Issue Number 22 https://www.somersschools.org/Page/11489 Winter 2020 CHANGE Candy Grams Brighten Dreary Days YOUR By Joe Melillo could also choose to write a mes- PASSWORD Tusker Tribune Staff sage on a little Valentine’s Day During the week card with your name on it, or, if The Somers Technolo- before Winter break, the you’re a bit of a secret admirer, gy Department is is- International Club was you could stay anonymous. suing a mandatory selling Candygrams to The International Club is password change poli- raise money to support the club. dedicated to delivering them to cy for all student ac- During the lunch the correct people and did deliveries counts effective im- period for each grade, to all the students on the morning of mediately. In order there were stu- Valentine’s Day. They for student accounts dent representa- raised a little over $500 and to remain secure, it is tives at tables in are looking forward to more imperative passwords the back of the fundraisers throughout the get changed AT lunchroom sell- year. LEAST twice a school ing candygrams If you are interested year. to students and in joining the International Please follow these teachers. Club and learning about dif- instructions For $2, ferent cultures and coun- for STUDENTS to you got a bag filled with Starburst can- tries, and doing things for the school, change their password dy, a lollipop, and a Fun Dip. You then this is the club for you! as soon as possible: Go to Office 365 – por- Coronavirus Explained tal.office.com – From By Allison O’Connor must be within about 6 feet to even the Office 365 landing Tusker Tribune Staff have a slight chance of catching it page click on settings Coronavirus, deadly from a human-to-human encounter. (at the top right) and or nah? Highly contagious However, the last statement is not change password. or not? Should we be wor- completely true. ried? Coronavirus is not a complete- Once your password is I’m sure that when we hear ly new disease; it is part of a large changed to a new se- “coronavirus”, we think “deadly”, family of viruses that can cause many cure password it can “contagious”, “new disease” that sci- illnesses ranging from the common be used to access Of- entists have never cold to diseases as deadly as the fice 365, Schoology, heard of’. Middle East Respiratory Syn- Infinite Campus, etc. The first one is drome. partially true; corona- The novel coronavirus Your password should virus has an estimated (nCoV) is a new strain of the virus have at least 6 charac- mortality rate of about that has never been identified in ters, a number and a 2%. There are over humans before. Many of the coro- capital letter. If you 1,000 confirmed cases of naviruses can be passed along have any questions or the coronavirus, from its first out- from animals to people, according to problem, please go to break, and there are other cases the World Health Organization, other the Gear Shack for world in countries such as Australia strains of the coronavirus like the assistance. (15), Belgium (1), Cambodia (1), Can- SARS-CoV and the MERS-CoV, have ada (7), Finland (1), France (11), Ger- been found that they can spread from If you don’t change many (16), India (3), Italy (3), Japan animal to human. your password by Feb- (28 cases, plus 135 from the quaran- Many of the most common ruary 28th you will be tined Diamond Princess cruise ship). signs of being infected are respiratory locked out of your ac- The coronavirus is mainly systems, a fever, coughing, shortness count. After you spread from coughing and sneezing, of breath and finding it difficult to change your pass- but according to the Centers for Dis- breathe. word the first time, ease Control and Prevention, you Continued on Page 2 you'll get notifications before it expires The Tusker Tribune Page 2 The Student Newspaper of Somers Middle School Be Aware of Vaping Dangers By Luke Debellis know many kids who vape and espe- Tusker Tribune Staff cially some kids who go to Somers Attention all parents! A Middle School and the high school as new epidemic is spreading! Drugs well. This is just a message to tell you like vaping and other smoking that vaping can kill. It can take your devices are thriving on young life away from you in an instant. kids' minds. There have been over 19 So please make sure that your deaths already in the United States, and child even yourself, are far away from over 1,000 kids' lungs damaged by this entering a world of displeasure and terrible product. If you want your discomfort. Vaping is the new epi- child healthy make sure they don’t do these types demic and if you want to save yourself from a of things because it can cause irreversible damage. world of hell, then don’t vape and make sure no Vaping products are sold everywhere in the U.S. I one around you does! Video Game Review: By Shannon Williams the characters’ faces twist in dismay as they watch Tusker Tribune Staff the Death Star explode. In my opinion, the Story I have recently started playing a Mode is just as good as the online mode. game called Battlefront II, and I am loving Speaking of which, there are many modes it. I really like to pick from when you're this game, be- playing the online mode. cause when it first start- Whether you're playing ed, it was a mess. the long game mode of Now, the Galactic Assault or Capi- game has multiple new tal Supremacy, or the characters and it is add- short game modes of ing more all the time. Un- Strike or Ewok Hunt, like some other FPS there are multiple eras games that includes an to pick from in Star online and Story Mode, Wars; Galactic Republic Battlefront II aces at vs. Separatists, Galactic both. Empire vs. Rebels, or The Story Mode is First Order vs. Re- fun and incorporates dif- sistance. ferent aspects of the Star Finally, the graphics and Wars saga into the story. For instance (if you have- small details are amazing, and when you're play- n't seen The Return of the Jedi then don’t read on), ing anything there are a variety of character types in one of the first missions you go on as Inferno to pick them. To conclude, BattleFront II is one of Squad Commander Iden Versio, you get to watch my favorite games of all time, and I rate it 10/10. Coronavirus tain social distance. No, the World Health Organi- From Page 1 zation isn’t telling you to become an emo social re- In many of the most severe cases, infection ject, but they’re telling you too try and keep a few can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory feet within someone who has a fever and is fre- syndrome (which is an effect of another strain of quently coughing or sneezing. This is because the the virus), kidney failure, and even death, but then droplets that come out of their mouths may con- tain tiny amounts of the virus that you could again, there is a 2% mortality rate. catch. When trying to prevent the infection from Now just because people cough and sneeze spreading, wash hands because it can kill the virus and have fevers does not mean they don’t have on your hands. Another way to prevent it is to coronavirus. The coronavirus is on the rise; be practice respiratory hygiene like covering your careful and be safe! mouth when you sneeze or cough. Finally, main- Source: www.who.int The Tusker Tribune Page 3 The Student Newspaper of Somers Middle School Why Can’t Math be Like the Olden Days? By Emma Gordon First of all, the calculator couldn’t be Tusker Tribune Staff moved around on your screen, so it’s hard to see On Tues- the question sometimes. So, if day, February 11, you don’t have a calculator, it’s like a lot of other hard to take the test. kids, I did the Second, it’s hard to New York State Math show your work, and showing Test Practice Questions your work is required. Yeah, I on my tablet. get that you can use the draw- I went to my 3rd ing setting, but it’s challenging period class (Mr. Mul- to focus on what your drawing laney) instead of Adviso- when you’re trying to figure ry. However, I am not out how to work the confusing participating in taking thing. It’s also very uncomfort- any of the State tests, so able with or without a pen. the practice questions So why can’t we do the weren’t really that im- work on paper? Do we really portant to me. have to “modernize” every- As you may already know, the main rea- thing, including math? Math should be done on son for the practice questions was because this paper with a pencil. I mean, isn’t the whole point year we’re taking the State Tests on our tablets. of this test: to see what we know? So, I turned on my tablet and went to the practice Not to stress over trying to draw our “7” s questions and they were.... impossible. I couldn’t so they don’t look like “7”s on the tablet.