Swim for the Win

By Alison Salinas

The Girls Varsity Swimming Team went to the divisionals this season. We have been working very hard since the beginning of our season. I have been on the team for two years now. This is my last year since I am now a senior.The team has such a strong bond this year. There are about 10 girls on the team along with our team manager. Our captain is Joey Axel and other swimmers include: Jennie Axel, Metabel Assefa, Anissa Chatman, Karina Fernandez, Aliyah Gani, Emily Oh, Sara Tarquino, Victoria Valette and yours truly, Alison Salinas. We also have our team manager Albert Boa. Our team is just one big family. The team is coached by Mrs. Dempsey.

We know almost everything about each other. We help each other in and out of the pool. We have encouraged each other to work very hard everyday. We have improved so much. Our dives have got so much better and times have gotten faster. This year we decided to do something new. We decide to do a bake sale to raise money for division shirts. Our bake sale did so well we raised more than enough money. This year we also got a banner from a local business that was generous enough to donate it. I designed the logo myself.

Many of us participated in the divisionals and 5 of us got to swim in the counties.  The relay team consisted of Joey, Emily, Aliyah, Jennie and myself.

From having our annual bagal breakfast and pasta party to division and counties. I wish the girls varsity swimming team the best of luck next year. Don’t miss me too much.

Kanye 2.0

By Kelecia Johnson

On October 25, the infamous Kanye West released his new album named, JESUS IS KING. Kanye mostly focused on hip-hop/ rap, and this album wasn’t any exception.  This is his ninth studio album, here he re-introduced gospel music through his own classic style of rap. 

This album has been promoted throughout 2019 by the Sunday services hosted by Kanye himself. His primary hosting was held at Coachella’s Sunday service where he performed “Water,” the seventh of eleven tracks on this album. Kanye West also traveled to many different Sunday services, such as the Greater Allen AME Cathedral of New York to assist in celebrating their 185th anniversary. He used all these visits to promote his music.

 The reactions to this latest masterpiece have been rather positive, and I personally  believe it’s been a breath of fresh air since it’s different from the typical rap culture of music. Overall, the vocals and instrumentals used were extremely powerful which gave off  the feeling of reflection. Kanye incorporated snippets of classical religious songs and scriptures from the Bible into his tracks; this emphasizes his purpose of this newly released artwork. In addition, there are tracks such as, “On God,” where he expresses feelings about his personal life, decisions and explains his passion towards this album. 

 Every track in this album by Kanye West has a different story behind it, but they are all connected which made the album feel like one big story with a form of modern day gospel.

West Hempstead High School Blood Drive

On Friday, The National Honor Society partnered with The New York Blood Center for our annual blood drive. In total we collected 52 donations which goes to save over 150 lives. There was a tremendous interest this year from both students and staff members. We exceeded our goal from last year which was 42 donors.