October Oregon WeatherAshley DeVeux
There have been a lot of crazy things happening this fall. One of the major things that has happened is all the crazy weather we have been getting. Typhoon Songda was a typhoon that was set to strike Japan but curved away. Typhoon Songda was the fourth most powerful typhoon of the North Pacific Ocean in 2016. This caused the Northwest United states and Canada to endure a powerful extratropical cyclone. Here in Oregon this extratropical cyclone brought tons of rain, strong wind, big waves, and a tornado. Manzanita, a beach town on the Oregon coast, got struck by a tornado Friday morning at 8:20am, October 14, 2016. This tornado was rated as an EF2 tornado. There is no recorded injuries or deaths due to the tornado. There has been reports of damage. The tornado was about 10 streets long and traveled right through the center of town. Winds along the Oregon coast reached speeds of 80 miles per hour. Here in Portland we received winds at a speed of 55 miles per hour. These high winds left 13700 Portland General Electric customers without power. Because of these high winds Oregon costs got waves from 30-40 feet high. Oregon received between 5-12 inches of rain. |
Crisis in SyriaMaxx Diehm
If you didn’t know already, there is a huge crisis in Syria. Syria is surrounded by Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Israel. The capital is Damascus and the population is approximately 22 million. Many people die every day because of bombing and terrorism acts. Syria used to have a fairly big population, but ever since this terrorism thing happened, the population of Syria has dropped dramatically. There is a boy (see picture up top) who has captured worldwide attention. His hospital was attacked and bombed completely destroying everything in the area. If you haven’t heard of ISIS already, it stands for The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. They are one of the biggest -- if not the biggest -- terrorist group in the world. They are responsible for many shootings and bombings worldwide. They are based in Syria and commit many attacks in Syria. Another reason Syria's population has dropped is because they are moving to other countries. One of the countries that has taken in the most refugees is Germany. They have taken in more than half of all of the Syrian refugees. I hope you have learned more about Syria and take this into account the next time you hear the name Syria. |
2016 Election: Who Else is Running?Elisa Andrews
Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump. That’s the big thing going on all across the United States. However, did you know that Clinton, Trump, Johnson, and Stein are all running for president? I asked 8 people who was running for president. 6 said “I only know of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.” 2 said “I know that there are four people running for president.” If you have no idea what’s going on, there are four people running for president. Donald Trump is the Republican Party nominee, Hillary Clinton is the Democratic Party nominee, Gary Johnson is the Libertarian Party nominee, and Jill Stein is the Green Party's nominee. If you are one of those people who are like “Wow! I had no idea there were four people running for president!” there are some facts you might want to know about our countries nominees. Jill Stein has 2% of our countries votes. She is the Green Party’s nominee for president. She also graduated from Harvard. Before she entered politics she was a physician of International medicine. Stein was also the lead singer in the band Somebody's Sister. Gary Johnson has 7% of our country's votes. He is the Libertarian party nominee. Johnson ran for president in 2012 as a Republican. He is the second unmarried candidate since 1884. His running mate is William Weld. |
Our Fabulous Father MarkGemma Tkel
Religion: One of the most important things at a Catholic school. Here at our Catholic school -- Holy Cross--we take religion very seriously, and we respect God, Jesus, and the church. The church is the house of the lord, and in that house we praise God, our Father, and Jesus, our savior. Our church not only praises God, but they even give to others. The church holds events like the Parish Potluck, which is held on the second Saturday of the month after 5:00 pm, the Senior Luncheon, which is on the first Wednesday of the month (October - May) from 11:00 am - 12:30 pm, and the Help Feed the Hungry Program, which is at the Saint Vincent De Paul located on the Holy Cross campus. We here at Holy Cross Catholic School, Holy Cross church, and Holy Cross Parish are honored to have Father Mark Bachmeier as our leader for our weekly masses. Father Mark has been with Holy Cross for a little over five years. He is very kind and happy, and can make any mass interesting. An opinion, made by a Holy Cross student, was stated as follows, “ I think he (Father Mark) is a very nice man who helps people figure out who they are”. Obviously, this student is very grateful for Father Mark, as is everyone who is part of the Holy Cross community, and is very happy that he is our priest, who helps us in our time of need. We respect and love Father Mark, and hope that he can stay with us for many more years to come. Interview: In this interview that I did with Father Mark, I asked questions such as: how it is to be a priest, how he sees the Holy Cross community, and even what his favorite food is! How long have you been with Holy Cross? A little over five years. What was your first impression of Holy Cross? I thought it was a playful and loving parish community. What is your favorite part about being with Holy Cross? I think it’s that a lot of people share in the prayer at the work that go on everyday. Why did you decide to become a priest? I decided to become a priest because I thought God had blessed and gifted me in some way and the blessings and gifts could be best used serving God and serving his people. (A very good and reasonable reason to become a priest in my opinion.) How do you become a priest? I went to school, grade school, then middle school, then high school, and college and then I also went to a place called a seminary which is a school to become a priest. What’s the best part about being a priest? I get to see a lot of different people sharing in the prayer and the work that make a parish a great place to be. How long do you plan on staying with Holy Cross? I hope to stay for six more years, because priests in this Archdiocese of Portland can stay in a parish for 12 years maximum, but I’m living life in the parish one day at a time. Not thinking about 12 years, six years, just one day at a time. Fun Facts: 1) Father Mark is from North Dakota 2) Father Mark’s favorite food is pizza 3) Father Mark’s favorite movie is The Godfather Part 2 4) If he could have any job besides a priest in the world he would want to be a teacher (shout-out to all you teachers out there!) 5) As a kid Father Mark wanted to be a major league baseball player, and he wanted to play for the San Francisco Giants 6) For high school Father Mark went to North Eugene High School, for college he went to University Of Oregon, and the Seminary he went to was called Mt. Angel |
St. JeromeNatalie Barnard
St. Jerome was born in 347 AD and died on September 30, 420 AD. St. Jerome was born in Stridon on the border of Dalmatia and had Christian parents. He is remembered on September 30 every year. He once served as a private secretary of Pope Damasus. He spoke lots of languages such as Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Chaldaic. St. Jerome was known for his bad temper! Unfortunately, he died in Bethlehem and his remains still lay there. I hope St. Jerome will inspire you! |
Terry Porter Joins the University of Portland Coaching StaffTommy Louie
Recently, on April 2, 2016, retired NBA player Terry Porter became the new Portland Pilots Men’s basketball coach. This is important for Portland because he played for the Portland Trail Blazers from 1985 to 1995. During that decade, he did many things that benefited the community. After a long time, he is returning home to Portland. Terry Porter started his basketball career in college at Wisconsin Stevens Point. He was named First-Team All-American by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and named most valuable player in 1984. He joined the NBA in 1985 and he was in it until 2002. He was on several different teams during his career, including: the Bulls, the Spurs, the Hawks, Warriors, and the Blazers. When he played on the Blazers, he brought them to the NBA finals twice. After his career in the NBA ended, Terry Porter moved onto coaching. His first season of coaching was in 2002- 2003 for the Sacramento Kings. In 2003-2004, he coached the Milwaukee Bucks. In the 2005 offseason, he coached his son’s fifth grade basketball team. In the 2006-2007, Porter became the assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons. In 2008-2009, he coached the Phoenix Suns. Then, in 2009-13, he became an assistant coach for the Timberwolves, and later became the head coach. Now, he finally has become the coach of the Portland Pilots. Aside from his basketball career, he did many things for the community. Porter helped design several programs including the Blazer exchange club and SMART moves for portland Boy’s and Girl’s club. He also created the Milwaukee Scholars fund in 1994, which provides college scholarship funds to minority students in Milwaukee. In 1993, he won the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship award, given to a person in the NBA who shows great service and dedication to the community. Along with being a responsible citizen, he is also an active Christian. Terry Porter is Catholic. Scott Leykam, the athletics director for the University of Portland, says, “Terry has proven that he is a man of high character and integrity… He will be a perfect fit for our campus and its mission of teaching and learning, faith and formation, and service and leadership.” |
Alex Morgan: Soccer Star and All-Around GalKayla DeVeux
Alex Morgan was born July 2 1989 and is currently 27 years old. Alex lives in San Dimas California. She went to college at university of California Berkeley and started her soccer career at 14 years old. She played in the fifa women's world cup champion and a olympic gold medalist. She played for the portland thorns in 2011 and is currently a forward for the Orland pride in the NWSL and the United States womens national soccer team. |
Student Highlight of the MonthIda Fogarty
Hello Holy Cross! October’s student of the month is Gabriela Granados! She is an all around amazing student. She is on student council, a student ambassador, plays for the Holy Cross 7th/8th grade volleyball team, and strives for amazing grades! In this article I will be telling you about wonderful things she does. Gabriela has recently joined the student council made up of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. June of last school year another student won Vice President, but he unfortunately is not joining us for our 2016-2017 school year. Out of many essays that were written to replace him they chose Gabrielas. Gabriela was very excited this is what she told me, “I have always wanted to be on student council, but was always really nervous to run. When the opportunity to write a essay and not say it infront of 200 people came, I was very excited. I am overjoyed to be on student council!” Gabby will be helping with prayer, schoolwide announcements, safety drills, and way more! Gabby is also one of our student ambassadors. This will be her second year serving as a ambassador. As a student ambassador she gives tours, helps at school events, goes to events to convince people to drop by Holy Cross, and many more! Gabriela is definitely an amazing student. She always is on top of her academic life. So on top she even tutored a younger student last year! Gabriela always tries her hardest in school even if it means, staying for recess, taking a test over, or doing corrections. She always strives to get the best grades possible. Gabby is very involved at Holy Cross which makes her a wonderful student. I had the pleasure of interviewing Gabriela. I learned so many fun things! Here are some of the things she told me, Gabriela was born February 21, 2004, her favorite musical artist is Logic. When I asked why she said, “Because… his music is great!” Gabby plays volleyball even though her favorite sport is basketball. Her absolute favorite colors are Periwinkle and pastel orange. When I asked her for opinion on pink she said, “Eww”. Her pet peeve is “When people's things are not organized. It annoys me.” She also told me her full name is Gabriela Granados. Her favorite place in the world is Disneyland… “not Disney World get it right.” Gabby has super cute shoes so I had to ask her what her favorite shoe brand was and she said, “You gotta go with them skechers” then she said, “No actually Nike.” Since Gabriela has been at Holy Cross for 7 years I asked her what her favorite Holy Cross tradition is, “Having buddies!” Gabby told me. She went on to talk about her nephew (kindergarten) who is also one of her two buddies. If Gabriela could change one thing about Holy Cross she would change, “Eating downstairs? It just came to my brain.” It took her forever to answer, so obviously she loves attending school at Holy Cross. Last but not least, she told me about her 2 dogs, “My pets are annoying little creatures but I love them!” Thank you so much for reading about our student of the month Gabriela Granados! I enjoyed interviewing her so much, if you see her in the hall make sure to say hi! |
Sixth Grade's Trip to Outdoor SchoolBryan Velasquez-Flores
Each year, the 6th grade students from Holy Cross go to Howard Outdoor School. Camp Howard is located on 240 acres of beautiful land with a pond near the center. This pond is home to many fish. Camp Howard is sometimes known as Oregon’s Catholic Camp because it is, in fact, a catholic camp. Camp Howard was established in 1953 with the intention of providing kids with the chance to go to a summer camp. In 1971, the Outdoor School Program started using Camp Howard’s location to provide students with an outdoors environment for learning. Our 6th grade teacher, Mrs. Gagnon was not able to attend this year because she will soon be welcoming baby Gagnon into the light of the world. As some of you know, Mr. Davis, our 7th grade teacher, stepped up and took her place by accompanying the 6th grade class to outdoors school. I still have some amazing memories of when I attended Camp Howard in 6th grade. I will not be naming them all because I could go on talking about every single thing and it’ll get boring. Two years ago, I was most impressed with the food. I wasn’t expecting there to be any good food because it’s a camp. Camp Howard has such amazing cooks that work hard in order to give students the most delicious food. There are so many memories that you can make there. It makes it so hard to say goodbye to your friends that you met there and you just feel like crying. Outdoors school is a very helpful thing that we have today. There are many students out there that have a hard time learning because of the environment they are in. There are some other kids out there that have a hard time learning because they do not get a chance to physically do what they are being taught. This has been a major problem in schools throughout the nation. But luckily, someone came up with the idea of outdoors school. Outdoors school is really helpful because it allows students to learn in an environment that better suits their learning abilities. It also helps because some kids learn more efficiently when given a chance to physically do it. Outdoors school is focused on giving students a more in depth look at what is nature instead of just reading from a textbook. Bryan: What was your favorite thing that you ate? Natalie: Oooooh, that’s very hard. The desert, especially the brownies. Kayla: ummmm, their pizza was so good. Bryan: What was your least favorite thing about outdoors school? Natalie:That it was cold and rainy on some of the days. Kayla: Probably when there was power outage. Bryan: Did you meet and make a lot of friends? Natalie:uhhhhhh, yeah. Kayla: yeah Bryan: What was your favorite activity that you participated in? Natalie: Singing campfire songs. Kayla: The Water field study. |
Teacher Highlight of the MonthAylin Vega-Alvez
At Holy Cross, we have a teacher named Mr.Davis. He is a great teacher. He teaches middle school science and likes to challenge us with work. If you needed help with your science homework, he is the person to go to. Mr. Davis is the 7th/8th volleyball coach for Holy Cross. Mr. Davis is the homeroom teacher of a very small seventh grade class. He is a great teacher and I interviewed him. Here are some facts about him: Mr. Davis has been married for seven years and went to Central Catholic for High School. He has 3 siblings and likes being a teacher because it’s different everyday, he gets challenged, and it amuses him Did you know that Mr. Davis’s favorite food is sushi? YUM! If he could go to one place in the world it would be Australia/New Zealand. He went to the University of Portland which is not far from where our school is. Mr. Davis likes the two sports: golf and basketball. If he could have a dream car it would be the 1964 Chevrolet Cheyenne Pick-up Truck. Vrroom Vrroom! One fact that Mr. Davis is proud of himself is that he is the first person to get a masters degree in his family. How cool is that! Thank you Mr. Davis for letting us know you better! |
Holy Cross Celebrates Halloween Art!Sophia Ell
To celebrate this Halloween season, we collected student art work! Enjoy and Happy Halloween! Halloween at Holy Cross is a very exciting day. Kids get to dress up in fun costumes and play games at the school carnival where they can win prizes and candy. Students’ favorite things about Halloween include Halloween parties, scary movies, dressing up, candy, and going trick-or treating with friends. Unusual traditions on Halloween include leaving candy on people’s doorsteps anonymously and giving candy to the orthodontist. At Holy Cross, we have the Halloween Carnival. This is a fun time for little kids or even the older kids. This year, the eighth grade is running the carnival. Games will include:
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Sculptures Across the GlobeMayzie Carleton
I chose Mustangs as one of my sculptures because I like animals, and I liked how life-like Mustangs looks.Mustangs is in Texas, Las Colonias William square .It is supposedly the world's largest equestrian sculpture. Mustangs are a part of Texsas history. I chose "Anonymous Passerby" by Anonymous because I like the idea that we are in too much of a hurry to notice things like people coming out of the ground. Also because these people are carrying on with their normal lives even though they are coming out of the ground. You can visit this statue in Worcraw, Poland. I chose this sculpture because it’s cute and very creative, also because you don’t see this in everyday life, and pigs are usually troublemakers. You can find this sculpture in Rundle Mall South Australia. |