Hawkeye 05-2023

07 OP/ED: Do we have spirit?

The posters have been hung, the assemblies have been held. Cheer is all around, but... not? Hawkeye staff member Charli Gilchrist asks where the spirit went.

08 Erm... where’s our money?

With state-wide lower enrollment and lack of pandemic funding, the ESD has had to decrease district funding and programs significantly, and the community has not stayed quiet.

10 Goodbye, Schelly

After a six-year run, Principal Greg Schellenberg is bidding adieu to Terrace. In the fall, newly hired Crosby Carpenter will take the helm.

11 “No justice, no peace”

Protests in Tennessee have sprung up following the Nashville shooting, resulting in expulsion of politicians who stood alongside protesters.

12 A modern day Wall-E

Somebody grab a cast, our robot broke his arm! Even with an injured bot, Terrace’s FRC team persevered and flourished at competitions.

13 Sing like your life depends on it

America’s got Talent? More like Terrace Got Talent! Across two dazzling nights, eight acts left the audience awestruck.

14 Leaping lizards! Spring sports!

Spring sports had a momentous season, with some sports like softball, baseball and men’s soccer shining especially bright in that sunshine.

15 Daily dose of thought

Do you have what it takes? Solve this logic puzzle to find out.

C Making some noise

Members of Terrace’s bands and fellow students stand outside of the school, playing music and holding signs in protest of district budget cuts that may deeply hurt performing arts among other electives.

02 Fast as lightning

PHOTO BY EMMALEE HARMON

Junior midfielder Xander Terry outpaces his Medowdale opponent in the April 18 game at Edmonds Stadium. The Hawks and Mavericks tied 1-1.

PHOTO BY ARABELLA DEVERA

Hawkeye

Letter from the Editors ONE FINAL FAREWELL...

Hey there Hawks, your co-editors-in-chief Cecilia Negash and Maggie O’Hara are writing to you live from the Hawkeye room, drowning in our empty monster cans, tearyeyed, because as of May 6, 2023, we are writing our very last letter for the Hawkeye. The tears are also from stress, but we will temporarily ignore that.

It’s almost hard to imagine a time where we weren’t in our current positions, but at the same time we still so clearly remember all the events leading us to where we are now. We could go all the way back to freshman year, but honestly we did not interact at all. In fact, our interactions with each other didn’t really start until after we were given the positions of co-editors.

Flashback to the end of junior year, our previous co-editors Ritika Khanal and Nico Francois were soon to be graduating, and had the task of deciding who would take on their positions for next year. Only one of us suspected that they would be chosen. We’ll give you a hint, the one that knew was the Irish one. That being said, it wasn’t official until a meeting in May was held to unveil the new leadership configuration. Our interactions started increasing by that point, not willingly though. It was more so forced proximity since we had to start working on the next issue together. But it was nice, so more like pleasantly forced proximity. Kind of like Stockholm syndrome, but in our case we are both simultaneously the captor and the captured. That sounds absolutely insane but let us explain the logic. So Maggie holds Cecilia hostage, Cecilia holds Maggie hostage, all in the good name of getting work done for Hawkeye.

So for the second half of May and all of June, we became much more acquainted with each other, but didn’t ceremonialize the friendship until the annual leadership retreat in August. Both of us were at a point where we felt unfit for our new roles, but didn’t think the other felt the same. In fact, we both believed the other was much more confident about their capability of being a leader.

It wasn’t until we crossed paths (probably because the room we were all staying in was only a couple of square feet) and saw that the other looked very frazzled. Next thing we knew, we were sitting in a corner and talking about our worries moving forward, and all the doubts we had about ourselves. Suddenly the disconnect no longer existed, and when we looked at each other we no longer saw the non-relatable, cooler, more capable co-editor, but rather another peer who was in the same boat.

It’s safe to say that from that point on, we subconsciously made the decision of “yeah, that’s my friend now.” We hate each other now, and at dawn we will duel with our adviser Vince DeMiero overseeing it.

The HAWKEYE

This past year has brought us even closer together, as well as closer with the rest of Hawkeye, spearheaded by George Santos and Eminem. It’s bittersweet to know that our time in this organization is coming to an end, but we’re gonna try and make it all the more sweet by recapping some of our favorite moments from this year.

Our first highlight has to be the time the Hawkeye won multiple awards at this year’s state convention, because we’re incredibly self-centered. This particular event felt very special to us because every time one of our staff members’ names were called to collect an award, we screamed so loud we started getting weird looks. We made it a goal to scream louder than any other school there, it was a rewarding ending to our four years of work in the organization. Crazy, earning awards felt rewarding.

There was also the nationals trip, which was only a few weeks ago. This year’s bi-annual WJEA convention was held in Tenderloin, San Francisco. Now, the trip had its dark moments, a multitude of them really, since one of us became violently ill on the trip (hint: it was NOT the Irish one). But one good thing that came out of that sickness was the sleepiness that came with it.

Before we even left the school to go to the airport, the nonIrish co-editor slept on a table in the Hawkeye room for three hours, where multiple staff members took pictures from multiple angles. It didn’t stop there, though. We board the plane, get more sleep, get more pictures. We get to the hotel room, get even more sleep, even more pictures. We also won awards during that trip too, but clearly that’s not as significant. And then, there’s crunch. Crunches, actually. An almost monthly event where we come together and feel the lows and highs of student journalism all condensed into one weekend right before an issue is released.

We edit, design, write, wrangle, cry, laugh, just dance, and collectively lose our sanity. All of this is accompanied by DeMiero’s “at school” playlist. The experience is a nonstop whiplash of mashups that should be illegal, combining Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Justin Bieber, Nickelback, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith and Madonna impressively all in one song, to the emotional car crash of “Driver’s License” by Olivia Rodrigo, that always leaves us asking, “Is he okay?” What’s great about the playlist is that it progressively becomes more depressing as time goes on, which directly parallels how crunch progresses.

Probably the most rewarding part of being co-editors has been seeing the progress and growth so many of our staff members accomplished as student journalists this year.

A big reason for that is because of how much we see ourselves in them, and it’s beyond relieving to know the organization will be left in great hands. Although we’re going to be leaving soon, a part of us will always be in room 130.

That being said, it’s time for us to step back and pass down the torch.

With that, it’s over Hawks. H

The Hawkeye’s mission is to provide the MTHS community with quality, thought-provoking student produced publications. Since September 1960, we have faithfully served our audience and community as a designated open public forum where student editors make all decisions. In policy and in practice, the Hawkeye has been and always will be a designated open forum publication.

Co-Editors-in-Chief

Cecilia Negash & Maggie O’Hara

Editorial

News Editor: Terina Papatu

Sports Editor: Jakob Nacanaynay

Op/Ed Editor: Kaitlyn Miller

Lifestyle Editor: Mika Raring

Fashion Editor: Denise Munoz

Tempo Co-Editors: Hunter Michaelson & Arabella Devera

Business

General Manager: Phuong Lam

Travel & Event Coordinators: Rachel Davis & Rodney Budden

Distribution Manager: open Outreach Manager: open

Visual

Graphics Editor: Rodney Budden

Photo Editors: Seras Bryner & Emmalee Harmon

Design Editor: Rachel Davis

Online/Digital

Online Manager: Kaylee Miyamoto

A/V Editor: Terina Papatu & Cecilia Negash

Contributing Staff

Lucas Barquin, Halle Connell, Curtis Gilchrist, Charli Gilchrist, Dewey Jones, Evan Kerani, Adrian Knowlton, Kimberly Nguyen, Efrata Soloman, Bryce Soumphonphakdy, Zoë Teran

Name in bold indicates staff member of the month as selected by the Editorial Board.

Support

Adviser: Vincent F. DeMiero, CTE, CJE

Co-Adviser: Christina Lewis

Journalist-in-Residence: Samantha Pak

FANs Coordinator: Carrie Lee

Printer: Pacific Publishing

Member of: MTHS ASB, JEA/WJEA, NSPA, SPLC, ESD CTE, FAPFA Policies

Editorial Policy The editorial section of the Hawkeye, including editorial cartoons, serves as a forum for well-written, thoughtful, longer forms of expression. Signed editorials represent the opinions of the author. Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Hawkeye Editorial Board. Views printed herein are meant to be opinionated and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Hawkeye staff, student body, faculty, administration or school board. The Hawkeye will print submitted guest editorials as space allows and requests that all contributors include their name, signature and position relative to the editorial. The Hawkeye will edit all submissions for accuracy, spelling and grammar. We reserve the right to refuse to print any submission.

Letters to the Editor Policy

Readers are encouraged to voice their opinions in the Opinion section, a public forum for the expression of varying viewpoints on relevant topics. The Hawkeye will print as many letters as space allows. Letters must include the author’s name, signature and class or position relative to the letter. E-mailed, typed or legible, hand written letters are acceptable, but should not exceed 200 words. The Hawkeye will edit all letters for accuracy, spelling and grammar. We reserve the right to refuse to print any letter.

Advertising Policy The Hawkeye will not accept any advertising that the Editorial Board deems to be: factually inaccurate; designed to mislead, deceive or defraud; containing malicious, vindictive or unsubstantiated attacks; offering goods and/or services illegal for teens to possess, buy or use; libelous; obscene; or creating imminent danger or disruption to school. The Hawkeye reserves the right to refuse any advertising, solicited or unsolicited. Advertisements do not necessarily reflect the views or endorsements of the Hawkeye staff, student body, faculty, administration or school board. Complete policies are available at www.thehawkeye.org/about-2/mission-policies/

Maggie O’Hara and Cecilia Negash CO-EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

COMING UP: MAY & JUNE

By Seras Bryner and Maggie O’Hara HAWKEYE STAFF

17 Graduation

5 - 7 p.m., Edmonds Stadium

Sunday, June 18 Father’s Day All Day, Off Campus

Monday, June 19 No School - Juneteeth All Day, Off Campus

Monday, June 26 EARLY RELEASE - Last Day of School

SPOTLIGHT

May 17 Multicultural Assembly Students show off their cultures and traditions in the Terraceum.

May 26-29 Memorial Day Weekend

Observed on the last Monday of May, we honor those who have lost their lives in war.

June 3 Prom

Seniors will come together at Rosehill Community Center in Mukilteo for their final high school dance.

June 16 Moving Up Ceremony

Students gather in the Terraceum for the last time this year to commemorate moving up to the next grade.

June 17 Graduation

Seniors spend their final moments as high schoolers and say their goodbyes as they step off the stage and into the “real world.”

EDITORS’ NOTE: The information in this calendar is taken in part from the calendar published on the MTHS webpage. Information may change. For further information on an event, contact the organizing party. For corrections, contact editor@thehawkeye.org or visit us in Room 130.

Land Acknowledgment

The Hawkeye acknowledges that our campus sits on the traditional homelands of the Suquamish, Stillaguamish and Coast Salish peoples. The lands of these tribes were taken by colonizers using the Treaty of Point Elliott, which to this day has never been fully honored. We also recognize the 29 tribes throughout Washington state. As a local news organization, we commit to remembering the genocide of Indigenous peoples in the United States and ask that our readers take a moment to respectfully reflect on the history of the land where we gather each school day. H

RODNEY BUDDEN | HAWKEYE

Washington ban on assault weapons

By Halle Connell HAWKEYE STAFF

A new Washington state bill banning the production of assault weapons was introduced by the state Senate and House committee on April 14. Bill 1143, introduced to the House of committee on Jan. 9, got a majority House ruling, 27 yeas to 21 nays, to pass the bill onto the Senate.

The bill completely prohibits assault weapon manufacturing in Washington, including AR-15s, AK 47s, semi-automatic rifles and any weapon that can accept detachable magazines.

This will also ban the transfer of assault rifles into the state. However, the bill does not ban the possession of assault weapons for law enforcement, as well as the exception of inheritance, according to KING5 News.

The bill was officially passed by the Senate after the most recently publicized Nashville elementary school shooting in Tennessee that left six people dead: three teachers and three students. This event shook the nation, leading to a massive protest within the community.

The turmoil soon made headlines in many other states across the country. Washington’s efforts to ban assault weapons have sparked conversation across the state and the nation. As the event was discussed, word spread of the National Rifle Association possibly threatening a lawsuit against Washington for this “unconstitutional” bill.

A recent report has shown that the Second Amendment Foundation has filed an official lawsuit against the statement, claiming that it violated the second amendment. The lawsuit pursued by the Second Amendment Foundation remains ongoing. Washington is now the 10th state in the nation to put some type of ban on assault weapons.

The bill was signed by Gov. Jay Inslee on April 25, officially making it illegal to make, sell and distribute assault rifles in Washington. H

“Don’t Say Gay” bill

By Lucas Barquin HAWKEYE STAFF

expanded

The “Don’t Say Gay” bill that took effect in Florida on July 1, 2022, has now been expanded to all grades. Students in Florida’s K-12 public schools will now be prohibited from learning about sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom. Pre-kindergarten through third grade are prohibited from teaching about these subjects at all, and fourth through 12th grade are prohibited unless expressly required by preexisting state standards, and must be done in an appropriate way.

Opponents of HB 1557 dubbed it the “Don’t Say Gay’’ bill, saying the law furthers LGBTQ+ discrimination. Although the already established anti-discrimination law will prohibit this bill from going into legal discrimination territory, many are scared of how the bill will be interpreted and enacted throughout the state.

While the original legislation was under consideration, many protests erupted, including student walkouts and worker strikes at Disney. Despite these protests, the bill still went through, and has now been expanded.

Many political figures have also denounced this bill, including President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, pointing out that this bill will further discriminate against already marginalized groups.

In spite of all the backlash, the bill was signed into effect on March 28 by Florida Gov. Ron Desantis. Critics of the new bill say that it is too vague and that it may be used to further isolate queer students, though conservative commentators have refuted this claim.

While the supporters continue to claim this law is meant to better connect parents to their students’ learning, many are afraid of what the outcome may be. H

• the update •

Stories by Evan Kerani, Lucas Barquin, Adrian Knowlton, Seras Bryner Graphics by Charli Gilchrist, Adrian Knowlton, Zoe Teran, Dewey Jones and lucas barquin

stories by nico francois graphics by nico francois

Wisconsin Supreme Court changes control

Janet Protasiewicz won the Wiconsin Supreme Court election on April 4, flipping the control of the court from a conservative to a liberal majority for the first time in 15 years. Protasiewicz beat Daniel Kelly, a conservative who was previously on the court from 2016 to 2020. With a lawsuit moving through the court system to overturn Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban, the issue of abortion played heavily into the campaign. She won the election by a final margin of about 11%, winning 27 of 72 counties. She won by holding Kelly to small margins in the traditionally conservative suburbs of Milwaukee, and through a large youth voter turnout which overwhelmingly favored her. H

“Jim Crow Law 2.0” divides Mississippi National

House Bill 1020 was passed in Mississippi on Feb. 7, which would appoint primarily white judges to the primarily Black capital city of Jackson by separating the city’s judicial districts with a higher white and wealthy population. Many are calling this the Jim Crow law 2.0, further restricting Black citizens’ right to vote. This bill also expands policing in primarily Black communities. Although representatives have stated this bill is unrelated to race, many are questioning the reasoning behind it and raising concerns about how it will affect Jackson’s Black population. H

Tennesse’s ban on drag

On March 2, 2023, the Tennessee Senate Bill 3, also known as the Tennessee drag ban, was passed. This bill initially restricts “adult cabaret performances” in public or within the company of children, as well from being within 1,000 feet of schools, public parks and any places of worship. The anti-drag bill was signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee and went into effect April 1, 2023. Anyone violating the ban will be faced with misdemeanor charges in the first instance. This means that it could be punishable by a fine of up to $2,500 and/or up to a year in jail. Those who are found guilty for continuous violations face a felony charge, which is punishable with up to six years in prison. H

Over-the-counter Naloxone nasal spray

National

As of March 29, the FDA has approved over-the-counter naloxone nasal spray. Naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, is used on people who are overdosing to help reverse the effects. Previously, it was approved by the FDA as a prescription drug only. According to the FDA, there were more than 100,000 deaths due to overdose in a 12-month period in 2022. The FDA’s goal and commitment is to prevent more deaths in the overdose crisis across America. The medication will be available at local drug stores, but the time of availability and price is currently unknown. H

Misconceptions about Senate Bill 5599

State

Since Senate Bill 5599 was introduced, many speculations and miscommunications have emerged. This bill amends state law for runaways under 18, and provides protection for Washington children who run away and end up in youth centers in pursuit of abortion care, reproductive medicine or gender-affirming care. The bill does not take children away from families as thought by some, nor does it give shelters the right to perform surgeries on youth without the parents’ knowledge. The only change with the bill is that a shelter can now notify the Washington Department of Child, Youth, and Families before the parents of the youth in question. H

A lot happens in a month. From fashion to finance, we are constantly bombarded by headlines from around the world. Here are the Hawkeye’s picks for what you need to know.

LUCAS BARQUIN | HAWKEYE

DEWEY JONES | HAWKEYE

THE ACTIONS OF ONE DOES NOT SPEAK FOR ALL

Amass shooting at a Nashville school on March 27 ended with six people, including three students all age 9, being killed. The shooter, 28-yearold Aiden Hale, was fatally shot by police during the attack. These events have sparked incessant and continued hatred for the transgender community.

Following the shooting, Hale, a transgender man, was misgendered, constantly referred to by his deadname by the media, and falsely labeled a “role model” for the trans community. Many anti-trans activists and politicians have used Hale to call the transgender movement a radical ideology. Since the shooting, the already skewed view of trans people has shifted to being outwardly hostile, quickly radicalizing many people, especially youth, into following transphobic ideology. The current political climate surrounding the community is already incredibly divided, but now, many are using Hale to say that all trans people are dangerous and something to be feared. This has sent many queer individuals into a state of panic and fear.

The shooting is a tragedy, and something that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Yet many have used this opportunity to spread transphobic rhetoric in the name of protecting children. Lack of education and awareness towards transgender people has continually caused harm and actively damaged the community, yet misinformation and hate speech from baseless stories continues to be spread. The majority of mass shootings are carried out by cisgender white men, but whenever somebody who doesn’t fit that bill is the shooter, that entire community is blamed. According to Statista.com, between 1982 and April 2023, 74 of 142 mass shootings were done by white shooters.

And according to Laura Dugan, a professor of human security and sociology at Ohio State University, only about 0.11% out of 3,561 mass shootings since 2016 have been by non-cisgender shooters. You don’t see major news outlets calling all cis, or straight or white people terrorists for the thousands of mass shootings enacted by someone in that community, yet when it comes to a minority, suddenly that one person is the whole community. The Tennessee shooting should be significant because six people are dead from the hands of someone who had access to guns, not because that shooter was trans.

It’s frustrating that the main outrage about a school shooting was that the shooter was

queer, rather than the fact that there have been 131 mass shootings in 2023 alone. Gun violence is a massive epidemic in the United States, causing over 48,830 gun-related deaths in 2021 alone. Over the past several years, queer, BIPOC, and other minorities have been used as pawns in political chess games, contributing to thousands of suicides each year. According to the National Library of Medicine, about 82% of transgender people consider suicide, and about 40% have attempted taking their own life. Transgender people and BIPOC are not the problem. The problem is the systematic lobbying for guns in the U.S. In every single mass shooting, the only connection is that those people had access to guns when they shouldn’t have. Time and time again, minorities are blamed for the decisions of capitalist legislators who care more about the $80.73 billion that the Sporting Arms and Ammunition industry makes for the United States. Gun violence is something that affects all of us, and wrongly accusing a whole group of people for something that is a systematic problem is frankly appalling.

Third graders practicing active shooter drills, being told to do whatever they can to survive, is not okay. The fact that many people’s first thought after hearing about a mass shooting is “please don’t be a minority,” when wondering the identity of the shooter because if it were there would be massive

repercussions, is not okay.

Every time another transphobic headline pops up, it feels like the view of trans people continues to fall based on things that the community as a whole is not responsible for. Aiden Hale does not speak for us. We need to stop grouping every minority group together when a tragedy happens. This will have lasting effects for many minority groups, and will most likely negatively impact future generations of transgender individuals. H

TESTING IS DETRIMENTAL TO STUDENTS’ MENTAL HEALTH

By Lucas Barquin HAWKEYE STAFF

Aswe are now in testing season, a lot of students are experiencing higher levels of anxiety. This can affect their everyday lives, including students’ physical, mental and academic health. So, how do we as a school support students who are struggling?

When our brains experience stimuli, they will sort those stimuli into two categories: danger and non-danger. Anxiety is formed when the brain sorts stimuli that would ordinarily go into the non-danger category into the danger one, resulting in high levels of cortisol and epinephrine. Epinephrine is a chemical that causes most symptoms of anxiety, and cortisol is commonly referred to as “the stress hormone.” This sends your body into a state of fight or flight, being constantly on edge. Heart palpitations and quickened breathing patterns are common symptoms of anxiety, and can cause heart problems and even heart attacks later in life in extreme cases as well as muscle pain and stomach problems. Almost all symptoms of anxiety affect students every day, including in school, and it’s irresponsible as a community to ignore it. Oftentimes in a school setting, it can feel like the valid concerns of students’ mental health go unaddressed.

An extremely common kind of anxiety is avoidance anxiety, where someone will avoid the thing that makes them anxious. If that thing is a grade-dependent test, or a weeks-old assignment that the rest of the class has already moved past, it can be extremely difficult to face that problem. And the longer someone puts off getting caught up, the worse the anxiety surrounding school can get. Working on an assignment worth 100 points, studying for a test, talking to your teacher or even just showing up for school can send someone

into a panic. Standardized tests, quizzes and classroom tests already may not show what a student knows and is capable of, but even more so if that student has anxiety. It can be overwhelming, or downright scary to ask your teacher for help, and for someone with anxiety that fear is often amplified. Things like this surrounding school tend to snowball with anxiety, and something that wouldn’t be a problem turns into a weeks-long battle.

According to the CDC, about 5.8 million teenagers ranging from ages 13-17 were diagnosed with anxiety in 2016-2019, and that number is expected to continue rising. About 45% of high school students report feeling stressed or anxious every day, and about 61% report feeling stressed about get-

ting good grades. There is proven evidence that young people are having extremely high levels of anxiety every day, yet the way we teach them and the way we support our students has yet to change. We put high levels of importance on test scores and class grades, and yet we do not provide enough support for our students. A student’s intelligence and value at school is based on their dedication to turning in assignments or studying, yet we seem to forget that students with anxiety may try just as hard and still struggle. The pandemic, growing up around the internet and social media, an increasing sense that we need to “grow up” faster. All of this has led to many students feeling completely overwhelmed. Providing a safe learning environment and providing enriching experiences for students should be a top priority, but how can we possibly do that when the basics of mental health support continue to be unmet?

The stress that school creates can cause students to disassociate for days, or even weeks on end, never really getting to catch their breath. Students spend almost their entire youth in school, and yet the stress of it is making them miss some of the most formative years of their lives.

Anxiety can change everything for a person in a single moment, turning an otherwise normal day into one filled with panic attacks, stress and nervousness. So why don’t we try and provide these students with more support? If you or someone you know is struggling with anxiety, there are plenty of resources that can help. Mental health hotlines, talking to a trusted adult or a therapist, getting medication, practicing exposure therapy, and working on healthy coping mechanisms just to name a few.

Students deserve and need more easily accessible resources for mental health in school. H

Lucas Barquin HAWKEYE STAFF

LUCAS BARQUIN | HAWKEYE

CHARLI GILCHRIST | HAWKEYE

WE’VE GOT SPIRIT, YES WE DO! OR... DO WE REALLY?

Nomatter where you are in the school, you can step out of a classroom and find the walls littered with posters trying to engage students in spirit weeks, sports, and events, to try and show some school spirit. They’re almost blinding, but definitely eye-catching. We hang banners, we advertise on the announcements, but is it enough?

Students at MTHS of all grades, especially freshmen, seem to have lost interest in our school. Compared to previous years, we have the least amount of participants in spirit days.

It’s not as though having the lower classes less interested is uncommon, at least in my experience, but why is that exactly? And why does it seem to be especially at Mountlake Terrace?

Junior Madeline Beam, who is a member of ASB, mentioned that a possible cause for the lack of spirit may be in the implementation of spirit events.

“A lot of the times the execution kind of falls through,” Beam said.

Even when students are aware of spirit events and want to join in, they can be deterred from participat-

ing when their peers aren’t.

“I care about it but I don’t see it a lot, so I don’t really partake in anything,” freshman Arsema Teklay said.

She, similar to a good amount of people across the school, does not often participate. There is an element of herd mentality to school spirit, however the student body here doesn’t usually engage in it. Call it independent mindsets, or going through the motions,

other students who might have otherwise joined in on the fun. Some students who would have joined the fun have difficulty doing so due to a lack of accommodations. Assemblies and sports events especially are something that neurodivergent kids tend to avoid because of the overstimulating nature of such events. It’s like a rolling ball of anxiety that becomes incredibly intimidating.

“As someone with sensory issues, maybe not having the spirit as physically loud? I feel like that might make it easier for neurodivergent people,” sophomore Kasey Bock sug-

What can we do to fix the general lack of school spirit and engagement in our school? I have a simple proposal: community building. School spirit is all about the community, and currently ours isn’t very strong.

We can start by bringing back things like Kahoots and games every now and then during PASS to get students more engaged and excited instead of barely listening to the announcements (and avoiding school work). This purposeful choice would be one way to move towards building and strengthening a community we can be proud of, and have fun in. H

WHEN THE REAL CRIME IS DEATH ROW

Deathrow is the sentence reserved for the worst of the worst. Murder, kidnapping, treason. With a sentence so harsh and insuperable, the justice system couldn’t make the mistake of wrongfully convicting the innocent, right?

Sunny Jacobs at the time of her conviction in 1976 in Florida was a 27-year-old mother of two. She had gotten into the car with a friend of her husband when a police officer approached the car while they were stopped in a rest area. The police officer found a handgun with the man driving, ID’d him and found that he was on parole. Things escalated and the driver shot and killed the two police officers. Jacobs was taken hostage with her two children into the stolen police car and eventually, cops opened fire on the vehicle and cuffed everybody in the car. The first act of corruption happened when police were deciding what to do with them. After their colleagues were killed, they decided somebody needed to pay for the loss of lives. Jacobs has attested that the officers were trying to decide whether to take them in, or kill them on the spot and say that they had attempted to escape.

Eventually, the cops decided to take them in. Jacobs’s husband Jesse Joseph Tafero was sentenced to death, but lived past the fourday sentence. The only evidence against him

was the word of the true killer. Jacobs’ trial was next, and off the bat, the judge was recognized as a former traffic cop. It was said he was too connected to the situation, but he refused to step down. Jacobs’ lawyer had decided not to put up a defense to have the upper hand in the closing argument, but in the end, though the jury had only voted for a life sentence, the judge overruled and sentenced her to death without the legal reason being written down. During the sentence, Jacobs was offered many plea deals.

“Every time I said, you know, you’re trying to get me to say something that isn’t true, they would shut off the tape and start again,” she said.

Jacobs remained in solitary confinement for years, only allowed to leave her cell twice a week and be visited by family less than four times a year. She was dehumanized; they did not call her by her name, but only by a number.

The only empowerment Jacobs and others wrongfully sentenced to death row usually come to find is control over themselves. When placed into an environment you cannot control, around people you can’t control, many find that being in control of themselves gives them at least a small amount of empowerment to continue forward. This is part of what makes people like Jacobs so special. She still managed to keep her mindfulness and self-control despite the terrible situation.

In 1981, Jacobs’ sentence was changed to

life in prison. She was placed in the public part of the prison again, and said it felt like freedom. Her parents took a vacation after the stress of the possibility of their child being executed had finally passed, but in the worst of circumstances, their plane crashed and they both died. Jacobs lost all of her support for the case.

15 years into their sentences, Tafero received a third death warrant and was killed as well. The electric chair malfunctioned, and he was killed by being caught on fire through the chair. They had to attempt it three times before he was legally pronounced dead.

Eventually, Jacobs’ sentence was overturned, but they still threatened her with new trials and delayed her freedom. She asked for the discovery of anything unseen, she was given 10 boxes of material containing reports on the killer passing the polygraph test. They hired an ex-policeman to examine the test, and it turned out the killer had actually not passed. Eventually, it was revealed that a guard overheard the killer bragging about the shooting and avoiding the death sentence. Only then did the hearings end, and Jacobs was finally released. Her story is not the only one of this nature. Organizations such as Witness to Innocence exist purely to empower death row survivors, and find justice for innocent death row prisoners. Many have come forward with

their stories, and how the justice system has failed them. One in nine innocent prisoners are executed on death row. Since the 1970s, more than 8,700 people have been sentenced to death, meaning that 966 of them may have been innocent.

In our justice system, people of color are also more likely to be arrested, more likely to be convicted, and more likely to receive a death sentence than white people. Death row is known to show significant racial injustice, though only 12% of the U.S. population is Black, over 42% of death row prisoners are Black.

Though the debate around the death penalty comes down to limiting criminal activity, 88% of criminologists believe that the death sentence is not working to deter murder. If this sentence isn’t doing its job well and leaves even one innocent person dead, why do we keep it around? Under specific circumstances, it is easy to see the other side of the argument, but it’s not up for debate until innocent people stop dying and suffering through these unfair circumstances. There are too many flaws within this sentence: unreliable eyewitness testimonies, poor legal representation, false confession, and reliance on unreliable jailhouse snitches. As long as this continues to be an option, innocent people will be sentenced to death and killed. Nothing within our system prevents this from happening. When death row survivors can prove their innocence, it’s almost always due to extrajudicial factors.

“Innocent people are freed not because of the system, but in spite of it,” Witness to Innocence stated. H

Charli Gilchrist HAWKEYE STAFF

Kaitlyn Miller OP/ED EDITOR

RODNEY BUDDEN | HAWKEYE

DEWEY JONES | HAWKEYE

BUDGET CUTS BRING COMMUNITY

Edmonds School District students, staff and families come together to argue against

Story by Kaylee Miyamoto

by Seras Bryner and Emmalee Harmon

Leading up to the school board meeting on April 18, the discussion about budget cuts became a whirlwind of outcry at Terrace and other schools in the Edmonds School District (ESD). On that night, students, teachers, parents, alumni and community members came together at the district board meeting to make their voices heard. Terrace band students wore bright red pep band shirts, normally only seen during football games, and played music outside of the building starting around 5 p.m., an hour before the meeting began, as students, teachers and parents rallied around them.

What is normally an hour-long meeting turned into six, as the main room became crowded with more than 100 people signed up to speak to the board with their concerns about the projected cuts and the effects they would have on students. Many had to go into other rooms to watch the meeting, some stayed home to watch, and others simply stood in the halls or outside. Several parents, teachers, alumni and students passionately spoke about their own experiences with the many programs that could be cut in the 2023-24 school year, along with the impact of bigger class sizes, and how different going to school next year would be with the changes. This came as a result of major circulation of the projected cuts by the district due to

a shortfall in state funding correlated to enrollment and pandemic funding.

Following the meeting, ESD posted a website page to answer common questions and allow for submissions of additional questions regarding the next school year’s funding. The budget is still in planning and even after a decision being made by the board, there are still factors that would impact the budget in a way it must adjust.

“In terms of changes that can happen right up to and including the start of school, this occurs EVERY YEAR because of enrollment fluctuations and life choices of staff. We don’t like it, but being an organization here to serve the public, we are responsive to the human situations (e.g., moving in and out of the district, last minute staff retirements/ resignations /leaves) that ultimately affect various aspects of classrooms and schools.” Nancy Katims said.

Terrace’s performing arts programs, band, theater and choir, is expecting to see a major loss with the district budget shortfalls. The expected cuts will lead symphonic band and Jazz 2 to merge, and would leave the only percussion, choir and after school theater classes out of the picture.

Terrace’s music boosters group posted online and on their Instagram account, @mthsmusicboosters, for weeks over the concern with budget cuts on the band program. Parents and students advocated to stop the cuts by taking action, with students playing music in the morning, emailing board members and gaining support for the program from retired White House drummer Justin DeCioccio and Seattle Sounders FC player Christian Roldan.

Many students from around the district spoke on the importance of the arts programs offered in high school, bringing community, passion and joy.

The cuts would also impact Terrace’s STEM program and other CTE classes, with a loss in funding due to the 20232024 schedule change decreasing the minutes of class time and subsequently decreasing CTE funding. These losses will result in some classes being cut, such as anatomy and physiology, which will put the teachers of these classes’ jobs at risk based on the schools need for teachers in classes.

The district had also made cuts to the jobs of integral social workers. That impact became known as many Latino Student Union (LSU) members

spoke on the importance Victoria Castaneda, and dents of color and from Beyond electives, the teachers to be surplused, teaching a full schedule and may only teach a few high school students though, class sizes with the decrease ing shortfall is due to reduction trict is seeing those numbers the lower elementary school lines to keep class sizes funding is seen more in On April 25, the week what would have been four hours, with people dents rallying and playing “I have the feeling that up into a huge, much bigger President Nancy Katims ing.

The MTHS Music Boosters their Instagram account, organize, advocate, and It worked! It’s a big deal!” This platform has been as well as having students achievements of the ESD budget proposals indicate classes across all high schools Moving forward, the schedule, hoping to change elementary schools are and an additional seven schools.

“The district and the collaborated on this solution these challenging budget sent out to students and In addition, the district staff and families to “examine

Photos

Graphics by Rodney Budden

MTHS bands played in front of the school in the cold mornings leading up to the board meeting as a form of protest.

COMMUNITY TOGETHER

against cutting Terrace’s renowned arts programs amidst cuts due to lack of state funding

importance of Terrace’s own social worker, and her aid to students, especially stufrom lower income households. shortfall in funding leaves some surplused, meaning they would no longer be schedule of five classes a day at one school, few based on each school’s needs. For though, there will be an increase in decrease in teachers. Although the fundreduction in student numbers, the disnumbers fall in elementary schools. As school grade levels have stricter guidesizes smaller, the effects of decreased in middle and high schools. week following the initial board meeting, another normal board meeting lasted people signing up to speak along with stuplaying music.

that social media hoped to just blow this bigger thing than it really is,” board Katims said towards the end of the meet-

Boosters posted what Katims said on account, adding “We used social media to and bring transparency to this process. deal!”

been effective in getting the word out students share their stories, including the ESD music programs. Still, the initial indicate severe or even total cuts to music schools and middle schools. district has changed next year’s change state funding levels. Middle and being pushed back by 10 minutes, seven minutes will be added for high Edmonds Education Association solution to help mitigate the impacts of budget times,” the district said in an email and families.

district is forming a joint committee of “examine our start and end times.” H

By

LETTER TO THE SCHOOL BOARD

Jesse Guasch, written for and presented to the ESD school board at the board meeting on April 18

Myname is Jesse Guasch, I’m a current junior at Mountlake Terrace High School. Although there are many other issues I would like to shine a light on at the moment, such as the cuts to the Performing Arts program in the district, I’d like to specifically center on the cuts to the School Social Work Program in the Edmonds School District.

As a Latino student in the district, and as an aspiring social worker myself I find that it is my duty to self-advocate for my community wherever possible, and I believe that these cuts being made to the Social Work program are not just.

To begin, I’d like to highlight a portion of the work that my school social worker, Ms. Victoria Castaneda does for the students of Mountlake Terrace High School and Brier Terrace Middle school. The work that Ms. Victoria does includes, but is not limited to, providing counseling, housing insecurity support, crisis intervention, and immigration trauma support (to name a few).

To put it simply, the work that Ms. Victoria does for the students in the Edmonds School District is nothing short of crucial, if not absolutely necessary for the mental health and wellbeing of the multitude of students she works with. Not only does Ms. Victoria help students with their personal concerns, but she also acts as the advisor for the Latino Student Union at Mountlake Terrace High School, of which I am current vice president. Ms. Victoria works tirelessly every day with a broad range of students across the district regardless of gender, race, or identity. As a member of the Latino community herself, Ms. Victoria is able to provide support for Latino students in the community. Students who may not be fluent in English.

Students who suffer from immigration-related trauma, students who rely on Ms. Victoria to simply get through their day, in a school where she might be the only adult in the building who understands that student’s struggles and experiences.

Throughout this last year, Ms. Victoria has given me an incredible amount of opportunities to give back to my community, and has given me knowledge that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

To continue, I’d like to touch upon the demographic of students impacted by this cut to the Social Work Program. To quote the letter made by the School Social Work program to the District Board, “In Edmonds, School Social Workers’ case loads are made up of approximately 70% or more students of color as well as students who identify as LGBTQI+.” The Edmonds School District takes pride and identifies with the saying “Equity, Engagement, and Excellence”. How can we, as a district, uphold that with good faith after terminating a program that’s main demographic is made up of minority communities.

Furthermore, I direct this message specifically to the superintendent of the Edmonds School District, whom I had the pleasure of meeting this past Saturday. In this time, where mental health needs are the greatest they have been in years, where interpersonal violence and behavioral issues are on the rise, and where access to mental health counseling and support is so limited, I propose the question, what exactly does this say to the families, students, and the community regarding your priorities and commitment to the wellbeing of your students? H

Junior Jesse Guasch reads his letter (see to the left) to the school board addressing effects the budget cuts would have on school social workers and students.

Teachers, students and parents fill the board room to capacity in order to speak and listen to the meeting. More than 100 people spoke against the budget cuts.

As one Hawk takes wing, another is set to land

By Terina Papatu NEWS EDITOR

With this current school year coming to a close, the Edmonds School District is set to receive many changes going into the 20232024 school year. At Terrace specifically, an important member of the administration is moving on. In an announcement sent through email on April 27, Principal Greg Schellenberg notified students and families at MTHS that he will not be returning to his position next school year.

“These past six years have been both challenging (COVID) and personally and professionally fulfilling. MTHS has a bright future and I look forward to hearing the continued success of Terrace students and programs,” he said in the email.

Staff were notified of his departure the earlier just prior to spring break.

“Terrace is incredible. The people are terrific and the kids here are outstanding,” he said in a quick email to staff on March 24. “It has been a pleasure to be here and to help see the school through some tough times.”

The finalists for the new principal were chosen and announced to staff on April 28.

The two potential candidates were Jamila Gordon, the current assistant principal at a Shoreline School District middle school, and Crosby Carpenter, the principal Liberty Bell Jr./Sr. High School in the Methow Valley School District about four hours east of Snohomish County.

Following the finalist announcement, teams from the district continued the interview process to decide who would become Terrace’s new principal.

On May 1, a forum was held over a Zoom meeting intended for families, students and staff to participate in and raise any questions or concerns they had for the candidates.

Assistant Superintendent Greg Schwab,

himself a former MTHS principal, hosted the webinar. Following the forum, the announcement of the new principal was made in the afternoon of May 4. Schwab sent out the notice to the Terrace community via ParentSquare.

“We are pleased to announce that Crosby Carpenter has been selected as the next principal of Mountlake Terrace High School,” the message said.

The new principal will officially start his position on July 1 to plan for the 2023-2024 school year. Carpenter said he is looking forward to meeting new faces at MTHS.

“I can’t wait to get started and get to know everyone,” he said. “I’ve been described as ‘high energy.’ I move around a lot, I like to be visible, in hallways and classrooms, talking to students and staff.”

Although leaving from his current school to Terrace is quite the move, Carpenter wants to be closer to family and face a new challenge.

“I’ve mainly worked in smaller schools, so the opportunity to work at a larger high school with such outstanding programs and community pride was a huge attraction. I have friends who’ve worked at Terrace. They rave about the students, staff and community,” he said.

Since graduating from college, Carpenter has worked all around the West, from Navajo Nation in New Mexico to the Lake Chelan School District, to his current position in MVSD.

Regarding the district budget cuts, Carpenter said he believes the state’s forced reductions to school’s budgets is quite hurtful to the different programs in public schools.

“We need to make our voices heard at the state level by advocating for an increase in funding for our public schools. My plan [for

these programs] would be to start by listening to students, staff, parents, and anyone with a vested interest in sustaining the performing arts programs at Terrace in order to find creative solutions to preserve these programs,” Carpenter said.

As far as students go, their safety is Carpenter’s first priority, expressing how

hear their concerns and experiences related to these topics, then brainstorm solutions,” he said. “I’m not a big fan of large all-school educational assemblies. I think this work needs to be done in smaller groups. My goal when speaking with students who’ve engaged in violent behavior or substance use is to try to understand why. I also believe in working in partnership with law enforcement and community organizations to make sure students feel supported, safe, and celebrated in their learning.” H

prepared he is to meet with students and staff to listen to their concerns as well as brainstorm solutions as a group so he can ensure students are heard and kept out of trouble.

“How do we ensure Terrace is a place where every student is engaged and experiences a sense of belonging? It starts by meeting with students and staff to

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

After six exciting years, Greg Schellenberg says goodbye to Terrace

It is with mixed feelings that I am writing this letter for Hawkeye as a goodbye to MTHS. In truth, it is far too early for farewells and goodbyes as the majority of the 4th quarter is still in front of us. Yet, it is also true that it is not too early to plan for next school year, which is a surreal place to be.

I arrived at Mountlake Terrace in the summer of 2017. My first year I had the title of Interim Principal. Even as a school principal, one can be nervous about starting at a new school. Very quickly, I realized that MTHS is a wonderful place to be. There is this deep sense of pride at Terrace, both for what happens in the classrooms on a daily basis, and for the activities/ clubs/athletic programs that students invest themselves in throughout the year.

I’ve been fortunate to be a part of this school community and lead MTHS for six school years. Those years include some incredible memories of students performing their best when it mattered. They include countless classroom visits where teacher/students

relationships are positive, strong, and engaged in the task at hand. Also included are the COVID years with remote, hybrid learning challenges. As we continue to climb out of that COVID period of time, one Terrace characteristic rings true now more than ever – Terrace people look out for Terrace people. There is more support, understanding and encouragement here (student to student/staff to student) than anywhere I’ve been before – and that is a hallmark of Terrace that will endure.

MTHS will always have a special place in my heart and memories. I look forward to hear about all of the amazing things that MTHS will be doing in the coming years. Thank you for the six wonderful years! GO HAWKS!

~ Greg Schellenberg H

Principal Greg Schellenberg voluntarily takes a pie to the face as part of the winter pep assembly in the Terraceum. Schellenberg is 6’8”, so a step ladder was brought in to assist in the ceremony. EMMALEE HARMON | HAWKEYE

PHOTO COURTESY OF CROSBY CARPENTER

Principal Greg Schellenberg speaks about what a great semester it’d been at the winter assembly.

EMMALEE HARMON | HAWKEYE

FOLLOWING TRAGEDY, SOLUTIONS ARISE

By Halle Connell HAWKEYE STAFF

On March 30, a massive uproar in Nashville, Tennessee, led to a protest where 7,000 high school students protested within the Tennessee capital. The start of the protests were three days after the Nashville shooting, in which a local resident and prior student to the Covenant School, Aiden Hale, shot his way into the school, killing three students and three teachers. This shooting caused turmoil across the nation. After many reported school shootings as well as mass shootings, more people began wondering if students were going to stay safe when walking the halls of their schools. The Nashville shooting became a more controversial topic due to the shooter being a trans man.

After this, there was still a refusal by Tennessee legislators to put gun restrictions in place. Over 10,000 peaceful protesters rallied around the Tennessee House Chamber demanding stricter gun control. Protesters were repeating, “What do we want? Gun control. When do we want it? Now,” and “No justice, no peace.”

“It ticks me off, they should really limit the gun laws out here. You can’t just be buying guns like it’s a grocery item. I’d totally join the protests, it’s a serious matter and I’d love to join in,” freshman Gwen McGlothlin said.

After making it into the capitol building, protesters reportedly started singing “All You Need Is Love,” a popular song by The Beatles. Many protesters began filming the events. Lawmakers were escorted by police to the scheduled hearings while citizens continued to protest against the legislators and representatives, asking them, “What will it take for you to put stricter gun laws in place?”

“It kind of worries me, you know?” junior Dominick Calica said. “Because people that are making the laws aren’t contributing to the protests concerning laws, and high school kids are the main victims of school shootings.”

During a debate for an education bill in Tennesee, people continued chanting, and three Democratic legislators stood up with bullhorns to show their support for the protesters. Rep. Justin Pearson of Memphis, Rep. Justin Jones of Nashville (more commonly known as the Justin Brothers) and Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, together known as the “Tennessee Three.” The three representatives were seen walking up to a lectern called the “well” standing alongside protestors, chanting for gun reform.

Once the three legislators stood up and started chanting alongside protesters, Cameron Sexton, head speaker of Tennessee’s House of Representatives, immediately paused the hearing and requested the three Democratic representatives be escorted out by police.

Sexton could then be seen huddling with other known Republican legislators, likely discussing how to move forward with the hearing.

One day after the large protest at the Tennessee Capitol, the three representatives that stood with the crowd soon

faced backlash from Congress for their actions.

Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson were officially expelled from Congress on April 9.

The day The Tennessee Three were on trial, many came to protest the expulsion. The three were seen walking through the capitol, as protesters cheered them on. They were filmed with their fists up as protesters were cheering, “We stand with justice,” as well as, “Free, free, free. Free the Tennessee Three.”

“We called for you to ban assault weapons, and you responded with an assault on democracy,” Representative Justin Jones stated in a speech during their expulsion. “For years one of your members, who was an admitted child molester, sat in this chamber. No expulsion. One member who sits in this chamber, who was found guilty of domestic violence. No expulsion.”

Jones continued in his speech about the attack on democracy and the Tennessee House’s lack of action on tightening gun laws after the state of Tennessee expressed opposition to the lack of reform when it comes to outlawing assault weapons.

“Since you’re trying to put us on trial, I’ll say what you’re really putting on trial is the state of Tennessee.” He saidcontinued,. “It is in that spirit of speaking for my constituents, of being the representative of the people, that I approached the well last Thursday, breaking a house rule, but exercising my moral obedience to my constitutional responsibility to be a voice for my people. To be a voice for Tennesseeans when you choose to not listen because of those NRA checks.”

“I think the shooting itself is horrible. Of course, no one would want to condone a school shooting. But it’s the way

the Tennessee state law is structured. It’s going to take a lot of time and a lot of pressure on people to push the conservative government to reevaluate their stance, but I personally think that some sort of temporary ban should be in place at some point,.” freshman Theo Abero said, stated.

During the debate for the expulsion, protesters were heard shouting, “You ban books. You ban drag. Kids are still in body bags.”

Considered one of the most renowned moments during this debate, Rep. Justin Pearson made his powerful speech “In the Well” after being questioned by the Tennessee body on why he was getting expelled.

“I believe I am in the well today because you have put forward a resolution that says that it is more important to expel the voices of dissent than do the work of justice, which is fighting to end gun violence in the state of Tennessee. See I believe I am in the well today because I, with the courage of ancestors and family and loved ones in communities, stood up and spoke up for folks like my classmate, like Lary Thorne, who can speak no more because of the proliferation of guns in Tennessee. I believe I am in the well today because you have decided that it is not right to have a debate, it is not right to listen to the voices of the minority. I believe I am in the well today because on the day that we wanted to honor the thousands of people who protested, but we were denied that opportunity. I believe I am here today because you feel in your hearts to persecute someone who has committed no crime, who has broken what you call a ‘House Decorum rule’ which according to section 19 of the House Permanent Rules of Order says that, at worst, the thing that should happen in censure. But instead, you have brought forward a terrible resolution to deprive and disenfranchise thousands of people in Shelby County of a representative who will and can speak and advocate for them. And I believe, Representative Farmer, that that is wrong,” he said.

Shortly after the expulsion, a unanimous vote, decided by the Nashville city council, soon reinstated Justin Pearson once again.

The reinstatement happened just one day after the expulsion of the two.

“They tried to kill democracy,” Representative Pearson said in a public speech made shortly after the unanimous vote.

“They tried to expel the people’s choices and the people’s vote. And they awakened a sleeping giant. They put Gloria Johnson and Justin Jones and me on trial, but they ended up putting themselves on trial. The people’s verdict is back: Guilty. Guilty of white supremacy, guilty of the patriarchy, guilty of supporting the NRA (National Rifle Association) over people, guilty of attacking the poor, guilty of not expanding our health care, guilty for not giving us educational resources. Guilty, guilty, guilty.” H

“You can expel me, but you cannot expel this movement.”

Justin Jones

TENNESSEE STATE REPRESENTATIVE

CHARLI GILCHRIST | HAWKEYE

Robotics team overcomes challenges and exceeds expectations

By Jakob Nacanaynay SPORTS EDITOR

Members of Terrace’s FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team, 1778 Chill Out, celebrated the conclusion to one of their most successful competitive seasons in recent memory on April 25. Overcoming multiple technical issues, Chill Out skyrocketed through the rankings, taking home two district champion banners.

FRC is a competition where teams engineer robots to score points according to an annual game. The game for 2023 was called “Charged Up” where teams place cubes and cones into certain areas of a multi-tiered grid to score points. With the challenge released on Jan. 7, 2023, teams would have only three months to design, prototype, build, program and practice for the competition.

For their first event of the season at Glacier Peak, Chill Out’s robot arm broke the day before the competition. Then on competition day, they had radio connectivity issues, meaning the robot could not be controlled. For the first nine matches of qualifications, the team could only watch their robot sit still on the game floor, apart from the autonomous portion of the match which the team worked on programming the day of.

“We were working with a bunch of teams that were trying to help us – one of the helpful mentor/technician people there that was trying to help us get started,” team captain Gavin Leach said. “And eventually what ended up fixing it was we got a spare part from the Royals, team 2522 from Lynnwood High School.”

By the 10th match Chill Out managed to get the radio working, but it was already far into quals. They would finish the round with a 2-10 record.

After the qualification round, top teams select other teams to form “alliances” of three to head against others.

To the surprise of many in Chill Out, which had ranked

were like, ‘take that damn thing off, it’s extra weight.’ So we took the arm off and we became purely a defensive and low-scoring bot.”

Their alliance would win every match after.

Gearing up for their next event at Bonney Lake, Chill Out began working on a new arm design.

With competition fast approaching, the new design proved unsuccessful and they decided to again compete without an arm.

“We weren’t discouraged,” Leach said. “We knew what we had was a good enough system so we were gonna keep running with it. We spent about the entire week before doing only drive practice and programming which allowed us to build up a very strong autonomous… We were performing very fast cycle times, we had very consistent balance, we had a very consistent autonomous. And that helped us out greatly. It meant even though we didn’t have the full capability to be able to score high or middle like many of the other teams at our competition did, this sole practice of being able to drive and to do what we did fast, effectively and consistently – that was what our robot was.”

Excelling in the qualification round, Chill Out became the third alliance captains. With team 2522 Royal Robotics, which had helped them at Glacier Peak, and team 3393 Horns of Havoc from Puyallup High School, they beat out the first alliance and won the event.

After the event, Chill Out again worked on improving their robot.

Instead we ended up ranking 12th,” Leach said. After quals, Chill Out was the second pick of the eighth alliance, which had team 360 The Revolution from Bellarmine Preparatory School and team 3218 Panther Robotics from Bonney Lake High School. In the double elimination round, Chill Out was kicked to the lower bracket from losing to the first alliance, beat the fourth and second alliances then lost again to the first alliance by a point difference equivalent of single game piece.

“By no means was either our robot or our alliances’ robots weak, in the sense that we did very well,” Leach said. “It just ended up being a really weird schedule. We likely would have been semifinalists at that event.”

Chill Out had qualified to compete in the world FIRST championship held in Houston, Texas but ultimately decided not to go.

near the bottom, they were selected by the first alliance which consisted of top ranked team 2910 Jack in the Bot from Jackson High School and the second ranked team 2930 Sonic Squirrels from Glacier Peak High School.

“This was special because they really showed us our value in the bot not working,” member Cyrus McMillion said. “We didn’t have our arm working like it was supposed to, and they

“We decided being able to make cubes on the middle and high levels would be beneficial for us as an alliance member and expand our abilities, so we decided to add a shooter that would allow us to shoot cubes onto those levels,” Leach said. “And we were able to get that designed and tested very fast and almost immediately so we just had to go through the process of actually getting the parts and putting them on. Once again, a week of programming and drive practice.”

It would be the Pacific Northwest Championship held at Cheney, Washington where luck would turn against the team. According to Statbotics.io, which tracks FRC competition statistics, Chill Out had the third-hardest strength of schedule composite score.

“Statbotics had a simulation of us being ranked 36th.

“There was a lot of discussion about this,” Leach said. “The main thing that we wanted to focus on was sustainability of the club. That was one of our biggest goals this year was to make a club that was sustainable for years to come. Going to worlds this year, we would’ve had to spend pretty much our entire budget to get there. And we decided that going to worlds to compete with what would likely be a small team –something that wouldn’t be everyone there any ways – was both against sustainability and lacks the real interest of going to compete with your team. If you’re not with your team it kind of lacks meaning.”

Captain Gavin Leach was thankful for their mentors including Kathy Leach, Steve Winckler, Sean Finerty and Tim Leach as well as the entire team for their success this year. Team member Simon Branch especially praised Gavin Leach for design and Kyle Winckler and the entire drive team.

Team member Lilia Maas noted the dedication of members who often spend multiple hours a day, days a week, for months on end working in both preparation and during build season on the robot.

“Build seasons are long and they’re a huge commitment, but everyone has really come through here and they’ve shown that they’re loyal and they’re hardworking,” she said. H

After a hard hit in qualification match 36 of the district championship, the bottom aluminum axle was bent. The pit crew had 1 hour to replace it with a steel one. CURTIS GILCHRIST | HAWKEYE

Expected points average over matches played from Statbotics.

RODNEY BUDDEN | HAWKEYE

TERRACE TALENT! GOT

Put those cell phones on silent and grab your pamphlets, the show is about to begin! After three years in hiatus, the class of 2023 hosted the long-awaited and highly anticipated event of the year, Terrace Got Talent. Round one took place on April 14 and round two on April 27. Both rounds were hosted by school icon and everyone’s favorite voice on the intercom, senior Ryan Daly.

Round One: FIGHT!

Round one included eight performances, ranging from classic rock to early 2000s Justin Timberlake rediscovered. Talk about variety!

The night was kicked off with Ethan Baquiring performing the sultry pop song “She was Mine” by AJ Rafael. While it was his first time performing in front of the school, Baquiring is not new to the music scene. In fact, he’s acquired a following of nearly 6,000 monthly listeners on Spotify under the stage name “bxchii,” having released two albums and multiple singles, presenting himself as somewhat of a veteran performer on stage.

That performance was followed up by the band American Cheddar playing an indie rock song titled “Sweater Song” by Phoneboy, not the one by Weezer. The band featured Hans Bahm as lead vocalist and pianist, Davis Gonzaga with backup vocals, ukulele and guitar, Nathaniel Ballard switching between guitar and bass, and Josiah Lee on drums. It’s safe to say the song was done justice, with it feeling like a scene from a coming of age movie, driving with your friends on a warm summer night.

That relaxed feeling was quickly replaced when Wendall Barnes walked onto stage to perform next, quickly being replaced by a feeling of “YEOWWW,” with the crowd erupting into cheers as he sang “Nothin’ But a Good Time” by Poison. With his captivatingly energized stage presence and hairflips, the audience definitely had nothing but a good time.

“Wendall’s fun to watch in day-to-day life, and he did better than I thought he would,” senior Tomislav Pavlovic said. “I was impressed by him, he has stage charisma.”

The fourth performance of the night featured Dustin Ledbetter performing grunge classic “Lithium” by Nirvana, a small band you may have heard of. Ledbetter carried the

performance with his powerful vocals and accompaniment of his guitar, seeming straight out of Guitar Hero.

“My favorite act was probably Dustin Ledbetter’s Nirvana performance. It was, like, so good it blew my mind,” sophomore Halleluia Alemayehu said. “I was really cheering him on over there.”

The audience was once again put through a sudden genre change with Jazzma Pennerman’s soulful a cappella rendition of “Someone Like You” by Adele. Pennerman captivated the audience with her soothing vocals, a tear or two may or may not have been wiped away using our pamphlets.

Remember how we mentioned Guitar Hero? Well imagine this next performance as that again, but this time it’s the final boss that takes every bit of your blood, sweat and tears to defeat. Juan Edgar Alvarez Hernandez is that final boss. With his electric guitar cover of “Tornado of Souls” by Megadeth, Alvarez Hernandez turned the theater upside down, inside out, sideways, just every direction in general. One could say a tornado hit it. While shredding on his guitar, he had a nonchalant look on his face the whole time, as if he were standing in line at the DMV.

“I was considering just skipping this to go to sleep. I don’t know, I still might do that actually,” Alvarez Hernandez said when learning he would advance to the next round.

Following Alvarez Hernandez’s performance came Quinn Sonne, performing “Rich Girl” by Down With Webster. Sonne came out dressed for the occasion, sporting white sunglasses hooked on the front pocket of his skinny jeans, paired with a string zip up hoodie and his windswept hair. He looked straight out of the early 2000s, and with his added choreography (jumping up and down) and Justin Timberlake-esque swagger, he had everyone in the audience clapping along in sync and screaming, and it didn’t stop even after he sauntered off stage.

“Wow,” host Daly said after his performance.

Now came the final performance, with Davis Gonzaga returning to the stage to perform a slow, intimate cover of “No One” by Alicia Keys. Yes, you read that right, Gonzaga performed for a second time that night, following his earlier performance with American Cheddar. With his Tumblresque, boy next door vocals and mint green guitar, he had an

out, “I love you!” clearly overtaken by the emotion he evoked within them.

The night was coming to an end, but before audience members could think to get up and leave, Daly came back out on stage and informed them that the judges’ decision of which five acts would advance to the next round would soon be announced. In the meantime, Daly kept the crowd entertained by introducing his own surprise talent, joking back and forth with the crowd and getting peer pressured into doing a split jump.

After the short intermission, all of the acts from the night returned to the stage arm in arm. With a drumroll from the audience, it was announced that Alvarez Hernandez, Barnes, American Cheddar, Pennerman and Gonzaga would be going onto round two.

The whole show left the audience in awe of all of the performers’ talent, excited for the upcoming finale.

“Eh,” Pavlovic said.

Round Two: LOVE!

Eventually, the night for round two finally arrived. This time, each act performed twice to fully show their talent.

The acts had some interesting highlights throughout the night, most completely unforeseen.

Barnes, right before he was set to start performing, decided that his act was the perfect opportunity for a promposal, dedicating the performance to a special someone in the audience!

“If this goes well, you owe me a date to prom,” Barnes said. American Cheddar brought on the second surprise of the night by introducing a new member of the band, Dominic Olivar. Mind you, nobody, including backstage, knew he was in the performance until he walked out on stage.

The surprises didn’t end there, however, as lead vocalist Bahm’s microphone failed to work. Still, they played on and salvaged the performance.

The night also consisted of Pennerman and Gonzaga both doing slow, calming songs, with Alvarez Hernandez ending the night off with a cover of the exciting “Goofy Goober Rock” from the infamous “Spongebob Squarepants Movie,” even going as far as to recite an entire monologue from the movie to kick off his performance.

After the judges’ deliberation, in third place came Jazzma Pennerman, second place American Cheddar, and first place Juan Edgar Alvarez Hernandez. H

By Maggie O’Hara and Cecilia Negash CO-EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

audience member calling

All of the performers from round one lined up, awaiting the announcement of who would be going to round two. SERAS BRYNER | HAWKEYE JAZZMA PENNERMAN

AMERICAN CHEDDAR

JUAN EDGAR ALVAREZ HERNANDEZ

WENDALL BARNES

QUINN SONNE

EFRATA SOLOMAN | HAWKEYE

EFRATA SOLOMAN | HAWKEYE

EFRATA SOLOMAN | HAWKEYE

EFRATA SOLOMAN | HAWKEYE

EFRATA SOLOMAN | HAWKEYE

RODNEY BUDDEN | HAWKEYE

RODNEY BUDDEN | HAWKEYE

HAWKS EARN STATE BERTH, D1 TITLE GAME IS NEXT

Senior outfielder and pinch-hitter Ryan Melgardshagen leads the dugout onto the field in celebration moments after second baseman Riley Norton made a brilliant grab on a line drive to seal the 6-5 semifinal victory over Shorewood Tuesday afternoon at Funko Field in Everett. HAWKEYE STAFF

Compiled by Hawkeye staff

With the spring sports season nearing its conclusion, several teams and individuals are poised to compete in postseason tournaments and at state. Here’s a quick overview of how the Hawks have fared this season on the field, at the course, on the court and on the track.

P: = post-season play

BASEBALL

Junior pitcher Dayton Nicholson went 5-1/3 innings before handing the ball over to junior Braeden Swan who closed out the Stormrays. The Hawks face Edmonds-Woodway at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 13 at Funko Field in the 3A District 1 Championship and have already sealed a trip to state. HAWKEYE STAFF

HAWKS 2022-2023 SPRING SPORTS REGULAR SEASON WRAP-UP

WOMEN’S

MEN’S SOCCER

SOFTBALL

M&W TRACK & FIELD

WOMEN’S TENNIS

May’s Logic Puzzle

CAN YOU DECRYPT ALICE’S OMINOUS MESSAGE?

Created by Jakob Nacanaynay

SPORTS EDITOR & PUZZLE MASTER

The Scenario

Alice attempted to encrypt a short phrase to communicate an ominous message to anyone trying to mess with Terrace.

The Details

To encrypt her message, Alice used the following steps:

1. For each letter, she numbered it according to its place in the alphabet. For example, A would become 1, B→2, C→3, …, Z→26

2. Each number was multiplied by 5

3. Each number had 3 subtracted

4. For each number over 26, it was ‘looped

MATH MAN TO THE RESCUE!

around’ back to a number less than or equal to 26. For example, 27 would become 1, 28→2, 100 →22 and so on.

5. Each number had 3 added back

6. Each number was multiplied by 5 again

7. Each number was ‘looped back’ again.

Her resulting message is this: gsv szdp hgirpvh zg wzdm

Your Task

Decode Alice’s message and discover her original message.

You must submit the decoded message to prove you solved the puzzle.

Your Deadline

• 5/26/23

Swag for the Winner

The ONLY way to win is to submit your answer to our online Puzzle Portal on TheHawkeye.org.

Just click the button on the home page and we’ll randomly select one correct entry.

The winner will receive HSM swag and a shout-out online and in print! H

ACACIA

ALOE

ASPEN

BARBERRY

BRAMBLE

BURDOCK

CACTUS

CINQUEFOIL

CORIANDER

DAFFODIL

DAHLIA

DAISY

DANDELION

FENNEL

GERANIUM

HAWKEYE COMICS!

WORD LIST

HIBISCUS

HONEYSUCKLE

HYACINTH

IRIS

IVY

LAUREL

LAVENDER

LILAC

LILY

MANDRAKE

MARIGOLD

MISTLETOE

NARCISSUS

PANSY

PARSLEY

PEONY

PRIMROSE

ROSE

SAFFRON

SAGE

SUNFLOWER

THYME

TULIP

VIOLET

WORMWOOD

YUCCA

HERKEY SAYS… “APRIL SHOWERS BROUGHT LOTS OF PLANTS AND FLOWERS! CAN YOU FIND THEM ALL?”

By Rodney Budden