Sochi's Snowflake Controversy fools all

Nicole Martin & Katie Steele
Staff Writers

Everyone in the world watched as the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics ended with the last snowflake failing to turn into an Olympic ring.

 Across Facebook, Buzzfeed, Twitter, and other social media sites, a rumor spread that the technician behind this Olympic mishap was found dead in a hotel room with multiple stab wounds. Few questioned the accuracy of this news story, which had approximately 16,000 shares on Facebook. Even the language in this article was unrealistic and would never have been used on a mainstream news site. Still, most did not realize that the article came from a satirical news site called The Daily Currant. After seeing how many people were misled by the article, hopefully more of us will start looking into what we’re hearing.

SATs are redesigned

Sienna Lee

Editor-in-Chief

The SAT has been around for decades. For students soon to graduate high school, it’s a rite of passage that almost everyone goes through, and for colleges, it serves as a significant benchmark for selecting students for admission. For the past nine years, the test has consisted of nine multiple choice sections and an essay, which combined can earn a score of up to 2400--until March 5th of this year, when the College Board announced their plans to make some changes to the standardized test.

 Originally, the SAT, created in 1926, but it has come a long way since then. Throughout the years, it has gradually evolved to meet educational standards and better reflect the material taught in high schools today. The biggest change it ever underwent was when it split from being one big general test to two distinct sections of verbal and quantitative analysis. Then, in 1994, antonym questions were removed, the reading passages became longer, open-ended math questions were added, and calculators became permitted to use during the test. The most recent change to the test occurred in 2005, when the essay was added as a separate section, analogies were eliminated, the math section was expanded to include Algebra II content, and, as the most dramatic change, the scoring went from a maximum of 1600 to a maximum of 2400.

 Now, the SAT is going back to the 400-1600 point scale. There will be three sections, composed of evidence-based reading and writing, math, and the essay. The new essay will require students to analyze a passage and explain the author’s argument, and the prompt will be shared in advance and remain consistent; only the passage changes. However, on the new SAT, the essay will be made optional, although some colleges may still require essay scores. Math questions will become more narrowly focused, and the vocabulary words will be less obscure and more applicable to the real world. Also, there will be no point deduction for wrong answers. The SAT is still going to be distributed mainly in print, but select locations will have an option to take the test on the computer. It should take about three hours, and 50 minutes for the optional essay. The full specifications, as well as example problems, for the new SAT will be made available on April 16th, 2014.

 So, why are these changes being made? The president of the College Board, David Coleman, announced the SAT redesign, saying that the SAT has become disconnected with what is currently being taught in American high schools. Analysts say that American students have fallen behind their counterparts in other developed nations in test results, prompting concerns that the US is insufficiently preparing young people for competing in a global economy. While some believe that the changes might further lower the standards, the College Board says that they are to make the test as clear and effective as possible, and to make sure no student has an unfair disadvantage. Another concern is whether the SAT is changing due to a recent trend of students either taking the ACT, the other major college admissions exam, instead of the SAT, or opting out of taking a standardized test at all. While the majority of four-year colleges still require to submit test scores, hundreds have switched to test-optional policies, allowing students to decide whether or not to submit a score. Since mid-2012, more students have been reported taking the ACT than the SAT, with about 1.7 million students taking the ACT each year compared to 1.6 million taking the SAT. In the year 2013, it was reported that only 43% of students scored highly enough on the SAT to succeed in college. These changes to the SAT are making it more similar to the ACT, indicating that it might be an attempt to get more students to take the SAT again.

 The College Board promises that “When students open their SAT test books in Spring 2016, they’ll encounter an SAT that is more focused and useful than ever before.” Hopefully, these changes will improve the SAT and make it a more effective tool for students that have previously struggled with the standardized testing system.

Putin kicked out of G8 summit

Daniel Locke

Staff Writer

 Recently, the G8 summit, which was supposed to be held in June in Sochi, Russia has been suspended since members of what is now the G7 had kicked Russia out. After Russia annexed Crimea, the G7 had warned that Russia would be kicked out of the G8 summit, and decided to boycott the summit and impose sanctions upon Russia for these actions.

 Russia which has been a member of the G8 summit for 16 years since 1998 when they first joined, has finally ended its ties with the G8. Now the G7 composes of Japan, Italy, France, Britain, United States, Germany, and Canada. The G7 had also issued a joint statement that they would meet in Brussels, Belgium. The G7 responded to Russia’s violation in Ukraine since international law prohibits the use of force or coercion to acquire another state. They unanimously agreed to impose sanctions.

 Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said that being kicked out of the G8 was no big deal. He also went on to make this statement: “G8 is an informal organization that does not give out any membership cards and, by its definition, cannot remove anyone," However the G7 summit has agreed to impose additional sanctions as the situation in Ukraine escalates. Yet Russia appears not to be concerned over these sanctions and still had kept roughly 20,000 troops on Ukraine’s border. Russia has also decided to impose sanctions of their own on the selected U.S. officials from entering Russia. Some officials that are unable to travel to Russia would include John Boehner, Harry Reid, John McCain, and Robert Menendez whom is the Chairman for the Senate foreign relations committee.

 However, China has proposed a solution to this conflict and advises all countries involved to do nothing to further the conflict. America has yet to see the mechanism China has proposed in action.

A long wait for a quick charge

Nick Damarodis
Editor in Chief

Nick Damarodis

Imagine being able to charge your phone in 30 seconds. It sounds impossible, but that is exactly what StoreDot, an Israeli technology company, is planning on doing. The company recently posted a video on Youtube that presented a prototype charger that charged a Smartphone to full battery in 30 seconds, an astonishingly fast time.

 StoreDot was originally a company that was involved in Alzheimer’s research, but their latest venture into cellular technology had found much interest amongst techies and everyday smartphone users alike. Taking time to charge a cell phone can be quite a hassle, since the average charge lasts less than one day for heavy users. Also, most phones take around an hour to fully charge, with some taking even more time. While charging is an inconvenience for many, StoreDot is finding a way to make cell phone charging take much less time and make everyone’s day just a little easier.  

 Doron Myersdorf, the CEO of StoreDot, pointed out that amino acids were used in the creation of nanocrystals, which allowed the cell phone to have a lightning fast charge: "These [nanocrystals] have special properties that enable us to use them in various devices, such as a battery."

 This new technology allows for the charging process to go much faster, and can be used in different devices. For StoreDot, however, the focus is the smartphone. With over 150 million Americans alone owning smartphones, the profit potential and marketability of a charger such as this is incredibly high.

 Although there are many benefits to this charger, it is only a prototype right now. Currently, the prototype is too large to fit in a smartphone. Since the technology is still new, it will take time to reduce the size of the charger and keep the strength of the charge that it has right now. Researchers will continue to make the charger smaller in size and when they do a charger that can be added into smartphones will be brought into the marketplace. In roughly two years from now, StoreDot says that the company will have a charger for smartphones ready to sell.

Czupichs Win Big in 2014 Bucks County Science Fair

Lexi Anderson
Staff Writer

On March 19 2014, two familiar students from our own New Hope-Solebury High School were recognized for their achievements in the Bucks County Research Competition, held at Delaware Valley College.

 Maggie and Sam Czupich, students at NHS high school, put their science skills to the test in this recent competition, with Maggie winning first place in the biochemistry category, and Sam receiving a special acknowledgment and a $100 award for his accomplishments in the math category.

 Maggie, who came up with a idea that may be a more effective way to attempt to cure liver cancer, moved on to districts. Although Sam did not take first place in his category, he wowed the judges with his sports helmet that’s specialized in absorbing impact so that athletes have less of a chance of getting a concussion.

 The competitors were scored mainly on their presentation and how effectively they explained their project. Other factors that went into the judging process were an understanding of their topic, the design of their poster, how thorough their research was, and topic originality. New Hope is proud of their accomplishments and we hope to see more New Hope students compete at this level in future years.

G-Eazy and Ground Up wow students

Matt Steele
Staff Writer

On March 26, 2014, West Coast rapper G Eazy played a show at The Theater of the Living Arts, on South Street in Philadelphia. Many students attended the show, not only to see G Eazy, but also because Ground Up was also performing. Ground Up is a duo originating from New Hope.

 The venue was very crowded and hot, but it added to the intimate atmosphere. At times, it was annoying, as my view would occasionally be blocked and I was in very close proximity to other people. All in all, the atmosphere wasn’t perfect, but once the musicians came on, you somewhat forgot about it and it didn’t take away from the concert too much.

 The performances were very good, especially G Eazy’s. He had a few people on tour with him who performed before he went on. These performances were very good, even when I didn’t know who the people were. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed these other rappers. Once G Eazy came on, the show picked up. His song selection was good and the speakers weren’t too loud, even though I was standing right in front of them. I thought his performance was very good, and the crowd really got into the show.

 Concert go-er Connor Smith offered his opinion on the experience, “The concert was sweet, the lights were sweet, G Eazy was sweet, and Ground Up was sweet. Overall, I’d have to say the concert was pretty sweet.”

 I’d say that quote pretty much sums up the night. I’d have to agree with Connor. It was sweet.

Winter looks...whatever.

 Chloe LeMunyan

Staff Writer

 Hey gals! Winter’s here and we all know that’s when we pop out the Uggs and sweat pants and “don’t care” anymore with how we look. Time to put the curling irons and straighteners away, because I’m going to teach you the perfect way to be effortless with your winter looks.

        When getting dressed for school in the winter, the first thing to be wary about is timing. The faster you get ready, the more time you have to sleep in, and the better your winter look will turnout. Give yourself about 10-12 minutes from the time you wake up to get out the door.

Personally, I shower at night and fall asleep with soaking wet hair. It’s good for your pillows and even better for the messy, chic hair that you wake up to. Plus, it adds more time to your beauty sleep so you can swing not wearing full on makeup. If your hair is STILL wet when you wake up, don’t worry about it. Just comb your hair with your fingers and your good. If it’s dry, run the brush through it until there aren’t any knots. If your hair is curly, skip the brush and if your hair is extremely knotty power hour that brush. (Pretend your hairbrush is like your car rugs when your hitting them against the ground to get the dirt out, similar motions). Brushing your hair should take less than one minute, regardless.

Definitely skip eye make-up, just shove some concealer under your eyes so they aren’t too alarming to the public and if you must, add a little bit of mascara. Of course if you have any obvious zits, cover those up, but most of the time you can let those slide. I add moisturizer so my face doesn’t get chapped from the weather.

NEVER forget deodorant. You can skip perfume, if you prefer, but that is a very quick process so I advise to do it. Keep hand moisturizer in your car and apply on your way out of car into school, I use mango scented.

The outfit is the best part to pick out. Normally whatever you fell asleep in works. If you’re a nightgown girl, like myself, you normally have to change into school appropriate pajamas unless your nightgown resembles a dress. Then you can pair it with black tights and some combat boots, and it looks like you put effort into your outfit. There’s nothing quite like effortlessly making an outfit look like there was effort involved. Shoes really do not matter… whatever you can get on the fastest. Skip the sneakers, unless all your other shoes are missing, and probably go with a clog or faded-pink Ugg slippers, a slip on shoe. If you can handle it, skip the winter jacket-it’s more to carry and you really only need it for the walk into school. Ask yourself: is it worth it?

Brush your teeth right before you leave and keep gum in your car. Remember ladies, your car is your safety net to anything you forget. Once you try this winter look routine, you will start noticing you begin to forget very important things. Once you forget those very import things, remind yourself to stock your car with those items (hair-ties, floss, gum, pretzels); therefore, you will not forget them next time!

Have fun trying this stress-free morning routine and remember, if you are confident, you are beautiful.