Staff members will work throughout the year to bring you important information about all things Westside. Reporting on activities, promoting events, and featuring student spotlights.  Sports, arts, clubs, teams, you name it.  If it’s part of the Westside culture, we will let you know.

Howler News is live online. New articles and features are updated bi weekly.  Staff members publish their work on Wednesdays.

Do you have stories to share?  Howler News will also feature stories and content from the Westside community.  You can submit short stories, student spotlights, poetry, even video content (hosted on Vimeo) for consideration for publication.  How?  Contact Howler News through our email:  [email protected]   We welcome student feedback. If you have an idea, post a comment on this story.

Howler News is located in room A216.

A new year always brings promise.  What will be the mark of the 2022-23 year? How will you make your mark?

Going to school in person was no longer the norm. Going anywhere in person, for that matter, was no longer the norm. We experienced an age of virtual things that no one would ever think would be virtual such as school, conferences, graduations, etc. Zoom and Microsoft Teams took over education. My 8th grade promotion ceremony was held over a large glitchy Zoom meeting where old pictures of each student danced across the screen in a ridiculous manner. That was our normal. With that being said, this sophomore year has been wild, from beginning the year off not knowing what most people actually looked like, to getting used to actually having to pay attention and participate in class again.

8th grade was cut short, and 9th grade was half virtual, but 10th grade ended all of that for me. We had to come into school everyday. We wiped down our desks before and after we sat down, we wore masks and got scolded if they fell below our noses, and we sat far away from everyone else in our classes. That’s how the year began. This was hard to get accustomed to and, for many people, it was their first time even stepping into a school building in over a year. Being away from people for so long caused my social skills to lessen, my anxiety to increase, and my overall ability to be in public, to plummet. I had no idea how I was going to make it through the year. I was falling asleep in classes almost constantly, it was hard to focus for more than a couple minutes, and I would break down whenever I became even slightly uncomfortable. At a certain point towards the middle/ end of the school year, my grades even began to slip due to how tired and overwhelmed I had become from having to endure the repetitiveness of school again.

Considering that this year was kind of a mess, I’m hoping next year goes at least a little bit smoother. I hope the administration chooses whether they’re actually going to enforce rules instead of constantly reiterating them whilst allowing them to continuously be broken. I hope the students learn to just use the bathroom as opposed to literally destroying them. And most of all I just hope we’re all collectively able to get back into the swing of school.

Finals are not necessary because it doesn’t change what grade you end up with the class. Your score would have to be either really good or really bad to change your semester grade. If we are going to continue to take finals, the finals need to be worth something. If the finals were actually worth something students will actually try so they can pull their grade up. Also, if we are going to be allowed to exempt the final, there shouldn’t be a final at all.

Personally, the only time I have taken finals was fall semester when I was in 9th grade. If you think about, at the end of this year, I would have only had 1 and half years of real high school experience. I think they should let us enjoy the ending of this without stressing about studying for finals. I know a lot of seniors that don’t want to spend their last days of high school taking test. All I am saying is the district should think about changing the school rules into not having to take finals.

So that made me think. What kind of teacher would I be? and how have I help people to learn? First and foremost if I were to be a teacher I would be a Yearbook teacher. Why ? Being able to hear from students ideas of making the school look welcoming and presentable in a well planned book for the year is my way of expressing my inner thoughts .

Talking about it has also made me consider my actual career goals. Growing up in a family of nurses and doctors, I’ve always enjoyed the feeling of helping others and continuing to work towards a physical therapist. I want to be able to demonstrate to someone that I can help them get back on their feet.

That’s where teaching comes in, and I want to keep it as a technique that everyone should think about because I didn’t realize it until this year, but I’m graceful for the role I’ve given myself as a leader.

I appreciate this year because it’s made me realize I can be a leader, a friend and a student. Thank you

Yes, Westside is your school, and no, it may not be your favorite place, but picking up after yourself is not a hard action that demonstrates basic respect for your environment and those in it. It is not the janitors job to pick up after students, they are there to make sure Westside is as bacteria free as possible. Picking up after yourself is a simple action that can make the jobs of janitors much easier and helps maintain a tidy appearance.

Picking up the trash is also helpful to the environment. Trash that gets left behind can often fall into the storm drains while rain falls (which is quite often), and later can either end up in the ocean or in water facilities. The plastic that ends up in the ocean gets broken down by UV rays into microscopic pieces that later gets ingested by the marine life. Since the plastic doesn’t get broken down after being consumed, it can often end up coming back to us in the seafood we eat. Plastic has already been discovered in some people’s bloodstream, and the consequences that may come from this are intelligible. That is why it is important to throw away waste. It’s not just about keeping up a clean appearance, but also for the health of the people and the environment.

If you already pick up after yourself, try to pickup left behind litter, such as the floating chip bag or the abandoned food tray. A small action like this could have a major impact, as it is one less contaminant in the world.

They have overcome countless obstacles. They started from an unknown bankrupt company and turned it into one of the most successful companies in South Korea. BTS did not grow under the light of money; they grew with ARMY. BTS experienced countless acts of hate, such as being called girls for wearing makeup, but their fanbase, ARMY, was with them every step of the way. When they began to gain more popularity in Western media, it left them vulnerable to racism. An example out of many is German radio host Matthias Matuschik comparing BTS to COVID. In his defense, he said he was not racist because his car was from South Korea (it was from Japan.) Again ARMY came in as their shield to demand justice. Loyalty and admiration go both ways in their relationship. At a conference in 2021, RM said, “When we talk about Asian hate, our path, all the awards, and our music, we just hope that this can truly help every Asian in the world, especially who live in the countries abroad.”

BTS has made many achievements in the music industry. In 2017, they became the first Korean group to be nominated and win Top Social Artist at the BBMA, and since then, they have won it every year. They are the first Korean artist to win Global Artist Recording of the Year in 2020 and have won it for two consecutive years. BTS was the first Korean act to be invited to the Grammys and be nominated. They have not just broken barriers in the music industry. BTS has a Love Myself campaign with UNICEF that began in 2017, which also connects to their Love Myself album series. They were invited to speak at the United Nations Assembly, and in their second invitation, they even performed. “Maybe I made a mistake yesterday, but yesterday’s me is still me. I am who I am today, with all my faults. Tomorrow I might be a tiny bit wiser, and that’s me, too. These faults and mistakes are what I am, making up the brightest stars in the constellation of my life. I have come to love myself for who I was, who I am, and who I hope to become,” said RM, the leader of BTS, in his speech at the UN. In 2021, the former president of South Korea, Moon Jae-In, appointed BTS as “Special Presidential Envoys.” On May 31st, BTS will go to the White House to speak with President Biden.

They have accumulated millions of fans through their talent, work ethic, personality, and dynamic. They have given people a place to feel welcome and loved by being open about their struggles and constantly connecting with their fans.  “They’ve really fostered my appreciation of life. I am more intentional about treasuring the memories I make and things that make me happy. Because of them, I realize a lot of the time small happiness’s are enough. I don’t need a grand fulfillment or achievement to say that I’ve lived a life full of love and warmth,” says 25 year old Winnie, a fellow ARMY. ARMYs have seen them grow up from being teenagers to adults, and even if they were not there from the beginning, there is a saying in the fandom that says, “You will find BTS when you need them the most.” BTS is not just a boy band; they use their voice and music to spread awareness on topics of mental health, political, and social issues. They give people a place to belong.

Similar questions arise concerning President Joe Biden as he states, “Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen? Where in God’s name is our backbone?” President Biden’s agonized questions came hours after a shooting at a Texas elementary school on Tuesday. The deaths of 19 students and two instructors in a fourth-grade curriculum at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, happened just ten days after a man motivated by bigotry killed down ten black people at a Buffalo grocery. The same unsettling questions were raised following Columbine, Blacksburg, Sandy Hook, Roseburg, and Charleston. As long as Congress fails to implement vital gun safety reform, they will be challenged.

Xavier Lopez, 10, who merely made the honor roll; Uziyah Garcia, 8, commemorated by his granddad as the “sweetest little boy that I’ve ever known”; Eva Mireles, a 17-year elementary school educator whose daughter not long ago graduated from college; and Irma Garcia, an educator, and mom of four confirmed to have tried to protect her students from the gunman, were among those killed in the deadliest attack at an American school in nearly ten years.

According to a Post database, the shooting was one of at least 24 instances of gun violence on K-12 campuses this year, with at least 28 people murdered. A day after, an FBI analysis showed a dramatic spike in active-shooter assaults worldwide last year. For the first time in 2020, weapons surpassed automobile accidents as the most significant cause of mortality for American children and adolescents. Despite this, Congress does almost nothing. Two measures to extend and tighten background checks — changes with widespread public support — cleared the House in March 2021 but have stalled in the Senate, which would need 10 Republican votes to overcome a blockade. Since the massacre of 20 children and six employees at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in December 2012, the matter has not been actively explored.

Democrats, according to Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), are willing to negotiate with Republicans in the hopes of reaching an agreement on gun control measures. One can only expect that the catastrophe in Uvalde has provoked some Republican consciousness. Background checks should be strengthened as a top priority. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has introduced legislation that’d increase the legal age to acquire firearms and greater ammo magazines from 18 to 21 years old.

Due to a significant clause in federal gun regulations that required someone to be 21 to acquire a pistol but not a rifle, the Texas gunman, such as the alleged shooter in Buffalo and many others superintended for countless slaughters, was a teenager who was supposed to buy military-style weaponry. Following the Parkland school massacre in 2018, Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature enacted, and then-Gov. Rick Scott (R) endorsed the bill raising the minimum age to purchase guns to 21 years old. Mr. Scott, now in charge of the Senate’s Republican leadership, should undoubtedly support a measure he previously championed. The new legislation will not stop all gun massacres, but it will contain some. That’s a good place to start.

People in Uvalde, Texas, wait for news following the horrific shooting at Robb Elementary School.

Since both of my parents had recently started working, there was no one at home to pick us up. My brother and I had three options: wait for the metro, walk 30 minutes home (which we couldn’t do since we couldn’t figure out how to get back), or ask a stranger for help.

We eventually decided to wait for the metro; as we were riding the metro, we noticed the streets we were passing and realized we had seen that one street once before while on the school bus. The bus could have dropped us off here, which was much closer to our house, and we could have walked home.

As we neared the bus stop the next day, we asked the driver if he might let us off on the way; he said, “Sorry, I can’t do that since that’s not where the bus is meant to stop.”

I was perplexed since I didn’t understand how things worked until I done some research and found it on the Transportation Answers website. “Can a student get off at a stop other than their assigned home bus stop? No. A driver is only permitted to drop students off at the designated stop indicated on their route sheet.” I understood; nonetheless, I disagreed.

The next day, I went to school without my brother, so I was still unfamiliar with the area, and my phone didn’t have internet access. In order to contact my parents, I had no choice but to approach a stranger and ask for permission to use their phones. It was extremely risky, but I had been waiting for my parents for more than an hour, and the woman was so sweet that she gave me a ride home instead. Having given her my address, she took me home safely. She warned me not to get into someone’s stranger car after she left.

Therefore, I asked the bus driver to drop me off near my house so that I could go home, but he refused since he was following the regulations. I do understand that students may get lost or end up in a bad situation if they are dropped off at random.

I am not requesting that the school bus drive me directly to my house; rather, I would like him to drop me off for a few seconds and then continue driving. I understand that they must be strict, that they have tasks to accomplish, and that they must obey all regulations, yet this rule makes no sense to me. Yes, I agree that school buses should not drop students off anywhere, yet this school bus is traveling pass my house, which makes no sense.

According to the transportation regulations, ” Every additional stops adds 3-4 minutes to a route. Our routes are tight with time and capacity. They do not have time and capacity. They do not have time to stop at every student’s home.” As for getting off the bus, it won’t take me minutes; I’ll be off in seconds. Furthermore, the bus will not stop at my house; I will still have to walk 25 minutes or more.

It should be possible for students in my situation to request a bus stop instead of the bus passing their house. Although I am glad to be able to ride a school bus in safety, I believe I should also be able to request that I be dropped off close to my home.

If every school bus works like that, I hope they bend the rules for students who are experiencing this. I want to continue to go to Westside, even if it’s one hour away from my house without asking strangers for help or walking 30 minutes home only to arrive late and tired. It’s also difficult for students to find the time to do their schoolwork or other activities.