BHS Jacket 23/24 Issue 1 Back to School

BERKELEY HIGH

PUBLISHED BY AND FOR THE STUDENTS OF BERKELEY HIGH SCHOOL

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no.1

since 1912

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K C T A O B

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OPINION

Legacy admissions, rooted in inequality

BY YSABEL CHU opinion editor

Should college admissions be based on merit or circumstance? Now that the Supreme Court has ended affirmative action, a practice meant to ensure equal opportunities for all, it makes no sense to allow a true injustice in college admissions to linger: legacy admissions.

Legacy admissions refer to the increased chance of admission that children of alumni experience when they apply to their parent’s alma mater. This is not the first time that the end of affirmative action has elicited calls for legacy admissions to be banned.

In 1996, the University of California system decided to ban affirmative action and banned legacy admissions shortly after.

Since the Supreme Court ruling, President Biden

announced that he directed the Department of Education to look into “practices like legacy admissions and other systems that expand privilege instead of opportunity,” according to the White House briefing room. Additionally, Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York recently introduced a bill that would ban all universities from practicing legacy admissions.

The very history of legacy admissions is rooted in prejudice. Before the 1900s, universities were dominated by wealthy, white, Protestant men. However, that changed as more Catholic and Jewish people immigrated to America. Many Americans who believed the myth that Jewish people lacked moral character were alarmed by the increase in Jewish enrollment.

In the 1920s, Yale’s admissions chairman Robert Nelson Corwin claimed that Jewish students’ PAGE 4

Students shop at Crossroads in preparation for the new school year.

MALIN MORELL

FEATURES

New year, new you: Fresh start at school

BY SAGE FELDMAN features editor

Summer provides a natural break between school years that can give students an opportunity to reinvent themselves; to bring a new self to a new grade. “It’s not (as much of) a big deal as it would be if you changed

in the middle of the year,” said freshman Calliope Askins. Returning to school differently than you left it is normalized and often encouraged.

Tim Samba, as he begins his junior year, is approaching it in a very different manner from previous years. “Last year, I was really frigid … I would barely talk to people,”

he said. This year, he’s made a conscious choice to be more social at school. “I decided that I’m going to start putting effort into all these things; I’m going to take the initiative more,” he said. Samba attributes this year’s increased social confidence to a job he took as a server over the summer, which required him to talk to strangers every day.

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“(I thought it was) terrifying … like how I usually treat the beginning of each school year,” he said. The job forced Samba into becoming comfortable in that type of environment, and he was able to take his new perspective into junior year.

Fellow junior Eva Patrick also brings a new mindset with her as the rigor PAGE 5

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2 FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 2023

NEWS BERKELEY HIGH JACKET

NEWS EDITORS: FINOLA JACKSON AND AARON STEVENS

AARONSTEVENS@STUDENTS.BERKELEY.NET

Extreme summer weather: Students face an irregular climate

A sunbaked road in CA shows the heat waves that swept through the country this summer.

BY FINOLA JACKSON news editor

At 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 8, Linden Koshland awoke to a sharp knock at her grandmother’s front door. It was a nightwatchman from the neighborhood, informing residents that a massive fire had started east of downtown Lahaina, Maui. He urged the family to evacuate immediately.

“I walked outside, and you could see this orange dome of

flames, not that far away from where we were,” said Koshland.

“I was like, oh, we’ve gotta get out of here.”

H a l f a n h o u r l a t e r, Koshland’s family was driving their rental car towards Northern Lahaina, listening to updates on the radio every 15 minutes. Power and cell service were down. They arrived at a parking lot about 15 minutes away from the house, where they felt confident that the fire was farther away, and slept in the lot overnight.

MALINA MEISSNER

By Thursday Aug. 10, they had secured plane tickets off the island, bought by a friend who they were able to briefly contact via cell phone. While driving towards the airport, Koshland and her family got a firsthand view of the devastation from the fire.

“We had driven through that exact place where it was all burned down the day before the fires had started,” said Koshland. “It looked totally different. You could see the destruction and the tangle of

wire, the shells of burnt cars in the driveway. All of the houses were just gone.”

Koshland and her family were able to evacuate safely.

She returned to school on Wednesday, Aug. 16, to begin her senior year Berkeley High School.

This summer, citizens worldwide have experienced the acute impacts of climate change. While Koshland’s experience was extreme, it was not as unusual as it might have once been to experience extreme weather during summer break.

July 2023 was the hottest month ever recorded. Cities across the world have been hit by extreme temperatures, floods, tornadoes, fires and hailstorms.

In Lahaina, 115 have died from a massive fire, with more than a thousand remaining unaccounted for. Arizona residents suffered more than a month of temperatures above 110 degrees Fahrenheit.

Multiple wildfires in Canada stemming from drought forced evacuations and scorched thousands of square miles.

BHS students on break have not been spared. During

summer programs, family vacations, and staying at home, they’ve been forced to grapple with what travel and summer breaks look like with climate change. Many have experienced the effects firsthand.

“We always talked about, like, oh, the effects are going to get a lot worse,” said Maelle Griffin, a junior at BHS. “Some people just don’t believe in climate change, which is very frightening, because there’s now these physical manifestations.”

Griffin, who attended an acting program at Northwestern University in Chicago, experienced the smoke that had blown over from Canadian fires.

“The first day I was there, it was beautiful, sunny,” said Griffin. “And then the smoke rolls in. It slowly got worse and worse, to the point where we couldn’t go outside. Everyone was having trouble breathing.”

Others experienced extreme temperatures, as heat waves swept across the country. Junior Azaria Stauffer-Barney traveled North to Sonoma County for a choir camp, where a heat wave drove

temperatures up to 108 degrees Fahrenheit.

“In the past, it had been like, 70s or 80s (on the first day),” said Stauffer-Barney.

“So I think that was just kind of set off a little bell in my head going, oh, that’s not normal.

That’s not really right.”

During Stauffer-Barney’s pro g r am , m any out s i d e activities were cut short, or moved to later in the day to avoid high temperatures.

For ot hers w ho have stayed home for part or all of the summer, the climate in Berkeley has shifted as well from what they once knew.

“When I was younger, it used to be mildly cool all the time,” said junior Lilly Cobb.

“Overtime, it’s gotten really hot … People sort of think of Berkeley in the same way. But it’s not the same.”

Experiencing extreme summer weather exacerbated by climate change has allowed students to closely feel the growing effects of global warming.

“This is a product of climate change,” said Stauffer-Barney, in reference to the rising temperatures across the nation.

“And it’s right here, right now.”

Teachers across Berkeley take on second jobs to make ends meet

BY AARON STEVENS news editor

With the cost of living steadily increasing throughout the country, many teachers rely on second jobs during summer break to make ends meet. According to federal data from the 2020-21 school year, 16.8 percent of public school teachers work second jobs outside of the school system in addition to teaching.

Younger teachers and those new to the profession are even more likely to work second jobs.

Jill Moniz, a teacher at Cragmont Elementary, worked at the San Francisco Zoo’s summer camp program, working with kids during her summer breaks. “When I was working at the San Francisco Zoo, it definitely started as a very critical financial reason,” Moniz said. “I kept doing it because the money was

helpful, but mostly it was just a really lovely place to be.”

After about 11 summers of working at the zoo, Moniz eventually moved on, noting that as she worked longer in Berkeley Unified School District, her salary allowed her more flexibility. This summer, though, Moniz picked up another short-term job after being given the opportunity.

Wyn Skeels, BUSD’s Career Technical Education Program Manager, explained how newer teachers are especially likely to have second jobs.

“I know that many teachers, especially those who are newer to the profession, need to take on summer jobs and find other ways to supplement their incomes over the school year because of low starting salaries,” Skeels said.

Skeels also commented on its potential impact on students. “Many promising educators leave the profession, and we have an acute shortage

of highly qualified, experienced teachers nationwide. The lack of professional development time and shortage of qualified teachers have a very clear impact on student academic performance,” said Skeels.

Some teachers also work second jobs year-round, not just in the summertime.

Yesenia Rodriguez, a Universal Ninth Grade English teacher, works as a bar manager at a pizzeria in Berkeley all year round. Rodriguez shared that she usually worked three to four shifts per week, handling responsibilities such as training new employees or ordering and managing inventory.

“Instead of having afternoons off to recoup from the day, I just go straight to my second job,” Rodriguez said. “Any energy I have left is allocated to the upkeep of my personal life. I make an effort to utilize every minute I have on school campus to

prepare my lessons, materials, correspondence, and student needs.”

For teachers, summer breaks can be essential to lesson planning and other preparation for the following school year. According to Rodriguez, not having time to decompress from the school year can be challenging.

“Teachers need a grace period between the school year and summer break to decompress and process all the stuff we put off to get through the school year,” said Rodriguez. “By the time we feel some equilibrium mentally, emotionally, and physically, we’re either off to summer school or, as in my case, our summer jobs.”

Rodriguez also expressed that the high cost of living in the Bay Area makes it unrealistic for teachers to be able to live here with their current salaries. Without two incomes, Rodriguez says, it’s

nearly impossible.

While alternative careers may pay better, Rodriguez said teaching was much more rewarding to her in the long term.

“I love working with students. I love being able to

help them grow as thinkers and support their creativity.

There’s meaning here. There’s purpose. And in the big picture that is my life, I want to make an impact no matter how small it may seem that lasts past my lifetime,” said Rodriguez.

Jill Moniz teaches at Cragmont Elementary.

NOLAN WHITEHILL

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NEWS

FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 2023

3

BHS teachers unify against the use of phones within classrooms

minutes on a paper and then policies may have clear benefits stop and be on their phone,” to teachers, Olaf Dietz, a Kaku said. “All that stuff also senior in BIHS, explained the leads to students turning work disadvantages for students.

In the third year of full in late and missing deadlines “I think a lot of (students) in person learning, Berkeley … and the quality of the work are not really happy with High School teachers is less. It’s gone down because it,” Dietz said. “I was never have continued to adjust students aren’t able to really someone who would really and adapt their classroom sit down and focus and look watch TikTok and be on practices. Walking into class deeply at something. They’re Instagram during class, but on Wednes day, a larger distracted by their phone.”

I know it’s a habit for a lot proportion of the student After implementing phone of people. People have also body saw the classroom holders, Kaku described a expressed concerns about phenomenon c l a s s r o o m fire alarms, and just the way phone holders. e n v i r o n m e n t the world is, we’re always These amenities “A cell phone is a combination of a phone, containing less supposed to be able to be a Gameboy, and a camera ... So it’s only distracted students reachable by parents in case Student puts phone in pocket within a BHS classrom. are used to MALIN MORELL separate students natural that they’re extremely distracting.” a n d s t u d e n t - of an emergency.” from their teacher conflicts June Griffith, a freshman learning. The easy access to started to positively impact smartphones, that previously in the Universal Ninth Grade, “breaks” challenged his ability her social interactions within Yoshi Salaverry-Takei, a practice BHS arose as a result of agrees partially with the to maintain focus. class.

BHS teacher teachers began to smartphone usage. widespread use of the phone “I think it’s allowed me “During lockdown If I was adopt on a larger “Students are holders because, “It’s good struggling with something, to be more social with my scale this year. natural that they’re extremely more present,” Kaku said. not to have your phone when it’s easier to just take a break classmates because I’m not Last spring, according distracting.”

“They don’t seem as distracted you’re trying to work, but also instead of pushing through filling awkward silences by to Karl Kaku, a Berkeley In previous years, phones and the conflict between sometimes it relaxes me, like if a problem,” Dietz said. “Also looking at my phone,” Saxe International High school and their distracted users wore the teacher and the student I’m trying to listen to music or the accessibility of just being said. “I’m actually talking to (BIHS) English teacher, BIHS down on Salaverry-Takei’s h a s d e c r e a s e d able to Google them.” teachers came together to ability to teach, and created an tremendously. I “I should have been using something to “Students are more present. They don’t discuss classroom phone unwelcome addition to his job. honestly think figure it out, I this cell phone pouch thing policies. The teachers decided “I mean, dealing with kids’ t h a t i m p a c t s seem as distracted and the conflict between think, sometimes way earlier,” Salaverry-Takei to collectively incentivize cell phones was getting to be, o u r l e a r n i n g the teacher and the student has decreased can be a little bit said. “Because now there’s students to not just put their by far, the most annoying part environment. In still kids who are distracted too accessible.” tremendously.” phones in their bag, but rather of my job,” Salaverry-Takei the past, I’d have to P h o n e s c a n and distracting themselves, remove it from their person said. “The most annoying, least constantly police be utilized to fill but they’re doing it the Karl Kaku, altogether. While this was not rewarding aspect of my job.” them. Can you put unengag ing or way kids have done it for BHS teacher a school wide conversation, that away?

Can e v e n aw k w a r d centuries, which is just having A decrease in student different groups of teachers stamina or their ability to you be with us? m o m e n t s a conversation with the person reached a similar consensus, focus for extended periods in Can you take your according to Cleo next to them … Students can if I need to write down notes according to Yoshi Salaverry- the presence of a phone was headphones off? And now I on my phone.”

Saxe, a junior in BIHS. As sometimes forget that part of Takei, an English and AP similarly pointed out by Kaku. don’t, it seems like everybody’s D i e t z c o n t i n u e d b y comforting as these easy being in high school is growing language teacher in Academic present. ” “I’ve witnessed students emphasizing how phones have distractions may be, Saxe socially and emotionally, not Choice (AC).

While these stricter phone that work three to four also impacted his process of mentioned how phone holders just growing intellectually.”

BY JOSEPHINE MORASKY investigative editor

“ We w e r e h a v i n g conversations about what we should do within AC last year, and we all pretty much agreed that the best thing moving forward would be for students to just get rid of (phones) until the end of class,” SalaverryTakei said. “A cell phone is a combination of a phone, a Gameboy, and a camera and all these other things smushed into one device. So it’s only

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 2023

OPINION BERKELEY HIGH JACKET

OPINION EDITORS: OHAD AVIRAN-FINKELSTEIN & YSABEL CHU

OHADAVIRANFINKELSTEIN@STUDENTS.BERKELEY.NET

SF economic downfall is detrimental to Berkeley, action needed

BY OHAD AVIRANFINKELSTEIN opinion editor

San Francisco’s downtown was once a significant economic, cultural, and revitalized financial center. However, in recent years, the city’s iconic downtown has taken a turn for the worse. This not only negatively affects the residents of San Francisco, but also the residents of all Bay Area cities, including Berkeley.

According to the San Francisco Department of Human Resources, over 25 percent of all San Francisco workers reside in the East Bay, and more than half of all BART rides taken are transbay, prooving how many Berkeley residents rely on the city’s downtown. In order to give San Francisco an economic rebound, the city must reinvest it’s money into creating nightlife and incentivize living in the area, which will in turn benefit the greater San Francisco metropolitan area.

The pandemic left San Francisco as a shell of its former self, with about 25 million square feet of vacant office space across the city,

according to CBRE, the world’s largest commercial real estate company. The creation of completely online and hybrid jobs has allowed major businesses to save money on San Francisco’s costly commercial rent, which has vastly influenced downtown San Francisco’s economic problems. These important companies, such as Meta, Salesforce, and Slack, are slowly decreasing the number of workers in their offices in the financial district. As these major economic contributors slowly drip out of San Francisco’s downtown, they are taking San Francisco’s economy with them.

In addition to benefiting companies, online and hybrid work also benefits employees. It allows them to save the hassle of entering the city, spend less time on the road and more time working and also allows them to have more flexibility with non-work activities.

Although this does benefit those who have jobs that can be carried out in a hybrid or online format, this negatively impacts those who still must commute to the city daily, as there are significantly fewer people in the city throughout the

week. This means that many businesses are struggling to stay open due to a lack of customers. This is heavily impacting those businesses’ employees, some of whom don’t live in the city, due to its extremely high cost of living.

Prior to the pandemic, San Francisco’s downtown streets were filled to the brim with Bay Area residents and were lined with major retail stores.

However, now, the city feels like a ghost town in some places, with retailers such as CVS, Old Navy, and even the Westfield Group, the company that manages Westfield Mall, pulling out of their stores in the city center. With a shortage of people shopping, these shops aren’t earning enough money to pay their

extremely expensive rent, forcing them to flee the city.

In order to combat this, San Francisco should invest in converting apartments downtown. Although this will cost the city a lot of money, it will result in the return of San Francisco’s vibrant downtown.

After the attack on the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001, New York City’s downtown was in economic and physical ruin. Thousands of people fled downtown, and many vowed never to step there again. However, New York City decided to invest in the conversion of office space into apartments that were then rented for very little money.

Since the attacks on Sept. 11, the population of downtown New York

City has nearly doubled, businesses and retailers have returned, and the city’s once-dead downtown has been reborn into a 24-hour city. If San Francisco follows in the footsteps of New York City and invests in affordable housing in the downtown area, more businesses will open to support the

increased demand from the growing population, which will spark economic growth.

Once the city has been revitalized, communities all around the bay will benefit, as this would diversify the jobs market. If the city invests in creating a livable downtown, there might be hope to save San Francisco.

SF’s streets left empty by the city’s economic downfall.

NOLAN WHITEHILL

Legacy admissions are an unjust system that must be revised CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

“morals and manners” were inferior to white students. He believed attending college didn’t help them improve these supposed flaws, and consequently proposed that Yale curb the admittance of Jewish students. Many people agreed with Corwin, and several policies were implemented to lower the enrollment of Jewish students and increase the enrollment of Protestant students. Legacy admissions

was one of those policies.

Despite the inexcusable beginnings of legacy admissions, the practice continues at many colleges. According to a study by Inside Higher Ed, 42 percent of private colleges and universities practice legacy admissions, including almost all Ivy League universities. Legacy admissions provide a significant boost for the descendants of alums. In 2007, a study of 30 very selective colleges by Michael

Hurwitz found that legacy applicants were three times more likely to be admitted than equally qualified non-legacy applicants.

According to the Harvard Crimson, 36 percent of Harvard’s Class of 2022 are legacy students.

If a student’s parent went to Harvard, chances are they grew up privileged.

According to a study by the Harvard Crimson, for the class of 2019, 40.7 percent of legacy respondents had parents who earn more than

ALEXANDRA MORGAN

500 thousand dollars. These students had access to tutors, college counselors, and probably the connections necessary to receive prestigious internships and other opportunities.

Their background already gives them a leg up in the admissions process; they don’t need another advantage simply because they were born to alumni.

Saskia Freedberg, a senior at Berkeley High School, spoke about what she believed the negative impacts of legacy admissions are. “Someone who’s potentially less qualified (may get accepted.)

That doesn’t mean that they’re a bad student, but if the reason they’re going to a college is because their parents had enough money to afford (also going to) that college, then that isn’t a valid reason,” said Freedberg.

As most legacy applicants come from families in a higher income bracket, legacy admissions also decrease the socioeconomic diversity within Ivy Leagues.

According to a study by TheUpshot, 67 percent of Harvard students have

families with an income in the top 20 percent. On top of this, legacy admissions decrease racial diversity.

One study on legacy admissions found that while 40 percent of Harvard applicants are white, 70 percent of legacy applicants are white. Diversity in universities is important because it allows students with different experiences to learn from each other.

Minds are changed and new ideas are created when students from different backgrounds come together.

Proponents of legacy admissions argue that banning the practice would decrease alumni donations, and therefore the quality of the school. However, a study titled “An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Legacy Preferences on Alumni Giving at Top Universities” found that “there is no statistically significant evidence of a causal relationship between legacy preference policies and total alumni giving among top universities.”

Additionally, several schools, such as MIT, Johns Hopkins, and Carnegie

Mellon, don’t practice legacy admissions and still manage to offer their students a world-class education.

Freedberg also discussed how she expects legacy admissions will affect her college application process.

“I don’t have the benefit of being a legacy at any university. I have friends who do, and whether or not they choose to apply to those universities, they know that the option is available to them. They could probably go there if they do well enough in school, as opposed to someone like me, who would have to do something outstanding that sets me apart. It’s just a really big difference for us,” said Freedberg.

Legacy admissions must be ended. There is no proven benefit for universities who practice it, and it harms socioeconomic and racial diversity within universities.

Legacy applicants do not need unfair boosts in the admissions process.

Ending legacy admissions is simply the logical first step toward college admissions determined by merit instead of circumstance.

FEATURES BERKELEY HIGH JACKET

FEATURES EDITORS: MATEO TSAI & SAGE FELDMAN

FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 2023

5

SAGEFELDMAN@STUDENTS.BERKELEY.NET

‘New year, new you’: BHS students bring new selves to school that much, but I noticed that next year I didn’t … of her classes increases. wear the blue vest at all,” she “I struggled academically said. Askins, who describes the last two years of high herself as not caring much for school, (but) this year I felt change, says much of the new more momentum behind self she presents each year is me,” she said. She’s entered generated unintentionally, this year with commitments or subconsciously. “I didn’t to complete work on time end up buying a lot of new and improve her focus in things, but at the same time I the classroom. The switch somehow did,” she said. was motivated both by selfSamba thinks that this reflection and by necessity, back-to-school consumerism as the shift from sophomore is fueled by stress. “Personal to junior year carries with it insecurity, the desire to fit more academic expectations in… (and people) reflecting for her. “You (now) have to on the mistakes they made start worrying about last year … (are) college, which is a major stressors,” he “The ‘new year, new you’ mentality big pressure to start said. being productive,” really has to be a thing that you asked Summers off Patrick said. frequently result in for … you have to choose it; it feels Samba also feels Askins re-evaluating awful (otherwise).” that being a junior her relationships at changes the way school. “If I spent Eva Patrick, he acts around an entire summer Berkeley High going places … I BHS junior School. “I have more feel differently about of a responsibility to (my) friends … (and) introduce (underclassmen) style was that I’d wear a if I’m just staying inside with to all these spaces … and (to) headband … and a blue vest, my family the whole time, I be a welcoming member of (until a kid) said to me, ‘I end up losing my patience for school,” he said. Samba now hate the way you dress.’ ... people a bit,” she said. has the option to take IB I don’t think it affected me Patrick, who analogized the CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

classes, which he said forces him into a more studious mindset.

As a freshman, Askins experiences a lot of messaging telling her to change her style and herself. “It’s from a lot of different places … (some say) ‘you should change some things up’ and some say ‘just adopt a whole new personality,’” she said. Askins has felt this pressure to change from parents, teachers, and peers, sometimes developing new styles in direct response to their comments.

“A signature part of my

school year to the mythos of the hero’s journey, thinks that good change cannot happen without intentionality. “The ‘new year, new you’ mentality really has to be a thing that you asked for … you have to choose it; it feels awful (otherwise),” she said. She used the SMART acronym,

for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely, to describe the type of goals she sets for herself.

Patrick also makes sure that she cares about how she’s changing herself. “If you have an emotional attachment to that goal, you’re more likely to do it,” she said.

Askins continues to be grateful that the beginning of a new year allows her to change in a natural way. “I think it’s a really powerful thing to be able to reinvent yourself … (and) I think it’s really cool how you can just do that (as the year starts),” she said.

Back to school stress can manifest itself as a shopping spree.

MALIN MORELL

WORD ON THE STREET

How did you find your closest friends at BHS?

“We’ve been hanging out as family friends and then at school (ever since),” said Rubèn Murillo, a senior.

Despite an incident where he destroyed his friend’s favorite toy, a fire truck, Murillo still sees him regularly to this day.

Extrovert and Berkeley High School junior Caiden Escalante found many of her friends doing extracurricular activities. “I’m very extroverted, so I just went to cross country and I saw people and I said, ‘Hello,’” she explained.

Calvin Thomas, Adam Thyr, and Antoine Chauvet connected over Magic: The Gathering in middle school, or as Thyr put it, “ancient history”. In the present day, their senior year, they’re still spending time together.

“I found this new guy at lunch … I think we just kind of hit it off right away,” said Otter Carychao. That “new guy” was Steven Huynh. Both in the Universal Ninth Grade, they’ve since gotten to know each other better through lunch and playing video games together.

Many of senior Eva Fostovsky-Geckeler’s friends are also her neighbors. One friend “was always right over the fence,” said Fostovsky-Geckeler. “One of my friends I met at my synagogue. Our moms were planning a party together, so I went to her house and we ended up hanging out,” she said.

“Everytime I enter a new school … I can change my personality just a little bit and find people,” said Yancy Alegre-Pacheco, a sophomore. As a result, AlegrePacheco made many of her friends in ninth and sixth grade. She often finds lots of individual friends, not friend groups.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ELIOT HERTENSTEIN web editor

COMPILED BY MATEO TSAI features editor

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ENTERTAINMENT

FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 2023

Smut in YA books: Explicit sexual content draws split reactions

BY SIMON POLICY entertainment editor

“Icebreaker” is a relatively new book that’s gone viral across social media. It’s a steamy love story that follows a competitive figure skater and her relationship with a hockey player, who goes to her university. Much to the delight of many Goodreads reviewers, the book doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to displaying explicit sexual content. And this easily accessible state of smut (sexually explicit writing) has proven to be incredibly controversial in recent decades.

The National Coalition For Child Protection Reform (NCCPR) is a rightwing organization that’s avidly spoken out against sexual content in books aimed at teens. Alongside

similar groups, the NCCPR has allocated resources towards the “protection” of children from harmful content, among which they include sexually explicit content.

Regardless of the criticisms from various groups, some studies have shown a correlation between positive sexual health and an exposure to sexual content during late teen years. A 2012 study published by the Journal of Sex Research explored the relationship between adolescents and the consumption of sexual content. The article explained that some adolescents turn to media to learn about their sexuality, stating that “young adults often find media sources ‘more informative, less embarrassing to use, and more in touch with their needs and concerns.’” In

short, the study found that many teens use sexually explicit media to explore their sexuality and learn about what they like, which can be a positive form of education.

Abril Esqueda is a senior in BIHS who’s read her fair share of romance novels. For Esqueda, the combination of romance and smut is both fun and comforting. She noted that romance novels, while an enjoyable pastime, have a downside. “I’m not in a state where I want to look for relationships. So reading books about relationships helps me stay comfortable.”

A separate study published by the Journal of Sex Research assessed the relationship between the consumption of sexually explicit materials (including videos, books, magazines and images) and sexual preferences, behaviors and satisfaction.

MAIA KESLER

According to the study, “as (sexually explicit material) viewing frequency increased, satisfaction diminished.”

“I think it has set a standard for me in life,” said Esqueda. “Knowing that I could read it so easily in

books and find it in books led me towards trying to find it in real life … there’s more imagination and creativity in books that you can’t find in the real world, which is kind of like … what I try to get into when reading.”

ELLIOT SCHRAG

Ultimately, smut in teen books is a divisive topic with a more or less ambiguous impact on teens.

But as Esqueda nicely put, “I just don’t really care what people read. It’s not my business … if they’re happy, I’ll be happy too.”

BERKELEY HIGH Editor-in-Chief

Ella Creane

Copy Chiefs

Managing Editors

Marina Howard Lola Brownlow

Aynaz Faruqui Daisy Howerton

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Malin Morell Nolan Whitehill Alex Morgan Elliot Schrag Miriam Reichenberg Zazie Duchene Katelyn Liao Drew Henderson Sophie Pomfret Zoe Glass Keely Shaller Eliot Hertenstein Talia Rosen Averie Wade Luna Prestia Nathaniel Brundjar Peter Rodrigues

Writers Aditya Sridharan, Aelia Gyger, Alessio Manuel Gilabert-Papagni, Amar Walker, Ariana Yerovam, Ava Quandt, Avha Meisels, Carina Thomas, Clara Tjen, Eliot Perdue, Eloise Thomas, Elsa Dietz, Eva Katz, Eva Levenson, Hannah Groth Reidy, Jasper Lovvorn Black, Julius Braun, Kali Proud, Lucy Griffith, Luli Galinson, Max Glater-Chacon, Maya Dang, Minami Soga, Muhammad Delgado, Penelope Purchase, Rory Nadeau, Sabine Rosen, Sam Mascarenhas, Shanza Syed, Silas Richard, Sophie Dreskin, Sydney Lehrer, Sze Ting Chen, Violet Miller Brady, Zachary Yoo

Photographers Alex Tripcevich, Ashley Diaz, Divya BenDavid, Georgia Paulos, Jahan Ingraham, Jules Droz, Kayhan Tezcan, Lev Teiblum, Lila Hallward, Lucas Thompson, Malina Valdez Meissner, Mei Saphir, Sanam Rozycki-Shah, Sasha Balasubramanian, Sunny Bevis-Lipton, Toscana Girard Maxon, Willow Priforce

Illustrators Anna Howell, Asha Torok, Claudia Bloom, Emiko Aronen, Gwen WeberStover, Iris Le Liboux, Jay Trauner, Jo Purcell, Lucia Radillo, Sabine Shaffer, Sara Teitelbaum

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The Berkeley High Jacket is a designated public forum for student expression without prior review by school officials in which students make all final content decisions.

The by-lined opinions expressed in the Editorial/Opinion and Entertainment sections and columns are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Jacket. Non-by-lined editorials represent the opinion of the Jacket and must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the Editorial Board. Any opinions or views expressed in advertisements do not necessarily reflect those of the Jacket.

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ENTERTAINMENT

7

FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 2023

BERKELEY HIGH JACKET

KAIYAJORDAN@STUDENTS.BERKELEY.NET

ENTERTAINMENT EDITORS: KAIYA JORDAN & SIMON POLICY

WORD ON THE STREET WHat Was Your Relationship Like With Social Media Over the Summer? rd , B

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“I wasn’t really active over social media during the summer. I kind of just stay out of the way I guess, I’m not on social media like that.

I don’t really deal with the drama,” said senior Ki’Donyae Bell. “I use it to talk to friends or just look at stuff: funny clips, videos I’m trying to talk to my friends about. Little stuff like that.

I’ve never had a negative experience with social media overall.”

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BHS junior Analisa Appleyard had a generally positive relationship with social media this summer, “I think (my relationship) was pretty good! It was cool seeing everybody’s trips and where they went, and it was really fun to see everybody doing fun things.”

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“It was average.

Over the summer I felt like I was definitely on social media a lot more, but I felt like I wasn’t wasting time as much as I do when I’m on social media during the school year,” said Katharine Graham, a senior. “I didn’t feel this pressure of ‘oh my gosh, I constantly need to be doing stuff ’ like I do during the school year to keep on top of my work.”

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BY KAIYA JORDAN entertainment editor

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ra “Throughout summer I kind of tried to stay off social media as much as possible.

Not because it was damaging to my mental health, but because I didn’t want to post stuff on there and I knew then I would compare myself,” said Ken Kemnitz, U9 student. “It’s just kind of like that, you can’t really go on social media and see other people and feel bad.”

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Sophomore Zuzu Freed-Thorsen has an alternative view of social media.

“I didn’t and don’t have social media. I know about it and I’ve heard about it, but it doesn’t affect me,” Freed Thorsen said. “I see my brother using it a lot, but I don’t really want it. I’m kind of happy with where I’m at.”

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“Over the summer, I decided I hate it even more than I did before because Elon Musk is legitimately the worst human I could imagine,” said BHS math teacher Benjamin Nathan, who has had an unpleasant experience with social media recently, especially around X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

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PHOTOS BY NOLAN WHITEHILL photography editor

Ma k a i l a Reed-Norris, U9 student, had a more negative experience with social media this summer, “It kind of bummed me out for a second and I wasn’t really feeling my best on social media apps, but then I tried to filter out the content I was seeing and that helped a little bit, but not entirely.”

8

SPORTS

FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 2023

BERKELEY HIGH JACKET

LEOSILVERBERG@STUDENTS.BERKELEY.NET

SPORTS EDITORS: COLINA HARVEY AND LEO SILVERBERG

BHS athletes struggle to balance summer athletics with academics and social lives

BY LEO SILVERBERG sports editor

Berkeley Unified School District Berkeley High Jacket 1980 Allston Way Berkeley, CA 94704

Non-Profit Org. US Postage Paid Oakland, CA Permit No. 8334

For many athletes, summer is an opportunity to train and improve before the upcoming school season. However, athletes’ commitment to their craft can often impact their life outside of their sport during the summer, and many have to make tough decisions that can heavily impact their social and academic lives.

Amani Shea, a Berkeley High School senior on the basketball team, used this past summer to improve his craft like never before.

He spent most of his time at the YMCA, with a normal summer day usually consisting of putting up 200300 shots in the morning, then lifting weights in the afternoon. “This summer was the most I’ve worked out,” he said. Shea also hooped for Arsenal, an Amateur Athletic Union

team, for a good portion of the summer. However, he drop one of the two.” the summer. was faced with a dilemma.

Camille Jacala, a captain All this time dedicated He also had a job as a camp on the girls volleyball team, to basketball in the summer counselor at a Cal Youth practiced three times a week left little room for other Camp, which went Monday for the volleyball team, but activities, so Shea had to through Friday, eight hours she was still able to find a make some hard choices, a day. Although this left balance and make room for especially regarding his little time for football, he her social and academic life. social life. “I’ve definitely tried to make it work. “I left “This summer was different had to dodge my friends camp at 4:00, and then I got for me because I didn’t play because I had basketball to practice around 5:15,” he club volleyball,” she said. workouts, and I definitely said. He even stayed for an “Every summer I would have couldn’t go to parties and hour after practice everyday club season that went until stuff,” said Shea. “I couldn’t to make up for the hour he July, and would attend club get no job, which I was mad had missed. However, he volleyball camps and coach about, because I for the rest of the wanted to make summer. This year money, but “Sometimes you have to sacrifice the fun I spent more time for what you really need in life.” basketball’s more visiting colleges, of a priority right working as a camp now for me,” he counselor, and Jadon Redman said. spending time senior J a d o n with friends,” said Redman, a Jacala. senior, was also faced with soon realized he couldn’t Shea remains confident a similar situation. While keep this routine, so he that his sacrifices this he had been running track decided to stick with his job. summer will pay dividends. and field his junior year, he “When I’d come home, I’d “I think (the sacrifice) is wanted to give football a try, just be absolutely exhausted, definitely worth it,” he said. so in the spring, he signed and I couldn’t really get up “I think the hard work is up for the team, and began for work the next day,” said paying off.” Shea transferred to practice with them in Redman. “I knew I had to back to BHS this year after transferring to El Cerrito High School halfway through his junior year, and he’s excited for what could be a tremendous season for BHS. The BHS volleyball team recently placed second in their first tournament of the season, and Jacala is optimistic about her team’s chances this season.

Meanwhile, Redman, having understood his priorities, is still happy with his decision. “(Football) was fun, but at the same time, I valued the money and experience at camp more long term than football,” he said. “Sometimes you have to sacrifice the fun for what you really need in life,” he said.

ALEXANDRA MORGAN

ELLIOT SCHRAG

Fall sports preview: A new season begins

BY COLINA HARVEY sports editor

Last season, the girls volleyball team made it through the first round of North Coast Section (NCS) playoffs but was defeated by the first seed, Monte Vista, in the quarter finals.

“This year we really want to make it all the way through (NCS playoffs) and we think we can,” said senior and co-captain Elle Walker. To achieve this goal, the team has extended practices and put a focus on refining their individual skills.

Since last season, the team has lost seven graduating seniors. Despite this, Walker believes that the team will be successful.

They are hoping to beat one of their rivals, Bishop O’Dowd High School. “We really want to beat O’Dowd … I think we’ll really be able to,” said Walker.

In the spring, the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) approved girls flag football for California high schools. As a result, Berkeley High School has a girls flag football team for the first time in its history. “It’s a privilege to be the first,” said head coach

Israel Carrero.

In addition to winning, Carrero hopes to instill confidence and create a sense of community for the players. “I’m trying to really encourage the girls to get out of their comfort zones and really push themselves,” said Carrero. “You always hear about the brotherhood for football. I want the same thing for women.”

In 2022-23, the cross country team had a successful season with both the boys and girls teams placing first in the West Alameda County Conference, qualifying for both the NCS and CIF state championships.

While the team had many achievements last year, there were also injuries, which the team is hoping to cut back on. “My main hope for this season is just being able to have more kids running and enjoying themselves and less people sitting on the sidelines,” said senior Meghan Malone. To encourage healthier habits and teach students how to take care of themselves, the team is trying to “start new things like, having more injury prevention sessions, led by the seniors after practice,” said Malone.

UPCOMING GAMES TEAM

DATE

VERSUS

LOCATION

FOOTBALL

8/25

MIRAMONTE

AWAY

CROSS COUNTRY

9/9

VARIOUS

HIDDEN VALLEY PARK

BOYS WATERPOLO

9/26

PIEDMONT

HOME

GIRLS WATERPOLO

9/6

MARIN ACADEMY

AWAY

FIELD HOCKEY

8/30

ARCHIE WILLIAMS

AWAY

GIRLS TENNIS

8/31

HEAD-ROYCE

HOME

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL

8/29

SKYLINE

HOME