February 18, 2020
VOL. MMXX, No. 1
RAM’S EAR R I O V I S TA H I G H S C H O O L
Meet “Dep”, the foreign exchange student from Thailand sharing their feelings than they are in Thailand. In addition to towns, schools too are different here. “Here, you have more independence. Here, you can pick classes. In Thailand, you cannot pick,” Dep explains. Dep’s favorite class he has taken so far this year is psychology. He also participated on the wrestling team, but due to an injury, he had to sit out for the rest of the season. Some things Dep enjoys doing in his free time include playing the piano, watching TV, and hanging out with his friends. He is a big fan of rock music and his favorite food here is hot dogs. This isn’t Dep’s first time traveling. Before coming to the United States, Dep had also been to Hong Kong, China and Laos. However, he says, “This year is a big thing that I came here because it’s so far.” Throughout his time here, he has traveled
Photo by: William Lindsay
Ag mechanics team shows off skill at competition
Dep at his new school, enjoying his time in America.
Punyawat Prommanee, better known here as “Dep”, is one of our foreign exchange students currently here at Rio Vista High School. All the way from Bangkok, Thailand, Dep traveled across the Pacific and arrived in California in August of 2019. He will be here for the rest of the school year until he leaves in June. Dep is being hosted by Ben McFarlane and his family.
Dep was born in Bangkok, Thailand’s capital, which dwarfs Rio Vista’s population by the millions. He says life is very different here in the states compared to his life in Thailand. “Here, I have more freedom. I can do anything,” he says, “and I can go and hang out at my friend’s house because in Thailand, the houses are so far from each other.” He has also noticed that people here are much more comfortable
Teachers travel the states by Madison Myer, Staff Writer
Throughout the three week winter break, many people traveled while others took the time to rest up between semesters. For some, this was exactly the recovery they needed to get out of the monotony of classes. Seniors were getting ready to enter their final, and hopefully easiest, block of high school and underclassmen were relishing in yet another winter break. However, students were not the only ones that enjoyed the break; teachers were relaxing too. Some went on a tropical vacation, while others traveled to the desert states. Mrs. Griffin took a quick trip to a small town outside of Dallas, Texas to visit her oldest daughter. She was there for only four days, although she wished it was longer. The best part of the trip was seeing where her daughter lives and meeting her “granddog,” Traeger. When asked if the trip went as expected, Mrs. Griffin responded, “I experienced every season of weather in four days: warm and humid, torrential rain, lightning and thunder, snow, and bright and sunny.” Despite the crazy weather, she had an amazing visit with her daughter. Mr. Porter spent a week of his break in Bakersfield visiting family before taking flight to Hawaii for a week. While in Hawaii he had numerous exciting moments.
According to him, the best part of his vacation was watching the fireworks on New Year’s Eve on the beach. It seems as though Mr. Porter had an exciting break. However, there was an interesting twist to the end of his trip. When asked if the trip went as expected, he responded, “Not necessarily, seeing as I broke my ankle in Hawaii on the second to last day, but besides that it was a good trip.” Unfortunately, the unexpected “break” extended his break, seeing as he will be out and unable to teach for a few weeks. Over the three week vacation, Vice Principal Mrs. Cronin traveled to Arizona and Monterey. Her family traveled to Arizona for a week for her son’s team roping. She was surprised to see that it was much colder than expected in the infamously hot state. According to Mrs. Cronin, “The best part of the trip was seeing the Grand Canyon with snow.” She visited Monterey solely for the ocean for a couple days. Unfortunately, it was high-tide during her stay but she thoroughly enjoyed the seafood. Despite some of the unexpected events, all of the teachers had an amazing break. They enjoyed a much needed relaxation period before starting the last block. Everyone is now ready to finish out yet another successful school year.
Photo courtesy of Ms. Bartlett.
by William Lindsay, Staff Writer
with his host family to San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, Utah, and even Hawaii. Dep plans on going to college in Thailand where he hopes to major in a science. He says he isn’t sure what he wants to do for a career, but he would like to do something related to math or science. He doesn’t plan on returning to the US for a career, but he wishes to come back and visit someday. Dep says that even though it can be hard sometimes, he has loved his experience here in Rio Vista. When he was asked what made him want to become an exchange student, he said, “I think it would be a great experience for my life. I can change myself a lot, be more responsible for everything. And I want to practice my English skills and I want to try and live on my own, like, without family and friends.”
Ag mechanics competition team in the shop at CSU Chico. From left to right: Anthony Miramontes, Lexie Steinbrook, Jenna Holden, Ms. Bartlett, Logan Reynolds, Bryan Salles, and Karson Christianson
by Wyatt Hagan, Staff Writer
Last December, the Ag Mech I class competed in a welding competition. They travelled to CSU Chico to compete against over 50 students from all over Northern California. The students Ms. Bartlett took with her to compete were Lexie Steinbrook, Jenna Holden, Karson Christianson, Bryan Salles, Anthony Miramontes, and Logan Reynolds. Out of all the schools that competed, the Ag Mechanics team got 4th overall. Ms. Bartlett said the students did well on tool ID, problem solving, soldering, and PVC pipe assembly. She also said, however, that they could improve on electrical work, electric engines, and stick welding. There are no competitions coming up for the Ag Mechanics class until next fall. Ms. Bartlett also has big plans for this year’s Advanced Ag Mechanics class. Advanced Ag Mechanics consists of students from Ag Mech II, III and IV classes. Her plans are to help the students create an in-depth knowledge on mechanics when it comes to the industry, and she plans to bring the industry to the classroom. Her goals are to make her students work force
ready and to give her students hands-on skills. Some of the projects she has planned for the Advanced Ag Mechanics class are to make a concrete slab for an animal wash rack, some metal roses to help fundraise for FFA, barbeque pits, a few personal projects for the students, and lots of shop improvements. When asked if she was excited for this year’s class, she said, “Yes!” The students are also excited for this year’s Ag Mechanics class. Ag Mech III student Chris Nunes has big expectations for the class. His plans for the class are to get into the shop, learn how to do mechanics activities, and to do hands-on building projects. When asked what his first impressions of Ms. Bartlett are, since this is her first year being a teacher, he said, “she is really chill and she knows what she is doing.” Chris is very excited for this class, he knows it will be challenging, but still, it’ll be very fun. As you can see, Ms. Bartlett has many expectations to live up to, and she sure has met them. Last block was great for the Ag Mechanics, and the class will continue to grow in 2020.
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February 18, 2020
RAM’S EAR
CURRENT EVENTS of School Events Calendar
EDITORIAL
Has the use of drones MARCH legalized murder?
by, Lane Eggers, Co-Editor
Technically speaking, the first form of drones were used by Austria in the form of pilotless hot-air balloons, in order to bomb Venice in the 19th century. However, many years, and countless lives later, drones have greatly evolved, especially in terms of the United States’ use of the technology, and the question must be asked: Is the current United States’ drone program ethical? This question can simply be answered by saying no. What now must be asked is: When does the United States’ drone program begin pushing the limits of legality? This is a question that, sadly enough, is difficult to answer. Following the US airstrikes in Iran in January, the use of drone warfare has once again become a largely debated issue. The recent strikes once again raised questions among the public regarding the ethics and legal parameters of the way the country conducts drone attacks. While it is important to look into these issues, it is equally important to first understand the history of the country’s drone program, as well as its evolution. In 1917, the first pilotless plane, the Ruston Proctor Aerial Target, would be used in a kamikaze-like fashion, and would be flown into targets, ultimately exploding. Later on, in 1943, the Germans had invented the “Fritz X,” a remote controlled bomb that could be flown into targets. However, as innovation continued, a man by the name Abraham E. Karem would eventually change drone technology forever. In the 1980s, the CIA and Pentagon began to invest interest and resources into an unmanned aircraft program, and by the 1990s, they had their eyes on the “Amber” drone. After years of research and $40 million later, the groups would recruit Karem who would make the Amber drone silent. This was the birth of the most feared drone in the history of mankind. This was the birth of the Predator. With its 27 foot long body, 55 foot wingspan, and ability to carry two AGM114 Hellfire missiles (a nearly 100 pound missile capable of destroying any known tank), the Predator would strike fear into anyone, and it does. In 2002, this drone forever made its impact on United States’ warfare, and the view people have on it. After being able to successfully find Osama Bin Laden in September of 2000, the US Central Intelligence Agency decided to move away from the drone’s primary use being for spying. Following the attacks of September 11, the CIA decided to send its now armed drones into Afghanistan. These drones fired dozens of Hellfire missiles and gained great support from not only the military, but also President George W. Bush. In February of 2002, the Predator Drone
would complete its first target killing of three men. The modern use of the Predator drone had made its debut and, after years of practice, the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency had become masters of silently killing people and pillaging property. The United States government claims that the country has killed roughly 2,160 Islamic militants and 67 civilians with drone strikes. At over 2,000 deaths, can the government really verify that? No, they simply cannot. This is where it becomes clear that the United States routinely violates international law. The Geneva Conventions of 1949, which decided the legal protections of people during war, is something that the US has given itself the power to interpret as they please. Presidents Bush, Obama, Trump, and countless others before them have decided to bend the rules of this agreement as it suits them. Perhaps no US program has more greatly ignored the agreement than the drone program. In Article 50 of Additional Protocol One from the Geneva Conventions of 1949 it is stated that, in any case of doubt, a person must be treated as a civilian. Conveniently enough, when you’re a U.S. president, the rules don’t apply to the vicious use of the Predator Drone. Truth be told, which it most likely never will be, we don’t know how many of those thousands of “militants” were civilians. Flashforward to January 3, 2020. I’m sure just about everyone saw the headline reading something along the lines of “US Drone Strike Kills Top Iranian Military Leader.” This event was surprising, but nothing new to the murderous practices of the United States’ Drone Program. The people have found comfort in the fact that the eliminated target in Iran, Soleimani, was an “evil man.” I say to them that this information should not bring comfort at all. The death of one bad leader will not make up for all of the death and destruction onset by United States’ drones. We must investigate and we must stop our leaders from further abuse of this technology whether they are a Republican, or a Democrat. I firmly believe that caring about your country involves, more than anything, a person expressing their distaste for what their nation has done. If we know war crimes were committed, it doesn’t seem to me to be radical or anti-American to investigate. It is time that people stop being torn between right and wrong when the United States’ use of drone warfare is so clearly the latter. The Predator Drone is nothing more than a killing machine used to assert dominance and it is far past time that its use was outlawed.
March 2 - Winter Sports Awards March 2 - Softball vs Natomas (JV & VAR) 2/3:30 p.m. March 3 - Baseball vs Delta Charter (VAR) 3:30 p.m. March 4 - Baseball @ Dixion (JV & VAR) 3:30 p.m. March 4 - Softball @ Millenium (VAR) 4:00 p.m. March 5 - Golf vs Highlands (home) 3:30 p.m. March 5 - Baseball @ Fairfield (JV) 3:30 p.m. March 6-7 - Softball @ Rio Linda Tournament TBA March 7 - Baseball @ Galt (JV & VAR) 11:00 a.m. March 9 - Baseball @ Edison (JV) 4:00 p.m. March 10 - Softball @ St. Helena (VAR) 6:00 p.m. March 10 - Baseball vs Kennedy (JV) @ Raley Field TBA March 11 - Softball vs Dixon (home) March 12 - Baseball vs Fairfield (JV) (home) 4:00 p.m. March 12 - Golf @ Vacaville 3:30 p.m. March 12 - Swimming SDL Center Meet #1 @ Highlands March 13-14 - Softball Tournament @ Linden (JV & VAR) TBA March 18 - Softball @ Vacavillle (VAR) 4:00 p.m. March 19 - Golf vs Linden (home) 3:30 p.m. March 19 - Swimming SDL Center Meet #2 @ home March 20 - Softball vs Vacaville (VAR) (home) 4:00 p.m March 20 - Baseball vs Vacaville Christian March 21 - Baseball @ Durham (JV & VAR) 10:00 am March 23 - Baseball @ Millenium (JV) 4:00 p.m March 23 - Golf SDL Tournament #1 12:00 p.m. March 25 - Softball vs Golden Sierra (VAR) (home) 4:00 p.m. March 25 - Baseball vs Golden Sierra (home) March 26 - Swimming SDL Center Meet #3 @ Linden March 26 - Baseball vs Millenium (JV) (home) 4:00 p.m March 26 - Golf @ Highlands 3:30 p.m March 27 - Softball @ Golden Sierra (VAR) 4:00 p.m. March 27 - Baseball @ Golden Sierra 4:00 p.m. March 27 - Baseball vs Millenium (JV) 4:00 p.m.
APRIL
April 1 - Baseball vs Linden (home) (JV) 4:00 p.m. April 1 - Softball vs Linden (home) (VAR) 4:00 p.m. April 2 - Golf vs Vacaville (home) 4:00 p.m. April 2 - Swimming SDL Center Meet #4 @ Highlands April 3 - Baseball @ Linden (JV) 4:00 p.m. April 3 - Softball @ Linden (VAR) 4:00 p.m. April 4 - Baseball vs Winters (JV) 11:00 a.m. April 16 - Baseball @ Winters (JV) 4:00 p.m. April 18 - Softball @ Wood (JV & VAR) 1:00 p.m. April 22 - Baseball @ Highlands (VAR) 4:00 p.m. April 22 - Softball @ Highlands (VAR) 4:00 p.m. April 24 - Baseball vs Highlands (home) (VAR) 4:00 p.m. April 24 - Softball vs Highlands (VAR) 4:00 p.m. April 25 - Swimming SDL League Champoinships @ home April 27 - Baseball vs Bradshaw (home) (JV) 4:00 p.m. April 27 - Golf SDL Tournament #2 12:00 p.m.
RAM’S EAR
Published by Rio Vista High School, Digital Publications Class 410 South Fourth Street | Rio Vista, California 94571 (707)374-6336 ext. 1224 email: rvhsramsear@gmail.com Printed by School Paper Express, Wappingers Falls, New York Letters to the Editor: To be published, letters must have the author’s name, address, and telephone number.
Co-Editors Pete Rossi and Lane Eggers Associate Editors Jaqueline Leal-Carrillo and Jorie Forbes Adviser Julie Griffin Ram’s Ear Staff Bailey Adgate, Jared Beechler, Briseida Flores-Garcia, Joseph Flynn-McGahey, Wyatt Hagan, Kaylee Kitchens, William Lindsay, Deanelly Martinez, Ethan Medders, Madison Myer, Kaitlyn O’Connor, Zachary Peters, Carson Quintana, Roberto Rivera-Calvo, Elicia Rodriguez, Megan Ross, Sydney Saldana, Benjamin Sisneros, Jason Spearman, Alex Tejeda, and Aidan Walker
Alysson Alvarado 707.718.1784 senesite.senegence.com/AlyssonAlvarado
February 18, 2020
Page 3
RAM’S EAR
Photo by: Megan Ross
Ariel Carter and Isabel Flores making a custard for the booster club dessert.
Cullinary cooks wonders Fire continues to rage for Booster Club across the Austrailan Bush by Pete Rossi, Co-Editor
Since September there have been fires raging all across Australia. These fires have become an annual problem starting in the last couple of decades with the severity becoming worse and worse as time goes on. This fire season has been one of the worst in recorded history, there have been an estimated 10 million hectares, which is the most an Australian bushfire has ever burned and over 160 times what the recent “Camp Fire” in California burned. More than 3,000 homes have been destroyed since the start of the bushfire season and an estimated one billion animals have died. These fires are part of a bigger problem: global climate change. In the recent few years, Australia has gone through a drought. This drought has made the condition of the environment worse. The Australian climate has also been much warmer than normal, with 2019 being the hottest year in recorded history. It was on average 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than what’s usual. The plants and ground were more dry making fires more probable and easy to start and spread. The cause of the fires starting are mostly unknown because it's usually natural. The most common cause is lightning hitting dry forests. Once a fire starts, it is hard to stop, as it can spread up to 14 miles an hour over dry grass. Many small fires can also coalesce
by Megan Ross, Staff Writer
into large blazes, intensifying the problem. Fortunately, the worst of the fires were in late December and early January but the fires are still raging on. The people of Australia are valiantly fighting the fires, and it has taken a lot of effort from them. Since the start of the fires, over 3,700 firefighters have participated in trying to put out the fires. When the fires were at their peak, there were over 2,700 firefighters on the scene. Firefighters also have different tools to help them fight the fires. The firefighters use many fire trucks that are filled with water to supply the hoses used. It is estimated that the fire service has had at least 750 vehicles on the ground on a given day. The firefighters also rely on the use of different aircrafts, like helicopters to drench the fire. Many organizations have also joined the help with the fire relief effort. Some of these organizations include the Australian Red Cross Disaster Recovery and Relief and the Salvation Army Disaster Appeal. The bulk of these fires may have passed, but they are not over. There are still firefighters, service members, and many volunteers who are helping the cause. Thanks to all these hard-working people and donations from people all over the world, Australia still stands a chance against the problem of climate change.
Every year, Rio Vista High School’s culinary class cooks for the Booster Club’s annual dinner dance. The Booster Club helps fund the academics, athletics, and the arts for the school with events such as the dinner dance. For the past 10 years, Mrs. Montgomery’s culinary class has helped cater for this fundraiser. This year’s class consists of every level of culinary students, bringing many different skills and experiences in the kitchen. There is just one obstacle in the way; school had only been in session for two weeks when the dinner dance took place. This means that the class was kicked into hyperdrive, forcing the student to learn harder and more complex techniques in just days. Mrs. Montgomery stated, “we hit the ground running,” and that she wishes they had more time. She is glad that her students would be able to learn quickly and she has the utmost confidence in them. This year, the students made key lime pie and chocolate caramel macchiato cheesecake for dessert. Both these recipes required a wide set of skills that the students learned within a matter of weeks. “I’m excited for learning the techniques we are going to be using. I’m nervous for cooking for others but Mrs. Montgomery helps by showing us how to do it,” expresses Amy Henning, the only sophomore in the class. The students had to produce
dishes that were restaurant quality, placing high expectations among their shoulders. In the end, everyone was in love with the desserts. Later in the year, the culinary class will have to face another very large task. They will be in charge of a tradition that has been going on for 16 years; cooking for five different themed restaurants for five weeks. These restaurants are put on for the staff to be able to have a different and interesting lunch food without having to leave campus. This is always a fun and educational time for the students. Kimberly Broughton, a culinary three student says “I think my favorite part is just learning the new food to cook and the new foriegn recipes.” These restaurants are always something that the staff looks forward too but Mrs. Montgomery refuses to divulge which type of restaurants are planned for this year. There has been hints, however, that there might be a restaurant based around our very own Justine Simonis, the foreign exchange student from Belgium. A favorite among the faculty is the Thai restaurant, but Mrs. Turk is looking forward to the Mexican restaurant herself. The culinary class has their hands full with events along with their everyday learning and cooking. But with hard work, it will be a piece of cake.
Animals arrive as S Club helps victims of May Fair approaches sex trafficking
by Alex Tejeda, Staff Writer
Right before Christmas, the S Club teamed up with Angel Aguilar and Jamie Summerall-Alton from the Women’s Shelter of Solano County, which is located in Fairfield, to create a drive where people around town and around campus could donate items to the victims of sex trafficking that are currently at the Shelter in Fairfield. The drive was also helped put together by the Soroptimist club in Rio Vista. The drive took place in November. The goal was to get as many items possible from the whole community in order to help the victims, where many of them show up with only the clothes that they have on their backs and nothing else. This was the first year anything like this has been organized by any club here at Rio Vista High. “It felt good knowing that I was one of the people who helped give to the girls who have gone through so much that they shouldn’t have had to experience. I like knowing that I helped make a difference by helping them (the Women’s Shelter of Solano County) out with the drive,” expressed Senior, Lizbeth Antunez. The victims of these acts sometimes feel alone and no one is there when they need
it the most, that is why small things like simply donating a couple of items such as women care products, deodorant, toothpaste, a toothbrush, the list can go on and on, goes out a tremendous amount. As mentioned before, these girls do not have many belongings with them when they come in and the shelter doesn’t have the resources to provide for every single one of them. That was why club president, Megan Ross, wanted to team up with this special organization to help them in any shape they could. Being that this is the first time something like this has been done, the S Club did not receive as many donations as they were hoping to receive. Most of the donations came directly from the Soroptomist and S Club members. They are hoping that by the next time an event like this takes place, that there is more exposure to the issue in order to bring in more attention and more donations. Even though the success of last year’s drive was not as high as they were hoping, the S Club is expecting future drives to be far more exposed and well donated.
by Joey Flynn-McGahey, Staff Writer
FFA’s grind for May Fair started in late November and early December with the three kids who got steers: Carson Spradling, Lane Eggers, and Myra De La Torre. Things are just getting into full swing with the arrival of the six swine on January 16th. There are 12 goats, eight rabbits, and six lambs that came in the following weeks. This year, there are a total of 31 students representing Rio Vista FFA at the Dixon May Fair. The six kids showing swine this year are: Joseph Flynn-McGahey, Kamren Robles, Jacob Rivera Calvo, Aidan Walker, Antonio Bellante, and Jeremy Turner. The 12 students who are showing goats this year are: Aidan Frisbie, Cody Fuller, Stephanie Fuller, Roberto Rivera Calvo, Jorie Forbes, Sophia Gans, Punyawat Prommanee, Ben McFarlane, Meraiah Groves, Kian Tobin, Korbin Schneider, and Jessica Mingay. The eight students showing rabbits this year are: Drew Mackey, Dawna Coad, Ashlee Weller, Breona Hoff, Wyatt Hagan, Melissa Torres Camacho, Per Andersson,
and Meraiah Groves. Finally, the six students that are taking lambs to May Fair this year are: Seth Mandujan, Tessa Miguel, Shannon Laurens, Sam Esperson, Mason Cobb, and Chase Ludlow. This year is going to be an exciting year because there is a new agriculture teacher who will be attending her first ever Dixon May Fair. Ms. Bartlett started teaching after she graduated from Chico State University in California. She has a very diverse background in agriculture, as she showed turkeys through FFA, and has a degree in mechanics. “This is my first May Fair with Rio Vista and in general, I’m looking forward to making all the great memories this year and further on in the future, “Ms. Bartlett on going to the May Fair with Rio Vista. This year is Mrs. Reis’s 12th year as a Rio Vista FFA teacher. “I always have fun at May Fair even though you all drive me crazy,” said Mrs. Reis on what she’s most excited for this May Fair. This year the fair takes place from May 7th-10th.
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February 18 , 2020
RAM’S EAR
by Briseida Flores, Staff Writer
Have you ever wondered how our modern Valentine’s Day started? Well here’s a little background on that. The Catholic Church recognized at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus. Valentine was a priest who served during the third Century in Rome. Emperor Claudias II decided that single men were better soldiers than those with wives and families; therefore, he realized the injustice of the decree. Valentine defied Claudius and continued to marry young lovers in secret. When Valentine was found guilty for his action, Claudias sentenced him to death. Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been ordered to death for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons because the Christians there were physically abused. According to one legend, Valentine actually sent the first “Valentine” letter greeting himself after he fell in love with a young girl, possibly his jailor’s daughter, who visited him during his confinement. Before his death he wrote on the letter signed “from your Valentine”. You might experience this Valentine’s day with the most special person in your life or alone with no one to share your kindness. This Valentine’s Day, you’ll will get to hear some people’s experience as a couple or a single person. Our first couple is going to be Karmen Zepada and Joseph Fonbuena. They
are a freshman couple. When asked how she met Joseph, Karmen replied, “One day after school, me and my friends went to Taco Bell. Then his group of friends walked in. Me and my group and his group of friends decided to hang out together. We started to talk and somehow Joseph tricked me into giving him my instagram. After that we started to talk more.” Joseph was then asked of their experience as a couple, saying “It’s great to be a couple, although we do have some disagreements but other than that it’s great.’’ They have now been dating for 9 months. On the other side of the spectrum is Freshman Joy Bell. Joy is single, funny, and bold. When asked what her best and worst pick-up lines, she responded with, “What’s your instagram?” Her worst pick up line is, “Are you an angel? Because God sent you from heaven to protect me.” Joy doesn’t prefer the options in Rio Vista. One piece of adivce Joy had was: “Life is good, stay single.” Next we have Freshamn Yedi Mandjauno. She is single because she wants to focus on her education. Her best pick-up line is: “If I could rearrange the alphabet. I will put u and i together.” Her worst pickup line is: “Are you a light bulb because you turn me on.” Overall, this is the experience best to worst from couples of the Rio Vista Rams and single rams.
Two Teachers, One Semester
Photo By: Roberto Rivera-Calvo
If you are taking English with Ms. Tygert you would’ve realised that she isn’t there. Instead, you would’ve already met the long-term substitute, Mrs. Smith, that has been in her position since the start of the year and will stay there until Ms. Tygert returns. Many saw this as a unique situation just as much as I did, so I decided to interview Mrs. Smith in order to get a better understanding of the situation and to get to know more about this new substitute teacher that will be staying with us for a while. Ann-Katherine Smith was born in Anchorage, Alaska on July 11, 1966. She had gone to Service High School in Anchorage, but after, she traveled all the way to Washington in order to attend Washington State University where she received her teaching credentials. Once she had finished college, she decided to move back and teach in Alaska. During her time teaching, she got lucky and met Mr. Smith, a teacher and wrestling coach for Rio Vista, in an online chatroom. After some time she had gotten close with
Students riled up watching their Basketball team.
by Ethan Medders, Staff Writer
In recent years Rio Vista High has not had much of a student section. Our school has always had a decent turnout of students for sports events but this year RVHS has taken it to the next level. This basketball season, the students have made the first official “Rambunctious Zone.” This is a designated section for students to get rowdy and have a front row seat to talk some trash to the other team. The student section came about when opposing team parents mixed with our fired up students in the stands, and things got a bit tense. Ms. Turk confronted the students that had problems and asked for a way to fix this problem, and their response was the creation of the Rambunctious Zone. The Rambunctious Zone has already made a name for itself around the league and the students take much pride in the impact they have on games. Referees have also taken a disliking to the Rambunctious Zone. The students put their all into the student section to the point where they feel completely immersed as if they’re part of the game. A large component of the student section is the drum. The senior drum symbolizes the student spirit and love for their school. Ethan Medders has brought
the drum to almost every game and all the students love it. “I think the student section is great for our school and students,’’ commented Coach Baldwin. “It’s an area where they can all be loud and cheer on the team together. I absolutely feel that the student section has a positive effect on our team. They get our players hyped and they get in the heads of the other team. They are our sixth man!” “Having a good student section definitely motivates and hypes us up in the game.” commented senior basketball player Logan Boothe. “In a close game a good student section could be a deciding factor in who wins. They definitely affect the outcome of the game.” Like most student sections, there is one person who is the heart and soul of the excitement. At RVHS that person, is Joey McGahey. Senior Joey McGahey brings the student section to the next level as soon as he arrives. Joey takes great pride in not only this, but the effect he single handedly has on the game. “I take pride in talking mess at the games because I have never been good at sports, but I have always been good at talking. It’s my own way to get involved and feel like part of the game.”
#FreeJoey
Not Your Average Morning Routines
Ms. Smith enjoying her 4th period AVID class.
by Benjamin Sisneros, Staff Writer
Photo By: Amber Griswold
Valentine’s Day Revival of the is here again Student Section
by Jason Spearman, Staff Writer
Mr. Smith and had to make the choice of moving to California with her children, or have Mr. Smith move to Alaska but leave his child. She had ended up coming to California in 2000, and eventually became married to Mr. Smith and started to teach for Calaveras County, which had lasted for a good 13 years. After those years of teaching she wanted to pursue art and became an artist. After some time doing that, she had decided to start substitute teaching in order to have a more consistent flow of money. Around the summer of 2019 she had subbed for D.H. White Elementary School. Later on that year she subbed for Delta High School in place for an English Teacher that had been injured. After she was done with that she had been contacted by RVHS because Ms. Tygert’s class needed a long-term substitute. They had recognized Mrs. Smith’s past in teaching English which made her the perfect fit. She also stated that she wants to use this opportunity as a “test to see if I want to get back into teaching.”
The morning generally isn’t a student’s favorite time of the day, but some have a very specific morning routine that they follow; sometimes every morning and sometimes not so much. For starters, RVHS junior, Atziri Villasenor, begins her morning with a refreshing face wash. She follows this up by brushing her teeth, which she says takes about a minute to do. Then she begins to put on her makeup and styles her hair. These two tasks combined takes her an hour alone to do in the morning. She also has to pick out an outfit for that day as well but this doesn’t take as much time as her hair and makeup. She said “it takes about 10-15 minutes to pick out her outfit” and get ready for the rest of the day. As far as how many times she does her routine, she does it every morning before school starts. The next student was Dominic Rogers, who’s a sophomore. He starts off his morning by walking his dog, Tobi, for about ten minutes. Then he then washes his face, brushes his teeth, and goes to eat breakfast which usually consists of cereal,
primarily Cinnamon Toast Crunch. After that, he makes a lunch for himself. Before walking out the door he finishes off his morning by checking his social media. He repeats this every morning. He stated, “My mornings would be very disorganized if I didn’t have my routine in the morning.” Next up was Emma Bellante a senior whose mornings are as wild as they come. She says that her morning consists of watching the app “Tik Tok” until 7:30am. when she breaks out of her TikTok morning state, she quickly rushes through her basic morning essentials so she can get to her car and drive to school as quickly as possible. She’s says “I’m always late”. If she isn’t late she’ll stop to get some coffee on her way to school. Emma says she goes through this just about every morning on her way to school. Mornings are very tough for some students, but more than others. Your morning gets you ready for the rest of your day so if you struggle starting off your morning how about try starting your morning with a new routine?
February 18, 2020
Survivor: Island of the Idols Review
by Aidan Walker, Staff Writer
Survivor: Island of the Idols wrapped up airing on December 18, 2019. This was the 39th season of the series, which premiered in 2000. This season saw the introduction of the “Island of the Idols” twist. This twist had two coaches who would live on the island, and each week, a player would be sent to the island and would receive advice on how to play the game and they could participate in a challenge. Depending on how they performed in the challenge, they would receive an advantage or hinderance. The coaches on the islands were two Survivor fan favorites, and winners, “Boston Rob” Mariano and Sandra Diaz-Twine. The season premiered on September 25, 2019, with episodes airing on a weekly basis. The show starts off with the contestants being separated into two tribes of ten, and the two tribes compete in challenges for both rewards and immunity. The tribe that loses in the immunity challenge has to go to Tribal Council and vote out somebody from their tribe. After a certain amount of people are voted out, the two tribes merge into one. The contestants voted out after the merge join the jury who vote for who they feel should be the winner of the season. The season started, and was pretty slow at the beginning. Nothing big happened and the Island of the Idols twist wasn’t very exciting. It wasn’t until the merge that the season started to pick up, and it wasn’t all for a good reason. At the merge, castaway Kellee Kim expressed her concern about castaway Dan Spilo. She felt uncomfortable with him being on the show because he displayed a pattern of inappropriate sexually based behavior. The producers decided to give Dan a warning. Kellee spoke to fellow castaways Missy Byrd and Elizabeth Beisel and they said that they felt the same way about Dan and made a plan to vote him out at the next tribal council. However, they both said
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in private confessionals that they didn’t feel uncomfortable with him and they decided to vote out Kellee instead. This led to Missy and Elizabeth to receive a lot of backlash, much like Dan. After that, the season progressed with nothing very major happening, until the end. At the end of the 12th episode, the host of Survivor, Jeff Probst, went to the remaining castaways’ camp and told them that Dan was removed from the game because of an incident, and wouldn’t be on the jury. When the screen went black, there was a message to viewers that Dan was removed due to an incident off camera, that didn’t involve a player. CBS hasn’t officially said what happened. The episode after that was the finale and it was probably the most exciting episode of the season. After two more people were voted off, the remaining three “castaways”, Noura Salman, Dean Kowalski, and Tommy Sheehan went to the final tribal council, where the jury gets to ask them questions to help them make their decision of who to vote for to win. The vote was 8-2-0 with Tommy as the winner, Dean as the runner up, and Noura in third place. After that, the castaways had a reunion where they got to discuss the season. Kellee kim had the chance to address the controversy and Jeff Probst apologized to her for them addressing the problem poorly. In my opinion, it was probably one of the worst seasons. It just wasn’t exciting enough and it was so controversial that it became hard to watch. It had some memorable players that I would like to see play again, but even with those players, it wasn’t a good season. I would probably give this season a 4/10. It’s very unfortunate that the season went the way that it did because I had high hopes with Rob and Sandra coming back. I hope that the producers learn from their mistakes and improve from them.
“Ghosted” Play Sets Stage for Teens to Talk About Mental Health
by Jared Beechler, Staff Writer
Imagine you are friends with some- go from being strangers to eventually disone, and everything is fine, then suddenly, cussing their issues. They try to determine they stop talking to you, calling you, tex- how to move forward using coping skills ting you, with no explanation at all. It’s and leaning on each other for support. “I like your relationship never even existed. learned a lot about mental health and how That’s ghosting, and it’s one of the many to handle it,”said Josh Davis. A post-perchallenging topics addressed in the play formance question and answer session “Ghosted.” Kaiser Permawith the cast and a moderator nente’s Educational Thegave students the chance to atre Program presented the discuss the play’s themes. “I learned a lot one-hour assembly to all They offered a range of about mental freshmen and sophomore coping strategies, like breathstudents. health and how to ing exercises, sharing with According to the Naa trusted adult, immersing tional Institute of Mental yourself in an activity you handle it.” Health, one in every five enjoy, exercising, finding a teenagers lives with a mencounselor or therapist, re-Josh Davis (10) tal health condition, and moving yourself from stressless than half are receiving ful situations, and texting the the support they need. Kaiser Permanen- crisis line. Freshman Madison Degroot te’s Educational Theatre Program hopes said, “It made me realize what problems I to reduce the stigma of mental health chal- have had in the past.” lenges to teach healthy coping strategies, Ghosted mentioned two key nationand to let students know that it’s okay to al resources for additional help, available ask for help. The goal is for students to 24/7: the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at feel that they are not alone. The play fol- (800) 273-8255 (or suicidepreventionlifelows four students who are dealing with line.org) or the Crisis Text line by texting mental health challenges. Syd is clinically HELLO to 741741 (or crisistextline.org). diagnosed with anxiety; Andre is dealing By modeling strong, positive responses with depression; Liam has anger manage- to common mental health challenges, the ment issues; and Kayla is trying to man- school hopes to open an ongoing dialogue age stress. They meet unexpectedly at around mental health and provide multiple the school counselor’s office, where they paths to help for teens in crisis.
RIO VISTA HIGH SCHOOL HONOR ROLL Block A 2nd Semester 2019-2020 PRINCIPAL’S HONOR ROLL (4.0 GPA or Above) FRESHMEN
Joy Bell Antonio Bellante Daniel Cazares Michael Gilpin Breona Hoff Gracie Medders Emily Ross Katherine Rossi Genesis Zepeda Karmen Zepeda
SOPHOMORES
Yareli Antunez Zeragoza
Daniela Arias Dakota Balcer Grant Baldwin Daniel Cantine Sumain Chiv Johanna Contreras Kayla Delk Greta Dole Scarlett Dole Sam Esperson Marjorie Forbes Meraiah Groves Amy Henning
Fabrizio Lazo Gutierrez
William Lindsay
Melissa Mandujano Rojas
Tucker Mayfield Alexander Ornelas McKenna Pratt Donald Roos Isabella Saldana Sophia Saldana Brook Summitt
Melissa Torres Camacho
Kylah Vigil
JUNIORS
Savannah Arias Karson Christianson Dawna Coad Eamonn Drury Preston Ebert
Hannah Eckard-Henderson
David Forbes Cody Fuller Wyatt Hagan Kevin Jimenez Rosales Jaqueline Leal-Carrillo Anna Lett Fisher Lyon Benjamin McFarlane Zachary McLean Liseth Mendoza
Anthony Miamontes Vargas
Jessica Mingay Lacee Myer Devin Peterson Aidan Rosen Peter Rossi Joseph Solis Miguel Tejeda Alex Tejeda Garcia Jason Tello Marivella Torres Caroline Upham Ashlee Weller
RAM’S HONOR ROLL (3.50 TO 3.99 GPA) FRESHMEN
Noah Bidou Lillian Burch Valerie Diaz Nunez Destiny Grayson Shannon Laurens Jordan Lauritzen Yolanda Montano Isaiah Molina Kiara Perkins Dylan Rasmussen Daniela Roman Joshua Sanchez Trevan Summitt Jenna Torres Jose Torres Jovany Vega Jazmyn Vigil Ryan Zamarripa
SOPHOMORES
Christopher Barros Trevor Coad Colby Eisenhour-Libby Spencer Emigh Ashton Frazier Roberts Karen Mandujano Mesa Eric McCann Kaylee Medlock Alexander Montes Dominic Rogers Bryan Salles Jesus Silva Figueroa Maia Stone Adrian Tejeda
JUNIORS
Annalisa Avalo Jared Beechler Jose Chavez Christian Escoto
Yalicza Fernandez Munguia
Aiden Frisbie Lilianne Griffin Trevor Gomes Kawika Makua Ofelia Montano Macie Oglesby Everado Ordonez Bryan Rish Marco Rosales
Fatima Sandoval Villanueva Marisol Segoviano Tavares
Nathan Torres Conrad Vosefski Arthur Weller Dalia Zachary
SENIORS
Bailey Adgate Per Andersson Lizbeth Antunez Emily Belante River Billoups Kimberly Broughton Asucena Castorena Maria Eduarda Elias Caleb Eggers Araceli Elisea Isabel Flores Stacy Gomez Alicea Gonzales Amber Griswold Kaylee Kitchens Deanelly Martinez Ethan Medders Madison Myer Kaitlyn O’Connor Punyawat Prommanee Valerie Rodriguez Karina Romero Valencia
Megan Ross Sydney Saldana Samuel Sandoval Maria Segoviano
Neida Segoviano Lozano
Brena Stovall Aidan Walker Zoe White
SENIORS
Esmeralda Aguilar Duran
Eric Avalos
Jason Avalos Magallon
Andreya Ayers Madison Davis Emma Gribsvad Julian Gutierrez Jacqueline Lopez
Javier Lopez Cisneros
Guadalupe Lopez-Manjarrez
Carson Quintana Logan Reynolds Olivia Roberts Kamren Robles
Edgar Rodriguez-Flores
Justine Simonis
Cassandra Steinbrook
Andrew Tyler Zachary Tyler Richard Zamarripa
HONOR ROLL (3.00 TO 3.49 GPA) FRESHMEN
Addison Brazil Anthony Brazil Madison DeGroot Adriana Hernandez Dylan Jelly Marisela Licea Jordan McDonald Devin McGahey Berenize Sandoval Villanueva
Briana Shafer Adolfo Villalpando Ryan Witcraft
SOPHOMORES James Bautista Vasconcellos
Kylee Carlson Jeanette Chavez Robert Cid
Stephanie Corona Garcia
Stephanie Cuevas Kaitlyn Dubois Emma-Jean Emmons Monica Garcia Jenna Holden Daniel Hurley Mason Kitchens Genesis Lopez Jacob Rivera Calvo Korbin Schneider Maria E. Segoviano Aidan Stovall Diego Torres Jimena Torres Ruiz Melissa Uribe Castillon Silvia Valencia Luna
JUNIORS
Manuel Belcher Colin Lira Tiara Masabala Miguel Quiambao Hannah Riedmiller Lexie Steinbrook Dominic Vieira
SENIORS
Tomas Bribriesca Ariel Carter August Giannini Alexis Lackey Anthony Ornelas Jason Spearman Benny Rodriguez Bryan Romero Jose Vega Sanchez
Mark your calenders...
Prom is on its way! March 28, 2020
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February 18, 2020
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Conor McGregor has the Liberty residents demand lots of answers fight of his life by Elicia Rodriguez, Staff Writer
by Carson Quintana, Staff Writer
He stated, “It’s hard to not respect Donald right now on this stage. He has my respect, and although there will be blood spilled on January 18th, it will not be bad blood…” As McGregor was talking, Cerrone was nodding yes to what he was saying, and at the end he gave him his applause. When it was time to start the match between McGregor and Cerrone, they were ready to fight. The referee gave them the okay to start, and McGregor moved forward fast and tried to give a massive blow to Cerrone. They were up together while McGregor was hitting him with his shoulder, and Cerrone got out. Cerrone had to be on the defensive side as McGregor tried to get some light jabs in, but it didn’t hit him. When Cerrone got a moment to breathe, he kicked McGregor when his left guard was up, but only hit his left arm. When McGregor did a high kick, hitting him at the jaw, it caused Cerrone to lose his balance. McGregor exploited this advantage by giving him a jump kick, then went all in with punches causing Cerrone to go on to the ground and trying to block the hits, but it wasn’t enough to help him stay in the match. The referee called and the match was over. Just a few moments after the referee called it, McGregor gave Cerrone a hug for a bit, talked to him, and then gave him a kiss on the head. After the verdict of McGregor winning the match in 40 seconds, he was asked what his plans were. McGregor responded saying that he liked this weight class division and he doesn’t really care who he is fighting next in 2020.
February Birthdays
Ram wrestlers pin it for the win
Wrestler James Blake trying his hardest to pin Highlands’ wrestler.
by Bailey Adgate, Staff Writer
February 1st Sergio Castorena Tiara Masabala Jalen Moss Madison Myer February 2nd Zoe White February 3rd Jared Beechler Anthony Brazil Joshua Gaxiola February 4th Fabrizio Lazo Guitierrez February 7th Johnny Gornto February 8th Jesus Castillo Febuary 9th Punyawat “Dep” Prommanee February 10th Madison Davis
Dalia Zachary February 12th Joy Bell Julian Guitierrez February 14th Nathan Arellano February 17th Atziri Villasenor February 20th Jaqueline Leal-Carrillo Ian Vieira February 21th Antonio Bellante February 22nd James Blake February 25rd Joshua Davis February 27th Stacy Gomez February 28th Araceli Elisea
Bass Derby Festival in October, Rio Vista staff received numerous comments from concerned residents of Liberty. On October 16, 2019 the city released a press release stating, “the future park is in the flight path of the airport. However, we can still develop a fabulous park… they are moving forward with the planning of the community park.” The next town hall meeting to review the status of the Liberty Community park site happened on Tuesday, December 10 at 6 p.m. at the Rio Vista City Hall. City Hall is located at 1 Main Street in Rio Vista. The staff are encouraged all residents to attend and leave input on what features they do and do not want for their park. There have been a huge response on social media from current residents who will be in attendance. The press release also stated that, “if a phased approach is acceptable, the first phase of the Liberty Park can move forward under separate Council action and will not need to wait until June for budget approval or next fiscal year to get started.” This all makes the Liberty residents extremely happy to hear. They hope the city will be able to break ground sooner rather than later. Hoping for a happy ending for all.
Photo courtesy of Madison Myer
On January 18, 2020 the Ultimate Fighting Championship in Las Vegas held the fight for Conor McGregor vs Donald Cerrone. This was McGregor’s first fight back in UFC since his last fight in 2018 with Khabib Nurmagomedov, which McGregor lost. On March 26, 2019 McGregor announced that he was going to retire from mixed martial arts. Just 10 days later, McGregor decided to come out of retirement. A few months later in 2019, after Donald Cerrone fought Al Laquinta and won, he called out to McGregor hoping that they could fight. To respond, McGregor tweeted saying that he would fight him. The fans of UFC were excited for this match to happen. Since McGregor didn’t fight in the UFC in 2018, some fans of McGregor wondered if he still had it in him from the 15 month break. The press conference finally came where fans of UFC in Las Vegas got to ask questions about the fight. When McGregor answered one of the first questions, he said, “I’m very excited to be here and I’m very eager to perform for the fans on January 18. I’ve got a solid opponent in front of me…” This showed the fans he was very happy and committed to getting back into the ring and fighting a veteran like Cerron. Usually, when you get famous competitors to fight, they try to get in each other’s faces, or try to be mad but it didn’t go very far. They were both pretty calm. The real reason why it didn’t go that far was because McGregor and Cerron have great amount of respect for each other. When McGregor had to answer a question to predict the match.
“We want the park that we were promised to have,” said resident Melissa Lopez who recently bought a new home on Market Place Square in the new community. She also added, “we’re too far outside the city for our children to play anywhere else without having to drive 10 minutes away.” Patricia Roush on Garden Lane shared, “even having teenagers at home, a park would be a great place for them to hang out with friends and walk their dogs.” Tonya Mount said, “being a stay at home mom, I was counting on the park to meet other moms and arrange playdates with neighbors who also have young children around 8 or 9 years old.” After speaking with some more residents, they all just about said the same thing as the others. They all want their park and they want to know why there’s a delay. In December of 2016, Encore Liberty, LLC purchased the land where the Liberty Community is located from Shea Homes. The Liberty Community consists of 220 single family homes, most of which are occupied by young families. Residents were told that 18.7 acres of land were zoned for their community park. The remaining land would be zoned for commercial or industrial use. During the recent
This year’s varsity wrestling team mostly consists of freshmen. However, they are accomplishing a lot. According to Coach Smith, “the team has seven freshmen: Kaleo Ybanez, George Aguilar, Jorden Lauritzen, Tydan Maffei, Ian Vieira, Tony Bellante, and Madison DeGroot. They have competed very well against the varsity competition.” These freshmen are bringing some big competition to the table, especially Tony Bellante who leads the team with 15 wins. This year’s captains are Tony Bellante, Emma Bellante, Kamren Robles, and Kaleo Ybanez. They are the leaders of the team, as well as the most helpful to their teammates. Emma Bellante says, “the team has done amazing so far this year. Every wrestler works so hard every practice and it’s clearly paying off. It’s my last year on the team but I’m excited to come back and visit in the future. When I started wrestling we had 6 wrestlers on the team. This year we started with 17; the sport is growing and we are becoming more of a team and less of just a couple kids screwing around.
I’m proud to say I was able to wrestle for Rio Vista and I’m genuinely going to miss it next year in college.” Some of the wrestlers were asked how they felt the season was going, and Kamren Robles replied, “I feel like the season is going good, we have a really young team. Everyone seems to be determined and hardworking. They haven’t questioned the coach on anything he’s asked them to do.” Another wrestler, Tony Bellante, said, “the season has been going pretty good. We recently pinned every single person we wrestled from San Juan, but have had some duels that haven’t gone so good.” This season for the Rams has been very successful with all the great things they have accomplished. According to Coach Smith, the team has accumulated 92 pins, which is the most they have ever had. The amount of talent that these young kids have is only going to get better with all the hardwork and dedication that is to come in the next couple of years. Hopefully they are able to beat their new pin record next year!
February 18, 2020
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JV basketball girls have a rough Varsity boys basketball start to their season suffer heartbreaking defeat by Sydney Saldana, Staff Writer
Photo by: Zachary Peters
This year’s JV girls basketball team has had an interesting start. Of the eight girls on the team, there are only three with prior basketball knowledge and only one who has ever played highschool basketball before this season. The rest of the team is made up of entirely new players. This meant that once the season started, the JV girls had to start learning the basics before they could even attempt to try and learn plays. After the team was formed, they had a very short amount of time to get prepared for their first game. All of the girls were put in a difficult position where they had to get to know each other and the game very quickly. As the only returning player, Isabella Saldana had to take on a leadership role for her team. Unfortunately, during one of the team’s tournaments, just before winter break, the team experienced another challenge, when Isabella was injured during a game. She was unable to play for three weeks due to a concussion and the team lost the only returning player they had. “This season has been a learning experience for us all,” Isabella said. “We have all had to learn how to be a team. Since there are various levels of experience on the team, it has been a little bit of a challenge trying to figure out how we all
Fisher Lyon (11) scoring against the Grizzlies.
The Rio Vista Rams had a heart wrenching game on Tuesday, January 15, 2020. Both teams were battling to the very last moment when starting guard Richard Zamarripa missed the game winning shot and didn’t have the chance to go into over time. In overtime, the Rams were clashing back and forth when starting guard Kawika Makua made the sacrifice to foul out of the game to have a chance to win in overtime. “I was very frustrated,” commented Kawika Makua,“I had to foul to stop the clock to give the Rams any chance to win the game.” Starting center Ben Sisneros was very emotionally attached to this game. His facial expression was very angered almost as if he thought he had been under performing in the game.” I felt like if I had played better there would have been a better outcome,” commented Ben Sisneros. After Kawika made the tough decision to foul out, the Rams’ coach, Mr. Baldwin put in the clutch three point shooter Preston Ebert. The starting combo guard Richie Zamarripa passed a perfect
pass to Preston but the stars didn’t align. The Golden Sierra Grizzlies left victorious with a score of 68-65. Giving the Rio Vista Rams a 5-8 record. When you ask #20 Seth Mandajuan how the season is going he remarks, “It’s going well, we should have played harder and we under performed.” After interviewing starting guard Preston Ebert moments after he took the game tying shot and missed he said,“I’m very disappointed, we should have won that game.” He believes that if the team gets it together we should be able to do pretty good in league this year. They have a lot of work ahead of them if they want to go to playoffs. The Rio Vista Rams Varsity basketball team has been working extremely hard after their defeat training harder and harder for a chance to make it to playoffs but they have a tough schedule ahead of them. Starting with the North Highland Scotts, if they work hard they should be able to defeat them but it will definitely be a tough game.
JV boys basketball face many challenges by Kaitlyn O’Connor, Staff Writer
The JV boys basketball team started off their league season against the Vacaville Christian Falcons on January 10 at home. They struggled to keep the Falcons from racking up their score. “The communication between my teammates has not been the best,’’ said Freshman guard, Ryan Witcraft. “If the communication were to improve, it could have changed the outcome of the game.” Ryan also believes that the lack of communication has been a recurring issue throughout their games, costing them wins. He hopes to better the communication between his teammates which will improve their games. On January 14, the Rams hosted the Golden Sierra Grizzlies. Rio Vista kept the Grizzlies at bay until the second half, when Golden Sierra began to pull ahead. This resulted in a loss by 12, 30 to 42. The boys kept their heads up and hope to take the win when they travel to the Grizzlies’ house. The next game for the Rio Vista Rams JV boys basketball team was against the San Juan Spartans on the 17th of Jan-
uary. The entire game was neck and neck, the score going back and forth. Both teams were rushing to get points on the board, no matter if it was through free throws or three pointers. The ending score was 30 to 27, Rams taking the win. Point guard Braeden McCann believes that the reason they took home the win was the remarkable increase in the amount of rebounds they were able to get, giving them a second chance to score. The team relied on bettering their communication, better rebounds, and good, smart passes in order to bring home the win. He hopes to bring home many more wins, as well as to keep up the hard work and focus on bettering the game. The JV boys continued their season with a road trip to Highlands High School on January 21. The boys kept the crowd on their feet with the close score but lost by three, the final score being 48 to 45, favoring the Spartans. Junior guard, Dominic Vieira, states that he plans to pass the more and quicker in the next game against Highlands. With these passes, they would ideally get around defense and hope to score.
Girls soccer goes up against Linden
Photo by: Roberto Rivera
by Zachary Peters, Staff Writer
fit together.” As if this situation isn’t challenging enough on its own, there has also been a change in coaches for the JV girls team. LuAnn Haley had been the JV coach in recent years but this year, decided to step down. The varsity boys football coach, Chris Medders, stepped up to the challenge of coaching this new team. There is a big difference between coaching varsity boys football and JV girls basketball, but he has worked hard to get this team into shape. So far, the girls have played a few pre-season games and tournaments to help them develop their skills and get used to playing together as a team. Currently they have won five games and lost seven. Of the 12 games they have played, there has only been one league game, which they won. Clarissa Moore said, “We’re having a lot of fun but it’s so much better when we actually win.” Despite the unusual start to the season, the girls are having a pretty good season. They have begun to work well as a team and are now able to learn the more difficult basketball plays. Hopefully, the new team will continue to improve and see a lot more wins before their season comes to an end.
Yocelyn Corona (12) and Diana Freyre (10) fight to get possession of the ball.
by Roberto Rivera-Calvo, Staff Writer
The Lady Rams varsity soccer team put up a fight against Linden High School on Wednesday, January 15. The Lady Rams fell 0-5. They fought until the end. Coming back from the first half, the defense took a big step up and fired back with nearly five attempted shots against the Lions. After half time the girls came back and tried to pull through before the game ended. No more shots were made by Linden after the first half. As of this game they had a record of 3-6 in their season. They played their 10th game on Monday, February 20. Coming close to the end of their season, the girls only had a handful of games left before their final game against San Juan on February 10. The girls have already proven a difference in this year’s team compared to how the season went for last year’s team. “It’s completely different,” said Junior Caroline Upham. “We have more chemistry on the field and more of a bond than the previous years. I would say that the team we faced was difficult, but we kept our competitiveness up and didn’t let it get to us.” With only four weeks and only six
games left of their season, the players still have hope in ending their season on a very good note. So far, most of the players have higher hopes in this year’s team than last year’s due to the type of bond they all have with one another. “This year has a better season, better bond than last year’s,” stated Freshman Daniela Roman. Even though she didn’t play last year she had heard expectations for her team this year due to last year’s results. “We had a lot of fun and I think we will end the season off better. We tried our best against Linden. And we tried showing it on the field and take the win but hopefully our next games.” Daniela Roman continued. Students who went to the game Wednesday, January 15, still had hope in the players and believed that they would have a comeback during the second half of the game. “The girls didn’t give no matter what the score was. Even though they started off slow the defense got better after the second half. They pulled through as much as possible. But they still put up a good game.” said Sophomore, James Mentee. Hopefully the Lady Rams get more wins and end off the season well!
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February 18, 2019
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Athletes of the Month
Photo by: Sydney Saldana
by Lane Eggers, Co-Editor
River Billoups attempting to get around an agressive screen.
Varsity girls basketball fire back against Vacaville Christian
by Kaylee Kitchens, Staff Writer
student section was roaring and the crowd was going crazy, keeping the Lady Rams on their toes. The Lady Rams ended up defeating Vacaville with an ending score of 41-25. The lead scorers throughout the game were Olivia Roberts and Kaylee Kitchens, both with 9 points, and Josie Preston right behind them with 8 points. Olivia Roberts believes that the Lady Rams connection helped them. “The Lady Rams had good passes and all had a good connection together on the court. We all went into the game with good attitudes and kept up the intensity throughout the game,” stated Senior captain Olivia Roberts. After playing Vacaville, the Lady Rams played the Golden Sierra Grizzlies at home on January 14, and it was a tough loss with an ending score of 40-35. The Lady Rams were all disappointed but were still determined to make it to playoffs. The varsity girls also played the San Juan Spartans at their house on Friday, January 17. This game was super close with a score of 35-33. This was a very nerve racking game for the team, the crowd, and the coach but the ladies managed to push through and take the win!
Photo by: Jared Beechler
The Lady Rams played Vacaville Christian at home on Friday, January 10. The varsity girls have struggled playing against Vacaville the past two years, but killed it this year with a final score of 4125. Going into the game, the girls were bound and determined to win. “Before going into the game this year, everyone knew they were a good team, but we didn’t know if they were going to be as good as last year. Last year they were a strong team,” stated Junior post Josie Preston. Playing Vacaville for their first league game was a great start to the season. The Lady Rams felt strong and they were ready to take on the next league games in the future. At halftime, the Lady Rams were in the lead with the score of 19-15. “The whole team was excited because of how good they were playing together, but also nervous because the second half could change the whole game. Everyone played to their full potential and it was one of the most consistent games we’ve played so far,” stated Junior guard Jessica Mingay. Toward the end of the game in the fourth quarter, the Lady Rams kept the lead with 27-21. All the girls were pumped up and continued to play well together. The
Stephanie Corona sprinting down the field to gain possesion of the ball.
Varsity soccer girls making a comeback
by Deanelly Martinez, Staff Writer
The Varsity girls soccer improvement has been shown all throughout the start of the season up until now. The new assistant coach, Ms. Roman, is coaching alongside her sister. Ms Roman stated, “I enjoy getting to interact with my students outside the classroom.” Ms. Roman is proud of the girls’ improvement this far in the season. Captain Marivella Torres, explains that she is proud of her team and their accomplishments. “As captain, I pay attention to who’s improving. It has definitely been a turn around from last year not having won ANY games.” Compared to last years team, The Lady Rams have made major improvements, they’ve won more games. Everyday is a new day for the girls to improve on their skills, such as ball handling or passing. The confidence that the girls have shown so far is expected to take them far this season. The beginning of the season didn’t
start very well for the girls. Many girls still had room for improvement. This season was a turn around for the girls from last year, they won three preseason games. Regardless if the girls win or lose a game, they give it their all while leaving room for improvement. With the practices they push themselves to give it their all. A set back the girls had was that not all of them were familiar with each other. The team is very young, only seven out of 15 girls are upperclassmen, so at the beginning many girls didn’t know each other and they had to quickly adapt and create a bond with one another. Freshman Lilly Burch, stated, “it feels really different being on varsity with upperclassmen and being new to the team. I have gotten so close with the whole team and created a bond with them individually.” Having a bond with everyone makes the team stronger and helps them gain greater confidence.
Alex Tejeda
Varsity Boys Soccer Alex Tejeda motivates the team to want to do better each practice and game. The whole team looks up to Alex and this season would not be the same without him. He is a quality player and also a team player. -Coach Francisco
Marivella Torres Varsity Girls Soccer
As one of the team captains, she has played a huge role in the team’s success. She helps create positive relationships between team members, which really shows during the good games and the bad games. She always brings a positive and fun energy to the team and is always making others laugh. As a captain, she will call out her teammates when they need to focus or try harder at practice but she is never negative towards her team. Mari always takes on any challenge, even when it’s something she probably never planned on doing, like becoming the goalkeeper (again) when the original keeper was injured minutes before the game. Mari has been a great asset to the team and is doing a great job as captain. -Coach Anna
Kawika Makua
Varsity Boys Basketball Kawika has really stepped into the leadership role on the varsity basketball team during the second half of our season. His play on the court has helped our team a lot. He brings his teammates along with him in his success. -Coach Baldwin
Kamren Robles Wrestling
Kamren is having a strong season, and is showing good leadership as one of our captains. He is looking for a league title at 154, or possibly 146 pounds. -Coach Smith
Tessa Miguel
JV Girls Basketball
Kaylee Kitchens
Varsity Girls Basketball
Her steals on defense have been a game changer! She’s stepped up a lot this year! -Coach Sierra
Tessa plays point guard on our team and does a good job communicating, in fact, she is always talking! Tessa has played through numerous injuries in games and gets taped up and keeps playing. Tessa is fun to coach and is dedicated to becoming a better basketball player. -Coach Medders