SILVER CREEK MIDDLE SCHOOL Volume 15, Issue 1 December 2019

Special points of interest:  Old Fort Niagara Field Trip  National Junior Honor Society  Spirit Week

The cast of Seussical Jr. performs a scene during the Friday night performance. Submitted photo.

Middle School Music Department Presents Seussical Jr.

By Katelyn G. geous lullabies and love ballads like Inside this issue: “Solla Sollew” and “Notice Me, Hor- ho hasn’t gone a Christmas ton,” this show was definitely some- 7th grade field trip 3 W without watching How the thing to remember. Grinch Stole Christmas? Or grown up Unlike last year’s production of Spirit week 4 without reading Horton Hears a Who Aladdin Jr., the middle school’s sec- or Green Eggs and Ham? This No- ond musical included a double cast, vember, Mr. McMullen and the Middle which meant that there were two Modified Boys’ 5 School Music Department brought shows, each with a different cast of Soccer these stories to life in their production leads. These casts preformed their Book Reviews 5 of Seussical Jr. shows on Thursday, November 14th This playful, energetic, and brightly and Friday, November 15th. Game Reviews 6 colored musical was a smash hit with the audiences young and small, short —continued on p. 2 as “Musical”— and tall. From upbeat songs like “Oh! The Thinks You Can Think!” to gor-

Page 2 The Grapevine Musical: World of Dr. Seuss comes to life in show The cast included Trent Lack and Liam Matney Booster as Horton the Elephant; Marissa Grisanti and mothers defi- Katelyn Gard as Gertrude McFuzz; Emily Bow- nitely de- ers and Cody Ramirez as JoJo; Cassidy and serve a huge Katrina Haskins as the Cat in the Hat; Julie thank-you for Decker and Renee Soggs as Mayzie La Bird; their hard work and dedication to these kids, this show, and the mu- sic depart- ment as a whole. The high school- ers also de- serve acknowl- edgement for their help Mikey Grisanti and Makayla Kelly as Mr. and with sets and hair and makeup the night of Mrs. Mayor; Gianna Gracias as the Sour Kan- both performances. garoo; Ireland Henry as the Young Kangaroo; However, most of all, Mr. McMullen is enti- Cassidy Westbrook as Yertle the Turtle; Gabri- tled to a huge amount of gratitude for his hard el Bistrisky, Joel Dolce, and Jake Schwab as work and perseverance throughout this entire the Wickersham Brothers; and Emma Gretsch- process. As easy as he makes it look, putting mann, Kristal Zayas, Madison Larson, Brook- together a show in this short amount of time lyn Mil- with hundreds of middle schoolers is no easy ler, and feat. Overall, the amount of work put into this Rachel production was outstanding, and we would like Kemp as to congratulate the Middle School Music De- the Bird partment on a job well done! Girls. Both the cast and middle school choirs worked ex- tremely hard to put together this musical, but they are not the only ones. The Booster Club also had a huge part in putting together this show. From putting together costumes and props, to giving up weekends to work on sets, the Scenes of the Thursday and Friday performances of Seussical Jr. Submitted photos. Volume 15, Issue 1 Page 3 Seventh Graders Travel to Old Fort Niagara in October By Benjamin L.

n October 24 the 7th grade took a trip to O Old Fort Niagara, a big historical battle field. This trip was led by Mr. Graf, the 7th grades social studies teacher. Old Fort Niaga- ra is a historical battlefield that featured the wars of the French, British, and later, the USA. Old Fort Niagara was a very important base because whoever controlled the fort, con- trolled the water; this caused many battles for control of the fort. In the fort, you get to learn countless things like drumming, blacksmithing, life as a soldier, laundry, trade and marching. Each individual station gives the background of the job and shows you helpful and informative demonstra- tions. In certain events like the cannon and musket shoot, photography is not allowed. Inside the fort, towers and buildings litter the terrain. The fort has many interesting rooms to check out. This includes a kitchen, chapel, well, soldiers’ rooms, trade room, musket tower, and blacksmith shop. There is also a gift shop is in a separate building. Gary Dudek, a 7th grader, stated “The trip was fun and nice.” Another 7th grader, Tanner Templin, stated, “It was a very fun learning experience and I would like to go again sometime”. Mrs. Kempster, the 7th grade ELA teacher, stated, “ I think it was a wonderful opportunity to see history in our very own region and ex- perience what it was like living in the time peri- od.”

From top right to left: Students stand in front of the lighthouse at Old Fort Niagara; students watch the blacksmith at work; a group practices marching and drilling with wooden muskets; students look at the trading post in the fort. Photos by staff. Page 4 The Grapevine National Junior Honor Society Inducts Nineteen Students By Katelyn Gard described the qualities and Jorge Hasbun, Thomas Hogg, character that must be ex- Lucas Lawrie, Levi Lawton, his school year, pressed by these young can- Dean League, John Stein- T nineteen of our didates to be eligible for this wachs, Stephanie VanCheri, eighth grade stu- opportunity to join NJHS as and Kaelee Weiskerger. dents were induct- well eventually NHS, the in- These candidates were cho- ed into the Silver ductees proudly stood on the sen for their academic excel- Creek Chapter of risers facing their families and lence, leaderships qualities, the National Junior friends that have supported scholarship character, and Honor Society. On them throughout their school their service. In order to be the morning of October 3rd, years. After the inductees had accepted into NJHS, each stu- families gathered in the audi- pledged themselves to the so- dent was required to have a torium to watch their children, ciety, and received their certifi- 3.5 or above grade point aver- brothers, and sisters pledge cate, a small reception was age as well as two staff rec- themselves into the society. held in the High School Lobby, ommendations. Additionally, Each inductee was called up celebrating the hard work and the inductees had to write an to the stage to receive their dedication of these young stu- essay with the topic of, well, certificate of induction. Mean- dents. themselves. The essay had to while, the accounts of the Inductees included Rachael discuss their uniqueness in teachers who had recom- Beadle, Gabriel Bistrisky, the fields of character, service, mended the students for their Thomas Boothe, Emily Bow- leadership, and scholarship. amazing qualities and unique ers, Tessa Braidich, Sarah On behalf of the administra- character were read. Cross, Julie Decker, Jack tion and families, we would As high school members of Ewing, Scott Flick, Katelyn like to thank all our new eighth the National Honor Society Gard, Emma Gretschmann, grade inductees for their hard Spirit Week and Pep Rally Brought Pride in October By Jacquelyn F.

chool spirit was alive and well in Silver Creek Middle School during the week of October S 15th to the 18th. Middle School Student Council sponsored Spirit Week for all middle schoolers. On each day, students had a different theme to dress as, and the week ended in a pep rally. There was no school on Monday, but on Tuesday, students wore their favorite sports team jerseys. Lots of Bills, Patriots, Sabres, and Silver Creek jerseys lined the hallways. Wednesday was wacky Wednesday, where students wore crazy mismatched clothes and did their hair in crazy ways. On Thursday, grade level color day happened. Sixth grade wore blue, seventh grade wore purple, and eighth grade wore red. Finally, Friday was school spirit day when stu- dents wore school jerseys and the school colors of black and gold. Many students also added black and gold face paint and glitter to their faces. Also on Friday, the pep rally was held in the auditorium. A bunch of challenges and games were played in addition to all of the fall sports coaches and athletes being announced. Mrs. Decker was the leader of the pep rally. Sixth grade won the class cheer this year. “The pep rally was fun,” said 7th grader Brock Stern. “I was proud and excited,” said 7th grader Kaitlynn Myers, when she and her soccer team- mates were announced at the pep rally. Volume 15, Issue 1 Page 5 Life as a Modified Boys Soccer Player By Mikey Dispenza soccer is so I could be more healthy our chests and heads. Before prac- and physically fit. I also joined so I tice, we would run around the field o you want to could have something to do other one or two times. D know what than going home and getting more The games would be on Monday, Modified Boys Soc- and more lazy, as well as make Wednesday, and Friday. Before the cer is? This article some more friends and to have fun game starts we would run half of the will tell you about it. We would have practice on Tues- field or the full field. After that, we Boys Modified Sports are those days and Thursdays. Sometimes did stretches and passing. The organized and coached sports we would have practice on game games would be an hour long. teams that your local school puts days if a game is canceled. During So based on the article, would forth for middle schoolers. Modified the practices, we would practice our you join the Soccer team and have sports include soccer, volleyball, footwork by dribbling the ball and fun, or do something else and be basketball and more. The rules are doing step ups and other workouts. bored? In the coach’s opinion, Mr. constructed different than the Varsity We would also practice passing, Johnson thought we did well for hav- Soccer. The reason I did modified shooting, and bouncing the ball on ing three new kids. Check these Books Out in Our Library By Shirley C. love friendship and a slice of life. This book is called, Level 13: he book is called Friend or Fiction, by Abby Cooper. A Slacker Novel, by Gordon T Jade has no friends and but has an imaginary friend Korman. It’s about a boy that called Zoe. One day a girl, also called Zoe came to the LOVES playing games, and he school. Jade doesn’t know if she can be friends with goes through a lot of school prob- her. After awhile Jade begins to see similarities with the lems. In my opinion, I think it’s a imaginary Zoe and real Zoe. I think this book gets a 3 good book, so from 1 to 10 I would 1/2 stars. This book is manly for girls, grade 5 - 7, who give it a 6 and a half. I think it more of a 5-7 grade book for boys. of the Month: Odd 1’s Out and By Ben L. and Tyler J. He was al- does all so the winner kinds of his month we have two dif- of the first things that T ferent YouTubers that we round in the are scientific have rewarded YouTuber of Mr. Beast Bat- like mouse the month. First, this YouTuber tle Royal with trap cars and has been chosen for his grow- Jaiden anima- more. The ing success and fun and relat- tions. Not only that, but he has science and tech teachers will able stories: The Odd 1’s Out. also released his own song like him. He has been making The Odd 1’s Out real name is and a book. At the latest Vid videos for at least a year or Robert James Rallison.The Con ,which is an event for two. He was in NASA for 8 Odd 1’s Out grand total in sub- YouTubers, TheOdd1’s Out years before he did YouTube. scribers is 12.8 mill and his actually had a Chess Boxing He helped send a moving ro- highest view count is 66 million match with Alex, another popu- bot to , and it is still up in the past 30 days. The Odd lar animation Channel. Go there. He lives in California. He 1’s Out videos are about fun check him out and see for is right now working on plant- stories about his life in anima- yourself. ing 20 million trees before tion. The style he likes to use The second YouTuber of the 2020. Every dollar he earns is called the marshmallow peo- month is Mark Rober. He has they will plant a tree. Go do- ple. 8.66 million subscribers. He nate to as soon as possible. The Grapevine Page 6 Staff The Rise and Fall of Kings: Fortnite and Minecraft By Tanner T. ter struck. They changed all social o clarify, I’m media accounts T not talking and pictures to pu- about medieval re black. A single kings in the headli- picture was just ne, I’m talking what appeared, a about game kings. black hole of sorts. Shirley C. The extremely po- But the most alar- pular Fortnite is ming thing was the Mikey Dispenza losing popularity quickly and a new game itself had that same picture with competetor arises from the rubble; it an ambient noise playing. A little retro- Jacqueline F. just so happens to be Minecraft. Mine- style mini game could be played if you craft, the cube-based game popular entered the Konami Code* on that Katelyn Gard back in 2016, is back and better than screen. It had a leaderboard with the ever. Microsoft recently bought the ga- name of two characters from the game, Tyer J. me and added tons of new things, such Peely and Jonsey. I decided to beat the as, new animals, new biomes, and the high score of 92,786 points to reveal it Benjamin L. cute and oversized bees. The new Mi- did...absolutely nothing. Chapter two necraft has many surprises but still re- released shortly after but time will tell if Vincent O. mains that simple game we all know that would save the game. Minecraft and love. might still stay on top due to number Tanner T. Now onto Fortnite. Recently, they one YouTuber “Pewdiepie” playing Mi- had a decline in their player base due to necraft frequently to the point where the not having many events, no really inter- series already has over 40 episodes. Mrs. Kempster esting game modes, and just general This is a epic war that will go down in Advisor lack of new content. Everyone was gaming history, or as gamers call it, abandoning ship and going to new “Tuesday”. So what are you waiting for? things during that small period where no Go out there and play, gamers.

Meetings are the first and game was really the best. We all third Wednesday of every thought that this was the end of the ga- *Konami Code: a code first used by KONA- month in room 318 dur- ming colossus. Soon, no one would be MI that goes up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, A, B, START. It is a cheat code ing after school. All are playing and they would just move on. used for extra lives and secrets in a variety welcome to join! We may have been wrong. At about 2 pm on October 13, disas- of games.

New Minecraft: Earth Released in October By Vincent O.

The opinions presented within this issue s you may very well know Minecraft: Earth is one of the new games are not necessarily those of the Silver Creek Central School District nor its A published by Mojang. As far as we know, it has nothing to do the ac- employees. tual story of Minecraft. In fact, we don’t even know if there is a storyline. Many of you might not know this but It was released in early access in Oc- tober. If you like Pokémon Go and Minecraft this might be the game for you There is also plenty of pay to win elements if you’re that kind of person. There’s a ton of new mobs in game like the jumbo rabbit, muddy pig or even the moobloom or a cluck shroom. There has also been rumors of an Ender cat! If you want a head start in this race to become the best, join now just download in the App Store.