High Tide: April 1, 2022

ILLUSTRATIO N BY C E CILIA APITZ

WEEKEN

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UNDERSPENT?

STUDENTS SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCES DEALING WITH SOCIAL, ACADEMIC AND ROMANTIC FOMO (FEAR OF MISSING OUT)

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Redondo Union High School Redondo Beach, C A

Apr. 1, 2022 Vol. CII Edition 9

4 NEWS

8 FEATURES

Mamma Mia! will hold performances on April 1 and 2

Senior Mia Santorelli finds friendship while hosting a French exchange student

19 SPORTS A 13-2 record keeps girls lacrosse ranked 27th in the nation and 11th in the state

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HELPING

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RUHS students participate in bake sales and supply drives to support Ukrainians during the war with Russia

by SADIE SIMMONS

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Krispy Treats and has sold them out of a small stand at Hermosa Beach’s Pier Plaza. “[The turnout has] been bigger than we ever expected it to become,” Doan said.

“We’ve only done the bake sale for three weekends, but we’ve made over $1,000.”

All of the proceeds that Doan gets from selling the baked goods go to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), a charity organization that will use the money to help Ukrainian citizens. UNICEF specifically works to help and support children and adolescents all over the world.

“We were looking at different types of charities that could help Ukraine and [UNICEF] just seemed like a really good reliable one that wouldn’t necessarily help the army but the people themselves and all of the refugees that are struggling,” Doan said.

The bake sales have gone better than Doan imagined, and she has been promoting them as well as asking for more volunteers via the group’s Instagram page @CookiesForTheCause. Their group consists of around 15 RUHS students, and they have been raising money for Ukraine since the beginning of March. The group bakes around 150 treats on Saturdays and then a group of around four of them go to the Pier Plaza on Sundays from 1:30-4:30 p.m. to sell them.

The group plans to continue fundraising for as long as they can, though they will be changing what charity they raise money for once the war with Ukraine is over.

“We’re just starting out, but I do have big hopes that we can grow and make a really big difference in a lot of people’s Sophomores Lalitha Muttulingam, Ranya Ghazal, Kaitlives, even if it’s just getting lyn Ferrer and Kaitlyn Doan on their first day selling the [the Ukrainian citizens] a place baked goods. PHOTO COURTESY OF KAITLYN DOAN

ven though RUHS is roughly 6,300 miles from Ukraine, its students have taken charge and found local ways to support the Ukrainian citizens who have been suffering due to the war with Russia. There have been food and supply collection events, bake sales where the proceeds go to Ukraine and various other fundraising efforts.

Sophomore Kaitlyn Doan came up with the idea of doing a bake sale to raise money for Ukraine. Doan has baked a variety of goods including cookies, brownies and Rice

to stay for a night or some extra food. Any difference to me would be worth the work,” Doan said.

Senior Dasha Shevchenko has also been working to support Ukrainian citizens. Just a few weeks ago, Shevchenko, who is Russian, volunteered at her former school, Russian Kids Club, in San Pedro to help out at a food and supplies collections event for Ukraine.

“I told a lot of my friends and my parents’ friends about the event,” Shevchenko said. “I brought in my own supplies and I stayed there to make sure that everyone who didn’t speak Russian and everyone who I invited was able to turn in their supplies,” Shevchenko said.

The school collected a multitude of different items such as clothing, canned food, first aid kits, flashlights, sleeping bags and much more. The donated supplies were loaded into the trunks of the volunteers’ cars and taken to a donation site. There were around seven volunteers working at the collection event, half of which were teenagers like Shevchenko. By partaking in this event, she hoped that she could help have an impact on the Ukrainian citizens’ lives despite the miles between them.

“We just wanted to do whatever we could [to help] in this situation because we’re so far away and we felt that this was really the best we could do to make some sort of impact and help [Ukrainians],” Shevchenko said.

Shevchenko does not currently have any specific fundraising plans for the future but she would love to continue to help Ukraine if the opportunity presents itself again.

“Part of my extended family lives in Ukraine, and I’ve been seeing the effects [the war is] having on them. So I just wanted to do something to help everybody that

Senior Dasha Shevchenko drops off donated supplies at her Russian school. PHOTO COURTESY OF DASHA SHEVCHENKO

is going through this tough time right now, and I feel like this was one of the more meaningful ways I could make an impact,” Shevchenko said.

Like Shevchenko, Doan is eager to do anything she can to help the people of Ukraine. Doan is happy that she found a way to use her passion for baking to help the Ukrainians in their time of need.

“I feel like the last two years have been so hard with COVID and everything has changed so much. I felt like I couldn’t really do anything to stop or help with COVID, but I feel like I could at least do something to help with [the war in Ukraine],” Doan said.

The Redondo Beach City Council approved a community garden for Alta Vista Park

by MARLIE CORNWELL

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here are about 1.4 acres of park space per 1,000 residents in Redondo Beach. Most cities in LA county have more than twice that, according to Easy Reader.

That’s one of the reasons that on March 15, 2022, the Redondo Beach City Council made the decision to give Redondo Beach’s Alta Vista Park a community garden.

A community garden is a garden that a community as a whole adds to and learns from. Once Alta Vista Park’s community garden is done, 26 four-by-eight-foot gardening beds will each be available for Redondo Beach residents to rent for $100 per year, on a first-come-first-serve basis. Redondo Beach community garden members will be allowed to plant anything they want on their plot (with some exceptions).

The City Council voted in favor of the garden with a 4-1 vote. Everyone voted yes, except District 5 Councilmember Laura Emdee. According to District 1 Councilmember Nils Nehrenheim, Emdee was opposed to excess signage, and she didn’t want the garden to be associated with the South Bay Parkland Conservancy (SBPC).

The original idea of the community garden, however, started with failure. In 2015, there was an attempt to give Redondo Beach a community garden like the other beach cities. “But the efforts were unconventional,” Brianna Egan, chair of the Redondo Beach Community Garden Committee, said, “and the city pretty quickly shut it down.”

However, in 2020, Nehrenheim got an email from a Redondo resident about hav-

ing a garden on an unused portion of Alta Vista Park. After that, he scheduled a meeting with Egan and the SBPC, and a plan was put into action for the new community garden.

“We talked about what it would take, the plan, where to go, what to do, approximate timelines, requirements and some problems along the way that we could foresee. We got a basic plan together to move forward, and then we started executing it,” Nehrenheim said.

The SBPC is an established nonprofit that has been doing a lot of environmental work and habitat restoration in Redondo Beach and the South Bay. According to Egan, she took the lead position in carrying out most of the ideas relating to the garden and pushing them

along. Many of her suggestions were for a workshop space with an outdoor classroom, a community compost system and a community orchard with drought-tolerant plants.

SBPC aims to have the community garden open and ready by summer of 2022 with all of Egan’s ideas implemented. The garden’s completion will give Redondo Beach residents the chance of becoming a member of the city’s first community garden, according to Egan and Nehrenheim.

“There is therapeutic value in learning how to grow food and conserve resources, and in learning about the native pollinators, the environment, the sun and the weather patterns,” Egan said. “I think just being connected with the Earth is really special.”

HIGH TIDE APR. 1, 2022

NEWS 3

ON THEIR OWN MERIT The Class of 2022 has higher numbers of National Merit Finalists than previous years

by ERIN HARTMAN

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ATs aren’t the only test that can help get you into college—PSATs can also give you leverage in the college acceptance race.

The PSAT, usually thought of as the practice for the SAT, has another part to its name: the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (NMSQT), which is produced by the College Board. Students with the highest test scores in each state throughout the nation allow them to qualify, become semifinalists and hopefully become a National Merit Finalist. This year, for the class of 2022, there were nine finalists: Bodie Beaumont-Gould, Nadia Bidarian, Tyler Lee, Cassidy Mahoney, Cody Moser, Ethan Poladian, Justin Prupas, Ben Ringel and Luther Wu. They needed a score of 222 to qualify (those studying abroad needed a higher score of 223). Last year, there were four finalists and they needed a score of 221. To become a semifinalist, your index score is calculated by adding your score out of the three sections of the test: math, writing and language and reading. The scores are added and then multiplied by two, resulting in your index score.

“The first step to actually being a finalist is you need to be a semifinalist, and for that

it’s based solely on just your PSAT score [which is out of 1520]. Each state has a different cut-off every year. Depending on what you get on the PSAT, if you meet that threshold, then you qualify as a semifinalist. Once you’re a semifinalist, there’s just another application you have to go through […] and then there is an essay. Most semifinalists just become finalists,” finalist senior Ethan Poladian said.

For the essay, semifinalists must choose from a given list of prompts and respond to one. Poladian chose to write about someone who inspired him - whether that may have been a family member, close friend or celebrity. Once chosen to be a finalist, students are awarded a title, which will be reported to colleges.

“As a finalist, you’re now recognized as being in the top of the nation [regarding grades],” senior finalist Justin Prupas said.

“From there, colleges are notified, and it’s a prestigious title to be a finalist, which I’m very proud and grateful for.”

Students then become eligible for three different types of scholarships. The recipients will be notified on April 27.

“There’s the one [from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation]. Then

there are the corporate scholarships, where if your parents work at the corporations, you get a scholarship from them. And then the third one is from certain colleges. There are colleges that are in the program with them. If you put them down as your first choice, they’ll pay you money to go there,” Prupas said.

The reward of becoming a National Merit Finalist pushed Poladian to do well on the PSAT. “I think it gave me a reason to actually take the PSAT seriously, because without it, there’s kind of no difference between it and just some random SAT test you take to practice for the actual SAT. On the scholarship they actually said, ‘Hey, you should do good on the PSAT because there’s a chance you can actually qualify for something and get something out of it,’” Poladian said.

Prior to taking the test, Prupas didn’t know about how he could become a National Merit Finalist, and after taking the test his junior year and finding out, realized the importance of the test.

“I found out [about how you can become a National Merit Finalist] when I got my scores for the PSAT because that’s when my friends started talking to me about it.

I’ve been telling all the juniors on my [cross country/track team] that I believe the PSAT is more important than the SAT nowadays, because colleges are diminishing the kind of importance of the SATs, like UCs don’t look at them at all now. But the PSAT has a shot at you getting this really prestigious title and getting a scholarship from the program,” Prupas said.

He believes that RUHS would get good results if more people knew about becoming a National Merit Finalist.

“I think [the school] should definitely emphasize the importance of the PSAT because I feel like if people knew, then it would be a lot more fair. Imagine what could happen if everyone knew how this is a chance at a scholarship. I feel like people would try harder on the PSAT and then that would even boost SAT scores,” Prupas said.

Other than the fact that becoming a finalist will help with college acceptance, Prupas feels that it has helped him continue down the right path.

“I think it was helpful, especially before a lot of the college decisions have been coming out. It’ll give me a boost of confidence, kind of telling me to keep going in this direction in my life,” Prupas said.

UC the change?

University of California schools (UCs) have become increasingly competitive

by SARA MIYAKE-SINGER

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ver 600,000 University of California (UC) applications were rejected for admission into the class of 2026. That’s right, over 600,000.

UC schools are becoming harder to get into as admissions rates are consistently going down. Since 2012, UCLA’s admission rate has fallen from 21 percent to just 14 percent in 2022. This pattern is consistent across UCs with UC Berkeley’s admission rates dropping from 21 percent to 15 percent and UC Irvine’s from 36 percent to 29 percent in just 10 years, according to their respective websites.

The underlying cause is that each year, the number of applicants increases. This year, every UC school reported that they “received a record number of applicants.”

In fact, UCLA led the nation in application numbers at around 150,000. In total, over 900,000 undergraduate applications were received by the nine UC schools. California State Universities (CSU), the other public California statewide school system, reported a similar increase in applications.

“It’s getting crazy,” senior Sydney Kosel, who applied to four UCs, said. “There are so many people applying and because of that, you’re never sure about what’s going to happen. I know people with 4.1’s that got in while people with GPAs above 4.7’s didn’t.

It feels like it’s getting random.”

According to EdSource, a newsletter focused on higher education, one reason for the heightened number of applications is the elimination of standardized test requirements. Due to a court ruling over UCs’ alleged favoritism toward standardized test-takers in the admissions process, UCs will no longer consider SAT or ACT scores when assessing applications from the fall of 2022 to the spring of 2025. The CSU’s elected to do the same on March 23.

To replace the SAT and ACT, UC schools have tinkered with the idea of implementing their own admissions exams. This idea, according to UC San Diego’s “Guardian,” is “under development” and will not be put into place until at least 2025. In the meantime, senior David Oplatka believes other standardized methods could “work well” in determining a student’s competitiveness.

“I think that it might be good to keep standardized testing because you can validate the grades that you got. AP scores could be used to assess how difficult a student’s schedule really is since scores can determine your level of knowledge in the subject. I believe if colleges will use AP scores as a standard, our school will fare well because the teachers at our school prepare us well for those exams,” Oplatka said.

“It might not be sufficient though since not every school offers the same programs. It’s hard to get it right.”

In addition to rising application numbers, according to a Vox study on the college admissions process, college acceptance is becoming harder because applicants themselves became “more competitive.”

The study states that colleges “often look for things that set kids apart like extracurriculars and leadership roles.” The data Vox compiled claimed that in 1992, 19 percent of students reported having leadership roles in an extracurricular, but by 2004, the number had doubled with it continuing to rise in the last two decades.

“I feel like even getting perfect grades isn’t enough because that is the standard to be considered,” senior Elisa Switzer, who applied to several UCs, said. “You have to have a plus factor. You have to be what colleges are looking for that specific year. It feels like even if you’re qualified, you don’t know if it’ll get you in. It’s very stressful.”

This increased competitiveness might particularly impact RUHS students. The public California universities evaluate each applicant based on the school they attend to compensate for the inequity in available classes and resources in schools across California. GPA’s are evaluated based on the school’s top GPA. If you look at the UC enrollment webiste you can see that for RUHS, the average GPA needed to be admitted in 2021 was a 4.01, while at Leuzinger High School, which offers fewer APs, it was a 3.73.

“I think [the varying standard across schools in California] is fair and unfair at the same time,” senior Josselyn Luce, who applied to two UCs, said. “It’s fair because it gives people from all over the chance to get in. It’s unfair because it may limit the number of qualified people from a certain school just because that’s the school they’re from. Comparing us within our school creates a competitive environment instead of a community. I wish that wasn’t the case.”

The competitiveness also depends on what major you choose to apply for. Senior Steven Shi, who applied as a Computer Science major to the UCs, was told at a UC San Diego information session that the Computer Science program at UCs was “by far the hardest to get into.”

“I did as much as I could to try and get in but there are a lot of students that can succeed at the top schools so they pick the cream of the crop. I definitely think that major plays a big part in getting in. Maybe I would have a better chance if I applied for a different major,” Shi said.

With many qualified students, a key criteria in admissions has become the evaluation of essays, or “personal insight questions” which, according to an audit conducted by the office of California State

Auditor Elaine Howle examining four UCs, is “subjective.” The inspection concluded that application readers may “be swayed by bias about an applicant’s demographics and personal information.”

The increasing competitiveness was further amplified due to UC Berkeley’s court saga. The California Supreme Court originally ordered the school to cut admissions by around 3,000 students in early 2022.

The lawsuit involved the environmental neighborhood group “Save Berkeley’s Neighborhoods,” who sued the school over potential construction pollution caused by increasing enrollment.

California lawmakers eventually passed a law that nullified the court ruling in March 2022. The students interviewed all believed that the ruling “is good for students,” although some concerns about the housing crisis were made.

Most UC admissions have been finalized, with the final UC, UC Berkeley, releasing its admissions decision on March 24, but there are still other pathways to attend UCs. The UC system guarantees admissions onto a UC campus for “California-resident students in the top nine percent of California high school graduates” if “space is available.” Many UCs, such as UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine, also guarantee transfer admissions from community colleges like El Camino if at least 30 UC-transferable units are completed.

“You shouldn’t let college acceptances define you. College choices aren’t the end of the world. If you got into one of the UCs, that’s amazing. If you didn’t, you can still have a great future at any college or any place because there are so many great resources and fits,” Shi said. “I view college as just a stepping stone, not the final goal. You can succeed further down the road.”

APRIL 1, 2022 HIGH TIDE

4 NEWS

WHO’S YOUR DADDY? “Mamma Mia!” will hold more performances on April 1 and 2

by DANI HARPER

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RUHS will upgrade its WiFi over the summer with new wireless access points

by LAUREN STRAZERRI

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1. Ensemble members sing “Voulez-Vous?” 2. Left to right; Katy Cloutier, Jasmina Guerra and Alyssa Moore performed “Super Trouper.” PHOTOS VIA

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RUHSTHEATREARTS

fter weeks of the cast and crew doing a “Super Trouper” job rehearsing, RUHS’ production of the hit show “Mamma Mia!” is here. The musical was performed on March 25, 26 and 27 with additional performances on April 1 and 2.

“Mamma Mia!” follows Sophie (played by senior Hannah Kobayashi), a girl who lives on the fictional Greek island of Kalokariv during the time preceding her wedding. Sophie discovers her mother’s diary and finds out that there are three men that could be her father. Sophie invites all three of her potential fathers to her wedding in hopes that she can figure out which one is her biological parent. Other primary characters include Sophie’s

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The energy this show has is incredible. I think it’s the best one we’ve done this year.

EVA LOPEZ-QUINTANA JUNIOR

mother Donna (senior Jasmina Guerra), Sophie’s fiance Sky (sophomore Finn McGonigle), and Donna’s friends Tanya (junior Alyssa Moore) and Rosie (senior Katy Cloutier). The songs used in the musical were all written by 70’s pop band ABBA. The orchestration is performed by the cast, pit singers and the pit orchestra.

Junior Assistant Director Eva Lopez-Quintana has worked in the RUHS theater department since her freshman year. For this show, Lopez-Quintana was the second in command to Melissa Staab, the director. Lopez-Quintana worked on casting, choreography and staging scenes.

“I’ve had a really fun time. Directing is something that I want to do with my life.

I knew that this is a position that I wanted ever since the show was announced. I love the show so much and have learned a lot about directing and working with cast and crew,” Lopez-Quintana said. “During the shows, I go into the audience, I hang out backstage and I hype up the actors.

The energy this show has is incredible.

I think it’s the best one we’ve done this year.”

In order to make the set look like the fictitious Kalokari, the center set piece was rented. But the rest of the set, includ-

ing the left and right set pieces, the dock, the stairs and the portal, were built by the department’s student-run build crew.

Lopez-Quintana says that one of the “really fun aspects” of play production was “having fun with her friends during warm-ups or backstage.” Cloutier agrees with this- she says that doing the show with friends makes “the late nights spent at rehearsal fun” despite the long hours.

“The week leading up to the shows, we’re here until nine every day. Being here for that long is draining and exhausting, but doing it with your friends makes it all worth it,” Cloutier said.

While Cloutier favors the late night rehearsals with friends, Lopez-Quintana prefered the early stages of working on the show, when the cast and crew were just figuring out their roles in the show.

Lopez-Quintana also loved “the joy” in the actual performances.

“In the beginning, when we’re just starting out, everyone was super excited to work on the show. Then there’s the end when it’s really happening. Like ‘Oh no, the show is coming to an end,’ but then, we get to show all of our hard work that we’ve done over the past 10 weeks.

It’s awesome,” Lopez-Quintana said.

Cloutier is also the marketing director for the drama department and was in charge of all of the marketing for each of the three shows done in the year. She posts the promotional videos, pictures and TikToks for the shows, with each show getting a trailer and two vlogs.

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“I always put a bloopers portion at the end of all of the vlogs. Those are my favorite parts to edit and watch because there’s so many times when people just say something super random, or there’s a funny clip of someone dancing backstage. It’s probably one of my favorite behind the scenes moments. We always have people doing the Macarena, or just fun stuff like that,” Cloutier said.

When it came time for opening night,

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We’ve wanted to do “Mamma Mia!” since my freshman year, so the fact that it’s my last show makes it so special.

KATY CLOUTIER SENIOR

Moore says that the atmosphere was “incredible.” According to Moore, the presence of an audience has a large effect on the energy on and backstage.

“We really didn’t know how many people to expect. We just looked out from the stage into a sea of people in the audience.

It was an amazing turnout,” Moore said.

Moore said that “the thrill of performing the show was a fantastic payoff of her hard work that she put in during the show” and that opening night is her favorite part of the process.

Cloutier, who has been involved in the theater department since her sophomore year, is performing Mamma Mia! as her final production with RUHS. She describes the feeling as being “bittersweet.”

“It’s so sad, but it’s exciting to look at the future. It’s sad that I’m not going to see these people everyday soon. We have so much fun together, but we wanted to do Mamma Mia! so bad. Since our freshman year we have been begging Ms. Staab. So the fact that it’s our last show, and it’s Mamma Mia!, we had so much fun this weekend, I just know we’re going to have so much fun onstage this weekend,” Cloutier said.

ext school year, in the middle of a really boring class, look up at the ceiling. At first, there may not be a noticeable difference, so look again. With a closer eye, notice there sits an updated wireless access point, making the class run smoother.

This summer, Redondo Beach Unified School District (RBUSD) will replace old wireless access points, devices on the ceilings of every classroom which allow school-issued Chromebooks and any other network device to attach wirelessly. The chief reason is that these wireless access points are at the tail of their ten-year duration. According to Chief Technology Officer Derek M. Kinsey, “It’s just come to the point in time where we replace them before they start to fail.”

Simply put, RBUSD wants to prevent a network crash from occurring.

This upgrade will accelerate internet speeds and result in better processing of a wireless signal. Before suggesting this upgrade to the Board, Kinsey reviewed all the schools’ networks, which illustrated the need for an update. Kinsey uses an analogy for the network: traffic on the 405.

“We don’t ever want to have four or five o’clock on our network. So, we look for wireless access points that will allow us to have a lot more express and wider lanes so we can get more traffic through,” Kinsey said. “We look at the wireless spectrum, the frequencies that these wireless access points use, how they communicate back and forth between a laptop, and the wireless access point.”

Preventing network issues is the district’s goal; however, for some students on campus, such as junior Malia Merager, waiting for the upgrade has proved difficult.

“One time in digital electronics, we were working on stimulating a circuit, and then the Wi-Fi cut out. A bunch of us lost all our progress on our projects,” Merager said. “The Wi-Fi here is not great, but it’s passable so the upgrade sounds great. I don’t want to keep losing my projects.”

Wi-Fi problems aren’t limited to students as teachers face daily difficulties with the network. According to Brian Gill, who teaches Geometry, Algebra 2 and AP Calculus AB, when attempting to input grades and attendance into PowerSchool, the Wi-Fi shutting down becomes “an inconvenience.”

“In the middle of class sometimes, it will just crash. I can’t post assignments into Schoology, students can’t access them and they can’t work on them.

Sometimes it’s also an issue when we’re doing MAP testing,” Gill said.

While, according to Merager, these instances happen “once in a blue moon,” they consume class time. Merager believes Wi-Fi issues are particularly problematic on Monday stack schedules because “if a teacher has their whole lesson on the computer and the WiFi does not work for 15 minutes, a whole chunk of work time just blows out the window.”

“Hopefully, [the network upgrade] will make it a lot easier for teachers and students, so we won’t have to wait to connect, and have downtime in the classroom, where we’re not really doing anything. We often just si around waiting for WiFi to connect. This network fix should make it easier for everybody,” Gill said.

HIGH TIDE APRIL 1, 2022

The CSF Question CSF requires a five dollar membership fee. But what does the club actually do?

by RYAN PARHIZI

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edondo has 675 member in its California Scholarship Federation (CSF), but many never get a full understanding of what the club actually does for them.

According to the organization’s website, CSF acts as a non-profit organization to “recognize California students at the junior high and high school level with high standards in academics.”

“The minimum that CSF requires is a grade check and citizenship check, and that’s what our chapter is doing, running the bare-bones operation,” CSF advisor Elizabeth Valentekovich said.

RUHS’ chapter of CSF offers recognition to put on college applications and additional graduation gear, which the entry fee covers. Unlike RUHS’ chapter, many other

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The minimum that CSF requires is a grade check, and citizenship check and that’s what our chapter is doing, running the barebones operation.

ELIZABETH VALENTEKOVICH CSF ADVISOR

chapters of CSF offer opportunities for volunteer work and have student councils to help guide decisions within the club.

“We used to do community service years

before I was the advisor, but there are so many other community service clubs on campus that nobody ended up doing anything for CSF. So, we ended up stopping,” Valentekovich said.

At the moment there are no plans of expanding the club, and according to Valentekovich, if the club expands to provide services, student representatives would be needed to run a fuller operation.

The lack of service requirements differs from students’ experiences in the California Junior Scholarship Federation (CJSF), the middle school counterpart of CJSF, which admittedly has fewer students to manage.

Junior Kai Ortadeveci, who was in CJSF at Parras Middle School, was surprised that CSF doesn’t provide the same benefits as CJSF and other academic chapters like the National Honors Society (NHS) do.

“During my time in CJSF, we were provided tours of universities and routine meetings were often hosted by Parras.

However, none of these things transferred over to CSF,” Ortadeveci said.

Even though there aren’t any plans to expand CSF, other students, like junior Olivia Maehara, made massive strides to bring another academic chapter, NHS, to RUHS, which includes a service component.

“An NHS chapter is formed to serve the community and to recognize academic honors,” Maehara said. “I saw that other schools like Costa had an NHS chapter and since we didn’t have one, I decided to start one myself. I found a teacher advisor in Mr. Barclay and met with Mr. Bridi to discuss how the chapter would be implemented. I also recruited other students to make up a student board.”

Maehara’s efforts have allowed the club

to become an official chapter at the start of RUHS’ second semester this year.

“This semester we’re only requiring five hours of volunteer service, but next year

NEWS 5

22% OF RUHS STUDENTS ARE IN CSF

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We used to do community service years before I was the advisor, but there are so many other community service clubs on campus that nobody ended up doing anything for CSF. ELIZABETH VALENTEKOVICH CSF ADVISOR

we’re going to bump it up to 10 hours a semester. If the members don’t meet those requirements on top of not having the suitable grades, they won’t be eligible for membership the following year,” Maehara said.

RUHS’ NHS chapter offers more service opportunities compared to the CSF chapter, so if a student wants to join a club combining both academic and service achievement, Maehara recommends joining NHS. “We just want to make sure that members are involved in the community and contributing in a meaningful way, and hopefully, we can grow and make a respectable chapter for years to come,” Maehara said.

675 STUDENTS ARE IN CSF

107 STUDENTS WERE CSF SEAL BEARERS IN 2021

BRINGING BACK DETENTION

RUHS reinstates its pre-COVID-19 lunch detention policy

by CRISTINA COUCH

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s masks become optional in practiced, according to Dargen. Dargen classrooms and the number of also said there was a lot more “relaxation” COVID-19 cases at school nears of standards so the school could accommozero, the school is returning back to old date the “higher needs of the students.”

“Students were not penalized for reportpre-COVID-19 policies. Among them is deing late to class during distance learning, tention. and students didn’t reVice Principal Bill ceive penalties for turning Dargen was part of the in late homework often,” decision to reinforce the Dargen said. “It was to pre-COVID-19 detention accommodate students. policy. Dargen explained It’s part of a genThings were different.” that according to the citeral push to hold However, Dargen izen rubric, students get and the majority of the two tardies “free” during students accountschool’s administration a semester but on their able to standards now feel that “it’s time third tardy, you get a N they used in the for students to meet cerin citizenship as well as tain expectations again.” a lunch detention. The past.

Lunch detention will ocparent-student handbook cur during the majority also states that “students BILL DARGEN of a student’s lunch in the can receive a wide variety ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL bingo room on Wednesof consequences or detendays and Thursdays. Actions based on the severity of their actions.” Dress code violations, cording to Dargen, “Students can go when not following the personal electronic device they are ready to serve their detention, policy or violating the academic honesty hopefully within a week of getting it.”

If a student fails to serve their detention policy all can also result in a lunch or after after a week of being assigned it, “they can school detention.

The school followed the citizenship ru- be brought to detention from their classbric for over six years but during the pan- room by a campus safety person,” Dargen demic, “rules were not enforced the same,” said.

Administrators and counselors will ofwhich is why the detention policy wasn’t

“

ten supervise the detention. However the and for students, school is their work.”

Molina has been a teacher at RUHS person who supervises it changes every week. Despite the reputation detention has since the 2000’s and throughout her years, at school, according to Dargen, the experi- she has seen first hand how “detention ence in detention at RUHS “heavily relies” keeps students accountable.”

“Detention is effective,” Molina said. on who’s managing the time that week.

“Students aren’t late anyDargen added that stumore, and I can see imdents will be free to “work provement in the classon school stuff, and someroom.” times the person who’s To Dargen, getting to managing detention wants Detention is effecclass on time is a “fairly to talk to them about why tive. Students arreasonable request” from they’re there and might en’t late anymore, students as “students ask them to write a reflecand I can see imwho choose not to go to tion.” class on time will easily One of the teachers provement in the get to three tardies, but that has been using declassroom. a student who does their tention is Norma Molina. best to get to class on Molina gives a detention NORMA MOLINA time pretty much never to her students on their TEACHER gets there.” third tardy as well as on Since inappropriate the second time they use their phone in class. She will often use the behavior had no real consequence during first few minutes of class to review content distance learning, Dargen and Molina both from prior classes and issue instructions believe that the reinstatement of the policy is one way the school is returning to norand homework.

“Students that arrive late take away from mal.

“It’s part of a general push to hold stuthe learning time for other students. It’s important that they make it to class on time dents accountable to standards that they because it maximises instruction time in used to be in the past. It seems like a reaclass,” Molina said. “When you go to work, sonable thing we should be able to do you have to show up on time, ready to work again,” Dargen said.

“

APR. 1, 2022 HIGH TIDE

6 NEWS

RIGHT on TRACK

by ELLA SILBERLING

F

reed from the usual binder checks, practice tests and college prep, AVID students from all over California took over Six Flags Magic Mountain for a stressfree night of roller coaster riding, eating and fun. On March 18, Six Flags was opened only to AVID students from 6 p.m.–12 a.m., restarting a longstanding tradition that was put off due to COVID-19.

Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) is a nationwide program in schools whose goal is to prepare students for college and develop their organizational skills. To achieve those goals and students build friendships with their peers, AVID classes go on field trips to local college cam-

puses and other destinations in California a few times a year. However, the cancellation of all field trips over the past two years means this Six Flags trip was many students’ first field trip with AVID. AVID teacher Amber Keller is glad that her students can go on at least one field trip and have a somewhat normal AVID experience.

“When I see past AVID students at the senior banquet, almost all of them say they remember the Six Flags trip and that it was one of their favorite field trips because it’s an area where we bond. Riding rides together and eating food- it’s just a great time,” Keller said.

Keller has been involved with the program for 12 years teaching modern world history, a class that aligns with the AVID path.

Two years ago, Keller began teaching sophomore AVID classes of her own and she feels lucky to have had the opportunity, despite the irregularity of those years.

“AVID is a program where we become like a fam80 RUHS students from the AVID program attended the Six Flags Magic Mountain for a day to decompress and bond. PHOTO VIA AMBER KELLER ily and I think the

GRAPHIC FROM FREEPIK

AVID attended their first field trip in over a year to Six Flags Magic Mountain

freshmen have had that family structure because we’ve been in school, but for my sophomore kids, I got them on distance learning last year as freshmen and it was hard to make those connections,” Keller said. “This year though, we’ve been able to get to know each other better and build up a camaraderie.”

AVID is allotted certain perks as a popular program with influence in many schools nationally. One of these perks is the approval of non-educational field trips through AVID, such as the trip to Six Flags.

“All our trips are approved through the AVID program. AVID goes through the state, and so being a part of AVID, we get these kinds of opportunities. It’s kind of like grad night for seniors. They get a night of fun that happens every year and so do we,” Keller said.

Sophomore Helena Urban, who attended the field trip to Six Flags, believes that AVID has helped her greatly and is “thankful” to be a part of the class.

“The tutoring is amazing here. The extra help from my teacher and being able to confide in someone like that is nice,” Urban said. “Also the people are great and it’s so easy to make new friends in the comfortable

and fun environment we have. It’s definitely something that I love about AVID.” Urban was looking forward to the field trip because she missed out on a lot of the “normal” AVID events of the past year due to the pandemic.

“We wanted to go to a lot of places we weren’t able to last year. Even though AVID is a college class and we really did want to view some college campuses, this is a great first trip to get our minds in the right place and get excited for the rest of this year and for all of the trips that we’re going to be able to do next year,” Urban said. “But on this trip, I’m really just looking forward to being able to hang out with some of my friends and have a mental break from school and everything.”

80 AVID students in all grades went on the trip and each paid $50 or less because of fundraising by the AVID program.

“I hope to take AVID through all of high school. It’s honestly a really great class,” Urban said. “Even if I have to cut down on a different class this is definitely a class that I will stay in through all of high school.”

The Western Association of Schools and Colleges accreditation committee visited RUHS on March 13-16, producing a report that highlights RUHS’s strengths and weaknesses

by CHARLOTTE GOLDSTEIN

H

aving over 3000 students and an prove on, and I think they thought that as extensive course catalog comes with well.” pros and cons at RUHS. The WestThe WASC evaluation looks at five focus ern Association of Schools and Colleges areas: organization, curriculum, instruc(WASC) helps RUHS pinpoint its strengths tion, assessment and school culture. and weaknesses to improve the school as a Once the WASC committee has looked whole. at the self study document and evaluated The WASC evaluation, which occured the school, they create a report that exthis year from March 13-16th, is a process plains the final result of their assessment, conducted every six years that validates the including school-wide strengths and areas integrity of a school and ensures that its of growth. programs and classes are accredited.

The first WASC finding highlights how RUHS principal Anthony Bridi ex- RUHS funds facilities and resources that plained that there support learning are two significant and extracurricuaspects of WASC: lar activities at the the self study school. document that is “A lot of returned in to the sources are put WASC committee into RUHS, if you and the evaluation think about all the STRONG FACILITIES visit made by the beautiful facilities.

AND RESOURCES WASC committee.

The community RUHS’s WASC uses them every “BACKWARD self study docusingle day from PLANNING” ment coordinator, zero period all the Jeffrey Rosadini, way until about GOOD TEACHERS explains that the 10 p.m. Monday self study docuthrough Sunday, AND CLASSES ment is a collecso the investment tion of data and within our cominformation that munity is huge. gives a snapshot of the school and its cam- WASC really validates what we are doing pus over a period of six years. within our community,” Bridi said.

“We do have a visit once every six years The next strength stated in the WASC but WASC is really about self study. It has report is the use of assessments and benchus look at ourselves and our programs and marks for “backward planning.” see what our strengths are and what we “Teachers get to know students first and need to work on,” Rosadini said. then they go backwards to decide, ‘What The other main part of WASC is when a do they really need?’ It’s gauging what the visiting accreditation committee evaluates students know, and then focusing on what the school campus by seeing it first hand. they don’t know to give them a better eduThis year the visit took place March 13–16. cation,” Bridi said.

“The actual WASC visit isn’t supposed to The WASC findings also highlight the be a ‘gotcha.’ They look at the report and teachers and classes at RUHS, stating that they come in and just want to see if what “through extensive counseling support and we’re saying in the self study report is re- their curricular pathways, students have flected on campus,” Rosadini said. “I think access to a wide variety of rigorous course we’re very good at understanding where offerings and excellent teachers […] teachour strengths are and what we need to im- ers plan and implement innovative and rel-

RUHS STRENGTHS

1 2 3

evant lessons as part of their rigorous, stan- ready has.

The areas of growth are formed into dards-based instructional program.”

WASC also observed “areas of growth” an action plan to turn weaknesses into strengths, according to Bridi. Then, in three for the school.

First, the WASC findings point out, years, WASC will have a midterm visit that “there is a need to improve student engage- checks in on those areas of growth.

Since the WASC results can make such ment for all students as well as academic achievement for underperforming student an impact at our school, the WASC commitgroups, especially in the areas of mathe- tee wanted to ensure that students’ opinions are heard, so they spoke with the Assomatics.”

According to Bridi, algebra and geom- ciate Student Body (ASB) about the school. etry are specifically areas that students Sophomore ASB member Ava Mathew believes that it’s struggle with. important that stu“There are dents were able to students that voice their praise are just not perand criticisms to the forming the way WASC committee. that they should “We said a couand they either STUDENT ple pros are that have D’s or F’s.

ENGAGEMENT there are so many We need to ask different types of why that is and EQUITABLE ACCESS classes and clubs, how we can support them,” Bridi FOR MINORITY GROUPS so there is something for everyone. said.

We also mentioned The WASC STUDENTS’ SOCIAL how it’s amazing findings also EMOTIONAL NEEDS that the school is show a need to able to reach a lot improve acaSCHEDULED of students and demic success COLLABORATION TIME have school spirit for minority school-wide even student groups, though our camincluding “equitable access to curriculum and courses, dis- pus is so large,” Mathew said. “Overall, we proportionately high D/F rates and other just thought that the school needs better communication and inclusion. We do have disparities in academic outcomes.”

“This is not really focusing on those with many options for kids to join in at school, 3.0 GPAs and higher, but what about the but still some kids don’t want to or don’t students below a 3.0 GPA? What groups do feel like they can be included. Also, somethey represent? And how can we support times there is a disconnect between admin and teachers and students.” those disparities?” Bridi said.

In the next three years, Bridi and ASB Next, there’s a need to address the “ever-changing” social emotional needs of stu- hope to improve in the areas of growth and dents and to maintain an inclusive atmo- continue to strengthen the areas that we excel in, while improving in the areas WASC sphere for all students on campus.

The final “area of growth” identified by recommended.

“WASC is kind of like the feather in the WASC is the need for scheduled collaboration time so teachers can address identified cap to ensure that the investments we make student academic needs, beyond the teach- for the school are wise for all of us that live, er collaboration minimum days RUHS al- breathe and work here,” Bridi said.

RUHS AREAS OF GROWTH

1 2 3 4

7

features Just keep

GRAPHIC FROM FREEPIK

SWIMMING

Senior Jazmin Khraishi teaches tenacity in her job as a swim coach at South Bay Aquatics

by MARLEY VAN PELT

F

rom being the kid who doubted herself in swim lessons to now teaching others to persevere, senior Jazmin “Jazi” Khraishi has found a passion for coaching swim lessons at South Bay Aquatics (SBA) Swim School in Torrance.

Coaching gives Khraishi the opportunity to teach her students the lessons she has learned, not only in swimming but in life. Khraishi says her former coach, Coach Latte, “pushed [her] to the limit,” helping her “pick [herself] back up and be a better swimmer.”

“I refuse to be the teacher to give up on a kid. I see kids who doubt themselves, and I was that kid,” Khraishi said. “I give the speech my old swim coaches used to give me to make me be better. I will do something over and over again until they get it right. I tell them that they should be tired and that it’s okay to be tired. I always tell them that it’s better to be exhausted and failing at a sport than to have it be super easy.”

Khraishi started training to teach in July 2021 and started working as an employee at SBA in August 2021. Teaching an age range of 2–38 years old, Khraishi finds joy in helping people learn how to swim and

widen their skills.

“For a lot of people, I’m their first stepping stone in learning to swim. For the 38-year-old, he didn’t know how to swim, and I was his first stepping stone on how to tread water and how to stay safe in water.

Especially for my younger kids, I’m the first person who takes them into the water.”

As swimming has been a part of her life since sixth grade, Khraishi plans to pursue a career in coaching, even after leaving for college.

“Wherever I go, the first thing I want to do is find a coaching job,” Khraishi said. “I want swim to always be in my life and this job made me realize how amazing it is to watch kids improve, how amazing it is to pass down my knowledge to younger people.”

Taylor Myers and Rei Gonzalez, directors of SBA, noticed Khraishi’s mindset and personality during the hiring process.

“Usually, what we look for are two main things. First, if they have a background in swimming, which [Khraishi] definitely has, and second, if they have a good background with children,” Gonzalez said.

With their years of experience as directors, Gonzalez and Myers know what it

takes to find “a perfect fit.”

“Personality goes a long way here. A lot of the instructors here, we teach them our method but we motivate [the instructors] to teach it with their own style and personality,” Gonzalez said. “[Khraishi] has such a great personality, something the kids can gravitate towards.”

Khraishi’s strong personality isn’t the only attribute that helped her to be a good candidate for the job as her knowledge and expertise of swim allows her to “exceed the expectations of most of her clientele because she has so much she can give,” according to Gonzalez.

Children and older swimmers aren’t the only ones who benefit from Khraishi’s talents. Trent Barton, sophomore at Torrance High and Khraishi’s student of six months, developed his ability to swim over the course of three years at SBA, and still trains today.

“The best part about being here and learning how to swim

is just swimming itself because I enjoy that just as much as interacting with instructors,” Trent Barton said. “One takeaway I’m always going to have is to push hard until you’re all the way done and you can rest afterward. But, until then, go full speed.”

Arleen Barton, Trent Barton, watched as Trent started at SBA with no knowledge of swimming change into someone unafraid of the water.

“Three years ago, he couldn’t even swim across the pool,” Arleen Barton said. “The biggest improvement is in his confidence in the water. He just attacks it now. It’s no problem at all, and he doesn’t even think about it. ” Khraishi teaches kids that “it’s better to be exhausted and failing at a sport than having it be easy,” and to “pick [yourself] back up so [you] can know the feeling of success.”

“I have endless stories about what kids have told me,” Khraishi said.

“The different kids I get to work with and seeing them improve is the best part [of this job].

When I think about where all my kids started, having a random person take them into the pool and seeing where they are now, that thought makes me the happiest person in the world.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF JAZMIN KHRAISHI

Junior Siena Mehta volunteers with therapeutic horseback riding

Siena Mehta “sidewalks” to assist a child with therapeutic riding, making sure he stays safe. PHOTO BY VALERIE TISCARENO

by AVA WARMAN

C

hasing her passion, junior Siena Mehta not only rides horses in her free time, but also volunteers at a center that specializes in riders with special needs.

Siena, who has special needs, has been riding since she was ten years old. She first started riding because she heard about how horseback riding can significantly improve flexibility and strength in people with special needs. Now, horseback riding is one of Siena’s favorite hobbies.

“It’s been such a good experience volunteering and riding with the horses. I have always really loved them,” Siena said. “[My favorite thing about riding is] getting the

horse set up and doing fun things like walking, running and weaving through poles. I always feel really happy when I’m riding.”

Siena rides and volunteers at Dream Catcher of Los Angeles Therapeutic Riding Centers, located in Long Beach. The center is a certified Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship (PATH) International member. Dream Catcher of Los Angeles provides individuals with physical or mental disabilities with a way to have fun while getting stronger through horseback riding.

“I started volunteering because I saw that the people that had helped me need-

ed help,” Siena said. “They really impacted me, and I wanted to make a difference.”

Siena first started volunteering three years ago at Dream Catcher of Los Angeles and ever since has felt like she is making a difference by helping people with special needs do things they enjoy. While Siena is volunteering, she “sidewalks” with riders to make sure they don’t fall off. She also prepares the horses’ meals.

“You get to make a difference in the kid’s life and help them out when they need it,” Siena said. “You make a positive impact while interacting with them. One funny thing that happens sometimes is that people will get scared of falling off, even when they won’t. There is a lake we ride to sometimes, and people get scared to go near the water even though the horse won’t walk in.”

Horseback riding can help people with special needs improve numerous physical and mental characteristics, including posture, muscle tone and range of motion. Because the horse moves in a similar motion to a human walking, therapeutic horseback riding can strengthen many muscles in the rider’s body, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).

This is why Siena’s mother, Nisha Mehta, first introduced Siena to the idea of riding. “[Siena] had just been diagnosed with scoliosis, and we thought it would be a good way to strengthen her back,” Mrs. Mehta said. “Then we found this organization, Dream Catcher, and they were so amazing.

They took her in and really developed her love for horses and riding. They just saw something in her enthusiasm and she started doing competitions with them, along with her lessons.”

When Siena first went to Dream Catcher at ten years old, she only took lessons.

Then, she started to frequent the barn more, eager to help out and spend more time around the horses. Now, she volun-

teers weekly at Dream Catcher in her free time.

While Siena has had some rough falls with the horses, she continues to get back up, her passion for riding never wavering.

“Recently, [Siena] was on a horse, and her center of balance was a little off. They were trotting pretty fast, and she literally flew off the horse,” Mrs. Mehta said. “I was just watching it in slow motion from the car. I was really worried she had hurt herself, but she just dusted herself off and got back on. She had just had back surgery for scoliosis the past year, and I was really nervous that [the fall] would cause an issue in her back, but thankfully it didn’t. She didn’t let it impact her love for riding.”

Despite some hard falls, Mrs. Mehta says that Siena becomes a different person when she’s at the barn or riding. Finding her passion among the Dream Catcher team, Siena may have found her calling in life.

“I really see that she is happy on the days she’s riding,” Mrs. Mehta said. “She’s got this sense of purpose and they value her there as a team member. I think she has really found her place. When we’re looking at her future and the different jobs that could be a good fit for her, this could definitely be something.”

Siena has had a love for horses and been passionate about being around them ever since she started taking lessons. Whether she is riding or volunteering, Siena is just happy to be surrounded by her equine friends.

“It’s such a good experience,” Siena said.

“There are always people to help and many talented riders with special needs. [If there is something you want to do,] just go for it and believe in yourself. Find out what makes you happy, and if it doesn’t, don’t do it. That’s what I did. You should be enjoying the things you do. Don’t be scared to follow your dreams.”

8 FEATURES

FRIENDS ACROSS

APRIL 1, 2022 HIGH TIDE

BORDERS Senior Mia Santorelli finds friendship while hosting a French exchange student

by AMINA RAISS

“

Une amie français,” might as well be exactly what senior Mia Santorelli asked for when she opted to host a French exchange student in her freshman year. When Santorelli initially heard about the opportunity to host, she was slightly hesitant. In the end, she found becoming a host was completely worth the trouble as it sparked a long-lasting friendship spanning continents.

“I decided to participate in the program because it was advertised in my French class and it seemed like a really fun thing to do. At first, I was kind of scared and didn’t really want to do it. I thought it would be awkward to have someone living in your house that you don’t know for two weeks. I was scared that we wouldn’t get along, but then I decided it would be a fun opportunity,” Santorelli said.

“

You’re making connections with someone across the world, and it expands your view of it.

MIA SANTORELLI SENIOR

The exchange student, Mathilde Gantois, was around Santorelli’s age but spoke very limited English. This made for some difficult first few days, but the pair slowly warmed up to one another and created a friendship.

“There was a little bit of a communication issue right away, but we were able to figure it out,” Santorelli said. “She was also very shy at first, but I can guarantee you I was probably shy, too. Despite that, we slowly ended up getting to know each other a lot more and we both opened up.”

The program, OuiConnect, is very strict on not allowing the exchange students to converse in French, encouraging total immersion into the host culture. Regardless, Gantois was able to share some parts of French culture that Santorelli didn’t know.

“I learned a lot about their school-

ing system, and how they start learning languages at young ages. [Gantois] was also learning Latin and German. It was very interesting to learn how their education process operates,” Santorelli said.

Santorelli greatly enjoyed experiencing firsthand the differences between French and American culture with Gantois; getting to teach someone the “American way” was something she has never experienced.

“I have a lot of great memories, but one of my favorites was just simply cooking because their tools are so different like they don’t use measuring cups. They use scales and things like that,” Santorelli said.

The pair went many places together, and Santorelli delighted in witnessing Gantois’s reactions to some places she’s never seen.

“I loved bringing her to the beach because she’s never really been there before.

We didn’t actually go in the water since this was during February, and it was cold, but she got to see the sunset and the water, and it was really cool. We also went to The Grove, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Hollywood and a bunch of other places,” Santorelli said.

Gantois’ own experience was very similar to Santorelli’s in the way they both greatly valued the friendship they created together. Unique from Santorelli, Gantois enjoyed being able to explore new places.

“I don’t have a particular favorite memory because, during my entire stay, everything was superb,” Gantois said.

“Some will remain etched in my memory [though], such as visiting Hollywood, visiting Rodeo Drive or visiting an aquarium, or even the basketball game at which Mia was a cheerleader. There are a lot.”

Gantois found some common stereotypes, such as all Americans being loud and obnoxious, to be far from the truth.

“I love American culture—things are so simple, no one takes the lead or even judges themselves, and everyone is pleasant and very generous,” Gantois said.

In furthering their adventures, the pair plan to spend part of this coming summer together in Gantois’ home region, Chauffour-lès-Bailly.

“She lives in the [north-central area] of France, so I’m interested to see that area because it’s more rural. I also want to

see Paris, [but other than that] I have no earthly idea. I have to figure it out considering COVID, and even if I can still travel overseas,” Santorelli said.

Because this time the plan is to be in her own home, Gantois has a few more ideas of what might take place.

“

I love American culture—things are so simple and everyone is pleasant and very generous.

MATHILDE GANTOIS FRENCH STUDENT

“If Mia can come this summer, I will show her the most famous places and cities in France, but also our traditions and, of course, our food,” Gantois said. “We would do lots of activities so that she could get to know France and have a good image of it. I would also teach her French—at least a few basics,” Gantois said.

Santorelli greatly recommends hosting a foreign exchange student to anyone who has the necessary accommodations.

“It’s an amazing experience,” Santorelli said. “I still talk to Mathilde—I snap her and have her on Instagram. You’re making connections with someone from across the world and it expands your view of it. You learn things that you can’t in a history class.”

Hollywood

Santa Monica Pier Santa Monica

Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MIA SANTORELLI

HIGH TIDE APRIL 1, 2022

Students indulge in their cultures through their lunches

by HADEEL AZZAM

S

andwiches and Lunchables can be considered your “typical” American lunch. However, living in the most diverse state in the US brings a diverse amount of foods to our campus.

Junior Lauren Ferguson brings her Puerto Rican and Balsian culture onto campus through her lunch. She brings a variety of food ranging from mofongo, a plantain dish from Puerto Rico, to sweet coconut tarts from Belize. “[Mofongo] kinda looks nasty, but there’s nothing like it,” Ferguson said.

Food has been placed in high regard in her culture. According to Ferguson, her grandmother came from a family of eight siblings and her great grandmother came from 14, large numbers that make resources like food more scarce. “[My family] didn’t have a lot in Belize or Puerto Rico,” Ferguson said.

“They didn’t have enough to feed everyone.”

Most people ask Ferguson questions about the food, trying to learn more about it.

“Certain people are like ‘This is really good.’ Other people are like ‘What is this’,” Ferguson said.

According to Ferguson, people can be closed minded when it comes to food.

People tend to judge it at first glance, saying it “looks gross and disgusting” and “they won’t even eat it.” She says people tend to shy away or judge what they don’t understand or what’s not “normal.”

“People don’t understand different flavor profiles,” Ferguson said. “There’s no good or bad food. There’s just food.”

According to Ferguson, people need to be more willing to open their hearts to different cultures and their foods.

She believes that food can mean a lot to people, and to respect it is to respect the pieces of their culture.

“Food can really connect you to a different person,” Ferguson said.

Junior Moana Kobayashi, who is Japanese, was teased during elementary school for her lunch.

“When I was younger it was really bad, so I was kind of insecure,” Kobayashi said.

Kobayashi’s mother would pack her a bento box in the mornings, a type of Japanese lunch box that has different compartments that stack up on top of each other. Students would make critical remarks towards Kobayashi on why she didn’t have a “normal” lunch. After hearing her peers’ comments, she would ask her mom to start packing her sandwiches instead.

“At the time, I just wanted to fit in. But now that I look back on it, I shouldn’t really care about what others think of my food. I’m just doing whatever I want,” Kobayashi said.

With age, it has gotten to be less of a problem for her. According to Kobayashi, she doesn’t get as many comments on her lunch as she did in the past, but on the occasions she does, Kobayashi “isn’t offended anymore.” Instead, Kobayshi invites them to try the food.

“I’ll be a little disappointed, but I’ll just say, ‘You can’t try it if you want,’” Kobayashi said.

According to Kobayshi, many of her friends are also Japanese and share that same culture. Kobayashi is even president of the Japanese Cultural Club that focuses on expressing her culture, including in the form of food.

“Don’t judge other people for not having the same lunch as them,” Kobayashi said.“It’s fun to try other things.”

FAITH IN THE BALANCE Students celebrate Lent through making sacrifices or life changes

FEATURES 9

ILLUSTRATION BY RUBY CROSTHWAIT

by YARA EL-HASAN

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iving up a Venti Iced Caramel Macchiato for 40 days can sound like a daunting task to some people. However, for freshman Kaelyn Abraham, abstaining from Starbucks is one of the ways she observes the holiday Lent and shows her dedication to Catholicism.

“I grew up celebrating Lent—it’s always been a part of my life,” Abraham said. “It’s basically just remembering the past, like how Jesus got killed. And it lasts 40 days so it’s like you’re preparing for that one moment, which is Easter when he rises from the dead.”

Lent, a period that begins on March 2 and lasts until April 14, is a Catholic holiday where those who practice have the opportunity to show their faith by changing their usual habits.

“During Lent, I go to church, and every Friday I don’t eat meat. I also give up something every season. I gave up Starbucks this year. It’s going pretty well,” Abraham said.

Having attended Catholic school up until this school year, Abraham grew accustomed to her Lent traditions during the nine years she was there.

“My favorite part of Lent is this thing in church called the Stations of the Cross,” Abraham said. “It’s basically going through how Jesus was killed, and when I used to go to Catholic school, we would sing all these songs, and they would always get stuck in my head.”

Although Abraham was “more involved”

with Lent during her time at Catholic school, she still finds ways to keep herself motivated.

“The hardest part of Lent is giving up some thing and staying involved.

It can be hard to give things up, but having faith is important to celebrate it,” Abraham said.

The holiday of Lent is inspired by the biblical story that describes how Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the Judaean Desert, and Catholics honor this period of time in different ways. Some, like Abraham, give up a habit or an item. Others, like junior Mia Wildenhain, decide to take up a hobby.

“I celebrate by not eating meat on Fridays and either give up something I would usually enjoy or I’ll do something I don’t usually do. This year I said I would go to the gym twice a week,” Wildenhain said.

According to polling organization LifeWay Research, about a quarter of Americans observe Lent. Those who participate in the holiday find different ways to motivate themselves. Abraham combats the difficulty of the 40 days by remembering her “faith in God,” while Wildenhain relies on the people around her.

“The hardest part is being consistent and staying disciplined with it. Not doing it alone makes it easier,” Wildenhain said.

Along with Abraham and Wildenhain, freshman Serena Tavai also finds ways to stay focused on her goal for the holiday.

“I just like to keep in mind why I’m doing it and who I’m doing it for, and also my love for Christ,” Tavai said.

Along with giving up meat on Fridays, Tavai also gave up procrastination. Although she sometimes finds it hard to stay consistent, she’s noticed more productivity in recent days.

“Lent gives me a different perspective of my beliefs in God and how I can get closer to Him,” Tavai said. “It shows you what you have to sacrifice to do that.”

While all three students are proud of their religion, Abraham recognizes the changes in her religious life that have formed over the years.

“I definitely used to be more involved in Lent than I am now because I don’t go to Catholic school anymore,” Abraham said.

“I kind of wish I was more involved. It’s definitely a change to my life routine, and I don’t mind it too much but sometimes I miss it.”

Although she isn’t as “involved” with her religion as she was during her time at Catholic school, Abraham still finds joy in her sacrifices and dedication during the 40 days of Lent.

“Lent is honestly kind of sad,” Abraham said. “But it becomes happier towards the end because Jesus died for people, and that’s what it’s all about.”

Students celebrate the Persian New Year, Nowruz, through practicing traditions with their families

by ARIYA ANVARI

T

he smells of sabzi polo and mahi waft through the air, a table a composite of colored eggs, flowers, spices and sweets. To others it might seem like too much at once, with overlapping music, dancing, food and conversations. But, to those familiar with the holiday, it’s perfect.

Nowruz, the Persian New Year, occured on March 20th, Sunday at 8:30 am. This holiday serves as the transition from a frigid winter to a new spring day and a new year.

There are certain traditions practiced for this holiday, including the haft-seen, a table or flat space with typically seven spices and/or foods that only start with S in Farsi.

Additionally, shirini (cookies and sweets), colored eggs, sprouts and more reside on the haft-seen.

Despite Nowruz not being observed on the school calendar, the holiday is still widely celebrated by Iranian families, even at RUHS where senior Omid Janani and junior Neeki Janani have been celebrating Nowruz for as long as they can remember.

With most of their family members residing in other states or in Iran, the siblings celebrate with immediate family, exchanging gifts and simply spending time together. “[Nowruz] is nice because it’s a time where you spend time with your family, and it’s just very fun. And that’s an important part of the holiday,” Omid Janani said.

“I would say it’s just something you look forward to, a fun time to get together, give little gifts to each other and have that meal together.”

While the Janani siblings celebrate Nowruz with immediate family, other families tend to celebrate in larger groups, one being that of senior Ahva Sharifi.

“You get a lot of family to come, it’s something that we do for reunion because it’s our New Year,” Sharifi said. “We like to see everyone, and we try to always make it with as many of our family members as we can.”

“

[Nowruz] is like a family reunion because I get to see everyone I really love and haven’t seen in a long time.

AHVA SHARIFI SENIOR In the past, Sharifi missed school to travel to other cousins’ houses. Other times, she had cousins from as far as Washington and Vancouver visit. Quarantine eventually separated several families and took a toll on those who celebrated Nowruz in larger groups.

“For the past two to three years when we’ve done Nowruz, it’s only been me, my brothers, my parents, our two grandparents and our two cousins. It’s been very small compared to what it’s usually been,” Sharifi said.

Beyond the impacts of covid, the holiday holds value to each of the Janani siblings,

having years worth of memories of the holiday. Omid’s “best memories” being, shopping for the haft-seen decorations and for Neeki the, boiled eggs, which are painted or drawn on and even a small competition for kids present. “[When] it’s time to set up the table, I just really enjoy it. I have a good memory of setting up the haft-seen - that’s the part I look forward to,” Neeki Janani said.

“That would be my favorite part when I was younger; I used to paint the eggs.”

Nowruz is multifaceted, with several different aspects. In particular, dressing up and exchanging gifts hold sentimental value for Sharifi.

“Another big part of Nowruz is its tradition for kids to get money and gifts, and you give gifts to each other. It’s kind of fun because sometimes they give you your gifts early and [you] can wear them to celebrate that night. One of my biggest memories I have is my grandma giving me her old jewelry, and I get to wear that when I see her on those late nights,” Sharifi said.

Sharifi expresses how Nowruz serves as the “reuniting of family” to her and, in the end, plays a crucial part in Persian culture.

As a result of being celebrated since 247-BC or the Parthian times, Nowruz became an important connection to the history of Iranians whilst providing familial links to their pasts. “[Nowruz is] like a family reunion because I get to see everyone that I really love and I haven’t seen in a long time,” Sharifi said. “It’s important because it’s one of the biggest holidays that Persians celebrate, and has been in our families for so long as it’s such a large tradition across all of Iran.”

IN-FO

10 HIGH TIDE APRIL 1, 2022

ODD ONE OUT

SOCIAL FOMO

Students struggle with FOMO (fear of missing out) when compared to peers both socially and academically

T

by ELISE HAULUND

here are countless high school movies—“Grease “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “Mean Girls,” “The B Club,” and a whole slew more. So, when people “high school experience,” it’s not difficult to con images of rebellious teenagers partying, making dancing, drinking or otherwise living a perfectly carefre Who would want to miss out on that?

This is the basis of the fear of missing out (FOMO) th invades the lives and minds of high schoolers in all-con ways. According to junior Violet*, the idea of party cultu the starting point of it.

“It's definitely very glorified, so people see older grad doing it, and they think, ‘Wow I wanna do that. If those are so cool, that’s what I wanna do,’” Violet said. “That fication and desire to do that stems from FOMO becaus don’t want to be that person who missed out on the hig experience.”

Violet notes that in her experience, FOMO ramps up transition to junior year, because that’s when two impo things happen: friend groups are solidified, and drinkin other substance use gets more involved.

“People, especially in high school, care a lot about w other people think of them,” Violet said. “I can tell that thing's up in a friend group if someone's not invited, so that and I’m like, ‘Oh what happened? Something must happened,’ and then I’m scared people will think that a me.”

The National Library of Health (NLH) defines FOMO “pervasive apprehension that others might be having re experiences from which one is absent.” According let, this is how FOMO drives high schoolers to parties, even if they don’t truly want to the

86

%

of RUHS students reported experienc ing social FOMO in high school Survey of 150 votes

Survey of 150 votes via ruhsmedia

O

“It's pretty obvious that every party will hav event that happens that people are going to be talki

ACADEMIC FO

by EMILIE TAKAHASHI

ne hour for APUSH, 45 minutes for AP biology, and the most they have ever studied for a test was only two hours doing calculus. Thankfully, junior Bella Langa was gifted with the skill of “good test taking” and academics have always come naturally, however their knack for the school system reveals certain side effects.

“Whenever I'm getting A's in my classes, I just feel like I'm cheating the system. It feels like imposter syndrome because I'm not really working, I'm just kind of cram-studying,” Langa said. “But then if I get a lower grade, I feel like I've been called out and discovered. So I have to actually put in the work like everyone else.”

Planning to “aim for the moon and land among the stars,” Langa pursues their goal to be valedictorian to keep their options open. Although they have current plans to pursue biosynthetic engineering, they believe getting the highest marks in every subject will allow them to go into any field they choose.

“For me, FOMO has more to do with the fear of closing off the future, the fear of dooming myself, and the fear of looking back with regret,” Langa said.

For Langa, maintaining the highest GPA is only one step in setting up “as many different possible routes” for their future, regardless of how secure their future may be their plan takes its toll on the present.

“If I'm not careful, I can base too much of myself around getting the best grades or doing better than others. Then when I get bad grades, I feel like it reflects on me personally.

You shouldn't be that motivated by academics that you feel like it connects to your personality,” Langa said.

Langa describe order to stay moti associating a B gra “In a vacuum, I fear is really drivin that I didn't think fear of closing off tial, I would not b Langa said.

Surrounded by perseverance,” jun an unavoidable co “I don't think i themselves to each your differences, b you can't really ex experiences,” Moo In an environm out as many oppo healthy competitio much competition dents are put agai “I’ve experienc doing enough,' bu be doing every sin Moody hopes t within themselves better than others “There's a big h really satisfied wit matter what it is, plus, you're not go

OCUS

APRIL 1, 2022 HIGH TIDE 11

Q:

O

e,” Breakfast e hear njure up g out, ee life.

hat nsuming ure is

des e people glorise you gh school

p in the ortant ng and

what someo I see t have about

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c-

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about. If you're tired, but then you see all your friends are going out, no one wants to be part of that conversation the morning after where everyone's talking about what happened and you don't know what happened,” Violet said.

Although Violet has witnessed friends become “obsessed” with the “insane high school standards,” she’s also partaken in the ragers. After it all, she feels that it’s better to “live in the moment, because you always miss out on something in life,” rather than succumb to FOMO. “I’ve done a lot of what high school parties seem to be. I've gone to those insane things. But at the end of the day, you'll still always see something that looks better, and that's a bad cycle because it never ends,” Violet said. “There's always something that could be more fun and could be more cool.”

Through understanding this cycle, sophomore Melis Turkgench overcame the crippling FOMO she felt during middle school.

“Once you pass a point and realize that that one ideal experience is never going to be achieved, you can really start living your own life,” Turkgench said.

Starting with a “shallow” level of FOMO in elementary school but developing into a “deep fear” in middle school, Turkgench used to block out entire weekends, “just in case someone decided to invite [her],” out of an intense fear of missing out.

“I have friends that deliberately skip family events to go to a party or hang out, myself included. Once on my dad's birthday, we were all going to a lunch but then it was my friend's birthday party too, so I left my dad’s early. I thought that would be more important to go to my friend’s party, but then I ended up regretting that decision,” Turkgench said.

According to a Common Sense Media survey, the average teenager spends between five to seven hours on social media daily. As Turkgench sees it, people are “captivated” by making things seem better than they really are, which perpetuates the cycle of FOMO on social media.

“Once you got a phone, you would go out to dinner with a ton of your friends and everyone would be sitting there on their phones just sitting there in silence. Then once in a while someone would say, ‘Hey, smile for a picture!’ and everyone would put their phones down and smile,” Turkgench said. “If you weren't at that thing, but you saw that picture, you'd be like, ‘Oh my gosh, they're all smiling, they're having such a good time. I wish I was there,’ when it's really just people doing nothing.”

FOMO does have its share of negative effects on one’s wellbeing, but it can also spur positive growth. Over his high school career senior Tora Matsuda has tried a wide range of activities,

WHAT CAUSES FOMO, AND HOW CAN TEENS COPE WITH IT?

"Sometimes people are looking for an opportunity to seize their moment in a Carpe Diem kind of way. Some people feel it to be a missed opportunity if they're not apart of everything they could be apart of."

ASK

stretching from music and wrestling to coding and salsa dance. “[Trying those new things] was a combination of a lot of these negative feelings I had. I had some fear of missing out, I was feeling kind of lonely. I just wanted to try some things so maybe I could have fun,” Matsuda said.

Matsuda also ventured into new hobbies to relate to people with similar interests. Now, he has taken that initial fear of missing out on fun in high school and left with a “genuine interest” in dance that he plans on exploring more in college, as well as a possible career path in coding.

“I felt like everyone else had a passion for one thing and it's something that they love to do, and I didn't have that. When people asked me what my passion was, I just didn't really have an answer,” Matsuda said.

According to Matsuda, FOMO is harmful when it’s constantly on one’s mind, but overall can help people “push [themselves] to try something new.”

“My times with FOMO helped me gain new experiences that I wouldn't have if I had just sat there. Even if the experiences were bad, they helped me know what I want or what I don't want,” Matsuda said. “Even if it's a failure, you can learn from it.”

"Play the long game and say, 'I don't need to do every single thing

right at this moment, right at this week, right at this month, right at this year.' There's

THE

EXPERTS

a lot to look forward to after high school. "

"Be intentional about the people you engage with. Be

careful and aware

of what you invite into your life. Be proud and grateful of what you are already involved in."

OMO

es a routine night of homework where, in ivated, they invoke a competitive mentality, ade in calculus with losing the competition.

I'm not a very motivated person, so this ng me to do the best I can and reach limits k were possible for me. If it weren't for my my options and not reaching my full potenbe functioning as well as I am right now,”

y students with “discipline, motivation, and nior Peter Moody finds comparison to be onsequence of any AP or honors class. it's realistic to expect people not to compare h other. But, it’s not good to try to justify because every person truly is different and xpect to have the same goals, nor the same ody said. ment where students are “naturally seeking ortunities as they can find,” Moody believes on can be motivational, but finds that too n can lead to a harmful mindset when stuinst each other. ced a lot of that feeling of ‘What if I'm not ut it's unreasonable to expect that you can ngle thing that everyone else is doing.” that most students will find motivation s rather than for “the sole purpose of being s.” hedonic treadmill effect, in that you're not th where you're at at any given time. No you could be failing, you could have an A oing to be satisfied with where you're at,”

Moody said.

This concept was first proposed by psychologist Leon Festinger, in 1954, with his Social Comparison theory that suggests people have an innate drive to evaluate themselves, often in comparison to others.

The Review of Educational Research, in a study on social comparison in the classroom, found that pupils preferred to compare their performances upward, specifically to those who perform better but resemble themselves (in related and unrelated attributes). It also suggests that these comparisons lead to better performance but also carry negative effects such as lower academic confidence.

82

%

of RUHS students reported experiencing academic FOMO in high school “You're not behind. All of us feel that way at a certain point in time, even though it's not always true. We're so fixated on our long term academic goals, most of us are just thinking college, college, college,” Moody said. “But overall, we're all kind of in the same boat. It's important to realize that, at some point, everybody feels behind.”

Survey of 150 votes via ruhsmedia

ILLUSTRATIONS BY KATELYN PERRY

TEACHER’S

12 FEATURES

APRIL 1, 2022 HIGH TIDE

PET

The koi pond outside of Ms. Moberg’s classroom.

PHOTO BY SPENCER ROGERS

by ROMI RISS

Meet Dexter III, Peter Parker, and some koi—the RUHS class pets

W

e’ve all seen teachers absolutely adore a student, but Dexter and Peter take being the teacher’s pet to the next level. Three doors apart, and eight legs difference, the two are the stars of their classes.

Dexter III has been ruling biology classroom 219 for nine years. The four-foot-long California Kingsnake is the third Dexter under Mr. Lewis’s care; he had two in college.

Mr. Lewis immediately knew he wanted a snake for his biology class. Dexter sparks excitement and curiosity for students in science and is an asset to the curriculum.

“I’ve talked about An organization called him beEnviroScape helped build fore when the koi pond 9 years ago and helps maintain it for w e ’ v e free. PHOTO BY SPENCER d o n e ROGERS. anatomy and discussed s n a k e organs compared to human organs. We look at how he moves and talk a b o u t evolution.

It’s a fun reference point for a lot of students,” Lewis said.

In a past class, Mr. Lewis brought a snake for dissection for interested students. Don’t worry, Dexter III didn’t watch. Though, with his curiosity, he might’ve caught a peek.

“His personality is super calm. He’s a very curious snake, so sometimes I take him on the grass outside my classroom and he slides through the grass. He’s an explorer,” Lewis said.

When I met Dexter III, Mr. Lewis brought him outside onto the grass to strike poses for the photographer. Instead of slithering off as I expected him to, he slowly approached the camera and stuck his nose to it.

“Sometimes Dexter will make friends with the mice,” Lewis said. “When I used to feed him live mice, sometimes he wouldn’t even strike them and then they would hang out. He’s super friendly.”

When Mr. Lewis first brought Dexter to the classroom, the school was hesitant to allow students to touch or hold him. However, it was the snake’s food that ended up causing more trouble than Dexter himself.

In Mr. Lewis’s first year with Dexter III, he bought a live mouse to feed the snake and kept it in a cardboard box until he could

feed it after school.

“I hear a student say, ‘Mr. Lewis, there’s a mouse in your room!’ I was thinking that it was in the box, and the students said, ‘no it’s on the ground,’” Lewis said. “I looked over and sure enough the mouse that I purchased chewed his way out of the box and was starting to run around the classroom.

About 25 students started screaming and standing on desks and chairs as a way of avoiding this mouse until I caught him.

That was a pretty comical thing. ” The mouse’s guest appearance in the class was likely an enjoyable sight for Dexter, as his favorite food is mice. California kingsnakes can eat lizards, frogs and even other snakes, but Dexter sticks to his snack/friend, mice.

“If he had a catchphrase it would probably be ‘Get in my belly!’ He likes mice and a lot of times when I open his case the first thing he looks for is mice,” Lewis said.

Dexter’s second favorite thing is students. According to Mr. Lewis, Dexter III pokes his head out and watches students throughout the day.

“I really love walking around with him during freshmen orientation. It’s just his way of getting kids excited about school and science. He likes meeting incoming freshmen and it’s always fun getting to introduce them to Dexter. If he had hands, he would give me a high five,” he said.

Just three doors over, Peter Parker, who can give eight high fives at once, is the only tarantula on campus (hopefully).

Gillian Moberg, who teaches AP environmental science (APES), brought the tarantula into the classroom about four years ago, nameless at first until the students started calling him Peter Parker. While desert tarantula’s venom doesn’t pose a threat to humans, it’s not recommended to try and turn into Spider-Man. “When I first introduced him to the class there was a lot of excitement about when he would eat because he was more aggressive when food rained down from the top of the enclosure. He would be so thrilled that he would jump at an incredible speed and accuracy. It was always thrilling to watch,” Moberg said.

Not only is Peter low maintenance, but he is also the perfect addition to APES course.

“I love the excitement, the unusual nature, the conversation starters, the curiosity and the fact that kids have different responses to it. We get a chance to talk about it. How many times do we actually get to witness a tarantula?” Moberg said.

“We can’t always take nature walks, which I would love to do, so he brings a little nature in the classroom instead.”

Peter, who sits at a lab table in the back of the class, may give the impression that he is familiar with APES because he’s attended every lesson for the past four years, but Peter would be better suited to help students perfect their backflips and their digging skills.

“I would ask Peter Parker, ‘Why are you digging so many tunnels? Going anywhere?

You love tunnels?’” she said, “If Peter was a human we would definitely be a miner, he would dig for a living.”

Peter loves his tunnels but making an appearance for the students is an additional hobby.

“He’s definitely not shy anymore, he’s now accustomed to people who will come and hang out right next to him and stare into the cage,” she said. “When students are working at the lab tables on a sunny day and he comes out he casts a huge shadow across the table, it’s very dramatic, especially when he starts crawling and the shadow does too.”

P e ters’s hairs give the im-

Dexter III, Mr. Louis’s pet snake, measures around 4’2’’. He is a nonvenomous California kingsnake, and has lived in Room 219 for 9 years.

PHOTO BY VALERIE TISCARENO.

pression of soft and tickly, but in reality, the hairs on tarantulas are very brittle and can be a bit scratchy at times.

“I took him out once. Never again,” Moberg said, “It was a small group of students and one young lady had him in her

hand. She got creeped out by the hair bristles and flung him across the room. It was too much drama for the spider, now we look without touching.”

Just outside the classroom, Mrs. Moberg a l s o takes care of the k o i pond T h e pond is alw a y s readily available to the APES classes for water quality tests and Peter Parker gets fed other outdoor crickets by his owner, labs.

Ms. Moberg, once ev“We were ery two weeks. PHOTO talking about

BY KEARA ANTONELLI. how to purify drinking water, especially for countries that don’t have central cleaning plants as we do. So, we’re talking about how to filter water and the LifeStraw [a portable water filter straw] was the tech we were talking about,” Mrs. Moberg said. ¨A couple of students dared me to use my LifeStraw in the pond, and they brought theirs and we all sucked the water out of the pond. It was a testament of faith that it would work, but it did.”

Mrs. Moberg’s classes spark student curiosity and use readily available resources to further the curriculum and depth of the class.

While Peter p r e fers his crickets, he and Dexter III both have incredible hunting abilities, which allows them to eat live mice.

“No one thinks of a spider as a predator, it just seems like they don’t do much but they’re really active predators,” Mrs. Moberg said. “One of my fondest memories is reminding myself that predators come in all shapes and sizes.”

HIGH TIDE APR. 1, 20212

Happy HOLI days

FEATURES 13

Juniors Laxmi Upadhyaya and Shreya Wunnava celebrated the Hindu holiday Holi on March 18

by STAVYAH NAVEEN

O

nly once a year is it acceptable to mischievously throw colored powder in the faces of your family and friends. The Hindu celebration of Holi occurs every year on the first full moon after the spring equinox.

Holi is a commonly celebrated holiday among those who practice India’s primary religion, Hinduism. It celebrates the arrival of springtime and represents a time to forgive, forget and restart.

“Throwing colored powder represents the bonfire from which a mythical Hindu devotee, Prahalad, was saved,” Junior Laxmi Upadhyaya said. “Each color carries a different meaning. [For example], red symbolizes love and fertility, while green stands for new beginnings.”

This year, Holi was celebrated on Friday, March 18, although it changes every year based on the full moon. Though Upadhyaya was unable to celebrate this year, she reminisces on how past Holi celebrations influenced her life and moral values.

“Holi is usually extremely big, with hundreds of people,” said Upadhyaya. “We throw color[ed] powders at each other and eat a lot of good food, but its main significance is being together and having fun with

family and friends.”

Upadhyaya, whose family has been celebrating the holiday since she was young, explained that her parents were eager to preserve their Indian heritage, by maintaining their relationships in Indian communities and with their families. The optimal way of doing so was to continue participating in the Hindu festivities from their childhood, even in the United States.

“Moving to America, from India, is a very difficult transition,” Upadhyaya said. “[Essentially, you are moving] from a place where everybody is the same race and has the same culture, to a place where that’s not the case. It definitely took them a couple of years to find that [sense of] community and be comfortable. Having this community definitely inspired us to continue celebrating [the holiday].”

Upadhyaya explains that the older she gets, the more inclination she has towards learning about the reasoning behind certain traditions, rather than just doing them for fun. “[Throwing colors] has been my main memory of [Holi],” Upadhyaya said. “In Bollywood movies, [the festivity of throwing colors] is the main thing that’s shown.

Obviously, as a kid, I wasn’t as interested in the religious [factors]; it was the boring part. But, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve actually been more curious about why we do such traditional things.”

Junior Shreya Wunnava participates in Hindu holidays primarily because it is a “good” way for her to incorporate and practice Junior Shreya Wunnava and her father at a Holi celebration in 2008. the morals and valPHOTO COURTESY OF SHREYA WUNNAVA ues that the religion teaches, thus further assimilating Hindu cating a sense of belonging; it also helps Inpractices into her life. dian Americans, such as herself, learn more “I feel like a lot of these big celebrations about their identity in a society where that come down to the truth of good over evil, sense of culture and heritage can be lost. honesty over lies, and so on,” Wunnava “My favorite tradition [during Holi] is said. “Those are things that I try to do on remembering the significance of what the a daily basis, which is essentially to show holiday stands for,” Wunnava said. “Begrace wherever I go.” cause at the end of the day, that’s what’s Wunnava believes that the significance important. That’s what rings true to who I of Holi also extends farther than just incul- am.”

Students reflect on how pandemic-induced learning loss affected them

by ELISE HAULUND

“

Learning loss” was the post-pandemic boogie man for teachers and students alike as they made their way into the 2021–2022 school year, our first year back in full swing after a year and a half of distance learning. Going into this school year, teachers strained to make up for gaps in understanding while students studied overtime and took tests to assess the scope of the damage.

Although students may have missed out on memorizing the polyatomic ions in chemistry class or never quite learned how to write a timed essay in English class, they entered this school year with an arsenal of their own personal learning from the long days of the pandemic.

Whether they learned how to crochet a cardigan, speak a new language or connect with their family, students still picked up new knowledge that MAP tests couldn’t account for. One student, sophomore Lalitha Muttulingam, taught herself how to do henna, an art of drawing designs with a paste that stains one’s skin.

“It’s really nice to be able to focus on one thing and concentrate. I can play music in the background, and then I really like having the designs on my hand for the week,” Muttulingam said. “It was definitely really helpful to be able to have something to take my mind off of everything.”

Muttulingam began learning how to do henna after receiving a kit for Christmas 2020, and since then has continued practicing and sharing her art with friends and family. However, as she entered this school year, Muttulingam had less time to devote to henna, especially since it entails letting the paste dry for upwards of an hour.

“I do it whenever I have free time. Over Thanksgiving break, my friend Simra and I would go to the park and I would teach her how to do it. It’s been harder now that we’re back in person and I have to focus on school more because it takes a long time to do it, and then once you do it, you have to let it dry,” Muttulingam said. “I have to do my homework with one had while it’s drying.”

The extra time prior to this school year helped Muttulingam further her talent.

When she visited a monastery in Kauai, Hawaii that her family follows last summer, she was asked to design the Om (a spiritual symbol) on the cover of their magazine. Muttulingam’s new hobby allowed her to connect with her culture during a time where all kinds of connections were strained.

Henna helped Muttulingam connect with others in more ways, too. Her first subject was her little brother, who asked her to draw the Superman logo on his hand on the first day she got the kit, and her grandmother hung papers with her designs up.

“It’s nice to have something that I can do for other people. I would do the designs on a couple of my friends, and I did it on my brother, so it’s a nice way to be able to connect with people and give them something that hopefully they’ll like,” Muttulingam said.

Muttulingam is a “perfectionist” when she does henna on herself, but doing it for others has taught her to “just go with it.”

“When I do it on other people, then I have to stop being a perfectionist,” Muttulingam said. “There was this one younger elementary school girl who I did it for and she was like, ‘oh, it looks fine.

You don’t have to redo it,” and I was like ‘Yeah, I better stop.’ She was so sweet.”

While new hobbies and skills were abundant during the days of distance learning, perhaps more impactful were the lessons students learned about themselves. Junior Alexis Battin reflects on how her time during the pandemic affected the person she is today.

“It really did cause me to learn how to be okay with being alone, because I was literally forced to do that,” Battin said. “I do a lot more self-reflection now, and I honest-

ly feel like if it weren’t for the pandemic, I wouldn’t have learned about myself to the extent that I did.”

During her freshman year, Battin had a “very unhealthy” relationship with her grades and would judge herself by them.

This led to her putting enormous pressure on herself to reach high standards, often placing school before her own health. When school shut down, however, Battin could no longer ignore her mental health.

“My mental health was up and down, like a huge rollercoaster. One day I would be on top of the world, but there were days that I felt really hopeless and would think ‘when is this ever going to end?’” Battin said. “During the beginning of sophomore year, my confidence was at an all-time low.

When faced with the decision of returning to school in-person or staying online in spring of the 2020–2021 school year, Battin opted to stay online due to anxiety caused by all the unknowns (“What’s gonna happen when we d o go back?

How am I going to be able to handle taking a real test again?

How will I be able to sit in a desk all day at school?”).

“That was the first major step of putting myself first and really paying attention to what I needed,” Battin s a i d .

“Overall it was beneficial, and I haven’t had as severe of anxiety since then because I’ve learned coping mechanisms for how to deal with it. If I feel a lot of thoughts coming in my head at once, I can identify them, sit with them, take deep breaths and do whatever I need to calm myself down and bring myself back to the present.”

In addition to that first hurdle of learning to prioritize herself, Battin also improved her confidence by resisting the urge to compare to others.

“Every single person is different. Every single human is made up of their flaws and their imperfections and we just have to accept ourselves fully and be compassionate toward ourselves and others,” Battin said.

“Just learning that and then being secure in who I am was my biggest lesson. It was hard to do, but I have fully accepted myself.

Obviously there are still bad days, but I can move past the negative thoughts now.”

Though she describes herself as an extrovert, having time to learn how to be comfortable with being alone helped Battin become more comfortable with herself. Going into this school year, that lesson helps Battin participate more in her classes and ultimately get more out of them.

“One thing I struggled with in the past was being scared of messing up or being wrong. Therefore, I wouldn’t participate in class because I would doubt myself. I’ve become more confident, and even if I am wrong, it’s not the end of the world. Everyone is going to be wrong or make a mistake at some point,” Battin said.

As Battin sees it, the life lessons she learned over the pandemic were “more valuable than a missing homework assignment.”

“Going into this school year, I’m still prioritizing myself, taking breaks and being more patient with myself,” Battin said.

“Usually the night before the first day of school, there are a lot of nerves. This year was the first day of school that I was not nervous.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF LALITHA MUTTULINGAM

14

opinion SCOTUS Strife Controversy surrounds Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearing

A

t a Supreme Court Justice confirmation hearing, the last thing you would expect to hear is Ted Cruz asking “Can I be Asian?” and a discussion on a children’s book titled “Antiracist Baby.”

On Feb. 25, Ketanji Brown Jackson was nominated to sit on the Supreme Court by President Joe Biden, with her confirmation hearings beginning recently on Mar. 21, sparking lots of controversy. Questions from many committee members—such as Senator Cruz asking Jackson whether or not it was racist to call the police on a person of color committing a crime, made her uncomfortable—and even sparked debate regarding the credibility and efficiency of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

In the past, the committee used these hearings as a chance to discuss law and judicial credibility; however, it has sadly evolved into a political game, where Republicans and Democrats use the hearings as a playground to expose the nominee, prevent them from sitting on t h e bench and check an additional box on their political agendas, all while disregarding law-related questioning.

I f

confirmed by the committee, Jackson would be the first Black woman to sit on the bench.

She is currently a judge on the Washington D.C Circuit, and while many of her questions could have been related to past rulings or her knowledge of the U.S government and law, many on the committee—mainly Republican senators—devoted their time to asking Jackson about the definition of the word “female” and whether or not babies were racist.

Jackson’s confirmation hearing highlights the multitude of issues found in all systems of our government—from disrespect and unprofessionalism to racism and corruption— and also exemplifies that we still have a long way to go before our government adapts to the needs and wants of its people, as currently, politicians seem to be sticking to their own agendas—ones that earn them money, media attention, control and party majority.

Confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) are a process meant to help the public learn about a nominee’s education, credibility, involvement in the judicial system and what they would contribute during their time on the bench. In the past, the Senate Judiciary Committee succeeded in asking difficult but meaningful questions related to the Constitution and the law of our country, using its time wisely to learn about the nominee and decide whether or not they were a proper fit for the

by TROY NEVIL highest court in the United States. But today, these hearings have become a joke.

Senators who are well-educated and elected by the people of their state are embarrassing themselves and their country, fishing for any way possible to expose the nominee or trap them in their own words. During Jackson’s hearings, they continuously interrupted Jackson as she tried to answer her questions, meanwhile asking her questions that would embarrass her and portray her as an unqualified candidate for the Supreme Court.

Are these hearings becoming worse because of the nominees, or because of our senators? Is the nomination process flawed, or does the Senate Judiciary Committee need to be changed to better fit our modern political climate?

The answer is simple: the committee and its senators are the problem. Although nominees such as Brett Kavanaugh reasonably underwent difficult questioning due to sexual assault allegations, Ketanji Brown Jackson’s twisted questioning can be attributed to her gender and race.

For our government to improve, we must adjust the committee to include senators and politicians who are qualified and knowledgeable in the judicial system. The judicial branch is a portion of government that should never implement bias; it must utilize the law, the Constitution and the facts of its cases to make decisions. Therefore, when conducting confirmation hearings for the next SCOTUS nominee, our senators must stick to the law, and stay away from hypotheticals and children’s books.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF GOOGLE

Locker room talk gives way to sexualization of women

I

by ZELIA LERCH

’ve spent about 10 years of my life playing sports. It’s rotated from gymnastics to soccer to lacrosse, but a common factor through all of the various athletics is that I have never once heard the women in the locker room try to pass off sexualizing men as “locker room talk.”

Locker room talk, as defined by Urban Dictionary, is “conversation that polite society dictates be held privately [...] due to its sexually charged language, situations or innuendos.” Passing off crude and disrespectful sexual discussions about women as “just something men do” is a gross interpretation of what’s actually happening, and it’s offensive both to the athletes that spend their time before games talking about literally anything else along with men who choose not to sexualize the women in their lives.

In a video from 2005, former President Donald Trump bragged to television host Billy Bush about kissing women without their consent and grabbing them by the genitals on their way to film an episode of “Hollywood Access.” He later defended this quote in a presidential debate against Hillary Clinton as nothing more than “locker room talk,” then continuing to deflect the question by talking about how much more

important it is to focus on defeating ISIS. Since then, the phrase has been used to describe any time someone, usually male, describes a sexual experience (usually with a woman) in a way that eradicates any form of mutual respect or understanding between the two parties. It has inspired articles from “The Bulwark” to “The New York Times” about how accurate the term is, or whether these discussions are excusable as they occur in “private spaces.”

But when it comes down to it, a locker room just isn’t a private space at all, and the accuracy of whatever name people want to give to dismiss the experiences of women as the triumphs of the men who sexualize them isn’t the main point of concern. It has to do with the fundamental respect the perpetrators of the ideas behind “locker room talk” have for those who bear the consequences of the discussions.

It’s no secret that talking about women in a sexual manner has been completely normalized, especially in our h i g h

ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF THE QUINT

school environment. I mean, I can barely walk down the main hall without hearing a group of sophomore guys talking about their most recent hook-up at a party or discussing the “hottest” girls in school. It’s especially important to distinguish that it’s impossible to even excuse these discussions as private or conversations between friends. In fact, it’s almost as if the guys who sexualize their partners want the people around them to hear about their escapades, some of which border worryingly on assault.

The fact that it even is normalized has to do both with the excuse of “men being men” and the lack of respect towards the women they impact. Boys feel societal and social pressure to prove themselves in a way that permeates the hallways with intrusive talk about the intricacies of every action committed with a (most often) female partner.

Additionally, brushing off this behavior as something normal that “just happens” between men dismisses the issues that women raise as a response to the disrespect and assault that occurs because of those words. If the men who speak in this way aren’t taken seriously, how can we as a society pretend that we didn’t recognize the warning signs when the words become more serious as they ferment into actions as a manifestation of their boasting?

Talking about your experiences is normal and healthy. Doing so at the expense of the dignity of others, especially in a way that perpetuates a violating and offensive action, however, is not.

Let’s stop dismissing this all as “locker room talk.” Call it what it is: the sexualization and continued verbal assault at the expense of women.

HIGH TIDE

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HIGH TIDE APRIL 1, 2022

OPINION 15

Sunshine State Rains on Sexuality Opposition breaks out over Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” Bill

by ZOE ROSSI

H

ave any of your teachers ever discussed sexuality or gender identity with your class? Have you ever analyzed a gay character in a novel or explained the purpose of identifying pron o u n s ?

Well, if your teacher did that in Florida, your parents would now be able to take serious

l e gal action against them, under Florida’s new bill dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by critics, which has swept the nation in an uproar of opinions from all sides.

Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Bill passed on March 8, restricts teachers’ ability to discuss sexuality or gender identity in kindergarten through thirdgrade classrooms. If any parent suspects the acts outlined in the bill are violated, they may be able to take legal action against the school or school district. The bill mainly addresses parents’ rights regarding their students’ health records.

Sexuality is addressed for what seems like 2% of the document itself. The bill is a major overreach of parental control that will stifle American youths’ young minds.

The “Don’t Say Gay” bill will inherently limit the voice of young students if they do not have access to teachers or other adults they can turn to in confidence. Young children have active minds and often do not have the forethought to monitor their own questions about sexuality while at school, especially in today’s day and age. Therefore, it is the teacher’s responsibility to help guide

them toward the information they seek.

While most teachers may not have all the answers a student is after, the teacher should not face legal repercussions for helping to guide one of their students to valuable resources. The bill authorizes “a parent to bring an action against a school district to obtain a declaratory judgment that a school district procedure or practice violates certain law provisions.” We live in a time when children are faced with questions of gender and sexuality at a young age.

We have open access to the internet to seek out the answers to any question we have.

We should allow for safe discussion spaces for students rather than letting them take matters into their own hands

or inaccurate information on the internet.

Restricting the discussion of sexuality and gender identity will create negative sheltering that can cause children reputable harm and mental issues. According to Frank C. Worrell, Ph.D., president of the American Psychological Association, prohibiting classroom discussion in class will send a message to the LGBTQ community that it is inherently wrong from a young age and the social isolationism it will inevitably create, will lead to depression, anxiety, selfharm, and even suicide.

Exposure to these discussions of sexuality in a safe and secure environm e n t will allow children to be more

a n d f i n d unsettling, unencouraging,

sympathetic to others and get the guidance they seek. Prohibiting schools from discussing these matters sends a damaging message to impressionable young people at a critical time in their development. Depriving students of a safe outlet for open conversations and independent thought does more harm than good.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF ASSOCIATED PRESS FLORIDA IMAGE COURTESY OF FREEPIK

Ukraine conflict draws more attention than past national crises

by SASCHA PERDUE

R

ussia’s invasion of and attack on Ukraine is a humanitarian crisis that has displaced millions of people. But it’s not the only one—so why are people more accepting of Ukrainian immigrants than they are of Middle Eastern refugees and sending aid to Ukraine?

One possible reason is the fact that Ukraine is a European nation. European nations tend to receive more positive media attention than, say a Middle Eastern country. Andrew Limbong, an NPR reporter, explained how “In The Telegraph, Daniel Hannan wrote an article about Ukraine that led, ‘They seem so like us.’ That’s what makes it so shocking. An anchor for Al-Jazeera English called Ukrainian refugees, quote, ‘middle-class people,’ in comparison to refugees from the Middle East and North Africa.”

Another reason I think that this is happening is the fact that people are selfish; they only care about things when they affect them. If Ukraine were to be taken over by Russia then the trade the US and EU countries do with Ukraine will be disrupted or stopped, which would not be detrimental to the US economy. In contrast, we could have done more to help Afghanistan but we refused to when they were taken over by the Taliban. The Taliban is an extremist group within Afghanistan, and the last time they were in power, they imposed harsh laws and took most women’s rights away. Even though the US

had the ability to help they chose not because Donald Trump in his presidency signed a peace deal with the Taliban and Joe Biden has chosen to uphold the peace deal, which makes it to where the US will not be affected by the Taliban’s takeover.

The third reason is that white Americans and Europeans are more likely to want to give aid to people that look like them. Approximately 77.8% of Ukraine are Ukrainian and 17% are Russian according to World Population Review, so the vast majority of people are white European. According to the Association of Religious Data Archives, 85% of Ukraine practices some

branch of Christianity. Compare that with the 65% of adult Americans who self identify as Christian, and the similarity between the two countries becomes clear.

There is also the Afghanistan crisis but the media is not giving it as much attention as the Ukraine crisis, but the two are quite similar. The biggest similarity between Ukriane and Afghanistan is that the people seeking to control the country are part of a regime that does not respect human rights.

There is a major difference, though.

Ukraine has gotten continuous support and Afghanistan has been left to fend for itself. The US has specifically been giving

PHOTO COURTESY OF DW

Ukraine weapons. According to the White House website, the U.S. offered an 800 million dollar assistance deal, and it includes things like grenade launchers, pistols and body armor.

On the other hand, on August 15, 2021, when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan just a few days after the US withdrew troops, the US refused to help. The Taliban government has had repeated war crimes and relentless bloodshed according to Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary-General. This choice of refusal relates back to my second point about it having to do with people’s selfishness. The Taliban invasion does not affect the US or its allies since the US signed a deal with the Taliban saying that the Taliban would not allow people within Afghanistan to threaten the US or its allies.

The second major difference is how the immigrants are being placed. White Ukrainians are being welcomed with open arms to EU countries, the US, and the UK. This very much differs from the treatment of Afghan immigrants. They were really only accepted by Iran and Pakistan, which is not great because both of those countries are at war with the Taliban, but since the immigrants have no other choice since western nations are not accepting them.

There are a lot of people at fault for this problem including lawmakers, people who elect these lawmakers to power, and at the root of the problem is racism within western nations but there is no one way to fix it. Though some things can be done to help bring change one is to write to lawmakers who deal with foriegn relations demanding change and donate to different causes that benefit more than just one country such as UNICEF.

16

entertainment

Charli XCX Sells Out

“Crash” is painfully self aware

by ANSEL REYES

PHOTO FROM THE HARVARD CRIMSON

C

harli XCX should not be proud of selling out; especially when she’s putting out a project like “Crash.”

Her latest album provides us with some beautiful and sparkly instrumentals but is severely lacking in terms of clever and innovative songwriting.

The bold synths and wavy bass lines came together in a perfect swell of electronic majesty. It felt like “Crash’s” production drove me along the strand of a stunning,

synth-pop beach at sunset.

There are so many bangin’ instrumentals on this album, and it felt like every beat and melody was meticulously crafted to get your head bobbing. The production is so rich with soul and emotion that you really only need to listen to any song off the album twice to start humming along to the instrumentals.

When the production wants to be detailed, it’s done tastefully and subtly. It’s so

easy for an entire project to crumble under all of these moving pieces, but the instrumentals on Crash stick the landing like a glamorous robot gymnast with the spirit of a pop megastar.

Charli XCX rides each beat with elegance and style, and there’s no denying the serendipity among her classy vocals and spunky dance-pop beats. Her voice is distinct, and choosing not to conform to that godawful, over-enunciated, Halsey-esque accent makes her instantly stand out among her mediocre contemporaries.

Although there’s artistry in her voice and the instrumentals that accompany it, the album is bogged-down by shallow lyricism. Pop music does not necessarily have to be detailed to be memorable, but a lot of these verses and choruses sound like they were written in ten minutes.

On “Constant Repeat,” Charli sings “Do you realize I could have been the one to change your life? You could have had a bad girl by your side, you could have had a bad girl, could have had a bad girl.”

Her confident “bad girl” persona feels so stale and overplayed since she’s fully explored this theme in much more captivating ways on previous projects. The songs on “Vroom Vroom” tread the same ground that “Crash” does, except on “Vroom Vroom,” the lyrics aren’t afraid to dive deeper than the surface-level emotions of-

fered on “Crash.”

Despite this, there are some tongue-incheek lines like the hook on “New Shapes” where she repeats “What you want, I ain’t got it,” which seemingly subverts the expectations of mainstream pop by dedicating a chorus to not possessing desirable qualities.

However, this hook ironically takes on a whole new meaning when you compare it to the rest of “Crash’s” tiresome lines.

“What you want, I ain’t got it,” is true since I wanted to see interesting and varied lyrics; but with this album, Charli “ain’t got it.”

Most of the writing is insultingly generic, and her lack of sincerity and her willingness to abandon a key component of what made her music great takes away from my ability to feel empowered by her songs.

In interviews, Charli has been touting this self-aware, cheeky attitude toward “Crash” by claiming that she “loves selling out.” One could argue that she’s still embodying the careless nature of her music by sticking to her guns and admitting that she’s dropping a record that lacks quality, but it doesn’t change the fact that “Crash” really only has its production and Charli’s recognizable, smooth vocals going for it.

This is not Charli XCX’s best work, and I really hope she doesn’t continue down the path of mediocrity that “Crash” seems to be carving out perfectly for her. The production is lovely, but we’re far from the alluring lyricism and eccentricity of “How I’m Feeling Now.”

Understanding even more about Olivia Rodrigo

by SYDNEY LAMICH

O

livia Rodrigo, the pop sensation whose relatable lyrics, emotional storylines and global hit “driver’s license” placed her career in the fast lane, is driving straight into her first retro-style film about her life, only available on Disney Plus.

Taking a nostalgic trip from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles where she first composed her songs for her debut album “Sour,” Rodrigo’s documentary “driving home 2 u” highlights her deep connection to her musical journey and lyrics. It’s a long trek that puts Rodrigo in a reflective state, tailored to attract the vintage taste of her growing Gen Z fandom that loves the grainiest of filters.

It felt as if I was in a 90s-inspired movie, especially with her sky blue Ford Bronco.

Along the way, interviews and behindthe-scenes footage of her creative process are revealed as well as her new arrangements for each “Sour” song that connects her fans even more with the pop star. This documentary also opens the door for fans to explore Rodrigo’s inspiration for her

triple-platinum certified album. Standouts include a rock-infused, distorted remake of “jealously, jealously,” staged under a highway overpass and a haunting orchestral performance of the upbeat hit “good 4 u” in the middle of nowhere.

Each of Rodrigo’s new arrangements keeps her fans satisfied as they are almost— if not better than—the originals. Rodrigo showed the behind-the-scenes footage of each song with her co-writer Dan Nigro as well as performed them after to show her passion for her works of art. For example, when she performed “traitor,” she layered her guitar, piano and soft vocals to create a raw, melancholic feeling in the viewer that makes you want to hug Rodrigo to heal all of the scars that destroy her. Furthermore, every time she introduced a song from her album and the work that went into it, I would turn the TV up just a little bit louder to hear the different beats and instruments used to alter the original recordings. “driving home 2 u” demonstrates not only the process that went into making Ro-

drigo’s album but also the emotional struggles and true heartbreak that consumed her. Experiencing a breakup with presumably her former co-star Joshua Bassett, Rodrigo feels cheated, betrayed and utterly empty as he was the piece that held her together. However, Rodrigo feels even more empowered now that she can share her feelings and thoughts about her love life.

Just as beautiful as her growing story, the scenery in “driving home 2 u” makes the whole song-writing process even more memorable. From aerial shots of Rodrigo driving alone in a never-ending desert to an orchestra playing on a circular mirror with canyons surrounding them as the sun sets, the film doesn’t stop short of getting every single angle of the journey from Utah to California.

As a performance piece, “driving home 2 u” artistically constructs an exhilarating, timeless showcase for Rodrigo. It’s a film that succeeds in making viewers feel that it is actually about the journey, not the destination.

PHOTO FROM VOX ATL

HIGH TIDE APRIL 1, 2022

ENTERTAINMENT 17

It turns out that it is cake Netflix’s top show “Is it Cake?” is mostly fun and sometimes grating

by SCARLETT MISCHE

“

was my favorite due to his sense of humor, Is everything cake… am I cake?¨ kindness and overall sweetness throughout this question is one asked by people the show. Steve was a close second in my throughout the world after watching book, due to his incredible attention to deone of those hyper-realistic cake videos tail at making realistic looking items out of that can be found on a wide variety of cake. social networking sites.

The pacing of this show is nice and Netflix´s new cooking show, ¨Is It Cake?¨, will most certainly capture the at- there was always something new to grab tention of the growing number of people at your attention. Each episode contained who mindlessly watch realistic cake videos, a new type of cake that contestants got to myself included. This show is very much make. The colors in the show were bright addictive and it has a stereotypical cooking and attention grabbing, as well as the jump show feel to it, which I enjoyed immensely. cuts and camera angle switches. The way There is the vibrant cake wall (the wall that the jump cuts and such were situated that spins around containing different throughout the show made it so that you items, one of them being cake), the con- would never be watching one person (or stant change in judges and, of course, there one part) for too long. Having such a variis Johnny and Steve (obviously the two best ety of change throughout each episode and throughout the season was clearly a delibcontestants).

However, some parts of the show erate choice, to keep viewers attentions. A *cough* the host *cough* are immensely variety of change is something that is exannoying. Personally, I like the way that pected of most shows meant to grab your traditional cooking shows are set up (one attention such as this one, however I appreperson is eliminated per episode and then ciated the way that it wasn’t too over done.

Speaking of change, have I mentioned there’s a final showdown), whereas this show has a different kind of layout (three that havdifferent people would compete each week i n g from a larger group of people). Even though I found this new layout to be irritating, it was something that I eventually was able to get over. On the other hand, the host, Mike Day, made me want to rip out my eardrums and claw at my eyeballs. His puns, jokes and general a terrible sense of humor was killing change me throughout the series. in hosts would Luckily he isn’t the only part have been much of the show. Steve and Johnny appreciated (seriously, were the people I was rooting for I liked the show but I could throughout this show. All of the competitors were overall fun to watch, however Steve and Johnny PHOTO BY NPR were the two I liked most. Johnny

very much do without Mikey Day). Actually, even though I hated the host so much, the good parts about having him in the show was that it was fun watching the bakers make fun of him. They would often poke fun at his obvious lack of baking knowledge, which was very satisfactory for someone, like me, who found the host to be anything but comic relief (more like ‘comic unease’ or something to that extent).

I’m sure that there are many other people who agree with me on the matter of Mikey Day, especially because this show has become Netflix’s #1 in TV shows as of right now. The talent of these bakers is unmatched and it entirely deserves to be watched.

Trying to guess the cake and watching the judges do the same is actuall y

quite relaxing and I would watch this show again purely for the judging and guessing parts of the show.

Overall, I would recommend this show to anyone who is bored and would like to watch a quick show on Netflix that you can get through before even realizing it. It is a show that grabbed my attention and I think that it will certainly be grabbing the attention of many others.

New video game “Elden Ring” forces you to put in the work

by MICHAEL APRAHAMIAN

PHOTO FROM POLYGON

M

y heart rate reaches 90 as I come close to killing the boss, screaming my heart out on my third hour of trying. “Elden Ring” is an open-world, third-person action role-playing game created by the videogame company FromSoftware Inc. The $60 game is available on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. “Elden Ring” starts off with a beautiful spread of images that gives the player a basic gist of the situation: the goal of the game is to find the “Elden Ring.” Very early on, the game gives the player an impossible task to complete, usually ending in horrible failure. Everyone hates losing, but the challenge is what the game is about. After the loss, the game finally gives the user a tutorial on how to play the game and lets the player finally enjoy the game in the manner in the way it was supposed to be played.

Finally playing the game, I was even more

excited but nervous to dip my toe in the real game.

The beautiful world that was created by the game is finally shown to the player. The world is vast and filled with old medieval structures that look abandoned and untouched. There’s a tree taller than Mount Everest that is glowing bright yellow, with branches that go as far as the eye can see.

The way the world is built makes the world alive and active. It feels dynamic and alive, as the world changes with or without the progression of the story. One day the land is bright and hot, then the next day it’s raining and dark. When traveling the lands of the world, there are animals like deers, boars, and birds. The changes in the time and weather and the different animals in the world really help the world feel alive.

The dynamic destruction also makes the game’s world beautiful. When I was fighting with certain bosses I would notice that

the bosses would affect the environment around them. The bosses would destroy trees and destroy many of the structures in the surrounding area, again not to keep repeating myself makes the world feel dynamic and alive.

However, the bread and butter of the game is the combat, which is just as good or even better than worldbuilding. There are many different ways to fight in the game: a total of 309 different weapons and 167 unique spells in-game, including Rivers of blood, Sword of Night, Flame, and Comet Azur. All the different ways of playing the game allowed me to pick the way I wanted to experience the game.

The story is fairly simple, there ain’t no overarching characters or a big mystery you have to solve. The simple story really helped me focus on other things in the game. There are a total of 83 bosses in the game, 74 of them are unique from each other. The game

only forces the player to beat 13 of the 83 to finish the main story of the game. This allows the experience to feel, again, more unique and special.

What makes the game challenging is the difficulty of each boss. Defeating most of the bosses isn’t a cakewalk. You really have to struggle to beat 90% of the bosses in the game, which was both frustrating and fun for me. What really makes the game frustrating though is when you are fighting a boss, and it is close to dying, but you die before you can beat him. This happened to me about 25 times in one session of playing the game. But the struggle of winning makes the game even better because when the boss has finally been defeated, no feeling in life can compete with how excited I got.

A beautiful game of struggle and challenge; edging adventure. “Elden Rings” gives the player an experience worth a $60 price tag. The fun is endless.

18

sports MAKING A RUN

Girls softball beats Santa Monica 3-0, making a run for the Bay League Title

by TY SORIA

A

s the afternoon bell rang on Wednesday, March 30, the girls softball team warmed up to play Santa Monica, who were 4-0 in Bay League and in first place.

The girls won 3-0, with most of the action taking place in the first inning. Sophomore Ella Zimmerman took the mound for the entire game, striking out three batters and giving up three hits in seven innings.

“I felt good, I was hitting my spots today and I just really wanted to win this game,” Zimmerman said.

RUHS’s defense had a rocky start in the first inning, making two errors. Santa Monica drove in a run on a single, but fortunately for RUHS, the batter hit out of order. An out was called, and the ruling stated for each baserunner to return to their bases, allowing the girls to strand two of Santa Monica’s batters on base after a lineout hit to second baseman and co-captain Sydney Inana.

On the offensive side, the girls had to adjust to the speed of the Santa Monica pitcher, who threw hitters off due to the slower speed. Zimmerman led off the first inning with a stand up double to center field, sparking a two run rally.

“We had to be sure to watch the pitcher because she’s slower than most others and had to wait on her pitches,” Zimmerman said. “She threw a lot of breaking balls that were hard to hit.”

The early lead established a modest but confident tone for the rest of the game, as the defense tightened up and the hitting remained present most of the game. Se-

nior Katie Tan, shortstop, got on base three times, getting hit by a pitch twice and hitting a single in her third at bat.

“Hitting wise, because we got ahead early, we were able to relax. A few of us started with some good line drives and we were able to move people around the bases,” Tan said.

The defense ended up being key for RUHS as they only made one error after the first inning, which was canceled out by a double play to first baseman Catherine Wong, who caught a whizzing line drive and tagged the base for the second out. Head Coach Jennifer Dessert prioritizes defensive efficiency by keeping count of defensive plays per game.

She counted 22 plays total, many of them made by Inana at second base and freshman Kaya Aguirre at third. The team required all aspects of play for success, as Zimmerman was dependent on the defense to get outs, and the defense relied on Zimmerman to jam batters so their hits were easier to defend. Tied together by quality at bats, the full force of the team makes for more success.

“This year, we are a lot more reliant on all types of players. Not just two or three or someone getting 13 strikeouts a game, but a full team concept,” Dessert said. “The girls do really well bouncing off each other’s energy, and if somebody gets ahead, we rally behind her.”

Moving forward, both Dessert and Tan believe this game was just the beginning of a successful season and was a good sign for more wins to come. Although they will face Santa Monica again later this season, their

win will help them mentally prepare for future matchups.

“This game was a big confidence boost for us. Now that we beat the top team, we have to focus on staying on that level, and it should be better from here on out,” Tan said.

ELLA ZIMMERMAN PITCHING STATS

7.0

INNINGS PITCHED

3 STRIKEOUTS 3 HITS ALLOWED 0 EARNED RUNS

1 1. Sophomore Catherine Wong catches the ball on a throw from freshman Kaya Aguirre.

2. Captain Sydney Inana fields a ground ball for an out.

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PHOTOS BY RIDER SULIKOWSKI

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Boys volleyball loses three close sets against Mira Costa

by ANDREW MCKENNA

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n Friday, March 25, boys volleyball took the court with one goal in mind: beat Costa. The last time the program had accomplished this was March 3, 2019. Carrying a 12-2 record into the game, including a six-game win streak and a win over Loyola (the number two ranked team in the nation) under their belts, the team felt poised to add another impressive accomplishment to their résumé.

This feat proved to be much easier said than done. RUHS quickly dug themselves into a hole after dropping the first two sets by a combined total of just four points, losing 25-27 in the first set, and 30-32 in the second.

“We definitely struggled with closing out the sets”, junior middle Tanner Lutton said.

“We played really well throughout the entire set, but we gave up a few costly runs [at the end] that resulted in them winning. We just need to focus on going to the next play and doing our jobs.”

Staring up a mountain of a comeback, Lutton led his team back onto the court for a third set. Although winning seemed impossible at this point, Lutton knew that getting shut-out wasn’t an option.

“We didn’t want to go out [without winning a set]”, Lutton said. “We got swept by Mater Dei, and that [game] has stuck with us and still hurts. We just couldn’t let that happen again.”

Having lost the previous sets, the boys had to make some adjustments if they wanted to win.

“We worked on taking away the shots that we knew they liked to hit, and especially defense and serve receive, because those can really set up our offense”, Lutton said. “We know that if we run our offense, no one can beat us.”

Lutton’s teammate, junior middle-blocker Cole Kallick, also made some adjustments of his own in preparation for the critical third set.

“As a middle, I focused on getting more sets and getting everyone involved in the hitting”, Kallick said. “When you have more options for hitting, it really confuses the opponent, which helps us win more close points” With these adjusted approaches fresh in their minds, the pair helped the team dominate the third set, winning 25-18. They failed to take advantage of the momentum they’d gained, however, and RUHS ended up losing the next set 22-25, ending the

“

The next game against Costa is going to be a big game for us for CIF seeding, but also for bragging rights.”

the next play.”

Although they were unable to finish out the sets, each of the three sets they lost in Junior Tanner Lutton blocks a hit . PHOTO BY this match were by three or less points.

“We played really well as a team”, Lut- VALERIE TISCARENO ton said. “Even though the score didn’t reflect it, I was proud of our effort. We just need to get a few things straightened out, and we should be able to come out and beat them next time.”

Seeing how close they came to winning each of these sets, both players are looking forward to getting another shot at their rivals later this season on April 19 and hopefully beating them at Mira Costa. For now, they’ll use this loss as motivation for upcoming games.

“We have fire now,” Lutton said. “We have something to play for, and it’s not just going to be any other game. [The next game against Mira Costa] is going to be a big game for us for CIF seeding, but also for bragging rights. If there’s any year we can beat them, it’s this one.”

TANNER LUTTON JUNIOR match with Mira Costa winning three sets to one.

Reflecting on the loss, Kallick cited the lack of execution in the final points of each set as a reason for their shortcomings.

“I think we lost some points when we really needed it,” Kallick said. “Every set was very close, but when we needed to pull away, we just didn’t push hard enough at some points.”

Kallick also pointed out the importance of a strong mindset in close contests.

“You just have to think of it as being just like any other point,” Kallick said. “You don’t want to think about the score. You just want to play and win those points.”

Lutton echoed this assessment, adding that the team needs to focus on “going to

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Boys cheer on the sidelines after scoring a point. PHOTO

BY VALERIE TISCARENO

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1

HIGH TIDE APR. 1, 2022

SPORTS 19

Keeping 'Em In Check

A 13-2 record due to high experience levels and daily practices keeps girls lacrosse ranked at 27th in the nation and 11th in the State

by DANI OTEY

H

teams during the temporary COVID-19 alfway through their season, var- spike in January. sity girls lacrosse is nearly unde“We were very careful, we wanted to feated, with a record of 12-0-2. practice together as a team so we could Their winning streak has landed them in improve. A lot of practicing goes in beforethird place in all of California. They also hand, which is why I’m really thankful that place fifteenth in the nation. we didn’t shut down.”

Their success this year isn’t a new expeIndeed, the lacrosse team’s success is rience—the team normally ranks very high also due to their daily practices. Accordin the South Bay area. However, this year ing to Roberson, each practice consists of they have gone up against even more chal- a combination of drills, running, condilenging teams, like Foothill and Santa Mar- tioning, scrimmages and fundamentals like garita especially from Orange County- and catching, throwing, offensive and defensive still managed to come movement and stick out on top almost evskills. Kokes adds ery game. that physicality is an Varsity lacrosse’s important aspect in Head Coach Tom practice and games A lot of people think laBorgia visits middle as well. schools feeding into crosse isn't as physical “A lot of people Redondo Union every as other sports, but I dis- may think lacrosse year to inspire girls agree completely. I come isn’t as physical as to join the team. Beother sports, but I cause of this, many out of a lot of games with disagree completely. of the girls have been cuts and bruises."

I come out of a lot of playing together for games with cuts and even longer than most NATALIE KOKES bruises. I even have high school teams. The SENIOR some scars.” team’s other co-capEven with all their tain, senior Natalie Kokes, has been play- training and experience, the road to victory ing since sixth grade, and made the varsity hasn’t been easy. While they’ve swept the team sophomore year. She remembers how board with many teams, other games have the team has made its way through the pan- put up more of a challenge. Kokes recalls demic. their “hardest game of the season,” against “We had our season canceled sopho- Santa Margarita. more year when COVID first started. But “We were down by two by halftime,” other than that, we came back pretty fast,” she said. “But in the second half, we came she said. The girls lacrosse team did not back and it ended up being nine to nine. We shut down this year at all, unlike many went into overtime and we ended up scor-

ing the last goal in sudden death. It was just so hyped up.”

While tough games can be tense, they also make for the best bonding experiences.

Roberson also names the Santa Margarita game as one of her favorites.

“It was hailing. It was super cold. It was a down to the wire, nerve wracking kind of

game. I think that was my favorite memory because we all played and fought together," Roberson said.

The girls beat Mira Costa 15-0 and look to play Edison at home tomorrow.

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1

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Looking Forward:

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Sat. 4/2 vs. Edison Tue. 4/5 @ Newbury Park Sat. 4/9 @ Newport Harbor

Wed. 4/20 vs. Mira Costa Fri. 4/22 vs. Palos Verdes 1. Junior Maxine Hoffman passes the ball past the defender. 2. The team advances upfield as senior Isadora Scott runs with the ball. 3. Senior Cydney Eberhardt catches a pass. PHOTO 1 BY INGRID SOMMERER, PHOTOS 2 AND 3 BY KEARA ANTONELLI

Boys Tennis bounces back from a Palos Verdes loss and beats Mira Costa for the first time since 2006 in a 12-6 win

by KATARINA HAVEN BECHES

H

istory was made for the first time in hit the ball harder than them.” sixteen years, as boys varisty tennis As co-captain with senior Mason Bechpulled out a win against Mira Costa, es, with whom he also occasionally plays 12-6, on Thursday, March 24th. doubles, Collier noted how “Costa was too Coming off of a tough loss to Palos complacent and confident heading into this Verdes, 1-17, the boys were not optimistic match, most likely because they’ve beat us about facing their main rival, Costa. every year before.”

“Everyone played really well today,” juA lot changed between the PV and Costa nior and singles starter Gustavo Marcanth match, according to senior doubles starter said. “When I beat the number one [singles Donavan Hwang. player] he kind of broke down, so it was “We had all our team here today, whereeasier for my teammates, and he didn’t play as we didn’t on Tuesday,” Hwang said. “On as well against them as he did with me.”

Tuesday [when we played PV], some playHigh school matches consist of three ers were sick and injured. Without our full rounds, in which three doubles teams and roster, it was tough. But today, everyone three singles players rotate between the was here and playing their best.” other team's lineup. The first team or playIn the first match Hwang and his parter to reach 6 games wins that match, and ner sophomore Daniel Rosado played, they if they tie at 6-6, a tiebreaker to 7 points is were down 3-5, but then came back to win played to determine the 7-5. winner. Happy with his “Daniel and I performance, Marcanth were kind of nerplayed and won all three vous. We were W Culver City 12-6 matches—the first in a looking at each tiebreaker (7-3) and the other like, ‘AlW West Torrance 15-3 last two with a score of right, you know L Palos Verdes 1-17 6-2. what, let’s get Marcanth, alongside ready for our next W Mira Costa 12-6 junior Harrison Collier, match.’ But then, W Santa Monica 13-5 credits Redondo’s win we just took it one to the team’s improvpoint at a time.

Current Record: 8-1 ing skill and enthusiasEach and every tic morale. Recovering point we had to from a four-month injury, Collier did not fight for. Once we won that first match, play but rather cheered and rooted on his that led us into the second where we won teammates during this match, which al- again,” Hwang said. most no one expected to win.

The pair played all three matches and “I definitely thought we were going to won two out of three, closely falling short to lose,” Collier said. “I really didn’t think the number one team. Despite his one loss, we had any shot today, but I tried to keep it is “amazing” to finally beat Costa, espethat to myself. There’s definitely an unspo- cially considering the last time Redondo ken rule that Costa beats Redondo. But we did beat Costa was in 2006. came in today, and we beat them and just

“It feels kind of crazy because I’ve never beat them, and we’ve never even gotten close. We came today with a fire spirit in our hearts, ready to win, and today we smacked them. Honestly, it's really cool to finally beat them, and not just that but beat them convincingly,” Hwang said.

Hwang said of Coach Vasile, the current girls and boys varsity tennis coach, that he “really put us to work, made us work hard, and got us motivated, which was invaluable in this match.”

“Today really shows the effort every-

Looking Forward: Thu. 4/7 vs. Peninsula Tue. 4/12 vs. Peninsula Tue. 4/19 vs. Culver City Thu. 4/21 @ Palos Verdes Mon. 4/25 @ Mira Costa 1

Just Getting Started:

one’s put in,” Hwang said. “Each and every player today really gave it their all. My partner and I communicated really well, which is something we needed to work on. Where he missed, I was there, and where I missed, he was there. You could see everyone running for each and every ball and every time we missed, our teammates were there, clapping and saying ‘nice try.’ And then when we hit it, everyone went even crazier.”

Boys varsity has one more match against Costa, coming up at the end of their season.

Until then, the boys will work to continue their upward trend and hopefully make it to Bay League.

1.The team takes a group photo after their win against Costa. 2.

Freshman Ryan Son returns the ball with the backhand. PHOTO 1 BY KATARINA HAVEN BECHES, PHOTO 2 BY SPENCER ROGERS

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HIGH TIDE APRIL 1, 2022

IN-FOCUS 20

PARTY OF ONE

Teenagers face romantic fear of missing out (FOMO) in a society inundated with love stories and high expectations *All student names have been changed to preserve anonymity.

Y

by LUCY DAVIS

ou’re not the only one waiting on at home due to COVID-19 and throughout grow up so fast. It’s always a constant race of who’s farther ahead. It’s reflected in our the pandemic. a great high school romance.

“Especially during the pandemic, with clothes, the way we dress and [how we do Couples are everywhere–on timelines, on movie screens, behind the more free time, I was consuming a lot more our] makeup. Everyone’s trying to look and stairs of the 800s building. Even if single media. The media is so saturated with ro- act older, and I honestly think relationships people do roll their eyes as they walk past, mantic couples and perfect relationships are just another part of that,” Giselle said.

Both students agree that spending time that, consciously or unthe twinge of jealousy is consciously, it played a with friends who are in relationships can universal. role in how I felt,” Giselle feel like a “different kind of peer pressure.”

Junior Giselle* and “It doesn’t help [the fear of missing out] said. “I’ve read all the sophomore Max* have books and I’ve seen all the when all of your friends are coupled up and different levels of expemovies about high school you hang out with them every day and see rience in relationships: I realize that I do not romance. It’s supposed to them all the time—sometimes not even Giselle has yet to be in a have time for a relationhappen around sophomore by choice. Then you feel like, ‘The people relationship while Max ship [...] But then the or junior year, and yet here around me are [in relationships]. Why am I ended a short relationI am, without a relation- not in one, too?’” Max said. ship recently, but both idealistic part of me is Many of Giselle’s friends didn’t start ship.” are familiar with the like, ‘I want it anyway.’ dating until their sophoRelafeeling of missing out on more or junior year, but tionships romantic experiences.

GISELLE as more of them began can also Giselle and Max ANONYMOUS JUNIOR serious relationships, the “act as agree that social media more she felt left out. badges of feeds romantic FOMO, “In the beginning, respect” or ‘fear of missing out’, I think there’s a confiwe all thought, ‘Why are where the “highlight reel” of photos can among teenagers, almost [people] dating in high like gaining membership dence factor behind lower one’s self esteem. school? That’s so dumb, “There’s the logical side of me that says, into the exclusive club of being able to say, ‘I you should save your ‘I know that this isn’t how it is all the time.’ adulthood, according to have a girlfriend’ or, ‘I time. We’d rather spend This is just a [window into another] per- Max. time with friends, which “Part of it is a popular- have a boyfriend.’ son’s life, which shows a tiny little moment is what all the books and in the span of a more complicated relation- ity thing. I think there’s a movies tell you. [But ship. Still, I can’t help but want what they confidence factor behind MAX eventually,] everyone I being able to say, ‘I have ANONYMOUS SOPHOMORE have,” Max said. knew was in a relationUsing social media also provides a de- a girlfriend’ or, ‘I have a ship, and I was like, ‘What tachment from real life that factors into the boyfriend.’ You can say happened? I thought we idealization of relationships, despite what that and feel good about yourself, because it can affect the way oth- were all in this together,’” Giselle said. may be happening behind the camera.

The reality is that Giselle is “too busy” to “Online, it’s a lot easier to romanticize a er people [regard] you because they think seriously consider committing to a romanrelationship. You’re not seeing behind the you’re cool,” Max said.

Giselle also noted that coming of age in tic relationship—but that doesn’t stop her scenes. So it’s really easy to look at someone’s post and be like, “Wow, why do they a society hyper focused on maturity–emo- from hoping.

“I realize that I do not have time for a retionally, physically and otherwise–can have that and I don’t?” Giselle said.

It’s not just peers that impact fear of cause a desire to jump into experiences lationship. I have so many other priorities missing out. Consuming content like young or form behavioral patterns reserved for that it’s not even realistic. But then the idealistic side of me is like, ‘I want it anyway,’” adult fiction and coming-of-age movies “grown-ups.”

“Teens nowadays feel like they have to Giselle said. have also built insecurity, particularly while

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STUDENTS SAID YES TO...

Have you ever experienced romantic FOMO?

61%

Have you ever felt like something was wrong with you because of not being in a relationship?

43%

Does most of your validation and confidence come in romantic form from other people?

25%

ILLUSTRATION BY KATARINA HAVEN BECHES HEART BALLOON VIA PIXABAY

Data collected via @RUHSMEDIA Instagram polls.