February 17, 2022
VOL. MMXXII, No. 1
William Lindsay soars to Eagle Scout rank built by anyone with common materials available anywhere in the world. After being inspired by camping stoves he owns, William was able to create his own stove prototype made out of recycled steel cans screwed and riveted together. Other goals of his stove were for it to be wood-burning, high efficiency, low cost, and producing no smoke. Through the help of his fellow scouts building and testing his prototype stoves, William was able to improve his stove design. He also performed many different experiments, such as burn tests, with different stove designs to test factors like temperature, fuel consumption, and time, which determined the most efficient design. “The part of my project I particularly enjoyed was conducting the experiments because of the hands-on aspect. I compared stove designs by boiling water in each one, measuring a bunch of variables, and recording the data,” said William. After finalizing his stove design, William’s next task was to create an instruction packet explaining how to build and use the stove design. His manual includes hand-drawn visual images explaining each step to make sure that his instructions are identifiable by anyone, no matter what language they speak. The packet’s title “Wood Burning Cook Stove” is also translated into the world’s five top languages, such as Spanish and Mandarin. In total, the manual is nine pages long including seven steps. On Dec. 15, 2021, William passed his board of review officially becoming an Eagle Scout. In total, approximately 237 hours over the span of four months were spent on the project, including 65 hours of William’s personal time and 172 hours by his Scout Troop. His finalized instruction packet was given to Rio Vista’s local
Omicron variant causes rise in COVID-19 cases
by Jorie Forbes, Co-Editor-in-Chief
Omicron, a variant of COVID-19 first detected in the United States in late November, 2021, has been spreading rapidly throughout the country since the holiday season. According to Solano County mandates, if a class has above 20% of people who tested positive for COVID-19, then it gets shut down. Rio Vista has not had to deal with this issue. After returning to school from Winter Break, an unreleased amount of students tested positive for COVID-19, causing them to miss the beginning of their new classes. From missing in-class instruction, to missing sports practices and games, to having bad symptoms, the five day quarantine period put a strain on the students. One of these students was senior Sam Esperson who missed three days of his new classes. Having a more positive outlook on the situation, Sam says, “I never like missing class, but if I had to choose to miss any week I would want it to be the first week. So I guess I got lucky.” It may be difficult to have to stay home for an extended period on short notice, but many adaptable students are more than capable of switching their routines to stay on top of their work. Many student athletes have also had to quarantine because of COVID-19. One of which is senior Daniela Arias, who said, “COVID-19 has caused me to miss a week
of soccer practice and a game. It is frustrating because I love going to practices and interacting with my team but instead I have to stay quarantined in my room for a week.” For some, sports are a great outlet. Students love them because they enjoy being a part of a team and interacting with the other players, so having to miss a week of practice can be a struggle. COVID-19 affects everyone differently in regards to what kind of symptoms they may experience. Junior John Peterson, for one, said, “I had a cough and I couldn’t taste orange juice.” Daniela Arias has slightly more severe symptoms, saying, “I have experienced fatigue and a sore throat.” There are many possible symptoms one can have, from being completely asymptomatic, to being hospitalized because of it. COVID-19 has been an ongoing issue since March 2020, and is not over yet. Many people all over the U.S. and in the community of Rio Vista are still affected by it. Students in particular are having to miss in-person classes and sports practices and games because of it. Everyone reacts to COVID-19 differently, from only losing their taste, to having fatigue and a cough, to many more severe symptoms. Hopefully the remainder of the school year is not heavily affected by COVID-19.
Rotary Club, the beneficiary of his project, and will be distributed as necessary. A piece of advice that William gives to other Scouts pursuing their Eagle Scout ranking is, “Obtaining the Eagle Scout rank is a lot
of work, but it is definitely worth it. Not only is it a great opportunity to give back to your community, but the experience has also taught me a multitude of valuable life lessons that I will carry with me forever.”
Senior William Lindsay wearing his Boy Scout uniform with his completed merit badges, holding his Eagle Scout offical certificate and wood burning cook stove.
Breaking Down The Walls
by Jorie Forbes, Co-Editor-in-Chief
Breaking Down the Walls is a school program that focuses on building a connection within schools. Stated on their website, the focus of this event is to create empathy, build social awareness, and create meaningful relationships with peers outside their traditional friend group. The nearly six-hour-long program consists of different activities and workshops, some of which were small student-led groups. On Jan. 24-26, RVHS got the opportunity to participate in the program. On Monday, Jan. 24, a select group of upperclassmen were chosen to participate in a leader training session to prepare for leading small workshop groups. Of these nearly 40 students, half were scheduled to lead on the first day, and the remaining on the second. One of the chosen leaders, junior Ryan Zamarippa, thoroughly enjoyed his experience. “I love how Breaking Down the Walls has contributed to the community and how they chose leaders. It has made me feel special and important,” he said. For the main days of the event, half of the student and staff population attended each day. During these days, the attendees participated in a multitude of different activities, such as one-on-one communications with random partners describing their childhood or sharing their biggest hardship, hands-on small group activities led by the student leaders, and large group bonding activities. Many students took a lot away from the program, such as senior Synia Reed, who said, “It was fun and I loved the experience.” Senior Daniela Arias, a student leader, thought the program was very helpful, saying, “Breaking Down the Walls has introduced new ways for me to interact and learn new things about my peers.”
Photo by: Monica Garcia
According to the official Boy Scouts of America website, only 8% of Boy Scouts graduate to the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest achievable rank in the Boy Scouts program. Senior William Lindsay can now officially say he is a part of the 8%. William began his journey in 2016 after being recruited by other Rio Vista Boy Scouts. Throughout these five years, he has completed and earned the 21 required merit badges and has earned an additional 11. The merit badges ranged from learning how to play chess to camping outside without a tent, but William’s favorite to complete was the Astronomy merit badge, “I have always been fascinated by outer space. The requirements presented an ideal balance between hands-on learning and expanding my knowledge of the stars and our solar system. I had a lot of fun going out at night and using telescopes to analyze the constellations and map out the night sky.” To gain the title of Eagle Scout it is necessary to create and complete an Eagle Scout service project, the most major requirement. William took an ambitious approach and wanted to create a project that could impact people on a global scale, unlike other Eagle Scouts that have focused on improving their local community, “I have always enjoyed challenging myself and helping others. I wanted to make as big of a difference as I could with the limited time and resources available,” said William. The first step of creating his service project was to do research on the major problems of the world. Worldwide issues that he identified are food/water problems and his solution was to create a more efficient method of cooking that could be
Photo courtesey of William Lindsay
by Kayla Delk, Co-Editor-in-Chief
Senior Mayra De La Torre and partner, Senior Jimmy Ryan, participating in a partner bonding activity.
One thing that sets this program apart from others is that teachers and staff are also encouraged to participate, mixing in and interacting with the students outside of the classroom. Mrs. Brandi Gomes, an English and AVID teacher, attended the first day, and she felt like the program was very beneficial. “I like that they were student-centered and focused on communication, especially over the past few years. I have noticed with my own kids that they are struggling socially. A lot of the social skills that we used to have are gone, and reaching out to people is harder,” she said. Breaking Down the Walls is a three day school program that allows all students and staff to break down the social barriers between them, and grow a closer sense of community. From training a select group of students to lead others, to doing many oneon-one and group workshops, the program combines a multitude of events to encourage bonding with classmates and teachers. Hopeful for the positive outcomes from the event, Mrs. Gomes said, “By breaking down some of the walls between people that we don’t know, we can reach out and build a positive future here.”