Supporting Our Sports Teams By Paul Buriak, Jr.

Conemaugh Valley sports teams need more fan support from the student body. Support from our students could create a huge atmosphere that could help for home court and/or home-field advantage. Those home-court advantages could make a huge impact on the opponent in the game to throw them off or frustrate them enough to take their focus off of the game. You can see examples of atmospheres like that all around Division 1 college and professional sporting events, like the Alabama Crimson Tide, Clemson Tigers, and Penn State Nittany Lion football stadiums and professional stadiums of the Seattle Seahawks and the Pittsburgh Steelers. As a basketball player, I truly believe that the students can fill the whole student section at home games which could help out a ton in those games that possibly could help lead us into winning the game. Research over a large sample from the National Football League even shows that the team with home-field advantage wins between 55 and 60 percent of the time in games that were decided by one possession (8 points or less).

Let's Get Involved In School by Sydney Richards

Every school has activities for students to be involved in. Conemaugh Valley has some awesome programs to participate in I believe everyone should be involved in school activities, they are very good for students. We have sports and other activity such as Scholastic quiz, and TSA. Even though Conemaugh Valley is small, we have programs for all groups of people.

I believe these activities are great for students. They build character and let you develop and grow as a person. If you're in activities that require a team effort, it shows you how to work as a team. This is something you will need as you go down the road. If you're in groups such as SADD or Remembering Adam, you are working to help an organization reach a common goal.

Most activities involve after school involvement. Sports have practices after school, Student Council holds monthly meetings, and TSA involves hours of extra work outside of school. These programs require time management. You have to make time for practice, school work, and other things that might need to get done every night. This gets you ready for college or the workforce, which may require a lot of multi-tasking.

When applying to a college, they look at your grades, but they also look at what things you are involved in. What you are involved in shows the type of person you are and how well you work with more than one thing to handle. Some clubs even have their own scholarships!

People need to get involved to keep these programs running. Small schools are not getting the number of participants that they need. CV and United football teams have both had to forfeit games because they did not have enough people to play. Winbers Volleyball team only has 9 girls. Teams are getting smaller and smaller as the years go by. People need to get involved to keep these programs thriving!

How to Spot Fake News By Hanna Mikesic

Many of the things you read online may sound true but is often not. Fake news is a very real topic that we need to be talking about. Every day somebody will retweet or post a news article that has fake news in it. When reading news articles you should be very careful to make sure the facts are true and that what you are reading is real.

Fake news can happen for several reasons. Sometimes the journalist gets misinformation or the news article is trying to influence people's views. This is why it is very important to get your information from a trusted, unbiased news site. There are many different types of fake news such as clickbait news, propaganda, satire news that is meant to be funny, misleading headlines and biased news articles. It is very important that you can tell the difference between these things and fake news.

Some ways to spot fake news is to read the whole article, look beyond the headline, check other sources and do research, and check to see if it is more biased. Be careful and read the whole story before retweeting or reposting news articles!

Maintaining Good Grades By Hanna Mikesic

As a student, you are expected to achieve the best grades possible. Getting good grades will help you go to a good college and get a career in the job you love. To maintain good grades throughout high school some key tricks might help you to get better grades and keep them!

One tip would be to study! Don’t wait until the last minute the night before the test, study throughout the week to help memorize what you need for the test or quiz. Students can study with different techniques such as flashcards, memorizing everything from a study guide, or having someone quiz them and seeing if they know the answers.

Another tip for maintaining good grades is keeping organized. Keep all of your papers for separate classes in separate folders so you have everything you need in one place and nothing gets lost. Use your planner to remember important dates such as test days, when your homework is due, and what you do during your classes so you remember everything.

One other way to get and keep good grades throughout the school year is by always turning in your work! Even if it’s a paper worth five points, it could turn that C to be a B, so turn it in! And complete all of your homework, put something down and try your best even if it doesn’t seem like the right answer, never leave anything blank.

Last but not least, don’t be afraid to ask a question! If you don’t know how to do something, ASK! That’s what the teachers are there for if you don’t understand or you’re confused, ask how to do something, or if you don’t know when something is due, say something. Always speak up and say when something is confusing or if a teacher is going too fast teaching a lesson, this will help you in the long run!