6th Grader Gives Birthday Gift to School

by Gaby Leyva

A 6th grader h e r e a t Woodard, so g rac ious l y offered her

b i r t h d a y w i s h e s a n d

gifts to be used to buy a new set of science textbooks for Mrs. Rhodesʼs science class. That 6th grader was Amulya Don ipar th i . Although it has been nearly 5 months since Donaparthiʼs birthday in October the 35 textbook set, plus a teachers edition, is only just coming in. This is because the books took a while to find and buy

continued on page 2

There are many days that are designated for p o i n t l e s s t h i n g s , f o r example: November 15 is the National Clean Out Your Fridge Day and Poultry Day (a day for chickens) on March 19th. However, have you ever heard of Pi day, as

in the math symbol? As a matter of fact, it does exist and itʼs on March 14th every year around the world. Next Sunday is the international P i Day (ce lebrated on Monday in schools). Math enthusiasts around the world w i l l ce leb ra te the

Pi Day or Pie Day?

Pep Rally Play Time! Who can eat it the fastest?

Decisions, decisions...

WHAT’S UP WOODARD?ALWAYS FREE EDITION 4

WOODARD JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL/SPRING 2013/VOLUME 07

by Jillian Kravitz

NULLAM

More photos from the Engineering project

AROUND CAMPUS

Forever!

Best friends,

from Amazon and to ship here to Yuma. Radhika Doniparthi, Amulyaʼs mother says that t h i s d o n a t i o n i s v e r y characteristic of her daughter, who once built a Barbie dollhouse from scratch to give to a family friend who was only 5 years old. Mrs. Rhodes says that when Doniparthi said she was going to replace the 12 year o ld se t o f textbooks, which Mrs. Rhodes w a s c o n s t a n t l y t a p i n g together, she cried. ”I was just so overwhelmed by her generosity and kindness. I could not believe that a child would give up her birthday present so our students could benefit.” Principal Andy Wait says that just to have Amulya “notice that and pick that for her birthday present is just amazing. Now they donʼt have to worry about taping their books, more time can just be focused on instruction and not on the broken things in class.” Yuma Elementary School District 1 Superintendent Darwin Stiffler shared the story of the donation at a governing board meeting earlier last month and noted that it was an extraordinary gesture. “Iʼve been doing this for almost 30 years and I canʼt recall such a thing before,” he said. Thanks to Amulya Doniparthiʼs generous gift the 140 students who are in Mrs. Rhodes science class will all benefit.

famous constant Pi, equal t o t h e r a t i o o f t h e

circumference of a circle to its diameter. The reason Pi Day is celebrated on March 14 is because its first 3 digits are 3.14 (Pi = 3.1415926535...) March 14 also happens to be Albert Einstein's birthday. Pi is an irrational number, meaning that the sequence of i ts decimal digits continues to infinity without repeating itself. The favorite way of celebrating Pi Day among geeks is eating a pie while reciting the first hundred digits of Pi. One might ask, what is Woodard doing?

Several math classes are trying to memorize as many digits of Pi as possible. The Math Counts program is having a competition to see how many digits they can memorize until then. So far in Mr. Johnsonʼs sixth grade advisory, the most digits memorized are about 60 digits, by Alexia Felix. Good job Alexia! However, there a few teachers who seem to think Pi Day is a time for bringing in a variety of pies, then eating them!

Gift

Student Council

The second quarter spirit assembly went really well. The students were pumped up and intensely excited! Everyone loved the games and events. Team Two took home the spirit flamingo. Those s ix th graders were sooooo loud! Congratulations Team Two youʼre the best! A big thank-you goes out to Mrs. Jurgens for being an a w e s o m e S t u c o advisor. She works hard with the student council members in the planning of events. The students could not have done it without her. Right now in Stuco the

students are planning t h e e l e m e n t a r y l e a d e r s h i p conference. This is an annual event and the Stuco students will get the chance to be leaders. It is shaping up to be a lot o f f u n a n d t h e elementary students should totally enjoy themselves taking s o m e g r e a t exper iences back with them.

STAR STAFFName: Bobby Brooks.Originally from: Yuma, Arizona.Length of time in Yuma: 36 years.Occupation: Teacher.

Children: 3 – All girls.Pets: 1 dog.Favorite off-hour past time: Camping and Fishing.Favorite dinner: My wife’s Green Chicken Enchiladas.Favorite snack: Cinnamon Altoids.Favorite local restaurant: Brownie’s Café – I eat free.Favorite book: No Favorites.Favorite music: Mostly everything. Especially Punk Rock.Favorite sport: Baseball.Favorite television show: The Walking Dead.Favorite movie: The Big Lebowski / Nacho Libre.Pet peeve: People who don’t use their turn signals.Proudest moment: The birth of my children.Greatest accomplishment: Getting my wife to say “Yes” to marriage.Fictional Character that resembles myself: The Hulk.Something people would be surprised to know about you: I was an exchange student in Germany and lived and traveled in Europe for a few years.If I had one wish it would be: For my family and I to have long and happy lives.If I won $10 million, I would: Pay for my children and nieces and nephews to go to college.If I was stranded on a desert island, three things I would want are: A satellite phone, GPS, and extra batteries.If you could have any other job, what would it be? Astronomer.Favorite weekend getaway: Ocean Beach – San Diego.

by

Samantha

Byrd & Sterling

Lutes

Team OneAmulya Doniparthi & Brianna Leyva

• • •

Wondering how well the Great Wall of China project went? It seemed like it was a success! The

s tudent ’s p ro jec t s were incredibly creative. One even lit up! There were two rows of wonderfully built Great Wall projects. However, some of these students did not follow all the guidelines that Mrs. Hambali gave them. For example, some bases were too thick and several walls were too short height and lengthwise. Nonetheless, looking at these projects was as great as going to t h e G r e a t Wa l l o f C h i n a . Outstanding job, Roadrunners!

Team TwoAndrew Gregory & Sterling Lutes

• • •

Do you wish you could use poetry skills to express yourself? In Mr. Brooks’ class they are working on poetry. They are

specifically working on limericks and are writing haikus. Mr. Brooks wants his class to develop skills from writing poetry to help them express themselves. The

students are very excited to be writing poems and are learning to express their emotions freely. Mrs. Toensing’s math classes are currently engineering cool structures/buildings. You can see them on display in the library;

there are several really awesome displays. On Tuesday Feb. 26, a few real life engineers came to Woodard to judge the best projects. The winners were:

Team ThreeMad-ee Brooks & Chayane Villegas

• • •

In Mr. Diehl’s class, they are working on big businesses. They also are learning about the people who made lots of money by selling steel and oil. Other subjects they are learning about are

monopolies and vert ical & horizontal integrated businesses. Mr. Diehl expects his classes to understand the concept of older times to today’s world and for the class have fun doing it.

Team News!

Team FourSamantha Byrd

• • •

Mrs. Martinez is having a blast in literature learning about White Fang a fiction novel! She enjoys watching the students’ reactions to the story! They just finished “Something Wicked This Way Comes”, and students were

able to watch the movie after they read the award winning novel! Mrs. Martinez says that classes are going ”smoothly”. In language arts her students are working on a non-fiction unit. Right now students

a r e l o o k i n g a t newspaper articles and magazines. They’re learning about new

technology a n d w i l l s o o n b e w r i t i n g their own newspaper article! Just recently, students in Mr. Southworth’s classes studied

about immigration during the early 1 9 0 0 ’s a n d t h e impact it had on our country. They also got to go through an immigration process and complete an immigration form, in German! Some of the students’ r e s p o n s e s w e r e crazy.

Team Five & SixJoselyn Taylor & Rosevelyn Arce

• • •

Get ready 8th graders, high school is right around the corner! On February 5th, high school counselors came to register, from

Gila Ridge, Kofa, and Yuma High School. On February 7th Cibola’s counselors came to register students. For the students who

want to go to Yuma Catholic High S c h o o l , y o u h a v e t o b e interviewed to see if you are eligible to get in. Make sure you also register for a public school, just in case you don’t get in. Teams Five and Six are also learning about the Holocaust. They are watching movies and documentaries about survivors from the Holocaust and working on worksheets. In 8th grade science classes, they are going to be holding a machine night on February 25th. The students are forming into groups of four or more and making a Rube Goldberg Machine. The assignment is worth 125 points. Get ready 8th graders there is going to be some competition this year!

by Hannah Newton• • •

On January 22nd Woodard held its annual Spelling Bee. There were thirty-six students

competing to be named the spelling bee champion and to have their name forever hanging on the cafeteria wall. The first few rounds were easy, and only a few missed out, but as the words got harder, misspellings became more common. Words such as purification, receptacle, diverge, covetous, and factoid were being asked. Some were

able to spell these words, and others were not. When all that was left were the last two spellers, the final round began. The

two went back and forth, neither being able to spell the word that would allow them to win. By the eleventh round Arilyn Gonzales was able to win by spelling “preposterous” correctly. Arilyn went on to represent Woodard at the county spelling bee.

WJHS Spelling Bee by Samantha Byrd

• • •

Last Monday, Mr. Lundy was asked to be a judge for Machine Night! Machine Night consisted of 8th grade science students involved in building a machine that would accomplish a goal utilizing several steps. There were over 60 projects in the competition. The judging-criteria involved: completing a task, the number of steps, number of materials used, appearance of project, and presentation. Mr. Lundy doesn’t want to name names, but his favorite project wasn’t the winning one. The students built a machine with 10 steps (3 more than required) with a back up plan to complete the task of capturing a Tech Deck. Overall, Mr. Lundy loved being a judge! He said, “I like having a chance to evaluate students’ work, and I look forward to next year.” The winning project

was a paper-airplane l a u n c h e r . T h e e n g i n e e r i n g t e a m consisted of Noah Butler, Cody Carway, James Hinz, and D’Artagnan Hook.

WJHS Machine Night

Boys Basketball

by Madison Sierra & Chayane Villegas

• • •

So far, our eighth grade b o y s b a s k e t b a l l t e a m i s undefeated. No doubt they’ll do great in play offs. Some of our star players are Michael Gazda, Kyle Grannum, and Julian Aitken. However, without all the boys on the team they wouldn’t be a championship level team. So when you see the boys around campus be sure to wish them luck at all their games.

Recent ly, the boys competed in a tournament in Wellton, AZ and came out on top. However, the biggest compliment they got wasn’t “great game”, but was “what great sportsmanship.” After the championship game, instead of celebrating themselves,

the boys went over to the other team and complimented them with a few added high-fives, awesome job guys! Wow! 7th grade boys basketball are on a roll! Mr. McCall says, “ Keep up the tough defense!” Congratulations to Jason Pisano and Jordan Keys for being named All Tournament Team!

Their best games were the second time against Centennial and Crane during the championships! He’s did it once, he’ll do it again! Mr. McCall is going to take the 7th grade boys basketball team to the championships! He’s planning on bringing home the gold for a second time this year!

BOYS BASKETBALL

by JulieAnna Olivarez & Mad-ee Brooks

• • •

“Goal!” This season the 8th grade girls’ soccer team is struggling. Their first game against Castle Dome didn’t go as expected, however Esmeralda Alvarado did an amazing job as stopper. Unfortunately, they lost

that game 7-0. The girls had a nice comeback game and beat Ron Watson! Dani Rhodes, Jazlyn Ramirez, and Jasmine Medina help make that possible with the score of 7-1. They also got a win against 4th Ave that was close with the score of 5-4. The next game against Gila Vista did not go well for the Lady Roadrunners as the score was 4-0. Unfortunately, the Lady Roadrunners have dropped two more games since then and have a 2-4 record.

Wow! Mrs. Horseman describes her girls as wonderful and undefeated. She was asked what her best game was, and she responded with all of them! L a u r a S a n d e r s o n i s a

motivational leader for the team! The 7th grade girl’s motto is “We’re the BOMB!” Mrs. Horseman says that the girls are great at everything and have an awesome sense of humor! They are very fun to work with! Currently the girls are 5-1 and face 4th Ave and Gila Vista in the remaining two games.

GIRLS SOCCER

What Classic Movie is Mr. Wait Watching

1. Made in the late 1950’s

2. Directed by William Wyler

3. Based on a novel written in 1880

4. Won 11 Academy Awards

5. Starred actor Charlton Heston

Dear Roadie, I have stage fright and I have to talk in front of the class, what do I do?

-Scared

Dear Scared, You are not alone. In fact, public speaking is most peopleʼs biggest fear. It helps to be prepared as well as to practice in front of an audience. When actually speaking look around, as if you were talking directly to your audience. Seek out the friendly faces in the audience and they will help you feel better about yourself.Also, try to remember to take a few deep breaths before itʼs your time to speak. Doing this slows down your heart rate, helps your body to relax, and you can think well. It gets easier to talk in front of classes the more you do it. At first itʼs scary, but itʼs usually over before you know it. If you want more information on this topic, see your counselor, Mrs. Higuera. You can also search the Internet for tips.

Dear Roadie, I like a guy and he likes me too! I donʼt know what to do? Help me? -Lollipop

Dear Lollipop, Talk to the guy! Donʼt wait. If you know he likes you then there is no risk. Ask him out, or let him know you like him too. It doesnʼt hurt to take a risk. Heʼll be flattered to know you like him, too.

Dear Roadie, I got framed for stealing a textbook and now I have to pay $20 for it. What should I do? -Not a thief

Dear Not a thief, Talk to the counselor or Mrs. Arviso. Explain to them your side of the story and let them know you did not steal the textbook. It is unfair to pay $20 for something you didnʼt do.

Dear Roadie, Why is Valentineʼs Day so important here, why must every boy and girl have a valentine? -Confused

Dear Confused, Valentineʼs Day is an illusion. It gives you that day where everything is perfect and happy. Valentineʼs Day is when you celebrate that you have someone. This day is your chance to show you appreciate your loved ones, whether it is your friend, your boyfriend or girlfriend, your parents, etc. Everyone wants a valentine to feel like they have someone. Dear Roadie, My sister’s boyfriend is abusing her, what should I do? -Worried

Dear Worried, Go see the counselor as soon as possible! Your name will be kept anonymous. If you have a friend you trust bring him/her with you to the counselor.

Dear Roadie

The Last Movie Mr. Wait

Watched? “Gone with the Wind”