4
news Panther Prowler • March 26, 2021
Jenny Finger recognized as Lakers’ student of the month Sera Mohammed Staff Writer Many students can only dream of being recognized by a major sports team. For Jenny Finger, senior, her personality and commitment to the community allowed this dream to become a reality. The Lakers’ student of the month recognition is given to four outstanding students from the greater Los Angeles Area every month of basketball season. Students are nominated by teachers at their school based on exemplary efforts in academics, athletics and community. Finger was nominated for this award in March of 2020, but COVID-19 caused its cancellation until this month, when Finger was ultimately awarded Lakers’ recognition. Finger has spent the majority of her high school experience trying to create a more inclusive environment for the special education students at NPHS and was pleasantly surprised to hear that she had won the award. “When I found out I was nominated for this award I was super surprised. Being nominated for this award made me realize how much support I have. But it made me feel really special. I think my effort to make a difference made me stand out from everyone else,” Finger said. Anne Alvarez, special education teacher, took part in nominating Finger for the award. Alvarez had known Finger from her involvement in the special ed programs and her commitment to making NPHS a more inclusive school. Her inclusivity influenced Alvarez’s decision to nominate Finger for the award. “During her freshman year, Jenny got involved in the Sparkles cheerleading and became a mentor to the special needs student. She also became involved with Unified Sports and helped train the athletes to compete in different sports and they competed against different high schools,“ Alvarez said. “She also became President of Unified Sports Club and has continued to hold meetings and keep the students involved via Zoom this whole year.” Richard Bradley, social sciences teacher, was also involved in submitting the nomination for Finger’s recognition and has been recommending students for this award for the past couple of years. Every year, Bradley looks for specific traits in a student eligible for the award. “I’m all about moral courage, integrity, compassion, somebody who’s obviously great in terms of their grades in the classroom but somebody who contributes to the school in such a positive way and then somebody who volunteers in the community,” Bradley said. “I really look for people who are all around great kids and we actually have a lot of those at Newbury Park High School, but in my eyes, Jenny just stands head and shoulders above everybody.” Alvarez raved about Finger’s character and personality, emphasizing how kind and caring she is to everyone. “[Finger] does not tolerate injustice and she stands for all people being treated equally and fair. She has worked hard to make sure that all students are included at NPHS and absolutely deserves this award and honor,” Alvarez said.
Swish- Jenny Finger won the Lakers’ Student of the Month award for March 2021 after being nominated in March 2020 when everything closed. “I nominated her just because of the kind of person she is, the kind of character she has, her compassion, her integrity, her leadership,” Richard Bradley said regarding Finger. Jenny Finger/With Permission
SDAC gives input on future health curriculum McGlauthon Fleming IV Staff Writer
Téa Sklar/Prowler
The school board is in the process of picking a new health curriculum, but before they make their final decision, the Student District Advisory Committee (SDAC) has been given their latest undertaking: gauging student opinion on a number of proposed health curriculums for middle school and high school students. Adera Craig, a senior at Westlake High School, runs SDAC and the committee in charge of the review. “We’ve been hosting forums for student representatives in CVUSD to provide input on the three proposed health curriculums,” Craig said. “That way when the board makes a decision, we can give them a presentation and data gathered from students on the health curriculums.” SDAC is giving their presentation on March 29, which is ten days after the final committee meeting, to tell the board what opinions they have gathered. The board will vote on a final health curriculum to implement for the next school year on April 20. Michael Lindroth, junior, is a member of the committee in charge of gauging the student census and believes the district needs a new curriculum, especially in these changing times. “The district is in noncompliance with CHYA (California Healthy Youth Act). Our current curriculum was written in 2005, so it is very outdated. CVUSD is adopting a new curriculum to give students a better health education,” Lindroth said. Alondra Padilla, a junior at Thousand Oaks High School and panel member, has been involved in the curriculum review process for weeks. “We have been meeting since early February and our last forum [was held on March 19],” Padilla said. SDAC has reached a consensus on which of the three curriculums are the crowd favorite and which they are going to propose for the board to adopt. “The three curriculums being discussed are Teen Talk, 3R (Rights, Respect, Responsibility) and Positive Prevention Plus. After going over the different curriculums, we favored Teen Talk because it best addressed these issues in an informative and inclusive way,” Padilla said. “Although, we agreed that the only issue Teen Talk didn’t do a good job on was sexual violence/abuse prevention. We are bringing this up to the board so this can be supplemented.” There have also been health curriculum information webinars for CVUSD parents to attend and learn more about the options, with 3R being explained on March 18 and Positive Prevention Plus on the 24th. Teen Talk, SDAC’s choice curriculum, will be presented on Wednesday, March 31.
