News 5/8/20

Header Photo Courtesy of WCNC (https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/cooper-extends-north-carolina-stay-home-order/275-478643f0-5092-42bc-b1a4-c2d54b064f0e)

NCLA Ranked Top School in Area 

Brooke Bandy 

On April 24, The North Carolina Leadership Academy was ranked the top high school in the Winston Salem area and #24 in the state by U.S. News. 

Getting to this spot in the area and state is no easy task. “We, the Board, staff and students, have worked really hard to maintain a commitment to our school’s vision of academic excellence and personal responsibility,” said NCLA Principal Mrs. Faenza.

The ranks are determined by college readiness, which is how many seniors took and passed one or more AP or IB exams, math and reading proficiency and performance, underserved student performance, college curriculum breadth, which is how many seniors took multiple AP or IB exams and passed. 

The “scorecard” consists of graduation rate, the amount of students who have taken at least one AP exam, and how many students passed at least one AP exam. The NCLA has a 100% graduation rate, 85% of students have taken at least one AP exam, and 50% of the students that took AP exams passed. 

This is a huge deal for the school, especially being open for less than ten years. “We are very proud of being ranked #24 for all HS in NC.  There are over 600 high schools in NC,” said  Faenza. 

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/north-carolina/districts/nc-leadership-charter-academy/the-north-carolina-leadership-academy-200616 

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/north-carolina/rankings/winston-salem-nc-49180 

 

Final Grades for K-11

Nicholas Williford 

Everyone knows the Seniors have graduated early, but what about the rest of us? We heard that the Governor has issued an executive order that will continue remote learning for the remainder of the school year for all students. So far, this is what we know;

• Elementary:

○ Students will not receive final grades for the year.

○ We are developing processes and guidelines for teachers to use to give feedback

instead of grades for K – 5 students.

○ We intend to supply parents with easy activities, etc. to work on over the summer. Our

desire is to have our students ready to start school as prepared as possible.

○ Summer academic camps will be offered by The NCLA to work on essential skills. More

information on dates and cost will be available by mid-May.

 

• Middle School:

○ We are developing processes and guidelines for teachers to use to give feedback to

students in grades 6 – 8 along with a pass or withdraw instead of a letter grade.

○ All high school courses taken by middle school students will follow the high school guidelines below.

○ Summer academic camps will be offered by The NCLA to work on essential skills. More

information on dates and cost will be available by mid-May.

 

• High School: ( grades 9 – 11)

○ Students will continue to work during fourth quarter to ensure they are ready for the next

level course in the fall.

○ Students will decide between two options for all courses: (A) receive a letter grade for

their final course grade or (B) receive a pass or withdraw (no credit) for the course for

the year.

○ Courses that receive letter grades will count towards GPA and courses with a pass will

not.

○ Courses receiving a pass will count as full high school credit but will not impact GPA.

 

What Will the Coming School Year Look Like?

Cyd Leister

During the current Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a lot of confusion and uncertainty. One prominent question is, “What will the coming school year look like?” The simple answer is: nobody really knows.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has released a three part plan on reopening the state; however, each phase is predicted to last roughly a month and it is still unknown what the virus will do. This makes the administrator’s job of planning next year very difficult as they are forced to wait and hear the news like everyone else.

“At this point, we have no idea.  We have to wait for the Governor and NC Department of Public Instruction to give us guidance,” stated NCLA administrator Amal Wood.

North Carolina colleges report expecting to reopen in the fall, but are discussing alternative plans such as an online semester in case the virus remains a prominent issue. 

Rumors have also been heard about schools doing rotations. This would entail students to be grouped to come in on alternating days or times, in order to limit the amount of people in one place. 

Roy Cooper has announced this week that the state will enter the first phase of reopening today at 5 p.m. This being said, there is hope of a regular school year this coming fall. 

 

How Students Feel About Last Weeks of School

Olivia Brown

It’s been two months since schools have been shut down and almost two weeks since it’s been announced that schools are going to be shut down for the rest of the school year. Many people around the country are very upset because of this and have expressed this over social media and to one another. 

“I want to go back to school because I wanna see my friends, I’m tired of being locked inside the house,” Kayla Satterwhite said. 

Kayla has been very vocal about her boredom over quarantine and how much she misses school and her friends. She has said that she feels suffocated because she can’t leave her house and has to stay inside with her brother and sister 24/7, and she’s tired.

She has also said she wishes, she could go back in time to March 17, the day that we were supposed to have a two week break, and have a better day by spending more time with her friends. Kayla keeps herself entertained by playing animal crossing and doing her school work. 

“I personally want this whole thing to be over,” Kianna Satterwhite said. 

Since Kianna is Kayla’s sister, she has to be quarantined with her. Kianna has expressed how she also wants to go back to school but only for a week to see her friends and talk about how they’re doing. She explained that she keeps herself busy by doing her school work, watching Netflix, and reading a good book. 

Many students hope that quarantine will be lifted soon so they can go back to school, but the best we can do is stay inside and wash our hands. If you need to go outside, wear a mask to protect yourself and others to prevent the spreading of the coronavirus.

Sports 5/8

Looking Towards the Future for HS Sports

Jackson Faenza

On Mar. 13, High School Spring Sports were cancelled indefinitely, now we can say for sure cancelled when Governor Roy Cooper cancelled school for the rest of the year. This devastated many athletes, especially the seniors who were hoping to get one more chance to play the sport they love.

As of right now, plans to reschedule the spring sport season have not been set.

“The Spring sports will not be played at a different time,” said Shoemaker, athletic director at the NCLA.

Now with fears of the U.S. being hit hard again by the virus in fall/ winter, people are starting to worry about the fall sports. 

“As of now, Fall sports are on track to be played as scheduled.  I am almost totally finished scheduling the Fall season. Won’t really know anything different till June/July,” says Shoemaker.

Officials are now warning people to keep up the social distance and using protective gear so we can be better prepared if the threat comes back in the fall. 

Shoemaker ends by saying, “The new school year sports will be played as normal so far.  I have to plan like everything is moving forward at this point.”

Where to Hoop 

Gideon VanDyke

Many of us are bored being stuck at home with our families, we have watched what feels like everything on Netflix and there seems to be nothing interesting on TV. 

One thing that many people are doing to combat this boredom is going to the basketball courts to meet up with some of their friends and play a game.

 Outdoor basketball courts are one of the few recreational things that are still open during this quarantine. 

“Basketball is a good activity do while you are stuck at home because it is fun to play, it gives you something to do besides sit around and it is a good exercise,” said NCLA junior Nick Williford, 

These outdoor courts can be found all over our area, a few of them being Deep River Recreation center in High Point, Civitan Park in Kernersville, and Union Cross Park in Greensboro. 

If basketball isn’t your sport, many of these parks offer other things like tennis courts and walking trails. Some of them also have a few baseball and softball fields.  

Many of the public basketball courts are still open to meet up and play a fun quick game with your friends at a safe distance of course.  

NFL Draft Recap

Jackson Faenza

The 2020 NFL draft was sure one for the books. This was the first year the draft was held remotely from home. They had to announce picks on TV and the players had to watch from their homes.

“It came out better than any of us thought. I had told them a few weeks ago that I wasn’t going to judge this on ratings or normal numbers — attendance, obviously that was not a factor. It’s all going to be about, can we demonstrate that we can work from home safely, productively, which goes to the operation of the draft itself,” said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who announced the picks from the comfort of his house.

The Cincinnati Bengals got the first overall pick, and to no surprise they picked the best player in the draft, QB Joe Burrow out of LSU. They later picked WR TJ Higgins out of Clemson and Linebacker Logan Willson out of Wyoming to name a few.

The team with the best of luck in the draft were the Baltimore Ravens. They were able to get someone good out of every single round. Their first pick was Patrick Queen, Linebacker out of LSU. They needed to fill a linebacker spot after losing C.J. Mosley last offseason.

The Arizona Cardinals also had some luck when they got the eighth overall pick, Isaiah Simmons, Linebacker/ Safety out of Clemson.

Sports Illustrated gave the reigning champs, Kansas City Chiefs, a C+ for their picks. Their first round pick went wrong Clyde Edwards- Helaire, Running back out of LSU. Don’t get me wrong the Chiefs were already loaded with talent on the offensive side, they should’ve picked a defensive player, especially a Cornerback earlier.

But in the end, it will workout because they were able to snag LaJarius Sneed, safety out of Louisiana Tech. Sneed will be able to play the cornerback position if needed.

When asked about things he learned from the Draft, Goodell said, “We can accomplish things that we don’t think we can accomplish. The word I use is we have to adapt. You have to pivot, and you have to work the problem for solutions, and that’s what we’ve done. When we saw a problem, we fixed it. We found a way to accomplish it.

ARts 5/8

Is this the end of Movie Theaters?

Column by Cyd Leister

The Covid-19 pandemic has led to the temporary closing of many businesses including movie theaters, and as a result many are turning to streaming services to fill in the movie-night hole in their lives. Could it be possible that this is the end of movie theaters? Personally, I don’t believe that is the case.

People have been using streaming services for years now and the past few years has brought forth more than ever, like the very popular Disney+ that released late last year. Adding in the current world situation people have been using streaming services, such as Hulu, Netflix, and others more than ever. 

It is true that the closing of movie theaters was pretty detrimental to the movies that had just been released the previous weeks. One such movie was Pixar’s Ownward.

Ownward released on March 6,only days before the US shut down to fight the spread of the coronavirus. This was pretty damaging to the movie’s profit as only a few people got to watch it in theaters and it will not return to theaters instead it now streams on Disney plus and can be found as a DVD. 

Another movie affected is Troll’s World Tour. The movie was intended to release in theaters, but was unable to due to them being closed. It instead was released directly to streaming and renting services and some believe this is only the first of many movies to follow this home release.

Movie theaters are being negatively affected by the current world circumstance, not unlike other businesses, but I don’t believe this is their end.

Streaming services are popular and will remain popular, yet there will always be something about going to the movies that people will enjoy. Plus once this lockdown is over people will want any excuse to not be at home. 

Outer Banks Review: Cheesy, but Good

Brooke Bandy

The newest Netflix craze has literally taken over the world. Outer Banks, one of the newest additions to the long list of Netflix original series, was the #1 trending show or movie on May 5.

It has racked up a massive fan base and has people absolutely raving. Outer Banks follows a group of four friends, the Pogues, on their treasure to find the Royal Merchant, which is said to contain millions of dollars. The Pogues are John B. (Chase Stokes), JJ (Rudy Pankow), Kiara (Madison Bailey), and Pope (Jonathan Daviss).

Something that’s really interesting about the cast is the fact that Madison Bailey, who plays Kiara, is from Kernersville. According to greensboro.com, she has gotten tons of messages and love since the premiere of the show.

** Spoilers Ahead **

I absolutely loved the show. The plot held my attention the entire time, the Pogues are so loveable, and the acting is amazing. The show tackles tough topics, like addiction and abuse.

We see this with JJ the most, whose dad is abusive and struggling with addiction. This is also shown through Rafe’s drug addiction and Barry (Nicholas Cirillo), the town’s drug dealer.

The show has tons of emotional moments, but the most heartbreaking scene was when JJ blew the restitution money on a hot tub after getting beat up by his dad for wanting to do the right thing. It absolutely broke my heart.

On the other hand, JJ had some of the funniest lines in the show. In the first few episodes, he was like the comedic relief and brought the majority of the humor to the show.

One of the only downsides to the show is how cheesy it is. Some of the scenes, particularly with John B. and Sarah, were super corny.

In the last episode, while navigating through a tropical storm, John B. takes his hands off the steering wheel to hug Sarah and tell her that he’d “Rather die than go to jail,” and she responds by saying, “I’d rather die than be without you.”

It’s painfully cheesy.

But other than that, the show is amazing. Overall, I would absolutely recommend this show.

https://www.greensboro.com/entertainment/film_tv/kernersville-native-madison-bailey-heads-to-outer-banks-for-hit-netflix-show/article_974f5c17-d581-5f55-ba1a-55d0e5439675.html

NCT Dream: Album Review

Olivia Brown

On April 29, Korean boyband Nct Dream, released their 4th mini album, titled Reloading. 

Nct Dream is a sub-unit of NCT, they had a graduation system, if a member turned 20 years old then they would graduate and go to their assigned unit based on nationality, but recently the new CEO of their company has announced that the group will become a rotational group, meaning each comeback only those 7 members will be in the group instead of getting new ones. 

The group’s album has been #1 on iTunes and Melon, the Korean version of iTunes, for almost 2 weeks and has recently been announced #1 on Billboard’s “emerging artists”. So far they have sold 400,000 copies; they are the first NCT unit and 7th artist to achieve those sales in the first week. 

The first song on the album is the title track, Ridin’. The group has described this song as “hip charm and strong energy”, which I definitely agree with. One of the songs lyrics in the pre-chorus is “So many times I go beyond the limit. Burn up the road. Until tomorrow comes again.” 

I think what Nct Dream is trying to say is even though they’ve only had 4 album releases in the time span of 4 years, they keep pushing themselves to make their music better than the last album.

The 4th song on the album is titled Love Again. The song starts off with a 90’s hip-hop, R&B beat that compliments the members voices. I really like the ad libs in the song, it gives the song a sense of nostalgia and just makes the whole song better in general. The song also has mentioned their previous song “My first and last” in the lyrics.

Considering the last time they released an album was 9 months ago, I think this album was very good! It has a lot of different beats and tempos, ranging from hip-hop to a soft guitar melody. I would give this album a 10/10, my favorite songs on the album is Love Again and 7 Days. 

NCLA Staff, Students Show Their Talents

Nick Williford

The Talent Show has been released, and we got to see a lot of talented elementary to high school boys and girls, with Ms. West adding comedic relief.

We heard a lot of singing, saw a lot of dancing, and even saw some sports trick shots. 

“It was actually very entertaining and the break part was funny,” said Derek Shull. 

High school didn’t have many representatives considering there was only one, Abigail Brannan of 10th grade’s ability to play the ukulele backward. 

If you haven’t watched it, make sure to check it out because you are missing out on some high-quality talent and entertainment.  

Everyone was very talented, but a few of my personal favorites were: Michelle from 3rd grade with her musical talent, Carson’s fire dance moves in 6th grade, and Corban of 7th grade’s guitar skills. 

In conclusion, everybody has a talent and these children were kind enough to show us theirs.

 

News 4/24

To Be A Senior Now…

Column by Mason Harmon

The class of 2020 already had a nice ring to it as I thought of what my senior year would be like. What I did not realize was how my wildest dreams would have never held anything close to the reality of this school year.

Just five short weeks ago the graduating class of 2020 suffered the most unexpected and heartbreaking news it could hear, the final quarter of the school year had been put on hold. Slowly, states all across this nation transitioned classes online and the entire country entered the still existing lockdown.

As the weeks have passed since the beginning of this pandemic, seniors have taken a major hit to their morale as more and more states send out the news that the school year is effectively over for their 12th graders.

It was two weeks ago when I learned the news that my senior year had come to a close and with it, I have had to grapple with the magnitude of it all. Sadly, though, there are millions of soon to be graduates around this nation that are dealing with the exact same thing.

The saddest part of writing this column is the fact that I cannot tell anyone what it is really like to be a senior now. It is a once in a lifetime experience that every 2020 graduate will share in, but it is an awful experience to have.

I am not one to focus on my problems and make them a big deal, but at a time like this, my life and that of so many other seniors have been forever changed. The reality is that none of us will be able to enjoy the last nine weeks of our high school career like past and future generations have and will. 

None of us will be able to conclude our final season of Spring sports. Most of us will not be able to experience our senior Prom, and sadly, many of us face the threat of losing our graduations.

The very pinnacle of our high school experience and the final achievement of our teenage years is likely to be torn from us, yet so few seem to care. I hear all the time that seniors now have more free time than ever before and that it is great to be out so early from high school, but this is not what any senior wanted. 

We never wanted to have our high school experience robbed from us. We never wanted to be stuck at home under a lockdown and we most certainly never wanted to be ripped away from our school families.

We never asked for our senior year to end this way, but here we are and here is where we will take our stand as the class of 2020. We are a once in a century senior class and it is time that the world knows this.

We are heartbroken now, but we will come out of this pandemic stronger. We will let our tears fall and our sadness peak, but we will overcome this all, it is not a question of how, but when.

We are the next generation to enter college, the workforce, and the military, and as we do so we will take with us the ambitions to ensure that this disaster will never happen again. We will not be defined by our circumstances, we will be the solution to them. We are the class of 2020.

 

Students and Teachers on the New Online Schedule

Brooke Bandy  

On March 31, the NCLA announced that they would be implementing a new online schedule for students. The new schedule is: Mondays and Wednesdays are for math, history, and 1-4 period electives, Tuesday and Thursday are for English, science, and 5-7 period electives, and Fridays are open for review. Previously, students had all classes every week day. 

“I think that it’s nice. I thought that the other schedule was also fine because I made my own little schedule to go along with that was pretty similar to this one so I’m pretty happy. Because there are deadlines at midnight, it definitely keeps me on track so I can’t procrastinate,” said Junior Annie Ellis.

Having online school works for some students who are self motivated, but it may not work for those who need a schedule to keep everything straight. Online school has different effects on different students.

Some students have kept their routines the same and are very self-motivated. They can get their work done in a few hours in the morning and be done with school for the day.

Some students have no routines and sleep most of the day, do their work in the afternoon or late evenings.

“I am not saying either is bad, however, students that have trouble with setting routines for themselves or lack self control can have a very hard time making themselves turn in assignments,” said High School History teacher, Mrs. Orenstein. 

Mrs. Orenstein is not too fond of online school.

“Well, to be perfectly honest, I do not enjoy teaching online like I enjoy teaching a classroom full of students. I love the interaction with my students because I feel that is the best part of the job. However, what I want can not be, because it would put so many of my student’s health in jeopardy. So there is no use in complaining about it. I have been trying to find a silver lining, which for me is understanding Canvas better, getting better at communicating through email, and being much more flexible and compassionate towards my students,” said Orenstein. 

 

Falcons Get a Shoutout From CNN

Cyd Leister

The NCLA was given a shoutout at the end of CNN’s video Efforts To Keep The Learning Going / April 14, 2020. CNN has been offering the chance to all schools across the country to get a shoutout in their broadcasts.

 Students over the age of 13 are encouraged to submit information on their school in comments in the most recent articles or videos to get selected. They ask for the school’s name, mascot, city and state. 

“For a chance to be mentioned on the next CNN Student News, comment on the bottom of this page with your school name, mascot, city and state,” is stated on CNN’s Student News site.

Some unknown student or staff member apparently submitted the NCLA into the selection and it was chosen last week. 

“North Carolina Leadership Academy is in Kernersville, North Carolina. It is where the Falcons are flying high,” stated Carl Azuz in the video.

https://youtu.be/AMf2GmoU2os 

Time stamp is 9:18

 

Seniors Are Done for the Year

Nicholas Williford 

The Class of 2020 has technically graduated, some are happy, some are sad. 

At least they were given some sort of slack because North Carolina public high schools were told to “drop the use of traditional letter grades on spring courses for high school seniors due to schools being closed during the coronavirus pandemic”.

This is in effect because the State Board of Education approved the recommendation on April 3 from the State Department of Public Instruction staff to pass high school seniors if they were passing their classes as of March 13. This was the last day before the schools closed.

Seniors will get a note on their transcript saying that they either received a passing grade or failed those classes instead of a traditional A-F letter grade.

This is good for most students, unless they were failing, then they have to take some sort of extra classes or work with the teachers. Editors note: As of publication on April 24 some seniors in North Carolina have requested actual percentage grades from their classes to help strengthen their GPA. Legislation is pending.

The state board also temporarily suspended the ability of school districts to require more than a minimum of 22 credits required by the state to graduate. This almost ensures graduation for most.

“I feel like my whole world has been turned upside down. Everything I had been planning for the end of the school year has either been cancelled or put on hold, but I’m trying to see the positive side of things and make the most of it,” said Mason Harmon.

 

Riots to Reopen the State 

Rebecca Avila 

The United States has the most coronavirus cases compared to any other country in the world. The country is on full lock down and so are the states. After being stuck indoors for over a month, many have had enough. 

Last Tuesday, there were protesters in Raleigh who seemed to have had enough with the shutdown and were unhappy with what Gov. Roy Cooper decided to do, involving the shutdown. 

“Approximately 100 protestors with the libertarian group, #ReOpenNC. The majority of protesters were demonstrating from their cars, abiding by North Carolina’s social distancing guidelines,” said the thefederalist.com.

Gov. Cooper had decided that the shut down of the state will remain until he deems it fit that it is safe to open the state up again. 

“This Executive Order is effective immediately and shall remain in effect until rescinded,” said Gov. Roy Cooper in his executive order on Mar. 10, 2020.

Gov. Cooper also put a shelter- in-place is “an unconstitutional overreach that will kill small businesses.” according to the protestors who have about 30,000 members and are mostly made of people who own small businesses. 

The shutdown has had a massive impact on many people, especially people with small businesses who have had a dramatic decrease in customers which then lead to the unemployment of many workers. 

 “Our rights and our liberties and our lives are just been destroyed right in front of our eyes,” said the co-founder of #ReOpenNC, Ashley Smith.

On April 23 the Governor extended the shelter-in-place until May 8, and with that laid out the three-phase plan to re-open the state. More information can be found at the Governor’s website.

 

Arts 4/24

Animal Crossing Mixes Wholesomeness and Nostalgia 

Olivia Brown

On March 20, Nintendo released their new game Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which is their fifth series of the Animal Crossing World. The game has recently sold 5 million copies in the last month, breaking a new record for copies sold in a short amount of time.

“I personally love Animal Crossing, it is one of my favorite games. I play it whenever I feel stressed or am having a bad day,” Kayla Satterwhite said.

The game starts off where the character is in an airport. The player has to answer questions such as your name, birthday, etc. Then they ask you to choose a map and what deserted island you want, after that you get to name your island.

Once the introduction is finished you ‘travel’ by plane to the island , you come out of the airport and meet Tom Nook, who operates the village store. There are many tasks in this game, for instance you have to cut down trees or break boulders in order to make material like a net,shovel, fishing rod etc.

Personally I like the game, I think it has a feeling of nostalgia since many people grew up playing this game and since we’re in quarantine, we don’t really have anything else to do.

You can also play with your friends by visiting their island but you would need a nintendo membership. What I don’t really like is you have to pay a lot of bells (money) to get things. For example when you first start  the game, the player starts off with a tent but in order to get a house you need 90,000 bells and if you want a bigger house then the player needs 190,000 bells. The player is basically in debt to Tom Nook. 

“One thing I love about animal crossing is you get to play it however you want. There’s no rules that you have to follow and the overall feeling of the game is so wholesome,” Kayla Satterwhite said.

Digital Concerts are the new Normal

Jackson Faenza

Due to the pandemic, as many of y’all know, concerts have been cancelled all over the country.

Coachella, Dreamville and Rollingloud have been just some of the music festivals that have had to postpone. Some concerts that have been postponed were Taylor Swift, Harry Styles’ European leg of the Love on Tour, Luke Bryan, and Justin Bieber.

Due to this, many artists have done digital concerts for fans. For example, ABC network did a Disney concert on TV. Many celebrities went on TV and sang many classic Disney songs.

This past Saturday, musicians took part in a “One World” concert where many singers such as Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Billie Ellish, and Keith Urban played some uplifting songs for the world.

The Grateful Dead is doing an online concert Apr. 24.  Post Malone is also going live with with a Nirvana tribute concert.

Experts are now saying that they think it is a good possibility that concerts will not becoming back until Spring 2021. They do not want to risk anything without a vaccine.

What is Quibi?

 Olivia Brown

On April 6, 2020 Quibi was created and launched on all devices such as phones and computers. Quibi is a platform, like Netflix or Hulu, but has 6-10 minute original shows and movies. The app had gotten 1.7 million downloads the week it was released

Quibi was founded in August 2018 by creator Jeffery Katzenberg and is led by Meg Whitman who is the CEO, the word Quibi is a combination between quick and bites.

There are many good shows on the app, but my favorite has to be “#FreeRayShawn” which is about a man named RayShawn Morris who is a special forces veteran who finds himself in a standoff with the New Orleans police. The first 2 minutes of the show is of him getting chased by the police after that he is seen walking into his apartment trying to get his wife and kid out because according to him the police set him up. 

Everyday there is a new episode, so you won’t have to wait. The only downside of this is that some people are very impatient and want to watch the next episode immediately rather than having to wait 24 hours.

From what I can tell, it is a very good entertainment site for people who cannot focus on a show or movies for over 20 minutes.

DaBaby Album Review

Olivia Brown

Famous Rapper, DaBaby, recently released his album, BLAME IT ON BABY. DaBaby has been releasing clips of it on his social media accounts, one tweet saying “This Friday!”; many fans of his were very excited since it has been a while since he’s put out music of his own and not doing collaborations with other artists for their songs. The album has sold 140,000 copies this week. 

In his first song, “Can’t Stop”, DaBaby talks about his place in the hip-hop music industry to his wealth in forms of cars, house and jewelry. One of the lyrics says “The media blitzed and I took off and shook ‘em. Came out like a boss and they feel away.”

What he’s saying is that the media is always trying to bring him down by saying bad things about him and repeatedly bringing up things that he’s done in the past that he’s made up for but now that’s successful and he’s speaking out about it, they wanna try and twist his words and make it seem like he’s the bad guy

Another song on his album is “Talk About It”, in this song he talks about his struggles growing up and compares it to struggles now while also talking about his wealth. A lyric from this song is in the chorus where he raps, “I was six years old tryna sell candy. All I knew was how to get the money. I done broke a lot of records in a year now. Grammy-nominated, it lit now.”

He’s stating how he had to hustle growing up by finding different ways to get money and now that all his hard work and dedication has paid off, he’s finally getting recognized for it by getting nominated for a grammy. 

This album is okay, it’s not good but it’s also not bad either.

Some of the beats on some of his songs sound exactly like it did on his previous album and nobody wants to hear the same beat over again. But I do admire how he worked hard, especially when he went to jail in the middle of creating this. The songs that I like are Drop, Champion and Rockstar. I would give the album a 7/10.

Sports

Update for the Sports World

Jackson Faenza

Fans are still anticipating if sports will be coming back or not, so this is what we know so far. The XFL filed for bankruptcy due to the fact they had to cancel their season five games into the league’s first season.

The MLB is still considering starting games in May with no fans and to play all games in Arizona. The Olympics were officially postponed until July 2021. The NFL is still planning on having their first games Sept. 10. The NBA is still postponed, there is still no word on if they will return for the season. 

Now the NCAA is kinda the only league that has said nothing about fall sports. Experts say we should know about how our fall season is gonna look by the end of May. For College Football, they are considering starting the season in October, which will make it only conference games.

This would be negative for the non power five schools because they get a big majority of their money from playing the big power five schools. Another alternative would be to start the season in the Springtime, which could be a bigger possibilite than most people think. Vice President Pence was reportedly talking to NCAA officials discussing the College Football season this week.

In the meantime, you can catch ESPN’s docu-series, “The Last Dance,” about the best basketball player to ever walk the planet, Michael Jordan. Editor’s note: I’d take Lebron!

Sport Channels are also doing reruns of different games across all sports.

WWE, The Last Sport Standing    

Gideon VanDyke 

 The WWE (The World Wrestling Entertainment) is one of the only sports still going through these uncertain and worrying times in our country’s history.

 The WWE has adjusted to the times we live in by now holding Pay-per-view matches without ring-side audiences to protect the safety of their fans. 

Many people have been complaining about how WWE is still able to continue their season even though they aren’t considered an essential business and other sports are not. To combat this, the Governor of the state of Florida declared that WWE is an essential business.

 “I think people are chomping at the bit,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said. “I mean, if you think about it, we’ve never had a period like this in modern American history where you’ve had such little new content, particularly in the sporting realm.

“I mean, people are watching, we’re watching, like, reruns from the early 2000s, watching Tom Brady do the Super Bowl then, which is neat because he’s gonna be in Tampa and I think they have a chance to win a Super Bowl this year. But I think people, to be able to have some light at the tunnel, see that things may get back on a better course — I think from just a psychological perspective I think is a good thing,” said the Governor giving his explanation for why he made this decision.

News 4/3

Senior Year, Promise Turned Upside Down

Mason Harmon

As every community has started to deal with the fall out of the COVID-19 pandemic, one unexpected group has taken a major hit. High school seniors all across the nation have felt the drastic effects of the outbreak in a big way.

Seniors at the NCLA are no exception and have come to see that their lives may never be the same. 12th graders, like Julia Nolen, Zack Schmidt, and Aubrey Harmon are just a few of the millions facing changes to the final months of their high school career. 

“The coronavirus has drastically impacted my senior year. Everything was going as planned, and all of sudden it just stopped. I went from seeing my friends every day to having to call them or Snapchat them to see them,” said Schmidt. 

In addition to changing seniors’ daily schedules, it has put many end of the year activities in an uncertain future. 

“The coronavirus has put graduation, prom, dance, and finishing Senior year in jeopardy,” said Nolen.

The final disruption from the virus has hit high school spring sports, a season so many were waiting for. 

“Due to the coronavirus, I am unable to play softball. It’s the one sport I had been looking forward to all year and it’s been hard to accept I am no longer able to play it,” said Harmon.

Despite all of these challenges and changes, seniors have taken heart and are persevering through it all.

“It’s been rough handling the change but I know it’s for the better. Personally I’ve surrounded myself with family and that helps me get through everything. I also play video games with my friends to keep up with them,” said Schmidt. 

Other seniors are finding creative ways to make the most of their time while continuing to practice virus prevention.

“I have been trying to make the most out of adjusting to online classes with school and dance. I’ve been taking advantage of free online classes that I normally would not get the privilege to take. I have stayed at home as much as possible in hopes of limiting the spread of this virus,” said Nolen. 

An unexpected benefit of the changes, seniors are growing grateful for all the things they had before the pandemic and are holding a great appreciation for them. 

“I have been able to be more grateful and appreciate the little things. I took a lot of things for granted before COVID-19, such as going to school, eating out with friends and playing sports,” said Harmon. “Those things were a part of my everyday life, I never saw myself without them. Quarantine has been a rude awakening but I have learned to appreciate everyday things.”

Even with the negative aspects of this crisis, there are positive messages coming from the NCLA Administration, especially High School Guidance Counselor Ellen Hilliard. 

“I don’t think much about the end of this year will be normal. But I think it will be memorable and the class of 2020 will certainly leave their mark as a group of students who made the best out of a tough situation and showed their ability to overcome adversity,” said Mrs. Hilliard.

Mrs. Hilliard, in the end, hopes that seniors will make the most out of these uncertain times, much like they are already doing and hoping they will be there for each other. 

“The current circumstances are unprecedented and certainly devastating for seniors. My encouragement would be to lean on one another during this time” said Mrs. Hilliard. “It’s important to reach out for encouragement and support, especially when we are practicing social distancing and there’s a higher likelihood of feeling isolated and alone.”

All around, though, seniors are sharing the feelings of the whole world just hoping that this will all come to a close as soon as possible. 

“I am hopeful that, if people are willing to stay home, the spread will be lessened and things can get back to normal sooner,” said Nolen. 

 

What It’s Like To Be In The Coast Guard 

Brooke Bandy

The Coast Guard is a crucial branch to the U.S. Military. We’ve seen movies about it, seen them on the news, heard the stories, but what’s it really like being in the coast guard? 

Matt Leggett joined the Coast Guard in 1994 and stayed in for eight years. “I joined in 1994. I was eighteen,” said Leggett, “I was in for eight years.”

Leggett was a boatswain during his time in the Coast Guard. “I was a boatswain, which is someone who captains smaller boats and is in charge of deck force and also can be incharge of small boat stations. I loved it.” Specifically, he was an E-4 Boatswain in the Coast Guard. “I was a E4 Boatswain, that was what I got out as, like a petty officer third class,” said Leggett.  

Matt went into the Coast Guard thinking he would be a Boatswain, and he ended up also being a rescue swimmer. “And being a rescue swimmer was a job of mine while I was on the ship. I didn’t have a choice, so when I first joined there was a huge Cuban Haitian migration happening at that time period and the ship that I was on, the swimmer transferred off to go to his next unit, so they basically pulled me out of the pool and said “Hey you’re going to be a rescue swimmer out of bootcamp.” They knew what unit I was going to and they told me right out of bootcamp that I was going to rescue swimmer school.” sad Leggett.

Though being a rescue swimmer seems like a scary job, it might not be as bad as we think.   “Looking back at it, it was probably one of the least scary things. You don’t really think about it when you’re in the moment because you’re too caught up in it that you don’t really think. You don’t have time to think whether or not you’re scared if that makes sense,” said Leggett. 

Being in the Coast Guard doesn’t mean just lounging on a ship all day. It requires lots of hard work. “You’re always training and you’re always getting ready for that next thing … there would be times when the Captain would come tap me and say, “Come grab your swim gear,” and we would do man overboard drills 200 miles out at sea and that would be testing the new people who had just gotten to the ship from the academy,” said Leggett. 

 Being in the Coast Guard involves many jobs, including marine law enforcement. “You’re constantly doing different law enforcement activities whether it be like drug intervention or fisheries patrol. You know, everybody kind of understands the drug intervention because this always on the news, but for fisheries you may be going in and seeing if they are double lining fishing nets, which basically means they are taking everything out of the ocean you might be out on the fish holds of ships to estimate how many fish are in a hold of a fishing boat,” said Leggett. 

During his time, Matt didn’t get deployed, but he had some friends who did.  “I have friends who went over there. Typically what happens with the Coast Guard is the folks that get deployed are what are called Port Security unit, so the Coast Guard has been in every major war. So if you talk to any Vietnam veteran,  there’s a good chance they might have been deployed and been on a patrol boat. They’re patrolling over there and you know river patrol or offshore but today I think it’s mostly PSU and those are like reservists, so they can get deployed and there’s also some law enforcement teams that will go and man a Navy ship and what they do is they’ll actually do boarding in the Mediterranean, so the reason they do that is because of the Navy codes,  it could be considered an act of war, but if the Coast Guard does it, it’s law enforcement. So when the Navy wants to board a ship, they’ll fly the Coast Guard flag to avoid any trouble and it’s kind of like a loophole,” said Leggett. 

Being in the Coast Guard means that you have lots of once in a lifetime experiences, but it has its ups and downs. “For me it was the missions of the Coast Guard. It changes. The Coast Guard does so many things ,unlike the other services. Some of the other services don’t, like the Marines have a function, the Army has one function, the Navy has another function, where the Coast Guard has multiple missions that they do. It could be defense, it could be law enforcement, it could be humanitarian, like the migrations ops that we used to do, you get involved with marine protection. One minute you could be putting out a boat fire and rescuing somebody out at sea, then three hours later you could be cutting a dolphin or turtle out of a fishing net. Everything was different.” 

One of these experiences for Matt was being able to cut a dolphin out of a fishing net. “So one of the coolest things I got to do was actually cut a dolphin out of a fishing net. That was kind of fun, it was like a little spiritual connection between me and the dolphin,” said Leggett. 

Just as there were some good times, there were some not so good times. “Like everything else, you try to remember the good stuff, but there is some stuff. When you’re a junior, there’s some stuff that’s not fun, like the ships are constantly needing upkeep, so you’re constantly chasing rust and painting, so that needs to get done so the ships can keep going and function the way they’re supposed to, so that’s not always fun.” Leggett said. 

One thing Matt pointed out was mess cooking. “Mess cooking. everyone has to mess cook at some point or another so at some point you’re washing dishes or peeling potatoes, you know that kind of thing,” said Leggett. 

Being in the military gives one lots of stories to tell, good and bad. “I mean, we went to some neat places on port call when I was on the ship. A port call is when you pull into port, so we would go to places like Halifax, Canada, you get liberty for an hour or overnight and you have to be back at a certain time. So, you know, like Charleston and Key West and all these places I haven’t been to before, Puerto Rico, a lot of islands in the Caribbean, so that was always kind of fun,” said Matt. “Just the things that happen when you’re with a crew, and a crew you know really well, it becomes fun and funny too because people get this sense of humor they’ve developed under stress, so it’s fun and funny to see that stuff happen.”

Another cool opportunity that the Coast Guard might have is movies. The Perfect Storm is a movie about a hurricane and a commercial fishing boat  that the Coast Guard is trying to rescue. “I had a few friends who were apart of it … a couple of these guys did not want to leave the area because they had families so what they did was so that the families didn’t have to move, they took them from the Tamaroa and were aboard my ship, not those guys were like deckhands at that point,” said Leggett. 

Another former member of the Coast Guard is Jennifer O’Toole. “I was a Marine Science Technician. So I responded to oil spills, hazmat spills, and I boarded foreign vessels that came in, looking at the overall structure of the ship, drug busts, fisheries, illegal immigrants, how their cargo is stored, stuff like that,” she said.

She joined after high school and stayed in service for 20 years. “[I joined] right out of high school,” she said. “[I was in for] 20 years … I just got out when we moved here. That’s how long you need to get retirement, which is pretty cool because I get a paycheck for the rest of my life now until the day I die. At 38 years old, I mean, you don’t find other jobs where you get a paycheck, I mean some jobs you may work there 20 years but you don’t get a paycheck till you’re like 60 something. Not with the military, you stay in for 20 years, you get a paycheck when you get out, and health insurance which is pretty big,” said O’ Toole. 

Her first experience getting out to her ship was quite an interesting one. I got to San Francisco and my ship is underway. It’s up in the bering sea, it’s in Alaska, so what they did was they flew me to Anchorage, Alaska, and from Anchorage to Kodiak … there was nothing out there, and from there they put me on a C130 which is a military plane and I took that to this small island called Cold Bay, Alaska and this island only had 14 people that lived on it. When I landed, the pilot said, “The helicopter that’s supposed to come and take you to your ship is on another island putting out a fire, so go walk about half a mile up that hill and you’re gonna see a house. Go knock on the door, their names are Mary and Bill. They’re not in the Coast Guard but they’re expecting you,” and it was just this small island and they just welcomed all coast guard people there … I was there for like 5 hours before the helicopter could come and then the lady was like, “Okay, it’s time,” and … they picked up and they told me, “The weather is really bad out there. We cannot lad this helicopter on the ship right now, so we’re just gonna lower you down in a basket and … so we get there, in the middle of the Bering Sea, and they get the search and rescue basket that you see and they put me in that basket and they lowered me down, and then they lowered my green sea bag, which is basically my luggage everything i owned at the time and they lowered that down. That was my introduction to my first unit in the Coast Guard being dropped from a helicopter into the ship in the Bering Sea with 50 foot waves. I mean it was crazy weather. It was so cool because stuff like that just happens throughout my career and it’s stuff that I kinda took for granted as time went on because it just happened you know. I miss it more now because I know I wont find something like that again,” said O’ Toole. 

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Jennifer’s Experience at Deepwater Horizon 

One of the cool things the Coast Guard does is assist with cleanup after environmental disasters. A major environmental disaster the Coast Guard was a part of was the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. “I was at the BP oil spill. I was in charge of the Skimming Department, so I was in a helicopter everyday flying over, training fishermen how to clean up oil using big skimming equipment. I’ve been to quite a few hurricanes like Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy, Florence, Irma … so you know, I was sent to those for response,” said O’ Toole. 

During this event, the notice to leave was extremely late. “I was stationed in Seattle and I wanna say Seamus was two or three years old at the time. I was given a twelve hour notice that I had to get out to Louisiana,” said O’ Toole. 

The cleanup had three groups doing most of the work. “Something kinda scary, there were three groups to the BP oil spill. You had the skimming group, which is what I was in charge of, you flew over and trained all the fishermen and guided them to where to go every day and stuff, and then you had in situ burn, which they would light the oil in the water on fire, so you had these big burns going on everyday all over the Gulf offshore, and then you had this dispersing group. So you had this nasty chemical that they were dropping from planes to break the oil up and sink it. The thing with the BP oil spill is that nobody was communicating. There were way too many organizations there,” said O’ Toole. 

Due to the lack of communication, there were some occasional mishaps and mistakes. “I was on one of their helicopters, it was just me and a pilot, and I got there around 5 in the morning and we flew out. There was no AC, it was summertime, the windows were open all around us, were hovering down low, looking at the oil, and there was a lot of oil that had surfaced there, but because of the lack of communication thing there was going on they didn’t tell me that there was already a scheduled dispersal drop happening right where we were. This plane flew over us and dropped just hundreds and hundreds of gallons of this dispersant and it covered our helicopter and it came in and it got all over me and it burned. I did get pretty sick after that, but we had to do an emergency landing because we almost crashed out in the Gulf. Fortunately, there was an offshore landing site that we made it to … they had to get another helo out to replace this one because the engines and everything were covered in dispersant, but that was very hectic,” said O’ Toole. 

The Deepwater Horizon was a massive spill that needed months worth of cleanup and work from the Coast Guard. “It was a crazy evolution because we had never seen oil like that, that much oil, like I’ve been to a lot of oil spills but nothing of that size, nothing that they couldn’t stop the flow …” she continued, “I was there for quite a while, from the very beginning, it happened, they told me I had 12 hours to get out there … you had offshore cleanup stuff that would get to the beaches and everything, and then there was offshore at the source, so where the accident happened was where I was everyday.” 

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Every experience in the Coast Guard is different, and Jennifer really enjoyed hers. “I mean I loved it, I miss it everyday. There were a lot of things I took for granted because I was so young. I think it’s the coolest job you could ever have, hands down. I mean your office is on the water, so it doesn’t get much cooler than that. I knew I was always going to be living somewhere near the water and the amount of travel that I did, places I got to see, places I got to live, I mean straight outta highschool i went to bootcamp and then from bootcamp i was stationed in san francisco which was really really neat and i was on a ship out of san francisco so we would go underway for two months at a time,” said O’ Toole. 

On her ship in San Francisco, they would go on either northern or southern patrols. “We would either do North Pacific patrols, where we’d go up to Alaska and Russia, or we’d do South Pacific patrols where we crossed the equator and went down by Colombia. So the south patrols were drug intervention and the north patrol were fishery and search and rescue. That was a really really neat time, I mean to be so young and to have seen all of that,” said O’ Toole. 

A job in the Coast Guard involves something different everyday, which is what most people love about the job. “When there wasn’t any kind of big disaster, my everyday job was I just boarded foreign vessels all day. It started out, there are big ships coming in, they’re big tank ships or freight ships that are carrying cargo to the U.S. or we’re shipping to other countries, and some vessels depending on what they are carrying or what they’re boarding, based off of what countries they came from or the conditions of the ship, we would have to board it before it entered U.S. waters, so that’s 12 miles out to sea. Usually we would board it and take a small boat out and I jumped from the small boat to the Jacob’s ladder that hangs off the side of the foreign vessel and you just kinda jump over onto that ladder and climb up to the top of the ship. When weather conditions are bad, which you would get up in Boston or Portland … it was safer for us to get trained up on vertical delivery, which meant we took helicopters and we would repel from the helicopters down to the ship, and that was like an everyday thing. I’d go into work and we’d take off and hop onto a helicopter and they’d lower us down and we’d hop on a ship. We boarded one or two ships a day depending on what we had going on. Some boardings would take four hours, some would take 12 hours. It just depended on what type of ship and the condition and if we found anything,” said O’ Toole. 

Boarding these ships and looking for structure or anything illegal could end up in huge drug busts. “I’ve done two different two time cocaine busts. The first one we did was not a cocaine bust, we simply boarded, but it was the mothership, which was basically just a fuel ship out there that was fueling up boats that were leaving from Colombia, up to either Mexico, drop it off in Mexico and then bring the rest up by land. That’s usually what happened or it would come in by the ports, but usually we would catch them before they got to Mexico, and then from Mexico they would take it over Thailand and into the States. So the first ship was a fuel ship and in the second two ships we boarded both had two tons of cocaine on them wrapped up in like 50 pound bricks of cocaine and so we take the brakes off and put it on our ship so that was a neat story,” said O’ Toole. 

Moving around every few years is a guarantee with the Coast Guard, which can be tough. “The unpredictability, I mean I loved moving around, but let me tell you transfer season is the most stressful thing when you’re waiting to hear where you’re going to go. So transfer season usually happens in June. That’s when most people will transfer. They wait till schools are out so that people with kids aren’t pulling their kids out midseason, but you don’t find out where you’re moving too until March or April, so just a couple months prior to, so having kids and doing that was a little stressful trying to figure out daycare and stuff like that when you don’t know the area.  Sometimes there’s a little difficulty planning your own stuff. Our job was response, so we didn’t know when stuff was going to happen. So I had trips to fly back home and see family and next thing you know I’m getting sent somewhere for a cleanup response or some kind of disaster. So I loved that part of the job, but at the same time it got frustrating sometimes trying to plan your life outside the Coast Guard, if that makes sense,” said O’ Toole. 

Though transfer season can be tough, everyone is in the same boat, and that helps people to quickly create bonds. “The other thing is you always make friends easily, because even though you’re constantly moving every three to four years, you get somewhere and … in the Coast Guard, everybody’s always moving, so each place you show up you’re just welcomed right away. People don’t wait a while to make friends and stuff because everything is so rushed. The friends that you meet, I’ve got friends all over the country from just the Coast Guard, and that’s some of the closest friendships I’ve ever had,” said O’ Toole. 

Entering the Coast Guard does entail going to a bootcamp. “Bootcamp was tough. Most people don’t realize that the Coast Guard has a tough bootcamp, but they do. It’s one of the harder ones in the military, so what I will say is that bootcamp is hard for two reasons; one is that it’s physically demanding, two is that it’s mentally demanding. So the purpose of that is to put you under a lot of pressure so you can function when you get out into your unit,” said Leggett. “Physically, it was not tough at all, but it was a lot of yelling and a lot of structure. That part was hard. I didn’t have a miserable time there. It was funny, the stuff that when on, and you just can’t take anything personally because here’s the deal, everything is scripted. Everything the Company Commanders say is scripted, it’s all script. They have to memorize this huge manual of what they can say and what they’re gonna say at what week, but when you’re there you feel like they’re yelling at you personally, but no it’s all a game. It weaves out who should not be in, who’s gonna yell back and cuss out the Company Commander and it gets them out before they’re actually in the Coast Guard and you have to work with somebody like that,” said O’ Toole. 

Food is something that’s always shown as grey sludge in movies, but it’s not as bad as it seems. “Food at the Chow Hall is pretty interesting because all the Company Commanders are there watching you walk by and they’re watching you to see what you eat to make sure if you took too much that you ate it all so it’s interesting … the food was okay, I mean, they feed you well because they want you to be able to do well,” said Leggett. 

The bootcamp is nine weeks and involves lots of preplanned activities. “It was only nine weeks i’ll say the days went by really slow but the weeks went by really fast if that makes sense its like you wake up in the morning and your whole day is completely planned and you’re totally exhausted and so tired and the day just drags on and you’re constantly doing something you’re constantly getting yelled at but next thing you know it’s friday already and i’ve just got eight more fridays to go, seven more friday … and you’re just counting down,” said O’ Toole. 

Going into the Coast Guard may feel overwhelming, but the main advice from former members is to keep on a good track, get some college under your belt before joining, and make sure you’re comfortable on the ocean. “From my own personal experience, if you could get a couple years of college under your belt before you go in, that’ll help you in the long run or it’ll help you finish college. Two is to talk to as many people as you can about the coast guard including recruiters. The recruiters are there to sell and get quotas, so they’re gonna make it sound like it’s all roses for the most part, but it’s not always. Three, you should know if you get sea sick or not because a boat on the lake is a lot different from a boat on the ocean. I grew up on the ocean and I was seasick everyday for the first two years,” said Leggett. “I think the biggest thing I saw, it happened all the time, the Coast Guard doesn’t take just anybody. I mean, it’s hard to get into it, really is. A lot of people think “It’s the military I can just join it, they’ll take me.” It’s not like that, like people who are in the Coast Guard usually stay in for quite a while anyway. So you have to finish school, get good grades, you need all that. The other thing is you can’t really get in trouble. If you get arrested for anything, your chances are done. Same with tattoos, because they have just lightened up on the policy, but they had a really strict tattoo policy … they’re strict on your medical physical coming in, your physical fitness coming in, your weight. There’s stuff like that that makes it so you have to get through all those hurdles first just to be qualified to come in so my best advice … you just can’t mess up, you just have to get good grades, go to school ,finish school, all those things that seem kind of common sense,” said O’ Toole. 

 

What the Quarantine is Like for Students

Brooke Bandy

Quarantining and staying at home is hard enough, but learning from home is an added level of difficulty. Students at The NCLA began learning at home on March 18 and will be (at this time) continuing to do this until May 15. 

Online learning has gone fairly well for most students, which is a very good sign. “Online school has made learning very easy and quick. Because we don’t have to listen to lectures, we just have assignments to work on, it makes learning a lot more effective,” said Sophomore Julianna Peters. 

“I have been able to teach myself and go at my own pace which is nice, but it is hard to get motivation,” continued Junior Ally Mattingly, “Sometimes I just write stuff in my planner, but I’m pretty much winging it.”

NCLA Junior Christine Parker says, “I think online school has impacted my learning in a couple of ways. First of all, not being in a classroom environment is hard for me personally because I get so distracted. This causes me to take so long to get my work done. I think another way it affects my learning is in the way that our learning is compromised. I think by being in school we are able to learn a lot more and it’s much easier to ask questions, turn things in, and to attend tutoring. The last way it impacts me is that it’s a little overwhelming at times. Every teacher teaches different online and everyone uses different websites. With all the assignments due it’s difficult to keep track with them, when they’re due, and where to submit them.” 

Social lives are also being very strongly impacted by the quarantine. “My friends and I still talk, but it’s hard for us to have free time at the same time,” said Mattingly. 

“My social life has been pretty rough, I have used FaceTime to keep up with all my friends, which hasn’t been that bad. I miss them though, and sports,” said Peters. 

“Quarantine has been both positive and negative for me. Personally, I am a very extroverted person so I thrive when I am around others. I’ve been pretty lonely while in quarantine and I have been talking to my dogs a whole bunch. On the bright side, quarantine has allowed me to do activities I normally never have time for, such as cooking everyday and drawing on my driveway with chalk,” said Parker. “I think quarantine is a perfect opportunity for our world to just focus on ourselves and enjoy trying new things!”

 

AP Exams Moved Online

Cydney Leister

As a result of the COVID-19 virus, 2020’s testing schedules have been under a lot of change. Currently, standardized testing is cancelled, SATs are currently cancelled with the intention of rescheduling, and AP tests have been shortened to be taken online at home.

College Board is offering free live AP courses and are still currently developing the new online tests. The new tests are all free response questions to discourage cheating and will last a time frame of 45 minutes.

The exams are to be accessible on a large range of devices, from phones to computers. The content of these exams are only going to consist of what was covered from the beginning of the school year to early March.

There is going to be two dates for every exam. One for those who wish to take it when the information is fresh and another for students who want more time to review.

More information, including dates for exams, are scheduled to be released April 3rd. As for the AP classes that don’t have exams, their portfolios or other assignments have been shortened and due date extended.

Colleges have assured that these modified exams will still be accepted for college credit as normal.

 

Teachers’ Feelings on Online School 

Giddeon VanDyke

All of the NCLA’s staff and the student body have been affected by this virus and the uncertain times we are facing. 

Many students have started online classes and they are having mixed feelings about them. The teachers also are not exactly enjoying having online classes. 

“It breaks my heart. I feel so distant from my students, and hope every day that they are doing okay with this online learning. It saddens me that we are going to be learning this way for basically the rest of the year. I am grateful that we are at a school where students are still getting an education and not missing out completely because they have the technology they need, but I miss interacting with them. I miss asking how their day has been going, how their game went, what their plans are for the weekend, etc.” said High School math teacher Rachel Pillen. 

Many of the teachers feel their students are not really enjoying this new way of life. “I think for many students this is a definite shock, and one that is not welcome,” stated English teacher Kelly Kerr.  

For a lot of the teachers, the thought of being out of school until May 15th is coming as a shock but they have accepted it. “I know it’s for the best. The United States has seen a dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases, and I wouldn’t want to put anyone at risk, but I still wish we could go back earlier,” said Kerr. 

Currently, the NCLA teachers are learning how to adapt their teaching styles to provide the best education possible for students that they can online. “I think we have adapted the best we can. I think we have an advantage compared to most schools being one to one with Chromebooks. This is still new to everyone though and I believe everyone is looking forward to when we can get back in the classroom and learn.” said Pillen.

 

Arts – 4/3

English Class: The Unexpected Hope

Mason Harmon

In response to the COVID-19 education changes, teachers have become creative with their online instruction. HS English teacher Kelly Kerr is a prime example of how educators are taking an innovative approach to their lessons.

At the start of the online schooling transition, she assigned her A.P. Language and Composition class a very appropriate writing challenge.   

“Students were required to write an address to their classmates regarding the current global pandemic. Their goal was to speak to their classmates and decide what people needed to hear the most at this moment in time,” said Mrs. Kerr.

While connecting to the ongoing crisis, the assignment also utilized the skills students have been learning all year. 

“This writing assignment provided students with an outlet, but it also is helping to keep AP students sharp for their exam. They were required to use technical means of persuasion, organization, and evidence,” said Mrs. Kerr. 

As an added bonus, A.P. students, such as Juniors Kylie Tucker and Emily Vroom saw the positive effect of the writing assignment. 

“I think it was beneficial to me to get to express something that I feel very strongly about because I have a deep respect for those on the front lines of this and those who are battling it in the medical field,” said Tucker. 

In addition to seeing the benefits of the schoolwork, it also gave students a way to share their feelings on the ongoing outbreak. 

“The address was a good way to discover how many of us are feeling about the Coronavirus and we were able to figure out a good way to explain it,” said Vroom.

The true purpose of the assignment, though, was not understood until after it had been completed.

 “It helped me as a writer because I got the opportunity to express my feelings on a topic I feel strongly about and it will help students who read it next year or in years to come to better understand this aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Tucker.

After Hours Album Review

Ellison Schuman

Recently, Abel Tesfaye aka “The Weeknd” released his 4th studio album After Hours. This is the first studio album he has released since 2016’s Starboy, following the release of 2018’s EP “My Dear Melancholy”.

He took a big risk in releasing this album during the pandemic because of the lack of marketing opportunities and TV appearances. Tesfaye was counting on his fans to support him and pushed forward to release the album, seeing that everyone could use it during this hard time.

Abel ended up winning in the end, with 100 million streams in just the first day, and over 100 billion streams in the first week. There was a period where After Hours songs held the top 12 spots on the Apple Music Top 100. 

Personally, I love the album so much. The production in every song was amazing. There was a common theme throughout the whole album of pleasure, despair, and how we distance ourselves from our true selves. 

You can feel all of his emotions through every song , and his genuine feelings of romantic desolation due to his recent breakup with Bella Hadid. I truly admire his willingness to express his true feelings through his music, and gives an honest reality of all the pain he is going through.

The album starts off with his more gentle and quieter songs, “Alone Again” and “Too Late”. Both have a haunting feel to them, filled with ominous keyboards and sub-bass. It then shifts into “Hardest to Love” which has a chorus that could have been a 60’s pop single. This is followed by his slow ballad “Scared to Live” which has an interpolation of Elton John’s “Your Song”. 

Able wrote his next song “Snowchild” about his struggle growing up in Toronto, and his rough teen years. He references the paparazzi and his $20 million dollar mansion he never lived in. 

Near the middle of the album, we get to the hit songs he previously released, “Heartless” and “Blinding Lights”, which are already among the biggest

hits of his career. Then there are 2 more hits “In your Eyes” and “Save your tears”, both having an 80’s vibe to them. The former having an amazing sax solo and the latter with electronic percussion. 

We return to the ominous atmosphere at the end of the album, with the title track and the sudden end of “Until I Bleed Out”, showing that even with highs, you always come back down. 

My favorite songs out of the album are “Alone Again”, “Hardest to Love” and “Blinding Lights”. I would give this album a 9.5/10.

Movies Delayed Due to Coronavirus

Ellison Schuman

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, there have been many disruptions in the entertainment industry. Because of the inability to have large gatherings of people, movie theaters all over the world have been forced to close. This has caused the planned releases of many new movies from March to July to have to be postponed.

Netflix has also taken precautions by suspending all filming for 2 weeks in the US from March 16. This has affected shows such as Stranger Things, which is working on its 4th season. 

Below is the list of all the movies that have been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic:

• “Fast and Furious F9”
• “A Quiet Place Part II”
• “Mulan”
• “Black Widow”
• “No Time To Die”
• “Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway”
• “The Lovebirds”
• “The New Mutants”
• “Antlers”
• “Jurassic World: Dominion”
• “The Batman”

What’s on Netflix?

Olivia Brown

It’s been a couple weeks since kids have got out of school due to the coronavirus. Beside school work and hanging out with family, kids have probably been watching online streaming services such as Netflix. Here are some new and old things to watch on Netflix.

 

• Black Mirror

 

Black Mirror is a show on Netflix with 5 seasons, each episode ranges from 40 minutes to an hour , but it’s totally worth it. The show explores the idea of the modern world and its advancements with technology and how it can have good effects and bad effects, each episode has its own storyline and own characters; so you can start anywhere. A episode that I would recommend is “Rachel, Jack, and Ashley” where Miley Cyrus plays a character named Ashley O, who is a pop star, her every movement is managed by her Aunt.

 

•  Itaewon Class

 

Itaewon Class is a K-drama where the main character, Park Saeroyi, is trying to make his life better after he’s been expelled from school and his father was killed in a car accident. The show is really good and has really good character developments, but there are some episodes that are tear jerkers.

 

• Boss Baby: Back in Business (season 3) 

 

Yes this kids show for toddlers is good! Boss Baby: Back in Business season 3 was released only a couple of weeks ago and is really good. Following Boss Baby has recently gotten fired from baby corp and heavily wants to get back in the business. 

 

• 2012

 

 2012 is a movie that was released in 2009 following the events of the end of the world. The main character, John Cusack, tries to lead his family to safety while this is happening. This movie is great because we’re all on quarantine and people feel like it’s the end of the work, due to this virus since they can’t go out. 

 

 

 

 

 

The Seniors Skipped Half-Heartedly

Editorial

Last Monday, Feb. 3, the Senior class held its annual skip day, the only issue, roughly 54 percent of the class didn’t skip. In reality, the day was more of a mental health day that only some participated.

Sadly, the reason for low turnout was simple planning issues. Seniors were only informed late Sunday, Feb. 2, or early Monday, Feb. 3, of the decision to skip. 

Due to this last-minute plan, many Seniors had no option but to attend school for previously planned tests and paper workshops. Other 12th graders were not allowed to be absent since parents had little time to thoroughly vet the decision.

In the end, the day seemed quite the let-down. Students that skipped were scattered in their plans and the only notable venture for it was the choice to go ice-skating.

For those that attended the NCLA for classes, the skip day became a running joke as students enjoyed smaller classes and more time to socialize or seek teacher help. In reality, it looked like those who came to school had a better time than those who choose to be absent.

The choice to skip was made though, and as teachers said all day, there are always consequences to a person’s actions. For the Senior skippers, those consequences were mainly upset teachers, administrators, and a lack of instructional time.

Granted, those consequences were not severe, but they may become greater as rumors begin to swirl of a Senior Skip Day redo. Time will only tell if it actually happens, but if it does there is hope that it will be planned farther out and with a cohesive schedule for the day.

The original Senior Skip Day was quite the disappointment and though we may not advocate for any student to skip school we can say that as students of the North Carolina Leadership Academy we expect better.

Courtney Floyd, Aubrey Harmon, Anya Gruer, and Lydia Saunders ice skating on Senior Skip Day

We are supposed to be the future leaders tomorrow, and when our Senior class cannot plan a simple Skip Day it reflects poorly on how we have been mentored as leaders. To the Senior we say one thing if you are going to try skipping again make sure it is good.

To all the other Senior classes to follow, let the class of 2020 set the example of what not to do. Make sure that as a whole you all plan in advance and include every person’s input, it is your day as a class, let it be just that.

We are the student body of the NCLA, let us serve as leaders in every activity we do, whether at school, church or in extracurriculars, let us be the example our school and our Administration want us to be. Most importantly, do not let Senior Skip Day be the exception to it.

 

Black History is Your History 

Olivia Brown

February is a special month for African Americans. In 1915 a harvard historian,Carter G. Woodson and  Minister Jesse W.Moorland founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), the organization was known for promoting achievements of African Americans and their ancestors. The Organization then went on to promote National Negro Week in 1926,they chose the second week to coexist with the birthday of Abraham Lincoln and Fredrick Douglass. By 1976 President Gerald Ford had seen Black History being celebrated in schools,churches etc and said “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”

Jesse Owens was born on September 12, 1913. As a child he delivered groceries,loaded freight cars and worked in a shoe repair shop,that was when Jesse found his passion for running. He attended Ohio State University, he didn’t receive a scholarship and had to get a part-time job to pay for school. But that didn’t stop him from attending the Berlin Olympics in 1936, winning four gold  medals for the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relays and the long jump. Sadly Jesse died of lung cancer on March 31, 1980 but Jesse’s contributions paved the way for Athletes we see today.

Jane Bolin was born on April 11, 1908. As a child of an interracial couple, Jane was faced with discrimination and would often be denied services. After going to high school, she was not allowed to enroll into Vassar College,at the time didn’t accept black students; she ended up graduating high school at the age of 15 and going to Wellesley College. A career adviser tried to discourage her from attending Yale Law school because of her race and gender but in 1928, she graduated top 20 in her class and enrolled into Yale Law School where she was the only African American student, and one of three women. She became the first black woman to receive a law degree in 1931. She practiced law with her father before accepting a job with the New York City Corporation Counsel’s office. She ran for New York state assembly but failed. Fortunately, it boosted her reputation. On July 22, 1939 at the New York State Fair, the mayor of the city appointed Bolin, who was 31 years old, a judge of the Domestic Relations Court (Family Court)   She reminded at judge for 40 years before retiring at the age of 70. Jane Bolin died at the age of 99 on Jan. 8, 2007 in Long Island, NY.

 

ACT Coming up Soon

Nicholas Williford

The big bad test is coming up…the ACT is quickly arriving, Feb. 25 at 8 a.m. and you must be ready for it.

The ACT is a “standardized test used for college admissions in the United States. It is currently administered by ACT, a nonprofit organization of the same name. The ACT test covers four academic skill areas: English, mathematics, reading, and science reasoning. It also offers an optional direct writing test.”

“The ACT really stresses me out like I’m scared that I am going to fail,” said Michael Cespedes. Clearly, this test is stressful for some students 

There are seven good ways that you could use to make sure you pass:

1. Buy at least two reputable study books and practice tests.

2. Learn the most frequently tested concepts/find strategies,

3. Get inside the heads of the test-makers/for the answer choice processes.

4. Use the entire time for each section.

5. Plan out a reasonable study schedule. 

6. Pinpoint your weaknesses and strengthen them. 

7. Remember that test-taking is a learned skill, not an inherent gift, so work hard.

Knowing all these things will most likely help you get a good grade and accepted to a college. 

Seniors Sent Off

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Senior Night for the NCLA Boys and Girls basketball teams was on February 10th, 2020. It was the last game for Gio Torres, Joe Stoops, Richard Jenkins, Courtney Floyd, Aubrey Harmon, and Kyley Perkins.

The Anticipated Staff vs Student V-Ball Game

Gideon VanDyke

The throwdown between staff and students is happening on Friday, Feb. 21 at 6 p.m. 

This is a new idea from NCLA administration, changing one tradition into another.

“We had a parent versus student basketball game a few years ago and it got a little rough,” stated High School Vice Principal Amal Wood.   

A few of the teachers already on the roster are Pillen, Coakley, Lebrecht, and Guldberg. Another teacher that is possibly going to be on the roster is the man, the myth, the legend, Mr. Walsh.

The signups have been emailed out to all high school students and the deadline was Thursday Feb. 13.

“If this goes well, this could possibly become an annual thing,” Wood said.

Many students are excited to see what happens during this big match up.

“This will mean big bragging rights for students and teachers. I feel that there will be a good turn out for people who like competition,” freshman Luke Gallimore stated.

Girls Soccer looking for a Great Season

Jackson Faenza

The Middle Girls Soccer team starts next week with tryouts. The tryouts will be hosted by Head Coach Gregg Weigel, who is a soccer player himself. This is not his first time Coaching the Middle School Soccer teams. He has coached the boys and girls teams the past few seasons and has loved it.

“My goal as the middle school coach is purley development,” says Coach Weigel.

The season will spin off in the beginning of March and the team hopes to win as many games as possible. “I’m looking to build the varsity HS program so we train not for wins and losses but more for individual growth to better the HS. I will also work on team bonding since we are only going to be as strong as our weakest player. I use the older, more experienced players to support the younger players in their development,” says Coach Weigel.

Even just a few years ago, the Middle School team won the Middle School State Championship in 2017. “I want the players to have confidence not just on the field but off and in the classroom. Also I want kids to feel a sense of pride for their school and to give their best at all times,” says Weigel.

The High School team starts this week with tryouts and just little scrimmages in the gym due to the nasty weather. The team will not be coached by Coach Manuel anymore, it will be led by Coach West who was Assistant Coach to Shoemaker for the boys soccer team this season.

“My goals for the team are to create a cohesive, creative, and competitive team; a team that works together to overcome adversity, thinks for themselves, and ultimately wins matches,” says Coach West. 

“I am excited about this season because we will have a lot more games,” said Brooke Bandy, Junior.

One big goal is to win more games this season. Last season the team went 4-4 with only a few games. One highlight of the season was taking down Glenn High Schools Varsity Team 5-2.

“That was very fun for the whole team,” said Jasmine Cook, Sophomore.

The team is scheduled to play 17 games this year, some of them including Southwest Guilford, Starmount, Cornerstone, Woods Charter, and South Stokes.

“I hope the team this season really bonds together quickly and personally I want to improve my footwork and work on being more aggressive,” said Bandy.

Coach West hopes to be able to be a leader to the girls, “I hope that the girls will learn to work together as a team, and build confidence, in themselves and one another, taking skills with them for life. I hope that this is the start of building a program that is successful and a source of pride for the entire school, and a foundation for the lifelong love of soccer.”

Falcon Baseball Hoping for a Winning Season

Gideon VanDyke

The NCLA High School and Middle School baseball seasons are about to kick back up for the spring season.

 “I have relatively high expectations for this season knowing that we will improve from last year this is our fourth year of the baseball program and every year we have gotten better,” stated High School Coach Philip Landphair. 

The team has seven players coming back from last year, a few of them being Jonathan Floyd, 10th grade, and  Nick Hurst, 10th grade.

The high school tryouts have been rescheduled from Wednesday and Thursday of this week to Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.

The team has its first scrimmage game in two weeks on Feb. 24. They have their first official game coming up on Mar. 3 against the Cornerstone Cardinals. 

 After finishing their season last year at 5-7, the team hopes to improve and win against one of their tough competitors, Walkertown 

On the Middle School side, there are a lot of new players looking to get some new experience  and draw crowds out to the games 

“I hope each player on the team improves their game, learns a little more about baseball strategy, and increases their baseball IQ and has fun.” Stated Middle School Coach Rick Parry. 

The Middle School team has their first game on Mar. 4th against Clover Garden. Their coach really wants people to come out to the games this season.

The Middle School team only has two players returning this year, their names are Colton and Eli Godwin. 

“I’m excited for my first year of highschool base baseball with my new school  and i am hyped to see what baseball is like is at this higher level.

The Heels Will be the Team to Beat in 2020

Jackson Faenza

UNC Football went from 2-9 record in 2018 to a winning 7-6 record in 2019. With wins including Miami, South Carolina, Duke, Temple, and most notably a 30-point victory of rivals NC State. The Heels did have a Head Coaching change, between the 2018 and 2019 season. They fired Coach Larry Fedora, who later took a job down in Texas, and brought back Hall of Fame Coach Mack Brown back to Chapel Hill. 

“Yes, I think the biggest thing is Sally and I came back because we want to mentor the young kids and young coaches and be around them and that’s really important. You can’t do that without winning,” said Coach Mack Brown.

This is not the first time the Heels were under Mack Brown’s control. From 1987 to 1998, the Tar Heels were led by Mack Brown to a 70-46 overall record in that span of time. Mack Brown is a great recruiter and this is partially why Carolina has the 16th best 2020 recruiting class in the nation. They are third in the ACC, just behind Clemson and Miami.

“Let me tell you something, if Mack Brown was in that house before you, forget it, you lose,” says former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, who had the reputation of being a great recruiter for Florida State. 

In the Tar Heels Recruiting Class it has one five-star defensive end right out of North Carolina, Desmond Evans. They also have many four-star recruits including a wide receiver, defensive end from Greensboro, and a Quarterback from Arizona. This is the highest the Heels have been ranked, in the talks of recruiting, in a LONG time.

This season, the Heels go down to Orlando, Florida to take on UCF on Sept. 4. Sept. 12, UNC will pack their bags and head to Atlanta, Georgia to take on Auburn in the “Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game.” This should be a very exciting game because these teams are both predicted to be ranked in the first pre-season poll. The home schedule at Chapel-Hill will be very exciting this year. Some games including, James Madison, NC State, Virginia Tech, UCONN, Pitt, and lastly Georgia Tech.

Along with a top-25 recruiting class this year, the Heels will have third best returning Quarterback, Sam Howell, returning for his Sophomore season. He threw 38 touchdown passes which was third most in the ACC by a True Freshman. He was named ACC quarterback three different times. He also set the FBS True Freshman record and UNC school record with his 38 touchdown passes. By the end of the year, Howell threw 3,641 passing yards. Along with one of the best quarterbacks returning, the team’s top three receivers Dyami Brown, Dazz Newsome, and Beau Corrales are all returning. Along with the top three receivers, the top two running backs are returning for the 2020 season, Javonte Williams and Michael Carter. Michael Carter had over 1000 rushing yards as Javonte Williams had just a little above 800.

One honorable mention is that UNC was one out of eight schools in the nation and the only ACC school to sell out every single game. UNC will be at the top of the ACC coastal division next year and they will completely dominate. With great returning players, a great recruiting class, and even better coaching staff, the Heels might punch their ticket into the ACC Championship Game and maybe even a “New Year Six” bowl game this 2020 season.

This Weeks Scores

NCLA Boys Varsity Basketball-38

Bethany Community School-41

                                               Q1          Q2          Q3              Q4

NCLA-                                    15           5              5                  3

Bethany-                                    2            19            4                  16

Top Scorers:

Jackson Shaw (11th)- 9 points

David Hronich (9th)- 7 points

Trint Saunders (9th)- 6 points

Noah Richardson (9th)- 5 points

NCLA Varsity Girls Basketball- 36

Cornerstone Charter Academy- 22

                                             Q1           Q2              Q3              Q4

NCLA-                                   9               6               14                 7

Cornerstone-                       7              4                7                  4

Top Scorers:

Maura Perkins(11th)- 22 points

Elissa Seagers (10th)- 6 points

Courtney Floyd (12th)- 6 points

Emily Vroom )11th)- 2 points

 

 

Interviewing Little Kids

Brooke Bandy

Small kids have a tendency to say everything that comes to mind. For this reason, The Falcon decided to interview four first graders to see how they would respond to some questions. 

The wildest answer of the day was about a superpower.

“I would have the ability to just punch somebody and then they’re dead, like as soon as you punch them,” said Roman Biggs. “Or having electric shock powers. I got that idea from Infamous, I can’t play that game anymore. It has too much blood in it for me,” he continued. 

Kids have a habit of being fairly picky eaters, but also have a sweet tooth.

“I would eat all the candies I really like not mixed together for breakfast, it’s kind of skittles, blue and purple,” said Max Templeton. “I would get rid of tomatoes. I don’t like them. Taste and the moisture, I hate the moisture,” said Roman. 

“For breakfast I like eating toaster strudels. My favorites are the apple ones. My mom does that [ices them].” said Finley. “I also like raspberry cotton candy.” 

Some other kids play it safe with typical breakfast ideas. “I would eat cereal … fruity pebbles,” said Alba Martin.

“Definitely not donuts because they would make me have a bad stomach ache. Chick Fil A except one time I had it with root beer and it hurt my belly really really bad. I would get what I normally get at breakfast from Chick Fil A, chicken minis. They’re my favorite. I wish I had it for breakfast every morning except I don’t have time, but it wouldn’t be healthy,” said Roman. 

There are so many shows for people of all ages. These are some that appeal to first graders. “I have a lot of favorite TV shows, Transformers, Jurassic Park, a little bit of Cars, not really,” said Max. “Frozen is my favorite movie, because I like Elsa a lot,” said Finley Clarke.

“I have a book called the Last Kids on Earth to tell you about the last kids on earth. It’s a movie too, a short movie, it’s really good,” said Roman. “I like a lot of PG-13 movies, maybe? I did watch a movie called Batman and it’s scary, but I can’t remember why because it was when I was four.”

Little kids don’t have much life experience and they tend to really enjoy the small things.

“Friends coming over to my house to watch the new Frozen movie was the best moment of my life. We watched it like 6,000 times already. Elsa’s my favorite, she’s the only one that has powers and I like the powers she has. Olaf is funny,” said Finley.

“Yesterday when I went to the jump park for my birthday … When you get to jump in the big pit,” said Alba. “My mom and dad tickling me. Ticklish everywhere,” said Finley. 

Max __ made his own board game. “I really like the board game that I made myself. I made a  dinosaur board game. It’s actually really fun,” 

1. You start at the beginning, it’s on a dinosaur napkin
2. You start and go through an adventure and come across a super dangerous dinosaur and you fight, but if you lose, you have to start over and if you win, the dinosaur goes to the beginning
3. Then you come across this airplane thing and you have to jump over it 

“I came up with it like yesterday, and it’s not really woods it’s just two trees, you just go through two trees because i don’t have that many tree figures,” said Max. 

Birds of Prey Tells a Gory Story

Rebecca Avila

Recently, Birds of Prey was released on Feb. 7. The movie is action packed with a whole lot of drama all in the time limit of an hour and 49 minutes. 

Harley Quinn is a crazy wack-job that used to be a smart psychologist. She worked at an asylum where the Joker was housed. It was a perfect crazy match in heaven. Harley fell in love with the Joker and they soon became the couple of chaos in Gotham City.

Birds focuses on Harley Quinn’s life after “Mister J” and her broke out of prison in Suicide Squad. Its a recap of what happened from the end of Suicide Squad to the beginning of Birds of Prey.

Harley Quinn does get thrown out by the Joker and is left with nothing but pain and hate for the man himself. She then blows up where they met and the rampage begins for one Harley Quinn. 

It’s not all about Harley Quinn. It also involves new characters that seem to challenge Harley. The one thing that they have in common is one man who is new as well.

There are a couple scenes that are graphic, which is the reason for the R rating. Would truly recommend it for highschool students. Definitely not for younger people or for people that cannot handle graphic or uncomfortable scenes. 

Overall, the movie is good, with a bit of comedy, a bit of action and a bit of group work. I would rate it an eight out of ten. 

Sadie Hawkins + Neon = Dance

Ellison Schuman

On Saturday, Feb. 29, NCLA is throwing their first ever “Sadie Hawkins” dance for all high school students. For this event, it is tradition for the women to ask the men to the dance opposed to guys asking out their dates.

The theme for this dance is “neon”, so come dressed in bright colors or  casual clothing and don’t forget your glow sticks! The dance will be held in the Elementary school gym from 7-10 p.m. 

The NCLA student council is accepting donations for food at this time. They plan to have Chick-fil-a chicken nuggets catered, along with many snacks and drinks. 

Tickets are $10 at the door, but they have already gone on pre-sale, so be sure to get your tickets early. You can buy these from the members of the student council on Wednesdays during lunch. 

Marvel Drops New Dates

Olivia Brown

Recently Marvel Studios has released all the new movies that will be coming out this year in theaters or on their streaming service Disney Plus. These thrilling action movies will be Marvel’s phase 4 of the MCU.

“Black Widow ” is a prequel movie about what she did before she joined S.H.I.E.L.D and The Avengers, starring Scarlett Johansson with Florence Pugh and David Harbour, taking down the main villain of the movie,Taskmaster. The movie is set to release May 1,2020. 

The movie “Eternals” takes place after Avengers: Endgame,where a race of immortal aliens that have been living on earth for over 7,000 years have to protect earth from their evil counterparts,The Deviants. There hasn’t been much said about the movie, but one thing we do know is there will be a lot of diversity seen. The release date is Nov 6,2020. 

Other movies that will sadly not be released this year but sometime in the future are Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,which will be a horror film,releasing in 2021, Spider-man 3, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and many more.

News 2/1/2020

The Great Wi-Fi Scare of NCLA

Mason Harmon

As Friday, Jan. 17, wore on many students at the NCLA grew aware of a problem with their Wi-Fi connection for both their computers and their smartphones. Since then, computers have connected fine, but smartphones have remained offline.

With this phenomenon, rumors have begun to spread about what or who is the culprit. Fortunately, the real story behind this issue resembles none of these overblown assumptions.

Eric Gonzalez, Director of Technology for the NCLA, is the only one who actually knows what happened with the Wi-Fi network. As he revealed the reason for the connection problems came from the state’s internet connection change.

“We do a lot of the work through the state because we use their firewall and their content filter, so when they implemented the change, they were a little overzealous and knocked off IOS devices as well as Mac and PC,” Gonzalez said.

Fortunately, Mr. Gonzalez was informed of this and took the proper actions to undo the cause of the issues.

“This was done on Friday and when we came back on Monday we were made aware and then we went into the system and made the necessary changes to roll back some of its restrictions. IOS devices, Android devices, and Chrome OS devices on the student network should be able to connect without a problem,” Gonzalez said.

Since Mr. Gonzalez made these changes, and with some cooperation with the state, students’ phones can now connect to the Wifi. He is also encouraging students to share with him if they are still dealing with Chromebook Wifi issues. 

“For anybody having issues I would say come see me because I would like to identify their device on the network and see where it’s getting caught,” Gonzalez said. 

As Mr. Gonzalez addresses the remaining issues, there is something quite evident amongst the student body that should not be overlooked. It is the fact that the majority of the student body is dependent on the school’s Wifi to enable their use of smartphones.

Following the disconnection from the Wi-Fi, many students were left frustrated and in many respects disconnected as a person. Sophomore Nicholas Hurst is one of those students who really felt the pain of not having NCLA’s Wifi for his smartphone.

“The school Wi-Fi allows for me to communicate with my parents and my peers when I don’t have cellular data. It also enables me to do school work if I leave my Chromebook at home or if the battery is dead,” said Hurst.

NCLA’s Blood Drive Was a Huge Success!

By Cyd Leister 

On Thursday, Jan. 23, the NCLA’s National Honor Society hosted a blood drive with the American Red Cross. 47 students, parents, and staff came to donate to the valuable cause.

By the end of the day, 37 pints of blood had been donated, which, according to givingblood.org, can roughly equal about 12 average whole blood and red blood cell transfusion. 

“We had 36 new donors,” commented Mrs. Orenstein, the teacher in charge of NHS.

The blood drive was a great success for the school and the NHS’ as this was their first event as an active chapter.

“I think it was awesome. The fact that we had 47 people sign up, some couldn’t give blood, but at least they were willing to help out with such a good cause,” stated Mrs. Orenstein.

The outcome of this event brings anticipation and hope of similar events in the future, as well as hopefully another blood drive next school year. 

“I hope I can get more parents next year, just to get it out to the public earlier, so that we can get some parents to sign up. Other than that, I thought that everything was great. I had some seniors in charge of the whole thing while I was teaching. All of National Honor Society helped and they ran it very smoothly. All the students that came and donated were very courteous and very kind, and waited patiently. Honestly, I think it was a success,” said Mrs. Orenstein. 

Photos taken by Maia Edwards

The Class of 2020 Senior Gift Flies Above the Rest 

By Gideon VanDyke 

The 2020 NCLA Senior Class is leaving a mark on the new high school building by raising funds to build a wood-carved falcon as their senior gift in the new high school atrium. The Falcon is the school’s mascot.

The mascot is being built by a company named Maggie Valley Carving. This falcon is being carved out of wood which is a tremendous feat.   

“A small group of seniors and I came up with the idea and we pitched it to some other seniors and they liked the idea so we went with it” stated NCLA Senior Beth Davis. 

The seniors just started fundraising recently and have already raised $2,100 out of the $2,500 that they need to build the falcon sculpture. 

Another thing that the senior class is doing as a part of their fundraising incentive is that financial donors can make their donation in honor of or in memory of someone that was a big part of their life. 

“I think it is a good idea I think it is a great opportunity for students and their families to be able to show their respect and gratitude for those that have been an instrumental part of their lives.” said Senior Student Council Representative Mason Harmon.  

 

Corona Virus 

By Olivia Brown

For the past few weeks, there has been an outbreak of a new virus in China, called the CoronaVirus. The Corona Virus is a pneumonia-like disease that range from a small cold to something way more severe. Symptoms may include fever, cough with mucus, shortness of breath, and chest pain. This is a new strain of the virus because it has recently been found in humans, previously only seen in animals.

This Virus was first seen between the dates of Dec. 12-29 of 2019 in the city of Wanhan, China at a supermarket where they were selling recently cut open bats and snakes,the meat was fresh. So far there have been at 170 deaths and 7,711 cases worldwide,but only 5 cases in the United States. 

According to the CDC, the virus can be transmitted through small cough or sneeze droplets, similar to how a person would when they get the flu, from someone who is three to six feet away from you. Ways you can prevent this disease from spreading is by washing your hands, avoid touching people who are infected or showing symptoms, and cleaning and disinfecting surfaces that you have recently touched.

College Night Preview 

Nicholas Williford 

It is always stressful (for most) to talk about colleges. They are a struggle to get into and pay for.

The plan is that Families will rotate through five sessions, beginning promptly at 6:30 PM on February 11 in the new high school building.

The first session is with Alicia Dugas, Associate Director of Undergraduate Admissions at UNCG. She will be discussing college admissions. 

The second session is Financial Aid Information with Jane Kamiab, Director of Student Financial Aid at UNCSA.

The third session is a student panel with current NCLA seniors who have applied and been accepted to colleges and are willing to answer your questions, facilitated by Ellen Hilliard, NCLA High School Counselor.

The fourth session is going step by step through the Common Application, with Chelsea Orenstein.

The fifth session is learning different ways to get to your end career goals, with Doug Hathaway.

This is an amazing opportunity to learn more about college and what to do.

New Club Leaving Options

Brooke Bandy

A new semester means new block day clubs for students. Students were asked to pick a new club for the second semester and one of the options was for students to leave instead of staying at school.

The reasoning behind having an option to go home is because some students don’t have a club that they want to do, so why should they be forced to stay? “Because so many students were leaving already, it helps us to know who plans on staying and who plans on leaving,” said High School Principal Mrs. Wood.

Though this seemed like a popular choice, not many kids chose to leave and decided to stay for clubs.

“Not as many as you think, I mean lots of students like the clubs,” said Wood. “I think it just takes a while for everybody to get used to things.”

Many students love having the option to leave instead of staying for clubs.

“I do that, I like that, I like the option,” said Junior Wen-Shin Lee. “I do think it’s a good idea. I suggest that they keep that instituted in whatever rule book they have,” said Lee. “I just wish it could be simpler for middle school blocks, like them having an option for leaving if they have an older sibling that can leave too,” said Queen.

Despite all of the love, some students have not liked the new choice as much. “I think it’s a good idea for anyone who doesn’t have younger siblings. For someone like me, I can’t really do it because I have to take my sister home, so I have to join a club,” said Junior Megan Queen.

The club rule only allows upperclassmen to leave, but it doesn’t seem to bother some of the underclassmen.

“We’re not able to leave because we’re sophomores. I mean, if you don’t want to be here for an hour and a half, then go home, like don’t feel obligated to be apart of something you don’t want to be apart of,” said Sophomore Nora Wood.

One of the most popular clubs was flag football and has continued to be a student favorite. “We have tons of kids playing flag football, and the clubs are fun, so I think the kids that stayed had a good time,” said Wood.

Caffeine is My Life Line

Column by Ellison Schuman

I’m addicted to caffeine. No exaggeration. Most people at this school know me for one reason: my obsession with Monster Energy. I have been in love with this drink since freshman year. Monster single-handedly gets me through anything. Anytime I’m feeling down or just exhausted, I drink a Monster Energy and I feel so much better. 

On a good day, I’ll drink about 2 monsters, a couple of Mr. Pibbs, and a coffee. That’s about 600 mg of caffeine a day. That sounds like a lot, but I need it.  Mainly because I’m not big on the whole “water” thing. Not a fan.

People tell me all the time how bad Monster is for you and how it’s “destroying my body”, but I strongly disagree. Yes, I know it has chemicals in it that probably aren’t the best, but I enjoy it and it makes me feel like I can do anything. You can’t say anything bad about that.

 I know for a fact there are students here that agree with me about how caffeine is their “fuel”. People like me really depend on caffeine to get through their day. (Teachers especially.)

“I have to drink coffee every day or I’ll get a phat headache.” Said Junior, Olivia Haltom.

As an attempt to rid her caffeine addiction, Mrs. Birchenough has decided to use an alternative:

“I’ve been weening myself off of coffee and have started drinking Yerba Mate (type of tea) mainly because I’m trying to lessen my caffeine intake.

Olivia’s Style is Better Than Yours

(Spring Trends)

Olivia Brown

Spring is on its way and people are excited to see what new things are going to happen this year. Trends are things that people love to keep up with because they want to help build credibility and value for themselves.

1. Disney Plus

Disney Plus has come out with so many old shows that people use to watch as a kid and creating new content that people will love. So far in 2020, Disney Plus has put out multiple original contents such as The Mandalorian, High School Musical: The Series, Monsters at Work, etc. This year there will be many more shows such as The Mandalorian getting renewed for season 2, Lizzie McGuire reboot, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, etc.

2. Albums

This year there are going to be a lot of music for this year. One album that people are excited to hear is Justin Bieber’s 5th album “Changes” being released on February 14th. Another album being released is BTS’ album “Map of the Soul: 7” being released on February 21 and having a tour starting at the beginning of April.

3. Fashion

Fashion has always been apart of people’s lives, it’s people’s way to express themselves. There are old trends coming back this year such as Tube Tops and Black and White outfits. Tube Tops used to be fashionable in the 90s but now it’s making its way back into 2020. People also really enjoy Black and White striped outfits aka ‘Yin & Yang’

Kindness Week

Ellison Schuman

Restructuring the NCLA Athletic Program

Mason Harmon

As many students have noticed, this school year is one of transitions. The transition between buildings, the transition between grades, and the transition of the NCLA’s sports program.

Craig Shoemaker, Athletic Director, for the school is the main person spearheading this time of sports transition. His hope is to create a stable athletic program that will become apart of the NCLA’s core.

“I think what you’re going to start seeing is as we start to put down roots in the high school there will be a lot more stability in the coaching situations,” Shoemaker said. “There is nothing wrong with community coaches, but there will always be some transition with community coaches compared to when you have teachers serving as coaches. The more teachers we have on-staff coaching the more stability, the school will have as far as sports programs go.”

A part of the desire for stability is Mr. Shoemaker keeping his mind open about potential coach criteria.

“It is a great opportunity here at this school for people that may have thought about coaching but never approached it. A lot of the kids we coach are really of decent character and in some cases we’ll overlook some of the flaws or lack of knowledge that people may have,” Shoemaker said. 

The only requirements Mr. Shoemaker has for future coaches is a spirit of willingness and a dedicated attitude.

“If you’re a hard worker and you want to make a difference, this is a great opportunity that coaches can get their feet wet or even if they have a lot of experience they can be successful,” Shoemaker said. 

Amanda Bergsma, the high school nutrition teacher, is a key example of Mr. Shoemaker’s new athletic aspirations since she is one of the NCLA’s newest coaches. This year she served as the Assistant Basketball Coach for the girl’s team and during her time in this role she found a true enjoyment for it.  

“It was very good. I have had experience coaching younger leagues and things like that, so it was nice to be with the upper level and I played basketball in High School so it was really nice to get back to my love to that,” Bergsma said. 

With Mr. Shoemaker’s push to recruit driven and aspiring coaches, he is also pitching the great impact of serving as a coach. 

“A lot of it is not going to be seen right away. A lot of it is going to be things that will be felt years from now because coaching is one of those things,” Shoemaker said. “Yes there is an immediate result from wins and losses, but the impact comes a lot later and not only that, sometimes you may not see it, sometimes you hear about it much later.” 

In her stint as Assistant Girls Basketball Coach, Mrs. Bergsma learned what it is like to be a high school coach, but most importantly how rewarding it is. 

“I think one of the biggest things is just finding that balance especially if you’re a new teacher. That’s something I’ve kinda been struggling with and working on, but if it’s something that you love and you’re passionate about there’s nothing more rewarding than seeing that in your students,” Bergsma said.

As changes are being made though, each season is another step in the direction for a better high school athletic program. With the winter sport season coming to a close, all eyes are on what changes will be seen in the Spring season and most importantly what coaches will make their debut. 

Chiefs First Super Bowl Since 1970

Jackson Faenza

The Chiefs and 49ers will face off February 2 at the 2020 Super Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. It is one of the most watched televised events of the year. This year, its gonna host two teams that have really earned it this year.

Talking about the opposing 49ers team, Chiefs Head Coach Reid said, “I know that they’re a good, solid football team. They play hard and aggressive. You saw that last night in playing against a good Green Bay team. They do a variety of things on both sides of the ball. They can run it and they can pass it on the offensive side. On defense, they have a variety of things that they throw at you from a defensive standpoint. Solid on special teams. All in all, it’s a good football team. Well-coached, very well-coached.”

The Chiefs are going into this game with one of the most explosive offense in the nation. On the other side, the 49ers have the best defense in the nation. They have allowed 252 yards per game in the postseason. 

In the postseason, there were three interceptions for the 49er defense. Nick Bosa had three sacks for the 49ers, became the first 49er rookie to have three or more sacks in first postseason. 49er Raheem Mostert, is the only player in the NFL ever to have about 200 rushing yards and four touchdowns in a postseason game. The defense lastly had six sacks against the Vikings, which was the most in Franchise History.

In the postseason, the Chiefs had eight touchdowns thrown by Mahomes. Eight sacks were recorded by the Chief defense. They also had a 10-point comeback victory over the Titans in the AFC championship. The had another 24-point comeback victory over the Texans in the AFC divisional round game. The Chiefs has scored 86 points in the postseason. 

This will be the first Chiefs Super Bowl Game appearance since 1970. They beat the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV. This will be San Francisco’s seventh Super Bowl. In 1981-1994 went to the Super Bowl went straight to the championship and won all five of them. If the 49ers win, they will tie with the Patriots and Steelers for most Super Bowl wins. 

“Just knowing what to expect. I’ve been through the process before, knowing what’s down there, knowing how it goes just media-wise, the extra commitments you have. You want to keep everything the same, which you try as hard as you can, but it is the Super Bowl. There are some different commitments you have to go to, so knowing the things that will be different already is good for guys who have been there, whether it’s a coach or player,” said Head Coach Shanahan of the 49ers.

Jackson’s Prediction: 31-27 Chiefs

The NCLA Falcons Wrestling Season Goes Out With a Bang

Gideon Van Dyke

The NCLA falcons Wrestling Team wrestled their last official match before regionals this past Tuesday night at Wesleyan Christian Academy. 

The match at Wesleyan was a quad match meaning there were four teams present and each team wrestled Middle and High School matches making the match go on for many hours.  Some highlights of the night were Isaac Woodlief won most of his matches with a pin. 

Before the match head coach Mat Tuddle stated, “Let’s wrestle just as hard as we did in our last match and as we did on our first match lets go make all the effort we have put in this season pay off let’s leave it all on the mat.” 

The team only had five wrestlers and out of them, only two wrestled. The matches that were wrestled were only in the lighter weight classes. Isaac Woodlief, the teams 152, and Chris Hungerford, the teams 120, got some good mat time the teams 220 and heavyweight wrestles ended up with three forfeits that night. 

The team has grown in many ways since the season has begun they started with almost 18 wrestlers and due to injuries and some people quitting the team was down to seven wrestlers. 

When asked about his favorite memories of this past season, Sophomore Nick Hurst stated, “My favorite memory with the boys is when we were bumping to Sweet Home Alabama on the bus on the way to a match.”

Last Game for Senior Boys and Girls

Nicholas Williford

The boys’ basketball game, at 7:30 pm on February 7th, is versus Bethany Community. The girls’ game starts earlier at 6 pm. 

Both teams have never played against each other before, due to Bethany Community being a relatively new school.

“I am hyped to play them and we have been practicing very hard to win this game,” said Richard Jenkins.

The boys currently have a record 8 – 18 and the girls are at 10 – 14. 

“I think we are going to do good,” said Michael Cespedes.

Many students are looking forward to this game, and are sure that the Falcons are not going to disappoint.

The gym will probably be packed so it is best to be there early, and make sure to have snacks on hand  for an interesting game.

 

This Weeks Scores

NCLA Boys Varsity Basketball-45

Nobel Academy-41

                                               Q1          Q2          Q3              Q4

NCLA-                                    10           12            9                11

Noble-                                    15            11           4                 11

Top Scorers:

Jackson Shaw (11th)- 14 points

Derek Shull (11th)- 13 points

Noah Richardson (11th)- 4 points

Cade Shoemaker (9th)- 3 points

NCLA Varsity Girls Basketball- 36

Cornerstone Charter Academy- 22

                                             Q1           Q2              Q3              Q4

NCLA-                                   9               6               14                 7

Cornerstone-                       7              4                7                  4

Top Scorers:

Maura Perkins(11th)- 22 points

Elissa Seagers (10th)- 6 points

Courtney Floyd (12th)- 6 points

Emily Vroom )11th)- 2 points

 

 

News 1-17-2020

A FALCON SPECIAL REPORT

New Backpack Rule Causes Debate in Middle School

Brooke Bandy / Ellison Schuman

There has recently been turmoil in the middle school over a rule stating that students are not allowed to carry their backpacks unless they are going to class in another building. Students are currently trying to overturn the rule by gaining support from administration and the high school student council. 

“This is something they’ve been doing for the whole year, it started when some of them were in the other building about creating space and keeping space and not having things too crowded in the end and now I think with moving into the new building with everybody’s lockers here they’ve wanted to try and maintain that. Actually I’ll take that back it was this way because the lockers were so spread out earlier in the year they were allowed to have their backpacks and now they’ve come in here and  the lockers are all close so they’ve wanted to keep backpacks in the lockers so that space is kind of saved and that makes it easier to walk around,” said Middle School Principal Mr. Lebrecht.

“I think some of the issues came up when some of the middle school students had classes out in the high school I’ve talked to several students who have classes out there, say they have first period out there and come back here for second period and then back out for third and back in for fourth, so it was becoming an issue of back and forth with that, so we’ve tried to work with those students to help with that and ease that,” said Lebrecht.

Along with the back and forth, some students might have a harder time remembering everything they need for a certain class and are left without their materials. 

“Some kids in middle school are not organized enough to know what they need for every class and then they find that they don’t have what they need, but the other side of that being that they [backpacks] don’t fit in the lockers  and so you see the lockers have not been closing so that’s an issue as well,” said High School Principal Mrs. Wood. 

This is a rule that has been enforced by teachers, not by the school’s administration.

“It is more of a teacher rule it’s definitely not a school rule … we’re going to give the students a chance to voice their opinions and see how that works,” said Lebrecht. 

“I’ve always been one that never really worried about backpacks. When I taught, backpacks never bothered me. I just asked students to keep them under their desks and I think that if a student should want to carry their backpack they should, so we’ll see what happens,” Lebrecht continued. 

According to students that The Falcon spoke with, most dislike the rule and want it to be overturned. 

“The rule is so stupid because I am always forgetting things in my locker so I’m here without my laptop and notebooks sometimes,” said eighth grader Ariana Elliot. 

The Falcon reached out to multiple middle school teachers, two of which had no comment, but Mrs. Kawalec went on record to discuss the issue. 

“I can see both sides of the issue. On one hand, the bags clutter the classrooms and students have easy access to their phones and snacks. And on the other hand it would be more convenient for students to carry stuff from room to room,” said Mrs. Kawalec. 

According to sources, there does seem to be a resolution on the way. 

“I think there’s lots of solutions. I think if the teachers and the kids work together they’d probably be able to come up with one. Like I said, not everybody wants one, so if you only have some kids in the class with bookbags, the ones who don’t need one probably won’t have as much and if there are rules in place for no lunch bags and no string bags, I think that would work out,” said Wood. 

“I think we should be able to come up with a solution, honestly, if the teachers and students work together they’ll come up with something that works.”

NHS’s First Act: Giving to Those in Need, Literally 

Mason Harmon

This coming Thursday, Jan. 23, the NCLA’s National Honor Society chapter will be hosting the school’s second blood drive. As anticipation builds for the event many are reflecting on the purpose of it.

NHS sponsor Chelsie Orenstein is one of those centered around the need for NHS’ sponsorship of the event because it serves such a great purpose.  

“I think it’s really important to host blood drives just because the blood bank needs donations, especially now when they’re critically low. It’s just one of the small ways we can help our own community,” Mrs. Orenstein said.

In addition to having the goal of giving back, in my mind, there is also the need for student support before and during the event.

“By just getting the word out that we need donors and by donating blood, the high schoolers can be extremely helpful,” Mrs. Orenstein said. 

As a part of the preparations for the blood drive, there are also some recommendations offered by Red Cross Account Representative Millicent Lambert. These are pointed toward donors in what they should consume before they donate and the practices they should take before coming in to give. 

“Have iron-rich foods, such as red meat, fish, poultry, beans, spinach, iron-fortified cereals or raisins. Get a good night’s sleep the night before your donation, eat healthy foods and drink extra liquids. Wear a shirt with sleeves that you can roll up above your elbows,” Ms. Lambert said.

Even with tips given, donating blood can be a little nerve-wracking or even confusing to those first-time donors. Thankfully, though, the Red Cross discloses the entire process of donating so everyone can be prepared.

The first step in the donation process is registration.

“You’ll be asked to show ID, such as your driver’s license. You’ll read some information about donating blood.”

After that, donors will be asked about their health history.

“You’ll answer a few questions about your health history and places you’ve traveled, during a private and confidential interview. We’ll check your temperature, pulse, blood pressure and hemoglobin level,” Ms. Lambert said.

Following the health check-up will come the actual donation.

“We’ll cleanse an area on your arm before the needle prick. (This feels like a quick pinch and is over in a second). For whole blood donation, the process takes about 10 minutes, during which you’ll be seated comfortably or lying down. When approximately a pint of whole blood has been collected, the donation is complete and a staff person will place a bandage on your arm,” Ms. Lambert said.

Once the donation is complete, each donor will be given a time for rest and snacks.

“After donating blood, you’ll have a snack and something to drink in the refreshment area. You’ll leave after 10-15 minutes and continue your normal routine,” Ms. Lambert said.

Following the blood donation process, most donors do not see the true impact of it, but the process itself impacts people all across the nation and saves lives. 

“Roughly 90,000 units of blood are needed across the United States on a weekly basis. The blood donated to the American Red Cross helps cancer, trauma, sickle cell and burn patients. Blood is also used for general and trauma surgeries. One blood donation can positively impact 3 patients,” Ms. Lambert said. 

Hopefully, everyone will feel the gravity of their donation next Thursday and will come in with the right attitude. 

“The most important part is showing up excited. Enjoy the feeling of accomplishment knowing you are helping to save lives,” Ms. Lambert said.

Australia On Fire 

Olivia Brown

In  December of 2019, #AustraliaIsOnFire was trending worldwide. Millions of acres of land and homes were destroyed because of these fires. Temperatures were as high as 107 degrees and the country has been in a drought, last having a small amount rainfall since 2017.  Many people were forced to evacuate their homes because the fire was so close to their homes.

“It got to the stage to the stage that if  we stayed outside we would have died,” Neil Hamilton, a local farmer in Australia said. 

More than a million animals have been killed or may have been affected and are probably on the verge of extinction. Many animals have been saved but it doesn’t really matter because their habitats are gone and they need those conditions and foods to survive. 

“We’re not just talking about koalas. We’re talking mammals, birds, plants, fungi, insects, other invertebrates, amphibians, and bacteria and microorganisms that are critical to these systems,” Manu Sanders, a researcher and insect ecologist at the University of New England in Armidale, said to the New York Times. 

New Fields, Lights at NCLA

Nicholas Williford

NCLA really didn’t really have the best sports fields or scoreboards, but that is all about to change.

“Right now….we will be adding softball and baseball fields in the Spring with lights and scoreboards and adding lights/scoreboard to the soccer field as well,” said Coach Shoemaker, the NCLA Athletic Director.

This is the answer to the constant prayers; now people can finally perfectly see the player in those games that go into dusk and night.

If you have any concerns on how long it will take for everything to be ready to be used and played on, “We will have all the fields fenced in and hoping to play on them in the Spring if the weather permits,” said Coach Shoemaker. 

This is a major upgrade for the sports programs along with the new gym and weight room in the new high school building.

“I am so hyped for the new fields and I think my cleats would work better on them,” said Wen-Shin, an 11th-grade soccer player.

WWIII Draft: Fear and Memes

Olivia Brown

On Jan. 3, 2020 President Trump ordered a kill on Iranian General Qasem Soleimani on because of suspected attacks on America. The assassination on the general has made tensions rise between America and Iran so much that Iran decided to retaliate by sending missiles to an U.S military base. Luckily no one was hurt. 

“Soleimani was plotting imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and military personnel, but we caught him in the act and terminated him. We took action last night to stop a war, we did not take action to start a war,” President Trump said during his national address. 

After everything happened, people on the internet were making jokes about World War III happening and how they were going to get drafted. Saying things such as “me laughing at #WorldWarIII memes knowing it might happen,” and “This is probably the last meme I’ll make before I get drafted.”

“If there was a war I would be fine because I’m a female,” Kayla Satterwhite said. 

 The draft started in the 1970s when the Vietnam War started. A draft lottery was used for men born between January 1, 1944 to December 31, 1950 to determine who would be in the war. People such as John F. Kennady, Bob Kerrey, Oliver Stone etc. would have been drafted. 

“I would cut my legs off. I’m not going to war,” Shaniya Myles responded. 

Falcon Wrestling Takes on a Pair of 4A Schools

Gideon VanDyke

This past Friday night The NCLA Falcon’s High School wrestling team took on the Glenn and East Forsyth High School wrestling squads in a tri-match. 

Going into the match head coach Matt Muddle stated, “We have trained hard every day so that we will be the best versions of ourselves. Win or lose we will give 100 percent. Win or lose we will do it with class.”

The NCLA team only consists of seven wrestlers, which caused the team to have a lot of forfeits against Glenn, who has a wrestler for almost every weight class. A forfeit means that the other team automatically gets 6 points added to their team score.   

The team won their match against East. One highlight from that match was Jonathan Floyd got a pin in the first quarter. Another big match was Timothy Woodlief getting a great reversal to win his match. 

 The team’s matchup with Glenn was a completely different story – the match ended with only one win for the falcons becoming caused by a forfeit. 

UNC Basketball in Complete Turmoil

Jackson Faenza

The last time the UNC basketball team was unranked was in 2014. The Heels fell out of the Top 25 after their loss to Wofford in Chapel Hill. Which is crazy because in November, the Heels were ranked No. five in the nation.

UNC has lost eight of their last 11 games, there most recent loss being against Clemson in Chapel Hill. 

Roy Williams says that this is his least talented team he has ever coached. After the Clemson loss, he went onto say that his team needed this win and he let them down and that this loss is all on him.

The Tar Heels have suffered from a lot of injuries too. Eight out of the 18 players on the team have missed multiple games due to injuries. Roy Williams has had to go all the way to his walk- ons to play normal minutes throughout the games. The Heels have the 26th hardest schedule in the NCAA.

So what are the Tar Heels doing wrong?

Well first things first, they are missing their star freshman, Cole Anthony, who has been out with an injury since the end of November. They are also not getting enough out of there other 5-star freshman Armando Bacot.

Another reason their in the slumps is because the team’s only good 3-point shooter, Brandon Robinson, has shot from three- point line 29% this season. The stat leader of the team is Cole Anthony, who is out playing. One player that has been doing pretty good is Garrison Brooks, who averages about 34 minutes a game, has about 20 rebounds a game, and has a 60% field goal percentage.

Garrison Brooks cannot be the only one carrying the team throughout ACC play. The Tar Heels noticed this in their last few games, when they had notable performances from Anthony Harris, Jeremiah Francis, Andrew Platek, and Brandon Robinson here and there.

If the Heels want to have a chance to get to the NCAA tournament, they need to step it up and play as a team. The last time the heels did not make it into the NCAA tournament was in 2010. After that, they have one National Championship and two final fours.

There goes Clemson’s 29-win winning streak…

Jackson Faenza

This past Monday, history was made with the LSU tigers beating the Clemson Tigers in the NCAA Football Championship. LSU came up, after being down 17- 7, to beat Clemson 42-25.

Joe Burrow, Heisman Trophy winner, threw 5 touchdowns to help LSU with the win. Joe Burrow also led the team with the most rushing yards, he had 58. Ja’Marr Chase led the team with the most receiving yards, 221.

At the half Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney said, “We had a pretty good position, but just dumb stuff, man.”

Some of the biggest turning points was when a Clemson star linebacker got ejected from the game and got called for targeting. The very next play resulted in an LSU touchdown. Another reason why they pulled off the win was that LSU really contained Trevor Lawrence throughout the game.

Lawrence went just for 18-for-37 for 234 yards. He did not throw any passes for a touchdown. On the other side, Joe Burrow went 31-for-49 for 463 yards and 5 touchdowns. LSU’s defense just really closed the game for them!

Clemson has won it twice in the last decade, while LSU last won it in 2007. 

LSU Head Coach Ed Orgeron said, “He’s one of the greatest players in LSU history, He’s done so much for the state of Louisiana and LSU. We are so grateful to Joe Burrow.”

   

This Weeks Scores

NCLA Boys Varsity Basketball-26

Eno River Academy-64

                                               Q1          Q2          Q3              Q4

NCLA-                                     6              8             8                 4

Eno River-                            13             20          17               14

Top Scorers:

David Hronich (9th)- 6 points

Trint Saunders (9th)- 5 points

Joe Stoops (12th)- 5 points

Jackson Shaw (11th)- 3 points

NCLA Varsity Girls Basketball- 46

Triad Baptist Christian Academy- 36

                                             Q1           Q2              Q3              Q4

NCLA-                                  18              8               12               8

Triad-                                   10             7                8                3

Top Scorers:

Maura Perkins(11th)- 16 points

Elissa Seagers (10th)- 7 points

Emily Vroom (11th)- 6 points

Aubrey Harmon (12th)- 4 points

Courtney Floyd (12th)- 4 points

 

NCLA Boys Middle School Basketball-19

Clover Garden-27

                                               Q1             Q2             Q3              Q4

NCLA-                                     7                 1               3                  8

Clover Garden-                    11                5               3                  8

Top Scorers:

Will Martin (8th)- 7 points

Walt Martin (6th)- 2 points

Lukas Blakely (6th)- 2 points

NCLA Middle School Girls Basketball- 20

 Clover Garden- 42

                                             

Top Scorers:

Addy Guldberg (8th): 6 points

Brooke Taylor (8th): 2 points

Top Rebounder:

Irelynn Price- 14 rebounds

This Weeks Scores

NCLA Boys Varsity Basketball-26

Eno River Academy-64

                                               Q1          Q2          Q3              Q4

NCLA-                                     6              8             8                 4

Eno River-                            13             20          17               14

Top Scorers:

David Hronich (9th)- 6 points

Trint Saunders (9th)- 5 points

Joe Stoops (12th)- 5 points

Jackson Shaw (11th)- 3 points

NCLA Varsity Girls Basketball- 46

Triad Baptist Christian Academy- 36

                                             Q1           Q2              Q3              Q4

NCLA-                                  18              8               12               8

Triad-                                   10             7                8                3

Top Scorers:

Maura Perkins(11th)- 16 points

Elissa Seagers (10th)- 7 points

Emily Vroom (11th)- 6 points

Aubrey Harmon (12th)- 4 points

Courtney Floyd (12th)- 4 points

 

NCLA Boys Middle School Basketball-11

Cornerstone Charter-33

                                               Q1             Q2             Q3              Q4

NCLA-                                     2                7                0                 2

Cornerstone-                         7                9               12                5

Top Scorers:

Will Martin (8th)- 7 points

Walt Martin (6th)- 2 points

Lukas Blakely (6th)- 2 points

NCLA Middle School Girls Basketball- 42

 Clover Garden- 25

                                             Q1           Q2              Q3              Q4

NCLA-                                  11            6                13                12

Clover Garden-                   0              5               15                 5

Top Scorers:

Brooke Taylor(8th)- 17 points

Emmy Guldberg (8th)- 11 points

 

NEWS 1/15/20

High School Move Update 

Brooke Bandy

The high schoolers are moving into their new building this Friday, December 20, 2019, and moving into the school has required a lot of help from everyone.  

“I think it’s a little chaotic bc were doing it while schools going on, but everyone’s been pitching in together and helping so that’s been good to see teamwork come out of it but it’s definitely chaotic right now,” said Guldberg. 

Despite all the chaos, the move has been mostly painless. “I think it’s mostly gone to plan we would have liked to move in earlier but with the inspections and stuff it just didn’t get done as quickly as we wanted but there weren’t any big hold ups or anything so it went pretty smooth i think.” said Guldberg.

The new spaces are so spread out among the campus, even administration is having to adjust. 

“I honestly don’t have my brain wrapped around and memorized where everybody is. I need to get better at that, but until they put their stuff in there and I see their faces in the doorway, I can’t remember who is where really. So there’ll be a little bit of overlapping but not a ton, we really want that to be the high school hangout and this building to be the middle school space,” said Guldberg. 

The hope is to have the entire school settled into each building by the start of the new year.

“Hopefully by the start of the new year. We don’t want the teachers to come in and do a lot of work over Christmas, but we have a teacher workday on January 3, which is the Friday before all the kids come back, so our goal is to have everything moved, all the furniture and everything moved at least and then during that workday they can finish setting up in their new space and tweak it a little bit after that I’m sure,” said Guldberg. 

The goal is to have all three schools almost completely separated and to have very little overlap. “It’s mostly going to be elementary, but there’s a few middle school electives. Mr. Pitts is going to be in the here (the elementary building) and Mrs. Parker is staying here with technology, Mrs. Saunders is going to have her classroom over here and I think that’s really it for big kids coming into this building,” said Guldberg. 

“I think of a few limited classes, the only thing middle schoolers should come to the high school building for is if they are in an advanced math and the only thing the high school would go to the middle school building for is math and maybe languages, but I’m not sure where languages are.” 

There is a lot of construction going on by the sports fields and big things are being added. “We are putting in a baseball field and softball field and they’re adding lights to those and the soccer field and they did some regrading by the soccer field so it won’t have that hill going down anymore. So kind of regrading everything and getting ready for the softball and baseball fields,” said Guldberg. 

Despite all of the construction going on by the soccer field, the team should be able to play on it during the spring season. “That is the hope, the fields should be done by the time the seasons start we’re just not sure if the baseball and softball ones are going to have grass to be ready to play on but they’re not doing anything on the soccer fields just around it. The soccer fields should be fine for spring sports, but the other two we’ll have to see how the grass comes in,” said Guldberg. 

Pep Rally Picture Gallery

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The Best of NCLA: 2019

Ellison Schuman

It’s the time of year where we should look back at all the memorable moments that made 2019 great. In the past year, the NCLA has created many memories that will be remembered in the future.

Completion of Middle & High School Buildings:

The biggest change to the NCLA happened this year with the new middle and high school buildings. The construction for the middle school started in January of 2019 and the high school has finally been completed here in December. With this expansion, there will be room to double our current student population.

Class of 2019:

The graduated class of 2019 consisted of __ seniors. Many of these students received ROTC and academic scholarships. The top 3 scholarships from this year were awarded to Daniel Ellis, with an $152,920 ROTC scholarship, Matthew Ritchie with a $240,000 scholarship and Michael Walsh who received a $60,000 scholarship to East Tennessee University

Stronger Athletic Teams

The athletic teams all performed very well this year. Golf and cross-country both qualified for state regionals. Girls soccer also had a strong season with their victory over Glenn’s varsity team. We look forward to watching our teams get better over the years.

Looking Ahead to 2020

Rebecca Avila

2019 is ending and 2020 is around the corner. 2019 has been a blast but 2020 will have lots in store. The year of the rat is approaching. 

A major sporting event happening in 2020 is of course, the Olympic games in Tokyo. There will be new sports added like skateboarding and surfing. Some sports will be held in brand new stadiums and its supposed to be a very technically advanced olympic game. 

“I’m very excited.” said Brooke Bandy. 

Concerts will also be happening like Harry Styles 2020 tour called Love On Tour. His new album, Fine Line just dropped which is blowing people’s minds on how good it is. Those songs are most likely to be sung at the concert.

According to ticketmaster.com, Harry Styles Love On Tour will be at the PNC Arena in Raleigh on Aug. 1, 2020 guest starring Jenny Lewis.

“ I love him and I am so excited.” said Lexi Antieau. 

Post Malone’s Runaway Tour will also be going on in 2020. His album, Hollywood’s Bleeding also was liked by others and those are the songs to be sung there as well.

According to ticketmaster.com, Post Malone’s Runaway Tour will be at the Greensboro Coliseum on Mar. 1, 2020 guest starring Swae Lee and Tyla Yaweh.

“ I am thrilled and excited to see him in real life.” said Maria Fleak. 

New gaming consoles will also be hitting the market in 2020 and everybody is ready. The Xbox Series X is what everyone is talking about in gaming for 2020.

According to cbsnews.com, the console will have a sleek new finish. It will be a lot faster than the Xbox one and there will also be a new controller. The Xbox Series X will be “ two times what an Xbox One X is.” said the executive vice president of gaming for Microsoft, Phil Spencer. The Xbox Series X will be released around the holidays of 2020 and the cost will be around $500.

“I think it’s pretty neat.” said Stone Maxey. 

Play Station is also coming out with a competitor for Xbox, The PS5. According to techradar.com, the PS5 will have all around better sound, a new controller, a new overall design, and will even include a PS5 Pro. It will release around the end of 2020 like the Xbox Series X and the cost will be $500. 

“It looks like it’s going to be a powerful console.” said Etornam Agbemabiese.

 

NCLA Band

Olivia Brown

On December 11, 2019, the NCLA had high school band concert that started at 6:00 pm. The songs that they were going to be playing were Rough Riders March, Danny Boy, Cumberland Cross and Sleigh Ride. 

“We chose these songs because wanted it to match with the holidays,” said Levi Antieau.

The first song they played was Rough Riders March by Karl L. King, arranged by James Swearingen. Karl L. King has didn’t title his marches because there is no significant to it but the title was chosen to honor former President Theodore Roosevelt. The song started off somber and relaxing and then elevated into an upbeat tempo. The audience seemed to enjoy the performance a lot.

“My favorite song that we’ll be playing tonight would be Rough Riders,” Ethan Kirkman said. 

The band then played Cumberland Cross by Carl Strommen, the publisher of the piece has said “This original work explores the rich American folk style in two sections. The first has broad,moving harmonies under a Shenandoah-like melody, and the second a lively dance reminiscent of Copland.” The song starts off sad and melancholy then the flutes comes in making it happy and cheerful. 

“Thank you again for coming, I’m so excited to be here and cannot wait to be here for a very long time,” Mr Gonzalez said.

Living 1/15/20

HOMECOMING 2019

NCLA Staff Prepare to Celebrate Holidays

As the holiday season approaches, many at the NCLA are looking forward to an extended break and some great time off. The NCLA staff are some of the most excited though, as they get ready to make new holiday memories along with carry on the traditions of others. 

Sharing their hopes for this year’s holiday endeavors the NCLA staff varies greatly on things that make the season so jolly. For high school English teacher Kelly Kerr, the simpler and more traditional Christmas activities are what matter most.

“I love decorating the Christmas tree with my family every year and I love getting together on Christmas Eve and opening one present early,” Kerr said.

For others, like Vice Principal Stephen Lebrecht, Christmas is made by a special and humorous tradition. 

“The best part of Christmas is for my daughter to see all of her presents that are there for her, but she’s got to wait 35-40 minutes to eat breakfast and open stocking-stuffers before she can open them,” Lebrecht said.

Along with the time to enjoy the traditions and memory-making experiences of this year’s holiday season, it is also a moment of reflection to those festive childhood days. For many of the staff at NCLA, such as high school teacher Amanda Bergsma, this reflection on that past brings joy. 

“My favorite Christmas memory from my childhood would definitely have to be setting up my Christmas Village every year. Every time things would go on sale I would always get a new piece to add for the next year, and that’s something even to today I love,” Bergsma said.

As for other teachers, the time to think of the past is one of great fondness and happiness. 

“I liked the year my Mom bought me reindeer food to throw out in the front yard and when I walked outside it disappeared in the morning. I was really amazed by that,” Kerr said.

Additionally, this reflection also serves to reveal some of the most humorous moments of the past. 

“My favorite childhood Christmas memory is sneaking through my parent’s house when they were not home and identifying what all my presents were. I used to do that until I realized that being surprised at Christmas was actually entertaining,” Lebrecht said.

Most importantly to all the faculty of NCLA is the reason for the season. Though each staff member may differ, it is the personal meaning that matters most of all. 

“I think it’s just a time of family, food, friendship, and it just makes me really happy,” Kerr said. 

For others, the season really is all about family and the time spent close to the dear loved ones. 

“Christmas to me is a chance to reconnect with family, to get to talk and share the holiday season with family members and enjoy that time with family. It used to be that I only got to see 15 to 20 different family members that one time of year because they lived so far out of town,” said Lebrecht.

As for many more, the season is all about the religious meaning behind it and the virtues of it.

“Christmas means to me the birth of Jesus and the ultimate sacrifice that was made. It also means to me a time of giving and a time of thinking of others before yourself,” said Bergsma.

Spirit Week 2019

Old timers, VSCO, E-girl/boy

What’s Cooking in the Christmas Kitchen

Gideon Van Dyke

The Christmas season is here and that means it’s time for gifts and to gather around the table with family and friends and enjoy a delicious meal. 

Some families have a traditional christmas food at their table.

“My family usually has Ham and Chicken  for christmas dinner,” stated junior Nick Williford.

According to the website spoon university one of the most popular christmas food in the state of North Carolina is apple pie. 

Some families have non traditional foods that they serve on Christmas day. 

“I’m doing a smoked pork shoulder (aka a boston butt) and on christmas morning. I will be getting up at about 4 o’clock in the morning and start smoking it all day,” said Mr. Walsh. 

One of the most popular drinks during the christmas season is eggnog, which is a drink made from beaten eggs cream and a flavor mixture of some kind. It is often mixed with some kind of alcohol for adults. 

Another christmas food that is very popular is christmas cookies, they come in all different shapes and sizes and can be many different flavors including sugar, peanut butter chocolate, and the classic chocolate chip.

Some families have fun christmas food traditions.

“My family has fondue cheese during our family christmas dinner,” said freshman Jordan Jackson.

Eight Nights of Celebration: Hanukkah 

Mason Harmon

With Christmas just around the corner, it’s important not to forget the religious and seasonal holiday of Hanukkah. This year the holiday will start on Sunday, Dec. 22 and will end Monday, Dec. 30, but even while knowing when the holiday occurs, very few outside the Jewish religion know what it is about. 

For the NCLA, most students are unaware of the holiday’s meaning or its traditions, but, high school History teacher Chelsea Orenstein is on a mission to educate students about it. Starting with the history of it Mrs. Orenstein has high hopes about explaining what the holiday is about and how it is celebrated today. 

“During ancient history, with Judas Maccabeus, there was a great miracle in the Jewish temple where the lights lasted eight nights, when they didn’t have enough oil, so that they could fight the Greek Seleucids and actually win. The Jews were able to protect their temple and get their land back, all because the lights stayed lit for eight days, which created the Hanukkah holiday” Orenstein said. 

As apart of educating students on the holiday, she contrasts it with the familiar Christmas celebration as a way to give a better understanding of it. 

“Hanukkah is celebrating a period in ancient Jewish history, whereas Christmas is celebrating what Christians believe is the birth of the Messiah,” Orenstein said. 

In addition to defining the difference between the holidays, Mrs. Orenstein also educates students on how the holiday is observed.

“Usually for eight nights, you light the menorah, you remember the goodness of God so you say a prayer in Hebrew thanking God for everything in your life. If you’re a child, usually less than the age of 12, you get gifts every night of Hanukkah. If you’re an adult, on the last night, you get money from your older relatives to help with the next year,” Orenstein said. 

One of the biggest and most awaited parts of Hanukkah observance is the traditional food served. 

“The biggest two foods eaten over Hanukkah are latkes, which are potato cakes, which are amazing. The other is matzo ball soup, which is basically chicken noodle soup broth with dumplings in it,” Orenstein said. 

The final piece of the celebration comes with the gift-giving, which is especially appealing to younger children.

“Usually children will get some type of small toy they want, and we usually play with the dreidel and get candy depending on what you on with the dreidel. It really depends on the family, some people like to give gifts that deal with Hanukkah and the Jewish religion, and some people give legit presents,” Orenstein said. 

News 12/20/19

The Move is Finally Here

Mason Harmon

The NCLA’s vision for a high school building is soon to be a dream come true. Progress on the project has been moving forward at a fast pace and it appears that NCLA high schoolers will be moving in soon, at least that is the expectation of Vice Principal Steven Lebrecht. 

“Hopefully we’ll move in before Christmas break,” said Lebrecht. “There is no date range, it is just a matter of waiting on things to be finalized and completed so we can get the occupancy in and we can move in.”

Lebrecht is optimistic about how long the move will take as teachers transition into the new building. 

“With student help, we hope to have everything moved in between the course of a couple of hours to a couple of days that we can get it taken care of to ease the transition and make that even smoother,” Lebrecht said.

In regards to the stress of moving Lebrecht reflects on the past as a guide for making this time of transition efficient and timely. 

“It’s a new start, I have been through a move like this before, at one my previous schools, and as far as the teachers are concerned the best thing to do is to pack up stuff now. So when it comes time to move you’re not spending the movement time packing up, that way it is as quick and seamless as possible,” Lebrecht said. 

As the final part of the moving preparations gets under way, there is excitement around the occasion, which is only been increased with sneak peeks into what is in store.  

“The classrooms are going to be a little bit larger than they are now, the science labs are going to be fantastic, there is going to be a lot of space in there, a lot of good work areas for labs and such. It is a new building and it’s always exciting to move into a new one,” Lebrecht said. 

How Stress Affects Students 

Brooke Bandy

Stress is one of the biggest problems faced by high school students today. Things pile up quick with homework and extracurriculars and can have a detrimental effect on students’ mental health. 

“I have a mental breakdown at the end of every quarter when teachers give us eight projects,” said Junior Selah Smith. 

An overload of stress can harm students’ sleep patterns and schedules. A study conducted by the Anxiety and Depression Association of America found that 70 percent of people who report lots of stress tend to get less sleep or have trouble sleeping. 

“I cried for two hours last night and it makes me lose sleep , which affects my school work,” said Junior Madison Jennings

Stress has also been proven to worsen grades. The American College Health Association National College Health Assessment of 2010 discovered that over 25 percent of students said that their stress prevented them from getting good grades or lessened their ability to actually complete a stressful course. 

“It makes me want to cry and it makes me do worse in school,” said Junior Becca Nordstrom. 

“It makes me procrastinate more because I don’t want to do the work,” Gavin Dehart, a junior, added.  

Stress can be caused by many things, but a study has shown that some students experience stress in short bursts because they believe that intelligence is something that can grow, while other students that believe intelligence is something that you have and can’t change typically experience longer and worse stress.

“Stress negatively impacts me. I struggle from health issues due to stress,” said high school English teacher, Mrs. Kerr.

“It results in me losing sleep because I’m up late doing homework and things like that and it makes me want to eat a lot so i want to stress eat, and my face breaks out.” said Junior Emily Baker.  

“I breakout when I’m stressed,” said another student. 

“It puts me in a bad mood, “ Junior Macey Green added. 

Mrs. Kerr shared her advice for when students or people in general are feeling stressed.  

“The biggest thing I can say is to seek help from other people and from friends and family, and if you need it, you can always see help from a therapist. I advocate for going to a therapist because it is very beneficial and it takes the burden off of you and your family and friends.” 

https://fosteredu.pennfoster.edu/3-ways-stress-negatively-affects-student-performance 

https://www.edutopia.org/article/science-behind-student-stress 

 

The Battle From Within: Student Depression 

Mason Harmon

Around this time of year, many are giving thanks and enjoying the holiday season, but there is a silent group suffering through it all. Those battling depression are dealing with something that is both quiet and deadly and something that, for most, is beyond them.

NCLA Junior, Keely Hargan, is one of those who know the struggle all too well. 

“People may be oblivious to how someone else is feeling, and more than likely what someone is feeling is not what you are,” Hargan said. “I know that student depression is a major issue in our school because I was one of those people dealing with it and I know a couple of others in our school who are going through it now.” 

In addition to its attack on the student body of the NCLA, depression is something that is ravaging Americans as a whole. NCLA English teacher Kelly Kerr is also one that knows of depression’s wide grasp.

“I think depression in American culture is a really large problem and can affect adults as well as students. I’ve seen a lot of students struggle over the past few years with depression, whether it is work, school, or status related,” Kerr said. 

Fortunately, even with depression entering the lives of many, there are ways out and there is hope, especially for students. 

“To students dealing with depression, seek help, it really is hard because when you struggle with depression you don’t want to talk to anyone. All you have to do is mention it to your doctor or you can even talk to teachers about it,” Kerr said.

As a part of this desire to see students overcome their depression the NCLA has become an advocate in combating the issue. Vice Principal Steven Lebrecht is at the forefront of advocating for student support and the role the NCLA can play. 

“I am not an expert on the topics of depression or anxiety, but I think the easiest thing to do is to talk to others about those things. I know it’s not easy to, but communicate with your parents. Reach out to the counselors, they’re fantastic. Mrs. Wood is also a good source in dealing with those issues,” Lebrecht said. 

In addition to utilizing counselors, teachers are also encouraged to take a proactive approach to combat the disorder. 

“With any type of disorder, there needs to be leniency, not everyone has the same motivation to get out of bed every day. I know for me I struggle with depression so it’s hard for me to physically getting moving, especially when times are difficult, so there needs to be some form of leniency or empathy that teachers give to students suffering from depression,” Kerr said. 

Along with the cooperation of teachers, students to be there for one another.

“Try to be there for your friends, try to help to distract them from their thoughts and hang out with them. Try to help them reduce the stress in their life so that they will be less likely to fall into depression or fall deeper into it,” Hargan said. 

Most importantly, in combating the issue of student depression is the need to stress the appeal to all those struggling with it.

“Get help. Talk to someone, find that one adult, or one student that you can talk to, that can steer you in the right direction to get you the help you need. Also, understand that this is not something you need to go through on your own and there are people out there that are willing to talk, listen, and willing to help,” Lebrecht said. 

Homecoming Dance and Game

Nicholas Williford

The Homecoming Dance is on Dec. 14, from 7 – 10 p.m. in the old gym, and a lot of students are excited to dance and have fun. Credit to Ms. Kerr, Student Council, and everyone who helped make it happen.

The color scheme for girls and boys to wear is white, black, and silver, which is pretty fancy.

There will be a plethora of snacks. Snacks such as Chick-Fil-A, a popcorn bar and, of course, children approved drinks.

“I am excited to go with friends,” said Emily Pappas.

The admission is equivalent to eight McBiscuits at McDonald’s. It is $10 admission at the door. It is relatively affordable and worth the price.

The student council is looking for adult and teacher chaperones if you are interested.

“We want to see everyone support and have a wonderful night,” said Mason Harmon.

Don’t forget to come to the homecoming game on Friday, Dec. 13. The Falcons are going against Statesville for the first time, and are looking for the W.

They are currently 1-4 at home and are working hard to improve the record.

“We are going to practice hard and do our best to win the game,” said Derek Shull.

Spirit on it’s way to the NCLA

Cyd Leister

With the Homecoming game on the 13th and the dance, the 14th spirit should be building within the walls of the NCLA. To encourage this spirit the week leading up to Homecoming, Dec. 9-13, is Spirit Week at the NCLA and that Friday student council has planned a Pep Rally.

“Pep rally is going to be Friday, as long as people bring the hype it should be fun. We have some cool games and some cool stuff is going to happen,” commented Student Council President Annie Ellis.

The pep rally is to be led by Titus Brannan and Noah Richardson.

Each grade will have a spirit representative to support and demonstrate student spirit. The spirit reps are Freshman Etornam Agbemabiese, Sophomore Jonathon Floyd, Junior Caleb Alston, and Senior Ellison Schuman.

“Everybody talks about the Pep rally as the best part of homecoming, but the most important part is the spirit week because it encourages student spirit and allows individuality,” stated Student Council Secretary Mason Harmon.

Even though no one on the student council is giving exacts on what the pep rally will entail, they have high expectations for what is to come.

“As a student council secretary, I cannot comment on what we are planning for the pep rally, but I can say that it will be a surprise and everyone will have an amazing time,” said Harmon.

M-PJ Day
T-Old Timer Tuesday
W-VSCO vs E-Boy(or E-girl)
Th-Teacher/College sport
F-Class Color(12, 11, 10, 9)

High School Basketball Themes

Olivia Brown

This year at the NCLA, we have many Friday night basketball games this season (Dec 6, Dec 13, Jan 24 and Jan 31) and we have matching themes for each night.

“Student council in our decision making, wanted to make sure that this year especially all the sports themes were themed and we were able to include a lot of the student spirit and involvement and as apart of that we decided on wide-ranging themes but ones that we felt that were more popular and will bring out school sport and spirit” Mason Harmon said.

Tonight there is Ugly Christmas Sweater night tonight, where you wear the ugliest sweater to the game. On Dec 13, which is the day before homecoming, the theme is Blackout, where students would wear all black.

“All the themes were based on previous years and some of them were new” Mason Harmon said.

On Jan. 24, is ‘Merica and students could bring an American flag to school or wear a t-shirt that has something American. The last theme is on January 24 and the theme is camo and students can wear things such as a camo bandana, shirt, socks, etc.

“I think the themes are cool, I don’t like the ugly sweater theme,” Kayla Satterwhite said.

Christmas Drinks are at Starbucks!

Jackson Faenza

Christmas time is here at your nearest Starbucks. You can try some of their newest holiday drinks such as Caramel Brulee Latte, Chestnut Praline Latte, Eggnog Latte, Peppermint Hotchocalte, and even a toasted white chocolate Mocha.

They are also having special holiday-themed cups this year! Another thing at Starbucks, that they are doing specifically for the holiday season, is if you bring in your Red reusable Starbucks cup, you get 50 cents off your holiday drink.

I had the opportunity of trying the Peppermint Hot Chocolate. I am not a big fan of coffee, so I decided to get one of their hot chocolates, which was so good. To me, it did not taste very peppermint flavor, but it was still so good. Their hot chocolate at Starbucks is some of the best I have tried in my entire life. The drink came with whipped cream on the top and in a little ‘Merry Christmas’ cup.

“I love their little holiday cups because it gets me in the Christmas mood,” said Ahmara Dorrset.

If you are looking for a Christmas gift, come to Starbucks because they have an assortment of different holiday-themed gifts. They have holiday-themed reusable cups, mugs, etc. They are even stocked on all types of festive little giftcards!

“I just bought a really cute Christmas mug from Starbucks,” said Halle Jenkins.

What Does NCLA Want For Christmas?

Cyd Leister

With the nearing of the holiday season, Christmas lists are lengthening and final wishes are being added. The NCLA is no exception to these Christmas wishes.

“I want an Apple TV. I want a new phone. I want a snowboard,” commented 9th grader Rebecca Avila.

Some individuals have an extensive list of things they hope to see under the tree on Christmas morning. While others have simpler wants such as Zora Banks.

“I want candy,” said Freshman Zora Banks.

The Christmas season is prone to new releases in the technology world and some individuals, such as Camryn Earnhardt, are seeing this as a good opportunity to replace some older tech items.

“A new phone,” stated 9th grader Camryn Earnhardt.

Earnhardt isn’t alone in her wishes for some new technology this holiday season.

“Apple Watch,” commented 10th grader Harley Frazier on her Christmas wish.

Some other individuals have their sights set on the gaming side of new tech this Christmas. With the release of new games such as: Blair Witch, Detroit Become Human(on PC), Mosaic, and others; many have their hopes up for some new games or console updates.

“I’d say overall it’s the Oculus Quest,” said 11th grader Caleb Alston.

Other individuals are not looking too much into the physical gifts this Christmas, but rather the more emotional and metaphor said of the Holiday season.

“I want love,” commented 12th grader Ellison Schuman.

The Christmas season and break is also a prime time to not only give to others but take time to give yourself a break from the stresses of normal life.

“For Christmas, I would like something that has to do with self-care. This year I would like to use break not only for giving to others but to myself as well. We all need time to relax and reflect, and that’s why even something small for a self-care gift would make me happy,” stated 11th grader Lily Davenport.

Falcon Wrestling destroys Walkertown Bulldogs

Gideon VanDyke      

The NCLA middle school wrestling team had an amazing match on Tuesday night, in which they won as a team and had many personal wins.

“I feel like the middle school should go out there and demolish and never give up because we are a team that puts their hearts out on the mat,” said Coach Abdul.

A few of the highlights from the match started when the Team Captain, Riley Logan, won his match by pinning his opponent.

Another big moment in the match was a pin made by Colin Hodges in the second quarter of his exhibition match.  

An exhibition match is a match the doesn’t count for or against their own team, it is basically a practice match that helps build the wrestlers skill through live mat time. 

Another memorable moment  from the match was a pin made by Isaac Woodlief.

“I think our team did good,” said Logan, after the match. “Wrestling is not a sport that you can do nothing and still win big. It’s like you can’t just sit in left field and win the World Series or you can’t ride the bench and expect to win the NBA finals.

“If you win big it’s because of what you put into this sport.” 

Cheer Team Kicks Into High Gear

Gideon VanDyke    

The NCLA winter sports have kicked back up again and that means that the NCLA cheerleaders are going to be at the games and cheer them on to victory. 

“I like cheer because it’s fun and keeps me in shape and I also get to build relationships with the people on the team,” said NCLA  junior Annie Ellis.

The team goes to all home games and a few of the away basketball games.

The team’s favorite routine is the one that the team learned at a UNC Wilmington camp over the summer. 

 “They enjoy anything that has to do with stunts,” stated the NCLA cheer coach Holly Manuel.

Many of the cheerleaders have been cheering for a while at the school.  

“I’ve been cheering at the NCLA for 3 years,” said Annie Ellis. 

“My favorite part of cheer is the interaction with the students and getting them hyped to support their school,” stated Coach Manuel.

 

Conference Championships Will set up BCS

Jackson Faenza

The College Football Conference Championships are about to start this week. It will be an exciting week with many teams looking to be make it into the BCS playoffs.

On Friday in Santa Clara, California, the Pac-12 championship will take place between Oregon and Utah. Utah clinched the Pac-12 South Division with the win over Colorado. Oregon is 10th in the country in rushing defense, but allow 106.3 rushing yards in a game. Utah has the best rushing defense, 3rd best scoring defense, and then 14th ranked passing defense.

Jackson’s Pick: Utah

Then in Arlington, Texas, Baylor and Oklahoma faceoff again, where Oklahoma beat Baylor 34-31 after a 23 point deficit on November 16. The Big 12 championship will be on December 7, Saturday, at AT&T. This will surely be another great game because these two teams match up great with each other. Baylor will sure be out for revenge from their last meeting!

Jackson’s Pick: Baylor

In Atlanta, Georgia and LSU will face off for the SEC on December 7 as well. This is sure to be a great game because both of these teams are both sitting in the recent AP Top 4 rankings. Georgia is currently an underdog to the LSU Tigers. LSU leads the SEC in scoring offense and has the quarterback that has the single-season passing yard record.

Jackson’s Pick: LSU

Down in Charlotte, North Carolina will be the ACC championship between Virginia and the reigning champs, Clemson. The Clemson Tigers have won 5 in the last 8 years and 4 of them being consecutive. Obviously Clemson is the considered favorite by a lot to win this game. The tigers have only given up 121 points all season, while Virginia’s defense has given up 116 points in just its four November games. It is safe to say who will win the ACC.

Jackson’s Pick: Clemson

Finally in Indianapolis, Wisconsin and the #1 Ohio State will face off for the Big Ten championship. Ohio State are currently the favorites by 18. The two teams faced off earlier in the season with an Ohio State win 38-7. Everything about Ohio State is great at this moment, they are just coming off a 56-27 win over Michigan. This will be the third meeting between The Ohio State and Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game.

Jackson’s Pick: Ohio State 

 

 

This Weeks Scores

NCLA Boys Varsity Basketball-38

Uwharrie Charter-83

                                               Q1             Q2             Q3              Q4

NCLA-                                    16              7                9                  6

Woods-                                  12              22              26               23

Top Scorers:

Titus Brannan (12th)- 15 points

Cade Shoemaker (9th)- 6 points

Jackson Shaw (11th)- 3 points

Trint Saunders (9th)- 3 points

NCLA Varsity Girls Basketball-20

Uwharrie Charter- 57

                                             Q1           Q2              Q3              Q4

NCLA-                                   4               5                3                  8

Woods-                                21             10              15                11

Top Scorers:

Maura Perkins(11th)- 6 points

Kyley Perkins (12th)- 5 points

Aubrey Harmon (12th)- 3 points

Courtney Floyd (12th)- 3 points

Emily Vroom (11th)- 3 points

 

 

News 11/22/19

High School Building Update 

Brooke Bandy

As the NCLA expands, high school students are getting excited to move into the new building. 

Construction has been moving along nicely and students are expected to be moved in by the end of the year.

“Excellent, they are on track for the timing, so we should be ready before Christmas, it’s been a good surprise,” said Assistant Principal, Mrs. Guldberg. “Ideally, I think we’d like to move everybody before Christmas so when everyone comes back they know exactly where to go.” 

A big concern about the new high school is whether or not it is going to have its own parking lot.

“It is going to have a parking lot on the back side of it, but I’m not sure if we’re going to park students back there or if it’s going to be for people visiting,” Guldberg said. 

Another concern is how kids floating between buildings is going to work, especially moving from the high school back to the original building. 

“There is going to be a sidewalk that goes across the driveway from the end of the middle school and there will be a buzzer so Mrs. Shoemaker can open the door, teachers will open the door during class change … teacher cadets will probably just walk through the middle school and come through the front door,” said Guldberg. 

High school and middle school students are going to move between the buildings, as some of their classes will be split among the two. 

“I’m not sure the exact layout, but I think some math [will be in the middle school building] … Mr. Sparks is going to be in the middle school … middle school and high school will be floating between the buildings,” said Mrs. Guldberg. 

In addition to the newest building, the school is starting to expand the softball and baseball fields and hope for them to be done by the spring sports season.

“They started grading out there already for baseball and softball. A lot depends on the weather, but we want them to be ready by spring,” said Guldberg. 

Other than these new fields, there are no plans to build more sports fields in the near future. “I don’t think right now, that’s all that I know about that,” said Guldberg. 

Even though  we are expected to be in the new building by Christmas break, there is not a set date for the move in. 

“I don’t know that we have a confirmed date yet but we want to be able to move in before Christmas … it all depends on final inspections,” said Guldberg. 

The Plague on the NCLA: Student Apathy

Mason Harmon

Within recent weeks talk about student apathy has become a major conversation point and hotly debated issue among NCLA students. Apathy is the lack of school spirit among students. For many, especially for high school student council sponsor Kelly Kerr, the problem is quite obvious and in need of fixing. 

“There is student apathy in our school, I think that the apathy is one of educational and school involvement. People are apathetic about the events going on at the school and don’t care to contribute or participate,” Kerr said.

Fortunately, Mrs. Kerr is one of the many wanting to address and fix the problem with various approaches. Her first priority is to utilize the high school student council to uplift school spirit. 

“Student Council is a great remedy to the apathy because it tries to provide fun events to promote student involvement and engagement to combat the apathy in the school,” Kerr said. 

As another approach, Mrs. Kerr is also advocating for teacher encouragement of school spirit. 

“To all the teachers I encourage them to be energetic, be happy, and be positive so more students can have an example of what school spirit is all about,” Kerr said.

Feeling similarly to Mrs. Kerr, high school cheer coach Holly Manuel is also wanting to see a less apathetic student body but is already seeing signs of progress. 

“Our game last Friday had a wonderful turnout and the atmosphere and spirit of the event were awesome. It was a sign of what we want in the future and I think with some more work we can really bring some school spirit to the school,” Manuel said. 

In addressing the problem, Manuel is beginning to reap the rewards of her labor as even more progress is being made to create a streamlined communication network for students. 

“We lack school spirit, but we are working on it and we’re getting better at promoting it. We are more organized involving the high school student council and planning things ahead of time while also getting it out to students so that they know what to expect. We’re on the right track, but we just need to get more people involved,” Manuel said.

To address another solution to the problem, she is also looking to the student body as she challenges students to take initiative and promote school spirit through their responsibilities and popularity. 

“It’s not just the cheerleaders or high school student council that can create school spirit, we need other leaders around the school to step up within their friend groups and in their extracurriculars to lead out in promoting school spirit,” Manuel said. 

For a final point in the debate high school student council, President Annie Ellis stressed the importance of the student body’s role in school spirit. 

“As student council President and cheer squad member, I can say we are here to foster a great school spirit, but it is up to the individual student to make the most of it,” Ellis said. “School spirit is an intricate part of the high school experience, and it is fully dependent on the student body to support it.”

 

Christmas Before Thanksgiving: Rearranging the Calendar?

Cydney Leister

It seems as though Christmas decorations and other traditional holiday elements have been appearing earlier and earlier through the years. People have mixed opinions on the matter, but the question is: why are stores targeting Christmas products at customers before Thanksgiving and even Halloween? 

According to retaildoc.com, this is a marketing strategy that has been used for generations. 

People usually have a set amount of money they are willing to spend around the holiday season. The earlier stores market holiday items, the more likely they are to get people to spend more, as they haven’t yet spent money on the big ticket items, such as new phones. 

Even so, people still have varied opinions on the early arrival of holiday cheer.

“Some people think Christmas before Thanksgiving is dumb, but the way I see it, it’s just an extra month of Christmas I get,” commented Annie Ellis, Junior and Student Council President.

Some Christmas enthusiasts see the earlier time as just an extension of their favorite holiday. Others perspective is that it is a needed positivity boost.

(Picture courtesy of howstuffworks.com)

“I think Christmas is a super happy time and if you can celebrate it for longer then why wouldn’t you?” said Macey Green, NCLA Junior.

Some people don’t share this positive view on the earlier appearance of holiday traditions and decorations.

“My thoughts are shops can totally do it, but songs and putting up decorations should wait till after Thanksgiving,” stated Jaden Peters, NCLA Senior, on the subject. 

 People can interpret these early celebrations as overshadowing other holidays, such as Thanksgiving, and their importance.

“We should not try to jump to Christmas before Thanksgiving, because Thanksgiving is a time to slow down and reflect, and everyone today just jumps to Christmas to go buy people things and move on to the New Year. Just move. Move. Move. You need to slow down and enjoy life and spend time with those you care about, because you don’t know if they are going to be here the next day,”  Lily Davenport, NCLA Junior, commented. 

National Unfriend Day

Mason Harmon

Sunday, November 17, was National Unfriend Day. For this holiday, “friends” all across the country decided it was time to call it quits for their relationships. 

Publicity over this holiday remained relatively minimal and very few even knew of its existence. However, the NCLA wasn’t caught off guard and many were avid to celebrate the special day.

Senior Audrianna Clayton was one of the most outspoken advocates of the day, speaking about her own expertise with handling friends in the past and the drama that surrounds them. 

“I think that I have already done enough cutting actually and I should have waited for the occasion. I should have participated in the holiday and waited a few months, but it’s okay because I cut out the people I needed to at the time,” Clayton said sarcastically. 

Additionally, Clayton expressed the true purpose of the holiday, one that is focused on personal happiness.

“I believe that this day is designated to cleanse the toxicity out of your life so if you have a friend that is being toxic then it’s good to cut them out,” Clayton said. 

Although the holiday has passed now, there are still lingering consequences of it. Again, Clayton offered powerful insight into handling any backlash. 

“Coming from personal experience, I have cut people out of my life, and honestly, sometimes I feel like it’s not worth it, but in the end when your mental health has benefitted from cutting toxic people out of your life, it’s worth it,” Clayton said. 

As a final warning, Clayton offered one last piece of advice, especially concerned with handling friends in the future. 

“In the end, just be nice, treat someone the way they wanted to be treated, that can really affect someone’s mental health. If the situation is toxic, though, you may need to cut someone off,” Clayton said. 

Block Days Survey Reveals Few Surprises

Olivia Brown

On Nov. 13, Ms. Faenza sent out a link about block days. When you clicked on the link, it would take you to a google form that asked for your name, grade and whether or not you want to keep block days.

When asked what the results were, Mrs. Faenza said, “Well it was kind of split. I can’t tell you the exact numbers but in middle and high school, 52% wanted to keep it and 48% didn’t.”

Block days started in September where students would have certain periods different days. 

The benefits for block days is so students could get longer time periods for AP and lab classes. Some teachers don’t like block days because the scheduling is different, but students love it because of clubs. Some teachers also love it because of clubs. 

“We don’t know what our plans are going forward. We haven’t talked about the data,” Ms Faenza said. 

Wrestling powering past Bishop!

By: Gideon VanDyke

The NCLA Falcons wrestling team had their first duel match on Tuesday Nov. 19. They faced off against Bishop McGuinness High School and Forsyth Country Day School.

 “I feel confident the NCLA High School guys will fight hard to never give up and we should win mentally,” stated coach Abdiel.

During the Bishop match their team only had four guys, meaning that the Falcons won by the amount of forfeit points that were given to them.

The Forsyth match was also was decided by forfeits and ended in the Falcons losing the match.

Some highlights from the Forsyth match were Freshman, Isaac Woodleaf, winning his match with a pin in almost 20 seconds. Another impressive win was another wrestler on the team named Dylan Tyler winning his match by one pin after three, two-minute periods. 

 After the match, the team ended the night with their conditioning exercises, which include pushups and situps to show that they mean business and will work hard to get fit and build our teams unity stronger.

NCAA Women’s Soccer Tourney Continues 

By:Brooke Bandy

The NCAA Championship Tournament started its first round on Nov. 15 with a whopping 64 teams. As the tournament advances, the top four No. 1 seeds from each conference have advanced to the second round, including North Carolina, Stanford, Florida State, and Virginia. The second round was finalized with Notre Dame’s victory over Saint Louis on Nov. 17.

Round 1 Results (ncaa.com): 

• Clemson 1, Vanderbilt 0
• Xavier 1, Virginia Tech 0
• No. 4 Penn State 3, Stony Brook 1
• Louisville 1, Lipscomb 0
• Duke 4, Utah 0
• No. 3 Wisconsin 1, Milwaukee 0
• N.C. State 3, Navy 0
• South Florida 4, Florida 2
• Central Connecticut State 1, No. 4 Rutgers 0
• Michigan 2, Bowling Green 1
• No. 3 Arkansas 3, North Texas 0
• Texas A&M 4, Texas 1
• No. 4 Texas Tech 2, Pepperdine 2 (PKs)
• No. 2 BYU 5, Boise State 1
• Washington State 1, Memphis 0
• No. 3 Oklahoma State 1, South Dakota State 0
• No. 2 UCLA 4, Lamar 1
• No. 1 Stanford 15, Prairie View A&M 0
• West Virginia 2, Georgetown 0
• Brown 0, Monmouth 0 (PKs)
• Hofstra 1, Loyola Chicago 0 (OT)
• Colorado 6, Northern Colorado 0
• Santa Clara 1, California 0 (OT)
• No. 2 Southern Cal 5, CSU Fullerton 1
• No. 1 Florida State 2, South Alabama 0
• No. 1 North Carolina 5, Belmont 0
• No. 2 South Carolina 3, Samford 0
• No. 3 Kansas 1, Iowa 0
• No. 1 Virginia 3, Radford 0 
• Arizona 1, TCU 0
• Notre Dame 1, Saint Louis 0
• Washington 1, Seattle U 0

Upcoming Second Round Games (ncaa.com): 

• No. 3 Arkansas vs. North Carolina State | 5 p.m. ET
• No. 2 BYU vs. Louisville | 8 p.m. ET
• No. 4 Washington vs. South Florida | 2 p.m. ET
• No. 3 Oklahoma State vs. Santa Clara | 2 p.m. ET 
• No. 3 Kansas vs. Xavier | 3 p.m. ET
• No. 4 Texas Tech vs. Michigan | 3 p.m. ET
• West Virginia vs. Central Connecticut State | 4 p.m. ET
• No. 2 Southern California vs. Texas A&M | 4:30 p.m. ET
• No. 1 Florida State vs. Brown | 5 p.m. ET
• No. 1 North Carolina vs. Colorado | 6 p.m. ET
• No. 2 South Carolina vs. Notre Dame | 6 p.m. ET
• No. 4 Penn State vs. Arizona | 7 p.m. ET
• No. 1 Virginia vs. Washington State | 7 p.m. ET
• No. 3 Wisconsin vs. Duke | 8 p.m. ET
• No. 1 Stanford vs. Hofstra | 10 p.m. ET
• No. 2 UCLA vs. Clemson | 11 p.m. ET

 

The third round games, determined by the outcome of this weekend’s events, will take place on November 23 and 24. The quarter finals will take place on either November 29 or 30. The semi finals will take place on December 6 at 7:00 PM or 9:30 PM. the championship game will be held on Sunday, Dec. 8, at Avaya Stadium in San Jose. 
https://www.ncaa.com/news/soccer-women/article/2019-11-18/2019-di-womens-soccer-championship-bracket-schedule-scores-how

Girls and Boys Middle School Game Review

By: Nicholas Williford

The Middle School girls basketball team won against Triad Baptist on Nov. 15. They both went ballistic, but the Falcons managed to pull out the win.

“I’m so happy we got the dub and my sister played,” said Lily Reiter. Her sister, Ava Reiter, plays on the team. They played very good defense.

The MS Boys basketball team won against Oak Level Baptist 27 -14. It was a very entertaining game.

The boys played very well and seemed to score well and played very good defense.

“The kids played well, passed the ball, scored when the could, and overall played a good game,” said Mr. Lebrecht.

This Weeks Scores

NCLA Boys Varsity Basketball-43

Woods Charter-42

                                               Q1             Q2             Q3              Q4

NCLA-                                      7                18              7                 11

Woods-                                    10               14              6                  1

Top Scorers:

Derek Shull(11th)-14 points

Titus Brannan(12th)-9 points

Noah Richardson(11th)-6 points

David Hronich(9th)-6 points

 

NCLA Varsity Girls Basketball-37

Woods Charter-49

                                             Q1           Q2              Q3              Q4

NCLA-                                   8                7               16                6

Woods-                                11              12               8                18

Top Scorers:

Courtney Floyd(12th)-14 points

Maura Perkins(11th)-9 points

Elissa Segers(10th)- 5 points

 

 

 

News 11/8/2019

Drive of Honor

Cydney Leister

Today, Sergeant Ray Lambert, a participant in D-Day, is speaking at the NCLA as part of the Drive of Honor ceremony. The event is in relation to Veteran’s Day this coming Monday and is the school’s way of giving recognition to the veterans within its community. 

“The first year in this building, this campus, we decided to honor veterans and that we were part of Civil Air Patrol. At the time it just made sense to honor veterans and to instill that in the student body,” Mr. Lebrecht commented.

The student band and chorus will play music in honor of the occasion while the rest of the student body gather to hear the words of the honored guests.

“Performances by the band, the chorus. We will have some speakers, the veteran will speak, and Mrs. Faenza will have a few words,” said Mr. Lebrecht.

The event brings out the local veterans, many with kids or grandkids that are students at the NCLA. 

“I think one of the things I enjoy is seeing all the veterans. The ones you don’t necessarily know are veterans, as parents or as relatives. Seeing them at the breakfast and talking to them and getting to know more about them,” said Lebrecht. 

 

The Never-Ending Fire Drills

Mason Harmon

Within the past month, the NCLA has experienced three fire drills and with them, questions have been mounting. Speculation has swirled with the only fact being that two of the drills were not scheduled. 

Many students have been wondering what occurred in both instances and have asked questions, but most of their inquiries have been met with silence. Thankfully, though, the majority of students are taking a positive outlook on it. 

“I’m glad that the school is worried about our safety, but I just wish that information would be communicated to students so that it doesn’t seem like both instances happened for no reason,” Senior Audrianna Clayton said.

Fortunately, answers are starting to come out about what occurred in both unplanned instances. Vice-Principal Steven Lebrecht has put much of the speculation to rest in the last week explaining what went on.

“The alarms went off and we needed to have the fire departments come out to check to make sure everything was okay. They were, I guess you would say, false alarms, but nonetheless we still needed to have them come out and take a look,” Lebrecht said.

Although, the exact cause of the alarms may not be disclosed, Mr. Lebrecht did clarify the response measures taken by the fire departments in such instances.

“The response from the fire departments depends on what type of call it is, it is my understanding, that the alarm will send out certain signals, that they will look at and when they get those signals, it determines who arrives. Sometimes they send a call-out to multiple departments, especially since the one down the road is a volunteer department and it isn’t staffed all the town,” Lebrecht said.

In conjunction with answers, surrounding the fire drills Lebrecht also stressed importance of student safety during them. 

“We need students to go out quietly, stay organized, particularly during drills so that if we ever have an actual fire alarm or we actually have a fire and we need to evacuate, it is not chaotic and students can get to safety and so that students can all be accounted so that no one has to go back into the building to look for students,” Lebrecht said. 

Ongoing Changes To Student Parking

Mason Harmon

As construction has progressed on NCLA’s new high school building, a sense of accomplishment has swept over many, but for some students, it has come with a fight for parking. Since the school year started, many students who park closer to the construction site have had their spots taken by workers and foremen. 

For NCLA administrators, this has been an ongoing issue, but one that Vice Principal Steven Lebrecht has handled with patience and is finally seeing come to an end. 

“We communicate with the construction managers to inform them of where to park and where not to park and we tell them that numbered spaces are not for workers. However, when new crew members come on for new trades sometimes that message may take a little while to get to them. We do the best we can to protect those for students and we just ask that students be patient,” Lebrecht said.

In a proactive step, the school has already marked more spots earlier this year to meet the expected demand of student drivers.

“We have typically had 60 to 70 drivers and we are heading above that number with the increased number of high schoolers so we anticipate to fill-up those new spots by the end of the year,” Lebrecht said.

To continue with the school’s proactive measures, administration is already looking into student parking after the high school building is completed. Thankfully, it seems nothing will change. 

“As of right now there will probably not be any change in student parking when the high school building is completed. I don’t believe that the parking lot in the high school section will be large enough for student parking, so most likely students will stay in their existing area and we’ll work on a protocol for getting to the high school building,” Lebrecht said. 

Local Elections 

Gideon Vandyke

This past Tuesday, Nov. 5,  92 local elections happened all over the state of North Carolina.

This year was a municipal election year, meaning that only local elections happened this year. Next year all of the big federal elections, like the presidential and senate elections, will take place.   

One local seat that was decided by this most recent vote was for the Mayor of Kernersville. The mayoral race was between three candidates: Dawn Morgan, Christine Federico, and Irving Neal. 

The new Mayor of Kernersville North Carolina is Dawn Morgan.

These elections are held after every term of two years, meaning that the last election for mayor was in 2017.

Not many people knew these elections were happening. But some students had parents voting.  Freshman Rebecca Avila stated, “My parents voted for Kernersville Mayor and Alderman.” Another student, Mason Hamon said, “I’m going to with my Grandmother to vote today.”

Another seat that was being run run for was for five Kernersville Aldermen seats.

One of the races that was local B. J. Barnes, a long term sheriff in Guilford county, won the mayoral race in Summerfield, North Carolina. 

Rising Drug Trends Among Teens

Ellison Schuman

Insight Human Services recently held a “Drug Trend” meeting at the NCLA to inform the parents and teachers of rising drug trends among teens. Insight is a non-profit treatment center located across North Carolina whose purpose is to prevent and treat those with drug and mental health issues.

Joshua Bondy, a program specialist at Insight presented a well-informed slideshow at the meeting focusing specifically on vaping, marijuana, alcohol, and prescription drugs.

“I provided parents and teachers with information on some of the risks/consequences related to each drug, some of the concerns we have regarding teen access to these drugs, teen perception of the risks associated with the drugs, tips for talking with teens about these drugs, and tips for reducing access to substances in the home.” Bondy said.

The use of e-cigarettes has become a major concern this year due to the amount of people ending up in the hospital with  lung illnesses. According to livescience, the outbreak’s total number of cases has risen to over 1,400 along with a 33 person death toll.

The NCLA has been taking  serious precautions regarding this epidemic. It’s their goal to make sure the students aren’t exposing themselves to these dangerous chemicals. 

Girls Basketball Preview

By: Jackson Faenza

The girls NCLA basketball team’s first game is quickly approaching. The first game will be against Clover Garden on November 6th.

“I am personally always excited for anything that is basketball related. I am excited to win with the team, to lose with the team, have bad days together, and have good days together” said Elissa Seagers, sophomore.

Last season they had a record of 12-11, which was much better than the boys record last season. They scored about 40 points a game, 28 rebounds a game, and about 9 steals in a game. The leading scores was Maura Perkins with 259 points the whole season. 

The team wants to get even better and improve, they have been practicing five days a week recently and putting in all the effort.

“The team needs to improve on being more encouraging to others and having fun with the game we play.” said Seagers.

Many of them even set their own goals for the season like improve shooting or other person skills.

The first game is against Clover Garden on November 6th and it is sure to be a great one!

“I think that every year holds something different and I always take away something new from each basketball season no matter who I am playing with. I am excited to see what this season holds for all of us.”

College basketball is coming in hot

By: Jackson Faenza

College Basketball is just around the corner and is coming in hot. With the Preseason top 25 teams just coming, it is really putting this season into perspective. 

The #1 team in the country is Michigan State, losing three starters from last year. They are coached by the great Tom Lizzo. Michigan State has won two national championships (1979 and 2000). Their first game of the season against number two ranked Kentucky, November 5. Many people are predicting them to win the third national championship this season!

The top team in North Carolina is the Duke Blue Devils. They are currently sitting at number four in the Preseason top 25. They are losing three players, with three of them being starters. They have won five national championships with their last one being in 2015. Let’s see if duke can make something out of this season. The first game of the season against number three ranked Kansas is on November 5.

Just a few places behind Duke are your North Carolina Tar Heels, coached by Hall of Fame coach Roy Williams at number eight in the country! They have won six national championships in total. The Heels are losing six players with four of them being starters. But do not underestimate Roy Williams recruiting, they were able to secure the spot of number four in the country prospect Cole Anthony. They also gained commitments of  another five star recruit and of two grad transfers. Their first game will be against Notre Dame November 6th.

The NC State Wolfpack are not ranked this season, like usual, but are hoping to get to the NCAA tournament this year. They have not been since 2015. 

The College Basketball is almost here which means there are 133 days until March Madness starts!

 

 High School Wrestling

By: Gideon Vandyke        

The NCLA High School wrestling program’s season is in full swing the team has already practicing and they also have their first match coming up in almost two weeks. 

The high school wrestling coach is a police officer who comes to the school  in his off time to coach the high school and middle school practices. During practice coach has been working on conditioning coach says “we are getting better but y’all are still soft”

The team is significantly bigger than it has been in recent years. They also have a few new guys on the team. Last year the high school team consisted of four wrestlers.

Freshman wrestler Isaac Woodleaf said “ I’m so hyped to win and make it regionals this year I think the team is going to be good this season if we keep doing like we’re doing.”

The wrestling team has their first match coming up soon on Tuesday November 19th.

PowderPuff Game

By: Nicholas Williford

The annual high school powderpuff game lived up to the hype. There was a huge turnout with the bleachers being packed full of students and teachers. 

The players played a fair, fast-paced, and entertaining game. There were various girls on both sides that scored.

The cheerleaders had an awesome cheer routine with a beautiful halftime spectacle. All of the practicing before the game paid off.

The score ended up being 30-20. The upperclassmen won, but the underclassmen put up a good fight.

Overall it was a fun time for all who played and watched.

“It was funny watching all of the rivalry that was going on,” said Michael Cespedes.

“It was really fun to watch them go at it,” said Derek Shull.

 

News 10/25/19

An Annual Tradition at the NCLA: Powderpuff and a Bonfire 

By: Mason Harmon 

As posters are hung and student council notifications are sent out, the season has arrived for the NCLA’s annual high school powderpuff game and bonfire. On Friday, Nov. 1, high school student council will host both events starting with the powderpuff game at 5:00 p.m. followed by the bonfire at 6:30 p.m.

For many in student council, the events mark a truly exciting time as they embark on this year’s full itinerary of sponsored activities. High school student council Vice President Christine Parker is probably the most passionate member and one who is looking forward to all this year has in store, but mainly these events.

“I would like a lot of students to be here for the bonfire and powderpuff game supporting and showing their school spirit,” Parker said.

In addition to hoping for a great turn-out at this year’s events, Vice President Parker also is hoping for good weather as she reflects on last year’s bonfire.

“Last year’s bonfire never happened because it got rained out a couple of times,” Parker said. “I would like for it to happen and for people to come and enjoy their time. As a part of student council, I know we’re trying to provide activities for students to be involved in.”

Fortunately, though, last year’s powderpuff game went off without a hitch and made for some great memories. 

“Powderpuff was really fun, a lot of the students were involved whether they were playing, or cheering, or just in the stands watching because it’s fun for the students to be involved with the game,” Parker said.

Parker is wanting to encourage every high schooler to come out and support the student council, but more importantly the student body as a whole.

“I would encourage all high school students to come out to these events, because you only live through high school once, and you want to be able to look back and see how much fun you had with some of your closest friends,” Parker said.

 

NCLA’s Fifth Annual Trunk or Treat

By: Mason Harmon 

This Friday, Oct. 25, the NCLA will host its fifth annual Trunk or Treat. The event will officially start at 6:00 p.m. and last till later in the evening with lots of fun and family-oriented activities. 

These activities include a pumpkin decorating station, DJ Party Panda dance party, a costume contest with prizes, and spooky stories in the garden after the pumpkin patch closes.  

In addition to sponsoring these great family ventures, the Falcon Community Supporters are also coordinating some great vendors for the event. Gunny’s Hotdog Cart will be serving multiple types of hot dogs, chips, drinks, and other great food along with Bungalow and Brews Beverage Trailer serving coffee and hot chocolate.

As the final piece of this great family event, the Falcon Community Supporters will also be opening up a pumpkin patch in the school garden at 5:30 p.m. before Trunk or Treating officially begins. The pumpkins will be sold between $1 to $5 and all the proceeds going to the Community Supporters. 

All students and families are welcomed and encouraged to come out and support the school and to enjoy some wonderful family time at a delightfully spooky event.

 

 

PSAT Next Week

By: Cydney Leister 

On Wednesday, October 30th, a group of NCLA high schoolers will be taking the PSAT/NMSQT. The test is being taken on the make up date due to the original testing date falling on the school’s fall break. 

“The PSAT challenged what I thought I knew and I think it prepared me to take the PSAT again later in my academic career,” commented Ally Mattingly, an NCLA Junior, on her experience with the exam.

The PSAT is a preliminary SAT and is intended to give students exposure to SAT style tests. It is slightly shorter than the SAT, taking 2 hours and 40 mins, but gives test takers a better understanding of the quick pace and types of questions found on the SAT.

“While it was stressful, it did help prepare me for this year,” said Emma Wolfe, NCLA Junior.

The PSAT offers Juniors that take it a chance at 180 million dollars in scholarship by earning a National Merit Scholarship; regardless of grade level, the exam is a beneficial experience academically. 

“The Grinder” Cafe brings a jolt to NCLA
By: Ellison Schuman
New changes are being made to how Grinder days work at the NCLA. Due to the long lines at the coffee truck in the morning, the Grinder will be getting to the school earlier and opening up their second window to make the process faster.

If you are wanting to go to the truck during first period, your teacher will give you a pass to prove you are leaving to get coffee.

“At least this way we know where the students are at, so if they’re needed we know where to find them,” said Mrs. Orenstein.

The NCLA has come to know “The Grinder” truck very well. This mobile is Greensboro’s first ever organic bean coffee truck to serve 100% organic Fair Trade Arabica beans that are locally sourced, roasted and served.

“The Grinder” has a wide variety of drinks that can be prepared hot, iced or blended with tons of flavor options. From Organic Espresso, smoothies, frozen drinks to pastries, they keep their prices affordable, ranging from $2 to $5 to ensure that everyone can get what they want.

“My favorite thing to get from the Grinder is an iced caramel macchiato,” said junior, Lily Reiter.

Chick-fil-a Tries to win Cheese Game too
By: Gideon Vandyke
The Chic-Fil-A Mac and Cheese: it’s the gooey cheesy side that pairs perfectly with your Chic-Fil-A chicken.

On August 12, Chick-Fil-A announced their all new mac and cheese. Last year Chick-Fil-A tested this new side in a few cities across the United States: Houston and San Antonio, Texas, Nashville, Phoenix and Baltimore and this list also includes one of our near neighbors – Greensboro.

I was able to try the mac and cheese and all I can say is it was very good and satisfying  for a small. The price came in at about $2.35 for a small. which is just slightly more expensive than the classic Chick-Fil-A waffle fries, which come in at $2.09 for a large.

But, you can get it as a side with any lunch or dinner meal, kids meal or by itself. You can also have it catered for large gatherings.

According to the Chick-Fil-A, their mac and cheese is, “The first permanent side addition to the menu since 2016 –  is a classic macaroni and cheese recipe, featuring a special blend of cheeses including cheddar, parmesan and Romano. It is baked in a restaurant each day.”

The Chick-Fil-A mac and cheese is one of those things you have to try for yourself to be able to experience its goodness.

Favorite Halloween Candy
By: Rebecca Avila
Halloween is about scariness, cool costumes and candy. The loads of candy is what everyone is looking forward to on Halloween and of course hanging with friends is good as well.

“My favorite types of candy are KitKats and gummy worms. I like sour things like sour gummy worms, and Kit Kats because they are just the right amount of chocolate,” said Cydney Leister.

People can trade candy if not satisfied with what they have. Finding people willing to trade their candy for yours can be difficult but rewarding if you both go home happy.

“When I get Hersheys with almonds, I always trade for a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup any day,” said Etornam Agbemabiese.

Having piles and piles of candy are good because you have snacks for days and having the best candy at your disposal hands down can make the day of anyone.

“My favorite Halloween candy is KitKats,” said Amelia Maxey.

Creatable World
By: Cydney Leister
Mattel, a toy industry known most notably for Barbie and Hot Wheels, has recently added a new toy to their ranks, the Creatable World:Doll.

This new doll is a branch off of Barbie, but is intended to welcome all kids to play regardless of labels. The doll is made to be adjustable to reflect its owner with adjustable hair lengths and a variety of outfit choices.

“I think that it’s really cool, and it’s a nice idea to give everyone an opportunity to express themselves and play in a fantasy world they create,” commented Lily Davenport, a NCLA junior.

Barbie is noted for her increasing representation in a variety of careers; however this doll hopes present that kids don’t have to be held to any specific focus but can explore an ever changing world they create.

“I think it is a good idea to have it, just because I feel like Barbie dolls and stuff are always you can be an astronaut or you can be that,” said Harley Frazier, a NCLA sophomore, on the subject.

The creator’s hope for the doll is to create a new type of toy section that isn’t separated by labels, but is open to each child’s own imagination. This is a sensitive decision in the current world with mixed reactions and exaggerations; however the basic idea appears to receive a positive response.

Cover photo and gallery below submitted by Ian Arnold.

 

Cross Country Regional Preview

By: Olivia Brown

The top seven NCLA boys and girls are going to the NCHSAA 1A Midwest Regionals on November 2nd in Dobson, at Millennial Charter Academy. They’re going to compete and have to beat a set time of under 18 minutes to qualify for the NCHSAA 1A State Championship.

“It’s the top few people on the team that goes and it’s a bigger meet than usual. A lot of kids from different schools have a chance of going,” Brooke Bandy said.

Cross Country is a very popular sport at the NCLA. Cross Country is a competitive sport for boys and girls. The runners would usually compete at 1.5 miles to 3.1 miles in a certain amount of time. 

“I think some of the boys might win,” Jayden Dewald said. 

The list of girls that are running are Brooke Bandy, Laura Richie, Emily Vroom, Mary DeHeart and Jaden Dewald.

NCLA Boys Basketball Returns

By: Jackson Faenza

The North Carolina Leadership Boys basketball team is soon underway with their first game at Clover Garden on November 6.

“I am excited for the season because I will be a starting Point Guard” said Wendell Newton, sophomore.

“I am ready for the season because I am going to be a Team Captain, which is gonna be a great leadership opportunity for me,” said Titus Brannan, Senior.

The team last year suffered a losing record of 9-19, winning just four games at home last season. The team scored about 46 points a game, 27 rebounds a game, and with roughly 10 steals in a game.

“One thing we need to improve is taking care of the ball on offense.  We had way too many turnovers,” said Coach Shoemaker.

The team kept their spirits up through the season and kept playing their hardest despite the record.

“For our team to succeed this year we need everybody’s 100% and for everyone to show dedication, trustworthiness, and perseverance,” said Titus Brannan.

The team is hoping to rebound this season. They have been practicing a lot and even played in a few basketball jamborees this summer.

The team’s first home game will be against Chatham Charter on November 12. Chatam is coming off of a 27-5 season and was undefeated at home last year.

Girls Volleyball Senior Night

 

Boys Soccer Senior Night

 

 

 

 

News 10/04/2019

A Tribute to Mrs. Reaves

Brooke Bandy

It was announced on September 17 that the beloved Latin teacher, Mrs. Reaves, was going to be resigning, effective at the end of the first quarter, after teaching at The NCLA for five years. 

“She’s one of the best teachers here,” said Junior Wen-Shin Lee.

“Mrs. Reaves is like the mom at school I never had and she always takes time to talk about our personal problems,” said Junior Megan Queen.

“What I will miss the most is just having her there because she has always been someone that I know I can talk to about anything,” said Senior Ashlyn Rice. 

During her five years at the school, she has made many memories. Some of these stick out above the rest.

“I love the Saturnalias, the graduations, and anytime I’ve had a new class. I love the beginning of the year because I love meeting my new students and seeing the people that I’ve had before and reconnecting. The Caesars and Senators was really fun, watching everybody get so competitive about it, even my earlier years when we would go around carolling in the school,” said Mrs. Reaves. 

Her students have made some fun memories during her time here as well.

“It was when we were doing scansion,” said Lee.

“My favorite memory isn’t actually in her class, but a couple of years ago we went to the Festival of Lights at Tanglewood together and that’s probably my favorite memory,” said Rice. 

One of her students’ favorite things about her is how supportive she is.

“She’s come to a lot of my volleyball games and I can hear her yelling even though she has no idea what she’s yelling about,” said Queen. 

The reason she came here five years ago was because of her good friend, our own middle and high school technology and video production teacher, Eric Gonzalez.

“Eric Gonzalez was the one who talked to me about coming here. There was an opening and he had talked to me about how much his girls loved it and were excited about the NCLA from the time they started the NCLA,” said Reaves. 

Her favorite thing about teaching at the school over the years has been her students, saying, “My babies, my kids, even the present company included.” 

Her favorite thing about teaching here at The NCLA is also the thing she will miss the most. “The same thing… ” referring back to her favorite thing about teaching here,“ … it’s the interactions, it’s the knowing what’s going on in everybody’s lives and being apart of that,” she said. 

Mrs. Reaves has made a huge impact on the school as a whole with her kind spirit and positivity, and she has even lead some students to want to pursue teaching as a career.

“Mrs. Reaves is actually the person that made me decide that I wanted to be a teacher because of how she has always treated me and I want everyone to have someone in their life like her,” said Rice.

Coffee with the Principal

Gideon Van Dyke

Coffee With the Principal is a new monthly event for parents to learn about all things happening at the NCLA from Mrs. Faenza.

This past Friday, September 27, was the first meeting and it went smooth with a good attendance of parents and very informational questions.

“I think it went well,” Mrs. Faenza stated.

Mrs. Faenza has used this approach before with students called “Lunch with the Principal.” Now she is trying it with the parents. If you want to learn more about what’s happening at The NCLA this is the way to do it.

“My goal is to allow parents to ask the source questions they have on their minds and get an honest legitimate answer.  I want to have a transparent relationship with our school family,” said Mrs. Faenza.

The parents submit questions mainly about the school. “What is the news on the new building,” one parent asked.

“I learned of the idea from an admin collaboration group that I belong to,” Faenza stated.  “I am a part of an online administration group and saw that this idea was tried at another school.”

From the perspective of an onlooker, this experience is a very relaxed environment where all questions were valued and Mrs. Faenza answered them to the best of her ability. She gave the parents a sort of comfort in knowing they are heard and an active part in their child’s school career. 

They meet every month on a friday from 8 to 9 a.m.

 

K9 Unit Visits NCLA Hallways, Parking Lot

Mason Harmon

Many students were taken by surprise, last Friday, Sept. 27, when a drug-sniffing dog and its Kernersville Police handler were spotted on campus. The K-9 and its handler were inspecting the parking lot and middle school building hallway, checking high school students’ vehicles and lockers.

Many questions have been raised by students as to why the K-9 was brought to the NCLA and if there were any illegal substances found. Due to confidentiality, however, most of these questions have remained unanswered. 

Assistant Principal Steven Lebrecht has made sure to limit conversation around the topic by only making a few statements about it.

“There’s no privacy being invaded,” Lebrecht said. “Students shouldn’t be doing that stuff in the first place and definitely don’t need to bring it on campus, because it will be found.”

School-wide searches by K-9’s are nothing new for North Carolina schools, but they do come with their own legal guidelines. These searches can be done randomly without any specific person or group targeted or they can be done with “reasonable suspicion” that something illegal will be discovered.

In both circumstances, the searching of lockers comes down to the school’s policy on lockers and whether or not they are personal or school property. Additionally, according to the ACLU North Carolina, searching a student for illegal items is also allowed but can be denied if the student chooses. 

 

New Hope for Softball 

Mason Harmon

As fall sports draw to a close, NCLA students and faculty are already looking forward to Spring season athletics, high school softball namely. For so many, last year’s lack of a high school softball team was detrimental to morale and school spirit.

This year, however, NCLA Assistant Principal Steven Lebrecht is hoping to avoid what happened last year.  

“We only had, I believe, six or seven young ladies, that were willing to play and ideally you need about 14 or 15 to play to make a team. You need to have a minimum of nine and we didn’t meet the minimum so we couldn’t have a team last year,” Lebrecht said. 

In addition to avoiding what happened last year, Assistant Principal Lebrecht and NCLA Senior Aubrey Harmon are also pushing for high school girls to try-out for the team.

“Let myself or Mr. Shoemaker know so we can make sure we have a team,” Lebrecht said. 

“I hope that everyone who showed up to the interest meeting will try out. If we have enough for a team I hope it’s the beginning of many more seasons rather than being on and off as it has been,” Harmon said.

As the last part of their desire for an HS softball team, many students, including Harmon, are hoping to inspire other high school girls to try-out for the team.

“Softball is an amazing way to bond not just as a team but through friendships that will last a lifetime. Although there are some who have never played, it is definitely worth trying,” Harmon said.

 

October Break is almost here!

Jackson Faenza

October break is fast approaching on October 11. The NCLA made a “fall break” into the calendar and everybody loves it. It is a one week right after the first full quarter of school ends. I asked some kids where they are going for fall break.

Some people said they are going out of state for fall break. “I am going to Connecticut to visit family” said Kenna Porto, 10th grader. 

Nora Wood, a 10th grader, said she is going to Washington DC for the one week vacation.

While some people are just taking it easy and taking a relaxing trip. “I am going on a fishing trip” said Jonathon Floyd, 10th grader.

Some people choose to stay in the comfort of their home like for example when I asked Katie, a 10th grader, where she is going for the one week fall break she said “Nowhere.”

As you can tell many people to choose to do many different things for the one week fall break for example go out of state, to the beach, to florida, and even just stay in the comfort of your home. Whatever it is people sure do love this fall break for many different reasons and people are sure looking forward to it in 2 weeks.

 

Living 10/04/19

Dixie Classic Fair Returns

By: Mason Harmon

The Dixie Classic Fair will start on Friday, Oct. 4, and runs until Sunday, Oct. 13.This highly anticipated event is held annually on the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds 

Tickets for people between the ages 12-64 are $10, children from 6-11 are $5, and kids under 5 get in free. If you are looking forward to the rides, you can buy a $10 ride ticket that has 30 credits, or you can buy an unlimited ride voucher for $35.

There are many rides, vendors and attractions at this family-fun event. Some of these famous rides include the Fireball 2000, the Giant Wheel, and the Sky Flyer. 

There are other forms of entertainment options such as the demolition derby, rodeo’s, figure 8 racing, and tons of live music performances.

Fall Trends

By: Rebecca Avila

Fall started on Sep. 23, 2019. Fashion, television, and music are hitting the market for fall. 

Flannel is back and being integrated into more styles than just jeans.

“…with Khakis, as a skirt, statement pants, knotted, girly kick, around the waist, western vibes, and as a blazer.” are the ways flannel has increased this year. 

The weather in the fall is a little chilly and staying indoors watching tv shows will keep you occupied.

The Morning Show is “Fall’s most anticipated series” according to Entertainment Weekly. See is a “epic apocalyptic saga” according to The Oprah Magazine. Batwoman “is the most anticipated October series” according to the Hidden Remote.

While on some fall adventures, the music aspect will be covered. 

“Graveyard” by Halsey and “Glorious” by Ella Henderson are some songs to listen too. An anticipated album about to release is Kanye West’s new album, “Jesus is King”.

The Pizza Wars Have Ended

By Gideon Van Dyke

It’s no surprise that pizza is one of the favorite foods of modern high schoolers and college students. 

In celebration of National Pizza Month, Nick Williford and I went on a journey to find the best of the commonly ordered pizzas, and our selection included Dominos, Pizza Hut and Papa Johns. 

We critiqued each pizza to find out our favorite.

Pizza Hut, in our opinion, was the worst because it costs the most and because it was thin and felt cheap. This was very disappointing because it smelled so very good, yet tasted so very bad.

“This pizza is actually bad, bruh,” said Nick.

Next, we have Dominos. Dominos had a good crust and sour sauce with cheese that tasted fresh. This automatically and utterly decimated Pizza Hut.

Last but certainly not least, Papa Johns, this pizza was our personal favorite because it came with dipping sauce and a banana pepper. This gave it extra fancy suburban points. It also came the hottest, so when we got it the cheese was still stringy. 

Therefore, out of the three, Papa John reigns supreme!

 

 

 

News 10/04/19

A Block Schedule With Some Mixed Feelings

Mason Harmon

This past Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 10th and 11th, the NCLA implemented its new once-monthly high school block schedule. With the schedule’s roll-out there have been mixed feelings. Even regarding the purpose of it, there has been a divide between the student body and the NCLA administration.

NCLA Assistant Principal Steven Lebrecht described the schedule by saying, “The main purpose is for teachers to be able to utilize that time for Science classes to do labs, for Math classes to dive deeper into the material, and for A.P. classes to do practice exams.”

Unfortunately, many students did not perceive it the way administration intended.

“The only purpose I see is just so people are forced to join a club,” NCLA Junior Maura Perkins said.

In addition to the divide over purpose, the NCLA administration and student body also differ on its initial rollout. 

“I feel like nobody knew what the heck they were doing. I just think it was chaotic,” Perkins said.

The NCLA administration had a different take.

“I think it went well, hearing from teachers and some of the students. Some of the teachers I talked to really enjoyed being able to get into the material, doing bigger and better activities that you can’t normally do in a 45 or 50 minute class period. It seems like some of the students that I talked with really enjoyed it and it didn’t seem like it was too long,” Lebrecht said.

Hopefully, the new schedule can be ironed out, along with the communication issues, but in the meantime, the NCLA administration asks students to be patient with the new schedule and see how it goes in the future. 

“You can’t really make a judgment on preconceived notions, chances are those that didn’t like it probably went into their class period thinking this is going to stink. Give it a chance and give the teachers a chance to get used to it.” Lebrecht said.

 

Results are in for the High School Student Council Election

Mason Harmon

The election results for high school student council are officially in and there are high hopes for this year’s council-led activities. High school students should expect some changes from previous years as the council tries to incorporate the whole student body.

Newly elected student council President Annie Ellis wants to emphasize this idea as a hope for this year’s council. 

“I plan to have things to get the student body more involved and increase school spirit,” Ellis said. 

In addition to seeing the council striving for a larger student body involvement, high school students should also expect some changes in the council’s responsibilities. 

“Student council will be in charge of the prom this year, and it will be in very capable hands and I know that because we have some very dedicated council members and we will also get some help from other responsible students to make it the best prom it can be,” Ellis said. 

As a final change to this year’s council, students are being encouraged to talk with their councilmen and share ideas for future events and feedback on past ones.

“I think the whole point of having new fun activities that people enjoy is to have students bring them up to us and if we’re able to make those follow-through then I think that we would be able to increase school spirit and participation and that’s the greatest thing we want this year,” Ellis said.   

 This year’s council seems to be off to a great start and it’s only a matter of time to see what activities are instore for HS students. Below is a list of each newly elected high school student Councilmen:

President: Annie Ellis

Vice President: Christine Parker

Secretary: Mason Harmon

Treasurer: Callie Foust

Senior Representative: Jodi Rickert

Junior Representative: Cydney Leister

Sophomore Representative: Abigail Brannan

Freshman Representative: Etornam Agbemabiese

Hurricane Dorian Help

By: Olivia Brown

Recently Hurricane Dorian has had a major impact on a lot of places in the U.S, as well as, and especillay, the Bahamas. The category 5 hurricane left 2,500 people missing, 54 people dead and the rest were injured from the debris. But a pilot named Kyle Farewell has decided to take a stand and help them. 

“Today we’ve got four generators, we have the nose and the tail filled with snacks and water” Farewell said …

Farewell will be taking his own plane and flying to the Bahamas to give them donated materials to the people. He wants to help other people because he was also affected by the hurricane, it damaged his house and yard so he sympathises with the people of the Bahamas. 

Opinion: The New Lunch Schedule

Nick Williford

Lunch has changed, some say for the better, some say for the worst. Personally, I don’t care about it too much as long as I get time to eat.

I interviewed a few students to see how they feel about lunch being “an hour,” and having tutoring for 1st or second half of lunch.

“I honestly do not care, I eat your food anyway, but I like that it feels like lunch is longer,” said Derek Shull, a junior at NCLA. 

I feel the same way, it does feel like lunch is way longer than it was last year, with more freedom.

“I like being able to leave and go get lunch somewhere else or just leave,” said Michael Cespedes, a junior at NCLA.

I believe most people have a positive opinions on lunch, and I believe this was a nice change of pace. 

Therefore, we really do hope NCLA doesn’t switch this lunch system up.

National Honor Society Becomes an Active Chapter 

Brooke Bandy

On April 9, an induction ceremony for new National Honor Society members took place at our school. At the start of the 2019-2020 school year, the NHS chapter here at The NCLA officially became an active chapter. 

What does being an active chapter mean? This means that the chapter will now be actively participating in community service and partaking in National Honor Society events and requirements. 

Community service is going to be big for the group. “I haven’t ever done NHS, so I’m helping Mrs. O, but I know that we’ve talked about doing more community service as a group, so that’s kind of our focus this year, to get those students exposed to a wider variety of different kinds of community service,” said Mrs. B.G., one of the teachers running the chapter. 

There are already some plans in the books for community service later on in the year, including a blood drive. “We’re supposed to work the blood drive the whole time that it’s here so we’re just trying to get it scheduled because I think the lady initially wanted to do it in December, but that’s not really a good time for us. We’d kind of like to wait until we get into the new building where we have more space, so hopefully early next year we’ll be doing the blood drive, and then we’ve got a few other things planned,” said B.G. 

Many people are looking forward to this year and having the ability to participate in the National Honor Society. NHS Co-President, Mason Harmon, hopes that it will bring the school together and gather support from students. “I’m hoping to really bring this chapter into an active part and I really am hoping that we can stress the importance of student activity here and stress the service aspect of NHS … maybe we’ll team up with student council a little bit too really bring the school together to incite school spirit, and just really strengthen the understanding of what the NHS is,” said Harmon. 

Harmon’s goals as president this year is to focus on serving the community and the student body. He said, “My goal for this year is to make sure that this first year of nhs as an active chapter goes well we get through some of the leadership issues the struggles on it we can work out some kinks we’ve never had to deal with before and really that we focus on serving our community and the student body as a whole.” 

B.G.’s goal is to get to know students that she hasn’t had the opportunity to teach yet. “Getting to know the students I haven’t taught before. That’s like a personal goal for me,” she said. 

Overall, the excitement to get started with activities for our NHS chapter is overwhelming. “I’m most excited about seeing how much support we’re going to get from the student body and see the ideas and the great things so many of our NHS members are going to put forth this year because we have so many members. I think we can do some wonderful things, and I can’t wait to see what we’ll do,” said Harmon. 

 

News 9/20/19

Finally, an Hour Lunch

By: Mason Harmon

As the NCLA officially opened its new Middle School building this semester, a new lunch schedule has been put in place for high school students. This schedule now allows students an hour for eating lunch, tutoring, and even participating in extracurriculars, and it’s getting some positive feedback. 

“I am really glad that it is an hour, because it gives you time to chill and most public schools and other schools around here don’t get that opportunity,” NCLA Senior Ellison Schuman said.

Even NCLA Assistant Principal Stephen Lebrecht is happy with the hour lunch.

“I think it benefits the high school students, especially with an hour. It gives them a chance to get some tutoring done, particularly for those students who can’t stay after school for whatever reason,” said Lebrecht. 

In addition to the already popular hour lunch, NCLA administration has plans in the works to soon implement its tutoring and extracurricular policies. Since the first day of school, high school students have simply been given an hour just for lunch, but now that the school year has begun, administration is ready to implement its originally advertised plans. 

“I would imagine that eventually we’ll start to see some clubs being offered, some tutoring sessions being offered and that way students have the option of first lunch or second lunch and going places for tutoring or to be apart of a club,” Lebrecht said.  

After the new lunch policies are implemented, administration hopes to keep them as HS students move into the new high school building.

“I think everything is going to be the same, it’s still going to be an hour lunch and we’ll still have our clubs, but there should be more room, hopefully, for everybody to enjoy their lunchtime,” Lebrecht said.

Unfortunately, even with all these positive benefits some students have been upset with the recent policy to not allow visitors for HS lunch. 

“I have a lot of friends who want to come see me and the only time they can come is during lunch because we have a whole hour, and they can’t now,” said Schuman.

Even with student unhappiness, administration has made the new policy in the best interest of the student body. 

“The biggest issue would be security, making sure we can monitor where everybody’s at. It was easier last year when everybody’s in the same building. Now that we’re going to be in three separate buildings, being able to monitor who’s coming in is going to be a little bit more difficult, and at least for right now, it’s probably a good idea to hold off on the visitors,” Lebrect said.

 

New School Year, New High School Student Council

By: Mason Harmon

This Friday, Sept. 1, high school student council elections will be held. With these elections taking place it will mark a new chapter in the history of NCLA’s HS Student Council.

As last year’s high school student council ended its term, elections were unable to be held. As a part of this year though, each high school student will be allowed to vote for new members of the council to represent them. This year, however, comes with a new rule on student council size.

 

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Instead of previous years when size was dependent on interest, this year’s HS Student Council will only allow one elected member per position. This decision was made to ensure efficiency and a streamlined design for council efforts. In addition to this new rule there are also some new teachers handling the council.

Mr. Walsh, HS History, and Mrs. Kerr, HS English, are now the staff sponsors for the Council and will oversee its operations throughout this year. Both of them have high hopes for this year and are ready to make this year’s council one of the school’s greatest. As a part of their aspirations for this year they have already been approved to start planning Spirit Weeks, the school’s annual Powder Puff game, and annual Homecoming dance.

Other events are in the works, but in the meantime a new high school student council must be elected. Campaigns have already been announced and it will be up to each high schooler to determine who will best represent their interests. Here is a comprehensive list of candidates:

• Freshmen Representative: Etornam Agbemabiese.

• Sophomore Representative: Jadyn DeWald, Abigail Brannan, Naudia McKoy, Hannah Small, and Elissa Segers.

• Junior Representative: Cydney Leister

• Senior Representative: Hannah Lee, Jodi Rickert, Chloe Glover, and Olivia Pulliam

• Treasurer: Callie Frost and Selah Smith.

• Secretary: Mason Harmon and Lindsey Mueller.

• Vice President: Macey Green and Christine 

• President: Kirby Dunn and Annie Ellis

 

New Teachers at The NCLA

By: Cydney Leister

One of the benefits of going to a smaller school is the sense of community, or even family between the students and staff. This new school year the NCLA has been bestowed the honor of welcoming new members into that family.

The high school got a handful of additions in the form of lovely new teachers. Bergsma, Landphair, Pillen, Hartzell, Roberts, and Birchenough cover a portion of the new members of the NCLA family.

Hartzell is a past science researcher who high schoolers now have the honor to have as a science teacher. She was introduced to teaching through her husband and has only worked in charter school, though has been impressed with the NCLA.

Bergsma grew up Randolph County, NC and is the new teacher of exciting classes like Food and Nutrition. She believes that her coming to the NCLA is a great opportunity. 

Bergsma and Hartzell had only positive things to say about their new positions at the school

“It’s really awesome that I have administration that believes in me,” said Bergsma. “I hope that I am here a long time.”

“The school is beautiful and the equipment and the resources are really beneficial,” said Hartzell. 

Bergsma has big plans with her foods lab this year and has high ambition for her future here.

“I hope to get our program up and running and we add more teachers to it,” Bergsma stated.

Hartzell looks forward to get to know the student body and building upon the school itself in the coming year and beyond. The amount of trust that is placed in the high schoolers here and the integrity they show impresses her.

“I look forward to getting to know my students,” said Hartzell. “I would like to grow the AP science program.”

Hartzell and Bergsma, as well as the other new high school teachers are signs of the NCLA’s growth as a school and a community. With the addition of these great minds only great things must be to come for the future of the school.

 

Over 250 New Students Enrolled

By: Ellison Schuman

The recent expansion of the NCLA has not only brought new buildings, but has also brought many new faces. In just this school year, over 250 new students have been enrolled in grades K-12.

It is always difficult being the new kid, especially in a school where everything is in the process of changing. Freshman Celeste Paradis gave her view of her first impression and her feelings about what’s upcoming for the NCLA:

“Honestly I was scared to come to this school. I had never been to a charter school before, but everyone has been really nice.” Said Paradis. “I am really excited for the new high school, the school that I went to before was really old, so I think it’ll be a good experience.”

With an evolving school, there is always room for constructive criticism so the environment can be better for everyone. And although Senior Mackenzee Garwood had many positive things to say about the school, she did have some critiques. 

“I wish that there were more electives to choose from.” Said Garwood. “But overall everyone has been really nice and helpful. And I like how the class schedules are set up.

With the upcoming high school, the NCLA hopes to have an even greater percentage of new students in the following years.

 

No More Mountain Dew at the NCLA?

Ellison Schuman

Many changes have already taken place for the NCLA and it is only the 3rd week of school. From new buildings, new teachers, a new lunch schedule, to even a new drink provider. If you are someone who depends on a caffeinated drink like Mtn. Dew to get you through the day, then you might have noticed that you’ve been unplugged.

Recently, the Pepsi vending machines usually located in the multi-purpose room have been shut off. There have been new Coke machines placed in the “garage” as replacements. You may be wondering why the sudden change, but Mrs. Wood can assure you that it is for a good reason.

“We switched to using Coke because they use aluminum over plastic.” Said Wood. “Recently, we’ve decided to get rid of plastic bottles and even the plastic silverware. The school really wants to help with the conservation.”

Mrs. Wood and Mrs. Faenza were seen displaying their “Save the Turtle” T-shirts on Friday and those are a part of the new program “Leadership Friday’s.” Every Friday, the students that are currently taking Leadership and CAP learn about the different ways they can help protect the environment.

Please help the NCLA by using the new recycling and trash bins that have been placed in the classrooms. Save the turtles.

 

New High School Building Update

By: Gideon Vandyke  

The new high school project is almost finished and for most students and administration, they can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The new building project has been going on for about a year now. It took a year and a half of planning by the administration. The project started in April and according to Mr. Lebrecht, “The building should be done no later than January.” 

The crews have been working all summer to get this major project done and ready for all the high schoolers to move in, and also let the middle schoolers have the new middle school building to themselves.

The new building will include a new gymnasium facility, and also some nice science classrooms. This also lets teachers get comfortable in their own rooms. For the moment, the teachers and the highschool students are borrowing the current rooms from the middle school. 

A lot of high school students are excited to move into the new building. Mr. Lebrecht stated, “I’m excited for the students to have their own building.” 

The students are ready to have their own building and can’t wait until next year, but hopefully sooner than later. Mr. Lebrecht stated, “It is awesome to see where the school started in 2013, to where it is today with all of the students and multiple buildings.” 

News 9/4/19

Virginia Foxx visits the NCLA

By Brooke Bandy

On this past Wednesday, April 24, the 5th district House Representative Virginia Foxx visited our school. She opened up the conversation talking about her childhood, how she grew up in a poor household, and then how long she has been in office.

Working in Washington D.C. and living here in North Carolina seems like a crazy drive for a job in Congress, right? ““I come home every weekend … I’m in DC usually Monday through Thursday and Tuesday through Friday,” said Foxx.

Virginia Foxx has been in politics for over twenty years. She was elected to the State Senate in 1994 and served there for a decade before moving on to the House of Representatives. Since her election in 2004, she has served fourteen years in the House of Representatives and has spent two of those years as Chairman for the Education and Workforce Committee. “I’m the lead Republican on the Education and Labor Committee, which is a real challenge right now to stop a lot of bad legislation that’s being passed and some of it i can’t stop but we’ll do the best that we can with it,” said Foxx

 

She then moved on to discuss the Constitution and its importance to legislature. She pulled out her pocket Constitution and said that the legislation portion of the Constitution has more pages delegating its powers than all of the other branches, proving its strength.

She also brought up the tenth amendment, which states that any power not specifically given to the federal government is reserved to the states. She said that because of this amendment and our republic, the government is the car and the people are the drivers.

Once she had finished speaking, she allowed students to ask questions. One student asked what the key was to getting elected as many times as she has been. “Stay close to your constituents, respond to the constituents,” said Foxx.

Being so close to her voters and supporters means going around to schools in her district and interacting with the people she represents. “Oh gosh, I was at Piney Grove yesterday and I’m going over to East Forsyth right now, and so I probably do two or three a month,” said Foxx.

Going to as many schools as she does, Virginia Foxx sees a lot of students. Seeing this many students means she sees a whole lot of views on politics. “I do think students are being swayed a lot by the comments being made about free tuition, free college, paying off loans, it’s like a siren song too, I’d say to students too … it’s a false promise,” said Foxx.

Foxx introduces many bills every year and plans to introduce more this year. “I will probably introduce several bills, again, I have introduced several bills,” Foxx continued, “There are thousands (of bills) introduced, but only hundreds are passed.”

 

 

She hopes to encourage students to get more involved in their government as a result of her school visits. “If you don’t get involved, you may get a government you don’t like,” said Foxx.

When asked about her plans for the next couple years, she responded simply, “Doing my job, as I’ve been doing for the last 14 years.”

For anyone interested in going into politics, Foxx sometimes allows people to shadow her in Washington D.C. during her workday. She also gave some great advice to people who are interested in becoming politicians. “Start at the local level, do internships,” said Foxx.

Having Virginia Foxx at our school is a huge deal, and should not be taken for granted by the students. However, you may be wondering, what are we supposed to get out of these visits? “I hope you will remember … you are the drivers of the government,” said Foxx. She also added, “I hope you will be a little more interested (in politics/government), as a result.”

 

 

Editorial: The Lack of Mental Health Services for Teenagers and the Prevalence of School Shootings

By Jessica Zhong

One of the issues most frequently brought up in the aftermath of a school shooting is mental health.

We ask, “How could we have prevented this?” and fail to acknowledge the root of the problem, which is the accessibility of firearms and lack of mental health services for teenagers in the United States. Each issue is equally important and go hand-in-hand.

High school students have a school-associated violent death rate that is nearly 14 times higher than that of elementary school students, which could have to do with the fact that roughly half of all lifetime mental disorders start by the mid‐teens and three‐fourths by the mid‐20s.

It should also be considered that exposure to violence in schools can have an adverse impact on a student’s mental well-being, among other factors such as genetic predisposition to mental illnesses or the environment they are in.

Some gaps in child mental health care are economics, manpower, training, services, and policy. The point is that it is entirely possible to lower the probability of a school shooting occurring by mitigating the causes and effects of mental illness.

Notice we say “lower the probability” rather than “prevent.” Dual action is required to prevent a school shooting, and the other idea is that students can’t commit these crimes without a firearm.

Mental illness and gun control are intertwined in America’s gun laws. The very heart of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is to prevent people that could potentially harm themselves or others from owning a firearm.

Up to 60% of perpetrators of mass shootings in the United States since 1970 displayed symptoms including acute paranoia, delusions, and depression before committing their crimes.

People decry gun laws for being too lenient and say the government must enforce stronger background checks and ban certain weapons. Others solely blame the perpetrator’s mental disorder as the cause for that particular shooting.

One could argue that a person has to be “crazy” in order to commit extreme acts of violence. Homicide offenders are more likely than victims to have expressed some form of suicidal behavior prior to the offense.

If suicidal ideation and mental illness are risk factors for violence, measures have to be taken to treat both. Not everyone can go to a therapist, and there is a stigma on mental illness that prevents people from talking about it.

Talk therapy is frequently cited as the most effective treatment for depression, personality disorders, and other mental disorders. There is a way to offer this to every student in a school: support groups.

Student support groups have done fairly well in high schools and universities. Information discussed remains confidential and the students benefit in that they know they aren’t alone in their problems.

Support groups can also result in giving students practical coping skills and reducing depression and anxiety.

NRA president Wayne LaPierre blamed “delusional killers” for gun violence in the United States. He called for a national registry of persons with mental illness.

As out-of-line as this statement is, LaPierre does have a point. This is where NICS comes in, which doesn’t allow people hospitalized for psychiatric reasons to purchase a gun. So LaPierre’s “solution” already exists to some extent. But not all hospitals report their patients to the background check system, and there are some other loopholes.

The law that states individuals whose “principal motive” is to make a profit need a Federal Firearms License (FFL). Anyone can sell a gun from their home, online, at a flea market or at a gun show without an FFL and the customer doesn’t need to complete a background check. Gifting guns also bypasses this law.

The “gun show loophole” is detrimental to the nation’s primary goal of only keeping guns in the hands of good people because background checks are not required. In fact, 1 in 5 gun transactions occur without one. Federal law allows sales to proceed by default if a background check isn’t completed within three days, even from licensed dealers. It goes without saying that our current background check system is inadequate.

Universal background checks would require all transactions to go through NICS. It would deter those with a criminal record or history of severe mental illness from obtaining a gun. This is not a foolproof plan in that most mass shooters pass background checks to acquire firearms.

However it couldn’t hurt to have universal background checks, especially considering how quickly a background check can be conducted (90 seconds). And it does work: In 2017 about 181,000 transactions were denied because the individual was prohibited from purchasing firearms.

Those individuals include people with severe mental illness as discussed before. The problem with society is the lack of knowledge of mental illness, creating stigma and causing less people to seek treatment.

In fact, a child or youth’s psychiatric disturbance isn’t what usually sends them to a mental health professional; social functioning, school-related issues, socioeconomic status, and other issues not always associated with mental illness can strongly influence referral.

Pediatricians are oftentimes the first people a child will disclose their psychological distress to, which stresses their role in children’s mental health and detecting signs early.

The first step in helping a person with a mental illness would be to realize there is a problem. After that it is a matter of having resources available to them, which may include talk therapy, medication (if the condition proves to be treatment-resistant to other therapies), or support groups.

If we were to implement support groups in schools, it would be beneficial to the students, but every school would differ slightly in the group’s structure.

At the NCLA, a small group of seniors will lead discussions, but will intervene minimally. There should be a separate group for middle schoolers and high schoolers due to size and age-appropriate topics for both groups.

A school support group has yet to exist, but when it does, we’ll follow up with the results.

And hopefully someday we’ll have no more shootings, but only when new legislation is passed.

This is a call for universal background checks that closes loopholes and a call for more support groups in schools.

Sources:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/194436

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1925038/

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/386889

ttps://www,ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4318286/

https://www.everydayhealth.com/hs/major-depression-health-well-being/psychologists-wish-you-knew-about-talk-therapy/

https://www.dw.com/en/8-facts-about-gun-control-in-the-us/a-40816418

https://www.nraila.org/get-the-facts/background-checks-nics/

https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/694290.pdf

US National Library of Medicine

 

What’s it like Working in the FBI?

By Brooke Bandy

Picture courtesy of ZLDDM

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be an FBI agent? To work closely with the people who help to protect our nation?

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, more commonly known as the FBI, is a government agency that protects the people of America and the Constitution from “foreign  intelligence operation” (fbi.gov), spying and cyber crimes. They also combat terrorism on the national and international level, as well as national white collar crimes, violent crimes, and criminal organizations here and abroad.

Getting into the FBI is definitely a process. You have to be at least 23, have a college degree, three years of work experience, and be a U.S. citizen. In order to be hired, there are many steps: an application, a test similar to the SAT, a formal interview with four current agents, a writing test, the fitness test, a drug test, a polygraph test, and finally, a huge background check (which could take up to a year).

The fitness test is one of the most known steps during the hiring process. There are four events, which consist of 1 minute of sit-ups, a 300 meter sprint, as many consecutive push-ups as you can do, then a 1.5 mile run. There is a five minute break between each event. You get scored on a scale 1-10 for each event and must have a minimum of 12 points total.

“I think the fitness test is a very challenging test,” says Matt O., a current FBI Special Agent and Fitness Advisor.

Matt is a supervisor of a counterintelligence and cyber squad. This means that they work to prevent espionage and spying.

“Right now, I am a supervisor of a squad, which a squad is our basic unit of agents that do investigations, and that’s the main thing the FBI does is investigate crimes, federal crimes, and what we would call threats to national security,” he says.

Prior to being a squad supervisor, he was a regular agent investigator, who are the people that open and work on cases and solve the crime. “This May will be 15 years, it’s hard to believe,” said Matt, talking about how long he’s been with the agency.

There are many jobs within the FBI one could look into. “Not everybody’s a special agent, I  know in the movies that’s all they ever focus on, but there’s actually quite a few more employees in the FBI who are not agents, than those who are, and they do a lot of really good work that doesn’t really get recognized in those TV shows and movies,” said Kevin M., another FBI special agent.

Kevin specializes in counterterrorism, but there are many other opportunities if you wanted to go down the special agent path. “There’s various other things you can work as a special agent like white collar crime, or counterintelligence, or drugs, many different areas that you can choose from,” says Kevin.

Being a special agent requires some pretty good people skills. “One day you could be talking to a drug dealer, or a Congressman, the next day I might be talking to a neuroscientist, then the next day I might be talking to the ex-wife of someone who’s gotten themselves into some trouble, and all of those people have different motivations for why they might want to talk to us or might not, but the most important job of an FBI agent is to be able to talk to anyone under any circumstance,” said Matt.

Special agents sometimes have to travel for extended periods of time. “Right now, my job entails going overseas quite a bit, I’ve been to Iraq with the FBI as well as the army. Now I’m getting ready to go to southeast Asia for three months with the FBI,” said Kevin.

A misconception people get about the FBI is that they are trying to hurt certain political parties. “Almost everyone in the FBI wants to stay completely out of politics and just do investigations and take bad people off the streets,” said Matt.

Despite travelling and being away from home for so long, the effect of the work is very rewarding. “The stuff that we’re doing in my unit is very important and very impactful, so it makes you feel good about yourself because you’re doing work that really makes a difference,” says Kevin.

Being in the FBI has many ups and downs, but one thing remains consistent: their drive to protect America. “The thing that I like most about the FBI is the mission we have, which is basically to protect the American people, to protect the Constitution, and provide protection to citizens by whatever methods we need to. That is always done through some sort of investigation,” says Matt, “I’ve been fortunate to work with good people in every job I’ve had.”

If someone didn’t want to go into the federal law enforcement business but were interested in what the FBI does, state and local police stations might have special task forces that work closely with the FBI. Tom S., a Louisville Metro Police Officer, became one of these task force officers in 2004.

“I was never a federal agent,” he said, “I had all the powers of a federal agent.” At the federal level, FBI agents can only enforce federal laws, so if they need to arrest someone under a state law, they don’t have the authority. The state or local police come in and may be able to help arrest the suspect under a state law.

There was only one downside to working so closely with the FBI – paperwork. “We do a lot of police reports, but the FBI functions on a much higher level of documentation and you don’t do just one report of what you did, sometimes there’s three or four versions of that report depending on the information you get,” says Tom.

Sometimes, people watch TV shows about the FBI and automatically assume everything is correct and accurate. This is definitely not the case. “No, and I should preface that with saying that I don’t watch a whole lot of them because they’re so inaccurate, but the ones I have watched they don’t get right,” Kevin says, “They always show the FBI agents showing their badge and their gun. That’s almost never the case in real life. We try to hide the fact that we’re an FBI agent until it’s time to reveal that.”

They also show agents in suits only, but according to Kevin, they try to blend in as well as they can. “Anything I’ve ever seen is overdramatized … I’ve heard Quantico was awful and that it was nothing like Quantico, the FBI Academy, really. I’ve seen a couple episodes of White Collar, that’s okay, it’s about solving crimes, it is overdramatic,” says Matt.

Television also misrepresents the way FBI officers talk to the criminals or people they’re dealing with. “They’re also really disrespectful in the movies and TV shows in the way they talk to people. We’re very respectful and polite. We don’t berate the criminals when we’re talking to them and tell them how bad they are,” says Kevin.

Instead, the FBI agents talk very logically to the people they pick up and speak to them as people. “Unlike sometimes you see in the movies or tv shows, FBI agents are always very respectful to even the worst criminals. We’re very respectful to them, we’re very polite when we talk to them.” said Kevin.

Speaking respectfully and calmly to criminals or the people has its payoffs. “By the time we made it to the jail, in my car, she had invited me to eat at her restaurant in Hawaii because she was, I guess, taken aback by the respect that I showed her,” said Kevin, talking about a time he arrested a woman at an airport.

Overall, the FBI is a great long term career. They have a huge variety of jobs and fields one could go into. “The good thing is it’s really fun work, and really good work,” said Matt.

 Spider-Man Out Of The MCU

 By: Olivia Brown

On August 20, 2019, it was announced that Spiderman will not be in any more Marvel movies due to the fact that they couldn’t agree on the profits. Spiderman is a well known Marvel character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he was first seen in the movie Captain America: Civil War (2016) and last seen in Spiderman: Far Far Home (2019).

“Much of today’s news about Spider-Man has mischaracterized recent discussions about Kevin Feige’s involvement in the franchise. We are disappointed, but respect Disney’s decision not to to have him continue as a lead producer of our next live action Spider-Man film” Sony tweeted following the events.

Many people were upset about Sony taking away Spiderman from the MCU and took to Twitter and started the hashtag ‘#boycottsony’ blaming Sony stating they are being “unfair’ and ‘unreasonable.”

Disney and Sony have been discussing this issue for months, Disney wanted 75% of the money and the rest go to Sony; but Sony wanted the money to be split 50/50. Disney did not agree with these terms, so they disbanded from Sony.

Recently Tom Holland went to the D23 Expo to promote his new movie “Onward”. He didn’t say anything about the situation but he did state: 

“It’s been a long week,but I just wanted to let you all know…I love you 3000”

There are some sources saying that Sony and Disney are still negotiating profits and trying to come to an agreement but it isn’t going very well. For now we will have to settle for no more Spider-Man in the MCU.

47 Meters Down: Uncaged Movie Review

By: Rebecca Avila

47 Meters Down: Uncaged hit theaters on  August 16. It is the sequel to the movie 47 Meters Down. 

The first 47 Meters Down was about two sisters, Kate and Lisa who take a vacation to Mexico. Kate wants to go diving with Great White sharks so the sisters go cage diving and have a great time until the cage breaks from the boat and they fall to the bottom of the ocean surrounded by sharks. Lisa survives in the end but Kate isn’t so lucky. 

47 Meters Down: Uncaged still has the same idea. 4 friends, Sasha, Mia, Nicole and Alex, go to a diving site of Mayan ruins that has been recently discovered. They take a dive to soon find out that a shark is down in the ruins.

SPOILER NEXT PARAGRAPH:

They try to go back out the way they came but the cave collapses so their best bet is to try to find Mia and Sasha’s dad who is the person who discovered the ruins who is also working in another part in the ruins as well. In the end, Sasha and Mia survive. Nicole, Alex, Mia and Sasha’s father Grant and his team Ben and Carl don’t make it.

In my personal opinion, do not spend your money to go to see it in theaters. To me, the actors stuck to the script way to much, they never gave personality into the script. The facial expressions of the actors were amazing to say the least.

In one part of the movie, Sasha, Alex and Mia have to get to a cave to find a way out but the current is really strong so it can prove difficult. The scene is a hole with a very strong current going in circles. The water spinning in circles started to look fake and instead of bubble, they look more like lines. It was overall not a good scene.

For this movie, I would give it three out of five stars. The suspense aspect was on point, but some of the acting and some scenes just didn’t hit the mark in my personal opinion. 

 

VMA’s Lose Over Half Their Viewers

By: Olivia Brown

The Video Music Awards is an event that many people watch to see their favorite artists and actors. There were many people at the VMA’s on August 26, such as Zendaya , Normani, and Taylor Swift.

On the red carpet many people had on some good outfits such as Shawn Mendes, who was wearing dark teal suit by Dolce & Gabbana. Lil Nas X wore a sparkling cropped suit jacket with a matching hat and cowboy boots, and Lizzo was wearing a custom made red dress with a red feather boa.

The viewing of the VMA’s went down by 5.4 million views this year. This was a drastic change from their usual 10.9 million views each year.

People feel like the viewing went down because of host Sebastian Maniscalco. He made a lot of really corny jokes about teenagers being on their iPhones and influencers, despite being in a room full of influencers. He then went on to mock Millennials and Gen-Z’s and their “sensitivity” stating:  

“If you feel triggered or you feel offended by anything I’m saying here or anything the musical artists are doing, they’re providing a safe space backstage where you’ll get some stress balls and a blankie and also Lil Nas X brought his horse which will double as an emotional support animal. If you’d like to talk to your ushers they’ll send you back to where that’s happening.”

Upcoming Clubs at the NCLA

Cydney Leister

The beginning of the school year is a time of changes and new things. It is also an ideal time to try something new or continue building upon a passion.

Clubs are a great outlet within school to explore new things, or dive deeper into passions.

This year is an exciting time for clubs at the NCLA as they are working much different than before. According to Mrs.Wood, an administrator at NCLA, clubs will play an important role in this year’s high schoolers lives.

“The flex lunch time is going to include a lot of new clubs that teachers have volunteered to do,” said Mrs. Wood. 

With all this new dedicated time to clubs it is an ideal time for the high schoolers to expand their horizons or really hone in on their skills. Crosby scholars, National Honors Society, Student Council, Fitness and Wellness Club, DND Club, and more.

Students even pitch ideas for a club that centers around their interests. 

“The application is on the website. Anybody who wants to start a club needs to find a faculty sponsor to help guide them. As long as they have four students and proof they can turn it in to me and we can move them along,” said Mrs.Wood.

This an exciting time with the growing opportunities available for high schoolers

Cross Country Season Starts Strong

By: Nicholas Williford

Now that sports are finally kicking off, Cross Country has got a lot to say. These athletes train very hard and run countless hours and miles to insure their success in the meets. 

They recently have done very well with their latest meet.

On August 29, Giovanni Torres came 8th place out of 104 boys, highest of all the Falcons.

“I could’ve done better, and will work harder to be better next time,” said Giovanni. 

Overall the Boys came in 4th place and even though there’s more room to improve, this is a fantastic start.

On the girl’s side, Jadyn came in 15th out of 68 girls, and this is also a great number.

Overall, the girls came in 5th place.

Make sure to pop out at the next meet to see our cross country team do their thing!

 

NFL 2019 season preview

By: Giddeon VanDyke

The NFL: most people associate it with a sunday afternoon, cool weather, and a nice warm cup of chili. Thankfully, after 7 long months, it’s that time again. 

The kickoff game was Sept. 5th, between the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears, but a majority of the games kickoff on Sunday.

There is some big new names in the league, players that were amazing in college and have now moved on to the big leagues. Here are a few of the top first round picks: Kyler Murray, from Oklahoma, going to the Cardinals. Nick Bosa from Ohio State went to the San Francisco Forty Niners. Also a fellow North Carolinian coming from Duke is Daniel Jones, who went to the New York Giants.

Here are some things to look out for as the season starts:  our very own Cam Newton suffered a left foot sprain in week three of the pre season against the New England Patriots. Many people were concerned it might be a season ending injury but according to Coach Ron Rivera he should be expected to start by the time of the season opener. 

Colin Cowherd, a very popular Fox Sports radio host, has the Panthers going 7-9, Atlanta winning the NFC South at 9-7 and Philadelphia winning the NFC conference.

Boys Soccer Looks to Turn Around Season

By: Jackson Faenza

The North Carolina Leadership Academy boys soccer team struggled last season with a 5-11 record. This season they lost their first three games, but then went to beat Triad Baptist 9-0, sparking what Coach Shoemaker hopes is a turnaround for the team.

“I hope they understand, how we played in that game, even though we were much better than them, that they understand the concepts that were teaching as far as the game. Hope they understand how they won is just as important as winning,” Shoemaker said.

Coach Shoemaker is also waiting to name players he has been surprised so far by in the young season.

“It is still early in the season and we played such a hard schedule in the start, so probably after a couple more games, I will be able to see.”

Shoemaker said he set two goals for the season: getting young players ready for the future and just have winning record.

There next home game is September 3, against Statesville Christian, so come out and support your NCLA boys soccer team.

Volleyball With big Wins to Start Year

 

By:Jackson Faenza

The North Carolina Leadership Academy volleyball team started off the season with a huge win over 4A school Ragsdale and have been trying to keep up the momentum ever since. 

“We really kept the intensity up throughout the game, we kept great attitudes, and we communicated really well,” sophomore Norah Wood said.

They lost their next three games, but sit at 3-3 and are looking for ways to improve and continue the winning ways.

“Our hitting percentage, need some improvement,” Coach Hoff said.

But when asked what the team is doing well on right now, she had a lot to say.

“Right now we have over 92 digs in 4 games, we have over 30 aces, so our defense it doing really good right now,” Hoff said.

Some goals she said she set at the beginning of the season were to  reach a certain hitting percentage number and getting their freshman setter, Jenna Clayton, and getting her equipped to play at the varsity level.

It is still early in the season and the team still has a lot to prove. 

Space Crime

By: Nicholas Williford

           Space is cool and somewhat terrifying. What can be more terrifying than your wife being thousands of miles from earth?

Thats easy! Your ex-wife accessing your bank account thousands of miles from earth.
According to CNN, “NASA is examining a claim that an astronaut improperly accessed the bank account of her estranged spouse from the International Space Station.”

Isn’t that crazy?

Not only was she trying to steal his money, but she wanted to steal his kid too. Again according to CNN, “Worden’s parents then brought another complaint with NASA’s Office of Inspector General, alleging that McClain had improperly accessed Worden’s private financial records and conducted a “highly calculated and manipulative campaign” to gain custody of Worden’s son.” She is doing all this before her all-woman space walk.

Even though she claims she is innocent, we will find out by the judge’s ruling. The moral of the story is don’t divorce an astronaut before she goes into space, wait until she’s home first.

Back to School Trends

by: Rebecca Avila

Summer has ended and the school year has begun. Kids are coming back to school with new styles and trends to kick off the 2019 school year.

Everybody now has become eco-friendly, metal straws and reusable containers have had a big high this year.

Another item that has hit this school year is Hydroflasks of all colors and sizes.

When it comes to fashion, according to Lexi Antieau, “scrunchies, white Vans and Air Force Ones are the trends this summer and school year.”

“Tik Tok and Vsco no doubt are the apps on trend this year.” said Ellie Gibhart.

For boys, the trends most likely will be different from what girls think are trendy. According to Etornam Agbemabiese, “I would have to say that shoes are really the most trendy, like Vans, Yeezys, and Adidas, especially the Adidas NMD shoes.”

It is still the beginning of the school year but trends will come and go. How many of the trends will stay will be the question now.

 

 

The Pumpkin Spice Latte’s Earliest Return Yet

By: Brooke Bandy

August 27 will go down in history as the earliest return of Starbucks’ infamous pumpkin spice latte. The date was announced on Starbucks’ official Twitter, saying “It’s official. PSL returns 8/27!” 

The popular seasonal drink is a good indicator that fall is right around the corner. “It just puts me in the mood for fall. Getting a pumpkin spice latte is a key asset to fall starting and I love the hype surrounding the pumpkin spice lattes,” said Junior Christine Parker.

Recently it’s felt more like fall in the mornings, but the return of a popular fall drink a month before the official start of autumn seems a bit excessive. For some, it seems like people are rushing the end of summer and heading into fall too quickly. 

“I think they kind of are. Pools just closed yesterday, Labor Day, and they’re already out,” said Junior Megan Queen. 

While some see this as a rush into fall, others may see the strategy and timing to the return of the pumpkin spice latte. “I think they were timing it right because once school starts, summer ends. They released the pumpkin spice latte right when school started and everyone is ready for a new season,” said Parker. 

“I think it’s pretty exciting, however I don’t drink them as often as other coffee drinks, so I am probably not going to get one this week even though they came out early. But I know many people who are very excited,” said Queen. 

Despite some people being upset or indifferent that Starbucks brought this drink back so early, others are excited for the start of a new season. “I am really excited that they are back earlier than ever,” said Parker. 

Starbucks has also announced a new fall themed drink, called the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, which has vanilla syrup, pumpkin cream cold foam, and pumpkin spice topping. 

Are Airpods Really Worth $160?

 By Christian Le

So, whether you have airpods or don’t, are airpods really worth the $160? I will judge airpods on there battery life, range, are waterproof, and how many decibels you can hear with them, and compared to the Powerbeats 3, and Beats X. 

The “airpods” have a 24 hr with the case but just a constantly playing music at 50% they will last for 5 hours before you have to put them back on the case to charge. The “airpods” have a future where when they die you put them back in the case for 5 mins you can use the airpods up to an hour off of 5 mins of charge. 

To charge to “airpods” you can use the lightning cable or if you have the Gen 2 “airpods” you can use a Qi wireless charger. 

The “beats X” have an 8 hour of use before they die, when they die you can charge them for 5 mins and get up to 2 hours of use. The “Beats X” use a lightning cable to charge as well but they don’t have the wire Qi charging feature the “airpods” have. 

The “PowerBeats 3” have a 12 hour of use before the die and you have to recharge them again. You can get 1 hours of use out of 5 mins of charge on the “powerbeats 3”. The “Power Beats 3” use a micro usb(android Charger). 

Most bluetooth devices have a 30 feet radius but, all of these devices have the “W1” chip which boosts the range from 30 feet to 100 feet. 

Apple has not claimed there airpods are waterproof nor are they water resistant. The “Beats X” is water resistant and the “Powerbeats 3’ are water resistant and sweat resistant. 

The “airpods” can make from 20-17300 decibels of sound. The “Power Beats 3” can make sounds from 22 hz to 17300 hz and the “beats X” can make sounds from 60 to 17200 hz.

So my final conclusion is that they are all similar headphone and it’s done to preference for someone that works out and run a lot the “powerbeats pro” would probably be the best, and for casual listing the “beats x”, and the “airpods” they are both great for casual listing but at the end of the day it’s all down to preferences.

Album Review: Hollywood’s Bleeding

Ellison Schuman

Post Malone recently dropped his 3rd album, “Hollywood’s Bleeding”. It has already been proven to be one of this year’s most popular, along with his previous albums remaining in the tops of the Billboard chart.

He has been very secretive about this album, so we weren’t exactly sure what to expect. Malone revealed all 17 tracks and features on September 6, including artists such as Halsey, Travis Scott, Young Thug and even Ozzy Osbourne.

Although he claimed he wasn’t trying to make “hit records”, 4 of the songs have been released as singles. Three of which have been featured in the Top 5 Hits: “Sunflower”, “Goodbyes” ft. Young Thug, and “Wow.” Personally, at least half of the album could easily top the radio charts, despite the fact that he wrote a majority of it within 3 days.

We all know Post Malone is the king at writing the most relatable lyrics, and he definitely did not disappoint in this album. Even in his more peppy, upbeat songs he manages to convey his sad, depressing yet relatable lyrics. In “A Thousand Bad Times” he sings “I had a thousand bad times so what’s another time to me?/ You try to burn my house down but what’s another house to me?”

Personally, I admire his ability to express his feelings in different ways. He gives us so many different sounds, and no song is the same. If I had to critique any of the songs, it would have to be “Circles” and “I’m Gonna Be.”

 With “Circles”, there is nothing special about the song. It’s all very boring and bland. And “I’m Gonna Be” is too repetitive for me. I understand that it’s supposed to be a song about confidence and uplifting, but when you only have to hear the song once to know all the lyrics, there’s a problem.

Other than those couple “filler” songs, I genuinely loved this album. Overall, I would give it an 8/10. These are my personal favorites from the album: “Die For Me” , “Hollywood’s Bleeding” , “Take What You Want”, & “A Thousand Bad Times.”

Is IT truly worth it?

Cydney Leister

The horror community was left in anticipation after the release of It in 2017. The modern movie adaptation of Stephen King’s novel left viewers with hints of there being more to come of the beloved “losers.”

With the recent release of It Ch.2 viewers new and old have rushed to the theaters to see what the notorious clown had in store this time. However, some may still be on the fence on whether the new movie is worth the watch so here is the information on if It Ch.2 is truly worth it.

The recent movie adaptations of Stephen King’s novels have brought the stories into a new light with CGI and other modern filming technology. These advancements have given filmmakers a greater ability than ever to truly bring the horrors of the mind to the big screen.

 It Ch.2 is definitely not a movie for the faint of heart as there are new layers of gore in this film than its predecessor. Fair warning to any emotional viewers, like myself, there is definitely some upsetting content.

Pushing some of the horror aspects aside to take a closer look at some of the other aspects of the movie. Even with it being a nearly three hour long movie it keeps its audience interested with scenes that even at times gore keep you from wanting to look away, as well as well placed humor throughout.

The story is made up of scenes of the children cast viewers became familiar with in the previous movie and the new adult cast. These cuts from past to present and vice versa are well crafted to not create confusion but instead adds a deeper layer of subplot underneath the main story. 

If your one to enjoy some gore and a fairly interesting story then It Ch.2 is a movie for you. On the other hand if your more emotionally inclined or easily upset I’d recommend looking into another flick for movie night.

 

Iphone 11 Released

Rebecca Avila

September 10, 2019 – Apple revealed their new products in their September keynote. They showed their new gaming system, Apple Arcade, Apple TV+ streaming service,the new iPad, the new Apple Watch series five and the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro. 

The iPhone 11 has new and improved cameras. The two cameras are for wide and ultra wide shots. The camera app also now comes with a night time mode to improve your photography during the night times. The screen of the iPhone 11 allows for a better ultra hd experience. The phone is also more protected than ever with the heavy duty glass and is water resistant up to 30 minutes and to two meters of water.  The phone comes in the colors of purple, yellow, green, red, white, and black. 

The iPhone 11 Pro has cameras that are held to high standards. One telephoto, wide camera and an ultra wide camera. The screen is 6.5 inches with an astounding super retina XDR screen that will allow you to see every little detail. The phone is also water resistant for 30 minutes and can go up to four meters in depth. The phone comes in midnight green, space gray, silver and gold. 

According to Etornam Agbemabiese, “ The iPhone 11 Pro is a great upgrade for people who have older iPhone models…the iPhone 11 is the best phone for everyone who doesn’t want to pay $1,000.”

The price for the iPhone 11 is $699 and the iPhone Pro is $999. The iPhone 11 will be released Friday,  Sep. 20.

NCLA Skate Night

Cydney Leister

 

 

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Falcons flew down to the SkateWorld in Kernersville this past Monday night. It was a lively turn out of the younger students of the school. Students were racing around the rink, or staying at a safe distance from the railing. No matter where they found their place skating, smiles were seen all around. Skaters were given the opportunity to play games such as limbo, while occupied by music and vibrant party lights. The NCLA kids sure know how to party the Mondays out of them.

D23 Expo Updates:

Brooke Bandy

For the past decade, Disney has put on an exposition, called the D23 Expo, where members of the official Disney Fan Club come together to hear new announcements, see new footage and celebrate the magic of Disney. 

This year’s expo was from August 23-25 and was held at the Anaheim Convention Center. All of the announcements were extremely overwhelming, but we’re here to give you the rundown. 

Disney’s new streaming service, Disney+, is set to launch on November 12 of this year, and will have every Disney movie or show you could possibly think of. The Chairman of Director to Consumer Products, Keven Mayer, confirmed that Disney+ will have all Disney movies, Pixar movies, Disney Channel shows and original movies, and everything else Disney owns, within a year of its launch. 

Hilary Duff, the star of the Disney Channel TV show, Lizzie McGuire, is reprising her role. The show takes place with Lizzie as a thirty year old living in New York City as a decorator apprentice. Kristin Bell will also be taking on a new Disney+ show, called Encore!, where she brings old high school theater groups back together to perform one final show as adults.

Along with Kristin Bell and Hilary Duff, Jeff Goldblum will be starring in his own show on the new streaming service. It’s titled The World According to Jeff Goldblum and will be about his experience with different things and his take on them. It will be a 12-episode series. 

Another new show coming to Disney+ is Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian. It releases the day of the launch and will be another extension to the “Star Wars” universe. The series occurs five years after The Return of the Jedi and is all about one Mandalorian bounty hunter. 

It was also announced that  Disney also released new Star Wars content and announced new shows and movies. The animated TV show, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, will have new episodes starting February 2020, after a six year hiatus. They also released new footage from the new Star Wars movie. 

Rogue One’s Diego Luna and Alan Tudyk will be reprising their roles as Cassian Andor and K-2SO. The next series is going to be a prequel to the Rogue One trilogy. 

Among these new Star Wars announcements, the biggest is a major role reprisal. Ewan McGregor will be reprising his role as Obi Wan Kenobi in an untitled Star Wars series that will be streamed on Disney+. 

Though the Star Wars franchise had some major announcements at D23, they simply could not top Marvel. At least six new shows were announced, with brand new footage from some. All of the Star Wars movies and shows will be on Disney+. 

Three of the new shows introduce brand new characters to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. These include Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk. There are also shows with already existing characters, like the Scarlet Witch and the Winter Soldier. 

Kevin Feige, President of Marvel Studios, talked about the first animated show in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s going to be called What If and will be about what would have happened if certain events in the MCU happened differently and will explore alternate universes. For example, one of the episodes will be about if Peggy Carter took the superhero serum instead of Steve Rogers (AKA Captain America). 

There are also some familiar faces returning to the MCU, but this time on the small screen. Sharon Carter and Helmut Zemo are reprising their roles and returning to star in the new show, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. This show will follow Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson on their adventures post-Endgame. 

WandaVision is another new Marvel show being created exclusively for Disney+. The creators have said it’s nothing like the MCU has seen before and will have many familiar faces. According to Buzzfeed, it will be “half-classic sitcom and half-MCU epic adventure.” 

With all of these exciting announcements surrounding Marvel, Tom Holland made an appearance to promote his new animated movie, Onward, amidst the Disney and Sony troubles. He thanked the fans for being so good during the turmoil and ended by saying the now infamous phrase, “I love you 3000,” which melted fans’ hearts. 

Disney also announced some new movies of their own. In March 2020, a new animated film with Pixar, called Onward, will be released starring Tom Holland and Chris Pratt voicing the leads. Another movie starring Will Smith will come out in late 2020, titled Soul,  about a middle school jazz teacher who ends up separated from his soul. 

It was also confirmed that Emma Stone will play Cruella de Vil in a new live action prequel to the 101 Dalmatians movie. It will take place in the 1970s and supposedly will have a 70s grunge feel to it. 

Disney also released new footage and trailers for upcoming films. There was a trailer for the new live action Lady and the Tramp movie, which will be released on November 12, 2019. 

A trailer for the movie, Noelle, starring Anna Kendrick, was also dropped at D23. Noelle is a Christmas movie about Noelle, the daughter of Santa, going on the hunt for her brother, who turns up missing around Christmas time. 

They also showed footage from the new Frozen sequel, which is set to come to theaters on November 22. Along with the Frozen 2 footage, they showed some of the live action Mulan movie, which, despite the controversy surrounding some of the missing characters and songs, supposedly looked to be really good. 

There is also a Disney original animated movie coming out in November 2020, called Raya and the Last Dragon. It is going to be about a warrior who must find the last dragon of her country. 

Along with all of these fantastic announcements about new movies and shows, Disney also announced some renovations they’re making to the Walt Disney World parks. Epcot Center is going to be redone, there will be a Moana water themed experience, a brand new Mary Poppins ride, a backwards Guardians of the Galaxy rollercoaster, an all new space restaurant, a Ratatouille ride, and Spaceship Earth, a classic Disney World ride, will be getting a makeover. 

There will also be a new Star Wars hotel in Epcot. It will be an immersive experience and, apparently, almost like a cruise ship. It was originally the Star Wars Hotel. 

One of the biggest moments of the D23 was the Disney Legends Induction Ceremony. This year, many fan favorites were inducted from all corners of Disney. The people inducted were, Wing Chao, Robert Downey Jr, Jon Favreau, James Earl Jones, Bette Midler, Kenny Ortega, Barnette Ricci, Robin Roberts, Diane Sawyer, Ming-Na Wen, and Hans Zimmer. 

https://www.buzzfeed.com/alliehayes/d23-expo-legends-ceremony-recap 

https://www.buzzfeed.com/ehisosifo1/disney-plus-presentation-d23-recap?bfsource=relatedmanual 

https://io9.gizmodo.com/from-mandalorians-to-mulan-our-favorite-reveals-from-t-1837581438 

https://d23.com/d23-expo-2019/about-the-expo/ 

https://www.buzzfeed.com/ehisosifo1/lizzie-mcguire-reboot-hilary-duff-disney-plus?bfsource=relatedmanual 

Middle School Sports off to a Great Start!

By: Gideon Van Dyke     

 Fall sports for middle school are in full swing. Two of the sports that are in season are Middle school boys soccer, Volleyball and cross country. 

The middle school girls volleyball team won in 3 sets last friday against Summit. 

“It’s a great group of girls! We have been focusing on the fundamentals and each player is improving every single day, which is exciting to see,” said head coach Mrs. Hilliard.

“We aren’t cutting corners and are being disciplined about doing things the right way.”

Another sport that is big right now is the middle school cross country team. Their top runners were: Will Swisher 13:02, Ethan Miller 13:16, Dallin Tucker 13:57, Donovan Smith 14:16, and Levi Peters 14:43.

The top three girls are Caitlyn Hanna 22:06, Lana Nieaber 24:14, and also Aubrey Glover 24:25.

Their coach, Mrs. Reavis said “These kids have put in a tremendous amount of effort, day in and day out. They are persistent and do not give up. I’m so proud of each and every team member.”

“It’s not in the feet… Look deeper.”                           

Coach Weigel with middle school soccer said we had a very strong core group of players  from the previous season. “I’m looking to take another strong step in the players development to prepare them for the High School soccer team in the future. Our players are working hard on moving the ball quickly around the field to make the game easier to control.

With Cameron Podger and Nick Sherrell leading the group, Coach Weigel feels the season has been a great learning experience.

“(Those) two command the best of all the players and accept nothing less,” Weigel said. “The boys have really come together to form a tight bond to make it a successful season thus far. As a team we are only as strong as our weakest link. All boys are working very hard on the field for each.”

Student’s Favorite College Football Team: Poll Results

By: Olivia Brown

Football season is here and that means that a lot of student’s favorite teams will be playing week in and out. So I decided to ask around the school and see what their favorite college football teams were.  

The Falcon Live staff put out a poll on the Instagram account (The Falcon Instagram) people had to pick what their favorite football team between Clemson and Alabama. The Poll results came in and 84% of students like Clemson and 16% of students like Alabama. 

“I would say Clemson is the best team because it’s not Alabama” Amelia said.

A few days later the staff also put out a poll between two college football teams,UNC and NC State. The results also came that 66% of students like UNC and 34% of students like NC State. 

“I like UNC because I’m a UNC fan” Jackson said 

Now we are going into our third week of football season and people are very excited to see who’s going to win this weekend between Georgia and Notre Dame.

New Block Clubs

Ellison Schuman

Along with the new block schedule also came an opportunity for students in 6-12 to get involved in a club. There were 13 different clubs to choose from including “Debunking Disney”, “Lifesmarts”,  “Coloring Club” and many more.

We got to experience what these clubs were going to be like a couple weeks ago, and most are really excited for what’s in store for the future. The most popular clubs were “Christmas Club” and “Flag-football”. Many students were able to give an opinion on why they feel their club is the best:

“Christmas makes a lot of people happy. Said Christmas Club member, Brooke Bandy. “And having it once a month will lighten up our days because it’s the happiest time of the year.”

“All the other clubs seemed boring.” Said Flag-Football member Rebecca Avila. “This club was more exciting and keeps us active.”

These clubs were originally created by the teachers of the NCLA, and they came up with ideas that they felt would be useful or entertaining to the students. Mrs. Birchenough gave her reasoning on why she believes her Coloring Club will be beneficial to her members:

“With the amount of anxiety teens experience today, coloring club is a way to slow down and practice mindfulness.” Said Birchenough. “This club promotes being present, living in the now instead of the past or the future that we so often waste our energy on.”

Students will get to attend their club once a month, at the last period of their second block day. Administration plans to run this block schedule throughout the whole year, including when the new high school is complete.

Living

Friday Oct. 4th

Friday the 13th Superstitions

By: Rebecca Avila

Friday the 13th. A day of superstition and supposedly bad luck. Movies have been made and things have been classified to be involved with the 13th.

“Paraskevidekatriaphobia” is the phobia of being scared of Friday the 13th.

The origin of the date being superstitious comes from the story of Jesus’ last supper, being that the 13th person on the list for the supper, Juda, went behind Jesus’ back and Jesus was crucified the next day: a Friday.

To start the superstitions of Friday the 13th, crossing paths with a black cat on Friday the 13th does come with bad luck for the rest of the day.

“There is something weird about 13 in a weird way, yes there is a lot of bad things that have happened associated with that number and they generally are bad things,” said Cydney Leister.

According to a recent poll, “hospital admissions for traffic accidents were 52% higher on Friday the 13th than Friday the 6th”.

Friday the 13th hasn’t had a good reputation following it but it could truly just be our imagination or just really big coincidences. This past Friday was also the first Friday the 13th of the year. The moon was at its highest and this event hasn’t happened since January 2006.

The next Friday the 13th will be in December and with a possibility of another full moon.

 

Jeep Gladiator

By: Gideon Vandyke

On November 28, 2018, Jeep brought most of the car community’s attention to the release of their new product – the Jeep Gladiator.

The Gladiator is Jeep’s revamp of the classic Jeep Gladiator that was sold from 1962 to 1988. 

This truck was built for off roading, and some of the offroad statistics on this truck are that the jeep comes standard with a Heavy Duty Dana 44 Axle, it is equipped with locking front and rear differentials, fox shocks and elatroncily disconnecting sway bars.

And that’s just a small list of all the accessories that come stock from the factory on the Jeep Gladiator.   

Some stats on this truck: The price is for the base model  $33,545 msrp, gas mileage about 17 city/ 22 highway and it also has 3 different models:  The Sport, Sport S, Overland, and Rubicon. 

The popular car guys from Top Gear said that the suspension gives it a very comfortable and quiet ride.

So, if your in the market for an off-road capable truck, and have, at minimum, almost $34 grand to spend this is the truck for you.

2019 Hangout Spots

By: Jackson Faenza

Where do kids hang out after school in 2019?

Lauren Maness, a sophomore, said that she thinks people love to hangout at Target.

Ashlyn Dellacona, a sophomore, said she thought it was the mall where kids like to hangout most of the time.

Emily Greene, a junior, and Marc Hedrick, a sophmore, both said they thought it was Cookout or Sheetz.

Many kids in Kernersville love to go to Cookout and Sheetz on Friday nights and hang out with their friends there.

There are many different places to hangout all around as you can see, so maybe go try to hang in a new place with your friends some time!

NCLA Putt-Putt Night

The Great Sandwich War:

Popeyes vs Chick-Fil-A vs Zaxby’s Chicken Sandwiches

By: Jackson Faenza

This weekend I tried the chicken sandwiches from Popeyes, Chick-Fil-A, and Zaxby’s. And I am here to tell you what I think about all of them.

First I will start with Chick-Fil-A, I love their chicken sandwiches so much. Their 

chicken there is just so good and everybody loves Chick-Fil-A. In my opinion, I thought 

their bread on the sandwich was the best also.

Now to Zaxby’s, there chicken was the worst in my opinion. I did not like it, because I don’t really like Zaxby’s to begin with. They put tomato and lettuce on their chicken sandwich, it made it really nasty.

Finally, Popeyes – that was my first time eating at a Popeyes. The chicken was very crispy and really good. It came with sides also which were really good. I would have to rank the Popeyes chicken sandwich with Chick-Fil-A’s. They are both equally as good!

But, I encourage everyone to still go out and try all their chicken sandwiches because they were all good.

 

 

NC State Fair Returns:

Cydney Leister

The NC State Fair will be returning to the fairgrounds in Raleigh for its 152nd year. Gates open on Thursday, Oct. 17 and remain open until the 27. 

The fair has been around as long as Canada has been an independent country – and with good reason. 

“I really liked the food. I didn’t ride anything,” said Lily Davenport, a high schooler who went on last year’s State Fair trip.

Fried foods are a staple of United States fairs. Fried pickles, Blooming Onions, Funnel Cakes, Fried Oreos and a Krispy Kreme Donut Burger are only a sneak peek of the food provided at the brightly colored stands.

“I liked being able to hang out with my friends and enjoy the rides,” commented Ally Mattingly, a NCLA junior.

The most notable ride at the State Fair is the Skygazer ferris wheel amongst many other rides such as roller coasters and spinning spaceships. Guests can enter rides with tickets or wristbands that work on all the open rides.

“We annually go to State Fair as Havenhill farm to win money showing livestock,” said Anakin Leister, NCLA freshman.

North Carolina’s farmers gather at State Fair to show off livestock and agriculture. Guests are given the opportunity to milk cows and view the years best of the agricultural world.

Youth livestock shows are put on for students to win scholarship money. The kids often have trained for the competitions most of the year and guest can spectator these presentations.

Ruby Rose Casted as Batwoman:

Ellison Schuman

The pilot of the “Batwoman” series will premiere on The CW, Oct. 6 2019. The CW is home to other widely known DC shows like The Flash, Arrow and Supergirl.

“Batwoman” is based off of the DC Comics character Kate Kane who is known as Batman’s cousin.The premise of this series is set 3 years after Batman disappeared, leading his cousin Kate to continue his legacy and protect the streets of Gotham City as “Batwoman.”

Australian model and actress Ruby Rose has been given this tremendous role, as the first openly gay superhero in a TV series. Rose is known for her roles as inmate Stella in Season 3 of Orange is the New Black, Calamity in Pitch Perfect 3, and her more recent role as an undersea scientist in The Meg.

“I think she’s a good choice because she’s a strong female who is bringing diversity and equality to TV screens.” Said Senior, Hannah Gonzalez.

In a recent interview with Hollywood Reporter, Rose says:

“We want everyone to watch this, especially young people, who can identify and relate to people they’re watching on the screen and hopefully be empowered by that.”

 

Mario Kart Tour

By: Olivia Brown 

On Sep.  25, 2019 many people’s favorite video game was on the app store. Mario Kart Tour has been on mobile for a week and it is the number 1 ranking game in the Apple and Android store. Many people were happy because their childhood was being accessible to them. You can race against your friends and people all over the globe.

Super Mario Kart first came out in 1992. It was a racing video game developed by the popular developer Nintendo for their game system. It sold 8.93 million copies worldwide, making the game the 4th best selling game of all time.

 In 2009 Super Mario Kart was re -released by Nintendo on the Wii console. You could play in different modes such as multiplayer and single player mode. In multiplayer mode, you can play with up to eight different players.

Many people are also disappointed with the game. One thing people don’t like is that you have to pay $4.99 to get rubies,to get more tracks,characters and karts that would be locked. Another thing people don’t like is the steering. In the game when you’re trying to steer it’s really hard turn. 

“The game is great, they just need to fix the steering” said junior, Brooke Bandy. 

 

Falcons Soaring High

By Nick Williford

High School Boys Soccer in currently on fire! They are currently on a four-game win streak. They have 11 wins, 4 losses, and 1 tie.

The boys started 0-3 with loses to 3A powers Mt. Tabor and Southwest Guilford and then Caldwell Academy. Boys have had a huge season scoring 63 goals since being shut out the first 3 games.

They have a diverse group of guys from freshman to senior, starting four freshmen, four sophomores, one junior and two seniors most nights. 

The Falcons have had their share of injuries this year, but because of the depth of the team, they have been able to overcome players missing several games. 

The Falcons’ defense is anchored by Freshmen Sweeper Felix Salgado, and Center Stopper Reily Porto. 

Offense has many guys having good years, including Sophomore David Truhe, who is controlling midfield. Freshmen Anakin Leister (13) and Zach Donath (12) have led the Falcons in scoring.

“We are working hard for every game and put it all on the field,” said David Truhe. They let everything go on that field to insure their success.

“This is a fun team to watch. The play solid defense and exciting offense that puts a lot of pressure on opposing defense. This team has overcome adversity and has responded with a ‘Next Guy Up’mentality.  It has been a joy to see this team rise up to their full potential,” said Coach Shoemaker.

 

Cross Country Celebrates Seniors

by Nick Williford

The Cross Country team’s Senior Night was last Thursday, Sept. 26. This is always a big event for every school athlete. This is the last year that the seniors are playing for this school, and they are appreciated and recognized on this night.

 

 

“I have coached Jodi Rickert and Gio Torres all 3 years of XC . It has been an honor to coach them. They are the captains of the team. I also coached Christian Lopez all 3 years,” said Coach Rickert.

“Kya Hargan, Timothy Woodlief and Logan Mason joined them team last year and have been a great addition.”

There are some veterans in this line up that were there since the beginning of Cross-Country, and some are newbies, such as Trey Payne and Daniel Garmon.

Senior night was a fun time, some students bought the seniors gifts, and Coach Rickert bought them crazy socks that they wore for their meet. 

Everyone ran well, with Giovanni Torres coming in first overall.

After they finished, they went to Dario’s to celebrate their good work.

“I love and appreciate all of them,” said Coach Rickert.

 

USA Women’s Soccer

By:Brooke Bandy

The United States Women’s National soccer team played one of their Victory Tour matches in Charlotte just a few months after their fourth Women’s World Cup win. They played Korea Republic at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC. The United States won 2-0 with the goals being scored by Mallory Pugh and Allie Long. At halftime, ‘99 World Cup champions Brandi Chastain and Julie Foudy hosted a shootout with youth players in celebration of Allstate becoming a partner with the U.S. Soccer Development Programs.

 

 

 

 

Varsity Volleyball Senior Night Approaches

By: Rebecca Avila

Varsity volleyball is coming to an end with senior night approaching.“Being my last year on the volleyball team its tons of fun, but also very sad.” said Lydia Saunders. 

Coach Hoff and Coach Fisher were not available for comment.

“Coach Fisher and Coach Hoff have had a major impact in my life… they have helped shape me into the person I am today…” said Lydia Saunders.

Lydia Saunders has made five kills this year. 

“I see everything as being my last time doing it and I enjoy the time I have had.”

Kyley Perkins has made 62 kills this year. 

“I am incredibly thankful for the ability to grow as a captain, a teammate, and a passion, on and off the court,” said Lydia Saunders.

Audrey Harmon has made eight kills this year.

“I can see the difference from where I was when I started to now. I am so grateful for everything they have done for me and the team.”

Senior night is on Oct. 10 against the Forsyth Home Educators. Right now the girls are 10-5. 

Favorite NC Halloween Attractions

By Rebecca Avila

The month of October has been labeled the “spooky season” mainly because of Halloween. To get into the spirit of Halloween, people seek fun and thrilling places to get spooked.

Spooky Woods, Woods of Terror and SCarowinds are where people can get scared and have a thrilling time.

 

“ Spooky Woods is better than Scarowinds,” said Will Kauffman. 

 To have a good time, you just have to pick the right place to go.

According to Amelia Maxey:

“Spooky Woods was really fun and they had parts that were scary so it was worth going.”

The scary factor is what will make your time at any attraction enjoyable even if scary isn’t your thing. 

“Woods of Terror was really scary, I wasn’t expecting it to be that bad but the tight spaces were scary.” 

If looking for another fun Halloween experience, North Carolina Zombie Hunt in St. Pauls and The Haunted Farm in Hendersonville are definitely worth going to.

The Addams Family Movie Review

By Brooke Bandy

The Addams Family movies have been apart of many peoples’ childhoods, and they’ve just added a new one to the collection. 

On October 11, the star-studded kids movie, The Addams Family (PG), was released to theaters. Some well known actors and actresses voice the kooky family, including Finn Wolfhard (Pugsley), Chloe Grace Moretz (Wednesday), Charlize Theron (Morticia), Bette Midler (Grandma), and Snoop Dogg as Cousin Itt. 

This film has a 43% on Rotten Tomatoes and Fandango. It made $30,300,007 on opening weekend and has grossed $44,908,904. It has an 86 minute runtime and was directed by Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon. 

The movie starts with a backstory of how the Addams came together, which was nice to see as it’s never been fully explained. We see Gomez and Morticia’s wedding getting crashed by civilians who don’t accept the marriage and want to kick them out of town. As the newlywed Gomez and Morticia leave their town, they drive to New Jersey and find Lurch, an escapee from an asylum which they see up on a hill. They drive up to the asylum and decide that this is their home. 

Throughout the movie, we see many things not talked about in the previous Addams Family movies. One of these is Wednesday and Pugsley’s schooling, which they call cage schooling. They don’t really learn anything other than the skills their parents deem most important. We also see the entire Addams can, not just Grandmama and Fester, but the extended family when they all come together to watch Pugsley complete his transition to an Addams man. 

Pugsley and Gomez’s relationship is something that’s one of the main points of the movie. Gomez tries to help Pugsley with his sword dance to protect his family, while all along the way teaching him that he doesn’t have to follow tradition to protect his family, he can do it in his own way.

The movie is most definitely aimed for younger children. There was a lot of references and themes younger kids would enjoy, like super vibrant colors and lots of social media talk. There were a few nods to the 1991 Wednesday, who is more dreary and bleak, like Wednesday’s hair being braided in nooses, shooting Fester with arrows, and her constantly straight face. Despite these physical characteristics, the creators changed some personality points about Wednesday.

We are introduced to Margaux Needler and her daughter, Parker, who hates her life in the perfect town of Assimilation. Wednesday befriends Parker and ends up going to school with her in town, which soon creates Wednesday’s middle school rebellion and she dresses up in bright colors and runs away. This didn’t seem like a move Wednesday Addams would traditionally make, but it makes sense if you’re not comparing. 

Morticia Addams was more of a frontal character in this movie. It centered largely around her and Wednesday’s relationship, as well as Gomez and Pugsley’s. It realistically depicted these caring parental relationships in typical, spooky Addams Family fashion. 

There was a big push to the negative side of social media. The movie shows Margaux pretending to be random people that live in her town and convinces the townsfolk to destroy the Addams’ house simply because it didn’t fit her idea of perfection. This is slyly teaching kids that social media can influence people whether they are aware of what they are reading is true or not. 

There were a few things that felt like they didn’t quite work in the movie. Pugsley’s voice didn’t seem to fit Pugsley’s looks. Finn Wolfhard’s voice is just a little too deep to be playing a preteen. It also had the same plot as a lot of kids movies nowadays. The kids want to live a different life away from some kind of controlling force and go through a mild rebellious phase, during which they find out said controlling force is actually the bad guy. 

The Addams Family movies have taught the same lesson throughout the series, which is that it’s okay to be different. This newest addition shows Wednesday and Parker embracing who they are no matter what society tells them. It’s about embracing and accepting everyone as they come and that forcing people to change will only result in failure. 

Spooky Movies

By Jackson Faenza

There are so many classic Halloween movies that people love to watch. Some people enjoy watching the funnier halloween movies such as Halloweentown.

While others enjoy watching the more classic scary movies such as IT, Scream, Halloween, the Friday the 13th franchise, and The Shining.

“I like watching The Shining because it makes you think and is less gory,” said Kenna Porto.

“The Strangers 2 is my favorite because it is thrilling and easy to make fun of,” said Ashlyn Dellacona.

There are so many great horror movies coming out this Halloween season such as IT Chapter Two and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.

Netflix is also coming out with a number of different horror movies this season such as In the tall grass, Eli, Haunted, and 1922, which is based on a Stephen King novel.

Not everyone loves horror movies. Some people refuse to watch them because they hate being scared. 

“I refuse to watch horror movies when my family watches them,” said Ahmara.

Whether you are gonna watch some of the classic horror movies like Carrie or Poltergeist, or even go out to see some new ones such as IT chapter two. People to this day still love to go out and watch horror movies. 2018 was the first year horror movies passed $1 billion at the box office. They are also drawing more attention of younger viewers studies have found!

Middle School Halloween Dance

By Giddeon VanDyke

Attention middle school students! There will be a middle school Halloween dance this Saturday, Oct. 27 from 7 to 9 p.m in the NCLA gymnasium.

This dance will include a costume contest that will be categorized into 3 different criteria and there will be a winner for each. The categories are scariest, funniest, and the most original.

“The student council has been working hard to but this dance on,” said Mr. Sparks.

The middle school student council has been meeting to come up with ideas to make this dance more fun and interesting. 

A few things to look forward to at the dance: they are are having pizza and desserts brought in by parents, it only cost $10 at the door, and there will also be a DJ who is none other than Mrs. Wood’s husband, Mr. Wood. 

So all middle schoolers come out for a  spooky Halloween themed night of dancing, food, music, and fun!

Top TV Streaming Services

Rebecca Avila

Streaming services have been coming into the scene more and more. There are over 100 different streaming services now, including Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV+, Disney+ and more.

 “I think Apple TV has some great premium shows with amazing actors.” said Etornam Agbemabiese. 

30 percent of voters on Instagram said Hulu was the best streaming service.

 “I had the free trial for three months and during that period of time I really enjoyed the shows that were streaming.” said Maria Fleak. 

 65 percent of voters on a Instagram poll said that Netflix was the best streaming service. 5 percent of voters also said HBO and Prime Video are good streaming services are good. 

 “I love Netflix, it has all my favorite shows are on there and it’s a real time waster when I’m bored.” said freshman, Camryn Earnhardt

There were colorful responses to a Instagram poll on which streaming service is the best.

“Netflix by far. True OG of all the streaming services. Goated. None of the new boys can top it.” said kingjames.ota. 

Jesus is King: Album Review

Olivia Brown

Recently Kanye West came out with his 9th album  Jesus is King. A gospel album with 11 tracks on it. Kanye has talked about his christianity whether it be him speaking or in his music since April of 2019, when he got baptized.

The songs on the album have a very churchy but hip hop vibe it to. For example in one of his songs,Follow God, he raps about how he struggles to live a religious life and follow God’s way of life. Kanye also talk about his disagreement with father stating “Screamin’ at my dad and he told me ‘It ain’t christ like’. But nobody never tell you when you’re being like christ.” 

In another one of his songs, Hands On ft Fred Hammond, I think that he feels judged by people because he’s making a Christian album. In the song it said “Said I’m finna do a gospel album. What have you been hearin’ from the christians? They’ll be the first ones to judge me. Make it feel like nobody love me.” Ever since Kanye’s Sunday Service performance that he did, he received extreme backlash from it because it was “weird and out of character” for him to do.

Most of the songs on the album are very good. They’re not too long and not too short. In my opinion, it’s the perfect album to listen to regardless of your beliefs. Overall I would give this album a 9/10. My personal favorites are “Everything we need”, “Hands on” and “Use this Gospel”. 

My Chemical Romance Reunion

Olivia Brown

After six years since they have been broken up, My Chemical Romance has finally announced they will be going on tour for a concert in LA. My Chemical Romance was a band that formed in 2001,consisting of band members, Frank Lero,Gerard Way,Mikey Way and Ray Toro. The band signed Eyeball records and release their debut album I Brought You My Bullets,You Brought Me Your Love in 2002, after changing in to Reprise Records the following year.

Over the years the band has made many popular albums that have been #1 such as The Black Parade, which was a double platinum, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge and I Brought You My Bullets,You Brought Me Your Love. On March 23, 2013 the band officially broke up, one month after they released their new song.

On October 31, 2019 the band’s social media accounts deleted all of their posts and posted a black and white picture with an angel that has the words “Return” written on it. The caption read “Like Phantoms Forever…”, referencing their 2002 EP album,with a link to where fans can buy tickets for their concert in November . 

This sparked the internet to go in a frenzy. Many fans of MCR were so excited about the announcement causing the tickets to sell out in 24 hours. 

“I cannot believe they are getting back together”  Briana said 

Serial Podcast Host Speaks at Wake Forest

Brooke Bandy

Sarah Koenig, host of popular podcast Serial, spoke at Wake Forest University last night. Serial is one of the most downloaded podcasts of all time and has millions of listeners every season. 

Sarah Koenig first got into broadcast journalism when she was covering a story about underfunded schools for a newspaper she was working at. She only really knows what podcast style broadcast journalism because that’s all she’s ever worked in. “I remember driving really far to some school and reporting on this thing and listening to the radio and hearing This American Life, it was on, I didn’t know what it was, I came in part way and I just was like what was that, why am I doing this when I could be doing that?” said Koenig. 

With her podcast, they came up with the structure and form of how they wanted to cover the story, then her and her team found the story. 

“I wish that I had a dignified answer for how we come up with topics for Serial, but I don’t … it took a while until we settled on a little bit of a eureka moment like “Oh, we’ll do a serialized documentary, that’ll be our format,” and so we came up with the form of it, but then we had no scoop, we had to see what the story would be, how could we try this idea out and I had already been reporting a little on the Adnan Syed case,which was the topic of season one … that was very simple and it worked,” said Koenig. 

Though her podcast became so widely known because of its true crime focus, Koenig was never interested in true crime, but rather criminal justice. 

“There certainly was a portion of the audience who wanted more of the same essentially, another who-done-it, another murder mystery, we weren’t interested in that. I have never been interested in crime or true crime frankly, at all. I’m interested in criminal justice, I’m very interested in our system, but I don’t enjoy a murder story particularly,” said Koenig. 

The first season, following the story of Adnan Syed, blew up with over 400 million listeners. The Serial team did not anticipate this reaction, comparing it to the caliber of the War of the Worlds event. 

“There was a very serious part of it that was hard to grapple with and worrisome for us wit what have we done, who have we wronged. We’ve brought a lot of attention to people who didn’t expect it, and in some cases didn’t deserve it, just a lot of scrutiny and speculating about “Oh maybe she did it, maybe he did it,” but we’re like “Woah, woah, woah, real people with lives, stop it!” and posting their information online … we had no idea it would be in the millions, we were thinking if it were in the couple hundred thousands, that’d be great and then it just became millions and millions and we just sorta lost control of our story in terms of being able to protect anyone who was in it,” said Koenig. They lost control over who was protected in the story and caused major privacy issues. 

This caused big changes in privacy for season two. “We wanted to be very careful the second time around. If we were going to do it again, we were going to build it in such a way that we weren’t exposing people in that way and building protections and I think that was part of the reason for going in such a different direction,” said Koenig. 

Season two was about Bowe Bergdahl, a prisoner of war who walked off his Army base. She went into the podcast with only one tape and figured it was going to be a short glimpse into what it’s like to be a prisoner of war. As her research and fact checking continued, her contacts to the story expanded and sparked her interest. 

“It was definitely a challenge. We initially were sorta like “Oh, it’ll be a shorter thing, maybe four tosix episodes, just use Bowe’s tape” it’ll be a weird look into what it feels like to be a prisoner of war for five years. I mean it was obviously a very intense and unique experience … we need to fact check some of the stories Bowe is telling in the tape about specific incidents that happened … it kept getting bigger and I felt a real fondness, a real affection and I did feel a connection, especially to some of his platoon mates, that’s kind of where I felt like was my way in,” said Koenig. 

While forming the episodes for season two and talking to more of Bergdahl’s platoon mates, she began to realize the effect of trauma and PTSD on these soldiers, and how that affected her. “I was so interested in how they were thinking about not only their lives as soldiers in war but also about Bowe and how they felt about what he did and whether their feelings were changing over time or not,” said Koenig. “I remember the thing he said, he was really shy too, it was hard for him to make that call, I think the thing he said, he kind of admitted “Look, I thought about walking off too.” This was such a taboo thing that Bowe did it, and just for him to admit that a lot of us thought about doing messed up stuff while we were there, I felt like it was really great for him to admit it and admit it very broadly and to a huge audience and also kid of to himself, and to go against all the guys who talked to me … going against the wave of hatred for Bowe … it was a brave thing to do, but it brought home to me as well how traumatized these young people were and are from those wars, and I guess we sort of talk about it but more in a clinical way, or a VA way,” said Koenig 

Season three was influenced by a book called Courtroom 302. This season talked about the court system in Cleveland, OH. before this idea came up, she was completely unfamiliar with Cleveland. Her and her team wanted to make Cleveland like its own character in the new season. This season brought up some interesting topics, like the lack of data in courtrooms and how sentencing, according to courtroom faculty, depends on who the judge is. “Julie was talking and saying “well what’s a normal sentence for that crime,” … it was a guy, he had very ineptly mugged a bunch of people … they had guns … nobody got hurt, they got $200, and they guy got fourteen years for it and his lawyer though that  was a pretty good number … I started asking around and all the judges were like Oh, well it just depends on the crime, depends on the room, depends on the judge,” and so we just tried to see what the studies have been … we got nothing, there’ll be small studies here and there but nothing comprehensive … you get judges training … and honestly, sentencing is like a two hour workshop, like they get no training with sentencing,” said Koenig. ”

Though her work has a massive following, she doesn’t think fame has affected her or whether or not people choose to partake in the podcast. “It works all ways it’s funny … a lot of people have no idea who I am … there’s a judge I spent a lot of time with, Judge Gall … he just didn’t bother to find out who I was for such a long time … I’m always very  clear with people, like if you talk to me, please know that potentially many millions of people are going to hear this … it hasn’t gotten harder to get people to talk,” said Koenig. 

She also doesn’t feel much of a responsibility to find the truth once they’ve got everything recorded and researched. Not usually to a huge degree, I feel a responsibility if they come to me and say, “People are stalking me,” and if I can protect them in any way I’ll do that if they ask me personally … it’s not a common thing. Mostly no, it’s like when it’s over, it’s over.” said Koenig. 

At the end of her talk, the discussion was opened up to the audience. 

Top TV Streaming Services

Rebecca Avila

Streaming services have been coming into the scene more and more. There are over 100 different streaming services now, including Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV+, Disney+ and more.

 “I think Apple TV has some great premium shows with amazing actors.” said Etornam Agbemabiese. 

30 percent of voters on Instagram said Hulu was the best streaming service.

 “I had the free trial for three months and during that period of time I really enjoyed the shows that were streaming.” said Maria Fleak. 

 65 percent of voters on a Instagram poll said that Netflix was the best streaming service. 5 percent of voters also said HBO and Prime Video are good streaming services are good. 

 “I love Netflix, it has all my favorite shows are on there and it’s a real time waster when I’m bored.” said freshman, Camryn Earnhardt

There were colorful responses to a Instagram poll on which streaming service is the best.

“Netflix by far. True OG of all the streaming services. Goated. None of the new boys can top it.” said kingjames.ota. 

Jesus is King: Album Review

Olivia Brown

Recently Kanye West came out with his 9th album  Jesus is King. A gospel album with 11 tracks on it. Kanye has talked about his christianity whether it be him speaking or in his music since April of 2019, when he got baptized.

The songs on the album have a very churchy but hip hop vibe it to. For example in one of his songs,Follow God, he raps about how he struggles to live a religious life and follow God’s way of life. Kanye also talk about his disagreement with father stating “Screamin’ at my dad and he told me ‘It ain’t christ like’. But nobody never tell you when you’re being like christ.” 

In another one of his songs, Hands On ft Fred Hammond, I think that he feels judged by people because he’s making a Christian album. In the song it said “Said I’m finna do a gospel album. What have you been hearin’ from the christians? They’ll be the first ones to judge me. Make it feel like nobody love me.” Ever since Kanye’s Sunday Service performance that he did, he received extreme backlash from it because it was “weird and out of character” for him to do.

Most of the songs on the album are very good. They’re not too long and not too short. In my opinion, it’s the perfect album to listen to regardless of your beliefs. Overall I would give this album a 9/10. My personal favorites are “Everything we need”, “Hands on” and “Use this Gospel”. 

My Chemical Romance Reunion

Olivia Brown

After six years since they have been broken up, My Chemical Romance has finally announced they will be going on tour for a concert in LA. My Chemical Romance was a band that formed in 2001,consisting of band members, Frank Lero,Gerard Way,Mikey Way and Ray Toro. The band signed Eyeball records and release their debut album I Brought You My Bullets,You Brought Me Your Love in 2002, after changing in to Reprise Records the following year.

Over the years the band has made many popular albums that have been #1 such as The Black Parade, which was a double platinum, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge and I Brought You My Bullets,You Brought Me Your Love. On March 23, 2013 the band officially broke up, one month after they released their new song.

On October 31, 2019 the band’s social media accounts deleted all of their posts and posted a black and white picture with an angel that has the words “Return” written on it. The caption read “Like Phantoms Forever…”, referencing their 2002 EP album,with a link to where fans can buy tickets for their concert in November . 

This sparked the internet to go in a frenzy. Many fans of MCR were so excited about the announcement causing the tickets to sell out in 24 hours. 

“I cannot believe they are getting back together”  Briana said 

Serial Podcast Host Speaks at Wake Forest

Brooke Bandy

Sarah Koenig, host of popular podcast Serial, spoke at Wake Forest University last night. Serial is one of the most downloaded podcasts of all time and has millions of listeners every season. 

Sarah Koenig first got into broadcast journalism when she was covering a story about underfunded schools for a newspaper she was working at. She only really knows what podcast style broadcast journalism because that’s all she’s ever worked in. “I remember driving really far to some school and reporting on this thing and listening to the radio and hearing This American Life, it was on, I didn’t know what it was, I came in part way and I just was like what was that, why am I doing this when I could be doing that?” said Koenig. 

With her podcast, they came up with the structure and form of how they wanted to cover the story, then her and her team found the story. 

“I wish that I had a dignified answer for how we come up with topics for Serial, but I don’t … it took a while until we settled on a little bit of a eureka moment like “Oh, we’ll do a serialized documentary, that’ll be our format,” and so we came up with the form of it, but then we had no scoop, we had to see what the story would be, how could we try this idea out and I had already been reporting a little on the Adnan Syed case,which was the topic of season one … that was very simple and it worked,” said Koenig. 

Though her podcast became so widely known because of its true crime focus, Koenig was never interested in true crime, but rather criminal justice. 

“There certainly was a portion of the audience who wanted more of the same essentially, another who-done-it, another murder mystery, we weren’t interested in that. I have never been interested in crime or true crime frankly, at all. I’m interested in criminal justice, I’m very interested in our system, but I don’t enjoy a murder story particularly,” said Koenig. 

The first season, following the story of Adnan Syed, blew up with over 400 million listeners. The Serial team did not anticipate this reaction, comparing it to the caliber of the War of the Worlds event. 

“There was a very serious part of it that was hard to grapple with and worrisome for us wit what have we done, who have we wronged. We’ve brought a lot of attention to people who didn’t expect it, and in some cases didn’t deserve it, just a lot of scrutiny and speculating about “Oh maybe she did it, maybe he did it,” but we’re like “Woah, woah, woah, real people with lives, stop it!” and posting their information online … we had no idea it would be in the millions, we were thinking if it were in the couple hundred thousands, that’d be great and then it just became millions and millions and we just sorta lost control of our story in terms of being able to protect anyone who was in it,” said Koenig. They lost control over who was protected in the story and caused major privacy issues. 

This caused big changes in privacy for season two. “We wanted to be very careful the second time around. If we were going to do it again, we were going to build it in such a way that we weren’t exposing people in that way and building protections and I think that was part of the reason for going in such a different direction,” said Koenig. 

Season two was about Bowe Bergdahl, a prisoner of war who walked off his Army base. She went into the podcast with only one tape and figured it was going to be a short glimpse into what it’s like to be a prisoner of war. As her research and fact checking continued, her contacts to the story expanded and sparked her interest. 

“It was definitely a challenge. We initially were sorta like “Oh, it’ll be a shorter thing, maybe four tosix episodes, just use Bowe’s tape” it’ll be a weird look into what it feels like to be a prisoner of war for five years. I mean it was obviously a very intense and unique experience … we need to fact check some of the stories Bowe is telling in the tape about specific incidents that happened … it kept getting bigger and I felt a real fondness, a real affection and I did feel a connection, especially to some of his platoon mates, that’s kind of where I felt like was my way in,” said Koenig. 

While forming the episodes for season two and talking to more of Bergdahl’s platoon mates, she began to realize the effect of trauma and PTSD on these soldiers, and how that affected her. “I was so interested in how they were thinking about not only their lives as soldiers in war but also about Bowe and how they felt about what he did and whether their feelings were changing over time or not,” said Koenig. “I remember the thing he said, he was really shy too, it was hard for him to make that call, I think the thing he said, he kind of admitted “Look, I thought about walking off too.” This was such a taboo thing that Bowe did it, and just for him to admit that a lot of us thought about doing messed up stuff while we were there, I felt like it was really great for him to admit it and admit it very broadly and to a huge audience and also kid of to himself, and to go against all the guys who talked to me … going against the wave of hatred for Bowe … it was a brave thing to do, but it brought home to me as well how traumatized these young people were and are from those wars, and I guess we sort of talk about it but more in a clinical way, or a VA way,” said Koenig 

Season three was influenced by a book called Courtroom 302. This season talked about the court system in Cleveland, OH. before this idea came up, she was completely unfamiliar with Cleveland. Her and her team wanted to make Cleveland like its own character in the new season. This season brought up some interesting topics, like the lack of data in courtrooms and how sentencing, according to courtroom faculty, depends on who the judge is. “Julie was talking and saying “well what’s a normal sentence for that crime,” … it was a guy, he had very ineptly mugged a bunch of people … they had guns … nobody got hurt, they got $200, and they guy got fourteen years for it and his lawyer though that  was a pretty good number … I started asking around and all the judges were like Oh, well it just depends on the crime, depends on the room, depends on the judge,” and so we just tried to see what the studies have been … we got nothing, there’ll be small studies here and there but nothing comprehensive … you get judges training … and honestly, sentencing is like a two hour workshop, like they get no training with sentencing,” said Koenig. ”

Though her work has a massive following, she doesn’t think fame has affected her or whether or not people choose to partake in the podcast. “It works all ways it’s funny … a lot of people have no idea who I am … there’s a judge I spent a lot of time with, Judge Gall … he just didn’t bother to find out who I was for such a long time … I’m always very  clear with people, like if you talk to me, please know that potentially many millions of people are going to hear this … it hasn’t gotten harder to get people to talk,” said Koenig. 

She also doesn’t feel much of a responsibility to find the truth once they’ve got everything recorded and researched. Not usually to a huge degree, I feel a responsibility if they come to me and say, “People are stalking me,” and if I can protect them in any way I’ll do that if they ask me personally … it’s not a common thing. Mostly no, it’s like when it’s over, it’s over.” said Koenig. 

At the end of her talk, the discussion was opened up to the audience. 

HOCO Proposal Ideas

Ellison Schuman

Homecoming at the NCLA will be here before you know it. And while you don’t need a date to have an amazing time, if there’s someone you are dying to go with, don’t be afraid to take the lead and ask the question.

If you aren’t sure of the best way to ask them out, take some inspiration from some of the greatest homecoming proposals below:

1.) Find out who their favorite artist is, like this 21 pilots themed hoco proposal:

2.) Sports themed proposal:

 

3.) Use their favorite food/candy as a “sweet” way to win them over:

4.) Use their favorite movie/tv show:

5.) “Just Friends” proposal

 

National Vanilla Cupcake Day

By: Cyd Leister

In honor of National Vanilla Cupcake day on November 10th, here is a fairly simple recipe for made from scratch vanilla cupcakes.

Recipe (Makes roughly 12 Cupcakes)
1 ¾ cups Cake Flour
¾ tbsp Baking Powder
¼ tbsp Baking Soda
¼ tbsp Salt
½ cup Butter
3 Egg Whites
2 tbsps Vanilla
½ cup Sour Cream
½ cup Whole Milk
All ingredients should be at room temperature, and the oven set to 350 °F to begin. The dry ingredients are sifted together first, not including sugar as its weight will cause it to sink to the bottom of the mixture.
In a separate bowl extract the egg whites. Crack the egg turning it to one side and then shifting it between the two shell halves careful to not drop the yoke, until all or most of the egg whites are collected in the bowl below.
A mixer will be needed to begin to beat the butter. Once it is relatively soft add sugar and continue to beat the mixture for 3 to 4 minutes or until the graininess of the sugar can no longer be seen.
Next, the egg whites and vanilla are added to the butter and sugar mixture. This will be mixed until all ingredients are incorporated.
The egg whites and vanilla are followed by the sour cream, and the process is repeated. Don’t fret the sour cream will not affect the flavor, but adds the needed moisture to the cake.
Once the sour cream is thoroughly mixed in the dry ingredient mixture is added. After that is incorporated into the batter the final ingredient, milk, is added.
The batter is beat until it appears smooth and well mixed. Move the now finished batter into cupcake pan.
Bake the cupcakes at the previously set 350 °F for 19 to 22 minutes. Once cooled toppings are up to baker’s choice.
“I love it. It’s moist and cool. It’s nice and sugary,” commented Lily Davenport, NCLA junior.

–

 

HALLOWEEN GALLERY

Victorious is on Netflix!

Jackson Faenza

Victorious was put onto Netflix on November 1. Fans of the show have been watching it non-stop. Victorious first aired on Nickelodeon on March 27, 2010 and with it’s last episode airing February 2, 2013.

It takes place in Los Angeles and is about a school called Hollywood Arts. If focuses around the main character Tori Vega, played by Victorious Justice, and her getting accepted into the arts focused school. It then it also surrounds around the lives of her other friends Jade, Cat, Beck, Andre, and Robbie.

Many crazy things go on in the show that are so funny. In one episode, Tori and her friends all went to a foreign country to put on a show for them, but things went wrong and they ended up getting arrested in a foreign country with no way of getting out. Soon they eventually escaped by the teacher coming to the rescue.

“I love the show so much because I am always laughing,” said Jasmine Cook.

It also had many guest appearances such as Ke$ha, Drake Bell, Jerry Trainor, and Jennete McCurdy.

Netflix has just signed an agreement with Nickelodeon to make new animated shows based on previous Nickelodeon animated shows. Along with Victorious, Netflix has added multiple Nickelodeon original movies and a couple of other Nick shows also. They added the two shows Bella and the Bulldogs and Sam and Cat, which takes place in LA and surrounds around the Victorious character Cat.

Is Mandalorian Worth the Hunt?

Cydney Leister

With the release of Disney Plus on November 12th, the first episode of The Mandalorian was dropped. The live action series is centered around a Mandalorian bounty hunter, in the post-empire era of Star Wars. 

The second episode was released last Friday, Nov. 15, and so far has gathered the attention of both old and new “Star Wars” fans. It also isn’t so niche that people with little “Star Wars” lore knowledge can’t enjoy it. 

Little can be said about the story so far as only two episodes are available, however there are developments that have sparked theories of the many possible directions of the story. 

The production value is nice to see and there is little to say negatively about the physical aspects of the show, besides some comments on the design of the Mandalorian armour by older die hard fans. It is a comfortable mix of physical props and costumes and cgi.

There are both subtle and more obvious call backs to the original films, which has gained the appreciation of long time fans.

“Well I thought it was an excellent rendition. I like the many call backs to the original trilogy,” commented Caleb Alston, NCLA Junior.

The series has already brought to light some ideas, and questions that have been circling the “Star Wars” community. 

 “It’s really cool. I like how they have used concept art and old stories to the prequels, and previous “Star Wars” stories. I am interested to see what they are going to do with some of the new characters,” stated Jaden Peters, NCLA Junior.

Release Schedule

Season 1 episodes:

Episode 1 – Tuesday, November 12

Episode 2 – Friday, November 15

Episode 3 – Friday, November 22

Episode 4 – Friday, November 29

Episode 5 – Friday, December 6

Episode 6 – Friday, December 13

Episode 7 – Wednesday, December 18

Episode 8 – Friday, December 27

The Disney+ Launch has Arrived

Jackson Faenza

Disney+ was launched on Nov. 12. All of a sudden, people could not see movies that they wanted, some couldn’t sign up at all. It was a rough start for Disney on the day of the launch. 

Disney+ tweeted, “The demand for #DisneyPlus has exceeded our highest expectations. We are so pleased you’re excited to watch all your favorites and are working quickly to resolve any current issues. We appreciate your patience.” 

Many were baffled for not being able to get on, but some could get on quicker than others. 

“It took me a little bit and the first time it said it was unavailable so I just cleaned it out and opened it again and it worked.” said Lindsey Allen.

Once problems were solved everybody seems to be enjoying the new streaming services. 

“Now literally all my childhood is one place,” said Abigail Brannan on Instagram response.  

Seven days after the release of Disney+ and new problems began to arise. 

According to CNN, “ Hackers have gained access to thousands of Disney+ user accounts, selling them for between $3 and $11, according to multiple investigations. Some people were complaining that hackers locked them out of their accounts after online thieves gained access and changed their accounts’ usernames and passwords.”

People have also seemed to complain about the fact of Disney+ not saving places in movies. 

“I don’t like if you stop in the middle of something it doesn’t save…you gotta remember, that’s the only trash thing about it,” said Lindsey Allen. 

Even with the hardships that Disney is facing, people still do enjoy what it brings. 

“It’s amazing to see everything back,” said Colby Brown on Instagram response. 

The Showdown: Home Alone 1 vs 3

Rebecca Avila

The Home Alone series have been funny family comedy movies since 1990. They are the Christmas movies that all families can relate to and watch over over and over.

Home Alone came out on Nov. 16, 1990. The star little boy was Kevin Macallister who was played by Macaulay Culkin.

Kevin was left at home by his whole family while they boarded a plane to Paris. Mid flight, his parents noticed that they left Kevin at home but there were no complaints made by Kevin. 

Kevin was having the time of his life home alone. He had no family and an enormous house all to himself. The only problem was the two crooks were in the neighborhood that saw the Macallister as the jackpot.

The crooks, Harry and Marv were chasing Kevin all over the house and Kevin outsmarted them and they ended up in jail. 

Home Alone 3 came out on Dec. 12, 1997. The star boy in the movie was Alex Pruitt who was played by Alex Linz. The Home Alone series tend to have the same story line.

In this movie, criminals got a hold of an Air Force computer chip and need to get it past airline security. They hide the chip in the toy truck which gets taken with an elderly lady named Mrs. Hess. She gives the toy car to Alex who is sick with the chicken pox and has to stay home alone. 

The criminals then went after Alex and the tricks that Alex had up his sleeve gave the criminals a hard time. The FBI found out about the chip and in no time, the criminals were jailed up. 

Both movies have the same story line but there are tweaks here and there. In Home Alone, the theme was to have courage. For Kevin to rise and overcome his wimpy self and not letting himself or his house fall into the hand of Harry and Marv.  In Home Alone 3, the theme is to do something right even if others believe don’t believe you. Alex told his mom, dad and police that criminals were in the neighborhood but nobody believed him and he went ahead and captured the bad guys. 

The movies both hold comedy as a priority though. Home Alone has its own funny actions and so does Home Alone 3. Both also have different actors and themes. It all just comes down to preference but between the two. 

Frozen 2 Warms the Heart

Rebecca Avila

Frozen was the movie that brought the song out of every little girl who saw the movie. The movie was such a hit that a sequel was to arrive at any moment. The trailer for Frozen II released on Sept. 23, 2019 and people have been waiting for Frozen II ever since. 

 

Frozen II released on Nov. 22. Many had been waiting for the release to see if it was as good as the first. Everyone was waiting to see what Elsa, Anna, Christof, Sven and Olaf’s next adventure would be. 

In the first movie, Elsa was trying to find herself and where she fit into the world. She was powers of ice that seemed to be controlling her rather than her controlling them. Anna, Olaf, Kristof and Sven were the ones to show Elsa where she belonged and that she wouldn’t be alone. In the second movie, she knew where her place was, where she would go from there was the question. 

In Frozen, there were many songs and Frozen II is no exception to the fact that Frozen revolves around songs. There are plenty of bops to go around in the movie that keeps the movie going and keeps you captivated. 

Frozen II has most of the same cast but some stories are cleared up in the second movie that relates to characters that were in the first movie. 

To say the least, Frozen was a marvel but Frozen II really keeps you interested and gives tons of happy emotions that in the end are worth it. 

Why I’m Superior to Most

Column By: Ellison Schuman

I think itś fair to say that I am far more advanced than your average human being. I have been placed on this earth with a long list of exceptional talents that make me more superior. Everyone should feel blessed that they get to exist in the same time period as me.

1. Marshmallow Catching
   • It is known that Ellison has insane skills when it comes to catching small objects using only her mouth. Catching marshmallows is my specialty. I can catch them no matter how high theyŕe thrown in the air.
2. Pencil Tapping
   • Most people find pencil tapping annoying, but they don’t realize the fine art of it. It takes a lot of hard work to become a legit pencil tapper. And most people don’t have good rhythm. Give me any beat and I can make a beat out of it.
3. ABC’s Backwards
   • This might not seem like a “talent”, but go up to a random person and ask if they can recite their abc’s backwards. Chances are, they cannot. I have just been blessed with a really great memory that allows me to do these kind of things.
4. The ability to chug
   • If you are anywhere near my inner circle, then you have seen my crazy ability to chug. I was able to chug a 2-liter of lemonade in under 30 seconds. If you don’t think that’s talent then you need to get your eyes checked.
5. Dancing 
   • I’m a crazy good dancer. That’s just the facts. It’s probably due to the fact that I dance whenever, wherever. I can do dances that most people can’t. Don’t try to challenge me because you will lose, and I don’t want to hurt your self-esteem.

If you wish to see any of these talents in action, please click the link below that will direct you to our NCLA falcon instagram.

(see full post)