When people think of winter break, they automatically think of the holidays that accompany it. Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Christmas are some of the most popular holidays, and for good reason.

The nice part about having winter break during the holidays, is that you have plenty of time to travel. With approximately two weeks off of school, you have a nice chunk of time to visit people and celebrate holidays with friends and family.

The holidays in winter are also much more lengthy than the other holidays. Christmas pretty much takes up the whole month of December as far as decorations, music, food and movies go. Hanukkah obviously takes up eight days. Other holidays like Thanksgiving, Easter, or the Fourth of July are over after only a day. I think everyone can agree that the longer the holiday the better it is.

Everybody is familiar with the numerous corny holiday movies that take over our TV guides. There’s nothing better than settling down with friends or family to watch some ridiculous movie that you’ve seen a thousand times. Plus, there are dozens of holiday movies to binge watch that will get you in the holiday spirit. Everybody secretly enjoys cheesy holiday movies.

With the approach of holidays, the appearance of holiday decorations come: lights, wreaths, and candles are in every window; the trees and bushes are covered in bright multicolored lights. No one can deny the beauty of the decorations, even if you don’t celebrate any holidays during the winter. The only thing that makes the lights prettier is when it snows.

Along with the decorations and movies, the music really helps to get people in the holiday mood. While a lot of the holiday music is about Christmas, there are still plenty about winter in general. The best part about the music during the winter is that everyone knows all of the songs because the music has been around for decades. The songs are always cheerful and gets you excited about winter.

Personally, my favorite part about the holidays is the food. It’s better than Thanksgiving, with apple cider, egg nog, cookies, ham, brisket, potatoes, candy canes… the list never ends. You can always find something that you like to eat during the winter holidays. Plus, the aroma that comes with the food is amazing: cinnamon, nutmeg, peppermint; all of scents that define winter fills up the air.

The movies, food, decorations, and music all contribute to the general atmosphere of the holidays. During December, everyone seems to be cheerful, happy and peaceful. People are more generous during the winter holidays; people donate to charities, give gifts to friends and family, and overall seem to be much happier.

While any kind of holiday is great, the holidays during the winter are much better, no matter which one you celebrate.

Every year in December, all of the bands come together in one place. On Dec. 8, each of the four: Jazz Ensemble, Concert and Symphonic Bands and for their debut, the United Sound Band, performed a winter band concert. Through eleven songs and the separate performances of the HHS choirs, the bands played a wide range of music from “Gesu Bambino” to the classic holiday songs. Junior Joseph Lockey was one of the many musicians and has been a part of the band family since his sixth grade year.

“I’m just looking forward to having a fun time [and] playing music,” Lockey said.

Lockey, a French Horn player, has been preparing with his fellow band members for the past month.

“I’m in Concert Band this year,” Lockey said. “We’ve been practicing for a while… I’m just excited to play.”

The concert started off with the performance of two songs by the Jazz Ensemble, followed by a break in the bands with the singing of five different choirs. Following a brief intermission in the show during the transition of the two musical performances, the bands were allowed to tune their instruments in preparation for the final three bands. To start off the three was the Concert Band, which included Lockey, with their holiday performances of “Dashing Through the Snow” and “Gesu Bambino,” an Italian Christmas carol composed by Pietro Yon in 1917.

United Sound played next with their debut, “Dream of Fireflies”. United Sound is a program that just came to Harrisonburg High School, which brought in six new special education musicians mentored by 18 band members. The 24 members were backed up by much more of the band, all coming together in front of an audience for the first time, ending in a standing ovation.

To finish off the night, the Symphonic Band, the biggest of the four, sounded off with five songs including one of the world’s most famous Christmas carols, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”

United Sound was not the only one to get a standing ovation, as everyone in the packed auditorium ended up on their feet by the end of the final song, “Sleigh Ride” by Leroy Anderson.

Debate and Forensics travelled to Turner Ashby High School to compete in a Shenandoah Valley Forensics League meet. This meet, taking place on Dec. 8 was the third of their season and on the forensics part of the competition, senior Andrew Ansah tied for third place in the original oratory category. Senior Winston Jeffries received an honorable mention in Humorous Dramatic Interpretation.

The Debate team took home a win at the meet, and the following people will advance to the league championship tournament in January:

Sam Heie

Wid Alsadoon

Ganna Aboutabl

Hannah Miller

Ali Al-Shebani

Information regarding the forensics team courtesy of Bradley Walton, and information regarding the debate team courtesy of Aaron Cosner.

On Saturday, Dec. 10, the varsity indoor track and field team attended the WFS Indoor Invitational, their first meet of the season. The meet was hosted by Woodberry Forest School, a private school in Orange County. Harrisonburg’s team had entries in a variety of events, from the 55 meter dash to the 3,200 meter run.

Sophomore Hannah Miller placed first overall in the girls 3,200 meter run, finishing with a time of 12:34:68, beating the rest of the pack by 15 seconds. In the boys 3,200, junior Mo Berhe placed second with a time of 10:14:73.

Other high placers on the team include senior Molly Campillo, who finished fifth in the 1,000 meter run, clocking in with a time of 3:37:25, and her sister, sophomore Abby Campillo, who finished sixth in the 1,600 meter run with a time of 6:03:50.

The most successful HHS relay at the meet was the boys 4×400, finishing in ninth place with a time of 3:55:80. The relay was run by junior Isaiah King, freshman Jacob Seefried, senior Juleian Cappell and senior JP Mwami.  

In the field events, senior Ethan Harris saw immediate success, qualifying for the state meet with his first throw of the season (47 feet, 6.75 inches).

The team’s next meet is on Dec. 17, taking place at Virginia Tech.

The Streaks took on the Little Giants of Waynesboro in a varsity boys basketball matchup. The drives were lead by the Streaks post game allowing the Streaks to defeat the Little Giants 69-59 on Tuesday Dec. 13.

The first quarter for the Streaks was mainly post scoring by senior Christian Whitelow. The Little Giants held on with perimeter offense led by junior Zachary Hatter. The quarter ended in a 17-17 tie. The second quarter kicked off with numerous fouls by the Little Giants which helped the Streaks pull ahead with the lead. The offense for both teams stuck with the same style, but the Streaks were being more productive in the paint with contributions from senior Malachi Simmons. The strong paint offense helped the Streaks enter halftime with a 35-29 lead.

The second half started off slow on both sides offensively. Senior Kajaun Madden sparked the Streaks’ offense to help maintain the 49-43 lead for the Streaks. The Streaks led began to grow after many missed layups by the little giants. The Streaks began to get a little reckless as their lead grew to 51-46. The Little Giants began to foul and help the Streaks hold their lead as the clock ran down. The dominate post game by the Streaks led them to a 69-59 win.

On Oct. 2, 2016, J. Cole dropped the ball on all his fans by announcing that the show at The Meadows Music Festival would be his “last show for a very long time.” Ever since that announcement it’s been a waiting game as fans were left on the edge of their seats since not only did he leave them with that news, but he also left them with no hints about a new album. Suddenly it happened, going back to the no features roots of his “2014 Forest Hill Drive” album, Cole dropped “4 Your Eyez Only” just as 2016 was ready to close down it’s doors. And let me tell you, this is what J. Cole fans have been waiting for.

2016 has been a rough year for rap music. Should we really even call it rap anymore? Trap music is chill and all, but does anyone truly know what any of those artists are saying. I’m not even talking about pronunciation (though I’m not gonna say that isn’t a problem). I’m talking about the feelings behind the music, the story in the lyrics, the realness in every line a rapper spits and a nice beat that isn’t distracting. I’m not trying to bash on anyone’s music because that would make me a hypocrite since I listen to it too. All I’m saying is the lyricism of J. Cole has reminded me what I’ve been missing this year.

“4 Your Eyez Only” is filled with the snippets of J. Cole’s life similar to “Forest Hill Drive”, but the main focus of “4 Your Eyez Only” appears to be a friend of his, James, who was murdered at the age of twenty-two. The narrative of the album implies an evolution of Cole’s understanding about the dangers of his “hood” mentality, something James did not get to experience before his death.

The two songs that were released alongside “4 Your Eyez Only” was “False Prophets” and “Everybody Dies.” The reason these two songs did not find their way onto the album has to deal with the completely different narrative these songs tackle. “Everybody Dies” rebukes everything about mainstream rap and J. Cole effortlessly runs the list off on “fake rappers” and “immature eight week rappers,” those lines hit in the perfect spot. Not to mention the shady lyrics of “False Prophets,”  discussing Kanye West who has been falling from grace recently. It’s all so perfect that if J. Cole were to turn around and put those two songs on it’s own album with six more songs then I would buy that too. He could have double dipped into two album glory, but I’m partially glad he didn’t. I’m not so sure my heart could handle all the truth.  

Now being born and raised in North Carolina, I’m probably going to always jump on Cole’s music because I’m proud to see a rapper from my home making it. J. Cole really has done it again. “4 Your Eyez Only” just made 2016 feel a little bit brighter.

ChrisHanuKwanisoka is a nine day long present joyride that is Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Omisoka. You also get a cool Kwanzaa hat that is blue and white with a Jewish star and a Christmas puffball on the top. In 2016 it will start on Dec. 24 and end on Jan. 1.

Christmas is a Christian holiday where multiple presents are usually given to every member of a family. But the presents are under a tree. The tree is decorated with lights and ornaments that are festive and mostly happy. The legend is that one night each year a big man in a big red suit and hat with a white puffball flies around the world on a sleigh being pulled by flying reindeer.

Hanukkah or Chanukkah is a Jewish holiday that is eight days long. For some a present is given and/or received each day, or for some there is a dreidel that is gifted and foods maybe even a coin. It varies, but there is always a candle lit on each day. There are nine total candles with four on each side with a special raised or lowered candle in the middle. The candle in the middle is called the “Shamash” which you use to light each other candle per day or just use for extra light.

Kwanzaa is a seven day long “festival” of sorts mostly celebrated by people of African descendants to appreciate their heritage and traditions. Like Hanukkah, there are candles but there are only seven and they are all even. They are lit one a day until the end, but you do not have to light the others with one that is already lit. There is no present-giving usually, as it is just a celebration of heritage, but gifts can be given if chosen to. There are also hats that are associated with the holiday that are rounded with straps crossing at the top and the hats usually are combination of colors including red, black, green, and/or yellow.

The last part of ChrisHanuKwanisoka is Omisoka. It is basically a Japanese New Year, but it is Celebrated on Dec. 31 to clean people’s slates for a brand new year. The traditions include cleaning your entire house or home, eating a large feast with close family and friends, eating a final meal of toshikoshi-soba which is noodles at 11 p.m., drinking a traditional drink called amazake which is fermented rice with little to no alcohol and ringing giant bells all across Japan at shrines at midnight to symbolize 108 earthly wants that caused human suffering.

All of the information given above bundled up into one super holiday symbolizing that religions should come together is the reason why ChrisHanuKwanisoka should become internationally celebrated because it combines multiple traditions, has good food and can open your mind to other religions.

An auction of their artwork at Benny Sorrentino’s last week provided HHS students an opportunity to contribute to the community and branch out as artists.

Benny’s donated some of their notoriously enormous pizza boxes to HHS art classes, and students in Art 3, 4 and AP Studio Art turned them into artwork. The art was sold in a silent auction hosted by Benny’s.

The proceeds from the auction went toward the local chapter of Any Given Child, a non-profit organization run on a national scale through the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Any Given Child works to provide access to the arts for K-8 students, both in school and in the community.

J.R. Snow runs Harrisonburg’s chapter of Any Given Child. He explained the organization’s focus.

“Our mission is really simple; it’s all about arts, access, equity, for all, in grades K-8. Our whole purpose is to create experiences for those students and make sure that every student gets those opportunities,” Snow said.

Going into the Benny’s event, Snow didn’t have specific expectations for how much money would be raised. He was more focused on the other benefits this event could bring to student artists and their community.

“We didn’t have any set expectations or anything. It was a fundraiser; it’ll raise the funds that it does, and it’ll be great. …But [it was also great] as a community connector for people who didn’t know what Any Given Child was, or didn’t understand what we were doing, and then on top of that because we connected the student artwork— students having an opportunity do to real art in a public place and potentially see their work being purchased, used [and] displayed. That’s exciting… as a young student artist, to have your stuff displayed in a public place,” Snow said.

The idea to use student artwork to help fund a program that aims to make art opportunities accessible to students was Mary McMahan’s idea. A senior at JMU and an HHS graduate, McMahan has helped organize events in the community before through her internship. However, this project was the first one she organized independently. Like Snow, McMahan came into the evening without definitive expectations for how much money this event would raise.

“I don’t know if I had expectations. I learned that it’s not all about fundraising; it’s also about showcasing students’ artwork… I just want people to come and to know about Any Given Child and know that Benny’s cares about the community,” McMahan said.

Even though she didn’t have specific standards in mind for the student artwork, McMahan was very impressed by the quality and diversity of the pizza boxes.

“When they brought them in, I couldn’t believe it. I was so impressed,” McMahan said.

Senior Andrew Ansah is an Art 4 student who participated in painting the pizza boxes. He was impressed by the variety of the artwork, too.

“I was there [at the fundraiser], and I just thought it was interesting, once they were all lined up, to see how different everyone’s styles were, in terms of what they did with the pizza boxes,” Ansah said.

For Ansah, this project was an opportunity to experiment with a new artistic style.

“[Working with fewer guidelines], you can experiment with things that you’ve never really had experience with… I’ve been trying to branch out recently… because I generally use pen and ink in a lot of my art, so I wanted to try something different,” Ansah said.

He used mixed media, including tape, paper and markers to create his pizza box, titled “DELICIOUS!!!” It was inspired by a scene in the movie “Ratatouille” that used striking visuals to emphasize flavor.

Ansah also appreciated the additional pressure that came from knowing his art would be displayed publicly.

“Honestly, my favorite part was the struggle, because I do think that artists work best when they’re at their limit, and they’re coming up with ideas that they wouldn’t before… [I liked] having it all come together when I was short on time, because that’s when my best effort on it came out,” Ansah said.

Junior Naomi Gelberg- Hagmaier, an Art 3 student, was also satisfied with the way her box turned out.

“I got started on it pretty early, so then I had this period of time where I just wasn’t working on it because I kind of got into a rut with it, but then with the finished piece, I’m pretty happy,” Gelberg- Hagmaier said.

Gelberg- Hagmaier’s box is more abstract than many of the other pizza boxes, titled “Atelophobie”, meaning ‘the fear of imperfection.’

Gelberg- Hagmaier liked the idea that art students were creating art to promote art.

“It’s probably a smart way of fundraising for something. It’s like, ‘Look! If we fund that we can get more of this.’ Just that idea that this is what we’re investing in,” Gelberg- Hagmaier said.

100 percent of the proceeds from the silent auction and twenty percent of Benny’s sales between 5:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. went to Any Given Child.

Watching the classic holiday cartoon “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” on the last day before break really opened my eyes to the deeper meaning of the entire story. The Grinch, despising the spirit of Christmas in Whoville, formulates a plan to rid them of just that. He goes through the town and steals every tangible aspect of Christmas that he can find. However, what he didn’t realize was that the most important part about Christmas to the Whos down in Whoville was something he couldn’t steal, and much to his surprise they joined hand in hand to sing together in true holiday spirit. “Maybe Christmas, he thought… doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps… means a little bit more!…It came without ribbons!… it came without tags!… it came without packages, boxes or bags!” They weren’t upset when most everything was taken from them because they still had most important thing of all: their holiday spirit that come not from all of their belongings,but from them being together united in love.

This entire concept can be related to our lives as well. Too often we concern ourselves with what we have and what we don’t and fixate on getting all of the latest goods to fit with society. This materialistic mindset blinds us to what is truly important in life and the holiday season. Instead of focusing on wanting to make memories or feeling true human-to-human connection, many people become preoccupied with the things that they can see and touch but won’t even last a lifetime. We feel that to show our appreciation and love for someone, we can fit it all into a palpable object and be done with it. However, what is carried with people far longer than any item is the memories and feelings that you give them. With the idea of having presents to measure your admiration for someone, it sets a wrong kind of standard. It’s sometimes seen that if you don’t get someone a gift, you didn’t take the time to think of them and don’t really care about them, instead of realizing the unnoticed gift of treating people with kindness and making time for experiences that bring you closer together.

This holiday season, try to take away from the The Grinch and put aside all of the tangible objects that tend to control our lives and live for the moment, enjoying time being with family and friends brought together through the spirit of the holidays. As stated in the movie, “Welcome, Christmas, while we stand… heart to heart… and hand in hand.”

Eunice Harwell speaks about the process involved with Toys for Tots.

Gymnastics may, to some people, be reminiscent of Saturday mornings as a five year old, but with no real involvement beyond that. There is a group of students at our school, however, that still are involved in gymnastics, and they had a meet this Saturday the seventh of January.

Margret Sarco, a freshman on the team, reflected upon the upcoming meet.

“I think [it] will be good, but I’m kind of worried because there will be a lot of people and some of them are going to be better [at gymnastics]. But I think it will be good,” Sarco said.

Sarco thought, by Saturday, she would be be ready for the meet.

“For vault I am, for floor and bars I’m not really [prepared] because I’m just learning the floor routine…I think I will [be prepared by Saturday],” Sarco said.

Michael King, the gymnastics coach, also has something to say on the team’s preparedness for Saturday’s meet.

“Some of the ones that have done this meet before, they know what to expect. [For] the ones that haven’t, it’s too early in the year that they’re getting their routines more prepared. Overall, it would be more half and half, since it’s still early yet,” King said.

The most important way that the team has prepared has been learning the routines, according to King.

“Actually the biggest thing [they can do to prepare] is just each kid learning their routines. And doing that on a day-to-day practice day, we will go through routines for different events. As we do that, they should be more consistent about knowing their routine, mentally and physically. Our practice this week has basically been focused on routine building,” King said.

Senior Priyanka Bhuta also reflects on the team’s methods of preparing.

“We have four main events, and every day during practice we usually try to focus on two, so that it’s more involved, and we get to spend more time with the equipment as well, so I think that’s a little different this year. So that we’re not doing everything, every single day, we are trying to limit it down just so that we could be better at one thing,” Bhuta said.

Sarco has done gymnastics since it has seemed to be a combination of two things she enjoyed when she was younger.

“Well, my big sister did dance, she did ballet, and I liked ballet, but I liked tumbling more and I wanted to put it together as one thing. And then gymnastics was kind of like both of them combined. So I was like ‘I’m gonna do gymnastics,’” Sarco said.

King also shares his reasons for being involved in the sport.

“I would probably say my calling to be involved with working with kids, is probably the calling [to gymnastics]. In [a] sense of working with them in an active way,” King said.

Bhuta, though attending the meet, is injured, and so she can’t compete in her main event.

“I actually injured my foot, so I’m not going to be competing my main thing, so I’m probably just going to be doing bars. But, I don’t know, I think that the whole point of going to a meet, more than the scores, is just cheering your team on,” Bhuta said.

With the injuries and not-quite-ready-yet-attitude, King still expects the team to do their best at the meet.

“My expectation is probably for each person to give their best,” King said. “And if that turns out to be a very good score for them, then that will turn out to be a good score for the team. So,number one I want them to at least give their best effort on the events.”

The HHS indoor track team will travel to Fort Defiance on Wednesday Jan. 11 to compete at one of the infamous Polar Bear meets. Many of the runners are entered to compete, since the Liberty University meet on Friday January 13 is limited entry. Sophomore Fernando Posada will travel with the team to participate in the 4×400 meter relay, which is the last event of the day. By then, the weather is forecasted to be in the mid forties with rain showers.

“The weather really slows you down at Polar Bear meets,” Posada said. “For example, last year at one of the meets, it slowed me down by 40 seconds in the mile. To negate the effects of the weather, we try to warm up as much as possible. Coach [Hertzler] always tells us to have as many layers on as possible right up until we start running.”

Fort Defiance’s track is asphalt, which is a stark contrast from other rubber tracks the team is used to, providing another obstacle for runners.

“We can’t wear spikes on the asphalt track, and that slows you down a little bit,” Posada said. “But the asphalt is also really hard on your legs, especially at the joints.”

Posada and his relay team plan on overcoming these obstacles to run their desired time.

“In total, we’re trying to run under 4 minutes, so to do that, I have to run at or below 60 seconds for my leg. We all do,” Posada said.

Junior Jacob Blagg will be running the mile at the meet. The added experience at Polar Bear meets gives Blagg a new approach to dealing with the weather.

“Normally you’ll run slower at Fort Defiance just because it’s cold and windy, and their track isn’t the best track in the world,” Blagg said. “But at the same time it’s mental. You just have to think that you’re gonna do well and try not think about the weather. It will only affect your running if you let it.”

Preparation for Polar Bear meets are no different for any other meet, with the team going easy the day before. Blagg’s goal is to run under 5 minutes and 20 seconds in the mile.

The wait is now over: the new Harrisonburg Krispy Kreme is now open. The grand opening yesterday brought out many from the local area and caused traffic problems around the store. In order to get people out in the morning, they had a promotion where the first 100 customers received free doughnuts for a year and the first 250 received a mug that could be refilled for .99 cents for life. A group of HHS seniors decided to camp out outside of the doughnut shop the night before in order to receive the coupons. Senior Jadah Kilby-Woodward arrived at 7:30 p.m. and waited over ten hours with five of her friends for the 6:00 A.M opening.

“Tyler [Rodriguez] kind of got a group together and convinced us all to wait and we basically just hung out in a circle all bundled up all night and did homework. We talked a lot,” Woodward said.

The group was joined by almost a hundred other people, however only around forty actually slept outside, the rest slept in their cars. She ended up being the 30th person in line and received her coupon for a free box of doughnuts per month for the entire year. She didn’t waste any time in using it for her first box.

“I decided to get my first box that morning, but I only got glazed doughnuts because I just wanted to hurry up and get home,” Woodward said.

Although she was in the first 100, she wouldn’t do it again.

“It wasn’t worth the wait just because of the doughnuts, if anything, getting to hangout with my friends all night and having the experience of just doing it made it worth the wait,” Woodward said.

Wattpad is an online and offline reading app. I have loved reading for as long as I can remember. When I was in elementary school, kids would always whine about having to read, but I would get excited and hurry to pick out a book for the night. My favorite part about Wattpad is that the books are free. I like that a lot. But at the same time the thing is that the writers take time out of their day to write because they would like to entertain people like me, but they aren’t getting anything out of it but their passion for writing. Now, Wattpad has started to put interesting ads into the chapters of books to pay the writers. They aren’t just typical ads where you have to strain your eyes to find the “X”,  but they are videos that are interesting and games that are worth downloading.

Some writers update once a month, once a week or even every day. I usually go for the stories that are already completed so I am not left in suspense about what is going to happen next for a whole month. Wattpad is open to anyone; you don’t have to be a top notch writer. It’s for those that have a passion for writing no matter what their skill is. People write about anything really; some people write about religious or political matters, Knock-Knock Jokes, pick-up lines, romance, horror books or even old-time books.

I personally stick to the supernatural thrillers because I think the authors on Wattpad make things a lot more interesting and not too cliche. I feel that Wattpad writers are more down to earth and write about real life occurrences and not fictional fake things that would never happen. Some writers get enough attention and eventually upload their books as e-readers, then to Amazon Kindle where they get money. The final step is that their book could end up in the “Watty Awards”  and could possibly be published. The negative part about this is that you could be halfway through a book and the pages won’t turn, so you have to go back to their page and see what is going on. Some authors stop halfway through the story and start saying that they have decided to not write anymore and that they uploaded it on Amazon Kindle and that we should go check it out. I don’t do this because it usually is not free and you can only have the book for a certain point of time.

Wattpad is my favorite reading app ever. I would rather read then watch TV. It is always accessible with wifi or without wifi. I give Wattpad five stars.

For many, the holiday season means being together with family and taking part in family traditions. For senior Carlos Avila, a big part of that family aspect was missing these past holidays. Avila’s parents left for Mexico in early December, and are yet to return until mid-January. Though many high school students would be siked to have their parents gone for a month, Avila is in a different boat.

“I really miss them,” Avila said. “They’re a huge part of my life and do a lot for me, so it’s not a great feeling to have them gone for over a month, especially over the holidays.”

The original plan was for Avila to go with his parents to their old hometown in Mexico, though the death of his grandmother at Christmas time last year made it too hard to go back.

“I was really close to my grandmother, too,” Avila said. “Going back during the same time that she passed away last year just wasn’t something I wanted to do.”

Though his parents were gone over the holidays, Avila has his older sister and his niece and nephew to get him through the month and a half.

“Luckily, all of my family lives nearby in Harrisonburg, so I get to see them a lot. We have meals together and stuff like that all the time, so it makes my parents being gone easier,” Avila said.

Not only does Avila have additional family that he was able to spend the holidays with, but friends as well, due to them having similar traditions.

“Instead of celebrating on Christmas, me and my family celebrate and open presents on Christmas Eve. It’s different, but many of our family friends celebrate like that too. I guess you could say it’s a common tradition for [our culture],” Avila said.

Even though Avila was hesitant about returning to Mexico over the holidays, there is no doubt in his mind that he will be going back soon.

“I love going back to Mexico,” Avila said. “It’s where I’m from and I still have family there, so there is a lot to look forward to every time I go back. Since my grandma’s death last year, I doubt I’ll ever really want to go back during the winter, but I’d love to at any other time during the year.”

It was the last day of winter break when my cousin and I were snuggling up on the bed watching “10 things I hate about you” on Netflix when a particular scene caught my attention. When Katarina, the antisocial shrewish high school senior voices her opinion in her English class, the teacher, being really offended, tells her to leave the classroom immediately. This made me ponder if freedom of speech was truly free, and if it was wrong to speak out your views even if it was labeled as “hate speech.”

According to Wikipedia, hate speech is speech that attacks a person or group on the basis of attributes such as gender, ethnic origin, religion, race, disability or sexual orientation. Lately,hate speech has been a popular topic to debate on because people are offended by even the most trivial things. Many people believe that there should be some kind of punishment for people who use hate speech and argue that it should be prohibited by the law. On the contrary, I think that hate speech is imperative because people can express their viewpoints verbally and it’s evident that if they aren’t able to express their feelings through words, they will express it through action. This would certainly pose a great threat to everyone.

Moreover, one of the main problems of hate speech is the fact that it’s subjective because every person has a different way of understanding things. For instance, person A is a Hindu and person B is an atheist. If person A gets aggrieved just because person B expressed their ideologies regarding religion, then it’s not justifiable. A person should have the right to express their ideas without the fear of getting arrested. If we place restrictions upon hate speech, we are basically telling people that they are wrong for believing what they believe and expressing it verbally.

The indoor track team traveled to Liberty University for an invitational meet on Friday, January 13. Their two previous meets at Fort Defiance and Fork Union Military Academy were cancelled due to inclement weather. Although the team has raced at Liberty University several times in the past, this meet was very different. The university built a brand new 50 million dollar complex, featuring hydraulic banked curves and a more spacious outfield. This was the very first meet ran on the track, and thousands of athletes were invited. Typical meets have 60 or so runners in each event; the VA Showcase meet had 300. Despite the hype that was built up before the meet, the Streaks were determined to not let it affect their mentality.

Senior Sara Penrod was one of the select few people from the team that ran at the meet. She ran the 55 meter dash, but there was a week’s worth of preparation that went into the 7 second race.

“We’ve been working on our starts a lot and thinking about our form because at the end of the day, what gets you that extra second is the start and form,” Penrod said. “We’ve also been mentally preparing ourselves for the other 300 people we’re racing against. Of course like every meet, there’s a spectrum of people so I feel like having 300 people makes me feel better because there will be people slower than me, people as fast as I am, and people that are faster. So it’s not as noticeable if you do worse than you usually do.”

Being invited to run at this meet is not a small thing to Penrod. Less than ten Streaks went, and being one of them was something she appreciated.

“I’m [going to] be one of the first few people to run on the track, so that’s really exciting,” Penrod said. “My coaches expect me to appreciate the opportunity I’m given and to try my hardest and to make them proud even if I don’t get the fastest time. And I do appreciate the opportunity and I’m grateful that I’m going.”

Junior Isaiah King also went to the meet, and he already had his gameplan for his event before he ran.

“I’ll be running the mile and I’ll be running at around midnight. My goal for is to go under 4:50, run in the 4:40’s,” King said. “I’ve also been working on my mentality. We’ve had the last 2 or 3 meets canceled, so it’s been awhile since I’ve been able to get on the track and go, so I’m really excited. I have to not worry about the faster heats. Whatever section I’m in, that’s where I need to keep my focus. I plan on getting out quick and trying to win the section.”

Penrod clocked in at 8.01 seconds for her 55m dash while King ran the mile at exactly 5 minutes.

“I ran at 12:30 am, I was supposed to be asleep,” King said.

The NFL Divisional playoff round didn’t disappoint this past Sunday, as the rookie sensation quarterback, Dak Prescott, and the Dallas Cowboys hosted the Super Bowl MVP, Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. The winner would go on to face the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC championship game. Dallas came back from being down 21-3 to tie the game 28-28 in the 4th quarter. In the last few minutes of the game, both teams scored a field goal making it 31-31. The Packers would charge down the field in the final few seconds to kick a game-winning 51 yard field goal and take the Packers to the NFC championship, winning 34-31.

Though the Green Bay Packers won, you can pretty much say Aaron Rodgers won that game. On Sunday, Aaron Rodgers threw 28 completed passes in 43 attempts, averaged 7.1 yards per throw, and threw two touchdowns. Those stats however, aren’t exactly how Rodgers lead his team to victory. He got his team out to a big lead, and then in the 4th quarter, set up good field position for the last two field goals to win the game. Some people could argue that kicker, Mason Crosby, won the game. Although he ultimately did with the field goal, he wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to kick that field goal had Aaron Rodgers not got them down inside the Cowboys’ 35 yard line. Rodgers made the big pass to Jared Cook, which set up Crosby for the kick.

Aaron Rodgers continues to be on the best streak of his NFL career, and now he finds himself in a position to go to his 2nd Super Bowl. If he continues to play how he has been, there’s no stopping him. This Sunday, they will play the Atlanta Falcons to decide the NFC title. So how do the Falcons stop Aaron Rodgers? Well, if it’s even possible to stop him, they need to focus on covering the receivers rather than trying to sack Rodgers. It doesn’t sound right, but if you watch Rodgers play, you know he’s better when he scrambles out of the pocket and throws the ball, rather than standing in the pocket looking for a receiver. He has the arm of Tom Brady, and the legs of Russell Wilson. So the best thing to do for the Falcons is, don’t chase Rodgers out of the pocket, and if they do, they better have those receivers covered.

My prediction for the upcoming game is that Rodgers most likely will not be stopped. Packers will win against the Falcons, and advance to the Super Bowl. Rodgers has been playing like he never has before, and I don’t think there’s any stopping Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers from winning another Super Bowl this season.