I am part of Ballet Folklorico Tapatio, a Mexican dance group that is celebrating 25 years of dance. I started dancing when I was 7 years in 2020, and I still dance today. My mom got me into dancing. I wanted to quit right away because I thought I wouldn’t have any fun, but my mom kept me going. I eventually became better and I was finally confident in myself. I told myselfthat I was good enough!

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There’s a weed that has invaded our desert, and it’s called buffelgrass. Each plant lives for 20 years and grows 5,000 seeds a year. In its lifetime, it can grow 200,000 seeds in all. It was brought here from Africa in the 1930s by the farming industry to help feed cattle and control erosion.

However, buffelgrass is the villain to our native land. It fights plants for their water, nutrients and sunlight. Even if it gets caught in a fire, it can grow back while the native plants cannot. Buffelgrass can burn the size of a football field in only three minutes.

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“The Nutcracker” is a ballet that has been around since 1892, with music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It is about a girl named Clara who gets a nutcracker for Christmas from her godfather, a toymaker. It turns out that the nutcracker is a prince, and he takes Clara on adventures in his home, Toyland. But, they must stand up against the Rat King. Complete with beautiful costumes and dance numbers, this ballet is a masterpiece.

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“Under the Desert Skies: The Stinky, Curious, and Disgusting'' is a children's book about animals that live in the Sonoran Desert. Illustrated in a crafty and charming paper cut mosaic style, this book was written and illustrated by Ana Lewis and her sister-in-law, Corinne Lewis. Ana Lewis’s grandson who “loved books” inspired it.

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 Do you know what an Eagle Scout is? Well, the Young Reporters were able to interview Esai Aviles recently, and he told us all about Eagle Scouts.

A couple of facts about Scouts most people may not know is that there is a lot of charity involved and helping the community. Less than 10% of Boy Scouts achieve the highest rank of an Eagle Scout.

Esai was a Young Reporter for six or seven years and he’s been an Scout for about eight years. He first started as a Cub Scout when he was in first grade because his mom signed him up and he wanted to have fun with friends.

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I was lucky enough to interview author Katherine Applegate. She is the author of “The One and Only Ivan,” “The One and Only Bob” and her most recent book is “Odder.” “Odder” is about the life of an otter and the struggles she faces. A fun fact I learned from Applegate: otters sleep a lot.

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 It was a cloudy, rainy day when my family and I visited the new Children’s Museum at Tohono Chul. Luckily, the pauses in rain allowed us to follow the small bug signs easily through the gardens. I didn’t realize that the museum would be at the end of the gardens, but they were so beautiful to walk through, especially with all the rain, it didn’t seem far.

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