You go home after a long day at school, food being the only thing on your mind, but when you open the fridge, you see nothing in there. You go to bed hungry as you wait for your next meal at school tomorrow. The problem may not be hunger, but the reality is that many people in San Antonio face multiple hardships every day, and our students are working hard to help them out.
The GT(Gifted and Talented) 2 students are working on donation drives to help the community to different organizations in our community. GT 2 organizes drives, so the students conduct these drives to demonstrate what they’ve learned in the class while helping others. These groups of students are working with five different organizations, and they’ll begin taking item donations at the beginning of the third six weeks.
“We’re collecting art supplies such as supplies will be going towards young children who are less fortunate,” sophomore Akshita Rawat said.
Rawat and her group are working with Any Baby Can, an organization located in San Antonio that provides free services to families with children who have chronic illnesses or disabilities.
Though many people may not realize it, there are students here who can benefit from these drives. One group is starting up a food pantry to help students here at school.
“Me, Phoebe Welton, Skylar Bell, and Addison Ayala are starting the O’Connor Food Pantry. The food pantry will help all of the Panthers who may have school breakfast and lunch as their only meals,” sophomore Caroline Buchhorn said.
Buchhorn’s group will be collecting non-perishable food items during the drives and afterward so the pantry can stay stocked.
For the Ronald McDonald House, getting these can tabs is just as important as getting cleaning supplies and children’s toys.
“The soda tabs get sold to scrap companies by the Ronald McDonald House so they can pay their bills and
more than they’re worth because it’s important the house stays open, and it helps remove some of the stress families staying in the house have,” sophomore Taylor Alton said.
Boxes for each group’s drive will be set up around the school for students to drop off items in, but students can give tabs to Mrs. Sweitzer-Guzman.
Helping the community doesn’t mean just helping the people in it, it also means helping our furry friends. The Animal Care Services of San Antonio is dedicated to helping care for animals in San Antonio. Sophomore Jocelyn Martinez’s group is working with them to help collect supplies for the animals in their care.
“We’ll be collecting paper towels, collars, dog toys, and treats. Our goal is to help all the different animals that aren’t as fortunate as our animals are,” Martinez said.
By doing this project, the GT 2 students are not only collecting donations for their organizations, but also raising awareness about their causes. Whether it’s through donations or volunteering, helping those in need is a reward in itself. The goal is to have a lasting impact on the community the drive serves.
With participation in tournaments such as Dominion and Landa Park, JV and Varsity have proved to be a strong force. During tournaments each player is singled out initially to compete against various school players. Each league are sets of different teams who battle for the top spots. Ultimately each player benefits and plays their part. Senior varsity player Logan Pullin stated that tournaments are not only fun but vigorous and intense.
“In a tournament we have 10 schools to play against, once we arrive we are split into groups of 3 never being with one of our teammates. At the end we combine our scores and enter them to the panel, the top 4 scores are considered the best. It’s very challenging, but a fun experience over all,” Pullin said.
Participants who come to events like these have a backstory or reason for this. Trying out for sports vary in the athletes reasoning, some may choose for a drive inside their hearts for the sport or to try something new to them. Sophomore varsity player Samantha Mendoza shared that she found both in trying out for golf.
“I started in 7th grade in middle school, because we had to try out for multiple sports, and ended up having a strong liking to it,” Mendoza said.
As tryouts come to a close a diverse league is made. Four teams consisting of each grade level into a boys and girls, at the end we combine our scores and enter them to the panel, the top 4 scores are considered the best. It’s very challenging, but a fun experience over all,” Pullin said.
Whether it be advanced or moderate, golf has proven to be a challenge to the mind and body. Playing requires patience and upto 8 hours spent on courses for tournaments. The season is long and trying as each player prepares for the sport.
“It starts when the school year starts, and ends when it ends, mainly though our big season is in the spring,” Mendoza said.
Though it is challenging, participants have been able to establish a strong connection or bond with playing. Many create a love-hate relationship as the season progresses, but some have drives/ interests that are the reason they choose to sign up. Senior varsity player Kali Derr shared that it was her father that furthered her interest in playing.
“My dad taught me how to play after freshman year in the summer, I found a fondness to it, he was the one who highly encouraged me to try out for the team,” Derr said.
Choosing an environment is an equal element to cultivate a players junior varsity and varsity. Some leading seniors in this group include Kali Derr, Edward Uriegas, and Abigail Jimenez. Pullin shared a more detailed list of his brothers.
“On varsity with me is; John Gonzales, Jack Boileau, Aiden Alvear, and Austin Noyes. They have all become life-long friends to me and I’m so happy I get a chance to compete with these guys,” Pullin said.
More common sports including basketball and volleyball require a court environment. Golf, however, experienced in driving ranges or field courses. Boys and girls are divided amongst the diverse courses of the San Antonio area, but ultimately come together in common ground in places such as Top Golf.
“JV boys and all girls train at Oak Valley, when we are with boys we can train at Cedar Creek, but a fun thing we get to do is go to Top Golf,” Derr said.
Golf is a highly underestimated and overlooked sport in the eyes of fans who focus on major leagues and their personal likings. Whether you’re just starting out or retiring from a professional team, golf has proven to create lifelong friends through experiences of the long tournaments and practice you spend together. These teams are aiming for a high rank in District and working to improve their golf game.
In their most recent game against the Taft Raiders, the boys basketball team won with the final score of 72-60. With the leading scorer junior Adam Benhayoune having 29 points and junior Isaac Orozco having 13 points and 5 assists.
“Definitely Warren, I think Warren is always the toughest because it’s definitely a more emotional game as far as the rivalry, if we don’t win you come back to school and obviously there’s a tension there,” junior Joshua Alcocer said.
As all good sports teams know, practice makes perfect.
“We practice for two and a half hours and there’s certain days where we come in earlier and watch film and take notes. We also go to other games and take notes and we practice every day so we don’t get a day off not even game days,” Alcocer said.
“We look great, we have great defense as well as really good chemistry on the court and I think that helps us a lot,” Alcocer said.
Easily seen on the court, the team communicates at a very skilled level especially when it comes down to the more serious games such as against Warren, Clark and most importantly all the games leading up to state.
“Just working hard during every practice so hen the games come around I’ll hopefully be performing the best I possibly can,” Alcocer said.
As an added benefit of winning our school ranking against other schools gets higher and higher each time we win. In every single sport you know how nervous you could get along with you not wanting to let your teammates down. Most importantly you don’t want to get inside your own head and doubt yourself.
Because the season isn’t close to ending, the team still has plenty of time to improve.
“Of course like everybody else you don’t want to mess up, you want to play to perfection. But I’m just thinking about what are they going to do score or what are they going to do to personally make me mess up. So
I think it’s always good to think as if you were them what is your weakness, what are they going to do to you,” Alcocer said.
As the season goes on for basketball, they will continue to work hard and push themselves to the limit. Although there are many tough teams out there, the Panthers have shown they are a force to be reckoned with.
Nearly a year ago Netflix announced the development of “Selena: The Series”, a biographical drama series about the late Tejano singer, known as the Queen of Tejano, Selena Quintanilla. The series seems to be intended to honor Selena and her legacy, however, the exploitative nature of its creation cannot be overlooked. At its core, “Selena: The Series” feels more like an exploitative cash grab rather than a commemorative work.
The show aims to depict the successful life and tragic death of the late Tejano singer who was the first female to successfully make it in the originally male-dominated genre of Tejano. Yet the story has already been told in the 1997 biographical film “Selena”, a movie made over 20 years ago. Grant- ed the show could potentially go into slightly more detail about the singer and reach audiences on an international level, it will be the exact same story already depicted through film. Retelling the same story is redundant and further suggests the primary motivation behind its creation was monetary instead of honorary.
In recent years, Selena has surpassed the Hispanic icon she’s known and loved as and morphed into a pop-culture legend. With the MAC makeup line titled “Selena” launched in September of 2016, the Quintanilla’s failed fan-funded $500,000 Selena hologram. Evolution tour titled “Selena the One” in 2018, and the “White Rose” clothing collection inspired by the Tejano singer Forever 21 released in March of 2019 in addition to the new Netflix series, it seems as if the Quintanilla family, who of serve as executive producers of “Selena: The Series”, is abusing Selena’s ascending celebrity status. As opposed to preserving her memory, the series adds to the feeling of perverting Selena’s memory.
Nearly a year ago Netflix announced the development of “Selena: The Series”, a biographical drama series about the late Tejano singer, known as the Queen of Tejano, Selena Quintanilla. The series seems to be intended to honor Selena and her legacy, however, the exploitative nature of its creation cannot be overlooked. At its core, “Selena: The Series” feels more like an exploitative cash grab rather than a commemorative work.
The show aims to depict the successful life and tragic death of the late Tejano singer who was the first female to successfully make it in the originally male-dominated genre of Tejano. Yet the story has already been told in the 1997 biographical film “Selena”, a movie made over 20 years ago. Granted the show could potentially go into slightly more detail about the singer and reach audiences on an international level, it will be the exact same story already depicted through film. Retelling the same story is redundant and further suggests the primary motivation behind its creation was monetary instead of honorary.
It’s easy to get lost in the excitement of launches and releases that appear to honor the legacy of such an iconic figure, especially one who Hispanic culture within society and empowers the Hispanic community. However, as fans, it’s important to be aware of the differences between commemorating Selena and exploiting her. There’s a fine line between the two that has been crossed one too many times and “Selena: The Series” is just one more way it’s been crossed.
With flu season in full swing, many people are asking a very important question — is the flu shot really necessary, or can I go without one? Plenty of people choose not to get their flu shot based on the many myths circulating, but the truth is that getting a flu shot can help protect your body and help prevent the spread of sickness within your community. Viruses like the flu are spread through droplets that leave a person’s body when they cough, sneeze, or talk, and the symptoms of the flu are serious enough to kill, so it’s important to keep yourself and others safe. Choosing not to get a flu shot because of something you’ve heard circulating that may not be true isn’t worth the danger of getting sick or infecting others.
In order to understand the dangers of the flu and why the flu shot is important, the symptoms and the myths surrounding the flu need to be known. There are two main strains of the flu, type A and type B. They both have the same symptoms, but type A can be spread by both humans and animals and the symptoms are more severe, while type B spreads slower and can only be spread by humans. The Texas Influenza Surveillance Activity Report has confirmed both flu types A and B are active in Bexar County, and surrounding areas are having more flu cases each week. The flu has symptoms
similar to a cold, like a sore throat, stuffy nose, and fatigue, but the symptoms of the flu show up abruptly while symptoms of a cold will appear gradually. Unlike a cold, the flu can give you muscle pains, chills, chest pains, inflammation of the heart and brain, and can lead to more serious conditions like pneumonia and can cause bacterial infections. These symptoms and conditions are especially dangerous for children under five and adults over 65, who make up almost 85% of seasonal flu related deaths. Another group of people that are at high risk of developing flu complications are people with asthma, who are more likely to develop pneumonia from the flu than those without asthma. The flu shot protects against both strains A and B and can easily prevent all of these symptoms, which range from annoying to dangerous, and prevents the virus from spreading to the people most vulnerable.
One of the most popular myths going around about the flu shot is that it can give you the flu. The shot no longer includes a living or weakened flu virus, but instead uses a dead virus or genes from the virus that will produce a response from your immune system. Since there is no living virus in the shot, there is no way it can give you the flu, but the shot can cause soreness, headaches, and fever. If you do get the flu even after getting a flu shot, it may be a different strain than what the flu shot protects against, since the shot only targets the most prominent flu strain of the season, or you could have been infected with the flu before getting the shot. The vaccine takes about two weeks to be fully effective,
so it’s recommended that people get the shot before the end of October so the vaccine is in effect by the time flu season is at its worst. It’s never too late to get a flu shot, though. Doctors recommend getting the flu shot even if it’s late in the season, since late vaccination is better than no vaccination.
Another myth is that the flu isn’t that serious, so healthy people can skip the shot. Even the healthiest people are susceptible to the flu, and being healthy doesn’t guarantee protection from the disease. The flu is also a very dangerous virus, which killed around 61,200 people last year and has already killed 1,124 people in Texas this year. Only two of the deaths were children, but both were not vaccinated for this flu season. The flu can and will kill, and the only way to prevent it is by getting a flu shot every year.
Because the flu is a widespread and serious virus, getting a flu shot is easy and can be done at almost every convenience store with a pharmacy. At most pharmacies, the flu shot costs around $40, but Costco has them for only $20 for both members and non members. Getting a flu shot is more beneficial in the long run than skipping it, and it helps others stay safe from the virus. Besides the basic measures of washing your hands, coughing into your elbow, and limiting contact with sick people, the flu shot is the only way to decrease the chance of getting the flu. Essential oils and washing your hands all the time can not protect you from the flu, but a flu shot can. Not getting the shot is a useless risk to take, and the consequences can affect everyone around you. Friends, classmates, family, and everyone you regularly interact with may have a higher chance of getting the flu just because you didn’t want to get your vaccine. It’s a completely safe and low cost shot, so there isn’t any reason to avoid getting it. The best way to keep yourself and others healthy every flu season is getting the flu shot, which is the best protection against getting sick.
Semester exams start on January 14 and they run through January 17. The exams, which are district enforced, are unnecessary. Why do we need to take an exam that has to go toward our final averages to prove what we learned? Why can’t students just take the class, pass all 6 six-weeks, and be done with the year? Why do we have to make it so complicated? According to ABC, a national survey of 1000 young people aged between
14 and 25 experienced an increase in stress from 51.2 percent in 2017 to 65.1 percent in 2018 from exams. Students have to complete these unnecessarily large packets, which are given in several classes, and are expected to finish them before the exam day. It’s also terrible timing taking second semester exams are on the last week of school. Who wants to have to worry about exams during the week before summer vacation? No one.
The big problem with midterms is we are expected to take a STAAR exam as well. While STAAR exams are state-based and would be difficult to remove, they cover the necessary information to pass the class as opposed to what the teachers put on their own final exams. Grandview University History Professor Kevin Gannon stated that he sees students who can do A work all semester and then their
grade perishes from the exam. He later asks why semester exams are ever necessary. To answer his own ques- tion, he says that while the exams show what students learn, one exam cannot truly show a students learning capability, as some students may be having a bad day or cannot function as normal. He uses the Indianapolis 500 as an example, and says that the winner can win the cup just by doing better than the other racers on the final lap, even though one racer may have done fantastic on the previous laps.
Students can fail one of the three tests that they take a six weeks and still manage to pass the class. But, if you fail the final exam, you most likely won’t pass the course, as it’s 20% of your grade. And this goes especially with those people taking a class that is considered to be “difficult.”
The thing with STAAR exams is that they don’t go toward your final average; they’re just an exam, that you still need to pass that you take to see if you understood the course. Students don’t have to study as hard for the STAAR exam as they do for final exams. In my opinion, I hate both. But that’s just me saying that, and I know a lot of people feel the same way. But it does make sense to have an exam
to determine how much you actually obtained from the course. Gannon also stresses that in his experience he has seen that final exams show which students are tired, stressed, sick, or overwhelmed and which students are good at taking tests. His claim completely aligned with mine in the sense that we both agree that semester/final exams are a waste of time, paper, and student stress/anxiety. If that wasn’t enough proof, according to a Mental Help study, students were asked how often they were stressed throughout the semester. 89 percent of students said they were stressed at least two to four times per semester, and
thirty percent said they were stressed for almost the entire semester. Thirty-one percent of students surveyed said that finals were the biggest source of their stress. Research shows that semester exams only cause stress and anxiety for students, and are an overall waste of time.
Strawbridge photography is the new photo company for seniors and underclassmen. Seniors must sign up for their photo time on Oct. 5 or 12th outside journalism room M111. The first retake day is only two weeks away, sign up now. Seniors who fail to sign up or miss the retake days will risk not being in the 2020 yearbook. Plan ahead, take your photos. The yearbook pose is free, you can take other poses for an additional $10 each.
Underclassmen retakes are Oct. 10 8am-4:30pm in the M building lobby near the auditorium.
