Zodiac Squishmallows by Dan Kochanowski and Adriana DeFuoco

  

Aries - Cici the Red Panda

Aries - I picked this one because the main color for Aries is red and red pandas are cute but can get angry just like an Aries.

Taurus - Wendy the Frog

Taurus - Taurus is an earth sign, which means they have a strong connection to nature. Frogs give off those nature vibes so that's why I picked this one.

Gemini - Sunny the Bee

Gemini - I picked this bee for Gemini because they have very similar traits:a Gemini could be nice one second but can switch up in an instant and attack if someone they love is bothered.

Cancer - Jason the Donkey

Cancer - I picked this cute donkey for cancer because the color of this sign is blueish-grey and cancers are very soft and gentle just like donkeys, and when they cry sometimes they sound like them too.

Leo - Leonard the Lion

Leo - Well first off, it’s a lion, and the mane is flashy and expressive, just like Leos.

Libra - Reina the Butterfly

Libra - They are beautiful and charming just like butterflies! Their main color is blue. 

Scorpio - Buffy the Red Bat

Scorpio -They seem scary and intimidating, but they are nice when you get to know them. Also, the main color is red. 

Sagittarius - Harriet

Sagittarius - They are honest, optimistic, and wise. Their main colors are rich purples and dark blue. 

Capricorn - Andres the Sheltie

Capricorn - This sign is hardworking and diligent. They also strive for perfection. Main colors are grey, black, and brown. 

Aquarius - Stacy the Squid

Aquarius - They are very intelligent but kind of shy. Their main colors are electric blue and turquoise. 

Pisces - Misty

Pisces - Although Pisces may get bagged on a lot, they are really sensitive and care what others think. Their main color is soft sea green. 

Virgo - Avery the Duck

Virgo - The main colors for Virgo are dark brown and green. They are also neat and like to eat bread.

 

Editor's Note:

This interview was conducted on April 23rd, before the Board of Education unanimously voted against the new schedule. Therefore, the plans talked about in this article will not be implemented this school year, but it may serve as insight into how the 2021-22 school year will be organized.  -Kristine Zurovchak

Interviewing Administration on a Possible Return to School Full Day

By: Elise Stefankiewicz and John Stracco 

On Friday April 23rd, writers Elise Stefankiewicz and John Stracco had the honor and privilege to sit down and interview North Warren’s administration. They met with superintendent Ms. Bilotti and principal Dr. Dutt. The interview conducted was a student led effort via questions submitted by the student body to help better understand the change in schedule that will happen on May 3rd. But also, bring light to many student concerns about the change. The interview includes a wide range of topics from mental health, lunch, and after school clubs/sports. All of us here at the Patriot Press hope all students can take something from this discussion as we try to better understand the rationale behind the change as well as hear input from our administration on the concerns of the student body.

Q: “What has changed since September that has allowed us to now fully reopen?” - Elise Stefankiewicz

A: “The state has given us updated guidance every other week since July and that guidance is trying to adjust to new science and new data as it comes out. The biggest change that happened recently, is that the state is allowing for flexibility in regards to physical distancing of students being the biggest change to happen since September. The other thing that's happened is that they are allowing districts to consider themselves to be hybrid instruction which is what we are, allowing us to have one day a week that is full virtual even if we are going to school full day. That allows us to consider a return to full day instruction. Something that has not changed is that we still can’t do lunches indoors and in May we anticipate that the weather would be such that we could have lunch outside. Providing us with a chance to finish out the year, be compliant, minimize our risk, and still have a full day of school.” - Ms. Bilotti 

Q: “How will lunch work? Is there going to be more than 1 lunch period? What will the online students be doing during lunch? What happens if it rains? Can we bring our own lunches or will the school be providing lunch?” - John Stracco

A: “If the board approves the return to full day on the 26th of April, we would have tents set up for kids for inclement weather and we would be eating all at the same time outside. The plan is 11:50am as our proposed lunchtime and all of the kids will go outside to eat. The middle schoolers will be eating in the courtyards and the highschoolers will have more freedom and flexibility. The highschoolers would be able to eat on the fields. There will be picnic tables, you can sit on a blanket, or you can sit on the stadium benches. The school will be providing lunch, with the students most popular lunch items so expect to see things like pizza and taco salad. If you want to bring your own lunch you certainly can but we are still unable to use lockers so we are hoping this will be easier for kids to just grab a lunch and go. There will be a vegetarian option.” - Ms. Bilotti

“Virtual students will be eating lunch at home during the given lunch period. It would be a break for everyone. Everyone is following the same bell schedule. The classes will be extended to about 40 minutes and then lunch will be 30 minutes. Nothing about attending zooms and attendance will change for online students except the bell schedule and how long classes are.” - Dr. Dutt

Q: “One of our student bodies' biggest concerns is what this means for spring sports - What is the plan for how athletes will have enough time to get ready for practices and games? Will athletes be getting changed in the locker rooms or will they have to go home and then return back to school for practice?” - Elise Stefankiewicz

A: “We are working with the coaches and Mr. Garvatt on options. We still cannot use our locker rooms, but we have asked the coaches to survey their athletes. The option for athletes will be that you come to school dressed and ready for practice or if they would prefer to go into a bathroom and change one by one. The other option would be to set up classrooms that are large enough to have each team have their own room, preferably the middle rooms where there are no windows. We are offering that up to our coaches to work it out with our student athletes.” - Dr. Dutt 

Q: “What is the reasoning behind having students adjust to another schedule for the last month? Will Wednesdays stay fully virtual/asynchronous?” - John Stracco

A: “Wednesdays will stay fully virtual this year no matter what. There is no possibility of Wednesdays not being full virtual unless we receive an order from the state. I do not foresee any situation where we can come back on Wednesdays. That said, we are looking to do this just for the month of May. The last 4 days of school are going to be half days, just like they always are. We are looking at a couple of things 1) that is the normal so being in school full time is the normal thing we would be doing. If we have an opportunity to return back to normal I think it's our obligation to propose that opportunity. I know that students are stressed about this because I know that you guys have heralded the brunt of all of these changes. We do know that and we do recognize that. We are hoping that even an incremental step towards normalcy will help all of us feel better and will alleviate some of the anxiety that we are bound to feel heading into September. We anticipate that September will be a full return to normal, we will still have to wear masks and social distance, but we think it will be 5 days a week and full days. Any step towards normalcy is worth pursuing. ” - Ms. Bilotti 

Q: “Students have voiced concerns about the new schedule and eating lunch in a school environment. When taking the number of students attending school in person into consideration, does the administration think this schedule change will impact the number of students attending negatively?” - Elise Stefankiewicz

A: “We have heard feedback both ways. We have heard from some students that they will flip to fully virtual if we return to full days and we have heard from other students that they will come back from virtual if we return to full days. When we get closer to that date, we will see what those numbers are. We have not asked anyone to indicate this in genesis because it has not yet been approved. Once it is approved, we will indicate it in genesis and then we will look at it. I understand the hesitancy of eating on site and that is why we are prioritizing eating outdoors. Except in an actual emergency we will be eating outdoors. We are hoping that that makes people feel safer and it makes it actually safer as well.” - Ms. Bilotti 

“I have heard of a few students specifically that were thinking about moving to full virtual but this will be discussed on April 26th and we will know whether or not we are moving forward with it. I will be sending out communications to our student body as well because the full virtual students will be expected to follow that full day schedule. The bell schedule is going to be the bell schedule for everyone. Once we know exactly what we are doing, the students will be getting that communication from me as well.” - Dr. Dutt

Q: “Students have voiced their concerns over mental health, not only because of yet another change of schedule but also because of the amount of time all virtual students will be online during the day. Has the school thought about these issues when implementing the new schedule and will this new schedule help or hurt the mental health of students and teachers?” - John Stracco

A:  I think that this is the most traumatic thing that our students have been through in their lives. We recognize that. We are also looking to see what we can do to help offer some additional support for kids as we move into full days. If we were in for longer we would potentially have more opportunities to do things like run lunchtime anxiety groups or run some counseling sessions in classrooms. We are hoping to expand the social and emotional offerings we have if we are back on a full day because we would have more time to reach kids. We think that it is natural for students to be apprehensive about this. We realize that this is stressful and we realize that this has caused apprehension amongst the students. We have thought about that and our take on it is that return to normalcy helps student mental health. Any return to normalcy is going to help students feel more stable and more secure as we move forward. But I do understand where this is coming from. This change is probably the smallest change we’ve had in that the only change we are seeing to the actual schedule is an addition of about 12 minutes per period. We hope that it will help prepare us more for the apprehension that we anticipate come September. We are concerned about student mental health going into the summer and going into September as well.” - Ms. Bilotti 

Q: “Will the new schedule change how clubs meet? Will clubs be given the option to meet after school or during lunch?” - Elise Stefankiewicz

A: “As soon as we turn yellow, we will be approving in person meetings for clubs. I will also bring that idea back to our teachers to consider.” - Ms. Bilotti

“That is a piece that we have not discussed yet. That is definitely worth bringing up to our club advisors.” - Dr. Dutt

Q: “Would the Administration be willing to consider keeping the schedule we have now to finish off the rest of this school year?” - John Stracco 

A: “My recommendation to the board is that we have the ability to move back full days, 4 days a week. I do believe that any incremental change towards normalcy is in our collective best interest. That said, during the board meeting on April 26th we will be discussing this in full. But I would anticipate that this is what we would be moving to do in May. There are a couple steps that still have to happen. There are several authorities that need to give us permission to move forward. We have received permission from the department of education, we have received permission from the department of health, and now we need to talk about this in public formally.” - Ms. Bilotti 

We would like to thank Ms. Billotti and Dr. Dutt for agreeing to do this interview as well as the student body for submitting wonderful questions and concerns to help us with the interview process. We would also like to additionally say that our administration here at North Warren works very hard to propose plans that they feel are best for everyone, we acknowledge that, here at the Patriot Press, and we are thankful for this. We are also thankful for our ability to speak up through our school newspaper and share the concerns of many students. This has been an honorable experience. Overall, all of our questions were answered and the administration provided insightful information and rationale behind their proposal of reopening full day. The BOE was presented with this plan on Monday, April 26th which they unanimously voted against. We want our readers to understand that there are many pieces to the puzzle when dealing with something like this. It is not just one person making all the decisions and moving forward. We hope that the information provided can help the student body understand the ongoings here at North Warren Regional High School.

The Importance of Holding Politicians Accountable

By: Brooke Bartschat 

Democracy cannot work without the people; without their will, without their input, and without their support. As it is stated in the Declaration of Independence, “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government”.  It is not only our constitutional right, but our duty as American citizens to call out politicians and hold them to their responsibilities. We have long understood that it is our responsibility to assert demands for government action and call for accountability, for our greatest power as American citizens is our ability to add to and shape the general opinion of the public. It is essentially in our DNA. We hold the historical and genetic memory of our founding fathers efforts to combat and dissolve an improper government filled with tyrannical kings, corrupt ministers, and immoral staffers. 

I have always found it funny that when something goes wrong, politicians make use of passive voice to take the blame off of them. It is always “Mistakes were made”; “The data was flawed”; “It got out of control”. We even see this when it comes to government inaction. Politicians are always so quick to say “Something needs to be done”; “Enough of the inaction”; “We need to do something” when they are the people we elected to do something. I am so tired of our government blaming everybody but themselves. We cannot continue to allow our representatives to do the bare minimum and provide us with promises that never end up fulfilled.

The question everyone asks themselves: Why is this allowed? How do our government officials continue time and time again to let us down and slip up without any consequence? In my opinion, it’s due to polarization. The polarization of politics, the overwhelming competition and rivalry between Republicans and Democrats has led Americans to become wary of criticizing those of their own party. Politics has essentially become a competition between two teams, the Democrats and the Republicans, rather than a unified group working to elect whoever they see best fit for the job. The goal of the two parties is to put as many people of their party into office, not the best people of their party into office. Because of this, it has become our duty as citizens to not accept this, and to demand the best of all of our politicians. 

So how do we hold our politicians accountable? We make use of our 1st Amendment rights. Use your freedom of speech, use your right to peaceably assemble to call out your politicians and hold them to their promises. Follow their voting patterns, and ensure they actually represent what you elected them for. Show up, use your voice, and contact your legislators if needed. It is important that we no longer allow subpar politicians with empty promises to get away without consequence. Please hold your politicians accountable. 

Everyone’s Life Looks Perfect on Instagram

 

By: Elise Stefankiewicz

Instagram is our highlight reel. We control what we post, and most of what we post is the best photos of us or the best experiences we have. It is all filtered to our approval. When we look at Instagram as more than just a creative outlet, that is when it becomes toxic. We can easily assume that everyone’s lives are better than ours because of what they post on the internet; however, behind every post lies a story that we are not aware of. For example, someone could post a picture on a family hike and we would not know by looking at that photo that the family fought the whole way up the mountain. Instagram is a highlight reel. We only post what we want other people to see. Once we can wrap our heads around the fact that no one is perfect and everyone has their struggles, we can begin to have a much more open and less consuming experience posting on social media. 

Is there a solution to internet toxicity? The short answer is no. Social media allows people to share their lives, which leads to constant comparison. This whole concept has been proven to cause depression in teens today. We need to stop letting social media consume our everyday lives because this aspect of our lives is not going away. Subconsciously, I will compare myself to what other people post, whether it is their relationships, style, vacations, or the things they experience. It is inevitable to see a post and compare yourself or get jealous of how someone else is living on their Instagram. However, it is imperative that we look at these apps at a surface level and enjoy the content, take inspiration from it, and move on.

Instagram does not have to be toxic if we don’t make it that way. There is a lot of creativity involved in creating an illusion on Instagram. Whether that is posting photos of fashion, books, places you travel, art, whatever it may be, there is an undeniable art in organizing your Instagram to match who you are. It is a creative thing that can also be exciting. I enjoy taking and posting photos on Instagram. For me, putting together outfits or capturing a moment with friends is a creative outlet. Even just seeing something that I think is pretty and taking a photo of it, then posting it, is something I find joy in; however, it gets taken too far when you are obsessed with your Instagram as a whole. 

It is easy to get consumed by the content on any social media app, so we need to find a balance between using it as a creative outlet and letting it consume us. We need to find ways to distance ourselves from it when we feel it getting too much. We need to stop comparing ourselves to the things we see on social media. Reduce your time on social media. Try to figure out why you are making comparisons. Be grateful for what you have. No one is perfect and there is something that we do not know about everyone. Instagram is just an illusion.