Local Doctor Visits Buddha

By: Jenelle & Emily

On Thursday, January the 18th Dr. Bill Cox visited the Anvil City Science Academy. During his visit, Dr. Cox showed the class a slide show of his journey to Burma. Burma is a small country between Thailand and India.

There were many pictures in the slide show. Dr. Cox showed the students pictures of people he met, places he went, and food he ate. There were also many interesting pictures of sacred monuments made out of gold, sacred hills and temples. Dr. Cox said that if you wanted to go to a sacred place you had to take your shoes and socks off, out of respect for Buddha.

Not all people in Burma speak its language. Most people speak the languages of their villages in the Burmese jungle. There are over 100 languages spoken in Burma.

"It was cool" said ACSA student David L. when asked what he thought of the slide show. "Very interesting." commented Megan C., another student.

Dr. Cox and his slide show of his visit to Burma impressed these reporters. We hope he comes back soon with more pictures of his foreign expeditions.

Bye, Bye, David

By: Ben & Hailey

David G. left Nome on Saturday, January 13th, 2001. His family is making a permanent move to Ketchikan, because their relatives live there. This will be his 6th time he has moved. He was born in Fairbanks and also has lived in Wasilla and California.

David is not too pleased about moving, because he has made many friends in Nome during the two and a half years he has lived here. He has gone to the Science Academy for one and a half years and made more friends there too. Almost everyone in David's family wants to move, except David.

In Nome, David has been involved in theater productions, including Bye, Bye, Birdie. David took piano lessons, and did volunteer work at the library. He has also been part of the cross-country team for the past two years.

Mr. Hindman, Mr. Irelan and the class will miss David, even his bad jokes. David was helpful in the classroom and friendly to the other students.

Students Publish Biographies on the Internet

By: David G.

On Monday, November 27, 2000, Anvil City Science Academy teacher Todd Hindman announced that students were going to make a web page about themselves. Mr. Hindman also said that the web pages were like any other assignment and would be graded.

Mr. Hindman said that the A.C.S.A. students were going to make an autobiography. To start, students made outlines for the information that they wanted in the autobiography; including their hobbies, interests in school, and their future plans. After they made the outline, Mr. Hindman showed the students how to use Page Mill, a web authoring software program.

When the students had their basic biographies done, Mr. Hindman let them go on the "Cool Archive" web site to look for animations and backgrounds for their web pages. When the students were pleased with their web pages, they were required to save all the backgrounds and animations on their disks with specific names to identify which student it belonged to and what it was. Then Mr. Hindman put the web pages on the school web site.

Most of the students, if not all, enjoyed doing these web pages. Mr. Hindman hopes you enjoy looking at them at our school web site.

Tae Kwon Do Students Preparing for State Tournament

By: Megan H. & Chase

Every weekday Megan H., Chase , Brad , and Ramon stay after school for Tae Kwon Do. Their practice is from 3:10-5:00. They are staying after school to earn their belt advancement.

The students have also recently been training for the state tournament for TKD in Anchorage, coming up February 17. To train for this tournament they have to practice their kicks, sparring, and poomse. Asaaluk Irelan, a black belt, has been practicing with them and her father after basketball practice. She too will be going to the state tournament.

The students will be competing in the blue and green belt ranks during the tournament. Chase, Megan H., and Ramon are presently yellow belt, but they have tested for green belt and will be competing in the green belt rank.

If they come in first, second, or third place in state they will go on to national competition. The national Tae Kwon Do tournament will be held July 2nd-7th in Tampa Bay, Florida.

  

TKD students pratice their round kick, or Dayro.

TKD students pratice their front kick, or Ap Chagi

Northstars Make a Big Splash at Soldotna High School

By: Jessica

On November 26, 2000, ten swimmers from the Nome Northstar Swim Team competed in the Speedo/Alaska Age Group Championships at Soldotna High School. The ten swimmers that competed were Jenelle , Jessica , Jordan , Banner , Christina , Matt , Marlee , Elise , Chelsea , and Charlie . Three students from Anvil City Science Academy participated, those three students were Jenelle , Jessica , and Elise .

Elise's performance in the 200 yard Individual Medley (IM), 50 yard backstroke, 100 yard backstroke, 100 yard breaststroke, 100 yard freestyle, 50 yard freestyle, and 200 yard freestyle were definitely champion finishes! She garnered gold for her team in the 50 yard backstroke and silver for the 100 yard backstroke. She placed 4th in the 100 yard breaststroke, 7th in both her 200 yard IM and 50 yard freestyle, she got 8th in her 100 and 200 yard freestyle. She says that her favorite and best stroke is her backstroke. Elise also qualified for Zones, which will be held in Hawaii. She qualified for her 100 yard backstroke. She made the time for 10-and-under girls, but she will be turning 11 before the meet, so she will be trying to make a faster time.

Jenelle did great in the 50 yard butterfly, 100 yard butterfly, 50 yard freestyle, 100 yard freestyle, 200 yard IM, 100 yard IM, 50 yard breaststroke, 400 yard medley relay, and 200 freestyle relay.

Jessica received a silver in her 100 yard butterfly and a bronze in her 200 yard IM. Jessica's strong butterfly is her best and favorite stroke.

With these swims and many others, the Nome Northstar Swim Team placed 13th out of 26 teams! Way to go Northstars!

Students Raise School Spirit

By: Megan C. & Abby

Nome Beltz Jr. High cheerleading started Saturday, December 23, 2000. Twenty 7th and 8th graders signed up for cheerleading at the first meeting.

Mrs. Tina Hager held tryouts the morning of January 16, 2001 to find out which ten cheerleaders will wear the original uniforms at the first Game on Thursday 18th. Sonja , Marlee , Megan B., Emily , Reba , Andrea , Kayla , Rachel , Christina , and Chelsea made the top ten. Mrs. Hager is ordering new uniforms for the cheerleaders who pay $68.00. For the students who cannot afford the more expensive uniforms, Mrs. Hager will take some money out of the Nome -Beltz cheerleader account and buy cheaper uniforms. The other cheerleaders will wear blue or black shorts and white shirts until the new uniforms get here.

Practices begin at 6:00 a.m. every Tuesday morning, and 2:00 p.m. every Saturday afternoon. At every practice the cheerleaders do warm ups and stretches. Then, they practice cheers and chants and work on their dance routines. At the end of the practice, Mrs. Hager gives information on the games and what we will do during half time.

During the weekend of January 6th, a cheerleading clinic was held at the elementary school from 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Two professional cheerleaders came to town to teach at the cheerleading clinic. The fee for going to the clinic was $75. The students who signed up for the clinic learned cheers, chants, an assortment of stunts, and two dance routines.

During the basketball games, held every Thursday from 4:15 - 8:15, the cheerleaders cheer on the sidelines. At half time, they do dance routines, cheers, and stunts. with the cheerleaders giving it their all, the basketball games are even more exciting than usual.

Kids Get Winterized

By: Mina

During winter break, some students at the A.C.S.A. choose to stay indoors away from the cold, and some went outside, while others traveled. Some of the students enjoyed playing sports, while the other students enjoyed the strange or normal gifts they got for Christmas, while others spent the whole break after Christmas wondering what happened to the present they wanted the most.

Jenelle traveled to Mexico, Disneyland, and Universal Studios over winter break. What she says the most fun part about winter break was going to Mexico and laying on the beach all day. When she returned home from her trip, she went to Abby’s New Years Party. She says the most interesting thing she got for Christmas was a phone, but she didn't get everything she wanted. When she wasn't on her trip, or opening presents, she decided to go swimming, and snow machining.

Ramon did not travel, but had a great time practicing Tae Kwon Do. He said the best part of vacation was sleeping. He also says the most interesting thing he got for Christmas was a sponsorship of a kid from Cuba. He guesses he got all that he wanted for Christmas.

Mr. Hank Irelan, who also did not travel said that the most fun part about winter break was doing Tae Kwon Do. He didn't go to any parties though. He said he did get some interesting Christmas tree ornaments for Christmas, but says someone forgot the million dollars. For the times he wasn't doing Tae Kwon Do, or ripping open presents, the sport he played was basketball.

All in all, it was a great break from the school year. Just five more months till summer!

Shocking Info from Mr.Irelan

By: Megan Colley & Scott Payenna

Frank H. Irelan is 52 years old and has four kids. The college he went to was Clemson, South Carolina. After college he went back to his former grade school and taught Earth Science, Physical Science, physical Ed and then coached football then he moved to Fairbanks, then he moved to Nome in 1985. In the past he has been a tour bus driver, correctional officer, military officer, pipeline labor and a security person, recreation director, Boy Scout executive, and a volunteer for many things. He has taught in Fairbanks, Barrow, North Pole and Clarksville, Ohio.

Frank H. Irelan has worked for the A.C.S.A. for two years. The former teacher Mr. Conger brought him to the A.C.S.A. two years ago. What he likes about the A.C.S.A. is that it challenges him working with the kids.

He learned Tae Kwon Do five years ago and has been teaching it for four years. In Tae Kwon Do class the kids do exercises and kicks, stances and blocks. He also teaches an after school Tae Kwon Do class; they have been learning break falls, rolls, and Poomses.

PlayStation Reviews

By: Dustin & Ramon

Driver II

Violence: 2 stars
Drama:1 star
Blood: (none)
Action:4 stars
Graphics:3 stars

In the game Driver II, you have to drive and do multiple missions, like running away from pursuing police cars, and in some missions you have to chase people that have some importance in the story. You can drive in two different cities; Havana, Cuba and Chicago Illinois. In every level you can unlock things like cars and levels to play to play in multi player mode. This game is very realistic because of the visuals, and sounds you experience during game play.

Sled Storm

Violence: (none)
Drama: (none)
Blood: (none)
Action:3 stars
Graphics:4 stars

In Sled Storm you can choose from a wide selection of snowmobiles with customized parts to race. Each one has its own individual statistics, like speed and acceleration. You can also play several two-player games, such as “Open Championship” and “Head to Head” races. Go on 1 player mode to unlock secret snowmachines with their riders. This is a very fun game to play, but you don't have to take our word for it. Hope you like it.

Resident Evil III:Nemesis

Violence:4 stars
Drama:5 stars
Blood:5 stars
Action:3 stars
Graphics:4 stars

Resident Evil III is the story of a woman named Jill and her struggle to survive in a city overran with flesh-eating zombies. While trying to escape, she must use her wits to survive. She must collect special items if she ever wants to leave the horrid town. Also she must fight a big ugly monster that keeps appearing constantly.

Tony Hawk’s Pro-Skater II

Violence: (none)
Drama: (none)
Blood:1 star
Action:2 stars
Graphics:4 stars

Tony Hawk’s Pro-Skater is a game in which you can create your own skateboarder and go on your own skating career. As you play, you earn “dollars” which you can use to buy better tricks, boards, and all-new skateboard parks. It also has a variety of multi-player modes like “Horse”, but instead of shooting baskets, you do tricks. We definitely give it a thumbs up because we think the game is very realistic and fun.

And the Winner Is...

By: Elise Hager & Akim Vasiliev

Recently, students and teachers of A.C.S.A. were asked what some of their favorite things were. Here are some of the responses we received. The responses are in order of favorite type of music, band or singer, sport, and food.

Megan H.: Oldies, Hanson, Tae Kwon Do, Chick-A-Stick

Scott: Rap, Eminem, Junk Yard Wars, Pizza

Hailey: Bach, U2, Soccer, Pasta Salad

Ben: Classical, Billy Joel, Soccer, Lasagna

Chase: Pop, Offspring, Basketball, Pizza

Ramon: Pop, Eminem, Tae Kwon Do, Pizza

Jessica: Pop, Backstreet Boys, Swimming, Chicken

Javier: Rap, Pop, The Beatles, Chess

Louis: Pop, Creed, Baseball. Pizza

Mr. H.: Rock / Dance, Radiohead / The Orb, Football, Cajun / Thai