TheDHSseniorsallhaveavarietyofplansforafter highschool

By:AveryPerry

It feels like the lives of seniors and everyone else affected by the pandemic just flashed by.

There's so many ways that life can take you. But, whatever you do, don't forget the friends and memories you have made along the way. So many core memories are made in high school, and saying goodbye to the school and the people you experienced four years with can be really hard, but your life starts when you leave this school in your cap and gown.

A note to the underclassman: Don’t ever take these years for granted, because before you know it, you're going to be moving out and moving on.

Continued on Page 6

Here's some advice for the classes of 2024, 2025, and 2026 from DHS seniors.

“Have fun, don’t stress, and make sure to ask for help when you need it.”- Sky Fellows

“Enjoy your senior year, and TRYyour BEST at school while making an impact.” - Jordan Basal

“It's never that deep.”- Erynn Martin

“Don't be afraid to make new friends.” - Braelyn Mera

“Be nice to your teachers.” - E Chaudhry

CSDboarddiscussionleft studentsinanarrayof emotions

By:AliferiaGonzalez

A small group of DHS students, none of which were directly affiliated with DHSSOS, also started a smaller movement to reinstate CHS and DHS’ Mandarin language class after it was removed due to budget cuts.

The discussion did not lead to any substantial changes to the way budget cuts were being executed. Instead, it functioned as a way for the board to speak on their side of the controversy.

DHS sophomore Thinh Ngo, an attendee of the meeting, felt as though many responses from the CSD school board and superintendent were beating around the bush and did not properly answer many questions. Ngo also took time to note that emotional reactions from the students’ end prolonged the meeting’s duration in an unhelpful manner.

A substantial amount of the meeting’s timespan was spent introducing board members and waiting for them to arrive. Meanwhile, some students spoke out of turn and followed up their initial questions with more talking points.

Ngo stated that the discussion’s contents led him to support the school board and their choices—a reaction considered taboo among DHS’ student body.

Discovery Digest interviewed students who weren’t heavily invested in the budget cut controversy as a way to gauge how the average student was feeling about the circumstances at hand.

“Study.” - Reagan Fallon-Small

A note for seniors from teachers and staff:

“Don't get stuck being who you are now. Change. You can always get better, but not if you don't start now!” - Sarah Frisbie.

“Always fold your laundry as soon as you take it out of the dryer. If you don’t then it just piles up and becomes overwhelming!” - Sarah Gooch

“Who knew that the hardest part of being an adult is figuring out what to cook for dinner every single night for the rest of your life until you die…” - Melissa McGuffin

“Plan your senior project right now.” - Kaya Bryant

“Get proper sleep.” - Natalia Bellini

“Do something with your time.” - Kevin Kullberg

“Don’t procrastinate.” - Hailey Chou

“Whenever you think you have nowhere to go, just take the next step in the right direction.” - Annika Stupfel

“Don't let go of your dreams and wishes, keep them headstrong, and don't forget who you really are.” - Allie Gallaway

“The main question I wanted to ask was, like, how big was CCA—the online academy—gonna be part of DHS?” said Beckham Stephenson, a sophomore at DHS who self-reportedly was not closely following the situation beforehand.“Because it’s very, very different than the way we do stuff, like, project-based.Theirs is more online.That was the main thing I was kinda nervous about.”

During the discussion, CSD superintendent Dr. John Anzalone took time to point out that managing more students under one roof as a single administrator was hard, but possible. He shared a personal anecdote about his time managing over 2,000 students as a principal and how he was able to succeed.Anzalone did not acknowledge the difficulties of managing multiple different programs at once, though the question beforehand was likely meant to prompt such an acknowledgment.

“Well, I don’t think it’s necessarily bad for them to be sharing out a lot of anecdotes, but because of all the sharing out—little heart-to-hearts—they were drawing from their experiences,” said E Chaudry, a senior at DHS and member of DHSSOS.

Chaudry’s biggest gripe with the situation was a response to their question to the board.Their question surrounded their concern that the budget cuts may deter parents from enrolling their at DHS or OMS in the coming school year.

“[Anzalone’s] response to my question was—almost verbatim—so what are you doing?” Chaudry said. “Which confused me, because I was like, um excuse me what do you mean? What do you mean what am I doing? And he said, what are you doing to advertise this program for those people who are telling you about those doubts and fears?”

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And then I said, well those doubts and fears are ones I share so I don’t see why I should be advertising, [and he said] well you shouldn’t be spreading negativity, you should be looking on the bright side.”

The @dhssaveourstaff Instagram account posted a form where users could submit their issues with what the board said during the discussion. One submission that came from the form, which was later highlighted by them, stated that it was the board’s job to advertise the PBL campus and not the students’.

DiscoveryDigeststrives to differentiate itself from other local school-based papers by introducing unique and often hyper-localized stories. While accomplishing this goal, Digest aims to remain factuallyaccurate,upholdjournalisticintegrity,andprovideanunbiasedtruthtoreaders.

Discovery’slegacystudents

Foundingstudentsoftheprogramrecountits positivesandrequeststudentsstickwithit.

By:BeckGummer

In the summer of 2016, Odyssey Middle School (OMS) was founded in the Camas School District (CSD).The new establishment was run by Mr. Aaron Smith, and the new project-based school system was born.

As a school needs students, around 50 new sixth-graders were brought in as part of the first ever class at Odyssey. Of those students, 11 remain at Discovery High School (DHS) today.These students are AlexanderAbe,Annika Stupfel, Aurora Szulc,Avery Perry, Beck Gummer, Eoin Ryan, Erika Wood, Imogen Jones, Kevin Kullberg, Nick Hoorn, and Will Jolley.

These 11 students are referred to as the legacy students of OMS, as they will be the first class to make it through sixth to 12th grade in Camas’ project-based learning program. Discovery Digest reached out to these legacy students to ask them how they felt about being a part of this program, and the lasting impact they will leave on the school.

Many of the legacy students felt good about being a part of the program.

“I think it’s good, I think if I would have switched I would not have done as well,” said Abe.

DHSstudentsinputonthe removaloflanguages

DHS’futureelectiveoptionsworry students.

By:SophiaPerian

The first two semesters of this school year were tough on many high schools in Camas.They have undergone budget cuts and staffing reductions among the typical plights of a year. Discovery High School (DHS) is currently undergoing the removal of a language starting in the 2023-2024 school year—with everyone only having been made aware in the second semester.

A DHS student participating in Spanish, Maddie Hoyt, expressed his opinions on what he thought about the situation.

“I think eventually more students would be joining Spanish and the class would probably be bigger,” said Hoyt.“I think that people go to Camas High School (CHS) because they have more opportunities, so, if people wanted to choose to go to Discovery, they would most likely go for the PBL experience and the accommodations. as well as the accepting community.”

It is definitely likely that Spanish classes will be

Numerous legacy students said that they are glad that they stuck with the program all the way through.

“It’s been such an honor,” said Wood, who is the 2022-2023 senior class president.“I feel very fortunate that I was able to jump on the program when I did in sixth grade, and it’s always been really important to me to see things through.” program for the first time. growing in size and students per classroom, It is definitely likely that Spanish classes will be growing in size and students per classroom, since DHS will have to manage with one Spanish teacher instead of two once the 2023-2024 school year starts.

Many of the legacy students spoke to the program’s growth.

“The program has grown a lot, and it will hopefully continue to keep growing,” Szulc stated.

Kullberg hopes the trail that he made along with some other students is a lasting impact on the school, and that students won’t forget about it in the coming years.

Recurring messages the students shared were that students should stick with it, don’t fall behind, stay creative, seize the day and be open to new possibilities.

Over the past seven years, these students have been through a lot.They were not only at the forefront for this program but had to work through the school experimenting to learn what worked. COVID-19 certainly didn’t help many students, either.

They have spent these years furthering their academic careers, and now they will be able to use the skills they have learned within the program, and apply to their future careers.The Digest team wishes these legacy students, and all seniors graduating, the best of luck in their future endeavors.

The removal of a language would cause DHS to have only one available language offered until further notice. So, many DHS students have been worried about what next year may look like for them since some were hoping to take languages separate from Spanish.

“I won’t be able to take Mandarin—and I have no interest in Spanish,” said Ash Kinsley, a Mandarin student at DHS.“I took Mandarin to avoid it and I thought I would have more fun in Mandarin, in a less crowded classroom, but now I have to take Spanish with more people since that's the only other language.”

DHS Spanish teacher Kelsy Benton gave her opinions on what may happen next year.

“I definitely think it's a possibility there are students that want to take another language other than Spanish, so they might choose CCA [Camas Connect Academy] or a completely different high school,” said Benton. “The only language I know of for sure going into next year is Spanish.”

Additionally, Benton said that next year will remain a mystery for DHS students as of now.

She shared her opinions on how the circumstances could effect students.

“I think students will be impacted since I don't know what DHS students will be offered next year, but I do know which of the basic [electives] that we will have…and which higher or upper level courses will be offered next year,” said Benton.

Hoyt mentioned potential languages that he thought might make a good addition to the current language courses offered at discovery.

“I think Japanese could be good, because I know several people who want to learn that language,” said Hoyt.“I think that type of class would attract more people to Discovery and DHS students in general would want to take that class.”

However, because of the budget cuts, these classes will likely not happen until a few years from now. Many students either taking online classes through CCA next year, or going to CHS so they are able to take more language classes.

Discovery Digest encourages students to continue on with their high school experience and be supportive of each other in the now and the future during these tough times.