Outlook December Issue

7/27/2019 Outlook December Issue

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The OutlookVolume 39 Issue 2 December 2011

Learn more about Nuafrica — p. 2 A new basketball season begins— p. 10

Carmel Middle School

By Brett Slosarek

The holidays are beckon-

ing, and Carmel Middle

School students and staff

are ready to celebrate.

This is a special time of

year because many of us travel, see loved

ones and continue traditions.

Whether they celebrate Christmas, Ha-

nukkah, or Kwanzaa, people have their

own special ways of celebrating.

"I love the time of year when Christmas

comes around. It is a great feeling," said

Jack Missler, seventh grade.

Some people travel over Winter Break.

"I am traveling to Holmen, Wisconsin to

visit my dad," said Sam Weifenbach, sev-

enth grade.

"I am visiting my mom's side of the fam-

ily in Marian, Indiana," said Missler.Others stay at home for the holidays.

"I am just going to relax, eat, and sleep

at home this Winter Break," said Michael

Conway, sixth grade.

Some even do a mix of traveling and

staying at home.

Carmel Middle School is ready to celebrate the holidays. Are you?"I am going to spend time with both

grandparents and other family members

in Michigan, but I will also be home for

the holidays," said Trey Harris, sixth

grade.

“On Christmas Eve, we go to New Cas-

tle, Indiana to spend time with family,

and we spend Christmas at home,” said

Mrs. Tamara Belbu-toski.

“I fly to England

every other year to

spend time with my

aunt and family," said

Conway.

Traditions create

special memories and

comforts.

"We eat a huge dinner every year for

the holidays. I think it sometimes is big-

ger than our Thanksgiving feast! We haveeaten the big dinner for as long as I can

remember," said Missler.

"My dad and I have a sled race down a

long, steep hill in Wisconsin. It is very

exciting and is always something I look

forward to when I go up there," said

Weifenbach.

"I don't exactly have any traditions, but

we always have family gatherings for

opening presents," said Harris.

“We always have a live Christmas tree.

We buy one every year. Something that is

now a tradition is that we have a minivillage. It started out as just a few differ-

ent buildings, but it grew every year. We

like to keep it out through January and

February to keep the atmosphere of

Christmas around,” said Belbutoski.

New events are always great ideas,

too. After all, a tradition has a begin-

ning at some point in time.

When traveling, it is fun to do things

around that place since it is an area

seldom visited.

"My dad cooks out at least once in the

evening while we're in Holmen. We also

like to drive through the snow. We know

there will be snow because Wisconsin

always gets snow in the winter," said

Weifenbach.

“We have the same general menu every

year we go to New Castle. We sometimes

go to a Christmas Eve churchservice,” said Belbutoski.

"When we are visiting Marian,

we love to go sledding, espe-

cially since there are better hills

there than here in Carmel. We

also see this really fantastic

Christmas light show," said

Missler.

When home, there are com-

forts of doing what never could be done

during school. It is like a weekend times

ten.

"On Christmas Day, we wake up early,

open our stockings, and eat a large break-

fast," said Harris. "We make opening presents the pri-

mary focus of our morning on Christmas,

then make playing with the presents the

primary focus of the rest of the day. We

pretty much treat the rest of Winter Break

like a weekend," said Conway.

"I sleep, play video games, and hang out

with my friends if they're not gone travel-

ing," said Weifenbach.

All of these things feed into the won-derful holiday spirit, and that's why peo-

ple look forward to Winter Break to cele-

brate the magnificent holidays.

Max Moroknek, sixth grade, shows off the presents for

the holiday present drive last week at the drop off spotfor the presents at Carmel Middle School . The present

drive will help lighten people’s spirits this holiday season.

“I think the present drive is a very good way to help

people less fortunate get things they couldn’t afford,” said Moroknek. Photo by Brett Slosarek.

I love the time of year when Christ-

mas comesaround. It is a great feeling.

Jack Missler seventh grade

“ “



HEOUTLOOK By Emy Evans


is always ready to helpothers — from the toys

for tots to the canned

food drive, through

heavenly hats and pen-

nies for peace.

But there’s a new organization that

we’re now partnering with. Students

may have seen an interesting visitor in

the school lately during lunches.

His name is Papou Sissoko, and he has

been telling us about his passion.

It is called Nuafrica. And it’s a non

profit organization to help the needypeople of Sissoko’s home country of

Mali.

Mali is a country in Western Africa that

is twice the size of the state of Texas. It is

also one of the 10 poorest countries in

the world.

We are helping the people of Mali in

several ways.

First, during the holiday drive, we are

collecting clothes, medicines and school

supplies to benefit the village and

schools.

The children of Mali must walk to

school. And many of them don’t even

have shoes. So, this winter we will be

doing a Shoe Drive so that when they

walk the 6 miles to school, they won’t

hurt their feet.

“I think the stu-

dents of Carmel Mid-

dle School are very

compassionate. When

the Journalism class

heard about the

needs of the people from Papou Sissokothat was all it took for many students to

know how they could help,” said Mrs.

Cindy Humm, resource teacher.

Mrs. Humm learned about Nuafrica

about two years ago, and has even trav-

eled to Mali to visit the people we will

help.

“I was fortunate enough to travel to

Mali this past summer,” said Humm.

The people of Mali are joyful and happy

in spite of the grinding poverty that con-

sumes their days, according to Humm.

The most basic thing everyone and

everything needs is water.

But in Mali they have dirty, muddy,

disease ridden water from rivers andstreams.

They also

have to walk up

to 7 miles to get

it.

According to

Sissoko, the

people of Mali need a

well that will provide

clean water for the en-

tire village.

Less than half of the

countries’ people have

access to clean water.

The cost for digging a

well is about $15,000.

Nuafrica recently dug a well for a village

and the entire way of life for the people

is different now.

“Now that the children have water,

their world has opened up,” said Mrs.

Humm. They can do tie die; they can

play games and worry much less.

They can also spend the time in

school that they would have spentwalking miles to get the water

they need for cooking and clean-

ing.

Another way Carmel students

can help is to provide supplies for

children in school.

We will have a

locker clean-out

in the spring, and

students will be

asked to donate

their new and

gently used school supplies.

Those supplies would be

shipped to Africa for the children

to use in school.

Right now many schools in Mali

are made of straw. The floors are

made of dirt. They have no desks,

chairs, or anything to write with.

They need pens and pencils.

The schools are so crowded with

up to 100 kids in each class. In 10

Children are sitting on the floor in theclassrooms.

Papou Sissoko

villages there is only one school. All the

children need education so they crowd

into one class.

They also need food. In Mali, most

people live on about $2 a day. If we

would donate $1 in American money, it

will equal almost 500 CFA’s (AfricanCurrency). That would feed them for a

few months.

They usually

eat rice and a

sort of light

sauce. They

almost never

have meat. Since

they are located in

the desert it is very

hard to grow crops,

so they have almost

no fresh fruit orvegetables. They

work very hard for

what they have and

get to enjoy it very little.

Why did the school partner up with

Mali? They need help. They can’t do this

alone. They need water, food, education,

and shelter. We have so much, but they

have so little. Why don’t we share what

we have with them?

Nuafrica Program comes to CMS

Papou Sissoko talks to Mrs. Rice’s third period classabout how people live in Mali. He was originally born in

Mali. “ I have many family members still in Mali” Photo

by Brett Wampler

Nuafrica is non profit organization founded in2008and is made to help the families and chil-dren of Mali. They want to send the people of Mali water, food, and educational insights. Thechildren and women are in charge of getting thewater for the family. They have to walk up to 7

miles to get water. The money raised for Nuafrica will be used to build wells that they canput in the village so the children don't have towalk for water.

http://nuafrica.org/



HEOUTLOOK The Humane Society for Hamilton County helps animals

By Aaron Kallach

“We will try anything to

get animals into homes,”said Katie Trennepohl, the

Director of Operations at

the Humane Society for Hamilton

County (also known as “HSHC”).

The HSHC mission statement is saving

lives, educating communities, and com-

pleting families. To find animals nice

homes they hold special adoption events

and get the word out about the humane

society.

“When we found our dog on PetFinder, we were pleased to see that he

was at a humane society rather than a

pet store because we knew that dogs can

rarely get the attention they need at a

business whose main priority is profit

and not animal care,” said Morgan

Culpepper, seventh grade..

Culpepper adopted her dog, Bogart, at

a humane society in 2004. She said hu-

mane societies are the best places to

adopt animals because the animals there

have been properly treated from a medi-

cal standpoint as well as been played

with to be socialized.

The HSHC promotes animals on their

Facebook page. They take the animals to

special events all over town. They do a

weekly show called PET television, and

they appear regularly on Indy Style and

Fox 59.

Another new thing they do to find ani-

mals a home is they opened up a smallerversion of the humane society at the

Hamilton Towne Center Mall. Since

they opened it the adoptions have been

increasing. They usually find homes for

three pets a week, and it has been help-

ing spread the word about the Humane

Society for Hamilton County.

Volunteers at HSHC are very impor-

tant to the productivity. Volunteers

clean cages, help socialize the animals,

walk dogs, medicate sick animals, organ-ize donation drives, do laundry, foster

animals, wash dishes, and go to adoption

events to provide information about the

humane society.

To be a volunteer at the Humane Soci-

ety for Hamilton County you have to be

sixteen years old and have to sign a

waiver to go through a volunteer orien-

tation. After the orientation, the volun-

teers have to go through additional train-

ing for cat and dog handling.The HSHC needs many volunteers for

the increasing numbers of animals.

Something very sad that happens at

HSHC is when people surrender their

animals.

People surrender their animals for

many reasons — maybe because of aller-

gies they didn’t

know about, or

because they are

moving, or they

have expensive

medical issues.

To surrender

pets in Hamilton

County the city

you live in has to

be within the

county and has to

have a contract with the shelter and you

have to fill out a form that asks people

about their self and questions about their

animal. When people surrender their

animals it contributes to the number of

animals at HSHC.

“Sometimes the amount of animals at a

humane society can be overwhelming,

but you have to remember that if they

weren’t here they could be starving on

the streets or sentenced to death at a

high kill shelter,” said Morgan

Culpepper, a seventh grade student.

The Humane Society for Hamilton

County hopes to find all their animals

homes and to educate people about how

to treat their animals.

Morgan Culpepper, seventh grade, sits with her

new poodle, Bogart, at home after her family

adopted him. Culpepper got her dog at a hu-

mane society in Indiana. “He was put up for adoption because his owner was allergic to

him,” said Culpepper. Photo from Morgan

Culpepper.

The Humane Society for Hamilton County

Location: 1721 Pleasant St. Suite BNoblesville

Phone: 317-773-4974

Graphic by Aaron Kallach



HEOUTLOOK

The Training

Every once in while CMS has a K9

search to see if any of the students

have unwanted substances such as

marijuana, cocaine, and heroin and

crystal meth. The searches have been

doing a good job at making the stu-

dents feel safer in the school.The dogs used for the K9 searches

are purchased from a dog kennel

called Vohne Liche Kennels and all of

the dogs come from Europe. They are

very well trained for the job. The K9s

train 2 days per month for 16 hours at

the least. The dogs rarely get dis-

tracted but if they do, their handlers

put them back on track.

About the Searches

Like any other emergency procedurethe teachers lock the doors, makes sure

there aren’t anyone in the bathrooms

and does a quick hallway sweep.

Although there is a procedure for

evacuating the school, there isn’t a

specific routine or order the dogs

search the lockers. About 6 or 7 dogs

go into the hallways as groups to make

the searches go quicker.

Officer Schoeff

isn’t the only one

from the school

who walks the

halls with the

dogs. Mrs. Young,

Mr. Monke, Mrs. Jay, Mr. Pottenger,

Mrs. Moreman,

and all the coun-

seling staff walk

the halls with the

K9 unit during a

search.

According to

Cam Walsh and

Jason Cooper, the

K9 searches are

very necessary

because they keep

the school safe.

Although they

feel very positive

about the K9

searchers, one

thing that bothers

them is that the

K9 searches over-

lap other passing

periods and gives

them less time to get to class.

“I want to know what the dogs look

like, “said Cam Walsh, student.

All About the Dogs

Dog handler, Scotty Moore had told

us all we need to know about the dogs

and more.

The types of dogs that are trained

and used are German Shepherds and

Dutch Shepherds. There are mostly

male dogs but there are few

female K9s also. Usually fe-

male handlers are assigned to

female dogs.

The dogs are trained at

about 1 ½ years –2 ½ years

old and they are trained and

are usually purchased at 2

years old.

“My last dog started train-

ing at 16 months old and

worked up to be 11 years un-

Is CMS goingK9 Krazy?

til retirement”, said

Scotty Moore, dog

handler.

It takes approxi-

mately 5 weeks for the

dogs to be trained and

ready for the unex-pected K9 search.

When the dogs are not

training for 16 hours

(at the minimum),

they are kept at their

regular homes by their

handlers. The dogs are

very cheap when it

comes to training.

It costs about $2,500

to train one dog and

the price ranges to buy a dog vary from

$6,000 to $10,000 per

dog.

What Students

Think

“I feel safer in Car-

mel Middle School

because the K9

searches prevents us

from being exposed

to drugs “, said Jason Cooper, seventh

grade.

They both know that the dogs are

well trained and will find anything

they need to. The range they have

predicted that the dogs have found

any unwanted substances are between

the range of 2 and 14 percent of the

time.

According to Officer Schoeff, the

school hasn’t found one unwanted

substance in 5 years.

As you can see, the K9 searches are

very important to the school’s health.

The particular Carmel Middle School

staff that helps out during the K9

searches are greatly appreciated for all

of the time and hard work put forth to

help our school say safe. Anytime that

you see these staff members, be sure to

thank them for their efforts!

Jason Cooper tells us his thoughtsregarding the K9 searches. Jason

is in the seventh grade. “The K9

searches prevents us, [the stu-

dents], from being exposed to

drugs,” Jason says.

Cam Walsh tells us his thoughts

about whether he thinks the K9

searches or necessary. Cam is a

seventh grader. “Yes, I think the

searches are necessary because

they help prevent young people

from doing drugs and breaking

the law,” explains Walsh.

By Meghan Burkholder and Kyra Arney

Scotty Moore, Carmel K9 Department Offi-

cer, stands with his search dog outside of

CMS. This dog is not the only trained search

dog in Carmel. “In our department, we

have four dogs currently trained but with all

of the departments in the area combined

there are 16 dogs,” says Moore. Photo by

Meghan Burkholder



THEOUTLOOK By Abdel Moustafa

Did you know

that School Re-source Officers

help protect you?

“I really have never had an inter-

action with the School Resource Of-

ficers so I really do not know if they

help or not,” said Alex Burch, sev-

enth grade.

According to a report for the Cen-

ter for Prevention of School Vio-

lence, SRO’s are intended to

“provide coverage to schools so that

safety, security and order can be

maintained.”

The problems that happen within

a school are a reflection of the prob-

lems that are happening within the

larger community.

So, to help with this, the SRO’s do

a variety of duties inside the school

day.

In our school, we have a dedi-

cated School Resource Officer. Eve-

ryone knows Officer D.J. Schoeff.He is a Carmel Police Department

officer who is assigned to work at

Carmel Middle

School.

Officer Schoeff is

working very hard

to keep the school

safe.

Most School Re-

source Officers use

what’s called the“Triad Model”, ac-

cording to the Na-

tional School Safety

and Security web-

site.

This means that

they focus on three

things: law enforce-

ment, student coun-

seling, and law-

based education.

In law enforcement, they patrol

and monitor the hallway to see if

there are any problems with stu-dents. They also investigate com-

plaints.

They conduct interviews about

what had happened and conduct

research into the problems.

They can also make necessary ar-

rests.

SRO’s really want to prevent prob-

lems before they happen, rather than

arresting students after the fact.

To do that, an SRO will check out

the counseling center to see what is

happening. They also see if there

are any problems in there. They

might hold and attend personal con-

ferences with students and their par-

ents.

SRO’s give reports to the police if

there are any major problems.

The officer is also supposed to

teach students what to do for lock

downs and anything else that has to

do with the student’s safety andwork with the school administration

to develop a crisis plan.

SRO’s receive a lot of specialized

training so that they can recognize if

anything is wrong. This is all part of

the student counseling part of their job.

“The School Resource Officers are

great! They help kids and direct

them to right places,” said Cameron

Kirsch, seventh grade.

SRO’s also provide law-based

education for students in schools.

For example, SRO’s teach classes

about drugs and alcohol and making

good choices. They also invite guests

to the school to talk with students

about certain issues.

“I also teach drug prevention cur-

riculum as well as guest speak in

classrooms on various topics,” said

Schoeff.

Officer Schoeff is working on an

eighth grade drug prevention cur-

riculum called "It's Party Time and

it's No Game." This program fo-

cuses on the overall life issues per-

taining to drug use and abuse.

It is a lot of fun and sends a lastingmessage.

The School Resource Officers have

helped kids to live in

a safe middle school

environment.

Officer Schoeff

has a message to

students: “Safety

first...positive rela-

tionships...taking

responsibility.” It’s all part of the

job.

School Resource Officers help make schools safe

Officer Schoeff chats

with Samar Syeda, eighhgrade, about her week-

end last week in the li-

brary. School Resource

Officers spend a lot oftime building relationships

with students in order to

create a safe and pro-

tective environment.Photo by Abdel

Moustaffa.



HEOUTLOOK By Meredith

Paul and Sumera

Syeda

Snow

days; they’re

exciting, sur-prising, and a

job as well.

Have you ever wondered how snow

days are decided? We did too, so we

interviewed, researched and wrote this

article for those curious people just like

us. Along with the

help of the Carmel

Clay Schools super-

intendent, Dr. Jeff

Swensson, we found

out how snow days

are decided and

how they affect our community.

“I determine a snow day based on in-

formation received from the Carmel Clay

Schools Transportation Department,

from weather reports, and from other

school districts in Hamilton County,”

said Swensson.

Dr. Swensson said that sometimes it

takes little time to determine a snow day,

but other times the people in the admini-

stration offices at CCS (Carmel Clay

Schools) have to work hard at decidingwhether a snow day should be called or

not. Since many resources are used to

The Truth Behind Snow Days

determine a snow day, the

same would go for 2-hour de-

lays.

During 2-hour delays

schools are postponed for 2

hours. The amount of time

missed is based off of the

amount of snow on the

ground.

Snow days make it unsafe to

drive busses in the snow,

whereas on 2-hour delays the

amount of

snow is man-

ageable, but

it gives snow

plows more

time to cleanthe roads.

“Often, a delay allows plows

and salt trucks the time to pro-

vide us with safe winter

travel,” said Swensson.

When we asked Dr. Swenson

about 2-hour delays he gave

us some very valuable information. We

asked him that if we have a certain num-

ber of delays, would we have to add

school days to the end of the year.

In his reply, he answered that we do

not add days to the end of the year fordelays. It doesn’t matter how many de-

lays we have in a year; they count as a

full day.

Snow days do

add days to

the school

year. We

need to have

a minimum

180 days of

school each

year. If wemiss more

than 2 days of

school on

snow days,

we must add

days to the

end of the

year.

Why are we

allowed to

miss 2 days?

We have built-in flex days. When we

have run out of flex days then we add

days.

The students in the CCS district have

opinions too. Some people like snow

days and others like 2-hour delays.

Kate Vonderohe, a seventh grader, said

that she likes 2-hour delays better be-

cause you don’t have to add more

school days onto the end of the year.

“I like snow days as well, but 2-hour

delays give us the perfect mix of a break

and no added school,” said Vonderohe.

Allie Leedke, another student, said

snow days were better, because we get

an unexpected break from school.

She said, “I like to drink hot cocoa,

and sled on snow days. The break from

school gives us time to relax and visitwith friends.”

Snow days and 2-hour delays have a

big impact on our community and

school. The job of judging when to have

these days is important, as well.

Everyone likes a snow day or a delay

every once in a while, let’s hope for

some this year.

Determining the difference between a delayand a snow day has to do with the extent towhich everyone can travel safely to school.

Dr. Jeff Swensson

Graphs by Meredith Paul

Comic by Linnea Shultz



HEOUTLOOK By Chris Seals

Everyone knows that

we have a new libraryspecialist, Miss Carli

Worthman. But who

really is she and what

does she plan to do for the library?

Worthman was born in Fort Wayne,

Indiana. She attended DePauw Univer-

sity in Greencastle, Indiana and studied

Sociology.

After graduation, she moved to Indian-

apolis to look for a job.

Worthman filled in for Mrs. Davidson

last year while she was on maternity

leave. Then she contin-ued to sub in the dis-

trict, while also work-

ing at Nordstrom.

“I plan on staying

here forever,” said

Miss Worthman, Me-

dia Specialist.

Miss Worthman

took a media class in high school because

she had, and still does have, a love for

books. Later in her col-

lege years when she

was studying for her

Sociology Degree, she

realized she wanted to

teach. She thought back

to her high school

years, in media class,

and she went from

there. She got the job as

Media Specialist by

getting her Masters in

Media Science and a

Teaching License by

studying Education

courses.

“I think it takes hardwork, dedication,

determination, educa-

tion, and, most im-

portantly, a love for

books.” said Jack

Missler, seventh

grade student.

What does Miss

Worthman have in store for the library

now and in the future?

Teacher Feature: Meet the New Media Specialist

When it comes to

looking for the books

students love, Miss

Worthman looks for

everything, and tries to

balance the library col-

lection with all types of

genres. Now what hap-

pens when a book gets

damaged or when the

library gets filled up?

Miss Worthman will

either weed the collec-

tion for obsoletes or

replace the old, torn

classics with new big

hits.There is still one question that is unan-

swered. Where does she get all these

books from and how? Miss Worthman

has a preset budget and most of the time

orders are anticipated books from Ama-

zon, Follet, Baker & Taylor, and Scholas-

tic.

Now that the facts have been pre-

sented about the new library specialist,

say “hi” the next time when visiting the

library.

Miss Worthman poses next to “new

releases” rack.

“I think it takes hard work, dedica-

tion, determination, education, and,most importantly, a love for books.”

— Jack Missler, seventh grade

By Henry Hankins

Have you or anyone

you know read a good

book, but have never

had a good way to tell

people about it?

That has all changed now.

As of November 11, Miss Worth-

man has created a new website

where one may look to find new

books that others have read and en-

joyed, or post books that they have

read and enjoyed.

The website isn’t just restricted to

CMS students. Anyone anywhere

can easily get on the website, read

your post, and find a good book.

To use and access the website, one

must first go onto the link from the

media center home page located on

Library has a New Way to Find Good Booksthe Carmel middle school webpage,

and then from there you can browse

the webpage to look for,

and find new books.

To post on the web-

page, one would have to

go to the media center &

pick up a bookmark that

tells about the website,

then they would write a

summary 75-200 wordsabout the book without

giving away the ending,

and finally, they would

turn their summary in

to Ms. Worthman for

editing and to post on the webpage.

Jack Missler says “I found that

writing, and using the website was

quite easy.”

Missler also says “The website was

such a great tool, and because it was

so easy to use I plan on

visiting it many more

times.”

Where did the idea for

this website come from?

Why did Ms. Worth-

man create the web-

page?

“I saw that otherschools were doing it,

and I think that it is a

good way to get kids

more involved in read-

ing,” said Worthman.

The Media Center is evolving, so

are student’s variety of books, get in

the fun and give the website a try.

Jack Missler



HEOUTLOOK By Taylor

Waddell and

Kathy Huang

Being both aswimmer and a

student takes a

lot of dedication. Many students

from Carmel Middle School strive to

do just that.

Many students here at Carmel

Middle School are dedicated swim-

mers for Carmel Swim Club.

They have learned lessons that

help them in both school and life.

Swimming is definitely a hard sportthat takes commitment, but it is also

beneficial in a variety of ways.

There are four main strokes in

swimming, butterfly, backstroke,

breastroke, and freestyle. There is

also an Individual Medley (also

known as IM) which consists of all

the strokes).

“My favorite

stroke is distance

freestyle and

IM,” said Jillian

Satz, eighth

grader in Carmel

Swim Club.

Swimmers are

among one of the

most dedicated

athletes. Mem-

bers of Challenge

1, such as Jillian

Satz and Morgan

Grout, attend aminimum of 6-8

practices a week.

Satz said that she

has 2 to 3 hours of practice every

afternoon after school, 3 hours of

practice on Saturday mornings, and

an hour of practice before school on

Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Famous swimmers such as Mi-

chael Phelps demonstrate the dedi-

cation needed to excel

in swimming. Michael

Phelps trains six hours

a day, six days a week.

He swims around 50miles each week.

Satz said, My favorite

swimmers are Michael

Phelps, Ryan Lochte,

Rebecca Soni, and

Missy Franklin. She

also said that she

hopes to make it to the

Olympic Trials one day.

The head coach for Carmel Swim

Club is Chris Plumb. He has wonvarious coaching awards including

the 2008 IHSAA Coach of the Year.

He is also certified as a level 5(out of

5) coach by the American Swim

Coaches Association.

“To be a great coach takes passion

for the sport, a deep knowledge of

swimming and people, and terrific

communication

skills,” said

Plumb.

Plumb has also

had a great deal

of experience as

a swimmer. He

swam for a club

in Buffalo, NY

and for Indiana

University. He

still continues to

swim and was a

swimmer for

Carmel SwimClub last year.

His favorite

strokes were

freestyle and backstroke, but his fa-

vorite event was the 200 IM

(Individual Medley).

Plumb, said “having been a swim-

mer helps me understand what

CMS Students Double as CSC Swimmers

swimmers go through

each and every day.”

Swimming teaches

many lessons that can-

not be learned fromother sports.

Satz said that swim-

ming has taught her

discipline.

“Swimming has

caused me to get my

homework done early

and to not procrasti-

nate,” says Satz.

Plumb said, “I have learned that

anything is possible, each person isdifferent, and that perseverance will

take you far in this world.”

Satz also said that the valuable les-

sons she has learned from swimming

will stay with her through life.

S

Chris Plumb

CSC and CHS Head Swim

CSC Swimmers/ Carmel Middle School Stu-dents, Trude Rothrock (top left), Morgan Grout,

and Caroline Shultz( bottom left) stand on the

podium at the 2011 Long Course Age Group

State.

NEWS from the

Counseling Center

Need homework help?

Join the Study Skills Group

The next study skills meeting isJanuary 25 after school.

Topics such as organizational

skills, test taking strategies and

time management will be dis-

cussed.

See Mrs. Wiggam or

Mrs. Garber for more info.



HEOUTLOOK The pitfalls of middle school relationships

By Trevor

DavisCOMMENTARY

“Middle School

relationships

are not that important,” said Alex

Wible, seventh grade.

But whether you think they’re im-

portant or not, middle school rela-

tionships are probably not what you

think they are.

They certainly aren’t private. In

fact, everybody knows who you’re

dating because if you are in seventh

grade it seems like one big family

because almost everybody knows

each other.

And relationships don’t always

last.

But they are real. Your heart will

still be broken if you get “dumped.”

Just because middle school relation-

ships are not very efficient doesn’t

mean that the couple don’t have feel-

ings for each other.

Parents have a tough job when itcomes to relationships. But they are

crazy when it comes to young rela-

tionships. And many parents have

special rules about dating.

“My parents have rules but I don’t

listen to them,” Wible said.

Bonding is very hard in middle

school relationships because at CMS,

we can’t hangout because it is at

school.

Clay Terrace and Carmel Games

seem like big opportunities to get to

hangout because my friends are usu-

ally there, said many CMS students.

Saturdays and Sundays are the days

that teenagers usually hangout.

Middle school is great to know

new people because we have newstudents coming in every year.

So there are a lot of chances to get

to know people.

“When we were in sixth grade rela-

tionships were more of a competi-

tion, “said Cam Walsh, seventh

grade.

“Relationships are part of my life,”

said Tyler Wilska.

Love is a major theme of life as you

can see in a lot of movies and books.No matter what you think about

them, relationships are very impor-

tant.

Cam Walsh is a

current 7th grader atCarmel Middle

School

Who is yourfavorite

Teacher?

Ms. Richards

Eric Postel

Vending Machines in Carmel Middle School

By Taylor Kohn

COMMENTARY

The vending machines are popu-

lar at Carmel Middle School. Who

doesn't like candy or chips?

But something that a lot of stu-

dents find frustrating is that we are

not permitted to use the machines

during the school day.

“We should be allowed because

we might be hungry. Sometimes we

need to buy a snack for parties in

Spanish and French,” said Noel

Khawashki, seventh grade.

Mr. Darren Monke, athletic direc-

tor disagrees.

“We should have a short amount of

time during the passing period and I

t would also be a distraction.”

School rules also don’t really allow

students to have drinks and foodunless teachers allow students to, he

added.

A lot of schools have vending ma-

chines. Not all offer as healthy of

choices as ours do, though and not

all ban use of them during the school

day.

A lunch time meal at some schools

can consist of a 20-ounce soda, a bag

of chips, and a pack of M&M’s. Our

school keeps lunches healthy to keep

students healthy.

If students were allowed to use the

vending machines during the school

day, no one would buy the healthier

foods in the lunch lines. Studentsmight instead buy Skittles, gummy

worms, or Pop Tarts For lunch.

The lack of soda at school might be

annoying, but it’s for the best when

you consider that between 16 and 33

percent of children are overweight.

So treat yourself to a healthy snack

from the vending machines next time

instead of gummy worms or Pop

tarts.



By Luke Gentile

Cougar basketball is

here, and all of theguys are ready. With

wins under each

team’s belt, the sev-

enth and eighth

graders are ready for

any challenge.

The Seventh Grade Team

Under the influence of Coach Evan

Suttner, the seventh graders are learning

to become better players every day. The

players work hard in practice, and when

asked how hard practice is on a scale of 1

-10, most said 7 to 8.

One interesting thing about this team is

that they don’t run plays.

“We don’t run plays; we teach how to

play against anything the defense can

throw at you. It’s a system that we run

HEOUTLOOK Shooting for a great season

called the run react offense,” said Sutt-

ner.

The players think that middle school

basketball is a new experience. The com-

petition gets harder, and sometimes you

play against people you have not met

before.

Many players think that one of their

toughest games will be against rival

Creekside.

“We play 18 games a

year, plus tourna-

ments,” said Winston

Elston.

To be successful,

every player has to get

along, and the seventhgraders have no prob-

lem with that.

When asked how he thinks of his fel-

low teammates, Luke Paige said that

they’re all good guys.

The team learns new skills on the court,

yet Suttner teaches the players to be

good leaders.

The coaches

also focus on

c o n f i d e n c e ,

effort, and pre-

cision. One of

the biggest as-

pects that they

NEWS from the Athletics Department

Mark Your Calendars

CHARITY BASKETBALL GAME proceeds benefit The Dayspring Center

January 27, 2012

Teachers compete against Clay & Creekside

teach is what it takes to be a good team-

mate.

The team looks for more wins ahead.

The Eighth Grade Team

The eighth graders are enjoying their

second year of Cougar basketball, and

Coach Jim Reamer is too.

“I like basketball because it gives you

something to do other

than play video

games,” said Mason

Grout.

When asked why he

coaches basketball

here, Reamer re-

sponded by saying,“This is where I went

to school, and I love the county tourna-

ment at the end of the year.”

Like with the seventh grade team, the

question came up as to whether the

eighth graders had any special plays.

Coach Wampler said, “They wouldn’t

be special if I told you.”

The eighth graders work very hard in

practice and often leave very tired.

“We run,” is what Riley Hogan had to

say.

The players are tremendous athletes

who do very well at what they do. Dur-

ing practice the team goes through dif-

ferent stations, learning a motion based

offense. This is a style that includes a

lot of screens and movement.

The eighth grade Cougars play tough

teams and always try their hardest. They

show what Cougar basketball is all

about.

The season is underway, and all of the

players, fans, and coaches are ready. The

teams know what it takes to win.The seventh graders look for a win-

ning season, and the eighth graders look

for another CaMS county championship.

The eighth grade

team on the bus

last week. They are

on their way to

play Westlane.

Photo by Kyle

Crawford

We have talented guards. We canshoot and handle the ball. Our posts are fast, and the team playshard. They are a coachable group.

—

Coach Suttner



HEOUTLOOK Grandparents Day Deserves Celebration

By Max Dugan

November 23 is the

day of appreciation forelder relatives, however

some people in Carmel

Middle School are un-

sure when the day is and how to cele-

brate it.

Many students and teachers did not

know when grandparents day is, but

learned because of the

school announcing it.

“I only know because of

the exposure here at Car-

mel Middle School. Oth-

erwise I wouldn’t evenknow about it,” said Mrs.

Lynn Donnelson, sixth

grade math teacher, and

grandparent.

She has two grand-

daughters, Alaina and

Addie ,and they live around Chicago.

She usually talks to the on the week-

ends on Skype, but sees them about once

a month.

“I would like to see them more, but

time and distance prevent

that from happening,” said

Donnelson.

Even though Mrs. Donnel-

son didn’t celebrate Grand-

parents Day with her own

grandchildren here, she

does visit her grandkids on

the occasional weekend and

almost every school break.

Grandparents Day could

get more attention by hav-

ing more cards at the for it

at the card store. And hav-ing more TV coverage as

well as having it marked

on calendars.

According to Time and

Date, a website that

tracks special days, about

four million greeting cards are sent

within the United States each year on

National Grandparents Day, which is

celebrated on the first Sunday following

Labor Day.

Another teacher here has grandchil-

dren as well.

Mr. Hopp says he visits his grandchil-

dren on the weekends. He also said heand his wife like to go with their grand-

children to school.

Mr. Hopp’s opinion on the matter of

making Grandparents Day a more ap-

preciated holiday is to encourage stu-

dents to invite their grandparents to

come to school with them for at least

part of the day.

This day is also an op-

portunity for people to

appreciate and express

their love to their grand-

parents through kind ac-tions such as making a

phone call or inviting

their grandparents for

dinner. People living in

retirement villages or

nursing homes may re-

ceive a visit from their grandchildren or

loved ones on this day.

Many students actually knew when

Grandparents Day was.

Adam Crum knew when grandparents

day was and sees his grandparents often

however he doesn’t cele-

brate it because his grand-

parent’s can’t come for

Grandparents Day.

Andrew Bradberry was

also interviewed. He also

knew when Grandparents

Day was.

“I will be with my grand-

parents for grandparents

day and like to spend time

with them,” said Brad-

berry.Aaron Taylor sees his

grandparents often because

his grandparents live

around here.

“My grandpa used to

collect motorcycles and

now has a big collection of them,” said

Taylor.

Mrs. Donnelson’s grandchildren

Alaina and Allie

Weird LawsBy Megan Cline

In Augusta, Maine it is illegal to playthe violin while strolling down thestreet.

In Lubbock, Texas it is illegal to sleepin a garbage can.

In Carmel, California, you have to havea permit to wear high heels legally.

In Alabama, it is illegal to play Domi-noes on Sunday.

In 1695 Massachusetts outlawedChristmas.

In Idaho, boxes of candy given as ro-mantic gifts MUST weigh at least 50

Grandparents enjoy visiting the

school on special days.

Submitted photo.

NEWS FROM THE MEDIA CENTER

By Miss Worthman

The Carmel Middle SchoolMedia Center

is now on Twitter!Follow “CAMMediaCenter”

for librarynews and updates.



HEOUTLOOK

WHAT’S GOING ON?December 17 — January 2

Winter Vacation

School resumes Tuesday 1/3

January 3

Girls Basketball Opener

Boys BB @ Pendleton Heights

January 4

Geography Bee

January 11

Green Team

January 27

Charity Basketball @ Creek-

side

By Cullen Sefranek

Have you ever been

asked by a friend orsomeone else to do

something you felt was

wrong?

Did you feel

“pressure” to do it?

Well, this means you have been a vic-

tim of peer pressure.

Now what exactly is peer pressure?

Basically it is when a person or group

of people pressure you to do something

they want you to do whether or not you

want to.

Sometimes the pressure comes in the

form of teasing or ridicule. Sometimes

the pressure is isolation from the group.

Peer pressure is a common thing that

happens in life to all people of all ages.

Even adults sometimes feel pressure to

do certain activities or live in certain

places.

Peer pressure is common across cul-

tures and countries, too.

Some groups of people will pressure

you to do something that can be bad or

illegal and can have an effect on

your life.

For example, maybe you find a

bunch of kids behind the school.They are smoking or drinking

alcohol.

You want to tell an adult, but

you also want to be considered

“cool.”

This type of stress can have an

effect on your everyday life in so

many ways.

It can affect you socially, men-

tally and even sexually.

“No child is immune to peer

pressure,” Walter Mueller says.

So a question to ask is why people

pressure others into doing things like

that.

Well it could be because they want to

feel like they have power over a certain

person or it makes them feel good.

“People and school officials are treating

it more seriously but it still happens,”

said P J Groci.

Negative peer pressure could be con-

sidered a kind of bullying.

But some peer pressure can be a good

Students talk about Peer Pressure

Say, "No, thanks" It could be just as easy as that! However,

if the person offering the cigarette, beer,

or joint persists, you might have to back

up your "No thanks" with other tactics.

Be a broken record Keep saying no as many times as you

need to, either to cause the person pres-

suring you to stop, or to stall until you canthink of something else to say.

Give a reason This reason could be simply, "I'm not al-

lowed to do that," or, "That's bad for you."

It could state the consequences, such as,

"I don't want to do that; it will make me

sick," or, "You can die from doing that."

The important thing is that you state your

reason for saying no with confidence.

Don’t get into an argument. Just refuse

what’s being offered.

thing, particularly if it encourages stu-

dents to achieve academically or partici-

pate in school activities.

You can turn the pressure around and

try to get someone do something good,

instead of something bad or illegal. Or

you could even pressure them into doing

something nice.

The best way to overcome peer pres-

sure is to know yourself. Be strong in

who you are. And try to influence others

into doing something positive for them-

selves and the world.

5 Responses to Negative Pressure

Walk away or ignore the offerThis doesn't work in all situations. Some-

times you might be alone or in some other

situation where you can't walk away. But

always consider this an option.

Change the subject or

suggest doing something else By saying, "Let's do _______ instead," you

have the potential to not only refuse anoffer of drugs, alcohol, or tobacco, but to

prevent a friend from using them too.

Assert yourself This is an important part of all the above

tactics. If you can stick up for yourself,

you are learning an important life skill.

Being able to state your position asser-

tively is a trait that we value in adults, so if

you learn it now, you will be better off in

the future.

Information taken from A-Better-Child.org.



By Kathy Huang and Taylor Waddell

Today’s music is very different

from what it was 20, or even 10 years

ago. It consists of mainly hip-hop,

pop music, and some alternative.

Many students at CMS like the same

music artists, but many disagree on

the best genre of music overall.

“*Pitbull is my artist because+ I

think he’s amazing in all ways, and

he just makes me want to move my

feet!” said Ashley Elkin, seventh

grade.

The music that is on the radio to-

day isn’t always what all of the stu-

dents want to hear. Many students

and people everywhere still like

many alternative rock bands that

have slowly started to fade overtime.Paramore, Green Day, and Blink-

182 are still some of the most popular

bands according to a poll that was

taken in the library.

Even though there are many artists

that Matthew George likes, he has

only one favorite.

“My favorite music artist is God

because without him, there would be

no music! We all need to take more

time out to thank God and the musiche allows us to make!” says George.

The poll that was taken in the li-

brary showed that the girls’ top fa-

vorite artists were Justin Bieber and

Katy Perry, and the boys’ were Nicki

Minaj and Eminem.

Music has changed dramatically

very fast and continues to change as

people’s interests and tastes do.

HEOUTLOOK What are CMS Students Listening to?

Matthew George listens to his favorite

music artist in the library.

Ashley Elkin dances to her favorite song

in the hallway.



The Outlook is published monthly

for the students, faculty and staff of

Carmel Middle School, with a press

run of 1350 copies. Additional cop-

ies are available in the Media Cen-

ter, the front office and upon re-

quest from Mrs. Ramona Rice in

Room 404. Submissions for the nextissue will be accepted until the 15th

of each month to Mrs. Rice’s mail-

box, to Room 404 or by email to

[email protected]. All submissions

must include the writer’s name,

grade and contact information and

may be edited for length or content.

A color PDF of this issue is avail-

able from the school website or

from the Journalism Department

home page.

The Back PageHEOUTLOOK

Bottom Row (L to R): Abdel Moustafa, Sumera Syeda, Aaron Kallach. Second Row: Meghan Burkholder, Tay-

lor Waddell, Kyra Arney, Kathy Huang, Meredith Paul. Third Row: Brett Slosarek, Max Dugan, Cullen Sefre-

nek, Trevor Davis, Chris Seals, Henry Hankins, Luke Gentile. Photo by Mrs. Rice.

The Outlook Staff

Mailing Address


300 South Guilford Road

Carmel, Indiana 46032

Phone Number

317 846.7331

Ext. 6471

Email

[email protected]

Outlook Contact Information

Principal Mrs. Lila Jay

Assistant Principals Ms. Angela Moreman

Mrs. Trudy Young

Athletics Director Mr. Darren Monke

Newspaper

Adviser Mrs. Ramona Rice

In the Spotlight

Meredith Black and Zoey Daet, sixth grade, are

ready to head for home after school last Friday.

After the last bell on Friday’s, the school plays music

through the halls to help get the weekend started

right. Photo by Mrs. Rice

Outlook December Issue

Documents

Transcript of Outlook December Issue