Apr-May Newsletter - Hilltop Middle School

HILLTOP MIDDLE SCHOOL
Volume 1, Issue 7
April/May 2012
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Inside this Issue:
OUR falcon CHAMPION !
Spelling Bee? Well her name is Jenna
Bischler! Fortunately, I had the opportunity to talk with Jenna about her
experiences.
Photo and Article by Kazendria Cardenas
Do you know who was the spelling
Bee champion for Hilltop Middle’s
To start off, Jenna said she never
thought she would be the winner, but
she always hoped. She says that she
did study before the Spelling Bee because it was a good way to be prepared. She was a tad nervous beforehand— her heart was beating when
she was spelling her word. This was
actually her first time competing in a
spelling bee contest. When she got
the surprising shock of finding out she
Titanic
Hawaii
The Smurfs
SDSU Trivia
SBCC Youth Forum
April Fools’ Day
D.J. Skrillex
Surviving High School
Black Ops
Surviving Bad Days
won, she was very happy and
excited.
For next year’s students participating in Hilltop Middle’s
Spelling Bee, Jenna suggests to
study if you want to win, and
try your hardest!
One direction
By Lizbeth Horta
Five good looking, talented, creative,
funny, random guys! Yep One Direction baby!
Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Niall
Horan, Louis Tomlinson, & last but
not least Harry Styles. These guys
each share one thing in common—
their passion for music. After they
won third place on the reality show
"X-Factor", these five boys became
the most famous band in the world!
Their biggest song hit was "What
Photo courtesy of Google Images
Photo courtesy of Google Images
Makes You Beautiful."
The reason this band is named One
Direction is because of Harry Styles.
He suggested the name since he believes in “one band, one dream , One
Direction."
Here are some fun facts about One
Direction: Harry loves cats, Zayn
is obsessed with his hair, Louis
adores carrots, Liam is afraid of
spoons, and Niall loves chicken
wings. Interesting right?
So now you know a little something about One Direction. Remember it's not good to hate.
PAGE 2
FALCON TIMES
Titanic’s 100th anniversary
was virtually unsinkable. Its maiden
Everyone knows about the Titanic voyage was to be from Great Britain
and how it sunk. This famous sto- to New York City.
ry has even been recreated into
Unfortunately , on her maiden voymovies.
age, this “unsinkable ship” struck an
The Titanic was a five-star cruise iceberg. It collided with the iceberg
liner engineered by Harland Wolf in the northern part of the Atlantic
in Belfast, Ireland. He began build- Ocean. It sunk on April 14, 1912 at
ing it in 1909. At this time, Titanic 2:40am. The Titanic took thousands
was the largest ship to have been of its crew and passengers along
with it as it sank down towards the
built. After it was constructed,
icy ocean floor of the Atlantic Ocean.
reports concluded that the ship
By Carlos Salas
This year marks the 100th anniversary of its sinking. Thousands of
lives were lost, and people today
still remember the Titanic as “the
unsinkable ship.”
Photo courtesy of Google Images
Hello Hawaii!!
By Alexia Lopez
anthem, Hawaii’s is called
“Hawaii’s Own True Sons.”
Aloha! This means “hello” or
“goodbye” in Hawaiian.
Finally, Hawaii is one of two states
that does not observe daylight saving time. The other is Arizona.
Hawaii’s nickname is “The Big Island”. It is the only U.S state made
up entirely out of islands. The capital of Hawaii is Honolulu.
In Hawaii there are many cultural
traditions, and it is home to many
cultural events. For example,
there is an annual Merrie Monarch
Festival, which is an international
hula competition.
Photo courtesy of www.allhawaiiatours.com
Next, Hawaii is a great vacation
spot because you can chill out on
the beach, go shopping, go surfing
or even swim with dolphins. Similar to how we have our national
Little blue creatures
By Dhamar Perez
Photo courtesy of Google Images
popular in the 80’s. They even
added new characters to the series: Grandpa, Nanny, Sassette,
Nat, Snappy, Slouchy, and Baby
Smurf.
Did you know that there are 105
Smurfs in total?! The main Smurfs
are Papa Smurf, Smurfette, Brainy
Smurf, Greedy Smurf and Grouchy
Smurf.
However, did you know that
Smurfette was not originally a
Smurf? She was made by Gargamel
to cause hatred and jealousy
among the other Smurfs. She was
very mean and she wasn’t very
pretty either. Then Papa Smurf
took her to his lab and made her a
These are just a few facts to prepare you to visit the beautiful state
of Hawaii.
Photo courtesy of www.hannabarbara.com
better looking Smurf.
According to www.cmt.com, Peyo
,a Belgian artist, created the
Smurfs. The Smurfs were very
When the Smurfs lost their popularity in America they released a
Baby Smurf doll. The doll didn’t
last long because it’s muddled
voice appeared to be saying inappropriate words. Even though the
Smurfs aren’t as popular now they
can still be seen occasionally on
TV.
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 7
PAGE 3
SDSU trivia
By Alexia Lopez
Have you ever heard of, or been to
SDSU before? SDSU, or San Diego
State University, is great college in
San Diego, and close to Chula Vista
and the Sweetwater school district.
SDSU is a university, but what you
don’t know is it used to be a mission. In the 1920s, SDSU began to
outgrow its Park Boulevard location. Because of this, the school expanded its current location. It began as a small school then eventually it became a university.
Each year San Diego State allows
Photo courtesy of Google Images
SDSU Campus
more than 35,000 students to be
able to learn there. It is very hard
to be admitted into this school because there are a lot of people who
want to go to SDSU. For example,
according to newscenter.sdsu.edu,
over 60,000 students applied in the
Fall of 2011. Students have to go
through a long process to get accepted.
SDSU is the oldest and largest
higher education institute in San
Diego region. Now that you
know a little bit about there history you should come by and visit sometime.
“LIVE TO celebrate tomorrow”
By Carlos Salas
The Community Youth Forum was
held at Hilltop Middle School on
April 18. It was a Wednesday
Night. It began at 6:00PM and ended
at 8:00PM. The main goal of the
Forum was to inform parents and
adolescents on the dangers of alcohol abuse and the rules of the Social
Host Ordinance Laws.
The Forum was organized by the
Institute for Public Strategies (IPS).
The South Bay Community Change
Project is one part of this Institute,
which is run by parents and community members.
Their focus this year in particular,
Over 300 people attended
the Forum
Photo by Ms. Torng
Members of IPS
Photos by Ms. Torng
Presenters for the Forum
Photos by Ms. Torng
was the Mexican tradition of a
Quincenera, a coming of age celebration when a girl turns fifteen.
They targeted this particular celebration because, many times, alcohol is used as a right of passage, or
just served for adults. Minors attending these parties are sometimes served alcohol by the family
members, unaware of the dangers
of underage drinking.
The Social Host Ordinance Law
states that any adult, family mem-
ber or friend that is over the 21,
can NOT serve alcohol to minors,
regardless of whether it is their
own family or children. The reason
for this is that minor’s are not developed fully yet, and the alcohol
running through their systems can
cause severe damages, and many
times, death.
The Community Forum explained
that there are other alternatives to
having safe and alcohol free parties. One way is to not rent a place
for a party that provides alcohol.
South Bay Community
Change Project
Photo by Ms. Torng
PAGE 4
FALCON TIMES
The sounds of skrillex
By Isabel Uerkvitz and Vivann Gaus
Sonny began his solo career and
tour in 2007. After 3 years, he released his EP, “My Name Is Skrillex”.
Then, he released his 2nd EP, “Scary
Monsters and Nice Sprites” with the
club hit “Kill Everybody”.
Though you may know him as
Skrillex, his real name is Sonny
Moore.
According to www.starpulse.com,
Sonny was born on January 15,
1988 in Los Angeles, California.
Skrillex is known as an American
electronic music producer and
singer-songwriter. He had also
joined the American posthardcore band, From First To Last,
as the lead singer in 2004.
Photo courtesy of www.factmag.com
Moore is known to be a combination
of Benny Benassi and Deadmaus. He
has also remixed Lady Gaga’s song
“Bad Romance”.
Month myths
Statue of Julius Cesar
Photo courtesy of www.bible-history.com
Photo courtesy of Microsoft ClipArt
By Jessica Bennett
Did you know that January and
February were never really part of
the calendar? They were added
when King Numa had to come up
with two new months of his own.
There were originally only 10
Statue of Cesar Augustus
Photo courtesy of www.adobelibrary.org
months: Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Junius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September,
October, November, and December.
King Numa added two extra months
to make the calendar correspond
with the solar years.
month Quintilis after himself. Also
Sextilis became known as August
because Julius’ grandnephew, Caesar Augustus , defeated Marc Antony, became emperor, and wanted
to honor himself.
The month of Qunitilis first became
known as July somewhere between
100 B.C. and 44 B.C. This was because Julius Caesar renamed the
If you want to more about where
our months came from, visit
www.monthsthroughthestars.com.
The history of April fools’ day
By Carlos Salas
Do you enjoy pulling pranks, making silly gags, and laughing at other
people's expense? Then you must
celebrate April Fools’ Day with a
passion.
April Fools’ Day originated in The
Roman Empire as the festival of
Hillaria. According to
www.britannica.com, Hillaria was
a festival that celebrated the merri-
Photo courtesy of Google Images
ment and rejoicing in the CybeleAttis cult and in the Isis-Osiris cult.
In later years this developed into
the holiday of April Fool’s we know
and love today .
April Fool’s Day is celebrated
around the world the same way—by
pulling practical jokes. Some classic
jokes for April Fools’ are the pull-my
-finger-gag, the classic knock-knock
joke, and fake vomit.
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 7
PAGE 5
Super 8th graders!
By Dhamar Perez and Kazendria Cardenas
Do you know Carlos Salas ? He is a student here at Hilltop Middle and I’m going to tell you a few things about this
kid!
Kazendria Cardenas
She likes shopping, eating pizza,
and fashion. Can you guess who
it is? It’s Kazendria Cardenas, our
student of the month.
Kazendria loves spending
time with her friends and
hanging out with her cousin,
Stephanie. Kazendria is also a
very good student. Her history teacher Mrs. Taylor says she is
“very attentive, responsible and
helpful. But she has got to stop
chewing gum!”
Photo by Dhamar Perez
Carlos has been at Hilltop since seventh grade. His favorite color is black;
his favorite singer is KT Tunstall; his
favorite author is P.C. Cast; and his favorite food is pepperoni pizza .
Those are the main facts about Carlos
Salas. Be sure to say hello next time
you see him!
Carlos Salas
Kazendria’s friends say she is, “very
funny, outgoing and friendly.” Also,
Kazendria hates pickles and her favorite subject is lunch! When Kazendria grows up she wants to be an
actress, model and singer.
Photo by Lydia Nelson
Kim Meraz is our AVID Standout
this year!
Do you know who our 8th grade Poem
Contest winner is? Well it’s Monique
Yamsuan!
She said that she feels really good
about being the winner. She like’s to
write. To know that people liked her
poem feels really good.
Kim Meraz
To be an AVID Standout you have to
be in AVID for two years and your
grades have to be good. Then, students submit an essay. The AVID
teacher chooses the top five essays.
Then the AVID teacher and the principal choose the winner.
As the AVID Standout, Kim received
an award, a certificate and a medal.
Way to go Kim!
In her poem, Monique wrote about her
8th grade experience here at Hilltop
Middle. What inspired her was the
friends she won’t get to see in high
school. This was Monique’s first time
being in a poem contest.
Photo by Dhamar Perez
She was very shocked when she found
out she was the winner. When the poem contest winner grows up, she says
she wants to become an inspiring author!
Monique Yamsuan
Kim is in 8th grader and she has
been in AVID for 2 years. She says
she found out about her award
in her 1st period, and she was
very excited and happy. She says
her parents were very proud
when she told them.
Carlos is 6’1. He doesn’t care much of
his height. In his spare time, Carlos
likes to write poetry, sleep, and watch
Netflix. He likes to watch Family Guy,
Futurama, and American Dad.
Photo by Ms. Torng
Correction in March issue, “LGBT Bullying Awareness” article: “According to a recent survey by Kosciw's
group on gay bullying, nine out of 10 gay, lesbian and bisexual students are bullied in school, and they are
four times more likely than heterosexuals to attempt suicide.”
From <http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-18563_162-6916119.html>
We’re on the web!
HILLTOP MIDDLE SCHOOL
44 East J. Street
Chula Vista, CA 91910
Phone: (619) 498-2700
Advisor: Ms. Deborah Torng, Teacher
Email: deborah.torng@sweetwaterschools.org
htm.sweetwaterschools.org
Click on “Clubs”
How to survive high school
By Lydia Nelson
one a chance.
ATTENTION ALL EIGHTH GRADERS!!
Join as many clubs and sports that
interest you. Keep yourself occupied.
Are you nervous about going to
high school? Read these helpful tips
on how to survive your next year of
school.
Go to all of the orientations. If you
find your way around the campus
before school starts, then it will
be easier to find you classes.
Be nice to everyone!! Give every-
Talk to as many people as you can.
Being friendly helps people know
that you are willing to makes
friends and meet new people.
Be yourself!!! This is the most important step of survival. Lying
about yourself will do you no
good. It sends the wrong infor-
Photo courtesy of Google Images
mation about you and you can
lose your friends because they
won’t know what to believe.
These are simple steps to follow in
order to be comfortable with going
to high school. Good luck Falcons!
Black ops
By Cesar Sandoval
All images courtesy of Google Imges
I like Black Ops because it`s fun,
and competitive. It`s fun because of
the campaign. The campaign is fun
because there is so many levels
that are fun and cool. As you beat
one, the next level is more fun than
the last one. Also, the multiplayer
is fun because it has Capture the
Flag and team Death Match.
Another reason why Black Ops is
cool is because it has Nazi Zombies . Nazi Zombies is fun because
it`s challenging. As you get to a
higher level, it`s harder than the
last level.
Finally another reason Black Ops
is cool is the guns. You can fake
different gun combinations, like
with snipers, sub machine guns,
assault rifles, and light machine
guns.
Dealing with a bad day
By Lizbeth Horta
These are words you never want to
hear yourself say. Well, today is
your lucky day, because I will be
giving you tips on how to deal with
a bad day.
and put a smile on your face. This
will help you keep positive thoughts
in your mind. Smiling forces you to
think positively. You can also talk to
the closest person you know, who
you trust your life with. Talking to
this person helps because he/she
knows you best, and can help you.
What I recommend you do first is
forget about what's on your mind
Now, the best thing to do is to just
simply deal with your problem.
"Today is not my day. "
Photo courtesy of Google Images
Once you face your problem, you
can start to get over it.
You never know when these days
will come, but we all hope we are
ready for them.