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Post date: Sep 29, 2017 4:43:59 PM
We are Eagles!
By Camden B. & Aniah D.
When it comes to football at Monroeville Junior High, they don’t play around! There are 24 boys all together on the team consisting of 7th and 8th graders. They are all ready for victory with every game they play. The boys are always extremely excited to play and very proud to wear their black and gold on game days!
The boys have home games on Wednesdays and away games on Thursdays. That doesn’t stop the boys from practicing three times a week! After winning a game they sometimes have a fun practice for a nice reward. They also have quite a few positions to play in their games. Two formations they often run are Skeleton O and Skeleton D. Skeleton O is where they line up in a formation, and they run over plays and there is no defense or line. Skeleton D is where they line up on defense and there is no offense, but there is a line.
The next games they are having are against South Central on Wednesday, September 20th at 5pm, New London on Thursday, September 28th at 5pm, and Crestview on Wednesday, October 4th.
Four seventh and eighth graders were asked different questions. When Isaac R., an eighth grader, was asked why he was on the team he said, “I like being on the team because I like playing football and being active.”
When Ian S., another eighth grader, was asked how he was getting better, he answered, “I am getting better by practicing everyday and being my best.”
Levi B., a 7th grader had ideas on how new players could get involved next year. He answered, “Well, they can sign a form for football in the office. They go to the meetings before practice starts in July, and then they can find out what they need.”
Finally, Brice M. also a seventh grader, told us why people should come to the team’s games. He answered, “To support the team.”
Make sure to come check out the Monroeville Eagles at their upcoming games!
Watch Me Soar!
By Joshua B, Connor B, Davin R.
The flying taxi is made by the Chinese company Ehang in Dubai, the largest city in the United Arab Emirates. It is an electrically powered driverless drone. It uses eight propellers to gain altitude off the ground. Once the taxi rises up to the required height of 15 meters, the propellers rotate to power itself forward, creating enough lift to have the same properties as a passenger plane. The battery lasts for 30 min, and it takes around 27 minutes to charge.
Last year, the prototype was in Las Vegas. If anything goes wrong, the drone will land in a safe spot. Once the passenger gets in the flying taxi, they tap the location where they would want to go. It then takes you to the selected location. The first take off will go live in 2025.
The flying taxi can carry up to about 220 pounds during flight, originally weighs 500 pounds, and the taxi can fly between its normal cruising speed of 30 mph and top speed 62 ,mph. The Dubai government wants their city to become the smartest city in the world. Aimer, CEO of US-based Aero Consulting Experts, asked, “Who’s gonna be the man or woman crazy enough to be the first passenger?”
In conclusion, the flying taxi will be an amazing improvement in the future.
WATCH OUT!
By Charles L. & Nathan D.
In Southern Texas Hurricane Harvey started on August 25, 2017 and ended September 2nd, 2017. Hurricane Harvey was a category four hurricane which is 130 to 156 mph wind speed. Starting over night and when the Texas civilians got up, the water was two feet high, but that wasn’t all. It continued raining until September 2nd when the water level got up to 12.5 feet high in Houston!
Southern Texas civilians had to deal with this hurricane and the dangers it left behind. Hurricane Harvey left behind hazards such as infection to cuts due to the debris. There was also lots of dangerous marine life that was left in the water, downed power lines that could electrocute anyone in the water near the power lines, and possibly sharp metal or wooden debris in the water.
Harvey caused catastrophic damage to places like Houston, Bridge City, Wharton, and San Felipe. Harvey also flooded these places worse than ever before! Houston was damaged, and its recovery could take up to months or even years later!
Hurricane Harvey ended up killing up to 72 people. It also caused about $180 billion dollars worth of damage! By the end of Harvey, it dumped 24.5 trillion gallons of water on Texas, and it also dropped a year’s worth of rainfall on Texas. At least 30,000 people fled to temporary homes, and 10,000 people were rescued from their flooded homes. It will take a very long time to clean up this massive disaster.
Hurricane Harvey was a very dangerous category four storm. It flooded and destroyed many homes and properties in Southern Texas, especially Houston. It left tons of hazards behind in the debris. They could be very harmful to citizens. Some places are still recovering from the damage and flooding of the hurricane. This is just one of the multiple catastrophic hurricanes that hit the USA.
How Smart Are Dolphins Really?
By Mallory R. & Mckenna D.
People have wondered how smart dolphins are. In the Pacific Ocean, Bottlenose Dolphins can do math, make recipes, communicate, rescue others in trouble, and even mourn those that have passed away! They originated from odontocetes approximately five million years ago, but scientists just found out about their intelligence in 1985, when a man saw a Bottlenose Dolphin mimicking him by pretending to be Poseidon. The reason they can do these things is because Bottlenose Dolphins’ brain size compared to their body size is second only to humans. This means that besides human beings, dolphins have the largest brain for their body size.
Scientists believe that dolphins evolved from odontocetes, kind of like how some people believe that humans evolved from monkeys. Some scientists believe that land animals came into the water and turned into odontocetes. After a temperature change, one of the only species that survived a temperature change in part of the ocean was the odontocete. Odontocetes don’t have very sharp teeth, but they do have complex brains. After a while, odontocetes turned into dolphins. Dolphins belong to a group of aquatic mammals called Cetaceans. In 1985, three scientists who were studying dolphins got bored. One of the scientists found a seaweed garland and put it on his head, pretending to be Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. When he was done with the seaweed garland, he threw it into the water. At that moment a dolphin came out of the water with the seaweed garland on it’s head! It is a possibility that the dolphin was mimicking the scientist!
We have also discovered that dolphins have the exact same brain parts as humans. Both have a frontal lobe, a partial lobe, a temporal lobe, occipital lobe, and a cerebellum. Dolphins also have a great memory, and are part of some of the organisms to have passed the mirror test, which is a test where they put the organism in front of a mirror, and see if they recognize themselves. Some other animals that have passed the mirror test are Asian elephants, great apes, orca whales, Eurasian magpies, and ants.
Bottlenose Dolphins who are in different pods, which is a group of dolphins, cannot recognize each other’s calls. It’s like if people were trying to talk to each other in a different language! They also have different hunting strategies. For example, one dolphin called the netmaker stirs up mud at the bottom of the ocean, while another dolphin calls all of the rest of the dolphins while the fish can’t see anything. More of them then come and get fish, or another living creature they might eat.
Dolphins aren’t just another clueless animal; they are actually very smart in various ways.
Hurricane Irma
By Zac C. & Dylan T.
On Sunday, September 10th, 2017 Hurricane Irma hit Southern Florida. The news said, “Hurricane Irma was going straight through the middle of Florida,” but it went to the west coast of it. It had a category five rating, and the winds were 175 mph. When Hurricane Irma hit the Caribbean, it looked like a bomb destroyed the whole island. The bridge that was connected from the Dominican Republic of Haiti was washed away. Also, the storm flooded the harbor leaving cars stranded. When it hit the islands, it was one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded.
When it hit Florida, it was a category four hurricane. When it went north, it lowered to a category one. The winds were moving 65 miles per hour it’s moving northwest at 17 miles per hour. Plants were ripped out of the ground, trees were falling all around people's houses, and small tree limbs are all over Florida right now. Water plants were shutting down because of damage.
Hurricane Irma made Florida lose power for at least one week. In the stores, water was 15 dollars for a case, and they were making all the food prices go up. It flooded the streets and took cars under water and 6.2 million people lost power. Hurricane Irma hit the cities of Jacksonville, Florida, and downtown Charleston, South Carolina.
Hurricane Irma hit Cuba as a category five hurricane. The water got up to five feet high, and it killed at least 10 people. It’s Cuba’s worst hurricane since Hurricane Dennis who killed 16 people in 2005. The Bahamas, Turks, and Caicos Islands got hit by Hurricane Irma. The U.S Virgin Islands got hit too, also Barbuda. Barbuda was ripped apart by Irma. The islands are counting the cost of the damage with the cost of rebuilding houses alone expected to top 50 million dollars. Greater Antilles also got hit, it’s the fourth largest island of the Antilles-Cuba Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, lying north of the Lesser Antilles chain, the Leeward Islands, and southeastern United States.
There for Hurricane Irma was recorded as a category five and it was one of the worst present hurricanes. Hurricane Irma will cost around $20 billion to $40 billion dollars in damage in all the places it has hit.
Slime Rancher
By Matthew I. & Jacob H.
Slime Rancher is a game which was released in January 2016. It is about ranching slimes that can be found in many different areas. It is a single player game, and it is also really fun to play. The slime names are called Pink, Phosphor, Tabby, Quantum, Honey, Puddle, Hunter, Tangle, and Dervish. Directly and indirectly harmful slimes are: Rock, Fire, Boom, Mosaic, Crystal, and Rad. The special types of slimes are named Lucky, Gold, Largos, and Gordos.
People can also find new slimes, weird fruit, farm animals like Hen Hens, and Roostros. A player could find little toys for the slimes like a night light for Phosphor slimes, which are lightning bug slimes.
Players earn money by finding things for the slimes to eat. To find out what they eat, hover your vacuum gun over the slime. For example, pink slimes will eat anything they can get their hands on, but the Gordo slimes have to eat food not slimes. A vacuum gun is what you use to pick something up, but you can’t suck up large things. Also, players have to watch out because feeding a slime the wrong thing could cause bad things to happen to a slime. A player can lose their stuff if they die or get knocked out. Now if a player falls in the Slime Sea, a player will die. If a player doesn’t feed some slimes, they will get angry. If a player walks in their corral or pen, they will attack. Installing music will help prevent them from attacking when they are hungry. Also, there is a great feature that lets a player trade with a non-playable character in the game also means you can’t play them; the funniest one is B0b. He only wants chickens, and he loves chickens. If a player gets what a non-playable character wants, they give the player items like plorts or food. Plorts are items a player gets after feeding a slime the food they eat.
Most people think this game is great, but some people think it is pointless. It could be a game for relieving stress or anger. Players get money by feeding the slimes, collecting their plorts, and selling them on the plort market.
The Mosaic slimes plorts give players the most money. A player can’t capture a tar slime because they don’t drop plorts, and after a while they disappear if they stay in a coral for a while. Players can make more chickens by getting a coop. Players find both a Roostro and a Hen Hen of the same breed. They then put them in a coop, go to your house then rest, and there should be a chickadoo. However, it sometimes won’t work.
If children are under age of eight, they cannot play this game. It is on Xbox One, PS4, and PC. They have not released the disc copy for Xbox One or PS4, but people can buy it from the store on a electronic device or a console.
Give Slime Rancher a try; it is very fun.
Junior High Volleyball
By Brook S. & Brooke S.
In Monroeville Jr. High volleyball, there is an eighth grade and a seventh grade team. The girls on the eighth grade team are Brooklyn S., Kady R., Delaney G., Alyssa E., Sydnie D., Grace T., Grace C., Hannah L., and Graisyn Y. The eighth grade coach is Taylor Brooks. The girls on the seventh grade team are Brooke S., Jordan L., Colleen C., Kaylee E., Isabel A., Lilly W., Lilly B., Lydia S., Sophia B., Madi C., Lexi B., and Kylee O. The seventh grade coach is Kylee Kuhlman.
For our practices, they start out by setting the net up. Eighth grade will run for two minutes while seventh grade will do lines. Lines are when a player choose any line on the gym floor and they jump back and forth or side to side for two minutes. When that time is up, we will switch. After that they will stretch and get a partner to warm up. They warm up and do many things including conditioning. Sometimes they will have to run or do up downs. Up down or burpies are where a person jumps up into the air and almost fall onto the ground and do a push-up and do that as many times as the coaches tell them to do. Before our games, they stretch and warm up; after they warm up, they hit. They then go off the court so the other team can hit and Monroeville will pass first.
After the team are done warming up, the game starts. The seventh grade goes first; when the seventh grade are done, the eighth grade warms up. During the home games, we play in the Elementary gym. Practices are also in the Elementary gym. Games are on Mondays and Thursdays; sometimes there are tri-matches and scrimmages on Saturdays. A tri-match is when you play two different teams in one day there is three teams altogether, and scrimmages are when you play a team but you don't keep score. During away games, the team rides the bus and provides snack bags for other members of the team.
During practice some games are played. Some of the games that are played are Queen of the Court. Queen of the Court is where there are three people on both sides of the net and they try to get three hits and get the other person out. The person who wins is the queen and goes over to the other side of the net. Another game that is played, is a serving game where they have some people go on the other side of the net and they lay down and then the rest of the people will serve and try to hit the girls on the ground to get them up and then they can come and serve. If someone misses or if their ball goes out of bounds then they have to go to the other side and lay down to get rescued. The way this game ends is that everyone is serving and no one is laying on the ground.
These are some of the drills they do. One drill they have to do is where the seventh and eighth grade split up into two groups and each group goes to one side of the net. Three people of each group go into the back row and get ready to pass. The rest of the people serve, and they have one person that stands in the setting spot. They have to get 50 good passes to the setter in 20 minutes. Once the server serves, they go over and get ready to come in to pass. Once a person passes the ball, the target goes over and serves and that person goes up to be the target. If they run out of time, then however many that didn't get that's how many they have to run. If there are any drop balls, that's how many suicides they have to do. suicides is where you run from the 10 foot line to the out of bonse line to the net and back, after that you do the same thing for the other side to run full court. For example, they did not get 12 and has three drop balls. A drop ball is where the ball hits the ground and nobody goes for it. There are many more drills, but they are harder to explain.
In conclusion, volleyball is a good sport! It's fun, challenging, and requires team-work.
SO MANY WILDFIRES!
By Madi C. and Lexi B.
Many people are under the dangers of wildfires. Several of the wildfires include the Chetco Bar Wildfire, which is located in Oregon. The second wildfire is called The Rice Ridge Wildfire, which is in Montana. The third wildfire is called the South Fork Fire, which is in California!
The Chetco Bar Wildfire was reported on July 12th, 2017 at 1:45pm. It was burning in the 2002 Biscuit Fire and 1987 Silver fire scars located in Kalmiopsis Wilderness, between Brookings, Oregon on the west side and Cave Junction on the east. The cause of the fire was by a lightning strike. Approximately, 7,000 workers fought the fire. It spread into California; it was estimated to burn up almost 500,000 acres and 150 million dollars by November. It became one of the largest wildfires in the recent history of 48 contiguous states.
The second wildfire is The Rice Ridge Wildfire. This wildfire was reported on July 24th, 2017 at 4:30pm. The location of this wildfire is northeast of Seeley Lake, Montana. The cause of The Rice Ridge Wildfire was lightning. It has already burned 139,502 acres of land and it is still burning to this minute in time. There are forest area closures that remain in effect as well as road restrictions and closures. The northern parts of the fire, mainly in the wilderness, were in a red flag warning. A red flag warning is when there is a warning issued by the United States Weather Service. Firefighters are in the area and they are attempting to put the fire out.
The last wildfire is called the Table Rock Fire. This fire was reported on June 29th 2016. The fire was started by a 19 year old man setting off illegal fireworks. This man is on probation (which means they are in basically in detention for bad behavior) for two years and owes 391,790 dollars. That wildfire is in Boise, Idaho and is 2,500 acres of land. It also burned down a man's home and threatened a dozen more!
These three wildfires can burn down acre after acre at an incredible speed. They can be started just by a little cigarette or just a lightning strike. You might ask well what if lightning strikes Monroeville, will it start a wildfire like that? The answer is probably not. If lightning strikes a tree here, it will most likely just make a big hole or dark mark, and has a chance of knocking it over. Wildfires are usually started in forested places, like California, Oregon, Montana, and Idaho. As you would believe, wildfires are very dangerous to people, forests, trees, and animals.
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