The InvestiGator

February 2020

investigator

the

Vol. 29, Issue 4

are we

SAFE? see pages 10-12

February 2020 Volume 29 Issue 4

February 2020

investigator

the

Vol. 29, Issue 4

are we

SAFE? see pages 10-12

Take an in-depth look into the evolution of safety in schools and what has been done at Green Valley to ensure student safety.

Sebastian Villamil

Random survery conducted at GVHS Feb. 3-7, 2020

The InvestiGator t GVHS

We hope you all had a good Valentine’s Day and a killer time at Sadies. Green Valley just finished up Sadies Week and is ready to jump into the final events of the year.

To finish off Sadies Week, we had our annual Girl Band Assembly where the girls from each class went head to head in a dance battle. This year the senior girls took home the win. Speaking of winning, our varsity cheer team took a trip over to Disneyland to compete for Nationals and came home with a third place trophy.

For the center this issue, we decided to talk about topic of gun violence. We decided to take a different angle and talk about whether GV is safe or not and what improvements have been made.

Focusing on some other serious topics, we have a couple of opinion stories that teenagers can relate to.

A personal favorite is the toxicity teens face amongst work environments. Along with that we have a story about the possibility of World War III and to go with the center there is a debate on wheter or not teachers should be armed on campus.

On the flip side, we also have

Editors’ Note

on the cover

Co Editors-in-Chief: Victoria Rodriguez Hannah Serquina Managing Editor: Abigail Culpepper Editors: News: Kristel Alfaro Borbon Features: Vivien Liebhardt Sports: Zachery Schauer A&E: Tyler Bonnette Opinions: Alexis Ladd Photo: Cherie Franklin & Sebastian Villamil Adviser: Eric Johnston The InvestiGator is a student-run and operated news magazine. All opinions and views expressed within are those of the author and not of the student body or staff of Green Valley High School.

Green Valley High School 460 Arroyo Grande Henderson, NV 89014

some funny stories such as embarrassing classroom moments for both teachers and students.

Breaking news! Green Valley will offically be moving to a block schedule for the 2020-21 school year. And

Reporters: Paige Bordelove Malia Deramus Neyta Flores Esquer Cherie Franklin Shaelyn Gamiao Brenna Knight Alexis Lane Violet La Mela Halle Scoles Sebastian Villamil Staff Artist: Alexandra Estrada Staff Managers: Abigail Culpepper Alexis Ladd

Letters to the editor or staff may be delivered to room 825 to Mr. Johnston or emailed to him at johnsem1@nv.ccsd.net

as it is with any change, everyone on campus seems to have an opinion.

We’re getting close to the end of year, there’s only two more issues after this one and four months before we leave for summer.

Hannah Serquina

Inside-the-Issue NEWS 05 Block schedule set to be implemented for the 2020-21 school year.

FEATURES 08 Junior K’Kleena Jauregui creates unique art on a different type of canvas.

SPORTS 15 Flag football wins Lady Bulldog Invitational for the third year in a row.

A&E 20 See what happens behind the scenes as multiple programs come together to produce “Into The Woods.”

PHOTO ESSAY 24 Sadies Assembly puts school spirit on display as Girl Band takes place.

OPINIONS 30 Remember the time in class when you... Students recall their most embarrassing moments!

Slam dunk - Senior Kaden Jackson goes up for a dunk against Basic on Senior Night on Feb. 6.

Jackson had 18 pts in the 61-57 win.

Sebastian Villamil

04 news

Liliana Burke

Cheer flips to nationals Team travels to Anaheim for annual competition

By Zachery Schauer

T

he Green Valley Cheer team went to Anaheim, Ca. to compete in a national event. The USA Spirit Nationals competition had over 1,000 participants, and the team competed against West Coast cheer teams from different schools.

Prior to the competition, the cheer team had to attend sporting events for the school, and they had practice after the games. The team had practices in order to perfect their routine for their upcoming competition. This process is challenging, but not impossible.

“The hardest part is preparing for it. I feel like because it is competition season that it’s the most difficult season, especially because we have basketball games and we still practice every day for three hours. The easiest part is the competing part since we only have to do the routine once,” senior Sarah Burge said.

The cheerleaders feel that their

The InvestiGator t GVHS

team is close. Specfically, they have a connection which enables communication and allows for them to check up on one another.

“This year it feels like a family bond and we hold each other accountable and if any of us have anything

,,

This year it feels like a family bond and we hold each other accountable.

lowed them to look at their mistakes and see what they needed to improve so they can move up at this year’s competition.

“Of course we would love to be National champions, but as long as they perform their best and do their best, we will take whatever place we

can get. Last year we took fifth which wasn’t bad. I think we can take the championship this year,” head coach Bailey Perryman said. *As the magazine was going to press, Cheer wrapped up their competition placing 3rd out of 31 teams in their division.

Time to shine - Varsity cheer poses for a photo prior to performing at Nationals in Anaheim on Feb. 14, 2020.

,,

Sarah Burge

going on, we all help. Communication wise, we always make sure that everyone is okay,” Burge said.

In 2019 the Cheer team placed fifth at the event. Placing that high al-

courtesy of Bailey Perryman

news 05

Block schedule finalized

School prepares to alter daily routine after 29 years

By Alexis Ladd

W

ithin the past two years, new policies and regulations have taken place in order to better the students. From creating a safer environment to altering course requirements, GV will soon be one of the many schools in the district to participate in a block schedule by school year 2020-21.

Many opinions and feelings have risen from this significant change that will take place.

Block schedule consists of manipulating the everyday routines that

,,

For Language Arts, a longer class period really works for us.

Angelique Callicoat

,,

compose what makes up the school day. From attending six classes a day now, students will go to two, three, or four while on block- depending on the student. The change will also affect teachers’ lesson plans, students’ time management and most impor-

tantly credits that can be earned. For some, block schedule could become a hassle and possibly useless, while for others, it will be extremely beneficial to them and the key to graduation.

Many individuals on campus have strong opinions about the topic.

“With AP classes, and deadlines of having to take the test, it significantly decreases the days students would usually have in class, about 30 days less. I feel like as a school, this will really drop the score rates. Adjusting to this change and having to cram in material in a shorter amount of time will definitely be overwhelming for those next year,” senior Sydney Ballard said.

For certain courses this may be the case, but for others such as English teacher Angelique Callicoat who instructs AP Language and Composition, this will be a beneficial change.

She thinks more time in a period allow different methods of teaching, impacting more of her students positively.

“For Language Arts, a longer class period really works for us. We have four sets of common core standards that we go through, speaking, reading, writing and listening, which are hard to hit in a 50 minute time period. In 80 minutes this will allow English teachers to cover each area to better the learning of students,” Callicoat said.

Block schedule has been observed as a way for the schools to improve

graduation rates and test scores. The majority of high schools in CCSD already participate in block schedule.

“We have seen other schools do well following this schedule. I think this could raise our graduation rate as we are allowing students the opportunity to earn 32 credits,” vice principal Raymond Ortiz said.

Going to an 81 minute period from a 52 minute period every other day, could allow more time for actual learning as activities could become more comprehensive. Teachers are left to decide how they will utilize their time with their students, now that they will only be seeing them two or three times a week. Opinions from students and teachers range from opposing it to being excited to see what the new schedule has to offer.

“The biggest thing I think the schedule will affect is my time. I am

going to have to cut things out of my class that I previously deemed as important. I will have to prioritize information I present in class by level of importance, even though all information is relevant,” social studies teacher Bud Beam said.

Because GV has never participated in block schedule before, the first year of doing so is unpredictable. This could possibly hurt or benefit the students and staff.

“While this may benefit one group at the school, whether it is teachers or students, I do not think it will benefit the student body as a whole. AP classes will be greatly affected more than any other classes,” Beam said.

Adjusting may take some time for students and staff, but the end goal is to give students more options and a better chance at graduating by utilizing the new schedule.

Stay sharp - Senior Ilai Macaggi poses with his new trombone with principal Kent Roberts and his band teacher Cara Froelich on Wednesday, Jan. 15.

courtesy of Ilai Maccagi

Liliana Burke

By Halle Scoles

E

ver since senior Ilai Macaggi was young he loved music.

Before picking up the trombone, he played the euphonium, a brass instrument that looks similar to a tuba, but is smaller. Macaggi picked up the trombone during his middle school years in eighth grade, wanting to explore the genre of jazz music.

“I picked up the trombone because I wanted to learn jazz. You can’t really do jazz on a euphonium. That was the main reason, but now it’s the most effective way for me to express my emotions through music. I can do it better than with any other instrument,” Macaggi said.

Recently, Macaggi was presented with a custom trombone as a gift from a local donor. The event occurred during the Student of the Month breakfast in the faculty lounge.

To craft the custom trombone, Cara Froelich, the band teacher, took Macaggi to Jazz Education Network,

a jazz convention where he tried several differing trombones under the belief that they would be donated to Green Valley for future students to use. Froelich asked Macaggi what he liked and disliked about each instrument and took careful notes of his preferences in order to be able to craft the perfect trombone for him.

When their visit was over, Froelich took all of the components that Macaggi liked about each trombone and combined them to make his custom trombone. The trombone came from a company in Kansas City, Mo. They can combine different metals to change the sound that the instrument produces when played, as the material a brass instrument is made from can have a heavy impact on the sound it makes. This instrument will allow Macaggi to play more effectively.

The presentation left many in the room in tears.

“It was a very emotional moment.

I think half the room was crying,” Macaggi said. “I was crying for sure.”

February 2020

06 news

Dynasty back on top Team caps of f season with yet another State title

T

By Hannah Serquina

otal domination. There was no better way to describe wrestling’s run to their seventh state title in the past nine years.

The Gators opened up a day one lead during the 2020 NIAA State Championships at Cimarron-Memorial HS and never looked back. With six wrestlers reaching the finals on Feb. 15, Green Valley finished with 122.5 points as well as two individual State championships. Shadow Ridge finished in second place with 103.5 points.

After running off six straight State titles from 2012-2017, the program and its seniors were ready to stand back on top of the medal stand after consecutive runner-up finishes to Spanish Springs the last two seasons. Senior David Kalayanaprapruit (138 lb.), who captured one of the indvidual State titles along with sophomore Caleb Uhlenhopp (152 lb.), confirmed that losing the last two years pushed the team to find redemption this season.

“I think being a senior heavy team helped us a lot because we had a taste of being State champions our

freshmen year, and falling short of our goal the past two years, getting second, really gave us more drive to finish on top this year,” Kalayanaprapruit said.

Head coach Jon Ferry made it clear that the team never hid their purpose from anyone throughout the year.

“Our goal was to send this core of seniors out as champions,” Ferry said. “They won it as a team as freshmen and we felt that we had the horses to send them out on top.”

Kalayanaprapruit noted that Ferry pushed the wrestlers to have quality practices that enabled them to constantly improve. He also added that without him, tournaments would not have had the same feel.

“He’s been a great coach this year.

He makes sure that practices and competitions run smoothly and productively. He also makes sure that we get the most out of our practices, which definitely helped us win,” Kalayanaprapruit said.

Ferry went on to explain about how much more difficult it has become to win a championship, partly as a result of his own program’s envied success over the past nine years.

CHAMPS! - Wrestling poses with the NIAA trophy after finishing in first place at the Nevada State Wrestling Championships at Cimarron-Memorial HS on Feb. 15.

courtesy of Vicki Temple-Hoffman

“We don’t have a lot of friends in the wrestling community,” Ferry said. “When other teams were dominant such as Vegas and Cimarron, it made me want to work and we see it now with other teams using our program as their benchmark.”

The closeness of the team was another contributing factor towards the teams victory.

“We’re really close to each other and we know how hard we’ve all worked for it. It helps knowing that it’s not just for ourselves. It’s for our close friends and teammates as well,” Kalayanaprapruit said.

Kalayanaprapruit concluded that

finishing on top again allowed the team to have the perfect ending to their senior season.

“It feels great, because we all were really close and falling short of it gave us more motivation. We finished on top and accomplished our goal,” Kalayanaprapruit said.

In addition to the State title, the team also won their tenth straight Region championship, earning their coach a bit of a vacation.

“Every year everyone gets closer and closer to each other in terms of skill,” Ferry said. “So I’m going to take a couple of weeks and really enjoy this one.”

Gators fill Universal Studios Annual senior field trip lands class in Hollywood

By Zachery Schauer

T ,,

his year for the senior trip the gators had the opportunity to go to Universal Studios in California. The trip was on Friday Feb. 7.

For many of the seniors this was their

It was really fun because I went with six of my friends and it was a good time to hang out with them.

,,

Miah Behich

last trip in high school.

Students going on the trip had to decide which park was best fit for the trip. The choices were Disneyland, Universal Studios, Knott’s Berry

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courtesy of Scott Otter Say cheese - Senior class of 2020 poses in front of the Universal Studios Globe on Friday Feb. 7.

Farm, and Magic Mountain. The students ended up choosing Universal Studios.

Seniors had to be at school at 4:00 in the morning to get on the bus at 4:30 am in front of the school. The park does not open till 10:00 am and the seniors got there just before the gates open to the park. Students brought their own bags but of course had to be searched before getting on

the bus for safety. They were also allowed to bring pillows, blankets, and things to keep them entertained through the 4 hour ride to the park.

“On the way to the park I mainly just listened to music and talked to my friends on the bus,” senior Clarissa Gonzales said.

Seniors that took the trip had to make a payment to attend. The payment covered the ticket into Uni-

versal Studios and the bus fee that got them to the park and back to the school.

“The seniors have so much have going on, they have all these exciting things, opportunities and getting ready for college. This is just one more date in their book,” English teacher Tanya Fergen said.

Once the seniors got to the park they can go and do whatever they want throughout the day. Seniors brought money to buy food and other souvenirs they might want from the park.

“It was really fun because I went with six of my friends and it was a good time. Especially because I haven’t hung out with them in a while,” senior Miah Behich said.

The total number of students that attended was 42 seniors. About 200 students went to the meetings but only 42 of those students payed before the dead line.

“I enjoyed hanging out with my bestie, we have never gone to a theme park together so that was really nice,” senior Michelle Yang said.

feature 07

Angel to the rescue

Student brings awareness to autism

S

By Malia Deramus

tarting small, yet planning to create a huge difference, senior Radhika Shah was named one of the top 100 Women of Influence for 2019 by MyVegas magazine for her unique organization, Real Autism Difference (RAD) which creates a positive impact on families and individuals with autism.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of 59 children under the age of 18 are affected in the U.S. and have some form of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Currently, Southern Nevada struggles on identifying ways to help kids with ASD. Every kid on the spectrum is different, it is hard to pinpoint an exact medication or treatment due to this. With harsh prices for treatment and little amount of resources for the condition, this leaves limited options for families.

Shah came up with RAD because of her younger brother Amar, who was diagnosed with autism at the age of five. Her brother is the main influence of her orginization. She was looking for ways to help make

,I realized , there’s a

serious lack of resources for kids with autism. I wanted to start an inititave.

,,

Radhika Shah

her family’s life easier regarding the circumstances. During her middle school years, Shah volunteered for her brother’s classrooms to help him out with his social anxiety. Shah noticed other families like hers talking about how there was a lack of resources for ASD. During that time, she realized that a change was needed.

“I realized there’s a serious lack of resources for kids with autism. I wanted to start an initiative,” Shah said.

Shah dedicated herself to building Real Autism Difference by reaching out to close friends and family who were willing to become her board of

directors. On Shah’s 16th birthday, she launched RAD to help families all around.

RAD is an organization which helps students who carry autism by creating uplifting events with others that kids normally cannot experience on the spectrum.

“The walk we have every January is like the main community event where we try to invite every single person that we know to come walk.

We had Krispy Kreme donuts come last year,” Shah said.

This year, RAD held a 5k Walk for Autism event on Jan. 25. The walk included complimentary goodies and snacks. Many sponsors came to the event such as Pinkbox Doughnuts and Anthem Hills Medical Center.

Hundreds were running around the trail with their kids spreading positivity and good spirit.

The organization also has Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) mobility training which trains people with ASD to use RTC busses around safely to get from place to place.

“We work with the students at UNLV and their focus group. UNLV has some students on the spectrum and basically we taught them how to use community transportation so that those students know how to use transportation to get to their collegiate school experience,” Shah said.

RAD also includes a directory on their website that lists a variety of autism friendly resources What is known as the resource autism directory is a list of available resources in Southern Nevada. By going to the RAD website and plugging in certain information about what you are looking for such as dentists, therapy centers, and even daycares, the resource autism directory can pinpoint an exact or a few places available that will be ASD friendly.

This idea appeared when Shah realized how hard it is to find resources relating to autism online.

“It wasn’t until I started RAD that I actually started to realize how many resources were already available, but families just didn’t know about them,” Shah said.

Future plans for RAD would be to expand the organization from a small, local environment to a national level stretching across all of America to help more families. Shah also has goals for herself, she desires to join the medical field to conduct studies on autism research.

Ready to go - Kids line up at the RAD walk on Jan. 25 at Cornerstone Park to raise awareness for autism.

courtesy of Rhadika Shah

“Even when I’m 80 years old, I hope I’m doing stuff for RAD and I actually want to make it a national initiative,” Shah said.

Besides RAD, Shah has been able to speak at autism conferences, and giving a TED talk called “Don’t worry, be happy,” which talks about her story and dives into depth on the inspiration for RAD. Shah was nominated by a local and that is when MyVegas magazine found her contact information and asked if she would like to be featured in the MyVegas magazine. RAD definitely received more attention after

the magazine was published.

As Shah looks forward to graduation, she also looks forward to continuing to make a difference in the lives of others. Shah explains that her goal is to simply assure those with autism that they are not alone. Shah’s main objective with her program is sto provide resources for those who do not even know where to begin.

“The point of having these programs is so that parents can continue to work and actually have jobs and sustain life and know they have someone reliable watching their child,” Shah said.

Brenna Knight info from www.autismspeaks.org

February 2020

08 feature

Days on campus come to an end Teachers retire after decades of time spent at GV

A

By Sebastian Villamil

s summer slowly starts creeping towards students on campus, most of them are excited for their long three month break and hot summer days before heading back to school. For staff members Todd Taylor, Dale Streigle and Julie Goldstein they will be enjoying an extra long summer as they venture into retirement.

When the school opened in the fall of 1991 a young 22 year old college student from Minnesota made his way on campus as the new career teacher. Todd Taylor’s job involved teaching students on how to prepare for jobs in the future regarding interviews and preparation skills.Later his job became teaching his favorite subject, U.S. History.

“I was trying to get used to Las Vegas, trying to get used to no snow and being without my family,” Taylor said.

Three years later, Julie Goldstein arrived on campus as a freshman English teacher. According to Goldstein, she was welcomed by phenomenal teachers.

As Goldstein and Taylor were settling in on campus, Dale Striegle arrived in 2002 and started teaching chemistry in the science department.

“When I was little I was given a chemistry set for Christmas and ever since that day I’ve had a passion for chemistry,” Streigle said.

Streigle has been teaching since the 1970’s and when he moved to Henderson he got an interview call Sebastian Villamil

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with the staff here on campus. He decided to check out the campus after the interview, and soon enough he became a teacher.

“It was a big difference moving from a town where the population is the same as the school population,” Striegle said.

A couple more years into the 2000’s and Goldstein, who taught ninth grade English in the tech center, took over the yearbook program.

“The yearbook is one of the most

,,

Time is so fast that in a blink of an eye you have already passed 29 years.

Todd Taylor

,,

important parts of high school because it is the only thing that you will hold on too after you leave college. I get people who ask me if I have yearbooks from ‘05 or ‘06,” Goldstein said.

Over the 29 years, education has changed a bit. For Goldstein, she believes that the content has turned more skill based rather than content based. This means rather than testing

the student on what family Romeo was from, it has turned into questions like, how does Romeo going to the party, foreshadow the ending of the story.

“I think this is a good idea because it gets the student to interact and analyze the text more,” Goldstein said.

For U.S. History and chemistry it has not really changed. Taylor explains that although every New Year adds more history, it definitely changes the perspective on how you think. For chemistry, Streigle explained that although the material has not changed, only formulas for certain equations have.

As teachers and students have cycled throughout the school, campus has always kept to its high standards and it’s commitment excellence as stated by the teachers.

“You know the teachers that opened this school really set that standard of excellence which has been able to persist through all these years,’’ Goldstein said.

As for students, they have not changed according to all three teachers. The only difference would be the new technology that has been introduced into student lives which can interfere with the classroom at times.

“The only thing that is different is the development of the cell phone because all they want to do now while in the classroom is be on their phone,” Streigle said.

Over the years these teachers had the opportunity to meet kids from all different types of backgrounds. These teachers were able to be apart in their

lives.

“As a teacher you know that you impact kids’ lives on a daily basis but you don’t think about it, however we try to do our best to give these students the best education,” Goldstein said.

As the school years pass these teachers have learned a couple things while being here in campus.

“Time is so fast that in a blink of an eye you have already passed 29 years, and this tells you to be grateful and cherish every small moment even if it’s not the best day,” Taylor said.

For Goldstein, she believes that you always have to look forward in life because you cannot get shut down by little problems.

With the school year coming close to an end the teachers were asked what they were going to do next.

“For the first time in my life I don’t know what is next for me, and it is pretty exciting because I always wanted to go back to Minnesota in the fall and then go down to Florida which I could be able to do for the first time in a long time,” Taylor said.

For Goldstein she plans on doing something similar.

“I plan on traveling which is really exciting,” Goldstein said.

As for Striegle he plans to join a couple of friends who have retired this year as well as travel after school ends.

This is the new beginning for these teachers who have taught countless years. Retirement has allowed them to move to the next chapter to a new adventure.

Taylor photo courtesy courtesey of of Todd Todd Taylor

feature 09

Pumped up kicks fuel expression Custom shoe design business helps students broaden personal style

E

By Shaelyn Gamiao

ntrepreneur (n.) - someone who starts their own business, especially when this involves seeing a new opportunity.

The road to entrepreneurship is often a treacherous journey filled with unexpected complications. K’Leena Jauregui (also known as “KJ”) can vouch for that. Managing your own business while tackling school and extracurricular activities at the same time is stress-inducing, but Jauregui is no amateur.

“I do commissions for painting, but I also do customs on shoes” Jauregui explained. “My customers come to me, give me a pair of their shoes and tell me what design they want. They’ll ask questions about the prices, and when they’re ready to proceed through the process, we meet up, shoes and money are exchanged.”

artistic abilities are favored by many people, but it requires much more than she had anticipated.

“I have always really liked painting, but I saw that someone decided to paint on their shoes, and I said ‘I

,I believe , that

everyone should have their own style ... and I’m here for that.

,,

K’Leena Jauregui Jauregui had to get acquainted with the idea of people coming to her for the sole reason that she is an aspiring shoe artist. She has been approached by countless individuals, requesting one of her famous pieces of art on an item they wear every day; their shoes.

“Throughout the process, I’ll take pictures to show to my customers, that way, they know what’s happening. They can see the progress, and get updates on the shoes. This is to assure them that I’m not just taking their shoes and running with them.

At the end, once it’s all done, I post it on Snapchat and Instagram, and the shoes are given back to the customer.”

Jauregui developed a passion for painting that was sparked by an Instagram post of someone utilizing the same concept and decided to put her skills to the test. As it turns out, her

have to do that, so I bought the paint necessities, and gave it a try” Jauregui said. “I ended up liking it, so I said to myself, ‘I need more; I need more shoes to paint on’”.

According to Jauregui, the patience to perform the task is important. Acquiring the materials necessary, obtaining the information, visualizing the ideal design to fit the customer’s needs, and carrying it out with the highest quality possible all stems from one characteristic that is extremely crucial in the business world: patience. Patience is an aspect of making shoes that Jauregui believes is the most difficult to deal with. Specifcially, meeting the deadling of the customer.

“I did not have the right paint for it, I usually use Angelus Direct paint… so that was a little difficult.

Also, my customers want it by a certain time, and with me, I can’t rush it or else it will not look right. That was, in my opinion, the hardest part to deal with,” Jauregui said.

As her popularity has grown, Jauregui began to notice trends as far as requests from her customers are concerned. There is a domino

effect. One person asks for a design, and then everyone else wants it as well; a chain reaction.

“One of the designs that a lot of people ask me for is the Japanese waves. With girls, sunflowers on Vans are popular. The difficulty of painting on the shoes, though, really depends on the design because if it is intricate, it will take me ap-

proximately two days to complete, and that is, of course, when I am fully working without taking any breaks.”

Having a target market with such a wide array of preferred styles and favored shoe materials, you are bound to come across customers who request a design done on a shoe that is considerably hard to work on: it is inevitable. So what do you do?

“Suede,” KJ so confidently explained, “Is the hardest to work on.

If you mess up, it is over. You cannot fix it, it’s stuck; it is just there.”

With that being said, she decides on a reasonable price, accounting

for timeliness, difficulty of design, and type of shoe. Her prices vary with different versions of shoes.

“I never do prices higher than $50. The lowest price would be $25 and that’s for slides. Low-tops would be $30 and high-tops are $40-45.”

Of course, this calls for the question “Why not digital art? What is so special about painting on shoes?”

“I could do digital art--I mean, I do that too--but I feel like with painting on shoes, it’s a walking advertisement; it’s shown everywhere you go, and it has to do with style as well. It’s not just ‘Oh, here’s my art.

You can hang it on the wall. That’ll be great’ but now it’s part of the style.” Jauregui explained.

“I had this one customer, and he gave me his Aqua 8s to do. He wanted a galaxy which was simple, but they came out fire.”

It is not necessarily the design that sets everyone’s sights on this trend, but rather the way it is done; the time and effort devoted to producing a quality product. Individuality is an aspect that comes with desgining shoes. Jauregui wants to help kids develop their own sense of style no matter what the shoe.

“I believe that everyone should have their own style because you’ll see people walking around with the same shoes. Vans, Air Forces, they all look the same. Some people have told me ‘I want to develop my own style’ or ‘I want something unique on these’ and I’m here for that.”

For Jauregui, this is more than a mere shoe-painting business. Painting is her passion. She saw an opportunity to use her skills to her advantage, and satisfy those who seek her artistic abilities to “color” their lives.

Stomp stomp - K’Leena Jauregui displays a pair of newly-painted Jordans.

Cherie Franklin

February 2020

PROTECT THIS HOUSE Victoria Rodriguez

National epidemic results in new policies and procedures

A

By Victoria Rodriguez

noise goes off, that of a firework, students’ faces fall as if to say ‘this cannot be happening to us.’ Boom. Another noise runs throughout the now dead silent school and it is confirmed, someone has open fired on campus and everyone’s lives are in danger as a silent panic runs over them.

This situation is too familiar across America. Gun violence is a serious issue, killing thousands of kids every year. In 2019, of the 46 weeks of school, 45 shootings had occurred on campuses across the country -- that averages to almost one a week.

Policies and procedures have been put in place to protect the student’s safety against gun violence; however they were not always safe. Apr. 20, 1999. This date is well known as the Columbine High Massacre -- the blueprint to all future shootings in schools.

“That’s the shooting that gets me because it was one of the first couple years I had started teaching,” science teacher Audrey Yurtinis said. “I was impressed with the bravery of the teachers, but saddened by the fact that students felt they needed to bring guns to school to control a situation they thought was out of control.”

School shootings have become an unfortunate trend across America.

The rate of shootings are increasing throughout the nation. Many stu-

The InvestiGator t GVHS

dents live in fear about coming to school, not knowing what could happen.

“I absolutely hate [gun violence] because people get hurt for no reason,” junior Christopher Cicia said.

“There is always that ‘what if’ in the back of your head when going to school.”

Studies have shown that there has been a link between mental illness and shootings. According to Columbia University Medical Center, three to five percent of shootings are due to mental illness. Administration has implemented a new class to make social and emotional problems more of a topic to let students realize they have options.

“More schools and school districts are working to try and identify students who are having psychological issues or having anxiety, anger, and other types of issues on the front end,” principal Kent Roberts said.

“This is so we can intercede before they get to the point where they feel like [gun violence and suicide] is an action they have to take.”

One of the new protocols Roberts was able to implement with his budget a one entry policy. On campus, there are more than eight ways to enter the building, not including the doors down the individual hallways.

This makes it very easy for someone to walk on campus and into the building.

“Making it a one entry school has

contributed to safety because if an intruder were to walk in the school they’d have to walk right past the front office,” senior Sage Remington said. “Which is made mostly from windows instead of being able to enter through the back or the quad where anyone could easily go unnoticed.”

,,

[Gun violence] is a pretty big issue and I would consider it as more of a crisis and less of an issue.

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Sage Remington

Along with the one entry policy, admin also added stricter locks on all of the side doors. In order to get into the building from a door that is not the main entrance, a new lock pad and key card are required. This is to prevent anyone from just walking in whenever they please.

“I can speak on behalf of the english teachers in the 200’s hallways.

They feel a lot safer knowing that

there is that code on the green doors,” english teacher Viviana Garner said.

“They’re very vulnerable. Someone can just pull off on the street and put their car right there and that seemed to be a very unsafe situation. Now that there are codes and locks, they feel a lot more secure.”

A real life shooting can compare to a ticking time bomb. A shooter is on a time clock from the second the first shot is fired. They have seconds to envoke chaos and violence before the cops arrive or someone takes them down. The further safety measures put in place are to help ensure the shooter has a shortened time clock.

“You can train people up to a point. Then there is anxiety of when something is on the line. You won’t know until it happens,” Roberts said.

“I think teachers are much more prepared now than they used to be because there is so much more awareness about it.”

Throughout the years, there have not only been significant shootings to help play a role in further protecting students, but small local events have occurred to add to the newfound rules to help protect students against gun violence. On campus alone there have been a few incidents which lead to new safety measures.

“Knowing that things are being updated, that’s a pretty good start, but I feel that possibly employing a few more police officers could be more beneficial. Especially on days

feature 11 like assembly days where were all in one confined space where something could break out,” Remington said.

According to Roberts, adding more personnel to walk around campus and ensure everyone is safe in the future of his plans; however he says that it will depend on the looks of the budget. Ideally he would like to add more social workers and definitely more monitors to help keep students safe and to hopefully help prevent future tragedies.

Within the last few years, social workers have been added on campus to help with mental health issues to contribute to the safety on campus.

They are brought on to deal with several tasks on campus. They often work with students to help make sure they all have safe home environments and get any help they might need.

“I think mental health is part of that umbrella [that causes gun violence], which is why I am grateful that our social workers are on campus. There’s three of them for 3100 students. I think there should be 1520 more,” Garner said. “From what I’ve heard directly from the social workers, they provide a lot of services that kids are lacking at home. It takes

Victoria Rodriguez

a village to make sure that someone is okay, so by the time they graduate high school, they can be a productive citizen.”

Further safety measures are usually a result of other major shootings.

One shooting that affected students

,,

It takes a village to make sure someone is okay, so by the time they graduate high school, they can be productive citizens.

,,

Viviana Garner

who are currently in high school is the Marjory Stonelass Douglas High

School shooting, also known as Parkland. In 2018 on Feb. 14 Nikolas Cruz used a semi-automatic rifle and open fired on a group of kids, killing 17 people and injuring 17 more.

“A school shooting that ended with a lot of deaths. It was on a random day and I think with the amount of people that lost their lives in that one really opened up everyone’s eyes as there were just so many lives lost,” Remington said.

Directly after, students in Florida took immediate action to try and bring awareness to the problem of gun violence. A movement popularly known as March For Our Lives movement broke out. In association to the movement, a nationwide walk out was scheduled by students. At 10 a.m. on March 14 in 2018 thousands of students walked out in the middle of class for 17 minutes -- a minute for each life lost. This was to prove a point to teachers, admin, congress, and to anyone who has power -stricter safety measures were needed.

“I think [protests] do help, especially when it’s nationwide; It is a way of peacefully protesting and making it a way to raise awareness,” Remington said.

However, not everyone feels that the walkout was a successful message. Cicia goes on to explain how the protest could have been more successful if more students actually took it seriously.

“Kids at our school are immature at times and just used it as a get out class free card,” Cicia said. “It would have been a bigger thing around the school if they showed that they cared and thought it was useful.”

On campus that day, administration made the decision to have an optional assembly that allowed students to come and speak on how they feel and what they felt was needed. Individuals from Congress and the school district were invited to attend the assembly to listen to the concerns of the students. Then later that night, parents got the opportunity to speak up.

“That brought awareness for sure, and hearing what students had to say was super important as if the kids at the school don’t feel safe, it’s not going to be smooth and happy running school and I think it could have brought some ideas and I’m glad admin listened and they updated some things,” Remington said. “It makes me feel safer knowing that they’re

www.abcnews.com

February 2020

12 feature ery variable considering there are so many. Not only that, Principal Roberts highlights on the fact that teachers are more prepared for an intruder nowadays because the awareness of gun violence has increased. Not only that but some may say that gun violence is not a minor issue. Rather, gun violence is a crisis. Esssentially gun violence is not minor.

“Considering the statistics, I would say that [gun violence] is a pretty severe issue and I would almost consider it as more of a crisis and less of an issue,” Remington said.

“I think teachers are much more prepared now than what they used to be just because there is so much more awareness than what there used to be,” Roberts said. “I am pretty confident that our staff here would handle things the right way, but there are just so many variables in that situation and you just can’t account for them all.” www.cnn.com

slowly updating things.”

Another addition was the implementation of a cell phone to every administrators and teachers on campus.

If an active shooter was on campus, or a firearm went off, all they have to do is push a button and it sends an immediate signal to every other phone informing teachers to go into a hard lockdown. This new implementation is a product of the Parkland shooting.

,,

I think teachers are much more prepared now than they used to be because there is so much more awarness about [gun violence].

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Kent Roberts

Aside from new protocols and procedures, some teachers and staff members go through numerous training sessions to help prepare them for a real life situation. This training gives teachers more skills in

The InvestiGator t GVHS

order to better prepare for a school shooting. One common training is known as the ‘Stop the Bleed’ training. This teaches them how to stop a student from bleeding out if something were to happen. They also have frequent drills and reviews to ensure everyone knows what to do in case of an emergency.

Aside from the school not getting the funding they need, there are other issues once they receive funding. Often times administration is faced with the problem of investing into further school materials to help students advance, or implementing further safety measures.

“Training students how to write in every classroom. The research says the more you write the better you learn that subject. That scenario is 100% likely to happen. The armed assailant scenario while it happens on a weekly basis, you are far more likely to be injured in a car accident than in a school shooting,” Roberts said.

Gun violence has affected thousands of lives across America. It has affected parents who have lost children, teachers who have lost students, children who have lost classmates, and the chain continues. Gun violence has not slowed down, but done the opposite. Now, more than ever, finding better ways to combate violence in schools has risen. As a result, new resources have been redirected towards a situation that is far less likely to happen. The sad reality

Victoria Rodriguez

is that gun violence has taken over the classroom, it has instilled fears in students about going to school, and it is only growing more rapidly. With that being said, Principal Roberts notes that one can not be 100% garuteed in regards to safetey measures. In other words one cannot accout for ev-

2

1

Victoria Rodriguez 1 - On every door leading to the school there is a paper informing guests to go the front of the school because all doors are locked. The new policy began during the last month of the 2018-19 school year.

2 - According to CCSD policy 4380, parents and guests must visit the main office in order to be on campus. All guests are required to sign in from there.

3

3 - A lock pad requiring a key card is placed on all doors that lead to the Tech Center to prevent having to leave the doors open and unlocked.

SHOWSTOPPER

feature 13

Sophomore takes reins while riding competitively

By Cherie Franklin

F

ive o’clock in the morning.

The barn is already open and hoofprints line the dirt of the arena. The smell of hay and saddle leather fills the air. Horses patiently wait in their stalls to be brushed and prepped for riding. Then, each course that is being run must be memorized and perfected. This would seem like a daunting task for most students on campus, but for sophomore Sarah Malchow, who has been riding horses competitively for five years, it is just another show day.

“Being able to work with a 1300 pound animal that doesn’t speak English and communicating and bonding with them is probably my favorite thing about riding,” Malchow said.

Malchow has grown up riding horses and she has fond memories of her experiences with them at a young age.

“The first time I ever got on a horse was at my aunt’s barn in New York. I remember her putting me on one of her littler ponies and then holding my hand and leading me around the arena. Seeing pictures of that when I got older really made it one of my happiest memories as a kid,” Malchow said.

Malchow doesn’t just ride horses, however. She is in Equestrian. More specifically, Malchow rides English, which includes the disciplines of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses.

This broad description includes the use of horses for competitive sport, but it differs from a similar style of riding Equestrian called Western. Western-style riding is different in many aspects, including the style of the saddle (Western-style is much less streamlined). The events

Not her first rodeo - Sophomore Sarah Malchow poses for the camera with her horse and ribbons. courtesy of Sarah Malchow

Knees up! - Sophomore Sarah Malchow leaps over a jump on a course at a competition in 2017. Malchow placed second in the show at Horseman’s Park. courtesy of Sarah Malchow

in Western and English also differ.

Western events are more likely to be seen in a rodeo, such as barrel racing. English’s most common event is jumping horses. Riding English is also more strict and organized.

“We take really good care of our horses, and we make sure their coats are always nice and clean. For the rider, we have a very strict attire. We have our tan breeches, black riding boots, a button-up shirt, and a coat, so there is not a whole ton of color,” Malchow said.

However, Malchow is used to the rigorous and high standards of English riding, as she has been competing since the age of nine. She says it was always her goal to eventually ride competitively.

“My barn is a show barn, so at one point the majority of the students will go on to compete. Once I got to a certain level, my trainer said ‘Do you want to do a show?’ and then it kept going from there and I never stopped,” Malchow said.

Nevertheless, riding horseback does not come without its challenges.

Malchow notes the bias that can often come with competing, especially in the eyes of the judges.

“At a show, the judge won’t necessarily be looking at the best rider or the best horse. They’ll probably go for the person that they know in the arena. If they like a certain color of a horse, they’ll pick that over who they actually think the best rider is,” Mal-

chow said.

Despite this, Malchow remains committed to her sport and is dedicated to improving even outside of the arena.

“I watch a lot of videos of Olympic riders to see what they do differently and what I can improve on. But

,,

My trainer said ‘Do you want to do a show?’ and then it kept going from there and I never stopped.

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Sarah Malchow

the hardest thing for me is definitely staying in shape for it because riding uses a lot of muscles that other sports don’t,” Malchow said. “And horses also have off days too. So if they’re not performing their best one day then sometimes it can be tough to work through that and not get down on yourself because of it.”

Like many other sports, Malchow says it is just a matter of pushing through the rough days, but also balancing rest and discipline.

“The horse can get just as stressed

as I do, especially because things are always changing. So if there is a day where I warm up and either my horse or myself seems off I might spend some extra time in the practice arena to see if we can get through it. If it is really bad, then those are the days that I cancel my classes and rest,” Malchow said.

To keep herself focused on days that she competes, Malchow says that she tries to keep her routine for those days consistent.

“I don’t sleep a lot the night before a show because we’re usually at the show grounds getting everything ready for the next day. And that night I’m usually out with my barn friends getting something to eat and just hanging out,” Malchow said. “The morning of, I always get Starbucks because we have to be there at 5:00 a.m. to set up. From that point on, we just try to relax and make sure our courses that we’re jumping are memorized so we can focus.”

This year, Malchow hopes to improve her skills overall, as well as to continue to become a fearless rider.

“When I was younger, I had almost no fear when it came to horses.

I’ve never said no to my trainer if she asks me to jump a jump or do something, but I feel like I have lost some of that because I have taken some really bad falls,” Malchow said. “So being able to find a good horse that I really bond with definitely helps me get over my fears.”

February 2020

14 sports

New coach called into action Irvin takes charge of men’s basketball program

N

By Tyler Bonnette

ew decade, new coach. For the first time since 2010, the men’s basketball program has a new face on the sidelines. Ezra Irvin has taken over head coaching duties along with his assistant coach, Keith Starr. They have been diligently working with the team to ensure that each and every player on the team is at the top of their game, while also balancing time to teach science classes on campus.

Irvin takes over a program that has finished with a winning record only once in the past seven years and last saw the State tournament in 2012.

Irvin takes over the position with prior experience in the district. He has worked for CCSD as both a coach and a teacher for several years now.

“I coached JV and B-Team at Rancho High School. Prior to that, I coached in Salt Lake City for about two years,” Irvin said. “I’ve been the head coach for other sports in town as well.”

Irvin joined the campus faculty at the beginning of the 2019-20 school year after being named head coach of the varsity boys’ basketball team in April of last school year. This will be his first time serving as the head coach of a varsity basketball team and being in charge of a program after having mostly been an assistant coach throughout his teaching career.

“I’m lucky to have the opportunity to come be head coach here,” Irvin said. “I grew up around the game. My dad was a college coach and I played.

Basketball is what I know.”

In the first few weeks of his arrival, there were struggles to be dealt with in the new work environment that is to be presented by not just a new coach, but the dynamic of having a head coach as well as a new assistant coach being involved in the process. Though it took some doing, the Sebastian Villamil

On the same page - Head coach Ezra Irvin talks to senior Kaden Jackson during a break in the action at a home basketball game.

The InvestiGator t GVHS

players got used to the change, and the coaches each use their own tactics to assist.

“It’s definitely interesting because both coaches bring something different to the table,” senior Kaden Jackson said.

Irvin and Starr work together to make sure the players are working hard and bettering themselves every single day of practice. Irvin will often take a one-on-one approach with the players, helping them individually to strengthen their skills. When a player makes a mistake, he takes a more personal approach with them, pulling them aside afterward and talking to them separately from the other players.

“We’re trying to make sure they’re good kids, that they’re accountable, that they follow the rules, and that they’re respectful and honest,” Irvin said.

Irvin’s methods of coaching have been beneficial to the team’s abilities, and contrast some of the methods used by Starr. This creates a dynamic between the two that helps strengthen the team in every way possible.

“He’s mostly seeing how we as a

Sebastian Villamil Huddle up - At a home game on Feb. 6 vs. Basic, head coach Ezra Irvin addresses the team during a timeout. The Gators escaped with a 61-57 victory.

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I grew up around the game. My dad was a college coach and I played.

Basketball is what I know.

Ezra Irvin

,,

team work together,” Jackson said.

“He isn’t very controlling, like ‘do this, do that,’ but he’s letting us figure it out and helping when he can.”

The two coaches working together gives the players a good balance of hands-on work as well as team building and problem solving with each other. In this way, the coaches aren’t constantly involved and controlling of the players.

“We’re figuring it out,” Irvin said.

“It’s our first year working together, so we may disagree on things from time to time.”

Coach Irvin plans on working not just on the team and their abilities, but also the basketball program as a whole. As the head coach, he looks for ways that he can improve the team outside of just strengthening their skills. He has already taken notice of several ways to get the program moving in a new and different direction as a whole.

“It’s more about a change of culture than it is necessarily about specifics,” Irvin said. “I want to change the attitude about it; I want the kids to feel like they deserve to win, like they’ve worked really hard and deserve it.”

There is always difficulty for coaches with balancing their time between classes and their teams. Worrying about games and scheduling is already nerve wracking at times; combine the coaching responsibilities with grading, writing tests and other parts of being a teacher and the result is a huge time commitment. Not only

that, but Irvin has to keep track of the grades and behavior of the athletes as well to make sure that they are all still qualified to remain players on the basketball team.

“It’s a really big time commitment of course,” Irvin said. “And it’s a big responsibility too. If something goes wrong or if there’s an error, I’m responsible for it.”

The team is optimistic about the future of this season as they work more and more with the coaches. After a difficult start, most have gotten used to the dynamic and are hopeful about the time ahead for the team.

Everyone is excited to see how the rest of the season will go with this new development, and how Irvin’s contributions will help the program throughout the next several seasons.

“I’m glad to be here,” Irvin said.

“Since I’ve gotten here, everyone’s been really supportive. It’s a great culture to be a part of and I’m thankful.”

sports 15

Team dominates local tournaments

Flag football captures two championships, takes aim at State

By Alexis Lane

T

wo tournament trophies earned in dominant fashion.

The flag football team won their first State championship last year and are continuing their winning ways with three tournament wins at Shadow Ridge and four victories at Virgin Valley In Mesquite at the Virgin Valley Invitational, the Gators rode their defense to a title as they finished with three shutouts, including a 19-0 win over Virgin Valley in the championship game on Dec. 7.

The Shadow Ridge tournament took place at Shadow Ridge HS on Jan. 3-4 and the team captured another first place trophy. GV defeated the host Mustangs 20-6 in the title game.

“Our hard work really separates us as a team, plus us all working together,” junior Cuicani Waialae-Munoz said. “Shadow Ridge was very competitive and it just came down to who wanted it more.”

Junior Alexa Mansur has played flag football for three years and made varsity her sophomore year. She explained her bond with her team and how they work together to achieve their goals. Their success comes from individual success and coming together as a team to actively communicate.

“Our weaknesses come from our own mistakes, but that’s when we just

,We,definitely thrive

off the high energy of each other during any game or tournament, which allows us to succeed.

,,

Alexa Mansur

pick each other up and encourage each other to keep going which definitely helps us overcome things. We always try to be resilient, and if something isn’t going our way, we just have to remind ourselves that we’re just in our own heads and that it’s okay to make a mistake, because you can always make up for it,” Mansur said.

After the team wins a game, they

Thrice as nice - Varsity flag football celebrates capturing their third straight Virgin Valley Invitational title on Saturday, Dec. 7.

courtesy of Chris Zinke

sing the school’s fight song to celebrate. They also have a pregame routine of giving each other words of encouragement to help each other focus.

They have team bonding activities off the field that keep them connected as well. After their season ended last year, their coaches took them to a Brazilian jiu-jitsu studio to learn women’s self defense for a couple of hours. During season, the girls often grab drinks at Dutch Bros. after practice. Being such a close knit group has its benefits on the field.

“We definitely thrive off the high energy of each other during any game or tournament, which allows us to succeed,” Mansur said. “We are a close group and it makes us better.”

The girls take the process of winning very seriously with every game, tournament, and practice. They always go over basic fundamentals that are always used in games. Their offensive coordinator tells the girls to play the game the way it is supposed to be played, which is to play to win.

The team has demonstrated that one of their key components to success is communication. During games and tournaments, the team has had struggles but they have been able to retaliate and come together as a team to find a way to win.

“Both offense and defense, we always have each others backs. If defense doesn’t make a good play, offense is going out there to make a

good play. If the offense doesn’t execute a good play then defense will go out there and get the ball back for us. We just come back stronger, so we all work together as a team and that’s one thing that actually pulls us together,” Waialae-Munoz said.

Between the two tournaments, the Shadow Ridge tournament was the more difficult one because of the competition. Their opponents from Shadow were seen as bigger and very physical, giving the team a different challenge. The team focused on overcoming the physical disadvantage as they progressed through the bracket.

“I think in the Shadow Ridge tournament we saw better competi-

tion, and we had to play a little more focused to win that tournament over the Mesquite tournament,” varsity head coach David Torrez said.

Last year, the team won their first State championship, defeating Bonanza. The goal for the 2019-20 season is to get back in a position to have a chance to defend their title.

“We don’t look at the State game as the ultimate goal. We focus on the process of getting there so that every game and every practice is part of the process to get where we need to be,” Torrez said. “If we lose sight of that process, which is the present, then the future can’t happen and we won’t do well when we’re there.”

Alexis Lane

February 2020

sports 17

Danger arrives on campus Junior takes leap into world of professional wrestling

By Brenna Knight

F

ive minutes. That is all Abigail Spencer has to defeat her opponent. Adrenaline is rushing through her veins as she takes the ring with her partner. As she takes her time to enter, she slows down her heart beat and focuses on the match.

Spencer is a junior on campus who is a professional wrestler. Spencer has been wrestling for four years now, starting on her thirteenth birthday. She started wrestling by wanting to raise a million dollars for leukemia lymphoma.

“One of the wrestlers Mick Foley, was doing a comedy show and then he invited me and told me that any money that we make from merch was going to help towards the fundraiser,” Spencer said.

From there he talked to Spencer about wrestling and training out in Las Vegas. Since then Spencer has been training and she even dedicated her first match to Foley.

Spencer’s routine consists of her waking up, going to school, finishing her homework after, and going to practice from 5:oo to 8:00. She then she goes home to sleep and repeats the process all over again.

For wrestling, Spencer does not have to be on a diet but she does have to stay in shape.

“Being in ‘ring shape’ is different than lifting weights and getting your body built. Having good cardio for the ring is really important,” Spencer said.

Wrestling is a performance, and it even has a storyline to it. One of the theatrical aspects of wrestling is trash talking. For instance, Spencer was once talked about at a wrestling match but she did not take it personal

because it was all an act. This helps Spencer get into character because it fuels the confidence in her.

“It’s all acting and you’re working with each other. He told me he was going to say some things and I understood what he had to do. So it’s nothing personal and it is like presenting a character,” Spencer said.

With wrestling having a storyline to it, there must be characters. Spencer’s character “Abby Dangerous” is all about being confident with who she is and what she is doing. The word ‘dangerous’ in her ring name is to show that she is there to wrestle and show her opponent what she can offer.

“I play that character because I want young kids, especially girls to know that they can do anything and

,,

I want young kids, especially girls to know that they can do anything.

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Abigail Spencer

to love who they are,” Spencer said.

With being an athlete in a sport, there is always a provoking side to it.

“The hardest part of wrestling would have to be when you go into a match, whether it be in state or out of, and you get introduced to someone and have to work with them when you don’t even know them,” Spencer said.

courtesy of Abigail Spencer

All business - Spencer focuses on an opponent during a wrestling match on July 16, 2017. She has played numerous roles in various events in Las Vegas.

Smackdown - Junior Abigail Spencer poses for a picture with famous WWE manager Jimmy Hart.

Spencer trained at a class he hosted in Dec. 2017.

courtesy of Abigail Spencer

To help with this difficult task, Spencer has learned that she needs to be able to cooperate with her opponent so that if they mess up, they can learn from each other and bounce back into the match.

“There are times where I can sometimes mess up or my partner can make a mistake but we have to learn how to work with each other and figure out how to get back to the next move we were going to do,” Spencer said. “So really it’s just all about working with each other.”

Communication is key, especially if the wrestlers do not know each other. If there is no communication between the coach, managers and the wrestlers, the match could be ruined.

The coach picks who they want to see wrestle because they know who will work well together. Then they will tell the wrestlers who they are going up against and start to go over the moves that the wrestlers will be performing.

With the difficult parts there are always good aspects of the sport. For Spencer, she loves to put on the performance for all her supporters and whoever else is watching the match.

“My favorite part of wrestling is just performing for the people and everyone there. It’s really cool,” Spencer

said.

Like most athletes, Spencer has many people that inspire her to do her best and push for her goal. Those people would include Mick Foley, some of her instructors such as Jake the Snake Roberts, Sinn Bohdie, D’Lo Brown, and Leon Hater.

Being a girl in the wrestling industry is interesting for Spencer. There are not many female wrestlers, but that does not bring Spencer down.

“I show that I can learn and perform just as good as men and I would never say that I’ve been looked down on because I was a girl, I actually am supported a lot because of it,” Spencer said.

Since there are not many women in the industry, other girls could be striving for the same goal but are struggling due to the stereotype of being female. Spencer wants to serve as a reminder to young girls that they are capable as long as they believe.

“I want to show and remind them that even if you’re a girl wrestling that you can do it. You just need to have passion and believe in yourself,” Spencer said. “So to me I love being one of the few girls because it shows kids who don’t think they can do it that it’s possible.”

February 2020

news 05

Dance team takes on Disney 18 sports

Mamba legacy lives on Athletes pay tribute to basketball legend

Season kicks off with performance on center stage

By Alexis Lane

D

ance team kicked off their 2019-20 season with a dance showcase in Disneyland durShaelyn Gamiao ing a trip toByAnaheim, California for two days. Disneyland hosted a ollowing the tragic helicopter performingincident art week for young per-Bryinvolving Kobe formers from across theother country and ant and nine individuals, invited dance his teams to perform including daughter Giannaon Bry-

F

,,

ant, the GV women’s basketball team came together to mourn them. Bryant impacted not only the basketball community, but everyone as a whole.

“I watched him growing up. He was my brother and I’s favorite player ever since he was wearing the number 8, and then switched to the 24 jersey,” sophomore Miracle Bird explained. “We always played basketball and wanted to be like Kobe. We’d laugh and every shot was like, ‘Kobe.’

It’s always just been like Kobe.”

For young athletes, Kobe’s passing was a big deal. He brought teams together and sparked that ‘Mamba the mainstage. were bands, orMentality’ There in athletes and people chestras and choirs from all over the alike. country,“He butwasn’t the Green Dance he just aValley great athlete; bunch stuff team with kids, orgateamdid wasathe onlyofdance to perand heThey was were a family person. form nizations from Nevada. invited sports are about family.

When whenAll Disney witnessed them particiyou’re not with pate in a parade last family year. or away from home your team is family,” junior Mi“It’s a fun trip to help team bondchelle Lagunas Monroy said. ing and The getting exposure for our pro-was varsity basketball team graminspired and not to only it California doisthe tribute forbut Kobe because of his influence on young athletes. They decided to wear yellow and purple laces to represent Kobe and the team he played for, the Los Angeles Lakers.

“I wanted to do something for Kobe because he was a big influence on all of our lives. He was a basketball player and a big supporter of women’s basketball,” Lagunas Monroy said. “I was thinking and the laces just seemed like the perfect idea. Purple and yellow were the Lakers colors, and he played for the Lakers.”

The team’s efforts to honor Kobe gained recognition by the local news.

“We got the laces idea from two

The teams’ energy and their entertainment factors are amazing.

,,

Rachel Ostler

there are other schools that are really good that are going,” senior Olivia Watson said.

Because the showcase was all the way in Disneyland, they were the only of our captains, Rianfrom and Michelle. dance team coming Nevada, Theythem got therecognition laces and they like, giving in were an envi‘we should do yellow and purple for ronment where they are not really our shoes,” Bird said. “At the Coroknown with other nado along game we didseveral the laces and perthey forming arts that came recorded us.groups They texted us laterfrom that other trip nightparts and of toldthe us nation. we wereThe going to served both a learning alsoour a be onasthe news, and then and we saw

bonding experience for the team for the long season ahead of them with many more dance shows coming up this year.

“The team’s energy and their enphoto courtesy Ryan Anderson tertainment factorsofare amazing.

This is going to be a really good experience for us because it’s going to prepare us for our winter show and competition. The team worked so hard and the improvement from the summer is amazing,” captain and junior Rachel

Ostler said.

Their contagious energy that they give at school functions all start with team energy. The dramatic change in size has strengthened their bond and how they work together as a team.

The Disneyland trip helped the team bond and become closer as a group, and they had a memorable experience with each other during the trip.

The extra day in Disney was given to the team to relax and enjoy their trip shoes were on there.” with their friends and become closer courtesy of Neyta Flores Esquer Kobe gave everyone the motivato some they might not know that tion to give it your all by showing well and make a bond before coming them that they are all capable of back to school. greatness if they put in the effort.

“We have families on the team and “Mamba mentality is about you we got to ride rides with them and get going out there and just playing your to know each other more and it was heart out and leaving everything on really fun. We also didn’t have our the court. That’s what all athletes phones on us,” senior Miah Bencich should do when they play and they do what they love,” Bird said. said.

Kobe Bryant played a major role According to the team, the showin their lives, being a role model that case itself was an exciting experience. generations of youth aspire to beMoment of silence - The Coronado and Green Valley They women’shad to act quickly because of come. basketball teams hold hands in memory of Kobe Bryant howonfast the show was going and all “Kobe was a huge supporter of Tuesday, Jan. 28 before their conference matchup at Coronado. the fast costume changes, but hanwomen’s basketball and that means a dled it well and executed an amazing lot because a lot of people don’t supshow for the big crowd, being that port women’s basketball so having they performed on the mainstage. him do that is crazy,” Lagunas Monroy said.

“Performing was stressful but Showtime - The dance team arrives at the main Kobe’s death was not the only lossstage at Disneyland ready to perform on Nov. 7. other than that we had a fun time perthat affected students. His daughter,They performed a total of 15 dances at the event. forming and it was an eventful day,” Gianna Bryant, had a bright future sophomore Emma Rojas said. as well. There was the expectation of carrying on Kobe’s legacy that she was so determined to oversee.

“Gigi was only 13, and she had her whole life to live. She was a player.

She was so good. She was going to be big in basketball,” Lagunas Monroy said.

The team prepared emotionally for their game, by taking a moment of silence in memoriam of Kobe. He was an idol and legend to many, and for the Gators, they wanted to win the game for him. He inspired them to give it their all, and they did. GV wound up winning the important conference matchup by a final score of 50-46.

Rep L.A. - Athletes wore purple and yellow laces to commemorate Kobe and his former team, the Los Angeles Lakers.

photo courtesy of Ryan Anderson

“That game against Coronado was a really good game. We were all excited and prepped for it,” Bird said.

“We had 30 seconds of silence after the national anthem. When we did it, everyone was ready and wanting to make that game for him.”

Taking away from this experience, the number one thing the team will remember when playing basketball

is the Mamba Mentality that Bryant sparked in others.

“I’m just going to do what I love and I’m going to play my heart out every time I step on the court,” Lagunas Monroy said.

While Kobe’s death is a tragedy in itself, his soul lives on in the hearts of others and especially those who play the game of basksetball.

Ventano Italian Grill 191 S. Arroyo Grande Blvd.

702-944-4848

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open at 11 a.m.

December 2019

a&e 19 onstrate a transparent insight as to how Miller hit a personal rock bottom and the vigorous struggle he endures whilst trying to pull himself back together.

“Out of all his songs, the one that stands out the most for me would be “Come Back to Earth,” because everything he says in that song feels like it’s coming directly from inside of his mind,” freshman Maria Edwards said. “It’s like he’s talking to me personally. That is why I love him so much.”

In his song entitled “Come Back to Earth,” which is featured on “Swimming,” there were multiple lyrics that stood out and provided a depth into Miller’s personal and emotional thoughts. In the chorus he stated “I’ll do anything to get out of my head,” and “I’d do anything for a way out.”

Miller later goes on to sing, “And I was drowning, but now I’m swimming through stressful waters to relief… Grey skies and I’m drifting, not living forever, they told me that it only gets better.”

The songs on the “Swimming”

the responsibility of completing the album in a way they felt expressed Miller’s character and style. Brion used many of his conversations with Miller to complete “Circles” as he thought he would have wanted.

A majority of the songs featured on these albums differ from his previous albums such as “The Divine Feminine” and “GO:OD AM”. This is because both “Swimming” and “Circles” really shine a light on Miller’s introspective feelings along with his singing and musical aspects. In their own ways, both albums allow the instrumentals to be heard in a way that makes them stand out like never before, along with lyrics that hit home for himself and many of his fans.

While discussing the album “Circles,” many of Miller’s fans feel as if they have been reassured, as they had not been expecting any new music.

“When I found out “Circles” was getting released I didn’t know what to feel,” freshman Mason Whiting said. “It was like a wave of emotions, I was happy to be able to hear his voice singing words that felt reassuring.”

Swimming in Circles

A piece of Mac Miller leaves his fans with reverence

www.discogs.com

By Violet La Mela

A

day that started off like any other, would soon conclude with the death of a widely adored and influential American rapper. The heartbreaking news of Malcolm James McCormick aka Mac Miller’s accidental overdose quickly expanded across the internet, leaving millions of his fans to grieve.

While the news came as a surprise, the reasoning of Miller’s death was a given. He had been struggling with substance abuse, something often referred to within his own lyrics in his songs.

“I feel like his music differs from

most rappers because music now has grown to be really demeaning,” senior Melissa Olvera said, “Everything about Mac is real in a way that lets me connect with his music more.”

“Swimming” was Miller’s most recent album that had been released prior to his untimely death, following his breakup with Ariana Grande.

He told Beats 1 host, Zane Lowe, that this album was just him talking about the things he’s proud of himself for, things he’s afraid of, and the things that are just purely his thoughts and emotions. Throughout the songs displayed in “Swimming” many dem-

album referenced his mental state at the time of the release and explained the internal struggles he had faced alone. Making music allowed Miller to take a “vacation” from himself and the real world.

During an interview with Fender, a media network, Miller explained how it is nice to not have to discuss how he was feeling as well as how he used songwriting and music as his personal outlet. Miller also described how he discovered many new things about himself by just picking up an instrument and playing.

An Instagram post made by Miller’s family announced the release of “Circles” an album made to accompany “Swimming” on Jan. 8, 2020. The post read, “At the time of his passing, Malcom was well into the process of recording his companion album to Swimming, entitled Circles. Two different styles complementing each other, completing a circle.”

When an artist passes away, there is no way to know the intent of their plans for their unfinished work.

Miller’s family and former producers, along with Jon Brion, had to take on

Overall, “Circles” is filled with meaningful lyrics that allow his audience to feel something.

Not only does this album contain

,,

I was happy to be able to hear his voice singing words that felt reassuring.

Mason Whiting

,,

bittersweet lyrics like, “Haven’t seen the sun in a while but I heard that the sky’s still blue.” In this lyric, he speaks on how he was not content but still remained hopeful. Lyrics like these have finally allowed his fans to feel a sort of closure from the artist’s untimely passing.

February 2020

20 a&e

INTO OVER & MOUNTAINS WOODS the

the

Programs join forces, put on crowd pleasing musical

By Alexis Lane

S

howtime! The Green Valley Theatre department performed the production “Into the Woods,” originally written by James Lapine and composed by Stephen Sondheim, on Feb. 6-8, and 13-15. The plot of the musical follows a baker and his wife as well as several other fairy tale characters venturing into the woods, each with their own goal in mind. The students worked hard to maintain the reputation that the dpartment has sustained for years.

“We take into consideration the huge legacy and reputation in the theatre, and it puts a lot on our shoulders, so that pushes us to be our best.

Everyone in the theatre has to be responsible for their own things. Everyone has to be self-reliant,” senior Mara Davis said.

Students rehearsed every day after school starting at 2:30. Early on in the rehearsal process, the cast would stay as late as 5:00. In the weeks leading up to the show, however, rehearsals would last until as late as 8 p.m.

They worked tirelessly, doing full runs in their costumes and rehearsing different acts until they perfected their work.

“We don’t just rehearse something until it’s right, we rehearse something until it’s perfect and it can’t be done wrong,” senior Mara Davis said.

Putting on the production was a stressful process. Unlike many of the theatre’s performances, it was not just theatre students; there were technical theatre students, choir students, and an orchestra to help put together the production. All of the departments were reliant on each other to create the musical, and the cast was much smaller than their previous productions this year.

Nearly everyone had an important role in the play, so all of the actors need to be put on microphones. The actors needed their props from tech, tech needed sound effects from the orchestra, and the orchestra helped play the music for the actors/choir to sing along to.

“Our musical is theatre, technical theatre, choir, and orchestra, so that

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is a lot of people working together to make one thing happen. It’s a department-wide effort, everyone has to do their part to make it happen,” theatre advisor and director Jennifer Hemme said.

Although the actors are the only thing the audience see, a lot goes on

,,

We don’t just rehearse something until it’s right, we rehearse something until it’s perfect and it can’t be done wrong.

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Mara Davis

behind the scenes with the lights, microphones, and props that help the actors succeed. The tech students are responsible for taking care of the actors’ microphones, stage lights, props, and plenty more that are key components for making the production work.

Before every rehearsal, sound technicians are in charge of putting microphones on the actors once they are fully dressed. Then they line everyone up to test them out and check for any problems in their microphones before they begin rehearsing.

“The actors have microphones so that you can hear them over the music, and I control the levels of the volumes of the mics along with the music so you can hear them, and they sound good without any other disruptions,” senior sound technician Jessica Fellows said.

The tech’s jobs are also to help take care of the costumes, which sometimes requires making the costumes themselves such as their accessories,

dresses, or suits that need to be worn by the actors. The process of making props can be difficult as well because they have to create whole sets much bigger than the students themselves which requires scaling, putting together, and painting the props. Some of the sets seen in plays were made entirely by students. Along with helping put the play together, they actively participate in shows with controlling the lights and the microphones.

The lighting technicians are a key role during the play because of the singing. Singers have their solos, and it is up to the light crew to take care of the spotlights to help draw attention to the actors.

“Theatre is both actors and technicians. We set up the props before the scene, it’s not the actors making all their clothes or putting things together. Some of us knit and put it all together. Some of the scarves seen in ‘Into the Woods’ were knitted by the students, along with the houses and sets in general are painted by technicians, everything is put together by technicians,” senior Madilyn Munoz said.

Along with the stress of theatre, a good portion of the theatre students are also in the school’s Madrigal choir, sometimes making it more dif-

ficult. Although they are busy, they gave a lot of positive contributions to the musical. “Into the Woods” is known to be a more challenging musical because of the singing parts.

Because they are more experienced in singing, it puts them at a big advantage when learning their parts.

The choir students were able to help a lot in that department and help the students who were not in choir with their parts where they had to sing.

Their own singing abilities contributed to the show. Specifically, for the newer actors who had to play since the play required a lot of vocal pieces be performed.

“I came into this show with a better understanding of how to sing certain things a little bit easier,” junior Brendan Stephens said. “The music for this show is actually pretty hard, there’s some really difficult things.

So having been in choir, it’s definitely helped me learn the musical a lot faster.”

Their tireless effort and countless hours put into their department all pays off with their outstanding productions put on during the year from both the actors and technicians. Both departments make amazing shows from their talent and hard work that go into all their musicals.

Cherie Franklin

Got milk? - Sophomore Cash Freeman and senior Mara Davis rehearse the show’s opening on Feb. 6. They prepared for the show in full costume and makeup.

Let’s go to Granny’s - Sophomore Robert Tadeo and junior Joelie Mountain rehearses a scene on Feb. 4 in preparation for opening night. The cast spent hours perfecting the show in the weeks leading up to the scheduled performances.

Cherie Franklin

22 a&e

Break the Internet, he did Fans become infatuated with new Disney character

By Abigail Culpepper The Internet has once again been taken over. This time by a little, green guy dubbed “Baby Yoda.” Baby Yoda, whose real name is “The Child” first appeared to viewers in the Disney+ original “The Mandalorian,” a Star Wars spin-off series. His adorable looks is what swept the audience off their feet from the beginning. Since then, the little guy has evolved into so much more.

One thing Baby Yoda has done for the Internet is unite the entire Star Wars fandom. Putting differences aside, many of those who would normally never cross from light to dark have thrown out theories about Baby Yoda’s origin. Many of the vast range of theories relate back to Yoda in some way. One theory states he is

the forbidden love child of Yoda and Yaddle, two Jedi Masters who have both sat on the high council. Another group theorizes that Baby Yoda is

,,

No matter how or why Baby Yoda was created, we know he is in danger.

,,

simply old Yoda that has time traveled, or that he is a reincarnated version of old Yoda. Steering away from the theories that he is connected to yoda, one group spectates that it is plausible that the dark side manipulated the force to create “The Child.”

No matter how or why he was created, Baby Yoda is in danger.

The star bounty hunter of “The Mandalorian” was sent to retrieve “The Child” and turn him over for extraction. Despite these orders, the Mandalorian has turned into more of a parental figure and has been caring for Baby Yoda.

One thing known for certain is that the creators of “The Mandalorian,” have not given fans any sort of indication whether or not one will ever know the true origin of Baby Yoda. Although we have been told that his true name will be revealed.

Although no timeframe was given, in an interview, Disney CEO Bob Iger said it would be “fairly soon.”

Just like many other characters in the Star Wars galaxy, Baby Yoda has powers of his own. Thus far we

have seen his amazing force-sensitivity that allows him to levitate small objects. Another one of his powers that has been revealed is the power to heal with just a touch and some simple concentration. Fans also know that upon using his powers, Baby Yoda becomes extremely exhausted and must rest before carrying on. It is speculated that with age will come strength and possibly more powers.

With the little information that is know, the obsession over Baby Yoda is proof that the Star Wars method of leaving things up in the air has worked yet again. Society is drawn to the unknown and cute things. Baby Yoda is a prime example of both these things all bundled into one.

For now fans are left to wait and hope to see more of Baby Yoda.

Abigail Culpepper

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a&e 23

New decade, new albums #1 “The Slow Rush” Tame Impala

By Abigail Culpepper The slow rush: Tame Impala’s long awaited tracks gave listeners everything they had hoped for. In the decade since Tame Impala’s debut of “Innerspeaker,” the band, actually consisting of only one man, Kevin Parker, has completely transformed himself into a multi-festival headliner. In the five year gap since the release of “Currents,” the prequel to “The Slow Rush,” Parker has taken the time to put his own bit of perfection into every track.

Despite producing music known to escape the bounds of pop, rock and dance music, Parker has kept one constant, his ethereal falsetto.

Meaning his music gives a certain sense of being “otherworldly” and having unusually high male voice present. Along with this, “The Slow Rush” seems to follow the theme of time and eluding the world’s defini-

tion of perfection.

The top three songs of the album include: “Borderline,” “Lost in Yesterday”, and “It Might Be Time” The song “Borderline” consists of a mellow tempo and is very calming “Lost in Yesturday” is slighty faster and does a good job at making you want to sway along with the music.

“It Might Be Time” has a different beat to it, but can be considred relatable. It is the fastest of the three songs and very entertaining.

T h e album has good flow and it is not like every other artist out there.

9/ 10

Lil Wayne “Funeral”

Selena Gomez “Rare”

Halsey “Manic”

Justin Bieber “Changes”

Weezy has done it again. Lil’ Wayne released “Funeral” and the title had fans worrying it may be his last. Realistically, no artist would end on such a career high. After the dark period before “Tha Carter V,” “Funeral” has reconfirmed Lil’ Wayne viability as an artist. The album managed to find the perfect mix of Lil’ Wayne’s mixtape type music and his album type music. This perfect balance proved to be successful in pleasing critics and fans alike.

Another aspect that “Funeral” brings to the table is the wide variety of collaborations. Artists such as the late XXXtentacion, Adam Levine and Takeoff, are all featured on the Jan. 31st release.

The transformed Disney star has produced her best album yet. “Rare” seems to be the biggest, boldest step Gomez has taken on her journey of finding her own true self. The album was produced after a stormy four year gap in which gomez battled with the media’s intense coverage of both her mental and physical health. Despite these setbacks, Gomez managed to produce an album that shows a strength rooted in moving on and self love. “Cut You Off,” and “Let Me Get Me” are just two of the albums 13 songs that radiate a mature, wise and grown up artist, something Gomez has been trying to accomplish ever since her departure from Disney.

Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, known in the music industry as Halsey released her fourth album, “Manic” on Jan. 17 2020. Halsey’s transition from indie to pop has allowed her to broaden her fanbase.

This album embodies the emotional struggles that normal, everyday people go through all the time.

No better title than, “Manic,” could be given to this rollercoaster album.

As an artist, Halsey is someone who leads with emotions rather than logic and the songs confirm this.

Songs like “Killing Boys,” and “You Should be Sad,” radiate Halsey’s unpredictability.

Overall, her new album is worth one’s time for at least one good listen.

Bieber’s Valentine’s Day release could not have been released at a better time than the day dubbed “Love Day.” The album seems to be a tribute to his wife, Hailey Bieber.

After a music hiatus to focus on his own self worth and his relationship to Hailey, Bieber has proved to have used that time in just the way he told fans he would.

At its surface, “Changes,” is rooted in Haileys intense love for Bieber and how it has changed him into the man he is today.

While the album is good, a lot of the songs are really similar and sound the same.

However, there are a few that are killer and you could listen to all day long and not get bored.

8/ 10

7/ 10

6/ 10

5/ 10

February 2020

1

Friday Feb. 7 First Friday 2

3

Friday Feb. 14

Sadies Assembly

1. Junior Abram Martinez pulls fellow prince William Slater on a fake horse during February’s First Friday. The “Into The Woods” cast made appearances at both lunches.

2. Junior Torrence Orsborn plays Connect Four in the quad during First Friday on Feb. 7. Gator Pride threw an early Valentine’s Day celebration with their love themed decorations and games.

3. Junior Londyn Hill laughs with a student during the cast’s appearances. Hill played the role of Snow White in theatres’ production of “Into The Woods.”

4. From left to right, freshman Janeir Cintron, junior Maximus Timoteo and senior Anyssa Ortiz perform during this year’s Sadies week assembly. Poly Club performed between the sophomore and junior girlbands.

5. Madrigals member and junior Brenden Stephens hits a dance move to hype the crowd. Madrigals performed the National Anthem to kick off the assembly.

5

4

Afredita Vinca, Tyler Bonnette & Kara Lynn Moden

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GV’s VS. week

6

By Abigail Culpepper

8

7 6. Senior Girl Band ends their performance by throwing Jackie Mason in the air as other members release confetti. The seniors won Girl Band for the second year in a row.

7. Members of junior Girl Band hold Ashlyn Welter in the air as they dance to High School Musical’s “Fabulous.” The juniors kept the crowd active with their use of Tik Tok songs.

8. Freshmen Girl Band grabs the crowd’s attention with their fierce facial expresions. The freshmen brought the heat with their clean and fresh dance moves.

9. Senior Braydon Clayton is lifted up by other seniors as the class wins the spirit stick yet again. So far, the seniors have won the spirit stick at every assembly this school year.

Juliana Shephard, Cherie Franklin & Aferdita Vinca

9

February 2020

26 opinion

Teens struggle to find safe work place Students face hurdles at work, deal with challenging atmospheres

By Neyta Flores

A

long with school and home life, teenagers often times decide to take on a job. As they grow older, the want for independence grows; therefore, they crave having something for themselves. However, a hostile workplace, especially for a teenager, can negatively affect many aspects in their life.

A toxic workplace, is a workplace that is marked by significant drama, where personal battles harm people and their productivity. A toxic work environment can differ from small drama and bickering to the boss dictating instead of being a leader.

“When I was working over the summer, my co-workers would start rumors about me and call me derogatory names just because I was a teenager,” senior Tatyanna Wilson said. Wilson used to work at a business that was popular over the Summer months.

In a teenager’s life changes can become consuming.

Teenagers already have to keep their school life, social life and home life in tact.

With this, some have to maintain a job as well, so having a toxic work environment brings more than enough stress to a teenager’s young life.

Mental health, something that does not receive as much awareness as it should, is an important part of a teenager’s life. It is a sensitive subject; however, it is crucial to pay attention to, for teenagers are most prone to having depression, anxiety, etc. Many factors play into this, such as school, home and a teen’s peers; the last thing they need is toxicity.

“It took quite a toll on me - it was seriously stressing me out, and it made work ten times harder. It stops you from being able to actually work sometimes because co-workers decide to be immature,” Wilson said, continuing on her old drama filled work environment.

A common treatment for teenage employees is also being disrespected just for being younger than most workers. They are looked down upon and often unappreciated for being young and new to working.

“Managers would talk badly about us and purposely schedule us on days we couldn’t work. They would see anyone younger than them as less and would give them the work they were asked to do and take credit for

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it,” senior Victoria Perez said, who worked in customer service.

In Perez’s work environment, her managers were less leaders and more dictators. Not only did they see younger workers as weaker than them, but they took advantage. Along with being malicious, they would completely change personalities.

“They basically became different people when they weren’t being

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They would see anyone younger than them as less.

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Victoria Perez

watched by anybody more ‘powerful’ than them. When something was done wrong, the younger ones, including me, were always blamed even when we didn’t do anything,” Perez said.

Most teenagers are not only new in their job, but they are new to working in general. Therefore, they are learning the ropes and accustoming themselves to new things; but with this comes mistreatment. Because they are so new, and younger than most workers, they can be - for lack of a better word - bullied.

“All of the workers treat me like I don’t know what I’m doing, or like it’s my first day there. And even though I don’t need help, they don’t even try to ask me if I need anthing. They tend to choose to be disrespectful and rude. I know what I’m doing, and they know that, but they prefer to treat me like I’m stupid,” junior Gabe Shank said.

Shank currently works at a local fast food restaurant.

In every form, even statistically, toxic environments put everyone involved in distress. It is troublesome to not only the actual work required for the job, but the people involved.

The toxic environment pours onto personal lives, causing many things that are not often talked about.

Overall, a toxic work environment, especially in a teenager’s life, will not bring them anything beneficial in the long run.

Neyta Flores

opinion 27

The third great war Students have desensitized the topic of warfare

By Vivien Liebhardt

W

orld War III refers to the next potential worldwide military conflict caused by tension between the US and Iran.

Hours after the announcement of the death of Iranian Qasem Soleimani “World War III,” was trending all over twitter. Qasem Soleimani ran Iran’s military operations across the Middle East and was significant for many decades. The death of Soleimani on January 3, 2020 just escalated the already suspicious conflict between Iran and the US. Memes have spread all over Twitter, Instagram, and even on TikTok turning the potential devastating event into a joke. Many Gen Z (born from early 1990s till 2010) have been coping with the use of comedy. This may be since we know we are all well unprepared for this catastrophic situation we might as well do what we do best and lighten up the event.

Our generation has become desensitized that we use jokes and memes as much as we can, and there are very few things we can take seriously.

The scope of these posts range from platforms to platforms, treating this event like an episode of reality T.V by posting things such as, “My man better not be answering his phone cuz of war training.”

Many other variations include people imitating soldiers in battle on tiktok.

This is sending a dark message that the suffering of soldiers and people in warring states has no importance, unless it gets you TikTok famous.

With our new internet addiction we have lost the reality of it all, instead the exposure to news has caused us to make it about ourselves and turning it into a comedy.

Truthfully, most of these jokes are not coping mechanisms, they are narcissistic cries for attention from people who are obviously so far removed from any actual danger that they have the advantage to remove their empathy.

“Teens are posting memes about WWIII because they do not actually think it will happen when in reality it really can, which is disrespectful to the army in a way since they’re making fun of a war when it’s a really serious manner and could very well change our lives, senior Sebastian Anderson said.

At times like these we need our celebrities and so called “TikTok stars”

to use their influence to advocate for those who sadly cannot. It is easy for many of us to poke fun at the potential crisis since it is not us being the ones innocently being killed by air strikes and frightening unimaginable weapons.

Albert Einstein once said, “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”

Unlike other wars fought World War III would be fought with the use of nuclear weapons which will have potential global impacts of nuclear blasts, even a small-scale war would quickly devastate the world’s climate and ecosystems, causing damage that would last for more than a decade.

“If an event that could be considered WWIII were to happen did occur, it would if significantly damage our environment, possibly to a point where we wouldn’t be able to salvage it. War and weapons ignore what’s important for the environmental future, so we would likely find ourselves without resources, clean air, or live able land in the future,” junior Piper Irvin said.

World War III would not only differ from past wars due to weaponry but also because of tactics. Globally, civilians are more educated on the past; this war would not be to prove

United States 6,185

power or military mass but instead be based on overthinking the other’s intelligence and having the financial ability to utilize it. This in turn would cause a more significant devastation, and could potentially affect future generations.

“While it wouldn’t be a war we

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Truthfully, most of these jokes are not coping mechanisms, they are narcissistic cries for attention .

,,

necessarily started, our generation would face the most serious consequences if events resembling a WWIII were to occur. Our generation would be changed physically, but the mentality of the masses wouldn’t change so easily. Those who wish to make jokes of serious situations will continue to make jokes out of the misfortune of others. Essentially I believe there would be a split in our generation, those that would experience United Kingdom 200

France 300

Israel 90

a wakeup call and realize social media doesn’t mean the world, and those that would continue to utilize social media as a platform to make light of dark circumstances,” Irvin said.

In the time that it takes to draft a tweet about war, a person could call an organization, donate to a charity, or simply share their opinion to help bring attention and potentially aid other countries. It is unfortunate enough that our own President is not being realistic of the possible frightening and devastating event he caused. Consequently, Americans are following his footsteps in regards to not taking the threat seriously. This has caused the generations to follow that example.

I will not disagree that directing our fear into something more easily to swallow such as memes helps people make light of an event, but it should not allow us to completely disregard it and become so insensitive.

A strong nationalism can be shown in Americans across the states, and with the advantage of being one of the most influential countries globally we need to use our power for change not entertainment. It is time for us to put away the bag of Lays potato chips, turn off Netflix and get off the couch and take action in whatever capacity possible.

Pakistan 160 India 140

Russia 6,490

China 290

North Korea 30

Estimated Global Nuclear Warhead Inventories

The world's nuclear-armed states have a combined total of 14,000 nuclear warheads.

More than 90% belong to Russia and the United States. Approximately 9,500 warheads are in military service, the rest awaiting dismantlement.

statistics courtesy of www.armscontrol.org www.armscontrol.org

Vivien Liebhardt

February 2020

28 pro/con

ARE THEY ARMED

Weapons would provide extra layer of security in classroom

Alex Estrada

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By Hannah Serquina

n 52 weeks of 2019 there were 45 school shootings. That is nearly an average of one school shooting a week. Of those, 32 of them were at facilities serving kindergarten through 12th grade. Gun violence in America is a growing problem and the more it is ignored the more people become desensitized to it. Ultimately everyone wants to find an answer to the dire question, “How do we keep our schools safe?” The answer is arming teachers.

Many schools are “gun-free zones,” but the federal Gun-Free School Zones Act allows states to authorize certain individuals to carry firearms on school grounds. Texas, Utah, Wyoming and South Dakota allow staff members—with certain caveats—to carry guns on school grounds.

Arming teachers gives the classroom a fighting chance in a lockdown situation. The time period between when the shooter arrives on campus to when the police arrive is crucial.

Teachers would have the capability to take a shot at the suspect before a child is shot. This allows for students to be protected in a situation as opposed to being helpless.

Another benefit to consider with the arming of teachers is the fact that

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active shooters often take their own lives once an armed person confronts their behavior. It is one of the most effective ways to stop an active shooter incident at a school. Not all shooters do this, but the difference between an armed response that is 30 seconds in the making compared to one that is five minutes can save dozens of lives.

Since one person is shot on average

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The opposition does not consider the fact that training will be required for teachers to be armed.

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every 17 seconds in the United States, there are good odds that every child will experience an authentic lockdown incident at least once during their educational career.

Arming teachers does not necessarily mean those in the classroom.

Campus security, individuals who are trained, have the power to deescalate a situation before a student is harmed. A law enforcement offi-

cer prevented an incident in 2010 at Sullivan Central High School in Tennessee. Then in 2013 an incident at Arapahoe High School in Colorado was stopped by a sheriff’s deputy on duty at the school.

Those who oppose the idea fear inexperienced adults will have control and have a firearm. Before carrying a firearm, most schools require at least 80 hours of training in the use of force, evidence of weapon proficiency, first aid certification and an overview of legality concerns before going before the school board for approval.

The opposition does not consider the fact that training will be required for teachers to be armed. In other words, those who oppose arming teachers act like weapons will just be given to staff without thought. In the state of Florida a state legislative committee approved a $67 million “school marshal” program this week to train and arm teachers — over the vocal opposition of Parkland residents.

In Texas, some public school systems have been quietly arming teachers and administrators for more than a decade. Teachers and other school personnel who volunteer to undergo specialized training receive approval to either carry a concealed firearm in school or have one within reach.

Arming staff enables them to pro-

tect their students. It gives them the resources to face the problem hands on. The idea of combating gun violence is only something talked about after a tragedy has happened. Arming teachers puts power in the hands of the vulnerable. After the Sandy Hook incident in 2012, where they faced a slaughter of 20 first graders and six staff members, Sheriff Lenhart decided to take measures in his own hands.

That same year, the district spent about $70,000 on safes, bulletproof vests, cameras, guns, radios and ammunition. Uniformed, armed officers cost $200,000 a year, and an insurance policy of $100,000 a year includes coverage for its staff with access to firearms. These resources provide an extra layer of defense in the instance of a shooting.

The one guarantee that one has when they are armed is time. There is no time lost or students lives lost in the quick process of being armed.

Rather, teachers have the time and opportunity to defend themselves and the students. If all else fails in a situation arming staff gives a group of 40 educators — teachers, principals, custodians, secretaries — in under a minute, can act as a defense team for students. Refusing to arm teachers leaves children defenseless in the face of danger.

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& DANGEROUS?

Arming faculty not solution to school safety

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By Kristel Alfaro Borbon

magine having a gun in the classroom all day waiting to be used.

Would you feel safe? Most students say they would not feel safe with having such a lethal weapon in sight. Any teacher could use the gun whenever they wanted to, or they could even threaten students with it.

To add to that a student could also somehow get their hand on it which would defeat the whole purpose of having a gun in the classroom.

In 2019 110 schools out of 132, 853 had a school shooting. School shootings are rare. Although they are still possible a student is more likely to die on their way to school than by a school shooting. With having such a dangerous weapon in the classroom the amount of school shootings could even go up because some teachers could lose their tempers with students.

“I do not think teachers should have guns because it would not be safe for our school. To add to that letting teachers have guns would be very unethical since teachers would be able to threaten students,” freshman Dominic Coudin said.

There are (about) 35,000 employees in Clark County School District (CCSD), it would be very expensive to Alex Estrada

buy each teacher a gun. A gun costs about $600 to $1000, CCSD gets a budget of $5.2 billion each year for education, and that is barely enough.

The district would have to raise taxes to be able to even afford all the guns, and not all parents would agree with such a dangerous weapon being in a students classroom. To add to that teachers would have to take a course on how to use the weapon which would add more to the cost for the school district. We would additionally also have to add some sort of safe to every classroom to keep students from handling the weapon.

“I just feel like it’s not necessary to spend all the money and the education on training all of these people,” junior Jaden Randall said. “Especially since not all the teachers agree with, and not all the teachers are comfortable with doing it either, so I don’t think we should force them to do something that they might not be comfortable with doing.”

Some students and parents would not feel comfortable with such a dangerous item in the classroom. Since students know their teachers have weapons there would be a constant fear among the students. Already some of the kids do not feel safe at school, this would be causing more kids to feel in danger. Parents at

Paige Bordelove

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home could also be scared knowing that at any moment a teacher could grab a gun.

“If there were to be a weapon in the classroom I would personally feel more uneasy because there’s a gun in my classroom. It all depends on the student but it would make me very uncomfortable,” freshman Kaci Rohrer said.

There are some teachers that would not feel comfortable shooting another person or student. The teachers care for their students all year, so when being told to shoot one of the children they might not know how to react. Some of the staff might even resign their jobs making it so we need more teachers. With one of the job descriptions of a teacher being to have to shoot a person if the school is in danger less people would want to become teachers.

“I don’t think most teachers would want to pull the trigger on a student because obviously they feel closer to the student the more they teach them. If a student were to just do that they would obviously feel more comfortable pulling out a gun and shooting someone than a teacher would be being untrained,” junior Tucker Andrewjeski said.

There are other ways to fix this problem one being talking to kids about mental health and having someone they can talk to. Accord-

ing to Alfred University the number one reason shootings occur is people “want to get back at those who have hurt them.” If we could teach children

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I would personally feel more uneasy because there’s a gun in my classroom.

Kaci Rohrer

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from a young age that you can solve anything by talking with someone there would be a lot less school shootings.

“I think in order to fix a lot of the school shootings issues we need especially in CCSD we need better resources for students who are going through things because as of right now there is literally none. Like if you try to go to a counselor or a social worker in CCSD, first of all most of the students who need help don’t even know about these things and we second of all just do not have it,” sophomore Cayla Thames said.

February 2020

30 opinion

Lessons in laughter

Students, staff talk about their most embarrassing moments in class

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By Brenna Knight

or English teacher Tanner Hawkins, she had to experience an embarrassing moment and then continued to teach her classes for the rest of the day.

“I could hear it, I felt it and I immediately did not know what to do,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins was training to become a teacher and on one fateful day, she was being observed for the first time.

Unfortunately, as she was picking up a few papers that she had dropped on the ground, her brand new outfit ripped in the back.

“I kept teaching because I could not stop, but I crab-walked back and forth at the front of the room to make sure that I never turned around which ensured that nobody could see it. Then I got a trench coat out of my car and wore that the whole day,” Hawkins said.

Wearing a trench coat all day while teaching a class and being observed is sure to bring on some sweat. It made some students wonder why she was wearing warm attire in the dry, hot weather. Hawkins, being bombarded with questions from students asking why she was wearing a coat, played it off with pretending that she was fine just to save her from the embarrassing moment.

Doing something discomfiting in life, especially in the classroom where students spend the majority of their first eighteen years growing up, is almost inevitable. But teachers are not the only ones who experience embarrassing moments in the classroom.

There have been a handful of students who have done many humiliat-

ing things in front of their peers and instructors too.

Sophomore Derek Lawrence has been tumbling for about two and a half years and has almost perfected landing all his flips. During one of his classes, Lawrence was dared to do a backflip in the middle of class when the teacher was not looking.

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I do find the moment a little embarrassing, but I found it more so funny.

Derek Lawrence

Samantha Lillard

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“I looked to my left and I saw this kid looking at me and he dared me to do a backflip for money. So of course I wanted to do it,” Lawrence said.

Lawrence then proceeded to get up when the teacher was not looking and the long anticipated flip was attempted. Unluckily for him, Lawrence ended up landing on his knees because he began thinking that the teacher was going to see him once he attempted the flip.

“I do find the moment a little embarrassing, but I found it more so funny. Sadly instead of getting the money, I got candy instead,” Lawrence said.

Disconcerning yourself in front of

a class is awkward, but doing something humiliating in front of the entire school is on completely another level of embarrassing. For sophomore Aidan Regan, that became a reality. Regan decided to participate in the 2019-20 school year’s Boy Band.

All of the boys had to do flips in the dance, but when Regan did one of his flips, the whole crowd fell dead silent.

“For one flip, I was supposed to do a side flip and a scoot full. So I did the side flip and I tried the scoot full but I landed on my face in front of 3,000 people,” Regan said.

During the moments of the flip, Regan questioned himself if he would land it.

“I knew I wasn’t going to land the flip, so I tried it but I also tried to cushion it as much as I could,” Regan said.

It seems as if the practice of trying to complete flips in random moments is an idea that is sure to go wrong, leaving students with nothing but a mark on their face and a memory sure to be on their mind 24/7. When something embarrassing happens it often seems like the whole world is thinking about it, but in reality everyone will eventually forget about it and it could be something to laugh at in the future.

If a student has ever done something embarrassing while in social studies teacher Clay Mauro’s class, the moment is sure to be in his book of class stories. One of the stories in the book includes him talking with a student about rich people. Mauro brought up Bill Gates and a student responded with, “The science guy?”

Confusing Bill Gates with Bill Nye is definitely one for the books for

Mauro.

Almost each and every student has wanted to prank a sub. Junior Mohamed Zakraoui has had plenty of participation in undergoing a prank.

During Zakraoui’s sophomore year of high school, he decided to mess with one of his substitutes in his chemistry class.

“In chemistry we had this sub for three days, and on the third day I just felt like bothering him,” Zakraoui said. “I brought a speaker in before the class started. Once the bell rang, I went in the class and I sat on the opposite side of where I put the speaker in the cabinet. Five minutes later I started playing music and the sub thought it was the fish tank.”

After the sub unplugged the fish tank, Zakraoui told his friend to go plug the fish tank in again so it made it seem like the fish tank was actually playing music.

“So we have been doing this for about thirty five minutes and then he called the Dean’s office. Somehow he knew it was us. But I heard that after I left and went to the Dean, someone else played the speaker,” Zakraoui said.

Everyone has had their fair share of embarrassing moments. People can choose to stay embarrassed by them, learn from them, or laugh at them. The best part about such unforgettable stories are being able to remember how you felt in that moment and just be thankful that it is over.

Whether or not the moment was incredibly humiliating, the past cannot be changed so ultimately it is better to just laugh at yourself and hope that you don’t become an overnight viral meme.

editorial 31

Safety not guaranteed

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By The InvestiGator Staff

afety is a feeling that everyone wants to experience no matter the environment. Whether you are at home or out with your friends, one desires security in their everyday routine. People do not want to live in fear, especially for their life. The sad truth is, that no one can ever know if they are truly safe.

Everybody wants to feel safe but there is always a risk no matter what scenario. Accidents are bound to happen and people are unpredictable.

Ultimately you never know what can happen to you. There is never a guarantee in life that you will not face violence. This garuntee is an idea that society attempts to find. The concept of being completely safe is detrimental to the way one lives their life.

As the generations become desensitized to gun violence in public schools the desire to feel safe does

not feel tangible. Safety is ultimately a construct that adults try to convince kids that they have. The reality is that no one can force anyone to feel safe.

Whether a school has metal detectors or police at the front gate, there is always a flaw waiting to be exposed Once one becomes obsessed with guaranteed safety they fail to live their life. This allows the power to be put in the hands of criminals or those who wish to evoke fear in people’s lives. If one is constantly living their life to avoid danger they are giving into those who want to do bad in the world. One can not harp on finding the perfect safety measures rather do the best with what they can.

The purpose of a shooter is to evoke terror and fear into the masses.

The obsession of perfect safety measures only feeds into their purpose.

It is the equivalent of never getting into a car in the fear of getting into an accident or not wanting to leave the

“I think we could do more in house drills instead of evacuation drills so we know where to go and where to be. I think adding more security would be good too.”

freshman Max Martin

“I already think it’s pretty safe since we added those little door locks on all the doors. I feel safe here.”

sophomore Abraham Denstaedt

house in fear of getting sick. You can not change the way you live your life in order to ensure that you never will face danger or violence. Violence is a part of the world we live in, we can

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We allow those who make us unsafe to dictate our actions and the entirety of our lives.

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not adjust our routine to escape it.

Whether it is terroism, cyberbullying, or natural disaster there is always a group of people or an individual waiting to instill fear in people’s lives.

What society needs to accept is that

Student Speak How can school safety be improved at Green Valley?

these people are not going away and we cannot be hung on the fact that they exist. Often times we allow those who make us unsafe to dictate our actions and the entirety of our lives. Not only that, but this allows for a negative way to live life. One’s mindset is constantly fixated on the things they cannot control. This is another example of how one allows the idea of safety to influcence their life.

All one can do is prepare. Whether it be a one entry school or more surveillance there are measures that we can try, but the obsession over safety is what we need to fix. There always seems to be a pressure on who has the best safety procedure when in actuality there can be a mistake found in every one of them. Instead of investing energy, money and time towards the ideal safety measure we need to realize that the best way one can combat violence is not giving power in the first place.

“I don’t think that’s up to the school. National gun reform is what actually matters in terms of keeping schools and public spaces safe, not just school precautions.”

junior Sohini Mandal

“I think that more regulation of who comes in and out of doors.

Recently we got a lock on our choir door because it’s separate from the school and anyone can just walk in.

I think locks are definitely helping.”

senior Alexis Hudgis

February 2020

SIMRAN ARYA | PHOTO

DURING THE PRODUCTION OF “INTO THE WOODS” ON FEB. 8, THE WITCH (SOPHOMORE KALENA BLAKE) LEARNS OF RAPUNZEL’S (JUNIOR ELIZABETH GARDNER) ESCAPADES WITH THE PRINCE.

TROUBLE BREWING

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