Braden McKavanagh

Staff writers

UIL Academic Panther teams won overall sweepstakes at District and Region levels this spring UIL season. Some students advanced to the state meet at University of Texas at Austin in May. 

Our speech and debate team dominated the competition at the recent UIL State meet. Seniors Madeline Mitchell and Zachary Stewart claimed the state championship in first place for Informative and Persuasive speaking events at State. 

  Our debate team has become one of the best in the state, more accomplished than any other NISD school, continuing the tradition of excellence as they were also the top ranked team at Region and District for all speech and debate in the area. Mitchell and Stewart accomplished this feat along with defeating the competition at Region and District before heading to state. This event allows competitors thirty minutes to prepare for their speech topic as the event they placed in is extemporaneous speaking, competitors are not allowed to see the topic ahead of time or write a prepared speech.  

  Our other academic teams also did well overall at district, helping our campus to again claim the sweepstakes trophy for the 5th year in a row(perhaps longer) for NISD. Sweepstakes are determined by any team placing in the top six and earning points, the Panther UIL students who have been placing high and shared about UIL Academics, what it is and why students should consider joining. 

  Senior Yuki Rojas on the UIL Science team placing fourth at Region said that to prepare they use a lot of studying, videos, and online practice. Students can also spend time in club meetings and with coaches practicing on campus. Mr. Naas coaches UIL science, Mr. Davern coaches UIL Literary Criticism and Ms. Smith coaches UIL Ready writing and you can stop in and find out more with those coaches. 

 They also mentioned that UIL is something colleges look for on applications and state schools can grant scholarships. One downside of UIL though is how much time studying and competitions take up Yuki mentioned making a schedule and keeping track of what needs to get done. 

  Other UIL Panthers have been placing well in academic competitions, Zachary Stewart placed first in informative speaking at Region and Madeline Mitchell who placed second at Region in persuasive speaking qualifying for state. Congrats to all other people who participated like Cooper Purcell and Ally Chadwell. If you are looking to get more involved in academics consider joining UIL.   

By Micaella Rodriguez Staff Writer

The UIL Academic Panthers swept the District competition on March 26 and 27, 2021 at Holmes High School to capture first place. Several teams placed first including Speech and Debate, Computer Science, and Current Events. A few teams placed second overall and the Panthers went home with a total of 324 points. Second place school was Jay with 278 points and third place sweepstakes was newcomer Harlan with 227 points. Students placing in the top three and members of first place teams advance to compete on April 16 and 17, 2021.

In Speech and Debate events, for Cross-Examination debate the team of Shasha Ogork and Beverly Quintana earned first place and advanced to State. In Lincoln Douglas debate, Charis Key earned second place. In Informative Speaking Ogork earned first place. In Poetry, Adison Garza won third place. In Prose, Jasmine Evenstad earned second place and Yash Patel earned third place. In Persuasive Speaking, William Walker earned first place.

“I prepared for the different categories all year, I conducted research, practiced, and debated this topic for many months prior to the UIL Competitions,” Walker said.

To those who wish to participate in UIL Walker said, “You will learn a huge amount of fascinating things that will make you a more informed, rounded, and thoughtful person. All of this while being surrounded by fun and energetic people that creates an amazing atmosphere of learning that you can’t get anywhere else.”

In Math events, sophomore Jayvin Pena placed first in Calculator Applications, Francesco Payan placed sixth, Isabella Ireland placed eleventh. In Mathematics Jayvin Pena placed third, Adriana Delagarza placed fifth, Payan placed sixth. In Number Sense, Pena placed third and Payan placed seventh. The team won second place overall.

“The reason I am driven to keep competing in UIL is that I get to compete in subjects I love. Instead of keeping Math or Computer Science confined to busy work and stressing over grades, I can just go out there and have fun with my team and learn quite a lot while doing it,” Pena said.

In Computer Science, junior Keayen Jeppson earned first place and the team with Jayvin Pena and Cyrus Bushong won first place overall. Pena placed fourth and Bushong placed fifth.

“I completed practice exams which were copies of previous UIL exams so that I could prepare for that section of the Computer Science event. For the hands-on coding portion of the UIL contest, I also coded some programs from previous UIL contests and timed myself to the two hour time limit and tried to code as many of them as possible As the exam portion of the Computer Science UIL was timed to 45 minutes (with 40 questions), I had to make sure I did the easy questions first, and skip the ones I was unsure of, as you lose points for every wrong answer. Doing so was crucial to keep my score as high as possible, which definitely contributed to helping me get first place,” Jeppson said.

For English events, in Literary Criticism, Brooke Burriola earned first place. In Spelling Isabella Ireland earned second place. In Ready Writing, Belen Cocke earned third place, Adriana Delagarza placed eighth and Alysandra Avila placed ninth.

In Current Issues, Ireland earned third place. Jasen Drileck earned sixth place and Mya Sachey earned seventh place. Together Drileck, Sachey, and Ireland advance to Region as first place team.

“I have been competing in UIL Academics since my sophomore year, and since then I have competed in a total of 5 areas. I absolutely love being able to test my knowledge and work with a team to achieve greatness! I also plan to continue to compete through my senior year,” Ireland said.

The students will continue to study and prepare for the Region UIL Academic competition.

In UIL Theatre events, Theatrical Design State Qualifiers are senior Conner Ballenger for Set Design, senior Elisa Pedraza Sanchez for Hair & Makeup Design and junior Lillian Land for Costume Design. They will compete at State on May 7 and 8, 2021.

By Diego Hernandez Co-Editor-in-Chief

  The 48th Annual Walter Gerlach Livestock Show and Sale raised over 1.1 million dollars in scholarships for Agriculture students announced on February 8, 2021 for the fourth year in a row. The show occurred from January 23-30th and the live auction took place via Livestream and in-person limited on January 28, 2021. Several students won recognition for raising livestock and building Agricultural Machinery products.

The winners of Gerlach’s awards include senior Matthew Escobedo for Ag Mechanics Grand Champion for restoring a tractor and FFA member Emily Felty for the Reserve Grand Champion. Freshman Krista Sifuentes received Grand Champion for Goats while sophomore Reagan Crick gained Reserve. Member Kiley Murry earned Grand Champion title along with reserve for rabbits awarded to FFA. Ian Diaz gained Grand Champion title for Swine while Reserve GC went to senior Aiden Charo. The title of Grand Champion for Steer went to senior Erica Perales along with Reserve Steer winner junior Courtney Burrell. Senior Victoria Weynand received the Grand Champion title for Lamb and senior Reague Chavez the Reserve. Senior Avery Felton acquired the Grand Champion title for Turkey as freshman Jace Burkholder for Reserve. Grand Champion title for Broilers went to seventh grade FFA member Gianna Hivnor of Atonement Academy and Reserve winner senior Gavin Spears.

  Agriculture students involved in raising animals were awarded in other ways as well. 

  “It’s all worth it when you see the friends you’ve made and the fun you’ve had with your animals. And never be afraid to ask the teachers questions, they are there to help you and when it comes to raising your own animal, it is important you know everything that needs to be known about your animal so you can be more successful with raising and in other parts of ag,” FFA member senior Samantha Wright said.

  Other Ag students shared similar experiences.

“Ag has been an important part of my life because it has taught me so many valuable lessons over the years. I have learned responsibility, hard work, leadership, and more. It has also allowed me to make many important friendships and connections that will help me out in my adult life and career,” senior Madison Crick said.

  Students overcame several challenges this year, pandemic and communication-related issues and more.

  “It was also harder to keep prepared for the uncertainties of my animals as well as in my Ag teams as I am unable to go everywhere I needed to go to get supplies, feed and many other things,” Wright said.

  Other students faced some of the same challenges.

“My year raising was a mix of very fun and very stressful. I did not have any extracurricular activities besides ag this year due to Covid, so I was able to put a lot more focus into my goat projects. I was worried that the livestock shows would be canceled, but I was very grateful because most of them still happened, and my hard work paid off in the end,” senior Madison Crick said.

  They also were able to experience rewards, such as seeing the results of their four years of hard work involved in the Ag program and prepare them for their future.

  “When I got the letter saying I had gotten the Gerlach Scholarship, I was ecstatic. I had worked very hard and was very involved with FFA these past four years, so I had felt all that hard work had paid off and I was very thankful for Gerlach for their consideration of me for this scholarship. After high school, I will attend Texas A&M University and major in Animal Science in hopes of becoming a veterinarian,” Wright said.

  Other scholarship winners were overjoyed as well.

  “I was so excited to find out that I earned my scholarship! It meant so much to me because of how much time and effort I had put into the application, as well as my FFA and 4H career over the years, to be able to get this scholarship. Next year, I will be attending Texas A&M University, and majoring in Agricultural Communications,” Crick said. 

  Second-year FFA member junior Lillian Stagner shared her experience this year raising goats was a fun and challenging experience.

  “I had the honor to receive Division Champion of Light Weight Goats. I felt so proud, as all of my hard work paid off,” Stagner said.

  Stagner is also looking forward to participating again next year, her senior year she plans to raise a pig, and Heffer. 

  “I’m jumping head first into this as I have never raised these animals before, but I am just so excited to learn from them,” Stagner said.

  Scholarships were awarded to several Agricultural students including seniors Elizabeth Barnett, Abigail Flores, Samantha Wright, Caitlin Castro, Victoria Weynand, Mason Pouncy, Erica Perales, Emaleen Cain, Madison Crick, Riley McGovern, Shelly Padalecki, and Jordan McCullough.

By Micaella Rodriguez Staff Writer

  The holidays will look a little different due to COVID-19. During Halloween, some students felt torn between going to parties with friends, going trick-or-treating, or just staying home under the direction of their parents. The number of cases in Bexar county increased since Oct. 28, 2020 with 281 daily cases until the December 2, 2020 peak of 1,499 daily cases. Cases on campus have also been rising, with 4 reported cases the week after Halloween, 4 cases the following week, 7 cases the week before Thanksgiving, 8 cases after we returned from Thanksgiving, and 14 cases reported December 7-11, 2020.

  Some students are choosing to stay home and reduce exposure. Freshman Enrique Chapa chose to stay at home with his family for Halloween. Chapa mentioned that he doesn’t have any high-risk family members.

  “We just don’t want to get sick and like, prevent it,” Chapa said.

  Compared to previous Halloween memories, he wished he could do his usual holiday tradition.

“Probably just going around my neighborhood and getting candy from my neighbors,” Chapa said.

  Many people this year aren’t going to be able to celebrate their normal traditions such as trick-or-treating and going out with friends. Some people on the other hand such as freshmen Ellie Price and Lauren Loudermilk have decided to have a lesser gathering such as hanging out with close family or friends. 

  Price’s plans to go to a small dinner with her family and their close friends. She said she also wanted to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Her Halloween plans would be going to dinner with her family and her family’s close friends. Price said that her family decided to celebrate this way to limit the number of people they came into contact with. Price shared if the pandemic didn’t happen this year, she’d go to the annual corn maze and spend time with friends. 

  Loudermilk shared that her family was also going to spend the evening with her parents’ close friends as well. She said that the other family has young children and they were planning to do some simple games such as cornhole to entertain themselves at home. They chose to have a small gathering because she said since her mom works at a middle school, she knows how serious and high the numbers are at schools.

Zoom interview with candidate Claire Barnett, pictured from top L-R Staff writer Cristian Velazquez, Adviser Mrs. Scott, Co-editor in Chief Diego Hernandez, bottom: Co-editor in Chief Emma Szabo, candidate Barnett. Photo courtesy of Mrs. Scott

By Cristian Velazquez Staff Writer

With the Election rapidly approaching, students are sharing their opinions and shaping their own political judgments. The last day for early voting is October 30 in Texas, some plan to cast their ballot on Election day, November 3, 2020. Most are focused on National elections, but all should consider the impact your local representatives have on your day to day lives as Texans. The local government impacts you now, such as the Health mandate during Covid. 

“The closer you get to the people the more you have an operational impact on their lives,” State House Representative Lyle Larson said, “From education, healthcare delivery, the infrastructure, the public safety issues, all of those; you are interfacing state government.”

 Rep. Lyle Larson served as a San Antonio City Councilman for District 10 from 1991-1995 and a Bexar County Commissioner for Precinct 3 from 1997-2008.

  Democratic challenger Claire Barnett felt compelled to get involved.

  “Like a lot of people after the 2016 election, I felt like I needed to do more as a citizen to be active in our democracy,” Barnett said. 

  Barnett received 38% of the vote in the previous general election. Initially, she had no intention of running in 2020. 

  “Even before the pandemic, it just was more than I thought I wanted to take on this year, but, again, when it came down to it and no one else was going to run, I just couldn’t let it go. Especially this year,” Barnett said. 

  With news cycles and social media mechanisms usually focusing on the happenings of the national government, people tend to be less aware of their state government. 

  “I think it’s not just high-school kids who wonder ‘what does a state government do?’ I think a lot of adults really don’t know […] but our state government is super super important,” Barnett said.

  Both candidates shared thoughts on education.

 “The Northside Independent School District […] had a budget of […] about $1.5B. The state pays in roughly $325M-$330M to help support the school district,” Larson said.

  Barnett also explained how Texas politics plays a role in our education.   

  “The state government has a lot to do with school funding and rules about schools and curriculum and how much teachers get paid,” Barnett said. 

  A point of agreement between the two candidates seems to be their support of HB 3, a school finance bill (now law) passed in the last legislative session that increased teacher pay and school funding on a per-student basis while also cutting property taxes. Larson called the law “transformational”.

“(It) finally addressed some of the funding issues, (it) didn’t achieve all the goals that a lot of public school advocates have but certainly made some progress in that direction,” Barnett said.

  With a decade in the Texas Legislature, Rep. Larson has had the time to build a record that reflects his stances on policy. 

  “Primary focus up here has been the water issue. I’m the chairman of the Natural Resources Committee; we look at state-wide policy dealing with the development of water resources to try to insulate our state from the droughts that happen,” Larson said. 

  The demand for a reliable, clean water source is important to the district.

  “I’ve spent the last 10 years […] [visiting] with most of the groundwater districts, large public utilities, the river authorities, and trying to figure out for the next two generations how we can get enough water put together […] [to] withstand a 3-5 year drought by pushing forward bills dealing with desalination on the coast, dealing with desalination of the brackish columns in the aquifers […], and dealing with recycling of water and how we can better use that in industry,” Larson said.

  Another stance Larson elaborated on is being a “fiscal conservative”, a term he uses to identify himself on his campaign website.   

  “Constitutionally we have to have a balanced budget; unlike they’ve got in Washington,” Larson said.

  He also went into detail about his work on cutting taxes. 

  “There was an initiative that we passed, and the governor signed, capping property taxes at the local level,” Larson said.

  The initiative being SB 2, another bill that got passed in the last legislative session.

  Mrs. Barnett’s has a different set of political priorities she wants to address if she is elected. A major theme of her campaign has been her opposition to gerrymandering; the process of drawing electoral district boundaries in a way that unfairly gives an advantage to a certain political party or group. 

  “It’s actually our elected officials in the Texas Legislature who are in charge of drawing all those boundaries,” Barnett said. 

  Since the last legislative session last year, Lyle Larson has sat on the Redistricting Committee in the Texas House. 

  “Our districts are some of the most gerrymandered in the country; both our congressional districts and state house districts,” Barnett said.

  A solution she proposed is to put in place an independent redistricting commission; implemented in 10 U.S. states already, the commission would consist of citizens, instead of lawmakers, that are responsible for drawing the districts.

  Claire Barnett is also prioritizing expanding and improving our healthcare system, especially now with the pandemic. 

  “Texas has the highest rate of uninsurance in the country and that has only gotten worse with all the layoffs that have happened [..] during this crisis,” Barnett said.

  However, any legislative solutions have been stalled for months.

  “The Texas Legislature is only in session once every 2 years, so the State Legislature has not been in session this entire time since March, and so all the decision making about how the state has responded has been from the executive level […] and so the legislature really hasn’t had an opportunity to weigh in. The only that would happen before the new session starts in January is if the governor were to call a special session and he has not done that,” Barnett said.

  Barnett shared the legislature could make changes to be more effective.

  “There’s a lot that the Texas State Legislature could be doing and should be doing to have a more cohesive response that really provides the public health infrastructure that we need right now to make sure that we’re controlling the pandemic,” Barnett said.

  Both candidates are in overwhelming agreement on having students be a part of the political process. “You don’t have to be of voting age to participate in our democracy,” Mrs. Barnett said. 

  Rep. Larson also encouraged students to get involved.

  “If you have spare time in high school and in college, just get out and get involved in the process and you can make a difference,” Larson said.

  Both candidates cited volunteering for a political campaign as a way to affect change in your city, state, and/or country. 

  “First it’ll be answering the phone, just putting signs out, and then you’ll evolve into policy discussions,” Larson said. 

  Barnett also gave an example of what you could do for a campaign. 

  “Especially on the local campaigns, there’s a potential, if you have a really specialized skill set, to be able to help with something related to communications or graphic design; there could be all sorts of opportunities,” Barnett said.

 She also gave examples of ways students can get involved in the political process. 

  “The other area that I think students really have a great opportunity to get involved is in issue-specific things, so if there’s an issue you’re really passionate about, there are all sorts of organizations […] that are focused on very specific issues,” Barnett said.

 She also advised attending assemblies such as school board and city council meetings, which have become more accessible during the pandemic thanks to Zoom and live streaming platforms. 

  “There are meetings where they take public comment and [you can] share your feelings on whatever issue is being discussed,” Barnett said. 

  Barnett shared if individuals are passionate about impacting political change, “if you’re that interested, run for office.”

Find out if you are in Texas House District 122, visit Who represents me? at wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home

Visit Lyle Larson’s campaign website at lylelarson.org

Visit Claire Barnett’s campaign website at claire4texas.com

By Emma Szabo Co-Editor in Chief

Starting August of 2021, the AG program will officially become NISD’s 7th magnet school, the Agriculture Science & Technology Academy. Even though the magnet school’s opening is a year away, the school’s staff has already been welcomed to the campus. The new school will be headed by Mr. Chad Bohlken, the principal of the AG Magnet school this next year. The change from a program to a magnet school has left some of the current students with questions though. Current Ag students may wonder about upcoming changes.

“It shouldn’t affect any of them. There won’t be any real impact on the current students and they should know that. They were here before me and the new school, so it’s only fair that nothing changes for them.” Bohlken said.

The changes in application and qualification will only be affecting students coming into the program after 2021, so no current students will be affected. So if nothing is going to change for current students, then what is different? According to Mr. Bohlken, although nothing much will change for students, a lot will change for the approach of the school. Unlike previous years, the Agriculture Science & Technology Academy will try to advertise themselves to more of the Northside community in an attempt to pull in more students from outside the school. They will also highlight everything the school offers besides the livestock show.

“Although the main attraction of the program has always been the Livestock show, we want students to know that there are tons of other benefits of the program. The focus isn’t just the livestock show but all forms of AG. Things like science and technology and getting certified for vet programs,” Bohlken said.

Agriculture has been a big part of Mr. Bohlken’s life, so it’s important to him to share all of its aspects. Mr. Bohlken grew up on a farm in Iowa, raising animals and participating in 4H and FFA. His upbringing has had a clear inspiration in his work and hobbies. Mr. Bohlken loves fishing in his free time and spending time outdoors, making him feel right at home in the AG program, which is why he was drawn to the position in the first place.

“I’m a very outdoorsy person, so this is just a perfect fit for me. I’m very excited about working here,” Bohlken said.

The AG program has always been a vital part of our school, and the change into a magnet school will not change that. This change has brought new staff who are excited to be working with the students here and who are dedicated to making the school a better place.

By Sally Abdul Khalek and Faith Collins

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