JROTC

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By: Alex Richter

Eagle Battalion Male PT Team’s participation in the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islander Challenge on Saturday, February 25th.

 

Colonel Wynder is the senior army instructor of JROTC, and he is proud to be serving at PHS. This is his 4th year at the school after retiring from the army, “This is a job that I truly love, when I wake up in the morning, I’m ready to get here and get the job done.” states the senior instructor. His co-instructor is his Command Sergeant Nulles, and according to the Colonel himself, they make a good team.

JROTC Cadets recently have participated in the Alamo city striker skills Meet at Reagan high school in San Antonio. The girls physical fitness team consisting of  Alyssa Castelar, Yasmeen Diop, Leah Torres, Gabby Ramos, Alania Nethken, and Hailey Yoho finished third overall out of 13 local area schools.  The boys physical fitness team placed 2nd overall out of 20 schools. Team Members included Valdemar Herrera, Kenneth Alegria, Roman Martinez, Jaden Herrera, Jose Ramirez, and Rion Ochoa. On February 16th, The Eagle Battalion Physical Fitness Team enjoyed the day testing themselves at the Brennan High School Military Skills Meet in San Antonio.

The Eagle Battalion Male PT Team has also participated in the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islander Challenge on Saturday, February 25th. The JROTC Eagle Battalion would like to give a thanks to those who came out to support their carwash at the Jourdanton NAPA. The $548 dollars raised will go toward their Military Ball coming up!

People may improve from being in JROTC, due to the impact that it may have on them. When interviewed, freshman Daylan Aguero states, “My experience with JROTC has been a fun, enjoyable experience. It benefited me by helping me build more confidence and make new friends.” Colonel Wynder and Command Sergeant Nulles do a good job of making sure that the students do a good job in leading the students on the right path. If you want a helpful leadership class, consider joining JROTC, it will do a great job of team-building and having leadership programs inflicted on students.

Make sure to visit the JROTC Facebook page linked in the PISD website to stay updated on their competitions and events!

 

Christmas Story: The Tale of the False Elves

By: Alex Richter

It’s Christmas Day, the clouds are dominating the majority of the sky. My boots are on and my scarf tucked under my sweater so that it doesn’t fly away, I see young children running and playing in the snowy grass. Unlike my friends who are outside, I don’t have siblings. My parents were set on me being the  ¨golden child¨. I am an 11th grade student that goes to Elfwood High, a small school in the northern part of the country United Kingston. 

On the horizon, the Mahogany Forest. My destination, the Lakewood Creek, which is in the town just to the North of mine. Kicking open my big wooden door, I step out onto the grass, feeling snowflakes fall softly onto the top of my head. I start to calmly walk through my town, waving at friends and heading into the sunset.

Staring and analyzing into the woods, I hear a soft voice giggle. It sounds like a child playing, but I didn’t think children would be interested in playing in the dimly-lit woods of mahogany trees. I stop in my tracks, staring at the small snow-filled path ahead of me. A child is visible within 10 feet of me, he is wearing a green hat, and a green and white striped shirt with white pants and green elf shoes. I look at his ears, and strangely enough, they’re pointed. “If it isn’t the one, the only…”, the elf starts. “Karl Jerome Brown!”, another identical elf next to him says. “How do you know my name? And what are you?”I reply to their strange remark. “We are the elves of Christmas,” one says, “the ones that you praise in Elfwood,” the other finishes.

What an odd statement. We don’t praise elves in Elfwood, it’s only the town’s name. “If you’d excuse me, I’m only trying to-” I say. “Get to the little creek located in Lakewood,” the first elf interrupts me. “It’s only about a few miles ahead, is it not?” he asks. “Yes, but I do not wish to be escorted, I’m only trying to spend my Christmas in peace, please,” I reply to the elf. “But what if we wish to escort you?”, one tells me. “Fine…”, I say. 

That’s all it took before I blink and find myself far from where I expected to be, there is nothing visible around me other than the grassy horizon and the sun in the sky. The so-called elves were nowhere to be found, I didn’t know where I was at all, and something deeply rooted in my brain felt wrong. The sun glares its rays into my eyes, which then start to tear up. I look away, to not look directly at it, but it’s far too late for that. I looked down at my hand, which appeared sparkling, as if it was set ablaze by the hot ball of fire in the sky. 

I wake up, in the woods where I was before. The elves stand in front of me, glaring, as if mad or upset with me. Except, the elves were not good elves at all, they had ‘Coal’ printed on the back of their uniforms. These are mere coal-working elves that work giving children coal if they were bad on Christmas. “You,” the first elf starts, “are,” says the next, before they pause while looking at me in awe. “MAGIC!”, they both shout simultaneously. 

Magic? “Prove it,” I say to the elves. “Step into the light,” one starts, “then surely you’ll see,” the other one finishes. Do all elves finish each other’s sentences or are they just crazy? Stepping into the light I start to speak, “See? Nothing-”

BOOM! An explosion comes out of the sun itself, whooshing through the air until it hits me right in the chest. I feel a numbness, until I feel something on my back, as if I’m wearing a backpack, or in my case, two backpacks. I have wings, they are feathery and white, which emit light in the orangy-red sunset.

“What are these?”, I ask the Christmas elves. “They let you fly when you work with training the reindeer,” Why on Earth are reindeer important, or related to the fact that I´ve just sprouted wings in the sky? “What do you mean?” I ask. “You’re magic-”, the first one starts. The second one finishes by saying, “Therefore you’re coming with us.” I scoff, “Why exactly?”

The elves look at each other mischievously and smirk before looking back at me in union. “You do want to work at the Christmas Factory with us, don’t you Karl?”

New Discoveries

 By: Alex Richter

Scientists have discovered new things that have never been seen in the history of space and time.

Researchers from National Harbor, Maryland have recently discovered two so-called cryovolcanoes; which seem to be volcanoes built of frozen ice from inside of the dwarf planet. Volcanoes, as we all know, are piles of different types of rock. Eventually the volcanoes spewed magma from underground at the top of the rocky volcano. Ash is released and the magma becomes lava at the point that it comes above ground. Unlike most volcanoes, scientists noted that nitrogen and methane melted ice inside of the planet, causing it to be released years later in an icy volcano. 

Researchers in 2022 have figured out the reason for the t-rex’s stubby arms. Many dinosaurs have been a mystery to the world aside from a representation of how the animals looked, the t-rex was no different, but due to mass amounts of research and extended fossil search, information has been found. The reason that the t-rex has stubby arms is because of reproduction purposes. With stubby arms, the t-rex holds mates closer than if the arms were to be longer.

Recently, a ship called Sir Ernest Shackleton was found at the bottom of the Weddell Sea. The ship is believed to have once sailed about a century ago, and not much information has been found about it. Sir Ernest Shackleton was found by robots during an expedition underwater, these robots have cameras allowing the men and women above to see what they are seeing.