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Great coffee debate continues
Kailani Aguigui
Staff writer, Co-Editor-in-Chief for 2024-25 school year
Around 575 A.D. coffee was discovered by an Ethiopian legend, goat herder Kaldi. Legend says the goat herder Kaldi first discovered the potential of the coffee beans from a certain tree when his goats became so energetic that they didn’t want to go to sleep. Obviously, that’s when it started to come out and he wanted to show other people. It expanded from there. Nowadays, we have companies such as Dutch Bros and Starbucks where they have expanded the diversity of coffee. These two companies are going head to head with competing which one is better.
Art teacher Ms. Tenorio in room 113, prefers Starbucks over Dutch Bros.
“Dutch Bros drinks are a lot sweeter and thicker,” Ms. Tenorio said.
There is some debate between the two companies if their drinks are too filling or not. Tenorio prefers the more simple and smooth drinks where she doesn’t have to squint about how sweet it is. She believes that Starbucks has the most variety in their drinks and they can make anything you want. The logos of both of the companies have two good solid colors but Tenorio shares she prefers Starbucks logo due to how classy it is.
Isabella Gough is a student here and she has the opposite of these other two interviewers. She believes that Dutch Bros is the better coffee place. She loves the sweetness Dutch Bros brings to the table and the variety that they serve. Her favorite drink at Dutch Bros is the “Golden Eagle” that has vanilla and caramel mixed into it. Gough says that Dutch Bros drinks are also cheaper than Starbucks. An example of this opinion is a medium golden eagle freeze is $4.25 at Dutch Bros but the price of a very similar medium (grande) sized drink at Starbucks is $6.19. You can clearly see the comparison in money terms.
Jocelyn Joyner, a student athlete on campus and she also prefers Starbucks over DutchBros due to the whole vibe of Starbucks. Her favorite drink at Starbucks is an iced white chocolate mocha. She enjoys getting it in the morning whenever she can. Joyner loves the fact that Starbucks has an indoor place where you can go sit down and enjoy but would also like to see DutchBros do an indoor as well to convenient her better.
A poll was made out of 40 students which coffee company was better overall. You can see the diagram on the bottom right. Out of that 40, 24 students chose Dutch Bros over Starbucks. They have many reasons why it was better coffee, better variety of drinks, and that it had a better logo. As you can see from casted votes, Dutch Bros is certainly increasing in popularity. If you didn’t know, Dutch Bros started in Oregon, 1992. Right as of this moment, Dutch Bros has over 900 locations throughout the U.S. but here in Texas, we have 193 locations.
Both of these companies are great and serve well to everybody but there is no wrong answer on which you think is better. As long as both companies are doing great and still thriving to stay up and going, the debate has no wrong answer. You may want Dutch Bros one day and Starbucks the other so you can get both worlds, but it all matters on what you want and what makes you happy. So enjoy what each company is bringing to the table and just drink and enjoy.
Varsity Soccer Scores a Spot in Playoffs
Brooke Amosson Sports Editor
Boys and girls varsity soccer has kicked their way to the top, putting them both in the playoffs. They both had outstanding seasons ranking in the top three in district.
The Varsity Lady Panthers finished their season with a 12-3-1 record, putting them in third place overall. The girls had their first playoff game where they played Del Rio in the Valley, they took home a five to nothing win, setting them up for their second round game which was played in corpus the following tuesday. The girls dominated that game coming home with a nine to one win. The Lady Panthers moved forward to round three of the playoffs and played Harlingen, winning five to four. The Lady Panthers season came to an end in round four of playoffs where they fought hard but unfortunately lost one to zero against round rock.
The Varsity boys finished their season with a 12-1-3 record, putting them second in district. The boys had their first playoff game right at home, where they played Laredo United and moved forward with a five to one win. They ended their playoff run in Corpus Christi, one to zero. The boys had a great season and we look forward to seeing how the season will shape up next year.
Exchange student experience American schools
Staff Writer: Noemi Vantini
Ten foreign exchange students are studying on campus this school year from several countries including: Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Columbia and Japan.
Seventeen year old junior Italian exchange student Ilenia Berto shared about her experiences.
“Since I can remember, I have desired to complete an exchange year, though I was unsure of the appropriate time. At first, I had planned to do it when I would have been in college, but then, I figured out I could do it during my junior year of high school so I took the opportunity,” Berto said.
She wanted to become an exchange student to learn the language, make memories and most importantly to challenge herself and become more independent.
Berto was very excited about her stay here in the United States because she wanted to get to know how life and school is here.
“The main difference between Italy and America is that the school here is more active and involved in the students’ life,” Berto said.
Being an introvert, she found it difficult to establish friendships because it required her to talk in another language. Although Berto has an older brother who has his own house in Italy, she grew up as an only child; nevertheless, she now lives with a nine year old and a thirteen year old, which is a significant shift for her. She expressed gratitude for having made a genuine connection and that she feels truly included in her host family because they regularly involve her in significant decisions.
Berto advises other exchange students to have realistic expectations and to live every moment without overthinking because you won’t get a second chance at this experience.
Even if her expectations weren’t met, she is still having a great time. Before coming here, she would have loved to know that the “special year” she was going to live in was a typical routine for everyone else.
Panthers celebrate Homecoming 2021
It’s Friday of homecoming week and the hallways are alive with the sweet sound of homecoming bells on mums as students sashay down the halls, heavy laden with several decorative mums sometimes from friends or family. This week the dress up days were: Monday Meme Day, Tuesday Twin Day, Wednesday Movie Character day, Thursday Tacky Tourist day, and Friday Love Navy, Live Gold spirit day.
Students and especially seniors were creative in their dress this week.
Photo by Hannah Veiser
Helotes Mayoral Election Reflects Importance of Local Government
Written By Staff Writer Cristian Velazquez
All across Texas, local elections will be held on May 1st for citizens to choose who will be on their city councils, school boards, and other regional governing bodies. The city of Helotes is no different. In this election cycle, Rich Whitehead will challenge 14-year incumbent Tom Schoolcraft for mayor. We talked with Whitehead about the importance of local government, his campaign, and how students can get involved in their community.
Whitehead started working in local politics 14 years ago when he ran for city council with the current mayor and got elected in 2006. He was a councilman for 4 years before deciding not to run for reelection due to fixing most of the problems that he wanted to solve in the community.
“Public service is one of those things you do because it’s the right thing to do. You don’t make any money at [city council]. Zero dollars, zero cents an hour, as it were, but you get to see the effects of policy decisions you make that make people’s lives a little bit easier,” Whitehead said.
The Helotes government is responsible for many things in the community such as regulating businesses, buildings, and even plants in the city. The local government is also responsible for our public safety organizations.
“If you ever need an ambulance, or, God forbid, there’s a fire, or if you need the police, [those are] points of contact with the local government,” Whitehead said.
When running a local campaign, a candidate usually doesn’t have the national stage, catchy political policies, or party affiliations to have people pay attention to their campaign.
“Most people have very little idea of what goes on in the local government. They keep an eye on the national government or maybe the state government, but rarely judicial or local, and local government is really where the rubber meets the road,” Whitehead said.
Candidates instead keep platforms and issues close to home. Whitehead is keen on knocking on doors and attending events to speak with his potential constituents. He also has a Facebook page where he lays out his issues extensively and information on events. One component of Whitehead’s platform is to bring back events in Helotes to reinvigorate our sense of community in the city and to local tourism.
“We used to have a lot more things such as Jazz Fest, [and] Chuck Wagon Chili Cook-Off. Those things, unfortunately, have been canceled. […] I am definitely going to bring those things back and hopefully some others. People have good ideas all the time. Someone floated the idea of having kind of like a little ‘Helotes’s Got Talent’. […] Its community and family likes watching family. And so by having these things on a regular basis it just draws people from the surrounding areas. […] I don’t campaign to people outside of the area, but I listen to people outside of the area. […] I care about what [they] think because [they’re] a part of our community,” Whitehead said.
Another major theme of the campaign is fiscal conservation.
“I feel that the current mayor, in his policy directions, has led us to some bad financial decisions: a frivolous lawsuit that cost us 1.3 million dollars, [the] dispatch center [that’s] losings about a half-million dollars a year. As a result, we’re losing police and fire officers to low salaries,” Whitehead said.
Mayor Schoolcraft has been hitting back against these claims on his campaign page with paragraphs, bullet points, vertical selfie videos, and pictures of Whitehead’s Facebook posts printed out with critical annotations in red ink. He has attacked and refuted multiple points of Whitehead’s campaign and platform in a series of edits to his website he calls “The rest of the story”, creating it so, in his words, “you will truly be able to understand the what, when, where, and why of each issue. It will then be up to you to reach your own conclusions”. In a video called “Whack-A-Mole”. Mayor Schoolcraft criticizes the coalition between Whitehead and city council candidates Matthew Merchant and Matthew McCrossen.
“They say ‘we need change’. What is that change? […] Have you ever asked them any serious questions when they’re talking about frivolous lawsuits and salaries being unfair and being mean to business and all that? Have you asked them any questions? (‘Hey, show me some examples of what you’re talking about because it doesn’t make sense’), that’s what I would do. Once they get off their talking points they’ll be lost because they do not know, really, what any issues are, because we have no issues. […] Hopefully you’ll stick with me, Burt Buys, and Paul Friedrichs if you haven’t voted yet,” Whitehead said.
On how students get involved in the local government, Whitehead encouraged finding a candidate that one likes, and volunteering with their campaign. He also proposed creating an internship at Helotes City Hall for seniors interested in government or political science, should he get elected.
“This is going to be your Helotes. […] you’re either going to take ownership […] at some point at an early age, or you’re going to sit by and it’s going to become something that you don’t like. And you just eventually […] get rolled over by the system or just move away to find someplace else, so get involved and make sure that the future is what you want it to be,” Whitehead said.
Information on the election can be found here on the Helotes website- City of Helotes | 2021 Election
Covid Grammy fashion, winners
By Micaella Rodriguez Staff writer
On Sunday, March 14, the 63rd annual Grammy awards took place. Artists dressed in designers from Harry Lambert and Oscar de La Renta to Versace and Nike ensembles. Now a 28-time Grammy winning singer, Beyonce has made history by setting the record for most Grammys by any female artist. Many celebrities experimented with pandemic-friendly, mask matching looks. Including Billie Eilish, Harry Styles, and Chika. With a limited audience, masks and social distancing, here’s the rundown of the event.
Dua Lipa presented a glittery disco look through the night. Wearing Atelier Versace for both the red carpet, and her performance. Taylor Swift brought warm, garden vibes with her on-brand floral dress. Adding on light pink Louboutin heels. Then, at her performance, wore a floor-length blue floral gown.
Then there’s Harry Styles, donning his usual Gucci. In particular, sporting a Grammys-themed manicure with gold, brown, gray and black polish. He wore a 70s inspired set as well. With a yellow houndstooth blazer, brown velvet pants, and pink shirt with a v-shaped neckline. And of course, his purple colored, feather boa. Styles opened the show with a performance of his hit song, Watermelon Sugar. He wore a custom leather suit, without a shirt underneath, black shoes, rings, and accessorizing with the same boa, in green.
However, many artists and fans were upset about the Grammys this year. Artists including Zayn, The Weeknd and Halsey spoke out about the award show. While Zayn wasn’t angry about not getting nominated, he expressed this with a grim tweet that he felt the Grammys do not showcase all artists. Saying the Grammys is in need of “inclusion” and had a “lack of transparency”. He mentioned the Grammys allows “favoritism, racism, and networking politics to influence the voting process” Overall, the Grammys had positive feedback. Fans and artists are just hoping for better inclusivity, diversity and less favoritism in the coming years.
Volleyball Regional quarterfinal champions
Staff writer Micaella Rodriguez
Varsity volleyball topped off their season with an undefeated district record and ranked 57th best volleyball team in Texas. They advanced to the playoffs and defeated Nixon in a 3-0 shutout to become Bi-district champions. The team advanced and defeated both Edinburg in Area and United in Regional quarterfinals again with 3-0 shutouts. They ended their playoff streak with a loss vs. Reagan 3-1 in the Regional semi-final match-up.
Several athletes are prepared to continue their volleyball careers in college. Senior Terez Chavez signed to be a part of the Southwestern Oklahoma State University volleyball team in November. Senior Bryshanna Brown signed to the University of Houston volleyball team in December. Several teammates were also honored and named to All-District including senior Lexi Davila, named Offensive player of the year, Brown named MVP, Chavez named setter of the year, junior Mackenzie Mahr, seniors Elizabeth Purcell and Mia Robles named to first team. Juniors Lina Herrera and Ava Himstreet named to second team All District.
These team members have been playing volleyball for years and have gone through extensive training. Mahr, outside hitter has been on the Varsity volleyball team since her freshman year. Currently, Mahr has a record of over 60 digs as well as over 250 serves. Mahr has been playing volleyball since 6th grade. Mahr mentioned that she first started playing because she had previously been playing tennis. However, she had gotten tired of it and from the advice of a friend, tried out for the volleyball team.
“People were really happy for me, there’s gonna be people who don’t like what I’m doing or who aren’t okay with my success but the vast majority of people are happy for me for finally being able to play and being able to showcase what I can do,” Mahr said.
As for COVID-19, it has also had an impact on these players due to health protocols most volleyball gyms have had to close. Most players have been unable to practice which has affected their skills.
“I wasn’t able to go to practice, I wasn’t able to go with my team, this was one of the first years that I haven’t been able to go to nationals and so that has also affected my recruiting,” Mahr said.
Freshman JV member, moved up to Varsity mid-season, Carly Chavez is an Outside Hitter, Defense Specialist on the varsity team. Chavez has been playing club volleyball since she was 10 years old, and she soon “fell in love” with the sport. “Volleyball has shaped me physically and mentally. It has kept me in shape of course, but has made me a more mentally tough person. I have learned to handle pressure, and not crack under it on and off the court,” Chavez said.
She shared she is a very positive person towards others on and off the court.
“I feel like volleyball has made me into the leader who doesn’t get on you for your mistakes, but one that drives you to make yourself better,” Chavez said.
Chavez and other successful players attribute their success to their team and their families.
“I have a very supportive family that always congratulates me for my volleyball successes. My family are the ones that drive me to continue my volleyball career into college,” Chavez said.
Like everything, the season was impacted by COVID-19. Chavez said that her club season was cut off and wasn’t able to compete at Nationals.
“It was not great being at home instead of the court because that was my happiness, once we all started getting back on the court our happiness came back,” Chavez said.
Rank-Choice voting proposed in Texas
By Cristian Velazquez Staff Writer
In Texas HB 117 and HB 740 concerning rank-choice voting will be addressed in the upcoming 2021 legislative session. Ranked-choice voting, also known as instant runoff voting or preferential voting, has been an alternative way to hold elections. If the bills pass, we will no longer have to hold costly runoff elections. In November rank-choice reform passed in Alaska, two cities in California, two cities in Minnesota, and a city in Colorado. Along with those states, 17 others use ranked-choice voting in some capacity.
“Voters rank candidates in order of preference –first choice, second choice, and so on. If a candidate gets more than half of the first-choice votes, they win just as in any other election. If no candidate gets a majority of the first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest is eliminated and voters who picked that candidate as their first choice will have their votes count towards their second choice. This process is repeated until a candidate accumulates more than half of the votes, thus serving as an instant runoff while eliminating the additional costs and time associated with runoff elections,” according to Ranked Choice Voting for Texas.
Proponents have stated there are many benefits to implementing ranked-choice voting. One of the main ones is that ranked-choice voting dramatically reduces the spoiler effect, a situation since candidates who try to split votes will have their votes go to a different candidate when they lose. Another popular benefit of ranked-choice voting is that elections become less expensive and less tedious as governments don’t need to establish runoff elections. Another benefit is that since competing candidates will also be vying for 2nd, 3rd, etc. place votes, campaigns will shift their focus from maligning other candidates to expanding their voter base, making the political climate less toxic. Proponents of ranked-choice voting also cite the policy’s implementation in other developed countries such as Australia and Ireland.
Opponents argue that ranked-choice voting is overly complicated and can confuse voters, citing the repeal of ranked-choice voting in South Carolina, Burlington, Vermont, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Pierce County, Washington, and Aspen, Colorado. Another point opponents make is that when the candidate(s) a person has chosen loses, those votes become meaningless and disenfranchises voters.
On the national stage in the United States, ranked-choice voting has been gaining traction. 2020 Presidential candidates who support ranked-choice voting include Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Howie Hawkins, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Bill Weld, and Andrew Yang.
Texas also has a recent history with ranked-choice voting. Since 1997, 12 bills in the Texas Legislature have tried to implement the reform in Texas (75(R) HB 2355, 76(R) HB 569, 76(R) HB 1765, 78(R) HB 135, 78(R) HB 1362, 79(R) HB 197, 79(R) HB 1790, 80(R) HB 2209, 86(R) HB 3514, 86(R) HB 2010, 87(R) HB 117, 87(R) HB 740). All of them have died in committee except for HB 117 and HB 740, which has been filed for the upcoming 2021 legislative session. In a policy workshop for ranked choice voting by Humanity Forward Texas, Rep. Terry Meza talked about how her bill, HB 2010, died in committee.
“We filed a bill for preferential voting… once all the bills are filled then the speaker assigns them to whatever committee he thinks… is the most appropriate committee for that subject matter. So, of course, this bill is assigned to the Elections Committee. And from there starts the effort to get your bill heard. You wouldn’t think it would be such an effort but it really is because there are so many bills filed that the committee chair has the power to decide whether or not a bill’s going to be heard. So in this particular case Stephanie Klick, Republican out of Tarrant County, was the Elections Committee Chair and with all 10 of my Election Committee bills, any time I’d to talk to her about any ways to make voting easier, her standard answer was ‘voter fraud’”.
During 2000 and 2001, An effort to get ranked-choice voting in Austin gained substantial momentum. The Austin Charter Revision Committee recommended the reform that year in January 2001 and a petition by Clean Campaigns for Austin gathered signatures to get ranked-choice voting on the ballot. However, a lot of progress was dismantled after Secretary of State Henry Cuellar penned an opinion in July 2001 saying the policy was illegal. Citing Texas Election Code Sec. 275.002 (To be elected to a city office, a candidate must receive a majority of the total number of votes received by all candidates for the office), Sec. Cuellar opined that “the meaning of the word ‘majority’, as the Texas Legislature has used it in the Code and as it has been interpreted by the courts, is the majority in the ‘classic’ or ‘traditional’ sense, i.e., [consisting] of more than half of the original votes, as cast and not re-assigned by the voter’s secondary or tertiary intent, and if no candidate receives more than half the votes, a runoff election is required”. Although the opinion isn’t legally binding, it has substantial persuasive authority. The Clean Campaigns for Austin petition was halted, The 3 city council members who had supported ranked-choice voting dropped their endorsements, and the policy was dropped from the recommendation of the Austin Charter Revision Committee in December. Later, in March 2003, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott dealt another blow to ranked-choice voting in Texas by concurring with Sec. Cuellar’s assessment of the issue in an opinion, saying “state law conflicts irreconcilably with, and thereby preempts, instant runoff voting”.
Ranked-choice voting has been implemented in Texas in certain areas. Texas A&M University, the University of Texas at Austin, University of Houston, and Rice University use the method for their elections. The Texas Democratic Party also allows county or senate districts to use it to choose party officers and delegates.
In the summer of 2019, a nonprofit organization called Ranked Choice Voting for Texas was created
As the Overton Window shifts toward innovative solutions to problems with our government ranked-choice voting’s momentum shows no sign of stopping in the coming years. As the issue becomes more and more popular in the discussion, it is important that we think about whether this will be a good policy for the United States, for Texas, for Bexar County, and Helotes/Grey Forest/San Antonio area.
Time for a Star Wars Marathon
By Patrick Dawson Guest writer
With quarantine making everyone bored as ever, I decided I was going to rewatch all of Star Wars canon, everything officially in the Star Wars storyline. Every movie and every TV show. My favorite of them all is Episode 3, Revenge of the Sith. They made the movies backward, so it was technically the 6th episode, but if you’re looking at it in order of the storyline, it’s episode 3.
This movie, along with episodes 1 and 2, otherwise known as the prequel trilogy, gets a lot of hate. Some of it is warranted, and some isn’t. In the prequel trilogy, there’s a lot of cringey “love” scenes, poor writing, bad CGI, unnecessary characters, things of that nature. But not Revenge of the Sith, which I will call ROTS from now on.
This movie’s storytelling is amazing. You can see, every time the Jedi disrespect Anakin, every time the Chancellor praises Anakin, every time Padme tells him something about her pregnancy and their future, and every time Anakin has a nightmare, how it just destroys him. He’s caught in a tug of war between the Jedi, who believe he is the chosen one but continue to disrespect him, and the Chancellor, a Sith Lord disguised as the Chancellor who is in need of a new apprentice. Every single thing that happens has an effect on Anakin’s mind and directly changes his actions. Eventually, the Chancellor wins. He convinces Anakin that by using the dark side of the force he can save his wife from certain death, as Anakin has been having nightmares about her death. You can tell that this is what made him go over the hump. From the battles, to the emotional conflict, to the storytelling. It’s all great. The effects are beautiful. The volcano planet Mustafar looks amazing. The music in the Order 66 scene just crushes you. It’s truly a work of art. ROTS has some of the best elements of Star Wars as a whole, the moral conflict, war, good vs bad, will to do anything to save the ones you love, and pure manipulation by the dark side. It’s an amazing movie, and I’d for sure recommend you watch it.