“This year’s Penny Wars was dedicated to Pennies for Patients, and the funding goes toward the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society,” ASB vice president Amanda Ang said.

“This was a perfect way to help these cancer patients,” Coronel said. We want to do anything that will help those in need.”

“Healthy competition between classes really unites each class and we’re all coming together for a common goal to beat each other,” ASB President Marcus Coronel said.

“In my opinion, it’s a really easy way for classes to earn up to 200 points, and all the proceeds go toward a good cause! The classes can still be competitive and someone is able to benefit from it,” Ang said.

Moreau’s annual Spirit Week charity fundraiser returned this year with a similar look. The jars were outside of the library for a week, and freshmen flocked to deposit as many pennies as possible.

The upperclassmen held back, in traditional fashion, trying to make it look like there wasn’t any participation. Of course, everyone knew they were just waiting until the last day for a mass cash-in and last minute sabotage.

Here’s the way things work: Pennies are worth one point. At the same time, nickels, dimes, quarters, and all other money is negative points (a nickel would be minus 5 points, a dime worth minus 10, and so on). The class with the most pennies at the end of the week gets 200 Spirit Week points, last place getting 100 points for participation.

“You know what they say, ‘Every penny counts!’ And it does in spirit week. Sometimes the smallest things can make a big difference,” Coronel said.

For several years, the main focus of all spirit week skits has been to make fun of other classes. This form of entertainment has become a sort of “tradition” during Spirit Week.

“After last year’s performances, a lot of the staff noticed a change in atmosphere during performances, because the skits were more focused on bashing other classes than building class spirit,” senior class senator Andrew Salvatin said.

Assistant Principal of Campus Life Katie Teekell also noticed a change in the demeanor of students and teachers because of this so called tradition, and questioned the need to keep it. After discussing this issue with student government, they came to the conclusion that there were no valid reasons to continue making fun of other classes.

“While class competition is part of the fun, there really is no part of bashing on other students that fulfills the mission of Spirit Week,” Teekell said.

In the past, feelings have been hurt, friendships have been ruined, and the themes of unity and family have been all but forgotten because of a few ill-advised punch lines.

“Some jokes were taken too far. It’s funny to poke fun at the other classes, but the jokes were becoming just insults,” junior co-curricular commissioner Kristen Leahy said.

“It seemed like Spirit Week was becoming less about getting the school excited for the Homecoming game, and more about bashing on the other classes,” Leahy said.

Like Leahy, ASB senate leader Ashley Nepomuceno saw that the goal of Spirit Week was to mock and ridicule the other classes for an entire week.

“We were competing to see who could make the best insults,” Nepomuceno said.

The onset of any change can be difficult to cope with, but senior co-curricular commissioner Richard L’Heureux thinks that this change, although a major one, was one for the benefit of the school as a whole.

The junior heroes kept things positive and brought hope.

“Spirit Week is supposed to be about coming together as a class, but at the same time, using the good-hearted competition between the classes to come together as a school,” L’Heureux said.

According to Daily Mail Online, millions of people complain about back and shoulder problems related to laptops, in part due to the large increase in laptops beings sold. For students like us, who use laptops daily, this problem is very relevant.

Even freshman are now having to deal with pain in their upper body. “I use my laptop the whole day,” freshman Adrienne Gamillas said. “I usually get pain in the shoulders and around my neck.”

The position in which we use our laptops is very important as well. If you have ever used your laptop for a long time, you may have noticed your upper body becoming stiff.

“When I use my laptop and lay down for too long, I get really bad pain in my shoulders,” senior Francis Delfino said. Like many of us, Delfino feels the strain of putting our body in an awkward position.

So what can we do to help solve this problem? According to NHS.com, investing in good posture is one solution. Having good posture is a great way to begin relieving stress on the shoulders and back.

Next time you’re using your laptop, be mindful of how you are positioned. “If your back begins to hurt, then just switch your position,” senior Kristine Herce said.

A little common sense can relieve you from a lifetime of aches, pains, and expensive doctors visits.

The main question students have in regards to this decision: Why aren’t we having Winter Ball?

This year’s ASB Senate Leader Ashley Nepomuceno provided answers. “Last year we didn’t have a Senate moderator, which led to a few mix-ups.” Senate was in charge of putting on last year’s Winter Ball. “We booked an expensive venue, and because of that, ticket prices were high. Students felt that it wasn’t worth it to go,” said Nepomuceno.

Because of low ticket sales, last year’s Winter Ball was ultimately canceled. “[Canceling] cost the school a significant amount of money,” said AP of Student Life Katie Teekell. Without a Winter Ball this year, Teekell and ASB are looking for alternative events. “We moved Sadie’s back; it’s going to be in early February, as more of a Valentine’s Day dance,” said Nepomuceno.

“We’ve also talked about planning a powder puff football game, as well as a spring dodgeball tournament,” said Teekell.

Students reacting to the change mainly expressed disappointment. Senior Jacob Donida said “It was weird not seeing [Winter Ball] on the school calendar. I was actually looking forward to this year’s Winter Ball, since this is my senior year.”

“I actually had no idea there wasn’t going to be a winter ball,” said junior Alex Gray. “I think it’s a bit unfair, because the whole idea of high school is the experience, and how are the freshmen going to experience new things if we don’t have them?”

Freshman Samantha Adami had been looking forward to going to her first Winter Ball this year. “My siblings got to enjoy this event, and I wish I could do the same,” said Adami.

Sachi Shetty, another freshman, was disappointed as well. “Winter Ball could’ve been my favorite dance at Moreau, but now I’ll never know. I just want to know why they didn’t schedule it.”

“Because of the financial burden canceling last year’s dance put on the school, we will not have the privilege of having a Winter Ball this year,” said Teekell.

But what about next year? Is Winter Ball doomed forever?

As ASB Senate Leader, Nepomuceno said that she will make an effort for next year’s Winter Ball, so that the tradition might have a chance to continue.

Teekell confirmed that there is a chance that Winter Ball will resurface next year. “Student government is tasked with gathering information about Winter Ball from students…If the data reflects that students would support a dance next year, we will consider calendaring it once again.”

Luckily, it had a lot more substance than a repetitive drone of bell ringing and soft singing.

Saturday, August 27th, many people came out to the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View to watch a mash-up of various hip hop artists perform some of their most popular songs. These artists are considered as underground hip-hop stars rather than mainstream ones.

The festival was about 12 hours long and was filled with different performances by the artists that were promised to be there.

A festival as long as this might cause people to think twice about attending a festival where it revolves only around a genre that people typically stereotype with violence or illegal activity. “If other genres of music are able to host festivals, such as Woodstock, then why wouldn’t hip-hop be able to do the same?” said the new math teacher Michael Tobler

However, there was more than just music there. There were many clothing booths set up to sell artist paraphernalia. “[Rock the Bells] was mostly filled with listening to music, but it also felt like you were at an outside shopping mall,” junior Kate Nguyen said.

The festival wasn’t only centered around the artists performing either. “There were three stages with artists and another one for Grindtime rap battles,” senior Aldric Constantino said.

Being a festival that was centered more on a sub-genre of hip-hop, this festival was probably not for everybody. “Only people who love real hip-hop would enjoy it. There weren’t really any mainstream performances, but it was packed with underground hip-hop and real, legit lyricism,” said Nguyen.

Overall, the day was extremely fun and a lot of people got their money’s worth of hip-hop performances. “The day was great, I’m definitely copping tickets for next year regardless who’s performing or not,” Senior Deryck Ylanan said.