school safety
School Safety
Grade 8

School Security: Officers Make an Effective Change

The Sandy Hook Elementary shooting occurred on December 14, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut, a tragedy that many still remember to this day. It affected people across the country mentally and emotionally. From my whole life as a student, personally I believe, the presence of officers and school guards is important for the school’s environment to […]

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bully 2
Bullying
Grade 8

Anti-Bullying Programs: Do they Help or Hurt?

We all know those signs: the ones about reporting bullying and speaking out-the signs in every school hallway. Those signs that, like most kids, you never give a second glance. Do those signs and other more assertive anti-bullying programs actually help reduce bullying? According to research, they don’t have much of an impact at all. […]

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understanding speech
Bullying
Grade 8

Speaking Out On Stuttering

At the beginning of last year, I remember sitting in math class, trying to answer a question my teacher asked. I knew what to say, but I couldn’t get the words out. My words kept on repeating and repeating. I couldn’t take a deep breath to start over again. Humiliated and embarrassed, I kept on […]

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Healthcare
Grade 8

Drug Abuse in Sports

Four years ago, and counting, I was a gymnast. I woke up at 5:00 am every morning to go to practice. We trained for three hours in the morning and four at night. I was committed, and in the best shape of my life, both mentally and physically. Being competitive, aggressive, and determined was required […]

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GMOs
Food and Nutrition
Grade 8

GMO’s War on Our Plates

It all started with a strawberry pop-tart. I was sitting at home and my older sister, Larissa, came up to me. She simply asked, “Why are you eating that stuff?” “What?” I responded. “You know that stuff is full of chemicals and GMO’s, right?” “Chemicals and what?” I had no clue what a “GMO” was. […]

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magazines
Gender Equality
Grade 8

Women in the Media

When I was younger, my mother never allowed me near the television because she didn’t want me to see provocative commercials. I remember being fascinated by the racy commercials I saw on the television when I was older and my mother couldn’t completely shield me from the media. The scantily clad women that I saw […]

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global migration
Immigration
Grade 8

Global Migration: Moving To America

Thousands of Ethiopians leave their home every year and many of them arrive in America. Like my family, they start their lives from scratch. My family’s story of global migration started a few years ago when my parents moved to the United States from Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. An immigrant is a person who moves […]

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Food and Nutrition
Grade 8

Childhood Obesity

As a child, I was pretty chubby. According to the Body Mass Index (BMI, the measure of someone’s weight in relation to their height), if a child is over the 95th percentile for BMI, he or she is considered overweight. My BMI was always over 100th. Fortunately, my parents realized this tendency early on and […]

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