Girl nearly kidnapped in Aurora - South Middle School

November 2013

Girl nearly kidnapped in Aurora By: Jonethen Trotter

Inside This Issue: Top Stories: Attempted Kidnapping…pg. 1 Thanksgiving……… pg. 2 Black Friday………..pg. 3 Features: Teacher of the Month……....pg. 4 Teacher Interviews…pg. 5 For Gamers Only.…..pg. 6-7 Sports: Wrestling…………..pg. 8 Sports Pictures.…….pg. 8 Broncos Update……pg. 9 Volleyball………….pg. 9

John Snorsky was accused of the attempted kidnapping an 8 year old girl from her home in Aurora Colorado. He tried to get her out of his house by taking her out of her window and tried to get her into his silver Mercedes. This happened at about somewhere from 12:00am to 12:30am. Thankfully the girl managed to escape from Snorsky and her father got a look at car. But that’s not how he was caught, Snorsky was accused by suspicious officers they had accused him of theft. The police then got warrants to search his house and Mercedes. They then found enough evidence to arrest Snorsky. Snorsky was charged of second degree kidnapping and first degree burglary. A local woman said that she had hired Snorsky at her sandwich shop was interviewed, and she said that she thought that Snorsky was a nice guy.

Editorials……..……pg. 10 Activities Page.……pg. 11 Lobos Need to Know……....pg. 12

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By: Yareth Torres Dorame and Teresa Tovar Rea The first Thanksgiving Day was celebrated in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The people who first celebrated Thanksgiving were the pilgrims and the Native Americans. When the pilgrims or the Native Americans had a good harvest they got together and did a Thanksgiving Day. They gave thanks because of the good things they got. Many people proclaimed that Thanksgiving should be a national holiday. That is the story of Thanksgiving Day. Now we celebrate Thanksgiving every fourth Thursday of November. The common thing to eat is turkey. Also many people get together and go around the table giving thanks for the good things that have happened. About 280 million turkeys are sold every year for the Thanksgiving celebration. This is why Thanksgiving is celebrated.

Did you know? This year, the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving begin on the same day. Hanukkah is the Jewish celebration of a miracle where oil in a lamp lasted eight nights, when they only had enough for one. The date of Hanukkah changes every year because the Jewish religious calendar follows the moon, instead of the sun. Thanksgiving’s date also changes because when it was made a national holiday, it was decided Thanksgiving would occur on the 4th Thursday in November. The two holidays won’t line up again for 70 years!

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Is Black Friday really that good? By: Jasmine Nelson And Zahla Neal Coleman Have you ever been to a place louder and more crowded than a store on Black Friday? What is Black Friday you ask? Well, Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving noted as the first day of traditional Christmas shopping, during which crowds of shoppers are drawn to offers by retailers. There are thousands of shoppers at every store because of their lower prices. Black Friday has a history. The term Black Friday was coined in 1960s to mark the kickoff of to the Christmas shopping season. “Black” refers to stores moving from the “red” to the “black” back when accounting records were kept by hand and red ink indicated a loss, and black a profit. Retailers began to realize they could draw big crowds by discounting prices. Shoppers buy most products at drastically dropped prices. Stores also open a few hours before normal. At least 3-10 people die every year from Black Friday accidents. Black Friday can make people more violent and even sometimes cause more car accidents. Almost every store in the United States participates in Black Friday. This is one of the few days in the year when the prices in every store drastically fall.

What do students at South think about Black Friday?

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By: Ariane Oulai and Sharai Kenney For the month of November, Ms. Karen Hall has won teacher of the month. Ms. Hall is an ELD teacher and she has been teaching for 22 years. Ms. Hall states that even if she were to retire, she would always find a way to come back and teach, because she says she really wants to “leave a legacy for the next generation of kids.” Kids constantly say how helpful and caring she is. Also, they explain how she always stays positive. Congratulations Ms. Hall!!!

Congratulations to the runners up! Ms. Blaha (left) & Ms. MacKenzie (right)

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By: Rocio Soria, Erica Zamudio, Paola Alvarez, and Krystal Fernandez

Ms. Webster has been a counselor

for 25 years. She helps kids that have problems and who want to talk about it for advice. She usually deals with problems on Facebook. She loves to see the kids she helped grow up and come visit her. She had taught before she became a counselor. She taught French and Spanish classes at Aurora Hills. Her most favorite event that happened at South was when the students raised their TCAP test scores, and the principal, Mr.Van Gytenbeek, agreed to shave his head and the staff members agreed to dye their hair purple. The students actually raised their scores.

Mrs. Botte has been teaching social studies for 9 years. She has been in the same room for all 9 yearsE16. She loves South, and she lives in a neighborhood close to South. She loves to see her students out of school. She hates to see her 8th grade students leave, and she always cries at the ceremony. Her most interesting moment in her teaching years was breaking her nose with a soccer ball.

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V.S.

PS4 Vs. Xbox-One

Which is better? By: Jason Montoya and Randy Collins The next generation of gaming is here. PS4 and X-Box One. The answer is apparent for gaming- PS4. If you’re a gamer we suggest you buy the PS4. If you’re looking for a Netflix or YouTube experience, enjoy your Xbox-One. The PS4 is in the run with X-Box One. But clearly, PS4 has the true gaming essentials. First of all, I know all you gamers like to have your storage for your games, music, etc. Sadly, X- Box One only has 70 gigabytes, compared to PS4 which has 100 GB’s more (170 GB’s of memory). And for your information gamers, Microsoft is trying to turn X-Box into more a streaming device. So, if you love movies, (and want to waste $100) X- Box is for you, game wise…not so much. The PS4 is $400 and the Xbox-One is $500. Overall, The PS4 is superior for gaming and the Xbox is superior for streaming movies and videos. So, you pick, gaming, or videos…

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CALL OF DUTY GHOSTS By: Gerardo Salgado and Yohannes Mata

CALL OF DUTY GHOSTS This article is being made to those who play Call Of Duty only. If you’re not sure on getting Call Of Duty Ghosts or Battlefield 4 than you should get Call of Duty Ghosts. The first reason why you should get Call of Duty Ghost is it introduces new concepts like squads, and Extinction which is Infinity Wards version of zombies, only with aliens. Second, if you’re in a Call of Duty ELITE clan you can go in a lobby with your clan. If you have many clan members on a lobby, your clan will earn more XP. The second reason why you should get Call of Duty Ghost instead of Battlefield 4 is that the makers of Call of Duty Ghost have added many new things in the game like weapons, and character customization. The makers of Call of Duty Ghost have added over 30 new weapons to the game like snipers, sub machine guns, shotguns, and hand guns. They also added the character customization which mean that you will be able to choose the armor, face pant, and the camouflage your soldier wears. Lastly, the makers of Call of Duty Ghosts have brought back the juggernaut and have created another different version of the juggernaut which is called the juggernaut maniac. What that means is that there are two juggernauts. The juggernaut is going to have a death machine, night vision goggles, and a bigger body armor suit. The juggernaut maniac is going to be only knifing, and is going to be even faster than the one in MW3. The one thing that they both have in common is that the body suit will not get destroyed easily because the suit regains health. That is why we think you should buy Call of Duty Ghost instead of Battlefield 4.

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Broncos head coach has heart surgery By: A’Dontre Thompson and Brian Hernandez John Fox, Denver Broncos head coach, needed surgery to replace a valve in his heart. He had the surgery last week at Charlotte, N.C hospital. On November 2, Fox became dizzy on the golf course and was taken to the hospital. There, the doctors told him he would need surgery. Before doctors told him about his heart but he wanted the appointment after the season. Jack Del Rio is going to take over while John Fox is recovering. John Fox will miss several weeks.

South Middle School Volleyball By: Gabriela Tafoya

Volleyball is here 7th and 8th grade girls! For the volleyball lovers, and to the people who are interested, open gym is on the 5th to the 13th, at 4:15 to 5:30. The practice starts November 18! It starts at 4:15 and ends at 5:30pm. You need your physical in order to participate in practice. Down below is the game schedule so you can come cheer on our Volleyball team! 7th Graders South @ Mrachek

Date of Game Monday, December 9

8th Graders Mrachek @ South

Columbia @ South

Tuesday, December 10

South @ Columbia

Vista Peak @ South

Saturday, December 14

South @ Vista Peak

South @ East

Monday, December 16

East @ South

West @ South

Wednesday, December 18

South @ West

Aurora Quest @ South

Thursday, December 19

South @Aurora Quest

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By: Gloria Gonzalez and Alondra Rivera

South Middle School has a wrestling team with 7th and 8th grades. We had the opportunity to talk to some 8th grade wrestlers. One was Robert Gonzalez. Us: “What made you try out for wrestling?” Robert: “Something that made me try out for the wrestling team was the coaches.” Us: “What’s the hardest thing about wrestling?” Robert: “The hardest thing about wrestling is getting back on your feet when you’re down.” Us: “Do you enjoy being a wrestler?” Robert: “Yes!” Us: “How many games have you won and lost?” Robert: “I have only played ones and I lost.” Us: “Is wrestling a good sport for you?” Robert: “Yes!” We also had the opportunity to talk to another wrestler, Oscar Madrigal. These are some questions we asked him. Us: “What made you try out for wrestling?” Oscar: “My older brother joined it and he told me that he should too.” Us: “What’s the hardest thing about wrestling?” Oscar: “Losing a match.” Us: “Do you enjoy being a wrestler?” Oscar: “Yes.” Us: “How many games have you won and lost?” Oscar: “I have won 2 matches and lost 1 match.” Us: “Is wrestling a good sport for you?” Oscar: “Yes because it helps me lose weight.” Congrats on a great season South Wrestlers! If you see any of the South Wrestling team, or Coaches Morley and Mehling, make sure to congratulate them on their hard work!

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I hate school uniforms, but I've changed my mind By: Abelardo Sanchez Hey do you hate school uniforms if you have them or do not want them at all if you don’t have them? Well I do too, but they are really useful. Hi, my name is Abelardo and I’m here to tell you about school uniforms. Let me tell you something; I hate school uniforms, but they are helpful. It helps your school reduce bullying, they keep you safe, and your parents don’t have to waste a lot of money on water to wash your clothes. But, in my opinion school uniforms are to reduce bullying. I want students to wear school uniforms because mainly they reduce bullying. Ohio high schools had a lot of bullying and they didn’t have uniforms. Kids criticized other kids because of their style; they’d say, “You don’t have these ripped pants so you're not cool like us.” Or something like that and the kids that they said that to just wanted to blend in. Kids got sad and did things to themselves or other people. So the schools changed to uniforms to reduce bullying and when they did the bullying disappeared like magic. This supports my point because it talks about schools that had a lot of bullying and no uniforms, but then they changed to uniforms so it stopped bullying. One argument that someone could make against my opinion is if someone says “I hate school uniforms, I don't want to wear them .” One piece of evidence to overcome this argument would be that in the research I did it said that a lot of kids don't like to wear uniforms, but they don't want to be bullied or afraid of being bullied or not having a good style. In my opinion, school uniforms mainly reduce bullying as you read. I hated school uniforms, but now I'm starting to like them, because they reduce school bullying. So tell your principal for your school to get uniforms to reduce bullying in schools.

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November Events November 18: Girls Volleyball Practice Starts November 21: Choir Concert, 6:00pm November 27-29: Thanksgiving Break December 10: Parent Meeting

Boys Basketball

Teach e

Boys Basketball starts after Winter Break!

rs a Do yo u have nd Stude newsle s n tter? C uggestions f ts! or our ontact in D24 Ms. Thurbe r !

If you’re interested in joining, see Mr. Welch or Mr. Kearney. For information on physicals, see Ms. Savaloja in SPIN.

Vaccination Requirements Parents: Please remember that an updated Certificate of Immunizations or Statement of Exemption to Immunization must be submitted to South Middle School. Information on immunizations can be found at: www.coloradoimmunizations.com For information on low cost vaccines, call the Family Health Line at 303-6922229 or 1-800-688-7777

This newsletter was created by Ms. Thurber’s Publications classes! Page 12