ilson er - edison spring 2015 edition ... priyal shah hafsah shaik aditi tyagi radhika vyas ... ous...

This year’s Battle of the Classes (BOTC) was held on February 12th, 2015, earli-er than its usual date due to PARCC testing. It was an afternoon full of fun, friendly competition, and teamwork that all grades enjoyed.

BOTC spirit week started on February 9th; Mon-day was hoodie day, Tuesday pajama day, Wednesday hat day, and Thursday team color day. Eating contests were also held during lunches that week. In each eating contest, team members tried to eat as much food as possible in the time allotted while still meeting the requirements for that challenge. In the first eating contest, one team member

threw pieces of popcorn at their partner, who tried to catch them in his/her mouth. In the second challenge, team members had to eat as many Twinkies as they possibly could in two minutes. In the third eating competition, one team member spooned pudding in their partner’s mouth as fast as they could, and the other partner in turn ate as much of the pudding as possible. The final eating challenge may have been the toughest challenge of them all, due to severe brain freeze. One team member opened ice pops, while the other team member tried to gulp them down as fast as they could.

The BOTC event was held right after school on Thursday, starting at 3:15. MC’s Rohita Gedala and Himanshu Patankar did a great job keeping up the suspense throughout the games and keeping the mood light with plenty of funny jokes and com-mentary.

BOTC opened with the presentation of each team’s banner. The sixth grade banner was very eye-catching, with bold scarlet splatter paint atop a black background. The seventh grade banner had an orange theme, with a lion roaring in the center, and brightly colored flowers surrounding it. The eight grade banner was adorned with silver starts and a large rocket, very similar to the WWMS Challenger.

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The Woodrow Wilson

Challenger

Spring 2015 Edition

Woodrow Wilson Middle School

Edison Township Public Schools

Contributing Members of

Newspaper Club

Medha Atla

Amritaa Basu

Aditya Chakrabarti

Varsini Dhinakaran

Ava Dul

Akhil Dwasari

Ram Gadhamsetty

Kushagra Ghosh

Pragya Gupta

Shuvanjan Haldar

Keren Huang

Avinash Kumar

Aditya Manna

Alexandra Marques

Parshva Mehta

Ranen Miao

Nathaniel Mumau

Pooja Nandhyala

Kareena Pandya

Irene Quan

Shruthi Rajaraman

Rishabh Rout

Sriya Sadangi

Vaagesha Sagarwala

Priyal Shah

Hafsah Shaik

Aditi Tyagi

Radhika Vyas

Richa Wadhawan

Helen Wei

Alexis Wilner

Jenna Yan

Shannon Yan

Samuel Zhang

Student Editor in Chief

Darlene Fung

Guest Writer

Sreeja Arumilli

Faculty Advisor Mrs. Jaclyn Redmond

Inside this Edition…

Woodrow’s Very Own News Articles: 1—10

Spring Fun: 11

News from Around the World: 12 - 19

Science Section: 19—20

Technology: 20—21

Sports: 22—23

Reviews: 24—26

Jokes: 27

The Woodrow Wilson

Challenger is a Member of the

National Scholastic Press

Association

WWMS Battle of the Classes 2015

By Darlene Fung


WWMS Battle of the Classes 2015...CONTINUED

The teachers’ dance started the event off. They danced to “Shake It Off”, by Taylor Swift, and the choreog-raphy definitely matched the amount of energy in the song. During the main part of their dance, all the teachers were linked arm-in-arm in a horizontal line while groups of two or three teachers at a time did their own unique little dances. Oohs and ahs were audible from their pleasantly surprised stu-dents as the dance concluded with cartwheels and two pyra-mids.

The sixth graders danced to “Classic”, by MKTO, which later faded into “Uptown Funk”, by Mark Ronson, featuring Bruno Mars. They mainly danced as a group, with great synchronization and coordination. During the dance, they wore shades, beads, and sparkly fedora hats which they threw into the air during the grand finale of their dance.

The seventh grade danced to a mix of songs, the most prominent one being “Turn Down for What”, by DJ Snake and Lil John. They had many stunts and formations, like pyramids and complicated turn combos performed at the front of the group.

The eighth graders danced to a combination of “Centuries”, by Fall Out Boy, “7/11” by Beyoncé, and “Confident”, by Justin Bieber, just to name a few. During the middle of the dance, the lights in the gym went out, and they turned their finger lights on, making it seem like there were a swarm of colorful fireflies floating around the gym.

There were six games in this year’s BOTC. The first one was Garbage Frisbee. In this game, four teams were lined up behind cones, and each team was given one Frisbee. One team member stood a few yards in front of his team with one of the big garbage cans used for recycling at lunch (empty of course!). The teams were given about five minutes to try to land the Frisbee in their garbage can as many times as possi-ble. The Frisbee throwers could not step in front of the line, but the one team member with the garbage can could lift it up and move it in attempt to catch the Frisbees.

In the Horse Race, groups of two had to use just their legs to make their way across the gym floor riding inflat-ed horses. This was much harder than it seemed, and there were many wipeouts by all teams as they inched, scooted, and bounced towards the finish line. Everyone in the room was laughing by the time the game ended.

Tug-of-War was by far one of the most intense games played that afternoon, especially when it was time for the seventh and eighth grades to go against each other. The

seventh and eighth graders had both already won against the teachers and the sixth graders, so this final match would name the winner. As soon as Mrs. Yascko let go of the mid-dle of the rope, signaling the start of the game, the two teams went to work. At first, it looked as if the eighth grade was going to win – they were steadily pulling the middle of the rope closer and closer to the three-point line on the gym floor. But just when the eighth graders had only a few more feet to pull, the rope started to move in the opposite direc-tion, and the seventh graders began pulling the rope back over to their side. By now, everybody’s hands hurt, and the crowd was roaring. With a final tug of effort, the eighth grade regained control and pulled the middle of the rope over the three-point line, claiming a hard-earned victory in the Tug-of-War.

The Scooter Race was very straight forward; mem-bers of each team had to ride a scooter across the gym, around a cone, and back to where they started, as fast as they could.

The next game was the Balloon Scooter. On one side of the gym, there was a plastic folding chair and a bag full of inflated balloons, and on the other, the teams lined up behind cones with a scooter board. The teams were broken in pairs of two – one person would sit on the scooter while the other person pushed him/her across they gym where the folding chair and balloons were waiting. Once there, somebody would take a balloon out of the bag and place it on the chair. The person riding the scooter had to then sit on the balloon and pop it. Once the balloon was popped, the partners switched roles, so that the person who rode the scooter down was now pushing it, and the person who pushed the person to the balloons was now riding the scooter back to where they started.

The final relay, which was the last event of BOTC, included many different activities together, from basketball lay-ups, to trying to find a gumball in pie of whipped cream and blowing a bubble with it.

Finally, the results were announced. The seventh grade came in first, followed by the eighth grade, teachers, and sixth graders. But the placement didn’t matter to the students who watched and participated in BOTC. It was the bonds created from a fun competition that made a lasting impres-sion on everybody.

Do you know what the wall of kindness is? The Wall of Kindness is a display of acts of kindness performed by the members of the Make a Difference Club. "Kindness should be contagious," says our librarian. The Wall of Kindness is meant to influence other students to be kind. Teachers like Mrs. Melnyk, Mr. Robinson and Ms. Hurwitz have participat-ed in the Wall of Kindness activity. Mr. Fischer, the teacher running the Make a Difference Club, had come up with the idea of the Wall of Kindness with the help of Mrs. Catalanel-lo, our librarian. Mr. Fischer and Mrs. Catalanello, as well as the other teachers, feel that the Wall of Kindness has been a great success. The Wall of Kindness is a plan that is stated to be done next year as well. From other people's perspective, Mr. Fischer and Mrs. Catalanello feel that because of the suc-cess of the Wall of Kindness, they believe that many people

enjoyed the idea of it. You can also find the acts of kindness outside our school library. Make sure that you are kind all the time, even if no one notices.


The Wall of Kindness at WWMS By Pragya Gupta

World Leaders, NYC Style! By Rishabh Rout

“Hey, we need to make sure Russia doesn’t take over this solution.” Surprisingly, that didn’t take place in a war zone relating to the Ukraine crisis. It was in a room full of teenagers in the Big Apple, more specifically a team of stu-dents from Woodrow. Along with MUN club advisors Ms. Nilooban and Mrs. Sedler, 20 of our finest delegates went world-leader style as they assumed the identities of negotia-tors from various countries for 3 days, debating on the vari-ous problems of this day at a Model UN conference. It was situated in the Grand Hyatt Hotel, an immense hotel con-joined with Grand Central Station and a mere 10 minute stroll from Times Square. Besides the committees them-selves, the opening ceremonies, lunch breaks, and bus rides were other fond memories from the trip.

While climbing the stairs of the shiny coach bus that Mrs. Cotoia so graciously rented for us, I was strangely calm. I was on the way to the largest middle school conference in the world and I didn’t even break into a sweat (perhaps the butterflies had decided to swim!) The first day, after all, was-n’t going to require any work from our side. Skipping the 2 hour bus ride, I’ll fast forward to when we entered the UN building. After security, we entered the General Assembly hall and I felt really small and awed at the same time by the golden UN logo. Over a thousand delegates had squished into the grand UN room and listened to keynote speakers, like Secretary-General Eric Leiden, and singer Jena Rose Raphael. After opening ceremonies, the Woodrow delegates went for a “snack”, which apparently meant buying a $15 mac-and-cheese platter.

On Friday morning, I was pumped up for the start of conference, although we did have to prepare speeches and

review our solutions on the bus. The conference was fast-paced from the beginning, with training sessions on mock topics like combining Marvel with Disney. Actual committee started with opening speeches, where the delegates got the feel for speaking and got to know other countries’ styles. It turned out there were teens from Britain, Turkey, Afghani-stan, Mexico, and Italy! A quick round of moderated caucus-es, or sessions where delegates go up to speak, soon gave way to un-moderated caucuses, where delegations formed blocs that discussed solutions to problems. What problems? Each committee was designated a specific real world problem. For example, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) had the problem of maternal health, while SOCHUM discussed solutions for fighting racism and UNESCO battled gender violence. The Human Rights Council (HRC) thought about freedom of speech on the internet, UNICEF helped access to vaccines, and ITU-WHO was mobile tech for health. Wood-row also participated in WHO, UN Women, the GA, and UNDP.

After the rather quick Friday, the last day loomed in front of us. Hopping right into committee, resolutions were the final goal. Partnerships split to write Perambulatory/Operative clauses and convince other countries to vote. Competitions ran high and people struggled to become spon-sors. And then, it was over! A resolution or more had been passed, and there was nothing left to do. The awards ceremo-nies were in the majestic ballrooms with all people present. Ethiopia (or Woodrow) proudly won 4 awards, including 3 outstanding awards and one best position paper award. Go Challengers!

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World Leaders, NYC Style...CONTINUED

From my point of view, the committees weren’t the highlight of the trip. The high point was basically going as a team, especially during the bus rides and lunch. The bus rides were deafening, with songs and jokes thrown around. Lunch was especially cool, because we were basically allowed to roam around Grand Central Station on our own and choose what to eat. Most importantly, we got a glimpse of how hard it is to pass resolutions in the real UN, and how ambassadors from different countries might feel. Overall, Woodrow had an amazing experience at the conference in New York, and will be looking forward to be going next year. After all, you never know when you are going to have to negotiate with the top leaders of the world.

My First Experience with PARCC By Kushagra Ghosh

I loved all parks. Crowded parks, adventure parks, playground parks, all parks except this one. The new park, the one that students will be taking twice a year, in grades 3 through 12, in twelve states is known as PARCC. When I learned that there would be no more NJASK testing in Eng-lish and Math, I was relieved. No more writing for painstak-ing hours, or filling in the billions of bubbles, but the substi-tute was the PARCC. This was new. We would have to type our math, essay, and multiple choice answers in the comput-er. This looked intimidating at first. The whole test on the compute, but I practiced typing with essays from school. Over time, I could type faster than before. The whole year, my English teacher prepared me for the test with RST’s, Lit-erary Analysis taska, narratives, etc., but nothing could pre-pare me for when I had to sit in front of the computer and take the test.

I got my green ticket with my name and password. The words seem to blur in my mind. The NJASK was easy. Would this test be the same? My heart beat like drums as the instructor told us to log in. My hand was shaking as I entered the long passcode and peered into the unknown. Seven ques-tions. Not bad. On top of the seven questions, was the liter-ary analysis constructed response. The painstaking punish-ment of typing paragraphs and paragraphs. Lactic acid bub-bled in hands, brains, everywhere. This test was so far pains-taking, but not hard in the first day. The second day was when twists and turns came to the picture.

On day two, there were 9 questions and all of them were complicated. Once, I was stuck between options A and C. As I pondered for help, I smiled as I remembered the phrase, “When in doubt, Charlie out!”. I looked at C. It made sense and so I chose that. The English test had a lot of letters and words. But even worse was math. Variables, x’s, y’s, z’s,

a’s, b’s, roaming around in no end. It made no sense. Fortu-nately, I had enough time to complete the test. When I came home on the fourth day, after completing three days of an English assessment and one day of math, I thought I was winning. However, the fifth day was a real fighter.

When I came in on day five, the last day of testing, I felt glad. It was the last day of PARCC until May. Then, I saw my questions. I became worried. They were all word problems! And word problems took a lot of time to finish. I had barely three minutes when I had one question left. It had three parts, but neither made sense. One side of me was tell-ing me to give up and slack off. The problem was too hard anyway, but the other side told me to keep going on. I thought hard, and then I came up with the answer. I quickly typed up my response and barely made it. I was done. Finally. The smile on my face was met with others. The cage to our freedom was unlocked and there was a lot of fun and laziness awaiting this.

That freedom was short lived when I realized- There is PARCC again in May!

Ms. Nilooban (left), 20 of Woodrow’s

Finest Delegates, and Mrs. Sedler

(right)


8th Graders Experience Career Day By Darlene Fung

Career Day is an event held each year for the eighth grade. It allows eighth grade students to explore two careers that they’d be interested in perusing when they grow up. There are about thirty different job options to choose from on Career Day, ranging from a chef, to a pol-itician. On Career Day, a professional from each field of job provided took a day off from their usual jobs to come to Woodrow Wilson and inform interested students about the basics of their job, including the education needed to be successful in the profession, a typical work day, as well as the average salary made.

During first period, the whole eighth grade gath-ered in the cafeteria for a presentation about college prepa-ration, given by a Rutgers alumna. She went through the PowerPoint covering the many asked questions about col-lege, like “What do I need to do to prepare for college?” and “Is the transition from local schooling to college a hard one to make?”. She also showed us a slide about the perks of college, one of them being that you can get what-ever food whenever you want, and many pictures of all the fun she had at Rutgers. After the college prep lecture, the students went to the first career they selected.

My first career was with a veterinarian. Dr. Patricia King from the Raritan Animal Hospital here in Edison taught the class. The first few slides of her PowerPoint covered the basics of being a veterinarian, like schooling and pay. After that, Dr. King went over her personal expe-rience with being a vet. One of the most important topics she covered was how most people think being a veterinari-an is automatically the perfect job for an animal lover. Dr. King explained that you actually work with people as much as you do with animals! She said that people skills are essential if you are to become a vet, because you need to communicate with owners over the phone to try to fig-ure out what the problem is, and what the owner should do about it. Another fundamental skill that veterinarians should have is the ability to think and act quickly. Animals can get very anxious in the clinic, which leads to aggressive behaviors, so vets need to be able to recognize signs of aggression and move out of the way before they get bitten or scratched! Sometimes, animals get so anxious at the clinic that it is impossible to get them to stay still for their necessary checkup. In these cases, a vet would have to go to the owner’s house to give the animal a checkup, which Dr. King says is one of the fun parts of being a veterinari-an. At the end of her PowerPoint, Dr. King showed us some x-rays of animals that were operated on in the clinics she worked in and asked us if we could tell what was going on in them. There were broken bones, ingested objects,

and even a sea turtle with a fishing hook stuck in its mouth!

My next career was Physical Therapy. Dr. Amit Gaglani, the owner and CEO of Arrow Physical Therapy came to teach us about how he became interested in PT and his experience with it. Arrow Physical Therapy has been ranked in the top five PT practices in the nation, and has received countless other awards. Dr. Gaglani even comes on the news every so often to talk about his prac-tice and give tips to the public on how to prevent injury.

Dr. Gaglani says that many PT patients are ath-letes, so having played sports as a kid helped him under-stand what many of his patients were feeling, as he was accustomed to the movements of popular sports like soc-cer. Understanding the movements of the body is key in PT, as a Physical Therapist is more of a “proper move-ment doctor” than anything else. The reason why people get injured is because they are not utilizing their body’s natural functions, so the goal of PT is to get your body moving properly again – strength exercises are just a part of the effort to restore natural movement in the body and prevent future re-injury.

Career Day was so much fun for everybody – the professionals who came in were excited to teach us about all aspects of their careers, and the students were eager to take everything in. For the rest of that day, the halls were full of everybody sharing their experiences of their careers with their friends. The eighth grade would like to give a hearty thank you everybody who organized Career Day for us, as well as special thanks to all the professionals who took part in Career Day!


After the first round of PARCC testing, is anyone worried about what the May assessment will bring? Well, I have some great information! I can already tell that most of you want to see this article. Bulleted here are some tips and links to great websites:

nextgen.apps.sparcc.org/la/6-8: This link has great practice tests for Language Arts. Since there is no writing on the EOY PARCC, you will have a lot of multiple choice-type question practice. http://parcc.pearson.com/practice-tests/english/: I am pret-ty sure you have gone for practice PARCC tests on this web-site, but check out the other useful tools that the website of-fers.

If you want to succeed in any test you should get well over 8 hours of sleep a day. It is said that there are poisons in your brain that form when you are awake. Believe it or not, if you don’t get enough sleep you will lose some of your learn-ing abilities. A simple math problem will seem like a monster problem. It is said that if you sleep the brain releases chemi-cals that wash away the poison.

You should scatter little 10 minute breaks as you do your homework after school. Instead of working for 6 hours straight, work for an hour, take a break, then work for anoth-er hour and take another break.

Cramming stuff in your brain can cause you to forget it when you need it outside of just tests.

Our working memory is limited: even though we can store virtually limitless amounts in our long-term memory, we can only keep a small amount of information in focus at any given time. That is why we have to key in a new telephone number immediately, or save it, or write it down. Otherwise, it will be gone in a matter of seconds. We just can't juggle dozens of ideas at the same time.

We learn better with spaced practice than with massed practice: we perform better if we learn something in chunks with breaks in between than if we work without breaks for hours. Our brains need some time to process the information that comes in before we can use it effectively.

Connection: Having too much information is like flood-ing your brain's engine. You can't start your car without gas, but your engine needs the right ratio of gasoline to air or the spark plugs won't ignite.

Realize that by the time someone reaches adulthood, they mostly only use the left side of their brain while studying, that's the mathematical side -where you think in black and white. Use both sides – it's the only true reliable way. Think in color, use your imagination, think ‘clear’ and ‘baby-like’; all it is simple info – but more of it.

Clear your desk, have a folder for each subject, and make your bed – all three oddly make you remember more.

Start studying as soon as you can after school. The mi-nute you come in the door, slam your bag on the ground, run upstairs, take a shower (if you need it), and start studying straight after.

Believe it or not, those who do well in any subject listen in class, even if they don't appear to be.

Pick out the important words in bold and look them up on the net or get it from the textbook and write your own definition for them – this helps greatly.

Paraphrase. By paraphrasing, you can make the infor-mation easier to handle, making it easier to remember what you've learned.

For your homework, use the resources available to you – the main ones being your textbook and class notes. More or less rewrite it in your own words. Sounds kind of "duh!" but you'd be surprised by the amount of people who do poorly because they don't read the book.

Keep a notepad and pen near by, and try to write out the points you are studying. It will prevent mind deviation and make your brain more engaged in studies. It’s a proven trick!

Take an interest in the subject, but don't be too focused on being interested. Let yourself say "Oh my gosh, really?" every once in a while, even if you feel like an idiot. Then make a note of what you did not know and say "Wow, that's amazing!"

Have the ability to relax with your textbooks. Tests aren't the end of the world, so take a deep breath and relax.

Do not spend more than one hour studying without hav-ing a break, because the mind gets tired and does not pay attention to the subject.

Don't study with either an empty stomach or with a fully loaded stomach. Take a light food before studying.

How to Study Effectively for the EOY PARCC Assessment

By Parshva Mehta


Every year in the spring, there is an intense com-petition. It is a competition to test students’ abilities to work together and, more importantly, to read! This com-petition, Battle of the Books, run by Mrs. Gaudioso and Mrs. Redmond, involves teams made up of 4-6 members, a list of fourteen different books, and two months to learn as much as possible about those books. According to Bat-tleoftheBooks.org, “The student competitions are usually similar to the TV series Family Feud or Whiz Kids styles of competitions.” In April, there are a series of competi-tions (school, district, and state) during which teams face off with their knowledge of the books. It encourages kids to read, and teams learn to work together. It’s a win-win situation!

Many of the books read during Battle of the Books are interesting and fun, so students are always en-gaged and happy to read. For all you sixth graders out there, definitely do this next year if you a) like to read, and b) enjoy working with friends. After all, the more the mer-rier!

This year, Woodrow Wilson had fourteen seventh grade teams and twelve eighth grade teams sign up to compete. In January, all teams were given the rules and available resources. The goal: plow through each book and remember as many details as possible. Throughout Janu-ary, February, and March both Mrs. Gaudioso and Mrs.

Redmond held practice coaching sessions before school, after school, and even during lunch.

On March 31, all Battle of the Books teams met in the cafeteria for the first battle: The Woodrow Wilson Champions. This first competition yields the top two sev-enth and eighth grade teams which represent Woodrow Wilson Middle School in the district battle for the district cup. It was clear that all students were prepared and eager to participate. Both competitions ended with several teams tied for top score. This resulted in tie breaker situations and lightning speed rounds. The seventh grade competi-tions became so intense, additional time was needed to finish the rounds the following day! After two long days of battles, Woodrow’s two top teams in each grade earned the opportunity to represent us at the district battle! Con-gratulations to seventh grade teams: “That One Team” and “ The Page Shredders” and eighth grade teams: “Project End Game” and “Books our BAE!” Good luck at the district and state battles!

WWMS Battle of the Books 2015 By Aditya Chakrabarti

WWMS Drama Department Produces Annie Jr. By Radhika Vyas

WWMS's production of Annie Jr. is a condensed version of the classic 1977 Broadway play, Annie. Both are based on the 1924 Harold Gray comic strip, “Little Orphan Annie.” Junior versions are written to accommo-date middle school voice ranges and have a shorter run time than original musicals. Annie Jr. is set in a 1933 orphanage home with Miss Hannigan (Shruti Venkat) in charge, and one orphan gets the opportunity to spend Christmas with the million-aire Mr. Warbucks(Ranan Miao). Annie (Meghna Das) is chosen, at the disapproval of Miss Hannigan. After a few days with Oliver Warbucks, Annie finds she loves living with him, but she still longs to find her real parents. Annie persevered and after discovering that her biological parents have passed away, she chooses to have Mr. Warbucks as her new father. This heartfelt play tells the tale of adoption through music composed by Charles Strouse.

Our drama club performed their production on Friday, February 25. There was a 3PM matinee and 7PM evening shows. The directors were Ms. De Zaio, Ms. Jen-sen and Ms. LoBello. All cast members did an incredible job putting on this production and made WWMS very proud!


Recently, 13 people from our school in Ms. Hurwitz’s 1st period class entered a competition called National His-tory Day, in which they competed against students from all across New Jersey. Alt-hough no one from our school made it to the State competition, they learned much from this experience, and are excited to

participate again next year! Each year there is a theme for which you must estab-

lish your National History Day project off of. This year’s theme was Leadership and Legacy, and the students had to create a project in which they chose a person who they thought had a lasting impact on history. Students were able to choose a way to present their project including: performance, exhibit, paper, website, and documentary. They worked ex-tremely hard to perfect their projects, including having to do extensive research by using primary and secondary sources, interviews, magazines, etc. They learned about teamwork, history, and importance that one person can make.

We interviewed Ms. Hurwitz to view a different side of the story:

Q: How did you find out about National History Day? A: My younger daughter goes to JMI, and the enrichment teacher there sent out a list of about 15 different enrichment options for 5th grade students, and this was one of them! I never heard of it, so I looked it up, and I thought, “Wow, this sounds like a really fun, interesting thing to do!”

Q: How did the students prepare for this competition? A: First, we had meetings where I introduced the topic. Then, I showed them the website for both the National His-tory [Day] site and the New Jersey National History [Day] site and we talked about what the topic meant and ideas of people that you could choose; there was a link to 100lead-ers.org and we looked at people there; we looked at sample topics. After choosing a topic we talked about how to do the research, how to keep track of sources, many sources, includ-ing all of the pictures. And then we talked about all the stages that were needed if you were going to do whichever option you were going to choose: performance, documentary, paper, website… exhibit. Then you had to see what the samples were, what they included, [and] read all the various rules about what was allowed and what was not. And then I tried to meet with each group about a week or two before individ-ually so we could go over what needed to be tweaked or add-ed or changed.

Q: What challenges did you experience when you were preparing? A: One, we had a lot of our meeting days snowed out. Two, I think having more time to meet after school would’ve been better, but that was hard because students had other commit-ments. Next year, what I would do is plan a more organized calendar, where I would have certain requirements due by a certain date, and then set aside meetings in advance with the students and I would also ask for the enrichment teacher from JMI to come over and meet with each team, since she had been a judge, to see what could be added in. But I would do all of this weeks in advance as opposed to one or two weeks before, so that we would know how to be more com-petitive.

Q: How do you think your students did in this competi-tion? A: I think the students did great! I think going into some-thing like this not knowing what to expect, the level of depth in the research, and in defending themselves on the question part took me by surprise, and I think considering that they went into this not knowing that they were going to be asked to orally defend all of their research and decisions, they did great. I think that some groups in particular had a really de-tailed rout of information and it was obvious from their presentation how much [effort] went into it. So I think that was great. All in all, everyone did a great job, but I think I would take from the successes of the groups that I think were more in-depth in their preparation and use that as models for the future.

Q: How do you think this experience helped you and your students? A: I think it was great to show the importance of history as a life skill. The research, the reading, the note taking, the citing sources, the public speaking that was involved in it, the syn-thesis to create masterful final products I think are great life skills not only for history, but for any year in school and any-thing that you want to take on in life, whether it’s going be a future job, whether it’s going to be other clubs or activities, or challenges that you will embark upon. I think it shows you a very thorough way of preparing… For me, it helped me focus on using primary sources more in my instruction, since this is something that the judges of NHD really rely heavily upon, so one of my lessons the next week I made sure to point out where primary sources are used and we’ll make an effort to try include more, so that when my students partici-pate in research next year, they will know what’s expected of them and how to rely on primary resources as much as sec-ondary.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 9

A Blast from the Past: The National History Day Experience

By Irene Quan and Helen Wei


Q: Do you think you would do this again next year?

A: I definitely would. I think there is student interest to those who were involved and it would be nice to be opening it up to more students by perhaps making it a full club. I would like to partner with another colleague, perhaps in my depart-ment so that we could share an administrative organization aspect of it and so that we can prepare more students and maybe the time factor won’t be much of a challenge if I could share the load with someone else since I can’t really clone myself!

Q: Most importantly, did you have fun?

A: I did! I thought that it was really exciting to walk in the room with the exhibits and to see history surrounding us and

really come to life and to see how creative and how involved many of the groups were. I loved seeing my groups present their documentaries and their performance piece… and I would love to see other performances. I think one of the ad-vantages of having a colleague with me is that we could di-vide – one of us could see one of the documentaries and one of us could see one of the performance pieces. It’s nice to see history on such a high level because it doesn’t always get rec-ognized, with the emphasis of testing on English and math, so it’s nice to see history treated as important as it should be.

All in all, the students who had participated in Na-tionals History Day were happy to have the opportunity to experience what it is like to compete with other students across the state. Next time, maybe you’ll be the one to bring home the prize!

A Blast from the Past: The National History Day Experience…

CONTINUED

Eight grader and guest newspaper club writ-er reflects on her middle school experience in the form of poetry. Middle school taught me blue To efface the greed for success To embrace time, which always flew, To show my true colors and do my best. Middle school taught me red, To be passionate, ardent, and full of zeal, To love greatly, yet also dread, The fervent emotions of my heart I must reveal. Middle school taught me yellow, That happiness comes from anywhere, That brighter days shall come, so no reason to bellow, That life will eventually become fair. Middle school taught me white, That the future is that, which we create, That invariable there’d be light, That we are the ruler of our fates

Middle School Taught Me

By Sreeja Arumilli

In case you haven't noticed, high school is just around the corner for eighth graders! A new school, new clubs, new teachers, and most importantly, new work. After speak-ing with some current high school freshman and the guidance counse-lor, these are some tips on how to prepare and succeed for high school. Stay Calm Most kids entering high school freak out at just the thought of a new school. The unfamiliarity of the situation is too overwhelming for them. Staying calm is the best way to handle this. Treat high school the same way you did middle school. Also, try taking up new habits that will benefit you. Instead of studying the night before a test, study throughout the course of the week so you do not stress yourself out last minute. Make sure you re-member everyone else is in the same boat as you, so you are not alone! Ask your friends for advice on how they prepare for tests or handle their home-work. Take Up New Interests The best part about high school is the clubs and the electives. They help to guide you through what you like and don't like doing. For example, if you have always disliked the idea of photography but liked art, you could sur-prise yourself when you actually take the class and go deeper into the course. High school is a great way to get exposure and learn who you are and what you like. J.P. Stevens has tons of clubs to choose from, and if you ever wanted to see all of them, just go on the J.P. website!

8th Graders: Get Ready to Transition to High

School By Ava Dul


Map It Out High school will seem like the size of New York City, during your first two weeks there. Until then, don't be caught late to class! Get a map of the school and highlight your classes and a path you are going to take to each class. After a few days, this will already become your new routine. Otherwise, you could be roaming the halls for so long that you could miss half your period! Organization Don't be the kid who has last weeks' homework, a moldy sandwich, and a chewed-up binder in their locker! Having an organized locker will keep your head clear and will help keep you more focused. Plus, it's one less issue to worry about. If you already barely get to your class on time, the last thing you need is all your books falling out of your locker! Time Management The easiest thing to do in any grade is procrastinate. When a paper is due Friday, and it's only Monday, it's not a big deal, right? Then suddenly it becomes two o’clock in the morning on Friday, and your paper is due in only a few hours! Rather than save it all up last minute, get it done when assigned or spread it out and do a little at a time. Doing a little each day will make you feel better throughout the week, and the feel-ing of having some of it done will make you feel you can bet-ter accomplish the task and meet the deadline. Orientation The orientation might freak you out a little bit. A huge school might seem scary just thinking about it, and meeting some of the staff you will see over the next four years may be a little overwhelming. However, don't just daze off and sleep through it! It is extremely helpful and will make the first few days, and the rest of your high school career, a lot easier. Schedule The extra minute you get for passing next year will be such a relief. A whole minute more will give you so much time, but this does not mean in between each class you go to your locker. It could make you late, and it just becomes a hassle. Instead, treat it like middle school and pick which passings you return to your locker. Also, one of the best parts of your new schedule is study hall. Catching up on homework during the day will be great way to save time after school, and you can also go to the library or help your friends out with their homework. A free period will make high school so much easier, if you use it efficiently. Guidance How many times have you gone to guidance because you needed help? Once or twice throughout all of middle school? In high school, guidance counselors will be your new best

friend, especially in senior year when you are looking at col-leges. They will help you with any problem you have and give you reasonable advice on a way to solve it. Don't just assume it is “uncool” and useless before you actually go there and try. Even the smallest issue will be treated with the same respect and attention as anything else. Our own guidance counselor, Ms. Monastersky, gives the following advice: What are the benefits of taking a new language? It is a great chance to broaden your experiences, and it will help in future. What are some tips to get through the first couple weeks? Stay on top of studying, stay organized, don't fall behind, see guidance, and get involved. Why should people join sports in high school? It makes you work as a team, use the same skills you will use when you get older, and it allows you to be a part of some-thing fun and competitive. What is the main difference between high school and middle school! You receive more freedom, but it also comes with more ex-pectations. Your behavior is also expected to be mature, and you are responsible for seeking help if you need it in the classroom. What is the best way to prepare for high school? Identify your bad habits and try to fix them and make sure you attend orientation in August. For the people who succeed in high school, what do you think is their best characteristic? Be motivated in class, and speak up when you need help. Do you have any other advice? Get involved in clubs and activities and have a good time. This is the time you have to figure out who you are and what your interests are so make the most of it. High school is definitely going to be fun and interesting, but learning about it now will help you become less stressed and more ex-cited. Don’t be afraid and instead follow these tips that guidance and some freshmen thought was the most helpful to them. Remember, high school lasts only four years, so make the most of it!

8th Graders: Get Ready to Transition to High School...CONTINUED


SPRING FUN

Spring Crafts and Decorations By Aditi Tyagi

Crepe Easter Bunny

Step 1: Buy a crepe paper ball from the craft store

Step 2: Make ears and whiskers out of con-struction paper and glue them onto the ball

Step 3: Glue on a pom-pom for the bunny’s nose

Step 4: Glue on googly-eyes for the bunnies eyes

Step 5: For extra fun, try attaching thread or yarn to the top of the crepe ball to make it a festive lantern.

Elegant Eggs (by Frances Janischa)

Step 1: Insert a long needle into the bottom of each egg; make a small hole, then make a slightly larger one in the top.

Step 2: Move the needle around inside the shell to break the yolk

Step 3: Blow over the smaller hole (feel free to use a straw of you don’t want to touch the egg directly) until the liquid drips out of the larger hole.

Step 4: Run the egg under water. Blow the water out, and let the shell dry overnight.

Step 5: After coloring the egg, attach fab-ric scrapbooking flowers with tiny dots of glue. Lightly press each flower onto the egg shell with your finger, then release.

Dinnerware Bird Feeder (by Brian Woodcock)

Step 1: Drill a 3/8 of an inch hole in the center of a melamine dinner plate, small bowl, and salad plate

Step 2: Thread a piece of 1/4 inch thick rope (the length will depend on how high you want to hang the feeder) through a peg-style clothespin, leaving about 3 inches of rope below the pin.

Step 3: Thread the opposite end of rope through the salad plate and bowl (both should be right-side up), and a 5/8 inch wide by 10 inch long copper pipe.

Step 4: Thread the rope through the dinner plate (the plate should be upside-down)

Step 5: Thread a second clothespin directly above the dinner plate and shimmy the pins toward the plates to snap bird feeder into place.

Rose Napkin Rings (by Charles Schiller)

Step 1: Buy faux roses

Step 2: Sew them, singly or in pairs, onto regular hair elastics with a few stitches

Mother’s Day Gifts By Vaagesha Sagarwala

"All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother."

-Abraham Lincoln Everyone has a mother. I'm reminding you of this because

Mother's Day happens to be coming up fast – it's May 11th – and I sincerely hope you've got plans to show your mom how much you appreciate her. If you haven't figured out a strategy yet, I'm here to help get you on the right track by providing Mother's Day gift ideas for moms with different interests, as it can be tough to find a gift that is just right.

The Ideal Mother's Day Gift List

The Schedule Ideal: Time spent with the kids Ideal: Extra pampering all day Nice: A light schedule without a lot of planned activities Nice: Freedom from usual parenting duties Nice: A little bit of time to spend alone

Meals

Ideal: A nice meal at home that she doesn't make or clean up Nice: Dinner out with family

Gifts Ideal: Homemade gift or card from kids Top 3 favorite: Gift card Top 3 favorite: Spa trip or spa day Top 3 favorite: Flowers

More Ideas to Make her Day * Favorite chocolates or treat * Clean her car, crumbs and all * Take her on a family outing that is completely planned * Make a framed photo of her and her kids


AROUND THE WORLD

Music Therapy By Hafsah Shaik

Music therapy? How can simply listening to music help with anything more than simply cheering someone up? Well, music is more powerful than it seems. Music therapy is REAL therapy that involves patients to create, sing, move to, and/or listen to music, and has been proven to help with a various number of illnesses. Because music influences human behavior by affecting the brain, physicians can use music used to affect specific behaviors of the brain. This therapy can be used to treat communication disorders, depression, bring back memories, and relieve other symptoms. In fact, new studies have shown to prove that music therapy im-proves memory in dementia patients, including people with Alzheimer’s. Cancer patients use music therapy as well, to help reduce pain, anxiety, depression, and nausea.

However, music therapy isn’t new. Music has been used for thousands of years, in civilizations like Ancient Greece and Egypt, where they believed that music could heal both the body and the soul. The formal approach to music therapy began in World War II, when U.S. hospitals began to use music to help soldiers suffering from “shell shock”, a sort of flashback of panic that soldiers faced after experiencing war. Ever since then, music therapy has been used as a practical approach for healing patients, making them feel better physically and emotionally.

When they took out the Big Guns… By Rishabh Rout

Oh boy. Just when you thought the world couldn’t start any more wars, the eastern side of Ukraine exploded. Kiev burst to life, or maybe death, as thousands of protesters took to the streets, soon clashing with the police over Ukraine’s decision not to sign the EU agreement. The stand-off resulted not only because of the agreement, but over cor-ruption in the government itself. At first, this looked like it was going to become a civil war, with President Viktor Yanu-kovych’s forces beating down upon the uprising Ukrainians. Currently, over 750 civilians and 20 government forces are dead. But then, our best friend Russia decided to “help out”. Troops poured over the border and threatened to start a full-fledged war. Let’s go over some reasons why such a primor-dial conflict has taken place with some of the most advanced countries in the world.

The Ukrainians were mad. Their president, Viktor Yanukovych, decided not to sign an agreement with the Eu-ropean Union, which promised over 610 million euros ($800 million) for Ukraine, AND less trade restrictions and more trade. Sounds like a great deal, right? According to Yanu-kovych, pressure from Russia took a major role in the gov-ernment’s decision. Also, the president says, “[Ukraine] would need at least 20 billion euros a year to upgrade its economy to ‘European standards’”, and Ukraine couldn’t afford to lose trade deals with Russia. The Ukrainian citizens thought of this as just another example of the corrupt gov-ernment that denied them their freedom. One famous boxer, Vitaly Klitschko, said, “Today they stole our dream, our dream of living in a normal country.” Since then, Yanu-kovych mysteriously disappeared: some say the Russians gave

him refuge. The Ukrainian police are doing all they can to stop the riots, brutally or not. The new president, Petro Po-roshenko, promises to help stop these skirmishes.

It’s not only the Ukrainians who have opinions about this. To understand Russia’s thoughts, we need to go back to pre-WWII Europe. Ukraine was a minefield, ruled by countries such as Austria-Hungary, Poland, and The Soviet Union. It almost never had a ruling government of its own, and was left in the open for horrors such as the pogroms (violent riots against Jews). Finally, after the start of a violent war called “The Ruin”, the battered nation turned towards the Russian Empire for protection in exchange for loyalty to the tsar, who accepted and ruled over most of Ukraine throughout the two World Wars. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Ukraine emerged as a new nation. Some Russians today have the mentality of the old Russia that Ukraine, especially Crimea, has to be part of Russia. Unfortu-nately, Putin is one of them, and he takes his opinions seri-ously: Russian troops quickly occupied Crimea at Putin’s command. Some Ukrainians felt similar, and decided to form their own separatist movement to help Russian troops. The combined force of these different groups of armed parties has been dubbed “Euromaidan”, which literally translates to “Europe square”, referring to the battle for ties with Europe near Independence Square in Kiev. The conflicting opinions have resulted in a catastrophe that has dragged thousands of people into it.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 13


AROUND THE WORLD

Okay, so now you’re worried about the fate of a country halfway around the world, and you want to know what you can do. Sadly, this is in the hands of the govern-ments of the world, especially Russia and Ukraine. The U.S. is doing all it can to negotiate with the conflicting nations, and is ever-ready to send resources for the “right” side should a war break out. Talking about sides, there really isn’t any right viewpoint. It all depends on who you are and what you interests are. We as a country can hold this ongoing crisis as an example of what happens when world powers influence each other, and when they think words just aren’t enough…

When they took out the Big Guns…CONTINUED

The Israel Palestinian Conflict: What is it? By Ranen Miao

One of the biggest conflicts of last year is becoming less and less prevalent in the media, but is still going on quiet-ly in the background. But what is the Israeli-Palestinian Con-flict? What are the causes and what kind of history is behind it? Below is a brief summary of the centuries-long conflict between Jews and Arabs who coexist in the Middle East, the founding of Israel, the relationship between Israel and its neighbors, and a summary of the escalation to a full-on war. History To understand the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, one must first understand the history behind both parties and the founding of Israel. The area we know of today as Israel was conceived on land that was once home to Babylonians, Per-sians, and Assyrians. The Jewish state of Israel was conceived after World War II in 1948 after being voted for by the Unit-ed Nations. Immediately after their proclamation of inde-pendence, Israel was invaded by 5 surrounding Arab coun-tries, including Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon, and Iraq, which were all Arab nations who believed the land Israel was on was rightfully theirs. Israel, although small and newly con-ceived, was able to defend itself against its attackers. Since then, Israel has been engaged in numerous conflicts with its geographical neighbors, including the 1956 Sinai War and the 1967 Six Day War. During the Six Day War, Israel conquered the West Bank and the Gaza strip, two territories that housed dense Palestinian populations. The West Bank, the area invaded by Israeli troops during the war of 1967, is also a place of conflict. The West Bank is said to be held by Palestinian Authority, but is cur-rently being inhabited by Jewish settlers and protected by Israeli soldiers. The Palestinian state was voted in as a member of UNESCO in 2011. Immediately after, the United Nations

Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization lost 25% of its funding – $70 million from the United States (22%) and an additional 3% from Israel. Today’s Conflict In an effort to negotiate peace with its Palestinian neighbors, Israel withdrew all troops and settlers from the Gaza strip in August of 2005, where about 7,500 Israelis used to live. Two years later, in June of 2007, an Islamist funda-mentalist party known as Hamas conquers the Gaza strip. Since then, Israel has imposed strict economic sanctions against the conquerors, and during December 2008 invaded Hamas along with sending in airstrikes which killed more than 450 Palestinians in the area. Israeli troops withdrew in January of 2009 after three weeks of occupation. Now, Israel and Hamas are fighting once again due to an inability to negotiate a treaty. The conflict began in July of 2014, and is still ongoing. There have been two approaches to resolving the issue; either a “two-state solution” where Palestine is identi-fied as a state and obtains most of the land in Gaza and Ha-mas, or a “one-state solution” where both regions are com-bined to one country. Currently, both sides have yet to have an effective ceasefire, but a negotiations process is still underway. The conflict thus far has killed about 70 Israelis and 2,200 Pales-tinians, including hundreds of civilians, along with creating catastrophic damages of property for both sides.



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The Israel Palestinian Conflict: What is it?...CONTINUED

Although the situation is grim, one can only hope that a peace treaty will come soon. The Israelis and Palestini-ans are not alone, receiving international support for a treaty that will end the ongoing conflict once and for one. John Kerry, the Secretary of State for the U.S., has said that he is preparing a plan he wants to unveil on April 29th, and alt-hough a two-state solution may be appealing to Benjamin Netanyahu, it could be a different story with right wing politi-cians in Israel who are strongly against establishing a Palestin-ian state.

Sources:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14628835

http://www.vox.com/cards/israel-palestine/intro

http://www.science.co.il/Israel-history.php

http://israelipalestinian.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000635

http://www.theguardian.com/world/on-the-middle-east/2014/feb/27/john-kerry-solve-israel-palestine-conflict

http://www.ibtimes.com/hamas-rejects-new-ceasefire-proposal-calls-it-israels-attempt-swallow-west-bank-1845772

Were The Groundhogs Correct? By Alexis Wilner

“If the groundhog sees his shadow, there will be 6 more weeks of bad weather,” is how the legend goes. Unfortunate-ly, many groundhogs saw their shadow on February 2nd, like Punxsutawney Phil, Essex Ed, and Bill Murray. But other rodents, like Staten Island Chuck, General Beauregard Lee, and Buckeye Chuck disagree. The question is, “Are we re-ceiving the six more weeks of winter or an early spring?”. Due to the many recent snow days, delayed openings, and state of emergency alerts, I believe that it is safe to say that we are receiving 6 more weeks of winter.

How to Celebrate the Earth on Earth Day By Sriya Sadangi

In the past few years of your life, how many times have you done something to celebrate the earth? Let’s see, April 22nd, 2013. Nope. You did nothing. April 22nd, 2014. Not a single surprise for the earth. And what does our planet give us in return? The answer: clean water, freshly grown food, homes to live in, jobs, and much more. So doesn’t the earth deserve to be celebrated on its very own, special day? Here are two fun and creative ways to celebrate the earth on Earth Day.

1. Go green: plant some flora

Of the many plants that can be found, trees have the most impact on our earth. That is, a good impact. Planting trees helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, cleans pollution, secures soil to prevent erosion, and provides homes for a lot of biodiversity. So, pick a tree that you know can survive

your climate and…PLANT IT! You will have produced a medicine for Earth’s deadly sickness: global warming. In ad-dition to trees, you can also plant wildflowers. Restoring the local plant life will help attract native bird life, pollinators, and local mammals.

2. Make nature crafts at school or home

You can do your part by getting together with a family mem-ber or a friend and making a homemade project out of mate-rials that would otherwise turn into trash. For example, you could make a birdhouse or a bird feeder to encourage the local bird population, which plays an important role in every ecosystem, helping the earth. The possibilities are endless: turn used guitar strings into a centerpiece, make a basket from an old orange juice carton, convert an old floppy disk into a Starship enterprise, or wear a skirt made out of old umbrellas.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14628835

http://www.vox.com/cards/israel-palestine/intro

http://www.science.co.il/Israel-history.php








AROUND THE WORLD

How to Prepare for the Weather By Amritaa Basu

If you’re someone who spends a lot of time in the outdoors or even glimpses at the weather forecast every now and then, you probably know that the weather around these past few weeks has been excellent! But we’ve experienced sunny high 60’s one day and a heavy gush of snow the next; the weather seems absolutely unpredicta-ble! Not to mention, Spring arriving faster than the sun and clouds can get ready for it only adds to the weather dilemma. While it seems like every nice day has a bad one and bad news creeping up behind it, there’s a few small but handy steps you can take to make sure you’re ready to face the sly and sneaky post-winter weather. Check the Weather Forecast…. As simple as it sounds, it really helps. Flipping on the TV for a minute or scanning the weather app on your phone to check out the upcoming weather can make a big difference. Knowing what’s going to happen ahead of time is your big-gest tool of preparation. Use it. Consider the Highs and Lows… When you take a look at the forecast on an iPhone or a TV channel, there’s two numbers you see- the high temperature and low temperature. Often times people just glance at the high and plan their day accordingly. Next thing they know, they’re wearing shorts and expecting a 61°F to roll around when the entire day lingers on a 39°. Look at BOTH num-bers so you are ready for whichever dominates the day.

Keep a Jacket Handy… Whether it’s Spring or Summer, a light jacket or even shawl should be kept within arm’s (or locker’s) reach so you can slip it on when a rushing breeze comes your way. Even if it’s warm outside, it can’t hurt. Layer the Clothing You Wear… To be ready for any fluctuating weather that springs upon you, layer your clothes – wear a light shirt, perhaps a heavier sweatshirt or shirt on top, and a loose coat or jacket on top of that so you can adjust throughout the day. Tie your jacket around your waist; wear it loosely – whatever works for you. Pick Out Your Outfit the Night Before… I know it seems like your outfit has no link to weather, but it does. If you check the weather and lay out the next day’s clothes beforehand, you’ll have enough time in the morning to just pull them on, grab your backpack, and sprint out. But if you oversleep in the morning and don’t have your clothes ready, you’ll be grabbing things of random hangers and rush-ing regardless of the conditions outside. Take the time to fol-low this step so you won’t look back later. Carry an Umbrella… Last but not least, as you’re pulling on your sneakers at 7:45am, grab an umbrella or keep it in your backpack so you can open it up if clouds sweep in with showers.

Take the time and effort to follow these simple steps

and soon you’ll have no trouble being prepared for whatever twist or turn the spring weather sends your way.

Allergies By Medha Atla

Achoo!! Someone next to you sneezes, and you ask yourself, why they are sneezing so much and why their eyes are red. The answer to that is that they probably have aller-gies. There are many types of allergies including food, season-al, and even animal allergies. The most common ones are seasonal allergies that usually occur during spring, but may even occur in winter. Seasonal allergies develop when the body’s immune system becomes sensitized and overreacts to something in the environment that typically causes no prob-lem in most people. Want to know what happens when you get allergies? You sneeze a lot, cough, get teary eyed, and de-velop rashes (for some people) and even red eyes. Sound hor-rible right? Actually research proves it’s not as bad as it

sounds. Researchers from Yale University, in an article pub-lished in the journal Nature, argue that allergic responses are a way for the body to defend against harmful or irritating sub-stances in the environment. The purpose of allergies comes down to three basic mechanisms: prevent a substance from getting into your body, getting rid of a substance that made it through your defenses, and to encourage you to avoid the substance. True it may feel uncomfortable, but if you look on the bright side there is a lot more to it.


AROUND THE WORLD

Dream On By Jenna Yan

Dreaming is a very interesting thing that the human body does everyday, without even realizing it. In ancient times, many people believed that dreams had meanings and interpretations. Dreams are also the cause of some of the greatest inventions, such as the sewing machine, Google, Al-bert Einstein's theory of relativity, and many more. Today, scientists are still debating whether or not dreams can predict the future or have any reasoning behind them. Either way, dreams will always be intriguing and full of mysteries to man-kind. Dreaming occurs during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. This type of sleep happens within 90 minutes of sleep-ing and when the brain is active. The body is also normally paralyzed when this occurs. There are 10 basic types of dreams: daydreaming, false awakening, lucid dreaming, night-mares, recurring dreams, healing dreams, prophetic dreams, signal dreams, epic dreams, progressive dreams, and mutual dreams. There are two kinds of dreams that usually occur in the daytime: daydreaming and false awakening. Daydreaming occurs when you are half conscious and half awake. Your mind wanders away into your own imagination and you lose focus of everything. Many people do this often, and as re-searchers have shown, a person on average daydreams 70-120 minutes a day. False awakening usually occurs in the morning and is the sensation that a person goes through when they feel like they have done something, but it turns out that it was all a dream. Have you ever thought you have woken up and did your morning routine, only to realize that you have been asleep the whole time? Well, you’re not alone! These moments are normal and occur once in awhile when a person has this type of dream. A few examples of interesting types of dreaming in-clude lucid dreaming, epic dreaming, and mutual dreaming. Lucid dreaming refers to when a person realizes that they are dreaming. Often times, people wake themselves up once they realize this. However, some people have acquired the skill to remain asleep and to continue dreaming. These people have the ability to alter their dream and to make their own deci-sions that occur in them. An epic dream changes a person’s life. They are remembered the most and for the longest time through their vivid details. Epic dreams contain much sym-bolism and are profound experiences. They make a person feel as if they have been through a life-changing situation. Mutual dreams are very rare and occur when two people have the same dream. A mutual dream may happen when two peo-ple are working to achieve a certain goal in the real world. It’s a way to build trust and to improve communication. Very rarely do they happen on the same night, but it is possible. Not much study has gone into mutual dreams, but there is a

very strong bond that exists between the two dreamers. Types of dreams that involve many problems are nightmares, recurring dreams, and healing dreams. Night-mares are disturbing dreams that cause a person to feel anx-ious or frightened Depending on the situation, they may be a response to real life problems and trauma. In addition, night-mares are indications of a fear that needs to be addressed and stood up to. It is a signal for the person to take notice of. Recurring dreams are a type of dream that involves a lot of repetition. There may be a common theme or object that recurs. A person may also experience déjà vu at certain points in the dream. These dreams may be both positive and nega-tive, however they can be very similar to nightmares, like try-ing to send a warning. Healing dreams happen when the body sends the brain a message regarding a person’s health. The ancient Greeks called these dream “prodromic.” Dreams like these are supposed to predict what may happen to your body in the near future. Some research has been done to show that people with asthma may experience a healing dream right before an attack. Finally, some dreams that involve problem solving are prophetic dreams, signal dreams, and progressive dreams. Prophetic dreams, also known as psychic or precognitive dreams, help to foretell the future. Your dreaming mind is able to piece together every bit of detail and observation that you may have overlooked, to form a prediction. Uncon-sciously, your brain knows how to use every form of infor-mation that you may have. Signal dreams are a certain type of dream that tell a person how to solve a problem or make a decision in the real world. This could be based on a prophetic dream that may have become true. It could also be a dream to find a solution to a nightmare or recurring dream. Pro-gressive dreams are much like stories. They leave off after every night at the same place that it ended. These sequences of dreams may also help to solve problems and dilemmas in various ways.



AROUND THE WORLD

Dream On...CONTINUED

Interesting Facts About Dreaming

You forget 90% of your dreams.

Blind people also can dream vividly in other senses, such as sound and touch.

Everyone dreams, whether you remember it or not.

Dreams contain only faces that you’ve seen before, in-cluding people you walk past on streets.

Not all dreams are in color.

Dreams can be symbolic.

Emotions are expressed during dreams and are more likely to be negative. (Ex. anxiety)

On average, a person has 4-7 dreams a night.

Animals can dream also.

People incorporate the sounds they hear around them while they’re sleeping to their dream. (Ex. dreaming that you are at a concert when you hear a guitar in the next room

Studies show that about 70% of people in a survey have experienced déjà vu during a dream.

Twin Telepathy… Is it True? By Pooja Nandhyala

Do you have a twin or know someone who is a twin? It might sound weird, but most twins understand each other really well and can figure out when one is in trouble. The term “telepathy” is from the Greek language. The term tele means ‘distant’ while pathe means ‘feelings’. Although almost every twin has this, many twins do not share their feelings with each other internally. In the beginning, scientists ignored the ideas of telepathy, telekinesis, and many other illusions we believe in today. However, after decades of trial and er-ror, scientists have begun to prove that such things do exist.

Not only do twins share each other’s ideas, but they also mirror each

other’s actions. After a recent research study, some scientists found a pair of twins who proved their claim. One twin was enrolled in guitar lessons while the second one was put in soccer classes. Miraculously, the twin playing guitar could play soccer just as good as his twin. The child playing soccer had the same ability playing the guitar as the twin who was enrolled in it. Studies have shown that due to these children being born at the same time, they end up being very close to each other and share their abilities with each other. They can be known as “two in one”! Studies show that telepathy really kicks in when twins are either in distress or in a major crisis. In the article “Institute to

the Noetic Sciences”, a twin expressed her feelings. It says, “Martha Burke felt as if she ‘had been cut in two’ one day in 1977 when a searing pain crossed her chest and abdomen. Hours later she discovered that her twin sister had died in a plane crash halfway across the world.” Although it is unfortunate, this incident greatly proves that twin telepa-thy does exist in the world.

The next time you see twins walking by, try quizzing them about each other and you will be amazed on the results you find!

The Measles are Back By Samuel Zhang

Measles. The next “Ebola” dis-ease that will be laughed at, but not when you have it. This disease was first seen in Disneyland, California. These outbreaks had restarted the spread of this disease when unvaccinated travelers brought it here throughout the U.S. in

seventeen states over the recent months. As well as the past year of 2014, there were recorded number 644 cases in 27 different states, yet, while this is all hap-pening, not many people seem to stop and wonder about the infection itself.



AROUND THE WORLD

The Measles are Back...CONTINUED

This nuisance is an infectious viral disease causing fever and a red rash in the skin, typically occurring in child-hood. This disease generally causes fever more than 104° Fahrenheit and very intense, fast spreading rashes, but also cause a runny nose, or coryza, and red, watery eyes, or con-junctivitis. The biggest problem, though, is the rash. This specific rash starts off as a flat red spot, but spread around the body and thickens into bumps. With this, one or two of every thousand measles victims will die even with the best treatment and care, as well as the probability of one in a thousand people developing encephalitis, where the brain swells up. Symptoms of the measles usually appear between one to two weeks, but luckily, they do not last for long, only

infecting the body for a few days, in which the fever cools and the rashes fade. Yet the contagiousness of the disease allows this problem to expand. Measles can be spread with just a cough or sneeze, as the mucus in the nose causes the disease. The disease can stay in the air for up to one or two hours after the cough, making it even easier to catch. These big aspects cause this nuisance to become such a big problem in this country. Hopefully, this problem will not strengthen and affect many others.

Is it Blue and Black or White and Gold? By Alexandra Marques

Is the dress blue and black? Or white and gold? This has been intriguing people on social media ever since one Thursday, when a woman decided to post a picture of a dress, asking if it was black and blue, or white and gold. This caused a social media rebellion; some people thought the dress was black and blue, but others saw white and gold. Peo-ple couldn’t understand how this was possible. Why were people seeing different colors? Scientists studied this popular topic and discovered the answer: light enters the eye through the lens, and different wavelengths correspond to different colors. The light hits the retina in the back of the eye where pigments have connections to the visual cortex, the part of the brain that processes those signals to form an image. However, that first burst of light is made of wavelengths that are illuminating the world, reflecting off whatever you’re looking at. Without you having to worry about it, your brain figures out what color light is bouncing off the thing your eyes are looking at and subtracts that color from the “real” color of the object. The actual color of the dress is black and blue.

Who started all of this? Well, about a week before the wedding of Scottish couple Grace and Keir Johnston, Grace's mother sent her a photograph of the dress she planned to wear to the wedding. The couple disagreed over the color of the dress. On February 26th, 2015 Grace decided to post a picture of the dress on Tumblr asking if it was black and blue or white and gold. Later in that day, the image went viral. People used the hashtags: #thedress, #blueandblack, or #whiteandgold to discuss their opinions. The dress even caught the attention of celebrities including Taylor Swift, Jus-tin Bieber, Demi Lovato, Anna Kendrick, Katy Perry, Sara Hyland, Kim Kardashain, Ariana Grande, and Ellen De-Generes. Even though this rebellion caused a lot of revolts,

we still discovered something new and how people saw the dress differently. What do you see?


AROUND THE WORLD

Once again, spring arrives and we all have more chances to meet with our friends. Hanging out with friends is something all ages around the world love to do. But I have studied that around the age of tweens and teens, people should spend time talking with parents at home. Below is a poll that I took from a Google poll. I posted a poll where a bunch of my friends and family members (cousins) that are around the age of teens voted on how much time they spend with their parents discussing about their school life. This can include how much time they spend talking about their friends, homework, or tests/quizzes. As you can see below, 31% of them said that they always talk to their parents. 44% of the people say that they talk to their parents often. 25% of the people say that they never talk to their parents about their school life. It is very important to spend time with your par-ents. The transition of turning into a young adult can cause opinions to change. Most students like to spend time in their

rooms, listen to music, or text on their phones. It is always good to recall, parents have gone through some of the im-portant phases of life that we are yet to go through. There-fore, they can help us in taking the right decisions. Your par-ents are working hard to make you a successful person, and they always have good advice. Take some time whenever pos-sible for at least five minutes and share your feelings and vent out anything that comes through your mind. Enjoy your spring!

Our Precious Moments

By Richa Wadhawan

SCIENCE

Tornadoes By Parshva Mehta

A tornado, or twister, is a violently rotating column of air that extends between the Earth's surface and a cloud, usually a cumulonimbus cloud. Most tornadoes last for less than ten minutes. Large tornadoes usually last longer – around 30 minutes. Twisters have wind speeds of more than 300 miles (483 kilometers) per hour, which can rip buildings off their foundations. They can be more than two miles (3.2 kilometers) wide, and can spin across the ground for dozens of miles. The more common tornadoes have wind speeds of less than 110 miles (177 kilometers) per hour, are about 250 feet (76 meters) across, and travel only a few miles before they dissipate.

Tornadoes kill an average of 60 people a year in the U.S., mostly from flying or falling debris, reports the NOAA. True tornadoes, unlike smaller swirling winds like dust devils and waterspouts, emerge from what are called super cell thunderstorms. For such a storm to form, you first need the conditions of a regular thunderstorm. Fast winds make a super cell, the super cell churns high in the air and, in about 30 percent of cases, and it leads to the formation of a tornado below it. This happens when air descending from the super cell causes rotation near the ground. Even then, we still don't know why some thunderstorms create tornadoes while others don't, tornado-chaser Tim Samaras said in early 2013. Sama-ras was a scientist and National Geographic grantee that was

killed by a twister on May 31st, 2013, in El Reno, Oklahoma. (Read “The Last Chase” in National Geographic magazine.)

Scientists believe strong changes in winds in the first kilometer of the atmosphere and high relative humidity are important for the formation of tornadoes. There needs to be a downdraft in just the right part of the storm. We don’t un-derstand how tornadoes die: eventually the air gets too cold and it chokes off the inflow of new air into the storm, but we don't know the details. Tornadoes have been observed on every continent except Antarctica. They have been most doc-umented in North America, where an estimated 1,200 strike the United States each year, but they frequently appear in many other countries. The most notoriously affected region in the United States, called Tornado Alley, includes the Great Plains states of Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas, as well as parts of Texas. Large-scale weather patterns tend to converge on that area, making tornadoes more likely. Still, the state that receives the highest number of tornadoes per square mile is Florida, according to the American Meteorological Society. Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Louisiana also have many torna-does per square mile. Tornadoes can happen at any hour of the day and any time of the year, though they are most com-mon in the spring, especially during May and June in North America.



SCIENCE

In many countries, including the United States, Can-ada, and continental Europe, the strength of tornadoes is often measured by the Fujita scale or the updated Enhanced Fujita Scale. An F0 or EF0 tornado damages trees but sub-stantial structures are left unharmed; a tornado in the strong-est category – F5 or EF5 – blows away buildings. Since meas-uring wind speeds inside a twister is extremely difficult, scien-tists typically rely on damage to estimate velocities. Torna-does are much harder to forecast than hurricanes, which are larger storms that last a lot longer. According to the NOAA, the average amount of time between a tornado warning and the arrival of a storm is about 13 minutes.

Pangaea and the Continents By Kareena Pandya

Have you ever wondered what Earth was like before the continental drift? I have, and after research, I have come to a conclusion: all the continents used to be joined, forming a supercontinent. In 1910, a German scientist named Alfred Wegener became curious about why some continents look as though they could fit together. His hypothesis was that all the continents were once joined together in a single landmass and have since drifted apart. Wegener called the supercontinent Pangaea. He used evidence from land features, fossils, and climate to prove his statement true. Unfortunately, many ge-ologists at his time rejected his idea because he could not identify the cause of the continental drift. Now, we know the real reason of how Earth came to be.

Tornadoes...CONTINUED

TECHNOLOGY

Imagine sitting in the driver’s seat of a car. Your car. Except, instead of you driving, the car drives for you. Sounds like Star Trek, right? Well, believe it or not, these cars are already beginning to exist. But what we perceive as self-driving is drastically different than what is available today. The “self-driving” cars today can barely park. It will be a long time before these cars can do everything we can do. But in the mean time (8 years to be precise), we can understand and learn about the things that scientists have done to make this dream a reality. History The race to build a self-driving car began in 1925; Houdina Radio Control built a car that operated via remote control.

Ever since, we have tried to create cars that don’t need a hu-man to maintain control. About 30 years later, the first auton-omous car was created at RCA labs. Though it was a small car, it could still drive on its own. But even 50 years after that, we still can’t apply the same functions to regular-sized cars. Why? Well first, that car was controlled by wires con-nected to a computer. Secondly, the car was once again told what to do. In 1925, it was via remote control, and now, in 1953, it was via a computer. And this is the biggest problem for scientists. The technology needed to make cars operate using their own intelligence does not exist. Well, at least it didn’t. Now, in the 21st century, car manufactures and univer-sities are beginning to create a new era of car technology.


I-Car: The Future of Automobile Technology By Avinash Kumar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houdina_Radio_Control

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houdina_Radio_Control


TECHNOLOGY

I-Car: The Future of Automobile Technology...CONTINUED

Google Google has been working on its self-driving prototype since 2011. So far, they have created the most advanced autono-mous car to hit the road. One of their test cars, a 2010 Toyo-ta Prius, has driven over 700,000 miles. It runs on a combina-tion of satellite imagery and an extremely advanced version of Google Maps. It can drive on all terrain in fair weather. But the car does have drawbacks. Google Maps is not entirely up to date, so if changes were made in road design recently, the car will be oblivious to them. The car also can’t operate in extreme road conditions, such as ice and potholes. Addition-ally, the car is extremely expensive, with the hardware itself being $150,000. But, the technology Google has developed is far superior to any other rival’s. Levels Each car has a specific level, indicating when a driver is need-ed to take control of the car, as indicated below: Level 0: The driver completely controls the vehicle at all times. Level 1: Individual vehicle controls are automated, such as automatic braking. Level 2: At least two controls can be automated in unison, such as braking with lane keeping. Level 3: The driver can fully take control of the car in certain conditions. The car senses when conditions require the driver to retake control and provides a "comfortable transition

time" for the driver to do so. Level 4: Technology completely controls the vehicle on its own, without any assistance from the driver. It will take over 50 years for cars to become Level 4, but Level 3 can be achieved by 2020. Why? Level 4 requires arti-ficial intelligence, and don’t expect to see AI any time soon. But Level 3 is still extraordinary for what exists today. May-be, when you turn 16, your parents might get you a new Co-rolla or Accord that drives on its own. That completely takes away the need to get a license. That means that middle-schoolers like you, or me, can get a car! Cool, right?!

Amazon Drones By Varsini Dhinakaran

It’s a bird! It’s an airplane! No and no! It’s an Ama-zon Drone! Recently, Amazon created a delivery drone to help get orders out faster. This flying machine can hold up to 5 lbs and is supposed to fly for at least 10 miles at 50 mph. That’s impressive! Here’s what Amazon thinks of their new gadget. “We're excited about Prime Air – a future delivery system from Amazon designed to safely get packages into customers' hands in 30 minutes or less using small, un-manned aerial vehicles. Putting Prime Air into service will take some time, but we will deploy when we have the regula-tory support needed to realize our vision.” This is quoted from the Amazon Prime Air website. It is going to take some time to get it in the air, but it is going to be worth it. But some people say having drones is a bad thing. Since they have cameras to view where they are going, people are worried about privacy if the drone goes past them. This is a valid point since there are people viewing the footage in case the

drone goes down or it sends the package to the wrong house. There can also be too many drones in the air which can cause collisions or air traffic. There are many problems popping up as amazon struggles to pull this off but it can be done and they are close to it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_braking

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lane_departure_warning_system#Types


SPORTS

The Best of the Best in NBA History By Akhil Dwasari

It all started at TD Garden. This year, the 2015 NBA All-star game was held in MSG (Madison Square Garden), the stadium of the New York Knicks. The teams were loaded with extraordinary players, but that meant that players who had their best season so far might have been left out.

The Eastern Conferences’ starting five were Carmelo Anthony from the New York Knicks, LeBron James from the Cleveland Cavaliers, Pau Gasol from the Chicago Bulls, John Wall from the Washington Wizards, and Kyle Lowry from the Toronto Raptors. The players that came off the bench for this conference were four Atlanta Hawks (Al Hor-ford, Kyle Korver, Jeff Teague, and Paul Millsap), Jimmy Butler from the Bulls, and two Miami Heat players (Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade).

The Western Conferences’ starting five had many injuries, with Blake Griffin, Kobe Bryant, and Anthony Davis sitting out. Fortunately Marc Gasol and Stephen Curry were in perfect shape. The players that replaced these injuries were James Harden, Klay Thompson, and Dirk Nowitzki. Even though both teams had detriments to their lineups, they still made plenty of records in NBA history. The two teams used most of their positions for fancy dunks, stylish passes, or open threes which they could splash. Throughout the

game, substitutions were made, and then when the man with the #0 from the Western Conference came in, the party start-ed. Russell Westbrook was his name. He walked on the court from the bench with his head held high, hoping he could bring victory to his team. The game progressed and what Westbrook was thinking actually happened. He himself made a record breaking performance with 27 points in just one half. To add, on he made the most field goals in the half as well (11). He ended the game off with 41 points and only 28 field goals. Westbrook wasn’t the only one who dazzled his way to the record books. Both teams created eye-stunning results. The two conferences had the most points in a half (165). The Western Conference had the most points in a game by one team (163), and at the end, the two teams had the most points combined, 321! These players had earned their way towards the top, and 2015 will be year to remember for all of them.

The Journey: LeBron James By Ram Gadhamsetty

This extraordinary journey started in the 2003 NBA Draft, and Cleveland had the No. 1 overall pick. Usually the number one pick is always exciting, and there were thoughts on who it should be. But that was not the case for this draft; people were dis-cussing who the second pick would be. You know why? Every single piece of matter

knew that the eighteen year old dynamic player, LeBron James would be going first. He had such a high skill level, that it is unmatchable nowadays. LeBron put up remarkable stats for his first NBA game. As a beginner and a novice to the league, he got twenty-five points, nine assists, and six re-bounds. One word: phenomenal.

LeBron played six years with the Cleveland Cavaliers and brought them one finals appearance. However there was no team. It was more like the Cleveland LeBrons. That is why, LeBron decided to leave Cleveland. After days in the offseason, LeBron chose to play with his buddy Dwayne Wade and the Miami Heat.

His first year in Miami was successful, as they made

it to the finals during their first year. But they lost. The next year, they made it back to the finals again, and LeBron finally achieved his ultimate goal. He won his first championship. It took him eight hard years of work to achieve the prodigious goal. Then it happened again, the Miami Heat went back to the finals and the Heat won again. LeBron got two champi-onships. But then, LeBron’s original problem came back to haunt him. LeBron was basically doing all of the work for his team. Then, the next year did it. LeBron got to the finals again for the fourth time in a row, but they miserably got killed, destroyed, and assassinated in the finals by the San Antonio Spurs. LeBron wanted to share the ball – he didn’t want a team to depend on him. So then the offseason came along. LeBron had many teams interested in his game. But he ultimately decided to go home, back to Cleveland. He saw that family and home meant more than basketball, and he vowed to bring a championship to Cleveland Cavaliers.

As for now, Cleveland is second place in the Eastern Conference and is ready to be in the playoffs. LeBron and Co. are practically doing everything right as of now, and they might even win a championship.


SPORTS

Who is Eldrick Tont Woods? Born on December 30th, 1975, he is also known as the legendary Tiger Woods. Perhaps one of the most successful golfers of all time, the 39-year old has also been one of the highest paid athletes ever for several years. Woods has broken many golf records throughout his career, including having been awarded PGA Player of the Year an outstanding 11 times! However, in April 2014, he had back disc surgery, and has strived since to recover his dominant title.

As many may have heard, the 14-time major champi-on and former world No. 1 golfer, took a break from the sport after confessing that his game wasn’t exactly at its peak. Woods has been suffering many injuries, and redesigning his swing came out to be unsuccessful. Golfing experts believe that Woods needed to regain his focus, and rebuild the confi-dence he needs in order to reclaim his reputation.

In the Farmers Insurance Open on February 5th, Woods claimed that his back acted up and his glutes wouldn’t engage. As a result, Woods withdrew from the tournament after completing only 11 holes. He carded what was his worst round as a professional, with an 82. He also stated that the mishap wasn’t related to his back surgery last April. With a disappointing finish, Woods walked off saying that he would come back to compete once he was ready, and remained hopeful to return for Masters.

Furthermore, Tiger Woods decided to skip this year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational on March 17th, a tourna-ment he had won 8 times, and the Honda Classic on Febru-ary 26th, both tournaments he usually attended. On his web-

site on Friday, he said, “I've put in a lot of time and work on my game and I'm making strides, but like I've said, I won't return to the PGA Tour until my game is tournament ready and I can compete at the highest level. I hope to be ready for the Masters, and I will continue to work hard preparing for Augusta.” Friends and coaches also go great lengths to sup-port Woods, such as Notah Begay and his swinging consult-ant Chris Como. Begay spent time with Woods, in his words “trying to be a good running mate and going through workouts and practicing with him.” Begay observed that Woods was definitely improving, and he was getting some solid workouts.

Aside from this, many people anticipate Tiger Woods’s decision to return to the sport on April 9th. On this date, Tiger Woods will either compete at the Masters in Au-gusta, Georgia, or continue training and practicing. Tiger Woods decided to skip tournaments to train, and he hopes the hard work will pay off. There is no doubt that seeing the former world No. 1 playing on the field will increase the ten-sion and hype at Masters, but the real question is: Will Tiger Woods return for the Masters in attempt to regain his dominant form?

Tiger Woods, Competing at Masters? By Keren Huang

The Cricket World Cup By Aditya Manna

After a great 2015 cricket world cup in Australia and New Zealand, we came off with a great result. Australia was the winner for the 2015 cricket world cup. This year we had a great cricket world cup, with some of the best teams compet-ing from all around. The World Cup takes place every four years. The World Cup is so big for so many that they stay up the whole night to watch it, just like lots of people in the United States. This was a really big occasion in India. People in India would take off from their jobs, give up food, and make many sacrifices that we would probably never make. When India lost in the semifinal of the World Cup, if you saw the faces of the people in India, it would look like their coun-try was struck by a natural disaster. India didn’t have as good a team as they had in the past few years, yet the Indian fans still cheer for their country. The World Cup raises the spirit

of cricket worldwide, and this year, the World Cup has brought many more people to love the game of cricket. I real-ly loved the Cricket World Cup this year!


REVIEWS

Book Review

By Shruthi Rajaraman

Gathering Blue: A Companion to The

Giver

By: Lois Lowry

You know it! Once again, the author Lois Lowry takes us to a whole new world we have never known of be-fore. This time, she transfers us readers to a world where the weak are cast aside. Unfortunately, the main character of the story, Kira, is one of those few people who are considered to be weak. To start with, Kira is a girl who was born with a crippled leg. Her mother had recently passed away and now, she is all alone, considering the fact that her father died when she was younger. So, Kira tries to find hope in her future and seek a good life even with her crippled leg, but finds out, from her good friend Matt, that one obstacle stands in her way, Vandara. Vandara is a woman from the village who is known mainly for her great courage, strength and the scar that shows darkly on her skin. Vandara had declared that Ki-ra shouldn’t be alive anymore and the land where Kira’s house used to stand will be made into a pen for all the tykes. As a result of Vandara’s dislike towards Kira, Vandara gave a complaint to the Edifice, the big building where serious mat-

ters took place. After many claims from Vandara and Kira’s defender, Jamison, opposing each of Vandara’s statements, it was settled that Vandara would get Kira’s land but, Kira would be able to remain alive and live in a room in the Edi-fice. Not only had Kira’s defender, Jamison, allowed her to stay, but Kira was also given an honorable job in return for her amazing talent in weaving, repairing and finishing the Singer’s robe who sings the Ruin Song in a huge ceremony every year. The story goes on to talk about how Kira be-comes friends with a carver named Thomas and a little girl with a lovely voice named Jo. Not only does Kira make new friends along her journey through life, but learns things about the world that she has never known of before and the secrets it has been hiding. All in all, Lois Lowry has written another wonderful, intriguing, and amazing story for all you book lovers out there. Being a companion novel to the other memorable sto-ry Lois Lowry has written, The Giver, the book expands the reader’s knowledge on how our future might be set up and the many challenges we may have to hur-dle. The book Gathering Blue creates an outstanding world that all readers will en-joy reading about. The book also lets readers learn life lessons and the many secrets in our lives that are yet to be re-vealed.

Book Review

By Priyal Shah

The Selection

By: Kiera Cass

Set in the future in a country called Illéa, The Selection

is about a teenage girl named America Singer who tries out for the Selection against her will. The Selection is a competi-tion in which 35 girls are called over the Royal Palace to com-pete for Prince Maxon’s hand in marriage and the crown. America does not want to compete because of her secret love for a servant named Aspen, but with Aspen’s begging and bribery from her mother, she sends her application in – and gets chosen. Set from America’s point of view, the story shows how America survives in the palace while trying to get over her feelings for Aspen. She soon learns who to stay friends with and who to steer clear of while learning how to act in the palace. The story is packed with twists and turns, every chapter revealing a new conflict. It will surely leave you at the

edge of your seat. From secret meetings with Prince Maxon to rebel attacks, this book is anything but boring. Overall, I would give this book five out of five stars. It is fresh, funny, and an absolute perfect choice.


REVIEWS

Tuck Everlasting: Book vs. Movie By Shannon Yan

Song Reviews

By Nathaniel Mumau

“Shut Up and Dance By Walk the Moon

Lyrics: This song seems to be about love at first sight, as the singer describes meeting a girl on the dance floor, and simply doing so with her. The couple barely says anything to each other, so the attraction seems to only go skin-deep at best, yet the singer calls the woman his “destiny”. However, they don’t do anything much more except...dance. It’s a nice party song, but devoid of any important thematic elements; just keep dancing, and everything will be great.


The novel Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbit, is a very interesting story with many interesting themes. Some of the main themes are immortality, time, decisions, independ-ence, change, and love. Theme is very important in this nov-el. Book Summary In this story, the Tucks are immortal after drinking from a magical spring in the Fosters' woods in the town of Treegap 87 years ago. Because of being immortal, they must be kept hidden and move constantly for fear of being sus-pected. They are all over 100 years old and one day. One of the Tuck boys, Jesse, is caught by Winnie Foster (whose fam-ily owns the woods) drinking from the spring. Winnie is a very lonely character who talks to toads (and is very protect-ed and confined by her family) and had just met a man in a yellow suit who had been searching for the Tucks the day before. Jesse, a 17-year old (technically 104 years old), has now fallen in love with 10-year old Winnie (which I find strange) and forbids her to drink from the spring. At that exact moment, Miles (Jesse's 22-year old brother) and Mae (Jesse and Miles' mother) "kidnap" Winnie. As they are leav-ing though, Winnie sees the man in the yellow suit watching them. As they reach a stream, the Tucks tell Winnie the real reason behind kidnapping her. They bring her to their house to stay for only a little while, but that night, Winnie wants to go home. So the Tucks start to bring Winnie back but then they realize that their immortal horse was stolen. Read the book to find out more! Differences Between the Movie and Book There were drastic changes between the book and the movie. I dislike these changes, and I feel that the book was better. First of all, the book was more about immortality

and the movie took a more romantic theme between Winnie and Jesse. Most of the movie revolves around them, and them spending time together (unlike in the book where it is not focused on anyone in particular besides Winnie). In the book, Winnie and Jesse don't really do anything together.

The next thing I noticed was that in the movie, Win-nie was already 15 years old: a “young lady”. This changes the whole plot because Winnie is even more confined. She has to be more lady-like, unlike if she were a 10-year old. Also, in the movie, since she is old enough, Winnie's parents are forc-ing her to go to a private school far away.

The next difference is that in the book, Winnie only stays for one night and one morning unlike in the movie, where they show Winnie staying with the Tucks for almost a week and how they have all the time in the world. Also, in the movie, the Tucks have seen and suspected the man in the yellow suit because they saw him following them. In the book, the Tucks have no clue who he is, and they suspect nothing. In the movie, Miles is extremely glum and sour, and he never smiles) while Angus is a bit unhappy but at least smiles a bit. In the book, it is completely the other way around.

Another smaller difference is that the man in the yellow suit reports to the constable and the Fosters (Winnie's family) a lot later than in the book.

Yet another difference is that the man in the yellow suit starts to get suspi-cious of Miles when he is at the bar/poker place. In the book, that event never hap-pens.

I didn't really like the movie be-

cause it deviates too much from the book. All in all though, I loved the book, but dislike both the movie and book's endings.


REVIEWS

Song Reviews...CONTINUED

“Shut Up and Dance By Walk the Moon Music Video: One word to describe this video: goofy. Nicholas Petricca, the lead singer of Walk the Moon, is at a disco where he meets a girl that causes him to go into a weird, Technicolor hallucination, only brought back into reality when the girl punches him with an eight-bit fist. Reality is no more coherent, though, as Petricca has a dance-off with himself, wearing a suit that flashes like a crude rainbow. It’s a strange and hilarious four minutes and seven seconds, and quite worth the watch.

Geronimo By Sheppard Lyrics: Utilizing the metaphor of a waterfall, this song expresses how aiming for bigger, better things in life sometimes requires a leap of faith (hence the “Geronimo”); even if you don’t know what’s on the other side of the curtain of the waterfall, you should still jump through it. It’s an encouraging message, conveyed creatively, marking this song as unique, and for good reason.

Music Video: It begins with the members of Sheppard bringing to life a Frankenstein-like cardboard monster, which they then present to the rest of what appears to be a group of rebels. They all cheer at the introduction of the monster, and then prepare for battle in the streets, where they meet their opposition (who closely resemble Rev-olutionary War redcoats). A fight ensues, but everyone stops and watches when the cardboard monster walks down the street, into the sunset. It should be noted that practically everything in this music video is made of cardboard, from the sets to the costumes to the paper-towel-roll-swords the rebels use to fight. The monster himself is quite impressive, as well as the cardboard houses. Overall, this music video is pretty goofy, as well. There’s also a slight love story, but who cares? Everything’s made of cardboard! How cool can it get?

Have strong opinions? Want to share your writing but don’t want to commit to newspaper club? Become a guest writer for the Woodrow Wilson Challenger! Submit your work to

[email protected] to get published in the summer edition coming out in early June! Thanks for reading!


Spring Jokes for All By The Newspaper Club

1. When do monkeys fall from the sky?

2. Can February March?

3. Why is everyone so tired on April 1?

4. What season is it when you are on a trampoline?

5. What flowers grow on faces?

6. Why is the letter A like a flower?

7. What do you get when you pour hot water down a rabbit hole?

8. What do you call a girl with a frog on her head?

9. What does the Easter Bunny order at a Chinese Restaurant?

10. What do you call a rabbit with fleas?

11. What does the Easter Rabbit get for making a basket?

Jokes from http://www.jokes4us.com/miscellaneousjokes/weatherjokes/springjokes.html

Answers

1. During Ape-ril showers!

2. No, but April May!

3. Because they've just finished

a long, 31 day March!

4. Spring-time!

5. Tulips (two-lips!)

6. A bee (B) comes after it!

7. A hot cross bunny

8. Lily!

9. Hop Suey!

10. Bugs Bunny

11. Two points just like every-

body!

http://www.jokes4us.com/miscellaneousjokes/weatherjokes/springjokes.html

ilson er - edison spring 2015 edition ... priyal shah hafsah shaik aditi tyagi radhika vyas ... ous...

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