Video Game Of The Week

The winner of this week is Fifa 09. Wow, we have a lot of soccer fans at this school. This game has more than 250 gameplay additions and the most realistic action Ever! There is more controlled dribbling and ball control. The players now act according to their physical attributes.

So for all the soccer fans, I recommend buying this game. Also, you can create your own team, be a coach or go out and become a pro! There are many other little things, for example, the experience is now true to life with a referee and assistants. Plus crowds, stadium atmosphere, and commentary with so much detail and 15 new stadiums. 

Overall Rating: 4 Stars

Family Meeting October 24, 2008

It was another good family meeting that we had this week. Mr. Russell began by telling us about how poetry is not just about sad things; it's more about how you express your feelings in any kind of way . After that he read an amazing poem that really showed you things that you didn't know happened in your life. He showed a lot of emotion while he read this poem to the entire school. Congratulations to everyone that stood up there and their pieces: James Willford, Angel Johnston, Cynthia Avalos, and Jessica Merced.

NOW we turn to the apologies. Mr.Madway explained to us that we must be respectful to everyone, because it is not easy to go up in front of the entire school and apologize for something you did. But congratulations to everyone who did. It showed that you knew you made a mistake and you are sorry for what you did. So again, good work!

Dance class, you did an amazing job in your work. And it was really nice to see your style of dance. It is very scary to go up in front of your entire school, but you guys tried to stay relaxed and do the best work possible and you did it was very nice.

Pumas of The Week...always the best part of my typing. Congrats to all of you keep up the good work and get ready for Puma of The Month. And I got reminded by Mr. Madway to tell my readers that Puma of The Month will be held on Nov.7th, which is 1 week from this Friday.

Yes this Friday is Halloween, so come in your best costumes, show your spirit and get ready t0 TRICK-OR-TREAT. Who is going to go ask for candy?

That is all for this week's family meeting post. Congratulations again to everyone who was honored in our weekly Puma of The Week celebration and to everyone who read their poems. And great job dance class. Thanks so much for reading.

9TH GRADE:

NOMINEES:
Julissa Otzoy-Medrano
Erik Albarran
Lavon Verdon
Albert Dodson
Alejandra Rodriguez
Mitzi Perez
Angelica Silva

WINNER:
Julissa Otzoy-Medrano

10TH GRADE:

NOMINEES:
Sharnae Cross
Laura Rico
Lizbeth Lopez
Lance Zeno
Fabiola Ochoa
Lucia Barboza
Mayra Maldonado
Joshua Aguilar
Christian Chavez
Jeannette Munoz
Norma Rodriguez

WINNER:
Fabiola Ochoa

11TH GRADE:

NOMINEES:
Cristal Leon
Gabriela Radilla
Luis Renteria
Eric Jaime
Michael Gonzalez

WINNER:
Cristal Leon

12TH GRADE:

NOMINEES:
Yuliana Maya
Alex Galvan
Chris Rios
Kevin Medina
Isis Espinosa
Jose Pulido
Esmeralda Nunez
Bianca Trujillo
Jessica Lopez
Carmen Ortega
Michelle Flores
Tiffany Silva

WINNER:
Alex Galvan

The First LPS Richmond Volleyball Win

Yesterday, we had our fifth volleyball game. We left during 4th period, and we took the Bart, then we were headed to San Francisco. We played against another high school. The first half of the game, we lost 18-25. On the second half of the game, we wanted to redeem ourselves and really try hard to at least tie with the other team.

In the second half of the game we won 25-22. We had a tie because we won one part and the other team won the other. This meant for a tie breaker, the team that made it to 15 points first would win. We won the tie breaker 15-8. As soon as we scored the last point, cheers spread around the room. Because of our win, Mr. Hatcher took us out to get Starbucks. I think everybody played great yesterday, and all our work has finally paid off.

Go Pumas!

Teacher of the Month

His name is...Mr. Merlino. He is a Biology teacher here at LPS and he has been a Biology teacher for eight years so far, so we are grateful to have him here teaching us (Biology)..duh..

Courtney: What challenges do you face daily?

Mr. Merlino - "Keeping the students interested and making the course challenging..."

Courtney: Have you ever felt that this school has not lived up to it's potential?

Mr. Merlino -"No0o0...! I believe it's meeting it's potential right at this moment."

Courtney: What would you change about the school?

Mr. Merlino - "New building, sports fields, and a bigger garden..hahaha"

Courtney: What would be the best part of your day?

Mr. Merlino - "Doing labs with my students and now, Yearbook Club...."

Courtney: Have you enjoyed your time here at LPS?

Mr. Merlino - "Yes, of course."

The Photography Class

Today I'm going to be talking about the after school photography class. It's their second year and it's also Mr. Goddard's second year. He says that he is going to show his students how to use digital equipment and help students prepare for college.

If you would like to see the kinds of pictures that they take you can go to Google and search for "Pumas Shooter Flikr".

If you are interested to join his class or have any questions for Mr. Goddard, you can go to the portable next to Mr. Merlino's room. He'll be here Mondays and Wednesdays. If you want to see the pictures they take, you can go to www.flickr.com/photos/pumashooters

Mahmood on the NFL - Week 7

This week was insane because all of my predictions were wrong; let's take a closer look at these games:

• Game 1: My guess was that the Cowboys would defeat the Rams easily, but I guess Steven Jackson was a little too much for them; I know Tony Romo is injured and all, but come on, we're talking about the freakin' Rams.

• Game 2: I also thought that the Broncos could score more than 7 points against the Patriots, but the Broncos obviously have no defense. The reason why the Broncos have to score so many points offensively is because their defense can't do their job.

• Game 3: My last prediction was that the Jets would beat the Raiders because of the fact that the Raiders almost never win any of there matches, but the Raiders surprised and I'm really glad for them.

I hope my next three predictions are right or I'm gonna go nuts. OK, that's all I got for you guys this week and see ya later.


Week 7

Is Eli better than Peyton ? Of Course he is.

Buffalo 23, San Diego 14

Chicago 48, Minnesota 41

Pittsburgh 38, Cincinnati 10

Tennessee 34, Kansas City 10

St. Louis 34, Dallas 14

Baltimore 27, Miami 13

New York Giants 29, San Francisco 17

Carolina 30, New Orleans 7

Houston 28, Detroit 21

Oakland 16, New York Jets 13

Green Bay 34, Indianapolis 14

Washington 14, Cleveland 11

Tampa Bay 20, Seattle 10

Monday Night Football

New England 41, Denver 7

Player of the Week

Steven Jackson, St. Louis Rams
The fifth-year running back rushed for 160 yards on 25 carries and scored three touchdowns in the Rams' 34-14 win over Dallas. Jackson got the Rams off to a fast start rushing for two first quarter touchdowns less than three minutes apart to put the Rams up 21-7, and added a 56-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.

Predictions Week 8 My Record (7-4)

New York Giants 28, Pittsburgh 21
New Orleans 21, San Diego 20
Buffalo 21, Miami 7

Video Game Of The Week

Ok, from the votes you guys sent me it looks like:

Grand Theft Auto 4 is our winner.

For those who haven't played this game, well you should! From the past other G.T.A. games, this one is the best one yet. It has new features like music, cars, weapons, and online multiplayer. Did I mention the graphics? THE BEST!  For the online multiplayer there are many choices to play from. For example  you can play death match and team death match. The one that is my favorite is cops and crooks, there are a team of cops and a team of crooks. There is a boss that the crooks have to take to the getaway boat. So I recommend to all to go out and buy this game.

The New Look of The Blog

As you certainly have realized by now, LPS Voices has a whole new look that not only incorporates the school colors, but also completely changes the feel of the blog.

So the question is, do you like it? Respond to the poll below and let your voice be heard!

Voices of LPS Richmond RSS Feed Now Available

We just added a new feature to the blog - the ability to add the RSS feed of Voices to the feed reader of your choice. So, if you use My Yahoo, Google Reader, My AOL, or any other web-based readers, just add http://feeds.feedburner.com/lpsrichmondpumas to your list of feeds, or click on the RSS symbol at the bottom left of your screen. This way, you'll never miss a single post!

UPDATE: Mr. Chun, a former LPS Richmond math teacher, read the above post and wrote in to point out that you can also get the Voices feed by using http://www.lpsrichmondpumas.com/feeds/posts/default. But his big contribution is pointing us to the video below, which gives a simple and entertaining explanation of RSS.

Check it out!

Family Meeting: October 17th, 2008

What a family meeting we had last week! I think it was the most emotional and connecting family meeting. By "connecting" I mean that we all at some time have gone trough some hard times and in a way we all connect. I want to personally congratulate everyone - Estephanie Padilla, Christian Chavez, Eric Little and Bithia Villalobos, who talked about their past. I think it was very brave and it showed they have overcome their hardships and tried to move on. But at times it still hurts you. Tears were shed throughout the LPS gym and everyone had respect for each person around them. And that really shows that our school is a good school where everyone feels safe to talk about their past and present.

Now let's change to something a bit more joyful and that is PUMAS of The Week. Congratulations to everyone who was a winner & nominee. Keep doing the best possible work you can do because you can are really show your teachers and yourself that you are capable of achieving your goals and dreams and having a wonderful in life. No matter how hard it seems, remember that nothing is easy and if you really want it, you have to work for it.

Do not forget that on Oct.31st, we will have the first ever PUMAS of The Month. So for these next few days, work your hardest in school, be a good person and show the staff that you are capable of being PUMA of The Month. So everyone, work hard and even if you do not win, you know inside of yourself you did an excellent job. We are all winners.

That' s about it for this week's family meeting. Below you will find the names of the winners and nominees for PUMAS of the week. And congratulations again from me and congratulations to everyone who talked. So enjoy this and lets make the next meeting even better.

Thanks for reading.

9TH GRADE:

Nominess:

Guilermo Guzman

Mitzi Perez

Erik Albarran

Andrew Bradford

Daniela Saavedra

Alber Dodson

Winners:

Daniela Saavedra

10TH GRADE:

Nominees:

Erik Maya

Luis Tamayo

Jeannette Munoz

Fabiola Ochoa

Jose Rosales

Olivio Mota

Jhamir Washington

Yarida Rodriguez

Winner:

Luis Tamayo

11TH GRADE:

Nominees:

Manuel Galvan

Vanessa Pineda

Mayra Saldana

Miguel Rosales

Lydia Guerra

Barabara Mejia

Winner:

Vanessa Pineda

12TH GRADE:

Nominees:

Isis Espinosa

Ivan Arriaga

Jessica Lopez

Dushawn Waters

Mahmood Algazali

Bianca Trujillo

Zoe Hawk Pratty

Xavier Warren

Esmeralda Nunez

Karen Perez

Roxana Alejandre

Paulene Rejano

Winner:

Ivan Arriaga

Obama and McCain on Education

Today's San Francisco Chronicle has a good piece on the differences between the two candidates' education policies. Read below.

Here's the biggest difference between the education plans of presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama: $18 billion.

By Nanette Asimov

That's how much more Democrat Obama says he'd spend than Republican McCain to transform schools, from quadrupling the number of kids eligible for public preschool programs to strengthening long-neglected science education. Obama claims he can implement his long list of reforms without raising the federal deficit.

McCain's package would add less than $1 billion to the education budget. His message is about doing more with the nearly $70 billion in federal education funding already flowing to California and the other states: giving principals more say over funds while redirecting cash to online schools, home schools and tuition vouchers.

"McCain is really distinctive - his program is minimalist, featuring choice and efficiency," said Mike Kirst, professor emeritus of education at Stanford University and former president of the California Board of Education. "Obama's is more robust, with significant investments focusing on disadvantaged, low-achieving children."

McCain proposes to freeze education spending as part of his plan to suspend and scrutinize all non-military discretionary spending for one year, while Obama has said he would cut costs elsewhere in the federal budget - such as auctioning off surplus federal property and reforming federal contracting procedures - to finance his plan.

The stark differences between the candidates' education plans can best be seen in their vision for the nation's youngest children. While Obama would sink the bulk of his added funding into "a preschool agenda that begins at birth," McCain wants to improve efforts already under way.

"There is no shortage of federal programs targeted at early child care and preschool," says McCain's Web site, which advocates developing the best of what's out there.

To continue reading the article, click here

Mahmood on the NFL - Week 6

Let's talk about The Football. This week in the NFL had some great games and some ugly ones. For example, Minnesota vs Detroit was an absolutely ugly game because Minnesota has one of the best running backs and had about 400 yards of offense but only scored 12 points against one of the worst defensive teams in the NFL. Dallas vs Arizona was a really great game because the Cardinals managed to keep up with the Cowboys and eventually beat them in overtime. Now here are some great players that we must recognize this week:

• Peyton Manning because of extremely dangerous arm
  
• Juqua Parker for running a 55 yard interception against the the 49ers to seal the game
  
• And Clinton Portis for proving that he is one of the most elusive running backs in the NFL.

That's all I've got for this week and I hope you guys come back next week.


Sebastian Janikowski, the kicker,
is the leading scorer of the Oakland Raiders
with 37 points.

Worst Record:The Cincinnati Bengals are o-6

Sunday, Oct. 12 games

Atlanta 22, Chicago 20

Minnesota 12, Detroit 10

New Orleans 34, Oakland 3
New York Jets 26, Cincinnati 14

Tampa Bay 27, Carolina 3

St. Louis 19, Washington 17

Houston 29, Miami 28
Indianapolis 31, Baltimore 3

Jacksonville 24, Denver 17

Philadelphia 40, San Francisco 26

Green Bay 27, Seattle 17

Arizona 30, Dallas 24

San Diego 30, New England 10

Monday Night Football

Cleveland 35, New York Giants 14

Player of the Week
Kevin Williams, Minnesota Vikings

Williams created a lot of pressure up the middle against the Lions and led the Vikings defense with eight tackles and four sacks in Minnesota's 12-10 victory over at Detroit.

Week 7 Predictions (My Record: 7-2)
Indianapolis 28, Green Bay 21
Denver 30, New England 14
New York Jets 35, Oakland 9

The Volleyball Team

As you may know, there are many after school programs and one of those is girls' volleyball. The team has thirteen girls. The members are Eyda, Barbara, Angelina, Araceli,Gaby, Maria, Jisel, Claudia, Michiko, Stephanie, Vanessa, Karla, and myself. There is also a new coach, Coach Amber. We have practices three times a week. We practice passing, setting, and serving. We learn how the game works and how to work together as a team. On Friday, Oct. 3rd, we had a friendly game against the staff members. Ms. Benjamin, Ms. King, Mr. Bryan, Ms. Ram, Ms. Wolf, and Mr. Cristantiello, as well as other teachers, played against us. They won the first time, but then we had a rematch. We won the rematch. The staff played really well. I would like to thank them for sticking around to play with us.

On Saturday, we had an all day tournament against other schools in Newark. We had to go to the Bart station at 6 am to catch a train to Fremont, then we had to catch the bus, and from there we had to walk for 12 minutes to Newark Memorial High School. We played about eight games, but we lost all of them. Even though we lost, we had fun. It was the first game LPS has ever had and we are the only volleyball team out of all the LPS schools. I would also like to thank Mr. Hatcher for taking us to the game and for scheduling some games for us.

Family Meeting Oct.10th, 2008

Did you miss family meeting? How could you? Why did you? There could be no reason why you should miss this family meeting because it was the was WILDEST meeting in the world. Anybody who missed it missed all of the screaming and excitement of LPS classes against classes. Do not worry though, I've got the 411 on what happened last week.

Well, Mr.Madway played We Will Rock You on his laptop, and everyone went insane! Every single class jumped up and screamed as loud as they could because they were representing their class all the way. Everyone represented there colors as much as they could; all around the room you could see: orange, green, purple or yellow - it was amazing!

Congratulations to everyone who became a PUMA Of the Week and congratulations to all of the nominees. You all deserved it and that really shows that everyone is keeping up with their work and doing a great job in school.

PUMAS of the Week went by quickly because all of the classes were just ready to chant away and get it on against there others grade levels. And so they began...The chants got started with the freshmen, then sophomores, then juniors, and finally the seniors. All the chants were amazing and they were all fun to watch. The winners of the chants were: CLASS OF 09, THE SENIORS.
Congratulations seniors you all did an amazing job with your chants.

That was basically it for our family meeting/pep rally. Congratulations to all of the PUMA winners and nominees. And thanks so much for reading.

Below this you will pictures of the rally and as well as the list of the nominees and winner for Puma Of the Week.

9THGRADE:

Nominees

Guadalupe Solis

Angela Santacruz Del Toro

Julissa Otzoy-Medrano

Rocio Maldonado

Alejandra Rodriguez

Winner

Guadalupe Solis

10TH GRADE:

Nominees

Pablo Quintero

Jeannette Munoz

Kevyn Pedroza

Olivo Mota

Mayra Maldonado

Stephanie Vargas

Fabiola Ochoa

Jose Rosales

Jasmine Flores

Tanyka Avington

Isamar Garcia

Winner

Stephanie Vargas

11TH GRADE:

Nominees

Carina Figueroa

Lydia Guerra

Angelina Sanchez

Leslie Roque

Karen Zepeda

Vanessa Pineda

Michael Gonzalez

Jose Martinez

Winner

Lydia Guerra

12TH GRADE:

Nominees

Norma Rodriguez

Chris Rios

Fabiola Ramirez

Cynthia Avalos

Jose Ortega

Abel Henirquez

Daniel Reyna

Carmen Ortega

Winner

Norma Rodriguez

:

New Releases

I know a few new games that you guys should check out.

One is Gears of War 2 that ones hot it comes out in November.

Another is Fight Night Round 4 is a must get, comes out next year.

Last one I know of is Skate 2.  If you liked the first one wait till this one's in

stores. It also comes out next year.

Those are the ones I know of that you guys should check out. This is just something to let you guys know.

Spirit Week - Day 5: Spirit Day

The LPS Richmond classes came ready for the final day of spirit week - all freshmen were in yellow, sophomores in purple, juniors in green, and seniors were decked out in orange.
With the spirit rally at the end of the day and the dance coming in the evening, there was a lot of anticipation for what was to come.

Overall, most would agree that it was a great week...Can't wait until next year!

Mahmood on the NFL - Week 5

Week 5 of the NFL
This week was ridiculous due to the fact that all my favorite teams got beaten; Kansas City didn't even score a point against Carolina, Green Bay lost to a team that has horrible quarterback, and Mr.K, you better be worried because the Eagles are 2-3. I even began to ask myself questions like, "Why is Tennessee 5-0?" or "Did the Chargers really lose to the Dolphins?" I'll probably never get these questions answered, but at least we still know that it takes the Raiders three seasons to win 9 games. Overall, this season has been like no other and I hope it starts to change or none of my teams will go to the playoffs.

Sunday, Oct. 5th Games
Carolina 34, Kansas City 0

Chicago 34, Detroit 7

Atlanta 27, Green Bay 24

Miami 17, San Diego 10

NY Giants 44, Seattle 6

Washington 23, Philadelphia 17

Tennessee 13, Baltimore 10

Indianapolis 31, Houston 27

Denver 16, Tampa Bay 13

Arizona 41, Buffalo 17

New England 30, San Francisco 21

Dallas 31, Cincinnati 22

Pittsburgh 26, Jacksonville 21

Monday Night Football

Minnesota 30, New Orleans 27

Player of the Week

Gary Brackett, LB, Indianapolis Colts

Brackett's 68-yard fumble return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter sparked the Colts' stunning rally in a 31-27 win over the host Houston Texans.

Week 6 Predictions
Philadelphia 23, San Francisco 17
San Diego 28, New England 7
Indianapolis 20, Baltimore 13

Spirit Week - Day 4: 80's Day

LPS Richmond 80's Day was hecka fresh. Really, it was totally icey. Nothing bogus about it. It was, like, rad...totally awesome.

Like, Oh-My-God.

Spirit Week - Day 3: Superhero Day

The man, the myth, the LPS Richmond Superhero Day Winner - Nacho "Santos" Libre.

Obama/McCain Presidential Debate #2

With less than 30 days to go before election day, Barack Obama and John McCain took part in the second presidential debate tonight. If you missed it on TV, check it out below.

Video Game Of The Week

This is a new blog called Video Game of the Week. Here is how it works I will pick a game every week and I'll get some screenshots and a summary of what's it about. This weeks winner is:

Halo 3

Halo 3, is a first person shooter, its about spartans, There is a main one called Master Chief, they wear armor trying to defeat these aliens called elites. There is online multiplayer where you get to battle it out with people on teams or alone. In online you get to rank up and unlock new armor. You can do alot of things in this game for example, you are able to drive vehichles and fly aircrafts. You also can make your own level, you can look at videos of when you played and get screenshots and clips.

.

Teacher of The Week - Ms. St. John

I am Courtney and I am going to be profiling LPS teachers all year so that you (the viewers) can learn more about the teachers that are teaching us in our daily school life.

The teacher who I am doing this month is an English teacher and she has been working at LPS for two years. Her name is Katelyn St. John.

Two weeks ago I went to her classroom and interviewed her, and here is what she had to say:

Courtney: What made you pick LPS?

Ms. St. John: I like the students. When I first came to the school, I met some of the students and just really liked them.

Courtney: How do you like LPS so far?

Ms. St. John: I like it. Students are dedicated and wanting to learn and I like that as a teacher.

Courtney: Will you continue to work for LPS?

Ms. St. John: Yeah, for this year...Who knows what will happen...Yeah!

Courtney:How would you help to explain LPS and the students to people who don't know about our school?

Ms. St. John: I would start with explaining who the students are and what challenges they face, then how much respect I have for the students.

Courtney: What would you like to see different about LPS?

Ms. St John: I would like to see a new building and more resources.

Courtney: What's the difference between LPS and all the other schools that you have worked at in the past?

Ms. St John: PUMA PRIDE!!!! How we do!!

Courtney: How has this school helped you, impacted your life?

Ms. St. John: Well, growing up in the suburbs I didn't know many different cultures and working out here in RICHMOND helped me to view a lot more then I would have living in my home town.

Courtney: So far have you enjoyed your time here at LPS?

Ms. St. John: Yes!

Spirit Week - Day 2: Twin Day

Twin Day was a big hit, as you can tell from the pictures above. While some students took the easy way out with their outfits, others pulled out all the stops. We had Obama twins, Denny's twins, green twins, sport coat twins, Lac triplets, pajama triplets, and much much more.

Thanks to all of the students who really put some thought and effort into Twin Day. To check out a video of the winning twins, look below.

Spirit Week Basketball Games

On 10/6/08 the students of LPS Richmond played a small tournament. First it was student versus student a 4 on 4 match in team 1 and team 2. Team 1 beat team 2 7-4. A different team came in and so did the staff on a 5 on 5 match. The students, as we all know, won. They destroyed the staff 7-1.

Spirit Week - Day 1: Pajama Day

Today was the first day of LPS Richmond Spirit Week, and without a doubt, the LPS community came out strong in their PJ's today! Over half the school had pajama power - flannels, stripes, Winnie The Pooh PJ's, and good old fashioned sweats - we saw it all!

Tomorrow is twin day, so we're looking forward to seeing even more creativity. Keep it coming, LPS Richmond!!!

Family Meeting Oct.3,2008

We had a very simple family meeting last week, but still it was an

amazing time doing shoutouts and callouts. Some people were brave enough to call themselves out, and that showed that they knew they did wrong and are going to do better.

The announcement of Spirit Week was given to the students. A slideshow was shown on how to dress and have fun. Don't forget students, Friday is the Rally you have to where  your class colors and represent.

Congratulations to everyone who was a nominee and a winner of Pumas of The Week.

This week's Blog is very simple because we had a simple and straightforward meeting but we all had a blast. On the bottom of this writing you will find all of our nominees and winners

and again congratulations to everyone. Thanks for reading.

9TH GRADE

NOMINEES:

Elizabeth Vera

Lupe Solis

Elia Magana

Yadira Garcia

Erik Albarran

Maria Rodriguez

Alejandro Lopez

WINNER:

Yadira Garcia

10TH GRADE

NOMINEES:

Soroya Creer

Fabiola Ochoa

Mayra Maldonado

Stephanie Anguiano

Jeannette Munoz

Jose Rosales

Diana Abreago

Stephanie Vargas

WINNER:

Soroya Creer

11TH GRADE

NOMINEES:

Karen Zepeda

Asiah Fuller

Eyda Escobar

Terrisha Ford

Omar Esteban

WINNER:

Asiah Fuller

12TH GRADE

NOMINEES:

Esmeralda Nunez

Jose Pulido

Cynthia Avalos

Cory Tam

Jules Rayford

Ivonne Martinez

Ivan Arriaga

Daniel Reyman

WINNER:

Cynthia Avalos