The
ADVENTURE Issue
Cypress Bay High School • 18600 Vista Park Blvd. • Weston, Fla. 33332 • Vol 17, Issue 1 • October 2017
By Rachel FRIEDMAN Managing Editor
With a width larger than the entire state of Florida, Hurricane Irma sustained wind speeds at a maximum of 180 miles per hour and was on track to hit South Florida as a Category 5 as of Sept. 7. Despite the hurricane weakening to eventually hit Weston on Sept. 9 as a Category 1, many students and teachers approached the natural disaster’s arrival in different ways. “I was terrified to stay home, but I’m glad I did. The European model kept showing that [the hurricane] was going to go west,” calculus teacher Arleen Lewis said. “I think [the European forecasts] have always been more accurate, so I was afraid that if I left my house to stay somewhere else, I would get hit.” While teachers like Ms. Lewis found the hurricane to be a scary experience, others like marine science teacher Jeannine Rendon were barely even fazed by the natural disaster. “I was actually in denial about how hard [Hurricane] Irma was going to hit, so I decided on staying in Florida,” Ms. Rendon said. “I also felt secure at home because our roof, structure and shutters were good. Even though the models showed that the hurricane would be a category four at one point, I wasn’t worried.” For students like sophomore Alex Greenberg, precautions for Hurricane Irma included house preparations and compiling supplies necessary in the event of a power outage. “My family put up shutters in advance and stocked up on tons of food and water,” Greenberg said. “We ended up not losing power, but I’m glad we prepared well because we had no damage at all.” Similar to Ms. Rendon, sophomore Sami Rheingold was in disbelief about the hurricane’s intensity. She said she did everything she could to make the experience less dull. “I got super bored during the hurricane and convinced my parents to let me sleep at my friend’s house. We mostly just spent our time studying and doing homework, but it was so nice to
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hurricane Hysteria :
get out of my house,” Rheingold said. “I really tried to make fun out of the whole experience—at some points during the hurricane, I would walk outside just to see what was going on; it was super interesting to see how windy it was.” Despite having to sit through a 16hour car ride, junior Nicolas Pol said he enjoyed his time off for Hurricane Irma by exploring Atlanta with his family; while there, they toured the Coca-Cola Factory and the Civil Rights museum. “We basically turned this hurricane into a vacation,” Pol said. “The drive was really long, but it was worth it because I didn’t have to worry about losing power.” Unlike Pol, junior Amanda Saavedra’s experience in Atlanta was less of a vacation as she spent most of her time there keeping updated with the hurricane’s path. “My mom was stressing a lot so we didn’t do much besides go out to eat to get to know Atlanta a little; our time there was mainly just spent watching the news,” Saavedra said. “I went with a huge family so although we didn’t do much, having a lot of people there made it less boring.” In order to avoid mobbed airports and extensive lines, senior Hailey Yaffa evacuated to Chicago with her family by chartering a private plane. “It was really hard to find regular flights out of the public airport; flying this way was so much easier,” Yaffa said. “[My family and I] didn’t have to go through security or check our bags, and we only had to be at the airport for about 20 minutes before we were able to take off. We were able to evacuate much quicker than if we were to fly publicly.” Although students like Saavedra felt safer escaping Florida to avoid the effects of Hurricane Irma, Rheingold said she was glad her family decided to stay
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home. “ M y family didn’t feel the need to leave Florida because we felt safe in the house with our shutters and they didn’t want to spend the money to travel,” Rheingold said. “We also knew that gas and traffic would be a huge problem if we left.” Due to damages in infrastructure and power-outages, Broward County officials cancelled school for seven days. With this amount of time off, teachers like Ms. Rendon are struggling to get back on track with lesson plans and curriculum. She said the loss of time to teach has put a lot of pressure on her. “I know the week-long break was completely necessary because some students and schools in Broward County were really affected by the hurricane, but I wish we didn’t have so much time off,” she said. “I’m super behind and stressed out because of the break.” The length of the break not only caused delays in schoolwork and lectures, but also in school-related events like ticket sales for the homecoming dance. Student Government President Harrison Miller said although a lot of time was lost
to sell tickets and finalize homecoming preparations, he is optimistic that the event will be a success. “It takes a really long time to put homecoming together, but due to Hurricane Irma, we were only left with two weeks,” Miller said. “We’re really crunched for time, but we’re ready for the challenge and ready for a great homecoming; I know we can do it.” After seeing the aftermath of the hurricane, Ms. Lewis said she felt it was important for her and her family to assist in cleaning up their neighborhood. “I was stunned when I saw all of the debris after the hurricane passed— my neighborhood lost a lot of trees,” Ms. Lewis said. “My family and I really tried to help out the community after; we moved tree trunks out of our neighbors’ driveways and tried to clear the sidewalks.” Despite a few uprooted trees, Ms. Lewis said she felt lucky to have no damage. She said she was grateful that Weston did not have to suffer the same intensity of Hurricane Irma that other places did. “It was overall just so sad because The Keys and all of the islands had gotten hit so badly—they have the poorest economy and the least resources, so it was so devastating for this to happen to them,” she said. “Other than fences and trees falling, my family and I had no damage, and I feel so fortunate to be able to say that.”
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