WINTER 2022
Parker Basketball Congratulations to Parker’s Basketball team!! All of the athletes and coaches dedicated a lot of hours and hard work to accomplish their goals. The 8th grade boys had a great year and played their hardest at state!
Parker Volleyball Congratulations to Parker’s girl’s volleyball team!! The 6th and 7th grade girls worked hard through the season, making it all the way to the Regional Finals! They lost to James Hart in the final game, but not without giving it their all! Congratulations and great work girls!
Tentacles Galore! (Part One) by Courtney R. Moore “Is Mr. Kensington back yet?” Wednesday asked. “No, he’s expected to arrive in 10 minutes though!” I replied. Wednesday is my best friend, and my classmate as well; Oh, I apologize, I didn’t introduce myself. My name is Jemison, Jemison Holmes. The basics of this story is that our teacher Mr. Kensington was out for 3 weeks and something-days on vacation to London, England; But obviously, that vacation was way too long, and suspicion rose among our 8th-period gifted class. “Jemie, I see footsteps…” We all looked at the doorway, and even as one foot stepped in, we all gasped. Even Zachary who was taking the medicine from inside his inhaler, gulped and stared in awe as our English teacher walked in. Mr. Kensington grew tentacles…and they were in the middle of his stomach. “Good afternoon class, I’m so glad I’m able to see you again!” he announced. We were all still in shock, all of our jaws dropped, masks and all. As he adjusted his glasses, slime was dripping down from his stomach, and he readjusted his entire body to make it appear “normal”.
“Umm…class? I know my new ability looks different to the human eye, but we can still have our regular class,” Mr. Kensington spoke. “Jemie, this doesn’t look okay to me,” Wednesday whispered. I know Wends, but doesn’t he remind you of anything?” We looked at each other with excitement! “He reminds of Number Six from the Umbrella Academy!” we said together in unison. It was quiet, and then everyone turned to look at us, and Mirabelle passed out from her chair. Chaos and panic raged in the classroom. “He has tentacles!” one classmate yelled. “Welp, it looks like it’s time for me to leave,” another classmate said, and ran out of the classroom in the blink-of-an-eye. Most of the students left out of the classroom in a heartbeat, never stopping, and once every other classroom heard their running steps, they soon followed, same with the teachers. Soon the whole school evacuated from the building, except for me, Wednesday, and Mirabelle, who was still unconscious after passing out. “I thought everyone would except, especially the gifted class that I taught,” our teacher said in a somber manner. Mirabelle woke up from her consciousness, still frozen, still not believing what she saw. “Uhhh…uhhh,” she mumbled. “Don’t be frightened Mirabelle, it’s the same Mr. Kensington, with his fashionable outfits and old-fashioned bifocals,” Wednesday spoke.
“I’m still me, I’ve just been experiencing some changes,” he said. “Okay, but we gotta talk later, they’re looking for you as a make-shift science experiment, so let’s move with a quickness!” she replied with acceptance. Mr. Kensington, Mirabelle, Wednesday, and I escaped through the science lab, into the wide-open air. Running as fast we can trying to find a safe place, his tentacles opened up and carried all of us…it was a strange but wondrous sight to behold. “Not to be an inconvenience of any sorts, but what happened dude?” Wednesday rushed. “Well my dear Wednesday,” he said with properness, “It all happened like this, I was drinking tea at a local coffee shop right by Buckingham Palace, and then…” (To be continued…)
How To Draw Portraits By: Reagan Seye I like to draw a lot, and when I show the drawings to people. they ask how I did it. I decided to make this drawing and show the process so anyone that wants to read this and learn some techniques I learned to improve my art. First, I make the head shape using a circle and I draw another shape connected to the bottom of the circle that represents the bottom of the head. I draw circles and other shapes to indicate facial features including eyes, nose, mouth, and eyebrows. When it comes to drawing hair, I make sure that I know which hairstyle I’m going to use. Some artists that I watch draw a guideline for where the hairline will be. I used that method and then I drew bangs because that was a part of the hairstyle I was using. I also do my best to draw lightly and not push the pencil hard on the page.
After finishing step one, I pretty much use the shapes drawn to help me add detail to what I originally drew. I make the eyes more oval shaped, outline the shape I have come up with for the eyes, and then add the irises. If someone is going for realism when drawing eyes, make the irises circular. When it comes to the nose, I don’t do much. I draw curved lines for the edge of the nose, curved lines for the nostrils, and a curved line for the bottom of the nose. I would turn the nostrils from lines to circular or oval shapes depending on how the person being drawn has their face turned. For the mouth, I draw curved lines and the shape depends on how I want the lips to be shaped. If I’m drawing a specific person, I have to be very specific about how I shape facial features. I also redraw some guidelines if I struggle with getting the shapes of facial features or head shapes right.
After I finished sketching the face, I lightly erased the sketch and outlined it in light blue colored pencil. Then I started coloring the picture with colored pencil. I use Prismacolors to color my drawings, which are higher quality pencils that make it easier to blend colors. I also used a few Crayola pencils that were the colors I needed. I color in most of the drawing using circular motions and I continue coloring the drawing. When I color the hair, I make the pencil strokes go in the direction the hair is going. Then it will look more like real hair. I use a solid color for the lips and eyes and add more colors on top and blend them together. I could even maybe get away with just using one color and using black to color in a pupil. I also use a gel pen to put in highlights for the eyes and lips. I use normal, darker, and lighter colors to indicate highlights, and shadows to make the drawing look more 3d instead of 2d.
I continued to blend the colors. When I was done with the portrait, I used some markers to do the background. I learned a lot of the advice that I give out from other artists that I watch on social media. If anyone reading this wants to get more information about drawing better art with more realism, there are a bunch of tutorials all over the internet.
Snowflake 2022 By: Satiya Viner Recently, I went to an event called Operation Snowflake. It provided us with food, drinks, activities, and lots of fun! When I arrived, I was given a shirt with the Operation’s theme and assigned a team. I was placed into a group with some other kids (about 4-5). At first, it was very awkward, trying to get to know everyone, but soon we got comfortable with each other. After being introduced to the team at Snowflake, we watched a small skit going over the rules and theme. We then started our adventure! On our way to small group introductions, we were introduced to the support team, again! We walked down a corridor to see two lines on both sides of the room, the support team was chanting and dancing! They had a lot of energy, and it was a good start to our day! Soon after, we met as a group to talk about the usage of drugs and how it can be very addicting. It was very emotional and eye-opening.
After getting to know each other more and playing some games, we started heading over to the cafeteria. After having Aurelio's, we gathered as a group again and watched a bike show! It taught us the importance of never giving up! When the event finally came to a close, we shared our experiences and looked at the pictures taken while there. This experience was amazing, and I was lucky enough to go with my best friend! Though we were in separate groups, we were still able to have fun! I recommend this experience to anyone bored on a Saturday, or anyone wanting to meet new people and create new bonds!
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