Ram's Ear December 2022

RAM’S EAR

RIO VISTA HIGH SCHOOL

A New Year means holiday traditions for many

by Angie Lopez, Staff Writer

Everybody has different New Years traditions. Different cultures celebrate New Years differently and even on differ ent days. Here at RVHS we have a lot of students who celebrate New Years differ ently.

Latino traditions include wearing pink, red, or yellow underwear, and eat ing grapes. These colors signify what you want the coming year to bring you. Pink stands for happiness and joy. Red represents luck in love. Yellow is fortune and prosperity. Eating grapes is another tradition. Twelve grapes must be eaten in under 12 seconds making a wish for each grape to gain prosperity in the new year. The grapes are meant to insure prosperity. Celebrations include parties with family and friends. “We have a family house par ty and we just wait until New Years. We always make ponche and we hand make tamales and we play giant Jenga while we wait for midnight.” freshman Hilary Ibarra said. “My parents put beans and money in a plate with a candle and they light it so in the new year we have prosperity. I eat grapes,” junior Sherley Guerra said.

longevity banisters placed on doors, and lettuce as well. The lettuce is an offering to the lion. The lion “eats” the lettuce and then spits it out. Spitting the lettuce rep resents the lion spreading wealth, prosper ity, and good luck. Junior Leyun Liu cel ebrates Chinese New Years. “I get money through red envelopes and we wear red to signify good luck. We also have Fire crack ers and fireworks. We leave food out for our ancestors like Dia De Los Muertos but we give them 2 hours to eat and then we eat it.” she said.

In the U.S many traditions are held. Traditions such as the midnight kiss, champagne toast, dropping the ball, New Years resolutions, fireworks, and parties. The midnight kiss is meant to bring in good luck in the coming year. Resolutions are when a person promises to do some thing different within the New Year such as learning a new skill. However people also have their very own special traditions. “I go to the Rossi’s and make homemade rav iolis. We make handmade raviolis, pastas, and sauces,” teacher Julie Griffin said.

Whats your unique holiday tradition?

by Abram Zaragoza, Staff Writer

Holiday traditions are a wonderful way to celebrate the holidays with the fam ily, from building gingerbread houses, hav ing ugly sweater contests, or even singing Christmas carols, but have you ever won dered how the rest of the world celebrates the holidays? In Austria they celebrate the holidays nearly the same with the idea of Santa giving presents but instead of the kids on the naughty list receiving coal, they meet Krampus. Krampus is said to be the evil twin of Santa from hell to pun ish the little boys and girls on the naughty list, when Krampus visits their home it is said he bundles them up in a sack and carts them away as a midnight snack.

In Finland they have a cemetery tradition where they visit their buried rel atives at sunset on Christmas Eve. Many cemeteries and churches hold hymns and moments of reflection, while the family members light lanterns and candles on the graves of their loved ones. There is a spe cial section for those who have loved ones buried far away, so they can commemorate their family members as well. This tradi tion can be found all the way back to the 1920s, when people would put candles on the graves of World War 1 soldiers.

Although in Japan a lot of them don’t really celebrate christmas, they center the

holiday on KFC as a tradition. As a matter of fact, KFC is so popular in Japan during the holidays, that the fast food restaurant itself has told the people to place their hol iday order two months in advance. It first started back in 1974 when KFC bosses unveiled their first Christmas meal for the visiting foreigners who wanted something to resemble a holiday dinner. The locals also embraced it and 40 years later the tra dition still continues.

“We open red envelopes, and it’s just like Thanksgiving because we go to family member houses to light firecrackers, then afterwards we go and eat,” junior Leyun Liu said.

“I celebrate Christmas on the 24th, I like to decorate the tree with my mom,” junior Naj Asad said.

Lea Wellman has said that she just celebrates Christmas on 24th as well. When asked if she did anything for tradi tions “A tradition I have is to read a Bible verse,” senior Wellmann said.

How lovely to hear all of these great traditions they like to celebrate and as well with the different types of traditions other countries celebrate. What do you celebrate for the holidays? Do you have any tradi tions for the holidays?

Chinese New Years is celebrat ed on the 22nd of January. Traditional ly married couples give the children red envelopes. Red envelopes are meant to bring good luck in the new year. There are

New Years is all about celebrating the year to come and bringing luck. Differ ent cultures celebrate New Years different ly but they all share celebrating New Years with those they care about. Have a good New Years Rams.

What’s happening with Kanye West?

by John Peterson, Co Editor-in-Chief

What’s happening to Kanye West? Kanye has been labeled as antisemitic, meaning having prejudice againist Jewish people. Kanye has lost many of his brand deals, the most notable being Adidas. With all of these losses, Kanye has also lost his billionaire status. So what did Kanye say or do to lose all of this success?

Kanye recently appeared at Paris Fashion Week where he wore a piece with a slogan that people could potentially be seen as being associated with white supremacy, this slogan being “White Lives Matter.” He and a friend of his, Candace Owens, both wore matching shirts with this slogan. He claims that he wore this shirt because they do and he thought it would be funny if he wore it. “I wrote White Lives Matter on a shirt because they do, it’s the obvious thing,” Kanye said in an interview with Fox News. In the same week he made a series of antisemitic remarks. “...I’m going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE…I ac tually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew,” Kanye tweeted. Kanye has also made some controver sial comments about the death of George Floyd, where he talked about how he be lieves that fentanyl killed George Floyd. He also made some comments saying that the number one cause of death for black people in America is babies being abort ed. “The most dangerous place for black babies is their mother’s stomach,” Kanye stated in an interview with The Hollywood Fix. Kanye says that he realizes what he said but all he wants to do is spread love to everyone.

Many brands have dropped Kanye, some of these brands being Adidas, Gap, CAA, and Belenciaga. Arguably Kanye’s biggest loss was Yeezy, which was once valued at around $3.2 billion to $4.7 bil lion. Kanye’s net worth was about $1.8

billion at the first half of 2022 but has dropped to around $400 million due to all the companies dropping him.

Kanye got divorced from Kim Kar dashian in early 2021 after being married for about seven years and having four chil dren. Kim recently made a statement on the antisemitic comments that her ex-husband made. “Hate speech is never OK or ex cusable…I stand together with the Jewish community and call on the terrible violence and hateful rhetoric towards them to come to any immediate end,” her statement read.

With all the things that Kanye has said about Jewish people, George Floyd’s death, and abortion would you drop him too?

Image from: Google Images

Photo by: Angie Lopez

Junior Leyun Liu celebrates Chinese New Years

Christmas tree and chimney decorated for the holidays

Kanye West, the subject of recent controversy

Image from:

Get out your fuzzy blankets and cuddle up to a good holiday movie

by Aaron Avalos, Staff Writer

Do you ever feel like watching Christmas movies? Well you’re in luck because Christmas is just around the cor ner. There’s lots of movies that you can choose from. Some of the fan favorites are “The Grinch” and “Home Alone.”Ju niors Tessa Jelly, Emily Oglesby, Saman tha Lyon, John Peterson, and senior Lily Burch all watch Christmas movies during the holidays. After a long day lay down, turn on the TV, and maybe watch a Christ mas movie.

“The Grinch is my favorite because it’s literally an icon,” Jelly said. When get ting ready to watch she makes sure to get into her Grinch pajamas. What a fun way to watch The Grinch.

“I’ll turn on my Christmas tree, get a cup of coffee and some cookies,” Ogles by said. She’s always enjoyed watching it since she was little. The best part while watching is that she curls up into bed. If you want to enjoy the rest of the night, “The Grinch” is highly recommended, even if you don’t have anybody to watch it with.

“Home Alone” is another favor ite.“It’s a very good movie that never gets

that are completely opposite of each other. “I love princess movies,” Burch said. She gets into the Christmas spirit by making a nice cup of hot chocolate and getting cozy with her fuzzy blanket. These three mov ies are not only good but they are really unique.

For the holidays you should defi nitely watch a Christmas movie, especial ly if you have not already watched “The Grinch,” “Home Alone,” “Daddy’s Home 2,”or “The Princess Switch.” Don’t forget to stock up on your snacks, get cozy, and enjoy.

Calendar of Events December

December 1-3 - Boys Basketball Foresthill Tournament (JV & Varsity) (Away)TBA

December 5 - Booster Club (Wellness Center) 6:00 PM

December 6 - Boys Basketball @ Winters (Home) 5:30/7:00 PM

December 6 - Girls Basketball @ Winters (Away) 5:30/7:00 PM

December 7 - Boys Basketball Team Picture Day

December 7 - Coffee with RVHS (Wellness Center) 7:30 AM

December 8-10 - Girls Basketball Delta Tournament (Away) TBA

December 13 - Girls Basketball @ Cornerstone Christian (Antioch) (Away) 6:00 PM

December 13 - Boys Basketball @ Cornerstone Christian (Antioch) (Away) 4:30/7:30 PM

December 15 - Boys Basketball @ Delta (Home) 4:30/7:30 PM

December 15 - Girls Basketball @ Delta (Home) 6:00 PM

December 15 - Mini Day

December 16 - Mini Day

December 16-17 - Girls Basketball San Juan Tournament (Varsity) (Away) TBA

December 16-17 - Boy Basketball San Juan Tournament (Away) TBA

December 28-31 - Boys Basketball Waterford Tournament (Varsity) (Away) TBA

January

January 4 - Boys Basketball @ Delta (JV & Varsity) (Home) 4:30/7:30

January 4 - Girls Basketball @ Delta (Home) 6:00 PM

January 6 - Boys Basketball @ Golden Sierra (Away) 4:30/7:00 PM

January 6 - Girls Basketball @ Golden Sierra (Away) 3:00/6:00 PM

January 9 - Booster Club (Wellness Center) 6:00 PM

January 10 - Boys Basketball @ Esparto (Away) 4:30/7:30 PM

January 10 - Girls Basketball @ Esparto (Away) 4:30/7:30 PM

January 11 - Boys Soccer @ Highlands (Away) 6:00 PM

January 13 - Girls Basketball @ Vacaville Christan (away) 4:30/7:30

January 13 - Boys Basketball @ Vacaville Christian (away) 4:30/7:30

January 16 - Boys Soccer @ Delta (Home) 6:00 PM

January 16 - Girls Soccer @ Delta (Home) 4:00 PM

January 17- Boys Basketball @ Delta (Home) 4:30/7:30 PM

January 17 - Girls Basketball @ Delta (Home) 4:30/7:30 PM

January 18 - Boys Soccer @ Woodland Christian (Away) 6:00 PM

January 18 - Girls Soccer @ Woodland Christian (Away) 4:00 PM

January 20 - Boys Basketball@ San Juan (Home) 4:30/7:30 PM

January 20 - Girls Basketball@ San Juan (Home) 4:30/7:30 PM

January 23 - Boys Soccer @ Vacaville Christian (Home) 6:00 PM

January 23 - Girls Soccer @ Vacaville Christian (Home) 4:00 PM

January 24 - Boy Basketball@ Golden Sierra (Home) 4:30/7:30 PM

January 24 - Girls Basketball@ Golden Sierra (Home) 4:30/7:30 PM

January 25 - Boys Soccer @ Golden Sierra (Away) 6:00PM

January 25 - Girls Soccer @ Golden Sierra (Away) 4:00 PM

January 27 - Boys Basketball@ San Juan (Home) 4:30/7:30 PM

January 27 - Girls Basketball@ San Juan (Home) 4:30/7:30 PM

January 30 -Boys Soccer @ San Juan (Away) 6:00 PM

old,” Peterson said. He likes watching the robbers get hurt because it’s really funny.

“Daddy’s Home 2” is also a really funny Christmas movie. “My favorite part was when they were all together and happy at the end,” Lyon said.

Another comedy film is “The Prin cess Switch.” where two girls switch lives

Ear Staff

January 30 - Girls Soccer @ San Juan (Away) 4:00 PM

January 31 - Boys Basketball - Senior Night@ Delta (Home) 4:30/7:30 PM

History of the “Ho ho ho”

by Alyssa Lucot, Copy Editor

Everyone at some point in their life has heard of Santa Claus. Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicho las, Kris Kringle, or just Santa, is a beloved character who brings presents to kids be tween December 24 and December 25. The story of Santa Claus can be traced back all the way to the third century. Santa Claus is based on a monk named St. Nicholas. It is reported that he was born around 280 A.D in Patara, Turkey. St. Nicholas inherited wealth and it was said that he gave it away and traveled around the world to help poor and sick people. St. Nicholas had gained a big reputation and lots of fame. His sto ry spread all the way to northern Europe. People began associating St. Nicholas with fictional elves. St. Nicholas was brought to settlers in the Hudson River valley. New Yorkers began to come up with their own depictions of St. Nicholas. In 1823, Clem ent Clarke Moore wrote a poem about get ting a visit from Saint Nicholas in which he had a sleigh with eight reindeer. Thom as Nast, a cartoonist, used these depictions to draw him. Nast also suggested that St.

Nicholas lived at the North Pole.

Modern-day Santa Claus was shaped in 1931 by the “Coca-Cola Company” using an advertisement. An illustrator named Haddon Sundblom was the first to commission a painting of Santa Claus for Christmas adverts. The advertisement showed Santa delivering toys and enjoying a Coke. The company wanted to show a symbolic and realistic figure.

All around the world parents began to tell their kids about Santa Claus and that he would deliver them gifts using a sleigh flown by reindeer. Up until 1939, there were eight reindeer, then Rudolph came to the ninth. Santa’s famous catchphrase is, “Ho ho ho,” it means that Santa is filled with joy and is genuinely a holly jolly fel low.

Santa Claus is believed to have a naughty or nice list. To receive a gift from Santa you would have to be on his nice list. To get on his nice list you would have to be kind all year long. Now would be a good time to ask yourself, are you on the naughty or nice list?

Let the Christmas and holiday celebrations begin

Taylor Swift’s meet me at midnight

by Emily Oglesby, Staff Writer

by Celina Carpio, Staff Writer

Christmas is one of the most beautiful times of the year. This time of year many families get together and enjoy this beautiful holiday. There are so many Christmas activities to do with friends and family. Watching Christmas movies, bak ing cookies, and watching Christmas lights are a few things that most people do with their family around this time. Some fam ilies go above and beyond when decorat ing for Christmas. On the other hand many families don’t celebrate it. What do RVHS students have planned for Christmas?

“My christmas plans are to hang out with my family and eat food,” sophomore Guadalupe Valdenegro said. “This year the most exciting thing for Christmas is getting to play basketball. I was in Mexico last year so I didn’t get to play,” Valdenegro said. “The funniest gift I’ve received was a beanie with two little ears. I got it in a game of white elephant,” Valdenegro said.

“My Christmas plans are to go to my grandma’s house and celebrate with all of my family,” junior Brayan Rodriguez said. “My favorite thing about Christmas is getting to spend time with my family and Santa bringing me gifts,” Rodriguez said.

Santa Claus is a huge part of the Christmas spirit. He is really important to many kids and especially to Brayan Rodriguez. “The funniest gift I’ve ever received was coal in my stocking from Santa and his helpers,” Rodriguez said.

“My Christmas plans are to spend time with my family and eat like a pig,” sophomore Lupita Zavala said. “This year I am super excited to feed Santa cook ies and milk,” Zavala said. “My favorite thing about Christmas is opening presents. One time I got a toilet paper roll as a gift, that has got to be the funniest gift I’ve re ceived,” Zavala said.

“My Christmas plans are going to a family party and eating yummy food,” ju nior Emily Godinez said. “ I am super ex cited for Christmas this year because I get to spend it with my new baby sister,” Go dinez said. “A new tradition we are starting this year is all of my family getting match ing pjs,” Godinez said. RVHS students all seem to have amazing plans for Christmas. The rams ear staff wants to wish everyone an amazing winter break and happy holi days.

Her Loss or HIS loss?

by Carmen Arevalo, Staff Writer

Aubrey Drake Graham better known as Drake has been the best artist of our current day generation. Drake was born on October 24, 1986 in Toronto Cana da. Drake began his career as an actor on the show Degrassi. Drake first learned to rap through his fathers jail cell roommate who would teach Drake how to rap over the phone. Drake was then discovered by a very big rapper Lil Wayne who would go on to cosign drake to his record label Young Money Entertainment. Here Drake would begin to take over after dropping his first hit song “Over” in 2009. Drake would then go on to become one of the most influ ential artists ever.

Drake has released a total of 15 al bums all debuting at number 1. Drake has also received several awards. Overall, Drake has won 192 awards, including 4 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. He has won a record 29 awards from 81 nom inations at the Billboard Music Awards, including Artist of the Decade. Drake is also the most charted songs of any artist in history of Hot 100 at 232. Drake has just recently released his new collab album Her Loss with 21 savage. This album debuted at number 1 overtaking Taylor Swift’s al

bum Midnights. This album has been ex tremely successful and has received a lot of positive reviews. Here at Rio Vista High School that is not the case.

There have been many interesting things said about the Drake album by stu dents here at Rio Vista High. Trey Rhett was quoted as rating the Drake album a “6.5 out of 10”. Noah Bidou was quoted as saying, “ Old drake is way better than new drake.” Brayan Rodriguez said that he was extremely excited about the album and stayed up all night to listen to it and said that it came out at 10 although it didn’t come out at 10 and came out at 9. Sopho more Isaiah Holley was quoted saying that “the album was horrible and had one good song if that.”

It was very interesting hearing ev eryone’s different opinion of this Drake album. Although most reviews of this al bum from the students here have been neg ative, you can not take away from Drake’s amazing career he has had. Drake will go down in history as one of if not the greatest artist of all time. I’m curious to see what the reaction would be like to Drake’s next album.

On August 28, 2022 Taylor Swift re leased on her Instagram her new album she has been working on called “Midnights.” Taylor captioned the post “Midnights, the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life, will be out October 21. Meet me at midnight.” Since that post announcing the upcoming album Taylor had started a series on her Instagram called “Midnights Mayhem With Me” from the days September 20 - October 7 announcing the 13 track titles. “Lavender Haze,” “An ti-Hero,” “Snow On The Beach (feat. Lana Del Rey),” “You’re On Your Own , Kid,” “Midnight Rain,” “Question…?,” “Vig ilante Sh**,” “Bejeweled,” “Labrinth,” ‘’Karma,” “Sweet Nothing,” and “Mas termind.” After that she did a pre-order of four different vinyls. The moonstone blue edition, jade green edition, blood moon edition, and the mahogany edition. As well as making cd’s with the same editions of the vinyls.

All over Tik Tok, fans of Taylor have been making assumptions on how the new album will sound and what kind of vibe Taylor Swift will go for this time around. Mainly all of her fans thought the new al bum would be a mix of all her previous al bums. She has always had an unexpected way she goes for her albums from coun try, to pop, to alternative. So nobody really knew what to expect.

On Oct. 16, 2022, Taylor swift made another Instagram post that was a manifest planner with the events that were soon to be coming after the album was released. It consisted of a teaser trailer of a music vid eo during Thursday night football, the re lease of the album, as well as secret special surprise, and other music video releases. As well as this post she had been posting billboards all around the world that drop a small lyric of an unknown song.

Finally on Oct. 21, 2022 the album

“Midnights” was released. “I thought it was really good, I liked every song besides “Labrinth”,” senior Valerie de Flores said. “I didn’t know she was coming out with an album, but when I saw the cd’s at Target I bought it and now non-stop listen,” junior Sami Lyon said.

A couple hours after Taylor Swift re leased the album, she dropped the secret special surprise. It resulted in her drop ping the “3am Tracks.” There are a total of seven additional songs on this track. “The Great War,” “Bigger Than The Whole Sky,” “Paris,” “High Infidelity,” “Glitch,” “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve,” “Dear Reader.” “I thought this was even better. My favorite song on this one is “Great War”,” de Flores said.

Many students at RVHS loved the songs on this new album. “ “You’re On Your Own , Kid,” “Question…?,” and “Snow On The Beach (feat. Lana Del Rey)”,” senior Lilly Burch said. “My three favorite songs are “Question…?,” “Great War,” and “You’re On Your Own , Kid”,” de Flores said. “Right now my favorite songs are “Maroon,” “Karma,” and “Vigi lante Sh**”,” junior Melissa Delancy said.

On the target exclusive CD that had been released there was an extra song that can only be found on that cd. It is called “Hits Different.” The song is very good and some fans are upset about it only being on the target cd, but that has not stopped fans from trying to listen. On Nov. 1, 2022 Taylor Swift announced that she is going on tour ‘’The Eras Tour” which will in clude the past and present of her music ca reer. At first there were only 27 shows, then she added eight more shows, and finally she added even more shows. Now there are 52 shows total for this tour. Fans are really excited for Taylor Swift to go on tour again after her being gone for six years.

Photo by: Today

Photo by: Getty Images

Taylor Swift’s new album cover

Artist Taylor Swift and Drake

Photo by: Pixabay

New format for Career Fair is huge success

by Victoria Coronado, Copy Editor

Students are always wondering what their future is going to look like, mainly which career they’re planning to pursue. Some students already have an idea in mind, others still need time to think about it. RVHS held its first Career and College Day after three years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This day was made to help prepare the junior and senior students for college and the rest of their lives. A few of the students who attended were junior Hannah Patin, and seniors Daniela Roman and Kate Rossi.

Junior Hannah Patin is a student who wants to pursue wildlife biology. She found the fair as a nice way of looking at different career options for her future. The college booths helped her the most in get ting all of the information that she needs for her career. “I like how it’s easy to ac cess a lot of different info about different careers,” Patin said. One of the booths that helped her along with other students was the Delta College booth. A few other ca reer booths that caught her attention were social worker and marriage counselor. She never heard of these types of careers and wanted to know a little more about them. If given the chance, she would attend anoth er fair and get to know more about career paths.

Daniela Roman is a senior who at tended the event. “At first, I was kinda iffy about the fair, but I ended up liking it and

it was a good experience,” Roman said. Roman was thinking about having a ca reer in the athletic training field. The Delta Community College booth helped her the most in helping her look at different career paths. Other than the athletic field, she was interested in careers in cosmetology and social work. The opportunities and access to information from professionals helped her the most in looking for a career. Ro man would definitely go to another event similar to this one.

Kate Rossi is also a senior who went to the fair. “I liked it. I enjoyed the variety and the people I was able to talk to. Just being able to talk about other people’s experience was fun,” Rossi said. Rossi is interested in becoming a film writer, and the booths that gave her the most informa tion were the graphic design and the col lege booths. The Cal Poly College booth gave her more info on engineering. Other careers that caught her attention were ar chitecture, social work, and the education field. Rossi would recommend going to events like this to people who are looking into careers and college.

These students left the fair with more knowledge of their future than what they came in with. The Career Fair helped many students get a better idea on what they’re future will look like and what op portunities are out in the world.

Foundations in Education inspires students to explore teaching

by Aaron Ortega, Staff Writer

Foundations in Education is a class designed by Mrs. Johnson to inspire stu dents to become future educators. She hopes that this class will inspire more students to join the teaching profession someday. In her class, you will learn about leadership styles, classroom management styles, student belonging, the brain, and much more. Sophomore Chloe Goddard and freshman Gianna Rosen are students that are in the class and enjoy foundations in education. Mrs. Johnson doesn’t only teach this class, she has a second course where students will spend time each week as teacher assistants at Riverview middle school and D.H. White elementary school. You can learn so many skills by taking this class, especially for students who are inter ested in becoming educators in the future.

Mrs. Johnson has been teaching for 11 years now, and her education classes have been her favorite so far. Socratic sem inars are class discussions where students can share ideas and be listened to. “I think students have so much to say about educa tion, but rarely get the opportunity to share. My class is a place to celebrate what we love about school, but also critique the is sues we see students experience each day,” Johnson said. This is a great environment

to get your opinions across and to share your experiences.

Goddard likes to learn about different learning environments inside classrooms. She finds it fascinating learning about the human brain and how it develops overtime. Goddard recently went on a classroom ob servation trip to D.H White elementary school, where she observed classrooms in cluding the first graders. “They are so cute. Watching the classrooms is really fun, especially seeing how kids are learning,” Goddard said.

Rosen really likes Mrs. Johnson and how she makes the class comforting. She enjoys the group discussions and learning about the different teaching styles. When observing, she noticed, “The elementa ry school is a different learning environ ment than the high school and the middle school,” Rosen said.

Some of you probably wouldn’t end up in the teaching profession. Who knows you might be inspired to work with people in some way. If you are interested in be ing a TA for other schools, this is definitely the class for you. It will teach you and pre pare you. Keep foundations in education in mind as an option when you’re adding classes for this spring.

March and April BirthdaysDecember/January Birthdays

December 2

Colette Bellante

Kelan Metzler-Pell

December 3

Kekoa Ybanez

December 5

Yuliana Yanez December 6

Gracie Grenier December 7

Kooper Christianson December 8

Ava Hammaker December 9

Coby Roos December 12 John Peterson Maria Zavala Hernandez December 13

Beatrice Perez-Alvarado December 14

Rylee Fraser December 15

Roman Ibarra December 17

Emily Brien December 18

Isaiah Molina December 19

Brian Evans December 22

Trevan Summitt December 23

Victor Contreras Francisca Torres December 24

George Aguilar Perez December 25

Kiara Perkins December 26 Destiny Grayson

December 28

Victor Reyes Manzanillo

December 30

Meya McHenry

January 2

Daniel Diaz-Nunez

January 4

Leonel Segoviano Hernandez David Torrez Hernandez

January 6

Isaiah Holley

January 7

Erik De Tomasi

Vanessa Ibarra

January 10

Alan Gomez

January 14

Serenity Bell Laynie Selph

January 15

Salma Finlez Casas

January 18

Samiah Holley

January 21

Stephanie Fuller Emily Perez

Briana Shafer

January 22

Kyra Smith

January 25

Shenandoah Price

January 26

Mathias Maffei

January 28

Pablo Navarro Cazares

January 29

Manuel Abarca Delilah Dockery

January 31

Daniel Dockery Jr Julian Mena-Mejia Emily Romero

College of the month: Sonoma State

by Jaden Evans, Copy Editor

Sonoma State University is located in Sonoma California. Sonoma State Univer sity is just 55 miles outside of Rio Vista so it’s still close to home. Sonoma State University was founded in 1961 by Am brose R. Nichols Jr. Although the legisla tion establishing Sonoma State was signed in 1960, it didn’t open to students until fall of 1961. Sonoma State’s mascot is the sea wolf. Their mascot was later changed from the Cossacks to the Seawolves in 2002.

Sonoma State University has 46 ma jors to offer its students. The most popu lar majors being business management, biological and biomedical sciences, and social sciences. Sonoma State requires a 3.22 GPA to be selected for admission so you would need to be a B average student. Sonoma State has an 89.1 percent accep tance rate which gives students who apply a very good chance of getting in.

Sonoma State University is known for its beautiful surroundings and campus. It is also ranked number 1 in the Califor nia university system when it comes to

housing. Sonoma State has six residential villages on its campus. Beaujolais is the nicest village and costs around $13,296 per year. Verdot and Zinfandel are some of the more affordable villages and cost between $5,969 and $7,057 per year. SSU provides housing for over 3,100 students. SSU’s av erage housing price for first year students usually costs between $7,798 and $12,731 depending on which village you stay in. The longer you stay at SSU, the more the housing price varies.

How much will an esteemed univer sity such as this one cost? SSU’s yearly In-state tuition is $7,998. The yearly out of state tuition is $19,868. So if you live in California you should definitely take advantage of the cheaper tuition pric es.

Sonoma State is a very credible uni versity. It has affordable prices, a beautiful campus, a high acceptance rate, and it’s close to home. Sonoma State is definitely a university that you might want to consider applying to.

Juniors Alondra Garcia and Maria Madrigal enjoying career fair.

Photo by: Aaron Ortega

Cultural Christmas Traditions

by Stephanie Espinoza, Staff Writer

Christmas is just around the corner and so many students are excited. It is the time of the year when you get to be with your family, go to bed really late at night, watch a Christmas movie, open gifts, and eat traditional food. Many Rams have been asked about their families Christmas tradi tions like secret Santa or white elephant.

One ram that was questioned was sophomore Lisset Espinoza said, “My fam ily and I celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve and open presents when it hits mid night on Christmas,” Espinoza said. Many families would rather celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve so that the fun can last longer. She also mentioned that they also do secret Santa. Some traditional foods she said she makes for Christmas are tama les, pozole, and atole. She thinks that her Christmas this year is going to be good and fun. She also mentioned that she goes to sleep really late around three in the morn ing.

Another ram was asked the same questions sophomore Lesly Garcia, “We always go to Mexico and celebrate Christ mas. We go with my grandma and she always makes a big feast,” Garcia said. Some traditional foods her family makes are tamales and pozole. Most Mexican families have similar food such as tama les, pozole, and champurrado which is like hot chocolate. Her family has a really nice tradition.

Sophomore Carolina Mandujano said, “We always go to my grandma's house. She is always the one to cook,”

according to Mandujano. One way she gets ready for Christmas is by going to church. She likes singing ‘Jingle Bells' with her brother, junior Carlo Mandujano. The best gift she has ever gotten was when her brother gave her a Patrick Star toy. Some foods she makes is pozole and she also makes tamales, sometimes her family makes enchiladas. Her favorite thing about Christmas is spending time with her family and giving gifts to her friends and family. Christmas is a time to be together and have fun spreading cheer and to be with family and friends. Merry Christmas Rams!

Fall Athletes Honored at Sports Awards Night

-Junior Varsity VolleyballMikayla Harris - Biggest Leap Shalea Rett - MVP

-Varsity VolleyballMVP- Daniela Roman Guadalupe Valdenegro - Best Offensive Player Kiara Perkins - Best Defensive Player Sherley Guerra - The Hustle Award Kiara Perkins and Daniela Roman - All-League

All League 1st Team- Kiara Perkins and Daniela Roman Honorable Mention All League -Taryn Tyler and Destiny Lopez

-Junior Varsity FootballMost Outstanding Player- Nathan Frisbie Mr. Football- Emmett Medders Most IMproved- Roman Ibarra Most Outstanding Rookie- Salomasenekilieti Iosia

-Varsity FootballMost Oustanding- Tony Bellante Mr. Football Marco Carillo Most Outstanding Lineman- Michael Lorton Most Outstanding Defensive Player- Isiah Turner

All League- Tony Ballente, Marco Carillo, Mikey Lorton, Mat Bodle, Damien Castellanos, and Nathan Frisbie Honrable Mention Daniel Diaz, Angel Mendoza, Cesar Valentin, and Ian Vieira

Defensive League MVP- Isaiah Turner Co-League MVP- Tony Bellante

Recipe of the Month

Soft and Chewy Ginger Snaps

Servings: 30 cookies

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 10 mins

Chill time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 20 mins

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

• 1/4 cup molasses

• 1 large egg

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons baking soda

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• sugar for rolling

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, add the sugar, butter, molasses, and egg and beat on medium until light and fluffy.

2. Add in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and salt, Stir well with a spatula until fully combined.

3. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.

5. Pour approximately 1/2 cup of sugar into a small bpwl (for rolling).

6. Use a medium cookie scoop to shape the dough into approx. !” balls. Roll in sugar and place 12 per baking sheet onto your prepared.

7. Bake for 9-10 minutes or until set (they will puff up then flatten while bak ing).

8. Remove from oven and let stand on the cookie sheet for 1 minute before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

9. Enjoy!

Nutrition-

Serving: 1g | Calories: 111kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protien: 1g | Fat: 5g |

Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 18mg | Sodium: 156mg | Potassium: 55mg |

Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 150iu | Calcium: 10mg | Iron: 1mg

-Junior Varsity Cheer110%- Belle Teissiere Team Pride- Berenice Sandoval Most Dependable- Lea Wellmann Most Valuable Cheerleader- Kaity Creed

-Varsity Cheer110%- Emily Oglesby Team Pride- Berenice Sandoval Most Dependable- Lea Wellmann Most Valuable Cheerleader- Kaity Creed

-Cross CountryMost Dedicated- Bianca Lopez Most Heart- Brandon Leyba Most IMproved- Scott Lazo Most Valuable- Luke Fortes

All League- Sherley Guerra

Academic All League

Womens Cross Country- Sherley Guerra, Angelia Bauer Emmons, Alondra Garcia, Bianca Lopez, Samantha Lyon, Gabriela Ramirez Mens Cross Country- Luke Fortes, Scott Lazo, Brandon Leyba, Victor Reyes, Jose Torres, Jesse Zucha Football- George “Manuel” Aguilar, Antonio Bellante, Mathew Bodle, Mar co Carillo, Damien Castellinos, Daniel Diaz-Nuñez,Michael Lorton, Migue, Magaña, Cesar Valentin, Ian Vieira, Emmett Medders, Nathan Frisbie, Angel Mendoza Cheerleading- Celina Carpio, Kaity Creed, Bridget de Flores, Madison De Groot, Alondra Garcia, Emily Godinez, Adriana Hernandez, Samantha Lyon, Emily Oglesby, Berenice Sandoval, Daisy Surla, Lea Wellman

Volleyball- Destiny Lopez, Jordan McDonald, Kaylee Cheney, Taryn Tyler, Daniela Roman, Kiara Perkins, Karmen Zepeda, Sherley Guerra, Guadalupe Valdenegro

ARTIST OF THE MONTH

“She works quietly, but hard. I’ll be walking around the classroom and out of nowhere she’ll just have this amazing well constructed ceramic art piece. It’s been a real joy to watch.”

-Mr. Rivera

Mrs. Anderson’s

Maria Madrigal

photo by: sweet life bake

The hottest new game?

AP students prepare for block B

by Valerie Diaz Nunez, Staff Writer

Ghost is back in Call of Duty: Mod ern Warfare 2 thanks to the release of its remaster. He made his debut in the first season of Modern Warfare 2, and since then, he has become a fan favorite. As a result, many younger gamers haven’t had a chance to come to know Ghost since his return in the remaster. So let’s explore Ghost’s background and what has made him so recognizable.

Some of the greatest video games characters ever have been provided to FPS fans by Call of Duty. Captain Price and Soap Mactavish, two of the coolest char acters in any game, are thanks to “Modern Warfare”, while Viktor Resnov made such an impression on fans in the “World at War and Black Ops” plot that they includ ed him in many games released decades apart.

There’s always been one character players held close to their hearts though. Lieutenant Simon “Ghost” Riley is far and away, one of the best characters in gaming history. He’s the Boba Fett of the Call of Duty franchise.

Anyone who’s played any “Mod ern Warfare” remembers Ghost. Without saying much, he captivated each and ev ery COD player who put their “Modern Warfare” disc in their console from 2007 to the 2020s.

Ghost is a part of Task Force 141, alongside Sergeant “Soap” MacTavish, Colonel Alejandro Vargas, Sergeant Kyle “Gaz” Garrick, and the deadly Captain John Price. He’s been a part of both itera tions of “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” and has been a character skin in multiple

other Call of Duty titles.

Lieutenant Simon “Ghost” Riley is a British special forces operator, and a prominent member of Task Force 141, known for his iconic skull-patterned bala clava, headset, and dark red sunglass es. Ghost appears as a main character in “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2”, “Call of Duty: Online,” “Find Makarov: Oper ation Kingfish,” “Call of Duty: Heroes,” and “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered.” He also appears as a customization option in Call of Duty: Ghosts and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.

For those of you who haven’t played the original “Call of Duty: Modern War fare 2” (2009), you might want to avoid the next paragraphs, as spoilers await.

Ghost met his unfortunate demise in the 2009 edition of “Modern Warfare 2”, thanks to General Shepherd showing his true colors. Fortunately, there’s still a chance there could be future installments in the Modern Warfare franchise that’ll explore Ghost’s backstory. He’s a valu able character, and this Dot Esports writer doesn’t think they’d have the guts to kill him off again.

The COD Modern Warfare trilogy as a whole featured a fantastic story that made players genuinely adore characters like Ghost. And to witness such a bla tant betrayal of both the player character and his steadfast partner? That situation begs for a therapy session. However love emerges from the grief. Since he has a connection to the franchise and reputation as a good buddy, Ghost is adored by the public.

Celebrating Christmas

by Otto Vielhauer, Co Editor-in-Chief

Just before the start of a new block, Advanced Placement, or AP, students start their workload early for their courses. These classes are designed to prepare stu dents for college level courses. AP classes take more time, effort, and work than reg ular courses. These help students learn the skills they need to succeed in college. All this hard work also helps AP students in high school as AP classes provide a boost to students’ GPA. Getting an A in an AP class is worth 5 points for GPA instead of 4, and getting a B would be worth 4 points, just like getting an A in a regular course.

AP courses are run through the com pany College Board. There is an oppor tunity to earn college credit with an AP class. Students who feel confident in their skills in the subject can take the AP test for their course or courses. Doing well on the test will give you college credit for the course. This can help students get ahead in college. Getting college credit can also save students money in college because they won’t have to worry about buying course materials and textbooks for the classes that they already got credit for.

Due to the increased workload and more advanced material, AP courses often require more work on students’ own time. This means more weekend homework, like taking notes and reading books. This also includes summer and winter assign ments. Even though RVHS is on a block schedule, students may get an assign ment over breaks. This helps classes get through all the material during the year.

For example, students in AP Calculus and AP Language got their winter assignments just before Thanksgiving break. Another example is students in AP United States history, or APUSH, got summer assign ments last school year.

This extra work is a deterrent for some students, but others love to take on the extra challenge.

“I recommend it to anyone that wants to give it a try. I also recommend that they start with one or two a year and take the classes that come be fore the AP course. Teachers tend to be un derstanding with their break assignments. If you sit down for a bit I think you can knock them out in a few days if you want to enjoy the rest of your break,” junior Lisandra Figueroa said.

Sophomore Isaiah Holley is more skeptical about AP classes. “I’m not sure if it would be worth it for me. I think I could do it, but I’m not sure if it would benefit me,” Holley said.

Senior Kaleohano Tancayo is also taking some AP classes next block. “I feel ready for AP government and AP Calculus but I feel under pressure simply because it is an AP class. I’ll probably do part of the assignments the first day of break and then scramble to complete them the last week of the block,” Tancayo said.

AP classes may be a great way to get ahead for college, but others may not see it fit. As class registration gets closer, con sider taking some AP courses next school year.

With Christmas just around the cor ner, there are many different Christmas celebrations from different religions to learn about. Some of the most common Christmas activities include decorating trees, giving gifts and building ginger bread houses. Although, there are many other people that don’t celebrate Christ mas at all.

Christians and Catholics are the two most common religions to celebrate Christmas. They have very similar tra ditions during the holiday. Many Chris tians and Catholics go to church either on Christmas day or Christmas Eve. “The religions both set up the scene of Jesus’s birth and wait until midnight for baby Je sus to be born,” freshman Alondra Rivera said.

There are also other religions that actually do not celebrate Christmas. One example is Jewish people, they do be lieve Christmas is the day of Jesus’s birth but do not see it as a holiday. Though the birth and death of Jesus are very important days to the Jewish. Instead, Jewish people

have

On the other hand, Ismailis celebrate Christmas on the 13th of December. They put on their fanciest clothing and put on a variety of shoes that include dancing. They also make a variety of foods like biriyani, cake, chai, and they drink sharbat.

There are religions that have very similar holidays to Christmas but are not exactly Christmas. The Hindus hold a five long holiday called Diwali. They deco rate with festive lights and bright holiday clothing similar to Christmas. They also give different gifts and pass out sweets.

Each religion celebrates in their own way, maybe you don’t have a religion but still celebrate in the same ways. Either way, happy holidays and enjoy your break.

a holiday called Hanukkah. This year it starts Sunday, December 18 and ends on Monday, December 26. “[Hanukkah] Commemorates the rededication during the second century B.C. of the Second Temple in Jerusalem,” according to His tory.com.

by Hilary Ibarra-Lopez, Staff Writer

Photo by: Jaden Evans

Photo Provided by: Google Imges

AP Stats Teacher Mr. Mancebo

Photo Provided by: Google Images

Graphic by: Sherley Guerra

Swimmers looking forward to successful season

by Sami Lyon, Staff Writer

Have you ever thought about do ing swim? The swim season lasts from the beginning of February to mid April. As of right now, the swim team does not have a coach. According to the coaches last year, the captains this season are junior Sami Lyon as the girls captain and junior John Peterson as the boys captain. Last year, some of the swimmers made it to sections. John Peterson and the girls relay team con sisting of graduate Sophia Saldana, senior Valerie deFlores, junior Tessa Jelly, sopho more Faith Jelly and with their alternates, sophomore Chloe Goddard and sophomore Angelina Emmons made it to sections.

Swimming is a very fun and laid back sport. To be a swimmer you will need a pair of goggles, a swim cap, and a swimming suit. The team is normally pret ty small so if you are interested in swim ming, you should sign up when sign ups go out. The swim season is always full of fun memories. “My favorite swim memory is the team dinners,” Chloe Goddard said. “My favorite swim memory is doing a two man relay with Fisher Lyon,” John Peter

son said.

Many RVHS swimmers, swim for Rio Sharks, which is a recreational swim team that swims in the summer. Most of our swimmers are swimming from Febru ary all the way into the end of July. One of the swimmers that does Rio Vista Sharks swim that is excited for the high school season is freshman Brooklynn Saldana. She has been swimming for nine years. Her favorite thing to swim is 50 yards of breast stroke. “I like to do the pull down and I get to breathe every stroke,” Saldana said. Her favorite memory is cheering on the little kid relays because she also happens to be a junior coach for the Rio Vista Sharks.

For some of the swimmers, their goals are to be a better teammate, improve their times, and to make it to sections. For others there are different goals. “My goal this season is to not have my shoulder pop out while I’m swimming,” Tessa Jelly said. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen this season. Good luck to all the swimmers on their journey to sections.

Boys basketball hoping for playoff spot

Basketball is here, time to bounce into the new season. There are both JV and varsity teams for the boys. The JV head coach is Mr. Higgs and the varsity head coach is Mr. Baldwin as well as the assis tant coaches are Braeden McCann and Mr. Higgs.

Tryouts for both teams took place on October 31, to November 1, 2022, and the boys’ practices started Nov. 2. The JV team last year made it to the playoffs and won the championship. Varsity sadly did not, but this year they are hoping to work harder to make it to the playoffs. Varsity sophomore Isaiah Holley says his goal for this season is, “To have a positive re cord, and make it to the playoffs this year.”

Hopefully the varsity team will improve from last year with their not so great sea son, it’s already starting to look up with all the new players.

The JV team last year had a bet ter season than varsity with making it to

championships and winning it. Lots of players who played on the JV team last year are moving up to varsity this year. “I hope all the new varsity players help out the team this year and we have a better sea son than last year,” John Peterson, a junior, returning to varsity said. “I’m excited for my last year in this organization and hope we make the playoffs this year and have a decent record compared to last year,” re turning varsity player senior Noah Bidou said.

All the varsity players are really excited for this season and ready to turn it around from last season. “I hope this year we have a better record and get a chance at the playoffs,” junior Trey Rhett says. “JV was pretty easy because all the teams weren’t that good but I’m excited to play varsity this year,”sophomore Ivan Jelly says. Good luck to both JV and varsity basketball players this year, let’s hope they both have great seasons.

Athletes of the Month

Roman Girls Soccer

Bryan Gutierrez Boys Soccer

“Bryan has had consistent effort. He’s always showing up to practices and goes through every drill with in tensity which shows he’s the type of person to lead by example. He’s doing all the right things to give himself the chance to have another stand out sea son.”

-Coach Ornelas

Daniela

“Ivan has really improved since last season. His performance in prac tice is a testament to the hard work he put in over the off season. We believe Ivan will be an important piece in our basketball program this year.”

-Coach Baldwin

Ivan Jelly JV Boys Basketball

“Dany has been constantly sup porting the team by helping all new players feel welcomed and supported. She’s always so positive and ready to help the team either by recommending drills or constant encouragement. Not only does she help with skill develop ment but she keeps practice fun with her jokes and pranks.”

-Coach Roman

“This is JP’s first year playing basketball at RVHS. Even though he is new, he has quickly become our leader during practice. His energy and attitude have been great additions to our bas ketball program.”

-Coach Baldwin

JP Carlson

Varsity Boys Basketball

Kaleo Ybanez

by Lilly

Staff Writer

Wrestling

Tessa Jelly, Valerie de Flores, Sophia Saldana and Faith Jelly made up Lady Rams relay team winning both the medley and free relay events at the 2022 league championships.

Photo by: Donny Roos