Rolling into Spring

By Keely Brown

Here at MASH, starting  2024 also means a new semester which began on January 26th. The new semester brought in a lot of changes meaning the students and faculty would need to adjust to these. Construction was finalized in the right wing of the old wing and opened up for the students. These rooms are now elevated and look similar to the rest of the designs in the new classrooms. The construction has now moved to the left wing of the old wing. In addition to these hallways, the old counseling area is now filled with constructive rooms where students may go in the future to work on projects. This area still has some maintenance that is needed, however, when it is completed it will be the main hall for all students to access each part of the school. 

It does often feel crowded and chaotic but students are doing their best to be flexible.  This old wing used to be where the art and foods classrooms were. The science department that used to be in the 200s on the left wing moved to the 400s of the new wing. Here, the department uses the new labs and components included in these modern classrooms. With these new exciting changes comes adjustments and requires both students and teachers to be flexible.The old art rooms and science rooms are blocked off, not allowing for anyone to pass through. This will change the traffic of students during the transitional times. Workshop and engineering classes are now in the new workshops that look very modern and cooperative. These new workshops take in a large amount of light from the long windows and create an open and spacious space for students to work. 

Another new change between semesters was the addition of a new lunch. Before there were three lunches, A B or C. However faculty and administration agreed that the school should operate under four lunches. Lunches are still 30 minutes, however there is no transitional time for students and faculty to get ready for the next lunch. 

Semester Two comes with new environments and experiences for students. Students are now taking new courses with new people and in a way starting over. A new semester allows them to get a start fresh for their classes, allowing them to excel with their courses and their attitudes. Jr. Tessa Flemming says, “My current schedule is busy,  so I need to be very organized, hopeful, and optimistic for senior year.”

With this fresh start, it also means the beginning of  spring activities and spring sports that are preparing to do great in their upcoming seasons. Open gyms/fields are up and running to prepare the athletes for their sports. In addition, this year's musical of Mamma Mia will be opening on February 29th and run until March 3. This musical took months of preparation and hard work to be able to open with a well produced performance. This time of year also means selecting courses for the following year, in order to allow the student to stay organized and on track for their graduation. 

Why our generation is lacking in overall athleticism

By Emma Faro

Sports dominate the life of an average American. From soccer shots to the NFL to the Olympics, our world is obsessed with conditioning our bodies to excel, especially at a young age. 50% of kids play some form of youth sport, and 43% play multiple sports. Countless clubs nurture a competitive environment for all kinds of athletes from basketball players to gymnasts. So where do the best athletes come from and how do they get so good?

The answer is playing multiple sports. Almost 90% of players chosen in the 2022 NFL draft played multiple sports in high school and who knows how many in middle and elementary school. Playing multiple sports increases sports IQ and athleticism, and helps young athletes to use their bodies in a variety of ways. This can help people develop skills that translate to all sports whether that´s endurance, agility, power, or speed.

Playing multiple sports also helps prevent overuse injuries and burnout. When you use the same muscle in the same way repetitively, it can cause too much strain. This can result in a long-term injury that puts even the best athletes on the sidelines. Similar to muscles, when people play too much of one sport, they can get bored, leading them to quit earlier in life or give up sports altogether. Too much pressure on one thing takes the fun out of it and turns it into an obligation or a burden.

While very few athletes can go pro or play collegiately, many multisport athletes do accomplish those things above single-sport athletes. Multi-sport athletes have a commanding field or court presence that allows them to move more purposefully. By playing multiple sports they develop the ability to read the game and react in a way a single-sport athlete cannot. It's like seeing in 3D while everyone else sees in 2D. 

But why are so many kids quitting sports in middle and high school? There are a variety of theories, but the most likely is that they are burning out. Most kids and teens play a single sport in a highly competitive league year-round. They overuse their muscles, increase stress, and get bored of the game. As the athletic culture shifts away from school sports and focuses more on club sports, we see a much higher demand for an athlete´s time and commitment. This puts too much pressure on young people to perform at a high level all the time. 

But how can a single person change a culture? The culture of sports doesn´t seem to be changing on its own. What we can do is try new things and expand our athletic repertoire. Athletes aren't slaves to the clubs they play for. Maybe athletes can make an effort to work towards their own improvement by taking a risk.

Teachers moving to new classrooms: Yet again!

By Chelsea Guan

As we all know, the Art and Family Consumer Science, as well as the Science wing of the old building has been underway for construction and renovation following the completion of the Math and World Languages wing since the beginning of Semester 2. Not only did this affect students’ traveling to class experiences due to hallways being closed off, it also resulted in many teachers having to move classrooms for their spring classes. 

There’s a lot that goes into this shift of different classrooms for teachers to get used to. Packing and unpacking to prepare for new students on the first day of semester two is likely what many teachers that had to move were spending their time doing. For example, Ms. Moyer, a Spanish teacher here at MASH talks about her take on this process, stating that ¨unpacking has been so exciting! Being able to organize and decorate a permanent space is wonderful.” Additionally, she’s happy that they were informed beforehand about the move, so for Semester 1 she only unpacked essential classroom materials to make the packing and move easier later on. Perhaps that’s why some classrooms may have looked a little more bland than usual, since Ms. Moyer mentions how she usually enjoys decorating her classroom a lot and expresses that recent unpacking has been “so exciting!”

Regarding this new change, many teachers and students alike have differing opinions about it. Some students’ main issue is nothing new, mostly related to the time it takes to get between classes, with all the ongoing construction and hallways closed off, getting to and from different classes some in the new wing and others on the complete opposite side of the building everyday is to put it simply, quite exhausting, as hallways can get crowded easily with the rush of getting to places in only 5 minutes. Although during announcements, Mr. Reidy does applaud and point out students’ excellence and eagerness with trying to get to classes on time. 

Ms. Moyer expresses her relief that the temporary move is finally over and she is happy with her new classroom, which probably applies to many other teachers as well. On the other hand, some teachers and students are questioning why it would take a whole semester to renovate classrooms, as their expectations on changes and new additions to classrooms were likely much higher. 

Furthermore, some challenges teachers face are not only connected to the initial move itself, but also the adjustment to their new classrooms. Teachers taking time to set up students’ learning environment, such as rearranging tables and chairs to best suit the course, organizing stations for materials and tools needed in the classroom, as well as overall making the classroom look presentable, all of these no doubt take up a lot of time on top of meeting new students and starting units. Ms. Moyer’s biggest challenge has been locating materials she remembers having, likely in one of her many boxes, not as quickly as she’d like. On the up side, everyone is always finding new solutions to problems, so in the end, no matter if it’s new feelings of nervousness regarding starting fresh for Semester 2 or issues with working around non-traditional and unpreferable classrooms for science labs, things’ll work out one way or another in the end! 

All in all, Ms. Moyer would like to thank everyone that helped teachers move as the few days given to place materials in new classrooms were not easy! It’s clear that moving classrooms has been a big stress and there’s no doubt that many teachers are glad it is over for this year at least. Everyone in the MASH community should look forward to seeing the end of the renovations and constructions at MASH, though it may be quite a while before we reach the end of it! Although, like Ms. Moyer says and I quote, “I’m sure the building will be beautiful and well worth the effort!”

Wildcats’ winter sports coming to a close

By Evelyn Hambright

As spring approaches, so does the end of the winter sports season for our teams at MASH. Although for some, while their regular season has ended, their postseason is here. 

Boys Basketball: The boys basketball season consisted of nothing short of success. The team  ended the regular season with a 16-5 record. This qualified the boys for District III Class 5A playoffs. The Wildcats played against Exeter Township on February 22, taking the win 57-48. The boys will advance to semifinals where they will face York Suburban. 

Girls Basketball: The girls basketball season was filled with victories, adversity, and teamwork. The girls ended the regular season with a 15-3 record, qualifying the team for District 3 Class 5A playoffs. The team faced off against West York on February 23, unfortunately falling short 39-57. Despite this hardfought loss, the girls will be playing Manheim Central on February 27 in a consolation game. 

Swimming: In the pool, Mid Penns started off strong for the Wildcats. Daryn Ginter placed 3rd in the 100 Yard Breaststroke, Annabelle Hoover placed 3rd in the 100 Yard Breaststroke, and Ava Keller Lee, Brenna Kretschman, Courtney Foose, and Annabelle Hoover placed 8th in the 400 Freestyle Relay. 

Wrestling: To wrap up the regular season for the wrestling team, both the boys and girls wrestling teams hit the mat for Districts III Section III championships in order to advance to the South Central Regional Championships. In the District competition, Cole Sweitzer placed 4th, securing his spot in the South Central Regional Championships. JJ Gould, Gavin Renard, Abel Brunk, Willy Travis, and Collin Stare all placed as alternates. For the girls team, Kallie Bower placed 1st and Taylor Gould placed 6th, both qualifying for the South Central Regional Championships. 

Kat’s Guide to Rain World

By Kat Hausauer-Morgan 

Hey Y’all, Kat here! Welcome back to Kat’s Guide, where a freshman describes games with the hope that someone who reads this finds out about a game they love.

Today, we’re talking about my favorite game of 2023– Rain World!

Rain World was released on March 28, 2017, a Month and 4 days after Hollow Knight! It was developed by Videocult and published initially by Adult Swim Games, with its new publisher being Akupara Games.

For the first time in this series, this article will be in two parts.

Part 1 will be about base Rain World, and Part 2 will be about the DLC, titled Downpour.

Part 1: Rain World

Rain World is a very unique idea for a game. It takes a realistic and natural ecosystem, places you as a being that is far below a human in terms of how the ecosystem treats predators and prey, and basically teaches you how to fend for yourself in an unforgiving world where everything can and most likely will eat you. It is made even more unique for the fact that it works. You play as a slugcat by the titles of either Monk, Survivor, or, after beating the main game, Hunter. One immediate rule of thumb is that while the game basically uses these slugs as the easy, medium, and hard modes of the game respectively, they act more as separate characters that just have different changes to their campaign. What I mean is that placing another slug into the campaign of another does not mean that that campaign will be suddenly easier or harder, just that you are now playing the hard mode character in the middle of the easy mode character’s campaign but you will not be able to see this normally without Downpour. 

The game initially seems pointless, but some mechanics will help point you in the right direction along with your overseer. During your confusion, you can easily learn some of the biggest parts of the game.

Specifically, you are a small part in a bigger ecosystem. The game doesn’t make you seem like a massive part of the world you’re set in. This is made even more clear by how chill the game is about everything that may happen to you. While being threatened by a creature might play dynamic threat music, actually dying or being bitten just plays a bass note and nothing else. That’s it. No massive game over screen or loud sound like other games. Rain World just goes “Welp, you failed. better luck next time.” This is one of the most brutal parts of Rain World in my opinion. How obvious it is that the game does not treat you as special. One of the major npcs straight up says “Know that this does not make you special. Every living creature shares the same frustration.” 

However, that does not mean you are a pointless part of the world. This way of approaching the player also means that the learning process is infinitely sweeter. Learning how to dodge predators and even kill them efficiently would not be as sweet if you had been a more special specimen. The game is about learning. You learn how to evade predators. You learn how to detect predators. You learn how to detect actual poles from ambush predators. You learn all of this either the easy way or the hard way. You either learn from instinct or observational learning or learn from… y’know being the victim of all this.

The game does not point you in the ending’s direction directly, which can lead to you easily being left in a scenario where you are 99.9% guaranteed to lose, but overall the game tries its best to point you in the right direction.

The Karma System also helps to point you in the right direction.

Successfully hibernating increases your karma while dying lowers it. Karma flowers give you a shield, stopping karma from dropping on death, and certain sources will just give you a karma level. This karma is used for Karma Gates, which separate regions and help you get a feel for where to and where not to go… with exceptions, and the ending of the three main slugcats.

Karma gates, while potentially fatal to a run, are mostly fair. The game tries to correlate Karma levels with order and/or difficulty.

All of these functions help Rain World build a theme of you being a vulnerable animal in a bigger ecosystem. Rain World encourages experimentation and learning by telling you everything you need to know immediately.

You aren’t defenseless either. Everything you can’t eat can most likely be used as something to throw. So experiment!

There is a lot I could talk about, but I think in order to put into (good) words what I find so neat, let me spend the rest of this article talking about the main thing I love about this game.

The creatures!

There are many creatures, anot not all of them are hostile, so let’s start with the non-hostile creatures.

Batflies are your main source of food in the starting regions. They serve very little purpose away from the fact that they’re just as much food as the blue “fruit” in the regions.

Squidcadas are also non-hostile but in the same way someone pushing you with the intent to annoy you isn’t hostile. Squidcadas act as both a way to get lower gravity while holding along with being absolute jerks that like to be mean to you for no reason.

Scavengers are “introduced” in the same region as the Squidcadas, and they are the smartest creatures in the game, basically being humans. While lorewise, many creatures are smarter than scavs, Scavs are the smartest creatures in game gameplay-wise. Scavengers use the reputation system the most, and they have some of the most varied personalities. They are also, in my opinion, both the funniest and most frustrating creatures. Sometimes they do stupidly funny things for no reason, and other times they will decide to kill the slugcat for no reason. They can go from “Slugcat is friend” to “ew a nasty slug thing, let’s kill it” in seconds. So they’re basically humans.

Lantern Mice are biolumiscent cowards who run away the second they see a single creature. That’s basically it.

There’s a lot more that I could do but we have to get onto the next part, Predators!

Predators range from territorial and feral lizards, to giant, electric centipedes, to vultures, to light-sensitive spiders, to leeches, to giant water monsters, to poles that aren’t poles, to living omnivorous kelp, to earwigs, etcetera, etcetera… There are a lot of hostile creatures.

Lizards are the main threat. They are a constant in most regions and range from the big, tanky Green Lizard, to the frail but agile Blue Lizard, to the ambush hunting White Lizard, to the terrifying and intimidating Red Lizard. All lizards act like wolves in a way. They’re territorial, fighting other lizards just because they felt like it. They can be tamed by giving them a bunch of food, basically turning them to dogs. They can be killed, although some are much harder than others, and they hunt in many different ways.

Centipedes are a secondary threat. Rarer and more specific, Centipedes can either be very peaceful or hunt you through literally everything. Unlike Lizards, Centipedes are a lot less varied. You either get chased by a normal centipede, a red centipede, and/or a flying centipede. However, unlike lizards who are usually dodgeable and have places they cannot go, centipedes can go anywhere and usually are in packs. They are also the most valuable enemies to kill however, as they are absolutely ridiculous with how much food they give you.

Dropwigs, Pole Plants, and, to an extent, Monster Kelp are all what we would call “ambush predators.” Dropwigs hang on the ceiling and jump at you the second you walk under them, attempting to hunt you down. Pole Plants act as normal poles but will almost immediately kill you upon grabbing them. Monster Kelp initally looks like normal kelp but moves to grab any prey they can get close to grabbing. All of them can be dodged by either simple observation or spears. Spears solve nearly anything.

Spiders are agile hunters. They range from small spiders that swarm the dark, big spiders who are fast and bite lethally, and bigger, red spiders that put you to sleep and run away with you as you sleep (and even bigger green spiders but we aren’t at downpour yet).

So you know when I say spears solve nearly anything?

Well, leeches, Leviathans, and most water predators are the exception to that “nearly.” They cannot be hit with spears (and if they can, throwing underwater is a bad idea anyways) and all can royally screw you up.

Vultures are just predatory birds. I mean, King Vultures exist but they’re literally just “the cooler Vultures” with harpoons and bigger health pools.

Base Rain World is honestly something everyone needs to see just by itself. It’s all such a lovely experience. The game is all about learning and surviving in a hostile environment and it all just flows together. Although, with how basic slugcat movement is without a guide, it can get boring at times and needs a little spice.

As for all the things I don’t like, I will say that the game tends to be directionless at times and is very hard to get into. Rain World requires a lot of learning and experimenting, so if you aren’t a fan of long games or games with little directions, you will most likely dislike Rain World. I’ll be honest. When I first played Rain World, I was lost and I barely got past the first region without feeling discouraged. The game is also one that, as I’ve said before, can get quite bland. While the game is very special, once you start discovering a lot, it kind of makes the rest of the game feel bland too. The game has some (subjective) problems akin to ones seen in metroidvanias.

However, for base Rain World, I will rank it a 9.75/10. It is such a unique, memorable, and amazing game that, even if you don’t want to play it, it’s amazing to just watch a video of the base game.

The game is $25 on Steam, Xbox, Playstation 4, and the Nintendo Switch and it is, in my opinion, the best game of recent times.

That is all and I hope to see you on another episode of Kat’s Guide!

Break a leg! 

By Olivia Hopkins

As February comes to end, so does the 2024 MASH musical, Mamma Mia! February is the busiest time for cast and crew members since that means they will only have a limited amount of days left until opening night! A lot of moving parts go on behind the scenes that many don’t know about. In this article, we will take a deeper look into the small details of putting together a show, and interviewing some of the cast members.

     To begin, I asked the director of Mamma Mia, Mr. Kaslusky, what the most difficult part of directing Mamma Mia was. He answered that the most difficult part of putting together any show is “staying aware of all the moving parts of the show… A seemingly small decision in one scene can have a larger effect on costumes or props, and you have to stay in contact with all of the teams in charge of those things.” Mr. Kaslusky goes on to mention how lucky he is to have a team of “adult and student staff that make the job easier.” 

It’s truly amazing to see how so many people come together to put on a show! There are countless amounts of parents, teachers, and other adults who volunteer to help make something like this happen every year. Although putting together a show is difficult, Mr. Kaslusky makes sure to say that “the most rewarding part is seeing it all come together the week of the show. All the efforts of countless individuals add up to something that is truly greater than the sum of its parts.” 

Taking another look behind the scenes, I was able to talk to Sr. Kyla Mitchell, who is the stage director for Mamma Mia. Kyla mentions that the most difficult part of putting together a show is the “time and commitment needed for everything to get done.” Specifically for the production team. They need to “make the programs and meet a lot of deadlines.” Despite some of these challenges Kyla states that she sees how hard everyone is working. She goes on to say, “Even though it is a big commitment, it is worth it!”

Another way I decided to get a more in-depth look into this show is to interview the cast! Sr. Olivia Rengen is playing the part of Donna Sheridan. This will be Olivia’s last musical here at MASH. Because of this, she highlights the fact that she is “most looking forward to spending time with [her] friends.” Since this is her last show, she is trying to “take advantage of the time [they] have!” She goes on to say, “My favorite part about playing Donna is her spontaneity. Donna is wild, and I enjoy going through her highs and lows.” Even with such an amazing character, there always comes some challenges. For Olivia, the most challenging part about playing Donna is “understanding how she feels when interacting with people from her past. She has many complicated relationships that have a lot to them.” 

Another lead within this show is the character of Sophie Sheridan– Donna’s daughter. The role of Sophie is played by So. Audrey Hunt. Audrey states that her favorite scene to run is “Honey Honey” and her favorite dance number is “Gimme Gimme” because they’re very “energetic and fun.” Audrey’s favorite aspect of playing Sophie’s character is that she is “really getting into the character because she’s so fun-loving and bubbly, and I love to show that on stage!” 

Sr. Benjamin Wenger is playing 1 of the 3 possible “dads” in this show. Benjamin is playing Sam Carmichael, and he enjoys portraying this character because his character “gets to push people’s buttons! He inserts himself into situations that don’t really involve him, and that can definitely provide some comedic relief.” He goes on to add, “It’s kind of fun to make Donna feel awkward!” For Benjamin, the most challenging part of playing the role of Sam Carmichael is because of his character’s backstory. Benjamin’s character “responds differently to each character he interacts with, and every time he comes on stage, there’s something different going on! So adapting to all of that can be difficult.” 

The last cast member I interviewed was Fr. Leanna Holbrook. In Mamma Mia, Leanna is a part of the ensemble! Leanna remarks that her favorite part of the theater community is “the people” and the fact that “you always have supportive peers!” She proceeds to mention that, “even when I make mistakes, I can always ask someone for help and just in general advice about what I’m doing!”

Mr. Kaslusky emphasizes that “Mamma Mia is a super fun show for students to come see. The music is great and all of the sets, costumes, and lighting will have you feeling like you’re at a live concert.” He goes on to say how the MASH musical is one of the largest community events of the year, so if you come, “You’ll really enjoy yourself.”

Powerfully Persistent: An ongoing discussion of PA student press freedom and protections

By Riley Lepley

“Powerfully Persistent” is this year’s theme for Student Press Freedom Day on February 22nd.  This year will be the 6th year Student Press Freedom will be celebrated by this title. While some students may question the need to celebrate student journalism, it was introduced by the Student Press Law Center because of growing challenges facing Student Newspaper’s in public schools. 

Firstly, it’s important to understand our own school’s approach to student press freedom. According to MASD Board Policy #220, “The Board respects the rights of students to express themselves in word or symbol and to distribute materials as a part of that expression, but it also recognizes that the exercise of that right must be limited by the district's responsibility to maintain an orderly school environment and to protect the rights of all members of the school community.” In Pennsylvania student press freedom is comparatively limited, and student publications undergo prior restraint and prior review. Policy #220 goes on to explain restrictions exist for material that “causes substantial disruption or a well-placed fear of substantive disruption to the school environment.” On the school website, “substantial disruption” is not defined. This term could cover a broad array of topics. 

Understandably, student press freedom ranges from state to state. However, In 1988 U.S public high school students' relationship with free expression changed forever. In the U.S. Supreme Court case, Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier challenged if student’s first amendment rights, free speech rights were violated when their paper on teen pregnancy and divorce’s impact on students was barred from being published from the school newspaper, and deleted it without informing the students. In a 5-3 ruling the court found it was constitutional for students' work to be censored by staff if it is deemed inappropriate. 

In addition, the language of the majority decision was very broad, and allows school administration to use their discretion on what they feel is “appropriate.” This has gone on to prevent papers on social and political issues students are experiencing from being published in a school paper. 

Conversely, some states since the 1988 decision have enacted state laws or statutes that have restored student journalists' right to free press at a higher degree than the broad standard Hazelwood uses to define what is allowed to stop them from being published. However, Pennsylvania is not one of them. Our state has no student press protections not stated in current case law. Recently, some bills have been introduced to the PA General Assembly that would change the standard of press freedom in PA schools.

So what should we know?

The Hazelwood standard for press freedom, which we rely on in PA, allows any press to be censored that administrators feel may cause disruption or is not appropriate. Our state laws also allow for a procedure known as “prior review.” Prior review is a process our own school has practiced and involves the review of student writing or topics before publication, in order to pull pieces not up to a district's standard. 

Some believe this process keeps school publications student-friendly, while others feel the process limits student discourse, at a critical stage of development. Either way, several legislators representatives in Harrisburg are proposing a change. The two bills that have been introduced are awaiting leaving their committee and being brought to the floor for a vote. If passed, Pennsylvania would join 17 other states who have overturn the Hazelwood standard in favor of a higher degree of press freedom in public school, that demand concise language and standards for what students are not able to publish, that can not be abused to censor work that criticizes schools, or discusses local issues students face. 

Furthermore, one of these PA bills is HB 1309, sponsored by Representative Melissa Shusterman. The other is SB 622, sponsored by Senator Corolyn Comitta. HB 1309 addresses that PA administrators can censor student work through prior restraint and review. The bill proposes crafting policies for the student editor’s to execute. SB 622 goes on to seek additional protections for school newspaper teachers and advisors, who often face an uphill battle if they decide to challenge policies or decisions that don’t protect student press freedom. 

It should be noted, before the Hazelwood standard was set in 1988, the U.S Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines found that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” This idea was profound at the time and encouraged the message that students aren’t without protection from the Bill of Rights. Schools are preparing young individuals for democratic society, where we must behave as informed citizens prepared for conversations and discourse. Student newspapers have long served as an outlet for student expression, and discussion within a school environment. What this discussion looks like has long been guided by broad policies that include prior restraint and review. 

However, with new bills awaiting their hearing, could a student journalist’s future and the discussion we’re having, change in Pennsylvania?

KICKING OFF THE NEW SEMESTER 

By Regan Naugle 

       For many people, a new semester is a fresh start. You get all new classes, teachers, and, most importantly, grades. A change in classes can be significant for someone who struggled academically last semester and would like to do better in the upcoming marking periods. While it’s all about balance, many challenges can make that task look impossible. Although it may be difficult, there are little steps you can take to make this semester a smoother journey overall. 

The first thing that so many people swear by is getting a planner; a planner can help you stay organized and help you to start efficiently balancing your time. A planner could be an excellent idea if you need help with school work and adapting to other chances outside the classroom. 

Another great thing you can try is to have a more positive outlook on the new semester. So many people look at the new semester in a negative light, and that doesn’t help them stay any more productive in the upcoming quarters. One thing you can look at is that day by day, you’re getting closer to summer; with every assignment or test you complete, summer is coming. Everyone has motivation, whether you're motivated by sports or your parents giving you a particular motivation like new clothes, a fancy dinner, or even money. 

So, another good thing to think about this semester, if you didn’t in the last one, is finding your motivation, consistently thinking about what drives you to do well in school and other aspects of your life. 

You're trying to balance your schedule, and a part of your schedule is what you do outside of school. So get your homework done at a specific time and participate in clubs and sports. You have to look at what you do outside of school and balance that to stay calm. Doing more things outside of school can also help you to avoid burnout. Burnout is a severe issue for many students, especially student-athletes. 

The new semester is about adapting to the unique differences you will face and then having the right strategies to overcome these challenges. One of the main challenges and fears people have is needing to have classes with their friends. Many people learn better in an environment where they can be around people who are known to them, and when we don't have that, it can be scary, but we need to adapt so we can continue to work to our potential. 

While changing classes and starting a new semester can be challenging;, it can also be an excellent way to start creating better habits and more efficiently adapting to challenges. Throughout the start of the new semester, you should reflect on last semester to make changes to be more productive. It won’t be an overnight task, but you can make small steps to become a better student and a more productive person. 

MASH students share hobbies and interests

By Charley Riley

Mechanicsburg is a diverse and interesting place, and yet I’ve always found that the school district places importance on three main things: grades, music, and sports, and those things are amazing! Grades are very important to our future, music is a nice creative outlet that is easy to share with others, and sports are a fun way to compete against each other. However, there are many other hobbies and interests that don’t get as much attention, so with this article I’m hoping to share these hobbies so that we can learn more about our community, and just look at a little snippet of the results that I found interesting.

To begin, I asked people their average mood in a day, and 58.8% of people responded with meh, or neutral. I didn’t find this surprising. What I did find surprising is how many people that go to the gym or workout more than three times a week answered as feeling meh. When you work out or participate in a physical activity, it stimulates the same part of your brain that releases dopamine, making you feel happy and motivated. This led me to believe that people who workout would feel happier on average, along with the fact that I have friends who workout and since starting, have said they have felt happier. However, out of the 41 people that workout more than three times a week, 22 of them feel meh during the day. Now, of course this is a rather small set of data, but in the vacuum of our highschool I’m surprised there were more mehs than happies. 

In my survey, I included many different questions asking people on a scale from 1-10 how interested they were in different hobbies. Every single option had someone select one, except for movies. This makes sense to me, as movies are a pretty universal interest, as I don’t think anyone straight up dislikes them. At most, they don’t really care.

Apropos to the 1-10 scale, when I asked about how interested people are in anime, 52.2% said they were not interested in anime at all. This is surprising to me, as anime’s popularity has grown substantially over the past decade, at least, and is especially popular with teens. From 2009 to 2019, the market had doubled, and due to COVID and the popularity of streaming services, it has risen even more. This led me to believe anime would be more popular among this survey, but surprisingly not. 

That’s all the information I learned that I personally found interesting. It was pretty standard stuff otherwise. Rock, rap, and pop are the most popular music genres, people like video games, and drawing is also popular. Collecting, in general, is a popular hobby. People will collect anything from coins, to pokemon cards, to video games, to squishmallows.

However, there is one bit left that I had planned, and that’s the people I emailed to learn more about a hobby or interest they had that was unique or interesting. I got a few responses, which I very much appreciate. 

The first was from Sr. Alissa Roth, who told me more about Arduino, which is “...a company that creates microcontrollers and programming software.” They use a simplified version of the coding language C++ that enables people to create really cool and “...tons [of] super complex projects, like the automated chess board.” When asked how she got into it, she said, “Since I started the TSA competition and started taking engineering principles.” So, if Arduino sounds interesting to you, maybe consider looking into engineering principles or TSA, or just go to arduino.cc.

The second response was from Fr. Dahlia Repman, who told me about her interest in linguistics. If you don’t know, linguistics is the study of language and its structure, and not just for English but for all languages. She said her interest in languages began “...when I was very young…when given a sentence, I wanted to rewrite it over and over to reemphasize different aspects and convey different emotions and implications.” When asked what languages she is interested in, she replied with “...French, Spain and Salvadoran Spanish, and Portuguese.” Overall, linguistics is a very interesting subject, and I think Dahlia’s passion for it is very cool.

The final response I got was from Jr. Shamim Aquino, who told me about her project on melting glass bottles and turning them into one giant glass bottle. The “...ideal final product should look like a glass Coke bottle because out of them all it’s my favorite shape.” They plan on learning how to melt glass and turn it into the giant bottle. This is a very interesting project that I have never seen anything similar to before. 

So overall, what did we learn? Not much, aside from the standard information. I believe that more interesting things happen within the student body, and of course, there are plenty of people out there that didn’t see the survey or feel comfortable responding, and I did get some very interesting responses from people, which I really appreciate. However, I was expecting a bit more.