As we approach the end of 2022, it’s important to reflect on the experiences we have had, the learning we have done and the positives in our lives. Regular reflection is an excellent way to remind ourselves of accomplishments made, growth experienced and tough situations survived.
At Fort, our community has experienced our share of losses and celebrations, keeping our community connected and making our school feel special. Think back on your best moment of the year and be glad that it happened! Think of your worst moment and release it to the past so you can move forward!
All your experiences have made
you the person you are today. Take a moment to give gratitude to yourself for all of the ups and downs you have been through. Celebrate, appreciate, and give thanks to the people in your life who make a difference.
Acknowledge those who are struggling around you and do your best to lift them up. A little kindness goes a long way. Move towards the new year a little bit wiser, older and determined to be the best version of yourself in the new year to come. Thanks for a wonderful year, looking forward to 2023 being even better!
Advisor - Journalism Club
Hey everyone! Thanks for reading this article. I’m Isaac, I’m a sophomore. I like to draw, write, read, and play videogames. I also code, golf, and swim!
I’m half black and half Japanese. I enjoy doing sports, especially track and I like being able to do new things.
Hi I’m Amy, in my free time I like to read books and watch anime. I speak English and Vietnamese, I also know ASL.
Alex Sweeten - Writer
I like to be outside, do artsy sci-fi stuff and sing/songwrite. I am a freshman. I’m a student ambassador and I am learning French as my second language.
Tjay Barhitte
Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m Tjay. I like to play video games, drawing, sleeping, taking walks, watching shows/movies, talking to friends, bowling, listening to music and much more.
Isabele Laib -I’m a freshman, I enjoy writing for fun, watching tv, and playing video games. I only speak English, but I’m planning to learn spanish.
Jayde Saucedo-Cedillo - WriterI’m passionate about saving animals and the planet. I love pink popsicles and drawing clouds. If i had turned in my BIo Ms. Fay would not have had to invent my profile.
Iara Garcia - WriterI am 17 years old and from Barranquilla, Colombia. I’ve lived most part of my life in Colombia, I enjoy things like reading, singing, writing, and dancing.
from the Jennifer Fay“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened!” ~ Dr. SuessJenniferFay
Fort students were sent a poll last month, and we sure did get some good responses! Take a look.
The questions were: cat or dog, hot or cold, and cheese or pepperoni!
Let’s start with the data. SCIENCE!
Hvae you noticed a shortage of school buses this year? It’s not a problem that’s unique to Fort Vancouver, it’s happening everywhere!
Feelings are all over the board when it comes to the I-Ready tests we’re now taking in high school.
Erin Hanson - AKA Miss Kit Kathas moved from Hudson’s Bay to Fort Vancouver as our new Dean of Students.
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Getting paid. Seems like a fairly easy topic, until you start getting paid. It’s complicated, and there are many factors that go into what you are getting paid. Supply and demand, how skilled you are, the budget of the company, even smaller things like how much you are liked at where you are working can make a huge difference in your salary. So, I’m going to help you guys break it down with teacher pay.
All this can be found on the district’s website, if you want to investigate it yourself. We’re going to start with entry pay. This is such an important factor if you guys are looking for a major in college. The entry pay is what you will get paid going into a
job with zero experience whatsoever. This is kind of important, because a low entry pay means you aren’t getting paid much for the first bit of being employed. In Vancouver School District, for the 2022-2023 school year, starting pay is $58,268. For reference, your first Mc. Donald’s job will pay $28,617 a year. Now, this is a lot of info to take in, but there is even more you need to know.
The entry pay amount can be modified if you meet requirements. Requirements can be met by having more years of experience, more education, and more. Let’s talk about education first. If you have just a bachelors, your entry pay is $47,939. Whereas, if you have a masters degree, this number rises to $57,474. 68% teachers have a masters degree in our district. And, if you have a
HELPING YOU BREAK DOWN HOW MUCH YOU COULD MAKE AS A TEACHER
PhD, you start out by earning $64,570. Now, there is one more educational thing that can modify this. By taking teacher training, you can get credits, and raise your pay. For example, masters + 90 credits is PhD level pay. Or, BA + 90 credits is equal to a masters degree.
You can also raise this pay amount by having more years of experience. For example, having 15 years plus a PhD or masters + 90 credits, will get you $100,160 a year. This category of adding is more linear, and is simpler. More years = more money.
If you feel like this isn’t a lot of money for all of the education, it’s not. It’s livable. A ton of teachers live off this income amount. It’s just not as much as they should be making. Let’s say we take this
amount of education, masters + 90 with 15 years of experience, and take it into any other field out there. You would be making double, maybe even triple the amount that they are making right now. That’s the problem. Why go through all of this to be livable as a teacher when you could do it in another field and get triple the money.
So, just remember. Your teachers have done a lot in their life so far, giving you all the best education possible. So just remember, treat your teachers like people, treat them nice, they go through a lot.
“Some people like what you do, some people hate what you do, but most people simply don’t give a damn”
Animals around theworld are disappearing. Students - like you - are starting movements to help save all different species ofendangered animals before it’s too late.
One of the smartest mammals on earth. with a whopping 70 IQ, that’s smarter than some humans. Orangutans have 3 total species, Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli. All are considered critically endangered species. Orangutans can be found in the jungles of Borneo and Sumatra,
Why are Orangutans an endangered species?
Orangutans are mainly because of deforestation and poaching leaving many orphans. Baby orangutans are heavily dependent on their mother to teach and keep them safe from other predators. A baby orangutan will stay with its mother for up to 7 years!
National Orangutan Day is August 19, it’s to encourage people to help donate to rehabilitation centers or to take action to help save the orangutans. One center being Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS), the same organization that runs an orangutan school.
What is Orangutan Jungle school?
It’s a school and rehabilitation center
for all the orphaned orangutans that don’t have their mother to teach them basic skills like avoiding snakes, learning which foods are edible and how to avoid predators. It follows a documentary style but they’re like 2 million years long. Sometimes you see clips where orangutans will steal food from other orangutans, or orangutans will try to trick volunteers instead. Those are my personal favorites, they act like little kids. Orangutans will spend 7 years at the orangutan schools learning before they graduate, which then leads to them being released out into the wild.
It actually depends as they’re only aggressive towards other males in mating seasons. Although sometimes orangutans are known to be hostile to humans when they have already been released from captivity. You can find more out about orangutan jungle school on Youtube. I found it by accident and thought it was funny.
Mr. Dickinson (dean.dickison@vansd.org) is sharing a photo contest with all of you students! You can participate and get your photos announced by a professional stuntman/BMXer, and also get other prizes!
The deadline to submit your photos ends on May 22nd, 2023. That means you have time to go get your photo! The photo theme is adventure, so make sure to get you adventurous photos into Mr. Dickinson.
Yes and no. The 2022 year for school transportation has been a tough situation; from sports teams having
to rush to get buses or having none at all, to now morning bus time changes being done to make up for the lack of drivers. These problems have started to resonate
throughout the school to how dire this situation is becoming. This problem however isn’t only in Fort but the entire Vancouver School District.
The lack of bus drivers was apparent even before Covid-19 however during that time the problem was more manageable. After the Covid shutdowns passed, the problem worsened due to problems with hiring more people for many jobs, not just bus driving, in this area. With people not wanting to drive buses for kids and the health risks involved with dealing with many kids, hiring bus drivers has become a severe problem.
Mr. Scheidel’s opinion of this situation sums up how bad this problem is. “ The current shortages are unlike any I have seen in Vancouver Public Schools during my 30 years as an educator.”
The amount of bus drivers since some years ago has been on the decline, without any changes in how new bus drivers are hired these numbers won’t go up any time soon.
Without changes in the number of bus drivers hired, extracurricular activities like sports or field trips are at risk to start to lack transportation.This was already seen in Boys Tennis this season with the lack of transportation for games for 2 weeks. This was also seen in Volleyball when during school without notice until the intercom gave notice to the players about the bus and its departure in a few minutes where some players missed the bus. This was also due to the shortage of bus drivers and could have affected other fall sports and at this rate will continue for the winter season.
Mr. Scheidel said. “If hiring is unable to meet the demand, significant alterations and adaptations will need to be put in place.” This has already started to show with the first step of changing morning bus routes to accommodate more per bus and if this shortage continues there is no say what will continue.
EACH YEAR, SCHOOLS GET NEW TEACHERS, ADMINISTRATORS, AND SUPPORT STAFF. WE WANT TO INTRODUCE ALL THESE NEW FACES AS THE YEAR GOES ON.
Fort’s new Dean of Students
Erin Hanson
Q. Your name and what do you have students call you?
A. Erin Hanson and students call me Erin, Mrs. Hanson or Miss Kit Kat.
Q. Favorite color?
A. Yellow
Q. What do you teach?
A. I don’t teach anymore. When I was in the classroom, I taught English, Drama, and Journalism. As the Dean of Students, I spend my days working with students on making better choices and connecting students to resources they might need in order to be more successful at school.
Q. Favorite food?
A. Pizza
Q. Favorite subject?
Q. How long have you worked in the schools?
A. This is my 26th year in education.
Q. Where were you before coming to Fort?
A. I have worked at Skyview high school, Vancouver School of Arts and Academics, and Hudson’s Bay.
A. In school my favorite subject was math and in college it was history, but I love to read and talk about literature, so I decided to become an English teacher.
Q. What’s the piece of advice you’d give every student?
A. Be safe, be kind, be careful; make good choices. It’s posted on the wall at home!
Nell Young’s whole life and greatest passion is cartography. Her father, Dr. Daniel Young, is a legend in the field and Nell’s personal hero. But she hasn’t seen or spoken to him ever since he cruelly fired her and destroyed her reputation after an argument over an old, cheap gas station highway map.
By Alex SweetenHello everyone! It’s that time again! We got the fa vorite books of our school librarian, and we are here to share them with you!
By Isabel Wilkerson
In this brilliant book, Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched, and beautifully written stories about real people, how America has been shaped by a hidden caste system.
Alex Sweetin went among the people to ask a specific question. In this issue, she asked one student from each grade what they thought about the social media accounts at Fort Vancouver High School. Here’s what each of them had to say.
“It is positive, in most cases.” -
“It is mostly positive, but interactions may vary.”
Homecoming happened at the great Moulin Rouge! On September 24th, Fort students all celebrated coming back for another year of schooling. What happened? Who won royalty? Who stayed longest? While that last question might not be answered, the first two will, with a recount of all the great events. At the Moulin themed dance everyone partied. The theme colors were red, black, and silver and the courtyard was decked out with streamers, a red carpet and balloons. Many photo opportunities, such as at the bench with the black backdrop, the giant photo set up at the start, and just the entire party in general. The DJ played 2022 hits and the rave kicked up to eleven. Food and drinks were served for five dollars, which after a night of dancing many were excited to buy them to enjoy. At around 8:40 the homecoming royalty for freshman, sophomores, juniors, whereas seniors were announced at the Homecoming football game. The royalty were announced in this order: Freshmen, Lillie Piermen and Isabel Laib. Sophomores, Lila Sasse and Molly Molane. Juniors, Brianna Ruffner and Lacey Mchan. Seniors, Theresa Lopez and Raymond Chen. Congrats to them!
Elden Ring offers lots of adventure, a fascinating universe, super difficult bosses, and so many secrets. Players really love the game because it’s so hard to play. Elden Ring is the most talked-about video game of 2022, despite — or perhaps because of — its immense difficulty and complexity.
by Tjay Barhitte
Modern Warfare 2 was released on October 28, 2022, for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Like its predecessor, the game takes place in a realistic and modern setting. The campaign follows British SAS forces as they team up with various other countries’ military members to locate a terrorist.
In Batman Gotham Knights , Batman is dead. A new expansive, criminal underworld has swept the streets of Gotham City. It is now up to the Batman Family - Batgirl, Nightwing, Red Hood, and Robin - to protect Gotham, bring hope to its citizens, discipline to its cops, and fear to its criminals.
I-Ready. I know so many of you guys hate this test! It’s crazy how much of our student body trashes, absolutely trashes, on this test. It’s called a criterionreferenced test, and I’ll explain why in a second. I´ll talk about the strengths, it’s weaknesses, the thoughts of you guys; the students, and more. What is I-Ready? I-Ready tests for English and math. I-Ready is a test that selects questions from a database, and has you answer them. It will then record your answers, digitally, and then give you harder or easier questions depending on what you got. It will continue to adjust your overall skill level until it finds a happy medium, where you get 50% right, and 50% wrong. This system is called criterion-referenced testing; results are based on which questions you got right, and determine the final skill level. Is this system better than conventional pre tests and normal testing? Potentially. Let’s get into why I-Ready is good.
First, the use of I-Ready. You can use I-Ready as a stronger pre-test. It can identify a student’s strengths and weaknesses. Because I-Ready is multiple choice, all of its multiple choice answers have meaning too. All of the answers are linked to an accident in the process, letting I-Ready know potentially where you could have messed up. This tells the teachers what they need to teach! Some of them also use it as a checkpoint, letting them learn what their students have done and what they need to improve. This makes it really important for
some teachers, as they can skip some reviews and help with big other problems. This really helps in minimizing the amount of class time wasted on topics everyone understands.
Now let’s get into sections. For English, the test is very good at identifying the understanding level of the article. And for math, the test is very good at identifying problems in the students’ decision making processes, leading to mistakes or accidents, and a wrong answer. Everything listed above sounds awesome! This test sounds super helpful and useful for teachers and students, leading to less boring classes and more effective teaching… until you get to the problems. This magnificent house of cards is going to come down due to some glaring problems. Problem number one. We didn’t even learn that! Let’s give some context. You are doing pretty well, you got so many questions right so far! You are on a streak, but then, everything starts falling apart. Well, look at this. The better you do, the harder questions it gives you. But it will do this in small blocks, leading to sometimes HUGE increases in difficulty. You don’t even know this stuff. You don’t know the answer to 10, maybe 15 questions in a row. This throws a wrench in your critical thinking, and you don’t even want to try anymore. This is a problem.
By disabling students who want to do well, so soon as they start, is going to lead to incorrect results! This means that the teacher is now misinformed, and doesn’t truly know the level of the class. This can send your virtual “rating” or skill level down, and know you are labeled incorrectly, as not understanding this or that.
Also, this test is boring. This test has the potential to take up to 3 HOURS, or even more if someone is slow, or I-Ready doesn’t understand their level. This means the student doesn’t even fall into the trap listed above, they can just start to lose stamina, or get bored. I know some of you guys don’t even want to try this test. You hate it! You can’t see the good things about it, and I understand! This does mean that any of the effectiveness listed above, doesn’t even qualify. Now, every time you try this test again, you can’t stop thinking about the previous times, and don’t want to try. Let’s get to another pretty big problem. This influences English so much. Language is subjective, or to be more accurate, dependent on the population. Well alright, doesn’t seem too bad. That’s where you are wrong. With questions like; “What does this mean to the reader?”, “What’s the moral of the story?”, or even “What does this word mean or what are its connotations?” This is a big time issue. What does this mean to you is a question that should never be asked when it comes to a “correct answer”, because there isn’t any!
Language can be so much different to different groups of people. This means I-Ready can label you as not understanding reading, not being able to analyze, and more. Let’s get into your guys’ opinions. Let’s start with some stats, taken from the polls. These will be percentages of the students who answered. These may be higher or lower than the actual thoughts of our whole population. Let’s start with how well you guys think I-Ready gauges and portrays your abilities. 37% of you said a 1 out of 5, and 26% said 2 out of 5. And I think this quote portrays it perfectly:
“It is very long and requires a lot of focus. The articles are, for the most part, not relatable to me.”
I think this is the root of the problem, a lack of focus. There are so many other things to worry about, a non graded standardized test, where the scores don’t visibly impact you at all, will not get results. This student really knows the problem, and shares it in the poll;
“I personally don’t think I-Ready is needed in highschool. We already have the cat’s sat’s psat’s and finals at the end of semesters. I-Ready is added stress for a test that doesn’t even count towards anything grade wise and is just another non counted standardized graded test.”
It is absolutely useless to the average student. It barely affects them. You need something to hold their focus, and what we have right now, just aint it. What can you do to fix it? Make it relatable, useful to the students. Honestly, look at what the students are doing right now, what apps are popular. They hold attention because what they contain holds its own value! They don’t have to rely on the student to create their own excitement, the app knows what they already like! You could ask students what articles they want to read, and test them on that. You could add games into the breaks instead of breathing exercises. Also, you could just make it shorter! I know so many people aren’t going to make it to the end of this article, they just don’t care enough. But, I digress. I-Ready has potential to be useful to teachers and students, it’s halfway there. By fixing some of these more issues you could get a more helpful diagnosis of the students skills. I think so much more can be done then what is currently being done. But also, some of the responsibility falls to you guys. Do take your time, you can make it worth your time by making the results real. And, like it or not, I-Ready is probably here to stay.
For this holiday season, we got recipes from one of our own culinary teachers, Mr. Finnie. We have a great recipe for cornbread and cookies for any time you want to treat yourself. These recipes are simple for people to make and don’t require a big commitment.
Ingredients
• 1 cup AP flour (all purpose flour)
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 cups milk
•1 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup neutral oil (vegetable)
Directions
Preheat an oven to 350°F. Grease a 10-inch pie pan or muffin pan.
In a large bowl combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Make a well in the center.
In a separate bowl, combine the milk, eggs, and oil. With a wooden spoon, stir the wet ingredients into the dry just until there are only a few lumps remaining. Don’t overmix!
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the corn bread comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.
Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for at least 15 minutes before serving. Cut the cornbread into wedges and serve.
Ingredients
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 ½ tsp vanilla
• 1 Tbs milk
Directions
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, beat the butter and sugar with a wooden spoon until light in color.
Add the egg, vanilla and milk and beat to combine.
Gradually add flour and beat until mixture comes together.
Divide the dough in half, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar and roll out dough to ¼ inch thick and checking the dough frequently to make sure it is not sticking. Cut into desired shapes, place at least 1-inch apart on parchment lined sheet pan.
Bake for 7 to 9 minutes at 350 F.