In This Issue...

Art

Black History Month

Gardening

Music

Spirit Week

Tennis

Trip to France

Volcano Project

Poetry Corner

Cold Weather at Allison
by
Selema Campbell

Cold weather go away
Bring back summer day
Cold weather go away
Bring back the sun today
Cold weather go away
I want to go outside and play
Cold weather would you go away
I promise to be good today

Commentary

Fashion
by
Clarissa Caplan

Fashion is made to fit the personality of the wearer. Fashion shows who you are, and how you feel. It is a form of expression because it allows you to make a statement, stand firm on your own and to be unique.

The public media has a major influence on today’s society. They want to dictate who you are by brain washing. They want you to believe that by wearing a certain product, it will magnify who you are and also give you a particular reputation. I believe by doing this they are trying to give us an ideal image of what we should look like. Unfortunately most of us follow it and just a few dress as they please.

 Fashion is well liked because it’s fun to experiment with everything from head to toe: from sequenced flats to running sneakers, from big belts to shabby chic belts, and from clutches to oversized bags. Anything can go.

The average teenager likes to wear clothes that emphasize who they are.  Some of us like to wear a punk style, some of us wear vintage styles and express it through creativity.

In conclusion, fashion has been around for a very long time, and will remain that way. There are trends that come and trends that go. There will be followers and there will be leaders known as trendsetters. That’s how it will always be. The styles that are coming and going will eventually make a comeback and that is why they are admired.

School Survey Results

by
Alina Ramirez
and
Valerie Gonzalez

The journalism class surveyed the students at Allison to know who our favorite teachers are and what genres of music are the most popular for the year 2005-2006.  The results were the following:

The students voted for Mr. Vargas because he is cool, nice, friendly, and a young great teacher who is always there to help the students with their problems.  The students nominated Mr. Gilfoy because he is kind, cool, and funny. The students learn a lot in his classes because he knows how to communicate with them and help them out with their assignments. Finally, the students voted for Ms. Dunn because she is a caring teacher. She understands people with an open mind, she is very friendly, and always smiles at the students.

The students of Allison academy voted as rap as their favorite genre of music with 25.8% followed by rock with 23.5% and R&B with 12.3%. Those were the top three.

Scuba Diving
By
Kyle Fitch

Many people travel the world to go scuba diving. Hawaii, Australia, the Caribbean, Mexico, Costa Rica, the Fiji islands, Belize, and the Cayman Islands are among the best places to go. Before you can enjoy the wonders of the water, you need to obtain your certification.

In order for you to get your certification, you need to be at least 12 years old and to sign up for a specific class, depending on the type of certification. This usually takes three days to a week to complete. There are different ways to get certified. The best thing to do is to go online and look around for dive shops that offer the certification class. You can also walk in to dive shops to see who offers the class.

When you first start scuba diving you have to get your beginners license which usually takes about three days. This allows you to dive to a maximum depth of 60 feet. If you already have obtained the beginners license, then you can obtain your advanced open water license. This license allows you to dive to depths over 100 feet. There are additional licenses that you can obtain after the advanced license such as Nitrox, Tri-Mix, Rescue diver, and Dive Master.

If you are interested in getting your certification, the price will vary from 400 to 500 dollars for the class. You will also need to purchase or rent specific dive equipment, such as a regulator, an octopus, a buoyancy compensator, weight belt, weights, fins, mask, tanks, gauges or dive computer, a wetsuit, and boots depending on the fins you buy. The equipment could end up costing anywhere from $1086.00 to $4310.00. Remember that it is just an estimate.

My favorite dive trip was when I went to Bonaire because there are many different varieties of sea life in the water during the day and also at night and the water clarity is incredible. Also there are many dive sights around the island. When I dove in Bonaire I thought it was one of the best dive trips that I have ever been on.  Bonaire is a small island, covering roughly 111 square miles, with a width that ranges from 3 to 7 miles and a length of approximately 24 miles. Bonaire is located approximately 50 miles off of the coast of Venezuela. Bonaire is the B of the ABC islands with her sister islands of the Dutch Caribbean - Aruba and Curacao.
 
I think that learning to scuba dive is a great and wonderful experience for everyone to learn. I have been scuba diving for almost 6 years now and it’s one of the best hobbies that I have. The only thing that I have to warn people is that scuba diving is not always easy and it’s an expensive hobby.