The Tusker Tribune The Student Newspaper of Somers Middle School

Issue Number 11 http://somersschools.org/domain/995 Fall 2017 Don't Hope for Snow Days!

By Liam King ple in a snow-day scenario: people who love Tusker Tribune Staff winter and snow, people who'd rather play a The season of winter is upcom- common sport and people who like the in- ing. Joyous heads poke out of bed doors best. when the stern voice of Mr. Matt Carr I'm guilty of holding the third opinion, rings throughout the house. but that's off topic. A majority of Somers Mid- Most predict dle School probably that it is a snow holds the second day or some kind of opinion but for a delay, and it usu- some reason, every- ally is. Delays are body is still excited fine, but snow days for snow days. This, are not good for I truly question. various different A third reason why reasons. snow days should- One reason n't be anticipated is why snow days because of possible shouldn't be unpreparedness. wished for is the When you get most obvious: it something unex- takes away from our vacation. Why would pected, you normally become disoriented. you want to miss a day of school in the middle Sometimes, a snow day can disorient a stu- of winter when consequently, a day is taken dent so that the next day, they could forget away from an entire week of no school in a that they have school and potentially forget more convenient season? an important item for their upcoming day. This leads to my second reason: lack of Although this has never occurred to me per- ability to play common sports, such as foot- sonally, I can imagine that it's quite common ball and soccer. There are three kinds of peo- for this to happen.

Commons Sense Techniques to Avoid Test Stress

By Juliana Spano five deep breaths with 10 seconds in be- Tusker Tribune Staff tween each one. I promise this will work. Are you struggling One more thing you can do is to talk with test stress? If so here to your teacher if you are confused. Most are a few easy things you can likely they will be happy to help you and it do to help. One easy thing will help you score higher on your test. Also you can do is not to over study. Stud- tell your teachers when you have a few ying too much can make you forget tests in one day. They might try to resched- and will probably just stress you out ule it. more. The last thing you should do is to Another easy thing you can do remember that we are just middle school- is to take deep breaths. I know this ers. Everyone wants to do well on quizzes may sound over played but it works, and tests, but one bad grade on a quiz or but only if you are doing it the right way. Take test will not ruin your life. I promise! Page 2 The Tusker Tribune The Student Newspaper of Somers Middle School

Rice Krispies Christmas Trees! It Takes a Team

By: Caitlyn Stellwagen To Be a Team! Tusker Tribune Staff Making these treats was SO MUCH By Anthony Moschides fun! With little ingredients, this is so easy Tusker Tribune Staff and fun to make so I hope you enjoy it just As a huge Celtics fan, I’m wit- as much as I did. nessing the biggest winning streak in the Celtics history at 17 wins and 3 INGREDIENTS losses! What a team! This team puts in so much Kellogg's Rice Krispies Cereal time, effort and heart to be this good. There 3 Tablespoons of butter or margarine are so many great players, such as Jaylan 1 package of miniature marshmallows Brown, Kyrie Irving and Jayson Tatum. But it’s not about these DIRECTIONS individual players – it’s about all the In large saucepan, melt butter over low players on the heat. Add marshmallows and stir team. It’s about the until completely melted. Remove special talent that from heat. each individual Add Kellogg's Rice Krisp- brings to the team. ies cereal. Stir until well coated. Who would Using buttered spatula or have known, after wax paper, evenly press mixture one of the “to be” into a pan coated with cooking star players, Gor- spray. Cool slightly. dan Hayword, was Using cookie cutters coat- injured in game ed with cooking spray, cut into one, and for the en- Christmas trees. Decorate with tire season, that frosting and/or candies. Best if the Celtics would have such great success? served the same day. The fans all thought the season was over, but we were wrong. MICROWAVE DIRECTIONS The Celtics lost their first two games, (ALTERNATE WAY) but that’s where the story changed, and greatness began. The Celtics have had sever- In microwave-safe bowl heat butter and al close games, where they have been behind marshmallows on HIGH for three minutes, stirring by almost 20 points, but they've never given after two minutes. Stir until smooth. Follow up and they just keep winning! On each game steps two and three above. day, the whole team puts in their best effort Microwave cooking times may vary when on the court. And there you have it! Your very own Rice Krispies I love playing team sports because of Christmas Tree! the friendships, the camaraderie, and how we en- courage each oth-

The Tusker Tribune is er to do our best. published online and is My team sports featured weekly on the are Somers La- Somers Middle School crosse and Som- Website. It is entirely The Tusker student-written by 6th, ers Modified- 7th and 8th grade stu- Cross Country, Tribune Staff dents from and this winter I Juliana Spano Somers Middle School 250 Route 202 am trying Modi- Liam King Somers, NY, USA. fied-Track. Caitlyn Stellwagon Any SMS student is eli- Somers gible to write stories. If has so many Nicholas Cirillo interested, please e-mail great athletic Anthony Moschides Advisor Dean Pappas at DPappas teams, and not just because of the talent, but Noah Volkman @somersschools.org because of the individuals and of course the coaches! I recommend everyone should try a team sport at least once. You will enjoy it! The Tusker Tribune Page 3 The Student Newspaper of Somers Middle School NaNoWriMo—Tedious or Exciting?

By Nicholas Cirillo vanced special operations unit fighting Tusker Tribune Staff against a terrorist. On the other side, It’s November 1st, my classmate is writing a dystopian nov- and the first thing you el about the last civilization left in our hear from your ELA teach- world. So there’s a myriad of choices, er is this: “This month, all of you and infinite possibilities! will be writing a novel!” Students write during class, and They probably seem pretty you can even listen to music (as long as excited, too, while a good two- you have earbuds, and keep the volume thirds of the class is moaning and stressing before low). You’ll do some short “flipped classroom” les- it’s even begun. Even I was a little nervous, and sons for homework, but you only need a few exam- I’ve loved to write for quite a while. But don’t wor- ples for each day. Just don’t slack off! ry too much – NaNoWriMo is actually a lot of fun. The website for NaNoWriMo is easy to use, Now, you may have already heard of NaN- and once you set up an account and join a class- oWriMo. It’s a challenge to write a 50,000 word room, you can copy and paste your novel from novel in the thirty days of November. But, since Word onto the site! 8th graders are using the Young Writers Program, The “NaNoWriMo 2017” section is where you can choose your own word count goal. 8,000 you can edit your novel settings, change the font, words? Sure! 20,000? If you want! The book is and add a cover. “Chapters and Notes” is where yours. You can choose the title, the plot, and the you can… Edit your chapters and notes! (Who characters. You write the chapters, you build the would’ve thought?) “Writing Tools” offers optional universe. You can even Photoshop a book cover tips and tricks, as well as a daily writing chal- and upload it to the website! lenge. I, personally, really enjoyed NaNoWriMo, Overall, I had a really great time writing and I think it was a very good learning experience my novel, and while some of my classmates may to expand my writing ability. differ, I’m certainly going to miss NaNoWriMo… I wrote the novel «CyberWar», a 14,000 Until next year! word novel about an elite, technologically ad-

Music Report

By Noah Volkman like “Codeine Dreaming”, “Rugrats”, and Tusker Tribune Staff “Projects”. This album includes features from There is always tons of music re- Lil’ Wayne, Birdman (otherwise known as Baby), leased out to the world every single week. I, Offset, from the rap group Migos, XXXTENTAC- personally, am a music wiz. I know when ION, and many more. my favorite artists release music up to be- Rating: 4 of 5 fore it even comes out, unless, of course, it doesn’t go on pre-order. Here are some songs and albums Glory Days: Platinum Edition by Little Mix that have come out within the last month or so, or Hear "Reggaetón Lento (Remix)" with Latin group will be coming out: CNCO, here Listen to "Power" with UK rapper Project Baby 2: All Grown Up by Kodak Black Stormzy, here Listen to the top-100 song, "Roll in Peace" with Listen to the fun song "Oops" with pop XXXTENTACION star Charlie Puth here Listen to "Build my Legacy" with Offset, As Glory Days became the high- here est-selling album by a British girl group in the Listen to the new hit "Codeine Dreaming" 2000s, the mix of pop and club smashes are now with rap star Lil Wayne including three new songs, “Is Your Love Project Baby 2: All Grown Up is a Enough?”, “If I Get My Way”, and “Dear Lover”. re-release to a sequel. Back in 2013, Kodak came The expanded album now includes top-10 song out with Project Baby. Then, in, July 2017, the “Reggaeton Lento (Remix)” with CNCO. Also, it sequel (Project Baby 2) was released. Now, the has remixes of “Power”, “No More Sad Songs”, and Floridian rapper put Project Baby 2 back out four “Touch”, with verses from Stormzy, Machine Gun months later. He picked and chose some songs Kelly, and Kid Ink. from the original PB2, but added on some bangers Rating: 4.5 of 5