The National Harbor Makes New Additions

by Giselle Namata

The sun is coming out and the snow is finally melting… So what else is there to do in this area? We may not have very many activities to do in our city, although we do live in the D.C. area! There are endless possibilities, you just have to get up and look for them. But that’s ok… I can give you something to do! You may be familiar with Old Towne, Alexandria with it’s many outdoor events in the spring time and extensive streets filled with shops. You can never be bored there! Did you know that with a short drive across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge or a boat ride across the Potomac River, you can find yourself in Maryland and in a completely different atmosphere? There are just as many things to do in the National Harbor!

This is a newly developed area and has transformed this once empty land to a flourishing bright city with many activities. As the weather warms up, they start to have public viewings of movies outside on the lawn and on the Fourth of July they have their own fireworks.

In recent events at the National Harbor, they have decided to put up a Ferris wheel at the end of the dock closest to the bridge. This Ferris wheel will have a 176 foot view of the Washington Monument, the Capital, and much much more! You can go on the National Harbor’s website and watch it be developed with a mobile webcam set up focusing on the Ferris wheel.

Right down the street is a newly opened outlet mall! Tanger Outlets extended their branches to Oxon Hill, Maryland. The National Harbor Tanger Outlets feature over 85 brands to shop from.

Looking for something to do over Spring Break? Check out the Jagwire’s spread in the printed newspaper for the April edition for more warm weather happenings. 

Sierra Leone War-Time Leader Ahmad Tejan Kabba Dies

Ahmad Tejan Kabbah died on the 13 SSSSmarch 2014 at the age of 82 after a severely week of illness. Kabbah died on Thursday afternoon at his home with his close friends, family, his five children and three grandchildren by his side. Kabbah have two wives Patricia Kabbah who died in 1998 and Issta Jabbie Kabbah. It was an irreparable loss for the country. Tejan was praised for his leadership in the civil war which lasted for a long time.  He was the first former head of state convicted by international court since Nazi after World War II. He was the first Muslim to have a sit at the head of state. An ethnic Mandingo and was born in Pendembu, Kailahun District in Eastern Sierra Leone but he was eased in the capital Freetown. Kabbah served as a chief of deputy of the Western Africa Division of the UN Development Programmed (UNDP) in New York and retire in 1992. The UN was against Kabbah of running for presidency in 1996 and some of his follower companion they think he was unprepared .He later wrote a book Coming Back from the Brink in Sierra Leone. In his book page 40 he wrote “An Army? What Army? “ The greatest challenge I face on assuming the presidency in 1996 was in the area of peace and security( Although) there were many  dedicated soldiers who were prepared to defend motherland, there were others whose loyalty was deeply questionable….outgoing NPRC  elements who were not in favor of handing over power to a civilian administration.” Tejan save people from slavery and hunger. Kabbah was with the SLPP (Sierra Leone People Party).  He was known as a peace maker of Freetown, Sierra Leone. The people of Sierra Leone will never forget his bravery and the leading of the civil war for 11-years.

March is Moving to Marvelous Facts

March is Moving with Marvelous Facts
By Anna Ziegler 

    
     March is one of many peoples favorite month. It is the time period where the season completely switches over from winter to spring. It is a time when no one knows for sure what the weather will look like due to the switching of seasons. When people think about the month of March, many things comes to mind : flowers, fresh air, rain, cleaning, butterflies, girl scout cookies, and four leaf clovers. 

    This month is very interseting, and when I say interesting I don't mean that the month has thiry-one days but facts that one may not know. To start off March was named Martius after Mars, who was the Roman of war. They named this month in honor of the Roman God of War because March was the month when many wars took place.With saying that, March was actually used to be the first month of the year on the Roman calender, this is why we always use the saying "fresh new start" to talk about March. 

    March not alone is the month celebrating Woman's History but many more fun holidays. Some of the holidays celeberated in March are : Saint Patricks day, sometimes Easter, Peanut Butter Lovers Day (March 1st), No Smoking Day and Harriet Tubman Day (March 10th) and Waffle Day (March 25th). This month is filled with interesting holidays that many do not know about. 

    Along with celebrations, March is filled with alot of amazing birthdays. To start off it on March 12th, 1912 Juliette Low founded Girl Scouts. In honor of her all Girl Scout cookies are given out during the month of March. During this month four United States Presidents were also born : Andrew Jackson, James Madison, Grover Cleveland and John Tyler. But one we can not forget is on March 26th, the journalism teacher at Falls Church High School was born, Mr.Simon. 

    Many intertesting facts happen during this month. Some more are that March's birthflower is the Daffodil. The birthstone for March is aquarmarine and bloodstone. It is the National Nrtition and American Red Cross Motnth. Also March and Novemeber start on the same day of the week every year, and that is the only two month that happens to.  Next time the month of March pops into your head, I hope you think of these cool facts as well as the "new fresh start" month phrase.

Ebola Outbreak in West Africa

Ebola spreads in Guinea and surrounding regions

By Tyler Sibal

Recently, Ebola (a very lethal Virus/Disease) has spread in West Africa specifically in the country of Guinea. 59 people so far have died to the illness as the U.N. stated and it is possible for the disease to spread to neighboring countries and keep on throughout the world.

In the past, there have been severe cases of widespread outbreaks of diseases resulting in deaths such as the Bubonic Plague and Spanish Flu in 1918. Just about 100 years later since the Spanish Flu, small outbreaks have occurred such as SARS, H1N1, H3N1, H5N1, H7N9, and Ebola.

Ebola, which has symptoms similar to a severe fever, stands out as it recently killed 59 of the so far 80 people and has no vaccine and no immunity. Ebola has around a 75 percent fatality rate for an ill person from the accounted cases of the disease in Guinea.

Whenever an outbreak occurs, medical “communities” take great concern over such an event to prevent it from spreading elsewhere in the world. Ebola and other diseases have been present in countries with poverty and small countries in Asia or large populations in cities such as Hong Kong. Ebola in Guinea has been considered highly contagious which can be a disaster in a poor country as everyone shares the same water or poor sanitation due to poverty and in areas such as these it could easily contaminate and infect a person.

To prevent the disease from spreading to other countries and communities, medical charities have sent 33 tons of medicine and other equipment to set up isolation units to facilitate the prevention so it doesn't spread. Diseases and outbreaks should always be top priority for countries instead of wars and unneeded money usages. Diseases such as Ebola take the lives of people who can never be replaced. We can help by donating to this specific charity linked in the bottom to help with the medical costs and equipment. Also we can help by simply washing our hands and always to remember in public when touching things such as an escalator railing or a door handle to always wash our hands afterwards thoroughly and avoid touching our face so we don’t get sick!

                                                                                                                                                  Donation Website

Location of Guinea in West Africa

Honoring Our Veterans With The Medal of Honor

Some veterans have been overlooked for the Medal of Honor because they were African American, Hispanic, or Jewish.  This Tuesday, President Obama rewarded twenty-four veterans the Medal of Honor in an emotional ceremony. This ceremony was the culmination of  a fifty year long campaign of Korean War veteran Mitchel Libman, eighty-three years old, to procure the highest honor for his childhood friend, who he believed had been denied the honor simply because he was Jewish. THis ceremony reminds us of one of the thing s which makes America special. Here in America, we confront the imperfections from the sometimes painful past.  In 2002, the Pentagon reviewed the list of those considered for the medal, and decided that nineteen of the candidates had been denied due to racial prejudice.  Out of the whole twenty-four veterans being honored, only three are still alive. All three of these veterans served in the Vietnam War: Melvin Morris, a former Green Beret;  Santiago J. Erevia; and Jose Rodela, who served as a Special Forces commander.  During the ceremony, daughters, sons, and grandchildren heard stories of heroism: destroying an enemy tunnel with TNT while under fire, clambering on top of a tank to take it out, and getting fallen comrades even when it meant certain death. These veterans have been living a quiet life after the war, and this award ceremony is a fitting tribute to the wonderful service they gave to our country.  Thank you, veterans!

First Day of Spring

First Day of Spring

By Sabrina Arauz

         We've had fierce snow between this 2013- 2014 winter. Everyone from Fairfax County Public Schools can agree that we've missed many days of school with plenty of delays. Sure, it's nice to have a day off from school due to the snow, but many people have grown tired of snow every other week plowing us down. Not only is it tiring, but it's also very dangerous to those out on the streets or people who have to walk.

Today is March 20, 2014, in other words, the very first day of spring! This doesn’t exactly mean that the cold weather will disappear instantly, but the weather will definitely start to get warmer. The flowers on the trees will begin to grow to white and then a beautiful pink color. The grass will begin to look greener and the sky will be cleared of so many clouds and bluer.

Everyone is also looking forward to the wardrobe change. No more jackets and huge sweaters! People can finally wake up and not have to think about how many sweaters or jackets they need to wear. Walking through your neighborhood will be easier while trying to catching the bus or just simply going outside to take a walk. Anyone doing sports during this time will no longer have to deal with cancelled meets, practices, or competitions.

So even though we will still be experiencing some cold weather for the next month or so, spring will give us a pleasant and warm welcome. The snow has stayed with us for quite a while, but nature will eventually do its job and change to the new season of spring!

Live Life Like It Could Be Your Last Day, But Don’t Live Scared That It Actually Is

Live Life Like It Could Be Your Last Day, But Don’t Live Scared That It Actually Is
By Emily Grabauskas

   On Thursday, March 12th, a young mother of 2 (31) by the name of Jamie Rowley was struck and killed by a driver in Ashburn while she was out for a run. Not to long go on January 13th, another mother of 3 (34) by the name of Meg Menzies was killed by a drunk driver while out on a 13 mile run while training for a marathon. Both women were avid runners doing what they loved to do every morning; however, they didn’t know that they would not return home to their families this time. 

These similar stories go to show that even though you may take the necessary precautions to be safe, such as wearing bright and reflective clothing, running in the daylight, and running on the sidewalk, you never know when something could go wrong. This doesn’t mean that you should stop what you always do. People die from car crashes, but we still drive. Now, there are stories of people dying while running along the road, but we should still run. Live life like it could be your last day, but don’t live scared that it actually is.

If we take every precaution we should, then there is no reason to believe that we will be unsafe. If anything, the drivers on the road should be more careful. Meg Menzies was hit by a drink driver while the state of the driver who killed Jamie Rowley is unknown. Maybe he was distracted, maybe he was tired, or maybe he was speeding. Whatever it may be, drivers and pedestrians share the same space, the sidewalk next to the road, so we need to make sure it is a safe space for everyone.

Both women have attracted the hearts of the running community. Creative memorials were constructed along the roads where these women were killed. People donated old running shoes in order to make the sites alive with the spirits of these women, but their children are still without mothers. If you feel so inclined, there is a page to donate money to an educational fund for the children of Jamie Rowley. http://www.gofundme.com/7hy03o is the link. 

From now on, live every day to the fullest because in the blink of an eye, something out of the ordinary could happen to you while you are doing something you always do. Be safe in the world, but please don’t stop living. 

Flight MH370 Gone Without a Trace

A Mystery That May Never Be Solved
By Alissa Grisler

     Malaysian Flight MH370, filled with 239 passengers, disappeared this past Saturday, March 8th. It simply vanished, somewhere over Southeast Asia while on its way to Beijing, China. A little under an hour after its departure from capital Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, air traffic controllers lost contact with the Boeing 777-200 as it was flying over the ocean between Malaysia and Vietnam. It's now three days later, and still no word from the flight has been detected.
     No distress call, no sign of a problem from the pilot. There was no indication that the flight was going anything but smoothly. It's impossible to believe that this mystery could happen under any circumstances, but there are some ideas in play as to what may have transpired up in the sky.

   
     The most disturbing theory seen so far has come from the identification of two of the male passengers on board. One Australian and one Italian citizen were supposedly traveling with stolen passports. These were taken from their original owners in Thailand. Whether they had anything to do with the aircrafts disappearance is thus far unknown. However, foul-play has not yet been ruled out as a cause for this catastrophe. Regardless if these two stolen passport carriers had anything to do with the strange disappearance, it is alarming that they were able to get through security at all. These men's passports were not checked against the international database of stolen passports, and they were able to get through security with no trouble.
     The other leads have come to a dead end. The orange object located in the ocean, was originally thought to be a sign of a possible plane wreckage, but it turned out to be unrelated. The oil spill off the coast of Vietnam which was a suspected sign of the fallen aircraft, showed that it too was unrelated.
     Currently, nine countries are searching for any sign of the plane. Vietnam, China, Singapore, Indonesia, USA, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines. 34 aircraft and 40 ships are involved in this wide-spread search, stretching 100 miles around the west coast of Malaysia. Expanding the search area comes with the hope that some sign of the aircraft will be found soon.
     Families of loved ones onboard Flight MH370 are understandably overwhelmed by this disaster. Knowing that your family has died in a plane crash is terrible enough, but these families don't know the truth. They cannot even grieve because they don't know if they should be grieving or hoping for a miracle. On op of this pain, they have had to endure countless interviews and nosy reporters, with the wish that they will somehow find their loved ones soon.
     This entire ordeal makes one wonder how this could have happened. In this day and age, with the phenomenal technology made available to us, how could a plane vanish? In one moment it was in the air, gliding soundly, and in the next it was gone. Vanished. Without a word or trace. How could this have happened? What actually did happen on Flight MH370?

2014 NFL Draft By Ryan Haynes

      The 2014 NFL draft will be held from Thursday, May 8-Saturday, May 10. The first round will be held on May 8.The second and third round will be held the next day on May 9. And on the final day May 10, the 4-7 rounds will be selected. There is a lot of hype around this years draft as many spectacular players like Johnny Manziel, Jadeveon Clowney, Teddy Bridgewater, Sammy Watkins, Greg Robinson, and many others. There is a lot of talk about who will be drafted in what round and to which team. There have been many mock drafts made by sports anaylists predicting which player will go to which team. The first five picks

for the draft this year are the 1.) Houston Texans, 2.) St. Louis Rams, 3.) Jacksonville Jaguars, 4.) Cleveland Browns, and the 5.) Oakland Raiders.

        First, probably the most talked about player is quarterback, Johnny Manziel. Manziel his entering the draft as a sophomore, after having two incredible seasons with Texas A&M. He is known as Johnny Football, and made his name world known when he was the first player  ever to win the Heisman trophy in their rookie year. He broke the SEC record with 5,115 yards of offense in his first year. Johnny Football has an incredible arm, but is known for being a threat once he leaves the pocket for a run. He ran for a total of 1,410 total yards in his rookie season, and completed 295 of his 434 passes for 3,706 yards and 26 touchdowns while throwing only nine interceptions. Some people think Manziel is a no brainer #1 draft pick, while others say college is another thing let's see what he can do in the NFL. 

          Another highly praised QB is Teddy Bridgewater from Louisville. Bridgewater is entering the draft as a Junior with no Heisman, but without a doubt three very solid seasons. He was named Rookie of the year and Offensive player of the year back-to-back years. In all three years Bridgewater has totaled 9,987 yard of offense. He has a very impressive completion rate of .684, and 78 total touchdowns while only throwing 24 interceptions. 

           This final player is not a QB, but he is dominant in his position and many believe he will be drafted first by the Texans. Jadeveon Clowney is a defensive end out of South Carolina, entering the draft as a Junior. He was a Heisman trophy candidate in 2012, and was named the All America player of the year by AT&T. In all three years he has totaled 130 tackles, while tackling for 47 loss of yards totaled. He had 24 sacks including 13 his sophomore year. He also had nine forced fumbles. 

       

Meet Markiplier!

By Diana Gudiel-Benitez

Most of you guys know YouTube has a lot of Let’s Players, such as PewDiePie, Tobuscus, SmoshGames, RoosterTeeth, etc, but have any of you heard the Let’s Player named Markiplier? Some might since he has done a lot of videos of him collaborating with other gamers.

First off, what’s a Let’s Player? A Let’s Player is a person (or a group) who record themselves playing a game, later posting them online. Markiplier, as I said before, is a Let’s Player as well. Who is he anyway? His real name Mark Edward Fischbach, and he was born on June 28, 1989. He started his YouTube channel on May 26, 2012, and has been successful since then. Now, some of you may be thinking, why should I care who he is? Why are you writing about this guy? It’s because Mark, in my opinion, is one of the nicest YouTube gamers ever. Seriously.

He has about 1,400,000 subscribers, and to show his appreciation, he uploads a video every 100,000 subscribers that has him talking about how thankful he is to his fans and how he will attempt to become better for them. Really sweet, if you ask me. He even did a series of videos called Markiplier Fanmail, where he read all the letters and opened all the gifts his fans sent to him. In one of these videos, Mark playfully insulted about some his fan’s letters which only resulted some of his fans to email him and say they were offended, not realizing he was only joking. In the next video, Mark was shown looking quite upset, and he apologized for his behavior, not knowing that it would offend some. To me, this shows that he really does care about his fans. There’s quite a few videos where he was shown to be emotional about his fans; like I said, he really cares. He also continues to play a game if the fans demand it; he mostly does horror games, so when this happens, he is shown to be scared, but does it anyway for them. One of the best things about Mark though is that he hosts charity live streams on the website, Twitch. He tries to host them every month, playing random games by himself, or with his friends, Bob and Wade.

What I’m trying to say is, check him out; Mark is a really generous, sweet, and fun guy who seems to have the gift of lifting sorrow spirits up. We all need that type of person in our life.

Can The Wizards Be The 4th Seed?

By Christian Marcia

Staff Writer

The Washington Wizards are having one of their best seasons in a while. They are currently 31-29. If the season ended today they would be the 5^th seed. I believe that they can be the 4^th seed, because of their talent. John Wall is having one of his best seasons. Wall is ranked 5^th in assists, and 4^th in steals. He’s becoming an elite player, but the record is not showing it. He needs players like Beal, and Ariza to perform well on a nightly basis. Bradley Beal is clutch, when it comes down to the last seconds. He can shoot the ball well, and is becoming the go two player. Ariza is having a quiet season this year, but recently he’s starting to score more. The Wizards lost Nene for the season, so they need more from Gortat. Otto Porter the rookie needs to step up as well. He’s not playing well, like he did in Georgetown.

The Wizards have beaten quality teams, the Heat, Thunder, Raptors and others. They have shown that they can beat playoff teams. They also figured out a way to beat the Heat, which is a good sign. The Wizards have also lost to teams that are not even great. The Wizards need their bench to start winning games for them. Adding Andre Miller can help out their team. During the second half of the season, the Wizards can’t afford to lose many games. I believe that the Wizards will upset a team in the playoffs. The Wizards need to be consistent, and perform better on defense. I honestly believe they can be the 4th seed. I think that they're better than the Bulls, and Nets. The Bulls have lost Rose, and the Wizards need to take advantage of that.

The Wizards are going to play the Jazz tonight. Tonight should be a great way to start a win streak, by beating a bad team. The talent is there for Washington, but can they can get more wins?