Phoenix Press March 2018

Phoenix Press

WeBring News From FCS Lower School

Child of theCivil Rights Movement: Paula Young Shelton

By Neha J.and Benedict T.

Paula Young Shelton was only four years old when she participated in the Civil Rights Movement! On February 9th, 2018, she visited Friends?Central. Her father, Andrew Young, was a close friend and advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was like an uncle to Paula.

Paula, the author of Child of theCivil RightsMovement, loved writing short stories and poems when she was a kid. She published her first book when she was in college. She wrote many books but unfortunately never got them published. She is now an author and a teacher, and writes many stories about her youth.

Paula was in the March from Selma to Montgomery when she was four years old. She was too little to walk all the way to Montgomery, so her parents dropped her and her siblings off at her grandparents?house while they continued the March. Her father got arrested a couple of times, but the family still continued on.

Paula is inspired by her three sons to keep fighting for rights because they can be treated differently and she wants them to be able to do whatever they want later in life. She also is inspired to fight against poverty. There are many poor people of all races in the world and she recently participated in a march to fight against poverty.

Paula Young Shelton lives in Washington D.C. with her husband Hilary and sons Caleb, Aaron, and Noah. She has two older sisters and one younger brother.

We all enjoyed hearing about her life and her writing.

TheFinal DeSouza Magic Show

By Theo D.

If you haven't seen a magic show, you?re missing out. If you haven't seen the Desouza Magic Show, you have missed too much! After eight years, this was the last one for world class magician Marc DeSouza at Lower School. It happened on January 26th.

The theme of the show this year was food and games, with tricks such as ?multiplying ketchup and fries?. His big trick was making us all into magicians with easy to learn tricks such as

?The shrinking dog: an illusion?. My favorite trick was the red balls, where a new ball magically appeared until about 40 balls landed in a fishing net.

The show was fun and action-packed. Sadly, that was the last lower school performance since the DeSouzas will soon be learning in Middle School.

FCS Lower School Welcomes Chelsea Clinton

By Parker H.and Olivia A.

Have you ever wanted to meet a great author and an incredible woman?Well, we did on Monday, March 12th in the Lower School meeting room and her name is Chelsea Clinton! Chelsea Clinton is an author and also the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and former Senator Hillary Clinton. You might be asking yourself why such a successful author came to our school. She came here to present her new book called She Persisted Around theWorld. She is also the author of other books including ShePersisted:13 American Women who Changed theWorld, and It?sYour World. Fifth graders Sasha G. and Neha introduced her at the assembly. Chelsea talked about her books and she also talked about how we could make a difference. Something that inspired her to write these books was when Senator Elizabeth Warren refused to be silenced while reading a quote from Coretta Scott King. Here are examples of three women in her book that refused to be silenced in a man?s world:

-When Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz was a child growing up in Mexico, it was common that most girls did not go to school, but she knew that was wrong, so Juana Ines decided to read and study on her own. Her plan was to disguise herself as a boy so that she could go to University, but her family didn't allow her to. Still she persisted and spent lots of time looking for tutors that didn't mind teaching a girl. Later on she became a nun so that she could focus on her writing. Her poems and plays are still being read today and her Respuesta a Sor Filotea dela Cruz was the first published argument for a woman?s right to education in the Americas.

- Nellie Bly chose her job as a reporter because a male writer had once told her that working women were ?a monstrosity?and she knew she could prove him wrong. She persisted by putting herself in danger while trying to expose real monstrosities. She pretended to be a sweatshop worker and even a patient in a mental hospital to show how badly people were being treated.

-The first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a PhD and become a professor at the University of Nairobi was named Wangari Maathai. Wangari was horrified by how many trees were being cut down all across Kenya, so she planted new trees. She persisted by gathering friends, family, and strangers to help her. She was the first African woman awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Near the end of her presentation, people were allowed to ask questions. Someone asked what it was like living in the White House. She said that to her, ?It was home?. One Kindergarten boy named Jack asked if men can persist. She said, ?Absolutely!?Abeneezer in 1st grade asked if she will ever run for president. She said you don't have to be a president to make a change in the world. You just have to be passionate about something and find a way to make it better. And Olivia F. in 4th grade said that she lives in the house where Chelsea?s husband grew up. Chelsea said she would tell Marc (her husband).

Now that you have learned a bit about some wonderful women in this world, we hope that this encourages you, boy or girl, to persist. We are so grateful for Chelsea's appearance and we encourage you to read her books!

By Ben H., Sam L., and Alex D.

TheEagles finally won their first NFLSuper Bowl on February 4,2018 in Super Bowl LII.In the process,theEagles and Patriots together made thenewrecord for most combined total yards in Super Bowl history with a total of 1,151yards. Asuper intensegameagainst thePatriots and thePhiladelphia Eagles cameout with a victory! Theending scorewas 41to 33.