Dear Readers,
The first semester of the 2016/ 2017 school year has been a stage for The Student Scoop to express novelties, offering Buzzfeed quizzes, publishing submissions to Scoopinho from Middle Schoolers, and establishing a partnership with our annual Salvador Model United Nations (SALMUN) conference. Much has also been preserved, notably the interdisciplinarity of our articles: Announcements, Student Life, World News & Commentary, and Arts & Entertainment. The challenge of categorizing them is wonderful, because it proves the complexity that our contributors offer to our magazine.
Many times, our writers had to wear subjective lenses to explain the current events that confront, dumbfound, or appeal to them. In the field of politics, “Why You Should Sign Up for Trump’s Administration, Today!!” and “Contentious Points” on Dilma’s impeachment (or parliamentary coup) were soaked in satire. The current political turmoil in the United States and Brazil has challenged our columnists to explain the situation pragmatically, such that they have resorted to more literary language. The use of satire by Renata Prata and Ryan Strong, though, also voiced the feelings of many, who are the determinants of the ballots. On a more positive note, however, as we were back from vacation, The Scoop received submissions that artistically illustrated the sports event Brazil waited seven years to host since the announcement of the victory of its candidacy: the Olympics. “A Game to Exorcise Old Demons”, by Aurelio Filho, captured the emotion of the Brazilians while watching its team overcome a previous 7 x 1 defeat, through a captivating storyline; while “South Korea v Germany - August 7th, 2016”, by Renata Prata, transposed international relations to visual and auditory imagery, as it also contemplated a more distant past. Our writers testified this semester that World News articles are about more than congress and marble buildings; they are also about people.
The High School also proved itself creative and able engage with entertainment in their daily lives. At the beginning of the semester, we were thrilled to engage with the artistic perspective of Ana and Bia Sampaio in their Japan Video Travel Diary. Furthermore, thanks to the initiative of our students, Luiza Rayol and Eike Gantois, we have shared three Buzzfeed quizzes: “Which PASB Teacher Are You?”, “The Pan American School of Witchcraft and Wizardry”, and “How Much Will You Pay for Your Thanksgiving PASB Lunch?” The Scoop was flooded with compliments, and taking these quizzes was super fun for us all! The Scoop continued to express its love for all things Potter in “Wizarding World”, by Steven Bangerter. We also progressed in our academic obsessions with Lua Presidio’s “IB Homework Recipe”. We hope that reading the Life After PASB series; the Music, Movie, and Book Reviews; and a Halloween comic strip -- by Bia Barros, Luca Espinoza, Lua Presidio, Alice Braga, and Raphaella Kaever respectively -- provided entertainment and guidance. We were not limited to student-to-student dialogue as we received love advice from “Shakespearean Ladies”, by Susan Cavalcanti and were amazed by the similarity of our new staff members with famous artists.
World News also actively affected our Students’ Lives. As events such as Brexit and the election of Donald Trump shook our world, students worked together in SALMUN to solve some of pressing crises from environmental disasters to the breakup of the European Union; and The Scoop did not miss a thing. In our “Interview with Team Captain Beatriz Sampaio”, and the exposition of Knowledge Bowl footage, we further immersed ourselves in this competition that overwhelms participants with details to be learned of our global society. We learned about courage in a world where it is lacking from our interview with Leonardo Curvelo. We aimed to become journalists in a planet where journalism is under siege. As we reflect upon 2016 and look forward to a new year, we are proud to engage -- and help our readers engage -- as citizens of this brave new world.
We hope you continue with us in our mission for semesters to come.
With love and hope,
The Editors