By: Jessica Garcia Saligan

Quinceañera is a tradition in Mexican and Southern European culture. It’s when a young lady, that is about to turn 15 years old, throws a big party to mark her passage from girlhood to womanhood.

While planning a quinceañera you need to start planning a year ahead to have everything ready on time. In the quince, the young lady gets to practice a performance. There are two performances; they do the first one to start off, and it is the Val’s. Val’s is a dance where you get to dance with your chambelanes. It is a way to start the party.

Right when they finish doing the Val’s they go on and do the surprise dance, in the surprise dance you will get to pick how many songs you want. A surprise dance is where you can show off your moves and dance the night away. It’s also a way you can bring people to the dance floor. Having a quinceañera is a way to create good memories with your loved ones, especially your family. It’s a memory you want to keep forever with you.

During these events a quinceañera is a very important, and one of the most beautiful moments, a young girl could, experience. Here are some traditions that occur during this special day.

The first is accessories and gowns. A puffy dress that she will have to choose on her own, along with her first pair of high heels, as well as a crown that either her parents or godparents have to buy her.

Also, you will get copas and a doll or a stuffed animal wearing the same dress as the quinceañera.

While dancing the val’s people will come in one by one and put the heels on the quinceañera. The heels represent your “first pair of heels” right after that you will get a crown. The crown means that you’re the princess of this special night. You will have a “mini you” come in and give you a doll or a stuffed teddy bear dressed as you. Back in the day, they would only use a doll but now most young girls are choosing a stuffed animal.

Then, there’s one more thing, there’s the ultimo regalo which means “the last present”. It’s the last present you will receive as a young lady. Right after you’re done with everything, you will get your copas, there’s either 16-18 copas, your quince court, your family, and your godparents. They get to go up with you and they make a toast to everyone including the quinceañera. Once everyone had made their toast, it is the young lady’s turn to make a toast and thank everyone for coming to her special day.

By: Reed Morris

Bezos and the Hockey Stick Rule

As most people in the world know, Jeff Bezos is one of the most successful entrepreneurs to have ever existed. Before Bezos was the billionaire we know today, he was working as a Wall Street employee in New York. One day, a document landed on his desk. It talked about how the World Wide Web was growing at 2,300% a year and said, “Anything growing that fast is going to be big. I decided to come up with a business idea where the internet could grow around it.”

This follows along with the idea that if you get into a growing industry early, even if you’re not the most skilled or experienced, you will see success. The basic idea is that if you have a wind at your back instead of against you, you will have greater opportunities and success.

Jeff Bezos has a basic rule called the Hockey Stick Rule (pictured above). The idea is that if there is a trend or industry growing exponentially (like a hockey stick) then it’s worth spending at least 5 hours understanding it. However, no one really wants to spend that much time reading a highschool news article, so instead, I’ll give you about 45-60 seconds per trend, and go through 10 of them.

The Evolution of AI

One of the most highly anticipated and active areas of technology is the evolution of Artificial Intelligence. There are a lot of people who fear AI, however, there are also a lot of people who are extremely excited about it and invest a large amount of resources into it. At the leading edge of this technological wave is (not surprisingly) Google.

Below is a graph showing the growth in number of parameters (the complexity) of different AI’s developed by different companies over the past 3-4 years.

In January, 2018, Ai2’s ELMo was on the cutting edge of AI technology and their brand new system contained 94 million parameters. Just over a year later, OpenAI broke the 1 billion parameter mark in February, 2019, with their GPT2 AI which contained 1.5 billion parameters. Now, Google’s Switch-C is in the lead, containing an astonishing 1.6 trillion parameters.

This field of technology is seeing extreme growth, and is sure to have an extremely large impact on humanity as a whole in the future. This also presents great opportunities for anyone interested in the field of AI or computer sciences in general. Already having a career, or beginning a career, in this field almost ensures growth and success in the future.

The Cost of Genome Sequencing

Another field of science that has made leaps and bounds over the past 20 years is the field of biotechnology. While biotechnology is making great strides in many different sub fields, the field that is showing the most growth and promise in the future is the cost to sequence a human genome.

Below is a graph displaying the cost to sequence a single human genome over the course of the past 20 years.

Moore’s Law: “The principle that the speed and capability of computers can be expected to double every two years, as a result of increases in the number of transistors a microchip can contain.” While the definition of Moore’s law is focused on computer technology, it is applicable to most fields of technological advancements.

In 2001, the cost to sequence a single human genome was around $100,000,000. This extreme cost made it extremely wasteful, inefficient and essentially useless for anyone other than massive scientific institutes. However, unprecedented advancements in this technology has dropped the cost to only around $1,000 dollars per genome. Right now, that is still pretty expensive, however it’s more achievable for a large part of the population. While this can be incredibly helpful getting rid of genetic diseases, and improving quality of life for millions of people, it does have its negatives.

The accessibility of this technology brings into question the legalities around it, as well as a lot of ethical complications. As this technology inevitably grows cheaper, large companies will have easy access to it, giving them the ability to require tests on their employees. This could be used to search for undesirable genes regarding work ethics, health issues, and other factors undetectable from the surface. While this technology is fascinating, and can be used in numerous positive ways, there also has to be a lot of work put into keeping its use in the right hands, and avoiding invasions of privacy by massive employers or governments.

College Tuition: The Disruption of Higher Education

Another worrying trend that presents great opportunities for improvement is the cost of college tuition in relation to wages. The cost of colleges continues to rise yet minimum and average starting wages almost stay stagnant.

The graph below displays the percent change in tuition costs VS wage costs since 1987.

Over the past 35 years, tuition has almost doubled whereas minimum wage has only grown roughly 25%, and starting wages haven’t increased at all. This presents a massive and daunting issue to Gen Z and Generation Alpha. As the next major generations to go through college they will have to deal with this drastic increase in costs. While this presents some serious concerns for the future, it also presents great opportunities for a new era of higher education.

With costs of college tuition exploding, there has never been a better time for the disruption of higher education. There are already many resources in the world that can provide similar knowledge and experience to that of traditional college. This is another field that presents great opportunities for future careers. Anyone with promising ideas regarding improved and cheaper means for higher education have a very long but successful path ahead of them.

Global Surface Temperatures Rise

Another trend that has become a completely unignorable issue, is the rise of global surface temperatures. This is one of the most disputed topics in politics around the world at the moment, when it really shouldn’t be. Looking at basic data, such as the graph below, anyone should be able to realize and acknowledge the absolute severity of the predicament the human race has gotten itself into.

The subject of global warming has been examined in many other news articles and so I don’t feel the need to repeat information available in much more detail through other resources, so I will link some very detailed and reliable resources below.

• https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
• https://www.britannica.com/science/global-warming

While global warming is a massive global issue, it presents a lot of opportunities for fixing the way the world gets its energy. The first major step will be trying to shift global economies away from being almost completely oil based, which will be no easy feat. The world needs to drop oil for more renewable resources. One of the most prominent of those being the use of solar energy.

The Affordability of Solar Energy

The cost of solar has plummeted in the last 10 years. This is an extremely good thing as the cheaper it becomes the more people will be willing to accept it. Since 2010, the cost to produce 1 kWh (Kilowatt) has been slashed by a factor of 5 across the board. This growth of solar technology has by far surpassed what experts believed would happen in the early 2010’s.

Below is a graph displaying the cost of solar compared to those estimates.

Solar technology is a very quickly growing industry and will continue to grow into the future. This is another industry where, if you are in this field, or are interested in getting into the field, there will be a lot of opportunities in the future.

Another huge achievement of solar technology is that it is becoming so extremely cheap that estimations show it reaching the lower bounds of fossil fuel costs. Once the cost does dip below that of fossil fuels, the switch to solar will be undeniably more beneficial than sticking with fossil fuels.

Below is a graph showing this data compared to the previous graph.

Solar energy is world changing and is a surefire way to help reduce carbon emissions and global warming. If you are interested in this field of technology, get on board now as it’s only going to grow.

The Decline of America’s Sleep Schedule

On a completely alternate note, something I think we can all relate to, is that Americans are getting less and less sleep every year. Most people are aware of this because most people live it every day. Since 1942, the percentage of Americans that got more than seven hours of sleep has gone from over 80% all the way down to just over 50%.

While this is kind of a worrying statistic, it offers a lot of opportunities for people looking for solutions to this problem. Recently, sleep aid apps and sleep assisting medications have grown exponentially bringing in huge amounts of revenue. While this is not world changing news or even very shocking for that matter, it’s still something that we need to keep in check and find solutions for in the future.

The Cost of Lab Grown Meat

Another big advancement in the sustainability of the human race is the increasing affordability of lab grown meat. The meat industry is a huge contributor to global warming, and other environmental damages. As most people know, there is no way that the entire population of the world will be able to go vegetarian or vegan, so we have to think of other ways to get people meat without actually using large amounts of cattle. One way this can be done is by using lab grown meat.

Below is a graph showing the decrease in cost of making one kilogram of lab grown shrimp.

In 2013, the first lab grown burger was served at a conference in London. The burger cost $330,000 to make. Now, in 2022, it costs around $9 to make the same burger. The speed at which this industry is improving is astonishing. This is another area of science that is inevitably going to be a huge part of everyday life in the future. If you are interested in biotechnology, this field and other biotech fields are bound to grow and be an integral part of humanity’s future.

The Population Cliff

Over the past 70 years or so, the world population has been struggling to stay stable. This is a problem that is very serious and is up to the younger generations to solve, but it also offers some opportunities for global improvements.

Below is a graph that displays the decline in global fertility rates.

This presents serious issues for the future generations. As Gen Xers and Millennials age and slowly slide out of the global workforce, there won’t be enough new Gen Z workers joining the workforce to replenish the system and support the older generations. If a solution to this problem is not found in the next decade or so, there will be serious economic and social consequences.

One solution that has been presented in recent years, that solves 2 problems on a national level, is the loosening and restructuring of the United States immigration system. With a lack of workers, the US economy cannot survive very long. An influx of immigrants that are quickly put into the workforce could present a stable and successful solution to this real and daunting problem.

Drop In Global Absolute Poverty

The world is slowly but surely rising out of poverty. Over the past two and a half decades, the percentage of the world’s population living in extreme poverty has decreased from 36% to just around 12%. During a single generation, more than 1 billion people around the world rose out of poverty.

The graph below shows data from 2017, and projected data for 2040.

There are a lot of opportunities with this trend as well. People rising out of poverty will need housing, work, and other basic necessities and the world needs people who are in the industry of providing those things. As the number of people around the world with disposable income steadily grows, low to medium cost products will become more and more in demand, creating a much larger and booming economy.

This is an all around positive trend that needs to be supported and needs to keep going. If these predictions are accurate, then a much healthier and prosperous world could be within our reach.

Below is a link to a live graph of the same data that better shows the trend throughout history. It’s definitely worth taking a look at.
Live Graph Over History

The Cost of Space Travel

This is the trend that I am most excited about. If you have read any of my other articles you will notice a trend in some of my writing. Space travel is a hugely exciting and important aspect of human exploration. In recent years, with companies like SpaceX and BlueOrigin, the cost to send a kilogram of matter into low earth orbit (LEO) has decreased exponentially.

Below is a graph displaying past data, present data, and future projections.

Space travel is a recently booming industry and has nowhere to go but up (pun very much intended). As prices to launch to space decrease, the commercial and civilian uses of space travel will explode. Universities, and less well known tech companies, will be able to afford launching satellites into orbit. This will help advance space travel and exploration to an extent we have never seen before.

Like many of the other trends, this is one that you want to hop on as soon as possible. Although both rocket science and space exploration have been around for decades, the near future will bring a whole new era of opportunities that was not available before.

Final Notes

There are a lot of things happening in the world that are hard to understand and follow. These are just a very small amount of those things. The list of possible topics that have an equal level of impact on society is too big to go through in one article. I truly hope readers can learn something from this and perhaps get more involved in one of these fields.

I will close out with a challenge of sorts. If you read through the whole article and there was something that really did catch your interest or spark your imagination, I challenge you to take those 5 hours to learn more about whatever topic it was that you were most interested in. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this article. I hope there was something, even the most minuscule fact, that you found interesting and can take with you into the future.

By: Abi and Thalia

In the Merriam Webster dictionary, the definition of manifestation is: “to make evident or certain by showing or displaying”. This is what manifestation is.

A person has to put their intentions towards something that they want to see happen. It is the simple act of attracting certain things such as a new partner, more money, better health, better grades, etc.

According to ‘The Life Blog’, it is very important to understand yourself when manifesting. You must spend time reflecting and asking questions to yourself. Many do this by journaling and answering prompts. According to ‘Oprah Daily’ and her advice, after setting a specific intention with what you want, you must ask for what it is you want and write it down on paper.

Writing it down is not the only possible way to set your goal, you can also meditate, visualize, or have a vision board. After, you must start working towards your goals and be thankful for what you receive. It is very important for one’s self to believe in themselves and what they want.

According to ‘Self Made Ladies’, the concept of manifestation/Law of Attraction has been around since the 20th century. The term was first used in 1906 by William Walker Atkinson in his book, ‘Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World’. Atkinson’s book introduced many concepts of The Law of Attraction, such as concepts of thought, vibration, and energy. He also mentioned manifestation and wrote about it in a detailed way. Atkinson was also the first to explain how important and powerful love is when manifesting one’s desires.

Angel numbers are a repetitive sequence of numbers. Angel numbers can have great meaning for some people. Some see it as their life path number. According to ‘Novalee Wilder’, who is a numerologist, license plates, addresses, bank account numbers, prices, phone numbers, and time stamps can all be a place where one can find angel numbers. Wilder also states that angel numbers are part of a spiritual awakening.

“Angel numbers change according to the guided messages they are trying to deliver to you, if the same numbers keep on appearing time and time again, then until this message is received, the numbers will be repeated,” explains Shawn Stone, who is a psychic medium.

These messages can mean a variety of different things and it is up to the person to decide what it means. According to Wilder, you do not have to be psychic to receive messages from angel numbers, anyone can receive these messages they just have to be open to engaging with their intuition.

Usually, there is always a message behind each angel number, sometimes multiple meanings, and it is up to you to discover what that meaning could be for you. According to ‘Babe skills.com’ you just have to trust your intuition that each sequence of numbers is always right.

When you come across angel numbers, it is important to pay attention to your thoughts and feelings when you see the particular angel number, and see what you notice about the moments in which you come across angel numbers. This could help you understand your message better and more clearly. 

Some more common angel numbers and their meanings are: 11:11 means you are on the right path and your life is fully aligned and going the way it is supposed to, 555 means you have great changes ahead of you, 888 is the angel number of abundance in all forms, this could mean you are a magnet for health, love, money, or all three of these things. Again, all numbers can have more than one meaning, so it is important to trust your intuition on what you think the message for you could be.

By: Liibaan Yusuf

There are banks internationally that pass themselves off as Islamic banks, trying to cater to the Islamic community.

So, what is Islamic banking?

Before answering this question, you have to know what banking is. Banking isn’t as simple as it sounds. You’d think it would be as simple as putting your money in the hands of a reputable organization which will hold it for you, Right?

Wrong.

The world of banking is far more complex and complicated than it started as.

Modern banking dips its toes into many different areas such as home ownership, lending and interest. Interest will be the main focus of this article. What is interest in terms of finance and banking? According to Investopedia.com, “Interest is payment from a borrower or deposit-taking financial institution to a lender or depositor of an amount above repayment of the principal sum, at a particular rate. It is distinct from a fee which the borrower may pay the lender or some third party”.

In Islam, interest is haram or forbidden. This hadith (saying), narrated by Abu Hurayrah, but written by Ibn Majah in “The Prophet”, said: “Riba (interest) has seventy segments, the least serious being equivalent to a man committing adultery with his own mother”. It’s extremely easy to understand the state of interest in Islam, it’s completely forbidden.

In the case of Islamic banking, interest is a joke or illogical. Interest, which is a pillar in the modern banking system, is impossible to stand together with Islam, where interest is vehemently opposed. It’s like water and oil, no matter how much you try to mix them they will never mix.

Safdar Alam, founder of Siyam Capital, speaks out about this in detail. “’Islamic banking’ is completely disattached to Islam, it’s redundant to call it Islamic as it goes about everything Islam has forbade. Islamic banking systems is NOT Islamic at the root and cannot be considered Islamic without changing the principals of Islam”.

So, the problem with “Islamic banks” is that they do actually charge interest, and therefore present themselves fraudulently as being Islamic. A true Islamic bank would not charge interest.

For more information, please visit:

• https://www.investopedia.com/articles/07/banking.asp
• https://twitter.com/SafdarAlam/status/1193990135563669504 https://siyamcapital.com
• https://islamicmarkets.com/education/riba-in-hadith

By: Liibaan Yusuf

The Rwandan genocide was one of the worst cases of ethnic cleansing in the late 20th century after the Holocaust. It began after Hutus, one of the three major ethnic groups in Rwanda, began rallying nationalist and radical ideas, which spread extremely quickly. Almost 1 million people died in the approximately three month span of pillaging, murder, and hatred for each other from May through June of 1994.

The Rwandan genocide was caused by key events in the years before. In 1994, Tutsi refugees in Uganda came together to start the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front). Through Uganda, they had infiltrated northern Rwanda and came on the plans of taking over the country. That incited the Rwandan civil war and abruptly ended when neither the RPF nor the Rwandan government gaining any advantage. As a result of the civil war, the former President, Habyarimana, brought forth the Arusha Accord to be signed by the Rwandan Government alongside he RPF in August of 1993.

Not even a year later, in early April of 1994, Habyarimana was assassinated. No one knows who did it, but historians say evidence leads them to believe that the perpetrators were of the Tutsi tribe. The death of the president lead to a power struggle between the Hutus, Tutsi, and Twa. Each group had reason to believe they were deserving of the position. The Hutus argued that since Habyarimana was a Hutu, it would only be right for a Hutu to be president and would be outlandish to hand over power to the Tutsi, who tried to overthrow the government just earlier that year. The Tutsi and Twa used exactly that as their counter argument though. Tutsi and Twa, both believed they should be given a chance at power.

Though just as early as the day after Habyarimana’s assassination, the genocide began. High power Hutus went after powerful and influential Tutsi’s first. Once the other Hutus heard of this, it morphed into an ethno-nationalist issue and Hutus began roaming the streets, killing anybody who was not a fellow Hutu.

The Tutsis hid in churches and schools believing that they would be spared, but they were massacred wherever they were found. Some of the perpetrators preferred machetes to rifles, they hacked away at hundreds of bodies. With murder came rape; Hutus sexually assaulted women and children with an estimated count of 500,000 women raped and some accounts of necrophilia.

All the while, when radical Hutu’s went after innocent Tutsis, the RPF saw the situation as a breach of the Arusha Accords and they resumed the brief civil war again, on grounds of fighting in defense. The RPF quickly took over the capital and gained tremendous ground and power with no central government to fight back. This incited violence and caused the innocent Tutsis to run towards Zaire, modern day DRC, in fear of the roaming Hutus killing anyone in sight.

Though the actual genocide ended in an estimated 100 days, the RPF formed into an actual government and in 1996 began an attack into neighboring Zaire, where thousands of Hutu refugees and war criminals ran to after the RPF took power in Rwanda. The Rwandan attack on Zaire began the First Congo War resulting in the deaths of 200 thousand people, combatants, and others.

Today, according to the Rwandan Constitution it claims that 1 million people died in the Rwandan Genocide and the government has put in many noteworthy laws and precautions to stop any similar uprisings and ethno-nationalist ideals are classified as criminal activity and can result in legal action. There are 2 holidays dedicated to the remembrance of those who died.

By: Grace Blumer-Lamotte

Presidents have been issuing yearly proclamations for certain months ever since 1995. Women’s History Month is in March of every year. 

According to the official Women’s History Month website, “Celebration of contributions women have made to the United States and recognize the specific achievements women have made over the course of American history in a variety of fields.” 

Some of the well-known women that made contributions towards Women’s History Month include: Rosa Parks, Susan B. Anthony, Abigail Adams, and Sojourner Truth. 

Rosa Parks deserves a major role in women’s history because she helped initiate the Civil Rights Movement. According to History.com, “She refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1955.” She was one of the first woman, of African American descent, that stood up against racism on public transport. 

Susan B. Anthony is another woman that deserves considerable recognition. According to History.com, “Anthony was a pioneer in the Women’s Suffrage Movement in the United States and president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association.”

Abigail Adams is yet another woman that also deserves better recognition. I personally have never heard her name. I also asked a couple of other students and they didn’t know who she was either. According to History.com, “Adams was one of only two women to have been both wife and mother to two U.S. presidents (the other being Barbara Bush). This all happened starting in 1774. 

Sojourner Truth is one of the many women that have an amazing story also.  According to History.com, “Truth was an African American evangelist, abolitionist, women’s right activist and author who was born into slavery before escaping freedom in 1826.” 

I asked two freshman girls, one freshman guy, and one junior girl these questions: 

• Do you know what Women’s History Month is? 
• Do you know why we celebrate Women’s History Month?

One of the freshman girls answered, “I know of it.” She then answered, “I don’t know why we celebrate it but I feel like I might have a big idea of why.” She explained that there are important women in history.

The other freshman girl answered, “I know what Women’s History Month is.” She then proceeded to answer, “I really don’t know why we celebrate it.”

The freshman boy answered, “I have heard of Women’s History month but I don’t know anything about it.”

The junior girl answered, “Yes I know of Women’s History Month. I think it is a month to celebrate the women that did good things in history. Such as Rosa Parks and other women.”

Seeing as how most know about Women’s History month’s existence, but not its significance, it’s important to enlighten people as much as possible.

By: Grace Blumer-Lamotte

According to JACC Journals, genetics counseling is “The process of helping people understand and adapt to the medical, psychological, and familial implications of genetic contributions to disease.”

The mode and risk of inheritance is clinically assessed with the family history. Some diseases may be genetic while others are not. According to JACC Journals, “Establishing the mode of inheritance identifies relatives who are at risk of disease development. Most CMPs are typically inherited as an autosomal dominant trait as a result of a single gene defect capable of causing the trait (i.e., monogenic origin). Thus, there is a 50% risk for first-degree relatives to be affected by the same condition.”

Genetic counselors help by identifying families that could be at a possible risk of a genetic condition. They provide a space for families to understand and analyze family history/inheritance patterns. They also assist with making the hard decisions. 

If you are interested in becoming a genetic counselor out of high school, you have to complete an accredited master’s program in genetic counseling. You also need to have a masters degree in genetic counseling. According to FNU, “To earn a master’s degree you usually need to complete from 36 to 54-semester credits of study (or 60 to 90 quarter-credits). This equals 12 to 18 college courses. Students typically spend between two and three years studying to earn a master’s degree, but it is possible to earn some degrees in just one year.” The master degree’s program is definitely harder than getting an undergraduate degree. 

There are also many influencers that have gone through genetic counseling. They may not openly share their experiences with their followers but some promote it. A certified Genetic Counselor that’s on Instagram @ dena.dna. I have explored her page a bit and it is very educational and purpose filled. Dena DNA has 2,720 followers. Another person that has gone through genetic counseling is a person on Snapchat. Their Snapchat is called, ‘Born Different’. They have 6.50 million followers.

One thing I learned from the dena.dna Instagram page is answers to commonly asked questions. Such as, “When should I start colon cancer screening?”. This is answered in her most recent post. There are also a lot more posts answering questions about genetic counseling.

‘Born Different’ is about people as they challenge stereotypes, break down barriers and battle to prove they have what it takes to succeed. The stories are all about how they have overcome something that some people didn’t think is possible. There are 23 seasons, with around 10 episodes per season. One of the most recent stories (March 21st, 2022) is about how this girl’s boyfriend helped cope with her severe Tourette’s. I have watched a couple of episodes myself, and I find them very breathtaking and addictive to watch.

By: Mila Hart

Lin-Manuel Miranda was born on January 16, 1980 in New York City. His parents immigrated from Puerto Rico. He grew up in a Hispanic neighborhood in northern Manhattan called Washington Heights.

Lin-Manuel went to a public high school around Washington Heights, and it was in high school where he found his love for theater arts. All throughout high school Lin-Manuel was a part of his school’s plays and musicals. In high school he started to write the play ‘In the Heights’ at the age of 17. Later he went on to go to a very prestigious college for theater arts called Wesleyan College.

In 2002 Lin-Manuel worked with other directors and playwrights to put on ‘In the Heights’. After premiering in Connecticut, in 2005, and opening at the 37 Arts Theater off-Broadway, in 2007, ‘In the Heights’ went to Broadway in March of 2008.

After performing ‘In the Heights’ on Broadway, the musical went on a North American tour from 2009-2011, and later went on to be performed all around the world. In 2018 Warner Bros acquired the film rights for ‘In the Heights’ and set a release date for June 26th, 2020. For the next year, actors were casted and filming began in June of 2019. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the film was not able to be released until June 10, 2021.

Aside from ‘In the Heights’, Lin-Manuel Miranda has worked on a number of award winning projects and movies. Lin wrote, composed, and starred in the ever so popular broadway musical ‘Hamilton’. It’s the story of Alexander Hamilton and his contributions to history, told through the music styles of rap and hip hop. It has won numerous awards including a Tony, Grammy, and the Pulitzer Prize for drama.

Lin wrote the music for the latest Disney hit ‘Encanto’. The song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” has broken records including becoming the first Disney track to top the U.S. chart since ‘Aladdin’s’ “A Whole New World” back in 1992.

By: Ella Sutherland & Lauren Kottke

WWII was a brutal war that lasted 6 years, between the years 1939-1945. It was the largest and deadliest war. It was a global war with over 60 million people killed, and this includes many civilians.

Adolf Hitler was the man who started World War II. He was elected as Chancellor of Germany. It started when Germany invaded Poland. Britain and France then ended up declaring war on Germany. Germany didn’t like that, so Germany attacked Denmark and Norway, and soon after attacked Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. Germany won pretty fast.

The countries that were fighting alongside Hitler, were Japan and Italy, and on the other side of that was Great Britain and France as well as many others.

On May 8, 1945, Germany surrendered, ending the war in Europe, and on August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered, and World War II ended.

Obviously, many people were involved in the war. Have you ever wondered what spies did in World War II? We did, and we learned that spies influenced World War II in so many different ways. Some went undercover, some worked for both sides, and some even helped protect secret documents. These are three spies from World War ll that helped influence the war.

Spy #1 Josephine Baker

Josephine Baker was born and raised in St Louis. She left America when she was 19 in search of a greater life. In America she suffered the effects of the Jim Crow laws, which is a big reason why she left. At the time, Paris was a city full of people with big dreams, and Josephine was one of them.

After she landed a few small acting jobs in Paris, her career took off. People immediately fell in love with her charms and she was a hit.

What brought her into the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) was her fame. They recruited her because her fame was the perfect cover to be a spy. She could go to parties with important people and not be questioned. She specifically attended Italian and Japanese diplomatic parties in order to gather information on others joining the war.

Something she was known for was when she smuggled documents to general Charles de Gaulle and the French government with information about German troop movements. Over the years she made many impacts and helped the cause of the war.

Spy #2 Noon Inayat Khan

Noor Inayat Khan was born into royalty in India, but when the first war hit, she left Moscow for London and later on landed in Britain. From a young age she was passionate about doing courageous acts for other people’s good.

She joined the women’s auxiliary Air Force and immediately had a talent for operating the radios. She was later recruited by SOE (Special Operations Executive) and did training. After her training she went on to help maintain communications between London and France.

Spy #3 Virginia Hall

Virginia Hall was born into a wealthy family in Baltimore. But although she was rich, her life wasn’t easy. When she was younger she got into a hunting accident which resulted in her leg being amputated.

\As she grew up and the war became more apparent, Virginia’s ambitions to be a spy grew. She tried numerous times to become a spy, but was denied, until she had an encounter with an SOE agent. He ended up recruiting her and she was put as an undercover reporter.

She quickly began making connections and helped recruit more women spies into the field. Hall’s work is remembered as she helped bring liberation to parts of France.

As you can see, spies had a big impact on the war and had important roles. Many people overlooked women in the war before they learned that women made very good spies. We only named a few of the amazing spies that changed the course of the war. If you take anything away from this article, take away that spies saved so many lives and had such an important role in the war.

For more information, please visit:

• https://www.history.com/news/6-people-you-didnt-know-were-wwii-spies

Hope you had a great Black History Month. In February, we as a nation, celebrate African Americans for their contribution to society and their accomplishments. In 1964 author James Baldwin wrote about his time in school. He wrote: “I began to be bugged by the teaching of American history because it seemed that that history had been taught without cognizance of my presence.” His thoughts about the lack of the teaching of Black history spread. 

Nearly half a century earlier, the celebration of Black History Month began in the year 1926 as a week-long celebration created by Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Woodson is referred to as the “Father of Black History” by many. 

While Woodson was earning his master’s degree he witnessed how underrepresented African Americans were in history books and how it was taught to students. 

In 1926, Woodson launched “Negro History Week.” He choose the second week in February to celebrate so he could include Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass’s birthdays. He wanted African Americans to be proud of where they came from and their heritage. 

After the launch of Negro History Week, schools worldwide organized local celebrations, established history clubs, and hosted performances and lectures. Decades after its creation, mayors in the country recognized Negro History Week.

During the Civil Rights movement, it evolved from Negro History Week to Black History Month. President Ford issued the first message on the observance of Black History Month. Presidents Carter and Reagan continued the tradition of celebrating African American contributions in their messages to the American people. In the month leading up to Black History Month, each president endorses a specific theme. This year’s theme was: “Black Health and Wellness,” which explored the legacy of Black scholars and medical practitioners.

According to BLS Educational Technology’s website, today we celebrate Black History Month by: supporting Black-owned businesses; learning about noteworthy Black figures and their contributions; donating to charities that support anti-racism, equity and equality; purchasing, reading, and sharing books by Black authors; supporting and learning about Black women; participating in online events, and attending Black History Month celebrations.

For more information, please visit:

• https://abcnews.go.com/US/history-black-history-month/story?id=60922761
• https://time.com/4197928/history-black-history-month/