The Oakrunner by towens72

THE OAKRUNNER 2021-2022

Table of Contents 1.Bathroom Messes by Chloe Abbott

2. Hated Hoodies by Emily Martinez

3.Oak Run Pep Rally Dance by Zoey Hamilton

4. Thanksgiving Traditions by Naomi Briley

5.Texas Gun Laws by Arden Soell

6. Global Warming by Blackstone Loring

7.We Must Change by Pruitt Hill

8. Homelessness by Taylor

9.Poetry - Fake by Chloe Abbott

10. Poetry - Try Outs by Zoey Hamilton

11.Poetry - Ghost by Zoey Hamilton

12. Twenty-Two Dollars by Cassidy Shrey

Document Title

Bathrooms of OakRun Become Messes November 15, 2021 By Chloe Abbott This semester at OakRun Middle School, a new rule has been implemented that the boys have to ask a teacher for toilet paper to get any when going to the bathroom. This rule is in place as a result of students in the bathrooms around school horseplaying, vandalizing using inappropriate messages and destroying school property and sanitary products. Students have been doing this by “TP-ing,” or throwing toilet paper around the bathroom, flushing sanitary products down the toilets, destroying toilet paper dispensers and writing on the walls. Unfortunately, the bathrooms at OakRun being vandalized and school property being stolen isn't new. Last school year, all of the bathrooms were vandalized with writing, and many things were stolen such as the mirrors and the soap dispensers. Due to bathroom vandalism and destruction of school property being a recurrence, teachers having to hold toilet paper rolls in their classrooms for the students is an appropriate resolution. Teachers keeping the toilet paper will prevent messes from happening, which our understaffed school janitors would have to clean up. Many students at OakRun have strong feelings about what's happening in the bathrooms and think that whoever is doing this isn't funny for making a mess of our school. “It's insane that it has come to the point that boys have to ask for toilet paper and that they can't seem to stop being so childish with the things that other people need.” Jocelyn Aguilar said. Aubrey Pratt said, “It's reasonable for the boys to have to ask for toilet paper because they did what they did and your actions have consequences.”

Students also believe that the punishment for vandalism and messing around in the bathrooms needs to be taken more seriously. Aguilar said, “I think the school should have a serious talk with the boys and give them stricter rules, such as if you get caught vandalizing you will have to do a red card.” It has also come to the school’s attention that students have been urinating outside of the toilets on cheese slices, in the soap dispensers, other student's shoes, the sink, drain and more places where it shouldn't be. It has come to the point where signs were hung up around the school outside the bathrooms telling students where not to urinate. In the past, it has been announced on the morning announcements to behave when in the bathrooms and to not vandalize. But these messes made of our school bathrooms aren't just the boys. In the girls’ bathrooms, the stalls have been vandalized, water spilled all over the floors and marks permanently etched into the walls of the stalls. Clearly, messes in the bathrooms are major problems at school for all students. If you see something happening or a mess that needs to be cleaned up, please tell a teacher immediately. Remember to be hygienic, stay clean and wash your hands. By not washing your hands, you can expose yourself to bacteria from COVID-19, E.coli, Salmonella, Shigella and other diseases and viruses.

Hated Hoodies

11/16/2021 By Emily Martinez

As you may have heard, since Monday, November 8th 2021 at Oak Run Middle School, the hoodie rule was set in action. You may be wondering what is the hoodie rule? The hoodie rule states that if you can’t keep the hood off of your head, your hoodie gets confiscated. The reason teachers take this rule very seriously is because it's a safety policy, they don't know who or what could be hiding behind the hood of your jacket. I asked Evelyn Hunt how she felt about this new rule and she said “I don’t like the rule, most students wear hoodies daily.” In addition I asked Claire Cochran how she felt about the new rule and she said “I feel like we should be allowed to wear hoodies, but if a teacher asks, we should take them off but I don't think it should be a big deal because it’s just a piece of clothing.” As you can see, students of Oak Run don't agree with the teachers and this new rule. To sum up everything that has been stated so far, at this point in time, the hoodie rule will continue to be in effect as far as we know.

Oakrun Pep Rally Dances Monday,November 5th By Zoey Hamilton

Two weeks ago there was a pep rally in the Oak run gym where all of the Oakrun dancers performed to Michael Jackson's Thriller. They did a terrifying job that left a shiver down the audiences back. The dancers have been working on this for over three months , and this year it included the blue squad dancers. I interviewed Raegan Ranft , who was it the front during the performance. She said “ I would like to thank my whole team, even if we missed a few counts there is nothing else I would have changed. They are so amazing!” She also said “ I will always remember my Coach Duffy forever, she is amazing “The blaze did their own separate dance that was about dolls that was really good.It was very detailed and scary. They had an amazing makeup job ,all the dancers did equally as good as one another and this was a performance. We hope this tradition continues throughout the Oakrun years, and hope that these dancers do more performances in the future,because they are awesome dancers. Their performance shook the crowd dead, and buried them alive.

November 16 2021

Thanksgiving Traditions

by Naomi Briley

Thanksgiving traditions This thanksgiving is so important to so many people. It includes there fun and creative ideas to creating unique joys of giving. I wanted to see different peoples points of views. I interviewed Ragen Ranft to see her creative thanksgiving tradition. She said “well my family is kind of obsessed with Christmas so like it's kind of unbearable sometimes and for thanksgiving we do traditions you would do on Christmas instead of turkey we do a chicken dinner. And we all get one present, and it’s kind of like a secret santa, but we call it secret turkey”“ my favorite present was this one set of markers that I really like, that was the time i was obsessed with drawing, and I still am, but they all got broken because my brother broke them all”. Her favorite thanksgiving food is. “ that’s kind of hard well we have hush puppies, for thanksgiving, and I love hush puppies, or corn nuggets, corn nuggets are my favorite”. Next I interviewed Jordan Biesboer about her creative thanksgiving plans for this year. Some of her traditions are. “We ether do ham or turkey we have a big meal and the family that can come over do come as do the elfs.” The food they eat is “ we usually eat salads and my grandma has a special recipe were she always make like a corn casserole, and some meats like ham turkey stake and a desert”. The family that normally come over are. “Usually my grandparents that live here, and sometime my grandparents that live in Fort Worth”. Looks like Ragen and Jordan are going to have a turkey lot of Christmas in there thanksgiving this year. I hope that everyone has a good thanksgiving and lots of Christmas, or turkey?

Texas Gun Laws February 2022 Arden Soell

Every day teachers, my classmates, and I go to school with a fear that no generation has had before, a fear that we or one of our teachers might die from a bullet from the end of a gun. We have this fear because our state government won’t change our gun laws and instead leaves open the possibility that future lawmakers and U.S citizens may die from their own carelessness. How would they feel if they were the parents, teacher, friends and colleagues of the eight students and two teachers that died at Santa Fe High School? Would they then say that Texas needed stricter gun laws?

Texas gun laws have always favored gun owners, because they've always been an example of our freedom and our way of life - from winning our right to be an independent state from Mexico to cowboys roaming the plains. We’ve been told to believe that you should just be able to trust the owner of the gun, and that they will do what is right. But how are you to know if the owner will do the right thing if there is no waiting period or mental health check when buying a gun? And how are we to make sure that those guns don’t end up in the hands of a student. Therefore we need stricter gun laws to always keep Texas students and I safe at school.

One of the flaws of Texas gun laws is, that they do not require a waiting period while getting a gun stated from the texas gun law handbook. If we were to change that and make the law stricter by requiring a waiting period instead of just handing the person a gun, allowing them to run a more extensive background check that might including previous mental health issues that might not show up on a routine background check.While longer waiting periods might prevent people with mental health issues getting a gun, the waiting period might also keep people who need a gun for protective purposes from getting one quickly. But we would have more of a control of who were handing it to or whose hands might end up in. This would lessen the chances of people with mental health issues getting access to guns and harming our schools.

Texas Gun Laws Why we need stricter gun laws is because of peoples recklessness and of peoples distrust in guns. Making a longer waiting period to get a gun would allow people to see that guns aren't supposed to be used against innocent people, but instead are supposed to be used for protecting us and used for safe hunting. But no matter what laws we make and how we present them there will always be people who will break them. They will still find a way to access a gun by borrowing, stealing, or buying it off of someone. Allowing for kids to still threaten schools and cause harm, and if they did their parents should also be held accountable due to not trying to help and of allowing their kid to have a way to access a gun. Although there is already a law punishable by jail and a fine about minors having access to guns, we should have harsher punishments and enforce it more heavily. Like people's magazine states in the Santa Fe High School shooting the shooter's father was held accountable due to not safely locking his gun and neglected to teach his son about the dangers and the responsibilities of owning a gun. Stated by the Texas Tribune many Texans point the blame to mental health issues, but if we had stricter gun laws it would make Texas schools a safer environment and would allow kids to be able to feel comfortable at school and think of it as a place where there are people they could trust that they could probably go to if they were having intrusive thoughts.

Then the media wouldn’t cover loads of stories of gun violence due to safer schools allowing for less people to see about shootings, and copycat crimes would not be threatened. Allowing a huge drop in school shootings overall because copycat shootings are some of the main producers of harm and media coverages. So how do we show people that were not taking away their rights? Even though Texas schools would be safer and a drop in copycat crimes there will be people who think that stricter gun laws means taking away their 2nd amendment right. The constitution states that everyone has the right to bear arms. Which would make people very mad and would make the political environment about guns rise and become tense, but many of those people might say hey they're not saying anything bad about guns they’re saying that who we allow to have guns is the problem and that they shouldn’t worry about there gun being taken away if they are respecting and following the rules. No matter how Governors stand on the issue of stricter gun laws, there will always be a need for them because guns will always be a big part of our states past and future.Which means that we have to stop thinking about how it might hurt us and instead think about the hurt it has already caused 100s of students and family members. If we don’t face the problem soon schools will go from scared hallways of panic over a threat to crickets in the hallways from the lack of students scared for their lives or others at school.

Global Warming February 2022 Blackstone Loring

I have a lot of strong opinions... probably too many, to be fair. But the ones that I talk the most about are generally the ones I'm most confident in. For example, climate change (or global warming, if you prefer that term.) To clear up the premise—I really don't want to spread misinformation—climate change is real, harmful, and caused (and needs to be stopped by) humans. Carrying on, how can we stop it and are we doing enough? How can we stop or even reverse global warming? It's a very big issue so it pretty much needs to be broken down. Reversion is... gonna be tough, and it shouldn't really be our focus right now. In terms of stopping warming, we have a few options, which boil down to either getting new tech or getting rid of the old stuff that's caused all this mess in the first place. The first camp involves stuff like nuclear power and carbon capture, but unfortunately this technology is either too new to even be proven workable yet, or too complex and expensive to build the infrastructure we need for a global warming slowdown. Other renewables like solar and wind are nice as well, but really not stable enough to be a complete global solution. So that leaves us with the second camp - get rid of the old stuff. In fact, this is what the IPCC recommends cut greenhouse gas emissions (a big cause of warming) in half by 2030. A scary amount of stuff we do emits greenhouse gases. Anything plastic? Literally made of and made with petroleum. Cars, or really anything that runs on internal combustion engines? Basically greenhouse gas factories. Cows? Lotta methane. Man, we are really not doing the Earth any favors.

So where are we now? Well, it's 2022, and... we're nowhere near the 50% slashed emissions goal especially in countries like the US and China, which are at billions of metric tons and climbing. Although, some countries are doing well, and we can definitely learn some things from their approaches. For example, basically all of the Nordic countries, but especially Denmark: they plan to reduce emissions by 70 percent by 2030, and wipe off that last 30% by 2050. Of course, keep in mind that Denmark is something like 60x smaller than the US, but their goals are definitely something to look into: building specific centers for wind power, retraining workers for renewables, and reducing car usage. Overall, we really need to commit to decisive action on a systemic level to fight the climate emergency; and sadly, we aren't on track to do that just yet. I'm holding out hope, but we need a plan quickly and we need to start as fast as we can. We only have 8 years now to meet the 50% deadline, after all, so we've wasted enough time already. Otherwise... well, it'd be a really bad time to be an inhabitant of the Earth.

We Must Change Tick. Tick. Tick. What if I told you that we have been running out of time for years. In New York a clock has been rewired to instead of counting the opportunities that more time brings for humans, it has been told to count what we have left. The sunsets left, the weddings, the picnics at parks everything has been reduced to the lasts. We have seven years until the damage of society will irreversibly crumble earth. Seven years until we have done too much to fix. In our world citizens put the responsibilities of whether or not we experience those lasts into our nation's hands. So in a world that has an impending expiration date, are nations doing enough to curb the threat of climate change. Did you think that last summer was blazing hot? According to the records of US temperatures, it was. That past summer was 2.6 degrees above average across America. If this rate continues then that blazing hot summer will be the coldest one going forward. Climate change has a larger impact then it may seem, in 2021 Texas had a snow storm which for many cut off their power and water for at least a week. Texas wasn’t prepared for this bizarre event, but looking to the future it wont be nearly as uncommon. Climate change has not only increased global temperatures but it has also cause massive natural disasters causing ecosystems to collapse, once lush environments have become wastelands, and its caused many to die from being unprepared. /this snowstorm is one example of long lasting effects from natural disasters cause by climate change. The wind turbines froze over and weren't able to generate enough power, and Texas almost lost power for the entire state. Climate change has already directly affected our new generation. Recent studies from lung.org show that air pollution affects babies in the womb by raising the chances of preterm birth, which can cause death or long-lasting health effects.

February 2022 Pruitt Hill

The ozone layer has been immensely affected by an unexpected climate destroyer, mass cow farming. Cows are responsible for producing about 40% of global methane gas. If the ozone layer is weakened those seven years that we have left to fix damage to the earth will decline rapidly. This mass farming has contributed to another issue deforestation of once healthy areas. Cows each need 1.8 acres of land to feed from for just one year, with mass farming there could be at least 10 cows in that 1.8 acre. This issue has been pushed aside for years but the effects have caused so much damage that it has completely destroyed ecosystems leaving sadly many animals and people without the resources to survive. Nations could act on preventing this mass environmental destructions by limiting the cow to acre ratio and incentivizing farmers to plant new growth in areas that have been overgrazed by cattle. Not all hope is lost as global awareness of this deathly threat has become apparent in recent years. An international treaty called the Paris Agreement was enacted on November 4, 2016; it was signed by 196 parties. The goal is to lower global warming to 2 preferably 1.5 degrees celsius compared to pre-industrial levels. This is a revolutionary attempt at slowing climate change since for the first time ever multiple nations are contractually binded to take efforts against climate change. Starting 2024 transparent reports on the nations improvement and actions will be taken. So far the paris agreement has inspired many to take force and start carbon-neutrality targets. America has been reintroduced to this treaty, the goal is to reach net zero emissions by no later than 2050. We can not fight halfway in the war against climate change and be ignorant enough to believe that, this will be enough to guarantee our futures. The entire world has to come together to protect those lasts. We have to rewire humanity to put this first, before our clock’s ticks fade and all that is left is silence. We. Must. Change.

Homelessness…Who Should Help February 2022 Taylor

Did you know that last year there was approximately 552,830 people living on the street in America alone. If I were to include the rest of the world it would be around 150 MILLION. Thats what im here to talk about today. The government is not doing enough to help them out. Yes, I know that a large fraction of those people are addicts, specifically 38% but that doesn't necessarily mean that they don't deserve to be helped as well. Another thing is that 23% of the homeless population are veterans. So if we take 23% out of that total amount of the population, it would indicate that there are between 529,000-840,000 people who who fought for us, for the sustainability of the Government, for the livelihood of the citizens. For example, what is happening in Ukraine. The U.S. soldiers are in Europe, over 90,000 troops. They may not be fighting in the war, but they are still risking their lives by just being in that central area. They don’t have their families there to comfort them. All they have is there fellow soldiers. They don’t get enough credit for everything that they've done for us. Does that mean that the people who weren't in the military don't matter? Of course not! All humans have values, so if all humans have value, doesn't that mean that they all matter? That they should be able to live a goo life, not one living on the street, without a home. According to world population review, The top 5 states with the highest homeless population. 5.) Washington, with 21,577. 4.) Texas, we have 25,848. 3.) Florida, with 28,328. 2.) New York, 92,091, now for the state with the highest population of unsheltered people is California with 151,278. The causes of homelessness are- 1.) affordable housing, it's hard to find a nice apartment that isn't crazy expensive, but also not a sewer where the only inmates there are literally rats. A one room apartment here in Texas will cost you around $1,272, utilities included. 2.) unemployment, if I were to walk over to Mcdonalds right now i could get a job working as a cashier and get paid 11 dollars an hour for starter pay. Lets say i worked there 6 days a week, 9-5, making $11 a week, i would make around $2,669 each month, so if we subtract 1272 grom 2669, it would be 1,397, thats not nearly enough to get you through the month. You still need to pay for car insurance, life insurance, groceries, taxes, the list goes on and on. You need a stable job. 3.) poverty (the state of being extremely poor) We all know about the pandemic that has taken over our world… Covid… studies have shown that covid-19 has raised the homeless population by 15%. Each of these examples show the imbalance of the cost of living. Who regulates this? The government. One could argue that they create the problem and then do not fix it. Some examples of how the government is already helping the homeless is by handing out EBT cards, and food stamps to help the people who are financially troubled. The government had made it so even the homeless can apply for an EBT card even if they are without a home. All they need is a family member, or a friend with an address for them to use. Some of the following are benefits for EBT cards. You can buy things such as breads and cereals, fruits and veggies, meats, dairy products and non-alcoholic beverages. Also there are Soup kitchens that their purpose is to serve food to the homeless for free, they also sometimes oer free housing for a night or two. Think back to when you were in your car on the way to the store, the park, your job, wherever you want. Now think about how many times you were in that exact car, going to the exact place, and how many people did you pass that you could've helped? Maybe you were just “too busy” to help? I know that I've had plenty of opportunities to look at my mom and say “hey, we should take a minute and help them out” but I didn't. I regret those moments when I decided to be a jerk to them. So maybe it's not only about the government being responsible for them, maybe it's also about us a people being kind and lending a helping hand out to our fellow humans, to our friends. So when asked, Should the government be responsible for the homeless? Well let me ask you one in return, “What if that was you out there, begging for food, scavenging for money, barely getting by, would you want to be helped out? Would you want to get back on your feet? The government officials are our leaders, so they need to do the right thing, not the easy thing.

Fake by Claire Cochrane

I put a smile on my face But deep down inside I’m just fake Like a perfect plastic barbie doll I sit back and pretend it all Imagine lying to everyone you meet About who you are and who you want to be Your life is artificial, but you don’t care Because you’ve learned real-life is nothing you can bear You act nice and social, but deep down inside The words you say are nothing but lies Nothing is wrong, that’s what you say But you know that everything is not ok The world is jealous, bitter, and cruel But you know there is nothing you can do So instead of being something real You are something you are not to protect how you really feel

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Document Title

Try Outs by Zoey Hamiton Her heart racing Her thoughts swirling Her legs trembling She walked on stage Towards Her destiny Into the light With a view of the Director In front of the curtains Despite her fear

Ghost by Zoey Hamilton As I roamed the halls in which is now my new home, I feel the cold October air grab my neck with chills. I hear gentle whispers in my ear telling me(to leave) I stop numb in shock and then I freeze as I gasp for air Suddenly I see a figure, Not a human or a living thing I don't think But not an object either. then I ask it “are you living?” Not expecting an answer Though I did An answer that will stay with me forever An answer that to this day brings chills down my spine “Who said I was living.” 1 4

Twenty-Two Dollars

by Cassidy Shrey

Twenty-two dollars. Thats what he had saved for months. That's what was left after budgeting and only two runs to GameStop. Alex couldn't bare to look again. Twenty-two dollars. And in 24 hours exactly it would be Christmas. Long ago the doors dark wood was carved to say Mr. Alexandro Jacob Black, however around twenty years ago a new word was added. A word so simple yet so different. This word being Junior, for the wood now read Mr. Alexandro Jacob Black Jr. But when the large door opened the carvings no longer mattered for the voice of the mans wife rang like the call of an angel throughout the house always saying the same sweet words "Good afternoon sweetheart, how was your day?" Her name will never change, Maria Black. Once he had fully realized his situation, Alex gathered up his twenty-two dollars and look out the window with many emotions running through his brain. Tomorrow would be the big day, or so he had hoped. With nothing to lose he set out with an idea. Alex rushed into the GameStop as a strong wind passed by, and with only one idea left he went up to the front desk and sold all his games along with his console. Immediately after, he left the store, money in hand as he set out to find the perfect gift. Then he found it, the perfect gift for Maria, a charm. A charm in the shape of a heart, and it was indeed very small but made out of pure gold. Alex finally reached home now fully comprehending what he did. As he walked inside his wife called out to him in her sweet voice "dinners nearly ready, you can go sit down it should only be another minute or so." Therefore the man listened and sat down at their dark wood table. Maria was right within around two minutes dinner was steaming hot right in front of them. However something wasn't right, Marias left wrist was empty and it had never been. "Maria what happened to your bracelet?" With that she broke down, for Maria had sold her charm bracelet in order to buy Alex the game he had been wanting since Halloween. "I sold it for you" she cried "I sold it so you could get your game." Then it hit him like a truck that he remembered he sold his games to buy her the charm. With too many emotions and thoughts running through his head he took his shaky hand and pulled out of his pocket the charm to he bought for Maria. 15

THE OAKRUNNER 2021-2022

Table of Contents 1. Mandallas 2. Zombies 3. Word Art 4. Animal Morphs 5. New Moons

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Digital Design Art Mrs. Patterson’s Class

Z O M B I E S

Around the World Word Art

Favorite Things Word Art

Animal Morphs

YOU MAY HAVE HEARD OF A WOLF MOON OR A HARVEST MOON. YOU MAY KNOW ABOUT THE QUARTER MOONS, HALF MOONS, FULL MOONS, AND NEW MOONS.

THESE MOONS, CREATED BY MRS. PATTERSON’S DIGITAL DESIGN CLASSES, ARE CERTAINLY SOME OF THE MOST UNIQUE MOONSCAPES YOU WILL EVER SEE.