Stellar News

By Morgan B.
Student Writer

Every day students put their phones in a clear plastic bin that gets taken to the office. This is done so that students don’t use their phones in class and get distracted from their lesson. However, what if there is some sort of emergency where the school has to be evacuated? Yes, the school will notify parents on where their kids are staying, but wouldn’t parents want to have a direct connection to their kids so they can tell them what is happening and where they are every couple minutes? What if the kids have to move from where they originally were from the time the parents were notified? The phone bin could cause quite a problem if any of these things happened. The first thing a parent would want to do if the school is evacuated is to contact their child and make sure that they are ok. Not being able to contact your child would not only make a parent worry, but a child would want to be able to contact their parents if they are scared.

Another problem is that two eighth graders are in charge of carrying the bin to and from the office. On more than one occasion however, one of the eighth graders carrying a phone bin has dropped it and some of the phones shattered because of it. One other suggestion would be to only allow eighth graders to have their phones in their backpack, and their will be a severe punishment if a student is caught with their phones. Another change could be that the phone bin could be kept in the home room of the seventh and sixth grade rooms. The good side of the current policy for teachers is that they are sure that they will not have to worry about students using their phones and getting distracted in class. Teachers would be able to control an emergency better, and wouldn’t have to worry about social media problems, because the problems didn’t occur at school.

by Sofia A.
Student Writer

In the refugee camps in Kenya many children are suffering. Each school teacher has a average of 340 students of different ages. There are about 18 kids for every chalkboard and barely any chalk. The children live in small tents and their schools don’t have roofs. On rainy  days the kids have to go to school in the mud. The kids don’t have books to read at home, nor lights. A way to help these children is to raise money and awareness. Fourteen dollars can buy 2 chalks and 40 slates.

At Stella Maris, third and fourth grade went around to collect donations for this cause.

(photo credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Kagame)

 

I’ll Fix it

 

Perfect gowns and shiny heels

Fancy food and nice warm meals

The silky bedding how nice it feels

Who could complain about the life of a princess

You have Fancy dances

And you have a portrait of you on the wall

You have beautiful carriages

You even have a line of princes that want your hand in marriage

But what’s wrong

Is it the dog you want?

Or the diamond you bought ?

Is it this or that ?

Is it that or this?

“Tell me and we’ll fix it for you princess”

It’s not that or this

Or this or that

I just want people to understand

I don’t want to attend a dance every other night

Or have to accept a proposal from someone I don't even like

Don’t worry princess we'll search for the perfect knight

I don’t want to wear a corset

Don’t worry

You can have surgery to have the perfect waist

I don't want to be forced to be perfect

Don’t worry about that princess you already are

I don't want to be forced to be flawless

Don’t worry princess you are as flawless as can be

Butler?

Yes my dear

Can I have a small cottage right by the river?

Why would you want that?

You have a kingdom that's in your hands

I want to have a normal life and own little land

I want to have children a family or even a cat

But what I am most certain of

I don't want to keep living beneath this mask

by Scarlett H.
Student Writer

I learned in Current Events, that the new $20 bill plan might have a turnover. In 2016, Obama’s Treasury Secretary Jack Lew had announced that Harriet Tubman would replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill and become the first black woman to be on American currency.  However, in interview at the Economic Club in Washington, Steven Mnuchin, the new Treasury Secretary hired by Trump, , said, "We haven't made any decisions on whether we will change the bill or won't change the bill."  The department has still not decided whether to have the African American hero replace President Andrew Jackson on the $20 note.

Lew had announced that the design for the Tubman $20 would be revealed in 2020 and that the bills would enter circulation as soon as possible after that. It usually takes more than a decade to update a currency. Mnuchin has said that he's more focused on the counterfeiting features of paper currency problem, a point he made in the interview. To see what the 6th grade had to say about this problem I asked a few:

Scarlett: “What are your thoughts on this issue?”

Morgan: “I think it should be changed because of the impact it takes on women and african americans all around the world.”

Bayleigh: “I think it’s good because all these years it’s always been men, but now we have a women on the paper bill and we’ve never had a woman president and this reaches out to more women about trying to run.”

Sofia: “We should totally do it since it would bring a big cultural change because, finally we would have women and african americans representing our country.”

Madi: “I think it’s better to have a change.”

Owen: “I think it’s cool.”

Nino: “I think that Andrew Jackson deserves to be on the $20 bill.”