Culture Fair 

This year marked Andrew High School’s 2nd Culture fair since COVID. A celebration of diverse cultures and ethnicities, Project Diversity hosted the event during all the lunch periods on December 12th. Signature dishes from Middle East, Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe, South Asia, and Latin America brought joy to all students and staff before final exam week. Here’s a glimpse of the dishes served. 

1. Middle East 

The Middle East brought Baklava, a dessert of phyllo pastry with chopped nuts, then soaked in honey, along with Majanat, which is baked dough topped with cheese, meat, and Zaatar. They also brought a baked dish called Kras, which is baked dough stuffed with spinach or meat (my personal favorite).

2. South Asia

This year South Asia contributed Parle G, a common Indian cookie that's eaten in the afternoon with tea. Speaking of drinks, Frooti, a mango juice, changed my entire outlook on life in one sip. I felt like I was drinking a smoothie in a juice box, and I loved every minute of it. Biryani, a mixed rice dish with vegetables and spices, along with Samosas, a fried pastry filled with spiced potatoes, onions, and peas, also made an entrance at South Asia’s culture fair table. 

3. Africa

If you didn’t try Africa’s food at the culture fair, you missed out on a revolutionary experience. The region brought fried plantain, which is best described as a savory banana. Jollof Rice also appeared, which is a Ghanaian dish made with rice, tomatoes, chilies, onions, spices, and veggies. The rice paired amazingly with the traditional African chicken, which was marinated in seasonings and then baked. 

4. Europe 

Every year during the summer, I especially crave Europe’s Greek Loux Lemonatha, a lemonade soft drink that I’m almost positive is the most refreshing in the world. The specialty made Corned Beef Sandwiches, made from beef brisket, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, and mustard, was a phenomenal Irish dish. The last thing brought was a classic Greek dish of lamb slices wrapped in a pita, along with tomatoes, onions, and a delicious sauce called Tzatziki, called the Gyro. 

5. Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia came in strong with an amazing Filipino appetizer, called Lumpia. Lumpia is deep fried pork, cabbage, and vegetables wrapped in a light paper.  They also brought Pancit (pronounced Pun-sit), a noodle made with bihon, or rice sticks, mixed in with chicken and vegetables, along with Hello Panda, a Japanese cookie with a creamy chocolate filling. 

6. Latin America

If the taste of pure joy was captured, it would be rolled in cinnamon sugar just like Latin America’s churros. The tamales, steamed corn dough with marinated chicken almost made me go into a food coma. The arroz was the perfect balance to the other dishes, and I’m already counting down the days I can eat those churros again. 

The holiday season is a marvelous one, filled with delightful Hallmark movies, velvety, rich hot cocoa in festive mugs, and overall, a collective feeling of unity and utter contentment. However, with the amalgamated stress of scrutinizing over material you learned four months ago for finals and all the other nonsense you have to deal with on a daily basis, the thought of preparing gifts for loved ones may have exited the premises of your brain a long time ago, and it has returned seemingly far too late. Nevertheless, there are a plethora of sweet, meaningful gifts you can curate for your favorite homosapiens in a short amount of time, and I am ecstatic to tell you about some of them! 

College Football Playoffs

By Joseph Martello
Staff Writer

There has been a lot of discussion about the College Football Playoffs. This is due to Florida State not making the playoffs. Many people thought they should’ve got in and this has created a heated debate on why they didn’t make it. There are multiple teams in College Football, but only four can make playoffs. 

     The decision of who makes playoffs is based on a 13-member selection committee. The reason why many people are questioning why Florida State didn’t make the playoffs is because they went 13-0 and out of the four teams that did make the playoffs, two of them went 13-0, but two went 12-1. Michigan is ranked 1st at 13-0, Washington is ranked 2nd at 13-0, Texas is ranked 3rd at 12-1, and Alabama is ranked 4th at 12-1. FSU (Florida State University) is now the first undefeated power-conference champion to have been left out of the playoffs. 

     Supposedly, there are several reasons they didn’t make the playoffs according to the College Football Playoff selection committee protocol guidelines. A key reason, the CFP committee states is, “Unavailability of key players.” The committee was referring to Jordan Travis, the quarterback for Florida State. He suffered a bad lower leg injury in a game against North Alabama on November 18. Another reason the committee felt that Alabama deserved the playoff spot over Florida State was because Alabama beat the reigning national champion Georgia, and this elevated Alabama's position. The committee felt Alabama would have a better opportunity to win rather than FSU. Because Alabama won this crucial game, Georgia fell to 6th, and Texas got moved to the third seed becauseTexas beat Alabama earlier in the season.    Obviously, FSU was devastated when they found out they were excluded from the CFP. The quarterback tweeted out, “Devastated. heartbroken. In so much disbelief right now, I wish my leg broke earlier in the season so y’all could see this team is much more than the quarterback. I  thought results matter. 13-0 and this roster matches up across any team in those top 4 rankings. I am so sorry. Go Noles!” The players were very frustrated and heartbroken from this news.             

     Overall, FSU was excluded from the playoffs due to Alabama’s huge win over Georgia, the committee felt Alabama was the better overall team, and quarterback Jordan Travis came down with a season ending injury.