Discovery Digest - Volume 2 | Issue 3

Discovery Digest

March21,2023|Volume2Issue3

CamasSchoolDistrict’schoicehigh schoolshaveanuncertainfuture

WhatweknowaboutthefutureofCamas ConnectAcademy,HayesFreedomHigh SchoolandDiscoveryHighSchool

By:AliferiaGonzalez&JackWalsh

On Feb. 21, 2023, social media posts were created and reposted to spread awareness and “save” Hayes Freedom High School (HFHS).According to these posts, the Camas School District (CSD) had allegedly requested the school board to close Hayes Freedom High School (HFHS) due to budgetary restrictions—which the district says were, in part, a consequence of legislative decisions made in the state of Washington. These social media posts have caused lots of confusion for the CSD community, and recently CSD Superintendent, Dr.John Anzalone, has provided clarification on the situation.

“We are aware of posts and comments on social media implying that Hayes Freedom High School will be closed due to impending budget cuts,” Anzalone announced.“This information is false, and I’d like to clarify our process and outline our budget development timeline.”

Anzalone clearly explained the plan for the school and the rest of the Camas School District going forward.

“We mentioned in our communication on February 1, 2023, that our leadership team is examining ways to reduce our budget by a target

DiscoSalescan’ttake creditordebitcards

ThetruthbehindwhyDiscoSalesdoes notacceptcreditordebitcards.

By:HayleeKohler&AveryPerry

With an upswing in debit and credit card users among Discovery High School (DHS) students of all ages, many are wondering if DiscoSales will change to accommodate the students who use debit or credit cards. Discovery Digest sat down with debit and credit card users to see how they feel about the cash-only rule at DiscoSales.

“It's upsetting because most people, including me, only have card orApple Pay on them; we don't carry cash,” DHS senior Sam Maxson said. “I would spend more money at DiscoSales if they accepted card because I have Apple Pay—which is on my phone, which I have anyway—so I would have it accessible when they're open,” Maxon added.

Contrary to some opinions, some of the employees at DicsoSales find the lack of alternative payment methods easier to make

of $6 million, representing 5% of our budget,” Anzalone stated.

“One of many options under consideration is looking for ways to share staffing among our smaller, choice high schools: Camas Connect Academy, Discovery High School, and Hayes Freedom High School. I want our community

transactions with.

“To be honest, I don’t think many kids carry cards unless they’re seniors,” said DHS freshman Jenna Al-Salti, a member of DiscoSales. She explained how the restrictions on payment methods didn’t affect her payment process at DiscoSales.

“I guess if I forget [money] it wouldn’t be a huge deal because they’re open so often that I can just bring money the next day,” said Al-Salti.

Hanna Cuffel-Leathers, a sophomore and DHS ASB (Associate Student Body) class president, expressed some similar issues with forgetting cash and the inconvenience that the circumstance provides.“I always forget to bring money for DiscoSales,” Cuffel-Leathers said.“I definitely think if there was a card reader, sales would go up.”

Although some sides seemed to favor the implementation of credit and debit cards more than others, both reported issues with DiscoSales being a cash-only establishment. So, what’s the solution regarding opportunities for alternative payments?

ASB president Erika Wood, who founded DiscoSales, recognized the problem and further explained the issue.“We can't take

to know that we will not eliminate any of our high schools during this arduous budget process and Hayes Freedom High School will not be relocated.”

Continued on Page 3

cards in our accounts because of how things are situated in the school,” said Wood.“Our club can’t take cards because of the terms of use and policy for the school itself, we can't link it to an account.”

“It’s a Washington State law that prevents us from this so we can’t change it ourselves unless something changes in state,”Jack Harding, an officer of DiscoSales, added.The idea of a card reader was considered by both the ASB and the DiscoSales team. It took lots of conversation and discussion to come to the conclusion of being

Continued on Page 3

DiscoveryHighSchool'slearningstairsin2014,soonafterthebuildingopened.(JoshPartree/EducationSnapshots)

ThenewDiscoSalesgiftcardattheDiscoSalescounteronMarch17, 2023.(AveryPerry/DiscoveryDigest)

Studentinputon Discovery’sartelectivefees

Staffandstudentsexpressopinionson feesforartclasses

By:SophiaPerianandLarkenGrimes

Discovery offers a variety of art classes available for students to take as electives, however, a fee for the supplies provided is required for every student in an art class. Discovery Digest had the opportunity to interview some Discovery High School (DHS) students and staff about having to pay art fees for elective art classes.

"They're supposed to be paid at registration before school starts,” said one of DHS’ digital art teachers Jenifer Linthwaite.“Probably depends on how tight the budget becomes next year, I feel like it's a bit of an equity piece.” Fees can vary by classes and year-based budgets, but they are very important to the teachers of the classes.

“I don't wanna chase kids down and I don't want to ask students for money they don't have,” said Linthwaite.

She explained that she does not treat other students differently whether they paid the fees for her class or not. Digest asked Linthwaite if students still had to pay for materials in class.

“The fees pay for consumables because it's hard for us to buy consumable material with some of the funds that we have,” said Linthwaite.“It is cheaper to buy things in bulk so it's easier to get something with a chunk of money rather than asking students to buy their own things.”

Emerson Ryan, a DHS freshman, enrolled in Studio Art 2 said that they didn’t feel they were limited by the fees they paid for the class.

HowconsumingTVhas affectedteenagers’mental health

WatchingTVhasmanynegativeeffects, buttherearealsopositivesontheyouthof today.

By:Ivan&Bee

Previously, an article was written in Discovery Digest wanting to figure out how students are affected, negatively and positively, by video games.This article, we’re pivoting to discuss the effects of TV on mental

“I think it [the fees] makes sense because especially since it's a public school we don't have other funds,” Ryan said.“You just use what you need to use but don't just use any art supplies.”They explained that lots of watercolor materials were needed for the watercolor unit and those were supplies that needed specific use.

Matayah Mach, a DHS freshman, as well as a student enrolled in Studio Art and Digital Art, expressed her opinion on her first semester in each class.

“It can be a little weird in Digital Art because you know I paid that fee and other people

paid that fee but it doesn't feel like it's actually being used to our benefit,” said Mach. Although some students aren’t notified of where the fees go, Melissa McGuffin expressed that students do not struggle with them and that they can receive help if needed.

“We have the scholarship options, the school covers the full 100% it just comes out of the general building budget,” said McGuffin.“It's typically students that are on the reduced lunch plan but it can be anyone, so if they are having a tough time they can also get that scholarship for class fees as well as sports fees.”

Continued on Page 4

For context, psychosomatic symptoms can be psychological or physical.Anything from a headache to crying at 3 a.m. can be considered psychosomatic. The Mayo Clinic expresses that both video games and TV can cause blurry vision after prolonged use. Discovery High School (DHS) student, Riley Velazquez-Ridley, also discussed the effects of TV on him as a child in an over-text interview with Discovery Digest “As for negative impacts I could say body image,” Velazquez stated.“When I was a preteen I watched teen shows. I remember feeling awful about myself because all the people onTVwere so pretty and I was ugly. It was devastating for me when I was younger and I still feel some of those effects to the present day.”

Continued on Page 4

Discovery Digest

Editor-in-Chief

AliferiaGonzalez

CopyChief

IvanFrazee

CreativeDirectors

HayleeKohler

FeatureEditors

SophiaPerian

NewsEditors

WillowNusbaum

BeckGummer

Arts&CultureEditors

BradenTricola

psychosomatic symptoms.

SocialEditors

LarkenGrimes

DHSDigitalartroomonMarch15,2023.(DiscoveryDigest/LarkenGrimes)

Someone watching Television using a remote. (Dennis Fischer Photography/GettyImages)

DiscoSalescan’ttakecredit ordebitcardscont.

ThetruthbehindwhyDiscoSalesdoesnot acceptcreditordebitcards.

By:HayleeKohler&AveryPerry

without card payments.

Even if DiscoSales wanted to take cards, they would not be able to due to school and state policy.Their solution to the problem is gift cards.

The soft launch for the DiscoSales gift cards has already begun.

“There is a $16 dollar gift card, it's good for eight drinks of your choosing from DiscoSales, each punch is one drink,”Wood said.“People have to prepay online and pick up a card in the office.This is going to help with the online ordering with larger products as well.”

“You can bring $16 dollars to Mrs. McGuffin if you order the card online, she’ll give you the card and you bring it to us and we will punch it for each drink you buy,” said Harding.

DiscoSales projects that this will increase the club’s sales and hopefully solve the card controversy.The gift card only works on drinks for now, but they are considering doing it for food when they expand the menu. DHS students can order the gift card through ParentSquare and pick it up in the office or bring cash for Mrs. McGuffin.

CamasSchoolDistrict’ s choicehighschoolshavean uncertainfuturecont.

ThefuturesofCHS,CCAandDHSlieinthe handsofWashingtonlegislature

By:AliferiaGonzalez&JackWalsh

Luckily for the students of these schools, they will remain a top priority. However, unfortunately this predicament may result in staff members being laid off in

According to explanations drawn by Post Alley Seattle and Anzalone’s verbiage in the town hall meeting, regionalization—as defined by the context it’s being used in—is the appointment of school funding from state legislation that is scaled by property values in a designated area.

Anzalone remarked that before experiencing changes brought about by the McCleary decision, which introduced a new prototypical school funding model, Camas received a 12% increase in funding due to the town’s expensive cost of living—which can be attributed to its nature as a high-income area.After regionalization decline went into effect, Camas began losing around 1% of

to them and every other school district by Washington’s legislature during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For Camas, the COVID-19 relief fund totaled $11 million dollars.

According to an article from The Columbian in Sept. 2022, the Camas School District’s budget for the 2022-2023 school year was $140.8 million dollars. On the official website of the Camas School District, the page titled Long-Term Debt only contains a title and the website's standard theme.

to be a consequence of the McCleary decision in 2012—as a contributor to the school’s impending $6 million dollar budget cut before any other factor.

nation at large—not just Camas. CSD is also running out of COVID-19 relief funding, which was supplied

DiscoveryDigest | Mission Statement

DiscoveryDigest strives to differentiate itself from other local school-based papers by introducing uniqueandoftenhyper-localizedstories.Whileaccomplishingthisgoal,Digestaimstoremainfactually accurate,upholdjournalisticintegrity,andprovideanunbiasedtruthtoreaders.

ThenewDiscoSalesgiftcardattheDiscoSalescounteronMarch17,2023.(AveryPerry/DiscoveryDigest)

The front of Hayes Freedom High School on an undisclosed date. (CamasSchoolDistrict)

Studentinputon Discovery’sartfeescont.

Staffandstudentsexpressopinionsonart fees.

By:LarkenGrimes&SophiaPerian

McGuffin also explained how the fees worked and what students were giving to the school and district.

“Fees are typically paid at the first of each semester, and go towards the cost of the class,” said McGuffin.“So if it's an art class it goes to glazes and clay, if it's digital art it goes towards new materials and screen printing stuff.”

The art classes are not the only classes that have fees.The Makerspace also has a $20 fee that you would pay at the beginning of the year.With fees, you pay one for each class. For example, if you take two art classes you pay the art fee twice. In all, most opinions from students and staff say the fees make sense and have a point to being put in place so that students can have access to materials in class. However, if you are a student who isn’t able to pay these fees, you could obtain scholarship, or Linthwaite may not mind!

Editor’s Note: Students should not deliberately attempt to avoid paying fees.With budget cuts from the school being a prominent issue, it is imperative that we as students do our best to help our schools break even.

HowconsumingTVhas affectedteenagers’mental healthcont.

WatchingTVhasmanynegativeeffects,but therearealsopositivesontheyouthoftoday.

By:BeeLogan&IvanFrazee

“I would say that South Park is kinda making a comeback and everybody’s watching it—including myself,” Hope stated.

“Since [South Park] as a whole seems to be about anger, rage, and narcissism, it’s safe to say these kids could use some therapy,” said Dr.Ave Singler, author of The Essential Guide to the New Adolescence: How to Raise an Emotionally Healthy

Teenager

In a study by UCLA’s Center for Scholars and Storytellers, 62 of 68 teenagers who watched 13 Reasons Why—a show that deals with mental health topics such as suicide and bullying—looked for more information on the subjects online. Of that group, a “vast majority” reported having conversations with their parents or guardians about the subjects covered in the show.

Euphoria, a TV show intended for audiences aged 18 and over, also covered mental health subjects such as drug addiction and depression in teenagers. However, that show received criticism for the alleged glorification of its darker subjects.

It appears that the effects of TV on the mental health of teenagers can vary, with the level of moderation content within a given show has and how that show presents dark subjects being the biggest factors.

A common warning for pieces of media that present dark subjects to their viewers is: “viewer discretion is advised,” a warning which Digest believes its viewers should heed. It appears that the viewer’s predispositions have a bigger effect on how TV affects them than the TV itself.

BeeLoganwatchingtheshowSouthParkatDiscoveryHighSchoolonMarch17th,2023.(IvanFrazee/DiscoveryDigest)

OutsideDHSartroomonMarch17,2023.(LarkenGrimes/DiscoveryDigest)

Pilotshortagecausing problemsforpassengers

Thelackofpilotsisaffectingpeople’ s planerides,includingDHSstudents’

By:TerrenceGillespie&WillowNusbaum

In recent years, a large number of pilots have began to retire due, in part, to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to this, there have been an increasing lack of new pilots joining the workforce.This has resulted in many people’s flights being delayed, or in some cases completely canceled.

Socialmediaalgorithms influenceDHSstudents

Artificialintelligenceraisesquestions abouthowgettingnewsfromsocialmedia caninfluencepeople’sbeliefs

By:BradenTricola

Discovery High School students have an opportunity to learn from the internet, or to be fooled by it. DHS’ students and staff—who are primary examples in a larger issue concerning how media is presented to people—tend to be confident in their own individual ability to figure out the truth and not in the people around them. Nobody wants to be wrong, but we are all human and all biased.

The public, especially the latest generations, often get their information from headlines and short videos. For example,TikTok, an app designed for short-form videos, had its full release in August 2018. With videos on TikTok being primarily under a minute long, people who saw the chance to spread ideas on the app were forced to shorten everything down to the bare minimum.

Almost anything can be faked, from political news to high school drama.

In order to retain their users for longer periods of time, social media apps like Tiktok, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook employ the help of artificial intelligence (AI) to curate the content they present to each individual user.

These AI models use data from the content a user has already interacted with to determine the content they’ll show to each user next.This can create an

According to Airside Magazine, some airlines increased their payment for newer pilots to entice new flight school graduates to start working as soon as possible.This effort, however, did not prove to be fruitful—as the small number of current pilots still dwindled. In later times, however, this may prove beneficial and help to resolve the shortage of pilots.

Aliferia Gonzalez, a student at Discovery High School (DHS), believes that the lower number of pilots have had no effects or delays on her flights. While her most recent flight to Southern California was fine, her flight back to Washington had issues—there was a layover by two hours and five minutes.

Max Yoshida, another student at DHS, had a nce with only one minor delay. I think there was like a delay, a 30 minute delay, I don't know, they just said it was delayed over the intercom,” said Yoshida. The number of flight cancellations and delays have increased in recent years.According to the United States Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the percentage of delayed flights out of all flights increased from 16% in 2021 to 20% in 2022, meaning flight delays have increased by nearly 4% in the past completed year. Beyond percentages, the number of canceled flights has nearly doubled.

Aside from COVID-19, one major factor that have led up to this shortage was a lack of pilots from the military. In the past, many airlines hired pilots who had received aviation training through the Air

According to a 2019 report from the United States Department of Defence (DOD), the military has had a significant deficit of pilots in recent years.

“[The DoD] now faces a pilot shortfall in excess of 3,000 pilots, which have been several years in the making,” stated the report.“Since 2006, the Air Force had fewer pilots than authorized, and the supply-demand gap continued to grow.”

DiscoveryDigest AdviceColumn

WithHayleeKohler&IvanFrazee

“Iliketothinkofmyselfasalogicalperson thatbelievesinhardtruthandscience.But eversincethisyearstarteditfeelslikebad thingshavebeenhappeningoneafteranother andit’sbeenmakingmethinkIvebeen cursed.DoyouthinkIshouldwaitthisoutor shouldItrytotakefateintomyownhandsand curemybadkarma?Andifyestothe

second

effect where users are only seeing content they want to see; such a concept is great for gaming videos, but not things like two-sided real-world issues.

Students at Discovery started to use the internet at very young ages. Zimri Baxter, a freshman at DHS, started to use the internet at the age of five. The amount of data algorithms can get on a person is simply determined by how long they use the internet; this also gives algorithms a chance to sort people into groups, since most people will enjoy having their beliefs reaffirmed.

“MostlyYouTube, just news channels,” said Baxter when asked where they got their news from. Baxter was unable to list any specific channels they received their news from.

For DHS junior Maddox Bauman, they perceived knowing what's real or fake as something that was going to become a challenge.

“With the coming AI stuff, it’s getting harder,” Bauman said.

option

howdoIdo?”-AnonymousStudent

Unless recently you have met a witch, or Rumpelstiltskin, it’s unlikely you have been cursed. I’m a more logical person as well,and so, in this case, we can think in terms of probability. Sure, because of theoretical probability, you might think “these things shouldn’t be happening!” However, it’s probability—it’s inherently random!

Just because we calculate or think we know the most likely thing to happen doesn’t mean it will happen. I could be struck down by lightning while I’m typing this! It’s unlikely to happen, but still could! I’m sure there’s no one that would want to curse you anyway. You might have experienced a lot of negative things in a row, some of them could even be consequences of your own actions, but it doesn’t mean that your circumstances can’t improve later out of chance. Inherently, luck goes both ways!

Keep in mind that life is just hard sometimes too. Of course, if you want to cure your—supposed—bad karma by putting positive things into the world, or just do it whether you have bad karma or not, no one’s stopping you! :)

-AnonymousStudent

It’s good that you’re being more considerate when referring to people. If you’re struggling with pronouns, try and make it a habit of asking when you talk to someone. A quick check in of pronouns can be really considerate to the person. If you don’t know someone’s pronouns, I recommend just using their name. If you mess up, it’s easy to apologize—and you don’t need an excuse—then you can move on with their correct pronouns in mind.

”Iwantabagelrealbad”

-Anonymous Student

Get yourself a bagel! Bagels are delicious and you have every right to want one. Personally, toasted with cream cheese is the best combination for a bagel, or add some locks and top with capers if you’re a fan of fish. I hope you can get a bagel soon and devour it.

DiscoveryDigest

Editor’sNote

I hope that you all enjoy the new template! We’re currently undergoing some design-related staff changes, so things should be a little different from here on out. In the next issue, expect more articles! It’s been a wild journey starting the paper this year, but I think this new template should mark a brighter future for the paper’s quality—even within the things we write.Things are a little messy, as we designed this template as we wrote for it. Next week, the paper should make a huge leap in

United Aviate Academy student pilot Ashley Montano inspects her aircraft prior to a flight on Friday, Oct. 28, 2022 (MarkYork/APPhoto)

“Recently,I'mtryingtobemore considerateandtalktomorepeople.However, withthewaypronounsarebeingexpressed,it seemslikeaminefieldtoaddresspoeple.”

Zak Tricola scrolls through social media on his phone at his house.(BradenTricola/DiscoveryDigest)

MeetMr.Mattson

Thisweek,DiscoveryDigestspokewithMr. Mattsontogettoknowhimbetter.

By:BeckGummer

This week for Meet the Teachers column, Discovery Digest interviewed Robert Mattson, the resident Discovery High School film teacher and media specialist. Digest spoke to Mattson to find out more about the Media Center maestro himself.

Mattson grew up in a small town in northern Idaho called Grangeville. Mattson describes his home town as “3,000 people in the middle of nowhere.”

His family had been residing in Grangeville for about five generations.The town of Grangeville currently has a population of just over 3,000 people, which is only half of the entire student population in the Camas School District.

Mattson attended University of Idaho, the home of the Idaho Vandals.There, Mattson got his bachelor’s degree in sociology. Later, he attended Washington State University to attain his master’s degree in teaching.

Mattson then put his degrees to good use.After working for one year as a reading tutor in Spokane, Washington in collaboration with Ameri-corps, Mattson started teaching at Liberty Middle School and ended up teaching there for four years. He then transferred over to Skyridge Middle School and taught there for six years.

After his first 10 years of teaching, Mattson became a founding member of the project then known as the new Project-Based Learning program (PBL), which we all know today as Odyssey Middle School (OMS).

Mattson was a founding member of the program and taught humanities class to the first ever 6th grade class alongside other Odyssey founding members like Mrs. Baranowski.

After teaching at OMS, Mattson moved over to the newly constructed Discovery High School.Where he became the director of the Media Center, and has continued to work hard every day to make it into the Media Center we all know and love today. Mattson lives in the Pearl District in Portland, Oregon.

Most people would drive to commute from central Portland to Camas. But instead of driving, Mattson opts to bike to work. With his trusty bike and the Portland public bus system, Mattson travels every work day, adding up to around 10 miles per day in the winter, and up to 20 miles per day during the warmer seasons of the spring and summer.

His biking in the morning and evening has also helped him to gain the ability to read the weather, which lets him know he might need to pull out his rain gear if it is going to be a rainy bike ride. Using the biking app Strava, Mattson revealed that he has logged over 15,651 miles of biking! Mattson is also the current holder of the Local Legend award in six different counties, across Oregon and Washington.An award which is given to those who have biked the most miles in a county for the past 90 days.

Mattson has revealed in his interview with Digest that, contrary to popular belief, he does actually enjoy laughing and having fun with people. Although sometimes his teaching persona can be strict, he does enjoy laughing and cracking jokes every now and again.

And as I am sure we were all dying to know, Mattson uses a black toothbrush.

If you go to Discovery, students are bound to run into or seek council from Mattson.The Master of the Media Center, and Bike Rider extraordinaire. He is one of the most helpful and kindest people in this school. So, next time you are upstairs

RobertMattsonbikingalongtheColumbiariverfacingMt.HoodonApril26, 2020.(RobertMattson)

RobertMattsontakingaselfieafterbikingtoschoolduringasnowstormonMarch9,2023.(CourtesyofRobert Mattson)

Someone watching Television using a remote. (Dennis Fischer Photography/GettyImages)

printing something in the Media Center, be sure to drop in and say hello.