Monthly News
School Lunches: A Student Perspective, By Adrian Negrete and Saige Lindle
School lunches are focused on being healthy and not being nice, and a lot of kids don't like the lunches their school provides. School lunches should be healthy, but taste good, too. They're trying to make the food healthier for the kids, but it's just making the kids don't want to have lunch at school and not eating it. School lunches can have germs from other stuff from the school. The Lunches at schools can be either healthy, or not healthy but they are morally not healthy. School lunches don't have nutrients and anything healthy in them.
The students at school don't like the school lunches, you might say they “hate” them. The school wastes their money for food that's not good. The food is warm and sometimes always cold and the students don't like it when it's cold or warm. The food the schools serve are different which means they can have different ways of serving them or the flavor of food. The different school foods can be bad either way even if they're different.
They can be bad because of them being frozen and non nutritious. The school lunch can have bacteria from who serves it or who touches it. Bacteria and germs are bad for people because they can give more people bacteria and germs and that's what happens to food too! The different schools have different types of food.
Woes and Strife of Middle Schoolers, By Jordin Diaz and Jannessa Miller
There are so many challenges that Middle School students face. Should we talk about homework? Parental expectations and pressures? The food at the cafeteria? What worries most Middle School Students? We decided we needed more help to decide what problems we had as a school so we asked 3 other students what their problems were.
The first person we interviewed was Joseph Sanchez. When we asked him, “ What are 3 problems you have as a student?” He said, “ We don’t get a lot of free time, too long of periods, too much computer usage, masks and social distancing.” He said that we could fix these problems by having shorter days, shorter class periods, and more days. He believes these are problems because masks make it hard to socialize, computers give him headaches, and he doesn’t have a lot of family time. He thinks problems that other students have include not having enough help for school work, and not having enough freetime.
The second person we interviewed was Abigail Tingle. When we asked her, “ What are problems other students have that you know of?” She said, “ Staying on task and not understanding topics that the teachers give.” Some of the problems she has include, keeping her grades up, managing school and sports, and remembering to do assignments. She believes we can fix these problems by extending due dates. She thinks these are problems because there are so many classes, practice goes late and she doesn’t get home until super late because she lives out of town.
The last person we interviewed was Payton Fuentes. When we asked her, “ What are 3 problems you have as a student?” Her response was, “ Dresscode, we can’t have your phones out in class, and some of the teachers don’t let you use the bathrooms.” She thinks these are problems because it is hard to find jeans without holes in them, all girls wear leggings in P.E. most dresscodes sound like they apply to girls. They could fix these problems by the teachers understanding that when students have to use the restroom that they have to use the restroom, and for the dress code that we bought to wear it so we should be able to wear it. She thinks that other students have problems with the dress code and that school should start later so they can have more rest.
These are just the perspectives of a narrow few, but we know that many students must feel the same. Staying on topic and being able to focus with such long classes is difficult! When you have to juggle that with extracurricular activities, family, and a job, it becomes even more stressful. So the next question should be, how do we handle stress? How do we tackle these problems? Stay tuned to find out!
For What Can We Be Thankful?, By Abi Tingle
As we enter November, Thanksgiving is right around the corner. In the midst of these troubling times we often forget to stop and think. Even though it may not seem like it, there are many things that all of us can be thankful for in our lives. The question that comes to mind is: What can I be thankful for?
Everyone should be thankful for a free country. We are blessed to have freedom in our country. We should be thankful for our military who fight for our country! We are also coming up on Veterans Day which is an amazing time to remember people who have risked and even sacrificed their life. Without our military our country would not be the way that it is today. Through all the hard times in our lives we can count on our military and our freedoms.
We also need to be thankful that we have a school to attend. Believe it or not, some people in other places can't even attend school! We can also be thankful for the food we have. Although some of us do not have 3 meals every day, we still have food to eat. Even if they are school meals, we still need to be thankful that we have food. We can also be thankful for our friends, amazing teachers, and people in our lives. Even if you do not have friends there is always someone who you are able to talk to in your life, whether it is a school counselor, a family member, or a friend.
We all have a roof over our heads, we should be thankful for this. Even if we live in a random house. Not everyone has these things. Hopefully someday they will. We need to be optimistic. Even if life is not going the way we would like, we still need to see the good things, and the things that we can be thankful for.
Not only can we be thankful, we can also show our thankfulness. We can thank the people in our lives. We can thank the cafeteria workers, teachers, parents, friends, family, and even more people in our lives. Make the best of this season to be thankful and go voice your gratitude. Tell someone thank you!
A History of Fall Holidays, By Mariano Martinez
In fall there are many holidays. Some of them are: Thanksgiving, Halloween, and Dia de Muertos. Thanksgiving is a national holiday in the United States and Canada. America believes that Thanksgiving is based on a 1621 feast shared by Pilgrims and the native Wampanog people. Some people believe that during this time the pilgrims attacked the Wampanoag people even though there is no proof. The typical Thanksgiving meal includes: turkey, bread stuffing, potatoes, cranberries and pumpkin pie. Thanksgiving is sometimes the busiest time of the year (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 1998.)
Halloween, contraction of All Hallows’ Eve, is observed on October 31. In Europe and in most of North America, Halloween is largely nonreligious. Halloween originates from the festival of Samhain among the Britain and Ireland Celtics (David J. Silverman, 1998.) During this time the spirits that had died that year were said to have journeyed to the underworld and the dead spirits were said to come visit their old homes. To hide their identity from the spirits people wore masks and other kinds of disguises. These are the ways that witches, hobgoblins, fairies, and demons became associated with the day. When the Romans conquered the Celts they added their own festival of Feralia to commemorate the passing of the dead and Pomona, the goddess of the harvest (David J. Silverman, 1998.)
Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, is observed on November 1 and 2. Dia de los Muertos is when family members honor their dead loved ones. Dia de los Muertos is derived from the rituals of the pre-hispanic people of Mexico. Led by the goddess Mictecacihualt, known as the lady of the dead, the celebration lasted a month until the Spanish came and changed it to All Saints’ Day (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 2006.) In some areas, families adorn gravesites with candles, marigolds, and the favorite foods of deceased relatives to persuade them to come have a family reunion. Many families build altars, or ofrendas, in their home using candles, photos, flowers, and food. Toys and food including breads and candies, are created in shapes of death such as skulls and skeletons. These celebrations are traditions for many cultures and countries.
Works Cited
The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, Halloween, July 20, 1998, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Halloween