THE COUGAR Spring 2016

Ardsley Middle School • Ardsley, NY 10502

Picture of “Shrek: the Musical” Junior Cast

Every year, a group of talented AMS actors join forces to pro-duce a play and make an audience laugh, cry and enjoy the few hours they are transported to another realm. This year’s show was Shrek: The Musical Jr. with the main roles of Shrek and Donkey played by 8th graders Santiago Adams and Matthew Casey. Read on for an exclusive interview with Matthew Ca-sey and his thoughts about his experience in the AMS cast. 1. How many years have you been in the play? In 5th grade I was part of the AV club, the stage hands and the production crew that help with the lighting, sound and other technological components of the play. From 6th grade on, I became a part of the cast. 2. What has been your favorite production throughout the years? Why? My favorite play was Aladdin because I met new friends which I had many enjoyable experiences with. In addition, I was the Sultan, a fun and entertaining part to play. 3. What is the hardest part of the play? The hardest part of the play is memorizing the lines. This is the first process of putting a performance together, and the scenes can been slow without lines memorized. 4. Who is your favorite character to act? Why? My favorite character that I have played is Donkey (in Shrek), a quirky character that makes people laugh very easily. In addition, I got to co-star with my friend, Santiago (playing Shrek). 5. Is the choreography hard? The choreography can be confusing, but after a few rehearsals everyone gets the hang of the moves.

6. Who does the set design? Mr. Ponterio builds many props and sets for us. In addition, we might buy or rent a couple of set pieces if necessary. 7. Describe the last week of rehearsal. What is it like? The last week of rehearsal is extremely stressful, both for the director and the actors. There are many last minute adjust-ments to the choreography or the acting in order for the play to run as smoothly as possible on opening night. In addition, this is when the show is run through completely with every component (props, misc., etc.). If it is a dress rehearsal, the play is run with costumes. In this period of time, there is no fooling around tolerated. It is very serious. 8. How long does it take for you to memorize your lines? It depends how many lines an actor has and his or her memo-rization skills, but everyone has them down in 1-2 months. 9. What has been one of your favorite songs to sing? My all time favorite song ever is definitely “Agony” from Into The Woods. This was the first solo/duet that I ever had, and it was with my best friend Santiago. We had a lot of fun sing-ing it, and we even had our own swooning girls to cheer us on! A definite close runner up would be Travel Song from Shrek, which I also sung with Santiago. 10. What is your advice for future actors in the play? My advice for future actors would be to make friends, have fun, and become your character. Most importantly, don't be nervous. When the first show approaches, you will be very nervous, but by the end you will be proud of yourself. For anyone not sure if they should do the play or not, I would say go for it, it's a really fun experience.

The AMS Play, Shrek: the Musical by Justin Lu

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THE COUGAR Ardsley Middle School

700 Ashford Avenue

Ardsley, New York 10502

(914) 295-5600

Dr. JoAnne Januzzi, Principal

Mr. Stuart Horlacher, Assistant Principal

Mrs. Sabrina Rich & Mr. Doug Weitz, Advisors

Writers: Zachary Arce, Octavia Basco, Matthew Carrera, Milena Chan, Alicia Chang, Alexander N. Cruz, Deanna Demopoulos, Luke Faberman, Emma Feldbaum, Alexander Fu, Lavanya Garg, Emma Greenspan, Preity Gupta, Charlotte Koenig, Yu-Chen Lung, Olympia Nassis, Clea Ndocaj, Nora Palkola, Rishi Raj, Sajal Ranjha, Liam Tannian and Zilu Wang Editors: Milena Chan, Alexander N. Cruz, Olivia Edwards, Lily Faberman, Emma Feldbaum,Quincey Leonard, Alex Malkin, Sajal Ranjha and Emma Sudo Editors in Chief: Elizabeth Chun and Justin Lu

Layout/Visual Team: Matthew Carrera and Rishi Raj

THE COUGAR IS THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF

THE ARDSLEY MIDDLE SCHOOL

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

8th Grader Raises Over $300 for Charity! 3

Science Olympiad 4

Study Tips 4

National Teacher Appreciation Day 5

Newest Video Games! 5

What is Coding? 6

Fantasy vs. Science Fiction 6

Book Reviews and Poems 7

Does School Start Too Early? 8

Why is our Spring Break Split? 8

School Uniforms: Opinion-Editorial 8

How do most AMS students

spend their free time?

9

Spirit of FLL 10

Star Wars: The Force Awakens 10

Do people even call on their Smartphone anymore?

11

Sports & Puzzles 12

Hi AMS,

The spring issue you have been waiting for is finally here! As Editors in Chief, we strive to bring you the best of Ardsley Middle School and its students. We are always willing to take in new members, so if you

are interested, stop by our newsroom (room 309) af-ter school on Fridays. This issue, our goal is to ex-pand your knowledge, interest, and enthusiasm in our school and our world. Read on for an intriguing

look at the environment around us.

From,

The Editors in Chief: Justin Lu and Elizabeth Chun

Tweet! The whistle blows and kids scramble to the other side of the gym. It’s time to play! Some people decide to play an intense game of basketball, while others choose to play a round of dodge ball. What is this, you ask? This is an activity night in full swing. A night of fun and games - what more could you ask for? All activity nights take place in the Ardsley Middle School gymnasium or in the cafeteria (for dances). On some rare occasions, the pool is opened up for those who want to get the full experience! Admission costs five dollars, and extra money is required to get snacks and drinks. So next time, head in-to AMS around 7 pm and let the fun begin!

When’s My Activity Night? by Charlotte Koenig

First Bloom of Spring

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As the dismissal bell rang on January 19th, the smell of fresh cookies wafted up through the floors. Students of every age rushing to their bus paused by the bake sale near the main office, run by 8th grader Lavanya Garg. The bake sale was for a non-profit organi-zation called “Part of the Solution” and was a huge success. Read on to find an interview with Lavanya and her opinions on the Bake Sale.

Q. What inspired you to organize a bake sale? A. I was taking a seminar called Geni-us Hour (during FLIP), a class about creating a project you wanted to do that would help others. Ms. Perillo (the teacher), showed us a video of other kids’ Genius Hour projects, and it motivated me to make positive changes in our community. From the beginning, I knew I wanted to raise money for charity for my Geni-us Hour project. The easiest way is to sell goods that people would buy. In my opinion, AMS was the best place to sell a product. I would be familiar with all of my customers (compared to starting an online campaign that might not launch). I decided to do a bake sale because a lot of people are willing to pay for food. It’s inexpen-sive, tasty and a nice treat at the end of the day. Q. Even from the beginning, your idea was well thought out. So what charity did you choose to support? How did you choose the charity?

A. I picked “Parts of the Solution”, a non-profit institution that helps poor-er citizens in the Bronx get the neces-sities they need to survive. They pro-vide everything from food to heating in a home. I wanted to make a posi-tive change in someone’s life near me, and “Part of the Solution” is always ready to lend a hand to citizens near Ardsley. Q. Every fundraising campaign has some challenges. What were some ob-stacles you faced when planning this bake sale? A. One of the main challenges was picking the date and location of the bake sale. If I didn’t choose the right place, there might not be many people who showed up. In addition, I needed to pick a place that did not conflict with other activities going on around the school. Finally, I had to get per-mission from the principal and my 9th period teacher to allow me to set up the bake sale at the end of the day. There was a lot of work put into planning this event, but I was able to figure out everything in the end. Q. After all of the planning and prepa-rations, how much money were you able to raise? A. $322.45. Q. That’s a lot of money! How did you collect that much? A. Like I mentioned before, there was a lot of planning of the date and time the bake sale would take place. This paid off because the bake sale was ex-tremely successful. On January 19th, there was a swim meet and a basket-ball game, making this a great day for the bake sale. In addition, I was able to set up a table near the main office at the end of ninth period, allowing me to sell more items to everyone who was in a hurry. These two factors played a major role in how much money I was able to raise. Q. How did the bake sale go? Were there any struggles during the pro-cess? A. The beginning of the bake sale was chaos. Everyone was buying food and it needed to be distributed quickly in order for everyone to get to the bus on time. For a few minutes, I could only see a bunch of hands holding paper bills! That’s how many people were surrounding the table. Luckily, I had a bunch of friends who helped me, mak-ing sure that no one took a baked good without paying for it. After the first fifteen minutes, most of the food was gone. My friends and I made one big trip to the swim meet and basketball game, selling all of the pastries re-

maining. Q. It seems like the bake sale went very smoothly after the first fifteen minutes. Were there any memorable moments during the bake sale? A. Yes, there were! When I was at the swim meet, I met Michael J. Fox. His daughter attends Fieldston, the school that was competing against Ardsley during the meet. It was very funny be-cause when I was selling the baked goods to Michael J. Fox, I did not rec-ognize him. Only after my encounter did someone tell me that I was speak-ing to Michael J. Fox.

Q. Wow! You even got to meet a movie star! Are there any people you’d like to thank? A. Yes, there are. I would like to thank the Youth-to-Youth club and Mrs. Mastrogiacomo for being a major con-tributor to the bake sale. I’d also like to thank Amber Arif, Julia Bollengier, Julia Gilinsky, Elisa Shah and Yaman Tembulkar for helping me during the bake sale. Thanks to Ms. Perillo who inspired me to start this project and continue with it until the very end. And a shout out to Dr. Januzzi for donating 20 dollars and supporting the bake sale. Q. In the end, what was the most im-portant message you took from this experience? A. What I learned is that no matter how big or small, anyone can make a positive change. If we put effort into helping others, our impact can go much farther than the imaginable. To watch a video about the bake sale, go to the following link: http://youtu.be/RTr-Tdc5qps

8th Grader Raises Over $300 for Charity! by Justin Lu

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Science Olympiad

by Emma Greenspan

Science Olympiad. What is that? When your science teacher mentions it and the time to sign up arrives, you’ll probably pass, thinking that it’s just for science lovers. True? Maybe a little, but the real truth is that nothing compares to the feel-ing of satisfaction that you get when something you built is brought to competition to represent your school. “What does that even mean?” you may wonder. Well, after working really hard to study a topic that you are interested in or after months of designing a machine that finally works, the Sci-ence Olympiad team packs up and goes to the Regionals con-test to show just how awesome Ardsley is! If the team aces the Regionals, then they advance to Syracuse for States com-petition.

But Science Olympiad isn’t just about winning prizes and beating other schools. It’s about doing what you love, meeting new peers, and so much more! The possibilities in this club are endless. While science plays a huge role, stu-dents that enjoy technology, engineering, building, and be-ing creative will also have fun. And what kid doesn’t like be-

ing hands on and building something amazing that has the power to impress people from your school as well as your state?

This February, the 2015-16 Science Olympiad team will be going off to Regionals at Scarsdale Middle School. If successful, they will move towards the States competi-tion. Next year, a new team of scientists and engineers will have the chance to join the team! If you think this is the place for you, then don’t forget to sign up next year!

Study Tips by Emma Sudo

Have you ever wanted to have a much easier time studying? Here are 4 scientifically proven ways to improve your study-ing. They reduce your time studying, but are more productive as well.

1. Study right before bed. The science behind it: when your body is getting ready to sleep, your brain will take all your memories from that day from your short term memory and will start to move it to your long term memory, a more permanent place to put them. 2. Say the information out loud. Why does this work? When you say something out loud, your body will save it, just like how you save things on a comput-er. When you just read it, your body will only remember it if it remembers what it looks like. This can be good but, when you really need to remember something you should say it out loud because then your body will save it by seeing and hear-ing it, so you will have two ways to remember it. 3. Give yourself a reward at the end of the study session. How does this help? Not much to say here! When you have a reward, of course you are going to study harder! 4. Experiment with what time and place is best for you. The science behind it: Maybe you like quiet places or dim lighting. Or maybe you like bright and spacious places. This could help you feel comfortable and motivated. Find someplace that works for you - it can improve your results dramati-cally. These are four scientifically backed tips for studying. The next time you have a big test coming up, try them out!

Source: http://greatist.com/happiness/better-study-tips-test

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Newest Video Games!

by Gabriel Brea If you're a video gamer you're probably wondering, what are the best games of 2016 going to be? Well I can answer that question with three amazing video games being released in 2016. Legends of Zelda First of all, it's going to be a Wii U exclusive, so make sure you get a Wii U before getting the game itself. The new Legends of Zelda is supposed to bring new stuff to the series - things that have never been shown to the public ever before! Probably one of the biggest changes that's going to happen is that the game will grant the player freedom to participate in whatever activity he/she wants to do - the possibilities will truly be lim-itless! Star Fox Have you ever heard the phrase “Do a barrel roll’’? Well, that came from this video game series. This series is an action-adventure game where you get a chance to dogfight on an in-credible ship. This Star Fox game will bring the leg walker from the cancelled Star Fox 2. This game will take the Wii U gamepad and make it so that you can have two views of the game arena: one is the traditional view that many games fol-low (called “tv gameplay”), and the other is the new cockpit view which you use on the Wii u gamepad. By April, you will be able to play this thrilling game! (Wii U exclusive-get the Wii U before buying this game)

Metroid Prime Federation Force Nintendo brought back a series that not a lot of people were expecting! In this game you are not playing as Samus Aran - there are more options that have been added! You can also play with four other players. You can fight against space pi-rates as well as friends, and that’s cool because it’s what makes this game unique! This game is, as you may have guessed, an action and exploration game. Sadly, if you don't own a 3DS then you can't play it.

National Teacher Appreciation Day by Elizabeth Chun

Who is helpful, smart, and hardworking everyday? Your

teacher, of course! Teachers’ Day (or better known as National Teacher Appreci-

ation Day in the U.S.) is coming up on May 3rd. This “holiday” was developed by a Wisconsin teacher named Ryan Krug, who came up with the idea in 1944. He contacted Eleanor Roosevelt, who then persuaded Congress to establish Teacher’s Day as an official holiday (it became official in 1953).

Today, 21 countries around the world celebrate this day, and the U.S. is one of them. To most people, National Teacher Apprecia-tion Day is just a regular day, a day that people forget about very soon. But this should be different! All students are influenced in positive ways by their teachers. No students could be where we are today without the help of our teachers! So, I believe that this is your opportunity to tell your teachers your gratitude for everything they’ve done. In Ukraine, concerts/gatherings are held on Teacher Appreciation Day (the first Sunday of October for them), and kids present their teachers with small goodies. In Vietnam (November 20 for them), kids begin preparing food and flowers for parties a week in ad-vance. In Singapore (the first Friday of September for them), this day is even an official school holiday! This is the year AMS should join in. You don’t need to do much, but I think teachers should know they rock at their jobs. In other countries, kids will often write cards to their teachers or give them small gifts. If you do something -- no matter how large or small, you can make your teacher’s day! And if everyone could take a moment to appreci-ate their teacher, our school can embody a new level of appreciation and respect for our staff at AMS.

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What is coding? It’s a pretty simple concept, but it goes much more in depth than that Hour of Code program you’ve most likely heard of in which you drag and drop blocks into a blank space to make your Minecraft character walk or do something. In reality, coding is the same concept: run a series of com-mands to perform different actions. The only difference is that coding is much harder than it seems. To put it into perspective, a game like Minecraft has over a million lines of code, placed in a perfect order to make sure the game runs properly. There are many different programming languages. A program-ming language is a language that programmers use to perform an action or command. If you’ve played Minecraft before, it’s like running a bunch of Minecraft commands at the same time using a program. Different programming languages are used for different things. For example, HTML, CSS, and Python are

used for websites. Java is used to code mobile applications. There are languages for every platform you use. Even your old Nintendo DS was made using programming languages. The cool thing with coding is that the most basic algorithms are very similar with most languages so, if you already know one, it’s easy to learn another one. This allows developers to know multiple languages at the same time. If you want to get started on coding, it’s easy. Find a decent site such as www.codecademy.com and start learning from their tutorials. Looking on forums like stackoverflow.com is also very helpful. Learning a new language will always be stressful in the beginning, but once you get the hang of it, a lot can be done from what you learned.

What is Coding? by Alexander Fu

Fantasy vs. Science Fiction: What’s the Difference?

By Deborah Suarez

Magic powers. Mystical realms. Unreal creatures. Cool ma-chines. Advanced technology. Parallel universes. To many people, Fantasy and Science Fiction are only variations of the same thing. And you can’t blame these people. Without close observation, all the genres can easily get confused into one big jumble of prose. But whether you know it or not, all the gen-res are extremely different. The most confused pairing of all these genres are Fantasy and Science Fiction. Both these gen-res share some amazing qualities, but that doesn’t mean they’re the same. Let’s see how they differ and how they make us light up with imagination and hope! Fantasy: This genre can bring you into a different world where anything can happen! The magical creatures you always dream about, the dragons that haunt your wildest visions. The beautiful - sometimes hideous - settings are so spine-chilling that if you saw them you’d pinch yourself! One example is J.R.R Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Wouldn’t you love if you could take a private tour of that world? How about J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter series? Who doesn’t want to go to Hogwarts and spend the day learning an assortment of spells and charms? Since description plays a huge role in Fantasy, you can’t help but allow the vines of the book wrap around you and take you into that world.

Sci-Fi: This genre can bring you to a bright, sometimes dark, future, often with time machines, teleporters, and actual hover boards! Any machine you can imagine can be created in Sci-fi and be used to affect the book in magical ways that often cause it to be confused with Fantasy. The setting can be a spaceship or even take place in the future. Okay, any book can be excit-ing and thrilling to read, but sci-fi books have something spe-cial to them. Have you read Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games series? Exploring worlds like this one can make you think about how the future actually could look. Cinder by Marissa Meyer - don't you kind of want to take a quick look at this world and see the futuristic items and settings it holds? Both genres (science fiction and fantasy) are amazing and beautiful, and both can bring you into a state of happiness as you dream of these worlds. But just because both genres are fascinating does not mean they are the same! What compels you to read more? What fills your pages with color and vivid shades? It’s your mind, it’s your imagination, it’s your genre.

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BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA

by Kohko Kamimura

The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of books by C.S. Lewis in which anything beyond your wildest dreams can happen. With the fourth and latest movie “Silver Chair” anticipated to be re-leased in theaters within the next year or two, this series is something that everyone should experience. If you dare to try one of the books, you will soon find yourself anxious to read further and further, waiting to see what great surprises await you. The books are full of captivating adventures and magical wonders...

In the second book of the series, The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, siblings Lucy, Edmund, Peter, and Susan are all sent to an old professor’s grand mansion in the country-side. On the second day after they arrive, they pass by a room that contains just one wooden wardrobe. Lucy, the youngest of the four, stays behind to explore the wardrobe for she feels there is something magical about it. When she finds that there is no back to the wardrobe, she curiously steps out and finds herself in the magical world called Narnia. There, she meets a centaur named Mr. Tumnus, who she grows to like very much.

When she returns to the mansion, her siblings do not believe Lucy. However, they soon find themselves in Narnia as well, and the four of them spend more time in Narnia each day. But soon, problems start to arise. For one, they discover that a horrible white witch, the queen of Narnia, wants to find the “daughters of eve” and “sons of Adam”. Will they escape to safety and defeat the wicked white witch or fall to her com-mand?

British writer C.S. Lewis is the author of this remarka-

ble series. As a child he had always loved fantasy literature and was influenced by a book named Phantastes, which com-bined to create the Chronicles of Narnia. He was friends with J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, which is an-other epic series that I love. He was a professor of english lit-erature, and was chair of medieval and renaissance literature at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities. The order of the Narnia books were planned in the order of the timeline in Nar-nia, not of the order in which he wrote them. Originally, the characters of Narnia were named Ann, Martin, Rose, and Pe-ter, but were then changed to Susan, Edmund, Lucy, and Pe-ter.

The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe is my favorite book in the entire series because there is a grand battle that involves fascinating, mythological creatures. Also, Susan (the eldest sister) shows great leadership which I admire. It introduces some characters that are in later books; Prince Caspian, for in-stance, is introduced in this book but is also in Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair.

If you like magic, fantasy, suspense and adventure, this is the series for you!

Spring

by Octavia Basco

I can feel her coming Her breath touches my face like a feather

I can feel her lifting my soul high into the sky Higher and higher and higher.

I look down and gasp

Everything is alive Like she put a spell on every creature

Not forgetting a single individual.

Colors dance Flowers bloom

As spring envelops her Smiling.

Wonder by Liam Tannian

The book Wonder by Raquel J. Palacio has been read and loved by many people. It is about a boy named August Pullman, also known as Auggie. He has a damaged face, has had multiple surgeries, and is just starting school in 5th grade. But the book is not only about Auggie’s life. It also shows the life of Via (Auggie’s sister) and Jack Will, (Auggie’s friend). Wonder got many great reviews. It won many awards and recogni-tion. I happen to love the book myself ever since I chose it from the Eng-lish classroom library. My favorite part in the book has to be the story about how Auggie was born. That was also the funniest part. Some parts in the book are also kind of sad, like when the family’s dog, Daisy, died. Still, it’s an amazing book. So if you want a good book, then choose Wonder. It will blow your mind before you know it.

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Does School Start Too Early? by Elizabeth Chun

Many kids say that they have trouble waking up early in the mornings in order to get to school. They have to drag themselves out of bed and often find themselves lazy and late for school. In fact, Janet Croft, co-author of several science papers, says, “Schools start at such an early time that most teens are essentially brain dead when they go to these early clas-ses.” Furthermore, only 17.7 percent of public schools in America start school at 8:30 a.m. or later! But there are other things to take into consideration. If schools start too late, then they will have to go on later as well. If this happens, kids may not have as much time to contribute to other after-school, extra-curricular activities that they enjoy. Waking up early also gets kids on a daily schedule so that they can go to sleep earlier. This debate still lingers in the air, and no one knows how long it will go on. What´s your side of the issue?

Write us an email at:

cougareditors@gmail.com or elizabeth.chun@ardsleyschools.org.

School Uniforms

Opinion-Editorial

by Octavia Basco

Every morning kids wake up in front of the mirror getting ready for school. Should I wear my black or pink shirt? Many people miss the bus and end up late for school because they spend too much time fo-cused on their appearance. Also, clothing can be a distraction. This can be a big problem for the school and also for the students’ educa-tions.

You may think there aren’t many people late for school. Unfor-tunately, that isn’t the case; there are 940-1880 people late every school year (188 days). Many teachers think detention will stop stu-dents from being late for school, but everyday the same kids end up in the detention room during lunch. Missing time outside on a bright sunny day might affect someone’s health, so is detention really the so-lution? Does being locked up in a room help get rid of the problem? I don’t think so, because students are still late. If there are school uni-forms then everyone won’t have to wake up each morning in front of the mirror everyday before school.

Many students can’t concentrate during school because of the distractions. Everybody loves sparkles and bright colors, but maybe they take away from the school experience. Many children’s eyes catch the colorful clothing and forget the lesson completely or start a conver-sation like, “I love your shirt!” They may miss something important the teacher just said.

There are scenarios where people judge others by their clothing, as well. Often times, bullying occurs. Honestly, does it matter if you have different clothing from others? It does matter to many, but that is wrong. If there were school uniforms this would not occur and people would not get left out or judged This would help students focus on school and not any problems with feelings.

Why is our Spring Break Split?

Interview with Dr.Allan

By Milena Chan And Kohko Kamimura

Our spring break is unusual this year with a 2-part break: a short break in March and a short break in April. In past years, Ardsley students have had a whole week off for spring break. How and why did this happen this year? Is there anything that happened last year which made the break become split? Yes. Our spring break usually coincides with the celebration of two important religious holidays: Easter and Passover. These holidays fell weeks apart this year, Easter on March 25th - 27th and Passover April 22nd -25th. Schools need to be closed for the observance of these holidays on March 25th and April 22nd. In addition, NYS test-ing for grades 3-8 take place the weeks of April 4th and 11th so we could not close schools those weeks. The best solution was to have these two long weekends and an extra day for Memorial Day. That adds up to the 5 days we usually have in a row during spring break.

Who was part of the decision process? Was there a committee involved?

The Board of Education, the teachers and me.

Have families shared their thoughts and feelings with you about the two-part spring break? If so, can you share some of the feedback?

They understood the unique issues with this year’s calendar and supported the decision. We really had no complaints at all.

Do you think we will have a two-part spring break next year, too?

No. We will have a full week next spring.

When will next year’s calendar be decided?

It will be approved by the Board of Education on Tuesday, February 2nd.

Are other schools having a two-part spring break as well this year? For instance, the New York City school district has the entire week of the 25th to the 29th off.

Some do, some don’t. Our calendar is never the same as NY City schools. I believe Dobbs Ferry, Hastings, and Rye Neck, to name a few, share our calendar this year.

We hope you enjoy your spring break! Now you know why it’s shorter this year compared to last year.

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How do most students in our school spend their free time? According to my research, 12.1% of middle school students read on their free time, 23.3% of middle schoolers play video games, 17.2% watch television, 10.3% text, and 37.1% do other extra-curricular activities. A lot of kids also do other activities that aren’t listed. What do you do in your free time?

Muggle Society vs.

Wizarding Community by Emma Sudo

Are you a fan of J.K. Rowling’s amazing Harry Potter series? Do you want to learn about it? Then this is the article for you! To find out the difference between Harry’s magical world and our world, read on… The Muggle Society (the world without magic in which the non-wizarding population live) can be similar and quite dif-ferent from the wizarding community. Wizards are forbidden by the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy to reveal any type of magic to Muggles. Part 1) Government The Wizarding Community is somewhat more “binded togeth-er” than the Muggle World. This is possibly because they try to work together to protect themselves from Muggles. But Mug-gles have the United Nations, the organization used to unite and bring peace to the whole world. The Muggle Society and the Wizarding Community are the same in that they have countries and/or states that govern themselves and will meet if there ever is a very big emergency. Part 2) Education Muggle schools are very different in the sense that they teach different things than the subjects taught at wizarding schools. Although, wizarding schools and Muggle schools don’t teach the same things in every school, they both have a general standard for what to teach. For example, Muggle schools teach academics such as math, ELA (English Language Arts), science, world language, and social studies. Wizarding schools such as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry teach herbology, charms, transfiguration, D.A.D.A (Defense Against the Dark Arts), potions, astronomy, and divination. Part 3) Transportation Muggles have many different types of transportation, so I will

only speak about some. Some of the most common are trains. To get back and forth from Hogwarts school, students take a very special train called the Hogwarts Express. These are very efficient as long as you can get onto platform 9 ¾! You just buy a ticket and walk through the wall between platforms 9 and 10!

Other wizards use more sophisticated types of trans-portation. They have the Floo network which is a system of fireplaces connected together. You use Floo powder and pro-nounce the name of the place you are going and magically you appear there as you step into the fireplace. Also pretty pain-less, but a little time consuming to learn and you also are at risk of ending up at a completely different place if your pro-nunciation is misunderstood. Wait! This doesn’t mean that Muggle transportation is better. Like I said, wizards also have many different types of transportation. There are also brooms which you can learn at a young age. They are very efficient and a little difficult but can be used if preferred. The Muggle and wizarding communities are very differ-ent. Which would YOU rather live in? Send us an email at cougareditors@gmail.com.

How do most AMS students spend their free time?

by Samantha Leone, Sofia Delgado and Nico Leone

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Spirit of FLL by Neha Goel

FLL? FIRST Lego League. Kids enthusiastic about STEM are participating in this global event. Ever since last summer, kids all around the globe have spent countless hours over months to research and program. But what is FLL? There are three main parts of FLL. Each team must have a bal-ance of all three aspects in order to do well, and all are equally interesting and fun. These parts include the robot design/game, project research and, most importantly, core values! Every year, there is a different theme, and this year it’s Trash Trek. In the robot game part of the competition, teams have to

build and design a strong, sturdy, simple robot. After design-ing and building the robot, teams will have to program their robot to perform assigned missions on a given mat. Now, let’s get to the robot game. The robot will have to perform the as-signed missions relating to trash on a given mat during the competition. (These missions have already been pre-programmed.) Some of these missions include putting trash into landfills, com-posting, sorting out recyclables and, lastly, taking out the plastic bags from the ocean to ensure a safe environment for the animals. The people running the robot can only touch it in a certain area of the mat (known as base) without a penalty. Not only does the robot have to

perform missions, there’s a time limit of 2.5 minutes. Seems impossible, right? The next equally interesting part of the FLL experience is the research project. Teams have to research a topic related to the theme, identify a problem, and come up with an innovative so-lution to solve this problem. Teams will have to share their ideas with professionals and their community. Currently, our team wants to increase the reuse of plastic packaging. At the competition, teams will have to creatively present their ideas to

a panel of judges, and based on certain cri-teria, judges will assess each team and give them a score. Another big part of FLL is Core Val-ues. Core Values is all about your team’s morals and how well you honor the spirit of friendly competition. They include Gra-

cious Professionalism, Cooperation, Discovery, Integration, and Inclusion. Teams have to show how they respect their coaches, mentors, judges, and fellow teammates. Core Values involves how to work together with your teammates and listen to everybody’s ideas. Being friendly and helpful to your com-petition is also very important. FLL Teams will have to give an-other presentation to the Core Values judges. Then, based on how well you cooperate and work together, your team gets a final score in the Core Values part of FLL. Overall, FLL is a really cool, awesome learning experience for all kids ages 9 through 14. Winning awards is not what’s im-portant in FLL. What is important is working together to ac-complish a common goal and learning life skills along the way. Fun - want to form a team? Go to http://www.firstlegoleague.org/ to find out more.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens by Matthew Carrera

The number one trend of the year is Star Wars: The Force Awakens. We all know this billion dollar franchise as the galaxy, fighting with flashy things (lightsabers) and the word ‘Jedi’. This is the number one movie of the year, and the number one game of the year, as well! Star Wars has made an epic comeback.

EA or (Electronic Arts) and Dice both developed Star Wars Battlefront. The Star Wars Battlefront can be played in first person shooter and third person shooter. It is one of the top games of the year. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is one of the biggest movie releases ever. The J.J. Abrams film was almost universally praised ahead of its Dec. 18 release where it went on to shatter domestic and global records including the biggest opening weekend of all time and the first film to ever gross $100 million in a single day. The Star Wars franchise is HUGE, and it may get even big-ger!

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As smartphone technology grows and we see innovative new devices every year, we forget to ask ourselves this question: what is the main purpose of the smartphone? Smartphones are what their name suggests: smart phones. Their main pur-pose is to make phone calls smarter. But has this definition

shifted towards something else lately? Back in 2007, when the iPhone 3G was launched, people thought of it as a revolutionized phone with extra functions like an internet browser, camera, and email. It was so popular that developers started taking advantage of the app store plat-form by coding new apps and services. Eventually, most peo-ple started using these apps more often than the phone. There’s a lot of evidence to back this claim, even if you can’t see the proof in your usual smartphone behavior. A study made by Ipsos Mori in September 2015 showed that 25% of smartphone users in the United Kingdom do not use their smartphones to make calls. This number rose significantly, with only 4% of smartphone users not making calls just three years ago.

As smartphones evolve, users are starting to forget their main purpose as smartphone functions branch out and free mes-saging services are replacing texting and calling altogether. Eventually, smartphones might need to be renamed because so many people aren’t using them for what they were invented for. This chart illustrates how often the 15 people I surveyed use their phone to make phone calls.

Do people even call on their Smartphone anymore?

by Alexander Fu

Spring Crossword Puzzle by Milena Chan

Spring is here! We can say goodbye to snow, freezing mornings, and big, padded coats. Try to figure out the crossword puzzle below!

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Spring Blossoms

by Charlotte Koenig

Red, blue, yellow, gold They never

ever get old

Purple, orange, green, pink

They grow grow

In a blink

The flowers They bloom

All afternoon

Their round petals fold the long stems

You hold

Red, blue, yellow, gold They never

ever get old

Spring’s Here Word Search Created by Quincey Leonard

The birds are chirping, the snow is melting, and the sun is shining. The best time of the year is finally here! What spring words can you find?

Spring Modified Sports by Elizabeth Chun

Are you a seventh or eighth grader who loves playing sports with your friends while making new ones as well? If so, then spring mod-ified sports are the thing for you! Every spring, AMS of-fers the upper grades the op-portunity to participate in an amazing after-school privi-lege - modified sports. There are three seasons of modified sports in the entire year: Fall, Winter, and Spring. Soon, the 2016 Spring Modified Sports Season will be here! The sports offered for the spring are Track & Field (coed, requiring no try-out), Girls Lacrosse (requiring try-out), Boys Lacrosse (requiring try-out), Girls Softball (requiring try-out), and more! So if you’re interested in a fun, healthy workout this spring, speak to the coach of the sport that best interests you or check in with your physical education teacher. There’s something for everyone!