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Introducing You to Silicon Valley MiddleMonthly News

A warm welcome

Hey there! Welcome to your first issue of…the Silicon Valley MiddleMonthly News also known as the SVM News! We are finally revealing what we’ve been doing for the past few months. These newspapers will keep you posted every month until the end of the school year. There will be a wide variety of sections in this month’s issue and all the future issues: cheesy reports, bizarre interviews, crazy articles, and all that good ol’ stuff. But time is against us, so let’s get started already! 

How did we start?

It didn’t just start as Silicon Valley MiddleMonthly News(inspired by the old name). The origin was Stratford Elemonthly News, a newspaper that was just for Stratford PA Campus and was only for elementary students. It was run by Ren Cai and Matthew Fu, who soon recruited Tuana Bingol to be the financial developer. Ren, Matthew, and Tuana were all in their last year of elementary school. Their 5th grade soon ended. The three got together in the summer and continued the company but changed the name to SummerMonthly News. SummerMonthly News went on for about 3 months. Summer ended, and it was time to say farewell to the newspaper company. They were separated into different schools. Tuana stayed at Stratford Palo Alto, Ren transferred to Stratford Prep Blackford, and Matthew who subsided for some time and later returned, went to another school. Then Ren thought of the idea of continuing the company even when they were in different schools. He wanted the newspaper to spread to every (public and private)  school in Silicon Valley eventually. The company started with only 3 schools.

What was our purpose?

Well, most of the schools in Silicon Valley already have a school newspaper but those only include in-campus stories. With SVM News you can learn about other schools while staying inside your school.  From a tiny newsletter company, Silicon Valley MiddleMontly News has grown into the newspaper you read at this moment.

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News Articles

First, we have an article on the earthquake in Morocco.

Morocco Earthquake

By Ren Cai

On September 8, 2023, a strong earthquake of magnitude 6.8 has struck central Morocco, killing more than 2,000 people and causing severe damage in several areas. Menacing tremors were felt in several areas of Morocco from Casablanca to Marrakech, where many city structures were destroyed. The King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, has ordered 3 days of national mourning. Armed forces provide the rescue team with tents, clean water, food supplies, and more for the people who live in the invaded areas. In Marrakech, some buildings fell over, causing damage to the Unesco World Heritage Site. Dust could be seen almost everywhere. A woman was buried under the ground for about 12 hours and was saved on September 10, 2023, by the rescue team. US President Joe Biden and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky expressed solidarity while Vladimir Putin, Russian President, said Russia shared “the pain and the mourning of the friendly Moroccan people”. Russia said this because Russia and Morocco have been very nice to each other since the 18th century when there was a trade in goods.

Zaccaro, Maria & Kleiderman Alex. “Morocco Earthquake: More Than 2,000 Dead as Tremors Felt in

                Several Regions.” © 2023 BBC.  9 September. 2023,

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-66759069

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Our next article is about the recent bombing in Israel.

Israel Bombing

By Ishaan Jain

This is just in! On Oct 9, 2023, the country of Israel got bombed by Hamas. Let’s get a bit deeper.

WARNING: SENSITIVE TOPIC

Hundreds of people died and thousands were injured by the fatal rockets from Hamas.

Who were the Hamas? 

The HAMAS are a group of people into violence. DNI.gov says that  “HAMAS continues to refuse to recognize or renounce violent resistance against Israel and in early 2008 conducted a suicide bombing, killing one civilian, as well as numerous rocket and mortar attacks that have injured civilians. The US Government has designated HAMAS a Foreign Terrorist Organization.”

What are the details?

ABCnews.go.com informs us that “Up to 50 Israelis had been held hostage by militants on Saturday, the Israeli Command told ABC News. They were freed Saturday evening, but officials said an unknown number could still be held in captivity. There is still ongoing fighting in several towns, the officials said.” They also say that “Hundreds of people in Israel are reported dead and thousands are injured after…” “An estimated 2,200 rockets were fired toward southern and central Israel, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, by the Hamas militants, according to the Israel Defense Forces.” 

What happened?

During this time, thousands of rockets were fired toward Israel, and tens were taken hostage. As said before, the HAMAS are an armed terrorist group. They showed no mercy toward their fellow civilians. A few pictures, not disclosed, were very disturbing. Take a look at this picture.

A few facts:

Hamas is part of the Palestine group. There has been a huge war going on between these two sides, and it gradually escalated in 2023.

Coopwb.in says “Why Did the Conflict Escalate in 2023? The eruption in 2023 can be attributed to multiple factors. Israeli governance, perceived as dismissive towards Palestinian calls for equality, played a role. Simultaneously, various Palestinian perspectives shed light on their plight and desperation.”

Anyway, that’s it for today. The war in Israel is a really scary one, and more information will be coming out soon. Currently, the Israelis are fighting the HAMAS.

Thank you and have a good day!

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Now we have another article from Ren about how a Californian lottery player won an over 1 billion prize:

  California Player Wins $1.76 Billion Powerball Jackpot

By Ren Cai

On October 12, 2023, a Californian player whose identity was not disclosed yet, won $1.76 billion in Powerball. The odds of winning this lottery is 292.2  million which is super rare compared to other lottery games. Although this is a big win, it is not even close to the biggest ever win which was $2.04 billion in November 2022. According to the California Lottery, the $1.765 Powerball ticket was sold at a Midway Market & Liquor in Frazier Park, California. Frazier Park is an unincorporated community inside the Los Padres National Forest and is located between Bakersfield and Los Angeles. The lucky numbers for Wednesday night’s ticket were 24, 52, 40, 22, and 64. The Powerball number was 10 and the Power Play was 2X. Here are the types of combinations to win. 

• 5 white balls + 1 red Powerball = Grand prize.
• 5 white balls = $1 million.
• 4 white balls + 1 red Powerball = $50,000.
• 4 white balls = $100.
• 3 white balls + 1 red Powerball = $100.
• 3 white balls = $7.
• 2 white balls + 1 red Powerball = $7.
• 1 white ball + 1 red Powerball = $4.
• 1 red Powerball = $4.

Works Cited

Wright, George. “California Player Wins $1.76bn Powerball Jackpot.” BBC News, BBC, 12 Oct.      2023, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67087033. 

DeLetter, Emily. “Where Was the Winning Powerball Ticket Sold? One California Player Wins $1.76 Billion.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 12 Oct. 2023, www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/10/12/1-76-billion-jackpot-powerball-ticket-winning-ticket-sold-california/71151768007/. 

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We now have another article from Tuana about the earthquake in Afghanistan:

Afghanistan Earthquake

By Tuana Bingol

The third earthquake struck Afghanistan, many days after the two devastating earthquakes in Afghanistan. The earthquake killed more than 1,000 lives and was at a seismic magnitude of 6.3. The USGS reported a magnitude of 6.3 close to the city of Herat, with a depth of nearly four miles.

The World Health Organization is currently treating 100 people in the regional hospital. The center of this latest tremor was situated 30 km northwest of Herat, Afghanistan’s third-largest city near the Iranian border. Afghanistan has been especially affected by earthquakes in the Hindu Kush mountain range, due to its proximity to the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates. The prior earthquake on October 7th caused a big disaster in Zindagi, a rural district 40 kilometers from Herat, turning delicate structures to ashes. Villagers only prepared with shovels and their bare hands set out on a desperate search for missing relatives. Yahya Kalilah, the head of the Medecins Sans Frontieres Afghanistan Programme, expects fewer deaths because people are already sleeping outside in tents. He emphasized the widespread fear and pain, claiming firmly that no one would attempt to sleep in their houses.

“Afghanistan Hit by Third Earthquake in a Week.” BBC News, BBC, 15 Oct. 2023, www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-67114332.

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Interviews

As this is our inaugural issue, and we have only been in school for a few months, we were only able to conduct a single interview. However, we assure you that it is a great read and hope that you enjoy it.

Here is an interview with Mrs. Shah, 5th Grade math, science, and history teacher in Stratford Palo Alto:

Q: Hello Mrs. Shah, here are a few questions about your two 5G classes.

A: Thanks for interviewing me, I would love to answer them.

Q: How do you feel about being in your second year at this school?

A: I am very excited to be here, I get to explore different styles of teaching to make my class more fun and interesting.

Q: What are some tips you would like to give to students who show their best effort for them to do even better?

A: I always encourage them to show their work for Math, so that they know the step where they made any mistake and can review it and not repeat it. In History, we combine art activities so that History becomes more interesting.

Q: What are the challenges you faced as a teacher at Stratford Palo Alto?

A: To keep students engaged if any lesson is difficult or lengthy. 

Q: Would you think your two 5G classes last year were easier to handle than this year? Do you have any insights on how the year will pass by?

A: I loved my students last year and I had an amazing year with them. I also have interesting students this year too. Every year we get new students and it’s always exciting to teach them and also to learn something new from them.

Q: Do you have a lot of grading to do as projects fly in along with assignments?

A: Yes, I have to go through a lot of grading as I have 2 classes.

Q: Thank you very much for your time, have a great day!!

A: You’re always welcome!!! Have a great day ahead!!!

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Credits

We’d like to give thanks to…

• Ren Cai for founding SVM News along with Tuana Bingol as the cofounder and writing 2 of the articles.
• Tuana Bingol for cofounding SVM News along with Ren Cai as the founder and for writing one of the articles and the only interview.
• Ishaan Jain for writing one of the articles and discussing great ideas along with the team.
• Matthew Fu for being our copy editor and encouraging the whole team throughout the process.