Check It Out: Student Edition

Sumer is icumen in, my dawg, and everybody's got one pressing question sizzling through their synapses:

This year's African American Read-In—West Orange High School's 8th(!)—was an unmitigated success. We project our boundless gratitude and only the funkiest of vibes to all those who participated.

We would like to take this opportunity to heap laurels upon Ms. Rose and the Green Club for their noble effort in creating a curated collection of environmentally minded books. Not only did they exclusively select books that promote sustainability and eco-consciousness, not only did they arrange these titles real nice in a beautiful display, not only did they do so with charity toward all and malice toward none, but, whenever they spoke with us, insisted upon employing 95% post-consumer recycled dialogue.

For this remarkable achievement, Ms. Rose and the Green Club, perennial if not coniferous, deserve recognition and applause. The Green Club's Green Corner, like a tree in bloom, imbues us with a sense of re-leaf. May they continue to inspire with their innovative and creative contributions to our learning community in the future.

Paper: an unparalleled source of dietary fiber, a premiere medium for presenting bound, written material, a fine substance for screens, window treatments, and even walls—but did you know this cellulose sensation is also suitable for folding?

Do you want to create magisterial sculptures with just a few folds? Just roll into the Makerspace for a little origami!

Beginners can learn origami basics, such as not eating the paper, what a crease is, and how to create Mrs. Binns' signature origami bookmark, while more advanced practitioners can go hog-wild with any fabulous fold-friendly flap of foolscrap that tickles their fancy.

Origami is one of many socially acceptable avenues for exercising creativity, improving fine motor skills, reducing stress, and generally chilling out. For the next month, happiness is just a crease away!

Consider yourself clever with a king in your quiver? Does it take you more then twenty minutes to pass the ketchup on a checkered tablecloth? Do you only move in an L-shape when you swing by the stables?

If so, read on!

Are you ready to test your skills against the best chess players in our area? If so, good luck finding them, because our upcoming chess tournament is open to everybody!

It all begins on April 17th during the lunch block. You can register by speaking to or emailing Mrs. Binns or Mr. Thompson. The tournament will follow untimed, single-elimination rules, so do try to not lose.

There will be prizes for the top three finishers. Register today and prepare for the ride of a lunchtime!

This April, your LMC will host its first annual KEVA plank challenge, wherein contestants will compete to build supercilious structures using only wooden KEVA planks.

The rules are simple: you have 10 minutes to use as many planks as you want so long as you refrain from employing glue, tape, nails, or other binding materials.

Construct your masterpiece, then brace for impact as your wholly objective judges (Mrs. Binns & Mr. Thompson) will evaluate your creations based on pure vibes, overall stability, and swank aesthetics.

Are you ready to unleash your inner architect? Let the challenge begin!

D'ya know what piteous lament tears our tiny hearts in twain every time we hear it?

"I can't solve a Rubik's Cube!"

Before you use your phone camera or join the howling horde in bemoaning this state of affairs, consider: this inability could be temporary!

Give the instructional video below a gander and see where that leaves you!

Do you love reading? Are you interested in books? Perhaps you enjoy the occasional snack?

The Mountaineer Book Club–that wild hare which, upon feeling spring's soft breath upon its downy coat, scatters its winter wool to the winds–hopes to see you at its March and April meetings!

Won't you be a lamb and join them on March 29th and April 19th in the Room 1104? See Mrs. Binns for more details!

How does an eight-limbed cephalopod stimulate its radially distributed neurons?

Not with ten-tickles, of course, but through the inestimable beauty of the written word!

At nineteen, Auris Afton Grieg has led an . . . unusual life. Since the age of fourteen, she has been trapped in a goblin prison. Why? She does not know. She has no memories of her past beyond the vaguest of impressions. All she knows is that she is about to age out of the children's prison, and rumors say that the adult version is far, far worse. So she and some friends stage a desperate escape into the surrounding wastelands. And it is here that Auris's journey of discovery begins, for she is rescued by a handsome yet alien stranger.

Harrow claims to be Fae--a member of a magical race that Auris had thought to be no more than legend. Odder still, he seems to think that she is one as well, although the two look nothing alike. But strangest of all, when he brings her to his wondrous homeland, she begins to suspect that he is right. Yet how could a woman who looks entirely human be a magical being herself?

Told with a fresh, energetic voice, this fantasy puzzle-box is Terry Brooks as you have never seen him before, as one young woman slowly unlocks truths about herself and her world--and, in doing so, begins to heal both.

When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising.

But surprises aren’t always good.

Because being a dark-skinned peasant girl from the south is not an easy thing at Sinegard. Targeted from the outset by rival classmates for her color, poverty, and gender, Rin discovers she possesses a lethal, unearthly power—an aptitude for the nearly-mythical art of shamanism. Exploring the depths of her gift with the help of a seemingly insane teacher and psychoactive substances, Rin learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive—and that mastering control over those powers could mean more than just surviving school.

For while the Nikara Empire is at peace, the Federation of Mugen still lurks across a narrow sea. The militarily advanced Federation occupied Nikan for decades after the First Poppy War, and only barely lost the continent in the Second. And while most of the people are complacent to go about their lives, a few are aware that a Third Poppy War is just a spark away . . .

Rin’s shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people. But as she finds out more about the god that has chosen her, the vengeful Phoenix, she fears that winning the war may cost her humanity . . . and that it may already be too late.