The MLK Food Drive

by Marin T.

The Martin Luther King food drive was a success once again at Louise S. McGehee School. The Food Drive was from January 14, 2013 to January 22, 2013. This year McGehee collected about 1,900 food items for Second Harvest. McGehee got many types of food such as pasta, canned fruits, vegetables, cookies, crackers, cooking oil, rice and juice.

This year McGehee is going to help a lot of people because of all the kindness of all the students at McGehee. McGehee chose Second Harvest because it’s a very helpful organization to the citizens of New Orleans. Second Harvest delivers 22 million meals to approximately 263,000 people including nearly 82,000 children and 40,000 seniors.

The food drive was organized by teachers Erin Toomey Mark Babin, Allison Steinfeld, and all service learning chairs in Upper and Middle School. All the grades were plaired randomly, but the teachers did try to put together older students with younger students. They also tried to put together grades that don’t usually interact with each other. All of the students participated, but teachers could also help bring more food.

 All the food was brought to Second Harvest the last week of January.  Hopefully next year will be as successful as this year.

First Grade Blasts Through Science

by Megan G.

In 2013, Mrs. Sarabeth Gordon teaches interesting science to first graders. The children tell their teacher she is the best teacher ever, but that might be due to the science experiments involving ice cream and Halloween candy. Mrs. Gordon did many experiments with the girls.

In science, the girls are now learning how to be an astronaut. In the past, they have learned about kitchen chemistry. They tested many things, including what yeast needs to make carbon dioxide (CO₂), the chromatography (the separation of colors) of Halloween candy (mostly m&ms and skittles), how to make play dough, and about temperature by making ice cream.

In Mrs. Gordon's point of view she says “Kitchen chemistry is fun, but I always worry about food safety. The girls and I will not eat anything in class. The exception was ice cream. We did not even eat the Halloween candy. I am also excited about learning to be an astronaut because space is such a wide field.”

The first graders say, “Our favorite part about science is making ice cream, and we all like science because we get to make stuff.”

Mrs. Gordon chose these topics because it is a great way to learn about collecting data, following procedures, and making great observations. Mrs. Gordon says, “These are all things that scientists need to learn.”

Mrs. Gordon has two daughters, Megan (11) and Audrey (9) that go to McGehee, and a son named Jack (7).

The Ms. Satkoski Fan club report

by Therese M.

The Ms. Satkoski fan club is a club created by students at McGehee It’s a club that’s about Ms. Satkoski, but it also is a cool place to hang out and is fun for friends. It is ran by the head of the club, Ms. Satkoski (The History teacher), and the students Conery Schmidt, Katharine Solomon, Jasmine Mills, Angelle Brown, Claire Beary, and Eliza Powers.

The Ms. Satkoski fans all love the club and think it’s lots of fun. The meetings are held in Ms. Satkoski’s room, where they talk, relax, and eat snacks such as brownies, chips and donuts. The meetings are held on Thursdays and now Fridays at break unless something happens, then they find another time.

There are multiple answers why the students do the club. Some were because she is awesome or it’s fun or it’s cool because you can relax, and let everything out, and just talk.

The club was created because of one main reason, though. The reason is because everyone who loves history and Ms. Satkoski get a chance to show that they love history and her.

Mardi Gras Break: What Did The Students Do?

by  Bella F.

What did the students and teachers of middle school did over Mardi Gras break?

 Most people went to Muses, Rex , Oshun, Iris, King Arthur ; the list goes on. They also went to other parades through the Mardi Gras season. Most people caught great things, from stuffed toys to doubloons, to light up things. Some of the students decided to go Disney World , Mexico, and many other places.

 Holly Miller, a fifth grade student, says that she went to all of the parades, but Orhpeus was one of her favorites with some really long floats. Mr. Wagauespack , a fifth grade  and twelfth grade math teacher and sixth grade advise , spent most of his time writing for the Yahoo! Sports section.

Most people says that king cake is their favorite food during the Mardi Gras season. Some people did, and didn’t have a favorite food to eat while watching a parade or during the Mardi Gras season.

 Overall, the Mardi Gras season was great, and I bet you the students are just itching to get to the next one!

Parker Lacewell interviews Gabby Douglas

By: Frances C.

                On December 9, 2012, Melissa Harris Perry’s daughter, Parker Lacewell, got a chance to interview Olympic gold medalist, Gabby Douglas. The interview took place in New York City on the Melissa Harris Perry show. Lacewell was so excited to interview Gabby. Lacewell exclaimed, “I found out while I was in Times Square and I literally started screaming I was so happy!”  This was because she LOVES Gabby and it would be her first time meeting her but, it was her mom’s second time meeting her.

                Lacewell was a little nervous but not too nervous because she had been on her mom’s show before dancing to “Gangnam Style.” 

Lacewell said, “I like being on live TV because I think I do extremely awesome!”

      Gabby has just written a book called Grace, Gold, and Glory: My Leap of Faith. The book is about Gabby’s perseverance, determination, and of course her faith. It also tells you how you should always follow your dreams because when you do, you can do big things with them! Gabby always wanted to be a gymnast so she followed her dreams and look where she is now!

          Lacewell stated, “I have read about half of Gabby’s book and I planning to finish it soon.”

                        Lacewell got to learn about the reason why Gabby wanted to be a gymnast.

         Lacewell informed, “Gabby said she always knew she had talent and that she wanted to do big things with it so, she traveled across the country without her family, to do gymnastics.”

                Lacewell commented, “A surprising thing that I learned about Gabby was that she liked Taylor Swift.”

  Lacewell also got to talk to Gabby outside of the interview while she was getting her makeup done, and when she was done signing A LOT of papers.

                 Lacewell DEFINETLY enjoyed getting to do this interview.  

                 “I enjoyed being on TV, hearing all of the answers to the questions and how her life is when she isn’t on TV” Lacewell shared.

Lacewell had a hard time picking which questions to ask Gabby, but she picked some really good ones!

Ghana Trip

by Sirina K.

On February 7, 2013 Mcgehee high school students left New Orleans to go to Ghana. They went to Ghana to work with a girl’s school in Bolgatanga.  Claiborne Beary, a high school student who went to Ghana, said that she went to Ghana because “I was really inspired by the presentation Aminata Brown, founder of the SISTA Scholar program, gave to the entire high school at assembly. She talked about these wonderful places, but what inspired me most was the fact that the students that went on the trip would get to present money to the girls school in Bolgatanga, Ghana that would be used to pay for the education. I couldn’t wait to see their smiling faces when the discovered that they had the promising hope of continuing their education through high school.”

 Before the students left for Ghana, they had some fundraisers to help pay for the scholarship, including a book drive and a duds day. Both fundraisers went very well, and the girls could actually pay for more scholarships than expected, they paid for eleven scholarships.  The books from the book drive went to the girls’ school in Bolgatanga.   

Claiborne Beary and Monica. Photo courtesy of McGehee School.

   

 When the students arrived in Ghana they went to many places including Accra (the capital of Ghana), Tamale, Kumasi, and lastly Bolgatanga. The girls were in Ghana for ten days: February 7, 2013 through February 18, 2013. While in Ghana, the girls met many different people including, Ezra, a woman who showed them batik and the girls at the Bolgatanga School.  The trip to Ghana went very well and the students helped many girls get a better education.

                               

The Hermann - Grima + Gallier Historic Houses

by Emily S.

           

           The Hermann–Grima + Gallier Historic houses are two houses that are on exhibit in the French Quarter. Both of the houses have been museums since the 1970’s. Their mission is to preserve, interpret, and educate. The preservation means the building and the collections inside them, the interpretation means the life in the houses, and the education means they work with many different people to educate them about life in the 19^th century. Both houses have won many awards including being named National Historic Landmarks, a number of honor awards by the Vieux Carré Commission, and they have both been accredited by the American Association of Museums for 30 years (this is the highest a museum can be honored).

 The Hermann-Grima house got its name because the Hermann family and then the Grima family lived in the house. The Gallier house got its name because the Gallier family lived there. 100% of the artifacts in both of the houses are from the 1800’s (when the houses were active) or earlier. 40% of the artifacts in the Hermann-Grima house are from the families that lived there, while only 2 artifacts in the Gallier house are really from the family. This is because they lost almost all of their things by selling them and giving them away.

            The Hermann-Grima house was active before the Civil War in the Golden Age of New Orleans. “The Golden Age of New Orleans,” says Mamie Gasperecz, the Executive Director of the Hermann-Grima + Gallier Historic Houses, “was an amazing time in the early part of the 19^th century when the port of New Orleans was very busy, sophisticated, and hopping and bopping.  There was a lot of money to make, and there were many opportunities for people who had immigrated to the United States.”

            The Gallier house was built in the 1860’s-1880’s (Victorian Times when Queen Victoria was on the throne of England). It was built after the Civil War. With the houses’ time periods being said, the Gallier house is more modern. It has indoor plumbing, hot/cold water, flushing toilets, and a boiler.

            The Hermann-Grima + Gallier Historic Houses are great replicas of life in the 19^th century. If you are looking for a fun way to be educated about life in the 19^th century, The Hermann-Grima + Gallier Historic Houses are the best choice!

             Within 9 blocks in the French Quarter, you can see both houses. The Hermann-Grima House is located on 820 St. Louis Street. The Gallier house is located on 1132 Royal Street.

            The Hermann-Grima + Gallier Historic Houses also offer group and school tours.

For more information go to www.HGGHH.org

                                    Their main phone number is (504)-525-5661

The Hermann-Grima House. Photo Courtesy of www.hgghh.org.

The Gallier House. Photo Courtesy of www.hgghh.org.

Trip To Ghana

BY ANNABELLE G.

On February 7^th, 2013 eight high school girls and three teachers went to Ghana. Their purpose of going was, to raise money to give one female student in Ghana a scholarship. The girls brought suitcases full of goodies, including two hundred and fifty four books and tee-shirts.

It took them almost twenty four hours to get to Ghana. The first place they went to Bolgatanga; it’s one of the most rural places in Ghana. They were able to spend a lot of time with the girls in Ghana. They also got to learn some of the girls’ language and culture.

The mcgehee girls were able to raise enough money for eleven girls to get scholarships. This was also only a school trip. That meant that no one else except for mcgehee girls could go. The trip was only open to upper school girls.

Claiborne Beary’s favorite part about going was that she could do activities with the girls who live in Ghana. She also said that Ghana was located in western Africa. She had a very good time, so did all the other girls who went there.

High School Ghana Trip

by Zaynab Z.

“I learned more about the culture and lifestyle of Africa and how girls and woman live in another part of the world,” 9^th Grader Claiborne Beary said. “I stayed in Ghana for ten days, learning how the African women and girls live. I am interested because I want to support the girls and take more care of the world.” 

            Only  certain girls were able to go to Ghana, Africa: Sully Hildebrand (11^th), Leah Recasner (11^th), Gabbi Szabo(10^th), Jessie Hernandez (10^th), Sally Jane Stern(9^th),  Mariel Nelson(9^th), Claiborne Beary(9^th), and Sofia Cabrera(9^th) Three teachers also went: Eileen Powers, Debby Pigman, and Val Whitfield-Dunn. These three teachers came along to be chaperones. When they arrived, they were welcome by a naming ceremony and dancing.

There the girls and teachers worked with the SISTA Scholars. The SISTA Scholars is an organization that helps give African girls educations. The girls left on February 7^th, 2013 and it took a full day to get there. They went on British Airways.

Two things the girls thought of to raise money were a book drive and a Duds Day. They needed to raise money to give the African girls money for a year at school. They accepted slightly used books that are high school leveled. The girls  donated 254 books and McGehee t-shirts. The last day to bring them in was Wednesday, February 6^th, 2013. If you wanted to wear duds you had to bring in at least $2.00. Some students brought in more money, which was fantastic. All that money would provide African girls with a scholarship to be educated.

The McGehee girls’ goal was $1,500.00 and they collected about $2,200.00! It only took $300.00 to give an African girl a scholarship for one year! The McGehee girls were able to give eleven African girls and education! Many students participated, including teachers.  

                        The girls did many different activities while they were in Ghana. They visited the girls’ school, went to a monkey sanctuary, wove hats, went to the beach, botanical gardens, made cloth, and did a lot of dancing! The girls had to get immunizations to prevent getting diseases like malaria. The girls returned on February 18^th, 2013. The girls and teachers made a presentation to the High School and Middle School on March 5^th, 2013. 

 

Map of Ghana courtesy of The Ghana Report

 

Claiborne Beary and Monica. Photo courtesy of McGehee School.

                                            Photo courtesy of Visiting with our SISTA Scholars

McGehee Middle School Talent Show 2013

By: Katherine S.

The middle school of McGehee always puts on great shows and productions.  One the recent one was the middle school talent show.  It was full of great acts and performers the talents were very creative. The talent show judges were Ms. May, Ms. Stanson, and Mr. Long. The prizes this year was the one overall winner won an iTunes gift card, and everyone who participated got candy. The talent show took place on Friday, February 1, 2013.  

Sadie Thone, a fifth grader participated in the talent show this year she was in two different acts, one was a solo act. She sang Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars. She said that it was a little scary to have to do the solo act. She chose that because she is a Bruno Mars fan. She wore jeans a polo and tennis shoes.

For her second act she performed with the fifth grade basketball team. They did Get Your Head in the Game by the High School Musical cast. She is less nervous for this one because she is not alone. She will be wearing her basketball uniform. Overall she said she had a lot of fun and got a good reaction from the crowd.

Claire Beary, a fifth grader also participated in the talent show. One of the acts she did was a solo to the song You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift. She was very scared to perform in front of the whole middle school. She said that was the right song for her because she is a huge Taylor Swift fan. She wore jeans, a t-shirt, and tennis shoes.

As like Sadie Claire is also on the fifth grade basketball team, she and Sadie were in the number. She was still nervous for this number to but not as much because she was with a group of people. She wore here basketball uniform as well. Overall she thinks she did very well and got a good reaction from the crowd too.    

 

Talent Show Contestants in 5C

The New Starbucks Verismo 580

by Eliza P.

Coffee is a very popular beverage all around the world. It can be dark, light, hot, cold, sweet or bitter. Maybe that’s why millions of men and women enjoy it.

Coffee trees originated in Africa, where slaves would snack on “coffee cherries.” The Arabs took control of coffee trees, and in 1668 coffee began to be enjoyed all over the United States.

Probably the most successful coffeehouse chain is Starbucks, started by Howard Shultz in Seattle, Washington. With over 20,000 current locations and counting, Starbucks is quite the prosperous business. Recently, the popular company introduced the Starbucks Verismo 580.

This $300.000 piece of equipment brings your favorite cup of Starbucks cup of coffee right into your home. The home machine includes a 19 bar pressure pump, automatic start/stop mode, and a 15 second time period to heat up, so regular Starbucks customers are very excited about this product. But the big question is: Is coffee better at home or at the store?

“I think (the Starbucks Verismo) is cool,” Angelle Brown of McGehee School says. “You can have time to stay at home and drink coffee by yourself. But sometimes you need to go to the store. There you can do homework and hang out with your friends.

“My opinion on the Starbucks Verismo is that it’s awesome. It’s a lot cheaper to buy the containers and make it at home than go to the store,” Angelle’s peer, Jasmyne Mills, is also very excited about this product.

“The stores should be more of a back-up in case the Verismo is really expensive. But some people need to go to the stores. If the stores go out of business, then you won’t be able to use the Starbucks Verismo anymore,” Jasmyne adds.

To conclude, Starbucks customers agree that although the Starbucks Verismo is cool, you need to go to the store as well.

The Verismo. Photo courtesy of Starbucks.

McGehee soccer team breaks their streak!

by Angelle B.

On January 17th at the Pan American Stadium in City Park, McGehee JV soccer team lost to Sacred Heart. Terribly, it ruined their undefeated score. Conery Schmidt and Katherine Solomon, two McGehee JV soccer students, said “We lost from just the silly mistakes from less practice, and Sacred Heart was really good.”

  

Sacred Heart won 5 to 0, defeating Mcgehee. Overall, Mcgehee soccer students walked away with a smile on their faces and learned something new.  Katherine Solomon said she learned, “Make sure you always have your head in the game and work with your teammates.”

          Conery reports she had a great experience because, after learning to pay attention at all times as teammates, they all started working together winning their games again.  

         With Conery’s great mind throughout the whole game, she and another soccer student were chosen to be on McGehee’s Varsity team. Conery played three varsity games. She played in the games against Lusher, St. Martins, and Sacred Heart.  Sacred Heart was the playoff, but they lost. It was single elimination, so Sacred Heart advanced. Conery says, “It was fun time ,and I hope to have better luck next time!”   

Conery and Katherine

Major Food Fight at McGehee

by Sissy S.

The McGehee Food Fight is probably not the “Food Fight” you are thinking of: lots of kids running around screaming in the cafeteria throwing food at each other.  It is teams of students competing by bringing food to the school with a special color for each team of two grades.  Erin Toomey, a Middle School History teacher, said that McGehee has been doing the Food Fight for about four years.  Whichever team brings in the most food gets a special free dress day of their color for the whole school, but all the food goes to the Second Harvest Food Bank to help feed the homeless. 

What the Second Harvest Food Bank does is they help families in need of food.  From July 2011 to June 2012, they gave food to an average of 243,177 individuals each month.  Second Harvest is a certified member of Feeding America.  The Second Harvest Food bank is a great way to donate and help the community!

In the teams there are some times a high school grade and a lower or middle school grade.  Erin Toomey says that the teams’ grades are good together because it motivates the older students to not let the team down.  The Food Fight at McGehee is a great way to get the students to help the community.

McGehee School Know It All

by Matilda K.

                 

   Have any of you heard about the upcoming talent show on February 1^st? Well, now is the time to get excited about who is going to be in it and about the excellent and varied talents that will be presented.   Here are just some of the contestants: Conery Schmidt with Amelia Perret; Molly Stockmeyer; Martha Pinney; Matilda Knight; the 5^th grade basketball team; Claire Beary; Mia Bowman; Sadie Thorne, and many more who are going to perform their hearts out just for you. This competition will only have one winner so it will be intense finding out who will take home the prize. But what is the talent show really about?  Two of the contestants in the talent show took part in an interview and they think they know.

       

       Sela Kline said, “It is for girls to show what they can do or to conquer a fear; to find your talent.”

  The talent show definitely allows girls to do things they like on stage in order for other people to see their talent, but Sela hints that sometimes there are other reasons than just taking the opportunity to show off a talent.

      

            Contestant, Molly Stockmeyer also had some very good ideas.  When asked, “Do you care if you win?” she gladly said, “Not really, it is just something for fun.”

    

        It was nice to see that the girls interviewed were not all full of themselves.  They were excited for the talent show and although they might want to win at heart, they know that that is not the only important thing.

    

       After catching a sneak peak at rehearsals, the talent of these young contestants is impressive.  It will be a very tough competition.  Hopefully, these performers will not focus on winning but on their future as performers. They should use this as a chance to perform and get experience.  Most importantly, they should never give up practicing their talents and reaching for their dreams. 

   

          The talent show will be held in the McGehee School Auditorium at 1:00pm. Hopefully many girls will be there to cheer for the ones they love and show just as much support for the others. There are many different reasons that McGehee has a talent show but it is definitely a reason to celebrate girls and what they can do.

      Good luck girls and have fun! 

Ghana

by Amelia P.

                    “Every year the Upper School presents its students with a service trip opportunity. Last year it was Costa Rica and this year Aminata Brown came to one of our assemblies and presented a power point of the trip. I believe the school has been trying to make a trip to Africa possible for its students for several years now, and it happened to work out perfectly this year!” said Sully Hildebrand, one of the 14 lucky high school girls going to Ghana, Africa over Mardi Gras break. These girls left for London on Thursday, February 7, 2013 on a jet across the Atlantic Ocean.

           The living spaces that will accommodate these girls will be a new hotel room every night in two-three star hotels. Sully said, “I think all the girls are a little nervous about the long plane rides and being so far away from home, but all in all, we are all very excited!” Mrs. Powers, the Headmistress, said, “I am super excited about this trip.”

            One of the main purposes to go was to see other cultures and go to an all girls school in a foreign continent.

“Personally, I believe I have been blessed to grow up in a country/community where it is expected that I get an education. I am really looking forward to being able to help in anyway we can. We have been given so many opportunities that the girls in Bolgatanga have not and I think the whole experience will be incredibly fulfilling,” said Hildebrand. Mrs Powers had a little different view for the trip’s importance. She said, “The girls in our school need to have the opportunity to see other cultures.” 

They will be visiting the BaBa Blankets store and meeting all the women who make the blankets. They will mostly be involved with the SISTAscholars. SISTAscholars are partnered with BaBa Blankets. Aminata originally opened Ba Ba Blankets for all the young women who were forced to work in the markets to provide food for their families. Aminata asked some of the girls if they wanted to learn how to do anything. Most of them replied that they wanted to know how to sew. So Aminata created BaBa Blankets, but she wanted to get to the root of the problem, which was the young girls in Ghana were not being educated enough to ensure successful futures. That is how SISTAscholars was created.

After the trip was over, a few things popped up that were not expected.

When they were there, they had to get a large number of shots for Malaria, TetnisSS, Meningitis, and so on. While McGehee girls slept in hotels, the girls at the boarding school weren’t so lucky. The girls slept 80 to a dorm room with 40 bunkbeds and mosquito netting all around the beds. When our girls have hot showers, the Ghana girls had stalls with soap and a bucket of water to clean with.     

            This trip was a huge event because most of the girls had not been over an entire ocean by themselves. A video was taken of teacher Debbie Pigman and dean Val Whitfield-Dunn hip-hop dancing with some of the girls at the school in Ghana. This trip was a great success. 

Aminata Brown. Photo courtesy of nola.com.