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By: Sam Harper
Daylight savings time causes many annoyances. It does no good. The effective changes it has on the World are too low to be important. It causes more problems than it solves. The effects of DST can be devastating. DST can make people depressed, injured, and can cost lots of money. Daylight savings time can have terrible effects on the brain. One of those effects is depression. That depression can sometimes go to the extreme of suicide. “As we transition into winter and the days get shorter and darker, many individuals struggle with Seasonal Affective Disorder. Less exposure to sunlight disrupts our circadian rhythms and causes both a drop in serotonin and spike in melatonin, which can lead to feelings of drowsiness and depression.” That one thing affects millions of people. Even if you don't think you're depressed, I'm sure you’ve been sad during the dark months. That darkness doesn't just make you sad, it can hurt you too. Another tragic event from DST, is the injuries. The darker nights make it easier for people to be hit by vehicles. There are more chances to have accidents in the dark like car wrecks. The change in time can be harmful to our bodies as well. Especially when they could be extra vulnerable. Some people who are vulnerable may be pregnant, the effect on their bodies after DST can cause miscarriages. “Every cell in our bodies keeps track of the time, and changes in daily patterns can trigger stress in our brains and cause sleep deprivation, disorientation, and memory loss. It can also lead to difficulties with learning, social interactions, and overall cognitive function.” The social interactions and cognitive function can have a large role in money too. If employees are tired and drowsy then they might not get all their work done that they could have. Employees could be depressed and tired. All those things together could make a bad unmotivated worker. Now imagine that affecting the whole USA. “A financial cost for the biannual switch is hard to pin down, but a study by Chmura Economics & Analytics estimated that daylight saving time costs the U.S. more than $430 million a year.” Money is an issue that could be easily stopped. Though the mornings are dreadful and the nights are dark, there are some good things about DST. There are long summer evenings which are very enjoyable. “More light = more time to do what you want or need to do = a happier you.” People may think DST is no big deal. But IT IS. The Elderly’s body can’t keep track, people are being harmed left and right, everyone is grumpy and sad, we all suffer from the money, skyrocketing as we speak. The evenings are sad and the sleeping schedule of humankind is thrown off. The few good changes of DST are far too low compared to the bad ones. We are in danger of being injured, depressed, and paying the country lots of money. DST has ruined time which would have been better off. It's time for humanity to wisen up and stop this torturous disaster so we can all have some nice, comfortable, sleep.
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 photo courtesy of Google By: Sam Harper
Recently in English class, we talked about WWII, for a book called "The Diary of Anne Frank". So many unjust, awful things happened in that time of war. Though America helping in WW2, with good intentions, The United States of America hasn’t always made the right choices. Sometimes these decisions are stupid or even cruel. The importance of accepting these mistakes and learning from them is crucial. Especially with the confusion and problems in today's society. This article is not intended to make any race, person, or the whole USA look bad. It's just to inform. As humanity, we've done some awful things and we need to learn from them NOW before anyone else gets hurt. Hopefully, from this, you’ll see things from a new and different perspective. Soon after the awful events of Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans were seen as possible spies and even dangerous. “As of 1941, Japanese American communities had been growing in the US for over fifty years. About one-third of them were immigrants, many of whom settled on the West Coast and lived there for decades. The rest were born American citizens,” Ted-Ed stated. People become judgmental, rude and racist to the Japanese citizens in the days and weeks following the Pearl Harbor attack. The government had no idea if there were actual spies and dangerous people in the country. So they made the unlawful decision to put these innocent immigrants and citizens in Internment Camps. They were forced to leave their homes behind to rot or be stolen, They were forced to live in makeshift homes that were once animal stables. Their new “community” was surrounded by barbed wire, outposts, and guards. Though their new “homes” were nothing like Concentration camps, though there was no torture, starvation, and cultural eradication, things weren’t pretty at all. Sanitation was poor and medicine supplies were short. Though they had such poor living conditions, they tried to make their new lives as normal as possible. They assigned jobs, sorta had politics and even built churches. Nevertheless, life was hard and people did die from sickness and injuries. They were there in their internment camps for the whole war. When the war was over in 1945 and they were released, most of their homes were gone or someone else was living in it. The last camp ended in 1946. It wasn’t until 1976 when Congress finally apologized for what they did. “Congress issued a formal apology and passed the Civil Liberties Act awarding $20,000 each to over 80,000 Japanese Americans as reparations for their treatment” according to www.history.com. Our own school resource officer, Officer Kamachi, had grandparents that lived in these internment camps during WW2. Officer Kamachi says he didn't even know about this until he was an adult, and his parents didn't talk about it much. When he did ask them about it, they told him that the government had taken their farm and their house and sent them to live at an internment camp in northern Idaho. He said after the war, they were given back their house, but the government kept their land. When he asked them if it made them mad, they answered, "We were just so wanting to be considered American citizens. We didn't want to complain about it. We just figured, 'We started over once. We can do it again.'" His family went on to start the famous Chiz's restaurant in St. Anthony. What we can learn from this? We can learn that America is a great country, but we are not without our own mistakes. We can learn not to be judgmental. Because of our racism and awful judgment, almost 120,000 innocent people had to suffer for nothing. If this was taken from a different approach, so many peoples’ lives would be normal (if you don't count the war). I understand the president had to deal and think about the war at hand, but that is no excuse for what happened to the Japanese Americans. By: Camri Call
In spite of what many people think about Valentine's day being a depressing holiday for single people, that’s not what it's all about. I like Valentine’s Day because it’s a day that reminds me to tell my friends and family that I love and appreciate them. Life can get really busy throughout the year. So I’m personally glad that there is a day dedicated to show the special people in your life how much they mean to you. Even if you don’t have a boyfriend or girlfriend doesn’t mean that Valentine’s Day is not a day for you. There’s always someone who’s day you can make by giving them a compliment and being nice to them. The way Valentine’s Day started is actually kind of a dark tale. It all goes back to the ancient Romans and the Catholic Church. Emperor Claudius executed a guy named Valentine which led to the holiday being created when the Catholic Church celebrated his life. That holiday eventually turned into a day of love and is now what we know it as today. St. Valentine had no idea that the date of his execution would later become a holiday to honor those you love. My perfect Valentine’s day would be a day with my family and my bestest friends. I enjoy being around people that I like and who like me. It would be full of food and games and stuff like that. In the future I think it would also be fun to be able to travel and explore other countries and cultures. I’ve always wanted to go to Europe and that would be fun to do on a valentine’s day with my future family. All in all, Valentine’s Day is actually a pretty good holiday to celebrate every year. by Levi Larsen, Kyler Zuccato, and Charlie Miller
by Ainsley Burns, Shelby Frisby, and Kyler Zuccato
Even though many people are unaware, language can harm a lot of people. Studies show that 17% of American students are bullied each year as well as over ten thousand students attempt and complete suicide each year. Most of these deaths could have been prevented if schools tried to limit the amount of harmful language and bullying that occurs each day. America's Health Rankings, an online analytics website, shows that suicide is highest ranked among male students rather than females, but females have more attempts. They also say that Native American students are the most likely to attempt suicide along with students who are members of the LGBTQ+ community. The rankings also estimate that bullying is one of the biggest reasons to attempt suicide. Webster Dictionary defines bullying as “abuse and mistreatment of someone vulnerable by someone stronger, more powerful, etc. : the actions and behavior of a bully.” The National Centre Against Bullying lists types of bullying on their website. The list includes physical, verbal, social, and cyber. They describe verbal bullying as “insults, teasing, intimidation, homophobic or racist remarks, or verbal abuse.” While verbal bullying can seem harmless, it can quickly become a real problem and target certain parts of a student’s appearance and identity. In spite of the fact that swear words have their place in people’s vocabularies, when used against other people, they quickly become derogatory. In instances where people use swear words, slurs, and harmful insults as a way to harm someone with knowledge and intent to hurt someone’s feelings, then it becomes extremely harmful for a school’s culture. Not only does it start to set a precedent for future generations that attend the school, but it seriously affects the students. As shown in the statistics above, school can be hard for people of minorities and by allowing things like swearing, slurs, and harmful language to raise the levels of suicide attempts. The Hope Squad is something new at our school. It’s a group that was formed to help our school have a better culture. Something we strongly recommend for the Hope Squad is to stop bullying before it gets to a point where it sets a precedent. We also challenge you to talk to the Hope Squad if you feel these emotions of suicide, self-harm or if you are being bullied. The Hope Squad is here to give us a push in the right direction, to help us change our school culture, but they can't do it alone. They need help, and by not saying hurtful words towards others, we can lessen bullying and suicide rates. In schools that use a similar program to the Hope Squad, the students took a survey asking if the program helped make a better school culture (Nobullyingschools.com). 87% of the students said that the program did in fact help the school culture. 89% of the students said that the program helped them learn to speak up for themselves and others. These programs are helping, but the students need to be helping too. We can't just sit back and wait for the Hope Squad to make all of the bullying and inappropriate use of words go away. So in conclusion, bullying is terrible, between calling people “dumb” to calling people “gay” (in the sense of an insult) it leads to people being depressed and killing themselves. 17% of students are bullied in some way. If we dumb that down to how many kids are in our school– let’s say 1300–that would be 221 people in our school alone, being bullied! Our call to action for you is to not only think about the words you choose to say but to let the Hope Squad help. Everybody is going through something. No matter who they are, what they look like or who they associate themselves with, everyone is going through something.  Written By: Rachel Powell
Imagine this: “Ding-a-ling!” You have one new email. It reads: “Dear Parents and Students, we are switching to a 4-day school week. Bonneville and Rigby have either already considered or already started this. We are going to start it as well. All students will be expected to come to school Monday through Thursday. Friday will become a “flex day” where students with low grades will come to improve their grades and students with good grades can stay at home. We will continue to provide bus services, breakfast, and lunch to all the students that do need to come on Fridays. Sincerely, your superintendent, Randy Lords.” Wouldn’t it be amazing if you received that email? Madison School District (MSD) should switch to a 4-day school week because it would help students get better grades and students would be able to spend more time with their families. One reason why MSD should switch to a 4-day school week is because it would help students get better grades. As indicated in the fake email, students with good grades would not have to go to school on Fridays. Students with a D or below, in any class, are required to go to school that day. If the student with low grades doesn’t come, they will be marked absent. Mr. Carlson did some research and found that more than 29% of MJHS students have a D or below in at least one class. Students with low grades would also be more motivated to get good grades so that they wouldn’t have to go to school on Fridays. There would also not be as many people at school on Fridays because many students would be at home, enjoying their life. Because of this, students with low grades would be more motivated to get good grades so that they wouldn’t have to go to school on Fridays. Students with low grades would also get more one-on-one time with their teachers, which would help the students understand the material better, which would help the students get better grades. Mr. Allison, an amazing counselor at MJHS, said, “It’s unfair that the students with bad behavior are taking away reward and attention from the students with good behavior.” Having the opportunity to stay home from school on Friday would reward the students who do have good grades by letting them have a break from working their brains so hard. Another reason why MSD should switch to a four-day school week is because it would give students more family time. According to www.un.org article 16, “The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.” Students at MJHS need to spend time with their families because families are so important. An anonymous student from MHS said, “More time should be spent with family because it helps build good relationships. Family time is crucial.” Some families like to spend time together by going skiing every Friday in the winter, but they don’t have much time to do so because the kids have to go to school. If students had Friday off of school, then they would be able to spend more time with their families. Some people may argue that some families have two parents working all the time. They wouldn’t be able to be home with their kids. If they are working on Friday and they don’t feel comfortable leaving their kids at home because they wouldn’t have anywhere to go, going to school on Fridays would still be an option. So basically, even if a student does have good grades, school on Fridays would be optional. School lunch and bussing would still be offered to all students. Students can come if they want/need, or they can stay home (if they have good grades) and relax after the long week of school, sports, and homework. Overall, there are so many benefits to having a 4-day school week. Madison School District should switch to this schedule because students would get better grades, be able to spend more time with their families, and much more. It would benefit students, teachers, and families. There is almost no downside to switching to this schedule. If you are interested in this and you want to receive an email like the one in the first paragraph someday, go to madisonrundown.com and tell Mr. Bobcat that you want to switch to a 4-day school week. Written By: Sawyer Summers
I think that students should be allowed to call their teacher by their first name. It will help the students to better bond with their teacher. Tory Parker, a student from MJH stated, “I feel like we should call our teacher by their first name because it sounds more natural.” Many students call their teacher by first name and get points taken away because of it. They don’t understand why they get in trouble because they feel like it is so awkward to call their teacher by their last name. People say that calling their teacher by their first name defines the boundaries between the students and teachers. They argue that this is how it should be. Emily Meyer, another student from MJH stated, “I feel like if there was a young teacher, calling her by her first name would make her feel like she’s our age, and then there wouldn’t be a defined line between teacher and student.” But even though we would call them by their first name, they would still be in charge of us and teach us. There would still be defined lines that separate teachers from students. It would develop a mutual respect between teachers and students. Some leading psychologists say that students are more likely to get good grades if they have a good relationship with their teachers. Neal Brown, principal of a school in Maryland, wrote, “Students (who call a teacher by their first name) begin to develop strong relationships with their teachers and they are less afraid to make mistakes or advocate for themselves.” They would feel more comfortable asking for help. So they would all get better grades and feel less stress about school. That is why students should be allowed to call their teachers by their first names.  photo courtesy of Google Written By: Bailee Withers
From the ages of five to eighteen, youth all over the world are required to attend school. Every day, typically for 6-8 hours per day, we all go to school and learn all sorts of things in the subjects of math, science, English and more. This makes me wonder if we are using that time effectively. Why should we waste our time on stuff we will never need to know? Shouldn't we learn how to use a bank account, or pay bills, or buy a house? Let’s look at a few examples. First, there's science class. It's interesting to learn about, but when in our life are we going to need to know how thick each layer of the earth is? Then, there's English class. Of course we need to have good writing skills, but will our job ever depend on if we can properly identify a direct object in a sentence? Unless we are going to become an English teacher, probably not. In math class, we learn many things that we will never use in real life. Do we need basic math facts? Sure! Do we need to know how to graph something in slope-intercept form? I think you see my point. The website Philadelphia.cbslocal.com states, “A new survey says the average American uses just 37 percent of the information they learn in school.” This shows that there are many classes that we are never going to remember or use. So how should we fix things? School classes should teach us things we need to know for life. Though the class may still be boring, we will at least know what to do when we have to pay bills. Most students probably don’t know how to set up a bank account until high school or even college. Mrs. Rhodes, an English teacher at MJH told us that when she managed student housing for BYUI, she was shocked at how many college students didn't even know how to pay their own bills. They had to rely on their parents to do it each month. Imagine if money management was the type of thing we learned in math class instead of how to find the sine, cosine, and tangent of a triangle! Deseret.com says, “Approximately 24 percent of teens incorrectly think that using a debit card is borrowing the bank's money instead of using their own.” So why not change some classes to learning about things we as adults will need to know? Although we need to learn the basics in math, I feel that by changing up topics we discuss in math and other subjects we all will benefit. Therefore maybe schools should eventually change up their classes, but for now enjoy your algebra class! Written by: Hank Erickson Most people don't know or don't care to know about the life of a cowboy. Most people think it's easy, but that is completely wrong coming from a cowpuncher himself *cough**cough* Hank Erickson. You have to worry about your horse acting up when it's cold or rainy or if you gave him too long of a break. But that's the easy stuff. Enough about that. Let's get into the first part of every cowboy job ever. Saddling a Horse is a simple enough task, but for someone that is new or has never done it before it can be quite challenging. You have to catch, brush, braid (if you are fancy), put the pad on, throw the saddle on, and cinch it up. That's really broad so let’s get in to detail. Step 1. Catching the horse Everyone that has horses has a different way of catching their horse. The way I got taught was to walk up and put the halter on and walk him out, tie him up and give in grain so that they get a treat when they get caught. Step 2. Brushing the horse This is probably the simplest part. You just brush where the saddle sits if you are going for a ride. If you are going to a show you need to make the horse look fancy. Step 3. Putting the pad on the horse This is very important so your saddle doesn’t gald the horse. Putting the pad in the right place is also important the pad goes on the withers. The red circle is the wither. It it right at the base of the horse's neck. (see image below.) Step 4. Saddling the horse Perfect saddle placement is key so you don't accidentally hurt your horse. If your saddle is too far back, the back cinch will get in his flank and will cause the horse to buck. If it's too far forward it will gald (cutting your horse) and that's no bueno. The right bit is also a factor when cowboying. If you use a snaffle bit on a horse that has been ridden a lot, is a spade, or even a correction, your horse won’t be as soft-mouthed. A soft-mouthed horse is a really good thing if you are gentle with your hands. If you are hard with your hands it can hurt a soft-mouthed horse. But that is just the basics. You can find out more on Dale Brisby's YouTube channel or talk with Hank Erickson in person if you have questions about the life of a cowboy!
 photo courtesy of Google By: Jonas Robins
The wish assembly is coming up on Tuesday, December 21st, and it is a very fun tradition we have here at the junior high. The wish assembly is an assembly run by the student council where students at Madison Junior High can go to a booth during lunch time and submit wishes for twenty-five cents each. These wishes can be silly things or serious things, but you never know, they might just grant it! This got me thinking. If I could have any 3 wishes come true (that are school related), what would they be? One of the wishes I would choose is, of course, to have flex back. I would want it back so we could have help with homework and we could get our grades up as needed during school. Jaden Torres, a student at MJH would also choose to get flex back. “I think we should flex back to help with the school's GPA,” Jaden states. Another wish I would choose is for school to be shorter. While I don't think they would be able to do this, it would be fun. I think it would be a fun idea because then there is still less work put on the kids and this causes less stress. Some people may not be aware of this, but Rigby has recently decided to make Fridays a "work day" just for students who have low grades. They are taking the daily flex time out of their schedule, but placing it on Fridays. This means that if you have good grades, you don't have to come to school on Friday! How awesome would this be!? It's like they are killing two birds with one stone. They get flex time AND they reward kids who already have good grades by not making them come on Fridays! Let's get this conversation rolling at Madison! The third wish I would choose is more elective classes. School is supposed to help people get jobs and things in the future, but maybe people struggle with knowing what jobs they would want. If students can have more elective options, they can figure out what things they are interested in. This will help them have not only to have a good paying job, but the job that makes them happy. Although these wishes may not come true, the wish assembly will still be a blast. The assembly may not actually grant a lot sometimes, but it's still a fun assembly for the students. Anika Johnson, a student at MJH, really looks forward to the assembly. She says, “I really think that the wish assembly is really fun and gets the students really involved and excited." I agree! It should be a great assembly to watch and who knows, maybe some great wishes will be granted! |
