Benson Tech Pep DIGITAL NEWSLETTER

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Teacher Recognized for Her Hard Work, Dedication to Benson Community

     Here at Benson we have many teachers who are involved and contribute a lot to the Benson community. We are thankful for every one of them for helping Benson progress into a stronger environment both academically and socially.Recognition is very important; showing teachers that we notice all their hard work and dedication wouldn’t mean very much to us, but it would be very much appreciated by them.
    Mrs. Jessica Murchison has been teaching here for almost two years. Since the incident with one of the previous Spanish teachers, Mrs. Murchison was chosen as the permanent replacement. I’m sure we could all agree, it was an outstanding pick. Since her arrival at Benson, she has bonded with many students who have grown to love her as a teacher and a person. Mrs. Murchison is very active around the school. She is one of two instructors for the cooking club, where she shows Benson students how to make their very own gourmet meals from scratch. Mrs. Murchison makes learning fun as she teaches students new skills in the kitchen that they will be able to carry on with them into the future.
    Mrs. Murchison is also a member of the Benson High School Site Council. The Council’s job is to help design and plan events for our school and to help improve and regulate the campus. As representatives of Benson High School they help plan major events such as the annual Tech Show, eighth grade shadowing and much more.
    In addition to teaching a Spanish night school course once a week, Mrs. Murchison also advises MEChA , a Latino club. In this club Latino students discuss their heritage and culture as well as promote higher education for Chicano-Latinos
    Mrs. Murchison is very active around the school. In addition to being a dedicated, hardworking teacher she is also a loving and devoted wife and mother. Some students might even see her as a mentor. “I look up to her, I believe she’s a great contribution to the Benson community. She’s there when I need her. She has that Mother’s touch“ Dionna Johnson responded when asked what her thoughts were on Mrs. Murchison.
    Many teachers volunteered to help Benson grow into the school we are today. Without their help and contribution we would struggle to keep up with various school events and activities. They are all great assets to Benson High school. We recognize Mrs. Jessica Murchison for her hard work and dedication to our school. She is very much appreciated in our community.

-Fnan Berhe

10 Places Every Portlander Should Go

Portland, Oregon is in a way unknown territory to most people in the US.  Unless the person has actually come to visit the city, they have no idea what this city has to offer.  The east coast thinks that Portland is made up of a bunch of lumberjacks, hence the nickname “Stump Town”.  The new TV show Portlandia displays the Portland residents as a bunch of hippies.  Yes Portland is different, but that’s what makes the city unique and different from every other city.  What are the “hot spots” of Portland?  Even people in Portland don’t know them all.

• Voodoo Donuts- Founded by Kenneth “Cat Daddy” Pogson and Tres Shannon, Voodoo set up shop in the heart of Portland.  There is another located right across the field from Benson High School that attracts many students and teachers. From crazy looking donuts to weddings taking place, Voodoo is the place to be if you’re looking for an unusual way to get the doughnut you’ve been craving.
• Blazer Game at the Rose Garden- Experiencing a Blazer game first hand is like no other NBA game.  The crowd is considered to be one of the best in the league.  The Blazers are an up and coming team with a lot of talent.  With an all-time leading 814 consecutive sellout record, when the opportunity to go is there, take advantage of it.  Tickets range from $9-$150.
• Shanghai Tunnels- Made to move goods and to kidnap people and sell them as slaves, the tunnels run under Old Town/Chinatown.  In the tunnels you will see cool architecture, artifacts from this wrongdoing, and much more. The tour takes around an hour and thirty minutes to finish and you will be transitioning at all times. The basements of many bars and hotels in Downtown Portland connect them. Travel your way through miles of tunnels to reach the ending point, which is the waterfront of the Willamette River.  Admission is $13 for adults and $8 for children.
• Waterfront/Fountains- When the weather is nice, the Waterfront is one of the best places to be in Portland. There are many people and families there having fun. The waterfront is lined with parks that are very popular. The fountain is fun to look at, but way more fun to cool off in it. There are many paths for walking, jogging, or cycling that are sure to give you a fun time.
• Saturday Market- Held on Saturdays, and even Sundays too, the Saturday Market is filled with colorful people that spread their joy throughout the crowd.  Attracting artists and craftspeople, nearly 300 of them come to sell their unusual creations.  Aside from that there are unusual foods being sold for the trying.  A lot of free entertainment can be heard and while you roam the streets.  Saturday Market is a must-experience attraction that is popularly known as Portland’s most-loved event.
• Chinese Garden- The Chinese Garden is a place to go and enjoy the soothing effect of nature.  Five elements are the main focuses of the gardens: rocks, water, plants, architecture, and Literary Inscriptions.  It’s a place to enjoy the scenery and the quiet surrounding due to the thick walls blocking the city sounds.  The Garden is a non-profit organization that keeps the garden healthy and growing on the funds of the members, donors, and visitors.  Admission is $8.50 for adults and $6.50 for students.
• Powell’s Books- Every book lover needs to visit this bookstore.  There are over one million new and used books that include out-of-print and hard-to-find books.  It is located in Downtown Portland taking up a whole block.  It is the biggest new and used bookstore in the world.  If you have any books you want to get rid of, Powell’s even buys books from the public.
• Northwest 23rd Street- A little neighborhood in Northwest Portland which is known as Nob Hill, the Alphabet District, or just Northwest.  It’s a perfect place to go for shopping, dining, and seeing some of Portland’s attractions.  Powell’s (mentioned above), the Oregon Zoo, the Japanese Gardens, and the International Rose Test Garden are minutes away by public transportation or by foot.
• Pioneer Courthouse Square- Considered as Portland’s Living Room, the Pioneer Court Square is the most visited place in Portland.  With more than 26,000 people passing it each day, the square hosts over 300 events each year that range from festivals to concerts.  Approximately nine and a half million people visit the square each year.  According to Project for Public Spaces, the square is “the 4th Best Public Place in the World”.
• Oregon Zoo- The Oregon Zoo is not only a fun place to go, but is also a place to learn. The zoo's goal is to educate the public on how their actions now can save the wildlife in the future. They offer jobs and volunteering to get you up and close with the animals. There is a stage that is for shows, a restaurant, and a train that tours the facility. Go there to look at the animals, or go there around the holidays for the zoo lights.  Adults cost $10.50 and children cost $7.50.

     “Keep Portland Weird” is our city’s slogan.  Maybe when people recognize that, they’ll know why Portland is the way it is.  Portland is an unique city that is getting known more around the country.  There are many things to do in Portland, people just need to experience them on their own to get the full Portland adventure.

 

-Connor Buckley

Another Blockbuster Deal In The NBA

Last summer the “LeBron drama” was the talk of the NBA.  Every sports analyzer was forced to talk about which team he would go to and who would be teaming up with him.  In the end, Lebron ended up wasting an hour of TV time to tell the viewers he was going to Miami during the first five minutes.  The rest was a waste of time with him talking about why he made the decision.  Carmelo, who had the same situation LeBron had, didn’t want to make his decision a soap opera.
    “I would never go about it the way LeBron did it” Carmelo said when asked about the way LeBron made his decision.  Carmelo had no intentions of talking about it until he knew what was going to happen.  During the All-Star Game he was asked what he thought was going to happen; “I’m just ready for this whole thing to be over with”, Carmelo said, frustrated that during his break he was still being asked the same questions.
    One day after the All-Star Game, the trade finally happened that sent Carmelo, Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter and Renaldo Balkman,  to the New York Knicks.  The Knicks on the other hand had to send Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, second-round picks in 2012 and 2013, a 2014 first-round draft pick, and $3 million to the Nuggets.  The Timberwolves were the third leg of this trade.  They sent Corey Brewer to the Knicks, Kosta Koufus to the Nuggets, in exchange for Eddy Curry, Anthony Randolph, a 2015 second-round draft pick from Denver, and $3 million from the Knicks.
    This trade could not have happened if Carmelo hadn’t signed the three year $65 million a year contract extension with the Nuggets first. That was what started all the rumors; if he would sign the contract extension with the Nuggets or want to be traded.  No one knew at all what he was going to do with a new rumor coming out each day.  The rumors were finally put to rest when he signed the contract, and the deal happened.

To compete with the “Big Threes” of Boston and Miami, the Knicks now have a “Big Two”, and Chauncey Billups.  It may not be this year that the Knicks win a championship, but if they can pick up another star from free agency in the off-season, then next year New York might be a happy basketball city once again.

-Connor Buckley

Is It Time For G.O. To Go?

Greg Oden could possibly be the definition of injury prone.  With a total of 82 games played out of a possible 246+, he definitely fits the definition of injury prone.  He has been injured well over half of his NBA career and no one has seen him to his full potential.  Last season fans got many glimpses of what he is capable of playing like, but not enough to become a fan of his play.  The Blazers are in need of a big man to occupy the key every year and he has not proven he can be relied on.  It was agreed that the Blazers would not give Greg Oden a contract extension before the deadline.  Greg will become a restricted free agent next season and the Blazers will be able to match any offer thrown at him.  He will be the only number 1 draft pick since Kwame Brown not to get resigned.  Kwame Brown has stayed a little healthier than Oden, but still had trouble staying on the court.

Oden could also be compared to Sam Bowie, who similarly could not stay healthy for a whole season.  Bowie was drafted instead of Michael Jordan; Oden was drafted instead of Kevin Durant.  Sam Bowie played 139 games in four seasons with the Blazers and then was traded away to the Nets.  Greg Oden has played 82 games in 3 seasons and has missed all of his 4th so far.  Is Oden tradable and would anyone want him?  It’s tough to say.  He has potential to be great, but does he have potential to play a whole season?

With injuries to both Greg and Joel last season, Portland had to trade away two players who were key to the team.  Steve Blake was probably the toughest to see departure.  He is now apart of the Los Angeles Lakers, defending World Champs who were fortunate enough to pick up a veteran like him during the off-season.

On November 18th, there was news that he would be having season ending micro fracture surgery on his left knee.  It will be his third knee surgery in four years.  The surgery doesn’t mean he won’t be playing again, but it means that he will never be what he was expected to be.  Oden’s injuries kind of resemble the whole Blazer team.  They have talent, but haven’t been able to put it to use yet.  This is not good for the Portland Trail Blazers because more injuries just delay the outburst they will have when everyone’s healthy.

It’s obviously not Greg’s fault directly, but what if he stayed healthy?  What if he was able to continue playing the whole season and into the playoffs?  The Blazers might not be in this center cursed predicament they’re in now.  Maybe Oden’s injury was a good thing.  It may have opened some eyes that he is not the player they thought he was.  Now that the Blazers have Camby and now Gerald Wallace, maybe Oden isn’t meant for this team.  I’m sure he would get picked up by someone other than the Blazers if they decided to let him go.  But for now he will continue to wear a Blazer jersey and hopefully get on the court next season at full health and ready to play.

 

-Connor Buckley

Pedometer Challenge

        Many students consider winter as being the time to just chill and not do much.  The weather is mostly cold and rainy, with the exception of those rare nice days.  Unless you need to, being outside is not a place many people want to be.  With that in mind, Ms. Amy decided to bring the Pedometer Competition Wellness Challenge to Benson.  The goal of this challenge is to take enough steps to get from Portland, Oregon to Times Square in New York in a three-week span.  The distance to New York is 2,846 miles (5,692,000 steps).  To get there and back, the total distance is 5,692 miles (11,384,000 steps).

When asked what goal is to be accomplished at the end, she replied “This challenge is to bring awareness to students and faculty about how they can become healthier by doing simple things.  For example, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, or by parking further away so you have to walk more.  The recommended amount of steps per day is 10,000 for an individual.  This challenge isn’t only about getting enough steps to make it to New York, but to also get people excited about getting in shape.”

This challenge is to get people in shape, to change their desire from being lazy to being active.  According to FASTSTATS.com, heart disease, cancer, and strokes are the leading causes of death in the US.  Since obesity can lead to all of these causes of death, Americans need to change their living habits to an active style. This change needs to start with the youth of America.  Since their whole life is ahead of them, it is reasonable for them to be the first to change.

This challenge consists of 300 people altogether, including 240 students and 60 faculty members.  Even though everyone is working as a whole to get enough steps to get from Portland to New York, the students and the faculty are competing to see which “team” gets the most steps.  The team of teachers led the way by taking over one million steps, which blew away any competition that stood in their way.  Not only is Ms. Amy bringing the challenge to Benson, but she is also trying to motivate participants by showing her enthusiasm.  She often wears a headband that reads “Raisin’ Some Health”.  “I want it to motivate participants even more” she explains, “and possibly even make them want to create their own headband in the end.”

The ending result as of January 28th, 2011, is a combined total of 8,162,743 steps.  That is approximately 73% of the total steps needed to walk to Times Square and back.  Since the goal was to walk only to Times Square, there and back is in a way an extra goal.  If you compare the total steps to the amount of steps to reach the goal, the participants have taken 144% of the required steps!  Benson has definitely risen to the challenge and now participants will hopefully spread their new habits around to make our school healthy and aware.

-Connor Buckley

Don't Wait, the Future is Now

    Have you ever thought what life would be like without technology?  Having to actually pick up the phone and talk to the person instead of just texting them.  Life would be tough, huh?  Well life is going to get that much easier.  Companies are developing new technology to make phones have the ability to be your whole life in the palm of your hand.
    Until future technology comes out, phones obviously aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.  With 4g networking coming soon, phones are going to keep getting better and better.  There are ideas of taking the power of an Atom Processor and putting it into a phone.  Can you imagine how much faster that would be than any regular phone?  If you don’t have any idea that’s a ton more power, making the phone faster than any phone you’ve ever seen.  That idea is in the works so it probably will be a while for that idea to be put into effect.  There are many anticipated phones that buyers should be looking forward to.
    LG GWW90:  With a reputation before its even been released, the LG GWW90 is the phone to watch for.  With LG and Intel teaming up, this is probably the most anticipated phone of the year.  The new technology that this phone will display is the first of it’s kind.  This is a mobile phone that works with the aid of Atoms, much like what Intel uses in their computers.  The LG GWW90 is considered as a smart phone which consists of a 5.0 Megapixel camera with 16 GB of memory, Wi-Fi connectivity, a GPS system, and a USB charger which gives you 4 hours of usage time and 300 hours of stand by mode.
    Many new phones are going with bigger screens.  This phone has a screen that is 4.8” wide with a resolution of 1024 x 280 pixels.  It has a slim and seductive style to it much like the iPhone.  The battery will be power-efficient, and it should have a long life; meaning you won’t have to replace it as quickly as other phone batteries.  The phone is to be released later this year and is going to change the phone market drastically.
    iPhone 5G (Rumored Features):  With many speculation on Apple’s new iPhone, this too could be the most anticipated phone of 2011.  It is said that it will be released during July of 2011 and will come with many new features.  There are going to be big upgrades on the shell of the body including, a sleeker body design making it thinner, and an OLED screen that is scratch and shatter proof.

The body isn’t the only thing being upgraded.  It’ll keep the video chat but will now be available on 4G instead of only 3G.  4G stands for 4th Generation which increases security and speed of data transfers, making things such as the Internet noticeably faster.  A new upgrade which may seem out there, is face recognition security.  This will take a pre-arranged picture and use it to locate eyes, eyebrows, and mouth to allow the user to use the phone.  The screen will be locked until the phone is able to recognize you.  There may be times when the room is too dark and the camera can’t see your face.  That’s where the secret question and answer comes in.  If the phone doesn’t recognize you, then you can use a secret question that you can answer to unlock it also.

People always hate those annoying text tone defaults phones come with.  Now you can customize your SMS tone for all the texts you recieve.  That is also true with e-mails.  You can assign custom tones to different senders so you’ll know who is e-mailing you everytime.  There is one final upgrade that is probably the biggest of them all; wireless sync.  If you are able to connect to a Wi-Fi network,  you can say goodbye to the sync cord.  The cords always get tangled up and in the way so this is just another way to make things that much easier.  Hopefully these features will be added to the new iPhone because as I said before, these features are only rumored.

Credit Card Phones:  When people are leaving their house to go, most just grab their phone and wallet on the run out the door.  There are trials going on with the United States, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands and a few other countries, where your cell phone acts as a debit or credit card.  Unless you carry around cash and membership cards at all times, then this could eliminate the wallet as a whole.  The chip in your phone is connected to a bank much like your phone is connected to a carrier.  Security is a worry for this type of payment because if you are a person who loses their phone a lot, then this could cause many problems.

Applications:  New apps coming out for smart phones every day.  Right now there are around 100,000 apps for the Apple iPhone.  By 2011 there is to be a predicted 150,000 apps out there for people to use.  What makes an app good or useful?  After a recent survey, here are some favorites:

FREE	PAID
Amazon Mobile-Shop from Amazon or over 9000 different merchants for the lowest prices.  Find almost anything out there all at the palm of your hand.	SkyFire-For all iPhone/iTouch users who hate that there is no Flash video, SkyFire has arrived.  For $2.99, download this browser that converts Flash videos so they are viewable.  This unfortunately doesn’t work with Flash games.
Nike +-If your iPod is 3rd Generation or higher you can buy a sensor, around $19 from Amazon, and connect it to your iPod so it can record your workout habits for you.  There are different settings for every type of custom workout.	Angry Birds-Every time I look at the top paid apps this game seems to always be number one on the list.  With fun and challenging levels, this is a top game for everyone.  A $.99 game that is cheap and fun.
Facebook Mobile-Tired of logging on to your computer every time you want to see what people are up to?  This app is your answer.  It is simpler than using the computer and can do the same functions.	Bar Code Scanner-Tired of having to go to every store’s website to find the lowest prices?  Now just take a picture of the bar code on the item and it’ll do all the work for you.  Thousands of retailer’s prices will show up to pick from.
Netflix-Now there is Netflix on the go!  With a paid subscription you watch on-demand movies anywhere you can connect to the internet.  Create a list of movies you want to watch and they are at your fingertips.	Nike + GPS-A step up from the free Nike + app.  If you have an iPhone with the GPS, there is no need for a sensor.  It will track you, motivate you to go further and work harder.  For only $1.99 this is a good workout app.

Accessories:  People can spend tons of money on accessories for their phones and MP3 players, but which ones are really worth buying?  Since laws are being passed on driving hands free, bluetooth headsets are becoming mandatory for those who drive.  Since high school kids don’t usually go on long trips, bluetooth aren’t usually necessary when they hit the road.  For a low price and good quality, the Plantronics Voyager 510 is a good choice.  It is light weight with noise cancelling technology that is comfortable to wear.  The price starts at around $35.

While talking about wireless phone accessories, there is more ways than headsets if you want to go wireless.  Cords always create clutter and there are ways to make charging your phones and MP3 players at the same time easier.  The Duracell myGrid is the answer to making charging simple.  It is a power pad that can charge up to four different devices at once.  You find a charging sleeve or charging clip that fits your phone and lay it on the pad to charge.  The starter kit price is a little high starting at around $68, but in the end will save a lot of hassle.

New technology comes out every year and is hard to keep up with.  There are many ways to make life simpler as listed above.  Whether you are the person who barely uses their phone or the person who’s whole life depends on the phone in their hand, these suggestions will help.  For the people who can’t wait for new technology to come out, don’t worry, the wait is finally over.

-Connor Buckley