National Geographic Bee By Alex Roper

The National Geographic Bee is a geography competition. They ask the student geography questions and they have to answer the correctly. In the first round there is a group of ten people (there is more than one group). The student will be asked seven questions. Out of all the groups the ten people that have the most right out will compete in the school championship round. This year in our school the ten people were: Charlie Warner, Nora Springer, Alex Roper, Aunna Yingling, Devon Gilbert, Alex Hockensmith, Carli Huber, Nicco Shorto, Erik Wehner, and Matt Wehner. In this round the students will be asked questions and they are still in until the student answers two wrong. Then once there are two people left it is the championship round. The two contestants will be asked three questions whoever gets the most right out of the three questions will be the champion. If they both get the same amount of questions right there are tie-breaker questions. The two people in the championship round this year were Matt Wehner and Carli Huber. However Matt came out victorious. Now he will take the written exam. If he scores in the top one hundred in the state he will go to Penn State for the next round. Whoever wins that round will go to the national competition. There they will take the top ten contestants for the final round. There will be a first place, second place, and third place. Those people will compete in the world competition.

Youth Yellow Pages By Natalie Fiorica

The school has handed out the small yellow book with very important information that most of the student population here have disregarded. This little yellow book also known as YYP can help you in a very serious situation.
The book provides information on suicide hotlines, substance abuse problems, and other hotlines for you to call. The most important thing to remember is that someone out there wants to hear your life story. Someone in this world really cares about you. This book can provide you with someone to turn to if you are uncomfortable with talking to your parents.
If you are in need of advice you can locally go downtown to the ACRP outpatient care unit. This is for kids, teens and adults. If you and your family are financially troubled you can schedule a meeting with a social worker for free. A social worker is someone like a guidance counselor. They keep record of your behavior and how you improve or worsen over time. In any instance a social worker may help you out at home if you are being harmed. They are good listeners and are not like typical adults.
Not only does this book give you hotline telephone numbers, it also helps you cope with cyber bulling. This often occurs on popular sites such as MySpace, Twitter, or Facebook. If someone got a hold of your username and started cyber bulling through your webpage or via instant messages, this is what YYP suggested: Highlight the conversation, copy and paste it to a blank word document, save it to your private folder, then print it out. Once you have done so, show an adult you are most comfortable around and they will help you out. If cyber bulling becomes a serious problem for you, report it to a police officer or someone with high power to help you out.
One major problem that some students suffer from is depression. One way to help get your mind off of things is going to the YMCA. The Y not only has sport groups, but it also has support groups. If you are just plain lonely and bored, join a club at the Y. When or if you go to the YMCA, make sure a parent or supervisor knows your whereabouts in case you got lost. When you ask your family to go hang with friends after school, always call to remind them that you’re going out so they don’t forget. Also make sure to meet your curfew that your family has set so they don’t worry and get the police involved.
www.acrp.com
The local phone number is in your YYP

The Birth of Big Mama's Shack By Zac Yonko

In the fall, in one of Mrs. Weaver’s eighth grade classes, a group of boys by the names of Brady, Tyler, Noah, and myself Zac came up with the restaurant, called BIG MAMA’S SHACK (BMS for short). It was started when our teacher, Mrs. Weaver, gave us an assignment to make a restaurant menu by using as many adjectives to describe our food as possible. The group first came up with the restaurant, The Jungle Café. This was later scratched for the title BMS, or Big Mama’s Shack. This was done for humorous reasons to make our class laugh their heads off. The menu had a breakfast, lunch, dinner, kids section, & dessert, and the new updated version has T-shirts now. The BMS is a big hit with the eighth grade students. T-shirts have actually been made. There were two prototypes made in Ind. Tech. class for screen printing. The shirts have a picture of the shack itself, and have the words, “Big Mama’s Shack,” on it. Also a Facebook fan page was added by Brady Shriver. Hopefully in the future a real Big Mama’s Shack will be made, so in the future look out for a BMS! Yes Mrs. Weaver does get 10% of the profits.

Middle School Baseball Team By Brady Shriver

When the spring comes around most fans and players can’t wait for baseball. Some of the students have talked about it the past years that we should have a Middle School Baseball Team. There would be easily fifteen kids that would tryout at least in 8th grade and some in 7th grade. If we could get a few other teams in the area to make a team to the team could have about as many games as the 8th grade football team. WHMS has Track, Football, Volleyball, Girls Basketball, Boys Basketball, but no Baseball. It’s probably a little late to start a team but for now or the future students that want to play he school board might want to consider it.

Doctor Who By Alex Roper

Doctor Who is a popular television program in England. The head writer is Steven Moffat. The doctor is a time lord (time traveler) that uses an old police box, called the TARDIS. The word TARDIS is an acronym that stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. He always has an assistant from earth that travels with him. He is an explorer that often saves the world. The doctor is from the planet of Gallifrey that was destroyed a long time ago during the time war by his ultimate enemies, the Daleks. He battles creatures from different planets that are trying to take over the world. The television program started in the1960s with William Hartnell as the First doctor. The current one, and my favorite, is David Tennant. The first special, out of a series of four, was Planet of the Dead. The second special is the Waters of Mars, premiering Saturday, December 19th at 9/8c on BBC America. The third is The End of Time, Part One premieres Saturday December 26th at 9/8c on BBC America. The fourth is The End of Time, Part Two premieres Saturday January 2nd at 9/8c on BBC America. Matt Smith will play the doctor for series five. Series five will begin in 2010. Currently, replays of Doctor Who are being played on SyFy on Fridays at 5:00 am. Also it will be on BBC America on Sunday at 9 pm.

Westmont 7th Grade Football Team Finally Beats Bishop McCort

On October 7th, 2009 the 7th grade Westmont Hilltop Football team beat Bishop McCort for the first time in two years. The defense played well and forced four turnovers including an Adam McQuilan interception. They were slow coming out, letting Bishop McCort drive down field to inside the 20 yard line, but Westmont responded with a fumble recovery. Then Westmont marched down the field to score a touchdown. Bishop McCort`s next big drive also resulted in a fumble. From then on Westmont played good defense and made good tackles. Westmont also forced a safety. Westmont ended up scoring two more touchdowns and didn`t let Bishop McCort score. The final score was 22-0.

Westy News Goes Live by Zac Yonko

Ever since the beginning of the month of October, the Westmont Hilltop Middle Schools end of the day announcements went live. The eighth grade students get to announce the news for a week. After two weeks of doing the announcements, the student then rotates with another student to give them chance.The camera men for the announcements are Cullen McQullen and Zac Yonko. The news now includes music at the beginning, which is for now Right Now, by Van Halen. The teachers submit their information to the office and are finalized by Mrs.Hartland. Also holidays have when a special announcements when the holiday comes around. The new announcements, starting the week of Dec. 14, will be said by students in your grade during your lunch homeroom. This was a somewhat of big transition for the Westmont Middle School announcements.

2009 County Chorus By Natalie Fiorica

On November 17th, 2009 County Chorus had a wonderful performance. It was well organized and the students did a very nice job. This event was held at the Richland High School Fine Arts Center. The Fine Arts Center was modeled after the Pasqurilla Performing Arts Center, and is very nicely set up. The stage had nice rows of seats set up for the singers, and a platform set up for the conductor.
The entirety of the county chorus was more than 180 students. 10 students from each school district were chosen to participate. The Cambria County Chorus was on hiatus for about 15 years until this year when it was revived.
To start of the concert, 6th and 7th grade went first. They were conducted by Dr. Christopher Kiver of Penn State University. The conductor of the 8th and 9th grade chorus was Brian Winnie of Pennington, New Jersey. Both conductors started out with 1 song before giving a background about them. Also after every song they made comments and gave information on each piece that was sung.
One of the more memorable pieces, “This Little Light of Mine” sung by the male members in the 8th and 9th grade chorus. It was such a fun piece to hear and see. The chorus was on stage dancing, and the conductor made this an enjoyable evening for the audience and the performers.

Reading Competition - Jill C.

Reading is a great way to go on an adventure without even leaving the house. If you want to go on an adventure through a book, you should join Reading Team. It is a fun way to converse with various books that other people have read that are on the team while attending after-school meeting on Tuesdays until 4:00 or 4:30. Miss K and Mrs. Weaver are our GREAT, PHENOMENAL, AMAZING (there aren’t enough adjectives in my vocabulary to describe them.) coaches.

In order to become a member of the Reading Team, you had to have signed up in Miss K’s room. Then you have to have a minimum of 8 books read by the competition date. You also have to complete a character sheet and 5 question cards for all of the books you read in the 42 books previously selected by IU8. (The character sheet consists of the name of the book, the author, setting, at least 3 main characters and their traits, and a summary of the book.) All of the books that were chosen for Reading Team are on a book cart in Miss K’s room. YOU MUST COMPLETE THE CHARACTER SHEET AND CARDS BEFORE YOU GET A NEW BOOK!! This is very important because when it comes time for the competition, it is EXTREMELY helpful to look over your character sheets to refresh your memory on important details in the books that you read. Also, if is very fun and effective when you and your teammates quiz each other with the note cards previously written for the books.

In previous years, the competition has been amazing. All members leave early from school (missing ninth period) in order to arrive at Meyersdale School to have ample time to eat an early supper and have time to be organized into the various classrooms in the building. Meyersdale School is huge because the building consists of the elementary, middle, and high school. The food at Meyersdale is great. After dinner, all of the teams are assigned to the many rooms and are matched up with an opponent. There is also a moderator (person who reads the questions and/or interprets the answers given by the teams) and a scorekeeper assigned to each room as well. The moderator will then alternate questions to each team. If the team answers the question correctly then they get the point, but if they answer incorrectly, the other team has a chance to steal the point. However, if no one gets it right, no points are awarded. The only bad things that have occurred in the past were some of the answers to tricky questions were either too specific or completely incorrect. This happened because the moderator hadn’t read the books, and they were just banking off of the people who wrote the questions to be correct. If the moderator was unsure of the answer given by the teams, they ask the scorekeeper for their opinion.

After all of the 20 questions per team, whichever team has the most points wins the round and moves on to the next round. There are three rounds of questions. After all of the teams have completed their three rounds, all of the points are tallied up to choose first, second, and third places. (Various teams are awarded first, second, and third place because of different age groups.) After the awards ceremony, members head for Johnstown and return to Westmont Middle School around 8:30 p.m.All in all, Reading Team is an awesome club to join if you love to read. The books, practices, competition, the coaches – everything about it is great. Reading Team disciplines and improves your reading skills by a mile. This year’s reading team did extremely well at the competition this year. Both teams, Thing 1 and Thing 2 got second place.

Watership Down - A Great Book! - Isaac J.

Watership Down is a novel about as big as a Twilight book (which gives you no reason not to read it). Written in the 1960’s, it takes place in the English Downs, namely Watership Down. It is about a warren of rabbits located in the Sandleford Warren. Hazel and is little brother Fiver (Fiver is what they called him because he was the fifth in the litter) are the main characters. Fiver is supposed to have supernatural powers and can sense when something isn’t right. Humans are planning to destroy the warren to make it into a construction site. Fiver has this vision and tries to tell the Threarah, the head rabbit, but no-one will listen.

Hazel tries to round up a group of rabbits to leave the warren. One is Bigwig, a member of the Sandleford Owsla. The Owsla is like a volunteer army corps for strong rabbits. Then Captain Holly, captain of the Sandleford Owsla, and two other members come to arrest this group of rabbits for desertion before they set off on their perilous journey. Of course Holly does not succeed or this wouldn’t be much of a novel, would it? On their journey they meet foxes, hawks, dangerous vagabond rabbits, psychotic rabbits, and predators of all kinds. To find out the rest you’ll have to read it yourself.

LOST - Brandon H.

On September 22, 2004 the show Lost premiered in the United States and Canada. It started with a plane crash crashing on an island. While trying to find a way off of the island, the plane crash survivors saw black smoke. They went there to see what it was and no one was there. They later found out that it could be “The Others”, or the Dharma Initiative. The Dharma Initiative were people sent to the island for research and they found out that time was not normal on the island. Time was behind from the rest of the world. The plane survivors found a guy named Ben Linus. He was part of the Dharma Initiative. He was actually the Dharma Initiative’s important people’s son. They held him as hostage. And he tried to like kill them all or something. But then after a while Ben Linus started helping the survivors. Or that’s what they thought. He did everything to keep the survivors from leaving the island which was all they actually wanted to do. In the fourth season, they did get off of the island, and Ben Linus did help them. This was my favorite part of the season.

To get off of the island, since Ben was part of the Dharma Initiative, he knew how to signal The Others to not shoot at them. They got a flashlight and a mirror. Ben turned it on and off to signal them. And they let them all up. Unfortunately, there were people who wanted to kill them all. So as they shot at the survivors they ran for their lives to this elevator that led far into the ground. There was a T.V. and a big microwave thing. It would do strange stuff to objects but, when Ben Linus was messing around with the microwave, the main character, John Locke was told to watch the T.V. It was an instructional video of how to use this “Microwave”. It said not to put metallic objects in there. But that was all that Ben was putting in there. Then John was saying how it said not to put metal in there but Ben was saying he knew what he was doing, so then after all the metal was inside he left the giant microwave, hit a button, and it blew up. Behind the blown up microwave thing was a small hole in the wall. He crawled inside, it was really snowy. He kept walking for like 5 minutes until he got to this enormous lever. He turned this really big wheel and pulled the lever. The island moved. And it flashed forward to John Locke being dead.
Lost is a very interesting show, and if you watch any episode you pretty much want to watch them all. There is also at least one part of every episode that is extremely exciting. So it’s a good show, and you should watch.

Favorite Ways to Listen to Music For 2009 by Tom H. and Derek B.

We took a vote of 70 people at the middle school, and people chose the following for their favorite way to listen to music: Computer, iPod, Mp3 player, stereo system, PS3, PSP. There were 5 votes for the computer, 36 votes for the iPod, 14 votes for an Mp3 player, 14 votes for the stereo system, only 2 votes for the PS3, and only 4 votes for the PSP. All of the votes totaled up make 70 votes!

Computer: 5
iPod 36
Mp3 14
Stereo 14
PS3 2
PSP 4

Total Votes: 70

HALT! Bullying Prevention Program at UPJ - Zach Y.

On the day of March 25 the Westmont Hilltop school district took 70 students to The University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. There we were hurried into a building where we met a doctor (AKA, Jeff). We started the program by him telling us stories of his childhood. Afterward, we then met the high school and college students, while slapping our thighs to the beat of “We Will Rock You.” Next, we put on short plays about what happens in an average school day. Then we broke off into teams. Our team was called “The Bighead Walrus Jiggle Puffs, with Bill Cosby;” some other team names were, “The Goonies,” and “The Purple People Eaters.”
Next we got mentors. In my group, our mentors were Andy and Austin. Then we played the knot game. In the game we had to link one hand to a person in your group, next we had to take our other hand a link it to another person. Then we had to use team work to get out of the knot.
Following, the knot game we sat down and got to know each other. We spoke about our problems to our mentors. After that, we then got a Venn diagram and were given a partner. We had to find things we had in common and things we didn’t. Then Jeff had us work on a project about our school. So, we had to construct a new school, while having a sticker on our heads saying how to treat us. My sticker said “Treat me like I’m normal,” some other stickers said “Treat like if I was a nerd,” and “Kiss up to me.”
Next we got to have lunch. We had pizza and pretzels. Then Jeff made us pretend that we were parts of an ice cream. We had to group to make the best ice cream ever. We then played the fox and the hen game. Then we got to have ice cream.
Lastly the older kids put on a play for us. The final thing we did was sign a sign that we won’t be bullies. The trip was very fun and interesting.

Seventh Grade Field Trip - Natalie F.

The 7th grade field trip this year is to Kennywood Park in West Mifflin, PA. In the morning, students will be participating in math and science experiments using the park’s rides. This should provide a great learning opportunity. After completing their experiments, students will be allowed to explore the park and rides.
There is a new attraction this year, the Ghostwood Estate. On this ride you are put in a “buggy” and guided by Lord Ghostwood’s spirit. In your buggies you will find ghost blasters. You use these guns to shoot the unwanted spirits. The more you shoot the higher the score.
Also a new thrill ride is the Bayern Kurve; this ride simulates a bobsled while taking you through the Swiss Alps. Of course there are always the classic rides. Musik Express is a ride where LOUD music and FLASHING lights are used while you are moving very fast, up and down. Besides rides, there is also a lot of great food! There are many cafés in the park along with the usual fast food carts. Kennywood has a famous French fry stand called the Potato Patch. There you can purchase fresh cut French fries topped with whatever you want. They have Pepsi products such as: MOUNTAIN DEW, DR.PEPPER, Sierra Mist, Pepsi, and Aquafina.
Hopefully, you have learned many important things from this article: 1. Don’t go anywhere without money (or no food for you). 2. There are loads of rides including water rides so bring extra clothing. 3. Fun will be had by all!

Track and Field - Ben K.

Track & Field is a fun way to get in shape. There are many events including track, jumping, and field. In the track events there is sprinting and long distance. Sprinting is for the fast people, and long distance running is for people who can keep a steady pace. The next events are jumping and field. In jumping the events are hurdles, running long jump, standing long jump, and the pole vault. The last events are the field events. The field events include shot put, discus and javelin, which the junior high kids can’t participate in. These are all the events of Track & Field. A bunch of coaches are there to help you. There is a coach for every event. It is so fun. If you like to run you should join track & field!

MathCounts - Dorothea O.

Sonia takes at most three tests on any one school day and at most seven tests in any five consecutive school days. (A Friday and the following Monday are considered consecutive school days.) What is the least number of consecutive school days in which Sonia could take 20 tests?

This is a sample question from the 2008 National Mathcounts competition. Our Westmont team practices on Mondays and Wednesdays after school until four o’clock. Mr. Papcun, the coach, gives the students practice problems and helps them develop their math skills. In addition to the four-person team, the math club consists of around 10 kids, who practice in a noncompetitive environment.

The Mathcounts team competed at the state level on March 20th and 21st, after winning the regional round on February 14th. They did not win states, but hope to return next year. All seventh and eighth graders interested in learning about math may attend next year. For more information and practice problems, visit www.mathcounts.org or talk to Mr. Papcun.

(In case you’re wondering about the above problem, the answer is twelve days.)

Disney Rides - Natalie F.

This is a list of the most well known rides in Disney history! Now, I haven’t counted but there must be at least 3,000 rides in all of Disney! I'm sure you’re thinking "How that is possible? You can’t just narrow it down to ten!" Well think again because, if you have been there more than five times you get to the point where you can pick the good from the bad. So, don’t get too overwhelmed with what I about to share with you. I hope you enjoy this factual list of the best rides in all the land.
In this article you will see me use the term “Fast Pass.” Fast Passes are tickets you get at the entrance of a ride with your park pass from your hotel. You insert your park pass and get this little paper ticket that says something like: Magic Kingdom ride: Peter Pan. Time report to ride 12:30-2:00. So these passes permit you between the time of 12:30-2 o’clock to cut line. The only downside is that you can only get 3 passes per park. These are free passes, but only 150 people get a pass per time frame. It’s very confusing, but once you get there you’ll understand.

Here are the best rides in order from least scary to most scary:

1. Thunder Mountain; this ride is like a railroad with fun ups and downs, this is in Frontierland in the one, the only Magic Kingdom! This ride is usually packed so I suggest fast passes which are always located at the entrance. The longest wait for this ride can be up to 165 minutes, so always bring something to do.

2. Kali River Rapids; this ride is for hot days only, so put on your swimsuit you about to get soaked! This ride is located in animal kingdom, this ride is like sitting in a huge inner tube and you get wet by going through waterfalls and big drops.

3. Haunted Mansion; this one only gets scary in the grave yard and hearing other people shriek! If you closely while you are waiting in line the gravestones move, make sure you watch the one with the face, she’ll be watching you. This ride is located in Fantasyland, Magic kingdom.

4. Test Track; by far my favorite, it kind of like a driving test, but having Jeff Gordon drive you through a wall! In this ride the “car company” is using you as there test dummies, this has tests you go through in a navigated car. At the very end of the ride you break through a wall and go 80 miles per hour in a convertible! This ride is located in Epcot. It is completely safe the car has 22 wheels, but you can only see four with your eyes. I suggest fast passes this line could get up to 400 minutes.

5. Splash Mountain; The biggest eye opener drop in all the kingdom, and you so get wet! This is also located in Frontier land, right next to Thunder Mountain. This ride is based on the story of Brer Rabbit going to his happy place, trying to run away from Brer Fox. The plunge in 6 STORIES HIGH!!!! WARNING YOU GET WET.

6. Space Mountain; in the dark! This ride is an indoor roller coaster that is kind of like the wild mouse but more on the swirly side. The biggest drop is about 44 feet. This is one of the most intense indoor rides in Magic Kingdom. Always get fast passes or get to the park early this ride gets packed!

7. Mission: Space; is now also Mission: Mars. You can go to either place and there are two levels. Orange is way intense training they so call it. Then there is green level which is for first time riders. If you don’t want to ride you can wait inside where they have huge video game stations!!!!! This ride I couldn’t even handle, in fact I was afraid of the ghost of that five year old boy from Pennsylvania died on this ride on April 14, 2005.

8. Soarin’; the best ride that takes you through the valleys of California and you can smell the fresh oranges, Warning if you are afraid of heights this is not your ride! On this ride it is indoors and you sit in this giant ski lift and it takes you 40 feet off the ground and places you in front of a huge screen. This screen takes you through California, and ends you in Disney Land CL. This ride is located in Epcot’s the Land Pavilion. (Always get fast passes, this rides can have lines that are at least half a mile long!)

9. Expedition Everest; this one is a must for all you rollercoaster fans, but beware of the Yeti once you get to the top there is no escape! This ride is about 11 minutes long and the biggest drop is going backwards down the mountain at 44 feet high. Some of this ride my be in the dark and yes there is a Yeti, and yes IT IS BIG and real looking. This ride is located in animal kingdom, if you get there early fast passes aren’t necessary.

10. Rockin Roller Coaster; this one has loops and loud music making your eardrums bleed! WARNING, May make you THROW UP! This ride has the highest drop up to 48 feet. This ride is located in what is now called Hollywood studios, it use to be MGM. This ride always has really, really, really long lines. This ride is indoors and in the dark. But inside there is a lot of glow in the dark neon signs. The longest ride for this line is about 290 minutes. During your rollercoaster experience they blast Aerosmith music all throughout the ride!

Current Events Team - Jill C.

Have you ever felt out of the loop – in world news that is. Have you ever felt lost in a class when it comes to current events? Well, if you want to enter the news circle, I suggest you join the National Current Events team. Every week you are assigned to look in the newspaper, recent news magazines, the Internet – however you can get articles on recent news events within a week’s time. You have to summarize three national (US news) and international (world-wide) articles, one arts and entertainment, one science and health, one business and finance, and one sports article. (Note: No articles can be local news. For example, write about something that probably would be found in a Californian newspaper, too. In other words, don’t write about anything from the local sections of the newspaper.) You have to turn your completed current events paper into Miss K on Mondays unless told otherwise. That is your ticket to the Current Events meeting on Fridays during first period for seventh and eighth graders, but you also have to get a pass from Miss K on Friday morning which is also a vital pass. Current Events for fifth and sixth graders is with Mrs. Terndrup.

Being a member of the Current Events team really makes you aware of your surroundings. It also helps you better understand the material studied in Geography class (grade 7) or Civics class (grade 8) when you talk or debate about certain topics relating to recent events and history. For example, near the end of year we study the Middle Eastern countries and territories which are Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine (territory), Golan Heights (territory), United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Israel, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Yemen, Oman, and Qatar in Geography class with Mrs. Bassi.

Being a member of the Current Events team can really helped you understand pretty much anything - well, except for algebra. You’re on your own for that. You can learn so much more than by just reading the newspaper alone. Current Events is awesome, and you should join now!