October

Important Information

Fall Fest

Friday, October 21, 4:30 - 7 PM. Fall fest offers trick or treating & games for young kids & a haunted house & DJ with food trucks for older students.

Presale tickets go on sale 10/7 -19 in room 4106 during Flex. Presale tickets are $3 & can be purchased for the whole family! Tickets at the door of Fall fest are $5 & kids 5 & under are free.

Fall Movie Event

Friday, October 21 2:30 - 4:30 PM. Open to any DHS student who wants to attend Fall Fest, but does not have a ride to DHS at 4:30. Students will stay in the dining hall watching a movie after school. No charge if you have a ticket or will purchase a ticket for Fall Fest. Students staying after school MUST REMAIN IN THE DINING HALL before Fall Fest or will loose their Fall Fest privilege.

Fall Fest Spirt Week

The week of October 18th - 21st

Monday - No School

Tuesday - Soccer mom vs BBQ dad

Wednesday - Minion Day

Thursday - Little Ms./Mr./Mx.

Friday - Halloween Town (costumes)

Door Decorating Contest

There will be having a door decorating contest. The winning FOCUS class will have a choice of a donut or pizza party. Doors will be judged on October 19th.

General Calendar

Student Life

Key Club

Key Club is a student-led international organization that serves its home, school, and community. Here, at Discovery, our Spartans do the same thing. Advised by Mrs.O’Donnell and Mr. Phillipe, Key Club has offered their services to our home football games and recently helped out at the 7 Waters Winter Haven Festival. I sat with Chase Derico, the committee chair of Key Club volunteers at our football games, and his opinion of the recent volunteer opportunities he has participated in and Key Club overall. When asked about the recent home games, Chase said “the past two home games have been amazing. Even though it's only been two games and it was a little chaotic the first time, working with other volunteers like Kristina Hendershot and adults like Ms.Brown was really fun!”.

If you would like to know more about Key Club and are interested in upcoming volunteer opportunities, they meet every Tuesday during the second half of FLEX in Mrs.O’Donnell's room (Room 1-108). - Ylaissa Zapata

The next volunteer opportunity to help out at a football home game is November 11th, if you have any questions about new volunteer opportunities concerning football home games, make sure to ask Chase Derico. Furthermore, Key Club also volunteered at the 7 Waters Winter Haven festival this past Saturday. The festival was to help Winter Haven residents learn about the importance of water conservation and the effects water pollution can have on our environment. I discussed the event with Diamond Llanos, the editor of the Key Club's newsletter and one of the officers of the student-led decision board, who attended the event. When asked what was her most memorable moment, Diamond states, “I got to see and pet some really cool animals. My favorite animal I pet was a snake and a baby alligator. It was also really funny to see the reactions of other Key Club members to these animals." As a club, members have earned a collective of over 180 volunteer hours.

Performing Arts Club

We would also like to congratulate the Cast for 21 Chump Street!

Narrator Samuel Duncan

Justin Laboy Roberto Alamo

Naomi Rodriguez

Jennifer Galdamez Lopez

Cousins

Ariana Alamo

Debora Soto

Andres Rivera

Student Director Debora Soto

The Performing Arts Club is a club where students can explore their interest with singing, acting or behind the scenes. You don't have to be on the stage for this club if you don't want to. We have various opportunities like makeup/hair, props, or etc. Last year this club put on events like our 10 Ways To Survive A Zombie Apocalypse play, Talent show, and two choir concerts. This year we are planning on doing even more like our very first musical called 21 Chump Street and a play called Puffs.

We are calling all the fellow dancers or just people who enjoy dancing to join our club. That way we can form a dance team. :)

We would like to congratulate our Executive Team!

President Audry Hermes

Vice President Lauren Garcia

Publicist Olivia Rose

Treasurer Emily Williams

Secretary Mylee Watts

Member Coordinator Diego Roman

If you are interested in joining our club we meet every other Friday in Mr. Bitter's room (4-101). Stay tuned to announcements on our Instagram page @dhsperformingartsclub & our website https://sites.google.com/discoveryfl.org/dhs-performing-arts/home?authuser=0

Journalism

Journalism is a class where you work on the yearbook and the newsletter. The class also teaches individuals how to research and communicate properly. Today I sat down with Tyson Herrin and asked a few questions. I asked why he chose journalism. He responded with, “ I chose journalism because I really wanted to work on the yearbook.” I also asked what's your favorite part of journalism and what can you bring to the class. He said, “my personality brings joy and laughter to the table (literally), I also enjoy how everyone works well together to create a masterpiece of a yearbook.”

-Alyssa Innocent

The Journalism class is now getting ready for the October feature that will be posted on the discovery website. Everybody has at least one subject to discuss. Special interests, athletics, student life, and electives are the focus of the feature. To understand more about the viewpoints and thoughts of our students, read the interviews we conducted with them below. Later, the journalism staff will begin preparing the2022-2023 yearbook. The theme and ideas the journalism class has gathered will soon be applied to the yearbook. Don't forget to buy your yearbook before they sell out!

-Yslande Fenelon

Positive Mental Awareness

Today, I met with Zachary Craig from the PMA club. A question I asked him is why the club important. He said to bring awareness to teens and a support group for others. Some of the topics discussed are "depression, eating disorders, and mental health". A reason he joined the club is to be with people that support him and talk about mental health. The club can benefit people by opening their minds. The PMA club meets Tuesday's from 12:15-12:25 in Coach Crouse's room.

-Janiyah Cole

Golf Club

For the month of October, the DHS golfers are looking forward to meeting once a week, and playing friendly matches with each other at local courses. I had the pleasure of asking Coach Thompson a few questions for the newsletter, and in the words of Coach T, "my favorite part of golf is the relaxing nature of the sport, the opportunity to be outside, and to improve at a sport that I can enjoy for the rest of my life." Since it is still early in this school year, they are focusing on learning skills, rules, and strategies. The Golf team hopes to move into competitive matches by next school year. If you are interested in participating in golf, you are welcome to come and try it out by signing up every week on their clubs google classroom page.

- Aniaya Gonzalez

Bible Study Club

Bible Study is finally back for the new school year and is doing awesome. I got the chance to go Thursday and hear Debora Soto preach and speak about future events! On October 6th it is national bring your Bible to school day. During this meeting the Bible Study Club led a starting prayer and went right into their main points for that day. Debora went over Psalms 46 : 4-5 which says "There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, The Holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn". She went over how God is our refuge and strength and how God is always with us and is never afraid. She closed out saying to trust God in every circumstance and they did a closing prayer. It was really great to go and if you haven't gone to Bible Study Club yet make sure to stop by any Thursday in Mr. Bitters room at 12:15pm at flex.

-Regan Barron

National Honor Society

National Honors Society is a program that recognizes achieving students. On September 13th , The National Honor Society Club met up and had a discussion about upcoming events. They talked about new members joining in October, food trucks, and fees. 30 service hours must be completed by 04/30/22, this includes any hours that they've completed between May 2022 and now. Their fee of $30 will be due by 11/4/22. National Honor Society is advised by Mrs.Mallon, if you have any questions you can locate her during flex.

-Shaniah Reed

Spanish

Spanish class is an elective where students from diverse backgrounds can gather together to learn a new language. That can open doors for students in college as well as for their future. It is being taught by Mrs. Aponte this year. I spoke with Christopher Dennie who is taking Spanish 1 this year. I asked him how he felt about taking Spanish for the first time this year. He said he is looking forward to having a full conversation in Spanish. And he feels that he is on the right path given that he has already learned numbers, time, colors, and basic conversation skills” Chris also plans on taking Spanish 2 next year.I was also able to speak with Emily Dos Reis who is in Spanish 2 this year and I asked her How the transition between Spanish 1 and Spanish 2 felt like? Her response was nothing but “it’s been a pretty smooth transition. And I'm looking forward to learning how to communicate with people who can only speak Spanish and help them”. Overall Spanish is a place where everyone can feel welcome to speak to one another in their first or second language.

-Isabella Jurado

Weight Lifting

While I visited the class everyone had such a good and positive attitude, everyone seemed to be involving themselves with others and the weights. While students were on the bench many were around watching and giving tips on how to improve. Coach Thompson was also extremely helpful and welcoming!

- Trista Jenkins

Today I visited the weightlifting class. This class is open to anyone who has completed one year of HOPE. The period that I visited was fourth that was ran by Coach Thompson. Today, they had sheets of paper and were going around the weightlifting room working on different parts of their body and writing down the most that they can do. I interviewed two students that takes part of the class; Abigail Hernandez (11th Grade) and John Johnson (12th Grade).

I asked Abigail how she feels about the class and she replied with "This class is great". I was then curious of what they do in this class so I asked Abigail and John they both mentioned different types of exercises, fitness activities and group activities. By the end I asked them both what their goal at the end of the year was and what was their favorite thing to do compared to their least favorite thing to do. Abigail wants to exercise more; her least favorite is weight lifting and she enjoys group activities more than anything in class. While John's goal by the end of the year is to do one rep of 300 benching wise; he enjoys benching as his favorite thing but dislikes weighted shoulder shrugs.

Environmentalist Club

There is a new club at DHS this year. The environmental club, or Green Team is dedicated to learning about the environment and how we can do our part to protect it. It is in Mx. Kitchens class room 4-123. I interviewed Analisa Martinez, the president of the club. I wondered why she made the club and she said "I thought it would be fun and we could learn something from it." One of their main goals is to bring awareness to the subject and to help pick up trash around the school.

Jesse Thompson

Student Life Calendar

October

Sports

Sports Calendar

Football

This month I interviewed Joben Krzeminski, the quarterback on the football team. He gave me insight on how this season is going so far.

He said that so for he "like[s] the home games, because we have never experienced those. This was Discovery's first year with dealing with everything that goes into having this privilege."

When asked about his personal playing he said, "Football is not an individual or personal sport. It is a team effort that leads teams to success, so I choose not to only focus on personal game." As for the rest of the season he remarks, "we had gotten a new coaching staff at the beginning of the season and we are starting to figure out who we are as a team. The rest of the season will be good when all offense, defense, and special teams find their identity on the field. We are slowly but surely becoming one, a family at the most."

-Nicole Harris

Volleyball

Today, I met up with captain varsity volleyball player, Nicole Harris, and asked her a question regarding this season.

"So far this season I have seen jurassic improvements in our bond on and off the court. We are less focused on winning which is helping us have fun and building relationships with each other. We have improved on speed and our skill level on all aspects. We have gotten stronger physically and mentally," Nicole Responded.

-Nylah Farmer

This upcoming week on October 6 is the senior night for our girls volleyball team. It will be a home game against Mulberry, with Senior night starting at 7p.m and the game following after. Tickets are $2 for students and $5 for adults and there will also be concessions sold. Come out and support our DHS seniors!

The seniors being presented are..

Andrea Menchaca #1, Stephanie Sanford #2, Jeannielee Cordero #4, Nylah Farmer #5, Nicole Harris #6, Kamila Mercado #8, Jezabel Bernard #11, Alannah Atibel #12, and Alyssa Nobles #13.

-Jasmin Acosta

Cheer

Today I asked Amy Hernandez, how long she's been cheering for. She replied with, "I have been cheering for 2 years. I wasn't able to join my Freshman year because I came in late but I cheered my sophomore and now my junior year." I also asked her why she cose to join cheerleading. She said, "at first I only did it because my cousin wanted me to do it but after bonding with the team and experiencing the "Friday Night Lights", I really enjoy it now and i'm excited for the season."

-Payton Jones

Cross Country

For the Cross Country meets the runners run a trail that is 5 kilometers or 3.1 miles long. The meets regularly consist of several schools around the Polk County area. I interviewed one runner, Austin Devries, by asking what has been his proudest moment as a cross country runner?.He responded by saying “my proudest moment as a cross country runner is when I ran a 6:10 minute mile .” I also asked him what motivates him when he runs during the meets or practices. His reply was, "my biggest motivation is wanting to be the best cross country runner in the school.” Last year the team made regionals and with the new runners they strive to accomplish an even higher achievement.

- Zachary Craig

E-Sports

Today I Interviewed one of the many members from E-sports (Zariah Ford). She is a senior who had just decided to join this sport this year. I asked her why she joined E-Sports and she said, "I chose to join E-sports because I wanted to try something I genuinely liked and for college purposes." I also asked what video game she likes to play the most. "I love to play any shooters but Rocket League has me right now," she said. Some people may think that E-sports might not be technically a real sport but I believe that they really work hard, they work as a team and support each other. The meaning of sport is "an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment". This is exactly what E-sports represents.

-Kiara Rivera

Special Interest

The Death of Queen Elizabeth II By: Tyson H.

Queen Elizabeth became queen at only 25 years old, and she recently passed away on September 8th. The Queen Elizabeth was in charge of many things such as being the Head of State, Head of Nation, Head of Commonwealth, Head of the Church or activity, and the Head of Armed Forces and Patron of Charities. These duties were important because that is how she kept England running smoothly.

I had the opportunity to interview with Ylaissa Zapata to see her thoughts on Queen Elizabeth's Death. She said, "its shocking, I was expecting her to live until she was at least 100." When asked about the new King, and if he will satisfy the residents of England, she said, "No because I think the people don't like her son, and how are you going to have a replacement for the Queen if you don't like them."

Queen Elisabeth II's funeral was held on September 19th in Westminster Abbey. Many notable figures were in attendance. This includes current and former UK prime ministers, global royalty, heads of foreign governments, world leaders,. It also marked the reunification of Elizabeth's grandchildren after the rift caused by Prince Harry leaving the royal family with his wife, Meghan Markle.

The Queen leaves behind four children, eight grandchildren, and twelve great-grandchildren. She also stands as the longest reigning monarch in English history.

- Tyson Herrin

Hispanic Heritage Month By: Michelle

Hispanic Heritage month falls within the month of September and October. You might be wondering what this is or when it was created. Well, Hispanic Heritage Month is a month where all hispanics celebrate their achievements and success. The Independence of these latin countries is what makes Hispanic Heritage Month also. Independence day of these Latin countries are: Mexico (September 16) , El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua (September 17) , and Chile (September 18). Many countries celebrate this by embracing each other's culture. For example, eating each other's food, supporting small businesses, visiting museums, and etc. Fun fact, in 1968 hispanic heritage month was celebrated only for a week but 20 years later it was created a month (September 15 - October 15).

- Michelle Lopez

Suicide Prevention Month By: Brooke

Starting on September 4th and ending on September 10th the world celebrated National Suicide Prevention Week. The 4th through the 10th being the national holiday week even though most places around the world celebrate for the entire month of September. Suicide prevention month is dedicated to raising awareness about suicide, educating others on how to deal with suicide and or thoughts of suicide, and encouraging people to find help and support in their communities. As of 2022, suicide is the second leading cause of death in children ages 10-24.

Mental Health Specialists say that people who commit suicide have often been previously diagnosed with depression, psychological distress, PTSD, trauma and or another type of mental illness. In fact, 26.4% out of 30% of people were diagnosed with stress or another mental illness as of 2020. Also, did you know that childhood trauma can actually mess up the way our brains grow? Introducing trauma to someone at a young age can cause them to have cognitive impairment and emotional dis-regulation which affects the brain for the rest of your life!

Furthermore, there are many warning signs and risks to look for if you think someone is thinking about taking their life. If someone has previously attempted to harm themselves in the past, starts abusing alcohol or drugs, has been diagnosed with a mental illness, knows someone close who has committed suicide, or if they suddenly start to isolate themselves make sure to check on them and make sure they are okay. Other warnings to look for in a person could be talking about feeling hopeless, not wanting to be alive anymore, no motivation, feelings of being a burden to friends or family, and sudden reckless behavior. Someone may be more inclined to think about suicide if they have recently had a break-up or divorce, gotten a horrible test grade, lost a loved one, or struggling with family issues as well.

Now the main reason for suicide prevention month... PREVENTION!! The first step to any prevention is first identifying the problem and talking to someone. Whether it is a parent/guardian, a teacher you trust, a doctor, or any trusted adult that you feel comfortable talking to. The most important thing in a conversation like this is to stay calm and be honest about how you feel. Remember you are never alone and there is always a way to ask for help! If you or anyone you know needs or wants to talk to someone today the 998 hotline is available 24 hours everyday.

- Brooklyn Holt

Halloween Candy By: Aileen

Halloween is a time of year when people can dress up with friends and family to walk around and trick or treat for the night. According to History.com, "The tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints. Soon, All Saints Day incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows Eve, and later Halloween."

Now some of the traditions have evolved into

Happy Halloween! - Aileen Diaz

Here are the top 10 candy for 2022

Hershey’s Cookies ‘n’ creme
Reese’s
Skittles
Gummy candy body parts
Twixs
Trolli sour gummy worms
Snickers
Candy corn
Dove Dark Chocolate Pumpkins
Kit Kat

Halloween Interview By: Michaela

With halloween coming up I had a chance to interview people to get their take. The first person I spoke to was freshman Diva Chery. I asked her what she wanted to be for halloween She replied with “ Harriet Tubman.” As for her plans, she said “Ding-Dong ditching” was her preferred activity. Sophomore Cristine Coles told me her plans for halloween is to “watch horror movies and eat candy.” I also asked her what she would like to be for halloween she said, “Afrocentric of sailor Jupiter .“ Speaking of halloween costumes, the most popular costumes of 2022 are Spiderman, Batman, Wanda Maximoff, Black Widow, Rue from Euphoria, Venom, and Wednesday Adams according to 50 best halloween costumes of 2022.

-Michaela Ashley

Movie Spotlight By: Anya

The Corpse Bride is a very popular Halloween movie that has been a fan favorite since its debut in 2005. A Film by Tim Burton, it's a movie about how a couple has an arranged marriage and are in love, however the male spouse gets almost forced to marry a corpse. I asked Mary Paul her thoughts and opinions on the movie and she said it's a “classic” and “one of her all time favorites' ' even after the halloween season.

The main characters are voiced by Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, favorites of Tim Burton.

- Anya Gunderson

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