Creative Corner: Last Day of Winter

by Addie E.

It was the night before the last day of winter. I was super excited for spring. I was definitely going to miss winter though. All the snow days and activities and hot cocoa. It was supposed to be very snowy and icy the next day and I was hoping for a snow day.

Mom walked into the room and said, “ Well, it is a two hour late start.”

“ Yay!” I said. It wasn’t a snow day but I got some time to do my list of winter activities.

The next day I woke up really early. Probably around six thirty( It was still dark). I put all of my snow stuff on and went sledding on the hill right next to my house. I climbed the hill and sled down on my new sled. It was bright red and had a white string connected to it. I did this for about a half hour. I came to my yard and started making an army of snow angels. After ten minutes my little sister came out. We built a snow man then came inside.

“ Great idea to wake up early and enjoy the last day of winter Addie” Said my mom as she made us some hot cocoa and got us some poptarts.

“Thanks! I want to get everything done on my list before school starts. It will be tricky, but I can do it!”

My mom took my list and said, “ Well I love your enthusiasm but you really think you can get this all done.

I took the list back and looked. I checked off sledding, snow angels, build a snowman, and hot cocoa. All I needed was ice skating, winter crafts, and snowboarding.

“ yup!” I said with even more enthusiasm.

“ Okay then let's go to the ice rink!” My mom said putting on her coat.

At the ice rink I was working on a jump. My sister was just skating with my mom. We were there until eight o-clock. After that we went to the dam hill and did a little snowboarding. I was just going down the hill a few times while I let my sister use my new sled. It was fun!

“ What's left on your list Addie. “ Asked my mom helping my sister with her goggles.

“ I just need to do some winter crafts. I said. Looking at my sheet in the car.

“ Okay lets go bye some at Hobby Lobby.”

At Hobby Lobby we found snowflakes, snowmen, and sled crafts. We got two of each and paid for them. When we were walking to the car I dropped the bag with all the crafts and the wind picked them up and they started flying away!

“ Oh no! “ I screamed.

Those were the last ones in the store, so we chased after them. They got too high and were gone.

“Aw.” I cried.

“ I’m sorry Addie. Maybe we could get them somewhere else.” My mom said thoughtfully.

“ School starts in half an hour and there is no time.” I said.

“ Well we should go home and get ready for school then.”

So we left and went to school. I was disappointed that I couldn’t do any winter crafts, but as the day went on I started to feel better. The day went on and on, 1st period, 2nd, 3rd, all the way to seventh. When it was finally eighth period I walked into the room and saw that we had a sub. I greeted her with a smile and sat down.

“Good Afternoon! I am Mrs. Gluten. Today we are going to just draw instead of a huge project. When your teacher is back you will do something cooler.” The woman looked around 50 years old and had a blue sweatshirt on.

“Before we begin, do you want me to tell you a story?” She said, grabbing her bag.

I loved when subs told stories of their life. They were always so interesting. Especially ones about dogs.

We all said yes and she began, “ Well this morning obviously was a late start and my daughter brought her children to my house because she had to work. My grandchildren wanted to do some crafts so we went to Hobby Lobby. Sadly they were all gone. “

I flinched. I was the one who took the last one’s. I felt terrible.

“ We decided to go to Dollar Tree so we went to our car but saw some crafts in a tree!” She exclaimed.

My eyes opened wide. I raised my hand slowly.

“Yes dear.” Said Mrs. Gluten.

“ What did you do with the crafts?” I said, shocked.

“Well we took two, but didn’t use the other ones.”

My jaw dropped. “ What did you do with the other one’s”

“ Well they are right here.” She said holding the snowmen and snowflake crafts.

“ I had the same idea as you so my family went to Hobby Lobby to get some crafts. They were the last ones.” I said cautiously.

“ Oh, so you got the last ones!” She said with a smile on her face.

“ Yes, I was so excited but I dropped them and they blew away.” I said slowly.

“Well these must be yours then. Would you like to have them?” She reached them out to me.

“Yes, if you don’t mind.” I said, trying not to yell with excitement.

She handed them to me and I put them in my folder. When the bell rang for us to go home I rushed to my locker and put the crafts in my bag. I tried to get out of school quickly so I could have the crafts safe and sound at home. I was not losing them again! I rushed home so I could tell my mom everything. I got home at 3:45 and went into my momś room where she was reading and my sister was playing a game. I told them everything.

¨ That's great! Would you two like to do them?¨ Said my mom taking the crafts that were in my hands.

¨You bet I do!” I said.

The rest of the afternoon my sister and I did the crafts. I made a snowflake and snowman and so did my sister. We watched a movie before we went to bed, and had cookies. When I got in bed I thought to myself, this was the best last day of winter ever!

The End.

Science Olympiad Update

by Kenley S.

Science Olympiad, or SO, is an academic track meet with 23 events. Each member competes in 3 science majors. SO is for 6th through 9th graders. For SO, I interviewed Remi Stoddard and Mrs. Mehlhaff, who is our 6th-grade science teacher and a SO coach. The first thing I asked was, Are they excited for the state and why? They both answered yes, but Remi said, “because she has never gone,” and Mrs. Mehlhaff said, “ Because she has a good team and they are ready.” I also asked what they will be doing for the state, and Remi said, “Machines, entomologies (bugs), helicopters, plants, and a ping pong parachute.” Mrs. Mehlhaff said, “She will be attending coaches' meetings, be there for building events, and cheer on her team.” 15 kids compete for SO, with 4 alternates. Also, this is year 44.

Feature: St. Patrick's Day Traditions

by Sloane H.

We all know the livelihood of holidays, they bring joy, spirit, but best of all, tradition! Most people often push certain holidays to the side, not knowing their history, how they formed, or how their traditions changed. St. Patrick’s Day is a great example, since most, if not all, people just throw away all the story behind it. In fact, you could ask anyone you know about St. Patrick’s day and they’ll probably sum it up to just “you wear green. If you don’t, you get pinched, punched, hit, etc. Oh, and there’s a leprechaun or something” that's kind of it, at least that’s what most people think it’s about.

But hold up, maybe it wasn’t always “just all that,” there could have been more. Let’s go back a few decades, to the 17th century: St. Patrick's Day was more of an annual feast than anything else. Christians of the time would get together to bestow the well-known priest, Saint Patrick. Although he wasn’t much of a saint.

The holiday gets a lot of hate for the law of drinking being lifted. It reinforces stereotypes about Irish people and those who are part of their culture, even though this holiday is celebrated in more countries than any other national festival. The present-day celebrations have been widely influenced by people from the Irish diaspora, especially in North America. But in the last few years, it gained more popularity in the diaspora than in Ireland.

Before it gained popularity, Ireland in the 1700s considered 3 a significant number. Painters and writers symbolized shamrocks as their theme for the holiday to justify the number 3 in it to make it more popular, though the plant was not sacred.

The color green has always been associated with Ireland since 1640, when the green harp flag was adopted. When shamrocks also came to mean green, and over time, it became almost a necessity to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day.

This unpopular holiday has evolved. It taught us about Ireland's history and culture. There are many small but popular traditions, too, like picking shamrocks to find four-leaf clovers, going to church, and, of course, wearing shades of green. It also reminds us of our journey through March as a fun, nature-filled month.

Saint Patrick's Day Myths!

by Cate H.

St. Patrick's Day is a celebration and a lot of fun. But along with that fun, some myths or fables started this holiday. I will dig into busting myths today, explaining how they happened and how they appeared on the day of green.

This first holiday was invented in Ireland, where the myth is that Saint Patrick got rid of all the snakes, so the holiday was invented to celebrate. Now, when you think of Saint Patrick’s day, you think of leprechauns and a pot of gold, right? Well, turns out this idea originated in the 18th century in Celtic folklore, where they believed it was linked to the Vikings.

One more thing, when you think of the national color of Saint Patrick’s day, you think it was green back then, too, right? Wrong! Well, turns out Saint Patrick never wore green. He always wore Blue! The color green was actually just popular at that time because of its association with the nationality.

Another thing, nevertheless, everyone thinks that Saint Patrick’s first parade was in Ireland, right? I mean, it would make sense, but it was actually in New York City in the 18th century, held by Irish soldiers during the Revolutionary War. Moving on to another popular myth about shamrocks and the trinity. Well, in the lore of how this holiday started, we have to go back when Saint Patrick was alive, and well, the lore suggests that Saint Patrick used a shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity. The reason it is not the myths is that there is NO textual evidence of him doing that, nor of anything else.

Fun Facts about Albert Einstein

by Sydney S.

Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879, and I’m just going to say what we were all thinking: Happy birthday, Albert Einstein! Want to know some amazing and jaw-dropping facts about him? I’ll take your silence as a yes!

Did you know that Albert Einstein was almost the second president of Israel? They offered him the position, but he told them he had “neither the natural ability nor the experience to deal with human beings.”

Albert Einstein also HATED school! He didn’t like the rules, and one of his teachers once told him, “he wouldn’t amount to anything.”

Einstein hated socks, too! He barely ever wore them, even to fancy dinners. He believed socks were a nuisance because they always had holes!

He didn’t start talking until he was three years old. People began to think he was slow because it took him so long. He even repeated sentences until he was seven.

Einstein believed that knowledge isn’t as important as imagination. Einstein once said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.”

Albert Einstein also loved animals. He had a tabby cat named Tiger and a dog named Chico. Einstein once said, “There are two means of refuge from the misery of life: music and cats.” At one point, he also had a parrot named Bibo. People reported that he used to tell Bibo bad jokes to cheer the parrot up!

Einstein co-invented the refrigerator! He worked with his student Leo Szilard to invent an eco-friendly refrigerator, aiming to avoid the toxic gases found in earlier models.

Well, those were some awesome facts! I hope you had fun learning about Albert Einstein! See you later!

March Secret Staff Member

CORRECTION! This story was edited at 12:55 PM on March 19. Therfore we have opened the link to resubmit an answer! 

story by??? (author will be revealed when the Staff Member is revealed)

A staff member was asked a few questions, just like last month, but with slight variations. Time for a refresh, here are the rules: you're allowed to ask all and any of your teachers questions to see if they match up to our secret staff member.

Our staff members' favorite food is pizza, specifically Pizza Ranch Sweet Swine with barbecue sauce, not marinara. They graduated from Pocahontas area in Iowa.

They have more than one sibling. Their favorite color is pink, and their favorite shape is a crescent. They have one pet, and their favorite person to work with is Mrs. Todd.

Their favorite movie is Olaf's Frozen Adventure. Their favorite soda is Dr. Pepper, and they've worked here at YMS for 2 years.

Here are your hints for this month's secret staff member. Good luck. Remember that this could be any staff member throughout YMS. Just like last time, ask a few questions to find what you're looking for. Good luck!

Click this link when you are ready to submit your guess!      

Wayne State Band Competition

By Saige N.


Tomorrow, the YMS band will compete at Wayne State University. At this competition, the band will play Ancient Flower and La Fiesta Brava. They will not be playing English Folksong Suite or Three Scottish Vistas. The Jazz band, separate from the regular band, will also play a few songs. Last year, the jazz band did very well and got to be on the front of the website this year. At Wayne, the band will play songs, listen to songs, and eat a lot of food. The food will be amazing. They will be gone all day. Have fun and do good, band!!