GOING INTO MIDDLE SCHOOL!! (part two)

By Jaden Baker

(Continued from Going into Middle School, part one)

Now we had to introduce ourselves. I was nervous to meet the people in this new school. Luckily, I already had friends here; friends from elementary school, that were fun to hang out with. But we were put into different groups, so we couldn’t talk most of the time. I still tried to make some nice new friends.

We started to do something called libation, where they told us we were to use it to keep our ancestors and unhealthy members of our community with us. A few people went up and wanted to do it, but I was feeling a bit salty to speak to the crowd. Also, I did not know anyone who was not well in my community. When we finished libation, we had to go to our classes. The first class I went to, we had to make a circle with the tables. We were each given M&M’s, then we had to take out our papers and pencils. We were given topics on the board. The questions were based on what color of M&M we had gotten, and we had to share what we wrote. I really did not want to get up and do that, speech we have to do before we share something, but they really forced us to say it. I was nervous to talk to everyone out loud, but we had to. I forgot what I wrote, but I think I wrote an average amount.

When we got to math class, I thought I would have one of those mad teachers. We went into the classroom, and the teacher greeted us. She told us to be silent, so I started to believe that she wasn’t a good teacher. She gave us work to do. I thought “it was easy” to myself, and then I thought that this school would be easy work. We did many activities in the class, including group activities. Then we had another class, where we had to learn about our school. I thought it would be E.L.A. but then I noticed we were just talking about the school. The teacher discussed how we are supposed to introduce ourselves before we respond to any question. That got me confused and mad, that we had to do that for every response. We started to do photography. I thought that we were gonna just take pictures the first day but…we just had to take notes about the camera.

After that, we headed to lunch. I was guessing that nobody even wanted to eat. The food was so frozen that you could see ice on it. We had frozen food every day. Often I thought that I could get through this program by cheating, but I knew that would be wrong. Also I knew I wouldn’t learn anything that way.

At the end of the day, we had to sign up for a class. We were only allowed to choose two classes, so I chose two common classes: hip-hop and dance, and martial arts. The first day going to those classes, I took hip hop and dance first. I thought it was fun. When we finished, I went to my next class: martial arts. I liked the class, and was happy I was in it. The master told me that martial arts is about defending yourself.

We started to learn the middle school pledge, and we got put into classes based on what house we were in. I was in X-house, which meant the Malcolm X house. There are also other houses, the Obama house, Che Guevara house, and Roberto Clemente house. Now we started to have to know the school pledge. We spent every single day working on the pledge. They told us we needed to know the pledge to get into the school, so we studied the pledge every day before we went to lunch. There were many people who wanted to show off that they knew the pledge.

Summer Bridge was about to end, and I already knew the whole pledge. We needed to complete the whole pledge to graduate summer bridge. Also we had to do a task they asked us to write. I accidentally made some mistakes, so I wrote the whole task all over again. I was able to complete the task and hand it in on time.  We came to the day where they chose who will graduate from  Summer Bridge. We went into a room that looked like a judge’s courtroom. We saw a skit performed about a guy who gets into people’s heads and makes them fail. When the skit ended, the teacher told us he was going to give us our last assignment. If he gave us our assignment on an index card, that meant we passed and went on to the graduation. If he didn’t give you an index card, that meant you were not allowed to go. Almost everybody was out f the room, and I was almost the last person left. Finally, they called me up and he gave me an index card.

I stayed up all night to do the assignment, and then the day came. I was graduating from Summer Bridge. We had to get there early, and when we got there not everyone was there. Some people had forgotten to do the task, so they had to do it quickly. We started to walk into the room, and I saw my mom and my sister. We sang the pledge, and called out our houses. I felt happy, and my mom took me out afterwards. And that was the last day of Summer Bridge.

Now I am a full fledged Eagle, and I am (awesome, obviously) cool. I am passing all my classes, and I am now going on trips for good behavior. There are many more activities, and I want to do them all! I will be the biggest, smartest, coolest kid in this school. Well, that’s a maybe.

Interview with Kobe Evans, Student Body President Of Eagle Academy

by Miles Graham

What or who inspired you to be President?

Miguel Perez inspired me to become president. He was president from 2013 to 2015. It was very intriguing to see his goals and what he did as president.

What are your goals as president?

Photo credit: Melvin Prudente

My goal is to one day see Eagle grow to be more student-led. One example is town hall. That’s supposed to be a student-led process; but instead we don’t have enough leaders stepping up to take that role. So instead what we do is have staff members take over that process. So one of my goals is to see that grow and expand. Another one would be YSI, cooperating with Bell’s program, ensuring that what your class does–like with the Eagle Express, and journalism, and your photography class–to be displayed around the school. So we’re trying to expand that. They recently added the boxing class and other classes, and I’m pretty excited to see where that’s headed.

Do you feel like you’ve made a change to this school?

Absolutely. Just the fact that I’m able to have more of a presence in the hallways, and among faculty and staff…I mean, in the past we never had a student constitution. Most schools don’t really have a student constitution on the high school level, until you get to college, and that’s where the action really begins. Because of that, we try to mimic that process–so when students go off to college, they’re able to start a club, or help someone run a campaign, or participate in student affairs. Whatever it is that has to do with student government, or has to do with organizing, they will be ready to go on and execute. That’s one of my biggest things, is to prepare guys to execute on the next level. That’s why I do what I do every single day.

Do you think that you’ve accomplished this?

Well, students are stepping up into more leadership roles. The chairman of the senior committee, Amir White, he’s the most phenomenal young man I’ve ever met in my time here at Eagle Academy. He really exemplifies what it means to be a leader, and is really stepping up to the podium and executing the things that the students need. A big part of it is representing the students. So I can’t say I am not proud or happy…I believe I’m making a change.

How has being president affected your academic and personal life?

Wow, that’s a good question. Because when you talk about it, it take a lot to be outside the classroom, and to takes a lot to be inside the classroom. What I mean by that is, there are so many things going on in the school, there’s always something occurring, and there’s always something that you have to do. And it gets to a point where you wonder, am I doing enough, and can I do more. And answering those questions, and filtering those questions in my mind, it takes me from what I have to do in the classroom. It puts me behind, and I have to catch up on my classwork. And a big part of what’s important for me, especially–I recommend for any student to build a teacher-student relationship–it’s a big part for me, because I’m missing class so much. I’m always out of class, I’m always doing something. So I have to build that relationship, where I’m on that steady platform. I remember I struggled my first half, because I was managing being in the classroom and being outside the classroom. So it makes me a little more stressed, because I have to meet the teacher after school, because she’s not gonna talk to me on her lunch, and she’s not gonna talk to me on her prep…it’s just the way that things are. He or she may have five classes for the day, and may only have one prep or one lunch period. So I have to say, okay, they are stressed out, because the pressure’s on them to meet a certain mark. So by me trying to pull them from what they’re trying to in the classroom to attend to me as an individual, that’s kind of selfish from their perspective. I chose to do this, and be out of the classroom doing other things, so I had to make some time and negotiate making up assignments and making up grades. And it’s good because it teaches you time management. I never knew what time management is until I had to manage all this. And I’ll tell you the truth, I have no personal life. Because when you think about all the pressure, and all the stress…your mind can’t say, lemme go have fun with some friends, lemme go to the movies, when you know you have to catch up on an assignment, when you know you have to get out a proposal, send an email, do all these things. it becomes very stressful and time consuming. So I stepped away from this personal life because I invest in my work. I often tell people, what I do here is a way of life. It’s something that I want to do for the benefit of others. So if I can give up my free time to ensure that someone else has a happier life, I have no problem doing that.

So would you consider what you do here your personal life?

Photo credit: Justin Mendoza

Absolutely! I mean, I live here! When I say I live here, I get things get done…when I get home, sometimes it gets noisy, and family gets in the way of things, so you often can’t…max out how you want to max out. So because of that, I’m here oftentimes at six o’clock, seven. I remember when the varsity basketball team was here, they would be leaving at eight o’clock. And I would literally be in the building until eight o’clock, until their practices ended and they’re leaving. So that’s the type of grinding that I do every single day. It’s very interesting to note that…this is a thankless job. No one’s gonna slap you on your shoulder and say, hey, you’re doing a great job. No one’s gonna, punch you and say, you know, hey pal, you’re doing an awesome job. No one’s gonna do that. They would rather tell you that you’re doing an awful job than tell you you’re doing a good job. So that’s how it is. So I have to be on my grind to make sure that these things don’t happen, that I don’t hear a lot of negative things.

Have you ever considered resigning from President?

Um, no, no, no…I haven’t. Because being a president isn’t about dropping a baton, it’s about dropping a baton, this is what I signed my life over for. I knew what I was getting myself into before I got into it, so I was pretty much prepared for what was gonna come my way. I’ve felt frustrated, I get frustrated a lot; but to a point where I say that I wanna resign, or I wanna quit? No. I mean, I’ve had a lot of people resign; it’s just the intensity of what I do. There’s a lot of pressure that I put upon various elected officials, and a lot of people tell me straight up, I can’t handle it. And I’d rather for someone to straight up tell me that, rather than, you know, beat around the bush when I ask them to jump on a project or an assignment, and give me an attitude; it makes the process a little bit longer, and there are a lotta channels I have to go through to get that person removed. So…if you did your time, you did your duty–I love to say this is civil duty, you’re doing it for your school, you’re not doing it for Kobe, you’re doing it for Eagle Academy. So whatever you do, whatever investment you make, you’re making it to the school. So I love to say I am doing my civil duty as a citizen in the school community here.

What do you want to do when you leave Eagle?

My plan is for the next president to build on what I have done. I don’t wanna leave here with a lot of accolades, feeling like I’m the man. That’s not what public service about. I couldn’t care less what praise I might get at the end. I care about letting that legacy, what was started under my administration, to continue along with the new president that’s coming in, and what he plans for his administrations…and that’s how government evolves, that’s how government grows. So when you ask what I want, that’s exactly what I want. I want, when I come back 15 years from now, Eagle Academy For Young Men student government has established itself to the max, where I would have never dreamed of. I don’t want to think crazy, for my plaque to be on the wall so when people walk in the building they could see I was a former president. No, that’s not what I’m all about. I am all about seeing what was started, continue for years and years to come.

Has being president changed you in any way?

Well, when you become a president it takes away a lot from you being you. Let me make that a little bit clearer. When you become president, you can’t do the things that you used to do before. You have to start doing things that require you being in the public eye a little bit more. So because I’m in the public eye a little bit more, yes it changed me tremendously, because now everywhere I go, people know who I am! I can’t walk in the hallway without somebody stopping me and saying, can you get that done? Can you get this done? Hey, Kobe…you know, it’s that my face is all over. And because my face is all over…now I have to learn how to communicate efficiently. Because now I can’t, say, if I’m having a bad day, somebody comes up to me and asks me a question, I can’t start barking on them because I’m having a bad day. I have to somewhat remember, hey, I’m the president here, and this is a student or a citizen of the school community who is asking me for a request. So no matter what it is, I have to hold up a level of professionalism so that I’m able to keep up that image of what a president is supposed to be. So it changed me tremendously, and I think it’s a positive change. You know, sometimes when you think about change, you think about negative, negative, negative. But this change that I’m talking about is a positive change.

Why do you consider it a positive change instead of a negative change?

The world is made up of good and evil. And everywhere you find good, you’re gonna find bad–and everywhere you find bad, you’re gonna find good. My thing is, you don’t dwell on the negativity, you dwell on the positive things. So I hate to say this, but I couldn’t care less about anything that’s negative. I only care, I’m only concerned, about what is positive. And anything that’s positive, I am driven by that…and anything that’s negative, I tune that out. Because that’s not gonna get me forward…or make me make any progress.

Do you think being viewed in the public eye is good or bad?

Photo credit: Miguel Garduno

It’s definitely a good thing, because when you think about being in the public eye, it makes you very responsible. Because you’re being very careful of your actions. Whenever you’re not in the school building, you’re still thinking about, what if a student sees me–what would their response be? What if a staff member sees me, what would their response be? So even when I’m not in the building, I am still upholding that level of responsibility as a president.

How do you interact with the faculty here at Eagle?

You know, I feel like everyone is here for a purpose, everyone is here to fulfill some part of the mission of Eagle Academy as a whole. As we all work, sometimes we miss the whole concept of calibration, working with each other. We’re all here to work for the bigger purpose. We’re all here working towards a bigger goal, and that is to get students ahead. Whether that be in the classroom, whether that be socially, personally…this is why we all have different roles in the school, because each person plays a significant role for a student. And sometimes that gets forgotten…that we must calibrate. We must work together, and we must communicate. And that’s what my message is to any of the readers…that we are here to calibrate, we are here to work with each other.

It’s been great talking with you. Is there anything else you want to say to the people who are reading this interview?

Well, my message to is never be afraid to approach me. I’m always available, to staff, to parents, to students…I’m here. That’s the main job here, is to be available. If you ever need me, I’m here. I work for the students here, I don’t work for anybody else. So anything to do with the students, I will be available.

Okay, Kobe, thanks for coming in and talking with us.

Thank you so much, Miles, and it’s a pleasure to be interviewed by you.

Lion King Review

Miles Graham

We all know the Disney movie, the Lion King. If you do, then you probably know that it is also a Broadway show. I went to see it not that long ago, and it was good.

My favorite part of the Lion King is the costumes. In the opening, when they perform the song Circle of Life, the costumes are amazing. One particular costume that caught my eye was the cheetah. The cheetah costume was this: the hind legs of the cheetah were the actual legs of the person in the costume, and his arms had a stick attached to the front legs. So when he would put his arms up, the front legs would go up, too. The main actors (except the kids) had hat-like things on with their character’s face on it, which was cool.

My favorite characters are Zazu (the bird) and the hyenas. I liked Zazu because he has one of my favorite traits in a character: he breaks the fourth wall (which is when a fictional character says or does something in or about the real world) multiple times. I liked the hyenas, because they were just good characters and I mostly like the villain more than the hero.

Overall, The Lion King was a great movie and a great Broadway show. It is my favorite Broadway show so far, even though I haven’t seen many. The costumes were great, and it was really on point with regard to the movie.

Rating: 5/5 stars

 

 

 

 

 

 

GOING INTO MIDDLE SCHOOL!!! (part one)

by Jaden Baker

It’s hard to go into Middle School. It’s also really challenging to actually think about transferring into a new school. I will tell you about my own experience going into Middle School.

In elementary school, I was doing my work for all classes so I could get high grades so I could into a good middle school. I went to many meetings about schools but they were all so far away. I was doing my best in my classes when it came to work on the last period. Me and my mom wanted me to go to a school named ICON but our second choice was EAGLE ACADEMY FOR YOUNG MEN. The end the school year was really close, and I kept worrying about leaving school, and moving to a new one. I missed my favorite teacher, my favorite friends, and my favorite principal.

I was in elementary school, thinking about going into middle school and getting new friends. I needed work very hard, so I would be able to go into a good middle school. My mom had told me this me since elementary school. Quickly the end of the year came! We had finished all of our activities; We had fun day, the dance, and the senior trip.

We finally got to summer, and we had to go to go to a thing called summer bridge. I  was so nervous that people wouldn’t talk to me or hang around me. I came into the building acting like I was cool even though I was really nervous inside. We started off by going into a cafeteria. We had something to eat, but I was mad that the food was cold. I met some friends and started to talk to them, as well as hang out with them. We were given strips of cloth, but I was confused and asking questions about why we have them. They told all the newcomers to tie the cloth around our eyes. Next they just took us outside. I was feeling worried because I thought they were gonna let us walk into the street.  They told us we were doing an activity called the trust test. We all had to walk blindfolded, holding each other’s shoulder while walking into the building. When we finally made it into the building, we were in the gym. We were told to take off the blindfold and stand in rows. One of the teachers made a speech saying things about trusting each other and how it is important.

Now we had to introduce ourselves. I was nervous about meeting the people in this school…

 

Narcolepsy can be deadly

by Jaden McLendon

We all know the common diseases known to man, for example diabetes, cancer, and obesity. But we aren’t talking about that right now; today we are going to investigate a disorder that can be harmful if not life threatening, and that is narcolepsy. Now, I will discuss what it is, how it works, and how it is harmful.

I have narcolepsy. From my own personal experience, narcolepsy is a disorder that makes you constantly go to sleep. On Wikipedia, the following definition states: “narcolepsy is a chronic neurological disorder involving the loss of the brain’s ability to regulate sleep-wake cycle normally.”

There are many ways in which narcolepsy can be harmful. For example, you can be walking down a hallway and you can still be walking but you are asleep and next thing you know you are flat on the floor like a pancake. For a second example, you can be driving a brand new car (or any kind of land vehicle) and all of a sudden your foot is still on the gas but your body is still asleep. These things can happen because the only thing asleep is your brain. Your whole entire body is still active, but in a matter of seconds it can be asleep. It can be very dangerous to drive if you have narcolepsy.

There is no cure for narcolepsy, but it is treatable. One medication I personally use is called Modafinil. For those who don’t know what it is, it’s a wakefulness-promoting agent used for treatment of disorders such as narcolepsy and others. Others medications for narcolepsy are Ritalin, Nuvigil and Antidepressant.

So if you do have narcolepsy, it will be better for you to go to a doctor than wait until something bad happens.

If you liked this article, I will be posting more articles–or you can tell me what you want me to write about in the comments section below.

Helping changes people

by Miguel Garduno

It’s important to give time to help someone because if you see someone struggling in your class, it shows how important you can be to another person. If you are the only one that are doing well in a class but the other kids need help, just do it, you can motivate them to do the work and feel good and it could teach them a lesson to do their work and focus more in class.

If you want to help a person, then it will benefit you to be a better person. Maybe you are missing your education time, but you are helping a student out and you should get rewarded because you’re doing the right thing. If you ever help another person, then they will pay you back someday when you need help. If you give respect to people, then they will respect you back. If at some point you can’t understand something, then the students that you helped before will help you because if you helped them, they will help you.

Another reason it’s good to help people is because if you always help people, then it proves that you are a good person. At Eagle, if we help our brothers to do something right, then we are representing the acronym C.L.E.A.R., which means confidence, leadership, Effort, academic excellence, and resilience. And with this at eagle, this represents who you are, and it tells how respectful you are.

Here at Eagle, there’s a house that quotes: “I’m my brother’s keeper.” The quote means that you should support your brother in a situation where he needs help for something. This applies in regular life, too. For example, if there’s a woman that needs help carrying some bags and she can’t handle all of them, then you come and help her with the bags, when she says thank you, it shows that you are a good person because the woman is appreciating you for helping her and that’s a complement. One time in my life, I stopped to help an elder get off the bus at my stop to school because she needed me to help her out. The bus driver was proud of me since I helped the elder out, and I was happy because I did the right thing. With helping people, you can feel proud of yourself.

I take time to help people because some people have no respect for other people. I just feel bad for people who have people mistreating them, and about not giving elders or disabled people respect. With people taking time out to help, I think it will help more elders and disabled people feel better.

My trip to meet Melo

by Ryan Martinez

My experience at the movie theater to see Carmelo Anthony was fun, and one of the best days of my life. When we got there, I thought it was going to be fake, but I saw a lot of people wearing Melo jerseys so that’s how I convinced myself that it was real. I saw about a dozen big vans pull up on the street, and I kept thinking it was Carmelo Anthony but it wasn’t. It took about 20 minutes just to get into the theater, and when we got upstairs each class took a picture with Alvin from Alvin and the Chipmunks. It was very fun, because after we went inside the theater I got pulled out because Carmelo’s camera crew wanted to interview me. So when I was done being interviewed, my friend told me he saw Carmelo Anthony. I ran over to see Carmelo and I got really excited, and pulled out my phone and started taking pictures. After I took pictures, then I went into the theater. The movie was pretty funny and cool. After the movie, Melo was standing in the front of the theater with his son. All the schools took pictures with him, especially me! After that, we left the theater shop and went to the pizza shop on the corner. We had pizza and then we went home.

The trip was really awesome, especially that I got to meet Carmelo Anthony and give him a high five. That was the best trip ever.

 

Our trip to meet Carmelo Anthony

by Alan Soriano

That’s me on the left, waiting to go see Melo!

When I went to see Carmelo Anthony, my mind blew. I thought that they were joking, but when Mr. West gave me my permission slip there weren’t joking! So then it was December 14, 2015, the day before the trip. I wanted to wear the best thing I could! Then it was the day of the trip.

I wanted the time to go by fast  so I could go on the trip. Then when it hit 2:40 I zipped downstairs just to go see Carmelo. So then we started heading to the station. Then we were in Times Square. We waited for about 20 minutes, and we went into the movie theater and waited then Melo came. Everyone was yelling when they saw him. The movie was called Alvin & the Chipmunks, and Carmelo introduced the movie and told us how Fox agreed to give us a preview of the movie because it hadn’t even come out yet. He told us it wasn’t about him or the movie, it was about us. After the movie finished, Carmelo came back and we took pictures with him. Then we went outside into the hallway and the staff gave us items like bookbags, pens, Uno cards and notebooks. These were all gifts from Melo. After we got our items, we went outside and got pizza. Then we got back on the train and went home.

When I arrived home, I told my family what happened and how he greeted us. That was one of the best trips I’ve gone on, and I hope we go on a trip like this again.

My experience on the Carmelo Anthony trip

by Matthew Barcus

I was interviewed by Melo’s website!

Yesterday, on December 15, 2015, I was one of the lucky kids that went to meet Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks. Before meeting Melo, we watched the new Alvin & the Chipmunks movie. At first I thought the movie would be wack, but then I started to like it. At the end I called Carmelo’s name and he looked and me, so I said “I want to play.” Then he laughed. After that, we took pictures next to Melo. But then I started to like it. At the end I called Carmelo and he looked at me so I said ” want to play you.” Then he started to laugh. After that the group I was in went up and we took pictures. But before the pictures, he said to me, ” I heard you said something to me.” When we were done with the pictures, I told him ”Come to Eagle Academy and look for Matthew Barcus, I’ll be waiting!”‘

In the end, I had a really good time.

The day we met Carmelo Anthony

by Reydi Ventura

My brother and I got interviewed on camera!

One day, my brother Reyli wrote an essay, and got chosen to go meet New York Knicks basketball player Carmelo Anthony in person. My brother was nice enough to ask his teacher if I could come and meet Carmelo Anthony with his classmates. I was fortunate to be invited and have the amazing experience of meeting Carmelo Anthony. We met Carmelo on Tuesday, December 15th 2015. Before we met him, a gentleman interviewed us on camera. I was really excited. We took pictures with a guy in a chipmunk costume, and then we found out that we were watching the new Alvin and the Chipmunks movie. Our teacher Mr. West picked four people to get another interview with the NBA before watching the movie; those people were Derrick, Ivan, Ryan and me. The movie was really good. When the movie was over we got gift bags and took pictures with Carmelo Anthony. After watching the great movie and taking pictures with the big star Carmelo Anthony, we proceeded to eat pizza with a gift card from Bell (Building Educated Leaders for Life). It was a great experience.