Black History Month is an extremely important time, not just for African Americans but for everyone to celebrate and reflect on the contributions and everything African Americans have done and gone through. African Americans have been treated horribly throughout history, even though their contributions were among those that helped create the United States, and many inventions and achievements that are seen around the world. Many African Americans' hard work and achievements in the past have been discredited. Black History Month wasn't always celebrated; in fact, it took a lot of hard work from Carter G. Woodson and Jesse E. Moorland.

Carter G. Woodson was a self-educated child of formerly enslaved parents who worked as a coal miner and farmhand, passionately pursuing education to become a renowned historian, scholar, and teacher created who earned degrees from Berea College, University of Chicago, and Harvard University to challenge suppressed Black history in mainstream texts. Carter G. created the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) in 1915 with Jesse E. Moorland to counter the denial and distortion of Black history, promoting education as a tool for social change by researching, preserving, and disseminating the true story and significant contributions of African Americans to global history. Jesse Moorland played a huge part in the creation of ASALH by promoting and reassuring the achievements of black Americans and others of African descent, as well as providing crucial financial support and his extensive collection of books and resources.

Read Across America week is a national event that is celebrated all around American schools and libraries on March 2nd and is a week-long event typically ending on March 6th. Read Across America is an initiative to encourage reading to students of all backgrounds and age groups primarily pre-school through high school students. 

Read Across America was created by the National Education Association with the first national celebration being held on March 2nd 1998. Schools and libraries host many events during Read Across America week such as hosting spirit week, making their students dress up as their favorite characters, wear specific colors, dress as super heroes, etc. These spaces also Invite special guest readers into classrooms usually with younger students kindergarten to 5th grade. These guest readers can be parents, community members, local celebrities and even major figures.

For example, in 2010 Michelle Obama hosted a Read Across America event where she read “The Cat in the Hat” and other books written by Dr. Seuss to elementary school students. 

Schools arrange book swapping events where students can exchange their books with other students so they can experience new genres of books or books that they wouldn't normally read. Book Drives play a big part during Read Across America week; they are hosted to collect new or lightly used books from the community to distribute them to people in need and underprivileged communities. Setting goals for students is an event many schools participate in, schools challenge their students to meet their reading goals or to push themselves to read more than they would usually read. When students meet their reading goals or the challenge expectations they get rewarded with certificates, stickers, small toys, pizza parties and more. 

Read Across America week is especially important for younger students because it helps children learn about diversity, struggles and real world problems. Read Across America can also improve reading skills early on and raise the probability of students finding a liking for reading when they are older. Overall Read Across America week is an important event because it encourages literacy in students and it makes reading fun and exciting.

President Trump has once again vowed to acquire Greenland as part of the United States of America, stating that he does not intend to use force to do so. According to the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, “The United States was founded 250 years ago, but Denmark has maintained documented sovereignty over Greenland for over 3,000 years.” These were responses to Trump’s bizarre letter to the Danish government, stating that “There are no written documents, only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there too.” Implying that the territory could also belong to the United States. 

Trump’s reasoning for the acquisition of Greenland is its “national security,” saying that it can not defend itself from nations such as Russia or China. But Denmark, being part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), has the defenses and support of many other European nations; therefore, they don't have to worry about invasions. NATO is also getting involved in this, stating that they will “Obtain a well-founded picture” for “further talks and planning within NATO.” Leading to the conclusion that if there will be any military activity in Greenland, it will be under NATO’s framework, otherwise it could lead to a change in the organization dynamics, global politics, and potentially worse.

Ah, Groundhog Day, a day where Americans everywhere look to a marmot to use its powers of divination to discern if there will be six more weeks of winter or not. Ah, Groundhog Day, a day where Americans everywhere look to a marmot to use its powers... oh, yeah, and also a day famous for time loops. But disregarding the Bill Murray movie, what other significance does the holiday have? Why a groundhog? How many meteorologist marmots are there? And how are you supposed to pronounce Punxsutawney (it’s punk-suh-taw-knee)? You will learn the answers to these questions and more in this article. Let’s get this out of the way before the next time loop.

The story of Groundhog Day starts with a group of immigrants known as the Pennsylvania Dutch. They are an ethnic group in Pennsylvania that despite the name largely originate from Germany. On February 2nd, they would practice the feast day of Candlemas, which commemorates when Joseph and Mary presented baby Jesus at the temple in Christianity. The Germans would use the bear’s appearance post-hibernation to determine if they would have extra winter or early spring, but when the bears grew scarce in numbers they switched to badgers. When the Pennsylvania Dutch came to America, they replaced badgers with groundhogs because badgers are very rare in Pennsylvania. 

The earliest mention of Groundhog Day was in an 1840 diary in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, and its first mention in a newspaper was in the 1886 Punxsutawney Spirit. Clymer Freas, editor of the Spirit at the time, is now credited as being the father of Groundhog Day. The early Groundhog Day celebrations at Punxsutawney were carried out by the Punxsutawney Elks Lodge, whose members would actually go and hunt groundhogs to eat at the lodge. The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club formed in 1899. Of course, rodents like groundhogs aren’t actually that appetizing to people, so the hunting part of Groundhog Day was discontinued soon. 

Along the way, the official Groundhog Day mythos started to form and solidify. The groundhog’s name is Punxsutawney Phil (this name was first given to him in 1961), and he comes out of his burrow on February 2nd. If he sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter, and if he doesn’t there will be early spring. Phil is the most famous and arguably most important groundhog, because Punxsutawney is where Groundhog Day started. However, Punxsutawney Phil isn’t the only prognosticating pasture pig. There is a (stuffed) groundhog at Quarryville’s Slumbering Groundhog Lodge, then there’s Myertown Uni, Manchester Chuckles, Milltown Mel (who passed in 2021), Stonewall Jackson, Essex Ed, Malverne Mel, Great Neck Greta, Quogue Valley Quigley, Staten Island Chuck and Charlotte (both of whom are dead), Dunkirk Dave, Buffalo Bert, French Creek Freddie, Queen City Charlie, and Holtsville Hal. Hideous run-off sentence aside, that gives us an estimate of 17 groundhogs (3 of whom have died), right? Wrong. That’s in the Mid-Atlantic alone. Buckeye Chuck, Flatiron Freddy, Potomac Phil, and possibly countless others exist all over the United States. 

Despite the sheer amount of groundhogs in the United States, Groundhog Day has always been seen as sort of a campy holiday, which it kind of is. What really solidified Groundhog Day into the eyes of pop culture was BIll Murray’s 1993 Groundhog Day, a flick where a weather reporter (also named Phil) is in Punxsutawney to report on Groundhog Day, only to find himself in a seemingly endless time loop where the day always repeats itself. Before the movie’s release, Punxsutawney would see around 2,000 annual attendees, but after it would see around 10,000. Groundhog Day has also become synonymous with time loop in the public eye, cementing itself not only in our hearts but in our vernacular. If you want to see Punxsutawney Phil divine the weather yourself, make sure to check out the official Punxsutawney Groundhog Club website at around 6 a.m. ET for their livestream at Gobbler’s Knob. See you next time! See you next time! See you next... that dang time loop!

El Mercardito, a beloved local market place, has been a gathering space for Latinos in East Los Angeles for decades. What was once filled with traditional goods and culture, is now left in empty silence. Why you may ask? As customer José Morales puts it, “And look at it right now, it looks like a ghost-town. Being realistic, people are just scared because of ICE.” This is the unfortunate reality for 51.9 million immigrants in the U.S. who live in constant fear of deportation, many of whom have been deported already. Under the Trump administration, immigration enforcement policies led to a significant increase in ICE raids across the country, affecting countless communities in different ways.

At the Applied Technology Center (ATC) high school, a survey was conducted to assess the impact of immigration enforcement on students in their communities. When asked if a business they knew was harmed in any way by ICE, one student reported, “No. But ICE being outside made me scared to go outside, protest, and do normal day-to-day things. I was also really scared for my dad because he is darker and only speaks Spanish and owns his own business.” Responses like these show how raids affect more than just people; they affect entire communities. They spread fear through families, disrupt daily routines, and weaken local businesses as fewer people feel safe enough to shop. These challenges show how deeply immigration enforcement can affect the places where people gather, connect, and support one another. 

Sometimes, people assume that students have no worries about what is going on around them, which is incorrect. Students at the Applied Technology Center (ATC) High School have shared their opinions about US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its mental impact on them. One student said, “Me and my family worry for going out, especially after the new passing of ICE being able to racially profile you. Uneasiness and fear are growing in our families.” Racial profiling was happening during the beginning of the week in September and the Supreme Court gave the “green light” to ICE agents to be able to stop anyone they think is illegal. For example, if they hear a person of color speaking Spanish, they have the “authority” to stop and question them. However, the Supreme Court has also asked ICE to pause its unlawful actions due to the Los Angeles federal courts filing complaints about the illegal racial profiling ICE is committing. But, at the moment, that does not stop ICE, and being detained is still a very common fear among students, according to survey results conducted by the Blueprint staff.

In the survey, another ATC student said, “Luckily, not anyone I know has been detained by ICE, but it’s something that’s not easy to hear about from others.” ICE has been constantly spotted in areas that they are not expected to be, such as churches and schools. Having to hear on the news that ICE has detained all kinds of people, such as people of your own age, ethnicity, area, or even watching videos of innocent people being forcibly removed from their jobs, is extremely hard to go through. Therefore, it is very important to focus on students' mental health and ask how they are doing as the ICE raids continue.