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Minecraft Mob Quiz
See the comparison of the Xbox X and PlayStation 5 with new information that has just surfaced (Content by Brandon Lite)
Coming Soon Nearly eight years after the release of their last consoles, the popular gaming companies PlayStation and Xbox have returned with announcements of two new consoles for December 2020. Before purchasing either one, it’s important to know the new information rumored PlayStation 5 specs and confirmed Xbox X specs, learn their hardware, features and what makes one better than the other.
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New Hardware Both the Playstation 5 and Xbox X will have a newer graphics processor than the Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. It’s confirmed the PlayStation 5 and Xbox X will have 10-12 Teraflops (Unit Of Computing Speed), better video quality and faster loading frames. Both consoles are switching to Solid State Drive for more storage, because in the past years consoles have been operating under a hard drive.
Unique Features There are also PlayStation features that have been announced which the new Xbox won’t have. Sony confirmed new features the PS5 will have that the Xbox X won’t. The PlayStation 5 will have new and improved trigger buttons, Ultra HD Bluray and new pixel loading features. The PS5 is going to have 3D audio and be V-shaped. It’s also speculated that the PS5 will be four times stronger than the PS4 Pro and have the best cooling system out of all the PlayStations. The Xbox X will have ray tracing, smaller controllers and new cooling systems.
Exclusive Games Both consoles will have one exclusive game. The PlayStation has a third-person fantasy looter-slasher focused on melee combat game called Godfall, and Xbox has a dark action-adventure fantasy Sequel game called Hellblade 2.
(Illustrations by Jena Pae)
STUDENT TAKE: WHAT CONSOLE DO YOU PREFER?
“I’m gonna buy the Xbox X because I love the Xbox. It’s smoother, smaller and I would miss the Forza Horizon games if I got a PS5.” Kael Schaefering, 9
“If I do buy any of the consoles I’ll buy the PS5 because I love Call of Duty and grew up with
PlayStation.” Terri Reed, 10 “I would have a pizza oven (PS5) over a mini fridge (Xbox X).” Kylin Reed, 11
THE RISE OF DISNEY PLUS
With growing popularity, Disney Plus has made its impact on our world. Disney Plus is Disney’s new streaming service that allows the streaming of everything from Disney classics to new releases. The service was released on Nov. 12, 2019, and since then has gained a large amount of popularity with users totaling over 10 million on the first day, according to cnet.com.
“[I like] Wizards of Waverly Place because I watched it when I was little,” sophomore Ana Sofia Remolina said. “[I watch] it like once a week.”
After being highly anticipated, the release of Disney Plus attracted customers in flocks. The current number of users has exceeded Disney’s expectations, totaling over 28 million. It attracted teens who wanted to relive their childhood through classic Disney TV shows and people who simply wanted a new place to stream all of their Disney favorites.
“Netflix is kind of generic TV shows and some movies but Hulu is mainly movie,” sophomore Rachel Buchanan said. “Then Disney Plus is more for kids but yet it also has good movies.”
Disney Plus is an app similar to Netflix or Hulu, except it’s for anything and everything Disney. It’s organized into the separate “branches” of Disney TV: Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, Disney’s own classics and National Geographic.
“Well I like the Star Wars movies, but I also like how there are shows from our childhood like Phineas and Ferb and all that stuff,” Buchanan said.
As for where to get Disney Plus, there are several places where one can purchase it. It costs $7 a month or $70 if you prepay for a full year. It also offers a seven-day free trial. Disney’s deal with Verizon gives customers with unlimited wireless plans a year free. Verizon also bundled it with Hulu and ESPN Plus, offering a $5 discount with a subscription to all three of those services. This is the same price as Netflix’s popular service.
“[I would recommend to a friend] because it has the majority of what I watched when I was a kid on it,” Remolina said. (Story by Justin Brewer)
comic central
Wow... so my milk has a Valentine’s date, but I don’t.
The Pencil Problem (Illustrated by Nico boenitz)
Distraught Dog (Illustrated by Minnie adams)
Miles Away (Illustrated by Maya Helbig)
anxiety (Illustrated by sky hebisen) Regular me: Anxious and tired
Me with coffee: Anxious and fast
Make friends.
Make cool stuff.
Make a difference.
Students walk around the campus of St. Charles Community College (SCC), making their way to their classes for the day. SCC is a two year public community college which allows students to attend for $3,768 a year. The school offers associate degrees in the arts, business, sciences and career-technical fields as well as workforce training and community-based personal and professional development. (Photo by Courtney Wortman) DUAL-ENROLLMENT PROGRAM
FHSD introduces a program that allows students to earn credit for FHN from St. Charles Community College
“The goal here was to make it more available and more widely known to more students and in higher numbers of courses,” Nathan Hoven, deputy superintendent and Chief Academic Officer for FHSD said. “The state had moved forward a few years back with a guarantee that certain courses through the community college are going to transfer to Missouri’s other public colleges.”
Because the program is run through St. Charles Community Colllege, students must meet certain SCC as well as district set requirements to enroll including a grade, GPA, coursework, attendance and a good citizenship requirement. Students must also maintain at least C grades in their SCC classes or risk removal from the program.
“Once they start a semester they’ve committed to that semester at a minimum,” Lucas Lammers, Director of Secondary Education for FHSD and the person credited with laying most of the groundwork for the program said. “This is what you do when you’re really a college student. It’s really your responsibility to be talking to professors and counselors there. This is an opportunity for students to learn that.”
FHSD’s vision for the program is composed of three “lanes”, each with their own advantages. Lane one allows students to complete their general education requirements, and it ranges from 42-48 credit hours. Lane two allows students to earn a full associate’s degree. Students would take their entire schedule at SCC. Finally, lane three is the “à la carte” model allowing students to mix classes at FHN and SCC.
“The most attractive option is trying to get Gen Ed out of the way,” Lammers said. “When you get through two years, you can go straight into courses that line up with your major. I think lane one or lane two is the greatest opportunity considering it’s only $50 per credit hour.”
The Francis Howell School District will be expanding an “early college” program in the 2020-21 school year, allowing students to earn credits that work towards both a college education and a high school diploma. The program had a “soft roll-out” this year.
It should be noted, however, that not all classes at SCC are required to graduate and that students will need to coordinate with both SCC and FHN’s counselors to pick classes that count towards fulfilling the educational requirements of both schools. These courses are listed in the program’s catalog.
“We would strongly recommend some [courses],” FHN head principal Nathan Hostetler said. “If you want to go learn to weave baskets, go do you, but that may not help you graduate from high school.”
While the district expects to see a small dip in enrollment in AP classes, they don’t want students to consider the “early college program” a replacement, only another option. The district has made sure the program is compatible with other district programs like CAPs, Lewis and Clark and the work program.
“There’s very much flexibility,” Hoven said. “We purposefully made it available that if a student can schedule their time at the community college with that in mind, and so we absolutely expect to see students who spent part of the day at the college and then continue with the other commitments they’ve made.”
FHSD hopes that by allowing students to take more of their education into their own hands, they’ll be more focused on their futures and on their studies. Essentially, the “when are we ever going to use this?” crowd.
“There’s this myth of an unmotivated student, it’s bogus,” Hostetler said. “Everybody’s motivated to do something. What people really mean is ‘they’re not motivated towards the things I wish they were’. One of the things we could do to help students move forward is to give them a glimpse of their future, a way to move towards their future.”
Any implementation of the early college program will not be impacted by the success or failure of the bonds issue being placed on the April ballot. by Connor Peper officialconnorpeper@gmail.com
MORE INFO Leran more about the early college program: bit.ly/NScollege
