Artwork by Mia Nogueira

TJ is always looking for new ideas to help out the school and the community, and the freshman AVID class came up with a new community service project for the end of the school year called “Hope Tote.”

A tote is a small toiletry item such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, lotion, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, razors, lotion, or any other toiletry item that would be helpful to someone in need. All toiletry items that the freshman AVID class collected were donated to the Denver Rescue Mission.

Mark Mallaney, the freshman AVID and Spanish teacher, had his AVID class get into groups and come up with a community service project and present it to the whole class. After all the presentations the class took a vote on which project to do, and Mallaney tallied up the votes, and the class chose Effie Andrianakos and Marissa Olan’s project “Hope Tote.”  Then the class was all set to advertise the project. “Me and Marissa wanted to do a project for the homeless and then we found this project on the Internet,” said Andrianakos.

From there, the project was afloat.  “All I did was count out the votes and send out one e-mail, the rest of the class did everything else,” said Mallaney. “They made the posters and hung them up, and they announced it on the announcements.”

The AVID class made their rounds and collected all totes during 6th period on May 14th. “Our class goal was to collect ten items, but all together we collected 78,” said Mallaney. “So I’m really proud of the class with all the effort they put into this project. I think the class was really proud of themselves too, of all the hard work they put into it.” The class collected enough totes to fill enough bags with each toiletry item collected.

“I was really proud of the class because we got a full basket full of totes and none of the class was really expecting to collect that much,” said Andrianakos.

Many classes helped support the AVID class and brought in a bunch of different totes. The fine arts department, the Computer Magnet and the whole AVID team contributed the most to the project. “The nurse, Betty Richmeier, and the social worker, Samanda Davis were a big help to the project as well,” said Mallaney.

“My hope for this project was to get the students to be involved early with helping the community and to hope they got a positive feeling with helping out their community,” said Mallaney. The AVID class was very happy with the outcome that their project brought to the community and is glad that TJ also helped “Spartan Up”.

Artwork by Mia Nogueira

As the year comes to the end teachers and administrators start thinking about the new freshman class that will be entering TJ in August. To make students as comfortable as possible when entering a new school, TJ holds a Freshman Academy for the upcoming ninth graders. “Freshman Academy is for new ninth graders to get acquainted with their school, teachers, and peers,” said JoAnne Moreno, one of TJ’s administrators.

Freshman Academy is offered during the summer here at TJ, on July 26th through the 30th in the morning from 8:00 a.m. to 12 p.m. “This course is optional, but students will receive 2.5 elective credits,” said Moreno. Students can register between now and the first day of the program. Applications should be provided at all middles schools or Moreno can fax them to parents.

During the week of July 26th students will be taking four classes: Math, Literature, Success Highway, and Intro to High School. Success Highway is a class where students learn to be successful and make a transition in high school life and work. Intro to High School is where students learn how to use Infinite Campus and about their graduate requirements and how to understand a transcript.

Many TJ teachers, including: Erin Thompson, Tim Owens, Kirk Hammond, Liz Buffington, Vanessa Wagner, Mollie Pitrone, and Matt Laurita, will be at the school helping out or teaching some of the classes.

“Thompson will be teaching Intro to High School because she is the counselor at TJ,” said Moreno. Wagner is teaching math, Hammond will be teaching Lit, Pitrone is doing Success Highways, Owens is teaching half math and Success Highways, and Buffington is doing half Lit and Intro to High School.

“I’m going to be helping out as the secretary and I get the chance to meet the students, take attendance and of course recruit wrestlers!” said Laurita.

Though Freshman Academy is not mandatory it will be good a opportunity for upcoming freshmen to take this chance and get a head start for their first year of high school. If anyone has any questions please contact JoAnne Moreno at: 720-423-7149 or email her at: JoAnne_Moreno@dpsk12.org.

Artwork by Rebecca Holt

Change has flooded the halls of TJ since the Challenge Day program was invited to Thomas Jefferson in late January of this year. Now striving to keep the spirit of Challenge Day alive, TJ’s Social Worker, Samanda Davis, started a club called Be the Change. “We have only had a few meetings, and we try to have meetings once every other week on Thursdays,” said Davis.

For each meeting thus far the club has had a turnout of about eighteen students. “We welcome all students and any faculty, but we encourage mostly students to come check it out,” said Davis.

During these meetings the students think of ideas for the school to keep the enthusiasm, invoked by Challenge Day, going. They decided to put shoe boxes in every room, so if kids need someone to talk to or need help they can put a note in the box. Also the “I love you” sign can be spotted on the doors of classrooms to maintain the presence of Challenge Day. “The kids who have attended the meetings come in enthusiastic and want to keep it going,” said Davis. “They are doing a really good job coming up with ideas to use throughout the school.”

On March 12, the committee encouraged students to sit with someone at lunch with whom they wouldn’t normally wouldn’t sit. The committee passed out cookies to the kids whom they noticed sitting with someone different.

To bring Challenge Day to TJ next year, Davis is trying to raise at least four thousand dollars. For Davis to meet her goal she is running a few fundraisers. The committee is selling Elitches tickets to help raise money. “We are selling tickets for $19.99, and five dollars of the money made from each ticket goes to Challenge Day,” said Davis. The Special Education Department is also having a pizzeria during lunch for all the staff.

“We signed up for grants and we hope that will help raise a little money for us,” said Davis. “We are also asking sophomore and junior parents to help fundraise or donate.”

“Since Challenge Day I have a lot more students come talk to me or email me,” said Davis. Teachers have also made comments to Davis, saying they have seen students throughout the school “being the change.” TJ has embraced a communal language since Challenge Day, and students are using phrases from the event such as: “be the change,” which was the quote of the day during Challenge Day. “Lower your water level” was another phrase, as the goal for the leaders of Challenge Day was for everyone to step out of their comfort zones and open up. “Filling up your balloon” was also a common phrase used, which was described as kids who have a lot going on in their lives at home or school tend to keep it all to themselves or hold it in their “balloon” and eventually they leak their “balloon” on other people.

Davis has already planned for the Challenge Day program to be on October 13th and 14th next year for the class of 2012. “We don’t have anything planned during the summer, we are just going to take a break for a little bit,” said Davis. The club will be setting up a booth during the freshman barbecue in August to give parents and new students information and to get them excited for their turn to participate in Challenge Day.

While the club doesn’t know when the next meeting will be, Davis will be sending out invitations soon for the date of the next meeting.

Those involved say that Challenge Day seems to have made a difference throughout the entire school. Davis believes that Be the Change meetings are a great idea to keep the experience of Challenge Day alive within everyone and encourage staff and students to keep “being the change.”

Artwork by Rebecca Holt

For the first time ever at TJ The Student Board of Education and the Core Team are proudly sponsoring the first annual school spirit competition, “Adopt a Hallway.” Students and faculty from all sports, clubs and departments get the chance to decorate a portion of a hallway anyway they please. All clubs, sports and departments were given their hallway assignments on Tuesday May 4th and they have until May 13th to make their “adopted” hallway display about their sport or club for the judging that will be held on the 14th.

Jen Segal, who is a Vista Volunteer from office of Intentional School Cultural, came up with the beautification competition and put the whole thing together. “She deserves all the credit for the new school spirit competition; she put in a lot of hard work to make this happen,” said Nick Dawkins, an administrative intern who also helped put the Adopt a Hallway competition together.

At the beginning of the school year The Student Board of Education started an action research problem about the concerns at TJ. After collecting the data, the Student Board found that the beauty of TJ is a key factor in culture and mood of the school. As the school year comes to an end, TJ is going to make sure next year when students start school again that they enter an environment with welcoming posters, decorated walls, visuals, and much more.

Decorating supplies became available in the copy room on the second floor on May 4th, but materials are first come first serve. “There are all kinds of supplies in the copy room. There is tape, markers, letters, stencils, and much more,” said Dawkins. “There things in there that make you feel good to be anyone who is creative.” The group decorating their assigned hall can provide any other materials that are needed.

The requirements the displays must have are: the club/activity name, pictures that can be drawings, photos, paintings or web printouts. They must have a description of what the club, sport, or department has accomplished.

All sports and clubs must include the listing of the students in the group and when and where they meet. Sports must also mention what month they have their tryouts each year.

Groups can also use large posters, banners, and 3-D accessories. Judges are encouraging organizations to utilize all wall space and to get creative! They can only use the space in the boundaries of the blue duct tape on the designated areas of the walls.

Judges will be scoring each group by how they display their name, the pictures and visuals they use, the description about their sport or club, their creativity, and the effort they put into decorating their assigned hallway. The scoring is a total of ten points, so each category is worth two points.

TJ has asked alumni, parents, and the Board of Education to come in and help with the judging. On the judging day the winning hallway will receive a gift card, press release, and photo on the DPS site.

Photo by Rebecca Holt

Every school year students from all over DPS, from kindergarten to twelfth grade, get the chance to be part of the DPS Safety and Health Calendar Art Contest. Each year one of TJ’s art teachers Brooke Stoyer has hopes that one of her very own students will get his or her drawings picked to be part of the next school year’s safety and health calendar. For the 2010-2011 Safety and Health Calendar, Daniel Mardirosian won the Slip and Fall Prevention II for the month of January.

“I was really happy when I found out I won the contest,” said Mardirosian. “I have never won this contest before so I was happy to finally be acknowledged.” This is Mardirsian’s third year entering his artwork and each year he hopes to win and be able to see his work in the calendar. “I have tried different themes each year. Last year I entered in for the fire safety drawing and did a different slip and fall prevention theme,” said Mardirosian, but his drawings were not chosen.

Every year in Stoyer’s art class Danny works hard on his drawings and hopes for a chance to win. “I was really relieved and proud of Danny when I found out he won because he didn’t win the bookmark contest this year,” said Stoyer smiling. “I really like that he really has his heart set on drawing.”

This has been the first time that someone from TJ has won the calendar contest in two years. “A couple of years ago I had a student exchange student from Columbia who won the Safety Calendar Contest,” said Stoyer.

This isn’t the first art contest that Daniel has won here at TJ. He enters in the bookmark contest for Denver public libraries and wins almost every year, except this year, when he got noteworthy on his bookmark.

Mardirsian doesn’t enter his artwork in the contests for fun; he considers drawing a passion of his. “After high school I plan on going to college for drawing as a major, because I really enjoy drawing,” says Mardirsian.

Mardirsian is happy to finally get recognized ed and to see his art work selected for the calendar next school year.

Vlier and Walker sledding. photo by Rhea Boyd

March 24, 2010 marks a day  which many students of DPS would not forget, as the district was granted its first snow day since 2005. Denver was gifted with almost a foot of snow that day, and most students enjoyed their day with many unexpected pleasures. Some spent their day sleeping, others watched movies, and some went outside and took full advantage of their snow day and had a blast playing in it.

Juniors Christine Vlier and Melanie Walker, and Senior Rhea Boyd went sledding at Ruby Hill. When they eventually got tired they went back to Melanie’s house and enjoyed her hot tub and drank hot chocolate.

Sophomore Logan Kimbrell spent his day building a fort and having a snow ball fight with his twin sister and neighbors. “I also went to Water Course Foods for dinner with my family to celebrate my mom’s birthday,” said Kimbrell.

“During my snow day I went sledding with my cousins and watched one of them go head first into a tree, which I thought was hilarious,” Junior Dale Nelson said laughing. Dale also helped people who got their car stuck in the snow.

Sophomore Rebecca Randall went tubing with her sister on the big hill at St. Mary’s Academy. Then they walked to Pizza Hut for fifty cent hot wings.

Other students spent their snow day inside their houses to stay warm instead of playing out in the snow. Junior Sarah Southard watched The Exorcist with her boyfriend Rusty. Kyle Freeland stayed in and hit baseballs in his garage most of his snow day. A few boys like Juniors Tyrone Alexander and Freddie Contreras spent a few hours playing their Xbox.

Then there are the many students who spent most of their day in bed, sleeping until noon or even later. Twelve of the twenty- five people who were interviewed said they spent their snow day sleeping.

Students weren’t the only ones who enjoyed their snow day, as teachers enjoyed their day off, as well. Assistant Principal Scott Lessard played board games, like Sequence and Toss- Up with his daughter. “I watched a bad western movie and a chick flick that my wife had chosen,” said Lessard. “We also made homemade chicken pot pie for dinner.”

Science Teacher Sharon Colbath was happy to have a day off. “I was able to grade papers that I would have had to grade over spring break. That was good to get that over with,” said Colbath. “Plus, I was able to make my husband fried chicken for dinner. I’m not able to do that very often, so it was special dinner for me.”

Although Colorado is known around the country as having a snowy climate, it is a rarity for Denver to see enough snow for DPS to even consider calling a snow day, so when one is granted, everyone loves it.

Photo by Rebecca Holt

Students are constantly stressing out about getting all their required credits to graduate. To ease the stress students carry around worrying about their grades, TJ introduced Credit Recovery to the school two years ago. “Credit Recovery is an online system where students can re-take a class that they have failed,” said Waunetta Vann, a teacher working in the Spartan S.H.I.E.L.D. tutoring center (Spartans Helping Individual Excel Learning Discover, located in room 4).

According to Vann, Credit Recovery is very helpful to students who have a full schedule and don’t have any room for classes for which they need to make up credits. “Students can come in during lunch, before school, and after school to take the online class without having to take a class out they need,” said Vann.

In order for students to benefit from Credit Recovery, they must first talk to their counselor to figure out which classes they need to graduate. “The student has six weeks to finish a session because we only have a limited amount of seats and we want everyone to get an opportunity to make up their credits,” said Liz Buffington, another teacher who works in the Spartan S.H.I.E.L.D.

When students establish which courses they need, they can take the online classes either at school in the S.H.E.I.L.D. room or at home, but students are required to take the tests in the school building. “Students must get at least an eighty percent to get a passing grade on the online course,” said Buffington. After passing a course the student gets two certificates, one to take home and one that gets put on his or her record saying that the student earned the credits needed. Students also get a “P” for passing on their transcripts, instead of a letter grade, which is what students would normally receive.

Each Credit Recovery course costs the student twenty-five dollars per session. “We recommend that students take on their courses one at a time so that they can focus and finish the course fast,” said Buffington.

Anyone who needs the help is eligible to make use of Credit Recovery. “We let seniors go first though, because they need credits sooner to graduate,” said Buffington. Credit Recovery helps many students who need the little extra assistance to graduate, because without this program some students can’t graduate on time. “If students take advantage of the program, it really does help. Last year it helped thirteen seniors graduate,” said Vann.

Photo by Alex Platt

For years, kids sometimes have been told to hide their feelings, to be tough, and that they are considered weak if they cried. “Students at school only show about ten percent of who they really are, because they are scared of what people will think or say about them,” said Mzima, one of the Challenge Day leaders. From January 26th through the 28th the Challenge Day program came to TJ to challenge the students to break down barriers and to “get real.” Challenge Day is a nationally recognized program that brings students together to help teens learn to be respected, loved, and accepted throughout their school and community. The program uses highly interactive and energetic activities to increase self- esteem, stop all kinds of violence, and to inspire students to be the change they wish to see and to get others to do the same. “My Hopes for Challenge Day was for people to feel united, to recognize they are not alone, and to try and alleviate bullying, teasing, and oppression,” said Samanda Davis, the Social Worker at TJ, who brought the program here.

Mzima and Tony, the leaders of the Challenge Day program, started out the day having the students come into the gym and see parents and teachers forming a tunnel yelling and waving their arms and getting the group energized for the day ahead of them. “The leaders told us before the students came in to be as crazy as possible, and to not hold back, because they didn’t want the students to hold back,” said Chris Holman, a parent who participated in Challenge Day. After getting everyone in their seats, Mzima and Tony explained to the group what the day was all about and why they were there.

For the first two and a half hours the leaders introduced the crowd to small games so everyone got the chance to warm up and get comfortable around their peers. There was one game where everyone had to find a partner (someone they didn’t really know) and link arms and stand back to back, then Mzima would play music and everyone had to dance with their partners while they were still back-to-back. When the dancing had ended, one of the leaders gave the couples a topic to talk about with their partner to know small facts about the other people in the room.

After the fun activities, everyone was brought back together where Mzima talked to the group about the fact that when people don’t let their feelings out, they begin to fill up their “balloon,” and when they fill up their balloon it gets bigger and bigger until that balloon bursts, or they start leaking their balloons on other people. Mzima explained that the kids who have their balloons too full are the kids who are getting into trouble, or are bullying other kids. Mzima says there is no such thing as a bad kid, so when a kid acts up or picks on another student he or she probably went trough a rough time at home and is leaking his or her balloon on other people. “Instead of yelling at the student for doing something wrong I want to talk to the student more and figure out what’s going on in their life,” said Assistant Principal Scott Lessard.

Mzima also talked about how boys get pushed into their “be a man box” that tells them to be tough, hide their feelings, and that it’s not okay to cry. She said girls get shoved into their “be a lady flower” where they are told how to act, and what to wear. During her discussion she talked about how people’s feelings are like an iceberg, because icebergs only show about ten percent above the water and the rest of the iceberg is underwater. Mzima describes that people hide their feelings and only show about ten percent of who they really are. Mzima and Tony’s goal was for everyone to lower their water level from ten percent to ninety percent, for them to step out of their comfort zone, and to open up and share their true feelings.

At the end of Mzima’s discussion, she opened up and told the group a story about what she went through in her life. Following Mzima’s story, Tony shared a story about what went on in his life as well. Then it was the students’ turn to open up. Everyone got split up into groups, called small families, consisting of five or six people, and that was the family everyone was with the rest of the day. Once the participants got acquainted with each other, Mzima had everyone close their eyes and think about who they really are, and how their life is, both at home and at school.

Then things got “real.” Each person got to speak one at a time for two minutes, about what really goes on in his or her life outside of school. Students had the choice of opening up or not speaking at all if they didn’t feel comfortable enough. At the end of their two minutes, each member from their family gave them a hug to show their support. “I felt a whole lot better after I shared with my family; it cleansed my soul,” said Kendra White, a junior who participated in Challenge Day. “Those two minutes meant a lot to me.” After everyone had an opportunity to speak the group got a small break to get a few hugs from friends and then got together with their “families” again.

At lunchtime, students sat with their families and ate with them instead of with their friends. Each member in the family got to know a few random facts about everyone. After lunch the whole group got back together with the leaders and played a couple more games to get the students energized again. Tony and Mzima then talked about oppression, which they described as an unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power. They mentioned that people get looked down upon because of the color of their skin, how they dress, how they act, their age, their religion, their gender, and how much money they have. The point they were trying to get across was that everyone has dealt with oppression in one form or another, but that they have also judged others.

The next activity was the “power shuffle”, which probably had the most impact and brought out the most emotions for students. “The power shuffle was the most memorable, to see all the diversity of people to cross the line. It was really powerful,” said Lessard. During the power shuffle the leaders made two lines with tape on the floor. Everyone then came together on one side of the line, then Mzima listed a series of categories, and when any of those categories applied to anyone in the room they would cross the line. Some of the categories mentioned were: If you have ever been teased because of the color of your skin; If an adult has ever hit you; and If you have been teased because they said you’re too fat.

“The hardest part of that activity was seeing a lot of my friends cross the line, and realizing how much they have been through, and how much of the same stuff we have been through,” said Richard Van Zetten, a junior who also participated in the event. This was a very emotional activity for students; some categories that were mentioned brought back memories that students have pushed to the back of their minds.  “Some lines were more hard to cross; they opened up a lot of closed wounds,” said Richard.

A lot of barriers came down at this point and opened up more. “I like that students felt safe enough around the group to cross the line,” said Cheryl Johnson, Social Studies Teacher who participated in Challenge Day.

Once all the categories were presented, the group got back with their small families and everyone got the chance to speak what was on their minds again. Students were to talk about what they got most out of the last activity, what memories were stirred in their minds, and what category was the hardest for them to cross. If people hadn’t yet opened up to their small families the first time, most started to after the power shuffle had ended. After everyone had the chance to speak it was time to talk to the entire group. Tony and Mzima told everyone that if they really wanted to make a difference in their community then they had to act now and make the change themselves.

Then Tony and Mzima allowed students to come up to the microphone and tell everyone what they were going to do individually to make a change. There were a few students who were brave enough to make a sincere apology to someone in front of the entire the group in the room.  A lot of students came up and thanked the leaders for taking time from their day to do the program with them, because it had changed there outlook on life. One student participant said, “Thank you Challenge Day for this life changing experience. You really made a difference at our school.” Many said that they felt one hundred percent better after talking to their small family; that they really felt like they have someone to talk to when they need to now.

Many of the teachers said they feel much more connected to their students now that they got to see some of their students really open up. “It was really nice to see my students in a whole new light,” said Wendy Doyle, a math teacher who also participated. Lessard also said he felt more connected to his small family and realized that there is always something going on in someone’s life, and that they just need a little support.

After Challenge Day, teachers and students have pledged to try and make a change in the halls of TJ.  “I would really like to see students respecting teachers and have the students be more accepting towards each other,” said Doyle.

Lessard wants to try and figure out a way to have the teachers and kids on the same side. “I would like to convince the students that the adults aren’t their enemies, they are just trying to help,” said Lessard.

“Challenge Day really exceeded my expectations and I got good feedback from the students and the teachers,” said Davis.  “I could really feel the power of what the program provided around the school.” Davis said she hopes that kids who eat alone will no longer eat alone, or that kids who get teased for being who they are will make connections and the teasing will stop. “I also hope that kids who feel their problems are too big for anyone to handle can find ways to talk about it and feel less alone and isolated,” said Davis.

While Challenge Day has come to an end, apparently its impact has not. “I think it is going to make a difference at TJ.  I think the students were ready for the change and were open to the idea,” said Davis, who believes that throughout the halls of TJ, students everywhere are embracing the love of their fellow students, respecting both their classmates and their teachers, and they are representing the peace.  In other words, they are following exactly what Mzima and Tony told them to do, “Be The Change.”

Artwork by Rebecca Holt

Roland Emmerich does it again. The brand new doomsday film, 2012 hit theaters November 13, keeping viewers hooked from beginning to the end…of the world.

We have all heard the rumors about the Mayan prediction that the world is coming to an end on 12-21-12. The movie begins in 2009 when a scientist, Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor, Love Actually) visits a research facility in India where a colleague has alarming news about severe storms that have taken place on the sun’s surface and they are seriously affecting earth. Adrian then confronts U.S. President Wilson (Danny Glover, Saw V) about the recent news. Finally, after jumping a couple of years into the future, it is now 2012 and signs of doom are now accumulating, but people are going about their everyday lives completely oblivious to the doom that’s in store for them.

John Cusack (Martian Child) plays Jackson Curtis, a divorced, dad who is a chauffeur/ writer who lives in Los Angeles and is taking his two kids, Lilly (Morgan Lily, He’s Just Not That into You) and Noah Curtis (Liam James, Fred Claus) on a camping trip up to Yellowstone National Park. There they find that the military and government scientists have closed some of the park for reasons they cannot disclose. After they are personally escorted out of the restricted area by the military, they meet crazy Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson, Zombieland). Charlie is a radio host who believes that the world is coming to an end starting in California spreading to Yellowstone and eventually the whole world. He has the maps to the location of the “spaceships” the government is building to save the human race.

The ex wife, Kate (Amanda Peet, Martian Child) calls and cuts the vacation short because of serious earthquakes. After Jackson chauffeurs his employer’s children to a private jet he starts to think Charlie Frost is right. Jackson finds a plane and pilot and goes to get his family in the nick of time just as California is falling into the Ocean. Realistically, this should have killed the family and sucked them up into the earthquake. However, in this Hollywood film this is not the case; the audience wants action and entertainment, so having the family survive through is absolutely ridiculous. As California is falling to its doom the Curtis’ are jumping over cracks, flying through buildings and trying to make it to the airport in order to get a larger plane so they can further avoid the destruction.

Finding their pilot dead, Kate’s new husband Gordon (Tom McCarthy, Baby Mama) is a beginner pilot and barley knows how to start the plane, but with some miracle he flies the plane like he’s known how to for years. Flying the plane is just as unrealistic as the car ride: while taking off they are falling into the quake and when up in the air they are just barely missing falling buildings as California crumbles right in front of their eyes. Now they are heading to Yellowstone for the maps to the “spaceships” from Charlie. Yet again, another unrealistic situation, as they all survive Yellowstone’s eruption and the family is headed off to China.

When the U.S. Government found out the world was going to end two years prior, they joined forces with the other world leaders and they, along with anyone rich enough and lucky enough to know about it, got a ticket and boarded these specially built ships that can weather nature’s wrath. The lucky few that board the ship will be the ones to rebuild civilization while the not-so-lucky billions are left to perish.  The Chinese build these ships to save the human race.  The Government knew the whole time and kept it a huge secret from the whole world, and when the time came they told the important ones that were to start civilization over. The ships are like the Noah’s Arks the new millennium.

Even though some scenes were unrealistic, Roland Emmerich did a fantastic job with the special effects. The earthquakes, the tsunamis, and dust clouds looked so real, it looked like it was really happening right before my eyes. This is an edge-of-your-seat, eye-covering, seat-gripping, and special-effects-intense movie. If end-of-the-world predictions terrify you, then this is not a movie for you. But if you like awesome special effects, great acting and an intense story then this movie will thrill you.

By the end of the movie it’s going to make you wonder if you should party till 2012.

Artwork by Rebecca Holt

It seems every year many people want to begin their holiday shopping even earlier. So why not start at TJ’s Craft Fair, where shoppers not only get to finish their shopping early but they also get the chance to buy homemade gifts for their friends and family? “A lot of people like to get their holiday shopping done when going to the Craft Fair,” said Chris Holman, a TJ Partners member.

This is TJ’s 20th year having the Craft Fair, and this year the fair will be held on Saturday, November 21 from 9-4. Susan Freeland, a TJ Partners member, is putting the Craft Fair together. “Members from the TJ Partners will also be helping at the Craft Fair,” said Freeland. “Students from DECA, NHS, and ROTC will be helping out too, to get their volunteer hours.”

Individual vendors pay TJ Partners to rent booths and sell their handmade crafts. “Many of the vendors are people with small businesses who work from their home to make homemade crafts,” said Holman. This year TJ reached a full capacity with a total of 109 vendors.

A few of the homemade products that vendors will be selling are hand sewn and knitted clothing, glass ornaments, jewelry, wind-chimes, candles, metal and wood sculptures, home decorations, and seasoning mixes for soups or dips, and there will be many more items for sale.

Sheila Skubal, a TJ Partners member, is running a café. She will be selling sloppy joes, water, soft drinks, and much more. The seniors are also selling baked goods to raise money for After Prom.

The Craft Fair is held to raise funds for the students here at TJ. “The money TJ Partners makes from the booths go to the teachers,” said Freeland. For this to happen teachers must apply for grants. The money goes towards student awards, as well. Any profits the vendors make they keep; all they have to do is pay to rent a space.

Shoppers don’t want to miss this opportunity to start their holiday gift-buying and get the chance to purchase beautifully handmade gifts for friends and family.