The Invader Updater

Orienteering, a "sport" that requires navigational skills, is probably the least active thing you do in gym class, and it also does not require much mental ability. Normally, I wouldn't complain about something so easy, but orienteering is a waste of time. How hard is it to find your way...

With barely a couple weeks left in school, my mind still hasn't realized that I won't be attending Innisdale next year. I suspect I'll have that feeling right until Commencement, when I finally get my high school diploma. I think this is partly because I fear not being able to...

I can't even count the number of days since I first came to Innisdale. Hundreds. Hundreds of days of sitting in class, watching the seasons change, listening to the teachers talk, waiting for the day to end. I never thought I'd make it through all of those days. Just a...

June is finally here, thank gosh, and with it brings the promise of exams (I never thought I'd be so happy to put myself through grueling testing), graduation (unbelievable), and summer vacation. And as I prepare to leave Innisdale and dive headfirst into the unknown, I can't help looking back...

My life has devolved into a homework-focused, hyper-scheduled, mind-numbing string of assignments and extracurricular projects, now that it's ISU season once again. In whatever time I'm not spending behind my laptop, I've begun to realize a few things. If the administration, teachers, student organizations and the student public can collaborate...

Do you realize that in Germany, students start school at the same time as us, have the same number of classes as us and still get out at one o'clock? "How is this?" you may ask. In Germany, lunch is the most important meal of the day. So important, actually,...

I am extremely proud to be writing this editorial. It's wonderful and somewhat surprising to me that Innisdale's most successful student-run newspaper (the others were long before our time, and petered out quickly) is still moving forward. Forever, moving forward. A faint memory remains in my head of reading some...

Isn't it a common sight? A quick glance around the classroom will find multiple students staring at a very awkward place, when in fact they are simply chatting with their friends. Yes, we've all done it at one time or another: head down, fingers flitting across the keyboard... texting in...

What do you do when you're buying lunch? That's right - when you get to the door, you drop your bag and head inside. Increasingly, though, this time-tested tradition is under threat. Thanks to the unscrupulous behaviour of certain unknown Innisdale students, your bags are no longer safe. According to...

I can honestly say I've never looked forward to a semester like I looked forward to my second semester of grade twelve. With a ratio of two classes to three periods off (those being the three morning classes), it was understandable why I couldn't wait. I've never had so much...

It's about time. After a long, cold winter (which, by the way, gave students no snow days), things have finally begun to warm up. This weekend, for the first time in months, we broke the freezing point. Finally. Instead of the unpleasant, perpetually-cloudy sky that has hung over Barrie, the...

One of Innisdale's latest arrivals is also our newest vice principal. Beginning this semester, we'll be home to Mr. Bernardi, a former vice principal over at Central. Filling Stegenga's shoes is no small feat. However, Mr. Bernardi is just as kind and helpful, and seems like a valuable addition to...

When it does, though, it strikes pretty friggin' hard. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think I can make it all the way to March. Olympic Overload Syndrome, as I call it, is the swirling black hole of doom that surrounds the two weeks of sporting events represented by...

One of my perennial winter quibbles is the inevitable spread of Rhinovirus sp. You've had it. I've had it. The cruel fiend makes our noses run, our heads ache, and our bodies feel like they've been smacked by a Mack truck. As it usually has this time of year, the...

With exams rapidly approaching, and students widely feeling the weight of homework and studying, it's more important than ever for us Invaders to have something that they can look forward to during the week. There are dozens of clubs that exist here at Innisdale, all of which are open to...

There were a few things that I knew to expect from this year. Firstly, we were getting a new principal: a good thing. Secondly, I'd be busier than I could imagine: a bad thing. Thirdly, the mythical Invader Spirit wouldn't be coming back any time soon: another bad thing. It...

The first day was back in April or May of last year, and it was good. Very good. Since Apple introduced the iPod touch back in 2007, Innisdale's students have rapidly adopted its media-playing, Internet surfing, application-running capabilities into their pockets. Of course, the device was less useful at school,...

With the first semester of this year just about to pass its halfway point, a lot of Invaders have begun to experience the wild stress of crunch time. ISUs are being assigned, students are subject to three or four tests per week, and teachers are embarking on their final push...