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EDITORS IN CHIEF
Lou Phillips-Anderson
Madison Riggs
STAFF WRITERS/DESIGNERS
Declan Ritchotte
Gabriella Rivas
Joshua Chhoeun
Kelin Santos Castellanos
Kevin Perez Gonzalez
Lou Phillips-Anderson
Madison Riggs
Maxwell Eaton
Porter Wooden
Brett Harwood
By: Madison Riggs
During the first week back from break, Northwood held its winter spirit week and Gladfest. Spirit week kicked off with Pajama Day, followed by various holiday-themed days. Ugly Sweater Day was a particular hit, as Gladiators sported their tackiest Christmas sweaters, along with Friday’s sports day, where students were encouraged to wear school jerseys or their favorite team's jersey.
Friday also held the previously mentioned Gladfest, this year's winter pep rally. Similar to the fall pep rally, Gladfest was held during an extended 7th period, after a half day like schedule with other classes. Students were given either block A or B, and were instructed to go to the gym, where performances and games were taking place. Concessions were being sold next to the gym, and tables had been set up outside the concession stands in case students didn’t want to sit in the gym. If students wanted a quiet place to relax or study, they were instructed to go to the
The Gladfest kicked off with small Cheers from the cheerleaders and Poms team to the backing drumline rhythms. Shortly after students had settled in, the Northwood African Dance Association began the festivities with a short performance. The cheer team followed, giving their full performance, and showing off the skills they have been practicing. A notable moment was when the fliers went on top of the three human pyramids while preforming a cheer. Quickly after that, the Poms team performed. Poms have frequently been a highlight of the pep rallies, and they did not disappoint. Many people commented on the new variety of dance moves introduced in this winter's performance and the fast pace at which the team was able to dance. Per tradition, the Teacher vs Student musical chairs game took place. After some comeptative dancing students sat their way to victory. Following musical chairs, students vs staff played a competitive game of dodgeball, which students also won. Finally, the winter sports teams were highlighted, standing and waving while their names were called, with cheers from the other students. Overall the pep rally went according to plan. While the gym offers a space to hold the current pep rallies, many students look forward to the athletic fields being built, which would allow us the full student pep rallies once again.
Twins are two children born from thesamepregnancy.
According to an overview in the Journal Human Reproduction, around 1.6 million twins are born everyyear,worldwide.
While human twins almost always sharethesamefather,occasionally non-identical twins can have different fathers though a process known as heteropaternal superfecundation.
Twins can be monozygotic -- often known as identical -- coming from one egg, or dizygotic -- often known as non-identical or fraternal --comingfromtwoeggs.
English teacher and twin Jennifer Winters says “my twin and I fought likecatsanddogswhenwewerein high school. Our parents would get callshomethatwewerefistfighting inmathclass!”
BY LOU PHILLIPS-ANDERSON
“We are complete opposites and it tookawhiletofigureouthowtoget along, but now we are really best friends.”Winterssaid.
A Danish study found that twins who survive infancy tend to live longer than singletons, and that identicaltwinsliveevenlongerthan fraternal twins. This increase in longevity is similar to that found in married people vs. single people, thestudysaid
“While existing research suggests an increasingly important role for genetic factors at very advanced ages, we conclude that the social closenessofmonozygotictwinsisa plausible driver of the survival advantage at ages <65,” the study said
“Being a twin is really fun, you always have a pal,” senior MaddisonRiggssaid.
The Northwood track team competed for the first time at the MCPS scrimmage meet on December 4th. The meet was held at Prince George's Sports & Learning Complex’s indoor track, and because it was a scrimmage meet there were a limited number of events. The track events held were the 4x800 relay, 55 meter hurdles, 300 meters and the 1600 meters. The field events held were shot put, high jump, long jump and triple jump.
Getting a good warm up before races is essential for athletic performance which is why the track opens up at 1:30 allowing athletes to warm up before the meet starts (2:30). However, due to track meets being around 3-5 hours long, it is important that athletes stay hydrated, eat carbs for an additional energy boost, get an extra warm up in, and stretch before their event starts so that their body is ready to compete.
Information about indoor track that you might not know is that an indoor track is 200 meters which is half the distance of the 400 meter outdoor track. There are certain events run during indoor track that are not held during outdoor track such as the 55 meter dash, 60 meter dash, 300 meters, 500 meters, 55 meter hurdles, and the 60 meter hurdles. The only field event that isn’t available during the indoor season is the discus throw and this is due to there not being enough space at an indoor track to hold this event. The lane widths on indoor tracks are slightly smaller than the lane widths on an outdoor track, and there are only 6 lanes on an indoor track compared to there being 8 or 9 lanes on most outdoor tracks.
Event/Athlete/Time
300 meters, Jayden Apenteng, 36.78
300 meters,Christopher Argueta, 38.81
300 Meters, Maxwell Eaton, 39.22
300 meters, Nicholas Gable, 40.97
300 meters, Anthony Ramos, 41.92
300 meters, Addison Finlay, 45.81
300 meters, Joele Washington, 48.48
300 meters, Angel Fletcher, 48.87
300 meters, Chesna Foster, 48.63
300 meters, Yahnie Charles, 49.69
1600 meters, Ian Fisher, 5:01.15
1600 meters, Ian Melgosa, 5:53.94
1600 meters, Wilber Echeverria, 6:23.84
1600 meters, Miatta Musee, 7:42.76
Long jump, Yahnie Charles, 12’ 8.5
Triple jump, Angel Fletcher, 31’ 6
Written by Max Eaton
Hurricane Helene was a tropical storm that tore through the southern U.S. back in September of this year. It’s gained notoriety because it was one of the deadliest hurricanes to hit the mainland U.S. since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The hurricane began its U.S. tour through Florida in late September when hurricane warnings were issued for the ‘big bend’ area and extreme wind warnings were issued for the east part of the Florida Panhandle Initially, Governor Ron DeSantis issued a state of emergency for 41 counties across the state eventually evolving into 61 counties and a federal disaster decleration issued by President Biden leading to state parks, schools, college football games, etc, all being closed/canceled during the storm.
Then on September 24th Mandatory evacuation orders were issued in Hernando County, Citrus County, and Wakulla County (although interestingly 2 prisons holding up to 2,500 inmates each were not evacuated). Parts of Charlotte County and Franklin County also received evacuation orders mainly in lower flood-prone areas.
To give a better idea of the hardships brought on by the hurricane, residents of the Dunedin Hill mobile home community in Florida have been surviving off small heaters and generators for the past 3 months due to a total loss power caused by collateral damage from the hurricane.
Over in Georgia, while its coast was placed under a tropical storm warning, its southwestern religion was placed under a hurricane warning that crawled it’s up towards the northern part of the state Notably, the National Weather Service in Peachtree City accidentally issued a hurricane warning for Jackson County when it was supposed to be a tropical storm warning.
On September 24th while preparing for Helene local officials in Bryan County, Candler County, and Chatham County all began setting up emergency response centers, that same day, like Florida, Georgia was put under a state of emergency by Governor Brian Kemp. Then on the 26th back in the southern regions of Georgia extreme wind warnings were issued. Schools throughout the state from the 25th-27th were all either closing, including athletic events and any other such school events, or opting to have online classes during the disaster.
Lastly, North Carolina was hit hard with flooding and landslides annihilating key infrastructure and homes throughout the religion causing over 100 total deaths by the time the dust settled with relief efforts still going on.
We’re approaching a new era for the Washington Commanders. The Jayden Daniels era. The team was off to a 7-2 start, the first time since 1996, but have shortly fallen to 8-5 Possibly the biggest factor in this? Jayden Daniels, the #2 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. The rookie is the frontrunner for the Offensive Rookie of The Year award, with the only competition coming from Denver Broncos quarterback BoNix Daniels leads all rookie quarterbacks in completion percentage, passing yards, rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, quarterback rating, and nearly every major trackable metric. The last time the DMV saw a quarterback this electric, may have been over 10 years ago, with Robert Griffin III in 2013. Similarly to RG3, Daniels isn’t a prostyle quarterback, like his predecessors. His elite athleticism makes him a true dualthreat, making him a nightmare for defensive coordinators across the league. At any given moment, he could scramble for a 30 yard carry, or launch a 60 yard bombinthepocket D A N I E L S E R A J A Y D E N
The renamed Northwest Stadium has seen improvements in fan attendanceaswell,evenwithticketpricesbeinghikedupbyover$100 The roster has seen a huge improvement with their new acquired veterans (something that unfortunately did not work out for the Wizards.)
Bobby Wagner, Austin Ekeler, Frankie Luvu, Jeremy Chinn, were the biggestnamesbroughtup.Eachoftheseplayersplayedahugerolein the progression of this new Commanders team, bringing new leadership, a higher level of play, and a new culture under Dan Quinn Veteran running back Austin Ekeler attributed their recent string of wins to Coach Quinn, stating “DQ says it best, we fight for every blade of grass”
On the day of the trade deadline, the Commanders made another huge move for the defense, obtaining pro bowl cornerback Marshon Lattimore from the rebuilding New Orleans Saints in exchange for a third, fourth, and sixth round pick. Lattimore will undoubtedly be a big impact on the Commanders defense, and will likely be their starting cornerback, especially after the release of former first round pick EmmanuelForbesJr
With the Commanders in the hunt, the DMV may have their first opportunitytoattendaplayoffgamesince2015
Written by Declan Ritchotte
Since November 5th, 2024 lots has happened in the American Political world Between Joe Biden pardoning his son, South Korea enacting martial-law, tariff threats on Mexico and Canada, sex scandals for cabinet picks, and official cabinet nominees. A lot has been going on recently but I will be talking about Trump's cabinet nominee.
President elect Donald Trump has officially selected the nominees he has wanted to have for his cabinet. To understand his nominees we need to understand who makes up the cabinet and what it does. There are 26 total members including the vice-president, 15 department heads, and 10 other cabinet-level officials. The 15 department heads are the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs, as well as the Attorney General. These 26 people report directly to the president and no one else.
There are three big selections for Trump's second cabinet that will be mentioned today. Attorney General, Secretary of Defense, and Secretary of Education.
Trump’s selection for Attorney General is Pam Bondi As Attorney General she will represent the United States in legal matters, give advice to the president and other heads of departments With quite the track record, Bondi served as Florida’s attorney general for 8 years from 2011-2019. She also was on Trump's defense team during his first impeachment trial in 2020. Bondi served on the Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission during Trump’s first term as well.
The Secretary of Defense, a very prestigious and important role has been given to a Fox news anchorman With no political background, and very minimal military service, Pete Hegseth is Trump's pick for the Secretary of Defense. This role oversees the defense department, and acts as principle of defense policymaker and advisor. Hegseth served in the National Guard for 13 years and is a war veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq. The biggest concern with this pick is Hegseth’s capabilities to manage a department so large. With a budget of almost 900 Billion dollars and almost 3 million military personnel, Hegseth seems very, very underqualified for such a large role
The last cabinet pick to talk about is Linda McMahon for Secretary of Education. If that name sounds a bit familiar, it may be from her amazing portfolio of WWE co-founder. The Department of Education, which provides grants, work-study funds, and low-interest loans to approximately 13 million students nationwide, has been put in charge by someone who has no background in education. McMahon and Trump are trying to create a movement, “send Education BACK TO THE STATES”. It already is Other than minimal federal funding, public schools are run at the state and local level
These three picks are just a few to highlight. There are another twelve that were not talked about in the article. Please do your own research and keep up with the people that are running our country.
The CMA Awards are given to talented country artists who have earned recognition. The 2024 CMA Awards was broadcasted this year on November 20th, 2024. There are twelve categories of the CMA Awards and we will go over some.
The 2024 CMA Awards is the 58th CMA Awards. Three people hosted the CMA Awards this year: Luke Bryan, Peyton Manning, and Lainey Wilson. Two of these people are known in the country world as crazy experienced and talented. At the same time, the other is a retired football player for the Denver Broncos and the Indianapolis Colts with a passion for country music. “Hosting the CMA Awards is such an honor, and it’s crazy when I realize this is my fourth year back,” said Luke Bryant when asked about hosting the CMA. These three made an amazing and entertaining show.
The CMA awards have twelve separate categories each has its winner. The twelve are Entertainer of the Year, Single of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Female Vocalist of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Vocal Group of the Year, Vocal Duo of the Year, Musical Event of the Year, Musician of the year, Music Video of the Year, and New Artist of the Year. Some winners include; Chris Stapleton for male, single, and song of the year, Old Domination for vocal group of the year, and Lainey Wilson for music video of the year. The CMA is an event centered around country music, so there is a country music performance when each award is announced with artists like Thomas Rhett, Teddy Swims, Ella Langley, Riley Green, Shaboozy, and more.
That’s it, Cowfolks
That's all about the Country Music Awards! You can look at clips on social media, but even if you watched at home, you will have fun. Be sure to look out for our next music article as the show must go on.
Written by: Porter Wooden
Christmas is right around the corner, and what better way to enjoy the holidays than finding the perfect Christmas movie.
In today's article, staff and students were asked about their #1 one favorite Christmas and their #1 least favorite movie, for which to be tilled up to show the most and least popular Christmas movie
The PG rated movie Elf, was released on November 7 2003, and directed by Jon Favreau starring the main character Buddy (played by Will Ferrell). As a baby, Buddy was accidentally transported to the North Pole, and was raised into adulthood by Santa's elves Buddy starts to realize that he doesn’t fit in Buddy decided to travel down to New York to see his ACTUAL father that he barely knows about. Buddy finds out that Walter Hobbs (played by James Caan), was his REAL dad. Keeping in mind, Buddy is in a whole Elf entirely, and when meeting with his so-called real dad, Walter Hobbs is a businessman who takes things seriously and only focuses on work. Once taking a DNA test for Walter to see that he is the father. Buddy hangs with his new family, giving the family a new surprise and chaos everyday
The budgeting for the making of the movie was $33 million dollars, making the movie a below average money range. In a poll, 7 people said Elf is the best Christmas movie to watch Reasoning being its “hilarious” or, “it's a classic” as some millennial would say.
“It’s just a guy who doesn't know that he's doing wrong HAHA”- Art teacher Dr Eden Reff Presco
“It's a classic!” - Carlos Cruz
“It’s funny! and a homey movie. I don’t understand why people hate it.”- Ella smith
“I laughed at every part, especially when he called one of the coworkers an elf but it was just a short person. And the short person tackled buddy HAHAHA”
- Fernando Rivas
Elf is a very nice warming movie, but for anyone with children, there are no inappropriate scenes but there is some potty language H- E double hockey sticks, but other than that this movie is children proof.
Elf has all the classic/ stereotypical Christmas magic, its snowing, Christmas trees and lights are everywhere
Even though Elf is getting praise, some say they don’t like the movie.
“I cringe every time I watch it.” - Maddie Stephen “It's just Will Ferrel being a man child and doing the old things, it's getting old ” - Alex Warren
"It’s highly overrated. I almost gagged at everything.”
- Amy Cosby
Elf may be cringe worthy and over hyped for some people but it still one of the biggest, most classic movies to ever be made