RD Post, Vol. 2, Issue 4 by RedDevilsPost

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RED DEVIL POST Major renovations underway to LHS’s athletic campus with more to follow by Trinitie Lintner

In the student section at the Lowell High School football eld, many students are heard shouting the phrase “RDP”. This phrase stands for Red Devil Pride. This sense of pride is slowly going away in the student population, and not just in the athletes. The school can see this sense of pride slowly diminishing from the kids and found a great solution to their problems. They hope that the athletes will soon have a new sense of pride with the new reconstruction plan. The athletes got a small introduction to the planned renovations at their fall athletic

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Masthead

Staff Hailey Baran Jonathan Budz Brooke Chandler Joshua Cornell Lilly Cruz Hailey Fox Lilly Gleason Bryson Hebble Jaiden Jansma Trinitie Lintner Allie Lukasik Allie Mecha Gabby Morache Taylor Rothrock Emma Sampias Ava Tippy Addi Umfleet

Sponsor Joe Gianotti

IN THIS ISSUE Athletic Renovations, p. 1 Media Center Relocation, p. 4 Trip to Spain, p. 5 Literacy Initiative, p. 6 Academic Super Bowl, p. 7 Mr. Trevino, p. 8 Interview Tips, p. 8 Santa Breakfast, p. 9 Christmas Around the World, p. 10 Seasonal Affective Disorder, p. 11 Girls Basketball, p. 12 Girls Cross-Country, p. 13 Packers vs. Chiefs, p. 14

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Red Devil Pride Major Renovations, continued from front page

meeting back at the beginning of the school year. Since then all of the students can see the many changes that have already been put into motion. They are doing a total reconstruction of the outdoor sports area, and even investing in great new turf elds. The current area is old and dull, but this will all change soon. With newfound space, they are completely relocating the softball and baseball elds to the other side of the football eld, which now leaves room for two new practice elds in their place. On the right side, there will be the Varsity and JV softball elds with new nets and dugouts. Then the baseball elds will be towards the top of the football eld with new nets and dugouts. Towards the left side, there will be the soccer eld with its new turf eld and new lighting. Just below that will be the ten new tennis courts and their new layout. With most of the courts being in a line, they start to take up space, so now they are going to be clustered in pairs of two. They are also adding a new platform for coaches and of cials to be

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Red Devil Pride With Central Of ice’s impending move to LHS, the media center undergoes a major facelift: An interview with Mrs. Kozma by Allie Lukasik

I went down to the library in the tech wing on Wednesday the 29th and I did a quick interview with Mrs. Kozma to ask about her feelings on the library being moved from the media center to a classroom down in the tech wing. “How do you feel about your library being moved from the media center to this room in

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Red Devil Pride Hola, Espańa: Mrs. Carranza to lead students to Europe by Ava Tippy

Some of you may know that Mrs. Carranza is leading a trip to Spain this coming spring. This trip was offered to some of the Spanish students last year. As this exciting trip gets closer, we asked Mrs. Carranza about some of the information she would like to be extended out to these traveling students! Here is what she had to say: Senora Carranza said, “a message to my Spain Travelers: Make sure you submitted your passport information by December 2nd in your Ef tour account, online. Check your to do's, and make sure you keep track of any updates. If you made the predeparture meeting on Nov 2nd, all the logistics of the trip were given. Our confirmed dates are Thursday March 21st-Thursday March 28. We will have our all board final meeting about 3 weeks before our departure date. Please be alert for emails from me. I hope you're as excited as I am.

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Red Devil Pride Mrs. O’Neill leads LHS literacy initiative by Joshua Cornell

As many students know, the school has started implementing a literacy initiative throughout the school this year. I sat down with Mrs. Oneill, who is one of the staff members helping with this initiative, to hear more details about it. Q: Can you tell me about the literacy Initiative in our school? A: Pre-Covid, there was a focus on literacy. There were two literacy coaches, with a focus on literacy being a cross-curricular skill. Lost the coaches and opportunity for professional development during Covid. Last year, as a leadership team, we discussed the importance of literacy. We chose to discuss what the literacy initiative should look like in all classes, no matter the subject.It should be different in every class, and how it looks in each class with the curriculum. How they can read, discuss the reading, and write about the reading. Mr. Deal is the curriculum director. We are using Focus: Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve Student Learning by Mike Schmoker, as a framework to enhance the literacy practices in our

building. Q: How have you put it into practice in the school? A: We began with a full faculty meeting before school started to explore what literacy across the curriculum looks like. We also wanted to emphasize what it’s NOT. We wanted to make sure teachers felt supported and understood that this isn’t about reading novels in your automotive classes. That was before school, to focus on the why. Then we used our faculty meeting and other professional development days to have teachers work in groups to pick apart their curriculum and discuss where literacy tasks were already taking place in continued on page 25

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Red Devil Pride Lowell’s Academic Super Bowl team second to none in Northwest Indiana by Hailey Baran

With the winter season approaching, it’s time for LHS’s Academic Super Bowl teams to start again. Lowell's academic teams have won 47 subject state championships, 8 team state championships, and 18 student state championships. There are five teams students can join: Math, Science, English, Social Studies, and Fine Arts. The Red Devil Post interviewed a student from each team to get an insight into what their team consists of. Junior Jacob Kuczwara describes what the English Academic Super Bowl is like. “English academic is reading multiple poems, including Insomnia and the Seven Steps to Grace, Morning in the Burned House, and jasper texas 1998. We are also getting information from a movie, Dead Poets Society, and we are reading and analyzing a book called House on Mango Street. I like what we are being taught this year, the poems are interesting and Dead Poets Society is a good movie.” During each practice, Kuczwara explains how students in academic English are currently analyzing the poems given and are also watching Dead Poets Society. After winter break, the English team will start reading House on Mango Street before their first competition on February 27th. continued on page 26

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In the Classroom Mr. Trevino returns to LHS to impart historical knowledge by Jonathan Budz

The student teacher for the social studies classes, Mr Trevino, has recently left for the semester. Before his parting, I asked him a few questions about his time at LHS as a student, his time away at college, and what he thinks the biggest changes are now coming back to the school. Mr. Trevino graduated from LHS in 2019 and later attended St. Xavier University to study education. His dream class to teach is US History, which was also his favorite subject to teach students this semester. When asked about Mr. Trevino’s advice to those going into education he responded with “Take your studies seriously.” The biggest change he noticed at LHS came down to student’s headphones. “When I was in High School students took out their headphones when class started, now they don’t.” This was likely due to change with the rise of wireless Type to enter text technology and COVID-19 changing the ways students acted and their overall interests in learning. ________________________ —————————————————————————————————

Preparing for a high quality job interview by Emma Sampias

As the teenage years approach, students are commonly found looking for a temporary job. This may be for various reasons, such as a want for extra money, wanting or needing to help out your family, wanting to save for college, feeling bored, etc. These reasons may be persuasive enough to look into job options nearby. Looking for a job entails applying online, picking up a paper application or contacting businesses to receive an application, and eventually having a possibility of executing a high-quality interview.

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Community Pride Tri-Kappa Santa breakfast an annual hit by Hailey Fox

Every year the town of Lowell puts on the, Winter Fest. This fest includes many different activities throughout the rst weekend of December to celebrate the holiday season. On December 2, the Tri-Kappa, who is very much involved in our community helped organize and put on the cherished, Santa Breakfast at the Lowell Middle School. Our LClub here at the high school each year volunteers their time to help set up, run the event, and clean up. Many of the members used to go to the breakfast as a child, so the event is cherished to many family making it what it is. This event gives many in our community an opportunity to volunteer and connect with those in it. At the Santa Breakfast hundreds of families come together to enjoy a breakfast of donuts and coffee, or orange juice. Along with getting to visit Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus, there are a wide variety of games and activities. There is face painting,

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Community Pride Christmas traditions from around the world by Jaiden Jansma

Could you ever imagine spending Christmas on a beach, celebrating it on January 7th, or being at church until 4 or 5 AM? We may be familiar with traditions in the USA, but what about the rest of the world? Places like Brazil, Egypt, and Russia all have different traditions for the holiday season. About half of the citizens in Brazil are Catholic. A lot of their traditions originally came from Portugal, as Portugal ruled over Brazil for a long time. They set out nativity scenes (Presépio) and perform Christmas plays (Os Pastores, “The Shepherds”), which commonly have a shepherdess and a lady who tries to steal baby Jesus. They will usually go to a midnight mass service (Missa de Galo, “Mass of the Rooster”) which sometimes doesn’t end until 1 AM. They may also go to church during the afternoon on Christmas as well. After Missa de Galo, there is usually a large reworks display. But it’s not all religious, of course. In Brazil, Santa is known as Papai Noel or Bom Velhinho (Good Old Man). Children leave socks by the window in hopes that he will replace it with a gift. Playing Secret Santa is also very common in the month leading up to the holiday. The most popular Christmas song there is Silent Night (Noite Feliz). People commonly get a “13th salary”, double pay for the last month of the year. The Christmas meal often contains pork, turkey, ham, salad, and fruit. It is very hot in Brazil, so people will commonly go to the beach on Christmas. Merry Christmas in Spanish is Feliz Navidad. About 15 percent of citizens in Egypt are a form of Christian. Most people don’t celebrate it as a religious holiday. Either way, it is celebrated on January 7th and not December 25th.

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Devils’ Advocate SADs is a syndrome that we need to take more seriously by Allie Mecha

Seasonal Depression or Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) affects roughly 10 million Americans. SAD, is a form of depression that usually begins to affect people from mid-tolate fall through the early days of spring. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, It begins due to less sunlight hours and shorter days. These changes are linked to a chemical change in the brain and are believed to be the cause of SAD. Melatonin, a sleep-related hormone, also has been linked to seasonal depression. The body naturally makes more melatonin when it’s dark.” There are two different types of Seasonal Depression, Fall- onset and Spring- onset. Fall onset or “winter depression” symptoms begin during the late fall/ early winter months and die down during the summer months. Spring onset or “summer depression” symptoms begin during the late spring/ early summer. However, Spring-onset is much less common. continued on page 30

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Courts and Fields Girls basketball off to another sizzling start by Addison Um eet

The Girls Varsity Basketball team has started the season off with a 7-2 record. The Devils are full of passion and are hoping for a good year. Their motto for this year is “Get on My Level,” which helps them persevere through tough situations. In the past, they have struggled with playing the game at their own pace. This year, they have disciplined themselves to make positive changes. The JV team is also doing well this year. Their record is 8-1, only losing to Crown Point. Last Friday, the girls basketball program was at KV. Both games were close ones, but the Devils were able to hold onto the lead for JV and varsity. The score for varsity ended up being 52-47. This conference game was a huge win for the Devils. Munster was the Devils most recent game. They were able to pull off the win, 53-28. Their

conference record is now 2-1. These two games that were won were crucial wins and helped the Devils build their winning record.

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Courts and Fields Girls Cross Travels to XC Town, USA by Gabby Morache

On Sunday, November 12, six lady devils of the cross country team traveled to Terre Haute, Indiana to compete in the Nike Cross Country Midwest Regional, where they faced competition from Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Iowa, and Missouri on one of the top courses in the nation as well as the high school state competition course for Indiana. The vibes of this day were unmatched for all runners. Terre Haute, Indiana is like a runner’s paradise with fun designed race gear, scents of freshly made eggs and bacon, and the notorious Lavern spike tree standing tall at the end of the course all being sights and smells on the course. Teams ran past on their warm ups, sporting their brand new Nike Midwest beanies, screaming and laughing with excitement. No race had ever felt quite like it and the Lowell girls were astonished with the environment. For those not familiar, across the United States, the NXR championships welcome all high school continued on page 28

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Courts and Fields Lilly Cruz travels to the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field by Lilly Cruz

Lambeau Field on December 2, 2023 held an event called Festival of Lights. Inside the stadium contained free cookies, hot chocolate, and regular and chocolate milk for any guest on arrival at the festival that was free upon entrance. This brought people together during the holiday season to enjoy each other's company. Some other activities that were held inside and outside the stadium were tree lighting, face painting, displaying Christmas movies, an outside light show, and a choir singing Christmas music to raise the Christmas magic before the Packers faced the Chiefs on December 3, 2023 at Lambeau Field the following day.

On December 3, 2023, the Packers played against the Chiefs at Lambeau Field in 30-degree weather. The Green Bay Packers were 5-6 and the Chiefs were 8-3 before the game started. Throughout the rst

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Major renovations, continued from page 3

shaded and see all of the courts from above. Then in the center of it all, will be the new turf football field and the renovations to the Northstar Building. The football field will be in the same spot that it was before but with so many more options. The football field itself is now moving to turf, and there will be a new track around the field. There will be a renovation of the bleachers and there will be a slight increase in their size. Major renovations are going to be seen in the Northstar Building. One of the largest changes for Northstar is the addition of a second-floor conference room. This will give the sports another area where they can have team meals or even team meetings. Also, they will be adding locker rooms in this building for outdoor sports. As of now, all of the locker rooms are located inside. This means that some students have to walk back and forth just to get to practice. This leaves many students changing in their cars to save time and energy. This may not seem like a huge deal to most people, but when you have to walk from the school out to your field, just to stretch and run, it can get very tiresome. Another big change is the conversion to all turf fields. Most people may think they are just trying to find a cheap and easy way to get the fields ready, but it is quite the opposite. Each field will have a specific type of turf made for the sport to give our players the best playing field possible. It will also have some layers of cushion to keep our players comfortable. The entire construction plan will happen in phases. These changes are for sure happening in phase one. They are unsure of the exact amount of phases but know that this is going to be the largest one. Because of this, they are unsure about some of the final renovation dates. Since they were unsure of some of the dates, they originally put some plans in the phase two section, that will be moving in phase one. The reconstruction of the pool is one of the larger facilities that is being started sooner than was at first thought. They are looking to

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Major Renovations, continued from page 15

completely relocate the pool to the north end of the field house to keep it closer to all of the other facilities. A few new lanes will be added, and they are trying to figure out a way to make the diving separate from the main pool. There will be a new concept of adding more natural light into the pool to make the area more welcoming for all viewers and swimmers. The current pool area is not very welcoming and is very small for the amount of people that can potentially swim there. The pool itself is also outdated and has completely shut down many times, even during the swimming season. They are planning on making the pools more efficient and clean to keep the pool safe for the swimmers. However, because the relocation of the pool is going to interfere with the parking in that area, they have also decided to change the layout of the student parking lot. They are shifting some of the parking lots to different directions and areas. There will be an increase in parking spots, and the new lots will be spread out throughout the campus. Currently, for sports like softball, and baseball, there isn’t much space for parking lots, leaving the parents, and even grandparents, walking quite a ways to watch their kids play. There will now be an addition of parking lots near the soccer field, and in between the varsity softball and baseball fields. This addition is going to allow for a smoother entry and experience for the viewers and players. Again, this is just one phase of the reconstruction plan. There will be a few more renovations for most of the schools in the community after this one is completed. As of right now, if everything continues to go smoothly, the reconstruction being done in phase one is expected to be finished in August or September of 2024. This is the date that they are hoping for, but living in an area like Northwest Indiana, there could be some weather delays in the winter which could push back this deadline. So, as much as the school would love to give definite dates, they cannot officially give any dates due to possible delays. Ms. McCormack, Lowell's Athletic Director, has been very excited about this new reconstruction. She has helped get me this information, and these amazing pictures. As excited as she is about the entire construction plan, there is one thing that is the most important for her. She is proud of all the athletic programs at Lowell High School, and she wants the students to have this same pride. She hopes that this will bring the community together, and give the students of Lowell High School something to be proud of. So next year, when you are walking past the student section, you will hear the phrase “RDP”, but this time it will be different because they will finally mean it.

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Media Center, continued from page 4

the tech wing?” “I was really sad to see the library go. I was the rst one to see it when it was brand new and it just broke my heart to start seeing the demolition of it. Seeing all the Sharpies on the wall and everything just torn up was really devastating. I’m sure however when I see all the new stu put in there I will be happy. Just for right now, I am a little sad.” “Do you still plan on decorating in here like you did in the media center?” “Yes, I do still plan on decorating. As you can see I already have my Christmas decorations up. I had a lot of help from students. I wish I had written their names down. I had many students come in from help sessions and study halls to help bring in a lot of boxes of decorations. “Do you still get a lot of students coming in here like you did in the media center?” “Only the ction section moved in this room so the freshmen and sophomores who are doing their independent reading book assignments are able to come in and get their own books. There are still some other students from higher grade levels who come in but it’s mainly for the freshmen and sophomores. I don’t have as much room in here so I haven’t had any classes coming in but today I have my rst class coming in which is Mr. Brandush's class. I don’t have as many chairs and tables in here anymore so I am unable to t a larger class in here. “How was the process of moving everything in this room?” “It was very di cult. It was a very physical process. If I didn’t have student help, I wouldn’t have been able to do this all on my own. There was also a lot of cleaning. There was a wall made of plywood and there was a cage on the ceiling that was very weird for me when I rst walked into this room. At rst, we weren’t even going to be able to have shelving but then Glen Staples and Carl Shanks who work for Tri-Creek School Corporation's maintenance department disassembled three large shelves and rebuilt them so that sta and students could have a temporary library until the remodel is complete. The shelves hold the ction collection and graphic novels. “Have any books been lost in the move?” 4 boxes of books had been lost in the move between the rooms. I know they are in storage and I have an assistant who works with me 3 times a week going through storage but the box is very deep in there and we still haven’t been able to nd it. A Hunger Games set has gone missing but a student currently has one of the books out so it’s just out there oating around.” Overall Mrs. Kozma was a pleasure to talk to and more people should go down and visit her in T109. She’s

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already made the room feel like home to many students and staff.

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Literacy, continued from page 6

their classrooms. And then we had teachers pick one lesson and focus on enhancing the three parts(reading, discussing, writing). The goal is that students are being exposed to a large volume of authentic opportunities to read, discuss, and write during their school days. The four administration faculty members, other faculty leaders, and speci c team leaders have all been heavily involved in this planning and discussing. Q: What is the hope for semester 2? A: Looking at semester 2, we are hoping to work in departments to create content speci c supports to further the authentic literacy that already takes place in our classrooms. Q: What are other speci c goals? A: We are hoping to help our students stand out for college for their communication skills. Even in CTE, we want our students to stand out for their writing and communication skills in their speci c careers. Q; How are you hoping this will evolve in future years here? A: Reading, discussing, and writing will always be part of our classrooms. As the world changes, it’s important for our classroom practices to evolve to support the needs of our students. Teachers will forever continue to work on literacy best practices in their classrooms. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Interview, continued from page 8

There are many tips and tricks to preparing for a successful interview. Six of the most valuable tips may include researching the company, reviewing the job description, printing your resume, conducting a mock interview, possessing respectful body language, and listening thoroughly to the interviewer. Researching the company helps prepare you for questions regarding the company, presents you as knowledgeable of the company, along with making you seem as if you care enough to learn about the company. Printing your resume helps you appear prepared and responsible. Conducting mock interviews allows you to feel prepared for the questions and the format of the interview, putting you at ease. Possessing respectful body language may allow the interviewer to see you as more engaged and someone who carries themselves well. Listening thoroughly to the interviewer will allow for better responses regarding the question asked. Each of these tips may ensure a successful interview. A successful interview commonly results in an acceptance of the job position.

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Academic Super Bowl, continued from page 7

Kuczwara believes joining the English Academic Super Bowl has bene ts because “You can improve your English skills for analyzing texts and getting a deeper and better understanding of what you are reading. I decided to join because of the people in the English Super Bowl and the opportunity to improve my English skills for the upcoming SAT for Juniors.” Kuczwara goes on to say how fun Academic English is, as it’s “an experience that is 100% worth trying if people are skeptical about joining.” Sophomore Jack Brugos explains what he is currently doing in academic Social Studies. “I’m going over the events that corresponded in the U.S. from the Carter to Bush presidencies.” Each year, there is a theme for the content being taught in each academic team, and this year that theme is the 1980s/1990s. Each academic team is studying something related to the 80s and 90s. To study the information given, Brugos explains how the social studies team tackles practices. “Each person takes a chapter (of the book that’s given) and presents the chapter they were assigned to read/analyze.” Not everything from the book can be fully studied by the rst competition, so portions of the book are broken down so studying is more e cient and easier. Brugos believes joining academic Social Studies has multiple bene ts. “I originally joined because I felt that it would A: be good for colleges, and B: be something I could succeed in. But, one of the main reasons I stayed with it was because it prepared me for classes I would be taking in the future. I now have a lot of knowledge that I would not have if I had not joined the academic Superbowl.” Brugos also adds that he thinks the academic Super Bowl overall is a great program, and that it gave someone like him who “is incredibly competitive but not a fan of athletics a chance to compete in something he’s good at.” Sophomore Jaidyn Jansma gives us a personal glimpse into what ne arts is doing. “Along with the other teams, we are studying things from the 1980s and 1990s. For us speci cally, we are looking at artists, architects, musicians, and music theories of the time. I think people would recognize some of the work. Jean-Michel Basquiat is the rst artist on the list. I see a lot of people who own clothes and stu with his work on it, but I don’t think they know who he is. Two musicians are John Williams and Danny Elfman, who made music scores for Star Wars and Batman respectively. It’s very di erent from last year’s, but I’m enjoying this one as well.” Jansma also describes what practices are like. “We normally split some work among ourselves and come together later to discuss and share what we learned. For example, Gianotti (the stand-in for Blankenship) assigned everyone articles he found on 2 of the artists and 1 of the musicians. We got to pick who we wanted to look into and we will be sharing them at the next meeting. When we split up work, we have less to handle individually but we still have all the information we need when we come together as a team. Some people like art more, some people like music more. It works out.” Jansma thinks Academic Fine Arts is a great program if you’re into art and music. “It’s not just listening to a song or looking at a painting. we learn the deeper meanings behind things and the history of the

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Academic Super Bowl, continued from page 19

artist/musicians themselves.” Jansma explains that she joined Fine Arts Bowl because she deeply enjoys art history, and this program is the closest thing she can get to art history. “Competing is nerve-wracking but very fun when it pays o ,” she adds. Junior Sydney Cantrell explains what academic math is learning this year. “It (academic math) consists of some Algebra topics, including the system of equations, geometry with similar triangles, some calculus, and some enrichment topics. Overall, it’s all topics taught in high school, ranging from Algebra 1 to Calculus and Statistics.” During each practice, Cantrell explains how Mrs. Swinford, the academic math team coach, will pick out a random topic for students to learn and will teach it. Students work on problems provided from the topic learned and will work together to expand their knowledge. Cantrell believes academic math is bene cial to her knowledge. As an example, Cantrell stated that she learned about matrices and how to solve them in her freshman year of high school when they’re usually covered in pre-calculus as a junior/senior. Cantrell says she joined because she genuinely enjoys math, and wanted to do it more outside of class. As a closing thought, Cantrell adds, “Doing math takes a lot of dedication and time, and you have to be willing to show up to practices as much as possible because if you miss a lesson, it is very easy for you to get stuck and fall behind.” Junior Mikey Vitols describes what the science academic team is learning. “The science bowl is split up into three parts: physics, biology, and chemistry. Chemistry was the rst thing I looked at, and much of it is about nuclear energy, which is neat. Physics includes some aerospace engineering (cool, but daunting), and biology talks about molecular genetics and the HIV/AIDS crisis. Overall, these topics are all good picks and I expect to learn some interesting stu this year.” Vitols goes on to explain how practices are generally laid back, and most of the work studied is completed in teams. Students will occasionally make resources to go along with the materials, so they’re prepared and ready for upcoming competitions.

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Vitols believes academic science has numerous bene ts, as it is great for students who value knowledge and “enjoy the grati cation that comes with nally understanding a di cult concept.” Many of the topics learned are not taught in classrooms until later, so you’re able to jump ahead academically. Vitols has been in the academic Super Bowl since his freshman year and has continued to do it because he enjoys the learning experience behind it. Next competition, Vitols is “looking forward to doing better than Crown Point.”

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Tri-Kappa, continued from page 9

cookie decorating, a cake walk, di erent crafts and games that the children can participate in. Coupled with the Santa Breakfast there is also the Easter breakfast where there are similar activities but the Easter bunny is there for the children to visit with. Both of these events are truly one of a kind and a great experience for those of all ages and it supports our community to be able to continue to host these wonderful events. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Christmas, continued from page 10

Christians have an advent from November 25th to January 6th. During this time, people who are healthy enough to do so do “The Holy Nativity Feast”. For these 43 days, they don’t eat anything that comes from animals. Christians go to a church service on January 6th, their Christmas Eve. They usually go from 10:30 PM to 12 AM, but some people stay much longer. Their Christmas meals contain lots of butter, eggs, and meat as they didn’t eat them during the fast. Christmas is becoming a secular holiday there as well, with people decorating trees for the holiday. Santa is known as Baba Noël (Father Christmas). In Arabic, Merry Christmas is ‫( عيد ميالد مجيد‬Eid Milad Majid, “Glorious Birth Feast”) Christmas in Russia was banned from 1929 to 1991, during the Soviet Union’s rule. Christmas trees were banned until 1935, but they were named as trees for the New Year celebrations. Families during this time would practice Christmas privately within their families if they celebrated it at all. Even now, New Year celebrations are larger in Russia compared to Christmas celebrations. But the festivities are similar to Christmas ones. “Grandfather Frost” (Ded Moroz, Дед Мороз) and his granddaughter (Snegurochka) bring presents to children on New Years. A popular lm to watch during this time is The Irony of Fate. Christmas in Russia is also celebrated on January 7th and involves a 40-day advent from November 28th to January 6th. Only certain Catholics celebrate on December 25th. On Christmas Eve, they will eat mostly fruit and vegetable dishes like sochivo/kutia, which is a rice porridge with nuts and fruits. On Christmas, they have a feast with things like pork and goose. They go to church after the meal and sometimes don’t leave until 4 or 5 AM. You may be familiar with the story of Babushka, which most people believe comes from Russia. But a lot of Russians are unfamiliar with this story, as it was actually made by an American poet in 1907. Merry Christmas in Russian is "C рождеством" or "Счастливого рождества" ("s rah-zh-dee-st-VOHM" or "sschah-st-lee-vah-vah rah-zh dee-st-vah").

Many places have di erent routines for the holiday season. A few other examples are eating KFC in Japan, Santa wearing blue in South Korea, and having a boat as a decoration in Greece. No matter where you live, it’s important to celebrate the importance of family and joy during this season.

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SADs, continued from page 11

Some of the common symptoms of Seasonal Depression include: • Increased sleep and daytime drowsiness • Loss of interest/pleasure in activities formally enjoyed • Social withdrawal and increased sensitivity to rejection • Irritability/ anxiety • Feelings of guilt and hopelessness • Fatigue, or low energy level • Decreased ability to focus or concentrate • Trouble thinking clearly • Increased appetite (especially for sweets/carbohydrates) • Weight gain • Physical problems (ex. headaches) You might notice that the symptoms su ered tend to come back and then improve around the same times every year. Treatments • • •

•

Exposure to sunlight: Spending time near a window or outside can help relieve some of the symptoms Light therapy: exposure to a special light if sunlight isn’t possible Psychotherapy: AKA talk therapy, known to help with cognitive behavior. It can help with learning: ◦ Healthy ways to cope with/reduce avoidance behavior and scheduling meaningful activities ◦ How to identify/ change negative thoughts and behaviors that may be making you feel worse ◦ How to manage stress ◦ How to build healthy behaviors, such as increasing physical activity and improving your ◦ sleeping patterns Medication: Sometimes, symptoms get too severe where antidepressant treatment is bene cial to the person Exercise: Exercise and physical movement can help relieve both stress and anxiety, which both increase symptoms Normalizing sleep patterns: Schedule reliable times to wake up and go to bed each day; try to reduce oversleeping or napping

Remember that this isn’t the end of your story and it will pass. Stay safe!

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Cross Country, continued from page 13

and club runners to compete in their respective regional. Nine regionals feed into the national race on Decmeber 2nd in Portland, Oregon: Heartland, Midwest, Northwest, Southwest, South, Northeast, Southeast, California and New York. A eld of 22 seven person teams and an additional 50 individuals will lay it all on the line in the quest for the sport's biggest prize, the Winged Goddess of Victory statue. The Lowell girls ran one of the three open invitational races, not competing for the championship, but for more race experience. The girls soaked it in, admiring the eld of 234 girls among them. Some wore pickle costumes and some dragon onesies. Racing amongst some of the best in the Midwest was done in style! In the championship race, it was a very good day for Indiana runners. State champion Cameron Todd and state runner-up Will Conway of Indiana took rst and second in the championship race, respecitively. This ranks them rst and second in the Midwest and punching them a ticket to Portland on December 2nd. State champion Libby Dowty took fourth overall, Addison Knochblanch taking fth, and Julia Score following closely behind in seventh. Overall, there is no racing quite like running in the Midwest, escpecially in our home state of Indiana. When running here, you can be sure to race against some of the best competition in the nation in the best environments. Awesome job to the Lowell girls that competed at NXR. Onto track! _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Cruz, continued from page 14

half of the game, the Packers o ense was doing fantastic, gaining 14 points in the rst two quarters. The Green Bay Packers had a total of 193 yards and the Chiefs had 138 yards, ending the rst half with the Packers up 14-6. In the second half, the Chiefs were starting to make a comeback, after several points were made by both teams making it 24-19, and the Chiefs only down by 5. Nixon, a cornerback, made a game-changing play to slow down the momentum of the Chiefs and got an interception thrown by Patrick Mahomes. The Chiefs had the ball in the nal minute of the game, 27-19, and failed to get a touchdown and an extra 2 points to win the game. The Packers had a total of 382 yards and the Chiefs had 337 yards at the end of the game. The nal score was 27-19, making the Green Bay Packers the winning team.

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Red Devil PRIDE in our Red Devil Post