JANUARY 2021 | ISSUE 4
THE EAGLE EYE Oak Grove High School
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Sports Comeback 2. Oak Grove ASSETS 3. Homecoming Class Apparal 4. VSU/FSU/UNICEF Fundraiser 5. CSF's Transition to Virtual Learning 6. Robotics Club Transition to Virtual Learning 7. Environment Action Club 8. AniKey Omamori Charms 9. Martin Luther King Clean Up Day 10. Artic National Wildlife Refuge 11. Teen Finance & Bitcoin 12. ASB Message 13. The Eagle Eye Message 14. Upcoming Events + Interactive 15. New Years Comic 16. TEE Social Medias + Committee Information
OG SPORTS COMEBACK
Written by Jacob Sayos
Oak Grove sports are still on! Fortunately, all sports teams are scheduled to be completed by the end of this school year. This plan will be achieved through two phases. The current phase includes football and cross country. The rest of OG sports will follow through in Phrase 2, which is planned to begin in March. All sports that have started conditioning are following regulations by conditioning outside. Similar to regular COVID19 protocols, all athletes must be wearing a mask, staying six feet apart from one another, and the sanitation of used sports equipment is regularly practiced. Coaches and athletes strictly enforce these guidelines by the district office to ensure the safety and responsibility of everyone.
Oak Grove’s football culture continues to soar, as football was originally scheduled to play near the end of January. As Santa Clara County continues to stay in the purple tier, however, football will not be able to play. Once Santa Clara County’s covid case rate decreases, more information on football's plan will be available. Unfortunately, sports will not be allowed a live audience as it was done in the past. Once everything becomes safer, groups may be able to gather in the near future. Remember to stay safe and we hope to update you all soon!
Written By Trang Ly and Vivian Pham Uniting all Oak Grove students, OG’s ASSETs program brings out another factor of culture. With funds from the State of California, through the federally funded 21st Century grant, Oak Grove High School’s ASSETs program came to life. ASSETs stands for After School Safety Enrichment for Teens. Supporting various schools from the East Side Union High School District, a supplement fund of $5 Million dollars would be granted over the course of 5 years. Oak Grove’s ASSETs program supplements student learning and provides healthy activities for students after school. ASSETs officially started when Goodwill’s Director of Youth Programs, Dr. Bruce Shimizu, applied for the grant, and under his leadership it has flourished. ASSETS currently has two grants in place, one of which is at Oak Grove in its second year, and another in its third year supporting other schools in the district. The East Side Union High School District is the only district that has been awarded with ASSETs funded in Northern California.
So, to say, “we are in this together,” is an understatement. - Site Coordinator, Mr. Frias
Although ASSETs classes are traditionally taught in-person like most classes, ASSETs has now shifted to virtual learning to support students through the pandemic. The ASSETs team consists of 95% of Oak Grove teachers, with the exception of offcampus coaches and organizations. All of ASSETs’ staff and teachers on campus strive for the success of their students, which serves as their biggest strength. Their unique factor is they hire teachers from their own district to support students. Coordinators of each supported school are retired administrators while some are even former ESUHSD students. The effort made by both staff and students allows ASSETs to thrive throughout the school years. Teachers make the personal decision to continue to support their students during after school hours. Not only teachers, but students also voluntarily take the opportunity to attend the program. ASSETs’ goal is to provide assistance to 25,000 student attendees over the school year, every year, with the exception of the year affected by the pandemic. All ESUHSD sponsored schools are incredibly thankful for what ASSETs has to offer their students and staff. With the remainder of their time with ASSETs, staff and students will continue to thrive and bring out the best in all.
Tune in to see what Oak Grove's classes have planned!
HEYY SE21ORS! Our FINAL class long sleeve is here and you can STILL order yours with the link in our bio on Instagram @oghs2021! Make the most of our last memory at Oak Grove!
Hoco season is near and the Junior Class is selling shirts and stickers! Order your homecoming apparel before the preorder deadline (1/27 for cash payments and 1/29 for Venmo payments)! More details at tinyurl.com/og-hoco22.
Hiii freshmen! We are still selling class shirts for Homecoming! Even though this year is one of a kind, we still want you all to show your wonderful HEY 2023! Homecoming is around the corner, class spirit online! Collecting these shirts over the and with that comes our student designed next four years will be a wonderful memory! Make sure to fill out a Pre-order form asap! The link is on class shirts! Make sure to preorder a our Linktree in our @oghs2024 insta bio! Drop your sophomore class shirt to represent your class $15.00 at Q1 on Wednesdays from 11-3pm! Let's and show some spirit! CAW CAW show our spirit freshmen!!!
tinyurl.com/hocoshirt2023
Here's The Tea: You Can Help Support a Cause! Written by OGUNICEF
OGVSU,
OGFSU,
With the recent typhoons impacting many Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines and Vietnam, Oak Grove’s very own FSU, VSU, and UNICEF collaborated to help out these countries! We raised money through a Happy Lemon fundraiser, with half of the funds going to UNICEF Philippines and the other half going to the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation. UNICEF Philippines has been working with the Philippine government in order to ensure the rights of every Filipino child being fulfilled, with one of their most recent focuses on children and families impacted by the floods. Blue Dragon is a nonprofit that works in Vietnam that helps children escape crisises, such as illness, slavery, trafficking, and more. A whole week of buying tea and supporting these foundations led to a successful fundraiser, with all of the funds directly donated! Overall, we raised $90! Thank you to everyone who helped out and supported!
VIRTUAL VOLUNTEERING CSF 2020-2021 Written By Jyoti Rani The ambient noise of papers shuffling, indistinct conversations about essays, AP exams, high school life, and the soft clickity-clackity of keyboards: the Oak Grove tutoring center was a hub for students to empower their academic journey. And then distance learning happened. Students were now at home, with everyone adjusting to a new environment. Oak Grove needed a new virtual platform to provide tools and resources like tutoring for academic success. That’s where CSF came in. The Oak Grove California Scholarship Federation (CSF) Club has long been a major component of the tutoring center, supplying dedicated volunteers who mentor their peers.
In an effort to provide both CSF members the opportunity to volunteer and Oak Grove students the opportunity to receive quality mentorship during distance learning, we reached out to teachers to offer assistance for their students during their tutorial and office hours. In addition, we empowered Oak Grove students to serve the community in new ways, all while emphasizing safety. For example, to empower a sense of community and school spirit, we encouraged CSF members to volunteer at events like Halloween Fest. Some of our volunteers served at religious centers in a socially distanced way. This year, CSF elected official board members: President Sally Ha, Vice President Jyoti Rani, & Secretary Rachel Ha. Make sure to join CSF for the Spring 2021 Semester to serve your community and start working towards a Lifetime Service Award, granted at graduation!
GOOGLE CLASSROOM CODE: gxj7xoo
Building the Next Generation of Innovators Written by OG Robotics
Back in 2017, robotics, coding, or technical related clubs did not exist on campus. After communicating with Vivien Macnguyen, former Oak Grove alumni and CEO of QPi Education, current Oak Grove High School senior, Jyoti, secured a $4,000 valued self-driving car robotics pilot program with no costs attached. She founded Eagle Robotics and currently directs the club as it is known today. During the highly successful 2018-2019 robotics pilot, more than thirty peers learned Python, Raspberry Pi, and the fundamentals of hardware, electrical, and mechanical engineering. The challenges of tackling this global pandemic have resoundingly proven that the current and upcoming generations will be the future entrepreneurs, engineers, scientists, and researchers that will help tackle global challenges. By ramping up social media presence and working to host club meetings consistently, Oak Grove’s Coding and Robotics Club are striving to empower a strong Eagle community that encourages students to cultivate a technical STEM passion.
This year, Coding Club has partnered with San Jose State University’s Machine Learning Club to host a free, 8-week Artificial Intelligence Immersion program for as many as fifty peers largely from the East Side Union District. Currently, coding and robotics have been consistently running club sessions and workshops virtually. Students are encouraged to pick up a robotic kit from campus to participate in the lessons. These two clubs have incredibly exciting events coming up! Coding club is avidly preparing members to participate in upcoming spring coding competitions such as the Lockheed Coding Quest hackathon. Such opportunities are absolutely incredible for adding to resumes, college applications, and overall boosting and practicing skills and strengths. In addition, the technical skills members are learning can be applied towards projects for competitions such as Sciencepalooza and Synopsys Championship. The district and regional science fairs respectively are absolutely life-changing, musthave experiences of high school.
Coding Club’s parent nonprofit, “Code 4 Tomorrow,” is wrapping up logistics for a speaker event that will be accessible to Oak Grove students who attended the SJSU Artificial Immersion (AI) program hosted in Winter 2020. This speaking event, in partnership with a tech company, will feature a lecture, hands-on AI workshop, and a panel discussion with engineers and hopefully the company’s CEO.
Especially empowering girls in STEM is really important to Jyoti. Her first shocking experience of gender inequality was when she found herself as one of few girls in AP Computer Science. She quickly realized the experience was part of a bigger challenge. The STEM space is dominated by men in classrooms, in the workplace, and at every level in between. Thus given a personal commitment to especially empowering girls in In addition, to fortify and build a STEM, Jyoti is proud that the self-sustaining STEM network, five robotics pilot was roughly 50% STEM clubs united to found the female students. OGHS STEM Career Connecting Club (CCC) network and create a Most importantly, Coding Club, powerhouse, central, one-stop Robotics, and the STEM Career STEM hub. CCC’s purpose is to unite Connecting Club Network all aim STEM leaders on campus to to provide the mentorship and collaborate on interdisciplinary guidance needed to navigate the projects. Future aspirations include innumerable online resources and organizing field trips to company pesky coding bugs. These clubs are campuses like Google, Facebook, here to empower Eagles to and Apple and bringing speakers succeed in innovating the future, so from the industry to inspire make sure to take advantage of students on campus. them by joining now! According to the Robotics Club President, one of the toughest challenges is revolutionizing a STEM mindset. “Yes, coding is challenging,” Jyoti agrees before adding “but isn’t learning any new skill or subject challenging?”
Environmental Action Club Written By Rhea Dhanowa
Hey Eagles! Are you interested in helping the environment? If so, the Environmental Action Club is the place for you! The Environmental Action Club, or the EAC for short, has made its comeback this semester with a new board and advisor, Mrs. Hamak. With each coming month, the EAC will shine a spotlight on a new environmental issue and show us how we can work towards solving it! We will have new D.I.Y projects to accompany each topic.
These projects will range anywhere from planting a tree to making canlights. In addition to this, we are hoping to create a community garden bed on campus at Oak Grove, made completely of “bottle-bricks”! And, we’ll be participating in COVIDsafe events such as small trail cleanups so that we can help the environment and get community service hours as we do it! If you are interested, follow us @oakgroveeac on Instagram and be sure to attend our monthly meetings on the first Monday of each month!
AniKey Omamori Charms By Anime and Key Club To start off the new year, Anime Club and Key Club brings luck into 2021 by hand-making Japanese omamori charms! Omamori ( ) are Japanese amulets that can be purchased at Japanese shrines or temples and is prominent in Japanese culture. Omamori refers to the idea of protection, as there is a charm for each aspiration such as the desire to receive good grades or a long-lasting relationship.
御守
These amulets are considered lucky talismans that provide various forms of fortune, wealth, success, and more. Anime and Key Club hosted their Japanese omamori charm service and bonding event on January 15, 2021 at 5PM. Club members created their charms with colorful origami or square paper, which was taught through a slideshow and explained by board members. This event allowed for Key and Anime Club to bond together as they made the charms.
After work time, club members enjoyed an episode of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, which mentioned the omamori tradition! The charms will later be donated to Habitat for Humanity, to spread New Year’s Cheer. Anime and Key Club wishes everyone a year filled with good fortune!
Martin Luther King Jr. Campus Clean Up Written By Rhea Dhanowa In homage to the great Martin Luther King Jr, Oak Grove’s students spent their day off giving back to their community by helping to clean up our campus and its surrounding area. The event, which was set-up by Mr. Matt Torrens of the neighborhood association, turned out to be a great success! Alongside a group including neighbors and Oak Grove students alike, volunteers were able to pick up many bags full of trash, creating a cleaner and safer environment for all. Oak Grove’s own Environmental Action Club and their advisor, Ms. Hamak, made up much of that group. The volunteers made sure to follow Santa Clara County’s COVID-19 guidelines, remaining socially distanced and masked, all the while helping to clean the neighborhood area.
A word from Matt Torrens, who helped set up the Martin Luther King Jr. Day campus clean-up: “The Clean Up was an excellent way for the Oak Grove community to celebrate the legacy of Dr. King, who fought so hard to not only address injustices for all people, but also encourage community involvement. As proud parents of an Oak Grove student and neighborhood walker, I noticed Hayes Drive, behind Oak Grove High School, could use a little pick up. I reached out to the school, the neighborhood associations, and the city of San Jose. We had 4 neighbors, 8 OGHS students, and the Environmental Action Club Advisor and Chemistry teacher Ms. Hamak. Mr. McCoy and Mr. Chung helped coordinate and the city picked up our eight bags of litter.”
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge:
A Visit to the World’s Natural Heritage Written by Lauren Bui The Life Support for Hundreds of Animals Escaping to frigid northeast Alaska and getting lost in a white-out picturesque land: welcome, you are now home to a variety of endangered species. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (or ANWR) is a 19.6-million-acre region recognized as the world’s largest shelter where a wide range of threatened creatures live, including 160 bird species, 36 types of land mammals, 9 aquatic animals and 36 types of fish. Species such as polar bears, grey wolves, caribou, peregrine falcons, beluga whales, and others are relying on this refuge.
Historically, visionary conservationists Olaus and Margaret Murie led an expedition to the pristine Brook Ranges and researched its ecosystem for preservation purposes in 1956. In 1960, President Dwight Eisenhower converted their vision into reality, establishing the 8.9-million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Range. Finally, in 1980, President Jimmy Carter designated more land as Wilderness and expanded the legacy as it is now and renamed it the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. ANWR is our last true wilderness on Earth, which means that it is the least spoiled from human activity.
Ecologically, it is the natural habitat of hundreds of animals in danger of extinction. It is the land where migratory birds from North America come to breed in spring and summer, but it is also widely known as the gem of oil exploration, especially petroleum. Oil Drilling in the Arctic Refuge Subsection In December 2017, 45th President, of the U.S., Trump signed a massive overhaul of our nation’s tax code which mandated the Department of Interior to drill for oil in the Arctic Refuge to offset the loss. Following that, the first lease oil sale was held in January 2021. This sparked one of the largest debates involving oil penetrating the coastal plain. Support and Opposing Sides Many are in favor of the oil dig site since it results in a huge tax cut for our country. In addition, it also develops Alaska’s economy by creating well-paying jobs at drilling companies. On the other hand, the opposing side argues that it negatively impacts the lives of indigenous Alaskans. Oil drilling can cause contamination, production of gas that melts ice and snow faster, and biological imbalance. This can lead to severe climate change.
Wildlife is heavily affected as well since the fuel leakage threatens millions of bird species, such as the King Eider and Ivory Gull. Marine communities such as whales, seals, and walruses are harmed through noise pollution due to underwater noises that disconnect their communication and mating process. How can we protect our finest jewel before it is too late? To spread awareness and educate others about the beauty and culture of the world’s treasure “Arctic Refuge”, environmental organizations such as the Gwich'in Steering Committee is calling on Congress to designate the Arctic coastal plain as a wilderness area that should be preserved indefinitely. Recently, 46TH President Joe Biden’s administration plans to close the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from drilling by enforcing a temporary halt of oil activity within his first days in office. Take action to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a home to millions of animals, holding global significance.
In and Out of Our Bag Written By Frank Pfeilsticker As children, the idea of one day earning money for our own personal sake was something that seemed so foreign to us. Come around several more orbits around the sun and here we are, pushed through the gates of our teenage years. The thing that was once a dream to us is now a living reality‌ but how do people in our age group manage something that is so easy to lose like money? The answer that is to simply just save! However, there is a lot more that lies underneath that one-worded solution. Depending on how you wish to save, you should give yourself a budget that can be measured through periods of time, such as weeks or months.
This allows you to constantly keep yourself in check and set healthy boundaries with your spending. On top of this, taking note of how much you spend and what you spend on can also strengthen your relationship with finance at our young age! For example, if you notice that 5 out of 7 days a week you are taking a trip to your local tea house to take home some bubble tea beverages, maybe it is best to refine your habits of investing and save that $25+ for something greater (Is there really anything greater than boba though?). More importantly, noticing a pattern in what types of things you are spending on will help you develop new behaviors when interacting with money, and will eventually allow you to broaden your skill set in how you use your money in the future.
Article Requests The Eagle Eye will be accepting all article requests until this term ends! This form will be open to all Oak Grove related programs. Don't miss out on the opportunity to be featured in The Eagle Eye Newsletter!
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ASB Message
Hey Eagles! First semester ✔ Second semester: UPCOMING! We hope you had an amazing January as we started the new year! New year = new beginnings, and we hope you set some goals for yourself! You have about four more months of school left, so for these next four months, DO YOUR BEST as you all are almost there. We have so much hope for some amazing events this semester and so much in store for you all! (You’ll be surprised once we announce!) Be sure to participate in those class events and buy a class shirt to remember this chaotic school year! Again, wishing you the best and keep up with our surprises coming soon! Hoping you all meet your goals this year! Here’s to 2021! Love always, ~QUARANTINE~ ASB 2020-2021
TEE Committee Message Hello everyone! The Eagle Eye hopes you all had a merry and safe start to 2021. We are so thankful for the support and activity regarding all TEE activities! We hope you all are just as excited as we are for future issues and plans!
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