Bake Sales Banned?

A law has BANNED bake sales in NY schools! Bake sales were banned at the beginning of this school year. From what I heard and researched was that now bake sales aren't totally banned. There are rules that have to be followed in order to have bake sales at school. These rules are that bake sales cannot sell homemade goods. (e.g. cakes, brownies, cupcakes, cookies, among other homemade sweets) . The reason for this is because nobody really knows how much calories homemade goods have. Another rule is that in bake sales you can only sell food that is healthy, low fat Doritos is a questionable example. Also you can't sell cakes, not even carrot or fruit cake. I mean we need the money for things that are school related such as our carnival and supplies. Student council wants big things for our school, but we need money to achieve it and bake sales are a consequential part in a school fund raising . A bit annoying isn't it? Well to get from another perspective I asked my mother to see what a parent thought.

Key
Q: Me
A: My mom

Q: What do you think of this new law?
A: Well I believe that this law is reasonable. I mean youth now gets the attention of sweets a lot and i understand what the board of education is trying to do. The board of education is only trying to help youth be more healthy. They are trying to lower teenagers risk of getting diabetes or anything like that.

Q: What do you think of students still doing bake sales but selling healthy?
A: Well if its that case I believe that students should do that it will not go against the new law and parents will be satisfied with the Board of Education.

Student Of the Week: Rebecca E. (802)

My partner and I are doing a student of the week column. We're 8th graders and believe that each student is wonderful in their own way and we want to interview them so that our school(University Neighborhood Middle School) can see just how great the students we interview or write about in our school are!

This week we decided to interview Rebecca from 802. This week she was really focused on her work and was barely distracted. She had participated more in class lately and I think that's a HUGE improvement because she is shy and I personally know how it feels because I am shy myself. Here are the following questions we asked her:
~Key Words~
Q=Question
A=Answer

Q: What's your favorite subject and why?
A: "Hmm. I would have to say Spanish because it's fun and I like speaking Spanish. It helps me to improve my reading in Spanish and I learn new things everyday."

Q: What do you want to major in college?
A: "Umm, it's between music and health because I like to help people and inform them about their health. I love music because every time I listen music, it gets me all pump up!"

Q:What's your dream job when you grow up?
A: "I'm not sure. Maybe a eye doctor or mechanic."

Q: What do you expect in high school?
A: " I expect to be successful and pass all my classes. Also if I have any questions i'll go to a adult or teacher and ask them what I need help with. I also don't want to get in trouble with anyone because I want to get to a good college."

Q: What do you do when your free?
A: Well I mostly go on the computer and hang out with my dad when he's working on his car. I learn more about cars when I watch him plus I like cars!"

-Jacky Li and Lizabeth Quiroz

Teacher of the Week: Susana Tynan

Welcome to teacher of the week. My partner and I have decided to do a column on teachers. This week we did Mrs. Susana Tynan.

Mrs.Tynan was born on May 21st in Hartford, Connecticut. She went to college in up state New York. She now lives in Brooklyn. These are just a few questions that we asked to find more about her:

BAM-How was middle school for you?
Tynan-"I hated it, it was a very confusing time in my life and it was lame. One good thing was my science teacher, who had a bunny. We did really cool projects. We made Earth out of candy!"

B-How did you become a teacher?
T-"I always hated my job. I had to work with really boring people. So one day I saw a sign for a teaching position in the subway. I always liked kids, so I was like "why not". That job is also where I met my husband."
-
B-Do you enjoy working at U.N.M.S.?
T-"Yes, some days are crazy and some are calm. It's never a boring day here."

B-If you had the chance to go get work at any school in the world, where would it be and why?
T-"I would work at a school in Mexico because I would get to teach them English. It would just make me happy to see them learning."

B-Has your marriage ever been affected by your job? How so?
T-"If I have a bad day I'm not that great to be around if I have a good day I'm great to be around. It all depends on the day."

B-What's your favorite thing about teaching Spanish?
T-"My favorite thing about teaching Spanish is when students make connections with other things in Spanish."

B-What's your least favorite thing about teaching Spanish?
T-"When I can't speak about personal topics."

B-If you could go back in time and major in a different subject, what would it be and why?
T-"I picked two perfect majors (Spanish and Creative writing). I would never change that. I would go back to college because it was fun."

Well, that's our interview. Give us suggestions on a teachers that you really like, but next week we'll do Mr.Thai.

-Maci & Olga

Two of the Same?

Have you ever wondered which is truly better? Wood or plastic? Having led or using a sharpener? Some prefer the old fashioned wood pencil n'sharpener combo. Others never seen without their ever changing
multicolored mechanical pencils. A few don't even care or use pens -_- but we're not worrying about them now. What are the real pros and cons of the two and is there really a difference?

First off is the never(or hardly ever) changing #2 wooden pencil. Sometimes with plastic over them or little stickers. Only one type of led and the eraser doesn't come off. One student said, "I like watching as the pencil gets smaller and smaller as I sharpen it and eventually it's smaller than my pinky [finger]" this isn't really something the pencil can help but it's a preference nonetheless.

Another student added, "Whenever [my] pencil breaks I can just sharpen it and it doesn't run out when you most need it." Some students think that having a pencil that lasts and doesn't get dull after a few sentences is good enough. Others need to make sure their pencil is always pointy and could spend minutes sharpening them.

A few just like them because they can chew on them like beavers(which is pretty disgusting).

Now for the Cons of the #2 wooden pencil. One always enthusiastic student said "Sometimes my [wooden] pencil breaks and then I sharpen it and then it breaks again and then I repeat what I did and it doesn't even sharpen anymore, there's just an opening where the led should be so I just break it" hopefully they throw it in
the garbage after snapping it.

Another student when asked the same question said " The [wooden] pencils starts out sharp but then get dull as I'm writing so I have to keep sharpening it." This student seems to be annoyed with the consistency of the wooden pencil and has to stop from writing to sharpen, leading to be condemned to forever sharpening and not writing as they should be doing.

Multiple students also think that moving about the room for a sharpener or using an electronic sharpener disrupts class time and is just annoying.

Next there is the large array of mechanical pencils. With all the colors in the rainbow and different shapes and sizes. There is also around three types of led and led pencils, there is the 0.5mm led, the 0.7mm led, and 0.9mm led. 0.9mm led being the thickest and 0.5mm led being the smallest. One mechanical pencil using student said that "I usually put around five pieces of led in my pencil so it won't run out and I don't have
to worry while I'm writing. If I lose [it] or someone takes my pencil all my led is gone, so..."

Another went on to say " I like led pencils because they [the led] don't break in my book bag and I don't like writing with those really small pencils like the others [wooden] get after sharpening it a few times. It's like the pencil can only be used a few times and the more you write the faster you have to get a new pencil."

A third student said "I end up writing neater when I use the mechanical pencils, because the led doesn't change and they [mechanical pencils led] don't break as much as people say."

There are also cons to mechanical pencils. Some are they pencils can run out of led when you're writing something then you have to ask the people around you if they have any. Another con is sometimes you
can't tell if the eraser falls off and all your led falls onto the floor. One befuddled student said "Sometimes the led just doesn't come out [of] the pencil, [it] gets stuck, I have to take it apart and see that everything is there and accounted for, but it just doesn't work so I have to get a new one"

A second student said " I can't use led pencils, the thin led always breaks. I end up writing a little, but end up going through all my led. For some of the led pencils the erasers that are supposed to go on top
of the regular eraser just don't fit.".

Some people prefer wooden pencils and others mechanical. They both have commendable(pros) and substandard(cons) things about them. Some people say it doesn't matter what you write with it matters what you write, othersdon't write at all or type. You can write with a mechanical pencil, or a wooden pencil either way they are both #2. Seriously have you ever seen a #1 pencil? You think about that.