previous format.

Of course, these protestors make up only a small percentage of the 750 million users on Facebook. Furthermore, people have a tendency to complain without actually doing anything about it. As Ben Pham¹² aptly put it, “Facebook is like America. People always complain, but they never move to Canada.” Similarly, are Facebook users planning to go back to MySpace? Sure, good luck “socializing” with that.

However, what makes this recent update much more interesting is the introduction of Google+, Google’s new social networking platform. Now, users may actually have a viable alternative to Facebook due to the way Google+ presents itself as fresh and “trendy.” Users can chat on Gmail while checking their profiles as well as engage in video chat “hangouts” with a group of friends. In addition, the Google juggernaut holds a tremendous amount of internet leverage.

Contrary to what it may believe, Facebook does not know the interests of every user. Providing what the customers want is the foundation of the relationship between producers and consumers. Ignoring the customers is like ignoring a girlfriend. It doesn’t work out so well. Likewise, too many unhappy customers will inevitably lead to failure. Netflix recently learned that the hard way. Will Facebook be next?

In 2010, there were total of 15,103 National AP Scholars; 562 scholars were from Georgia, with 487 of those seniors.  With only 95 seniors, having ten students acknowledged as National AP Scholars is a huge accomplishment. 

GSMST’s ten National AP Scholars are Shawn Albert, Tyler Allen, Lillian Chan, Hannah Doksansky, Jaya Janadhyala, Na Eun Oh, Aaron Patel, Aditya Ragunathan, Nabeel Sarwar, Arsalan Sufi, and Andrew Wirt.

Hannah Doksansky ’12 has taken nine exams from AP Human Geography in freshmen year to AP US History in junior year. To prepare for her exam, she would use a number of test prep books. Hand in hand with the test preps, she made sure she kept up with the class and its assignments. When asked how she felt after learning her scores she said, “A couple of them, I was surprised. I’ve taken nine exams. A lot of the tests were really hard, especially chemistry. I liked that class, and even though it wasn’t the easiest; I pushed through and somehow got a 5 on the exam.” Having the title is prestigious, said Hannah, as it shows that “we have really pushed ourselves in our high school curriculum, which is something colleges are really looking at these days.”

There are 34 Advanced Placement exams high school students can take in topics ranging widely from biology to macroeconomics. Depending on a student’s score on an AP exam, she can receive future college credit or placement. Taking and doing well in AP classes and exams can indicate a student’s readiness for college success.

After a complimentary Chick-fil-A breakfast, the participants broke the ice with a communication skill game in which students were randomly assigned a farm animal, closed their eyes, and had to find other students given the same animal by emulating the animal’s characteristic noise. The activity enhanced interpersonal skills crucial for effective leadership. The inspiring instruction continued when students heard from a former Gwinnett County Public Schools and Auburn University Graduate, Lauren Sallarulo. Ms. Sallarulo shared her leadership experiences both in and outside of school in order to give the attendees an idea of what the future can hold when students take initiative.

Their leadership minds sufficiently primed, the students made rounds to three engaging sessions presented by Ms. D’Antonio and GSLT members Aziz Anderson, Brian Barr, Dakotah Rice, and Claire Travis. New Student Government Association sponsors Ms. D’Antonio and Ms. Robbins showed their desire to inspire leadership throughout the school through the “North Star” lesson. In this session, students were lead in a process of determining their “North Star,” the single thing they can always look to as a guide. Each of the participants wrote her chosen item on a star on a poster that is now on display along the ramp near the cafeteria.

Aziz and Dakotah, however, took another take on leadership in their discussion on positive peer pressure and using social media effectively. The team stressed the impact of using social media for networking while maintaining professional standards.

The final lesson, by Brian and Claire, initiated a discussion on ethics and how people desire authentic leaders. The GSLT representatives used mini-lessons called Habitudes that utilize an image and a simple saying to explain a principle of leadership. Saturday’s session highlighted the importance of character, staying true to that character, and focusing on how a leader—not others—define that character.

The morning closed with an address from Dr. Mathews and an inspiring video that left the attendees feeling empowered and ready to implement their new skills throughout the school. As Dr. Mathews thanked the students for being “first followers” at GSMST, he echoed the spirit of leadership with a quote from Arthur F. Carmazzi: “Leadership is not about changing the mindset of a group, but in the cultivation of an environment that brings out the best and inspires the individuals in that group.”

Numerous lessons can be drawn from the debt ceiling/downgrade fiasco; most have already been expounded upon in the media. Calls to cut government spending and restore America’s long-term fiscal health have become commonplace, now a familiar part of the current political climate. At the rate we’re going, after previous calls for the restoration of our national security, our moral center, and now our fiscal health, there seems little left for Washington left to restore, save balance to the Force. I suspect the proposal for doing so will be coming forthrightly.

A lesson from I’d like to focus on from the debt crisis, in the form of a question: Why did it take the threat of economic collapse to stir Americans’ outrage? Answer: Because as Americans, we were too busy soaking in wealth to pay attention – we were unaware.

As our politicians seek to emphasize a theme of restoration, I’d like to take this opportunity to call for a restoration of political awareness, especially among GSMST students. Traditionally, scientists, medical practitioners, engineers, and researchers have had to interfere little in the affairs of Washington. Vote for whichever party gives you more research funding, or whichever party passes healthcare legislation most favorable to your own personal interests. Or, perhaps, stick your head in the sand, remaining firmly apolitical. In science, after all, there can only be one truth; in politics, there are at least two.

However, as future specialists in science, technology, engineering, and math fields, GSMST students no longer have the luxury of remaining apolitical. The most infamous group of apolitical scientists, working on the Manhattan Project, unleashed the most devastating weapon the earth has ever known, to be controlled, ultimately, by politicians. And now, in our globalized world, skilled workers in STEM fields are becoming increasingly critical. In a not-so-distant future, we will be called upon to fix the world’s ever-increasing problems; to begin to study now with an awareness of the issues that confront our generation is to study with a true purpose.

In short, start thinking now about the implications of the knowledge and skills you’re acquiring. Contemplate your education. Above all, execute your studies with awareness of the world around you. With more knowledge and awareness, perhaps we might make better decisions. Pick up a newspaper. Become informed. The world is moving faster than the election cycle, and as future STEM leaders, we can’t afford not to be prepared.

The Partnership Program is one of the unique aspects of GSMST. The program starts in ninth grade with the Speaker Series and continues in tenth grade with the Job Shadow program. In eleventh grade, students participate in the Junior Fellowship Experience. The Partnership Program culminates in the Senior Capstone Experience.

This year new requirements have been set, new plans have been made, and new standards have been implemented. The SCE program has been significantly revamped for the class of 2012.

“The main difference is that the research paper component is now integrated into the Senior Language Arts curriculum,” says Ms. McAuliffe, the Internship Coordinator.

“The other major difference from last year is that the SCE class period is no longer during the school day. Faculty advisors have small groups of students and plan meetings with them during the second half of lunch or after school.”

These meetings are vital to students’ success. The faculty members are responsible for making sure their students are keeping up with the SCE workload.

Tyler Egg has already met with his faculty advisor, Dr. Slack. “I enjoy the one-on-one interaction with my advisor. It gives me more time to develop my project.”

Some students have continued their projects from their Junior Fellowship Experience.

Ms. McAuliffe says, “We are the only school that I know of where students start doing internships their junior year. The great thing about that is students can take what they learn in the JFE and apply it to the SCE. This allows for the SCE to be more in-depth.”

By the end of the SCE, each student will have met the “three P’s:” a proposal, a research paper, and a deliverable product. Each component will have something to do with the overall topic of the students’ project.