News & Features

News & Features, Opinions February 1, 2017

Everything Super Bowl

Jacob and Charlie here, and we are going over everything Super Bowl! Overview Charlie here, and here is a quick overview of the Big Game itself. It is the championship game of the National Football League, featuring the winner of the American Football Conference and the winner of the National Football Conference. It is usually held on the first Sunday of February, unofficially known as Super Bowl Sunday. This year Super Bowl 51 is held on February 5, airing on FOX at 6:30 pm. Every year the Super Bowl is held at a random venue, this year’s being held at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. Last year the Denver Broncos defeated the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50 24-10, and this year’s participants are the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons. Who will win? The Teams Patriots Charlie again, and the New England Patriots have been one of the…

News & Features January 25, 2017

Trump Happenings: The First Five Days in Office

Are you looking for an article with “alternative facts”? If so, then you’ve come to the wrong place. As you probably know, Donald J. Trump took the presidential oath on Friday at noon, beginning his term as president. Trump has made numerous promises during his campaign, and he hopes to fulfill as many as possible. Throughout the five days that he has been president thus far, he has been trying to repeal ObamaCare (the Affordable Care Act), build a longer Mexican border wall, and more. On Inauguration Day, January 20th, Trump was sworn in. After the swearing in, he made a passionate and rather unusual speech acknowledging that we must put “America first.” After the inauguration, a controversial photo surfaced, comparing the crowd at Barack Obama’s inauguration to the crowd at Trump’s. On a much larger scale, women’s marches took place on all seven continents (see upcoming article on the Women’s…

News & Features, Opinions January 25, 2017

Happy Chinese New Year!

With 春節 (the Chinese New Year) just around the corner, this article will tell you all you need to know about this major holiday. Being Korean-Chinese myself, we almost always celebrate the New Year with my grandparents. I’m pretty sure I’m a rooster, which is cool as this is the Year of the Rooster! This year, the Chinese New Year begins tomorrow, Saturday, January 28. History In stories and legends, the beginning of the Festival was started by a beast named  年獸 (Nian). He had a weakness for humans, especially children, apparently. One year, the villagers decided to attempt to hide from the beast, to save themselves and their children. Right before they were about to leave, an old man suddenly appeared and told them he would stay the night and try to extract revenge on the beast. Needless to say, the villagers thought he was crazy. At night, when…

News & Features January 25, 2017

Science Fiction Becoming a Reality

If I told you that Captain America could become real in the next ten years, you would probably say I am mad and my head was filled with fantasies. But read this, and your life will be altered forever. Scientists have developed a technology called CRISPR/Cas9. CRISPR harnesses the immune system bacteria, and they use it to snip a part of a gene and modify it to their own liking. Naturally, this causes some controversy. Having this tool lets you change a baby before they’re born. You can choose their IQ, eye color, skin color, and at some point you might be able to modify their growth so they’re super strong or super tall. (You see what I mean when I say Captain America.) In a relatively short explanation: In the past four years, scientists have figured out how to exploit a quirk in the immune systems bacteria to edit genes in…

News & Features January 25, 2017

Phoenix Game Day Teams Revealed

Recently, the teams and advisories for the 2017 Phoenix Game Day have been revealed! Start preparing your outfit. And if you don’t know what team you are on, consult this list: The sixth grade is divided by current special rotations with one teacher per team: Art (Adamczyk): Red Drama (Barry): Yellow Music (Guenther): Blue Quakerism (Tozer): Green The seventh grade is divided by homerooms, with McDonald split among all 4 teams: Mutchnick: Green Kenealy: Yellow McDonald: Split* Maw-Deis: Blue Chagan: Red The eighth grade is divided by homerooms, with Davis and Morsa split among all 4 teams: Davis: Split* Pidot: Red Fogel: Blue Morsa: Split* Dr. Z: Green Magistra: Yellow *For split advisories, see your advisor for team distributions. So there you have it! Thanks for reading, and get cheering!

News & Features, Opinions January 25, 2017

The Best of the Consumer Electronics Show 2017

The Consumer Electronics Show. The place for innovation in technologies from electric toothbrushes to the future of automobiles. The place to showcase newer and faster computers, devices to improve home living, and huge strides towards full medical rehabilitation using technology. It’s Riley here to show to you all what I thought was the best of CES 2017. The Whill Model M The Whill Model M is a wheelchair that has increased mobility and speed compared to an average wheelchair and makes the person using the Whill Model M more independent. There has been many electronic wheelchairs in the past but the Whill Model M has a much more sturdy design that allows people using the wheelchair to move across different surfaces independently. This will have huge impact on disabled people’s lives, it will let them explore and experience the world much more. LG’s OLED W7 Television The new LG W series…

News & Features January 18, 2017

2017 MLK Day of Service

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. played an iconic role in the Civil Rights Movement, helping to end segregation. We dedicate an entire day each year to honoring him and his legacy. Most people enjoy this day off from school or work, but some people decide to make it a “day on,” rather than a day off. MLK Day of Service has become a tradition across the United States, especially in the Philadelphia area. Did you know that Philadelphia has the most participants in the United States? It’s true. A large amount of the Friends’ Central community participates in this day of service each year. Friends’ Central’s service is to Bethesda Project. For those who don’t know, Bethesda Project is a nonprofit organization that serves the chronically homeless of Philadelphia. They provide food, water, and shelter for those who don’t have their basic needs, as well as a healing program. Our…

News & Features, Opinions January 18, 2017

Intro to Mini-Courses

What are mini-courses? Mini-courses are an activity that the entire middle school participates in where we all pick an activity and are involved with that for three days. They are educational but also extremely fun. Mini-courses allow for bonding between grades and meeting different people than just your best friends. The mini-course program allows for a relief from average learning and instead adds more interactive, experience-based learning. Last year, I did the Pasta Workshop mini-course in which we made at least eight pastas from scratch. Mini-courses provide unique and interactive experiences for you to learn about a subject of interest to you. Teachers never do the same mini-course twice so this year there will be new mini-courses. In fact, teachers have started to brainstorm ideas, so I took it upon myself to interview one anonymous teacher. How far into the minicourse brainstorming project are you? The teachers are early in…

News & Features January 18, 2017

Anjali Gupta ’18 Takes On the PMEAs

This article is about a high schooler who competed in a music competition called the PMEAs, which stands for the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association. The interview is below. Can you please tell me your name? My name is Anjali Gupta and I’m in 11th grade. What instrument do you play? I played oboe for four maybe five years now. I heard you were competing in a competition called the PMEAs.   Yeah, it’s really competitive and basically all schools are divided up into districts. We are is in District 11 so I compete against twenty or so other oboists in our district. Some of them going to Lower Merion High School and there are a couple more. They have blind auditions to determine the best players. What is a blind audition? The judges can’t see you and you can’t talk so they can’t recognize you. How did you do? I did really…

News & Features, Opinions January 11, 2017

Study Resources for Students

Throughout the year tests are often a key source of stress for students, but this can be avoided. Students often feel overwhelmed or scared, even when they have studied. The problem isn’t usually that students don’t study, they do. The problem is that they don’t know how to study for different subjects, especially math. We hope to show you different resources and ways of studying so you can ace your next test. Bad Study Habits We all have bad habits when it comes to studying. Many people believe that these habits are harmless, but they can do some damage on your overall education. They may seem to be the low hanging fruits; maybe the test is tomorrow and it’s midnight, but breaking them will do much more in the long run. The following unhealthy habits should be broken. Multitasking. Killing two birds with one stone will not help you. As…

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