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Congratulations…if you’re reading this then that means we were able to overcome one of the deadliest diseases in the world – senioritis. You should feel honored.
As people who spent their whole high school career trying to join as many clubs and taking as many classes as we could in order to build a collegeworthy resume, it’s safe to assume that we’re tired and burnt out. As we keep getting more and more acceptances from schools, we become less and less likely to feel a need to show up. Besides keeping prom ticket prices low, attendance has become a low priority on our list of real world anxieties.
become friendly with a new city. Thinking about all of these things just makes doing anything way harder because you become exhausted from thinking all the time, making it easier to stay at home rather than go to first period.
Friday night football games were one way that we became more motivated to show up. However, now that football season is over and all of the hype has died down, it’s now just a countdown to prom. There are no pressing activities to get us really excited to be in high school.
Illustration by | Eliana GrantHaving to accept the fact that we’re adults now has been hard, especially since we’re still treated as children. We don’t feel ready for the independence of being in college, particularly because we have to ask to use the bathroom and can only leave from one door in the school. Fitting into the regular motions is hard when you’re not yet out in the world but you’re also not coming back to high school the next year. Everybody expects you to know how to be an adult when you’re still considered a teenager.
Not only that, but at times, not getting communication back from certain colleges can make being devoted to our work hard – even impossible. The only way to describe it is the feeling that you are stuck between two worlds – one that you’re tired of and one that you aren’t familiar with yet.
Once you’re committed and have paid for freshman expenses to your new college, it makes it that much harder to feel like high school still matters. It’s hard to get excited for daily high school tasks when something so much more thrilling is on the horizon.
The premise of change is always scary, especially when you don’t know what’s going to change yet. The thought of having to make new friends, be financially stable by ourselves, situate ourselves into new environments, join (or start) new clubs, and
With the recovery from the COVID days also comes a lack of communication and planning from senior parents that is usually present during the second semester. We are so disconnected and left in the dark about end of the year celebrations such as Senior Lock-In, Senior Skip Day, and Senior Celebration. We want to feel more connected to our school, but we don’t know how and aren’t encouraged to.
The last time that all seniors were together was during Senior Sunrise. Since then, there have been college commitments, important scholarship decisions, signing with sports teams, and enlistments to the military that we haven’t been able to share with each other and reflect on. We want to be able to involve ourselves more with our fellow seniors and share in celebration with our and their successes.
Some advice for the juniors out there: be present. Not just in school and in class, but also in your community and with your friends and classmates. Start making yourself more comfortable with the idea that you’re moving forward with your life. Accept that and make the most out of the time you have left. Do what you think is right in regards to significant others, whether that be sticking with the relationship you have or making a tough decision to let go and focus on college.
Next year, advocate for more senior activities like senior pranks, senior picnics, senior study halls, senior class gifts, etc. Make next year one that you can remember with nostalgia, not one you were rushing to get out of.
One of the student safety rules being reemphasized by the school is the 15-minute-rule. In short, the rule prohibits students from using the bathroom during the first and last fifteen minutes of the class. Along with this, a student must only take five minutes when they do go, and they must leave their phone at the door.
The reasoning behind the ban is that “the first and last 15 minutes are the most beneficial for learning.” But taking into consideration the 30 minute period a class where students can’t use the bathroom which amounts to almost two hours per day of students having to hold their business. With this banning of bathroom rights, the main issue is dealing with the bathrooms being closed is the last 15 minutes, which requires the bathrooms remain open during passing periods and makes the issue of traffic during passing periods worse. For a school that already has shown issues of tardiness due to traffic in the hallways, the harsher implementation of this rule will greatly intensify the issue.
Another problem is a moral standpoint of whether the school and the higher ups should be regulating our bathroom habits at all, because if someone has to pee, they have to pee.
Given this, the fifteen minute rule is a miss that hurts the student body more than the problem disrupts their learning.
The Girls Varsity Basketball team made it to the second round of Regional Playoffs, the farthest they’ve ever gotten in the school’s history. For the past three years, the team has made it onto Regionals, although they’ve never never made it past the first round. This trend was fianlly broken this year, with their advancement to the second round. The team lost to Fulshear High School this Feb. 25 in regionals. However, despite this loss, their success in this season remains a hit
Following the ice storm that resulted in the loss of four school days, PfISD has decided to keep all the original student days off. The majority of schools in Texas have done the same. This allows students to keep their extra weekend days and gives teachers the opportunity to grade and prepare their class lessons outside of their weekend time. Given these reasons, this decision has been a popular win among students and staff, who understandably don’t want to be at school more than they have to, making this choice a hit
“I’m most concerned about programs that I want to join next year shutting down.”
Luna Gago Pinto, 9
“Budget cuts would be a big problem for the students because this can affect how they feel and make them feel like the program they’re into isn’t important.”
Juan Pompa, 10
“It’s a shame that some extra nice things that were able to be chosen are going away, but I also understand the school has to stay afloat somehow.”
Jackson Avila, 12
“I think they’re needed, but it doesn’t really affect me, so they don’t mean much in my point of view.”
Anastasia Everett, 11
“I don’t know why the school is deciding to cut certain things. Why is the school taking money from these kinds of classes and putting them into programs that are already extremely funded?”
Allison Donaldson, 10
School districts all across the country are struggling amidst the shortage of teachers, lowered attendance, and an increasingly fickle economy. The U.S. education system has always been underfunded, and that, in
has come up with a potential plan to close down elementary schools in order to further remedy the deficit in budget, coupled with much contested boundary shifts to readress the growing amount of students in elementary, middle, and high schools. The dissolution of Dessau Elementary School is the primary prospect, and will lead, most
At the end of the day, struggling districts can only do so much budgetary restructuring, and program cuts to aid financial instability – the core of the problem remains in how treat education. Public in the U.S. has never priority within the legislature. It’s a joke that teachers get paid enough, but in educational budgets, and poor teacher salaries based on those deficits, that the joke
PfISD is just one of the struggling districts whose budget remains in a perpetual and seemingly indefinite deficit. Be it because of the growing population or through complicated state recapture programs, it is the district’s job to do what is necessary to remain fiscally stable. While program cuts and elementary school shut downs may be a temporary solution, Pflugerville is growing rapidly, and without a means to provide more funding to the district through legislative reform, it remains that education will eventually outgrow the budget
Hendrickson High School 19201 Colorado Sand Drive Pflugerville, TX 78660 http://www.pfisd.net/HHS
Adviser: Kari Riemer
Principal: Michael Grebb
www.facebook.com/HawkNewspaper
TheHawk the official student newspaper of Hendrickson High School, is an open forum for the exchange of ideas and opinions.
Opinions expressed reflect the beliefs of the student author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the entire Hawk Staff, the Hawk Adviser, the Hendrickson Faculty and Staff, or the Principal.
Letters to the editor are welcomed, and may be dropped off in E211. Corrections will be printed when brought to the attention of the staff.
The Hawk is printed monthly at Community Impact in Pflugerville, Texas. 1,000 copies are printed each run, and are distributed to the student body for free before school on publication day and on newsstands throughout the building.
Editors
Co-Editors:
Yael Behar, Kaitlyn Nash, Natalia Zavaleta
Copy Editor: Lili Moran
Assistant Editors: Jasper Johst, Kate Hayes
Reporters Honors
Associations
Design by Natalia Zavaleta
“I think that they should try other methods of reducing cuts before cutting programs because kids rely on those programs to feel comfortable and connected in school”
Aidan Doseck, 12
After a month of consideration, PfISD has officially solidified their zone adjustment plans for the following school year.
“It looks like they’re going to keep our boundaries the same,” principal Michael Grebb said. “They’re going to leave us alone and move the other three high school lines a little bit.”
The initial two high school plans the district had proposed would have removed a sector of students from the Rowe Lane area and moved in a section
of Pflugerville High School students.
Plan One would have done this at a low capacity while Plan Two would have called for a greater population of transfers. The district has decided to go with a modified version of Plan One. This means all transfer plans would remain the same with the exception of the school, whose boundaries are to be left untouched. This means no Hendrickson students would have to transfer next year.
“We’re projected to have about the same enrollment [next year]. We’re
hoping [enrollment] will stay the same, so we don’t have to add teachers or lose teachers,” Grebb said. “The other plan, [Plan Two], would have affected us. It would have taken out Highland Park and Spring Trails, so it would have been weird to lose some of our elementary feeder schools.”
Freshman Rosaleah Browne is relieved the school is unaffected by the changes.
“I probably would have ended up in Pflugerville,” Browne said. “Which is fine, but I wouldn’t have been able to take the classes that I wanted to
take, per se, and I don’t know anyone at Pflugerville, and the commutes are longer. So, it would have been a hassle.”
Given the minimal changes the plans would have had on the school’s population, Grebb feels the district made logical choice.
“Looking at all the plans, moving the lines didn’t affect our enrollment that much,” Grebb said. “So, why affect a few families when you don’t have to?”
to businesses.
Chris Reynolds is a management analyst at The Texas General Land Office. This agency’s primary purpose is to facilitate federal funding for presidentially declared disasters in Texas. Reynolds is the manager for the Economic Revitalization program, and works closely with businesses negatively affected by natural disasters. He’s actively documenting and witnessing the far reaching effects of the winter storm.
split in half due to the weight of ice on the tree branches, and when it fell it covered the entire road.”
From late Jan. to early Feb., Texans endured a brutal winter storm that had a devastating impact. Trees were falling due to heavy sleet and freezing rain, and as a result many people’s homes and cars were damaged. The icy roads led to several accidents, and a few resulted in fatalities.
One of the biggest impacts of the storm, and one that sparked plenty of concern, were the power outages across the state. In Feb, PowerOutage. us reported that over 300,000 residents were without power, the majority of those people living in Travis County. The outages also meant that many people didn’t have an adequate amount of heat in their homes amidst the freezing temperatures outside. These outages affected everyone, from homes
“The most negative impact of the recent ice storm was the loss of power to residential customers caused by tree branches, weighted down by ice, that broke the power lines,” Reynolds said. “Travis County, which encompasses much of the Austin Metropolitan area, was among the areas most affected by the outages, with more than 146,000 customers without power.”
Schools statewide were affected by the sudden winter storm, and schools in many different districts were closed for the majority of the week. Schools closing for several days can dramatically impact lesson scheduling, and disrupt the length and timeframe of the school year.
“Schools in the Austin Independent School District were closed for four days due to the danger of driving on icy roads, the lack of power to many schools, and the pile of tree debris that made it impossible to get to school,” Reynolds said. “My neighbor’s tree
This ice storm, although sudden, wasn’t entirely unexpected, as this is the third winter storm Texas has had since 2021. These severe and devastating ice storms, which were once uncommon for Texas, are now occurring like clockwork every yearand it’s made some Texans wonder why Texas seems so unprepared each time. The damage done by these storms is significant, and many people are calling for Texas to strengthen preparation for these storms. However, Texas has improved in some areas from last year’s winter storm. The previous year, Texas officials were criticized for the power grid failing during the winter storm. But this year, Texas Governor Greg Abbott stated that Texas maintained ample supply in the power grids, and the power outages were mostly caused by trees falling onto power lines.
“The Texas Governor’s Office ensured that our power grid was able to handle an increase in power usage,” Reynolds said. “The power grid was not negatively affected, but the power lines were.”
However, there are genuine criticisms to be made of how Texas, particularly Austin, weren’t the best at communicating crucial information to the public during these storms. During the 2023 storm, residents all over Texas complained about waiting over a day to get a response from local officials about
the state of the ongoing storm, and some officials failed to communicate basic information in a timely manner. This is a glaring problem in all of the storms, and a matter that doesn’t appear to be resolved. In the future, residents hope Texas can become fully prepared and equipped for fierce winter storms, and discover solutions to trees falling on power lines.
“One solution would be to trim trees that are close to any power line,” Reynolds said. “I believe that enough attention has been focused on improving our power grid since our last ice storm that knocked power out to so many people.”
Taylor Korte | PhotographerOn Saturday, Feb. 25, the Technology Student Association (TSA) team competed in Regionals, where their performance determined if they would proceed to State competitions. Many students placed in multiple categories. The following students placed in one category or more, and will be competing
in TSA State from Apr. 13 - 15.
In first place for Architectural Design were freshman Anastasia Benavides and junior sAamani Frias and Arwaa Russell. In first place for Board Game Design were juniors Nosa Osakue and Jacob Gladney. In third place for CAD Architecture was junior Aamani Frias. In first place for CAD Engineering was
freshmen Henry Lancaster, and in third place Minita Baysah. In first place for Dragster Design was junior Victoria Long. In first place for Engineering Design were freshmen Reya Arya and Mars Keverline and juniors Smithi Balan and Zion Onwujuba. In first place for Coding were juniors Zion Onwujuba and Ananya Pal. In second
place for Essays on Technology was junior Zion Onwujuba. In first place for On Demand Video were juniors Jacob Gladney, Tommy Nguyen, and Nosa Osakue, freshmen Mars Keverline and Owen Laser, and sophomore Joshua Winkelman.
was senior Kaitlyn Nash representing Queer Straight Alliance and the People’s Choice was Nigel Norman representing Science Olympiad.
“It’s a pageant that pits senior Hawks against each other in the quest to become [the] Next Top Hawk,” Deibert said. “As much as the event is competitive, it’s a fun way for our seniors to represent their student organizations on campus, and perform on a stage for the Hendrickson community to enjoy.”
The pageant’s style is very similar to the Miss Universe Pageant because it starts off with a runway in which the 13 seniors represented their clubs through their fashion choices, an interview portion with two questions, a talent show and the People’s Choice in which the audience voted for the Next Top Hawk during intermission by purchasing tickets and putting them in a jar to have a say in which senior won.
“[During the] runway, [the contestants] wear the outfit that best represents [the] organization [they are part of],” floral design teacher Pilar Gonzalezmunoz said. “During [the] Interview [portion, they will be asked] thought questions.”
People’s Choice depends on how many] people come [to support them] so [they] can get the most ticket votes!”
Before the gender-inclusive NTH contest in which all seniors are invited to apply to represent their clubs regardless of whether they are male, female, trans or nonbinary, there was the Mr. HHS competition which was almost exactly the same except the applicants had to be a male senior representing his club. Female and nonbinary students were excluded from the application process.
Rachel Calabuig | ReporterWith his peppy slogan, “Hawk Nation, Let’s Fly!” Class of 2023 and National Honor Society President Cash Deibert encouraged students to purchase the Next Top Hawk tickets to not only go see some member of the senior class perform in Next Top Hawk, but vote for who they think is the best
contestant of the show---all in an effort to raise money for the senior prom.
The Next Top Hawk contest, showcasing the talents of 13 seniors, was held at the school’s performing arts center Friday Feb. 10 starting at 6:30 p.m. as one of the senior class fundraisers to raise money for their senior prom. The Next Top Hawk
Intermission is an opportunity for the audience members to buy tickets for the People’s Choice portion. During those 15-minutes, the contestants will be preparing for their talent which starts after intermission.
“[The] People’s Choice [portion is the] audience members buying tickets (four tickets for $1) to vote for [the contestants] during the intermission,” Gonzalezmunoz said. “[Who wins the
“It was still a fun event to raise funds for the senior class and have students represent their clubs,” Deibert said. “[However,] it is largely a relic of the past, as [the] COVID-19 [pandemedic] stopped the annual Mr. HHS event.” Deibert remembers the pageantry, the fun the students participating in the event had, and the joy coming from the audience as they cheered the senior male contestants on. Now the application requirements have been extended to all senior students who are passing all of their classes with a grade of a 70 or higher and would like to represent some of the school’s student organizations.
“The change was from the place of wanting maximum participation from our student body, and because Mr. HHS wasn’t necessarily well known by a majority of students who never got to witness it,” Deibert said. “[The Next Top Hawk Pageant is a] model that we can say was created by the Class of 2023 and can hopefully be replicated in the future.”
This year’s Senior Celebration will be held on Thursday, May 25 from 2-6 p.m. at PINSTACK located in Austin. Registration for it will be open after spring break by placing a $10 deposit to reserve a spot in addition to purchasing a ticket to get an accurate amount of how many seniors will be attending on the Senior Celebration’s website: www. hawks-senior-celebration.com.
“Senior celebration is a drug and alcohol free event for all Hendrickson graduating seniors,” Senior Celebration Committe member and parent Marcy Jelinek said. “Every graduate is invited and encouraged to attend this all inclusive event to give the HHS
seniors a safe place to celebrate their accomplishments with their friends and classmates and enjoy a variety of entertainment, food and prizes on their last day of school.”
Jelinek is a member of the volunteer committe made up of six moms of seniors that coordinate fund raisers all year long to pull together the funds needed for the party and the raffle prizes given to the winners at the raffle drawings. The committee has records that Senior Celebration (aka Project Graduation) has been held every year since 2016.
“In addition, throughout the event we will be raffling off thousands of dollars in prizes for the seniors,” Jelinek said.
“[The] fantastic raffle prizes [will include] laptop computers, TVs, gift cards, earbuds, headphones, speakers, dorm room essentials and so much more.”
The committee wants as many of the seniors there at the Senior Celebration.
“We will have unlimited access to bowling, bumper cars, laser tag, ropes course, unlimited video games and the rock climbing wall,” Jelinek said. We will give each senior a player card worth 40 points [to be able to have access to these activities]. We’ll have a variety of pizzas, mozzarella sticks, multiple dessert options and unlimited soda options.
In order for the event to be successful,
the target amount between $35,000$45,000 must be raised through the committee hosting events such as low cost pet vaccinations clinics, Round Rock Donut delivery days, the Homecoming dance, various spirit nights at local restaurants and the very first car show.
“We also want our seniors and their families to get involved through volunteering at these events,” Jelinek said. “Every hour that a senior or their family member volunteers, earns the senior a ticket to enter at the end of year event raffle drawings [and increases their chances of winning].”
Abandoned carts scattered across the Stone Hill Target on Feb. 2 at around 7 p.m. Alarms blared and lights flashed in the back warehouse of the store where scared shoppers huddled together.
Only one arrest has been made in regards to the shooting that occurred right after the winter ice storm that started off Feb. Though it was an isolated incident with no casualties that happened outside Target and not inside of it, English teacher Emily Hall was still impacted by the shooting.
“It was the first time that I felt comfortable driving because all the roads had been frozen for a while and my in-laws were coming into town the next day, so I needed to get groceries and just restock after being stuck in the house for those ice days,” Hall said. “I was heading to the checkout and there was a loud noise and commotion. My brain didn’t register that it was gunshots. [The Target employees] told us to abandon [our] carts and leave everything. I grabbed my purse but left everything else.”
Target employees, though they were also in the dark, directed all customers at the back of the shop to the very back of the store where they keep the stock.
“We were looking at them and really they knew what we knew,” Hall said. “When we were in the back when the alarm was going off, I would say that’s when I was the most scared just because of the sensory overload of the alarm and the lights flashing. We were all getting down to find our own little place to where we felt like we could be safe. There were people with kids there and I thought how terrifying [it would be] to have a small child with you going through that. It was definitely really scary and traumatic at that moment.”
After several minutes of hiding in the warehouse, police communicated that everybody was to be evacuated outside of the store.
“The employees that were back there were communicating with the police officers on the radio and the police officer said they couldn’t find the shooters so they wanted everybody out of the store because they thought maybe someone had run in the store,” Hall said. “Then they moved us from that back section [to] outside and it was 35 degrees and raining and they had us huddled down behind the shipping containers in the back.”
When all customers were questioned, they were allowed to get in their cars and drive home. After Hall called her family members, she finally headed home.
“They escorted us all the way around the back of the store, it was still raining, and then we got in our cars,” Hall said. “I waited [for] my fingers to thaw so I could drive home.”
After reflecting on the incident, Hall was reminded of the fact that teachers may have to deal with the same thing in the future.
“I thought of it in my position as a teacher where I think about a school shooting every day and I thought ‘That would have to be me,’ and I wouldn’t know what was going on so it was really scary,” Hall said. “I know I talked to a couple of the teachers and Mr. Grebb mentioned how it’s part of our job and our world that we live in now. Hopefully I’ll feel prepared for things if I’m ever having to be the one in charge.”
Though the incident is over and Target has reopened, Hall is still impacted by her memory of what happened.
“Target is my happy place,” Hall said. “Any student that knows me knows that I love Target. I think it’s also strange how it happens and then we move on. I know that they arrested that one person, but there wasn’t really any news of what happened. We just move on until the next disaster.”
The second semester brings a multitude of trips for different teams and clubs across campus. The Speech and Debate team took 10 students to Berkeley, California Feb. 17-21 for the California Invitational Berkeley Debate tournament.
The team was given the choice between going to California or heading to the east coast to compete in the 49th Harvard National Forensics Tournament. For their first year back to traveling nationally, team members were excited to experience what they missed during COVID.
“Traveling with the team was a blast overall,” sophomore extemp and congress debater Waleed Haider said. “Going on the airplane with the team and exploring San Francisco was a great experience. The only rough part was the ‘debater flu’ I caught at the end of the trip. Flying back to Austin with a cold wasn’t particularly enjoyable.”
Entered into the tournament were Cross Examination (CX) team junior Isaiah Duvvuri and senior Shauri Yedavalli, Public Forum (PF) team senior Kaitlyn Nash and junior Maya Hay, Extemporaneous speakers Haider, senior Lucas Flores, and junior Cecilia Acosta, Informative speakers Acosta, junior Brianna Williams, and junior Allison Chavarria-Hernandez, and
Original Oratory speakers Williams and junior Johnpaul Buwule.
“I ended up reaching the octafinal round, putting me in the top third of the competition,” Haider said. “While this wasn’t the result I wanted going into the competition, I learned a lot about competing in another part of the country where audiences have different expectations from speeches. I was definitely nervous in elimination rounds. The octafinal round used a ‘Freaky Friday’ theme, where we had to give speeches theorizing what would happen if two world leaders were switched with one another.”
Though only one competitor on the team made it to post-preliminary rounds, the team was able to make memories together throughout San Francisco.
“My favorite part about the trip was going to the Golden State park for half a day,” Hay said. “It was so beautiful with lots of different activities and things to do. I also got to pet a bunch of adorable dogs which I loved. Aside from that, at the park some of the team got to see a live jazz band perform under a bridge which was one the most unique and fun experiences I’ve ever had.”
Team bonding is one of the most important parts of the Speech and Debate team, which means spending as much time together as possible.
“I think the team had an awesome dynamic,” Haider said. “Throughout the tournament, we all gave speeches to prepare with one another. I think [that’s] what really makes our team work well together is that we’re always finding ways to lift each other up as competitors.”
Chavarria-Hernandez had a hard time
choosing which of the activities was her favorite part.
“I enjoyed everything that we did, whether it was us being on the plane, singing our hearts out in the car, shopping, having photoshoot sessions, trying new foods or just hanging out in our rooms,” Chavarria-Hernandez said.
As changes are being made to school budgets and district programs, the question of how schools are funded begins to be asked. There are two main sources from which public and charter schools are funded: local and state taxes. Private schools get their money from tuition paid by parents. In 1994 in the state of Texas, the government instituted a program that sent excess tax collection from property taxes back to the state. This process became known as recapturing. “They used to call it ‘Robin Hood,’” principal Michael Grebb said. “You ‘steal’ from the rich to give it to the poor, but the more political term is called recapture. You have enrollment,
and the state tells us that we can spend so much per student. Once property values go over that amount, then you have excess money. That money goes back to the state and then it’s distributed to other school districts. If we had five kids, and our property taxes added up to $50,000, each kid would get $5,000. Then the money that is left over goes back to the state because it is based on enrollment and per kids spending.”
According to PfISD’s Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Land, the state is expected to provide $20 million to the district. Due to the amount of students in each school within the district, the total revenue from property taxes is the same, therefore no money is
required to be sent back to the state.
“Education is funded out of property taxes,” Grebb said. “I think Pflugerville has accelerated recapturing because the housing values went up so much, so fast, that now there’s an excess of money. That wasn’t there before because a house that used to be $250,000 now costs $500,000. So it’s generating more money. We were a fast growing district there for a while, but now with the charter schools, homeschooling, and the pandemic, we have slowed down.”
Before the process was instituted, schools within a district that were in different socioeconomic areas were seen as unequal and it separated them amongst themselves.
“Some districts are getting penalized because they are being forced to give back money, money that could be used within their own districts,” Grebb said. “They should let them do that first and take care of all their needs. I’ve worked at districts that didn’t have Robin Hood and I worked in Pflugerville before it was Robin Hood. I think that the basic allotment per student should be raised because it’s more expensive with inflation– electricity and water–that you should raise that allotment and have some form of recapture but allow the district to control where the money goes. And if there’s excess, spread the love around the state.”
Kate Hayes | Asst. Editor
Texas lawmakers entered the 2023 legislative session with a record budget surplus of $32.7 billion available to use at their discretion. State Comptroller Glenn Hegar further announced on Monday, Jan. 9 that over the next two years, the state would collect $188.2 billion in revenue to invest in state programs. But even with a historic amount of funds in the state treasury, many school districts like PfISD currently sit at a budgetary deficit, and from the view of superintendent Dr. Douglas Killian, what’s saving the state money is exactly what’s costing the district.
“When property values go up, the amount the state sends schools goes down,” Killian said. “Plus, attendance at schools are down, so the state sends schools less budgeted funds. Lower attendance means we not only lose state aid, but our recapture payment goes up too.”
In recent months, PfISD has been gathering data on a multitude of proposed budget cuts due to
consistently decreasing funding and an estimated $20 million owed in recapture. Recapture, otherwise known as Robin Hood, is a process by which wealthy school districts send funds to the state to be redistributed to poorer school districts.
“[Recapture] was a great thing,” Killian said. “Few districts were subject to recapture, because the district had to be super property wealthy. The original system even allowed a wealthy district to send the money directly to a poorer one through mutual agreement.”
Due to the city of Pflugerville’s rising property values, PfISD is considered a property wealthy district, and subject to recapture. But Killian says this process has changed.
“You can’t send money directly to a poor district,” Killian said. “More and more districts are considered property wealthy because the wealth level has not increased at the rate of inflation and property value growth. Plus, the state collects the money and it’s just part of the Foundation School Program. It’s not “extra” for the
poorest districts. It’s now a revenue source for the state to make their basic Foundation payment to all schools.”
PfISD has been forced to make budget cuts in accordance with funding for the past two years, in part due to recapture escalating to record collection levels. However, only now will the next round of proposed cuts directly affect school programs.
“We have been cutting at the district level to avoid impacting classrooms, programs and students,” Killian said. “So, there is not much left to avoid class impacts. When you have cut the operations budget 5% and asked for an additional 5% cut this year and are asking for 5% again, there is really nothing left.”
Some of the potential cuts would reduce travel budgets, consolidate elementary bilingual programs on fewer campuses, and eliminate a second planning period for all middle school and elective high school teachers, among others.
“We asked for suggestions and lists of possibilities [for cuts]
and are down to these,” Killian said. “Some are efficiency, some sustainability; many are things we don’t want to cut, but we are down to bad choices and worse choices.”
To better fund schools, Killian says the state must take into account rising inflation rates.
“A raise in the basic allotment in the state’s funding formula is the most important thing,” Killian said. “We are about $900 lower than we were in 2019 if inflation is taken into account. That alone would solve our funding issues.”
Additionally, Killian says PfISD’s own students can help increase funding — if they’re coming to school.
“Missing school matters and matters even more to a school subject to recapture,” Killian said. “It has consequences academically, but it also has financial consequences, and ultimately will have consequences for the staff that can afford to stay in the district and the programs we can afford to offer.”
In regards to teachers and their wages, many may not consider the balances and effects that go into setting up proper livable wages for public school teachers all across PFISD, and how it may work with school budgeting. One particular thing many school districts provide are stipends, an extra amount of money given to teachers in certain positions that provide extra work or specific education in their class.
“It’s my 24th year teaching, and I think the big thing is that my stipends really haven’t changed is probably an accurate statement,” theater teacher Michael Fisher said. “Even though my salary has gone up with the rate of inflation,
the stipend hasn’t really adjusted.” While stipends may have not gone down for Fisher, there are a range of different stipends, all with varying degrees of extra money.
The primary ones are academic, athletic, performing arts, degree/ position, academic extra duty, and supplemental stipends. If these would be given to various teachers in specific jobs such as coaches, special education teachers, or language teachers.
“I think that the idea of stipends is that you’re supposed to be creating incentives for doing extra duties,” Fisher said. “It seems to be challenging to attract people to be, for example, the class sponsor, [because] that stipend tends to be lower than other
things There’s a global undervaluing of particular extra duties, then the district will kind of echo that.”
Over the last few years, stipends have remained relatively stable and consistent throughout the various departments in the district. Nevertheless, many teachers are still lacking in proper compensation for after school or extra work centered around their job.
“The art department does not have a stipend associated for any of their outside work,” technical theater teacher Nicole Malone said “A lot of our art departments are really active in the community, they’re also really active with VASE, which is their scholastic [project]. So all of that is
extra time and extra duties and they are currently not compensated for those.”
It may be effective to consider how school budgeting affects or may affect how much money is put into a stipend, or in what particular department the money will be focused on. “No stipends have decreased for any teachers in [the district]. In fact, many stipends have increased during the last several years,” the district’s Chief Human Resources Officer Willie Watson said. “The district does have challenges with funding because state provided funds haven’t increased to match inflation. If the district receives increased state funds, the district could consider further increasing stipends.”
It is evident that there are budget issues plaguing PfISD. One proposed solution to these problems is eliminating the second planning period for high school electives (math, science, English, and social studies would keep their period), according to a recent email from Superintendent Doug Killian.
“The district is looking into ways to save money to repair the funding deficit for the upcoming school year,” principal Michael Grebb said. Worries from elective teachers have been spreading following this email, especially because teacher shortages
have already spread resources thin.
“I only have one [planning period] right now but it’s because we’ve had so many kids in the agricultural [AG] program that we had to take on another period,” AG teacher Pilar Gonzalez-Munoz said. “We have four AG teachers and out of the four, three of us have an extra [class] so three of us only have one conference right now.” Though planning periods may be taken away for some teachers, those who lose them usually get something in return.
“We have some teachers that are compensated to give up a PLC [Professional Learning Community] or planning period,” Grebb said. “We would work in plans to help them prepare better before and during the school year.” However, sometimes a boost in pay isn’t enough for teachers who trade off personal time for more work.
“Time is money, money is time,” Gonzalez-Munoz
said. “I still do work at home even when I don’t try to so I never feel like it’ll ever be enough for as many hours as we put in. I do love my job and I do love my students but I just wish I had a little bit more to really hit that sweet spot.”
Not only that, but many elective teachers have multiple clubs and organizations they have to run outside of their normal preps.
“I know personally I would not be able [to adapt] because I’m the UIL coordinator, I’m in charge of speech and debate and I have two [classes] that are AP [classes],” AP teacher and speech and debate coach Kirsten Nash said. “A lot of your elective teachers are the only teacher that’s teaching it so we don’t have somebody to share creating assignments or coming up with assessments. We’re doing it all by ourselves. I think it would be hardly fair for those people who already have a lot of preps and other responsibilities.”
Both Nash and Gonzalez-Munoz stay late multiple nights of the week because of the extra responsibilities they carry.
“I try to do as much as I can for grading [and] planning for the following week but again, it gets very difficult when
it’s six preps,” Gonzalez-Munoz said. “I’m also over [with] FFA as well so we try to plan all of our FFA stuff, get paperwork turned in, [and] make deposits for the program. On top of that, I’m the class sponsor so I have to put that in there as well. Right now, it’s just one conference period so sometimes I stay really late, like 7 p.m. or later depending on what I have to get done or I come early to just get caught up on things.”
One main problem that has been singled out is the fact that only extracurricular activity teachers were targeted by the discussed elimination of prep periods.
“I know that the core stuff is important, obviously because I teach English and history, but the easiest way to kill [a] kid’s love of school is to kill all of the extracurriculars,” Nash said. “I’m not saying academics don’t matter but you can’t make the assumption that academics are the only thing that matter and everything else is open for cutting. I think that [it] would be really unfair to assume that just because you teach an elective class that you don’t have a lot of work.”
Among changes to the boundaries of PFISD, the district is now cutting some extracurricular activities due to state funding and inflation. Kickstart is one of them. The program is a karate organization dedicated to building students’ confidence, team-work skills, and resistance to peer pressure. The program has been with the district for 15 years.
“When we’ve sat down, we’ve tried to look at outside services,” Principal Michael Grebb said. “We pay a company to provide a service because we would hate to cut people directly tied to the district.”
Kickstart is an independent organization paid for by the district to serve students. While it’s not directly connected to the district, as other extracurricular activities are, it carries the same value to students as activities like football or basketball.
“I know that Kickstart has made a huge impact on a lot of students’ lives,” Grebb said. “I think that’s why kids and parents are so passionate about trying to keep the program because it did make a difference in a lot of kids over the years that I’ve been at Hendrickson.”
The cutting of Kickstart is not due to it not providing enough, it is owed to the deficit.
“The district is currently trying to cover the deficit,” Grebb said. “They’re trying to find out ways that we can budget for the 2024 school year without having a negative balance.”
Additionally, the student allotment plays a key role in the cutting of certain programs. The average allotment for Texas is $6,160 per student. Districts then distribute funding based on the needs of each school. The allotment is based on the average daily attendance of students.
“The district is looking at the ratio of how much you spend and how many students it impacts,” Grebb said. “I think the state legislature probably needs to raise the basic student allotment because now we’re a district that gives money back to the state every year.”
State Representative Donna Howard has introduced House Bill 882 which would increase the student allotment from $6,160 to $7,075 and State Representative Gina Hinojosa has introduced House Bill 31 which proposes basing the state’s public education funding system on student enrollment instead of
average attendance. At the last School Board meeting, it was discussed that the funding (based on average daily attendance) was two percent lower than projections costing the district over $4 million in funding.
“We are looking at cutting outside services first instead of firing the staff,” Grebb said. “If we raised the allotment per student, we would be able to afford programs such as Kickstart.”
The district’s concerns rely on budgets while students concentrate on the values of Kickstart that will be taken away. Parents and students are concerned about the cutting of kickstart, including freshman Ryleigh Mackey. Mackey is a part of Kickstart and made a speech sharing her concerns at a recent board meeting.
“Kickstart provides confidence,” Mackey said. “Without it, I wouldn’t have the confidence to talk to anyone.”
Martial arts may be a large part of Kickstart, but the purpose of it is to build friendships, social skills, and help students grow into themselves. Varying kinds of weapons and mats are used in Kickstart practices and performances that are funded by Kickstart, unlike programs like theater and art that rely on the district to pay for those supplies.
“Because of Kickstart, now I’m very social,” Mackey said. “It helped build my confidence and is how I met most of my friends. Kickstart is a really good experience to form friendships and become your best self.”
• Renegotiate the KickStart Program with the outside vendor (Private Company) applying the same requirements that we do for all other outside vendors using our facilities. We cannot fund an outside Karate School without charging them for facilities use. Currently the parents and district pay kickstart, only one will pay the outside vendor.
• Present costs for eliminating the second planning period for High School electives (Math, Science, English, and Social Studies will keep their period). Also, look at only tested areas with second planning periods too.
• Reduce Instructional Coaching staffing by 2/3 with a plan to prioritize transfers for them to open positions for 2023-24.
• Only subs will be allowed for classroom assignments, not other professionals; subs for classroom associates will be at a different pay than teacher subs.
• C&I will study Canvas and Edgenuity and report if we can consolidate them into one program to save costs.
• Cut all budgets an additional 5% (after the 5% cuts last year and again the year before)
• District will only fund in-state travel for students and staff. All other travel must be fundraised.
• Reduce travel budgets; reduce consultant budgets by 10%
• Take My Brother’s Keeper scholars program inhouse to eliminate external costs
More information on all scholarships, including those with more specific criteria can be found on Schoolinks. To view them, students can sign in from Clever using their student number and password.
Extended Day Program Scholarship
- aims to provide $1,000 financial assistance to students entering education, giving back to the educational institutions.
Criteria: Must be a senior pursuing a career in education at a state TX state university. Minimum of 2.5 GPA and must be in some extracurricular activity. Due 4:00 pm on March 31, 2023.
Mott Scholarship - Provides $1,000 financial aid to students pursuing degrees in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Engineering or a focus in Pre-Med at an accredited state university in Texas. Criteria: Must be a graduating senior, member of NHS, top 5% of class, and passed 4 AP classes.
Due 4:00 pm on March 31, 2023.
PEF "Pfuture Workforce" Scholarship
- Provides $1,000 financial support to a graduating PfISD Senior pursuing a degree in in-demand career fields: Nursing/Healthcare, Social Work, Education, Construction, Engineering, Operations, Marketing/ Communications, Data/Math Analysis, Information Systems, Accounting/ Finance and Software Development.
Criteria: Must be a senior, and must be attending a two to four year college. Due 4:00 pm on March 31, 2023.
Pfluger Family Scholarship - An opportunity for students pursuing a career in Career and Technical Education programs to earn $1,000 for college.
Criteria: Must be a high school senior, must be participating in a CTE program in high school.
Due 4:00 pm on March 31, 2023.
Provan-Lockhart ScholarshipProvides $1,000 for students who have overcome some adversity and persevered.
Criteria: Must be a senior in PACE or Provan, must submit two nomination letters.
Due 4:00 pm on March 31, 2023.
The University of Texas at Austin is known for its incredibly selective admissions. The top six percent of a high school class is automatically admitted into the school but not necessarily into their major. The rest of the applicants are thrown into a pool and selected based on their applications. As priority decisions have come out, these applicants have been notified whether they’ve been accepted into the school and their major, only into the school, denied overall or capped.
Senior Lina Hudak applied before the priority decision deadline at UT Austin., as it was her top choice school.
“At first I saw my email about it and didn’t think it was true,” Hudak said. “I didn’t know it was a thing until I opened my admissions page and saw that it was the real deal.”
Hudak, along with other students, received the dreaded email many UT Austin applicants hoped to never receive informing her of her CAP status.
CAP or the Coordinated Admissions Program is an exclusive program offered by UT Austin to students who were not offered regular admission to their freshman year. The program allows applicants to complete their first year of college at another University of Texas system school, like UT San Antonio and are then offered the opportunity to transfer— if students meet specific criteria.
“Initially I was very discouraged and upset when I received my UT decision and I was capped,” alumni and CAP student Angelyna Rosales said. “I felt pretty unmotivated because it felt like I had worked so hard throughout high school just to basically be denied from my dream school. I can honestly say I
felt worthless and angry with myself for not being ‘smart enough.’ However, with that being said, I am incredibly grateful for what the CAP program has given me and do not regret my decision at all. I think the CAP program is a really great and unique opportunity for students to experience two different schools and meet a really diverse group of people.”
If a student decides to be a part of the CAP program, they must accept the decision via their MyStatus portal. Then they must pick from a list of “satellite schools” such as UTSA, UT Arlington, UT Rio Grande Valley and UT Tyler. A $70 processing fee must be paid once the decision is made.
“If you want to attend UTSA or UT Arlington, try to submit your CAP agreement as soon as the application
direct admission into the UT College of Liberal Arts which offers majors like psychology and communications. In order to transfer to other colleges that offer engineering or business majors, CAP students must submit additional paperwork like resumes and supplementals, and their admission into that major is not guaranteed.
“The prospect of ‘guaranteed admission’ is appealing, but it's only in their College of Liberal Arts,” senior An Dang said. “For other UT colleges, it's another year of standard college admissions. I think CAP mostly exists because UT doesn't have the space to admit everyone. So, unless half of the admitted applicants suddenly decide to go to other universities besides UT, I don't think CAP benefits applicants.” Applicants who are capped can also appeal the decision in order to be reconsidered for direct admission. The process requires an additional essay to be submitted, stating why the students should be reconsidered.
opens up because those schools only accept a certain number of CAP students,” Rosales said. “At UTSA, CAP students are required to take six credit hours in the summer, nine hours in the fall, and 15 hours in the spring. In addition to the credit hour requirements there's a specific list of classes that CAP students are allowed to choose from and they are not allowed to take any courses that are outside of that list.”
However, the program only offers
“It can be really discouraging to receive a CAP decision from UT, but statistically most of their admission is only those who were in the top 6% for automatic admission, which leaves very little room for those who were not auto admit,” Rosales said. “If UT is where you truly want to continue your education, I would 100% recommend and encourage those who were capped to accept and research the CAP program, because it's a super unique opportunity where you get to attend and experience two separate universities. It's definitely a difficult decision and an interesting program, so if you do go through with the program make sure it is the best fit for you academically and socially.”
Jasper Johst | Asst. Editor
Every part of the college application process is important in getting the best possible opportunities available to a student. However, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is especially essential.
FAFSA has many benefits a student and their family may receive after filling it out.
“Students have the possibility to receive grants, loans, and scholarships based on their family financial situation to help them pay for college,” college and career counselor Leigh Spradlin said. “Some universities also look at the information to award scholarships to students that have parents who may not qualify for grant money.”
Oftentimes students may believe that FAFSA is not relevant to their college pathway.
“Some students don’t realize that many trade schools, and beauty colleges also take FAFSA,” Spradlin said. One reason a family may not want to fill out the form is that some parents may find themselves paranoid regarding the idea of publishing such personal financial information.
“A huge myth with parents is that you are giving out your information to a random entity, causing them to not want to do it,” Spradlin said. “If you do your taxes, the government already has all the information. You are just allowing the IRS to talk to the Department of Education.”
A common misconception regarding FAFSA is the idea that if you aren’t going to college, you don’t have to fill out the financial form. Spradlin recommends all seniors to fill out this form, regardless of their plans after graduation.
“Even if you think you are not going to college, it’s a good idea to complete it as a backup plan,” Spradlin said. “If a family refuses to complete the FAFSA, there is an 'OPT OUT’ agreement form they can fill out to fulfill the graduation requirement. However, the district will not allow you to exempt your exam if the ‘OPT OUT’ is on file for the student.”
It's the beginning of seventh period English, and junior Cecilia Acosta is being accosted.
A tote bag at her side is packed full with foil pans of miniature cakes, and she has just fulfilled an order of one to a student, sparking a flurry of activity. A throng of students surround her desk located in the corner of the classroom. Even after the initial commotion dies down, every few minutes another student will approach like clockwork and ask what flavors are left, or when they can order one. She cracks a smile, and it doesn't leave. They had proven to be a hit, but the miniature cakes were just another in a long line of products she'd touted to the student body over her high school career.
"I sell baked goods, usually cakes, which I've been doing probably since I was 13," Acosta said. "I watched a lot of Food Network as a kid and it kind of just escalated from there."
While beginning to produce generic items, Acosta got her start through custom cake orders, and continues to
take them for events such as birthday and graduation parties.
"Every commission is a new opportunity to try new things and improve my skills," Acosta said. "I'm looking forward to making cakes for graduation parties once that season rolls around, and soon I'm going to start vending at craft and farmers markets on the weekends.”
Yet, baking is only one of Acosta's ventures. For the past three years, she's also sold her own handmade jewelry on Etsy, growing to over 200 sales during her time on the platform.
“When I was younger a family member I really looked up to was really into jewelry making, and she always used to make pieces to give to people," Acosta said. "I had always thought that was cool, so when quarantine began in 2020 I decided to take it up as a hobby. There was a short time when making earrings became a trend on TikTok, and I figured it was now or never, because I didn't want to seem like I was jumping on the end of
the bandwagon. I started my Etsy shop using a lot of upcycled materials since I couldn't go to the craft store during lockdown."
Initially, Acosta sustained some difficulties getting her shop off the ground.
"Starting out I totally thought I could just skip the math and it'd all be fine," Acosta said. "Word of advice: the math is there for a reason. There's a lot of organization and budgeting involved in maintaining things. Etsy has definitely been annoying to navigate with their fees and setup."
Despite roadblocks, Acosta says her multiple enterprises are easier and more profitable than traditional employment would be. In addition, jewelry making has served as a channel for creativity.
"I just make whatever l'm inspired to make," Acosta said. "I know it's kind of frowned upon to not stick to one theme, but my personal enjoyment is a big part of what I do, and my customers don't mind too much. I like to make things in a variety of styles: for example, my Halloween collection was
very popular last October."
Still, Acosta tries to stay up to date with current trends, while staying true to her creative drive.
"I've always upcycled aluminum cans in my jewelry because they're cheap, pretty, lightweight, and moms love them," Acosta said. "For the younger crowd, though, I like to use charms, crystal beads, and wires in my pieces."
When necessary, Acosta invests back into her jewelry and baking businesses to continue growing.
"I'm always saving for new baking supplies, craft materials and vendor fees," Acosta said. "I've even recently started making more intricate jewelry pieces with higher quality materials on top of my usual items."
But, when it comes to the majority of the money she earns, Acosta likens herself to a squirrel storing acorns in a tree.
“Except instead of acorns, it's cash," Acosta said. "I just like to save money. You never
Sophia
While not uncommon for video games to be adapted into shows or movies, it is uncommon for adaptations to be good or even mediocre. These movies and shows tend to fail either due to terrible casting or from straying too far from the original piece. One of the most popular video game franchises The Last of Us was recently adapted into a show on HBO Max. As someone who has played the first and second game multiple times, I can undoubtedly say the adaptation sticks true to the original story and is just as beautiful of a piece of media as the games are.
Casting is mainly where we see video game adaptations fail, as seen in Tom Holland being cast as Nathan Drake for the 2022 Uncharted movie, however, The Last of Us cast is perfect. Pedro Pascal stars as Joel Miller and Bella Ramsey as Ellie Williams. Their ability to effortlessly slip into the drastically different personalities of their characters makes the viewer feel as if they are watching a cutscene from the game. Not only as individuals do they exceed expectations, but the pair’s chemistry exactly matches the chemistry we see in game. Pascal and Ramsey have managed to depict the complicated father-daughter relationship between Joel and Ellie in a way that is unique to them but still very similar to the game. Ingame dialogue has also been incorporated into this masterpiece of a show. It is just close enough to the game that I can enjoy it and includes slight changes
TheWalkingDeadfranchise is an extremely popular series of shows and games based off of The Walking Dead comics, written by Robert Kirkman
The AMC show centers around the post-apocalyptic life of police officer Rick Grimes, who wakes from a coma (induced by an on-duty gunshot injury) in the midst of the zombie infestation. The first few episodes follow his journey of adapting to this new way of life with his injury and, to top it all off, without any knowledge of his family’s whereabouts.
The first season is depicted in a captivating manner, the information and backstory of the outbreak unfold as you get deeper into the show. Not only does the show incorporate horror and tension into its action packed plot, but it also sucks in the reader with themes of love, family, and community. Throughout the
that keep me entertained. The first episode, and I may be biased considering my love for the games, is simply beautiful. Minor changes were made regarding the virus and the science behind, for example the spores were cut and replaced with an equally interesting fungi that when stepped on alerts nearby infected. The infected in the show have somehow managed to be even more eerie and grotesque as well. The theme of love, survival,
violence and gloom of the world outside. The two grow old together, a rare occurrence during the end of the world. The majority of the show is bloody, depressing, and heartbreaking. During this episode, we take a step away from that and see hope and love. It is a great contrast to the rest of the season. This episode almost completely diverges from this section of the game, portraying a much more impactful and interesting way to handle Bill’s story. Originally, Bill served as a side character we knew nothing about. The only mention of Frank came from a suicide note he wrote, only implying Bill had a partner. Not only did they develop Bill and Frank, they entirely changed their story from one that is depressing to one that is hopeful, something we don’t see often regarding LGBTQ+ relationships depicted in film. The ending isn’t bittersweet or tragic, it’s incredibly touching and beautiful if you look at it from the perspective of the end of the world.
and unclear lines of morality and immorality remain a constant in the show, same as in the game. One of the best episodes so far has been episode three. In it, we venture away from Joel and Ellie and center on Bill and Frank, a couple living (even thriving) in the apocalypse. Secluded in their own town together, they live a beautiful life together away from the
11 seasons of this series, multiple groups of people are formed, separated, and reunited. There is never a feeling of “forever” in this show, as new challenges arise daily in this complicated, dangerous new world. The constant change of pace in this show leaves the viewer on the edge of their seat, and serves as a slightly threatening reminder to enjoy peace as it comes.
The Walking Dead is an exceptional, thrilling action series, and it has many life lessons woven within the plot.
Overall, I have never felt more emotionally tied to a series before. There’s loss, heartbreak, friendship, and so much more. With all of the emotional ups and downs of the many seasons, I would still absolutely recommend this show to anyone who is interested in depictions of the end of the world and the beginning of a new, dangerous way of surviving.
Diverting back to Ellie and Joel in the following episodes, we watch their relationship change. For those who’ve played the game, the end of the first game and the events of the second game are subtly hinted at. The growth, positive and negative, in Joel and Ellie is fascinating to watch and compare to the game. Both the game and the show expertly depict the complexities of humans, love, and how no one is entirely the villain or the hero, it all depends on perspective. Overall, TheLastofUsshow is a phenomenal adaptation of the beloved game.
Among the vast amounts of media (both good and bad) surrounding the apocalyptic idea of zombies overrunning our world, Zombieland adds a touch of refreshing, offbeat humor that isn’t common inside of this genre.
Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) is a paranoid introvert in the midst of the apocalypse; one who meets people that become his unlikely friends (as well as meeting an unlikely lover) and drives around the country with them aimlessly, only really caring about survival. Each character’s archetypes fit together perfectly, clicking together despite their obvious differences, resembling
The Fallout games have been an obsession of mine ever since I was at an age where I probably shouldn’t have been playing them. Fallout is a series of post-apocalyptic roleplaying video games (or RPGs) that take place centuries after a nuclear war between capitalist America and communist China destroyed civilization, nearly wiping out humanity. Each new game explores a different region and time period of postnuclear America, all within the same shared universe. The style of the games draw inspiration from 1950s literature and media, creating a unique, retrofuturistic environment.
What I love about Fallout is that you can tell the developers prioritized the creation of a cohesive story, rather than just a 70-hour sequence of shoot ‘em up scenarios. Dispersed between relatively unimpressive displays of gameplay and graphics lie the true value of the franchise: witty, and even poetic dialogue and storylines that actually offer valuable social commentary on real life issues.
a human jigsaw puzzle. The actors included in the film react perfectly to one another, letting you focus on the movie and not worry about how awkward a scene looks or how the dialogue is presented.
Zombieland also incorporates a phenomenal soundtrack into its scenes, as well as possessing a captivating three minute long intro that shows off some of the film’s superior special effects and humor, setting a baseline for what the movie is really about. Overall, even with the abundance of gore throughout, Zombieland is a staple to the zombie movie genre that I’ve watched quite a few times, and will definitely watch again.
In the series’ 25-year history, it has covered (and often satirized) a breadth of topics, including but not limited to: racism, misogyny, imperialism, capitalism, the Red Scare, and, most interestingly to me, sexuality. Released in 1998, Fallout 2 would become one of the first major RPGs to acknowledge gay relationships. The player character, able to choose their own gender and sexuality, could romantically engage with whomever they wanted, creating opportunities for straight or gay relationships within the game. One storyline even results in the player getting entangled in a gay shotgun wedding, the first ever in a video game.
Fallout 2’s representation of queer people, even in its unusual apocalyptic environment, made waves in the gaming industry. From that point on, each new addition to the series has multiplied the amount of queer characters, making Fallout a sort of beacon for representation not easily found in other releases. By offering these options for self-expression, Fallout became more than just a video game, it became an avenue of self expression for people from all walks of life.
One of the many critiques of the thriller genre of movies is the faultiness of the cheesy jumpscares, also that there is very little writing done or, on the other hand, too much. However, A Quiet Place is THE exception. A Quiet Place completely erases the confines of the thriller genre, providing heartwarming humor, all while still being frightening. The silence, which should not be mistaken for lack of writing, is the main thing that drives the plot which makes it truly different than anything ever seen before. The apocalypse (which forced them into silence) has already began when the movie starts, leaving no place for the audience later in the movie to miss the talking, while also challenging the writer and director to make use of the silent scene work and adding in any details that can’t be said but is important for the audience to understand what is going on.
The characters were all explored in depth while simultaneously progressing with the horror of the post-apocalyptic storyline. One character’s existence in specific was well thought out and brilliantly done. Reagan is a deaf teenager and the oldest of the Abbott family, dealing with the guilt of losing her brother while adapting with her
personal feelings toward going deaf. Disabilities in the horror genre are predominantly a hit-or-miss for a lot of viewers considering the wish to not demonize, spread misinformation, or hurt the communities. Which is why the idea of having the actress playing her (Millicent Simmonds) to actually be deaf eliminates any possible ethical problems, another thing director and actor John Krasinski did to minimize any criticism is they take the time to learn and correctly implement ASL as a way to navigate the silence. We are also provided with her occasional point of view to truly understand the reality of her situation and her perspective of this world as a deaf person. Having a deaf person causes the audience to realize that the idea of a completely silent room is not just a work of fiction but a reality for a lot of people.
Correct portrayal of deaf people aside, the movie is romantic and heartbreaking. If you’re looking for a movie that allows you to connect to the characters and love them, only for your heart to be torn to shreds, then this movie is surely for you. The jumpscares are a bit cheesy sometimes but nonetheless it is a short, sweet, and bitter watch.
Based on the novel, the HBO series Station Eleven offers a unique and almost bizarre twist to dystopian media. The show is set in post-apocalyptic
America decades after a widespread fatal flu led to society’s quick collapse. The series centers around the lives of a group of survivors, putting a specific emphasis on traveling performer Kirsten Raymone. The show switches between Kirsten’s early childhood prior to the apocalypse and her young adult life during the apocalypse, as she battles with grief, trust, and ego. Station Eleven provides an eccentric peak into the ‘end of the world’ as it explores the topics of death, isolation, and humanity.
Damo Kouakou | Reporter
Why do shoes really matter as much as people say?
“Shoes matter because if you have busted shoes it’s going be very hard to run and very uncomfortable for the bottom of your feet.”
Damien Murillo, 12
How important is training for your event before meets?
“I guess practice makes perfect. So if you don’t train for a 100, you’re not going to run a very good time.”
Damien Murillo, 12
“Depends what race you’re running. If you’re running [a] longer distance or [a] short distance, there’s different spikes and shoes for that and [for] certain events.”
Kaya Portillo, 12
What is the most irritating thing about Track and Field?
“Losing a race to someone you shouldn’t have lost to. You know that you know you’re faster than them, they just won that race. So they got lucky.”
Damien Murillo, 12
“The weather can be kind of sucky sometimes. You don’t want to run but you just kind of have to at that moment.”
Jasmine Haywoood, 12
What are you thinking while running/throwing?
“When I’m throwing, I really should have the absence of thought. So I could direct all of my energy towards throwing as far as possible. Sometimes though, I’ll think about food. I’ll think about how heavy (the ball and disk) it is. But that really doesn’t matter. It’s all about throwing as far as possible.”
Cash Diebert, 12
“If I’m really focused, I kind of forget when I’m running. I don’t really think about it, but if I’m stressed out or anything I am thinking about messing up and just overall not doing my best.”
Kaya Portillo, 12
“If you don’t train, you probably aren’t going to perform well in time.”
Jasmine Haywood, 12
Do breathing techniques matter in a race?
“You got to slow your breathing down and control it. You can’t just huff and puff the whole time.”
Damien Murillo, 12
“It is important to have good breathing technique whenever you’re racing, so you won’t pass out.”
Kaya Portillo, 12
How does running form affect the way you run or your time?
“I would say it does, because in a sprint every group of runners run differently.”
Damien Murillo, 12
“It does. If you have a certain form like using your arms too much you will get tired out easily. You want to have good consistent form while running.”
Kaya Portillo, 12
There are a number of players throughout the school year waiting for the baseball season to start. With all the daily practice to get ready for opening tournaments the consistent use of baseball cleats, puncture the ground, ruining the field. It is important to keep up with the maintenance of the field to prevent injuries and keep the advantage balanced between the teams. Given this, the district uses a mixture of turf and grass in order to balance the advantages.
“People have different opinions on the field between turf and dirt, people typically like turf because it's more of a
true bounce compared to dirt,” senior Jaden Bahl said. “The ball could do a lot of different things.”
Throughout the year, turf fields hold their quality, meaning they need less maintenance than grass fields which need care every few months. Additionally, baseball will bounce differently from different materials between grass and turf. it players have heavy opinions on which they would rather use.
“It's important to keep a field intact. You don't wanna have a bad field because that's just going to make it harder on you to judge the ball,” Bahl said. “Which is why many of us rather
With mostly playing on grass fields the players and coaches once they know it will rain cover the field to help prevent ruts, washouts, and loss of dirt.
“If it's raining we won't play, we will ruin the dirt and grass,” said Bahl. “We bring out the rain covers which is a lot of work to cover the field”
The day before a game day, the field will be put in its best shape. The coaches flatten the dirt with rake to smooth out the pile left by the drag. They use a hand rake to groom the base paths, home plate area and the back radius of the infield.
“Everyone has a different job on the
field to make sure it's in good shape,” Bahl said. “The coach uses the tractor to drag it and all of us have different tools we use.”
With all the hard work to keep the field ready for games everyone on the team has its importance to keep the field clean to benefit themselves while playing.
“Even though we know that it is hard to keep the field intact, we still want to refurbish it,” Bahl said. “All of our hard work will benefit us to win more games.”
On Feb. 18, sopomore Stephanie Oiesen placed 5th in the 100 backstroke with a time of 57.30 and 6th in the 200 freestyle with at time of 1.53.09 at the State UIL swim meet.
She broke the Hendrickson school record for 100 backstroke with a time of 56.96 and broke the team and school record for freestyle with a time of 1.52.49 in the preliminary rounds.
VASE, or the Visual Arts Scholastic Event, is a regional UIL competition that recognizes exemplary art pieces from students across Region 13N. Multiple art students completed and submitted their art to be judged on Feb. 18.
Three students advanced to VASE State, which will occur on April 29: sophomore Kayla Cervantes with the work Gothic Infusion, junior Diane Salazarcastaneda with the work An Artist Dissection, and junior Sarah Curran with the work Suppressed.
Multiple awards can be given besides advancing to state. VASE DIV 1 received a four and have been in one year of art. VASE DIV 2 received a four and have done two years of art and so on with VASE DIV 3 and VASE DIV 4.
