Congratulations Stephanie Ward

Congratulations to our very own Spring Valley High School drama teacher, Mrs. Stephanie Ward for being named Hometown Hero. Mrs. Ward has overcome many obstacles in the last year and greatly deserves this award. She has been teaching theater for over seven years now. After Mrs. Ward lost her sight last year most students thought that she would stop teaching, but the students were pleased to find out that she in fact decided to continue teaching and inspiring others. After seeing Mrs. Ward overcome everything with a truly positive attitude we as students can see anything is possible.



sources: wsaz.com

Book Review: Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

I remember reading this book on a whim when I was fifteen and have yet to forget the ending because it just disturbed me for some reason. The book covers a 10 year old girl's abduction and her life at fifteen under the watchful eye of her captor. It is a quick read, but still very unforgettable.

On her tenth birthday "Alice" was abducted by Ray and learned how to live like a doll and wait for her ordeal to be over. At fifteen, her captor begins to speak frequently of her impending death, though, what he does not know is that is what she wishes for most. Though, things take a turn for the worst when he orders her to find her replacement only to turn into what she fears the most, he plans to keep them both.

At the beginning, I was very sympathetic for the seemingly beaten down "Alice" because I could not imagine having to go through a situation like that and still do not fully understand it because it is a foreign concept to me. But, further into the book I begin to dislike her when she goes to a park and starts jotting down in a notebook which girls Ray would like only to chose one she particularly disliked, over something petty, as her replacement. I understand she just wanted to escape from him and that was the only way she thought she could, but seriously picking an, I think, eight year old that she had a minuscule argument with just seemed ridiculous in my mind. Though, she does begin to feel guilt over her decision and ends up saving the girl and in a way herself.

I actually really enjoyed the narrative at the beginning, how it seemed so

Plagiarising

Many people know that plagiarism is happening more often than not on papers throughout the world. Most people believe it to not be a big deal, but the fact is that it is a form of theft. Plagiarism has many forms that may not know about, such as: The Ghost Writer, The Labor of Laziness, The Poor Disguise, and The Self-Stealer. Yes, we all know the names are funny and kind of ridiculous, though the truth of the matter is that these types of plagiarism are real. Many teachers and other people are cracking down on plagiarism because of

Megan Perry reaches her 1000 point career!

Megan Perry has been playing basketball for quite awhile, and she has reached an incredible high goal so far this season. She has scored over 1000 points in her career as a basketball player at Spring Valley High School. Being on the varsity girls team as a freshman was a big accomplishment as a 9th grader, and every year is got better and better for Megan. Her hard work has now paid off by getting her the 1000 points in her career, and she plans to make even higher goals for herself now!

-photo courtesy of Herald-Dispatch and Wayne County Newspaper

MMA legalization in WV

Mixed Martial Arts will be legalized for the first time ever, starting March 8th. Now, we MMA fighters can now compete legally in front of an open crowd, without crossing over the state border. I wanna Say thank you to everyone that signed charters, and petitions towards passing the law for Mixed Martial Arts fighting in West Virginia. Now, to celebrate I want to invite the readers of my blog to come train free for a whole week at Ground Zero, MMA in Huntington.

We train nearly everyday for hours a day and put a lot of dedication in the gym.

If your a spectator of the sport MMA, then you can attend fights that will be hosted very

Book Review: Sapphique by Catherine Fisher

Sapphique is the sequel to Incarceron and helps further the readers knowledge of the environment and the people where the story takes place. Everything comes to a head in this novel such as defeating the prison in a way and overthrowing the throne and a practice they call Protocol which bans all things technologically advanced, though the rich often broke it frequently already. Though, I found the ending lacking because it left the reader wanting more and I believe the ending book of a series should at least remotely satisfy the reader and not make them thirst for more. But, I actually find this has happened to me with a few series where it is in a society so different than my own because I want to know how it both bettered and worsened itself after the last book.

In Incarceron, Finn and his companions were on a quest to escape the prison that seemed to be on a personal vendetta to stop and/or destroy them before they could reach the Outside. Along with following the main heroine Claudia, who is from the Outside, and her objective to get out of her engagement with the Prince Casper of Realm which she hoped to do by getting Finn out of Incarceron and present him as the late Prince Giles of the Havaarna dynasty. Finn makes it out of the prison at the end of Incarceron only to enter into a new danger that he is not prepared for. In Sapphique, Finn is trying to blend into the role of Giles under the watchful eye of Queen Sia and the secret society of the Steel Wolf while his friends, Keiro and Attia, still trapped in Incarceron try to steal the Glove of Sapphique so they can

Too Much Sodium?

According to a new government report Americans are eating way to much sodium. Nine out of ten Americans consume a lot more sodium than they should. Too much sodium can raises risk for high blood pressure, leading to heart disease and stroke. More than 800,000 people die each year from these and other vascular diseases, says the CDC. I know, most people probably thinking that all the sodium overkill is coming from fast food, but actually that is not the food that has the most sodium. Salty snacks come in at number 10 on the list with

Ice Skating

Recently, senior, Alexis Donahoe and her partner went to nationals in California to compete in figure skating. They competed against twelve teams. In the end, they came in tenth place. Not too shabby!! Be sure to congratulate her on her huge accomplishment!



http://dailymail.com/News/201201170171    To read more about them, check out this link. You could also check out our article coming up in the February addition on Spring Valley's school website.