Winter Break & Tree-wells

By Burke Palmer

They're traps! ... Tree-wells are. If you want to go skiing or snowboarding during winter break, I have a tip; try not getting stuck in treewells. So, once upon a time in a land not too far away, up on Schweitzer, during winter break a few people decided to go skiing together. They had a great time up until one of them said “Hey! Let’s go to the T-Bar”-ocean thunder. So, everyone agreed and to the T-Bar they went. And after everyone unbuckled and hiked up to the T-Bar, they went down Little Blue Ridge Run (usually a blue square but in these conditions it was a black ♦ J). After little blue, they decided to go down detention, (black ♦) and they skied into the trees. That is when everything started going downhill (no pun intended).

Let me just start off by saying this; tree-wells are terrible! Now with that out of the way, let’s continue with the story. Everyone was weaving through the trees, and they were all having lots of fun. But then, the caboose of the little caravan turned a bit too sharply and hit the back of his skis on a tree. He started spiraling out of control when suddenly he falls into a Treewell. Luckily when this student fell into the Tree-well, he only fell up to his chest. So, he begrudgingly climbs out of the treewell and skis ahead. Now he is going as fast as he can because he wants to catch up with the rest of the group. And guess what happens next, he falls into another tree-well. This one was only a few feet down, so it didn’t take him as long to get out. Eventually, he gets out, walks to the run, skis down and has some hot cocoa at The Outback.

If you prefer not to taunt death, you should try ice fishing. It is fun, relaxing, and you get bragging rights if you catch a big one. The concept of ice fishing is to drop down your line maybe jig a little and hope something bites. Another bonus to ice fishing is that the fish you catch (with a little luck) taste good. These are not the only things you can do during winter break, but they are all pretty fun minus falling in tree-wells.

The First FBCS Invention Convention Banquet

By: Elizabeth Marshall

And the winning invention is… Students and their families enjoyed the food, fun, and awards at the first invention convention banquet at the Forest Bird Charter School. The banquet was a huge hit, and most of all it was a huge overall success.

The FBCS catering class enjoyed making food for the banquet. The class worked on preparing a Spaghetti dinner with their best attempt on meatballs. Salad was also prepared and served with the dinner. They must have done a good job, as the food was loved by most everyone. Seventh grader Ellie Mearns said, “The food was great, especially the meatballs”. The catering class also plans to cater many school events in the future. Hopefully all their hard work and effort will pay off by the end of the school year.

In addition to the great food, FBCS students, teachers, and their families enjoyed socializing at the banquet. Many families were observed laughing, talking, and even meeting new people. While the majority of kids at the banquet were sixth and seventh graders, the number of eighth graders was definitely lacking. With the few eighth graders that did show, most of them showed great enthusiasm to their fellow peers winning awards. Izzy Martin another seventh grader in James’s advocacy said, “I had a great time at the banquet and wearing my sparkly suspenders was just a bonus”.

The awards just might have been the highlight of the night for most individuals in the crowd. Every advocacy was recognized by sixth and seventh grade science teacher Sarah Evans, and eighth grade science teacher Julie Williams. All special awards, first and second place awards, and most importantly the Dr.  Bird award was given out at the banquet. This special award was chosen by Dr. Bird, a local innovator who is involved with many famous inventions and an aviation enthusiast. He also owns a local museum that sixth grade students at FBCS have an opportunity to tour every year. One of the students even remarked, “even though I didn’t exactly get an award it was nice to be recognized for all my hard work” said Forest Bird Charter School student, Kiki Glenn.

Overall, the banquet was loved by all teachers, students, and even the public. The banquet was such a success, there is already talk amongst teachers about a second annual banquet occurring next year. 

2013 Student Piggy Hunt

By: Nate Pollard

The Piggy Hunt is very cool. You can earn great prizes and a lot of money if you win. As the winner, you also get to give $250 dollars to a non-profit Organization. All you have to do is fill out easy worksheets after watching a Bizkids video about economics.

The Grand prizes is 1^st gets 250$ for you and 250$ for a non-profit organization. Second place gets 150$ for you, and third place gets 125$. Each money gift is a visa gift card for the winners to use any way they want.

The prize chart is very cool; it has many things on it like a free Dress down coupons, some shades of your choice of color, one of them is a pizza party, different types of candy, and you can also win a mystery prize.

Piggy’s Clues are all around the school like most are inside but some are outside the school on campus. There are a few inside the high school, so good look finding the clues. The Piggy Hunt award ceremony is Monday, February 11, 2013.  So far, no one has gotten fourth place for the $100.00 drawing.