Do you really want to grow up?

As we grow, we love to say things like “I wish I was older to do this” or “I want to be an adult already. Being a kid is so hard!” But... Don`t you ever notice that as you grow up things get harder and we seem to feel more pressure and stress?

It's not something I say because I want to. I'm saying this because I go through it every day, and you probably do too.

No one can say being a kid is easy (especially when you are in the process of becoming a teen) but DON'T YOU DARE to think being an adult is easier since it has been proven that this idea is most likely false. We are still children even if we are mature and allowed to be part of adult conversations. We are still kids and nothing will change that for a pretty long time.

Most people that surround us are adults, and the way we see them is very far from the reality due to the fact that we admire and want to be like them. We are very eager to grow, and there is nothing wrong with that, but make sure that this process of wishing to be an adult stops you from enjoying the different stages of life that you are supposed to have WHEN they are supposed to happen. 

I know that to every good side there is a bad one, and vice-versa. For this reason, I decided to list some pros and cons of growing up:

PROS

1. You get your own freedom to do whatever and go wherever you want

2. You make your own rules 

3. You can follow your own beliefs, and make your own decisions

4. Younger people will respect you for being older and wiser

CONS

1. You have to get a job and work 

2. Rely on yourself for money, food, and shelter

3. More responsibilities that you have to carry on with you as you grow especially if you decide to have children

4. The stress of having to make a lot of compromises and choosing the right path and people to be with.

Being a grown-up may seem fun but it is not always rainbows and peaches. If we actually think about it, there are a lot of responsibilities that come with the job, and it’s really important to keep up with them in order to survive. In fact, there is a pretty good chance that when you actually become an adult, you'll wish you could go back to being a kid.

I get it. Sometimes it is hard and we get stressed with school, friends, problems at home, etc, but this doesn't mean we need to wish for things we can’t control. We all have hopes and dreams we want to reach, in the short or long term, but it’s best to appreciate every single day and live the moment. Inevitably, we will have mature and grow up, but all in due time.

Finally, I believe that it is important to remember that we have to be patient and enjoy the little things in life because that is what makes the process of growing up awesome.

"That's the real problem with the world. Too many people grow up!"

Walt Disney

Maria Alejandra Vásquez

6th grade

Entrepreneurship

I'm sure that at this point you’ve heard about Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, or Bill Gates... Good, let’s start by just saying that these are all entrepreneurs. And they started in their garage. You might be asking, what is entrepreneurship all about? Starting a business is the best example of it, but I've realized that real entrepreneurship is actually an ATTITUDE to LIFE.

Entrepreneurship by definition is "the ability and readiness to develop, organize and run a business enterprise, along with any of its uncertainties in order to make a profit." It is a very modern and versatile way of having a work future ensured. In fact, 582 million people in the world (approximately) want to be involved in the entrepreneurship business. That’s about 18.7%  of Earth’s population. 

For college career options, Business Administration would be the best choice for Entrepreneurship. Why? Because to be an entrepreneur, you have to know how to start your business, what it's gonna be about, and of course how to manage it correctly and in a way that does not fail. However, like anything in life, it is all about how you swim around uncertainty, take risks and learn from mistakes that will keep your business afloat. Entrepreneurs are DOERS.

You also have to keep in mind that in order to stand out from the crowd, you need to create something new and original (so people don't think “Oh that's a copy of…”) Thinking of an innovative idea is a key step before starting your business: How can you make something that already exists, better? How can you create the need for something that can make lives easier, or processes faster? How can you create something completely new, and make people buy it? How can you make your product stand out from the competition? How could people like your product more? How will you deal with competition?

Being an entrepreneur takes a lot of effort and dedication. But all that work and dedication can ensure you a future in which you can be successful, and enjoy what you do. This tendency, which is gaining more popularity and regularity every day, can provide you economical stability if your business is liked, supported and successful. 

Rodrigo Linera

6th Grade

How Dominicans Celebrate Independence Day

Independence day is a reminder to all Dominicans of how hard it was for our founding fathers, Juan Pablo Duarte, Matias Ramon Mella and Francisco del Rosario Sanchez to lead us to freedom. This is why it is really important for people to commemorate this day.

For us Dominicans, it was a hard journey towards our independence. First, our Founding Fathers worked to create a secret society called “La Trinitaria”. This group's purpose was to spark the ideas that would liberate us from the Haitian government of president Boyer, whose troops had invaded our side of the island. They worked for months to create a plan. The plan had a lot of twists and turns. Juan Pablo Duarte was even exiled to Venezuela, and he was there when the independence war began.

It was on the night of February 27, 1844, when Francisco del Rosario Sanchez raised the flag for the first time in la Puerta del Conde. At the same time, Matias Ramon Mella fired his “trabucazo” at “ La Puerta de la Misericordia” and declared our Independence. These events make these landmarks two of the most popular and loved places in the Dominican Republic.

Many Dominicans like celebrating Independence day, but some people don't. According to google the 27th of February is normally celebrated with a walk at the “zona colonial” or visiting “ La Puerta del Conde”. This reminds me and many people of how awesome, great and beautiful our country is. 

I decided to gather some information from people at school. I asked them how they celebrate independence day and why they think it is important to commemorate it. This is what they responded:

"We celebrate a family dinner and before eating, we pray and say thank you, kind of like we do on Thanksgiving. It is important because we have to celebrate our achievements and what other people did for us so we can be free and be the independent country we are today."

"I celebrate Independence day by going out to eat with my family typical Dominican food. But mainly we celebrate at school and we do fun activities like singing the anthem, dressing up or doing plays. To honor our country and to feel pride in our nationality."

"I don't really do anything special, but it's important to celebrate it because our independence may have saved us from lots of things."

"I celebrate Independence Day by going somewhere out of the city with my family and spending quality time with them. It is important to celebrate Independence Day since it is the day where we as a country got our independence."

"I usually just celebrate it in school, but don't really do anything else.  I think it's important because it allows us to be proud of our freedom and commemorate our founding fathers for everything they did for this country."

In conclusion, Dominicans celebrate Independence Day in different ways. What really matters is that we take time to thank and remember our Founding Fathers: Duarte, Sanchez, and Mella for all that they did for this country. Our Independence Day is an important and precious day for all Dominicans. Happy Independence day!!!

Daniella Garcia

7th Grade

Super Bowl halftime, a tribute to Black History

Hello! My name is Isabella and today I’m going to write about something that you may have watched last week, but not noticed and it is strongly related to Black History Month in the USA:  The Superbowl HalfTime.

You might be asking “What does Black History Month have to do with the Super Bowl HalfTime?” I will explain in detail.

It had been a while since LA had hosted a Superbowl. The whole setting of the halftime was “the hood” marked by famous west coast places, like the barbershop, the legendary music venue Eve After Dark and Compton burger joint Tam’s Burgers #21. 

This year's performers were not one, not two, but five different hip-hop artists as the headlining acts: Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, and Mary J. Blige. This is the first time in the Super Bowl History that the show is entirely formed by West Coast rappers. Even though Eminem was there (he’s a white rapper, but also Dr. Dre's protegee) the plot of the halftime show still honored black culture. Did you see Eminem taking a knee? This form of peaceful protest started a while ago to point a finger against police brutality and racial injustice, as well as growing tensions around race crimes.

The choreography, which involved Snoop Dogg, clad in Rams blue and gold, doing his signature crip walk, the show was an outpouring of West Coast pride—none more evident than when Dre and Snoop took to the stage to perform “California Love.” 

All these elements combined delivered a show very hard to forget. An homage to the evolution of Hip Hop in the entertainment industry, Dr. Dre. and his influence on the West Coast music, and the origins of the NFL and the Black people that pioneered the Super Bowl as the ultimate home for the best of entertainment.  

A look at the history of the Halftime Show proves it exists due both to Black entertainers on the screen and Black audiences at home. In my opinion, it had to be one of the best halftime shows ever.

Isabella Garcia

6th Grade

Valentine's Day Origins

Happy Valentine's Day readers!! To celebrate it properly, I will be explaining what Valentine's Day is, its origin, why it is celebrated, and what SHOULD REALLY be celebrated on this day. 

Valentine's Day is celebrated annually on February 14th. Where did it come from, you may ask? There are actually several Christian theories that name a religious man called Valentine. A martyr is a person who is killed because of their beliefs. Based on information taken from Britannica,“ According to legend, a priest signed a letter “from your Valentine” to his jailer’s daughter, whom he had befriended…​​ Another common legend states that St. Valentine defied the emperor’s orders and secretly married couples to spare the husbands from war. It is for this reason that his feast day is associated with love.”

Some rather believe that Valentine's Day began due to the fact that February 14 was the beginning of the bird's mating season. As you can see, there are many beliefs about Valentines’s Day’s origin.

Valentine’s Day is a holiday in which lovers, friends, family, etc. express their affection through gifts and greetings to one another.  However, some argue that Valentine’s Day is just a commercial holiday. In fact, the first commercial valentines in the United States were printed in the mid-1800s.

Here I will give some examples of really romantic activities you could do instead of just buying gifts:

• Go stargazing, stargazing is a very fun activity, where you can identify and observe the constellations in the sky. 

• Bake together. Baking together can create beautiful memories.

• Write letters to the ones you love.

Cupid, the Roman god of love, is the main symbol, along with hearts. Cupid is a baby who possesses a bow, of which the arrow shoots falls in love. 

The other symbols include candy, flowers, chocolates. In which flowers symbolize beauty. Candy and chocolate can symbolize sweet love. Back to the fact that this is the day that the bird’s mating season begins, birds can also be a symbol of love. 

In conclusion, Valentine’s Day is a very interesting holiday. A day to celebrate love in all its forms (of course, depending on your beliefs and concepts of it) Hopefully, this short article will have explained any misconceptions and misunderstandings. 

Written by Noris Espinosa

7th Grader

New Blogger

The travels of Apollo 11

Imagine it is July 16th 1969, at Kennedy space center and in the distance you see a Saturn V ignite its 5 F1 engines and seconds later the roar of the engines hits the crowd and the rocket lifts off the pad. Well, this is what crowds experienced on the launch of Apollo 11.

You may be wondering “What is Apollo 11? Why does it have an 11 after the name? Apollo it is the name given to the missions to travel to the moon. The 11 is just the number of the mission. Now that this is clear, let’s blast off back in time to the story.

We are back in 1969, the rocket soaring through the sky with the first stage using its 5 engines for about 2 minutes and 41 seconds. It lifted the rocket to an altitude of 42 miles, and a speed of 6,164 miles per hour and burned 4,700,000 pounds of propellant. Then engines shut off and silence for 1 second then the 5 J-2 engines ignited. The launch escape tower was separated and the second stage burned for approximately 6 minutes, taking the vehicle and payload to 115 miles altitude on a sub orbital trajectory. The single J-2 engine turned on briefly to bump the Apollo to Earth's orbit into a lunar trajectory in a move called a trans lunar injection.

Now that the Saturn V’s job was done, the engine shut off and silenced. Then, a fairing opened and the command module and service module detached then moved a few feet and dit a 180 degree turn and docked with the lunar module also called the L.E.M. A few seconds later, the third stage of the Saturn V was detached from the Apollo spacecraft which now complete started its 3 day trajectory to the moon.

The rocket went from this...

...to this!

After the 3 day trajectory, the craft got to its target, and got pulled to lunar orbit by the moon's gravity. Soon Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong boarded the lunar module (The Eagle) while Michale Collins stayed in Colombia (the command module).

The Eagle detached from Colombia and started its descent to the lunar surface. It performed a maneuver called "The Suicide Burn," which consists of firing its engine very close to the ground. Seconds later the whole world would hear Armstrong say “Houston, Tranquility base here. The Eagle has landed!”

The whole world cheered as the astronauts prepared to exit The Eagle. Seconds after the hatch was opened, everyone heard the famous words from the first man on the moon “That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." They had done it! They had sent man on the moon!

Minutes later the astronauts prepared to lift off from the lunar surface. On lift off, the golden part of the ship was left on the moon while the upper part of eagle lifted off and rendezvoused with the Columbia. After, it docked with Columbia and the astronauts transferred to Columbia. The Eagle was ditched and Columbia with its 3 astronauts started up its engine and started a trans-Earth injection.

After the burn, the 3 day journey started, The service and command modules where undocked and the heat shield on the command module was revealed just in time to re-enter earth’s atmosphere. Seconds later the parachutes were deployed and the craft splashed down safely.

All that was left from a 3,000 ton rocket was a small space craft floating on the water with 3 astronauts and rock samples from the moon. The astronauts had to be taken by helicopter to recover from the sudden pull of gravity, unable to walk after such long time in space.

Written by Diego Puertas

8th Grade

New Year's Eve Traditions

New Year's Eve is the last day of the year. Some celebrate it and some don’t but, have we ever wondered what’s the reason why we celebrate it? Well according to Google, New Year's Eve is one of the largest global celebrations because it marks the last day of the year in the Gregorian calendar, December 31, before the New Year. Many people celebrate New Year's Eve to bid farewell to the year that ends and to welcome the New Year.

You may wonder what the New Year's Eve Celebration means to me. For me, this celebrates a year of your life with your family. I mostly celebrate everything I accomplished during the year and remember everything I did and did not do, that I can still accomplish next year. People have different reasons to celebrate, but spending time with my loved ones is my favorite one.

People celebrate the New Year following traditions. Some are cool, but others are really weird: From stuffing your mouth with grapes, big firework displays, wearing something pink, and ringing bells to weird ones, like walking an empty suitcase around the block, throwing furniture, smashing plates...

We all have different ideas about what new year's eve is about, but what really matters is to enjoy the last day of the year. It doesn’t really matter why and how you celebrate it, what matters Who is there with you, and that you take time to think and reflect about this year's accomplishments to start thinking about your new ones it for the future. 

Happy New year!

Avril Vélez

7th Grade