Hoofprint

Many students are wondering; why is the time between class changes four minutes now rather than five minutes like it was last year? Well, like many other students, I don’t think it is fair that we have only four minutes. It is obviously not enough time for students to go from one class, go to their locker, and reach their next class before the bell rings. This year I have noticed that more people are getting tardy as compared to last year.

I interviewed Mr. Martin and got his views on this controversial topic. He says that the years that this school was getting renovated, there was a four minute class change, last year we did the five minute class change just to try it out. But now we are back to a four minute class change. He says that they are still deciding if they want a five minute class change next year or a four minute class change. Mr. Martin says that he is okay with this schedule because he told the teachers not to count kids who come from far away classes tardy.

Which is better, the old or the new Hoofprint? That’s one question that’s on all of our minds. Newspapers have been going out of business because more people have looked on the internet, but is the online news really a better option? We didn’t know, but the students of MMS did. We did a survey of which one students like better and why. Check out there answers.

It seems like students all had something to say, but one of the news sources was much more popular. Out of the 20 students we interviewed, 16 preferred the old paper Hoofprint to the new one. This was because of convenience, easier access, and lack of time to go online. When gathering this information, we were shocked by the results. We assumed that a more modern Hoofprint would be extremely popular. Of course some people liked the E-Hoofprint better because there is more stuff to read, it is more updated and you can access it from anywhere.

The E-Hoofprint had a few people who were open to modernized news. They liked the ability to access the news from home. They also like the constant updates, so there are always new articles to read. The E-Hoofprint was made to save paper, and give easier access to news but some students preferred the old Hoofprint for convenience.

Maybe MMS should bring back the old Hoofprint for the students who still like it. Though more modern, the E-Hoofprint is not as popular, and most students prefer the old paper version.

Everyone watches the Olympics, right? Well, this year, the Winter Olympics took place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and started February 12, 2010.

The opening ceremony was a wild and elaborate celebration which was held on February 12, 2010 in the BC Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada at 6:00pm. This celebration started with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police carrying out the Canadian flag, while everyone sang “O Canada”. Of course the Olympics had to include some cultural shows, so some people involved in the ceremony brought out a 20-meter LED-light covered spirit bear puppet. There was also a variety of performances, such as Sarah McLachlan, the singer. It wouldn’t be the Olympics though if there weren’t the ceremonial lighting of the Olympic Cauldron, which concluded the celebration.

In the Olympics, there are a series of winter sports in which athletes have to be fit in body and mind. These sports consist of alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, luging, bobsledding, ice hockey, curling, snowboarding, figure skating, freestyle skating, pairs skating, speed skating, and more. The results of some of these sports are as follows:

Alpine Skiing

(Men’s)

1st- Didier Defago from Switzerland

2nd- Aksel Svindal from Norway

3rd- Bode Miller from USA

(Women’s)

1st- Lindsey Vonn from USA

2nd- Julia Mancuso from USA

3rd- Elisabeth Goergl from Austria

Cross-country Skiing

(Men’s)

1st- Dario Cologna from Switzerland

2nd- Pietro Cottrer from Italy

3rd- Lukas Bauer from Czech Republic

(Women’s)

1st- Charlotte Kalla from Sweden

2nd- Kristina Smigun-Vaehi from Estonia

3rd- Marit Bjorgen from Norway

Luging

(Men’s)

1st- Felix Loch from Germany

2nd- David Moeller from Germany

3rd- Armin Zoeggeler from Italy

(Women’s)

1st- Tatjana Hufner from Germany

2nd- Nina Reithmayer from Austria

3rd- Natalie Geisenberger from Germany

Snowboarding

1st- Seth Wescott from USA

2nd- Mike Robertson from Canada

3rd- Tony Ramoin from France

Snowboarding Cross

1st- Maelle Ricker from Canada

2nd- Deborah Anthonioz from France

3rd- Olivia Nobs from Switzerland

Pairs Figure Skating

1st- Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo from China

2nd- Pang Qing and Tong Jian from China

3rd- Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkawy from Germany

Men’s Moguls

1st- Alexandre Bilodeau from Canada

2nd- Dale Begg-Smith from Australia

3rd- Bryon Wilson from USA

Women’s Moguls

1st- Hannah Kearney from USA

2nd- Jennifer Herl from Canada

3rd- Shannon Bahrke from USA

I interviewed three 8th period classes about if they liked movies from the 1980s and had thirteen results. Here is what some people said.

From Mrs. Adams room we have an average vote of “Awesome”. That means Mrs. Adams eighth period class really likes 80’s movies. I like 80’s movies as well, but some kids prefer movies such as Saving Private Ryan and National Lampoons Vacation two of my favorite movies.

Mrs. Clark’s eighth period did not like them except for one person. Mrs. Clark’s room was very negative I have to say. Others around me who I didn’t write their opinion liked the modern movies a little bit better. They all agreed on “Weird”. One kid said “people with shiny clothes… and that’s weird.” That shows that Mrs. Clarks eighth period doesn’t like 80’s movies.

Finally, last but not least here is the opinion from Ms. Sorrell’s eighth period. I had one vote that said they “hate” them. Then I had a funny vote saying they were “hip” and another that said “exaggerating”. All of the rest were very positive. The vote they all agreed on was “cool”. So, Ms. Sorrell’s eighth period enjoys them a lot.

Many kids enjoy 80’s movies. My survey ends up with a vote of 10- 3 on liking 80’s movies. If I didn’t get your opinion please post a comment and tell E-Hoofprint what you think.

Nodar Kumaritashvili was twenty-one year old Georgian luger when he died in a fatal crash in a training run on Friday, February 12. He was entering his final turn when he struck the inside wall and sent himself flying out of the track. He smashed into an unpadded pole and was killed instantly. The track was closed for the rest of the day afterwards. His crashed touched everyone, since this was his first Olympics being the fourth competitor to die at the Olympics since 1992. Before the first heat, a moment of silence was held to honor Nodar. His photo was also displayed on the scoreboard.

Many people have said that Canada’s Olympic luge track is one of the trickiest in the world. It was said that the next day, they began making changes to the track. Instead of starting at the men’s entrance, all of the male lugers were told to start at the women’s entrance, a total of at least two football fields shorter. They also made the curves less severe and made the wooden wall, where Nodar flew out, much higher. This wall also covered the unpadded steel poles.

The next day, the Georgian team coach decided to attend a conference about his luger’s crash. He could only say a few words before having to stop before anyone could see his tears. It was very emotional. Along with his speech, the International Luge Federation officials said this track wasn’t the problem, which no evidence supported since they actually forgot to pad the poles where Nodar had crashed. Others had padding on them.

Not only did Nodar crash, but Italy’s two time defending gold medalist Armin Zoeggeler also crashed. He managed to hold onto his board during several curves before getting back on and finishing the race. He ended up taking the bronze after Felix Loch and David Moeller.