Viking Press The Student Newspaper of Voorhees Middle School

Volume 16 Issue 2 February 2012 Viking Press The Student Newspaper of Voorhees Middle School Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow! By Cameron Krause Snow has come before, and so it shall come again! Although December and January have sadly ended, all hope is not lost for snow. February is upon us, and in the school s history, there has been a large amount of snow days in this second month of the year. So now the only question is what to do during these days? Just sitting at home watching TV reruns is nowhere near the coolest thing you could do. And you don t need to go out in the snow to get your blood pumping, either. So I ve created a list of things you could do, both inside and out, to avoid boring snow days. Sleds. You don t exactly need a large hill at your house to have fun with a sled. There s bound to be a hill somewhere nearby. But if there isn t, sleds can be used for many different things. For example, I know that I never go anywhere without my sled that also works as a shield in snowball fights. Sleds also make great doors and barricades for snow forts. If you re someone with a hill, cover your sled in snow, put a little under it, and voila you have a ramp! I bet you thought they were just used for sliding down hills, didn t you? Sports Equipment. Who said that you had to use sports equipment in the warm seasons. One thing I ve found fun was taking an old plastic bat and playing Snowball Baseball. All you need is a friend, a bat, and snow. While one of you is at bat, the other starts to make snowballs. When you re both ready, the pitcher throws you a snowball, and you have to try to smash the snowball as hard as you can. Whoever destroys the snowball the most, wins. Take that, summer sports! No matter what, whether you use one of these ideas or come up with your own, you now have the tools to make a seven inch snowfall turn into an adrenaline filled day. Just remember to stay warm! Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather. John Ruskin, English writer Pasta for Pennies Winner 1st place Mrs. Johnson 2nd place Mrs. Zielinski 3rd place Mr. Lanzilotta Want an Encore? Watch Encore! By Cameron Dubrow Want to know how to really boogie? Why not watch the best: ENCORE! It is a traveling show choir of about forty members. We go to different places and sing several medlies, the better way! Like the school orchestra, we are musically talented either by singing, dancing, or both! Only thing is, we don t play strings, we play our vocals and feet. Truthfully, we d call ourselves like a family, together, visiting the depths of New Jersey s festivals and parties. Kind of like how most orchestra members are musically in-tune. Recently, back in September, we performed at a pumpkin festival with compliment on our excellent quality, especial for us pre-teens merely in middle school. We are ravenous for music. Most of our music is from the fifties era and the hippies age. Some numbers have dance solos, and some have singing solos. I am in a number with a solo, which is a song from footloose. Like most of us, everybody s gotta cut footloose!! Lose your blues if you can t watch us soon, we perform almost every month except August. Trust me, It s worth a fight!. If you want more information about Encore or Mainstage Center for the Arts, you can visit this website: http://mainstage.org/

Extra Help: A Friend to Us All By Alex Murphy Middle school is one of the toughest parts of your childhood. It is a new start for all of us. It provides the challenges we need to help prepare us for high school. The work gets harder. The homework load gets larger. We all have to deal with it. What happens when you don t understand a lesson or need help to find the solutions to problems? Do you try to figure it out yourself? You could try that, or you could see your teacher for extra help. Extra help is like a friend. It helps you when you are having trouble. Don t be afraid to ask your teachers, they always offer it. It has helped me get better grades on most of my tests. Don t use that time for fooling around, though. Extra help is only for the students who strive to do well. It isn t for those students who get F s on every test. So, the next time you need help to study for a test, ask your teacher for extra help. It will benefit you and will help shape your future. Pasta for Pennies By Ashwin Ramesh Voorhees Middle School has started a coin drive sponsored by Olive Garden. The winning homeroom will get a free pasta dinner from the famous Italian restaurant. Pasta for Pennies as it is cleverly called, donates all the money to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The program, started in 1994 by Olive Garden and The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has helped raised a massive $53 million to this day. The program works like this: Olive Garden contacts schools to help raise money and each classroom collects coins n cash in a jar provided by the restaurant. The winners will be very lucky Olive Garden is my favorite restaurant! Welcome Back Ms. Magill By Jaymin Kang Remember when Mrs. Magill was a student teacher for Mrs. Stamm? Well, she s back again this year! She will fill in for Mrs. Lowe for the whole year because Mrs. Lowe had a baby and she is taking some time off. Last year Mrs. Magill was a student teacher for fifteen weeks. Mrs. Stamm taught her a lot about teaching and creating lessons. Mrs. Magill would love to stay at Voorhees Middle School because she adores the students and it makes her happy to share art with the students. She graduated from Richard Stockton College in New Jersey. While she was at the college, she earned a B.A degree in both Psychology and an Art Education Certificate for grades K-12. During the summer, she spends her time teaching ten to twelve olds painting and cartooning at a day camp. Ever since she was three years old, she knew that someday she would be an art teacher. Growing up, being a book illustrator was her dream job. Her teaching career includes being a student teacher at VMS and a substitute teacher for Somerdale Park School. Learn all you can from this great teacher.

What to Expect at a Bat and Bar Mitzvah By Kayla Gagnon We all have a time in our religious lives that we become adults in our faith community. Christians have their Confirmation, but Jewish people have their Bat or Bar Mitzvah. It is the time when a boy or girl around ages twelve or thirteen are called to the Torah to recite prayers and read a passage from it in Hebrew. Lots of people I know, myself included, have been to a Bat or a Bar Mitzvah. For those of you who have been invited to one and don t know what to expect from it, then keep reading for more information. Lots of people ask What do I wear? What I wore was a nice party dress, with stockings and a sweater. For boys, I d suggest that you wear a nice suit and tie. Also, a reminder to girls, it is disrespectful in the Jewish faith for girls to show off their shoulders, so if you wear a strapless or sleeveless dress, I d suggest that you bring a sweater to wear to the ceremony, and then at the party you can take it off. The ceremony is long; exactly how long it is depends on which degree of Judaism the temple you are going to follows. Some ceremonies are longer than others, with more Hebrew than English in it. Don t act bored though; whoever is making their Bat or Bar Mitzvah has spent years preparing for this and are probably very nervous. Try to pay attention to what they are doing; this is a good experience for you to remember. The best part most people agree on is the party. This is the time to dance, eat, and to have fun! Most of the time, there is a deejay there, and generally they play popular party songs like the Cupid Shuffle and Cotton Eyed Joe for you to dance to. Also, there is usually a photographer there, and you can get fun photos with your friends. Most of all have fun! After the ceremony, you can have fun at the party! Also, instead of saying congratulations to your friend who has made their Bat or Bar Mitzvah, you can say Mazel Tov! which means congratulations and good luck in Hebrew. STRESS: WHAT IS IT REALLY? By Noah Chasen Imagine this: You and your friend are sitting at the lunch table. Your friend gets a PB&J sandwich. He looks inside and starts yelling at the top of his lungs. He s saying something about not enough peanut butter! and this school is stupid! Think about it. What could have caused his reaction to something so small? Stress, of course! He could have had problems at home or multiple projects due, or something else. Everyone feels stress from time to time, but when you re constantly running in emergency mode, your mind and body pay the price. Stress can be a good thing, for it can help motivate you to do your best in a project. Too much stress, however, can be bad for you. Stress is a normal physical response to events that make you feel threatened or upset your balance in some way. When you sense danger whether it s real or imagined the body's defenses kick into high gear in a rapid, automatic process known as the fightor-flight reaction, or the stress response. Even if stress seems to control your life, you can fight it! Worried about that computer project? Try to relax and tell yourself you ll do fine. If that doesn t work, tell someone. It can be your parents, a friend, a neighbor, your pet turtle named Noodles, anyone! Talking about a problem can really make you feel better (though it s better if they can talk back!). Stressed about the NJASK that s tomorrow? Don t be! Tell yourself you ll do fine and you ll see surprising results if you re self-confident (though if that doesn t work, do a leprechaun dance five times around a pizza for good luck.) If you believe in yourself, you ll be amazed in your abilities!

Boy Scouts: Skills for Life By Don Shamilov Our lives are so surrounded by our phones, ipods, computer, TV, video games, etc that we completely ignore the beauty of nature. I have been in a Boy Scout troop for over two years now, and it has made a significant change in my life. When you think of a boy scout you see a boy standing with a lot of badges on his shirt, but there is so much more than that. You experience the wild, and the beauty of what lies in the wild. We go camping, hiking, backpacking, canoeing, white water rafting, etc. I look at the outdoors in such a different way now that I am able to see how much there is out there. You learn life skills that you will carry on for the rest of your life. We go camping once a month through all types of weather. We also have an annual summer trip, and I have been to Maine and the Allegheny mountains in the past two years. You will make friends that you will never forget, and you will always go home laughing at the funny yet stupid things that you did that weekend. A Very Happy Bowl Season f or Our Local Teams By Alex Murphy The college football bowl season is a thrill for us sports fans. The best teams in the country squaring off against each other in some of the best games of the year. Two local teams, Temple and Penn State, were involved in bowl games this year. Temple played in the New Mexico Bowl on December 17 th against Wyoming. Penn State played the Houston Cougars on January 2 nd, 2012 in the TicketCity Bowl. Temple stomped on Wyoming by winning 37-15. Temple star running back Brenard Pierce ran for 100 yards and two touchdowns. It was Temple s first bowl win in 30 years. That winning mentality didn t flow over to Penn St. as they were the final victim of Houston s run and gun offense. Houston quarterback Case Keenum threw for 532 yards and 3 touchdowns as Houston trounced Penn St. 30-14. Penn St. in the aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal, didn t have the jolt that they needed to beat Houston s offensive threat. Now, the 2011 college football season for our local teams has ended. We will excitedly await the 2012 college football season and all the amazing things that will happen. TOP 5 GAMES AND APPS By Noah Chasen In the super-fast world of today, people are buying more and more advanced Smartphones, like Iphones and Androids. And the main purpose? Apps! The main reason people buy them is for the graphic, awesome games on a mini touch screen window. An often recurring question that Smartphone users ask is What are the most popular games out there? Read on to hear about the top 5 games for Smartphones. Angry Birds (Come on. You can t resist the urge to slingshot funny looking birds at harmless pigs.) Fruit Ninja (Fruit doesn t have to just be a food group. Slice it to earn points!) Doodle Jump (You play as a kid s doodle and jump through endless armies of evil doodles, false pads, and black holes.) Infinity Blade (A little on the expensive side, but you can slice your way through armies to destroy the evil god king to avenge your father.) Cut the Rope (Pretty self-explanatory. Cut the rope to feed your new pet the only food he ll eat. Peppermint!)

The World s Most Famous Sponge By Pranav Chugh and Jakob Velahos Ever since May of 1999, the illustrious tales of SpongeBob SquarePants have captured the hearts of millions across the country, so we are here to talk about the history of this particular sponge. After his former show Rocko s Modern Life was cancelled, cartoonist Stephen Hillenburg created SpongeBob. After the show ended, Stephen wanted to get back on top, so he decided to make a character that annoyed all the others. He named this character SpongeBob because he took it from one of his old comic strips he made in college. Although Sponge- Bob is a sea sponge, he resembles a kitchen sponge more. On May 1 st, 1999, the first show, Help Wanted, aired, and it would soon become the greatest cartoon of the new century. In 2004, the first ever SpongeBob SquarePants Movie was made, and it soon became a huge hit. The idea was that this was going to be the end of the series, but since all of America loved the sponge, they continued the show. SpongeBob has become a bigger business that ever imagined; it has become video games, movies, and more! It has been nominated and has won countless numbers of awards and has become an American icon. This show has become more than a few laughs that you catch while you are eating dinner. It has become a topic to talk with friends, a reminder on your calendar when a new show is on, and a break from our hectic lives to sit down and relax. I think that people love this over-optimistic sponge because it is a show that people have never seen before because nobody would think of a talking sponge. In conclusion, the idea of a sponge s adventures has turned into a world-known celebrity The Hunger Games Movie By Kayla Gagnon What is so important about March 23, 2012? It s the date that the Hunger Games movie comes out! If you haven t heard about the Hunger Games, then here s a summary. Many, many years into the future, after many wars, droughts, storms, earthquakes, and other disasters occurred, a country called Panem arose from the ashes of the destroyed world. It was known once as North America, but that isn t important. There was a shining capitol surrounded by thirteen districts. Peace lasted for many years, that is, until the Dark Days. All thirteen districts rebelled against their Capitol, and they lost. The Capitol blew up District Thirteen. Also, as a reminder of the Capitol s might, and as punishment, the Capitol forced the districts to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to fight to the death in an outdoor arena on live TV. Thus beginning the Hunger Games. Seventy-five years after the Dark Days, Katniss Everdeen, who is sixteen years old, lives in District Twelve, the coal mining district. Her father died in a mining accident, and her mother sank into a deep sadness, leaving her as head of the family and to provide for her mother and twelve-year-old sister, Prim. She and her friend, Gale, illegally hunt in the forests surrounding District Twelve to put food on the table. Then comes the Reaping Day, the day when the districts pick the boy and girl to be sent to the arena. Katniss s sister, Prim s name gets drawn, and Katniss volunteers to take her place in the arena. The boy that gets picked is Peeta Mellark, the baker s son. So that s all I ll tell you of the movie/book. Jennifer Lawrence plays Katniss, Josh Hutcherson (from Bridge to Terebithia) plays Peeta, Willow Shields plays Prim, and Liam Hemsworth (from The Last Song) If you want to know what happens next, either you can get the book from the VMS library or from Barnes & Noble, or you can wait until the movie comes out. The choice is yours. May the odds be ever in your favor!

By Alex Mackle Teen Ink is a teen literary website and magazine in which kids and teens from middle school through high school can create and submit original writing, videos, and images. Once you submit an article, other users can read, comment, and rate you article. Highly rated work will be published in the Teen Ink s print magazine! Teen Ink was first published in 1989 under the name 21 st Century (they claimed that this name got old once they reached the 21 st century). It is printed by The Young Authors Foundation Inc., which is a nonprofit organization If you want to submit work, log on to http://www.teenink.com/ and create an account (you will need your email for this). For a written article, select written article on the Submit Work page, copy and paste your article into the submit work box, and fill out other needed information. In order to submit an image, select Art/Photo, and upload the images file. You will need a YouTube account to submit a video. Teen Ink is a great way to get your writing viewed, and feedback in comments could help you improve it. It can help growing writers improve their writing and get them on the map. If you submit work, maybe it will be featured in the magazine! By Greg Giovannini Haunted Halls Brief Synopsis of Part 1 Jake, a boy plagued by unfortunate events within his family, finds himself walking down one of the hallways in his school where an old, sealed-up janitor s closet is. He had previously heard rumors about ghosts in the school from his ex-friend, Carter. As Jake passes by, a face appears in the wall, and he finds that his consciousness is wiped away when they make eye contact. Haunted Halls Part 2 By Greg Giovannini Note from author: This story was written merely for entertainment. It does NOT include information regarding recent events or any real people, so feel free to simply enjoy the story of a boy who hears rumors about a ghost wandering his school, and finds out the truth regarding these stories. Part two jumps right to a continuation of part one. ( found in issue 1, which is available on the school website) I awoke in a moderately-sized space, disoriented. Time had passed, that much I could tell from my stiff limbs. Quickly, I stood up, feeling a thick layer of dust beneath my hands and sneakers. My head didn t hit anything, so the ceiling wasn t too low. As my eyes adjusted, I noticed that the room wasn t entirely dark; a faint, bluish-green glow was emanating from behind me. Turning, I saw the translucent body of a man with the same face as the one I had previously found on the wall. To my astonishment, it spoke, Don t be shocked, friend. Because I could think of nothing else to say in reply, I merely asked the first question I could manage to blurt out. Where are we? The janitor s closet, he told me. Of course, the one that was cemented shut because of an infestation of rats. At this, my eyes widened, but I noticed a smile play across his pale face and he continued, They all died, from lack of air, as did I. After that last statement, something clicked in my head. If this person died from a shortage of oxygen, and no ventilation had been added since, that meant I had to get out, and quickly, or I d suffocate. I still had another question, but Creepy Ghost Guy wasn t finished. I can help you escape, which I was clearly not able to do, but I require something in return. I m being held here by the same curse that brought you in here. Whoa, hold on. Did you just say curse? I questioned. Unfortunately, yes. I am actually the cause of it, because of my accidental death in this closet. I pretty much cursed myself with un-death, even though it wasn t my fault at all. The wall was sealed up to keep the rats in, and no one knew I had hit my head on a shelf and was still in there, unconscious. That explained who he was, but I still had no idea how to get out or lift the curse. Again, though, he went on. I m not certain how you got in here, but I would be willing to bet that if you can lift the curse, we would both be free. Is there any way we can bash down the wall? I suggested. Oh, believe me. I ve tried. While I was alive, of course. So then how do we lift the curse? He gestured around him. Simple. We get you out of here. Me? I didn t even know how I d got here, let alone how to escape. A life, although it was my own, was lost because of me. If I aid you in escaping, the loss will be repaid with a second chance for life, and I can finally rest in oblivion. I ll offer what assistance I can, but as for getting out, my guess is as good as yours. Glancing around at my unfamiliar, dark surroundings, I wondered where I could possibly start. Semidarkness filled the area I stood in. The only objects were shelves with cleaning supplies amid a jungle of scattered tools like mops, brooms, and defunct vacuums. The door still showed from inside the closet, but I already knew I couldn t penetrate it. Other than that, I didn t have the slightest idea where to begin.

Chess Club By Pranav Chugh Many times, when I am watching TV, I see how many times kid TV shows they ridicule people who are in the chess club because they are associated with the title of being a nerd. When I first heard that our school had a chess club, I thought that it wasn t for me, but now that I have gone to a few meetings, I realized that it helped me academically and socially. I am here to say that the stereotype is pure fiction, and that you can benefit from this great opportunity. Chess is a game that involves many different abilities, which are cunning, wisdom, and most important of all, patience. It takes a while to learn the basics of chess, but the supervisor, Mr. McBride, will help you learn the wonders of chess. Also, the kids already in the club can show you interesting strategies that you can use in your game play. You can get a lot of experience of playing the game and it can be a fun extra-curricular activity for you to do in your free time. I know that some of you are hesitant to join this club because you don t want to get laughed at by your friends. If you are one of those people, just go to one meeting and maybe even bring some friends with you. Meetings are from 2:45 to 4:15 in Mr. McBride s room in B-8, which is right next to the ramp in the 8 th grade hallway. In conclusion, knowing how to play chess is a very good skill to have, and it is also quite 2012 Presidential Race By Don Shamilov President Barack Obama s four year term will end at the end of this year. So far there are five republican candidates left in the race to try to beat Obama. As of now in first place we have Mitt Romney who has thirty three percent of republicans voting for him. Then we have Newt Gingrich who is currently in second place, and he has sixteen percent of republicans voting for him. In third place is Rick Santorum who currently has fourteen percent of republicans voting for him. Next in line is Ron Paul who has twelve percent of republicans voting for him. Lastly, there is Rick Perry who is currently in fifth place and has seven percent of republican voting for him. If Romney was to become the Republican candidate right now he would lose to Obama by two percent. If Newt Gingrich was to become the Republican candidate he would also lose to Obama by two per- Be Free By Jaymin Kang Do you want to stop bullying in our school? Do you want to change the school environment from negative to positive? The Free to Be Club, which is a new club created by Ms. Pryzbylkowski, was made for students who want to make a difference in the school environment and for people who want to talk about issues for example bullying. The students learn what to do if they are a witness or bystander in a bully scene. This club is trying to promote a program called Rachael s Challenge. Rachae1 s Challenge is a school presentation that motivates students to make a positive change in the way they treat other people. The Free to Be Club members are trying to make this program happen at VMS just like the school is doing No Name Calling Week. No Name Calling Week started January the 23 rd and ended the 27 th. Students wore certain clothes or shoes to express a certain theme each day. The club meets in room D-6 and the meetings are twice a month depending on what days are best for the members. Ms. Pryzbylkowski is in charge of the club, but other teachers are giving ideas to the club. Mrs. Johnson and the members of the Viking Volunteers are also working together with the Free to Be Club. They are always welcoming new members every day. The club wants the students to participate in the activities such as sharing on the blogs they make. Let`s try to change the school environment a little bit, it won`t hurt to try won`t it?

***Special Thanks to Noah Chasen*** Every printing of the Viking Press will now have Polls. 100 students throughout the three grades were surveyed on how much they spent on homework on an average night, and what their favorite subject was. Most students spent 31-59 minutes on Homework and most students liked Health/Gym. If you have an idea for a new topic, email Mrs. Jacobs at jacobs@voorhees.k12.nj.us 31-59 min 60+ min 0-20 min 21-30 min S S RA H/PE Math Sci LA Reading 8 th Graders Consider Gifted and Talented Program at Eastern High School By Cameron Krause For all of us eighth graders, we know that we have a few more months of being on top before we head into high school. But it s not as bad as some lead us to believe. In fact, there are clubs and electives for every type of person. One interesting class you can take is the Gifted and Talented Program. G.T. is a program for kids who think outside of the box and take learning to an entirely new level. At the beginning of a marking period, you choose a topic to create a project on. Of course, these aren t baking soda volcanoes; you get the entire marking period to come up with the presentation. All projects would have a display and a written part, but the most fun is the interactive type. This is where students let the other classmates join in on their project to help explain or show examples. One kid brought an Xbox 360 to show how video games affect students. So the sky s the limit with what topic you want to choose. Every day in class you ll research your topic and keep on making progress. While some people can fit two projects in one marking period, it s best to pace yourself. G.T. looks great on your portfolio, too! So if you think you have what it

TV SHOW REVIEWS BY JENNIFER AMARITI Calling all those comedy fans, I have a couple suggestions of shows you should watch. One of them is called Two Broke Girls. It s literally about two broke girls. The storyline is this: there was once a rich girl living in an apartment. She moved out. A new girl moves in. The girl that used to live in that apartment lost all her money and moves in with the person that bought her apartment. I highly recommend you watch it. It s on CBS at 8:30 on Monday nights. My other recommendation is The Big Bang Theory. It is about four guys that are all nerdy scientists. A normal girl about their age moves into the apartment next door. They start to hang out with her and it gets even funnier when they re nerdy ways collide with her normal ones. It s on CBS at 8:00 on Thursday nights. Trust me, this is a must see comedy. There s one more I want to tell you about. It s called How I Met Your Mother. It s a love story told in reverse literally!!! It s a guy named Ted Moseby in the future in about 2030 telling his kids how he met their mom. He tells about his four friends too. About his two buds from college, Lily and Marshall, got married. About how Robin became a really successful TV journalist. And how Barney is always following The Bro Code. It is so funny and I know you ll laugh out loud. The 2012 Winter Classic: Ice Cold Fun By Alex Murphy Outdoor ice hockey: anyone who loves the game has done it once in their lifetime. Now, we can t enjoy that same liberty while watching professional hockey. All thirty NHL teams play in arenas across Canada and the United States. Over the past five years, the NHL has tried to enhance the fan experience by creating the Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic. This year, the Winter Classic came to Philadelphia for the first time! To enhance the fan experience even more, the NHL and the Philadelphia Flyers agreed upon a three day fan festival outside Citizens Bank Park, the site of the Winter Classic. Also, the Flyers added two other games for the outdoor festivities: the Winter Classic Alumni Game, and an outdoor game for the Adirondack Phantoms, the Flyers AHL affiliate. It was a great thrill for me to go to the fan festival. I met three Flyers alumni: Bernie Parent, Shjon Podein, and Dave Shultz. I also got to different tents and play different games. It was a very fun experience. On January 2 nd, 2012, the Flyers and the New York Rangers played in the 2012 Winter Classic. Sadly, the Rangers won 3-2 because of the great goaltending by Hendrik Lundqvist. The entire outdoor games were great for hockey and for the city of Philadelphia. It showed how great Philly fans are. It also brought back the memories of playing hockey on a local pond with friends. Even though the end result of the game wasn t what we wanted it to be, the entire experience was great. As long as the NHL keeps this tradition up, more people will enjoy the game of hockey for years to come.

The Muppets: A Review By Noah Chasen The Muppets is a new movie that comes from the beloved characters of the past. Walter (a huge Muppets fan who strangely resembles them) is incredibly excited to go to LA, home of the Muppets original studio, when his brother Gary invites him along with Gary s girlfriend, Mary. Once they arrive, they find everything run-down and near destruction. An eager Walter accidently overhears a plan from oilman Tex Richman to tear down the studio for the rich oil underneath. Now, Walter Mary and Gary must reunite the Muppets in order to raise 10 million dollars before Tex buys the property and takes away from their history. The only problem is that they have scattered themselves across the world, making them nearly impossible to find! Will they make it in time? It is a wonderful movie for all ages. Just listen to these reviews given by students! It s funny. That is the only word that can describe it. Funny. Alex Murphy, 8 th grade Very funny, of course. The music is great. Kayla Gagnon, 7 th grade Great to take a younger sibling to. Greg, 7 th grade Girls Soccer Championship By Haley Beluch Woah! The parents scream, as Sydney Davis scores a goal in the Olympic Conference Girls Championships on Glen Landing fields. The same happens when Amirah Ali finds her way into the fame when she creates a bigger lead. The battle was fierce, but VMS Vikings brought out their skills and left Glen Landing in the dust, with an extraordinary score of 2-1. Although it sounds like it was close, too close, the game showed the Vikings are the real Champions. The girls, with a record of 9 and 3, although not undefeated, cannot be beat as long as they are together. The winner of the award, Most Heart, belongs to... our very own semi-final scorer, our smart blonde,... Katie Beluch! As the winner of this award, this 8 th grader looks back on her soccer years. She is a valuable player, and spent her last time in her uniform hugging her teammates, as the players cried with joy. Moving on to Eastern now, Katie will be missed, along with the other players in grade eight. What is the best way to improve? Practice. It is as simple as that. Paige Kaercher learned this, for she now has an award for Most Improved. Paige practiced and practiced; she was dedicated to the team. This award, given out by the coaches of the team, really said a lot to this teammate. YOU RE SUCH A LOUD MOUTH! Briana Lynch, another 8 th grader, wasn t offended by this; she took it as a compliment. Loud Mouth, another honor, showered Briana with happiness. Dedicated to this team, she participated in defense, holding the team together. She had to use her loud mouth to tell the defense what to do. As an eighth grader, she will be greatly missed. What s harder than a rock? Anonda O Brien s defense. With another award, Anonda celebrates by enjoying the party after the championships. Gabby LaRocca goes Under-Appreciated but now she can have her fame from bringing all the equipment. The MVP is Amirah Ali. Elizabeth Onofrio goes home with the sharing award. Lastly, Brittnay Gies earns an award too. Playing on this team was great, and I am really will be upset to leave! Katie Beluch says, holding back her tears. This win will always stay in their hearts. Congratulations! Go Vikings! Thank you for your dedication as coaches, Mrs. Tosadori and Ms. Carafiello!