Overlook students and staff spent the month of February celebrating Black History and focusing on the amazing contributions to our nation and the world that have been made and continue to be made. Many interesting displays adorned the hallways and each day focused on a specific individual. Activities in many classrooms also highlighted these achievements.

Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month. Other countries around the world, including Canada and the United Kingdom, also devote a month to celebrating Black history.

Since 1976, every American president has designated February as Black History Month and endorsed a specific theme. The Black History Month 2022 theme, “Black Health and Wellness,” explores "the legacy of not only Black scholars and medical practitioners in Western medicine, but also other ways of knowing (e.g., birth-workers, doulas, midwives, naturopaths, herbalists, etc.) throughout the African Diaspora. The 2022 theme considers activities, rituals and initiatives that Black communities have done to be well."

By Joshua LeGrand

Welcome to this month's issue of Our Wacky World! I would like to give a big thank you to everyone who voted in last month’s poll. The category with the most votes was… WORLD RECORDS! In this article, I’m going to be telling you about some of the strangest world records ever broken. Let’s begin!

Have you ever seen a tightrope before? You might have seen people walking on them and thought, “That must be scary, walking on such a thin rope so high above the ground.” Well, how about a tightrope that’s 700 feet in the air? You probably wouldn’t want to walk on that tightrope, especially if you’re blindfolded! That’s what Maurizio Zavatta did in November of 2016. As part of a Guinness World Records Special on CCTV, Zavatta walked on a 698-foot-high tightrope while blindfolded. The world record attempt took place in Wulong, Chongqing, China. The longest tightrope crossing with a bicycle- yes, you read that right, a bicycle- is 1591 feet (485 meters), a record broken by Freddy Nock of Switzerland.

Now things are about to get more dangerous. We’re going to transition into world records that should only be tried by professionals, so don’t get any ideas. When you think of juggling, the first thing that pops into your head might be someone juggling fruit at a circus. But some people like to take things to the next level, like Ian Stewart. He holds the Guinness World Record for the most consecutive chainsaw juggling catches: 105. He had held this record in the past, and broke it again in 2019 to reclaim his title. The world record for “Most juggling catches in one minute with three fire staffs” is 166, a record held by Tyler “Spades” Macklin.

That’s all for this month’s edition of Our Wacky World. Thank you for reading, and make sure to vote in the poll below for the next topic. See you next month!

By Kaelyn Hildreth

Ah, Chocolate Mousse Pie. A classic in my house. It’s also my family’s favorite! It’s simple, but not super hard. I’m sure your family will love it too!

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Ingredients

2 Tbsp (28g) salted butter, diced into 4 pieces

1 cup (6 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips*

1/2 cup (3 oz) bittersweet chocolate chips (or another 1/2 cup semi-sweet if you don't want it quite as rich)

2 cups (104g) mini marshmallows

1/3 cup (80ml) milk (whole or 2%)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups (415ml) heavy whipping cream

1 (6 oz) store-bought Oreo pie crust

Topping

1 cup (235ml) heavy cream

2 Tbsp (25g) granulated sugar

Chocolate shavings, for garnish**

Instructions

Add butter, milk, semi-sweet chocolate chips, bittersweet chocolate chips and marshmallows to a large saucepan.

Heat over low heat, stirring constantly until chocolate and marshmallows have melted (it will take a while for the marshmallows to melt, keep stirring).

Remove from heat, stir in vanilla pour into a large mixing bowl and let cool, about 45 - 60 minutes (it should be about room temperature).

Whip 1 3/4 cups heavy cream (preferably in a chilled bowl) until very stiff peaks form. Fold into a cool chocolate mixture.

Pour chocolate mixture into Oreo crust and spread into an even layer (if you don't want it as tall as mine is you can just reserve some of the mousse chilled in cups for later).

Chill in the refrigerator for 3 hours.

For the topping, whip the remaining 1 cup cream with sugar (preferably in a cold mixing bowl) using an electric hand mixer until stiff peaks form.

Spread over pie, garnish with chocolate then cut into slices. Store pie in refrigerator.

*I've also made this successfully with 1 cup milk chocolate chips and 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips for more of a milk chocolate flavor vs. the regular dark chocolate flavor it has.

Recipe from cookingclassy.com

https://www.cookingclassy.com/easy-chocolate-mousse-pie/#jump-to-recipe

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I hope you enjoyed this month’s recipe!

By Keira Dodd

February is a month that is just there. It's not a month that really stands out to us, except for Valentines Day and Black History Month. It's kinda a lazy month, it does not go by fast or slow. It's not exactly winter but not spring. It's a weird in-between month. So I am going to spice up your February by giving you some fun facts.

It's the shortest month of the year.

The Welsh call February ¨y mis bach'' which means little month

The Super Bowl is always in February

February was chosen for black history month for a reason

Groundhog and Chinese new year takes place in February

February is also National Hearts Month

February´s flower is Primrose, Birthstone: Amethyst, Zodiac: Aquarius and Pisces.

National days in February

Hedgehog day, Feb 2

Golden Retriever day, Feb 3

World Cancer day, Feb 4

Fly-a-kite day, Feb 8

Umbrella day, Feb 10

Dark Chocolate day, Feb 13

Valentines day, Feb 14

Annoy Squidward day, Feb 15

Pluto day, Feb 18

World Whale day, Feb 20

Pistachio day, Feb 26

By Lucas LeGrand

Have you ever wondered how Valentine's day started? Have you ever considered the reason why we have a day of love? Well let me tell you all you need to know about the season of love, known as Valentine’s.

It started with a Christian priest named Valentine, in third century Rome, where Christian priests were killed, because Rome had their own religion. Valentine was martyred, which means he was killed under Roman law. He was martyred on February 14. That’s not all though. There are legends that Valentine could do special things. When he was in jail, waiting to be executed, he healed one of the guards blind daughters, which is pretty cool if you ask me. He wrote a note saying goodbye to her, and it was signed, “From your Valentine”. But then he was forgotten for 1500 years. But here's where things start to get interesting. The Romans had a holiday called Lupercalia, which was a party celebrating the start of spring, and boy do I want a day off like that. But, let's get back to the story. In Rome then, Christianity was now not only legal, but now it was the official religion of Rome. The Pope was now the best person around, and he wanted to get rid of Lupercalia. So what he did was he got rid of Lupercalia, and changed it to a name that you might remember. Can you guess what it is? If you said, St. Valentine’s day, you're correct! Now, St. Valentine’s day was not so different from Lupercalia, it was feasting and praying and everyone having a good time. Now we are going to travel to England. 1400 thousand years later and here we are. It’s February 14th in England, and it is the bird's mating season. I don’t know why it is right in the middle of cold harsh weather, but maybe it was different from here. So anyway, February 14th is mating season for birds, and a guy named Geoffrey Chaucer writes a poem about a royal wedding. He wrote that it was very romantic that there was a wedding on the day of mating birds, and blooming flowers, it was a great time to be alive. That’s how Valentine’s day was born. You see, his poem was a big hit, and he got very famous. Lots of people thought it was a good idea to change the meaning of Valentine’s day to be about peace and love. People started writing cards for other people, and pretty much having a good time. Then, in the industrial revolution, some cards were printed with cupids, hearts, and pretty much all of the "lovey dovey" stuff that make people happy. Then, people started to make heart shaped boxes filled with, you guessed it, chocolate! And that became so popular that, well, now we celebrate it today. That’s all for today's article, I hope you enjoyed, and happy Valentine’s day!

By Meghan Dorsey

For this month’s COVID-19 updates, we have a reminder that masks are optional now. The Omicron variant of COVID-19 is more contagious than the previous variant, so be sure to stay safe. Please stay home if you test positive for COVID-19, the symptoms are as following;

• Fever or chills

• Cough

• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing

• Fatigue

• Muscle or body aches

• Headache

• New loss of taste or smell

• Sore throat

• Congestion or runny nose

• Nausea or vomiting

• Diarrhea

If you are experiencing these symptoms, it may be safer to test in order to assure that you aren’t spreading the virus. Thank you!

By - Marko Peterson

The mountain lion walked up the enlarged hill

Looking for his dinner in thrill

He was carnivorous with pride

But a wilting cherry tree broke his stride

A tree like this in the savanna?

Little did he know, it was wishing for death

Begging to take its last breath

For the wish it made years ago

Made it so slow to grow

It was hundreds of years old

Wishing it would just fold

To a degree it wanted to scream

Feeling its wish was just a dream

The lion found it straining

Its life draining

He betrayed his nature

Feeling it wasn’t so major

He ate the tree

And set it free

Its soul rejoiced

For it had a choice

To leave

And weave

A new life

Away from strife

In the stars above