THE OVERACHIEVER

November 2012 Vol. 9 Issue 3

International Academy 1020 E. Square Lake Road Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304

Cover Design

Photo Description: Fall IASA Show

In this issue...

Hurricane Sandy …….……...3

Preventing Colds.........…..…5 Entertainment…………...……7 Sports……….....…..…............9 NaNoWriMo……...…………10 Only at IA................Back Page

Staff

Principal Ms. Lynne Gibson

Associate Principle

Mr. Chris Smith

Faculty Facilitator

Ms. Sarah Clancy

Editor-in-Chief

Swathi Shanmugasundaram

News Editor

Ana Chaves

Features Editor Sneha Edupuganti Entertainment Editor Trusha Patel

Sports Editor Mahum Farooqui

Perspectives Editor Nancy Huang

Back Page Editor Tami Lacasse

Contributors

Rana-Armaghan K. Ahmad Jenna Wang Mariam Anwar Snehanjani Edupuganti Ana Chaves Nisha Patel Trusha Patel Mahum Farooqui Nancy Huang Tami Lacasse

by RANA-ARMAGHAN K. AH-MAD and JENNA WANG

3 November 2012 News

Sandy Brings Tragedy and Worry for the Future

People call her Super-storm Sandy, but is Symptom Sandy a better title? This past month, as the Unit-ed States experienced disaster at the hands of Mother Nature, Sandy brought along more than just de-struction. As she flooded the streets, airports, homes, and subways of Manhattan with 13 feet of seawater, the hurricane inspired warnings from scientists that perhaps this is not an isolated incident. Such natural disas-ters could happen again in the near future, and this is certainly a trou-bling thought. With more than 121 fatalities as of November 12th and 50 billion US dollars in damage to her name, the possibility of Sandy repeats is alarming. Sandy began her trek of terror on October 22nd in Kingston, Jamaica as a tropical storm system. Reaching 110 mph winds as she entered Cu-ba, the storm’s course soon turned northwest toward the Bahamas. On October 29th, Hurricane Sandy hit the New England region. On the same day, the hurricane’s full poten-tial was realized as the New York Stock Exchange closed for the first time due to weather conditions since Hurricane Gloria in 1985. The arrival of the hurricane went on to become the first time that the stock market was closed for two days straight be-cause of weather conditions since 1888. While Hurricane Sandy was not as destructive as Hurricane Katri-na, the aftermath of Sandy remains undeniably tragic. The United States suffered tremendously, but it does not stand alone in its grievances. Cuba and Haiti saw their own shares of destruction. People all over lost families, friends, homes, memories and the pieces of their everyday lives as the storm swept it all away.

Great anger continues to brew in these regions as many of these peo-ple feel forgotten and abandoned. As we keep those affected in our thoughts, we hope for the best and look warily into the future as we can-not help but wonder: is Sandy the beginning of a new era of climate norms? Many climate researchers seem to think so.

A Giants fan light-heartedly mocks the Steelers with a witty comment about Hurricane Sandy. Her com-ment strikes home: Hurricane Sandy truly tested the East Coast and great bravery and solidarity was shown by the people. Photo by: http://www.nj.com/giants/index.ssf/2012/11/ According to experts, the signs are all there: increased precipitation, rising sea levels, melting ice-caps, and warmer oceans. Global warm-ing, as made evident by its name, is when the overall temperatures in Earth’s atmosphere increase due to the greenhouse effect, the gradual build-up of carbon dioxide. Thus, it makes sense that current trends show continuously rising levels of precipitation as excess moisture is trapped in our exosphere.

Additionally, an astonishing 1/3 of all the CO2 released into our environ-ment gets absorbed into the planet’s oceans, increasing the heat of the waters as well as its acidity. These factors cause elevated sea levels—dangerously high marks that have been unprecedented in human histo-ry, and speak of increased vulnera-bility to oceanic disasters for coastal cities like NYC, Miami, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Global warming has made our oceans the perfect breeding ground for occurrences such as hur-ricanes, tsunamis, and tropical cy-clones. Disasters like these thrive on warm waters where they get the bulk of their energy from. Global warming has also introduced the new and in-timidating notion of hybrid storms. Hurricane Sandy herself was a hy-brid, combining the wrath of both a tropical hurricane and an arctic cy-clone. Like evolution, climate change has warped already-lethal natural disasters into uglier versions of their predecessors. New York City’s recent sub-mersion into floodwaters sends a grim omen of warning not only to all major cities alongside the United States coastline, but to all inhabitants of planet Earth. One might wonder, then, why climate change has re-mained strangely absent from the recent U.S. presidential elections—in fact, it’s the first time since 1984 that climate change hasn’t been dis-cussed at all in the candidates’ de-bates. It is indeed darkly amusing to note that it took a huge hurricane hitting America’s crown jewel city to finally get discussions of the environ-ment on the map. All of this seems to beg the question: when will the world take our increasingly heating atmos-phere at face value as the biggest problem mankind could face, and will face, in our near future? For now, we seem content to just wait.

by RANA-ARMAGHAN K. AHMAD

News The Overachiever 4

The Power of the Vote

The 2012 elections found our nation, as Abraham Lincoln feared, a house divided. Each elec-tion separates our population by choice of candidate, but this time around proved particularly fierce. Heated debate cropped up on televi-sion, social media sites, clothing and any other outlet through which argu-ments could be embedded. This year, the presidential candidates seemed particularly divergent in their views on issues such as gay mar-riage, abortion, the federal deficit and national security. Some citizens found their views well represented in a particular candidate and threw their full support behind them, while oth-ers felt dissatisfied with the options. However, overall, most people tried to inform themselves of current events to make the best possible choice. Those who could not vote expressed their opinions to influence those who could, and eligible citizens exercised their rights to put a strong representative in office. This election stirred up controversy, commotion and certainly, myriad accusations. In an effort to sort fact from fiction, citi-zens often turned to debates. In the first debate, many crit-ics speculate that the overall percep-tion of the event leaned in favor of Governor Romney. A CNN poll found that 67% of the debate watchers felt that Romney did better, while only 25% felt that President Obama did better. Those surveyed claimed that Obama seemed detached during the debate and that moderator Jim Leh-rer was too lenient with time limits. According to Fox News, after the first debate, Mitt Romney was ahead of Obama, 46% to 45%. The first de-bate went in Romney’s favor and helped him move ahead in the race.

In the second debate, a CNN poll found that 46% respond-ents considered Obama the better candidate while 39% thought that Romney was more successful. Ac-cording to the Wall Street Journal, Obama and Romney were tied at 47%. This debate allowed Obama to leave a favorable impression on vot-ers and to seal their support for him in the voting polls. The first debate boosted Romney’s ratings, but the second debate seemed to go to Obama.

The butting heads of the Republican elephant and Democratic Donkey embody well the spirit of this elec-tion. Photo by: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/07/we-are-still-50-50-nation In the third debate, a CNN poll found that 48% of respondents said that Obama won, while 40% said that Romney won. According to a public policy poll, Obama was leading the national poll at 49% to 48%. With this final debate, Obama clarified his platform to the people and solidified his lead. As the countdown waned away, de-cision time arrived.

The day of election was full of hype and anxiety from voters hoping to see their candidate pull through. As It’s going to be a tight race became a com-mon mantra for news channels, the mo-ments leading up to the decision were quite tense. While some reported that this election would be a landslide for President Obama, others claimed that Governor Romney was a shoo-in, and uncertainty hovered in the air. Long hours spent waiting to vote were docu-mented on television as people were determined to have their voices heard. This election, premised on important so-cial and political issues, would decide the path that America is to take in the near future. As the votes were counted and states faded blue or red, President Obama was reelected for another term, garnering 332 electoral votes. With threats of secession emerging from the aftermath of this elec-tion and a petition from Texas with over 100,000 signatures to leave the United States, the significance and magnitude of this election is gradually coming to light. With a higher young voter turnout than ever before, it is clear that this elec-tion was one of tremendous relevance. This truly was an incredible election and if it proved anything, it is that regardless of who you are or what your background is, your voice and your vote can matter. As 2016 beckons, many of us will be-come eligible voters. As such a time comes, I certainly hope that you will choose to vote. Your opinions matter and you matter. With your vote, you wield power and hold the fragile future of our nation in your hands: use it wisely!

by SNEHANJANI EDUPUGANTI

by MARIAM ANWAR

Preventing Colds November 2012 Features

Tips for Going Green! Every issue, the Overachiever will be sharing a new idea to help you live an eco-friendly life. So, keep a look-out for more green tips in future issues!

Tip for Month:

When you’re not charg-ing your phone, make

sure to unplug the chargers from the out-let. It saves a lot more energy than you think!

It’s that time of the year again- flu and cold season! This is typically the point in time when people begin panicking over every single sneeze or cough, worried that even one symptom may hint that they have caught some form of a sickness. With over 200 types of viral colds only, it is perfectly reasonable to be worried to have caught a cold. However, it is very easy to reduce your chances of catching a sickness and letting your winter days fly by without hav-ing to deal with a runny nose or sleepless nights! One of the many things, and the easiest and most important to do to prevent a sick-ness is hand washing. Hand wash-ing sounds incredibly simple—so simple that it is often looked over and forgotten about. We have all been taught to always wash our hands after using the bathroom and before eating. However we forget all the other small events in which the healthy method of hand washing goes into oblivion.

As the centers for Disease Con-trol and Prevention recommend these are some of the events in which hand washing is a must:

After handling garbage

After cleaning up a child who has used the bathroom

After touching an animal

After coughing, blowing your nose, or sneezing

After coming home from any outdoor activity

After coming home from school

Hand washing is important.

Photo Courtesy of: http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/hand-washing-1.jpg

The process of hand washing itself is often neglected as well, as it seems just too simple for one to even get wrong. However we take it so carelessly that we do not realize the best and most effective way to wash our hands. Firstly, you should moisten the hands with warm water and then rub them together with soap for 20 seconds at least. The warm water helps kills off the bacteria that is present on the hands. The time is very important because proper hand washing requires time, eve n if it is as quick as just 20 seconds! Make sure to be covering all parts of the hands even including the palms and wrists and not just washing the fingers. Then, wash your hands off completely and dry them. Easy as that. Remember to wash your hands properly and regular-ly, as the habit of cleanliness will more likely remain with you throughout your life and you will be less susceptible to any kind of illness.

by ANA CHAVES

6 Features The Overachiever

Festival of Lights After killing him, Lord Rama returned to his home Ayodhya, only to be welcomed by lighting rows of clay lamps. This legend shows yet again the importance of how good-ness always manages to triumph over evil, a principle that people who celebrate Diwali believe in and value immensely.

Numerous candle lamps are lit on the night of Diwali as a way of showing the value of light. As for the Jains, they cele-brate Diwali because this was the day on which their highly respected Lord Mahavira had attained his Nir-vana. Lord Mahavira is known for his creation of the Jainism Dharma, which is still practiced in Jainism even today. As a method to symboli-cally maintain the light of their Lord’s knowledge and as a respect to he himself, the festival of lights was cre-ated.

Beautiful lights elucidate the dark shroud that has settled over the homes. The sun has part-ed with a promise to return and si-lence has eased over the people, but candles singeing the air set this night apart. It smells of joy, antici-pation and acrid renewal. For some, a new year is ushered in; for others, this time serves as a period of worship and appreciation. For all, the lights that dispel the cold night rouse warmth and joy. Amidst flick-ering physical manifestations of happiness, people rekindle their own inner lights and unearth beauty clinging to the edge of the world. Diwali simply cannot be collapsed into a few words. The Festival of Lights, recognized as a holiday in countries such as India, Sri Lanka and Nepal, is a time of unity and celebration. Hindus, Jains and Sikhs let their calendars coin-cide and find a common reason to smile in the traditions of the time. Often known as the holiday for ‘good over evil’, this color-filled and extravagant festival stems from am-ple legends that have become inter-twined into this one special holiday. Each legend is a beautifully told story that ha captured the minds and hearts of many. Hindus themselves, for ex-ample, have over three stories in which the good triumphs evil and creates a need to celebrate. One of the most famous legends is the sto-ry of Rama and Sita. This story claims that the holiday of lights is celebrated because after 14 years, Lord Rama had bravely attacked and finally killed off the evil demon: Ravana of Lanka.

Finally, Diwali is celebrated by the Sikhs as well because of the return of their beloved sixth guru. The sixth Sikh guru, Guru Hargobind Bind, was finally released from imprison-ment and this event was celebrated by all members of the Sikh faith. No matter which legend one chooses to believe, it is a guarantee that they will be able to fully enjoy themselves on this fun-filled holiday. Ranging from dressing up in new traditional clothing to playing with firecrackers after lighting a candle lamp, this is a grand festival and a a holiday that is sure to bring joy to many families. Diwali is one of the few holidays that celebrates not only the actions of respected fig-ures but also emphasizes the princi-ple of ‘good over evil’ and teaches everyone that there must always remain hope even in the darkest of the times.

NASA Satellite Image of India on the night of Diwali Photo #1 Courtesy of: http://www.iharrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/diwali_candles.jpg Photo #2 Courtesy of: http://flvrd.com/static/pics/9RxNa.jpg

by NISHA PATEL

November 2012 Entertainment 7

Hot Book of the Month

Suicide. The mere men-

tion of the word makes people

uncomfortable, makes them shud-

der. But not Jay Asher. He turns

the issue on its axis in his heart-

warming novel Thirteen Reasons

Why. His novel revolves around

Hannah Baker, a girl who com-

mits suicide but leaves behind 13

cassettes explaining the events

that led up to her decision to do

so. Each person who appears in

the tapes had something to do

with her death and receives the

tapes, having to pass them on to

the next.

The story is told from the

perspective of Clay Jensen, a guy

who had a crush on Hannah and

has a seemingly trivial connection

to her. Clay receives the tapes and

listens to them, crossing all

throughout the town as Hannah’s

story unfolds. He struggles to fig-

ure out his role in her suicide un-

til the end of the novel, which has

a gripping climax and a multitude

of consequences for multiple con-

flicts within the overall conflict of

Hannah’s downward spiral to de-

pression and suicide. Asher not

only tells the distressing yet mov-

ing story, but he shows it with

vivid sensory details. His mes-

sage resonates with his readers

and they grow up along with the

characters in his novel.

I highly recommend this

book for those who tend to stay

away from books that talk about

uncomfortable topics. Not only

will this book give readers a little

bit more knowledge on suicide,

but it will make them comfortable

with its subject matter. I give this

book 4 out of 5 stars. Recently

there has been talks of a film ad-

aptation starring Selena Gomez.

More details to come but for the

time being, enjoy the novel. Go

out and read it today!

Farewell to The Twilight Saga

What is so special about November 16, 2012? Well, it is the premiere of the final installment in the series The Twilight Saga. Now most people hear Twilight and feel a whole range of emotions. But one cannot deny that the se-ries has been quite successful both on screen and off screen. The four Twilight books are written by Stephenie Meyer. These books include: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. The film adap-tations have been equally well-known The films star Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, along with many others.

The saga begins when Bella Swan movies to Forks, Wash-ington where she falls in love with a vampire named Edward Cullen. She is also introduced to his vampire family who drink animal blood rather than hu-man blood. The rest of the se-ries focuses on her relation-ship with Edward well as her relationship with family friend and werewolf Jacob Black. In between the romance, there are challenges and danger that seem to follow along such as the Volturi, unexpected vam-pire guests, among other con-flicts. There is much more to the story but let us make sure nothing is ruined for those who have yet to read the novels

or watch the films. One will definitely have a lot of time on their hands especially since it is Thanksgiving break. Why not enjoy the days off from school by watching Twilight? Go out and see the films to-day. Rent the first four films and enjoy them at home. Then head to theaters where you can watch the final film with yummy popcorn and your friends!

Entertainment The Overachiever 8

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

by TRUSHA PATEL

Thanksgiving is close by and that means annual thanksgiving pa-rades. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is the most known parade to occur on Thanksgiving day. It Is a three hour event presented by the business Macy’s, and is held in New York City. The parade is the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States along with America’s Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit. The tradition began in 1924 and has con-tinued ever since. The parade was originally known as the Macy’s Christmas Parade and later the Ma-cy’s Thanksgiving Day Christmas Parade. Employees and other enter-tainers dressed in costumes and marched from 145th Street in Harlem to Macy’s flagship store on the 34th Street. The parade included floats, professional bands, and live animals from the Central Park Zoo. At the end of the first parade and every parade since, Santa Claus was wel-comed into Herald Square. Macy’s declared this an annual event after it received an audience of over a quar-ter of a million people! The balloons are a critical component of the pa-rade and come in three different vari-eties. Balloons vary from smaller balloons which usually fit the heads of performers to full-size balloons of licensed pop-culture characters and the works of contemporary artists. Some notable balloons that have been featured in the Macy's Thanks-givings Day Parade are: Pillsbury Doughboy,

The parade currently starts its 43-block trek at 77th Street and Central Park West; travels south to Columbus Circle; turns onto Broad-way; follows Broadway to 34th Street; turns west onto 34th Street right after the Macy's Herald Square store; and ends at Seventh Avenue. It covers approximately two and half miles. Every year, the Macy's team behind the parade works to outdo the previous year's event. This evo-lution has meant bigger balloons, more floats, better materials and new technologies, all resulting in the flashy spectacle that rolls through the streets of New York on Thanksgiving day. The parade is an amazing experience that everyone should join at least once in their life.

If you are one of those

lazy people who do not want to

travel all the way to New York

just for a parade, you can watch

from the comforts of their own

home. The 2012 Macy’s Thanks-

giving Day will take place from

9 am to noon, on Thursday, No-

vember 22.The parade is FREE,

so find a spot along the parade

route early!

http://www.nyctourist.com/

macys_balnite1.htm

http://www.mymodernmet.com/

profiles/blogs/macys-

thanksgiving-day-parade-1

The Macy’s

Thanksgiv-

ing Parade is

a flashy

spectacle full

of fun!

by MAHUM FAROOQUI by MAHUM FAROOQUI

November 2012 Sports

IA Athlete of the Month

Miranda Simone, A junior at the IA, is balancing her heavy workload of the school and is also a softball, foot-ball, and volleyball player at Lahser High School. I decided to interview her and asked about how she man-ages the workload of the IA while doing these three difficult sports, along with her personal experiences.

Q. What sports do you do and how long have you been doing them for?

I play basketball which I have been doing since third grade, softball which I have been doing since first grade, and volleyball which I have been doing since fifth grade.

Q. How do you balance the heavy workload of this school and playing these three sports?

Normally I try to get everything done before practice, but that doesn’t usu-ally happen. Because of the block scheduling, I try to find a way to bal-ance out my work between two days. On game days, I have all my home-work done before so I don’t have to stress about it.

Q. Do you feel like doing basketball right now is a way to escape the stress of this school?

Yes it is a way to get out of the stress of school. Sometimes there is also additional stress while I am playing because of the

"I'm very excited. I don't have any words

to explain how excited I feel," Cabrera

said.

With the skill of a leadoff hitter, Cabrera

made history this season, despite moving

his position of the field.

He came on strong at the end of the sea-

son to help the Tigers get over a slow

start to defeat the Chicago White Sox

and win the AL Central title on their trip

to the World Series.

coach, but that motivates me. Also it

helps me keep in touch with my home

high school.

Q. What advice would you give to other

IA kids who are also athletes?

A. I would tell other IA kids to have a

maintain a balance between school and

sports. Remember that school is first, so

make sure that is on top of your priority

list. But along with school, make sure

you are doing well in the sport because

most coaches will not let you play if you

don’t practice or work hard as an athlete.

*If you are participating in a sport and

would like to be featured as the Athlete

of The Month, we are more than happy

to hear about it!

Feel free to contact Mahum Farooqui for

more information

Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers

was the first player to win the Triple

Crown in 45 years. He also became the

first Venezuelan to win the honorary

MVP award, which is The Major League

Baseball Most Valuable Player Award

and is given to one outstanding player in

the American and National Leagues.

"I'm very excited. I don't have any words

to explain how excited I feel," Cabrera

said.

Cabrera celebrates after hitting a

two-run home run during the fourth

inning American League champi-

onship series against the New York

Yankees.

http://www.google.com/

hostednews/ap/slideshow/

ALeqM5jhINKPyM0uyqAJbOm5k

N

Cabrera on Fire

by NANCY HUANG

Perspectives The Overachiever 10

NaNoWriMo

Image from: http://www.wired.com/geekmom/2012/10/nanowrimo/2012/

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is an impossible annual online challenge to write an entire novel (formally 50,000 words) in ONE MONTH. That's a lot of words, you guys. That's 1,667 words per day. It's a big big big challenge, and though I have never succeeded in the past (2,368 words in 2007, and 20,837 words in 2009), I am up for it this year!!!

So. I have, due to past experiences, posted a huge, 20-point-long list of Things I Will Never Write for NaN-oWriMo.

Here it is. Wish me luck, everyone!

THINGS I WILL NEVER WRITE: 1. An epic drama inspired by the works of Weird Al Yankovic. 2. A love story featuring a male lead name "Earl" or, Heaven forbid, "Jim Bob." 3. Anything JK Rowlings or the Tol-kien estate could confiscate my life's savings for. 4. Anything in which I am the main character. (Note that friends are an exception to this rule) 5. "Catcher in the Pumpernick-el". Never again. 6. Anything which could be made into a movie where the main char-acter is played by The Rock. 7. Or Adam Sandler, for that matter. 8. Any female characters of royal blood who are perfectly built rocket scientists with PhD's in home eco-nomics and exotic dancing, but who are somehow inexplicably drawn to the 98-pound nerd. 9. Anything with the word "Blood" in the title. 10. Any main characters whose names give away their function within the plot, i.e. "Major Dirk Stone" or "Constance Goodbody." 11. Any science fiction concepts that violate the laws of physics more than three times. 12. “The Canterbury Snails” 13. Any work in which "science fic-tion" is reclassified as "near-future thriller" to sell more copies. 14. Any character who gratuitously uses the words (!*!&, *@8@&!, or especially &*(!&(!&(!&@!)

15. Anything which translates the works of Shakespeare into an inap-propriate context-- I.E., Hamlet as a french fry cook. 16. My TV nozelization idea "Welcome Back Again, Kotter: The Continuing Adventures of Barbarino." 17. A novel in which the same ob-scure word appears ubiquitously, in such a darn ubiquitous manner that after 100 or so ubiquitous pages, the ubiquitous reader wants to beat the ubiquitous snot out of the ubiquitous author. 18. Anything which will require me to cram more than 6 months worth of research into the 30-day period. 19. "To Mock a Killing Bird” 20. Anything in which elves appear at all, unless of course they are baking cookies from a house in a tree.

11 November 2012 Perspectives

Ask the Dude! by THE DUDE Got a question? Relationship issues?

Family matters? Problems about school?

Unsolvable HL math equations? Ask the

Dude!

All letters to The Dude are subject to

publication in the International Academy

High School Overachiever. Names of

correspondents guaranteed confidential.

Want to submit a question of your own?

Drop off a note in the box at the main

office!

Giving Thanks by NANCY HUANG

Image taken from: http://

www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/

Cranberry-Sauce-Cake

Recently I found this delicious-looking

cranberry sauce cake recipe online. I’m

thinking of making it for Thanksgiving

and decided to share! Enjoy! Recipe

from www.tasteofhome.com

Ingredients

CAKE:

1-1/2 cups sugar

1 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup orange juice

1 tablespoon grated orange peel

1 teaspoon orange extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 can (14 ounces) whole-berry

cranberry sauce

1 cup chopped Diamond of Cali-

fornia® Walnuts

ICING:

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 to 2 tablespoons orange juice

Directions

In a large bowl, combine sugar

and mayonnaise until blended.

Beat in orange juice, peel and

extract. Combine the flour, baking

soda and

salt until blended; gradually add to the

sugar mixture. Stir in cranberry sauce

and walnuts.

Cut waxed or parchment paper to fit the

bottom of a 10-in. tube pan. Spray the

pan and paper with cooking spray. Pour

batter into prepared pan.

Bake at 350° for 55-65 minutes or until a

toothpick inserted near the center comes

out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes

before removing to a wire rack to cool

completely. In a small bowl, combine

icing ingredients; drizzle over cake.

Yields: 12-16 servings.

Nutrition Facts: 1 serving (1 piece)

equals 379 calories, 16 g fat (2 g saturat-

ed fat), 5 mg cholesterol, 308 mg sodi-

um, 56 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 4 g

protein.

Dear Dude,

I think I’ve outgrown my

best friend. She just seems like a

baby sometimes. I am making lots

of other friends, but I don’t want

to hurt her feelings. She doesn’t

have any other friends, though.

Stuck

Dear Stuck,

Everyone grows up at a

different rate. Try to talk to your

friend when other people aren’t

around and tell her what you’re

thinking. If you really care about

her, invite her to join in with your

new group sometimes, too. Grow

apart gracefully. Be considerate.

The Dude

The Back Page Everything else you could want in the news.

Who would have thought that the year could have gone so fast? We are now more than two

months into the school year and even closer to winter break. It seems like yesterday that people were getting

excited to see their friends again. That came and went and was followed by Halloween where there was a won-

derful passport and many original costumes. Soon after everyone was exited for Charity Ball which was a suc-

cess this year with loud music and people having fun. So now what?

Thanksgiving is close, and soon we will be eating and giving thanks. We also get a super long week-

end to freshen up before the most dreaded week of the semester: midterms! Now that doesn’t sound too fun but

keep positive. Freshmen, some of you will be facing these for the first time so just remember to study and do

not leave studying to the last minute. Everyone else just recall what you did last year and keep in mind that

you are closer to winter break and we all know what that means ; two weeks to sleep, eat, spend time with fam-

ily and celebrate a new year.

Note from the editor: The answers will be posted in the next issue of

the Overachiever. Happy Thanksgiving!

by TAMI LACASSE

Crossword of the Month

Across 1. Traditional dessert of this day. 3. Made out of potatoes. 4. Sport often watched on this day. 6. Bird used in the traditional main dish. 7.Day in which Thanksgiving is celebrated. 8. Orange vegetable associated with this holi-day. Down 1. Word used to describe the settlers. 2. Month in which Thanksgiving is celebrated. 5. Often found inside the main dish.

Last Month’s Answers: 1. moon 2. pumpkin 3. skeleton 4. costume 5. werewolf 6. mask 7. ghost 8. spider 9. cauldron 10. Demons 11. October 12. Boo 13. Vampire 14. Witch 15. Haunted 16. Bat