Da Scoop
The Happenings of HMS
- April Edition -
Welcome!
Dear students, teachers, and families of HMS,
Welcome to Da Scoop! Allow us to introduce ourselves. We are a group of students, whose goal is to keep you informed on the latest happenings at HMS. Throughout the year, we will be keeping you updated on people, places and things related to where we spend the majority of our time, here at HMS. We hope to cover everything from sports, to events, to interviews with our featured teacher. We will also include a section featuring an article from our principal, Mr. Horan. Our goal is to have you more connected to the happenings here at HMS. We hope you enjoy getting Da' Scoop from us!Note: You can sign up to have Da Scoop delivered to your email by clicking on the button that says,"Follow Da Scoop", in the upper right hand corner of each edition.
Haverford Knows Science
The Science Olympiad Team
by Ally Einstein
On Wednesday, March 5, 2014, this year’s Science Olympiad Team traveled to Neumann University to represent Haverford Middle School in the annual Science Olympiad Competition. The fifteen students who attended the most meetings made up the competitors who performed remarkably well in many categories, two of which were robotics and the solar system. Richard C. and Evan P. studied long and hard to earn the third place medal in the category of our solar system and John B. and LingTao L. did the same to come in fourth place and take home the medal for robotics. Over all, Haverford earned fourteenth place out of the twenty-eight participating middle schools.
Mr. Tom Capista (featured in picture above), the leader of the team, would like to thank all of the participants for joining and making a great addition to the team. He is very pleased with the performance of all of the team members and encourages them and newbies to join next year. His only improvement for 2015 is to motivate the students to study a little harder but he loved working with all of the students after school and witnessing the teamwork unfold. Great job, HMS Science Olympiad Team!
Foul Play at the 8th Grade Activities Night
by Bill (I-can-dodge-a-wrench) Sigh
On Friday, March 27th, HMS hosted an activities night where only 8th graders were welcome. The featured event of the night was a well organized dodgeball tournament (pictures below), a tournament that all too fittingly mirrored the bracketology of March Madness. Seven student teams and one teacher team battled in a double elimination contest, all striving to become dodgeball champions. Throughout the night, the teachers would win their contests until they faced adversity, at which time they then called upon their friend "Cheating", a friend that the teachers called upon to help them rally when the going got tough. In the last game Ravioli Ravioi faced off against the teachers. In the end, the teachers took home the trophies and left a sour taste in the mouths of the defeated student teams! Several students are reportedly anxiously awaiting a re-match on Friday April 11th's Save-A-Heart program.
Media Reviews
Book versus Movie
by Dalia Andrews
Divergent by Veronica Roth
The first book in this best-selling trilogy introduces us to 16 year old Beatrice Prior, a girl who lives in a dystopian and surreal Chicago. In this futuristic world you are divided into 5 factions: Abnegation
the selfless, Erudite the intelligent, Candor the honest, Amity the peaceful, and Dauntless the brave. When inhabitants of this world turn 16 you take a test to determine which factions you would be eligible to join. You then have two options: stay with your faction, or join another. The decision this heroine, Beatrice Prior, makes will change her life forever. Loved by millions, this tale will leave you wanting for more.
Divergent directed by Neil Burger
Starring: Shailene Woodley, Theo James
Legions of fans have been waiting for the highly anticipated movie Divergent, based on the best-selling trilogy by Veronica Roth, come to life, and now it finally has. Stars like Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Miles Teller, and Kate Winslet worked alongside one another, to bring the beloved story to the big-screen. Action-packed and true to the story, many fans were pleased with the adaption. It earned around $56 million on its first opening weekend, topping the box office charts. Fans and movie-goers alike are sure to like, if not love, this thrill ride of a movie.
Book or Movie?
As amazing the movie was, the book is DEFINITELY better. The general populace can agree that 99.9% of the time the book is better than the movie, and Divergent was no exception. Bringing a story to life is hard, and while they did a phenomenal job of it, there will always be that something to the book that one can't explain in words. You got to know the world, and characters better because, we had more time to explore it, is just one of the reasons. The world of Divergent is a world that should be explored by all whether it be through the pages of a book, or the images across the screen, but in my personal opinion the book was a step up from the film.
Teacher Feature
Each edition our staff will chose one HMS teacher to highlight. Let us know if there is a teacher you would like the scoop on.
Our Very Own Dr. Jason Finn
by Matilda Grofenhine (gr-O-fen-hEEn)
Dr. Finn (picture below), a seventh-grade English teacher who describes himself as a sandstorm, the feeling when you eat melty chocolate ice-cream for the very first time, and a conjoined twin who has lost his twin, is sure to impress his students any day of the week!
“Picture a sunset and a very, very large, sweaty man and a bowl of potato chips with half of a grapefruit sprinkled with sugar. I think that’s how they (my students) feel about me.”
Dr. Finn has many unique interests, some of which are to spend his Friday nights at the bowling alley with his trusty, cubic bowling ball. Obviously, it’s a little bit more difficult to bowl a turkey, but he has more than enough gumption to make it happen.
Coming away from his interview, I obviously didn’t glean much practical information to shape this article. However, I did leave with more than enough understanding of his character and personality. The passion and tone were easily discovered and it's clear. He has the ability to keep his students on their toes throughout the year. This man seems like a teacher who will always come into school with a wide-awake, contagious attitude, even on those bright and early Monday mornings. Dr. Finn is the Language Arts teacher all HMS students want to have in seventh grade!
Looking towards the future, rumor has it that the Da Scoop staff are trying to convince Mrs. Flounders to be the next contestant for the second Teacher Feature! Expect a different kind of flow to her edition!
From the Principal's Desk
"Wonder"
by Dan Horan
Do you ever WONDER what is really, really, really important in life? Have you ever thought about the self-imposed rules or guidelines – the really important ones - that you live by?
I have a few precepts that are really important to me and use them to guide what I do every day. They are really simple things like being selfless, working hard, and seeking continuous improvement. Set to the challenge, I could write a paragraph, in much more detail, about the things that are important to me and help guide what I do on a daily basis.
How about if it was your challenge? I WONDER if you could write a paragraph about the rules that are really important to you. I think some people never even think about why they do what they do. I think it may be incredibly difficult for some to express, in words, how they feel or think about the principles they live by. Do they even have them? I WONDER. Perhaps, it would be helpful to express in writing what we truly believe in from time to time.
I WONDER what you would write if you had the opportunity to express what was really important to you.
Future Scoop
- Teacher Feature
- Media Reviews
- Spring Sports Review
We are always looking for fun and energetic people to join our staff. See Mr. Mahar or Mr. Cohen if you're interested.
Da Scoop
Email: mahar@havsd.net
Website: http://haverford.k12.pa.us/hms
Location: 1701 Darby Road, Havertown, PA, United States
Phone: (610) 853-5900