Penn Relays

Penn Relays
By: Chris Avila

WILMINGTON, DE – Penn Relays is a meet full of tradition. In its 119th installment, the Penn Relays draws crowds of 100,000+ each year and is a premier event for Track and Field worldwide. Athletes as famous as Usain Bolt, Tyson Gay and Mary Decker have competed at this meet.

The CYM is lucky enough to have a spot in this meet each year for 8th grade boys and girls 4x100m. As each year in the past, St. Edmond’s will have a team contending for the medal stand. This year the squad for Penn Relays is (in order) Dino Matulas, Chris Avila, James Wolf and Peter Regas; with Mali Mase and Cody Tampanella as alternates.

Before this weekend we thought that St. Elizabeth’s, a team of truly superb sprinters, was the easy favorite to win Penn Relays. But, All Saints, a team St. Edmond’s has only lost to by 1 second, beat them this weekend in an amazing finish by Billy Sullivan. This just shows that anything can happen and that St. Edmond’s could definitely come out with a top three finish.

Top 5 Most Horrendous Cubbies

WILMINGTON, DE – This dreary morning, my good friend Ben Horgan and I went messy cubby hunting in the ripe messy cubby fields of St. Edmond’s Academy. Sadly, we didn’t find any small animals, old gym uniforms or a cascade of overflowing papers but we did find these fine specimens:

1.

The scary quartet of Ben Russell, Charles Parson, Conor Alcarese and Jack Nielsen pull the schools messiest cubby. Hailing from Mr. Skofield’s room these young lads have accumulated this mess since spring break when they were required to clean their cubbies.

2.

Nick Salameda and Drew Scott have truly mastered the art of making their cubbies messy. Look at this fine specimen!

3.

Not many people can boast having towers of messy books/papers AND a bag full of lacrosse gear perturbing from their cubby. Kudos to JC Pauley on this masterpiece.

4.

Tyrone Steele and Ray Shorter grab a solid 4th with this respectable effort.

5.

Mali Mase and Dino Matulas have truly cleaned up their act recently. No abandoned skater shoes or Gucci belts in this cubby anymore!!

At the end of the day, it was truly disappointing how clean this schools’s cubbies are.

A Short History of Nearly Everything Book Review

A Short History of Nearly Everything
Bill Bryson

Review of: A Short History of Nearly Everything
By: Chris Avila

WILMINGTON, DE – It’s hard to read a book with a boring topic right? Well A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson is a far cry from a boring book. In only 478 pages it bounces in between physics, particle science and cataclysmic meteor strikes. I understand that not everyone enjoys learning the temperature in Kelvin when a meteor the size of a large house enters the earth’s atmosphere but, it’s truly mind-boggling and gives you a great perspective on the world and universe around you.
Personally, I have three favorite things about this book. First, is how Bryson tells the strange lives of many scientists including Alfred Wegner (who was found dead on his 50th birthday in Greenland) and Sir Humphrey Davy (who was terribly addicted to laughing gas). Second, Bryson never lets the book get boring. The manner in which he describes complex scientific concepts and pits statistics in perspective is truly amazing. For example, he says, “The number of people in the world who are actively searching for asteroids are fewer than the staff of a typical McDonalds restaurant”. Third, he opens your eyes to the world around you in a truly amazing way.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and it is a must-read for any science buff or anyone that what’s to learn a little more about the universe.

Reviews:

“Bill Bryson makes science interesting and funny… You can bet that many questions that you have about the universe and the world will be answered here.” Boston Globe.

“Here are the answers to the stupid questions you were afraid to ask in school… Bryson peppers the book with wit and great details… Bottom Line: Science with a smile”. People Magazine.

Track Prediction

Track Prediction
By: Chris Avila

WILMINGTON, DE – In years past, St. Edmond’s Academy has always been a cross country powerhouse, but some years has come up short in Track and Field competition. Mainly because the team lacks the size needed to fill up the various events. But, this year, with the addition of numerous eighth graders, I believe the track team can soar to new heights. Adding star basketball players Dino Matulas and Mikey Drake to the sprint squad is a colossal step in the right direction. Returning 100m champion, Peter Regas will lead the three of them to high finishes in the championship meet.

Scoring in Track and Field meets is based on the finishing places of a team’s runners. A higher placed finish is worth more points than a lower placed finish, the team with the most points wins. So, it is important to fill all the events to have a shot at winning. Besides a winning miler or 100m runner, you need runners that can fill the lanes and get the middle points. And with adding over five new talented eighth graders, this seems possible this year.

Along with adding new sprinters that are sure to bring success, the faithful distance squad will be hugely instrumental. This includes great talents such as Alex Horgan (CYM champion in multiple events), Andrew Martin (second-fastest 5th grade miler in CYM history) and, Andrew Avila (AAU National Champion and U10 record holder).

Last year, despite multiple mile wins, high finishes in the 800 and a handful of sprinting medals, the team only grabbed a distant third to All Saints Catholic (distance powerhouse) and St. Elizabeth’s (always a huge sprinting team). But this year, I believe we can win the championship if everything comes together at the right time.

East West Bowl

By: Jared Goldberg, Ben Horgan, and Chris Avila
Key and Peele’s new video “East West Bowl” is a must-see video on YouTube. It is a trending video that everyone is talking about. Everybody thinks that it is so funny and everyone loves it, I will give you a couple names from the video… (The Player Formerly Known As Mousecop,) T.J A.J R.J Backslashinfourth V, Xmus Jaxon Flaxon Waxon, Swirvithan L’Goodling-Splatt,T’Variusness King, Saggitariutt Jefferspin, Donkey Teeth, Javaris Jamar Javarison-Lamar, and Torque (Construction Noise) Lewith. These are the names of some of the “players” in the East West Bowl by Key and Peele.

Top 5 St. Edmond’s Traditions

WILMINGTON, DE – Our top 5 St. Edmomd’s Academy traditions are:

1. The Florida Trip. This year in its 34th installment, Brother Joe is leading yet another trip to the parks in Orlando.

2. Tug-of-war. The tug-of-war is always the highlight of Red and Gray field day and a source of great excitement for the younger kids.

3. Taco Thursdays. For years, tacos have been serves in the cafeteria every three Thursdays. Tales of students eating through 10+ tacos in one short lunch period, burning $30, aren’t uncommon. James Wolf currently holds the record with a whopping 19 tacos in one period.

4. Red Blazers. The red blazers that we wear during the winter are the most important part of the uniform. Swag is for boys, class is for men.

5. Varsity Red Basketball Games. Our top varsity team is always one of the best in our league and is always fun to watch.

Hottest Kicking it Catholic Shoes

WILMINGTON, DE – Catholic Schools Week officially started Monday but didn’t really “kick-off” until Thursday with “Kick it Catholic Day.” On “Kick it Catholic Day” students were allowed to wear whatever shoes they felt fit. And trust me when I say, we had some pretty fresh shoes. From Vibrams to freshly copped L.L.Beans/Nike transfusion shoe “Kick it Catholic Day” was a huge success.
This article includes the top 5 shoes that were worn that day ranked.

1. Bradford Poole’s rainbow colored Nike ID Free Run 3s were not a hard choice for the #1 shoe worn that day.

2. My powder blue Vibram KSOs were a close second in the contest. Being the only person wearing “toe-shoes” today I truly stuck out, in a good way I hope.

3. For the first time in school history Br. Joe was seen wearing shoes that weren’t black. News like this only breaks the press a few times a decade so Br. Joe’s classic white Dr. Scholl’s made our list for third coolest shoe of the day.

4. Ben Horgan gave us a tip to check out John Turley’s “sparkling” Lebron Xs. So we gave them a look and they are now placed #4 on our list.

5. Last, but very far from least were Dom Cipriano’s freshly copped L.L Bean/Nike Transfusion Shoes.

Sadly, nobody came in with the old-school LeBron 1s. If someone did, I would applaud them.

Trendy January iPad Games

Trendy January iPad Games By: Chris Avila

WILMINGTON, DE – This January many new games have hit iTunes’ top charts. Most notably, Blockheads and Temple Run 2.
The new game Blockheads, is eerily similar to the extremely popular PC and iPad game Minecraft. The creator, David Frampton, said he had no intention of making a Minecraft copy.

“It wasn’t my intention to make a Minecraft-like game,” said Frampton in an interview with Pocket Gamer. “When I first started on The Blockheads, I intended it to be a game about evolution. Later, I decided to base it on people instead of animals so they could interact more with the world. And as a result, it drifted more towards Minecraft.”

Even though the games are very similar, Blockheads is just a poor man’s version of Minecraft

The Original Temple Run was one of the most successful games ever (in tersm of downloads) across the iTunes and Android markets, with over 170 million downloads. Now, Temple Run 2 has been released. In my opinion, it has 100% better graphics and has new features. Unlike most other games, movies and books that have a sequel, I think that Temple Run 2 will be just as successful as its older counterpart.

Florida Trip Exclusive By: Chris Avila & Nic Barbieri

WILMINGTON, DE – We interviewed Brother Joe to get the inside scoop on the 34th Florida Trip.

Chris: I’m here with Bro. joe who has been running the Florida tip for a very long time. We are going to interview him and ask him a few questions about this years Florida trip. So first, how long has the Florida trip been going on for? Why did it start in the first place?

Bro. Joe: This trip is trip 34, it started back in ’79 in a religion class. In which one 7th grader stood up in class and said, “Brother, we don’t really do anything together as a class.” And I just said, “Yeah, like Disney World!” And that was it, and a few weeks later he said, “Where’s the trip?” And that started the trip.

Chris: Oh. Yeah I remember that you told us that in 6th grade. When we were the first 6th graders to go on that trip. And the second question: what are some of the specs on the Florida trip? Price of going? How long does the trip last?

Bro. Joe: We usually leave on Easter Monday and come back Easter Saturday. So it six days. And the price when it first started was $200 but we didn’t have as many parks. Now that we going to Disney, Epcot and Universal, um, not Medieval Times this year we are going to Stallion “some-or-another” it’s a play done on horseback. The menu is excellent, each student has his choice of either steak, half a chicken, pot roast and lasagna. And for desert they have a chocolate chocolate chocolate cake.

Chris: Wow that’s pretty impressive. One follow up question: why are you not going to medieval times this year?

Bro. Joe: the price had gone up.

Chris: Okay interesting. Will everyone drive down in one bus? Will anyone fly down like two years ago?

Bro. Joe: No, everyone will be taking one bus this year.

Chris: How many eight graders are invited to come this year?

Bro. Joe: 7 have applied but we can fit up to 10.

Chris: Which parks are part of the trip?

Bro. Joe: You go to Wet n Wild, the dinner show, the next day you to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, the next you go to Disney world and on the last day you go to Epcot.

Chris: Last question: do you have a tip for the seventh graders that have never really had an experience like this before? Try new things?

Bro. Joe: Do new things, don’t be afraid.

Chris: I remember in my 6th grade year I’d never really been on a serious roller coaster and by the end of the week I was riding some of the scariest roller coasters in the park.

Bro. Joe: I know you guys had a blast.

Chris: Yes we did! And thanks so much for this interview.

Bro. Joe: No problem. And it’s a possibility that the 6th graders will go next year.

Hurricane Sandy and Its Diverse Effects

By: Chris Avila

WILMINGTON, DE – Here at SEA we received two cautionary days off due to Super-storm Sandy. Luckily, in our area of northern Delaware we were barely phased. The highest effects included slight power outages, downed trees and flooded basements; these are nothing compared to the devastating effects elsewhere. Along the east coast 8,000,000 people were without power and 15,000 flights were cancelled. As I’m sure you know large sections of the Jersey Shore and The Delaware Beaches are now either underwater or destroyed.
As I’m sure you could expect there was quite a buzz on social networks. Over 500,000 photos on Instagram were tagged “#sandy” within two days on the hurricane.
On a much more serious note, we keep all the people effected by Hurricane Sandy in our prayers.