BHS Jacket 2022/23 Issue 15

FEATURES

Students initiate Korean class at BHS

BY AVA RAMSDALE staff writer and love for Korean culture, language, and more.”

Berkeley High School student Yiru Kim first became aware of a possible Korean language class in early February, when the School Director at Oakland Korean School was informing her of a need to implement Korean language classes in schools across the Bay Area. Kim suggested starting a Korean class at BHS, as the school does not have a Korean program in place and has a habit of supporting efforts to enhance students’ language and cultural skills.

Kim, who is also the president of the BHS Korean Culture Club, said “It’s our goal to provide students with the opportunity to begin a journey of Korean education, overall spreading the interest

Wan Hee Kang, Director of the Korean Consulate Education Center, is working in tandem with Kim and staff members such as Principal Juan Raygoza to implement the Korean class at BHS. Kang hopes to create an opportunity for students to learn a new language and also learn about Korean culture.

According to Kang, a group of BHS students including Kim reached out to her, hoping to establish a Korean language class within BHS. Kang reached out to Raygoza, in hopes that they could work in tandem to set up a program.

“The process of developing a new class is a lot of work and can also take time,” Raygoza said. He explained that next year he will work with other members PAGE 11

NOLAN WHITEHILL INVESTIGATIVE

Letters of rec process overloads teachers

BY JASPER LOVVORNBLACK staff writer

“Out of all the 50 letters of recommendation that I wrote, I was happy to write all 50, and I think that each student deserved a great letter of recommendation,” said Erin Smith, a Berkeley High School Biology and Integrated Science teacher, “(but) at the same time it’s a

ton of extra work that I can’t do during school.”

For many BHS junior and senior teachers, writing letters of recommendation for students is a lengthy process. It’s also one that some students rely heavily on to get into colleges. But for different teachers, writing a letter can range from between 20 minutes to an hour.

Some teachers require more student participation than others, in the form

of writing assignments to teachers that describe their own experiences in classes.

“I integrate aspects of a student’s senior profile, indepth questions I have them answer in writing and looking at past assignments they’ve submitted, particularly final projects. Sometimes I speak with their present teachers for updated input,” Academic Choice (AC) history teacher Angela Coppola wrote in an email.

Letters of recommendation, in some cases, are more important to college admissions than other factors, like a student’s GPA or standardized test scores. Instead of numerical values to represent a student’s capabilities, a teacher is able to convey through words what a student’s strengths are, “in ways that are so much richer,” according to Masha Albrecht, a math teacher at BHS. PAGE 8

Students at the CCC begin college applications, many of which include letters of reccomendation as a crucial part of the application process.

ILLUSTRATED BY J HORSLEY

BHS admin strive towards comprehensive ADA accessibility

assistance of an administrator, that administrator could still have access to one of those (evacuation) wheelchairs.”

For injured students, however, who may be using crutches or a scooter as mobility devices, the communication about the pathway to evacuation is not clear. BHS has not released any information or guidance on evacuating with an injury. Students often make their way down the stairs on crutches or by hopping on one foot.

BY FINOLA JACKSON staff writer

When the fire alarm sounds, thousands of Berkeley High School students flood through crowded hallways, with little more than a few inches separating bodies. Elevators immediately shut down, which poses a significant challenge for students with a disability or injury.

“When you’re on crutches, you’re very much aware of how much space you take up,” said BHS sophomore Rhetta Lavender-Hill, who suffered an ACL tear this fall. “It’s a big tripping hazard for you

to trip on someone else’s foot. Someone else could trip on your crutch.”

Administrators and teachers follow protocols for evacuating students specifically in wheelchairs. A collection of specialized chairs designed for carrying students down stairs are present for any student who already uses a wheelchair. BHS assigns a staff member to locate the chair and transport the student out of the building safely, according to Principal Juan Raygoza.

Once the fire alarm is activated, administrators will immediately disperse through buildings to check for any students left behind or

who may need assistance in evacuating.

If an administrator finds a stranded student who needs assistance evacuating, they will provide assistance to that student before they communicate that the building is cleared.

“The administrator would just go as slowly as they need to go down the stairs,” said Raygoza. “If a student cannot come down on crutches with the

NEWS BRIEF

BY MAYA DANG staff writer

DISTRICT FORMS NEW REPARATIONS TASK FORCE

The Berkeley Unified School District reparations task force is a task force composed of 15-20 members and was a group convened by current Superintendent Enikia Ford Morthel.

“In response to the legacy of the system of enslaving Black people on American soil, BUSD seeks to explore the establishment of a program of true reparations for BUSD

students with ancestors who were enslaved in the U.S.,” stated the BUSD website. “To do so, a few key questions of implementation need to be answered: how to fund such a program, what true reparations might look like, and how to structure and implement it. BUSD is creating the Reparations Task Force to provide recommendations in response to these questions.”

BHS SENIORS CELEBRATE NATIONAL COLLEGE DECISION DAY

On Monday May 1, seniors were invited to join BHS college counselors and the Early Academic Outreach Program to celebrate National College Decision Day. The celebration took place during lunch at the CCC, and involved music, food, and raffles, according to the flier, which was attached in an email to the student body.

Lavender-Hill, who evacuated from the first floor of the H Building, noted that the distance required to evacuate, then return to class, is significant. After moving from the H Building to the football field, she had to crutch up three flights of stairs to her

people on crutches should just have to evacuate the building, but not go all the way to the football field, if it’s safe.”

Beyond physical exhaustion, evacuating on a rainy day can prove dangerous for anyone who relies on a wheelchair or even crutches.

Jared Hoch, a Universal 9th Grade (U9) physics teacher, fell down twice in the hallways on a rainy day when using crutches.

Even when elevators are in service, their malfunctions pose an issue to students who rely on them for transportation. Hoch got stuck in the G Building elevator for an hour and a half earlier this year, when the doors would not open until pried open by the fire department.

Jared Hoch, U9 Physics Teacher

next class because the elevators were still not functioning.

“It wears you out,” Lavender-Hill said. “Maybe

Additionally, the G Building automatic door operator is completely broken on the second floor. It requires individuals to partially push the door open themselves on the first floor, according to Hoch. This is an issue because students cannot access the elevator without

opening the outer door first. The H Building elevator completely lacks an automatic door operator.

Hoch mentioned that promoting functional ADA access is important because every student must have access to learning and teaching without obstruction.

“I think having more automatic doors and rails for getting up and down for more ease of access (would be nice),” Hoch said. “Since we have so many buildings, it could definitely be a little bit improved, especially if kids are going to be using the elevator all the time and the automatic door doesn’t work.”In terms of preventing fire alarms and promoting a safer experience for all at BHS, administration works on helping students understand the consequences of pulling fire alarms. “We’ve also made very clear to students the consequences,” said Principal Raygoza. “These consequences, we’re not thinking about them as punitive, but rather restorative. When we’ve had students that pull alarms in the past, we actually bring them together with students who have to evacuate on wheelchairs to understand the impact that their action which was done as a joke has on their peers.”

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news editors: Kaiya Jordan & Kira Rao-Poolla

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“Having more automatic doors and rails for getting up and down for more ease of access (would be nice)... Since we have so many buildings, it could definitely be a little bit improved.”

BHS students are forced to grapple with elevator shutdowns during fire alarms evacuations.

BHS robotics takes seventh place at international competition

BY LUCY GRIFFITH

On April 19, the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) international robotics competition kicked off in Houston, Texas. The Berkeley High School Robotics Team, Team Berkelium, qualified for the final round of the competition among the top 28 teams in the world, and ranked seventh place among international competitorss.

Team Berkelium has been working on the robot since the beginning of the year, when the competition was announced. The competition events included various tasks for the robot, such as picking up and

placing cubes and cones on a grid, and, at the end, balancing on a platform.

Theo Gerst, Berkelium’s programming lead, explained how climactic this competition was.

“We put in a lot of hours to get a robot to function,” said Gerst. “It can be hard at times because robotics involves a lot of failure, it’s unavoidable. … But that makes the success at the end worth it.”

Earlier this year, the team competed at events in Canada and San Francisco, but were unable to qualify for the international competition at either competition. After making a couple tweaks to their robot, they traveled to Davis, and finally qualified for the FIRST international

competition in Houston.

According to the website for the competition, 974 student robotics teams from 59 countries participated. Gerst described the atmosphere: “I mean, it’s different from a regular robotics competition because all the teams there are good at what they do, and they know that they’re good at what they do. There’s a little bit of ego.”

its connection to the controllers, so several students were always on call. “In between matches, I’m kind of always with the robot because we do a lot of practicing and checking

but the fact that it didn’t really break, I was very surprised. It was the first time testing it in an actual match. I think it did help us, which is good.”

“It can be hard at times because robotics involves a lot of failure, it’s unavoidable. … But that makes the success at the end worth it.”

Theo Gerst, Berklium’s Programming Lead

to make sure that all of our systems are still working,” Gerst said.

Other team members watched matches to record stats and assess who they wanted to be aligned with. There are statistics released online but not as specific as what the team was looking for.

matches over the course of two days. The top eight teams chose three other robots to form their alliance.

The second place team chose Team Berkelium to be the fourth robot on their team. Those teams faced off in the playoffs, where there were seven different districts. Then the winners in those seven districts came together to compete in Einstein’s, which was the final round.

Overall, Gerst believed the team performed well. In past competitions, the robot had completely malfunctioned or lost

Lenka Simon, Berkelium’s co-team manager, echoed these sentiments: “We can practice all we want in our shop at Berkeley High, but nothing really translates fully to being like an actual field. So we expect it, we know that it’s not going to go well every time, and we try to do a lot of practicing on the real field and just like, let’s see what breaks.”

Gerst added that in the weeks before the competition, the team added a new mechanism to the robot.

“(We added) this elevator thing that supposedly makes us better at shooting cones,” said Gerst. “It wasn’t perfect

Getting to Houston was the first obstacle. After competing in Canada and attending other local competitions, the team was out of funding. A week prior to the trip, the team needed to raise $20,000 in order for 21 students and four chaperones to attend. They created a GoFundMe, which raised nearly $30,000 in three days. Expenses included a registration fee of $5,000 for the competition itself, transportation, food, housing, and scholarships. They also had to pay to transport the robot via truck because the batteries couldn’t go on a plane.

Simon elaborated on the atmosphere in the final round. “There were dance performances and there was a marching band, people gave speeches and there was confetti, lights, music, it was insane.”

Gerst reflected on the ceremony. “All teams that are going to Einstein do a little show where you walk across the field. They have this cool lighting and smoke machine thing. … I remember being one of those teams and walking out there and feeling like, wow, we finally made it.”

SUNNY BEVIS-LIPTON

According to Simon, the first round of the competition is 70 qualifying

According to Simon, Houston’s competition marked the end of the robotics season. Team Berkelium’s plan is “to go to competitions that are way less serious and more casual, just to have fun with our robot and train new people,” Simon said.

Student-run fashion show features unique, sustainable designs

BY AMAR WALKER

staff

writer

“Today was amazing,” said Maya Widholm, coorganizer of the Berkeley High Fashion Show, “I’m so happy with how it turned out.” The event took place on Thursday, April 27, at the Ciel Creative Space. The venue was set up with a runway, surrounded on either side with many rows of seats.

In addition to the live display of student designs on the runway, Berkeley High School artists had the opportunity to sell their products at their own booths before the show. Tables were arranged around the space,

decorated with jewelry, printed shirts and tanks, prints, tote bags, and even crocheted clothing, for attendees to purchase.

All of the show’s ticket money and a percentage of the proceeds from student vendors, were donated to the nonprofit organization Remake, which advocates for fair pay and climate justice in the clothing industry. Representatives from Remake spoke prior to the fashion show, emphasizing how crucial it is to have sustainable fashion, because “fast fashion is killing our planet.” The fashion show in itself demonstrated this idea, as most of the outfits on the runway were made from

recycled and secondhand clothing.

At 7 p.m., it was time for the runway. With Eliza McGlashan as the MC narrating each designer, models strutted their walks one by one, all with a unique student-designed look. From flowing dresses and detailed skirts to intensely patterned jeans, every model told a story.

Sophomore Analisa Appleyard was a model for student designer Jamaica Rodriguez, a freshman in Hive 2. She rocked a long denim skirt sewn from recycled baggy jean fabrics, and a denim sleeveless top with little butterfly details on the side and on the zipper. Appleyard also was wearing some chunky black heels and a simple silver chain.

Appleyard said, “There were some alterations five minutes before the show, which was a little stressful, and we had to make the slit a little higher so I could actually walk.” Despite the stress, Appleyard had an amazing time at the fashion show stating, “We were super supportive. Everybody was hyping each other’s outfits up, being excited to see each other. It was super fun, and my stylist was super, super

nice.”

None of the show would have been possible without juniors Widholm and Isabel Rodriguez Gerstein. They co-organized the show and made every little detail a reality. Despite feeling that they were not always taken seriously by adults, the two pulled it off in style.

“We were only expecting 250 (people) and we got over 300. And the audience was just full of energy,” said Rodriguez Gerstein. “Since we’re graduating next year, we’d want to pass it on to the people below us.”

Rodriguez Gerstein and Widholm encouraged those interested in joining the fashion club next year to take that leap and join. Juliette

Chung models upcycled denim skirt.

The competition marked the end of the robotics season.

Ciel Creative Space hosted the BHS fashion show. Models don gloves, skirts, and slip dresses on the runway. PHOTOS BY GEORGIA PAULOS

Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) heritage month was signed into action 33 years ago, but the history of AAPI immigrants began much farther into the past. In 1765, “Manilamen”, Filipino sailors who settled in a Louisiana bayou, established the first Filipino-American community. Since then, the AAPI population has risen to nearly 22 million. But the journey for the AAPI community thus far has been ridden with difficulties and discrimination. Numerous racist and xenophobic actions towards Asians, in both legal and social settings, can be traced all throughout history. However, data shows that this growing community reflects resilience and hard-work, contributing billions to the US economy.

The AAPI community has statistically been employed at a higher percentage than their population ratio in the US workforce, with numbers above the federal average, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to USA Facts, “Asians make up 6.6 percent of the US workforce.” In 2019, pre-pandemic, AAPI workers earned over $612.21 billion and paid $186.6 billion in taxes while also holding $425. 6 billion in consumer spending power. The AAPI community also has over 2 million+ US business owners. While the pandemic drove down the number of AAPI business owners by over 25 percent, there is a rise of AAPI women-owned businesses. In fact, Asian women are the fastest rising demographic in entrepreneurship, according to NBC. All these statistics suggest that AAPI people are very active contributors to the US economy in the present. The community is involved in both the top-paying job industries and the lower-paying job industries. For example, 73.5 percent of manicurists and pedicurists and 25.1 percent of casino workers are AAPI. Simultaneously, AAPI makes up about 33.8 percent of the workforce of software developers and 32.1 percent of computer hardware engineers.

Interestingly, statistics show that “Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are twice as likely to have an advanced degree,” however, “they are also more likely to lack a high school education.” This claim is based on analysis of the two extremes of the spectrum — foreign born adults are far less likely to have a degree, but US born successors are attaining degrees at far higher rates than their predecessors. The top earners in the AAPI community are earning nearly, if not over, tenfold of the lowest earners. This is reflected even within specific AAPI groups — the top 10 percent of the Chinese American earners earn 13.7 times more than the lowest 10 percent of Chinese Americans. This disparity in income is the worst in the AAPI community compared to income gaps in other US racial groups. It is reasonable to assume that the stark contrast in education levels directly influences these astonishing figures on income inequality.

Despite disparities in income, harmful stereotypes such as the model minority myth, and a history of facing racist policies and demeanors, the AAPI community has persisted. I hope that as the numbers of AAPI degree holders continue to rise, the income inequality will diminish.

BHS Stop Harassing presents on consent

BY ELOISE THOMAS staff writer

Over the past week, Berkeley High School Stop Harassing, a student run organization aiming to eliminate sexual harassment and assault at BHS, has been sending students to middle schools around the Berkeley Unified School District to give presentations on consent.

According to Elise Nudel, a senior and the president of BHS Stop Harassing, consent education is important at all ages, with variation in the curriculum to tailor it to the specific group.

“Ideally, consent (education) should be started as young as possible,” Nudel said. “The content has to be age appropriate to whoever you’re giving it to.”

In addition, the information they are teaching in middle schools is universally applicable. The consent education contained in the presentations pertains not only to sexual and romantic relationships, but to all interpersonal interactions.

“Relationships don’t just start in high school,” said freshman Eva Levenson, a member of BHS Stop Harassing who participated in the presentations. “You have relationships from when you’re zero on basically, and it’s important to know you’re not alone and how to help relationships

get healthier and improve.”

Nudel continued, explaining the specific importance of consent education with the 7 and 8 graders they were presenting to.

“When you’re coming to high school, people are experiencing a lot of new interactions and a lot of new things,” Nudel said. “It’s

and fears previously held.

“I thought that it would be awkward, and they wouldn’t want to participate,” Gamson-Knight said. “But they’ve been extremely interested and interactive with the presentation and it’s just been really fun to get to see their reactions and to teach people about a really important topic and something that’s very relevant at Berkeley High.”

was described as a priority. This status gained by the necessity of consent education at these schools.

really important to have that information so that you can use it in social settings.”

Nudel shared her personal experience with BUSD consent education. She described a lack of information and the notability of the missing piece.

“My whole education has been through Berkeley public schools and I never recall receiving any kind of consent education, which all of us experience. I feel like that’s a very vital part of growing up,” Nudel said.

According to junior Reba Gamson-Knight, the treasurer of BHS Stop Harassing, the presentations were met by the students with a surprisingly positive response, which curbed many of the expectations

In addition to positive responses from students, the organization has also gotten responses and appreciation from adults involved, both this year and in previous years.

“I’ve gotten emails from counselors that I talked to about middle school presentations saying ‘thank you so much for coming. We really appreciate it. This information was super important,” Nudel said. “Last year, I know we

“It’s unfortunately happening to middle schoolers,” GamsonKnight explained. “I think that a lot of middle schoolers don’t think that maybe it’s harassment or don’t understand what consent is. Just creating an understanding at such a young age that more people can start being activists so we can end the culture at Berkeley High.”

In addition to continuing the middle school presentations, BHS Stop Harassing plans to bring more consent education to Berkeley High classrooms.

“If we can get administration to allow us to give presentations to freshmen at Berkeley High, that would be the next step,” Gamson-Knight said. “Hopefully, that can happen also next year.”

got some feedback from parents, which was really good. Saying, ‘thank you for doing this, the school district wasn’t gonna provide it.’”

When discussing plans for next year, continuing the middle school presentations

By the responses to the middle school presentations by high school students, the organization has seen interest in widening the scope of this education. Taking these presentations to the high school level has been ascertained to be an opportunity that BHS students are excited for.

“We have a lot of people that weren’t even in BHS stop harassing that are presenting so we can tell that a lot of people are interested in bringing education to the Berkeley Unified School District,” Gamson-Knight said.

Nudel explained that because of the lack of action by the school district, the task has fallen upon students to bring consent education to their peers. BHS Stop Harassing organized to take matters into their own hands to improve the culture around sexual assault and harassment at BHS, using these middle school presentations as a part of their approach.

“Ideally, consent (education) should be started as young as possible.”

Elise Nudel, President of BHS Stop Harassing

“

... it’s important to know you’re not alone and how to help relationships get healthier and improve.”

Eva Levenson, BHS freshman

BHS Stop Harassing presents in a BUSD middle school classroom on consent.

BHS Stop Harassing begins their presentation.

AAPI heritage adds to Cal campus culture

BY KALI PROUD staff writer

In the fall of 2022, over 43.3 percent of new freshmen enrolled at UC Berkeley identified as Asian or Pacific Islander. A common stereotype about Asian students is that they’re only ever focused on work, but the reality is that the dominant precence of AAPI heritage on campus adds joy and variation to the campus outside of academic achievements.

The Indian Students Association (ISA) at UC Berkeley is a student run organization with a council of 30 students. They organize events for Indian students, giving them the opportunity to connect with their culture and their peers. Events include game nights, movie nights, and holiday celebrations. In the fall, the ISA organizes Garba, Diwali and Holi celebrations. These events give Indian students the opportunity to continue traditions or explore new ones, all with the support of others who share part of their identity.

The events are also for the most part open to the public, so it’s also a chance for other students to learn

more about Indian holidays and traditions. By educating the student population, the ISA disproves stereotypes and allows for a more whole, accurate view of Indian culture. The ISA is an important organization because it gives students a place to celebrate their identity with many others, adding needed excitement to daily campus life.

The importance of AAPI history doesn’t just lie in celebrations. UC Berkeley AAPI students have also been using art to express the more painful parts of their history, allowing other students to interact with it and reflect.

The history of Angel Island is a heavy one

for Chinese Americans. Choreographer Lenora Lee used the experiences of Angel Island detainees to inspire "Within These Walls", an immersive dance that was featured in the Zellerbach Playhouse in UC Berkeley as a part of the 2023 Berkeley Dance Project. 14 student-dancers represented characters processed on Angel Island, some based on real people. The importance of "Within These Walls" lies in the history it showcases, and gives Asian students a chance to process pain and grief through art.

The production was a part of a campus wide project called "A Year on Angel Island". Even though the project focused

mainly on Angel Island, it additionally aimed to start discussions about race and immigration on a more general level. Students involved in the project were invited to share their own families’ migration stories, providing a safe space for those students to bond and think about their history.

From celebrating to grieving, AAPI students are taking initiative in organizing and participating in events that help them feel connected to their culture and history. What’s more, these events benefit all UC Berkeley students, even those who are not Asian. These events allow all students to empathize with many different experiences.

WHAT AM I?

YANCY MICEL ALEGRE-PACHECO

KAILTIN BLAZEJ MOORE

Family languages strengthen cultural ties

BY AELIA GYGER staff writer

Exploring languages

other than English can be a gateway to understanding different cultures, widening the perspective of history, and connecting more with one’s ancestors. Some multilingual parents raise their children to speak their own first language, as well as English. Yet, some families don’t maintain that cultural and linguistic connection. However, learning your family's language can be a

way to connect with another part of one’s history and ancestral culture.

Shrinath Sriram, a sophomore at Berkeley High School has learned Mandarin through his school classes, and is learning Gujarati and Tamil at home. Both Tamil and Gujarati are spoken in India, but are from very different parts of the country with entirely separate cultures.

“I was really into learning languages for a little bit… and I wanted to learn my parent's languages because it made me feel kind of bad

that I don’t know (them),” Sriram said. He explained further that learning to speak his parent’s language allowed him to connect further with his non-english speaking family members.

Learning another language can also have more benefits than just connecting to family. According to Cambridge University, learning another language can lead to better memory, better academic performance, and teaches people more about the world, as the more languages a person speaks, the more

they can connect to different people and cultures.

Delilah Sophia-Siegel, a BHS sophomore, is learning Spanish and is able to get through a conversation.

“I wanted to be more in touch with the part of me that's Mexican because I didn't really have any connection to it beforehand because my mom didn't raise me Mexican,” SophiaSiegel said. “I was raised Jewish. And so I had a Bat Mitzvah, that sort of thing, but I haven't really done anything on the Mexican side of my family or anything connected to it. So I guess I wanted to kind of be able to be connected to it more,” she said.

Other ways of connecting to a culture can be through religion, holidays, food, and even films. Yet it’s not quite the same as learning a language and being able to relate to a different culture.

Learning a new language can be beneficial for many reasons, and taking the initiative to start learning one can bring you closer to many different communities.

I am a freshman. As the end of the school year quickly approaches, I’ve begun to reflect on the knowledge I’ve gained and the differences between my past school system in Oakland. With summer soon arriving and the air gradually warming, it has all come to me at once; being a freshman is in a way the best and the worst part of high school. We are all just figuring things out and equally confused. Coming from a different school district I had to become a person for myself, with no one to lean on. My personality is an inquisitive one — I like to find things out for myself — and because of that, over this past year I’ve gotten better at asking questions.

The best thing about being a freshman is that your worries — at least in terms of academics — are few and far between. I am in Hive 3 so this could just be subjective, but I have practically no homework except for things I haven’t finished in class. All in all, it felt like living easy. Clubs, sports, vibes and gossip whispers comprise the sea that Freshman sail on.

Coming from the standpoint of being enrolled in Oakland Tech before I was even on the roster at Berkeley High School, it took a while to get a hang of things. Even the bell was a culture-shock for me. I found that the community that was my Berkeley peers was more open to new people. When talking to people, just around the school, they would hold a conversation with me for far longer than any person at Claremont would. Especially, entering a new environment, I found that people are more likely to stop and help you find the class you’re looking for. Along with the students and teachers, Berkeley High School has a ton of opportunities for students to lead them on their path, and I appreciate that. Up until about week 12 of school at BHS, I had no knowledge of small schools. However, reading the catalog with all the information on each of the small schools I felt like I actually had a sense of where things could lead me.

The thing about being a freshman is that you’ve just acclimated from an environment where you thought you’d figured it all out, in 8th grade, at the top of the school, just to be at the bottom of the food chain again; being a freshman. As a freshman, you think that seniors got it the most together. But the truth is that little to no one really believes that they are the most evolved that they can be. Everyone knows they could just improve a little bit, if it's starting to compost or if it's making your bed in the morning. I haven’t been a senior yet, but I’m certain they got it just as figured out as an 8th grader going into high school. Sure you think that you’ve learned all there is to learn, but if you’re going into college, you’re starting it all over again, a freshman. As a freshman, we are all slowly coming to the realization that in three years, life really starts.

AAPI students contribute cultural events to campus.

A careful balance must be struck between political involvement and mental health

teenagers who attempt to get involved in politics in ways other than voting struggle with burnout.

More teenagers than ever are engaged in politics.

According to the 2021 Harvard Youth Poll, in 2016 only 24 percent of American youth considered themselves politically active. By 2021 that number had grown to 36 percent. However, at the same time, rates of depression in youth are rising — the percentage of teenagers who reported persistent feelings of hopelessness and sadness in a Centers of Disease Control and Prevention study increased from 28 percent in

2011 to 42 percent in 2021 — and we hear more about politically-involved students becoming burned out. As there are both benefits and drawbacks to young people being involved in politics, the key is to find a balance so that the involvement benefits mental health instead of harming it. Being too engaged in politics can be detrimental to a teenager's mental health. Most teenagers are unable to vote, but also recognize that they will have to live in a world shaped by the laws passed right now. This can easily contribute to a feeling of powerlessness and worry. Additionally, many

BERKELEY HIGH

A study from the Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute writes, “Perhaps due to experiences of burnout or the significant time that activism takes, studies of college student activists have found that activism can sometimes take a toll on students’ academic performance.”

Teenagers simply being much more aware of current events due to social media may also be part of the reason why mental health is declining. Nowadays everyone is hyper-aware of

when bad things happen. Combine that with the fact that news outlets publish more stories with negative news — according to Penn Live, 87 percent of national reporting is negative — it can be easy for teenagers to feel like everything in the world is going wrong. On top of this, youth who become especially invested in their politics may lose friends with different politics and run the risk of shutting themselves off to other viewpoints. While political activism may harm teens’ mental health, it may also benefit it. Through participating in protests and political

BY YSABEL CHU staff writer ANNELISE SCHOUTEN

groups, teenagers can find a community of like-minded people who will support them. A study in the journal Child Development found that “(Activist) teens were more likely than peers who weren’t engaged in civic activities to attain higher income and education levels as adults.” This may be because teenagers who participate in politics can often forge a strong sense of identity and gain self-

confidence.

Youth can gain a lot from involvement in politics, but it must be managed in a healthy way. Knowing when to stop reading the news, when to take a step back from activism, and always staying open to different viewpoints are a couple of ways to do this. After all, problems in the world can only be fixed if we also take the time to take care of ourselves.

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Co-opting Asian style trends brings harm to cultural value

BY SIMONE FAULKNER staff writer

What do “white girl wellness,” fox eye makeup, and K-pop obsessions all have in common? Are they all somehow connected to Asian culture? Are they all things that white people have co-opted as their own? The short answer is yes to both of these. These things, among others, have become popular among white people who, unknowingly or not, co-opt Asian cultures. With 20% of Berkeley residents identifying as Asian and Berkeley High School having a large Asian population, appropriation to this degree is very harmful, especially when white people are ignorant to the origin of what they’re stealing and act as if they have created it.

Like most trends, yoga was popularized in the West by white women in monochrome workout sets. Yoga originates from India with the purpose of cultivating awareness and higher consciousness in the individual and was brought to the US by immigrants. However, that history is

often forgotten and yoga is simply seen as a new wellness practice.

June McNally, a junior at BHS who identifies as Chinese and white, discussed how to decipher the line between appreciation and appropriation, saying that she looks at intent and impact. While the intent of yoga in the West may be to appreciate a therapeutic practice, the impact is ignorance of the practice’s origin. This ideology of wellness commodifies cultural practices for a majority white industry and disregards their history.

Makeup geared towards changing one’s racial appearance is also prevalent. For example, the fox eye trend uses makeup to achieve an almond eye shape, a common Asian feature. Instead of colonizing culture, white people appropriate physical features, effectively making Asian appearances “trendy,” and ignoring the discrimination Asians face.

Appropriating Asian cultural practices doesn’t just enforce a “take what you want and leave the rest” attitude — which is harmful enough as it is —, it

is effectively robbing Asian culture of its possessions. McNally said that she doesn’t see a problem with white people taking the time to appreciate and learn about Asian cultures from people of that group, but there is an issue when her ethnic culture is “adopted to fit an aesthetic,” giving an example of people wearing Chinese-style dresses. What has existed for centuries in hundreds of unique Asian cultures is reborn in the West to be trendy and lucrative under the guise of white ingenuity. This combines all Asian cultures under one umbrella that erases their history to be marketed to white people. It’s happening all over BHS, with students wearing kimono and qipao inspired clothing and drinking chai from Starbucks, while sharing space with students from the cultures where those things originate. So next time you eat Panda Express, stick pencils in your hair, or think of getting a tattoo of Chinese characters, recognize the millennia of Asian culture behind each of these things, rather than the ephemeral trend you may be participating in.

Internalized colorism: Leaving deep marks in Asian communities

BY SHANZA SYED staff writer

Colorism in Asian communities dates back to 710 A.D. when it was used to separate the elite (who stayed indoors) from the working class (who worked outdoors). Over the centuries it has allowed for the preferential treatment of light skinned individuals in relation to their darker skinned counterparts. This specifically pertains to individuals from the same community, which is what separates colorism from racism. Unfortunately, colorism is still prevalent in many Asian communities to this day.

“In Filipino culture it’s better to be ‘mestiza’ which means basically lighter and then to be ‘moreno’ it’s basically to be a darker and more tan Filipino,” Jocelyn Mae Sandiego, a sophomore at Berkeley High School said. She adds that this has created a large market for skin lightening products in the Philippines, which is true of many countries across Asia. According to Bloomberg, the skin lightening industry is currently valued at $8.6 billion. This booming industry is evidence of internalized colorism where many darker skinned Asians feel that they have to lighten their skin in order to be and feel beautiful.

It also turns out that these beauty standards are imposed on some Asian individuals by their own families.

“My sibling Margaret, they’re more tan than me and so they would always get comments from my mom like ‘Oh, you’re out in the sun too much, you need to stop,’” Mae Sandiego said. She added, “My parents used to say that if you’re tan or darker then you belong in the rice farms.” Such views on dark skin can be traced back to colonialism, where lighter colonizers often used the color of their skin to reinforce a superiority complex over the native population, which typically had a darker complexion.

For others, such as Marianne Mah, a sophomore at BHS, colorism is slightly more subtle. “I was a very tan child but then now it’s very pointed out that I’m not as tan as I was,” she said, “It’s never been directly said to me, but there’s just this stigma (around being darker).” Mah adds that as she naturally became lighter with age she started receiving more compliments, with people often comparing her to Korean pop stars.

Colorism also affects how people are treated and valued by other people. “My dad basically thought my mom was attractive because she was a lot lighter than him,” Shrinath

Sriram, a sophomore at BHS and member of the South and Southeast Asian Club, said. He highlights that a person’s relationships can be deeply impacted by the color of their skin.

Another aspect of colorism within the Asian community is the exclusion of South and Southeast Asian people from the Asian American Pacific Islander identity. Since many South and Southeast Asians have darker skin it’s clear that colorism has been a key component in determining how Americans perceive the Asian identity, said Sriram. “It really makes people more categorized. Sometimes people, instead of saying Asian, they’ll say I’m Indian, I’m Arab, I’m Pakistani, whereas we can’t really fit into the AAPI community as much as East Asians would.”

However, Sriram believes that with all of the media attention and education around discrimination based on skin color the narrative is slowly shifting as people are learning that people are learning to take pride in their identities and the color of their skin. “Asia’s a big continent. Not everyone is going to look a similar way. We should think of Asians as not just one but many different identities,” he said.

Colorism is but another unnecessary social construct designed to further social devision.

INVESTIGATIVE

No compensation, not

time: Teachers work to unite amid letters of recommendation frustrations

Being written by a third party, letters of recommendation allow colleges to determine how a student would perform in a school environment much more authentically than other components of the application.

Teachers also end up writing a different amount of letters in total every year. “Last year, I did about 27 letters, but this year I put a cap on it … at 14 letters. Then I did additional letters in the spring, so I did about 20,” said Ann Sperske, a BHS history teacher and teacher leader in Academic Choice. Some teachers have been writing this amount of letters of recommendation for many years at BHS, and others have written even more.

However, for all this work that teachers put into writing these letters of recommendation, there is zero compensation in terms of pay or extra time off to write.

“Students who we have need somebody to write a recommendation so they can get into college. So compensation would be wonderful,” said AP Biology teacher Glenn Wolkenfeld, when asked if writing letters of recommendation should be a paid process. “But, I spent the vast majority of my career doing this as just a part of service that I provide to the public as a public school teacher.”

“It's ridiculous. Our jobs are already so overwhelming, and then this is laid on top of

it by well-meaning students,” Albrecht said. So when students ask for letters of recommendation, “it's very awkward to say, ‘No, I don't want to because I'm not getting paid,’” Albrecht explained. Additionally, ever since the school eliminated extra hours they used to give to teachers to write letters, it has only become more difficult for teachers to do this work. “The more that letters are required of us, the more time it takes and I can't do it during the school day,” Sperske said. “So I ended up doing it on the weekends, because it's the only time I have to try to get things done.”

In response to the lack of compensation for teachers, many have organized in order to get some form of compensation. “I was tasked as a teacher leader with being part of a committee to investigate ways that we could get compensated,” Sperske said. “This committee started out pretty big, about 13 of us, now there’s a core group of seven of us that remain. We wrote a grant to the Berkeley High School Development Group

(BHSDG), and pitched it to them as being equity focused and a necessary component.”

This committee has been meeting several times throughout the year on Wednesdays at lunch to represent the extra work teachers are doing. The committee is still waiting for a response from the BHSDG to award this grant, which would be significant for those writing letters of recommendation. It could provide a decent amount of money in place of in-service credits. These in-service credits essentially give teachers seniority, which is what teachers are currently getting for writing letters of recommendation.

“I

I’m not writing letters either,” said Albrecht, when she had found out that some teachers were refusing to write letters. “We didn’t talk to each other. That was the problem. There were some teachers that were acting very bravely and I didn’t even know about it.” In other words, many teachers were refusing to write letters, while other teachers were unaware of actions like these.

Other teachers are responding in a different way to this issue, some limiting the amount of letters they write, and others refusing to write letters at all. “I didn’t write letters this year,” Coppola wrote in the email. “The school did not bother to find us money for a stipend nor a sub day.”

“I was glad to jump in and say

However, this can have adverse effects on both students and other teachers. “If one teacher says no, that might feel like a political statement, and in some ways, it is. But what that does is it puts more pressure on the other teachers who are still writing recommendations,” Wolkenfeld said. “I know that I’ve had to do more recommendations because other teachers have decided for whatever reason they want to do less recommendations.”

This difficult situation has left many within BHS seeking compromises between administrators, teachers, students, and others within the community.

“I would love to see (organization among teachers) happen, in a way where students aren’t hurt or affected by it,” Smith said.

“Really what we need is some kind of collective situation where everybody feels good about it,” Wolkenfeld said. “But the fact is that it takes time.”

enough

“Really what we need is some kind of collective situation where everybody feels good about it.”

Glenn Wolkenfeld, BHS AP Biology Teacher

“Our jobs are already so overwhelming, and then this is laid on top of it by well meaning students.”

Masha Albrecht, BHS Math Teacher

know that I’ve had to do more recommendations because other teachers have decided for whatever reason they want to do less recommendations.”

Glenn Wolkenfeld, BHS AP Biology Teacher

MIYA SMITH RICHARDS

ANNIKA MILES-WANG

Uji Time: Serving Asian fusion dessert with side of community

BY JASPER LOVVORNBLACK staff writer

Uji Time Dessert, located on Telegraph and Parker, was founded in 2016 as a pop up store by three first generation immigrants from Hong Kong. Since then, it has expanded to multiple locations and has products in 27 different markets, all throughout the Bay Area.

Uji Time incorporates traditional dessert flavors from various Asian countries. The menu consists of various dessert items including mochi ice cream, soft serve ice cream, and croissants.

It specializes in ice cream and has over 19 flavors with the most popular being ube, black sesame, matcha, and many more. To top it all off, they serve their ice cream in fish-shaped cones called taiyaki with toppings such as nutella, pocky sticks, or marshmallow pieces. Uji Time also offers seasonal ice cream flavors in addition to their already expansive menu.

The store is situated in the heart of downtown Berkeley, just a little bit

south of the University of California, Berkeley campus and about a 20 minute walk from Berkeley High School. The inside of the store is a spacious and cozy space.

Customers at Uji Time remarked that they were drawn to the dessert cafe for its iconic flavors like the matcha soft serve ice cream. Others noted that the fish cones were an appealing and unique feature of Uji Time.

One customer, who chose to remain anonymous, said they “really enjoyed the ice cream,” and that they liked that “it is open late.”

Leung stated that a goal of the company is to “provide customers with high-quality hand-crafted ice cream with different flavors that are shared by multiple Asian cultures.”

According to Ambrose Leung, a business development manager at Uji Time, “We are the first dessert company to bring taiyaki to the Bay Area community.”

When Uji Time first opened, it received a lot of attention from the intriguing desserts it sold; the company was almost instantly a hit in Berkeley and eventually more broadly

across the Bay Area.

On top of the line of products it sells at their numerous locations, Uji Time also caters with soft serve ice cream machines and they participate in events and festivals like the San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival by selling their dessert.

Uji Time has faced many struggles during its lifespan. Like many other businesses, the pandemic caused a large decline in sales and therefore some locations closed down. However, this difficulty was furthered for Uji Time because it was near impossible to deliver ice cream before it melted.

But the pandemic wasn’t entirely harmful to Uji Time. Leung stated that they “used the pandemic as an opportunity to pivot to another business line,” with the expansion of locations and products. This was mainly accredited to the government aid that many businesses received during the pandemic.

UC Berkeley and Uji Time have a close connection, as one of the founders was an alumni of the college. Leung said that one of her goals as an immigrant from Hong

Kong was to “provide Asian inspired fusion flavors... to accompany many international and Asian American students,” who attend UC Berkeley.

Uji Time also supports UC Berkeley student groups by allowing them to rent out retail spaces for events or other activities.

According to the Uji Time website, “(They) want to use various Asian inspired fusion flavors, to talk about various Asian cultures, and be a place for many Asian students in Berkeley when they miss their home cuisine.”

The company also wishes to expand the tastes of people from different cultures and give them a deeper appreciation for Asian cuisine. “Non-Asian (people)... (can) learn about the vast culture of ‘Asian’ ... (in order to) increase

cultural understanding,” Leung said.

Most importantly, Uji Time wishes to be a good neighbor to the community around it. According to Leung, “(Their) CEO was engaging with various business owners and she got

a lot of help (from them) during Covid. During Covid a lot of small businesses became closer together. But this only happens when you or the business owner is a good citizen in whatever community you are involved in."

Teachers personalize content, adapt to changing AP guidelines

BY SAGE FELDMAN staff writer

As education science evolves and curricula shift, even Advanced Placement classes and their exams change. Redesigns of AP classes happen on a scale imperceptible to students, but for teachers who have to teach the same thing every year, a development in the College Board’s philosophy can shake up their classroom. Perhaps teachers can find some comfort in the knowledge that the exams of today have been retooled with the goal of being much more student and teacher friendly, much more analysis based than memory based, and much less demanding content

wise, than those of a decade ago.

AP US History (APUSH) and AP Government teacher, Angela Coppala, started teaching APUSH at Berkeley High School in 2013, the last year before the College Board updated the curriculum. “I wouldn’t teach this class if they hadn’t changed,” she said. Prior to the redesign, the APUSH test tried to fit 80 multiplechoice questions into 55 minutes and a documentbased essay question (DBQ) with ten sources into an hour. The current test has 55 multiple-choice questions and seven DBQ sources, as well as a new short answer section that focuses on having students show what they know. This change is emblematic of a

shift in the classroom away from memorization and towards critical thinking and historical analysis.

Coppola highlighted how even the College Board’s definition of a history student changed, “Is the point of history to honor people with slavish detail … (or is it to) see patterns that then help you predict what comes next?” she said.

One of the ways the College Board tried to meet its stated goal was by structuring its new APUSH curriculum as broad themes that gave teachers flexibility in how they taught.

apply skills in writing… (and) discovery … (you will) benefit more than just memorizing dates and events,” she said.

Changes to the AP Language and Composition and to the AP English Literature exams came more recently, with a revamped scoring system being

“I wouldn’t teach this class if they hadn’t changed (the curriculum).”

Angela Coppola, BHS

teacher

“I choose to add more topics, documents, (and) events from history that represent my classroom and our history,” said Ann Sperske, who teaches APUSH and AP Government. She can now teach to the College Board’s goals by using marginalized voices and incorporating pieces of local history. Sperske likes that AP classes have become more skills based and less content based. “I think skills are transferable … if you can

introduced in the 201920 school year. Previous versions of the tests graded essays on a zero to nine scale with a great deal of subjectivity, while modern rubrics are scored zero to six with strict requirements as to what earns what points.

“There were a lot of complaints about what the aim of the test was … the zero to nine scale was more of a feeling than anything else,” said Matthew Carton, an Academic Choice (AC) English teacher. The new rubric was accompanied by a change in curriculum structure, solidifying the course into nine discrete

units. “It clarifies and codifies what to do,” said Carton, who found the new system very effective in helping teachers help students. The objectivity of the new grading system and fixed pedagogy contributed to a rise in BHS success from good to great. “On a national and global level, Berkeley High has done amazingly well,” said Carton.

For a hard science class like AP Biology, though, trimming down the course in the name of flexibility and simplicity means completely cutting out some parts of the science that is usually taught. Glenn Wolkenfeld is an AP Biology teacher who has worked at BHS off and on since the 199293 school year and during his tenure he has seen two major redesigns to the class.

“Before 2012, the course was possibly twice as big as it is now in terms of content … you needed to teach content at this incredible pace,” he said. Wolkenfeld found it a grind, but a manageable one given BHS’s past block schedule. He believes that “the course now is a little

bit easier on the students,” although his students both before and after the redesign had very high rates of success on their AP exams.

Still, a lot of physical material was scrapped to slim down AP Biology. “They probably cut 40 percent of the content out of the course … in 2019 (the year of the second redesign) they dropped the immune system … (and) surprisingly, there’s very little about viruses,” he said. In 2012, the class switched to a highlevel concept approach similar in form to that of APUSH, but its structure was poor for the course The added flexibility of the new course gives Wolkenfeld the space to teach more content if he likes; before 2012, he and most other AP Biology teachers were locked into a frenetic race to fill every minute with new information compared to the relatively slower pace now.

In recent years, the College Board has made a strong effort to be a support rather than a hindrance, and in its redesigned conditions, many teachers are flourishing. “AP has a lot of flaws … but we’ve got … teachers who are delivering the content beautifully,” said Carton.

APUSH

Uji Time Desert has over 19 flavors of ice cream.

Uji Time Dessert is located on Telegraph St. and Parker St.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

involved in the project to learn more about successful models of the course at other schools. “In order to have a new class approved for BHS, we need to go through the University of California Office of the President course approval process as well as submit for Berkeley Unified School District Board approval. “At the same time, it is absolutely critical that we see whether we can recruit a credentialed teacher.”

Kang has already made headway in finding a credentialed teacher, and if there is enough student interest, the Korean Consulate Education Center is willing to provide resumes of credentialed teachers and grants to quicken developments. Considering the numerous steps involved in this process, the earliest the class could be offered to BHS students would be in the fall of 2025, according to Raygoza.

“There is a lot for us to learn about offering Korean at BHS and we’re excited to take this on,” he said.

In an effort to gain student feedback about the future class, the Korean Consulate Education Center set up a survey to poll BUSD students. The form has received responses from 80 students, but Kang encourages more students to give their feedback

on the Korean class, as it helps the district understand what is necessary in order to achieve a successful program. The results of the survey show that students are interested in exploring new culture and language, according to Kim, who is excited that students

the new class, to submit any feedback or opinions they have about the potential Korean language class through the Google Form that was listed in the bulletin.

are so open to the class.

Kim encouraged any interested students, especially underclassmen who will, potentially, be some of the first students at BHS to take

“Once Korean is introduced in (the) school, I am sure that the students can enjoy the very dynamic culture of Korean people,” Kang said. Kim emphasized that her goals for the future of a Korean language class are to introduce it as a normal part of the language program that a variety of students take, and much like Spanish or French, offer a variety of levels at which students can learn, including AP and Honors.

“Approving this Korean

class is also beneficial for many Korean Americans who are seeking to strengthen their relationship with their culture or learn more about it, especially through language since it plays a great role in communication and cultural identity,” Kim said. “We also are looking forward to getting middle school kids too because they’re the ones going into high school and coming into the school and maybe choosing Korean as a class,” Kim added, hoping to make presentations at the surrounding middle schools to gain student interest in incoming classes who might choose Korean as their language.

Students can find a link to provide input about the prospect of the class in the BHS email bulletin.

JULIUS BRAUR

Best Places: Worthwhile Berkeley hikes

BY MAYA DANG staff writer

Gemma Shabel, a Berkeley High School senior, has been hiking at Tilden since she was little and has always loved it.

“There are so many different options for types of hikes and scenery and wherever you choose, it is inevitably going to be beautiful. The surroundings are so green during spring, and during the rest of the year it’s very densely populated with plants and trees and there is

lots of cool wildlife to see. It’s a significantly large space too,” she said.

Ajmal Khan, a senior at BHS, also recommends a trail in Tilden called the Loop Road Trail. “I love Tilden and I go there almost every other night because I just like being in the woods and like taking a little stroll around Tilden whenever I can,” he said.

“It’s a little camping site right above a little farm,” Khan said. He explained how one travels down a hill from the site to the farm, then takes a

right to go up toward a lake. “When you take a right, you travel by half a block and you take another left and you just travel a little more into the parking lot. And then you just go on a hike from there.”

Khan also mentioned a camping area with tables for people to have a barbecue.

“Go on a little night hike. It’s just quiet and peaceful and as you walk there when you start walking to the trail, it’s not that windy, but it’s pretty windy. If you go deep into the trail, there’s a little bench there that you can just sit down and chill on. And if you keep walking it’s just ... a little mountain-ish trail,” he said.

Doris Balabanian, a Berkeley resident, doesn’t believe there is a best place to hike in Berkeley, but recommends a group called Berkeley Path Wanderers.

“This group organizes walks throughout Berkeley on its stairs and paths, and these walks can vary in pace and intensity, sometimes veering into hike territory,” she said.

She also recommends Tilden Park, which has many trails and is a wonderful place to hike. “Another good spot for strenuous exercise

is Claremont Canyon, which can be accessed in a number of ways, from behind the Claremont Hotel, the top of Dwight Way, and several others,” Balabanian said.

“Strawberry Canyon can be accessed off Centennial Road in two places, the bottom near the Cal stadium, and the top near Grizzly Peak. The trail that winds from top to bottom is named Jordan Trail, Upper and Lower.”

The Bay Area is full of trails to hike, and whether you’re a beginner or advanced trail hiker, there are many places to enjoy a hike. “All you have to do is decide what kind of terrain you want to experience, and there is a park that has that. For instance, Tilden is a close-up park, no great big airy expanses with lots of eucalyptus and other tree cover,” Balabanian said.

“Morgan Territory, on the other hand, is wide open, not many trees, but wide open spaces, grinding, rocks, and oak trees. When you explore them, each park brings up different feelings and is satisfying in different ways. We are so fortunate in this area to have an embarrassment of riches in our regional parks.”

I spoke with Kevin Gallagher of Emergent Resilience, a climate change skill-building organization. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: What is it that you actually do?

A: I do climate change resilience programs for anyone involved in systems change work to help them sustain their engagement with the work of climate change or social change. I help them understand the psycho-social-emotional ways in which their work affects them internally so that they can use those experiences to come up with new and resilient strategies for their work. I used to be a lawyer in Washington DC working on climate change policy; I found that the people who were working on this stuff, including me, were missing some of the essential skills needed to grapple with such big changes: skills like dealing with grief, being mindful, and more.

Q: What is your response to questions like how to handle climate change anxiety?

A: There is no one answer. We need to be asking this question for the rest of our lives: “What are the skills that I need to be able to respond to these different feelings inside of me about climate change?”

Q: Is climate anxiety extra hard for high school students?

A: Yes, high school students can feel the difficult emotions of climate degradation and social injustice more acutely. They are often more perceptive about those feelings, too. In activism, there’s often this need to react and create solutions. Often, that’s short-sighted and leads to burnout, because we haven’t built up the capacity to make lasting change in the world. We want to go straight to the solutions because of the pain we’re feeling. So we need to transform those inner experiences so that we can support the movement more effectively. When we see injustice in the world, we feel pain. We need to learn how to feel pain and do that internal work, especially with other people, because humans are the most social beings on the planet. We need to create spaces to compost those emotions into really fertile energy to do what we need to. Emotions have a lot to teach us, and paired with that is the reality that we cannot, nor is it our responsibility, to do any of this on our own.

Q: Is there an important message you have for the youth of America today?

A: Yes. There are a lot of people out here who care about you, and who understand how hard it is out here right now, and who are working hard to help you to make the world a better place. You bring an essential energy that climate change movement and social changes movements can be, and that there is a place for you in the work of responding to these big problems. Reach out to people to find out what that place might be. Finally, having negative capabilities: our capacity to be with change and uncertainty and doubt becomes a core skill set for navigating the world and all these problems that exist today.

NOLAN WHITEHILL

SASHA BALASUBRAMANIAN

Micaela Gabaly Fernandez, Yiru Kim, and Sunshine MacCarthy gather at student panel.

“There is a lot for us to learn about offering Korean at BHS and we’re excited to take this on.”

Juan Raygoza, BHS Principal

ERASE, EDIT, OR REMAKE?: MOVIES WE’RE MEANT TO LOVE

CHLOE CARUTH

Four must-watch AAPI directed movies

BY ZACHARY YOO staff writer

Asian American cinema has flourished recently with films like “The Farewell,” “Minari,” and last year’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” But many classic Asian American films are now overlooked. This AAPI history month, here are four films rarely discussed but heavily representative of the experience of being Asian American.

CHAN IS MISSING (1982)

ENTER THE DRAGON (1973)

The movie Labyrinth came out in 1986, created by a star-struck team of creative visionaries. Though the film was not very successful in America, it was quite popular internationally, starring David Bowie alongside Jennifer Connelly. Labyrinth was directed by Jim Henson, the artistic genius behind The Muppets, with help from Lucasfilm Ltd., founded by George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars and Indiana Jones. The screenplay was written by Terry Jones, a writer and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Each of these great minds brought unique passion to the movie, but at times it gets muddled.

The story starts when 16-year-old Sarah’s baby brother is taken by Jareth, the Goblin King, and Sarah has to venture into the labyrinth to try to save her baby brother. I felt disturbed when Jareth expressed his love for Sarah, as it felt like an unnecessary aspect of the film. To me, it made the idea that this is a kids’ movie a bit ridiculous and unsavory. What I didn’t know before watching this movie is that it is a musical. So you can imagine my surprise when twenty-three minutes into the movie David Bowie’s character broke into song. There’s a contrast of terrifying goblin puppets, David Bowie’s jovial dancing, a frightened distraught baby, and an upbeat song. The musical numbers feel very awkward and out of place. But they grew on me, and I came to find that the music added to the ambiance and overall camp of the movie.

The puppets were clearly thoughtfully made. Although grotesque and haunting at times they were also endearing. This movie stands on the edge of that claymation feeling and the uncanny valley. It is clear that this world and the aesthetics of it were the initial inspiration for the movie. The elaborate set and over-thetop costumes confirm this. Especially for Jareth the Goblin King whose outfits resemble an elven space pirate. As the audience and Sarah delve deeper into the world of the Labyrinth, the set becomes grander and Sarah evolves as well. Her dress in the ballroom scene is an extravagant 80s puffy-sleeved fantasy. It was used as a representation that to defeat the labyrinth, you have to join it and learn to use its rules against it.

I don’t think the 80s audience was ready for this film, and honestly, when I started watching it I didn’t feel prepared either. I’m doubtful that a movie remake would be successful. Without the original creators, I worry that a remake would fall flat. As interesting as it would be to dive deeper into the world of Labyrinth, it feels impossible to capture the mood of the first movie. The goal of the film was to show that life isn’t always fair. It sought to highlight growing up and learning to take responsibility for yourself.

The first Asian American directed movie is ultraindie. Made on a budget of $22,000, shot in black and white, and with less-than-stellar audio quality, it’s a miracle “Chan is Missing” ever got made. Arguably more miraculous is how much it was ahead of its time. Exploring the pluralism and dissonance in the early 80s San Francisco Chinatown community through the lens of a comedic mystery, “Chan is Missing” is a thoughtprovoking joy to watch. The movie’s protagonists travel a long and aimless road to find the titular Chan (shocker: he’s missing), and along the way meet innumerable Chinese American characters, each with idiosyncrasies that are lovingly specific. Balancing its jokes with poignancy, the film is ultimately a reflection on Chinese American identity (and if one single Chinese American identity even exists), as well as a loving portrait of Chinatown in the early 1980s. “Chan is Missing” is Asian American brilliance.

MISSISSIPPI MASALA (1991)

About the Indian American daughter of a family banished from Uganda who falls in love with an African American young man, “Mississippi Masala” is fundamentally multicultural. In exploring complex interracial tensions, the film is necessarily more serious than other romances. But the key to the movie is balance, as it skillfully blends sweet and genuine romantic scenes with family drama. It doesn’t shy away from the ugliness of racism, or the complex politics of its historical subject matter. At the same time, it’s incredibly sweet. It’s a beautiful blend of elements, a film that recognizes the intimate nuance of intercultural relationships.

Everyone knows “Enter the Dragon,” Bruce Lee’s first and only American film before his death. But few young people have actually seen it. To this generation, Bruce Lee is a legend, lauded by parents and documentaries, but never actually seen in action. Part of the appeal of “Enter the Dragon” is just that you are staring at Bruce Lee, the real man. The film elevates his legendary status further by using him sparingly. At one point, a fellow martial artist holds Lee back, knowing his opponent is beneath him. And Bruce Lee’s character is just called Lee — as if his fame and talent transcend fiction. All this means that when the film does let loose, climaxing in eight glorious and uninterrupted minutes of Bruce Lee Kung Fu, you know he’s the best ever.

BETTER LUCK TOMORROW (2002)

“Better Luck Tomorrow” is almost too Asian American. It opens on the perfectly boring suburban streets of Orange County, and then transitions to a montage of all the esoteric extracurriculars its lead partakes in hopes of attending an Ivy. But when its five protagonists tire of playing by the rules, they pick up crime on the side, selling cheat sheets first, and drugs soon after. It’s edgy and rough (the film was one of the first released by MTV), but it’s also real and resonant. Their toxically masculine power trip gets shattered just as easily as it was put up. What’s left is a sympathetic but unflinching portrayal of the deep stress inherent to being an Asian American teen with a bright future ahead.

Dance Production celebrates past, present

BY LULI GALINSON staff writer

Berkeley High School’s Dance Production class has been working all semester on their final performance, which took place on April 28 and 29. The theme of the show was “Looking Back to Moving Forward”, and it included 10 pieces that ranged from hip-hop to interpretive dance. The show was almost entirely student run, with the colorful lighting and tech all done by the BHS Advanced Stage Production class.

One memorable piece from the show was performed to “Toxic” by Britney Spears. The high energy piece was choreographed by junior Tomas Rocha. “It’s really this kind of Britney Spears type dance. I wanted to honor what she built and I took a lot of inspiration from her, but I also have my own choreography in there as well,” she said. At the beginning of the year, Rocha was apprehensive about joining the class, but ended up making a lot

of connections. “Through choreography and vulnerable moments we’ve all had with each other, I feel like we’ve grown as a class and friends,” Rocha said.

Confidence is a main component of dancing for Rocha. “I feel like dancing on stage and learning all this choreography is giving me this boost. It’s like, I can do this. I’ve done something really amazing that not a lot of people can do,” she said.

Another performer, Daisy Paris-Kaufman choreographed the dance “The Factory ‘’ set to the song “Faceshopping” by hyperpop singer SOPHIE. They thought the song fit with her dance’s themes of absurdity and art inspiration. “There’s a theme for this show … which is inspiration from iconic figures in the past or anyone who’s shaped our culture,” they explained. “... I chose Andy Warhol. His themes are that of superficial disguise and exaggeration.”

Senior Auden Svoboda choreographed the piece, “Backstreet Boys Medley”, which was set to a combination of three popular songs from

the titular band. The choreography process pushed Svoboda out of his comfort zone. “I just decided to do something completely new for me, and the dance did turn out super high energy and campy,” he explained. The class and show also helped Svoboda see himself as more of a performer than before. “I do musical theater, but I always kind of thought of myself as like a bad dancer. I didn’t feel graceful or coordinated on stage,” Svoboda said. “Doing these classes has definitely changed that for me because it kind of made me realize that there’s not a big secret to dancing.”

Some performances in the show also included singing on stage, accompanied by dancers. Junior Dylan David Olivares sang the Beatles song “Eleanor Rigsby” in one piece. He feels like dancing is a very universal art form. “I feel like it’s to some extent human nature. I mean, most communities enjoy some form of dance.” He said. Olivares encouraged students to try out for Dance Production, saying, “Anyone who is even maybe a little bit curious should absolutely audition. You have a lot of freedom in dance production, it’s almost run completely by the students.”

MALINA MEISSNER

Dance Production shows took place on April 28 and 29.

Film photography thrives in Berkeley classrooms, communities

BY MADELYN PHILHOWER staff writer

“When we started out (30 years ago), we were one of a number of labs,” said Andrea McLaughlin, the owner of Photolab, a digital and film photography processing lab located in Berkeley. “Slowly they all disappeared ... I’m the last one left.”

As technology evolves and digital cameras advance at a rapid rate, many have predicted the death of film photography. Businesses that once specialized in the development and printing of analog film have closed up shop, film cameras replaced by iPhones. However, in certain areas of Berkeley, such as Photolab and photography teacher Sam Matsumoto’s classroom at Berkeley High School, film photography is alive and well.

Analog photography is different from digital photography in a few critical ways. Digital cameras use memory cards to store photos, which are accessed and manipulated on a computer. In contrast, film cameras require plastic film for each shot, which is covered in a layer of light sensitive silver halide crystals. These crystals react to light differently depending on the camera settings, light level, and film type. After a roll of film is shot, it must be chemically processed and turned into negative images that

can then be scanned and manipulated digitally or taken into a darkroom to make prints.

“Your images are preserved in little silver

which isn’t possible to do with a film camera that has only 24 to 36 shots available per roll.

Theo Flieg has been taking Matsumoto’s film class all four years he’s been at BHS.

“It’s a physical, tangible thing and there’s something very special about knowing that (your photo) only exists in that one way. It’s precious.”

“(Commercially), it makes more sense to invest in the digital system and have higher upfront costs, but at the end have a lower (cost) per shot.” said Matsumoto.

crystals, it’s not just zeros and ones of bits and bytes,” Matsumoto explained. “It’s a physical, tangible thing and there’s something very special about knowing that (your photo) only exists in that one way. It’s precious.”

The process of developing film photography is very involved, costly in both time and money. For photographers who are shooting weddings, family shoots, or advertisements, many photos are required,

“As a result, there’s not as much demand (for film photography), so many manufacturers have stopped making certain kinds of film or it’s become more expensive,” they explained. As demand has fallen, less and less places remain that can properly process, develop, and print film photographs. Additionally with older film processing technology, when machines break it can cause major issues. “(Photolab) can’t get the parts or the people that know how to fix the machines are retiring, so partly it’s an economic issue,” McLaughlin said. “Film has been rumored to be dying out for many decades now. And I thought it would be a lot faster than it was.”

Despite analog photography’s increasing rarity, a major part of film photography’s appeal lies in the unique challenges and characteristics of the medium.

“The special thing about film photography for me is that I can really take my time and I have to really focus and think about every photo I’m gonna take, rather than just shooting away,” Flieg said. “There’s a lot that goes into deciding what film you’re going to shoot with, what setting, what camera you want to shoot with and deciding how you’re going to develop it and how you’re going to expose it.”

The many factors at play in film photography make each print highly unique.

“Sometimes it’s kind of frustrating if (your photo) doesn’t turn out exactly how you want but that’s kind of the beauty (of it), nothing’s ever going to be exactly how you imagined it,” Flieg said. “(Film photography) can take you somewhere that you didn’t expect, and become something that’s more interesting or better than what you had imagined originally.”

In contrast to digital photography, where you can take thousands of photos and review them immediately, film

“I can really take my time and I have to really focus and think about every photo I’m gonna take, rather than just shooting away,”

Theo Flieg, BHS senior

McLaughlin said. Although analog photography is nowhere as prominent now as it has been in past decades, McLaughlin anticipates the unique artform to continue to be used and appreciated for many years to come.

Even when film doesn’t come out as expected, whether it be due to a customer getting the film wet or accidentally exposing the film prematurely, people are happily surprised with the outcome.

photography creates a sense of mystery and anticipation for each shot.

“There’s something really magical about taking pictures, trying to develop a skill of getting better at it, but also just getting stuff that you don’t expect,”

“(With) so many unused analog cameras out there floating around in people’s garages and attics that they can get from their grandparents or wherever, as long as there’s film within them and you have fun with it, it’s going to keep going,” McLaughlin said.

PHOTOS BY GLENN MAH

Sam Matsumoto, BHS Photolab Teacher

Students Veronica Durrett and Elliot Watts-Zagha develop film.

Photolab is located at 2235 Fifth St, Berkeley.

Photography student Itta Behrman works with negatives in a BHS classroom.

Students learn through Matsumoto’s film photography class.

Senior Theo Fleig has been in photography class all four years of his high school career. Both darkrooms and the film developing hallway are all maintained and accessed by students and faculty alike.

Divas: The double standard female celebrities experience

BY JULIA BRIMMER staff writer

Humans have fawned over celebrities and the outlandish things they do for centuries. The celebrity lifestyle has become a fantasy for everyday people, so why is anyone surprised when female celebrities make unreasonable demands to uplift themselves?

The word “diva,” derived from the Italian word “goddess,” first became used in English in the late 1800s, describing an opera company’s principal female singer. These women were treated with utmost respect, such as the renowned soprano Adelina Patti, who in her peak was paid upwards of $5000 in gold per night, while never being obligated to come to rehearsal.

Starting in the 60s and 70s, female singers were all over the mainstream entertainment industry.

Stars like Dolly Parton, Barbra Streisand, and Aretha Franklin were just a few of the women who defined the era. However, by this time, the term “diva” had gone from meaning “goddess” to what Google defines as a “selfimportant person who is temperamental and difficult to please (typically used of a woman).”

News outlets and the public have laughed at Streisand for only allowing photos to be taken of her “good side,” Mariah Carey for playing her song “Fantasy” while giving birth, Madonna for banning air conditioning at her show venues, Rihanna for requesting a private dance floor “wherever she goes,” and countless other women for acting similarly.

The media began criticizing and labeling all famous women as divas simply because they were confident in themselves when really, that confidence

is what made audiences adore them.

For example, Franklin’s hit song “Respect” told women that they deserved better than their male partners were giving them and to respect themselves and each other. In a motivational speech in collaboration with Netflix, Parton directly told the audience “You are enough, and anyone who tells you otherwise isn’t worth your time.” Simply having hit songs and interviews with Netflix speaks for itself. These women wouldn’t be where they are today without demanding that they get there, and the constant criticism of their demands disregards that fact.

Even these women’s actions seem bizarre to the public, they are comparable to the extravagant acts of male stars, who would be called “divos” in 1800s opera life. Tom Cruise has been said to demand cupcakes

THE CROSSWORD

on golden platters in the middle of the night, and Frank Ocean had hundreds of ice skaters prepare a routine for months, only to lay them off the day of their Coachella performance. But men receive a fraction of the criticism. Cruise is celebrated for achieving fame and fortune after facing adversity in his childhood. Even after being cut from the Coachella show, Olympic hockey player Chris Powers

continued to praise Ocean, assuring the audience that “he had a very clear vision, and even though that vision changed a lot, he was always on (the skaters), helping us…”

“Diva is a female version of a hustler,” Beyonce said in her song “I Am… Sasha Fierce,” clapping back at this double standard and proving that the word “divo” will never have the same power over men that “diva” has over women.

Regardless of its origins in the entertainment industry, the term “diva” has been weaponized against all women. While women in power are given the critical label, men are praised for taking control. The foreign world of celebrities can perfectly mirror our everyday life, and in order to dismantle this double standard, we must rethink how we view those celebrities and the standards we hold them to.

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

Art has become an increasingly competitive and critiqued field, with higher level high school classes demanding pieces fit impossible rubrics, and colleges looking for criteria within creativity. Amidst this increasing pressure however, Annika MilesWang, a junior in Berkeley International High School, preserves the joyfulness of art making.

In her IB Studio Art class, Miles-Wang brings her paintings to life and focuses on the happiness they bring her. She is constantly creating, and finds it to be soothing and enjoyable. “I’m always drawing and doodling while in class and it’s just genuinely fun,” she said. Rather than striving to follow the rules of the College Board or be competitive to her peers, she makes her art for herself. Miles-Wang described her art as “something that I can do that I’m proud of. It’s something that I can produce and be like, ‘Oh, I made that.’ ”

Miles-Wang makes self portraits as well as portraits of animals and people. Sometimes she paints issues that she deals with in her life, sometimes she incorporates aspects of her identity, but she does so on her own terms. “I feel personally like I should explore my own identity in my art because that’s a common theme and it makes your art have more meaning,” she said.

She intends to continue making art into her adult life because of the joy it brings her, and will continue with her creative endeavors as a hobby as she gets older.

— Raven Fonseca Jensen

— Nicholas McGlashan

— Elta Tracy

CLARA ELM NETTESHEIM

Athletes weigh priorities in college search

BY ZADA SANGER staff writer

“Before I found out you could get full-rides from sports and that I would be successful in football, I was just planning on going to community college because I didn’t feel like it was worth being in that much debt,” said Berkeley High School senior and Stanford football commit Jackson Harris.

People play sports to feel a rush of physical exertion, to have a competitive outlet, and to hone their leadership skills, among other things. However, most people’s athletic careers are recreational and span only the years of their youth, but some people are more passionate, dedicated, and look for ways to extend this career into their college years. The search for a good fitting college is already difficult, and the added factor of athletics can drastically change the process in unanticipated ways.

As athletics enters the college decision equation, prospective student-athletes must examine and weigh their priorities. Optimizing for athletics doesn’t always translate to optimizing for academics. “I had other offers from PAC12 teams, and Utah would’ve been

my decision if I wanted to do solely football and didn’t care about academics, but Stanford really is the dream,” Harris added.

Maxwell Jamison started playing baseball at age four, and playing competitively at age eight.

“I saw that baseball in college was a huge commitment and it would take a lot of work and time to get where I would want to go. As I got to know myself better, I realized that wasn’t for me,” he said. “My parents always taught me that knowledge is power and is the path to a good career, and at the end of the day baseball is just a game,” he elaborated. Despite playing baseball every day through high school, Jamison chose to make academics his

main priority for his higher education experience.

EJ Cord, another BHS baseball player who’s played competitively for 11 years, wanted to play in college from the moment he learned that was a possibility for him in middle school. He pursued his dream through college ID camps and showcases, since high school baseball isn’t where athletes are typically recruited from. He is committed to play at William Jessup University, and found that in searching for a school through the baseball channel, he considered a set of criteria different from many of his peers.

“My decision had to do with the coaching staff, program values, what major I wanted, and how that lined

up. It came down to how well a program would help me and how well I could help them,” he said.

BHS senior and varsity soccer player Amelie Haji received multiple offers, both athletic and academic. In the days before her decision, she said, “Whether I choose to accept an offer for soccer or go without playing at a collegiate level, soccer will continue to be a part of me.” There are many opportunities for athletes to play in college without being recruited.

“I am confident that I can find a soccer community wherever I end up going.” Haji said.

For all of these athletes, their sport will forever be a part of them, whatever their future may hold.

CARINA THOMAS

GRANT

Player responsibility extends beyond field

BY COLINA HARVEY staff writer

Professional athletes are some of the most followed people on social media, garnering the attention of hundreds of millions of followers, many of whom are young children who dream about being just like them when they grow up. Without a doubt, pro athletes hold an immense amount of influence. While this applies to any kind of celebrity, athletes differ in that they are representatives for their team, league, and sport. When an athlete acts in a way that is criticized by the public, it can reflect

poorly on the organizations affiliated with them. Athletes have greater responsibility for their actions than other people because they are capable of tarnishing the reputations of others by association.

Last month, Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant was in the news for flashing a gun on Instagram Live. As of now, he has 9.4 million followers on Instagram. This came after Morant was involved in several other alleged altercations, including allegedly punching a teenager at

Morant’s own home. Although the National Basketball Association did launch an investigation into the situation, they found no reason to charge Morant criminally and neither did the local police. Despite

team and school. “I feel like a lot of people associate me with rowing,” said Kim. “I definitely hold myself to a different standard than if I was not representing a school team.”

“I definitely hold myself to a different standard than if I was not representing a school team.”

the evidence for criminal activity being insufficient, Morant was suspended for eight games without pay due to “conduct detrimental to the league” showing the impact of his actions.

While the weight of an athlete’s actions become significantly heavier as they acquire a larger audience in their respective sport, the responsibility that comes with being an athlete extends to all levels of play.

At Berkeley High School, athletes represent not only their team, but BHS as well. Tyler Kim, a junior and member of the crew team, is aware of the way his image affects both his

Chai Dewi, a junior volleyball player, is more conscious of how she acts as a person and less about the team’s image. “Obviously I’m not gonna just go around trashing the school and being a horrible person, but it’s not solely because I’m on the volleyball team, it’s because I don’t want to leave that image of myself,” she said.

For students who hold leadership positions on a team, the pressure to represent BHS positively can be even greater.

“As a senior and someone who does play a huge leadership role, I think it is important that I’m not only setting expectations during the actual sport, but also off the sport,” said senior Skyler Rockmael, a coxswain on the BHS crew team.

“The more you’re representing Berkeley High, the more responsibility you have,” she said.

My mom used to always crack open my bedroom door, offering a plastic container of cut up fruit with an unappetizing hint of garlic from the knife she’d been using. The rich aroma of sauteed vegetables drenched in soy sauce and spices flows from the kitchen, between the cracks of my door frame and into my room. My mother’s accent travels through the walls, I can hear the way she pronounces every “th” with an “s,” the way she rapidly switches over to her native Mandarin tongue as she begins lecturing me to come clear the table. Growing up with a Chinese immigrant mother in America, my Asian American background undoubtedly has its differences from the typical western lifestyle.

My grandma, who I call Lao Lao, lives in my mother’s hometown of Tianjin, China. When I was in the second grade, I went to stay with my Lao Lao for two months in her cozy one bedroom apartment with my mom and older sister. Every morning, I woke up to a warm, steamy bowl of Hei Zhi Ma Hu (black sesame porridge) awaiting me on the kitchen table. The sweet, nutty porridge quickly became my new cereal, the very beginning of my adjustment to life in my mother’s home country.

During my time in China, I explored temples, enjoyed Chinese parades and fairs, visited family friends, and tasted various chinese snacks. I even attended school in Tianjin, which opened my eyes to how different the norms in China were compared to those in America. Every morning before school, all the students would gather on the turf lawn and participate in a morning stretch routine. Nobody brought lunch, instead the school always served gourmet, balanced meals right outside the classroom door, with multiple options consisting of traditional Chinese dishes and soups to choose from.

One time, I went to one of my Chinese friend’s house and had dinner with her family. They were all very eager for me to eat as much food as my stomach could handle, the typical polite gesture of any Chinese host. They all used chopsticks, but offered me a fork. When my friend’s mom finally found a fork in the house, a hooray erupted, like a game show where one of the contestants finally wins the grand prize. Before I began to eat, I looked up to find the room silent with all eyes on me. Awkwardly, I pierced the food with my fork and slowly pierced it into my mouth. The whole table oohed and awed as a result of now understanding how forks are typically used.

After returning to America, I realized how living in China allowed me to familiarize myself with my mother’s culture. I finally started to understand how the little aspects of my immigrant mother’s behavior, speaking, and cooking, are all parts of China that she took with her when she started a new life in America. I came back from China feeling more connected to my Chinese roots, realizing that as an Asian American, my Chinese heritage connects me to a community, to a world that will always stay with me no matter what part of the globe I reside.

BHS senior Maxwell Jamison chose to prioritize academics over sports in his higher education.

Tyler Kim, BHS junior and crew member

HENRY

Model minority myth in sports: How does this impact Asian student athletes at BHS?

BY SASKIA FREEDBERG, NORAH LEE & MIMIA OUSILAS staff writer, sports editor, & editor-in-chief

Estelle Handa

“I think when it comes to being a ‘model minority’, that shows up more in academics,” said Estelle Handa, a junior and tennis player at Berkeley High School. “Of course being good at sports is a great thing too, but there’s also a lot of importance on academics … and so in that sense it makes it harder to balance both sports and academics because if you’re trying to do well in both of them, then it can be kind of stressful,” Handa said.

For her, the pressure to do well in tennis is self-imposed, but it can sometimes come into conflict with pressures to prioritize school work and grades. Through this conflict, the model minority myth has an indirect impact on her athletics. Handa said “I have to keep both things in mind because sometimes I have to compensate like, if

I have an exam coming up… I don’t practice as much or I leave practice early to go study.” Her tennis coach and some teammates do not always understand her decisions to emphasize school, Handa said. “My coach doesn’t really get the studying part as much, he doesn’t understand why academics are so important for me.”

Alex Vu

“I’ve been very lucky to have parents who truly do care about what I’m interested in, so I feel very loved in my household,” said Alex Vu, a junior at BHS. However, the model minority manifests for him in difficult relationships with extended family such as grandparents and uncles who push him to be “focusing on school and not devoting time to something that won’t make me money in my life,” such as athletics, he said. He added that “there’s less (pressure) to be a perfect athlete and more to not be an athlete.”

“It does just kind of suck having people I admire and care about not value what I

care about as much as other things,” he said. “Because (these family members) values are so misaligned with what I value, it’s been hard to find something to connect us,” he continued. As he has matured, “finding who I am and realizing, I don’t wanna be a doctor,” he has become confident in not “(putting) a lot of pressure on myself to uphold the standards that they have set for me.” He translates this philosophy to those around him, intentionally avoiding putting pressure on others to follow a certain academic and career path. “Family is so important to me and my culture and who I am. It would be really sad to not have that connection to family because of something I’m doing and decisions I’m making for someone else,” he concluded.

Shima Dixon

Shima Dixon, senior and captain of BHS varsity girls soccer, explained that it wasn’t necessarily her mom’s culture that directly influenced her, but rather “it was more that my parents together just wanted me

to be a very competitive athlete,” Dixon said.

“I did notice that there was a lot of strict discipline that was implemented by my mom in my life,” Dixon said, explaining that it wasn’t particularly related to athletics, but more surrounding balancing the student athlete lifestyle. Additionally, she found the model minority myth much more prevalent in other aspects of her life, especially in academics, and felt that the stress from her life at school has occasionally influenced her athletic focus and performance.

She observed that the majority of her teammates, regardless of race, experience a lot of pressure from not just parents, but coaches as well, due to her playing soccer at such a high level.

“I’m not very good at responding to that kind of pressure so I kind of get defensive,” Dixon said, reflecting on her occasionally feeling resentful of her parents. “But I’ve realized that it is for bettering me as an athlete. So I try to respect it.”

A’s relocation spurs reflection at BHS

BY LEO SILVERBERG staff writer

On April 19, the Oakland A’s announced an agreement to purchase land in Las Vegas to build a new ballpark after over 50 years in Oakland. This move comes after decades of tense negotiations between the A’s and the city, with the two sides failing to make progress on a stadium at Oakland’s Howard Terminal. This agreement is expected to put the A’s in Las Vegas by 2027.

Many A’s fans at Berkeley High School feel betrayed by their team. Ann Sperske, a history teacher at BHS, has been going to A’s games since she was 13.

“When I moved up here, it was like everybody in my neighborhood was an A’s fan,” she said. “When I got to high school and college, it was just really accessible to get to the Coliseum. So I went to a ton of games.”

For some A’s fans like BHS junior Trey Johnson, whose A’s connection runs deep in his family, the team’s move to Las Vegas represents more than a loss

of a franchise. It’s also a connection to a childhood that feels like it’s slipping away. “I started becoming an A’s fan when I was a little kid. So it kind of feels like something’s moving on,” said Johnson.

Junior Elan Zakim, another long-time A’s fan, expressed his concerns for the future of the fanbase. “The A’s have been known to have some of the craziest fans in the entire league, specifically because they’ve been in Oakland for such a long time. When they go to Las Vegas, they’re not going to have that. It’s going to be a bunch of tourists,” he said.

A’s owner John Fisher is known as one of the stingiest owners in baseball, and many A’s fans are upset at the way he has handled this situation. “He’s very selfish, in my opinion,” Johnson said. Sperske said she will continue to attend A’s games while they are in Oakland, but she will bring signs protesting Fisher.

The move shattered fans’ hearts, but as Johnson put it: “It doesn’t feel right to be (with) another team.” Sperske’s message to the franchise: “Y’all are crazy.”

ATHLETE PROFILE

Berkeley High School senior Matteo Small competes for the mile and the 800 meter events in track. He also runs cross country, and feels that the sports have the ability to give him a “mind reset”. Small stated, “People talk about a runners’ high, and it’s a real thing to workout, finish up, and drink some water and feel good about yourself.” He started running because his mom had him run community 5k races with her, and pushed him to sign up for cross country instead of basketball, like he wanted to. Since his somewhat reluctant start, he became independently connected to the sport as he developed close friendships on his team, began to see his improvement, and found personal meaning in how running helps him clear his mind and focus on his thoughts. Because of how it reduces his stress, running has always been consistent in Small’s life and he hopes to continue running throughout his life.

— Clara Tjen

WINNIE HUANG

sports editors: Luisa Bertolli & Norah Lee

LUCY RICKART-WEBB