Five 9th graders are getting international notoriety for their science experiment. What started as a school project rocketed them into the spotlight for what they discovered. The girls noticed that having their cell phones by their head as they slept caused them to have less concentration at school and difficulty sleeping so they decided to test the theory for their biology class. They took trays of cress seeds and placed them in a room both with and without Wi-Fi routers, routers use the same type of waves as cell phones, and gave them the same amount of water and sunlight; the results of what happened over the next 12 days are nothing but astounding. The seeds that had been placed with the router not only failed to grow but some were even mutated or dead. The seeds that were not subjected to the router grew strong and healthy. Scientist have been impressed with the girls precision in the experiment and are now setting up their own similar experiments to further test the results.
Happening in School
This category encompasses activities happening throughout Arizona schools. This may include sporting events, clubs, field trips, in-class activities, talent shows, fundraisers, guest speakers, and other activities occurring in our schools. Write an article about what’s happening in Arizona schools! Disclaimer: Please do not include real names of people or schools in these articles.
BULLYING. A word that invokes images of nerds and jocks and the countless funny TV and movie encounters, is back in the news today after an 8 year old boy is found dead in his home. Gabriel Taye is believed to have committed suicide after a "bullying" instance that left him laying unconscious on a bathroom floor for six minutes while his classmates poked at him. The problem with the use of the word bullying is the connotation, the idea or feeling that the word invokes. When we hear it, it brings up images of small school yard skirmishes that have no real consequence. The reality is much different. Bullying is used to describe crimes such as harassment, theft, assault, battery, manslaughter and even murder. We cannot allow the people perpetrating these acts to diminish the severity of the grief they inflict and hide their crimes behind a belittled label. Assault is assault, and it should be called and treated like it no matter where it is done. The proper reaction just might save a life. Learn more about the laws that surround bullying and the crimes that it entails here.
Stacey Garcia was told that she couldn't play baseball for her middle school. If she wanted to play ball, it was going to have to be softball; but Stacey wanted to play baseball. She had already played in little league and wanted to continue so her parents went to the district. The district agreed that Stacey could tryout with the rest of the baseball hopefuls. She tried out and the next day met up with the coach. “He came up to me, showed me a list of all the names that made it, and he said congratulations and shook my hand, and I saw my name on there, which was really cool,” said Stacey, according to ABC 15. Stacey Garcia is now her Glendale middle school's baseball team and hopes to make to make it on her high school team next year.
Do you have freedom of speech in school? Last Friday, during a "Party in the U.S.A" spirit day at Perry High School in Gilbert, Arizona students were asked to take down a "Make America Great Again" (commonly referred to as "MAGA") banner. Students also reported being asked to remove MAGA hats, though the school officials state they never made this request. The incidents upset some students and parents who latter held a protest of approximately 50 outside the school the following Monday. Perry High School sophomores who participated said they support students' right to Free Speech. However, do students have the same rights on campus that they do off of campus? The Supreme Court has had several landmark cases on the subject some of which do limit student speech on a school premise like Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier and Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraiser and others that enforce a students right to freedom of speech like Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School. To learn more about freedom of speech read, "Freedom of Speech, What is and What it isn't".
The Arizona Department of Education is creating its first ever Student Advisory Council and you could be on it! "The purpose of the Student Advisory Council is to support Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman’s work to improve K-12 education in the state. Fifteen students will be chosen for the panel, and members will serve from October this year through July 2020. All meetings will take place in Phoenix, but students across the state can participate in the meetings via phone or video chat." Student must be between 5-12 years old and email 1-2 letters of recommendation from their peers to the Arizona Department of Educations. For more details about the program visit: https://www.azed.gov/adeinfo/student-advisory-council.