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Mr. Morgan U.A Class

By: Sofia Alvarez Do you know what Mural Art is? According to wikipedia.org, it means “any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on the wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface.’’ Mr. Morgan teaches Mural Art for U.A. His students have drawn and painted murals around our school.

Mr. Morgan went to Pasadena Community College, Cal State LA, and Long Beach State where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Art. He also went to the Art Center of Pasadena to improve his art skills. Because he loves to draw and paint, Mr. Morgan was excited to teach mural art.

Mr. Morgan began to paint at this school in 2002. He didn’t paint

any of the murals around our school, but he helped his students paint the murals. He does, however, paint murals in his house. He only likes to paint portraits and landscapes. His favorite painting is in the Sistine

Chapel, which is located in Vatican City in Europe. You should definitely take Mr. Morgan’s mural art class.

You will learn the basics of drawing and painting. You can even make amazing murals at Baldwin School!

Mr. Lwin By: Jasmine Chan and Zewei Lin

Mr. Lwin, a seventh grade science/health teacher at

Baldwin, used to be an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) doctor before he started teaching. He learned many things as an ENT doctor and uses this knowledge as a teacher.

What is an ENT doctor? An ENT doctor is someone who treats the ears, noses, and throats. They even perform surgery sometimes! “For example, we can correct people with breathing problems or a deviated septum. Sometimes if the eardrum is traumatized, and there’s a hole in there, we can repair it. Sometimes, people who have a hoarse voice develop nodes over their vocal cords, which you can remove during surgery” said Mr. Lwin. According to Remedy’s Health Communities (http://www.healthcommunities.com/), an ENT doctor must complete 15 years of training, including a 4 year

undergraduate program, a 4 year medical program, at least 5 years of specialty training, and a 1 or 2 year residency (postgraduate training) program.

There are many things that doctors and science teachers have in common. For example, both may specialize in health. That’s why Mr. Lwin took an early retirement as a doctor and decided to become a science/health teacher. He said, “Because I used to be a doctor, science was my main topic, so therefore I was put into teaching science and health.” He teaches his students a lot of the things that he learned as a doctor, but in a more simple way.

Overall, Mr. Lwin was a successful doctor and is now a successful teacher.

Mr. C’s Retirement By: Antoine Gutter & Tiffany Yuen

“Mrs. Hanacek doesn’t want me,” Mr. Ceniseroz, or as we

all like to call him, “the chocolate man”, joked. He says that he met Mrs. Hanacek in high school (typing class) and they have been good friends ever since. Mr. C is retiring this year, which means that he will be leaving. According to U.S News, the average retirement age among retirees is 62 (www.money.usnews.com).

The reason Mr. C wanted to become a teacher was because his mother and his wife were teachers. He also said

he became a teacher because he loves kids and has a lot of patience. Mr. C has had a lot of fun being a teacher, and his goal was to open the minds of young children.

Mr. C taught at two different schools. He taught for 2 years in L.A. Unified (where he started out being a teacher) and 35 years at Baldwin. Right now, he doesn’t feel sad about retiring because it just seems like a regular thing that should be done at this age. However, he says that he might be sad when

Baldwin Staff

The  intelligent  man  behind  the  desk  who  teaches  science,  Mr.  Lwin.  

 

   Our  sixth  grade  teacher,  and  an  awesome  addition  to  Baldwin,    who  teaches  Mural  Art.    

 Our  own  amazing  sixth  grade teacher,  Mr.  C,  who  packed  up  his  bags.    

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August comes because that is when school begins and he will start to miss his students.

After he retires he will live part of the time in his desert home playing golf and the other half in Washington D.C. He plans to play golf and work part-time at Worldstrides (a company that organizes student travel packages for schools). In our opinion, that seems pretty cool! Mr. C said he might not be able to visit Baldwin very often because he won’t be living in this area anymore.

Mr. C has been dedicated to his work and he has done many things that we are thankful for. We think it is a good idea for Mr. C to retire because he can release all the stress that he’s been having. He is a hard worker and we will always remember him!  

Valentine’s Dance By: Kylie Phung and Maylene Vong

Our school had a Valentine’s Day dance back in February

and the theme of the dance was Alice in Wonderland. There were pink and red streamers and hearts strung onto the ceiling. There was also a drawing of a cat covering the painted murals in the cafeteria. There were two ways to get into the cafeteria. One was through the side door that had reflective streamers. The other was through the other side that had an Alice In Wonderland sign that said, “Love in Wonderland.

We interviewed Kelly Woo, a sixth grader, who said “I loved the dance. It was awesome.” Kelly’s favorite part of the dance was the dance battle. “It was interesting to watch.” This was Kelly’s favorite dance because they had hot dogs. The other student we interviewed was Amanda Hoang, who is our activities director. “The students of Leadership discussed which themes we would like to have and finally decided on one. Then we brought it to Mr. C and Mrs. Hanacek.” said Amanda. She thought the dance was definitely

better than the other dances at Baldwin this year. We think the dance was a little better because we usually don’t have hot dogs, but this time we did. Amanda, Wendy Wu, and Jacob Ortiz purchased the decorations for the dance. “We usually start off with Dollar Tree and then Party City. This time we also went to Home Depot to buy the reflective streamers.” Amanda said. Overall, everyone had an amazing time at the dance. It was really fun and included things we haven’t had this year. Mr. C and our student council did a great job organizing the last dance for year!

The Math Tournament By: Britney Wai and Saima Sarwar

The math tournament at Mark Keppel High School is an annual competition where students compete in math activities. It is a wonderful place to put your math skills to the test. Our students participate math tournament because they love and have a passion for math.

Baldwin School started participating in the math tournament in 2003. Our school has won many trophies in past math tournaments! That goes to show what great mini mathematicians our students are. Ms. Cheng has been doing this for a very long time and participating in the math tournament has become a tradition for Baldwin. Mrs. Cheng is always very proud of her students when they participate in the math tournament because they worked very hard to prepare for the math tournament, Ms. Cheng works hard with her students. She thinks that the textbook isn’t enough to prepare them, so she does “textbook and beyond”. By this, she means that she does different things to help her students, like playing math games.

There are 8 different math activities students can choose to participate in:

o Chalk Talk- This is where students give a speech on a specific math topic.

o Topic of the Day- Teams of 2 students are given a topic and must have a presentation ready in 30

School Events

One  of  our  students,  Amanda,  who  we  interviewed  about  the  amazing  dance!  

 

Baldwin’s  hardworking  math  team  who  came  back  with  some  medals  to  show  how  awesome  they  are!  

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minutes using computers (markers and other supplies can be used as well).

o Math Everest- Students are given a traditional math test with short answers and they must complete it in 1 hour.

o March Hare- Teams of 2 students are given a whiteboard to work on the math questions and have 1 minute to find solutions.

o Approximath- Teams go to different activities and, using the information they gathered, find the best estimate.

o Dramathic- Students are given a historical math event and they must act it out or present it.

o Gallery Walk- Students are given a math topic and they must present it on a poster.

o Final Round- The remaining 2 students will be in a quiz show to see who wins the math tournament.

Students get to choose which activity they want to compete in. During the math tournament, friends and family members cheer for the participants.

The math tournament is an extraordinary place where students work hard to succeed. Their hard work definitely pays off! Overall, we think that the math tournament is great place to be

Middle School Survival Guide

By: Brianna Barreto & Victoria Lujan

Having trouble in middle school? We know that it can be pretty difficult, but that’s why we’re here! So, in order to

survive middle school, here are three important things that you need to know: 1. Avoid trouble:

One way you can avoid trouble is by hanging out with a good group of friends. For example, a good group of friend consists of leaders and students who work hard. As a middle school student, you need to trust your instincts and keep positive people around you.

Another thing you should do to avoid trouble is respect and listen to your teachers.

This is a huge must in the classroom!

One more way to stay out of trouble is to be nice to everyone. As the Golden Rule states, “Treat others the way you want to be treated”!

2. Improve Yourself

Improving yourself is hard, especially in middle school. One thing you can do is, first, find a new place to improve yourself. For example, pay attention in class. If you want to get better grades, maybe you could get a tutor to help you. Also, when your teacher is teaching you something but you don't understand, don't be afraid to ask for help.

3. Be Organized

In middle school, being organized is really important because you need to keep track of all your schoolwork. One way to be organized is to have binders and dividers. Dividers are used to separate your papers. You can also use a pencil box to keep your belongings, such as pencils, erasers, and your rulers. If you just cram your papers and supplies into your backpack, it will be hard to find them when you need them later.

Some people say middle school is hard and others say it’s easy. Sometimes you are going to need help either way, even if it’s how to avoid trouble, how to improve yourself, or how to be organized.

The Book Thief By: Skyla Oviedo

The Book Thief takes place during World War II and the

Holocaust. The characters in The Book Thief are Liesel, Rudy, Mark, Ben and Rose. Liesel is the main character. She is very good at defending herself. Rudy is Liesel’s friend, and he gets bullied at school. Mark is a Jewish man who needs shelter because the Nazis are coming after him. Ben and Rose are husband and wife. They take in Liesel and let Mark say with them also.

In the beginning of the story, Liesel was upset because her mom left her and Rose doesn’t really like her. Once Mark came to live with them, Liesel and Mark became friends. Mark gave Liesel a journal for her to write in. Liesel also made friends with a lady who has a huge library and spends time reading the books.

The Nazis started to burn books that were written by Jewish

authors and Liesel was very upset about that. Throughout the story, Ben and Mark try to help Liesel read and write because they know

the importance of reading and writing. The book and the movie are both historically accurate and

they give you an image of what life was like during that time. The

Opinion

Make  sure  to  read  this  thrilling  novel  by  Marcus  Zusak.  

 Follow  this  guide  to  happily  survive  middle school!  

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movie did a good job of following the events that happened in the book. However, in the book, Rose was a little nicer to Liesel than she was in the movie.

I liked the book more because it described the characters and the setting. The book lets you create more visuals in your head. I really think you should read this book!

Book Vs Movie: The Giver

By: Samantha Godinez

There has always been a war between books that have been adapted into movies. The Giver, by Lois Lowry, is one of them. With its new appearance on the big screen, it has raised many questions, including: “Which is better?

The stereotype with books adapted into films is that the book always better than the movie. In this case, it’s true. “The book brought an image to my mind and visuals in the movie weren’t as great as the ones in my mind. The movie did nothing better than the book.” said Kayla Lu, a fan of The Giver, when asked if the book was better and why. Nikki Godinez said, “The book provided so much insight about Jonas’ feelings. The movie did not deliver that point of view.” We can safely say, the book was indeed better. It did not provide us the main character’s feelings, which made us fall in love with the book in the first place.

Films that are based off of movies always seem to leave out our favorite parts from the book, but was that true this time? Well, according to Kayla Lu, that is very true. “Everything they left out ruined it!” she exclaimed. Also, the book had a great element to it, and that was the ability to have the reader choose the ending. The guardian.com says, “The ending of The Giver was powerful because we have a choice in what it means.” The book will leave you a choice, but unfortunately, the movie did not give us, the viewers, that power. “It was a horrible ending. It did not leave you enough information to decipher how it ended, like the book did. Just: ‘The End’. Again, it was horrible.” Nikki Godinez said. The movie left out or changed everything we loved, including the ending!

Although the movie did not do as well as the book, how did the movie do? What if you didn’t have the book to compare it to? Well, Nikki Godinez watched the movie herself before reading the book and was asked how she thought the movie was immediately after watching it. “It was lacking any real action and it went by very slowly. Overall, the movie was pretty good… until I read the book. I now think of the movie in

a lesser way, having such an awesome book to compare it to. In the end, the movie was just okay after comparing it to the works of such an amazing author.”

Overall, we can prove the stereotypes right. The book, The Giver, was extremely better than its film adaptation.

The Maze Runner By: Kimberly Quiocho

What is this “Maze Runner”

that everyone is raving about? Well, The Maze Runner is a best selling book by James Dashner. He also wrote the Infinity Ring series, The 13th Reality series, The Jimmy Fincher Saga, and The Eye Of Minds.

Now, imagine waking up one day in total darkness, not sure of where you are, and unable to remember anything about yourself except your first name. You're in a weird place with absolutely no adults. It’s called the Glade. There is no way out. Outside the Glade is the Maze, and everyday, some of the kids venture into the labyrinth, trying to map the changing pattern of walls in an attempt to find an exit from this place. They are called The Runners and so far, no one has figured it out. Not all of the Runners return from their daily journeys. Many become victims of the Grievers, part animal, part mechanical killing machines, if they wander around after sunlight.

In this story, Thomas is the newest arrival to the Glade. A crew of male kids are all he has to help him in this strange place. As soon as he arrives, though, unusual things begin to happen. Though the Maze seems familiar to Thomas, he's unable to make sense of things.

Sounds like an interesting book, right? Amanda Cheung, an avid reader and fan of this book, said that the story was good and The Maze Runner was one of the most interesting books she has ever read. However, I disagree with Amanda. I thought it was a decent read, but it was by far just that. Let me break this down for you:

Writing Quality: The story started off way too slow and the pacing made the story a bit boring; dull even. Dashner did a few things you are not supposed to do in fictional writing. Dashner violated the “Show, Not Tell” rule. A lot of his descriptions are flatly told instead of explained. For example, he wrote, "Thomas felt sad." "Thomas snapped." Dashner does not do a good job of showing us his world or his characters. Instead, he just tells us how things are. Each step or twist in the plot seemed as if it were made on the spot as the author wrote his way through this novel.

Add  this  dystopian  novel  to  your  reading  list.  

 

 The  Giver,  and  its    rival  The  Giver.    

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In my own honest opinion, the plot felt as if it had been constructed with little thought. The plot was actually something very interesting, and you should read it just to see how they got through the maze. The story cracked a smile on my face, to say the least.

Characters: Well, I didn’t have any emotional connections to the characters at all because the characters themselves don’t have any emotions! All of the protagonists are amnesiacs and don’t remember anything from the past. It just seemed like the characters were thinking, “Well, let’s risk our lives because we really have nothing to live for anymore.” That’s not a very good reason to actually risk your life for something.

Jarucia Jaycox, a critic, said, “I felt consistently disappointed with what I was offered of Thomas's character -- far too sulky and desirous of screaming at people who can hardly offer him the answers he's so desperate for. And Teresa, for as important as she's made out to be, is so flat. I think it was well within the author's scope to improve the depth of these characters considering the decent job he did on secondary characters like Chuck and Minho.” It’s clear that the side characters were much more interesting than the main characters. According to Amanda Cheung, however, the characters were well written and she loved how all of them interacted.

Although this story was lackluster, the way that the story progressed was still enough to keep me interested. It would have been better if were written by another author. However, if you can overlook its flaws, you will still enjoy it like Amanda did. It isn’t the best dystopian novel, but it is a decent one. I rate it a 7.1/10 with the recommendation to borrow it in the library rather than buy it in a bookstore.

Gaming Icons By: Frank Kha

Gaming icons are what makes a video game memorable.

I’ll be talking about 3 of the most famous gaming icons in video games: Sonic, Mario, and Megaman.

Sonic, the fastest thing alive, has many good games and many bad ones as well. His games were platform-filled with speed pads, many traps, and enemies. Now his games are more focused on combat. Sonic Unleashed has more combat mechanics and so does the new game Sonic Boom. The plots are simpler: either Egg Man wants to build the Death Egg or he wants world domination. The games are pretty fun, but they also have some problems. For example, Sonic Boom has many glitches and bad mechanics that make the game worse. An example of a glitch in Sonic Boom is that when you pause and then un-pause, you will get an extra jump. This does not mean all Sonic games have problems, but some do.

Megaman also has a lot of platform games. Adam Alvarez said it was cool to have Megaman appear in Super Smash Brothers but, Kimberly Quiocho said that Megaman is useless

only using projectiles and can be countered easily by fighters like Little Mac. Overall Megaman is a great game franchise that should make more games. Let’s hope he gets some better moves though!

Mario has appeared in many games like Smash, a Nintendo showdown that has all of Nintendo characters like Link and Kirby. Adam Alvarez stated that Mario has good reason to be the mascot of Nintendo. On the other hand, Kimberly Quiocho said Pikachu is better because Pikachu is so famous he was the mascot for Japan in the world cup. Over all, the best is Mario because he has better games and really stable.

In conclusion these three gaming icons are kings of their gaming genre. The games aren't just good; they're great!    

 Scoliosis By: Nikki Godinez

Our school recently had a scoliosis screening for seventh

grade girls and eighth grade boys. Scoliosis is an abnormal curve in the spine. Let’s find out how some of our students felt when they were screened!

A scoliosis screening is a test that a nurse or doctor gives you to see if you have scoliosis. They check your spine to see if it is curved in any abnormal or wrong way that can be adjusted. Jacob Ortiz, our student body president, said that it is important to get tested. However, it was uncomfortable for him, like it was for many other students, but it’s normal to feel that way when you are experiencing something new. Kaitlyn Luu, a seventh grade girl, thought the screening was awkward. Before the screening she felt apprehensive because she didn’t know the nurse who was testing her, but it is important to remember that the nurses carrying out the tests

Health

Mario,  Sonic,  and  Megaman,  three  gaming  icons  that  created  the  war  between  Nintendo,  Sega,  and  CAPCOM.  

 imgkid.com/mario-­vs-­sonic-­vs-­megaman-­vs-­pacman  

 

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are completely trustworthy and care about your health. Both Jacob and Kaitlyn know that the scoliosis tests are important and that kids should get screened.

Miss Wilson, is a seventh grade teacher who has scoliosis. She found out she had scoliosis when she was in elementary school at one of the screenings. Miss Wilson has gotten chiropractic adjustments and continues today with acupuncture as a treatment. When she was younger she had a lot of adjusting to do because she had back pain. It would hurt for her to bend down and pick up things. Miss Wilson and Miss Gilbert, both seventh grade teachers with scoliosis, advise students to exercise. Miss Gilbert also says you should try to have good posture. Miss Wilson says that yoga helps take away her lower back pain. They say exercise will help strengthen muscles, while stretching helps loosen tight muscles.

Overall, the scoliosis screening does help inform students about scoliosis, can catch your curve early, and should be recognized as a good thing. Although it might be scary, the screening is beneficial whether you have scoliosis or not, so students have nothing to worry about.

Waste to H2O

By: Frank Ji, Jack Ji, Wesley Ng

The Machine In The Perfect Hands Have you heard about the Omni Processor that was

created by Janicki Bioenergy? This project takes human waste and turns it into water. This is pretty crazy, right? Well, this crazy project can save the lives of billions of people who struggle because of droughts and water shortages.

How Water Gets Processed

In order to turn human waste into water, first, the piles of feces drive up a conveyor belt and are then dropped into a large bin. Then, it makes its way through a machine, where it is boiled and treated. After a few minutes, the original feces comes out as water. The end result: clean water! This process is bringing us into the future.

Janicki Bioenergy

Janicki Bioenergy receives funding from the Gates Foundation for this machine. To make sure the machine works properly and safely, their team travels around world to collect feces and do more tests. They gather 75% of the feces

samples from Africa. Many rivers in Africa have feces in them because many communities don't have sewer systems. This is a problem because people drink this water and the water might have viruses in it. Janicki Bioenergy and the Gates Foundation want to help people in Africa have clean water and a better life.

The Machine That Can Save You

Last but not the least, this machine is truly amazing because it can help many people around the world. With this machine, we can clean up all the human bio-polluted wastes and produce clean water for people who live with a lack of water and dehydration. Maybe now, the Omni Processor doesn’t sound that crazy because you know that it can save people’s lives.

Interesting Opinions Mrs. Tran says that she is willing to drink this water that

comes from the machine. Her opinion was: “ This eco project would be useful if we had more.”

Mr. Morgan said, “I would drink the water if the people prove the water is pure enough.” He also said, “They should build more distillation plants.” His opinion about this eco-project was: “This saves a lot of water and it is better for the ocean life because feces do not enter the ocean.”

Look  at  the  machine  that  amazingly  turns  waste  into  water!  

(http://www.gatesnotes.com/Development/Omniprocessor-­‐From-­‐Poop-­‐to-­‐Potable)?  

 

 

 These  are  some  students  who  participated  in  the  scoliosis  screening.    

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Comic By Julissa Castillo and Celina Yu