Dear Chamblee Students,
    Imagine going on summer break, coming back to school for a week, and right as you're getting into the school flow, you are told that you will no longer have any teachers and that school is out for an indefinite time.
    About 30,000 Chicago teachers decided to put down their dry erase markers and pick up pickett signs and their union shirts. The teachers refused to work until they got higher pay, better working conditions and job security. Little did they know, that they weren''t the only ones being affected. Children, parents, and the economy were also being affected by their strikes. We oppose the strike because of three things: the children, the parents and the economy.
    Chicago children were forced to stay home or be home-schooled instead of having the proper in-school education. Sure, this was a brilliant thing for most Chicago students because we're pretty sure no one was ready to go back to school. However, "extended summer break" is going to cost them. How will they make up lost school days? How will they catch back up to the rest of the United States, who's students have mostly been in school for a few weeks to a month now? Even the younger generations after this one will be affected, the teachers will have to continue from the place where the students left off last year, and if their place is a month or two behind the rest of the country, they will stay a month or two behind the rest of the country. One solution is to have the students in school for a longer time period, most likely taking away the students' summer break for next year. We don't believe the students went on strike, the teachers did. So, why should the students have their summers taken away for their teacher's problems? Students aren't the only ones affected by the strikes. Who has to take care of the children during the day while they should be in school? The parents.
     The parents must have had to work, and some have children who are five and six years old. Most parents in their right minds didn't leave young kids home alone, so they were forced to take off of work to take care of their children. The parents of older children felt as though they could leave them home alone, however the kids weren't going to stay inside all day. They were doing what kids do; go outside and play. Some didn't have friends to play with, so they'd be meandering around in the streets.  Once the parents took off of work, they lost money. This leads into our next point: The economy will also be affected in the future.
     When a parent has to take off from work, they will, of course, lose money for the time that they spent off. Once they lose money, the bills get hard to pay. Once bills get hard to pay, the unnecessary things that parents usually buy, such as toys, junk food, music, etc., will be crossed off lists to buy. Therefore, big and small business will lose money. Once a business loses money, they lay-off or even fire workers. Once workers are fired, their bills will soon be piled up sky high and the cycle will repeat itself. 
     The teachers should have thought about the children before striking and could have resolved their issues over the summer, that way no child would've been affected. Think about it, would you want to be behind the rest of the country? Would you want your parents to struggle to make ends meet just because you weren't in school? We don't think so, and we're pretty sure you don't either. 
                                                                       Sincerely,
                                                                        Ila Wilborn, Andrea Williams, Demarr Rice, Nina Funk, and Chelsea Pope

What is your favorite sport? What skills are needed to become an elite athlete in that sport? 
What if I told you that you were born with your money maker.? Football is a amazing sport, it requires both physical and mental discipline. To become a elite football player, you have to practice everyday and try your hardest every time the ball is in your hands. Football has many positions, so depending on what you do the skills for the position changes. For example if you're a quarterback, you have to have a strong arm and being fast helps from being sacked. If you're a wide receiver you have to be very fast and able to take hits. Oh the most important rule is DON'T DROP THE BALL! You also have to have the ability to guess what the guy who is trying to tackle you is about to do and then react to that guess. What skills do you have? 

My name is John Brown. I have been in the marines for about 12 years. I am married to a woman beautiful in every way. Her name is Sarah. We have been married for 5 years. We live in a russet brown house on the beach in sunny Miami. Since I have been deployed in Afghanistan, I have my best friend Sam look after Sarah. In late March, I told her that I was coming back home for a few months. She was ecstatic. Three months later when I got home, I was in for a surprise.

“Honey, I’m home!” I yelled. There was no answer; there was a loud silence throughout the house. I went through the lower half of the house vigorously looking for my wife. I shouted like a banshee, “Hello Sarah”. I raced up the stairs so fast that I almost fell. I reached our room, and it reminded me of a murder scene. The mirror was in pieces all over the floor, crimson blood coated the glass and the floor it was on. When I continued into the bathroom, my heart jumped out of my chest. The shower was running, glass was broken, bottles of shampoo, and then a note, a note that was ominous and inclement in nature. It said,

 “Your wife is gone; she will be killed unless you find me in a week.” Once I read the note, I went through a gamut of emotions. My head, a mixing bowl of emotions, filled with thoughts of anger, and depression. I felt that my adventurous life was coming to an end.

Once getting over the fact that my wife has been kidnapped, I called Sam wondering why he wasn’t there. “Sam where were you?” I shouted loudly through the phone. “What do you mean” he said as if he just woke up. “Sarah….and she’s gone and it’s entirely your fault.” I said partly crying. “John calm down it’s going to be okay, we will find her.” He said calmly. “We better, or it’s your head.” I said coldly.

We met at my house, and Sam pulled up in an ebony black dodge challenger. Sam is a intermediating man, he’s 6’2, muscular build, and a Jack of all trades. “So Sam what’s your plan? What are we going to do?” I said. “I have a contact within the Miami Vice; we can go to him and see if he will help us.”

The police station looked like any other station would look. It was a cerulean blue and a vermillion color. The officers were in their standard sky blue uniforms. Sam led me to his friend who was a detective in the precinct. I told him how I came home from being deployed in Afghanistan, and found my room destroyed and in utter ruin. His office, a virtual icebox, was freezing cold. He was smoking a enormous cigar, and it was emitting a charcoal black smoke. He told me that he would send a small team of officers to search my house for evidence, or any signs. “But that won’t be enough, what you need to do is send this whole precinct around the city and find this sociopath!” I yelled. My hands going towards his neck, I calmed myself. He says “Sir, control yourself, we can’t send the whole precinct for one person.” When I turn around to talk to Sam, he seemed to be distracted as if in deep thought. We went back to my house. My house, a crime scene, was riddled with police officers.

Since we got nowhere with the feds, I decided to take matters in my own hands. I returned to my base camp in North Carolina, to see if I can get any help. “Colonel Williams, Sir I need your help!” I said while saluting. “At ease soldier, what do you need?” “I need to find a man who kidnapped my wife sir.” I said warily. “Is that it, this is child’s play for us, we just need a sample of her DNA.” I hand him her wedding ring I found on the floor in our room. “From this, we can find her anywhere in the world.” He says. “She’s in Chicago.”  “Thank You Sir, you’re a life saver.” I said happily. “Sam, I guess we are heading to Chicago.” When I said this Sam’s face looked very worried. Lungs filling with blood, I fell to the ground.

When I woke up, I was in a room black as space and cold as Alaska. Then I saw her for the first time in three months, Sarah was sitting across from me. She looked beaten, she had a black eye, cuts, bruises, and covered in blood. Then I heard it, the most cold, eerie, cynical laugh. This laugh I recognized, it was Sam. “Hello John, so glad you’re awake to see this” “Sam, what are you doing? Why?” I yelled. “It started after you were deployed to Afghanistan, I was over your house and I started a conversation with Sarah, she was sad you were gone I wanted your place but she was too faithful.” “So I decided from that day to get rid of you by kidnapping her, and luring you.” He said murderously. “She is a strong woman and crazy as a raging bull, too bad you both have to die.” A man in black came and shot Sarah. I felt like I died a little inside.

When the man came over to shoot me, my instincts kicked in overdrive. My horse started to beat like a race horse, adrenaline pumping through my veins. I tripped him, and broke the chair while he was on the ground and knocked the man out. I took the gun from his hand and finished him off. Bleeding from the old wound, I moved slowly. I got to the roof of the building, and Sam was there with a gun in his hands. We stood staring at each other for 20 minutes and shot at each other simultaneously. Sam dropped to ground, and I blacked out. Two months later I awoke from my coma and was redeployed to Afghanistan. Good friends are hard to come by. Who do you trust?