FALL VIEWPOINTS SHMS PANTHER PRESS • NOVEMBER 2015 • VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1
We can make a Difference
What Uganda is and whaT It Could be
By Dania Mehani
I'm sure many people fell the same way I do. But a lot of people don't even know. While you think you you have problem, many people in this world are going through a crisis. What kind of crisis? A water crisis. Many people struggle to get even the smallest amount of just dirty water. This water inter fears with health, and growth. Water, is everything.
Water is a gift.It may not seem like such a big deal but really it affects everything. While all we have to do is turn the faucet and fresh cold water comes out, lots of children in the world suffer from walking for hours to get water that isn't even clean. How fair is that? It's quite horrible to hear the fact that one innocent child dies every 19 seconds because of the water crisis.
Lots of people know their water isn't clean. Dirty water can cause dehydration, diarrhea, and, worst of all, DEATH. We depend on water. Water,is everything.
Water can affect growth as well as health. In the time it's taking to retrieve water the time it's taking away from leaning basics such as cooking, parenting and going to school. Children need to know all these basics of life for their own good. If these skills aren't taught who knows what their life could lead to. Water changes everything. Water is life.
You can see it's a crisis. Like many crisis in the world, this one is solvable. The small donation of $20.00 can make a big difference. This is where The Ugandan Water Project comes in. After having an inspirational meeting with The Ugandan Water Project, I with many others wanted to to make a difference. Every year the middle school raises a very large amount of money, as well as carry a jug of water for a mile to show we're proud to help the people of Uganda. So now we can buy water tanks to give to Uganda so they can walk a shorter amount and get cleaner water. That mean children can use the extra time to go to school and even play.Water is everything.
Anyone and every one can help the people of Uganda. With doing so you can have the honor of helping a good cause for great thanks. Help the world. Help Uganda. Because water, is everything.
Student Council
By Sicilia Blatti
Spirit day survey
By Katie HagerTy
The week of activity night is our school had a spirit week. It led to our pep rally as well. There were five spirit days. I conducted a survey to some students at sweet home middle school. The survey asked:
What Spirit Day Would You Change?
What was your favorite Spirit Day?
Why was that your favorite spirit day?
Which Spirit Day was your Least Favorite?
My spirit day I would change would be Team Color Day.I personally didn't enjoy team color day. It seemed it was just for the pep rally. Some teams have interesting colors. All of Seventh grade did tie-dye with two primary colors. (Primary colors are blue, yellow, and red) My team Color was black. It's a plain color which isn't very exciting. My team color was black last year. Personally I'm a little sick of it. Another Team has white which again, isn't very exciting. White and Black are things you where on concert night. If you are on stage crew you have to where black when you are moving props around in the dark. What fun is team color day if you aren't wearing a fun color?
Other students agreed with me. "I would change team color day to favorite tv show character"~ Arielle Barbopoulos 8th grade. Katie Witnauer, Taylor Terranova, Trevor Zynda (8th grade) also agree me. However, Katie would rather change Rainbow Day.
My favorite spirit day was Homeroom wars. I enjoyed it because it was something the whole Homeroom did. There's a little competition too. I like to see what all the different Homerooms come up with. Even if my homeroom didn't win anything (we were scrabble) it was enjoyable. Many people agreed with me (Nitya Vij, Kylie Tolsma, Layah Compolo, Mackenzie Stefano and many others) Anonymous 7th grade student says "I love all of my friends dressing up for a little "costume contest"" However, many people disagreed that . Dania Mehani 6th Grade said her favorite day was Pink Day. Her reasoning was "Because it was for a good cause." It was for a good cause. So I can agree with her for that. Alexandra Bastian 8th grade (you may know her as Ally) agreed with Dania Mehani. Ally said "I LOVE PINK, and it's for a good cause (breast cancer)" Ally seems to have pretty good reasoning. However, Homeroom Wars is still my favorite. Pink Day comes in a close second.
In the least favorite spirit day section I've seen the three same days repeating the most, Team Color, Holiday, and Rainbow. Many people least favorite spirit day is the they would want to change. Jessica Carter 8th Grade said she wouldn't want to change any. Nitya Vij 8th grade disliked and wanted to change. Holiday Day. She said "Holiday Day, because not many people liked it." Well, clearly I can agree with that! Not many people dressed up for Holiday Day. Dania Mehani 6th Grade also disliked Holiday Day. Layah Campolo 8th grade would want to change rainbow day, but her least favorite day was holiday day. Anonymous 7th grade student would like to change Holiday Day as well.
Layah Compolo 8th grade would change Rainbow Day, she said "I would change rainbow day since it didn't really matter what we wore. I would change it something more creative and fun, but at the same time, something everyone can do." Now, Layah has a really good point. Spirit Day is supposed to be something everyone can do and have fun with it. Perhaps, Holiday Day is not outgoing enough. That's a good thing to keep in mind next time one of our student councils is planning spirit day. Sarah Mehani also thinks changing Rainbow would be a good idea. However not changing the way we did it, but changing it completely. Some of her reasoning was "..I think dressing in rainbow order would be hard too."Sarah Hudson 8th Grade says "Rainbow Day to a Disney Day maybe." Disney day seems pretty creative. Disney Day beats out Rainbow Day in my opinion. Seems rainbow is very disliked. However, Alec Sedki 8th Grade disagrees. He enjoyed rainbow day. He said "it was FABULOUS" Everyone has their different opinions. Perhaps if there was a more creative way to do rainbow day everyone would be happy. Dressing in rainbow order would be hard. As Sarah Mehani said. Maybe giving teams different shades of the rainbow to dress up as next time.
Spirit Week was very fun for me. I enjoyed it. Perhaps next time, the next student council does spirit week they should ask students opinions. Ask kids for all over the school what kind of spirit days they want. Perhaps conduct a survey of your own, or ask your friends and bring up the recommendation. Spirit week is supposed to be fun for everyone. So ask people what would make spirit day fun before you make your decision. Clearly we have feedback on what should come back! Homeroom Wars was a big hit!
Mathematics of the survey: 33 kids answer the survey.
For spirit day you would want to change these where the votes: Raimnbow Day got 20 votes. Holiday Day got 8 votes. Pink Day got 2 votes. Homeroom Wars got zero votes. Team Color Day got 3 votes. One person voted for none to be changed.
Favorite Spirit Day: Rainbow Day got 3 votes. Holiday Day got 2 votes. Pink Day got 7 votes. Homeroom Wars got 19 votes. Team color got 2 votes.
Least Favorite Spirit Day: Rainbow Day got 20 votes. Holiday Day got 7 votes. Pink Day got 1 vote. Homeroom Wars got zero votes. Team Color Day got 5 votes.
I hope everyone enjoyed spirit week, and everything that came along with it. If you would like to be in one of my next surveys (whether you're a teacher or a student) email me at: hagertyk@students.sweethomeschools.org