May 2021

the arcadia quill ISSUE 7 VOLUME 68

@arcadiaquill

MAY 2021

EST 1952

The 53rd Arcadia Invitational

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ARCADIA HIGH SCHOOL 180 Campus Drive, Arcadia, CA 91006

SPORTS SCORES Arcadia v. Burbank VARSITY SOFTBALL (12-2) Arcadia v. Glendale VARSITY BASEBALL (11-0) Arcadia v. Fairmont BOYS VARSITY BASKETBALL (68-66)

By LINDA QIU Staff Writer The Arcadia Invitational is a highly competitive annual track and field meet that assembles some of the best athletes in the United States and internationally.

This year, the 53rd Arcadia Invitational took place on the weekend of May 8 to May 9.

The meet was approved by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health as well as other organizations, but concessions still had to be made. Athletes from schools outside of California were not allowed to participate, and no spectators were allowed to watch the meet. As a result, the Arcadia Invitational was much smaller than previous years. Still,

over 220 schools participated in the Arcadia Invitational this year, representing 23 of California’s 58 counties, an impressive showing and the largest gathering of high school track and field athletes from California since the 2019 CIF State Championships.

Leading up to the meet, expectations were high for the most prominent event of the Arcadia Invitational, the 3200 meters, where some of the best races in California history have taken place. And these expectations were fulfilled: 15 boys broke the nine-minute landmark during the boys 3200 meters. This was the first time in national history 15

what’s inside

HAPPY RETIREMENT, MRS. YOUNG [PG. 4] NEWS: “Behind the scenes of AHS’ various programs— ranging from engineering to dance to video production— there are the staff who provide the necessary equipment, funding, and specialized teachers to support the students daily. One staff member, in particular, has been extremely passionate.” this issue:

boys from the same state ran the 3200 meters in under nine minutes in one race.

Results from other events at the meet were just as impressive.

The sprints, hurdles, and relays set nine new top times in California, seven 2nd top CA performances, and 16 other top five CA times.

Our Apaches earned their place among the event finalists.

Most notably, Alan Zhao, William Chen, Gregory Taylor, and Quinn Hettich placed 1st in the Men’s SMR 100-100-200-400m Invitational.

Dylan Tran, Zhao, Chen, and Taylor placed 2nd place in

SUSPEND VACCINE PATENTS [PG. 7] OPINION:“The U.S. is reaching the next stage of COVID19. With the widespread distribution of the vaccines, most parts of the country are aiming to reopen completely within the next few months. However, this is not the case in the rest of the world. Many wealthy nations, including the U.S., have engaged in...”

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the Men’s 4x100 Relay Open.

Hettich placed 12th in the Men’s 800 Meters Open. George Hitti, Nathan Wang, Zhao, and Hettich placed 12th in the Men’s 4x400 Relay Open. Brandon Chang, Chen, Matthew Ho, and William Kelley placed 13th in the Men’s DMR 1200-400-800-1600m Open. And Taylor placed 12th in the Men’s Long Jump Invitational.

lqiu@arcadiaquill.com

Photo courtesy of WESLEY CHEN

AHS VIRTUAL ART EXHIBITION [PG. 8] ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT: “Arcadia High School’s 2020-2021 Virtual Art Exhibition has been revealed and all of the pieces look amazing. From art honors to screen printing, here is an overview of the work from all of the classes involved. Typically there would be an in-person exhibition, but due to restrictions from the pandemic, it must be held online this year.”

policy 2 | editorial 3 | news 4 | opinion 6 | features 8 | center spread 10 | arts & entertainment 12 | sports 14 | campus focus 16

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POLICY

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THE ARCADIA QUILL. general staff

Staff Writers: Saket Akalamkam, Emily Banuelos, Brandon Chan, Emma Chen, Cassidy Chhay, Angela Chien, Lilian Chong, Abby Choy, Vritti Godani, Joy Herrera, Merrick Hua, Shirley Huang, Logan Johnson, Siddharth Karthikeya, Ariana Parizadeh, Jocelyn Thao, Kate Larrick, Tanya Lee, Michelle Lee, Bryan Lim, Margaret Lin, Melody Lui, Jenny Qiu, Linda Qiu, Kaytalie Shang, Audrey Sioeng, Maggie Sun, Lorin Teng, Avari Wang, Greg Wang, Janell Wang, Stephanie Wang, Kailani Yamashiro, Sean Yang, and Madison Yee Media Staff: Angela Chien, Kate Larrick, Linda Qiu, Kaytalie Shang, Audrey Siong, Lorin Teng, Avari Wang, Logan Johnson, Janell Wang, Kailani Yamashiro, and Madison Yee Adviser: Mrs. Lesley Lee

editorial board

Editors in Chief: Kylie Ha, Robinson Lee, Anya Yang News Editors: Leslie Chen and Lillian Chong Opinion Editors: Catherine Chan and Enzo Goebel Features Editor: Jorge Espinoza-Gonzalez Arts & Entertainment Editor: Pamina Yung Sports Editor: Zoe Lin Media Editor: Amanda Chang Publicity Managers: Becky Chen and Rebecca Tao

MAY 2021

MAY 2021

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POLICY

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NEWS

VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS

By JENNY QIU A&E Editor From watching wild animals in Africa to learning about the history of the British monarchy in a tour of Buckingham Palace to exploring the wonders of the International Space Station, anything is possible with virtual field trips. Recently, students have been unable to leave the house or gather in large groups due to the ongoing pandemic. However, the isolating nature of online learning has made learning a lot more different. Virtual field trips provide a new and exciting way for students to once again be immersed in learning.

So how exactly do virtual field trips work?

Users interact with this innovation through a guided exploration using the Internet. These platforms have organized a collection of prescreened, thematically based web pages into a structured online learning experience. Users can naturally follow along, look at the pictures, and click on interactive links or buttons; when clicked, it may produce sound effects or videos.

These pictures are a real representation of the field trip location. As the users go through each picture, it is as if they are walking through the guided exploration in real life.

“I once took a virtual tour of an art museum and it was easy to navigate,” said senior Charisse Liu. “I could definitely see more classes having virtual field trips because it’s convenient and still very enjoyable.”

Although virtual field trips are especially relevant now, they can be just as beneficial in a normal school setting. With the ability to customize these virtual field trips based on a teacher’s curriculum, students are able to reach their educational goals in a different way than traditional learning. For example, rather than listening to a lecture about Ellis Island, students can experience the roles of being an immigrant and arriving in Ellis Island through a virtual field trip.

In addition, these field trips are more affordable and sometimes, even free. Students are able to travel anywhere in the world without payingfor transportation. For example, students in a Spanish class can interact with students in Mexico through these field trips. This gives them the opportunity to learn about various cultures and foster connections that allow them to understand the content better.

Virtual field trips provide a new way of learning that can be easily integrated into a curriculum and accessible. It provides students with a different experience than a traditional classroom setting, and students are most engaged and absorbed when they are participating in an immersive environment. With improvements in technology, it will not be long before many classrooms begin to implement virtual field trips! jqiu@arcadiaquill.com Graphics courtesy of VECTORSTOCK. COM and BUNCEE.COM

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MAY 2021

ALEX DANG QUALIFIES FOR U.S. NATIONAL CHEMISTRY OLYMPIAD

By BRANDON CHAN Staff Writer The U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad is a chemistry competition for high school students; the purpose of this competition is to find the brightest chemistry students from all across the country. In order to qualify for this, participants must win their local competitions first, before moving up the rankings. The top 20 students in the nation are then chosen to attend a summer camp where students are selected for the international competition. Senior Alex Dang was one of 20 students who made it to the summer camp. He details what his experience was like during this process.

Alex started studying chemistry in sophomore year and this is his second year making the summer camp. This summer camp is a rigorous training program, and four students are chosen from it to represent the U.S. internationally. It’s an even bigger achievement to make the international competition.

“I felt really relieved that I had made it,” said Alex. “It was a huge accomplishment for me, and I take pride in it.”

Like all accomplishments, there were some obstacles along the way. However, he was still able to overcome them to be successful.

“The biggest obstacle this time around was probably having to devote time toward college apps and not being able to study as

much as last year,” said Alex. “Also, studying on my own without much assistance from anyone else.”

To get into a subject as deep and intricate as chemistry, you have to have some passion for it.

“I love chemistry because it goes so deep and branches out and makes a lot of insightful connections yet its concepts remain relatively simple to understand, so it is very easy to satisfy my curiosity,” said Alex.

Alex says he hopes to study chemistry in the future more specifically and go more indepth about organic and inorganic chemistry concepts. Organic chemistry is the study of molecules that contain compounds, whereas inorganic chemistry is the study of compounds that do not contain carbon compounds.

From every experience in life, you learn something new about yourself. Life lessons are key because it prevents you from making the same mistakes and allows you to grow into a better person.

“Having a goal in mind is very helpful in staving off outside stresses and factors,” said Alex. “It enables me to focus on one thing at a time and put my full effort and concentration into it.”

Best of luck to Alex in this year’s summer camp. He’ll definitely make AHS proud.

bchan@arcadiaquill.com Graphic courtesy of FREEPIK.COM

HAPPY RETIREMENT, MRS. YOUNG!

By ABBY CHOY Features Editor Behind the scenes of AHS’ various programs—ranging from engineering to dance to video production—there are the staff who provide the necessary equipment, funding, and specialized teachers to support the students daily. One staff member, in particular, has been extremely passionate about helping students and will be retiring after many years of hard work. Congratulations to Mrs. Debbie Young who will be retiring this year after nearly 31 years of running AHS’ Career Technical Education (CTE) classes.

During her time here, Mrs. Young has been coordinating the day-to-day operations of the CTE classes, such as managing supplies and equipment purchases, student work permits, teacher credentials, field trips and competitions, grants for funding, and etc.

Mrs. Cinidi Franz, a co-worker and close friend of Mrs. Young, summed up her legacy of determination and going above and beyond.

She described her as intelligent, hardworking, dedicated, passionate, classy, supportive, and creative.

“For over 24 years, I had the pleasure to work with Debbie and together we became a

CTE team, developing classes and having a long standing friendship,” said Mrs. Franz.

“Debbie has always been the driving force known for creating a stellar CTE program as it has truly been her passion. The words ‘no’ and ‘it will not work’ have never been in Debbie’s vocabulary as she always found a clever way to ‘make it work’ regardless of what the challenge might have been. Debbie was a fearless gogetter! She was always looking for ways to promote the program and grow.”

She also fondly reflects on a weekend when she worked with Mrs. Young to help the Robotics classroom.

“When the Robotics classroom was in a portable trailer in the parking lot and needed to be moved and cleaned out, there we were one weekend in jeans, T-shirts and gloves sorting through boxes of nuts and bolts and equipment. Neither of us knew what it was but it needed to be boxed so we dug in to get the job done, laughing and joking throughout the ordeal,” Mrs. Franz said.

Mr. Bill Chapman, the teacher for engi-

neering and C++ programming, expressed, “Debbie Young should be recognized for being the reason the CTE program at Arcadia High is so strong. She not only is responsible for the success of the program but it was Mrs. Young that realized that the program should be focused on our kids and provide programs that were UC approved. There are very few schools that have CTE programs that also have Advanced Placement as part of them. Whether it is the TV Production, Dance, Food Science, Computer Science, Sports Medicine or the Engineering programs, Ms Young made sure that the program was staffed with professional educators and had the equipment and supplies needed to be successful. She also played an important role as the intermediary between the teachers and the school and district administration.”

During the interview, Mrs. Young has shown nothing but complete dedication and belief in the students she has worked with.

“A lot of the time [kids] want to be a doctor, engineer, or a lawyer,” Mrs. Young said.

“Looking at their parents and seeing what they’re doing.”

As students rediscover their passion, they find themselves taking advantage of these courses and finding what they’re passionate about. She reflects on her own career changes, especially when she adapted to new events and interests in her life. Before she came to AHS, Mrs. Young was in the banking industry, where she was in Los Angeles, switching careers to take care of her children. Then, she acquired a counseling profession at AHS, where she assists hundreds of more children in sorting out their careers.

“My wish is that students who are able to experience careers will always experience careers at the highschool level. That’s my hope that the state doesn’t change funding. I wish for kids the best. Saves a lot of time after highschool,” said Mrs. Young, “High school is a place to try things on to see if it fits.”

We would like to wish Mrs. Young nice sunny days in her retirement and thank her for being such a diligent, hard working member of AHS, as well as an inspiration to many students. achoy@arcadiaquill.com Graphic courtesy of SHUTTERSTOCK. COM

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MAY 2021

FINALS ON THE HORIZON

By LINDA QIU

NEWS Staff Writer

As the end of the school year grows nearer, students of AHS anticipate the freedom and relief summer break will bring. But there’s one final hurdle that must be crossed: final exams.

This year, finals will take place from June 1 to June 3. Similarly to previous years, periods will be staggered over three days, with students taking their finals for two periods each day--periods one and two on June 1, periods three and four on June 2, and periods five and six on June 3. Students will be given 122 minutes to take each exam with an 18 minute break and a seven minute passing period in between.

“The fact that I’ve taken so few exams over the past year has weakened my exam-taking muscle,” said senior Natalie Bishara. “Being online is nothing like being in person, and while I adore the shortened Covid-19 block schedule, the online setting has been a challenge. But I’ve learned so much about myself and my study habits this year that I can’t honestly say it’s been all bad.”

“I [believe] I’ll do better on the finals than I [think],” said senior Erik Huang. “Mostly because I have low expectations. But I don’t feel like my classes this year have adequately prepared me for finals because I found virtual

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learning to be ineffective.”

“I’m nervous to take my final exam for math, because I don’t have an A in the class,” said senior Sophia Huynh. “I’m dealing with the anxiety by sleeping a lot. Distance learning hasn’t prepared me for finals.”

It’s imperative that students take finals seriously. A strong transcript gives you advantages in many areas, from college applications to scholarship competitions. The best way to prepare for finals is, of course, to study.

“Study with friends,” advised Natalie.

“Having an accountability buddy will make it so much easier to study ahead of time and to study well. Setting up a time to work together and review exam material, even if neither of you are talking, can be a huge morale and motivation booster.”

“Definitely don’t procrastinate studying until the day before the final test,” said junior Sylvie Thompson.

“Study hard so you can feel good and be confident that you know your stuff,” said senior Jason Ni. “And please sleep.”

Don’t be afraid to look to your teachers and peers for help. Work hard and take care of yourself, and you’ll ace this final hurdle with ease.

lqiu@arcadiaquill.com Graphic courtesy of FREEPIK.COM

SUPREME COURT HEARS ORAL ARGUMENTS FOR MAHANOY AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT V. BL

By MARGARET LIN Editor in Chief The question before the Supreme Court on Apr. 28 was this: does the First Amendment prohibit public school officials from regulating off-campus student speech?

In spring of 2017, then-high school freshman and Junior Varsity cheerleader Brandi Levy—identified only as B.L. in all court filings—learned she had once again failed to make the Varsity cheerleading squad. Over the weekend, Levy took to Snapchat to express her displeasure with “school,” “softball,” “cheer,” and “everything,” prefacing each with a fourletter expletive.

One of the Snap’s 250 recipients, a fellow cheerleader, took a screenshot of the message and showed her mother, a coach. Levy was suspended from the cheerleading team for one year. After the school board refused to lift the suspension, her parents sued Mahanoy Area High School in federal court.

Represented by her parents and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Levy won at both the district and appellate levels. Mahanoy Area School District petitioned the Supreme Court, and it agreed to take the case in January.

The precedent now under review predates social media by a few decades. In Tinker v Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969), the Court ruled that students and teachers did not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” School officials could

not censor student speech absent evidence it would “materially and substantially interfere with the requirements of appropriate discipline in the operation of the school.”

In Levy’s case, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that Tinker did not apply to off-campus speech, which Judge Cheryl Ann Krause, writing for the panel, defined as “speech that is outside school-owned, -operated, or -supervised channels and that is not reasonably interpreted as bearing the school’s imprimatur.” This created a circuit split: the Fifth Circuit, in Bell v Itawamba County School Board (5th Cir. 2015), had held that Tinker did apply to offcampus speech.

The rise of online communications and ubiquity of social media use among students have blurred the boundaries of the schoolyard considerably. This seemed to be a central concern for the nine justices during oral arguments, who appeared skeptical of arguments by both lawyer Lisa Blatt and lawyer David Cole of the ACLU, representing the school district and Levy, respectively.

The school district contended Tinker should apply to on- and off-campus speech because speech made on social media, which lacks physical boundaries, can also be disruptive.

“When it comes to the Internet, things

like time and geography are meaningless,” Ms. Blatt said, “and it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to say the same speech is somehow within the school’s regulation if it’s one foot on campus or one foot off campus.”

Though the school district would have Tinker apply off-campus “only when the student targeted the school audience and a school topic,” the justices raised concerns about distinguishing between merely offensive as opposed to attacking speech, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Sonia Sotomayor observing students’ conversations revolve largely around school and take place between classmates.

Similarly, the justices seemed wary of drawing a bright line between oncampus and off-campus speech in light of online communication. Mr. Cole’s definition of disciplinable student speech as depending on whether “the school exercise[s] supervision over the speaker” appeared to have precluded too much speech from the school’s reach.

“How would you locate conduct in school versus out of school,” asked Justice Clarence Thomas, “if a message can be sent over the weekend but still be used in class?”

Justice Elena Kagan also questioned why schools should not be able to deal with off-campus speech which causes “fundamental problems” in school, noting schools have

greater latitude than the government over issues arising from students’ speech.

Whether this case will lead the Court to define new boundaries for protections of student speech is still unclear, as B.L.’s message may have not been disruptive enough under Tinker to warrant school action.

“Did that cause a material and substantial disruption? I don’t see much evidence it did,” said Justice Breyer.

Junior justice Amy Coney Barret further pointed out the First Amendment does not prohibit soft punishment, suggesting Levy could have received a warning instead of being suspended.

Justice Samuel Alito laid out two possible paths the Court may take. If the Court addresses the broader issues in Levy’s case, he said, it should establish “clear rules” protecting freedom of speech. However, if the Court does not wish to address the broader issues at this time, it could simply reiterate Tinker applies in school without touching on the school’s ability to regulate students’ off-campus speech.

In any case, Justice Brett Kavanaugh seemed to speak on behalf of the other justices when he said the Court should not be writing a “treatise.” Instead, he proposed an alternative narrow ruling: that the First Amendment does not categorically prohibit schools from disciplining students for their off-campus speech.

The Court’s opinion should be published in the summer.

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OPINION

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MAY 2021

The Importance of Shopping Cruelty-Free

By MADISON YEE Staff Writer According to Humane Society International, the estimation is that more than 115 million animals worldwide are held “captive” for laboratory tests each year. However, in most cases, these animal tests don’t correctly predict human reactions. Instead, it is believed that nine out of ten candidate

medicines that seem safe from animal studies end up failing once humans receive them.

In most circumstances, animal testing is when animals such as guinea pigs, cats, dogs, rabbits, and rats, among others, undergo harmful and unsafe procedures for biomedical research and to ensure products are safe for human use.

As stated by Cruelty Free International, these animals are usually killed in the process and held in tight cages. These experiments can include “injecting or force-feeding animals with potentially harmful substances,” “exposing animals to radiation,” “surgically removing animals’ organs or tissues to deliberately cause damage,” “forcing animals to inhale toxic gases,” and “subjecting animals to frightening situations to create anxiety and depression.”

In relevance to this, a trending topic that has been recently floating around social media is the ‘Save Ralph’ campaign. It sheds light on the sad reality and dark side of animal testing that most aren’t aware of. Serving as a mockumentary, the ‘Save Ralph’ short that amassed millions of views is vaguely four minutes long about a rabbit named Ralph, who works in a laboratory to test cosmetics on animals.

In the narrative, Ralph is interviewed about his career, which is also the reason that he is blind in one eye, deaf in one ear, and has back burns due to chemicals— causing constant pain. As this continues, a syringe is plunged into Ralph’s good eye, whereafter he appears fully blind with a collar and a spine injury that is visible.

Amid this, Ralph mentions the corrupt motives to animal testing when he says, “At the end of the day, I mean it’s okay. We do it for the humans. They’re far superior to us animals...”

Although many organizations and awareness groups have spread information about shopping cruelty-free in the past, this campaign led

by Humane Society International has reached more areas than ever seen before globally.

“Animals for cosmetic testing in laboratories have no other choice and it is our responsibility to do something about it. When the opportunity arose to create a new campaign for Humane Society International, I felt that stop motion was the perfect way to get the message across. What I was hoping to do with this film was create something that conveys a message without being too heavy. I hope that the public falls in love with Ralph and wants to fight for him and other animals like him so that we can ban the tests once and for all,” said director Spencer Susser in a press release from Humane Society International.

Speaking of which, this leads to the question of how you can help take a stand in stopping animal testing around the world. To start, always strive to do your research so that you can shop cruelty-free. Seek out products that have labels ensuring that they are cruelty-free and are certified, with cruelty-free logos such as the Leaping Bunny logo. It is also important to know companies that do tests on animals and the companies that don’t test on animals.

Another great way to spread awareness is by supporting cruelty-free groups, sharing on social media, and using word of mouth to let others know about the cause and significance of stopping animal testing and shopping cruelty-free.

For an ending note, and as revealed in the ‘Save Ralph’ short film, no animal should be forced into suffering and death to pay the price for humans.

myee@arcadiaquill.com Graphics courtesy of LETTERBOXD.COM, and MAKEUPVIEW.CO

Internet Friends

By MELODY LUI Campus Focus Editor Internet friends get a bad reputation. What can a stranger you met online provide that someone you met in the real world can’t? And that answer varies per person. But to me, the internet has created a platform for some of the most memorable moments and connections of my life.

You don’t need a big following or audience to engage with people online. Most connections are formed from similarities, including mutual interests or a mutual follower. But before the relationship forms, trust must be established between both parties. From my experience, trust can be gained from the most simple and genuine connections. If someone adds to a joke you’ve tweeted out or is interested in tutoring you with your math homework, this could signal a potential bond.

Of course, there will also be those who take advantage of this system. So being wary of your personal information and whom you expose yourself to is important internet safety etiquette. There are also way more people who are just using social media to express their interests like you are, rather than those trying to get information out of you. Remembering to

keep your guard up will help ward off any unwanted interactions. Using the ‘mutuals’ feature on most social media sites will also help to identify whether someone is familiar or not. Many, if not all, social media platforms will have a privacy setting available that will protect your account from those not following you. This feature will allow you to pick and choose whom you would like to see your content, keeping you safe from those looking for easy targets.

Friends from the internet already have the same interests as you do.

That’s an easy way to keep and maintain friendships. Whether it be games, content creators, or art, you will always have something to talk about as long as you continue to be in that community. When a new episode or update releases, there will always be someone who will rave about it with

you. Along the way, you can also figure out if you have any other common interests which could develop the friendship even further.

And oftentimes, because these friendships sprouted on the internet, you won’t be worried about them judging you for your past. As your life goes by, you will have created new memories and friendships with someone who may be from across the world.

This contrast of interests and differences in cultures and society will always be a great conversation starter.

At times, conversations on the internet have made me laugh just as hard as conversations with people off the internet. There’s also no shame in asking for advice on a difficult situation or just someone to listen to what’s going on in your mind. Especially because social media accounts are

one’s own, you can control what you want and don’t want to see on your account. If anything makes you uncomfortable, you have the absolute right to leave or set boundaries for yourself. This also goes the other way; don’t forget that the internet is full of people who have thoughts and emotions just as you do.

There’s going to be hesitation to those on the internet, especially because you don’t know who could be out to get you. But it’s also nice to know that there are people out there who also enjoy your niche pastimes. Getting to know people from different locations will broaden your perspective on the world and learn from the different cultures even within a country.

mlui@arcadiaquill.com Graphics courtesy of FREEPIK.COM, LOCALLOVE.CA, ISTOCKPHOTO.COM, and NUVOMAGAZINE.COM

OPINION

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MAY 2021

Suspend Vaccine Patents

Discord is Underrated

By TANYA LEE

Student Life Editor

account is straightforward, and once you have an account, you can join a multitude of “servers,” individual communities on Discord.

Slack, on the other hand, has “workspaces,” which are similar to servers but require you to log in to each one separately.

Discord leaves a lot of room for organization. Servers are split into channels: text channels function similarly to group chats, while voice channels are like phone or video calls that members can join at any time. To make things even tidier, channels can be organized into categories. Server administrators can choose which channels each member has access to, so no matter how many different subgroups there are, only one server is needed. Discord also has an extensive search function and gives users the ability to pin messages, so looking back at previous conversations is extremely easy.

One of Discord’s best features is likely its customizability. It already has a plethora of features on its own, but if you bring bots into the equation, the choices are practically endless. Some bots are practical, such as moderation bots to make the administrator’s job easier or reaction role bots that allow members to choose their own roles and, thus, which channels they have access to.

Most importantly, Discord is free. While there is a premium plan called Nitro that gives some additional perks, they are completely unnecessary (benefits include custom emojis, an increased file upload limit, and improved video quality during video calls).

While student organizations aren’t Discord’s target audience, it is shocking how perfectly it can fit into that niche and even more shocking how little it’s been used. The next time you’re struggling with communication for your organization or any collaborative project, I highly recommend giving Discord a try.

I made a Discord account a few years ago for reasons which I’ve long forgotten. I then proceeded to let it collect dust until last summer when I was invited to participate in an international project that operated primarily on Discord. After being reintroduced to the app, I’ve come to realize that Discord is being overlooked in the student “workplace”.

It’s understandable. After all, Discord generally isn’t associated with productivity.

They describe themselves as the “#1 app for gamers”, and their main page states that “Discord makes it easy to talk every day and hang out more often.” People associate Discord with socializing and playing games, which generally isn’t something you want to mix up with important business.

But when used right, Discord fills a niche in the digital world: communication apps for student organizations. Communication is crucial to any organization, but for students, the options can be limited.

On one hand, you have the usual messaging platforms, such as Facebook Messenger or Google Hangouts. These are easily accessible, especially since all AUSD students have a Google account. However, they’re designed for chatting, not planning. With no way to pin messages, important information can easily be lost in a sea of socializing. If multiple conversations are happening at the same time, good luck trying to catch up. One workaround is to create new group chats for different topics, but that can be difficult to set up and navigate.

On the other hand, you have apps designed for the workplace, such as Slack. Such apps are targeted at companies and businesses, so they have long-term planning and team collaboration in mind. However, many of these apps have some of their most useful features locked behind a paywall. While businesses and companies can probably afford these premium plans, student organizations either don’t have the space in their budget or, tlee@arcadiaquill.com Graphics courtesy of in some cases, they don’t have money at all.

SALESHAVEN.CO.UK Perhaps unintentionally, Discord is a and PINTEREST.COM happy medium between the two. Making an

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By JOY HERRERA

Staff Writer

difficult time with coronavirus in large part due to difficulties coordinating a consistent lockdown procedure across the country. This has led to the rampant spread of COVID-19, yet, the U.S. was able to recover due to monetary resources. After the initial panic, vaccine development began in earnest with many of the biggest coronavirus vaccine producers being in the U.S., including companies like Johnson and Johnson and Moderna. Resources like medical equipment and personal protective equipment for medical professionals are now for the most part readily available.

However, other countries simply do not have means to outbid places like the U.S. for necessary supplies even when they have a greater need. India alone accounted for 46% of new coronavirus cases, and its medical system is overwhelmed by the cases. Places with high density populations are struggling, and places that supply materials for the vaccine are sometimes unable to access the doses.

Pharmaceutical companies have successfully lobbied for atrocious things in the U.S., up to and including raising the prices of life-saving medicines to ridiculously high prices even when those same medicines were developed with public funding. One of the main concerns for pharmaceutical companies that are lobbying against lifting the IP protections is a loss of profits.

However, in the long run this will not overly impact companies like Pfizer who are already not supporting markets in South America and Asia which would most benefit from being able to produce their own vaccines.

It is clear to me that lives should come before profits, and with all hope, the U.S. will be able to lobby the WTO to suspend international patents.

The U.S. is reaching the next stage of COVID-19. With the widespread distribution of the vaccines, most parts of the country are aiming to reopen completely within the next few months.

However, this is not the case in the rest of the world. Many wealthy nations, including the U.S., have engaged in vaccine hoarding. Because of this, smaller and less wealthy nations are put into a position where vaccines are inaccessible even as the virus ravages their populations.

On May 6, the Biden Administration finally made the move that many have been pushing for and put their support behind, waiving intellectual property protections for coronavirus vaccines. The support of the U.S. is instrumental in waiving vaccine patents as the World Trade Organization (WTO) must come to an unanimous agreement to alter international intellectual property rules.

Currently, the United Kingdom and the European Union stand in the way of releasing intellectual property rights and potentially saving the lives of thousands of people.

Their concerns range from not wanting to set a precedent of suspending intellectual property rules to concern over countries producing substandard vaccines or harming chains of distribution of ingredients. However, many medical experts are of the belief that these concerns are not necessarily pertinent to the main issue of vaccine disparity. Due to monetary concerns, developing countries are left in the dust with a lack of accessibility for the vaccine.

“I always respect the needs of the companies to protect their interests to keep them in business, but we can’t do it completely at the expense of not allowing a vaccine that’s lifesaving to get to the people that need it. You can’t have people throughout the world dying because they jherrera@arcadiaquill.com Graphics courtesy of PNGIO.COM, THEdon’t have access to a product that rich people CONVERSATION.COM and FREEPIK. have access to,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci accordCOM ing to The New York Times. The U.S. has had a

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FEATURES

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MAY 2021

WHAT ARE NFTS?

By JOY HERRERA

Staff Writer

Non-fungible tokens or NFTs are the latest product born from the interest in cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency is a new form of money that is centered around blockchain programs that form unique codes. These codes make up coins or tokens that come to have value due to speculation and investment, not unlike the stock market or even fiat currency.

For instance, Bitcoin is currently being traded for a little under $54,000.00. However, what makes NFTs different is that they are tied to a digital image, song, or video.

NFTs are selling for incredible prices because they promise permanent ownership of a digital piece of artwork. This does not necessarily mean that the owner of the NFT holds the copyright, but they do have the prestige of this unique and unable to be traded (non-fungible) status symbol. It is similar to the principle behind trading card collectors, the rare cards can go up to thousands of dollars because collectors value the exclusivity. Digital artwork is different from trading cards though, as the cryptocurrency has no physical objects tied to it, and the artwork itself can be replicated. The receipt and the perceived scarcity are the only things that tie value to the NFT. However, this has not stopped people from investing in this new form of art.

One high-profile purchase was an NFT made by the digital artist Beeple, called “Everydays — The First 5000 Days,” which was sold by the auction house Christie’s for $69 million. It

was purchased with another form of cryptocurrency called Ether. This purchase may seem extreme and outlandish, but it is growing more common every day as prominent auction houses embrace the growing market. However, there are environmental and also legal concerns about the longevity and viability of NFTs. “I can see a risk for established artists who expose themselves to this new market where the rules aren’t clear,” stated William Goetzmann, a professor of business at Yale University. “If the prices of NFTs stumble along at fairly low values, that would scare people away from collecting your other works.”

So far, no legal cases have been brought to court about the copyright of NFTs or possible theft of tokens. This means that seasoned art collectors and dealers are putting themselves into the unknown legally with a purchase of assets that can potentially crash in value or even be stolen with little protection.

Furthermore, NFTs often operate off a system of cryptocurrency called Ethereum which relies on blockchain technology that requires enormous amounts of electricity to support the processing power of mining more tokens. Moves are being made to reduce the energy consumption of cryptocurrency, but until these changes take place NFTs have the potential to generate large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions.

NFTs may be the latest art fad or the future of the art world, but only time will tell.

jherrera@arcadiaquill.net Graphic courtesy of WIDESWALLS.COM

By JOCELYN THAO Editor in Chief Every piece of plastic ever made still exists on our planet. And since plastic never truly biodegrades, it will all continue to exist forever. That’s over 8.3 billion tons of plastic.

Corporations have marketed recycling as an effective way to give plastics a “new life” and curb plastic pollution when, in reality, only about 9% of plastic waste is recycled, 12% is incinerated, and the remaining 79% is dumped into landfills. Even when plastic is recycled, its quality is diminished after a few rounds of being recycled and it becomes unrecyclable. Additionally, many plastic materials, particularly plastics bags and other softer, weaker plastics, are difficult to recycle and not accepted by recycling centers, making them destined to sit in landfills or pollute nature for eternity.

So what are humans to do with all this plastic waste? How can we put it to better use and keep it out of landfills, waterways, and natural habitats when industrial recycling is a failure and corporate greed sees no end? One solution is ecobricking.

The Global Ecobrick Alliance (GEA), a not-for-profit Earth Enterprise and leader of the ecobricking and plastic sequestration movement, describes ecobricking as “a simple, low-tech solution” to plastic waste that uses circular design regenerative technology principles.

Ecobricks, or bottle bricks, are plastic bottles packed so densely with plastic waste such that they are as strong as bricks. Securing waste plastics into these bricks prevents them from otherwise polluting and poisoning the environment with microplastics.

Ecobricks are used like normal bricks to build houses, garden and play structures,

Arcadia Public Library Reopening

By BRYAN LIM

Staff Writer

The Arcadia Public Library is a popular library in Arcadia, California that is used by children to adults alike. However, it shut down and closed due to COVID-19 and had remained closed for over an entire year. However, the Arcadia Public Library building reopened on May 3, 2021, with new operating hours. On Mondays and Tuesdays, it will be open from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, it will open from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. On Saturdays, it will open from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and they will not open on Sundays.

Public Library, Arcadia (arcadiapl). “Today’s the day & we are so excited to see everyone again! Things will be different, including our hours, so be sure to visit our website before stopping by.

Let’s get back to the joy of browsing!”

May 3, 2021, 3:01 p.m. Tweet.

The Arcadia Public Library believes that it will go back to normal somewhere in September of this year, 2021, however, this date may change depending on changes to the health guidelines. People who enter the library are required to wear a mask properly at all times and to follow the COVID-19 safety guidelines.

Another limitation with the Arcadia Library’s opening is that they won’t be accepting any donations. However, there will be many weekly and seasonal events at the library.

These events include a virtual summer reading program, where participants get rewarded for logging in hours of reading or for writing book reviews. This summer reading program will begin on June 1, 2021, and will end on June 31, 2021. Another event that will be held is called ‘Popup Book Sales,’ which will be outside of the Arcadia Public Library

every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at various times, with Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

If you would like to support the Arcadia Public Library, you can use their AmazonSmile link to purchase the same products you would find on the original Amazon website but after you purchase your products, 0.5% will be donated to the library!

blim@arcadiaquill.com Photo courtesy of FLICKR.COM

furniture, and more. The GEA website has established ecobricking principles, best practices, and instructions for ecobrickers to make safe, durable, and indefinitely reusable ecobricks. They are easy to make and anyone can get started.

Regular ecobricks are made from transparent polyethylene (PET) plastic bottles and clean, dry plastic waste. Using clean and dry materials to make ecobricks is crucial to ensuring that bricks are sturdy, as moisture and other contaminants encourage bacterial growth which may lead to bloated and even burst bottles.

Other types of ecobricks include cigbricks and ocean ecobricks. Cigbricks are packed exclusively with the acetate filters in cigarettes with the paper removed. Ocean ecobricks are designed specifically for plastic waste found in and near waterways like beaches, oceans, rivers, etc. These plastics tend to be larger, dirtier, and wet, making them unsuitable for regular ecobricks.

It is important to remember that while ecobricking is a method of plastic sequestration, it is not a final solution to plastic pollution. Ecobricking should not be an excuse for unhindered consumption of plastic, but rather a way to prevent unavoidable plastics from harming the environment. The GEA clarifies that ecobricking is not a “sustainable” technology, as the aim of the practice is to divest from the petro-capital economy.

Visit you can click here for more information, applications, and detailed procedures for ecobricking. Start building ecobricks of your own and find an ecobrick hub near you to exchange them!

jthao@arcadiaquill.com Photo courtesy of PINTEREST.COM

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MAY 2021

HIDDEN HEROES

By AMANDA CHANG

Staff Writer

Many students have bought lunch from school and many still do, even during the pandemic.

This privilege is made possible by Arcadia Unified School District’s (AUSD) Nutrition Services Department.

The Department is “a group to best serve the students healthy and safe meals,” said the Head of the Department, Kathleen Ashworth Over the course of the past year, the Department has also been the team that packs and serves the grab-and-go meals that are prepared by them, as well as performing their usual duties like ordering food from vendors.

According to the Department’s website, about 19,000 students are served every week this year, and according to Ashworth, about 3,500 students across the district are served every day.

The figure is a big jump from the number of students that were originally served on the first day that the Department served when they got back to schools from lockdown. Although the district closed schools on Mar. 13,

2020, the Department was ready to head back to service on Mar. 18, 2020, and served about 580 students, which is 2,920 students less than the average number of students served per day at the time of publication.

This was an incredibly selfless act made by the Department since COVID-19 was a very understudied and unknown virus at the time. Vaccinations were not available and even the best ways to treat the virus were unclear.

This coupled with other obstacles, made for quite a challenging job.

“Normally, the Nutrition Department had 53 staff members.

Back in the spring when the pandemic started, only 10 of them felt safe enough to come back to work, so we were very limited on staff in the spring. When we came back in August, we had about 40 [staff members] come back to work,” said Ashworth, adding that about 10 of the staff had retired or resigned due to the pandemic.

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provide meals at no charge to all children 18 years old and younger throughout the remainder of the school year,” says the Nutrition Services Department website.

This means that the Department is not getting the revenue that it would normally receive from students buying lunches. According to Ashworth, the impact of this is expected to create a huge dent in the Department’s finances, especially since the Department is largely self-funded. Although Ashworth is proud that over 400,000 meals have been served to students for free, she also mentioned that the Department is expected to lose about 1.4 million dollars because of the free meals But because of the huge challenges that the Department has had to overcome over the past year, the community has gotten a chance to grow together. Because of the limited amount of Department staff, staff from all departments of the district volunteered to help.

“As time went on, we started to feel a little more comfortable and one of the good things that happened was that we had the support of the district. People at home started coming and help us when they saw how many students and parents were coming through, picking up meals... the superintendent came by, teachers, custodians, bus drivers, different people throughout the department would sign up for a day to come help us hand out meals so it was really neat to see the collaboration of the whole district,” Ashworth said.

“We were really determined to make this work and feed the students. We had a great team with a great attitude and we did the best we could to stay safe,” said Ashworth Thank you, Nutrition Services!

A limited number of staff members was not the only problem that the Department ran into; they had to worry about the safety and health of the community, the sources of food, and a budget as well.

Because there was little known about COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic, the Department was constantly looking at protocols and following them on a daily basis. This means that at the very beginning, no one wore masks because it wasn’t part of the protocol! Of course, this rule has now changed, and the Department is very serious about keeping students and the rest of the community safe.

“It was scary; I myself was concerned because everyone else was at home and here we were out there, doing what we needed to do,” said Ashworth, recalling how she felt last year.

But keeping everyone safe was also hard to do as schools and medical centers across the United States began getting their supplies from the same sources.

Gloves, food, paper bags, and other materials that were necessary for safely distributing meals in a grab-and-go form were expensive and hard to get as everyone in the country tried to access them at the same time.

To add to the expenses, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) passed multiple waivers throughout the year “to allow public schools, including all AUSD schools, to

achang@arcadiaquill.com Graphic courtesy of FLICKR.COM

WHAT HAPPENED TO SOUPLANTATION?

By SEAN YANG Staff Writer Souplantation, otherwise known as Sweet Tomatoes, has been a staple of Arcadia residents for a long time, as many organizations at the school have relied on the restaurant when hosting a fundraiser. However, near the start of the pandemic, all chains of the restaurant were closed and the company was forced to declare bankruptcy. Let’s find out what happened.

In case you didn’t know, Souplantation is a salad bar/buffet-style restaurant offering a variety of soups and baked goods for customers to enjoy. They also include a variety of pastas as well as pan pizzas among other delectables. The atmosphere was always nice and the soups offered at Souplantation were some of the best. It was the go-to restaurant for a tasty yet healthy meal at an affordable price as they would usually offer many deals to frequent customers. This made Souplantation very popular as the variety of the food available made it the place to go at any time for some fresh tasting ingredients.

“Souplantation was my go-to place for good food and a good time. The chicken soup

there was always the best,” said senior William Zhou.

“Souplantation has the best soups. The chicken soup is good, but I really love the clam chowder,” said senior Edwin Shum.

Although Souplantation’s history stems all the way back to the 1900s, I will only be covering the most recent century, as it is the most relevant to us.

In 2005, Garden Fresh, the company that owns Souplantation, was purchased by Sun Capital Partners, a private equity company. A private equity company usually purchases a company in order to remove them from the stock market. However, in 2016, the company went bankrupt and had to find a new owner to take over.

The main reason for this bankruptcy is the declining interest in buffets. Nowadays, the public does not have the same interest in allyou-can-eat restaurants as back then. This has caused many large buffet chains such as Golden Corral, as well as Hometown Buffet, to rack up a tremendous amount of debt just to survive and

they usually end up in bankruptcy anyway.

Plus, Souplantation bounced around different equity companies as many locations closed down due to the income not being able to keep up with the costs. When Souplantation was picked up by another company, it actually began to keep up profits. New locations also had talked of reopening and everything seemed to be going well until March of 2020.

Around that time, all businesses began to close due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and Souplantation was no exception. Due to their buffet style of dining, they were unable to keep up sales with only delivery/pickup orders which led to their eventual bankruptcy. Yet, this time it seems like they will not be reopening.

Hopefully, now that the pandemic situation is getting somewhat better, Souplantation will soon make a comeback. syang@arcadiaquill.com Graphic courtesy of CLIPART-LIBRARYCOM Photo courtesy of YELP.COM

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AAPI HERITAGE

ASIAN AMERICAN AND

PACIFIC ISLANDER HERITAGE MONTH

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MAY 2021

MAY 2021

MONTH

cf.arcadiaquill@gmail.com

By ASHLEY ZHAO Campus Focus Editor

With the month of May comes the celebration of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI), their histories, contributions, and each of their uniquely distinct cultures. The term AAPI is used to encompass all groups from the entire Asian continent, the Pacific Islands of Melanesia (New Guinea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, and the Solomon Islands), Micronesia (Marianas, Guam, Wake Island, Palau, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, and the Federated States of Micronesia), and Polynesia (New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands, Rotuma, Midway Islands, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, French Polynesia, and Easter Island).

The month first came about when, in the 1970s, former Capitol Hill staffer Jeanie Jew approached Congressman Frank Horton about the idea. Although celebrations like Black History Month and Hispanic Heritage week had already been decreed as national observances, AAPI had yet to have the same recognition. This lack of recognition hit close to home for Jew, whose great-grandfather, M.Y. Lee, had immigrated to China in the 1800s and was among the thousands of other Chinese immigrants who helped lay the tracks for the transcontinental railroad. But despite such contributions, these immigrants still faced much discrimination, and acts of violence, often times fatal, were common—Lee being no exception.

“The revelations about Mr. Lee and the story of Asian Americans led this one woman to believe that not only should Asians understand their own heritage, but that all Americans must know about the contributions and histories of the Asian-Pacific Americans experience in the United States,” Horton, an avid sponsor of the resolution, stated in 1992.

Through leading the efforts to gain support, Jew and Ruby May, Horton’s Chief of Staff, allow for a congressional resolution to be passed where the week beginning from May 4 would be dedicated to AAPI. The week was chosen especially to commemorate two dates: the immigration of the first Japanese people to the U.S. on May 7, 1843 as well as the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869– in which a majority of the tens of thousands of workers who laid tracks were Chinese

immigrants like Lee. It was only more than a decade later in 1992 when Congress, President George H.W. Bush, and sponsors like Horton permanently designated the entirety of May as

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AAPI Heritage Month.

AAPI Month also serves to highlight the accomplishments of AAPI from both past and present. Although a footnote in Pacific maritime history, young fisherman Manjiro was the first Japanese national to set foot on American soil in 1841. After being cast adrift to a desert island along with his crew in a violent storm, Manjiro and his crew had to survive only on albatross and the icicles that clung to their clothes. An American whaling ship out of New Bedford, Massachusetts miraculously rescued them, and Manjiro was invited to continue on the whaling voyage. He would be fostered and educated in America and then returned to his homeland a decade later, serving as a political emissary between Japan and the West as well as a professor of English and navigation.

Dalip “Judge” Saund, in 1957, became the first Asian American, Indian American, and first Sikh U.S. representative sworn into Congress. As a fierce advocate for farmers in southern California and open citizenship to those of Indian descent in the 1940s, Saund “worked long hours to build support, and, eventually, Congress passed a bill allowing Indian immigrants to pursue naturalization,” according to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Saund became a U.S. citizen himself three and a half years later on Dec. 16, 1949.

Just last year, Korean comedy-thriller Parasite became the first non-English language film in the history of the Oscars to win Best Picture. In January of 2021, Kamala Harris became the first person of South Asian descent to hold office as vice president.

AAPI have had an extensive history of continuously being excluded and grouped together despite their distinct languages and cultures, evident by laws like the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 and now the coronavirus pandemic in 2021. Unlike most years, AAPI Heritage Month this May takes place in light of the exponential spike in AAPI hate crimes all across the U.S. since the start of COVID-19, where the number of incidents practically doubled from 3,795 to 6,603 in March of 2021 alone, according to a national report from Stop AAPI Hate. Which is why it is essential that we acknowledge this month as more than just an annual occasion, but rather as a vital opportunity to take the time to learn from, listen to, and amplify AAPI voices.

azhao@arcadiaquill.com Graphics courtesy of FREEPIK.COM Photo Courtesy of NATIONALFLOWEROF.COM

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A&E

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AHS AHS VIRTUAL VIRTUAL ART EXHIBITION

By SEAN YANG

Staff Writer

Arcadia High School’s 2020-2021 Virtual Art Exhibition has been revealed and all of the pieces look amazing. From art honors to screen printing, here is an overview of the work from all of the classes involved. Typically there would be an in-person exhibition, but due to restrictions from the pandemic, it must be held online this year.

“It’s impressive to see the artistic work of these students, and then to realize that they did it all from their own homes!” said art teacher Ms. Ma. “Everything was created during this past virtual stay-at-home school year, when our on campus studios and resources were not available. It elevates the art to another level, and I’m just blown away by the dedication of both our visual art teachers and students.”

Design and Graphic Design Classes: Students in the Design and Graphic Design classes focused on many different styles of art such as one point and two point perspectives. The art pieces are very unique and all contain their own style as defined by the artist who drew it. Typography is featured in both typography flourishing as well as typography in shapes. Finally, visual communication with shapes is featured, as students represent different emotions with only four squares.

Animation Class: Animation features an assortment of videos created by students.

It is evident that students put in a lot of effort when creating these animations as all of them are original and outstanding. The featured Lego animation created by Ethan Lecea certainly displays these qualities, as it shows the genuine creativity of the students. The animations are very fluid and definitely worth checking out!

Art Honors: Each student has their own gallery that displays the various pieces they have created. Many of the pieces are based on either their interests or people that have influenced them. Solo pieces drawn by students are also shown and all of them exhibit loads of talent.

Art 1: Art 1 features a lot of different types of drawings. Students displayed their skills by illustrating three-dimensional staircases and real life objects in contour drawings. They also made fantastic collages using different objects. The single frame cartoons that are also shown in the exhibition are all very innovative and entertaining.

Advanced Drawing and Painting: Advanced Drawing and Painting focused on the specific themes of parody, interior of an interior, perspective through the mouth, our own icon, foreshortening, and still life backlighting. The parody project displays real life actions occurring with characters from the

Mickey Mouse series. Interior of an interior uses perspective to change the view of a typical closet. Meanwhile, perspective through the mouth gives the viewer an interesting perspective straight from the mouth. Our own icon displays a self portrait or a portrait of the artist’s interest. The foreshortening is very impressive as the artist truly emphasizes that there is some space between the images. Finally, back-lighting showcases how different shading can help certain objects shine with the right lighting.

Screen Printing: Students created a variety of items such as custom t-shirts and even their own face masks. They also made their own personalized canvas bags and stickers with logos and student initials. All the goods look very nice and well designed.

Digital Photography: The Digital Photography gallery contains a variety of stunning high resolution digital photos. From the drive-thru entrance of Boba Ave Express, to some freshly sharpened colored pencils, to a grayscale half-rabbit half-rubber chicken, these photos are all spectacular and dynamic.

Art and Music: Students created their own art presentations to showcase their talents. These video presentations range from game concepts to painting an entire galaxy.

Each presentation has something for a viewer to learn and are all intriguing in different ways. The three musical performances are definitely great watches as all three contrast each other in terms of the type of instrument.

AP Art History: There are many different works for the audience to view here.

First is two virtual art galleries with famous pieces of artwork like Vincent Van Goh’s Starry Night and Mondrian’s Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue. Then are some ink paintings and cave paintings with very exceptional detail down to the crumpling of the paper. Other than that, they feature some fun guessing games as well as another interactive activity that students have worked on. Finally, two AP Art History students give their insight on the class, which is definitely some valuable information to check out especially if you are considering taking the course.

Classic Film: Students created five shot sequences capturing moments of themselves as well as inanimate objects like bobblehead figurines and stuffed animals. When doing this, they said that they focused on having a variety of angles as well as both high and low key lighting.

If any of these topics interest you, feel free to check out the virtual art exhibition for yourself!

syang@arcadiaquill.com Graphic courtesy of FREEPIK.COM

MAY 2021

WEBTOONS ARE THE SUPERIOR FORM OF COMICS

By MICHELLE LEE

Opinion Editor

For years, manga and other comic books dominated the graphic novel market.

Millions of people lined up week after week to buy serialized periodicals containing their favorite comics. Fans were so loyal that many artists were able to continue their series for years, publishing hundreds of chapters. While manga and comic books remain popular today, a newer type of visual media has taken the market by storm: the Korean webtoon.

Webtoons, comics that are produced and consumed over an entirely digital platform, originated in South Korea during the 1990s. Before that time, manhwa, Korean comics, were mostly serialized in print, similar to the way manga is. However, it was a dying industry due to high production prices that drove away many Korean consumers.

When the digital boom began in the 1990s, many creators shifted their platforms online and created webtoons, reviving interest in the Korean comic industry and eventually becoming the primary form of comic consumption in South Korea. Since then, webtoons have expanded globally, finding particular success in the U.S. and other English-speaking countries, and for good reason. In the digital age of the 21st century, webtoons are the superior form of graphic novels.

Webtoons provide the most enjoyable reading experience for consumers. In print serialization, color ink is very expensive, which is why most manga and comics are published in black and white. The physical borders of pages also constrain the number and types of paneling artists can fit. In actionpacked scenes, multiple panels crammed on a single page along with text bubbles dispersed throughout result in a very messy view for the reader. The lack of color only makes it more difficult for readers to differentiate scenes and actions on the page. However, webtoons are devoid of the limitations associated with the price of physical production and space. Consequently, most webtoons are published in full color, making the panels visually appealing and easier to read. Webtoons are also much cleaner and easier to read as panels can be spaced out. There is also no confusion as to which panels should be read first. Many artists also add soundtracks and visual effects to their art, making webtoons a more immersive experience overall.

“I definitely prefer webtoons over manga because of the full-color art,” said senior Purba Khan. “It’s also easier to look at and read.”

Beyond aesthetics, webtoons also lead to greater accessibility.

These days, smartphones and tablets are ubiquitous, providing access to webtoons whenever, wherever you are with a connection to the internet. Although online manga and comic books are becoming more widespread, the primary legal form of production is still in print. Most webtoons are also available for free, unlike manga and comic books, which further increases the accessibility of content and the size of the consumer base.

“With webtoons, all the chapters are gathered in one collection and it’s easy to read new chapters as soon as they come out,” said senior Sofia Mediana. “Manga are published magazines so there is no place where multiple chapters are published together for easy access. We have to wait until the publisher releases compiled volumes separately, which can often take months.”

Even with all those benefits, the biggest factor behind webtoons’ rise in popularity is the community it fosters. Webtoons are still serial-like manga and comic books, but because of their online format, fans are now able to communicate with each other and the artist. After every chapter, fans can share comments and reactions on forums, creating a sense of community that naturally draws more readers in. Artists are also able to directly gauge audience reactions and improve their work, creating a mutually beneficial relationship that ultimately results in higher quality webtoons. Printed comics simply do not have the same ability to connect people together and have become increasingly inconvenient in a digital world.

“It’s always fun to see comments and reactions from other readers after every chapter,” said Purba. “It feels like I’m part of a community the same way people like reading comments on YouTube.”

“My favorite webtoons all have discussion boards where readers can share theories about the story with each other,” said Sofia. “It just makes the reading experience more interactive and engaging to me.”

With that being said, if you have not checked out webtoons already, Line Webtoon, Tappytoon, and Tapas are just a few platforms you can browse through to get started. While manga and comic books will never completely disappear from the market, they must now compete and adapt to new formats if they are to maintain their standing in today’s digital environment.

mlee@arcadiaquill.com Graphics courtesy of FREEPIK.COM

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MAY 2021

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THE RISE OF AI IN KPOP

By TANYA LEE

four animated characters, was created in 1998. debuted under SM Entertainment in 2020 with with Deep Real AI, a deepfake virtual imaging

Student Life Editor Hatsune Miku, an animated character for the the single “Black Mamba”. They did insanely technology developed by the company Pulse9,

Technology is constantly evolving, and its impacts can be felt in nearly every corner of society, including the entertainment world.

The increasing accessibility of advanced technology has completely rewritten the entertainment landscape. According to Playboard, as of May 9, 15 out of the 20 YouTube channels who earned the most money through super chats (viewer donations during streams) were “virtual YouTubers,” streamers who use software and computer graphics to generate a virtual avatar.

In the last few years, similar technology has also been increasingly applied to K-pop.

One very similar example is APOKI, a cover artist who uses a virtual avatar that looks like a humanoid bunny who released a debut single in February. During the pandemic, an app called ZEPETO was used to create a 3D animated dance video for BLACKPINK and Selena Gomez’s song “Ice Cream,” allowing the artists to dance together virtually.

Admittedly, virtual artists and the use of Gorillaz, an English virtual band consisting of

Yamaha Vocaloid software voicebank, was created in 2007 by Crypton Future Media.

K/DA, a virtual girl group consisting of four League of Legends characters, was introduced in 2018, with two of the members, Ahri and Akali, voiced by Miyeon and Soyeon, members of the K-pop girl group (G)I-DLE. These virtual artists have had a lot of success. Gorillaz has a Grammy. Hatsune Miku has performed soldout concerts worldwide and was scheduled to perform at Coachella 2020. K/DA frequently tops the music charts.

The aforementioned artists have been clearly virtual. They consist of animations and holograms that are clearly computer graphics. Even when they’re voiced by real artists, there’s a distinct disconnect between the character and a real person. But recently, some groups have been blurring the lines.

A four-member girl group called Aespa

well: “Black Mamba” broke the record for the most-viewed debut music video in 24 hours and won Rookie of the Year at the Seoul Music Awards. However, the most notable aspect of Aespa is its concept: each member of Aespa has an “æ” version, an avatar modeled off of the member and meant to serve as their virtual “other self”.

“That avatar will be able to do things you cannot directly do with your favorite celebrity,” said Lee Soo-Man, the founder of SM Entertainment.

This raised concerns with fans. Some argued that this could open up the door to pedophiles and “sasaengs”, obsessive fans who stalk and invade the privacy of public figures.

While Aespa raised concerns due to the fact that the avatars were based on real people, the avatars themselves still look very digital.

However, that’s not the case with Eternity, an 11-member group of virtual idols created

which also happens to be the company behind Eternity. The group released a music video in March for their song “I’m Real”, and while static shots of the members look realistic, the video is a different story.

“Sorry, it’s the scariest thing [in] K-pop I have ever seen. No hate, but it’s so creepy,” YouTube user untitled said.

“We love idols for their emotions and personalities. How will we love someone who has no feelings?” user Human chanel jennie commented.

Virtual technology and artificial intelligence have certainly come a long way, and new uses for them are constantly being developed.

Despite the concerns, it is very possible that we are just beginning to scratch the surface of the world of virtual artists. Maybe one day in the future, realistic-looking computer-generated idols will be commonplace. Only time will tell.

tlee@arcadiaquill.com Graphics courtesy of FREEPIK.COM and FLATICON.COM

HOW SNEAKER COLLECTING HAS BECOME A FORM OF ART

By JENNY QIU

Arts & Entertainment Editor

Recently, a pair of sneakers designed and worn at the 2008 Grammys by Kanye West sold for $1.8 million. This sale introduced a new era in which collecting sneakers have become similar to collecting art. Previously, footwear was seen more as a functional accessory, but over time, with the addition of famous designers, exhibitions, and social media, sneakers have become collectible pieces of art.

Over the past few years, the sneaker industry has been booming. Buying sneakers at retail price and then reselling them in a secondary market has allowed sneaker resellers to make huge profits. In fact, StockX, an online sneaker reselling marketplace, recently reached a $1 billion U.S. valuation, highlighting how large the global market is for sneaker reselling.

There has been “an exponential boost in the auction world,” explained Nicholas Smith, the host of BBC’s podcast Sneakernomics. “They are in the same area now as something collectible like baseball cards or luxury watches.”

Especially with the younger generation, sneakers are a new form of art that speaks to them, as the sneakers are both wearable and have connections to their favorite artists or brands. For example, Virgil Abloh, the creative director of OffWhite and Louis Vuitton Men’s Collections, collaborated with Nike to design a pair of sneakers that are seen as extremely valuable collector items. Initially released at a retail price of $190, this pair recently sold for $4,360 on StockX. Although this may seem like a large amount of money for a pair of shoes, it is not considered a lot for an art piece.

Abloh even stated that “this generation may value sneakers more than a Matisse,” comparing the attainability of sneakers to that of traditional art pieces such as those from the French artist Henri Matisse.

“Sneakers are an access point for a lot of young people to own and collect an item that isn’t prohibitively expensive,” said Jesse Einhorn, StockX’s data content director.

sneakers sell out within seconds With the help of designer collaborations, and can be sold for double or quapop culture, and museum exhibitions, sneakdruple their retail value on ers have reached this point of popularity secondary markets. “I where people are willing to pay thouconsider them a sands of dollars and wait hours in line body of work,” just for a chance to get their hands on a said Abloh certain pair. regardHowever, the coning his cept of sneakers as s h o e collectible items is not collabonew. Back in 1985, Nike ration with released the first Air JorNike. “They dans. It was the first have a visual signature shoe for one language across of the greatest basthem all. I hold sneakketball players ever ers as art—to hold on to and therefore and be close to.” highly coveted.

With the rise in sneaker culture and the robust internet, an even larger jqiu@arcadiaquill.com market exists today.

Graphics courtesy of FREEPIK.COM Now, many limited edition

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SPORTS

arcadiaquill.com

MAY 2021

THE 53RD ARCADIA INVITATIONAL

By LINDA QIU

meters. This was nine minutes in one race,

Staff Writer the first time in national history 15 boys from

the same state ran the 3200 meters in under.

The Arcadia Invitational is a highly Results from other events at the meet were just competitive annual track and field meet that as impressive. The sprints, hurdles, and relays assembles some of the best high school athset nine new top times in California, seven 2nd letes in the United States and internationally. top CA performances, and 16 other top five CA This year, the 53rd Arcadia Invitational took times. place on the weekend of May 8 to May 9.

Our Apaches fought hard and earned their The meet was approved by the Los Anplace among the event finalists. The boys in geles County Department of Public Health as particular made an impressive showing. Most well as other organizations, but concessions notably, Alan Zhao, William Chen, Gregory still had to be made. Athletes from schools Taylor, and Quinn Hettich placed 1st in the outside of California were not allowed to Men’s SMR 100-100-200-400m Invitational. participate and no spectators were allowed Dylan Tran, Zhao, Chen, and Taylor placed to watch the meet. As a result, the Arcadia 2nd place in the Men’s 4x100 Relay Open.

Invitational was much smaller than previous Hettich placed 12th in the Men’s 800 Meters years. Still, over 220 schools participated in Open. George Hitti, Nathan Wang, Zhao, and the Arcadia Invitational this year, representHettich placed 12th in the Men’s 4x400 Relay ing 23 of California’s 58 counties, an imOpen. Brandon Chang, Chen, Matthew Ho, pressive showing and the largest gathering and William Kelley placed 13th in the Men’s of high school track and field athletes from DMR 1200-400-800-1600m Open. And Taylor California since the 2019 CIF State Champlaced 12th in the Men’s Long Jump Invitapionships. tional.

Leading up to the meet, expectations Results, videos, and additional informawere high for the most prominent event of tion about the 53rd Arcadia Invitational can be the Arcadia Invitational, the 3200 meters, viewed at here. where some of the best races in California history have taken place. And these expectations were fulfilled: 15 boys broke the nine lqiu@arcadiaquill.com minute landmark during the boys 3200 Photo by ARCADIAINVITATIONAL.COM

OPINION: The Faulty MLB Replay System

By SIDDHARTH KARTHIKEYA Staff Writer In baseball, when an umpire’s call on the field gets challenged, the play is sent to be reviewed by the MLB replay staff in New York. Utilizing dozens of screens, staff, and angles, the replay team’s purpose is to either correct or back up the word of the umpires.

But recently, New York has not been doing its job.

Botching calls left and right, fans and players are furious. Simple calls that could easily be corrected with the advanced camera technology available aren’t being changed as “inconclusive evidence” is cited in every close play.

Oftentimes, when plays are being reviewed, fans at home and in the stadium watch the same angles shown to the replay umpires in New York. More than often, it’s quite easy to tell what the right call should be regardless of fan bias because there’s video evidence as proof.

What’s baffling though, is that professional MLB replay umpires, who are paid to use technology to correct errors in human judgment, refuse to overturn calls. It’s as if the weight of the wrong call on the field sways their judgment away from doing the right thing.

This creates a bad look for the MLB because it appears as if they consciously choose to back up the umpires on the field rather than get the call right. This in turn has led players to question the point of a replay system if calls are never overturned. Isn’t the

sole purpose of replay to correct the mistakes made by the umpires?

One of the biggest moments this year where replay absolutely ruined a perfectly good game was when the Philadelphia Phillies played the Atlanta Braves. It was toward the end of the game, and the teams were tied. Running from third to home was Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm. Knowing it was going to be a close call, Bohm slid into home plate hoping to avoid getting tagged out by Braves catcher Travis D’arnaud. And to on-field umpire Lance Barett, Bohm was safe.

Because of the importance of that one run, the call was reviewed. Replay clearly showed the video to all fans and players of Bohm’s foot missing home plate. However, using “inconclusive evidence” as their excuse once more, the replay team in New York called Bohm safe, agreeing with their umpire friends and angering every Braves fan for miles.

Not only did this botched call end up costing the Braves that game, but it resulted in a slump for the team, as it impacted them mentally as well. Losing a game to something completely out of their control proved to have a devastating impact to the team’s record. Their winning start to the season was nullified by four straight losses in the games after that was thought to have been a result of the botched call in the game prior.

All in all, replay is becoming a big problem and it needs to be fixed right away. When calls get sent up there, they should be fixed, not always agreed with because replay exists to correct human error, not to agree with it.

skarthikeya@arcadiaquill.com Photo by Stephen Foskett

arcadiaquill.com

MAY 2021

ATHLETE FEATURE:

SPORTS

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EMME CHEN

By BRANDON CHAN

Staff Writer Like all sport teams this year, the Girls Varsity Soccer team was no different. They had to adapt to a year filled with daily COVID tests and irregular practice and game schedules. However, despite these challenges, they managed to persevere and complete their season. Senior Emme Chen, goalie for the team, detailed what it was like to play this year and her experience with soccer in general.

Her background with soccer goes back all the way to when she was just a little girl and her parents signed her up for a soccer team.

“I started playing soccer at five years old and have since grown to love it,” said Emme. “I used soccer as an escape from academics and homelife, as it provided me with a second family along with competition I strived off of. The game itself along with the bonds I’ve created have become an integral part of my life.”

Emme played many other sports including basketball and softball, but soccer really stuck with her because of the joy and satisfaction she gets every time she steps onto the

field as a goalie and the relationships she builds.

“My favorite aspect is the adrenaline soccer brings you. The rush you feel during game determining PKs or one-on-ones I face as a goalkeeper creates an incomparable rush of adrenaline. Moreover, soccer allows me to interact and build bonds with people I wouldn’t normally socialize with.”

She was appreciative to still have a senior year and a proper sendoff after dedicating all four years towards the AHS soccer program.

However, there were a few differences that forced them to come together as a team in order to win games and have better team chemistry.

“When news hit that the league would start, we jumped into 6am practices where everyone knew nobody, but we soon gradually shifted to afternoon practices with our respective teams.

With so many new players on Varsity, pre-season was definitely a bumpy start where we were still learning each other’s different game plays and skills. However, when we started league, we began to understand each other better and connect more as a team. We carried our first league win into the remainder of our season, and ended up getting 3rd in the league. Although it would have been preferable to be league champs, we are still excited for our CIF games.”

loss. Also, getting food with the team after One thing that didn’t change during this beach practices is a runner up to a favorite COVID year for her was the memories she memory.” made playing a sport she loves.

Congratulations to the Girls Varsity “My favorite memory of this year would Soccer team for a great regular season and be the last league game against CV. Our team good luck in their upcoming CIF games. got about 5 yellow cards in the span of 20 minutes and I hadn’t seen our team connect more during the first half of the game all season. The rush of it being my last high school league bchan@arcadiaquill.com game was also special despite the game resulting in a Photo courtesy of Emme Chen

ATHLETE FEATURE: SOFIA MEDIANA

By JENNY QIU

Arts & Entertainment Editor The pandemic has affected many aspects of our lives, and it has been no different for senior Sofia Mediana. Her interest in volleyball started as a fun activity she would play with her friends, but quickly turned into something bigger. She joined a league team and by her sophomore year, she was pulled up by the coach to be a part of the Girls’ Varsity Volleyball team for CIFs. Sofia was a great addition to the team and full of potential. However, her volleyball journey faced an unexpected obstacle: the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I actually asked to be removed from the Girls’ Varsity Volleyball team roster pretty early on because I was really worried about COVID,” explained Sofia as she reflected on her senior volleyball season.

“It wasn’t a hard decision to make when I thought about my family’s safety. Our season ended up being cancelled, so I guess the result would’ve been the same if I had stayed. It’s a bit disappointing to end my time in high school volleyball like this, especially considering how much effort all the seniors and I put into growing and improving our skills. And of course, I was looking forward to Senior Night and making it to CIF.” Despite the disappointment of not being able to compete during her senior year, Sofia knew that her family’s safety came first. Nevertheless, she has still found ways

to remain an active athlete and involved with volleyball.

“I am currently a manager for the Boys’ Varsity Volleyball team,” said Sofia. “I’ve been helping since freshman year, so it’s nice to still experience my senior season—albeit from the sidelines. Coach Sen lets me join their practices, so I’m really lucky to still be able to play volleyball.”

Sofia first started playing volleyball in middle school. She quickly realized that she had a passion for volleyball and during her high school years; she played for both the school team as well as a league team outside of school.

She will “definitely continue playing volleyball in college—most likely in an intramural league,” said Sofia.

Although Sofia will be graduating this year, her love for volleyball continues to grow, and she is looking forward to new opportunities.

“As someone that doesn’t like to work out, volleyball is a fun way for me to stay in shape,” said Sofia. “I would also love to try coaching, since I’ve helped run practices for younger club teams in the past.”

While her high school volleyball journey may not have ended as she had expected, Sofia still appreciates volleyball and its impact on her throughout these four years.

“I’m still fairly satisfied when I think of all the friends and memories I’ve made from volleyball,” said Sofia. “It’s played a pretty significant part in my high school experience, and I definitely wouldn’t be the person I am today without it.”

jqiu@arcadiaquill.com Photo courtesy of Sofia Mediana

The 2020-2021 school year has undoubtedly been one of the strangest times in recent history, as the COVID-19 pandemic kept students out of the classroom and online. Virtual classes became the norm; so did Zoom fatigue and awkward Breakout Rooms. But as restrictions slowly lift, and as more and more Americans get vaccinated, this summer may be the beginning of the slow and cautious return to normal.

With this in mind, we asked Arcadia students about the difficulties they’ve experienced this year, any activities they’re planning to do over the summer, and their hopes for what school life will look like in the fall. Some want to return to school; some could easily continue distance learning; some are anxious to spend more time with their friends during the summer. Others have decided that they simply want to stay home, learn new hobbies, or take a much-needed break from technology.

what is one thing you’re looking forward to doing this summer?

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“I’m planning on working on a few service projects to give back to the community this summer and [will] hopefully have more fun with my friends!” —Briana Hui, 11 “This summer, I plan to take a break from the never-ending screen time and [also hope] for a more engaging school year of August 2021.” —Terry Cheung, 10 “This summer, I am looking forward to having a little more time to relax and spend more time on fun activities like baking or learning to play the ukelele better that I normally don’t have time for during the school year. I am also very excited to get more sleep so I can work on things with full energy!” —Claire Li, 10 “One thing I’m looking forward to doing this summer is planning out my junior year, developing better study habits, and trying to explore new fields and career options.”

—Anvitha Marlapati, 10

what have been the biggest difficulties this year regarding school, whether you’ve been back in person or stayed online?

“One of the biggest difficulties for me regarding online school would be breakout rooms. Students often don’t participate in group work, and it makes it rather hard for me to finish the tasks assigned by the teacher.” —Estie Hsueh, 9 “Personally, the biggest challenge I’ve faced this year is maintaining motivation to complete my schoolwork. Being a senior, there is of course that “senioritis” mentality, however with distance learning it became much easier to get away with not doing work as there was no one to push me.” —Daniel Ogura, 12 “I think the biggest difficulty this year was to stay motivated because sitting at my desk for hours every day was a little difficult because I had classes and then meetings straight. I’m still so thankful for block schedule, otherwise things would have been more stressful so thank you AUSD!” —Anvitha Marlapati, 10

what are you hoping next school year will look like and why?

“While I don’t truly have a preference between returning to school and staying online, I hope that we still can participate in fun, social activities like team sports and more.

As swim season picked up recently, I realized I forgot how fun it was just to hang out with a group of students and work together as a team. It was a super nice reminder about how even though I consider myself more on the introverted side, being able to see people in-person was so fulfilling and enjoyable. Regardless of how school is structured next year, I hope we are given the chance to see other students and interact more during this critical age for social interaction.” —Claire Li, 10 “I hope everyone is able to return to as much normalcy as possible in a safe manner.

High school and college students alike have already missed—sacrificed—parts of their educational experience, and my hope is that we will be able to live out and cherish what we have left together in-person.” —Daniel Ogura, 12

cwong@arcadiaquill.com Graphics courtesy of ICON-ICONS.com, PIKPNG.com, PIXABAY.com, PNGFIND.com, and PNGKIT.com Photos courtesy of BRIANA HUI and DANIEL OGURA