The Patriot News

By Aena I. People are fighting wars all over the world. Whether the disputes are about land, religion, or politics, innocent people are getting caught in the crossfire. Why must so many lives be lost over such trivial and insignificant disagreements?  Right now, there are so many crises happening in the Middle East, especially Syria. ISIS, a bloodthirsty terrorist group is trying to gain power in the country, and civilians are fleeing in search of safety and opportunity. Their goal is to create division and chaos all over the world. No religion teaches killing, ISIS is fueled by evil, not Islam. According to CNN, a Syrian becomes a refugee every 15 seconds and the number of refugees rose from 230,671 to over 2 million in a year. There has been an increase of nearly 1.8 million people over the past 12 months. Additionally, 4.25 million people have been displaced. UNHCR said, "more than 6 million people have been torn from their homes in the country. More Syrians are now for...

By Ishita A. What is the first thing you think of when it comes to computer programming? Google? Facebook? Microsoft? Call of Duty? Some guy from IT? Well these are just a very tiny fraction of the vast connections to computer programming. Almost everything in our life is programmed to serve a specific function: cars, laptops, cell phones, televisions, the Internet, and none of us would want to live without them. Starting December 9th, the Wappingers Central School District has been hosting the Hour of Code. This program was started two years ago in January by Hadi Patrovi who believes that coding is an important tool for children to learn and understand. The Hour of Code is a voluntary hour long program to encourage students from elementary school and up to pursue computer programming by exposing them to the field through step-by-step tutorials and coding exercises. There were tutorials with Minecraft, Flappy Bird, Star Wars, and Artist. After completing the tasks, students were...

By Kinza A. The 21st century a time where everyone’s views on society are changing more and more rapidly than ever, where America is making history on its own. The LGBT community has been dealing with issues for many decades. The term “homophobia” became very popular in the ‘60s until people couldn’t take hiding their identities anymore. They couldn’t take being ashamed of themselves. Stonewall Uprising is known as a major turning point in the modern gay civil rights movement in the United States and all around the world. Up until the 1960s, the act of homosexuality was an act of crime and was punishable. Homosexuality was seen as so abnormal that doctors tried to find a cure for it. They thought being gay was a disease. Homosexual people were turning themselves in because they thought something was wrong with them. Children attended school assemblies to be taught that this kind of act was forbidden and not accepted. But on June 28th, 1969, the police raided the Stonewall Inn, a very p...