By Marissa Cohen
 
This year at North has been more special than ever as students and teachers alike come together to celebrate North’s 50th anniversary. As crazy as it may sound, this building has been standing since 1969 with not many renovations since then. While it may seem cheesy to celebrate a school’s 50th anniversary, it’s important to recognize and celebrate the history that’s led to where North is now as a school and as a community. Furthermore, these celebrations can bring students closer to some of North’s alumni and give them an insight on how things used to be.

Throughout the school year, different clubs and honors societies have been celebrating North’s 50th anniversary in many different ways. These celebrations kicked off in the beginning of the school year, during grade-level assemblies. In these assemblies, Mrs. McCarthy handed out phone wallets featuring our school’s unique hexagon windows and announced that all year, students and teachers would be planning activities to celebrate this anniversary.

After that, the junior class hosted the first official Council Rock North Homecoming with the theme of North through the ages, paying homage to the 50th anniversary. The student government hung pictures of alumni and teachers from 1969 to the present down the hallways for everyone to see as they walked in. Some of these pictures can still be found in the frames across from the attendance office. 

After Homecoming, anniversary celebrations slowed down for a bit as some clubs and honors societies began to prepare for the rest of the year. One organization that’s working on the 50th anniversary is Rho Kappa, the social studies honors society. In the beginning of the year, administration asked Rho Kappa to plan some of the 50th anniversary celebrations as a part of their yearly activities and so far everything has been going really well.

The biggest project Rho Kappa has taken on is researching and creating a brochure outlining the past 50 years at North, including famous alumni, important dates and changes to the school, and more. Students have been working on this for a while and it will be available soon.

However, if you want to know more about North’s history before then, check out some of the old yearbooks on display in the library. These yearbooks go all the way back to the 1960s, making it easy to trace North’s unique history.

Another effort some students are making is to try and get in touch with as many alumni as possible. It’s a great way for students and teachers alike to see not only what’s changed, but what’s stayed the same over the past 50 years. From brochures to dances to interviews, North’s 50th anniversary celebrations in the first half of the year have brought people closer to the history of not only this building but also the people who have passed through it just like students today. Hopefully, the excitement and energy surrounding North’s 50th anniversary will continue through the rest of the school year. 

By Sophia Kim
 
About one week ago, after taking attendance and marking a handful of students absent, one of my teachers said, “It’s definitely flu and cold season.” You may have noticed recently that some of your classmates have called into school sick, or perhaps you have gotten sick within the past several months. Flu and cold seasons are currently in full swing, which explains why illness has plagued much of our school as of late. The flu and common cold are more common in the winter months. In the United States, flu season begins around October and can last until May but usually peaks between December and February. Cold season starts in late August and can last until early April. 

I asked some of my classmates whether they had gotten their flu shots and whether they had gotten sick this flu season. A few of these people stopped for a moment and responded, “I definitely got sick, but I don’t know if I got the flu or a cold. What’s the difference?”

The flu and common cold are both viral respiratory infections that can affect the nose, throat and lungs. Both are spread by droplets dispersed in the air by the coughing, sneezing, or talking of infected people. Direct contact with objects containing these same germs can also spread the flu and cold. These infections usually fade without medical treatment, but can have serious complications. Despite the similarities between them, there are key differences between the two illnesses.

Influenza or “the flu” is only caused by the influenza virus. Its symptoms appear suddenly and tend to be more severe than those of the common cold. With the flu, it is common to experience fever, body aches, chills and sweats, a dry cough, fatigue, and weakness. Complications of the flu include pneumonia, bronchitis, and asthma flare-ups. People who have the flu are most contagious in the first three to four days that they experience the symptoms. Flu symptoms usually disappear after about five days, but coughing and weakness can last longer. Full recovery usually takes one to two weeks. On average, adults get the flu twice every ten years. 

Unlike the flu, the common cold can be the result of many different viruses. Cold symptoms tend to appear gradually and overall are milder than those of the flu. Some of these symptoms are a stuffy or runny nose, sore throat, congestion and sneezing. Most people recover from a cold in about one week to 10 days. On average, adults get two to three colds a year.

If you don’t want to get the flu or catch a cold, take some preventative measures. Wash your hands regularly with soap and water for a minimum of 20 seconds, and limit your exposure to infected people. In order to limit the spread of germs, try not to share glasses or utensils with others and remember to sneeze and cough into tissues. Additionally, make sure to take care of your body! Get enough sleep each night, exercise regularly, eat well, and manage your stress. 

In addition to implementing these simple actions to your daily life, you can get vaccinated for the flu. The flu vaccine is the best proven defense against the flu. But since the flu virus is constantly changing, the flu vaccine is also always evolving. Each year’s flu vaccine protects against three or four flu viruses that scientists expect to be common that year. Flu vaccines contain inactivated viral strains which are injected into the deltoid muscle, (the uppermost part of the arm and the top of the shoulder) or the thigh. This vaccine has successfully reduced flu-related illnesses and decreased the risk for flu complications.

If you have already gotten sick this flu and cold season, avoid spreading illness to people around you. Wash your hands, contain your coughs and sneezes, and disinfect surfaces that you touch regularly, such as doorknobs. According to a 2018 CDC study, 8% of the US population gets the flu each year, but it ranges from 3% to 11% depending on the season. Children and people 65 or older get the flu more often than other age groups.

To get a sense of what has been going on at CRN in relation to flu and cold,  I took a poll among some of my classmates on how they have been affected by sickness recently. Out of 59 CRN students, 34 students or 58% of the group got the flu shot. 8% got the flu, 39% got a cold, and 53% did not get either. 

Even if you follow the preventative measures listed above, sometimes sickness is inevitable. However, do what you can to reduce your risk of getting the flu or cold, and be mindful of your impact on fellow students. Stay healthy, North!

By Autumn Knoop
 
Why save money at all?
Money is what sustains our day to day lives, and is absolutely essential for our futures. When you get a job, you will receive income. Rather than spend all the money you earned at once, it is recommended that you save a portion of your paycheck for your future. The more you save, the more money you have for things that cost more, such as a house or a car. It is also smart to save money for retirement, as you will not have a job to sustain you anymore.
 
Teens who save
Many teens save, even if it means a couple of coins in a jar. But what about teens who run businesses or earn large amounts of money? For this section of the article, I will be interviewing Aveline Knoop, who is an entrepreneur and student at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
 
Q: So, to jump right into it, how young were you when you started saving money?
A: “I started saving money at fourteen years old.”
 
Q: What caused you to start saving money?
A: “I started saving money because I founded my own business making and selling nail art and care products. As I began to make money, I wanted to start saving for my future seriously.”
 
Q: How did you start saving?
A: “I started saving by putting my money in a retirement fund (a tax-free savings account).”
 
Q: How much do you recommend saving?
A: “ Saving 20% of every paycheck you receive is a great standard.”
 
Q: What is a Roth IRA?
A: “An IRA is an individual retirement account which allows you to save up to $5,500 per year. This amount compounds 6% (about) annually to build your savings. A Roth IRA is a business IRA. It allows you to save more than the $5,500 limit as a business.”
 
Editor’s Note: As of 2020, IRA/Roth limit is $6,000 per person, with additional catch-ups for older workers.  Also, a Roth IRA is not limited to business people; anyone can open and fund a Roth IRA subject to income limitations (high earners are restricted).  The main difference between an IRA and a Roth IRA is that you pay no tax now on funds you invest in an IRA.  You then pay tax when you withdraw the funds in the future.  Conversely, you pay tax now on funds for a Roth IRA, but then you pay no tax on these funds in the future.  You can choose to invest in either type of account or both types.
 
Q: Do you have any tips for teens who are interested in saving?
A: “Even if you are working at a day job, I would start saving now. It doesn’t feel like much, but you’ll find your small amount of contributions today will amount to thousands of dollars in a decade. And if you are motivated and believe you have a great idea to start a business - it’s never too early.”
 
How to start saving 
As Aveline suggests, once you start to make an income, you can immediately start saving. The first step to saving is to analyze how much income you are making and how much you are willing to save with money left to spend. In this sense you are budgeting for your future self. Successful saving for the future is anywhere from 10-20 percent of your income, but any amount saved will benefit your future. Rather than spend money on things that you don’t need, simply put that money aside, and create a more secure future for yourself.