The Wildcat Roar
Volume 1
Number 1
Fall 2011
A Quarterly Publication of Rocky Hill Middle School
Dr. Starr’s Visit to Rocky Hill Middle School
Tanvi Shah
Staff Writer
On Friday, September 2,
2011 the new superintendent of
Montgomery County Public
Schools, Dr. Starr, came to Rocky
Hill for an unprecedented visit. For
most of the teachers and students at
Rocky Hill, it was a real treat having our school superintendent in
our building. Dr. Starr‘s visit was
significant for many reasons. One
reason as Mr. Whiting puts it, ―is a
chance for us to showcase our
school.‖ Here at Rocky Hill, we
take pride in our academic excellence as well as our very pleasant
school climate. Clearly teachers,
staff, students, and sometimes our
parents enjoy being in our building.
―Dr. Starr got to meet with students
and teachers. He also got to talk
with me about our school focus,‖
says Mr. Whiting.
To achieve our school
goals and focus, Mr. Whiting and
the school administration created
the Pride Time program this year.
Pride Time is a twenty-minute stay
in homeroom after second block
every Wednesday. This helps us
achieve our school goals because,
as Mr. Whiting said, ―Our main
school goal is to have students engaged in their learning. Pride Time
helps kids understand how they
learn and strategies that help them
learn better. We are also trying to
help kids become better people so
that there is a more positive climate.‖ This may have been another
reason why Dr. Starr chose to come
to Rocky Hill Middle School.
Dr. Starr took over the responsibility of the MCPS system
from Dr. Weast in June of 2011. In
his term as our new school superintendent, Dr. Starr has introduces
some new ideas into the MCPS
system that incorporate both teach-
Mr. Whiting gives our visitors a tour of our highly esteemed Rocky Hill. They are in
deep discussion about RH‘s curriculum ideas, classes, and the prideful behaviors that
fill our hallways.
ers and students. One of these stellar ideas was to prevent bullying by providing
students and teachers classes to know
what to do when a bully emerges to harass a victim. Another super idea was to
enforce respect for teachers, staff, and
students. Dr. Starr must have been
amazed when he heard that one of the
middle schools in Montgomery County
had already been giving lessons on both
respect and bullying to both teachers and
students for four years. This school, of
course, is Rocky Hill Middle School. As
a school, we could say that we have
earned some bragging rights since Rocky
Hill is the only school in the county that
already has had an anti-bullying program.
Dr. Starr visited for a little over
half an hour, during which he visited
some classes. He made a stop at Mrs.
Rye‘s, Mrs. Wilkerson‘s and Mrs.
Hellie‘s third period classes. Commenting on the superintendent‘s visit to her
classroom, Mrs. Rye said, ―I felt honored
that he chose one of my teaching strategies to post on Twitter.‖ ―I was a little
nervous, but when he came into the
room, he was very nice and friendly,
and I am excited that he is our new
superintendent,‖ says Mrs. Wilkerson,
who also had a surprise visit from Dr.
Starr. Mrs. Hellie‘s third period class
also had a chance to meet Dr. Starr.
Commenting on his visit, Mrs. Hellie said, ―Both during his visit and
during a listen-and-learn session that
I attended where I had a chance to
hear Dr. Starr speak. I was very impressed by his sincere concern for
students and their learning and by
his practical approach to important
educational issues.‖
Leading one of the largest
school district in Maryland is definitely an enormous task, but Dr.
Starr is working hard to make sure
that MCPS continues to be one of
the best in the county. Rocky Hill is
clearly one of the best in the county.
Commenting on what Mr. Whiting
thought about Dr. Starr‘s impressions of the teachers and students at
our school, he said, ―I think he saw
that our students were working hard
and our teachers were well prepared.‖ We will have to admit that
one the highlights of our school this
year is Dr. Starr‘s visit.
Dr. Starr gets Mrs. Hellie talking about her wonderful Spanish class.
Table of Contents
1. Front page-Dr.Star‘s Visit
2. Editorial-Political article
3. Lunch cut short article
4. Rocky Hill Page Ah-mazing teachers,
 Got PRIDE?
 Student Leadership
4. Special Features
 The End of the Story, Coca Cola
Freestyle
5. Special Features
 Woman in Politics,
 Clichés
6. Writer‘s Corner Bratfest at Tiffany‘s,
 Heck Where the Bad Kids Go,
 Arthur movie review
7. Writer‘s Corner and Opinions Cont.
Mr. Lee gets down to the business of helping these 6th graders understand the
material.
1
 Children‘s Programming
 Life of Fall
8. Sports Page The New face of the Redskins,
 Hanging with Mr. Dan Hellie
9. Life on the Hill Pride article, Fall Comic
 Making a Difference
10. Technology World
 Watson
 IPhone 4S
 Windows 8
11. Tech World Cont.
 The Latest Cell Phone
 Fall Comic
12. Natural Disasters: Signal of End
Times?
Editorial Page
Don’t Worry, Take Your Time
Annie Tran
Chief Editor
It‘s election year again, and
we‘re overwhelmed with countless
promises that politicians hardly ever
keep when they get elected. No one can
forget the amazing day that Barack
Obama was named President of the
United States, as the first AfricanAmerican president. Everyone was so
excited because it was a break-through
in history, an amazing feat by this special man. No one can forget the once-in
-a-lifetime campaign he made as he
traveled throughout our country. No
one can forget how many promises he
made. No one can forget how many he
didn‘t come through on.
We heard so many astonishing
statements as President Obama stood at
the podium in many of the cities that he
visited. It was so uplifting and enlightening to hear that maybe our country
could be pulled out of this debt hole.
There was the promise to increase minimum wage to $9.50, removing the soldiers from Iraq, closing the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center, and many
more. However, how many of those
promises were actually kept? And how
many were thrown into the trash?
Overall, President Obama kept
145 promises so far. That‘s great! Many
candidates couldn‘t even name that
Comic by Mae McDermott
many promises. How many did he
break, do you ask? Well, the number
comes to a whopping 46 promises. But
of course, Obama‘s term isn‘t over yet.
He still has time to show us that he did
mean all these things he said during his
campaign. The next election is coming
soon, though, and the clock is ticking.
As Americans, we‘re worried
about our soldiers overseas, and our
economy, which continues to slump as
it is slowly going downwards. Obama
made promises to bring these things
back up, and to instill hope in all of us
once again. One of them was to pull
the soldiers out of Iraq. This was something we were all waiting for, so that
we could see that our soldiers are safe
at home. According to the Obama
Campaign Website, this promise was
kept and we are already seeing our soldiers once again. We are also, however, sending in brigades to Afghanistan
where terrorists continue to be are an
imminent threat, says Politifact. As
everyone can see, our economy is go-
Lunch Cut Short
By Annie Tran
Chief Editor
Students who bring their lunches don‘t have to deal
with this problem, because they bring lunch from home. So
while the population of the eighth grade is sitting down,
Getting in line with your friends, choosing from the
waiting for lunch to be served, students who bring their
cafeteria menu, and just sitting down and enjoying free time
is all a part of lunchtime at any school. But what most stulunches are silently eating and they feel fine. It would help
dents have found lately is that our lunch time is being cut
if students who are unruly get punished rather than the rest
short, and we can‘t enjoy our time with our friends as much
of us who follow the rules suffer. I support the fact that
as we‘d like to. What‘s the cause of this you may ask? The
for their acanswers would vary between student and teacher. Our points people who act out should have consequences
th
tions. Instead of punishing the whole 8 grade, it would be
of views are different. Between the students sitting down at
better to single the troublesome students out and remove
the tables, and the adult standing up using the microphone,
you can only imagine the racket. The question is still the
them from the cafeteria so that the rest of us can enjoy our
same, how do we fix this? Realistically, a school cafeteria full lunch.
of boisterous students would not be a quiet dinner at a five
It is hard to eat and enjoy conversation with friends
star restaurant.
when the adult in charge calls out unruly students on the
This situation is evident in most lunches, depending
microphone. ―It takes away my time to eat, and I need to
on the behavior of the students in the cafeteria. As an 8th
th
grader, I understand how the system of the lunchroom works, eat.‖ says Alexus Pyles. Obviously, it upsets us 8 graders
and probably the rest of the school that we can‘t enjoy
and I know how to quiet down efficiently, get in line, and
order my food without causing any trouble, much like my
lunch. We like to have free time with our friends, and sit
other peers. Maybe some new students don‘t understand our
down and have a full thirty minutes of lunch, but with these
rules, but I am sure they will catch up in no time. There are
lectures on the microphone we can‘t do that. We respect the
many solutions that students come up with, and we would
adults‘ decisions and position of authority. However, we
like to be heard. ―The expectations they set for us are actually
find it unfair that we don‘t have the same amount of respect
really ridiculous. We are expected to sit down before we get
that we give them.
our lunch, while listening to directions on the microphone.
By this time, half of lunch period is practically gone, and
we‘re even more aggravated. Sometimes we just act out because we‘re so frustrated,‖ says Yoonseo Hong, an eighth
grader. Our lunch time is the one time of the day we can actually talk to our friends without being cut short, because we‘re
worried that we‘d be late for our next class. All we are saying
or asking is that we have our thirty minutes to each lunch and
interact with our friends. It‘s more like our only free time.
Our lunchtime can no longer be classified as ―free time‖ if
we‘re spending most of it sitting down without lunch.
2
ing downhill. People‘s houses are fore
closured because they are getting laid
off from their jobs. This vicious cycle
produces more and more homeless people every day. ―Obama said that he
would $10 billion fund to help homeowners facing foreclosure.‖ says Politifact. This promise would help people
who are kicked out of their houses, living in the streets. This promise was
kept, as he put in $75 million and our
economy is digging itself out of the
ditch.
However, we haven‘t mentioned those who support Obama, and
those who oppose his ideas, otherwise
known as the Democrats and the Republicans. ―Don‘t pressure him, he still has
time in his term to get everything done.‖
says Sydney Tran, a die-hard Democrat.
―He promised a lot, and I would like to
see him do everything. He‘s had enough
time.‖ says Cathy Nguyen, a strong Republican. From here, you can see two
point-of-views that are quite the opposite. No one‘s right, and no one‘s
wrong. These opinions are what make
up the political parties. ―I‘d just like to
see him get all this done. It sounds impossible, doesn‘t it?‖ says an anonymous 8th grader.
President Obama is a great
president, don‘t get me wrong, but are
these promises really going to be kept?
All I can say is, this should get interesting.
Supervising Editor
Ms. Katie Odey
Chief Editor
Annie Tran
Assistant Chief Editor
Parthiv Shah
Editors
Neil Agrawal
Prajwal Choudhry
Sports Editor
Yash Kapoor
Staff Writers
Anita Tharmarajah
Aradhana Vyas
Indya Roberts
Kai Hu
Kene Okafor
Kristine Antanesian
Mae McDermott
Navyada Koshatwar
Nina Agrawal
Rahul Shah
Sike Dibonge
Sooah Sohn
Tanvi Shah
Rocky Hill Page
Ah-Mazing Teachers
Got Pride?
By Nina Agrawal
Staff Writer
Mrs. Williams
8th Grade Math Teacher
Mrs. Wilkerson
6th Grade Science Teacher
TWR: How do you feel about being
nominated teacher of the month?
Mrs. Wilkerson: Humble. I feel excited.
TWR: How long have you been teaching?
Mrs. Wilkerson: I‘ve been teaching seventeen years.
TWR: What other schools or grades
have you taught?
Mrs. Wilkerson: I‘ve taught twelve years
at Cedar Grove in second grade, third
grade, and fifth grade. I‘ve taught here
for sixth grade, seventh grade, and
eighth grade.
TWR: What‘s the best thing about being
a teacher?
Mrs. Wilkerson: The best thing about it
is getting kids excited about science.
TWR: What‘s your favorite animal?
Mrs. Wilkerson: I like giant green caterpillars.
TWR: What made you want to become
a teacher?
Mrs. Wilkerson: I had the best eighth
grade math teacher. She made people
believe they could achieve something
even if they thought they couldn‘t.
TWR: How do you feel about being
nominated teacher of the month?
Mrs. Williams: I was surprised because
kids don‘t usually pick math teachers,
and I was honored.
TWR: How long have you been teaching?
Mrs. Williams: I‘m in my 19th year, I
think.
TWR: What other schools or grades
have you taught?
Mrs. Williams: I taught 5th and 6th
grade at Judith Resnic elementary
school… and Gaithersburg middle
school. I taught math in 6th grade and
then I taught Baker middle school. I
taught math for sixth and seventh grade
and was head of the math department.
Now I‘m here. I teach 8th grade and am
head of the math department.
TWR: What‘s the best thing about being a teacher?
Mrs. Williams: I think the best thing is
working with the students… Every day
is never the same.
TWR: What‘s your favorite animal?
Mrs. Williams: Cats.
TWR: What made you want to become
a teacher?
Mrs. Williams: My father was a principal in Montgomery County Public
Schools. I spent a lot of time in his
school. I had an opportunity for summer jobs, and I played school as a kid.
Navyada Koshatwar
Staff Writer
Every morning you hear
what Rocky Hill‘s definition of
PRIDE is on the morning announcements. But what exactly
is pride? To be PRIDEful, you
have to be Prepared, Respectful, Involved, Disciplined, and
show Effective Effort.
The definition of prepared
is to be properly expectant,
organized, or equipped. To
show preparedness at school,
you can have your materials,
be on time, and have your
homework, every day. For
students to be respectful means
following class procedures and
be aware of others‘ personal
space. What does it mean to be
involved? It means to participate and make an effort and to
follow to an adult‘s requests or
directions. The D in pride
stands for disciplined. What
does that mean? It means to
walk in the hallways and wait
your turn to speak in class.
And last but not least, the E
in pride stands for effective
effort. That means being polite and doing your best.
By showing PRIDE in
various ways at school, you
could earn pride punches.
And with pride punches, you
can get prizes like key chains
and enter the regular drawings for stuff like head of
lunch line and your name in
lights.
So, show your Wildcat
pride. Remember to be Prepared, Respectful, Involved,
Disciplined, and show Effective effort everyday at
school. Showing Pride everyday can make the school a
safer, and better learning environment for kids. So, have
you got Pride?
Student Leadership Program at Rocky Hill
Sooah Sohn
Staff Writer
Rocky Hill Middle School
has just completed a student leadership program for the 2011- 12 school
year. The sixth graders learned about
effective communication and conflict
resolution. The seventh graders focused on anti- bullying and how to be
an ally. The eighth graders learned
about internet safety and cyber- bullying. ―The topics we present and discuss in the Student Leadership Program are topics that we can all learn
from and remember as we go through
the day and interact with other people,‖ says Mrs. Patterson, a sixth
grade counselor. Our school administrators and staff played major roles in
making the program successful.
The overall objective of this
program was to ―empower students to
be productive members of society.‖
Bullying and its forms are important
to know, but it‘s also necessary to
cause. Bullying has been become a
national problem in recent years. Responding to this the problem of bullying,
The White House recently
announced the StopBullying.gov
website to provide kids, parents and
teachers some online resources to
prevent and protect against bullying,
and President Obama and the First
Lady have spoken out against bullying. It is nice to know that counselors
and school administrators at our
school are doing their part to keep us
safe. When asked about the success
of the program so far, Mrs. Patterson
says, ―We know the program is successful because of student interactions – we see students making good
choices throughout the building in
how they treat other students and we
hear students using the ally language
that is part of each of the programs.‖
After going through this program for three years and learning
about the things that happen, you can
never live with yourself if you ever
know how to handle it. This program
will help people to understand not
only how to handle it, but also how to
prevent it. This goes to what the
sixth graders learn- how to communicate effectively and resolve conflicts.
―Throughout the three years of the
student leadership program, you learn
a lot about how to be supportive of
people who need friends that will
stand up for them. Also, you learn
why you should never bully others
and the harm that bullying could
3
just stand by and let someone bully
or join the bully,‖ says Tanvi Shah,
an eighth grader. This is a definite
sign of the program being effective.
The goal of this program was to
change some students to be able to
―keep an open mind, try to consider
other people‘s perspectives, and be
thoughtful about your words and
actions,‖ says Mrs. Patterson. This
program was, obviously, successful, and is sure to leave a footprint
throughout Rocky Hill‘s students‘
lives.
Special Features
The End of the Story
By Mae McDermott
Staff Writer
No matter how hard you try to
put a happy ending to this tale, it can‘t
be done.
After 40 years in business,
Borders book stores have closed for
good. The company announced they are
bankrupt. The very first Borders in Ann
Arbor, Michigan, shut its doors in on
Monday, September 19, 2011. How
could such a benevolent, educationoriented business end with such a disappointing downfall?
After all, Borders had a very
bright future when it started. Borders
was founded by the Borders brothers,
Tom and Louis. In those early days,
they kept three by three paper punch
outs, each with the title and author of
the book the customer was buying. This
way they could keep very precise track
of their stock. You could even say that
this system was the key to Borders‘
success for many years.
Unfortunately, whether we like
it or not, Borders is out of business.
Borders started off as a local bookshop,
and for some, it‘s impossible to just
shrug and walk away. For a lot of customers, Borders is (or was) an important part of their lives.
Rocky Hill student Sunny Paul
says, ―I thought it was a relaxing place
to read.‖ For some, it was as simple as
that – the cozy feeling similar to what
you feel wrapped in a warm blanket at
home.
Even though the offer to go
and read at Borders isn‘t one people
usually jump at, under the surface, Borders actually taught lessons to many
customers as well. One example is Mrs.
Peck, Rocky Hill parent and a fan of
Borders.
―[Borders] changed my view
of bookstores,‖ Mrs. Peck says. ―Prior
to the Borders concept, I had the belief
that one went to a bookstore, bought
the books and left – libraries were for
Borders at the Milestone Shopping Center shuts its doors for good. The empty parking lot, an eerie reminder of the end of an era of good reads and technology
reading books…‖ Mrs. Peck‘s thoughts
changed, however, when Borders
swooped in and saved the day. ―Borders
made it okay to peruse their merchandise and decide if the book was going to
be a good choice. They invited the patrons to sit down and relax. I found it
very refreshing.‖
Some believe that Borders began its decline when it was sold to
Kmart (also the owner of Waldenbooks)
for $125 million and went public in
1995. Perhaps Borders was taken aback
by the demand of the public. Trends are
always changing, and we continuously
discover new and different styles and
technologies. Maybe this threw our
dear, poor old Borders. Perhaps they
couldn‘t change as much as they felt
they needed to, thanks to the always-inmotion world of what-we-like-now.
After all, the public eye is always darting about, always looking for the next
big thing. Believe it or not, we have a
lot of pull being the enormous wave of
people we are. Perhaps what started out
as a sweet little shop simply couldn‘t
keep up with the times.
On the other hand, Amazon
and the internet also had a part in the
death of our dear bookstore. Borders
eventually decided to create their own
website. However, it was sold to Amazon, and Amazon zoomed ahead of Borders in the book category with online
sales. Borders had accidently fueled the
success of one of their own competitors.
Even when Borders later stepped back
into the online world, they were far behind other businesses. New technology
began to tear the business apart. The
Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble
Nook took over the market and left Borders even farther behind. More and
more people switched to online options
for their reading needs. Few people
seem to even hold a good old book in
their hands; to feel the paper, to smell
that book smell we used to love. Several
Rocky Hill students agree that Borders
simply couldn‘t decide which move to
make next.
Even Borders lovers have to
admit that Borders did not make the
best financial choices at times. Borders‘
decision to create a music department
completely backfired on them when
downloading started to catch on. No
longer was there any need to walk to
the store and buy an album or CD. It
was easier to download it onto a mobile device or laptop. The business
was losing money quickly, as well as
its loyal customers. Perhaps in an
effort to win back customers, the Borders Reward Program was introduced.
Since it was free to customers, the
company lost even more money.
Rocky Hill‘s chorus teacher,
Mr. Heinemann, admits that he only
visited Borders when he had a gift
card. ―I found their prices extremely
high,‖ he says. ―Often times their sale
prices were still higher than Amazon
and Best Buy. In my opinion, that is
probably why they went out of business.‖
Borders has taken its last
breath. We wish it wasn‘t true, for
we have fond memories of our favorite bookstore. But book lovers have a
message to relay: Borders forgot their
main purpose. They forgot their
pledge to literature somewhere along
the way; perhaps our culture is on its
way there as well.
Pick up a book. Enjoy them
while they last. Whether a hard cover
or soft, books are a part of the soul.
There are some things that are sacred,
whether it be an original manuscript,
a first edition of Hemingway, or your
favorite childhood story that you want
to pass on to your children. There are
some things we should hold on to.
Coca-Cola Freestyle
Indya Roberts
Staff Writer
Introducing the new CocaCola Freestyle Machine! Over 100
drinks at your fingertips; new flavors
like Raspberry Coke and Vanilla
Root Beer! These day, there are so
many Coca-Cola flavors that you mix
up different kind to come up with
your own flavor. This Year the CocaCola Freestyle Machine has won a
Gold Award for ―Best New Product‖
in the ―New Retail Frontiers‖ category. Coke celebrates their 125th anniversary this year. To celebrate, they
are adding 19 more flavors to the Coca Cola Freestyle; therefore, there are
now 125 flavor Five Guys has recently became the largest chain restaurant
to own the Coca-Cola Freestyle Machine.
Many other major food
chains own the Coca-Cola Freestyle
Machine. Most of the major chain
style. ―The new Coke machine is
really cool, and I think it‘s one of
the more
―The new Coke machine is really
cool, and I think it‘s one of the
more sophisticated pieces of machinery out there.‖ –Annie Tran
―The new machine is so high
tech.‖- Yash Kapoor
―It is new advanced technology,
and has flavors that will burst in
your mouth.‖-Indya Roberts
―It really shows how technology
has been improving these days.‖ –
Chanel Chung
restaurants as well as the unpopular
restaurants own the Coca-Cola Freestyle Machine.
The Coca-Cola Freestyle allows Coke to monitor the machines.
Coke can see what flavors are most
popular, what flavors they need to
eliminate, and how often people use
them. While the machine is in use
Coke can take control over the ma-
chine. For example, Coke can tell the
machine to discontinue, and they can
even shut it down if the situation
calls for it.
Coke has been around for
over a hundred years, offering over
500 brand in over 200 countries.
Who knows what there next invention will be on the Coca Cola Free-
4
Special Features
Women In Politics
Anita Tharmarajah
Staff Writer
As we enter the 2012 election year we are seeing more women running for office. Women have
come a very long way, and it is
always intriguing to see them compete on the political stage. This
year has seen women run for congress, the senate and for president
of The United States. Interestingly
it is not unprecedented to women
running for the highest office. Historically, Indira Gandhi was India‘s
Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977,
and Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of The United Kingdom from
1979 to 1990. Who would forget
Maria Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo,
the 14th president of the Philippines
from 2001 to 2010? In United
States, we have a record of remarkable women in public service. Hillary Clinton, our former first lady
became the first wife of a president
to run for office and won the Senate seat for the state of New York.
Later she made history in 2008
when she ran president of the United States. But we can‘t be sure
what differences it would have
made to have a female president.
Hillary Clinton, former first lady,
ran a spirited campaign against
Obama in the primary elections in
2008. This year Michele Bachmann
is running for the Republican nomination. Women are making great
strides in politics. Just two years
ago, Nancy Pelosi was the speaker
of the house.
People may think that
women are not fit for the position.
However, others may like having a
woman president. The opinions
have been proven to vary because
people believe that women may
have a stronger chance than men,
Sike Dibonge
Staff Writer
Clichés are categorized as elements within an artistic work (like movies, TV shows, music videos) ―that
[have] become common enough to be
seen as predictable, tired, overused, and
generally unfavorable.‖ Basically, it‘s
something that you‘ve seen one too
many times to surprise you. This happens mostly in movies, when you see a
certain scene or hear a word or phrase
that keys you in that a cliché is about to
appear.
There are several known
claims, but the most known clichés are:
Flashbacks – These are so common,
especially when you see the character
gaze into the sky as if they are remembering something; which is a flashback.
Flashbacks usually occur to explain a
chain of events as a result of something
in the past, which is where the flashbacks come in.
School Bully – Ah, the famed school
wife of former president Bill Clinton, has impacted our society in
many ways from helping at voting
booths during college to be secretary of state. She ran for president
in the primary elections in 2008. As
secretary of state, she advises the
president on foreign issues and sets
up meetings with ambassadors and
prime ministers. With the treat of
terrorism and political uproar in
different parts of the world, Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton has
not only represented our country
judiciously, but she has played a
remarkable diplomatic role in promoting peace and justice internationally.
and can
make better choices for the country.
No one is really sure how their choices will affect our countries, but we
have high hopes for these honored
women. There are many examples of
women in politics today around the
world.
Benazir Bhutto became the
first female Prime Minister of Pakistan and was assassinated in December of 2007. Some women run for
federal office while a majority of others are elected to various positions at
the state and local government levels. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
became the female judge on the Supreme Court, today we have three
female judges. Let‘s take a look at
some of the most powerful female
politicians across the world.
cellor of Germany. She is known for her pragmatic politics and maintaining the balance of power in a coalition. She has
been praised for steering Germany
through its recession blues. A Barbie
doll was modeled after the Chancellor last year, simply because she is a
good role model for girls around the
world.
Sonia Gandhi
Sonia Gandhi doesn't hold
any positions in the government of
India but she is the most powerful
political leader in the world's largest
democracy. She had faced stiff opposition and criticism from senior
leaders of her own party due to her
foreign origins. She is the Italian wife
of Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, a former Indian
prime minister who was assassinated
Julia Gillard
by terrorists. People say that Gandhi
She is Australia's first wom- has managed to capture the absolute
an prime minister. She is known for power, but has zero accountability.
her outspoken views on labor rights,
In America we have many
women's issues and involvement with women such as Hillary Clinton and
student politics. She is a lawyer and Michele Obama. Both of their hushad been in charge of health, educa- bands have served as democratic
tion, employment and immigration
presidents. Mrs. Obama‘s husband,
ministries before becoming prime
President Barak Obama is our current
minister.
president.
Angela Merkel
Hillary Clinton
She is the first woman chanHillary Rodham Clinton,
Clichés
bully. The school bully usually appears in movies and shows for
younger children, to warn them of
what‘s to come in the movie/story.
School bullies are cliché because
they are usually male, fat, and constantly hurting the main character
and demanding lunch money. This
happens in multiple kid movies and
TV shows, like Everybody Hates
Chris and Max Keeble’s Big Move.
The ―Blame Game‖ – When the
main character has a younger (and
very annoying) sibling, this cliché
seems to pop up multiple times.
The younger sibling does
something bad, usually breaking a
prized object of one of the parents,
or making a mess. And the main
character, as the older sibling, is
blamed for the destruction and therefore grounded/scolded. 30 minutes to
an hour later it is revealed, or the
younger sibling reveals, that it was
actually them and the older one is
put back in the good graces of the
parent.
And last but certainly not
least…
Double-Booking – Its freshman year
and the main character is a dopey,
nerdy 15 year old who just wants a
date to the dance. So, after much
peer pressure and goading from his
5
Michele Obama
Michele Obama,
wife of our current president, has
made a big impact as a First Lady.
Her initiative to stop to childhood
obesity has led to changes in our
lives. She continues to work with
schools and various organizations
to promote healthy eating habits.
Mrs. Obama initiated The Let‘s
Move campaign to encourage children to help kids stay physically
active. As a first lady who interacts
with the rich and famous, she still
identifies with regular America.
Clearly she is very approachable.
Michelle Bachmann
Michelle Bachmann is running for the Republican nomination.
She is the female Republican to
represent the state of Minnesota in
congress. She hopes to change
many things for the country such as
health care reform and wasteful
spending. She has been known for
being a strong supporter of the Tea
Party movement. Clearly she is a
strong woman who believes in herself and her ability to be a strong
leader.
already-taken friends, he asks out a
girl. She says that she asked someone
else, or she doesn‘t know; so he asks
another girl. This girl happily accepts,
having been rejected many times as
well. Shoot forward to the dance,
where the main character is
(somewhat) happily waiting for his
date. The girl who rejected him approaches him, so you can tell she‘s
been rejected by her date and needs
someone to go with. The guy accepts,
completely forgetting about his last
resort. And as this cliché goes, he
manages to go back and forth between
both girls until they finally approach
him, having realized he was duping
them.
This cliché usually ends with the guy
apologizing to both girls, and then
falling for the last resort.
Writer’s Corner
Heck: Where The Bad Kids Go
Bratfest at Tiffany’s
By Dale E. Basye
By Lisi Harrison
Sike Dibonge
Staff Writer
Bratfest at Tiffany‘s is the next
book in the infamous Clique series by
Lisi Harrison. After a long and
eventful summer, as described in the
Clique Summer series, OCD—an allgirls private school—learns that they
are being forced to become BOCD as
the Briarwood—the all-boys private
school near OCD—boys join the
OCD girls for their last year in middle school. Both Briarwood and
OCD are excited for the merge except for Massie, the alpha of OCD.
Massie knows that the boys
will come first to the OCD girls, who
have been deprived of their much
needed boy-time since preschool
ended. And that means that she
won‘t be on top anymore, and everyone knows Massie would rather wear
Gap then give up her spot as alpha of
OCD.
Of course, being the conniving and sly girl that she is, she comes
up with plan to keep herself on top,
where she belongs.
Massie and her clique—
called the Pretty Committee and
made of Alicia, Dylan, Kristen, and
Claire—go on a ―boyfast‖. Basically,
The Pretty Committee is giving up
dating or flirting with the Briarwood
boys forever, or at least until high
school. If they don‘t comply with
Massie‘s rules they‘re out of the
Mae McDermott
Staff Writer
group faster than you can say LBR
(Loser Beyond Repair), a fate
worse than staining their Gucci
handbags.
But we all know how hard
it will be for the Pretty Committee
to resist the guys they‘ve been
crushing on since sixth grade. And
what will happen when Alicia is
crushing on a Briarwood cutie and
doesn‘t want Massie to know? Or
when Claire flirts with a new guy to
get her ex-boyfriend jealous? And
what about Kristen, who‘s trading
her sporty-chic look for something
more surfer-girl to impress a certain
surfer boy? But what‘s worse of all
is that Massie might even be falling
hard for an unattainable herself….
looks like this fast will be harder to
stick to than the South Beach diet.
Lisi Harrison has once
again managed to create a novel
that lets us delve into the world of
upper class popularity at its prime,
and what they‘ll do to stay on top.
Heck: Where The Bad Kids Go,
is a fictional series by Dale E. Basye.
The story is about Milton and Marlo
Fauster‘s descent into Heck, a world similar to Hell but only for bad children.
Heck is specially designed to be horrible
for everyone inhabiting the dreadful
place.
Marlo, the tough, thieving sister
of Milton, is intent on making history by
committing the biggest crime Generica
Mall has ever seen. Marlo plans to hit a
series of stores in the mall, stealing various items, followed by what she believes
will be the grand explosion of the mall‘s
giant marshmallow bear decoration.
While Marlo‘s heist is underway, she and
Milton die from the heat and sheer force
of the explosion. Milton and Marlo are
sent directly to Heck and are supervised
by demons, specifically Bea ―Elsa‖
Bubb.
During his short lifetime, Milton
is a quiet, geeky bookworm and is always well-behaved. He only commits
one petty crime in his life right before his
death when Marlo tricks him into stealing cosmetics from the mall. Convinced
there has been some sort of mishap, he is
fixed on escaping along with Marlo,
Lucky (his loyal ferret), and Virgil, a
new friend who was already a resident of
Heck before they made their arrival.
Heck certainly lives up to its
name. The foursome temporarily lose
Lucky, and they even visit different levels of Hell during one attempted
breakout. After several failed attempts at
escape, brutal fights and encounters with
ruthless bullies and the gang starts to lose
hope.
The Tale Of One Lucky Turkey
By Parthiv Shah, Annie Tran, Neil
Agrawal and Ms. Odey
We turkeys live our lives in
peace like most other living creatures. It
just seems like every holiday season, we
end up on the menus of most humans.
Thanksgiving is the worst period for
turkeys. I woke up on fine day late in
November. I had my breakfast, the same
old processed seeds. After breakfast, I
talked with my friends and played some
Turkeyball, basketball for humans. Everything was happy and peaceful until the
farmer came. He sauntered throughout
our field, and eyed all the turkeys with
experienced eyes seeking for the meatiest one of us, I guess. This is the process of choosing turkeys for Thanksgiving. He came up to me, and grabbed me
by my tail feathers. As any sensible turkey knows, if the farmer comes and
picks you up, you need to bite kick and
squawk… So that‘s what I did. I was
squawking, flapping my wings, and
scratching as hard as I could, but the
farmer was too strong.
As he carried me to the house I
pondered my fate. The farmer drove me
over to an ominous looking house and
put me in a room. And can you believe
he left me there, all alone? I heard his
old Chevy truck cranking as he drove
off. Shortly after that, some weird look-
Finally, though, the desperate
group creates a balloon out of lost spirits. The escape to float to The Surface
and back to life starts out well. Unfortunately, with the combined weights of
all four misfits, the balloon is too
heavy. Knowing that she had a hand in
the demise of both her and her little
brother, Marlo stays in Heck. Virgil
sacrifices himself as well and Milton
and Lucky rise to The Surface.
Milton comes back to life and
realizes that although one‘s days are
numbered, that number is infinity.
Overall, Milton‘s experience in Heck
provides him with a new mission in his
after-afterlife: to rescue his pals from
the dangerous world of Heck.
This text offers a very distinct
and deep view on the afterlife, as well
as the complicated relationship that
always exists in different ways between
siblings. Dale E. Basye makes Death, a
subject usually frowned upon at the
dinner table, lighter and easier to discuss and imagine. The text shows that
the word has a whole universe existing
behind it, and even though it can be a
harsh word, death will always be interpreted in distinct and thoughtful ways.
Death can be an awful thing,
but this story This shows that even the
haunting matter of death has a bright
side.
A Kiss in Time by Alex Finn
ing man came in and took me into another room. I saw many other turkeys
there, and I soon figured out my fate.
The lump in my throat was too hard to
swallow. One of the older and wiser
turkeys, Willywise, told me that we
were going to be slaughtered. I met and
became friends four other turkeys, Willywise, Jenny, Walter, and Bill. We
made a pact to look out for one another.
On November, 23, two scary
looking men walked into our room and
before I knew it, they grabbed Jenny,
then Walter, and finally Bill. One of the
men was missing a front tooth, and I
knew that it was a sign of terrible things
to come. After grabbing the other three
turkeys, they came for Willywise and
me. We had to think of a diplomatic
way to solve this problem. We decided
to negotiate with our captors. We pleaded for our lives. The men agreed to pardon one of us, but there was a need for
the president‘s approval. The president
of the free world had to decide which
turkey to pardon. I stood there looking
cute and innocent. It worked. All my
friends ended up as the main course for
most families. I received the presidential pardon and ended up on a farm in
Idaho.
Today as I live my quiet boring life on this farm with nothing to do,
I think about my best friends who got
eaten during that awful day in November. Now I just wish that all turkeys
would unite and boycott those dinner
tables. We need to stand up and end
inturkane behavior!
Sike Dibonge
Staff Wrirer
You‘ve all read Sleeping
Beauty right? Well, A Kiss in Time by
Alex Finn is a remake designed for the
teens of the 21st-century. Much like
Sleeping Beauty, a princess pricks her
finger on a spindle before her 16th
birthday and is awoken by true love‘s
first kiss.
Except there‘s a twist; a big one!
Jack, the leading man in A Kiss In
Time, was sent on vacation to Europe
for a ―week full of fun‖ with his best
friend, Travis and expects it to be that.
However, it turns out the exact opposite. Instead of going on cool Europe
scooters, seeing fancy restaurants and
pretty European women, Travis and
Jack are stuck in an endless cycle of
boring museum tours.
That is, until Jack and Travis
decide to ditch the tour and get a map
to the nearest beach, where they can
lay and catch some rays. Through a
whirlwind of complicated events that
all started with a grumpy concierge,
Travis and Jack find themselves looking through hedges and trying to get to
a forbidden ―beach‖ on the other side.
Instead they uncover a new, medieval
world complete with a castle bigger
than the Queen of England‘s. They go
inside the castle and find a pretty girl
sleeping. Some magical force urges
6
Jack to kiss Talia, and he does, awaking a whole small country that‘s been
sleeping for 300 years.
Talia, tired of being confined in the
castle for so long, and making everyone sleep for 300 years after pricking
a spindle, runs away with Jack even
though her knowledge of the world is
so small. As Jack and Talia journey
from Europe to America, Jack teaches
Talia all about the ―new world‖ of
2011 and she teaches him of her land,
Euphrasia, and how she was the princess.
Throughout the story, with events
ranging from an evil ex-girlfriend to
Talia meeting Jack‘s family, they both
learn the meaning of true happiness,
and what it‘s like to fall in love.
Sports
Yash Kapoor
Sports Editor
The New Face of the Redskins
The Washington Redskins are
entering their second year under head
coach, Mike Shanahan, and the 4-3 defense. If the pre-season is any indication of what will happen this season, the
Redskins will do a lot better than they
have in the previous years. The ‗skins
made some obvious moves during the
lockout and training camp when they
dropped injury riddled Clinton Portis,
traded QB Donovan McNabb who was
coming of his worst season in his career, and they also traded NT Albert
Haynesworth. They resigned key players to the offense including the team‘s
leading wide out, Santana Moss, and
starting QB Rex Grossman who threw
for 305 yards in the season opener
against the New York football Giants.
They also added key players, RB Tim
Hightower from the Arizona Cardinals,
and WR Jabar Gaffney who had a
touchdown in the opener against New
York. The Redskins surprised everyone
when they decided not to draft QB
Blaine Gabbert, and traded the pick to
the Jags and drafted DE Ryan Kerrigan
who was a great addition to the defense.
He was already loaded with pro bowl
MVP Deanglo Hall, SS Laron Landry,
London Fletcher and Rocky McIntosh.
The Redskins could possibly be a
playoff contender in the NFC.
I sat down with News 4 Sports
Anchor Dan Hellie on September 28th,
and previewed the Redskin 20112012.―I think they‘re better, but how
much better is yet to be seen‖. He also
The Redskins working as a team
nounced that there will be a change in
the starting quarter bag position. Even
though Rex Grossman had played
successfully, putting the Redskins at
the best possible position with a 3-1, it
commented on the spirit of the team
room. ―They have a very positive
locker room.‖ He also talked about
Rex Grossman‘s comments on winning the NFC East Grossman. ―We
don't need people saying we're the
best right now, but when it's all said
and done, I really feel like this team's
gonna win the East.‖ In response Dan
Hellie said, ―It‘s good for players to
be confident. But I don‘t know if they
could really win the division.‖ I agree
with Mr. Hellie the Redskins are better but by how much is yet to be seen.
There are many curveballs, theoretically speaking, in the football season,
and we can‘t necessarily base the
Redskins‘ success off the first couple
games that they have played.
After losing the Philadelphia Eagle on
October 16, Coach Shanahan an-
was difficult to over look the interceptions that ultimately led to the
loss to the Eagles. As Earl Holland
puts it in his article on
www.delmarvanow.com, ―After
five games, six touchdowns and
nine interceptions, capped by a four
-interception performance in the
first half against the Eagles, Grossman was benched in favor of Beck.‖
The Skins still lost that game
against the Eagles. We can only
hope that John Beck will put the
Redskins on the winning column
once again.
So far the Redskins have
gone on to lose two more games,
first to the Carolina Panthers on
October 23, and a devastating lose
to a Buffalo Bills on October 30.
With a 3-4 and a host of injuries
that have grounded some key players, the Redskins may have lost the
chance of a Super Bowl. We‘ll just
have to stay tuned.
Mr. Hellie talks with Sports Editor, Yash Kapoor and Staff Writer, Aradhana Vyas
Hanging with Mr. Dan Hellie
By The Wildcat Roar Crew
Meeting Dan Hellie, an esteemed sports reporter, on September
27th, was an honor for the Newspaper
Club. Being able to ask this one man
about the many athletes we know and
loved was a treat. Being able to get the
inside scoop with all the latest sports
news was different from watching it at
home, lying on the couch.
When we interviewed Mr.
Hellie, he told us that commitment was
the key to being a good sports writer or
journalist. Mr. Hellie said he has been
to seven Super Bowls, National Championship games, the U.S. Open. Some
of the most interesting players he has
ever met are Tiger Woods, Chris Cooley, and Dwight Howard. When asked
how playing three different sports in
high school influenced his decision to
become a sports anchor, he said that he
had always been sports fan. When attending the University of Tennessee,
he wanted to work as an athlete, but
when he realized that he wasn‘t going
to get a scholarship for sports activity,
he decided to take a different route and
talk about sports on TV rather than
play sports for a living. Mr. Hellie enjoys football because it is a tough sport
and you have to be tough to play. His
favorite positions include tight end,
linebacker, and defense. Mr. Whiting
used to be Mr. Hellie‘s teacher, and
when asked what his fondest memory
Our Newspaper Club during our group interview with esteemed sports reporter,
Dan Hellie.
of Mr. Whiting was, he said that he remembered that Mr. Whiting was his softball coach. Mr. Hellie said that he remembered that he had a good relationship with Mr. Whiting, and that coaches
often have good relationship with their
students.
A sports writer ―needs to have
commitment, and you have to be a fan in
what you‘re reporting on. Also, you have
to make good contact with the players
and get the inside information.‖ It‘s an
exciting job to be able to go around
watching all the sports events. You get to
go to all these big sports events that people have to wait for months to get tickets
to. ―I‘ve been to 7 Super Bowls, National
Championship games, the Buccaneers vs.
Raiders in Orlando, Florida, the Daytona
500, and the Giants vs. Patriots game. At
this game, I snuck onto the field before
the actual game started to get good information. I figured that I looked like the
men that were on the field because I was
wearing a suit and tie too, so I just snuck
on there.‖ Dan Hellie said. Another interesting part about being a good sports
writer is meeting all these sports players
that only regular folks like us can see on
TV. Gilbert Arenas, Dwight Howard,
Tiger Woods, and Chris Cooley are just
some of the players that Mr. Dan Hellie
have met. This also means that he has the
opportunity to get up close and personal
with these special individuals. ―Tiger
Woods is one of the most famous athletes
in the world right now. His façade is very
guarded; you can‘t really tell what he‘s
feeling.‖ A significant player that is very
close to Mr. Dan Hellie is Chris Cooley,
who is seen as one of the players that
7
Dan Hellie is closer to. ―I actually consider
him as one of my friends.‖
Interests in sports don‘t develop
out of thin air, and it certainly doesn‘t appear out of nowhere if you‘re pursuing it as
a career in life. For Mr. Hellie, his interest
in sport developed as a child, playing all
the sports he could get his hands on. However, his all-time favorite was, and still is,
football. ―You can‘t play football and not
be tough. Football embodies everything
about athletics.‖ As a teenager, Dan Hellie
wanted a scholarship in football, but he
then realized that he couldn‘t get one, and
that didn‘t turn out to be his calling. After
that, he started to study journalism and
he‘s happy with his choice. ―It really helps
to play the sport for the base of your
knowledge. You have to know what you‘re
talking about.‖ His favorite team is our
home team, the Redskins! No one can resist having a bias for another team, and
maybe considering that our home team just
isn‘t good enough.
So far in the season, however,
they have made an incredible recovery, and
our opinion may just change.
Writer’s Corner and Opinions Cont.
Children’s Programming
Mae McDermott
Staff Writer
In spite of the growing love of
internet games and video games, children still watch an enormous amount
of television. You know that warm,
fuzzy feeling you get when you think
of a favorite children‘s program that‘s
vanished from the air? Those loving
buzzes traveling all around your head
when you recall shows like Hey Arnold!, All That and The Powerpuff
Girls? That childish laughter that surges through your mind when you remember those jokes you‘ve memorized
and placed in a special file in the back
of your mind is priceless.
Everyone has their favorite
childhood show and their favorite network that they occasionally pass as
they flip channels on the TV. But are
those gleeful, children-oriented networks losing their gentle touch? Now
is your chance to decide if children‘s
programming has taken a turn for better or for worse.
More and more parents seem
to disapprove of shows like iCarly and
Degrassi. They can be interpreted as
SERIOUSLY inappropriate and their
lessons are certainly arguable: have
your first kiss when you‘re fourteen,
humiliate those who you don‘t like. ―I
think channels such as Disney and
Nickelodeon really encourage kids to
grow up too fast,‖ a former Rocky Hill
student says, ―By showing influential
characters like Carly from iCarly kissing at a young age, it makes 13 year
olds feel ugly or unwanted because
cret demons. Besides, I‘m too old
for Barbie dolls.‖
What age group are Nickelodeon and Disney Channel creating
shows for, anyway? It might seem
as though they are making shows
for adults rather than children. They
could be creating for the wrong audience.
Then again, loyal fans to
these networks still take pride to be
a viewer of their shows. Perhaps
it‘s not the networks, but children
these days. We have certainly
changed over the years, and sometimes we act more adult than we
should. Is it US forgetting OUR
place? Or are we getting greedy and
precocious, too old to care about
Spongebob and his old jokes? Maybe modern children‘s networks are
just adapting to what us kids like
and want to watch on TV. Maybe
they felt they didn‘t have the
choice. After all, they are CHILDREN‘S networks, and it is their
job to make us laugh. Maybe they
thought, Well, if they think this stuff
is funny, so be it. We could get shut
down if we don’t have enough viewers. They have to appeal to their
audience or yes, they can get shut
down.
they haven‘t. It‘s not you that‘s ugly. It‘s society.‖ Perhaps parents
and some older siblings are worried
that these ―lessons‖ and sometimes
very mature stories are having a bad
effect on younger children.
Some argue that being a
child is a simple time, a time for
you to be careless and free rather
than worrying about what clothes to
wear and what others think of you,
much less what you are looking for
in a boyfriend/ girlfriend. Being a
child is- well, exactly that. It‘s
about being a child; being silly and
being young and full of life, not yet
touched by the harmful clutches of
society. Children don‘t need that
kind of stress in their lives; they
don‘t want it either. Never would
you hear a little girl say, ―No thanks
mom, I‘d rather go read Vanity
Fair. After all, Johnny Depp is on
the cover and it talks about his se-
complicated. It‘s definitely an annoying repetition, that these simple,
fun things keep getting added to the
antique store, and that we as a society can‘t even comprehend the
phrase, ―Less is more.‖ Maybe
someday we‘ll be able to turn back
the clock and go back to, ―It‘s Mattel, it‘s swell!‖ but right now, children are watching soap operas.
Don‘t you think that‘s a little mature?
―I think that [these new
shows] are more like soap operas
than kid‘s shows,‖ Navyada Koshatwar, RH sixth grader, says. ―They
show drama that doesn‘t really happen in real life, and it makes kids
more self-conscious about their social lives.‖
It is true that many of us
kids like acting mature and playing
pretend. A lot of us are mature for
real, and may as well go to work and
pay taxes. For sure, though, we don‘t
like being mature ALL the time.
Everyone, everywhere, needs and
likes to relax sometimes. Now we
can‘t even relax by watching TV,
because all of ours problems appear
on the screen in front of us. Maybe
we should just act our age.
Do we really even know
what the definition of ―Kid‖ means
anymore?
Here we are again, yet another
promising program that was meant to
be simple and fun turned twisted and
The Life of Fall: A short story
Tanvi Shah
Staff Writer
Each year from September 21st to
December 21st, a new season comes
to town to take the place of Sumera,
her sister. Autumna is her name,
but we call her Autumn or Fall. Her
sisters call her Falla because she is
always running and falling. Her
birthday is the Autumnal Equinox
(September 21st) and she leaves us
on December 21st, the birthday of
her oldest sister, Wintra. Autumna
is the younger twin of Sprina, and
Sumera is older than them both but
is younger than Wintra. Their mother is Natura and their father is
Queski. To us, the Season sisters
(called that because of their differences in personality) are called
Spring, Summer, Autumn, and
Winter due to mispronunciations by
early women. The seasons could
only be seen by women or young
girls who believed in the ancient
legends of the season sisters and
their life.
Their story can only be told
when they are on earth with their
mother and father. Autumna comes
to earth in the first flurry of leaves
and leaves in the first flurry of
snow. Right now, Autumna is here
and I must tell her story. She appeared in my backyard on her birthday and whispered in a voice like
rustling leaves and leaves swirling to
the ground, ―My name is Autumna
and I am a messenger from my sisters and myself. We need someone to
tell our story in four parts, each sister
to have her own share. You must
send these stories to the world.
Please, otherwise our mother Natura
will die and our father Queski will
also die for your people have hurt
our parents by trashing their home
and ours with pollution and smoke.
Please, you are our only hope.‖ I
stood stock still, staring at this beautiful woman in an orange, red and
yellow dress wearing slippers with a
leaf print. Her brown hair sparkled
and glowed as it swirled around her
shoulders by an unseen wind. Her
luminous brown eyes were glistening with tears at the thought of her
parents dying.
I knew then that I would help. As if
Autumna had read my mind, she
cried out in a voice full of gratuity,
―Oh thank you! Thank you so
much!‖ Then she regained her composure and once her hair had settled
down once more, Autumna spoke
once more, ―When you go to bed
this evening, you will hear rustling
leaves. You must immediately open
your window and whisper to the oak
tree in your back yard, ‗I believe
and I accept the task‘ and then you
must wait until you see a breeze
8
with leaves of red and green, a few
snowflakes, a blade of grass, a pink
pansy, and a small cloud. Once you
see the sacred breeze you will have
our blessing and then you must go to
your bed and you must sleep. Once
you wake up, you will contain the
knowledge of my life with my parents.‖ She turned and began to run
away, her brown hair flying. I opened
my mouth to speak, but before I
could utter a word, she called over
her shoulder as she began to fall,
―Don‘t worry my dear, all your questions will be answered by the morning!‖ and she disappeared right before she hit the ground. I rubbed my
eyes and blinked, convinced that she
had gone straight into the big oak
tree that she would have banged into
if she had fallen. I knew that I wouldn‘t be able to tell anyone. That night
I heard the rustling of leaves, and I
immediately opened the window and
fulfilled the instructions that Autumna had given me, and when I saw the
breeze I was amazed.
The breeze was a rainbow of
colors and yet, the items of the family stood out completely. As the
breeze began to slow and then stop, I
suddenly felt different. I was more
mature and ready to fulfill the task
given to me.
Life on The Hill
Holiday Toy Test For The KidsPost
Indya Roberts
Staff Writer
With contribution from Ms. Odey
On Wednesday October 19 in
Ms. Odey‘s Period 1 reading class, we
tested some holiday toys for KidsPost.
We were all very excited to play with
toys instead of reading and identifying
text structures! We continued with our
test structure lessons afterwards, but it
was a fun break from all that work.
One game we played was ―Rapid Response.‖ ―Rapid Response‖ runs by
itself, has cool funky designs, and outrageous colors. Most of the students
who played with this toy said that the
game was easy to build. ―There‘s nothing not to like,‖ says Yogi Buht.
KidPost gave us an opportunity to
evaluate these toys since it is that time
of the year when kids have Christmas
and toys on their minds. One of the
questions asked was, ―Would you buy
this toy with your own money?‖
Seemed like a trick question, but we
had our say. ―No, because it would be
sold out,‖ says Keyara Henriques,
after playing with ―Rapid Resonse,‖
Clearly this is one toy that would be on
a few wish lists this holiday season.
Paola Alvarado states, ―I would love to
show my brother and parents.‖ Based
on other people's opinions, I would
want to buy the game too.
Another game we
played was ―Monopoly Electronic
Banking‖. Most kids rated this toy 810. With this upgraded version of
―Monopoly‖ you can do much more,
much faster. KidsPost wanted to know
if the toy was easy to put together and
if not, we had to explain the problem.
Uma Vishnubnotla, who had the pleasure of playing with the Monopoly
Kory, Bryant, Paola and Keyara discuss how to play and have maximum fun
with the Rapid Response game.
Electronic Banking, had something
good to say about the toy. ―Yes, because there weren't a lot of pieces,‖
says Uma. The new upgraded version
of ―Monopoly‖ is way more organized. Why? Instead of using paper
money, you have banking cards what
kept the scores, or rather, how much
money each player had. It was use d
like a credit card to purchase and to
keep balances. Usually, paper can be
all over the place. Kids Post asks us,
Would you buy this with your own
money? Abby Thomas says, ―Yes it
teaches you about real life banking
and money.‖ Based on this comment,
you can get the conclusion that this
upgraded version of ―Monopoly‖ is
educational, as well as the old version
too. The ―Monopoly Electronic
Banking‖ game can bring out best
and the worst of you. Let‘s face it, we
are getting good lesson on how the
credit card works. We can actually
learn to be good custodians of our
hard earned money!
Some of the toys did not
John Philip and Syed try to figure out to play with the Wi-Fi controlled
Helicopter
Making a Difference 26.2 Miles at a
Time
Being Yourself
By Kristine Antanesian
Staff Writer
Everyone has a different
perspective on life and people.
Someone you know might be the
kind of person who doesn‘t give
much thought to how they look. Others might be the complete opposite.
Either way, it‘s getting harder and
harder to be yourself with all the bad
influences floating in the air. But the
one thing people have to remember
in order to have a successful year
here at Rocky Hill, and anywhere
else for that matter, is to be you.
Being who you really are is a very
difficult thing to do.
The honest truth is that if
someone doesn‘t have a thick layer
of their own atmosphere, the words
of others really might get that someone thinking that they aren‘t who
they should be. That‘s why it‘s so
important to know who you are. Being who you are is something that a
lot of people underestimate. People
have to find who they really are and
stick with it. I found that some people who have lied about themselves
not only hurt the people they lied to,
but they find that when their friends
do eventually find out, they don‘t
take it as a joke and they do actually
get hurt. Believe it or not, a good
make the cut, I should say. The WiFi Controlled Helicopter did not
come with the parts needed to fly it.
Why would we need an iPhone 3G,
4G or an Android iPhone to fly a
helicopter? How many kids have
IPhones?
Another unpopular toy was
the Scrabble Turbo Slam. Students
were not able to play with it because
they needed a screwdriver to open
the battery compartment. The toy
needs batteries as well. ―I‘m sure I
would like to play it if I had batteries,‖ says Mae McDermott.
For what it is worth, we took
a well deserved break to test toys.
We love KidsPost for giving us this
unique opportunity. Hopefully our
assessments of the toys would help
children when they make their wish
list for Santa this holiday season.
Ms. Odey
Supervising Editor
She‘s tough, competitive,
disciplined, and certainly no stranger
to healthy living and an active lifestyle. She is Ms. Tippet, the beloved
PE and Health teacher, whose life
and talents have touched the lives of
so many at Rocky Hill and beyond.
She may have run too many races to
count. Ms. Tippet was one of the
30,000 runners from all walks of life,
who braved the bitter cold that Sunday morning to participate in 36th
annual Marine Corps Marathon on
October 30. There were thousands of
spectators who witnessed this patriotic event in Arlington, VA and Washington DC.
Her return to ―The Hill‖ for
a normal school day on Tuesday November 1 after running a marathon,
was unceremonious. Her unassuming
demeanor at the tennis courts on
Tuesday during her PE class , did not
divulge the fact that she ran the 26.2
mile-race in less than five hours.
4.55 hours, to be exact. This was her
fifth marathon. She finished the previous ones in less time. Imagine that!
number of people do actually get hurt
when they find out the truth abou their
friends. That‘s where it gets really
difficult.
People need to not
only try their hardest to be themselves
but to actually consider the people
who care about them as well . ―A true
friend would accept you for who you
are,‖ says Ms. Odey. We need to accept who we are and not try to be
someone else.
―I have a friend who caught
up with the wrong crowd and now
isn‘t exactly what she used to be,‖
says a sixth grader. Another sixth
grader says,‖ I had a friend that was
involved with movies and child
friendly things and is now a bit out of
his league.‖
Part of showing pride is to
being who we are while being prepared, respectful, involved, disciplined and show effective effort.
9
Ms. Tippet poses with a US Marine
after the race
―My motivation is that it is
such a challenge,‖ says Ms. Tippet. It is
worth noting that Ms. Tippet is among
the 1% of the population that would run
a marathon. She admits that she likes to
challenge herself. ―I like to challenge
myself. If it were easy, everyone would
do it!‖ says Ms. Tippet.
As much as we applaud her for
another successful marathon, we cannot
lose sight of the fact that the races she
has participated in have made a difference in the lives of many people. The
Marine Corps Marathon honors the
dedication of our veterans from various
wars. Ms. Tippet plans to run another
marathon in March. For all you do we
tip our hats to you, Ms. T.
Technology World
Watson
Prajwal Choudri
Tech Editor
Very recently, IBM developed an artificial software computer
which is capable of answering questions in human language. This begins
the future of computers, and it all
starts with Watson. Watson will be
able to help in many ways. For example, in the future it can help doctors
diagnose a patient with a complicated
case by accessing the patients‘ medical history and making a detailed analysis of the symptoms. But we can‘t get
too hyped because Watson is still being tested. Speaking of being tested,
Watson was tested on the Jeopardy
show, competing against the best of
the best Jeopardy players, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. This was a
clear example of man versus machine.
Watson continuously answered many
questions in a row and did not even
allow the other contestants to answer.
You wonder how Watson was able to
determine whether or not the answers
were correct or not. It is not as complicated as you might think it is.
Watson has a system that
made it possible to determine the cor-
rect answers. For example, a question
will be asked to Watson. Who is Person A? Watson would immediately
come up with a list of possible answers. A. B. C. and D. Based upon its
confidence level it will answer the
question. So say if its confidence level
on A was 74%, it would pick ‗A‘ because there was a high level of confidence on it. A new feature that got
added to the goal line was that the goal
line will increase if the questions start
to get difficult. Consequently, if
Watson wants to answer a question,
it will have to reach this goal of confidence before it can answer. For
example, if Watson‘s confidence
level on a certain question is 85%
and the goal line is at 82%. Watson
could go ahead and answer the question because its confidence level is
above 82%. Another cool feature in
the Watson computer is the graphics.
iPhone 4S
During the show there was a
random globe on the face of Watson.
But the thing is it actually had a
meaning to it. For example, if Watson is answering a question and the
globe is yellow, this would mean
that Watson is not too confident.
After answering the question, the
globe turns to green. This means that
Watson is happy about getting the
question right and is feeling confident about the next one. ―It is a pretty big leap in the future of technology. We just keep talking about the
future but maybe this is the future‖,
says Parthiv K. Shah a 7th grader.
Watson is a very advanced machine.
―I think that it is one step further to
robots and machines taking over the
world.‖ says Rahul Shah. ―I think it
is pretty awesome and cool. It seems
almost impossible that we are so
advanced in technology‖, says Bharat Bojja. Advanced technology or
not, it is important to realize that
there was a real person behind this
technology, and it begs the question,
are computers really smarter than
men? I guess not.
Windows 8: An Attempt to Leave
Apple in the Dust
Neil Agrawal
Tech Editor
Kene Okafor
Staff Writer
As we all know the IPhone 4S
was just released a few weeks ago. The
IPhone is one of apples most successful
product series. Let‘s see some of the
IPhone 4S new features. Now you can
use your voice to use your iPhone. Just
talk to Siri as you would to a person. Siri
is a personal assistant that uses voice
control. Siri not only understands what
you say, it knows what you mean. It figures out the right apps to use to find the
right answer. Then, just like a personal
assistant, it answers you. Siri makes
phone calls, sends messages, schedules
meetings, sets reminders, and more. Just
ask, and Siri tells you that, too. Let‘s
hear what people think of the iPhone 4S
―the iPhone 4S is the same thing as the
iPhone 4,‖said Prajwal ―the iPhone 4S is
cool,‖ said Parthiv ―it‘s a disappointment,‖ said Christine ―it‘s a stupid excuse to help apple make more money,‖
said Annie it`s just a upgraded iPhone,‖
In the past two years, Apple has come
out with such innovative products that
Microsoft can no longer be called the
King of Technology. But this year,
Microsoft has come out with the idea of
Windows 8. A software that may leave
Apple, in the dust!
Windows has had many versions of Windows, in which they started from Windows 95 and have stopped
at Windows 7. Both had great sales. In
2010 though, those sales stopped. People switched from Microsoft to Apple.
Apple had just come out with the iPad,
considered to be one of the best tablets
ever. Again in 2011, Apple had come
out with the iPad 2; these sales left Microsoft lagging behind. ―Apple has
created such a big empire and Windows is only surviving off the Windows Phone, Windows Eight will be
and addition to Microsoft, I don‘t expect it to be a competitor with Apple,‖
says Prajwal Choudry, 8th grader On
May 23, 2011, Microsoft CEO Steve
Ballmer announced that in 2012 they
would be releasing Windows 8. This
might hopefully bring up the sales Microsoft lost. ―As we look forward to the
next generation of Windows Systems,
which will come out next year, there‘s
a whole lot coming… you ought to
expect a lot more about Windows
Eight. Windows 8 slates, tablets, PCs, a
variety of different form factors.‖
Windows 8 will feature a variety of new things. Most of them have
never been seen on any Windows software system. One thing that people will
be looking forward to is the fact that
Windows Eight does not require as
much memory as Windows 7. Win-
said Indya. Another new feature is
iCloud. It is the easiest way to manage
all your stuff, because it manages it all
for you. iCloud stores your music, photos, apps, mail, contacts, calendars,
documents, and more. And wirelessly
pushes them to all your devices. It‘s
automatic, effortless, and seamless. The
IPhone 4S does retain some of its old
features like facetime. This lets you
hear a voice and see the face that goes
with it — iPhone to iPhone, iPad 2,
iPod touch, or Mac over Wi-Fi. So no
matter where they are, no matter where
you are, you‘ll always be there. Making
a FaceTime call is just as easy as making a phone call. And it‘s even easier
with Siri. Just tell Siri ―FaceTime with
Mom‖ and you show up, smile, and
wave hello. You‘ll never miss a big
event, an important meeting, or a good
laugh. And who wouldn‘t be happy to
see your face? So this new phone from
one of apples successful products has
apple ruling the world.
10
dows Eight will also feature a customizable background. The background
also includes apps, just to limit distractions. Most of these apps will be provided by the Windows Store. When
Microsoft had the idea for this software, their first intention was to make
this a software available on tablets.
This could mean that Microsoft would
be making new tablets. The good thing
is, Windows Eight will be installed on
all of them. These are just a few of the
amazing things yet to be seen on Windows Eight!
With all the efforts Microsoft
has done to make this new software,
some people still think that Apple will
beat Microsoft by far, ―Apple is always
better, because they have the best software,‖ says Parthiv Shah 8th grader.
But some people think that Microsoft
can outdo Apple, ― If it‘s better than
Apple, then yea (I would buy it),‖ says
Tanvi Shah 8th grader.
Apple and Microsoft have had
a ongoing battle. Windows Eight is
still a debatable topic. Some people are
for the fact that Microsoft stinks compared to Apple, and some people are
for the fact that Microsoft can outdo
Apple any day. But I think that Windows Eight is definitely a must have
for any computer lover.
Tech World Cont.
The Latest Cell Phones
By Navyada Koshatwar
Staff Writer
You‘ve probably heard of 3D
products, like 3D movies, 3D books,
and even 3D TV, but have you heard
of these new 3D cell phones? Some
popular cell phone vendors, like LG,
HTC, and Samsung have come out
with these devices and more are yet to
be released. One of the first 3D phones
to come out had been released this
summer in UK, called the Optimus 3D
P920 from LG. What are some of the
main features? For one thing, it could
show 3D display with the press of a
button and switch back to 2-D with
ease. It can also display the Photo Gallery in 3D, YouTube 3D, and take 3D
videos. You do not need any special
glasses for the third dimensional feature but because of the visual angle
limit, only one person can see it clearly, when in 3D mode. The cell phone
works for most major carriers, like
AT&T and Verizon. The Optimus 3D
also offers the common features, like
Bluetooth, WI-Fi, personal organizer,
USB syncing and mass storage, GPS, a
music player, 8GB of internal
The Cola War
memory, easy touch and more. You
can also view your 3D videos also
on a regular 2D TV.
The screen is a little big
(4.3 inches) and product started off
selling at $980. But overall, it is
quite an impressive cell phone. A
major backset on the 3D feature is
that not all of the menus are in 3D,
so it may be that users skip the feature entirely because of the discomfort of switching back and forth,
from 2D to 3D. Since the cell phone
does not require any special glasses,
it doesn‘t have the red-blue contrasting shapes that many 3D products have. The pictures float slightly off the screen. It may be a small
difference, but it does provide a feel
that a 2D cell phone just can‘t give
you. Why would you choose 3D?
Well, it is pretty useful and convenient, and the cell phone has a clear
and crisp display, even in 2D mode.
It makes the experience of using
this phone a unique one. It also
makes video and photo presentation
one of a kind. It makes games uploaded onto the cell phone a new
experience too. And, well, who
doesn‘t love a cool 3D device?
Okay, so we all agree the 3D feature is cool. The rest of the phone is
just as phenomenal as well. The call
quality was reported as ―more than
acceptable.‖ Although, the cell
phones battery life is terrible. The
phone itself is quite slim but heavier than it looks. It looks just like
most cell phones, with a black shell
and rounded edges, and has the LG
logo carved into the back. LG has
also released a 3D tablet, is much
like the Optimus 3D, but no calling
feature. It can record 3D video and
you can play games on it as well.
The one I have researched is the LG
Optimus 3D P920. The cellphone
has several marvelous features, and
one extra feature that beat all: a 3D
display.
By Kene Okafor
Staff Writer
One day there was a kid
named Dwight. He loved cola. He
drank it for breakfast lunch and
dinner. On another planet there
was a cola named Jake. He loved
blended kids. He drank it for
breakfast lunch and dinner. Then
the king of their planet found out
that a kid had been drinking their
comrades through the iPhone
4S.He ordered his best colas to go
capture him.
Every time they found
Dwight he drank them. So finally
the king decided to send Jake.
When Jake met Dwight, Dwight
told Jake that he is not the only one
who drinks cola. Jake then told
Dwight that they drink kids. Jake
11
reported to his king. The king declared war. This war later became
the Cola War. The aftermath of this
battle was both decided to stop
drinking each other‘s species. Then
both sides decided to start drinking
orange juice. Then another planet
heard that the Colas and Dwight
had been drinking their species.
All was well with Dwight and the
Colas. The end?
Natural Disasters: Signal of End Times?
Parthiv Shah
Assistant Chief Editor
Is world really going to end
in 2012? Over the years we‘ve had a
countless numbers of natural disasters. The Mayans were right before.
Could they be correct again? Is this
the beginning of the end, as in 2012?
Let‘s look at all the disasters that
we‘ve had!
Great East Japan Earthquake: On
March 11th 2011 an earthquake with
a magnitude of 9.0 in the western
Pacific Ocean, 19.9 miles deep with
its epicenter (the point where the
earthquake started) 45 miles east of
the Oshika Peninsula of Tōhoku,
Japan, lasting for around 6 minutes.
The nearest major city to the quake
was Sendai, on the main island of
Honshu, which was 81 miles away. It
occurred 232 miles away from Tokyo. A 7.0 magnitude aftershock was
reported, followed by a 7.4, and a
7.2. Over eight hundred aftershocks
of magnitude 4.5 or greater have occurred since the initial quake. The
quake moved portions of northeastern Japan by as much as 7.9 ft closer
to North America. The earthquake
shifted the earth‘s axis by about
10cm. This changed the tilt of the
earth and the length of the day by
about 1.8 microseconds. The earthquake changed the length of a day!
That‘s pretty amazing. Japan survived the earthquake but, now the
real disaster began. The earthquake
ended up triggering a tsunami. The
tsunami killed millions and devastated entire houses. The overall death
toll was 15,787 deaths, 5,932 injured
and 4,059 people missing. The tsunami causes the nuclear Fukishima nuclear plant to break. It caused the
evacuation of nearby residents. Officials from the Japanese Nuclear and
Industrial Safety Agency reported
that radiation levels inside the plant
were up to 1,000 times normal levels, and that radiation levels outside
the plant were up to 8 times normal
levels. The radiation could be extremely toxic. The overall cost of the
disaster could exceed $300 billion
US dollars, making it the most expensive natural disaster on record.
On April 25th 2011 a disaster was in
the making. A super tornado outbreak happened, devastating millions. A tornado outbreak is an outbreak of generally 6-10 tornadoes.
The tornadoes killed around 346
people in the Midwest. In relative
terms a usual tornado only kills
about 80 people. This tornado outbreak was the worst one since 1925.
The tornadoes damaged many places
especially in Alabama, Arkansas,
Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, and
Virginia. At least 336 tornadoes were
confirmed. About four of the tornadoes were ranked highest on the EFC
scale. Usually there is only one recorded in the year with that type of
damage. The total damage cost was
over $10 billion dollars.
On August 21st, 2011 an earthquake
occurred in Virginia that shook the
east coast. Earthquakes on the east
coast do not generally happen and if
they do they are usually below 3.5 on
the Richter scale. But, on August
21st, 2011 an earthquake, with its epicenter in Louisa County occurred.
It‘s magnitude at 5.8. The quake was
felt over dozens of US states and lots
of provinces over Canada. There
were no casualties, and only minor
injuries. The White House and The
Capitol building were evacuated and
many workers left home early. Later
on damage on the top of the Washington Monument was reported. An
interesting thing is that workers at the
National Zoo said that the behavior
of many of the animals before the
quake suggested that they anticipated
the quake a few minutes before the
quake! And we think that we are the
smartest species. Numerous aftershocks with the magnitudes of up to
4.5 were reported after the initial
quake.
Hurricane Irene was a hurricane that
did extensive damage to the Caribbean and the US. The Hurricane at its
highest point was a category 3 storm.
Over 65 million people in the US
were estimated to be at risk. States of
Emergencies were declared for a lot
of the east coast including North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware,
D.C., Pennsylvania, New Jersey,
New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New
Hampshire, and Maine. The hurricane uprooted trees, and destroyed
power lines. Roughly 7.4 million
houses were without power.
Throughout its path Hurricane Irene
is estimated to have caused up to $7
billion US dollars of damage and has
taken at least 45 lives.
On October 23, 2011 an
earthquake devastated Turkey. The
Earthquake occurred around 9 miles
north east and its magnitude was 7.2.
The earthquake and its aftershocks
affected a lot of eastern Turkey. It
demolished hundreds of buildings
and buried numerous people under
the rubble.24 hours after the first
shock the death toll was at 264, but
as many as 1000 are feared dead. The
latest reports suggest that 366 people
12
are confirmed dead. It isn‘t clear yet
just how much damage was done,
but it definitely impacted Turkey.
These are just few of the
disasters that happened this year, in
fact the list of disasters could take
up the full newspaper!!!! Now I
come back to the beginning. Is 2012
beginning? First of all what is
2012? 2012 is an event on the Mayan calendar that states that the
world will end on December 21,
2012. Many people don‘t believe in
it, but this has been one of the worst
years of disasters and it‘s not done
yet… NASA specialists answered
some popular questions that were
asked. One of them was whether or
not a meteor could hit the earth like
the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs.
NASA did a survey and
determined that there are no threat-
ening asteroids as large as the one
that hit the dinosaurs that are in danger of hitting the earth. And to close
my article I will end with a closing
quote and leave the decisiion to you,
is the world in danger of ending?
"There apparently is a great deal of
interest in celestial bodies, and their
locations and trajectories at the end
of the calendar year 2012. Now, I for
one love a good book or movie as
much as the next guy. But the stuff
flying around through cyberspace,
TV and the movies is not based on
science. There is even a fake NASA
news release out there..."Don Yeomans, NASA senior research scientist. Mr. Leck, 8th grade science
teacher at Rocky Hill weighed in.
―The Mayan calendar does not predict the end of the world in
2012. The calendar ended there. I
heard a Mayan expert say that there
was no prediction of the end of the
world in their calendar. There is also
debated about whether the number of
hurricanes is being caused by global
warming or if it is just part of a natural cycle. I have not heard any credible evidence to back up the increase
in natural disasters as a sign of end of
the Earth,‖ says Mr. Leck.
You just end up wondering
what will happen next. Well, how
about snow in October? That‘s right.
The East coast just got blanketed
with heavy amount of snow before
Halloween, leaving over 30 million
people without power. According to
reports, this is a historic event, which
may be a sign of harsh winter.
In spite of all the speculations and interpretation of these natural disasters, we live in an age where
scientists have been able to accurately predict disasters like tornadoes.
Disasters like earthquakes are still
being studies, and hopefully there
will be a way to predict these deadly
disasters. It then begs the question;
does science have all the answers we
need. Stay tuned. The answer may
come when it does!
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newspaper.
Just contact Ms. Katie Odey at:
301 353 8282 X162 or email her at:
[email protected]