VALHALLA UNION FREE SCHOOL DISTRICT

ronicle School ch la Middle The Valhal A newspaper published by and for the students of Valhalla Middle School.

Volume 1, Issue 4 June 10, 2009

5th and 6th Grade Cross Paths Editor’s note: On May 15, 5th graders from Kensico Elementary School spent time with 6th graders from VMS as a part of the annual 5th grade orientation. Here are perspectives from 5th and 6th graders, respectively.

5th graders enjoy visit 6th graders welcome By Ian Dopsch (5th grade student at Ken- sico Elementary School). 5th graders By Claudia Halbauer “What’s going to happen?” I wonder as I am in the library. My head is spinning and my emotions are racing. I’m going to middle As everybody waits in their pe- school and fear is the last thing that I need. riod D class, the fifth graders come down I got on the path of feeling slightly more the hallway. This was an experience no- relaxed, and walked to the school. I strolled body wants to miss. The fifth graders into the auditorium and talked to my friends. came in during period D and stayed till It was an immense confidence booster for lunch and Core (which was period B). some odd reason. Mr. Garcia came out and Their lunch, that day, was a sandwich, talked to us about what was going to hap- chips, water, and a BIG cookie. pen. Well, to be honest, that pretty much wiped all the fear away and turned me into Everybody gets assigned a quite the eager and inquisitive boy. “buddy,” but I got two! When we were allowed to leave I showed them my I was off to my first middle school class with locker, and told them hints so that when Mr. Tripaldi. Apparently the 6th graders were th learning about the Renaissance. They had they are 6 graders they won’t lose their written quite impressive poems featuring books. I gave them the locations of the great people such as the genius Galileo bathroom, Middle School office, front Galalei, and Michelangelo. Then they filled office, library, water fountain, and cafete- out sheets that simply baffled me. They were ria. about government. We learned about a man who helped change the structure of various The fifth graders seemed a little governments with his own thoughts, and nervous when they first met me. They beliefs (John Locke, not Mr. Tripaldi). He also didn’t talk much. As the day went on thought of a more open minded government. they seemed to get used to me. At lunch Ian Dopsch, a 5th grade stu- All of this newly, learned knowledge provided I sat with my friends and their buddies. dent at Kensico Elementary me with an idea of what life would be like Everyone got along really well! And I School, offers his insights next year. Next, Mr. Tripaldi paired us up with wasn’t nervous even . regarding the 5th grade ori- an experienced (or what I’d call a entation at VMS. Photo “professional”) 6 th grader. This is when I met The thing that bothered me was taken by Courtney Accocella. up with an old friend named Sami. that people were worried who they The highlight of my day, though, was when I would get as their buddy. We needed to gained the most comfort and confidence, and demonstrate a positive attitude to the I began coming out of my shell: I saw my 5th graders; they came to partake in an From the VMS news- brother! Yay, finally! enjoyable experience with us. paper staff, have a On the walk back from school, I had a great All in all, it was a wonderful day, feeling of readiness. I knew then, that next and we look forward to welcoming the wonderful summer— year was simply going to be a fresh start, to a current 5th graders to the VMS family see you in September! great new year!! next year.

P A G E 2 T H E V ALHALLA M I D D L E S CH OO L CHRONICLE V O L UM E Volume 1, Issue 4 7th Graders Declare Their Independence (figuratively speaking)

By Courtney Accocella The 7 th grade had a wonderful time visiting Philadelphia. To start the trip, every seventh grader visits the Liberty Bell. Afterward, groups of students were allowed to go their separate ways to roam historical Philadelphia. My group visited an historical art museum, which contained patriotic art pieces and artists’ interpretations of America. Through the eyes of these artists we viewed the hiding of European Jews under floorboards during the Holo- caust. We viewed a wall showing all the faces of the fallen 9/11 victims and heard the story of one of the many heroes. After leaving the museum we visited Ben Franklin’s former residence and printing shop. There are rooms to ex- plore in that house, but we were only able to look in from the ground level. After some more walking around, my group got hungry. And what was on the menu? You guessed it – Philly Cheesesteak, and it was DELICIOUS! Following our heavenly lunch, we ventured off to see Betsy Ross’s house. Homes back in the Revolution were much smaller than today’s homes. We saw the room where George Washington asked Betsy Ross to create the Ameri- can flag. We saw a bedroom, a dining room, the cellar and another small room. Some items in the house were the actual furnishings while others, sadly, were only replications. Our next stops were the United States Mint and the Signers Hall, where our Founding Fathers signed the Decla- ration of Independence. These were very popular sites! At the end the day, we did what all good tourists do - hit the gift shop!!! But, overall, this was a wonderful field trip because of all the historical sites we had the opportunity to visit. Mrs. Lustig deserves our appreciation and gratitude for coordinating such a wonderful, curriculum-based excursion.

Snack Shack on the Attack!

By Courtney Accoccella

To the students who don’t know: yes, we do have a snack shack! It is located behind the football field, opposite Kensico. The store has not been used much recently because of the track remod- ling and has been left to collect dust. So why are we writing an arti- cle on a decrepit store, you may be wondering? Well, recently the Helping Hands club was asked by the sports booster to paint said store, and with that helping hands went to work. The shack was in a seriously decayed state, from quite a few spiders to orange splatter paint. We had a lot of work ahead of us. We quickly cleaned out the small room to get out the dirt (remember it hasn’t been used in close to a year; there was bound to be some dirt). The next two days were devoted to repainting the room its original crisp white, with out the orange splatter and webs. That was all that was supposed to hap- pen until the adventurous Helping Hands Club sprinkled in some fun ideas to incorporate the Viking colors in the store to demonstrate school pride. What was originally a messy place with a Viking hotdog poster has now undergone a complete makeover. If any of you have ever seen the Viking Café before get ready to see a whole new one The Liberty Bell, pictured above, was one of the many historical in the fall. And, don’t worry, there will be not one spider in that landmarks the 7th graders visited on the field trip to Philadel- place when we’re done, we promise. phia on April 30. Picture taken by Courtney Accocella.

Staff: Advisors: Stephanie Athanasatos Brett A. Erenberg Claudia Halbauer Andrew R. Tripaldi Presenting the Vms Apaula Islam chronicle Kristen Kurlander Photography and s t a f f . contributing writer: From all Monica Mishra Courtney Accocella The Snackshack has opened. Food for everyone! Photo taken by o f u s — Jessica Oshanani Courtney’s Accocella. E n j o y ! Jordyn Gardener T H E V ALHALLA M I D D L E S CH OO L CHRONICLE V O L UM E 1, I S S U E 4 P A G E 3 Editorial: Athletics For All

By Jessica Oshanani

With school almost over, most of us VMS stu- dents have one thing on our minds – SUMMER! But a bunch of us are thinking about something for next year already – SPORTS TEAMS! Most of the 7 th and 8 th graders have already decided what sport they want to play for next year, (left) and (right) were the two finalists th and the 6 graders are most likely still figuring it out. for this past season. In a close decision, Allen But I want to take a closer look at what I feel is a won. Photo access from http://blog.nj.com/entertainment very important issue – the question of whether or not girls and boys be on the same sports teams? American Idol Compelling As Always I can give my honest opinion on that with just three words: it all depends. With a complicated By Monica Mishra matter like this, there is no simple “yes” or “no” re- sponse. For kids (and teens) our age, I say it’s best For the past eight years, American Idol has taken over to keep boys and girls separate. It would be so much television—this highly-popular program has dominated the ratings. easier that way, playing with people that are in And lets face facts—this show is indeed amazing. At least it was until Season Eight. During this past season, there were many (somewhat) the same physical standard than us. changes that have caused the program to become worse. However, in some cases, sports are offered One significant change the show made this past season to girls and not boys, or boys and not girls. I think was the addition of a new judge—Kara DioGuardi. I believe that that should be changed. For example; gymnastics is DioGuardi is a good judge, who gives good advice, but adding a fourth judge to the panel makes the show run longer than sched- offered to girls and not boys, and football is offered uled. This happened at least five times over the season. The pro- to boys and not girls. To me, that is not fair. In most gram’s flo becomes a “no-go.” cases, sports are offered to boys. I think that every- Another big change was that instead of doing a step-by- one should be offered the same sports. We have a step process (like they used to) in order to find out who the top 12 wonderful sports program here at Valhalla Middle (or 13!) candidates would be, the program’s powers-that-be now School, and I would love to see all students have the have each contestant get one chance on stage and, if they don’t opportunity to engage in athletic activity. succeed, they get booted off the show immediately. The original method was much more sophisticated, because if the good peo- ple on the show don’t do well, they still might have another chance if they were nervous during their initial performance. The only people who received a second chance this year were those who got chosen for the “wild card.” After the top 13 performances, judge had already predicted who would be the two finalists in her mind: Adam Lambert and . Abdul, however, only proved to be partially correct—Lambert was a finalist, but Kris Allen was the other finalist. For many reasons, many people thought that Lambert would win. One of them being that had given him a standing ovation in the past. I also think that Adam should have won. Lambert is very talented, and he can sing any type of song well, unlike Kris Allen, who can only sing well. Sports is always a big topic! Pictured above, from left to right, are Unfortunately, America got it all wrong and Kris Allen Angela Guzman, Irene Garcia, Nikki Marmo, and Jennifer Pez- ended up winning. That’s the main reason why I think the show zolanti. Photo taken by Courtney Accocella. was not as good this season as it was in the previous seven sea- sons. P A G E 4 T H E V ALHALLA M I D D L E S CH OO L CHRONICLE V O L UM E 1, I S S U E 4 Hayes Volley for Vets a Big Success Fact—Mr. By Monica Mishra and Kristen Kurlander On Friday, May 1 st , almost all of Valhalla Mid- Hayes’ fa- dle School joined together for the fourth annual Volleyball Tournament. Eighth grade student named Justin Snow vorite came up with a great idea of having “Volley for Vets” this year. In order to play or watch, a student would have to baseball pay $5. All of the collected money from this would go to a charity that the middle school students vote for. This year, team is we voted on The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. This is a charity that helps the soldiers who serve our country. Many veterans return from active duty with serious inju- Pictured above is 8th grade Social Studies teacher the Yan- ries. Those are the people to whom we are donating the John Hayes, who nearly lost his head during this money to. interview session. Photo taken by Courtney Acco- kees. cella. While the 7 th and 8 th graders were fighting to see A quick chat with Mr. Hayes which team in each grade would get to play against the teachers, the 6 th graders were upstairs. After many rounds, th 6th grader Jordyn Gardener recently interviewed 8th grade Social the winning team from 6 grade was The Flaming Rubber Duckies, the winning team from 7th grade was Serves Studies teacher, softball coach, gentleman, and historian Mr. Hayes. You Right, and the winning team from 8 th grade was The Let us see what the Hayes-man has to say about his career and the Aces. VMS community.

Q—When did you become a Social Studies teacher @ VMS? And there true winners were our wonderful vet- erans, for whom we raised $5,032 for The Intrepid Fallen A—I became a social studies teacher here in 1999. For the first two years, I Heroes Fund is $5,032!!! worked in 6 th grade, and then I moved to 8th grade, where I have been ever since.

Q— Why did you want to become a Social Studies teacher?

A—I have loved history ever since I took a lot of history classes in college.

Q—How did you go about starting the volleyball tournament fundraisers.

A—Four years ago, a student, Paul Salminen, read an article about a solider who died in Iraq. The solider’s mother raised money for returning veterans from Iraq that need financial assistance. Then, Paul worked with staff mem- bers and myself to put together the tournament.

Q—What do you like best about VMS?

A—The best things I like are the make-up of the community, how everyone gets along, how people work together collaboratively , and how every- one treats each other with respect. Washing one’s hands is paramount to maintain health, cleanliness, and, overall good personal hygiene. Photo Down with germs forever! taken by Courtney Accocella. By Stephanie Athanasatos Today, it is hard to stay clean with all these germs lurking around. Well, I am here to tell you how to prevent getting sick. Hand sanitizer is the first way. Also, eat healthy! Eating junk food can decrease the amount of work your im- mune system is doing, therefore letting more germs into you resulting in you getting sick. Eating healthy foods, like yogurts and fruits, keep your immune system going strong. After you use the bathroom and wash your hands don’t turn the sink off with your freshly cleaned hands turn off the sink with a paper towel. Never touch your face any- where! Your hands have germs that can go into you mouth and eyes and nose. Also, take your vitamins because most of us don’t get the daily nutrients we need. And lastly, GET ENOUGH SLEEP! Get at least eight hours of sleep. Sleeping is a way for your body to restore itself and get ready for tomorrow. Without sleep, you immune system is weakened. So practice these important habits, be well, and enjoy your summer!