A few Saturdays ago, my mom and I went to church like we always do. During the service, our priest posed an interesting question: “Are you a thermometer or a thermostat?”

Now, this question would confuse anybody. I knew it was a metaphor, but I was wondering: What’s the difference? Lots of people use “thermometer” and “thermostat” interchangeably, me being one of them. However, there is a difference. A thermometer’s reading changes with the conditions around it. If it’s cold, the number will drop; if it’s hot, it will rise. In contrast, a thermostat is used to change the temperature, not check it. If someone wants their house to be warmer, they’ll simply crank up the thermostat. If they want it to be cooler inside, they’ll do the same. Okay, so there’s the difference between the two, but how does that apply to people?

Well, here’s how. Most people—teenagers and adults alike—tend to change with their environment. Just as a thermometer’s reading increases and decreases with the temperature, people often follow what others do closely. This is especially true of us teenagers—we study the trends and follow the crowds in an attempt to fit in. A thermometer’s reading may reflect the environment and change with it; it cannot do anything to change it. It simply follows it, no matter how hot or cold it may be.

A thermostat, however, has the ability to change the environment around it. If someone is too cold or warm, they turn to the thermostat; it does its job, and the world suddenly becomes better and more comfortable. This is what we all should strive to be. Most of us naturally follow the crowd and find fun in it, and even more of us do it for fear of not fitting in. Sometimes it’s harmless and helps us have fun with friends. Other times, it can be harmful, mean, and dangerous, especially if it involves peer pressure. Moreover, we’re often more concerned with our own needs and comforts than those of others. When someone is being bullied or seems hurt, it’s tempting to walk on by. When friends are fighting, sometimes we hesitate to get involved. As so many hardships encase everyone around us, many people simply blend in with the crowd and stay out of the way. It’s the easier thing to do, maybe, but it’s certainly not the kindest.

Thermostats have the power to make their environment better for those around them—and so do we! We should always try our best to help one another in any way we can. It can be as simple as helping someone who dropped their binders in the hallway or not gossiping about other kids. Maybe you can volunteer somewhere like I do (Animal Welfare League of Trumbull County, by the way). Maybe you can even use your career to help others. Everyone who’s working right now is helping people—everyone from grocery store cashiers to our brave folks in the military! No matter our age, career, or how tempting it may be to follow the crowd, everyone should strive to bring kindness and friendship to those around them and use their talents to bring joy and help to others. Just like a thermostat, we have the ability to change the world around us for the happiness and help of all. So to all you Eagles, make sure to be a thermostat whenever you can!

Getting up for work, school, practice, rehearsal, a game—honestly, anything—is extremely difficult; that's one thing all of us students and faculty can agree on. But just one stop at your local gas station, Starbucks, or Dunkin can give you a great start to your day. During the start of the school year, the faculty and staff have been adamant about no outside drinks being brought into school, but that has not stopped the tired students of Hubbard High School from getting their fun drink of the day.

Many students and staff look forward to this little mood booster in the early mornings, especially with this cold weather we have been having. As a result of this weather, nobody wants to get out of their beds, let's be honest. But one sip of a cold, crisp Alani or an iced coffee from Starbucks can refresh a person's soul and give them a sense of hope for the long day ahead. I asked junior Leighton Komlanc her opinion: “I bring a fun drink to school because it puts me in a good mood to start the day.” Many students would agree with Leighton’s standpoint, given that average water doesn’t get a person's adrenaline high to take on the rest of the day like a good ol’ fun drink would.

Although these fun and sugary drinks are common among the students, what might shock some of you guys is the love that some of Hubbard's own staff have for these fun refreshments. English teacher Ms. Kensinger said, “I 100% could not get through my day without a caffeinated beverage from (probably) Starbucks. Every time I feel my motivation slipping, I take a quick sip of some banana bread foam wondrousness, and my day is better! I also love that there are changing flavors, so it never feels boring.” Many teachers and students would have to agree with Ms. Kensinger. Especially with waking up while it's still dark out, not having caffeine or a fun flavored drink to take on the day would make it difficult to stay motivated during the long school day.

In the end, these “fun drinks” aren’t just caffeinated drinks that are brought to school to get through the day in anticipation of the last bell. These drinks are tiny lifelines that help the students, teachers, and staff get through these long, cold, exhausting days of the second semester. Whether it's a burst of Starbucks banana-bread foam or the crisp kick of flavorful Alani, these beverages offer a small sip of comfort and motivation to take on the day one class period at a time. And for many at Hubbard High School, that morning drink isn't just a habit; it is a routine that sets the tone for a brighter day.

During March, there is a special festival celebrated in Indian culture. This festival is called the Holi festival of colors. Like many festivals in India that celebrate many different things, this festival celebrates the victory of good over evil, the arrival of spring, and the strengthening of relationships.

The Origin of Holi

This festival goes off of two legends. The first one is the burning of the demoness Holika. This represents the triumph of good over evil. The second is the legend of Lord Krishna, who colored the face of his beloved Radha. This legend inspired them to start the tradition of painting friends and family with bright colors. The festival occurs on the last full moon day of the Hindu lunar month Phalguna.

Folklore of Holi

Just like Christmas, Holi celebrates the night before with bonfires to symbolize the burning of the demoness Holika. Then, the next day, they celebrate with colors. Everyone wears white, and they throw colorful powders into the air called Gulal and water. That's why it's called the festival of colors. There is a lot of dancing and singing, and everyone shares their sweets.

Sweet and Stuffed

Most families in India prepare a food called gujiya, which is a dumpling-like sweet that's filled with dried nuts and fruits spiced with cardamom. The nuts they use commonly are pistachios and cashews. The fruits they use commonly are raisins and coconuts. You can’t forget about the drinks! They have a special drink they use to celebrate. It's a milky beverage mixed with a paste of the buds and leaves of a plant that is grown high in the Himalayas. They toast Holi with this milkshake, and the proper word for the drink is bhang.

Holi is a very big festival with many different meanings and traditions.

The start of a new semester can bring many mixed emotions. Some students may feel the weight of classes, grades, and deadlines heavier than ever, and others may have lost the motivation to try at school at all. While we all have bad days, I’d say I'm close to mastering managing time, productivity, and burnouts during the final stretch of the school year. In this article, I’m going to be sharing my tips and tricks to achieve a well-managed, successful spring.

Goal Setting

If you’re anything like me, you cannot go into anything without a plan. While this could be a bit tedious at first, in the long run, planning and setting goals can make your life way less stressful and give you a sense of accomplishment that you’re proud of.

My biggest tip for goal setting is KEEP A PLANNER! I personally love paper planners that I can write in with different colored pens and things, but Google Calendar works just as well. In my planner, I write down monthly and weekly goals, making sure they’re a bit challenging but still achievable. I write due dates, after-school activities, goals, and reminders. It’s way less stressful on the brain when you can open your tab and find your to-do list. If I have an especially busy day, I’ll go even further and make a daily routine to make sure I get all of my tasks done.

This also works for things like homework and assignments. On my phone or a Post-it, I’ll make a list of all of my assignments for the day. When I’m home, I’ll get a snack, cozy up and light a candle, and do my assignments one by one. Marking them off the list makes you really see the progress you make.

Mental Health & Habits

More students than you’d expect experience feelings of hopelessness, extreme exhaustion, and sadness after New Year’s. This can lead to losing your work ethic, not turning in assignments, and dropping grades. In my humble opinion, I believe this is due to not having anything to look forward to in the near future. Think about it: We get back after a two-week break that stretches over two of the best holidays of the year and return to school in cold, snowy weather, exhausted and forgetful of any content learned pre-break. With this knowledge, the question is, how can we prevent it?

The truth is, if you want to be happy, you HAVE to make an effort to achieve it. You can’t sit around in your sadness and expect to be the best version of yourself. There are many ways I find happiness daily. One of these is journaling. I remind myself of the people and things I’m grateful for, write down the happenings of my day-to-day life and how I feel about it, and my weekly goals. You don’t have to journal every day, but writing about when and what makes you feel happy can help you appreciate those feelings more. Another way I stay happy is by having optimism about the future. Having short-term goals helps give you something to look forward to. For example, I am excited for “High School Musical” in April, prom in May, and going on vacation with my friends in the summer. These events remind me to keep pushing through the hard things.

Overall, finding things that make you happy is SO important. Happiness is fleeting, and finding it often can increase your quality of life drastically. Human connection, inner reflection, and productivity are some of my personal favorite ways to increase my happiness. With that, it’s also important to note that it’s okay to have bad days; without those, the good days wouldn’t seem as good.

Study Tips

It’s easy to procrastinate and lose motivation to study after break. It’s cold, and scrolling on TikTok in bed sounds a lot better than reviewing your geometry notes. However, if you change your mindset, studying can ALMOST be fun.

Something that led me to success is having a “studying notebook.” I use this notebook to study materials from every class. I review whatever notes my teacher gave me and copy down information in colorful pens and different formats until I remember the material.

Another crucial part of being a successful student is learning discipline. To give you the hard truth, eventually you just have to grow up and stop procrastinating. When I realized how relieved I was when turning in my work the day after it was assigned instead of the night before, I couldn’t go back. I actually learned this the hard way when I forgot to turn in an assignment by the deadline and had to take a zero. Safe to say that’s never happening again.

All in all, you really just have to shift your mindset. Picking up healthy habits now will lead you to success in adulthood, and it makes you feel good about yourself to reach your goals and get good grades. Setting goals and having a positive mindset leads you to productivity, accomplishment, and joy.

By age three, most children are aware of their gender, and they acknowledge the existence of other genders. By this time, they know that there are different hobbies, appearances, and interests that “match” their gender. Behavioral patterns begin to make themselves apparent by the time a child is enrolled in preschool; this isn’t due to biology but rather how the children have been socialized. Children's minds are influenced by their environment and how they witness their peers interact.

Gender socialization is the process in which people learn and internalize social tendencies in accordance with their gender. Starting from a very early age, people involuntarily adhere to gender stereotypes. When raising children, parents often enforce these stereotypes without even realizing it. An example of this is giving a boy a toy truck while giving a girl a play kitchen set or a baby doll. Children's "stereotypical" behavior is enforced by their own actions too; boys tend to gravitate towards other boys, and the same thing goes for girls. Teachers influence this also. Some teachers may ask a “big strong man” to move chairs for them or tell a child not to cry simply because they are a boy.

The toys children are raised with influence this separation of genders more than you would expect. Many boys grow up playing with trucks, Nerf guns, and planes. These toys teach boys that playing is about having fun and that they can grow up to be whatever they want to be. While, on the other hand, girls tend to be given dollhouses, play kitchens, or fake makeup, enforcing the idea that girls should strive to become mothers and adhere to traditional beauty standards. While boys can absolutely play with “girl” toys, they are often shamed by their peers when trying to do so; the same happens with girls who want to play with “boy” types of toys. This shows how young children are enforcing gender stereotypes without even realizing it. Parents can absolutely raise their children without gendered language and toys at home, but as soon as their child goes to school, they are exposed to it. While parents providing a gender-neutral home for a child can prove to form a good foundation, gender norms will be applied to the child outside of the home. Parents teaching their kids to be empowered and independent can help to dismantle the stereotypes and foster trust in the parent-child relationship.

Gender norms may seem pretty harmless, but they hold much more of an impact on children than one might assume. They can bear a pretty heavy weight on a child's self-esteem. People who do not adhere to these constraints are often left out and shunned. Girls are often driven away from STEM-related activities, while boys are discouraged from showing interest in cooking. When self-expression is restricted, children can become depressed and isolated from their peers. Not fitting the gender norms and beauty standards can lead to insecurities and mental disorders. Boys who aspire to become nurses or teachers are seen as effeminate and less admirable, while girls who want to become doctors or lawyers are told that those careers would get in the way of raising a child.

Gender stereotypes are persistent in everyday life and start to become prevalent way sooner than originally thought. They cause lifelong insecurities and impossible standards for everyone. Implementing them on such young kids—let alone people—is causing so much harm.