The HPCMS Chronicle

By Nairi Nakhapetian and Tsheyang Lhamo Natasha and Jaylene, Grade 6 The Watchicas, a wonder of 6 twins! (Grade 6)  Dash and Matthew, Grade 6 Leah and Maribell, Grade 7 Lila and Habibah Sophia and Olivia Sofia, Giulia and Claire (and Niamh, not pictured), Grade 7 Grade 8

Video by Angelirene Cuautle and text by Stacey Chavez and Vanessa Ramos On March 14, students had a protest in response to the school shooting that happened in Parkland, Florida on February 14 which was on Valentines Day. This protest helped to show the unity that students across the country had and how we are all sick of school shootings. In case you did go, don’t worry about it and we think it’s okay if you have different beliefs or just couldn't go! But in case you wanted to see what happened, here's a vlog of the whole protest!

By Jaiden Montero and JJ Lin “It’s just not fun anymore.” According to a poll from the National Alliance for Youth Sports , 70% of children quit playing sports at the age of 13. Here’s why they are taking the early retirement. The most common reason why 70% of 13-year-olds quit playing sports at that age is because they don’t make their school’s sports teams. This leads them to think they are not good enough and to keep playing sports is not worth it anymore. This becomes an issue as they get closer to high school. HPCMS student, Sade Bell, 8th grader, explains why she quit basketball. “I didn’t like it anymore, so I stopped playing,” but she also says she might go back to playing basketball. Sometimes, kids think, “I have to be the best or I’ve failed,” according to the Washington Post. If 13-year-olds think this and they don’t make the team, they think they’ve failed. Afterwards, they might quit. Olivia Ballentine, 7th grader, shared that she quit karate. “I was really bad at it, an...

By Ruan Sherpa, Jordan Robinson and JJ Lin After the Parkland school shooting incident, we conducted a survey on what students feel about gun safety. Below are the results in three pie charts:

By Mark Lazar Long Island City, HPCMS - Net Neutrality. What is it and why does it matter? It’s a term that’s being thrown around frequently and it’s a big deal, so I want to explain why this controversial debate is being held and what it’s about. Basically, Net Neutrality is the principle that ISPs, or internet service providers, treat all content equally, and not give preference to some digital content providers. That means the consumer (like us) can load any website, app, video, .gif, etc., equally, regardless of where the content is hosted. For example, an ISP may not charge more for sites that stream movies or promote a specific agenda. This is also referred to as the open internet. So, what’s the problem? The FCC, or Federal Communications Commission, voted in February 2015 to classify consumer broadband service as a public utility under Title II Order of the 1934 Communications Act. The FCC aimed to impose “light-touch” regulations on ISPs by excluding some 700 regulat...

By Alexa Perez Long Island City, HPCMS - Hello, it’s Alexa. I wanted to talk to you about the after-school program I go to. It’s called “82nd Street Academics.” It’s a fun and educational after-school program at Hunters Point Community Middle School. There are many fun things to do there and it’s educational for the students as well. It is runned by Ms. Andrea. She is a wonderful person and is so responsible and great at running the program. In the program, we have many activities to do. For instance, we have leaderships. There are many types of leaderships. There is Current Events, Women’s Empowerment, Career Exploration, Empowerment, and Speech Etiquette. It is very educational for the students and teaches them many things that happen in the world. Another thing we have here is Choice. In choice it’s a choice from the students to go to another place so we can do what we feel is good. I’m in Music. It’s very fun in every choice. Some of them are Music, Dance, Art, Film, an...

By Stacey Chavez, Angelirene Cuautle and Nadia Hidalgo Long Island City - You walk by yourself in the hallways, no one to talk to, no one who cares. Suddenly you hear footsteps coming from the corner. Boo! The bully monster! Nowhere to hide… ‘Nowhere to hide’ Drawn by Mark Lazar~ Over 3.2 million people are victims of bullying each year. Bullying is a serious issue because it can lead to children and teens suicidal thoughts. Because of bullying there are about 4,400 deaths per year that were caused by suicide. 77% of students across the country were bullied mentally, verbally and physically. Verbal bullying is saying mean things to another person and cyberbullying is when someone makes rumors and says mean things about someone through social media. Being physically bullied is possibly the worst type of bullying. It’s when other people are physically hurting someone, like punching, pinching or kicking. Bullying mostly happens at school between students. People get bullied ...