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Viking Voice September 2020 The VIKing voice Staff LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Lily Sweeney - Editor in Chief Patrick Knapp - Advisor Aiden Strojny - Marketing Coordinator This month, the staff and I tried a few new things to boost creativity and time efficiency. One of these tac- Levi Unkefer - Photographer tics was the introduction of columns. Columns are noth- Jacob Anschutz - Layout and Design ing new to the Viking Voice, but the concept is relatively Makena Murre - Editor new to this year’s staff since we decided to keep it simple to start during quarantine. Some of these columns are Adela Tesnow - Editor articles we’ve always done and recently assigned a col- Betsy Lecy - Editor umnist and some are entirely new. Our latest addition is the History Column in the News section, written by Theo Goode - Editor Columnist Makenize Koehler and edited by News Editor Helen McCormack - Featured Columnist Betsy Lecy. I personally have always found history to Makenize Koehler - Featured Columnist be one of the more fruitful subjects to study and it ap- pealed to the staff and I to include brief history lessons Colleen Carlisle - Featured Columnist in each of our issues, dependent on the events occuring Hayden Reetz - Staff Writer at the time of publication. This month, Mackenize cov- ered a history of Thanksgiving celebrations in the United Olivia Finck - Staff Writer States as well as similar traditions across the globe. This Todd Tesnow - Staff Writer column has given us the opportunity as writers to ac- Cora Carriere - Staff Writer knowledge our historical faults and encourage our read- ers to act with us to prevent them from recurring. This Thanksgiving, I personally recommend staying home and reading A People’s History of the United States. MISSION STATEMENT What better way to express gratitude than to express a desire to self-educate? To provide a news source, forum, and voice for the students of Gibral- Safe celebrating, Lily Sweeney tar and the community. Viking Voice September 2020 NEWS Looking Back: A History of Giving Thanks Around the World BY MAKENIZE KOEHLER he United States celebrates coming together to be with others. the coast of Ghana. When they ar- God gave the Jewish people when Thanksgiving by giving thanks In addition, it includes giving gifts to rived, they realized that there was no they left Egypt for Israel. In addition, Tfor blessings from the past family or friends, such as fruit, items food, rich soil, and it hadn't rained every meal is eaten and time is spent year. Americans often associate for the coming year, or Spam, which for many days. So, when it finally did in sukkahs, which are open-ceiling, Thanksgiving with the feast between is the most common gift. Similar to rain, there was a huge harvest. They wooden booths that relate to how the the newly traveled settlers from En- Thanksgiving in America, there are celebrated with food and noise. This Jewish people lived while traveling to gland and the native tribe of Wampa- also traditional foods such as song- correlates with the name “Homowo” Israel. Throughout the seven days of noag. When the settlers first arrived pyeon, which is a type of rice cake. which means hooting at hunger. To- Sukkot, people recite prayers, spend at Plymouth, many people died from The songpyeons are made by families day, Ghana’s capital Accra enforces time with family and recognize what the harsh winter. However, in the the night before Chuseok, which a ban on any noise and fishing for they’re thankful for. spring the settlers met a Massasoit symbolizes the importance of family a month to remember the people man named Squanto. He graciously in Korean culture. The dough of the who died and the low supply of food. Malaysia translated conversations between the songpyeons are created from finely The celebration is complemented by The Kaamatan harvest festival is settlers and the Native Americans ground rice and are filled with many traditional dishes including kpokpoi, observed in Sabah, Malaysia by the and taught the settlers how to plant things including chestnuts, sesame which is made from cornmeal and Kadazan-Dusuns people in May. corn and hunt fish and beaver. There seeds and red beans. Then they form served with palm nut soup. The Kadazandusun communities see in Plymouth, the year 1621, the set- them into small balls. rice as a crucial part of the celebra- tlers and the Wampanoag tribe feast- Israel tion, as it is the main ingredient for ed on wild game, fruits and vegeta- Liberia Sukkot or the Feast of the Taberna- many dishes and is created into rice bles such as blueberries, cranberries, The first Thursday in November cles is Israel’s Thanksgiving that cel- wine for people to drink. During corn and carrots and much seafood. marks Thanksgiving in Liberia. Now, ebrates food and life. On the fifteenth the month-long festival, many The camaraderie between the Massa- one might wonder how an American day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, rituals are performed. The liveliest soit tribe and the European settlers holiday came to an African country. the seven-day celebration begins. is the final ceremony, which is the was unsettling for most other Native Liberia’s history began in 1822 for This version of America’s Thanksgiv- Humabot ceremony. It is filled with American tribes, but it is the reason freed slaves who wanted the freedom ing is certainly the most religious; it many traditional games, songs, and Thanksgiving is often misperceived and equality that they hoped the is associated with the protection that dances. as a “peaceful” holiday. In spite of United States could give. Presi- the gruesome colonization history, dent James Monroe supported the Thanksgiving has been somewhat creation of Liberia. To honor him, redefined simply as a time to be some of the freed slaves decided to grateful and acknowledge historical celebrate some of America’s tradi- faults. Many Americans don’t realize tions including Thanksgiving. Libe- that even though Thanksgiving is a ria’s version of Thanksgiving adds national holiday for North America, families gathered to eat chicken, many other cultures have similar green bean casserole and a mashed holidays to give thanks. potato-like food called mashed cassa- vas. In addition, Liberia’s culture gives each dish multiple seasonings South Korea and spices. In South Korea there is a holiday called Chuseok or Hangwi. This Ghana is held on the fifteenth day of the In order to remember the Ga tribe’s eighth month of the lunar calen- famine long ago, Ghanaians celebrate dar. Chuseok is about celebrating the Homowo festival. The legend the full moon during harvest and begins with the Ga tribe arriving on Experimental COVID-19 Vaccines OP-ED: Should Colleges Found to be Effective Require Standardized Tests BY COLLEEN CARLISLE During/After COVID-19? n Nov. 9 the Pfizer and BioNTech it were available right now. On the other BY THEO GOODE companies issued a press release hand, the other 49% said they would defi- Oannouncing the success of an nitely not get vaccinated at this time. ith all of the problems that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought, one experimental COVID-19 vaccine. Days of the overlooked but very important ones is student performance. later, the company Moderna did the There are many concerns about the Virtual learning is designed to keep students and teachers safe but has same. The Pfizer vaccine is estimated to vaccine development process. 78% of Whad nationwide effects on test scores and grades. Colleges including be 90% effective. Moderna places their Americans are concerned that the vaccine Harvard and Cornell are waiving their standardized test requirements for 2021 success rate at 94.5%. Both vaccines use approval process is moving too quickly applicants, but it could be said that those tests are needed now more than ever. mRNA, which is an anomaly in the world without establishing safety. The other Teachers are dealing with students who are unmotivated and isolated, which of vaccines. While most vaccines contain 22% think that the process of developing is leading to more missing work and poor grade reports. There are also schools mild doses of the virus, mRNA vaccines and producing the vaccine is moving too with students that have little or no access to technology. These schools can’t be inject mRNA which develop to recreate slowly. expected to fail students simply because they can’t attend virtual classes. On the the virus’s proteins in the body. other hand, students that do have good internet and technology access have un- With regards to the development of a vac- limited resources and can cheat with untrackable ease. Standardized tests provide As the treacherous year of 2020 comes cine, these are developing quite quickly as a way around this issue by creating a measure of what students really know, and to an end, the discovery of the vaccines compared to past pandemics. Typically, colleges can run off of those scores instead of faulty grades. have offered a ray of hope concerning the a vaccine takes years to develop because One of the reasons standardized tests are important is because the scores create a Coronavirus. Since March, the deadly of all the testing and research that goes baseline for colleges to compare students across the country. Even though the stu- virus has circled the United States, killing into it. The first COVID-19 vaccine was dents may have taken the same classes, the lesson plan and curriculum might be hundreds of thousands of people. Scien- developed in seven months and is in the just different enough to make the contents of a test needed for comparison.