Life is the most important gift

It's the month of gift giving, and also getting gifts. Anyone 16 and up, give the gift of life on December 10th. Donate blood and possibly save a life save a life. Just go to the office and sign a time slot. Also, if your 16 get a parental form when you are at the office. Happy Holidays to everyone!

Donovan G. is a senior student who loves food.        

Poem for Thanksgiving break from guest poet Victor/Homer

The days get short 

Nights stay longer 

The hot sun leaves 

Cold winds start 

Smell of pine needles

Cold air fill your lungs

Yaste of eggnog touching your lips

Jingle bells ringing  

Guest poet: Nanci

Thoughts of Happiness

As thought sets in and fear is apparent

And yet reality is left opaque

With clarity gone, nothing left to take

All this “happiness”, no one to show it

A word of color, a world of such joy

Why then a sight so unfamiliar?

Anxiety, despair, familiar.

Emotion and reality a toy

Fear and darkness, unknown to all the rest

The image shown, peace and together

The constant gnawing of anguish, a pest

However still, a hope for the better

Feelings of Impossible Love

A love so distant, out of reach

Sad to many, curse to each.

Confusion packed and solution sought,

Voo-doo done, guard un-caught.

Witchcraft, sorcery, lies, deceit,

Sad to many, curse to each.

A love so terrible, mind overload,

As much alike, dark magic, dark road.

Say yes to the...college?

On October 30th, all the senior students that applied to HSU attended HSU Early Acceptance day. The students attended workshops, ate lunch in the many different restaurants, and attended an interview with an answer. Some were awarded acceptance certificates and others a "we will see."

Melissa, a senior at Fortuna High School, was accepted to HSU and plans to possibly attend this next fall. At the HSU Admittance Day, Melissa said that she  “...learned a lot about different options for housing. I got to go into several students rooms and see the different room arrangement.” The housing tours were given by HSU students and to show all the dorms HSU has to offer.

HSU is a great school to attend even with it being so local. If you're considering applying, Melissa said, “Go for it, HSU is a great school.” Also applying locally can keep your wallet from breaking!

So seniors, say yes to the...college?

Molly, a senior, writes for Modes of Writing and also attended HSU Early Acceptance Day.

Fortuna High FFA shines in Opening and Closing Contest

On November 10th the Fortuna FFA chapter headed to Del Norte for the Opening and Closing, Best Informed Greenhand (BIG) and Co-Op Test. The BIG test was offered to freshmen only, coming in 3rd place was Venice D’ Amico, coming in 2nd place was Taylor Chamberlain, our BIG team got 1st place overall!

The Co-Op test was put on by the Eureka Co-Op; it was cooperative marketing test for all ages. In the opening and closing portion of the contest, Theron Dale won Outstanding Sentinel, Haley Benbow won Outstanding Reporter, and MaryBeth Dale won Outstanding Vice President. Great job to our FFA stars!

Natalie Nunez is a junior at Fortuna High who enjoys her Modes of Writing class and she also loves spending her extra time at the gym and with her friends.

Odell teaches rocket-y goodness

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are all apart of Fortuna Union High’s new educational course S.T.E.M physics, with all of these brilliant ideas jammed into one great course, a course being taught by science and DATA teacher Mr. Errin Odell.

Odell has been teaching here at Fortuna High for 16 years, developing new courses and ideas for students who want to try something new and interesting. Having already taught physical science in the years before gives Odell the upperhand on this subject.

The projects involved in this class range from stomp rocket calculations, to creating trebuchets and learning the flight and velocity of launched objects. Since day one, Odell has taught his students with hands-on activities. Every project in this class has a goal, with a mathematical formula behind it.

Jackson, a senior, enjoys science, technology, and writing.

Why you shouldn't fear Friday the 13th

This coming friday is going to be the last Friday the 13th of this 2015 year. Friday the 13th is a day surrounded by a lot of superstition. Lots of myths and legends have come about depicting things that might happen on this date. Some of the most common are: If you cut your hair on Friday the 13th someone in your family will die, if a funeral procession passes you on Friday the 13th you will be the next to die, do not start a trip on Friday the 13th because you will encounter difficulty, if you break a mirror on friday the 13th you will have seven years of bad luck, a child born on Friday the 13th will be unlucky for life, ships setting sail on Friday the 13th will have bad luck on their voyage, and if you walk under a ladder or a black cat crosses in front of you on Friday the 13th you will have bad luck.

Some superstitions of the Friday the 13th date back to 1700 B.C. The earliest account was that the 13th law of Babylon’s Code of Hammurabi, the 13th law is omitted. Another popular superstition is that if 13 people dine together, one person will die within that year. This comes from The Last Supper  where Jesus dined with 12 apostles only to die soon after.

Studies have been done on the accident rating of Friday the 13th compared to other fridays, and it showed that there were fewer accidents and reports of theft or fire on the 13th. Due to the research this is just a myth to scare people and the day of friday the 13th, holds no precedence in what events may occur on that particular date. These facts are coming from the International Business Times article Friday the 13th.

Tristen, a senior, works on improving his grade and becoming a better writer.