Paw Print
Page 1
From Ms. Odey’s Desk
Writing is more like a hobby. I have been working on the school’s newspaper for about 6 years, and I still
enjoy it. I am teaching this class because of my passion for writing. My primary goal is to inspire my stu-
dents to write news articles, personal narratives, poems, and editorials. I hope my students feel proud of
what they have accomplished. I doubt that there would a greater reward for me. There are treasures
deep within your soul that you may not discover until you decide to dig deep and find the words to share
your treasure with the world. On the flip side, there may be some lingering pains somewhere within you
that you can face head-on. The beauty of journalism is the freedom it gives us to figure out and attempt
to explain our actions, past and present. It also gives us the opportunity to see and gain a better understanding of our world. The best part is having a platform to speak the truth and tell the world what it
needs to hear.
Why I Write
If you ask me why I write,
The answer is simple
I write to revive my soul
I write to inspire
I write to express my innermost thoughts,
And yes, I write to escape unpleasant realities
I write because words can be liberating
Encouraging words have the power to quench
The flames of hurtful words around me
Inspiring words evoke courage when I need it most
I write because my words can make a difference
I write to leave my imprint
On a world whose beauty is fading fast
Beneath the monstrous faces of pain and despair
The picture that I paint with my words
Will be part of the tapestry
I hope to leave for the next generation
So I write because I am free to write
I write to let my spirit soar like an eagle
Free to roam high above mountain tops
I write set to my spirit free
I write to be me
By Ms. Odey
Page 2
Paw Print
Students:
Samaneh Ali
December 2014
Table Of Contents
x
Shooting for the Stars
x
Dress Controversy
Andy Sun
x
Fads
Brianna Boakye
x
Behind the Mask of Depression and Anxiety
x
Evolution of Selfies
Jacob Davis
x
Imagination
Emma Moon
x
Homelessness
Saniya Tiari
x
Uniforms
x
Just Being a Girl
Patrick Lake
x
My Life Goals
Bartolo, Alexander
x
Anusha Chinthalapale
Jayani Bakshi
Zara Din
Prasanthi Bonagiri,
Tammy Ngo
Kedar Ayers
Natalia Johnson
The New Hollywood
x
From Dragon Boru Zetto to Dragon Ball Z
Rachelle Vasquez
x
Don’t Call me Weird, Call Me, Me
Joshua Liang
x
How Music Affects You
Geaneria (Joy) Green
x
Cell Phones Should be Allowed in School
x
Should More Technology be Included in School?
Zubair Khan
Precious Aniugo
Jacob Acebes
Joseph Vu
Iyanna Pugh
McKenna Prather
Nancy Arzoumanian
Nicole Veras-Mena
Isaiah Portobanco
Briana Gomez
By Jacob Davis
Page 3
Paw Print
December 2014
Shooting For The Stars
By Sameneh Ali
Student writer
What comes to mind after
hearing the word sports? Maybe soccer, football, basketball, but what
about archery? Archery dates back
to the ancient times, approximately
2800 BC. You may have heard of it
from numerous legends as a symbol
of power and dexterity. Unfortunately in modern times, it has adopted a
reputation of being an easy or weak
game. Most believe that due to the
lack of movement and physical contact, the sport seems more like a leisure or hobby. Believe it or not,
archers have to undergo intense
training. Strength is one of the key
requirements to be successful in this
sport because it is needed to both
draw the bow and to keep it steady.
The stronger you are the more of an
advantage you have because a
stronger archer lets the arrow fly
smoothly and further. Although it is
ridiculous for some to consider archery as a sport, it is making a
comeback in schools across the
country. Rocky Hill Middle School
is one of several schools who have
participated in tournaments, showcasing the incredible abilit ies of our
passionate students.
Rocky Hill M iddle School’s
archers have participated in the state,
national, and world tournaments.
They had about 30 archers participate at the state tournament, 3 archers at the national tournament, and 1
archer at the world tournament. This
school adopted this program back in
2011 with very few participants. But
in 2013 they had over a 100 students
come to the club! Has the sport
gained popularity due to the block
buster movie The Hunger Games?
Mr. Leck and the RHMS Archery team
One archer from RHMS
was very lucky to participate in the
Archery World Tournament. Her
name is Samaneh Ali and she was
the top archer at the state tournament
which qualified her for the national
and world tournaments. She had
scored 277 out of 300 points which
was in the top 11% at the world
tournament. She decided to play archery at the school out of pure curiosity. “It just seemed like a cool
sport. I never thought I would even
be the slightest bit talented at it.” In
order to excel in this sport you have
to put in a lot of time and effort into
the practice. “I wasn’t very good at
the sport right from the start. It took
2 years of repeated practice and sore
arms in order to finally see improvement.”
During a recent interview
with Mr. Leck, I asked him why and
when he got involved with archery.
He said, “I first started at an archery
club at my middle school. I learned
to grow a passion for it so I have
played it ever since.” Just like the
students here at Rocky Hill, Mr.
Leck got his start in his own middle
school. However, not many schools
have students who are willing to try
different sports like archery. I asked
him why he wanted to start an archery club here. He replied, “It first
started out as an intramural but I
wanted to give the kids a chance to
compete. So I called a friend of
mine at NASP (National Archery in
the Schools Program) and it all
started from there.” We’re certainly
thankful that Mr. Leck put so much
time and effort into making this
club for students to try something
new.
Semaneh Ali and other students at
Archery Practice
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Paw Print
December 2014
Dress Code Controversy
Natalia Johnson
RHMS Magazine
In today’s fashion industry, designers create clothes like
crop tops, short shorts, etc. because
they are the latest trend. Some find
this provocative and distracting in
school, and teenagers are faced
with the dilemma of obeying
school rules or wearing stylish
clothing.
When it comes to strictly
enforced dress codes in school,
attire such as crop tops or anything
showing even the slightest bit of
your stomach is not allowed regardless of whether it is intentional
or not. The consequences of violating the dress code in Montgomery
County Public Schools include;
calling your parents, and changing
clothes. The most common time for
dress code violations is spring or
summer because students go shopping around that time and designers
release new spring collections targeting middle/high school students.
The weather also gets warmer and
people wear less as a result. Students view the dress code as ridiculous and unnecessary as eighth
grade student Saniya Tiwari says,
“Girls have more restrictions than
boys.” She also comments, “We
can’t show our shoulders, nobody
goes around and says ‘ooh you have
pretty shoulders.’ Some may agree
with her statement because many
students believe that dress code targets girls because there are hardly
any restrictions for boys.
Ten random students were
asked if they think that the dress
code is fair with both boys and
girls, seven out of ten students said
that it unfairly targets girls. While
others like Angelo Hernandez, Dean
of students at Woodrow Wilson
High School (in Washington, DC)
thinks that; “There needs to be an
emphasis on the educational peace
and dress code restrictions help
everyone get a better education.”
Mr. Hernandez deals with issues
involving dress code every day.
Supporters the dress code agree
with his statements because many
adults believe that school is for
worrying about homework more
than what you are going to wear to
school tomorrow. Because this
problem is hard to solve in public
schools, (unless students wear uniforms) students and teachers may
have to settle this issue by compromising.
A possible solution may be
that if various administrators and
superintendents compromised with
fashion designers to share each other’s point of view so that the fashion industry will be aware and start
producing clothes that are both
trendy and appropriate.
Shooting for The Stars Cont.
Students of all different skill
levels have joined Rocky Hill’s archery club, seeing it as an opportunity to be competitively active in a
sport that is quite rare in middle
schools across the country. We interviewed Cody Kim, an 8th grader,
about why he joined the archery club
and his opinion on the sport. He replied, “I thought it would be a good
experience to meet new people.” We
also asked some students on whether
they considered archery a hobby,
leisure or sport. Drew Scott answered, “I think of it as more of a
hobby because you don’t see a lot of
people playing it seriously. But I
think it is a very challenging activity
because it requires a crazy amount
of focus.” Renee-Kristen Sibut also
gave her thoughts, “I have always
thought of it as a sport but I assumed
it would be a lot easier.”
Although the opinions on
archery as a sport or a hobby vary, it
is clear that archery requires an in-
tense amount of skill and focus. To
be a good archer, one must practice
and show dedication, much like any
other sport.
Therefore you should think
before you call this a fragile or frail
sport because you really don’t want
to be hated by a bunch of sharp
shooters. If you still don’t believe
me, you should try it out for yourselves. It never hurts to try new
things. Remember, life begins at
the end of your comfort zone.