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“Marching for Their Lives” =By: Deo Campbell= Pineda, Rosa. “Wikipedia.” Wikipedia, Wikipedia, 24 Mar. 2018, commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2018_March_For_Our_Lives_16.jpg.

March 24th, 2018, an estimate of about 80,000 people marched in protest. People flooded the streets of Washington DC making their voices heard no matter what age or gender or race they were. They all had a common goal, stopping gun violence. For the past many years gun violence has been a huge problem in America and people clearly want a change. Many people marching were outraged because gun laws that were written long ago, haven’t been changed which is one of the reasons why criminals can easily get their hands on guns. The second amendment, which was written over 200 years ago, allows people to have concealed guns to protect themselves which is a huge advantage to predators. People were also furious at the National Rifle Association (NRA). The NRA is the biggest gun association in the United States that protects guns and persuades lawmakers to as well. With the massive advantage criminals have, it has been easy for them successfully open fire in many places especially schools. After the recent past school shootings, all over the country students have been making their voices heard with social media and speeches. After the school shooting in Florida that killed 17 students, students organized a walkout during the school day for 17 minutes to remember each student who was taken away in the shooting. During the March in DC, people, including many students, came from all over the nation with signs that spread powerful messages to the NRA and lawmakers like, “We shouldn’t be afraid to go to school” and “Enough is Enough”. Also at the march, many students made powerful speeches that touched many hearts. Emma Gonzalez, a student who was in the Florida school shooting, spoke at the rally and waited in silence on the stage for 6 minutes and 20 seconds (to show the time it took for the shooter to kill 17 students), later she said “Fight for your lives before it’s someone else’s job.” In addition, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s 9 year old grandaughter, Yolanda Renee King, spoke saying “I have a dream that enough is enough” and “This should be a gun free world.” D’Angelo MCade, a student in Chicago also drew up Dr. King’s words also, saying, “Violence cannot drive out Violence only Peace can do that”. Cade Molina, a fifth grade student at Holmes says that if he could help he would increase the age for people to carry guns. Jacob another fifth grade student says that “it’s just messed up and I wish it would all stop.” He also said to help he would participate in marches to help spread the message. As you can see, lot of students are speaking up to stop gun violence.

These students hope to make a difference so that people all across America can see that a change needs to happen now. They hope people all over the country will be persuaded to vote against gun protection laws so that the mass shooting rate in America can finally go down once and for all.

Falcon Heavy Test Launch Proves Successful; Tesla Roadster Now in Space

On Tuesday, February 6, 2018, 3:45 Eastern time, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, SpaceX, a private company owned by Elon Musk, launched the most powerful rocket in the world. This rocket, the Falcon Heavy, is gigantic. With 27 engines in its first stage, & one in the second stage, it greatly surpasses the Falcon 9, with a mere 9 for its first stage and one for the second. The Falcon Heavy was designed to have its engines land back on landing pads, & it core land on an Autonomous Drone Ship, with the second stage carrying it’s payload. That payload was a Tesla Roadster, by one of Musk’s other company, Tesla, with a mannequin named “Starman” wearing a spacesuit, also from SpaceX. The launch went passably well. The first stage boosters fired fine, the core rockets fired fine, the second stage rockets fired all right, and the payload was ejected okay. One of the only kinks was the core’s land. The booster rockets did not fire correctly, and it missed the drone ship, hitting the water and exploding, spreading shrapnel to one of the ship’s engines, causing it to be destroyed. Why launch these rockets? Well, SpaceX’s goal is to revolutionize space travel, and eventually colonize other planets. Elon Musk hopes that other companies will aim for larger goals because of the launch. He says “We want a new space race. Races are exciting.” We asked some people what they thought about the launch. Most people thought that we’ve come far from our first rocket, and 2 out of 5 said that this will help space travel. Carter Miller from 4R said that launching the car into space might help space travel because it might show how vehicles other than rockets react in space. Jacob from 5F said that we have advanced from our first rocket because it blew up. Finally, Cade from 5M said that they should've used something other than a car as the payload. SpaceX has launched a couple of other Falcon Heavies in between the time of writing and now. With this technology, they plan to go to Mars, and beyond. If you’d like to follow the launches, or keep up with SpaceX, go to their website at http://www.spacex.com/news.

Gun Violence: The 21st Century
By: Vivienne Lisak & Mary Olszowka

In 1787, the Constitution was signed. The point of our Constitution was for our nation to become united, and a peaceful and safe place. When you get the news alert on your phone that 17 people have been killed in a mass shooting, do you feel that our country is a safe, united, and peaceful place? When you want to purchase a rifle or shotgun, a FOID is required. FOID is an acronym for Firearm Owners Identification. To legally possess or purchase firearms or ammunition, residents of the state of Illinois are required to have a FOID card. Same with a handgun. Anybody can get a FOID card if they pass testing. Scary right? High quality telephone polls from Gallup and the Pew Research Center in 2017 found that 42% of people in the US live in households with guns. According to the General Social Survey, which has a much higher response rate than telephone polls and interviews people in person, a relatively lower 32% of Americans said in 2016 that they lived in household with guns. About ⅓ of our population owns guns legally. However, there are plenty of others who own guns illegally. Illegal guns can be purchased by illegal gun websites, and gun dealers who sell their guns for a lot of money. Guns are a serious topic. There has been so many killings and shootings in the past years that are heartbreaking and terrifying to relive. According to cnn.com, “Deadliest Mass Shootings in Modern US History Fast Facts” the smallest mass shooting ever recorded happened on August 20th, 1982. In Miami, Carl Robert Brown, 51, killed eight people with a shotgun at a machine shop. Brown, a teacher, was reportedly angry about a repair bill from the shop. After fleeing the scene on a bicycle, he is fatally shot by a witness who pursued him. Eight people were killed, that is still a lot of innocent lives taken, and it is the smallest one! This shows that as gun technology improves the more worse the shootings get. The most deadliest mass shooting happened in Las Vegas, not too long ago. In Las Vegas, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock of Mesquite, Nevada, sprayed gunfire on a crowd of 22,000 concertgoers from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, killing 58 people and injuring almost 500. Witnesses say the gunshots alasted between 10 and 15 minutes. Officers breached Paddock's hotel room to find him dead. Authorities believe Paddock killed himself and that he acted alone. Mass shootings usually can never be predicted. However, when a YouTube viewer named “Nikolas Cruz” commented on Ben Bennight’s video, “Im going to be a professional school shooter” things changed. Bennight tried to send this comment to the FBI tip line, but the email address was invalid. Not too long after, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Nikolas Cruz opened gunfire killing 17 people, and injuring many people. One of the more tricky things about schools protesting to end gun violence is ages. While high school and middle school students can thoroughly understand what has happened to gun violence lately, most elementary school students don’t quite understand what happened in Florida. So, it is quite difficult for elementary schools to host walkouts. Walkouts are when students get up out of their chair in class and walk outside along with other students and shout things such as “We are change!”, and “This is what democracy looks like!” There are many policies in place that say that teachers can’t show support or non-support during walkouts. This is because, if teachers showed that they were in support of a walkout, they are in support of a student walking right out of learning and “ditching” school for 17 minutes. The reason walkouts on Florida are 17 minutes is because 17 people were killed. One minute for one life taken. However, Holmes School hosted a 10 minute walkout on March 14, 2018. Even though Holmes School is a elementary school, the school board decided it would be okay if students walked to the school lobby for 17 minutes. Some students have a very strong opinion, and are taking this opportunity to show how they really feel about gun violence. Sadly, the school cut the walkout short, so only 10 innocent lives were honored. It is unknown why the walkout was ended. As we were writing this article, it made us realize, how our country is torn apart. We shouldn’t let something like gun violence get in the way of enjoying everyday life. It is finally time for a change!

__More information on this topic is located on the "Intermediate" page.__
__Violent Video Games__ __By Peter Farren and Cade Molina__ As you have seen in the news, gun violence becoming more and more common. Some believe violent video games are largely contributing to this. Others would think not. When asked if violent video games are responsible for gun violence, an anonymous fifth grader responds “No not at all, because I don’t think that terrorists would get their ideas from games like Fortnite.” This fifth grader seems to think that video games are not at all the cause of violence. Mary responded differently, “ some believe that violent video games with young children is making violence worse”. In order to understand this debate, you have to know the facts. According to Procon.org, “60% of middle school boys and 40% of middle school girls who play at least 1 mature rated game hit of beat up someone compared with 39% of boys and 14% of girls who do not play M-rated games.” Also, 8 out of 10 pediatricians agree that violent video games increase aggression. There you have it. Many lean toward violent video games negatively, but despite this, there is really no clear answer to this, no solid proof. Video games could be a factor, and they could not be, we may never know.

Xbox Controllers on the Navy’s Submarines
By Deo Campbell and Shiv Opal



The Navy will soon operate periscopes on advanced submarines with Xbox controllers. This change will help younger sailors by providing them with technology they are more familiar with.

The change will help sailors aboard the Virginia-class submarines. This type of submarine has a different periscope than other submarines. Most submarines have a periscopes that only one person can look through. On the Virginia-class submarine, there is a large monitor that displays spectacular images. This monitor is controlled by two photonics masts that rotate 360 degrees. These photonics masts will soon be replaced with Xbox controllers.

One reason for this change is to give younger sailors technology they’re familiar with. According to Virginian-Pilot, the Navy got together and asked some junior sailors what they could do to make their life easier. One thing that the sailors said was that the controllers for the scope were “clunky in your hand; it’s real heavy”.

Ela Nitzoy, Holmes fifth grade student, is in agreement with the Navy saying that “Most people in the United States are used to the Xbox controllers.”

Weston Elmer, another Holmes fifth grade student, agrees with the navy’s decision saying “I’m used to it because when I use a Xbox controller I don’t have to look at it I just do it and it’s cheaper.”

Weston Elmer was right when he said it was cheaper. The $30 Xbox controller is clearly cheaper compared to the $38,000 mast hand grips. Also, you can find the controller in many different stores, so this makes it easier for the Navy to replace the controllers.

The Navy plans to advance even more technology that younger sailors had in their childhood to make their job simpler. For the Navy, Xbox controllers is only the first step in their plan.

The Nintendo Switch

By: Jefferson Cordes and Theo Hartrich

Have you heard anything about the new Nintendo game system that has just came out? No? Well, whether you have or haven't, this article will fill you in on everything you need to know about the new Nintendo Switch! First off is that it is merging the two worlds of portable game systems and home game systems. Apparently it comes with a gamepad like the Wii U did but with a twist. The two areas with buttons on the side can come off! This allows two people to play on the go. To project it on your tv screen, you can simply place the screen into a holder, and boom! You can play on the tv screen. Joshua Wood says, “It looks really fun”.

While the Switch has so much content and software, what most people are concerned about its cost and its memory size. The cost is $300 in U.S currency. It may seem to be a lot but its content is actually worth the cost. What is not worth the cost, though, is the memory size. The standard memory size is only around 30 MB or 30 megabytes. This is very concerning considering the fact that most of the games are a large fraction of that space.

The Nintendo Switch has many new games. One of them is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe which is Mario Kart 8 with added content. No content is deleted. The Nintendo Switch also has a game called The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This is the newest Zelda game for you fans (I know you’re out there!). It is a total game-changer for the series, and has a new free-roam aspect where you can venture across Hyrule. Another game is Super Mario Odyssey, yet another 3D platformer released by Nintendo. This is quite a surprise to anyone who sees the sales of Nintendo games, because those sell worse than 2D platformers and most other games by Nintendo. There are also certain games from the Wii U that are going to be used. Also, a gaming system would not be complete without having a port of minecraft. While the switch has short memory size and battery power, the switch has some amazing quality games that provide hours and hours of fun. We hope it helped you decide whether you will buy this system or not. Bye and buy it (oh pun).

__Endangered Cheetahs__ By Maxine Gimbel  In the 1900s, there were over 100,000 cheetahs in the wild. Sadly, their population has dwindled over the years. Only 9,000 to 12,000 cheetahs remain today. Compared to the approximate amount of 7 billion people on Earth, 12,000 is a VERY small number. This is due to habitat loss and, sadly people hunting the beautiful big cat. Some farmers shoot and trap cheetahs because cheetahs are taking small animals, such as chickens, for food. Now, this may seem necessary, but it's really not. Cheetahs need food, and some cheetahs may have a disability or injury therefore making them need an easier meal. And even if they don't need food, there are more solutions than killing. Many cheetah organizations are trying to solve this problem with classes for farmers and showing people how to get cheetahs to go away from their crops and animals in a way that doesn't involve injuring the cheetah. Also, people take cheetahs from their homes in the wild to sell or to use as one of those wild babey cats you can pet at fairs and other events. As said in a news article on the Cheetah Conservation Fund website, “In the Horn of Africa, an average 300 cheetah cubs are smuggled out across the Gulf of Aden into the Arabian Peninsula, every year.” Once cheetahs are too old to be appealing to others to pet, the owner may either stop feeding the cheetah, or put the cat in very bad living conditions. This also usually results in an early death. One way we can help these endangered cats is to donate money to the Cheetah Conservation Fund (the CCF). “We’re a conservation organization working to combat the problems that afflict the human communities that live alongside cheetahs and threaten the cheetah as a species with extinction.” Said Dr. Laurie, the founder and executive director of the CCF. This organization is dedicated to saving the cheetahs. “To prevent further cheetah population decline, CCF works with farmers to investigate, develop and implement predator-friendly livestock and wildlife management techniques that are also exhibited at CCF’s model farm.” As said, the CCF is trying to work with farmers to help keep the cheetah population up by modeling better ways to handle cheetahs. With your help, we can bring back the fastest and most adorable big cat on Earth! So make sure when you go home today, you tell everyone you know about cheetahs and their problems, and maybe they can help donate to the Cheetah Conservation Fund.

__Election Day__ By : Henry Schacht and Drew Lingenfelter

As we inch closer to Election Day, the candidates are trying harder and harder to get your vote. This also means they're trying to point out each opponent's issues. Hillary Clinton is pointing out that Donald Trump hasn't released his tax returns, while Trump is asking why Hillary deleted emails. Students at Holmes Elementary have very different views on which candidate is better. When asked which candidate he supports, Ray Nayar said, “Hillary, definitely not Trump. He doesn't respect some people’s ideas and beliefs. He judges people.” During the first presidential debate GOP candidate Donald Trump spoke out of his set time, interrupting his opponent Hillary Clinton many times. Hillary however, played more by the debate rules, not shouting out nearly as much as Trump. Some of the debate topics were how these candidates were planning on gaining jobs in America, and how they were going fix some racial issues in America. This debate was held on Monday, September 26th in Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY. Though you will hear more about the presidential candidates, you can't forget the vice presidential candidates. They had their first and only debate Tuesday, October 4. Trumps VP is Mike Pence, Governor of Indiana. Mike Pence is from Indiana and is 57 years old. Tim Kaine is 58 years old. He is Hillary Clinton’s VP (democratic). Tim Kaine is from Virginia and is currently a state senator of Virginia. The debate was held on October 4th In Virginia, in Longwood University. The second presidential debate was held on October 9th, 2016 in Washington University, St.Louis. This debate was held in the town hall forum. Town hall forum is when a few random undecided voters get to come on the stage with the candidates and can possibly ask the presidential hopefuls a question. The third debate was the same format as the first debate. It was held on Wednesday, October 19, 2016, in Nevada University, Las Vegas. During the debate, Hillary's email scandal came up. The scandal was that she possibly deleted classified emails on purpose. Hillary said that it was an honest mistake while Trump thinks otherwise. Trump kept trying to go back to the subject of emails even after they moved onto other subjects. Trump was the first candidate in American history to say he would not concede to the results of the election if it didn't go his way. There are other parties in the system but, no candidate for these parties have won a majority of votes in recent times. The major smaller parties in the 2016 election were the Independent Party, the Green Party, and the Libertarian Party.

Inky’s Escape

By:Elise B.

Have you ever heard of an octopus escape? Well then listen up! In April, 2016 an octopus named Inky at the national New Zealand aquarium escapes from his tank overnight.

The New Zealand Aquarium has a theory that Inky had escaped through a drainpipe. The aquarium states that one of the zookeepers had accidentally left the lid of Inky’s tank open. The octopus escaped overnight, and the New Zealand Aquarium thinks that he scooted himself across the floor and slipped down a drainpipe that is approximately 50 meters long.

A second grader at Oliver W. Holmes School named Adam Williams’s thought was, “Maybe he was going to his family.”

This drainpipe leads to Hawke's Bay where Inky freely roamed. Inky was able to squeeze through the drainpipe because he has no bones and which means great flexibility. Believe it or not octopuses can fit into spaces the size of a coin.

Another student named Kate Webber explained why she thinks octopus are cool, this is what she said, “Yes I think they are cool because they have eight tentacles.”

A zookeeper at the aquarium says he was pretty sure Inky was not “stolen”. The zookeeper also said, “I understand the nature of octopus behavior very well.” “I have seen octopuses on boats slip through bilge pumps. And the security here is to tight for someone to take Inky, and why would they?”

A final student named Hart Tarleton said he has been to an aquarium before and stated what it was like, “Yes, it was a lake and it was full of animals, sea animals.”

The New Zealand Aquarium has not upgraded security as an effect to Inky’s incredible escape, but zookeepers are more aware and notified. Do you think they should do something more?

iPhone Seven By: Jefferson Cordes I want you all to know the truth about the iPhone seven. Many students in my class have spoken to me and they all agree on one thing: it's not better, in fact, it's worse. Now I know that they just want to make a better experience, but they have gone way too far this time.

One of the reasons that it is worse is because it has no headphone jack (where your headphones get plugged in). This means that you need to spend more money on getting special Bluetooth headphones if you buy an iPhone 7. Another thing about being headphone jack-less is that if you know how small an earbud is, then you know how frustrating it would be to have just two little wireless earbuds laying around.“I think it seems cool but it has one fatal flaw, no headphone jack,” commented Theo Hartrich. Most people will lose at least one of them on the first day they bought them. Riley Owens comments, “I think it would be better with a headphone jack.”

The next reason is that it's HUGE. The iPhone's just keeps getting bigger and bigger! Many people across the Internet have joked about the future iphones being the size of ridiculously big things for a phone, like doors, and at this rate, it will be! “It is getting way too big!” Said Griffin Gee.

Also the price is very high. Just to get some storage it costs $650 to $850! And some retailers sell it at $1,500! Now that may not be much for some people, but it's A LOT of money. Henry Schacht says, “It looks kinda the same as iPhone 6, and it hasn't been marketed as big as some of the other iPhones.” So overall, it's bad. But if you have a lot of money and are in the mood for wasting some, go ahead and get one. iPhone 8 is rumored to come out on September 4, 2017.

__Endangered Cheetahs__

By Maxine Gimbel

In the 1900s, there were over 100,000 cheetahs in the wild. Sadly, their population has dwindled over the years. Only 9,000 to 12,000 cheetahs remain today. Compared to the 108 billion people on Earth, 12,000 is a VERY small number. This is due to habitat loss and people. Some farmers shoot and trap cheetahs because cheetahs are taking small animals, such as chickens, for food. Now, this may seem necessary, but it's really not. Cheetahs need food, and some cheetahs may have a disability or injury therefore making them need an easier meal. And even if they don't need food, there are more solutions than killing. Also, people take cheetahs from their homes in the wild to sell or to use as one of those wild babe cats you can pet at fairs and other events. As said in a news article on the Cheetah Conservation Fund website, “In the Horn of Africa, an average 300 cheetah cubs are smuggled out across the Gulf of Aden into the Arabian Peninsula, every year.” Once cheetahs are too old to be appealing to others to pet, the owner may either stop feeding the cheetah, or put the cat in very bad living conditions. This also usually results in an early death. One way we can help these endangered cats is to donate money to the Cheetah Conservation Fund (the CCF). “We’re a conservation organization working to combat the problems that afflict the human communities that live alongside cheetahs and threaten the cheetah as a species with extinction.” Said Dr. Laurie, the founder and executive director of the CCF. This organization is dedicated to saving the cheetahs. “To prevent further cheetah population decline, CCF works with farmers to investigate, develop and implement predator-friendly livestock and wildlife management techniques that are also exhibited at CCF’s model farm.” With your help, and a few dollars, we can bring back the fastest and most adorable big cat on Earth!

Water Problems By Willa A.

Here at Holmes Elementary School, we have clean water that is safe to drink. But over at John Glenn High School in Westland, Michigan things were different. It was September, 2016 when Senior student Hazel Juco captured a picture of her school’s water in the girls bathroom when she noticed it had a yellowish tint to it. She posted the image on Facebook and Twitter.

Fifth Grader Maxine said, “If Holmes School had dirty water I would tell my parents and make them talk to the principal because dirty water is gross.”

Soon enough, Hazel got called down to the office. Sadly, it wasn’t because the staff wanted to thank her for noticing the ill looking water. They wanted to tell her that she had earned a three day suspension for inappropriate use of electronics.

Like many other schools, John Glenn High School prohibits using your devices in bathrooms to respect other student’s privacy. Even though Hazel used her phone to point out the yellow water, the principal still decided to suspend her.

“I was called to the office and told by one of the assistant principals that an administrator found a photo of the girl’s bathroom on social media and that I’d be issued a three-day out-of-school suspension for ‘inappropriate use of electronics,'” Hazel said.

When the news got to other students and parents, they were outraged. They thought that the dirty water should be a greater concern than the inappropriate use of electronics rule. In rebellion, girls started taking pictures of themselves in girls bathrooms.

When the superintendent of John Glenn High School, Dr. Michelle Harmala found out about the angry group of parents and students, she erased the suspension and any record of it.

“The punishment is inappropriate,” Dr. Harmala stated. “I am going to make sure the out of school suspension is expunged for the student’s record.”

The superintendent sent a plumber to the school to investigate. They discovered that the pipes carrying the water was damaged, causing the dirty water. The school then replaced the corroded pipe, finally having knowledge of it.

Now, the school has clean water, thanks to Hazel Juco.