The Freedom Forum 56.2 - January 2023

A look back and the way forward

A summary of Fall 2022 and a preview of Spring 2023

Jonathon Chiu Freedom Forum

It’s the new year and with all the festivities, it is easy to forget the events of fall 2022, with this rapid pace sure to continue into the upcoming spring semester.

On September 7, Freedom opened its doors to parents during an open house where they were able to interact with teachers and indulge in refreshments made by VoTech.

On October 7, the football team played their homecoming game against the Whitehall Zephyrs and managed to pull off a 33-

RIP, my GPA

17 victory. The homecoming dance commenced on October 8, with Josiah Peters and Lauren Humphrey being elected homecoming king and queen, respectively.

Spirit week began on October 24, with themes ranging from Pajamas, Anything But a Backpack, Adam Sandler and more.

A hallway decorating contest weeks in the making also took place, with the Freshman winning with their hallway theme of Avengers Assemble, much to the shock of the other grades.

A pep rally was also held on October 28 to celebrate the Freedom-Liberty game, with the dance team and staff performing one of the best dances in recent memory. Students from freshmen to seniors participating in activities such as a stretcher race, obstacle course, tug of war and more.

The football team smashed the Liberty Hurricanes in a 38-7 victory on October

29 to claim the George Resetco trophy and end the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference (EPC) South Division.

The Freedom Patriot band also played a part as they played in tandem with the Liberty Grenadier band during the halftime show of the Freedom-Liberty game, playing hits from the Beatles such as “Hey Jude” and “Can’t Buy Me Love” during the game’s halftime show.

On November 3, FHS held an induction ceremony to welcome the newest members of its National Honor Society chapter and celebrate their achievements before being inducted as members.

“The world is bigger with big problems,” said Bethlehem mayor William Reynolds, who attended the ceremony as a keynote speaker, “the loudest opinions are not the majority opinions… good information can persuade people but good people should

not.”

On November 18 to November 20, the theater company performed their fall musical, Schoolhouse Rock Live, with members of the theater company, from cast members such as Edwin Feijoo to stage crew members such as Sean Roberts and even the pit band, all working together to bring characters such as Tom, George, Schulie, and more to life.

School was closed from November 23 to November 29 due to Thanksgiving break.

Course selection for grades 9 through 11 took place on December 1 to 13, with juniors choosing their senior year classes on December 1, 2, and 5. Sophomores chose their junior year classes on December 8, 9, 12 and 13 and Freshmen selected their sophomore year courses on December 13 and 14. (continued on page 2)

How

COVID

impacted my time in high school

Madilyn Loper Freedom Forum

Students were so happy for the two weeks they originally thought they would have off. For the class of 2024, they went home one day during middle school and never returned. Starting high school was confusing. I switched from a small private school to a larger public school, and I had no friends. I didn’t properly connect with any of my teachers, and after about two

weeks of going to school in-person, I switched to online classes. Without any proper schedule or structure, I, like many others, quickly lost any motivation I had, and my grades started to drop. My freshman year, I did horriblyand I know I’ll never get those grades back. Now that I’m a junior, I worry about my grades more frequently, and I wish I could take my entire freshman year back (RIP, my GPA).

Other people enjoyed online school and zoom calls (but did anyone really enjoy those?); they believed school was easier that way, and the classes were just easier. It was almost like a vaca-

tion for them -- a break from waking up early everyday. They preferred being at home and having more flexibility. Some of my peers said that Covid didn’t affect their grades at all.

However, quarantine was a confusing time for many. Many tears were shed over things lost. Unlike adult events, some events in teen years can’t be replaced; prom, graduation, and many other important mile-stones were forgotten. You can reschedule gatherings and parties, but once you lose a school year, it’s gone forever. Along with big occasions, as many as 140,000 children lost a parent or caretaker. Along with

grades suffering, so was mental health.

According to the CDC, over a third (37%) of high school students reported poor mental health during the pandemic, and 44% said they felt persistently sad or hopeless. Students who actually felt connected to adults or teachers were less likely to report feelings like these. Poor mental health affects grades, decision making, and causes increased behavioral risks.

Overall, regardless of the grades gotten during the pandemic, it was a hard year for all of us in many different ways, and I’m glad it’s over, and I can continue to go to school and build relationships with my teachers and my peers.

The Riot Squad prepares for the Freedom Liberty game, where Freedom won 38-7.

Photo: Jonathon Chiu

New inductees recite the oath of the National Honors Society at the ceremony on November 3rd.

Photo: Jonathon Chiu

Looking back on 2022: Tiktok’s influence on the year’s food trends

cover the oversized cookies, declaring them unique and the rotation of flavors interesting enough to promote. Because there is a Crumbl Cookies in the Lehigh Valley, it has become popular amongst people locally. From a survey of Freedom students, 100% would eat at Crumbl Cookies.

veyed said that they would prefer Raising Canes over any other restaurant that has emerged this year.

mous salmon rice bowl and learned of it through Tiktok.

Phoebe Cunningham Freedom Forum

Would you ever try pickles and kool aid if you saw it on Tik Tok? From dessert to pasta to fish, there are crazy trends that appear every year, and 2022 was no exception.

One of the most popular places to get dessert from that has emerged late this year thanks to Tiktok is Crumbl Cookies. Although it’s been around since 2017, it was considered a small business until early 2022 when influencers on social media started to dis-

On the opposite side of the food spectrum, a popular restaurant featured in California has come to light towards the middle of 2022. This restaurant features dishes like soup dumplings, “cucumber salad”, spicy noodles, and its most popular items: the green beans and chocolate buns. Although other Taiwanese restaurants have been popular like Din Tai Fung, none have gained popularity purely because of Tiktok as quickly. Although this restaurant is only featured in the West Coast, when taking a survey, 30.8% of applicants said that they would enjoy eating there.

One other restaurant that has turned up in 2022 is Raising Canes. Although this West Coast fast food has been around since 1996 and has been popular in past years, it really gained sales this past year through social media trends like blind tasting fast food chicken strips. Another 30% of people sur-

A look back and the way forward

School was dismissed early on December 22 due to a teacher in-service and school was closed from December 23 to January 2 due to winter break.

While 2022 may be over, there is still much to do in the new year. Keystone testing will take place on January 9, 10, and 11 with students not taking the tests performing asynchronous work at

Along with restaurants, there have been many food creation trends that have come through Tiktok. Each of these trends last about a month because people create them in different ways and get sick of eating it quickly. However, the salmon rice bowl was created by user @emilymariko took over the internet mid 2022 and has been considered a common homemade meal since then. People add white rice, sriracha, soy sauce, and avocado to make this dish their own. Seven out of thirteen surveyed people have created the infa-

One similar dish that has emerged from Tiktok more recently is the “butter board”. These boards are meant to be a type of dip that people can swipe bread onto. Some of the most interesting twists to the classic butter board have been the additions of fruit, bagel seasonings, and all sorts of vegetables to add flavor. This trend is seemingly the last one of 2022, as it’s just beginning to burn out towards the end of the year.

Of these trending Tiktok restaurants and cooking trends, there has been a great variety of creations on the internet and influencers to promote them. Every year the trends differ almost completely. Now the question is: what will emerge in 2023? Will it be things like the candy-wrapped pickles, spa water, or bold flavors of sunflower seeds? These are only a few new creations that FHS students have heard of that could potentially be seen on the internet in 2023. It doesn’t take much to start trends like these, and now on Tiktok, with the easy task of creating a 30-second video and uploading it to the app, there are endless opportunities for people to go viral, and it’s easier than ever.

home.

Incoming ninth graders and their parents attend an orientation meeting on January 11 and the first semester comes to a close, with finals taking place on January 20, 23, and 24.

Freedom will host another open house on February 15 from 6:30 - 9:00 PM for parents to get to know second semester teachers.

In April, we can look forward to events like A Day of Silence/ Breaking the Silence, held by the GSA, on the 14th, the spring musical, Beauty and the Beast, from the 20th to the 23rd, and a college fair on 26th.

The FHS chorus, directed by Ms. Volpato performed their holiday concert on December 9. The orchestra also held a concert on December 16.

An art show also took place on December 16.

Prom is at the SteelStacks on May 12 starting at 6:00 - 10:00 PM. The annual Academic Awards ceremony is on May 17 at 6:30, with award recipients reporting for a rehearsal taking place

A Freedom guitarist with a bright future

The guitar is one of the most universal instruments that can be played in many different ways. There are many different types of guitars, like the bass, acoustic, and electric, but the most important difference among all of them is the player. The instrument has spread all around the world and is played by many, just in Freedom High School there are many guitar players that not many people may notice.

Even though guitar may be a hard to learn, many still try to learn it. One Freedom student, April Valera, has tak-

en up this challenge and has seen major success in guitar and many other instruments. April grew up in a Hispanic household, with music being a huge part of her life. She started playing guitar about a year ago and picked up bass this year. Surprisingly she is able to continuously play two instruments and keep her mentality up each step of the way.

Her inspirations for playing are The Mamas & The Papas, The Zombies, Brenda Lee, The Monkees, and Donovan. She has even formed a band called Stud Brown, which will be releasing music soon.

Making music isn’t easy; it requires skill, talent, and creativity. This is one of

the hardest parts about music because a lot of people lack the creativity to make something completely original. April shows she is able to come up with new and original ideas with no effort. But where does this creativity come from? April says that ”Janis Ian has been one of my main influences and inspirations.” Janis Ian is an American songwriter who was really popular in the 60s and 70s and had influenced millions of people in her time.

April shows she has creativity, is very musically talented, and is able to play multiple instruments; she has a verybright musical future ahead of her.

earlier in the day from 1:00 - 1:30 PM.

To close off the year, finals will take place in late May and early June, with seniors taking their finals on May 24, 26 and 30 and underclassmen taking their finals on June 6 and 7, with the 8th as a makeup day along with graduation. Let’s hope the rest of the school year is productive and rewarding for all!

For

Javian (Chemi) Miranda Freedom Forum

April Valera shows promise and creativity in her guitar classes at Freedom.

Photo: Christmas City Studios

The FHS Theatre Company performs Schoolhouse Rock Live.

Photo: Jonathon Chiu

Student-created ceramics were on display at the winter art show.

Photo: Jaydenn Lim

Students decorated the music hallway in a Stranger Things theme for Spirit Week.

Photo: Jonathon Chiu

A new Crumbl Cookies has opened up in Nazareth.

Photo: Google Maps

A popular version of the butter board has fruits and nuts.

Photo: Food Network

Mrs. Meyers: Return from maternity leave

Madilyn Loper Freedom Forum

This year, Mrs. Meyers’ class started school without her while she was on maternity leave. At first, her students didn’t know what to expect this coming school year. They had two teachers filling in for her before a substitute came and took over. For the first month of school, the students mostly did independent work and were confused about the assignments they were given. When Mrs. Meyers came back to class, she quickly got the students more involved. Gianna Parise, one of her first block students, said she “thought Mrs. Meyers was going to give a lot of work,” when she first met her. After spending the last few months in her class, she said, “Mrs. Meyers is a good teacher, and she’s very helpful.”

Mrs. Meyers recently had her son, which is her first child, and she said, “I always wanted two, but he’s really cool, so I think I’ll just stop here.” It was hard to come back to school for her since she used to be with her baby 24 hours a day, so being away from him was really foreign- though after she came back to school in October, she said, “it felt nice to be out of the house and talk to people other than The Wiggles.” Despite being nervous about being away from him, she feels lucky to live close to Freedom, so she never feels like he’s too far away from her. She gets pictures every-

day from the person who watches and takes care of him while she’s at work, so she feels connected to him.

She added that, “I’m really happy to be a teacher and to know that I get the summer each year to be with him all day, and that he will always have the same days off and breaks as me, so that we get to have a lot of quality time!”

Around the world & back: A look at Ms. Buchanan, Travel Club

“I was arranging field trips for students and they wanted to take international field trips,” Ms. Buchanan said, “I had a group of students who came to me in 2016 and we planned where we’d go for the first field trip.”

Now, Ms. Buchanan is coordinating with Education First, the same travel company that allowed her to travel to Costa Rica, on taking a trip to Japan in the summer of 2024. She has also not forgotten the contributions of students in making it to this point.

“I’m so proud I could cry,” said Ms. Buchanan, when asked about the contributions of students to the Travel Club; “they have all the right ideas about wanting to learn more and experience new cultures and appreciate culture from the perspective of others.”

Jonathon Chiu Freedom Forum

Ever since taking a trip to Costa Rica in high school almost 30 years ago, Ms. Buchanan has had the desire to travel across the world and meet new people. Now an English Language Arts teacher for Freedom High School, this drive to travel has continued to flourish as the head of the Travel Club, a position she was given following her arrival to Freedom. She has also been open to ideas from students in regards to what the Travel Club can do to better the experience, with international trips being one of these student contributions.

Diving into the world of Ms. Kutch

pation in swimming, now she’s here in Freedom to coach the swim team. “Because I swam for fifteen years competitively, and I’ve been a coach for two years, I wanted to keep that going for Freedom swimmers.” says Ms. Kutch. She also says “When I was young, you could find me at my community pool from the time it opened to the time it closed. I always loved the water and swimming. When I was seven, a man by the name of Ed Black asked if I was interested in joining the new swim team he was starting at the pool. Without hesitation, I joined and instantly fell in love with the sport. 17 years later, and I am still just as in love with swimming.”

Aiden Bleier Freedom Forum

From swimming apprentice to coaching her own swim team, here’s a small bit from the life of FHS staff member Ms. Kutch. Best known for her partici-

Even though she’s been swimming for so long, Ms. Kutch still enjoys it. “My coaches were big influences on me.” says Ms. Kutch, who goes on to further state that she wants to be the same influence for her students in the swim team she coaches.

Ms. Kutch isn’t just a swim coach, though, she’s also a teacher. “Both of my parents were college professors. My grandfather was a pastor.” says Ms. Kutch, who had just started teaching last year. She further states that “My teaching background story is very similar to my swimming background story. I knew I wanted to be a teacher ever since I was five years old. Teaching is a family business. Now that I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up, I had to figure out what grade I wanted to teach. My fascination with the subject of English began in middle school and only intensified in high school. I loved my English teachers and classes and I credit my career to them.”

Ms. Kutch says that “seeing the students thrive in all aspects of their lives.” She also states that she’s not doing this job for the paycheck, but for the students she teaches.

Despite her short time teaching here,

Mrs. Roman: How does change affect people?

comprehend that a big change like that is just around the corner for some of us. Mrs. Roman has shared how she personally felt with these big changes, specifically about her youngest daughter going away to college and her own experience leaving home.

Mrs. Roman said her experience was a little easier than her daughter’s. She went to Lehigh University, which was close to home for her. However, moving away for the first time on her own with no family around was a big change for her. Learning to budget and live on her own was a challenge. There are always advantages to difficult situations, though.

“it was sort of difficult to get away from your teacher in that circumstance.” It would give them easy accessibility to help, though. The biggest benefit of them attending Freedom was coaching them: “The memories of spending time with them in the gym during practices, matches, and tournaments will forever be some of my favorite memories.”

The recent pandemic, which caused a halt to international travel, became a prime example of the contributions of students in finding solutions to continue to experience new cultures, such as going to local restaurants and planning student exchanges.

The student members of the club also expressed similar sentiments of gratitude to Ms. Buchanan in making the club “a great experience.”

“I think the way Ms. Buchanan runs things ... [is] very beneficial… and helpful” said Genesis Garcia, club president, adding that she is a “very dependable person that we, the people of the travel club, could go to [for help].”

Ms. Kutch’s reputation is already growing. “She’s awesome, I love her.” says Lucy Kontir, who was in Ms. Kutch’s English 10 class last year.

With that, we hope that this year, along with the years to come, are the best years for Ms. Kutch’s teaching and coaching career.

Freedom Forum

The idea of leaving for college seems foreign to a lot of us students— it always feels so far away. It’s hard to

Mrs. Roman has two daughters, Julia (22) and Alaina (18). They both attended Freedom High School. There were benefits and challenges because of this. She says one of the biggest challenges was having them as students. She said

Her daughter Julia graduated in 2018 and then went to Drexel University. Alaina is now at St. Lawrence University in New York, after graduating last year. Mrs. Roman said it was very hard seeing her daughters go off to college. “It changes everything. You go from seeing them everyday, making sure they have what they need, and then they are the ones in charge of themselves. It is also a difficult concept, as a parent, knowing when your child leaves for college your home will never be the same,” she said.

Derek Schwoerer, a senior at Freedom High School, had Mrs. Roman as a teacher. He said “she was easily accessible when students needed help.” She made sure that her daughters and students had answers to all of their questions.

As a senior who is going away for college in less than a year, Derek is anxious but also excited. His main worry is transportation from home to school and vice versa. The chances to see family will be slimmer. He is also worried about living on his own for the first time.

The transition into adulthood is difficult for all parties involved. Mrs. Roman’s background shows that there are great lessons learned from her experiences: she says “they were a challenge that I to this day appreciate because the challenges in life make all other memories more special and appreciated.”

Mrs. Meyers’ son really doesn’t like Studysync.

Photo: Amy Meyers

Swim coach and English teacher Ms. Kutch is ready for the year.

Photo: Christmas City Studios

Coach Kutch (right) encourages her team at a meet.

Photo: Christmas City Studios

Ms. Buchanan has gone a long way in revolutionizing the Travel Club.

Photo: Stephany Zuniga

Catelin Schwoerer

Past FHS yearbooks show alumni who have gone on to face change after graduation.

Photo: Jaydenn Lim

Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffery Dahmer Story ; is it too much?

been incredibly mixed. The series on Netflix consists of 10 episodes, all based on the story of real-life killer Jeffery Dahmer. Dahmer is famous for his incredibly intimate slaughtering of sixteen men. The witnesses and survivors of his terror lived to tell their story, and eventually the jury convicted Dahmer: he was charged with fifteen of the sixteen murders.

This documentary goes into detail about the events in Dahmer’s life that caused his motivation for the killings and how the events supposedly went down during his spree. The show on Netflix shows Dahmer’s childhood, his adult life, and the trials followed by jail time.

impossible for most humans to perform. On review sites, young people have said “These shows are starting to get out of hand! No one ever ever ever needed to be exposed to a detailed and disgustingly vivid presentation of something so macabre.” Dahmer is also famous for the cannibalism of his victims after he killed them, which the actor performs in the show. The scenes where he does this convince lots of viewers to turn their heads away from the screen because it might just be too much to think about that happening in real life.

the viewers are intrigued by this aspect.

From seeing the series, there are in fact lots of sensitive scenes, like when Dahmer is shown killing the men he hunted and eating their remains. There are other actors featured in these scenes like Shuan Brown. He portrays one of Dahmer’s attempted victims that goes through trauma and lives to tell his story. These scenes were honestly a bit much, although it is relevant to the plot, and some details are unnecessary for viewers, like the cannibal scenes.

Phoebe Cunningham Freedom Forum

The Jeffrey Dahmer Series was released in late September in 2022, and since then its ratings and reviews have

Numerous websites state this show as “not suitable for kids under 17 years old.” This popular opinion based on reviews doesn’t stop many children from watching the show, and the kids that have seen it may be traumatized from the blood and real-life events that seem

Review: Minions: The Rise of Gru

Zeyad Ragab Freedom Forum

Who doesn’t like the Minions and their franchise? When audiences go to the theaters and they see the Illumination movies their eyes go wide. We can thank director Kyle Balda , editor Claire Dodgson, Steve Carell (Gru), Russell Brand (Dr. Nafario), Illumination, Universal Pictures, and Taraji P. Henson who plays Belle Bottom for making us happy and put a smile on our faces. They worked day in and day out to make our movie-going experience more joyful. Steve Carell is a very famous actor who also starred in the well-known sitcom called The Office. Taraji P. Henson also stars in Karate Kid and Ralph Breaks the Internet. Illumination and Universal studios created the movies of Despicable Me franchises. They also made The Grinch, Sing 2, The Lorax, and The Secret Life Of Pets. These iconic movies gather tons of viewers.

Minions: The Rise of Gru is adventurous and humorous. It is very color-

ful with lots of bright colors. There are different moods throughout the movie, with near-death scenes like when Gru and Wild Knuckles almost died to alligators and funny scenes like when Gru stuck himself in the face with the slime gun to impress the Vicious 6. Music plays a major role in the movie and includes genres like pop, funk and soul. Minions: The Rise of Gru is similar to movies like The Lorax and Sing 2 They are all humorous and adventurous, and most of the movies made by Illumination and Universal pictures are family-friendly movies. The Secret Life of Pets franchise was also a hit movie that comes with adventure and jokes.

There are just a lot of jokes that come with these kinds of movies. For instance, the line “so creamy, so delicious,”(Minions: The Rise of Gru) when Gru spoke to the people who were exercising and they wanted the ice cream Gru was eating in front of them. This is similar to a moment from a different movie but same writers and directors: in Despicable Me, Gru finds a kid crying about dropping his

Movies coming out in 2023

of that review, the movie seems to be widely accepted.

With Madame Web’s release being moved to 2024, Kraven the Hunter is the next Marvel movie to look forward to, coming out to theaters on October 6th, 2023. The original release date for the movie was January 13th, 2023, but it was pushed back. According to the website The Digital Fix, the film was announced in 2018 but filming didn’t start until March of 2022. There aren’t many reviews for the trailer, but people are already skeptical about the movie.

Common Sense Media, a review and rating site, writes that “This show is amazing but is the most violent thing I have ever seen in my life. This show can trigger psychotic traits so if you are under 18 and you watch this be careful because this show is hardcore.” Most reviews on this website talk about the gore and the acts that Dahmer commits. Some are negative because of this, but some of

There is controversy surrounding the glorifying of murder by creating a Netflix show about Dahmer because throughout his life, he was motivated by attention. Despite passing away in 1994, he would have craved this kind of attention from the show. Although this show is the most realistic reenactment of what happened during Dahmer’s reign of terror, it might just be too much gore for lots of viewers.

The Super Mario Bros movie is one of the more anticipated in 2023.

One of the most anticipated movies to come out this year is the Mario movie, which is premieres April 7th, 2023. According to an article from the website Collider, actors Jack Black and Chris Pratt are going to be voicing Bowser and Mario. A review from the website TechCrunch states that “Though the trailer was a bit short, it didn’t disappoint.” The review continues, “We finally got to hear Chris Pratt’s voice come out of Mario’s animated form, and it was delightfully bizarre. Plus, Keegan-Michael Key is already killing it as Toad, admonishing Mario for mistaking him for a mushroom.” Going off

Last but not least, it’s finally here, the new Transformers movie: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, coming out on June 9th, 2023. Paramount Pictures says that it will be the first movie in a planned trilogy. They also confirmed a “CG animated Transformers theatrical film.” The movie will be a sequel to the Bumblebee movie and the Beast Wars film, according to the virtual event that was hosted by Paramount in June. The movie will include the Terrorcons, which were seen as a type of cybertronian (Transformers race name) zombie in the TV series Transformers Prime. The movie will also include the Maximals, which came from generation one, and the Predacons which came from Season 3 of Transformers Prime and the Beast Wars movie.

Those are only three of the various movies coming out in 2023. Out of the three movies, which one are you most looking forward to? Let us know on our Fhsforum.com poll!

ice cream and Gru sees he is sad and makes him a balloon making the viewers think Gru is a good guy, but Gru ends up popping the balloon.

Kids and even adults enjoy these films and are entertained by funny moments like in Despicable Me 3, when Gru fights Evil Bratt and Gru getting pushed off the edge by Bratt’s wave guitar, with no clothes in front of a birthday party, swinging off the ship covered only in gum.

As a very big fan of Illuminations films, it’s difficult not to be biased, but these family friendly films are the best out there. Minions: The Rise of Gru film has racked up a 4.5 star rating. On Rotten Tomato, it received a score of 89% audience approval. Obviously this franchise is one of the biggest in the industry and the proof is in the statistics. Without Universal Pictures and Illumination we won’t be able to watch these amazing movies that we all love.

Beetlejuice closing on Broadway in 2023

Allison Makula Freedom Forum

The Broadway musical, based on the 1988 Tim Burton film, originally opened at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre on April 25, 2019, and later announced a June 2020 closing (which was moved up due to the industry-wide shutdown in March 2020). The closing notice, prompted by the theater owner, was notable because the grosses for the musical were on an uptick, which the production credited to growing fan engagement. However, The Music Man was slated to take that theater.

The current cast includes Alex Brightman as Beetlejuice, Elizabeth Teeter as Lydia, Kerry Butler, David Josefsberg, Adam Dannheisser, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer, Michelle Aravena, Kelvin Moon Loh, Zonya Love, Danny Rutigliano, and Dana Steingold. After the curtain comes down on Broadway, Beetlejuice is embarking on a 26-city national tour, beginning on Dec. 6 in San Francisco.

When Beetlejuice makes its final Broadway bow, it will have played 27 previews and 366 regular performances at the Winter Garden Theatre and 313 regular performances at the Marquis Theater, for a total of 679 shows. Beetlejuice will be touring throughout the

country making its way to Philadelphia and so many states as Alex Brightman takes the character of Beetlejuice to a whole new level.

For those who saw the show on Broadway, it may be somewhat sad knowing it won’t be on Broadway anymore, but very exciting to see it take off more and more to new audiences.

Aiden Bleier Freedom Forum

Photo: Universal Pictures

Allison Makula peruses the Beetlejuice playbill before the show starts.

Photo: Allison Makula

Evan Peters portrays Jeffery Dahmer in the Netflix series

Photo: IMDb

Gru, voiced by Steve Carell, and his minions.

Photo: IMDb

Preparing for Alice in Borderland Season 2

Madilyn Loper Freedom Forum

Warning: Extreme spoilers ahead During quarantine in 2020, Squid Game became extremely popular. Social media has played a large part in advertisement, getting spread through Tik Tok and Youtube challenges. The plot was pretty simple: win the game or you die. One year before Squid Game was released, on December 10, 2020, Alice in Borderland premiered. The main concept is roughly the same: win the game or die -- except there’s

no known enemy throughout the first season. There’s no kidnappers with guns or large room the characters are trapped in; instead it’s quite the opposite -- there is no one there.

Alice in Borderland is based on the manga written by Haro Aso, and the show is produced by Akira Mori. It follows a main character named Arisu (played by Kento Yamazaki) and his two friends Karube and Chota. They’re all down on their luck, either kicked out of their houses, fired from their jobs, or out of money. After causing a minor car crash, they run into a bathroom stall in the subway to hide

from police. The lights flicker and everything goes silent. Confused, they open the door and go outside to find themselves trapped in an abandoned Tokyo, where they are forced to compete in dangerous games, the type and difficulty determined by playing cards. With each game, they earn a “visa” that numbers the days they have left to live; the more games they compete in, the more days they are awarded. Arisu quickly adapts to the games, but when put in a game where only one person can survive, his friends sacrificed themselves for him, leaving him mortified and depressed.

He finds a new ally named Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya) and they quickly are taken into an organization called “The Beach.” Despite the laid-back energy, there is an underlying hierarchy where “traitors’’ are put to death. One of the antagonists, Niragi (Dori Sakurada), is part of a group called the militants. They enforce the rules and carry out executions, but he is actually crazy. He devises a plan to overthrow the beach, and in the season finale, he is given his chance. While multiple people die, the creator of the game is revealed: her name is Mira and she was one of the

higher-ups at The Beach.

The show is a sci-fi thriller and deals with serious topics such as murder, assault, suicide, and severe psychological trauma. The show was produced very well, and despite most of the actors’ history of acting being in romance, their performances were very convincing. Dori Sakurada’s role as Niragi was very surprising, since he acts in shows such as Coffee and Vanilla and Good Morning Call -- both of which are romance, and the characters he plays are nothing like Niragi, an insane, violent militant. Kento Yamazaki’s role as Arisu is as good as we’d expect from someone who is referenced to left and right in Japanese media -- amazing.

Overall, the storyline is entertaining and well-thought-out. Every episode is around 50 minutes long, so there is a lot of action packed into them. There is hardly ever a dull moment, and it is filled with plot twists. The season concluded with a cliffhanger, so many fans are awaiting the release of Season 2-which dropped December 22nd, 2022. It’s definitely a show worth watching.

A Halloween adventure kicks off the third season of The Owl House

Still determined to get back to the Boiling Isles, Luz and co. face a familiar foe.

Jonathon Chiu Freedom Forum

After months on hiatus, The Owl House had a new episode, titled Thanks to Them, released on October 15th and follows in the aftermath of the second season, which saw Luz Noceda (Sarah Nicole-Robles) and her cohorts be defeated and forced out of The Boiling Isles by Emperor Belos, also known as Phillip Wittebane (Matthew Rhys) and The Collector (Fryda Wolff).

The series, created by Dana Terrace, follows Luz, a self-confident teen, who stumbles across the Boiling Isles and decides to become a witch under Eda Clawthorne (Wendie Malick), also known as The Owl Lady.

The Owl House has also become known for its widespread representa-

tion of the LGBTQ+ community, with Luz being revealed to be bisexual and having a girlfriend, Amity Blight (Mae Whitman). Alex Hirsch, the creator of Gravity Falls and a voice actor on The Owl House, has also congratulated the show and its creator for “providing the LGBTQ+ Disney story he couldn’t.”

This representation is continued in this episode with Luz wearing a bisexual pin on her beanie as well as there being a nonbinary character present in the episode.

The episode takes place during Halloween and analyzes how Luz feels guilty for leading Belos to The Collector and imperiling the Boiling Isles. In the end, Luz is reminded by her mother, Camila (Elizabeth Grullon) and by her friends, about how much she has helped those around her, restoring her resolve.

The episode also follows another character, Hunter (Zeno Robinson), who used to be under Belos’s influence as the Golden Guard. Hunter begins the episode being afraid that the others will be afraid of him being a grimwalkera clone of a deceased person, in this

case Belos’s brother, Caleb. During the episode, Hunter, through his various friendships with Luz and others, becomes more comfortable and happy with who he is, taking on a more cheerful personality outside of Belos’s influence.

Additionally, the episode builds onto previous lore seen in the series, with more information being presented about the Wittebane brothers and how they fell out after discovering the Boiling Isles. There is also the presentation of foreshadowing and dramatic irony, as Belos, who followed Luz and her friends into the human realm and has absorbed various wildlife, causes affected beings to grow horns, with these horns being seen on Hunter following his possession, to which the others are not aware of until later in the episode. The episode also leans into its halloween setting by creating various eerie and suspenseful settings and tones using dark lighting and color palette as well as music.

All things considered, this episode is a solid continuation of the story that

continues to flesh out the vibrant and lore-filled world Dana Terrace and her team have created while tackling feelings such as guilt and belonging as well as building on the LGBTQ+ representation that the series has become known for.

The Owl House can be streamed on Disney+ and will have a new episode released on January 21st, with the series finale being released in April 2023.

Being Funny In A Foreign Language: Does it top The 1975’s other albums?

This album features Jack Antonoff as a producer, who has also produced songs for many popular artists such as Lorde, Taylor Swift, and Lana Del Rey. The band has been together since their teenage years and includes Matty Healy as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist, Adam Hann as the lead guitarist, Ross MacDonald as the bassist, and George Daniel as the drummer. Their first album together was self-titled— The 1975. It jump-started their career, featuring hits such as “Chocolate” and “Robbers”, and topping the UK Albums Chart.

The lyrics are not the highlight of this album. There are a few high points, being “About You”, “All I Need To Hear”, and “Happiness”. “About You” is the best song on the album by far. The repetition of the line “Do you think I have forgotten about you?” creates a sense of nostalgia in the song— it makes it feel like looking back on faraway memories. There are some beautifully written lyrics, one of them being “We get married in our heads / Something to do while we try to recall how we met”.

With You”, which was a single. The lyrics of the song are basic, and the repeated “I’m in love with you, I- I- I- I-” grows to be annoying throughout the song. It is definitely one of the skips on this album. The rest of the songs not mentioned are okay, but there are none that really stick out. Most of the songs on this album are just average.

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“Do you think I have forgotten?” The 1975 is back after two years with a new album. Being Funny In A Foreign Language is The 1975’s fifth album, following Notes On A Conditional Form released in 2020 that included several new different sounds. This album features a few love songs and a couple sarcastic ones. The wide array of instrumentals in this album make it an album worth a listen.

The 1975 has kept their signature pop sound for years— it’s no surprise that this album continues the pattern. This album has a pop focus, especially portrayed in the leading singles “Part Of The Band” and “I’m In Love With You”. The instrumentals vary from upbeat and synth to acoustics. The vocals also vary throughout the album, with some songs including very raw and soft vocals and some with a more whiny vocal technique. Some falsetto was used to contrast in the songs, which is very soft and relaxing to listen to. The whiny voice in most of the upbeat songs gets annoying at some points— I think the voice used in the slower songs would sound much better.

“All I Need To Hear” is one of the top songs on the album as well. The lovely lyrics pair with the soft instrumentals well. It explains the feeling of loving someone so much that it doesn’t matter if they actually love you— “Oh, I don’t care if you’re insincere / Just tell me what I want to hear”. “Happiness”, one of the singles of the album, is also a fairly well-written song. The lyrics are cute, including ones such as “In my soul, got this feeling I didn’t know until I’ve seen you” and “I’m happiest when I’m doing something that I know is good”.

With every album there are highs and lows, and this applies to Being Funny In A Foreign Language. The weakest song on this album is “I’m In Love

This album doesn’t really experiment much with their normal sound. Some of the songs are softer than ones in their previous albums, but there isn’t much variety. The vocals and songwriting haven’t improved or gotten worse over the years, which isn’t necessarily a good thing. It’s on par with their other albums. I would have hoped to see some experimentation in genre after eight years of making music, but some fans do enjoy the same sound. You can tell that the band formed when they were teenagers, since their music is very youthful sounding.

Honestly, I wouldn’t go out of my way to listen to this full album again— only the few highlights. I think that it is an album to listen to once, especially if you already like the 1975. Make sure to listen to the highs of this album though, as they are beautifully written and produced.

The latest album cover from The 1975

Photo: Pitchfork

From left to right: Amity Blight (Mae Whitman), Luz Noceda (Sarah Nicole-Robles), and Hunter (Zeno Robinson).

Photo: Disney Channel

The second season of Alice in Borderland premiered on December 22nd, 2022.

Photo: Netflix

The in and outs of Ella Walker’s senior year

Cielo McClendon Freedom Forum

If you thought being in high school was easy, it’s not, especially being a senior. One of the students at Freedom High School, Ella Walker, has a lot on her plate dealing with being involved in after-school activities, college prep and applications, and her aspirations.

Her pros and cons about being involved:

Ella’s pros about being involved in school include making new friends, building leadership and social skills, and helping her grow as a person. It’s always good to make new friends especially when sharing the same interests. You get to spend time with others doing what you all love. Who wouldn’t want that? Ella also loves being a part of Freedom’s very own dance team. She loves that she gets to “dance with her girls outside of the studio without competition and straight fun.” Other than all the positives about being involved, there are some negatives. Ella says she has trouble with “having to be responsible and keeping up with time.”

Her biggest challenges at Freedom: Even though Ella is an A+ student and very involved, she has faced challenges here at Freedom. Managing time is one of Ella’s biggest challenges. With clubs, work, school, and college prep, time management has fought against Ella. Another challenge of hers is keeping up with being an Honors student. Honors classes are much harder than regular courses. Much more work on top of everything else can add constant stress and hard times. Luckily for Ella, she’s managing it very well.

Her roles in clubs: Ella is the president of the engineering club. She organizes, makes, and/ or plans activities for the club She is one of the four captains on the dance team, which performs at pep rallies. She is also a part of the club Combating Crohns and Colitis. They fundraise for bowel diseases and donated $1600 to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and also donated $400 to other programs. All together they donated around $2000.

Her college aspirations: Ella hopes to go to a four-year col-

lege to major in civil engineering with a minor in architectural studies. Civil engineering is when an individual either designs, constructs, and maintains outdoor structures for civil use. If Ella does not pursue civil engineering, she will take up architectural studies. Architectural studies is the art and science of engineering and designing buildings and large structures (these structures complement the science and art behind buildings and require artistic/mathe-

matical knowledge). Both jobs are related and take excellent brain power to be successful. Other than her careers, Ella wants to stay involved in college whether it’s a dance team or a STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) -related club.

All in all, Ella Walker is a good example of a student who despite the challenges can excell with a busy student schedule.

The newest sport added on to the gymnastics world

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One of the newest sports is rising up with more and more colleges giving scholarships for it. Acro and Tumbling have been around for 10 years but have recently become more popular. The sport of acrobatics and tumbling is the evolution of different skill sets used in gymnastics. Those skill sets are also the athletic aspects of cheerleading.

The collegiate sport of acrobatics and tumbling is competed on campuses of the member universities, just like a basketball or soccer game. The meets are held in a basketball or volleyball arena. The teams compete from head to head, with real-time scoring that is based on perfect routines just like a gymnastics or diving meet. Each meeting consists of six events broken down into 20 different waves of the competition. Depending on the heat, there can be from one to 24 athletes on the com-

petition floor at any given time.

The NCATA, or National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Association, has been guided by USA Gymnastics for training and sanctioning. USA Gymnastics has provided incredible

support and last May announced it was adding acrobatics and tumbling as a discipline as part of USA Gymnastics’ Gymnastics for all programming. The head acrobatics and tumbling coach

A tremendous sophomore season for Deluhery

someone who is the link between defense and attack. This position literally strengthens the team in its core and is characterized by constantly being in position to receive and pass the ball.

Fast forward a few years to when he played with a teammate named Corey James, another amazing player for the Freedom soccer team. Michael and Corey met at the age of 10 years old and continue to play on the same team in high school. Corey has always thought of Michael as a communicator and good teammate on the field. They have a good connection when it comes to passing the ball to each other.

at the University of Oregon, Taylor Susnara, said that USA Gymnastics and “NCATA have worked together to create a safe and athletically rigorous opportunity for young women.”

Susnara also said, “We are creating new opportunities for female athletes to compete at the collegiate level, not shifting them. The women who are taking advantage of these opportunities are women who have trained hard and want to continue to compete at the collegiate level. There are so many different positions for an athlete to participate in this new sport, there are no height limits or weight limits, just athleticism.”

Almost four years ago in Easton, acro and tumbling had a new place open up called Power Athletics. Power Athletics is for K-12 students to not only tumble and stunt with friends but to prepare for the college level and have a chance to earn sports scholarships.

However, despite the fact that football interested him, he took time off kicking because he still loved soccer. Michael started his first day of high school in 2021. He tried out for the soccer team and made it on as a freshman. He had an okay season, but improved greatly this year as a sophomore. He was the leading scorer at Freedom and was an all-conference player.

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The journey of Michael G. Deluhery’s soccer career starts with his father watching a game of soccer. His family started to fall in love with soccer, especially the Liverpool Football Club,

so Michael’s dad signed him up to play soccer at just the age of three. From that point, he just kept playing and playing, and Michael’s love for soccer grew. He started practicing a lot to get to be a star player. As his skills developed, he leaned on one position, and that was center midfield. A center midfielder is

While in 8th grade, Michael started to like another sport: football. He figured he’d give it a try, and started by playing the position of kicker since there was no other kicker at the time and Michael knew, from his experience playing soccer, that he could kick it far. He went to a high school camp in 8th grade and won it.

Needless to say, he had a great season this year (2022). He also plans to go back to playing football and become a kicker his junior year. Michael’s goal is to attend and play at any D1 college he can. “If I were to continue playing soccer at the college level, I would want to attend Clemson or Penn State,” Michael says. People that play with him and watch him say he is a very aggressive player and communicates a lot. With all of his hard work and dedication he earned all-conference, but he says that he knows he can achieve even more in the years to come.

Allison

Ella Walker (second from the right) poses with the Freedom Dance Team at the first pep rally of the year.

Photo: @fhsdance, Instagram

The Power Athletics team places in national competitions.

Photo: @power.acrotumbling, Instagram

Deluhery (center) shows off his skills at a game against Parkland.

Photo: Christmas City Studios

Running benefits the human body and brain

the brain’s performance and prevents cognitive effectiveness from being affected later on.” Running also vitalizes more brain tissue. Joining Freedom’s indoor & outdoor track team, cross country, or basketball team are good ways to get yourself moving and benefiting from all these positive effect.

keep running, keep a good breathing rhythm and finish to the end, which helped build my mental confidence/ health.”

Running is an action or movement of one’s body. The movement could be slow, medium, or fast. Running is very good for the health of one’s body, brain, and overall emotions. Everyone already knows how running is good for the body, but how is running good for the brain? Well, when someone is running, the body releases a group of

hormones called endorphins. These endorphins prevent muscles from feeling any pain from such a big impact. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, running impacts the body’s stamina, lowers cholesterol and blood sugar levels, increases mood, and helps lose and/ or maintain weight.

Running regularly grows new blood vessels that nourish the brain. Johns Hopkins Medicine says that “neurogenesis leads to a general development in

Paige Telatovich’s commitment journey

For Pittsburg girls lacrosse commit Paige Telatovich, she always knew she would go farther than anyone anticipated. As a child growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Paige’s talent in girls lacrosse was exploding already. Since playing lacrosse for the Bethlehem Bulldogs, Freedom High School, and a variety of club teams and camps, her skills only advanced and she was sought out by D1 girls lacrosse programs when her junior year came around. After being approached by USC, Pitt, and UPenn, she decided to further her athletic and academic career at Pittsburgh University to join the D1 girls lacrosse program. Although this wasn’t an easy decision, Paige says that Pitt fit her personality and the distance she wanted to go perfectly.

Paige says that the hardest part of making this decision was how overwhelming it was once the day arrived that college coaches were allowed to reach out. It’s scary for someone who still has a year left of high school to be thinking about college at the beginning of junior year, but Paige knew what she wanted and was prepared to reach her goals. She plans to major in nursing at Pitt, as it has been her goal to become a nurse anesthetist. Despite her separate career goals, Paige has always wanted to go to college especially for lacrosse.

Paige’s sister, Emma, inspired her the most to want to play in college. She says that “Emma started to play lacrosse before me so I just followed in her footsteps.” Seeing her sister playing in college and the team bonding, difficult challenges, and competitive games that she gets to experience playing D1 at Temple University made her want to partake in that too.

After going through this process, Paige explained that wanting to play a sport opens up more opportunities when deciding where to go to college. Although it is sometimes less limiting to choose any school through common applications, being sought out by a

school for a sport at such a high level is an amazing accomplishment. choose where you want to go than common applications, it is a privilege to get to play a sport that you love at such a high level. It is still very important that grades of students are maintained because of the risk of getting an offer taken away. So although there isn’t a long process of writing essays and getting involved in lots of different subjects, committing to a sport requires hyper-fixation for involvement. Paige has achieved lots of involvement in lacrosse by competing in lots of tournaments, playing for her school team, and many club teams.

Another member of the girls lacrosse team, Lucy Kontir, said that seeing Paige achieve something so amazing has definitely inspired her. Lucy says that in order to go to that level, Paige has to be a hardworking student and athlete. When it comes to going to college for a sport, Lucy explained that it depends on the person and how much they’re willing to take on in college. Being able to balance both academics and a major sport is a very big accomplishment and it takes a lot of strength. Congratulations on this big achievement, Paige!

The after effects of running can make a huge difference compared to how someone feels before running. One’s brain can become more resilient, creative, and possibly smarter. Freedom sophomore Nya Morris says that she felt “mentally stronger” after running. The feeling of knowing you went for a run can slim chances of body shaming yourself or having negative thoughts upon your body, according to the website Women’s Running The feeling could be that you’re more energetic. It can make you feel like you accomplished something great. It can make you feel way more confident in yourself and who you are as a person. There are lots of mental improvements that come with running. Freshman Sonai Pearson says that “as one of the cross country athletes for Freedom, running helped me believe in the process of becoming a good pacer. I had to push myself to

Running is a beneficial factor of life. It produces lots of good feelings, emotions, and physical improvement towards the human body. Running not only makes the brain bigger, it makes it smarter. It not only improves body image, it improves body health. It not only supports and helps a person’s mental health, it helps a person be more confident in themselves and who they are. Overall, running is good for your body, mental health, and brain.

Exercise can strengthen not only the body but also the brain.

Photo: InstantHealthyLife.org

New wrestling coach Marino aims for even more success

ty to be an assistant coach at Stroudsburg High School where, again, to no surprise, he found success. Over his five years at Stroudsburg, he worked with multiple wrestlers, one who managed to win two district titles and earned three PIAA state medals, along with others who received multiple accolades as well. Coach Marino then coached under former Freedom Wrestling head coach Dante Terenzio, who led the Pates to an 18-5 record. Coach Marino specialized in the light weights, specifically CJ Horvath, Freedom’s 119 pounder, who was one round away from placing.

“I’m really satisfied and overall happy with the decision that was made,” said CJ. “I have had a relationship with him for a while and he has always brought out the best in me as a wrestler, a leader, and just as a person in general.”

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When the name of Anthony Marino comes to mind, success always coincides with it. Coach Marino was named the new head coach for the Freedom Boys Wrestling team in September of 2022.

“It feels amazing to be promoted to the head coach. I’m truly blessed to be able to do something that I love,” he said when asked how he feels about the new promotion.

Between the years of 2007-2010 Coach Marino wrestled at the highest level in the state, maybe in the country. Ultimately over his high school career at Liberty High School, he managed to win two District 11 3A titles, along with one Northeast Regional championship, and was a two-time place winner at the state tournament in Hershey, finishing 5th and 2nd. Coach Marino also held the win record at Liberty for seven years after he graduated. The Liberty graduate then went on to wrestle at both the Division I and II levels, for Bloomsburg and East Stroudsburg University.

He then was offered the opportuni-

When looking towards the upcoming season Coach said that he wants to improve on their record from last year and to develop as a top 3 team in the district along with Becahi and Nazareth. In preparation, the team has been working out three times a week, plus two days in the wrestling room going over technique, as well as running once a week. In terms of what the product on the mat will look like for your Freedom Pates, Coach expects his “guys to put on a show for the people in the crowd. I want them to push the pace of matches and constantly be looking to score as many points as possible as fast as possible.”

To anyone who has followed Lehigh Valley wrestling over the past 15 years knows, that is the exact philosophy and intensity Anthony Marino displayed as a wrestler throughout his high school and college career, and again attempting to find success with the Freedom wrestling team. They opened on December 3rd with the Battle of Bethlehem duels, finishing in 2nd place. We wish the best of luck to Coach and the whole Freedom wrestling team and hope to hear a lot more from them over the next couple months.

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Paige plays offense during a game against Allentown Central Catholic.

Photo: Christmas City Studios

Coach Marino looks on as his team takes on their opponents.

Photo: Christmas City Studios

Running on the track team, like Gavin Culcasi (center), benefits students physically and mentally.

Photo: Christmas City Studios

High expectations warrant big promise for this year’s Freedom basketball team

Ellis and Aaron Levy.

“We have vocal leaders and silent leaders,” head coach Joe Stellato explained, “They are both important and they have already made a difference in the season.”

Freedom won the district title in 2020 led by Malik and Caleb Mims, along with a freshman Nick Ellis who at the time was just starting to make his name a regular in the competitive EPC, winning the Rookie of the year award.

“As a team I think the goal is to win a district championship and compete in the state playoffs,” Ellis said when asked about the upcoming season. “We would also love to be the first Freedom team to win an EPC championship.” Ellis, with two district gold medals over two sports, winning gold in 2020 for basketball and in 2021 for football, is no stranger to the bright lights. After a long run in the district playoffs as a starting defensive end and tight end for the football team, Ellis looks to be ready to get back out on the basketball court to start the season.

A starting line up consisting of 5 seniors with more off the bench warrants some promise for the upcoming season.

As said by Morning Call sports journalist Keith Groller, “No one has more returning players than the Freedom Patriots.” The Freedom basketball team, who as a whole has played a lot of games together over the past three seasons, are led by their two returning captains Nick

“My personal goal is to score 1000 [career] points,” Ellis explained, “[I want] my teammates to achieve their [goals] as well.”

The last players to score 1000 points in a Freedom uniform were his former teammates Malik and Caleb Mims. This Freedom team looks very reminiscent of that team, led by a majority of seniors, with players who have lots of experience. While it’s nice to reminisce, it takes more than just experience alone to

Qatar World Cup 2022; Messi cements his legacy

Zeyad Ragab Freedom Forum

All countries come to face off, country vs country, to play for the most precious and priceless trophy one can ever receive, The World Cup. Fans from all around the world watch their country win the trophy of dreams. This is a time where all the countries get together and have fun watching the world wide sport of fútbol, where there is no violence and terror, just people from different countries having fun watching this amazing sport. Brazil, Argentina, and Portugal were the top contenders of this year’s World Cup. There were underdogs that people are assuming to go far in this competition. This year is all about the two GOATs that are starting to finish up their career. Lionel Messi (Argentina) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) are the two players that changed the game. Both players have all the major trophies, but one. Neither had a World Cup under their belt. This was promising to be one of the craziest World Cups right now because this will be the last time the two GOATs of fútbol would ever play on a stage like this, according to the Washington Post.

In December 2, 2010 Qatar was announced to be the host of the 2022 World Cup. It was very controversial because the host country has laws, based on religion, that conflict with many other worldviews. People from around the world are furious about this decision, especially the LGBTQ+ community, who were very disgusted about it because during the World Cup LGBTQ flags and other symbols were not permitted and had a punishment of jail time. The whole team of Denmark was against having the World Cup in Qatar. There is also another side where people say that the country isn’t a problem; it is a religion-based country and visitors need to abide by their rules just like any other country.

Favorites to win were obvious. Portugal,Argentina, and Brazil were the teams to win it. The underdogs could have been Senegal, Uruguay, and Germany. However, Morocco was the true underdog in this year’s World Cup as they made it farther than anyone thought they would.

The group stage ended on the 2nd of December. The round of 16 kicked off with a bang as the United States who placed second in Group B faced off against the Netherlands who placed 1st in Group A. Netherlands just shattered the dreams of the Americans by defeating them 3-1. A surprising match in the Round of 16: Morocco vs. Spain. It was an equal match and after 90 minutes both nations were scoreless. The match went into overtime and added an extra 30 minutes. After 30 minutes the two nations were still locked together. It went into overtime and after a grueling 120 minutes and penalties, the Moroccans prevailed. Bono, the Moroccan keeper, was the hero of the match.

On to the Quarter-finals; it was a roller coaster, especially the Morocco vs Portugal game. Portugal was predicted to win, but a header in the 42nd minute by Youssef En-Nesyri stunned the Portuguese and the Moroccans held that 1-0 lead up to the end of the 90th minute and shocked the world.

Another upset that shocked everyone was Brazil vs Croatia. It was locked after the 90th minute and that was already a shocker that the Brazilians didn’t already win after regular time. Fifteen minutes into extra time, at the 105th minute, the Brazilians did some one-touch passing and landed in Neymar’s feet putting the ball in the back of the net. Croatia clapped back with a goal of their own from Petković. That score forced both nations into a penalty shootout. Croatia shocked the world winning 4-2 against the tournament favorites.

France v England was a top quarter final match of that World Cup. Tchouamani scored for France, 1-0 going into the break. France makes a mistake by giving England a penalty. Harry Kane takes it and makes the score 1-1. Even though the Englishmen made it even, Giroud would score in the 78th minute to make the score 2-1. The Englishmen had a chance to tie it up to go into overtime by a penalty, but the penalty was missed and finished it up with France going through and England packing up.

The Netherlands v Argentina was a crazy game as well in the quarter-finals. Argentina was leading 2-1 going into the

final minutes of regular time. Weghorst, the Dutch attacker, scored in the 101th minute sending that match into overtime, giving the Dutch hope. It was scoreless after extra time, sending the game into penalties. Van Dijk and Berghuis missed both their penalties sending the Dutch home, and Argentina won in penalties 4-3. In the semi-finals Argentina played Croatia first. Argentina shut the game down after the 70th minute with a 3-0 win.

The second match was Morocco vs France. Morocco were again the underdogs in that game, but as said earlier they beat two good European nations (Spain and Portugal). France came out with a stunner in the 5th minute of the game coming from Theo Hernandez. The ball went up in the air and Hernandez used his acrobatic skills to leap up and hit the ball into the left side of the net past Bono, the hero of the last couple games for Morocco. The match was tight for the French with Morocco getting chances to tie it up, but in the 79th minute Kolo Mauni, who was called up for the first time in his career scored for the French to win the game 2-0, sending the French into the World Cup finals for the second time in a row. Before the final starts the 3rd place match was placed the day before. Morocco vs Croatia to take the third place. Croatia strikes first with a score in the 7th minute, but the Moroccans don’t go away that easily and score 2 minutes later to square it up. With 3 minutes left in the first half of the match the Croatian Oršić scored to make

win in the EPC. The work that has gone into the off-season is one of Coach Stellato’s biggest compliments to his team. From the way they have transformed their bodies and gotten stronger in the weight room to the time they have spent getting shots up and working on their craft, Coach Stellato believes the time they have spent there will really show this season, giving the crowd something to be excited about.

Other players to watch this season include Jaden Tillet, captain Aaron Levy, Joe Dew, Krishna Mangaroo, Nate Sletvold and Jalen Fletcher.

With a record of 10-13 and an early first round district playoff exit to Parkland last season, this senior-led Freedom team seems to be ready to take the next step.

“My expectations are that we play as a team,” Coach Stellato said, “We are very experienced and this should help come playoff time and in big games.” In the EPC, every game is a big one. Freedom, who is 3-1, has plenty of big games coming up, and has already set the tone for the season in their 38-37 home opening victory over Becahi. Ellis was limited in that game due to a turned ankle he suffered in an earlier contest against Mid-Valley. As he gets healthy, this Freedom team will look to take leaps throughout the season and continue to improve.

the score 2-1 going into the half. There wasn’t much happening in the second half making the Croatians third place in the World Cup 2022.

Now the stage was set and the tension was high; France vs Argentina were in the World Cup final. We all knew that this was going to be a good match. Just 23 minutes into the first half, Messi scored on a penalty kick to put the Argentinians one step closer to gold. Momentum shifted towards Argentina, and just 13 minutes later, Di Maria scored to put Argentina up by two. Everyone thought the French were out, but the young GOAT named Kylian Mbappé figured out a way to score in the 80th minute via penalty and the 81st minute. The game was tied up 2-2 and took the final into overtime. The French made a mistake on defense and in the 108th minute Messi put into the back of the net to make the score 3-2. Argentina looked like they were guaranteed gold, but Mbappé had something to say about that by scoring his own penalty in the 118th minute making it 3-3 to send the match into penalties. In the penalty shootout, Argentina’s Montiel slots it into the back of the net making the score 3-2 and Argentina the Fifa World Cup 2022 winners.

The World Cup 2026, which will feature 48 countries instead of this year’s 32, is coming to the United States. Local soccer fans should be excited as nearby stadiums like Metlife in New York/ New Jersey and Lincoln Financial in Philadelphia will be hosting some of the matches.

John Roeder Freedom Forum

Nick Ellis (4) holds the ball high in a game against Pleasant Valley last season.

Photo: Christmas City Studios

Messi and Argentina lift the World Cup after winning the final against France.

Photo: Associated Press