Should Kids Play Football

Should kids play football? That’s the question everyone is asking. Well I have an answer. They should! A total of 2.5 million kids play football and 1.1 million of them play in high school. This results in football being America’s most popular sport. However, other Americans have a different idea on the sport. Some believe that football is too risky due to concussions. But, there are many more reasons why kids should play.

First of all, football is getting safer everyday. Pop Warner has limited the amount of practice time that includes tackling. Plus, many national programs are training coaches, parents, and athletes to recognize and treat concussions. But most importantly, all 50 states have laws that says a medical professional must sign off an injured player before going back on the field.

Second of all, playing football helps kids stay in shape, 2.5 million kids that is. Childhood obesity remains one of the biggest problems in the country, with more than one-third of kids overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.“A lack of exercise is a major component of this epidemic,” says Stanley Herring, a professor in the University of Washington's sports medicine department. So, parents should be encouraging kids to get outside and exercise. “A lifelong interest and comitment to health and fitness has never been more important as we face a widespread increase in sedentary lifestyles and childhood obesity,” he says. “Being active as a child correlates with being active as an adult.”

Third of all, it has been proven that kids(which includes middle school, high school, and college students)who play sport do better in school. “Organized sports don't just help kids' bodies, but their minds as well,” says Kim Gorgens​, a professor in the Graduate School of Professional Psychology at the University of Denver. “We are just beginning to understand the role of aerobic exercise in brain plasticity,” she says. “The findings are incredibly robust for kids. Brain and body fitness appear to be the same thing. Research suggests that physical activity is essential for learning and retention of learned material.”

So, even though football is the most dangerous sport in America, it is still the most loved and the rewards outweigh the risks. As you can see, football is very worthwhile due to its progression in fitness and mental health. Therefore, to answer the big question, yes. Kids should play football.

Delaware Governmet Research Project

1. When did DE become a state?
2. What is the DE motto?
3. Copy and paste the flag. Explain the symbols on it.
4. Name three nicknames and tell why they were chosen.
5. Describe the DE State Government. What are the parts? What does each part do?
6. Who are the representatives that serve us from this area in the General Assembly? What are their term limits?
7. Who is Representative Ernest Lopez? What committees does he serve on? What has he voted on in the past session? Create a list of three questions to ask him about his work in the State General Assembly that relate to you.

Dr. Ernesto B. “Ernie” Lopez, 37, is a member of the Delaware State Senate, representing the 6^th Senatorial district serving the Milton, Lewes, Harbeson, Rehoboth and Dewey Beach area.  He was elected to office in November of 2012 and is the first Latino elected to the Delaware State Senate.

• Have you ever shook hands with Obama?
• How many terms are you allowed to run?
• Why did you want to be a representative?

     8.  Who is Corporal Hudson Keller? What are some of the First Amendment issues he may have               worked on? Create a list of three questions to ask him about his work.

      Listen to the state song!  Write a new state song.

Memoir: Nonna

Nonna

I grabbed the milk from the fridge and poured two cups in the globby mixture. The sound of Michael Bublé’s Christmas album playing in the background.

“Do you want to mix it?” My grandma asked smiling at me. Every time I saw her face she lit up my world. It felt like all the bad things went away when I was with her. She made everything better.

I smiled and took the blender from her hand and pushed the grey switch up to 3 with my thumb. The metal hands on the machine started spinning as I stirred the sugar cookie batter. She took a handful of flour and sprinkled it over the wooden table across from the kitchen. Then, I dumped the gooey blob and flattened it with the rolling pin.

“I’m so glad you’re staying for Christmas,” grandma said as she pressed down on the dough with a metal outline of a little man.

I grabbed the christmas tree cookie cutter and smiled up at her, “Me too. This is my favorite place in the world.

“Amen!” My dad yelled from the living room which made us giggle. We put the cutouts of Christmas symbols on a tray and put them in the oven.

“What do you want to do now?”

“Let’s play a game,” I suggested.

“Great idea.” She smiled and grabbed the stack of cards at the end of the table. Then she spread out all the cards and moved them around sloppily in a circle and straightened them, one after the other. “And that’s how pros do it”

She took a sip of her coffee and gently set it down, then began to deal every other card to me. Without looking at the cards I said, “One. Two. Three. War.” We both flipped the card from the top of our stack. I layed down a 5 spades and she, a 9 diamonds. In the next twenty minutes we played war over and over and hummed along to christmas songs. She won. Of course. The all-star champion of car games. As soon as we knew it the oven timer had gone off.

We traced each cookie with white, green, and red icing then scattered sprinkles over them. “Dinner’s ready!” we joked. I was so glad to be there. I was so thankful to be able to spend time with the one I love so very dearly.

Flash Fiction Story: A Father's Daughter

A Father’s Daughter

One side. Done. Melina carefully switched the mascara wand to the other eye. She remembered as a little girl, how she would watch her mother, before she died that was, precisely coating each lash. She snapped back to reality and twisted open her peach lipgloss. The previous night she dreamed about living in Los Angeles with her boyfriend and being free from this life.

Today was important. She was going to see the forbidden love of her life, Will. He said he had a special surprise for her. They had been secretly together for 6 months now and today was their anniversary. Their love had to be kept quiet because of her father.

After her mother died, he had gone almost insane. Every night after work, he stopped at a bar or liquor store to buy alcohol. Month after month, he got worse, not letting Melina go to friends house, or even talk to boys, saying they were nothing but trouble. He knew about Will. But he just thought he had a crush on his daughter, not knowing how involved they were together.

Will lived a couple blocks down away from them. He used to come to her house all the time and sit with her in the huge tree in the front yard. They could climb up to the top and sneak in her window to talk for hours at night. But 2 months ago her father found out that he was sneaking into her room, he banned Will from seeing his daughter.

“Melina! Dinner’s ready,” her father yelled from down the stairs.

“Kay, be there in a second.” She draped the heart-shaped locket her mother had gotten her for her tenth birthday around her neck and ran downstairs. Her father was sitting at the table eating a chicken sandwich. She pulled up a chair and grabbed the other sandwich on the table.

Her father looked at her strangely, “Are you wearing lipgloss?”She took her sleeve and scrunched it in her hand.

“What? No,” she replied wiping her mouth and taking a big bite out of the chicken. “Look, I don’t really feel good so I think I’m gonna head to bed early tonight. I think its just my sinuses.” She threw the uneaten half of her sandwich and threw it away.

He grabbed her arm, “Melina. I’m sorry that I…”

“Dad, don’t,” she cut him off, taking her arm back. “Not tonight.” She ran into the bathroom and brushed teeth then reapplied lipgloss. After reading on her bed until the clock read 12:37, she heard a knock outside her window. Melina jumped off her bed and opened the window. It was Will. She hugged him tightly, “Happy anniversary.”

“Happy anniversary. Sorry I’m late. I had little trouble getting out of the house.”

“It’s fine. My dad is passed out on the couch downstairs.”

He took her hand, “You ready Mel?” She loved that name. He called her that ever since the first day they met. She smiled. Will grabbed the branch outside and swung on the the tree. Then, Melina. She turned to close the window while Will hopped down but it was stuck. Finally, with a loud bang it closed. Little did they know, had woken up her father. She jumped down and they ran across the road to Will’s car.

Almost there, Melina turned down the music and asked, “where are we going?”

“I told you, it’s a surprise. You’ll see in a minute. Oh and this also counts as you 18th birthday present,” he said with a grin. “Now close your eyes.” She heard him open and close his door. Then, he opened her door and she got out of the car. Will grabbed her waist to guide her. She heard gravel under their feet. Then she almost tripped on a rock and giggled.

“Sorry.” Will unwrapped his hands, “Now open your eyes. Happy birthaversary!”

She opened her eyes to the lights of her town reflecting on lake tahoe. In front of her was basket and blanket on top of a huge rock.“Will! its beautiful!” She sat down as he draped the blanket over the two of them. “I can’t believe you remembered that I wanted to come here.” She kissed him on the cheek.

They ate, talked and looked at the stars for two hours. After they cleaned up and drove back to her house, her dad was waiting for her. They climbed to the top of the tree and stood where they would always sit at night. The branches were situated so that it almost seemed as if the couple was being pushed together.

“Thank you for my present.” Melina laced her hand with his, almost twice as big as hers.

He grabbed onto her waist and kissed her. She felt the heat from him radiating everywhere. It felt like time had stopped. Then, all of a sudden, started again at the sound of a gunshot. It was her father, as drunk as could be, standing in the lawn with his gun in one hand and bottle in the other.

“Oh hey silly Willy. Thought I didn’t know what was going on, huh? Well someone was a little too loud leaving,” he said taking another drink.

Melina dropped down on to the ground trying to calm him, “ Daddy it’s not what it looks like.” Will followed her.

He pointed the gun at Will, “Stay right there! Melina get away from him.”

“But I love him!”

No you don’t, get away!”

While he was looking at Melina, Will sprinted at him and pushed him to the ground. His gun and bottle flew across the yard. The two started punching each other in the face and wrestling.

“Dad get off of him,” she started to cry. He was now choking Will, his face turning redder every second. Melina ran to the bottle and smashed it across her father’s head. He rolled off Will, unconcious. “Will! Are you hurt?”

He sat up, “I’m okay.” He put his hand on her face and looked in her eyes. “Melina.”

“Yes?”

“Will you marry me?”

“What?”

“I bought two plane tickets to LA. You’re turning 18 in a couple days and it’s our dream to move there. I can’t stand seeing you live with this jerk anymore. You don’t deserve this. So, will you marry me?”

“Of course.”

Science Fiction Story: Evangeline

Evangeline

PART 1

“It’ll all be fine,” said Evangeline’s father while pulling onto an eery road and passing a sign saying, Welcome to Black Creek Georgia. “I’m sure you’ll make a lot of new friends.”

“Yeah I guess.. But you didn’t have to move us to the other side of the country just because mom died and you think that all of your pain will go away,” she answered. He didn’t say anything. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“It’s okay Evie, I know this was a big step for us. But I’m sure it’s the right thing for us. It should be somewhere up here. Ahh finally,” her dad said peering out the window. They had arrived at a house with faded white strips of wood and blood red shutters. It was a house unlike either of them had ever seen before. The two got out of the car and started unpacking.

PART 2

“You almost ready for bed?” her dad asked as he stood in the doorway. She nodded as she buried herself under the pile of blankets. And he kissed her on the forehead. “Alright, goodnight then.”

She looked up at him and whispered, “This is gonna be great, dad. I love you.” Just as he turned off the light, a bone-crushing scream came from outside her window. Startled, he turned the light on again.

"Probably just someone messing around." But his face showed a different sign. "Just try and go to sleep."

The next morning Evangeline sat up out of her bed. She looked outside and noticed the magnificent array of colors on the leaves in the woods next to her. She wondered what was behind her window last night. When she went downstairs and ate breakfast with her dad, she asked him if she could play in the woods after school.

“Maybe, but you don’t wanna be late on your first day!”

“Neither do you,” she said and hopped out of her chair and ran outside to catch the bus.

In homeroom, she was welcomed by twenty wild, immature students and was asked by the queen bee of the school, Alexandra Vanderwall, to sit with her; which she agreed to. The next couple days were going great for her. Everyone in school liked her, she was climbing to the top of the popularity chart. Also, she and her father were getting along better than ever.

PART 3

"Would you finally let me go play in the woods?" she pleaded.

Her father responded, rolling his eyes, "Oh fine. I know you've been waiting very patiently. Go ahead." She grabbed her journal that she had kept since her mom died and ran out the door. Trees that seemed to be dressed in black were now towering over her. Evangeline came to stop at a seven foot mound in a clearing. She made her way to the top and sat down, breathing in the autumn’s wind. Her leather book was now open to a blank page.

Dear Diary,

So, we just moved to this old, weird house. It’s quite creepy actually. But the thing that scares me the most is all the noises at night. It is the most bloody awful sound I’ve ever heard. It’s a mix between something dying and screaming for help. Other than that, school is great, I’ve met so many nice girls and it seems like everyone likes me. I feel like Alexandra is trying to change me, in a bad sort of way. She’s really mean to be honest. She lowers girls’ self-esteem and says things behind peoples backs. But I don’ t say anything about it and try to ignore it. I actually invited her over on Friday to stay the weekend because i want us to get along. Fingers crossed.

XO  Evangeline

Looking up at the sky, she stood up and brushed off the dirt on her bottom. The clouds were now somber so she started down the hill. All of a sudden, she hears leaves crunch behind her. The movement startles her so much, she trips and falls to the ground. Flat on her face, she slowly opens her eyes and there it was. A raven, with its head torn off. One scream, and everything went cold.

PART 4

“11:27,” she should be back by now,” her father is now sweating profusely. “Thanks again sheriff, for coming over. I’ve called her many times on the cellphone I gave her on her last birthday. What if someone took her?”

Sheriff Hitchens put his finger to his lips and pointed at the door, “I think someone’s outside the door.” He put his hand on the gun strapped to his hip. Slowly, he opened the big red door in the middle of the hallway. And there she was, standing in the doorway, covered from head to toe in dirt.

She was a mess, diary in hand, and eyes wide open. Its seemed as if she was standing there, but she wasn’t.

“Evangeline! Is everything okay? I was so worried about you,” her father yelled as he ran into her arms. Then, she snapped out of her trance.

She looked at her father and Sheriff Hitchens.”What happened? How did I get here?”

PART 5

After taking a bath, her father handed her a steaming cup of camomile tea. “Are you feeling any better?” he asked as he tucked her in bed.

“Yeah, my neck still hurts though.”

“Let me look at it,” he said moving her hair to one shoulder. There were two half-inch holes in the center of her neck, oozing with blood from both sides. His eyes were now wide open “Evangeline, what do you remember happening after you left the house?”

“Well, um. First, I was walking for a little while when I came upon this clearing with a hill in the middle of it. So, I sat on the hill for about ten minutes and wrote in my diary. It started to get dark so I started walking back. Then, I heard something behind me, I got scared, and I fell. When I opened my eyes, there was a raven. But, its head was tore off, shredded. Then.. everything was cold. And all I remember after that was you hugging me.” She started to cry.

Then there it was again, the noise. It came from the woods. Now louder than before.

“Its alright sweetie,” he said kissing her forehead. “You’re safe now.”

PART 6

The next evening was friday night and the doorbell rang. Evangeline ran to the front door.

“Hi Alexandra! I’m so glad you came.”

“Yeah sure,” she responded, hugging her, them made her way into the living room. In the next couple hours they danced, watched movies, ate pizza and ice cream and Alex’s favorite, gossiped.

“Lights out in five ladies,” her dad yelled from across the hallway. The girls giggled and the light went out.

Two hours had passed and the clock read “12:57.” A loud noise coming from down stairs awoke Alex. She looked over to find Evangeline but was no where to be found. As she made her way down the staircase, there was another banging noise.

“Evangeline is that you?” Alexandra was now shaking and almost at the end of the hallway.

“I’m going to kill you.” She turned around and screamed. It was Evangeline. All you could she was the whites of her eyes. Evangeline ran at her and grabbed her neck, pushing her up again the wall. “How’s popularity and all your little followers gonna save you now, huh?”

Her father ran down after hearing the scream. “Evangeline stop right now!” He pulled her off of Alex and wrestled her to the ground. “Alexandra, get me the rope under the kitchen sink,” he said trying to keep her down. It was obvious now. They both knew what had happened. Evangeline was possesed by whatever was out in the woods that night.

PART 7

The doorbell rang again. “Who’s that,” Alex asked. She had been waiting into corner of the living room for fifteen minutes now for her parents to pick her up. He opened the door. It was Sheriff Hitchens and the priest from Black Creek Community Church.

“This is Richard who I told you about,” the sheriff said motioning to the man in white robes. “He has done a couple of exorcisms in his days. Alexandra your parents just pulled up. You can go now.”

“Exorcism? Are you crazy? I’m not letting some guy I don’t even know cast satanic spells and what not on my daughter.”

The old man looked at him right in the eye, “Well how else do you expect to get the demon out of her. Now, if you don’t mind, where is she?”

He pointed to the closed bathroom door with nail marks on the outside. The three made their way over and opened the door. Evangeline was screaming and kicking, wrapped in rope in the bathtub.

“Sheriff, we need to tie her down to the kitchen table. Father, I need four candles around the table, dirt in a circle connecting the candles, in a circle, and a bowl for the Holy water I brought.”

When the exorcism was ready, her father and the sheriff were holding Evangeline down on the table.

She kept screaming and the priest started pouring Holy water on her, chanting, “Pater in nomine tuo.” Each word getting louder and louder, “quod aliqui mali tantæ Evangeline animam liberare.” At the last word, he pushed his palm to her forehead. Her eyes rolled back to their normal position and she stopped moving.

“Its is finished.”