Student spotlight is a way for the students of Northside Charter to express their feelings. For the first article I encouraged students to dig deep and think more profoundly about themselves. I interviewed three different students from 10th-12th grade and I asked all three students the same questions. My aim for remaining with the same questions was to see the different perspectives from each student. The three questions were as follows: what makes a good student, what makes a good teacher, and if you had the power to hire any celebrity as a teacher who would it be? These were their responses.

For the 10th grade I interviewed Crystal Nunez and she responded with, “Good grades, a positive attitude and hard working. A good student doesn’t always depend on those three qualities though. A good student comes to class and pays attention to the teacher. Self-discipline and time management are also important factors to being a good student. I believe the most important one is that a good student never stops trying.”

For the second question, Crystal described many teachers in Northside as being, “ warm, accessible, enthusiastic and caring. This person is approachable, not only to students, but to everyone. A great teacher listens to the students and understands what they are not getting, they take time out of their way-too-busy schedule for anyone who needs them.”

For the last question she chose Oprah Winfrey as a teacher. “If I had the power to hire a celebrity as a teacher it would be Oprah Winfrey. She is well educated and she is such an amazing person, she would be a good teacher.”

The person I chose to interview for the 11th grade was Sayendy Baez. She proceeded to answer with, “A student who is dedicated to school and to have a successful life is what makes a good student.” Her answer to the second question was, “A teacher who cares about their students and makes sure they are in a comfortable environment is what makes a good teacher.” For the third question, she chose her celebrity teacher to be Ariana Grande. “If I had the power to hire any celebrity as a teacher I would pick Ariana Grande because she is a person that has been through many things and she can teach us kids from experience in my opinion.”

As for my last interview, I interviewed Makayla Santiago from the 12th grade. Her perception of a good student was, “What makes a good student is a positive attitude, good time management skills, hard working and self discipline.” A good teacher according to her is, “patient, someone who is understanding, has a friendly attitude and good communication skills.” Her celebrity teacher was Beyonce. “If I had the power to hire any celebrity I would hire Beyonce because I feel as if she has great leadership skills. She would teach important life skills that we should be learning about. She is also a big feminist which is very important to me.”

These questions may help Northside improve as a whole. The faculty will see what we think is a good teacher and ect. This will help not only Northside but the students as well.

When it comes to the future of banking (actually, the first online transaction was in 1972, between MIT and Stanford students), cryptocurrencies are something that has already made a name for itself. So what is a cryptocurrency? What is a central bank? How will this affect the average consumer? Stay in the loop, because we will be dissecting Cryptocurrency.

To understand the dynamics of a cryptocurrency, we must first understand the history of exchange. Before there was money, there was bartering. Bartering is defined as a form of exchanging goods or services between two or more people without the use of money, or a credit system (aka a credit card). An approachable example of bartering would be between a mechanic and an individual with an unusual amount of apples (Person A). Let's say that Person A needs an oil change on their car, so they drive to a mechanic. The mechanic does $50 worth of work, so instead of paying the mechanic, Person A gives the mechanic $50 worth of apples. There are many problems associated with bartering, but the main issue is storing value. Taking a look at Person A and the mechanic, we notice that apples are exchanged. Apples cannot store value because they are perishable.

Physical currency or what that average person calls money (there is actually a difference) is known as a country’s official currency. Paper Currency is believed to have started in the 11th Century C.E, in China. Since then, physical currency has been anchored to society. A central bank is a financial institution that is given the ability to produce and distribute money or credit for a nation. In the U.S, physical currency derives from the central banking system, otherwise known as the Federal Reserve. Like most things in life that have ups and downs, physical currency does not fall short of this rule. Physical currency has many benefits like privacy, elasticity, relatively easy to move, and relatively easy to exchange. Although I must note(pun intended) that there are downsides, like inflation (applies to all goods and services), theft, and unstable exchange rates.

If you somehow have access to read this and haven’t heard about Bitcoin, or Ethereum I truly believe something is wrong with you, but I digress. Cryptocurrency on the other hand has benefits and drawbacks, but is starting to become more mainstream. A cryptocurrency is a form of payment that can be exchanged for online goods and services. A cryptocurrency’s main difference is that crypto (crypto currency for short) maximized privacy through decentralization. That means that all transactions, whether it be from person to person, or person to business, are kept extremely private. This is achieved through complex cryptographic algorithms. Let's unpack that phrase. Cryptographic which stems from cryptography refers to the art of writing and solving codes. An algorithm is a set of rules to be followed in calculations and problem solving operations, especially done by a computer. When these two terms are put together, a cryptographic algorithm is just mathematical procedures done by a computer to solve codes. This forms the basis of a cryptocurrency’s security. With all that being said about security, there are still downsides to cryptocurrencies. Mainly, crypto is not a stable asset class, and it suffers from cybersecurity issues. However there are benefits to crypto, being that transactions can take mere seconds to complete, and there is great transparency.

One can deduce many different opinions based on the information provided, but after Elon Musk (2nd richest in the world, Jeff Bezos took back the crown) made it possible to buy a Tesla with Bitcoin, I think it’s safe to say that cryptocurrency has a long way to go.

Disclaimer : This is not investment advice whatsoever (not that I’d imagine anyone would heed my advice), after all, this is a high school newspaper article, written by a teenager without any experience in the financial industry.

Great Resources to learn more about Crypto

• https://wall-street.com/the-pros-cons-of-cryptocurrency/

• https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/cryptocurrency-7-things-to-know?trk_location=ssrp&trk_query=what%20is%20crypto&trk_page=1&trk_position=6

• https://medium.com/@goldma/currency-vs-money-did-you-know-theres-a-difference-f344aa496867

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBC-nXj3Ng4