Trojan Timesаа October Edition

Trojan Times October Edition Table of Contents: Note from the Editor
Page 2 CMS Band Concert
Page 2 Breast Cancer Awareness
Page 3 Thomas Library Snake Show
Page 3 Ebola News
Page 4 Halloween Origins
Page 5 Halloween is Here!
Page 6 Easy Pumpkin Pie Recipe
Page 7 Niles Haunted Scream Park
Page 8 Book Review: Blood of Olympus
Page 9 Video Game Review: Earthbound
Page 10 Upcoming Events: October 31­­Report Cards go home November 3­6­­Book Fair (Media Center) November 4­­Picture Retakes November 5 & 6­­Parent/Teacher Conferences November 7­­No School A Note from the Editor Trojan Times is experimenting with a digital version! Simply scan the QR code with your smartphone, Ipod, or Ipad to enjoy a digital copy. Chesterton Middle School Band Concert: October 27, 2014 By: Danielle Else The CMS Bands played 8 songs total. Seventh grade played “Triton Fanfare,” “Baywood Overture,” “Haunted Clocks,” and “Tribal Drums.” Eighth grade played “Cluster Fluster Bluster March,” “Gently Touch The Sky,” “Ghost Band,” and “Velocity.” Both bands had fantastic performances! Breast cancer awareness month
By: Nicole Bilyak October is known for many different activities. But one important item, is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast cancer is one of the many dangerous forms of cancer. Breast cancer is when you have cells in breast tissue that multiply. Many people die from this deadly disease. The death rates have been increasing since 1989. To show breast cancer awareness, wear pink. Statistics ● About 1 in 8 (12%) of women will develop invasive breast cancer. ● In 2014 an estimated 232,670 cases of invasive breast cancer have been reported in U.S. women along with 62,570 new cases. ● In men, there were about 2,360 cases. ● Breast cancer incidence rates in the U.S. began decreasing in 2000 after increasing the past 2 decades. ● About 40,000 women in the U.S. were expected to die in 2014 from breast cancer with larger decreases in women under 50. The Thomas Library Snake Show By: Valerie McCarthy At the Thomas Library on October 17, Thomas McCarthy put on a snake show. All the kids loved the snakes and not many were afraid of them. McCarthy taught the kids that snakes are nice to you if you are nice to them. In a way it’s like you and your best bud­­you have to respect snakes. He also taught them about all the snakes, bearded dragons, and geckos. Below is the list of animals he brought: ● Cinnamon, a Hypo Boa Constrictor from South America ● Candycane, a corn snake from southern states of the U.S. ● Apolo, a Northern Brazilian Boa from Brazil ●
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Thingone, a Dumeril Boa from Madagascar Sandy, a reticulated Python from Indonesia Pigpen, a paradox Sunglow Boa from South America Peaches, a gecko A bearded dragon with no name Most of the kids and parents liked them. some parents wouldn't touch them but the kids went right up to touch them. I heard one parent say, “I don't like snakes but here I am touching them!” Thomas McCarthy told me he is educating people about snakes because they should not be a fear. Ebola news By: Sid Augustyn In Abuja, Nigeria on Monday, October 20, the WHO declared Nigeria an Ebola free country. In Dakar, Senegal on Monday, October 20, the WHO declared Senagal an Ebola free country. In Cleveland, Ohio, a woman took a flight with a Dallas nurse with Ebola and travelled back home to Cleveland where there are now 3 people quarantined and 142 people are being monitored, and 2 schools were closed as a precaution. The school district has also ordered extra medical supplies to disinfect their schools. In Dallas, Texas, 43 people were let out of quarantine on Sunday, October 19, after 21 days in quarantine due to a fear that they had ebola. In Atlanta, Georgia, a family that was quarantined for ebola was let out after a 21 waiting period on Monday, October 20. The Origins of Halloween By: Adeene Devine Halloween is coming soon! What comes to your mind when you think of this popular holiday? Candy, ghosts, and trick­or­treating? Halloween has changed dramatically over the years­­at first, one would have to recite a song or verse in order to receive a treat as he/she stopped from house to house. Back then, this was called guising. This holiday didn’t start in America, however, but began as early as the 16th century in Europe. Halloween arrived late to America around in the 19­20th century. Although it began as a Pagan and Celtic ceremony, Christians influenced the holiday. Halloween falls on the evening brother the Christian holy days of All Hallow’s Day. But Halloween isn’t all about trick­or­treating and scaring your younger siblings­ it is an important day to remember your ancestors and offer gratitude. It is also to honor both life and death, and in a way, showing that we aren’t afraid of it. So as your trick­or­treating this year, be sure to give thanks for your ancestors and for what they’ve done! Halloween may be a fun holiday, but it’s important to remember the real meaning behind it. Halloween is Here! By Bella Goldwire It’s Halloween, the one night of the year that ghosts, and ghouls, and other spooky things can crawl into your window and eat out your brains! There are good parts to Halloween though, like free candy, costumes, and getting scared at haunted attractions! Now, first things first is almost everyone’s favorite: CANDY! So I know that all of you have that certain candy that gets devoured as soon as you get home. The most wanted candy was (drum roll) Reese's peanut butter cups! I know that some of you don’t like, or can’t eat chocolate, so the most wanted non­chocolate candy was (drum roll) Twizzlers! I think that they are my favorite of the non­chocolate candies, that or skittles. That is all for candy, on to the next category: costumes! There are many costumes­­scary, funny, cute, and many more. Depending on what you like can also affect your halloween plans. For instance, if you like punk rock music then you may be a drummer or a goth guy/girl. If you like video games, you may be your favorite character in Smash Brothers. My point is that people are many different things for halloween whether nice, scary, or funny, they are all awesome. My final topic on this awesome holiday is the scary stuff. I’m talking the blood, gore, and the soul wrenching screams from terrified kids. Lets start off with haunted houses: they are terrifyingly fun, they may be the only thing to make you scream.
Easy Pumpkin Pie Recipe By: Adeene Devine Thanksgiving is almost here! What could possibly be more convenient than making delectable pumpkin pie for this special holiday? Here’s a very simple recipe! For the crust: ●
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8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), melted and cooled slightly 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 tablespoon granulated sugar 1/4 teaspoon fine salt 1 1/3 cups all­purpose flour, plus more as needed For the pie: ●
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1 (15­ounce) can pumpkin purée (not pie mix) 1 (14­ounce) can sweetened condensed milk 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon fine salt 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves Whipped cream, for serving (optional) INSTRUCTIONS For the crust: 1. Stir the butter, oil, sugar, and salt together in a medium bowl until evenly combined. Add the measured flour and stir until a soft dough forms. 2. Sprinkle the dough in small clumps over the bottom of a 9­1/2­inch deep­dish pie plate. Using a measuring cup or your fingers, evenly press the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the plate (flour the cup or your fingers occasionally to prevent sticking). Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. For the pie: 1. Heat the oven to 350°F and arrange a rack in the lower third. Place a baking sheet on the rack while the oven is heating. 2. Place all of the ingredients except the whipped cream in a large bowl and whisk until smooth and combined. Pour into the chilled pie crust. 3. Place the pie on the hot baking sheet and bake until the top starts to brown and the filling is set but still jiggles slightly in the center, about 50 minutes. Remove from the oven to a wire rack and let cool completely before serving. Top slices of the pie with whipped cream, if desired. Niles Haunted House Scream Park By: Valerie McCarthy Niles Haunted House Scream Park is about 50 minutes away in Niles, Michigan, but it’s worth it! They have 6 different attractions, and if you go in on Sunday and you tell them you're there for the Super Slasher Special, you get a 50% discount so that will make your parents happy! ( If you have a young brother or sister that gets scared easily I would not recommend it for them.) Here is a list of attractions at the Scream Park: 1: Misfit Monster Mansion ­ a large haunted house with many trails to go through. It had moving walls and floors. 2: Curse of the Dark Walker ­ a vampire estate with many spooky scenes and lots of scary noises 3: Tomb of the Undead 3D ­ a recreation of ancient ruins in crazy neon colors, and it’s all in 3D! 4: Legend of Horror ­ an outdoor maze with famous characters from horror movies. Freddy Krueger talked to me, and he said he’d see me in my dreams! 5: The Final Hour (hayride) ­ a hayride that went through the woods. It wasn’t as scary as the other attractions, but still fun. 6: Igor’s High Tech Mystery Tour ­ Frankenstein’s assistant gave a show of all of his crazy inventions. It was a funny show, not something I expected at a haunted house.
The Field of Screams The Blood of Olympus By: Adeene Devine The Blood of Olympus, the new novel published on October 7 by Rick Riordin, is now at the CMS library! This is the long awaited conclusion in the popular series, The Heroes of Olympus. As Gaea sends blood­thirsty giants after Percy and his friends, she has to collect blood from two demigods in order to awaken, destroying everything in her path. Will the eight demigods be able to stop Gaea from sending Earth into madness? And will the Athena Parthenos be enough to stop the two Half­Blood Camps from engaging in a full­fledged war? This book is jam packed with action for adventurous readers. The Blood of Olympus, as followed by the other 4 books, is narrated in the 7 demigods in the prophecy so you can see the battles through their prospective. This is certainly a great conclusion to the series, don’t wait to read it! EarthBound: An underrated game By: Logan Miller Let me just say this, this video game is very underrated. And weird also! But… like I said, underrated. I will talk about it from gameplay, to presentation, and the characters/enemies. Story and Gameplay
The story starts off with Ness (or whoever you name him) waking up to a meteorite crashing in his town, Onett. He goes to check it out, but can’t because of the police blocking his way. After returning home, his neighbor Pokey knocks on his door and needs his help finding his younger brother, Pickey. He eventually goes off on a journey to record 8 special melodies and meet friends to save the world from a great embodiment of evil called Giygas. And it all starts with an intergalactic bee (yes, a bee) named Buzz Buzz who gives you a stone called the Sound Stone. In this game (an RPG), you can move in all 8 directions. Whenever you enter battle, you have enemies like you’ve never seen! Whenever you get hit, your HP (Hit Points) scrolls down like a rolling meter. This helps, as when you take mortal damage, it scrolls down, giving you time to heal yourself to prevent becoming unconscious. Presentation This game, being released in 1995, for the Super Nintendo (SNES) and the Wii U (Re Release) has graphics that you would not expect to be on the SNES. Look at Donkey Kong Country­­it’s not great now, but was back then. Though to me, graphics don’t matter. All the enemies and bosses (excluding Giygas) have very psychedelic backgrounds. Plus, some PSI moves (pretty much just magic) have bright flashes. So if you have epilepsy, DO NOT PLAY THIS GAME! Characters and Enemies You have your standard enemies like a dog, crow, and people. But some are weird like slugs, walking mushrooms, and even exploding oak trees. Then there’s the creepy side: soul consuming flames, evil elementals, and aliens called Starmen. As far as the characters go, you have the choice of naming the four heroes with a max of five letters: your favorite food, your favorite thing, and your dog’s name with a max of six characters. But mostly, people go with Ness, Paula, Jeff, and believe it or not, Poo. They also go with King for the dog, steak for favorite food, and Rockin for favorite thing. Final Statement This game, as I mentioned, is possibly one of the best games I have ever played. If you can take the weirdness of the entirety of the game, then I would recommend playing this game. I would give it a 9/10 only because of one character, Pokey, the 2nd antagonist of the game. He’s very annoying. But all in all, play this game because it’s very fun.