Ask Apex: Summer activities

Kenison Garratt and Jo Gatlin
Staff Writers

Apex High School students are eager for summer, many are even counting down the days. Each student is excited for something different. Some are planning family vacations, some are applying for jobs and others are just going to relax at home. Whatever is being planned, everyone can agree they cannot wait for summer vacation. With school letting out, there will be limitless possibilities for ways to spend the summer. A recently conducted poll reveals Apex High’s summer activity preferences. 

Celebrity comprehension tested by new Apex poll

Cameron Goz and Henry McKeand
Staff Writers

Apex High students and teachers tested their star knowledge recently, being polled to see if they can recognize various celebrities, from movie stars like Tom Hanks and Angelina Jolie to musicians who rock the mic like Pharrell and Kendrick Lamar, and at least some of the student body displayed their mastery in face recognition.  The results, taken from a poll of 85 students, may surprise you:

Poll: Student body put to the presidential test

Cameron Goz and Henry McKeand
Staff Writer

With the 2016 presidential election, many students will have the chance to vote for the first time.  Several politicians have announced their candidacy, and most young voters are going to be focusing on the new candidates.  A poll of 120 students and teachers at Apex High shows how much the student body knows, and doesn’t know, about the people running for president.  

Five pictures of individual candidates were shown for people to identify.  The following charts show the number of respondents who could and couldn’t successfully identify the respective candidates.  

Ask Apex: Throwback TV shows

Jo Gatlin and Kenison Garratt
Staff Writers

Everyone can recall their favorite television show from their childhood. Many of the throwback shows our generation enjoyed were aired on Disney Channel, Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network. Results from a recently conducted poll of Apex High students show the most popular television series from the ‘90s and early 2000s.

Ask Apex: Favorite Vines

Jo Gatlin and Kenison Garratt
Staff Writers

Vine, the social media site for sharing video, is becoming increasingly popular. The United States alone holds 38.2 percent of all Vine users. Vine has always been successful, reaching one million viewers only three months after launch with their number of active teen users growing by 639 percent that same year. More recently, it was found that five Vines are being tweeted every second and 1.5 billion Vines are played daily. The Twitter owned app, available in 19 different languages on the iPhone and 21 for Android, won the top spot in the social category in the App Store on its first day. Similar to Instagram, one of its most used hashtags is #cute, the other top tags being #loop, #selfie, #remake, and #magic. Yet, Instagram has far more users and 37% more Instagram videos are shared on Twitter. But, at Apex High School, the results of a recently conducted poll show that Vines are still thoroughly enjoyed.

Poll: What color is the dress?

Kenison Garratt & Jo Gatlin
Staff Writers

The results are in for a recently conducted optical illusion poll on Apex High School students and staff.

What color is this dress?

Some argue the dress is black and blue, others white and gold, and some see an entirely different combination of colors. The dress has been popping up on different sorts of social media, and this controversial image has people taking sides. While some pick a color team, others argue that there are two images, and some find themselves constantly switching between the two combinations.

Ask Apex: best and worst of Thanksgiving

Rebekah Gould
Staff Writer

Christmas decorations bombard shopping centers the day after Halloween and the Christmas buzz rolls right over Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a holiday that’s over 300 years old. In honor of keeping the Thanksgiving spirit, below are the results from a poll of 42 Apex High School students and staff to find out the best and worst parts of Thanksgiving.

Ask Apex: Politics

Zane Muzzillo
Staff Writer

Apex High School students were polled to express their opinions on current events, these are the results.

Who would you prefer to be elected as NC senate representative?

Do you support fracking in the U.S.?

Ask Apex: Leggings

Mariane Gazeleh
Staff Writer

Fashion trends change from generation to generation. A popular trend, girls claim wearing leggings is easy and comfortable. “You can either dress it up or dress it down,” says freshman Kaitlin Lopez. Students at Apex High School were asked whether they wore leggings or not, and if so, how often per week. Some schools have debated over the dress code limits and enforcement on ladies wearing leggings as pants. Haven Middle School in Evanston, Illinois, banned them as proper dress for school. Other schools have set restrictions on how to wear the leggings. For example, young ladies must cover up their behinds with a dress, long sweater or long cardigan. Below are the results of a poll on students at Apex High:

Ask Apex: Marijuana vs. Alcohol

Zane Muzzillo and Nicholas Chupka
Staff Writer

The fight to end marijuana prohibition is coming to a close while as many as 20 states have already passed medicinal marijuana laws. In a recent school poll, both teachers and students weighed in on how they feel about the use of marijuana compared to alcohol.

Ask Apex: Chewing gum

Mariane Ghazaleh 
Staff Writer

Lots of people chew gum, and 84% of students polled said they like to chew gum every day. There were various reasons why the 16% of people didn’t chew gum. Some said it was just gross; they never really got into the habit of it; or they don’t like the idea of recycling their own spit. Jim Nelson, one of the administrators at Apex, even said, “If God gave me the power to get rid of something on Earth, it would be to get rid of gum!” Either way, only a minority feel this way. The people who enjoy gum have a large pool of brands to choose from. 

Ask Apex: Spring Break

Grace Fendrick
Staff Writer

Spring break is coming up; what are you going to do? We polled 125 people on campus, including students. Here is a break-down of the results:

Ask Apex: Christmas Songs

Emily Nguyen
Staff Writer

The time of year has arrived when Christmas carols follow you wherever you go. In the spirit of the holidays, we polled students to determine their favorite Christmas songs.

Top Five Favorite Christmas Songs

1. Jingle Bells

2. Jingle Bell Rock

3. Santa Baby

4. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

5. The Christmas Song

We also asked them what the most annoying Christmas song was. Surprisingly, this list was more varied, although it included many of the same songs.

Top Five Most Annoying Christmas Songs

1. Jingle Bells

2. Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer

3. Feliz Navidad

4. Santa Baby

5. Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer

Ask Apex: do you know your states?

Emily Nguyen
Staff Writer

How many states can you label? I chose ten states and asked Apex students and staff to identify them.

Out of sixty people, 72% knew at least five of the states; 38% could identify eight or more; 17% knew all ten states. How well would you do?

Ask Apex: state opinions

Emily Nguyen
Staff Writer

What do Apex students think about the American states? Here are the results!

What is your favorite state?

North Carolina (44%)

Ask Apex: how good is your European geography?

Emily Nguyen
Staff Writer

How good is your European geography? This week, I chose ten well-known countries in Europe and asked people to identify them.

Out of thirty-five people polled, 65% named five or more countries. 31% knew eight or more countries. 14% could identify all ten countries. How well would you do? Email your answers to apexlegacy@yahoo.com!

Ask Apex: can you identify these people?

Emily Nguyen
Staff Writer

People are constantly exposed to new faces – so much that we’ve begun to ignore many of the people we see. Even if we recognize a name or a face, we still have difficulty identifying people we’ve seen many times. Over the past week, I have surveyed students and teachers to see if they could name famous individuals.

35 out of 90 people (39%) could identify Joe Biden, the vice president.

12 out of 90 people (13%) could identify Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader in the House of Representatives.

0 out of 90 people (0%) could identify Dan Brown, the author of Angel and Demons and The Da Vinci Code.

13 out of 90 people (14%) could identify J.K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter.

How would you have fared? Below are two pictures of famous people. Send in your answers to  apexlegacy@yahoo.com!