WHAT’S INSIDE
8
4
Learn about Makenna Mahrer’s visit Read Charlie Chapman’s latest to the UN Commission in New York. opinion piece about Kavanaugh and the #MeToo movement.
9
12
Investigate the truth with a review of BHS drama’s “The Hollow”.
Revisit St. Patrick’s Day with a bit of history and safety tips.
THE BURLINGAME B theburlingameb.org
March 22, 2019
Issue 6 Vol. 122
Lucas Gilmour wins ASB presidential election PHOTO BY HANNA SATO
Junior Lucas Gilmour will become the 2019-2020 Associated Student Body president. PHOTO BY JACOB LUBARSKY
Lucas Gilmour performs as Inspector Colquhoun in Agatha Christie’s “The Hollow” on March 13.
BY TEKLA CARLEN
Copy Editor
The school has reached a decision—junior Lucas Gilmour will become the next Associated Student Body (ASB) president after seniors Evan Mahaffey and Lily Navab graduate this May. Gilmour has previously held class cabinet positions as freshman vice president and sophomore president. He ran for class president again this year but did not win, which he said was a “blessing in disguise” because it allowed him to take a hard look at his time commitments and intentions with ASB. “I took Leadership this year for the first time, and after the first semester, I really fell in love with the class,” Gilmour said. Also heavily involved in theater and Yearbook, Gilmour brushed worries about a heavy workload aside. He dropped one of his harder classes for senior year to focus on ASB, the musical and being a Yearbook editor. Although he had been interested in ASB officer positions for a long time, he finalized his decision to run last semester after a meeting with teacher Nicole Carter and current ASB cabinet members about the future of the
Leadership program. During his campaign, he put up posters in places students frequently pass, such as above water fountains, on corners of buildings and in front of bathrooms. He placed special emphasis on freshman classrooms because he is least familiar with the school’s youngest students, and he made a campaign video with junior Jeffery Chen to prove his dedication to the ASB position. “The main thing I really wanted to do with this video was kind of prove to people that I’m capable,” Gilmour said. “People rarely in the past have taken me seriously when it comes to stuff like [leadership] and it’s always bothered me.” Gilmour thinks he won by a relatively small margin and that fewer people may have voted compared to the previous election because of the switch to paper ballots. According to Carter, who took over the Leadership program this year, only 9 percent of the student body voted in the 2019 election. She assumes that the turnout in previous years was “exponentially higher.” The paper ballot system assuaged concerns about voting manipulation in light of last year’s controversy, but the ASB elections
CTE
BHS begins finalizing new schedule for the next school year, incorporating flex time Chief Photographer In the coming school year, Burlingame will implement a new schedule that incorporates a “flex time,” essentially office hours, in the middle of block days. Led by Assistant Principal Valerie Arbizu, Burlingame will transition to a schedule similar to that of Mills and Aragon. During seven-period days, periods will be 50 minutes long with a six-minute passing period, as opposed to five. For block schedules, periods will be 80 minutes long instead of 93, creating a 43 minute flex time. The schedule change is intended to encourage students to seek needed help from teachers, and prevent them from using office hours to leave school early. After conducting a six-week study, Arbizu found that only 20 percent of students participate in office hours, which also accounts for students engaging in nonacademic activities like hanging out with friends in the library or walking around campus. Arbizu attributes the low attendance problem to
students being too shy. According to Arbizu, “It’s a peer pressure thing.” “When we have conversations with kids who are struggling, we ask why they aren’t utilizing those services. The answer often is that their friends go to the Ave and they don’t feel like it is something they can socially separate themselves from in order to ask for help,” Arbizu said. In addition to providing time for students to receive academic help, flex time will allow students to attend support meetings, collaborate with others, or do homework. Another benefit, according to Arbizu, is that it will compel students to start managing their own time, a practice they will need later on in their educations and careers. However, students believe there are drawbacks to the new schedule. The transition might pose challenges to both teachers and students. Students have mixed responses to the incorporation of a flex time. “I think it’s the responsibility of students to seek help on their own,” junior Olivia Bollinger said.
INDUSTRY DAYS
----------------PHOTO BY HANNA SATO
BY HANNA SATO
will revert to their digital format in April. One of Gilmour’s goals as ASB president-elect is to improve communication between staff and students, which he finds especially important because the changes in staff has created a transitional phase as new hires develop their roles at Burlingame. In addition, ASB has modified its constitution so that the organization can connect effectively with the Leadership class. Most notably, a class historian will follow and record the year’s events, the class coordinators will have to take Leadership and ASB presidential candidates will run in April along with candidates for all other positions. The latter change means that candidates who lose the presidential election will not be able to run for another ASB position later in the semester. Gilmour’s other objective is to make school less stressful in small but meaningful ways, like playing music outside every day during lunch. “High school has become a hotspot of stress and anxiety each year more and more, so I … want to reduce that,” Gilmour said. “Make high school fun again.”
March 19: Arts, Media & Entertainment March 22: Hospitality & Food Service March 26: Engineering, Architecture, Energy & Construction
Assistant Principal Valerie Arbizu describes the new schedule and receives student input. “Forcing them to sit in a class may using their student IDs on an app not even make them get help, es- known as TeachMore, which is pecially if the option to go to any also used in Mills and Aragon, alclass gives them the opportunity to lowing the administration to monitor attendance. The final schedule hang out with friends instead.” Bollinger, along with other is still being finalized by Arbizu, as students, opposes features of the she continues to incorporate stuschedule change such as the de- dent and staff opinions, but will be completed before the end of layed lunch. During flex time, students will this school year. be required to check in to classes
SMUHSD students in corresponding CTE classes will meet at the district office for various industry days. Daily schedules will consist of holding mock interviews, sharing student portfolios, listening to industry talks, and networking with local professionals, some of whom are Burlingame High School alumni.