THE FLASH Volume 28 | Issue 2 Rocklin High School
THE REALITY OF
VACCINES An explantion of the recent Phizer COVID-19 vaccine and the history of innoculations (pg. 4)
SHREDDING pg.20
NEVERLAND pg.18
COMMUNITY pg.8
a note from the editors hello reader, welcome to the second issue of the 28th volume of the flash magazine! we editors are thrilled to have been able to produce two magazines this year, especially since our second magazine during the last school year was cut short because of the sudden shift to distance learning. along the way, we and our journalism production staff have poured a lot of hours (and coffee and muffins) into the making of this magazine because we feel like it’s our job to make sure that you have something to look back on from this year that represents both the challenges of living through a pandemic and the growth that has come along with it. what we want to do more than anything else is tell your stories and make you feel heard. thank you to all of our hard working staff reporters who have doubled as graphic designers, podcasters and photographers and thank you to mr. rubinstein for all your hard work and guidance this year. Emily Broad & Morgan Fitzgerald
HELLO follow us on instagram @rocklinmedia to stay up to date with rocklin stories our news podcast is “live from m5” and is focused on intentional conversations learn more about our media program at: rocklinmedia.org
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cochlear implants with georgia remmers
4 6
the development of vaccinations
shifting to a full day schedule
7
girls golf from senior and freshmean view
8 10 11 12 14 16 18 20 ethnic studies course preview evolution of skate culture
skeggs album review a look at am/pm fashion trends
student owned nail business rocklin computer science feature
promised neverland season two review
Staff Reporters: Dustin Hayes Allie Monahgan Brianna Peck
Ryan Barbieri Noah Howard Delaney Lawrence Chloe Entrican Julia McLean Photographer: Ian Shaw Olivia Kleinschmidt
student built skate park overview
Listen to this episode on “Live from M-5” here!
Photo provided by Georgia Remmers
DEAF SIDE STORIES PT.1
Junior Georgia Remmers opens up on Rocklin High podcast, “Live from M5”, about what it’s like to live with a cochlear implant and partial deafness
“M
y whole life I have been about music and singing and just listening. And the first thing I do right when I get the hearing aid in is sit in my car and turn my volume up and listen to music that is so beautiful instrumentally that I haven’t been able to for two years now.”
Remmers’s original diagnosis was fluid buildup, but it wasn’t until she visited an official ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) doctor that they said she had Meniere’s. “I posted a little bit about it on my social media and got a little bit of feedback, but from everyone I’ve talked to they have all been over the age of 40, so it’s a little crazy to think that it’s happened to me and I’m only 17.” Fully deaf in her left ear, and partially deaf in her right,. Remmers is set to receive her hearing aid on April 19th., Hhowever, she had surgery back in January for the implant. “It was actually really painful, more painful than I thought it was going to be. . . I was out
Re m ia or g Ge by pr ov id ed Ph ot o
“So I woke up on the morning after homecoming my sophomore year just super dizzy. There was a really loud ringing in my ear, and I just felt super sick. I really had no idea what it was because I had never had any underlying health problems, or anything like that. So when I woke up that morning, I was just freaking out because the room was spinning and there was such a loud ring.”
m er s
Diagnosed with Menere’s disease during her sophomore year (2019), junior Georgia Remmers shareds her experience with suddenly losing her hearing. Interviewed by Allie Mongahan, who also suffers from deafness, on RHS podcast “Live from M5”; both girls discuss receiving their cochlear implants.
of school for two weeks. . . Ever since then, I’ve just had to be so careful about it because I play volleyball and if I get hit in the head, I think it can easily be taken out, and it’s just really nerve-wracking.” Although nervous that people’s voices will change, Remmers is excited for the possibilities of the future:. “I think I’m just going to try and go into it with ease and an open mind, because I know that I get so over excited, and I hype it up, and then it fails me. I want to go into this with an open mindset, but not just be so gung-ho about it, because we don’t know what to expect.”
Written by Allie Monaghan and Brianna Peck, Staff Reporters
3
The Reality of Science teacher Shannon Isenhower sits down with Staff Reporter Brianna Peck and Editor-in-Chief Emily Broad to discusses the history of vaccines.
Vaccines
“T
he law of large numbers. If millions of people get something that kills 1% of them, that’s still hundreds of thousands of people. [COVID-19] was the third-highest cause of death last year, and the only thing that killed more people was cancer and heart attacks. . . It [increased] our normal death rate by almost 25%.” Starting April 15th, in the state of California, any individual above the age of 16 will be eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. To help clear up any misinformation, biology and chemistry teacher Shannon Isenhower sat down with students on the Rocklin High podcast “Live from M5” to explain what vaccines are, and where they come from. “A vaccine is a substance that is injected into your body, well usually injected but not always, that helps make your immune system respond. Your immune system is very cool. Once you’ve had a disease, it makes these cells called memory cells that will remember that you’ve had a particular disease. And if you are ever exposed to that disease again, then your body is already prepared to fight it really quickly.” When you get sick, it isn’t the disease that makes you feel lousy. It is actually your immune response, and therefore your immune system. The presence of fevers, aches, and general tiredness is a sign your immune system is working. However, to prevent your body from needing to respond heavily at all, vaccines step in. Isenhower continues, “What a vaccine does, is that it basically tricks your body into thinking you have had a disease. And so, your immune response is made, and you make these memory cells which means if you ever actually are exposed to the disease then you either won’t get sick or you’ll get a very mild version of the disease.” However, vaccines didn’t pop out of anywhere. The first evidence of inoculation can be seen all the way back in China during 1000 ACE with smallpox pus. During that period, doctors would take the pus of a sick person and put it on the open wound of a healthy person. From there, the healthy person would become sick but not to the same extreme. As Isenhower explains, the technique continued to evolve, “They would notice, for example, someone who recovered from smallpox would never get smallpox again, so they had this idea that if you got a disease, you didn’t get it two times. Through extrapolation, I think they figured ‘well wait, if we could you just a mild version of the diseases and then you could recover’, and that’s actually how the first, not quite vaccine, but inoculations started.” Nowadays when people visualize vaccines, they don’t think about rubbing pus on open wounds. That’s because of the introduction of the first real vaccine, which didn’t appear until around the late 1700s with Edward Jenner. Isenhower continues, “The first real vaccine. . .was also against smallpox. What he did was take cowpox. . .and inject it into humans, and that would prevent them from getting smallpox.”
Empty hospital waiting room, moments before next round of innoculations. Photo provided by Allie Monaghan
Even still, modern vaccines look different than Jenner’s. The modern flu vaccine consists of a deactivated virus that is grown in chicken eggs.
The possibility of this new technology came from several decades of research following the SARS outbreak. Since COVID-19 is identified as SARS-COV2, scientists who studied SARS-COV1 already had a foundation to build this new vaccine off of. Therefore, it was able to be produced in record time. “[MRNA technology] might be able to change how [scientists produce] flu vaccines. Since it’s so much faster, you wouldn’t have to guess a year in advance what the flu is going to be You can just base it on what the flu actually is.”
People with egg allergies have to get special flu vaccines that weren’t grown in chicken eggs. - Mrs. Isenhower Listen to episode on this
Written by Brianna Peck, Staff Reporter
“Live from M-5”
“They have these chicken farms, it’s super secret where they are located because they are considered estate chickens that make our vaccines. And what they do is actually inject live flu virus into chicken eggs and let it replicate until you have lots of virus and then they purify it and they inactivate it so it isn’t alive anymore. Well again it never was alive but it’s not able to make people sick anymore. . . And actually, people with egg allergies have to get special flu vaccines that weren’t grown in chicken eggs” A new approach was taken with the COVID-19 vaccine, including the introduction of mRNA technology. “You have DNA in your cells, but that doesn’t directly do anything, it just kinda sits there. . . Then your cells make copies of the DNA, that’s the mRNA, and then your cells use the mRNA to actually make all the cell parts or the proteins that do all the work in your cells. Anyways, so what the mRNA vaccines do is they skip the DNA part and use just the instructions on how to make proteins, specifically the coronavirus spike proteins. . . So when you get injected with [the vaccine], your cells aren’t very smart, so they go ‘oh look mRNA, I should make proteins with it’. . . So when your immune system sees those proteins, it goes, ‘that’s not my protein’ and it starts to freak out.”
5
Thunder football and cheer celebrate after a victory against Whitney High School ith yet another schedule change for this 2020-2021 “I think the multiple changes in the schedule made it difficult Rocklin High School year, students have mixed opinions for students to academically and socially adjust to this school despite the school spirit and unity thundering once again. year, but overall I think the campus did well in managing each schedule.” On April 6th, after spring break, students returned to school with the ‘normal’ full time schedule the school has had in the Junior Riley Milligin agreed that the AM/PM schedule was past years. Although, with so many changes and different preferable to being back at school full time. For Milligin, formats for learning from this last year, this schedule felt the mental health benefits for the AM/PM schedule were foreign in the beginning. immense, and being back full time has even been detrimental to his learning. With full sized classes and strict rules for distancing, the large number of students on campus is a big adjustment from the The long school days with no rallies, dances, or other A/B hybrid and the AM/PM hybrid schedules. On top of having extracurricular activities to balance out the workload, “has more students in class, teachers have a full 80 minutes for been really hard on my ability to focus and be willing to be at instruction; nearly double the time allocated in the AM/PM school everyday happily and wanting to do my best,” Milligin schedule. stated.
W
Senior Nawal Tahraoui feels that the AM/PM schedule made the most sense, given the craziness with COVID-19 case numbers fluctuating so much over the span of the school year. She shared that it “seemed the most convenient while also following the most COVID safety guidelines.” Tahraoui also noted the adaptability of Rocklin students throughout these major schedule changes:
Although many students preferred the flexibility that came with the AM/PM schedule, many students are also excited to be back full time, since it is the closest to a normal school year they will get. This has been especially true for Logan Reese who has been hoping for as normal of a senior year as possible. Being a senior is challenging enough, but spending the whole year
hoping and waiting for a sense of normalcy is a whole new level of crazy. Reese shared that, “given the circumstances we’re currently dealing with, I don’t feel like a senior whatsoever. I think being back full time gives me more of the senior experience, so I’ve enjoyed going back to the regular schedule.” With this new schedule, the most drastic change for students has been the numbers; in classes, on campus, and on the sidelines at games. With the full return to school, sports have also been in full swing and the Thunder morale has improved significantly with the return to campus after a rough start to the school year. The Rocklin campus has been more crowded and lively than it has been since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and students are adapting to the ‘new, old normal’ more and more each day. More than anything, this full return to campus seems to represent some returning normalcy in life among the RHS students.
Written by Morgan Fitzgerald, Editor-In-Chief
“
Given the circumstances we’re currently dealing with, I don’t feel like a senior whatsoever. I think being back full time gives me more of the senior experience, so I’ve enjoyed going back to the regular schedule.
Listen to this episode, Up to Par on “Live from M-5” here!
”
Photo courtesy of Kylie Pandis Since the 1920’s, golf has been a popular sport in America, and eventually worked its way into high school sports rotation. Here at Rocklin, womens golf has had a strong start to their preseason with spectacular performances from varsity freshman, Lexi Booras and varsity senior, Kylie Pandis. I interviewed these two about the women’s golf experience at Rocklin. When I asked Kylie about how long she’s been playing golf, she told me that she had “been playing golf since 6th grade, so about 7 years. I’ve done some camps during middle school too before I went into highschool.” On the contrary, freshman prodigy Lexi Booras shared on the Friday podcast that the first time she had played golf was on Wii Sports. Like all school sports this year, it was a difficult process to get the greenlight to start activities, with no one fighting harder than the seniors. Kylie Pandis told me “Due to COVID I was very unmotivated, so I wasn’t planning on playing this year. I’m glad I came out because I forgot how much fun it is to play with a team.” For Lexi, motivations aside, one of the biggest obstacles was getting over the nerves that come with being a freshman on varsity, “It’s an honor, but it was really hard.” Another thing Lexi is missing out on is the authentic team experience, “It’s different, we don’t have a van to travel in, we don’t go anywhere after matches, but the girls are really nice.” When asked about the presence of a family dynamic on the team, the answer from Lexi was a resounding yes. “Playing with Rocklin is also an experience that I don’t think I could get at another school.” Along with playing during COVID, Lexi says that her individual play hasn’t been too affected, “but as a team, social distancing during practice and wearing masks is somewthing completely new for me.” Surprisingly enough this is actually Lexi’s first time playing on an organized golf team. This isn’t to say the stress of others relying on her is negatively affecting her game, she’s still at peak performance and who’s to say that she won’t get even better. The same goes for senior Kylie, who’s making sure to end her high school career with a powerful finish.
Written by Ian Shaw, Staff Reporter
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MRS. JONES PICTURED WITH HER HUSBAND
BUIL BUILDI
COMMU CO M
ING A 3 IMPACTS OF ETHNIC STUDIES
History teacher Mrs. Chelsea Jones expresses the importance of RHS’s new class 1. 2. 3. “Students will get an opportunity to learn about themselves too, and their own histories, and their own cultures. . . and the ways that they show up to their communities.”
“Graduation rates are higher, students that go on to a four-year university are higher, attendance rates are higher, dropout rates are lower.”
“It allows for every student to be seen and heard. And feel like their voice, and their story is being taught on campus. And that there is a place for them.”
What does this mean for Rocklin High School?
M
rs. Jones is unapologetic as she sells her new Ethnic Studies class, “Hopefully this comes out soon, and while class selection is going on. And I really hope that anyone who is interested in taking the course signs up and. . . where there is as much interest in the course, we will fill that with a class.”
Despite controversies over how the class should be taught, Jones’s goal is clear, “Students should be coming to this course willing to learn, but also wanting to examine their own stories, their own biases, their own preferences. And then also getting to see themselves and choose things that speak to them throughout the course as well.” Throughout the year, there will be five central units: self, stories, systems, social movements, and solidarity. Working together, they introduce the importance of building genuine relationships with others and the ways culture influences us.
Written by Brianna Peck, Staff Reporter
There is a reason for her sales pitch: Mrs. Jones believes in the power of community and for the upcoming 2021-22 school year, she will begin teaching the new course. Her goal for the future is to create a community on campus, a place where every student feels included.
UNITY
9
Skating: Then vs. Now Take a dive into how skating has evolved throughout time
I
n 2021, skateboarding is seen as a very mainstream sport, with thousands of kids, teens, and adults starting to skateboard every year. Amazingly, skateboarding can now be a viable career with Street League Skating, the professional skateboarding league founded by Rob Dyrdek, which provides skaters with opportunities to compete with the best of the best to earn prize money.
“We were treated like outcasts. It really was crazy because there was no reason to hate skaters just for doing something they were passionate about.” Back in the 80s and 90s, skateboarding was not the same sport it is today. Billy Young, lifetime skater and resident of Rocklin, picked up skateboarding when he was in middle school in the early 90s. Billy recalled that “everyone just started getting boards for their birthdays or Christmas, and it was just something that we could all do together. It was also a way to get to school, because we lived fairly close to the school so we all rode together.” Young found skateboarding as a good way to connect with his friends, exercise and have a common interest they could all work on and progress. Young noted, “Getting really good at skateboarding took a lot of work, but my friends and I loved learning new tricks and seeing who could do it best.”
When asked what skating was like in the 90s, Billy said, “Skating was really cool back then, we mostly skated on the streets and in our yards. There were some people who had half-pipes in their backyards, but for the most part we all just used small things we built like small kicker ramps and boxes.” Today skateboarding is seen as a mainstream sport, with hundreds of pros competing for prize money every year, and it is even being featured in the Olympics. But back in the early 1990s, skateboarding was not at all what it is today. Skateboarders were seen as outcasts, and were often compared to criminals or hooligans: “If we wanted to skate in public, it had to be at the schools while they were closed because if we ever went to the businesses they would kick us out and threaten to call the police. We were treated like outcasts. It really was crazy because there was no reason to hate skaters just for doing something they were passionate about.” Today, skateboarding became mainstream through two platforms: YouTube and TikTok. Youtube has been the main form to spread skateboarding since the early 2000s. Braille Skateboarding is the biggest skate channel with 5.44 Million Subscribers and has been uploading skate videos and tutorials since the early days of the platform. The use of Youtube to upload videos of skating helped skateboarding grow worldwide at an extremely fast rate, and continued to bring it to the well known sport that it is today.
Written by Noah Howard, Staff Reporter
Skegss’ Album of the Summer M
Photo courtesy of @ian.laidlaw
usic sets the tone for everything. No matter the situation, there’s a song that goes with it, and with their latest album, Skegss has mastered the art of having a good time. Their highly anticipated album “Rehearsal” was released on March 26th, and has since reached number one on the Australian album charts; briefly passing Justin Bieber’s album “Justice”. But while it has received many praises and positive reviews the question still remains, is it even good? Let’s start with what’s right with this album. Skegss has stuck to their tried and true formula of music that makes you feel good. The upbeat guitar riffs backed up with a bullish drum and groovy bass are almost guaranteed to cheer up even the darkest of souls. We see this most predominantly in the hit track off the album, “Under the Thunder”, which starts off with a guitar riff that’ll be stuck in the listeners head for weeks. Another thing that separates Skegss from most other alt-rock bands is the vocals. Skegss vocals are so bad that they’re good. They remind listeners of sitting in a car with your friends screamsinging songs without a care in the world. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t lyrically inclined, while yes some of their earlier songs
may not have some deep meaning, with the new album we see a more poetic side of a band whose genre is filled with more shallow lyrics. Songs like “Picturesque Moment” and “Wake Up” both discuss much deeper topics like death and our limited time on earth. While many think this album is great, it is far from perfect and still has some flaws. Albeit very few, they are still there. The biggest problem is the lack of consistency. All the singles they released beforehand fit in perfectly with their previous album, “My Own Mess”, but outside of that the sound is very different. It’s not necessarily bad, but it doesn’t really match what listeners have become accustomed to with skegss. The biggest cause for that change was the change in production. Overall this album is amazing from start to finish, from the catchy guitar riffs and the unforgettable singing the songs on it are a guaranteed way to completely change your day and lift your spirits. If you’re someone looking to round out your summer playlist look no further than Skegss.
Written by Dustin Hayes, Staff Reporter
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AM When asked to define her aesthetic, Jillian was not specifically sure, “I don’t have anything like indie or skater. I don’t follow a genre. If anything it’s just colors.”
Listen to this episode of “Live from M5” here!
Bella’s outfits are very elegant and classy so she gave her style the name: “New York based street fashion and streetwear.”
PM
ASHIO
R
ocklin High students have been through all kinds of dramatic changes in their lives over the last year. But one thing has remained by their side all through this time: fashion. I sat down with junior Evan Tablada, freshman Bella Ward and junior Jillian Andrews to get first hand advice from some of Rocklin’s fashion icons. When asked about their inspiration and where it comes from, Ward started off strong by saying, “Pinterest has a lot of outfit inspiration and Instagram; I follow a lot of fashion accounts. Social media drives my inspiration.” Tablada quickly agreed and added: “I’ve been following a few archived pages of great photos. Just fashion but I scroll through because they are so interesting. I look at colors, not just the fit itself. Things like how people mix together textures.” Style trends have been shifting more rapidly due to COVID-19 and the fact that people have more time and leisure to shop. Social media has also made fashion significantly more accessible to everyone. You’ll always know what’s ‘in’ at the moment, and just looking at Pinterest or a good Instagram account will supply you with inspiration. Each person at Rocklin has a specific type of style, but most students are trying to find ways to make their genre more unique. It’s harder to be different in a town where everyone shops at the same stores. So I asked the three trend-setters what their favorite brands and stores are. They had mixed opinions but Tablada shared, “Brands. I have a few Dickies things. Russel Brand Athletics, [and blank hoodies] are my favorite [pieces to wear]. I tend not to buy new clothes when you can just thrift all the time. The bins; you find such a wide variety of things so you don’t have to buy new clothes.” Thrifting has been very popular among high school students in the past year because it’s increasingly affordable and there’s plenty of local stores. Goodwill bins in Sacramento have large amounts of donated clothing at super cheap prices which makes it all the more appealing to students. Besides thrifting, the second best option is online shopping. No one has to leave their house or worry about COVID. Ward gave us some of her favorite brands to buy from, including, “Pretty Little Thing, Fashion Nova, Zara in some moderation, Shein is really great too. For shoes, Sinister Souls, Dolls Kill, it’s kind of exotic. I support a lot of small businesses on Instagram, small little thrift store things.” Most of these stores have websites you can purchase their clothes from instead of going out to shop, but brand new clothes might require a larger amount of funds. If you’re on a budget, take Tablada’s advice and try thrifting. Lately baggy clothes have been trending all over the internet. Cargo pants are popular and skinny jeans are officially out of style. Tablada follows this style trend closely, but with his own twist. He says it’s called, “The workwear aesthetic. I try to not do what other people do, especially at this school. I feel like a lot of people are like ‘He’s doing it and that makes me feel comfortable doing it’. I don’t want to be like someone else.” There’s always going to be difficulty in being unique, but fashion gives you lots of opportunities to be different. Style gives everyone freedom to express themselves in a distinctive way and these students take it very seriously.
Written by Delaney Lawrence, Staff Reporter
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NAILING I
ntrepreneur and sophomore Angie Samuels started her own nail business at her house around a year ago. “Last February, I went to a girl around my age, she did nails at her home as well… I got inspired by her and I was like oh I can do this myself,” Angie shared. After getting inspired, Angie took this passion and turned it into something bigger; something that could potentially even impact her future. “I got together everything, I watched a lot of YouTube videos, and I put it together. A year later, I am still doing it.” One thing that Angie strongly advocates for is for people to “support a blackowned business,” she stated. In fact, she made it clear that “not all black businesses are as supported as others. Small businesses in general aren’t supported as much and they work the hardest,” she explained. It takes a lot of practice to master the art of nails. “It took me about five to six months to get decent… I practiced on myself and my friends,” Angie explained. Even though she has
messed up a few times while learning how to do nails, she used those mistakes as a learning experience. “I’ve gotten better, that’s for sure,” Angie stated.
mainly schedule on the days that work out for me, but I may have times that work out for my clients better so I’ll try to squeeze them in,” Angie expressed.
“
Even though this business may interfere with her schedule from time to time, managing her own job can have its advantages when trying to avoid such inconveniences. “I get to work around my own schedule and be my own boss,” Angie clarified. This way, she is able to work around her life instead of interfering with it. “I like to space it out so [conflicting schedules] don’t happen,” Angie continued. The busy life of a high-school student is timeconsuming enough, not even taking into consideration the extra work of managing your own business. Therefore, the flexibility of being her own boss makes things like being a student and an athlete much easier.
Angie’s tomboy nature may catch people by surprise. “I’m very tomboy, I used to do the press ons and things like that.
“
E
!
Small businesses in general aren’t supported as much, and they work the hardest
Never really acrylics, but I’m definitely more into it now,” Angie highlighted when describing her personality. Despite this contrasting personality to that of a stereotypical nail artist, Angie’s dedication to her work is stronger than ever. “People should come to my business because of my quality, my communication skills, and my efforts make your nails look good,” Angie elaborated to emphasize her professionalism and commitment.
Running a business is not without its challenges. “I’ve faced issues when communicating with people and noshows, and just the business aspect,” Angie shared. Communication is a crucial part of running a business and can often lead to frustration. When it comes to scheduling clients, Angie has to consider the lives of both herself and her clients. “I
Angie can even see this business progressing into the future. She is considering making it a side job after high school. “I want to get my own suite, maybe a shop,” Angie explains. When looking at the numbers, you could say that her business is very profitable. “You can have good months and bad months so it just depends on how consistent your clients are coming to you,” Angie clarified. Furthermore, Angie has set certain policies in place to manage such incomining payments. “I do have a late fee and I do charge deposits prior to coming that go towards your service,” Angie shared. The prices may vary depending on the size of the nails as well as the design that you choose. She mainly uses social media such as Instagram and Snapchat to spread the word. “Having people reposting to their story helps a lot as well,” Angie added.
Written by Chloe Entrican, Staff Reporter
CHECK ANGIE’S
@nailedbyangiee
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Listen to this episode of “Live from M5“ here!
DOM I NATI NG AT DEB UGG I NG Determined Rocklin novice team competes in CodeWars and places third
O
n March 6th, over 800 students competed in a programming competition that ended with awards, a raffle and plenty of prizes to celebrate programming and computer science education. The competition, CodeWars, is first and foremost a coding competition, but also a catalyst to bring together communities of students interested in computer science from all over the country and even the world, since they’ve hosted international competitions in locations from Barcelona to Hong Kong. Hewlett Packard has been hosting the coding competition since the late 90s, which has gradually expanded to Hewlett Packard Enterprises as a whole and is hosted in multiple locations around the world. This past year was a change from the usual in-person competition hosted at the offices. Historically, RHS students have competed at the HPE campus in Roseville with their teams, but this year the competition was moved online to accommodate for the public health restrictions put into place to slow the spread of COVID-19. At the beginning of this process, a team formed by RHS students Keith Barlett, Gowdham Murugan, and Chris Franco, who had met before and mutually agreed to work together. “A lot of people had already chosen teams because there were people who had done the coding competition from different years and all [three] of us just began,” said Franco. To prepare for the challenging competition, students formed
their teams and had been meeting on Saturdays for weeks beforehand in order to prepare. “It’s a time when all of us as a group can combine minds and solve problems. Obviously a lot of us can focus on our individual problems on our own free time, but it was those weekends where we could work on it as a team,” explained Franco. While they didn’t have anything to compare the competition to because of the modified format being their first year, the team feels like the virtual aspect caused them to struggle more with collaborating: “One big limitation was our communication and trying to get everyone on the same page when it came to solving problems and knowing who was doing which one,” expressed Murugan. They feel like if they were to compete again, they’d work more on their time management. “I think one of the things we all struggled with was pacing,” said Franco, “A lot of the problems we knew the solutions to instantly and there were others where we could think we knew the solution but hit a wall and spend way too much time on it.” The team has resolved that in the future they’re going to work more on sorting problems directly into accurate categories of what problems they can solve efficiently.
Written by Emily Broad, Editor-in-Chief
CYBERSECURITY COURSE OVERVIEW
Entry level CTE class offers college credit
C
ybersecurity is just one of the many unusual Career Technical Education (CTE) courses offered at Rocklin High School. While the course is essentially available to all students, though it’s recommended to have taken a middle school computer science course or Exploring Computer Science (ECS), it’s a dual enrollment course with Sierra College that offers the opportunity for even freshmen to get college credit. Completing the course gives students the opportunity to gain a CompTIA IT Fundamentals Plus certification, a pre-career computer science certification. On top of that, the class is also a starting point for students who may be interested in pursuing the IT Essentials course pathway or joining the more advanced Cybersecurity Club, which participates in CyberPatriot (an Air Force associated cyber defense competition) and National Cyber League (a highly advanced college-level competition). Mr. Paul Werner, an RHS computer science teacher, describes the class as “for students who are coming into Rocklin High School who are a little more advanced and looking for something challenging. Maybe they already had some computer science at the middle school level and they’re looking at doing more Python and physical computing, some cybersecurity. We definitely have some cybersecurity training and competition.” Additionally, Cybersecurity remains an entry-level course with no prerequisites, making it a great opportunity for beginners who want advanced computer science experience. However, students should keep in mind that it’s an advanced course with a more rigourous workload than ECS. The main goal of the class isn’t just learning about programming though, it’s more about having students really consider what they’re putting on the internet and teaching them how to reduce their digital footprint. Former Cybersecurity student and sophomore Sierra Janson expressed that: “The Cybersecurity class is a class that everybody should take… Reducing your digital footprint and making sure that you’re not putting something out there that could damage your future career, this is really important information I think everybody needs to know.” Janson strongly believes that all students should learn these skills to protect themselves and future generations as technology continues to grow and more and more information ends up online where we’re vulnerable to cyber attacks, “As we grow older and generations become more involved with technology, cybersecurity is becoming something essential that every young generation with access to the internet, or access to phones, should know.
Written by Emily Broad, Editor-in-Chief
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DISAPPOINTMENT IN
NEVERLAND CloverWorks Inc. significantly fails in delivering a second season to the beloved anime and manga The Promised Neverland
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n winter of 2019, Japanese animation studio CloverWorks Inc.’s The Promised Neverland was aired by Fuji TV. The anime, adapted from Kaiu Shirai’s manga of the same name, was met with high praise, with a user score of 8.36 on MyAnimeList.com, from over 791,000 users.
However, when Emma and Norman follow one child who was just adopted, they find out more about the world on the outside of the orphanage, and the grave fate of the children who get ‘adopted.’
For that reason, it may be surprising to find that The Promised Neverland’s season two only managed to score 5.73 on the same site after airing last winter.
“I ended up laughing in parts when the show was trying to be super serious”
Season one follows Emma, Norman, and Ray- 11-year-old orphans who live with many other children at an orphanage that is walled off from the rest of society, along with one caregiver. The premise of the show is that the children are either adopted or they are sent away from the orphanage when they turn 12.
During the 12 episodes of season one, the children plan and attempt to escape the orphanage’s walls to find freedom and safety while escaping the caregiver. At the same time, the characters must also prepare to defend themselves from the monsters in the outside world. Season one of the show does a lot of things right. The emotions of the children can be felt in every situation, and their fear shows even when they try to act happy. The mood created by the show really stresses you out since the children only have a limited amount of time to escape and if anyone misspeaks then the whole operation is over. The greatness of season one, though, only leads to further disappointment with season two. The end of the first season sets up for another ordeal in season two, though the plan and direction of the story seem non-existent. “I honestly just thought it was trash,” said junior Max Zollman. “I ended up laughing in parts when the show was trying to be super serious.”
One of the main problems with the show is in its difference to the original manga. The show seems to skip multiple arcs from the manga, and there is a year-long time skip. It was hard to understand the childrens’ physical and emotional growth when they got older in just one episode. Some characters were outright deleted, and many cliffhangers were resolved way too fast. The anime ended up straying from the manga, but the studio managed to cram at least 50 chapters into only 11 episodes. One student said, “I kind of thought the first season was overrated anyway, but you can see the dropoff [with season two].” These mistakes by the show are definitely magnified by how popular the first season was, but CloverWorks is to blame. CloverWorks tried to fill the season with the most exciting parts without any time for build up.
Written by Ryan Barbieri, Staff Reporter
Fujji TV Headquarters
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SHREDDING O
Rocklin High School sophomore, David Hilton kickflips down 5 stairs at the Oracle Rocklin Campus.
ON A BUDGET S
kateboarding is an activity that millions of men, women and children have all enjoyed and most of us are familiar with. The Skatepark Project, formerly known as the Tony Hawk Foundation, is a movement that builds skateparks in underserved communities. But how do people skate if they do not live near a skatepark? Many skaters have taken it upon themselves to build their own skatepark features in their own yards and garages. David Hilton is one of those skaters, and he spent a lot of time, money, and work to build his own features at home. “It was a lot of work,” Hilton said, “but for me it is worth the time and money spent because I don’t have my drivers license yet, but even when I get it, it will still be nice to have the features right at my house.” Hilton has been skateboarding seriously for over two years, but has been riding a skateboard throughout his childhood. Homemade obstacles are not the only way skaters have been able to create their own obstacles. Skateboarding has been divided into two main types of skaters, Vert skaters and Street skaters. Vert skaters are skateboarders who skate with half-pipes, bowls, ramps, and more. Vert skating was invented in 1976, because of a drought in California. All over the state, swimming pools were empty because of the drought, and skaters realized that they could take advantage of these empty swimming pools, and so Vert skating was born. The most famous Vert skater is a name that most people think of when they think of skateboarding: the legendary Tony Hawk. Hawk, otherwise known as Birdman, is one of the main reasons skateboarding is as popular as it is today. The other style of skateboarding is called Street skating, and is the most common because it does not require any sort of ramp or bowl. Street skateboarding utilizes any obstacle that can be skated including rails, ledges, benches, gaps, stair sets, and many more. Everywhere we look, there are objects that skaters can use to fuel their passion. In fact, some of the things you have can be turned into your own skatepark. For Hilton’s home skatepark, he said “I paid $20 for the rail, $50 for the kicker, the manny pad was free because I had plywood left over, and I have a ledge built into my house.” Although today skateboarding is everywhere, it was not a very popular pastime in the 80s and 90s. Skaters were considered unintelligent people who were dirty and loud, and many skaters were arrested or had their boards confiscated throughout this time period. Thirty years ago, skateboarding was very rarely able to be a career for skaters. Competitions were very scarce, and prize money was not enough to support them. This all changed in 2010 when Rob Dyrek founded Street League Skateboarding, a competitive series for professional skateboarders who could compete to win large sums of money. To this day, Nyjah Huston has by far the most titles with 19, and won the title of SLS World Champion three times in 2010, 2012, and 2014. Nyjah has a net worth of over $6 million dollars from his SLS prize money as well as sponsorships from Nike SB, Diamond Supply Co., Monster Energy, Mountain Dew, Doritos, and many more. Skateboarding has evolved in many ways over the years, but all it takes to start is a piece of wood with some wheels on it.
Photography, story and design by Noah Howard, Staff Reporter
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