T H E R U N D O W N I S S U E 3 : V O L U M E 1 TTHHEE RRUUNNDDOOWWNN

A B L O G F R O M T H E M E T E O R C H R O N I C L E S T A F F QQUUIICCKK CCOOVVEERR OOFF RREECCEENNTT NNEEWWSS B Y M A E A D A M S January 6- The United States Capital stormed January 13- impeached January 18- Martin Luther King Jr. Day January 20- The faculty at Montrose Area School District receive their first round of the Covid-19 vaccine January 20- sworn in as President, along with the first female Vice President Kamala Harris January 27- GameStop stock rose astronomically SSTTUUDDEENNTT NNEEWWSS CCOONNSSUUMMPPTTIIOONN B Y : J E S S I C A C A R E Y A N D M A L L O R Y T H O M P S O N In a world centered mainly around Yegor Aleyev | TASS | Getty Images current events, many studies have been done to see how teenagers consume the news. We conducted our own study by hosting a poll to see exactly how our students consume that information. When asked what source our students use to get the news, 63% stated that they get their daily news from social media, with only 24% getting it from a broadcast station.

Continued on page 5 Bryan Woolston | Reuters P A G E 1 GGOOOODD NNEEWWSS BB YY MM II AA PP EE RR RR YY 2020 was packed full of disheartening events like wildfires, pandemics, and job loss, however many positive things took place in the sea of bad. It is no surprise that during the lockdown last spring, traffic was heavily reduced. Global quarantine allowed scientists the chance to see how a stark decrease in fossil fuel usage and other pollution from humans could improve the environment. Researchers at Rice University believe that CO2 levels in the air have dropped by 8%, making that the HHAARRDD fastest and largest drop in history, which is a good thing! Although traffic has started to CCOONNVVEERRSSAATTIIOONNSS increase again, something incredibly important was learned in 2020; air pollution AABBOOUUTT PPOOLLIITTIICCSS can be lowered significantly in a small amount of time. More information can be BB YY BB RR EE AA NN NN AA MM AA RR CC YY found on this at "Air Quality News". Politics: As much as we hate it, it’s Another event that requires attention and impossible to ignore. Everyone has an praise is the naming of the NASA opinion on everything and a lot of times, headquarters in Washington D.C. it is named they want to share that opinion. Whether it’s after Mary J. Jackson, who was the agency’s your cousin at Thanksgiving dinner or with first African American female engineer. She your friends in the hall, it’s everywhere. It began her engineering career in the 1950s, seems to be whenever it’s brought up, and some of her story is seen through the everyone is down each others' throats, so movie “Hidden Figures”. how do you talk politics without ruining all A baby from Tennessee was born, which relationships? sounds like something that would not be According to NPR here are some tips and newsworthy, however, her embryo has been tricks and how to do so. frozen since 1982. This girl’s embryo had been 1. There is a time and a place. frozen for 27 years, breaking the record for When are going about such a touchy the longest frozen embryo to be born. The subject as politics, you don’t want to bring it previous record was in fact her sister with 24 up when it’s not an appropriate time. You years of being frozen. There are over 1 million need to read the room and make sure frozen embryos in the United States, and addressing your opinions won’t ruin the

many get left or discarded because no one mood. A bad time to discuss politics would believed that they would live. Embryos can be be a board game with your family, in the frozen for several reasons and go through IVF, middle of math class, or with people you just a process where the egg is fertilized with the met. A good time to talk politics would be sperm outside of the body in vitro, then with friends you know who are comfortable frozen. New and further advances in the with things like this, or when you’re sitting scientific understanding of this process can on the couch with your parents and there's give hope to anyone struggling with infertility something on your or reproductive health. (continued on page 4)

P A G E 2 KNOW YOUR SENATORS & CONGRESS- PEOPLE BB YY LL II LL LL YY OO ’’’ BB OO YY LL EE

In the interest of increasing student awareness of our government, The Rundown is 55 TTIIPPSS WWHHEENN TTAAKKIINNGG providing names and photos of our governmental IINN TTHHEE NNEEWWSS representatives. Photos are included on page 5. BB YY PP AA LL EE YY AA DD AA MM SS Senators work in Congress 1. Keep perspective. It's important to understand when and their job is to debate and you are consuming news that chaos and disaster are help create, adapt, and remove not the state of the normal world. Mundane or happy laws. Our senators are Pat parts of life don’t often get headline news coverage Toomey (R) and he has served because they aren’t dramatic. from January 5, 2011, to the present. Our other senator is 2. Seek out good news. To combat the constant stream Bob Casey Jr (D) who has of bad news, actively search for positive things that are served from January 4, 2007, reported on. They may not be advertised as heavily or to the present. on the front page, but they are out there! Representatives work in Congress to introduce new 3. Limit social media as a news source. Social media is bills. is cut into great for a lot of things, but the way these companies 18 districts, Montrose is in the market news is not. Users typically see what gets the 12th district, and the most attention from other users, even if that news is representative is Fred Keller incorrect and unreliable. (R) who was elected in 2019. At the state level, each state has a 4. Talk about what you see. The things on the news governor who implements might be once-in-a-lifetime, but they still do happen state laws and oversees the and can be upsetting. Discussing what you see on the states executive branch. For news with close friends or family can help process it. Pennsylvania, the governor 5. Only consume credible sources. Platforms like has been Tom Wolf (D) since Facebook and Instagram often advertise false or 2014. misleading information that can be confusing and At the federal level (serving upsetting. Even credible, main stream news sources in Washington, DC), PA has a can contain bias or slant. Consuming the most reliable total of 18 Representatives and sources with a critical eye helps keep the news two Senators. straight.

P A G E 3 HARD CONVERSATIONS CONT'D

Bernie in the building As most people have seen, Bernie Sanders made quite the impression with his outfit and mittens at the 2021 inauguration. In the following days, memes of Bernie photo-shopped into different places were all over the internet. So we thought we could bring Bernie to Montrose. Throughout this addition you can find pictures of Bernie in: - the gym watching pickle ball (page one) - inside the guidance office (page two) - Ms. Luvender's art room (page three) - Outside of the guidance office (page four)

P A G E 4 POLLS CONT'D RRuunnddoowwnn Another question asked if the news frustrated students. The results were close, with 50.8% saying Staff the news frustrated and stressed when the news is Staff talked about a lot. M A E A D A M S 63% of students say they can figure out if the news is P A L E Y A D A M S credible and 65% of students find social media a credible news source. J E S S I C A C A R E Y Some other interesting findings? 82.6% feel it is B R E A N N A M A R C Y important to stay up to date on the news, 69.4% say a M I A P E R R Y news broadcaster is more trustworthy than a L I L L Y O ' B O Y L E celebrity, 80% say it is easier to get the news through M A L L O R Y T H O M P S O N videos and pictures than reading, and 80.8% said they are open to getting their news from a source with an A L E X I S P R A T T opinion that conflicts with their views. E L I S H A W E S T We compared Montrose data with a study by J A C Q U E L I N E C E T T A Common Sense and Survey Monkey and saw how our H A R L E I G H R E P S H E R students compared to the general population. M Y A S N Y D E R Nationally, 50% of students said they got their news from social media (13% less than our school), 78% said it was important to stay up to date on the news (about 5% less than us) and 63% prefer to get their news through pictures ( 17% less than our students). With this data, we can tell our school is a little different from the majority, but our students overall are very close to average teenagers in the U.S.

KNOW YOUR SENATORS & CONGRESSPEOPLE: CONT’D FROM PAGE 3 AA LL LL PP HH OO TT OO SS FF RR OO MM PP AA ... GG OO VV Governor Tom Wolf (D)

Fred Keller (R) Senator (R) Senator Bob Casey Jr. (D)

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