The Hawk March 2021

The World Turned

Upside Down

Looking back on a year of COVID-19

The

Hawk

Hendrickson High School 19201 Colorado Sand Drive Pflugerville. Texas 78660 Volume 14, Issue 5 March 24, 2021

In this issue...

Debators to State - Page 4 Girl Scouts - Page 13 Baseball, Softball - Page 14

2

News March 24, 2021

state of the

UNION

Landon Self | Asst. Editor The 87th Texas State Legislature convened on Jan. 12 of this year to begin the biennial legislative session.

All 150 State Representatives and 31 State Senators will be in Austin until the end of the session at the end of May. The Texas House of Representatives elected Representative Dade Phelan as the Speaker

87th Texas State Legislative Session Underway

of the House and the State Senate elected Senator Brian Birdwell as the President Pro Tem. One major issue that will be at the hands of legislators during this session will be redistricting. Every ten years, Congressional, State House, State Senate, and State Board of Education districts are redrawn to give proportional representation based on population.

However, this year the census numbers have been delayed due to COVID and have been delayed again, which means the legislature will not have numbers to draw the districts until late summer going into the fall, which sets the stage for a likley special session.

How to be an Advocate during Session Activism Organizations House and Senate Committees Representatives and Senators Go to the Texas State Website: https://capitol.texas.gov/

Look up your representative on Wrm.capitol.texas.gov

Contact a Lobbying Organization

Find House and Senate Committees

Find their email at house.texas.gov/members/ and senate.texas.gov/members

Ask to lobby for an issue important to you

Find hearing and meeting dates

Sign up to give public comment

Send them an email!

Ask to meet them at the capitol or remotely

Do what they assign you to do

Lobby Organization Examples: Texas Values, Texas Homeschool Coalition, Texas Alliance for Life

Volume 14, Issue 5

News

3

Teachers eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccine Yael Behar | Reporter COVID vaccines by companies like Moderna and Pfizer have gradually begun to start widespread administration. After starting with first responders like doctors and nurses as well as high risk persons, the vaccines have slowly become available for the general public and teachers.

An example of this is Pflugerville, where PfISD has partnered with Austin Public Health to vaccinate teachers.

“I pre-registered through APH and thought I would have to keep searching for appointments, but then on February 26 they sent me an email and text with my date, time, and location,” school librarian Kara Johnson said.

“I have only had the first dose and I got it on February 28 at the Pflugerville Rec Center – they told me the second dose could be at a different location.”

The vaccines started being

administered around late January to employees who met the qualifications for the 1A and 1B phase criteria. This was through a double dosage shot given with some time apart. Now the vaccines are available for every teacher in the district, although family members of teachers will still have to wait for the vaccine.

“I hope everyone takes advantage of getting a vaccine when it is offered,” PE department chair Carol Peterson said. “The more vaccinations the sooner we can return to normal activities such as school, extra-curricular [activities], going out to eat, movies, etc.”

Similar to other vaccines such as the flu vaccine, the COVID vaccine has also come with some mild symptoms to accompany it.

“I didn't have any issues with the first injection,” Peterson said. “The second

one I had chills, slight fever, aches, especially from the injection site and no energy.

All of this lasted one day.”

Despite the vaccine availability for teachers, there is still no option for most students as the vaccines being administered are for people ages 18 and up.

“From what I’ve read there may be a vaccine available for young people in 2022,” Johnson said. “There are so many things to consider and the fact that this is a pandemic means the whole world needs to be vaccinated. I think things will take a long time to really become back to normal.”

With a vaccine that works for people ages 18 and up, but not for younger people, as well as the large numbers of people still unvaccinated, the CDC recommends continuing to be cautious, and maintaining social distancing rules.

“I don’t think we will be back to normal for a long

time,” Peterson said. “Despite Governor Abbott lifting the mask ban yesterday, I feel we will be wearing masks for a long time. Just look at the flu numbers and how they have gone way down just by people wearing a mask.

I think once the majority of people are vaccinated, we will be able to return to school but I personally see myself wearing a mask for quite some time, especially with lots of students in the classroom.”

Governor Abott recently allowed for the mask mandate to be lifted in the state of Texas, and store capacity to be opened up to 100%, in the hopes that the vaccine will supplement the lifted precautionary measures.

“I do think we will see some relief as numbers go down and vaccines are more readily available,” instructional coach Jessica Good said. “It takes time. We need to remember as a society that not everything

comes quickly and hard work pays off. We will get back to normal or a more acceptable new normal eventually.”

The amount of time it will take to fully develop a vaccine that will work for everyone, and then administer said vaccine is indeterminate, but scientists and government officials have been trying to stop the spread of COVID, and above all else, working to get people vaccinated.

“Having been vaccinated is freeing in many ways,” journalism teacher Kari Riemer said. “It just makes me feel safer, but just because I am vaccinated doesn't mean I feel like I can let my guard down. I'm not sure things will ever fully go back to the way things were before. I doubt I'll ever fly without a mask again, and used to think people who did that were overcautious. I want things to be 'normal,' but I think we should take it slow.”

Additional strains of coronavirus spreading alongside SARS-CoV-2

229E (alpha) NL63 (alpha) OC43 (beta) HKU1 The 229E (alpha) strain is one of the seven known coronaviruses to infect humans and is mostly responsible for the common cold and has high mortality outcomes such as pneumonia and bronchitis. It was first identified in 1965 by Dorothy Hamre after likely originating from bats.

Kaitlyn Nash | Asst. Editor

The NL63 (alpha) strain is known to lead to infections and diseases such as upper respiratory tract infections, severe lower respiratory tract infections, croup, and bronchiolitis and is often found in young children, elderly people, and people with existing conditions. The strain originated from palm civets, which are rodents that usually inhabit forests in Asia, and bats.

Another strain that causes the common cold, OC43 (beta), is a strain of coronavirus that mostly infects humans and cattle and is thought to have originated in rodents, transferring to cattle and then to humans. There are four genotypes that have been identified. The A variant is dated from ancient times, the B and C variants date to the 1980s to the 1990s, and the D variant dates to the early 2000s.

The fourth variant of coronavirus is called HKU1 and it was first discovered in Jan 2004 when one man in Hong Kong was infected and research revealed it has global distribution and earlier genesis. It is known to cause the common cold, but can advance to pneumonia and bronchitis. Scientists were unsuccessful in their attempts to grow a cell line from HKU1, meaning the animal it originated from is unknown.

MERS-CoV

SARS

Most often known as Severe acute respiratory the camel flu, MERS- syndrome coronavirus, CoV is a viral respiratory most commonly known infection that has varying as SARS, infects bats, symptoms, making it hard palm civets, and humans. to locate or diagnose and It causes an often severe the symptoms include illness and is marked fever, cough, diarrhea, initially by systemic and shortness of breath. symptoms of muscle There have been 45 cases pain, headache, and in the year 2020 and fever, followed in 2–14 about 35% of those who days by the onset of are diagnosed with the respiratory symptoms, disease die from it. As of mainly cough, dyspnea, 2020, there has been no and pneumonia. cure or treatment for the virus.

Illustration by | Bryan Ross

4

News March 24, 2021

UIL District competitions start this week Liliana Moran | Reporter Computers open, determination filling students’ eyes as they enter yet another virtual meeting to prepare themselves for the big day.

Teachers, equipped with digital notes and assignments stand ready to guide them to victory.

UIL competitions make their way to schools once every year, usually with the same old sets of routines. But, this year, schools have had to face a new type of challenge: how to compete in UIL during a global pandemic.

“I’m glad that my students still have the ability to compete,” literary criticism and ready writing coach Jordan Smith said. “Even though we’ve had to make so many changes to make it possible and safe.”

The UIL district meet will be held on March 26-27 at each individual school. One Act Play (OAP) competitions will be held on March 12th at Weiss Highschool. All academic competitions will be administered locally, with the speech and debate competitions being online and OAP being central. Competitors and administrators will also be required to wear face masks throughout the events and

students will have limited time on the campus to maintain safety.

“Hendrickson students will report to the school in-person to complete their events. The other schools will administer events on their own campuses and then bring all of the materials to Hendrickson the following day,” Smith said. “It will delay the results a little longer than usual, but it’s safer for everyone this way.”

Teachers have had to adjust their practices throughout the year to help prepare their teams in a safe manner.

“Each academic coach has been hosting Zoom practices for most of the year,” Debate coach and UIL coordinator Kirsten Nash said.

Social studies coach, Sara Lucas has had to prepare her team through various methods; utilizing online sites, independent studying and quizzes.

“The coaches set up a Google Classroom just for the UIL Social Studies event,” Lucas said. “We posted a Google Sheet with all of the testable terms and the students have been great about filling in their part of definitions for the terms and people.”

Nash feels the pandemic has added challenges and frustrations when it comes to organizing the event for everyone.

“Everything is different,” Nash said. “With the district meet this year, UIL waited until the end of January to give us any guidance which made it extremely stressful. I am someone who likes to take

care of things early. Most of the meet decisions are made in September in a regular year, but this year we didn’t even make firm plans until January.”

Smith believes the pandemic has added some new difficulties to her group’s training as well.

“Meeting on Zoom definitely makes it more challenging to help prepare for UIL,” Smith said. “In person, it’s easier to annotate a poem together or to just talk through questions that

students have. It’s also easier to get resources to students when I see them in-person especially with the books we have to read.”

Senior and ready writing competitor Amber Pride has felt the struggle of online team meetings and scheduling as well.

“I participated in the same event last year,” Pride said.

“Preparation was slightly easier then just because timemanagement hasn’t been as easy with virtual learning.”

In spite of these challenges, Pride overall has high hopes for the competitions.

I’m pretty excited,” Pride said.

“It will be, at the very least, interesting to see how things adapt this year because of the circumstances.”

Along with academic competitions, One Act Play has also had to undergo many changes with the majority of the rehearsals having been held virtually over the year with a few in person meetings.

They have added new safety protocols for the event to ensure the participants’ safety.

“We are thrilled that we will be able to participate in one act play,” District fine arts head Manuel Gamez said. “We will

be limiting audience capacity, having the award ceremony virtually... The safety of students and staff is our priority.”

Gamez feels grateful to all the participants and staff for continuing to work towards the contest and is eager for the schools to compete.

“It has been a challenge but the perseverance of our students and staff has allowed them to continue the tradition of excellence,” Gamez said.

“We have amazing students and teachers. I am anticipating great performances by all three of our high schools.”

Smith feels thankful for all her team’s work.

“I’m really proud of my students this year because they’ve had to take more individual responsibility for their learning, but they’ve really risen to the challenge,” Smith said.

Smith is also grateful for Nash and all the work she had put into the event.

“Ms. Nash has worked incredibly hard to figure out how to handle the competitions safely,” Smith said. “She deserves a lot of credit for making the District Meet as safe and fair as possible.”

Five students qualify for FCCLA State Conference Kaitlyn Nash | Asst. Editor On Jan. 28-30, the FCCLA students competed in the Region V Leadership Conference and STAR Event Virtual Competition. Five students competed and placed and will now be representing Hendrickson at state.

“I think they’re going to do really well,” Kristen Sutphen, the FCCLA director and interior and fashion design teacher, said. “They have been reviewing the evaluations

they received from our region competition and taking the judges remarks to improve their projects.”

In the Focus on Children Level 3 division, seniors Isabelle Badua, Pedro De Lima Mattar, and Jasmine Sandoval placed second and will now be advancing to state.

“Overall I am excited to participate in the FCCLA State Conference because it is my first year doing it so advancing to state was pretty exciting,”

Mattar said. “State conference is much bigger than [the] regional conference so that stresses me out a little because we are going to be competing with more schools. In general, I would say I am more excited than nervous.”

In the Career Investigation Level 3 division, junior Minhea Thomas placed second and will now be advancing to state.

“This year might be a little challenging just because it’s going to be virtual, which has

it’s pros and cons,” Sutphen said. “They can’t really show off their projects in the ways they used to be in the past so I think that’s going to be a challenge for them, but we’ve been practicing and they got a little bit of exposure from regions so I think they’re going to do really good.”

In the Fashion Construction Level 3 division, sophomore Xylie Nazworth placed fourth and will now be advancing to state.

“I’m a little nervous because this is the first time my clothes have been judged by strangers but I’m also super excited to get feedback and get more opinions on my art,” Nazworth said. “It will help push me to get better and keep creating and I’m grateful that I advanced to state.”

The FCCLA State Conference will be taking place on April 8-10, 2021.

Volume 14, Issue 5 News

5

Petition hopes to get Muslim holidays off from school Bryan Ross | Co-Editor

A petition started in Round Rock ISD asking to give a student holiday on Eid al-Fitr, a major Muslim holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan, has amassed nearly 1,500 signatures on change.org. This year, Eid al-Fitr begins at sundown Wed., May 12, and ends Thurs., May 13.

“It kind of feels like we’re being ignored,” Maryam*, a Muslim student, said.

“I have many Muslim friends and I feel like the the district should recognize that at the bare minimum, or if they don’t want to take the day off at least make more teachers aware of it so they know

why their students aren’t excused absence cannot showing up to school that cover for the struggles day.” young Muslim students According to state have to deal with daily: guidelines, any student the difficulties of school observing a religious and their identities.” holiday will receive an excused absence.

However, according I remember when I was to the petition’s in elementary school, we description, that is talked about Christmas, and not enough.

Hanukkah, and Easter and “We recognize that everything but we never the option of skipping really got around to talking school exists, but about Eid and everything it does not account and I think that’s the bare for the stress and minimum." turmoil of missing valuable information Maryam*, anonymous and having to catch up on that,” the petition Associate principal states. “There should not Michael Grebb said be any ‘consequence’ in that creating additional exercising the right to holidays can end up religious freedom. An extending the school year

“

past how far people want it to go.

“The way the rules are laid out now, you have to get 75,500 minutes of instruction time for students,” Grebb said.

“So really when we’re developing a school district calendar we’re just looking at how we can get those minutes in. If it’s something that is important to the community like Round Rock, they’re trying to get awareness for [Eid al-Fitr] then I think that’s something that district could consider, but people have to understand that could affect start times and end times.”

Grebb said that the days considered school holidays are determined in part by feedback given to the district.

“I work on the calendar committee, and we send out a survey to the community and see like, what are the holidays that people need to have off or that the majority of the community thinks should be a holiday where kids shouldn’t go to school,” Grebb said. “[The survey] has a lot of the holidays listed, like ‘what’s the most important one, what’s the least important one and then what are suggestions.’ So, [Eid alFitr] has never come up, at least I’ve never seen it on a survey and I’ve never

seen anyone talk about it, as far as it being a holiday for everybody.”

Maryam said that if the district can’t make Eid alFitr a holiday, they should increase awareness for it.

“I remember when I was in elementary school, we talked about Christmas, and Hanukkah, and Easter and everything but we never really got around to talking about Eid and everything and I think that’s the bare minimum,” Maryam said.

“That’s what they should be doing, at least.”

*Pseudonym

Debate team members advance to state championships Kaitlyn Nash | Asst. Editor Sophomores Dat Phan and Gabriella O’Donnell, members of the speech and debate team, have advanced to the UIL State championships after taking first place at the district round.

“We are so very proud of these two,” Kirsten Nash, Public Forum speech and debate coach, said. “Qualifying for UIL state as sophomores is a challenge in a normal year, but during Covid it shows especially exemplary commitment and hard work.”

UIL State for speaking events will take place on May 25-May

26 and it will be Hendrickson’s 10th UIL State appearance in the last 11 years.

“I’m looking forward to learning new things and extending my knowledge through a competitive nature, especially in UIL,” Phan said.

Phan and O’Donnell will be representing Hendrickson in the Cross Examination speaking event.

“To be honest, debate is tiring at times, but the experience is worth it,” O’Donnell said. “It’s fun just being able to do this in general.”

The duo additionally competed at the Texas Forensics Association State

championships along with the rest of the qualified speech and debate team from March 10-13.

“For two sophomores to be UIL district champions in the midst of a pandemic is truly inspiring,” Aly Mithani, Hendrickson’s CX debate coach, said. “Dat and Gabby could have easily taken a backseat approach to this season, but Hendrickson has a proud tradition of performing well at UIL and they have upheld it during this chaotic time. I am looking forward to seeing their efforts at UIL State to bring home Hendrickson’s 3rd consecutive UIL State championship in CX debate.”

Photo provided by | Kirsten Nash

Sophomores Gabriella O’Donnell and Dat Pham advancd to the UIL State championships in the Cross Examination Speaking event after taking first at district.

6 Opinion

March 24, 2021

• Staff Editorial

Online-only program proposed by Leander ISD Leander ISD officials have proposed a virtual learning option for a select group of students indefinitely. According to KVUE, the program would only be available to freshmen and sophomores in the fall of 2021, open up to juniors in 2022, and seniors in 2023. LISD has stated that they will be offering this option to an estimated 300 students who have excelled in the current virtual learning environment. This program will only be available in New Hope High school with approximately 12 virtual-only teachers.

Additionally, students will have to apply for this opportunity and will be selected through a lottery process. If a student is selected they must transfer into New Hope high school. Students involved in this program will not be allowed to participate in any form of extracurriculars.

As of right now, Pflugerville ISD hasn’t announced anything similar about the possibility of offering a virtual learning option to students indefinitely. However, with the way the pandemic is playing out right now, it is a possibility. While this program could be beneficial to a great number of students, there’s a lot of factors to consider.

First off, if PfISD follows in the footsteps of neighboring LISD, where students are selected through a lottery process, it doesn’t take into consideration of why students are choosing this program. Is it because they have a family member who is immunocompromised? Is it because they find virtual learning to better suit their learning style? Is it because it is easier to cheat during virtual learning? While the lottery process can take out bias towards or against certain students, it also allows for the possibility that some students who need to be included in this process for whatever their reasoning, are not being chosen in favor of an undeserving student. For example, a student who is only taking this opportunity because it may be easier for them to cheat in virtual learning could be chosen over a student who has a plethora of immunocompromised family members. If PfISD does decide to offer this program, they should carefully examine each student’s reasoning and health status of family members in the application process instead of a randomized picking.

Hendrickson High School 19201 Colorado Sand Drive Pflugerville, TX 78660 http://www.pfisd.net/HHS (512) 594-1100 Student Population: 2,134 Staff: 180 Adviser: Kari Riemer Principal: Daniel Garcia www.facebook.com/HawkNewspaper

Secondly, PfISD should open up the program to all grade levels within the coming school year. It is understandable why LISD may be only opening the program to incoming freshmen and sophomores to possibly work out the kinks and such in the new program. However, it is important to consider that if it is only open to freshmen and sophomores, juniors and seniors do not have the option to participate even if it better suits their health needs or learning styles.

While opening up the program would require a higher number of virtual-only teachers, it is in the best interest of the student body to offer the program to all grade levels. It must also be decided which specific high school within PfISD the program would run at, and if it would also eventually be offered to middle school and elementary students in the future.

Finally, PfISD would also need to consider what types of teachers they hire for this program. Firstly they would need to not only enjoy teaching virtually and have the ability to actively engage their virtual students, but they would also need to be tech-savvy. It’s no secret that the pandemic has caused some teachers to engage with new technology, however, a virtual-only option would bring this issue to a higher level. Teachers would need to have accessible technology for themselves and their students as well as access to programs that would help students actively participate and absorb information. Additionally, they would have to consider if they include grade-level teachers, pre-AP teachers, AP teachers, and dual credit teachers. In LISD’s case, 12 teachers among two grade levels at the surface level do not seem like it would cater to all of the different course levels presented. PfISD would also need to consider how they would include elective course teachers, especially for required classes such as art, health, and language credits.

An indefinite virtual learning option for students is not an inherently bad idea, however, if PfISD decides to adopt a similar program to LISD, there are a lot of things that would need to be changed and considered for the program to work as smoothly and efficiently as possible for both students and teachers.

The Hawk, the official student newspaper of Hendrickson High School, is an open forum for the exchange of ideas and opinions.

Opinions expressed reflect the beliefs of the student author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the entire Hawk Staff, the Hawk Adviser, the Hendrickson Faculty and Staff, or the Principal.

Letters to the editor are welcomed, and may be dropped off in E211. Corrections will be printed when brought to the attention of the staff.

The Hawk is printed monthly at Community Impact in Pflugerville, Texas. 1,000 copies are printed each run, and are distributed to the student body for free through an advisory period and on newsstands throughout the building.

Editorial Staff Co-Editors: Seth Deaton & Bryan Ross Copy Editor Angelyna Rosales Assistant Editors: Kaitlyn Nash, Landon Self, Ethan Tittle

Yael Behar Lili Moran Hector Santos

Reporters Artist Vy Bui

Weston Schlesinger Abraham Siyoum Natalia Zavaleta

• Your Turn I think the district should absolutely continue to offer an online option the incoming school year.

Although restrictions are being lifted and medication is coming out, there are many people out there who still aren’t comfortable sending their kids to learn in public areas.

Besides, online learning might be more beneficial to some students and might make school a bit easier.

-Lilian Caballeros, 12 I believe that there should still be an option for online learning, but I don’t think that every teacher should do it if they don’t want to.

-Edward Afenkhena, 12

I think that an online option should be considered. Granted, it will be a small portion of students but some of them have family members or are themselves more prone to the recent pandemic, and offering this safer option would be better for their families.

-Golden Nguyen, 11

I would say there shouldn’t be an online option next year because grades and attendance are already really bad, and it just would give people more time to procrastinate.

Ryan Blanco, 11

I think they should have an online option since it will probably take awhile for everyone to receive a vaccination and it’s important that students and guardians feel safe about attending school in person.

Daniella Vargas, 11

Associations Interscholastic Press League Texas Association of Journalism Educators Journalism Educators Association National Scholastic Press Association Columbia Scholastic Press League

Honors

ILPC Bronze Star, 2014 & 2015, 2017, 2018 Columbia Scholastic Press League, Gold Medalist 2016, 2017, 2018 Silver Crown, 2017, 2018 Pacemaker Finalist, 2018

Design by Bryan Ross Photo by Daniel Mendoza

• Hit or Miss New lunch seating system put in place The school tried to make lunch more interesting and fun for the students so they made a plan for the students to sit next to their friends and other classmates. Students use their phones to scan a QR code on the table to be able to sit next to their friends rather than having to sit at a school assigned seat. This method which allows for contact tracing while giving students back a bit of choice is a hit.

• Our Turn

Volume 14, Issue 5 Opinion

7

Editor discusses snowpocalypse experience

Third vaccine approved for emergency use A third vaccine has been developed by the Janssen pharmaceutical division of Johnson and Johnson. This vaccine is more cost efficient than its other counterparts by Moderna and Pfizer, and can be refrigerated as opposed to kept at freezing temperatures.

It is a single dosage injection, and has started administration into the general public. While there is still no vaccine developed for people under 18, the continuation of development of vaccines means more people are getting the protection they need. This J&J vaccine is a hit.

PfISD keeps mask mandate

Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced that he will be lifting his mask mandate in an executive order that took effect on March 10. This causes confusion on where his order applies and who has authority over certain areas. The Governor stated statistics on how the number of COVID 19 cases and hospitalizations have declined.

However, The Texas Education Agency announced they will still require masks to be worn in schools and gave school districts the ability to choose if the mandate stays in place. Pflugerville ISD has kept the mask mandate in effect on Pflugerville schools through the end of the school year. Pflugerville ISD keeping the mask mandate in effect is a hit.

PfISD Struggles After Winter Storm

Texas received some unexpected snow two weeks ago after winter storm ‘Uri’ hit. The storm left 7.5 inches at its maximum in some areas of Travis county. Normally, snow would be welcomed, but an unforeseen shortage of electricity left millions without power. For days, people were left in freezing temperatures with no heater, or service. Frozen and broken water pipes forced a boil water notice and school was canceled for a week. After things were up and running again, everything was set a week behind, and students scrambled to regain some balance. This brutal winter storm was a miss.

Band hall renovations approved Recently the band hall got approved for renovations to be done this year. The band hall will be increased in size, as well as the changing rooms so that it is possible to hold all members of the band in the two of them, so they don’t have to use other bathroom facilities and classrooms to change. The dance rooms will also be increased in size because of extra space from rearranging the rooms in the band hall area. Construction has already begun making the band and dance hall remodeling a hit.

Photo provided by Kirsten Nash Kaitlyn Nash | Asst. Editor I know that I’m not alone in saying that this year has been a series of unprecedented events in which the list keeps growing longer and longer. I also know that my family and I are not alone in the problems those events have caused. The most recent of these incidents was the ice storm that I’m sure multiple families did not predict nor were they ready for. I can say that my family is among those who had no clue what was coming with the storm.

The night before it had first begun to snow, my mom had told me and my sister, Madelyn, to take a shower in case the water didn’t work the next morning. My sister and I scoffed, unknowingly, because we thought that all that the snow would bring was a free day of school.

However, the next morning, I woke up to no wifi, no power, and only a tiny stream of water coming out of the sink. At this point, I knew that things were getting real. We all spent the whole day getting prepared for the days to come and trying to get warm without any heat. We turned on the stove and brought snow in from outside and filled up the bathtub to have water to flush the toilets.

Later, my mom decided that it was best we went to her friend’s house who had power and a fireplace to keep warm. We tried to keep busy with making dinner and playing with my mom’s friend’s kid, but personally, my anxiety was through the roof. I was planning on using the day we were going to have off to do school work and catch up in my classes, but it only made me more

behind and even more anxious. Not to mention the anxiety of having to stay warm and safe.

When we had gone home the next day, our biggest worry was the icy roads. At one point on our way back, my mom tried driving the car up a hill and stopped at a stoplight, but only to become stuck. My sister and I had to get out and push the car but thankfully, people got out of their cars to help. The funny part is that when I tried to get back into the car, I face planted on the ground with multiple cars around me. At the time, I wasn’t amused but looking back at it I laugh.

When we had gone home, we were so worn out by having to collect snow and bring in all of our clothes. To keep our minds off of the worries of the snow, we decided to start some puzzles. By the end of the storm, we had completed two and a half puzzles as well as played multiple board games.

Thankfully, by Wednesday the power was back on and we were able to get our heat back on and relax a bit. My mom was still worried since we still didn’t have any water. We had to go at least one and a half more days without it until it came back on.

Although I was thankful for the power to be back on, having to go on social media and see the stories of the people who had neither power nor water for days and no other living situation to be in, like my family did. I hope that this was a wake-up call for many things wrong with the way we think and how often we take things for granted. I know it was for me.

8 Feature March 24, 2021

The world turned upside down

One year anniversary of COVID-19 pandemic reached as changes continue Bryan Ross | Co-Editor It’s impossible to overstate the amount of physical and virtual ink that has been spilled in the last year about COVID-19, and not without reason. The pandemic has completely upended lives, and it is one of the few things that everyone has been affected by in one way or another. With that being said, as we are around the one year anniversary of society seemingly falling apart, it’s worth looking back to the weeks leading up to the pandemic to see just how much things have changed.

A quick glance at news articles provides a good perspective. A Jan. 21, 2020 article by the Wall Street

Journal with the headline “First U.S. Case Reported of Deadly Wuhan Virus” includes the tagline “The coronavirus has sickened hundreds, killed six in China.” A Feb. 2, 2020 article by the Journal is headlined “Coronavirus Kills Its First Victim Outside China as Toll Grows” and has the tagline “The Pentagon sets up quarantine centers as the U.S. count of people sickened climbs to eight.” ABC News published an article Feb. 25, 2020 with the headline “CDC warns Americans of ‘significant disruption’ from coronavirus.” A Boston Globe headline published Feb. 26, 2020 wondered “Do I need to wear a face mask to block Coronavirus?”

March 12 marked both the first COVID-19 positive

How we got here:

in the NBA, shutting down the sports world, and the beginning of then-President Trump’s travel ban from Europe, which started a butterfly effect of closings, restrictions on social interactions, and eventually public mask mandates.

More than anything, looking back is entertaining.

Death totals in the teens, case totals in the hundreds, and even the term “coronavirus” feel so foreign at this point. But it’s additionally helpful to look back and see what has changed in the last year to get a glimpse into how we respond to crises, and what we can do better next time.

Bryan Ross | Co-Editor

Illustration by | Bryan Ross

Dec. 2019 First person infected with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China

Jan. 2020 First person infected with COVID-19 in United States

Feb. 9, 2020 First death from COVID-19 in United States

March 11, 2020 COVID-19 declared pandemic by WHO

March 13, 2020 COVID-19 declared a national emergency

by Trump administration

March 25, 2020 United States reaches 1,000 deaths

May 15, 2020 Operation Warp Speed announced by President Trump

May 22, 2020 United States reaches 100,000 deaths

July 3, 2020 Greg Abbott issues statewide mask mandate in counties with more than 20 cases

Dec. 11, 2020 Pfizer vaccine officially approved by FDA for experimental use

Volume 14, Issue 5 Feature

9

Online school affects learning, priorities Seth Deaton | Co-Editor A return to normalcy, that’s been the goal for the past year. It’s been over 365 days since the start of quarantine, and still the new normal keeps changing.

Last spring schools went virtual to try and continue teaching their classes the curriculum and keep students caught up. However, according to junior Trent Blahuta trying to balance school and find a sense of normalcy proved to be a difficult task.

“I feel like at the end of sophomore year, online school caught me off guard,” Blahuta said. “So my grades might not have been as great as they usually were, and the same thing kind of happened at the start of junior year, but I feel like I understand the online school and how it works better so I’ve been doing better in school now.”

Junior Connor Arndt said that last year he missed out on a lot of opportunities to grow and improve.

“Obviously I didn’t get a baseball season so I missed out on some of my game experience there,” Arndt said.

“I also missed out on opportunities to become a better student and a friend.”

The abrupt end to the school year in 2020 caused a large portion of the student body to fall behind on what they should’ve learned the last nine weeks of last year.

“Generally, if students are taking a second year course, we go into that course with the assumption that they’ll retain some knowledge from last year,” Pre-AP and AP chemistry teacher Kristopher Carter said. “This year, we threw that assumption out the window and taught a lot from scratch. So, in chemistry, for example, we assume that you haven’t really learned any of this stuff.

We slowed our pace down quite a bit.”

At the beginning of this year school was once again virtual, which made it more difficult for teachers to engage with their students, and keep them motivated.

“I very much like to engage with the class,” Carter said. “And so, teaching has become more of a job than something I look forward to going to, you know, I don’t like sitting at a desk. I don’t think students like sitting at a desk, and not being able to interact with their peers, it really sucks hard. I’m looking forward to next year. Hopefully, we’ll have more students in person, and be able to actually interact with humans, not through a computer screen.

Blahuta says that coming back this year was difficult after being online because he missed out on time to get back into the groove of things.

“I always try to form strong connections with my teachers at the beginning of every year,” Blahuta said.

“That helps me learn better from them and make me more engaged in class, but I didn’t get to do that this year. Even when I came back at the start of the second nine weeks it still wasn’t quite the same.”

According to Carter the staff had to learn along with their classes at the beginning of this year.

“It’s actually really hard to make a video if you’ve never made a video the first time because initially you want to make them perfect,” Carter said. “But it’s interesting. I’ve talked to this with several of my colleagues, they’re the same way. Last year when we started making videos, put out, you know, people would take like seven or eight takes. And now when we make videos we just run with it. So that was certainly new. I think we’ve done a decent job overall handling

the technology.”

Arndt says that this past year has taught him to appreciate the little things in life more than he did before.

“For a long while I didn’t get to see a lot of my friends,” Arndt said. “I didn’t realize how much time I spent with them until I wasn’t able to. Then I got a job this summer, and all my friends worked at the same place so we were able to see each other again.

And every day, it was pretty much just us hanging out and working and making money and then when we weren’t working we were all still hanging out, but that break where I didn’t get to see them really made me appreciate them a lot more.”

According to Blahuta the past year has given him extra motivation to work hard and to make sure he makes time for what’s important in life.

“Last year, we had a senior on the tennis team, and next thing we knew she was playing her last game because then Corona hit and she was just done with her high school experience as a part of the team,” Blahuta said. “And I know that same thing could happen to me this year, so I’ve become a lot more dedicated to make every moment count.”

Arndt says he’s looking forward to being able to use the experiences he’s had over the last year to help improve his senior year.

“I’m hoping next year will be closer to normal than this year was,” Arndt said. “But even if it’s not I’m looking forward to being able to enjoy the experiences that I missed out on since the pandemic started. This year has taught me a lot and it’s helped me figure out where my priorities are.”

Feb. 1, 2021 Number of vaccine doses given out in United States surpasses number of COVID-19 cases

Jan. 8, 2021 United States reaches peak daily case number with 308, 352 new cases Dec. 14, 2021 First vaccine does in United States given out

Dec. 18, 2020 Moderna vaccine officially approved by FDA for experimental use

Jan. 23, 2021 United States reaches rolling average of 1 million vaccine doses per day

March 2, 2021 Greg Abbott announces statewide mask mandate and business restrictions to end effctive March 10

10 Feature March 24, 2021

• Your Turn

Teachers give first-hand accounts of early days of pandemic

Hellen Barczi, AP U.S history teacher

"I

guess Covid first felt real when I had a personal connection to someone that actually contracted Covid and died as a result. And when it was evident last spring that we were not going to come back to school for the remainder of the year.

My initial reaction was very nervous and worried. I was nervous about how well (or not well) I could teach the APUSH course virtually. Would I be able to learn all of the new technology I would need for virtual learning? And could I connect with my students like I had always been able to in the past? I walked my dog (a bunch), exercised, cleaned out every drawer and closet in my house (sent a ton of stuff to Goodwill), and

watched a number of tv shows and movies.

I feel I have adapted pretty well. There are definite struggles, such as not getting to see family and friends, not getting to go do fun things (some yearly events), and worrying about school, but I have kind of gotten into a routine or at least the best routine I can. At first, all of the new technology, the grading system for school was very, very time consuming but that has gotten a little better. Yes, we have missed out on our annual trip to the beach, a traditional high school graduation/party for my youngest daughter, and family get-togethers for holidays (Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, birthdays). We had to cancel other trips

and just getting to see our friends. I am not 100% sure how society will change. I think some people will remain cautious even after people are vaccinated. I think maskwearing won’t be seen as weird as it did before. I am afraid that students, especially younger ones, will have a struggle getting back to a normal school experience (but I do feel they will in time). But similar to the pandemic in 1919, I feel after a period of time, people will go back to their normal lives and activities, we may just have to add an annual booster shot similar to that of the flu shot."

Emily Overton, AP Language, AP Research teacher

"I

think things first started to feel “real” when we went to the grocery store for the first time. All of those blank shelves as a result of all of the panic buying were really eye-opening – it made me realize how scared everyone else was, including myself. I also remember feeling pretty shocked when Tom Hanks was diagnosed with COVID. I always grew up watching his movies and have felt like he’s been a part of my life, so when he caught it, I was definitely surprised. However, the first time my life was really impacted was when I had my first ultrasound during my pregnancy. It was scheduled to be on the Thursday of Spring Break, and I got a call on Wednesday saying that the office was shut down to everyone except expectant mothers, which meant that my husband couldn’t join me. It was difficult, especially since this is our first baby! He ended up driving me and face timing me from the parking lot, but it definitely wasn’t the same. Like everyone, at first, I didn’t think it would be a permanent situation. It honestly felt like everyone was just treading water, doing their best to keep things afloat under a constantly changing situation. Since I

was pregnant, we completely shut down, aside from trips to H-E-B for groceries.

We rewatched a lot of our favorite series –The Office, Community, Psych, Parks and Recreation, the Marvel movies – and watched a lot of new shows as well. My husband and I also got very into the Lego Harry Potter video games. Like many people, we experimented in the kitchen with different recipes. We also made a lot of changes to our house – painted almost every room and updated some furniture.

Personally, the hardest thing has been having to stay away from friends and family, especially during a time when we were expecting our first baby. It was difficult to lock down and not see others, and I know we probably hurt some feelings.

There was definitely some guilt associated with that. Mostly we tried to stay positive – knowing that we had a little one on the way really helped with this. My husband already worked from home, so that didn’t change for us much. He did have to get used to me working from home with him! Aside from that, we have changed quite a bit of our lifestyle – mostly picking up groceries/ meals curbside (we haven’t eaten in a

restaurant in over a year), we haven’t had dinner with friends, or even had indoor get-togethers. We do a lot more video chatting than we used to. It’s probably taken the homebody tendencies we already had and heightened them. The biggest things we’ve missed out on are definitely related to the baby. We waited an extra long time to tell friends and family about the pregnancy, as we were waiting/hoping to get to tell them in person – we were actually only able to tell one friend in person, everyone else (family included) was all told virtually. As I mentioned previously, my husband wasn’t allowed at any doctor’s appointments or ultrasounds, which was tough. He was, thankfully, allowed to be in the hospital with me when our son was born, but no one else was. That was especially difficult, probably more so on our mothers than us!

They were all dying to meet our son but had to wait until we were home. Our baby showers were all virtual, which wasn’t quite the same. All things considered, though, we have been very lucky. We have remained healthy, we’ve both kept our jobs, and we have a healthy little boy that we didn’t have before all of this started."

Standardized Difficulties

Volume 14, Issue 5 Feature

11

TEA requires mandatory physical STAAR testing, backlash ensues Yael Behar | Reporter Under normal circumstances, STAAR testing would be a pivotal part to the ending of a school year, a way to test the knowledge procured throughout the course of the classes. This year, having the STAAR tests has been a heavily debated topic. The current proposition for STAAR testing requires mandatory physical attendance for taking the test. With the possible health risks of COVID-19 brings to physical testing, as well as the record failing rate of grades this year, many students feel as though taking the test is a bad idea.

Online petitions have sprung up as a way to advocate against taking it, but as the time to start STAAR testing grows nearer, the notion for mandated physical attendance remains.

“I think that although there may be a portion of students who do well, I strongly believe that the majority of the student body will perform poorly on the STAAR,” virtual student Gabrielle Pearce said. “I think this is the case due to the many complications we’ve had this year and due to the extreme lack of solutions and help we as a student body have received.

Many students have trouble learning virtually and have not been excelling in classes this year.”

This year, grades have been at an all time low, with students who had been doing fine before the pandemic now failing. Other students simply fail to show up to class, or have zeros across the board.

“My concerns are that students haven’t been taught the materials needed to succeed on the test,” in-person student Analizett Benitez Miranda said. “I think it's unfair to test with the current learning environment.

It's difficult to ask students to be tested on what they’ve learned over the whole school year when it's been so different and weird virtually.”

Another qualm students have had besides the course content contained within the STAAR is the physical attendance that it would require in order to take the exam. The state of Texas Education Agency has concluded that students must be present on campus.

“People might not want to take the test in person due to a high risk family member that they could get sick,” Pearce said. “Students just might not want to get sick themselves due to some of the lifelong health issues they may contract. This pandemic has been a different and difficult experience for everyone and the school cannot expect everyone to show up for a standardized test because of it.”

The severe backlash from students, as well as some teachers, has caused petitions on websites like Change. org to try and change the prospect.

“I doubt it'll actually do anything, the one I signed has 85,000 signatures, but there are plenty of these petitions,” in-person student Evelyn Lancaster said.

“The sheer numbers of people signing these things is proof enough that students don't want to take it this year. Some of it is probably due to laziness, but I think most of it is genuine concern for lack of understanding in content.”

As of now, there is no “fool proof ” way to take the test physically with the guarantee of being safe from catching the virus. The vaccine that is currently being administered is for people above the ages of 16, which would only account for about half of the student body.

“I think it's pretty unsafe,” Miranda said. “Students can only take so many precautions before testing, especially if there's no vaccine for people under 16. The only 100% safe way to take some kind of standardized test like this is to do it online.”

Despite the general negative opinions regarding the STAAR, teachers have tried to prepare students as best as possible for the test, using mock exams and the standard course content.

“I guess I'd be okay taking it, but only if it’s truly beneficial to gauge a student's capabilities,” Lancaster said. “Otherwise, it’s only unnecessary stress for students who already have a lot of work and pressure on their shoulders. It doesn’t benefit grades and their level of learning should already be reflected in their schoolwork.”

Many students have not even been subjected to a high school level STAAR test before, as the end of the 20192020 school year and its respective test were cancelled.

“I strongly believe that tests like STAAR should not be taken this year,” Pearce said. “The test grades do not affect the students taking them, their class grades and GPA will not be affected in the slightest if the test is to be called off. Even if the test is administered, the results should be counted invalid due to the many uncontrolled and unforeseen factors that affected all students learning this year. I hope that they administer the tests virtually, If at all, because that would most likely be the safest way to get the test done without risking illness.”

Lack of substitues requires administrators to step in, take their place Natalia Zavaleta | Reporter Ever since the school reopened for in-person learning, contact tracing protocols have been set in place in order to keep students and staff safe. When a student or staff member tests positive for COVID-19, anyone who came in close proximity to them must be quarantined for up to two weeks. Since teachers are included in this quarantine, the school must provide a substitute for that class.

As more teachers are quarantined, the need for more substitutes arises, which has led some to worry about a potential substitute teacher shortage.

“It has happened, but only a few times,” Associate Principal Michael Grebb said. “I don’t think it will have an effect.”

Just like teachers and

students, these substitutes must follow the same contact tracing protocols when they come in contact with someone who has tested positive.

“If they are close contact,” Grebb said. “they need to quarantine for 14 days.”

Luckily, they are returning from quarantine and substituting for other teachers.

The school’s Sub Coordinator Eula West has made sure that everything is taken care of.

“At this time we have sufficient substitutes,” Grebb said. “Ms. Eula West has been able to find people that are willing to substitute at Hendrickson.”

Thanks to the office staff the campus is ready for anything that comes its way.

“Ms.West is awesome,” Grebb said. “She is this year's MVP.”

Assistant Principal Lisa Pasholk substituting in AP World History teacher Jeffrey Martindale's class. Quarantines and other pandemic-related absences have forced assistant principals and other administrative personnel and staff to assist in the role of substituting this year.

Seth Deaton | Photographer

12 Feature March 24, 2021

Against the Curve

Female teachers lead advanced math classes funny because one of the big ones and this is definitely an artsy one, was not a math Bryan Ross | Co-Editor One majored in Theatre. One started out as a coach. And one thought the only job class, it was a chemistry class, and I was told at the beginning of the year or the class one could have if they liked math was to be a math teacher. But regardless of where was told that this was a science class for Science majors and that any Theatre majors or English majors were absolutely going to fail so I made an A and tutored all the they started, they all ended up in the same place.

Since the 2017-18 school year, Amanda Gass, Ashton Arons, and Nicole Stewart chemistry majors. Yeah, I don’t like being told I can’t do things.”

According to catalyst.com, women accounted for 27 percent of workers in STEMhave taught the most advanced math classes offered at Hendrickson. This year, Gass teaches AP Calculus BC, AP Statistics, and Pre-AP Pre-Cal; Arons teaches qualified industries in 2019, while 64 percent of STEM teachers in 2012 were female, according to the American Educational AP Calculus AB and Pre-Cal; and Stewart Research Association. Stewart said that teaches Pre-AP Pre-Cal and Geometry. that gap might be due to how students “Getting my math degree in college, I was have been educated in the past. definitely just surrounded by men,” Arons “In 1983, when I graduated from said. “And there was like, maybe two or three high school I did not have the guidance women in all my classes. So I wouldn’t really students do today,” Stewart said. “ I was say [I faced] bias, it was just I was a minority not aware of occupations that required in the situation.” a math degree so teaching math seemed Gass said that less women choose math to be the obvious path for someone like degrees due to a combination of natural me that enjoyed math and enjoyed high preferences and bias. school.”

“I think it starts early on with a little bit Gass said that she, Arons, and Stewart of bias and that those preferences are often have gotten where they are because they shaped and guided through younger ages,” have been willing to do whatever has been Gass said. “By the time students might choose asked of them.

STEM, a lot of the time girls I think have “I think it helps that the three of us have been told for a long time that they’re really worked really well together and have been good at other things, and so they choose the Daniel Mendoza | Photographer Math teachers, Nicole Stewart, Ashton willing to try new and interesting things thing they’re good at and not necessarily the Arons, and Amanda Gass discuss upcoming assignments and lesson plans. and to think outside the box,” Gass said. challenge of math or science.”

Gass said that she didn’t necessarily face bias because she was a girl, but as a “Working with Mrs. Stewart especially, she is one of the teachers that has really driven me to try new things. She’s constantly reading new ideas and constantly theatre major she sometimes did.

“There was kind of a weird like artsy girl stigma,” Gass said. “I don’t know if it was bringing new techniques in, she’s definitely shaped the way that I’m a math teacher.

I think the three of us just being willing to try something we’ve never tried before necessarily a girl stigma or if it was an artsy stigma, but there were some issues.”

And while Gass said that some girls don’t end up pursuing math because of what has definitely helped. I mean, that’s why I teach statistics because someone asked me one day, hey can you teach statistics and I said sure, give me a textbook. And I they’re told by others, it did not affect her the same way.

“It kind of lit a fire for me because I like to prove people wrong,” Gass said. “And it’s didn’t shy away from it.”

Students reflect on importance of Women’s History Month Natalia Zavaleta | Reporter In 1987, Congress ruled for March to be known as ‘Women’s National History Month’, a month in which the country celebrates women’s achievements and contributions to the country.

What once started as a week-long celebration in California in 1982 has now grown to become a month-long national commemoration.

During this time, historical female figures like Abigail Adams, Sojourner Truth, and Rosa Parks are acknowledged for their roles in American history. Speeches and presentations are shared across the nation. To many, this month is very significant.

“To me, Women’s History Month means acknowledging the women who helped shape history,” sophomore Anna Rogness said.

“Understanding when, where, and how their influence lasted.”

Rogness believes that women’s history is overlooked in schools and that students should be taught more about it, especially during March.

“The schools do not teach us enough about women’s history month,” Rogness said.

“Accomplishments by women are often lost in history or credit is taken by men. Learning about the history of these women gives us someone to look up to.”

Illustration by Angelyna Rosales

Beyond Cookies

Volume 14, Issue 5 Feature

13

Girl Scouts discuss community service, other activities

Though selling cookies may be the most popular part of being a girl scout, it is Liliana Moran | Reporter They giggle and laugh with excitement as a badge is sealed onto their empty not just limited to that.

“We do an array of things year-round and cookie season is only a small part uniforms, only marking the beginning of their journey.

Nearly ten years later, with uniforms decked in mementos, they gleam with pride of that,” Calabrese said. “We do a bunch of leadership activities and get tons of different opportunities to serve and help out the community, we also get to go on as they recall all they have done and what more they still have to do. trips and meet a lot of people.”

“We get to help people out and along with that, we get to have Girl Scouts also provides many different volunteering and fun,” senior girl scout Tessa Calabrese said. “Our hard work gets community service opportunities, opportunities scouts feel not paid off.” only benefit themselves but also the area in which they live.

In 1912, the American organization, Girl Scouts of the “My service unit as a whole has done many different projects,” USA was founded by Juilette Low. Her goal being to create an We are given so Hay said. “Like, cleaning parks, planting trees, donating items to inclusive community where girls can grow and develop their many amazing different organizations, and helping out the less fortunate.” skills and leadership. The program teaches girls from ages five opportunities to Hay feels grateful to be a part of the program. to 18 life skills, responsibility, confidence, and the importance change and influence “My favorite part of Girl Scouts is the community and of community and teamwork opening up the members to many inclusivity,” Hay said. “Everyone is welcome despite who you the world around us. different opportunities and experiences within their community. are or where you're from. Another great part is that there are “As a Girl Scout, especially as an older girl in the program, we activities and programs that anyone can enjoy. There are badges are given so many amazing opportunities to change and influence Campbell Wright, 12 on coding, art, writing, fashion, financial literacy, locavore, and the world around us,” senior member Campbell Wright said. even on how to take care of a car.”

Cookie selling season is what the Girl Scouts are most known Calabrese feels that Girl Scouts will always have an effect on her. for, when they go around neighborhoods and knock on doors.

“I’ve gotten so many opportunities, not only getting to go on trips, but helping The season is used to teach the members financial responsibility and business others and having that good feeling after you've made that impact,” Calabrese said. techniques, and the money earned goes towards the troops and future trips.

“Whenever it’s February, I always look forward to the cookie sale season,” senior “Especially on the younger girls, I've helped so many of them, and have taught them girl scout Maya Hay said. “ We get to spend time with friends and go to a lot of things, and it makes me feel good.” different events.”

“

Illustration by Angelyna Rosales

14 Sports March 24, 2021

Back on the Diamond

Baseball season starts after missing season last year due to pandemic Seth Deaton | Co-Editor It’s April of 2020. It would normally be time for playoffs, and the fields would be packed with parents and fans and the players could be seen warming up on the field. However, last year the season was shut down, and the fields remained empty.

A year ago spring sports lost the opportunity to play and compete as seasons were cancelled due to the COVID pandemic. This means seniors lost their final season and the younger athletes lost a year of development and improvement. Head baseball coach Douglas Pearce says that this means they have to find ways to make up some of that missed time.

“We picked up a tournament this year,” Pearce said.

“That creates some extra games, which definitely helps. We just need as many games as we can get before districts start. And we treat all the pre district games like scrimmages, in a sense to get some more experience and then work through all the things that they need to get better at and help them improve and get some more game experience.”

At the start of this year’s season in January and February there was a large number of quarantines among the team as COVID cases across Travis County spiked and it was put into stage 5. This meant that the athletes within the program continued to lose time to develop again this year.

“Every time they miss practice it just makes it even harder,” Pearce said. “And so you almost have to

develop individual plans for some of those kids, you know, and give them a little more extra work that they need in order to get caught up when they do get back.

Especially if they’re one of those kids that missed out on the opportunity last year. For instance, a sophomore last year, who’d be a junior this year, that missed out on getting to play and learning how to handle pressure in games. And then getting quarantined again this year, we have to develop plans for them so that they’re not getting too far behind. And then the injury risk is the main thing when we’re worried about too. When they sit out for two weeks without using their arms or getting conditioning we have to slowly work them back and make sure they’re conditioning their arms, and just trying to keep them safe and healthy.”

According to Pearce the lost time and added quarantines doesn’t change the way the team practices and plays. Besides following the COVID protocols the team practices the same as usual, and that he’s excited to see his athletes get the opportunity to compete.

“I’m excited to just give them an opportunity to make the playoffs,” Pearce said. “You know, that’s what they, especially the seniors, play for postseason competition.

And last year they weren’t able to do that, or have any of that experience last year. So obviously, that’s what I’m looking forward to, for these kids getting able to have that experience and not have that opportunity again.”

Pearce says that the struggles with COVID have

caused a lot of frustration amongst the players this year, and that with the extra quarantines it’s made it difficult to truly evaluate the players.

“When they’re going in and out of quarantine it makes it much harder to evaluate where our players are at,” Pearce said. “Having to work them back into condition makes it a little more difficult to see where they’re really at which then makes it harder to move them up and down within the program, but we’re handling the situation as it goes on.”

Pearce said he is excited to give his seniors the opportunity that the ones last year missed out on.

“Like I tell the seniors don’t take it for granted, because last year, seniors literally had to live up to that motto of playing every game like it’s your last because they didn’t know if another game could be guaranteed,” Pearce said. “I think we’re headed in the right direction to where they shouldn’t have to worry about that. I think it makes these people realize more and hopefully it opened up everybody’s eyes that you truly have to play every game like it’s your last because you don’t know if you’re gonna get injured. You don’t know if you’re gonna get put on quarantine, you don’t know who’s going to be exposed to COVID or if they end up shutting the season down again like they did before. I think it makes you have a greater appreciation and then just hopefully makes people want to get better every day and do your best every day. So you don’t have any regrets if something does happen.”

Softball team battles through unique season difficulties Ethan Tittle | Asst. Editor Spring is here, and with it, softball. While still in the high stages of COVID, the softball season will be affected by certain restrictions.

“Well for starters we wear to mask the whole time which is different, but I think the main change would have to be our interaction with JV,” Junior Mckenna Robertson said. “We now have to separate from them and normally we practice with them.”

The main effect of the restrictions is how many people can be together, whether it’s in the stands or on the fields.

“We have to be much more careful during practices to make sure we’re staying safe. For example, JV and varsity have to stay in separate dugouts, and only one team can use the hitting cages at a time,” Senior Makayla Ritchie said.

“We also don’t have many people in the stands to cheer us on, because the stands would normally

be full in the previous years.”

The tryouts also had to be modified this year so that all the players can get a fair chance while staying safe.

“Tryouts were run differently this year. Usually, the entire program would have one big tryout altogether, but this year we had to split the program in half and have two separate tryouts, and cut how long the tryouts are in half,” Ritchie said.

The Softball team plans to follow a normal schedule this season, although the games are all at high risk of being canceled due to COVID. “The length of our season had not really been affected but the amount of game cancellations is high due to other teams needing to quarantine, Junior Makayla Donnelly said. “We just have to be much more careful during practices to make sure we’re staying safe.”

Freshman Softball player Caysie Cooper gears up to hit at a team scrimmage.

Ian Falkenbury | Photographer

Volume 14 Issue 5 Sports

Raising the Bar

15

Pole vaulters answer questions about unique sport How is pole vault different from other sports that you participate in?

Pole vaulting is different from a lot of sports because the mechanics of running with a pole to fling yourself over a bar is just way different than almost all sports (other than maybe gymnastics, gymnasts are usually very good at pole vault because of the similar mechanics).

Hannah Jayes, 10

Pole vaulting is extremely different than volleyball. There is a whole different type of dynamic and goal you are trying to accomplish.

Layla Chapa, 10

What mental aspects affect how well you do?

Sophomore Layla Chapa runs towards the bar to start her vault.

Monty Thompson | Photographer

I tend to get in my head a lot when it comes to everything I participate in. If I were to focus on what I know and what I can do, I would be fine. Yet I tend to psych myself out a lot of the time.

Layla Chapa, 10

What made you interested in pole vault?

To be able to compete well in pole vault you have to be very coachable and aware of what your body is doing while vaulting because there are so many little things that go into clearing a height.

Hannah Jayes, 10

I became interested in the pole vault when no one else was doing it. I barely even knew what pole vault was but I wanted to try it out and see how I did.

Layla Chapa, 10 I was interested in pole vaulting because my mom did it in college.

Hannah Jayes, 10

What skills do you need to have in order to be successful at pole vaulting?

Pole vault can be an intimidating activity when you look at it, So you have to want to keep trying and be okay with doing a lot of repetition to get better.

Layla Chapa, 10 In order to be successful in pole vault you have to be strong and fast in order to run fast enough up the runway and to carry your body weight over a bar.

Hannah Jayes, 10

Sophomore Hannah Jayes vaults over a bar during the Connally meet March 11.

Monty Thompson | Photographer

How do you prepare for a meet? What is your favorite part about competing in pole vault?

I have only gone to 1-2 meets for pole vault, I try to stay calm and just focus on whatever I know.

Layla Chapa, 10 I prepare for meets by eating and sleeping well the night before so that I have enough energy.

Hannah Jayes, 10

I like competing in pole vault because not a lot of people do it, which allows for all of the girls competing from different schools to become friends with one another.

Hannah Jayes, 10

My favorite part about pole vault is being able to tell people that I have tried it. I feel like pole vault is so uncommon, it’s kinda fun being able to tell people you participate in it.

Layla Chapa, 10

16 Feature March 24, 2021 What should HHS keep doing post COVID-19?

Hector Santos | Reporter

“I’d like assignments to I don’t think we should Zoom classes once stay mainly online. have we go back in person Some assignments like because that would math homework and projects could be physical.

For the most part, online and the vast assignments make majority of teachers work everything a lot easier to really hard, to begin with.” keep track of.

Zoya Qamar, 11

overcomplicate things

“I like how we don’t use as think we should keep zoom much paper because we can because I feel like some just turn in assignments people can just turn off online. Everything else is I guess mishandled but the camera and just I think everyone was doing do something else.”

Madeline Bredahl, 12 the best they could. I don’t

“I’ve been using virtual learning for many years like Google Classroom, Youtube and Khan Academy videos before the pandemic. So for me not a lot has changed other than Zoom and

easy to use

Zoom is .

We also had to use canvas but students can use it to get to Google Classroom.

Some other teachers there might have been more of

a learning curve. The big change is loss of in person learning experience.

I think there are times

Zoom is very useful in where

certain scenarios once the pandemic is over. If anyone is feeling sick that day they can watch the lecture from home.”

David Park, Algebra 2 teacher

don’t like

“I personally did Google I personally Classroom and turning but if we do things online and I hope we continue to turn in keep Zoom as an option I things online. I also hope feel like they need to keep that we keep the same level their cameras on because if of empathy and they’re off then we don’t if they’re asleep, relationship we have know making breakfast, playing with students this year. I video games. We don’t feel like we’ve been more know if they’re locked in.” concerned about what’s

Tery Saunders, tennis going on outside of school coach and U.S history and at home that might be teacher affecting their grades and I hope we keep that.

Zoom

“Teachers should keep Canvas and Nearpod – Canvas can keep us saving some paper and it will keep students’ assignments organized.

There are interactive things that can be done online that paper can’t accommodate.

Also, Nearpod helps check on students’ individual progress and lets

voice their opinions.

I think taking online classes should still be an option in the future. I do think we need some ways to

cheating,

limit

though.

Maybe students need a lockdown browser or have to take tests in person.”

Sara Lucas, junior and senior U.S History and AP Psychology teacher

students

good thing

“Physical school attending really a should be but sometimes. With school yeah we could do online shootings and bullying and and physical. Besides, going everything.” to school physically isn’t Kal Abraham, 12

optional