What Norup Teacher are you? Quiz

By: Rebecca Feber
This quiz consists of a couple of the Norup teachers and a variety of questions to show which teacher you are most like.

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Tips to Stay Calm During Standardized Tests

By Maggie K.

It's M-Step time here at Norup, which can be very stressful.  Here are 3 tips to stay calm and focused during the weeks of M-Step:

1.  Get lots of sleep.  A well-rested mind is a sharp and focused mind. Go to bed at a reasonable time to prepare for the test.

2. Eat a healthy breakfast. You can't expect to do well on a test if you don't fuel your body and mind with the right nutrients.

3. Breathe. If you get overwhelmed and don't know the answer, inhale through your nose, hold for a few seconds, and exhale through your mouth. Remember, you can always flag it and come back to it later.

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Norup Students Choose Kindness

By Abby C.

A few months ago, an anonymous person put up sticky notes around the top and side borders of the mirror in the upstairs girls’ bathroom. They said things like “beautiful,” “amazing,” and “wonderful.” A few hours later, there were five sticky notes added, filling in the rest of the border. These new ones said things like “don’t care what they say!” and “You’re incredible!” Between the five new sticky notes, there were two distinguishably different handwritings. Someone also had written the letters “ur” (meaning “you are” or “you’re”) before all of the original sticky notes which had featured adjectives without attaching them to a person. 

Then, on Friday, February 10th, they were all taken down. The most widely accepted explanation is that the janitor took them down to clean the mirror. Several girls responded by putting up more sticky notes on the wall surrounding the mirror, and by the end of the day on Monday, there were dozens of positive messages decorating the wall. However, several of these had also been taken down as of Tuesday, and they had all been removed by Wednesday. This raises the possibility that someone is purposely taking down the sticky notes.

Even though the movement of putting positive messages in the bathroom has faced a couple minor bumps in the road, Norup students continue to try to make others smile. This is a big difference from a neighboring school just ten minutes away where there was a noose put up in the bathroom and white students chanted “Build That Wall!” in the lunchroom in front of Latino students.

Norup students are reacting to the division in our country with love and support instead of hate, and that can make all the difference for our students.

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16-Year-Old Creates App to Promote Inclusive School Lunches

By Abby C., Web Editor

In every country, in every town, in each and every school, there are kids who feel left out at lunchtime. That led to 16-year-old Natalie Hampton creating a new app called “Sit with Us.” It allows kids to create a “Sit with Us Club” at lunchtime. This creates a private chatroom that kids looking for a table can join. By joining, the kid asks to sit with that “club,” or table.

A table of people you don’t know is intimidating, and asking to join them not only opens up the possibility of rejection, but it often seems like you might as well just label yourself as an outcast. But these issues disappear with the “Sit With Us”  app. “This way it’s very private. It’s through the phone. No one else has to know. And you know you’re not going to be rejected once you get to the table,” Natalie explains.

School lunch times, universally known as a hard time for many people, can now be transformed by a single app. Kids looking for new friends can now be confident, happy,  and included at lunchtime. Try out the “Sit With Us” app today!

Click here for more information from www.goodnewsnetwork.org

This article originally appeared in Volume 3, Issue 2 of Hawk Headlines.

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