BLOOMFIELD HILLS HIGH SCHOOL
June 2021
VOLUME VIII - ISSUE 5
Community News
Jaanaki Radhakrishnan wins Princeton Prize
BHHS Junior honored for her efforts to establish racial justice in the Bloomfield community
by CAL MARTINEZ Copy Editor “Racial justice is about the liberation of people of color. It’s not just about equality; it’s about equity and reconciliation with the centuries long history of racism. It begins with abolition work. Be it prison abolition or schooling abolition, abolition is not just about the dismantling of oppressive systems but about replacing them with more just, more equitable, and more healing systems” said Jaanaki Radhakrishnan, one of twenty nine nationwide recipients of the Princeton Prize in Race Relations (PPRR). The PPRR is awarded yearly to a small number of high school students nationally that have made outstanding, communityoriented efforts in racial justice advocacy. A team of over 400 Princeton Alumnus works together to select one individual per region to receive the award, $1,000, and an invitation to Princeton’s Symposium on Race. In a world where people of color face constant oppression, the PPRR seeks to highlight the strength of activism. For Radhakrishnan, the award also speaks to the unique pressures she faces as a person of color, and how
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The latest start time updates As the world continues to change, students are continuously adjusting by ABBY CHAYET Staff Writer Since March of 2020, students have been facing a new kind of education. They no longer sit in classrooms with a teacher, but instead, they sit at home in front of a computer. But, in the upcoming 2021-2022 school year, students will find themselves back in the classroom full time. Along with a return to a regular school day comes a discussion of new start times. The newly proposed high school schedule will send the students back 30 minutes later in the morning and will dismiss them 25 minutes later in the afternoon. The other schools in the district will also receive smaller changes to their start and end times. According to the district’s spokespeople, the times for the high school were carefully calculated to provide students with adequate time to participate in sports and other after-school activities. On Thursday April 29th, the school board approved the new proposed times in a 5-2 vote. The school board president, Paul Kolin, is in favor of the new time. Kolin stated that he thinks later start times will “help students be more alert,” and that “there will also be [fewer] car accidents.” Due to the thirty minute start time setback, Kolin thinks students will also be “less tardy.” Kolin understands that this is going to be a schedule change and people are going to have to “shift their day,” but he believes “this was a much need-
Bloomfield Unmasked
CDC updates recommendations on mask wearing and vaccine eligibility by NOA GOLDSTEIN Managing Editor After 436 days of wearing masks while we shop, interact, and live our lives, the CDC has concluded that individuals who are fully vaccinated can now go maskless in public and private gatherings. Not only this, but ages 12+ are now eligible to get the vaccine. The announcement came on May 13, as the CDC officially issued a statement recommending that people “continue on with activities like they did before the pandemic.” Nonetheless, people fully vaccinated must wear masks in crowded places such as doctors, hospitals, and when travelling by public transportation. Shortly after this announcement, president Joe Biden made the official announcement in his presidential address from the Rose Garden. “Today is a great day for America,” President Biden said. “I think it is a great milestone… which has been all due to our success with vaccinations. Cases are down in 49/50 states, and hospitalization rates are the lowest they have been since April, 2020.” Immediately following the statement, many states began to adjust their mask wearing guidance, Michigan being one of them. On May 14, Governor Gretchen Whitmer shared her enthusiasm moving forward with the guideline. “With millions of Michiganders fully vaccinated, we can now
safely and confidently take the next step to get back to normal. We have all been working incredibly hard toward getting back to some sense of normalcy, and today’s news makes all of that work worthwhile,” Whitmer announced in a televised address. Meanwhile, with the vaccination age being lowered, more than 17 million more people now have the opportunity to get vaccinated. “I was happy when I first heard that the vaccine age requirement was being lowered,” freshman Michael Dillion said when asked how he felt about the change. “We are closer than ever to getting back to normal.” Like Dillion states, it seems as though everything is getting back to normal, however, is this really the case amongst everyone? When asking other high school students what they think about the new restrictions/mandates, most of the time they answered with uncertainty. “When I first heard that the mask mandate was lifted I was honestly surprised,” sophomore Alexa Kessler said. “I am happy that life is starting to go back to a little bit of a ‘normal’; however, I still don’t know how it is going to work because there is no way for stores and other public places
to differentiate vaccinated people from non-vaccinated people.” She is not the only one with these concerns, as senior Katherine Smith explains some of her worries. “I know the government had set out a clear plan for how to approach vaccination requirements and I think this really fast compared to the original plan. I just hope people don’t take advantage of the new rules and use it as an excuse to be unsafe,” Smith said. Even though not all businesses have followed, many stores such as Kroger, Target, Starbucks, and CVS have listened to the CDC orders and lifted their mask mandates. In spite of this announcement, students still say they will continue to wear a mask in these businesses. “I do think I will continue to wear a mask in crowded places and crowds,” junior Rikki Arnoff said. “I want to be respectful of everyone’s boundaries, especially front line workers, so I will most likely continue to wear my mask in places like grocery stores.” Although this announcement does bring a mix of emotions to many, happiness and relief are two that stand out. 14 months of masks, social distancing, and quaran-
tine suddenly lifted. “The pandemic has affected my social life and time spent with friends,” reveals sophomore Alexa Kessler. “Up until pretty recently, I hadn’t been able to spend as much time with many friends and I spent a lot of time on FaceTime versus hanging out in person. Now I feel comfortable not wearing my mask when I am outside in small group settings or in the houses of friends who are also vaccinated.” Bloomfield Hills High School has recently updated their mask policy following the announcement, lifting the mask requirement for vaccinated individuals when outside, but the requirement inside will still stand. Plans for next school year have not yet been announced.
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