6th Grade, Minnie Ruffin Elementary School
Hello, guys; this is Roderick. This week, I will touch on the Black History Parade, student profile, and Life without the Internet.
Life Without Internet
This week, many people had outages in cable and the internet. There were outages reported by ATT, Comcast, T-Mobile, and Verizon. Many phones did not work, and many people could not pay their bills because of internet and cellphone problems.
The outage affected kids, too. Our generation loves to play video games and we are regulars on TikTok and Instagram. Most kids say they cannot live without the internet because they love to get on their phones, but in the last week, we learned that we can live without cell phones for a little while.
Most kids, switched to old school when the internet went out. We played Nintendo Switch and board games when the internet went out. We also played hide and seek in the dark and reported they had actually had fun.
When I prepared to write this article, I didn’t have any internet either. Thank goodness it came on again, I was lost.
Student Profile

I want to introduce you to an outstanding friend of mine, his name is Laterius Ballard, Jr.
Laterius was born on September 29, 2010.
As a seventh grader at Martin Luther King, Jr. (Junior High School), Laterius is known for his competitive spirit and keen intellect.
Raised by his mother, Sherra Page, Laterius is growing into a young man of strong character and ambition.
He loves to play Football. He is also a master tactician with a Play Station 5 controller. He has an ability to strategize and execute plays in the virtual world of video games.
With an eye towards the future, Laterius looks forward to graduating with “The” Wossman High School’s class of 2029.
The Black History Parade
We had fun at the Black History Parade last Saturday, February 24th. The floats in the parade were super lovely, and we caught a lot of different kinds of candy. The Monroe Free Press recorded the whole parade. If you want to check it out, you could look at it on the Monroe Free Press Facebook page.
That’s It!
Well, that wraps it up for this week. Next week, I will report about a student profile and much more. If you want to contact me, email me at theblacktieguys318@gmail.com. I’ll see you next week.