Honor Roll Field Trip by Dalton Richardson and Michelle Szczepaniak
Thursday, March 24 at 9:15 A.M. the Midwest Central Middle school students arrived at the Morton Cinema for the honor roll field trip to view the PG rated movie, Rango. The students who received all B’s and above on their report cards were eligible to attend this event. Students were able to buy concessions for a special price. After the movie, the students ate at McDonalds for lunch, but they had to take their own money. If they did not have any money, the students had to bring a sack lunch. The students were gone for most of the day and did not return until 2:15. We congratulate all students who attended the film. We hope that the students enjoyed their trip, and that they attend future trips as well.
Teen Conference
"Hi, my name is Ben Glenn. I have ADHD, and I’m going to draw you a picture,” were Ben Glenn’s words heard by many students who attended the 2011 Teen Conference. Midwest Central had forty-one students attend who were members of the Student Council or Beta Club.The Teen Conference was held at ICC on Tuesday, March 15, 2011. Every student paid a small fee and received a t shirt with this year’s theme on it, a supper with pizza and soda, a snack of cookies. The students could attend three sessions about different subjects. The short classes had themes varying from Self Defense for Girls to Team Building Exercises. Ben Glenn was this year’s speaker and gave a funny and moving speech about his personal life experiences on making the right choices and working hard. Ben also drew a picture with chalk in twelve minutes and thirty three seconds titled Achievement. To see Ben Glenn and his drawings you can visit his website www.simpleadhd.com. The Teen Conference is annual and this is the twenty second year it has been going on. Many students said that they enjoyed the drawing and Ben Glenn, but said they didn’t like the classes because they were boring and lasted too long. Students said that they couldn’t wait for next year and enjoyed the experience this year very much.
Shamrocks for Muscular Dystrophy by Matt Sondag
Two weeks ago, Midwest Central Middle School’s Student Council sold Shamrocks for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, (MDA). Muscular Dystrophy is a hereditary muscular disease that weakens the muscles that move the human body. The shamrocks were sold in the cafeteria for students to buy to help the fund. Student Council gave the choice of buying a green shamrock for one dollar or a gold shamrock for five dollars. If a pupil bought a one dollar shamrock he or she received a lollipop; however, if a pupil bought a five dollar shamrock, they received a candy bar at the end of the week. The total amount of money we made was $202.00. Our goal was to earn as much money as we could for the MDA. Our appreciation goes out to all of those who bought a shamrock to help the cause.
Children’s Book Project by Elric Gaddy
The MCMS advanced seventh grade English class recently completed and presented their children’s books they had made on storyjumper.com. They were created in a paragraph unit. Before creating the book, the class was working on a narrative paragraph for Mrs. Cross. The books were created along with two paragraphs, which were revised for a younger audience. The narrative paragraph was made for a more sophisticated audience. The students were allowed to work with partners, which added some very funny aspects to the flow of the stories. All of the books were creative, unique, and definitely entertaining. A funny part of the presentation was the use of voices that fit the character’s looks and emotions. Some even included small challenges, such as counting ants. Everyone had a good time making and presenting the books, and the audience was also very happy at the end of each book.
School Projects By Eli Sanchez and Jerrad Stevens
This week at Midwest Central Middle School the students were working on many projects. One of those projects was in Mrs. Holt’s science class for the sixth grade. The students made a city that is hurricane resistant. First,the students were divided into groups. Then students had five days to work on this project. They used items from in class or from home. They built the city on a piece of cardboard. Mrs. Holt then created category two hurricane-like conditions. If their city withstood this storm, they received points. They also got points for participation, appearance, and an emergency plan for the citizens. Mrs. Holt’s favorite part of the project was seeing the kids be creative and actually putting their creation to the test. Another project that was going on in the school was Mrs. Harrison’s seventh grade book project. In this project students read a book of their choice. They then had to write the main idea of each chapter, a summary of the book, three problems and solutions, an authors page, vocabulary, review of the book, most exciting elements of their book, and design a creative cover for their project. Students were given class time to work on both projects. Shelby Garmen said “ I enjoyed making the reading project.”
Book Club by Michaela Lane and Nora Richardson
Mrs. Harrison the seventh grade reading teacher has started a book club for her seventh grade students. The book club consists of about forty students. Their first meeting was on Wednesday, March, 16. The book club had pre-chosen The Bar Code Tattoo by Suzanne Weyn. The students decided to read halfway through the book then meet again for discussion on April 8th. During this meeting the students will choose how many more chapters to read, and then set another meeting date. Book Club members will also be discussing what events took place in the twelve chapters they already read. Jill Berg stated that, “The book is terrific.” Jerrad Stevens told us that “The Bar Code Tattoo is exciting with many unexpected twists and turns.” Kendall Graff and Elias Kibby agreed that, “The Bar Code Tattoo is a good book but moves fairly slow.” We hope that the students will continue to meet, and will enjoy the book as much as their peers.
Scholastic Bowl By Makenzie Rendleman
The Midwest Central Middle School Scholastic Bowl team is on a roll. The team has won eight games and lost six. To make sure the teammates were extra ready for their away match against Olympia on Tuesday March 29, they had a practice on Wednesday Dee-Mack . This match is on Thursday, March 31 and is a home meet. Then, unfortunately, on Thursday April 7 the Scholastic Bowl season comes to an end when they play there last match of the year against Tremont which is a home meet also. In addition, the team as quoted by one of the teams player Matthew Sondag “Sectionals here we come! The scholastic Bowl team encourages the public to attend both of our home meets on March 31 and April 7. These two matches are located in the Midwest Central Middle School cafeteria starting at 3:45. The time may change if the team arrives early or arrives late.
On March 17, Midwest Central Middle school’s staff member, Jerry Stallings left. Before he left, the Vietnam veteran shared some stories with the eighth grade students about the Vietnam War. The Vietnam war occurred because President Eisenhower did not want communism spreading all over the world and eventually taking over America. Mr. Stallings told the eighth grade students about some of his experiences in Vietnam. Mrs. Gaskill has heard these stories the four years Mr. Stallings had told them. She said she learned something new each time she hears him, and that it’s great for the students to hear what he went through. Theses stories teach them what history is like. Some of these stories were funny, others were sad. The sad and funny stories seemed to balance each other out. Mrs. Gaskill said she even had some students cry and some students laugh. The first time he told them to the students, he was very nervous. He’s more comfortable each time he tells his stories. Two of the students that were personally affected were Amber Audrey and Garret Graff. Amber said, “I always knew wars were terrible. I never thought it could be as gruesome as it was for Mr. Stallings. He had a lot of stories, even one about a nice mongoose. Before I heard these stories, I never knew Mr. Stallings had saved a person.” Garret though that the experience of being able to hear the stories was enjoyable and fun. He knew that Mr. Stallings had been a prisoner of war, but he did not know it was for three years.
He said, “It was touching. Nobody should have to go through that, especially someone so nice to the students here.” Mr. Stallings had told the kids that he was the oldest member of his team. He was twenty-three while everyone else was eighteen or nineteen. He even brought in all his medals to show the students. When Mr. Stallings told the stories, he raffled off some of his Vietnam hats. Garret Graff said he was lucky enough to win one of them.
High School Cheerleading Try-outs by Julia Dean and Shelby Garman
Yell, MCHS! On March 11, seven eighth grade girls tried out for the high school cheerleading squad. For try-outs, girls had to decide on a jump and an individual cheer. They were also taught a group cheer, a dance, one stunt, and a sideline cheer. Congratulations to the girls that were chosen: Rhian Baker, Rachel Lee, Savannah Little, Montana Rich, Kirsten Spangler, and Megan Traver. These girls join the other nine cheerleaders: Erin Dolen, Kayla Hartson, Abbi Haynes, Sam Hendricks, Macey Robison, Kelsey Sloter, Hanna Starnes, Shayla Wertz, and Kelsi Wyss, There are now fourteen girls in all on the squad. Mrs. Kris Spangler is the coach. The squad plans to go to competition. When asked if she was excited for competition, Rhian Baker replied, "Heck, yes!" Good luck in competition, ladies!
Rahn’s Glyph Project by Mikaela Hartsfield and Brijana Spraggs
Mrs. Rahn, the eighth grade math teacher, who is teaching seventh grade advanced this year, had her seventh grade advanced students make a glyph based on how long they did different activities over a three day span. A glyph is a non-verbal symbol that is used to display information. An example is, their character’s left eye was how long the student read, while the right eye was how long the student watched television. Seeing this people would know if a student watched television or read longer. For this project the students have to record data on how they spent their time over a three-day weekend. Normally the eighth grade students do this, but this year the advanced seventh graders did it because the eighth graders were doing tessellations. She usually has her students perform this project in the fall. Mrs. Rahn had her students do this because students learn something while having fun, and she gets to see what her students like to do in their free time. She discovered this project idea from a workshop. Mrs. Rahn had been having her students do this for ten years, and then stopped for five years and has just now restarted the project.
Track by Joe Hohenshell and John Wilcox
Midwest Central Middle School has started their track season. The track team consists of fifty-eight students. These students will be competing in many events. Some of the events are hurdles, relays including 4x200, 4x100, 4x400 and sprints. Students are also competing in field events: long jump, high jump, shot-put, and discuss. These are the field events that the Midwest Central offers to their athletes. Fifty-eight students is a fairly low amount of students because for the first time Midwest Central had to make cuts. Midwest Central had to make these cuts because our track has deep cracks, holes, and the turf is loose instead of tightly packed. These conditions make it unsuitable to run on; therefore, we will only have away meets. Not having any home meets is not only hard on the school but also on the parents of the athletes because they will have to drive many meets through out the season. Another reason this is sad is because our track used to be one of the best around. Also, if we did have our home track the track team could have more people in it.
ICC Music Contest by Kait Wilbur
On Friday, March 11, students in band and chorus participated in an event referred to as “contest,” located at Illinois Central College, or ICC. Each student played or sang a select song in front of a judge, whether they perform alone, a solo, or with others (an ensemble). Participants were judged on such factors as tone quality, pitch accuracy, interpretation, dynamics, rhythmic accuracy, technique, and stage presentation. The better the contestant performed, the lower they scored, meaning the best score is a one. Points for all factors were added together, and contestants were given an overall first, second, or third. Congratulations to all students that participated.
Jerry Stallings Visits Social Studies Classes by Dalton Richardson and Michelle Szczepaniak
Jerry Stallings, a Vietnam veteran, shared some stories with the eighth grade students about the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War occurred because President Eisenhower did not want communism spreading all over the world and eventually taking over America. Mr. Stallings told the eighth grade students about some of his experiences in Vietnam. Mrs. Gaskill has heard these stories the four years Mr. Stallings had told them. She said she learned something new each time she hears him, and that it’s great for the students to hear what he went through. Theses stories teach them what history is like. Some of these stories were funny, others were sad. The sad and funny stories seemed to balance each other out. Mrs. Gaskill said she even had some students cry and some students laugh. The first time he told them to the students, he was very nervous. He’s more comfortable each time he tells his stories. Two of the students that cried were Amber Audrey and Garret Graff. Amber said, “I always knew wars were terrible. I never thought it could be as gruesome as it was for Mr. Stallings. He had a lot of stories, even one about a nice mongoose. Before I heard these stories, I never knew Mr. Stallings had saved a person.” Garret thought that the experience of being able to hear the stories was enjoyable and fun. He knew that Mr. Stallings had been a prisoner of war, but he did not know it was for over two years. He said, “It was touching. Nobody should have to go through that, especially someone so nice to the students here.” Mr. Stallings had told the kids that he was the oldest member of his team. He was 23 while everyone else was 18 or 19. He even brought in all his medals from his family to show the students. When Mr. Stallings had told the stories, he raffled off some of hi Vietnam hats. Garret Graff said he was lucky enough to win one of them.
The Origin of April Fools' Day by Kendall Graff and Elias Kibby
April Fools’ Day is filled with pranks and shenanigans, though no one is sure how it really started. One theory is in Chaucer’s book, Canterbury Tales, the story “Nun’s Priest’s Tale”, is about a chicken named Chauntecleer who is tricked by a fox. When Chaucer wrote this he most likely meant thirty-two days after March. This is the second of May. Readers misinterpreted this as the thirty-second of March, or the first of April. Another theory on the origin of All Fools’ Day is Pope Gregory XIII made a new calendar to replace the old one. The new calendar started on January first. The old calendar’s new year was April first. Some people didn’t get the new calendar or refused to accept it. These people celebrated the New Year on April first. The people that did this were called fools, April fools. Even though this holiday is not actually a national holiday, it is still celebrated in many countries around the world.
Words of the Week
Guffaw: burst of laughter When the comedian told his punch line, I heard Cory’s guffaw from across the room.
Simpleton: stupid or ridiculous; fool The simpleton tried to call somebody with a banana.
Humdinger: comical; humorous; funny Movies with Adam Sandler are always humdingers!
The Whole Truth by Kait Wilbur
In one of our last newspaper installments, we reported on Mrs. Harrison’s reading class’s book jacket project. We left some information out and made some errors. The project was not just for the advanced reading class, but all of Mrs. Harrison’s seventh grade reading classes. Students in these classes worked on the project in class from March 6 to March 11 but were given time for home preparation at the beginning of the third quarter. We are very sorry for the confusion and will continue to report only fact.
Track By Joe Hohenshell and John Wilcox Midwest Central Middle School has started their track season. The track team consists of fifty-eight students. These students will be competing in many events. Some of the events are hurdles, relays including 4x200, 4x100, 4x400 and sprints. Students are also competing in field events: long jump, high jump, shot-put, and discuss. These are the field events that the Midwest Central offers to their athletes. Fifty-eight students is a fairly low amount of students because for the first time Midwest Central had to make cuts. Midwest Central had to make these cuts because our track has deep cracks, holes, and the turf is loose instead of tightly packed. These conditions make it unsuitable to run on; therefore, we will only have away meets. Not having any home meets is not only hard on the school but also on the parents of the athletes because they will have to drive many meets through out the season. Another reason this is sad is because our track used to be one of the best around. Also, if we did have our home track the track team could have more people in it.
Honor Roll Field Trip by Dalton Richardson and Michelle Szczepaniak
Thursday, March 24 at 9:15 A.M. the Midwest Central Middle school students arrived at the Morton Cinema for the honor roll field trip to view the PG rated movie, Rango. The students who received all B’s and above on their report cards were eligible to attend this event. Students were able to buy concessions for a special price. After the movie, the students ate at McDonalds for lunch, but they had to take their own money. If they did not have any money, the students had to bring a sack lunch. The students were gone for most of the day and did not return until 2:15. We congratulate all students who attended the film. We hope that the students enjoyed their trip, and that they attend future trips as well.Teen Conference
"Hi, my name is Ben Glenn. I have ADHD, and I’m going to draw you a picture,” were Ben Glenn’s words heard by many students who attended the 2011 Teen Conference. Midwest Central had forty-one students attend who were members of the Student Council or Beta Club.The Teen Conference was held at ICC on Tuesday, March 15, 2011. Every student paid a small fee and received a t shirt with this year’s theme on it, a supper with pizza and soda, a snack of cookies. The students could attend three sessions about different subjects. The short classes had themes varying from Self Defense for Girls to Team Building Exercises. Ben Glenn was this year’s speaker and gave a funny and moving speech about his personal life experiences on making the right choices and working hard. Ben also drew a picture with chalk in twelve minutes and thirty three seconds titled Achievement. To see Ben Glenn and his drawings you can visit his website www.simpleadhd.com. The Teen Conference is annual and this is the twenty second year it has been going on. Many students said that they enjoyed the drawing and Ben Glenn, but said they didn’t like the classes because they were boring and lasted too long. Students said that they couldn’t wait for next year and enjoyed the experience this year very much.Shamrocks for Muscular Dystrophy by Matt Sondag
Two weeks ago, Midwest Central Middle School’s Student Council sold Shamrocks for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, (MDA). Muscular Dystrophy is a hereditary muscular disease that weakens the muscles that move the human body. The shamrocks were sold in the cafeteria for students to buy to help the fund. Student Council gave the choice of buying a green shamrock for one dollar or a gold shamrock for five dollars. If a pupil bought a one dollar shamrock he or she received a lollipop; however, if a pupil bought a five dollar shamrock, they received a candy bar at the end of the week. The total amount of money we made was $202.00. Our goal was to earn as much money as we could for the MDA. Our appreciation goes out to all of those who bought a shamrock to help the cause.Children’s Book Project by Elric Gaddy
The MCMS advanced seventh grade English class recently completed and presented their children’s books they had made on storyjumper.com. They were created in a paragraph unit. Before creating the book, the class was working on a narrative paragraph for Mrs. Cross. The books were created along with two paragraphs, which were revised for a younger audience. The narrative paragraph was made for a more sophisticated audience. The students were allowed to work with partners, which added some very funny aspects to the flow of the stories. All of the books were creative, unique, and definitely entertaining. A funny part of the presentation was the use of voices that fit the character’s looks and emotions. Some even included small challenges, such as counting ants. Everyone had a good time making and presenting the books, and the audience was also very happy at the end of each book.School Projects By Eli Sanchez and Jerrad Stevens
This week at Midwest Central Middle School the students were working on many projects. One of those projects was in Mrs. Holt’s science class for the sixth grade. The students made a city that is hurricane resistant. First,the students were divided into groups. Then students had five days to work on this project. They used items from in class or from home. They built the city on a piece of cardboard. Mrs. Holt then created category two hurricane-like conditions. If their city withstood this storm, they received points. They also got points for participation, appearance, and an emergency plan for the citizens. Mrs. Holt’s favorite part of the project was seeing the kids be creative and actually putting their creation to the test. Another project that was going on in the school was Mrs. Harrison’s seventh grade book project. In this project students read a book of their choice. They then had to write the main idea of each chapter, a summary of the book, three problems and solutions, an authors page, vocabulary, review of the book, most exciting elements of their book, and design a creative cover for their project. Students were given class time to work on both projects. Shelby Garmen said “ I enjoyed making the reading project.”Book Club by Michaela Lane and Nora Richardson
Mrs. Harrison the seventh grade reading teacher has started a book club for her seventh grade students. The book club consists of about forty students. Their first meeting was on Wednesday, March, 16. The book club had pre-chosen The Bar Code Tattoo by Suzanne Weyn. The students decided to read halfway through the book then meet again for discussion on April 8th. During this meeting the students will choose how many more chapters to read, and then set another meeting date. Book Club members will also be discussing what events took place in the twelve chapters they already read. Jill Berg stated that, “The book is terrific.” Jerrad Stevens told us that “The Bar Code Tattoo is exciting with many unexpected twists and turns.” Kendall Graff and Elias Kibby agreed that, “The Bar Code Tattoo is a good book but moves fairly slow.” We hope that the students will continue to meet, and will enjoy the book as much as their peers.Scholastic Bowl By Makenzie Rendleman
The Midwest Central Middle School Scholastic Bowl team is on a roll. The team has won eight games and lost six. To make sure the teammates were extra ready for their away match against Olympia on Tuesday March 29, they had a practice on Wednesday Dee-Mack . This match is on Thursday, March 31 and is a home meet. Then, unfortunately, on Thursday April 7 the Scholastic Bowl season comes to an end when they play there last match of the year against Tremont which is a home meet also. In addition, the team as quoted by one of the teams player Matthew Sondag “Sectionals here we come! The scholastic Bowl team encourages the public to attend both of our home meets on March 31 and April 7. These two matches are located in the Midwest Central Middle School cafeteria starting at 3:45. The time may change if the team arrives early or arrives late.
On March 17, Midwest Central Middle school’s staff member, Jerry Stallings left. Before he left, the Vietnam veteran shared some stories with the eighth grade students about the Vietnam War. The Vietnam war occurred because President Eisenhower did not want communism spreading all over the world and eventually taking over America. Mr. Stallings told the eighth grade students about some of his experiences in Vietnam. Mrs. Gaskill has heard these stories the four years Mr. Stallings had told them. She said she learned something new each time she hears him, and that it’s great for the students to hear what he went through. Theses stories teach them what history is like. Some of these stories were funny, others were sad. The sad and funny stories seemed to balance each other out. Mrs. Gaskill said she even had some students cry and some students laugh. The first time he told them to the students, he was very nervous. He’s more comfortable each time he tells his stories. Two of the students that were personally affected were Amber Audrey and Garret Graff. Amber said, “I always knew wars were terrible. I never thought it could be as gruesome as it was for Mr. Stallings. He had a lot of stories, even one about a nice mongoose. Before I heard these stories, I never knew Mr. Stallings had saved a person.” Garret though that the experience of being able to hear the stories was enjoyable and fun. He knew that Mr. Stallings had been a prisoner of war, but he did not know it was for three years.He said, “It was touching. Nobody should have to go through that, especially someone so nice to the students here.” Mr. Stallings had told the kids that he was the oldest member of his team. He was twenty-three while everyone else was eighteen or nineteen. He even brought in all his medals to show the students. When Mr. Stallings told the stories, he raffled off some of his Vietnam hats. Garret Graff said he was lucky enough to win one of them.
High School Cheerleading Try-outs by Julia Dean and Shelby Garman
Yell, MCHS! On March 11, seven eighth grade girls tried out for the high school cheerleading squad. For try-outs, girls had to decide on a jump and an individual cheer. They were also taught a group cheer, a dance, one stunt, and a sideline cheer. Congratulations to the girls that were chosen: Rhian Baker, Rachel Lee, Savannah Little, Montana Rich, Kirsten Spangler, and Megan Traver. These girls join the other nine cheerleaders: Erin Dolen, Kayla Hartson, Abbi Haynes, Sam Hendricks, Macey Robison, Kelsey Sloter, Hanna Starnes, Shayla Wertz, and Kelsi Wyss, There are now fourteen girls in all on the squad. Mrs. Kris Spangler is the coach. The squad plans to go to competition. When asked if she was excited for competition, Rhian Baker replied, "Heck, yes!" Good luck in competition, ladies!Rahn’s Glyph Project by Mikaela Hartsfield and Brijana Spraggs
Mrs. Rahn, the eighth grade math teacher, who is teaching seventh grade advanced this year, had her seventh grade advanced students make a glyph based on how long they did different activities over a three day span. A glyph is a non-verbal symbol that is used to display information. An example is, their character’s left eye was how long the student read, while the right eye was how long the student watched television. Seeing this people would know if a student watched television or read longer. For this project the students have to record data on how they spent their time over a three-day weekend. Normally the eighth grade students do this, but this year the advanced seventh graders did it because the eighth graders were doing tessellations. She usually has her students perform this project in the fall. Mrs. Rahn had her students do this because students learn something while having fun, and she gets to see what her students like to do in their free time. She discovered this project idea from a workshop. Mrs. Rahn had been having her students do this for ten years, and then stopped for five years and has just now restarted the project.Track by Joe Hohenshell and John Wilcox
Midwest Central Middle School has started their track season. The track team consists of fifty-eight students. These students will be competing in many events. Some of the events are hurdles, relays including 4x200, 4x100, 4x400 and sprints. Students are also competing in field events: long jump, high jump, shot-put, and discuss. These are the field events that the Midwest Central offers to their athletes. Fifty-eight students is a fairly low amount of students because for the first time Midwest Central had to make cuts. Midwest Central had to make these cuts because our track has deep cracks, holes, and the turf is loose instead of tightly packed. These conditions make it unsuitable to run on; therefore, we will only have away meets. Not having any home meets is not only hard on the school but also on the parents of the athletes because they will have to drive many meets through out the season. Another reason this is sad is because our track used to be one of the best around. Also, if we did have our home track the track team could have more people in it.ICC Music Contest by Kait Wilbur
On Friday, March 11, students in band and chorus participated in an event referred to as “contest,” located at Illinois Central College, or ICC. Each student played or sang a select song in front of a judge, whether they perform alone, a solo, or with others (an ensemble). Participants were judged on such factors as tone quality, pitch accuracy, interpretation, dynamics, rhythmic accuracy, technique, and stage presentation. The better the contestant performed, the lower they scored, meaning the best score is a one. Points for all factors were added together, and contestants were given an overall first, second, or third. Congratulations to all students that participated.Jerry Stallings Visits Social Studies Classes by Dalton Richardson and Michelle Szczepaniak
Jerry Stallings, a Vietnam veteran, shared some stories with the eighth grade students about the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War occurred because President Eisenhower did not want communism spreading all over the world and eventually taking over America. Mr. Stallings told the eighth grade students about some of his experiences in Vietnam. Mrs. Gaskill has heard these stories the four years Mr. Stallings had told them. She said she learned something new each time she hears him, and that it’s great for the students to hear what he went through. Theses stories teach them what history is like. Some of these stories were funny, others were sad. The sad and funny stories seemed to balance each other out. Mrs. Gaskill said she even had some students cry and some students laugh. The first time he told them to the students, he was very nervous. He’s more comfortable each time he tells his stories. Two of the students that cried were Amber Audrey and Garret Graff. Amber said, “I always knew wars were terrible. I never thought it could be as gruesome as it was for Mr. Stallings. He had a lot of stories, even one about a nice mongoose. Before I heard these stories, I never knew Mr. Stallings had saved a person.” Garret thought that the experience of being able to hear the stories was enjoyable and fun. He knew that Mr. Stallings had been a prisoner of war, but he did not know it was for over two years. He said, “It was touching. Nobody should have to go through that, especially someone so nice to the students here.” Mr. Stallings had told the kids that he was the oldest member of his team. He was 23 while everyone else was 18 or 19. He even brought in all his medals from his family to show the students. When Mr. Stallings had told the stories, he raffled off some of hi Vietnam hats. Garret Graff said he was lucky enough to win one of them.The Origin of April Fools' Day by Kendall Graff and Elias Kibby
April Fools’ Day is filled with pranks and shenanigans, though no one is sure how it really started. One theory is in Chaucer’s book, Canterbury Tales, the story “Nun’s Priest’s Tale”, is about a chicken named Chauntecleer who is tricked by a fox. When Chaucer wrote this he most likely meant thirty-two days after March. This is the second of May. Readers misinterpreted this as the thirty-second of March, or the first of April. Another theory on the origin of All Fools’ Day is Pope Gregory XIII made a new calendar to replace the old one. The new calendar started on January first. The old calendar’s new year was April first. Some people didn’t get the new calendar or refused to accept it. These people celebrated the New Year on April first. The people that did this were called fools, April fools. Even though this holiday is not actually a national holiday, it is still celebrated in many countries around the world.Words of the Week
Guffaw: burst of laughter
When the comedian told his punch line, I heard
Cory’s guffaw from across the room.
Simpleton: stupid or ridiculous; fool
The simpleton tried to call somebody with a banana.
Humdinger: comical; humorous; funny
Movies with Adam Sandler are always humdingers!
The Whole Truth by Kait Wilbur
In one of our last newspaper installments, we reported on Mrs. Harrison’s reading class’s book jacket project. We left some information out and made some errors. The project was not just for the advanced reading class, but all of Mrs. Harrison’s seventh grade reading classes. Students in these classes worked on the project in class from March 6 to March 11 but were given time for home preparation at the beginning of the third quarter. We are very sorry for the confusion and will continue to report only fact.
Track By Joe Hohenshell and John Wilcox
Midwest Central Middle School has started their track season. The track team consists of fifty-eight students. These students will be competing in many events. Some of the events are hurdles, relays including 4x200, 4x100, 4x400 and sprints. Students are also competing in field events: long jump, high jump, shot-put, and discuss. These are the field events that the Midwest Central offers to their athletes. Fifty-eight students is a fairly low amount of students because for the first time Midwest Central had to make cuts. Midwest Central had to make these cuts because our track has deep cracks, holes, and the turf is loose instead of tightly packed. These conditions make it unsuitable to run on; therefore, we will only have away meets. Not having any home meets is not only hard on the school but also on the parents of the athletes because they will have to drive many meets through out the season. Another reason this is sad is because our track used to be one of the best around. Also, if we did have our home track the track team could have more people in it.