Shuksan Scholar Awards Assembly

S HUKSAN M IDDLE S CHOOL
11 TH E DITION
DIY Holiday
Decorations
T URKEY T ROT
D ECEBMBER 11, 2013
Movie Review:
Catching Fire
Book Fair comes to
Shuksan
B Y : K ALI J ONES AND E MMA J ONES
th
The Turkey Trot was held on Tuesday, November 26 and as you all know, the coarse was a
run (.7 miles) around the school and ended on the North side of the building. At the finish
line students got hot chocolate and put their name into a raffle for a prize or a turkey, and
were able to socialize with your friends. The two first place winners in 7th grade were Jayden
Nguyen and Jassi Sandhu. They not only won for 7th grade, but they also took home the prize
for best times overall (the two fastest in the school)! If that’s not enough of an honor, Jassi
even broke the all-time speed record in the history of Shuksan. As a result of winning two
honors, they got to take home the two annual turkey prizes. Jayden Nguyen says, “I felt grateful to win for the second year.” Jassi agrees with Jayden when asked about the race. “Uh, I
think I got it.” “I felt great,” Jassi said. His motivation for running is simply this: “If I lose, I’m
going to be terrible. Everybody’s going to mock me if I lose.”
When asked who would win in a race between Jayden and Jassi, Jayden replied, “I’m sure that
Jassi would win, but I would be up for the challenge.” He thinks that he would be up for
running against the eighth grade and sixth grade winners, also. “Yeah, I’m confident.”
Everyone tried their
best at the Turkey Trot,
and even though not
everyone got a prize,
the true prize was in the
knowledge that they
conquered something
challenging, and that’s a
good feeling to have.
Great job to everyone
who did their best.
6th grade boys:
LaCrosse
Shuksan Scholar
Awards Assembly
Word Search and
Fun Facts
M ARK Y OUR
C ALENDAR
By: Emma Shannon and Jamie Oman
DESIGN A PAGE CONTEST:
On Friday, December 13, the Shuksan Scholar
Awards Assembly will begin. Shuksan has had the
awards assembly for 3 years and it’s a way to recognize excellence in academics as well as attendance.
Leadership has played a big part by helping put on
the assembly. Leadership is also helping with a top
secret surprise for the assembly. However, Ms.
Pryor and Ms. Sanchez, of the office staff, are responsible for putting together the awards. The
Shuksan Scholar t-shirt design is created by a local tshirt company called Amjay. The certificate design is
created by Mrs. Wentz (former Shuksan Secretary).
Eight grader Kim Keay said that this year’s assembly
is definitely going to be better than last year’s assembly. She also said she likes the t-shirt design. Seventh
grader Sydney Glover said she likes being in front of
her whole grade to receive her awards. Sixth grader
Mehar Singh said that she heard that the point of the
assembly is for students to be recognized by students
for different awards.
The awards ceremony is an excellent way to be
awarded for showing PRIDE. Keep up the good
work and be ready for the awards this Friday.
The Yearbook class is having a
“Design a Page Contest” where
students can make a second title
page for the yearbook. In order to
have your drawing in the yearbook,
it should be neat and on printer
paper that takes up the whole page
which is the portrait/vertical way.
On the back please put your name,
grade, and a title for the drawing.
Return completed entries to Mrs.
Walker in room 213 in the yearbook
“turn in” bin under the smart board.
Entries are due by January 10th.
“Hi, Cougars! Do you have something to do after school before winter break? Join us for AVID’s Holiday Hoops Fundraiser. AVID is
setting up a 3 on 3 basketball tournament. Grab 4 of your friends and
make a team. It costs $20 per team
and you can get sign-up sheets from
Mrs. Yost in room 210. Don’t feel
like playing? A dollar donation will
get you in the door. You can root
for your friends, enjoy some concessions and listen to some music.”
8th grade Carbon Dioxide lab
By Tinee Chea
and added soapy water. When students put
the soapy water solution into the cup, the
Mrs. Flory and Mrs. Walker’s 8th grade science classes did a carbon dioxide (dry ice) lab
on October 31st to learn about a concept
called sublimation. The purpose of this lab
was to see sublimation in action. Dry ice,
which is the solid state of Carbon Dioxide,
goes straight into a gas without going into the
liquid state. Students used dry ice for this lab
(which is frozen Carbon Dioxide gas) in a cup
6th Grade Avid
mixture formed a bubble. Eighth grader
Alona Shintar said, “I liked it when the bubble popped and gas came out.” Alona also
said, “The challenge was just to see what
happened.” Eighth grade teacher Mrs.
Walker said, “This lab fits in the unit they
are studying in
8th grade, because it’s energy transfer and
phase change.
The dry ice
turns from a
solid to a gas
without
becoming a liquid
which is sublimation.”
By Dominique Hanson and Jadyn Hamilton
Seventh grade teacher Mrs. Stoner teaches
the 6th grade AVID in the morning during 1st
period. The goal of the class is for students
who have a strong desire to go to college,
and need extra help, to get there. The purpose of the class is to learn skills to be successful throughout high school and college.
They do tutorials and write Cornell notes
about them. Western Washington students
come to this class to teach about growth and
mind set. A project they are working on is
storyboarding about growth.
Current 6th grade AVID students heard about
the program in 5th grade and applications
were given to kids who wanted to join AVID. AVID teachers from Shuksan reviewed
the applications using a rubric and students
with the highest scores got in. Sixth grader
Michelle Jimeneasy said, “I like the fact that
I can learn skills that I will need for high
school and college.” Some challenges for
Michelle have been the organization of her
binder which needs to be kept neat at all
times.
As 6th graders continue to improve their
skills, all AVID classes are working on their
fundraising projects. This year, AVID is
sponsoring a 3 on 3 basketball tournament
on Friday, December 20th. Sign up with
Mrs. Yost in room 210. A 4-member team
will cost $20.
MRS.BORN P ERSONAL L IFE
By Treston Nguyen
Mrs. Born is a teacher we all know as someone who shows a lot of school spirit and is
very fun. She is well known for dressing up and being nice and helpful. But this article
is a more personal look at the teacher we all know and love.
Mrs. Born was born in California and grew up in Eastern Washington. She was raised
on a farm and she has many fond memories of her childhood. She loved hand-feeding
the baby lamb, however, she did not love having to change irrigation three times a
week. After the discovery of a tumor in her vertebra, Mrs. Born had serious surgery in
the 7th grade which included having six holes drilled part way into her skull.
Mrs. Born met her husband, Todd, while going to Western Washington University.
After her master’s degree, they decided to stay in Bellingham because they loved the
city. She doesn’t have any kids and this saddens her deeply, but she loves being around
her students. Mrs. Born has two Pomeranians, Toby and Choo Choo, who provide lots
of entertainment. “I love the way they greet me at the door every night; tails wagging
and with cute little grunts,” she said.
One of her hobbies is scuba diving because she feels at peace floating in the sea. She
also enjoys traveling and was able to go on
her “dream trip” to Greece with a research
team for WWU’s psychology department
in 1990. On the weekends, Mrs. Born
enjoys, “Lots of sleeping in!”
Mrs. Born has taught at Shuksan for 212
years, and enjoys teaching here, “Because
it feels like home and the staff is my family,” she said. When does she plan to retire? “No comment,” she said with a smile.
Fun facts
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
compiled by Sydney Glover
A pineapple is actually made up of a bunch of berries!
A pumpkin has been chucked more than a mile by a cannon!
Some blueberries are pink!
There is a radish that looks almost like a water melon inside!
Strawberries are members of the rose family!
Apples float in water because they are 25% air!
The average Strawberry has about 200 seeds!
A apple tree can produce up to 400 apples in a year!
Unlike all other fruits which have seeds on the inside Strawberries and cashews are
the only fruits that have their seeds on the outside.
You can make furniture out of pear wood (it’s really hard)
ART and ENTERTAINMENT
Christmas Decorations
A good way to start off the month of December is to start
decorating for the holidays. We’ve compiled two projects that are easy to make and won’t break the bank.
The first DIY project is Tree Ornaments: For this project you’ll need any color of glitter(s), and a clear ornament (you can find these at any craft store). Twist off the
top of the ornament and start pouring in the glitter (a way
to make it so it doesn’t spill everywhere, put a funnel
over the top
or put it in a
measuring
cup that has a
pour spout;
then pour it
in). You can
fill up the
ornament all
the way, ¾,
By Marlene Berdl and Noemi Magyar
½, or very little. Also a fun way to make it colorful is layering the glitter. Take about four different colors of glitter.
Fill it up ¼ of the way with one color. Take the next color
and fill it up to the middle, and continuing doing it until it’s
filled with four colors.
Our 2nd DIY project is mini Christmas trees. For this
you’ll need a
Styrofoam
cone (found
at
craft
stores), liquid
glue,
and
things to decorate it, like
glitter, feathers, or small
Story Corner:
Corner An Accidental Thief by Emma Jones
PART VIII: No matter what anyone tells you,
escaping from prison is not an easy task. Trust
me, it takes a child genius to do so, so please do
not try thievery. But I will admit: It’s the funnest
(sorry, most fun. Child geniuses should know this
stuff, right?) thing I’ve ever done in my life. As
soon as I stepped out of my cell, a feeling washed
over me that I can never describe unless you feel
it for yourself. It was like a mix of relief, fear,
rising excitement, and adrenaline like I have never
felt before. It was awesome! Or at least I
thought so, until I was an idiot and shouted,
“YES!!!” at the top of my lungs. You can imagine
what happened next. I still curse myself to this
day for my blind idiocy. Maybe things would
have been different if I had shut up and escaped.
Maybe instead of hiding behind a brick wall right
now with people trying to kill me on my tail, I
would be sipping coffee in Paris, reading the
paper leisurely. But now my hiding places are
slowly diminishing until I will have no choice
but to turn myself in, or die trying to find a
way out. If you’re going to be a criminal
(which I would NOT recommend), I would
suggest these top three steps to executing the
perfect escape:
1. You need to heighten your mind to the
highest point of awareness so that you can
make split-second decisions that won’t
slow you down.
2. You need to build up your physical fitness. It’s hard to sprint down hallways,
make smart decisions and figure out what
to do all while trying not to get caught by
the cops.
3. NEVER make a noise.
ornaments. Start with the cone by start putting the glue on (a
paint brush works well for this). You can put the glue on in
sections, or put it on all at once (but you’ll need to work fast
because the glue starts to dry quickly). Then pour the glitter
all around the cone, or dip it into a bowl of glitter, or on the
sections where you put the glue on and continue going until
it’s covered in glitter. Afterwards you can embellish the
tree by adding small ornaments using a hot glue gun. Another way to spice it up, is to add a small ornament (or small
star) to the top of
the tree.
Look for more ideas
for Christmas decoration in the next
edition of the Cougar Times.
Movie Review: The Hunger Games:
Catching Fire by Alex Newton
Katniss Everdeen returns for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (now out in theaters) and needs to be more skilled than ever. These Hunger Games are a lot different in such a way that the people in these games, which are previous winners,
are more hardcore than the 1st timers last year. Last year was the 74th annual
Games but, this year they are the 75th Quarter Quell Games. This year they have
22 more super skilled fighters. If you read the books, Finnick is in the games,
too. If you haven’t read the books, Finnick is a great character and takes care of his
older teammate tribute, Mags. For the games, When Katniss, Peeta and Finnick
team up to win, the trio promises to take vengeance for the fallen teammate Mags
(who died by the poisonous fog that is an extreme killer) and win The Hunger
Games. They find themselves running from poisonous fog,
rabid baboons, blood rain, tsunamis and extremely huge
bolts of lightning. Katniss is getting on President Snow’s
nerves, and Plutarch Heavensbee is the new game maker
(the dude who creates and controls the arena). On a scale
of 1-5, I would rate it a 10 because it’s so much better than
the first one. Seventh Grader Elian Elias says, “It was
amazing, but I hate the ending.”
Sports and Leisure
Bellingham Warriors By: Sara Afshari
Bellingham Warrior’s Lacrosse is starting in the spring and
it welcomes both girls and boys to participate in this fun
sport!
Lacrosse is a team sport that originated among native
Americans, predominantly in Canada and the East Coast.
It is very similar to soccer in the sense that you are running
a lot and working the ball down the field to make a goal.
The object of the game is to get the ball into the net, using
a stick (not your feet).
In Lacrosse, Each player carries a long handled stick, called
a crosse. Rules for men’s and woman’s teams is slightly
different in that it is a full contact sport for the boys and
requires more safety protection: helmet, gloves, shoulder
and arm, and elbow pads, and cups. Girls wear eye protection (goggles).
Players use the stick to catch, carry and pass the ball to
their teammates. The defensive players try to defend their
goal and stop the other team from scoring. There are ten
players on the field at a time: 3 attack, 3 midfielders, 3
defenders, and 1 goalie. The two teams play until the time
runs out. The team with the most goals wins.
Horizon lines boat
On the team you have to practice long and hard and will compete in games in Bellingham, Kennewick, Everett and more.
Lacrosse is an opportunity to bond and get along with other
teammates. Seventh grader Justice Longoria, part of the girl’s
team says, “The most challenging part is traveling to compete.”
If you want to join lacrosse visit
www.bellinghamwarriorslacrosse.com, and register online. If
you enjoy soccer, try Lacrosse!
By Dryw Hopps
Have you ever wondered about the huge boat that says
Horizon Lines sitting in the Port of Bellingham? The ship
is in Bellingham because it is cheaper to park in Bellingham than to park in Tacoma or Seattle. It cost $1000 a day
to have this ship in the Port of Bellingham; the money goes
to the city. The ship’s name is Horizon Fairbanks; it is 650
feet long and it’s one of the smaller ships in its fleet.
Some of the bigger ships are 1000 feet long. The Horizon
Fairbanks is an overflow relief ship for cargo that is going
to Alaska. The ship is not fuel-efficient and the cost for it
is high so the ship doesn’t leave Bellingham until it is needed. It takes 48 hours to get the ship moving so every
month people are assigned to monitor and repair the Horizon Fairbanks. Seventh grader Isaiah Watling says, “I think
it’s just another boat in the water, but they pay the city
$1000, so it’s all right.”
BOOK FAIR AT SHUKSAN By Emma Jones and Kali Jones
Sports
The book fair is coming to Shuksan on December 9th
through the 13th and you can buy your favorite books
in the cafeteria, on the stage. There are also posters,
erasers, pencils and other things for sale. Some of you
may be wondering—Why do we do the book fair every year? It’s a fundraising idea to raise money for the
PTSA so we can have more chances to do fun things
that they provide for us, like assemblies, guest speakers, and sporting events. Mehar Singh, a sixth grader,
says: “Well, I like the book fair. It gives an opportunity to own your own books. I like the book fair because
we get to see books that we don’t usually see.” Seventh grader Jaxon Kness says, “I think kids will be expecting to see a lot of Diary of a Wimpy Kid.” When
asked if she thought there would be award-winning titles
at the book fair, Mehar replied, “There probably will be.
At my old school, there were lots of Newberry books
and award winners. I hope to see
dystopian books,
because I’m a big
fan of Divergent,
Matched and books
like that.” Starting
on the 9th, bring all
of your cash, because the book fair
is coming to town!
AWESOME
BASKETBALL
COURT
DUNKS
FIELD
FOOTBALL
GOAL
RUNNING
SHOT
SOCCER
SPORT
TOUCHDOWN
TRACK
WINNING
T
M
N
F
X
C
I
P
S
A
P
X
U
J
L
F
K
G
W
O
M
P
X
R
O
L
F
Z
S
L
O
Z
C
U
O
P
C
U
L
S
C
N
I
D
A
M
D
R
A
K
D
N
D
P
K
E
C
U
K
B
I
T
L
V
R
N
H
Q
O
N
X
Q
E
W
T
W
S
C
J
I
T
Q
C
O
U
Z
H
N
R
E
I
H
K
N
B
M
D
K
U
D
J
L
S
R
K
N
O
G
L
L
A
B
T
O
O
F
G
Z
A
S
N
T
N
N
S
D
L
E
I
F
T
R
Q
M
A
I
T
C
V
H
G
U
G
J
U
F
Q
O
N
B
N
U
B
Y
R
T
F
P
O
O
U
E
Z
F
K
G
G
T
F
R
E
O
V
D
A
U
Q
Y
H
D
A
W
E
S
O
M
E
P
E
K
L
S
M
I
S
N
V
P
Q
F
L
X
X
Y
F
A
E
G
H
V
W
S
B
C
W
J
U
I
M
S
F
C
P
K
P