Granger high school
Tri-Color Times An open forum for student opinion and expression
TRICOLORTIMES.COM
OCTOBER 2016 LIX-II
Granger High Lancers and teachers participate in politics By Dailyn Marrero POLITICS is a worldwide phenomenon that has recently been a strong topic of interest among adolescents. The current elections have conjured much debate within the media, leading to a range of opinions in high school and college students, many of which are students at Granger High School. “Kids in my classes do show strong interest in politics, and there are others who don’t. However, it is still extremely important for anyone to understand and acknowledge the world of politics. They are the central focus, and the outcome of the elections will dictate their upcoming future,” Ms. Robinson, a government teacher, said. Right now, most of our leaders are not only making decisions for today, but also for many years down the line. Their votes could harm you many years from now, as stated in a “Popular Teen” article. It is a vital necessity to interpret the visceral effect of being uneducated regarding the govern-
ment. “If they don’t understand how it works, taxes might be an issue and the cause of not acknowledging politics,” Ms. Robinson said. “Even if you aren’t old enough to vote, you can write letters, protest in various ways, and join politically oriented clubs and groups, etc. if a law impacts you, you are entitled to offer your opinion,” Ms. Robinson said. Students might perceive these elections a topic strictly for the older generations. However, the community needs to grasp that in order to shape future societies, even non-voting teens are in a position to voice their opinions. “If we want kids to vote, to be engaged, we need to address them directly, hear their concerns, give them a reason to be engaged. This means honest, direct, adult-like conversations, not high speed ‘kid’ conversations,” Stephen Young, high school teacher and founder of Ontario’s Civics Education Network (CEN), said, according to the teachmag.com
website. There is an obvious inertia in voting with teens. “[Civics education] means honest, direct, adult-like conversations,” Ms. Robinson said. “I think they get most excited once they understand how the system works and when they are aware that they do have a voice and they can have an effect on the system.” “We did a huge poll, and the students came out predominantly liberal,” Ms. Robinson said. Nelson Lotz (12) is an activist on the political spectrum, and he possesses strong views towards parties and candidates. Bernie Sanders, Lotz’s preferred candidate, was not able to carry on with his presidential run after losing the nomination to Sec. Hillary Clinton. “I was appalled Bernie Sanders wasn’t able to win,” he said. Lotz does lean toward a liberal standpoint, which is the most common standpoint at Granger and possibly in this generation. He disagrees with the Second
Amendment and believes that the laws should be enforced. He prefers a trustworthy, socialistic economy and takes a stand against many conservative views. “I believe this generation has pretty neutral opinions on both major political parties. However, this generation is definitely less conservative than past generations,” Lotz said. “I used to do organized campaigning in the sense that I knocked on doors at a few residents’ houses, but I haven’t done that in a while. I volunteer and post on Facebook in moderation as a form of campaigning, just talking to people about my beliefs. I’ve attended a few rallies, such as the one held when Bernie Sanders visited,” he said. Overall, Lotz is very politically educated, and he enjoys politics much like others should. He sets an extremely important example to the students at Granger. “People in our generation need to be more involved in politics. If they’re fed up with politics, it’s their time to change it.”
Nelson Lotz works hard on research in his AP Government class.
Tri-Color Times staff enjoys field trip By Diego Serrato THIRTY-FOUR student journalists ended up going on the field trip to the SLUG Magazine offices. Chuck Manzanares (12) said he didn’t mind the trip there. “It was kind of scenic, seeing as how the field trip was at 8:30 a.m. with the sun rising.” After the bus pulled up to a huge parking complex downtown, the students took pictures of each other at the Gallivan Center and in front of urban backgrounds as they walked. At SLUG, they were introduced to some of the staff, the jobs that they do, and why that role is important to writing. The whole process from writing all the way to publishing was
described. They were introduced to the people in those positions, Oswaldo Cabrera Valencia (9) said he liked everything about the trip and that the people were nice. Manzanares said he liked the whole process, but his favorite part is what happens before the publishing of an article. April Hendriksen (12) said she liked the process of publishing and meeting everyone, but the thing she took away with this field trip was her realization that “you are the news, you create the news,” she said. She’s talking about the fact that she has to find a subject and write something that the general public will be interested in. “Although I didn’t like the
food, I could imagine myself working at SLUG later on in life biggest difficulty would be finding an article idea, something interesting to write about. Taking pictures and writing something that interests people would be fun,” Hendriksen said. While finding an article idea might be the hardest part about being a journalist, these students agreed that journalism might be an interesting career. “Being a journalist might be one of the hardest jobs out there. It involves a lot of thinking, but best part is about this career is that you get to choose your topics and you get to choose your hours,” Manzanares said. Cabrera Valencia said he
wouldn’t mind working as a journalist, although his parents want him to be an English teacher. “I can imagine myself being a journalist and working here at this very building and eating the same exact sandwich that I enjoyed while I was there. I’d just be brainstorming and thinking of things to write while enjoying my food,” he said. All in all, many students that went on this field trip would consider a career in journalism, but there were others that just went to expand their knowledge of photography and journalism. Either way, journalism is a never-ending career—there will always be a need for someone to seek truth and report it.
Dress Code Woes
By Britney Evans MANY LANCERS spend their mornings choosing their perfect outfits for school. They dress in their coolest outfits and trendy styles so they can come to school and look fabulous, but Lancers must also take the dress code into consideration. Even with rules established in the student handbook, the interpretation of the dress code varies depending on who is reading the rules: administrators, teachers or students. Morgan Tagge (12) was in this situation. In early September, a teacher told her to change her shirt. She was wearing a tank top that she claims was not against school requirements. “It was a three-finger tank top. Something that is allowed.” she said. This came up during a pressroom visit by Dr. Dunn and Mr. Beck. “That’s hard because you start getting into the details, is it one inch? Is it four inches? Is it three inches? So it’s really hard,” Dr. Dunn, Granger’s principal, said. But, according to the student handbook on page 4, the only specific strap rule is no spaghetti strap type tank tops (with no bra straps showing). It seems unfair that Tagge was dress-coded for wearing something allowed according to the student handbook. Many students agree. Luciano Lopez (11) is an outgoing Lancer dancer who got creative last May. On a normal day of school, he decided to challenge the dress code by wearing short shorts and a ripped t-shirt with a spaghetti strap sports bra underneath. Throughout that day only one teacher said something about his choice of clothing but he was not dress-coded for it. “It feels like teachers are on the lookout to dress-code girls,” Lopez said after his experiment with the dress code. Hailey Koopman (12) agrees with Lopez and she feels that what he did was a good thing, and it proved a point. “If a girl dressed how Luciano did, she would be dress-coded, but if it were a boy, he wouldn’t,” she said. Both Koopman and Lopez brought up the controversy of tank tops and shoulders. Lopez doesn’t believe showing shoulders should be an issue. “Guys have shoulders, too,” he said And fewer boys are dress-coded for showing shoulders. “I understand why stomachs should be covered but shoulders? Really?” Koopman said. As Dr. Dunn spoke to the newspaper staff, he mentioned appropriate dress in the workplace. “If you ever go into a professional environment, if you go to an attorney’s office, if you go to a doctor’s office, if you go a business, you are going to see people dressed professionally,” he said.
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