Spartan Insider December Issue

1. What made you decide to

become Assistant Principal?

I think it was to make a big-

ger difference to more students

at once, and I couldn't really do

that in the classroom.

2. Why do you feel that we

should have "No Bullying" rules?

Everybody should feel happy

and safe here at Whitin.

3. What did the "Rachel's Chal-

lenge" make you feel and want

to change?

It made me feel hopeful, and

it made me want to help by-

standers feel comfortable

and want to help others.

4. What makes you love

being Assistant Principal?

I think the excitement

that I see in the students

and the teachers when

they're learning.

5. Is there anything that

makes you feel comfortable in

your work environment?

My sense of humor and the

way I can laugh at myself.

6. What's your favorite thing

to do at work?

Be at lunch duty!

Ms. Puliafico’s Interview

Manguito Band by Ally Langlois, Jessica Rice and Kayte

Rooney

Spartan Insider

Issue 2: December 2010

Inside this issue:

STEM Kids 2

Recipe 2

Change Brownie 3

Twin Days 4

Community of

Caring

4

Fun & Games 5

Art & Comics 6

Ask Kamal 7

Reviews 8

Staff:

Kyle Alger

Steven Alger

Abishek Arokiadoss

Courtney Bond

Callie Bucchino

Lucais Cannalonga

Olivia Caldwell

Cameron Cyr

Brianna Doherty

Kyle Gauthier

Cailee King

Alanis-Lou Langlois

Sophie Lynch

Jessica Rice

Jacob Robbins

Matthew Robertson

Kamaldeep Sidhu

Cassie Snay

We talked to Mrs.

Penza about the Latin

American band that

performed for us. This

is what she told us:

they are all from Latin

American countries like

the Dominican Republic,

Cuba, and Puerto Rico.

Mrs. Penza told us that

she found them

through the Young Au-

dience of Massachu-

setts. Mrs. Penza

thought they provided

cultural enrichment

throughout the state.

She also told us that

every year she applies

for a grant from the

Uxbridge Education

Foundation to pay for

the groups to come

and perform. The last

thing Mrs. Penza told

us was that she would

love to have them

come back and per-

form for us in the

future!

**Bonus!**

What do you do special?

I know a lot about dogs!

By: Cassie Snay

Spartan Insider page 2

By Drew Abbott and Allison Cotter

On Saturday, October 30th, eleven Whitin Middle School students had the opportunity to attend the STEMKids Con-ference at the Cummings School of Vet-erinary Medicine at Tufts University School in Grafton. The following 7th and 8th grade students were participants: Drew Abbott, Allison Cotter, Cailee King, Lucas Pomeroy, Robert Wondolowski, Jackson Wright, Osvaldo Luna, Mikayla Rooney, Abigail Centrella, Justin Pickering, and David Lozeau. These stu-dents were accompanied by the Whitin science teachers, Mrs. Beane and Ms. Daugherty. The STEMKids Conference invited advanced science students to ex-plore a variety of possible science careers for the future. Participants attended three workshops that involved science, technology, engineering, and mathemat-ics (S.T.E.M).

One of our group’s favorite work-shops was Forensic Science with James Jabbour. Forensic Science examines in-

STEMKids Conference

vestigating crime scenes. One thing we found surprising was that identical twins have the same DNA but different finger-prints. We enjoyed this workshop because it taught us what a fo-rensic scientist does and the many careers available.

Another workshop we enjoyed was Electrophysics of Music with Mac Andrews. We learned about the different vibra-tions and the scales of hearing different tones. This was interest-ing because it taught us some-thing about what we listen to every day.

Later that day, we attended an as-sembly with a Micro-soft Evangelist, Edwin Guerin. He talked about technical jobs and futuristic forms of technology that Mi-

crosoft will be inventing to im-prove how we communicate. He made this lecture fun and inter-esting for the whole auditorium by including everyone and show-ing interesting videos. As a last activity, we created a PowerPoint presentation about our day and how we enjoyed it. All in all, the day was fantastic and everyone learned something new and maybe got a new idea about a possible career path.


Chapter 2

Okay this was

too weird. I went up

to my room and

turned back into my-

self. Okay it’s just a dream… I fell asleep when my mom left just pinch yourself and you’ll wake up…

Sadly not

true. I reached for

my cell to text my

friend what hap-

pened. Two things

stopped me: one) she

was in school two) I

had a feeling I

should show her or

she’d think I was de-

lirious and tell my

mom. The rest of my

day was as boring and

uneventful as ever

but I still couldn’t

get it out of my mind.

Honestly who could?

I grabbed my journal

and wrote about it;

getting it off my

chest then ripped it

out and threw it in

the fire my mom

made to keep me

warm before she

left.

When I looked

out the window later

to see if the mouse

had lived through its

shock the world was

covered in a quilt of

white sparkling snow.

Well, I guess I won’t

have to go to school

tomorrow either.

I noticed a

sparrow in a tree I

was watching it

closely and zoning

out while I stared.

Next thing I know

the sparrow disap-

pears and I’m it. Do I REALLY want to do this again…? Yeah. I do. I flapped my

wings trying desper-

ately to fly. It’s

REALLY hard. I got

nowhere. I figured

out how to search

the sparrow mind and

watched its lesson on

flying. It wasn’t

really a lesson but I

sort of watched its

instincts and they

became a part of me.

I flapped my

wings but instead of

just up and down it

was folding on the up

stroke and straight-

ening on the down

stroke. I was lifted

into the air and hov-

ered there for a

while really process-

ing that, wow, I was

flying! I was a bird

with human intelli-

gence so I figured

out how to open the

window I flew to the

tree in my yard and

perched on the high-

est branch that

would hold me.

The bird was

super hyper and

scared; at every

noise of movement I

fought the urge to

flee. Then a huge

winged shadow

passed over me and I

panicked. I heard a

hawk’s cry.

My first reac-

tion was to fly but

the human part of my

new the hawk was

much, much faster.

So I changed. I am

so stupid! The branch

could barely hold the

sparrow never mind

me! I fell into the

snow in nothing but

my pj’s. I got up

sputtering; snow

filled my mouth and

stuck to my face. I

walked into my house

and sat in front of

the fire.

Change A Fiction Story By Sophie Lynch

Issue 2: December 2010

Then a question

occurred to me which I

should’ve thought of

before. Were there any

others? What’s happen-

ing and why? (I hon-

estly hadn’t thought of

that before.) How was

I supposed to find out?

I couldn’t use the com-

puter. (Yeah, like I’d

find anything! Sarcasti-

cally.) My mom checks

the history and she

would ground me for

life if I erased it. She

doesn’t want anybody

bullying me to the point

where I’d end up like

that girl on the news.

Did a radioactive spider

bite me? Struck by

lightning? No, I think

I’d remember that…

Then again, I did just

turn 13…could that have

something to do with

it?


Twin Days

Hi, my name is Sara, when I was seven I found out that I had a twin! Her name is Megan.

We both look identical, because we both have brown hair, green eyes, big cheeks, and crooked

teeth. It was like looking in a mirror! Megan went to Hawaii when we were born. Ever since we

met we have spent every second together. The only thing that’s different about us is that she

can tell the future and I can go back in time, so if I get a bad grade on a test I can go back in

time and do it over. She can look in the future so if she wants to know something that’s going

on tomorrow she can see it. The only bad thing is that she knows that she is going to die when

she is 39. I tell her not to get her hopes up too far. But the best thing is that we are twins!

Written by Jessica Rice

Community of Caring:

Trash Pick-Up Day

On Sunday, October 24, the Community of Caring did the Blackstone Valley

river way trash pick up. The event took place on River Road next to Little Texas.

Uxbridge was not the only school participating in this event; a Mendon school and

a Northbridge school were there picking up trash, too. Mendon and Northbridge

started to pick up trash down one end, and we started down the other end then

we would meet up in the middle. There were about 10-15 kids from the Community

of Caring and about three adults helping, too. Mrs. Clifford and Ms. Puliafico

were there helping to clean the environment, too. When we finished cleaning, we

went over to Riverbend Farm to have pizza and soda. They also gave everyone

who helped clean up a free T-shirt. It was a team effort the way everyone came

together to help clean. It was a very productive day. I hope that the clean up

helped us get one step closer to saving the polar bears and the ozone.

By Kayte Rooney


Across

4. Newest song is a

year without rain

Down

1. California Gurls

2. One of her hits

is Tik Tok

3. Short and 16

5. She has two

lives

Fun Games

S I O L G N A L Y L L A Y X R

Y E N O O R E T Y A K H A V O

B I J F P L A O S V E H N A S

R E G L A N E V E T S I S W O

K Y L E A L G E R K L A E V U

A D F X C Z U V L X H U I J X

F R J G F N I G C O R F S K E

C O U R T N E Y B O N D S E T

J E S S I C A R I C E Y A M Q

G Z X Z S E Y R T G L C C U M

ALLY LANGLOIS

CASSIE SNAY

COURTNEY BOND

JESSICA RICE

KAYTE ROONEY

KYLE ALGER


Art and Comics

By Steven Alger

by Matthew Robertson

Hailey Muggeo


fight with the other

one. What should I

do?

Answer: You should-

n’t get in-between it

and if they tell you

to, just simply say I

don’t want to get in-

between it. Also, try

to ignore them when

they talk bad about

the other. Most im-

portantly, don’t fa-

vor one over the

other. If you do, you

could lose a friend-

ship.

Kamaldeep Kaur

Sidhu

Dear Kamal,

I am doing really

bad in school be-

cause all I do is play

video games. I feel

like I don’t do good

in school because all

I do is play video

games. I feel that if

I don’t do good in

video games then no

one will like me, and

I also feel that if I

do good in school

then all my friends

will make fun of me.

So what should I

do?

Answer: Well, if you

think about it, play-

ing video games will

not get you any-

where in life. Study-

ing and trying your

best in school could

get you into the col-

lege you want to go

to or a really good

job that pays well.

Without these

things you could end

up living with your

parents forever

playing video games.

Your friends making

fun of you doesn’t

really matter, but

you can stop them.

You don’t have to

tell them your

grades just keep it

to yourself, and just

because you go home

do your homework

and then play video

games doesn’t mean

you won’t make it to

the next level in Call of Duty. The rest is

up to what you want

to do with your life.

Dear Kamal,

My two best

friends are fighting,

and they want me to

get in-between and

Ask Kamal

Attention all Writers, Artists, and Computer Freaks!!!

We are looking for drawings, stories, and fun games/

websites. So in the cafeteria, by the windows, we have a

yellow box for submissions to put into the newspaper. If

you have talent for writing or drawing, we’d love to see it!

Contact Ms. Roche for more information about these sub-

missions. So please submit your drawings or stories in the

box, and you might have your submission in the next Spar-

tan Insider!!!


Reviews of the month

This Month’s Movie Review By Cameron Cyr

Mega Mind is played by Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, and David Cross. This

movie, directed by Tom McGrath, wants families to carry away some important messages

from a PG– rated movie. A Lex Luthor-like villain named Mega Mind (voice by Will Ferrell of

“Elf”) challenges a Superman-like hero (voice by Brad Pitt of “Fight Club”) and is attracted to

a Lois Lane-like reporter (voice by Tina Fey of “Date Night”). During the colorful tale,

MegaMind finds no joy in conquering his enemies. He just feels lonely and depressed.

“We all have choices in life,” McGrath said during a telephone interview to promote

“MegaMind,” which opened on November 5. Ultimately, the takeaway from the film is that it’s

never too late to change your ways and never too late to make the right choices.

This Month’s Video Game Review By Jacob Robbins

This week’s video game review is based around the game Star Wars: The Force Unleash. If

you like Star Wars and game play that keeps you standing and moving your arms like you’re

playing the Wii, this is for you. The game is based around “StarKiller” Darth Vader’s secret

apprentice. During the clone wars, your objective is to destroy Vader’s enemies without being

discovered. This game offers a variety of light saber colors. The enemies in this game are

pretty decent foes. If you are like most people, you won’t want an enemy who is gone with

four hits. In this case there are four difficulties. The easiest one is apprentice, in this one

there are no decent foes. In the second one, there are some decent ones here and there.

Now the third one is the way Star Wars is supposed to be played with people who don’t take

no for an answer. Finally, the fourth one is called Sith Lord. In this mode, the storm troop-

ers are as tough as the Jedi, and the Jedi are like facing Vader. This game is sold at Wal-

Mart, GameStop, and Target. It is already out, so enjoy and have FUN!

This Month’s Book Review By Steven Alger

Al Capone Does My Shirts/Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Gennifer Choldenko. It’s 1935.

Moose Flanagan lives on Alcatraz with his family, the other families of the guards, and a few

hundred no-name hit men, con men, mad dog murderers and a handful of bank robbers, too.

One of those cons has just done him a big favor.

You see, Moose has never met Al Capone, but a few weeks ago Moose wrote a letter to him

asking him to use his influence to get his sister, Natalie, into a school she desperately needs

in San Francisco. After Natalie got accepted, a note appeared in Moose’s freshly laundered

shirt that said: Done.

As this book begins, Moose discovers a new note. This one says: Your turn. Is it really from

Capone? What does it mean? Moose can’t risk anything that might get his dad fired. But how

can he ignore Al Capone?

Documents

Spartan Insider December Issue