Now obviously this decision is up to the school and its administrators, but we have to ask those who plan on going if there is one, how they feel about the chance of not having a prom for their last year in high school. I took it upon myself to ask around to see how seniors feel about whether we should have a prom or not.Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

“Yes, I think Westside should have a prom. Even if it’s outdoors and we have to wear masks, it would still allow the senior class to have something special in this year where we have gotten practically nothing that normal senior classes have gotten.” (Rachel Wright, class of 2021)

As you can see, the seniors would prefer to have the option to go to the prom this year. They would like to make it memorable before they go to college, so a prom wouldn’t be a bad idea. In fact, if we can make sure that those who have been tested are able to come and everyone there wears the proper masks, the prom shouldn’t be a problem for anyone. We should let the students have one more special night before they become adults.

During the afternoon of January 6th, chaos erupted: protestors managed to break-in the U.S. Capitol against its “unprecedented” security, the violent-dark historic Confederate flags waved inside the nation’s Capitol for the first times, neo-Nazi’s in “Camp Auschwitz” attire and others with tees that read, “MAGA Civil War” flooded the building, and acts of violence unleashed even to the point of setting up pipe bombs, which were detonated. An entire insurrection, initiated by President Trump, something that has not occurred since the War of 1812 when the British attacked. 

AP World History and former AP Human Geography teacher, Elena Diiorio, voices her thought of the breaching, “It still gives me chills, I’m having them right now to think that what we saw on Wednesday was actually the reality of what was going on Wednesday. The idea that you know, we are the first Democratic country. We fought a revolution against tyranny and one against authoritarianism, the established democracy, meaning you know, the ability of the people to voice their desire for their leadership and their popular sovereignty through, not just the president, but through the elected halls of Congress. We’ve set up those institutions and we have cherished those institutions for all these years, because those institutions are the hallmarks of what democracy means. And to watch those symbols, those institutions, be trampled by, you know, by a crowd wearing fur and Viking horns, and with painted faces and flags draped over there. I mean, that was just mind blowing. These are people with intent on bringing down all of the institutions associated with that democracy and that is just devastating, we have to stop that. We have to. We have to do a better job to make sure that this does not ever happen a third time in our history.”

America watched these horrific scenes that spurred from false ideas given by the president, reflecting this modern-society’s reliability and belief of opinions and misinformation without any form of evidence. This displayed how incredibly dangerous social media has become, in fact, U.S. adults who prefer to obtain their news through social media are more likely in sharing or rather spreading false information than those obtaining their news from conventional sources according to a study by the Pew Research Center.

Mrs. Diiorio states, “I think social media…I really do not like social media. I understand that it is a way to keep in touch with people who are a long distance away, but it has also become the biggest device for circulating and re-circulating and then confirming lies and misinformation. Anybody can say anything. You do not know who is saying it or why they are saying it. People do not question the basis of things that are said. So, I think social media is an increasingly major problem.”

What should we do? What can America do to prevent further violent crimes and insurrections? I believe we need to teach the current and future students to understand and recognize false information on social media through media literacy classes. 

Mrs. Diiorio, who developed this thought and I completely agree on, claiming, “Media literacy classes teach kids what information is out there, not just scrolling through and getting your ideas off of social media posts. Where is the proof? It is a multifaceted thing. One piece is that I want to teach citizenship, better citizenship in terms of what it’s like to be a citizen here and how important it is to become an educated citizen. We need to teach people that they have to educate themselves and the importance of voting. Another piece of it is that we have to teach kids about the different resources that are out there and to expand their ideas from where they’re getting their information from. We also need to teach kids how to critically think about this information that is available to them in the world. How to digest it better? How to discern whether there’s evidence to back up statements and how to have a more diverse view of the world.

I took ten minutes to talk about what happened on Wednesday, and I fell behind on the content for that class. So that is an issue, which needs to be looked at by the educators as to where we can better serve our students and better serve our responsibility to help you guys learn to be good citizens. This is not to downplay the importance of math, science, English, or other subjects, but understanding the history of our progress to this point and when we were able to do what a good citizen should do is critical. 

So if we don’t figure out a way to teach you guys about it, you know I worry about our democracy. And like how I told you guys before, you will have to protect our democracy as our future generation. You will have to have the tools to do it. We are the ones that have to teach it.”

The importance of understanding others’ opinions and what it means to become a good U.S. citizen is so essential, yet not represented in our education enough. The National Assessment of Educational Progress or NAEP civics assessment measures civics knowledge and skills of becoming a citizen, which is administered to students at 4th, 8th, and 12th grades. The most recent one was given in 2018 where nearly 13,400 8th graders took it, averaging a score of 153 out of 300, well below a NAEP proficient level. We need change. We need to better prepare our future generations in running our democracy and to better expand the core values of a good citizen in this country.

What will next semester look like for Westside?  I am curious about this because I want to know if 2021 will be different from the year 2020 and  whether or not  parents will send their kids back to in-person learning.  With the way things are working with a new vaccine, more students may return on campus.  Virtual learning students will most likely want to return to Westside to  be able to communicate  better with their teachers and socialize with their classmates.

So what will next semester look like?  We can only guess since this is a new illness and no one knows a lot about it. This school year,  HISD gave parents the option of virtual or in- person learning. But in the middle of the current semester, the district decided to only offer virtual learning  because of the growing concern from the pandemic.  Parents of Westside students are concerned that their children could possibly be exposed to COVID-19.

In the article from ABC13, the school district closed a number of schools due to outbreaks from COVID-19. They’d done deep cleaning in those affected schools. At the beginning of the year, HISD decided to close schools due to the out of control, uncertain illness. In the fall, they decided to start the school year virtually, however, had to make the decision to halt in-person learning due to growing concerns from schools campuses being closed for positive COVID cases. https://abc13.com/hisd-in-person-learning-online-covid-19-pandemic/7224086/

The year 2020 has been unusual and changed how students conduct business in the learning environment. Everyone is afraid of this disease. No one knows much about it, but a new vaccine has been created to combat it. HISD closed due to safety concerns at the beginning of the pandemic, yet, gave parents the option at one time to send their kids to school. There is a good chance that this may be an option for next semester, unless things get worse. The CDC website is a good source of how schools, such as Westside, can safely reopen. It goes into detail about how to clean, making sure everyone wears masks and hygiene. There are safe ways to reopen but it has to be done correctly. One thing we can all agree on is to get back to normal as quickly as possible.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/schools.html

https://www.houstonisd.org/reopening

Covid-19 is spreading like a wildfire and school activities is the perfect setting for a covid case to spark. According to the CDC on Covid to group settings, “The more people an individual interacts with at a gathering and the longer that interaction lasts, the higher the potential risk of becoming infected with COVID-19 and COVID-19 spreading.” Students being in a group setting is already a higher risk in itself for Covid. Students in HISD are reportedly having Covid cases during face to face school instruction and school sports, and other activities just adds to the risk. I’ve asked some questions to Summer Petrie, Westside student and volleyball player, “Should we have stopped school activities like sports in the first place? And why? How did it affect you as an athlete?” Her response, “I agree, we should have stopped school activities this year because we are in a pandemic. Because we are in one currently, we should’ve limited the amount of social areas that could be hotspots for the virus. We could’ve stopped a lot of cases and potential ones too and help the people who do have health risks at students homes. It has affected me as an athlete because knowing anyone could have the virus and the fact that teammates are always close to each other was too much of a risk.”

With Summer’s response, it is clear that school activities should have stopped this year, not just because of the activities, but making sure the people are safe around us and our community. The CDC recommends limiting the amount of social activity to a small amount, and with that small amount wearing a mask and social distancing.  In other words, school activities should have stopped.

Furthermore, public opinion of nuclear power has not been great as of late. Chernobyl, for example, is a reason a lot of people attribute the expanse of Nuclear power to fear. A disaster that occurred over 30 years ago paved the road to nuclear power as a grim and dark form of energy whose harm far outweighed its benefits. However, since then technology has drastically improved to allow for far better-controlled environments and a safer failsafe in the very unlikely case that something does go wrong. So the question you have to ask yourself, is it feasible, should the US really switch over with what’s happened in the past? I believe they should. There are a lot more options for energy power within the United States, the use of Nuclear power could pave the way to a greener United States, not only will the US be able to drastically reduce their emissions they would also be able to produce a state of art technology surrounding these power plants with increased funding. Imagine the possibilities available to us with the new forms of technology, who knows maybe one day we’ll even have nuclear-powered batteries that support our nuclear-powered phones, but if we don’t start the future won’t be able to take hold.

However, I believe the expanse of nuclear power to be a welcome one. Chernobyl was a disaster that happened over 30 years ago but it was a bad start to nuclear power, the technology back then was not capable of withstanding a nuclear reactor. I think should an expanse of nuclear power take place within the U.S. I would welcome it with open arms, of course to the point where I believe that safety is always prioritized above all. I mean think about, what do we have to lose when switching over to nuclear power when the only thing that has been holding us back is a disaster that occurred over 30 years ago. But all in all, I am hopeful for the future, assuming we end up making the right choices.

In recent days, the all important COVID-19 vaccine has been all the news. With unprecidented FDA approval timelines, and rapid roll out just before the busy holiday season, hope is in the air. But in reality, the COVID risk is still high. The new vaccines from Pzifer and Moderna are exciting, but unlikely to impact Westside anytime soon. Heathcare and frontline workers will be first to recieve the shot, nursing homes and those that work around the most vunerable will be next. School staffs and students are down the list. And importantly, the due to possible side affects the Pzifer vaccine is not recommended for anyone under the age of 16.  So it seems for the foreseeable future here at the Westside campus, masks will remain mandatory. Social distancing and other precautions will continue. Some expect this measures to extend possibly into 2022.

Let’s say we do go to school, when this happens can we really assume that everyone has retained the same amount of knowledge?. We can’t, seeing as how no one really knows what their other classmate’s circumstances might have been during the Pandemic, we can’t expect everyone to retain everything they were instructed to learn over a screen knowing that they might be going through a hard time Mentally. It could also be that the student just didn’t have as many resources as everyone else which then affected their way of learning.

I decided to write this story to try to get teachers to see a student’s point of view which may change their view on everything. Some teachers might think that some students in their class are being really “lazy” or teachers may get mad when a student is unable to take a test while being in class because they are at work and are just listening to the team’s meeting.  I feel that teachers should take everything that’s going on into consideration, they can’t assume much about a student because they might not know how much they are struggling right now. Even when they are okay and don’t have to go to work too much work might overwhelm kids. That doesn’t give students a right to not do anything but as long as you see that they are trying I think it’s okay to take it easy on them.

Students are obligated to wear the assigned uniforms every day with the exception of spirit shirts. And of course, students wouldn’t choose to wear the uniform if they didn’t have to. It helps the students feel free, comfortable and allows them to be themself. Personally, I don’t know what happened in 2015 where we lost free dress, but that was all in the past. This is a whole new set of students at Westside and the students deserve another chance.

I decided to investigate some speculations of why we don’t have free dress and asked some students.
“We probably don’t have free dress because there may be people that took it too far. Like teachers who complained because they saw too much skin or maybe they just want safety.” (Diana Navarro, Senior at Westside High School)

According to this quote, if the first part is true, then why we have uniforms isn’t our fault. We shouldn’t be held accountable for the actions of those 5 years ago.

I think the students should be able to have free dress once again. It helps spread creativity and lets students show who they really are. We have IDs already to confirm identification, and the uniform doesn’t make it any better since anyone can purchase it. Free dress is a fan favorite option among every student in the school. There’s no harm in allowing students to enter a test run, so that we can see how the students will treat free dress.

Moral Character

As someone who is an adolescent, I am entirely and consistently immersed in the culture of social media platforms where I have observed how political ideologies have become inseparably connected to morality. Personally, as someone who is strongly for the Democratic position on prevalent social issues, I find it difficult to comprehend for those who are not bothered or supportive of the numerous injustices occurring around the world. Republicans seem to have been the majority opposition population, which 87% of Republicans stirred the direction of the BLM movements with “All Lives Matter” from the Race and Policing in America survey and only 15% of Republicans wanting to take in refugees escaping from war and violence according to a 2019 survey by the Pew Research Center. The majority of both political parties are torn upon the long branch of social issues, having their own concepts of equality and degrees of morality in America. For me, having different views on the economy, such as tax plans, can be bearable whereas the failure of acknowledging basic human rights in the “land of the free” is absolutely unacceptable, losing something seen as the basis of any relationship: respect. 

The Trump Effect: The main source of this continuous intensification of political polarization in the U.S.A is by its own head of state, Donald Trump. He has deepened the divides in our nation more than ever and has polluted the entirety of the Republican party. Someone who supports Trump is endorsing the representation of misogyny, racism, homophobia, xenophobia, ignorance, and hatred that has become evident under his time as president. According to a Wakefield Research survey, 1 in every 5 American relationships or marriage has been noticed to have been impacted negatively by President Trump’s election. One’s political belief in supporting Trump is what divides relationships, which is almost entirely based on his moral issues while allowing him to run the country and making the decisions that will affect our children for decades. 

What is being prioritized?

Most relationships are grown from having a common ground or rather a basis of belief, sharing the same goals and ideas. Let’s take the topic of wearing masks as an example, which has become a statement of partisanship in the United States of America while during a global health pandemic, making it reasonable why our country suffers from the most deaths and cases of COVID-19 in the world. According to a 2020 Pew Research Survey, 46% of Republicans would consider COVID-19 a major threat to the U.S.A while 85% of Democrats would consider it a major threat to the country. Also according to the Pew Research Center, many Republicans express skepticism or oppose wearing a mask, claiming it was ineffective, unnecessary, or oppressive. An enormous divide on something that is a symbol of protection and consideration for others, something that is important in any relationship. 

Let’s also understand the general priorities of both political parties in 2020 from an assessment by The Washington Post. The Democrats’ five leading priorities are the coronavirus pandemic, climate change, racial inequality, foreign interference in U.S. elections, and economic inequality in the country. On the other hand, the Republicans’ five leading priorities are the development of China as a world power, international terrorism, large numbers of immigrants and refugees coming into the country, domestic violent extremism, and Iran’s nuclear program. Both with completely different concerns and ideas of threats to the U.S.A. as the Democrats seem to focus more on internal conflicts while the Republicans seem to focus on external conflicts. Relationships are not able to be maintained under this immense gap of a common ground with entirely different mindsets and goals. 

The United States of America is currently a nation of division on partisanship, which can be seen throughout all generations and across media platforms, having an impact on relationships. Both the Democratic and Republican parties have completely different stances on the prevalent social issues, the presidency of Donald Trump, and the priorities of our country. These elements of morality and shared goals are what relationships thrive on, which are important in laying the foundation of any commitment to another person. Having separate political affiliations is what drives our country more than ever, it is not only the difference of association in policies, but also one of opposing ethics and priority that shape family relationships, friendships, acquaintanceships, and romantic relationships.

Westside High School has now announced the dates of the finals and the exact information about it. The finals for the fall semester are going to be taken place on January 25-29, 2020. It has just been told that the finals are going to be 10% of student’s grades rather than 25%. As you can see the finals have little impact on student’s grades however Westside has still chosen to have mandatory finals. As a student at Westside High School, I believe that this is a big problem and our school is obviously not thinking of what’s in our best interest. As a student who has been impacted by covid 19, this year has been very hard and I have lost family members to the virus. Many students have to work because of their family losing income, many students have to take care of their siblings, and many students have even had coronavirus. When creating finals specifically during this time, it adds stress that the student body does not need. So why are finals necessary this year?

All in all, I believe that finals should not be mandatory but I do think it should have an exception and this will be the perfect solution for all! Westside should not make finals mandatory but I do think it should have a rule/exception. I think that students who have an 85 or higher every cycle in a class should be given the exemption of taking that specific final. Students have been working hard this year and I believe their work should be rewarded and they don’t have to take the final for every class if they get an 85 or higher every cycle. For the people who get an 84 and lower, finals should be mandatory and the students have the opportunity to higher their semester grades. This is the perfect solution this semester and would be perfect for the staff members of Westside and most importantly the student body! This has so many positive advantages, that it is truly the best solution for students and can motivate students to work hard!

This School year is unlike any other. All the other school years I have always gone to school in-person  with my classmates and teachers. I was used to getting up early in the morning to get ready to go to school. Take a shower, getting dressed, brushing my teeth, my everyday morning routine.  When the Coronavirus Pandemic hit suddenly, I wasn’t able to do my everyday morning routines and go to school in person. Having Virtual Learning has been a struggle for me because I was able to see all my teachers and ask for help if I needed it. I was able to keep track of all my assignments  that were due organized in a folder, binder, in a notebook if needed as a reminder.

In-person learning makes school easier. I am able to communicate with my teachers without any problems. Although I can ask for help during Virtual Learning, I can understand better. You have more time to complete and turn in your assignments. In-person class gives you more opportunity to work together as team. While Virtual Learning you are more on your own than with others. I miss socializing with my friends and classmates; hanging out at lunch time and after school.

In conclusion,  in-person learning not only makes communication easier. It makes school more enjoyable and fun.  Also, it gives me a chance to get out of the house for a while. For example, last year I was able to do lab experiments in Biology. Another example before 2019 ended, me and other classmates presented our culture presentations to everyone and  learned more about each other. The human touch is missing online which makes this school year even more difficult. We’ll get through this and everything will get back to normal.