Hawks Off to a Good Start

Matt Pipczynski ’15

This past Friday, Hopkins boys’ basketball played their first game of the season against Palmer. This season opener was coach Angelo Thomas’ first win with the Hawks. The final score 62-38, with Hopkins on top. Spencer Butterfield scored 18 points and made 4 three-pointers. Zach Kelley put up 15, Brett Morrison got 10, and Andrew Omer also got 10. The game against Smith Academy that was to be played at the cage  was cancelled, and the next scheduled game for the boys is Friday, December 20th, at Hopkins.

Ally Week Celebration

The whole month of October is national Gay-Straight awareness month. There is the Day Of Silence where everyone is recommended to not talk for a day in support of non-judgement towards homosexuals. Then from October 21 to the 25 is national Ally Week.  According to GLSEN is “is a whole week where we can engage in a national dialogue about how everyone in and out of school can work to become better allies to LGBT youth. ”

If you log on to http://www.glsen.org/ you can take the pledge to support the GSA or Gay-Straight alliance. On this website you can also find more information about joining GSA, what it’s all about and how you can take action in the Day of Silence and Ally Week.

On Thursday October 24th come help us celebrate Ally Week with the Gay Straight Alliance club of Hopkins Academy. There will be an extravagant arrangement of food and refreshments for all!  All students and faculty are welcome to join us! The more the merrier!

-Hopkins Academy GSA

Horoscope 101: Careers

Compiled By: Laurel King ’13

We all wish to be the best. Whether it be superhero, ace attorney, baseball star, or to join the CORPS, we all have a dream-self of what we want to be in the future. What we are good at and what we strive to be can be discovered and used to its fullest potential in the dream-job of your life. Of course, something as abstract as your astrological sign should not discourage you in anyway as to what you want to be, or sway your opinion.

Horoscope 101: Phobias

(Phobia II by MadameDeVoltaire at deviantart.com)

Compiled By: Laurel King ’13

pho·bi·a

 [foh-bee-uh]

noun

a persistent, irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation that leads to a compelling desire to avoid it. (dictionary.com)

Everybody has a fear, whether they know it or not. there is something that crawls under their skin and won’t leave.  Whether it makes them cry, scream, shudder, or shut down, phobias are a very strong and influential part of the human psyche. It can handicap people from life’s wonders and advantages.

Horoscope 101: Elemental Groups

(Art by Rennegade at deviantart.com)

Compiled By: Laurel King  ’13

Fire: Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius.

These Signs want to be surrounded by others who share their willingness to set off on an adventure or challenge. Always bounding forward, they rarely stop to smell the flowers and experience life for its beauty rather than its action. They can often seem like busybodies and restless, but they are also the engine to the train that keeps the spirit alive. Though they may be denoted for their evil and force, fire is also life and warmth. The hearth of the home and the sun in the sky.

Horoscope 101: Getting To Know Your Sign

Compiled by: Laurel King ’13

Aries (The Ram; Fire Element; March 21-April 19) Strong Points– Adventuresome, energetic, courageous, confident. Weak Points– Impatient, quick temper, impulsive, selfish.

Taurus (The Bull; Earth Element; April 20-May 20) Strong Points– Patient, reliable, loving, devoted. Weak Points– Jealous, possessive, stubborn, greedy.

Golden Hawks Western Mass Champions!

This past Monday, the 12th the Hopkins Academy boys soccer team took on their rivals at Smith Academy. The first half of the game went scoreless, leaving Hopkins fans quite worried at halftime. However, the Hawks would come out strong, with Tyler Syzmkowicz and Paul Delamy scoring 2 goals 45 seconds away from each other. The final score of the game was 3-1 Hawks. The team is now getting ready for their game against Sutton High School in the State Semi-Finals game. Starter Evan Delany says the team is going in as the underdog which is good, they have nothing to lose. Come support the team tonight at Westfield State College at 7pm!

Practice “Safe Summer Techniques!”

Summer is right around the corner, and has started creeping up on us sooner than we all expected. In years, March weather has been cooler and a little more rainy, but this year, the weather has been strangely warmer and brighter. With weather like this, this early in the year, the summer months are expected to have hotter and dryer weather…yay! With these expectencies, more and more safety precautions will be published and flashed around the community. Summer’s arrival means it’s time for picnics, trips to the pool and beach—and a spike in the number of sunburns. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “The need for sun safety has become clear over the past 30 years, with studies showing that exposure to the sun can cause skin cancer. Harmful rays from the sun—and from sunlamps and tanning beds—may also cause eye problems, weaken your immune system, and give you unsightly skin spots, wrinkles, or “leathery skin.” No matter what our skin color, we’re all potentially susceptible to sunburn and the other detrimental effects of exposure to UV radiation. The old saying, “It’s better to be safe than sorry” truly comes into play in this situation. As young adults now, we should all do as much as we can to be safe and healthy, and stay away from anything that may harm or have harmful long term affects. The purpose of this article isn’t to scare anyone, or tell people to stay out of the sun at all times, but just to make everyone more aware and knowledgable about how to stay safe.

Aero Shots

Never heard of them? You probably will soon. Distributed onto shelves just last month in Massachusetts and New York, it may just be the next Four Loko.

Created by a Harvard brainiac, David Edwards, explains his creation as a “breathable cup of coffee”. So actually, it’s caffeine that you inhale. It looks like an inhaler, the size of a large stick of chap-stick.  Easily accessible, easily digestible, easily abused. Sound dangerous? Sen. Charles Schumer commented on this new invention saying “this could fuel club kids to party until they drop, dead.” Recommended to only take 3 inhales per day; any more than that can peak serious consequences.

Lucky for one thing though, it’s not flying off the shelves, more like collecting dust.  Don Singh, a clerk at a city deli, according to a recent article on the topic, said he only sold about 24 canisters since they have been put on the shelf, a month ago. And the cost isn’t the issue either, sold for only $2.99. A clerk at another store said she even sent the case back to the distributors, reporting that none were sold at all.

With Aero Shots getting little attention, it has led to no fad or abuse… so far. In these type of cases, you have to think ahead. Manufacturers today are making it easier and easier for teens to have a “great” time, with a consequential ending.

Largest Solar Storm Since 2005

A very large solar outburst Sunday, caused a stir in the scientific community, who were quick to report that it was the largest solar eruption ever recorded since 2005.NOAA’s space weather predicting system reported that the storm was classified as S3 or strong. The largest on NOAA’s scale  is an S5 storm is said to cause radio blackouts and have a detrimental effect on satellite systems. During the solar storm the sun released an outburst of charged protons, radiation and plasma hurdling towards the earth, causing the Aurora Borealis effect or the Northern Lights in places as south as Maine and Northern Europe. The effect created was a stunning stream of glowing ribbons in the sky that resulted from the earths magnetic field reacting with the charged particles that were emitted from the sun. The Storm was not good news for airlines, especially those that were planning to cross the polar regions. The storm effected satellite communication and also caused gps signals to become disruptive. This unfortunately resulted in the rerouting of many northern flights incidentally causing a large number of delays. The radiation from the storm is in fact still bombarding us, but it has now decreased dramatically in strength. Nevertheless adjustments need to be made in many satellites located in the poles. Many scientists believe that this is just the beginning of a new era where solar storms will increase in both frequency in strength. Scientists predict that in the event of a very large solar storm, many times the intensity of this one, the human population would be left to a ruined electrical grid system as well as deprived of gps, satellite and cell tower based communication systems. Was this a wake up call for more solar activity yet to come? You decide.

Note: I currently can not embed videos on WordPress but here is a link to the Nasa article with videos of the solar storm.’

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/News012312-M8.7.html