december newspaper

Table of Contents:Page 2-50th Anniver-•

saryPage 3-50th Anniver-•

saryPage 4-Stop Bullying•

Page 5-Advice column•Page 7- Clubs•

Page 9- Behind the •Scenes; Outdoor Class-

room0- Principals •

CornerPage 11- History of •

Thanksgiving

St. Petersburg—you heard right. This year is Bay Point Middle’s 50th year anniversary. Can you believe that this school has been around for 50 years!? Mr. Dillard, the art teacher, says that since he has been here for 16 years he has seen lots of changes between the students, especially this year. “This year,” he says,” the students are calmer and this because of our new principal, Mr. Shedrick. The students are dressing appropriately and there are fewer fights than those other years. We are 8 points from an F school, and Mr. Shedrick has really turned it around.” Teacher Bios:Ms. Darity: Years teaching at BPMS: 3• Has the school changed since then? “Yes, there is more discipline this year.”• Has the school improved?“In the past year, no. At the beginning of this year, yes.”• Are you excited for the next years at BPMS?“Yes”Ms. Stewart:Years at BPMS: 16• Has the school changed since then?“Yes, new building, new kids.”• Has the school improved?“Yes and no”• Are you excited for the next years at BPMS?“Yes.”

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Bay Point Middle’s 50th Anniversary

Support your local FBLA chapter!

Hot dogs and slushies are all • $1.00!

We will be selling at all home bas-• ketball games!

We have a range of slushie flavors • for you to choose from!

In honor of the 50-year anniversary of Bay Point Middle School (BPMS), the FalconLedger is running an expose on Alan Mowry.

Mr. Mowry has been with Bay Point from what many would consider the beginning.Mr. Mowry has seen it all, from the paddling of students to the no jeans dress code. Mr. Mowry was a teacher, a student, and a coach.

As a teacher, Mr. Mowry has been teaching at Bay Point for 37 years.Mr. Mowry has even had the pleasure of teaching some of today’s parents. Mr. Mowry has since retired from the education system due to a “lack of creativity” and age. Mr. Mowry inevitably had to make the conscious decision to leave the occupation that he loved.

As a youngster, Mr. Mowry spent the weekends with friends and spent the week domi-nating the track. Mr. Mowry and friends would house jump on the weekends, have their “tough guy” fights after school off campus, and hit the books. Afterschool, Mowry spent the evenings as a track star. Mowry was one of the best Bay Point has ever seen. Out of all of his years at Bay PointJunior High (7th-9th grade) Mowry recalls one particular track meet. It was the first meet of the season and Mowry was in the lead. Mowry at first had left all the other runners in the dust.However, about halfway through the race, Mowry became exhausted because he was unaware of how to pace himself. Due to his lack of knowledge Mowry ended up in last place, learning a very humble lesson. Mowry was still proud of himself because in that short moment, he was on top of his own little world.

Mowry also spent 10 out of the 37 years of teaching, coaching both the Girls Volleyball and Track Team. As coach Mowry inspired the kids to be the best that they could be. Through his leadership the teams were unbeatable.

Article by: Ciana Rodgers and Zaid Kapadia

50th Anniversary continued...

Be the hero, not the bully!Bullying could mean anything such as teasing, social exclusion, threats, intimidation, stalking, physical violence, theft, sexual or racial harassment, public humiliation, or de-struction of property. Cyber bullying is also included as a type of bullying. If you think bullying people makes you cool, well you won’t be cool when you’re in the Juvenile Detention Center. If you’re bullying someone and they report you then they could press charges against you. It isn’t big to make others feel small. There are many cases where bullying caused victims to take their own lives. How would you feel if you were the rea-son that someone hurt themselves? Bullying is wrong. Nobody needs to be or deserves to be bullied. Nobody likes a bully. Don’t be a bystander. Be a hero. Even if you don’t know the victim, stick up for him or her. Stick up for them how you would want them to stick up for you. Nobody wants to be bullied. Nobody has the right to harm anyone like that. Everyone is equal. Stop bullying now. Sometimes people become bullies because they have no friends, are being abused, and even bullied themselves. It’s a vicious cycle, and we will stop it one way or another. Be proud of who you are don’t let anyone tell you that you are nothing because that’s not true, you are one of a kind you are you. -Josue Gonzales and Jacob Bemo

Stop Bullying!

6th Grade Survival GuideMrs. Bovis has been a counselor at Bay Point for several years. New sixth graders come in every year anxious but nervous. We interviewed her and kind of got in closer about the sixth graders and the problems. Mrs. Bovis stated “The sixth graders that enter Bay Point seem to have two main problems, conflict with other students and controlling their emo-tions.” Also Ms. Kittles was interviewed and said “That they seem to be more defiant.” We also ask how do they contribute or help them. Mrs. Bovis said that she does conflict mediation and individual confrontation. Ms. Kittles says that she tries to calm them down and get them the help they need. Finally they gave us some tips for you sixth graders out there. Here they are use your AJ, stop and think before you act, surround yourselves with positive people. Also try to be more respectful to the teachers and students, stay positive and get your work done.

Article by Cyrus Miguele and Logan Short

December 6th, 2012 Issue #1

Need Advice?Hello students. I’m Fix-It-All. I run the advice column for the Falcon Led-ger. If you have any problems or questions, you can ask me. I’ll give you advice. I can help you with your problems. Just email me at [email protected].

Dear Fix-It-All A lot of people think they know me, but they don’t. I’ve been dealing with something that’s really been bothering me lately. How should I ad-dress this situation? Should I ask for help from other people, or just keep it inside myself? It’s become really serious in a way, but ridiculous in an-other. What should I do? –Awesome 7891

Awesome 7891-One thing you don’t want to is keep it bottled up inside. That’s going to make it worse. You should tell Ms. McElveen, our bully prevention specialist. She can help you with your problems. Another thing you can do is confront the people who think they know you. Tell them that they don’t know you and to stop whatever it is they’re doing.

Fun Facts• If you were to put Saturn in water, it would float.• We are moving through space at the rate of 530km a second.• The moon is slowly drifting away from Earth.• Uranus was originally called George’s Star.• If two pieces of metal touch in space, they become permanently stuck together.


Clubs:

Clubs by: Mathew Bischoff and Brandon BarcoDa Vinci ClubAll students are eligible to join the Da Vinci club, with no exceptions. While in the Da Vinci club, you will be studying the different inventions that Da Vinci made. The very first meeting will in-clude a discussion by Mr. Dillard speaking about Da Vinci. Da Vinci club will be every Wednesday from 3:05 until 5:00 and ends on February 6th. Every day it will be held in the courtyard, unless there is bad weather, and then it will be in Mr. Walters’s room. If you hope to join the Da Vinci ask Mr. Walters in the 8th grade hallway about it, but don’t expect to get off easy, the club does a lot of work. Most of the work being done will be woodwork. So far, seven teachers are involved in the club, Mr. Walters, Ms. VonSternberg, Mr. Dillard, Mr. Papia, Mr. Stauffer, Mrs. Swango, and Mrs. Rice. “Students will re-create five of DaVinci’s basic machines; the Self-Supporting Arch Bridge, the Ball Bearing Machine, the Cam Hammer, the Perpetual Motion Machine, and DaVinci’s famous Aerial Screw. The camp will culminate with the students writing an essay on how one or more of the machines work and how DaVinci’s inventions lead to or are similar to machines we use today. Students will present these during a parent night celebration and will take their completed projects home.”

Ethan Daniel recreating one of Da Vinci’s inven-tions. Leonardo Da Vinci


SHOES FOR THE CURE!

“Curing the environment one pair at a time!”• What is Shoes for Cure?Shoes for cure is a program that helps cure the environment from shoe waste. The program also uses the discarded shoes to build basketball courts or to donate the shoes to people who don’t own shoes. • Why should you participate?1. To help cure the environment from shoe waste2. To help reduce the burden of used shoes in our local landfill3. To show your community that you care about the environment4. To be part of the solution. Go green.5. To help people in need of shoes6. To build new courts for people to enjoy

You can find the drop-off boxes at fitness centers, schools, places of wor-ship, retail and offices, and more!

*did you know that Americans generate more than 9 million tons of waste from shoes? Have a soul, give a sole, save a sole!*


TrendsBy: Zaid Kapadia and Ciana RodgersFrom Earth shoes to Chuck Taylors, poodle skirts and skinny jeans. Origi-nal Bay Point Middle students rocked it all. Up-do’s and afro’s in the 1970’s were iconic. Trends from back in the day showed power. Some out-fits showed tribute to some of the hottest stars such as Cindy Lauper, Mi-chael Jackson, Madonna, Jackson, the Beatles, and David Cassidy.

Optimus Club

What is it about? – A community service clubWhen - 2nd Wednesday of every month

Want to join? Come see Mrs. O’Brien in room 2-217



Behind the ScenesALEXIS GARCIA, JASMINE ORTIZ, SOFIA MARTINEZST. PETERSBURG—my colleagues and I interviewed Mrs. Wolf, the caf-eteria manager about our school lunches. She informed us that our lunch proportions were not cut and the lunches are actually a lot healthier. Our foods are baked and steamed, a much healthier alternative to frying. We also have several new food items added to our menu, and the majority of the students are responding positively to the healthy changes.

A New Experience through the OutdoorsBy: Jennifer Nodal and Ena Salkicic ST. PETERSBURG – Bay Point Middle School is attempting to create an outdoor class room. Teachers aren’t the ones designing this classroom. The students of Bay Point Mid-dle are the ones building and designing it. “It can help the education of young students by helping them get outside and active with their learning,” says Miss Darity, one of the 7th grade Civics teachers. We spoke with Mrs. Giuffre, Technology Curriculum Special-ist for BPMS, for more information on this “outdoor classroom.” She explained how the students will be creating this cool building meant to be outside. They will be deciding every detail there is. Also, any class during the day can use this building for science ex-periments, inspiration on writing, or any other activities that could enhance their learning experience. Our principal commented on the subject “We’re still working on this magnificent op-portunity,” says Mr. Shedrick.


Principal’s Corner:This school year 2012-2013 Bay Point Middle School has a new principal named Mr. Ja-son Shedrick. He was born in Saint Petersburg, Florida but moved to many various lo-cations because of his military time. Mr. Shedrick was previously a principal at Sanders school for three months, an assistant principal at Osceola Middle school and Pinellas Park Middle school, and a teacher at Gibbs for four and a half years. He has been in the edu-cation field for ten years. He started college at (FSU), also known as Florida State Uni-versity, and finished his last six months at NOVA due to his sickly father who later died. Mr. Shedrick absolutely loves his job and our school; he can’t see himself doing anything else. He is 100% in the education field that’s the only reason. “I’m a falcon; I wear the bracelets every day. That’s why I put the flags next to the statue” said Mr. Shedrick. We asked if he thought the school improved from last year’s, he replied, “Look around what do you see?” Last year if you would take a glimpse at the campus of Bay Point you would see people walking around, students skipping all of their class periods and food wrappers or garbage all over the ground. All of these changes occurred because this man enforced the rules even though we weren’t used to them or may not have agreed with them. He said “We need a change; we needed structure throughout the school.” The whole falcon family is rising to meet expectations. It’s going to take everyone’s help to meet them. We are working as a team. We asked what he is planning for the school. Upcoming events that he has planned for the school is traveling to St. Augustine and Tallahassee, for AVID, 5000 Role models and Girlfriends are going to Eatonville. We asked him what made him decide to do the drawing for the honor roll and principal list he said” To push you to get better grades, ex-tra motivation.” He’s paying for everything out of his pocket. After asking that question we then asked if he was trying to bribe us by giving us these prices he said “Not bribing, no such incentive.” The last question that we asked Mr. Shedrick was if he thought there was anything left to change for the school. He replied “There is always something to work on.” He’s right; nobody is perfect, anything can be improved. Everything is a work in progress, mistakes in life is what shapes you as a person. It all starts by being in the classroom, be-cause that’s the starting point of life.We would like to welcome Mr. Jason Shedrick to the Bay Point family.One sound, One heartbeatBy Alexis Bridges and Iya’mani Watson


History of Thanksgiving:History of Thanksgiving: by Amyreza Carell

Thanksgiving all started in November of 1621; the Plymouth colonists, also known as today’s Pilgrims, had just arrived from England in September of the year before (1620), on a ship called the Mayflower. The ship carried 102 passengers, most of who were looking for a new home where they could practice their faith freely. Also, other in-dividuals were lured by the promise of prosperity and land ownership in the New World, also known as the present day Massachusetts. Throughout that first brutal winter, most of the colonists remained on board the ship, where they suffered from exposure, scurvy and outbreaks of contagious disease. Only half of the Mayflower’s original passengers and crew lived to see their first New England spring. In March, the remaining settlers moved ashore, where they received an astonish-ing visit from an Abenaki Indian who greeted them in English. Several days later, he re-turned with another Native American, Squanto, a member of the Pawtuxet tribe who had been kidnapped by an English sea captain and sold into slavery before escaping to Lon-don and returning to his homeland on an exploratory expedition. Squanto taught the Pil-grims, weakened by malnutrition and illness, how to cultivate corn, extract sap from ma-ple trees, catch fish in the rivers and avoid poisonous plants. He also helped the settlers forge an alliance with the Wampanoag, a local tribe, which would endure for more than 50 years and tragically remains one of the sole examples of harmony between European colonists and Native Americans. The Pilgrims created a society with the Indians, and they lived with no conflict. The following year, 1621, they had their first Thanksgiving. In November 1621, after the Pilgrims’ first corn harvest proved successful, Governor William Bradford organized a celebratory feast and invited a group of the fledgling colony’s Native American al-lies, including the Wampanoag chief Massasoit. Now remembered as American’s “first Thanksgiving”—although the Pilgrims themselves may not have used the term at the time—the festival lasted for three days. While no record exists of the historic banquet’s exact menu, the Pilgrim chronicler Edward Winslow wrote in his journal that Governor Bradford sent four men on a “fowling” mission in preparation for the event, and that the Wampanoag guests arrived bearing five deer. Historians have suggested that many of the dishes were likely prepared using traditional Native American spices and cooking meth-ods. Because the Pilgrims had no oven and the Mayflower’s sugar supply had dwindled by the fall of 1621, the meal did not feature pies, cakes or other desserts, which have be-come a hallmark of contemporary celebrations. That’s why today we all celebrate this special holiday. Give thanks and appreciate our ancestors who helped create Thanksgiving.


Community Service:The holiday season is coming up! Many kids and families are less fortunate and cannot af-ford as much as other kids. There are many resources that kids and families can go to get help for the holidays. If you know someone if you are financially struggling to pay for a fancy Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas presents, here are some places you can go to help you: • 211 Tampa Bay Cares- 211 Tampa Bay Cares is an umbrella agency which means you can call 211 and it can refer you to many different resources for financial assistance. • Day Life Center- gives you food, clothing and other things you are in need of• Operation Attack- Church’s around the area that gives clothing and food to the less fortunate If you ever need any advice or help with this you can also go to Mrs. Clarke our school social worker. She can give you any information related to this topic.

If you see a kid wearing the same clothes almost every day and seems like they don’t have enough money for clothing there is many resources to go to for this problem. There is a place called Clothes to kids. You can go there 2 times a year and it gives you 4 pairs of pants, 5 shirts, 4 new pairs of underwear and socks, and jackets or sweaters per visit. They are completely free. You have to get a referral to go there from your school social worker Mrs. Clarke. You must have you parent or guardian call and make an appointment. Ap-pointments are generally available within 2-3 weeks of your initial call. Also if you have old clothes you don’t want anymore, you can donate them! You can also donate them to Operation attack, as well as volunteer! Day Star life center also supplies you with cheap clothing.

You can volunteer at any charity to help out the needy! Be the change. Make a difference!

*for additional info about other charities that help out, dial 211*


JokesALEXIS GARCIA, JASMINE ORTIZ, SOFIA MARTINEZST. PETERSBURG – A little girl came home from school and said to her mother, “Mom-my, today in school I was punished for something that I didn’t do.”The mother exclaimed, “But that’s terrible! I’m going to have a talk with your teacher about this … by the way, what was it that you didn’t do?”The little girl replied, “My homework.”Teacher: If you had one dollar and you asked your father for another, how many dollars would you have?Vincent: One dollar.Teacher: You don’t know how to add.Vincent: You don’t know my father.Finding one of her students making faces at others on the playground, the teacher stopped to gently remove the child. Teacher: “Bobby, when I was a child, I was told if that I made ugly faces, it would freeze and I would stay like that.”Bobby: “Well, you can’t say you weren’t warned.”A child comes home from his first day at school. Mother asks, “What did you learn to-day?” The kid replies, “Apparently not enough. I have to go back tomorrow.”Teacher: Billy, name two pronouns. Billy: Who, me? Teacher: Very good!

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1. A mark of punctuation used for indicating a division in a sentence.2. A mark of punctuation used for ending a sentence.3. To set in or back from the margin, as the first line of a paragraph.4. To type leaving a full space between lines.5. A word that is made up of two or more other words.6. A word that is the same forward as it is backwards.7. What you put at the beginning of the sentence.8. A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y.9. Each of two or more words spelled the same but not necessarily pro-nounced the same and having different meanings.10. Each of two or more words that are spelled identically but have differ-ent sounds and meanings.11. A word with a homograph.12. The marks, such as period, comma, and parentheses, used in writing.13. The shortened form of a word.14. An action word.15. A person, place, or thing.16. A describing word.17. The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.18. A comparison between two things, typically the basis of their structure. 19. A punctuation mark used to indicate either possession or the merging of two words.20. To put more details in your writing.21. Visually descriptive or figurative language in literary work.22. The structure or arrangement of related or connected items.23. The attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to some-thing non-human.24. A figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared.25. Words like after, then, in the future, in the past, next, and in conclusion.26. A punctuation mark used at the end of a sentence to issue a question.27. A punctuation mark used at the end of a sentence to issue an exclama-tion.

Celebrating 50 years as a Falcon Family! Our mission is to provide a professional learning community that sustains school wide improvements, promotes academic excellence and character development, and fosters a safe and caring environment to adequately prepare students to be productive citizens in school and beyond.

credits:Brandon Barco- Staff Writer Brittany Strickland-Staff WriterJacob Bemo- Staff Writer Iya-Mani Watson-Staff WriterMathew Bischoff-Staff WriterHannah Blevins- DesignAlexis Bridges-Staff WriterAllison Campbell-Staff WriterAmyreza Carell- Staff WriterTimothy Cliett-Staff WriterCailyn Cothron-Staff WriterForest Dennis-Staff WriterAlexis Garcia-Staff WriterJosue Gonzalez-Staff WriterElaina Griffith-Staff WriterAlyssa Hickey-DesignZaid Kapadia-Staff WriterSofia Martinez-Staff WriterCyrus Miguele-Staff WriterVanessa Nguyen-DesignJennifer Nodal-Staff WriterJasmine Ortiz-Staff WriterReese Remington-Staff WriterCiana Rodgers-Staff WriterEna Salkicic-Staff WriterLogan Short-Staff WriterHolly Spayde-Staff Writer

december newspaper

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coach mowry

grade mowry

alan mowry

lack of knowledge mowry

years of teaching

bay point middles

best bay point

school improved