In this issue

Est. 1935azetteThe

October 12, 2015 Issue 4 Volume 81

Franklin

SADD

Mock TriAl

EDITORIALS

Entertainment

AMericAin SuMMer

BAlTiMore coMic-con

ScreAM QueenS

oTher WeS Moore

hoMecoMing

heAlTh TipS

pWDer puff

BlooD Moon

ioS 9

hAll SWeepS

holiDAy DeBATe

MAin ST. killing

WATer on MArS

Mock Trial Brings Law and Order To FranklinBy Emily Dioguardo; Contributing Writer

Mock Trial is one of the most intense and competitive clubs Franklin High School has to offer. The club allows Franklin students to expand their knowledge of government as well as the court system and improve their public speaking skills. The group

of students who partici-pate in this extra curricular study examine court cases and participate in “mock trials” which are similar to real life case trials in court.

Franklin Supports Students Against Destructive Decisions By Sydney Gaskins; Contributing Writer

Franklin has jumped on board and is forming a SADD club. The club will be lead by Physical Education and Health Teacher Mrs. Diehl. Students involved will promote positive and good decision making by advocating and creating

posters and sharing ideas throughout the school. Mrs. Diehl states, “We’re going to work re-ally hard to help promote positive and safe deci-

Continued on Page 2Franklin News

Continued on Page 3Franklin News

Franklin Welcomes HomecomingBy Nina Durant; Contributing Writer

Come out and support Franklin High School’s very own Home-coming parade. The pa-rade will be held on Sat-urday, October 17th 2015, and will begin at 9:00 a.m. The parade will start at the bridge on Cherry Street and finish in the park-ing lot of Franklin High School. All our Franklin sports teams will be pres-ent. The Student Gov-ernment Association will also be participating. The SGA will be providing floats for the JV and Var-sity football teams in the parade. Each class will also have their own float. The Franklin High School band will be join-ing the fun too. The band will be marching and play-ing music for all to enjoy. Not sure what to wear? Well Franklin gear of course. Make sure to

wear any type of Frank-lin merchandise and/or Franklin colors; red, white, and blue. This apparel can include hats, sweatpants, hoodies, T-shirts, or just about anything appropri-ate for supporting your school or favorite team. Want to be an ex-treme supporter? Well if so, you could even face paint with the Franklin school colors. Make the spirit come alive. Feel free to make any type of noise maker, such as Rattlers, whistles, and even those horns from the World Cup. Help make the parade loud and incredible. Want to know how to make the parade even better? Bring as many people as you can. Friends and family are welcomed as well as the rest of the community. The more the merrier. Spread the word; make fliers and many

phone calls. Franklin wants all the support they can possibly receive. Most important, make sure you are pre-pared. The parade has no

specific ending time, so make sure to pack snacks along with you. Also make

Continued on Page 2Franklin News

Students are already getting ready for Homecoming by participating in Spirit Week all week.

BEYOND FRANKLIN

pope’S uS ViSiT

FRANKLIN NEWS

Students Examine One Book as One SchoolBy Megan Lipo; Contributing Writer

The summer read-ing assignment was the talk of the shcool because all students completed reading The Other Wes Moore for October 1. This book was assigned to ev-ery student in the school last year for their sum-mer assignment and oth-er classes assigned their summer work accordingly. Teachers set up a PowerPoint with true or false questions relating to ideas found throughout the novel. These ques-tions had students thinking about not only the logical answer, but also examples from the story that help to

back up the answers. The book outlined the lives of two boys who grew up with single moth-ers in the same areawhile sharing the same first and last name. But the out-come of the book showed how different these two men were and how differ-ent their stories ended. Wes Moore, the author, attended John Hopkins University and was a Rhodes Scholar. The other Wes Moore was charged with the murder of the father of five kids, Sergeant Bruce Prothero, and is currently spending his life in prison.

One of the ques-tions in the seminar had to do with whether these end results had to do with fate. In Mrs. Cascio’s fourth period class, the seminar

seemed to have a consen-sus for this question. As humans, people are born with free will. The other Wes Moore was in charge of his own destructive de-

For the second year students at Franklin all read a single summer reading book as a school. This year’s pick was The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore.

cisions and making choic-es that led to where he is. Wes Moore is has said, “The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his.” Students received a chance to experience their peer’s viewpoints on some of the main ideas in the book. With the ques-tions asked in the seminar, the students got to discuss not only the book itself , but the bigger picture and the implications of the events in the students’ own lives.

sure to bring anything else that’s necessary such as phones, an umbrella, a light jacket, and possibly sunscreen depending on the weather. Hope to see you and your families there.

Would you like to dance? Franklin hopes so. After the Homecom-ing parade on October 17th 2015, Franklin will be hosting its very own Homecoming Dance. The homecoming dance will be at 8:00 p.m. inside of the gymnasium. Franklin will be providing music

from an amazing DJ, and refreshments. Be sure to vote one male senior for Homecoming king and one female senior for home-coming queen. For fresh-men, sophomores, and juniors, make sure to vote one female for homecom-ing princess and one male for homecoming prince.

Students will receive bal-lots in their homeroom pri-or to homecoming to vote for homecoming king, queen, prince or princess. Tickets will be on sale at all lunches outside of the auditorium. Tickets will be $12 for students and $23 for guests. In order to buy and ticket you must have

your student ID, you must have perfect change, they cannot make change. You must pay all debts to the office prior to purchasing your ticket. Students must also bring their student ID to the dance. The dance is formal attire, dress your best! Most importantly, have fun.

Franklin Welcomes HomecomingBy Nina Durant; Contributing Writer

sions among Franklin stu-dents.” The first meeting is Monday October 5th in room 48 at 2:25pm. Join-ing will help students im-prove their judgment and the judgment of other stu-dents in the school. For over 30 years, Students Against De-structive Decisions has been committed to help-ing young people to lead through prevention initia-tives in their school and community. SADD’s mis-sion is to empower young people to successfully

confront the risks and pressures present in their daily lives. According to SADD.org, “Originally, the mission of the SADD chapter was to help young people say “No” to drink-ing and driving. Today, the mission has expand-ed. Students have told us that positive peer pres-sure, role modeling and environmental strategies can prevent other destruc-tive decisions and set a healthier, safer course for their lives. And that is why SADD has become a peer-to-peer education, prevention, and activism organization dedicated to

preventing destructive de-cisions, particularly under-age drinking, other drug use, risky and impaired driving, teen violence, and teen suicide.” SADD does not believe that it is pos-sible to break the law re-sponsibly. SADD accom-plishes this by sustaining, equipping, and promoting a network of student-led chapters through peer to peer education. SADD cre-ates a sense of belonging and promotes leadership and advocacy skills so that young people make posi-tive life decisions. SADD has been effective in ac-complishing their mission

Franklin Supports Students Against Destructive Decisions By Sydney Gaskins; Contributing Writer

through caring, compas-sionate, committed rein-forcement of elimination of risk factors for teens, and by pursuing best prac-tices, sharing knowledge and integrating evidence-based approaches into their work. SADD be-lieves that young people can have fun, enjoy life and create positive per-sonal relationships with-out the distraction and dis-tortion of alcohol. SADD

seeks to demonstrate posi-tive and attractive alterna-tives to alcohol and other drug-influenced activities for teenagers. According to SADD.org, “SADD recog-nizes that the pressures on young people to drink, use illicit drugs and engage in other unhealthy behaviors are strong. SADD seeks not to punish or alienate those students who make unfortunate choices but rather aims to inform, edu-cate, support and empow-er young people to make positive decisions in their lives.”

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Continued from Front Page

Continued from Front Page

FRANKLIN NEWS

Mock Trial Brings Law and Order to Franklin

The club’s coaches are Franklin teachers Mr. Lambert and Mr. Reid. The mock trial team trav-els all around to attend competitions against other schools’ teams. Last year, the team even traveled to Duke. This year’s try out case was based on the de-termination of whether a shooting was considered self-defense or murder. The shooter, Alex Lewis, shot their old friend Mi-chael Hamilton on the night of their school’s prom. Alex and Michael had been friends since they were young. As they got older, Michael started

making new friends. He also began making bad decisions. He was arrested with his friend while rid-ing around in a stolen car. The two friends grew apart throughout high school. Before the incident, Alex caught Michael vandal-izing the school and told the principal. This caused a lot of tension between

Alex and Michael. Mi-chael ended up threaten-ing Alex. Earlier, Alex had stolen his father’s gun and put it into his car. At the night of the incident, Mi-chael asked Alex to talk. Michael reached into his pocket to grab something and Alex grabbed the gun and shot Michael twice in the chest. Alex claims

By Emily Dioguardo; Contributing Writer

they thought Michael was pulling out a weapon. The police found no weapon on Michael but an apology letter he was intending to give to Alex to apologize for how he had acted. Was it self-defense or murder? Mock trail held their auditions after school on October 5th. The try out required the student to act in the place of a pros-ecuting lawyer, defense at-torney, and witness in the case. During the try out, a few teachers, along with the two coaches, assessed the performance of the students. Many students who participated in the club last year have shared their thoughts on the past mock trial year. Junior Jose Cabre-

ra says, “Mock trial is the best club that you can join at Franklin.” Junior Alex Tamayo says, “Every individual in mock trial grows to love the courtroom. And that’s what it’s all about”. These past par-ticipants obviously had a great experience in mock trial. Coach, Mr. Lam-bert says, “We hope that they find their voice, and by that, they develop a way that they are comfort-able in public speaking and advocacy.” Mr. Lambert’s ad-vice to a student trying out for mock trial is, “Don’t worry too much about getting the words ‘right’. Concentrate on making your point”.

Continued from Front Page

Principal Mc-Cusker had to put a new plan into action because students are still tardy to their classes. This new plan involves teachers locking students out of their classrooms until an administrator can speak to them. Any student found in the hall after the bell during these hall sweeps is considered late. Before Labor Day students were simply getting a warning, but after labor day they

started to find themselves in a bit of a pickle. After Labor Day, if it is a student’s first time caught in the hallway, you receieve a punishment fit-ting the lateness. People will get a talk and have to debrief why they were late. The next step if they get caught is to have a conference with parents and administers. If that still doesn’t work they may have a parent come

into school and walk the student around to their classes. “There is never a set punishment, and we are reasonable with the student” says principle McCusker.

Lastly, if the stu-dent keeps showing up late, then a suspension will be put into action. The whole idea is if you get in touble one time they are hoping you

dont show up to class late again. They want stu-dents to be more aware before being late to class because it is not right. All the administers are hoping this will make the number of students skipping school and com-ing late to class come to an end. This plan was put into action because as students feel more comfortable they feel more prone to do these kinds of acts. Getting to class

on time means you have more time to learn. There is hope that it will help and slowly not be needed any-more. There has already been a decrease in the number of students in the hallway.

Hall Sweeps Aim to Decrease TardinessBy Emily Reuben; Contributing Writer

Trying to not be serious all the time, students from last years team ham it up for a group photo

Franklin Gazette Staff

Bridget, McNamaraRegan FleischerAyinde Roberts

Mahima Chauhan

Emily Dioguardo

Yasmeen AliLuis Belmontes

Sydney GaskinsLyle Drescher

Gyselle Lopez

Haelle LitvakMeera PanikarMaiya RobinsonMary Shelton

Anieyah SmithEmily Rubin Josiah Lindsay

Mackenzie Warfield

Nina DurantMicaela GunbyDevin Johnson

Sylvie Lass Danielle Stein

Megan Lipo

Editors Staff Writers

3 Dario Toval

Savannah Ward Ashley Young

FRANKLIN NEWS

By Mica Gunby; Contributing Writer

Students Get Excited for Powder Puff

Powder Puff is rapidly approaching and is taking place this Thurs-day, October 15 at Frank-lin football field at 7:00 pm. Powder Puff is a flag football game played by the girls, while the boys act as cheerleaders. It is the age old rivalry be-tween juniors and seniors. Though the date of origin for Powder Puff is not de-

finitive, the game has pho-tographic evidence dating all the way back to 1931 at Western State Colorado University. The point of Powder Puff is to allow females to play a sport that is viewed by society to be a “man’s” sport. A comparable event would be “A Purple Evening” in where ladies can go to the M&T Bank Stadium and practice football drills and

participate in giveaways, receive autographs, and many more activities. This idea of role switching is also embraced with our male cheerlead-ers who cheer alongside for their respective teams. It just about always takes place around homecoming and is definitely one of the “go-to” events of the year, at least for the junior and senior class. The school hypes up the event but selling t-shirts with unique nick-names for each player. The Class of 2016 is vurrnetly the reigning champ, but the Class of 2017 is look-ing mean and hungry for a win. Math teachers Ms. Goff and Ms. Will are in charge of Powder Puff. Ms. Goff is in charge of this year’s senior class

while Ms. Will is in charge of this year’s junior class. Both juniors and seniors are getting pumped up for the big game. Senior Trey Slat-er, said “I want Powder Puff to be really good this year.” According to both Ms. Goff and Ms. Will, there are eighteen junior and twenty senior girls signed up to participate. One of these par-ticipants include, junior Tierra Smooth. “I’m really competitive,” she says, “I like to win. So, that’s what we’re gonna do.” All different types of girls participate in Pow-der Puff, whether you play a sport or not. All the par-ticipant needs the desire to play. Not only are the participants looking for-ward to the event, but even

spectators will be looking forward to watching the game as well. Junior Jalyn Bris-coe, says, “It seems really fun. I’ll definitely be there to watch it.” “I’ll probably go to watch,” says another junior, Fadhili Maina, “I hear a lot of people talk-ing about it and my friends who are seniors say it’s pretty cool.” Even if football is not your keep of tea, Powder Puff is a definite “must see” event. Whether your motive is to watch your classmates get competitive, laugh at boys in tutus, or just support your graduating class, the Powder Puff game is defi-nitely something fun for you and your friends to go watch.

Stay Healthy, Franklin Coming into the fall season means com-ing into flu season. Many people at Franklin High School and other students all around the country have already gotten sick. When students aren’t cau-tious of their surroundings they put them selves at risk of contracting germs. The upcoming season is going to be tough, but fol-lowing certain guidelines can help your health and keep you stress-free. Here are some tips that you can follow to prevent illness and unhappiness.

Get the flu vacci-nation! At the beginning of the season local pharmacies and doctors offices of-fer flu vaccinations for a small fee. This vaccina-tion introduces a weak-ened or killed pathogen

into your immune system, so your body will be pre-pared to fight off the virus in a real emergency.

Wash your hands!Walking around a school full of students and teach-ers all day is a bigger risk than you may expect. Ev-eryone is opening the same doors, using the same key-boards, and sharing the air, so the spread of germs is inevitable and you are bound to get germs on your hands. The only way to get rid of those germs is to wash your hand with warm water and anti-bac-terial soap so those patho-gens go away!

Avoid touching facial features!Germs are constantly get-ting on your hands and you don’t always have time to wash them, so

you need to avoid touch-ing your nose and mouth. You don’t want to increase your chances of getting sick by giving germs easy access into your body, so try and keep your hands away from your face dur-ing the day.

Try to avoid con-tact with some-one who is sick!If you know someone is sick, try to keep your dis-tance from them so you don’t catch their sickness. If you steer clear of sick students, that you make it more difficult for patho-gens attack your immune system. Try top avoid holding hands, sharing food or drinks, and hug-ging anyone who is sick.Use good everyday health habits!

An important aspect of

staying healty, is mantaing good personal habits. You should eat a lot of fruits and vegatbales, and drink tons of fluids to make sure your immune system is strong! Another thing that you need to do is get a lot of sleep. Your body func-tions better when you are well rested. You also need to manage your stress so that you don’t harm your immune system by putting

under too much pressure. Take preventive antiviral medications if needed!If you are living with or caring for something with the flu, you can go to your doctor and see what they have to say about you get-ting preventive antiviral medication

By Danielle Stine; Contributing Writer

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The senior Powder Puff shirt has just arrived and will be handed out soon.

Mrs. Jacobs is happy to help, but she would rather never see you in her office.

BEYOND FRANKLINRare Blood Moon Won’t Be Seen Until 2033

By Mahima Chauhan; Contributing Writer

A lunar eclipse called a Blood Moon ap-peared in the sky from September 27th to Sep-tember 28th. The lunar eclipse lasted three hours and twenty minutes. This rare blood moon captured the attention of people all around the world and was visible in Asia, the Pacific, and the Americas. In some areas such as Lisbon and Portugal the moon was a gray and white color. In other ar-

eas, such as Paris, France, Spokane, Washington, the moon appeared to be a bright red or light peach color. The appearance of this blood moon was very special because this natu-ral phenomenon does not occur often. The last blood moon occurred in 1982. This rare sight is some-thing that will not happen again until 2033. What makes the lunar eclipse so fascinat-

Apple came out with a new update for their products. Apple brags that “the most advanced mo-bile experience [is] now even more so.” iOS 9 is designed to improve performance and increase efficiency at every level, from the apps on the Home screen to the complicated programming of the operating system. Siri has become more ad-vanced and multitasking; which includes new op-tions such as Slide Over, Split View, and Picture in Picture. All these enhance-ments allow the devices to

perform faster and more reliably. The new update has amazing features, as well as improved security. iOS9 is the foun-dation, the heart of iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch prod-ucts. It is designed to look more stunning and work even more skillfully and efficiently. Moreover, iOS9 developed using the new-est resources and inno-vations, and those tech-nologies built into Apple hardware. The simple in-terface of the Home screen allows easy access to the built-in apps and features.

Now, Apple users can ef-fortlessly browse favor-ite websites, use search to find things quickly, or switch between apps with-out any difficulty. Since Apple makes the hardware and the op-erating system for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, everything is designed to work together. One of iOS9 ca-pabilities is battery pow-er saving. The operating system collects data and when it analyses this data and manage the devices and apps updates accord-ing to the user schedule.

The Camera app was also altered, so now, with just a swipe, you can switch between modes like panorama, time-lapse, and slow mod. In addition, Apple states that the new iPhone 6s will be able to take a Live Photo, adjust focus and exposure while shooting, and change the look of shots with creative filters and effects. Apple also stated, “With the Photos app and iCloud Photo Library, every photo will now be available on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac and on iCloud.com, ready

iOS 9 Improves Everyone’s Favorite PhoneBy Haelle Litvak; Contributing Writer

ing is that it is a super moon, which means that it is much closer to the earth than usual. This makes the moon appear much larger in the sky when we see it.Some areas such as Aus-tralia, however, were not able to see the breath-taking view of the blood moon. The moon was vis-ible in the sky in Australia, but it was normal. Even though they were not able to see it firsthand, many looked at photos online

where people posted vari-ous pictures of this event. Many people around the world cel-ebrated this mesmerizing sight. In Jerusalem, Chris-tians gathered near the Temple Mount where they watched the eclipse and sang. Even though the blood moon will not be vis-ible again for many years, there will be a smaller lu-nar eclipse predicted to appear January 31, 2018.

This lunar eclipse will be visable in North America, Asia, and Australia.

to edit and share.” Through an Apple Music membership, you get access to the always-growing Apple Music li-brary. Now sharing with AirDrop is faster and more convenient than an email or a text. A quick tap is all that’s needed to send pho-tos, videos, contacts, and anything else from any app with a Share button to anyone close by who’s also running iOS or OS X.8. The improvements of the foundation of the oper-ating system boosted per-formance, battery life, and security.

The blood moon or super moon is captured from Es-sen, Germany.

Pope Francis, the 226th pope, visited the United States of America. Pope Francis, whose real name is Jorge Mario Ber-golio spent his time as a bishop and an archbishop before he took his ne posi-tion. Pope Francis came to America for the World Meeting of Families. The World Meeting of Families happens once every three years, beginning in 1994. It was originally started in Rome by Pope Saint John Paul II and is the big-gest gathering of catholic families in the world. It

focussed on the spiritual growth of the family. The meeting was held in Phila-delphia on September 27th at 4pm. Pope Francis ar-

rived in America on Tues-day, September 22 and attended a welcoming ceremony with President Obama the next day in Washington DC. While

here in the United States he gave Barack Obama vegetable seeds for the garden along with a copy of his book, Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of Gos-pel). Pope Francis at-tended many cathedrals and masses on his visit to the United States. He also met with bishops and at-tended the United Nations general assembly. This was a big deal for Catholics and non-Catholics alike. People just wanted to be there in order to witness a special moment in history. Most

Pope Francis Visits United StatesBy Anieyah Smith; Contributing Writer

people have an admiration for the pope just because of his personality. They love how down to earth he is and the things that he stands for. Children and adults reached out to Pope Fran-cis to receive a blessing by shaking hands, through a kiss on the forehead, or more. People wore shirts that said “Love without limits” and the hash tag #LoveLikeFrancis was popular around the time of his visit.

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Pope Francis blesses many on his brief trip through the United States.

BEYOND FRANKLINNASA Reveals Water Runs on Surface of Mars

By Maiya Robinson; Contributing Writer

On Monday, Sep-tember 28, NASA con-firmed that flowing water has been found on the surface of Mars. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance

Orbiter, more common-ly known as MRO, has found new evidence that liquid water flows on the Red Planet. An imaging spec-trometer on the MRO helped researchers detect signatures of hydrated materials atop mysterious slopes. The streaks, called recurring slope lineae, ap-

pear dark during warmer seasons, and fade when it begins to cool down. They appear in several different locations across the planet when the temperature is

On September 23rd, a police officer shot and killed a young man, just off of Reisterstown road. This took place af-ter the Baltimore County Police received a phone call from a pharmacist at the Nature Care located on Main Street in Reis-terstown. The pharmacist called to report a man at-tempting to use a forged prescription for Prometha-zine plus codeine, a nar-cotic cough syrup. When a police officer arrived at the pharmacy, the man in question tried to escape, and the police officer at-tempted to chase the man on foot, out of the pharma-cy, and across the street, where the confrontation that resulted in the man’s death took place. According to a statement released by

the police, local security camera footage showed the man “aggressively approaching” the officer, who backed away with his gun drawn. Police also stated that witnesses heard the officer “repeatedly tell the man to stop,” to no avail. Though the man in question did not appear to be armed, the police stated that he made a sud-den, aggressive movement similar to that of pulling a gun out of his waistband, which provoked the officer to shoot the man in ques-tion three times. Several medics quickly arrived on the scene to attend to the man, but his death was not preventable by that point. While the police have stated that the video and witnesses prove that the shooting was justified, the officer, who was not injured in the encoun-

ter, has still been placed on administrative leave. Though the conflict has been placed under further investigation, no weapons have been recovered from the scene of the conflict. The Baltimore County Po-lice Department has since released the video footage of the shooting. The body of the man in question was iden-tified as Keith Harrison McLeod, a nineteen year old from Washington DC, as of Friday, September 25th. In addition to this, the officer involved was identified by the police as “Officer Earomirski,” sev-eral days after the event took place, and the official statement released by the Baltimore County Police Department was as fol-lows:“Detectives obtained vid-eo evidence from nearby

businesses that captures the confrontation. “The footage shows the suspect ag-gressively advancing on a single officer, who retreats

with his gun drawn. “The footage shows the suspect reach-ing around to the small of his back and abruptly whipping his hand around and pointing it toward the officer, as if with a weap-

higher than negative 10o Fahrenheit and disappear at colder times. The discovery was made by Lujendra Ojha of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta and lead author of a re-port on the findings by Nature Geoscience. Ojha first noticed the strange marks when he was a stu-

19 Year Old Killed by Police on Main St.By Sylvie Lass; Contributing Writer

dent at the University of Arizona in 2010. Using images from the MRO’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, Ojha has docu-mented the streaks at many sites across the planet. He and his co-authors suspect that the dark features are caused by hydrated min-erals called perchlorates. Some perchlorates have been shown to keep liq-uids from freezing in tem-peratures as low as minus ninety-four degrees Fahr-enheit. On Earth, naturally produced perchlorates are found in deserts and other extremely dry areas. John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Director-ate, claims that their quest on Mars has been to “fol-low the water.” He also states that scientists have “convincing science that

validates what we’ve long suspected.” This recent discov-ery is a significant devel-opment in proving other life forms exist as it con-firms that water, although not much, is indeed flow-ing today on the surface of Mars. The news has shocked and excited a large amount of people, al-though there are still many that are skeptical about the possibility of life outside of Earth. Scientists contin-ue to find and publish new theories on the possibility of other life existing in our universe, but people still choose to reject the idea. However, support-ers of these theories are not affected by those that do not believe. “I think that it’s highly plausible for there to be other life forms in our universe, even on Earth. As we’ve only

explored 2% of our own oceans we can’t truly be sure there aren’t creatures such as space mermaids if we don’t even know about our own planet!” says high school student and space enthusiast Genesis Mayer. When people talk about water on Mars, they’re usually referring to ancient or frozen wa-ter. However, these new findings are definitely suf-ficient evidence that there is present-day water flow-ing on the surface of Mars. MRO has been examining Mars since 2006, and this is only the latest of many breakthroughs by NASA’s Mars missions. Scientists and space enthusiasts alike are excited to hear what news NASA releases in the upcoming years.

Recurring slope lineae that show evidence that water flows on the surface of Mars

on. “The officer fires his weapon as the suspect swiftly brings his hand forward from his waist-band.

“On the ground, the suspect refuses to comply and keeps reach-ing into his waistband, as if for a weapon.”

Authorities said the officer shot a man outside the Na-ture Care Pharmacy on Main Street (photo courtesy of WBALTV)

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EDITORIALSEid Al-Adha Ignored or Forgotten?

By Yasmeen Ali; Contributing Writer

Eid Al-Adha is a Muslim holiday celebrat-ed by millions every year. Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in the world, yet Muslims do not have a chance to en-joy their holidays because Baltimore County Public Schools do not give stu-

dents the day off. Depriv-ing Muslims of religious holidays is unjust for those who cannot afford to miss school. This year, Eid Al-Adha landed on Thurs-day, September 24, 2015. The day before, Septem-ber 23rd, was a Jewish Holiday and schools were closed. “It would be nice to show respect for our Muslim friends, just like how we do so for other religions. We need to give the opportunity to every-one.” Ashley Queen, a senior at Franklin High School said. Allan McDuffie, a senior at Franklin said, “For me, personally, it doesn’t matter, but if you practice the religion I think you should have the day off. I would love an-

other day off.” The interesting part in this controversial topic is that most students would like another day off, because it’s another day off, not because of actual respect to other religion’s holidays. Julie Lytwynec said “I don’t think it’s fair to ignore some holidays that are just as significant as other holidays that we do get off school for. I think there are enough Muslim students to war-rant having off school and it isn’t fair for Muslim stu-dents to choose whether to miss their holiday or miss school.” Julie then makes a very interesting point. “We have off school for national “holidays” that no one actually celebrates.” I had a very inter-

esting, out of the box, con-versation with a Franklin High School teacher, Mr. Fuhrman. I began by ask-ing him what his take is on this situation was and if he believes that schools should be closed on Eid

Al-Adha, since this holi-day lands on a school day.

ENTERTAINMENT

By Cali Shelton; Contributing WriterNetflix Creates Prequel Series Wet Hot Ameri-can Summer: First Day of Camp is a prequel to the original 2001 movie Wet Hot American Sum-mer: Last Day of Camp. The movie takes place in 1981 and is about a sum-mer camp’s last day and the scandals that occurred behind the scenes with the camp staff. Some of today’s most popular co-medians are in the film, such as Amy Poehler, Molly Shannon, Elizabeth Banks, Bradley Cooper, Michael Ian Black, Mi-chael Showalter, Zak Orth, Paul Rudd, and Janeane Garofalo. The film is about the characters completing their summer goals: the talent show, love life, and separating from the camp. The original low budget

Indie film became a qui-et cult hit with a slowly growing popularity as new audiences find it throuhg Netflix.. Wet Hot Ameri-can Summer: First Day of Camp series, launched on July 31st 2015, reunited the original cast to play younger versions of their original characters. The show created uproar on Netflix over the summer, becoming a hit almost overnight due to the num-ber of high profile stars featured in the series. The series explains the back stories of the characters, how each of them arrived at camp and how each counselor start-ed their summer working there. The prequel con-sisted of many budding love triangles, bullies, and

self discovery, which then were all played out and ex-plained in the movie. The movie Wet Hot American Summer: Last Day of Camp and the show Wet Hot American Sum-mer: First Day of Camp, though both had the same cast, I consider the show to be much more comical than its predecessor. In the series, the actors not only had to portray characters that were significantly younger than themselves, but they also had to dress in 1980’s attire. The actors in the show have more act-ing experience than they did back in 2001, therefore the characters in the show are funnier and can suc-cessfully pull off the hi-larious script. The show Wet Hot American Summer: First

Day of Camp was one of the fun-niest and most enjoyable shows that I have seen in a while on Netflix. It was amazing to see so many fa-mous actors come back t o g e t h e r . The actors, most whom are well into their forties, had to por-tray sixteen year old camp counselors. The costumes alone were enough to make you start cracking up. The male actors wore wigs and attempted to hide their beer bellies and dress like teenage boys. The female actors had large poufy 80’s hairstyles that looked absolutely ridiculous. The jokes in the show though

were all hysterical, and the banter between the characters was so sarcastic and well played, I enjoyed every minute of watching the show. I definitely rec-ommend it, whether on a hot summer day or a cold dreary winter night.

Eid cultural henna tra-ditionally applied on this day.

Clothing and environ-ment of Eid at Al-Rahmah mosque.

“I’m embarrassed that I don’t know what Mus-lim holidays fall on the school year, if any. I only know of holidays because they’re on the calendar. We are in a public school and I believe there should be a separation of church and state. There should be no school closing for any religion. Students should just take off on their own holiday. It’s either all or none.” This conversation lasted for almost the en-tire period and it opened my eyes to different view points. It started me ques-tionin whether or not this argument is about religion or politics.

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ENTERTAINMENTComic Fans Flock to Baltimore Comic-Con

By Ayinde Roberts; Editor

Every year, a city hosts its own annual com-ic convention that cel-ebrates everything asso-ciated with comic books and graphic novels. On September 25th, the Balti-more Comic Con conven-tion was filled with artists, celebrities, cosplayers and those small vinyl figures that can be found in Hot Topic. Thousands of com-ic fans came from around the country to be part of the 16th annual Baltimore Con. Comic conven-tions are very important for a lot of people, both for comic fans and for the art-ists and celebrities. This is the artists’ opportunity to showcase their work for people and to get their names out in an industry dominated by big names like Ethan van Sciver and Frank Tieri. The celeb-rities also get a chance to meet their fans and to take pictures with them. This year, the highlights

included Ming-Na Wen, star of the Marvel series “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D,” and Katie Cassidy, who plays Black Canary on the CW smash hit “Arrow.” Paul Blackthorne, another “Arrow” star and Rafael Sbarge, who plays Jiminy Cricket in “Once Upon A Time” also attended. The convention needs a lot of hands to or-ganize such a huge event. A huge staff helped to set up and keep the peace in Comic Con’s crazy en-vironment. More than

twenty people signed on to volunteer at the conven-tion, whether to check the door or to go on lunch runs for the artists and celebri-ties. Exhausting? Yes. But totally worth it. Senior Joshua Hammond, who volun-teered at the convention, said, “It’s always hard work, but in the end it’s still a lot of fun.” It really is a lot of work to do, but it pays off when you get to see some of comic’s finest writ-ers and artists. The fun

doesn’t come easy, but it was all worth it. One of the biggest highlights of the conven-tion was the costume con-test. Every year, adults and teenagers sign up to showcase their hard work in creating costumes based on various comic book and video game charac-ters. This year was no ex-ception: people cosplayed everything from infect-ed Sarah Kerrigan from “StarCraft II” to Optimus Prime to Ultron and many, many more. Each costume

was unique and finely crafted, brimming with detail. It’s great to see how many people take the time to design these elaborate suits. One of the cosplay-ers, who made an Optimus Prime suit, said it took him more than 3 months to fin-ish his suit. From cosplays to celeb-rities to artists and writ-ers, this year’s Baltimore Comic-Con was one of the biggest conventions in Maryland. It truly is the home for comic books, designed by comic book fans for comic book fans. The next Baltimore Com-ic-Con will be on Labor Day weekend next year at the Baltimore Convention Center. Save the date and spread the word so that ev-eryone can experience the fun of Comic-Con.

Baltimore Comic Con is one of the biggest conventions in the country. This year, over 3,000 people came to enjoy the fun of Comic Con.

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By Mahima Chauhan; Contributing WriterFOX’s Scream Queens Delivers There is a new television show on FOX called Scream Queens, which premeried on Sep-tember 22nd. This new television series is about a group of students at Wal-lace University that are terrified around campus by a killer wearing the school’s mascot. The most popular sorority known as Kappa House is where all of the attention of the campus is focused. Scream Queens has a fairly large cast with very familiar faces. The series stars Emma Roberts as Chanel Oberlin who is the queen, or head of her sorority, Kappa House. She also has three min-ions who follow her ev-ery whim. Ariana Grande, who was a guest star in

the first two episodes, played Chanel #2. Bil-lie Catherine Lourd plays Chanel #3, while Abigail Breslin stars as Chanel #5. The question is, what hap-pened to Chanel #4? Well, her fate was perhaps just what you expect from this sort of show. Lea Michele stars as Hester, who is one of the quirky Kappa House pledges. Jamie Lee Curtis returns to TV as the Dean of Wallace University, Cathy Munsch, whose goal is to dethrone Chanel Oberlin and keep her from being the head of the Kap-pa House sorority. Nick Jonas makes his acting de-but as Boone whose mo-tives seem to be the most mysterious. Scream Queens is

a hilarious comedy that pokes fun both the horror the teen drama genres. The cast itself adds a whole lot more to the fact that this show is so incredibly funny. Emma Roberts, who portrays the character Chanel Oberlin, is the perfect main char-acter and head of the Kap-pa House sorority. Her sarcasm will have you laughing for a long time. The humor added in the show makes it ten times better because it isn’t just all about the horror and thrill factors although at times it will have you on the edge of your seat. Scream Queens is the perfect combina-tion for those who are al-ready fans of FOX’s Glee and FX’s American Hor-

ror Story. Familiar faces who are now starring in Scream Queens have been cast regulars on Glee and American Horror Story, including Lea Michele and Emma Roberts.

If you are looking for a new show that deliv-ers both thrills and laughs, then you should consider watching Scream Queens.

Scream Queens cast regulars, Billie Catherine Lourd, Ariana Grande, Emma Roberts, and Abigail Breslin star as the four Chanel’s on this new comedy-horror television show.