THE WISCO PILOT
Vol. 28 No.2
Articles by and for students
December 2021
Adding Joy to the Community by Volunteering By Ryan Parker The Christmas season inspires feelings of generosity and kindness in many. Why this phenomena of good will occurs is up to speculation, but the inexplicable nature of these emotions does not in any way weaken them. Sadly, these feelings often are underutilized by a large number of people. These feelings of benevolence slowly waste away after Christmas ends, and winter ceases to be a “wonderland.” By the time January arrives and the snow becomes a chore, as it devolves into dubious slush, and the cold becomes comparable to a wild beast as opposed to a gentle nip earlier in the season, most of the good will of the Christmas season has dissipated. And, once again, people return to their normal state of moderate self absorption. Such an outcome is fairly disappointing when one takes into consideration the effect those positive emotions could have on society. Imagine how much joy could be added to the already normally joyous season of Christmas if people contributed even a small part of their time during the Christmas season to give back to their community! Now, I acknowledge that the Christmas season is normally a busy time of the year, perhaps even the busiest for some; however, there are many opportunities for practically everyone (yes, even those who are very busy) to make a meaningful contribution during the Christmas season to someone else. Here are some suggestions for community outreach that are not overly time consuming, so that even a busy person could participate.
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Inside . . . 1-2 Christmas Volunteering 3 Christ in Christmas 4 Santa Breaking Physics 5 Christmas Movie Poll 6 Christmas Recipes 7 Crossword & VP Christmas Traditions
Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me
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Volunteering
The Wisco Pilot
How to Help the Community This Christmas Season Local Places to Volunteer -Milwaukee Rescue Mission -Salvation Army -Hunger Task Force -Good Samaritan Outreach Center -Toys for Tots - Soles for Jesus -Journey House - Kingdom Workers -Ronald McDonald House tail in the grand scheme of your life, you have preserved the true purpose of not only Christmas, but of the entire Christmas season: the generation and the preservation of joy for all people, especially those who are in clear need of it. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ --Acts 20:35
1. Solstice 2. Mistletoe 3. Advent 4. Kwanzaa 5. Yuletide 6. Frankincense Answers for Crossword Across Answers for Crossword Down
One way to help others is to donate some spare change. It takes very little time or energy to simply insert a dollar into the bucket tended by a person ringing a bell. These buckets are frequently found in front of grocery stores, including the one that’s very close to this school. Money that is placed into the buckets goes to The Salvation Army, which, in turn, goes towards helping those who can greatly benefit from the money. Making the decision to donate even a small amount of surplus money can greatly improve the life of someone who is in dire need. This is a relatively simple way to assist our community, and still goes a long way towards helping others. There are ways to assist the community which don’t cost anything but your time. Consider volunteering at different non-profits in the community. One example is the Milwaukee Rescue Mission--a local group determined to help out the homeless population. This group of people definitely needs assistance, especially as temperatures begin to drop and homelessness becomes an even greater health risk than it already is, since hypothermia and other cold-associated threats become much more threatening forces. To combat the dangers of not being able to live in an insulated home during the harsh Wisconsin winter, the Milwaukee Rescue Mission provides shelter, meals, and other methods of outreach to those in difficult situations. One great and simple way to help the Milwauke Rescuse mission is by serving and preparing meals at their different locations. It is
both hands on, and it doesn’t require extensive training which can seem daunting to those who aren’t particularly used to volunteering. It is also not particularly time consuming, but still goes a long way to contributing towards the health of the homeless, which is a population whose well-being is far too often overlooked. Everyone is entitled to food, as I’m sure we can all agree, so ensuring that food is given to those who may have difficulty getting some is definitely a worthwhile use of one’s time. Another organization that has been is in need of volunteers is Soles for Jesus! This organization is a non profit dedicated to providing shoes for individals in sub Saharan Africa. Soles for Jesus has many different opportunities for individuals to serve. For example, people are able to start their own shoe drives at their school or workplaces where they can donate new or lightly used shoes to those in need. These ways to help our community are far from the only available volunteer opportunities in the general Milwaukee area; there are many more. While these are certainly valid ways to help those in need, I encourage you to treat them more as jumping off points to discover more ways to help our community. No matter how small the donation of your money or time to this community may seem to you, no matter how insignificant you believe whatever you donate to be, by giving you have given a joyous Christmas to somebody. You have given a lifelong memory to be cherished to a person who has most likely led a life far more difficult than ours’ by using an hour or less of your time. By doing something that you may consider to be but a de-
1. Wonder Worker 2. Las Pasadas 3. Nativity 4. Bethlehem 5. Miners 6. Annunciation
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The Wisco Pilot
Christ in Christmas
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(Christ)mas by Julie Carter
Roman calendar, December 25 was the winter solstice when the Romans celebrated the sun. Early Christians probably celebrated Jesus’ birth then because of the similarities of the sun, and the son of God who is referred to sometimes as the “Sun of Righteousness,” so it was easy to assimilate the two holidays together. Before Christmas trees became a Christan tradition, there were many pagan versions of a Christmas tree spanning from ancient Rome to European pagans in about 4 A.D. It switched to a Christian connection when, in theory, a monk named Boniface who was doing missionary work in Germany in 8 A.D. saw a pagan ritual around a giant oak tree dedicated to Thor. Boniface chopped down the tree, and when no godly punishment came, he began to evangelize to the pagans. He used an evergreen tree as a metaphor for Christ. He said the tree had vitality in the dark and bitter winter and has a conical shape pointing up to heaven. Germans
Dress-up Days
Christmas- it’s the most wonderful time of the year. As Christians, we believe that this time of year is extremely special because Christmas is the time when we celebrate Jesus’ birth! However, in our secular society, many people no longer celebrate Christmas for that reason. People have made Christmas all about many different traditions such as Christmas trees, Santa Clause, and gift giving. However, many people do not realize that many of these traditions have connections to the true meaning of Christmas. For a long time, people thought that Jesus was born in the year 1 A.D., but it was more likely that he was born around 4 B.C., because Harod, who was alive when Jesus was born, died in what is about 5 B.C. This may seem strange because B.C. stands for “Before Christ.” However it was done this way so the person who developed the B.C. and A.D. calendar system, Dionysius Exiguus, an ancient Christian, probably didn’t know exactly when Harod died and therefore ended up doing the math wrong. Next, Christmas is obviously on December 25, but why? Well, in the
later began to use what we know as traditional Christmas decorations in the 17th century. Many things that are associated with Christmas also connect to Christianity. For example, everyone knows Santa Claus, the jolly old man who checks his list twice and “who’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice.” Santa Claus actually came from the story of Saint Nicholas, but some individuals might not know that his name has a connection to Christianity as well! Santa Claus came from two languages’ names for Saint Nicholas--the Dutch name “Sinter Claase” and the German “Sant Niklaas” were blended together over the years to get the name Santa Claus. Additionally, Cristes Maesse, or Christ’s Mass was a Catholic mass, or communion service, held once a year to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Over time, the word was adapted into the word “Christmas” that we have today. Wrapping up the Christmas facts present-ed in this article, hopefully something can be taken away from it, whether it’s the origin of Christmas trees or that the author of this article just made a terrible pun. Either way, Merry Christmas!
Pictures by: Emma Kammholz and Juliet Chin
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Christmas Traditions
The Wisco Pilot
The Physics of Santa by Mason Marrari Out of all the holiday traditions and beliefs in the world, Santa is one of the most common. Each Christmas, millions of children anticipate the arrival of St. Nick down their chimneys, bringing along an abundance of gifts. What these children don’t acknowledge is how Mr. Claus is trespassing on numerous physical laws as he goes about his festive travels each Christmas. What exactly would Santa have to do in order to complete each and every one of his tasks? Arguably, the most preposterous aspect of the Wonder Worker’s journey is how he is able to visit every single house all in one night. According to Forbes.com, Santa would have time to visit each house out of 500 million households for only 0.0003 seconds! In order to achieve this, Santa, if using an engine instead of reindeer, would have to travel approximately 4,921,200 miles per hour, which is 1,367 miles per second (4,921,200 miles per hour). This speed is far superior to the Parker Solar Probe developed by NASA that will eventually reach its top speed of 430,000 miles per hour in a few years. Addionally, going at a speed of 4,921,200 miles
per hour is not simple like it may seem in science fiction. The faster an object travels, the more heat it absorbs. At a crazy speed like that, Santa and his gifts would be turned into ashes, unless his sleigh was fitted with a very well built thermal protection system, sort of like the one on the Parker Solar Probe. Another possible solution for heat protection is for Santa, or his elf scientists, to invent an ion shield filled with charged particles as bravely suggested by Phys.org, but that is a whole different story. If his sleigh had the ability to not burn up, trying to slow an object that fast would be very dangerous. To visit each house he would have to make millions of quick, hard stops at 1,367 miles per second, and based on the data, all in under 0.0003 seconds a piece. Where Santa would be receiving a budget for a ground-breaking engine and enough fuel to supply it beyond the minds of many. Furthermore, did you know that the estimated weight of gifts Santa hauls around totals to about 101 million pounds? That’s just for one present for each child in the USA. As mentioned by Desert.com, 101 million pounds of gifts would not be easy at all to carry in one sleigh alone. This would be similar to carrying about 1,629 copies of the Statue of Liberty. Santa’s one-horse open sleigh would not only have to be extremely fast; it would have to be exceedingly strong and large. Now this sleigh would definitely not be landing on anyone’s roof, or street, for that matter. Also noted by Desert.com, if San-
ta would be using absurdly fast, flying reindeer to pull the sleigh, he would have to train an immense army of 339,333 reindeer in order to pull all of that weight. This does not include all of the other countries that Santa would provide gifts for. The amount of reindeer, weight, and space on the sleigh would have to drastically increase. Last, but certainly not the least, is how Santa somehow has to be able to consume millions of calories from milk and cookies all in 42 hours across all timezones. Delish.com says an average number of 336,150,386 cookies are put out for Santa each year: . Not to mention the millions of glasses of milk that are left out for Santa every year. Santa’s stomach would have to be thousands upon thousands of times bigger than him to fit all of that food inside of him. Since Santa only has 0.0003 seconds to spend per house, he would have to be the world’s fastest eater, even faster than Joey Chestnut. In the end, Santa is a fun tradition for young children around the world, but it is probably best to not try to understand how exactly that man provides gifts to every household in the world.
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Christmas Traditions
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Christmas Movie Poll by Kirsten Neuwith
Almost everyone loves Christmas and likes to get into the right mood with their favorite Christmas movie! There are many great Christmas movies, but some are favored more than others. After polling the WLHS student body, faculty, and staff, the most popular Christmas movie is Home Alone. Sophomore Mason Marrari gives his opinion on why it is his favorite: “Honestly, this movie is one that I grew up watching every single year. To think that a kid that was only 8 years old could defend his house with unique and detailed traps was mind-blowing when I first saw it. Each year, I still watch it at least a dozen times per Christmas season.” In second place we had Elf. This humorous movie about a human raised by elves is loved by many, including junior Ava Biesterfeld. “I think that this is just a classic movie that people love more and more every year. It is very relatable because Buddy the Elf has all these hopes for Christmas. It is also a very family-friendly movie that is filled with comedy as well!” Third, students chose the Dr. Seuss-inspired movie, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. This classic movie is loved by many for its great music and funny characters. It’s a Wonderful Life received fourth place. Mrs. Gospodarek loves this movie for one main reason. “Maybe for Christmases prior I would’ve chosen Miracle on 34th Street, both the older and newer versions of the movie. With my mother-
in-law in heaven this Christmas, It’s a Wonderful Life will take its place. After church on Christmas Eve, dinner, and present opening, we’d have this movie on, and it was a favorite of my mother-in-law’s. I love older black and white movies, the kind of movies not played too often, and the ones that seem to encompass the feeling of a night in a somewhat tangible way.” A Charlie Brown Christmas takes fifth and is loved by many for its Christian aspects. The last five respectively are A Christmas Story, The Nightmare Before Christmas, White Christmas, Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Miracle on 34th Street.
People have many different reasons why a movie is their favorite, however, many are linked with a tradition. Freshman Micah Buschkopf also says, “Every year on Christmas Eve, my family will watch It’s a Wonderful Life together, and we have every year since I can remember. It puts into perspective just how much impact one person can have on many lives.” Traditions are a huge part of Christmas, and each person has a different ones. Another reason why a movie may be a favorite is because it may remind a person of someone. Freshman Morgan Lautz says, “My mom is in heaven now, but when she was with us, she loved everything Charlie Brown. She always told us about how it was cool that when Linus said the words “Do not fear” from Luke 2. It is the only time in the Charlie Brown movies where he drops his blanket. I love my mom and miss her dearly. We watch this, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and all the other Charlie Brown movies every year in memory of her. She also loved how this is one of the few Christmas movies that had Jesus in it.“ Certain movies may bring up memories of loved ones, and this person may be the reason a movie is someone’s favorite. Christmas movies also bring great feelings to many people who watch and enjoy them. Whether you enjoy them because it is a tradition, a favorite memory, or you just love them for what they are, they can be a great part of the holidays that brings you together with those you love.
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Christmas Traditions
The Wisco Pilot
How Do the VP’s Celebrate Christmas? by Edward Cao
C
hristmas is right around the corner. Once the beloved holiday hits, numerous families celebrate their unique traditions together. Many of the students may wonder, “How do their vice principals celebrate Christmas?” Pilot had the privilege to interview our vice principals, Mr. Whiteside and Mr. Hopf, about their family Christmas traditions.
Mr. Hopf
Mr. Whiteside Mr. Whiteside said that during Christmas, he enjoys meeting with all his family members and having a big reunion dinner together. In addition, he takes delight in watching the NBA Christmas games with his friends and opening presents that he has received.
Christmas Recipe by Min Larson
Polish Kolaczki (thedailymeal.com) Ingredients: 3 ounces cream cheese or half a package 1/2 cup butter, softened 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1/4 cup sugar for dusting 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar for dusting 1 can jam (apricot or raspberry works well)
Mr. Hopf said his family will come over to his house on Christmas Eve for a dinner and gift exchange. While there, they play a lot of board games too. He also enjoys singing karaoke with his family on Christmas Eve. His wife’s side of the family will come over for a giant breakfast on Christmas Day.
Directions: In an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese and butter until light. Slowly add the flour. Once the dough has come together, form into balls and chill overnight in the refrigerator. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Dust a large area of your kitchen counter with half granulated sugar and half powdered sugar. This will prevent sticking. Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out into a square about 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into 3 inch squares. Add a dollop of jam in the center of the squares. Then put the 2 opposite corners into the middle and pinch them to seal the cookies. Place the Kołlaczki on ungreased baking sheets and bake for 10-15 minutes. Allow to cool and dust with powdered sugar.
The Wisco Pilot
Christmas Traditions
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Christmas Crossword by Frank Quan-Pham
Pilot Editors Editor-in-Chief Emma Kammholz Assistant-Editor-in-Chief Mason Marrari Layout/Editing Lucy Li Brooklyn Dressler Frank Quan-Pham
by Lucy Li
Vol. 28 No.2 Pg. 8