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Issue II Winter 2017
DIY Holiday Gift Ideas Page 4
Thor: Ragnorak Review Page 8
Montgomery High School
National Art Honor Society Hosts First STEAM Night
Calendar of Events
by Amishi Asthana ‘20 On Friday, December 8th, the National Art Honor Society organized a STEAM Night at Montgomery High School for students in grades 1-8. NAHS members planned art activities relating to science, technology, engineering, and math. The agenda for the evening was arranged in a way so that the attendees would be exposed to several interdisciplinary activities. During the event, there was a constellation station (science), a microscope art station (technology), a collaborative paper cave station (engineering), and a geometry station (math). Senior Isabella DeAnglis explained, “We designed four stations (and a fifth pizza station) for the first through eighth graders to make an art project based on each letter in the STEM acronym. The kids were split up by grade into groups and rotated through each station.” At the science station, kids learned about astronomy and constellations, and made watercolor paintings of their astrology sign using a crayon wax resist. Next, at the technology microscope art station, they used microscopes and created a multimedia piece based on what they saw under
December 25 - January 1 Winter Recess - Schools Closed January 11 Winter Choir Concert January 15 Martin Luther King Jr. Day - Schools Closed January 19 Jumpstart Exposition January 24 Start of Marking Period 3
the microscope. At the paper cave station, all participants contributed to one large cave-like structure based on animal architecture, using pages from old books. Lastly, at the geometry station, they made geometric collages. Volunteers helped set up the stations and provided assistance to keep the event running smoothly. When asked about preparations for the event, DeAnglis responded, “We planned out and prepared for four stations, which entailed ordering supplies, creating online forms, designing flyers and pamphlets, writing emails, advertising for the event, creating examples of the art projects,
Source: Anna Mehlhorn ‘18 making presentations, and much more!” In addition to this year’s STEAM Night, every year, the National Art Honor Society and the Future Educators club visit John Marshall Elementary School, a school in Philadelphia that does not have enough funding to run a separate art program. Members of the clubs take the opportunity to spend time with the young children and to teach them an art lesson. When asked about goals for the event, DeAnglis answered, “We wanted to create a fun event that would not only promote our club and get the community involved,
but we hoped to raise money that would cover our annual trip to John Marshall Elementary School in urban Philadelphia…Because bussing is very expensive for a day-long event, we planned on raising money to cover our travel and supplies costs. Overall though, we really just wanted to create an event for kids to have fun exploring STEM through art.” Overall, they accomplished their goal, and the fees collected at the
event will be enough to cover the trip to John Marshall Elementary School. STEAM committee leaders DeAnglis, Anna Mehlhorn (‘18), and Ciana Stagon (‘18) would like to thank the amazing volunteers and teachers who made the night a success. They were happy to see students eager and engaged to make STEAM projects. The National Art Honor Society hopes to continue offering and encouraging exposure to STEAM in the future.
but was captured as a prisoner of war by German soldiers. The Germans starved him and forced him into slave labor where experienced the atrocities of the Holocaust. Eventually, Max managed to escape and received hospital care in Europe and America. He is also the only captured U.S. soldier who made it out alive. After the presentation, students had the opportunity to ask questions during the Q&A session. One student asked Max,“What was it like? How did you feel after killing someone for the first time?” Max responded genuinely saying, “That is a hard question to answer because of the varying emotions you feel. You get a sense of victory, but then you realize that you took someone’s life, that it could have been you. I never felt glee on killing German forces, the human nature definitely comes out.” Another student questioned, “Why didn’t the Jews try to
change their religion to save themselves from the Nazis?” Bikales answered, “It really wasn’t a religious persecution so much as it was a racial prejudice. They didn’t accept conversion or anything of that nature.” Moderator Barbara Wind also added, “But, many priests helped issue baptismal certificates, but they were very expensive so not many people could get one.” In addition to the inspiring stories, the assembly also fit in well with freshman and junior curriculums. For example, the freshman English curriculum analyzes the books Maus by Art Spiegelman and Night by Elie Wiesel, which focus on the themes of identity and dehumanization in the context of the Holocaust. Freshman Khushi Bhan explained, “I thought [the assembly] was much more impactful because it felt more real than just reading
[about the Holocaust] in a book.” Another freshman, Lisbeth Vincente remarked, “It was so interesting to hear how they survived such a horrible situation while they were so weak and oppressed.” For the juniors, they have been studying the rise of Hitler and fascism in their history classes. Junior Lauren Parise reflected
that “We learned more about the political views so it was nice to see a more personal one.” Overall, as the last generation to have the opportunity to see Holocaust survivors, students and faculty were very fortunate for the opportunity and the assembly will be one they will remember for years to come.
January 26 Big Band Bash
Holocaust Survivors Inspire the MHS Community with their Stories by Michelle Reim ‘21
The Holocaust is one of history’s biggest tragedies, which still haunts and impacts the lives of many people around the world. On Friday, December 1st, MHS freshmen and juniors had the incredible opportunity of listening to two Holocaust survivors share their awe-inspiring stories. The first speaker, Gerda Bikales, was just a young girl in Germany when the Holocaust began, forcing her to grow up at a very young age. Bikales and her mother were on the run for almost four years, hiding and escaping from the Nazis. She had many close encounters with death but thankfully managed to escape persecution. Bob Max, the second speaker, was a college student in America during World War II and enlisted in the army along with many other students. He was sent off to Europe
MHS Welcomes New Staff | Part 2 by Kiran Subramanian ‘21
Ms. Campbell
A new teacher in the math department is Ms. Campbell. She has always loved math through the highs of trigonometry to the lows of rational exponents. In high school, she played volleyball, served as a class officer, and enjoyed going to school. She loves that “math is a metaphor and there are multiple ways to solve the same problem.” She believes that family can motivate children to
always reach higher heights. She advises students that “anything worth doing takes hard work, and kindness goes a long way.” Ms. Gresko is the new Family and Consumer Science teacher. Before coming to MHS, she was a chef for more than 20 years. Her favorite part of teaching is when her students realize that they could do something that once seemed impossible. She also loves watching
Ms. Gresko
Source: Michelle Reim ‘21
“Keep your head up and keep looking forward” - Ms. Gresko
her students grow and progress throughout the year. In high school, she was in a photography club, a cooking club and worked as a cook at a resort. Her biggest piece of advice is to “keep your head up and keep looking forward.”