The Official Newspaper North Salem High School TIGER TIMES Page 1 May 2020 Local Heroes Help Feed Local Families North Salem spirit shines in time of need By Gabby Pelosi As our community faces great adversity along with the rest of the world, there are many community members who are making a differ- ence during the pandemic by helping get food Inside this issue: to those in need. In North Salem there are three different efforts ensuring those in need North Salem News 2 are receiving meals. along with an assistant, prepares over 75-80 Every Wednesday, Feeding Westches- meals for each day. This includes bagged North Salem Culture 4 ter, a nonprofit that works to prevent hunger in breakfasts and lunches, which are put in peo- the county, sends a mobile food pantry to the ple’s cars as they drive up. On Monday and Student Opinions 8 Middle / High School where it is met by a team Wednesday, students are given two breakfasts of volunteers. These people help set up food and lunches and on Fridays, three meals are Entertainment 10 on different tables and then the volunteers put provided to help them through the weekend. food items in car trunks for Some volunteers who help Sports & Games 12 community members. The with the distribution include food provided includes fro- Mrs. Rhuda, Dr. Sieverding and MS/HS custodians. Highlights zen meats, fresh produce, eggs, dry goods, and some- The third service pro- vided in town is a food distri- Quarantine Academic times even items such as baked goods, cilantro, and bution program run out of Strategies avocados. Dr. Bell, the as- the North Salem Volunteer Page 2 sistant principal at Pequena- Ambulance Corps Building. konck Elementary who has Every Tuesday, the Office of Quarantine Mental played an instrumental role Emergency Management, Health Strategies in organizing this food pro- headed by OEM coordinator gram, says they have been and school board member Page 3 lucky to have a number of Kurt Guldan, receives a regular volunteers. Accord- shipment of groceries from TikTok App Review ing to her, around 20-25 Feeding Westchester. This food, which is available on Page 4 people, including adminis- trators, BOE members, cus- Tuesday, is targeted for resi- NS Musical Recap todians, nurses, teachers, dents who are elderly, im- paraprofessionals and par- mune compromised, or fi- Page 6 ents, help out each week. nancially in need. Roughly As she says, “We have a great system.” Any- 150 to 200 families who are able to drive to Quarantine Fashion one from surrounding areas can come to the the ambulance building, pick up their food, while another 50 to 60 families unable to leave Page 7 school to get the food between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., and, as a result, the number of meals / their homes have groceries delivered to them. Point-Counterpoint families served has consistently gone up each The distribution and deliveries are handled by week. “Last week, we roughly 12 to 15 vol- Page 9 provided food at the unteers each week. mobile food pantry for For more than NY NFL Draft Recap over 200 families,” eight weeks now, most of us have Page 12 said Dr. Bell. A separate pro- been staying home gram designed specif- and practicing social ically for North Salem distancing, but there students provides pre- are those in the Editors: pared breakfast and community who Harrison Blackwell lunches for pick up at leave their homes the Middle School / regularly to help oth- Amanda Chefalas ers get the food they Allison Eberhardt High School every Monday, Wednesday, need for their fami- Katherine Mogg and Friday from 11 lies. We thank these Chloe Tamis a.m. to 12 p.m. Fami- individuals for all lies in the school district sign up ahead of time. they are doing for Advisor: Our food service director, Karen Seikovsky, the North Salem community. Dr. Popken PAGE 2 North Salem News the little tree, but the reward for leaving it be greater scholarship, college, and career op- Online Learning is growing a full garden. Microsoft To-Do, portunities. For those who aren’t able to Productive-Habit Tracker, and Evernote are look so far into the future, Mrs. Smith, our Academic additional popular and free apps used to or- 8th and 9th grade counselor, recommends ganize your time and kick procrastination. some iPhone and Android apps as short- Strategies Another strategy for tackling procras- term motivational tools. The free app Think- Best strategies to manage tination is to work on your most recent as- Up allows you to record positive self- signments first. Getting those “due- affirmations in your own voice and play them coursework during tomorrows” out of the way will relieve stress whenever you need to get a task done. Way quarantine and pressure to finish all the tasks that are of Life, another free app, was designed to piling up. This is particularly helpful if you break bad habits or form healthy ones quick- are falling behind in Google Meet classes, ly. Available on the Apple Store, Strides is By Alexandra DePaoli “because you understand what’s being said an easy-to-use goal-tracking app that I plan a bit better [if you] have turned in a more to download as well. Procrastination complete assignment on time,” adds Sieck. Having an environment in which you Many students have found that pro- Author Denis Waitley of Success.com can be productive is also important. It’s hard crastination habits have only worsened with also adds a simple three step method to to focus on your APUSH essay in your bed, more time spent in the home check one extra item off your as your mind associates this space with re- and around distractions. to-do list. First, look at your laxing. Mrs. Smith also suggests to “put your Spending time with recently agenda of assignments phone in another room” and distance your- returned siblings / parents, (Waitley recommends writing self from this distraction. Additionally, the introduction of a new out all of your daily tasks) and “setting a schedule and posting it on your Netflix show, or the frequent list 3-5 things you were “going mirror” will help you to visualize your daily uploads of your favorite to do tomorrow.” Second, tasks and tackle them more efficiently. YouTuber are all much more choose one of these tasks and Lastly, taking care of your physical appealing ways to spend your time instead do it immediately. If not possible, choose a health will boost your mental health too. of starting schoolwork. time slot later in the day to do it. Third, ask Getting enough sleep, exercise, and relaxa- In order to focus on what must be yourself, “what’s the worst thing that could tion time is crucial for feeling motivated. done, it is important to limit these distrac- happen if I did this task today?” Hopefully, Having small rewards (snacks, FaceTime tions. Winston Sieck from Thinker Academy, this question will make you realize that your calls with friends, play time with your dog) at a group teaching critical thinking and study algebra assignment is more important than the end of working may help assignments to skills for teens, suggests “break [ing] the as- spending another hour on TikTok. seem more bearable. signment or study activity into little pieces. I have discovered one last method As always, your guidance counselors Congratulate yourself as you finish a small that helps me personally to avoid procrasti- and teachers are available to talk to if you’re task.” For example, instead of reading all of nation throughout the entire day: work on feeling overwhelmed. Your mental health Chapter 6 of The Great Gatsby, read 5-10 schoolwork before giving in to any distrac- should always come first, and protecting it is pages at a time and take small breaks in be- tions. If I start my day by finishing an assign- crucial to being a healthy and successful tween. More often than not, getting started ment—even a small one—prior to reaching student during and after quarantine. is the most difficult part of finishing a task, for my phone, it seems to set me up for and Sieck adds that “making a little progress productivity throughout the day. Because will help increase your motivation to do the teenage brain is still growing, it is im- some more.” portant to lock down these time manage- Procrastination Resources To elaborate, many students using ment and perseverance skills soon. Francesco Cocorillo’s Pomodoro Technique Pomodoro Technique https://lifehacker.com/productivity-101-a- have sharpened their productivity skills and Motivation increased their free time using similar ideas. primer-to-the-pomodoro-technique- Whether teachers and parents like it 1598992730 In this technique, large assignments are bro- or not, the main motivator for many students ken down into 25-minute chunks called po- is a number grade at the top of an essay or Teach Your Teen How to Stop Procrasti- modoros. Small rewards are given at the bottom of a transcript. Seeing as our fourth nating Homework (without Nagging) end of each pomodoro, and this reward sys- quarter is now pass / incomplete, this moti- https://thinkeracademy.com/how-to- tem trains your brain to focus for increasing- vation is gone for some of us. In my opinion, stop-procrastinating-homework/ ly long periods of time. Each pomodoro can the most important part of finding motivation be timed with your regular phone timer, but I is setting goals for yourself and not others. prefer to use a free app called Flora, which Small goals—even if they seem shallow— 7 Ways to Stop Procrastinating allows you to grow a virtual tree (and plant a may add purpose to an otherwise annoying https://www.success.com/7-simple- real one if you pay) by setting a timer and task.