J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 1 | I S S U E 3 | V O L U M E 1

UNDERSTANDING UNDERSTANDING THE GROWNUPSTHE GROWNUPS

The World’s Largest Animal

Dreams are Weird... READ MORE ON PAGE 1

What could it be?

Dreams are WeirdBy: Nayonika Banerjee

Dreaming is a magical experience of images, ideas and emotions occurring in our mind while we are asleep. From flying over oceans to falling off cliffs, in our dreams, anything can be possible. The options are seemingly ENDLESS! But why do we even dream? Well, the answer to that great question is pretty simple… we don’t know. Fortunately we have a few theories as to why! The first theory was created by a psychologist named Antti Revonsuo. He thought dreams were a sort of visual training, so we could improve our responses to potential threats. On the other hand, Sigmund Freud, a neurologist, thought dreams were our subconscious telling us how we really felt. For example, he thought

dreams of falling meant we have experienced failure sometime recently. Unfortunately, a lot of the interpretations he made of our dreams have no evidence to back them up. Let’s move on to the biological side of dreams. We see the things we do during dreams because neurons begin firing in our primary visual cortex. Neurons are nerve cells that carry electrical messages around your body. More on the emotional side, sleep expert Dr. Michio Kaku says when you dream, the logical thinking parts of your brain are turned off! In fact, it is our emotional brain in charge while we sleep. Therefore emotions like fear and love are the reasons for your crazy dreams. While we may not know yet why we dream, sleep researcher Dr. Patrick

McNamara says progress is being made every day towards the deeper meaning of our dreams which means that one day we will know the deeper meaning behind our dreams. Until then, you can try keeping a dream journal and figuring out your dreams! We may not know why we dream, but we do know that it is very cool… and very weird.

theories: an explanation for why things work or how things hap-pen.

threats: something that could harm you

subconscious: the part of a per-son’s mind that has ideas, feelings, etc... that the person is not aware of

primary visual cortex: a fancy name for the part of our brain responsible for seeing

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Study Skills By: Shreya Bhatia

Studying for tests is a skill that matters throughout school. The older you get, the harder your tests will be. Here are some tips to help you tackle tests! The first thing you want to do is to organize your studying space. Studies show that the more disorganized you are, the less you’ll be able to concentrate. Next, write down all the subjects you need to study for and prioritize them. Most of the time, you want to study for your hardest or longest test first so that you won’t run out of motivation. After you organize and prioritize, look back on the material that will be on the test. Go back over your notes and old quizzes on the subject, and if your teachers gave you study guides be sure to use them. Try rewriting your notes, making flashcards, and creating easy ways to remember things during your test. Other tips include repeating

your notes and study material out loud, studying with your friends, and highlighting important information only. It’s important to try a variety of different study methods so that you can figure out which ones work best for you. Oftentimes studying for a long period of time leads to boredom and a loss of focus, so it is good for you to take breaks during your study period. For example, the Pomodoro method suggests a five-minute break every 20 minutes. It is also important to get a good night of rest before your test day. When you stay up late, you’ll be really tired and will not recall as much information as you may have memorized. Studies show that a good night’s sleep of at least eight hours will help you remember information you have gone over. Plus, it will help you feel refreshed and ready to take on the test! Getting stressed for a test is completely normal, but studying for a test is absolutely essential to getting good grades. With the right study habits, anyone can do well on tests!

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The Presidential Inauguration The presidential inauguration is an event that happens every four years whenever a new presidential term begins. The inauguration lands on January 20th of the year after the election. Trump is in a period now which is sometimes called the “lame-duck period.” This is the period of time between the election and the inauguration of another candidate, as Trump now only has a few weeks left in office.

The presidential inauguration is a ceremonial event and is looked forward to by many Americans across the country.The inauguration takes place in front of the U.S Capitol Building in Washington D.C. Along with the public, the vice president, Congress, Supreme Court justices and military officers attend.

By: Keshav Sagi

A lot happens during the inauguration. The main event is the president and the vice president being sworn into office. This year, that honor goes to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. There is a bunch of security at this event. Not only is the Secret Service there to protect the president, but the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Protective Services, Armed Forces, Capitol Police, and many other agencies are there to protect the public and the rest of the government officials. The amount of people paying attention to this spectacular event has slowly increased throughout the decades. Way back in 1829, Andrew Jackson spoke to only about 10,000 people at his inauguration. However, during our most recent presidential inauguration in 2017, around 160,000 citizens showed up, along with 30 million watching on their television and another 6 million people watching on Twitter worldwide. This event only happens once every four years, so make sure to tune in if you can!

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The American Enterprise SystemBy: NCHS AEP Team

Don’t get bogged down in the big words, the American Enterprise System (AES) is really quite simple. The AES represents the ideas that drive business in the United States. Both a major corporation like Amazon and a neighborhood lemonade stand are examples of business. Both are affected by the AES. Today, we’ll explore an extremely important principle that makes up the AES: competition. Competition is an important component of the AES. When you go to the mall, there are lots of choices. Wouldn’t it be strange if the only shoes sold were Adidas shoes? If only one company sold shoes, there would be bigger problems than just a lack of variety. That company would be able to make the prices as high as they wanted

because if you wanted a pair of shoes you would be forced to buy from them! The company would not have any incentive to make a high-quality product. The solution is competition. When several companies are making the same product, each will be competing to try and make the best product possible. One could visualize business like a race. Each participant (company) will do everything they can to beat those around them. However, if there is only one runner competing, that competitor will win regardless of how fast or slow they run. When there is no competition, there is no incentive to run fast. Similarly, competition in business encourages each company to provide the best product.Due to competition, companies

will also want to make their prices affordable in addition to improving their production quality. If the quality of the product is too low or the price is too high, people will just buy from another shoe store instead. It seems simple, but not every country promotes competition in business. Next time you go to the store to choose between items or set up a lemonade stand, be thankful that you have the opportunity to do so!

incentive: a reason to do something.

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The Magic Behind Calenders

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The calendar, a device used to keep track of divisions of time, has been used for centuries. Past generations of humans looked up to the skies and found recurring patterns to keep track of time. This practice caused the rise of lunar (moon) and solar (sun) calendars. But what makes a ‘year’ a year? The solar calendars that we use today determine the a year by the amount of time it takes for the Earth to revolve around the sun. The Earth travels in an elliptical orbit, which is a fancy word for big oval. Due to this, at different times, the Earth is closer or farther away from the sun. The calendar we use today has evolved from the Roman 10-month solar calendar. This calendar had all of the months we have today with the exception of July and August. If you think about the names of our months, this makes sense. For example, October, which used to be the 8th month, has the prefix “oct” (like octopus) which means eight. However, the dictator of the Roman Empire - Julius Caesar - introduced the 12 month calendar.This calendar introduced two months. July, named

after Julius himself and August which was named after his adopted son Augustus. After astronomers found an even more precise measurement of the length of a year, a few changes were made. In 1582, the final version of the calendar was published, called the Gregorian reform. Learning about the calendar has shown us its diverse history, from ancient astronomers to dictators in Rome. Our calendar has gone through several changes to become what it is today, and we couldn’t be happier!

By: Avani Rai

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The World’s Largest Animal...

By: Aditya Chalasani

When most people are asked to name the largest animal in the world, they might think of an elephant. However, there is an animal that weighs as much as 33 elephants put together: the blue whale. This animal can grow up to 105 feet and can weigh up to 200 tons. Even at birth, the calves of blue whales can weigh up to 3 tons and extend up to 25 feet long - the length of a school bus. The blue whale has a flat head and big triangular fins. To support its large size, the blue whale’s heart is the size of a car. It is also a carnivore, and its large tongue helps it swallow krill ( small crustaceans). Another unique quality the blue whale has is very good hearing. This is important because the whale needs to communicate with other blue whales that could be up to a thousand miles away. Blue whales communicate by whistling and other sounds. The blue whale also needs

good hearing to navigate in the ocean using sonar. Although the blue whale is a fascinating animal, it is sadly endangered. People started hunting blue whales for whale oil in the 1900s, and about 360,000 blue whales were killed until 1966 when they began receiving some protection from the International Whaling Commission. Sadly, blue whales still did not have any major growth in the population, as it was too late by then. Blue whales also suffered from killer whale and shark attacks and even ship accidents. All of this has decreased the blue whale population to only about 10,000-25,000 whales. Organizations such as WWF are doing the best they

can to preserve the blue whale population. WWF is tracking the feeding sites of blue whales and making sure that they are protected from threats like salmon farms or wild caught fisheries. You can also help by adopting a whale on the WWF website!

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https://www.worldwildlife.org/https://www.worldwildlife.org/

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DO YOU WANT TO

BE IN UTG?

ALL you have to do is answer the prompt: what is your new year’s resolution?

- submissions can be drawings OR short paragraphs

- email submissions to:

UTGinitiative@gmail.com

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MEET THE EDITORS

Name: Ellie Stephan

Grade: 12th

Position: Committee

Chair of Read to Succeed

Name: Avani Rai

Grade: 10th

Position: Editor-In-Chief

Name: Lineeth Sareddy

Grade: 12th

Position: Committee

Chair of Read to Succeed

Name: Ronith Dasari

Grade: 12th

Position: Committee

Chair of Read to Succeed

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Name: Nayonika Banerjee

Grade: 11th

Position: Editor-In-Chief

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About FBLAFBLA is the high school division of Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda, Inc. FBLA helps high school students prepare for careers in business through academic competitions (FBLA Competitive Events), leadership development, and educational programs.