Voices and Visions 2016-2017

Voices and Visions Art and Writing from the Middle School

Editorial Team Editor-in-Chief: Jonah Barbin ‘21 Associate Editors: Natalia Espinosa Dice ’22, Spencer Goldberg ’21, Caleb Hofman ’21, Daniel Stehr ’21 Faculty Advisor: Marsha Kleinman Layout & Design: Virginia Bartolone Visual Arts Teacher & Curator for the magazine: Joelle Francht Fall staff members: Alexander Korfhage ‘21 & OB Sedransk ‘21

Cover art by Ethan Williams Class of 2021

Art, Poetry & Prose In its second year of publication, Voices and Visions is a digital magazine filled to capacity with the work of MKA Middle School students. From tape murals to coke cans to French pieces to feature articles, Voices and Visions brings you the finest in art and writing. It is our goal to showcase the work of our students and to bring them acknowledgement and praise for their excellence.

We are thrilled to share our completed publication for 2017, and we hope that every piece of art and writing will be discovered with the same delight and awe we experienced in our initial encounters with the work. The next pages contain what we believe represent the best written work and creative expression in the Middle School. We strongly believe in the talent of our students, and we hope you enjoy the material we have selected.

-7th grade editor, Natalia Espinosa Dice ’22

Feature Articles After studying the components of a feature article in English class, each 8th grader collected information and conducted surveys and interviews in order to write a compelling article about their topics. The creativity and unique quality of each article showcases the diverse talent and widespread knowledge of the 8th grade class. This project allowed students to write about whatever interested them, and their passion certainly emanates from the collection that has been selected by our teachers. We hope you enjoy!

-8th grade editors, Jonah Barbin ’21 and Spencer Goldberg ’21

Trrusha Jariwalla Class of 2022

,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Francis_Dana

Analysis of the Involvement of Russia and the Netherlands in the American Revolution

By Jemma Kushen Class of 2021

Francis Dana, as one of the primary diplomats dispatched to negotiate treaties with the countries that had provided the colonies with aid during the war, had high expectations for his mission to Russia. After all, Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, had repeatedly snubbed England in public, mentioned her faith in the colonies’ eventual independence, and supported other allies of the colonies. And yet, all of Dana’s hopes were dashed. His misperception of Russia’s position illustrates the bewildering complexity of international relations among the great powers of Europe during the American Revolution. Due to their changing political interests, major international powers such as Russia and the Netherlands who declared themselves neutral during the Revolutionary War, were perceived and misperceived as hostile or friendly by the parties to the American Revolutionary War.

As the leader of a powerful European country herself, Catherine the Great of Russia had quite a bit of salt to throw on English authorities. While recognizing England’s status as a global superpower, she saw little political worth in the king and his advisors. As well as publicly disparaging these figures, Catherine also expected and predicted the separation of the colonies from England in her correspondence. Partially because of her low opinion of English leaders, Catherine denied England troops to send to

the colonies, and otherwise danced around its attempts at garnering support. One notably offensive instance of rebuke includes an English diplomat’s attempts to sign a treaty in the early stages of the Revolutionary War. After convincing the man to tell her England’s intentions, Catherine proceeded to ignore the proposal for months before rejecting it. Even Benjamin Franklin remarks in a letter that, “the expectations of assistance from Russia…seem also to have failed the English; and they are as much at a loss to find effective friends in Europe as they have been in America.”

When colonial leaders set out to make international allies, Russia was a high priority. A treaty was expected to be signed, given Russia’s previous cooperation on trade and low opinion of English authority. Yet no treaty would be signed, or even acknowledgement given, so as not to endanger the diplomatic relations with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and by extension, their ally England, that were key to Russia’s newest prospective conquest – the Ottoman Empire.

Due to the ignorance of the intricacy of foreign politics, the colonists expected an ally where there was none and were unable to correctly interpret Russia’s actions. The misunderstanding resulted in the resounding failure of a diplomatic mission to Russia.

Although Catherine did support and expect

the colonies’ independence from England, she certainly did not support revolution as a ruling monarch herself. Later, this caused her to withdraw completely from France, as she did not agree with their complete abolition of monarchy.

Even the publishing of the Declaration of Independence was seen as blasphemy, and those people going so far as to praise the idea of a republic found themselves imprisoned, exiled, or threatened. This did not mean American politics were not discussed -- quite to the contrary, Russian newspapers would often remark on the latest developments. Russians of the political or elite class would have been able to find the Declaration of Independence abroad; after all, the ideas presented in the document were intended to be discussed among countries. But Catherine’s focus was not on the ideas behind revolution, but the foreign policy implications.

Colonial leaders misinterpreted Catherine’s previous criticism of England as support of the colonies. As a result of England disrupting valuable trade between neutral and armed countries, particularly when detaining Dutch ships carrying Russian goods to France, Catherine formed the League of Armed Neutrality. To the colonists, this seemed to be a direct act of opposition to England and support of free trade, in which all countries have equal opportunities to trade with other countries, an idea presented by the colonies years prior.

But this levelling of economic power implicit in free trade went against Russia’s desire to establish itself as a powerful entity in Europe. During the war, Catherine attempted to do this through the failed mediation attempts between England, the Dutch Republic and France. Catherine’s goal in these mediations was to cease military involvement while the offended parties negotiated on each problem separately, but neither England nor France were willing to give any leeway. The colonists interpreted Catherine’s popular role as mediatrix as support of their independence, when in fact Catherine never proposed mediat-

ing between the colonies and England at all -she was more concerned with European politics.

Francis Dana’s mission, taking place from 1781 to 1783, was meant to flesh out diplomatic relations with Russia, and possibly produce a trade treaty. This seemed to be a reasonable goal, given the previous role of Russia in selling naval stores to Dutch merchants smuggling to the colonies. Any action taken by Dana proved futile because Nikita Panin, the main advocator for Russia-American relations, had been pushed out of foreign policy altogether just prior to Dana’s arrival. The appointment of new advisors shifted Russia’s sights to the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire, resulting in a secret Austro-Russian

http://www.biography.com/people/catherine-ii-9241622

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Dana alliance and a need to not provoke

England. In lieu of these future goals, recognizing an American diplomat would have alienated England and made progress impossible. Dana himself could not fathom why Catherine was unwilling to recognize him as an American diplomat, and had adopted the standard, straightforward technique of diplomacy too well to adapt to the complex situation Russia was balancing.

FEBRUARY 27, 2017

SPENCER GOLDBERG

POLITICAL DIVISION AND EXTREMISM

“I didn’t expect political conflict to spill over from political aspects of our lives to nonpolitical aspects of our lives, and I saw that happening in my social group."

Dr. Sean Westwood, professor goo.gl/XOzPMy at Darmouth College 2017 Presidential Election goo.gl/uTBTJl

goo.gl/PM6h6R

Political Division and Extremism

goo.gl/1Hq6B7

Imagine a country where one third of the people have avoided talking politics with a family member or a close friend. Imagine a country where 48% of the people have had someone tell a false news story to them that they believed was true. Imagine a country where 22% of the people have reported abuse due to political beliefs on social media, and where 17% of the people have blocked or unfriended someone because of their political views. This place doesn’t only exist in your imagination: this place is the United States (McClatchy Newspapers, 2016). Political polarity and

FEBRUARY 27, 2017

extremism across the country has increased since the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine and the passage of the Telecommunications According to The New York Act of 1996. This Times: “He [Dr. Sean division undermines Westwood] found that until a the ability to few decades ago, people’s compromise, which is a feelings about their party and key component in a the opposing party were not too different. But starting in healthy democracy. the 1980s, Americans began to report increasingly negative opinions of their opposing party."

SPENCER GOLDBERG

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FEBRUARY 27, 2017

Origins of Division in America The repeal of the Fairness Doctrine played a role in the rising polarization of political parties in America.

The Fairness Doctrine was originally passed by Congress in 1949. At that time, there were only three major television networks, NBC, ABC and CBS. Given that there were so few news sources, each source had tremendous power over public opinion. With this in mind, Congress felt that it was important to regulate the networks so that they could not abuse their power by reporting the news from a biased perspective. The Fairness Doctrine mandated that the reporters talk about opposing views on problems that were important to the public (The Fairness Doctrine, 2009). By the 1980s, cable television became available and there were many more television stations. Under the circumstances, the government no longer saw the need for the Fairness Doctrine. Indeed, it saw the Doctrine as a restriction of the First Amendment right to free speech and freedom of the press (The Fairness Doctrine, 2009). Therefore, in 1987, the Federal Communications Commission repealed the law.

Likewise, the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 contributed to the trend toward political FEBRUARY 27, 2017

SPENCER GOLDBERG

polarization. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was intended to increase competition within the news industry and therefore offer a wider variety of perspectives, but it achieved just the opposite. The stated goal of the Federal Communications Commission was to, “let anyone enter any communications business,” and to, “let any communications business compete in any market against any other” (Federal Communications Commission, 2013).

Nevertheless, this goal was not achieved. Instead of small news companies flourishing, the biggest six took control of the industry. Indeed, according to Truth.org, ninety percent of news companies in America are owned by either General Electric, News Corp, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner, or CBS (Michael Corcoran, 2016). Not only did the Telecommunications Act of 1996 fail to create a space in the market for smaller news outlets, but it also led to a situation in which viewers were exposed to a narrower range of perspectives.

According to one university study, television news contributed more to political polarization after 1996 than it did before 1996. (Structural Changes in Media and Attitude Polarization: Examining the Contributors of Television News before and after the Telecommunications

POLITICAL DIVISION AND EXTREMISM

Act of 1996). While the Fairness Doctrine was repealed under the assumption that people would have access to a much wider range of news sources and the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was intended to create new opportunities in the telecommunications industry, viewing options remained limited.

Citizen Contributions to Political Polarity and Extremism In addition, there are many ways that people contribute to political polarity and division in America. In a survey taken by Montclair Kimberly Academy’s students and faculty, many people reported that they only watch what they want to see. When asked if they watch news programs with which they agreed or disagreed, almost half responded that they watched news programs with which they “strongly” or “mostly” agreed. Moreover, according to The New York Times article, “The Real Story About Fake News Is Partisanship,” partisanship “[makes] people more inclined to seek out and believe stories that justify their pre-existing partisan biases.” The article focuses on the research conducted by Dartmouth Professor Sean Westwood and Stanford Professor Shanto Iyengar.

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SPENCER GOLDBERG

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Avery Song Class of 2022

RILEY RENDINO

FEBRUARY 28, 2017

Portrayal or Betrayal?

How women are portrayed in the media and the effect it has on teenage girls

80% of 10-year-old American girls have been on a diet Women make up only

3%

goo.gl/BW0FeO

Imagine being a teenage girl having to constantly worry if your outfit is trendy enough or if your messy bun looks effortless. Having no way to escape the label that all girls must be skinny and pretty because everywhere you turn you see females being portrayed as nothing but glamorous and thin.

Media outlets, like magazines, movies, television, and social media, have convinced women that their value lies in their looks and not in their achievements.

Being a young woman is a challenge. You have to watch powerful women constantly being degraded despite their accomplishments. Even worse, powerful men criticize or call females names making it seem acceptable and normal. This doesn’t seem fair, but it is the reality that every teenage girl has to live with.

Media today sends the message to girls that they must be as skinny as Gigi Hadid, while still having a butt the size of Kim Kardashian’s. According to B. Bailaro and G. Wagner in their article “Body Image and the Media” (Points of View: Body Image and the Media, 2017), the ideal version of how a woman should look comes from the media, and this look is always changing. One year, the trend may be to be skinny but the next year the 1

of Fortune 500 CEOs

3 out of 4 teenage girls feel depressed, guilty, shameful

RILEY RENDINO

FEBRUARY 28, 2017

trend may be to have curves. Most teenage girls, wanting to fit in, try to fulfill the look the media perceives as ideal. In fact, a survey taken of 7th and 8th grade girls at the Montclair Kimberly Academy showed that 78.4% of these girls always, sometimes, or frequently feel they must look like the models they see in the media. According to Craig Winston in his article “Evaluation of an empowerment program for early adolescent girls” (Adolescence, 2004), these girls do not realize that there is a major difference in the size of models and the size of an average woman. In fact, Bailaro and Wagner (Points of View: Body Image and the Media, 2017) say that many women are photo shopped to make them seem thinner, making it impossible for teenage girls to come close to attaining their ideal or “summer” body.

The media not only advises girls they must be beautiful, but they also force the idea upon young females that being attractive will get them further in life than any of their other accomplishments. Tracy Mumford, in her article “Girls' Life vs. Boys' Life?

Magazine covers spark an uproar” (goo.gl/ 8R1Xn2), notes that boys’ magazines will display education, the future, and career choice on their covers. Girls’ magazines, on the other hand, display fashion, hair, makeup, weight, and boy troubles on their covers. For example, in the picture shown in the right-hand corner, the boy’s magazine features twenty-two images of scholarly and educational symbols that boys can aspire to. On the contrary, the girl’s magazine only shows one image of a girl, beautiful and in makeup, and seven headlines, only one that touches upon educational goals. Mumford’s article includes one interview with a father who said, “'You know, I realize I tell my son I'm proud of him and his accomplishments, and I always tell my daughter she's pretty.” Supporting this statement is the data from the Montclair Kimberly Academy survey of 7th and 8th grade girls that shows the majority of these girls feel as if the media expects all women to be pretty, skinny, stylish, perfect, and tall. One girl even wrote that she thought women must be “Skinny and beautiful in order to be successful.”

This unrealistic expectation affects girls in all aspects of everyday life. The documentary Miss Representation shared that only 44% of eight-yearolds want to be leaders when they are older, and,

goo.gl/KdZzZY

sadly, age eight is the high point for girl’s leadership ambitions. This is a result of the media sending the message to girls that being smart will get them nowhere in life, while being skinny, flirty, and perfect will get them on the front cover of every magazine. One female from the Montclair Kimberly Academy survey shared that after seeing models she feels like she is overweight and that no one will ever love her because of this. Additionally, one 7th or 8th grade girl thought that being smart is not considered an achievement for girls. Clearly, the media is persuading girls to believe that being beautiful is more important than being a leader, which is discouraging many of their ambitions.

Do you ever feel your value as a girl lies within how you look?

(Montclair Kimberly Academy 7-8 grade survey)

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Jemma Kushen Class of 2021

Alexandros Gaffney Un Jour au Musée de l’Acropole Ma famille et moi, nous sommes allés en voiture à la maison de mes grands-parents qui habitent en été près du Musée de l’Acropole à Athènes en Grèce. Nous avons voulu faire un tour du musée. Nous sommes allés en métro jusqu’à la station du musée. De la station, nous sommes allés à pied au musée.

Au premier étage du musée, nous avons vu beaucoup de sculptures et de reliefs. Mon relief préféré est la déesse Athéna qui pense. Elle met sa tête sur sa lance parce qu’elle est en train de penser comment faire sa ville forte.

Au deuxième étage, nous avons vu les Caryatides. Les Caryatides sont six femmes qui ont été au temple d’Erechtheion. À la photographie, on peut voir une place libre pour la sixième Caryatide parce qu’elle a été volé par un homme anglais, qui s’appelle Lord Elgin, quand la Grèce a été occupé par les Turcs. Lord Elgin a volé la plus belle Caryatide qui se trouve aujourd’hui au Musée de Londres. Les anglais ne veulent pas donner cette Caryatide à la Grèce.

Au troisième étage nous avons vu les deux frontons du Parthénon. Mon fronton préféré est le fronton de l’ouest qui montre l’histoire du concours entre Athéna et Poseidon pour donner leur nom à la ville d’Athènes. Quand Athéna a jeté sa lance, un olivier a poussé. L’olivier a symbolisé la paix. Au contraire, quand Poseidon a jeté son trident, des beaux chevaux blancs ont apparu. Les beaux chevaux blancs ont symbolisé la force que Poseidon va donner à la ville pour gagner les guerres. Entre les deux cadeaux, les habitants d’Athènes ont choisi la paix. C’est pourquoi la ville s’appelle aujourd’hui Athènes.

Ensuite, nous avons dîné au restaurant au deuxième étage du musée. Nous avons mangé des specialités greques. Aussi nous avons vu le soleil qui était en train de tomber. C’était très beaux. Enfin, nous sommes retournés chez nous près de la mer tard dans la nuit. C’était une très belle journée.

February 23, 2017

On January 20th, 2017, Donald J. Trump, a real estate mogul and reality TV personality, stood on a platform at the West Lawn of the Capitol building and recited the Presidential Oath of Office, effectively making him the 45th President of the United States. Much of the country asked themselves the same thing: how did we get here? While everyone may have their own reasons for our current president, be it the last hurrah of the vanishing middle class or the latent racism hidden under the surface of our country coming up to bubble, one factor undeniably aided Mr. Trump’s campaign: the media.

Much of President Trump’s campaign was a media war,

The “Alternative Facts” Administration

By Isabella Szyfer

with various spokespeople for the then-candidate appearing on broadcast television several times a day to defend each new controversy and dispel rumors, distracting from Mr. Trump’s policies. This created a demographic that supported Trump based on what they saw on TV, even taking Trump’s side when he feuded with the networks from which they got their original news. Many of these feuds came about when Mr. Trump was scrutinized for his right-wing beliefs or comments about minorities, women, and immigrants. Among his most infamous feuds is one with former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly after she asked him about comments he made about women at the first Republican primary debate, saying “You call women you don’t like ‘fat pigs’, ‘dogs’, ‘slobs’, and ‘disgusting animals’...how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton...that you are part of the war on women?”

Trump dismissed her, saying that the “biggest problem this country has is being politically correct...I don’t frankly have time for total 1

February 23, 2017

political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn’t have time either...what I say is what I say. And honestly Megyn, if you don’t like it, I’m sorry. I’ve been very nice to you, though I could probably not be, based on the way you’ve treated me” (“Read the Full Text of the Primetime Republican Debate."

Time. Time, 6 Aug. 2015. Web. 14 Feb. 2017). Trump was met with applause and cheers from the audience. This refusal to play by the rules set by the media earned Trump many supporters early on in the race, praising his candor and lack of filter. Although his campaign was littered with media kerfuffles, such as the Megyn Kelly debacle, it was after his victory that Trump’s strained relationship with the media began to really take shape.

This strain was showcased the day after Donald Trump was inaugurated, during a visit to the CIA headquarters. After meeting with the head “I don’t frankly have time for total of the CIA, Trump gave a speech political correctness. And to be declaring his support for the intelligence community and the work that they do, honest with you, this country doesn’t although just ten days earlier, he had have time either…” tweeted about how the “intelligence - Donald Trump, agencies should never have allowed this during an early Republican debate, August 2015 fake news to ‘leak’ into the public.”

However, Mr. Trump blamed this on the “dishonest media” as “no one feels stronger about the intelligence community and the CIA” than he does (“Remarks by President Trump and Vice President Pence at CIA Headquarters." The White House. The United States Government, 23 Jan. 2017. Web. 21 Feb. 2017).

During a recent campaign-style rally in Melbourne, Florida, Mr. Trump spoke out against the media, saying: “...The dishonest media...They've become a big part of the problem. They are part of the corrupt system…” (“Remarks by

President Trump during a speech at the CIA headquarters in his first full day in office. http://twt-thumbs.washtimes.com/media/image/2017/01/21/ Screen_Shot_2017-01-21_at_16.06.16_c0-0-816-476_s885x516.png?

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Cassandra Polanskyj Class of 2022

Sanaa Williams & Kiara Bhatia Class of 2021

Charlie Macdonnell & Ethan Willliams Class of 2021

Kleinman 8-1

February 23, 2017

WOMEN IN COMICS

By Isabel Lucas

It was May of 2015, and “Avengers: Age of Ultron" had just been released into theaters. Fans flocked to stores to buy merchandise of all kinds, from costumes to backpacks. Many aimed to purchase the brand new action figures being released with the new film. In fact, Marvel created an exclusive package box including nine of the star characters in the movie.

Tons of people bought the figures, but several young girls realized something. Black Widow was not in it. In fact, none of the characters in the package were women. This realization brought an ongoing effort by female comic book readers to achieve realistic female superhero representation to the forefront of mainstream news.

Women in Comics

Female Superheroes and their identical body types (goo.gl/ wmvr4V)

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Kleinman 8-1

February 23, 2017

In order to understand the discrepancy of accurate female representation in the comic universe, we have to understand why that is, and in order to do that, we have to go back in time, back to the Golden Age of comic books. Comic book experts tend to place this era from the early 1930s to the late 1950s, when Superman and Captain America were popular staples of American life. The Golden Age was also during a time when just over 30% of women were employed outside the home according to the U.S. Department of Labor (see figure 1). Few women ever worked on these early comic books, and many only served as secretaries to well-known authors, such as Stan Lee and John Byrne.

Even when women do make their way into comic books, they typically serve three functions: to be a damsel in distress, a sex object, or to please the male viewer. Especially in early comic books, women often served as someone to be rescued by the dominant male superhero. This undermining ideology that a woman was not capable of saving herself from a villain and needs a male protagonist to watch over her guided several decades worth of comic book plot lines. This includes: Superman and Lois Lane, Spiderman and Gwen Stacey, Ironman and Pepper Potts, Betty Ross and Hulk, and the Joker and Harley Quinn.

(Figure 1)

Female portrayal as damsels in distress leads into their second purpose: as sex objects for the male characters. As women became superheroes and villains in comic books, many people noticed their clothing or lack thereof. Female superheroes, despite whatever powers or abilities they possess, seem to have oddly similar costumes: tight tops with short bottoms and skin tight suits. Why can’t we have a female superhero wearing wearing a suit that has substantial fabric and emphasizes a normal and realistic body? It’s hard to find a woman worth anything in the comic universe without large breasts and a large butt, being drop-dead gorgeous, and having a waist the size of her -WALT HICKEY neck.

“Comic books are still made by men, for men and about men.”

Labor force participation rate over time for women during the latter half of the Comic Book

Golden Age from 1948 to 1960 (U.S. Dept. of Labor, Women’s Bureau, “Labor force participation rate by sex, race and Hispanic ethnicity,” Women in the Labor Force, 2015).

Take, for example, the movie “Suicide Squad.” One of the members of the Suicide Squad is Harley Quinn. Many feminists were against Harley’s outfit, which consisted of booty shorts and a crop top, but for the most passionate and loyal fans of the comic books, the issue is not her costume Women in Comics

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The mountains stand tall and proud with crowns of glittering snow ringing the tips. The snow is an intense, unbroken white with sparkles and diamonds mixed in. The sky is a vivid fairy-tale blue and, coupled with puffy white clouds, creates an unsurpassable picture of simple beauty. The sun shines brightly, yet it fails to penetrate the frigid cold. The only thing heard is the slight breeze as it rustles the pine trees and sends shimmering shifts of snow. All that’s seen for miles are mountains upon mountains.

I take a deep breath, letting the crisp air run through my lungs. I close

my eyes, turning my face up to catch the few exiguous rays able to penetrate the numbing air. It begins to snow lightly.

Snowflakes settle in my hair, and soon a fresh layer covers the trees. The world is silent. It’s almost as if the world is afraid a breath might disrupt the tranquility and serenity of the mountains. It’s almost as if the stunning, natural beauty will fade with a single sound. It’s almost as if that unique feeling of solitude and purity will vanish in the blink of an eye. This escape, this oasis and this diversion from life sparks a rare feeling deep inside my soul. It’s unlike any other feeling ever experienced. It’s indescribable and unique.

I feel peace.

Natalia Espinosa Dice, Class of 2022

Katie Nossa Class of 2022

Elias Lepore

February 27, 2017

LADY LIBERTY IN THE 21ST CENTURY Why a nation of immigrants wants to close its borders

http://www.rd.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/01/01-statue-of-liberty-facts.jpg

Friday, January 27th, 2017. It started out like a normal day. The temperature outside was chilly but not cold enough for a heavy winter coat. It went by quickly, as most Fridays do, and by 3 p.m. it felt like the weekend. As night rolled in, alerts started popping up on iPhones.

People watching TV started seeing “Breaking News” displayed in red at the bottom of their screens. People turned to friends and family

wondering if they were really seeing clearly. In his first week as the 45th President of the United States, President Donald Trump signed 13 executive orders. The 13th was an unprecedented one. It stated that any immigrant or refugee from Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, Syria or Somalia would not be admitted into the United States. These seven countries, all predominantly Muslim, span the Middle East "1

Elias Lepore

and Africa. A ban of this magnitude was very surprising even to most news pundits. The President had promised something like this on the campaign trail, but most thought it was unlikely he would follow through. It was this Executive Order, the second one signed on that Friday, that heated up an immigration debate that had been raging for years.

Sunday, January 27th, 1907. Exactly 110 years before President Trump signed that executive order, Ellis Island was buzzing with activity. The immigration station, located off the shore of Northern New Jersey, operated from 1892 to 1954, a total of 62 years. 1907 proved to be its busiest year, admitting 1,004,756 people (The Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island. N.p., n.d. Wed. 23 Feb. 2017). Over 1 million people from all over the globe entered into the United States that year, searching for a better life for themselves and their families. If the same kind of migration were to happen today, what percentage of the migrants would be sent back to their country of origin? The third largest country in the world went from welcoming more than a million people in a single year to banning seven countries’ worth of people. All of this happened in 110 short years.

People’s mindset toward immigration has changed drastically during the 20th and 21st century. But why?

Most people in the United States come from an “It means that immigrant America is a background. people are country that will Some aware of this fact, and maybe even accept you” know an -MKA MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENT immigrant in their family. Some people know that their family originated from a particular place, but they don’t know who the immigrant was.

Most children that come from immigrant

February 27, 2017

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backgrounds are aware of the fact that their ancestors weren’t all from the United States. In fact, when 101 6th 7th and 8th graders at Montclair Kimberley Academy in Montclair, New Jersey were surveyed, 36% of them said they had an immigrant in their immediate family, and 65% said they had an immigrant in their extended family. The fact that children at the middle school level have such an awareness

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The American Dream: The Confinement and Mistreatment of Women in the Colonial American Judicial System

by Isabella Szyfer Class of 2021 The modern-day American judicial system is a finely honed system that has taken over two hundred years to refine. This system was somewhat based on the judicial system of colonial America, though the creators of the modern-day court system improved and expanded on laws relating to the court and other subjects. Colonial America was a patriarchal society, where men held significantly more power than women, and, in turn, women were considered to be physically, emotionally, and intellectually inferior to men. As it so often does, the judicial system mirrored the rest of society, and women held no formal political power, as well as not possessing the right to vote. They would not gain this privilege until 1920. Due to the fact that women were nearly powerless in the judicial system, they were often mistreated and victimized because of laws and the attitudes of the rest of colonial society. The mistreatment of women in the early Colonial American judicial system was due to religious and social norms, and various laws put into place.

In Colonial America, religion was the epicenter of the majority of civilian lives, with many different sects of Christianity migrating to America after suffering religious persecution in England.

It makes sense, of course, that women would be heavily involved in different aspects of religion.

Migration gave women a sense of freedom, and therefore, empowered them to speak out and preach their religion, especially with many Puritan families leaving their unhappy lives in England to come to the colonies. Religious activism created notoriety for women, and preserved their

voices in the historical narrative of the time.

Many of these female religious activists were Quakers, who lived mostly in the Middle Colonies, and would often preach their religion. However, that does not mean that women were respected in houses of worship. Anne Hutchinson, a Puritan, tested the religious and political order of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Anne Hutchinson migrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1634 with her husband and twelve children after her Puritan minister John Cotton migrated after facing religious persecution in England. After arriving in America, Hutchinson began to hold biweekly meetings at her home discussing Cotton’s spirit-centered theology. These meetings would draw as many as sixty men and women to her house, provoking the ire of many, including Massachusetts Bay Governor John Winthrop.

Winthrop condemned Hutchinson’s meetings, saying they were “a thing not tolerable nor comely in the sight of God, nor fitting for your sex.” An assembly of colonial clergymen, called a synod, excommunicated Hutchinson from the Church of Boston, while the General Court of Massachusetts banished her from the colony, forcing her to settle in Rhode Island, while Cotton was cleared of all charges of heresy. This example of bias against Hutchinson from the ecclesiastical community and the government, due to her status as a female political activist, clearly demonstrates the mistreatment of women in the colonial judicial system.

As mentioned before, women in the early American colonies did not have a lot of power, but even so, there were many laws governing their lives.

Women were controlled nearly their entire lives by either their father or their husband. Even if a woman married and gained social standing and increased wealth, rigorous laws governed her rights. One of these such laws was one called feme covert. Feme covert, also called coverture, dictated that once a woman married, all her property became her husband’s. This statute was mainly applied to money and land. Although, if a woman’s husband wanted to sell land that he received through marriage to his wife, he would have to have received her consent. This clause gave women some semblance of power over their rightful inheritance, though many women did not have the strong will needed to stand up and fight their husband’s wishes, as the norm was for women to obey their husband’s every command.

Feme covert may have denied women formal power in the judicial system, but being married gave women some power and say in the important choices of their lives.

In Colonial America, social standing was the basis of every civilian’s life, dictating where people could go, what they could do, and most importantly, who they could marry. Marriage was a core event of colonial civilian life as a binding agreement between both families. There was a lot of pressure on young women to get married. Mortality rates were high, so once married, women tried to produce children as soon as possible. If a woman became a widow, she could control her late husband’s property until her son or daughter came of age to inherit. After all, feme covert did not apply to a dead husband’s property. Because of this, widows had considerate power in the colonial era, as they could conduct business affairs just as their husbands would have. The only other time that women had power by themselves in society was if their father and mother had died, and they had no brothers to claim the inheritance. However, this was only until women got married. After women got married, they had to obey their husband’s every command. In fact, in Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England Book the Fourth, it was stated that “...if a woman commit theft, burglary, or other civil offences the laws of society, by the coercion of her husband; or merely by his command, which the law construes a coercion; or even in his company, his example being equivalent to a command; she

is not guilty of any crime: being considered as acting by compulsion and not of her own will…”.

In summary, if a woman was told to commit a crime by her husband, or if he was present when the crime was committed, then the husband was guilty of the crime purely because the wife was simply being an obedient and subservient wife.

Even if a woman was on trial for a crime, she could almost never present a rational defense with a lawyer, as there were no law schools in the colonies until 1778. The aforementioned social injustices that trained women to be meek and mild would often lead juries to determine women’s testimonies to be invalid, and hence, led to women being continually and systematically disregarded in the colonial judicial system.

As a consequence of the religious and social norms, and various laws present at the time, women in the early Colonial American judicial system were severely mistreated. With our nation recently on the cusp of electing our first female president, learning about the incredibly challenging journey women had to make to gain their individuality and legal freedom only makes this current election cycle even more devastating to those who champion women’s rights all over the world. However, we must look past the current election results and instead, gaze towards a future, whether it be in four, eight, or twenty-four years, when women have finally broken the hardest, highest, glass ceiling, and work towards that goal with more vigor and zeal than ever before.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Brent

ARIEL GROSSMAN

FEBRUARY 24, 2017

Email: Too Much of a Good Thing?

The Truth Behind The Popular World of Digital Communication

Roasting marshmallows around the campfire, making friends that will last a lifetime, swimming in the lake to cool off from those hot summer days: all the things that revive those unforgettable memories from summer camp as a kid.

Today, camp directors obligate their campers to disconnect from their devices, because they understand to feel a sense of ease it is necessary to fully unplug. Being disconnected from electronics compels everyone to interact https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7413/13105867173_4c2832894c_b.jpg with each other in ways one cannot achieve with a cell phone in their face. Unfortunately, all who are subjected to their email’s beck and call finds themselves not being able to enjoy much leisure time.

The nonstop cycle of responding and receiving emails can feel overwhelming at times; in fact, it can increase psychological stress. According to Kostadin Kushlev and Elizabeth W. Dunn in their article “Stop Checking Email So Often” (The New York Times, January 9, 2015), an experiment of 124 adults revealed that participants who were limited to email access experienced extremely lower amounts of daily stress than participants with unlimited email access. The participants who were limited experienced a reduction of psychological stress because they were able to keep their life at a constant without the stress of email. The participants who had unlimited access were unable to cope with all the tasks they had to finish that day.

Not only does constantly checking the email’s inbox cause stress, but the overall amount of emails one encounters on a daily basis is also overwhelming. A survey of 59 faculty members of Montclair Kimberley Academy, an independent PreK-12 school in New Jersey, revealed that 78% of faculty members tend to feel overwhelmed by the amount of daily emails they receive. And vaguely responding to an email is not considered an option. Because of tone being an issue, each and every email has to be carefully crafted. It is very difficult to convey tone in any form of writing. While writing an email, there is the ability to use punctuation and emoticons to convey meaning, but the receivers cannot rely on nonverbal cues, such as tone or facial expression.

American Psychological Association, February, 2006

2.4

56

MILLION

PERCENT

EMAILS ARE SENT EACH SECOND

OF EMAILS ARE MISUNDERSTOOD

ARIEL GROSSMAN

FEBRUARY 24, 2017

According to Lea Winerman in her article “Emails and egos” (American Psychological Association, February, 2006), Justin Kruger, a New York University professor, and Nicholas Epley, a professor at the University of Chicago, found 90% of email readers believe they correctly interpret the message’s tone. It turns out, only 56% of readers successfully translate an email’s message. Since clarifying an email’s tone is difficult, quality becomes very important for digital communication.

http://realtytechbytes.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/ Digital communication is known to be more green for the environment than paper Well, almost 2.4 million emails are sent every based communication; however, digital second. This means if all emails have the communication is actually destroying it. smallest carbon footprint possible, 0.3g of CO2e According to Mike Berners-Lee in his book each, it is equivalent to the amount of gasses “How Bad are Bananas: The Carbon Footprint produced by about 5 million cars per year. Each of Everything” (Greystone Books, April 1, 2011), email might seem small, but overall, the it is estimated that one typical year of incoming extremely large number of emails sent is emails adds 300 pounds of emissions to a causing severe problems for the environment. If person’s carbon footprint, which is equivalent to email is starting to cause problems or any form driving 200 miles in an average car. of stress, there are many ways to reduce these Berners-Lee also states the smallest email issues without going cold turkey. has a footprint of 0.3g of CO2e. But why should anyone worry about emails when they seem have a considerably small carbon footprint?

SOLUTIONS: The first step is to separate work and personal emails. Separating the two email accounts makes it a lot easier to prioritize. Checking the inbox at specific times can also help manage time. If this is not a viable option, there is the alternative to set alerts for people whose emails need an immediate response. This helps decrease the anxiety of guessing when those important emails will arrive. Another way to schedule emails is the app Boomerang. Boomerang has the option to schedule emails to be sent at a later time. The app helps decrease unnecessary time spent sending http://static.commentcamarche.net/es.kioskea.net/pictures/91 pMvnfT-boomerang-for-gmail-s-.png emails. The next option is as simple as picking up a phone. Usually, a quick phone call can substitute many avoidable emails. Miscommunication can commonly be resolved by adding a little expression to the conversation.

The last, and most important, step is setting email boundaries. Decreasing the urgency to respond to emails can go a long way. Most people will understand immediate responses are not always possible because they’re busy, too.

Sometimes, everyone just needs to sit around the campfire, stargaze under the quiet summer night, and connect with the world around them.

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Joey Bejjani Class of 2022

MARCH 1, 2017

ELECTORAL COLLEGE DROPOUT?

By Ethan Williams What do Donald Trump, Benjamin Harrison, George W. Bush, Rutherford B. Hayes, and John Quincy Adams have in common? They are all examples of presidents who came into office after having lost the popular vote. How can a candidate who loses the popular vote be elected? In the United States this can happen because we choose presidents through the Electoral College rather than by direct election. The Electoral College requires candidates to win electoral votes state by state rather than simply a majority of individual votes. The election of Donald Trump, despite his loss of the popular vote by almost three million votes, has led to calls for changing or eliminating the Electoral College. Although the Electoral College is both outdated and undemocratic, changing the system would not be easy.

Under the United States system, when you vote for a presidential candidate, you pull a lever beside that person’s name, but you are actually voting for electors that have pledged to vote for your candidate. According to Justin S. Vaughn, in “Electoral College,” once the popular votes have been tallied and a winner of the state has been found, the electors go to the state capitol where the votes are officially recorded. Most states have a “winner takes all” system where whoever wins the popular vote in that state wins all the electoral votes of the state.

In most states, the elector can decide to vote for a different candidate than the one pledged to vote for, but this rarely happens. The candidate who wins a majority of electoral votes is declared the winner (goo.gl/POJX9F).

The basic rules of the Electoral College are set by the United States Constitution.

http://lpmaryland.org/james-madison-general-welfare-clause-constitution/

“The right of suffrage was much more diffusive in the Northern than the Southern States; and the latter could have no influence in the election on the score of the Negroes.”

- Father of the Constitution, James Madison

Article II of the Constitution apportions electoral votes according to the number of seats the state has in Congress. The number of representatives in the House depends on the population of the state but the number of senators is always two, regardless of the population. In addition, Article I guarantees that every state gets at least one representative in the House (goo.gl/Kxf4UB). As Professor Tracy Higgins of Fordham Law School explains, “This means that a hypothetical state with a population of only one hundred people – or even one person – would still have three electoral votes.” The system therefore gives greater weight to small states. Because these rules are set by the Constitution, they can only !1

MARCH 1, 2017

be changed by the process of constitutional amendment, not by Congress or by the states through their ordinary legislative process.

Although the Electoral College may seem strange today, it fit the needs of the country when it was created by the framers of the Constitution in 1787. According to Fordham law professor, Abner Greene, the framers were having a hard time deciding the way in which they wanted the president to be elected. One proposal was for him to be elected by the Congress; another idea for him to be chosen by the members of state legislatures.

They also thought about just having a direct election. Eventually, they decided on the Electoral College system for several reasons.

According to Professor Greene, the Electoral College was a compromise of these positions.

As Greene explains, the framers wanted the president to be independent of Congress and so did not want Congress to have the power to choose him. Second, they wanted a system that would give some popular input but not so much that uninformed people would make poor decisions for the country. Finally, the small states did not want their concerns to be ignored and argued for a system that would give them a bigger voice than they would have had in a direct election system. The Electoral College system allowed for all of these considerations.

Another very important reason for the Electoral College was slavery. As Professor Akhil Amar of Yale Law School explains in an article entitled, “The Real Reason the Electoral College Exists,” the southern states, especially Virginia, had a very large slave population.

Although they did not count the enslaved people as citizens and did not allow them to vote, they wanted them to count for the purpose of the southern states’ political power in the federal government. In a popular vote system, the northern states would have more power because a larger percentage of their population could vote. Because enslaved people counted for three-fifths of a person for the purpose of allocating congressional representatives, the

goo.gl/dV3303

Voting power by state. (Darkest green indicates greatest voting power)

Electoral College system gave the southern states the political power they demanded ("Election 2016: The Real Reason the Electoral College Exists." Time. 10 Nov. 2016. goo.gl/ NVeoin).

The Electoral College system is understandable as a political compromise at the founding of the United States, but many of the purposes it served at that time are no longer relevant and many new criticisms have emerged. First, the system is not as democratic as direct election of the President would be. The idea of democracy is that everyone’s view matters as much as anyone else’s, but, with the Electoral College system, that is not the case.

For example, according to author Chris Kirk, in Wyoming, there are only about 150,000 people per electoral vote; whereas in New York, there are more than half of a million people per electoral vote. This means that a vote in Wyoming is more than three times as powerful as a vote in New York (goo.gl/POJX9F).

Another criticism is that, because of the winnertakes-all system in most states, the winner of the popular vote may lose the election. This can happen when a candidate scores significant popular vote victories in some states, winning many more votes than necessary to win the electoral votes of that state, and loses by narrow margins in other states. Another criticism of the Electoral College system is that it creates

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!2

The Nasty Women of Colonial America

by Isabel Lucas, Class of 2021

“It’s hard to be a woman. You must think like a man, act like a lady, look like a young girl, and work like a horse.”

- Unknown Despite common belief, not all women were mere housewives in the Colonial Era. While women were taught at a very young age the basic skills of homemaking, few ever expanded upon their skills so as to profit from them, and it’s not hard to see why.

Women were undermined by the sexist laws created by the men controlling colonial society, which made the prospect of business management seem unattainable. However, for those with a true passion for their craft as well as a desire to impact colonial society, the occupation of a tradeswoman was within their grasp. Despite the labels and restrictions forced upon them by colonial society, tradeswomen flourished in the Colonial Era. The most obvious of all restrictions put on colonial women were English laws enforced in the colonies that stripped a woman’s independence once she married. “Feme sole” is a term used in Anglo-American common law to describe an unmarried woman.

The term was important in distinguishing single women from married women when laws were created to minimize a woman’s rights once she married. The theory of a woman’s submissiveness to her husband during marriage was known as “coverture.” When a woman married and she became “covert,” she forfeited almost all her rights to her husband. This included being barred from important decision making, being unable to be sued or sue anyone in her own name, executing a will, and losing all of her property.

Additionally, once a woman had married, under the legal concept of “marital unity,” she was considered a joint entity with her husband, and he was able to claim any and all responsibilities.

In other words, when a woman and man became a joint entity, the man was the mouthpiece of the relationship. For example, technically Martha Washington owned three quarters of the slaves at Mt. Vernon. When she married George Washington, he owned none. However, when Martha married George, all her property became his. Unless an agreement had been reached prior to a woman’s marriage, women who wished to own businesses while married had to own them in conjunction with their husbands.

This is because married women were not allowed to own personal property on their own. As a result, many women who wished to make money in the exchange of goods opted to dedicate a portion of their home to selling a small inventory of products or sold their products on their city’s main street.

A wife was also not guaranteed her own property back if her husband died. Women in the 18th century could receive a minimum of one third of her husband’s property and estate. This was known as a “widow’s third.” The rest of the inheritance was given to her eldest son. There were some exceptions to this. For example, if the woman had no children, she would be given the full property and estate, otherwise known as a “widow’s full.” Also, a husband occasionally made exceptions in his will that could change the

portions of the inheritance given to his wife and son.

When women joined the colonial workforce they often entered trades that were extensions of traditional housework. Many women worked on their family’s farm, but tradeswomen usually worked in trades such as butchers, bakers, brewers, confectioners, dressmakers, laundresses, and tanners. Widows were more likely to move into larger cities and work as nurses, governesses, teachers, seamstresses, or servants. If these widows happened to inherit some wealth, they might open a shop, inn, or tavern.

What all these trades have in common is that they are skills taught traditionally to young girls that have been advanced or applied.

In order for women to apply their homemaking skills to a trade, an apprenticeship was a necessity. Tradeswomen typically chose a career path around the ages of 13-14, and would then go on to serve as an apprentice for the next 3-7 years, depending on the trade. In addition to learning the trade at hand, a woman would learn financial and management skills from her master or mistress.

The common skills taught to girls by their mothers included cooking, cleaning, social etiquette, and sewing. It was rare for a young girl to be educated beyond these skills, with the exceptions found almost exclusively in the rich gentry class. For example, all of Thomas Jefferson’s children received an exceptional education.

His daughter Martha was educated both at home and at a highly prized French Monastery during the time spent living with her father in France.

Some skills that enabled women to obtain successful jobs included etiquette and taking care of children; these skills often led to dance instruction and teaching. Women who worked in dance instruction as well as choreography were essential to maintaining the social etiquette and hierarchy of the gentry class at colonial balls and other social assemblies. Additionally, since there were no formal regulations regarding the instruction and education of minors, some women became teachers at small schools that they often shared with their husbands. Many women also became governesses, instructing and being nannies for several children in their employer’s home.

In addition, during the Colonial Era, housewives often took care of their own families, making women the most common healthcare providers. Wives followed basic regimens to treat flu or cold-like symptoms, and it was quite common for women to give their family members medicine or other care, especially because towns rarely had more than one practicing doctor. Ironically, because medical care was being given predominantly at home by other women toward their own families, women could hardly ever become full-time doctors. Since the need for professional doctors was so scarce, women would rarely ever make a sustainable wage. As a result, many women who wished to enter the medical trade chose

to work on a part-time or case-by-case basis, or performed services full-time but had an alternate source of income. In health care, the only role that women were prevented from entering, due to the requirements necessary, was advertising as apothecaries. In order to become an apothecary, an extensive education was needed in math, science, and Latin. As this formal education was never offered to working class women, a woman’s work could not reach beyond assisting her husband in his apothecary shop.

Midwifery was the one area in the medical field that men rarely ever entered, and yet was critical to colonial society. Midwives, unlike doctors, were well sought after in the eighteenth century and were critical to the steady increase of the colonial population. Also, unlike doctors, midwifery could be a full-time profession, and women could perform thousands of births in their lifespan. Midwifery had for a long time been considered a female trade, and though a few so called “man-midwives” did begin to advertise in the eighteenth century, they posed no threat to traditional colonial midwives.

Midwives themselves often delivered thousands of children in their lifetimes. Catherine Blaikley, who died at age 76, is said to have delivered over 3,000 children in her lifetime. Mrs. Blaikley is only outdone by Elizabeth Hunt, who delivered almost 4,000 babies.

That is the equivalent of assisting in one birth every day for over 10 years.

Surprisingly, the only other trade that had a large percentage of tradeswomen was tavern-keeping. Taverns were crucial to colonial society and the American Revolution, and more than a third of these taverns were run solely by women. Tavern keeping was not a particularly difficult trade to enter. In fact, with minimal improvements to her home, along with a license, it was quite simple for a woman to open her own business, which is why many women chose this trade. In fact, any unmarried woman who met the financial and legal requirements for tavern-keeping could open her own establishment. Another attractive feature of tavern-keeping is it rarely required much formal training, considering it was essentially housekeeping on a larger scale. This was especially true when the place was inherited from an older generation in the woman’s family, and the woman grew up in the tavern.

The success of taverns, being as important to society as they were, was largely influenced by their owners. Rooms rented out in taverns would become important meet-up places to discuss politics prior to and during the American Revolution. Women such as Nancy Ramsey of Georgia became large political presences in their towns. In order to raise enough money to purchase her own tavern, Nancy Ramsey regularly brought an oxcart filled with a barrel of hard cider to the town square, where all of the lawyers and businessmen of the area became frequent customers. As a result, her political contacts and connections began to grow. Once she had saved enough money to afford a store front, her tavern became a political hub. All of Georgia’s top lawyers and lawmakers fought for her support as she became an influential figure in her Georgia county. Another tavern-keeper who served political figureheads in her area was Mrs. Vobe. She owned, managed, and paid all taxes, fees, and licenses for the Kings Arms Tavern in Williamsburg, Virginia. In fact, she was so successful that in addition to owning several slaves and training several apprentices, she was able to move her entire tavern and staff from Williamsburg to Richmond

when the capitol of Virginia was moved following the Revolution.

Historical records of tradeswomen were rarely kept because, for the most part, many English lawmakers and government officials did not necessarily approve of these women’s transactions. However, there were some women whose impact was so extraordinary or unusual that records were kept, and from those records one can

http://gowns.listlotto.info/colonial-dressmaker/

get a glimpse as to what life was like as a tradeswoman in Colonial America. Margaret Hunter of Virginia is a prime example of a traditional tradeswoman in the colonies. She served an apprenticeship as a milliner in London, before returning home to the Colonies to open a millinery shop in Williamsburg, Virginia. She and her shop served the community for 20 years, from 1767-1787.

Margaret Hunter never married, and while there is no proof that she ever employed other women or took apprentices, she did own 4 enslaved workers who helped her maintain the shop. Another example is Elizabeth Timothy from South Carolina. She became the first American woman to ever publish a newspaper. Elizabeth, following her husband’s death, continued printing their newspaper the South Carolina Gazette without skipping a single issue.

Also in South Carolina, Eliza Pinckney began the indigo trade in the colonies by experimenting with ginger, alfalfa, and cotton. She went on to set specific trade guidelines and procedures for indigo, as well as begin further experiments with flax, hemp, and silk.

Despite the labels and restrictions forced upon them by colonial society, tradeswomen flourished in the Colonial Era. The women of Colonial society did not allow a sexist ideology to determine their accomplishments. The perseverance of these women would later be considered unladylike and socially inappropriate, yet their influence on colonial society is immeasurable. After years of neglect and lack of appreciation, the self-respect and independence of these women would influence the suffragettes of the early twentieth century and become the mold from which the modern-day feminist was cast. Nowadays these women, who chose to defy the boundaries and limitations set upon them, are remembered for their determination to succeed and the example they set.

Michael Picciotto

February 24, 2017

VEGAN VS OMNIVORE Everyone knows that being a vegan affects your health, but not everyone knows how

http://time.com/4346551/vegan-diet-

According to the Vegetarian Resource Group, about 3% of the United States is vegan. With these statistics, it can be inferred that Americans prefer fat over vitamins, which is a reasonable proposition, knowing that Americans account for a large portion of the world’s obesity. But does that necessarily mean that being a vegan is healthier than being an omnivore?

The foods that veganism restricts (meat, dairy, poultry, etc.) contain large amounts of vital nutrients like protein, fats, iron (SFGATE “Vegan Diet Vs. Real Meat”(Writer, Leaf Group. "Vegan Diet Vs. Real Meat." Healthy Eating. SF Gate, 22 July 2012. Web. 23 Feb. 2017). These nutrients are compensated for in vegetables and starches like spinach and wheat, but do not completely satisfy the bodily need. However, this does not mean that going vegan is a bad choice. While you need fat to function, too much can lead to obesity, high-cholesterol, and heart disease, which is usually why

1

Michael Picciotto

February 24, 2017

vegans tend to have fewer of these problems. Processed meat like McDonalds chicken nuggets also play a large role in the obesity of Americans, which is a big reason people transition to veganism. But meat also contains high amounts of protein, which is an essential nutrient to build muscle and maintain a stable immune system. Although most vegan foods do not contain high amounts of protein, substitutes have been made including tofu and soybeans. Even with these substitutes, they barely compare with the amount of protein in red meat. According to The U.S. Department of Agriculture National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, 3 ounces of 95% lean ground beef contains 25 grams of protein, while a 3 ounce portion (85 grams) of soy-based http://www.justthefood.com/p/why-vegan.html tofu contains about 13 grams of protein.

This is a considerable difference, knowing that tofu and other soy-based products are the main source of protein for vegans. Lower amounts of protein can lead to moderate to severe weight loss, malnutrition, and lack of energy.

A survey of 8th grade students going to Montclair Kimberley Academy, a Pre-K to 12 independent school in New Jersey, revealed that the majority thinks that becoming vegan would negatively affect their lives. As previously stated, this is partially true, but 33% (25% saying it wouldn’t affect them) said that it would positively affect their life. Why do they think this? Well, according to Lisa Freedman (“All-Meat vs. Vegetarian Diets." Men's Fitness.

N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2017), going on a strictly vegan diet yields multiple health benefits and some disadvantages. Some of these benefits include having a lower risk of high blood pressure, lower risk of several kinds of cancer, and a decreased chance of developing heart diseases, diabetes, and obesity. These health benefits derive from the fact that a vegan diet usually contains very low amounts of fat and protein, but compensates with a high abundance of vitamins, which strengthens one’s immune system. But is the fact that vegans get less protein and acquire less muscle mass actually be recognized in society? Well, according to the survey of MKA 8th grade students, the vast majority commonly associate a die-hard meat lover with more muscle mass rather than a hardcore vegan. This shows that the lack of protein and fats in a vegan diet noticeably affects the appearance of the person on that diet. On the other hand, an omnivorous diet also has its advantages and disadvantages.

Lisa Freedman (ibid) also maintains that new studies have shown that red meat and chicken are now commonly being linked to weight gain and high-

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2

My Home,

were huddled together in the basements of their homes, telling each other that everything was going to be alright. It was my duty to ensure that everything was going to be alright.

“Will?!” I yelled out, trying to make my voice audible over the nearly deafening sound of the roaring engine, the swinging propellers and the zipping bullets and massive explosions of intense dogfights in the distance.

“Yeah James?” he replied.

“We’re almost there. Get ready, and remember that we are in this

by Joey Bejjani together. Our orders are to fly in, take down the German threats, Class of 2022 and then fly out.”

“OK, but before we go any farther, I need you to promise me that you will bring me back home to my family in one piece,” William My name is James Blackburn, and I shouted from his gunner seat in the back of the plane. belong in the sky. When I was a child, I looked up to the sky with wonder. It seemed to stretch forever in all “Always do, always will,” I replied. Will was my best friend and directions. My young mind was instantly captivated and my skilled gunner. We were tied together by an unbreakable rope of trust, loyalty and teamwork. It was simple. I needed Will struck with awe by this immense thing watching over to shoot down enemy planes, and he needed me to control the me. My curious eyes were amazed by the beauty of its plane and outmaneuver enemies that followed us. changing colors and the glistening rain drops that fell Our medium sized, navy blue British attack plane was from its clouds. I was inspired by the graceful birds that getting closer and closer to the battle. The sky around me was soared through it. But now, as a 26-year-old man living during the first world war, the sky has different meanings a mixture of orange and red hues. The sun, which was low in and purposes in my life. Now, the sky drops huge bombs the sky, was shooting its magnificent rays behind a cluster of instead of harmless raindrops. Now, it is ruled by loud snow white clouds. I looked up. Everything around me seemed and vicious metal birds. Now, it is a place of death and to freeze as I took in the pure beauty of the infinite space above destruction. The once beautiful sky has been turned into me. I looked down. The city of London was visible. I could see a warzone for airplanes, and ever since I became a pilot Big Ben amongst the evacuated streets and empty buildings. of one of these planes, both my childhood dreams and As I snapped out of the trance-like moment I realized that the nightmares have come true. ~***~ A pair of dark red propellers rotated in front of me, creating a loud, familiar, and almost soothing whirring noise. The long, sharp blades sliced through the air like a ravenous monster shredding and eating up everything in its path. The two wings on either side of me were cutting through the air like a pair of scissors quickly snipping through a soft, delicate fabric. A constant cold wind rushed into my face, biting at my bare cheeks. A brown, clunky and beat-up helmet engraved with the words Royal Flying Corps covered and protected my head. An old pair of goggles were strapped tightly over my alert eyes. http://williamwhitson.com/planes/apprentice_ My mind wandered back to about one year ago, the day warrior-planes.html I joined the Royal Flying Corps. I became a pilot in the yelling, smoke and explosions of the battle were closer than ever.

RFC because I wanted to defend and fight for my coun- A ghostly wall of inky smoke and dark gloomy clouds towered in the sky in front of me. Suddenly, at least a dozen gleaming red try. I wanted to help end the devastating war that was raging across the globe. Almost one year later, I was still German fighter planes darted out of the black wall like enraged up in the sky, putting my life at risk to stand up for what I red demons emerging from the darkest corners of Hell. My fleet believed in. On one specific mission, I was following im- was outnumbered and surrounded from all angles.

Planes were swooping, diving, rolling and dodging. portant orders to stop German bombers from flying over The sound of machine guns firing was like one million popcorn London and dropping hundreds of pounds of bombs on the innocent men, women and children down below, who machines operating next to each other all at once.

The Sky

“Will! We got one straight ahead! I’ll get an angle for you to get some shots in!” I yelled.

I expertly controlled the plane, accelerating and making swift, sharp turns to get into a position from which Will could take the enemy down. Beads of sweat trickled down the side of my face as I flew through puffs of hot smoke and cold colorless clouds. The familiar popping sound of Will’s gun never left my ears.

“I got him, James!”

“Great job, I knew you would—” My voice suddenly trailed off before I could finish my sentence. Up ahead I could see a shining enemy fighter on its way to colliding directly with the front of my plane. What petrified me even more was that there was no pilot sitting in the front seat. He had been shot out of the aircraft a few moments earlier. I blinked a few times to make sure what I was seeing was real. The swinging propeller blades of the empty plane seemed to be moving in slow motion, coming closer and closer to shredding Will and me into one hundred different pieces. When it was so close that I could smell the stench of fire, smoke and fuel coming off of it, I came to my senses and jerked my plane down with so much force and suddenness that the striped scarf around my neck unraveled and flew into the air.

“That was a close call, James!”

Will cried from the back. I was too out of breath to answer. For the first time, I looked around to see how many British planes were still in the sky and fighting off the enemies. We were the last one.

The once shiny, navy blue British vehicles were now bunches of flaming debris plummeting towards the ground. The people that I had worked with, trained with, and dreamed with were now lifeless bodies falling to the earth. The skilled German pilots in their expertly engineered aircrafts had outdone and killed my friends. My desire for victory and revenge filled the gas tank, fueling

the plane and making it go faster. I could hear the blood pumping in my ears as my plane roared through the sky, hunting down the last of the Germans.

“James, we got two enemy fighters 6 o’clock! We’re being shot at!” Will yelled with an urgency that I had never heard in my friend’s voice before.

“Hold on tight and return fire!

We’re gonna finish this thing once and for all!” I replied, with more passion and power than I had ever heard in my own voice before. I pushed the plane’s abilities to the limits. I was flying faster than ever before, and performing maneuvers that only very experienced pilots could dream about. With every high-speed backwards flip, every sideways turn, and every dive straight towards the ground, my determination grew.

“James, I shot one of them down, but the other one is still tailing us!” cried Will. I turned my head to look back at Will and the enemy plane, only to witness three ragged holes appear on Will’s chest. My arms and legs instantly went numb. My mind went blank, and a huge lump formed in my throat. I fought to hold back the ocean of tears behind my eyes. My goggles fogged up, and it became harder for me to see. More of the enemy’s bullets followed, destroying the wings of my plane. The familiar sound of the rapid firing of Will’s machine gun was gone, and the whirring of the propellers was no longer soothing. They made an ugly, rattling sound with each rotation. The plane was swerving and dipping randomly, and it was almost impossible to keep it under control. Then I heard the sound of an explosion behind me. The engine of my plane had been shot, and the plane had caught on fire. It began spiraling straight down towards the earth, taking Will and me along with it.

Black clouds of smoke curled out of the severely damaged aircraft like a giant, dark genie. The world spun around

me, creating a sickening sensation. I gripped the edges of my pilot’s seat, and I blacked out.

My eyes slowly flickered open. I was laying on my back, and the wreckage of the plane was all around me. The propellers that once sang me their soft song were now broken into a dozen different pieces. The long wings were now cracked, splintered and covered with mud. The wreckage was slowly burning from the fire of the engine’s explosion. Several pieces of debris were pinning my limp and weak body to the ground. A hot, fiery pain was shooting through my limbs, and I could see several deep wounds on my arms, legs and chest. Every slow, raspy breath I took felt like a hundred sharp needles were sinking into my throat. My goggles were cracked and splattered with blood.

I slowly and painfully turned my head to the side. I could see Will’s lifeless body inside of the wreckage. His eyes were open, showing the fear he felt in the last moments of his short life. All he wanted was to be with his family. A choking pain gripped my heart, but it wasn’t from any physical injury. It was a deep, emotional wound that hurt more than anything else I had ever experienced.

“I’m sorry I let you down,” I said with words that could barely escape my mouth. My whole life had led up to this one moment. All of my childhood dreams and all of my adult accomplishments had led up to this last chapter of my life. I squeezed the remaining drops of energy and life out of my soul, so I could turn my head back to its original position. I took a final glimpse of my beautiful home, the sky, and then I closed my eyes for the last time.

Pitter pat, pitter pat, pitter pat. Ugh, it’s raining again; woosh, my umbrella almost blows free from my hand. It is a cold rainy night, and I am in New York City meeting my husband for dinner. As I walk deeper into the night, I see many people holding up signs. Nothing new, there are always things like this happening in NYC: protesters, people asking for money, street entertainers, outside commotion.

It is then when I realized that this protesting is not a joke. It is about something tragic that is currently happening in the world. I hear shouting: “BLACKS LIVES MATTER! BLACK LIVES MATTER!” Several police officers line up in front of the protesters, boxing them in and trying to shut them down. Tension fills the air. The rain comes down harder. I can feel it pelting my legs as I walk faster, more determined than ever to meet my husband.

As much as I agree with what the protesters are saying, I also do NOT want to get involved because I realize that bad things can happen when guns are involved. And I know the policemen are armed. Keep your head down, I tell myself, shielding my face with my umbrella. I don’t want to get stopped.

The next thing I know, a voice bellows in my ear, “Do you believe in black equality?” And again, this time louder: “Do you believe in black equality?!” I freeze. I am not sure what to do. I cannot find my words. I nod weakly. “Yes,” I squeak.

The protester and I exchange an intense look and all of sudden I feel like screaming out, “Black Lives Matter!” but something holds me back. My fear?

My uncertainty of what will happen? The fact that I am alone at this momeant?

The best I can do is nod again at the protester and walk on. Behind me I can hear her repeating the question again and again, “Do you believe in black equality?!” “Do you believe in black equality?!” When I finally reach the restaurant, I feel disappointed in myself but also relieved to see my husband’s familiar face.

Louisa Morris Class of 2023

Luke Gardiner, Charles Macdonnell Class of 2021

Kennedy Everson, Ethan Williams Class of 2021

~~~~~~~~~~ The fog cast an eerie atmosphere on the city. The dark stone castle seemed to rise up out of the murk much like the sharp stone skerries on the shores of the Rinns of Islay. The granite tips of the gothic style fortress seemed to reach heights that could only be compared to the flight of angels. The quaint village below was abnormally quiet, but the sun was only just rising above the surprisingly tranquil ocean. When the sun finally emerges from the horizon, the old church bells will ring from the towers of the historic basilica, signaling from the poorest peasant to the king himself that the day has begun. Then the fishermen will bring their boats out to the ocean, and the farmers will start gathering the olives, for it is the harvest months. And the bakers will start baking, and the seamstresses will start sewing, and the carpenters will start whittling away at the wood from the indigenous beech trees. But for now, the soon busy town was quiet, shrouded in the fog of the morning hours.

~~~~~~~~~~ Maggie Beer, Class of 2022

Noah Weinberg Class of 2022

SARAH HOBBS

MARCH 2, 2017

Sugary Drinks

http://www.benjerry.com/files/live/sites/ systemsite/files/flavors/products/us/pint/ salted-caramel-nutr.png

a 1/2 cup of Ben & Jerry’s vanilla ice cream has 26g of sugar.

http://images.medicaldaily.com/sites/medicaldaily.com/files/styles/headline/public/2014/08/10/shutterstock172675634.jpg

The Truth Beyond the Sweet Soda; Snapple; Vitamin Water. What comes to your mind when you think of these drinks? Delicious? Sweet? Maybe refreshing? What about sugar-filled, extremely unhealthy, mood changing, depression causing, over consumed beverages sold in the school systems, that are doing no good for children. Believe it or not, there’s a lot more bitter than there is sweet to these drinks than you would think.

Do you think sugary drinks affect your mood?

If sugary drinks were sold at your school how often would you buy them?

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http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SZNQmugZL3c/Vcikt4fbS1I/AAAAAAAALlk/Yb_xqfklLtE/ s1600/coke.jpg

A 12fl oz of coke has 39g of sugar.

That is a 13g difference and more cokes are still being sold in schools than ice cream

SARAH HOBBS

MARCH 2, 2017

For years, schools have had vending machines and cafeterias that offer drinks kids enjoy such as various sodas, Vitamin Water, and Snapple. But other than the enjoyment, the drinks are doing no good for them in their learning environment. When it comes to drinks and kids, the kids will drink what they enjoy the most. Most of the time, those drinks are filled with sugar and caffeine that will have no benefit for them for the rest of their school day. For example, an average 12-ounce soft drink can contain up to 10 teaspoons of sugar. ("Should Soda Be Banned From School?." Junior Scholastic 107.10 (2005): 5. TOPICsearch. Web. 21 Feb. 2017). So how do these drinks affect behavior throughout that day?

http://az616578.vo.msecnd.net/files/2016/03/12/635933514436859884239955044_859ef7c284064d44_SadKid.xxxlarge_2x.jpg

food is broken down, it turns into glucose.

When there is glucose in your body, your pancreas will start to produce insulin, which is a hormone that allows cells to absorb sugar from the blood stream. Too much glucose, though, makes the insulin work too fast, resulting in the sugar low or hypoglycemia.

The glucose broken down from the food the children eat and all the additional glucose consumed from drinking sugary drinks is a perfect recipe for a sugar low, leaving children feeling sad, fatigued, and depressed (goo.gl/cYzGKc). Definitely not that way you would want to feel during class.

Two words: sugar low. You may have heard of sugar highs and getting hyper from a lot of sugar, but what about the low? First things first: there is no such thing as a sugar high, but there are sugar lows. These sugar lows come from the overconsumption of glucose, a simple sugar that is an important energy source in living organisms and is a component of many carbohydrates. When

Going Past the Mood Effect

Mood is not the only thing that is altered from these drinks.

Behavior is also changed substantially. Kids who drink sugary drinks often tend be more violent and more likely to lash out than the average kid who does not drink many sugary drinks.

In addition, obesity levels of children in the past year have gone up as the consumption of the sugary drinks has risen.

Finally, your dietary quality will go out the window the more you consume these drinks. http://az616578.vo.msecnd.net/files/

2016/03/12/635933514436859884239955044_859ef7c284064d44_Sad-Kid.xxxlarge_2x.jpg

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Aidan Szilagyi Class of 2023

A good leader must have many qualities to run a successful empire. Augustus had

many of these qualities, which is why Rome was so successful during his time. The first quality is being intelligent and able to outsmart enemies. Correctly predicting what the enemy’s next move is the biggest advantage one can gain over the enemy. Being intelligent also helps when solving problems in the city.

A successful leader also needs to be dependable and reliable. Citizens must be able to count on their leader and expect something to be done about problems. Not caring about some problems and only caring about others makes citizens unhappy about their leader. A leader that can fulfill his/her promises is typically what people want from those who lead.

A strong leader also must be hard-working or make it seem like they are hard-working. If a leader seems very lazy, citizens will think there are many better leaders who can do a better job.

Many great leaders put others first before themselves. The average citizen does not want leaders that make themselves appear much more important than the citizens. Any citizen would not want a leader who insults others.

Having an innovative leader is important. A society that never gets anywhere and never progresses in technology is a bad society.

The best leaders should be able to take criticism. Taking criticism helps people improve and learn from the mistakes they have made. Learning from what they have done wrong can help makes things right, and maybe next time those leaders will not make a similar mistake again.

Panicking is not a good thing, and you don’t think straight when you panic. Staying calm under pressure is an important quality for a leader to have. Times of crisis may happen and the leader is who the people look to first. Not knowing what to do while under pressure is terrible for everyone.

Just about any good leader is organized and punctual. These qualities help to always be ready for any problem that comes in the leader’s way. Not being prepared makes the problem even more difficult to deal with.

Every person wants their leader to be honest and not lie about things. The first problem with lying is that it can backfire, and it is so easily avoidable. The second problem with lying is that people want to be able to trust their leader by what they say.

A respectable leader uses the strengths of others to find what would be best for everyone. A leader may need to be able to work around issues with placing people in positions that they aren’t good at, but that leader has the ultimate responsibility for getting the work done well.

Joey Bejjani, Class of 2022

Jonah Barbin

An Automated Strike Zone?

AN AUTOMATED STRIKE ZONE? In a game that is always evolving, change is the only constant

goo.gl/BFUin3

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Jonah Barbin

Imagine a summer day, the sun beating down, heat and warmth filling the air, entering the ballpark, and catching a first glimpse of the freshly groomed field. The sun sheds light over the entire stadium, creating a magnificent picture. Fans are cheering, a batter steps to the plate, awaiting the pitch, and a pitcher winds up and delivers. The word “strike” is yelled out, but not by an umpire. The man who deemed the pitch a strike is sitting behind a monitor, which tracked the pitch from the moment it left the hand of the pitcher to the moment it crossed home plate. Umpires’ opinions on balls and strikes have been replaced by that of technology. Managers no longer have anyone to argue with, players have no one to be ejected by, and fans have no one to heckle. This could be a huge improvement for the game of baseball or the biggest loss it has ever experienced, depending on your perspective.

There’s only one question: could this dream become a reality? The answer is simple: of course it could! According to Alex Shultz (“Rise of the Machines? Baseball weighs use of automated strike zone?”), since 2008 technology called Pitchf/x has recorded every single major league pitch delivered to home plate and deemed it either a ball or a strike. In fact, players and coaches often use this technology to review in-game situations and to create a better understanding of the strike zone in place (goo.gl/ ROO34c). Creating an automated strike zone for Major League Baseball is hardly a work in progress.

For multiple years, the MLB has had the capability to put a fully functional, automated strike zone into effect, but doubts from commissioner Rob Manfred and front office officials have postponed the process (“Automated Strike Zone an Improvement Baseball Needs,” Dan Szymborski, goo.gl/zyGzM2).

So what exactly is the Pitchf/x system, and how does it work? Pitchf/x is technology created by Sportvision, a company that works to enhance the visual quality of professional sports on television (goo.gl/5M1cei). Using three cameras, one in center field, one on the first base line, and one on the third base line, Pitchf/x is able to photograph and record a detailed, multilayered, digital description of a pitch’s path from home plate, and judge whether the pitch is a ball or a strike (“Game Changers: An electronic strike zone?”, Lindsay Berra, goo.gl/neLQwT).

An Automated Strike Zone?

Mets Pitcher Noah Syndergaard, about to throw a pitch that will be documented by Pitchf/x between 40-50 times. https://i.ytimg.com/vi/cqUNhugv7is/maxresdefault.jpg

“I think what needs to happen is we see how the automated system plays out in minor league systems first, before we introduce it to the major league game,” says Leon Shade, a former college baseball player at Rutgers, a former professional baseball player overseas, and a current certified umpire in the state of New Jersey. Shade, being an umpire, also expressed much concern for the umpire community when discussing the introduction of an automated strike zone: “There is an element of baseball that is not like any other sport. I know a lot of people don’t see those things. The umpire has become part of that tradition; they’ve become part of that lure to the game. As far as I’m concerned, the umpires are part of the game. So the more we try to cover them, it seems like we need them less and less.”

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Lindsay Fouche, Class of 2025

Alex Bejjani, Class of 2025

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

February 28, 2017

U.S. – TURKEY RELATIONS: AT A CROSSROADS

by Alexandros Gaffney On February 7, President Trump had his first phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. According to Ben Westcott in his article “Trump stresses ‘close’ relationship with Turkey in first call with Erdogan” (https://goo.gl/ OU6Wsr), President Trump discussed both countries’ efforts against terrorism and the fight to eliminate it. What President Trump did not discuss with the Turkish President is the future of America’s alliance with Turkey. The Trump administration has not yet made clear what its policy towards Turkey will be and if the United States will continue their strong alliance with Turkey since the end of World War II. This raises the question: Should the United States keep their strong alliance with Turkey, or should they loosen it?

During the Cold War, the United States developed a strong alliance with Turkey due to its geographical importance.

According to George McGhee in his book The US-TurkishNATO Middle East Connection (Macmillan, 1990), Turkey was one of only two routes the Soviets could have taken to get

to the Persian Gulf by land and the only route they could have taken to get to the eastern Mediterranean Sea by water.

First, the Soviets wanted to take control of the Persian Gulf due to its large amount of oil. The Persian Gulf area had 70% of proven world reserves and a yield of 34% of world production (McGhee, 1990). If the Soviets took control of the Persian Gulf, then the oil would be sold at a very high price, which would have allowed the Soviets to surpass the United States by a large margin in wealth.

Second, the Soviets http://www.quickgs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Bosporus-Dardanelles-Strait.jpg wanted to have access to and control the eastern Mediterranean. To get to the eastern Mediterranean by water, the Soviets had to pass through the Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits, which were also Turkish.

To prevent all this from happening, the United States sent massive military aid to Turkey to be able to fight off a potential future attack from the Soviets until reinforcements from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) arrived (McGhee, 1990). While Turkey was very weak militarily after World War II, in 2016 it was ranked 8th out of 126 countries by military strength by Global Firepower (https:// goo.gl/seue1z).

Even though the Cold War has been long over, the circumstances today have allowed Turkey to stand again in a very important geographical location. “Turkey is near some important countries like Syria, Iraq, Iran and Russia,” says 1

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Anya Schmemann, Washington Director of Global Communications and Outreach and Director of the Independent Task Force Program at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Schmemann continues, “These are countries that are strategically important to the United States” (personal communication, February 22, 2017). Turkey borders Syria, where there is a civil war going on. The civil war involves Syrian Kurds, the dictatorship of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Islamic State forces. The United States, allied with Turkey, is fighting against the Islamic State forces, which are trying to control Syrian territories.

Having Turkey as an ally allows the United States to use Turkey’s airbases to bomb Islamic State strongholds in Syria, according to Richard Hall in his article “Here’s why U.S. allies are fighting each other in Syria” (https://goo.gl/tFuhte).

The United States is also involved in the Syrian Civil War because of economic interests.

According to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in his article “Why the Arabs Don’t Want Us in Syria” (https:// goo.gl/cM3TBh), the United States is in favor of constructing a natural gas pipeline from Qatar to Europe through Syria to give Russia some competition.

Currently, Russia sells 70% of its gas exports to Europe (Kennedy, 2016). If the Qatar pipeline does get built, then Europe could acquire natural gas from either Qatar or Russia, whichever

February 28, 2017

pipeline, Russia can sell its natural gas as expensively as possible because Europe depends heavily on Russian natural gas. However, a major obstacle in constructing the pipeline is President Assad (Kennedy, 2016). President Assad will not let the pipeline pass through Syria knowing that it would hurt Russia’s economic interests, as Syria is an ally of Russia. By getting involved in the Syrian Civil War, the United States is hoping for a change of government in Syria, so that there is a chance for the Qatar http://www.oil-price.net/cartoons/iran-iraq-syria-pipeline.jpg pipeline to be constructed. For the United States to fight terrorism and to promote its economic interests, Turkey’s geographical location is as important as it was during the Cold War. Due to Turkey’s geographical location, it seems obvious that the United States should continue their strong alliance with Turkey. However, the answer is not that simple.

Since the failed coup against the Erdogan administration in July 2016, President Erdogan has abolished many civil freedoms, such as freedom of press and freedom of speech.

According to Mark Lowen in his article “Is Turkey still a democracy?” (https://goo.gl/ymgoYg), around 170 media outlets have been shut since July, with President Erdogan falsely claiming that those media outlets aided terrorism and conspired against his administration, according to Alon BenMeir in his article “The Unraveling of Turkey’s Democracy” (https://goo.gl/q79Gd6). President Erdogan has allowed only one newspaper that is against his administration to operate, but almost half of its staff has been jailed, according to Alon Ben-Meir in his other article “Erdogan’s Lust for Power Is Destroying Turkey’s Democracy” (https:// goo.gl/bGxu8N). In addition, President Erdogan has tried to limit freedom of speech by having secret agents listen to phone calls (Ben-Meir, 2017). As a result, many citizens are afraid to talk on the phone about the government and to voice their true feelings about it in fear that they will be arrested. As another blow to democracy, President Erdogan has found a

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Isabel Lucas Class of 2021

Jemma Kushen Class of 2021

March 1, 2017

OB Sedransk

MULTI-SPORT PARTICIPATION Playing multiple sports may be more beneficial to your main sport than specializing in one sport

magine you are a senior in high school. You are the captain of the varsity lacrosse team, have been named an all-American, and just finalized your full ride scholarship with Maryland.

You have been working for this ever since you were in kindergarten, and you are about to have it after this final game. You are having an amazing game; 2 goals and 3 assists in the first quarter. The second quarter just started and you are running down the field. Your teammate gives you the ball and, out of nowhere, the biggest defenseman checks you and down you go. You tear your hip flexor completely, and your career is over. The scholarship is gone. However, this might not have happened if you played multiple sports as a kid.

For years, athletes have been forced and pushed by parents and coaches into playing one sport from a young age to reach the highest level possible, but there are better ways to participate in youth sports. According to the article “The Importance of

https://goo.gl/6IdQqI

Multi-Sport Participation,” youth multi-sport participation has been highly encouraged by coaches and athletic administrators all across the country because it is actually more beneficial to one’s main sport than specializing in that one sport (https://goo.gl/v7V9jS).

For starters, it is a given that all parents want for their children is for

them to be the best that they can be at sports, academics, arts, and many other things.

This sometimes causes parents to put pressure on them to do well; especially in sports. This pressure will likely cause the child to become more stressed out, or they will get tired of the sport.

Once they get so tired of playing nothing but the one sport, they will likely stop playing. According to Mark

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March 1, 2017

https://goo.gl/

NFL Stats • 224 out of 256 picks in the NFL

draft played multiple sports in high school

• 63% of picks competed in track • 48% of picks played basketball • 10% of picks played baseball

“I played everything. I played lacrosse, baseball, hockey, soccer, track and field. I was a big believer that you played hockey in the winter and when the season was over you hung up your skates and you played something else.” - Wayne Gretzky https://goo.gl/pUwC88

Famous Multi-Sport Athletes: • Michael Jordan • Wayne Gretzky • Jim Thorpe • Bo Jackson • Jackie Robinson

OB Sedransk

Rerick from the National Federation of State High School Associations, “Kids who specialize face a greater risk of burnout” (https://goo.gl/v7V9jS).

Athletes who specialize in one sport from a young age have a much higher chance of burning out than those athletes who played multiple sports in their youth.

If parents have their children play more than one sport, they also become more appealing to college recruiters. College recruiters look for athletes that are: coachable, a good teammate, competitive, and most importantly, a good athlete. All four of these things can be strengthened by playing multiple sports.

According to Bob Cook, an author for youth sports, college coaches like athletes who play multiple sports in high school. This is because multiple sports can help to develop different skills (https://goo.gl/ KY15cs). Chris Harlan, the author of the article, “Multi-sport Athletes Draw Attention of College Recruiters,” talks specifically about a couple of athletes who express their feelings about the importance of playing multiple sports (https:// goo.gl/uX2QKi).

Henry, a defensive back, was on the track team

and was part of the 400-meter relay team. This team set a WPIAL (Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League) class AA championship record. Henry also finished fifth, the week later, in a 100-meter qualifier.

He finished just in front of his teammate, McKenzie (https:// goo.gl/uX2QKi).

McKenzie, a running back, joined the track team last year to participate in sprinting and throwing events. “I basically joined track so I can maintain my speed, get faster and maintain my weight,” McKenzie said, but he also enjoyed the camaraderie that led to Thursday's victory in the WPIAL Class AA team championship. He continues, “It was good to contribute” (https:// goo.gl/uX2QKi). Track, being a second sport for McKenzie, greatly helped with his speed and weight for football. He also did this while having a good time.

What more can one ask for?

In some cases, multisport athletes may even find out that they are better at a second sport or may like the second sport more. A very good example of this is Chris Hogan; a wide receiver on the New England Patriots, and my former lacrosse coach. Hogan grew up in Wyckoff, New Jersey, and played for a club lacrosse team called Tri-State. They are one of

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Regan Sandoval and Daryn Knee Class of 2021

Isa Lucas and Marlowe Knee Class of 2021

The Watsons Go to Birmingham Zachary Levine Class of 2023 The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 is written by Christopher Paul Curtis, who is a winner of the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award. The novel is set during the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama, and the main characters are the parents, Daniel and Wilona Watson, and the children, Byron, Kenny, and Joetta. The genre is historical fiction, since the book uses actual events in Birmingham, such as the bombing at the church, as part of the story. One of the themes of The Watsons go to Birmingham is to appreciate one’s family while they are living because eventually, everyone will perish one way or another.

The theme of human mortality is evident throughout the book. For example, the older brother Byron pulls his younger brother Kenny out of the “Wool Pooh’s grasp.” Kenny was in need of rescue because he was being pulled down into the water by a whirlpool. (Byron makes up the name “Wool Pooh” to refer to whirlpool.)

After he rescues his brother, Byron starts crying and hugging Kenny.

Clearly, the fear that Kenny might die causes Byron’s extreme emotions. It also shows that even though Byron is considered a juvenile delinquent by some people and is hesitant to show his true feelings, he still cares for Kenny and his family. The next example is when the bomb goes off at the church in Birmingham, and Kenny fears that Joetta is dead. After Kenny realizes that Joetta is not dead, he

pointedly tells her afterward: “I love you.”

Kenny’s fright in this moment pushes him to express his love for his sister. These parts of the book really represent human mortality and the love that the siblings have for each other.

This theme of The Watsons Go to Birmingham connects to my life. Two years ago, my Great Uncle Bruce died while I was at summer camp. When I came home and saw a photograph of him on the table, my siblings and I asked our parents what had happened, and they told us that he had died while we were away.

That was one of the saddest nights of my life. I always loved him, but ever since then I wished that I had spent more time with him. From that day forward, I have appreciated my family even more than before my Great Uncle died. My second experience is when my sister fainted at school and had to be rushed to the hospital. We didn’t know how it happened or what caused her to faint, and this episode scared me because I thought my sister wasn’t going to get better. Thankfully, she did. These experiences impacted my feelings about loving my family and appreciating the time that we have together.

The real world connects to The Watsons Go to Birmingham in many different ways. Even though this wasn’t in the book, the Children’s March took place in Birmingham, Alabama. At the Children’s March, thousands of children went to jail in protest during this part of the Civil Rights Movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now, in 2016, there has been another protest in Birmingham. This

time it was a Black Lives Matter Protest.

Several community leaders arranged this protest in response to the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. Sterling and Castile were two black males who were shot and killed by police officers in different cities in 2016. Before the protesters started to walk to the steps of the Birmingham Police Department on First Avenue North, politicians, community leaders, and residents spoke for two hours in front of a large crowd of people with signs that declared an end to all of the violence that had happened. Many people encouraged the younger generation to join the protest, just as they did during the Children’s March. Many people in the protest went to the streets and started to shout the famous chants that are commonly associated with Black Lives Matter groups: “Hands up. Don’t Shoot.” “Say their names.” “There is no justice, but we will seek peace.” Additionally, the people protesting today are still concerned about the rights of African Americans and the violence against them, just as they were in the 1960s. Sadly, bombings and terrorist attacks from people with different political views still go on today. These events connect to The Watsons Go to Birmingham because the book features a bombing that takes place in a church that kills four girls and injures several others, a tragedy that actually occurred on September 15, 1963.

How to Prevent Cyberbullying on Social Media

By Resham Datwani

On social media, girls can post pictures freely. That’s not the real story. Girls are known to be cyberbullied twice as much as boys. Out of all teenagers with social media, 25% of them have been cyberbullied ("11 Facts About Cyber Bullying."

DoSomething.org | Volunteer for Social Change. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2017.)

Consider the story of a 13-year-old girl, Megan Meier, who hanged herself after being bullied on MySpace. This was in 2006, and she became friends on MySpace with a 16-year-old boy named Josh. Tina, Megan’s mother, said that Megan always had a problem with her weight and selfesteem. At the time, Tina appreciated that a boy liked Megan for who she was. Five weeks later into the online relationship, Josh started saying really rude things to Megan.

On October 16, 2006, Josh told Megan that the world would be a better place without her. Megan hanged herself in her closet twenty minutes later ("The Top Six Unforgettable CyberBullying Cases Ever | NoBullying - Bullying & CyberBullying Resources." NoBullying Bullying CyberBullying Resources. N.p., 19 Oct. 2016. Web. 21 Feb. 2017).

Currently, the majority of girls’ most popular social media accounts are Instagram and Snapchat. At Montclair Kimberley Academy, a Pre-K to 12 independent school in New Jersey, 27% of eighth grade girls who were survey were mocked about their facial features through various social media such as Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and Facebook.

Survey that was sent out to the eighth grade girls at Montclair Kimberley Academy

As of March 2015, 56% of teenage girls between the ages of 13 and 14 have Instagram ("U.S. teen Instagram users gender and age 2015 | Statistic." Statista.

N.p., 2015. Web. 21 Feb. 2017). In the eighth grade at MKA, 90% of the girls have Instagram. Teenage girls usually target their victims by making mean comments on posts ("Cyberbullying on Instagram."

Cyberbullying Research Center. N.p., 06 Sept. 2016. Web. 21 Feb. 2017). Instagram is at the top of social media for young teenage girls. In December 2016, Instagram came out with new features to fight cyberbullying. One can now disable comments and remove followers from private accounts (Wiggers, Kyle. "Instagram rolls out new features in an effort to combat cyberbullying." Digital Trends. N.p., 06 Dec. 2016. Web. 21 Feb. 2017). Now all people can do is wait and see if the number of victims go down.

Instagram’s current logo https://tinyurl.com/hnsmxtx

In March 2015, it was recorded that 43% of girls ages 13 and 14 have Snapchat ("U.S. teen Snapchat users gender and age 2015 | Statistic." Statista. N.p., 2015. Web. 21 Feb. 2017). At MKA, 81% of eighth grade girls have Snapchat. Since Snapchat’s messaging system only lasts for a maximum of 10 seconds there is never any evidence of cyberbullying. It has been noted that upon receiving a message the victim does not think fast enough to screenshot the evidence.

On the other hand, when a cyberbully comes across an embarrassing picture, he or she is quick to capture the image. After taking a screenshot of the picture, the bully can use Snapchat to send this picture to anyone person he or she wants within seconds ("Was your visit to NoBullying.com helpful?" NoBullying Bullying CyberBullying Resources. N.p., 25 Sept.

2014. Web. 21 Feb. 2017). In September 2015, Snapchat released a feature that would let one replay a snapchat a second time for the same length as the first time. Every day, each person has a set amount of replays and if one reaches the limit it gives one the option to buy more replays starting at $0.99 (Bilal, Ahmed. "Snapchat Will Now Let You Replay Snaps For 0.99$." Wccftech.

N.p., 16 Sept. 2015. Web. 21 Feb. 2017).

The hope is that this new feature will be more helpful to fight off cyberbullies.

Snapchat’s current logo https://tinyurl.com/j6w5alq

In March 2015, 19% of 13- to 14-year-old teenage girls have Twitter ("U.S. teen Twitter users gender and age 2015 | Statistic." Statista. N.p., 2015. Web. 22 Feb. 2017). Out of the eighth grade girls at MKA, 38% of them have Twitter. Cyberbullies on Twitter are known as “trolls.” Trolls create fake accounts and bully innocent people over the social media. The big problem with these cyberbullies is that even if one’s account is deleted, they will just make another fake account ("Was your visit to NoBullying.com helpful?" NoBullying Bullying CyberBullying Resources. N.p., 15 May 2014. Web. 22 Feb. 2017). Just recently, Twitter unveiled three new features to block off the trolls. The first one is suspending the account owner, sometimes indefinitely. When one is suspended one can’t go on Twitter. The second feature is called “Safe Search.” Safe Search is a feature that restrains certain users from seeing tweets. The third feature is about trying to prevent “potentially abusive and low-quality replies.” Twitter does not have a definite solution for such a widespread problem. The company promises to create more features, big and small, to keep everyone safe online (Vanian, Jonathan.

"Here’s How Twitter Is Trying to Stop Bullying and Abuse on Its Service."

Fortune. N.p., 7 Feb. 2017. Web. 22 Feb. Click here for full article 2017).

Matteo McClendon Class of 2022

I hear the trees rustle as a pleasant breeze swoops by. The fresh sea air smells salty and I can hear the waves hitting the rocks.

Perched farther back on top of the rocks are multiple majestic mansions; pink, red, and yellow flowers stand out from the plain white walls. The navy blue roofs seem symmetrical, as if they were mirrors of each other. The gardens include the biggest collection of plants I’ve ever seen. Some are common, like palm trees and roses. Others, though, are exotic, like curly fire flushes and macadamia trees. The lawns are lush and green, each with a little garden hut, which looks like a small version of the houses: white with a navy blue roof. In each garden, a gardener is working; some are mowing the lawn, while others trim the bushes. Some are chasing away birds that eat the seeds, and others are chasing away the wild dogs that climb through the black fence around the house.

Servants are serving people who are lying on lounges around a pool. They are well groomed and well dressed; appropriate for a fancy event, even though they are at leisure. The pools seemed almost as big as the houses, the light blue water shining brightly in the moonlight. My little house doesn’t fit in this noble neighborhood very well. It is run down, and I live alone. My house is like the mouse in a group of elephants.

Clara Turck Class of 2022

GLOBAL WARMING

By Charlie Macdonnell

“Snowing in Texas and Louisiana,

record setting freezing temperatures throughout the country and beyond.

Global Warming is an expensive hoax!”

These are the exact words of our 45th President of the United States.

Our current president has made his opinions on global warming pretty clear.

He is firm in his belief that global warming is not real, and he will not likely change his opinion. What does this mean? This means that now we must look at the future world leaders: kids. There is no point in trying to convince the current generation of world leaders that global warming is a real issue. This is because their opinions will not likely change in time for them to make a real difference .

Instead, we must educate kids because kids are the future presidents, prime ministers, kings, and queens who will have the opportunity to create policy to address and reverse the effects of global warming.

Global warming describes the average global surface temperature increase from human emissions of greenhouse gasses (Conway "What's in a Name? Global Warming vs. Climate Change" 2008). During the day, the sun warms the Earth's surface. At night, the Earth's surface should cool by releasing

heat back in the air. Greenhouse gasses are gasses that trap heat in the earth’s a t m o s p h e r e . T h e m o s t c o m m o n greenhouses gasses are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, and chlorofluorocarbons. CO2 or carbon dioxide is the most impactful of the greenhouse gasses to global warming.

CO2 is produced naturally, but also through human activity such as the burning of coal, oil, and gas ("What is the Greenhouse Effect?" 2017).

You may be releasing greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere and not even know. Every time you drive, turn on a light switch, fly to a travel destination, or use the bathroom you are emitting greenhouse gases into the air. When you get electricity from power sources that burn fossil fuels you are contributing to carbon dioxide emissions. Additionally, it takes a lot of energy to heat your water, make it safe to drink, and get it to your house. The energy it takes to get your water releases carbon dioxide into the air in an unnatural way. This exacerbates global warming. As a global citizens and future leaders, we should try to cut down on carbon dioxide emissions and shrink our carbon footprint (EPA "Watch Your W a t e r U s e " 2 0 1 6 ) a n d ( T h e Environmental Defense Fund "What sparked global warming? People did" 2017).

Just How Bad Is It? http://www.iop.org/news/13/jul/img_full_60515.jpg

Since the Industrial Revolution, the amount of greenhouse gasses we have put in our air has slowly risen to an amount that will permanently modify human history unless we do something about it.

Since 1895, in the northeast alone, the average temperature has risen two degrees Fahrenheit. If that was not bad enough, experts predict that by the 2080s the temperature will rise anywhere from 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Along with the increase in temperature, the length and severity of heat waves and rainstorms are also

predicted to increase drastically. In fact, since 1958, rainfall totals in large storms have gone up more the 70%. Sea level rise, heavy precipitation, and storm surges are expected to increase coastal flooding and erosion. As for rising sea levels, since 1900 the sea level in the northeastern United States has gone up by one foot and is supposed to go up more than four by the end of the century. This could cost cities like Boston, Massachusetts more than 94 billion dollars (EPA “Climate Impact In The Northeast” 2016). This debt will be left to our generation to pay off.

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“Untitled” Lindsay Driever class of 2023 Young, having no fears Then I turned six And here come the tears Goodbye my innocent years Mom has cancer, not a quick fix.

Two different paths to take Focus on myself or work together Choices to make As my heart aches Family forever No more attention Daddy’s helper pal Cook, clean, conflict prevention A whole new dimension Anything needed to raise morale Now all is well I made the right choice Once not close, you could tell, Now Dad and I are BFFs, we don’t dwell Rejoice!

Siena Davis Class of 2023

Katherine Lynch Class of 2023

Mona Marshall Class of 2023

February 26, 2017

TRADE DOWN By: Darren Zou

http://www.financiarul.com/as-america-saves-week-kicks-off-experts-remind-consumers-that-every-little-bit-counts/

You sit down on the couch in front of the TV, surfing the channels in hopes of finding something to watch. You watch as President Trump is inaugurated, wondering how the newly elected will affect the United States. Due to his background in business, it is expected that he will institute impactful, perhaps even unprecedented, policies that will no doubt affect national and global communities. The significance of these policies on our economy, however, is still unclear. Many economists are worried about the potential consequences that some of these proposals may have on America’s finances. Only recently have economists begun to conjecture the possible ramifications on our global economy.

According to a recent article in The Economist, “The collapse of TPP: Trading Down,” the TransPacific Partnership, a critical economic deal involving several Pacific countries including 1

February 26, 2017

America, Japan, and Canada, has been abandoned by President Trump. The TPP took President Obama decades of work to establish. Its aim was to foster trade amongst leading global powers.

What initially surprised economists, however, was that China had been excluded from the TPP. Exporting approximately $2.37 trillion in 2014, China would have been a major contributor.

Obama’s intentions were to exclude China from early negotiations as a means to assure U.S. sovereignty over the TPP alliance. As a global economic superpower, China may have made demands that could interrupt U.S. interests.

http://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/talking-trans-pacific-partnership-with-election-candidates/

Despite Obama’s efforts, Trump has decided to pull out of the TPP, a move that has many economists worried about our future. The abandonment of this trade deal may pose a devastating blow to U.S. involvement in the global economy. As the only United States led trade agreement, the TPP represented a golden opportunity to involve the U.S. in global markets. Trump is also threatening to add a tariff to Chinese imports, which may further cause the global economy to move even slower. By imposing tariffs on Chinese imports, Trump may very well be discouraging future trade with the world’s leading exporter. While it is still uncertain what will result of Trump’s disassembling of the TPP, economists are anticipating global economic consequences.

The Countries involved in the TPP.

“So far, empirical evidence suggests that countries with a larger variety of immigrants are richer, more productive and more innovative.”

Moreover, Trump’s new immigration policies may hurt the U.S. economy more than they help. Many business analysts speculate that denying immigrants

-EDUARDO PORTER

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2

Gabriel Stocus

Coral Reef Bleaching

https://goo.gl/ATs3ov (St.

John, USVI)

Have you ever visited a beautiful place while on vacation with white sand beaches, crystal clear turquoise waters, and exquisite wildlife? Well, the next time you walk down one of those gorgeous beaches with the sun shining on your back, consider putting on a mask and snorkel, and checking out the beautiful world that lies just beneath the surface of that turquoise water. The kingdoms of stag, fan and maze coral are a sight to see, but you better take this opportunity soon because coral reefs around the world are vanishing.

Kelly Ryan, a concerned citizen who has witnessed the effects of coral reef bleaching, had this to say: “Many times over the course of my life I have had the privilege and honor to explore the coastline around the island of St. John in the United States, Virgin Islands. In my explorations, I have seen the exquisite beauty of healthy reefs and the devastation from coral bleaching to some of these same reefs. My initial

snorkeling adventures in Maho Bay were trips into a magical undersea garden teeming with mystical sea life.

The vibrantly colored blue bell tunicate, clusters of white scroll alga, towers of elkhorn coral, swaying forests of purple common sea fans, and mounds of maze and elliptical star coral were home to schools of magnificent tropical fish, sea turtles, and rays. Each year I would leave those waters enriched by their shocking beauty and pine for a chance to return. In 2013, I returned to Maho Bay after a three year absence in search of a restoration of my dream-like memories. To my utter, heartbreaking, dismay this glorious reef, home to fantastic sea life, was in a state of blight and devastation. The coral was stark white, resembling a graveyard of broken skeletons and crumbling Roman ruins, the schools of tropical fish had vanished.”

https://goo.gl/zZWFct (Airport

Reef, Tutuila)

The sad truth of the matter is that Maho Bay, the once majestic wonderland of coral, is just one of the many reefs that have disappeared due to the adverse effects of global warming.

Ms. Zimmerman, science teacher at Montclair Kimberley Academy, a Pre-K to 12 independent school in New Jersey, said: “Coral bleaching is happening more rapidly now, and it has to do with rising acidity in the ocean.

The Co2 levels are changing, which is causing the earth’s temperature to rise.

Coral reef bleaching is mostly happening in the Great Barrier Reef.

Coral reef bleaching can happen anywhere where there are vast amounts of coral. It damages the ecosystem significantly.” The average temperature of the earth’s land masses and seas have increased 1.53 degrees Fahrenheit over the last 100 years. According to “Points of View” (Global Warming: An Overview, September 30, 2016), global warming happens when gases like carbon dioxide and methane are released into the atmosphere. This release causes the earth’s temperature and the temperature of the sea to rise and sometimes unusual or harmful weather patterns to occur. The rising water temperatures increase the acidity in the ocean which bleaches the reefs.

Bleaching happens when the algae that live in the tissue of the coral leave because they have become stressed.

Along with rising water temperatures, water pollution caused by humans is another major source of coral reef bleaching. The effects of bleaching are tearing through vast areas of these fragile habitats.

https://goo.gl/qukxNk (Vox, Global Warming

Explained)

Coral reefs are vital environments for the health of the undersea world.

Coral grows when a coral egg hatches and its larvae drifts onto a rock or possibly a shipwreck. It then takes around three weeks for the larvae to become a polyp. When the larvae becomes a polyp, it creates a limestone skeleton. As the polyp gets bigger, it divides into more polyps, which creates a colony that eventually becomes a reef.

According to National Geographic “(Corals are Dying on The Great Barrier Reef” by Brian Clark Howard, March 21, 2016), coral has a dependent relationship with a type of algae called zooxanthellae. This algae lives in the tissue of the coral, provides it with a vital source of nutrients, and gives the coral its color. Coral reef growth is slow, .3 to 2 centimeters a year, and it can take thousands of years for a reef to form.

Coral reefs are ancient elements in the undersea world and are vital to the health of the planet.

According to “Points of View” (IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON CORAL REEFS AND THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT, March 2016), hundreds of different species of fish depend on the coral as a source of nutrients and habitat. Up to 25% of all sea life rely on the coral reefs to survive.

The reefs not only provide homes for many sea creatures, but they also provide safe places for fish to lay their eggs. The coral reef is necessary for the survival of sea life, and it is also important for people. Coral reefs are critical in protecting shorelines from big waves, and storms. Coral is also a source of ingredients for many medicines, including painkillers and anticancer drugs. Coral reefs are an essential element in the health of the undersea environment, their aesthetic quality cannot be ignored, and their preservation is imperative.

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Cinderella Hu Class of 2022

Katherine Hulse Class of 2022

Otto Spehar Class of 2024

Imanuel Udofia Class of 2024

Isa Lucas and Luke Gardiner Class of 2021

Gabe Stocus and Regan Sandoval Class of 2021

Jasmine Shah Class of 2025

Ethan Williams, Class of 2021

Clara Turck Class of 2022

Jemma Kushen Class of 2021

Sanaa Williams Class of 2021

Ian O’Dell Class of 2023

Kiara Sood Bhatia & Sanaa Williams Class of 2021