Article by Ben Lee, Journalism Student
What percent of Freedom students drink coffee? The results may be shocking. A survey conducted by the Freedom Forum found that over 70% of polled Freedom students drink coffee. Furthermore, a few students have reported that they drink at least one to two cups of coffee a day. One of our own Freedom Forum writers, Jada Carter, shares her own experience saying, “I find a way to drink coffee everyday.” While we can all enjoy some Dunkin’, this may have some serious unsuspecting health consequences. According to the website Medical News Today, “More than 500-600 mg a day… can cause side effects, such as nervousness, anxiety, jitteriness, sleep problems, gastrointestinal disturbances, tremors, increased heart rate and even death.” The article goes on to say, “Even moderate doses of 100-400 mg can cause symptoms in children and adolescents.” Even with these alarming discoveries, teenagers are rapidly becoming the highest percentage of coffee drinkers in the United States, even above adults. Approximately 83% of young people drink beverages containing caffeine on a daily basis along with 96% drinking caffeinated beverages irregularly. The website Insider says, “caffeine can lead to an increase in dopamine levels similar to addictive drugs like cocaine.” One student said, “I enjoy coffee a lot, but tend to stay away from it because too much of it is unhealthy and depending on how much sugar is added will not be ideal healthwise.” Moral of the story: look out for your health, Freedom.
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Article by Ashley Rodriguez, Journalism Student:
Freedom's history goes back to more than fifty years ago. It had many successful graduates who roamed the hallways and held many events throughout the years. However, what went on during Freedom’s early days? Freedom High School was built due to the expansion of the Bethlehem School District to include Fountain Hill, Freemansburg, Hanover Township, and Bethlehem Township. Freedom began being built in 1966 and later became an official school on September 7th, 1967. Later on in 2006 the school added 11 additional classrooms and also offices, a fitness room, aerobics room, and the state-of-art gymnasium. At Freedom there are a lot of weekly events and club meetings. However, one more notable event was the fiftieth year anniversary of the school, celebrated in the year 2017, fifty years since the school was built. It also celebrated East Hills Middle Schools and its successes too. Moreover, there are many famous Freedom graduates, like the actor Dwayne Johnson who everyone should know. He was a wrestler and was almost a football player but later was undrafted and signed off for the Hurricanes. Now an actor he has starred in many movies. We also have other actors like Anthony Azizi who worked on 24, and Criminal Minds. Another FHS graduate, Daniel Dae Kim is also an actor, who appeared on Lost. However, not just actors graduated from Freedom; there were also many others like the Pennsylvania State Senator Lisa Boscola and Former Bethlehem Mayor and Lehigh County Executive -Don Cunningham. Overall many things have happened throughout the history of Freedom. Freedom students and staff will continue to make history every year and make new chapters for the school. Article by Erin Krauss, Journalism Student
As we approach the end of March, the winter sport athletes of Freedom High School are now finished with their seasons. Snow did not arrive until the first few weeks of January, which caused a few two hour delays and some postponed games this season. This snow, however, did not affect our athletes; they continued to play as if they had no days off. The basketball season seemed to flash by, ending as quickly as it began. The boys team did fairly well this year, their record was 10-12. The girls team was able to make playoffs by having at least a .500 win percentage; their record was 11-11. I was able to interview one of the juniors on the boys basketball team, Nick Ellis, about a huge win over Easton. He scored 12 points this game, contributing to the 67-43 victory. I asked him if the energy was up at halftime and whether or not it made a difference in the way he played. “I think the atmosphere…boosted our energy at halftime. We knew we were the better team but needed to start playing it and I know personally that I wasn’t playing the hardest I could have, so…I started to take over using my strength to score,” said key player, Ellis. Let’s dive into the water and check out the swim teams. Both the boys and girls teams went 2-4 on the season. The boys’ biggest win was against William Allen, with a score of 95-58 , and the girls had a huge victory over Allentown Central Catholic 92-62. Ms. Kutch, one of the swim coaches, is very proud of how her swimmers have handled this season, “being able to come back from a Covid season…and getting back into competing physically next to other teams and being so persevering…constantly staying determined,” said Kutch. On the mat, the wrestling team had a long season, lasting all the way to District 11 States, traveling to Hershey. The boys went 18-5-91. Freedom placed 3rd overall with a win percentage of .557. Hopefully you were able to come to some of these games and meets, but if not, be sure to check out some of the spring sports that are right around the corner. To find out more about these past winter sports, you can go to lehighvalleylive.com. Stay tuned for upcoming spring sports including baseball, softball, boys and girls lacrosse, boys tennis, boys volleyball, and track and field. Article by Cody Ulianna, Journalism Student
Pennsylvania's newest step towards the mask mandates is interesting. While Omicron caused cases and deaths to skyrocket in the past month or two with a peak of about 30,000, this month, Covid-19 cases fell to about 1,300. In the Lehigh Valley, we have dropped to below 60 cases a day. Mask mandates and wearing masks in general have been a very controversial and sore subject with protests and riots happening pretty much everywhere in the world. More recently, for over three weeks the Ottawa protest happened due to mask and vaccine mandates. Recently, Allentown has announced that it is dropping its mask mandate on all city property. Even though mask mandates are being dropped in some locations, it's still important to be safe in crowded areas such as stores, jails, or schools. Even with Covid-19 cases dropping, Pennsylvania will still be pushing for people to be fully vaccinated and get their booster shots. At least 67 percent of people in Pennsylvania have been fully vaccinated. However, boosters still lack, with only 41 percent receiving doses. Pennsylvania does look like it's getting closer to dropping mask mandates everywhere and easing up a little bit. With everything said, Pennsylvania's health department will still be monitoring Covid-19 heavily in highly affected areas to make sure another outbreak doesn't happen and cause the entire state to go into a lockdown again. By Jada Carter, Journalism Student
The pandemic has affected millions of people globally. The world was shut down for a few months straight and it is crazy to think that we are approaching two years since that happened. The effects of Covid-19 are still prominent today. Many people have lost their jobs and are still finding a new career. Professional athletes have to deal with the politics of the vaccine and drastic schedule changes. Our young generation should not have to grow up in a pandemic. Of course, our mask mandate was just lifted at Freedom High School. It is optional for everyone, including teachers. As we return to some normalcy, it is easily forgotten how bad Covid-19 used to be. What was school like when the pandemic first started? No school was ready for all the problems Covid-19 brought. Nobody in general was really ready for it. It would be hard for anyone to go from normalcy to complete disaster. Schools around the world were shut down one after the other, and I know it was not just me who hated “the new normal” in which school was taught. “I switched to completely online classes at the end of December in 2020. I didn’t like the Hybrid system or being completely online. It made my grades worse than the year before which were straight A’s. It made it easier for me to procrastinate and it didn’t feel like I was learning, just doing work,” said Juliet Senick, a senior at Freedom High School. She is not alone when it comes to grades dropping drastically. It is hard to teach yourself something you know nothing about. On top of that, there is also the toll that takes on students mentally. As of 2020, 45 percent of high school students have reported feelings of stress. On a 10-point scale, the average rating was a 5.8, which is two points higher than the normal rating (Eira, Astrid. Finances Online, 2022). A lot of high school students these days have existing mental health problems whether it is school-related or not. Having such a drastic change in the way the world works has affected the minds of every student, one way or another. Some of the psychological challenges that today’s students face are changes in appetite and energy and feelings of anger, sadness, worry and frustration. From experience, I can say that most of that stems from suddenly being stuck at home and closed off from the outside world. Frustration because Zoom meetings and masks are annoying. Changes in appetite because why eat when you do not need energy for anything? It is also hard to try and go back to normal after being a certain way for so long. For example, social interactions are not the same anymore. Imagine going from having friends over everyday to not being able to see anyone outside your family at all. That is what it was like for the world in the beginning of 2020. Personally, it got to the point where I was begging my mom to go to the grocery store. Social interaction is a big part of human growth. Lack of interaction between people can have negative impacts on our minds and the way we think. That was definitely the case for junior Candy Florentino. “I believe the pandemic had a significant psychological and social impact on me. It was difficult for me to engage in many social interactions because I was so used to being at home alone. Despite the fact that I am an extrovert, it turned me into an introvert.” It is hard to remain an extrovert when Covid-19 keeps us inside against our will. I think it is safe to say that I speak for everyone when I say that the pandemic has affected us in some way, shape or form. For high school students, it affected us in lots of ways. Maybe some students were affected positively but the majority were affected negatively. It is hard to get your life back on track when it was unwillingly derailed. Grades suffered and friendships were challenged. Masks were to be worn by all students and teachers, no matter how much they hated them. But masks are no longer mandatory, allowing students to feel like they have more of a choice. Most high schools are returning to normal, much like ours, and it is nice to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, hopefully leaving this pandemic behind us. |