Thanks prof!

For most of us, the SAT is like a dark cloud waiting to close in over our futures, taking hours of preparation and countless study sessions. Then, there’s the plethora of vocabulary you have to know for the writing section. An online tool called Professor Word can help you learn more words in an easier way. Students are always connected to the Web, sometimes even getting our news, so we should be right at home with Professor Word, which recognizes more than 5,000 SAT/ACT words in any article or story we read online. All you do is drag the “Run Professor Word” button to your toolbar and it’s ready to use on any site. It also gives you the definitions of the words and marks them for future reference. Every week, new articles that sum up current events are emailed to you and contain at least 20 SAT words each. Call on the professor at professorword.com.
- SURYA BALAJI, Middleton High

How hungry for Twinkies are you?

An American icon. A childhood treat. Hostess brand has been around as long as we can remember and now the company is shutting down. Yellow spongy cream-filled cakes wrapped in bright, smiling packages will no longer line the shelves in grocery stores everywhere. Even if your teeth have never sunk into a goopy cream-injected Twinkie or Ding Dong, the fact that Hostess baked goods won’t be a staple on grocery shelves is unimaginable.

Although you may no longer pick up Wonder Bread or Twinkies at grocery stores or Hostess Outlets, if you’re really desperate for a Hostess fix, greedy eBay entrepreneurs are offering your faves, for a pretty price:
• Twinkies (1 box plus 5 individual packs) $21,000,000
• Ding Dongs (1 box) $50,000
• Sno Balls (1 individual package) $10,000
• Wonder Bread (12 loaves) $9,999
- ANGELINA DEVINCENZO, East Lake High

And the beards are in!

No Shave November, when guys and girls drop the razors and embrace laziness by growing out their facial and leg hair, is almost over. Look around you, do you see more hirsuteness than usual? Maybe it’s because of NSN.

Also celebrated during November was the equally furry event known as Movember, where dudes honed their finest mustaches in order to raise awareness for prostate and testicular cancer.
- GABRIELLE CELESTE, Palm Harbor University High

Elephants at the buffet

You may have thought your Uncle Earl ate a lot on Thanksgiving, but you’ve not seen an appetite until you watch the stars of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus feast on a grand breakfast of pumpkins, fruit, bread and other holiday treats. Lined up holding each other’s tails with their trunks, the elephants decked out in their festive headpieces munched their brunch Thanksgiving morning with a crowd of families and camera flashes. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s new show, Built to Amaze, runs at the Tampa Bay Times Forum Jan. 2-6 and will feature tigers, aerialists, clowns and, of course, the elephants.
- ELLEN PHAM, Chamberlain High