The Balm that’s the BOMB!!!!!!!!

Photo Credit: Alison Chew

By Alexandra Augustak

With the winter season coming along, you may notice changes in your skin’s texture. The cold and dry air associated with the winter season causes sensitivity and irritation in your skin to become even more evident. Your lips, especially, are prone to irritation as they are delicate and thin compared to normal skin. The cold weather naturally causes you to lick your licks for more comfort, which in essence, is what’s causing the lips to dry up even more. When licking your lips, your saliva strips away the natural oils produced by your body that keep your skin protected, leaving them dry and cracked.

Lip balms are a convenient and popular way of dealing with irritated skin, but what the lip balm corporations don’t want you to know is that sometimes the most common ingredients in any lip balm on the market can irritate your lips even more. Here are some important things to remember the next time you’re purchasing a lip balm product:

Avoid flavored or scented lip balms

Your best bet for buying a lip balm that does not irritate your lips is buying one which has no added scents or flavors. Scents or flavors actually causes even more licking of the lips, sometimes subconsciously, which in the end causes the lips to dry up.

Avoid lip balms with methanol as an ingredient

Methanol is an alcohol which is used in lip balms to give a cooling sensation. In reality, what is producing that sensation is the act of methanol penetrating your skin and stripping away protective layers of dead skin which in the end may cause even more irritation and dryness.

Get lip balms with sunscreen

Excess moisture from lip balms often causes the outside protective layer of your lips to degenerate, leaving them more vulnerable to ultra violet rays from the sun. Lip balms with sunscreen help protect your lips from these harmful rays and keep them healthy.

Other ingredients to avoid that may cause irritation

Lanolin, camphor, paraben, phenol, salicylic acid

Easy alternatives for lip balms

If you can’t find a lip balm that will not irritate your lips, simple remedies such as Vaseline or olive oil can help keep lips moisturized without the superfluities of scents or flavors that actually increase irritation.

Citations:

http://thebeautybrains.com/2008/03/20/is-menthol-lip-balm-bad-for-you/

http://www.livestrong.com/article/309032-lip-dryness-with-chap-stick/

http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/beauty/skin-and-makeup/addicted-to-lip-balm1.htm

Food for Thought

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by Marisa Kaplita Editor-In- Chief

From food drives to turkey walls to delivering holiday meals, Branford High School takes its Thanksgiving  very seriously.  Everyone from students to faculty was eager to help out the town to make sure every Branford family has a great thanksgiving day.  No one should go hungry on Thanksgiving and the Branford Food Pantry along with a little help from the High School, made that a possibility.

Advisory classes collected non perishable food items and money to donate to the Food Pantry, and Mr. Lyons and Ms. Monks took their own initiative and collect food items in their own classes, as well as their advisories, and they collected multiple boxes full of food!

The faculty also had their own way of helping out. Librarian Pam Roy spearheaded a collection for turkeys. Every time a member of the faculty made a donation, their name was added to a board to keep a tally in the faculty room.  This display was just one creative ways to get everyone member of BHS involved in the community.  Their goal was to collect $1000, and they collected $1,245.

Preview

On November 22, there was a field trip to go out and deliver food from the Food Pantry to different people in the community.  Many students took advantage of this opportunity and left school for a few hours that day to do some volunteer work.  The over 20 students drove over to the pantry, started loading up cars with boxes of food, which included butter, juice, carrots, apples, crackers, etc. and frozen turkeys; pretty much everything a family needs to have a filling Thanksgiving meal! They left in groups of 3-7, to carry boxes and turkeys up to people’s houses and then came back to help sort food items or load more cars.

It is important for kids to see the importance of volunteering and the difference they can make in someone else’s life.  Without these deliveries, most of these families wouldn’t get to have a proper Thanksgiving meal, so it means a lot to them that there is something like the Food Pantry that is here for them.

I hope that all the student’s got something out of this trip, even if they were just using it as an excuse to get out of school for the morning.  It is great that the school is able to schedule these types of field trips, and the turnouts are even better. Thanksgiving is just the start of the holiday season and there are still plenty of opportunities for students and faculty to help those in need in the community.

And if you missed your chance to sign up for this field trip, and would like to sign up for the next on in December, you can contact Mrs. Pugila at apuglia@branford.k12.ct.us.

Branford Tree Lighting 2011

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Photo Credit: Emily McColl ’13

The Tree Lighting has been a Branford tradition for many years and it would not be as great as it is without the participation from the students at BHS.  The Interact Club was featured in the parade with with their Harry Potter themed float; complete with Hogwarts castle and all!  The woodtect classes even constructed one of the floats used in the parade, and the BHS choir provided the music to lead the Christmas sing-a-longs.  The Branford Tree Lighting wass a great way to start the Holiday seasons!

Seniors vs. Juniors 2011 Game

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The rain that came that morning made most people skeptical that the game would still be on, but Zeus must of had other plans for these high schoolers, because by that afternoon the rain was gone and the Senior and Junior girls were ready to take it all to the field on November 23, where they battled it out for the PowderPuff championship.  As they played on students and faculty of BHS stood and watched as play after play went down.  They both fought valiantly, but unfortunately there can only be one winner in football…….or not! The game ended with an unfortunate Tie, thus making both teams winners this year.  Maybe the Seniors will have better luck next year, but great job to all who played.

Flash Mob in the Commons

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The Student Council surprised students during lunch with a FLASH MOB to help kick off spirit week!  The dance was lead by juniors Kailey Hassan-Wolff and Briana Williams, both student council members, and were later joined with over 15 other classmates to dance to Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO.

Photo credit: John McColl and Morgan Reed

Want to Help the Hungry? Wear Argyle!

by Meglin Bodner

On November 18, make sure to wear any argyle clothing you own. Not sure what it is? Argyle is a diamond-shaped pattern of two or more colors. Everyone who wears argyle clothing on Friday is doing a great deed. Putting $1 into one of the donation boxes for wearing argyle allows the Branford Soup Kitchen to feed those who are hungry. There will be a donation box set up in the commons before school and during lunch waves for students to donate money; and a separate box for faculty can be found near the mailboxes. It is beneficial to help their cause, especially this time of year with Thanksgiving around the corner.

“The idea has been well received by faculty,” said Mr. White, who took part in the creation of Argyle Day. The idea came about last year when Evaun Boatman and Mr. White noticed each other wearing argyle shirts. The pattern was popular twenty to thirty years ago, went out of style for some time, and is now making a comeback. Mr. White has noticed lots of students wearing argyle around school, so he thought that would be more fun than a “casual Friday”.

Wearing argyle on November 18^th is a symbol of charitable giving. “It’s a show of caring for the needy,” commented Mr. White. The event also raises awareness that people indeed are still suffering from hunger in our town. Be kind by helping the hungry on Argyle Day and do not forget that there are always opportunities to help out at the Soup Kitchen.

A Day at Mystic Aquarium

by Meglin Bodner
Events Editor

Marine Biology and Anatomy classes filed onto two buses headed for Mystic. Anticipation grew stronger as the buses neared the aquarium. And finally, we arrived.

Jersey Shore or Just Jersey?

Many students are now conflicted between the resent change in Spirit week attire for Thursday November 17th.  The posters all say Jersey SHORE, but the announcements are saying JERSEYS.  And what seemed like just a typo, is now the new truth.  According to a Facebook Post by Student Council member Kailey Hassan-Wolff in the group SPIRIT WEEK!!, she says,”dress up day tomorrow has been CHANGED from jersey shore to JERSEY DAY!” and if this makes you heartbroken, don’t worry, because she also says that,” if you want to mix the two, go for it!”

This short notice change up can only lead to a completely confused student body, but in the end its all about SPIRIT, so don’t be afraid to show some!

From Spirit Week to Homecoming Week

By Jacquelin Salg
Events Editor

Spirit Week at BHS is underway.

It all begins Wednesday and lasts until Friday, when it will be capped off by the annual BHS Homecoming Dance. at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5.  When asked about the dance, junior Pompeo Mazzella said, “I’m looking forward to the first dance of the year and I think everyone should go and have a fun Friday night.”

Spirit Week is then followed by Homecoming Week next week, which will be capped off by a variety of events Wednesday, November 23. After school that day, booths set up by many clubs will be selling a wide variety of delicious treats so make sure to grab a bite to eat before you head out to watch the Powderpuff game (12:30 on the turf). For a full schedule of Homecoming Events, click here.

Teams have already been practicing and assigning players’ positions for two weeks now. This year the juniors have a significantly bigger team than the seniors.  The word among the junior class is that they have a great chance of a victory this year. However, the seniors won’t hold back as we saw in last year’s Powderpuff. This year’s game won’t disappoint so be sure to catch in on some of the action.

Spirit Week 2011

Dress up as your favorite (or least favorite) character from JERSEY SHORE

Trying to find school spirit at BHS is like trying to figure out the ending to the final season of LOST; right near impossible! But fortunately for us we now have a whole week dedicated to trying to bring back some pep to this school.  Spirit week starts on Wednesday November 16th and ends on the 23rd and consists of the following:

Wednesday November 16th: Wear the school colors (red, white, and black) to let everyone know you’re a Branford-ite and you mean business!

Thursday November 17th: Give a little love to ‘the shore’ by dressing up like your favorite character on Jersey Shore!  So all you dress code “expectation” breakers, this is your chance to shine, and you wont even get in trouble, because this is all in the name of SCHOOL SPIRIT!

Friday November 18th:  Dress up according to your class:

• Seniors = RED
• Juniors = BLUE
• Sophomores = GREEN
• Freshmen = YELLOW

All students will also be provided with  leis by the student council, which you can wear to the HAWAIIAN themed dance that night.

So, don’t be a bum, show some spirit and pride in your school, and if anything be happy that you get a full two and a half days off that week!