Winter weather is just around the corner, and along with it, the flu. With vaccines constantly updating, is it even necessary to get the flu shot once again? Every new year brings new modifications to the virus– even if it’s minor. This year you should shoot your shot at getting the influenza (flu) vaccine.
‘It’s just the flu…’ is a common thought of most people today. Many individuals skip the yearly shot due to not knowing the severity of the illness. It’s common to think that the flu is nothing more than a mere cold, however, in all actuality, the virus is a contagious respiratory disease that can lead to serious hospitalization. The CDC recommends everyone six months and older get the flu vaccine annually.
A nurse from Wellspan Pediatric Medicine gives an 11-year-old girl her yearly flu shot. Photo by Brianna Cheatham
While some people who get vaccinated still get ill, many doctors say that it is proven that the shot softens the blow of the virus. It’s recommended to get the shot at the end of October or early November, that way you’re safe for the cold days and the holidays.
Young children are affected by the flu each year. According to NFID.Org, “an average of 20,000 children under the age of 5 are hospitalized due to flu complications each year.” To help kids’ help in the future, getting the flu shot each year can help prevent hospitalization.
You can find that flu vaccines are offered in many medical facilities and health centers. The flu vaccine is accessible in many health departments such as pharmacies, urgent care, and clinics–even the traveling ones. Vaccines are also offered here at the Red Lion Senior High School or possibly at your workplace.
Every year, everybody asks the million-dollar question, ‘Is this safe?’ Millions of people around the world and even around you daily have safely received flu vaccines for the past five decades. Don’t be afraid to fight off the spreading of illness
To keep our community a little healthier and our school a little cleaner. Make sure you shoot your shot at getting the influenza vaccine this year…it’s just a little pinch!
The morning of a new event. An event that had you doing the one thing you aren’t the best at and because of that, you’re out of your comfort zone.
It’s my first year with the STEAM Ahead program, and I am one of the six students to lead a station.
The plan was to be assigned to a station and train the people within that station to make sure they were ready for the actual event day. I was assigned “It’s Electric” which is all about energy.
The first part of the morning went by easily. We got all the bins with the materials to each station. Then we welcomed the volunteers and told them about the program and what it consisted of.
Next, we went to our assigned stations and introduced ourselves to the people we trained. I do good in small groups, especially with bubbly people, who can crack a joke or just keep talking for hours. I feel more in my element as opposed to speaking in front of a big group of people.
After we were all able to get to know each other, my station joined another station, doubling the number of kids, for the training part. This is where I freaked out, I had to talk about a station that I didn’t know anything about. At least that’s what I thought. The good part was I didn’t have to talk first.
I pride myself on being a great listener. I could listen to anyone all day long. I am able to do what I am told and I do well at that. Now talking is something I need to work on.
Around an hour passed, and it was my turn to talk about my station. My number one fear was that I would start talking and no one will understand what I was trying to say. My hands started to get sweaty and I started to shake.
I ran through the first part of the station, stuttering through many words in the process. It was the first time I had to lead people through something that could affect the days of the event to come.
When showing them the flow of energy, I ran into my first problem. The white energy ball that showed that energy can travel through people wasn’t working.
I was lucky to have amazing people who just laughed it off and we pretended it worked. It was nice to know that they didn’t make the scene awkward or even embarrassing for me.
I learned it’s ok to not be the best talker or the smoothest one. I’ve never been the best at it, but at least I tried and got out of my comfort zone. The more I do that, the better I will get and soon it will be like second nature to be.
Having clammy hands, or stuttering all your words is part of the process. It takes time, for you won’t be good at something right away. Every day, I do something to increase my communication skills in hopes of one day being one step closer to my goal.
What really makes these shows stand out beyond their animation is the gut-wrenching stories they tell. And the characters that make you want to follow their journeys, and quenching your thirst to explore these forigen worlds.
Studio BONES’ 2016 Mob Psycho 100 is a show that is worth the praise of a classic. Based on the original manga of the same name written and drawn by One,Mob Psycho 100 is a show which is carried by its story and character as much as it’s animation.
The first season originally ran from Jul 12, 2016 up till Sep 27, 2016, and the second season ran from Jan 7, 2019 up till Apr 1, 2019. Both seasons can be found on Crunchyroll.
The show follows the main protagonist, Shigeo Kageyama, nicknamed “Mob” by his peers. Mob has always been a social outcast, who isn’t very good at socializing. Despite his shy, but polite personality, many people are mesmerized by Mob.
His psychic powers attracted the attention of a fake psychic, Arataka Reigen. He recruited Mob to work for him, and even become his “mentor” promising to help Mob learn to control his powers.
The events of the show follow these two main leads, as it slowly develops and fleshes out of the character’s world, and the overarching plot of the story.
What really separates Mob Psycho from other shows is the characters’ overall charm they add to the story. The show itself is a visual process of Mob and others around him, showing how a person can grow to better themselves.
As the audience follows Mob and Reigen through numerous situations, we get to see how they affect the people around them. That exact same impact comes back around to them as well, but from different people.
The themes of affecting other people’s morals and thought process is reflected in the main character, Mob. He struggles to deal with his emotions, and they control the intensity of his powers.
Mob keeps them in check by suppressing them, thus Mob comes off as a very timid and very robotic person. However when he can’t suppress his emotions anymore, his powers come into full effect. The way the show builds up his explosions via percents, and when he explodes, his power reaches toward 100%.
In the span of two seasons, we see Mob develop better as a person from his interactions with other characters. He in turn also helps shift many of the other characters’ world views, also helping them develop as people.
Although these initial undertones of the show might be enough to pique the interest of a consumer, what really sells the show is it’s visual prowess in animation.
The animation in this show is always clean and looks professionally produced, and that’s only touching on the normal dialogue scenes. The actual fight scenes are adrenaline inducing, putting the viewers on the edge of their seats. Even in these high-octane sequences, the animation still carries a very artistic aesthetic.
Overall this show is something that anyone can watch, especially teenagers. The show does an excellent job at being able to connect with it’s teenage demographic on a deeper level with it’s emotional undertones.
Adults can also appreciate this show for it’s mature themes of self growth, emotional health, and differing perspectives. It is a show worth your time and definitely will also shape your world view.
Mob Psycho 100 is a show that is able to deliver a coming of age story, while at the same time being relatable to more than one demographic. It’s visual canvas has painted an image of a mysterious world of psychics, stunning battles, and spiritual creatures. It’s a work that delivers on overall complex characters, realistic relationships, and inspiring personal growth.
Artwork created and Distributed by BONES Studio
Manga written and illustrated by ONE
Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research.
Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
As we finished up studying the transcendentalists for the romantic unit in English last month, my teacher gave us an interesting assignment. She challenged us to go 24 hours without our technology and live a day like the transcendentalist writers we were studying. The assignment was not exactly living like in the 1800s, but it removed the distractions that transcendentalists did not have.
My class initially met this challenge with protests, but I wasn’t concerned because I felt that I didn’t rely too heavily on my technology. I like being outside, and I am an avid reader, so I figured that I would not have any problems keeping myself busy without technology. And that is what I planned to do when I did my tech-free day.
Before I did the assignment, I planned out what I was going to do, and I made sure to let people that would contact me know that they would not be able to reach me throughout the day. When I woke up that morning I made sure that my phone was off and that I didn’t take my Apple Watch with me. Since I figured that if I was going to do this, I might as well go all in to see what I would get out of it.
I started off my morning going to my internship at Perfect Paw U and helped them with their barn hunt run-throughs in preparation for the upcoming trial Easter weekend. After spending a couple of hours helping there, we decided that it was such a nice day and we had to get out to do something. So we took our dog Sadie to the park for a walk.
When she was tired of walking we took her home and packed up our bikes to head to the rail trail. One important thing to note here is that I hate running, but I love to ride a bike. Ask me to run a mile, and I will walk away but if you ask me to do a 20-mile bike ride I’ll gladly join. When we got to the rail trail, we started off together, but slowly my family fell behind, and I would have to stop and wait for them to catch up.
Kayla Tracey’s dog, Sadie, enjoys a walk.
Instead of doing this every 5 minutes, I told them that I was going to go and then turn around and come back. By the time that I was 3 miles out and turned around, they hadn’t made it much further from where I left them. So I headed back to the truck and kept going the other way past the parking lot. By the time I returned to the parking lot I had ridden 10 miles.
All throughout the ride, I was hoping that nothing would happen to me since I was alone and did not have a phone with me. This was one of the challenges of the day but other than that, I had a nice day walking, riding my bike, and reading.
Despite the fact that I did not learn anything new about myself like it was intended, I would still recommend for people to try this. It is a very interesting experience and you may learn something about yourself. What do you have to lose from trying? Take 24 hours of your life and remove all technology- your phone, tv, music, gaming systems, computers- all of it. Who knows? Maybe a “day in the 1800s” will help you may discover a new hobby or learn something new about yourself.
I am from hand-me downs and cheap store clothes. From the bright, large, and colorful Tv and video games in the cold of winter or heat of summer.
I am from a military vet that fought in Operation: Desert Storm as we played games of fantasy and war in the backyard. My family’s foundation seemed solid but looks can be deceiving. Someone else lives in that house now. With canned goods, microwavable meals, to almost no AC Winds tempted me to go, but I would not go until the winds howled with their temptations and I followed many times, trying to resist each time as a tree does in a storm.
I am from the stone of the city and the trees of a town. From solid to liquid to gas. I am a castaway like boxcar kids. Hoping that someday, I would have someone or something holding on strong.
I am from McKinsey, brave, hard-working, and middle of the hill living. Why live if you don’t work for it? In a moment, I can be like a Deibler, giving comfort and encouragement when people need it the most. The kindness causing friends and family to grow.
I lived in my fantasy worlds of video games and Tv to ignore my parents fighting. “Just one more minute,” turned into “Just one more hour.” I held things together like string, twisting and stretching. I’m half from protestant and half secular. Not going to church at all for most of my life until sickness hit my father. My brothers and I went to our small sweet grandma’s house, then moved in with our mom who had left almost a year before to our Deibler uncle’s house.
Soon, my Aunt Mary and Uncle Trevor took two of my brothers and I, leaving my twin brother, Holden to our mom and when this happened, our grandpa threw my dad, my brothers and I out as if we were garbage not belonging to him. I have not seen either my dad nor mom nor my twin brother in a very long time.
I’m from Red Lion, and Stewartstown, and Delta, and in the middle of nowhere. I have been lied to, used, made fun of, and other things all for others enjoyment by people who have called me a friend. But there are few, I get to truly call a friend and they are the gold in the river; the sun smiling upon me.
In my Aunt Mary and Uncle Trevor’s home, the photos are hung up on walls, frighes, and cubirt doors. Also, in scrap books and in photo frames each showing the good times and bad times. Some are bittersweet to my brothers and I. While most are from a time when my family was not divided by personalities, choices, or distance.
Life is a mess, and that is the reality that we live in. However, that knowledge doesn’t help us cope with all the ways that our lives are not going how we have planned.
None of our lives are perfect… and this is the part where if we were talking face to face you’d say “okay it’s not like I don’t already know that, what’s your point.” Well, my point is that life sucks, but you can do something about it.
This is when all the ideas will run through your head about how you can cope with everything happening in your life, so go ahead take your time because I’m not going anywhere.
Everyone will think about different things because we are all different and we all deal with life differently. Maybe your thought to cope is “I can make things better by inspiring change.”
That’s a great goal but it is not easy to define what will actually change the world. But no matter how horrible the world gets there is a way to escape, and it has nothing to do with trying to change the world. It instead has everything to do with books.
Books? Seriously?
Yeah, Seriously.
Books are amazing because they can transport you to a multitude of different countries, worlds, realities, and much more.
Want to visit Narnia? Crawl through a wardrobe. Want to live like royalty become Princess Jasmine, or little Scout Finch? The sky’s the limit.
Books can transport you anywhere. When you open a book, you can instantly be consumed by the ink on the pages. Suddenly, the world disappears, and you can escape the lousy reality that you leave behind.
Not all of us are going to find interest in the same books. For me, I love seeing other worlds and problems presented in fiction and fantasy. While they’re trying to save the world from some mythical being set on destroying it, I become distracted from the problems in my life that pale in comparison.
But I know plenty of people that don’t like the type of books I read, even friends of mine have told me they aren’t interested in what I read. And I just brush off their comments. Other people don’t have to like them because I do. All that matters is that they help and interest me.
It’s cool if books aren’t your thing. I still urge you to try and find something that interests you.
It only takes that one book to help change your life. And if you try and try and try and still can’t find a book that interests you, find what does interest you. It can be an instrument, a sport, or anything else.
As long as it brings you joy and makes you forget about what has you down it does its job. Because if you have a productive way to deal with and get through the viciousness of life maybe life won’t seem as miserable. When life sucks, find what makes you happy.
Communication is a very vital skill in the real world. In school, I’m taking a communication class that teaches me everything involved with communicating along with self-confidence and self-worth. A positive of being in this class is that I am able to learn a strategy to improve one’s mental health and physical health which is a gratitude journal.
A gratitude journal is a journal where one focuses on their happiness and writes different things that they are grateful for. Sometimes this can just be done for fun, but it is usually a way to improve self-esteem, improve mental and physical health, and help cope while trying to increase happiness, If you just choose a topic to write about then the rest should be easy. Here is an example:
My topic is: Write about someone who makes your life better
I can not limit myself to one person who makes my life better. I could go on for days and days about everyone who genuinely makes me so happy in my life, but this is based on my friends and my family. In terms of my family, I could not ask for a better support system. There are not enough words to describe how thankful I am to have my family in my life. At my lowest and at my highest, they were always there for me, and they continue to make me the person I am. They have done so much for me, and someday I want to return the favor. I love them so much, and I want nothing but the best for them and what they achieve. I admire their hard work and drive while they still give themselves time to have fun. Our dysfunctional, close relationship proves to me that I rely on them about anything and for that, I am forever grateful.
In terms of friends, I can’t even express the love I have for them. In person or not, everytime I talk to a friend, it never hesitates to put a smile on my face. If I am ever upset, I know I can count on them to make me laugh or make my day. The friends I have in my life all have one thing in common which is they are all beautiful inside and out. As we grow up, we mature and start to learn who our real friends are. Well I can proudly say that I was given beautiful friends who are literally the sweetest souls, in my opinion. Just like my family, I want nothing but the best for them and they always deserve happiness. My friends are the reason why our adventures, our memories, and our crazy situations will forever be cherished. I love them with all my heart and I am forever grateful for them being in my life.
It does not take much to make a gratitude journal. All you have to do is take some time to reflect on things that are good in your life and write it down. It can be good therapy to put yourself in a positive mindset by letting your mind overpower the bad thoughts with the good thoughts.
It may not work for everybody, which is completely okay, but if you like writing, consider doing this strategy to make yourself feel a little better. Also, do not hesitate to tell a friend or family member how grateful you are for them in person.
Writing a gratitude journal is a way to benefit yourself but there is nothing wrong with showing gratitude for someone as well! As long as we keep exercising the brain by finding different healthy ways to cope with something, improve our mental health, and our self-esteem, we can win the battle against the negativity.
If there’s one thing that the pandemic taught me, it’s that I am not the kind of person who can be cooped up in a room all day.
When Governor Wolfe established the first set of quarantine restrictions, I eventually grew tired of staring at my bedroom walls, and it became apparent that I had to do something for my own sanity.
So what do you do when you have a strong desire to leave your bed and get off TikTok, but a pandemic is stopping you from doing so? For me, the answer was hiking.
I can proudly say that I walked nearly every trail in York County within the matter of one month. Quarantine wasn’t so bad because I was constantly moving and experiencing new places.
This newfound love of the outdoors came with a price, though. I now see the mistreatment of our environment as an increasingly important problem.
I first noticed how prominent litter is in the modern world when I was attempting to get a bird’s nest out of my dryer shaft. Apprehensive that I would see an innocent bird carcass, I peaked down the tube to find something far worse.
A weak-looking nest held together with a long green string of plastic stared right back at me.
Not only did human development force this bird to use a dryer shaft as a sanctuary, but the bird was also reduced to constructing a home made of litter.
At this moment, I realized that waste directly affects the animals living in our environment right now.
People are so desensitized to pollution because it does not immediately affect them. It’s easy to throw a paper bag on the ground and never see it again because ittering doesn’t instantly hurt litterers.
But it does directly influence this generation of mammals while leaving long term negative effects on the sanctity of our planet.
With a world that is covered in concrete, it’s easy to feel pretty isolated from the natural world. For this reason, littering and depletion of natural resources seem like distant problems that will never affect us.
Environmental issues affect everyone.
Next time, you are on a walk around Red Lion, look around.
On my 0.125 mile walk from the parking lot into the school, I saw nine pieces of garbage. Of those nine pieces of garbage, five were disposable masks, one was a half-full Fanta bottle, there were two disposable forks, and a plastic bag entrapped by a tree’s grasp.
When you aren’t looking for it, a plastic bag trapped in a tree branch isn’t that incredible to look at. The sad thing is, it isn’t that unordinary either.
This explains why I am met with several new pieces of garbage on the ground each time I go outside.
Now that I’m an avid hiker, every time I see a piece of garbage on the ground, it feels like a personal attack.
Problems fill the world to the brink, but this one resonates with me because humans are doing it to themselves. We are knowingly depleting our natural resources and harming our environment but continue to make few efforts to fix the problem.
So what should we do? Boycotting big corporations or passing Congressional laws are all really great ideas, but they seem like radical solutions. The only way to improve this whopping environmental problem is if every single person sacrifices a little convenience in their lives.
This means carpooling to school, turning off unnecessary lights, throwing trash in the appropriate areas, conserving your water intake, recycling, and even going to thrift stores.
I recently made a vow to purchase all of my clothes from thrift stores in order to reduce the amount of clothing in landfills.
Many people don’t know that manufacturing new clothing uses a tremendous amount of energy and water. However, thrifting is a useful tool to conserve natural resources and reduce water intake. Not to mention, the clothes are super cute and cheap.
Not only do I enjoy thrifting, but I also started a garden in order to avoid pesticide-infested veggies. Making this environmentally conscious choice has helped me to stimulate growth in my backyard and create a sanctuary for snails, caterpillars, and other little creatures.
Everyday environmental actions allow me to reduce my carbon footprint. Making the decision to be environmentally conscious didn’t inconvenience me that much, but it will have lasting positive effects on the environment.
If everyone makes a small change in their life to be more environmentally conscious, then this giant environmental crisis will slowly diminish.
The thing is – I want to enjoy hiking throughout my adulthood. I want to go swimming in a lake that isn’t heavily polluted. I want to walk 0.125 miles without seeing a piece of garbage.
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