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Fentanyl Fears might Make this Halloween a Weird One

By Edward Morrison

During the pandemic, the last couple of Halloweens were pretty weird since almost nobody went trick or treating in 2020. Halloween experienced a comeback in 2021, but we still had to take precautions to avoid the spread of Covid-19. This year, however, we are facing a new type of threat on Halloween: fentanyl.

Parents have always been concerned about deranged people intentionally, including poison or razor blades in the candy. Remarkable ways parents have combatted this issue are checking wrappers to ensure they don't look torn and going with their children to ensure they don't eat candy until they get home. This would make you weary of tricking or treating, but maybe everybody's fears may be unnecessary.

This exciting example may prove parents' fears to be unfound. Earlier this year, the St.Charles Police Department issued a warning after a parent reported THC gummies in their child's candy. Still, many, including an expert, believed that the report was fabricated.

Another thing that I have yet to mention is despite these fears persisting for years. There has been little to no evidence. St.Charles city photographer Melissa Kuhl called the report "nonsense," while Leigh Kaufman from O'Fallon called it a "typical scare tactic used around Halloween." Both made their doubts known with comments on St. Charles PD's Facebook post.

A spokesperson for the St.Charles police department said in response to the skepticism, "As far as the veracity of the incident, it did occur as reported above."

This Halloween, we should enjoy going back to normal, and these fears are unfound. It would not be Halloween without trick or treating, and some kids have waited since 2019. Now go put on a costume and have a fun Monday night.

Halloween Fun

By Miah Jackson

Some people do not celebrate Halloween, but the people that do need things other than trick-or-treating to celebrate the season.

The first thing you could do is take family photos outside. Creating a unique seasonal backdrop and buying hay from the shops is just enough to take pictures. Put costumes on or wear festive fall attire. Another thing you could do to be more festive is to add Halloween decorations in front of your house or apartment. Those homes on your block that look haunted due to numerous decorations will draw you into the Halloween spirit.

The next thing you can do is go apple picking since freshly picked apples are the best. Although that might sound too basic, it could be lots of fun. You can make fun apple desserts like apple pie, candied, and caramel apples with those apples.

Another thing you could do to prepare yourself at the last minute is to make DIY costumes. Most shops need the right costumes you would like, or if you're looking for matching family or dog costumes. Hand-making them would make it much easier than stressing about where you could find them at.

Lastly, you can surprise your neighbor with a boo box (something I would do) by adding whatever you think they would like, such as candy, glowsticks, custom straws, fake spiders, and anything else you want. However, if this does not suit you, dress up and go trick-or-treating.

Source: https://www.thepioneerwoman.com

Peer Pressure

By Wolf Nazari

Peer pressure can be both good and bad. "Peer pressure" is a term used to define someone's actions provoking someone else to do something they wouldn't normally do. Some peer pressure is beneficial, for example, peer pressure to study. But most of the time, negative peer pressure is dominant. This can encourage other students to cheat or break the rules.

"85% of high schoolers have felt peer pressure." This shows how much peer pressure plays into our society. Some unhealthy habits are due to peer pressure. For example, "19% of teenagers say they would stop using their cell phone while driving only if their friends did the same" (Allstate Newsroom). Sometimes peer pressure is on a smaller scale. For instance, "A new poll from TurboTax found that 60% of American adults reported being pressured by friends and family members to spend money they don't have on things they don't need." (Turbo Tax)

Another big problem with peer pressure is the influence on students to start doing drugs, smoking and drinking alcohol. "75% of adolescents have tried alcohol due to peer pressure... 70% of teen smokers began due to peer pressure. 75% of teens believe that social media posts of their peers partying with alcohol and marijuana encourage others to party like that. 60% of drinkers between 18 and 34 say pressure to drink is prevalent among their peers."

Finally, it is one thing to look at the quantitative data, but there is also some qualitative data on peer pressure. Three students at BVMS were asked about their experiences two agreed to speak out about their experiences.

Student A: "As a student who has experienced peer pressure, I want to address this topic. Peer pressure is horrible, and I hope no kid has to go through it at a young age. That happened to me at the young age of five, and I was forced to do something I didn't want to do because I kept getting pushed by the other people around me. I hope these few sentences help stop peer pressure."

Student B: "As an undergraduate, I know how it feels to experience peer pressure. It is a horrible feeling, as you are forced to do unremarkable things. I remember once, in 3rd grade, a group of people forced me to do something I was unwilling to do. I felt so under pressure because they were all taller and bigger than me. So I decided to agree to it. Peer pressure is horrible, and I hope no one ever experiences it. Always ask someone for help if you feel you have a lot of pressure on yourself and are forced to do something."

In conclusion, peer pressure is a horrible thing that everyone should avoid at all costs, especially if it is negative. Some peer pressure is beneficial, for example, peer pressure to study. But most of the time, negative peer pressure is dominant. This can encourage other students to cheat or break the rules.

Sources: Choosetherapy.com, Drug-Free NIDA, Daily Mail.

Join the BVMS Barker Staff

By Miah Jackson

Have you thought about being a writer but are still determining what kind of writer you are? There are many types of writers: journalists, poets, and novelists who write about various topics worldwide. One type of writing I have engaged in lately is journalistic writing.

During my second semester in seventh grade, I took the journalism elective with Mrs. Taylor, where I learned how to write articles and avoid slants and bias in my writing.

The newspaper club is for students who did not have the chance to take the journalism elective but still would like to be contributing writers for the newspaper. In the newspaper club, writers submit their articles on the BVMS Barker website. The topics of the publication will vary depending on the submitted articles.

You can write articles for the student newspaper, including the holidays, Op/Eds, Cooking, Sports, Entertainment, fashion, features, and interviews. The holiday articles are seasonal, so right now, we are writing about Halloween. Op/Eds are a form of opinion writing where you can write anything expressing an opinion. The cook nook is where you can contribute family-owned or your favorite recipes. The entertainment topic is split into four parts, comics, crosswords, book reviews, music reviews, movie or tv reviews, and puzzles.

You may not know that Mrs. Taylor also runs a newspaper club for the BVMS Barker. We meet on Mondays at lunch in room D-305. If you are interested, please join us.

Video Gaming during School

by Edward Morrison

Since America's schools have integrated laptops into the curriculum, there has been a change in what students do when they are bored during a lecture or are supposed to be doing a difficult assignment on the computer. Instead of doing their English essay, they play video games, including Snake, Vex, Slope, Fall Guys, Ripoff, and Stumble Guys. Students usually will see classmates play certain games, and they'll find and play them. Because the games are unlocked, it is harder for schools to block the games students play even though our district subscribes to Lightspeed systems, a web-filtering service that controls what websites Beverly Vista Bulldogs can visit. According to Ed Tech, around 15 million students are monitored by Lightspeed.

Unfortunately, I needed help finding out how many students play video games at school, at least on a national level. From what I have seen, the number of students, at least at BVMS playing unauthorized video games in class is large. However, teachers can monitor student activity from their computers using GoGuardian, which can block students' screens if they see video games being played.

I hope students will understand that they are in school to learn and not play video games.

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