Bear Witness - May 2022

BRANHAM HIGH SCHOOL

BEAR

WITNESS

LONG ROADS AHEAD

California aside, more states are putting up barriers to health care and self-expression for LGBTQ+ youth, who already feel marginalized.

Cover story, page 2

MAY 2022

3 STUDENT LIFE Waiting and 10 worrying about Ukraine.

SPORTS For transgender teens, 13 fine line navigating locker rooms.

NEWS What does an effective tutorial look like? Opinions vary.

Bear Witness staff graphic, from Canva stock image

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BEAR WITNESS

| MAY 2022 |

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NEWS COVER STORY | LONG ROADS AHEAD

W

hen senior Lily Mintz was 13, and their family moved to California from Texas. The Golden State's acceptance of the LGBTQ community was a stark contrast to the Lone Star State, which has a history of minimizing their visibility.

Texas in recent years has accelerated these rules, and since 2022 began, more states have been targeting LGBTQ rights. In March, Texas passed a bill limiting trangender youth access to medical care. The directive from Gov. Greg Abboott allows Texas to investigate parents for child abuse if they provide certain medical treatments to their transgender children, such as testosterone treatments and hormone therapy.

Concerned about the direction of their home state, Mintz wrote an email to her Texas representative.

“It just really breaks my heart that we're making it harder for kids there,” Mintz said.

“We're making it harder for people to just live their lives. That's truly what it is. So, (writing an email) was something really easy I could do.”

While Texas’ bills compare certain medical attention for transgender students to child abuse, Florida in Lily Mintz the last month passed legislation Senior declaring that specific discussions of Wrote to their sexual orientation and gender idenformer Texas tity may not be discussed in a classrepresentative room “in a manner that is not age decrying appropriate or developmentally aprecent legisla- propriate for students in accordance tion targeting with state standards.”

LGBTQ+ Florida’s Parental Rights in Eduyouth. cation Bill, or the "Don't Say Gay Bill," as its opponents call it, is the first of its kind to limit speech pertaining to one's sexual orientation. The bill has set off a shift, most notably with the Walt Disney Co., whose executives have come out against it.

OPENLY ANTI-GAY In the first few months this year, 238 anti-LGBTQ bills around the country have been introduced. For LGBTQ teens, the message seems clear: They're not welcome JIYOON CHOI News Editor

'The stupidest thing I've heard in my life' With its vague wording such as “age appropriate” or “developmentally appropriate” not defined, it limits educators teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarden to third-grade classrooms.

“It just makes me really, really sad,” Mintz said about it. “You're basically taking away the freedom for these kids to not only learn, but also to be able to do things like sports, things that we all grew up with and had at least the choice to do. We are taking away the most valuable period of time [of learning]. It's like you aren't even seen as an individual who deserves rights to do things to even say the word gay. That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my entire life.”

“Don’t Say Gay” is not the only recent bill restricting rights relating to sexual orientation and gender identity in the LGBTQ+ community.

States such as Alabama, Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas have laws that prohibit the “promotion of homosexuality” or the so-called “no promo homo” laws.

These state statutes restrict discussion of the LGBTQ community in sex education.

California is among 29 states that have full non-discrimination LGBTQ policies, and 27 states have none of those policies. Four states have some, but not full, protection policies.

At Branham, where nearly 30% of the student population identify as LGBTQ, students say the message that the Florida bill and others like it sends is discriminatory and does not make them feel welcomed.

Branham alumnus Adri Hames, who is transgender, said she feels politically targeted by the states that enacted these bills.

“A lot of politicians, at least throughout half of the U.S., do not have minority groups in mind,” she said. “They have tried in the past and now clearly, they get to wipe them off the face of the Earth. It's just disheartening to see that our elected officials are once again like trying to erase us.”

Feeling targeted and weary Though California's laws protect LGBTQ+ youth from discrimination, teens have said that anti-LGBTQ+ have an effect on their mental health.

94% of LGBTQ youth reported that events around the country politicizing their sexuality and gender have negatively impacted their mental health.

Nearly 75% of LGBTQ youth reported that they had experienced discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity at least once in their lifetime, according to the Trevor Project’s 2021 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health.

“I've come out to a couple of my friends, and they are no longer my friends anymore because of that,” Hames said. “It's not a surprise, but I'm taking it in my mind that most of the country hates me, too. It just hit me at a place that I didn't think would be hit, ever.”

Branham’s specialized academic instruction teacher Leanne Haghighi, who advises the Gender and Sexuality Club, said the legislation passed nationwide regulating how a student expresses their identity is damaging.

“In other states, it's even more dangerous to just be yourself and so (the bills) Abby sends a message even here that it's not Mannina okay to be yourself, it's not safe to be Senior yourself even if our local community feels GSA president supportive,” she said. “Seeing that on a has hosted larger scale is really harmful.” two talks with Branham staff California protections on proper use By contrast California has passed 174 of pronouns. bills to advance LGBTQ civil rights and social justice as of January that have been sponsored

by Equality California, a statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization.

This is heartening news for students such as Lily Mintz, who hopes that the trend spreads to other states.

“To put it bluntly, how the LGBTQ people are accecpted is (something we should consider), and I think there's never going to be, at least in my lifetime, 100% acceptance,” Mintz said. “It's not perfect, but especially with the legislation in contrast to the rest of the United States. you have to be grateful even though there's so many homophobic instances everywhere.”

In January 2022, even more laws supporting LGBTQ rights went into effect in California. Those include ensuring former students' names and gender on their transcipts and diplomas reflect their preferred names, a nonbinary option for death certificates, and gender-netural retail sections in toys and child care sections, along with removal of signs that say "boys" and "girls."

More bathrooms, more empathy Progress is also being made at at Branham, where officials working with the Gender and Sexuality Alliance installed a second gender-neutral bathroom in February. GSA members, seniors Abby Mannina and Izel Garcia, held a talk earlier this semester about the importance of using correct pronouns.

“We've been working really hard to create that space and keep it going because I think it's really important to have on campus somewhere, especially for younger students at Branham, who maybe are trying to figure things out,” said Mannina, the GSA president.

However, there are still aspects Branham can improve upon. Haghighi values the action taken before a problem to fully protect the students rather than after the problem occurred.

“Proactive action rather than reactive," she said.

Mintz suggests an easier reporting system in which there are more consequences to disrespectful students.

“Sometimes, there's a lot of bark and not a lot of bite,” they said. “I'm not here for some corporal punishment, but I hear people getting called the T-slur all the time. And it's just that I don't know who that is. I don't know how to report them.”

Even if the situations are not ideal, Hames emphasizes finding the right people and the community that supports LGBTQ students to push through. She encourages students to stay strong no matter what.

“I'm going to fight the good fight," she said. "I'm going to fight that fight and I'm going to support you no matter what, even as a Branham alumni.”

Corporations take a stand Opponents of these laws, particularly those opposing Florida's law, have not been silent.

Among them is the Human Rights Campaign, an organization that has advocated for LGBTQ+ equality for more than 40 years.

Editors-in-Chief | Jazzy Nguyen and Nolan Zils Managing editor: Tae Yun Erica Kang Editors Art director: Audrey Nguyen News Editor: Jiyoon Choi Opinion Editor: Alli Wang Arts and Entertainment Editor: Nolan Zils Science and Health Editor: Angela Choi Student Life Editor: Reese Gardner Sports Editor: Alan Schaeffer

Corporations, including Hilton, American Airlines and AirBnb, have joined in signing the HRC’s letter opposing Florida’s bill.

Most notably, The Walt Disney Co., which operates Disney World in Orlando, has spoken out against the bill, after some initial silence. In response, the Florida legislature swiftly voted in late April to remove the company's ability to operate its facilities as a private government, which may leave Florida taxpayers hanging with a nearly $1 billion

Audrey Nguyen/Bear Witness Layout editor: Sal McClure Staff writers Juliette Bonacum, Dominic Clima, Amanda Day, Sara Dediu, Ziv Galpaz, Izel Garcia, Santiago Hernandez, Maceo Inoue, Rei Kanda, Gyuri Kim, SaiSahasra Makamchenna, Abbey Rhodes, Tyrone Rothman, Ava Stark, Vivian Trinh, Mila Windell, Makayla Wu, Emma Zhang.

Adviser: Fitzgerald Vo Mission Statement

The Bear Witness is committed to providing accurate, timely coverage of local and world news while connecting these events to the lives of our diverse student body.

Website: www.bhsbearwitness.com Phone: (408) 626-3407 Email: bhsbearwitness@gmail.com Address: 1570 Branham Lane, San Jose, CA 95118

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| MAY 2022 |

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NEWS OVERHEARD | QUOTES OF THE MONTH FROM OUR ONLINE STORIES

“Future teams will look to this banner, to this team of girls as something to aspire to be.

Carry that proudly. " Head coach Heather Cooper after hanging up the girls volleyball banner in the gym after their CCS win.

“This was the first time we've really had that positive feedback of laughing and the energy that comes from that.

It's just a really good feeling.”

Sophomore Christian Winzenread who plays Ash in the"Evil Dead" musical, marking the first live musical production in two years.

Nolan/Bear Witness Senior Sydney Mego serves during a playoff match against Buchanan High School

TUTORIAL

What's the ideal tutorial? Opinions vary wildly JIYOON CHOI News Editor

SAISAHASRA MAKAMCHENNA Staff Writer

rom loud and crowded tutorials with no chairs to F sit down and music playing in the background to quiet and calm tutorials in which you can only hear

pencils and typing sounds, Branham offers a diverse tutorial environment that differs from teacher to teacher or day to day.

From a survey conducted on the Bear Witness, 53.8% of the 26 teachers who voted have talkative, loud or goofy tutorials. When asked how teachers like their tutorial, 50% opted for calm, quiet and talkative with music in the background along with productivity while the other 50% like their tutorial the way it is.

When students were asked the same questions, 64% of 356 students surveyed preferred calm but talkative tutorials, 12% calm, quiet tutorials, 12% talkative and loud tutorials and 13% voted for loud and goofy tutorials.

According to Branham’s Parent Student Handbook, one of the behavior norms is to “Maintain a quiet environment conducive to learning.” Students should “work on school-related tasks, for instance completing homework, preparing for a test, making up work, reading, getting help from the teacher, etc.” during tutorials, and it has a purpose of “providing students with additional academic support during the school day.”

However, because of students leaving campus during school hours, Branham officials have restricted tutorial privileges after seeing nearly 200 students roaming the campus during the 30-minute period.

Additionally reminder of the tutorial policy was sent and certain students were limited to stay in their third and fourth period classes only.

“The numbers have just been increasing to a point where it's really hard for us to control that by ourselves,” assistant principal Nikita Shah said. “It's dan-

LOUD, QUIET and TALKATIVE

36%

23.%

of teachers surveyed say that students are not using their tutorial time effectively.

of students said that they 'goof around' during tutorial, while 50% said that they work on their homework.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING "I like a calm environment to do my work, but I don't want it to be dead silent, so talking is nice." — Sandhy Siva, sophomore

64%

of students say thatt hey prefer a calm but talkative tutorial period, while 13% said that they prefer a "loud and goofy" environment.

"The ones who really need help/struggle do not take advantage of the opportunity they have to improve their subject knowledge and understanding for at least a passing grade," Jovanna Theodosopoulou, physics teacher.

Sources: Bear Witness survey of 26 teachers, online poll of 356 readers.

gerous because they're doing really stupid things like hiding in the boot of the car or running across the crowded street and jumping the fence.”

It also raises concerns for the administrators as the students skipping classes are usually the ones failing them.

“The ones who really need help or are struggle do not take advantage of the opportunity they have to improve their subject knowledge and understanding for at least a passing grade,” physics teacher Ionna Theodosopoulou said. “They do not understand or do not want to understand how much they will benefit from using this extra help and support.”

Even within students, the opinion regarding tutorial is split. For some students, skipping class is a way of socializing and taking a mental break for themselves.

“I feel exhausted and mentally torn,” said a student who asked not to be identified because they had skipped tutorial. “I don't want to be at school all day and there's nothing better to do at tutorial anyway.”

Some students such as senior Lipitha Tummala prefer calmer tutorials as calm environments help

Tummala focus more. Others like freshman Macy Collier say louder tutorials where Collier can bring back energy from a tiring day and consider a time to socialize.

Attending to the needs of a wide range of student behaviors is something some teachers like art teacher Eileen Bertron say takes away from helping students effectively.

“The majority of the time, students use (tutorial) as social time instead of working,” Bertron said. “I feel like I am babysitting (my students) and I could do better things with the time I have.”

Visual arts teacher Jessica Bender suggests alternatives to make tutorial more useful for both teachers and students, but there's not enough time in the day.

“What if there were student-led social or wellness activities?” Bender asked. “What if clubs could use tutorial time? What if lunch distribution could be staggered intentionally? I think there’s potential to use that time in really creative ways but as staff, I think we’re all way too overworked to dive deep and take on another project, to be honest.”

FOOD PANTRY

Food pantry still going strong two years later With more families facing food insecurity, social worker says need hasn't gone away GYURI KIM Staff Writer

or little more than two years, Branham is conF tinuing to hold food pantries to families in need to offer food ranging from fresh produce to groceries

in partnership with the Second Harvest Food Bank.

Parents are able to efficiently receive food at Branham’s parking lot every 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month with the next pop-up pantry happening on May 11.

Run by the social worker Kevin Nguyen, he first had the idea to start the food pantry when a graduate student from Latinx Student Union (LSU) informed him in a survey that food insecurity was common amongst the Branham community.

The program first launched in January 2020, a few months before COVID-19 spread, so they were fortunate enough to have a program set in place to supply people with food in a time of need. Many staff, including Nguyen, came in to the school during the summer to help distribute the food.

“Groceries are difficult to get, and all the shelves are bare,” Nguyen said. “Financially, people are dealing with rent. We want to help with the stress of having to decide on how to manage their money for groceries.”

Between April and August of 2020, the number of families that came in skyrocketed from an average of 73 families up to 183 families. “(The food pantry) is something that we can use, utilize ourselves but also assist neighbors that are less

Gyuri Kim/Bear Witness Volunteers for the twice-a-month pop-up pantry load food for a recipient at a recent pop-up pantry event in March. Now starting its third year, social worker Kevin Nguyen said that language services are needed. able to get here,” said an anonymous person that frequently visits the food pantry. “We have a neighbor that takes care of her 90 year old mother and a husband who is a veteran. The food pantry helps her get food to help her family.”

Recently, there has been an influx in families going for assistance because of inflation.

“They tell me (that) ‘Groceries are more expensive now, so thank you for doing this because every little bit helps,’” Nguyen said.

Ngyuen hopes to improve the program by providing help to non-English or sign language speakers for

them to feel comfortable speaking their native language.

“We have various ethnic families that come in,” Nguyen said. “There was a day when I got tested in Vietnamese, Spanish, sign language, and more.”

Not only does this program provide food for families in need, but Nguyen also says that it allows him to be more aware of what he can do to support families through direct feedback and engagement.

“I'm really grateful for this opportunity,” Nguyen said. “I like to get up because that is part of my goal, to get out there more or connect with your family.”

HIGHLIGHTS visit @bhsbearwitness forupdates

Branham brings six bands to first Music in the Valley festival The World Language department hosted its fourth annual World Language Banquet on March 16.

The banquet featured 13 performances organized by both students and staff from all world language classes. Students and staff also brought various cultural foods, games and crafts. There were cultural side booths including Mardi Gras mask making and face painting.

The night closed with “The Chicken Dance,” which everyone was encouraged to participate in.

One of the highlights of Spanish teacher Erica Marquez’s night was the professional performance done by the ranchero singer Maggie León, who sang three songs. Marquez also emphasized the importance of learning about the cultures and languages enveloping the Branham community.

“We have so many different languages,” Marquez said, “so [the banquet] just kind of brings together every culture, every language in one day, so everybody could get to know the different types of foods that they eat, their culture, and the different types of music.”

— Ava Stark Shift in Tutorial Policy Branham began limiting tutorial privileges in response to what administrators say has been a sudden increase in truancies. This includes a reminder of tutorial norms and a running list shared to teachers of students who are not supposed to leave their third or fourth period classes, which feed into tutorial periods three days a week.

However, students have been enjoying themselves outside of class and find that skipping class allows them to socialize more.

“I feel exhausted and mentally torn,” said a student who asked not to be identified because they had skipped tutorial. “I don't want to be at school all day and there's nothing better to do a tutorial anyway.”

Assistant Principal Nikita Shah said that those skipping classes are also the ones failing them, and she said that they could use tutorial and class time better to make up their work.

“What kind of a message and culture we are establishing for our school where kids are just roaming around and ignoring the adults,” Shah said. “Is this a culture that we want to set for our school? Do you want to come to a school where people just do whatever they want?”

— Angela Choi and Vivian Trinh Hackathon returns In the midst of keyboards clanking, teams having quiet discussions and the occasional rubber duck squeak, nearly 100 high school coders across the district were hard at work at Bionic Bruin’s third annual hackathon.

The event included workshops from junior Andrew Goldberg as well as from freshman Gautam Khajuria and Zoya Brahimzadeh and senior James Gardner.

“It was nerve wracking teaching to a room full of people,” Khajuria said. “I learned more about teaching other people and how to talk through fixing things in the moment.”

Sophomores Kevin Toren and Matt Fellenz earned first place for their product, which reads handwriting and converts it into a Google Doc. By the end of the event, Goldberg said that the event gave him a greater sense of community with his fellow coders.

“I felt very locked in and focused at the beginning,” Goldberg said, “but by the end I began to feel more comfortable especially because I had talked to most of the people and they were no longer strangers.”

— Ava Stark and Emma Zhang

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A history of virulence

The COVID-19 pandemic is the latest in the evolving history of outbreaks, some of whom nearly wiped out large swaths of the world's population. We look at the major outbreaks in history.

Scale: .01 inch radius = 100,000 deaths

| MAY 2022 |

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NEWS

THE LAST OUTBREAK

In 2009, Branham was alone in the Bay Area in closing its doors after a student contracted the swine flu, known as H1N1. The district's approach to the closure then was different in nearly every regard — from its communication to its rollout of school resources.

Swine flu: Easily spread, but not as deadly

In the spring of 2009, a new version of the H1N1 influenza virus — the virus that caused the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic — emerged and began to spread rapidly. The swine flu killed anywhere from 151,700 to 575,400 people worldwide in its first 12 months, through April 2010, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and may have infected over 1 billion by the end of 2010.

The swine flu spread easily person-to-person, just like COVID-19, and possibly even from people who were presymptomatic.

So why didn’t the swine flu overwhelm our health care systems and put so many people out of work? The main difference is that it ended up being a much milder and less deadly infection. There are a range of estimated case fatality rates for swine flu, but even the highest, less than 0.1 percent, are much lower than the current estimates for COVID-19.

Source: Santa Clara Public Health penetration, and each class possessed one or two PC for Internet access.

Since distance learning began, the district is moving to loan Chromebooks, 11 years is a long time in terms of advances in technology and access. and has lent out more than 100 mobile hotspots. In total, more than 800 Curriculum delivery: Primarily overhead projectors, and Microsoft Power- Chromebooks were loaned out to students in the district.

Point. Now, teachers primarily use the Google Suite of education apps, and School communication: The district has been sending twice-weekly utlizie apps such as Quizlet, Kahoot!, PollEverywhere and other interactive emails updating parents on the rapid COVID-19 changes, and has shared formats to supplement their teaching. advisories on its website. In 2009, one email was sent out after the student contracted H1N1.

Wifi access: In 2009, smartphones had not yet gained mainstream Source: CUHSD

Technology and distance learning

Lone swine flu infection in 2009 a lesson on planning and communication ELIZABETH POSEY

Special to the Bear Witness

global virus. Schools shut down. Wall-to-wall media covA erage. Branham has seen this before, but it was 2009, not 2020.

BUBONIC PLAGUE 1347-1351 | 200 million deaths The plague originated in rats and spread to humans via infected fleas. It wiped out 3050% of Europe's population, and took more than 200 years for the continent's population to recover.

The pandemic, known as swine flu, or H1N1 had spread to the Bay Area in spring 2009. According to news reports, a 16-yearold student, known as Santa Clara County's Patient Zero, contracted the virus after taking a trip to visit family in Southern California.

When the news arrived April 28, it was literally hand-delivered from the Santa Clara Department of Health to Michael Posey, who was then Branham's Vice Principal. He happened to be a neighbor of the county health department official, who notified him of the student who contracted the virus.

"The person actually showed up at my doorstep,” he said.

With the district office closed for the night, it was on the public information officer at the time to spread the word via email and through the Branham website. There was no universal phone list then, and messaging via texts had yet to be set up. Though there was a system in place to make a mass call to parents in the district, it couldn't be done remotely.

The next day, Posey and other administrators were on campus to redirect parents driving their students to school. All personnel were directed to leave by the end of the day.

No other directives from the Santa Clara Health Department other than for students to not attend class for the week.

“There were no stay-at-home orders,” Posey said. “It was just ‘stay away from school.’”

Teachers and students who worked at Branham at the time recalled the event as an extended vacation. Due to the sudden closure, there were no assignments given, unlike the supplementary learning and the phase 2 graded work assignments of the current pandemic.

“I don't think many took the swine flu closure seriously,” said for-

SMALL POX 1520 | 56 million deaths Smallpox killed an estimated 90% of American Indians. In Europe during the 1800s, an estimated 400,000 people were killed by smallpox annually.

mer P.E. teacher Ron Smare. “Most considered it a second spring break.”

Athletics activities director Landon Jacobs recalled that students and staff still congregated with each other, just not at school. The tone is a lot more different with the current pandemic, he said.

“Everyone is taking this much more seriously than the one in 2009,” he said. “The majority of people were just happy to have the week off and not have to worry about the responsibility of school work for students, or work for staff.”

The low mortality rate of swine flu (.002%) may have contributed to the complacent nature the Branham community had toward the disease, said science teacher Juan Fernandez.

“Ten years ago, most people didn’t worry about the swine flu,” he said. “The school closed in response to some extremely worried parents.”

Compared to the swine flu outbreak, the district’s handling of the coronavirus in its early weeks involved weekly conversations among the Santa Clara County school district superintendents and the Health Department, as well as frequent conversations with school administrators.

Distance learning has been made easier with the advent of Google Classroom, and now Canvas, Zoom and greater broadband penetration providing the infrastructure necessary. In 2009, using PowerPoint for presentations had just entered the mainstream, and many teachers still used overhead projectors for their instruction.

Branham’s closure may have been a blip on the pandemic radar, but for teachers who are currently surviving their second pandemic, it serves a study in contrasts in instructional practice and in tone.

When schools closed in 2009, “It felt like more of an isolated experience compared to the whole county, state and country imposing school closings,” said special educator Leanne Haghighi, who was student teaching at the time. “I do not remember it being as somber or anxiety-inducing as COVID-19.”

Note: Michael Posey is the father of Elizabeth Posey.

COVID-19 2019-present 2 million

SPANISH FLU 1918-1919 40 million to 50 million deaths Smallpox killed an estimated 90% of American Indians.

SWINE FLU 2009-2010 200,000 deaths

HIV/AIDS 1981-present 25-35 million

SARS 2002-2003 | 770 deaths MERS 2012-present | 850 deaths EBOLA 2014-2016 | 11,300 deaths

Bear Witness staff graphic. | Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization, BBC, John Hopkins University

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| MAY 2022 |

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OPINION A constant state of drought

ildfires. Drought. Hazardous temperaW tures. Climate disasters are no stranger to Californians. They’re constant occurrences.

We need more restrictions and more consequences AVA STARK Staff Writer

Canva Stock Photo

As the scary realities of climate change looms over the state, there must be more immediate state protocols to lessen the effects of perhaps the most common and pressing climate disaster in California: the drought.

For years, especially in the past two decades, Californians have been asked time and again to conserve water or are told that the drought is getting worse with each passing year. Though we should be conserving water and the drought is in fact getting worse, Californians are simply getting tired of living in a constant state of drought.

The 2021 water year was the second driest recorded. Between January and February 2022, the total rainfall in Santa Clara County had a total of 0.01 inches rainfall, a record low. March ended with a small rainstorm, but it won’t be enough to quench our water needs.

Currently, all 58 California counties are under a drought emergency proclamation, and though the drought has been on and off for years, the most recent one started in 2020.

At 47 percent of its average, snowpack in the Sierra Nevada range, which makes up a third

of the state’s water supply on average, has also dwindled in California due to lower levels of precipitation and warmer temperatures. California’s average measurement of snow water is 15 inches, 55 percent of what’s needed by April 1.

This drought is putting strain on California’s water supply. For reference, 63% of wells in the state are at historical lows. Because of this, the state is having to regulate Californians’ water consumption.

In July 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom asked Californians to reduce water waste by 15 percent, and in September approved climate action packages, including $5.2 billion in drought response and water resilience, according to CalMatters, a nonprofit that explains California policies.

But instead of reducing our water waste by 15 percent, Californians increased our water usage by 2.6 percent, putting pressure on Newsom to make these cutbacks mandatory. On March 31, he told water companies less water will be provided unless they increase their conservation efforts, such as watering decorative lawns.

However, there is only so much a Californian household can do to conserve water on a larger scale. According to the Water Education Foun-

dation, around 62 percent of our water is used for agriculture, whereas only 16 percent goes to urban use.

Since the majority of the state’s water use comes from the agricultural industry, increased efforts should be put into using more efficient techniques of farming. Drip irrigation systems, storing rainwater, growing suitable crops for the land, and growing organic foods are all examples of low water usage farming techniques that more California agricultural sectors should use.

The average California household should still be consciously making an effort to limit their water use, but it is even more crucial for the agricultural industry and state government to be making an effort to reduce water waste on a larger scale.

Considering that California is already experiencing serious effects from the drought, such as wildfires or substantial temperatures, the state government must take on the current drought issue more seriously and create more sustainable practices.

If Californians continue to overlook the emergency, it could mean more drastic changes to our daily lives.

GAS PRICES

WE HAVE A CAR PROBLEM As gas prices rise, our student freedoms fall ZIV GALPAZ

F

Staff Writer

or many high school students, driving is a big part of our pastime.

In the past two years, inflation, coupled with global instability from back-to-back traumas, from COVID shutdowns to the war in Ukraine to civil unrest, have led to an unstable environment, and our growing pain at the pump.

As of April 1, California leads the nation with the cost of regular gas at $5.88 a gallon, though prices are expected to dip slightly with news that President Joe Biden will release millions of gallons of oil in the country’s reserves.

Despite the temporary relief, the high prices of not just gas, but the cost to live and thrive in the Bay Area, weigh heavily on its residents.

A large part of growing up is being able to take our cars and explore the place we live in. Because the Bay Area isn’t lacking for things to do, cars are a key for exploration.

Driving down Highway 17 to go to the beach with friends while blasting your music as the wind blows in your hair is something to be experienced. But with the rising gas prices, the ability to go to Santa Cruz, San Francisco and even to downtowns will be limited as the price of gas will hit teens' wallets hard.

Rising gas prices is not only a cause for concern nationally, but is heavily pressing on the Bay Area as the cost of living is already very high and many families are not able to afford rising living costs. With gas prices increasing, commuting to work, school, and activities are becoming more difficult and painful on the pocket.

The average price of gas in California has soared to a record high $5.88 per gallon, and is expected to rise even more with the invasion of Ukraine according to the San Francisco chronicle. However, this price is not reflective of the Bay Area in itself which is average closer to $5.9-6.2 per gallon.

Considering the rise of gas being over 12 cents per gallon in San Jose during the recent weeks, the price of driving has been concerning many local residents.

In a survey I conducted of over 200 Bay Area high schoolers, over 87 percent are concerned on how rising gas prices will affect

their day to day lives. When the gas itself rises, other commodities alike rise. In an area that already has an immensely high cost of living, this is concerning.

Inflation has risen to 7.9 percent nationally, the highest percentage since 1982, and it isn’t just gas prices that are going up. Basic commodities such as meat, milk, bread, fruits, and everyday activities and programs are becoming more and more expensive.

In the Bay Area, inflation affects people beyond the pump. When eating out becomes more expensive, grocery items become more expensive. And instead of going out, you stay in to save gas, but now you are paying an increased price for electricity and water.

Bay Area residents are reeling from an overall increased cost of living, which is already 80 percent higher than the national average.

As the war in Ukraine lasts longer and longer, and sanctions are not being lifted, the global necessity for gas is in higher demand.

As a major supplier, Russia is no longer part of the supply chain that heavily affects Europe. With them no longer supplying Europe's oil, the U.S. will have to aid Europe and this increases the supply and demand which leads to an increase of gas prices.

With the rising prices and a continuing war, here doesn't seem to be a soon end to rising gas. With only 20 percent of residents in the Bay Area using public transit daily and during the pandemic the rate dipping lower, gas prices will start to limit my ability to do the things I enjoy. VTA is offering $1.25 single ride, but because of how sparse stations are, its not an option I can really try.

With public transportation in San Jose notoriously spread out and underdeveloped, using VTA services, despite their low fares, are not viable options.

Although there is no clear cut solution to the issue, it can be the catalyst for a change in our actions. Cutting back on car dependability, carpooling, and finding ways to get around without a car, are all things that we can do to tackle the rising gas prices amid a global climate crisis.

As a student who is employed only in the summer, and relies heavily on driving to get to my extracurriculars, this new reality of needing to pay nearly $70 per tank that I have to refill every week or so, is rather daunting.

Calculating the price of a pump Price per gallon of regular gas in California

Percent of Bay Area residents who use public transit Bear Witness readers who are concerned about cost of gas

AAA Gas Prices as of Apr. 15

Bay Area Council survey, 2021

Bear Witness poll of 363 readers Alli Wang/Bear Witness

BITE-SIZED OPINIONS | Minor problems, minor solutions

Problem: All the major summative assignments are due on the same week before break for several classes.

Solution: Teachers should make a sign up sheet for due dates of major assignments to prevent overlap. If one teacher took a date, oh well, the other teacher would have to push the deadline.

— Jiyoon Choi

Problem: Private colleges are asking for way too much money; how is a 17 year old supposed to cough up 65k a year for tuition?

Problem: The bell schedule for schools is way too early to start class because lots of kids are coming in tired from just waking up.

Solution:Colleges should pay me to attend because I will be their token minority — Jazzy Nguyen

Solution: Schools start introducing night classes to aid students who don't have a lot of energy to learn early in the morning.

— Santiago Hernandez

Problem: Students have recklessly driven golf carts, causing staff anxiety.

Solution:To make sure that students drive golf carts correctly, set up a golf cart driving school at night to ensure their safety.

—Alli Wang

Problem: I hate when somebody next to you in class is doing the Wordle, and you look over and see it but haven't done it yet.

Solution:Give every student a privacy protector so nobody else can see their Wordle.

— Alan Schaeffer

BEAR WITNESS

Editorial The opinion of the Bear Witness editors

| MAY 2022 |

OPINION TREND IN VIOLENCE

Rise in violence signal need for tangible solutions

rom social media harassment to physical F fights, incidents of violence have been on the rise not only at Branham, but on a nationwide scale.

Throughout the country, social media has stimulated incidents and threats to incite student violence such as the infamous “Slap Your Teacher” last October, social media drama accounts and even threats of gun violence.

According to an EdWeek Research Center monthly survey conducted last fall, not only are students affected by the influx of violence, but district and staff leaders are as well. 44 percent of district and school leaders across the nation report receiving a substantial increase in threats of violence from students compared to fall 2019.

At Branham, there have been threats and incidents of violence recorded on camera, ranging from physical altercations to social media cyberbullying between students.

While the national surge of violence shows a need for looking into different ways of intervention and mitigating violence in educational facilities, the recurring and exponential trend of violence also showed students’ intense inclination towards social media trends as part of trauma from the pandemic.

The rise of violence is partially an effect of the ongoing pandemic, given both the rising death toll and a year’s worth of isolation and distance learning caused by COVID19 that have impacted the mental health of students.

To truly address the rise of violence instigated

by harmful social media trends and trauma from the ongoing pandemic, focusing on students’ individual needs is more crucial than ever.

Not only is there a need to explore the mental health issues that may be triggered from an influx of school violence, but we must also consider how news of it spreads on social media.

Recent incidents that have gone viral, such as students’ golf cart driving and physical fights, contributed to the normalization of school violence not only among Branham students, but students beyond have grown due to the rise in incidents.

To not only lessen student violence but also care for the school safety, Branham students and staff must work to create tangible solutions towards the uprising of these incidents.

COVID-19

IT'S NOT OVER YET Long COVID a wake-up call for those ready for pandemic to end Long COVID symptoms

NOLAN ZILS

For some people, these lasting symptoms are nothing like the original COVID-19 symptoms when they were first infected with the virus. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the most common long COVID symptoms include:

Co-Editor-in-Chief

hen my mom told me that W my twin sister Carly had just been diagnosed with long COVID19, it confirmed months of suspicion and concern.

Her sickness started in January when she was out for about a week with symptoms similar to COVID. Unlike many COVID patients, Carly’s conditions did not get better after a couple days – instead her symptoms worsened for weeks.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently describes symptoms of long COVID as “post-COVID conditions,” including “change in smell or taste” and “joint or muscle pain.” Some of these symptoms are akin to a normal COVID infection, but long COVID is when these symptoms linger for weeks, or when the symptoms only start showing weeks after the initial coronavirus infection.

Confused as to why Carly could not recover from her COVID symptoms, my parents took her to many doctors and had Carly tested for alternative diagnoses such as a sinus infection.

But the diagnoses proved to be false, and Carly’s symptoms seemed to worsen over the weeks.

At some points, she could barely even get out of bed because of fatigue and had trouble even functioning due to frequent headaches, sore muscles, lightheadedness and occasional brain fog. When she finally got diagnosed, the pieces started to fit. Her symptoms shared similarities to those who suffer from the same condition.

After weeks of seeing my sister struggle to deal with this condition, it became clear how misunderstood long COVID is. I myself have dealt with a lack of information and understanding of a medical condition that affected me substantially, and the result was incredible when I finally got answers. I am tired of seeing my family desperately try to grapple with a concept that doctors didn’t completely comprehend. The uncertainty of her condition has only caused more concern and stress

Audrey Nguyen/Bear Witness for everyone; we want answers and it’s hard to find them.

Due to the wide variety of symptoms, recovery time for long COVID is unpredictable according to Yale Medicine.

“There is no typical case of long COVID in kids, and no one-sizefits-all treatment,” they said in an article explaining the sickness.

Long COVID must be taken seriously and acknowledged as a legitimate sickness with chronic and disabling effects. It especially affects children and teenagers, as a United Kingdom study found that about 13 percent of studies kids aged 12-16 have lasting symptoms after five weeks of the initial COVID infection. For people aged 17-24, that number went up to about 17 percent.

At the moment, the only thing generally understood about long COVID is the general symptoms and how many people are affected.

The way it affects patients can vary greatly, and doctors have no clear answer on how long these effects can last. Currently, there is no cure for long COVID, and the available treatment is only capable of helping decrease the severity of symptoms.

However, last year, the Nation-

al Institutes of Health launched a project that will study 40,000 children and adults over the span of four years to better understand the causes and effects of long COVID. Named the “RECOVER initiative,” it will be funded with $1.2 billion from Congress. Though this project seems to be a great way to find answers that could lead to an eventual cure, the idea of waiting so long for a study that may not lead to definite answers about how to solve this problem is frustrating. 15 months after the Congressional grant was given, the National Institutes of Health has only enrolled three percent of their desired amount of study subjects, only 1,366 of the planned 40,000 people.

Carly’s diagnosis is a wakeup call that coronavirus still is a huge threat, and seeing it affect my sister like this made me feel exposed and vulnerable. More substantial research about Long COVID and its effects will give affected families like mine much needed peace of mind when faced with a loved one battling such an exhausting condition. The intimidation and fear that the pandemic has brought should be fought with truth and reliable information.

• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath • Cough • Tiredness or fatigue • Chest or stomach pain • Joint or muscle pain • Fast-beating heart (heart palpitations) • Symptoms that get worse after physical or mental activities • Pins-and-needles feeling • Diarrhea • Change in taste and smell • Fever • Dizziness or lightheaded when standing up • Difficulty sleeping • Rash • Mood changes • Headache • Changes in menstrual period cycles • Brain fog (feeling forgetful)

10-30%

or 7.7 million to 23 million people in the U.S., may have developed long COVID as of February 2022, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

Vaccinations reduce risk

Health experts say the best way to avoid long COVID is to reduce the risk of a sever case of COVID, which often means to get vaccinated.

They say that doing so reduces the risk of getting the clusters of long COVID symptoms by more than 50%.

— Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Government Accountability Office

BULLETIN BOARD | Solutions to Outreach boredom While the teacher outreach class each Friday has been used to make important announcements, students have often reported being bored in the class. We asked students their thoughts on how they would improve teacher outreach.

Ricardo Duc Pham Sophomore

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BHSBEARWITNESS.COM

"If we had tutorial instead of outreach, it would be more beneficial because a lot of people do need help. And in outreach, while we get important announcements, it's not really necessary for everybody."

Kayla Gunderson Freshman

"Outreach has good potential, but it should be treated as a tutorial. We should be allowed to go to other places. I get how they want to give us information, but I feel as though they could do that in another way and treat it as tutorial."

Emily Jo Sophomore

"Outreach feels trivial, but I am able to utilize that half an hour to take a break from my classes.

Maybe instead of a full advisory, teachers could go over the slides briefly so students can catch up on work."

Initiatives by staff at Branham, such as the Wellness Center, have potential to help mitigate and allocate resources towards decreasing both the increase in violence and the mental health effects that it brings.

But the responsibility of solving the national incline on violence need not fall on just staff, but also the cooperation by students.

Students using social media can use it to promote others’ well-being instead of reposting isolated incidents of violence.

Stopping the trend of violence can not happen overnight and it requires substantial effort. Collaboration of students and staff and increased funding towards mental health and equity initiatives is needed to ensure a culture that is safer for everyone at school.

EXTRACURRICULARS

Canva stock photos

Passion over pressure

Why students should pursue extracurriculars for themselves, not college EMMA ZHANG Staff Writer

n seventh grade, unable to sleep from stress, I I watched every “How I Got Into [A Top Twenty College]” video I could find on You-

Tube. The next morning I’d wake up nauseous, letting my alarm clock ring into the dark as I counted the day’s extracurriculars I was told to do on top of my schoolwork “to get into a good college”: violin, track, volunteering, dance, art, Math Olympiad and more.

Over the past century, college acceptance rates have continuously decreased. 50 years ago, the acceptance rate at Harvard was 20%, while now it barely makes five percent. The average GPA at Harvard is 4.18, which is over 4.00 because most students already earned A’s in rigorous AP classes. And yet, according to Stanford Magazine, 69% of students with perfect SAT scores were denied from Stanford, and the numbers are similar across other elite universities.

Now the college rat race has evolved to include extracurriculars and hard courses.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sports participation is highest in junior year, 59.1%, before plummeting to 49.8% in senior year, after college applications were over. The National Center for Education Statistics tells us that after high school, there’s a 25% decline in volunteering, and over 33% of high school volunteers didn’t volunteer strictly out of their own free will.

Instead of the generic activities many are fighting over, colleges are looking for genuine passion and initiative. On the Harvard admissions page, the first heading reads, “There’s no such thing as a ‘typical Harvard student.’”

Below is a list of questions they consider, such as “Do you care deeply about anything—Intellectual? Extracurricular? Personal? Will you contribute something to those around you?”

An applicant whose activities are only done to “fit the mold colleges are looking for” will have no way to answer these questions.

Instead of dipping their toes in what interests them personally, an applicant that only pursues stereotypical activities will have much less room to explore who they are individually.

College should be a tool to achieve dreams, not the other way around. Before being a “future college applicant,” students are people with dreams and goals of their own even if it doesn’t align with the college applicant “formula.”

Although creative writing, one of my passions, is hard to quantify into a common application, it’s taught me to be more in touch with who I am. Through writing, I can shape the way I perceive and connect with many small details of my life, while experimenting with ideas that broaden my perspective.

Personal passions and activities impact who students become far beyond the four years of college, many times more meaningful than rows of stereotypical common app activities— impressive on paper, but hollow to our hearts.

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BEAR WITNESS

| MAY 2022 |

BHSBEARWITNESS.COM

SCIENCE&HEALTH SCIENCE BRIEFS

TRY THIS

HEAVEN, UNEARTHED From the flora and microfauna, the joys from growing and maintaining your own terrarium

The importance of social media, even in war After the Russian invasion of Ukraine late February, many were informed of updates through social media. Governments have used social media to recruit people, organize action, spread news and propaganda. Fake news has been spreading online about Ukraine and Russia which shaped people’s opinions. The White House held a special briefing on the Ukraine war with young, influential TikTok stars in hopes to shape messages and information of those young influencers.

Russia on the other hand banned the use of Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

First pig heart recipient dies months after surgery David Bennett, 57, died on March 8 after receiving a pig’s heart earlier this year on January 7. Bennett died at University of Maryland Medical Center where the surgery was performed. The doctors did not specify the cause of death although they said that Bennett’s condition was deteriorating a few days earlier.

Bennett was transplanted the pigs heart because otherwise he would have faced death since he is ineligible for a human heart transplantation.

With a gene edited pig’s heart, Bennett lived longer than the last xenotransplantation which was an infant with a baboon’s heart, living for 21 days in 1984.

Arctic Sea ice continues to melt away The Arctic multiyear sea ice, ice that survives summer, is thinning faster than predicted and has lost a third of its volume in two decades. Although sea ice melting is easily observed, this study combined 3 year records of ice thickness. It also found that the decline in volume was mainly by the multiyear ice’s replacement with seasonal ice, which forms during winter and melts in summer. The Arctic Sea ice also reached its yearly maximum extent at 14.88 million square kilometers, the 10th lowest on record. Climate change affects the Arctic four times faster than the rest of the world and climate scientists expect summer Arctic Sea ice to mostly disappear by 2050.

Microplastics found in human blood For the first time, microplastic was found in human blood from 17 of the 22 samples.

Published in the Journal Environment International, the study shows that microplastics can travel around the body and may lodge in organs with effects on health unknown yet. Researchers are concerned that the plastic would damage human cells. Microplastic enter one’s body by food, water or even breathing.

Another recent study found that microplastics can latch to outer membranes of red blood cells and may limit the ability to transport oxygen. Plastic production is set to double by 2040.

—Compiled by Jiyoon Choi Sources: U.S. News, New York Times, Science.org, Wall Street Journal

Rabbit's foot ferns: Just like the Maidenhair fern, these are easy to care for and love moisture. Their furry surface roots, called “rhizomes” spread and allow for more fern plant.

String of turtles: Pluck a vine off of these, put them in some moss, and they’ll sprout more roots! String of turtles are easy to propagate and are unique in appearance.

Dirt: Any dirt will do!

Biochemistry major and Branham alumnus Brennan Withers uses backyard dirt

Moss: You can find moss easily, from the woods to your suburban sidewalks.

Moss is a good way to add more green to your terrarium.

Activated charcoal: Unnecessary but an extra step to keep things running fresh.

The activated carbon (carbon treated at high temperatures) helps it bind to potential toxins.

Drainage layer: Rocks, gravel help water to flow through.

Maidenhair ferns: These do well in terrariums because they love water! They are hardy plants and shed water off their leaves, so they won’t rot easily.

Make it bioactive: Bugs such as millipedes, woodlice, garlic snails are natural decomposers and it is fun to observe them.

Audrey Nguyen/Bear Witness AUDREY NGUYEN Art Director

ithin the biosphere of Earth, the processes of W life, as well as the cycle of water, can be difficult to quantify. One can’t easily watch the same droplet of water go from rain to river, however, things become so much easier within the small world of a terrarium.

Though many are familiar with aquariums, their lesser-known cousin, the terrarium, is the lower maintenance “terra," or earth version. Take out the “aqua” for some dirt and plants, and here’s a way to see the water cycle as well as the life cycle of plants and even some insects. Brennan Withers, Branham alumnus and biochemistry major at San Francisco State University, has for years cultivated his interest in plants and terrariums.

“I've always been digging up stuff in my backyard and putting dirt in jars," he said. "It just kind of evolved into a more refined practice. So I'm still throwing dirt into jars. But now it looks a little prettier."

A terrarium is typically a sealed clear or glass container housing plants and can include invertebrates such as insects and millipedes. These terrariums with creatures living in them, or bioactive terrariums, add another level to the complexity of the ecospheres.

Withers said he enjoys the tangibility of plants and terrariums compared to the complex compounds used in labs during classes.

“I just kind of like how simple (plants) are compared to human beings or animals,” he said. “At least like how

Courtesy of Ben Withers A sampling of terrariums that Branham alumnus Brennan Withers, a biochemistry major, has cultivated. compartmentalized they are, with their cell walls and all that, you can look at them under a microscope, and they're very structured. I like to think that I'm a very structured person as well, so maybe that's just why I'm attracted to them.”

Across the Atlantic Ocean, in Worcester, U.K., YouTuber Ben Newell spends his days filming and posting his process for terrarium-making online. His screen name, “Worcester Terrariums” on both YouTube and Instagram has gained a hefty following with more than

22,000 subscribers on YouTube and 357,000 followers on Instagram.

After posting a video of himself dropping a slice of cucumber into one of his largest terrariums containing different species of bugs including millipedes and woodlice, his TikTok account exploded and drew an even larger audience.

Though he spends the early half of his weekday hours delivering mail, Newell’s true passion lies in creating these tiny glass gardens.

“I'm truly fascinated with this and I'm really focusing all of my time and energy on that," he told the Bear Witness over Instagram. "I think that's the first time I've truly fallen in love with a subject or a hobby."

Many of Newell’s videos capture these invertebrates slowly breaking down the piece of fruit and demonstrate how insects would decompose living matter in the wild.

With the growing popularity, these types of videos quickly became a series on Newell’s social media accounts.

“The creatures actually play a role within the terrarium itself, they process any dead plant matter or fallen leaves and in some cases mold,” he said. “They’re just quite interesting."

Newell said that he thought the recording the process of invertebrates working on decomposing flora and fauna was fascinating, and thought others would like to watch as well.

"I just find it really fascinating, these tiny little creatures who require very little care other than moistness in a terrarium with some very occasional feeding. And yeah, I also think they're quite cute.”

BEAR WITNESS

| MAY 2022 |

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BHSBEARWITNESS.COM

SCIENCE&HEALTH THE PINK TAX

GUESS WHO PAYS MORE?

13% more for personal care products

8% more for adult clothing

Women spend thousands more than men on identical personal hygiene items

7% more for toys and accessories

REESE GARDNER

Student Life Editor

f it’s pink, it’ll cost you a pretty penny.

I At Target, a three-pack Gillette Venus razor costs $13.49, while the Gillette Sensor

3 equivalent costs $10.99. Men also get an extra blade and an extra razor.

An Oral-B manual toothbrush that is gray and blue is $3.99 while the pink and purple one is $4.99.

The phenomenon, known as the pink tax, is commonplace, from identical quality razors to shampoos to toothbrushes, all of which cost more if it’s marketed toward women.

Still, goods targeting women are priced higher than those marketed for men.

“The pink tax is blatantly discriminatory, affecting women from all walks of life from the cradle to the grave,” Bay Area U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier wrote in June 2021 when she introduced a bill that would end the practice of pricing similar goods differently based on gender.

The bill has not made it past a committee vote.

As a state representative, Speier in 1994 introduced and was able to get passed a similar bill ending gender-based costs of services, such as haircuts and dry-cleaning, citing state-funded research then that found that women pay a “gender tax” of $1,351 each year, or totaling around $15 billion for all women in California.

An updated version of the law from Democratic state sen. Ben Huego of San Diego introduced in 2016 would have banned businesses from charging different prices of similar products based on gender. It was withdrawn due to pressure from businesses groups.

First-year English teacher Alana Ojeda said that the pink tax still exists because women have no choice but to put up with it.

“California needs to do away with the pink tax,” Ojeda said.. “Money is why the pink tax exists and I am sure money is the reason why California hasn't done away with the pink tax yet.”

Often the ones marketed for women try to differentiate their products for example by featuring products made for “sensitive skin,” or for “different pH levels,” despite having the exact same ingredients as those for men.

“A lot of the products that are often marketed to women are intentionally marketed in ways that can cause/contribute to insecurities,” Ojeda said. “Which can result in women feeling like they have no choice but to suffer the surcharge.”

4% more

for children's clothing Source: 2015 New York City Department of Consumer Affairs study

Audrey Nguyen/Bear Witness

California law: Two state bills, Senate Bill 92 and Assembly Bill 31, have made menstrual products exempt from sales tax, but the state does not have bills that will end price differences in products marketed toward specific genders.

Tampon tax costs women $6,000 over lifetime Though the pink tax is a social phenomenon, on the books in many states is the tampon tax, which adds a sales tax on menstrual products such as tampons, pads, menstrual sponges and menstrual cups.

These products are not considered an essential item like other hygiene products such as over-the-counter drugs, toilet paper and condoms, which are either free, have no added price bump, or sales tax.

While many states such as Utah, Nevada and Washington have recently removed tampon tax on menstrual products, California remains among the 30 that continue with the added sales price.

This is upsetting to junior Morgan Lord, the president of the Days for Girls Club, which aims to make menstrual products available for low-income households.

“It's unfair that we don't have access to things

that we need every single month for a week, but men have access to condoms that they use for pleasure,” Lord said. “The government found that a man's need to have sex was greater than a woman bleeding once a month.”

The group has been collecting donated tampons and has started a donation drive this spring and plans to distribute them int he coming weeks.

Due to the recent school vandalism, menstrual products have been taken out of the bathrooms, leaving women on campus walking to the Wellness Center if they need to get a pad or tampon.

And even when some girls bathrooms, which make up one-third of all available birthrooms, have started to put feminine products in the machines, they are usually empty by mid-day and are only in a third of the girl's bathrooms on campus.

“I wish every bathroom that was used by women had feminine products available for free.” Ojeda said, “In the same way that people have come to see toilet paper as a provided bathroom necessity, the same should go for feminine products because they, too, are a necessity.”

Lord and the Days for Girls Club are planning on tackling these issues. Lord said that she thinks the basis of the problem could be solved easily, and that her club is willing to do

what it takes to make it happen.

“If we're supposed to have them in (bathrooms), then we should have them in there,” Lord said. “And if the issue is people taking them, isn't that what they’re for? If the issue is supplies, we can help you with that. Basically giving them help if they need it because this isn't fair. We deserve to have (menstrual products).”

To Lord, the estimated $6,000 that women spend on period products over the span of their reproductive lifetimes is what men don’t have to spend.

Though the financial burden of the tampon tax and the “pink tax” don’t seem to be ending soon, California has made some progress.

California Senate Bill 92 and Assembly Bill 31, which made menstrual products exempt from the added sales for thelast two years, has recently been extended to July 1, 2023, but that does not guarantee that it will be gone forever. Legislation is still up in the air.

Other states such as Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Main, Virginia, Michigan and New Hampshire have local jurisdictions that have gotten rid of the tampon tax.

This brings some hope for Lord, who hopes to continue raising the issue of feminine supplies.

“If we want to make a difference in having an equitable society, we just need to make it fairer.”

Gym rats beware when influencers push supplements AMANDA DAY Staff Writer

he online fitness industry has T become increasingly popular, led by fitness “influencers” on social media

who promote so-called performance -enhancing supplements aimed at teens.

Junior Farzam Serafi is wary of these content creators, but he said that the clout influencers have made people more likely to trust what they say about supplements.

“If a famous fitness or gym influencer promotes supplements, people are going to think that just because he said it, Courtesy of Farzam Serafi it’s all good,” said Serafi, who works at Fitness 19.

Junior Farzam Serafi warns A 2018 GlobelWebIndex survey others to be wary of fitness found that 41 percent of male and 30 influencers on social media who percent of female internet users make

peddle supplements.

purchasing decisions from influencers.

Combined with the prevalence of high school males (38.8 percent) and females (18.2 percent) using protein supplements, there's a ready market for these fitness influencers.

Supplements can be innocuous, such as multivitamins, creatine, and powders, but more serious examples include anabolic steroids and growth hormones.

To Serafi, the cycle works like this: Everyday people who train in a commercial gym and are exposed to fitness media develop misconceptions surrounding the idea of supplements when influencers are associated with them.

When these social media influencers post about their physiques and what supplements they take to achieve it, younger fitness community members see the results and are encouraged to

take it too, under the belief that that will make them achieve a body like an influencer’s.

“It’s like a whole loop,” he said.

“Since it's a certain influencer’s product, people want to buy it because all they see is how good this guy looks on social media.”

The undelies the potential health risks that teens may develop.

The National Center for Biotechnology Information said that influencers are motivated more by profits from the sale of their products, a risk that fitness influencers' activities via social media are motivated by efforts to make a profit from the sale of products being promoted. In reality, these products are worthless health-wise, despite social media figures pushing on their benefits.

The supplements marketed in the fitness industry are mainly aimed around

muscle building, weight loss and energy. But a 2019 study by the Journal of Adolescent Health found that these specific supplements are three times more likely to be the cause of severe medical events like hospitalization.

Energy drinks and pre-workouts are also popular among teens, containing 200-400 mg of caffeine.

Since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also does not regulate the accuracy and safety of dietary supplements, Raymond, a Fitness 19 employee, said that it's buyer beware.

“If it does not have FDA approval, it’s technically pseudoscience,” he said. “They can sell their products as long as they’re being clear and effective, and describing the fact that it’s not FDA approved.”

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BEAR WITNESS

STUDENTLIFE

| MAY 2022 |

BHSBEARWITNESS.COM

WAR IN UKRAINE

FAMILY MATTERS

Students with family in Ukraine struggle to keep track of their loved ones living through war TAE YUN ERICA KANG

Social science classes fight war on misinformation

Managing Editor

College tours return After a lengthy hiatus, students of all grade levels were allowed to go on school-sponsored tours of local colleges.

The change allowed the formerly freshmen-only tradition to be open to all non-seniors, as sophomores and juniors dealt with remote learning and the pandemic.

Students throughout March and early April were able to visit San Jose State University, Stanford, UC Berkeley, CSU-Monterey Bay, as well as local community colleges such as San Jose City College, DeAnza and Chabot College in the East Bay. Whether local college tours will be available to all students in the future is still undecided.

Sweat(i)er weather California is known for its temperate weather, but wild swings this month have made things confusing for students.

On most mornings, it is too cold to wear shorts and a shirt, and sweaters become impractical by midday.

This leads to excess layering in the mornings and removing and carrying of said layers by lunch time.

Extreme weather patterns, from 90-degree weather earlier this month to Seattle-like temperature and rain, have not helped.

Even though mildly unpredictable weather is a minor annoyance, climate change is real.

The longest 100 minutes For the first time in three year, juniors are back to taking statewide standardized tests at the end of April.

To make extra time for the test, 10 minutes were added to each class, making them 100 minutes long.

The schedule also took out tutorials and outreach for the whole week. Some students we talked to found the extra 10 minutes unbearably long and missed the tutorial period for it was their break from the school day.

Juniors also reported finding the three days of tests to be draining, since they missed work on classes with mixed grade levels.

— Reese Gardner

he early morning of February 24 T was filled with bombs and alarms for the country of Ukraine. The wake-

up call came as Russia started invading and attacking cities full of civilians.

When the sun rose, Ukrainians were on the run from their country and homes with the few belongings they could gather and take with them. Under such circumstances, people hid in underground bunkers or evacuated to neighboring countries.

As the war enters its third month with no clear sign of ending, those with families in Ukraine are watching news stories from Eastern Europe with apprehension.

Senior Natalie Bowlzowski remembers her attempts to contact her male cousins and godfather in Ukraine, fearing for their safety.

“Every morning we wake up early to call in to our Ukrainian family and make sure they are alive,” she said.

She's uncertain of her family's status, as male civilians between the ages of 18 to 60 have been told to remain in the country. They, including Bowlzowski’s male relatives, are now fighting in the army. The suspense of not knowing whether or not her family is alive has made it difficult to cope.

Junior Yaroslav Muruhin, who is close with his uncle in the Ukraine, said that this uncertainty has weighed on him and his family.

“Even if you don't know them, it's just sad when your family is kind of in danger,” Muruhin said.

For him, barriers in exist communication. Phone reception is unstable on occasion, but the most significant is language. Muruhin speaks Russian, and his family speaks Ukrainian, and so it's been a difficult obstacle to know how his family is faring thousands of miles away.

“It’s horrible to hear what they have to go through and knowing that there is little to nothing that can be done,” said Bowlzowski of communication barriers.

Spreading news beyond social media The Ukrainian-Russian war is also known as the best-reported conflict in modern times, as there is no shortage of personal video clips, news reports and information delivered online.

There have also been abundant cases of false information spread online as well (see sidebar).

Muruhin has steered away from social media platforms such as Instagram and has gotten more involved in online forums, where he shares reports of evacuation routes and open borders to those who may not have access to this information in Ukraine and other European countries.

“There's lots of communities online that discuss foreign policies and politics,” said Muruhin. “It makes me feel like I’m doing good and playing a role in helping to not spread misinformation.”

For Bolzowski, social media isn't all bad, since she helps “Mostly keeping the morale alive is what is going to get Ukraine through this war,” said Bowlzowski.

Bowlzowski explains that there isn’t much that can be done by students. E

he Russian invasion of Ukraine has T mobilized a different war on misinformation that’s fought through social

Tae Yun Erica Kang/Bear Witness Senior Natalie Bolzowski contacts her family in the Ukraine each morning and fears for their safety as the country's war with Russia enters its third month. c specially so far from Ukraine. The best students can do is to continue to raise and spread awareness and to make donations.

Seeking to help Sophomore Simon Bykovsky is part of a nonprofit organization that is helping raise funds for the people of Ukraine during their conflict with Russia. Called Nova Ukraine, the organization has raised $15 million so far that has been spent on important relief for Ukrainians such as medical aid, supply chains, refugee assistance, animal rescue and supporting Ukraine factories, Bykovsky, who comes from Ukrainians and Russian heritage, said that he wants to help fight against Russia, “(It’s) nice,” he said about his volunteer work. “But I mainly care about spreading awareness about the Ukraine issues."

But even if students cannot donate their time and effort, like Bykovsky has, Yaroslav Muruhin also encourages students to use social media to speak about the issue.

As long as it remains positive and peaceful, he said that it will help minimize the

spread of propaganda and will prompt good discussions and new ideas.

“If it's not reaching the right audience, then it's doing absolutely nothing,” said Muruhin. “But if enough people repost, there's gonna be a sliver of information getting through.”

Muruhin explains that if social media reposting and advocacy is done carelessly, it will just be redundant information with the same people receiving the same information. The sharing of media can also result in false information being spread. These dangers of “slacktivism” are not helpful, and ultimately don’t do anything to help those in need in Ukraine.

For Natalie Bolzowski, spreading news on social media is at least a way to share hope amid a tough situation.

“I think everyone is doing great speaking up about this issue,” said Bowlzowski. “There isn’t a right or wrong way as long as it remains positive.”

With additional reporting by Nolan Zils.

media.

Videos on TikTok have been sharing footage of the war mixed with old audio, sometimes making the information unverifiable, such as the situation in which 13 Ukrainianian soldiers told Russian military to “go f*** yourself,” with videos claiming that they were killed.

Similarly, Russian TikTok users have repeated false claims that Ukrainains have committed genocide among their own citizens in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, of which there is no evidence.

Teachers such as AP U.S. History teacher Andres Garza and AP World History teacher Sara MacInnes have used the current conflict as an opportunity to educate students on media and historical context.

In the first week of the conflict, Garza shared with his students the geopolitical events that led to the Ukraine invasion, from the lifting of the Iron Curtain to how Ukraine’s possible entrance to the NATO alliance could have been perceived as a threat to Russian.

“I wanted to clarify and explain why certain things are happening, and why others such as World War III may not happen, but also why it could happen,” Garza said.

MacInnes drew comparisons of the information campaigns that are being waged online to those during World War I and World War II, saying that similar propaganda is popping up on social media sites such as TikTok and Instagram, where a majority of young adults turn to for their information, according to Pew Research.

“I believe as historians, we always have to question who wrote this and why they wrote this when we are given any information,” said MacInnes.

The biggest takeaway, for Garza, is “to be skeptical of what you see.”

“Whether you are presented with a tweet or an image, think to yourself and question ‘is this really from Ukraine or can it be from another conflict or region?’”

— Reporting by Ziv Galpaz

How to avoid sharing misinformation

Though it's difficult to sort out fact from fiction, here is what the Harvard Shorenstein Center recommends doing when reading news online.

• Are they verified? On Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, blue checkmarks mean that the authors' identities is confirmed, though verified accounts can still make mistakes. Also, determine whether the account is a news reporting group, a celebrity or an expert.

• Username Bli@zzBlorg: Overly long accounts can be a sign of inauthenticity.

• #toomanyhashtags If hashtags are excessive or are irrelevant, check!

• Google: Web searches can help you find relevant news articles, especially viral photos that can be reverse image searched.

Sources: Harvard Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy

HOW TO HELP UKRAINE UNICEF UNICEF has been helping in Eastern Ukraine even before the attacks. The group has ramped up its assistance in emergency responses by providing health, hygiene, and education supplies, and more. Donations will go toward children who don’t have access to safe water, nutrition, healthcare, education and protection.

International Committee of the Red Cross The ICRC has been helping in Ukraine since 2014 and is one of the 10 largest ICRC operations worldwide, with over 600 members.

The ICRC is working with the Ukrainian Red Cross Society in order to increase the emergency assistance by provide Ukrainians with food, water, and other essential needs. They are also supporting hospitals and healthcare facilities with medical equipment and emergency preparedness.

UN Refugee Agency The UNHCR is using donations to help families fleeing Ukraine. By donating, you will be helping families and children displaced from their homes by violence.

They are working with Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds in helping to make emergency gifts for families in Ukraine.

Donations will go towards finding safety and stability for families. As a donor, you will even receive updates on how your donation is helping those in Ukraine.

The International Medical Corps The IMC is a global, nonprofit, humanitarian organization dedicated to delivering emergency medical and related services to those affected by conflict, disaster, and disease. In Ukraine, they are expanding the access to medical and mental health services for those living in communities affected by war. They will be using donations to help refugees receive the lifesaving care that they need.

CARE International CARE International is an international, nonsectarian, impartial, and non governmental humanitarian agency focused on fighting global poverty. CARE’s crisis response aims to reach 4 million people with donations. Donations will go towards providing families with cash support, shelter, food, water, hygiene kits, and psychological support for families, women, and the elderly. CARE allows you to make one time donations.

Scan the QR code above for more information on giving to these charitable organizations.

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STUDENTLIFE PHOTO ESSAY

CEREAL KILLERS

Seniors came up on top for spring's Battle of the Classes themed week, which featured a return to the gym, epic rock band face-offs and cereal-eating contests.

DMV REVIEWS

Where to test? Your mileage may vary REI KANDA Staff Writer

etting your driver's liG cense is an important, fun and exciting time in your life where you can finally drive.

It marks the beginning of your freedom and fun adventures with your friends. But where do people take the drivers license test to start on this adventure?

Location makes a huge difference when it comes to the drivers test. Students and Yelp reviewers claim that Different DMVs of the Bay Area have an easier test when compared to other parts.

Tough: Los Gatos DMV 600 N. Santa Cruz Yelp rating: ★ ★ ★1/2 Students and Yelp revierwers say that the Los Gatos DMV, with its narrow streets and pedestrian traffic is a much harder place to take the drivers test when compared to Gilroy.

An informal survey on Yogov. org shows the Los Gatos site has about a 57% pass rate, the lowest in the South Bay. However, Yelp users have said that Los Gatos is one of the easier places to pass the test, and have pointed out that one should not be driving if they are only comfortable with passing in just one location.

Nolan Zils/Bear Witness NIGHT RALLY | Junior Arjun Mittha leads the class of 2023 in hyping up the crowd at the start of the Night Rally on April 15. The event marked the first ASB indoor rally in two years. The night consisted of Branham traditions such as finish the lyric, musical chairs and dance battles.

Nolan Zils/Bear Witness BATTLE OF THE BANDS | Seniors Sam Arillo and Sofia Lima of Strawberry Matcha won a professional studio recording session after facing off against five other local bands.

Nolan Zils/Bear Witness BATTLE OF THE BANDS | Seniors Cam Parker, Isha Chander and Lily Mintz cheer on the band Strawberry Matcha on April 20 in the quad.

Mila Windell/Bear Witness QUAD BATTLE | Junior William Augenstein, a varsity quarterback, gets ready to lob a mean ball against the freshmen during a dodgeball match in the quad.

SaiSahasra Makamchenna/Bear Witness GAMES IN THE WATER | Junior Rachel Langner helped the class earn second place in the Hungry, Hungry Hippos match at the Aquatic Center.

Easier: Santa Teresa DMV 180 Martinvale Ln. Yelp rating: ★ ★1/2 A popular place to take the test locally is Santa Teresa, despite having a pass rate of just 18%. This is due to the route they take you on: just going on one big road and then making your way back to the DMV. One reviewer noted that the “the streets here are generally quieter than in the busier South Bay." However, it happens to have a very low pass rate” (Yo.gov.org).

Senior Tasso Porto, who took the test at Santa Teresa, said that he had no problem passing it.

“It was super-easy,” Porto said. “The only mistake I made was not coming to a complete stop turning right at a red light."

COVID-19 changes The pandemic reduced the amount of time you spent on the driving test itself, with Tasso only having five minutes to prove his driving skills.

“They skipped half of my test because they were backed up from covid” said senior Hannah Bower, who also took the test at Santa Teresa. Bower was expecting the test to be much harder and was surprised that it wasn’t.

With less traffic in the streets, students were able to drive on emptier roads.

“A lot fewer people were on the road at the time so it was easier for me to practice,” said senior Maya Madrid.

This might change as the pandemic is waning. Junior Geroge Argiris, who took his driving test in Los Gatos, said that he signed up just as the Bay Area was reopening. He said it made him feel nervous.

“It was very stressful with lots of people," he said.

For new drivers, Bowers has some tips: “Don’t overthink it,” said Bower. “Practice driving, and remember to check over your shoulder and mirrors before changing lanes or turning.”

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SPORTS Sports Briefs

Badminton Branham’s badminton season came to an end April 29 with an overall loss of 3-12 against rivals Leigh.

Though the girls' doubles teams were able to eke out victories, they were unable to overcome the Longhorns' overwhelming offense.

GENDER ISSUES

SEEKING A CHANGE IN THE LOCKER ROOM

For students who don’t fit gender norms, sports teams and locker rooms can pose existential problems

Baseball Branham’s baseball team is coming off of three straight wins, and their overall record stands at 11-4, with a 3-1 league record. Next match: May 4 @ Santa Teresa Golf The golf team has won all 10 of their games so far. Their most recent game was a 237-265 win against Lincoln. Next match: May 3 BVAL Finals @ Santa Teresa Golf Course .

Softball Despite having only played two league games, the softball team has an overall record of 12-3, and a 1-1 league record.

Next match: May 4 @ Westmont.

Swim and dive More than 21 personal records were set during the varsity swim and dive team's BVAL finals April 29 and 30.

None of the Bruins made a qualifying time to move on to CCS, however.

Boys volleyball Boys volleyball has had a strong start to their season. Varsity’s record is 9-5 overall, and 3-1 for league games. They won their last game against Silver Creek in three sets. The JV record is 5-9 overall, 2-2 for league. Next match: May 3 @ Leigh.

Boys tennis Boys tennis has had a rough start to their season, despite a coupe of close games against Leigh and Prospect.

Their record is 1-7, with their only victory being a 6-1 win against Santa Teresa. Next Match: May 4, CCS Team Playoffs.

Track and Field The track and field squad has had a dominant season, the girls winning every meet they competed in, and the boys winning all but one. Both teams have secured the league championship. Next meet: May 7 BVAL Finals @ Westmont.

— Compiled by Alan Schaeffer, Nolan Zils, Mila Windell and Carissa Takaki

Alan Schaeffer/Bear Witness Sophomore Kaevan Mantilla and senior Cameron Krolik, who identrify as transgender males, have expressed their discomfort in changing in school locker rooms.

ALAN SCHAEFFER Sports Editor

eep marking her! Keep marking her, K don’t let her get past you!”

“You’ve got him wide open on the

far side. Play him the ball and he’ll be through on goal.”

“If you know she’s faster than you, back off of her a little bit so she can’t blow past you again.”

“I’m going to go open the locker room so he can pick up his P.E. clothes that he left there on accident. I’ll be right back.”

“Great win, Girls! All of you came out to win today, and I’m happy about that. We’re playing Leland on Friday and if all of you play like this again we’ll beat them for sure.”

For years, everyone has been used to referring to people as either male or female.

In sports, this issue becomes exacerbated, as schools have always had a boys and a girls locker room. A boys and a girls soccer team. A boys and a girls restroom.

According to athletics director Landon Jacobs, the most recent data show that there are nine students on campus that identify as nonbinary.

And for these students, such as senior Cameron Krolik, who identify as transgender or nonbinary, these black-andwhite options do not fit their needs.

“I always went into the girls locker room when I was a freshman and sophomore,” he said. “I needed somewhere to go and the boys locker room was kind of never really an option.”

Krolik, with sophomore Kaevan Mantilla, identify as trans males, and say that they would feel uncomfortable or unsafe changing in the boys locker rooms.

“Even though I want to be in a guys locker room, I’m scared to undress, like to take my shirt off,” Mantilla said. “I have a chest, you know? So that’s something that kind of freaks me out.”

Few options Students like Krolik and Mantilla have very few comfortable options available when it comes to alternatives to the locker rooms. Krolik describes that he had been encouraged to use the nurse’s office in the Student Wellness Center when he needed to change for P.E. as an underclassmen.

“The school always said to use the nurse's office,” he said. “Which I do not like. And it’s kind of one of the worst options because you have to go through a lot of people to change. It’s very awkward.”

For Mantilla, the locker rooms are just the start of a whole line of decisions that he needs to make. He has played on the girls soccer team for both of his years at Branham, despite never identifying as female during that time.

“I always played on girls teams,” he said.

“Then I thought I was nonbinary for about a year, so that’s why I went on the girls team, mostly because I wasn’t out to all of my family yet and I was still kind of confused.”

Transitioning and adapting Mantilla says that he realized his desire to identify as male two Decembers ago, right in the middle of his time on the girls soccer team. He says that when he came out to the team, all his teammates and coaches were supportive and made sure to use his preferred name, even before he legally changed it.

“They adjusted quickly, the coach adjusted quickly and that’s okay, but I feel like it definitely made me uncomfortable to be on the girls team,” he said. “I’m very confused about what team I want to be on, because I would like to be on the boys team but I’m afraid that, first of all, I don’t have the same physicality, like in general, guys are just more built than girls.”

California is one of 15 states, as well as Washington D.C., that allows K-12 ath-

letes to compete on the sports team that matches the gender they identify with.

While students like Mantilla are eligible to play for the boys team, concerns regarding physical ability make the decision a difficult one from themselves.

School support is evolving Mantilla has expressed his interest in going on testosterone and said that an appointment is being made to talk to a doctor about it.

“I want to be able to build muscle mass and be able to fit in with guys,” he said.

“Right now I’m talking deeper on purpose, I’m using my stomach to talk deeper on purpose and it’s painful to do that all day.

So it’s all really uncomfortable for me.”

Jacobs said that all students had access to whichever facilities they identified with.

This means that if a student identified as male, despite being assigned female at birth, he would be eligible to change in the men’s locker room, use the men’s bathroom, and, as California law states, play on men’s sports teams.

Earlier this year, the school installed a new gender-neutral bathroom in the J Building, with the hope of creating a better, safer, place for transgender students who don’t feel comfortable enough to use the bathroom that they identity with, and for non-binary students.

Krolik doesn’t think that a gender-neutral restroom will solve everyone’s problems entirely, because everyone has their own situation and levels of comfort. He’s not sure what will fix this complicated issue, but he does give credit to the school for its recent pushes for inclusivity.

“I definitely like what the school is doing. Like they are trying, and I understand that it’s hard with infrastructure to create new things, but yeah. They’re doing as good of a job as they can.”

36%

of transgender or non-binary students with gender-restricted bathroom or locker room options reported being sexually assaulted.

44%

of LGBTQ+ students avoid using locker rooms due to feeling unsafe.

45% of LGBTQ+ students avoid using gender-specific school bathrooms.

58

changing stalls are planned to be installed in California school WIlson High’s new all-gender locker rooms.

Sources: 2019 LGBTQ Teen Study, 2019 GLESN national survey, Mercury News

SPRINGING BACK FROM COVID

New sports options a sign of renewed enthusiasm SANTIAGO HERNANDEZ Staff Writer

pring sports have now fully returned S to their former glory after the hits they took during COVID-19. Now that

the mandates are being lifted and the sports are being made accessible, the competition has gotten bigger.

Some sports such as badminton have had larger teams than before the pandemic and have had to cut athletes. It's a byproduct of the increased enthusiasm to participate at school.

“You're at the school already, where last year or in 2020, we weren't at the school," said Dave Mackey, Living Earth teacher and swim coach.

Athletic Director Landon Jacobs said that the increased participation “We've seen from our students coming back on campus in general that they're excited to be here,” said athletics director Landon Jacobs. “They understand the benefit of being in person around each other and being able to socialize and continue to develop in all the ways that are outside the classroom as well.”

Newly added sports such as girls golf and girls water polo, which started out as a club, will be in full swing in the next year.

New athletes in these sports are now being welcomed into spaces where they can learn more about what they are trying out as well as competing through lessons and not through wins or losses.

Jacobs says that he wants the students competing in sports to use it as a way to learn life lessons and to improve not only as a competitor, but also as a per-

son. He preaches that although winning is definitely a benefit to the sport, he also wants the sport to lead to opportunities of self improvement, especially after Covid, where the motivation to find ways of self improvement through sports was very limited.

“We do want to win, but that's not our purpose,” Jacobs said. “That's come into a much deeper focus through COVID and the opportunities that we supply for our kids to be able to get out there and interact with their peers and learn important life lessons and to be healthy.”

Tof the athletes' greatest achievements from their time at Branham, along with their coaches' reas 12

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SPORTS

ATHLETES OF SPRING Coaches help the Bear Witness highlight athletes who go beyond their roles on the court and who help lift their peers on the team.

— Reporting by Maceo Inoue

BADMINTON COOPER DALTON Sophomore

SOFTBALL EMMA FALES Senior

Mila Windell/Bear Witness

Once sports returned after COVID, senior Emma Fales was appointed team captain as a junior, and made firstteam all-league as the Bruins became BVAL Mt. Hamilton league champions.

As senior, she is once again the team captain and has been frequently mentioned by the Mercury News and West Coast Preps. Her coach, David Volz, cites her excellent work ethic as a major reason for her success. Fales has also received a scholarship to play D1 softball at George Washington University next fall.

Alan Schaeffer/Bear Witness

BOYS VOLLEYBALL

SWIM

LINCOLN PEREZ Senior, volleyball

JOCELYN SHEPHERD Sophomore

Even though volleyball is his second sport, that hasn't stopped senior Lincoln Perez from standing out on the boys varsity team.

The middle blocker has 68 kills and a league-best 63 blocks this season, and is a core part of the team’s defense. Coach Heather Cooper describes his leadership and attitude as a “quiet glue” that holds the team together and highlights his constant desire to improve, even in areas that are not heavily required by his position.

Although she has had to fight multiple injuries throughout the season, sophomore Jocelyn Shepherd has kept a positive attitude and has been making big strides when it comes to her swimming this season.

In the Bruins’ last meet, Shepherd placed first in one of the most difficult events, the 500 meter freestyle. She also beat her best time in that event by 10 seconds.

Her coaches appreciate the commitment she puts into her sport, and praise her excellent attendance record at practice.

Maceo Inoue/Bear Witness

Special to the Bear Witness

Sophomore Cooper Dalton has been making his name known on the badminton team. He competes in V1 singles, and has a record of 7-1. One of his biggest wins this season was a 21-4 victory, where he completely outmatched his opponent.

Badminton coach Kevin Ng says that Dalton analyzes the game far more than most other players, which helps him to best most opponents.

Special to the Bear Witness

TRACK AND FIELD

GOLF

SIENNA REMBULAT Sophomore

JONATHAN VAN OVEREN Senior

After being the only freshman to qualify for the 100 and 300 meter hurdles events last year, sophomore Sienna Rembulat has only shown improvement.

Earlier this year, she won the 400 meter heat at the K Bell invitationals, and ranked second for FroshSoph at the Willow Glen invitationals for the same event. Her coaches praise her hard work and commitment, and say that Rembulat has made significant improvements in the past years, and is only going to get better.

Senior Jonathan (JP) Van Overen has been playing the best golf of his life this season, and he isn’t done. He shot his first even par round against Live Oak this year, and also shot his best round against Prospect.

Additionally, working as a caddie for the Youth on Course program gave him the opportunity to work at a PGA event in Truckee.

As Branham remains undefeated, Van Overen’s consistent play is a key part of the teams’ success.

Special to the Bear Witness

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BHSBEARWITNESS.COM

ARTS&CULTURE Mini Reviews ALBUM Crash Charli XCX What it is: Popular English hyperpop musician, Charli XCX, released her highly anticipated fifth studio album titled "Crash" on March 18, 2022. The album took a Asylum records different stylistic approach than her previous works, which were more focused on electronic hyperpop, and instead went for a more dance pop inspired by the sound of pop music during the 80-90s.

Liked: What I liked about it is the stylistic change to her sound as a musician, proving to me that she is not a one trick pony.

Disliked: The album is inspired by a currently trendy sound so it can come across as a way too hip-hop. Instead, she should just stick to her more iconic hyperpop sound that made her famous.

TELEVISION

THE EUPHORIC TALK Does 'Euphoria' glamorize drug use among teens, or is it an accurate depiction of teenage life?

Its popularity has sparked heated discussion like no other show IZEL GARCIA Staff Writer

he hit HBO drama series T “Euphoria” has garnered some controversy after the re-

— Santiago Hernandez SCHOOL MUSICAL

Nolan Zils/Bear Witness Evil Dead: The Musical Directed by Jennifer Sorkin What it is: Backstage Bruins' first in-person spring musical in two years, which debuted in late March, is an adaptation of the horror comedy movie series directed by Sam Raimi, who directed the original Spider-Man trilogy. The musical follows a group of teenagers who are trying to survive the threat of killer demons while lodging in a cabin in a forest.

Liked: The comedy was on point, the delivery from the actors was very well done. It made the musical very enjoyable as a whole. I was also pleasantly surprised by the vocal performances from all of the people playing lead roles.

Disliked: The music wasn't spectacular, and some of the songs were forgettable. But to be fair, it's a campy horror comedy, so the music doesn't have to be anything too crazy.

— Nolan Zils

Erica Kang/Bear Witness

lease of its second season. People have criticized the show for its glorification of drug use and toxic relationships, along with the heavy amount of sexual content, claiming that it’s not accurate to what high schools go through.

With an average of over 16 million viewers during each episode, talk about the show has garnered a record-breaking number of 63 million tweets. It has been impossible to escape the discourse that among friend groups, social media feeds, and news outlets.

The visible divide in opinions for the show is rooted from the intense focus of abuse in each of the characters' storylines.

Junior Cassie Hickinbotham thinks that the show does glamorize the use of drugs, pointing out how the show portrayed the main character Rue being high in Season 1.

She said in this season, they depicted the high of drugs as “fun," but in Season 2, they showed the more negative effects of substance abuse.

“I do agree that Euphoria glamorizes drug use,” she said . “In high school, at least from what I'm exposed to, most people aren’t doing the hard drugs that Rue does.”

However, Hickinbotham said that besides drugs, the things that the characters in the show go through somewhat resemble a real high school experience, from the drama that can rise among friends to other friendships falling out.

“I believe the situations they are facing are accurate to those in high school to some extent,” she said. “In high school there is a certain amount of drama, and rumors and other stuff that the show displays, however it seems to romanticize drug use.”

Whether it be substance, emotional, or physical abuse, creator of the show, Sam Levinson’s characters endured heavy realities and it’s whether or not the execution of using these very real traumatic experiences, for art and entertain-

ment purposes, had been done correctly is what creates alternating viewpoints.

Senior Izzy Zarate, an avid viewer of the show, said that the show is accurate to the high school experience.

“These situations are realistic,” she said. “Being conflicted with either being honest to your friends or keeping the peace and fighting internal battles with the fear of losing them is a situation every high school student goes through at least once.”

One criticism from people who claim that the show is inaccurate is that some of them haven’t watched the show, or don’t understand the underlying message Levinson wanted to portray through the character's struggles. Zarate said that watching "Euphoria" helps people gain an understanding of how it shows the consequences of the teens’ actions.

"I can definitely understand why people think that 'Euphoria' glamorizes drug use,” she said. “But if you actually watch the show you’ll understand how Rue’s drug use jeopardized her friendships and family relationships and basically ruined her life.”

Junior Rachel Langer, a fan of the show, said that the topics addressed are existent in high schooler’s lives, but they aren’t represented with total accuracy in the show.

“Drug addiction, domestic issues, and drama are all very relatable to the issues teens face in high school,” she said. “The situations that the characters in ‘Euphoria’ face are very accurate to those of real people in high school, but they’re shown in a very cinematic way.”

Langer also said at the end of the day, the exposure to the taboo topics such as drugs in the show didn’t make them desirable to her. If anything, it makes her less willing to do such things.

“From watching the show I didn’t desire to form an opioid addiction, I didn’t desire to go through what Rue went through because of her addiction,” she said. “Euphoria does not glamorize drug use, but viewers might glamorize it themselves when watching it.”

VIDEO GAMES

Quick-hit games on the rise in class Casual games offer 'brain break,' but some find them hard to put down TYRONE ROTHMAN Staff Writer

student listening to a teacher's lecture A in class grows bored; they pull out their phone and open one of the innumerable games

available on the app store. The vibrant colors and engaging gameplay tempt them to keep playing and, before they know it, the class is over. For many students and teachers, this is a common classroom occurrence, as addictive mobile games have filled up people’s phones for the past few years.

Freshman Frankie Varques said the length of his classes and his lack of interest in their subjects can make it easy for him to get distracted.

“Class can be boring,” he said, “We are in there for over an hour and sometimes I just can’t keep paying attention.”

And it isn’t just Varques that is playing games in class. According to a survey by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, 78% of students reported playing games in class at least once.

It has long been true that video games can be distracting and addicting at times, but when they are exclusively playable at home – as with console or computer games – this isn't as much

Hypercasual gaming • Simple, single mechanic games are the most-downloaded games among teens, earning $10 billion in revenue in 2021.

• Examples of popular apps include "Subway Surfer," "Snake," "Clash of Clans" and "Clash Royale."

of a concern. However, advancements in mobile phone technology have allowed for numerous addictive mobile games to be available to anyone at any time.

It's not just accessibility that makes games addictive; it’s design. Recently, a category of mobile apps – called “hyper casual” games – has been booming. These are simplistic games that can take less than a minute to play per round and use similar strategies to slot machines to entice their users to keep playing.

Freshman Taehyun Kang said that the fast pace of these addicting games is why students play them in class.

“Because the games take so little time you feel like you could fit in a game or two in any

situation,” he said, “I play games that don’t take too much focus because I can still get the full experience.”

Many teachers view these addictive games as a potential distraction for students who are already having trouble paying attention.

Biology teacher Victoria Raineri explained how students have abused independent time to use their phones.

“When I tell students to do independent work they jump on their phones immediately,” she said, “It’s just a bad habit.”

With Branham's current block schedule, lessons can last up to an hour and a half, making it difficult for many students to stay engaged.

Kang said he sometimes ends up playing games for longer than he wanted, due to their addictive nature.

“There have been times when I just wanted to play for a minute or two and end up playing a bit more, like 20 or 30 minutes,” he said.

Raineri suggested other ways students can take a brain break while not getting completely off task.

“Just getting outside, getting a drink of water,” she said, “I’ve also seen students set a

Tyrone Rothman/Bear Witness Freshmen Haven Davis plays the popular mobile game "Subway Surfers" on his phone during biology class. timer and work for 10 minutes and then take a two-minute break and repeat that until they finish their work.”

But some students, on the other hand, believe that mobile games can be beneficial when used appropriately. Varquez said he doesn’t see playing in free time between activities as a problem.

“If you do it (play mobile games) here and there, it's fine because it is genuinely giving your brain a break,” he said.

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ARTS&CULTURE SCHOOL BANDS

FINDING THEIR SOUND

Acoustic Night and Battle of the Bands gives Branham bands a chance to leave their mark SARA DEDIU Staff Writer

ith the regular Acoustic Nights W hosted by Branham, as well as other events with performing oppor-

tunities like February’s Love Ball, student bands have been getting more and more recognition within Branham’s student body. Bands Sherbourne Drive, Wannabe, and Strawberry Matcha are all performing at Battle of the Bands.

Sherbourne Drive is one of the bands that have become well-known on campus. Started by lead guitarist junior Tony Aruta almost a year ago, drummer and lead singer sophomore Kaulen Velasquez, bassist junior Andy Chen, and rhythm guitarist sophomore Eneko Rios have become members of this student band.

A regular band rehearsal consists of them getting together and experimenting with different melodies and songs.

Aruta said they are all good at going off of what the other members play. This is helpful in creating original music, which is most of what they like to perform.

“We're very close in a way that we know exactly what the other person is going to do,” said Aruta. “I feel like a lot of bands don't have what we have.”

Sherbourne Drive have performed at two acoustic nights as well as the Love Ball at Branham. They performed a few of their original songs at each event, as well as a cover of “Santeria” by Sublime during the most recent Acoustic Night.

“The Acoustic Nights were super fun. The audience was right next to the stage and we got to interact with them more,” said Aruta. “It was really great to be in the setting where people were cheering and hyping you up while you're playing.”

Auditions for Battle of the Bands took place in the middle of march, and the bands performed April 20.

The exposure gave Branham student bands a chance to not only perform and compete against other student bands, but also to win a recording session in a professional studio.

Wannabe is another student band looking to gain more recognition through Battle of the Bands. They have

Rules Joe Sellon | Junior Each month, a student selected at random shares what’s on their playlist, and plays it on shuffle.

What follows is a conversation about their song selection.

Junior Joe Sellon likes to listen to a lot of recent hip hop or rap songs.

He uses some songs for motivational purposes, and others he listens to for background music when doing homework.

Dom Vallie: “Vallie Mode” JS: So the reason that this is on here is because I saw this guy on Tik Tok for a different song and then I looked them up on Google and then found a bunch of other music from him so now I listen to him a lot. He's just kind of mixed in with everything else.

Internet Money feat. Juice Wrld: “Blastoff” JS: Blastoff is on here because I just went through and I created an entirely new playlist, which is what this is, with music that got recommended to me from my friend and this is now one of my favorite songs.

I really liked Juice Wrld. It's not like, ‘Well I listened to him before he died,’ or anything like that. But, I just really enjoy his music, his voice, his versatility.

Izel Garcia/Bear Witness Seniors Sofia Lima and Sam Arillo of "Strawberry Matcha" rehearse with bandmates seniors Katelyn Cho and Arian Salamat.

G Herbo: “Statement” JS: It's another recommended song to me. Actually, I got G Herbo recommended to me and then I went through and looked him up and then found a bunch of songs that I liked from him. And that's one of the songs that stuck out. I like his flow and the sound of his voice. It reminds me of "Sleepy Hollow."

performed at the Love Ball as well as one Acoustic Night with a few covers of songs like “Anklebiters” by Paramore.

Freshmen guitarist and back-up singer Ava Abendroth, drummer Nate Brigham, lead singer and bassist Soul Taylor, and guitarist Halen Yanez are the members of this student band.

“Whenever I perform, it's always just kind of nerve wracking up until I start singing and then I just kind of go with the flow and it feels free,” said Taylor.

Baby Keem: “Lost Souls” JS: That's kind of obvious, it's just a really good song. It was on my other playlist before I switched over to Spotify, because that was one of the songs that, when you go through and you skip all of your songs that you don't want to listen to, and then all of a sudden you'd hit your one song and you're like, “Oh, this one's the one."

— Nolan Zils

After making it to the first round of Battle of the Bands with a cover of “All The Small Things” by Blink-182, the band said they are excited for Battle of the Bands as it will help them gain performing experience.

“It'll definitely get our name out,” said Abendroth. “I think it'll also help us to see how we perform together in front of people.”

After auditioning with their favorite song “Cloud 9” by Beach Bunny,

Strawberry Matcha also moved on to the first round of Battle of the Bands.

Seniors Sam Arillo, Arian Salamat, Katelyn Cho, and Sofia Lima started a band together right before one of the Acoustic Nights. “*(Starting a band) has always been something that I've wanted to do,” said Arillo. “I've always just loved music. And then at some point in my life, I was like, ‘I just want to start a band’...and then we did.”

INTERNET CULTURE

MORE THAN A MEME Once known jokingly, viral stars work to be taken seriously

MASON RAMSEY

‘The Yodeling Kid,’ or Mason Ramsey, went viral on YouTube for singing ‘Lovesick Blues’ by Hank Williams in the middle of a Walmart in April of 2018.

The video got over 83 million views. At the time, Ramsey was just 11 years old.

Now, Ramsey is 15 years old. In January, his single ‘Before I Knew It’ blew up on TikTok. The song now has over 17.6 million streams on Spotify.

ZENDAYA When she was just 14 years old, Zendaya got her start on the Disney Channel show "Shake it Up." The show lasted three years.

Now, she has moved away from Disney entirely. She has starred in major productions such as the "Spider-Man" series, "Euphoria" and the "Dune" remakes.

ABBEY RHODES

JOJO SIWA

JACK WRIGHT

aining fame through being a meme is common, but typG ically, that fame goes away rapidly. For others, they used this as a jumping off point to make something more serious of

JoJo Siwa got her start on reality show Dance Moms at just 9 years old.

After the show, she continued dancing and releasing childlike music.

She dressed colorfully in rainbow patterns, and was known for her massive bows in her tight high ponytail.

Now 18, she has made a new name for herself, ditching her trademark ponytail look and presenting herself in more neutral clothing. In January 2021, she came out as a part of the LGBTQ+ community.

Jack Wright first blew up on TikTok for dancing to popular songs with his twin brother, James Wright. His first viral video got over 16.4 million views and over 1.8 million likes.

In late 2021, there were rumors about another TikTok creator sexually assaulting Wright. In January, he made a YouTube video called ‘What Sienna Mae Did to Me," explaining his side of the story regarding his former friend.

It has received over 1.4 million likes and over 21 million views. Gomez has denied the claims, and shared her side in a story posted on Medium.

Staff Writer

themselves as well-known figures. They made themselves known for something more meaningful than their memes.

Stories behind popular celebrity memes Keanu Reeves A photo showing Keanu Reeves, the star of blockbusters such as "The Matrix," and "John Wick, eating a sandwich and looking down, went viral, turning him into "Sad Keanu." The star said that it only captured him in one moment, and that he quite enjoyed the sandwich.

Nick Young The NBA player's confused look on a 2014 video is still going strong. Young was featured in a web series called "Thru the Lens." He makes the expression after his mom described him as "a clown" as a kid.

Michael Jordan A cutout image of a tearful Michael Jordan delivering his 2009 Baskebtall Hall of Fame speech is often used by fans expressing their sadness when their team loses. During the speech, Jordan often broke down in tears when sharing stories of his career.

Leonardo DiCaprio A behind-the-scenes moment of the "Great Gatsby" and "Inception" star showed him skipping down a street. It is often Photoshopped in incongruous ways, such as one of DiCaprio skipping toward Mordor in "The Lord of the Rings."

— Compiled by staff, source: KnowYourMeme

ROSS LYNCH Ross Lynch’s debut as an actor was in 2011 when he was a lead character in the Disney Channel show "Austin and Ally."

The show lasted until 2016. In the show, Lynch played a famous singer and was able to showcase his musical talent. He was also in a band called R5 until 2019.

Now, Lynch is in a band called The Driver Era with his brother. They currently are on a world tour.

DOVE CAMERON

Dove Cameron’s first production was a Disney Channel show called "Liv and Maddie" in which she played the lead twins. The show ran from 2012 to 2017. She starred in many other Disney Channel shows and movies before deciding to move on from the company.

Now, Cameron focuses on her music and other acting jobs. She teases music on her social media platforms, though she has only released one single recently.

Art by Erica Kang/Bear Witness

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Like it or not, you can't avoid group work in class.

Which one are you? Maybe you're the worker, or the leader. Perhaps you're the talker in your group, or maybe, the most dreaded of all, the slacker. Take our short, unscientific survey below to find out.

Makayla Wu • Juliette Bonacum• Alli Wang illustrations by Audrey Nguyen

WHICH TYPE OF GROUP MEMBER ARE YOU? Can you make decisions easily ?

Yes +5 points

Do you naturally delegate?

Yes +5 points

Do you do most of the work?

Yes +5 points

Do you usually stay on task?

Do you complete tasks you said that you would?

Do you handle conflict well?

WORKER 30-40 points

Yes +5 points Yes +5 points Yes +5 points

The worker is quiet but productive and they keep their head low.

They’re not one for words, but they will express their opinions when prompted. They go with the flow of the project and they’re reliable and stick to their words and deadlines. The are the ones who carry the load of the team.

Do you take it upon yourself Yes +5 points Yes +5 points to make the groupchat and reach out to the others?

Do you actively participate Yes +5 points Do you pitch your ideas Yes +5 points in the conversation? and make sure other group members feel heard?

Would you speak up if something isn’t right?

LEADER 40-50 points

Naturally steps up to take the lead and gets down to business and assign tasks to the group. They know they’re the leader and they use it to their advantage by projecting their ideas. From good leaders to bad leaders, dictators to compromisers, they’re the driving force of the project.

“I’m the leader because generally it's easy just to command people to do things and they'll get it done.”

Freshman Lisa Kanda

“I don’t make decisions, but I do all the work.If someone else in my group wants to do something, I would erase a portion of my work so they could fill it.”

Junior Ethan Kim

SLACKER 0-15 points

This person is the worst to work with in group projects.

They do nothing and don’t even try to hide that. Usually sleeping or on the phone and contributes close to nothing to the project. When asked to do something, they send non-verbal responses, accompanied by a glare.

“It's really hard to work with the slacker. Everyone else in the group ends up doing all the work and they just get to take credit for it.”

TALKER 16-30 points

Admit it or not, they’re the talker and everyone knows it. They say they’ll do work, but there's rarely ever anything to show for it. They might think they’re the leader, but they’re just setting the entire project offtrack by their random rants.

They’re not reliable but fun to work with- not really.