Origins of Language by Ian Updegrove

Language has been around for millions of years. Language has always existed in a way actually, because people did communicate when they first appeared on Earth, they just used sounds.

English: English originated in England and started around the 5th century. The Great Vowel shift caused old English to be the kind of English that we use today. It began in the 14th century and was finished in 1550.

German: German originated in Germany and started around the 1st century BCE. German is different in a way because it has a unique letter and it's known as Deutsch in other countries.

French: French originated in France and started around the 5th century. French is a romantic language.

Spanish: Spanish originated in Spain and modern Spanish started around the 13th century. Spanish has words that can’t be translated into other languages.

Portuguese: Portuguese originated in Portugal and started around the 3rd century BC. Portuguese is the fastest growing European language in the world behind English.

Top 9 Unique Names by Madison Mikita

Names sometimes are often overlooked, just something you call someone, an insignificant detail. But these are some of the most significant, unique names I found. 

1: Aaralyn

According to Kid Paw, Aaralyn means “beautiful melody, song.” It has a Native American origin and is suitable for girls. 

2: Calix

According to BabyNames.com Calix means “very handsome”. Yes, it actually does mean “very handsome”. The name is suitable for boys, but I think that it could be meant for any gender. It has a Greek origin and is not on the top 100 Baby Names Popularity Chart.


3: Cordelia

According to Wikipedia, Cordelia means “daughter of the sea”. It also could mean “heart” or “daughter of the sea god”. Cordelia has a Latin, Celtic origin. Cordelia is the name of a daughter of King Lear, which, if you don’t know, is a play written by Shakespeare.

4: Elowen

According to BabyNames.com, Elowen is a name that is suitable for girls and means “Elm Tree”. The name has an English origin and can be spelled Elowyn. Elowen is not very common, it isn’t even on the Top 100 Baby Names Popularity Charts.

5: Evander

According to Wikipedia, Evander means “good man”. Again, who decided to give all the boy names really weird meanings? Evander is suitable for boys and according to Wikipedia “In Roman mythology, Evander of Pallene is credited with bringing the Greek pantheon, laws and alphabet to Italy.”

6: Colette 

Colette is suitable for girls and according to BabyNames.com has a French origin and means “Victory of the People”. Very grand. Colette can also be spelled Collette.

7: Drey

The first time you saw the name you might have thought it said Drew, but no it’s Drey. Are you ready for the meaning? I bet you’re not. According to Bounty the name Drey is a variation of the name Draper which means… “fabric maker” or “cloth merchant”. 

8: Gage

According to Nameberry, the name Gage has a French Origin. Gage means “oath, pledge”. At last, a reasonable name meaning. Gage can also be spelled Gaige or Gauge. Gage was the name of a character in Stephen King’s Pet Cemetery. Though the character wasn’t exactly an inspirational or an admirable character. The book was published in 1983 and there was even a movie made based off of the book that was made in 1989.

9: Emery

The name Emery is suitable for girls and boys. According to Nameberry the name Emery has a German origin and means “industrious”. The cool thing is that the meaning is the same for both genders. 

Also I would like to thank all the people who answered the Google Form I sent with the names I found. It really helped me figure out which names to put on here!


Winter Holidays by Carolyn Frank, Camilla Thorsen, and Lyla Reutzel

There are many holidays that people celebrate in the winter- some people celebrate Saint Lucia day, some people celebrate Christmas, and some people celebrate Hanukkah. People might celebrate these things for different reasons; You might do it for your religion, your culture, your family, or something else. No matter what you celebrate, there is a story behind it.


Saint Lucia was a young Christian girl who was killed for her faith in 304 CE. The most common story told about St Lucia is that she would secretly bring food to the persecuted Christians in Rome, who lived in hiding in the catacombs under the city. She would wear candles on her head so she had both her hands free to carry things. December 13th was also the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, in the old Julian Calendar and a pagan festival of lights in Sweden was turned into St. Lucia's Day. St. Lucia's Day is now celebrated by a girl dressed in a white dress with a red sash round her waist and a crown of candles on her head. Small children use electric candles, but some older kids use real candles!


Hanukkah is the celebration of two miracles. One miracle is that Maccabees were able to win the fight against the Greeks who were led by Antiochus IV Epiphanes. This was a great surprise because, although the Maccabees were strong and brave, they had a much smaller army than Antiochus IV Epiphanes’s army. The other miracle was a big one too. When the Maccabees went to their temple to pray and light some candles, they only found enough oil to last one day. The great miracle was that the oil actually lasted for eight days!! Now Jews celebrate Hanukkah for eight days to remember these miracles. They light menorahs, play dreidel, and eat food fried in oil. Menorahs are arguably the most important part of Hanukkah. For each of the eight nights of Hanukkah you light one candle, until all the candles are lit. The candle in the middle of a menorah is called the shamash, or the helper candle. It is used to light the other candles, but it is lit every night of Hanukkah. Hanukkah is a fun holiday for people of the Jewish faith.


Christmas is a holiday that is celebrated on the 25th of December. It is celebrated by Christians all across the world. It celebrates Jesus’s birthday. The act of giving gifts to children was based on the story of Saint Nicholas. On Christmas, children prepare for  Santa Claus. He is a generous and kind guy that has a big, white beard, a belly like jelly, and elves. His elves make toys for little children all across the world. Some common traditions for Christmas are hanging stockings on the fireplace for Santa to fill with stockings, putting up Christmas trees and covering them with ornaments, and going to Midnight Mass (which is where you go to church at midnight on the morning of Christmas Eve).
  

New Year's Eve is a fun holiday in winter. It celebrates the coming of a new year. It is celebrated at midnight on December 31. It isn’t a religious holiday like Saint Lucia Day, Hanukkah, and Christmas, but it is widely celebrated all over the world. In New York City, there is a giant, plastic ball that is dropped down a pole in Times Square; it is a very popular destination in NYC. Many people set New Year's resolutions; goals to fulfill with the blank canvas of the New Year.Chei Kang, a sixth grader at Park Forest Middle School, said that she often planned many types of New Year’s Eve goals. “A personal record on a 2k run, drawing more, and just simple goals,” Kang comments. She sets these goals because she thinks “life is more fun when you have something to strive for.” The Kangs also love the TV on New Year’s Eve. “We stay up until 4:00 A.M. and watch the NYC Times Square ball drop. Then we eat a lot of junk food and sometimes watch a movie after midnight.” The Kang family likes to spend time with each other, and New Year’s Eve is an amazing holiday to do it.

James Webb Telescopes Deployment Finished by Kale Cunningham

Done! 

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope team fully deployed its 21-foot, gold-coated primary mirror. This was the last step of the major, two week long, nailbiter deployment of the Webb Telescope. Which means we can now start working our way back in time, when the first galaxies appeared. 

A Word from NASA

“Today, NASA achieved another engineering milestone decades in the making. While the journey is not complete, I join the Webb team in breathing a little easier and imagining the future breakthroughs bound to inspire the world,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “The James Webb Space Telescope is an unprecedented mission that is on the precipice of seeing the light from the first galaxies and discovering the mysteries of our universe. Each feat already achieved and future accomplishment is a testament to the thousands of innovators who poured their life’s passion into this mission.”

Looking into the Past 

The James Webb Space Telescope is a space telescope developed by NASA with contributions from the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency. The telescope is named after James E. Webb, who was the administrator of NASA from 1961 to 1968 who played a big role in the Apollo program that landed 12 men on the moon. The telescope costs 10 billion dollars. 

The telescope will be able to see back in time 13.5 billion years ago. To the time where the first galaxies appeared. It will also replace the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) that has been in orbit for 32 years. However these photos will come back if the telescope can get into its orbit around the sun on January 30. If successful it will be almost until May 2022 then we get the first photos. Due to the spacecraft adjustments and the amount of time to look back far. 

But the Telescope will help us overall see what the universe was like 13.5 billion years ago.  And there may be surprises…

What are the Best Music Albums of 2021? Vote here! by Lacey Sheaffer

It is now 2022 and time to reflect on the past year. 2021 was an interesting year in all aspects, but one thing that everyone can relate to is music. Music was a big part of 2021. The music industry has been growing immensely. Many amazing albums were released in 2021 and there is something for everyone to enjoy. 


But what are the best/most popular albums of 2021? If you want to know, please consider filling out the survey below with your favorite album of 2021. These answers will be used to write an article about PFMS students’ favorite albums of 2021. Your name will not be used in the article. Thank you for your help!

Form Link


Mushrooms by Madeleine Ko

Mushrooms are quite the oxymoron. Granted, there are different types, but if you look at them as a whole they are interesting. Edible and delicious yet deadly, beautiful but ugly. They are an intriguing fascination.  

To put it simply, a mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing body of a fungus, which is typically above ground, on soil, or a food source. They are known mainly for their red and white spotted look, however, most mushrooms around the State College area are brown or white. The term mushroom is typically used for the spore bearers with a stem, cap, and gills.  Some use mushrooms to define the edible ones and toadstool to define the nonedible ones, and some just use mushroom or toadstool for all of them.

The terms mushroom and toadstool go back centuries and were never precisely defined, and there wasn’t a consensus on defining them. In the 1400s and 1500s, the terms mushrom, mushrum, muscheron, mousheroms, mussheron, or musserouns were used. The term mushroom and its variants possibly were from the French word mousseron based on the word mousse(moss).

A good rule of thumb is never to eat a mushroom outside and only eat store-bought ones.  The most dangerous mushrooms are The Death Cap, Conocybe Filaris, Webcaps, The Autumn Skullca[p, Destroying Angels, Podostroma cornu-damae, and the Deadly Dapperling.

artwork by Madeleine Ko

Why you should buy a Magazine Subscription by Samantha Lozinski


Do you remember when you were about 5 years old, and you would get “Highlights” in the mail?? Well, those are for little kids, (obviously), but do you remember the excitement inside of you?? Well, this is why you should get a magazine subscription. (That's more… age appropriate…)

Reason 1. When you are 12, it's not like you get a lot of mail. So getting something in the mail on a bad Monday makes it a great night.

Reason 2. It spreads throughout a year Or something different depending on the kind of magazine you are getting. It’s nice to know that every month, or 2 months, you are going to get something in the mail. Something to look forward to. 

Reason 3. Parents might like it, because it’s “Nonelectronic.” Parents basically automatically  love anything that’s not on electronics. (I mean, Youtube could Technically be educational. You can learn stuff.)

Reason 4: Magazines can have a lot of different articles, quizzes, and topics. Like sports, friendship, crafts, dance, singing, and life.

So those are my reasons why you should buy a magazine subscription to start 2022 right!! 

Side note: You can make getting your magazine into a monthly fun time. Get your favorite snacks, blankets, and puppy, and go on the couch and relax. You can also just read a little of the magazine each day, to spread it out more. You can also read with friends or a sibling.


Image Source: Slate. com

NFL Playoff Picture by Jude Rhymer

The NFL playoffs are around the corner and the chase for a spot is heating up. In the AFC, no one has clinched a playoff spot but there are a couple of teams that are almost locked in. The Chiefs made a comeback this year and are sitting at first place in the AFC and looking pretty good. For their last 3 games they play the Steelers, Bengals, and Broncos. None of those games are guaranteed wins but the odds are in the Chiefs favor. The Next team is the Patriots, they are 9-5 and are on the top of the AFC East. The reason I think they are locked into the playoffs is because they play the Bills, Jaguars, and Dolphins. Pretty easy schedule after the Bills game so I think they can do it. The Last team I think are pretty much locked in are the Titans. They are also 9-5 and are at the top of the AFC South. Their schedule consists of playing the 49ers, Dolphins, and Texans. So yeah pretty sure they shouldn’t have much trouble beating those teams. My AFC playoff picture:

  1. Patriots

  2. Chiefs

  3. Titans 

  4. Chargers

  5. Colts

  6. Browns

  7. Bengals

The NFC is very close, but, at the same time it's not. The Packers have clinched a spot in the playoffs and they look good. The Cardinals though are on their downfall after losing to the Lions. On the other side the Rams are heating up after two straight division wins. The Buccaneers and Cowboys are easily taking their divisions as well. The last spot in the NFC playoffs are close. Here are my NFC playoff predictions:

  1. Packers

  2. Buccaneers

  3. Rams

  4. Cardinals

  5. 49ers

  6. Eagles

  7. Falcons