Valentine’s DayValentine’s DayValentine’s DayValentine’s Day

Fun FactsFun FactsFun FactsFun Facts (www.sheknows.com)

• 73% of people who buy flowers

for Valentine's Day are men, while only 27 percent are women. • 15% of U.S. women send them-

selves flowers on Valentine's Day.

• The red rose was the favorite

flower of Venus, the Roman goddess of love.

• Red roses are considered the

flower of love because the color red stands for strong romantic feelings.

• 189 million stems of roses are

sold in the U.S. on Valentine's Day.

• California produces 60 percent of

American roses, but the greater num-ber sold on Valentine's Day in the United States are imported, mostly from South America. • Approximately one billion Valen-

tines are sent out worldwide each year according to estimates by the U.S. Greeting Card Association. That's second only to Christmas.

• Women purchase approximately

85 percent of all Valentines.

• Teachers will receive the most

Valentine's Day cards, followed by children, mothers, wives, sweethearts and pets.

Next month is Febru-

ary, which means it’s here

again. It’s Valentine’s Day.

Every February 14 love is cele-

brated and here at LMS it’s no

different. Where did all of

these traditions start, though?

Legend says that February has

long been celebrated as a

month of romance and that

Valentine’s Day consists of

both Christian and ancient Ro-

man traditions. According to

Catholic faith, there are three

saints named Valentine or

Valentinus. One was a priest

who married people in secret

when the Emperor made it ille-

gal. When the emperor found

out he had him killed. Another

was an imprisoned Christian in

a Roman prison who suppos-

edly sent the first Valentine

message himself to the girl he

loved. Even though the exact

origin of Valentine’s Day is

murky, Valentine is almost al-

ways portrayed as a heroic

and romantic figure. In addi-

tion to America, Valentine’s

Day is celebrated in Canada,

Mexico, the UK, France, and

Australia. Cards have been

exchanged since probably the

early 1700s. Back then they

were mostly handmade. In

the 1840s Esther Howland

started selling mass-produced

cards, and today the holiday

is the second highest card-

selling holiday of the year. So

how do you celebrate Valen-

tine’s Day?

By Katie S.

Will you be mine?

RAMpages 2.0 J A N U A R Y – F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 3 I S S U E # 4

L I N G L E S T O W N M I D D L E S C H O O L

Band Concert Review

LMS Donates Recycled Cards

On Thursday, January 24, several members of the Na-

tional Junior Honor Society spent an evening at the Cen-

tral PA Food Bank organizing and boxing food donations.

A special thanks to Katie S., Lydia T., Ryan S., Julie R.,

Jacob D., Taylor K., and Kyler L.

for volunteering their time!

These students alone boxed

nearly THREE TONS of food!

Great job!

Linglestown Middle School

students, parents, staff,

and community members

donated over 1,000 used

greeting cards to benefit

the St. Jude’s Recycled Card

Program. This program sells

recycled greeting cards to

benefit the children at St.

Jude’s Ranch for Children.

dedicated to Mrs. Nelson’s

recently deceased grand-

mother), ‘The Brandenburg

Gate’, and ‘Finale’. Their

amazing playing earned

them a 9 out of 10. The

evening was concluded with

the LMS Jazz Band. They

performed ‘Ants in the

Pants’ and ‘C-Jam Blues’ as

well as the popular songs

‘Rolling in the Deep’ and

‘Smoke on the Water’. The

band had a nearly flawless

performance, earning them

a 9.5 out of 10. The concert

was terrific and enjoyable.

By Cecilia B.

The LMS Band Con-

cert on January 19th was very

good. The sixth grade band

had a wonderful performance

of ‘Meet the Masters’, ‘The

Ash Grove’, and ‘Sabre

Dance’. They earned a 7 out

of 10. Next was the 7th and 8th

grade band playing ‘Fanfare’,

‘Amazing Grace’ (which was

R A M P A G E S 2 . 0

NJHS Students Fight Hunger

Super Bowl XLVII

I S S U E # 4

As I am sure that football fans all over the United States know, this February 3 is the XLVII Su-per Bowl. At 6:30 p.m., East-ern Time, the Balti-more Ra-vens will take on the San Francisco 49ers in New Orleans’s Mercedes-Benz Superdome. But now for more unknown facts about the loudest television program ever. The coaches of the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers are brothers, John Harbaugh and Jim Harbaugh, respec-tively. But before you get too

excited about this brotherly showdown, you should probably hit the gym, and lose a couple extra pounds. Why? It is estimated that 8

million pounds of guacamole will be consumed, a l o n g w i t h 14,500 tons of chips. Not to mention that 1 .23 b i l l i on

chicken wings will be de-voured on Sunday. But do you know who will be stuck at work during the Super Bowl? Pizza delivery guys! Domino’s Pizza estimates that it will deliver 11 million pieces of pizza on Super

Bowl Sunday. But enough talk about food, let’s talk about non-edible objects. It is estimated that a 30 second commercial aired during the Super Bowl will cost $2,800,000. At least. Also, 700,000 footballs are produced annually for the NFL, and 72 are used in the Super Bowl. So be-fore you watch the big game, make sure to stock up on food and the facts for the Souper Su-per Bowl. By Brian L.

course, and my daughters are the hilari-ous duo of Sarah H. and Raegan Z.! It’s going to be amazing.

What is your favorite line from the mu-sical?

My favorite line would have to be where I say ‘Our family has always been noted for its BEAUTIFUL women’.

How long have you been singing?

I have been singing for eleven of my thirteen years.

What are your favorite songs from the musical?

‘A Lovely Night’ and ‘Stepsisters’ Lament’ are my favorites.

Interview by Cecilia B.

Do you enjoy being in the musical?

YES! I was originally forced into the musical by my mom, but after the audi-tion, I started to get excited (and a bit nervous) to see what role I would get.

How do you feel about being a mother and a stepmother in the mu-sical?

INCREDIBLE! My stepdaughter is Maggie S. (who plays Cinderella), of

Student Interview: Lauren S.

A.K.A The Evil Stepmother in the musical Cinderella

Book Review: An Abundance of Katherines

Book Review: Virals This month, I chose the sci-fi,

fantasy book Virals by Kathy

Reichs. Virals is actually the

first book in a trilogy, with Sei-

zure that came out in 2011

and Code which is coming out

this year. It follows the adven-

tures of Tory Brennan and her

friends as they try to solve an

age old murder mystery and

save Cooper, a wolf-pup, from

a deadly disease, all while

trying to stay alive themselves!

On a scale of one to five

with five being "Awesome!" I

would rate this book a four

and three-fourths. I loved

how Kathy Reichs is able to

blend almost every genre

imaginable into this book.

She makes it seem like this

could happen to almost

anyone in my opinion. Both

girls and guys would love

this book. In fact, my friend

Jeremiah recommended it

to me. We do have a copy of

this book in the library. Yes, it

does contain some curse

words so if you can handle

cussing, I would suggest read-

ing it. Just make sure you

watch out for the twist at the

end!

Review by Isabella G.

grams are where you take the letters of a phrase or word and rear-range them into a new phrase or word. After he’s

dumped, Colin sets off on an epic road trip with his best fr iend Hassan. They end up in a little town in the middle of nowhere with a girl called Lindsey Lee Wells. Lindsey’s family owns the biggest factory in their little

town and Lindsey’s mother is determined to videotape all of the cur-rent workers for later gen-erations of her family. So she employs Colin and

Hassan to help Lindsey. As they traipse about they get themselves involved in new adventures. Colin becomes obsessed with creating a for-mula for predicting relation-ships to prevent another breakup ever again. When he’s not being chased by feral hogs or punching people, Colin works on the formula. In the end, Colin finds it’s not all about being able to graph things or anagram things. It’s about relaxing and enjoying the life before you. I strongly recommend this book along with all of John Green’s other works. Review by Katie S.

Recently I read An Abundance of Katheri-

nes. It’s a book by John Green that’s a Michael L. Printz honor book. It fol-lows a boy n a m e d Colin who’s r e c e n t l y g radua ted and been d u m p e d . This is the nineteenth time he’s b e e n dumped by a Katherine. To Colin, there’s just something about a Katherine. It’s the way the nine letters of her name look together. Colin enjoys anagrams. Ana-

R A M P A G E S 2 . 0

Being More Confident

I S S U E # 4

For some people, being

more confident can really get in the

way of progress. Although many

people relate confidence to an

outgoing person-

ality, confidence

at its most basic

level is the ability

to believe in

one’s own ideas,

decisions, and

themselves as a

person. Confi-

dence at its most basic level is

fundamental. Although believing

you can fly will probably only get

you a couple feet into the air and

into the hospital, believing yourself

and taking sometimes risky and

ambitious steps can lead a person

onto a road of success. Believing

in what you can achieve on your

own put a man on the moon, and a

democracy on America. So being

confident is obviously a great per-

sonality trait to have, but how? The first

fundamental step is to instill a sense of

self-worth. You must believe that you

matter, and the thoughts and opinions

you have count.

The second step is

to be aware of your

strengths and abili-

ties. Knowing what

you are capable of

must be done be-

fore you go to do

anything. Thirdly,

you must learn to embrace the unknown

and take risks. A confident person must

know that there are just some things in

life that are out of their control. And if a

person were to only do things that were

in their control, then nothing would get

done. Finally, you should always expect

success from the tasks that you under-

take. If you do not believe in your suc-

cess, no one else will. However, there is

also one final golden rule that all people

must follow: Never be too confident. As

with knowing your own strengths, you must

also know your own weaknesses. Trying aim-

lessly to complete an impossible task is just

foolishness. Making claims and goals that

cannot be backed up with actions isn’t good

either. Remember, too much of anything isn’t

a good thing. A key skill that goes along with

learning to be confident is learning how to

restrain and control confidence. There are

times to be confident, outgoing, and reckless,

and there are times to use your head, strate-

gize, and think. However, as long as you

keep it in check, confidence is an admirable

trait for anyone to have. Remember, all confi-

dence starts with you believing, in yourself,

your abilities, and your ideas.

“If you can dream it, you can do it.”

- Walt Disney

By Brian L.

ques t i o ns , t h en

Quizlet is right for you.

Quizlet is an awe-

some website where

you can make online

flashcards. It even of-

fers games that you can

play to help you study!

So, if you’re ready to be-

come better at studying,

go to:

www.quizlet.com

Do you have

vocabulary words to

memorize? Do you

use index cards to

study? If you an-

swered yes to these

Forget the index cards!

New Year’s Resolution

Editorial: Word Generation This year, a new program

of sorts started in our school dis-trict. I’m sure many of you already know about it. I’m talking about Word Generation. In this program, each day one of our core classes does something relating to that particular subject, having to do with the five words for that week. The program is meant to help us build our vocabularies and form opinions about important issues. While it means well, there are many students who don’t think we should have to do it.

I agree that while it may not be the most fun thing in the world, it h a s b ee n beneficial. Not only have we been learning new words each week, words that we’ll no doubt encoun-ter in the future, we’ve been able to read about different issues and events that are happening/have happened in our society. I person-ally have been able to think about things other than my clothes, shoes, and friends and actually have intellectual conversations about worthwhile topics. That is a very valuable and powerful thing. Our students are becoming more and more informed with each passing set of words. I’m sure everyone will appreciate this more in the future, but I don’t see why people complain so much about word generation now.

We have to do word genera-tion once per cycle in each class. It isn’t so much of a pain that people have to moan and groan and carry on every time someone says those two words “word generation” in se-quence. I feel that same way about it at times, but I don’t make a big deal about it. It’s ten, maybe fifteen minutes a day, and the benefits are worth so much more than that. I feel that in the long run, word generation will be a very helpful thing in all stu-dents’ lives. I know that it has al-

ready helped me in my edu-cation, and I have been able to use words I never knew be-fore in my pa-pers and tests. I think the educa-tional benefits definitely out-weigh any prob-lems that peo-ple currently

have with participating in word gen-eration.

I feel very strongly that

word generation is a good thing

for our school and our students,

and that the payout definitely

outweighs the cost. I’m glad that

we have instated such a pain

free, easy way to improve upon

students’ vocabulary and hope

that others start to feel the same

way.

By Maggie S.

R A M P A G E S 2 . 0

Staff Interview: Mr. Shaffer

I S S U E # 4

For this month’s staff inter-

view, I decided to interview

one of the teachers who not

only voices his opinion to his

students, but he voiced his

opinion to the public. I

choose eighth grade Vikings

United States History

teacher, Mr. Shaffer.

How long have you taught

here at LMS? For 21 years.

Why did you become a

teacher? I always loved History

and thought I could teach it and

pass on my passion for it. I also

like to help people learn skills

and "life lessons."

Did you teach anywhere else

before coming to LMS? I stu-

dent taught at West Chester

Henderson High School under

the supervision of Frank Wright,

who was a candidate for

Teacher Of The Year. I was a

substitute teacher in East

Pennsboro, Susquehanna

Township, and the secondary

schools in the CD District.

Do you have a wife? Any chil-

dren? I was married for 6 1/2 years

and had 3 stepdaughters while I was

married. I have been a blissful

bachelor for the last 18 years.

What is your favorite free time

activity? Favorite free time activi-

ties: Shooting, hunting, reading

about history or sports,

hiking in Potter

County, watching good

movies or old TV west-

erns. I am a member

of 3 sportsmen’s clubs,

the National Wild Tur-

key Federation, a Life

Member of the Na-

tional rifle Association,

and the Vice President of the Blue

Ridge Sportsman Club.

What clubs do you run here at

LMS? I run the Outdoor Sports Club

and the History/Classic Film Club. In

the past I ran the School Store, was

a Student Council Advisor, and was a

member of the Student Assistance

Team.

You wrote and editorial to the Patriot-

News. Why did you write the editorial

and what is the editorial about? The

opinion piece I wrote for the Patriot-News

was to share my opinions and ideas on

how to deal with school shootings (like

the one in Newtown,Conn.) and what

course our country should take in

order to protect ourselves and

our freedoms. In my article and at

a recent school board meeting I

have advocated allowing some

school staff (who are willing and

qualified) to carry concealed

weapons to protect themselves

and their students. I think that if

there is one thing we should have

learned by now, it is that "gun free

zones" don't work-- they merely assure a

killer a supply of unarmed victims. I take

my responsibilities to my students very

seriously and I would like to be able to

protect them in case of an emergency.

Interview by Isabella G.

others. There are several scenes

that may be disturbing to some

people, so I advise using your

discretion as to whether or not

this movie is for you, but I give it

two thumbs up. If you see it, just

remember, take a full box of tis-

sues. You’re going to need them.

I know I did!

Review by

Maggie S.

Over the winter vacation, the

movie version of the famous

Broadway musical Les Miserables

was released. Now, I loved the

musical originally, so I may be a

bit biased, but I highly recom-

mend this movie to anyone and

everyone! It is the touching story

of an escaped convict determined

to turn his life around by helping

Movie Review: Les Mis

The National Junior Honor Society is sponsoring Daffodil Days to support the Ameri-

can Cancer Society. The money raised allows the American Cancer Society to fund life-saving cancer research that will help to bring us one step closer to finding new ways to prevent can-cer and develop improved treatment options, impacting the lives of those living with cancer in our community. Order forms for Daffodil Days are located outside of the main office and in an email attachment from Mr. Wright to all parents.

• Order Collection Dates: Friday, February 8th or Friday, February 15th • The order form and all money (cash & checks) should be put in a sealed

envelope and given to your child’s first period teacher on one of the collec-tion days.

• Please write the student’s name, grade, and total amount of money on the outside of the envelope.

• All checks should be made payable to the American Cancer Society. • Daffodils will be delivered to LMS on Wednesday, March 20th. If you have a

large order, you may want to make arrangements to pick it up at the end of the school day on March 20th.

If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Andrechik, advisor of National Junior

Honor Society, at aandrechik@cdschools.org.

LMS TOP FUNDRAISER PRIZES *Based on the total dollar amount raised

TOP FUNDRAISER: $50 VISA gift card

RUNNER-UP: $25 VISA gift card If every LMS student sold just ONE $10 bundle of daffodils, we would nearly $7,000!

Our 2013 Goal: Our 2013 Goal: Our 2013 Goal: Our 2013 Goal: $2,200$2,200$2,200$2,200

Buy daffodils and fight cancer.Buy daffodils and fight cancer.Buy daffodils and fight cancer.Buy daffodils and fight cancer. Thank you in advance for your generosity!Thank you in advance for your generosity!Thank you in advance for your generosity!Thank you in advance for your generosity!

For more information, please visit: http://daffodil.acsevents.org

R A M P A G E S 2 . 0

Fun & Useful Websites

I S S U E # 4

Khan Academy | http://www.khanacademy.org/

This website is an excel-lent resource for middle school students all the way up to high school students. This website covers a wide range of topics, o f varying lev-e l s , such as math, s c i e n c e , e c o - n o m i c s , computer science, humanities, test prep, and much more. All these broad topics branch off into subtopics, each equipped with videos, practice, or interac-tive walkthroughs. This is a great website to review topics discussed in class, or to just have fun with!

Brainy Quote | http://www.brainyquote.com/

If you are down in the dumps, and need a good quote and maybe a ray of sunshine with inspirational music in the b a c k - g r o u n d , t h e n this web-site is great for y o u . B r a i n y Quote is an e n o r - m o u s compi- lation of quotes from famous people such as Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., William Shakespeare, and Albert Einstein. You can browse quotes by author or genre, so you can find the perfect quote for every scenario in life.

8notes | http://www.8notes.com/

Do you play the violin, tuba, or

flute? 8notes is an excellent website

for finding free sheet music for a

multitude of instruments. Some re-

quire a membership, but most of

them are accesible for everyone!

There is

s h e e t

music of

all d i f f i c u l -

ties, and of all genres. There are also

sometimes sheet music made by

fans. The website also includes the

music played, so that you can listen

to the music before you play it. This

is a great resource for all instrument

players who want extra music.

By Brian L.

Central Dauphin Middle School & Linglestown Middle School

Proudly PresentProudly PresentProudly PresentProudly Present

March 7, 8, & 9 March 7, 8, & 9 March 7, 8, & 9 March 7, 8, & 9 2013 2013 2013 2013

RAMpages 2.0 is in need of student writers in grades 6, 7, and 8 to write a variety of interesting articles for the school newspaper! The staff usually meets once at the beginning of each month to discuss what they want to put into the next edition of the school newspa-per. Each person then signs up for an article idea and writes the article during their free time over the next few weeks. Articles and information are then submitted by email to Mr. Andrechik by the end of each month to be published in RAMpages2.0! See Mr. Andrechik in room 210 if you’re interested in joining the staff!

We need writers for ALL article types! Here are a few ideas… • Student interviews • Staff interviews • Feature articles • Sports • Editorials (opinion pieces) • Student polls • Quotes • Advice Column • Trivia • Reviews: books, restaurants, movies, etc. • A Day in the Life of… (a firefighter, doctor, lawyer, etc.)

WANTED: Newspaper Writers

REPORT BULLYING

To anonymously report an incident of bullying at Linglestown Middle School,

please email:

LMSBullyReport@cdschools.org

Numerology, or arithmancy, is a way of prophesying through numbers. It comes “from the Greek ‘arithmo’, meaning ‘number’, and ‘mancy’, meaning ‘prophesy’”(Kronzek 4). Numerology is based on two key principles, 1) a person’s name can tell about their character and destiny and 2) each single digit number (1-9) has a meaning. There are three important numbers in numerology, the character number, the heart number, and the social number. The character number gives a person’s general personality type. A person’s hidden desires and fears are shown in the heart number, while their outward personality is repre-sented by the social number. You will use the following steps and chart to find your three numbers and what they mean.

What Numbers Mean

Ones are independent, focused, single-minded, determined, self-centered, egotistical, and domineering. They are leaders and loners.

Twos are imaginative, creative, sweet natured, moody, withdrawn, self-conscious, and indecisive. They represent both cooperation and conflict.

Threes are lucky, easygoing, rich, successful, unfocused, easily offended, and superficial. They are talented and humorous.

Fours are practical, reliable, down to earth, organized, predictable, stubborn, and suspicious. They are hard workers.

Fives are adventurous, energetic, risky, conceited, irresponsible, quick-tempered, and impatient. They are wanderers, traveling but never staying long.

Sixes are loyal, reliable, loving, and adaptive. They are teachers and artists.

Sevens are perceptive, understanding, bright, serious, scholarly, mysterious, pessimistic, sarcastic, and insecure. They value originality and imagination over money and material things.

Eights are practical, ambitious, committed, hardworking, jealous, greedy, domineering, and power hungry. They are either an extreme success or a desperate failure.

Nines are determined, tireless, inspirational, dedicated, arrogant, and conceited. They are constantly working to serve others.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

A B C D E F G H I

J K L M N O P Q R

S T U V W X Y Z

Steps Example

1) Convert letters to numbers N I C H O L A S F L A M E L

5 9 3 8 6 3 1 1 6 3 1 5 3

2) Add up numbers 5+9+3+8+6+3+1+1+6+3+1+4+5+3= 58

3) Reduce to single digit by adding component numbers 5+8=13, 1+3=4

4) This is the character number 4

5) Add all vowels and reduce to find the heart number 9+6+1+1+5= 22

2+2= 4

6) Add all consonants and reduce to find the social number 5+3+8+3+1+6+3+4+3=36

3+6=9 7) Compare numbers to results. Also look for more about your personality in the most common numbers in your

name.

Character number: 4 Heart number: 4 Social number: 9

Numerology: What does your name mean?

As many of you know, the school spelling bee was held on December 13, 2012. About 70 students from all three grades who scored over 35 on the pre-test took to the microphone and spelled their hearts out. It ended with Sarah Molina in first place, Lauren Silver in second, and Katie Stoak took third. The three of them recently participated in the written test to get into the regional spelling bee. There were over a thousand words derived from all sorts of languages such as Latin, German, and Arabic. Taking the written test were 150 students grades 6, 7, and 8 from 10 dif-ferent counties in central Pennsylvania. It can be imagined that all three girls were nervous, but no matter what happens, we’re rooting for them! I just want to take this opportunity to thank them for being such excellent representatives of our school. Thanks guys, and good luck!

For the past several months, a group of students (Jackson Tenny, Katie Stoak, Maggie Schenfelt, Brian Liu, Alexandra Hanshaw, Jared Gardner, and Nathan Adler) have worked on a project for the Future City competition. The objective was to create a city that would reduce or fix an environmental problem that is affecting our cities today. This year’s topic was how to reduce storm water runoff (which is when clean water from rain picks up pollutants from roads and sidewalks then flows into our rivers and supplies of drinking wa-ter). The students had to research ways to reduce the issue, then design a city implement-ing these new technologies, as well as writing a research essay, narrative of the creation of the city, and a presentation to be showed to a panel of judges. The competition was held the 26th of January, and while the team from Linglestown did not make it into the Top 3, they

did get the award for “Most Creative Form of Transportation.” It was a job well done by all, and the months of work that was put into the project really showed. Wonderful job to all who partici-pated!

By Maggie S.

Student Achievements

It is about that time of year. The holidays are over and you’re already falling behind on your New Year’s resolution. You’re not alone. To learn how to better stay on top of your resolutions, just read these simple tips.

If you wanted to do better in school, here’s what you have to do.

1. Get organized. Keep a planner handy for all of your assignments and appointments. Breaking things down makes it seem a lot less overwhelming.

2. Keep updated about your grades. Go on to HAC once a week or even once a day to see where you stand in each of your classes. You’ll also be able to see any assignments that you may have missed or did poorly on, and then you can talk to your teacher about what you should do about it.

3. Tackle big projects a bit at a time. If you try to do it all the night before it’s due, your work definitely won’t be your best.

4. Stay on track with your assignments. Do your homework each night, and have separate sections of a folder or binder for graded work and work that still needs to be turned in.

5. If you’re still not doing as well as you’d like to be, talk to your guidance counselor. They’re there to help you, and they can help you find new ways of studying or working that may work out better for you.

By Maggie S.

Stick to Your Resolutions:

Do Better in School

School will be in session on the following make-up days:

Friday, February 15th

Thursday, March 28th

Monday, April 1st

Advice: How Can I Be More Social?

With the New Year come the resolutions. So what was yours? One of the most common ones is to

be more social. This year it was mine, actually. Now is a great time to decide to be more social. Middle

school has so many opportunities to be social it’s a surprise you even have to think about it. There are clubs

like film club or outdoor sports club or bully prevention club you can join. If you’re interested in joining film or

outdoor sports, I encourage you to talk to Mr. Shaffer about joining. If you’re interested in bully prevention

then you could drop by the guidance office to get a newsletter with the schedule on it. If you don’t have time

to do that, just arrange to get a ride after school on the second Wednesday of the month. If you don’t have

time for clubs, you can look into joining some of the spring sports LMS offers.

If sports aren’t your thing, you can do stuff in school. Even sitting at a new lunch table or saying hi

to someone you’ve never spoken to will open up so many doors for making more friends and getting more

involved in all of the social opportunities. Never been to a dance? I highly encourage you to go to one and

just see what it’s like. Everyone who goes is very nice and they’ll talk to you. So what if your friends aren’t

going? Make new friends. That doesn’t mean you have to drop your old friends. Having more than one circle

of friends in middle school is a key thing to making everything as positive as it can be.

To sixth graders I encourage you to take advantage of your newness to the school and to be as

friendly as possible because these are the people you’re going to have to endure the course of your middle

school career with. To the seventh graders I remind you that even though you’ve been here a full year al-

ready that you’re not done making friends. You still have the rest of this year and all next year. Don’t think

these are the friends you’re going to have forever because chances are as you grow you will change and

you will branch apart. To other eighth graders like myself I tell you to make the best of your last months of

middle school. We leave for high school next fall and it’s best to know as many people as possible because

next year we’re not the biggest anymore. We’re the smallest.

So I dare you, students of LMS, to be more social and to make friends for the rest of this year. I

know it seems hard and that you think you’re going to look dumb but I promise you that you won’t. Just take

a chance and say hi. By Katie S.

ship crashed, so little or no aging was supposed to happen, but somehow Lion-o emerges a full grown man in episode one while being a ten or eleven year old kid for the first half of the episode. De-ciding there was really no other choice; they build the Cat's Liar, their new "home". The series is mainly about surviving on Third

Earth, meeting new friends, and the con-stant conflict between the ThunderCats and the Mutants. In the reboot, the Thunder-Cats have always lived on Third Earth in a renaissance like

state. I mean almost everything looks like it came straight from the medieval times for the most part. Lion-o is a seventeen year old prince and heir to the throne, even though he has his older brother, Tygra. Lion-o is considered an out-cast because he believes in tech-nology, which is considered a myth where he lives. Long story short,

I'm a geek, nerd, etc. and I'm proud of it! Explaining why this new arti-cle was added. Laura and I noticed there was a ton of remakes lately (Hollywood is truly hitting a low point for creativity), and we decided to examine the remake with the original to see which one was better. So this month, I chose one of my dad's childhood favorites, ThunderCats. It originally aired on Syndication and currently runs on Cartoon Network whenever it is not on hiatus. Hiatus means for some odd reason the show stops in the middle of the season, usually without warning. Either way, both shows have the same basic plot. Cat-like people called the ThunderCats with their leader Lion-o and his trusted Sword of Omens are trying to protect Third Earth from an evil mummy-thing called Mumm-Ra and the Mutants. In the 80s version, the ThunderCats aren't native to Third Earth and came because their home planet blew up when Lion-o was just a child and then their ship crashed there. They were in aging capsules while the

there is a betrayal, Lion-o's dad dies and he wants vengeance, tech turns out to be real, and everything bad that can happen basically happens. The series is centered on Lion-o, Lord of the ThunderCats, leading a rag-tag group of survivors to find all of the spirit stones and them trying to defeat Mumm-Ra. What I liked about this series was Snarf not talking in this series. One of the things I didn't like was all of the drama. One of the things I liked about the 80's series was how the plot was originally origi-nal. If you can't tell by this point, their name states what type of cat they are. One thing I didn't like in the 80's se-ries was Snarf talking and being the comic relief (he did that job terribly), Despite the flaws, I will take the corni-ness of the 80's cartoon over the drama filled one today, making the 80's Thundercats the winner of this month for me. See them both for your-self though, they are both great shows, and see if you agree with me. Join me next month for our next "Entertainment: Then and now".

Review by Isabella G.

Cartoon Review: ThunderCats

One of my personal favorite books is The Last Dragon, written by Silvana De Mari, translated from Italian by Shaun Whiteside. Pub-lished in 2008, this is an excellent adventure story, set in medieval times. It tells the story of a young orphaned elf, named Yorshkrun-squarkljolnerstri, who is traveling the world alone after a flood from the never ending rain floods his home. He then meets a woman named Sarja and a man named Monser. On their travels, they get to the city of Daligar, where the young elf learns that he is the last elf, and that he must, with the aid of the last dragon, bring humanity back from the darkness. This is a touching story that tells about the feeling of loneliness, and how people should appreciate what they have and cherish. It is definitely a great read.

Review By Brian L.

Book Review: The Last Dragon

New Year’s Resolution: Weight Loss

Did you know 92% of people actually follow through with their New Year's Resolu-tions? Want to be part of the 8% that does actually follow through with theirs and drop a pound or two? Follow these suggestions based on my own personal experience!

1. Eat healthier

Hungry and want a snack? Instead of eating half a bag of chips, try an apple or a banana. Switching out unhealthy snacks with healthy alternatives actually helps make a big difference in the long run. Do it gradu-ally and your major changes won’t be so scary or displeasing. Your whole diet will be healthy just be switch-ing out some junky foods for some healthy foods and then changing you whole diet to healthy.

2. Eat only when you are hungry

This is a big one. Eating when you aren't hungry isn't helping you. It's just giving you more calories. Don't eat just because you are bored, eat because you are hungry.

3. Fatty Food Rules

Eating a little bit of fatty foods every now and again won’t kill you and pigging out on holidays is okay. Every-thing is good in moderation. Going overboard and eating junk food all of the time is a big no-no.

4. Exercise

I don't mean run a mile a day, unless you really want you. Like eating, changing you habits gradually will make the big changes more bearable. If you like dancing, dance for a half hour or more, do ten pushups a day. However you decided to do it, make sure you like it. You'll be more willing to commit to things if you like them. Your mindset is everything.

5. STAY POSITIVE!

Like I said, mindset is key. Staying positive and loyal to your commitment is everything. Getting your friends and family to support you and help you out helps keep you in the mindset. Had a bad day? Go for a jog, ex-ercise has been proven to make people happy. Turn that frown upside down and don't you dare eat that cupcake because you had a frown! No stress eating!

By Isabella G.

This is an interview with Linglestown Middle School’s own princess, Maggie S. from the musical Cinderella.

What other musicals have you been in?

”6-to-date. Guys and Dolls, Seussical, Aladdin, Les Miserables, The Wiz – at Harrisburg Christian Performing Arts Center.”

When did you begin acting, why?

“I was about 3 years old. I went to a show at the Popcorn Hat players and loved it, so I took their acting camp for toddlers, and I just never stopped.”

Do you like Cinderella?

”I do like Cinderella. It’s one of my favorite Disney movies, and while we aren’t doing the Disney version, I still am so excited to see the end result. When I auditioned I hadn’t even considered the possibility of me getting the lead. I’m so lucky. This is my first lead role in a show, and I’m so happy it happened during my last year of middle school. This has been a great experience so far, and I can’t wait to see the end result. And I just was to say “Break a leg” to my fellow cast members!”

Favorite line from the play?

“Impossible things are happening every day.” Interview by Isabella G.

Student Interview: Maggie S.

In middle school, there is a lot of pressure to be just like everyone else. There are these trends set by some higher power that the rest of us are expected to follow or like. When I say this, I’m not belittling anyone who actually does enjoy each of these trends. Lately a lot of new products and technology have been coming out. There are those Beats by Dr. Dre or whatever they are and tons of you have them and there’s nothing wrong with that. The only question I ask you is why? Do you genuinely like them or do you have them because everybody else does? What’s wrong with the headphones or earphones you have before? Did they break? Or did you just decide you needed the newest thing? They can’t be cheap with their popularity. Why spend so much money on them if you already have working headphones? What about the iPhone 5? Why do you need one? Doesn’t your iPhone 4 work just fine?

I see nothing wrong with wanting the new thing. If that’s what you want, go for it. I just want you to think about why you want it. Is it because you think it’s cool and you need the new camera or whatever it has? Or maybe is it because everyone else has it and you want it so no one says anything to you about having yesterday’s technology? If it’s for the second reason then ask yourself why you care. Why do you need to do everything everyone else does?

I think more of us need to break away from the “norm” and not buy into the latest trends or fads. Wear what you want to wear. Listen to the music you like. I’m not saying it’s wrong to like what everyone likes but just think about why you like it. Someone once said, “Don’t feel stupid if you don’t like what everyone else pretends to love.” I think we can all take the words of Emma Watson to heart. By Katie S.

Editorial: Just Be Yourself!

RAMpages 2.0 Student Writers

Maggie S.

Isabella G.

Brian L.

Cecilia B.

Katie S.

See Mr. Andrechik to join our writing staff!