Clay Classic Issue 3, Volume 15

ISSUE3, VOLUME15
CLAY
CLASSIC
INSIDE:
8th grade students use
chemistry to solve
mystery
Cheer
Weaver Woods gets a
new deck
Mixed Media
German students go to
Staatskongress
7th grade science
students learn about
rocks
ISS Above tracks the
space station in the
STEM lab

9
F
Fluorine
92
U
Uranium
Eighth Grade students are doing Chemistry in
science class. Chemistry is the study of matter and
how it changes. Some labs students are doing this
year includes flames, Chemicals, States of matter
and CSI (crime). Some Chemicals students need to
look out for are Hydrochloric Acid, sulfuric acid, and
boric acid. Mr Simon, eighth grade science teacher,
said one of his favorite parts about chemistry is
seeing students do the lab correctly and the designs
that students come up with.
7
N
Nitrogen
in t he
LAB
Analytical Chem ist
A scientist that studies and tests the chemical
behaviors of chemical composition.
Chem ical Engineer
A branch of engineering that uses chemistry,
physics, mathematics and economics.
H ealth Care Scientist
Does everything from investigates genetics to
measuring organ functions.
Forensic Scientist
Helps lawyers, juries, and judges understand the
results of scientific tests.
Infographic by Presley Silverman
Crime of the Century: Eighth Graders Learn Chemistry Through CSI
Above: The crime scene of the stolen lunch.
Left: Darcy Davis
and Rachel
Popowics, conduct
a blood typing lab,
by seeing how the
samples react when
adding certain
antibodies.
Bottom: Kendall
Schmid and
Caroline Marton
conduct the same
lab.
Above: Students have 27 possible suspects, in
which they do multiple labs to narrow down, and
figure out who stole Mrs.Fulp's lunch."I liked
working with my group and conducting labs, to
figure out the mystery," Mallory Crinklaw, eighth
grade, said.
Below: Joe Derksen and his team work
on their lab. "We have learned so much
throughout these labs, like how to work
together with people about chemicals,
atoms and elements."
Above: A tray filled with different types of blood after
reacting to antibodies. Left: Testing an unknown liquid to
match the suspect.

What w as y our FAV ORI TE p ar t about cheer ?
"I like supporting
our school and
practices, too," Ava
Sharer, seventh
grade, said.
"Doing the
kicking kitty girls
stunt," Lily
Franciosi, seventh
grade, said.
"Probably
stunting," Maria
Deam, seventh
grade, said.
Cheer ing at
I nv it at ional
January 26th, the seventh
grade boys basketball team had
their invitational, and on the
sidelines, the cheerleaders
supported the boys by getting
the audience to chant and cheer
during the game.
"I have been doing cheer
since the fall season 7th grade,"
Ava Sharer, seventh grade, said.
She also said she has done a
tumbling class and her best skill
is a cartwheel.
Lily Franciosi, another
seventh grade cheerleader said
she not only has cheered at
school but at the Interactive
Academy and ICE.
"Even though we were
losing in the second game, I still
thought it was really fun
because we were cheering really
loud and being really
supportive," Franciosi said.
Another cheerleader who
was on the sidelines, M aria
Deam, said, " I thought the boys
did really well at the
invitational."
Their favorite stunts they
did at invitational were Kitty
Kicks. Sharer said Kitty Kicks
were their favorite.
While the boys season is
over, the cheerleaders can still
be found at the girls' basketball
games. Lauren Herring, seventh
grade, said she is currently
working on a roundoff back
handspring.
Deam said she is working
on multiple back handsprings
currently. Some of the routines
the cheerleaders perform are
called stunts.
Sharer said her stunt group
consisted of Lily Beard
Herring, Ruby Sal, and Brooke
Ohrvall. Franciosci's stunt
group was Sophia Szymanski,
N orah N owlin, Deam, and
Lily Cole.
They said they are planning
on doing cheer next year.
Cheer leader s Sup p or t 8t h Gr ade Basket ball Team
TOP LEFT: Lily Getchell leads cheers from the sidelines of the boys basketball game. TOP RIGH T: The
cheerleaders perform the Bruno Mars halftime performance. M I D DLE LEFT: ?An extension lib is my one of my
favorite stunts,? says Abby Ye, the flyer in the middle. M I D DLE RIGH T: Grace Fleming and Abby Ye get the
crowd excited during the game. BOT TOM: The cheerleaders do the break it down cheer during the game. ?The break
it down cheer is hard to learn. There are many complicated steps,? Florence Hargitt said.

The sport of cross country compared to the sport of wrestling
Injuries
"In cross country, you can get
injured if you're not careful about
how many miles you run."
"One of the most dangerous sports in
school."
Physical
"Due to the repetitive motions in
Cross Country, it can get tiring
quickly."
"Wrestling is one the most exhausting
sports."
Cross Country
and Track
Coach
Miss Martin
Mental
"The mental difficulty is high
because your always trying to push
yourself to run that extra mile."
"In a match you will most likely get
nervous."
By Zack Weatherford
Eighth grade
wrestler
C.J. Meyer
Weaver Woods gets a deck
Story by Francesca Gobbi-Belcredi
Weaver Woods has a gorgeous pond but no way to
safely access the pond.
That is, until now.
Clay M iddle School has partnered with Keramida
Inc., an engineering firm based in Indianapolis.
Keramida Inc. is going to build a deck that will hang
over the pond, and they are doing this for free.
"The deck will be used to go over the water to be
able to observe the ecology and take water samples,"
Kristen Belcredi, Environmental engineer, senior vice
president of Keramida Inc. and head engineer of the
project happening in Weaver Woods, said
This will allow the students more access to the
pond.
"With the deck there is a huge opportunity for
students to easily get water samples, water organisms,
and critters without the safety issue," M rs. Susie Fulp,
science department chair, said.
Before the deck, students couldn't get close to the
pond safely to observe it. Once the deck is constructed,
students can walk out and over the water.
Belcredi agreed and said that, "The deck will allow
students to see what they are learning in the classroom in
the real world by being able to collect water samples,
plants and even creatures."
Fulp said the deck will provide more opportunities
for hands on education.
The deck is expected to be completed by this
spring.
Weaver Woods isn't just for ecology labs, Fulp also
said, "Students can go out during science, Language Arts
and whenever
teachers want to
take there classes
out."
The deck will be
used to go over
the water to be
able to observe
the ecology and
take water
samples.
"The deck is
being installed
on the north side
of the pond, but
will be built off site," Belcredi said.
Keramida Inc. is donating the supplies, labor, and
design of the deck at no cost to the school.
"There will be environmental engineers,
environmental scientists and a CAD technician working
on the project," Belcredi said.
Keramida Inc. worked with M r. Weaver when he
was still teaching and thought that the deck was a good
way to continue his legacy.
The School is looking forward to the deck that will
be built and accessible by the end of this school year.
(Left) these students are
creating abstract watercolor
paintings
(Middle Left) Students used
different colored paints and
stencils to create their
paintings.
(Middle Right) ?Mixed
media is about being creative
and expressing yourself
through abstract media,"
Halen Peterson, eighth
grade, said.
8th Grade Mixed Media's Abstract Art
(Left) this
student used the
color orange and
flying as their
inspiration
(Right) "My
inspiration was
the color green
and nature,"
Claire Noggle,
eighth grade,
said.

Ger man Histor y
Show ed On The
Alpine Hor n
Eighth Grade German
Students Head Off to
Staatskongress
Story by Alexis Martin
Coming up soon, German students are able to
go on a fun and exciting trip to Ball State
University to learn about culture and other German
aspects at Ball State University.
While at Ball State, Clay's German students will
learn about food, dancing, and other aspects that
intrigue their interests. Olivia Stock, an eighth
grader interested in going on the German trip, said
that there will be rotations that students can go
through to learn about different aspects.
Stock also said that the choice is theirs and they
can choose what section of German culture they
would like to learn about.
She said she chose
German because it is such a fun
language to learn and she
enjoys learning about its
culture.
Sophie M ullins, also an
eighth grader interested in the
trip, said that she is most
excited to learn about the food.
M ullins said she is doing well in
German right now, and thinks
this is a good opportunity for
students to learn more about the language and its
people.
She also said that she plans on taking German in
high school, along with Kat Fresen, another eighth
grader. Fresen wants to be able to talk to her
relatives fluently, because her dad was born in
Germany.
Fresen said that she enjoys German class
because of the fun things they do and the
friendships she has made.
The German trip is in late February and
students are excited about the trip.
This opportunity to go to Ball State is a fun and
interesting way to learn more about German culture
and the language itself, while extending their
knowledge they've learned during their German I
class.
"Each grade is playing between two to three pieces. The sixth graders are
playing a piece called 'Big Rock Candy Mountain,' the seventh graders
are playing a piece called 'Blue Mountain,' and the eighth graders are
playing a piece called 'Ghost Carnival.'" Mr. Frizzi said.
Orchestra Prepares For ISSMA
"ISSMA stands for Indiana State School MusicAssociation," Mr.Frizzi said. " It's the governing
body of all musiccontests in Indiana."
" Clay Middle School
has 50 solos, duos,
trios, and ensembles
going." Justine Wang,
Claire Noggle, and
Teresa Yu are one of
the trios going to
ISSMA. Mr. Frizzi
said he is very excited
for this year's ISSMA
contest.

Seventh graders spend time at the Indiana State
Museum during a grade-wide field trip.
Seventh graders learn
how to identify three
rock types in science
Ava Hanna, seventh grade, draws a
picture of the Sedimentary rock
stage.
Story by Josh Calvert
Seventh grade science students are learning
about the rock cycle right now. Katie
M erryman, a student in M s. Smiley's class, was
eager to learn about this specific subject.
She explained how the rocks are made, and
that there is a cycle behind all of it.
?The first type of rock is Sedimentary,
those are made by pieces of sediment getting
loosely packed together before being pressed
together even more under the Earth?s surface
and becoming metamorphic rocks. Then, the
metamorphic rocks move their way towards the
Earth?s core and melt under the hot
temperature and become igneous,? M erryman
explained.
She also said how this unit is very
interesting because of all the twists and turns of
how to test the rocks, but has tons of
information to contain making some of it
difficult to remember.
The students have been in their rocks and
minerals unit for a few weeks now, and are
beginning to get the hang of how the cycle
works.
The seventh graders are finishing their unit
off with a rock song, which is where they pick
a song and take rock vocabulary and replace the
lyrics with some of that vocabulary.
They will videotape themselves making a
music video almost as a replica of the original
music video.
The students watched videos of past
students' videos to figure out how they should
make theirs. Some students are even making
their own songs, instead of using a song they
like.
Liam Hamidi, seventh grade, lists examples of the Metamorphicrock stage. "I really enjoy learning about
rocks and their differences," Hamidi says.
(Left) Eddie Sun and Noah Smiler reflect on their "3 stages of rocks" group project. (Right) Alijah
Alfayyad, Royce Brown, Liam Himidi and Srikrishna Ganeshan work together on their "3 stages of
rocks" group project.
Drew Seelig, seventh grade, draws a picture of the Igneous Rock stage. "It's really cool learning about rocks
and how unique they are," Seelig says. Photos by Christian Dora

Reflecting Back on First Semester
Over winter
break, I went to
N orth Carolina
and it was really
fun.
-Kyle
Brinkman
M y favorite part
of first semester
was the paper
airplane lab.
-Quinn Conlon
I wasn't very
nervous going
into first
semester. I don't
know why, I
just wasn't.
-J.D. Stein
M y favorite class
in first semester
was gym because
I could play
sports.
-Ty Wellman
Food trucks show up
in sixth grade math
Story By Brigham Forsythe, Jackson Reeves, Riley Romstad
Who knew that math and food went hand in hand.
Sixth graders did a food truck unit in math. Advanced math
students would work with markup and discount to create a
food truck business. The students got to bring in whatever
food they wanted, and they would sell it in class.
They enjoyed the food truck unit because they got to
interact with each other and eat food. They thought it
would help them with markup and discount. They thought
it was very helpful when it comes to running a business.
"Learning markup distribution jobs to different people
and learning how to manage people's responsibilities," Jonah
Greene, sixth grader, said.
"I think it will help me in the real world because there
are discounts and you have to learn about prices and how to
price things," Audrey Schuetz, sixth grader, said.
Different people enjoyed different parts of the unit.
They all had fun with it.
"M y favorite part was selling the food and getting to eat
the food because it was fun working and interacting with
each other," Sienna Aslin, sixth grader, said.
"M y favorite part of the unit was eating the food
because you got to relax and have fun for the rest of the
day," Greene said.
All of the advanced math students had a packet that
was due three days from the day they got it. They each
thought it was pretty hard but it helped them understand
the concept. They thought it was worth it in the end when
they got to eat food.
M ost of the kids favorite part was eating food. Each
individual had their own favorite food.
"I liked the chocolate chip cookies because they tasted
super good." Ross Romstad, sixth grader, said.
"I enjoyed the Kool Aid because it was refreshing. It
was limited though because they two cups." Greene said.
"I liked the chocolate chip cookies because they were
really good compared to everything else," Schuetz said.
Each group was able to pick their own food truck name.
"We called ours the Delicious Donuts because we
didn't know what else to call it," Audrey Schuetz, sixth
grader, said.
"Ours was called the Delicious Donuts because we
were selling donuts," Sienna Aslin, sixth grader, said.
The sixth graders thought it was a very good
experience and thought it would be very helpful when the
time comes to run a business. It was fun and enjoyable
while they were learning something. They thought it was a
good way to learn.
Eight h Grade Ceram ics
Top left: Student cuts clay for monster. "I took this class because it seemed fun, and it is very fun."
Ellie Wilt said.Top right: Students work on adding features to monster. Middle right: Student
uses extra clay to put on features. Ellie Wilt said,"The project is difficult but it is also fun."
Bottom left: Student carefully adds teeth to his monster. Bottom right: Students observe their
monsters. "I enjoy this class because you can create whatever you want," students said.

Wrestling team battles for pins
Gabe Young has his opponent
in a headlock. Brian Rivas is
pinning his Noblesville East
opponent. The wrestlers work
on there pins before the meet
starts. Trevor Gallagher is
sprawling to defend the shot.
Gabe Baldoni is pinning his
opponent. Bryan Rivas is
finishing a double. Photos by
Colin Fettig

Carter uses
basketball
experience to
coach girls team
Story by Jamie Elliott
"Go go go!" Coach Jeff
Carter shouts at players of his
basketball team. H ave you ever
wondered about his numerous
basketball experiences and
memories?
Coach Carter started
playing basketball in third
grade, and played all the way
through college. N ow he is the
head coach of the girls 7th
grade basketball team.
However, he has also coached
for boys and officiated for
several years each.
He started coaching 8th
grade boys basketball in 2001,
and ended up doing it for ten
years. He said, "I liked having
the kids come out and working
hard, and getting to know the
boys really well."
Coach Carter also said that
he enjoyed helping the boys
players improve on their game
and skill development.
After he stopped coaching
boys in the 2011-2012 school
year, he started officiating
basketball games. He officiated
for four years before he started
coaching girls basketball at
Clay.
He has been coaching girls
for four years now and says, "I
was ready to start coaching
again and there was a girls
position and I've been enjoying
it ever since."
Coach Carter has also said
that he likes working with the
girls during practice and
helping them with their
shooting, ball- handling, and
passing.
When asked about
continuing coaching, Coach
Carter simply replied, "I plan
on continuing to coach
basketball for many years. I
enjoy coaching and it's a lot of
fun."
French students learn about classrooms
1.
2. 5.
3.
4.
5.
1. Daniel Tian and EricYang record their French project. They were assigned to describe various classrooms in the
building use French vocabulary. "First we write our script, then we write questions to ask the teacher and finally we video
tape the project," Phoebe Smock . 2. Leah Wright works on questions for her video. "I'm interviewing Mr.Frizzi," 3.
Phoebe Smock and Annabelle Yang type their script. "We have to interview a teacher about their classroom," Annabelle
Yang. 4. Lily Shukla and Julia Bricker work on their script and questions to ask in their video. 5. Students record intro
to their video. "We have to record a video in French about a teacher's classroom," Lea Wright said. By Francesca
Gobbi-Belcredi

ISS Above orbits earth, informing STEM students
Story by Erick Christman
When you walk into
M r.Dials room some people
might ask? what is that big T V
with the ISS Above on it?
Which also leads to the main
question... what is ISS above?
ISS above is an electronic
device that provides a live feed
from the Space Station above to
your T V.
According to ISS it orbits
the Earth and passes you around
5-8 times a day. It is large than a
six-bedroom house, and is
longer than a boeing 777 at
240ft. The ISS Above also
weighs in at almost 1 million
pounds, which is equivalent to
around 320 automobiles.
The ISS is capable of
streaming live video from
external cameras on the Space
Station. From the live feed it
shows views of the earth, and
space, but only when cameras
are in daylight. It also shows us
information screens like orbits,
speed, position, current crew,
and news updates.
M r. Dial has a live feed of
the ISS above in his classroom
that provides all the information
above.
As Bill N ye once said, "M y
most recent obsession is this
gizmo called ISS-Above? I
watch it all day. I leave it on
more than is reasonable. It?s just
a beautiful thing.? Bill N ye,
The Science Guy?
The ISS travels around the earth about 16 times
a day. It consists of three American astronauts. It
also travels in a zig zag pattern if the earth was
flat. It also says when you can see it pass by and
the visibility outside. Photos by Kenny Bruntlett
Clay Middle School
5150 E. 126th St.
Carmel, IN 46011
The Clay Classic is Clay
Middle School's student
newspaper. It is written,
photographed, edited and
designed by the students in
Mr. Williams' eighth grade
newspaper class.
Find us online at:
www.clayclassic.news
Administration:
Mr. Todd Crosby, principal
Mr. Mark Smith, assistant principal
Mrs. Brooke Cole, assistant principal
Mr. John Corcoran, activities director
Follow us at:
@clay_media
@clayclassic