this issue

HiRMS News P.1-2

Sports P.4

Opinion P.5

Clubs P.6

Reviews P.7

Events P.8

HiRMS Middle School

HiRMS News Maverick Times

1 Events Maverick Times

8

Mrs. Kiral’s Spotlight Art!

What’s next Every Monday Afterschool: Until 5:15pm Post-It Club Every Thursday Morning: 7:45-8:30am Battle of the Books Every Friday Morning: YCI December 20 Staff vs. Students basketball game December 24– January 1 Winter Break January 2 7th Grade Basketball Tryouts Begin January 17 End of 2nd Nine Weeks January 20 MLK holiday (No School) January 21 Planning/Staff Development (No School for students) January 27 Report Cards go home End of January Soccer tryouts

I S S U E 0 2

DECEMBER V o l u m e 1

2013

Maverick Dance & Competition

By Savannah Bradley

The first school dance of the year

kicked off November 15th! It lasted from

4:15 to 6:15. There was a great turnout

and lots of kids from each grade level

showed up. If you donated a new,

unwrapped

toy for Toys

For Tots, you

got free food

and a free

drink at the

dance. Food

and drinks

were sold in the cafeteria and there was

even a dance competition! It was a great

night. If you missed this dance, our next

dance will be sometime in the Spring in

2014. Tickets are only $5, drink are $1 and

food is from $1-$5. Come support your

Mavericks by coming to the next school

dance!

Student Candids

Holiday Word Search M M H C S M U L P R A G U S C

I E S A S T N E S E R P A A H

S R T N H W A P S P C N Y C R

T R H D Y A I A H T T I A O I

L Y G Y L D N S Z A R N S L S

E J I C I O I U H N D O D U T

T A L A M O C L K L A A P Y M

O C E N A F U S E K I W S S A

E K M E F F E S E L A S K R S

T E I S Y R F U N R V H T E S

J T T O U F E A S T I E F T N

Q S J T S L E I G H S F S T O

R H C U Y T B N D L K P T E W

J I N G L E B E L L S E S L M

P Y P S T O R I E S Y L L O J

CANDLES

KWANZAA WISHLIST

CANDYCANES LETTERS

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

COLD MERRY

ELVES MISTLETOE

FAMILY MUSIC

FEAST PICTURES

FIRES PRESENTS

FOOD SANTA

FUN SLEIGHS

HANUKKAH SNOW

JACKETS SPORTS

JINGLEBELLS STORIES

JOLLY SUGARPLUMS

JOYFUL TIME

PRESENTS SANTA

SLEIGHS

SNOW

SPORTS

STORIES

SUGARPLUMS

TIME

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

Solve the word search below; decode the hidden

answer; win a prize. If you find the hidden message,

have your teacher turn in your response with your

name on it and Mr. Miller will randomly draw a few

student’s name for your choice of a prize Find all of

the words first then starting from the top, find each

individual letter, not used and write it on the lines

below. Good Luck! (You do not have to turn in the

newsletter just the answer with your name)

Ricky Eland Morgan Furr Bailey Desouza Alayna Perry

HiRMS News Maverick Times

2

Winter Weather

By Grace Prillaman

Are you hoping for a cold winter full of snow and fun? Well this may be the winter for you. According to the farmer’s almanac, this will be a cold, fair winter with some wet snow possible. The snow season also started early for us with a surprise to many as we saw wet snow flurries on Tuesday November 12th around 6 pm. Although there were flurries, sadly, the snow didn’t stick. Be on the lookout later this winter for some possible chances for snow in Harrisburg! As for the rest of the United States, people have already experienced their first snowfall. If you love snow, don’t be discouraged, you might get to experience snow this winter.

Image by www.psdgraphics.com

Reviews Maverick Times

7

Music Review By Savannah Bradley

“Story Of My Life” by One Direction

“Story Of My Life”, released on October 28th, is the first

single off of One Direction’s new album Midnight

Memories. It was leaked early online on social media

websites like Twitter and Tumblr and officially released

shortly after. The song is different than anything they’ve

done, and is very different than their regular bubblegum-

pop music. It relies heavy on vocals and acoustic guitars-

a mix of lite pop like Ed

Sheeran, and folk, like

Mumford & Sons. It’s a lot

better and more

sophisticated than the

rest of their albums,

which sounded more like

Backstreet Boys knock-

offs. This album seems

like its going to be more raw and emotional, which I like a

lot. One Direction’s songs from their first 2 albums, Up All

Night and Take Me Home sounded extremely similar. I

give it a 8/10. I rarely ever listen to pop music, but I hope

they continue to make this type of music and evolve into

other genres.

Book Review By Savannah Bradley

Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson and

Lauren Myracle

Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson and

Lauren Myracle is the perfect book to read over winter

break, or to get your friends and

family for the holidays! Let It

Snow is a book with 3 different

stories that all intertwine

together one way or another.

The mini-stories are hilarious

and get you in the holiday spirit.

John Green has written best-

sellers like Looking For Alaska

and The Fault In Our Stars,

Lauren Myracle has written the

best-selling series TTYL, and

Maureen Johnson has written

13 Little Blue Envelopes, among other books.

Movie Review By Ellie Lowry

Catching Fire The thrilling sequel to The Hunger Games, Catching Fire was a much of a knockout as Hunger Games. This movie takes place right after Katniss and Peeta have come back from winning the Hunger Games, and are now living in the Victors Village. While there is peace in the village, there is unrest in some of the districts, and some are starting to rebel. People are starting to take Katniss’s act of defiance in the games seriously. To stop the oncoming revolution The Capitol must find a solution to get rid of the one who started it all, Katniss Everdeen. This movie was a phenomenal interpretation of the book written by Suzanne Collins, it was one of the best book-to-movie plots ever written. There was hardly a line out of place by the actors who were also perfect for their parts. They all seemed to be made solely for the part they played, and they acted their part very well. I highly recommend to anyone who likes action, romance, and some humor to DEFINITELY go see this movie, it is definitely a five-star in my book.

On December 6th Harrisburg celebrated the annual tradition of the lighting of

the Christmas tree. The celebration included craft vendors, our very own choir, and of

course, Santa Claus! Horse-drawn carriages, the high-school choir and a speech from

Harrisburg’s past mayor were also part of the festivities.

Since there was a chance of bad weather, Mr., and

Mrs. Claus stayed inside, but that didn’t stop the celebration

from going on outside while the choir performed many

people also went over to watch the live nativity scene,

reenacted by devoted actors. Also there were several

booths offering Christmas staples such as hot cocoa,

and hot apple cider. Then of course, there was that one

guy selling popcorn and cotton candy. While he may not have

been in the most festive spirit, plenty of others were who

enjoyed a horse –drawn sleigh ride or admired the beauty of

the Christmas tree.

Also in the holiday spirit who wonderfully performed “Winter Sleigh Ride”, “Jingle

bell Rock”, and piece consisting of over 23 Christmas songs! Also every one of them

had memorized their parts, and the words to each of the songs, which could not have

been an easy task! The chorus was heavily applauded, even if it had been hard to hear

them. All in all the tree lighting was one festive celebration!

Harrisburg Tree Lighting By Ellie Lowry

6th and 7th Grade Winter Band Concerts By Grace Prillaman

On December 10th at the middle school gym, the Hickory Ridge 6th and 7th grade bands had their concerts. Starting with the 6th grade, they played the songs “Conquest” and “A Christmas Medley????.” After a quick setup, the 7th grade band played their two songs “Sleigh Ride,” and “The Good King Rocks.” Both bands did an excellent job! Come and see them at their next concert in May. See Mr. Blair if you have any questions about band or would like to join band next year. Visit his website for up to date information!

6th Grade News By Jordan Greene

This year in Social Studies we have been studying Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Recently in English we have been working on researching a “thing”. This “thing” can be anything as long as it’s not a person. This year in Math we have started one-step equations, they are very challenging. This year in Science we have been learning about the days and years and how the earth’s rotation causes seasons. This year has been an ok year. I hope next year in 7th grade my teachers don’t give me homework.

Sports Maverick TImes

4

Wrestling By Coach Simpson Hickory Ridge just finished its most successful wrestling season to date. Though the team won one more duel match last year than this year, we placed 12 of the 13 wrestlers in the top three at our conference tournament. Due to three scratches the morning of the tournament we just did not have enough overall wrestlers to win it all. We were out of first place by 9 points. Our wrestlers who placed are as follows: First place: Tyler Gregor also tournament MOW (MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER), Josh Harper, Owen Barber and Conner Helm Second Place: Robby Snyder (2 point loss in o.t. finals) Johnny Anguiano, Shane Victory, Dalton Haywood Third Place: Keaton Arbury, JD Corwin, Keenon Everall, Paris Terrell These guys wrestled at a completely different level than the competition and proved that Hickory Ridge wrestling will be a force next year and in the future. Please congratulate these young warriors for a job well done. They are all champions in my eyes!!!

8th grade Boys/Girls Basketball

Opinion Maverick Times

5

Students On The Street By Aniyah Thomas, Haritha Mohan, and Layla Saliba

This month, Aniyah, Haritha, and Layla each asked 3 students from their grade (6th, 7th, and 8th) the same question, “ What is your favorite part of the Holiday?” The results are as shown below.

“ Hanging out with Family!”- Camryn Harn 6th grader “Having a break from school and hopefully some

snow! I also love having fun with friends & family!- Taylor Sides. 6th grader

“Can’t wait to go to Utah and California to visit my

family for the holidays!” - Elizabeth Fife; 7th grader “ Going to my Church Service on Christmas eve with

Family and Friends/” - Kaley Fulford; 7th grader “ I love how the holidays brings my family together and

everyone is in a festive mood!”- Alexis Longinetti 7th grader “ Spending time with my family and getting presents!”

Kevin McLaughlin 8th grader “The Christmas lights!”- Taylor Shaw 8th grader “ The Christmas music!” - Kelly Yu 8th grader

8th grade High School Forms Due in January By Layla Saliba

If you are into science/math or just want to get a jump start on College, then you might want to consider programs such as STEM (Science, technology, engineering & math) which focuses on the subjects listed above and provides a more hands on experience or Early College High School which combines high school with 2 years of classes at a local community collage. You could also try IB which is a more well rounded program that focuses particularly on foreign languages as well as subjects like Math, English, and the Arts. If you are considering either of these programs, please remember that all applications are due in January. There are also several open houses if you want to know more about these programs. The STEM high school open house is on January 13th while the Early College high school one is on January 9th. For more information, please visit the HiRMS website!

Jiera Shears

8th Grade Girls Basketball

By Ms. Morton 8th grade Lady Maverick basketball team has had a great season thus far! Last year, the la-

dies went 14-0 and they are now 10-0 winning the Regular Season Championship by beating

Mount Pleasant 59-6 on December 11, 2013. The team plays solid defense and has

several girls that led the team in scoring. Courtney Meadows and Jiera Shears are the two best guards in the conference leading the team in

scoring and assist. Gabby Smith and Maddie Covey are also two of the best post players in the conference leading in rebounds and scoring. Alex Durning, Sherise Jones and Brittney

Poole are solid defensive players for the Lady Mavs. Kelsey Geunot, Kendall Poythress and Ashlee Owens also contribute to the Lady Mavericks when coming in off the bench.

The team is averaging 51 points per game! The SPMC Tournament will be hosted by Hickory Ridge Middle from December 16-19 in

which the girls hope to bring home another tournament championship. They hope the finish both seasons with a 27-0 perfect record!

Coach Morton is very proud of their accomplishments in the two seasons. The Lady Maver-icks represent the school with high standards both in the classroom and on the court.

8th Grade Boys Basketball

The 8th grade boys Basketball

team split the season right in half

finishing with a 5-5 record. One of

the most memorable games of the

season was the second game

against Concord when the team

only trailed by single digits at half

and lost a close one down the

stretch. Darian Bell and Eli

Cupples lead the team in scoring

while Andrew Jones, Michael

Mutterer and Jeremiah Boyd out

hustled any player on the court.

The team looked to Dylan Ratliff

for support as he served as the

vocal leader on the team.

Unfortunately, even with a season

high of 32 points from Darian Bell

the team lost in double overtime to

a tough Kannapolis team in the

first round of the playoffs. The

team thanks all the fans for their

support throughout the season.

Clubs Maverick Times

6

Quill Club: Writing Contest Results

Ask Madame Maverick

By Madame Maverick “I want to ask a guy out what should I do?” Just talk to him if you have a Facebook or something then talk to him on there, but talk to him in person too. Don't be shy about it, because if you don't tell him you like him then he’ll never know! He may move on, so talk to him and tell him how you feel. “There are two guys that I really like but one just makes me super happy and like I'm in my own little world when I see and get around him what should I do? “ Tell the guy how you feel, and maybe he will feel the same way as you feel about him. Just focus on that one guy and tell him how you feel and if he doesn't feel the same way then do not go to the other guy too quickly. “What should I do if a guy annoys me every day and pops up behind me and tries to scare me?”

Don't be mean or rude to him, but tell him the truth and that you want him to leave you alone. If it gets serious, tell a teacher ASAP. “All my friends are turning on me for something I didn't do. What should I do?” Try to talk to him or her and tell them that you didn't do it. Tell the truth and if your friends can’t see that, then maybe they’re not true friends.

Wondering what to do? Have some questions that need to be answered? Madam Maverick is here to help ! Send all your questions with a secret name to maverick.advice@ gmail.com

Chinese By Gabby Caputo

When I Interviewed Ms. Ge, our Chinese

teacher I learned some things. Her students are currently working on the unit of “Body Units”. Her Favorite unit to teach is numbers because she can combine other games and such into her teaching. Projects for the rest of the semester include Traditional Chinese cooking and record them in Chinese. Advice for students taking her class is to come prepared!

8th g

Encore Maverick Times

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The Quill Club would like to thank everyone who participated in the Halloween Short Story Writing Contest. We enjoyed reading all the entries and appreciate your willingness to share your writing. The winners of the contest are:

1st Place– Eden DiGirolamo

2nd Place– Mandy Wallace

3rd Place– Lillian Roland

Honorable Mention– Alissa Wu

Biotechnology

By Lillian Roland

As Lillian interviewed Mrs. Williams our biotechnology teacher, she learned a little

more about her! The unit her students are currently working on is Agriculture

Biotechnology. Her favorite unit to teach is Forensics because it deals with crimes

and more students enjoy to learn it. Some projects she has planned for the rest of

the semester are Industrial Bio Tech., Environmental Bio Tech., and Careers in Bio

Tech. Some advice she gives for students planning on taking her class is to study in

advance! Also, to be strengthened in your research skill.

Step Team by Layla Saliba

“It’s not as easy as it looks.” says Tatiana Flores, current captain of the step team. Step-ping is a rising art form and an important part of America’s heritage. Members of the Hick-ory Ridge step team must create rhythms and sounds through speaking, footsteps, and clapping during halftime performances at school basketball games. In order to get the in-side information on what Step team is really like, I did a short interview with Tatiana Flo-res who is the current captain of the step team. L- A lot of people reading this might not know exactly what Stepping is. Can you tell us the basics? T- Well, it’s a type of dance where you create sounds by speaking, stomping your feet and clapping. It’s a lot of fun and all the girls on the step team are great. L- What do you like about being on Step team? T- Learning new steps and beats and combining it together is really fun. L- A lot of people say that Step is easy , do you have anything to say on that point of view? T- Well, they’re wrong! You need to have Rhythm as well as a sense of honesty. Anyone could be in a group and copy what we do. But when it comes time to do it by themselves, they aren’t so brave. Just copying what everyone else is doing, is not step. L- You mentioned before that you and the other girls on Step team have a really close bond. T- Step is like my second family. I consider these girls my sisters because we are there for each other and we support one another. L- Do you think going to High school will affect the current step team? T- If I leave, Imani Bryant and Autumn will be the new co-captains and I know that they will do a great job at it. Like I mentioned before, I really love everyone on here and it’s going to be hard without them. Current Step Team members include: Autumn Goodwin, Tatiana Flores, Imani Bryant, Jenaira Edmonds, Sara Deese, Madi Bray, Starlett Hampton, Nia Gaither, Joseph Carano, Aliyah Tate, Ashanti Britt-Davis, Azjai Britt-Davis, Kirsten Boykin, DeAsia Wilder, Rebecca Leathers and India Mattison The Step tea had a great season; Congrats ladies :)

If you are in a Club, or are hosting a club, feel free to send the Newslet-ter club your photos so we can rec-ognize all the hard work you are do-ing. Feel free to email Mr. Miller at paul.miller@cabarrus.k12.nc.us