OP/ED
8 | OCTOBER 2021
Commentary
Hawkeye
A word from the principal
Two local iconic animals are favorites There’s much to celebrate at
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henever my parents drive us near the Puget Sound I push my face up to the window and look for orca fins. I’ve only ever seen a full orca on a TV screen, but spotting the top of an orca’s fin is fairly common. I used to stare Rachel Davis OP-ED EDITOR at the water for hours trying to picture an orca jumping cleanly out, but alas, that day has yet to come. I love a lot of different sea creatures, but some I especially love are sea otters and orcas. Most people who live in Washington can identify these two easily; some may have even seen them in the wild before. In this edition of Rachel freaks out over the sea, I’ll be dishing out some fun facts about my favorite commonly known sea creatures. Let’s start with some sea otter facts. The Enhydra Lutris, or what we call the sea otter, is native to the north and east Pacific Ocean. While similar to the Lontra Canadensis, or river otter, there are some key differences. For starters, the sea otter primarily lives in the water. They sleep floating on the surface wrapped in kelp, relying on their thick fur coat of one million hairs per square inch instead of blubber fat to stay warm. For comparison, a snow leopard has 26,000 hairs per square inch. They are also fantastic swimmers. Mothers will typically wrap their babies in kelp to keep them attached as they
dip under the waves for a meal, which consist of sea urchins, crabs, clams, snails and other invertebrates. The sea otter is a very fascinating creature, but I think a big part of my fondness for them comes from their adorableness. Now, it may sound like I only like cute animals with big eyes and fuzzy fur, but other creatures catch my interest as well. For example, the killer whale, commonly known as the orca, is one of the most famous sea mammals in the Pacific Northwest. Orcas are associated with Indigenous communities around Washington, symbolizing good luck and compassion and being rumored to guide people back to their homeland after a tiring journey. The male orca grows to about 32 feet in length while the females go up to about 28 feet, and both weigh up to 400 pounds. Along with their physical traits, the way orcas communicate with each other is also very interesting. Typically, adult orcas will whistle or make their fins pulsate to send noise through the water. Sometimes, they also do what is considered a “pec slap” where they slap their fins against the water to send signals to their calves or other adult orcas. While I love other sea creatures as well, the orca and the sea otter have become my favorites. The creatures that live in the sea are some of the most genetically interesting living things to me. The way a fish works is completely different from a mammal, and it’s fascinating to learn more about the differences and similarities between them. H
as we wind down 1st quarter I
’d like to take a moment to talk about how amazing Homecoming Week was at MTHS. It felt just right to have the level of Homecoming energy that we had on campus – a full two years since our previous HC week. We were able to use Greg Schellenberg our brand new PRINCIPAL bleachers for the first time for assemblies. We have had our beautiful, black bleachers for nearly a year. They were used for sports last spring, but this is the first time for an assembly. Junior and senior students should remember the previous set of old, grey bleachers – and the upgrade is astounding. Regarding assemblies, I’d like to thank the ASB Big 6, Jeannie Brzovic, our cheerleaders, pep band, Darin Faul, Coach Malloy, students and staff for the energy and Hawk spirit. Stephanie Collins in the ASB office sold more than 650 tickets for the social, with long lines! Many people pitched in and contributed to a wonderful experience last week. The homecoming football game and social event were fun, positive successes. Our team gave a valiant effort Friday night in pursuit of a win. The crowd was packed,
energetic, and in full support of our Terrace team. Saturday’s social event was terrific. The weather cooperated with 60+ degrees and not a drop of rain. Students looked fantastic, dressed up and ready to have fun. The mood on Saturday matched the rest of homecoming week – high energy, positivity, and Hawk Pride. Overall, homecoming spirit week, and the events last week, were a reminder of the privilege of being back to in person learning and how great it is to be able to do this again. As we approach the end of quarter one, it is important to recognize that not everything may be going perfectly. As a school, we still are responding to students and families when help is necessary – everything from flexibility on homework assignments to financial resources for families, we are poised and ready to help out. If you are in need, please communicate that to your teachers, counselors or a trusted adult at school. We want to be of service to you and we can begin that when we know how to help. Thank you again for a terrific Homecoming Week. MTHS is truly a special place to be! Go Hawks! H EDITORS’ NOTE: The Hawkeye provides space on its Op/Ed
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A word from the ASB
UNUSUAL? YES. BUT THAT WAS A HOMECOMING FOR THE AGES By Kerensa Suzara BIG 6 PRESIDENT
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ello everyone! It’s your Big Six President, Kerensa. I hope school is going well now that we have all settled into a routine. However, since this is the first school year back from a pandemic, we are limited on what we can do. Despite that, we’re trying to make sure that we can all come together and follow some of the traditions that are most sacred to MTHS while also keeping everyone safe. Despite all the restrictions we faced as a result of COVID, I’m so pleased that we were able to keep most of the homecoming traditions, with a few alterations, of course. First of all, the hallways were decorated, the seniors with ‘90s, juniors with ‘70s, sophomores with the Roaring ‘20s, and the freshmen with Y2K. After spending so long in isolation and without the ability to follow those basic traditions, it was nice to see everyone enjoying the decorations and showing their creativity for each of the respective classes. Another thing that was super refreshing to see was the participation during spirit days. Last year, since we were all learning from home, participation in spirit weeks was extremely difficult. Though we tried to get something going by asking students to send in pictures to the official Terrace Instagram page, since we weren’t able to be together, we couldn’t do as much as we hoped. This year though, we got to be together, and I loved seeing all the participation in our spirit days. From monochrome vs.
“Homecoming 2021 was a success, and if anything, homecoming week has shown me that we can pull anything off if we put our minds to it.”
tie-dye to the class colors, it seemed like lots of people were participating, and that’s always super cool to see. Now, we know that homecoming assemblies have been a huge part of Terrace tradition for a long time, and it was tricky for us as organizers to figure out how we were going to keep the tradition alive, while also following safety guidelines. Instead of abandoning the tradition completely, we decided to hold a separate assembly for each class so that the crowds would be smaller and we could all stay spirited while spread out in the gym. We did our best to make sure that we kept our Terrace traditions alive at all of the assemblies, including the fight song, “Supersonic,” and “Ice Cream & Cake.” Coronation was also a little different this year. Usually, we crown our homecoming royalty at an all-school assembly, but since we couldn’t do that this year, we had to find ways to compensate so we announced the coronation during halftime of the homecoming football game. Although it isn’t how our typical assemblies go, I’m glad we were able to gather the classes individually and still have
fun. We hope that we were able to give everyone a somewhat normal experience. If we thought the assemblies were tricky to organize, it was nothing in comparison to figuring out how to organize a fun yet safe homecoming dance. In the end, we decided that, to ensure the safety of our community while also maintaining an important Terrace tradition, we would hold a homecoming social outdoors, not as a dance, but rather a social event for people to mingle. We had music, food and a photobooth set up by HSM. Overall, I would say that Homecoming 2021 was a success, and if anything, homecoming week has shown me that we can pull anything off if we put our minds to it. Despite all the limitations we had to face, we were able to keep the most important Terrace traditions alive, and I hope that everyone felt connected to our amazing community that we have at Terrace. All the things that we once took for granted, such as spirit weeks and school dances, are now some of the most important things to our community, and I’m so grateful for everyone who helped keep some sense of normalcy going. Also, ASB is always looking for feedback, so if you have any ideas for future spirit days or just want to share your thoughts with us, we’re always around, and we are here for you. Our goal is to serve all of our students, and if there’s anything we can do to make school more enjoyable for you, we want to do all we can to make that happen. H
