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By, Jada Wilkins On May 4th 2019, Pickerington High School North held their annual Food Truck Festival in Partnership with the PHSN Drug Free Club. The festival was supposed to be a day full of fun activities such as face paint and an escape room, but the festival was a disaster. For starters, the weather wasn’t the best for the festival. The cold weather made it enjoyable to be outside, so many people left within 20-30 minutes of people there. The constant rain made everyone and everything wet. The volunteers at the event were always wiping down tables every time there was a break in the weather. The rain also caused other problems, such as the mud it created. This mud was then tracked into the bouncy houses, which then made those unusable after a while. The rain also made it difficult to get face painted, as the paint would be “washed” off your face after awhile. The “Escape Room” looked pitiful from the outside: It was just a small tent with blue tarp walls. The name “Food Truck Festival” hints at the fact that the main focus of this event would be the food trucks, but this was not the case. In total there were only 4 food trucks, with two of them serving pizza. Now the food was good, but a lot of it was overpriced. Ten dollars for three small tacos? Three or four dollars for a slice of pizza? The small portions and large prices made some people go across the street to a Wendy’s for food. The only remotely enjoyable activity was the volleyball tournament, but you could only play if you had a premade team. The event was scheduled to end at 5:00pm, but ended up shutting down at around 4:00pm because of the lack of people at the event and the weather. All in all, the event was a bit of a disaster and it was a complete downgrade from 2018’s “Food Truck Festival”. If you were not able to make to the event because of prior commitments, you certainly didn’t miss much.
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By, Hope Schmidt Top (Left to right): Caden Nixt, Antoinette Tucker, Elnatan Andemariam, Ambrea White, Leslie Entsuah, Carmen Brown Bottom (Left to right): Mrs. Lanisha Simmons, Lindsay Duru, Cj Ellis, Lance Entsuah, Kamar Montgomery, Grace Lange, Mr. Sean Boone Team member not pictured: Aliyah Graham Photo Cred: Caden Nixt The final Mock Trial competition for the 2019 school year has officially come to a close for members at Pickerington High School Central. The state finalists have competed in courthouses all across Ohio to be the best school of law in the area. Real judges will sit in on the competitions and cases, listening and giving their input. By participating in Mock Trial, students will learn everything within the legal field ranging from law and the operation of courthouses to quick thinking and public speaking to even drama and acting in the case of a witness. Pickerington High School Central history teacher Mrs. Ferrington has participated in Mock Trial for 15 years with students at Central and has a background in law which she obtained before entering the teaching world.
She believes that participating in Mock Trial is a great thing to do. “You get to know the students outside of the classroom” she states, beaming with excitement. By participating in Mock Trial, students transform from quiet and unspoken individuals to confident law officials. Being in Mock Trial, “helps me to be a good speaker," twins and members of Mock Trial Lance and Leslie Entsuah tell me. “It is a lot of work but it is very rewarding," Leslie adds. And Leslie is correct. Members practice 4 hours a week trying to be the best law officials they can be. It takes hours of preparation inside and outside of the schooling environment to get everything right. However, in the end, it all pays off. This year, the Pickerington High School Central Mock Trial team made it to the state championship this year. Hard work and knowledge of law pays off. Fredrick Connor Students are always talking about ways to make money. But how could they go do this? There are many ways; some good, some bad. The students that attend high school are learning how to apply themselves in the school and outside the classroom. What is one way to help the community while making a buck? One way is by starting their own business, instead of working at Wendy’s or getting employed by Chipotle.
Mr. Moore was my first interviewee. He is the Business and Marketing teacher at our school. His first job was working at a pizza business, making pizzas. He allows some of his students to run the school store. This is a perfect way for students to learn about the business world, how it works, about supply and demand, utility, elasticy, and more. One piece of advice he gave me was, “If want to start a business, visit the Small Business Association (sba.com) to guide yourself first. Another way is to ask someone who has experience. He wants his students to be ready for when they go off and start their own multi-million dollar businesses. Jada Wilkins said that she would prefer to be in retail because she would be good at it because she’s a good people person. Most kids get paid by doing chores, mowing grass, baby-sitting. But more kids are starting to change the world through student jobs. She also said that the job would be good for her because she could also make money, while doing something that she wanted. One piece of advice that she gave was that you shouldn’t take/do a job that gets you a lot of money, find a job that you like doing because if you don’t, you'll hate the job. Kids always want more money, and they are trying every way possible to acquire it. There are many ways that students are doing this, and one way they are doing it is through starting their own jobs/getting ready for one. You should try it too. By, Graclyn Aneshansley Abortion is a very controversial topic in the media today. Many states have different laws against abortion. Women don’t typically get a say in what to do with their bodies. In my opinion, women should have a 100% say in what they can and can’t do to their bodies. Abortion shouldn’t exceed past a certain term, but not be completely abolished. Women may seek aborting the baby in ways that harm themselves. With women not being able to completely control what they can and can’t do, men always have a say. Lawmakers across America do have a majority male vote. In my opinion, men shouldn't get a say in what a woman does with themselves. On the other hand, men are incapable of conceiving a child and a woman is their only way to do so. If the man wants the baby but the woman does not, what is he supposed to do then? Women should be getting more of a say or their should be a law set across america as a general consensus, but in the end not everyone is going to agree on one thing. Pro- choice gives women the freedom to do as they please in their own skin, even though some may think it's cruel, it’s a way for women to have a choice. By, Ashlei Moorehead Michael and Alecia Flood are the parents of a former student known as T.F., who accused for sexual assault of 5 high school girls. This incident happened on October 3, 2017. One of the five girls approached another student and was telling them about how T.F. had sexually assaulted her when she was at the pool. The counselor of Seneca Valley High School overheard there conversations and immediately called the childline, which was obligated by law. The childline is a state own child abuse center that knows how to deal with situations like this. T.F. was soon put on six months of probation. On March 2018, one of the girls invited him over to a house party, and when they got back to the school she had told the counselor that he broke into her house and and sexully abused her while nobody was home. He soon was pulled out of school in leg and hand shackles and out in juvenile detention for 9 days. T.F. consequences were that, “he was released on house arrest on April 18, 2018, with an ankle monitor, and specific instructions from [Juvenile Probation Officer] Michael Trego that he could not tell people about the ankle device, He was not permitted to have any visitors, phone and could not leave the house except for therapy, which he requires to deal with the psychological trauma he suffered, and to attend church. After 28 days, he was allowed outside the house only to mow his lawn." Stated Robby Soave. T.F. was being tortured by students in the school and the administration was only focusing on protecting the girls. By the end of the year more and more students came forward to the counselor and showed the text messages between the girls about how they lied because they didn't like the “way he looked”. Soon all the allegations were dropped. Michael and Alecia Flood where astonished that the girls had no punishment from the school nor the police. After the students realized what was truly going on, they soon started a hashtag to help T.F. get justice for what happened “[I was] Completely speechless… he will overcome and we are on your side. We all have you back and will help you in any way possible. Stay positive. #WESTAND4FLOOD.” States Gabe Lawson, One of the many students who put together shirts and a pep rallies together for him. As more of this went on the school board made it clear that they could not punish the girls from thee poor decisions. T.F. does suffer from mental health problems because of the situation he was put in. Michael and Alecia Flood will still be pushing for a lawsuit against the 5 girls. Family and friend as well as many others are pushing for justice for T.F. The administration was so quick to have justice for those 5 girls but when the shoes on the other foot its “out of there hands.” By, Sophie Makhoul You have no privacy, there are armed guards standing around you, you are locked in a cell, and you are separated from your family. Where are you, prision? Wrong, you’re a detained illegal immigrant. Humanity has constantly wronged immigrants, illegal or not. They are people trying to come to America to have a better life, but Americans are so afraid that they will take all their jobs, increase the crime rate, or they are just plain racist. Many Americans suffer from xenophobia, which is summarized as the fear of immigrants, so they automatically write off immigrants as evil people who want to ruin America. It is disgusting how many Americans think that they are better than all other races. Recently, the immigration rates have gone up and the deportation rates have gone down, which means that more people are coming into America legally. The ways in which America treats its immigrants, both legal and illegal, needs to change. How would you feel if you moved somewhere looking for a better life, but were instead greeted with hate and discrimination? And what about if you could not afford to immigrate legally, but you needed to get out? All immigrants come to America looking for a better life and they just want to be able to live in peace, but we should get rid of all of them, right? I guess we just need to make America great again, right? Camille Head Each year at Pickerington High School Central, the National Honor Society, led by advisor Heather Pierano, holds a series of annual blood drives through the American Red Cross. During the blood drive, high school students 16 and over, with parental consent, donate blood to patients in need. During the most recent blood drive on November 29th, we had the opportunity to interview Mrs. Peirano, an American Red Cross worker, and a student from Central during the drive. During our interview with the Red Cross worker, we got insight on the process of the drive and how it starts. “It’s a forty-five minute process. You start with a physical. We make sure the donor is healthy. We’re taking a full pint of blood, so keeping the blood supply protected is important.” The worker also gave information on a few cautions when giving blood. “The biggest thing that can stop a person is low iron, not having enough blood. Another one most don’t think about are tattoos. Also, people that have travelled recently.” “A common misconception is size, size doesn’t matter. As long as your system pumps enough blood, size isn’t a factor.” He also detailed about cautions after blood is drawn. “After one gives blood, we watch out for the color of their skin … paleness. Color of their eyes as well. If they get clammy, start to look around, or if sweat begins to build up.” He continues describing what often turns people away from donating. “Everyone is afraid of needles. But we do it because it has to be done. The need is very high and it’s very helpful to patients.” Heather Pierano, who’s been running the drive at Central for a total of fifteen years seems to agree. “I wish more people understood the importance of it. You need to consider the benefit of volunteerism. One pint of blood can save up to three lives, so putting that into perspective is important.” Towards the end of our interview, Kaleb Gordon, a PHSC senior, gave us his perspective as a student who donated. “I was a little nervous at first, but I knew it would be okay. It’s through the Red Cross so it’s definitely safe.” “I heard about the drive through a friend, and knew I wanted to donate. I know there are people who need it more than I do, and wanted to contribute to a greater good.” “People are afraid of the needle, but once you get past the needle part, the feeling you get after, knowing you could be saving a life is just a great indescribable feeling. It was my first time, and I’ll donate again. It was fun.” According to Mrs. Peirano, the original goal of the drive was to collect a total of sixty pints, and for this drive, we surpassed our goal with a total of sixty-eight pints. Go Tigers! Sydney Phillips Breaking a habit. A task that many of us throw under the rug. Some of us may not even know where to start when it comes to this. Well, in this article I will be interviewing students and finding out some of their bad habits and coming up with ways to break them. The cause of bad habits is mostly boredom and stress.
To give motivation you need to keep in mind that you can change a bad habit into a good one in twenty one days. I kept my sources anonymous. “I have a bad habit of biting my nails when I’m nervous.” This is a pretty common type of habit. You break this by using the method of focusing your energy on anything other than that habit. If you don’t have the willpower, you can physically overcome this by wearing gloves or having tape on your nails. Another person had a habit such as procrastination. “This habit holds me back from getting so many things done.” You need to start by deciding to make a change. Mental habits are a little trickier to break than physical habits. You need to build accountability and create manageable pieces. You need to become more self aware and a big piece that helps many is putting their phone somewhere out of sight on silent when they need to focus. The phone is the number one thing that causes procrastination and laziness. When you eliminate distractions, it becomes easier to get tasks done. There are many ways to approach a bad habit and break it. The approach from professionals is to surround yourself with people who live the way you want to live to motivate you and to join forces with someone so you aren’t doing it alone. It is harder to face breaking a bad habit if your not liable to anyone but yourself. It gives more room to mess up or give up. The final approach is to remember your not perfect and you will come across some failures. So don’t be too hard on yourself and get back up when you fall off. When you start your quest to breaking your bad habit, keep these things in mind and be aware of it instead of feeling guilty about it. Breaking a bad habit takes time and will. The key is to know you may not succeed on your first try and some may need to put in more effort than others to break a habit. A good starting point is beginning to count how many times your habit occurs per day so you're aware of just how much you are dealing with. Keep a positive attitude and change your bad habits into something good today. |
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