Discovery Digest - Volume 1 | Issue 1

Discovery Digest

Tuesday, September 27, 2022 Serving Discovery & Odyssey website coming soon!

Come Cheer on Our DHS Athletes

By Larken Grimes & AveryPerry

Ever wonder what yourfellowclassmatesdoafter school? For 11 DHS students, they get on a bus to Camas High School to participate in sports. Sports are underrepresentedatDHSand we aim to change that. DiscoveryDigestinterviewed someoftheDiscoveryathletes andtheyhadalottosayabout whattheirsportsareandhow commuting to Camas every day for their sport has set them apart from the Camas athletes.

Discovery Digest interviewed two of the three girl’s soccer athletes about their experience going to a different school than most of their teammates. Matayah Mach talked about how her experiencehadbeen.

“It's been a different experience but fun having teammates from CHS and gettingtotellthemaboutPBL and answer their questions andhowfunitis,”Machsaid.

SheplaysfortheJV3teamat CHS, and she has played six games as of September 20th this year. She has won three outofthesixgames.

Lauren Clary had also discussed her experience beingontheteam.

“Atfirstitwascomplicatedbut it's fun now. It's nice having two different groups to be with,”Clarysaid.

She also plays for the Junior Varsity(JV)team.BothMach andClaryhadmentionedhow theywouldliketohavemore support from DHS and their fellowclassmates.

OMS Phones

BySophiaPerian&Willow Nusbaum

OnMarch23rd,2022, Odyssey Middle School implemented a controversial rule, a ban on all student's personalelectronicdevices.

"It made sense," said OMS8thGradeMathTeacher Ken Mach. "People had their devices out when they shouldn't have had their devicesout."

"Students were distracted quite often," said Austin Rains, 8th grade scienceteacheratOMS.

But not everyone saw it the way they did, as current Freshman Zimri Baxter explained.

"Ithinkitwasoneoftheworst things to happen to [the] school.Theywentaboutitthe wrong way," said Baxter. "Chromebooks are so often incredibly slow, and often manyhelpfulsitesforresearch areblocked."

"Aftertheban,mygradeswent significantlydown...Itgottoa pointwhereIhadtotransfer toonlineschool,"saidBaxter, describing how the ban negatively impacted their academicperformance.

Anotherstudentatourschool, Carter Anderson, is a part of the golf team at Camas, and talkedabouthowDiscoveryis more flexible than the alternative.

“Mostpeoplearelatebecause of buses and how strict they [CHS]are,butDHSisflexible with timing,” Anderson said. He also mentioned that he wantedmorepeopletoknow thathegolfs.

Ever been to a tennis game? It’sfastpacedandreallyfunto cheeron!Wehavethreetennis athleteshereatDHS.

Max Yoshida expressed his opiniononhowhisexperience hasbeen.

DHS Clubs

ByBeckGummer

Disco Sales (sometimes stylized as Discosales)andTabletopRoleplayingGames are two of four after-school clubs students areabletosignupforduringtheschoolyear. Bothofthemwantyou,thereader,tojoin.

Disco Sales, otherwise known as the Discoverystore,isastudentrunstore.They operate on the counter outside of student servicesonthesecondfloor,whereyoucan buymanydifferenttypesofgoods,including hotandcolddrinks,candy,schoolsupplies, andmuchmore.

“We sell goods and services to get a soft version of what business would actually be like in the real world,” said Reagan Fallon-Small,amemberofDiscoSales.

Fallon-Small talked about how the student storewasalmostlikeatrainingcourseifyou wanted to learn more about managing a smallbusiness.JoiningDiscoSalescanteach you a lot about the world of business in a safeenvironment.Itcanteachyouaboutthe productionline,design,andaccounting.Not only that but Disco Sales can provide a pathway for students to get their food handler’s card. This can make going into a food based career a lot easier, because you alreadyhavethecard.

“And you get a free snack,” said Fallon-Small. Detailing how after a Disco Sales member works a shift they will have the opportunity to have free snacks and a freehotdrink.

Otherstudentsseemtoagree withBaxter.DiscoveryDigest conducted a survey of opinionspertainingtotheban. Only 22% of respondents believed that the personal devicebanhelpedthemfocus onschoolwork.

Teachers, on the other hand, disagreed with the sentiment of decreased academic performance.

"Ever since the ban, I've seen anuptickinproductivityand social interaction," said Rains. "This was the original rule. That brings up an issue with thisdebate.

CHS Girls soccer game (source: Larken Grimes)

Theteamthatshe isonwontwogamesand lostnoneasofSeptember 20,2022.

OMS Phones cont.

After speaking with teachers, it became evident that, despite being known as one, this supposed ban wasn't evenabanatall.Ratheritwas justadheringtorulesthatwere alreadyinplace.

Before the pandemic and subsequent quarantine, it was always school policy that personal devices were not allowed.

However,oncestudents returnedtoin-personlearning, the school made an exception to enable the students to socialize while remaining socially distant. But, once people were not required to social distance anymore, and therehadbeenrepeatedmisuse ofpersonaldevices,theschool sawitfittotakeawaystudents' access to their devices during theschoolday.

But still, students wanted their devices back. Theyhadgottenusedtohaving access to their devices and didn't like that privilege being taken away. On top of that, students who followed all the rules felt they were being unfairlypunished.

"Ithinkthatpeoplewhowere not doing anything wrong should be able to [use their devices]. It feels unfair that everyone had to face the consequences caused by others," said Kaylii Woods, a studentatOMS.

"I think the ban is somewhat unfair and unnecessary. It is punishing everyone for something that a few people did,"saidanotherstudent.

"Just because a few people misusedtheirphones,nowwe can't have them at all?" asked 8th Grader Colton McCullough. "It should be directed to the people like if you're playing games, it's on you."

Someotherconcernsraisedby students included an inability to use phones for medical purposes, contacting family members and for submitting work through google classroom.

Even with the outrage, there doesn'tappeartobeanysigns thattheschoolwillreverseits decision.Thefactremainsthat students were misusing their devicestoanunsafedegree.

"Students are using their own devices to search unsafe topics,” stated the original emailnotifyingstudentsofthe change.

This may be a lesson learned the hard way for OMS students: Misusing your privileges will result in them gettingtakenaway.

Doc Harris Field (Source: Larken Grimes iPhone

Social editor: Avery Perry & Larken Grimes

Head Reporter: Willough Nusbaum

DHS Clubs cont.

Dungeons and Dragons.Possiblythemost iconictabletopgameofall time. Naturally, when the school-wide club system was introduced to our school it was only logical thattherewouldbeaclub centered around tabletop androleplayinggames.

To find out more aboutthisclub,Discovery Digest did an interview with James Lyons, a member of the Tabletop and Roleplaying Games Club.

TheClubmeetsevery Wednesdayafterschooluntil 5:00. During this time, they can interact and hang out withotherstudents.Theycan joinasDungeonMastersand agroupofotherstudentsin one game, or start one of theirown.

“I really enjoy the campaigns. If you have a goodDungeonMaster (DM), it can make a very fun campaign with the other players,”saidLyons

“There were a huge congregation

BI-Weekly scheduling

ByAliferiaGonzales

Discovery High School’s PrincipalAaronSmithwas often perceived to cause the school’s semiannual scheduling crisis through cryptic means. However, anindepthlookintohow and when classes are structuredprovesexternal factorsaretoblame.

Beck Gummer spoke on behalf of student frustrations.

“Ihaveneveroncenothad tochangemyschedulein all four of my years at Discovery,”Gummersaid.

Theperceiveddysfunction within scheduling became clear to Gummer when recounting their junior year,2021.Asopposedto theproperclass,theywere placed in English 10—a sophomore course—and forcedtostaytherefortwo weekswhiletheirschedule wassortedout.

The school’s resident counselor, Tim Warren, viewed schedules not as net negatives but as necessary bumps in the road.

“I’ve never had a student come into my office dissatisfied with their schedule,” Warren said. “I’ve had people come in whoneededachange.”

Upon an interview with Warren, it became clear that at no point had the schoolbeenrushingtoput out its first draft of schedules before the year began. Without automation to aid him, Smithconstructedthefirst draft of the following year’sclasslayoutsduring thespringoftheprevious year.Helayersthisprocess inblanketsofdeliberation between him and the teaching staff, holding many meetings over a multiple-week-long period.Warren recounts that it’s during the previously-mentioned time frame when district deliberation and state regulationcanplayapart in limiting student schedules.

of people who wanted tabletopgames,”saidLyons.

When the school-wideclubsystemwas founded last school year, many ideas for clubs were created, and from the beginningtherewasalotof demandforD&D

Given that the TabletopGamesClubisone offourclubstomakeitfrom last year, shows the thriving communitywithin.

James described the clubasforanybody.Anyone iswelcometojoin,toengage inathrillingtabletopgaming experience.

Theclubcanprovide an opportunity for students tomeetandengagewithone another, and forge lasting friendships.

Issues arise with the number of staff members allotted in proportion to the size of the student body.

Although DHS’ campus doesnotlackthespaceto allowanincreaseinclasses per period, the student body’srelativelyminuscule scope forbids the addition of teachers unless grade sizes rise. A portion of teachershadbeenhiredby Discovery with part-time contracts in the hope to increasevarietywithinthe classes offered. Warren states that the significant decrease in DHS’ sophomore class size did notcauseanotableenough impact on the school’s staffing for him to take notice.

Leadingoffofthatperiod, Warren recounts the only pieceofautomationwithin the scheduling process. Students input their class preferences and suggestionsintoSkyward— the district’s default grading and information system.

Statistics about individual student preference, credit requirements, and class popularity are subsequently organized and presented to Smith. Fromthatmomenton,he spends a portion of his summer weighing each statistic and adjusting schedulesaccordingly.

Popular Media

There have been many releases of new shows, video games, and movies this year. Beeand PuppyCatandSplatoon3 are just two of those that willbegoingmoreindepth withinthisarticle.

Nintendo launched Splatoon3onSept.9,2022 byNintendo.Itwasamajor hitAccordingtoNintendo’s official Twitter account, it hadsold3.45millioncopies in Japan within three days of it being publicly available.

Comparatively, this exceeded the sales of both Animal Crossing: New Horizons at 1.88 million and Pokémon Sword and Shieldat1.365million.Also, thefirstSplatoongamehas only sold 4.95 million copies in its runtime of 7 years,whileSplatoon2had 13.30millioncopiessoldin 5years.

One of the reasons Splatoon3 was so much more successful than the prior games in the series was because of advertising. A lot of the intended audienceofSplatoon3has used the mobile app TikTok, so some of those fans broadcasted about it ontheirplatform,educating the targeted audience on therelease.

Mt. Angel just celebrated its54thyearofhostingan Oktoberfest festival inside the town’s Bavarian infrastructure— where people could help themselves to food, drink, dancing,andmusic.

Around September 18th, everyyear,Mt.Angelhosts the biggest Oktoberfest in thePacificNorthwest.

Events inside the festival liketheWienerDogRaces, theCruz-nCarShow,and miscellaneous band performances welcome all families to join in on the fun.As per German tradition, garments like dirndls (an apron-like dress accompanied by a white undershirt) and lederhosenareoftenworn to the festival to add elements of fun and culture.

Flower crowns and Tyrolean hats are just as common.Mary Kohler and DaveKohlerhavebeenthe festival's elected board for over 40 years, and this year, Dave finally celebrated his retirement fromtheboard.

“It’s been a pleasure workingwiththesepeople for so many years,” said DaveKohler.Thosepeople being his elected board members,

“Everyone is a volunteer. These are people who really believe in Oktoberfest and the town ofMt.Angel.”MaryKohler explained.Ihadthehonor of attending this festival alongside over 350,000 people who attend each year,makingthatoverten timesthepopulationofMt. Angel,Davepointedout.

“About40ofthemarefood booths who are volunteer non-profits.” Food like bratwurst,pretzels,

TikTokwasusedas a grounds for advertisement, and it thoroughly improved the sales.Advertisementwasn’t the only way they got millions of sales, as each year Nintendo holds Nintendo Direct, a conferencethatshowssome of the game releases over thefutureyear.OnFeb.17, 2021,therewasaNintendo Direct announcing the game.

Oktoberfest festival brings families to Mt. Angel, Oregon to celebrate

Editor’s Note: This story will be continued in the next issue.

He now had to keep core classes,electives,hundredsof student preferences/requirements, and state-enforced planning periods for each teacher in mind.

Gummer recounts howtheday-to-dayschedule and elective counts have changed nearly every year since they began attending Discovery as a freshman (they will be part of DHS’ second-evergraduatingclass). When they started, students attended eight classes every day,includingthreeelectives.

Their second year beganthepatternofAandB days, holding four periods a day. This schedule structure would stick through their time as a junior until the currentyear.Nowtheschool offers six classes and a period-length“WhatINeed” blockonbothAandBdays.

Discovery’s decrease in coursescomesfromstudents getting one less elective and the “Integrated Projects” period.Smithhasbarelyever had a consistent model to buildschedulesoffofforthe followingyear,nowhavingto consider each student’s stricterelectiverequirements.

The conflict between balancing state credit requirements,newstructures to place classes, student needs, student wants, small quantities of staff, and staff planning period legislation mustbedealtwithmanually by Smith. (This is before laying out each student’s scheduleevencomesintothe spotlight.) It’s logical to assume that when students see scheduling meetings and conflictsstillhappeningearly intheyear,thecauseiseach of these subjects weighing againsteachother.

That begs the question: what’s Smith’s primary goal through all this? Through every meter of hardship on thepathtoanewschoolyear, Warren testifies that one value remains constant withinSmith:studentchoice. Smith does not place one grade or demographic of studentsonahigherpriority thanothers,insteadtakingan approachWarrendescribesas “holistic.”

He tries to offer as manyclassesaspossible,even delegating Physical Education (PE) to be a freshman-prioritized class, leaving the rest of the state requirements as an independent or external period. We even see this reflected during times of scheduling crisis. When he sits at lunch and makes manual edits to everyone’s schedule as they request, he dedicates himself to making every student as happy as logistically possible with whattheycanhave.Towards the end of our interview, Warren made a statement that many members of the student body may need to hear.

He ever-so-slightly critiquedthestudentbody’s attitude on this subject, remarking: “Sometimes it comesdowntoyourchoice. Maybethisisjustsomething you deal with at this school.”Warren does not perceive any elimination of Discovery’s semiannual scheduling crisis coming in thenearfuture.

DigestreachedouttoSmith inthehopesofaninterview, but he did not respond beforepublishing.

Becauseofthetime betweentheannouncement and the release, fans have beenwaitingforthegame's releaseforoverayearnow, and judging by the community’s love for the game it showed that Splatoon3would become verypopularonrelease. Netflix launched the show BeeandPuppycatonSept. 6. This was ten years after the long awaited release, and nine years after the pilot aired. Bee and Puppycat was initially created as a show on Cartoon Hangover, run by ChannelFrederator.

Cartoon Hangover was a service where creators couldposttheirworkandit wouldworkasastartupto a full series. Bee and Puppycat’s pilot episode was released on Aug. 6, 2013, and it has received five more episodes on YouTubeafterthisrelease.

Camas cont.

corndogs,elephantears,ice cream, reuben sandwiches, and so much more are provided at the festival.The volunteers make up roughly 10,000peoplewhoattendthe festival. These organizations givebacktothecommunity ofMt.Angelandothertowns likeSalemandSilverton.

“It’s an all around give-back event,”MaryKohlersaid.

“We both believe in the whole concept of Oktoberfest and what it stands for. We like to greet peopleandwelcomethemto seetoitthattheyenjoythe experience just as much as wedo.”

A popular event at the festivalwastheWienerDog Races, where dachshund dogs could enter in a short race against other competitors.

The dogs each had a starter person(stationedatthestart) and a receiver person (stationed at the end). The starter person would hold ontothedog’sharnesswhile the receiver person would waitforthedogtofinishthe race at the end. Eight dogs would race each round, the number of rounds would depend on the number of entries. Each round would haveonewinner.Itwasvery entertaining to witness and watchthehappyownersand pups race for the championship. Discovery Digest asked Heather Henzi, anownerofawienerdog,if she would ever consider enteringherdogintheraces. Shesaid, “I would like to see Russel win a ribbon, if only he would get along with the otherdogs!”Russelbeingher dog,afeistydachshund.

“Iliketothinkofhimasthe spectator for the races.” Henzisaidwithalaugh.

“I had the pleasure of watching one race between thedogs,thewinnerbeinga short haired dachshund named Andouille from Salem.” Henzi said.“I like to thinkofhimasthespectator for the races.” Henzi said withalaugh.

“I had the pleasure of watching one race between thedogs,thewinnerbeinga short haired dachshund named Andouille from Salem.”Henzisaid.Everyone atthefestivalhadasmileon theirfaceandsomedelicious food and drinks in hand. Between interviews and people watching, this celebration was a huge hit and continues to bring people together. German or not, there’s something for everyonehere,andIhopeI’ll seeyoutherenextSeptember for Oktoberfest 2023.

Editor’s Note: The author is directly related to participants within the article.

Because of the time between the announcement and the release, fans have been waiting for the game's release for over a year now, and judging by the community’s love for the game it showed that Splatoon 3 would become very popular on release. Netflix launched the show Bee and Puppycat on Sept. 6.This was ten years after the long awaited release, and nine years after the pilot aired. Bee and Puppycat was initially created as a show on Cartoon Hangover, run by Channel Frederator.

Cartoon Hangover was a service where creators could post their work and it would work as a startup to a full series. Bee and Puppycat’s pilot episode was released onAug. 6, 2013, and it has received five more episodes on YouTube after this release.