Gen Z Press
DODGE TMMS'S STUDENT NEWSLETTER, BROUGHT TO YOU BY STUCO
December 2022
Happy Holidays, Dodge Families! For this edition, our writers wanted to learn more about what the students and staff will be doing to celebrate various holidays, so there were many interviews that took place. We hope you enjoy learning more about how your peers and teachers spend this special time of year!
Let’s Ask the Students: What Do Dodge Students Enjoy During the Holiday Season?
1. What’s your favorite food to eat during the holidays?
“Christmas sugar cookies.”-Leo A
“Tamales.”-Jesus H
“Tamales.”-Oscar AV
“Ham”-Matai D
“Dumplings.”-Gabriel S
“Cookies.”-Jimena T
“Hot chocolate.”-Sonja A
“Cranberry sauce”-Gabriella C
“Pozole”-Isela O
“Pumpkin pie.”-Florencio B
“Chicken”-Taraji B
“Tamales”- Alexa B
“Mandel bread”-Eden T
“Pork bowl and pop tarts”-Analordes C
“Cookies.”-Jude V
2. What makes you the happiest during winter?
5 people said Christmas/presents
3 people said being with family/friends
4 people said the weather
2 people said being inside/not having school
“Breaking off rice cakes and distributing them to family members as a blessing and telling them what we’re thankful for.”-Gabriel S
4. Who are you going to spend the holidays with?
15 people said their family/friends
3. What are you most excited about this winter?
3 people said presents
3 people said seeing family
3 people said Christmas
“Getting a guitar.”-Leo A
“World Cup.”-Jesus H
“Eating, sleeping.”-Jude V
“Hot chocolate.”-Analordes C
5. Do you celebrate anything other than Christmas?
8 people said no
3 people said they celebrate Hanukah.
“Christmas with Hanukah traditions.”-Gabriel S
“I celebrate Los Reyes Magos”-Alexa B
“My mom’s birthday.”-Jude V
“Three Kings Day.”-Analordes C
6. Are there any birthdays in December in your family?
4 people said no
“Yes, the 4th and the 3rd.”-Jesus H
“Yes, the 22nd.”-Oscar AV
“My grandpa’s on the 25th.”-Matai D
“My brother’s on December 5th.”-Jimena T
“Mine on the 29th.”-Sonja A
“No.”-Gabriella C
“Yes, my cousin December 22nd.”-Isela O
“Mine on December 3rd.”-Florencio B
“My sisters is December 21st.”-Taraji B
“Yes, my sister December 1st.”
“Yes, my mom on the 4th.”-Jude V
7. Do you have any special plans for the winter?
3 people said no
2 people said they are going to celebrate birthdays
8 people said they are going to travel
“Sleeping.”-Jude V
“I get foster doggies.”-Analordes C
8. How do you feel about the cold?
9 people said they like it
3 people said they don’t like it.
“If it ain't snowin', I ain’t goin.”-Florencio B
“It’s cold.”-Jude V
“I like eating it.”-Analordes C
9. Do you think it will snow this year?
12 people said no
3 people said yes
10. Did you go shopping on black Friday, and what stores?
8 people said no
“I went shopping at Walmart, Target, Best Buy, GameStop, the Park Place Mall, Tucson Mall, Amazon.”
“I waited until black Friday to go shopping to annoy my mom, I went to target and REI.”-Gabriel S
“Yes, Amazon and Target.”-Gabriella C
“Yes, Target.”-Isela O
“Yes, I went to DICKS to get a new baseball glove.”-Florencio B
“Yes, I went to the mall.”-Taraji B
“Yes, Amazon.”-Eden T
11. What do you want for Christmas?
“A guitar.”-Leo A
“I want chain, Pro club, Jordan 4s, and money.”-Jesus H
“A Ps5.”-Oscar AV
“A new bike.”-Matai D
“Maybe a new phone.”-Gabriel S
“Money.”-Jimena T
“Air pods or gift cards.”-Sonja A
“A necklace, and a Solo de Janiro perfume.”-Gabriella c
“Shoes.”-Isela O
“Money.”-Florencio B
“Shoes and clothes.”-Taraji B
“I want new clothes.”-Alexa B
“I don’t know.”-Jude V
“I want an apple pencil.”-Eden T
“I want a drawing iPad and a dog.”-Analordes
Let’s Ask the Teachers: What do Dodge teachers do for the holidays?
By Cailela Romero, Asli Osman, Ashley Higuera
During the wintertime, many different holidays are celebrated. We asked three Dodge teachers how they celebrate winter holidays. Christmas is a big holiday, the time of the year where families get together and celebrate their life. The day where everyone wakes up to get Christmas presents under the decorated and lit up trees. All over the world families celebrate Christmas differently. The question is, how do you celebrate it?
What holiday do you celebrate?
Mr. Ryan: Christmas
Ms. Karn: Christmas and New Year
Ms. Mckechnie: Christmas
What's your favorite thing to do during that time?
Mr. Ryan: Spend time with family and watch Christmas movies
Ms. Karn: Make tamales and spends time with family
Ms. McKechnie: Spend time with family
What does your family eat?
Mr. Karn: Tamales
Ms. McKechnie: Apple French Toast bake with LOTS of bacon
What does your family do when they open the presents?
Mr. Ryan: Open them one by one so everyone gets to see what everyone got
Ms. Karn: Wait until midnight and take pictures and watch the kids play
Ms. McKechnie: Does city wide scavenger hunt and escape room instead of presents
What do you do with friends and family?
Mr. Ryan: "I go over to everyone's houses and watch football."
Ms. Karn: "What we usually do is we talk at the table and tell the stories from back then when my grandparents would share, and folk tale stories, we also do karaoke and sing songs and participate in the karaoke dance."
Ms. McKechnie: Spend time with mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law in North Carolina
Teacher Interview
By Mary Redding and Sophia Bullock
Q: What holiday do you celebrate during the winter season?
Ms. Marks: No holiday, but I still see my friends and family during the holiday season.
Mr. K: Christmas.
Mrs. Karn: Christmas.
Q: What foods do you eat on this holiday?
Ms. Marks: I love sweet potato pie, cranberry sauce, turkey, peach cobbler, and cornbread dressing.
Mr. K: Cookies and hot coco.
Mrs. Karn: Tamales carne and red chili.
Q: Do you leave the city or state?
Ms. Marks: I may have a girls night or visit someone out of town for New Years.
Mr. K: No, I do not leave either the city or state.
Q: Is this your favorite holiday?
Ms. Marks: My favorite holiday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but I like Valentines Day best.
Mr. K: Yes, it is my favorite holiday.
Mrs. Karn: Yes because of family.
Q: Do you celebrate this holiday alone, or with family or friends?
Ms. Marks: I just visit my family and friends.
Mr. K: With family.
Mrs. Karn: Family.
Holiday Crafts Winter Crafts – Tara Pym
Ingredients
- 2 envelopes (each 1 scant tablespoon) unflavored gelatin
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2/3 cup light corn syrup
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Vegetable-oil cooking spray
Directions
Step 1 Coat a 12-by-17-inch rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray; line with parchment paper. Spray parchment; set aside. Pour 1/3 cup cold water into the bowl of an electric mixer. Sprinkle with gelatin; let mixture soften, about 5 minutes.
Step 2 Place sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 1/3 cup water in a medium saucepan. Cover; bring to a boil. Remove lid; cook, swirling pan occasionally, until syrup reaches 238 degrees (soft-ball stage) on a candy thermometer, about 5 minutes.
Step 3 With mixer on low speed, whisk gelatin mixture, and slowly pour the syrup in a steady stream down the side of the bowl (to avoid splattering). Gradually raise speed to high; beat until mixture is thick, white, and has almost tripled in volume, about 12 minutes. Add vanilla, and beat 30 seconds to combine.
Step 4 Pour mixture onto prepared baking sheet; smooth with an offset spatula. Let stand at room temperature, uncovered, until firm, at least 3 hours or overnight.
Step 5 Coat a 1- or 2-inch snowflake-shaped cookie cutter with cooking spray to prevent it from sticking. Cut out as many individual marshmallows as possible; coat cutter with more spray as needed. Use marshmallows immediately or store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.
Materials
- paper roll
- black paper (or black paint)
- orange paper
- scissors
- glue
- wiggle eyes stickers
Directions
Step 1 Cut “half oval” shape out of white paper. Cut two wings out of black paper. Also cut out a beak shape and two feet out of orange paper.
Step 2 Glue the black paper around the paper roll. Glue on the white paper. Stick on two wiggle eyes stickers.
Step 3 Glue on the beak. Glue the legs on either the outside or inside of the paper roll, depends on what you prefer.
Step 4 Last, but not least, glue on the wings. Let the glue dry completely before using this toilet paper roll penguin craft for play.
Materials
- pinecones
- white and beige felt and a tiny bit of orange one too
- cotton balls / cotton
- googly eyes
- glue
- scissors
Directions
Step 1 Tear up the cotton balls and start stuffing them in the pinecone (Don't forget to dry your pinecones before doing anything). You don’t have to use glue as cotton balls will stay just where they are. Work your way around the pinecones – this will give them the “owl feather like” texture.
Step 2 Make the owl “accessories” out of felt, cut out a pair of wings out of white felt (or any other color you want really). Next cut a small oval shape for the head from beige felt, also cutting a little bit smaller oval shape from the white felt.
Step 3 Glue the beak on top of the beige oval shape and glued the smaller oval shape on top of that. Next in line are googly eyes which stick nicely onto felt.
Materials
- construction paper
- markers: black, orange, red
- googly eyes
- pencil
- ruler
- glue stick
- tape; optional
- scissors
Directions
Step 1 First, cut three strips from construction paper that are about 2″x 8.5″ in the colors black, orange and white. They should all be the same length.
Step 2 Take the white paper strip and glue googly eyes in the middle. Use a black marker to draw on a nose and mouth. To create the polar bear’s ears, cut two circles and then cut the bottom so it has one flat edge. Use tape to attach the ears above the googly eyes so they stick up from the paper. Create a loop with the finished polar bear paper strip. Secure with tape.
Step 3 To create the penguin, you will need the black paper strip. Cut a white piece of construction paper into a rectangle, slightly smaller than the width of the black strip. Make the top of the rectangle resemble a heart shape. Glue this piece in the middle of the strip. Next, glue on googly eyes and then use an orange marker to draw a beak and feet. Cut wings from black construction paper, then glue one on each side. Make a loop with the finished penguin paper strip and secure with tape.
Step 4 Use the orange paper strip to create a fox. Cut a heart shape from white construction paper and glue it to center of the strip. Add the googly eyes and use a black marker to draw a triangular nose at the bottom of the white heart shape. Cut two triangles from the orange paper to create the fox ears. Add a small piece of tape to the back of the ears and attach it to the strip so it sticks up. Finish by creating a loop with the paper fox strip
Step 5 Cut two more strips of white construction paper. These will be used to attach all the Winter animals together, creating a paper chain. Thread one of the paper strip between the fox and polar bear. Use tape to secure it into a loop. Repeat with the penguin and fox.
Holiday Food
By Charles, Andy, & Ryder
We asked, “What is your favorite Christmas Dinner/Desert?”
7th/8th Grade
1. Isaiahs- tamales, concha
2. Santiago-tamales
3. Braden-mashed potatoes, cake
4. Jack-soup
5. Greyson-breakfast, caramel rolls
6. Isabella- tamales
7. Alexis-tamale, ham salad
8. Nicholas-tamales
9. Nicole-ham, cookies
10. Brooke- roast
11. Isela, Alea-tamales, flan
12. Virginia-chicken, mashed potatoes, venison
13. Nick-apple pie
14. Mary- banana crepes
15. Cj-Charlie brown pie
16. Olive-cake
17. Andreas-turkey
18. Judev-cookies
19. Alisson, Arianna, Javi- tamales
20. Alex- pumpkin pie
21. Fin- pumpkin pie
22. Antonio-tamales, hot chocolate with candy canes
23. Miles-turkey, ham, chocolate pie
6th Grade
24. Nalai-Indian tacos
25. Maria-pozole
26. Maya-ham
27. Emil-apple pie, strawberry ice cream
28. David-suritos
29. Zack-steak
30. Quinn-turkey, ham
31. Ricardo-tamales
32. Elliot-tamales
33. Maddex-Christmas casserole
Tamales are the most common food. 13 people said tamales
Common Holiday Foods
By Destiny R.
Hanukkah Dishes
Brisket- Brisket is slow cooked beef it is made in a smoker usually.
Latkes- Latkes are potato or inion cut into small pieces then made into a batter from eggs and flower then they are fried and served with applesauce or sour cream you can also add meat or fish.
Kugel- Kegel is a noodle casserole were the noodles are boiled and then baked with sugar, eggs, sour cream, and cottage cheese.
Sufganiyah- Sufganiyah is basically a donut and beignet mixed together the important part is the filling but there doesn't always have to be filling you can add jelly, jam, custard, Nutella, pudding, pumpkin butter, apple butter, or dulce de leche.
Hanukkah Gelt- Hanukah Gelt are chocolate coins covered in gold or silver wrapping.
English Christmas Dishes
Turkey- Christmas Turkey is a turkey baked with vegetables and some kind of animal stock
Stuffing- Stuffing is very small pieces of bread baked with onions, celery, and fresh herbs. It can also be cooked inside the turkey in the oven.
Mashed Potatoes w/ gravy- To start mashed potatoes, potatoes are cut and then boiled. Add milk and butter and mash them with a masher or electric mixer. Gravy can be made from milk or meat grease by adding flour to thicken it.
Cranberry sauce- Cranberry Sauce you can buy from a the store in a can and cut up to eat with various other dishes if you like sweet tart.
Pie- Pie starts with the dough for the crust, the crust of the pie is made with flour, butter, salt, sugar (optional), and water which is put onto a pie pan to keep the filling in. You can use many fruits for filling like pecans, apples, pumpkin sauce, key lime sauce, cherries, lemon sauce, and more. Cover the top with more dough in any fun pattern you want and bake away.
Kwanzaa Dishes
Shrimp Creole- African Shrimp Creole is shrimp covered in Creole sauce. Creole sauce is a big mixture of tomatoes, celery, bell peppers, onions, garlic, seasoning, and herbs. Can be topped with many of the small leaf toppers.
Cajun Catfish- Cajun Catfish is catfish soaked in buttermilk before being deep-fried. Once the catfish is fried and ready to eat you smother it in Cajun seasoning.
Spoonbread- Spoonbread similar to cornbread is made by mixing milk, cornmeal, sugar, salt, baking powder, butter, and eggs. Baking it and serving fresh out of the oven, eaten with a spoon right out of the pan.
Peach Cobbler- A crust is made similar to pie crust. Boil peaches to help remove skin. Chop the peaches up and get a yummy peach sauce. Put your peach mixture in your crust and bake it up.
Groundnut Stew- Sautee onion, garlic, ginger, and jalapeños. Add butternut squash, groundnuts, and peanut butter. Cook it up! Add kale and harissa paste at the end.
Would you Rather? by Ian DiMurro
Would you rather: Build a snowman or go sledding
Would you rather: Have hot coffee or Hot coco
Would you rather: Meet Frosty the Snowman or Santa Claus
Would you rather: Have 10 gifts or 25 dollars (can't sell the gifts)
Would you rather: Go the Grinch’s house or Jack Skellington's house
Would you rather: Live in an igloo or a gingerbread house for a month
Would you rather: Wear a swimsuit all Winter or Snowsuit for all Winter
Would you rather: Have candy cane arms or Gingerbread legs
Would you rather: be in –10 Fahrenheit for an hour or 100 Fahrenheit
Would you rather: Be stuck in a snow globe or be a huge snowflake
Sports News
World Cup, from predictions to the Finale!
12/5 : according to Fox 35 Orlando the new prediction to win the world cup is France.
12/20 : Fox 35 Orlando's prediction was wrong because the game on 12/18 France Vs Argentina the game went into overtime but Argentina still won. Which was decided by penalty kicks.
Movie Review
Favorite Movie Survey at Dodge
Recently, Me (Caleb H) and Santiago P surveyed students on their favorite movies. Here are 2 reviews/summaries of the 2 most popular ones that students said were their favorite the most.
One movie that was mentioned a lot when interviewing people for their favorite movie was The Nightmare Before Christmas. This film is a 76 Minute, stop motion film, produced in 1993. It was directed by Henry Selick, and based on a poem written by Tim Burton. The plot is about Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon) the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town. He gets bored and one day, stumbles on a ring of trees that lead to different holiday towns. Jack falls down the one that leads to Christmas Town, and does a reverse-Grinch, falling in love with Christmas. He kidnaps Santa Claus (or as he mistakenly calls him, Sandy Claws) and says that Halloween Town will be taking over Christmas that year. Halloween Town begins to make preparations for the Christmas Takeover. Come December 24th, Jack delivers all the presents, but many families are terrified of the presents (due to the presents being quite horrific). The authorities tell families to lock their houses and the military shoots him down. He ends up having to go back to Halloween Town and save Sally.
Another movie that popped up a few times was the first installment of Star Wars. The first movie in the genre focuses on the characters of Anakin Skywalker, Qui Gon Jinn, and Obi-Wan-Kenobi. Anikan is played by Haden Christenson, Qui Gon by Liam Neeson, and Obi-Wan by Ewan McGregor. The character’s first meet up is on the desert planet Tatooine. Anakin is a slave, but the Jedi master Qui-Gon-Jinn makes a bet with his owner to free him. Anakin participates in a pod race to get money to repair the Jedi's ship. Qui-Gon-Jinn presents him before the Jedi council, who accept him into training with much hesitation. However, Qui Gon and Obi Wan must go to the planet Naboo because of trade dispute. When they get there, they are attacked by the Separatists. They are able to get the queen of the planet and escape, but when they get to the hanger, they are stopped by a Sith. The Sith is the iconic character Darth Maul with his double-bladed red lightsaber.
Qui Gon and Obi Wan rush to fight him while the other side characters bring the queen to safety. However, the Separatists blocked exit from the planet with one of their ships. Anakin (at the age of 9) decides to hop in a spacecraft and go try to blow up the ship. He is a natural in his spacecraft and blows up the enemy ship. Meanwhile, the fight is very intense with Darth Maul getting pushed back by both Jedi. In a turn of events, Obi Wan is locked away from his master by a laser door. Powerless to stop it, Obi Wan watches Qui Gon get killed by Darth Maul. He uses his anger to rush in kill Darth Maul. He used the force to call over his master’s lightsaber and cut Darth Maul in half. Everyone is able to escape and the movie ends with an ominous funeral for Qui Gon Jinn.
Rodolph The Red Nosed Reindeer: Movie Review
By Abigail R Moreland
Okay, so the beginning is a little bit cringy, but I'll let that slide because it's an old movie. The movie overall is a 9 out of 10. It’s a classic so it’s meant for all ages, which is nice. I like the ending because it shows equality for people and animals. If you were to show this movie to a kid, it would be very fun. The movie is very good because it's a Christmas movie and it's original, so that's a big bonus from me. There aren't really any negative things from me because the movie is just amazing. The overall message is that no one is perfect, and everyone is making a difference in the world.