The stadium lights shone down on the field, each crowd cheering on their teams with hopes of breaking the tie and winning the game. Senior Grant Rustan, player number 20 on the varsity team scored the winning touchdown in the final quarter of the game against Warren, breaking the tie and winning the game. The team is ranked second in the city while Warren is ranked fifth. The final score was 14-7 giving the Panthers 3 wins this season and 0 losses.
Everyone has rituals that get them ready and hyped before a game or performance, like doing a team chant, listening to music, or anything that gets them ready.
“I usually listen to my favorite artists, Chief Keef and Kodak Black before the games,” Rustan said.
Rustan is a talented and skilled player and he is beginning to plan for his future.
“I’ll be continuing playing football in college if I receive any D1 offers,” Rustan said.
Rustan’s touchdown was due to great team communication.
“My teammate ran me a quick glance, then I saw the ball being thrown, I stuck my foot, came down and caught the ball,” Rustan said.
Because of his play, Rustan received MVP of the game, and received a lot of praise from his team and school.
“It felt really cool. Everyone was really hyped and happy, but I think I was the happiest out of everyone. It was such a great feeling,” Rustan said.
The team continues to build up momentum and remains undefeated, after wins against Jay, 31-21, and Taft, 42-0.
Rustan in the moment of making the winning touchdown at the game against Warren on September 13, 2018 Photo by Zach Collisson
A wave of new teachers are Panthers for the 2018-2019 school year. With a team of new band directors, new science teachers, as well as new coaches and a new theatre teacher, this year is bound to have new experiences as well as new methods in learning.
Over the summer, after former head band director Roland Sandoval retired from directing, the three other band directors decided to pursue other opportunities. Some might have thought that all hope was lost for this year’s show IFly, but new band directors came into the lives of the Panther Band and from what has been seen, our band is in good hands for this upcoming competition season. One of the new directors is Michael Bradford, coming from Cornerstone High School, Bradford expresses excitement to be a band director and to continue the excellence of our legendary band. So what inspired this director to become one in the first place?
“My parents, who were both teachers, and the great band directors and music teachers that I had growing up,” Bradford stated.
Another incredible addition to the family is Gabe Valdez. Valdez is from here in San Antonio, graduating from Brackenridge High School and from the University of Houston. Valdez states that he wants to help students accomplish feats they never perceived as possible. Valdez said his inspiration to direct had come from his experiences in band throughout his own marching career. His goals for this year’s band still reigns what the former band directors hoped for,“To continue the long tradition of excellence that the band has experienced over the past decades,” Valdez said on his goals for this coming year and marching season.
Of new elective teachers, there has been a new addition to the theatre family, Ashley Luebke. Coming from here in San Antonio, Luebke graduated from South San Antonio High School and the University of the Incarnate word with a BA in Theatre Arts. She enjoys to teach because, “I love seeing them grow and blossom as individuals and create something that they can show off to their families and friends.” Her enthusiasm for the theatre program brings in high hopes for this year’s theatre program.
One of two recent additions to the science department, Valerie Trevino. Graduating from Wagner High School and the University of the Incarnate Word, Trevino works here as a Physics teacher out in the portables. Her inspiration to teach had been how she grew up and how she read to her sister every night, and her goal for this coming year is,
“To have an amazing first year at O’Connor,”
Joining the team of coaches, is new hire Coach Heiligman. Graduating from St. Mary’s University, Heiligman hopes to make an impact on young people’s lives. Heiligman endeavors to make a positive impact in his classroom and on the athletic field as a coach. His inspiration had been,
“All the teachers and coaches that I had were both good and bad. Good ones made me want to be like them, and the bad ones made me want to do it better than them,” brings excitement to Heiligman’s efforts for this coming year.
On behalf of the student body, we welcome the 19 new hires to the campus and wish them a successful year.
This year we welcome the incoming Class of 2022 to join our Panther family. High school will expose you to a variety of new experiences and many new people, all of which are exciting things to look forward to, but tend to not be the main concerns of freshmen.The huge campus, new workload, freedom and responsibility that comes with each of your choices may be a lot to take in, but it is also a new start and it is important to make the most of it.While leaving middle school to start your years of high school can be intimidating, it is important to remember that everyone on campus was once a freshman too and experienced the same things. Here is some meaningful and lighthearted advice from the class of 2019 to guide you on your new journey.
“I recommend any croc of your design or color preference because they are good and fresh and also are good at let- ting you walk through puddles on rainy days,” senior Peyton Davis said.
Our campus is unique because it is outdoors, and while it has its perks, our campus changes with the weather. During the start of this school year we have received both a drizzle and storming rains, often soaking those walking around campus. Be sure to keep an eye on the weather and prepare yourself accordingly and comfortably, whether that means wearing crocs, jackets or even boots.
Along with our campus being outdoors, it is also vast with a total of twelve buildings and several portables.Although it may seem difficult to navigate, it is possible to arrive to all of your classes on time.
“It is easy to go from one side of the campus to the other. Don’t waste your time.We do have
seven minutes so it shouldn’t be that hard if you do what you need to,” Golduster senior Gaby Lopez said.
While the hallways and outside walkways can get crowded in certain areas, there are plenty of other ways to get around campus.
“If you need to get to somewhere fast, plan ahead and avoid the crowded areas.The back portable road is always more free and moveable,” Co-Head Student Athletic Trainer, senior Eric Queller said.
It is important to get to class on time, but you don’t need to worry so much that you run in the halls to class.This can be applied to things in school and out of school too.
“You don’t have to stress out about every little thing you do,” Lopez said.
Grades and all that come along with school is important, but you do need to take time for yourself and think through your decisions. On campus there are plenty of opportunities available that will allow you to meet new people outside of class such as clubs. Our campus has a wide range of clubs fit for students with several different interests ranging from Anime to Dungeons and Dragons, or even the newspaper club (selfless promo). If you have a specific interest there is more than likely a club for it.
“When you are a freshman you are just now finding out who you really are. Surround yourself with amazing friends and avoid people that don’t want to make you a better person,” Queller said.
With such a huge campus you are bound to meet many different types of people. It is important to stick to your ideals and surround yourself with positive people who won’t bring you down.
“I have learned that life isn’t that serious and its not worth it to be mixed in the muck of petty squabble,” Davis said.
We have all heard the phrase, “every- thing in high school feels like it’s the end of the world.” In the process of switching schools, you will lose friends or not be very close with your friends from middle school, and that is okay.You will all be meeting new people and making plenty of new friends as you go on throughout the school year in your classes, clubs, and even from other friends.
“Drama is a part of high school. Don’t let it affect you. None of the drama matters after you cross that stage and receive your diploma,” Quellar said.
Make sure to keep a positive mindset and remember that high school is a time when you will find out which people are truly your friends. High school is full of unexpected events so always keep an open mind and be willing to try new things and meet new people.
“The one thing I have learned from high school is to go with the flow. Life is not always going to be working in your favor,” Queller said.
Not everything will work according to a plan, and many times it will be for the better. Find a place you feel comfortable in and can call your second home, such as a class or a club (journalism is always welcoming new people). Also, don’t be afraid to be involved in school events; they’re a great way to connect with people on campus.
On a final note, good luck to the class of 2022. Before you know it, you’ll be crossing the stage in no time.
“When you are a freshman you are just now finding out who you really are. Surround yourself with amazing friends and avoid people that don’t want to make you a better person,” Queller said.
With such a huge campus you are bound to meet many different types of people.
NISD implements an update on technology with Windows 10. The districts strives to upgrade and improve the tech, from iPads to Chromebooks several improvements have made around our campus and in the district. The desktops used for signing into the library have been improved by no longer requiring date of birth, so morning traffic to get into the library has been minimized and convenience significantly improved. Not all changes have been as smooth.
“When I left in June everything worked. Now I’ve put in six work orders to get these things working,” geometry teacher Carrie Flores said.
Last year our campus was full of Windows 7 computers. Over the course of the summer, the majority of those computers have been updated to Windows 10.
The library has been the most affected place on our campus because it has about 40 computers including the sign in computers.
“Some people don’t know how to log off, so it takes a while to turn on,” Librarian Sheryl Stoeck said.
With the release of Windows 10, Microsoft announced they will no longer have yearly or bi-yearly OS releases, but instead have periodic updates to Windows 10, being the final OS in their plans. This should mean that NISD should not have any reason to update or change our OS in the foreseeable future.
Implementations of new tech can come with speed bumps, the first six months of using Home Access Center was filled with technical issues and difficulties understanding the User Interface. Many teachers have complained about the difficulty of performing basic tasks such as printing grades and the general confusion towards navigating the software.
Visit the technology link on the NISD website if you experience issues at www.nisd.net/technology. The technology services staff will guide students and staff in the right direction.
Naomi Osaka won the final match in the U.S. Open against the undefeated Serena Williams. It was an emotional match as an accusation of sexism overshadowed the win of Osaka, the first tennis player to be born in Japan and win the Grand Slam championship.
Osaka defeated Williams, her childhood idol, in 6-2, 6-4, blocking Williams from getting a record-tying 24th major singles title. The match’s umpire, Carlos Ramos, exchanged a couple of words with Williams and issued three penalties against her in the second set. The first penalty was given to Williams for supposedly receiving instructions from her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, which is against the rules. Mouratoglou later admitted that he was coaching during the game.
“That’s what umpires do all year,” Mouratoglou said, “and it would have ended there, and we would have avoided a drama that was totally avoidable.”
Williams was offended that she would be accused of cheating and demanded an apology from the umpire. After losing one of the games, she threw her racket on the floor out of anger, resulting in receiving her second penalty. At the end of the game, Williams called Ramos a thief for taking a point away from her, resulting in the loss of the game.
The U.S. Tennis Association fined Williams $17,000 for her outburst which caused the three penalties during her controversial game. After the game, she talked about her actions at the game and why she did what she did while on the court in an interview.
“I can’t sit here and say I wouldn’t say he’s a thief because I thought he took a game from me,” Williams said. “I’ve seen other men call other umpires several things. I’m here fighting for women’s rights and for women’s equality and for all kinds of stuff. For me to say ‘thief’ and for him to take a game, it made me feel like it was a sexist remark. He’s never taken a game from a man because they said ‘thief.’ For me, it blows my mind, but I’m going to continue to fight for women and to fight for us to have equal coordination — to be able to take our shirt off on the court without getting a fine. This is outrageous.”
After the U.S. Open, the Melbourne’s Herald Sun Australian cartoonist, Mark Knight, published his reaction to the game. In the cartoon, Knight mocks the exchange that went on between Williams and Ramos on the court during the game. He portrays Williams as a child throwing a tantrum as the Umpire asks Osaka, “Can you just let her win.” The cartoonist is being criticized for the way he caricatured both finalists. Some critics say Osaka looks like a small, white woman as Knight gave her light skin, a thin frame, and blonde hair. Knight was confronted on Twitter about not treating male players the same way.
“Don’t bring gender into it when it’s all about behavior,” Knight said.
People continue to criticize umpire Ramos as well as Williams for what had gone down during the game.
“I both think they were at fault and they both could have done things to prevent the situation,” junior Hannah Barton said.
Whether the umpire was right in his decisions is still unclear as many remarks on the way it happened are still being questioned.
“I feel like there was a misunderstanding between the two. If they both talked about the penalties more, it could have been avoided,” Barton said.
Serena Williams has officially wrapped up her 2018 season as she has withdrawn from the China Open in Beijing. Naomi Osaka has also withdrawn from the China Open as she is dealing with an illness and will not be able to continue. The China Open will continue with the nine Grand Slam champions left. Hopefully next year both Williams and Osaka will be returning once the season starts up again.
26-year-old Pittsburgh rapper, Mac Miller, was found dead on September 17th, 2018. Miller was found in his home in San Fernando Valley. USA Today revealed that after a long, drawn-out battle with drug addiction, Miller’s inner demons had bested him. Miller had previously addressed his battle with drug addiction within his music, coming forward with the fuel behind his addiction. The news of his unexpected passing quickly circulated around social media, rapidly gaining awareness from both artists and fans alike.
Miller’s passing created a wave of shock within the music community and amongst his fans. Many were devastated to hear the news, even coming forth and saying that he was such a lively positive individual.
“It was so out of the blue, I didn’t think it would be him. If anything, I thought it was fake news.” said junior Alex Anderson.
In addition to Anderson, junior Mia Contreras was also in shock.
“I thought it was fake news. I couldn’t believe it,” Contreras said.
Miller radiated light and positivity which was infectious towards others and listeners.
“He really helped me through a lot of dark times. His music was raw and made me feel like I would be okay.” Anderson said. “His music inspired me to be a happier person overall,” Contreras said. “There was something about him that always made me feel happy and positive”
Due to circumstances of his death and struggle with addiction, social media was flooded with tweets manipulating the subject into a drug lecture and pointing blame.
“I believe it was more of a cry for help,” Anderson said. “Normally people have addictions because they feel like they have nobody to turn to.”
Contreras shared people need to be more careful and understand how serious addiction can be.
Recently, blame has been placed on Miller’s ex-girlfriend, Arianna Grande. Comments had mentioned that she was at fault for causing Miller to overdose.
“She’s not obligated to stay in a toxic relationship,” Anderson said. “She shouldn’t be to blame when it’s not her fault. His own demons had caused him to use drugs.” Contreras said that “People can’t go blaming someone else. It’s really stupid she didn’t do anything wrong and actually tried to help him.”
Miller was a significantly influential figure and now with his absence, there seems to be a void within the music community.
“His lyrics were very real and raw he actually rapped about real issues going on in the world,” Anderson said. “He took time and put thought into his music. I feel like that’s why he was so influential.”
Miller has left a long-lasting legacy on both the music industry and listeners. His constant positivity and light will always be remembered in people’s hearts.
Youtube has been a widely used platform since around the late 2000’s and is now universally used by millions of people on the daily. However, in recent events, it has become apparent that this may not be the case for some in the near coming future. The demonetization of “non ad-friendly” content on Youtube channels across the board has made this quite apparent. This includes topics and things that are deemed inappropriate by Youtube which includes controversial topics, sexually suggestive content, violence, and vulgar language. Demonetization happens when videos are deemed inappropriate can be marked by Youtube and not have advertisements run on their videos anymore, which means that the ad revenue the content creators once received is cut to almost nothing. For example, Philip Defranco is a Youtube channel that primarily deals with addressing controversial topics and recent news that happens in the world. It was at this time of Youtube changing its policy that a number of his videos were taken down purely for the reason that they were controversial. Now while the demonetization of these videos started happening in September of 2017, it wasn’t until recently that they really started cracking down on every little thing that pointed toward inappropriate content. The catalyst for this sort of extreme enforcement was when popular Youtuber, Logan Paul, featured a deceased person’s body in one of his videos. This caused huge outrage toward Paul and it also pushed Youtube to dramatically increase the demonetized videos on the platform along with changing their policy that demonetized channels for not being large enough to earn the right to be monetized in the first place with Youtube officially terminating partnerships with those channels because of them not being popular enough. The company has sent emails to channels stating, “under the new eligibility requirements announced today, your YouTube channel, [Channel Name], is no longer eligible for monetization because it doesn’t meet the new threshold of 4,000 hours of watch time within the past 12 months and 1,000 subscribers. As a result, your channel will lose access to all monetization tools and features associated with the YouTube Partner Program on February 20, 2018, unless you surpass this threshold in the next 30 days. Accordingly, this email serves as 30 days notice that your YouTube Partner Program terms are terminated.” https://geekdad.com/2018/01/youtubes-new-rules-will-kill-small-content-creators/
Smaller content creators all around are affected, with some videos getting gutted because of the inappropriate policy enforcement, or some being demonetized completely because of channel size and viewership, leaving many of these creators who create content on this platform in a very rough spot.
Many people perceive marijuana as an equally dangerous drug compared to other commonly abused drugs such as cocaine, heroin, ketamine, prescription opioids, and many others. And while marijuana is still illegal in 41/50 of the states here in the U.S, there are many other much more harmful things that are still legal compared to this drug. It seems very counterproductive to let things that are more dangerous to remain legal while maintaining strict laws over things that have a much less negative impact.
For example, alcohol is completely legal to consume, and more dangerous than marijuana is and is much more commonly abused. In fact every single year approximately 88,000 deaths are caused solely by alcohol abuse, 17.6 million suffer from alcohol dependence, and it is the 3rd leading lifestyle-related cause of death in the entire nation. Deaths from marijuana are extremely remote, the deaths caused by it are because of the actions are done by those under the influence and do not have nearly as much impact or even close to the negative effects of alcohol. If you were to give these facts to someone without telling them what the drug is and ask which one they think should be illegal, they would be more likely to say the one with more deadly statistics would they not. Right off the bat, you can see that something that is perfectly legal to consume has had a much more deadly impact than something that is much less harmful.
And some studies, according to Martin R Tramèr, show that Cannabinoids, or medical marijuana, are shown to be very useful for treatment for control of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. As well as having a number of antiemetic properties that are helpful to those undergoing chemotherapy to help with the side effects which would normally be caused by other treatment. Other uses of medical marijuana include the treatment of chronic pain, sleep disturbances, muscle spasticity, and even anorexia. This is mostly because the drug contains THC which act on the cannabinoids, which are a specific set of brain cell receptors that have mild painkiller effects. The THC is known to change the neurotransmitter release that takes place in the spinal cord which results in the pain relief. It is much more than just the dangerous drug that many people make it out to be, and while there are some harmful effects when the drug is abused and used in excess it also has many properties that are positive when used in medicine. When you take a look at not just alcohol, but many other more harmful things that aren’t made illegal compared to a medicinal drug that is proven to have positive consequences when used, it makes you wonder why it was ever made illegal in the first place.
