block party proved to be a wonderful success. The dance floor was full of ea-ger people bouncing around to music. The food was delicious, and the meadows were compli-mented by the backdrop of the setting sun and pink sky. What a perfect way to set the scene for autumn at SMS.

The entire middle school would like to take this opportunity to thank the PTA, Ms. Palmisano, Mr. Valente, the faculty, and the custodial staff for their help in making our block party a memory we will never forget. We can-not wait until movie night!

By:Athanasia Chandras & Alexandria Feil

On Thursday, Oc-tober 6, Secaucus Middle School hosted its annual block party in the back parking lot of the school. Anyone who attended the middle school was invited to join their peers at the gathering, which eventually led to an enormous turn-out. This year’s block party was a special one since it was the first time the 6th grade joined in the festivi-ties.

The event had a DJ playing trending music and there was plenty of good food to go around. Everyone filled themselves on hot dogs, burgers, or pizza served with ice cream, chips, and beverages. All food was freshly cooked on a barbe-

que on the premises. The weather was beauti-ful; warm temperatures, the setting sun, and a light breeze combined to make the evening feel even more special. Guests were encouraged to socialize with each other or dance, which created a friendly atmosphere. Stu-dents enjoyed wearing outfits that expressed their individuality, varying from skirts and dresses to T-shirts and jeans. Some peo-ple even wore masks! Several of our love-ly teachers attended as chaperones, and the school PTA was very generous to sign people in and help with the distribution of food.

Overall, the SMS

WELCOME BACK!

Inside this issue:

Welcome Back!

1

Election 2016

2

Fall Poem

Writing Contest

3

Fall Sports 4

Hurricane Matthew

On a Lighter Note

5

STEM Students at Work 6

Fantastic Beast

Recycling Rap

Puzzle

7

8

9

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Nelson Mandela

SMS MIDDLE PAGES

FALL EDITION 2016

After what seemed like a

very long process, the presidential

election has finally come to a

close. President Barack Obama

has come to the end of his two

terms, and it is now time for some-

one else to take over the helm as

president. It was a tough battle this

year. The two main candidates

were Hillary Clinton from the

Democratic Party and Donald

Trump from the Republican Party.

At the start of the campaign, ac-

cording to The New York Times,

Hillary Clinton had a 91% chance

of winning this election.

On September 26th the first

Presidential Debate was held at

Hofstra University in Hempstead,

New York. The first major argu-

ment that took place during the

debate was when Donald Trump

made a remark about Hillary Clin-

ton not having enough “stamina”

to be president. Clinton counter-

attacked this statement by saying

that Trump used derogatory state-

ments about women.

Furthermore, while Hillary was

speaking, Trump interrupted quite

a lot by saying, “wrong”. Hillary

also stated that Donald Trump sid-

ed with the Iraq War. Trump

once again interjected, “wrong,

wrong, wrong”.

On Sunday, October 9th, Hilla-

ry and Trump got ready to debate

at Washington University, in St.

Louis, Missouri. In this second

debate, Trump stated that Hillary

improperly used a private email

account as Secretary of State.

She used this private email for

governmental information which

was not safe since other people

could hack into it. For this,

Trump said that if he wins, “I am

going to instruct my attorney

general to get a special prosecu-

tor to look into your situation.” .

Trump had said many offensive

things to Hillary in the past, but

apologized for saying those

things and said that he wishes

that he hadn’t said those com-

ments. Trump and Hillary were

aggressively fighting for the

presidency and both remained

strong in the race for the White

House.

Trump stated that he would be

lowering people’s taxes while

Clinton would be increasing

them. Clinton stated that he

would increase taxes on middle-

class families.

Now, let us talk about the 3rd

presidential debate which was

held on October 19th at the Uni-

versity of Nevada, Las Vegas. In

this debate, Trump said that the

election system was rigged

against him. When Trump said

that President of Russia, Vladi-

mir V. Putin had no respect for

Clinton, she said that, “He’d ra-

ther have a puppet as President of the

United States.”

Both candidates debated over many

issues such as the role of supreme court,

gun control, abortion, middle eastern poli-

cies, economy, trade relations, and entitle-

ments. They accused each other of mak-

ing mistakes and wrongdoings. Trump

kept attacking Clinton’s past decisions

and policies as wrong and unfair. He also

called her a liar many times during the

debate. Clinton seemed to be defending

herself more than attacking Trump. He

accused her and President Barack Obama

of not making the right decisions.

On November 8, 2016, Election Day,

the 45th President of the United States

was chosen. At print time, Hillary Clinton

got 60,839,922 votes whereas Donald

Trump got 60,265,858 votes, which meant

that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote.

However, in the end, Trump won the elec-

tion because he had 290 electoral votes

and Clinton only had 232. This victory for

Trump was surprising because a candidate

winning over the popular vote hasn’t

happened in many years. On top of this,

most polls before the election were pre-

dicting Clinton to win the election. Many

people were unhappy with the results of

the election and held protests throughout

the country.

Donald Trump will be the new presi-

dent as of January 20, 2017, when he will

be inaugurated. Putting all conflicts aside,

we should now work together and come

together to build a stronger more unified

nation.

By: Ayush Agarwal, Krushay

Bhavsar, & Anay Tillu

PRESIDENTIAL ELECT ION WRAP UP 2016

Fall

Leaves twirling around in the air, Children jumping in leaf piles, here and there. The once warm summer weather now gone in a flash, Chilly breezes and winds will outlast. People bundling up in warm woolly sweaters Protecting themselves against the cold autumn weather. Children are now rushing off to school, Some say it is boring, others say it is cool. Leaves sadly falling from trees to the ground, Chilly outdoor sports to be found. Holidays and vacations soon coming up, Wishing the holidays would speed up.

By: Saniya Tasnim

Congratulations to the following students who were chosen the winners of the Patriot’s Pen essay writing Contest “the ameriCa i believe in”: * Eva Colon-guillen * joseph parise * surbhi Mehta

Various quotes provided by Roddock suknundan

“NOW AUTUMN’S F IRE BURNS SLOWLY ALONG THE WOODS AND DAY BY DAY THE DEAD LEAVES FALL AND MELT.”

WILLIAM ALLINGHAM

Sports photos provided by Xavier Thornton & Grace Angulo

FALL SPORTS PAGE

The 2016 fall sports season has

come to a close. Our girl’s volleyball

team finished its season with a 5-8

record.

The girl’s soccer team had a fantastic

season finishing with a 7-3-1 record,

and the boy’s team ended the season at

5-4-2.

The Secaucus Recreation football

team ended its exciting season with a 6-

3 record, losing to rival Englewood in

the playoffs 24-12.

Congratulations to all these hard-

working student athletes on their

accomplishments this year, and an

appreciative thank you goes out to Mr.

Segro, Ms. Yannetti, and Ms. Roesing,

the SMS coaches who make these teams

possible!

Hurricane Matthew

was the most powerful, de-

structive, and deadly cyclone

to hit this area since Hurricane

Felix in 2007. It formed on

September 28, 2016 and began

to lose strength on October

10th. It was active for a long

time and caused catastrophic

loss of life and horrendous de-

struction. It caused damage in

excess of 10 billion dollars.

There were many power out-

ages, and people living on the

coastlines had to evacuate to

get to a safer place. The high-

est winds reached up to 160

mph. Matthew was eventually

downgraded to a tropical

storm. We say good riddance

to Matthew, one storm we

won’t soon forget.

By: Surbhi Mehta

On a Lighter Note….

1. Why did the scarecrow win the Nobel Prize? Ans. Because he was out-standing in his field.

2. What key cannot open any door?

Ans. A Turkey

3. Why did the turkey cross the road? Ans. It was the chicken's day off 4.Why did the turkey sit on the Tomahawk? Ans. To hatchet 5.What happened when the turkey got into a fight? Ans. He got the stuffing knocked out of him by Aarya Solanki

MATTHEW: A DEVASTATING HURRICANE

STEM STUDENTS AT WORK

In STEM class (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math), the students recently worked on an exper-

iment to see which ramp was most effective. This October, students of Mrs.Esteves’s class worked on a

project in which a group of 3-4 students were challenged to make ramps using recyclables such as plastic,

metal cans, cardboard, and tape. They were very limited, but that didn’t stop the students from creating an

effective ramp. For example, they needed to make curves rounded so the car wouldn’t just stay stuck. They

also needed to make sure the car would stay on the ramp so they used borders to ensure that. Therefore,

they had to use intricate STEM techniques in order to meet those requirements.

(In The Photo: Ergen Banja, Zarrar Nawaz and Frank Petrone)

Here we see a group working on a ramp made out of cardboard. They tested how far the car would go

using a cardboard ramp and toy cars. Ultimately, it was the ramp made out of smooth cardboard that

proved most effective. They had to find the correct slope for the car to speed up perfectly. This relates to

gravity and acceleration in scientific note. In mathematics, it refers to slope for an object, and it refers to

engineering by building and working on the ramps themselves. Finally, it uses technology by possibly us-

ing these STEM strategies in some type of future experiment.

By Kenneth Mack & Ethan Sanchez

“Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think!”- Albert Einstein

opposites but easy to root for, with smart capable Tina and Queenie, a lovely mind reader. The Villains aren't quiet as grand as the Big Voldemort, but it's clear that the anti witch leader, Mary Lou Barebone (Samantha Morton), alongside her Adams family reject son, Credence (Ezra Miller); Perceval Graves (Colin Farrell), the head of the American wizard communities secret police are effective and do justice to their roles. As a first time screen writer, J.K. Rowling has built her script on the thin foundation of her year 2001 book, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, and so the movie suffers from issues any first time screen writers might encounter, namely, pacing and narrative structure. But all the widely imaginative creatures are a marvel to look at, from the adorable Niffler, who loves to hunt for shiny things, to the Groot-like Bowtruckle, to the enor-mous hippo-like Erumpent and the awesome Thunderbird. On the whole, recreating an era gone by filled with unworldly magical beasts, this movie takes the viewers on a roller coaster ride of suspense, thrill, and drama, along with humorous moments that click. This movie will be enjoyed more by double digit aged kids! - by Aaditya Shroff

Immersing yourself in J.K. Rowling' s magical universe is always entertaining, but fans should know that this exploration of America's wizardly world is definitely a more grown up movie. Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them is basically a prequel to the famed Harry Potter series. This movie is set in 1926 in New York City. Although the slang is different like "no maj" is said instead of "muggle", the conflict of dealing with dark magic is the same! Newt Scamender (Eddie Red-mayne) plays as an unassuming, quirky wizard who comes to New York from England with a suitcase filled with magical creatures. Newt is almost in-stantly noticed by Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), a former Auror who is recently demoted to wand regis-tration department. When Newt's brief-case gets exchanged with a factory worker by the name of Jacob Kowalski (Dan Folger), some magical creatures escape and start creating havoc in New York City. Tina and Newt are forced to work together to solve the beastly problems, which leads to a bigger mystery. The performances are lead by a perfectly cast Redmayne as the curi-ous Newt Scamander, who just wants to protect the magical captures. Folder is fantastic as his No Maj friend, a factory worker who dreams of owning a bakery. The Goldstein sisters are

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM

VV

Holiday Word Search

Find the following words in the puzzle: APPLECIDER, APPLEPICKING, CHRISTMAS, COLD,

DECEMBER, DIWALI, ELECTIONS, FAMILY,

FEAST,FRIENDS, HALLOWEEN, HANUKKAH,

HOTCHOCOLATE, KWANZAA, NEWYEARS, PUMP-

KINPIE,SNOW, SNOWDAYS, STUFFING, THANKS-

GIVING

T L W P H H N G F A S H D Q D W C C

H C L F A O E E J P T P B D E A H H

A C R F L T W E W P U U F I C P R A

N S K R L C Y L D L F M A W E P I N

K N W I O H E E O E F P M A M L S U

S O A E W O A C F P I K I L B E T K

G W N N E C R T E I N I L I E C M K

I D Z D E O S I A C G N Y O R I A A

V A A S N L Z O S K A P V I R D S H

I Y A S M A W N T I P I F N O E P P

N S D U Z T O S L N W E V G O R A J

G C O L D E R V V G T M T C K O A L

Created by Siya Wadhare & Aashi Mishra

Happy Holidays from the Middle Pages Staff !!