Category: Features

The 8th grade class had a blast today at their end of the year party. There was swimming, volleyball, and all kinds of other fun stuff to do.

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Journalism, Creative Writing and Yearbook students at Bush M.S. entered the first ever Bush Photo Contest. Their job was to capture a powerful photo that told a story without any words present. Some chose to take photos that captured their middle school experiences, while others got more creative with camera angles and unique subjects. Over 30 beautiful photos were submitted, but our winners are as follows: Deanna Sarantopoulos, Ava Olsen, and Brandon Merryman Congratulations to our winners!

Written by: Juliet Solis

If I were to define a hero, I would define it as someone who risks their life for other people, or as someone who has always been there for you. No matter what, a hero is a person who is beyond, a person who does not give up. I mean give up isn’t even in there vocabulary.

And my mom is definitely a hero in all words. She saves me from disasters like sadness and anger, but at the same time, she risks her life everyday to save and help me and my siblings. She works so hard! I sometimes wish she wouldn’t, but she always insists on it.

            So, as a daughter to a hero, I would say that I am very lucky to have one in my life. 

Written by: Taylor Callender

8:46 am September 11, 2001. A plane gets hijacked and crashes into the North Twin Tower. 9:03 am September 11, 2001. Another plane gets hijacked and crashes into the South Twin Tower. Tragedy or terrorist attack?

This event left many people jobless, or without a family to go home to. 9/11 also made things in the United States very difficult. I got the chance to sit down with my father, Curtis Callender, and talk to him about how 9/11 affected him. He talked about how he was on his way to school when the first plane hit. He said, “We were all confused because we thought it was an accident, until we found out it was terrorism. So, then, we all felt afraid, shocked, and sad.” He said many people lived in fear for many years. “The war was emotionally draining as an American and a young person, then my friends from high school started going into the military. Several were injured, and I worried about them.” He further explained how paranoia swept throughout America and the fear of terrorism became real.

Even though I was not alive when 9/11 happened. I still have to live with how it affected the U.S. today. Because of these events, I now have to think about what could happen if I was to board a plane, and also live in fear that another U.S. landmark could be attacked by a terrorist.

The arts are a vital element of a complete and competitive education. The PTA Reflections Contest is a National PTA art recognition program that encourages students of all ages and abilities to experience the benefits of creative expression to tell their unique story.The Theme for Reflections this year is I Matter Because… Thirty Eight of our own Bush students entered submissions in the following Arts Categories: Visual Arts, Photography, and Literature. Of these 38 talented Bush Bulldogs, 5 of them advanced on to the District-wide competition where they received awards. The students earning District-wide recognition are: Natalie Acosta, Hector Reyes-Ortiz, Zachary Hopkins, Alora Macias, and Francesca Mossom. One student, eighth grader Alora Macias, was awarded the top recognition possible with the Overall Award of Excellence in the Visual Arts category for her digital work of art titled, I Matter to Myself. Alora’s artwork then advanced on to the state level of competition. Out of all the entries received in Visual Arts for the state of Texas, Alora received the Award of Merit! Congratulations, Alora, for sharing your creative artistic interpretation of the theme I Matter Because…and for your Texas PTA Award of Merit!

The 2021-2022 PTA Reflections theme has already been announced – it is I Will Change the World By… so start thinking about your PTA Reflections entry for next year!

By: Madison Marshall

Maybe you’ve heard your mom or dad say that they have a few New Year Resolutions up their sleeves. Have you ever thought of trying out something new or different? Well, this student had a few ideas of her own. Although people’s New Year Resolutions can be the same boring old thing, this could be different, so let’s find out.

Everyone has ups and downs, you might even be having some right now. Well, Jolene, a seventh-grader, had some throughout her years, like when she “had friend issues with a bunch of girls, and I was friendless for the whole entire year until I met Alyssa and things just started going up from there.” As you can see, even though things might be taking a turn for the worst, miracles and blessings can prevail. Just like when Jolene met Alyssa, she was her miracle, her blessin

g. Things like that make everything that was going wrong worth it, so it is important to recognize how that can help with yearly goals or even goals for the future. Now, accomplishments kind of rule our lives in a way. We feel the need to finish something which makes us feel better about ourselves. Some accomplishments can be accomplished very quickly, as long as you put your heart and mind toward it. In fact, Jolene has some accomplishments and goals that she has set her heart to and some that have already been earned, “One of my goals was to get pointe shoes for my dance studio which I already got; my other goal is to hopefully pass the seventh grade. My New Year Resolution is to work on my anger issues, I cannot control them at all.”

What if you have set a goal before? However, you might have not completed them yet. Well “there was one, I was trying to get on the senior team but I was too chicken to do it last year, but now, I got it.” Goals and hopes may be difficult to obtain at first, but when you work for it, that hope can become a reality. Just like William Edward Hickson said, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again.” Never let it go past you, fight for the accomplishment, be tenacious. Jolene got scared to become a part of the senior team at first, but the second time she didn’t get scared. She made it, and you can too with any goal or New Year Resolution you’ve set for completing.

Anybody can wish up a goal or resolution, but will you accomplish it? Along with these different points, in the end it will take your work and determination for the end result everybody hopes for. One-step at a time but stick with it. Goal setting can improve your image on life and help you become more successful and by keeping up with that mentality can bring you healthier and happier. Try setting a New Year Resolution for yourself and go on from there. Think it. Dream it. Work it. Complete it. Be it.

By: Karina Varela

On September 11, 2001, a plane crashed into the World Trade Center, causing more than 7,000 casualties overall. Officers, firefighters, and even strangers risked their lives to do whatever they could to save the lives of those lucky enough to vacate the area in which this devastating terrorist attack took place. Alfredo Varela was one of many to hear and be a part of this tragedy, and without a simple news broadcast, it is possible he would not be with us today.

“It was early morning and I was picking up a car to pick up some visitors,” said Alfredo Varela, a 56-year-old man, father to his four daughters. “I started listening to the news and they started reporting how the plane crashed into the World Trade Center.” He decided to turn back away from the city and returned to the office to watch the news. “It was very confusing and uncertain,” he stated. Unfortunately, many innocent civilians were caught in a situation they weren’t aware of at the time, and as a result, countless lives were lost. Alfredo was a lucky man.

He recalled that shortly after coming into his office he called his wife, Hiroko. “I remember telling her not to let [our daughters] watch TV or to put on something, like Nickelodeon.” Not only was he juggling the state of his situation but the weight of caring for his children. Parents, grandparents, relatives, were all dealing with the same question, do I want my child to be aware of this? For many, the answer was no. For others, it seemed crucial to permit a sense of this “confusing” and “terrifying” time. “I wanted to shield them, protect them from the news because there were a lot of horrible images on TV at the time,” Alfredo stated, “it was not the kind of thing you wanted your children to see.”

As a result of 9/11, people across the globe gained an awareness of the state of their country as well as the world. Alfredo now works with international students, part of the reason being the devastating event he had witnessed. “It made me question some of the policies that we had. It also, at the time, made me want to do more to create a better understanding of different parts of the world,” he conveyed. Although the origins of his occupation are indeed quite unfortunate, he works every day to create a bridge between different cultures despite the language barrier.

9/11 was an overwhelming time for many people of all kinds. It made us question the possibility that this could have been all prevented. It left us to decide what kind of life we wanted our children to remember. For some, this was the deciding factor for their future. Alfredo took this all into account when he realized just what kind of event he had witnessed. Not only did it change him, but it changed us all.

By: Rahul Ramadugu

We have many great presidents who have contributed to the United States. One that stands out is the 16th president. He made one of the greatest impacts on the country because he freed the slaves, put the country together after the Civil War, and signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Abraham Lincoln released the slaves around the country. Now it is illegal to own slaves. However, ending slavery was not what Lincoln intended to do at first. Eventually, Lincoln figured out that African Americans were equal to the White people.

During the Civil War, the United States split itself between the Confederate States and the Union. The Union didn’t allow slavery and was the northern part of the U.S.
On the other hand, the Confederate States of America went on a confederate government (a government where states made their own laws). They allowed slavery and was the southern states. Once the war was over, Lincoln just asked to apologize and stop slavery. He put the country together very well.
When battles were very frequent, Lincoln issued a document called the “Emancipation Proclamation.” This allowed slaves from the south to fight against the Confederates. However, the Emancipation Proclamation never stated that slavery was abolished.

Without Lincoln some of us would be slaves, the U.S. would be in war, and we wouldn’t be able to fight for our freedom. Unfortunately, Lincoln was assassinated soon after the Civil War. Newly elected president, Andrew Johnson, took the place of Lincoln. He had similar plans to putting the country back together as Lincoln thought. They were allowed back in the Union if they made slavery illegal, apologized, and made a state government good enough to pass for the federal government. The national government agreed to this and the Reconstruction era
began.