In the Middle - Middle School Newspaper (2014-2015 Issue 3)

Matthew Thomas Page 2

Into the Woods Page 13

Issue 3

Miami Country Day School

Middle Schoolers Compete in Spirit Week By Patrizia Puppin

Yay! It is finally here, Spirit Week! This year spirit week has changed. Mr. Finny was not in charge of it anymore because Mrs. Greenfield and Mr. Fifer volunteered to do it. Since Mrs. Greenfield worked with the student government, they agreed that they would do it. Mr. Finny said, “Mrs. Greenfield wanted to do something a little bit differently. I think that their ideas are great, but we need to get used to the new things. But its like that, every year, because we take out things that didn’t work out so well.” This year, they moved Spirit Week to January while last year it was in October. Mrs. Greenfield said, “It was changed because of some scheduling conflicts.” This years theme was cereal. The captains were eighth graders and they also had teachers that would help them organize their thoughts but the eighth graders would organize everything for their team. “Student Government is made up of the Executive Board (5 elected 8th graders) and the General Board (the class officers),” said Mrs. Greenfield. “In the future, I would love to get more students involved possibly by creating

7th Grade Visits Washington

Photo by Belle Greenberg

Morgan D'Ablemont and Nicholas Malo try and stack Cheerios on a stick during Spirit Day.

various committees.” “After first thinking of the theme, colleges, we decided that we didn’t t like that theme and people already knew,” said Isabella Pedraza, “We still thought what could be something that

has 18 names and that we have never done before. Which turned out to be cereal.” Continued on page 6

By Sophia Gostfrand

MS Tennis Page 8

Inside

Around MCDS 2-5 Spirit Week 6-7 Sports 8-10 Entertainment 11-13 World 14 Misc 15-16

The Washington trip, one of the largest and most important field trips of the seventh grade, I had to get to the airport at 5:00am. Not such a great early morning wake up. When I got there, there were a lot of people from our school in line for Starbucks. When we finally got on the plane after the long lines of security, I sat next to Annika Janzon and Madison Jimenez. As the plane took off, I heard a loud rumbling sound, almost as if the plane was hungry. As I looked out the window, clouds were above us and there was a beautiful sunrise. Ms. Oppedisano assigned us work on the plane to track the time we took off, the time we landed, how long the flight was, how fast we were going, etc. When we landed, I was so excited to be off the plane and on the ground again. Walking through Reagan National Airport, we soon left and saw that the bus was waiting for us outside of the doors. Before getting on

7th graders pose in front of the White House in Washington, D.C. the bus, I noticed that I could see my breath. You don’t get any of that in Miami! We boarded the bus and I sat next to Mia Larson. We drove for a short amount of time and stopped at a food court for brunch. After brunch, we drove to the White House. I took so many pictures. In person, the White House looked smaller than I thought it was. But never less, it was super cool to see.

After that, we went to the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial. It was really an amazing site. It was a huge marble-type stone and his body was stepping out. Around the incredible statue, the walls were filled with some of his quotes.

New Arts Center On the Way By Arushi Beohar

So... have you heard about the New Fine Arts center yet? If you answered yes, be prepared to learn more information on the New Fine Arts center than you already know. And if you answered no then be prepared to learn the in’s and out’s of the new center! Many students and teachers have been looking forward to the New Fine Arts center. It is a place where students and teachers can have a chance to enhance the performing art and better the education of the art. “I am excited for the New Center because I take art and I’m really excited to have more open space and learn more in the art class because of the new space and materials and I’m particularly excited for the new drama and art rooms,” said Lauren Arriaga who is a seventh grader. There will be some aspects of the building that will give students opportunities to do some things

that we haven’t done so far. Like backstage area to store sets, to build sets for plays, musicals, and the lighting system is going to be better than anything that we’ve had in the past that will make the productions better. “I think this new building will help our school in the sense that because already many parents and family friends are coming to see the shows and art galleries of the students at this school, they will be able to see these things in a much better way,” said Daniel Gallup. The building is going to be located in the North Lot right on the canal. The sound system will be a much higher caliber sound system than what we have right now and just its location right on the canal will help all our ceramics and our art classes. “I am excited for having shows all the time in the center instead of at the amphitheatre,” said Camilla Burton who is a seventh grader. The Building will enrich the curriculum because teachers will be able to offer more courses and over

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time we will see more variety in the kinds of courses that the school will be able to offer in the art. The stage in this facility will have the kind of lighting and amenities to create dramatic productions that the school has never really been able to consider because right now the school has a very small stage and it has some lighting and some sound but nothing compared to what this facility will have. So for example, students can study set making and design and we can’t do that right now. “The Arts at our school are already wonderfully successful. This facility will provide a better space for the various art forms as well as opportunities to introduce other types of programming. For instance, there will be a formal dance studio and a stagecraft area behind the theater for the purpose of building sets and even designing and sewing costumes,” said Ms. Piper. Continued on page 11

Around MCDS 8th Grader Matthew Thomas Races By Philip Steinberg Eighth grader Matthew Thomas is well known for his legend car racing. Legend cars are modern-old style racing cars. He has been racing for almost his whole life. When Matthew started racing at age seven, he raced open wheel go-carts. Matthew said, “I raced open wheel go-carts for six years, currently I have been racing Legend cars for one year.” Matthew loves racing and is very passionate for what he loves. Matthew said, “Yeah, I love it, it’s my life. I think about it 24/7.” He said what makes racing fun for him is, “There’s the feeling of controlling something uncontrollable.” With racing being very fun at times, it can also be very dangerous. Last year, Matthew was in his car racing and the gas pedal got jammed. In a result, he went full throttle into the wall and crashed into the wall. The injuries were very bad, he broke both of his bones in his leg and was in a wheelchair for three months.

Matthew has won many races and competitions. The first race that he ever won was on July 7th, 2009. He won the club race at Homestead Speedway. “In 2009 I was 4th in the nation” Matt said. “In 2010 I was 3rd in the nation. In 2012 I had multiple state championships and 3rd in the nation. In 2013 I was 1st in South Florida. In 2014 I was rookie of the year and the the best driver in Florida, and 2nd in the nation.” He has also won many other races besides the ones mentioned. In his spare-free time, he likes to go fishing, race, and watch races. Matthew has to manage his time. Matthew said, “It’s a challenge but I contact my teachers before I leave and I get the work to do that I will be missing.” Matthew's parents are two of his biggest advocates. Matt’s mom remembers when he started racing very well. “Matthew started racing at age 7” She said. “He started in a class micro max in karting at homestead motor speedway. Now, he races a legends car as a young lion. By summertime, Matt will be in a late model and who knows after that.”

Students See 'Selma'

He travels all around the country racing Legend cars. Mathew said “I've been to Indiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Canada, and other states and cities.”

By Isabella Pedraza

Selma is a movie about the events that happened on March 7, 1965. This was Bloody Sunday, which was a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. It was a conducted over the Edmund Pettus Bridge, which is surrounded by beautiful greenery. A complete opposite from the ugly events that have occurred there before. This march over the Edmund Pettus occurred three times until it was successful. The first attempt lead to a bloody beating of innocent African-Americans being whipped and chased with horses by the Dallas County police officers. All that filled

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their minds was fear. No one died, but many people were severely hurt with injuries such as broken ribs and horrid gashes. After this, Martin Luther King Jr. who is one of the head supporters and organizers of this event decided to ask a call to clergy and citizens for their support. After this call, people from all over America came to Selma to join the march. The march was on March 9, 1965. As they marched, Martin Luther King Jr. suddenly called it off. Therefore this date is called, “Turnaround Tuesday”. Mr. King Jr. received a lot of negative criticism for it, but it didn’t stop him for trying one last time.

Matthew Thomas races in his car

MCDS Breaks Ground for Garage

By Olivia Borchers

The New Fine Arts Center is going to take up a lot of the regular parking spaces in the north lot. What are we going to do? I’ll tell you what! We are going to build an awesome new garage. But you want to know more about it so here it is, the story on the New Garage. The teachers and students that I had interviewed had much to say about the building. “I think the building will run into problems along the way because Miami is at sea level and that might cause some trouble, but I think the building will be great and there will be more space to park when events happen”, said Dr. Davies, the head of the school.

Dr. Davies added. "Especially the high schoolers because so many high schoolers have cars and sometimes they have no place to park, so I think they will love it too.” We are expecting the high schoolers to love it too. But will they arrive at school on time? Yakira Matisonn, a high-schooler said, “Arriving at school is dependent upon how you manage your time in the morning and what effort you make to make sure you arrive at school before the bell rings. I think the only traffic that will occur will be from the parents that have to drop off their students that don't drive and possibly waiting to park your car in the garage.”

Students Travel During Winter Break

By Olivia Borchers

Ahhhh (sigh). Winter vacation, the time where children play, run, or go somewhere exciting. But unfortunately it’s over! Well this is the time to hear what other people did and bring back the memories of the second best vacation (summer is first). First up is Samantha Green, a sixth grade student. Samantha went to Montana during the break. Samantha Green is very talented at skiing, she loves the snow (even though she lives in Miami). Samantha Green said, “I went to Montana to ski. I skied for eight days straight, that's why my knees are hurting. I still have to go to physical therapy.” “Did I mention that I am a double black skier?” Samantha said (the double black is the steepest mountain you can ski on) Next is Mary Handson. Mary is a sixth grader in Miami Country Day School who loves singing. Mary Handson said, “ I went to the Keys with my dad. I don’t spend lots of time with my dad so this

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was a delightful. I went water skiing. I’ve been, but this time I felt much more exultant because the waves were hitting hard.” Mary Handson says, "The Keys are such a tropical sight and so much fun to see the fish that you

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“I’m expecting everyone to love the building,"

see in seaquariums in the real open sea. I wish I lived there! Don’t you love tropical places, like Miami, Oh wait, we live in a tropical place already!" Anastasia Brosda, a MCDS sixth grader, claims

8th Grader Patrizia Puppin skis down a a mountain.

that she had an amazing winter break. Anastasia Brosda says, “I went to Mt. Tremblant to ski with my mom, dad, and brother. I did eat exotic food, I ate at organic, gluten-free, and at a vegan restaurant. Most of the things there were an imitation, so the tuna salad would be actually an imitation of tuna with outstanding sauces.” Anastasia is on a vegan, dairy-free, and gluten-free diet for the rest of her life. “Some funny and cool things did happen,” said Anastasia. “When it was my second time skiing they sent me down the mountain and I did not know what to do. I fell many times but I did manage. I wanted to get better so I went of the mountain three more times and by the third time I did not fall once. “I saw many things we went tubing and saw interesting different animals. My family and I also went iceboating on a real lake and we watched the news years skiing and snowboarding parade. And walked around the town.” How awesome is that!I love to go skiing!” said Anastasia.

7th Grade Visits Nation's Capital

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After was the FDR (Franklin D. Roosevelt) memorial. It was a green-colored statue of President Roosevelt sitting in a chair covered in a cape with his dog just a few feet away from him. I got the feeling he really liked his dog. All over the walls were surrounded with his quotes just like Martin Luther King Jr. We went to the Jefferson memorial and there were lots of steps to get there. There was also a huge statue of him. You wouldn’t even believe how big it was. On the walls around him there was really long quotes. And by really long, I mean they almost took Sophia Gost- up all of the four big frand walls. Next was the Vietnam memorial. It was a long wall containing every single name of every single person that died in this terrible war. The wall went on for a long time. There were 50,000 names, but they felt more like a million. Later on we went to the Holocaust memorial and went to see Daniel’s story. Daniel is a boy who was in the holocaust in a concentration camp that grew up there and the whole section shows what he had to go through. It shows his house and the concentration camp. In the concentration camp it shows where he had to sleep and what he had to do. As a Jew, it was so sad to see videos about his life and a set up of where he lived and what he had to go through. The last memorial of the day was the Arlington cemetery. I couldn’t believe how many graves there were. I could say it probably went on for miles and we saw it all. We went up the long hill and saw the changing of the guards. One guard walked across a narrow carpet with a gun over his shoulder for a certain amount of steps and then clicked his heel. The other guard did that for a while and

Students pose in front of the Jefferson Memorial

Photo by Mr. Malcolm

he would yell calls and the other men would come in. Dinner that night was at a train station. Each of us had a coupon card where they gave you options of each restaurant and we would get it for free, but you can only get one coupon card. With the coupon, I got a pizza crepe and it was pretty good. On the bus on the way to the hotel, everyone was very tired from the long day. We were all anxious to find out who was in their hotel room because the teachers were reading the names and everyone just wanted to go to bed. Then, after many names, Ms. Bruno said, “Sophia Gostfrand, Mia Larson, Julieta

Feldman, and Sofia Paredes please take your room key.” Julieta, Mia, and I stood up and got off the bus. Sofia wasn’t with us because she was on another bus. That night in our room we finished the questions about the memorials for the day in our packets and went right to bed because we were so tired. I hear the phone ring loudly. Mia gets up and answers it. Turns out it was a wake up call. We all look over at the clock and realize it’s 6:30am! We went to breakfast in the hotel in our pajamas just like everyone else. After eating some eggs, my roommates and I go back and change into layers of clothing for the packed day ahead.

race is very nerve racking and intense,” his mom said. “We always say that if he has the courage to line up, then we have to have the courage to watch him. Its his passion and what’s better than discovering what you love at such a young age.” Matthew’s parents worry about him racing though, considering the crash that happened last year. His Mom said,“Sometimes we worry because some drivers purposely want to wreck you if they can’t pass you. However, we feel that fate can get you anywhere, so why not just do what you want to do.” His mom has an amazing perspective on him

racing. She said, “Race Hard! Race Clear Respect the car. Respect your competitors and win. And if you don’t win- leave it all out on the track. In Matt’s words: “If I can’t race, then you might as well take the air/oxygen out of my lungs.” His parent’s definitely feel like he keeps up with all of his work. “In order to race, school has to be squared away,” she said. “It will become more challenging but with continued support from his teachers in school he will no doubt succeed.” Matt’s parents have a great perspective on him missing school to race. “Matthew learns many lessons on the race track that cannot be taught in school or in a text book,” said his parents. “He has learned a great many lessons from kids like his self that come from all over the world and our country. Although, we sometimes wish he could play a school sport, we recognize that if we concentrate on becoming really excellent on one thing, then perhaps your potential can be reached. We believe that school is one very important part that molds a young person. Family, faith, and racing make up the the other three parts of who he is. He loves school but loves to race compete too. Balance! It’s sometimes difficult but but so far we will always try to strike it.” One of Matthew’s teachers, Mr. Dearacama, better known as Mr. D, had nothing but great things to say about Matthew. He has known Matthew since the beginning of the year. Mr. D said, “I know that Matt is a great student, very responsible, polite, and very considerate.” He is very happy for Matthew and he thinks that his racing is great.

The first place we went was the Newseum. This is the only museum/memorial that does not have work in the packet. We go inside and they take us to a small theater. We watch a short film about the rights of the Declaration of Independence. After the film, they let us walk around and explore the museum. The first thing my friends and I go to is the huge clear elevator. We went up and went to a floor that had hand motion games. We walked around a bit and went inside the gift shop. I bought astronaut ice cream and postcards for my social studies scrapbook.

Matthew Thomas Races Continued from page 2

Matthew’s Dad is also very happy for him. “Extremely happy for him!” He said. “To get a win in racing is very difficult. We celebrate every corner, every pass, and try to stay humble and push forward with each race.” One of his parent’s goes with him to all of his races. His dad said, “Matt doesn't race unless one of us is not there. This may change in the future but right now- we love to see him go for it.” They love watching him race. “To watch him

Matthew Races Around the Track

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“To get a win in racing is very difficult. We celebrate every corner, every pass, and try to stay humble and push forward with each race.”

Matthew's Dad

“I have no problem with him missing school to race because he is focused in class and if he needs help he asks," said Mr. D. “He also knows how to manage his time and use it wisely.” His perspective on Matt racing is great. Mr. D said, “I think he enjoys it and it’s his passion, and he should pursue his passion. He should pursue what he likes, if he likes it, he should do it.” Mrs. Pekoc is one of Matthew’s former teachers who also had nothing but kind words to say about him. She has known Matt since August of 2013. She knows a lot about Matthew. “He is a very likable person” She said. “He is always respectful and polite. He was always well prepared for class, always let me know in advance when he would miss class for racing and caught up quickly when he did. He kept me posted on his results and helped me learn more about his type of racing. He even taught me about the fine points of maintaining and #87.” Continued on back page

Around MCDS

Trip to Washington

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Experiments With Monarchs

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We walk over to a fake news set up and pretend to be newscasters. There is a green screen to choose whatever background you want and then they show the words for you on a screen. The next museum was the Air and Space Museum. We had a scavenger hunt packet and we had to take pictures and answer questions. When we walked in, above us are old airplanes hanging from the ceiling. One of the cool experiments in the museum was the reaction timer. A long ruler shaped item would hang from the opening at the top and on this ruler shaped item it had numbers on it. Wherever I caught the ruler (reacted to it) was my score. That night we had dinner at a restaurant called “G Street Food." It was Sabrina and Sofia Cabarcos and Jacob White’s birthdays, so a big cake came out and we celebrated. We left the restaurant and went ice-skating. It was so much fun! I skated with my friends around the rink hoping not to fall. But every second, someone would fall and I would almost slip. We went to the hotel and finished the parts of the packet for the day and went to bed. The first stop the next day was the Capitol Building. There were so many rules. We weren’t allowed to bring in our packets, pens, pencils, and our phones to take pictures, and many other things. Our tour was interesting.

By Sophia Gostfrand

7th graders sit at the base of the Jefferson Memorial There were beautiful paintings on the walls. We walked into the Jefferson Library and there were so many books. All of the books he has read and used were in the bookshelves. Next was National Archives. It was a great sight because the Declaration of Independence, Magna Carta, Constitution, Proclamation, and Bill of Rights were all there. Most of the words were hard to read because it was all

faded. Next was the Iwo Jima memorial. This memorial was the men holding the American flag. Lastly, we went to the airport, ate dinner, and went home. In the end, the trip was fun. My favorite part was the ice-skating. Some advice to the sixth graders: be prepared for a lot of work!

Every year, monarch’s come to our school campus and Ms. Pekoc’s seventh grade class does an experiment with them. The monarch’s are being endangered so Ms. Pekoc did the experiment in the fall instead of in January. Yet, unfortunately, only one came. Ms. Pekoc said, “What I like about this experiment is that it was hands on and my students were really engaged and they could see the progress. I also liked that it was about wildlife that was in our backyards and in our school and it had to do with threatened species. I wanted my students to act as citizen scientist and do research that we then sent to the University of Georgia and Kansas University.” “The monarch project has been going on for a while, at school this is the fourth year and I started doing it at home for three years so about seven years including at my home,” said Ms. Pekoc, “I did it at home to see if it would work and then I thought my students would learn so much from it.” The monarch’s came after the deadline for the science research for the University of Georgia and Kansas University so the experiment was different than previous years. Ms. Pekoc said, “The students loved it. We took our project to New York City and presented at the YouthCaN conference.”

5th Grader Spends Day in MS Campus Awaits New Garage

By Michael Bernstein

Yes! I am finally visiting middle school. There are so many more exciting things to do in middle school than lower school. Some different Michael Bern- things are having stein more time at lunch. Also you have block periods every Tuesday and Wednesday. After that you also have more freedom, picking your own elective, and not having a teacher. Also you have more homework! Oh no I forget about homework. In lower school all I had was about 1 hour of homework in upper school I

have heard myths of having of having 3 hours of homework in 6th grade. Is that really true? Well I hope I don't have that much homework. My day in middle school I could say was a pretty good day with a few bumps in the road. I was assigned a buddy for the whole day, and I followed my buddy’s schedule.

My first class was Spanish. I am the lowest level of spanish, and I was in advanced today. I wouldn't say it was exciting, but I learned a few Spanish words in the midst of 50 minutes. After Spanish I had P.E with Coach Watson not my coach but I still think he's a great coach. I wrote this article in Journalism class, which seems like a fun class.

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Yakira also said, “ I would really like the garage to be built because it will offer protection from bad weather conditions, keep the cars cleaner, and offer more parking space without Olivia Borchers needing to have students park at the church.” Jonathan Abramowitz, a high schooler said, “I definitely think this parking garage is worth the trouble because it will make the school much nicer and put it at the next level and will make much more space for parking which is always good. I think the school is doing a very good job dealing with the troubles though with the many shuttles going back and forth to the Barry lot. It could have been much worse.”

He continues, “I would definetly park there!” So I guess the high - schoolers really do love the building. The building seems to be a big hit! The construction of the garage costs a lot of money. Here is why. Sheryl Piper, the finance director of the garage said, “The county requires for the garage to be built because since the school is building the Center For The Art. The Center For The Arts takes up lots of parking spaces. The county requires it.” Then she says, “Unlike the Center For The Arts we are not raising money we are using operations. But I know the garage is going to be a success”. She continues, “It will have about three hundred parking spaces. The high schoolers and faculty will park in it during school hours, but during events parents can park in it also.”

Students Talk About Midterms By Philip Steinberg

"I felt very confident because I made sure to study" - Oliver Zigel

"They were not as bad as I thought!" - LJ Cooper

“It went really well, some things were difficult but nothing I couldn’t manage” - Anastasia Brosda

“The midterms were long but I did not have trouble." - Noah Markofsky

“The midterms were easier and less difficult from last year partly due to the fact that they were only worth five percent of your final grade.” - Graham Bradley

Around MCDS

7th Grade Does Service, Ropes Course By Sophia Gostfrand

On February 9, the 7th grade went to the FIU Ropes Course and a school called Arcola Lakes to help less fortunate children. The ropes course looked so high up. At first I didn’t want to do it, but the man who runs it gave a short lecture about how would regret not going up. They split our grade into two groups. While the other groups were going on the ropes course, we went onto the big field and did teamwork activities. We had to find a partner and shake their hand. Then we had to find another partner and high five them. Next, we had to find another partner and

Middle School has Internet Issues

By Ben Kreger

This year, Mr. Fallik’s, Ms. Lew’s, Ms. Greenfield’s and Ms. Pasqualin’s rooms have been experiencing internet outages and very slow internet speeds. The WiFi network in Miami Country Day is massive. Dennis Cote is the IT Service Manager. He said, “We have a devise in our system called a controller that has 57 networks and 1200 devices connected to them.” Most students say the internet outages negatively affects their work. Philip Steinberg said, “ I can’t get my work done as fast when the internet is down, based off of how we do most of the work in Mr. Fallik’s room on the internet with google docs and googling”. Daniel Gallup also has problems. Daniel Gallup said, “The lack of internet lessens my productivity a lot as we use google drive a lot in Mr Fallik's class. ” These internet problems have not been going on forever. The slow speeds and internet outages only affect some computers. The IT department says it is because of the differences in the network card. Philip Steinberg said, “ethernet works when the internet is down but there are only 2 of them”. Kyle Grosman is just another one of the students who have been having problems. He said, “It helps if you connect to MCDS guest if the internet is not working.” Personally, I have not been able to connect to the internet in Ms. Lewis’s room during her english class and I can only connect to the internet with the ethernet cables in Mr. Fallik’s classes. Dennis Cote said, “At one point we thought it was mysterious like the cell towers sending out data that could interfere with the network in the four rooms or the microwaves in the room could be causing interference. “ The IT department is also working hard to fix the problem. “The problem did not start recently, it started with the end of a schoolwide project fixing a school wide problem ... The last problem in the school wide project was in the box connecting the internet to Mr Fallik's, Mr Lew's, Ms. Greenfield's and Ms Pasqualin's room”,Dennis Cote said, “We replaced all of the hardware in the box and the same problem was occurring so we took a different approach. The new approach was to fix every single thing that could be wrong and to isolate the wireless in doing so it seemed like it was fixed because of the lack of complaints coming in.” In the end, the internet got much better but IT still has lots to work on.

give them the high five from the movie “Top Gun”. After we had to find our last partner and make a secret handshake with them. I did mine with Catharina Giacian. After doing many activities on the grassy field, we ate lunch. Then it was time for my group to go on the ropes course. Jose, our leader, told us that he picked the hardest course for my advisory. We had to walk up a ladder. When we reached the spot to step on the wire, we step on the wire and hold onto two ropes, the one holding me and the rope attached to the course. It was scary being up there while everyone was looking up at me. I was wobbling on a thin wire hoping not to fall. While I'm up there on the wire, my advisory are the ones holding the rope! At the

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end of the course I rang a cowbell and my advisory pulled me down. While I was up there, my legs were shaking because I was scared that my classmates were going to drop me. When I rang the cowbell, it felt like I have completed something big. We boarded the buses and headed to the children’s school. We went into the classrooms and gave them crayons, markers, and coloring books. They smiled from ear to ear. Also, we gave them the Valentines cards we made for them. With the crayons and markers, they made Valentine's Day cards for their families or friends. Before leaving, we gave them goodie bags filled with candy and toys we made for them. Overall, my favorite part of the field trip was the

ropes course. “My favorite part of the trip was being up on the ropes at FIU,” said Annika Janzon. “I like that the children are so sweet and not shy or afraid to talk to you.” “I would go on the ropes course again because my brother would really enjoy it,” said Annika Janzon. “After seeing those children a second time, it felt really good.” “I really liked making Valentine’s cards with our buddies from the school,” said Lauren Arriaga. “I enjoyed making cards with the kids. I liked seeing them smiling. Giving to the children the second time made me really happy. I remember seeing some of them and some of them remembered me."

MCDS Researches Monarch Butterflies

Continued from page 4 “The butterfly experiment started with us planting milkweed in the garden downstairs and waited for the monarchs to come and lay their eggs," said Mrs. Pekoc. "Then we began to collect the caterpillars after they hatched from their eggs. We set up a lab in the classroom with more milkweed plants which is the only plant that the monarch caterpillar eats. Then we observed them daily and took notes on them and recorded data on them. Once they emerged from their chrysalis, we fed them, tagged them, and then released them. At the end of November, we reported our data to the University of Georgia and University of Kansas.” Ms. Pekoc continued, “The experiment was different than last year because the monarchs did not come to our campus this year. They didn’t come in time for us to do the research.” “We give research to the universities to experiment with,” said Ms. Pekoc, “They count the number of monarchs that live in our area, they count the number of them that migrate, and they look for our tag in overwintering sites in Mexico and they determine whether the monarchs have parasites or not.” Sofia Paredes said, “I think that the butterfly experiment is a very beautiful and creative way for seventh graders to learn about monarch butterflies. In the experiment, Ms. Pekoc brought in a cocoon and we watched it grow from a cocoon to a butterfly. Unfortunately, we did not get to see the butterfly because it came out of its cocoon during Thanksgiving break.” “I was excited to do this experiment because I always found it interesting how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly,” said Sofia Paredes, “I was upset that not many butterflies could come because they’re endangered. I think that they’re beautiful insects and there should be more of them. I don’t remember Ms. Pekoc talking releasing a butterfly but we did hatch a cocoon.” Maria Silva said, “I thought the butterfly experiment was fun to watch. We basically watch the butterfly and wait for it to come out of its cocoon. I was excited to do this experiment because I had heard good things about it from last year’s seventh graders. I didn’t even know that they were endangered. We didn’t talk about that.” Nicole Chirinos said, “I thought the butterfly experiment was very interesting and it was entertaining. Ms. Pekoc gets the small net (habitat), gets the caterpillar, puts it in its habitat and adds food for it. After that, she left it in her room at a temperature that the caterpillar could handle.” “I was excited to do this experiment because I wanted to see an actual caterpillar turn into a cocoon and learned facts I never knew,” said Nicole, “I was upset that not many butterflies were able to come because they were endangered because butterflies are beautiful to look at and do not deserve to become extinct.” Gabriella Marchesani said, “It was exciting to see if butterflies came to the plant. I also found it interesting how we would tag them and someone else could find them and contact us. In this experiment, we use mark and recapture which is a method to have an idea or estimate of a population’s size, which is what we did with the butterflies.” “I was excited to do this experiment because it’s quite amusing to see and butterfly up close,” said Gabriella, “I was upset that the butterflies are endangered because I was eager and excited to see a butterfly up close.” Catharina Giacian said “I thought the butterfly experiment was very interesting. In the experiment, the cocoon turns into a butterfly. I was very excited to do this experiment because I’ve been wanting to learn more about butterflies.” Rianna Washington said, “I thought it was very cool, fun, and interesting to see a caterpillar turn into a butterfly. We watch the butterfly transform from the cocoon and we have to be very patient. I was very upset that they are endangered because they are so beautiful.” In conclusion, these monarchs are so beautiful to see here and everyone is very upset that they are endangered. We hope that the following younger grades will get to see more monarchs come to our school.

Ms. Pekoc Places a Tagged Butterfly on a Milkweed Plant.

A Time Laspe of a Monarch Emerging From It's Chrysalis

Ms. Pekoc Places a Tag on a Monarch

Page 6

! k e e W t i r i Sp

Spirit Week

Fun for Everyone!

ABOVE: Team Rice Krispies gets ready for dodgeball. BELOW: Julia Scott competes in the spoiled milk river.

Continued from front page

There were mixed opinions on how students thought about Spirit Day. Some students like how it was organized this year while other students wish it was the same as last year. “I think that Spirit Week this year is harder having 18 teams and I wish that we could’ve kept it the same way, but I actually like the theme of cereal because it is different and they have never done it,” said 8th grader Alicia Kelly. Spirit Day had three teams with six smaller teams in each, which had the 8th grade team leaders. Mrs. Greenfield chose the leaders based on the positivity that they show, responsibility, and their performances in older spirit weeks. Spirit Week activities are practically the same as last year. “Some of them are different but we have the main ones since have been around since forever such as dodgeball and poison river which was called the ‘spoiled milk river’,” said Isabella Pedraza, one of the officers. “We don’t actually have milk in it, but you need to jump from one rope to the other and the length keeps increasing.” “I really like the spoiled milk because it challenged you to try to do your best to jump across both ropes,” said Isabella Allen, an 8th grade captain. Overall, a couple of pillow sacks broke here and there but it was a pretty exciting day. Spirit Week Party by Daniel Ilyayev Time to party! It’s the Spirit Week party at MCDS. Many kids are very excited for this fun event full of excitement. There was a hold up for around three months but the time has come for the party. “I can’t wait for the Spirit Week party,” said Ethan Mayer-Perez before the party started. “I was also kind of surprised that Spirit Week was moved all the way up to January. But now it does not matter because Spirit Week is here and so is the party.”

Hanna Cohen said, “The party was pretty fun. I saw a lot of my friends there and it was a great night. I actually was very surprised when I heard the party was on a Thursday and not a Friday. I was a lot happier about that.” “The party was really cool,” said sixth grader Reggie Lewis. “I don’t know why but on the day before the party I did not expect it to be so exciting and I was really happy to see all of my friends there. I did not really have a favorite part because mostly everything at the party was really amusing.” Corbinian Dietrich said, “I liked this years party a lot more than last years for a few reasons. The first one is because there was less people at this party so I could do more things quicker. The second reason is because that more of my friends were there so that I could do more things with them. The last reason is because of the activities. There were a lot more different activities to choose from than last year.” “My first ever spirit week party was very amusing,” said Caspar Dietrich. “My brother and I ran around the field and played some soccer with other friends too. My favorite part of the part was everything there. The food, the activities, everything was a great experience for my first spirit week party.” Tatiana Barnes was extremely happy about her first spirit week party. She was here last year but she did not go to the party. “The party this year was very fun and I wish I would go back to sixth grade and go to the party so I could experience it. The party was super cool and I saw many of my friends. I also played a few games. Then I ate. You know, the usual things humans do. But I really loved the spirit week party and I am definitely going next year.” Jaden Feldman said, “The party was pretty good. There were a lot more improvements to the party since last year. There were a bit more activities to do and they were more amusing.” Many students were very excited and happy when the arrival of the spirit week party came. If you did not go to the party this year you missed out on a lot but you have about a year to decide if you will go next year.

Page 7

MCDS Plays Tennis By Kyle Gittler

For nearly the last decade the

middle school tennis team has performed superbly. 25 years of

progress has made our team plenty experienced. There are two teams

for both the boys and girls. Unlike

other sports teams at MCDS each and every athlete must try out and

can be potentially cut from the

“We have won every game.” On the team there are only ten slots

available players must work hard

and focus to ensure their position.

“We are just as good as last year",

said Harrison Breslow.”

Mr. Hayes an athletic director

said, “The girl’s team is very good

this year, additionally, the boys team is stacked.”

Janet Haas the head coach of the

The

team and is a former professional middle boys and girls tennis player. Years before she was tennis team is a The middle school competes in a a competitor in Wimbledon. success. Tennis player conference with ten other teams. As the majority of you know there Elliot Starkman said There are fourteen matches each are no tennis courts at MCDS. “We are playing great.” season. Coach Sennett said, “We Therefore, each day the players The experience and coaching is are usually in the top two.” Ransom must walk over to the North Lot to remarkable. “It is one of our best Everglades and Gulliver being our hop on a bus and travel to the teams , Coach Sennett.” main competitors. Jockey Club. This is approximately “We are playing very well.”, said a 20 minute drive. tennis player Richie Lovelace . team.

Lacrosse More Popular Than Ever By Jake Fishman

The middle school lacrosse team this year are looking good. They started practice January 26 and their first game was February 14th in Islamorada. Sean Fuller said, “I love it a lot. I am excited to beat Gulliver after because they beat us every year.” The middle school and varsity will be playing the Gulliver team in Islamorada. Marlon Robins, an 8th grader that has been playing for the Spartans for three years said, “I started lacrosse when I was about eight or nine. I am not looking forward to losing any games this year.” Marlon has only had one really bad experience with lacrosse. Marlon said, “I was playing pass and the ball hit me in the head with no helmet.” Seventh grader, Noah Markofsky enjoys playing lacrosse. Noah likes the concept of separate A and B teams. He said, “It gives opportunities to all the new kids that are new to the sport and they get the chance to play.” Noah has not been playing lacrosse for a long time. “I was about 12 years old and I was in 6th grade at the time," said Noah. "I am not looking forward to losing this year.” One of the captains of the A team, Sean Fuller is ready for the long season. Sean has been playing lacrosse for a while. He said, “I was eleven years old because it was my first year of middle school. I am not looking forward to losing this year. The new kids need to be tougher since they are not used to getting hit.” Tyler Gale, a 6th grader, has started to play lacrosse this year said, “I like it. I think I have scored seven or eight goals.” Tyler’s first game against Ransom went well. He said, “Our team did really good. We won 80 and I also played really good individually.” When you first start lacrosse most kids play mid-field, but Tyler gale played attack. It

Sports

Harrison Breslow and Stella Nixdorf Play Tennis

Winter Sports Wrap-up By Mia Scemla

Members of the Lacrosse Team Pose for a Photo is hard for 6th graders to play with older kids like 7th and 8th graders. 6th grader Elliot Surnamer loves lacrosse. He started when he was 9. “I love playing lacrosse," he said. "It has been a passion of my dads since my age and he really coaxed me into playing this year.” Elliot has played on the B team this year and has scored. He said, “I have scored this year. I currently have 6 goals in 4 games.” Riley Weiss an 8th grader on the lacrosse team who is a starting on defense. It’s Riley’s first year playing, and he is also a captain. Riley feels great being a leader of the team and defense. He said, “It’s fun being one of the best defense poles because I kinda control the defense and it is only my first year

playing.” Dylan Turk is 7th grader who plays lacrosse. “I play attack and middle," said Dylan. "I have not scored so far this year or I have not played in any games because of my recent injury.” Dylan did play B team as a sixth grader last year. He said, “Last year me along with my other sixth grade friends played B and I scored a few goals but I have improved much since last year so this year should be better once I come back from my injury.” Dylan is returning to the team. So the middle school lacrosse season is looking great. The A and B team is doing good so far and are planning to keep it up.

There were two winter sports this season, which were soccer and basketball. Now as we all know that the teams this year were HUGE! MCDS has a girls team and a boys team for almost all sports. The girls soccer team was really big. We had 44 girls on the team. Next year, the coaches are cutting some teams. We all know the two athletic directors, Mr. Sennett and Mr. Hayes, who had done an amazing job and have been doing good. “It’s been a great season,” Coach Sennett said. “Both basketball teams have been very competitive and have improved tremendously throughout the season. The girls and boys soccer teams are a combined 24-9-1 going into playoffs and have each had many exciting moments throughout the season.” Coach Sennett has an extremely hard job, but he enjoys doing it. He organizes everything. Our games, practices, he sets up the field, and more. “I love it. I get paid to do what I love the most; watch our student-athletes represent the school and compete,” Mr. Sennett said. Sports are fun if you have a passion for that sport. I love soccer because it is fun and very active. “There were no bad experiences because I would say this season in basketball was one of my favorite season's ever in a long time,” Dylan Goureau, a player on the basketball team, said. Continued on page 9

NBA All Stars Excite Fans

A MSer on Varsity

Page 9

By Jake Fishman

Nicholas Lampert fits right in on the Varsity basketball team. By Chuck Sukhdeo

He is dribbling down the court, he sets up for the shot, and shoots! Swish! The Spartans have won the game with a game winning shot by Nicholas Lampert! Nicholas Lampert is a sixth grader in the middle school who is on the high school junior varsity basketball team. Nicholas Lampert is competing with people that are almost a foot bigger than him! Many people thought of a sixth grader on a high school team was unheard of. Even many of his teammates were very surprised that a sixth grader was on the high school junior varsity team. The teams record at the end of the season nine wins and thirteen losses. Nicholas Lampert said, “I am loving my season this far and my teammates are great, but in the beginning of the season they had treated me differently because of my age.” Nicholas Lampert did not want to give any examples.

Photo by Chuck Sukhdeo

Nicholas Lampert also stated that he is loving his season on the high school junior varsity basketball team. He stated that he had been playing basketball since the young age of four. The reason being of his dad been pushing quite the amount for him to play a lot of basketball. One of the last things that he said was that he had no inspiration of why he had started to play basketball, but he did have a favorite player that was Portland Trailblazer point guard, Damian Lillard. Nate Swaby, one of Nicholas Lampert’s teammates said, “ He is a great young player with a lot of enthusi-

Continued on page 10

Continued on page 10

This has been the most successful winter season in MCDS history. Continued from page 8

Isabella Allen, one of the youngest members of the team said, “We are a very young team and only lost 4 seniors. We also will come back a lot stronger because we want it (to win) a lot more.” The Girls Basketball team won the State Championship. There's one teammate who is an 8th grader: Maria Alvarez. The varsity team is the best in the state for division 3a. Mr. Hayes said, “The season was very good.” Does sports take up to much time? Winter sports was 2 hours, 6 days a week. It teaches you time management. Mr. Hayes said, “I think that for some kids they do better because they are more organized.”

knows a lot about basketball. Franco Gonzalez is going to watch the East vs West game and he said, “The West is going to win because they have better players”. Some people can agree with that and disagree with that. Jordan Fishman is a sixth grader who is in love with basketball and the Miami Heat. Jordan Fishman agrees that the West is going to win but is chanting for the East. Jordan said, “I want the east to win but I know the West is going to win. In my opinion, the West had better guards, forwards, and centers. I think the players on the West were way more skilled than the players on the East.”

asm and he is always cheering on the team, but he is struggling because of his age.” Also, Nate thinks that a sixth grader would have never been on the high school junior varsity team because sixth graders are usually not big and strong enough to play against the teams we are playing. On a more interesting note. Justin Russell said, “Nicholas has a great heart and is very passionate about the game of basketball and I cant wait to see him get even better and better.”

Winter Sports Success Dylan also said that there were no bad experiences. His good experiences were just a normal day in basketball practice, laughing and playing the sport that he loves. “I did meet new friends,” Jordan Horn, a player on the girls soccer team, said. “Playing on the team in general is lots of fun, and I love the coaches,” Maddy Sukhdeo, a player on the girls soccer team, said. Girls soccer went to the semi-finals for the first time in MCDS history. There are two MS girls on the girls varsity team. The girls varsity is a very young team. Unfortunately, the team lost the game, but they will come back stronger next year.

The NBA All-Star game was on February 15 in Madison Square Garden in New York City. It was a good game but most of the time when these two teams come to play each other the West wins. This year the East put up a fight, though. Eighth grader Evan Mendelson thought that D-Wade was going to dominate, Unfortunately, Dwyane Wade did not play. He did not play because he tore his right hamstring. He said ,“The Heat fans deserve to have me play in their jersey before I play in an All-Star Game". DWade takes his team first. Another 8th grader, Franco Gonzalez, a basketball player for JV high school,

“We are a very young team and only lost 4 seniors." - Isabella Allen

Overall, Winter sports was amazing. We have made it to the semi-finals in girls soccer, the boys soccer team has won the tournament honoring Nicholas Pots, the old soccer coach, the girls varsity basketball team has won the state championships, and more. The school is proud the accomplishments of the winter sports team.

Russell Westbrook Holds the All Star Trophy Over His Head.

Sports

Page 10

Runners Take to Miami Streets

NBA All Star Game

By Daniel Ilyayev

Continued from page 9

Jordan Fishman is a sixth grader who is in love with basketball and the Miami Heat. Jordan Fishman agrees that the West is going to win but is chanting for the East.

Runners! So many runners! The Miami Marathon and Half Marathon is here, sponsored by ING. Join 25,000 fellow runners for mile after mile of tropical views and sounds. It is an official qualifier for the Boston Marathon. Not only are there going to be just ordinary runners, there will also will be handicapped people racing. It is very inspiring to see someone that is handicapped in a very big marathon. They will be going either 26.2 miles or 3.1 miles around miami. That is crazy. The Miami Marathon is an annual marathon sporting event held in Miami Beach, Florida as well as the county of Miami-Dade close to the Triple A or the American Airlines Arena. The marathon starts on Sunday, January 25. The marathon starts at 6:10 a.m. “I think that it is crazy how so many athletic people can run so many miles.” Said Ethan MayerPerez. “If I were to run that marathon I will be last, if not, one of the last. I think next year I will run the 5K race because if I run more I will be very sore and so exhausted that I will not go to school or even do anything for a few days.” “It looks like a hard thing to do,” said Tyler Gale. “It must take a lot of effort to do the marathon a to even finish it. If I would of entered the marathon I would of passed out but maybe not in the 5k race though.” If you are still wondering who won, here are the results. The top five runners in the Miami Marathon are Luis Carlos Rivero Gonzalez in first place, Benazzouz Slimani in second, Elvin Cu in third, Michael Wardian in fourth, and Steinacher Helmuth in fifth. For the Half Marathon, the top five results are in first place it is Mariano Mastromarino, in second place Michael Lopez, in third place Mario Macias, in fourth place Jonny Wilson, and in fifth place Cesar Lizano. For the Tropical 5K the top five runners were first Bryan Huberty, second Cristian Lopez, third Leo Sanchez, fourth Leonardo Martinez, and fifth Bryan Sharkey. For the Marathon Wheel the top five the results were first Ludovic Narce, second Alfredo De Los Santos, third Stephane Massard, fourth David Moyo, and fifth Joey Desjardins. The last results for the top five are in the Half Marathon Wheel. In first Heitor Mariano dos Santos, in second Vance Gerovich, in third Don Sirosi, in fourth Robin Knopf, and in fifth Mahlon Jenkins. “It was a very wonderful feeling,” said Carlos Maymi, who came twelfth place in the Miami Marathon. “I have never felt so tired. It was like I ran a hundred miles. I kept very good pace and I actually started 17 minutes behind the first runners. My bib number was 4612. For next year I wish to get the top ten in the Miami Marathon. For now I’m off to Boston for the Boston Marathon.” “I would definitely not do the full marathon,” said Mr Fifer, “but I would run the Half Marathon. I think that it is very insane on how all of these very powerful runners do so well. Even if you get 50th place it is still a very big accomplishment to do such a great thing.” Kevin Cote, a runner in the tropical 5k said, “I kind of regret not running the marathon or half marathon. I wish that I could of went back in time and sign up for the full or half marathon so that I could run more and get better at running. For next year I will run the half marathon and the year after I will run the full Miami Marathon.” Kevin Cote ran the 5k and got fifteenth place with a time of 19 minutes and 42 seconds. If you want to be a fit runner than you should run the Miami Marathon.

Photo courtesy of Open I Studio

Nicholas Lampert is a sixth grader on the high school JV team.

6th Grader Keeps Up with the Big Boys

Continued from page 9 Justin Russell thinks that Nicholas is a great ball handler and a great all around shooter. Justin stated that they had gotten along for the majority of the season, but in the beginning they were not so familiar with each other. In the end, he thought that there would have been a sixth grader on this team because they are not old enough or as mature as the other players on the team. Arthur Cohen is another one of Nicholas’ teammates. He said, “Nick is one heck of a basketball player and his age at his skill level is amazing.” Arthur thinks that Nick playing high school junior varsity basketball is very inspiring for kids of his age and lower. Also, he admits that Nick plays at a higher skill level than he does and he is not ashamed of this fact. He is surprised that he would find a sixth grader that played at a better skill level than he did. Jay Wieber, another player on the team said, “Nick and I had gotten along only during the second half of the season because he was very shy and timid because he had not known any of the players on the team.” Jay Wieber thinks that it is great to have a young player on this team. Also, he likes the transition Nick made throughout the season to ac-

custom himself to the coaches and the teammates. Finally he said that nick had became a new person in a sense by the end of the season. Jovan Joseph, one of Nick’s colleagues and friends, said, “In the beginning, I didn’t think that Nick should’ve played on high school junior varsity, but after seeing him play his skill surpassed what I had originally thought of him.” On a rather touching note, Jovan said that nick does inspire for him to get much better. As of this quote and the others that will be in the rest of the story Arthur was right that Nick is very inspiring. Emanuel Peralta said,” Nick should have played high school jv because is a beast on the court.” Emanuel is very inspired by Nick’s playing of high school sports and wants to play high school soccer. Zac Thomas, and friend of his said, “No, I do not think that he should have played in sixth grade, but he should have waited and played in eighth grader because he would have the height necessary to play.” Zac Thomas is inspired by Nick and his playing high school basketball because he wanted to play high school junior varsity basketball when he is older.

Jordan said “I want the east to win but I know the West is going to win. In my opinion, the West had better guards, forwards, and centers. I think the players on the West were way more skilled than the players on the East.” A seventh grader, Jackson Jimenez, also went to watch the All-Star game. He said that “It is going to the best game of the new year.” Coach O watched the East vs West game and he said “I knew the West was going to win because they have more talent”. Coach didn’t really care who won. He watched it for fun. He said, “I didn't watch for who wins, I watched the game for entertainment”. Coach O’s favorite, Klay Thompson, played in the game. Coach O said, “He played decent in the game. It really wasn't taken seriously, the game was more for fun”. Coach O's favorite part of the game was the nice shooting display. He thinks Kyle Korver played well. Nathan Outten an eighth grader that loves basketball and thinks that the east vs west game went well, said “I think it was a very interesting game”. His two favorite players went head to head Russell Westbrook and Stephen Curry. Nathan said “Personally I think Russell Westbrook and Stephen Curry are the best two point guards”. Nathan wanted the east to win but he knew the west was better he said, “I wanted the east to win but the west was better and won”. Aden Karp a sixth grader went to the All Star game and said “The game felt exciting to see all the best players come together and play”. Aden Karp’s favorite part was when Stephen Curry went through everyone and alley ooped it to James Harden. Aden’s favorite player is Stephen Curry He said, “ I spent the whole day with Stephen Curry my favorite player.” Even though Aden favorite player was on the west he still wanted the east to win. The NBA All Star after all went great. The west did win but it was a great game by the two teams.

All About the Oscars

By Mia Scemla

The Oscars is an annual ceremony that gives out awards to people who were in movies or have participated in the making of a film such as costume designing and director this year. This year is the 87th Oscars. In order to go to the Oscars you must be invited. This year Neil Patrick Harris hosted the Oscars. Apparently, he was not the first choice. Ellen DeGeneres was the first choice. Both times the publicity was great when Ellen hosted the show. She did not want to host the Oscars for a third time so they went with Neil Patrick Harris. The producers of the Oscars are Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. This year the opening act was very enjoyable, cool, and a little bit funny. There was a lot going on. The introduction starred Anna Kendrick and Jack Black. I thought it was amusing, but not hilarious compared to other opening performances at the Oscars. I found Ellen’s performance better than Neil Patrick Harris performance. That doesn't mean he did a bad job. It takes a lot of work to memorize the dances, what to say, and more. There was a Lego Movie performance at the Oscars, it was childish and not appropriate for the Oscars. They were mocking the song. In my opinion, I thought it was terrible. Lady Gaga’s performance, The Sound of Music, was incredible. Holy cow! She looked amazing. There was violence in the background, which added a touch. She wore a white flowy dress, and her hair was curled. She sang a few songs. People loved the performance, including me. Kitty Simmonds says that her favorite actor/actress is Jennifer Lawrence. Her favorite movie is The Hunger Games because all of the action and activities going on in the movie. There was not one African American actor or

Entertainment

actress nominated for the Oscars. I find this unacceptable especially because there was a movie about Martin Luther King Jr. Selma was one of the best reviewed movie of the year and it did not even get a nomination for any actor or actress. Pops, the drama teacher, says that she loves the Oscars and she watches it every year with her family. She waits for the day when one of her old students will invite her to the Oscars. I feel like a lot of actors deserve awards or at least a nomination, but do not get them. Pops feels the same way about this. “Yes, there are many great actors and actresses who may have deserved an Oscar,” said Pops. “I just hope the inspiration to become an actor or to perform in general is not based on a goal to receive an award rather than one becomes an actor because they are passionate about performing and can't imagine themselves in any other profession... Most importantly, actors should remember their drama teacher when they receive a nomination for an award. I'm just sayin'….” A lot of actors deserve these awards. They should be very proud of their accomplishments. They have worked very long and hard to get to where they are. Congrats to the nominees and winners of the Oscars.

"Actors should remember their drama teacher when they receive a nomination for an award. I'm just sayin'…"

- Pops

Winners: Best Picture - Birdman Best Actor - Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything) Best Actor - Julianne (Still Alice) Best Support Actor - J.K Simmons (Whiplash) Best Support Actress - Patricia Arquette (Boyhood) Best Director - Alejandro G. Inarritu Best Visual Effects - Interstellar Best Animated film - Big Hero 6 Best Song - Glory, John Legend (Selma) Best Costume - Milena Canonero (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Birdman won Best Picture at the 2015 Oscars.

Coming Soon: A Fine Arts Center Continued from front page

The classes that will be held in the New Fine Arts center are the same classes that are held in our Art program right now. There may even be some more classes introduced because of the new center. All the classes that we have in the art department now will be held there on the first floor and adjacent to the stage will be upper school music classroom. So you walk right across the hall and then end up on the stage and it will be easier to move equipment back and forth. The lower school music would be right next to that and then ceramics and photography will all be on the first floor. The second floor right above the upper school building music room will be the Middle School room and there will be an elevator right outside that door to bring equipment down to the first floor. And on that floor you have dance and drama and some other arts classes. The center will have dressing rooms and costume storage and there will be no students dressing in the hallway or trying to share one bathroom which is what we have right now. There will actually be mens and women's dressing rooms with lights. There will be an orchestra pit so if there’s an orchestra that’s playing for a musical they'll be hidden somewhat from the audience and when that’s not in use, there’s portable staging that covers it.

The auditorium is going to seat about 600 people and it will be on an angle gradient seating so there won’t be a bad seat in the house. And the lobby area will be art exhibition wall space. “I am particularly excited to have a 600-650 seat venue that is for our musicians to play for our thespians to perform without closing the cafeteria and all those sorts of things to me will be absolutely amazing,” said Dr. Davies. There will be a permanent place to hang art there. In the back we will have a loading dock so you can move equipment to the stage and out of the stage easily instead of now where we don’t have a loading dock. “We will have a 600-650 seat auditorium/theatre which we never had and we’ve never had an indoor venue or a real theatre. Those few things alone will make significant difference in our visual and performing arts,” said Mr. Wicker. Because the facilities will be “state-ofthe-art” and there will be a lot more space and we will have the potential to do different kinds of performances on a real stage. Students who are starting the arts whether it’s the visual or performing art will certainly have many more types of opportunities and experiences that there aren’t currently created within the existing facilities. Continued on page 15

Entertainment

Many students enjoyed the movie once it was released, after an attack on our first amendment rights.

Silly Comedy Becomes Most Controversial Film Ever By Kyle Gittler

This year Sony Pictures released “The Interview”, starring Seth Rogen and James Franco. This movie was about the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. No one expected it to be one of the most controversial movies of all time. Before the movie's planned release, Sony suffered a cyber security breach. It was thought to be conducted by the North Korean government. According the FBI the hack was traced back to a group called the "Guardians of Peace".

Sixth grader Zach Wyka said, “It is not okay for them to hack into Sony.” This group is believed to have ties back to North Korea. World Geography teacher Mr. Hayes said, “It is ridiculous. This just proves Kim Jong Un is crazy.” As a repercussion for making the movie, North Korean government declared war on the United States. Additionally, they threatened to bomb movie theaters and cause chaos. As a result, large movie theaters such as AMC and Regal refused to show it. However, small independent theaters did play it on the big screen. American History teacher Ms. Greenfield said, “It is ludicrous to think another country

would take away our first amendment rights.” On December 17th, a large number of North American cinema movie theaters canceled screenings concerned for safety reasons. Sixth grader Olivia Borchers said, “ We should be able to release a movie without being judged.” Many students enjoyed watching this film once it was released. 8th grader Graham Bradley said “I would rate it 4 stars out of 5.” 7th grader Ethan White also liked it. He said, “It was good and funny.” On the other hand, some didn’t enjoy it as much. 7th grader Stevie Port said “it was 50/50, at some points it got gory.” In December, Net-

flix added it to its vast collection of movies. Student Alex Markovich watched it on on Netflix and said “I enjoyed watching it, it was funny.” Although it is inappropriate, many of the scenes shown are accurate. In the movie, director Evan Goldberg depicted many realistic features in North Korea. For instance, there are in fact fake grocery stores for tourists to see. The movie The Interview is a well developed, hilarious comedy. For those who don’t follow the news it informed you on how North Korea treats their citizens. Regardless to the threats received, movie directors will continue to produce any and every movie idea thought of.

could be two years after they start and that’s probably two years away as well,” said Mr. Winters. In the past, many performances have been held in the Garner Center or the amphitheater. Although these places for performances are good, they are definitely not practical for all productions. “We’ve performed at the pool in the past we actually did the fall concert on the pool deck," said Mr. Wicker. "We performed at senior circle. We’ve performed in the library. We’ve even performed on the stairways. So I’m excited that we will finally have a home for the Fine Arts." “Part of this school’s mission as we know is the education of the ‘whole child,’ and we talk about the potential of students," explain Dr. Davies. "I would say in the time I’ve been here that the arts have continued to grow, and the program has gotten better and better. We have outstanding teachers, and we have really outgrown the facilities." Many people have been raising money for the

New Center, including alumni, the development office, and the parents association. Mrs. Lewis and Mr. Wicker went to L.A this year to talk to some alumni about contributing to the cause It’s a school-wide effort. “We will still have Evening of the Arts we’ll still have our Fall Showcase and our end of the year concert," said Mr. Winters. "It will be nice to have a venue with air conditioning which will keep our instruments in tune." “The same architects that are doing this building did the Franco Center and our master plan, so the Center for the Arts will tie in with the campus, so that is a fairly modern looking building,” said Dr. Davies. The new building will definitely be an asset to Miami Country Day School. Many students will be more motivated to participate in the art because of the new building. “I think I will be more motivated to continue participating in the performing art classes be-

cause I already love the arts and this gives me an even better chance to continue with the arts program at MCDS,” said Daniel Gallup, who is an eighth grader. “I do believe that if a student is looking at Miami Country Day as a possible school and they have an interest in the arts, the fact that we have a beautiful art center will be important as they consider applying to the school," said Mrs. Piper. "I believe the Center for the Arts will be as transformational for our students and arts programming as the Franco Center has been since it opened its doors in 2011.” As you can see the New Fine Art center will definitely be a great, beautiful, and amazing addition to Miami Country Day and will help our students and teachers in many different ways.

MCDS Center for the Arts cont'd

Continued from page 11

“I am a musician and I am especially excited for the music branch of the New Art building," said Daniel Gallup. "I think that it will give us students to perform on the sort of stage that professionals use and give us even more experience with performing.” The new center will have two parts: the center for Art and the New parking garage located in the North Lot. The parking garage is expected to be finished by August 2015 and the New Fine Art center is expected to be finished by 2017. The school broke ground in February. If everything is aligned perfectly the center could be done in about 18 months. “With the amount of construction companies that are being utilized in Miami right now and the amount of materials that are available, it probably

Into the Woods Gets Mixed Reviews

Page 13

By Ava Williamson

Into the Woods is a mashup of all different kinds of famous fairy tales such as Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and many other fairy tales. This is one of the most magical movies this year. This movie is filled with adventures, courage, singing, and a lot of magic. Into the Woods is about a baker and his wife. The baker and his wife were not able to have children. The couple were so desperate to have a child that they made a bargain with a witch. The witch sent the couple to find some special objects for the curse to break. They have to have all of the items by the third night at 12 o'clock, but the witch cannot touch any of the objects.

Ava Williamson

giant.

Along the way all of the characters meet together in the woods. At the end all of the characters work together as a team to battle off a

“I loved this movie because I thought that it was so cool how all of our childhood fairytales were combined together in one movie,” said Rebecca Reines. Rebecca used the words, "exciting," "nervous," and "interesting." “I used the word exciting because I felt very excited most of the time. I was sitting on the edge of the seat. Plus, I love all the magic. I thought this movie was also nerve- racking at some scenes.” “My favorite character was definitely the Baker’s Wife because she was such a happy and optimistic person.” “In my opinion I think that this movie might be a little to scary for younger kids,” said Rebecca. “If they are six or seven, sometimes, the witch can be scary. This movie can also be loud. It definitely makes you jump.” “Overall I think that this was an amazing movie and I would definitely recommend it to people.”

Some students really enjoyed Disney's Into the Woods, but others thought it was boring.

didn’t have an actual name.

“It sounded strange how all the characters had names but they didn’t,” Gabi said. “That just seemed unusual to me. Also this movie was a little confusing.” Gabi loved how they put all our old childhood memories into one movie. “They basically mashed them together to make this amazing film." ” My favorite character was probably Little Red because she was always so happy and fun loving,” said Charlie Leoni. “I would definitely describe this movie mystical because the edits were really cool.”

“I would definitely watch this movie again,” said Charlie. “It was amazing I loved every second of it. Into The Woods is definitely one of my favorite movies ever. If I was the director I wouldn’t have changed a single thing, this movie was amazing.”

“I liked this movie because the songs were really funny sometimes and they were really catchy,” Alyson Rodriguez said. Alyson loved the witch. She said, ”I liked that the witch had a very strange laugh and I also liked how the costume was designed.”

dozed off in the middle of the movie.”

Alexa thinks that the concept of the story is very interesting because she has never seen a movie with this type of story. “I like the twists in the story but sometimes it gets confusing. If I was the director I think I would have changed the amount of songs and how long they were because sometimes they feel like five minutes.” “I didn’t like this movie,” said Kitty Simmonds. “Out of ten, I would give this movie a three. I was bored the whole time. I couldn’t wait till the movie was over with. I thought that the singing wasn’t that good.”

Oggi: An Italian Treat “I thought that the whole cast looked amazing,” Gabi Abramowitz said. “Their clothing was filled with vivid colors and had so much detail in them. You could see that they put a lot of work into this movie.”

Gabi didn’t like how the baker and the baker’s wife

By Arushi Beohar

Do you love Italian food? Oggi is an American-Italian restaurant where you can find homemade pasta & other American-Italian dishes. The restaurant is located in Concorde Plaza, 1666 79th Street Causeway, North Bay Village, FL 33141.

Charlie loved the songs so much. “I always sing the songs. The songs are so catchy and fun. I love singing along with all of the characters!”

Alexa Greenstein wouldn’t recommend this movie to people because it was way too long. “After a while you get bored of the movie. There is a lot of singing so I

This is a cozy eatery where families are welcome. When I visited this restaurant there were large groups and families at each table.

reservation if you are planning to go to this restaurant later than 8:00pm because it gets quite busy. I went to this restaurant on a Saturday night and it was crowded but yet still very cozy.

The interior of the restaurant has a modern but rustic look. The decor is very Italian and the colors give it a very warm and friendly feel. The staff and servers are extremely friendly. The restaurant is quite large and there is hardly any wait if you don’t have a reservation already. Even so, I recommend making a

The first thing that they brought out to us was a delicious garlic cheese bread. They served it with a side of olive oil with a little bit of oregano, rosemary, and a slight hint of vinegar. The bread was very chewy and soft and it was delightful with the side of the olive oil. The first appetizer I ordered was a tomato and mozzarella salad with fresh spinach leaves. It was dressed with a tangy vinaigrette for a flavorful yet subtle taste. The salad was very good and the size that they gave to me was just perfect. For the main course I had spaghetti bolognese. At first I thought of ordering spaghetti and meatballs, but then I decided that I wanted to try something a little different. Also the bolognese is actually made with risotto but I asked for the bolognese to be made with spaghetti. The spaghetti bolognese is a very large portion so I recommend splitting it with someone. In my case, my sister and I split the pasta.

The Tiramisu [at Oggi] is one of the best desserts I’ve had in a long time.

If you don’t know what Spaghetti Bolognese is it’s basically a meat based sauce containing ground meat (either beef, veal, or sometimes

Personally, I thought that this movie was really good though and I enjoyed it.

"From the beautiful Italian decor to the delicious dessert... Oggi is the place to go if you have a craving for Italian food."

- Arushi Beohar

pork), onions, herbs, and a hint of wine.

When they brought out our main course they also gave us some extra bread which was just a baguette sliced up. I had the baguette with a little bit of butter spread on top. Overall, the meal was very delicious and after eating it I felt super full. For dessert we ordered Tiramisu. I have to say that the Tiramisu is one of the best desserts I’ve had in a long time. My family and I shared it because we were so full. The cake was so moist and sweet, but not too sweet. The dessert was literally the cherry on top of a great dinner meal. I definitely enjoyed Oggi. It was a great restaurant with lots to offer. From the beautiful Italian decor to the delicious dessert I have to say that Oggi is the place to go if you have a craving for Italian food.

World

Malala Wins Nobel Peace Prize

Page 14

By Isabella Pedraza

Malala Yousafzai, born in 1997 and 17 years of age, is the youngest person to ever be a Nobel Prize winner. She grew up in Pakistan, where she experienced educational suppression. Most of the educational suppression she experienced was due to the Taliban, who are Islamic extremists.

But on October 9, 2012, a man boarded the bus Malala took to get home everyday and demanded to know where she was. Her friends gave her away when they all looked towards her. Soon, the man pulled out a gun and shot Malala in the head. She was then rushed to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in

Birmingham, England and was put in a medically induced coma and critical care.

When asked about Malala’s receiving of the Nobel Prize, eighth grader Kyle Grosman said, “Personally, I think she did deserve it. She survived a major gun wound that was al-

At the early age of 11, Malala had already started to fight her right for education as a female. She struggled to attend a school that her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, had created and sponsored. She wrote and read a speech that year about the starting issue and by the next year, she was blogging on BBC about the actions of the Taliban towards her.

When she finally recovered, she decided to stay in Birmingham to complete her studies. The same month she was shot, she received the Nobel Peace Prize for her acts against educational suppression for women. In an interview with BBC’s Stephen Sackur, she said, “I want to serve my country and my dream is that my country becomes a developed country and I see every child get an education.” Malala is highly committed towards seeing the support of women’s education grow, and she hopes that it continues to grow. She later wants to continue to serve her country through politics, and would love to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan to do this. Students in Miami Country Day such as Gabrielle Freeman think that Malala is, “An outstanding, strong, and incredibly brave girl who isn't afraid to speak up.”

She was even nominated to be the receiver of the International Children’s Peace Prize by Desmond Tutu, another fellow activist in 2011 for her brave actions against educational suppression. She later received Pakistan’s National Youth Peace Prize. Later on, at the age of 14, she received news of the Taliban, and how they had issued a death threat against her. Her family was worried, but she dismissed the thought, for she believed they would not target a teenage girl like her.

most fatal”.

Many people are constantly inspired by her, and claim that she inspires them everyday.

17-year-old Malala Yousafzai recently became the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

She is a great role model to many girls and boys all around the world, and shows us that our age, our economical status, or our religion, we deserve an education, and we can make a change.

An Update from Ferguson 12 Dead in Paris By Ben Kreger

On August 9th, Michael Brown was shot and killed by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, in Ferguson, Missouri. Mr. Hayes said, “The Grand jury was just to hear whether or not the case should to go to a trial jury. ” Since then many protests have occurred. On October 2nd the state of Missouri declared a state of emergency anticipating the following the results of the trial. On November 24th the grand jury decided not to accuse Wilson of shooting Michael Brown. Ricardo Stamatis said, “You should not be allowed to shoot someone and walk free." Directly following the grand jury’s decision, 12 dozen buildings and cars in Ferguson were burned down along with gunfire, looting, and vandalism. Jack Finvarb said, “I think about how our freedom is being taken away like how some people

are being killed by our own police for no reason."

In the past months many protest have occurred all around the world. Some even in our own city blocking traffic for many commuters. “After the trial, they protested and rioted," said Mr. Hayes, “It was not as bad after the court case as before the shooting. There was no violence but the protesters shut down the causeway during art basel which I do not approve of.” Students have many opinions on the results of the trial. “I think that the result of the trial is wrong," said Kyle Grossman. “I believe that Darren Wilson should have at least been punished for shooting Michael Brown.” Daniel Gallup said, “I do not approve of the results of the trial, but I respect their opinions.” Mr Hayes said, “I don't agree with that. There are other ways of protesting. Shutting off the road to prevent people from getting to their jobs is a bad way to protest."

Global Warming Threatens By Chuck Sukhdeo

Global warming is considered not a problem by some people and a big problem by some other people. But what is global warming? How can you stop it? Global warming is the unnatural warming of the earth by the extra production of greenhouse gasses and by the burning of fossil fuels. From many years of global warming the Earth’s temperature has increased by one degree. If this continues in this fashion the earth will heat up very severely. Sixth grader, Michael Athanassiadis said, “I think global warming is a huge problem in the world because the temperatures will rise and the Earth will become unavailable for human life.” Also, he thinks that there should be more clubs and organizations that fight global warming. Michael thinks that there should be more laws around the world to limit the use of fossil fuels. Sixth grader, Alexander Mcmillan said, “ Yes, I think global warming is a big problem, but it is

not entirely the human race's fault because of the coming out of the ice age we have had to do what we’ve had to do.” Alexander Mcmillan thinks strongly that what man has been doing in this past century has been terrible. He thinks that global warming effects will cause the human race to leave this planet because the temperatures will be unlivable and anything near sea level will be drowned in water. Alexander said, “The human race has done absolutely nothing to stop global warming and the media has not covered as much as it should have already.” Mack Tracy said, “Global warming is increasing by the day and we are doing absolutely nothing to stop it.” Mack thinks there should be laws placed to stop global warming, but they should be balanced and logical. Also, Mack thinks that global warming should be covered more, but people are aware but do not do anything to stop it. Caspar Dietrich said, “Global warming is melting icebergs and warming the earth drastically and should be stopped.”

By Ava Williamson

Twelve people were recently killed in France. Stephane Charbonnier, the editor of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, was killed by gunmen along with seven other victims. The attack was in the French satirical magazine building. This was one of the deadliest attacks in Paris. The suspects were two brothers born in Paris. Both brothers returned back to Paris from Syria during the summer.

Leire De’ Zabala thought that the cartoons were extremely offensive. “I think that what the terrorists did was not acceptable. I understand why they did this. I would definitely be very offended if the magazine had very offensive and criticizing my beliefs or my religion.” Leire thinks that this never would have happened if the cartoonists hadn't made fun of their religion, but many people supported the freedom of speech of magazines to print satire. “This was a terrible attack, and we will all remember the people who died in this attack,” said Leire.

The terrorists killed eight staffers, a guest and a police officer who was trying to protect Stephane Charbonnier, and the magazine’s editor-in-chief. The terrorist did this because they got upset with the magazine because the magazine had cartoon characters in them that criticized Islam. We don’t know if the gunman acted alone or if they were part of a terrorist group. The police think that the gunman planned this attack in advance. “I don’t think that it is right at all to criticize any religion because that’s what they believe in and that’s not anyones place to say that you can’t and that you shouldn’t believe in this," said Jordan Sheppard. “I think that the police who stayed with Stephane Charbonnier was very brave," said Jordan. "I would be terrified if I was that police and I think that took a lot of guts to stay with him and try to protect him from the terrorists.” “If I were the terrorists I would be offended but I would never do an attack like this," said Sydney Fuentes. “I think that our biggest fear is that other terrorist feel inspired in a way by this attack, said Sydney. "If more and more offended terrorists or just people think that this is the best way to resolve problems or a situations, it could get really dangerous."

Caspar also thinks there should be laws placed and they should be very strict. S.T.E.M teacher, Mr. Batcheller said, “There are many reasons why global warming is such a big problem in our community. Things such as sea level rise and other reasons should not be taken lightly.” Mr. Batcheller thinks that the media does cover it, but it is not reaching the right people. He thinks that we have crossed a point of no return for stopping global warming for our future generations to come. Flippo Sbroggio said, “I think global warming is big yes, because imagine if the earth heats up so much that we start to breathe in the dangerous CO2 in the air.”

"Je Suis Charlie," which means "I am Charlie," became a slogan for people who support freedom of speech.

Emanuel Peralta disagrees with many. He said, “Global warming is not a big problem on our Earth, and we should focus more on other issues that we are facing in our Earth currently.” Also, Emanuel thinks that is not too late to fix global warming because there are a lot of people contributing to this cause and it can be fixed. Finally, Emanuel thinks that global warming is unimportant to this earth. Charlie Leoni said, “Of course global warming is a huge problem in our world and it should not be overlooked.” Charlie also thinks that if global warming is not stopped soon we are going to cross a point of no return.

Art Selma Deco

Page 15

In January, the 8th grade went to see the film. Belle Greenberg

Have you ever heard of Art Deco? It’s pretty awesome. Well, recently there was an Art Deco Festival right here in Miami. The festival displayed many different selections of art including clothing and other items made out of old objects. Before explaining more about the items and the vendors, you should first learn about what the Art Deco Festival is. This year’s Art Deco Weekend Festival was the celebration of the founding of Miami Beach. It is the Art Deco 100th anniversary. This festival took place from the 16th of January through the 18th of January. This festival was so big, it stretched all the way from Ocean Drive fifth street to thirteenth street! It featured more than (my estimate) 100 vendors and (again, my estimate) over 2,000 people! “I always enjoy this show,” said Carlos and Cheri Kudja, some of the vendors at the Festival. They sold little robots made of old materials. “So much to do, such great crowds, really inspiring shoppers.” Many of the vendors participating sold art and homemade products. I was surprised to know that almost all of the items were made out of old things! It gave me a whole new perspective on vintage things. While touring the festival, I discovered a very unique booth. This business was called the Spooners. They take old vintage spoons and turn them into jewelry. “The festival was really well attended but from our point of view,” said Peter and Jackie Buxton, the owners of the Spooners company. “There were lots of people but few buyers. The area and the decor was the big appeal for visitors.” People really loved the Art Deco Festival. It could be enjoyed by people of all ages. “My favorite item there was the smoke bubbles because when you popped them, it made smoke and it was really cool,” said Margo Erb, a sixth grader who attended the festival. I really enjoyed it because it was different than the art festivals that I’ve been at. It was very interesting to see the different products that people had.

Continued from page 2

It was on Sunday, March 21, 1965 when the third, and last march occurred. This march was the one march to be the only successful one. Marchers walked 54 miles to Montgomery and it took them four days to complete. The police who had beat them violently on Bloody Sunday were the same nationalized police to protect them. Ms. Lewis, an eighth grade teacher said, “I think it would give them another bit of knowledge of what happened in the 1960s, and how really awful it was. And that was only 50 years ago.” She said that it is crucial for the eighth graders to see how, “It was really pathetic. And the three boys that came down from New York to Mississippi to help them register and they got murdered. They didn’t find out that that man killed them until maybe three years ago? And he’s gone free all these years, this old, old man in Mississippi who killed these

The Oscar-nominated film is an accurate portrayal of the 1965 protests for voting rights. three young boys.”

Many students agree with her, as Krystal Leyva said, “I think we are going to see this movie because we will be visiting Alabama and they want us to know more of the tragic events that took place.”

gates. We all walked in and about three-fourths of the grade ran to the concession stand to buy popcorn, slushies, and soda. After waiting in a long line, I had bought a slushie and filled it with the Coca-Cola and blue raspberry flavors. We ended up going to a theater all the way in the corner and we all sat down. As I looked around, I realized how large our grade was; we filled up the entire theater. Soon after some hilarious trailers, the movie started.

"I thought it was a very good portrayal of what actually happened."

Before we watched Selma, we took three very nice buses to Aventura Mall. It was early morning, just after school started, and we stopped in front of the theater. We went up the escalator, and saw that the theater was closed.

- Maddy Sukhdeo

because of all the hopes once shattered, but brought back together. Madeleine Sukhdeo, an eighth grade student said, “I thought it was a very good portrayal of what actually happened.” She was so moved that she even cried throughout the movie, and was extremely impacted by it. What happened during Bloody Sunday was portrayed to the public through Selma. Whether you are there to watch it for learning or remembering varies. Selma shows the true horror people felt, and has honestly changed my way of seeing the world. It really enriched my view towards the eighth grade field trip as well.

MCDS Underwater We waited for a bit until we finally saw an employee open the metal

The film was extremely moving. Many students cried; cried for the injustice that occurred, cried at the fear people had to live through, cried

By Belle Greenberg

As most of you know, Miami is prone to flooding, usually after storms (tropical storms, rain, hurricanes, etc.). Let’s take hurricanes for example. When a hurricane happens, rain pours and the waves are heavy. When the hurricane is over, Miami is usually flooded. You may think that it’s rain, but it’s actually seawater that comes up through the ground. Believe it or not, Miami Country Day School actually has had a history of outrageous flooding. For example, for students who have been here for a while, you may remember that there was once a grassy area where the Franco Center now stands. You may be surprised that that almost always got flooded. Very flooded. Here are some of the stories from our faculty and teachers. “My favorite took place about 20 years ago on Middle School Open House night,” said John Davies, the school principal of our school. “Around 7:30 it began to rain heavily but we continued with Open House. Then we had a real deluge and the Middle School area began to flood. Everyone was dressed up for the evening and people started taking off their nice shoes and rolling up their pants. The rain didn’t stop and the water kept rising. I was standing on the concrete pad outside of the guidance counselors offices. I was standing with my shoes off and rolled up

pants and parents started running over to the area I was in. All of the parents were walking around soaking wet with their shoes in their hands and rolled up pants. The water actually came up to the top of the slab. That’s how much water there was. We ended up cancelling the rest of Open House around 8:15.” Flooding has been an uncontrollable problem at MCDS, even today. If the drainage pipes by the break area weren’t installed, we would have to swim to class every day. “Well, one year it started to rain heavily early in the morning, and by 10 AM school had to be cancelled and parents were contacted to come and take their children home,” said Margaret Mahoney, the middle school art teacher. “The only exception was the 7th grade because so much effort had gone into preparations for Colonial Day. It was a memorable time with students and teachers dashing around the campus in pouring rain wearing long skirts or breeches and long socks trying to stay dry. I remember one boy who was

fascinated by all the earthworms that had been washed up and were lying on the ground. In fact he went around collecting them and by the end of the day he had a whole bag full of earthworms. I had no idea what he did with them.” “I have lived for many years in the Middle East where many riverbeds are dry for much of the year and become raging torrents in the rainy season,” said Mrs. Linfield, the sixth grade english teacher. “These riverbeds are known as wadis(in Arabic). My husband, Nicholas Linfield, was both amused and horrified that the entryway to our school, 107th Street, bore a close resemblance to a wadi whenever it rained.” The most common story that I have heard of when it comes to flooding at the school is the story about our beloved field. The rumor is that parents/teachers would use the COEP canoes and paddle across the field to get to the north lot after school. That sounds like a lot of fun. But, the flooding has not only provided a no class pass for our school, it’s created

"Everyone was dressed up for the evening and people started taking off their nice shoes and rolling up their pants." - Dr. Davies

a fun game! “Another time after a long day of raining there was such a large puddle at the end of 107th Street just before the turn-around that it was like a lake,” said Mrs. Mahoney. “There were even fish in the puddle and a teacher went swimming in it!” “We have a cross country rule and it wouldn’t be on campus that much,” said Chris Hayes, the sixth grade social studies teacher. “But in Miami Shores we used to run through the golf course, and the golf course floods really bad. But we have a rule for cross country; when your shoes get wet, you have to land in every puddle. That way you were trying to splash everyone.” “One year with the senior class, my husband made a funny film with reenactments and send-ups of Monty Python sketches,” said Ms. Linfield. “One consisted of him swimming [I kid you not! In his bathing suit, he got down in the muddy water.] across 107th Street. It was very silly and very funny.” In conclusion, the flooding at our school has caused multiple problems including evacuation, transportation procedures, even cancelled events. But, no matter how flooded our school may get, at least we know where the canoes are!

Back Cover

8th Grader Matthew Thomas Races

Continued from page 3 She is also very happy for him racing. “Matt has a passion in life and it is racing!” Said Mrs. Pekoc. “He reaps the rewards of putting his whole heart and focus into his racing. I am happy to see him follow his passion.” Mrs. Pekoc says that Matt is very

responsible and always made up his work if he did not do it before hand. She said, “ He is very accountable with all his responsibilities.” She also said, “I find Matthew to be a very responsible person. Not just a responsible race car driver but also responsible about being a student.” His friends also love that he races. One of his closest friends, Jaden Feldman, has known him for ten years!

He said, “I know that he races, fishes, and comes from a nice family.” Jaden likes that he races and is very happy for him. He thinks it is very cool and a nice profession. Jaden said, “I am very happy for him, it’s what he loves to do.” Jaden thinks it is okay to miss school to race. He said, “As long as he makes up all his work, it’s fine because it is his dream job.” Michael McPhearson is another one

of Matthew’s close friends. He has known Matthew for seven years. Michael knows that Matt likes to fish, race, and watch races. He is very happy for Matt. Michael said, “I thinks it’s cool that he races and it's a lot of fun and he is doing well.” Michael says that the racing is dangerous and exciting. He said, “I think that as long as he is doing what he loves and making up all of his work it is okay.”

Connor Goodman is also one of Matt’s friends. He has known Matthew for around two years. He says Matt is a great friend and great racer. He is very happy for Matthew. Connor said, “If it’s what he wants to do, let him do it.” Connor said that what Matthew does is incredible and it is even cooler how amazing he is. All in all, Matthew is a great racer.