Price to pay for athletic excellence LEFT HOLDING THE BAG

NOLAN ZILS

JIYOON CHOI Co-Editor-In-Chief

The rollback in February of federal and state food assistance during the pandemic is expected to lead to food insecurity and has led to a dropoff in donations at food banks.

During the pandemic, the federal program for food aide, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), increased payouts to food assistance programs in each state. Until February, families in California’s program, CalFresh, received up to $95 in extra benefits.

More than 3 million California households, including 78,746 in Santa Clara, receive food assistance through CalFresh, a number that jumped during the pandemic and has remained there.

After March, households would no longer receive these extra funds. A typical family will stand to lose an average of $200 a month.

The recent rollbacks are a blow to area families, who are feeling the effects of inflation in their pocketbooks as well as their grocery carts.

At Branham, a pop-up food pantry in the parking lot funded by the Second Harvest Food Bank has been regularly providing fresh vegetables, milk and poultry since early 2020,

Inside Sports

Exploring factors behind the high costs of joining a club sport.

In the student-athlete culture surrounding the school’s athletic program, those who can afford to join sports clubshave an advantage over those who can’t.. As family income increases, so does sports participation. Global Sports Matters in 2017 reported that 69% of athletes playing at least one sport come from families earning more than $100,000 famili However in families earning less than $25,000 a year, just 34% participated. The article claimed this to be a cause of the expenses to play sports, including club sports.

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Senior Ava Medina, played varsity girls volleyball last season and recently committed to play Division II at Shorter University in Georgia. She said that playing in college would not have been possible without her participation in club sports.

She estimates that her family has spent as much as $7,000 annually for her to play club volleyball, including travel and lessons. This made playing collegiately and getting a scholarship a must.

While she said a few athletes on the Shorter squad did only play school volleyball, recruiting is infinitely harder in that scenario, since club games allow for more exposure to scouts and colleges.

The experience gap created from club sports

Fleming joined the Branham staff in 2014 as part of the substitute clerical pool, substituting only for Branham. When the previous book room secretary left in 2015, Fleming took the position and has stayed ever since.

Beloved book clerk to retire in June

MAKAYLA WU Staff Writer

Bookroom clerk Susie Fleming will be retiring at the end of this year after nine years in a role that went beyond helping students check out textbooks and novels.

As clerk, Fleming has been responsible for preparing and organizing tests, from the PSAT, AP to the statewide CAASPP exams and figuring out schedules for thousands of students and keeping track of books that students need for their English classes.

She said that she doesn’t mind that her hard work is largely in the background and unknown to most, saying that her favorite part of the job is organizing testing schedules and making sure everything runs according to plan.

“Not a single AP exam has fallen through the

Senior Scotty Moore after winning the 106-pound state championship at Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield

Team heads to Vex World contest in Dallas

ALLI WANG News Editor

The Bionic Bruins are seeking to raise $15,000 after learning that they’ll be heading to Dallas next month for the Vex Robotics World Championships, a decadelong dream of theirs to compete at the international stage.

OVERHEARD | QUOTES OF THE MONTH FROM OUR ONLINE STORIES

Moore, ranked sixth in the state, pinned four out of six opponents he faced, including Buchanan freshman Rocklin Zinkin in the finals for the first Branham state championship since 1983.

Math and engineering teacher Barbara Schremp for Bionic Bruins heading to Dallas, Texas for VEX Robotics World Championship

Extracurricular Sports

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Freshmen Erica Kim after her performance for the Korean language class at the World Language Banquet