Community Resource Fair at JSAA by Kailyn Stefan

Titan News, Volume 2, Issue 2
Headline News
Community Resource Fair at JSAA
ganizations.
These are just a few of the companies that will be available at the
Community Resource Fair.
Next Thursday, October 30,
our school will be hosting a
Community Resource Fair. This
is the second time we have had
this event take place here at
Swigert. It will be held in the
school cafeteria, from 8 a.m. to 4
p.m. On this day, there will be
parent teacher conferences, so
that after you and your guardians
are done discussing your performance as a student, you can go
to the cafeteria to attend fair and
talk about resources and situations with the participating or-
There are going to be twelve
different organizations, each
offering different resources and
opportunities. For example,
Costco will be there providing
some free food and snacks to
parents and students as they
walk around. Academy Kids
Dental will also be representing
at the fair, offering appointments, and giving the opportunity to receive reduced, or even
free, dental services. To go along
with dental service, Peak Vista
will be set up at the fair offering
to talk about medical services,
and talk about how they make
house visits if necessary. The
Pikes Peak Library District
(PPLD) will be attending to
distribute and offer free books.
They will also be talking about
their community service hours
available during school breaks,
such as Thanksgiving break. The
TRE organization will be there
Inside this issue:
by Kailyn Stefan
RESOURCE FAIR
1
to offer educational opportunities to
family or friends who need them.
Along with these exciting organizations, there will be a few more in the
cafeteria during the fair.
BEST HALLOWEEN
1
CALENDAR EVENTS
2
THE PURGE
2
INTERNET VS. PAPER
2
Not only will they have many helpful resources around, but they will be
holding prize drawings. You will receive a ticket and after you put your
name on it, you have the opportunity
to win a prize. These aren’t your ordinary dollar store toys, either. They will
be helpful prizes that you and your
parents can use to your advantage.
There will be adult and student prizes
available.
TEACHER SPOTLIGHT
3
PRINCIPAL WORD
3
SUBJECT NEWS
3
CLUBS
4
NEW TEACHERS
BEHIND THE SCENES
4
4
HOW HARD DO TEENS
5
PTA
5
The Swigert staff and the helpful
resource organizations all hope to see
you and your parents here at the cafeteria on Thursday, October 30, before
and after your student led parent teacher conferences.
STAY FIERCE
6
MEANEST TEACHER
6
WRESTLING
7
STEP
7
GAME REVIEW
8
POLL QUSTION
8
MISS SWIGERT
8
HAVE IT
Best Halloween Ever by Jesse Ostermeier
Did you get lots of
candy trick-or-treating last year?
Well, these three students did!
Jazmyn Albert got two pillowcases full and so did Khalilah
Jackson. Zarius Miller only got
half a bag full.
In Jazmyn Albert’s
opinion, “people should stop
trick or treating at twenty years
old. Jazmyn’s favorite candy is
chocolate. She says that you
Page 1
should trick or treat in neighborhoods with large houses where
people hand out lots of candy
that tastes good. Khalilah Jackson said, “I will plan to dress up
like a minion this year.”
Last year Khalilah
was Michael Myers for Halloween. In Khalilah’s opinion, jolly
ranchers are the worst candy
ever. On Halloween Khalilahs,
idea of a fun time is hanging out
with friends and trick or treating.
This year Zarius Miller
wants to be the scary, terrifying
Zipper face. Like Khalilah, Zarius’s idea of a good time on Halloween is meeting up with
friends. Zarius’s favorite candy
is Reese’s. He says he is the
person in his house that trick or
treats the most out of all of them.
Image found at: http://
www.picshunger.com/
Titan News, Volume 2, Issue 2
Headline News
CLUBS AND EVENTS:
Monday —Battle of the Books after school
Tuesday —Morning Yoga in the gym; Step Team practice after
school
Wednesday — Morning Soccer in the gym; Broadcasting/Drama
club after school
Thursday —Morning Arena Football in the gym; Yearbook after
school; Art Club after school
Friday —NJHS after school
The Purge is Back! by Destyne Smith
As the second season
of the purge is getting
ready for it’s premier there
are students that want to
know what it is going to be
about this year and what
new characters are in it this
year?
This year the school
will find out where the administrators, monsters,
come from. The students
from The Purge will know
the main idea of urban legends. Fourteen students
will be involved. The
Purge is going to be as
long as last year. “I want
other students to experience more of the story,”
said Mrs. Duffey the
broadcasting and drama
teacher.
James Ostermeier feels
excited. He is going to be
Fang in The Purge. James
applied to be in the purge.
James thinks that The
Purge is going to be hard
this year because you have
to edit the film and the
takes to tell the story.
Because last year’s Purge crew consisted of
three eighth graders, the show had to be recast
this year with new characters.
Internet vs. Paper by Dillon Kenney
Have you noticed
that there are more and
more internet users by the
hour? Almost every moment the internet is getting
even more popular. While
paper sits on the bench
waiting to be read.
Computers aren’t
the only source for the internet either. Phones, tablets, and even iPods can
access the internet.
Page 2
Writing and reading from paper has been
around for about 430 years!
Whereas the internet has
only been around for about
25 years. So you might be
asking the same question I
am. Why is the internet so
much more popular than
paper? That brings me to
the big fight, internet vs.
paper. Paper is going to
have to put a pretty good
fight to get back in the
ring.
So, right now paper is in risk of getting
fired from it’s career. A lot
of people have decided to
quit reading the newspaper
and switch over to internet
versions of news. Others
are choosing ereaders such
as kindle, nook, and ipad
over paper copy books.
Many students
would prefer to work on
their computer than on paper which is why schools
such as Swigert are going
one-to-one with each student having access to a
computer.
Times are changing
will you choose paper or
digital?
Titan News, Volume 2, Issue 2
Highlights and Feature News
Teacher Spotlight by Jessica Pena
Do you know that person
who always walks around
school wearing t-shirts and
basketball shorts? Well if you
don’t his name is Mr. Fewell.
Mr. Fewell has been teaching
for 21 years.
He taught at Votech High
School in Los Vegas, Nevada
for eight years, and has been
teaching here in Colorado
Springs for the past thirteen
years. Mr. Fewell teaches
Physical Education (P.E.). He
said, “My class can be fun as
long as you follow the rules
and respect others.”
He has a son named Dante’ who is 17 years old. Currently Mr.Fewell’s mom lives
with him too, her name is
Virginia she is 83 years old.
Mr.Fewell has two Boston
terriers, Durango is the oldest
at the age of twelve, and then
there is Roscoe who is seven
years old.
Mr. Fewell said, “my favorite subject in school was
American Literature because I
enjoyed writing.” After his
serious response he had a
quick remark, “Does recess
count?”
During middle school
Mr.Fewell was very social
and had a lot of fun, while
finishing his work. Some of
his hobbies are camping, target shooting, car shows, and
sports all of which are better
when hanging out with his
son.
Mr. Fewell, Physical Education teacher at Swigert.
A Word From the Principal by Diego Guevara
All students know the
amazing, funny, and very
scary principal Mr.Nason. He
is a good principal at JSAA.
He knows a lot of things
about our school as well as
other staff members and does
what it takes to keep Swigert
at its peak.
The breakfast is one thing
Mr.Nason knows students get
upset about. He knows the
issues well and in the previ-
ous poll question some students weren’t big fans of certain meals. “It’s not my decision, but if I get an opinion
from you guys then I’ll be
more than happy to run it to
food service for you guys.”
The school needs food that
can both taste good and keep
us healthy.
The school is known for its
coveted gold and blue cards.
“Dr. Clayton is working on
them as we speak.” Mr. Nason said. These cards give
students a cut in line, no
charge to attend sports, lunch
with a teacher, and many other benefits.
He also informed me that
after school tutoring has begun as well. So for those who
fear Saturday school, this is
another consequence for low
grades.
One last piece of
information is that PBIS is
working on more rallies and
celebrations for grades this
year.
These are the words
from the principal this
month, so tune in next time.
Subject News by Kailyn Stefan
With the new year continuing,
teachers have been working hard
at attending the task of making
new plans for the year’s classes.
The two eighth grade language
arts teachers, for example, have
been busy working together to
create a plan for the year. They
have come to the conclusion that
their classes will switch every
day, and their lessons will relate
to each other’s.
Mrs. Henley, who is focusing
her classes on reading skills,
explained, “One of the things we
found when using mentor texts is
that we were rushing the reading,
so the kids weren’t reading it
thoroughly. We wanted to give
reading the time and emphasis
that it deserves, and with a class
devoted to reading skills, we
want to help students focus better.” She continued on to say that
her classes aren’t exactly going
as planned, though some things
are. “We’re working out the
kinks of having kids every other
day, and having a lot of subs is
hard. We’re not on track, but we
know where the track is.” Mrs.
Henley also says this is her third
year teaching eighth graders, and
that she has enjoyed reading from
the time she was five years old.
Ms. Kipps, focusing on writing skills this year, says that she
chose to focus on writing because
she believes she could also use
some help in that area. Also, she
says her classes are going to be
doing fractured fairytales, where
you have to choose different
characters from many different
stories and put them into one. “I
like 8th grade, 7th graders are just
weird, and 6th graders are the
babies of the building.” She is
hoping that her students will
become better writers by the end
of the year, and that she improves
her writing as well.
Ms. Kipps and Mrs. Henley tag
team the 8th graders in language
arts to teach reading and writing
as a strong team.
Page 3
Titan News, Volume 2, Issue 2
Highlights and Feature News
Art club by Vanesa Mendoza
Ms. Arthur with art club students and examples of projects.
Art club started on
Thursday, October
16th. The club will be
in room 511, which is
the art room. It will be
run by Ms. Arthur, the
art teacher.
She wants to start
this club because she
thinks students don’t
get enough art in
school. Also, she has
been told from students that they want
to do more art. This is
going to help students
with their creativity
and problem solving.
Her plan of a big
project is doing a mural outside of the
school or in the gym.
The fun and interesting things she wants
to do include making
jewelry, clay projects,
independent projects,
and pop sculptures.
Join art club on
Thursday’s after
school if you are interested.
New Teachers: Mrs. Scoggins! by Madison Garcia
Mrs. Scoggins is enjoying
being back at JSAA.
Sixth graders aren’t
the only new faces at JSAA.
Our school is also welcoming
new teachers. Mrs. Scoggins,
7th grade language arts teacher, is returning to JSAA. Mrs.
Scoggins is now starting her
second year of teaching.
Mrs. Scoggins favorite thing about JSAA is the
students. “I love the students
at Swigert!” said Mrs. Scoggins. She taught her first year
of teaching at Swigert four
years ago and returned this
year as a new teacher again.
Mrs. Scoggins said
she will not start counting
down the days until school is
finally over yet. She’s just
getting started with this year.
Mrs. Scoggins said, “After
Christmas is the final countdown to when I will start
counting down the days of
school.”
Read the JSAA newspaper each month to learn more
about the new teachers here at
JSAA.
Behind the scenes by Jasmine Lynch
Mr. Scott is one of our biggest behind the scenes workers. Say hi to him in the hallways!
There are many people who
are not recognized for what they
do here at JSAA. One of those
people is Mr. Ben Scott. Ben
Scott, the custodian is just one of
many behind the scene staff
members at Swigert. You probably see him all the time in the
hallway and in the cafeteria.
There may be many things you
don’t know about the school or
Mr. Scott. This month staff and
students will get to know him
better and what he thinks about
JSAA.
Some teachers clean their
classrooms as best as they can,
but where is the cleanest room in
the whole building? Of all of the
rooms in the whole building it is
the administrative office.
Sometimes people come
across the most difficult, hard to
clean messes in life. Mr. Scott
had an opinion about the hardest
mess to clean, “Mice, cleaning
mice is the most difficult.”
Students and staff may also be
surprised to know that one of
most needed supplies for the
school is toilet paper. “Usually
20 rolls run out every day,” Mr.
Scott said.
“Clean school,” is Mr. Scott’s
motto. He looks out for the students and staff at JSAA, “a cleaner school, the better.”
Mr. Scott explained, “I love
the students and they have potential in them.” Another thing he
likes about JSAA is the staff.
Help Mr. Scott out by picking
up trash on school grounds and
making sure your trash gets into
the trash cans.
Page 4
Titan News, Volume 2, Issue 2
Editorials
How Hard Do Teens Have It? by Nataly Moran
Do you ever wonder if
you are the only teen that
has difficulties at school
and at home? Well what
you are about to read
will be really assuring.
Brandon Lanzas has a
really hard time when it
comes to school. He has
difficulties when it
comes to the teachers.
Another thing that he has
faced with school is parents, because he has to
wake up really early
when his parents leave
for work. Meeting new
friends was also kind of
hard for Brandon as a
teen. Brandon said the
thing that wasn’t a problem was facing pressure
from school and parents.
Raphael Nicasio didn’t have any problems
when it came to middle
school, teachers, sleeping late, home life, or
siblings. None of this
was really a problem for
him as a middle school
teen.
Larry Mendoza had a
few problems communicating with other people.
He did say he didn’t
have any problem when
it came to bullies or
problems between parStudents might have to go to intervention classes,
Saturday school, or after school tutoring if they
ents and teens.
Akemi Harvell has a don’t keep their grades up.
few problems when it
comes to class work,
P.T.A. by Rose Soliz
“It’s a challenge when it
year. Even though this
The Parent Teacher
comes to doing class
sounds great and all, there’s a
Association is full of Swigert
work, but when it comes
catch, they really need more
parents who’ve decided to
to projects they are easy
parent, staff, and student suptake it up a notch. These parport and help.
ents, Mrs. Stivison for examto do.”
ple, usually come in during
The P.T.A. does fundraisWhen you think that
the school day to help out.
ers like most organizations to
You may have seen Mrs.
you are the only teen that
support our school and keep
Stivison in the nurse’s office.
activities running. One curhas difficulties think
They’re also the people you
rent fundraiser is the BOGO
back to everything you
see running the concession
cards. These cards are sold at
stands at the sporting events.
just read. You are not
There are six parents involved at lunch for only $10.00. BOthe only teen facing hard
in the Jack Swigert P.T.A.
GO means you buy and one
“There will be candy, sotimes.
get something for free. The
Locker troubles plague the students at Swigert
each day. Getting used to having a locker is
a tough transition for incoming 6th graders.
da, chips, hotdogs, and nachos
to be sold.” Says Mrs. Stivison. The concession stands
will be available for sporting
events after school. P.T.A.
might be starting up the concession stand after school in
the hallway like they did last
year.
The P.T.A is also looking
for student feedback in any
way, shape, or form on what
should be sold or any new
ideas. The P. T. A. might
even host another dance this
school earns 50% of the sales
of each BOGO card. The
P.T.A. uses the concession
stand money they raise to put
on dances and other events.
Students, parents, and staff
can help out by purchasing a
BOGO card, buying concessions, or volunteering time
and feedback.
Titan News, Volume 2, Issue 2
Editorials
Stay Fierce by Lanea Segura
staying focused and being
number one.” What she is
trying to say is that you should
try your best and give it all you
got to become number one. “It
was probably an accidental
word, then it got around and
people started to say it.” she
said.
After the phrase “Stay
Fierce” got out to the world
people probably started to give
it meanings and hand signals
Mr. Adams shows off his “Stay Fierce”
for it. Who knows what other
face.
meanings Stay Fierce has?
“Stay Fierce means to stay
strong and not care about the negaWhat is Stay Fierce? What
tive things that people tell you,”
does it mean to “Stay Fierce?”
said Julio Hernandez.
Well according to Alissa XaI agree, people shouldn’t care
rayth, “Staying Fierce means
about what others say when they
say something bad about them.
Instead of saying something bad
about someone, you can say something good about them so they can
feel good about themselves. Today
you should go up to someone you
don’t know and give them a put up.
You could possibly make a new
friend. It’s never too late to make a
new friends right?
Mr. Adams has a very humorous
meaning attached to the phrase
“Stay Fierce.” “Stay Fierce reminds me to pick my nose,” he
said. Mr.Adams suggested that we
change the hand signal to your
arms up like dinosaur. Not everyone picks their nose when someone
Stays Fierce. Mr. Adams just has
his own opinion of Stay Fierce just
like everyone else has their own
opinion on what the phrase means.
What do you think the hand signal
should be?
There are a whole bunch of
meanings for Stay Fierce. Stay
Fierce can mean to try your best
and be the best at what you do.
Stay Fierce can mean to not let
anyone put you down and to put
other people up. Also Stay Fierce
can mean to pick your nose like
Mr. Adams does.
No matter what other people
think you can have your own
meaning to stay fierce. There are so
many different meanings that you
can have for Stay Fierce. No one is
wrong, there can be any meaning to
Stay Fierce. What is your meaning
to Stay Fierce?
Who is the Meanest Teacher? By Julian Berry
Imagine this: you’re having a perfect day. Everything
is going great. All your homework is done, you woke up on
the right side of the bed, and
you are just plain happy. You
walk in the classroom, crack a
joke with a friend, and take a
seat. “Today is going to be a
great day.” Just as these
thoughts manifest, your teacher starts lecturing you, along
with the whole class, for no
reason.
So, the 80 minute class
finally is over. It felt more
like six hours, but, thankfully
you’re out of class. The warning bell rings. Your brain
snaps back to reality, to find
that your teacher dismissed
you late, because one kid
talked. Your classroom is in
another building entirely. You
run with as much force as you
can. Just then, a teacher by
Page 6
the name of Mrs. Adams yells
out, “Walk! Take that hoody
back to your locker” You are
now late, all because of your
teacher, and of course because
of Mrs. Adams.
There are these teachers
everywhere. And no, I don’t
mean stern or strict, I mean
just plain mean. The type of
teachers you dread seeing
everyday. The ones you keep
a very focused eye on, as if
you’re just waiting to see
them screw up so you can get
them fired. Of course, people
have their own opinions. But
deep down, I’m sure they
would like to hear others either think of a different teacher, or even the same one, just
to justify their reasoning further. So, I gathered a couple
people, to see what they think.
According to Geser
Rascon, it’s Ms. Kipps and
Mrs. Henley. “They won’t let
me sit with my friends,” he
says.
I know that many teachers
are downright mean because
students don’t want to learn.
They just want to sit with
their friends.
Geser went on to say, “At
first, they were nice, now
they’re just rude.” He says he
wants them to know his opinion very much.
According to 6th grader
Luis Martinez, the meanest
teacher is Ms. Enterman.
“She’s just plain mean,” he
claims. “If I could switch
classes, I would.”
And without having to be
asked, my opinion: Honestly,
I’d have to say every one except a very select few; A very
select few.
I do pretend to like
them, so no one’s feelings (if
they have any) are hurt. Remember, I’m being honest,
not mean. You can’t judge
me for telling the truth.
So, there you have it.
That is my opinion, along
with others. It’s impossible
to know who the meanest
teacher is when everything is
based off of opinions. Perhaps the teachers are following school rules. Maybe
they’re having a bad day.
The student could be basing
their opinion of the workload
on the teacher’s attitude.
There are numerous reasons
for teachers being mean, I
hope I at least got close.
Titan News, Volume 2, Issue 2
Sports and Entertainment News
Wrestling by Robert Romero
It’s time to for wrestling! Kevin Meyer is the wrestling coach; his dad Kevin
Meyer Sr. also helps train students. Wrestling doesn’t have
many requirements, the only
thing that coach Kevin requires
to join is having good grades,
having a winning attitude, and
dedication to the program.
Coach Kevin has a lot
of experience. He has been
wrestling for 21 years. Kevin
learned to wrestle from his
dad.
Pedro Espinosa is a
wrestler on the wrestling team.
The skills that Pedro learns in
wrestling are pins, take downs,
break downs, and reverses.
Alex Anderson is another wrestler on the team.
During a match Alex feels happy and ready to wrestle. Alex
said, “I joined wrestling because I like to slam people.”
The greatest achievement that
Alex has reached is being on
the A squad. The fastest match
that Kevin has seen was 12
seconds from Alex Anderson.
He worked hard to get in his
place.
Alex Anderson and
Pedro Espinosa are just two
of the wrestlers on the team.
The team will keep up the
good work and keep wrestling.
Wrestlers look forward to their meets each week.
Step Team by Julio Hernandez
Have you ever seen
something really amazing
and can’t explain how good
it was? Well that’s how it is
with the step team. Their
team is filled with talented,
dedicated students. Some of
these students are new to it,
others have experience from
previous years. The thing is
most of the people on the
team feel that the team isn’t
as good as they are. Jayna
Jones said from 1-10. “I
would rate us a 7 overall, we
have people who are new to
this. There are people who
know what they are doing
and people, who are still
asking questions and don’t
know what to do or where
to go. That’s the reason
why I rate us a 7.”
Oscar Santiago
said “I feel it’s the teacher,
the teacher doesn’t really
know how to teach the new
people and has to ask other
people to demonstrate because the teacher doesn’t
really explain what or how
to do something.”
Jamar West said, “When I
step, I just feel like I can express who I am. What I can
do, it’s not just it a way to
show myself, but also doing
something I love to do at the
same time. Right before a performance, I get this cool but
weird feeling in my stomach
its pretty surreal when I get it.
I’m pretty sure others get the
same or somewhat close to
that feeling.”
outstanding.
This activity will be ending
around the end of May.
There are plenty of positions
open so feel free to join,
they could use more people.
Step Team
captain
Jayna
Jones
shows off
one of the
step team
positions.
The Step members feel they
will get better and become
Page 7
Titan News, Volume 2, Issue 2
Sports and Entertainment News
Destiny Video Game Review by Daniel Molloy
Almost every year
most gamers are talking about
the brand new Call of Duty
(CoD), But this year a new
game has stolen the spotlight.
The game I am talking about
is Destiny. Destiny was released For Xbox on September 9th and for PS3&PS4 on
the 11th of 2014.
This new game features
1080p resolution, but for most
gamers that’s nothing that can
stand up to CoD’s massive
fan base. They base it off a
game for Xbox only called
Halo. So now even without
Halo, Playstation
fans can enjoy a more realistic version of halo.
I personally Think that it
won’t be the Call of Duty
killer. But, it will definitely
replace CoD in my game
tray. So, what I’m saying is
that it’s a great game!
.
Image from: http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destiny_
(video_game)
Each Issue will tackle a tough topic in school. You may weigh in as well as staff and parents. Go to this link
and take the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5BKWBKT
Today’s Poll question:
1. How do you feel about the extra hour and block scheduling at JSAA?
A) It does not seem any different
B) I get more work done in classes
C) This school does this to torture us
D) Class time could be better utilized
Last month we asked you about your least favorite breakfast. Here are the results:
Do you have an issue weighing on your mind? Do you need advise from Miss Swigert?
Write your anonymous issue on a piece of notebook paper. Title the Paper Dear Miss Swigert. Create a pseudonym for
yourself that may describe your problem.
Deliver your letter to Miss Swigert to the Newspaper mailbox in the office. Miss Swigert may choose your letter to publish
and respond to in her advice column. Miss Swigert will respond to one or two letters each month.