The HPCMS Chronicle

6th graders are currently participating in a mission where they are tasked with designing an animal sanctuary. In Science, students were asked to read an article about the ethics of zoos and submit a video response to the following question: Do you think zoos should be kept, changed or gotten rid of? Here's our blogger Ella's incredible response! We hope this makes you laugh as much as we did! 

By Silvestre Mora, Kevin Zamora and Bryan Chicaiza As you may have heard some soccer players are being discriminated against because of their skin color or race which is very unfair and disrespectful. For example, you might have heard about the incident when Dani Alves got a banana thrown at him in 2014 based on BBC.com . According to USA TODAY , police “questioned a soccer fan who was arrested after being seen on camera at Manchester City's stadium appearing to racially abuse Manchester United players by imitating a monkey.” In another example, there is an article from Italy’s frontrunning newspaper Corriere della Sera that says “Black Friday” and has two black soccer players on the cover. The cover includes soccer players Chris Smalling and Romelu Lukaku, both black players. Many people believe that this is a racist act and the writers have been criticized by the media. Even Chris and Romelu spoke about the writer's and author’s actions. "I hope the editors involv...

The school blog would like to invite you to the 2020 Spring Festival Fundraiser hosted by our very own PTA on May 8th at 5:30 here at HPCMS!  The theme this year is heroes. We encourage all attendees to dress up as your hero, whether it is a superhero or your long time role model. "Our goal for the Heroes: Assemble event is to have some fun and raise some money to support our school activities. This is the first year that we are having a costume competition, which is exciting, and I am looking forward to hearing the teacher band,” said Caroline King, a member of the HPCMS PTA. Also, there will be food, raffle tickets and amazing opportunities to win! Ticket admissions will cost $10 for kids and $15 for adults. If you are interested in coming, buy your tickets NOW!

By Tenzin Lekshey Long Island City, NYC - Rikers Island is one of the most notorious prisons in the world, partly for being in the largest city in the country, but mostly for being one of the most violent correctional facilities in the whole country. In October of 2019, the New York city council decided to close down the facility by 2026, after being in service since 1932. “Rikers Island is a symbol of brutality and inhumanity and it is time once and for all close Rikers Island,” reported The Guardian . This action was taken four years after the death of former inmate Kaleif Browder. He was originally put in Rikers to be held while being prosecuted for stealing a small backpack which he vehemently denied he did. And due to a broken bail system - he was not able to raise the $3000 needed to pay his bail so he could be released. In February of 2012, he took his bedsheets and made a noose and attempted to hang himself from a light fixture, the case was eventually dismissed and he ...

By Ilya Kreider We are New Yorkers, we depend on the subway and other forms of transportation to get around the city. Whether it’s getting to school, to work, to the doctors, or to any other places around the city we depend on public transportation. If we didn’t have this we would all have to own a car, nobody would have any money at all from having to pay for owning their cars. And the roads would be all jammed up. To make a point here I’m saying that we mostly rely on public transport to get around everywhere, even if the subway is always having problems. What I think that most of us don’t think about though is how safe all of these things are. Of course, you might spend 15 minutes in line for security at an airport and then get your bag pulled off of the conveyor belt for having a drop of water, but they don’t really do that for anything else. The MTA logo The subway system is home to over hundreds of people citywide. This is a problem because of high costs for homes and pe...

By Sarah Bayley and Sakura Jung Homework is terrible, right? Some studies show that homework can be bad for you, but there are benefits of homework, like the fact that it still can affect your grades whether they are good or bad. The Pros of Homework Homework teaches time management skills. Students need to organize a time to ensure that all the work gets completed. It also reduces screen time. It provides more time to complete the learning process. Homework also creates a communication network. “ Homework at a young age isn’t necessary, but I think it can be used to build skills,” says Dr. Daniela Montalto, a pediatric neuropsychologist and clinical director of the Institute for Learning and Academic Achievement at the Child Study Center at NYU Langone. Moreover, studies show that homework improves students in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college. Homework helps students to reinforce learning and develop good study habits and life ski...

By The Three Churros (Amelia, Arthur, and Farhan) A man shakes his cup, the coins clink together as he begs passersby for spare change. A woman boards a bus as she tries to escape the cold night after a long day of work. A child tries not to think about the sheIter he will have to go back to during his walk to school. All these people are homeless with little possessions and few friends who, as their name suggests, have no place they may call home. Statistics on Homelessness According to the Bowery Mission Around 70,000 people in New York City sleep on the streets or in shelters, while tens of thousands more live in tenements or “double-up” with other families. Even though not all people classified homeless are literally without a home, they do have to move around a lot. Many of these families do not stay in homes for very long. Some may stay at a home with someone for a few months, and temporarily stay at a homeless shelter. Because of their endless struggles to make a decent...