Greta Thunberg 3

Greta gives the globe a voice

Th rough her compelling speeches and seemingly unlimited devotion to environmental protection, Greta Th unberg has become one of today’s most prominent environmental activists.

Th unberg started her fi ght for change in August of 2018 by striking and skipping school every Friday. Now, she is taking a year long sabbatical from attending school in Sweden, her home country, to travel around the globe and infl uence millions with her activism.

Her accomplishments are mind blowing for a 16 year old. She has attended environmental strikes in over 100 countries and spoke at the United Nations climate summit last month.

“Th e eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say - we will never forgive you,” Th unberg said. Th rough this speech, Th unberg proves that she is a force to be reckoned with.

Th unberg has a condition known as Asperger’s syndrome, which is characterized by repetitive patterns of behavior and diffi culties in social interaction. She has already proven that it does not impair her ability to think logically. Th ose who are reluctant to make environmental protection a priority have responded with brutal comments, oft en pointing out her mental disability.

On Sept. 23, a conservative podcast host for Daily Wire known as Michael Knowles was invited to speak on Fox News. To everyone’s surprise and dismay, he called Th unberg “a mentally ill Swedish child who is being exploited by her parents and by the international left ” in a segment dedicated to the issue of climate change.

Two days aft er Fox News apologized for Knowles’ behavior, Th unberg responded to the incident on Instagram. Her maturely craft ed caption reads, “I honestly don’t understand why adults would choose to spend their time mocking and threatening teenagers and children for promoting science, when they could do something good instead. I guess they must simply feel so threatened by us.”

It is a scary thought that adults have no intention of prioritizing climate change when it is clear how vital it is to the future of our planet. Th unberg spoke for countless people of our generation when she said, “You all come to us young people for hope. How dare you.” Because the older generations will not live to see the harshest backlash of environmental damage they have caused, they are indiff erent.

Th is is why people like Th unberg speak. She speaks for those who care about the environment and have a long time before they pass away from old age. Th is is the group who is not indiff erent, and wants to create change for the better.

Th unberg is not the only teenage activist who has spoken about environmental protection. In 1992, a 13 year old girl known as Severn Suzuki spoke at the Rio Summit to bring awareness to the importance of protecting the environment.

History is repeating itself. How long will we resort to children speaking for the environment before world leaders actually create change for the better?

While Greta Th unberg has been a strong advocate for environmental protection at a young age, she is only one of many. We must acknowledge the importance of everyone who fi ghts for a positive cause, and the world needs to listen, regardless of how much time they have left on Earth or how much they profi t off of the destruction of our environment.

Emily Augustine/Prowler

PANTHER PROWLER 2019-2020 staff

Editors-in-Chief

Emily Nagamoto Aditya Vunnum

Entertainment Editor

Manas Khatore

Copy Editors

Emily Augustine Carter Castillo

Prasheetha Karthikeyan Manas Khatore

Cover Editor

Emily Augustine

Features Editor

Prasheetha Karthikeyan

Sports Editor

Clarissa Shin

Opinion Editor

Carter Castillo

DPS Editor

Jessica Zhou

Online

Carter Castillo

Rahul D’Souza

Prasheetha Karthikeyan Jessica Zhou

Photographers

Chief// Rahul D’Souza Reese Kelem Jacob Malone Jessica Zhou

Graphic Artists

Emily Augustine Clarissa Shin

Staff Writers

Abby Gorman Adalia Luo

Adviser

Michelle Saremi

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Conejo Pride shines its colors

Jessica Zhou DPS Editor

Shine- Betty Black, Drag Queen, showed off her moves at the Conejo Valley Pride Festival 2019. “I just love sharing my art with the world, especially with a group of like-minded individuals. It’s just like a safe place to be yourself, let loose,” said Black. This was Black’s fi rst ever performance at this festival but likes to perform as much she can to make others smile. Black stands by the words: “Love is love. Love yourself. Love each other.” Jessica Zhou/Prowler

At the second annual Conejo Pride Festival, the community gathered once again to show their support for the LGBTQ community. Th e festival took place on Sept. 28 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in front of the Civic Arts Plaza.

On the fi eld, many booths were set up for merchants, political parties and support organizations. Performances were also held at the event which included drag queens, the Trans Chorus of LA and the LGBTQ Country Line Dancers. American Idol’s David Hernandez and Effi e Passero also made an appearance in the fi nale.

Betty Black, performer, was a drag queen who danced to the song “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” from the musical “Dreamgirls.” While Black has been to many pride festivals in the past, this is her fi rst time participating as a performer. She decided to give a performance because she saw this as an opportunity to give back to the community. She loves to perform in her free time to share her art with other people and put smiles on their faces.

“Th e most meaningful part of this is that we are all coming together as a community, because there is so much going on in the world. We are just spreading love here and that’s what I love about it,” Black said.

Emily Wells, organizer of Free Mom Hugs, led a group of volunteers to give free hugs to people as they walked into the festival. Free Mom Hugs is an organization that off ers hugs to anyone who wants one. Th e organization was fi rst started by a mom whose son came out to her but was struggling as the community was not accepting of him. She posted a Facebook post off ering to be a stand-in mom at same-sexsame sex couples marriages. As the post went viral, she started the organization Free Mom Hugs.

“We go to any event where someone can organize. We get volunteers, parents of diff erent genders and races. We have some who are in the LGBTQ community and the rest are parents of LGBT. And we are here, we are encouraging, we try to create a safe space and just to give a hug,” Wells said.

For Jamie Jewett, senior at NPHS, this was her fi rst pride festival. Jewett read about the festival on Facebook and decided to come experience the festival for herself.

“Th is shows me that people are really making an eff ort and trying to do something. So it is just good for me to see that this is going on,” Jewett said.

Open Mosque Day opens minds

Sarena Kabir News Editor

Adalia Luo Staff Writer

On Oct. 6, the Islamic Center of Conejo Valley held their ninth annual Open Mosque Day, a day to celebrate and explore their faith with guided tours, free exhibits, midday prayers and a brief talk and Q&A.

Shadi Ghafari, sophomore, has been attending Open Mosque since fi rst grade. “My mom was the one in charge of the event so I helped and pitched in when she needed help,” Ghafari said. “I helped set up the chairs in the prayer hall, got the tables upstairs for the decorations, cleaned up some of the classrooms, got the goody bags together and I helped the front table.”

Compared to last year, the Open Mosque Day has seen a decline in numbers. “A total of 170 people came which sounds like a lot but it’s the lowest we have had. When the presidential election was going on, we got almost 500 because of all the drama of the candidates, so they wanted to see what we had to say and what our religion was all about,” Ghafari said.

Sera Mohammed, junior, also helped out during Open Mosque Day with the tours. “I think this year really opened up people’s minds and allowed them to see diff erent perspectives to seeing Islam other than what they see online and on social media. I think Open Mosque Day successfully erases the incorrect perceptions people have of the religion,” Mohammed said.

During the event, there were several presentations and booths, which were set up with the help of Sara Hamza, sophomore. “I helped set up a lot of the booths and presentations that were held upstairs,” Hamza said. “(Th ere were several booths) such as the hijab booth, Islamic art (which included) calligraphy, beautifi cation of the verses of the Quean and famous Islamic role models and successful people,” Hamza said.

“We aren’t trying to get people to be Muslims or anything, which people have thought before; we simply want to teach our community more about our religion just as a school would teach,” Hamza said.

Celebration- Community memembers from all faiths gather at the Islamic Center of Conejo Valley to learn about the Islamic religion. Students from Newbury Park High School volunteered and attended to support this annual event. One of these students was sophomore Sara Hamza. “I think the important thing is for people to really understand Islam and not what the media says,” said Hamza. Unfortuantely, there was a noticable smaller attendance to the event compared to past years but the volunteers still believe that it went well. Adalia Luo/Prowler

Wings to Grow supports foster youth

Manas Khatore Entertainment Editor

On Oct. 12, Wings to Grow, a club that is dedicated to supporting foster children in Ventura County, attended the ninth annual Harvest Fest in Oxnard, an event organized by the non-profi t organization Kids and Families Together.

Nicole Hanover, senior and president, described the event as a way to help foster care children experience the fall spirit through donations and activities. Students from Wings to Grow volunteered to supervise the pumpkin decorating activity at the event. “(We brought) 145 sugar baby pumpkins and (we had) them paint on them and celebrate Halloween,” Hanover said.

As the club’s president, Hanover was involved in the planning process for the event, especially in terms of contacting local businesses for donations. Fortunately, the club received much more money than expected. “We had originally requested $350, but (Walmart) decided that what we were doing is good… so (they) decided to raise the amount to $500,” Hanover said. As a result, the club was able to buy even more supplies to carry out its station.

Jeni Futvoye, community resource manager for Kids and Families Together, has been involved with foster care children for 15 years and helped organize Harvest Fest. She states that the number of families attending the event has increased over the last few years. “Usually we serve about 125 kids and this year we have 170, so you can do the math… we’ve really increased our capacity and that just tells me that more kids are going into care and more families are fi nding out about us,” Futvoye said. Besides Wings to Grow, organizations that volunteered at the event include James

Storehouse, Bikers Against Child Abuse, Calvary Church and SoCal Honda.

Kayleigh Weinstein, senior and treasurer of Wings to Grow, attended Harvest Fest for the fi rst time this year. She describes volunteering and working with foster care children as very rewarding. “It’s kind of fun to help put a smile on their face and at least give them a few minutes of fun,” Weinstein said. She plans on volunteering at future Wings to Grow events in order to help out more foster care children.

Volunteers at Harvest Fest believe that giving back and staying involved in the community is important and encourage more people to do so,” Hanover said. “We should be giving back to kids who don’t have that opportunity or the same opportunities that we have.”

Pokemon- After fi nding inspiration from Pokemon, Nicole Hanover, senior, shows a completed Poke-ball pumpkin to a foster care child. One of many kids in Ventura County at the event, he had the opportunity to get a Halloween costume, warm coats, other gear and do fun crafts like painting pumpkins. The Wings to Grow club brought 145 pumpkins to the event and helped children decorate and have fun. Emily Nagamoto/Prowler

For the record...in Issue I: In the caption in the bottom left photo on page 5, Mya Amor and Sam Audenino’s names were misspelled.

Th e article “Th e new girl takes on the boys” was printed under the headline “New coach joins Black Cat Volleyball Crew” on page 15. Th e correct article about the new coach for girls’ volleyball can be found on our website pantherprowler.org