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Back to Artwork Line Back to Sections Isabella Somma - What is Line By Isabella Somma November 1, 2020 Graphite Volume 1 Issue 1

Back to Articles Feature Back to Sections ENL Buddy Program VSN By Alisson Alas Volume 2 Issue 6 April 14, 2022 Image provided by VSCHSD.ORG The ENL Buddy Program, advised by ENL Department Chair Ms. Swinton, is one of the many clubs offered at North . The ENL Buddy Program offers many activities: Students get to go into ENL classes and do fun and creative activities with the ENL students. Students got to make hallway decorations for World Language Week and participated in this year’s PS I Love You Day event. Students got to go into ENL classrooms and make holiday cards for staff members. Students can help other ENL students feel welcomed to North by helping them get around during their first days in the building. According to Ms. Swinton: “The ENL Buddy program is designed to help new and/or struggling ENL students connect to the North community. Mentors, who are current or former ENL students, work with students individually, visit ENL classrooms and facilitate lessons for students that are designed to build community and also lead after-school activities during meeting time.” For me I think joining this club is an amazing idea since I was a ENL student, I definitely feel like the ENL students feel welcomed to North because they have other students who know how they feel and who are willing to help them get around and get familiar with the environment. According to Ms. Swinton: “Mentors are typically current or former ENL students because they have a shared, lived experience with our newest Spartans. Mentors often also share a similar language and cultural backgrounds with the mentees.” Here's what she said about the activities and plans for the year: “This year, mentors have planned and facilitated classroom lessons that speak to the North's core values of respect, integrity, and kindness. Members of the ENL Buddy Program have also helped to create holiday cards for members of the community, participated in PS I Love You Day by creating positive messages and decorating the school hallway with them and designed flags from around the world in honor of World Language Week.” If you like helping, doing fun and creative activities, have been or are an ENL student, this is the club to join. If you share a similar language and cultural backgrounds with the mentees, you would really be able to make someone's day and transition into our school much easier and get that amazing rush of energy while helping somebody else. BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Science & Technology Back to Sections Seasons Everchanging By Navrosedip Kundlas Volume 2 Issue 2 November 19, 2021 Image provided by Wallpaper Stock look outside, up at the sky watch the birds fly is it summer or is it spring? each one has something different to bring summer brings fresh ice cream cones while winter brings baked cranberry scones spring's April brings showers Leading to May's flowers red, orange, yellow autumn's leaves are so mellow lay back in your rocking chair breathe in the heavenly air blizzards threaten winter's fun that's when people miss the sun snowball fights and winter lights all of those longer nights not too hot, nor too cold flowers the color of gold animals wake up from their slumber dreading the hot scorching summer lawns are ready to be mowed parents trying not to explode finally freedom is here at last! the horrible days of school are in the past! winter, summer, spring, and fall four seasons in all each brings in new excitement all has their own enrichment which one is your favorite? winter with its hot chocolate summer with its vacation or is it your graduation? fall with apple pie and pumpkins or do you prefer spring's new beginnings Whichever season you think is the best they'll still pop up with or without your request BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Polaris, Fiction Back to Sections Is That Me (Comic) By Nora Chery Volume 3 Issue 4 May 18, 2023 Image provided by Nora Chery BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Polaris Back to Sections Words By Shinedip Kundlas Volume 3 Issue 1 November 7, 2022 Image provided by Adobe I sat at my desk with no thoughts in my mind. Completely blank. I closed my eyes and began to zoom out of the reality we live in. Soon I took off into a whole different world. A world is full of words, characters, forests, homes, and songs. I jumped into a soft pillow-like cushion made out of the softest cashmere. Before my eyes, a book landed on top of my lap. The old pages were torn and looked as if they'd been handed down for years. I began flipping through the dusty pages. Words flying all around me. A flashing light beholds my eyes. I suddenly opened my eyes. My eyes fluttered shut again hoping to go back to the world I was just in. I opened my eyes and looked at my screen. And began typing. Words came, and stories flew in from the window. In a flurry, I typed and typed. Words soon became sentences. Sentences soon became paragraphs. Paragraphs become stories. Stories became a light. BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Sports Back to Sections NCAA College Tournament By Leah Ally Volume 3 Issue 3 February 24, 2023 Image provided by ESPN The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, more commonly referred to as March Madness or NCAA March Madness, is a springtime single-elimination competition annually held in the United States to determine the national college basketball champion. There are 68 Division I college basketball teams, the National Collegiate Athletic Association represented in the tournament. Since its first competition in 1939, it has gained vast popularity and become one of the country's most-watched annual sporting events. The champion teams from three Division I conferences are among the tournament teams along with 36 other teams selected by a committee of the NCAA. A single elimination “bracket” made up of the 68 teams separated into four regions and predetermines which teams will play each other next. At the start of the tournament 4 teams are eliminated leaving 64 teams to be “seeded”, or ranked, from 1 to 16 within its region. Seven rounds of the tournament are played to determine the national champions. The locations are determined beforehand based on venue size, hotel and airport requirements, hosting frequency, and previous attendance numbers from the venue, While this annual sporting event has been televised since 1969, all games have not been accessible to be watched worldwide and across the country until 2011. With the increase in television coverage comes an increase in the tournament’s popularity. An average of 10.7 million viewers have tuned in to the last tournament in 2022. Even among non-sports fans, it has become extremely common in popular culture to predict each game’s outcome. Every year, bracket pool competitions are estimated to attract tens of millions of American s. The 2023 March Madness tournament will take place for three weeks from March 12th-April 8th. The competition will begin in Daytona, Ohio and will continue in Houston, Texas for the 2nd round. Out of all 68 teams participating in the competition the Houston Cougars are currently the favorites to win the NCAA tournament with North Carolina, Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, and UCLA being close behind with 15/1 odds. Just this year alone, 45 million Americans (17% of American adults) are expected to wager $3.1 billion combined on the March Madness tournament. BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles Science & Technology Back to Sections Effects of Videogames By Rachel Ezeadichie Volume 1 Issue 5 February 12, 2021 Image provided by Shutterstock The article “How Videogames Affect the Brain” discusses the pros and cons of videogames and whether they either strengthen or weaken the brain. Videogames have been both antagonized and praised by the public without conclusive proof from either side. After years of research, scientists have found that videogames can change different regions of the brain. For example, studies have found that gamers have shown improvements in different types of attention, like selective and sustained attention. Parts of the brain that play a role in attention are more efficient in gamers and they tend to have greater experience focusing on demanding tasks. Though some games improve our brains, others don’t. Even some games branded as “Brain-training” aren’t as beneficial as we may think. Wally Boot, Associate Professor of Psychology at Florida State University, said “Our findings and previous studies confirm there’s very little evidence these types of games can improve your life in a meaningful way”. Researchers found that you could train the brain to do certain things with these games, but these games might not necessarily be helpful in your day-to-day life. In contrast, studies have shown that specific 3-D games can help improve cognitive function in older adults. After 12 hours of training over the period of a month, study participants aged 60-85 improved performance in a game to a greater degree than people in their 20s playing it for the first time. This also improved their working memory and sustained attention; these skills were maintained 6 months after the study. A study done by the University of California-Irvine found that 3-D games could also help the formation of memories. 3-D games are more complex and stimulate the hippocampus, a part of the brain that is important for memory. Strategy games have also been seen to improve brain function in older adults and provide protection against dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Thus, video games have more of a positive impact on our bodies than much of the public believes. My Reaction This article is extremely informative about something we use in our everyday lives. I didn’t know that videogames had that much depth to them! The fact that they affect our brains more than we thought is very interesting. Now that I know this information, I can be aware of what the videogames I play are doing to my brain. Knowing that even these things meant for entertainment can change our body makes me interested in what and how other activities affect our body that I may not know about. BACK TO TOP

Back to Articles News Back to Sections P.S. I Love You Day: “Purple Day” Noa Cordova Volume 4 Issue 3 March 13, 2024 Image Provided by Noa Cordova The week of February 12th, the main hallway was decorated in purple; purple streamers adorned the ceiling, a purple paper tree flourished and purple post-its occupied lockers. So, why did the color dominate the hallways? February 9th marks P.S. I Love You Day; it is a day dedicated to removing the stigma around mental health issues and spreading love to others. P.S. I Love You Day was founded by Brooke DiPalma, a fourteen-year-old girl who lost her father in 2010 due to suicide. Her father’s notable last words, “I love you,” inspired the name of the day we recognize every February. In honor of P.S. I Love You Day, North’s Students Against Destructive Decisions Club (SADD) organizes an annual weeklong campaign. As indicated by the main hallway, purple is the color associated with this campaign. Because Brooke decided to make light of a dark situation, many schools and individuals recognize P.S. I Love You across the state. Mental health advocacy serves as one of the S.A.D.D. club’s main initiatives, so P.S. I Love You Day gets carefully planned out and executed. The club’s advisor, Mr. Moniaci, the officers, and the club members work together to ensure the campaign’s success. The main hallway decorations help bring S.A.D.D. campaigns to life and require a great deal of collective effort. Club members divided themselves into committees for posters, the main office window, the display case, and streamers. The main display case was meant to reflect this year’s theme of “love is meant to be given.” To do this, club members created an array of gifts, bows, and hearts to convey the idea that love is meant to be given like a gift. Additionally, members Navrosedip Kundlas and Wesley Pang crafted a tree that served as a symbol of the growth many experience on their mental health journey. As the vice president, I can attest to the great deal of effort the club members contributed to the decorating process. Working around BSU’s artwork, S.A.D.D. members effectively brought honor to P.S. I Love You Day’s ideals. S.A.D.D. members’ duties were not fulfilled on Monday; Thursday afternoon S.A.D.D. resumed its P.S. I Love You Day activities with post-its in hand. One of the most memorable aspects of P.S. I Love You Day for most students is finding special purple notes on their lockers upon their arrival at school. As involved as S.A.D.D. members are, covering every locker in the building is not a one-club job, so S.A.D.D. enlisted other clubs to assist. A total of ten other clubs assisted and were each assigned a hallway. Each club wrote positive messages on the purple post-its and taped them onto each locker in the hallway. The next day, February 16th, was North’s P.S. I Love You Day when purple-clad students were greeted by some written encouragement on purple-post it notes. P.S. The day is much more than “wear purple day;” it is a reminder we should prioritize mental health and spreading love in any way we can. BACK TO TOP

Back to Artwork Black American Artists Back to Sections Pansies in Washington By Alma Thomas February 12, 2021 Volume 1 Issue 5 Medium: Acrylic on Canvas, Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Back to Artwork Black American Artists Back to Sections The Westwood Children By Joshua Johnson February 12, 2021 Volume 1 Issue 5 Medium: Oil on Canvas, Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington