february 2013

1 VOLUME 3 ISSUE 3 • FEBRUARY 2013

The ‘Stang ExpressVolume 3 • Issue 3 • February 2013

Seems like everyone has a gun these days, but are they doing more harm than

good? - page 6

The Newspaper of North Shore Middle School

2 FEBRUARY 2013 • THE ‘STANG EXPRESS

4 Pre-AP eNglISh STudeNTS VISIT houSToN holocAuST MuSueMEighth graders experience what it was like during World War II for Europe’s Jews.by HAILIE RUSSELL

The ‘Stang Express • Feb. 2013‘STANG EXPRESS

STAFFBryant BadieCindy MaiEmily LimIvon LopezChristine CabangLeah MaxwellVictor DavilaCrystal OrtezMadison MericleEmily LimDaisy EstradaChristine CabangSara Hinshaw

Mr. Ron BurkeMr. Paul DrexlerDr. Angi Williams

co-editors-in-chief

opinion editorNews editorFeatures editorSports editors

entertainment ed.Photo editorSocial Media Mgr

cover StoryPage design

AdviserPrincipalSuperintendent

coNTAcTINg uSMailing address: 120 Castlegory Houston,Texas 77015Phone: (832) 386-2600Website: http://www.texasschools.net/nsmsEmail: [email protected]

reSPoNdINgLetters to the editor will be accepted. Letters may be submitted in Room C107 or placed in the mailbox of Mr. Burke. All letters must be signed. Names will be published. Letters must not contain personal attacks against an indi-vidual and may be edited.

PurPoSeThe ‘Stang Express is a student publication dis-tributed to the students, teachers, and parents of North Shore Middle School and Galena Park ISD. Opinions expressed are the opinions of the student writers and are not necessarily the opinions of the Galena Park ISD. The ‘Stang Express is a member of the Inter-scholastic League Press Association and the Columbia Scholastic Press Assocation. The newspaper earned an Award of Distinguished Merit and won a prestigious Silver Star Award from the ILPC in April 2012 and was recently awarded a Gold Medalist Certificate by the CSPA in New York City and is a 2013 Crown Finalist.

WritersMartin Batrez Kenny MaJoanne Cobos TaAliyah PorchiaDaisy Estrada Makenna PoulandCristal Garcia Maria RenteriaEnrique Gonazlez Leonardo ReyesSara Hinshaw Fermina RodriguezMabel Idicula Hailie Russell Ulises Salazar

PhotographersMelanie Gomez Madison MericleReagan Nunez

NeWS

FeATureS

SPorTS

5 WhAT goeS oN The INTerNeT, STAyS oN The INTerNeTMore teens are using social media in a bad way. by BRYANT BADIE

8 Pole reVerSAl: ANoTher World-eNdINg ScAre or IS IT juST NorMAl?Predictions have everyone paying attention to every scare...should you worry?by MARIA RENTERIA

9 BullyINg: IS IT kIdS juST BeINg kIdS or SoMeThINg WorSe?Research proves that bullying has an effect on teenagers.by MABEL IDICULA

15 MuSTANg deFeNSe SeTS uP BIg PlAyS, leAdS TeAM To VIcTory AgAINST yelloW jAckeTSEighth graders have big first quarter, blow out Galena Park.by VICTOR DAVILA & ULISES SALAZAR

14 MuSTANgS doMINATe AlIce johNSoNSeventh graders put on a clinic versus the Hornets at home.by TAALIYAH PORCHIA

eNTerTAINMeNT18 Are you geTTINg The BeST PoSSIBle SouNd?There are lots of headphones out there...we take a look a two.by ENRIQUE GONZALEZ

19 cATchINg FIre heATS uP huNger gAMeS SerIeSSecond part to the Hunger Games doesn’t disappoint.by CRYSTAL ORTEZ

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13 Are SchoolS doINg TheIr PArT To ProTecT STudeNTS?Do you feel safe here at school?by EMILY LIM

13 TeAcherS ANd guNS: hoW BAd cAN IT Be?Texas school districts arm teachers in wake of shooting.by CINDY MAI

12 A Book oPeNS A WorldDiscover the fascinating world in the pages of a good book.by SARA HINSHAW-HATTEN

6 coVer SToryIn wake of the Newtown shooting, district personnel look at school safety.by CHRISTINE CABANG

17 lAdy MuSTANgS PArTIcIPATe IN FIrST eVer NBA INVITATIoNAlEleven talented North Shore players take on a big challenge.by LEAH MAXWELL

guN coNTrol: Should guNS Be BANNed? AlloWed IN School?

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Social studies students prepare for

Attorneys spend time with two groups of eighth graders ahead of big event downtownby MAdISoN MerIcle

On Feb. 15 Mr. Banks’ second and ninth period social studies classes will head downtown for their annual mock trial. This will be a learning experience for the stu-dents. A lot of preparation has been going into this, especially this year, because two classes get to participate instead of just one.“This is important for the students so

they know how the justice system works, some may even choose this as a career for themselves,” says Mr. Banks. It’s a lot of work but it’s well worth it for the students.Eighth graders have been preparing for

the mock trial these past couple weeks by meeting with actual attorneys Lucy Fisher and Amelia Burt from the Houston Bar As-sociation, who have been running students through their parts of the trial and helping them learn the meanings of certain court terms so they may use them if necessary for their argument.“Mock trial is important because it

teaches students to be responsible and gives them the confidence to speak in front of large crowds,” says eighth grader Lexxi Pritchard.Whenever the attorneys come they

spend the entire class period going over the mock trial packets. The attorneys also teach students how to act in a courtroom and go over the trial for a total of seven class periods. Each lawyer is assigned 3 kids each to work with.The students participating were also as-

signed parts. The defense attorneys are: Antoine Fontillas, Daisy Sifuentes, Lexxi Pritchard and Mariana Hernandez. The prosecutors are: Christine Cabang, Deja Montgomery, Mabel Idicula, and Kendra Kitts. The judge is Madison Bellard, the Bailiff is Candito Huerta and the clerk is Olivia Macuba. “You may watch TV shows like CSI

where something shocking happens and everybody gasps, but that doesn’t hap-pen. There are NO surprises in court,” said attorney Lucy Fisher. Students also worked on what both sides of the court

and the witnesses are supposed to do whenever Judge Madison Bellard makes her entrance. The students also must pick a case that they need to try. “They almost always pick murders,” says

Mr. Banks. The case they’ve chosen for this year’s mock trial is a murder case in which Kenny Ma ‘murdered’ Mary Clark. The defense attorneys and the prosecu-tors were all asked to write down all ques-tions they will be asking the witnesses on the day of the mock trial. All the work the students are doing right

now will pay off on the day of the mock trial.“A judge will come and watch and

sometimes they’ll [the judge] take the stu-dent portraying the judge back into their chamber and dress them up in a robe. Parents are also welcome to come,” said Mr. Banks. Sadly, the mock trial will take place at 8:30 A.M on a Friday so we can’t go out and support our classmates, but if you see any of them in the hall be sure to wish them good luck!

ANNUAL MOCK TRIAL

Are you coming to school everyday? If you’re not, you need to start because be-ing at school benefits you in many ways. School helps you by teaching you about things that you wouldn’t normally learn by sitting in front of the television.If you’re not here at school, teachers

can’t teach you what they have prepared, and you’ll probably regret not attending. The material taught in school will help you in the future, and if you’re not learn-ing you won’t have the knowledge you will need to help you later on in life. There are some students who think that it’s a waste of time to come to school, and take the privilege of getting a good education for granted when they should really be grate-ful because a lot of children don’t have the advantages kids here do.“I think kids should be more grateful

because other kids around the world don’t

have the opportunity to be well educated,” said seventh grader Raquel Sanchez. To all those students who skip: instead of going out with your friends and skipping you should be the bigger person and stay in class to learn something. Also, it’s no use to skip because the school calls your parents to inform them that you missed a class and the computer tracks everything.Coming to school every day is ben-

eficial for the school also. Every student that comes to school and is on time helps increase the money that is brought in from the state government. The money from the state is used to fund field trips, dances, buy supplies for the nurse, and electronics like the computers that every-one uses. Each student that misses a day of school means less money granted to the campus. “Almost 3.14% of the students miss

school everyday, and 98.86% of the stu-dents come to school,” said Mrs. Bryant, the attendance clerk. As you can see, our

school is doing pretty well on attendance, but we could much better if all students actually came to school more often. Our principal would like 100% of the students here, so why not have a 100% attendance?As you can see, a lot of students should

be grateful for all the knowledge they receive. Instead of coming to school and messing around all day, we should come to school everyday to learn. Our teachers come to school every day and work hard to teach us and prepare us for the next grade.“Mr. Burke is awesome because he

comes to school everyday and makes class come alive,” said eighth grader Alberto Castellano. Seventh grader Jesica Sifuentes said, “Mr. Johnson is an awe-some teacher because he actually cares about his students, and takes teaching to the next level.” We should return the favor to our teachers by coming to school everyday and learning instead of playing around.

Most come to school every day but what would happen if we had perfect attendance?

by hAIlIe ruSSel & FerMINArodrIgueZ

Perfect might not exist but perfect attendance?

Avg. absences per day: 50 Avg. absences per week: 250Number of students: 1353


NEWS Pre-AP English students visit

Eighth graders experience what it was like during World War II for Europe’s Jews

Imagine being forced out your home and shoved into a railcar without any explanations. Then arrive at a concen-tration camp to work, sleep on wood, starved, and tortured just because of your religion. Well that’s what happened to six million Jews during the 1940’s by the Nazis. Some were starved to death, put in gas chambers, or shot. Very few Holocaust victims survived to share their stories about how horrible life was in the concentration camps. Some of these stories are told at the Houston Holocaust Museum and include many other things like photographs and items from actual concentration camps. Eight classes of eighth grade Pre-AP

English students were given the opportu-nity to go on a field trip to the Holocaust Museum to honor the millions of Jews killed and give them the chance to better understand life in the camps. They’re reading a book called “Night”

by Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor, in their English classes. Learning about the Holocaust educates students about how dangerous hatred and prejudice can be. Eighth grader Jessica Rodriguez said, “The Holocaust is important to learn so the

by dAISy eSTrAdA future won’t repeat any of these gruesome and horrific scenes.”The tour guide at the museum told

students about “The Triangle”. In the tri-angle there are the roles of the bystander, perpetrator, victims, and the rescuers. Our generation is expected to be rescu-ers in order to not repeat what happened roughly 80 years ago.When students arrived at the museum

they were separated into three groups. One group started the tour in the Memo-rial Room. This room is dedicated to the Holocaust victims. On the walls are tiles with names of the Holocaust victims dedicated for them by their families. As students took a moment to honor the victims, the tour guide explained the meaning of the paintings in the room and how they resemble time during the Holocaust.Each student was asked to take a

rock to put on a memorial stone in the Children’s Garden on the way to a railcar that was more than likely used to transport people during the Holocaust. As students walking into the railcar the temperature was about 30 degrees Fahr-enheit.“My favorite part of the museum

was the rail car, it made me real-

HOUSTON’S HOLOCAUST MUSEUM

The plates located just outside the entrance of the museum represent entire communities that were wiped out by the Nazis during the holocast. The cylinder references the chimneys of the crematoria used by the Nazis to burn the bodies of their victims in their killing centers and concentration camps.

ize how scared and freezing the victims were” said 8th grader Nathaly Montelongo. Stu-dents barely lasted ten minutes in the railcar but up to 100 Holo-caust victims had to stay in these freez-ing, crowded railcars for five or more days without food or warm clothing. Another group starting tour the main

exhibit of the museum. This part is full of photographs, videos of the victims working at the camps, information about how the Holocaust started, quotes from survivors, and items donated by victims and their families. Upon entering this part of the museum there are hundreds of pictures of Jewish families and our guide explained how they were treated. Other pictures were of Nazis doing cruel things to the Jews. Further down was an example of the striped uniform the victims had to wear which was donated to the museum by a Holocaust survivor. At the end of the main exhibit is

a huge room with a big screen that showed a video about what the Ho-locaust survivors remembered about their time at the camps. The video was 30 minutes long called “Voices”. This video is very heartbreaking to watch as the survivors describe the horrible memories of when they got sent away to the camps and taken away from their families. “The Holocaust Museum helped me un-

derstand what the Nazis did to the Jews and who Adolf Hitler was,” Said eighth grader Daisy Sifuentes. Mr. Burke said that history has a way of repeating itself and when we are educated about things like this is can help us prevent it from happening again.Their field trip to the Holocaust Mu-

seum really helped the eighth graders better understand what the Jews had to go through and why it’s so important to know this horrific part of history.Students will soon participate in a proj-

ect where they will create butterlies based on the poems they read from “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” and will donate their butterflies to the museum for their upcoming exhibit that remembers the 1.5 million children who perished during the Holocaust.

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Texas sees big jump in flu cases, hospitalizationsFlu season storms into Houston area early, spreads quickly

Are you one of the many who have been infected with the Influenza? You’re prob-ably wondering what this means even after hearing doctors and nurses mention it. The influenza, also known as the flu, is a highly contagious virus marked by symp-toms such as fever, pain and aches, and respiratory inflammation. The Centers for the Disease Control and Prevention reported that on average, 5% to 20% of the U.S. population gets the flu and more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from seasonal flu-related complications.The state of Texas is experiencing a

widespread outbreak of the flu this year. Teachers in Texas are making sure that all school desks, water fountains and door-knobs are clean and they also make sure that the students clean their hands often. Houston’s doctors report that this year’s flu season is the worst one in years. Local emergency rooms at hospitals are packed with patients with the flu or fever-like symptoms.There are different ways to prevent the

flu. The CDC stated that the best way to prevent seasonal flu is by getting a sea-sonal flu vaccination each year. The main way people get the flu is by person to person contact. It’s best to not share any utensils such as forks or also cups used to drink because the other person’s germs will pass down to your system.“Washing your hands with soap and

water frequently and using hand sanitizer can help prevent it,” said Nurse Nguyen,

the school nurse.Sometimes, it’s hard to tell if you have

the flu. One way to find out if you have it is by watching out for the symptoms. The CDC reports that the flu can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can lead to death. The most common symptoms are fever, chills, coughing, and head-aches. At most times, if you are experi-encing any of these, it may be best that you go to the doctor to make sure you’re not diagnosed with the flu. The flu spreads around the world

rapidly. The CDC reported that in over 30 years, between 1976 through 2006, estimates of flu-associated deaths in the United States range from a low of about 3,000 to high of about 49,000 people. This season, Texas has a high level of ac-tivity of influenza-like illnesses (ILI). These activity levels are based on the percent of outpatient visits in a hospital in a state due to ILI and they are compared to the average percent visits that occur during spring and fall with little influenza activity. There is a widespread of the flu going through 47 states including Texas.The flu experience has risen and this is

the worst flu season Texas has experi-enced in years. The best way to prevent the flu is to get the seasonal flu shot. You can get it at any local Walgreens, Kroger, CVS Pharmacy, a local doctor, and sometimes at a local school. Protect yourself from the flu and if you experi-ence the symptoms, it would be best if you head to the doctor to see if you get diagnosed with it.

by IVoN loPeZ

Social Media has taken over the youth of America. Every time you look around, you see a teen with a cell phone, head down, looking at the phone instead of looking around and seeing what’s going on in the real world. You’ll never see what students/teens are actually think-ing. You also don’t see what they are texting, tweeting, posting etc. They may be talking about harming some-one/something, talking about you, or maybe they’re just innocently shar-ing their personal information with everyone on Facebook, Twitter, or any other social site. What some students don’t under-

stand is whatever you post on the internet, stays on the internet. For example, on Jan. 18, 2013, a North Shore Senior High School student was arrested for making a terroristic threat against the school. He tweeted the night before, “Who wants to help me blow up the school tomorrow?” The situation was so serious the FBI alerted the district about it. Three officers arrested the teen at his home, before school. This student is now facing felony charges, his actions will cause him to lose chances at going to a certain colleges or getting a certain job. Other things such as, voting rights, may also be taken away.Some students may be playing

around when doing something like this and want you to take it as a joke. Some might think it’s funny, but others will take it seriously. This can cause someone to report you, and you may end up in serious trouble. Parents and guardians need to start teaching and reminding their kids to be watch-ful of what they text/tweet/post, etc. After you hit send, it never goes away. If it’s bad, someone may report you, or you may get caught by governmen-tal authorities. If it goes to desper-ate measures then you may end up paying a large fine, going to jail, or even prison. Just remember the next time you type something, read it and think... Will this get me in trouble? If you have any doubts, don’t post it!

What goes on the internet, stays on

the internet

Perspective

by BryANT BAdIe


ARE WE REALLYSAFE IN OUR SCHOOL?

In wake of the Newtown shooting, district personnel look at school safety

From the age of four, we go to school. Every weekday we get up early and head to a place full of friends and teachers, and as we are being taught there is a small sense of safety. After all, we are in a school full of at least a hundred people. On Dec. 14, 2012, teachers and stu-dents of Sandy Hook Elementary thought they’d go home after another great day, but some of them never made it home because a man named Adam Lanza went into the school after shooting his own mother, and shot 20 children along with 6 teachers.Twenty-eight lives were lost, including

his own. Twenty-seven people who still had many days ahead of them got their future snatched away by one man with a gun. You would think that a person would have more humanity than that. It was only 11 days before Christmas. This was not the first time something like

this has happened in the U.S. Since 1999, there have been 29 mass shootings, from the Columbine shooting to the shooting during the Batman movie, not including this new one. There have also been many shootings every day in the streets, in our neighborhoods, maybe even in our own houses. Where does the carnage end? Ap-parently, it has not ended because there

by chrISTINe cABANg have been over 4,000 deaths related to firearms. According to The Daily Beast, in Chicago alone, over 4,000 people, age 21 or younger have been shot in the last four years. That’s over a thousand people per year average. Thankfully, the people in Washington

have heard our cry for help. The act we as a nation have to execute is “to come together and take meaningful action,” as President Obama suggested after the Newtown massacre, to change the Con-stitution. Although actions do need to be taken, what sort of actions will satisfy the needs of our nation? If you take away guns period, that will affect the economy and anger a lot of people.“Why would they take away guns, you

can’t protect yourself then,” said eighth grader Jose Galdamez.“[After all] the second amendment was

written because the British wouldn’t let the colonists have guns to protect them-selves,” said Mrs. Davis, an eighth grade social studies teacher.According to The Berkshire Eagle, there

are approximately 300 million guns at large in the U.S. There are approximately 310 million men, women and children in the U.S., including children 5 years old and younger. Basically one-for-one. What good will tightening the gun laws do? “The people who need to be banned

from guns already have broken bigger more important laws. So why would this stop them? It didn’t stop the man who killed all those kids even though guns aren’t allowed on school property. The law would only stop people who actually listen to the laws,” said eighth grader Kevin Diaz.The recent tragedy at Sandy Hook Ele-

mentary sparked up another long debated issue, the safety of the kids at school.Sandy Hook Elementary was considered

a safe school. Newtown, Connecticut was a quiet town, and the school took every precaution they could. They had lockdown drills and you had to go through a lot to even get admitted into the school, but even through all their precautions, a trag-edy like this occurred. Right now people are thinking and shouting out solutions, but are they just all talk?After the Columbine shooting and every

other shooting that has occurred involv-ing students, there is always a time period where parents, students, and adminis-trators are ready to take on the cause to stop this and for a moment in time it becomes the number one priority. After a while though,people tend to get lazy and the tragedy that occurred becomes only a horrible reminder of what could happen in our own schools.Although some schools

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GUN CONTROL

More than 1 out of 10 male high school students bring aweapon, such as a gun or knife, to school each month.

More than one-third of American teens believe that they have easy access to a handgun.

42% of young men and 29.8% young women responded in a survey that, “If I really wanted to, I could get a hand-gun.”

Nearly 1.7 million children under the age of 18, live in homes with firearms that are both loaded and unlocked in the United States.

On average, 45 children and teens are shot every day in America.

Over fears of students concealing weapons, some schools have implemented a “No Backpack Rule.”

BulleT PoINTS: A look AT STATISTIcS oF guNS & VIoleNce

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put up cameras and they install alarm systems, what could’ve stopped Adam Lanza? He didn’t go through all those locked doors or through the security system. He simply shot a window.“There is not a single safety measure that anyone

could have put in place at that school that would have stopped what happened,” said Bill Bond, the school safety specialist for the National Association of Sec-ondary School Principals. Sandy Hook did everything they could. They stayed

in lock down, the administrators fought valiantly for their students, but Adam Lanza still murdered 20 kids and 7 adults. So what are we supposed to do?Our administrators here at North Shore are already

at work trying to make our school more safe, more secure.“We’re going to a lot of meetings about safety.

Recently, we went to Sheriff Garcia’s town hall meeting. We are planning a shut down to review the procedures,” said Mr. Drexler, our principal. Even the points of en-trance in the school that used to be open, such as the door leading to and from the portables are being taken care of.“The doors will be locked, and key cards will be is-

sued to students who need to travel to the portables soon,” said Mr. Drexler. Almost every adult is throwing everything they can to keep this school safe. “We have a

group of people called BUILD, it’s a group of staff members assigned to a specific job in the case of an emergency and they also talk about the issues

happening today,” said Mr. Eagleton, one of our as-sistant principals. There are small things that we have always done at North Shore that keep us safe like hav-ing two or more teachers in the hallways during transi-tion time. Everyone forgets to mention the cameras all over the school that record everything that happens in the hallways. With all these precautions could something like what

happened at Sandy Hook happen here? Truthfully, the answer is yes something like that could happen here and district and school administration are working hard to prevent it.

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dec. 14, 2012 – Newtown, connecticutFeb. 27, 2012 – Chardon, OhioFeb. 23, 2012 – Port Orchard, WashingtonFeb. 21, 2012 – Murfreesboro, TennesseeJan. 4, 2012 – Brownsville, TexasNov. 15, 2011 – Berkeley, CaliforniaOct. 25, 2011 – Fayetteville, North CarolinaOct. 14, 2011 – Baltimore, MarylandAug. 26, 2011 – Harper Woods, MichiganAug. 8, 2011 – Mandeville, LouisianaMay 23, 2011 – Pearl City, HawaiiMay 23, 2011 – Cleveland, OhioApril 19, 2011 – Houston, TexasApril 15, 2011 – Los Angeles, CaliforniaApril 13, 2011 – Apopka, FloridaApril 12, 2011 – Nashville, TennesseeApril 6, 2011 – Opelika, AlabamaMarch 31, 2011 – Houston, TexasMarch 25, 2011 – Martinsville, IndianaFeb. 23, 2011 – Los Angeles, CaliforniaFeb. 14, 2011 – Murfreesboro, TennesseeFeb. 6, 2011 – Youngstown, OhioFeb. 2, 2011 – Placerville, CaliforniaJan. 18, 2011 – Los Angeles, CaliforniaJan. 5, 2011 – Omaha, NebraskaDec. 14, 2010 – Panama City, FloridaDec. 6, 2010 – Aurora, ColoradoDec. 4, 2010 – Garden City, South CarolinaNov. 29, 2010 – Chicago, IllinoisNov. 28, 2010 – Marinette, Wisconsin,Oct. 11, 2010 – Fairfield, CaliforniaOct. 25, 2010 – Selma, AlabamaOct. 8, 2010 – Carlsbad, CaliforniaOct. 3, 2010 – Elizabeth City, North CarolinaSept. 28, 2010 – Austin, TexasSept. 21, 2010 – Columbia, South CarolinaSept. 16, 2010 – Moss Bluff, LouisianaSept. 7, 2010 – Las Cruces, New MexicoSept. 7, 2010 – Detroit, MichiganAug. 18, 2010 – Omaha, NebraskaMay 18, 2010 – South Gate, CaliforniaApril 29, 2010 – Portsmouth, VirginiaMarch 23, 2010 – Baton Rouge, LouisianaMarch 9, 2010 – Columbus, OhioFeb. 23, 2010 – Littleton, ColoradoFeb. 19, 2010 – DeKalb, IllinoisFeb. 12, 2010 – Huntsville, AlabamaFeb. 10, 2010 – Knoxville, TennesseeFeb. 5, 2010 – Madison, AlabamaJan. 20, 2010 – Livingston, AlabamaJan. 7, 2010 – Phoenix, ArizonaDec. 11, 2009 – Shreveport, LouisianaDec. 8, 2009 – Woodbridge, VirginiaDec. 2, 2009 – Brockton, MassachusettsNov. 17, 2009 – Boston, MassachusettsNov. 16, 2009 – Dallas, TexasNov. 6, 2009 – Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaNov. 1, 2009 – Pineville, LouisianaOct. 24, 2009 – Memphis, TennesseeOct. 20, 2009 – Long Beach, CaliforniaOct. 8, 2009 – Southold, New YorkSept. 16, 2009 – Henrico, VirginiaSept. 14, 2009 – Grand Rapids, MichiganSept. 8, 2009 – Stamford, ConnecticutSept. 3, 2009 – Atlanta, GeorgiaSept. 2, 2009 – San Bruno, CaliforniaJuly 10, 2009 – Houston, TexasJune 24, 2009 – Parkersburg, IowaJune 9, 2009 – Lexington, KentuckyMay 18, 2009 – Cambridge, MassachusettsMay 18, 2009 – Larose, LouisianaMay 4, 2009 – West Covina, CaliforniaMay 1, 2009 – Sheboygan, WisconsinApril 26, 2009 – Hampton, VirginiaApril 10, 2009 – Dearborn, MichiganApril 9, 2009 – Dove Creek, ColoradoMarch 10, 2009 – Jacksonville, FloridaNov. 15, 2008 – St. George, UtahNov. 12, 2008 – Fort Lauderdale, FloridaOct. 29, 2008 – Big Bear, CaliforniaOct. 26, 2008 – Conway, ArkansasOct. 13, 2008 – San Antonio, TexasSept. 2, 2008 – Willoughby, OhioAug. 29, 2008 – Portland, OregonAug. 26, 2008 – Opelousas, LouisianaAug. 21, 2008 – Knoxville, TennesseeJuly 24, 2008 – Phoenix, Arizona

April 30, 2008 – Boca Raton, FloridaApril 29, 2008 – Washington, DCApril 24, 2008 – Omaha, NebraskaMarch 31, 2008 – Hayward, CaliforniaMarch 29, 2008 – Chicago, IllinoisMarch 7, 2008 – Chicago, IllinoisMarch 6, 2008 – Mobile, AlabamaFeb. 28, 2008 – Miami Gardens, FloridaFeb. 27, 2008 – Little Rock, ArkansasFeb. 23, 2008 – Jonesboro, ArkansasFeb. 14, 2008 – DeKalb, IllinoisFeb. 12, 2008 – Oxnard, CaliforniaFeb. 11, 2008 – Memphis, TennesseeFeb. 8, 2008 – Baton Rouge, LouisianaFeb. 4, 2008 – Memphis, TennesseeJan. 22, 2008 – Washington, DCJan. 18, 2008 – Las Vegas, NevadaJan. 16, 2008 – Cleveland, OhioJan. 16, 2008 – Charlotte, North CarolinaJan. 15, 2008 – Putnam City, OklahomaJan. 10, 2007 – Asheville, North CarolinaDec. 17, 2007 – Gibsonton, FloridaDec. 11, 2007 – Las Vegas, NevadaDec. 11, 2007 – Oakland, CaliforniaNov. 29, 2007 – Lagrangeville, New YorkNov. 26, 2007 – Holland Patent, New YorkNov. 20, 2007 – Beaufort, South CarolinaOct. 25, 2007 – Saginaw, MichiganOct. 12, 2007 – Portland, OregonOct. 10, 2007 – Cleveland, OhioOct. 10, 2007 – Norristown, PennsylvaniaSept. 30, 2007 – Memphis, TennesseeSept. 28, 2007 – Oroville, CaliforniaSept. 21, 2007 – Dover, DelawareAug. 4, 2007 – Newark, New JerseyJune 29, 2007 – Dallas, TexasApril 18, 2007 – Huntersville, North CarolinaApril 16, 2007 – Blacksburg, VirginiaApril 10, 2007 – Gresham, OregonMarch 24, 2007 – Greensboro, North CarolinaMarch 7, 2007 – Midland, MichiganJan. 26, 2007 – Los Angeles, CaliforniaJan. 3, 2007 – Tacoma, WashingtonDec. 12, 2006 – Springfield Township, PANov. 9, 2006 – Clinton, South CarolinaOct. 9, 2006 – Joplin, MissouriOct. 2, 2006 – Nickel Mines, PennsylvaniaSept. 29, 2006 – Cazenovia, WisconsinSept. 27, 2006 – Bailey, ColoradoSept. 17, 2006 – Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaSept. 14, 2006 – Green Bay, WisconsinAug. 30, 2006 – Hillsborough, North CarolinaAug. 24, 2006 – Essex, VermontMarch 21, 2005 – Red Lake Reservation, MNMarch 16, 2005 – Bellflower, CaliforniaMarch 2, 2005 – Cumberland City, TennesseeDec. 10, 2004 – Nine Mile Falls, WashingtonMarch 17, 2004 – Joyce, WashingtonFeb. 11, 2004 – Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaFeb. 2, 2004 – Washington, D.C.Jan. 21, 2004 – Henderson, NevadaNov. 8, 2003 – Sugar Land, TexasSept. 24, 2003 – Cold Spring, MinnesotaSept. 16, 2003 – Hopkinsville, KentuckySept. 10, 2003 – Fort Worth, TexasSept. 5, 2003 – San Diego, CaliforniaApril 24, 2003 – Red Lion, PennsylvaniaApril 14, 2003 – New Orleans, LouisianaOct. 29, 2002 – Tucson, ArizonaOct. 7, 2002 – Bowie, MarylandJan. 15, 2002 – New York, New YorkNov. 12, 2001 – Caro, MichiganMay 15, 2001 – Ennis, TexasMarch 30, 2001 – Gary, IndianaMarch 22, 2001 – Granite Hills, CaliforniaMarch 7, 2001 – Willamsport, PennsylvaniaMarch 5, 2001 – Santee, CaliforniaJan. 17, 2001 – Baltimore, MarylandSept. 26, 2000 – New Orleans, LouisianaMay 26, 2000 – Lake Worth, FloridaMay 11, 2000 – Prairie Grove, ArkansasMarch 10, 2000 – Savannah, GeorgiaFeb. 29, 2000 – Mount Morris Township, MIDec. 6, 1999 – Fort Gibson, OklahomaNov. 19, 1999 – Deming, New MexicoMay 20, 1999 – Conyers, GeorgiaApril 20, 1999 – littleton, colorado

From columbine to Newtown, there have been a total of 184school shootings. See the full list below:

“The people who need to be banned from guns already have broken bigger more important laws. So why would this stop them? It didn’t stop the man who killed all those kids even though guns aren’t allowed on school property. The law would only stop people who actually listen to the laws,”

- 8th grader kevin diazSO

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FEATURES POLE REVERSAL:

The Mayans ‘predicted’ that the end of the world arrived on Dec. 21, 2012. They were wrong but now, some scientists are predicting how the world might come to its end. Imagine Earth. Inside, Earth has a core,

which has an iron inner core that is sur-rounded by magma, and an outer core, which creates a magnetic field, due to the daily turning of Earth. Now imagine a big bubble surrounding Earth, which would be the ‘magnetic field’.Earth has a magnetic and a geographi-

cal north, or the North Pole, in other words. The top of Earth is the geographi-cal ‘North Pole’ and the bottom is the ‘South Pole’. All magnets have their north and south poles, just like earth’s

magnetic field. The magnetic north pole has crept northward by more than 600 miles since the early 19th century, and scientists have found that it is still creeping northward about 40 miles per year. Rewind back to the 20th century, where it only moved 10 miles per year, which makes it a 400 percent increase. Right now, the magnetic north pole is has moved 11 degrees from the geographic North Pole.At the moment it’s located in northern

Canada, about 600 km from the nearest town: Resolute Bay, population 300.The earth is overdue for a magnetic

pole change by almost triple the normal amount of time. That means that while the normal time between pole reversals is 200,000 to 300,000 years, it’s been about 780,000 years since the last one.

by MArIA reNTerIA So how do we know the earth’s mag-netic field even flips? When the sea floor spreads and the lava cools into basaltic rock (which is slightly magnetic), the rocks have an imprint of earth’s magnetic field after it cooled down. This ‘flip’ does not happen overnight. It’s gradual, taking thousands of years to happen. Will pole reversal be the end of man-

kind? “It won’t kill us, but the effects will be

noticeable,” said Ms. Giron, an eighth grade science teacher. The pole reversal is going to affect us in ways we might not have even thought about.“The very simple thing is we won’t be

able to use a compass anymore because it would point south. The weakening of earth’s magnetic field would mean that we would be more vulnerable to solar flares. That would affect the power, phones, computers, and satellites. The military uses satellites for Global Positioning Systems, so even they would be affected,” said Ms. Giron. Generally speaking, this pole shift would affect almost everything we use.“It will affect our communities because

we’re going to have to go old-fashioned since a lot of technology will not work,” said eighth grader Monica Martinez.According to NASA, the magnetic field

will not completely disappear during the flip, so we would never be unprotected from sun flares and their extreme amounts of UV radiation. If we had no protection against solar flares, radiation would have killed 50 percent of the people exposed within 60 days of the flare without medical attention. Thankfully, even if it did disap-pear, earth’s thick atmosphere would be protection enough against it.The magnetic field won’t might not

disappear, but that doesn’t mean it won’t go haywire.“Theoretically speaking, the [magnetic]

poles could point east and west because of how it’s a slow shift,” said Ms. Giron. That means that your compass could soon enough be pointing towards Hawaii.Even though the changes the shift would

bring would be big, the effects would not be catastrophic. Nowadays, we have technology that could warn us if any-thing dangerous was about to happen. If anything, we should look forward to such a rare thing. Who knows? Maybe someday your com-

pass might be pointing south!

Predictions have everyone paying attention to every scare...should you worry?

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Another world-ending scare or is it just normal?

The magnetic north pole has been creeping northward – by more than 600 miles (1,100 km) – since the early 19th century, when explorers first located it precisely. It is moving faster now, actually, as scientists estimate the pole is migrating northward about 40 miles per year, as opposed to about 10 miles per year in the early 20th century.


Have you ever seen someone being pushed around in the hall and just walked away? Have you seen a mean post about someone else and never told anyone? Do you think bullying is a form of violence? Do you do anything to stop it? Bullying is a major issue that affects one out of four students, and it peaks in middle school.Bullying is the act of intimidating weaker

people but in order to be considered bul-lying, it must meet certain requirements. There must be an imbalance of power, which means a person uses their strength or popularity to hurt another person on purpose repeatedly.People start bullying others for differ-

ent reasons including gender, race, belief, or the way someone looks. Sometimes people become bullies for fun, revenge, to be mean, embarrass someone, or just because their friends are doing it.Bullying can be divided into four cat-

egories: physical, verbal, social, and cyber bullying. According to BullyingStatistics, males are more likely to be involved in physical bullying than girls because they have testosterone which makes them more aggressive.Physical bullying is when a person uses

physical acts, such as kicking or damaging pos-sessions, to hurt another person. Verbal bullying is when a person uses to hurt someone such as threatening or teasing. Social bullying is when a person is humiliated in front of others.According to

Bully Blocking, a website that is a bullying and social resilience resource, girls prefer indirect methods such as verbal and social bullying more than physical bullying. Cyber bullying is bullying that occurs using technol-ogy. According to Enough is Enough, a website that makes the internet

safer for children, nearly 43% of teens have experienced some type of cyber bul-lying.People use text messages, emails, so-

cial networking websites, and chat rooms to threaten, harass, embarrass, or hurt another person’s feelings. Many times the bully is anonymous so the victim never knows who sent the mean messages.According to Ms. Castaneda, one of

our assistant principals, if a teacher thinks someone is being bullied or is be-ing a bully, they report it to an assistant principal because it is not their job to deal with this kind of situation. The assistant principal interviews the victim, bully, and other students in the class. If the assis-tant principal sees a pattern in the bully’s behavior, he/she can call it bullying. The victim can be sent to the counselor for help, while the bully’s parents are contacted. Once the meeting is set, the bully must sign a bullying contract saying they will not repeat the behavior. If they do not keep their word, they will receive consequences such as switching classes, changing campuses, and even a citation depending on how bad the bullying gets.In the end, bullying has its effects on

teens. About 160,000 students don’t go to school every day because they fear

by MABel IdIculA

Research proves that bullying has an effect on teenagers. What’s being done to lessen the effect?

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BULLYING:being bullied. According to Mrs. Charles, one of our counselors, victims receive poor grades and have a higher chance of dropping out of school. It lowers self-esteem which could lead to depression, eating disorders, and addiction to drugs and alcohol. Bullying is one factor that can lead to suicidal thoughts and is linked to some school shootings.So what can we do to prevent things

like this from happening? If you or some-one else is being bullied, you should tell a teacher, counselor, or principal.Eighth grader, Emily Tovar, said, “If I saw

someone being bullied, I would try to help the victim by standing up for him/her and I would tell the bully what he/she is doing is wrong. I would also tell an adult so the victim can get help.” If you are being cyber bullied, save the messages, write down the time, and tell your parents. If you are being threatened, you should tell the police.“I think people should think about what

they are going to say to others before they do, keep their hands to themselves, and just be nice,” said seventh grader Dianne Coto. Bullying is something that shouldn’t be ignored but taken seriously. Make sure you stand, not get involved in bullying.Remember the golden rule of life: treat

others like you would want to be treated.

Is it kids just being kids or something worse?


Thank St. Valentine when you’re out shopping for gifts for those you hold dearlyby joANNe coBoS &MAkeNNA PoulANd

Who knew that a day full of love could have such a hard beginning? A day that be-gan with the death of a saint now carries on as a day to celebrate love and happiness.Valentine’s Day started off as an ancient

Roman tradition as a festival called Luper-calia, which is a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of Agriculture, and the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.Priests would sacrifice a goat for fertility

and a dog for purification. Some of the goat hide was ripped in to strips, dipped in sacrificial blood, then the priests would take to the streets, gently slapping both women and crops with the goat hide. Ro-man women welcomed the touch because they believed it would make them more fertile in the coming year. The single women in the city would place their names in a pot, then men would draw a name, and they would be paired for a year, which would often result in marriage. Later on, when the Romans were in the

middle of a war, the emperor passed a law which declared that young men could not marry, because it would be easier to send soldiers to war who did not have to leave wives or families behind. However, a priest named Valentine, who was devoted to God and the Sacrament of Marriage, continued to

perform marriages in secret. He became a haven for young couples seeking marriage.Later, he was discovered and sentenced

to life in prison. When he was in prison, he took it upon himself to convert the emperor in hopes of reversing his unfair decree, but the emperor became further agitated and sentenced him to death. While awaiting his death sentence to be carried out, he met and fell in love with his jailor’s blind daughter.Valentine prayed for her, and because

of their love and his devotion to God, she regained her sight. Then, when the time came for Valentine to be put to death, he wrote her a note as a last act of love, and gratitude for her kindness. He signed it, “From your Valentine,” an expression still used today. After he died, supporters of Valentine would show their love by casting flowers upon his cell window.Much has changed since Valentine’s

death, but we still celebrate a day for love on his death day. Many things have hap-pened since then, which led to how Val-entine’s Day is now. According to History.com, in the middle ages, Valentine’s repu-tation skyrocketed in England and France. It was believed in England and France that February 14th was a day for love.The first written love note didn’t appear

until after the 1400’s, but a Valentine’s Day greeting card was really popular, and

A day of love from past to presentstill is. Traditions have not changed much over time, but more money is certainly spent. Statistics show that during the year, women buy 75% of chocolate, but on the days and minutes before Valentine’s Day, men make 75% of the purchases. Why chocolate? From the moment chocolate was discovered, it was considered valu-able, divine, and decadent, so what better gift for a loved one?Another present given on Valentine’s

Day are Valentine’s Day cards. About 150 million cards are sent out each year, and most are sent by women. Here at North Shore, people are certainly planning on buying chocolates, flowers, and cards for friends on Valentine’s Day.“For Valentine’s Day I just buy chocolate

for all the people I love,” said eighth grader Kimberly Rosacia. Valentine’s Day is very special to almost

everyone, and the gifts people give to each other make it even more special.“I’m getting my girlfriend something spe-

cial, not something that just anyone would give her,” said seventh grader Christopher Cardenas.Valentine’s Day is a day for love and

friendship that started off with a rocky be-ginning. So, when you’re out buying a gift for a special someone, don’t forget about the person who started everything—St. Valentine.

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Final bell is not the end of the work day Fillies director and assistant director put in long hours to prepare girls for competition

by reAgAN NuNeZ

eighth graders Veronica Alejos, Ariel Zaragoza, and others hold their line as they practice here after school. right now the girls are lined up in their signature stance and are ready to lead off into a palm movement.

Seventh grader Bethany luna positions her hands and focuses on the director’s instruc-tions so she can do the movement correctly. dance choreography is not as easy as it looks.

(left) Seventh grade reading teacher and Fillies Asst. director Ms. McWilliams goes over their current dance and the girls’ arm placements. competition day is coming up and things are getting strict and so is she.

Eighth grade officer Mireya Torres takes over practice from Mrs. Mccomb in the cafeteria. The dance instructors teach their officers how to become a leaders; one way is by having them take over practices.

eighth grader Ariel Zaragoza practices her “low v” which consists of a “dig” which is in the dance they’re performing for their upcoming contest which will be at Magnolia high School on February 16.

(left) english teacher and Fillies director Mrs. Mccomb teaches the Fillies a move in the dance they are currently working on for a competition in the school cafeteria. The con-test that these girls are in is very competitive so hard work gets the job done.


A BOOK OPENS A WORLDDiscover the fascinating world in the pages of a good book

by SArA hINShAW-hATTeN

Everyone reads whether it is a text message or a novel. We read signs on the road and articles in the newspaper. So why do students hate reading? In Pakistan alone only 54 percent of people over 15 know how to read and they fight for the chance to learn. Here in the United States, 99 percent of people 15 and older know how to read. Yet it seems like some students think reading is the worst possible torture. Some of the people I interviewed have talked about their rea-

sons for not liking reading at all. They say they don’t like reading books because they would rather watch the movie and have the whole story on screen. I have several arguments against that. One is that when reading you don’t just watch a story like you’re on the sidelines. You can’t know that their heart is thumping 100 miles a minute when the army comes to meet them on a screen. All you see is them staring at the enemy. Fascinating. Another way this doesn’t seem as good as reading is it doesn’t have your own take of the story like in my mind almost every awesome character has red hair even if the book describes them differently.Reading also gives you a lot of brain power. In an article I

found on Persistence Unlimited that talked about 26 benefits of reading, it talked about how reading enhances your memory. People who read often can remember the tiniest details that they find in a book because they are so interested. It also helps your reasoning skills when you read about people that use different tactics to win an argument. You can later use these same strate-gies in the real world.While I don’t fully understand why people don’t like reading I can

admit that I probably am not the best judge. I happen to love read-ing because I can use my imagination. I love the thought of being able to do some of the things that people in my books can do like being able to fight a whole army to find my sister, or fly on a dragon over a battlefield with my brother. I use my favorite characters from books as my role models for my life, such as Clary from the Immor-tal Instruments series (An awesome red-head by the way) and Max from the Maximum Ride series (A very sarcastic fighter).So, at times you may hate reading I believe that it is the best

escape from our daily lives. I think that the only reason people don’t like reading is because they haven’t found the right book. You just have to find the best world for you and you can live there whenever you want.

SOUNDOFF!

8TH GRADE STUDENTON WHATEVER TOPIC

“Loremposto et a volupta tiissimus.Event et autatur alis endest, ute ea cus quamHarum aut autation exero coremquo con peditioreni aut quodi

delitent enditio rrov”







In 2000, the Children’s Internet Pro-tection Act, or CIPA, required that it be mandatory for schools and public libraries to protect students from watching harmful, inappropriate, and offensive images on the Internet. The First Amendment protects a person’s freedom of religion, speech, and expression, so it is said that the Children’s Internet Protection Act, was a violation of the First Amendment. On Educationworld.com, an educa-

tional site sponsored by Education World Incorporated, critics claimed that filtering technology is inconsistent and unreliable, that it does not help students’ access in-formational resources, and that it prevents students from learning how to properly evaluate online resources. I believe that internet filters can help students here by

keeping them on task.According to Slate.com, a news site that

is sponsored by The Washington Post, younger students watching educational shows like Blue’s Clues and Sesame Street can improve their problem-solving skills and school readiness. Blocking websites can make a kid more focused on their work, rather than playing video games or visiting social networking sites. An internet filter provides better productivity and al-lows kids to go online without having to be watched by an adult. Computers can help students by giving

them information online, but many social websites, like Facebook and Twitter, are usually blocked at school because they are social networking sites, not infor-mational. Blocking a website can filter out any misleading, harmful sites, so students can get useful information for

their projects. School administrators block websites because they want to protect children from viewing hazardous and explicit images. If the school didn’t block websites, many students would take advantage of using the computer inap-propriately. We should still have internet filters, but

it should be less restrictive. There are many ways to resolve this problem. Stu-dents should get assigned homework that requires them to make a movie or a graph at home, and then show it to a teacher on Moodle. For older students, they could video an experiment and explain why it happened. The younger age groups should be able to watch educational shows on YouTube to improve their educa-tion. Supervising the students is a simple way to keep the students safe. What do you think?

IS INTERNET FILTERING BLOCKING OUR ACCESS TO EDUCATION?Easy access the internet at school can sometimes not be such a good thing for studentsby keNNy MA

8TH GRADECASSIDY GOFORTH

“I like the imagery because when I read it feels like I’m somewhere else.”

7TH GRADEJONATHAN RESENDEZ

“I think that we’re teenagers and we are old enough to be responsible by not going on any bad websites.”

8TH GRADEAPRIL TOMPKINS

“I think that Facebook and Twitter should be blocked because people can argue and cause commotion.”

oN WhAT you lIke/dISlIke ABouT reAdINg

SouNd oFF!!

WhAT kINd oF WeBSITeS Should Be Blocked AT

School?

7TH GRADEJAQUICE McPHAIL

“I don’t like reading because you have to use your imagina-tion. I’d like a movie instead.”


Can you imagine what it would feel like to lose your best friend? Not like get-ting into an argument and unfriend them on Facebook, but really lose them. On Thursday, December 14, students at Sandy Hook Elementary School not only saw their life flash before them, but saw their friends and teachers get shot or even killed by a man named Adam Lanza.To prevent a situation like this from ever

happening again, each state’s authorities have been going back and forth about whether or not to allow citizens to be armed at places that are gun-free zones, like churches, schools, hospitals, etc. If this were to be passed, would it do or more harm than good?States from all over the country, includ-

ing Texas, are already debating whether or not to allow teachers and administrators carry guns inside a school.“The only way to stop a bad guy with a

gun is with a good guy with a gun,” said National Rifle Association (NRA) Vice President, Wayne LaPierre. Others argue that guns have no place in a school. If this bill was to be passed, things could get out of hand. I mean, what would happen if a careless teacher didn’t secure his/her gun(s) well enough and a student gets his/her hands on it? Or a teacher has a mental illness and decides to use their gun? On the other hand, teachers would have the ability to protect his/her stu-dents when a psychopath comes shooting inside a classroom. Teachers and guns. Guns and teach-

ers. Are these going to be a good mixture? Some states like Utah have already taken action, by allowing all teachers to carry a weapon in all of their school districts, and over the break, approximately 200 educators were trained how to use a gun for free. Not only are the districts in Utah permitting this, but last October, one district in Texas named Harrold Indepen-dent School District started to allow their educators to be armed in the classroom

also.“I think it’s appropriate for teachers to

conceal a gun only if they went through the proper training and have served in the military, but for the other teachers, I don’t think it’s appropriate because it would be easier for a student to take a gun away from them than a former military mem-ber,” said Mr. Killough, an ESL Specialist. “There is a huge difference between

having trained, certified and commis-sioned law enforcement officers who are full-time, career public safety profession-als that are armed and assigned the duty of protecting students and staff versus having teachers, custodians, cafeteria workers and other non-public safety professionals packing a gun in school with hundreds of children,” said Kenneth Trump, who is president of the National School Safety and Security Services. On Tuesday, Jan. 15, the National

Education Association, the nation’s largest teacher’s union, backed President Obama when he made proposal to have more officers/police on campus rather than having the teachers and administrators be armed, but not everyone was happy about that idea. The National Rifle Association (NRA), who proposed the idea of arming teachers, kept criticizing Obama because they wanted more guns at school. I, for one, think that Obama’s plan will

be the smarter choice because it is less likely for a student to grab a gun from a policeman than taking it from their teacher, but some teachers are/were involved in the military. These teachers have been trained for a situation like this, and it would be a smart idea if they were armed.We currently have about five teachers

that were/are in the military, including Mr. Burke (served in the U.S Army for 15 yrs), Mr. Statum (current serves in the U.S. Army - 14 yrs), Mr. Killough (served in the U.S. Navy for 4 yrs), Mrs. Daniels (served in the U.S. Air Force for 4 yrs), and Mr. Webster (served in the U.S. Army for 4 yrs).

TEACHERS AND GUNS: HOW BAD CAN IT BE?Texas school districts arm teachers in wake of shootingby cINdy MAI

On Dec. 14, 2012, a tragedy occurred in Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty-six people, six adults and twenty children, were shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary. This all transpired because the school’s security was not prepared for this kind of scenario. People, includ-ing myself, probably now ask themselves this question. What if this happened to me? Though after this incident passed, many schools began to upgrade their own security and protocols. Even here, at North Shore Middle, we are taking action in improving our security.I said that schools are now increasing

their security, but do you know what kind of improvements I am talking about? In San Antonio, school workers have the choice to take free self-defense classes from a local gym in order to take down potential killers. Back in Connecticut, numerous school districts have already in-stalled surveillance cameras, buzzers, and now lock the front doors of all schools. The Examiner.com, a site sponsored by the Clarity Digital Group, mentions that out of Natick District’s eight schools, only one had a buzzer and camera system before the Sandy Hook Shooting. During the winter break however, all schools received installations of locks and buzzers. Here at our school, we have surveillance cameras around the entire building, and now all classroom doors are locked. Though this all sounds like that it is quite beneficial for our safety, some people would care to disagree.Some people completely support the

idea of developing stronger school de-fenses, but others don’t. Several people complain that it is a waste of money to increase our security if it is probably never going to happen again. Others argue that something like Sandy Hook will take place once more, and that we should be prepared for something like it. This world has turned darker, and we are no longer as safe as we once were.Basically, I approve of the many things

schools are doing to ensure the safety of students. I hope that we continue improving security measures in every school. As I have mentioned, we are not completely safe...so what do you think we can do to protect our schools?

Are schools doing their part to protect

students?

Perspective

by eMIly lIM

8TH GRADEALONDRA GARCIA

“No, because if they have a gun or any sharp object a student might use it to threaten somebody.”

8TH GRADEALINE ALMAZAN

“It depends if they know how to use it and are responsible...then it’s a good idea.”

ThINk IT’S A SMArT IdeA To ArM TeAcherS?


Mustangs dominate Alice JohnsonSeventh graders put on a clinic versus the Hornets at home

by TAAlIyAh PorchIA

Seventh grader John White jumps to block a shot while Isaac Cerda blocks out during the fifth game of the season here on jan. 17. The Mustangs won with a score of 46-10 thanks to a tough defense and a fast offense.

On Jan. 17, the 7th grade boys A bas-ketball team played the Alice Johnson Hornets at home with the Mustangs holding a record of 1 win-2 losses. As Coach Davis put out his starters Avery Smith, Isaac Cerda, John White, Shamar Clark, and Ishmael Brown, he told them who they were guarding. As Smith lined up for the jump ball, the Mustangs won possession and went in for a lay-up. After the Mustangs scored, they quickly manned up and stole the ball and scored another lay-up. Offen-sively, the Mustangs post players were one of their main strengths with their rebound-ing. Avery smith, Isaac Cerda, and Shamar Clark continually scored points.Throughout the first quarter, the Mus-

tangs kept up a quick and effective offense and a smart defense. Alice Johnson play-ers, on the other hand, hadn’t been making any good passes or staying with their man. They had 5 turnovers by the end of first quarter. As a result, the Mustangs ended the first quarter with a score of 17-4.In the 2nd quarter, Coach Davis subbed

in a new 5 who were: Thomas Davis, Christian Briscoe, Cameron Rodgers, Terrance Helaire, and Benny More. This group was shorter in size so they were quicker than the first. In the 2nd set Alice Johnson’s defense got better and tried to stay with the Mustangs. Christian Briscoe passed the ball quickly to the shoot-

ing guards Thomas Davis and Cameron Rodgers. Overall the Mustangs’ 2nd team of offense had great movement from the shooting guards and the low post (guards are small people post are big people). Christian Briscoe and Cameron Rodgers were great shooters and made good lay-ups and 3-pointers.“I believe that our team does better

on offense because we like it better and it’s a quicker pace and plus you get your own little time to shine. So what’s not to like, you know?” said 7th grader Cameron Rodgers after the game. But the Hornets slowly began to slack off on defense and didn’t give much effort. Taking the oppor-tunity, the Mustangs scored more buckets which gave them a 26-point lead. At the end of the 2nd quarter, the Mustangs had a 30-4 score. Alice Johnson didn’t have much improvement and continued to make the same simple mistakes and as the game went on they showed poor effort.During halftime, Coach Davis said, “Well

guys there’s not much to say when you have 26-point lead so keep up the good work you look good out there. We are going to stick with the full court press and 50[zone defense].”At the start of the 3rd quarter Coach

Davis subbed in Avery Smith, Shamar Clark, Benny More, John White, and Ter-rance Helaire. The Mustangs continued to play great in the second half. The crowd

encouraged the Mustangs by saying, “Let’s finish this guys it’s almost over!” The Mus-tang cheerleaders also added spirit and excitement to the game by shouting, “Clap it high! Clap it low! Come on ‘Stangs let’s GO! GO! GO!” As they got great feedback from the

crowd, the Mustangs continued to play well by making smart passes, communi-cating on the court, taking good shots, and great rebounding. But somehow the Hornets got a steal and scored a 3-point-er. The Mustangs came back and put away the quarter with a score of 42-7.In the last quarter, Coach Davis subbed

in Isaac Cerda, Benny More, Christian Briscoe, Cameron Rodgers, and Ter-rance Helaire. The Mustangs continued to work hard and not give up. Points were scored by Isaac Cerda Christian Briscoe, Benny More, and Cameron Rodgers. Every Mustang hustled and played hard. The Mustangs finished off a great game with a score of 46-10.In conclusion, the Mustangs had a great

win because of their smart defense and lighting fast, effective offense. The way the Mustangs looked on the court showed how their coach works with them by mak-ing them run the same plays repeatedly to become quicker and smarter players. The Mustangs continue to strive to get ready for the big game by having good team-work, working hard, and never giving up and that is was makes us champions.

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NS SCOREBOARD7th grade boys A team vs. Crosby 36-39 lvs. Null MS 33-35 lvs. Aguirre 42-41 Wvs. C.E. King 64-35 Wvs. AJMS 46-10 Wvs. GPMS 47-45 Wvs. WAMS 62-32 W vs. CMS 60-52 Wrecord: 6-2

7th grade boys B team vs. Crosby 45-24 Wvs. Null MS 39-12 Wvs. Aguirre 52-30 Wvs. C.E. King 38-18 Wvs. AJMS DNPvs. GPMS 9-9 Wvs. WAMS 48-27 W vs. CMS 48-51 lrecord: 6-1


eighth grader jaylen Thomas blocks one of the opposing team’s players who’s trying to pass the ball while Bryant Badie reaches in to disrupt the pass here jan. 24. With smart plays and good coaching, the boys pulled off a big win in district play.

Mustang defense sets up big plays, leads team to victory against Yellow JacketsEighth graders have big first quarter, blow out Galena Park

On Jan.24th, the Mustang 8th grade A team boys faced the Galena Park Yellow Jackets. “[Based on practice], the team should have an outstanding defensive game, because good defense leads to easy baskets,” said Coach Atkins. Going into the game, the Mustangs had a record of 3 losses and 2 wins.The starters for the game were Jaylen

Thomas, Devonte Singletary, Patrick Davis, Bryant Badie and Chase Middleton.“I have prepared for this game by at-

tending all my practices and working with my teammates,” said Jesus Frayer.“Teamwork helps us win because it

will be possible to get easy shots,” said Andrew Bolden.The game started when Chase Middle-

ton tipped the ball to the Yellow Jack-ets, but they missed their shot, and the Mustangs got the rebound. Bryant Badie put up the first points on the board when he sank a 3-pointer.Throughout the rest of the first

quarter, the Mustangs were showing off their defensive skills, which set up more opportunities for shots that the Mus-tangs were sinking. Badie was proving to be a play maker, scoring 2 3-point-ers, and also making some blocks down

the court. The Yellow Jackets finally made their first point of the game from a free throw, making the score 13-1. The Mustangs kept up their guard, and just kept on getting rebounds that set up their plays, and created shots. The score at the end of the first quarter was 19-1. When the second quarter started,

the Mustangs picked up right were they left off, taking advantage of the Yellow Jacket’s unaggressive defense. However the Yellow Jackets started to get aggres-sive, stealing the ball, and driving to the basket for layups.The new aggressive defense was help-

ful, but it was also creating more fouls. As the game went on, the Mustangs were getting various offensive rebounds, which helped them tremendously to score. The Yellow Jackets, however, started to make more shots, finding the open man. The defense of the Mustangs was becoming more aggressive towards the end of the quarter, where they weren’t giving up any easy shots.Chase Middleton was a play maker in

the second quarter making shots and he also had a nice block at the end of the quarter, where he didn’t even have to jump. The score at the end of the half was 27-11.

by VIcTor dAVIlA & ulISeS SAlAZAr

During halftime, Coach Atkins and the players went over to the white board. He drew the offensive team’s plays of what they had done so far.“They’re going to start pushing you

J.T. and Singletary-2 is going to opposite low block,” explained Coach Atkins. As the timer counted down, Coach Atkins explained more plays to the team. The timer sounded and the team went back out on the court.The third quarter started with both

teams showcasing an aggressive de-fense, which made it hard for either team to score. However, Roddrick Coffman still managed to make a 3-pointer with a defender in his face.“Hands up, Hands up!” yelled Coach

Atkins as the Mustangs were trying to get the ball back into there position. The Mustangs kept drawing fouls, and mak-ing their free throws. The Yellow Jackets were starting to get less aggressive on defense, which lead to the Mustangs landing more shots.The Mustangs continued to take ad-

vantage of the less aggressive defense, all the while, the Yellow Jackets were making some shots, but not a frequently as the Mustangs. The Yellow Jackets had to earn their points, because the Mustangs’ defense was not giving up any shots. The final score for the third quarter was 42-17.The fourth quarter started with Chase

Middleton blocking a layup and taking the ball back to the other side of the court and finishing with a floater. The Mustangs were maintaining their ag-gressive defense with steals by Patrick Davis and Bryant Badie. Both teams seemed to get more aggressive on of-fense as the game progressed to the final minutes.Devonte Singletary made a 3-pointer

after getting open with 2:34 left in the game. The Mustangs scored once more with 1:30 left. “We helped each other put points

on the board and kept the other team from putting points on the board,” said Badie. No team could score in the final minute and a half, because both teams’ defenses were extremely aggressive. The Mustangs had won; the final score being 55-28.The Mustang’s defense set up most of

their plays, which in the end lead them to victory. The Mustangs played with good offense and defense, which helped them win with such a big lead.

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SPORTS Lady Mustangs

DEMOLISHAn aggressive offense and a stingy defense lead to big winby VIcTor dAVIlA & leo reyeS

On Jan. 14th, the 7th grade Lady Mus-tangs A team took on the Alice Johnson Lady Hornets here. Going into the game, the Lady Mustangs had a record of 1 win and 2 losses, giving them motivation to get the job done. “Defense is going to be a big factor in

the game because Coach Wait always told us that defense wins games,” said seventh grader Zoya Hicks. The game started when Summer Hubbard won the jump ball for the Mustangs and the crowd exploded with excitement. The Mustangs, however, could not capitalize and lost possession of the ball. “You have to watch the ball!” yelled Coach Wait. When the Mustangs got the ball, they were driving to the basket, and sinking shots, but as the Hornets drove down the court the Mustangs constantly were trying to regain possession, and Hor-nets couldn’t score. “Blue ball, I don’t want anything com-

ing behind us; I want everybody on a girl, got it?” said Coach Wait during a timeout. Mickayla Berguin and Summer Hubbard were constantly making buckets and were big playmakers. The Mustangs were also showing amazing defense, stealing the ball multiple times, leaving the Hornets score-less the first quarter. When the quarter ended the Mustangs had the lead 4-0.The second quarter began when Asjai

Robinson drove to the basket and sank her shot making the score a 6-0. The Mus-tang defense was having a huge impact on the Hornet’s scoring. The Mustangs kept stealing the ball and driving to the basket aggressively, constantly making it difficult for the Hornets to score. The Hornets, however, kept driving to their basket, but to no avail, they kept missing shots and turning the ball over. Still the Mustang’s main playmakers were Mickayla Berguin and Summer Hubbard, both sinking most of the teams’ shots. The Hornets hadn’t even scored yet, and the Mustangs were keeping the ball, for the most part in their posses-sion. The Mustangs just kept on adding to their lead, and at the end of the first half the score was 14-0.During halftime, the Mustangs were

talking about passing the ball more and setting up more plays.“My feelings are hurt, because will [a

play they need to execute] is not right,” said Coach Wait as she went over the play on the white board. “Things I’m not seeing, that I need to see. We have to be ready to pass more,” she said, as she went over some more plays.The third quarter started with Asjai

Robinson driving to the basket and sinking a shot. The Mustangs picked right where they left off with amazing defense, and not giving the Hornets any easy shots. Both teams, however, couldn’t make a basket, and the ball kept being turned over. The Mustangs kept driving to the basket, but just couldn’t sink a shot. The Hornets, also kept driving to the basket, but just kept missing the shots, or getting the ball stolen by the Mustang’s defense. The Mustangs were dominating on both offense and defense, which kept their lead. Neither of the teams could score for the rest of the third quarter, leaving the Mustangs with a

Lady Hornets with defense

Seventh grader Ali’yah harrison maneuvers herself defensively in an attempt to knock the ball away from the hornet point guard, throwing off her rhythm so the Mustangs could get the ball here on jan. 14. A solid defense led to the hornets only scoring two baskets during the whole game.

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lead of 16. The final score for the third quarter was 16-0. The fourth quarter began with great de-

fense from the Mustangs, stealing the ball, and driving to their basket, but couldn’t score. As the Mustangs kept up their defense, the Hornets were driving to the basket constantly, and were looking more aggressive on both offense and defense. The Mustangs, however, were determined not to let them score. The Mustangs were beginning to not look as focused, as they were before. The Hornets were able to make their first shot of the game, making the score 16-2. This made the Mustangs get more aggressive on offense, yet they couldn’t score.There were 23 seconds left on the clock

as Summer Hubbard drove to the bas-ket, took a shot, but missed. A Hornet rebounded the ball with 7 seconds left in the game and she took off, sprinting down the court, and she took a shot, the buzzer rang, but the ball was in the air. Swish! She had just made a buzzer beater, and everybody went crazy. Even though the Mustangs had won with a huge lead, ev-erybody was still going crazy because the buzzer beater was amazing. The game ended with a score of 16-4.After the victory against the Hornets,

the Mustangs record changed to 2 wins 2 losses. Throughout the game the Mus-tangs tried to keep possession of the ball and showed aggressiveness on offense. “We did good, but we could have done

better,” said Mickayla Berguin, who was a big playmaker on both offense and defense. Overall the Mustang’s defense was a big factor in winning the game.


Lady Mustangs participate in first ever

Eleven talented North Shore players take on a big challenge

Do you love basketball? Are you just dy-ing to meet some of the greatest players of the NBA such as Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Chris Paul? Well, that’s what some of our own Lady Mustangs will be doing since they participated in the Gato-rade All-Star Jam Session Invitational, Jan. 26 at Strake Jesuit High school.Now, you’re probably wondering what the

Gatorade All-Star Jam Session is. It is an annual get together where fans can meet current and former basketball greats. Over the course of a week, the NBA showcases its 3 leagues (NBA, WNBA, NBA Development), celebrate the athletes, and gives back to the Houston community through various NBA Care events. As for the fans, they can shoot, slam-dunk, and dribble all day while they compete in skills challenges and collect free autographs from NBA players and legends, and for the first time since 2006 the Gatorade All-Star Jam Session is back to Houston.What makes this special here is that this

was the very first year that North Shore competed in the 2013 Gatorade All-Star Jam Session Invitational. This invitational was a tournament that was held at Strake Jesuit High school with a total of 32 schools (16 boys and 16 girls) in grades 6-8 in the Houston area. This tournament began Jan. 26 with the 1st and 2nd rounds. The teams who were fortunate enough earned the right to play in the SemiFinals and Finals the evening of Jan. 28. The winners in the Men’s and Women’s division were invited to be recognized by the NBA at the NBA All-Star Jam Session and even meet the greatest basketball players ever, and even if you didn’t win, participants were given tickets to the Jam Session and still given the chance to meet basketball greats.The lucky Lady Mustangs contestants

were 8th graders such as myself, Madisyn Francis, Socorro Rodriguez, Taylor Crouch, Armani Lenor, Megan Strickland, Claudia Martinez, TaAliyah Porchia, and Deja Mont-gomery and 7th graders, Kaylan Hardeman, Summer Hubbard, and Aliyah Harrison. We got to the quarterfinals but lost to Lanier Middle School, but we were happy just to be participating.“It’s an honor to be competing because

not every school gets to do this, Cunning-ham isn’t even doing it, so that just goes to show you how lucky we are to be participat-ing,” said 8th grader Claudia Martinez. It’s all thanks to Coach Gordon that these

ladies had this opportunity to express their

talents out. “I feel like I have come very far in my

basketball career and made improvements. I just want to thank Coach Gordon for her coaching, it has helped a lot,” said 8th grader Deja Montgomery. She really has had an impact on these

players. She has drove them to success and taught them to not settle for average but for greatness. “I signed these girls up because the

athletic director from the district sent out a flyer and it looked cool to play against girls outside of the school,” said Coach Gordon. Maybe that’s why Coach Gordon signed

them up for this. To give them something challenging to succeed, but the real ques-tion is why Mr. Drexler gave her permission to go through with this.“A primary question I ask when teach-

ers or coaches ask me to sign kids up for something…in Coach Gordon’s case is how is it going to be good for the girls, and I think this has definitely been good for our Lady Mustangs,” said Mr. Drexler. Here at North Shore, we are given new

opportunities to try something new or achieve something new. This year it just happens to be the Lady Mustangs who get a new activity to participate in. Hopefully this is just the start of a new activity North Shore can strive to become successful in.

by leAh MAXWell

NBA INVITATIONALNORTH SHORE

BASKETBALL SCOREBOARD

7th grade girls A team vs. Crosby 5-69 lvs. Null 12-9 Wvs. Aguirre 9-31 lvs. C.E. King 15-36 lvs. AJMS 16-4 Wvs. GPMS 18-23 lvs. WAMS 27-17 W vs. CMS 44-21 W

record: 4-4

7th grade girls B team vs. Crosby 2-21 lvs. Null 6-7 lvs. Aguirre 10-6 Wvs. C.E. King 14-15 lvs. AJMS 11-9 Wvs. GPMS 2-19 lvs. WAMS 11-10 Wvs. CMS 13-10 W

record: 4-4

8th grade girls A team vs. Crosby 32-41 lvs. Null 31-37 lvs. Aguirre 42-17 W vs. C.E. King 64-31 Wvs. AJMS 36-18 Wvs. GPMS 43-35 Wvs. WAMS 28-17 Wvs. CMS 27-49 l

record: 5-3

8th grade girls B team vs. Crosby 23-20 Wvs. Null 28-20 Wvs. Aguirre DNP vs. C.E. King 36-11 Wvs. AJMS DNP vs. GPMS 13-26 lvs. WAMS 28-14 Wvs. CMS 46-34 W

record: 5-1

NS SCOREBOARD8th grade boys A team vs. Crosby 40-53 lvs. Null MS 34-41 lvs. Aguirre 46-34 Wvs. C.E. King 33-53 lvs. AJMS 53-33 Wvs. GPMS 55-28 Wvs. WAMS 51-35 W vs. CMS 37-54 lrecord: 4-4

8th grade boys B team vs. Crosby 34-49 lvs. Null MS 30-32 lvs. Aguirre 35-26 Wvs. C.E. King 28-23 Wvs. AJMS 35-9 Wvs. GPMS 51-23 Wvs. WAMS 41-40 W vs. CMS 33-44 lrecord: 5-3

Track tryouts were held on Feb. 12!

Come support yourMustangs as they sprint toward a district title. All

home meets will be held at the 9th grade campus.


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BEST POSSIBLE SOUND?Are you getting the

There are lots of headphones out there...we take a look a twoby eNrIQue goNZAleZ

Have you ever seen someone with the “Beats” headphones by Dr. Dre or the Bose headphones by Dr. Amar G. Bose? The slim mechanisms are appealing in design and performance and it’s pretty common now to see someone wearing headphones. Did you know that the head-phone revolution started in 1964 when Dr. Amar G. Bose, a professor of electrical en-gineering, set out to find the perfect, easy way to listen to music at its best?Dr. Bose, who graduated from the Mas-

sachusetts Institute of Technology, was not happy with his stereo speakers and he worked until he invented his first pair of headphones. The Bose headphones, also known as

the AE2 audio headphones, are priced at $134.95 and are available in black or white. The Bose features comfortable ear cushions, durable materials, and the AE2i model has an inline remote for calling and comes in a small bag for safe and easy travel. The earpieces also have a mesh bud inside for the protection of the speak-ers and have larger earpieces for around- the-ear listening. The larger earpieces go around the ear to block out small noises like talking. The headphones also have an expandable headband for people with larger heads. In addition, the headphones have a wire that protrudes from each ear-piece which leads to the plug. The trustful Bose brand has excellent performance when listening to music; they also have a rich bass and ok treble. The Bose are a really good brand that you can depend on for your music needs and they only weigh 4.9 ounces.“I really like these [Bose] headphones,

they are sold at a good price, and are really comfy,” said eighth grader Juan Nunez.The rival to the trustworthy brand Bose

is none other than Beats. This brand, created in 2006 by rapper and producer Dr. Dre, Jimmy Iovine, the Chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, and manufactured by Monster, also has an impressive ensemble. The Beats Solo have a well-built, sleek design that is comfort-able and stylish. The headphones are built

out of durable, flexible material which is almost impossible to break and is reinforced with a metal strip they are also priced at $199.95 and come in black, ma-roon, purple, blue, white, red, and green. The headphones come with a carrying pouch and an extra cable that connects the Beats to your device, with a remote microphone. The headphones have a good bass and an impressive treble. The Beats headphones also have padding on the earpieces, and are collapsible, which means they fold into themselves. Un-like Bose, Beats have only one wire that protrudes from the left side that is thicker than the Bose wires and they weigh only 5.6 ounces.Both brands of headphones are reliable

and very good, and they are also very popular. I personally prefer the Beats over Bose. The Bose are still a really good brand and are cheaper than the Beats and slightly lighter than the Beats.

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Tech reVIeW

If you’re an in-ear type of lis-tener, here a listing of reliable earbud/in-ear earphones.

Polk Audio Ultrafit series

Sennheiser Adidas series

Beats Tour series by Dr. Dre

Bose IE2 earphones

Klipsch S4 Earbuds

Sony EX series

Monster DNA series

Skullcandy earbud series

Around the ear design

unbreakable construction

Foldable,easy for storage

on the ear design

Foldable, easy for storage

Earbud audio phones


Catching Fire heats up HG seriesSecond part to the Hunger Games doesn’t disappointby crySTAl orTeZ

Catching Fire, the second book of the Hunger Games Trilogy, is in production and will be released on Nov. 22, 2013 on the big screen.This book was published on Sep. 1,

2009, by Scholastic Press and it’s writ-ten by Suzanne Collins. Catching Fire has been on New York Times Best Sellers list for about 4 months and I think that it’s going to be a great movie because the book has a lot action that catches our attention.In the book, Katniss and Peeta are going

to the games for their second year in a row, called to the arena because every 25 years the Capitol hosts an event called the Quarter Quell. This year they make the districts send past victors, and since Katniss is the only female victor, she is forced to go again. The arena is a clock

and every hour that passes they experi-ence a new disaster…all this in the middle of a rebellion. At the end, the book leaves you hungry for more and makes you want to read the next book in the series, Mockingjay.I wonder how certain events are going

to look in the movie with the technology and computers producers have these days. I also want to see the arena and the disasters that happen every hour. Since this book is really popular and people liked the first movie, the producers of the first movie are working hard to make the second part to satisfy their fans.I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars because

I like the action and romance. What I didn’t like is that at the end it leaves you wondering what is going to happen next, but that makes you want read the next book and anticipate watching the movie in November.

Good and free photo editing has always been a challenge until the Google Play store introduced Picsart, the free and complete photo editing app. With Picsart you can professionally edit an aver-age photo into a work of art. Picsart is the world’s #1 photo editing app on the Android and Kindle with over 10,000,000 downloads and rated 4 ½ out of 5 stars. I personally like the app because it has a large variety of options to make my photo exactly the way I want it and more. I rate Picsart 5 out of 5 stars.

Have you ever had a song that you loved blasting on the radio but didn’t know the name of it? Worry no more because with Shazam you can instantly find the name of any song you’d like within a few seconds of your time, and the app will also give a demo of the song, the official YouTube video and lyrics. Shazam has over 400,000 downloads and is rat-ed 4.5 out of 5 stars. I rate the app 4 out of 5 stars because Shazam has a special feature called lyric play that plays the lyrics while the music is on like karaoke but the feature isn’t available for all songs and some of the lyrics are incorrect or off track.

Great apps for your phone or tabletHere’s the skinny on what’s hot and free for your android or Apple deviceby AleNy guAjArdo

PICSART PHOTO STUDIO

SHAZAM

Many people don’t know about Tango, and those who do often wonder why bother with Tango? Skype is way better. But I beg to differ, with Tango your contacts are automati-cally synced in to the app and you can chat with people with special features such as ef-fects, video, pictures, and voice messages. You can video call as well which also comes with special features like filters and mini games. Tango is free and has been downloaded about 440,000 times and was rated 4.3 out of 5 stars. I rate the app 4.5 out of 5 because sometimes the call doesn’t in-form the called until the caller hangs up.

TANGO

It’s a real trouble to buy music on iPhones and iPods because it’s not free and most people just go on without music because they don’t want to pay for songs that will only be cool for a couple months. I can’t agree more, because I would hate to waste my money on a song that will be annoying in less than a month. Thank-fully Pandora gives you free unlimited music and not just the music you wanted but the music you didn’t know you wanted. With Pandora you can type in a new station and it will play you songs related to the station you chose. You can have up to 99 stations of great music of your choice. Pandora has about 950,000 download-ers and is rated 4.5 out of 5 stars. I rate Pandora 3.5 out of 5 stars because the song you chose is hardly played and

PANDORA RADIO


LIKE US! Scan this with your smartphone to see the

North Shore MS Journalism Facebook page.

Next issueWhat’s coming up in our

eighth graders: The second semester has arrived. Are you getting prepared for high school? Are you ready for the challenges?

We’ll take a look at the AcTexplore test, the results, and what it means for you.

Our next issue will post on our FB page in May 2013

NSMS choir and Band will compete in uIl competition soon. We’ll get the scoop and results.

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guilty? Innocent? Aquitted? Mr. Banks’ eighth graders will head

downtown to battle a court case in mock trial.

Thefts in school...are you keeping your things safe?

The Mustangs versus the Wildcats in basketball action. The winners and the losers.

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Track season is starting. Who will dominate this season? We’ll cover the meets, the stars and the coaches.

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february 2013

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