the bird on fire

The Bird is the Word: Sophisticated Schoolyard Shenanigans

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“A poem begins as a lump in the throat . . .”

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. . . so wrote poet Robert Frost. Despite lumps in throats, on Tuesday, Middle School Poetry Recitation finalists–

  • Ciera Carr
  • Roman Soobben
  • Sherwin Hemmati
  • Sierra James
  • Mia Meyer
  • Jackie Padgett
  • Tal Maruvada
  • Yola Belickis
  • Zander Eaton
  • Walker Craven
  • Louisa Richardson
  • McKenzi Johnson–

gracefully, and sometimes passionately, shared words of solace, concern, love, hurt, and presence. Judges Andrea Coffey, Chris Griffin, and J.K. Hilbert selected the three most outstanding recitations–those of Ciera Carr, Zander Eaton, and McKenzi Johnson. Following Poetry Out Loud guidelines, the three were acknowledged for the poise and appropriateness of their physical presence, articulation and enunciation, and understanding. Ciera Carr was selected Audience Favorite.

Middle School Poetry Recitation Champions: McKenzi Johnson, Zander Eaton, and Ciera Carr. Photo Credit: Chris Griffin
For her recitation of the poem “Lost,” Ciera Carr was voted Audience Favorite. Photo Credit: Chris Griffin

Put Picture to Words

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Graphic Artists, we need you. National Poetry Month needs a poster. Create a graphic that features poet Amanda Gorman’s line: “There is a poem in this place–” Win money and esteem. The contest is open now through November 15. Details are below.

The Academy of American Poets invites students living in the United States, U.S. Territories, or Tribal Nations, in grades nine through twelve to enter artwork to be considered for the 2022 National Poetry Month Poster Contest for Students. The winner will be selected by judges Rafael López, -bestselling illustrator and artist, and Nikki Grimes, -bestselling author and poet and recipient of the 2020 ALAN Award for outstanding contributions to young adult literature. 

One student’s winning artwork, which will incorporate “There is a poem in this place—” from Amanda Gorman’s poem, “In This Place (An American Lyric)”, will be featured on the official National Poetry Month poster in 2022. The Academy will distribute 100,000+ free copies of the poster to classrooms, libraries, bookstores, community centers, families, and individuals nationwide in time for the April celebration. The winning student will receive $1,000 in cash and prizes and be featured in magazine and on Poets.org, which reaches millions of readers each year. The judges will also select a runner-up to receive Honorable Mention and a $250 cash prize. 

Submissions are open now until. The winner will be announced in January 2022.

For more information about the contest, including the full guidelines, visit: https://poets.org/national-poetry-month/national-poetry-month-poster-contest-students

Shakespeare Monologue Competition @ Palm Valley: “The Best of the Bard”

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Student reviews compiled by Luke Langlois

On Friday, January 25th, our FANTASTIC Drama Department, in collaboration with the English Department, put on a Shakespeare monologue competition titled “The Best of the Bard” to determine who would move on to the next level of the national English Speaking Union Monologue Competition. For those who have not heard the results of the Palm Valley competition, Leo Milmet took first place, Marianne Capetz took second place, Caroline Scheil took third place–as well as audience’s favorite, and Charles Schnell received the honorable mention. While, inherently, this was a competition, this was also a chance for our dramatic stars to shine individually, and shine they did. In fact, the sharp performances of the drama students inspired the hearts of many students to write a review. Today, the blog presents to you a compilation of a few of these reviews. If you attended the competition, perhaps these reviews can provide you with some details that you missed. Or, if you were unable to attend the competition, these reviews will make sure you’re fully aware of the excellence of our monologue reciters.–Luke

Abridged Review From Claire Jenkins

Shakespeare was a complicated man, whose words are hard to translate into modern-day ideas, but the group of Palm Valley upper school students who took on this task completely mastered it. Overall, out of the around 23 competitors in the competition, not a single one was disappointing. . . . The competitor that stuck out the most to me was Castiel Yu, delivering a monologue using an older and complicated form of his second language. Regardless, he was still able to translate the expressions and passions beautifully. . . .The next competitor that stood out to me was Brennan Nick. Brennan cracks me up, and while I know his monologue was not comedic, his facial expressions got me. He is loud and proud, and I will always admire that about him. . . . Leo Milmet took first place, which he most definitely deserved. I’m sure he will go on to continue dazzling the judges and stealing hearts across the competition.

Abridged Review From Josh Tyer

I went into the Drama Class’s recent monologue presentation, “A Night with the Bard,” with an idea of what it would be like, but what I got blew my own expectations out of the water! That night, Amanda jumped out to me as someone who had come very far as an actress. I, personally, have acted alongside Amanda for a long time, and after seeing her performance that night I can definitely say that she has blossomed. Her monologue was a perfect fit. . . . What truly surprised me that night were those quiet performers who usually play smaller roles in productions. Aurora Berner, James Zheng, Isabella Goetschel, Elizabeth Chen, and Castiel Yu blew me away. Normally, these people are resigned within themselves in Drama, never truly letting their talent shine through. But when you give someone like James Zheng the stage, he will burst out with a performance of Julius Caesar that will give you chills. All of them took their performances and conquered them. Sometimes the quietest of people have a beautiful talent for acting just waiting to leap out and take hold of the stage.

Abridged Review From Sydney Armor

I am not sure if it was the fact that the competition was not during school hours, or that I had voluntarily chosen to go see it, but I must say that this was without a doubt the best monologue competition I have ever seen at Palm Valley School. Usually, I can choose two or three monologues that really stand out and will undoubtedly win. Here, however, there were about seven or eight that I found amazing. My favorite, however, was Caroline’s monologue. Her delivery was simply perfect, and I actually laughed out loud when she was performing. This is really rare, as I usually don’t find the monologues to be funny (even if they are meant to be). Her overdone facial expressions and little pauses when she was deciding whether she loved or hated a man simply made the entire monologue hilarious, and spectacularly well performed. . . . I also really liked Jake Sonderman’s monologue. He took on a similar persona to the character he played in The Drowsy Chaperone, Aldolpho. He was Aldolpho 2.0 during his monologue. His take on this womanizing, romance-obsessed man is almost perfect. . . .  I don’t regret going to see the monologue competition. It was even worth going back to school on a Friday night.

Abridged Review From Shelby Armor

“Best of the Bard” was truly something to behold. Something about this monologue competition was just fun. When you have an atmosphere of people who truly want to be there, listening to Shakespeare in their free time, you get a different kind of environment; an inspiring environment. . . . I was a personal fan of Caroline’s monologue. I actually loved that monologue so much that I considered choosing it for my monologue way back when. I didn’t think I could pull it off, though, and seeing Caroline do it just made me realize how perfect that monologue was for Caroline. It was cutesy, comedic, and also provided for further thought on the part of the listener. There were also some people that I would have never expected to see performing, who were pouring their hearts out on stage — like Alex Bentley. I loved seeing him perform Macbeth; it was just so different from all of the familiar faces I’ve seen.  All in all, I’m really glad I went. I got to see some truly amazing interpretations of classic Shakespeare monologues, and got to enjoy it in a truly inspiring environment.

Interested in more Shakespeare monologues? Come watch Leo perform–and represent Palm Valley–in the Desert Branch competition next Friday, February 22, at 11 a.m. at Palm Springs High School’s theater. He’ll perform his Shylock again and add a sonnet. If he wins, he moves on to perform in New York City at the Lincoln Center.

Editors: Luke Langlois and A.J. Patencio

3rd Place Short Story Winner

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By Harlow Berny

Hello! Here, finally, is the 3rd-place winner of the Halloween Short Horror Story Competition written by Erik Bearman! It was a tough choice, but ultimately the Masked Rabbit and his story “The Darkness” won 1st place, and Marianne Capetz came in 2nd place with her story “The Child.” Enjoy!

Cobwebs

By Erik Bearman

My grandmother always gave me one rule, “Don’t touch the cobwebs!” If she asked me to clean out garage, she’d say, “Don’t touch the cobwebs!” If she asked me to fetch something from the attic, she’d say, “Don’t touch the cobwebs!” Even if I was washing the dishes after dinner, she’d always say, “Don’t touch the cobwebs!” even though there was no chance of cobwebs being in the dishwasher, she’d still warn me. I never questioned my grandmother’s preoccupation with cobwebs because she was always there for me. Ever since my parents died, she was always there for me. When I was being bullied in middle school, she was there to scream at the principal until they were expelled. When I struggled in math class, she was there to make sure the teacher tutored me after school. I figured that since she was always there for me, being paranoid of a couple house spiders wasn’t a big deal.

Two months after my 15th birthday, my grandmother died in her sleep on the 31st of October. Once I had finished grieving (or at least summoned the ability to be able to walk through the front door without bursting into tears), I went to clean out her house. It was Christmas, and the snowfall was heavy. My girlfriend, Juniper, was kind enough to help me clean out my grandmother’s house. Funny thing is I never asked her to help; she just showed up and started helping. Without my grandmother to keep them at bay with her “holy duster” (a feather duster with a handle specially carved in the shape of a religious cross, as she called it), the cobwebs had spread all across the house. We started cleaning in the dining room. As I was stacking the chairs against the wall, Juniper walked straight into a cobweb! I laughed as she picked spider silk out of her mouth. It was the first time I felt joy in a while; and I figured that since my grandmother was gone, touching the cobwebs wouldn’t be a big deal. I was wrong.

That night me and Juniper were sitting on the sofa watching some of my grandmother’s old movies. Juniper sat on my lap as I braided her hair. Halfway through Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Juniper and I fell asleep on the couch. The last thing I remember hearing before I closed my eyes was the basement door creak open. I woke to the sound of Juniper whimpering as she held me tight. “Damien,” she said, “Damien, please wake up!”

“What? What is it?”
“Look at the floor!”

When I did look at the floor my skeleton nearly leapt out of my body. The floor was thickly covered in giant cobwebs as far as we could see.

“Wha-What happened?”
“I-I don’t know! I woke up and the floor was covered in the stuff!”
“Okay, let’s just remain calm and–”

I was interrupted by a loud squeaking noise. We looked at the top of the cable box and saw a raccoon had managed to break through one of the windows while we were sleeping. It sniffed around the room searching for a meal. It turned its head towards the hallway which led straight to the kitchen. As it descended the box, its large, bushy, tail got caught in the webbing. As soon as it tried to tug itself free, we heard the basement door slam open! And a large, black blur shot across the floor before puncturing the raccoon’s flesh with its sharp fangs. Strangely, there was no blood, there was no gore of any kind. The raccoon didn’t squeal or even flinch. It just went limp, with a minor twitch here and there. Paralysis, I thought. Whatever had paralyzed the rodent turned and dashed out of the room back into the basement, but not before I got a good look at it.

The moonlight that shone through the broken window had revealed a giant, black, spider the size of a Saint Bernard. Its spiny legs were as thin and sharp as a sewing needle, glistening fangs the size of butcher knives, and eight red eyes the size of baseballs. But the eyes were the strangest part; they were deformed and detached from the spider’s head. They dangled and swung like loose buttons on an old doll’s head.

Out of fear, Juniper squeezed my arm tightly and whispered, “Damien, please tell me this is a nightmare! Please tell me this is just a figment of my imagination!”
“I wish I could; I really wish I could!”
“What is that thing!”
“It looked like a black widow spider! But they don’t usually get larger than 1.5 inches.”
“How-how do you kill one?”
“Normal ones? Step on them. This one? Use a machine gun!”
“Damien, we have to get out of this house! Let’s just drive as far away from here as we can!”
“How do we get out? The broken window is too small, and if we touch these webs … well you saw what happened to that raccoon!”

I looked for a way out of the room, but it looked like the spider had us in the perfect trap. The only objects not covered in webbing were the couch, T.V., and the various boxes we had stacked across the house.

The boxes!

I turned to Juniper, “I have an idea! You know the game, ‘The Floor is Lava’?” Juniper replied, “Yeah, what about it?”

—

Slowly we hopped from pieces of furniture to stacked boxes to-and-fro as we tried to exit the house. We could hear the scattering of giant spiders coming from the basement. “Keep calm, Juniper. We’re almost to the door.” Since black widows prefer warmer temperatures, we thought the odds were good that we’d make it to the car. I hopped onto the table by the door. I slowly turned the knob–

“Damien.”
“Yes, Juniper?”

When I turned around my heart nearly dropped! Juniper had slipped and her foot had gotten caught in the webs. I could hear one of the spiders getting closer. A dark blur turned the corner of the entryway and charged at Juniper. Within a split second the beast was on top of her, her body going limp with paralysis. The worst part was her eyes; her eyes stared blankly at me. She was trapped in her own body, and there was nothing either of us could do. The creature, almost as if it was taunting me, slowly dragged her body back to the basement. And while it could’ve just been my head playing tricks on me, I could swear its dangling eyes were staring right at me. I cried into the darkness. The only person left in my life who I loved had just been taken. First my parents, then my grandmother, and now Juniper; one by one they’d all been ripped out of my life. I gathered myself and slowly made my way to the kitchen. I wasn’t just going to let her die down there, not without a fight. If there was even a slight chance Juniper was still alive, I was going to save her. I grabbed a knife and headed towards the basement. I figured that anything stabbed in the face would likely die. I could hear the creatures skittering across the floor, their faint outlines barely visible in the darkness. I held my breath, determined to kill them all, if not to save Juniper, then at least to avenge her death. I bent down and touched the webbing on the floor and in an instant a spider lunged out of the basement and threw me down the stairs. Even in my daze I could hear the spiders swarm around me. They bared their fangs and–

—

“And what Dad? How did you save Mom? How’d you kill the spiders?” Damien’s son Devon asked. Damien sat in his chair trying to remember how he saved his wife–except he couldn’t. He couldn’t remember a thing. The last thing he remembered was being thrown down those steps as the spiders closed in on him. Had his memory blacked out the events? He had to find out. “Hold on.” He told his son as he headed towards the kitchen. His wife, Juniper, was making her famous Shepherd’s Pie. Damien approached her, “What were you and Devon talking about?” asked Juniper. “I was just telling him about the time I rescued you from my grandmother’s house all those Christmases ago.” Juniper replied, “Oh, my little knight in shining armor. You dashed right into that room and killed them all! I knew in that moment that you were the man I wanted to marry,” she said as she hugged him.

“It’s really weird, honey, but I can’t remember a thing!”
“Oh always such the jokester, Damien. C’mon, you remember!”
“Honey, I swear on my grandmother’s grave, I don’t remember anything after the spider threw me into the basement!”
“Oh sure you do, it’s in your brain somewhere. We simply need to pry it out!”

The scent of rot and decay hit Damien’s nose like a train. He looked over at Juniper’s pie, and it had been replaced by a mass of a grey, mucus-like substance. Protruding from this substance was a raccoon’s tail, a broken feather duster, and a large lock of Juniper’s hair. “Juniper, what’s going on? Why can’t I remember anything? Marrying you? Having a son? Any of it?” Damien asked frantically. The last thing Damien saw was Juniper’s sinister smile.

—

Damien awoke wrapped in a cocoon of spider silk, only his head was exposed. He could feel where the spider had bit him. While the wound had miraculously cauterized, the spider’s hallucinogenic venom was just starting to wear off. He turned his head as far as he could to the left where he saw one of the spiders crawl on top of a screaming Juniper. It almost seemed to be laughing as it prepared to feast. He felt another spider slowly crawl up his body. As their eyes locked and it opened its gaping maw, Damien heard one last thing. “Don’t touch the cobwebs!”

—

As the spiders feasted on their latest victims in the basement, one of the creatures had managed to squeeze through the raccoon-sized hole in the window. As it landed on the ground, the snow evaporated into thin air. The arachnid dashed off into the night as its kin followed suit. It was going to be a red Christmas this year!



For Fun: Discover the mystery behind these creatures. Translate the binary, and the answer will be revealed.

https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/number/ascii-to-binary.html

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Editor: Leo Milmet

2nd-Place Short-Story Winner

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By Harlow Berny

Hello! Here is the 2nd-place winner of the Halloween Short Horror Story Competition written by Marianne Capetz! It was a tough choice, but ultimately the Masked Rabbit and his story “The Darkness” won 1st place, and Erik Bearman came in 3rd place with his story “Cobwebs.” Enjoy!

The Child

By Marianne Capetz

Miss Alice Wittlebee was a very normal woman; in fact, she was possibly the most normal person in her apartment complex. Everyday she got up at 5:30 on the dot and had a cup of tea with one sugar. She would then sit by her window and read until it was too dark to see the pages. Everyday without fail she followed her routine, until one afternoon she heard a sharp knock on the door. Miss Alice slowly got up and walked to the door. When she opened it, a small face was peering up at her
“I don’t want to buy anything,” Miss Alice snapped at the wide eyed child. The child continued to silently stare at her. Something about this child perturbed her; perhaps it was the odd way the child’s eyes seemed to dilate. Miss Alice quickly dismissed this absurd idea. This child was nothing but a small disruption in her day. She turned to ask the child if it was lost, but before she could say anything the child began to speak.
“Hello Alice. Did you miss me?” the child’s head tilted slightly and its eyes seemed to widen.

Rather taken back by the child’s words Miss Alice responded, “Miss you? Child, I’ve never seen you in my life.” She watched the child’s mesmerizing eyes continue to expand.
“Did you miss me?” The child asked again. Miss Alice rubbed her eyes as the child’s eyes had grown even more.
“Please leave, I have much to do today and cannot be bothered.” Miss Alice said with a slight waver in her voice. She went to leave, but stopped. Her feet suddenly felt very heavy and sat like cinder blocks on the ground. She turned once more to glance at the strange child. She quickly found that she could not move her eyes away from the child. Miss Alice was trapped by the unwavering gaze of the peculiar child.
Miss Alice had never had such a bizarre experience. Nor did she expect to be caught by the stare of this child. As the child’s eyes grew, the room began to change. The walls became white and plush and the floor began to soften. Her arms were encased by something warm and secure. Miss Alice slowly sank to the cushioned floor. She looked around the room and saw that the child had disappeared. She tried to free her ams from the strange item pinning them to her body, but found she was stuck. Her escape efforts began to become more and more frantic. She was so focused on her attempt to free her arms that she didn’t notice the woman enter the room. She didn’t even feel the needle prick her skin, until she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
The nurse carefully removed the needle from Patient #48 and set it on the metal tray that she had rolled in earlier. She picked up the large folder sitting on the table and quickly jotted down some notes. She looked at Alice and sighed; Patient #48 seemed to be getting better. She was so close to being released back into society. The nurse shook her head and walked out. All the patients on her floor had been complaining about an encounter with a strange child before they would relapse into insanity again. She told the other nurses about these complaints, but no one had believed her. Lost in thought she turned down the hall and was shocked to see a small child standing by the door.
“Hello Jane. Did you miss me?”

Editor: Luke Langlois

Short Halloween Horror Story Competition Winners

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By Harlow Berny

BOO! Tonight is the 13th annual Scarefest, and as promised, the winners of the Halloween Horror competition will now be released!* The 1st place winner of the 12 oz Hershey’s Kiss is…

The Masked Rabbit!

Congratulations! The 2nd place winner is Marianne Capetz, 3rd place is Erik Bearman, and the two honorable mentions are Jane White/Mr. Griffin and Amelia Lockwell! Thank you to everyone who chose to participate in this competition. It was tons of fun to read them all, and I hope to read even more of these in the future! You all have amazing potential to hone your skills and become expert writers, and I hope that one day you may join the Journalism class.

To honor our first place winner, we will now reveal their amazing story for all to behold!

 

The Darkness

By The Masked Rabbit

It was the family’s first night in their new home. Boxes still filled the house, some empty and some not. The child had a room all to himself. It was big and fit to be a child’s playroom. The pine trees outside shielded the moonlight from entering through the window. Toys were scattered about, clothes were still crammed in the boxes, and it was long past his bedtime. The child crawled into his bed. While getting under the covers, his mother walked in. “Can you check the closet for monsters?” asked the child. The mother opened the closet door and saw nothing. “What about under the bed?” She went down and searched underneath the bed. Nothing again. She tucked him in, “Have sweet dreams.” She left and closed the door, cutting off the last bit of light that could enter the room. The child was now satisfied, for his mother was right, there was no monster in the closet or under the bed. Instead, it was above him. It clung to the ceiling with its long, sharp fingers and its pitch black eyes glaring down at the child’s tired, limp body. The darkness of the room made it invisible. The crooked teeth were just eager to be let loose. It waits there, motionless, for the child to fall asleep…

Editor: Leo Milmet

*The other stories will be posted throughout next week.

Short Halloween Horror Story Competition

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By Harlow Berny

BOO! Halloween is only two weeks away, and in order to help people get in the spirit of things, thebirdonfire.org staff decided to hold a competition with a prize that any kid would dream of when out trick-or-treating: 12 ounces of chocolate! That’s right, the 1st-place winner will receive nearly a pound of milk chocolate in the form of a giant Hershey’s Kiss!* The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd-place stories will also be published on thebirdonfire.org for everyone to see, as well as potential runner-ups.

In order to qualify for this competition, you must follow these rules and guidelines:

  1. You must be a student in Palm Valley Upper School, as we only have permission to give the absurd amount of chocolate to a student in 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade. You many still submit a story and qualify as a runner-up if you’re in Middle School, but you will not be able to win the Hershey’s Kiss.
  2. Your real first and last name MUST be attached to the story you’re submitting so that we know who to give the prize to. If you wish to be anonymous or go by a pseudonym if you win, you must attach a note when submitting your story stating such (and you must provide your own pseudonym if you wish to go by one).
  3. While you may submit multiple stories, only one may be chosen as a winner/runner-up.
  4. All stories should have proper grammar and spelling. Errors will affect how you are judged.
  5. The story must not contain “adult” content or profanity.
  6. The main focus of the story must not be graphic violence or gore.
  7. All stories must be submitted to apatencio@pvs.org by Wednesday the 31st-Halloween! as the winners and runner-ups will be posted to thebirdonfire.org on Friday the 3rd–ScareFest!

Happy Hauntings!

 

*Note: This competition is not sponsored or endorsed by the Hershey’s company in any way, shape, or form. This competition is independently run by thebirdonfire.org blog staff.

 

Editor: Bella Bier

1st-Place Winner, 2018 PVS Poetry Competition

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The English Department, Publications Club, and Blog Class sponsored the second annual Poetry Competition in the Middle and Upper Schools. Poems went to Dr. Carr, fearless organizer and underwriter of prizes. She passed them on to Round #1 judges, a gallery of Humanities teachers, who culled the nearly 60 poetic entries down to 12. Then, those 12 finalists went to final judge Mr. Sarkis who decided upon a 1st place, 2nd, 3rd, and Honorable Mention. Reprinted here is the winning poem, “Legacy,” penned by senior Peter Kadel. Note: all 12 finalists can be seen on the bulletin board in the Upper School Lobby.

Legacy

By Peter Kadel

 

Keep the campfire burning

Keep the campfire burning my friends; shelter this light that I have left for you.

My time with you is coming to an end, but I can still teach you a lesson before I leave.

Keep the campfire burning so I can remember where I come from as I make my way down the unmarked trail.

Gather round the fire and sing the songs I’ve taught you, but sing some new songs, too.

Tend to the fire as I have, but when the time comes, strike out on your own path as I am.

I’ll take a torch with me as I go up the mountain; I’ll use it to light the next campfire.

Watch the ridge above for the light I’ll leave behind; my fingerprints dancing across the mountain,

my legacy flickering in the night as I forge ahead into the inky darkness.

I have to walk this path alone, but solitude doesn’t suit me.

So promise you’ll visit. And I’ll do the same.

Winners compiled by Editor Shelby Armor

Fuller-TON of Fun

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By Brennan Nick, actor and blogger

The Palm Valley School cast of “Murder, Murder”

Just last month, the Palm Valley School Drama Department went to Fullerton College to compete with over 60 other schools in monologues, scenes, and a musical number–that you saw showcased at morning assembly. This is the Fullerton College Drama Festival. The key word here is “Festival” as it is emphasized that the most important aspect of Fullerton is the festivity of it per se. In other words, it’s all about having fun, and there’s ample opportunity for it. For example, there are songs played in the courtyard to “energy circles” formed by students from dozens of schools.

However, the real reason we’re all at the Festival is for the competition, and Palm Valley School was no slouch. Although we did not place, we had five finalists. To put this into perspective, two years ago we had only one finalist. This year was the first time we ever made it to the finals for a musical number. We did it with Murder, Murder from the play Jekyll and Hyde. Our other finalists included:

–A scene from Almost Maine performed by Lawrence, Shelby, and Josh;

–A scene from Twelfth Night performed by Joe, Aurora, Jordan K., Nathan, and Aidan;

–A monologue from Measure for Measure performed by me, Brennan;

–A monologue from I am not Batman performed by Graham.

None of this would have been possible without the help from Mr. Sarkis and Mr. Gahnz. They are the reason a school as small as ours can compete with schools of thousands of students. These two teachers worked alongside all of us for the month and a half leading up to Fullerton. Here’s to winning trophies next year!

Editor: Makena Behnke

The True Heroes

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By Charles Schnell

 

Charles received Honorable Mention for this poem submitted to the Youth Town Hall “Giving Back” Poetry Competition–a valley-wide competition held in honor of Caroline Kennedy, former ambassador to Japan and daughter of John F. Kennedy. Kennedy is a longtime advocate and editor of poetry. Her family is known for its dedication to service. The compilation of poems was a gift to Kennedy when she spoke at the Desert Town Hall Forum last month.

 

The celebrities,

The athletes,

The CEOs,

The lawyers.

These aren’t the

True heroes

(Especially the lawyers).

Rather,

Blessed be

The organ donors,

The charity givers,

The teachers,

The soldiers,

Those who give their time, money, and life

To giving back,

For they are

The true heroes.

Editor: Renée Vazquez