Chipotle fundraiser is a success

Spencer Tinkel
Staff Writer

 In an effort to raise money for the class, the Class of 2015 had one of the most successful school fundraisers in recent years by incorporating Chipotle, a hit amongst students and faculty at New Hope-Solebury high school. On April 30, from hours 3 to 9, 50% of the money made from purchases made at Chipotle would benefit the Class of 2015.

 The idea was sound and steady. Students at New Hope-Solebury often visit the Chipotle in Valley Square, so why not utilize this fact to the school’s benefit. Some were skeptical, thinking a very small amount of money would be made since the event was held on a school night. The skeptics were wrong, as the Class was able to raise almost 1,000 dollars. That’s a lot of burritos.

 “Fundraising in high school these days is very difficult. Fresh ideas are tough to come by. With this event however, we were able to utilize the fact that people could enjoy a nice meal from a popular chain, while have the ability to benefit directly from the student’s enjoyment. It was a win-win,” an exuberant President Max Masino had to say.

 All the students had to do was show their flyer to the cashier and 50% of the funds would benefit NHS. The officers of the Class did an exceptional job of spreading the word by not only handing out flyers, but getting the word out via social media.

 “Having social media has changed the game. We can now spread news without actually seeing someone face to face. For those who lost their flyer, students had the opportunity to pull up a picture of the flyer via Twitter. We will definitely continue to incorporate social media into our fundrasinig,” said President Max Masino.

 One thing is for sure. The Class of 2015 has changed the game of fundraising. Hopefully, this opens the door to different, more rewarding types of fundraising.

Student Austin Maloney pursues medical career

Ben Muzekari

Staff Writer

 This past March, a Junior at New Hope-Solebury High School, Austin Maloney, was selected to engage in the University of Pittsburgh Health Career Academy. Previously known as the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for Health Care, Maloney was one of 110 driven students chosen from across the nation to participate in this year’s residential program.

 “I feel very honored to be one of the 110 out of thousands of applicants chosen to participate. I want to use this opportunity to learn more about medicine and specifically pediatrics because that is what I want to do later in life,” said Maloney.

 The University of Pittsburgh Health Career Academy is one of the most highly advanced and well known academic medical centers in the country. Maloney will have the chance to connect with highly experienced individuals who have years of experience and research on topics relating to health policy.

 “There are lots of courses that involve leadership and overcoming adversity which I would love to do. There will be lectures from doctors and other notable people throughout my time at Pittsburgh,” added Maloney.

 The camp will be held from June 22 to July 19 as Austin Maloney plans to take his dreams of medicine to the next level.

Rita's serves a welcome to Spring

Karli Burns and Kerry Leonardi

March 20th is not only the first day of Spring, but it is also the day Rita’s gives out free water ice. Every year Rita’s gives out free water ice on the first day of Spring and this year marks its twenty-second annual Free Ice Giveaway.

 Customers can obtain a free 12-oz regular Italian Ice with no purchase. This year Rita’s offered its new flavor Starburst Cherry Italian Ice in honor of the first day of Spring. This year Rita’s also implemented a new opportunity to obtain free water ice. Guests were allowed to use the hashtag #RitasFirstDayOfSpring and upload photos of their free water ice to Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Those who used the hashtag before midnight of March 20th had the chance to win free water ice for a year and other prizes.  Along with free water you were given the option to upgrade your water ice by adding custard on top for only $1. With the additional offer, people were taking the advantage. It also created longer lines as usual that stretched a few hundred feet. Lines did not stop people from coming to receive their free water ice on the first day of spring!

Malaysian plane disappears and evades search forces

Rachel Locke

Staff Writer

Almost a month ago, the Malaysian Airliner Flight 370 left the radar screens of the air traffic controllers and was never seen again. The last words that was spoken on the flight were “Good Night Malaysian Three Seven Zero.” And from there, the rest is a mystery yet to be discovered.

 On March 8, Malaysian Flight 370 departed from Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian Capital at 12:41 a.m., and was planning to arrive in Beijing, China around 6:30 a.m. the same day. The flight carried 239 passengers and was going to travel a total distance of 2,700 miles. However, no sooner than an hour into the trip, the air traffic controllers lost sight of the plane between the seas of Malaysia and Vietnam. Normally, a distressed call would be issued from the plane to indicate that there was a problem. Unfortunately, this did not happen. Malaysian military officials claim that radar data suggests the plane might have made a change in course. At this point in the disappearance, anything could have happened.

 The next day after the plane disappeared, radar images suggested two large oil slicks in the ocean that might have been linked to the plane. If this was true, then the plane might have had a problem and would crash soon. However, this was found to be unrelated to the missing plane. Another theory that arose days after the plane’s disappearance was that Flight 370 was hijacked. There were two passengers aboard the plane that had stolen passports. These individuals bought their tickets at the same time through the same website. Investigators say that they do not think that these individuals had any effect on the disappearance of the plane. Many countries, including the United States, went on a mission to find the missing plane. They took large boats out into the Indian Ocean and the surrounding seas of Malaysia but did not find anything significant. There was no correlation between the things they did find to Flight 370.

 The families of the passengers of Flight 370 are saddened by the inability to find this missing flight. They have not received answers about where their loved ones could be, and as of now, there really is no evidence of where the plane is or what happened to it. This might as well be the worst aviation mystery in history.

Sophomores get lucky on service project

Taylor Selbst & Katie Tangradi

Staff Writers

For the class of 2016 and their successors, the culminating project will be like nothing like what their predecessors experienced. In the past, students were instructed to pick a career, find a mentor, and spend twenty field hours with them. While spending this time with the mentor, each student kept a journal and took many photos. After a few essays were completed, the students presented their experience to a few selected teachers with a pass or fail outcome. The new culminating project has the class of 2016 completing 20 hours of community service by the end of senior year. From the class of 2017 and beyond those students must complete 30 hours of community service.

 The purpose of the new service project is to extend learning beyond the classroom and into the community. It is designed to advance responsible citizenship through active participation by students and encourage volunteerism in the future.For further information visit the webpage under Departments tab then Community Service.

 In order to complete the project, students have to record their community service and hand it in to their homeroom teachers on specific dates. The community service website has instructions to guide students throughout the process. After they complete their hours, students have to complete a journal to talk about all of the service they had completed. The past culminating project was required to do a journal as well. After that, students have to create a presentation, which is a brief summary of their journal and present it in front of his/her assigned homeroom. This project is a graduation requirement and is very important.

FBLA competes in State Competition

Maggie Dougherty

Staff Writer

 On April 4, Eight members of the Future Business Leaders of America club in the high school attended a leadership conference and competition at Hershey for two days.

 Lucia Minniti, Megan Sharkey, Maggie Dougherty, Victoria Kalinovich, Skylar Sherman, Andrew Dorsey, Matt Kilgariff, and Nick Lombardi qualified in their original tests to compete again against the winners of other FBLA high school clubs.

 The students all competed in different events, such as taking a test in Business Math or Grammar or presenting a subject to an audience. When they weren’t competing, the students attended educational classes where they learned how to be successful in the business world, or they watched other winners present or give a speech to try to compete in first in their category.

 “The experience was eye-opening, and I would definitely go back if I had the chance.” said freshman Victoria Kalinovich.

 In the closing ceremony, the winners of all the competitions were announced in front of everyone who attended. NH-S students waited anxiously to hear their names called. When they heard “From New Hope Solebury, Lucia Minniti and Megan Sharkey...” they jumped up and shouted like crazy.

 Although the two juniors did not place high enough to advance to the next level, it was indeed a proud moment for our tiny school. Lucia and Megan were able to go up on an extravagant stage and receive a well-deserved plaque for their performance. The trip overall taught the students how to achieve what they want in life and that if you work hard enough, you can accomplish anything.   

Unrest in Ukraine leads to division

Mackenzie Garvin

For a long three months, protestors against the Ukrainian government have staked out in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine in hopes of their president, Viktor Yanukovych, signing a historical political and trade agreement with the European Union. The president backed out of signing the agreement because of Russia’s opposition to it and because he disagreed with the key demand of freeing Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who was Yanukovych's former political opponent, from a seven-year imprisonment on abuse chargers.

 However, the pact could have created closer ties politically with the European Union and generated economic growth for a broke Ukraine. It also would have opened borders to trade and and potentially modernize Ukraine. When the news broke, outraged Ukrainian citizens took the streets in protest to demand their president sign the European Union deal.

 Their president reacted to the protests by fleeing to Moscow. He announced that Russia would buy $15 billion of Ukrainian debt and slash the price Kiev pays for gas. However, when that did not stop or even die down, he adopted a anti-protest law which barred people from wearing helmets, masks or setting up tents while in protest. That law was later repealed.

 However, protesters recently vacated the capital. In doing so they left a major street unblocked and left governmental buildings they had been occupying in protest in exchange for the arrested protester's charges dropped. However, four days later, the speaker of parliament refused amendments to the parliament that would limit the president’s powers which was followed by violence and blood.  

 Although the violent bloodshed has come to a halt for now and the president, Viktor Yanukovych, has fled to Crimea, the people of Ukraine have found it is too early to declare victory over their oppressive government. With one day being relatively civil and one day being filled with violence and blood, top international diplomats are working to resolve to conflict with talk of sanctions.