What's happening around MMS?
Including poetry and stories written for class or on your own!
MMS Musical: Aladdin Jr. Info
by Kyleigh A., 7th grade
School Lunches: My Opinion
by Grace W., 7th grade
Although some of you may disagree, most of the school lunches are bad.
The Burgers
The school burgers are usually not on the top of everyone’s favorite lunches to get. It's mostly the last resort. They always taste off for some reason and have a hint of blue in them.
The Nachos
You may not agree on this but the nachos are gross. The meat always looks weird for some reason. Everytime I see someone eating them I feel bad. They don’t taste all that great either.
The Mac & Cheese
It's gross. That's all I have to say about it honestly. My friend got it the other day at lunch, I felt bad for him. I had a spoon with me so we both took a bite at the same time. It was gross, it tasted like plastic, the cheese put a coating over my mouth too. It also stuck together really weirdly. I even offered to get him a new lunch so he didn’t have to eat it but he declined.
The Chicken Nuggets
Again, they also have a hint of blue in the meat which is weird. They don’t taste great, the roll is usually rock hard on the outside as well.
The Spaghetti
We had it served once last year, it smelled awful. I had that same kind when I was younger. It was cold and flavorless.
Anything Breakfast Related
It's lunch, don’t serve breakfast.
Beans of Any Kind
Yes, they are sides but they are bad to me.
Hot Ham & Cheese Sandwich
It smells foul, the cheese tastes off for some reason. I remember as a kid I hated the ham so much I would take it off the sandwich.
Sloppy Joe
It’s probably squirrel meat, idk though.
Some of the foods we can get at lunch are actually ok for some reason, at least to me.
The Pepperoni Calzone
I’ve had it a few times and it's honestly not bad. I would choose it over most things. If you haven't had it, give it a try.
Bosco Sticks
I know, big shocker, but they actually aren’t terrible. They taste fine for bread with cheese in it so I can’t complain.
Buffalo Chicken Pizza
I think they’ve only had it twice this year but it's not awful to say the least. Their chicken is not blue so that's a plus.
Meatball Sub
It's not awful, just the bun usually is very soggy. Once my meatballs fell through the bun.
Chicken Patty
It's not entirely bad, I can eat it and not think it tastes bad, but it’s usually a last resort option. I haven’t had it for a while but it probably has a hint of blue too.
If I didn’t mention something either its mid or I forgot about it.
Dance 'Till You're Dead -- an Interview with Student Council about the Upcoming Halloween Dance
by Grace W., 7th grade
I interviewed two student council members, Bee and Geni, about the Halloween dance. Here's what they had to say.
Q: What will happen at the Halloween party?
A: We will have many games and activities to play plus a dance in the main MPR, when you go there may even be a special surprise!
Q: Will there be snacks?
A: There will be snacks like pizza and such but bring money because the PTO is providing concessions.
Q: Can we wear costumes?
A: You will be allowed to wear costumes, it is highly encouraged.
Q: Can we wear makeup?
A: Hats are allowed and face makeup but make sure it’s school appropriate.
Q: How much does it cost?
A: Entry is $5 but we are unaware how much snacks will cost.
Q: What are the limits on the song suggestions?
A: Mr. Rainey, bless his heart, has to listen to every song submitted through the google form and he, actually, doesn’t recommend songs with swear words.
Message from the student council: We still need decorations so please donate unused decorations! Thank you!
Gym Class Issues
by Grace W., 7th grade
Our school has a gym class, obviously, but it has some problems.
Uniforms
Our school doesn’t seem to have a ton of money, this is obvious but having the uniforms just makes that fact even more sad. I don’t understand the point of uniforms, they are probably around so the school can make a lot of money on something useless. Having to change in the locker room is awkward for, presumably, everyone. No one likes having to awkwardly look away from others changing. For girls like me, it's very uncomfortable to have people looking at our stomachs or bodies while changing. It genuinely makes me insecure to change. And the worst part about it is that we can’t change in the stalls. If we didn’t have uniforms this problem, somewhat, goes away.
Sexism At Its Finest
Many people may agree with me that gym class is very sexist. As kids, girls were taught that they may use “girl push ups” instead of regular pushups because girls are supposedly less competent than boys. Most boys in my grade are more sporty than the girls, so saying girls vs. boys is very annoying because us girls will most likely lose. Many boys in gym class are sexist too, which has nothing to do with the class but still.
They like to not pass the ball and what not to girls because they are “worse at sports” than them. I am pretty good at sports but because I’m a girl nobody thinks that I may be good at soccer, baseball, kickball, swimming, endurance things, and others.
Bullying
Have you ever dropped a ball during gym class? If you have, you have definitely experienced the range of insults, eyerolls and sighs when that happens. Failure is a part of life but most kids, usually boys, don’t think so. I have gotten cursed at, many many eyerolls and sighs for not catching a ball or failing at something. Usually when this happens people tend to not be left out of games or to not try for sports.
Thus concludes my weekly rant about issues at our school. Overall, gym classes are filled with unnecessary changing and insecurities, sexism, and bullying
Unsolved School Mysteries: Why Does Water Cost More than Gatorade?
by Robbie Y., 7th grade
Most may not be aware of the items sold at school lunch, it’s a very new thing. But even less know what the prices are. In this Unsolved School Mystery, you will learn about student theories, school food law manipulation done by exterior companies, limiting food waste, schools trying to save money on lunches, and so much more.
First off, the student theory I present is Zaire Byrd’s theory on the subject “They didn’t know what price to set things at (laugh) so they just did choose them randomly." I don’t think this theory is correct because it doesn’t have any concrete evidence. Exterior food-making companies have lower prices than any other thing there. They use these products in cafeterias as loss leaders. A loss leader is something intentionally sold at a lower price to increase sales of other products. One example of a loss leader is the cheap hot dogs at Costco which they lose almost a dollar on each time it’s sold. People wanting to buy these hot dogs make them spend more time in the store buying profitable things.
You may be saying “Why is Gatorade more expensive at schools then?” To those people, I say that they are being sold to the school at a low price. The school has always had large price markups. Schools have guidelines that they have to follow. Regular Gatorade is too sugary, so they make “healthy Gatorade” for schools. These healthy Gatorade bottles are sold only so they get young kids to get Gatorade at stores. Schools wanted to increase profit margins in the 1980s. They also wanted to limit food waste to higher fewer janitors. The guidelines said students should have two vegetables with their meals. Vegetables were almost always thrown away. They read the vague rules and decided the tomato sauce on pizza would be a vegetable. They also did this with kept-up and other slight vegetable items. Overall, there are many potential reasons why the “lunch snack items” are priced so weirdly.
The Effects of Leaving People Out
by Grace W., 7th grade
There’s a big chance that you have been left out at some point in your life. Whether that be by friends, family members, or classmates. Being left out means being excluded from a group of people. Being left out is very bad for people's mental health and usually leads to them becoming distant from the group they are being disincluded from. Growing up I was left out by pretty much everyone I was friends with, even my closest friends. This really affected my mental health and caused me to gain a lot of anxiety that I still have now. If one were to get left out a lot then they start to gain negative feelings about themselves. Although being not included happens all the time, normally those who are included don’t realize they are leaving someone out.
If you are with friends or any group make sure that everyone is included. If you interrupt someone, apologize and let them continue instead of continuing to talk. Always make sure to pull left out individuals into the conversation instead of ignoring them. It honestly does more than you know for them.
Unsolved School Mysteries: Why Do Students Love Gum So Much?
by Robbie Y., 7th grade
Have you ever wondered why students like gum so much? If someone has a single pack of gum everyone will crowd around them begging for gum. Sometimes students pay outrageous sums of cash for the most insignificant piece of gum; $1 for a single stick of trident gum (Arguably the worst brand). Are students just dumb or is there something heinous at play? Students love gum, as one myself I think I know why. First off, children like sweet things. For some, it weirdly feels like some adult thing to them; it makes them look cool. Next chewing gum can work out your jaw muscle (Most don’t know this, they just like “The Feeling”). Another reason is that chewing gum has a calming effect lowering your stress levels. Next gum marketing, gum for some reason is a common radio ad, especially for the radios on school buses. One more reason is how gum can help them keep focus; like music can for some. A few more reasons children chew gum are: It helps them quench their hunger (Feels like you are eating=less hungry), pranking (you know why), and even bragging over peers. Lastly, blowing bubbles is common among students for no apparent reason. Overall, there are many reasons students may be influenced into liking gum “too much”.
Our Tornado Drills: They're Stupid
by Grace W., 7th grade
Tornados are very common and practicing for them is very important but how our school does it seems very ineffective. I think others may agree with me that tucking in your head in a big empty hallway with big glass windows at the end of them. This is very stupid because if there was an actual tornado everyone would get injured or die. I don’t know who thought it was a good idea to have everyone bend over in a big hallway for a tornado, especially since there are windows.
A more effective way to do a tornado drill would be to have everyone go into a space with 0 windows like the bathrooms or locker rooms, etc. I actually had a substitute teacher last year who took her earlier classes into the bathrooms instead of in the halls for the tornado drill. Even she said that it made more sense than to go into the halls.
Why Can't We Bring Our Chromebooks to the Gym?
by Shahmir A., 7th grade
I get why we can’t bring our chromebooks to lunch because of spills (somehow we brought our chromebooks to lunch last year), but what is the problem with not bringing your chromebooks to the gym after lunch? So people that don’t have a phone will have something to DO when they go to the gym after lunch instead of stupidly waiting for the next period. The locker room is a good place to put your chromebook while in the lunchroom.
Why We Should Bring Paper Towels Back Into Bathrooms
by Robbie Y., 7th grade
In my opinion the “Warm Air Dryers” don’t dry at all, we need to bring back paper towels. If you want efficiency you should bring back paper towels. It takes way longer to dry your hands with the dryers. Most people skip drying due to it taking so long. To add Towels lower germ spread. First Mayo Clinic says “Because the transmission of bacteria is more likely to occur from wet skin than from dry skin, the proper drying of hands after washing should be an essential component of hand hygiene procedures.” (mayoclinicproceedings.org). This shows why we need our hands to be properly dried, something the dryers don’t do. Another thing is the highly touched button covered in water for germs to colonize. You may be saying “But the handle for the paper towel dispensers”. Well, I have something to say about that, if we had enough money for these fancy dryers why can’t we buy motion-detecting paper towel dispensers? We do have motion detection in the locker room sinks. If you are saying that “mischievous students will place them in toilets”. I also have something to say about that, if they want some paper to “mess around with” they use toilet paper. At least right now they do. I know the school wants to be cheap not having to buy paper towels to fill the machines but how much is a couple of paper towel rolls? Overall, the “Warm Air Dryers” in bathrooms don’t dry well enough, we need paper towels back.
Shake It Till You Make It
by Grace W., 7th grade
Have you ever seen your friends shaking their school milk cartons at lunch? Do you yourself do this as a force of habit? I’ve been wondering why for a while and the answer is: You need to shake it for the milk to be drinkable. Even though the trip to school must shake the “milk” enough for it to be drinkable, some cartons still make it through the shaky process. When I was in 6th grade I always shook my milk when walking back to my lunch table because my friends always said you have too. A few days I didn’t shake it and it tasted fine but two days were different. One day I was walking back to my table with some lunch but I forgot to shake the milk. I took a sip and it tasted like chocolate water. I thought the milk was expired so I threw it out and didn’t think much of it. A few months later I was drinking milk again when I tasted a weird bleach water substance. I immediately stood up and spit it into the trash can. My friend did the same because he said his milk also had a bleach water taste. We both didn’t shake our milk. I guess there isn’t a reason other than, to have good milk you have to shake it.
This all brings up another question, however. Why do you have to shake your milk? Well my thoughts are that the school milk isn’t really milk, it's a weird water mixture. And to get your milk to taste like its name you have to shake in the weird milk flavoring in it. All of my experiences with having to shake the milk happened with chocolate milk, I have no idea what normal milk is like sometimes or if this happens to it as well. I guess people must have caught on that milk tastes bad if you don’t shake it so now a lot of people did and still shake it so it isn’t bad. I asked some of the news club members to see if they had heard of the shaking your milk thing. They both said they have.
We Should Change How Hallways Are Organized
by Robbie Y., 7th grade
Inside of school have you ever been rushing to class due to it being across most of the school, but you have to wait due to there being a friend group walking snail's pace? Well, that won’t happen if we switch to my preferred method, which I call “Speed Organization”, let me explain. My method would be still going to the right but having slower people be towards to center. This allows for less clumping, and fast people get to class faster. The reason I have slow people going to the center is that it allows teachers to still monitor students who are going too fast. On stairways, we walk as normal. This also might allow the school to shorten the bell for more efficiency, schools like that. If needed, you could make not go to the center but allow room for locker openers. Overall, I think hallways should get reorganized for easier hallway travel.