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.