Finals Week

by Olive, 10th Grade

Finals week is coming up and it is important to manage your stress and ace your tests. As a high school student, I’ve experienced test anxiety and nights where I couldn’t sleep from the stress of my finals. Over time, though, I’ve learned some tips and tricks that can help you do your best.

Obviously, studying is important, but the way you study can impact your test scores a lot. Even though procrastinating feels easier, spacing out your studying is essential. It has been shown to lead to better test scores through more productive study habits. Cramming a semester’s worth of lessons will not only overwhelm your brain but also wreck your sleep schedule and most likely make you perform worse.

Before your tests, get lots of rest. I cannot highlight this enough. It is normal to feel anxious and have trouble sleeping, but the more sleep you can get, the better. Sleep improves your memory and studies show that more sleep correlates with higher test scores.

It is okay to feel worried about your finals, especially if it is your first one, but hopefully after reading this you feel a little more prepared. Good luck, you’ll do great!

A History of Gingerbread

by Yoyo, 8th Grade

From delicious cookies to festively decorated gingerbread houses, gingerbread has become a holiday staple for countries and cultures around the world.

Despite its widespread popularity today, the fragrant biscuit originated in medieval Europe, and its early recipes did not even require ginger. Throughout history, gingerbread has evolved substantially to become the beloved spiced cookies we know now.

Gingerbread began to take form in Europe around the 16th century. Rather strangely, according to food historian Sam Bilton, medieval gingerbread was not made with ginger. Early English recipes used honey and breadcrumbs mixed with other spices to form a stiff paste.

By the 17th century, more people began to replace honey with treacle. This shift came from the increased availability of sugar, especially in England, where Britain’s expansion of its colonial interests in America and the Caribbean and use of enslaved labor lowered the cost of sugar products.

Gingerbread’s link to Christmas stems from several different elements. Gingerbread was commonly sold at festive fairs and winter markets, which likely strengthened its connection with Christmas. Eating a piece of gingerbread bought at a fair was even said to bring good luck.

In the mid 1800s Queen Victoria and Prince Albert also popularized “gingerbread men” as a holiday tradition along with other seasonal customs like decorating evergreen trees. From its humble beginnings as a paste of honey and breadcrumbs, gingerbread has taken a long journey across cultures and traditions. Today, gingerbread is a seasonal staple that symbolizes warmth, comfort and holiday magic.

Blue Christmas

by Mateo, 12th Grade

For most Americans, the holiday season is a time of immense joy and festive cheer. The colorful lights, decorative trees and wrapped up gifts in almost every home and public place create an environment of warmth and delight amid the chilly air. However, while families across the nation celebrate with friends, family and food, emergency workers endure one of the most hectic periods of their year.

The National Crime Victimization Survey reports increases in a multitude of crimes in the final month of the year, including 20% increases in robbery and larceny, the unlawful taking of another’s property. As it turns out, heightened holiday shopping, reckless alcohol consumption and vacationing people everywhere create a recipe for disaster when it comes to public safety.

Blue Christmas, observed annually from Thanksgiving through the end of December, honors first responders and emergency workers who sacrifice valuable family time to protect our community during the holiday season. The concept of Blue Christmas was formed in 1989 by Dolly Craig of Philadelphia. Her son in law, Danny Gleason, was a Philadelphia police officer who had recently passed away in the line of duty, and she placed a bright blue light in her window to remember and honor his heroic service. This simple yet sweet action became an annual tradition to pay homage to loved ones who made the ultimate sacrifice, known as Project Blue Light, and it expanded into the larger Blue Christmas celebration we recognize today. There are many ways to show your gratitude for service members in your community during Blue Christmas.

One of the best ways is by writing a card or giving a small present to an emergency worker in your area. It may appear to be a small gesture, but your kind words and gifts of appreciation can go a long way for someone who can hardly catch a break from the chaos of the holiday season. If you have a loved one who has passed away while serving the community, feel free to follow in the footsteps of Dolly Craig and put up a blue light in remembrance of their work.

Additionally, raising awareness about Blue Christmas and what it represents, whether by talking to others in your community or through social media, is a great way to display your gratitude. Many emergency workers give up their holidays to preserve your safety during a time that should be filled with joyful spirits and family fun, risking severe personal injury, emotional trauma and other serious dangers in the process. Blue Christmas gives us a way to express our support for their tremendous dedication to ensuring our security in such a frenzied time.

The Controversy of Genetic Engineering

by Declan, 10th Grade

You might have played a video game where you could choose your character’s height, hair color, eye color and appearance. In real life, changing these aspects permanently is impossible. In 1973 biochemists Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen cut open a DNA plasmid from one bacterial species, inserted a gene from another, then reconnected the plasmid loop. They placed it into bacteria and proved that genetically modified organisms can exist. This incredible discovery led to the genetic engineering technology today that can treat diseases and cancers while also increasing productivity and efficiency in agriculture. Although genetic engineering can be extremely useful in agriculture, medical treatments and research, the consequences of its misuse are very controversial.

Genetic engineering is a process scientists use to intentionally alter or enhance a gene’s function in order to change an attribute of an organism. Gene editing technologies like CRISPR Cas9, TALEN, Co Star and SCNT all share the same objective but use different processes. For example, CRISPR Cas9 uses guide RNA to target certain genes in a DNA strand and sends that information to a Cas9 enzyme shaped like a cleaver. The enzyme binds, unwinds and creates a double stranded break. Scientists then can trick the DNA repair process by inserting a similar template but with the desired gene so that cells begin producing it.

These technologies allow scientists to delete, insert or substitute the nucleotides that characterize an organism. Genetic engineering has benefits that are truly awesome. Researchers have developed new treatments for illnesses once thought incurable like cystic fibrosis. With DMD, or Duchenne muscular dystrophy, victims usually live only to age 25 as their heart and muscles fall apart due to an inherited mutation on the X chromosome that makes the dystrophin protein fall short. Dystrophin connects and binds our muscles and is what breaks down and grows stronger when we work out. The discovery of CRISPR Cas9 allowed victims’ mRNA to produce long normal dystrophin.

Cancers can be treated too, as p53 tumor suppressors are genes that can prevent tumors from forming while gene therapy can strengthen the immune system of a cancer patient. Diabetes type 1, which presents a lack of insulin, has led to a groundbreaking discovery as one injection can result in insulin production for weeks. In agriculture, genetically modified crops can now carry pest resistant genes that produce toxins to repel predators without sprayed pesticides. However, the consequences of genetic engineering are unknown and unpredictable, and the use of it is very controversial.

A large Stanford Medicine study has shown that secondary blood cancers have a low but present risk of developing from CAR T cell therapy, with about 6.5% of patients acquiring a secondary cancer in the three years after treatment. Some misuse these technologies by “playing god” and altering themselves or their offspring to produce perfect “designer babies”. In the embryo stage, DNA can be manipulated to change eye color, skin color, height and other physical traits. Though gene editing can save lives and reduce serious burdens, the unnatural misuse of its abilities raises moral questions. The consequences of genetic engineering can be creepy. Changing ourselves and our offspring to match a desired appearance almost feels like controlling a simulation but without any artificial intelligence. Should genetic engineering be allowed or only to a certain extent?