The Beveridge Paw Print

Beveridge Middle School Student Council is hosting their own Election Day at school. Who will be the next Student Council Presidents for sixth, seventh, and eighth grades?

Written by: Alexa Guerrero (7) and Aubrey Nielsen (7)

(BEVERIDGE MIDDLE SCHOOL) The Beveridge Student Council members are running campaign ads for Class Presidents. During the entire month of October, students in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades are preparing to elect their Class President.

Charlotte Achelpohl is running for sixth-grade Student Council President and wants to assist everyone at Beveridge in being represented for their unique talents, as well as aiding in making Beveridge a safer place.

In addition to Achelpohl, Mira Gregory is running for sixth-grade Student Council President. She plans to make Beveridge a better place than it already is. She also strongly believes that “anybody in this world can make a change".

Aside from sixth-grade nominees, Shay Kilgore is running for seventh-grade Student Council President with the following goal: to make middle school years a little better. Kilgore also believes “these should be the most fun years of your life since you are at the age where you could do a lot of things--a lot more things that you wouldn’t be able to do as adults.”

Piper Meis is running for seventh-grade Student Council President as well to provide a better and more welcoming school environment for students. Piper decided to run because she is a student who recognizes the need for the school to be a better place.

Along with Kilgore and Meis, Claire Birge is running for seventh-grade Student Council President to make Beveridge become more united because she feels Beveridge is not the same from last year. Birge says, “If you are Student Council Class President, you have a little more power and you can help more. Trust in me, and I’ll make tomorrow a better place.”

Not only are sixth and seventh-grade searching for a Class President, Wahidah Hasan is running for eighth-grade Student Council President to assist the students at Beveridge to have more fun. She also has heard students say that school is not fair to all grades, and she wants to fix that.

Emery Dacus is also running for eighth-grade Student Council President in hopes of ensuring “all students' voices are heard and to help students enjoy coming to school.” Dacus wants you to hear “Don’t be a leader or a follower, be a trailblazer.” She joined Student Council because she noticed that the school has some problems she knew she could help fix.

The last nominee for eighth-grade Student Council President is Norah Houfek, and she wants to represent “the main goal of the people”--whatever students at Beveridge believe needs to be addressed. Houfek chose to run for Student Council President because it is important to make sure everyone’s voice is heard and to improve the school.

Beveridge dropped the "Magnet" from their school name. What did "Magnet" stand for, and why was Beveridge considered a "Magnet" school?

Written by: Zia Humphries (7) and Harper Johnson (7)

(BEVERIDGE MIDDLE SCHOOL) Do you know what the “Magnet” part of the name stood for? Beveridge was a Magnet school which meant the school would focus on a specific subject. Beveridge Middle School's Magnet is the arts. The arts include the following: drama, art, strings, band, chorus, piano, guitar, etc.

Beatrix Lucas (6) plays the viola in strings. When being asked if the arts help her in school, she replies, “Yes, because it builds teamwork and life skills." Lucas also says if she took art classes again, she would take strings and drama. She thinks that the arts make her more positive in school.

Andrew Braun and Nicholas Spath, Band and Strings teachers, play multiple instruments, but they both started in band in the fifth grade. Braun started by playing the French horn but when he went to high school, he changed to the mellophone*. He also likes to play the cello.

Spath started by playing the trombone. He later switched to the bass trombone. In addition, he likes to play the violin and viola.

Braun and Spath decided to teach in the arts, because they enjoyed playing instruments in school and decided that it was something that they wanted to for the rest of their lives.

Braun and Spath say that the more arts that a person is exposed to the more they will know about life and will become a better person. Braun says, “You can play an instrument no matter the age or job.”

The arts include a lot more subjects than just art. Beveridge offers a wide variety of these subjects so you can experience them for yourself. The arts can prepare you for your future career even if the career isn’t in the arts pathway.

*A mellophone is the marching band version of a French horn.

Introducing the Beveridge Show Choir…...!

Written by: Alivia McGrath (7), Audrey Tunzer (7), and Cerynitee Woodruff (7)

(BEVERIDGE MIDDLE SCHOOL) The great and talented Beveridge Show Choir, or Bulldog Beat, is led by the school's Choir teacher Kaitlin Lusk.

Lusk describes why she created Show Choir at Beveridge and why she picked the songs she did. She says that she created Show Choir because Show Choir is her favorite thing to teach and her favorite thing to do. Lusk also says the reason she picked the songs she did is because when she was doing Show Choir at her last school, she thought of a theme and carried it to Beveridge.

Charlie Murphy (6) says that he actually “really likes Beveridge and Show Choir is a good first experience.” He says he loves being in Show Choir because he likes singing and his friends were joining too. About the songs, he explains he enjoys the songs even if he doesn’t know them very well. Either way, he’s trying his best and having fun doing it.

Saphira LaFarr (7) says they auditioned for Show Choir because “it’s like theatre and I really enjoy theatre.” They also really enjoy the song choices because LaFarr says “Beep beep mm beep beep yeah!” multiple times, due to the song “Drive My Car” by The Beatles which they enjoy singing during Show Choir. They begin to sing one of the Show Choir songs and says, “I think the songs are really silly in a good way."

Ethan Kershner (8) auditioned for Show Choir, because he says, “I love singing and dancing, and it’s in the same thing so why not.” When talking about going into high school Show Choir, he says that if he can make in to Show Choir, he’ll definitely be continuing. Kershner is glad that he got some Middle School Show Choir experience before High School Show Choir. "If I went into High School without Show Choir experience, I feel like I would have no idea what I was doing, so it’s nice to have this one year of experience before high school.”

All in all, every member of the Bulldog Beat are enjoying Show Choir, and “they can go the distance” ("Go the Distance" is a song our Bulldog Beat will be performing in competitions).

The Lady Bulldog Swim Team plans to make a splash this season.

Written by: Denna Brozek (7) and Addison Nielsen (7)

(BEVERIDGE MIDDLE SCHOOL) The Beveridge Swim Team is starting! The coaches for this team are Patrick Becker (Head Coach) and Mia Isaak (Assistant Coach). The season is from October 26th to November 14th. There will be five swim meets, including the City Finals.

The swim meets will be on Wednesday, October 30th, Friday, November 1st, Wednesday, November 8th, and Thursday, November 14th. The meets will be held at Burke, Bryan Middle, and Norris.

Isaak explains that she is looking for someone who is coachable as a swimmer. "Someone who is willing to learn all the different strokes and someone who is a really encouraging teammate. That’s what we love to see the most!”

Becker loves to coach the different strokes in swimming. “My personal favorite, I was always partial to freestyle and backstroke.”

Piper Meis (7) says she is looking forward to being able to swim with her friends and competing against other schools.

Hopefully the girls can improve their times throughout the season. Let's GOOOOO Girls!

The Bulldog Boys Basketball season is approaching quickly. The coaches and athletes prepare for the season.

Written by: Maddux Becker (7)

(BEVERIDGE MIDDLE SCHOOL) The boys are gearing up for the upcoming season, as their first game is next Monday, November 4th at home versus Lewis and Clark Middle School.

Trey O’Brien, Head Basketball Coach, says, “I am excited because we have a chance to be better than last year. My hope is that we go at least 500, so we win half our games. During tryouts, what I was looking for in a player is effort and kids who have mental toughness.”

Matthew Aguilar, Assistant Basketball Coach, says, “I’m very excited because last year was more of a growth season, and I believe some returning players are ready to lead the team to a successful season. My hope is students have fun playing a sport they have a passion for. What I was looking for during tryouts is someone with team player qualities and students lifting each other up.”

Colin Achelpohl (8) says, “I’m excited because we might win a lot of games, and I’m on a team with my friends. I believe my biggest contribution is I’m a good leader, and I can also bring three-pointers. I’m good at passing and leading on and off the court. I am pretty confident in my abilities because confidence is key.”

Will Giese (7) says, “I’m excited because I get to play with my friends and win a lot of games. My biggest contribution could be, overall, being the point guard to start plays and find open people while still being able to score. I am pretty confident because I know, and I’ve shown, I can do well on the team.”

Will Beveridge have a Family Consumer Sciences Club? Find out in this article!

Written by: Avery Feeney (7), Ezekiel Hemmer (7), and Audrey Connolley (7)

(BEVERIDGE MIDDLE SCHOOL) Only about 3,000 of the nearly 14,000 schools in the U.S. have one or more Family Consumer Sciences class! Family Consumer Sciences (F.C.S.) is the new name for what you might know as Home Economics (Home Ec). F.C.S. is a class/subject usually taken by high school students as a course to inform them about useful tasks such as sewing, cooking, and overall care for your belongings.

We decided to focus on the cooking aspect of F.C.S., as we hope we can inspire the creation of a Cooking Club here at Beveridge Middle School.

Having a Cooking Club or class is something Natalie Bass, the Honors Special Projects (H.S.P.) teacher and G.A.T.E. Facilitator, is really passionate about. She says, “I love to cook, and I just think it would be so much fun to have another club for kids to join and have a positive relationship here at school.”

Bass says having a Cooking Club would benefit the students that attend it because it is a great life skill to have, especially for college so that you have a variety of food to eat instead of eating the same thing every day.

Her ideas for the club include things like making appetizers, seasonal dishes, multicultural dishes, having themes, and maybe even bringing in guest speakers. The Cooking Club would be hosted in old F.C.S. room in the B-wing (B215). It would bring a purpose to a currently unused room that has ovens, stovetops, and microwaves.

Kacey Francis, eighth-grade counselor, used to be the F.C.S. teacher at Beveridge. She also thinks having either a cooking or Family Consumer Sciences class would be fun, except finding funding would be hard, as cooking and sewing supplies are expensive.

Otherwise, Francis believes that a club like this would be really popular and essential. Attendees could be learning about multiple things such as the following: nutrition, sewing, laundry care, money management, interior design, and the basics of child care.

Some specifics about the currently unused F.C.S. room are that all the materials are already in the classroom and enough utensils for four people per kitchen as of now. There are exactly six stoves, six microwaves, two refrigerators, and some washers and dryers. The sewing machine would need to be replaced, so the only thing that we would need to buy is food to cook with. The second main problem is that we would also need to find an F.C.S. teacher if we were to do it as a class.

Our new principal this year, JoAnna Hale says, “I love the idea of a Cooking Club, and I think it would be great for Beveridge.” She mentions that we would need teacher or parent sponsors or volunteers to support the club.

Hale discusses fundraising ideas, saying we could do multiple things to get the items we need, such as asking the P.T.S.A for a grant or talking to the OPS foundation. The effect it would have on students would be amazing. “What parent wouldn’t love for their children to know how to cook something?” Hale exclaims. Learning how to balance your nutrition and diet is also extremely beneficial. Kids would have fun because so many love to cook.

In conclusion, we would all love for there to be a Cooking Club, F.C.S. class, or anything like that at Beveridge. It would give valuable information to so many students, it would give multiple students something fun to do after school, and it would bring purpose to an unused room. Materials and volunteers may be hard to find, but it would be worth the work. So, wanna get cooking?

Out with the professional dress slacks and in with the business casual jeans attire for teachers.

Written by: Eliza Lewis (7) and Olivia Horne (7)

(BEVERIDGE MIDDLE SCHOOL) Have you ever wondered how it feels for teachers when they must dress a certain way each day? As students of Beveridge Middle School, we believe that teachers should be able to dress however they want.

Many teachers here would agree that they should be able to wear anything whenever they want to, as long as the outfit is appropriate and not harmful in any way.

In an interview with our sixth-grade Math teacher, Kevin Blake, he states that some teachers have a better mood when they get to wear their own outfits. He also says that as long as it isn’t inappropriate and is professional, it should be fine to wear to school.

We’ve had multiple teachers tell our classes that they would rather be able to wear jeans any day they wanted to rather than only on Friday.

As students here, we would definitely agree with these statements, because we get to wear whatever we want as long as it isn’t inappropriate in any way. We held a poll around the school, and our results were unanimous. Every single person we interviewed said that teachers should be able to wear what they want, and agreed that the schedule is unfair sometimes.

As one of our friends said, “Dresses every day is just not ok.” The reason my friend said this is because sometimes it’s stressful and uncomfortable for teachers to wear certain things on assigned days. They already deal with a lot of stress inside school. We agree completely with his statement.

Students have noticed how much happier teachers are when they have the freedom to wear jeans and cool outfits on themed days, and I feel like it could make our school a happier place for the wonderful staff here.

If we can make the school's environment a better place by making a small difference, it would be a step closer to bright and happy classrooms all over the school.

Should students be allowed to wear Halloween costumes to school on Halloween? Other schools can, so we decided to ask students and staff their opinions on the matter.

Written by: Mara Davis (7)

(BEVERIDGE MIDDLE SCHOOL) This year, for Halloween, students should be allowed to wear full costumes to school. Five students and two teachers were asked if students should be allowed to wear costumes and what they plan on wearing for Halloween.

Saphira LaFarr (7) answers, “Depending on what the costume is and if it’s school appropriate, we should be allowed to wear costumes. I will be Klee or Gorou from Genshin Impact.”

Nicky Johnson (7) responds with something similar to Saphira, “Maybe not full costume if it has something inappropriate, but it is okay if it is appropriate.” They are wearing a Qibli (kib-Lee) costume from Wings of Fire.

Unlike Johnson, Daniel Roman (7) says, “Students should be allowed to wear a full costume, because Halloween is a special day and we have school on Halloween, so we should be able to have fun.” He is being a skeleton for Halloween.

Along with Roman, Gaia Vera Jorgensen (7) responds, “Students should be allowed to let their creativity flow.” Jorgensen is most likely going to be a creepy coach for Halloween.

Aside from the pros of wearing a Halloween costume, Emma Mignosa (7) replies with a con to wearing a full costume. “If you wear a full costume, you might be in violation of the dress code.”

While most of the students want full costumes, Katie Thomas, sixth-grade Computer Apps and seventh grade College and Careers teacher, explains, “It’s a bit too much of a distraction for students, but it might be fun for students and teachers alike.” Thomas is going to be an Australian breakdancer named “Raygun.”

Sixth-grade Social Studies teacher, Alex Perrin, agrees with most of the students. "It’s fun for students and teachers and is a fun idea. I'm not sure who or what I'm being for Halloween."

Each month, there will be a new teacher spotlight. This month, we have chosen Grace Koenig (seventh and eighth grade Spanish teacher).

Written by: Khloe Thompson (7) and Madison Horne (7)

(BEVERIDGE MIDDLE SCHOOL) Ah, Beh, Ceh, Cheh, it’s your lucky “Deh”! Congratulations, Grace Koenig, for classroom spotlight of the month! Koenig has taught at Beveridge for two years, and every year, it is her goal to make Spanish enjoyable for all. She loves building relationships, getting to know each and every student, and creating a trusting environment. Being a teacher is not easy, sometimes she struggles with finding time to get all her daily tasks into one block.

One thing that stood out for us was her brightly colored room. Every time you walk into her classroom, you always notice her decorations and how she sets up her classroom for her students. Being one of few language teachers at Beveridge, she makes learning a new language fun and easy and puts forth effort into every lesson she teaches.

In Spanish, the students have learned greetings and goodbyes ((saludos and la despedida)) and subject pronouns, the verb of ser along with learning the Spanish alphabet.

Harper Johnson (7) says, “She has really fun decorations and she makes her lessons very interactive."

Zia Humphries (7) adds, “I get to learn a new language and have fun”.

Based on what has been said, many students love the way Koenig teaches. She has inspired many people to learn and to continue learning Spanish. She has said during an interview that she has always loved learning Spanish herself. That’s what made her decide to be a Spanish teacher. If you see her in the hallway, don’t forget to say “¡Hola!” and “Buen trabajo”!

As the Halloween season comes to an end, here are some movies to watch for an ultimate spooky movie marathon!

Written by: Claire Birge (7), Carlaya Harrison (7), and Piper Meis (7)

(BEVERIDGE MIDDLE SCHOOL) “What’s your favorite scary movie?” This is a famous quote from the hexology, Scream, where a serial killer in a ghost face mask goes around killing people. Scream, along with other movies, got selected to be in a “Top 10” list based on certain themes. In this article, you will learn more about the lists that we created!

First off, a list for the kids. These movies are effortlessly spooky. The movies we think are the most fitting for this category are: Nightmare Before Christmas, Hocus Pocus, Corpse Bride, Coraline, Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, Addams Family, It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, Monster House, and Goosebumps.

If you’re older and love a good slasher/scary film, this list is for you. This list has movies that are directed towards older audiences and make you jump in your seat. The movies that can make your bones shake are the following: Friday the 13th, Scream 1, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Terrifyer, The Shining, The Conjuring, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Annabelle.

Last but not least, the classics. The number one rated movie, according to Beveridge students, was Coraline with 225 votes and 41% of the students who voted for it. The number two rated movie was Corpse Bride with 170 votes and 31% of the students who voted for it. The movie that took third place was Hocus Pocus with 135 votes and 24% of the students who voted for it. The top 10 movies, in order, include: Coraline, Corpse Bride, Hocus Pocus, Scream 1, It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, Addams Family, Beetlejuice, Nightmare before Christmas, Haunted Mansion, and Halloween.

We hope you have a fun, film-filled Halloween! Enjoy your spooky movie marathon based off the list that best suits you!