Saving the Delaware River!

Olivia Hiriak and Meryl Callaway
Staff Writers & Editor
On Saturday, Sept. 21,  the Delaware River Greenway Partnership held the second annual New Jersey Communities Delaware River Cleanup. On this brisk Saturday morning, enthusiastic volunteers gathered in various locations along the Delaware and Raritan Canal, excited to take on a day of community service. This event was created in an effort to better the community and help native wildlife thrive.
  According to a volunteer, “This community service event was an incredibly fun and fulfilling way to give back to my community.”  The event began at 8:30 a.m. and ran until 11:30 a.m. In the span of just two hours, large quantities of trash, ranging from broken beer bottles to old car tires, were collected by the participants. In the end, huge mounds of trash bags were placed along the river and canal path, ready for the state to collect.
  All volunteers were given a complimentary t-shirt and a drawstring bag full of supplies such as water and trash bags and ended in a celebratory pizza lunch. If you are interested in participating in community service events such as this one, check the Delaware River Greenway Partnership website and stay tuned for next year’s event date!

Leaves are Fallin’ and Autumn is Callin’!

Devon Beacham
Editor-in-chief

It is officially fall and though summer is dearly missed, there are so many reasons to look forward to this season! Although the warm, sunny, off season is fantastic, it’s hard to not look forward to autumn. 
Senior Michael Borys said, “I had an awesome summer break, and it’s been hard to see it behind me, but I'm seriously looking forward to all the fun fall brings this year.” Nature’s colors are changing to beautiful hues of orange, yellow, green, red, brown, and more! It’s finally time to go outside and be able to wear warm clothing, such as sweatshirts, jackets, or jeans and be comforted in not worrying about being completely hot or freezing. It's “sweater weather.”
 It’s now certainly valid to begin diving into the Halloween spirit. One of the best ways to immerse yourself - aside from putting in an effort to find a Halloween costume that isn’t offensive - is to get excited with Halloween movies and TV specials, especially if you’ve grown out of some of the more traditional outdoor holiday activities such as trick-or-treating. Everyone loves a good Halloween film, whether it is a thriller or family friendly. During the week, pondering creative costume ideas and bringing them to life can be a great preparation for the spooky October event.
Don’t know what to do on a nice fall weekend? Grab some friends on a Friday or Saturday night and go to a nearby haunted attraction our area has to offer to enjoy hayrides, haunted houses, mazes, bonfires (s'mores of course), live music, good food, warm drinks, and more. Popular places to visit include Shady Brook Farm, Sleepy Hollow, Nonsuch Farms, Valley of Fear, and more. A nice way to finish off your weekend of fall festivities could be going apple or pumpkin picking with friends or family and ending the night with carving, creating new apple recipes, chatting, and enjoying it all outside by the fire or inside with music!
Our area offers some of the finest outdoor fall activities in the world, such as walking around town and getting a meal with your friends and family or going for a bike ride on the scenic Delaware River Canal. If you go visit Bowman's Tower, you can use the student discount for tickets to head up to see the naturally gorgeous view of the river and the fall colored trees.
Peddler’s Village is known for the many festivals they hold. Throughout the fall, you can view the scarecrows that are on display for the annual competition. The OctoberFEAST, Halloween Spooktacular, the Apple Festival, the Murder Mystery Dinner, and much more.
All these reasons should have you excited and festive for the joyful season ahead and hopefully make the transition from summer to fall feel a little more smooth.

Solebury Orchard takes #1 Spot

Eric Locke and Ian Mendola
Staff Writers

As residents of New Hope-Solebury, we are all very familiar with one of the most popular places in this town to get their fresh fruits and the fan-favorite apple cider donuts. Solebury Orchards grows apples, peaches, blueberries, pears, plums, apricots, cherries and more on a picturesque setting on 80 acres off Creamery Road.
  There are a lot of fun activities like complimentary wagon rides through the orchard for apple picking on Saturdays and Sundays. Also going apple picking with friends and family is another very fun thing that you should to while you make your trip over to the orchard. The fruit is ripe and delicious so you will want to go back for more.
  They have plenty of other treats and snacks besides just fruit. They carry all sorts of dried fruits and candy as well. The staff is very friendly and will take care of all your shopping needs for the season. The doors of Solebury orchards opened in 1989 to the public. Solebury Orchard has grown to a large scale operation since then and have been taking in a lot of revenue because of their organic and freshly grown fruits.
  Our town takes pride in the orchard as it has been here way longer than a lot of us. Eric Locke, an employee, said: “It's a great place to work. I love the environment. The fruit is fresh and tasteful. Their cider donuts are made daily, and their homemade pressed cider is sweet and flavorful.”
  Congratulations to Solebury Orchard on this fantastic achievement!

Excuse us, but how much time do you spend online?

Kaitlyn Ardite and Belinda Henry 

Staff Writers

When it comes to social media, how much is too much? A poll was taken of students who looked at their screen time and phone usage. In the past seven days most students have said they spend at least four hours or more per week on their devices,  highest being an overwhelming 53 hours. The apps that students used the most were Instagram, Snapchat, Tik Tok, and YouTube not far behind. The average time spent on the most used app was 1.7 hours. Being on your phone obviously takes up a lot of your time, but what about when you’re not on your phone? How many notifications do you get? Students said that they get anywhere from 20-243 notifications per day, 76 being the average.  

  So students spend a lot of time online. How do they feel about this? 70% of students said they liked social media, 20% said they were conflicted, and 10% of the students said they didn’t enjoy social media. If such a large percent of students liked social sites, why do 70% of them want to reduce the amount of time they spend on these platforms? Quite possibly people only say they want to reduce their time because “they want to be a better person”. Does anyone turn into a “bad person” after spending an extra hour scrolling through Twitter?

  We are pretty attached to social media, and we never realize how long we are on our phones until we see the numbers. While we do enjoy this time we spend online, it is often time that could have been spent participating in more fulfilling activities. There could, however, be a good reason for its influence in our lives. If you leave an app like Snapchat, you are immediately are out of the loop. People make plans, share stories, pictures, and thoughts on platforms like these. This is a major way we communicate now.

  Things are never going to be the way that they were. Most of us don’t share vacation pictures via slide projector anymore, or show up at someone’s house to hang out without texting first. Social media is definitely addicting, but it’s a big part of our lives. 

New McDonald’s Vegan Burger being tested in Canada

Olivia Harrison

Staff Writer

These days, eating veggie/plant-based burgers has become really popular. About two months ago, Burger King released the vegan, plan-based Impossible Foods burger “the Impossible Burger.” It has risen in popularity and is available at over 7,000 Burger King Restaurants. It is now also available at select Wegmans supermarkets around the US. However, McDonald’s is ready to serve up some competition for Burger King.

  On Sept. 30, McDonald’s will release their own version of the Impossible Burger called the PLT, which stands for Plant, Lettuce and Tomato. It will feature a popular vegan patty called Beyond Meat. The burger will consist of everything a normal McDonald’s burger consists of. 

  However, the only downside is, the burger is only available as of right now in Southwestern Ontario, Canada for 12 weeks.

  “During this test, we’re excited to hear what customers love about the PLT to help our global markets better understand what’s best for their customers.” McDonald’s vice president of global menu strategy Ann Wahlgren told the NY Post:

  The chains in Canada are not the only ones who have tested out vegetarian and vegan options. In 2017, McDonald’s Finland launched a veggie burger called the McVegan and then expanded the vegetarian/vegan options. This year, McDonald’s UK came up with a happy meal with a vegan chicken wrap. Sadly, McDonald’s franchises in the US have yet to add a vegetarian/vegan burger option. But, hopefully this 12-week test goes well and McDonald’s decides to bring the burger to the US.