All posts by Stohion Staff

News

Bereaved families honor their loved ones

Leave a comment

By Grace Flinn

The holiday season is hard for bereaved families who have lost a child of their own. Holidays are about spending time with loved ones and being grateful, but when one has lost a member of the family, holidays are not easy when they are constantly reminded a loved one is gone.

According to stowsentry.com, Sara Ruble started the Christmas Box Angle of Hope Children’s Memorial located in the Silver Springs Cemetery. Ruble started when she mourned the loss of her only child, Scott Michael Jessie of 19 years who passed in May of 1994.

To help Ruble’s grieving process she decided to start a support group for all bereaved families who have lost their child. Doing so, this helped Ruble interact with other families who are going through the same thing as her. She gathered parents whom have lost a big part of their life, and raised 46,000 dollars to start off in 2000. Seven months later, the group increased successfully, and the memorial was finally dedicated in 2001.

The Christmas Box Angel Of Hope was based on a story called “The Christmas Box” by Richard Paul Evans. The story was about a mother who lost her child and was in great grief. Evans created the first Christmas Box Angel of Hope in Salt Lake City, and Ruble was inspired by this story and by Evan’s great idea, so she decided to start the program Christmas Box Angle of Hope here in Stow.

In the Silver Springs Cemetery, the Angle of Hope watches over the 600 engraved bricks of children’s names who lost their lives. Each year, there ire approximately 30 to 35 bricks added to the memorial each year. There is a candle lighting ceremony the second week of every December for the family and friends to have a time of remembrance.

According to stowsentry.com, after Ruble has been in charge of this program for fifteen years, Tim Thies, the father of a child who lost his life, will soon take over.

     

Community

Public Library to have a Noon Year’s Eve Party

Leave a comment

By Naudia Patel

New Year’s Eve is a new start for everyone. Students, teachers and almost any person with any job gets the day off, and they get to start working towards their goals.

The Stow Munroe Falls Public Library is having a Noon Year’s Eve party, and it is taking place on Dec. 31. The party is starting thirty minutes before noon, hence the name Noon Year’s Eve.

“Ring in the new year with Miss Amy and Miss Kristin during our fun-filled Noon Year’s Eve Party for all ages Thursday, December 31 at 11:30 a.m,” SMFPL.org said. 

According to the library’s website, this event is geared for children but can be for people of all ages.

“We will share a story, fun dance songs, snacks and a couple of seasonal short animated films based on classic children’s books,” SMFPL.org said.

As said above, there will be many activities for children including some short films. This party allows children to experience the fun time people have when they celebrate New Year’s together with friends and family. Children eventually turn into teenagers and then into adults. The Noon Year’s Eve party will be a more friendly version of a teenage or adult version of a real New Year’s party.

At real New Year’s parties, people almost always count down to midnight. In this kid friendly version of a New Year’s party, they will count down to noon. This way younger children can grasp an idea of what their future years might be like. 

“And of course we will count down to 2016 just before noon that day with all kinds of noise-making tools like bubble wrap and shakers. No registration required for this event.” SMFPL.org said. 

Imagine how much fun a young family member would have meeting many other children their age and making a lot of new friendships. Also, the activities they will have set up are fun for children. When Ava Ross, a preschooler at Indian Trail, was being interviewed  said….

 “I would like that (If she could go to the Noon Year’s Eve party.) I love dancing and singing. Yes, I do like watching movies,” preschooler Ava Ross said.

Ava Ross is five years old and likes to play with play doh, baby dolls, barbies, makeup, jewelry, dresses, stuffed animals, fake fairy wings, toy cash registers, and many more things. Ava and her twin brother, Gavin Ross, both agree that this party centered for their age group sounds like so much fun.

New Years is when people set new goals and achievements to accomplish. What the event planners at the Stow Munroe Falls Public Library could have done differently when creating this event was use ten to fifteen minutes and have the guests create a New Year’s Resolutions list. Teaching children how to make a New Year’s Resolutions list will most likely make this tradition pass down to many other generations.

The Noon Year’s Eve party is a great way to teach children the cultures and traditions of America. It could teach more traditions of the American culture, but it is also great as what it already is. A large group of citizens of of Stow will most likely show up at this children’s event.

Entertainment

Many watch Victoria’s Secret fashion show

Leave a comment

By Dema Obaid

One of the most glam nights of the whole year on television happened on Dec. 8. 

Victoria’s Secret hosted their annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion show, and they did not only model lingerie, but they told a story while doing so.

The show had six themes to it: Boho Psychedelic, Portrait of Angels, Exotic Butterflies, Ice Angels, Fireworks and Pink USA. These six themes consisted of 75 looks that the 44 genetically beautiful models showed off down the runway. One model this year was favorite Kardashian, Kendall Jenner. Her mom, Kris Jenner, was there front row cheering her on and taking pictures. 

To kick off the show,  The Weeknd performed “In the Night” and “Can’t Feel My Face” on the runway while the models strutted by and danced along.

“I think The Weeknd performed very well considering it was live. [It was] Definitely one of the best live performances I’ve seen,” freshman Bissan Obaid said.

Next, the very graceful Ellie Goulding preformed her song “Army” off of her new album which was perfect for the theme “Ice Angels”.

“Ellie Goulding was the perfect performance choice for the show. Her singing fit the theme [Ice Angels] perfectly,” sophomore Theresa Parr said.

To finish off the show, Selena Gomez performed her new songs, “Can’t Keep My Hands to Myself” and “My Girls.” 

She got a lot of hate towards her live performance, but she did not let the comments get her down.

On one of the Victoria’s Secret’s post on Instagram of Selena Gomez performing, there were many comments about her singing with autotune and lip syncing. Selena commented back and told her haters off.

Overall, the show was very pleasing to the eye and each and every model looked beautiful in their own ways.

Reviews

“Go Ask Alice”: Influential novel for teens

Leave a comment

By Maeonne Phillips

    “Go Ask Alice” is a book composed of real life journal entries written by a teen drug user. Certain names, dates, places, and events were changed in the making of the book, and the author remains anonymous.

    The book is meant to inform readers on the dangers of addiction and the consequences of drug use.

    The horrors begin when the 15 year old narrator takes a drugged drink during a party and ends up loving the experience. From then on she begins trying all kinds of different drugs and before she knows it she is addicted.

    The drug use puts her in bad habits and, throughout the book, she becomes a struggling on and off user. Her life is thrown in different directions, and her bad experiences haunt her to want to end her addiction.

    From what I read, it was pretty obvious the book takes place in the 1960s. The narrator talks about her use of records, letters and visits to malt shops after school along with her 50s and 60s slang.

    The book truly demonstrates the horrors of drug use and the struggle to refrain from use once you start, when only one experience can get a person hooked for life.

    “After you’ve had it, there isn’t even life without drugs,” is the most influential quote of the book because with so many teens being exposed to drugs in high school, they need someone to tell them they will get hooked, and there is no “I’ll only do it once.”

    Teens rarely ever listen to adults and health classes; both give barely any effect other than dragged on awareness and scolding. The true horrors of the journal entries will put a reader in the first person perspective of the narrator, leaving one with a fearful impression of drugs.

     “Bill pulled me down, and my head rested in his lap as I watched the pattern change to swirling colors, great fields of reds, blues and yellows. I tried to share the beauty with the others, but my words came out soggy, wet and dripping or tasting of color,” the narrator describes during her first use of drugs by accident.

    She is blinded by beauty and has no idea of what terrors were to follow.

    The writer’s use of vivid colors, shapes and feelings provide an unbelievable and realistic picture for the reader who feels they are taking their own trip as the narrator takes hers. It is really a well written and effective diary.

    I think the book really had an effect on me because the narrator’s life really went downhill, and it was terrifying how highly effective just one mistake at a party led to such disaster, especially since she was the same age I am now. Her story is kind of unforgettable.  

    I think this book provides the perfect scare for all teens in this generation along with the high exposure of drugs that comes with high school.

     The novel is a great read, and I would definitely recommend it: I could not stop reading from the second I started.