Product Review: McRib

Photo Credit: McDonald's

by Keaton Ingle, senior

The McRib is back at McDonald's! Grabbing one of these for dinner is a great way to start off December with its sweet, savory taste. Its barbecue sauce is full of flavor the instant it touches your mouth.

The McRib costs around $3 for just the sandwich. Its made from a rib patty, pickles, onion, a square of molded barbeque meat, plus a bun. If you want fries and a drink, you can have this whole meal for around $5. The McRib is only a seasonal item on the menu and comes to McDonald's around the beginning of November.

Personally, this is my favorite meal of any restaurant, even restaurants that are considered a lot nicer than McDonald's. Even though you can get a cheaper meal with the combo that I mentioned already, I think that it's best with a sausage McGriddle and a large vanilla ice coffee. The contrast of all the flavors makes this meal very desirable for my taste buds and would recommend this meal to anyone wanting a savory taste.

Opinion: Why SOLs are Unfair

by Riley Lawson, junior

SOLs, SOLs, SOLs. It's all you'll hear all day long in a Virginia school; after all, it's what the entire school year revolves around. At least that's what it seems like in a class that has the state-required test at the end of the semester. SOLS only lead to stress on teachers, stress on students, and altered classes.  

Stress on Teachers
The Virginia SOLS, which began in 1998, are a flawed system; all they do is make teaching harder for teachers. SOLs put so much stress on teachers due to the fact that they have to make sure the students learn all of the materials that they will be tested  on in the limited amount of time they have. It ends up that the classes revolve around them.  This means that teachers may not have time to teach additional material that is not on the test, even if it would be beneficial to the student. For example, learning to do more writing instead of just answering multiple choice questions would help teach skills that might be needed in college. In Science, you might not have as much time to do experiments, which are good for learning, but they're not like the written work that's tested on the SOL.

Stress on Students

Additionally, SOLS cause a lot of stress on students due to the fact that their entire school year revolves around it. From the first day of school, to the very end, all that they are told is that they need to prepare for the SOL and that "This is going to be on the SOL." Pretty much if you fail an SOL, you're not going to pass th class and then you'll have to retake it. All students do all year is stress about the SOLS.

There's even more stress involved when it's time to take the SOL. When you see the test, it gets you anxious and even after you take it, all you do is worry if you passed it. It's not even a good measure of what you've learned. Since it's multiple choice, you can kind of guess on the SOL sometimes without having to fully understand everything. But the opposite can also be true. Some people have test anxiety. They're so nervous and stressed out about the SOL that it can cause them to overthink it and do bad even if they know everything.

In conclusion, the SOL tests are a flawed testing system. The students' year should not revolve around a test; it should be the other way around. While some form of test is necessary, I feel that it should be done on a case-by-case basis. The tests should be on what was taught in the class and the teachers should have much more involvement in what goes on the test. A final exam that's created by the teachers would be a better way to test students on what they learned in the class.

The Stranger Game: Book Review

(Book Review) by Mary T., sophomore

The Stranger Game is a dark, suspenseful, mystery novel by Cylin Busby, and was published on October 25, 2016.

The main character is a fifteen-year-old girl named Nico Morris. When she was eleven, her older sister, Sarah, went missing at the age of fifteen.

Before Sarah's disappearance, she would verbally and physically abuse Nico. Nico could never tell their parents because they wouldn't believe her and it would make Sarah become more cruel towards her.

Despite how Sarah treated Nico, everyone else saw her as a wonderful person. She was the head cheerleader, made good grades, and was beautiful.

Once Sarah went missing, Nico felt as if her life took a turn for the better. She was no longer being tormented everyday, she didn't have to live in Sarah's spotlight anymore.

Nico and her family searched for Sarah for four years, with all the leads and attempts coming to dead ends. People began to assume that she was dead, until the Morris family receives a call about a girl found a few states over claiming to be Sarah.

The Morris' make their way to meet the girl who's saying she's Sarah. Once the family sees her, they all believe it's really her, everyone except Nico. Nico notices small differences about Sarah, her hair is darker, she's slightly shorter, and thinner than Sarah was before she went missing.

Nico was the only one to recognize these differences, so she feels as if she's overthinking it.

Sarah doesn't recall much of anything from her experience. She only remembers waking up on a bench when the police found her. She has cigarette burns all over her back, evidence of sexual abuse, a healed broken arm, and some missing teeth.

After the family brings her home, more and more things point to this girl not being the real Sarah. If this isn't truly her, what actually happened to the real Sarah?

 There's many twists and turns throughout The Stranger Game.  This book is great for anyone who enjoys mystery novels.

J.I. Burton Honors Hispanic Heritage

Students Alma Perez and Aaron Madrigal; Teacher, Mrs. Adams

by Caitlyn Collins, sophomore

John I. Burton’s Spanish classes recently celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month and Day of the Dead.

Hispanic Heritage Day is a national holiday that is celebrated in Hispanic and Latin countries from September 15 to October 15. Citizens in these countries commemorate their culture and history by highlighting their food, letting children make crafts, and participating in other festivities. The countries Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Chile, and Mexico come together for their anniversary of independence.

Hispanic Heritage Mural colored by 2nd block Spanish

Madison Adams, Burton’s Spanish teacher, said she does not celebrate the holiday exactly as if she has Hispanic heritage, but she enjoys reading stories and bringing the holiday into the classroom. Ms. Adams wants other students to recognize the holiday and realize that is it something to celebrate. She finds introducing new cultures and ideas to the classroom extremely fun and enjoyable. In her class, students played online webquests that let them read and answer questions about the holiday. They also created murals and had a party dedicated to the holiday. 

Mrs. Adams makes it a priority to teach students not only the Spanish language, but also about the culture of Spanish-speaking countries. "It is important in America because so often we are focused only on ourselves and our American culture," she explained. "I think it opens up a brand new portion w don't get to experience every day."           

Day of the Dead mural

On October 31, students celebrated Day of the Dead, which shares a connection to Halloween, or All Hallow's Eve.  On this day, people in Hispanic countries  decorate their loved one’s graves and set up altars with family photos, flowers, candles, and ceramic skulls. On these days, they eat their family member’s favorite dishes and pan de muerto, a bread recipe for the dead. Burton students in Mrs. Adams's Spanish classes celebrated the day by learning about these traditions and enjoying treats in class; they also colored a mural depicting a "sugar skull."

Although they know the Spanish language even better than she does, Mrs. Adams works with Hispanic students who are new to John I. Burton and our country by bringing English into her curriculum to help them learn their new language and how it relates to Spanish. She tries to make them comfortable by helping them realize that she understands their culture decently well. 

Alma Perez, a John I. Burton freshman, recently came to America from Mexico in order for family members to work. Alma attends regular classes although she doesn’t know English well. “It is difficult and makes me nervous,” she said about not understanding the language. In her classes, she learns through a combination of immersion in English classes and online technology. Although she prefers Mexico because her extended family is still there, she is adjusting well and especially enjoys shopping in America. 

Aaron Madrigal is another Burton student who came to America from Mexico. Unlike Perez, he has lived here most of his life. His family moved to America when he was four years old to open Mexican restaurants in the area. El Dorado, a restaurant in Wise, is one of the restaurants owned by his extended family and he has a part-time job there now.

When Aaron started school, he was held back in kindergarten because of his weakness in English, but now he considers himself fluent in both languages. A variety of teachers and tutors assisted him in learning English when he was an elementary school student to help him catch up with native English speakers.. Since Spanish is still spoken at his home, it came naturally to him and he never had to consciously learn it.

Aaron does not notice a difference between the dialect taught in Spanish class and the language spoken at his home.“There might be a difference, but I don’t notice,” he said.

Both Perez and Madrigal said that Burton students have been very welcoming and they have not encountered racial prejudice at school. However, Madrigal said he has heard a few racial slurs while working his part-time job at El Dorado overheard from customers who thought that he couldn’t speak English.

Madrigal says that the food in his family restaurants is mostly authentic, but in Mexico, there is a shorter path from farm to table. For example, he said if his family were eating beef, chances are it would have come from a "cow right outside the door."

He prefers living in America over Mexico because there are more opportunities here, although he said he would like to spend time there to learn more about his Hispanic heritage to honor his family.

Tyrell Ingram and Keaton Ingle also contributed to this article.