Happy New Year Beavers! Now that Christmas is over and we’re getting closer to 2018, we’re all thinking about starting our new year off with a bang. To give you an idea about where the New Year’s tradition came from, and some statistics and numbers about the celebration itself, I decided to write a post.

First, we’ll learn about where the holiday originated from. Ringing in the new year goes way back to 4,000 years ago when the Babylonians celebrated it at the first full moon after the spring equinox. The ancient Egyptian year began with the annual flooding of the Nile. Julius Caesar made January first the official first day of the year in 46 B.C., but England and many American colonies didn’t do so until the year 1752.

Second, different countries celebrate the new year in many different ways. For example, the signature foods that people eat on this day have a very wide range of variety. In Italy, Germany, Ireland and the Southern United States, the main dish is legumes and leafy greens, meaning financial fortune. In Cuba, Austria, Hungary and Portugal, the food they eat is pork, meaning progress in the days or months to come. In the Netherlands, Mexico and Greece, the food is ring-shaped pastries symbolizing that the year has come full circle. And lastly, in Japan, the citizens eat long noodles in hopes of long lives.

As well as foods, different places also have different events to celebrate the beginning of a new year. For example, originating in 1890, the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California features floats made with 18 million flowers. At the Mummers Parade in Philadelphia, 10,000 people march through the city and perform in costumes. London, England brings in the new year with fireworks over the Thames. In 2012, the Olympic Games extra-large display consisted of 12,000 individual fireworks. In Australia, over one million people go to Sydney Harbor’s 40 mile shoreline to watch a firework show.

Here in America, a million people go to New York City to watch the ball drop, and close to 1 BILLION people watch the event on television. The famous ball is twelve feet in diameter 2,688 crystals, 32,000 LED lights, and weighs 11, 875 pounds. At midnight, 2,000 pounds of confetti fall on the crowd in Times Square. 44% of American adults plan to kiss sometime when the clock strikes midnight, 61% say a prayer on New Year’s Eve, and 22% fall asleep before midnight arrives.

The most common new year’s resolutions that Americans make are to: lose weight, get organized, spend less money, save more money, stay healthy, and quit smoking.

To all the Beavers here at our school, I hope the new year brings you many blessings that have yet to occur in your life, and I hope you all have a wonderful and safe holiday season. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

Here’s a small letter of advice from a senior wishing she would’ve done more throughout high school. Coming in to high school I tried to fit in with the older kids just like everyone does. That was my first mistake. Don’t be scared to be friends with the older kids but don’t go out of your comfort zone for them to like you. You’ll grow up quick enough in these next four years, don’t rush it. I remember wanting to be like the juniors and seniors getting to drive around and hanging out with friends even on school nights. I blinked my eyes and was suddenly pulling long work hours after school along with cheer practice and juggling a small social life with friends. Freshman year is where you start to see where you fit in, what lunch table you want to sit at, and what sports you may want to try. Get involved in the clubs such as Science, History, Varsity B, and SADD. For the girls, don’t ever let a guy tell you how to live your life. This will ruin the beginning of your high school career and you’ll regret it later. Though you might not choose certain sports your freshman year, it’s never too late to try them later. Our senior year my friend Abby decided to quit cheering during basketball season and try swimming, this was one of the best decisions of her life. Although she loved cheering, she’s really loving being on the swim team. I also am going to try something new for my last year here. It is never too late to try something new in high school but don’t be scared to come in freshman year and try out everything! Best of luck to the freshman now, incoming freshman, and all the other high school students.

Hard tack candy is a sweet holiday treat that is easy to make, and very delicious. Hard tack is a flavored candy, and is made using corn syrup. There are a variety of ways to make this wonderful candy, but I’ve provided one that is most common.

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups of sugar
• 1 cup of corn syrup
• 1 cup of boiling water
• 1 teaspoon of flavored oil/candy flavor
• 1 teaspoon of food coloring

Directions:

1. Butter large cookie sheet (with edges) and set aside. Boil water.

2. Mix in sugar and corn syrup.

3. Mix in saucepan until sugar is dissolved.

4. Cook, without stirring until candy thermometer reaches 300 degrees (hard crack).

5. Immediately remove from heat.

6. Add food coloring and oil flavoring.

7. Stir until well mixed.

8. Pour syrup into prepared cookie sheet.

9. Start cutting around edges with candy shears as syrup cools.

10. Drop the candy on wax paper that has been sprinkled with powdered sugar.

11. When candy cools, break into pieces and store in tins.

 

 

Source website for candy: http://www.recipekey.com/therecipes/Hard-Tack-Candy

Here’s my Christmas wishlist & for the video games I’m including the system in (), like (Nintendo 3DS) for example.

1. Nintendo 2DS- Scarlet red w/ New Super Mario Bros 2 (Nintendo 2DS bundle, & New Super Mario Bros 2 is preinstalled).

2. Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moom official Alola Regiom stragedy guide.

3. Kirby: Battle Royals (Nintendo 3DS, doesn’t come out until January 19,2018 in the US).

4. Pokémon Sun & Pokémon Moon (Nintendo 3DS).

5. Mario Party: The Top 100 (Nintendo 3DS).

6. Super Mario Marker for 3DS (Nintendo 3DS).

7. Ultimate NES Remix (Nintendo 3DS).

8. Houston Astros lunchbag.

9. Astronomy books.

10. Gameboy heat change coffee mug.

11. Telescope.

12. An iPhone 8 (gold, 64GB of storage).

13. 3yr subscription to Astronomy magazine.

14. Alan Walker hoodie (black, size= XL).

15. A new Sidney Crosby jersey (size= XL).

Once every year is New Years, and there are millions of people that think of ways they want to improve themselves. Many people say they are going to go on a diet, lose weight, quit an addicting habit, or give something up. However, the ugly truth is that only 8% of people actually complete their resolution. After about two to three weeks, more than half of the resolutions have already been broken, or discontinued. The best tips to keeping your New Year’s resolution is to keep it simple, and make it realistic. Professionals say that most people try to overdo it the first few days, and lose motivation. Slow and steady wins the race, and as long as you aren’t trying to set a world record with your resolution, then you should keep your goal short, simple and obtainable. Will you be one of the 8% that succeed with their resolution?

In today’s society, text messaging and social media are more popular than ever. In high school students specifically, the effects of these technology devices could be weighing heavy on our minds.

Texting is the most convenient way of communicating, but is it the best for the growing and learning brains of teenagers? Texting among teens has increased from an average of 50 texts a day in 2009 to an average of 60-100 texts a day in 2011. In today’s world, about 75% of teens communicate using text messages. This rise in texting has mostly occurred in teens aging from 14 to 17. Even still, older teenage girls remain the most enthusiastic about their texting. About 63% of teenagers claim to be exchanging text messages every day to communicate with people in their lives, more than phone calling (39% do it every day), face-to-face communication (35% do it every day), and social media messaging (29% do it every day).

While text messaging is obviously consuming most of the average teenager’s time, how is it affecting their school work? In a Rutgers study published in the Journal of Child Neurology, nighttime messaging is linked to the sleep, health, and academic performance of teenagers. Students who turned their devices off or messaged for less than 30 minutes after they have turned the lights out for the night performed significantly better in school than those who messaged for more than 30 minutes after lights out. Students who texted longer in the dark also slept fewer hours and were, therefore, more tired during their day than those who quit messaging when they settled down for bed. Even though females reported more frequent texting and more daytime sleepiness overall, they also had better academic performance than males in this study. This study concluded with a suggestion that educators recognize the sleep needs of teenagers and students, and to make these dreadful sleep habits an educative tool in their curriculum.

Here at Beaver Local, I believe that technology is a very useful tool for everyday life during the school day; however, we should take the time to teach students about the effects their texting actions can have on their bodies and their need for a well-rested brain.

Second grade compared and contrasted gingerbread stories, and as a culminating activity they baked cookies. Mrs. Agnew’s classes helped the elementary students shape the cookies into gingerbread boy, girl and even gingerbread baby cookies. The activity allowed the students to express creativity with guidance from their high school helpers. The high school classes baked the cookies for the elementary students, and later in the week the high school classes helped the elementary students decorate their cookies. The second graders enjoyed baking cookies, and admired working with the high school students. “The high school students were very helpful, and very supportive; they were great role models for my students,” said Mrs. Wolski, a second grade teacher. 

Beaver Local has been constructing a new baseball and softball field for our baseball and softball teams to play on. The field construction started in spring 2016, and will be ready to play for the 2018 baseball/softball season. The Beaver Local community helped work on the field during construction, which sped up the process. The baseball field has dugouts with a metal roof, grass infield, a special mix of materials for the infield, and a scoreboard in right field.