Vol. 95, Issue 1

October The Pepperbox

BOX BRIEFS

October 21: Homecoming

October 28: Term 2 Ends

November 1: No School for Staff Development Day

November 11: No School for Veteran’s Day

November 21-25: No School for Fall Break

Want to advertise or buy a mail subscription to the Pepperbox? Email Business Managers Astreya and Jasmine McKnight at pepperbox@nohum.k12. ca.us!

EDITORIAL STAFF

Madelyn Conley: Editor-in-Chief

Dylan Berman: Editor-in-Chief

Zoe Macknicki: Managing Editor

Seneca Turecheck: Feature Editor

Finn Clark: Feature Editor

Ilana Maclay: News Editor

Julian Wan: Online Editor

Ell Franklin: Opinion Editor

Morgan Ford: Sports Editor

Sagen Sarchett: Sports Editor

Emma Kaber: A&E Editor

Astreya McKnight: Business Manager

Jasmine McKnight: Business Manager

Anthony Vasek: Photo Editor

Ossian Brair-Bonpane: Photo Editor

Ella Newman: Social Media Manager

Alex Phelan: Art Director

Toni Diaz: Copy Editor

REPORTERS

Sadie Cronin

Urijah Horne

Laura Laux

Jamieanne O’Donnell

Lazarus Onyango

Raymi Sharp

Alauna Thompson

Mariah Weekly

The Pepperbox would like to thank Western Web, based in Samoa, for printing atcost. Western Web supports student journalism throughout Humboldt County and has made publications like the Pepperbox possible for decades. We appreciate their dedication to keeping print media alive.

Editors’ Box

Dylan Berman and Madelyn Conley Co-Editors-in-Chief

Weboth took journalism last year only because it was the only class that fit in our schedules. We ended up really enjoying it and realizing the importance of student journalism. While last year’s class was both hectic and fun, our new positions this year have made our work much more rewarding as well as more challenging. We have both learned a lot and worked so hard during the production of this issue. We had no idea what to expect because this is so new to the both of us and we went into this not having much experience. We have a new and passionate team of reporters and editors and we are so proud of everyone’s work. This issue represents the new changes and challenges we face this school year, this homecoming dance, and this fall season. We are proud to share it with the school community and hope you enjoy.

Behind the Scenes

,

Quotable.

- Ms.

responding to

- Mr. Perry, addresing the entire school over the intercom on October 18th

- Mr. Scott replied

-Mr. Pinkerton, discussing

getting scammed

- Ms. Moulton, while discussing religious music

- Mr.

in AP Computer Programming

“I could be a lot meaner, and because I’m not you should be a lot more grateful.”

Coriell,

her late work policy

“Good afternoon, Loggers...”

“The freshmen are dying right now.”

- Ms. Kregse “Tell them to suck it up.”

“Identity theft is fun.”

students

“God and I got in a little fight.”

“It’s okay if you get it wrong, I’ll only take off one finger.”

Sidell,

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

New clubs at Arcata High

Laura Laux Reporter

With the start of the new school year there are some new interesting clubs and programs at Arcata High!

Clubs like Magic the Gathering and Hike for the Glory are founded by students and there are three new musical extracurriculars for all students interested in playing music.

Hike for the Glory

One of the new clubs at our school this year is the Hike for the Glory Club founded by junior, Lachlan Watts-Tobin, now the president of the club..

He and his friends decided that they were gonna walk to Trinidad and on the way there me and the other people, who went on that first hike developed the idea of Hike for the Glory.

“That was actually really fun

and it’s a good bonding experience,” Watts-Tobin said.

“I want to share my fun spirit with other people and allow others to experience things I enjoy,” said junior Taylor Nada, the Vice President of the club.

The hiking club is from now on every Thursday in room 703.

Students don’t have to attend the meetings since the club has a Google Classroom where all information will be posted. The hikes will be on the weekends or after school.

Chamber Music Club

Anyone interested in playing classical music in smaller ensembles now can join the Chamber Music Club every Wednesday during lunch.

“It is a collaboration with other people and making something better together,” sophomore Aurora Pitts said.

Tri-M

Music Honor Society (or TRI-M,

standing for Modern Music Masters) is an opportunity for music students to take leadership roles within the music program and create and hand up service projects in our community, music Teacher Cassandra Moulton explained.

She said the club, which meets on Mondays, allows students “opportunities to take our music off campus.”

Pep Band

“This is the first time we have had Pep Band in seven years. We’re bringing it back because the students wanted to do it, ” Moulton said.

“It’s cool to bring back school traditions,” senior Paolo Bosques-Paulet said.

That’s no surprise since the Pep Band is focused on mostly band instruments, wind and percussion. Moulton said students perform popular genres of music to “hype the crowd.”

The Pep Band supports the Foot-

ball Team by playing old pop songs like “Eye of the Tiger” or “Sweet Caroline” at the games.

Let the band know if you have any song requests!

All of the clubs will have opportunities to perform at either our winter concert in December or at smaller festivals like the local regional festival for Northern California throughout the year.

Magic the Gathering

Magic the gathering is a trading card game that combines strategy and fantasy.

It was originally created by Richards Garfield and released by Wizards of the Coast in 1993. Jacob Briggs invented the Magic the Gathering Club.

“Me and my friends started playing and so we just thought of doing a club for it,” Briggs said. Club meetings are every Friday at lunch in room 105.

Go check out Arcata High’s new clubs!

Goodbye Covid? Hello faces!

Astreya McKnight

Buisness Manager

Campus masking requirements were lifted last year, and many students continued to wear masks in class.

This fall is the opposite. It’s rare to see a student wearing a mask in class. There are no masking requirements and testing is no longer provided on school grounds. Students are no longer notified when there is a positive test in their classes. Where have all the Covid-19 precautions gone? Is Covid no longer relevant on campus?

“I think [Arcata High Covid regulations are] realistic. I think that it’s where we are in the stage of

kind of pandemic being over and entering the endemic piece of it,” Nurse John Kell said.

“And I think that it’s [...] making people nervous, because it’s like, we’ve been [in a] pandemic for so long.”

Nurse Kell described the cultural shift that we have been experiencing both on and off campus as Covid has become less relevant to everyday life.

“I think that we have a solid approach,” Kell stated, “a realistic approach.”

Although masking is not enforced on campus, it is still recommended in NHUHSD Covid protocols for additional protection.

Kell explained how the school’s approach aligns with the general

consensus of students, parents, and AHS staff.

Nurse Kell predicted that if Covid cases increase, masking will become much more prevalent for students.

He credits this to personal choice, rather than the enforcement of the school.

“From what I’ve observed, I don’t think Covid has been a huge issue on campus,” Arcata High Associated Student Body president, Keira Tatro, said.

Keira described the positive influence that this year’s eased Covid regulations have had on campus so far.

“The relaxed regulations this year have given us way more possibilities and access to do more

school events such as rallies and even the dance we just had out on the senior lawn. [...] I think it’s great! It really feels like high school with being able to go to games and events,” Tatro said.

“It’s also nice to not require masks any longer because it helps give a sense of normalcy.”

Despite Tatro’s appreciation for the schools alterations on campus policy, she also addressed what might be done if future issues surface.

“If cases rise, I think we should probably really emphasize people testing and staying home if they feel sick. [As well as encouraging students to] wear masks at school if feeling sick,” she said.

What happened to the Tiger Den?

Ella Newman Social Media Manager

This 2022 school year is the first in 20+ years that the Tiger Den, which was the Arcata High campus student store, hasn’t been open and running.

You could buy lunch, snacks, spirit wear, and other miscellaneous items there. Food items included a number of things like Smug’s pizza, real fruit smoothies, and fresh popped popcorn.

Spirit wear included Arcata High merch like hoodies, sweatpants, T-shirts, and more. It was completely student run. The advisor was the Business and Marketing teacher because the Tiger Den was a huge part of the class, if not the main focus.

This class and working in the Tiger Den gave students job experience and taught students how to run a business. The class also covered things like how to make effective ads and logos, how to count a till, and an opportunity to get a ServSafe certificate so that you’re food handler certified.

Working in the Tiger Den had so many perks. You got paid minimum wage while you’re at school. You met all kinds of students you might have never spoken to otherwise, and you got experience that helped you during and after highschool.

Kelly Helms, Arcata High Tech Essentials teacher for twenty-three years, taught Business class and ran the Tiger Den for roughly twelve years.

Helms hasn’t noticed as much spirit wear on campus this year since the Tiger Den has been shut down. She feels strongly about the Tiger Den being gone.

“We’ve lost a business pathway besides Work Experience on campus and business avenues like what the Pepperbox can provide

through networking with the marketing and things like that. There’s no true business pathway that I see on our campus,” Helms said.

Arcata High principal Ron Perry, said that legal issues regarding food and the hiring process was a big reason why it was shut down. Helms explained that she has never experienced any legal issues, even being responsible for it for over twelve years.

Perry claims that the Tiger Den could not stay open and still maintain a good standing with the state due to the rules and regulations.

while he is Principal.

“The Tiger Den in terms of selling materials like shirts and swag and that sort of stuff, sure, we’re going to try and figure that out because there’s a demand for that. But in terms of selling food, no. And right now, I think it’s important to note that the food is free on campus. Any student who wants to get breakfast or lunch can get that right over there,” Perry said, referring to the cafeteria.

However, the Tiger Den did help the long line for cafeteria food which is complained about by staff and students.

Previous Tiger Den employee, junior Nora Talty, expressed her feelings about working in the Tiger Den.

“To me, the Tiger Den was a fun environment where we got to build friendships and learn about new techniques of how to run a business,” Talty said.

Talty hopes the Tiger Den will return.

Senior Caleb Constancio, has been a frequent customer to the Tiger Den since his freshman year.

Constancio saw the Tiger Den as a great convenience because if you didn’t want to leave the school for lunch, you could still get good food and not have to wait in the long cafeteria line. He appreciated how the store had chalkboards of helpful school information too.

“I think it was a good idea and a good system. I’m not too sure why they took it out,” Constancio said.

The business class was more than just the Tiger Den, it was tied to a curriculum with real world situations.

Helms is very sad and hears all the time from previous Business students that the Tiger Den is what got them their jobs and to where they are in life.

“It was Business and Marketing that gave me life in my teaching career, and I feel like the wind definitely got sucked right out from underneath me. It’s rough. It’s sad. I don’t think people really know how much heart and soul I put into it to make it what it was,” Helms said.

On top of this, the school could not find someone to teach the class with the qualifications needed, and the class wasn’t part of a CTE program which made it a lower priority to the school.

Helms confirmed that the class no longer exists at Arcata High. The space for the Tiger Den is now being used for Kelly Miller’s Floral Design class.

The biggest issue was that the menu had a very difficult time meeting nutrition requirements in regards to California laws.

However, last school year the class did extensive research to fit in the guidelines and it was ultimately met. Regardless, Perry does not see the Tiger Den returning

It didn’t meet California laws in the way the hiring worked, the food guidelines, and the food sold there can not compete with the school

- Prinicipal Ron Perry

Ella Newman/PEPPERBOX

The AHS Business class last school year in the Tiger Den when it was open and running.

Student experiences of racism

Alex Phelan Art Director

With almost 70% of Arcata High School students being White, some students of color don’t always feel safe on campus.

In 2021, the district released a Humboldt County BIPOC Student Listening Report (written by Alannah Smith), describing students’ experiences in Humboldt County High Schools.

The report found that “being called racial slurs, hearing White peers use racial slurs, being questioned or mocked on certain stereotypes, having their hair touched without permission, seeing the confederate flag around campus, and dealing with offensive comments related to their race or culture” were common occurrences.

Some of these are examples of microaggressions. These microaggressions can come from anyone, such as teachers, students, parents, and administrators.

In an interview with the Black Student Union President, senior Elisha Green, I asked how administration and staff can better support students of color on campus.

“They can create more opportunities for people of color. Just being more open to talk about things and having more diversity in history, because, at least at the moment, a lot of history is just European based, which I think should change,” Green said.

In a separate interview with an anonymous student, I asked if he had any experience with harassment on campus, and he was quick to answer with two stories.

“One time I was walking out from class to go home, and two

guys were behind me throwing rocks at me.” Another time, “while walking past the strip by Six Rivers to the gym, some guys [drove by] and called me a monkey out of the window,” he said.

These are not rare examples of harassment at Arcata High, because many students of color face these experiences at one point or another. These are things that White students and teachers need to be aware of.

“I think [students of color] do have resources but not the ones that would be most adequate for their situations. I think having a more diverse staff that students can go to would be helpful,” Green said.

As representatives of the school, teachers should represent the student body, which means having awareness and sensitivity since only a portion of faculty and staff

are non-White.

“Teachers need to check what they say,” an anonymous student stated.

The behavior of staff should reflect the policy and mission of Arcata High.

“There’s just kind of a lack of respect for people of color in general, especially when it comes to certain language learning classes,” the anonymous student claimed.

Arcata High’s mission statement is, “To provide meaningful educational experiences in a safe, supportive environment through innovative programs aimed at empowering students to reach their full potential to be prepared for future college and career opportunities.”

This article highlights students’ experiences of an unsafe and unsupportive learning environment. This is why an incident reporting

Our teachers pay out of pocket

Ilana Maclay News Editor

Paper, pencils, books, cleaning materials, and tissues.

Annually, teachers at Arcata High are given $300 to spend on things like these that they need for school, yet some teachers have to dip into their personal money for supplies that they need in their classrooms.

“It all adds up,” Laurie Griffith, an AHS teacher, explained, “pencils, paper, you know? I make cookies sometimes or I just buy little Halloween pencils or whatever for the kids, and that’s not going to get, you know, reimbursed,” Griffith continued.

There were varying opinions from teachers, staff, and students about a lack of financial support

for faculty. Griffith said she didn’t feel like schools in general were supported enough.

She estimated she probably spends a little over $100 of personal money every year on supplies for school.

Jennifer Berube, the school’s librarian, believes there is money for some things, but not money for everything teachers and staff would like.

Berube said at least six or seven hundred dollars every year is spent on things for the library. Her budget has stayed the same, despite book prices rising.

“I buy books frequently when I’m out in the community looking around and see a book I think would be great for the library,” Berube said.

“I could just choose to buy it for

$15 out of my own pocket at that moment, or go through a process where I have to submit a requisition purchase order,.” Berube added.

The procedure to get reimbursed is very complicated, and it’s much easier to just buy something outof-pocket. “

Not to say the district wouldn’t pay for some of the things I pay for, it’s the process of getting it,” Berube said.

DonorsChoose is a way to help teachers. It’s a website where you can pick an educational cause and people can donate money to fund it.

Sometimes, large corporations will chip in and match funding. There are all sorts of projects on this website where people can choose where they want to donate

money.

Both Griffith and Berube have used DonorsChoose as a way to fundraise for their causes.

Some students are unaware that teachers have to spend out-ofpocket money on school supplies.

Freshman Jada Lusk had no idea. “Well, now I do,” she said. “That’s crazy. That’s sad, and we should probably pay our teachers more.”

It’s not only the students that believe teachers and staff should be more substantially funded.

“We need to put importance on education. If schools and teachers were more financially supported, then there would be more of an enriched environment for the students. It would be better for everybody,” Griffth said.

Inequalities in school bathrooms

Finn Clark Co-Feature Editor

Transgender students, and those who would benefit from menstrual products stocked in bathrooms, face many inequalities on the campus revolving around gender and specific student needs in bathrooms.

The administration so far this year has not provided menstrual products and gender neutral bathrooms, though changes are on the horizon. Johanna Mauro, the advisor of the AHS Sexuality and Gender Acceptance club, assured that renovations are underway.

In the short term, Mauro confirmed that the bathroom situated in the 500 wing will be changed into a gender neutral bathroom with proper signage.

“I feel positive we are moving in the right direction,” she said. Though some students feel the renovations may be arriving too late.

Many students said they will continue to suffer this year until bathrooms are renovated to become gender neutral.

Mauro believes that the lack of gender neutral bathrooms affects everyone on the campus, “Nobody’s happy, it’s hard for everyone.”

Though we have the short term bathroom change, an even larger change is coming with the renovation of the bathroom in the 400 wing into a multi-stalled gender neutral bathroom.

Some believe that the bathrooms at Six Rivers Charter School and inside the Fine Arts Building are enough for those who seek gender neutral bathrooms, even though they remain locked during school hours.

In the Six Rivers bathroom, students must give up their phones to gain access to these bathrooms. Cisgender male and female students gain full access to bathrooms easily while those who want to gender neutral bathrooms have to interrupt other students learning to get a key to use the gender neutral bathrooms.

“I think if you’re going to take somebody’s phone away, you have to apply it to all the students, and it shouldn’t be biased. I think that’s, plainly speaking, not professional. It’s not fair to the students, and it’s uncomfortable,” an AHS senior said.

Though many students believe the gender neutral bathrooms we have on campus are enough, many disagree with this opinion.

”There are technically gender neutral bathrooms, but then they lock them. So the kids can’t use them, which is like, why have bathrooms that you can’t use in the first place just don’t have those bathrooms,“ said sophomore Evangelina Reed.

An AHS student mentioned, ”There’s definitely a paranoia around the bathrooms for me personally, because I don’t really have a choice per se of where I want to be. And I’ve essentially trained myself not to use the restrooms on campus. I go when I get home, which kind of sucks.”

Custodian Jim Hogan is optimistic about the bathroom situation.

“Well that would give us six (gender neutral bathrooms) on campus. That is more than what we got for boys and girls, so I think that that is going in the right direction,” Hogan said.

Hogan said he spends “around thirty percent” of his time just cleaning out the bathrooms.

Some attribute the bathroom dirtiness to lack of resources for students to report incidents. Due to the treatment of bathrooms on campus, many students do not have access to the resources they need.

The Menstrual Equity Act was passed in 2021 to bring students as well as other members of California out of “period poverty”, a lack of menstrual products as a result of various life circumstances.

This act requires schools to keep menstrual products in their bathrooms. Yet AHS does not have menstrual products in any of their bathrooms.

”I think that is frustrating. Because like, you have to fully rely on yourself to get them,” Reed said.

There have been several attempts to place hygiene products in bathrooms throughout the campus though none of them have been effective.

”They’ve stopped putting them in there because of kids grabbing them. And you know, and throwing them and stuffing them into the toilet and overflowing it,” Bag-

nall said.

Through the misuse of menstrual products by various groups many students on campus have to suffer.

”It makes life a lot harder because I can’t just leave the classroom and go to the bathroom. You have to like sneakily grab your tampon or your pad and then go to the bathroom. Sometimes teachers say no, but you can’t just say you’re on your period, because then the whole class will laugh at you. Just having them in the bathroom would make it a lot simpler,” Reed explained.

Mauro claims that vape detectors are on track to be installed inside of bathrooms and cameras will be added to the outside.

“It’s part of our R.I.S.E, really respecting our space and keeping safe and respectful and so on,” she said.

“People have to be accountable for their own actions, I mean, show some pride,” Hogan said.

While the bathroom situation on campus may seem undesirable right now, many are working to improve it.

Different bathroom signs on campus.

Finn Clark/PEPPERBOX

Thursday, October 27th, 2022

AHS enrollment and concerns

Julian Wan Online Editor

Freshmen are always at it with their shenanigans but this year there’s a lot of them, and I mean a lot.

Over the last few years, Arcata High School had a dramatic increase in student enrollment.

According to data provided from Arcata High Administration, student enrollment at Arcata High during the academic year of 20202021 was 937 students.

This data is significantly lower than the average enrollment rates due to the COVID-19 pandemic and distance learning.

AHS opened back to in-person face-to-face learning for 20212022, which brought the number of students up to 1021. Arcata High currently has a total of 1073 students.

Breaking it down, the freshman class this year has 281 students. The sophomores have the largest class, totaling 290 students.

The freshman and sophomore classes combined total up to 53% of the student population, a drastic jump from the Junior and Senior classes who have 252 and 250 students respectively.

Furthermore, 403 students enrolled at AHS are inter-district and intra-district students.

That’s about 37% of the AHS students who do not live in Arcata. 1 in 6 students at Arcata High live in Eureka, and 1 in 5 students at Arcata High live in McKinleyville.

Two questions arise: What makes Arcata High more favorable than other schools?

What are the concerns of teachers and students in adapting to this influx of students?

Freshman, Aiden Matlock, is an intra-district student and said that his favorite part about Arcata High is open campus lunch and how

close the campus is to lunch spots in Arcata.

“Out of all the schools, I would choose Arcata,” Matlock said.

Sophomore Cassidy Kinnicutt, is enjoying her first year at Arcata and mentioned that the students here are really friendly.

She recently moved from the Bay Area and explained that Arcata’s music program was what brought her to Arcata High.

“Orchestra was one of the main reasons. I wanted to be in a more established orchestra or a full one…I heard the music department

was better here,” Kinnicutt said.

Dominic Previde is a Junior at Arcata High who formerly attended MHS. He said his reason for transferring schools was because he had more friends attending AHS.

“I transferred mostly because I have more friends here, that’s the biggest reason…And it’s more convenient because I work in Arcata,” Previde said.

Leitala Vainuku is another transfer student at Arcata High who attended Eureka High last year. She commented that she

wanted to be on a better volleyball team.

“I heard that this school was more about academics. Sports here is better than Eureka,” Vainuku said.

Although Arcata High offers excellent programs, the overflow of students poses challenges for teachers and staff.

Therese FitzMaurice, a new English teacher at Arcata High, discussed how the large number of freshmen impacted her teaching and classroom environment.

Continued on pg. 14>

Schedule decision retrospective

Dylan Berman Co-Editor-in-Chief

Many Arcata High School students have heard whispers and snippets of the debate around our bell schedule. Teachers mention things in class, the administration makes announcements, rumors flourish, but it seems that the full picture of what has happened with our schedule is something elusive.

How was the schedule for this year chosen? Who was involved, whose voices heard, and whose ignored? The school schedule impacts every student and staff member, yet the answers to these questions among students are widely unknown.

Toward the middle of last school year, the AHS administration began the process of deciding a new bell schedule for this year. Superintendent Roger Macdonald assembled a committee of administrators and teachers called the Bell Schedule Committee (BSC).

Teachers could request to be a part of the committee, and then the administration along with the teachers union would review the requests and select members.

“The administration asked [the committee] to look at all of the different schedules from all over, not even talking just the United States…what kind of block schedules do they have and does it abide by our contract and the mandated instruction time,” explained Caroline Bareilles, AHS German teacher and member of the BSC.

The committee came up with a wide selection of different potential schedules, bringing their findings to different departments for feedback, but then around March of last year, these schedules were removed as possibilities because they didn’t fit within the California Department of Education’s required number of yearly minutes or the union contract.

“The union went back and looked at the schedules that were most popular amongst the committee…by the next zoom meeting, those went away. That was around March, ‘’ Bareilles said.

Faculty and union members then put together a new set of schedules as options for voting. Soon after the teachers voted, choosing between six of these schedules using a rank choice voting system.

Rank choice voting refers to a voting system in which voters rank their options in a sequence of first or second (or third, etc.) on their respective ballots.

The schedules thought to be the top two choices were then pitted against each other in a second round of voting.

Then things got a lot more complicated.

The math department sent out a Google document criticizing the use of rank choice voting, claiming that the selection of the two top voted schedules had been miscalculated, and that the vote needed to be held again.

As part of the math department and a member of the BSC, Neva Holladay gave more insight regarding the issues with the vote the math department pointed out.

She explained that in her opinion, rank choice voting was best for much larger populations, and didn’t work well for this scale of vote.

Tiffany Bullman, teacher at McKinleyville High School and the union President for much of last school year, disagreed, defending the use of rank choice voting.

“As a political science teacher, I am a strong supporter of rank choice voting because it gives voters more choices, and it allows them to truly vote for their first choice without fear of wasting their vote,” she explained.

The document sent out by the math department claimed that the schedule that won the vote was ranked by only 56% of teachers as one of their top three choices.

The document also stated that one of the schedule options was incorrectly rejected, despite receiving a high percentage of votes.

The document ends with the proposition to have a second vote, pitting the winning schedule against this allegedly inaccurately removed schedule.

“Do I think we used rank choice voting with integrity? Yes. Do I feel like it is a viable way of coming to a result through an election? Yes. Did everybody feel that way? No,” Mckinleyville High Principal and committee member Nic Collart said.

Bullman was critical of the push back the vote received.

“In my honest opinion, I felt the criticisms only came about because opponents of the block schedule were looking for ways to discredit the vote,” she said. “Once we agreed to a process, we should have stuck with it. The movement to overturn the election

should have been squashed early on instead of letting it drag on for the remainder of the school year.”

After much debate following the vote, an executive decision was made by Superintendent Roger Macdonald two days before the end of the last school year to stick with the existing schedule for 2022-23 school year.

“There was a big debate, to the point where the administration said ‘That’s it, we’re gonna keep the same schedule as this year,” Bareilles said, summarizing her view of what happened following the math department’s criticisms.

This decision was also because, according to the current Union President Jennifer Berube as well as other teachers on the committee, the voted on schedule violated the union contract, and required negotiation and further discussion.

An email sent to teachers by Macdonald on Tuesday, June 14th of last school year stated:

“It has become clear that the schedule that was voted on would change working conditions for several staff and would require both parties to come to the table to renegotiate terms so that it would fit the contract.”

In an interview this October Macdonald said that it was debatable whether or not that schedule violated the Union Contract, and that the decision to stick with last year’s schedule had “nothing to do with the union contract.”

Bullman agreed with Macdonald’s recent statements, saying that the schedule did not have any conflict with the contract.

Macdonald affirmed the legitimacy of the vote called into question by the math department.

“The vote was legitimate. The reason we went with a different schedule wasn’t because there was a problem with the vote,” he said.

>>continued on page 28

Last year was so nasty I’m just trying to survive and forget

- Caroline Bareilles, German teacher

New staff at Arcata High

Toni Diaz, Urijah Horne, Lucia Hernandez, Lazarus Onyango, Ilana Maclay Pepperbox Staff

Therese FitzMaurice is one of our new English and Study Skills teachers. She has been teaching since 2001 and has also been a teachers aid. She has attended three different colleges: Purdue University, Humboldt State University, and the University of San Fransisco.

“The best part of teaching is making great relationships with your students so one day if you see them again you can reconnect and talk about moments in your class,” she said.

Kayla Gaskill teaches four Art 1 classes, and one AAI Animation Master class. Gaskill feels she was “meant to teach” and really enjoys engaging and helping students further their skills in the art department. She has a passion for arts and loves sharing it with her students.

Gaskill really likes the location of AHS and all the students and teachers, along with what they all have to offer. She is easygoing and wants to help anyone the best she can.

1992. So far, she has enjoyed her time here.“It’s been easier to adjust to a new school since there are other new teachers who don’t really know much about the school as well,”she said.

She is also an author and she has even had two of her books recognised by the Lunar Codex. The Lunar Codex is a project where they are sending thousands of pieces of art and books to the moon in four time capsules.

Isabelle Farrell is yet another one of our new English teachers who is just starting off her teaching career. She chose to work at Arcata High School because her mom went here and because the school, “has a good legacy and a good community.” So far she said our school “has been nice and the students are very kind and focused.” She has wanted to be a teacher since high school when she volunteered to work at a school and really enjoyed it. Before that she didn’t want to be a teacher because her mom made the job look difficult.

FitzMaurice has wanted to be a teacher ever since she was young because she loved learning but didn’t really like the way things were taught. She then decided she should be a teacher herself and teach in a more interesting way.

Before teaching, she had a lot of jobs such as working at an ice cream shop, landscaping, and working as a nanny. She chose to work here because “she has lots of friends in the area so it’s nice to work at a school close to them.” Finally, her thoughts about this school are that it is much, much bigger than her last school but she likes it.“ The vibe is very positive,”she said.

She also worked some time here last year, learning and taking tips from the other art teachers, while helping them out.

Gaskill really enjoys going on hikes and going to the beach. She loves not only teaching art but also making art. She likes concerts like EDM, and finds joy in collecting things.

She is very confident in her students. “At least ten of my students will be famous someday,”she said. Gill believes that people’s passions can become careers and that “people should do what they love and what makes them money even though those things aren’t always the same.” She also said that you should be an expert at what you love and teach it to others so you can make bonds and relationships with people who like the same things as you.

Caroline Gill is another new teacher to our school. She has been doing all sorts of teaching jobs at all sorts of places like Morris Elementary and Eureka High School but she started back in

Alyssa Guerrero was a student teacher and taught for AHS back in 2013-2014. Arcata High is a comfortable and familiar place for her. “It’s been great to see and reconnect with familiar faces, while also getting to know teachers and staff members that are newer to

the campus,” she said. She is a Study Skills teacher and has taught for over 8 years.

With her experience she has a better understanding of teacher and student perspectives from other subject areas and is curious to see how she can continue working towards a “size that fits all.” As a first-generation Filipina, she is grateful to be supporting students with similar needs as when she was in elementary and high school. She started at a junior college as she was still exploring what truly sparked her passion. She then transferred to Cal Poly Humboldt which is where she earned her bachelor’s in biology.

Her connection with her students is important and she would like students to remember her for how she treated them as humans and individuals,helping them foster confidence in their own abilities as learners and change-makers in the world.

schedule and finds the normal six period classes to be rushed. “As a teacher,I would hope that my students would think of my classroom as a safe place to express themselves and do what they

switch rooms in the middle of the day. Prior to this year where he only teaches math classes, Koczera has taught Senior Project, Study Skills, concurrent enrollment, landscaping, Drivers Ed Tech, and Health. Koczera loves the environment at Arcata High and is thrilled to be a new teacher here.

Thursday, October 27th, 2022

tial it was and is his “dream” job. He went back to school when he was thirty-one to get his teaching credential.

“Man, we have an excellent staff here. They’ve been so welcoming,’’ Pierce said.

Pierce was surprised when he came to the first pep rally of the year. “Y’all know how to party,” Pierce said. He said that it took him back to his high school days.

”We have a very strong FFA program here and I love it,” Pierce said talking about all the special events outside of school and he said that he loves all the enthusiastic people and he is really enjoying himself.

Debora Jacobsen is a new CP English, Honors English 2 teacher as well as the Yearbook advisor .It is her 11th year teaching, but she was out of the classroom for many years before this year. She has worked at a variety of different schools in many different positions. “I’m really happy to be back in the classroom,” she said. She graduated from CSU Chico. Despite being a new teacher, she has experience with the block

Dorion Koczera is our new math teacher and is an excellent new addition. He has taught a couple Arcata High classes in the past at Six Rivers, but has now taken on more math classes here on our campus.

“I wanted to open my own small business,” Koczera said, which was the reason he came to Humboldt. He wanted to become a math teacher, and he didn’t see himself going somewhere he wouldn’t be happy or fulfilled with in regards to his small business

“So I took a leave of absence.” He took an Ameri-corps program which is a volunteer service organization.

He took a bunch of project rounds and one of them was teaching in an innercity school in Baltimore, Maryland. He taught 7th and 8th grade math and Koczera loved it. Everything about it, connecting with students, having fun, everything!

Koczera said that the biggest change for him is that he now teaches a class in 213 so he has to

Andrew Pierce is the new and awesome agriculture teacher, Pierce is very lucky to be working with Kelly Miller the other agricultural advisor. “It’s amazing working with Mrs. Miller. She has such a wealth of knowledge and is really taking me under her wing with great enthusiasm,” Pierce said.

He goes into depth on how he has always been involved and around agriculture, Pierce has always worked on a farm but was never involved in Future Farmers of America (FFA) because the school that he went to in South Carolina was not very FFA active.

Pierce got his first job in agriculture when he was twelve years old working at a production plant nursery. When he went back to school to get his teaching creden-

Ron Perry is the principal and former student of Arcata High School Class of 1986. “I have been across the street [At Six Rivers] and not only did I study here but my daughters did,” Perry said. As a student he played football and his team won the league. He was involved so much and gave time to activities at Arcata. He was a student body president and participated in wrestling. He is the first generation college graduate from his family and he gives thanks to his teachers and coaches at that time who had an impact on his life. As a former student, there are things that have changed. In his time, they did not have a block schedule and had no AP classes. As principal, his plan is to make Arcata the best school in Northern California

and he is eager to make it happen. He would love to be remembered as the person who brings people together.

Jessie Burns is the new assistant principal. She loves working alongside Perry and wants to make the school a better place.

Prior to starting here at AHS, Burns has worked at schools for 17 years, including Eureka and Mack High. She was a special ed psychologist.

Burns loves to hike, and if you’re a big hiker like her, she recommends taking a hike in the Redwoods. She has always been a runner and strikes a high interest in the sport. Burns lived in Wisconsin until she was 18, in high school she did track and cross country. As well, she played volleyball.

As our new assistant principal she is learning how to manage the new role, and is excited to work with a more broad variety of students.

“Coming from a psychology background I want to support students and their mental health. I want to find a way to create an environment to help students with anxiety and other issues,” Burns said. Burns is super excited to be here, and is ready to put her plans in action.

Michelle Conley is one of many new staff on board. She works in the principal’s office and does student records, transcripts, phone, etc. She is not new to working at a school, in fact before Conley made the move to join us at AHS she was the secretary at Zane middle school for 4 ½ years. She had never participated in a block schedule until, but she expressed how it’s not much of a hard switch for her.

Conley has two kids who attend AHS, a senior and a sophomore, whom she is most proud of and enjoys watching grow up everyday. She loves spending time with her kids, even though she doesn’t have much free time these days.

“When I do I like to be active, I like going for bike rides and hikes with my family,” she said.

She seemed to like Arcata High as a parent, and is fairly happy with it now as a staff member. She feels we have a great environment and is happy to be getting to know more and more staff, old and new.

In fact, one staff member in particular, Ron Perry, taught her

in her high school days at Eureka High. Where she participated in many sports, including volleyball “It’s my all time favorite, I loved it,” said Conley.

Angie Brenes is the Director for the Indian Education Program. Many don’t know what the Indian Education Program is about.

It’s a system that helps native tribes and people get a good education. The native people are recognized with a tribal card and a tribal card is a piece of identification that helps them be able to receive the education.

Not only is the system for Native Americans but also the young kids who would love to know about the history of where they are from.

Angiee Brenes worked over 30 years and she has seen a lot of students. The idea for the program was brought up at a conference and people with the same idea came together and made it a thing.

The Indian Education Program is in 13 different schools and at the same time in different counties and there is an office here on the Arcata Campus in the TOC on campus.

Ayla Marsden is our new library clerk. She is young and loves to read, especially in coffee shops. She graduated from Naropa University in Colorado where she got her master’s in library science and majored in creative writing.

Marsden just moved to Humboldt from Ashland, Oregon. She finds herself juggling the recent move and new job, but seems to really like it here at AHS. According to her, the students are nice, and she enjoys being in the library surrounded by books.

She takes interest in not only reading, but is also a big fan of movies. She however can’t pick a favorite movie, but who can blame her. Marsden also enjoys drawing and painting. She is a very helpful addition to our library.

Hammons explained that “A school psychologist tests kids for learning disabilities. They do analysis for the schools, and they help with mental health. Mental health was my biggest push,” he said. He mentioned that he went back to school to get his master’s in school psychology after being a social studies teacher, because he wanted to help kids more. He wanted to ensure that all of the kids “slipping through the cracks” could succeed. “I also want to help schools in the bigger picture be inclusive and make sure that everybody has access to their education,” he said. Hammons has taught at many schools, including a community school in Garberville, independent study in Eureka, and a program called “young people as parents.” He worked at AHS previously as a behavior helper in classrooms, and came back to be the school’s psychologist. He noted that kids in high school are a lot taller than middle schoolers.

Adjusting to the block schedule took some time for Hammons. “I’m still getting used to it,” he said. “It took me a few days to figure it out. I feel like it should be 2, 4, 6/ 1, 3, 5 myself, because

Trevor Hammons is Arcata High’s new school psychologist. He is located a door down from the Principal’s office.

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that’s how my high school was… but I’m getting used to it.”

Hammons mentioned that his office is always open. If you need to find him, look for a guy with silver hair, piercings, and a mustache, radiating a cool aura.

“I like helping kids,” Hammons stated. “I feel like I do that regardless of where I am, but I’m super excited to be back at Arcata High.”

will. “Eventually, yes, I do think I want to go back,” McCready said.

McCready said that the block schedule was not very difficult to adjust to.

She shared, “I really like the block schedule because it gives us time to have speech therapy and have multiple kids during the same period.”

In addition Arcata High also welcomes, Sergio Alfaro, the new Spanish 1 teacher. Shakira Reyes, the new World History, and US History/Geography teacher.

>>Continued from pg. 9

“I’m fortunate to have a home base but I still need to share classrooms,” FitzMaurice said.

She has an average of 30 students in her English classes with an average of 12 in her study skills class but she notes that it will grow as the school year progresses.

has 23 members while the school only has 12 instruments.

Mitchell Kane, Physical Education Department Chair, explained that, due to higher enrollment numbers, he and his colleagues had to decide how to distribute class loads, especially because all freshmen have to take PE.

“Administration said we can lighten the load of freshmen classes or CO-ED…we chose to lighten the freshmen classes so they have a healthier environment their first year,” Kane said.

The current average number of students among all the PE classes combined is 42 (refer to figure below).

“Larger classes aren’t ideal…it would be better with larger floor space or more teachers,” Kane said.

Other staff are managing similar anxieties arising from the influx of students.

for example, the English books, [teachers] can’t teach at the same time so they have to rotate,” Berube said.

She suggests some needs t the library would appreciate:

“I would prefer a full time library clerk that could stay until 4…and a good budget, which is about 5 to 7 dollars per student,” Berube said.

Ron Perry, Arcata High Principal, acknowledged the concerns of a tighter learning space.

However, Perry explained that Arcata High hasn’t grown much since he graduated from AHS over 40 years ago.

“There were around 800 students on campus when I was here…which would mean that the average growth rate is 12 students per class per decade,” Perry said.

Perry addressed how the development of Humboldt State to Cal Poly Humboldt may have an impact on future enrollment.

Shaelyn McCready is the speech therapist’s assistant. In speech therapy, which takes place in room 200, they work on all the things they need to for the student’s goals. Articulation, social emotional learning, having conversations with peers, and more –it entirely depends on the student.

“I finished my fieldwork at Freshwater last year,” McCready informed me. “I was actually with elementary kids last year. So, this is my first year at a high school and I’m really enjoying it.” McCready mentioned that she had a lot of speech therapy growing up, and lived in this area. The reason she is motivated and wants to be a speech therapist is to give back to the community.

“I can’t do as much because I’m the assistant,” she said. “Basically, I have a bachelor’s and a speech therapist needs a master’s. So, I would have to go to two more years of school.”

McCready isn’t ready to go back to school yet, but she probably

“It’s manageable but less than ideal, particularly for Arcata High when it comes down to how crowded it is,” FitzMaurice said.

Jesse Jonathon, a community volunteer instructor who directs Arcata High’s Steel Pan Program, explained his challenges conducting the steelband with limited instruments and limited space.

“It would be nice to have an established space or a panyard…and that would be an incentive to practice more,” Jonathon said.

Jonathon is also a music director at Trinidad and Blue Lake schools, where he brings the bulky instruments to AHS from Trinidad and Blue Lake every Wednesday for Arcata High Students.

“It would be inequitable to expect students to purchase or bring their own instruments, I have to provide additional instruments to keep the community and students to play…It would be appropriate to be met with support anywhere,” Jesse said.

The AHS Steelband currently

Jennifer Berube, our school librarian, talked about the availability of books and resources for students.

“It’s a little tight but we have enough books for everybody…but

Perry reassured that the school and administration are communicating and will respond to the concerns of students and teachers.

number of students department

Speech therapy issues

Emma Kaber A&E Editor

The lack of Speech-Language Pathology in Northern Humboldt Union High School District(NHUHSD) was detrimental to my speech.

From the beginning of last year until March, this district was unable to provide me and other students our right to free and accessible education.

I have a stutter that I’ve been living with since I could speak. Severity ranges from kind of annoying to down right debilitating, but I can live with it with therapy.

NHUHSD has historically provided speech-language services; however, over the summer between the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years, the Speech-Language Pathologist(SLP) that provided services stepped down.

As a result, NHUHSD couldn’t provide speech-language services for the majority of last year, and I still have more than 1,000 missing minutes of therapy as a result. The district was finally able to start offering services again on March 16th after struggling to find a new speech therapist.

NHUHSD’s former speech therapist, Tracy Hardy, reported that she felt underappreciated while she worked here. Hardy entered into the public sector after an internship where she learned she likes the schedule more than what the private sector could offer her. She decided to leave the district following the pandemic, when she realized she liked online therapy more than in-person therapy.

“I like it because it’s a real time-saver. I had to sometimes go to four or five classrooms to get all the students,” Hardy said.

In addition to going from classroom to classroom for her appoint-

ments, Hardy went from school to school. NHUHSD wanted her to return to in-person therapy, so she decided to step down.

Herding cats isn’t the only reason she decided to leave. California, and most other states, require a master’s degree to become a speech therapist. Despite the high qualification, some SLPs only get paid $47,000 per year.

“Schools need to treat Speech-Language Pathology as the specialty it is instead of just lumping us in with teachers,” Hardy said.

Receiving a teacher’s salary, Hardy didn’t feel like she was being paid or appreciated enough.

Current SLP Lindsay Ciaramitaro has worked in many fields of Speech-Language Pathology, and has many clients varying in age from 2 to 103, with some working in person and others online. She said that she sees pros and cons of working online versus in person.

“I really like the flexibility of online work but you just can’t replace the human touch from in-person,” Ciaramitaro said.

She said schedule flexibility was also the reason that she chose to contract with a private company instead of working directly with the school.

Ciaramitaro reported that she works about 35 hours per week, as opposed to Hardy’s 40. She said that Speech-Language Pathology is a field with good job satisfaction, high demand, and incredible variation.

Despite these benefits, she concurs with Hardy’s complaint regarding salary. In addition, she notes that there are a lot of barriers to entry.

“I spent most of my time at my old job doing reports and other paperwork, and that’s not what I went into the field for,”Ciaramitaro said.

Freshman Skyler Collenberg has been receiving speech services since middle school at Pacific Union. Collenberg said that speech services in middle school were “pretty normal” and he prefers Speech-Language Pathology to be in person, as opposed to online.

Director of Student Services Gayle Conway began her search after Hardy stepped down. However, with the nationwide shortage of SLPs, finding one willing and able to work in-person proved to be impossible. After she was forced to consider online SLPs, there were still quite a few hoops to jump through. The first step was to find a company to contract with.

“We entered into a contract with PresenceLearning.” Conway said, “only to find after about a month of not hearing back…that they did not actually have an SLP available (which they had never stated at any of the meetings we had).”

After terminating the contract with PresenceLearning, it took a while for another opportunity to arise, at which point Conway started to become desperate.

“I had reached out to both the Humboldt-Del Norte Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) and Humboldt County Office of Education (HCOE) for any recommendations,” Conway said.

She was finally able to find Ciaramitaro in mid March, and assigned her to Arcata High. A few weeks later she found Dorothy Polite and assigned her to McKinleyville High.

“It is very difficult for a school district to compete with what SLPs can make in terms of salary/wages in the private industry.

Some school districts have moved their speech teachers to the admin salary schedule for this reason,” Conway said.

It may seem at first glance as if the problem was fixed with the

hiring of Ciaramitaro and Polite, but that’s not exactly the case. The school had no way of verifying attendance for speech students last year, so students who chose to attend their services ended up receiving cuts for Flex time.

The district hired another staff member, Shaelyn McCready, this year to take attendance and write hall passes.

In addition, even though I am entitled to speech services every week, that has not been happening in practice.

This part of the speech problem still exists to this day. Because Ciaramitaro only works part-time during school hours, there are inevitable conflicts between all the meetings she has to conduct.

In the common event of a conflict between an Individualized Education Plan(IEP) meeting, assessing and revising students’ plan, and a standard therapy session, the IEP meeting takes precedence.

Since the start of the school year, three such conflicts have displaced my therapy appointments and my own IEP meeting displaced another student.

If students prefer in person therapy, and SLPs prefer online therapy, how can schools reconcile the two opinions?

The solution is to have in-person therapy, while not expecting the SLPs themselves to go hunting for students.

This, combined with having one SLP for each campus so that they don’t have to travel, combines the personal connection and ability for tactile therapy techniques of in-person therapy with the convenience and ease that so many SLPs like about the online format.

For this to work, there needs to be enough SLPs to support this plan. In order to draw more SLPs, they need to be treated with the respect they deserve.

Homecoming Day FUN!

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Dress Up Days

Arcata high freshman profiles

Ossian Briar-Bonpane

Photo Editor

the sense that she is actually learning. Her favorites are health and biology because both teach her about topics that “are actually affecting us (...) and that we can use” in the future.

Aliyah voted Redwood Yogurt as the most convenient lunch spot due to its proximity to school, affordable prices, and good atmosphere to hangout in.

Aliyah Aaron

Aliyah Aaron envisioned highschool to be “this terrible, crazy, scary thing” because of how it is portrayed in a lot of movies and TV. In reality, it’s more like an “upgraded middle school (...) and it just gives you a lot more freedom”, she said.

Aliyah appreciates the freedom she has in highschool in comparison to middle school, specifically the freedom to take breaks and buy lunches.

She was shocked when she saw how big her freshman class was this year at freshmen orientation, as everyone was crammed onto one side and “taking up way more than half of the bleachers,” sitting shoulder to shoulder.

One of the hardest things that Aliyah has had to adjust to in high school is all of the friendships that were lost over summer and during COVID. Even though she has been able to make a lot of new friends, she still sometimes misses “the friendships that split apart.” She is looking forward to becoming close friends with as many people as possible and to being treated like “less of a child, and more [like someone who] has a voice” that people will listen to and take seriously.

Aliyah’s classes are “challenging, but not in the way that [she] can’t do the work and keep up [her] grades”; they’re challenging her in

Rowan Carter expected high school to be “just about the same as normal school, just bigger”, and so far it has lived up to those expectations.

“Having to run so far to all [his] classes” has been the biggest adjustment of being on such a large campus in comparison to middle school. A more positive adjustment for Rowan has been that the “quality of food improved a lot (...), the lunch food here is a lot better” than food provided at his old school.

Although he does miss his old teachers and their humor, the ability to go off-campus to have lunch makes up for it. Even with the ability to go off-campus, Rowan said hanging out in the quad during lunch is most convenient for him.

Most of Rowan’s classes are “pretty challenging”, except for Math 1, which is his favorite because it is the easiest and his teacher, Mr. Kozera, is “really fun.” His least favorite is Tech because he feels like it’s too long and boring.

Colton Constancio came into Arcata High expecting it to be very challenging. “I lost a lot of my old friends. I haven’t talked to them in a while, I’m trying to make new friends”, he said. In his experience, making friends in high school is a little harder than middle school “because there’s a lot more people, so it’s harder to find that specific friend that you want to hang out with the most.’’

The social environment shift from middle school to high school can sometimes feel dramatic to freshmen students. Adjusting to having so many teachers has been difficult because in middle school, Colton only had a couple and said he was able to “get to know those teachers really well since [he] had them all the time.”

On the bright side, Colton enjoys the amount of extra time he has and the ability to go off-campus for lunch. He is looking forward to taking a step up in all the sports that are offered in high school like basketball, track, and cross country.

He was surprised when he realized how large his freshman class is this year and shared that “it’s pretty special” to be a part of something like that.

Colton’s favorite class is German and his least favorite is English because he has always struggled with the subject.

Colton has a brother at Arcata

High who is a senior, which “definitely makes [school] easier. I’ve learned more so I know how to act in high school and I know all the places to go. I know a lot of people, so it’s great.”

Zalayshia Velazquez

Not only is Zalayshia Velazquez new to Arcata High, but she is also new to Humboldt itself. Zalayshia moved to Humboldt from Philadelphia just this year.

The biggest difference she has noticed is “just the way people treat each other (...) and mostly just the experience. Everything’s different’’, she said. In her experience, “people are way nicer” in highschool than in middle school, and people talk to her more.

Zalayshia emphasized that she is most looking forward to knowing everybody and making new friends.

In terms of academics, she is most challenged in her English class, and most happy to be in Photography. She shared that she is a quick learner so she hasn’t been struggling too much in her other classes.

Zalayshia is most excited to be able to play sports like basketball and participate in clubs like BSU, two things she did not have the opportunity for at her middle school.

Having an open campus is another new and exciting aspect of high school, and so far her favorite lunch spot is Carmela’s.

Colton Constancio

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Get support for mental health

Anthony Vasek

Photo Editor

We go to the doctor’s office for everything that seems off: weird rashes, spots, aches, cramps, and, of course, those pesky yearly checkups that pull you out of school.

You get your height and weight marked down, your blood pressure taken, your pupils dilated, the doctor asks how many drugs you’ve done recently… And then you’re free to go.

But do those check-ups really cover all aspects of what you might be struggling with health-wise?

Mental health often goes unnoticed, and those affected can feel particularly hopeless and unseen.

September is National Suicide Prevention Month, where we try to bring awareness to people suffering from mental health issues and unite them with community support and resources.

I sat down with a few medical professionals within our school community to learn more.

“Mental health is as important as physical health,” Arcata High’s school nurse John Kell said.

It’s sometimes difficult to remember that the brain itself--and by extension, our thoughts, feelings, and emotions inside–is an organ that we must nurture and maintain.

“The relationship between our minds and our bodies is a continuum, not two [separate] things,” Kell explained.

COVID-19 affected us. Lack of socialization, routine, and exercise coupled with loss and sickness within many of our lives.

While it may seem scary to watch the number of teenagers screening positive for depression rise from 5.0% to 6.2% post-pandemic according to the CDC, it may also be a sign of positive change.

Maybe the rates aren’t increasing, but the access to help and diagnosis is.

During the pandemic, we turned to the internet to keep our lives going.

Every aspect of our routine transferred from reality into the digital world.

Therapists, doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors–all of these medical professionals who would sit with dozens of patients every week moved their appointments from couches to Zoom and Telehealth meetings.

“All of these resources popped up online that weren’t easy to access before,” Kell said.

He recalled the boom of online resources in the beginning of the pandemic.

People struggling with their mental health no longer had to venture out into their local, school, and/or interpersonal communities for help, but could log onto any computer and begin chatting with a doctor.

“A lot of times people want an outside, non-judgemental opinion,” Judith Fraser said, the school’s psychology intern.

It surely becomes easier to ask for help when help is made readily available, and even easier when it is made anonymous.

According to the JAMA Network, 37% of high schoolers reported feeling frequent depressive symptoms throughout quarantine.

“I haven’t gotten to talk to anyone professionally about [my mental health struggles] yet,” one student* told me.

They cited their father’s unsupportiveness as the main reason they’ve been unable to take steps towards help, such as counseling or medication.

“He just doesn’t believe me [...] And it’s not just laziness. Laziness doesn’t exist. There’s always a rea-

son.”

In contrast, another student* has two parents in the medical field. “I’m glad to say that I have a super helpful, supportive family [...] It’s like a you’ll-always-have-ashoulder-to-cry-on-type-of-thing,” she said.

She recalled first realizing she might have anxiety in middle school and confiding in her Mom about it, who supported her in finding therapy and other healthy coping mechanisms.

“It’s something I think about a lot–how much worse my life would be without them.”

Students with supportive, encouraging family and friends are much less likely to feel ashamed or embarrassed about their struggles.

“I think it’s really important to avoid comparing yourself to others,” a student* who has been hospitalized for mental health reasons a few times told me.

He had refused to reach out for help for years until he finally had a failed suicide attempt.

“It’s hard because people don’t always feel like they’re rooting for your recovery. You feel like you’re too sick to be around the normal people but not sick enough to be around the sick people. It can be isolating,” he said.

Arcata High School does have a large number of staff who are more than willing to listen and, if necessary, help out however they can.

She guides students through all sorts of situations, individual and relationship-related issues.

She can help to connect students to further support and resources outside and inside of our school.

Kell is the school’s nurse. Besides being the best place on campus to receive medical attention, his office is always available for any student to come lay down and take a mental break in.

He’s always there to listen and do what he can to support those on campus.

You can see Kell and Klima at any point in the day.

Ask your teacher to write you a pass and head down to either of their offices, which can be accessed through the front desk of the principal’s office.

Arcata High also has a great number of classroom teachers and administrative staff who partake in crisis training every year.

It is always an option to talk to any of these trusted adults on campus.

“In the end, it’s always better to bring up the fact that you care than to pretend not to,” Fraser said.

She encouraged students to reach out to friends and family members they love, “even if it makes someone uncomfortable.”

*Names have been censored to protect privacy

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The semi-colon is a symbol for suicide prevention awareness.

Eileen Klima is the school’s Crisis Counselor.

Meet the exchange students!

Julian Wan Online Editor

This year, Arcata High School welcomes five exchange students. Their names are Lazarus Onyango, Debi Dorfliger, Laura Laux, Leo Balmongkol, and Alex Rundsag.

Lazarus Onyango is an exchange student from Uganda who got a scholarship from Rotary to study abroad. He commented how he had to adapt to Humboldt weather as soon as he arrived.

“In Uganda, I never wore a sweatshirt that much, just normal temperature in Uganda,” Onyango said.

Debi Dorfliger, an exchange student from Switzerland commented that the hardest challenge being on an exchange was finding new friends.

”The first two weeks were probably the worst because I had to eat lunch sometimes alone…but I met some really nice people [at cross country],” Dorfliger said.

She describes the differences of the school system in Switzerland and in Europe.

“We can’t choose our subjects, we can choose like a path: science, languages, arts, or law and economy,” Dorfliger said.

A German exchange student, Laura Laux shared that her experience at Arcata High has been wonderful so far.

One thing she found surprising here compared to Germany was the amount of stop signs.

“They have less stop signs. I’m so annoyed of stop signs, there’s like a stop sign every corner here,” Laux said.

Leo Balmongkol is an exchange student from Bangkok, Thailand. He explained that the best part about school here is how open each classroom is for student voic-

es and contribution.

“School here is very different. They kinda operate from participating…I can raise my hand and or contribute so I like that a lot,” Balmongkol said.

Alex Rundsag, is an exchange student from Stavangar, Norway and has been learning English since he was six years old.

He strongly encourages everyone to consider applying to a study abroad program.

“Definitely do them. Go on an exchange you only get to do it once in your life, and you will have a lot of fun,” Rundsag said.

To the students, teachers and staff at Arcata High, wave a hello or give them a hi-five when you see them around campus!

Let’s all get to know these amazing students and welcome them to our school and community!

Hoco as an exchange student

Laura Laux Reporter

Abig part of the exchange experience is definitely homecoming.

Every exchange student who stays for one year in the United States, looks forward to Dress Up days, the assembly, the parade and of course the dance.

Most European countries don’t have Homecoming or Prom. At my school in Germany there is a dress up week and a dance for just the seniors.

The assembly after the sixth period was longer than all periods of the day because individuals and a whole basketball team from 1997 got inducted into the hall of fame.

The process was kind of difficult because two microphones died during the announcement.

Sadly the football guys didn’t

win the throwing footballs into trash cans game against the old basketball team.

The parade started after lunchtime, and I was on the junior float. All the floats were beautiful and scary, full of orange, black and purple balloons.

I don’t know how many people were on the float but it for sure weren’t just juniors. It was pretty fun to wave at the people and throw candy.

I was a little bit shocked that the sophomore class float had an actual goat on it.

The atmosphere at the football game was great, starting with amazing fireworks after the national anthem.

I was so excited about the homecoming royalty and so happy for everyone who won!

We left shortly after halftime ended to have enough time to get ready.

We needed about an hour to get dressed and do our make-up. We arrived at the dance a little bit before ten o’clock.

The dance was awesome. The gym was decorated, everyone was in a good mood and dressed up.

I was dancing, which I learned is more like jumping, and singing the whole night. I loved the photo booth too.

We left around midnight to get dinner at Toni’s. We had a little bit of time left before we had to get home so we decided to drive to the beach.

It was super cold so we basically ran over the beach and then directly back into the car.

My first homecoming in America was definitely a night to remember!

I can’t wait to experience more fun things this year and create even more memories.

Julian Wan/PEPPERBOX

Arcata High’s exchange students in the senior lawn on a foggy school morning.

Free lunch means lunch line wait time

Jasmine McKnight Business Manager

On a regular day at Arcata High School, the Tiger Cafe lunch line stretches out the front doors of the Fine Arts Building.

The immense popularity of the lunch program seems to be attributed to the NOHUM district offering free food services to all students, regardless of financial means.

“The school lunch program seems to be busier this year than it was last year,” Chef Adam Timek said,

Students have opinions about this situation.

“The line is always so long,” sophomore, Malea Melendrez, said.

Even though the line is so lengthy, she doesn’t see a feasible solution.

“I feel like there’s no way to make it go faster because everyone just wants lunch, and the staff are already so efficient,” Melendrez added.

Even though the lunch line is so long, many students have arrived at a consensus that it really isn’t that unreasonable.

“I’d say it’s pretty long, but it goes by pretty quickly sometimes,” junior, Jared Pereira, said.

Some students have come up with methods to speed up the process. A common observance is

cutting in the line. Most students however do not seem bothered by this issue.

“I don’t care,” said junior, junior, Alexander Duarte said.

In order to combat the long lines, students have also adopted strategies to get to the line quicker from class.

“It usually doesn’t take me that long because I am skillful in the way I leave class,” said sophomore, Kyler Truesdell said.

Some students have developed an alternative approach.

“If I go later [in the lunch period,] there’s no line,” junior, Noah Macknicki said.

Some students even suggest waiting until the last ten minutes

of lunch to avoid the line completely. There are even more proposals that would make the line go faster.

Pereira suggested having more than one food station to allow students to get their lunch quicker.

Other students, along with Timek, recognize that the line would not take as long if people paid better attention to the line’s movement and made sure to have their student ID numbers prepared ahead of time.

If students have suggestions for improvements to the school lunch program, Timek is always open to suggestions.

“I’m here to serve the students. It’s all about keeping the student body happy, that makes me happy.”

The tiger opportunity center opens!

Madelyn Coneley

Co-Editor-in-Chief

This 2022-23 school year is filled with many new additions to Arcata High. One of these new additions to the school is the Tiger Opportunity Center, or the T.O.C., that is located one door down from the library.

The TOC contains the Indian Education Center, TRiO, the California Student Opportunity and Access Program (Cal-SOAP), Arcata High’s work experience class, and members of the Yurok Tribe who provide tutoring services for students.

Arcata High’s Career and College coordinator, Darcy Robins, was the creator of the TOC.

“I’d really like to spread the word about TRiO and the resources for Native American students. Not so much the existence of the Tiger Opportunity Center but of all the organizations that students have

access to,” Robins said.

Vanessa Cota, a college advisor and TRiO employee, is just one of the members a part of the TOC. TRIO supports students who are low income or first generation college students.

“I basically meet with students and do workshops, field trips, and I answer any questions about academics, study skills, life skills, financial aid, college and career prep,” Cota said.

Other organizations present in the TOC are Cal-SOAP and the work experience class. Valentin Velazco, a success coach for CalSOAP, helps students with their opportunities after high school and financial aid.

Katie Woerner, an instructor from the College of the Redwoods is the teacher for Work Experience this year. This class is where students receive credit for the hours they work.

“I’ve enjoyed being in the T.O.C. and learning about different help-

ing professions and being able to bounce ideas off of people,” Woerner said.

Now in the TOC, Indian Ed. can advise the Native American Club meetings and assist Native students with whatever they need.

According to an Indian Ed. staff member, Sheila Richards, “Indian Ed. assists in removing barriers that Native kids will have in the school system.

We make sure they have everything they need to succeed here in school and beyond.”

Indian Ed. and Yurok Tribe members in the same space have increased the support for Native American students.

However, with the combination of many other organizations in the same place, scheduling conflicts can occur.

“I do miss the privacy,” Richards said.

So far, the T.O.C. proves to be beneficial for students and even staff members who consistently

have a place to work. Students are encouraged to visit the T.O.C. if they have any questions or concerns regarding their future or current academics.

Madelyn Conley/PEPPERBOX

The Tiger Opportunity Center sign posted outside the doorway next to the library.

Balancing school and sports

Sagen Sarchett Co-Sports Editor

The student athlete experience is something that not a lot of people talk about or really even hear about.

Here’s some insight to bring it to light because it is actually a lot harder than most think.

As a student, there is already so much on your plate but just imagine doubling the load by adding a sport onto that.

It is definitely not easy. I’ve decided to talk to a few student athletes to discuss how doing a sport and going to school at the time takes a toll on a person.

Senior Chase Coleman and football player at Arcata High has a lot to say on the topic of how student athletes balance their school life with their sports.

“You just have to have the mindset of this is what I have to get done and don’t make any excuses” he said.

Football also has study hall on Mondays after school as a team in effort to get everybody caught up to date with work and grades.

“It definitely isn’t easy at all because it feels like there almost isn’t enough time in a day to get all of my homework done and pursue football at the same time,” Coleman said.

Balancing school and sports is almost a full-time job and some athletes really struggle with keeping up in class when they miss school for a game.

He also said that most teachers are really helpful for student athletes to catch up with their missing work.

“You just can’t let it be an excuse every time” Coleman said,

“The only class that’s particularly hard to keep up in is government with Mielke just because there al-

ways seems to be a lot of work in there.”

On the topic of maintaining a social life Coleman said, “My social life is sports, I’ve done it all my life and built lasting friendships and learned so many valuable lessons,” Coleman said.

Junior volleyball player Maria Williamson says that this year she has had a few problems with missing school for a volleyball game.

“It seems as if everybody in class is so ahead of me when I come back the day after a game. I miss lectures and notes and oftentimes have to teach myself the material,” she said.

“Mrs. Miller makes it super easy and Fernandes on the other hand can be really difficult because she doesn’t let us catch up during class time, but makes us come in at flex or other time,” Williamson said.

In the winter season is when Williamson thrives in school because in the fall she has volleyball and in the spring it’s softball season.

She said that her best grades

were during the off season because doing a sport affects her grades in a negative way.

“I have no time for social life because school and sports come first, but I would definitely say it’s worth it because athletics is what keeps me happy and makes me a better person. It can be really rewarding,” Williamson said.

Being part of a team sport at some time in your life is really something that I think all people should experience at some point because all of the lessons and relationships grown throughout.

Speaking from personal experience, some of the things that I’ve learned is how to be able to work in a team environment with other people and create something in the end to be proud of.

Two other football players at Arcata, sophomores Wilson Medina and Lennon Geider had a few words of wisdom to share about keeping up with your school work and not procrastinating.

“Although it is really hard to make up work when missing school, you just really need to push yourself in class and really apply yourself,” Medina said.

“Not that I take hard classes or anything, I still just have to make myself focus in class and then it really isn’t that difficult. When you push things off to the last minute is when it starts getting tough to come back,” Geider said.

Spanish teacher Kelly Fernandes and History teacher Owen Moore’s classes are more difficult.

“It is hard to catch up in their classes because of all of the work,” Medina said.

“It is worth it and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. The Friday night lights with the AHS Zoo behind you supporting you is a good feeling. It hits different,”

- senior and football player Chase Cole-

AHS football team playing against Hoopa in the homecoming game.

Zoe Macknicki/PEPPERBOX

Fall sports roundup

Morgan

Ford and Zoe

Macknicki Sports Editor and Managing Editor

Arcata High School is big on fall sports, the Tigers tend to dominate and many of Arcata Highs sports have won the Humboldt Del Norte League titles in the past.

Arcata High’s fall teams have had very impressive seasons so far.

Girls golf started out strong winning each of their tournaments throughout the season.

They have led by a numerous amount of strokes each tournament. The girls golf team dynamic is strong.

Sophomore Madyson Nelson described her team’s season as “winning a lot, having a great time, and improving on [our] skills.”

Nelson also explained that the seniors on her team really inspire her, and she likes hanging out with them.

Seniors Avery Meadows and Amaya Urquidez described the golf season as “a true dream, everything we could have imagined for our senior year.”

The golfers finished the season first in the league, and will continue on to NCS sections.

Girls tennis also continues to have a great season.

Senior Kyra Alway said, “We are a really tight knit team, and the girls are all really sweet.”

She also added, “So far we are undefeated which is really exciting.”

As Alway said, “Go Tennis!”

Boys soccer continues to impress with their fantastic standings in the HDNL boys soccer league.

They are undefeated so far this season and are hoping for the league title this year.

They have a large number of seniors who contribute to the team. Henry Lee said the season’s going very well and he is excited to see how the rest of it goes.

Russell hopes to have a good end to the season. “I am really looking forward to crushing dreams and making the other teams cry,” Russell said.

While the football season has been off to a rough start, the players are still finding many things to enjoy. Junior Oscar Carlson says that they have regular team dinners, which really helps with the team chemistry.

Carlson added that the team is “looking forward to hopefully winning some games.”

they are “all supportive and good friends, with such good bonds and connections.”

JV Volleyball is also enjoying a strong start to the season, and Freshman Pearl Smith is looking forward to playing competitive games against their league opponents.

When not playing volleyball, Freshman Josie Cunningham and the rest of her team like to “hang out with varsity, or get to know each other with some fun activities.”

Girls soccer also has had a fairly good season.

“The season has been good, we’ve been working hard and it’s been paying off. I think we have a lot of strong players and a strong team, and I’m excited for the rest of the season,” senior Rogue Russell said.

Varsity volleyball has been having a successful season, one that Senior Taylor Appy described as “dominating.”

Appy also added that the team is becoming much more confident and competitive, and they are looking forward to more league games.

The team also focuses a lot on team bonding and chemistry, as Senior Caroline Dieker added that

Arcata High’s cross country team has both the boys and girls teams doing well. The Girls team continues to impress by winning a lot of their league meets.

“The girls team has been doing really well, so it will be an exciting season.” Senior Ai-lan McGoldrick said.

The girls hope to win at the county level and then move onto sections. The boys team has also had an impressive season.

Junior Andrew Trieu said, “The Freshman have been doing well, they have been a big help and make up most of our varsity team.”

All of Arcata High’s fall sports have had strong starts to their season. The rest of the season will be very entertaining to watch, and we encourage you to go support every team this fall!

Zoe Macknicki/PEPPERBOX

Zoe Macknicki/PEPPERBOX

Steven Macknicki/PEPPERBOX

Zoe Macknicki/PEPPERBOX

Zoe Macknicki/PEPPERBOX

Arcata High’s girls golf team celebrating after their win at Fortuna’s golf course.

Cruz Aguilar in action against Fortuna.

Arcata High’s girls varsity soccer team getting ready to play McKinleyville.

Arcata High’s varsity football team in action under Friday night lights.

Arcata High’s volleyball team getting ready to play Eureka High.

Playing through unfairness

Morgan Ford Co-Sports Editor

Take a walk into the girls’ locker room at Arcata High, and you will see paint chipping, stalls that don’t lock, and small, rusty lockers.

This is what the female athletes of Arcata High face everyday, while the boys enjoy a spacious, fully functional, clean space. If you walk the short distance to the softball field, you might want to laugh.

Gopher holes, gravel where dirt should be, and an uneven playing surface. Let me tell you, playing on this field is terrifying and dangerous, and I’m not the only athlete who deals with this.

There are many differences between the treatment of boys and girls athletics at Arcata, but the area we need to focus on at our school is all athlete’s rights to equal facilities, funding, and equipment.

Most students at Arcata High do not exactly know what Title IX means, or how it could impact them.

When I spoke to senior baseball player Cedar Cline, he defined Title IX as “The NCAA’s ‘law’ that boys and girls scholarships need to be equal,” and also stated that it “only affects high school athletes if they are trying to play their sport in college.”

However, this is far from the reality of the law. The law does reach down to high school student athletes, and expands to any school that receives federal funding.

My assumption that there was a lack of knowledge regarding this topic continued to be true when I asked sophomore softball player Alexa Alto. She told me she didn’t even know that Title IX was a thing so there was no way she could answer that question.

Title IX, enacted nearly fifty years ago, is a federal law that prohibits sex based discrimination at any school that receives funding from the federal government, specifically in sports programs.

Title IX offers a wide variety of protection, from athletics to admissions, and as far as sexual harassment.

When I first started school at Arcata High, I realized that the locker rooms I had to use, along with our softball field, were not up to date. I knew I was not the only person noticing these issues.

There are many examples of inequalities in athletic facilities at our school, with the most recent complaint being the lower field that was just built.

The two most blinding issues in my eyes are the differences between the boys’ and girls’ locker rooms, and the dangers that lie in the softball field.

If you were to walk into the boys locker room at AHS, you would see nice lockers, functioning showers, and relative cleanliness.

However, if you went across the gym to the girls’ locker room, you would see quite the opposite.

The lockers are run down and some don’t close, more than

half of the showers don’t work, along with many other issues. In addition to the locker rooms themselves, the girls are also lacking a “team room,” while the boys locker room contains a very nice, separated space for athletes and coaches to meet.

Another issue that has affected myself and many other athletes is the softball field. Not only does the quality of the field impact the softball team, but it has also challenged the girls soccer team, cross country and track, and occasionally football.

Last school year, before the new lower field was complete, the girls soccer team split much of their practice time between the outfield of the softball field and the senior lawn.

While practicing on the softball field, many of the girls experienced injuries due to potholes, gopher holes, and other hidden issues in the grass.

Football was also forced to practice on this field through the last two years, and Senior player Cedar Birdsall expressed that “the softball field is a f-ing shitshow, and I hated practicing on the outfield.”

The same patterns show up every softball season, with multiple players getting injured just by running through the outfield. Since my freshman year, we have been told this issue would be fixed, yet nothing has happened until now.

Playing or practicing on this field is dangerous, and has impacted multiple sports teams on campus.

The head softball coach, Steve Sarchett, described the field as

“in need of a lot of improvement to be up to par with other facilities on campus.”

When we learned that there was a new facility being built, there was a glimpse of hope for the softball and the girls soccer team.

However, that was quickly taken away when we noticed that the softball field was getting no attention. We would have to spend yet another season on the same dangerous field, risking more hurt ankles and torn muscles.

Sophomore softball player Taylor Sutherland explained that she was scared to play on the field, because “girls rolled their ankles so often last year, it’s a safety hazard.”

Many students on our campus, athletes or not, see the need for change in sports facilities, funding, and equipment.

Sophomore Alexa Alto added that these inequalities go as far as advertising. She had also noticed that sports such as football and boys basketball get much more attention from the school, despite their performance, than sports like girls golf, softball, and girls soccer.

Northern Humboldt’s Title IX Coordinator, Gayle Conway, explained to me what Title IX means to our school.

“When there is a complaint made or issue brought up that falls under Title IX, it is my job to investigate and address it, Conway said.”

“At this time, no complaints have been brought to me regarding sports or athletic facilities,” Conway said.

No more outside breaks

Toni Diaz Copy Editor

This 2022-23 school year, Arcata High has continued our block schedule of three 110-minute classes each day besides Mondays, which are regular six 50-minute classes.

Students used to be allowed a five to ten minute outside break last year but now class breaks have moved indoors since mid-September, after Principal Ron Perry sent an email telling teachers to switch up their break norms.

Perry shares how he has tried to listen and do what’s best for all the students and teachers, but it is not possible without everyone on board.

“The issue is we need an environment where everyone can learn, and outside breaks are not providing that environment for everyone,” Perry said.

Students are expected to provide an efficient environment for not only themselves, but others, and when going out for breaks that was not being seen.

“It is not okay to go to the pool and it is not okay to walk to the park during class hours, ‘’ Perry said.

Students participating in such activities were being disrespectful, as well as those who wandered the halls disrupting nearby classrooms, or meeting up in bathrooms holding up those who just want to do their business and get out.

“Indoor classroom breaks are our best option to go forward with the environment we intend to create,” Perry said.

Perry also added that they tried to take intermediate steps before enforcing indoor breaks and that it was a long awaited decision.

He spoke and received feedback from teachers, and still they saw

no other way to keep the space positively engaging for all.

This will be the norm for the rest of the school year in hopes that students will take into account their responsibility of being respectful.

“I am always willing to listen to ideas and find better ways for all to handle situations such as this, it’s just tricky to take into consideration the needs of everyone,” Perry said.

He wants to create a system that follows all RISE (respectful, inclusive, safe, and engaged) norms and does not want to give up.

“Students are not children, they know how to be respectful to other students, to other teachers, and other classrooms, so let’s see it happen,” Perry said.

However, many students on campus find themselves frustrated with the change.

”It just doesn’t sit right with me! The point of the class breaks in the first place is to get you up and out of class. Although there are still breaks, just now confined to our classrooms, the fact that they were outdoors just allowed for more of a restart heading into the second hour of class,” sophomore Cal Tucker said.

“The outdoor breaks and fresh air were a huge brain break,” Sophomore Kyler Coelho said.

Students also expressed that they feel too many things are always in a constant change and it’s affecting how they go about their days. “There’s no time to adjust!” Junior Aria Soberanis said.

This is understandable considering flex was changed before the first term ended and there hasn’t been much consistency with the schedule.

“We are physically in our classes for too long, it’s extremely restrictive. The already two hour class periods are long enough, and then

now with not even the option to step outside our classes, it’s become a complete prohibitive schedule.” freshman Josephine Cunningham said.

The change in the schedule has also caused problems for teachers too.

“Teachers either over assign a ton of stuff, and we don’t have time to finish, or they underassign and you have way more time then you need,” Taylor Sutherland said.

Sutherland pitches the idea that teachers could just be mandated to supervise their students in a designated outside area not disruptive to nearby classrooms.

“While the reasoning is understandable, it sucks! This is the consequence of the actions of those who could not be respectful and follow the original norms, but it’s also punishable to those of us who did follow the rules. If everyone could just do the right thing, while having teachers mandated to supervise, then the problem could be solved,” sophomore Everett Smith said.

“It’s unfortunate. I’m already stuck for two hours, I just need fresh air and a moment to regroup and restart,” sophomore Ezra Kidd said.

He finds himself having extreme trouble keeping his attention span to last for so long, as well as many others, and he felt getting fresh air, no matter the weather, was a huge help in being able to finish the second hour strong.

“You know if you research, a teens attention span is nowhere close to the amount of time we are expected to have in class,” sophomore Cassidy Quinllin said.

He shares Ezra Kidd’s opinion that a teen’s ability to focus is just not long enough for two hour periods in the same class, and when it’s class break time there’s no opportunity to leave the space.

“It’s just not good for my brain, or my head, especially in class like math, I physically can’t stay focused no matter how hard I try for that long. That’s why the outdoor class breaks where so much help,” Quinllin said.

The outdoor breaks tricked our minds and gave us a huge brain break, while also giving the feeling we are restarting and going into a new period, calmed and refreshed.

“Being able to exit the space of the classroom really helped my brain and mind take in what was just learned, and then give me the ability to go back into the classroom to learn more,” Kidd added.

The physical opportunity to exit the classroom and then go back helped students separate the block in half, also separating all the newly learned things so they don’t mix and become confusing by the end.

Now from a teacher’s point of view, Anayeli Auza explains the struggle her students have with the new policy.

She needs to give a constant reminder that she doesn’t make the rules herself, she just follows them, and the new policy is a result of their behavior.

If they were to have behaved better things could have been different.

However, Auza does agree with most students that the outdoor breaks were beneficial to her and her students in regards to their behavior.

“Outdoor breaks did result in a smoother running class,” Auza said.

The breaks also gave her a moment herself to get some fresh air and regroup.

She understands that being in class can get hot and stuffy, but the students who took advantage of the outside breaks are now consequencing everyone.

Best places to go for Halloween

Raymi Sharp Reporter

With Halloween just around the corner the Pepperbox has taken it upon themselves to accrue a list of things to do around Humboldt to get you in the spooky spirit.

We took the time to talk with the community, staff, and students at Arcata High and have come up with the top five must do before October comes to an end.

First up on our list is to go out and get yourself a nice warm fall festive drink.

A local coffee shop, Cafe Mokka serves, “the best spice teas around,” junior Kaiya Grubb said.

Her go to order this season is a Bengal Spice Latte with a shot of vanilla syrup.

Just make sure to bring cash because they are a cash only business.

Another feature that makes Cafe Mokka one of Arcata’s bests is their unique backyard.

At a glance it might look like a peaceful Japanese tea garden, but if you venture a little further you will see that there are outdoor, inground hot tubs!

With a call-in reservation that you can make one day in advance from Sunday to Thursday from 11am to 11pm, and Friday-Saturday from 11am to midnight, you can grab a latte and enjoy relaxation in the tubs.

Next on our list is the Clendenen Apple Farm located in Fortuna. The small cider works farm has been operating since 1909.

While you can’t pick your apples straight from the tree, the farm offers a wide variety of fresh apples such as Minkler, Smith’s Cider, and Starks.

All perfect for making caramel apples and apple pies!Clendenen is

also famous for their fresh homemade apple cider, as their website stated, “Come visit us for a glass of the best cider you’ll ever taste!” so make sure you grab a cup when you go.

If you haven’t already, you need to go pick out the perfect pumpkin at Huddie’s Harvest in Arcata.

They have the best variety of large and small pumpkins for carving and decorating. At Huddie’s Harvest you can, “spend the day picking pumpkins, finding your way through the corn maze, or supporting local at the farmstand.” as their website stated.

Another great pumpkin patch to visit is the Organic Matters Ranch in Freshwater.

While smaller, but still equally as impressive as Huddie’s Harvest, this spot might be more “picture perfect” for you.

They also offer a little store with their personally grown vegetables, fruits, and flowers, along with a bunch of treats and trinkets from local businesses.

The fourth spot on our list is the Arcata Kinetic Lab Haunted House. I can’t think of anything better than a good haunted house on a cold dark night to get you in the Halloween spirits.

They are open October 27, 28, 29, and Halloween, from 7PM to midnight.

Tickets will be $15 sold at the door and they are cash only.

Make sure you come prepared for a good scare.

Our last recommendation for this fall is to spend some time with your family and friends and do some festive baking.

Here’s a recipe, ingredients and directions for making mini Cinnamon Roll Apple Pies.

Make sure to try these places and things out to experience this season to the fullest!

Cinnamon Roll Apple Pie (makes

about 10)

Ingredients

Produce

2 apples

Baking and Spices

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp granulated sugar

¼ tsp cinnamon

Bread and Baked Goods

Tubes cinnamon rolls refrigerated (recommended Annie’s or Pillsbury)

Crumble

1 ½ Tbsp flour

2 Tbsp butter

1 tsp granulated sugar

¼ tsp cinnamon

Directions

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Take a cupcake pan and spray inside with non-stick oil.

Flatten your cinnamon rolls and

press them into the inside of the cupcake molds

Shave the skin off the outsides of the apples, then cut them into small pieces and mix into the 1 Tbsp brown sugar, 1 Tbsp granulated sugar, and ¼ tsp cinnamon. Set aside.

In another bowl, combine your 1 ½ Tbsp flour, 2 Tbsp butter, 1 tsp sugar, and ¼ tsp cinnamon. Mix together until it is a crumbly substance. Make sure there are no big clumps of butter (best mixed with WASHED hands).

Spoon your apple mixture into each cinnamon roll and add your crumble layer to the top.

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the top is golden brown and crispy. Use the icing that came with the cinnamon rolls to top off your little apple pies and enjoy!

New frosh officers elected!

Jaimeanne O’Donnell Reporter

On September 16th, our new Freshman Class Officers were elected.

John Adams as the President, Sofia Flores as the Vice President, Mia Nannizzi as the Secretary, and Violet Villarreal as the Treasurer.

John Adams, the President of the Arcata High freshman class, is also on the cross country team, a member of the debate club, and the treasurer of the economics club.

“I want do something. I don't know what it’s gonna be yet, but I'm excited to put on some grand event that people are really gonna have fun at,” Adams said.

Adams hopes to make the school a place where everyone feels welcome and to make sure that everyone's thoughts are represented.

Sofia Flores, the Vice President of the freshman class, states, “I think it’s really important that we actually get to know each other because we’re going to spend one of the most important times of our life together.”

She is a member of the SAGA club, Jazz club, and Interact club. She would have never pictured herself running for the position of VP in her freshman year and is proud of herself for doing so.

Mia Nannizzi, the Secretary of the Arcata High freshman class, takes great pleasure in public speaking, as well as “making things better” as she put it.

Nannizzi has ambitions to run in her senior year and to be fondly remembered by her peers after high school. “I think that the students can make the most change in the school,” Nannizzi said.

Violet Villarreal, the Treasurer

of the freshman class, wants everyone's voices to be heard and for school to be a safe environment.

Villarreal is a dancer and a member of the Debate and Interact clubs.

“The position that I chose to run

for does not have as many obligations as the rest, and that's particularly why I chose it so I can give all my time to this,” Villarreal said.

Let’s all give a warm welcome to our new freshman class officers!

When is too old to trick or treat?

Ell Franklin Opinion Editor

October 31 is approaching fast, meaning students will be wondering what they will be doing for Halloween.

Will they be dressing up to go to a party, hang out with friends, or will they be going trick or treating?

The problem here is, when is the appropriate age to stop trick or treating? When will confused people at the door start giving you dirty looks followed by fewer pieces of candy dropped into your bag?

In all my years of experience, I have yet to receive dirty looks. In my opinion, when you start looking like an adult, it may be time to stop trick or treating.

Science teacher Steve Hoffman feels that the late teen years are

the time to stop trick or treating, until you become a parent.

“I had not thought about how you start trick or treating once you become a dad,” Hoffman said.

Linzi Chow, a junior, said that the age to stop trick or treating is “17 years old, but 18 if you can pass as a child. I think you should try to get candy as long as you can,” Chow said.

I fully agree with what she said, if you can get free candy, you should.

“Dressing up is fun, you are never too old to dress up, be what you want to be, be who you are,” Chow said.

Junior Hannah Harvey also feels that you are never too old to trick or treat.

“If you look older when you trick or treat, you’re not going to be re-

ceived that kindly by the people’s door you knocked on, But you can go and get bulk candy, I get it because it is nostalgic. As long as you are being respectful to children, go out and trick or treat,” French teacher Davena Bagnall said.

“I say whenever it loses its joy,” junior Emalyth Manning commented.

While she has stopped trick or treating, she isn’t opposed to starting again and still finds fun things to do during Halloween.

“I feel like if you can drive you should stop trick or treating but I would encourage kids to stay kids, I want kids to do better,” history teacher Jeff Mielke said.

Mielke stopped going trick or treating in 6th grade but as a child he loved Halloween.

In my opinion, if you can get

away with it, and if you still want to trick or treat then live your truth.

I found that if you trick or treat later when the houses that are still open are tired and more willing to give away the rest of their candy. If people really want candy they can just simply go to any store, buy candy, and spend the evening eating the mass amount of chocolate that will most likely lead to a regrettable wave of acne, unless you are lucky.

Jaimeanne O’Donnell/PEPPERBOX

The freshman class officers and advisors after a meeting.

According to Macdonald, the reasoning behind the decision was that following the vote, there was not enough time to resolve the numerous conflicts that had arisen around the vote, and those conflicts would have made implementing the voted on schedule unstable.

“It was also getting very late in the school year and so in terms of planning for the following year, I think ultimatel, it came to a place where it was like ‘we’ve ran out of time’...In the meantime let’s go with what we know we have,” Collart said, speaking about Macdonald’s decision.

Macdonald felt that because the previous year’s schedule was voted for by teachers at the end of the 2020-2021 school year, and the school had experience with it, it was the most democratic and stable choice he could’ve made.

“It was the only way to strike a compromise, deal with the grievance that others were pushing for and it would allow teachers and students to finally have the same schedule two years in a row after several yearly bell schedule changes,” Bullman said, explaining her understanding of Macdonald’s decision.

Collart elaborated further on the decision.

“It gave us the direction to go for this school year,” he said. “I think it was also stated very clearly that this conversation was not over, we also recognize that the current schedule we are utilizing is not what everybody feels like is the best schedule.”

Barielles felt that towards the end of the process especially, the administration just wanted to make a decision and move on.

“Several administrators were reeling from the whole COVID thing. Tthey were working day and night trying to just deal with the pandemic, let alone deal with

the [complexities] of changing the bell schedule, and so they were tired, they could care less,” she said.

Both Bareilles and Holladay emphasized that administration did come into the process with the best intentions, with Bareilles saying she felt like a lot of effort was put in by the admin to hear and consider her and other teachers’ complaints.

“I think we went in and pursued it with integrity, recognizing though how frustrated people were I think it’s worth looking at what did we miss, what did we miss in terms of communicating the process, what did we miss in making sure people’s voices were heard,” Collart said, reflecting on the frustration of some teachers on the committee.

Macdonald denied issues around Covid or admin burnout as the rationale behind the decision at the end of last year.

“It wasn’t a matter of frustration, at the end of the year there just wasn’t enough time to reconvene the committee and start over…people were really upset and it would not have been a healthy environment to try and reset,” he said.

Holladay agreed with Bareilles that the urge to move on from the process had to do with admin’s executive decision.

“I think it was a bit out of laziness, and also by just wanting to create less problems. I don’t think they were looking for what schedule was really going to be best for our students,” she said.

Bareilles is not happy about the way the decision process was handled.

“Last year was so nasty I’m just trying to survive and forget,” she said. “It was a crappy, unorganized, in my opinion, method…many of us committee members, especially at this school, were really angry about the whole process.”

Collart shared his perspective on anger over the decision process.

“I imagine any schedule…proba-

bly won’t be everybody’s favorite. I think the hope has to be that people felt like they were part of the process... I know that that is not how everybody felt at the end of last year,” he said.

Bullman defended the decision process.

“I do not feel like the decision making process was flawed. The union and admin had a clear process that was agreed upon by both sides. The fact that those that didn’t like the schedule that won is why the process devolved into chaos,” she said.

During the decision process, some students and parents were angry they didn’t have a vote or a voice on the schedule.

“The faculty felt that…we think we know what is best for our students, because that is what we do,” Bareilles explained, on why the committee was one of teachers and not of students and parents.

Macdonald elaborated on the ways feedback from the broader community was considered as part of the process.

“Every conversation we had with teachers and administration included their conversations with students and parents. Perhaps it wasn’t enough, but yes [those voices were included],” he said.

AHS students don’t seem to know much about the schedule decision process.

“I know a little bit about it, but I wouldn’t be able to say who exactly decided it,” sophomore Mason Blaire said, adding he doesn’t think that student input was heard.

Junior Melanie Luh felt the same way.

“I didn’t receive any forms or anything to fill out about what I wanted,” she said.

After the confusion of the last decision process, the Teaching Association is working with the district to potentially implement a new schedule next fall.

The Association has proposed that the district generate three to four potential schedules, then

present them to the teaching association. Through meetings the schedules would be narrowed down until there was a vote for the final new schedule.

“Our proposal is that we only vote on one schedule, and we try to get it passed with a very high threshold, like seventy to eighty percent” Berube said.

The new decision process is in early stages, but Berube did have insight into what next year’s schedule may look like.

“I think the Association has shown that it wants block scheduling, but they did not expect the block schedule to be this long. However, there are many teachers that feel like a one through six schedule is beneficial, so we’re hoping the district finds something that has a little bit of both,” she said.

Berube also explained that surveys are planned to be sent out to both students and parents to get their input on a new schedule as part of the new process.

Macdonald has an optimistic outlook for the upcoming planning around the schedule.

“The biggest thing with me is that we are moving forward with a plan with a schedule that’s gonna work for everyone…I want it to be positive, I want people to trust in the process so that whatever we come up with works for everyone,” he said.

Collart discussed how the school can learn from last year’s schedule process going forward.

“I know in my heart that nothing was done subversively or behind closed doors, and I also recognize that people didn’t feel the same way…Any process we engage in in the future, we really have to reflect on where last year didn’t go well and consider what is it that we might change to be better.”

Christine McKnight, PT, CHP

Thursday, October 27th, 2022

Coffee worth wasting money on

Alauna Thompson Reporter

It’s finally the season when it takes an hour in the Starbucks line just to get their famous pumpkin spice cocaine… oops, I mean latte.

When you finally do get to the window, at that point it’s not even worth the five dollar drink that you finish in less than seven minutes. There have to be alternatives right?

I decided to go to Ramones and Jitterbean to compare their pumpkin spice lattes to Starbucks to see if they are better.

Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks

I honestly remember it being way better than it was, because it didn’t even taste anything like pumpkin… just elevated cinnamon. Sophomore Mason Blair

didn’t think it was all that good either.

“That drink was actually disgusting, bro,” Blair said.

However, junior Ella Manthorne felt the opposite way about it.

“I wouldn’t waste my money on this overpriced drink, I would rather just spend my money on a regular coffee that will taste the same way,” Manthorne explained.

Which I totally agree , the sweetness was hecka overpowering.

Pumpkin Bliss from Jitterbean

I was actually excited to try this drink mainly because I’ve heard nothing but good things. This drink didn’t disappoint. It had a really good pumpkin taste and had a good amount of sweetness in it.

This was definitely my favorite out of the three drinks. It had a good cinnamon taste and literally hit. Blair thought the same saying,

“This is the only drink that you made me try that didn’t make me want to puke.”

Which may have been a little dramatic, but I agree.

Pumpkin spice latte from Ramones

It had a good coffee taste but it was lacking in pumpkin flavor, and I didn’t realize until after drinking it that all the syrup and pumpkin flavor was at the bottom of the cup.

So remember to stir your coffee ladies.

Blair thought this drink was also gross and overly sweet. “Not it” were his exact words.

When Manthorne tasted it she said she was shocked by how good it was. “The only thing I would change about it is the lack of pumpkin flavor in it,” she said.

I also agree with her because although the coffee was good, it

didn’t have a strong pumpkin spice slay.

Now that I’m broke and bouncing off the walls, I would say that the best drink out of the three would have to be the Pumpkin Bliss Latte from Jitterbean.

I wasn’t shocked by this because they seem to take their time with their drinks instead of just winging it like I’ve seen at Starbucks.

The drink was also not too expensive which shocked me. It was only four dollars while the other two were more than five, and were not as good.

After trashing these drinks I would have to say that you should support your local coffee shops more because from my experience it was the best drink, the cheapest one and came the fastest.

Trick or treating in Northern Humboldt

Sadie Cronin Reporter

When it comes to trick or treating in a quiet rural area like Northern Humboldt, it can be hard.

If you want to know the good spots, well that’s what the Arcata High Pepperbox is here to tell you.

The main spots are Arcata, McKinleyville, and Eureka.

Arcata has the Plaza, Diamond Drive, Jacoby Creek, and Janes Creek.

There’s also McKinleyville with spots like Little Pond and Central Ave.

Then, there’s Eureka with spots like Old town and Myrtle Ave.

Every year the Arcata Plaza really pops off with the festivities, there’s a parade and all the local shops hand out candy.

It’s a great spot to hit earlier in the day, but when it comes to nighttime you’re going to want to move onto a place like Diamond Drive, Jacoby Creek, or Janes Creek.

In my opinion, Diamond Drive is the way to go in Arcata, they always have amazing decorations and great candy!

Eureka has amazing lights and a great nighttime scene. Old Town is a great spot to go to if you are trick or treating in the Eureka area.

There are places like the square, with shops like Los bagels and Little Shop of Hers.

Eureka has Myrtle Ave, which is quiet but they always have great decorations.

Last but not least, we have McKinleyville. McKinleyville is known for the Little Pond area. It’s a great spot but many people go there and wipe out the candy

early.

Josie Powell and Avery Meadows, both seniors at AHS, said that Jacoby Creek and Janes Creek in Arcata are the way to go.

In Josie’s words, “They are rich.”

We all know that when you are trick or treating and come across one of those huge mansions, you’ve hit the candy jackpot.

On the other hand, when you empty your bag after a long night to find toothbrushes and apples it’s a real letdown.

The hemp store on the plaza is the culprit of all those toothbrushes. Unless you’re in need of a new toothbrush avoid this spot in Arcata.

Sophomore Mahala Jhonson says that the Plaza is the best for trick or treating.

“Spots like Peoples Records, Don’s Donuts, and Humboldt Outfitters always have great decorations and candy.”

Blue Lake is the one spot that isn’t a good trick-or-treating option. In Josie’s words, “Unless you like entering random people’s houses, do not go Blue.”

In my opinion, Arcata is the best town for trick or treating. Arcata is a small town so if you’re walking around you can go to all of the good spots. With places like Mckinleyville and Eureka, it is harder to do that.

How to be a fall fashion icon

Zoe Macknicki Managing Editor

With fall in full swing, fall staples are everywhere around the Arcata High campus.

There are a few people on campus that have stepped up their fashion game this fall season. Take history teacher Owen

Moore for example, always strutting through the halls in his fire fall fits. Moore rocks a nice scarf, which pairs nicely with one of his simple sweaters and a pair of blue jeans.

If you need good fashion inspiration, look no further than Moore.

Another Fall fashion icon history teacher Jeff Mielke struts the hallways daily with an orange scarf and a quarter zip sweatshirt.

Both of these history teachers are fall fashion icons here at Arcata High School.

With this inspiration in mind, here are some things you can add to your closet to step up your fashion game for the fall season.

1.Cardigan Sweaters

2.Anything Brown

3.Flannels

4.Ugg boots

5.Beanies

6.Quarter-zipped Sweatshirts

7.Scarves

8.Overalls

9.Anything Corduroy

All of these things would help you to walk through the hallways of Arcata High as a fall fashion icon.

Take after Moore and Mielke and step up your fashion game. Go out and get to shopping!

Staff’s favorite halloween costumes

Madelyn Conley

Co-Editor-in-Chief

Halloween is a fun holiday where everyone can express their personalities through their costumes. At school, students are encouraged to wear their costumes. While most of the focus is on the students, teachers don’t fail to express themselves on this holiday either.

French teacher Davena Bagnall’s favorite costume was when she dressed up as Professor Trelawney from Harry Potter in 2020.

History teacher Jeff Mielke’s favorite costume he’s ever worn was when he dressed up as a cowboy in 1987.

Art teacher Tim Clewell’s favorite costume was when he was Roger Rabbit when he was nine.

History teacher Adam Pinkerton’s favorite costume he’s ever worn is when him and his family dressed up as the Incredible’s.

Science teacher Matthew Scott’s favorite costume he’s ever worn was when he made his tiger costume out of balloons in 2019.

Science teacher Shannon Kresge’s favorite costume is when her and now-retired teacher Cindy Condit, dressed up as Donald Trump in his golfing attire.

German teacher Carolyn Bareilles’s favorite costume she wears every year is a hot dog. This was from 2022. She passes out gummy hot dogs to her students too.

Whether they were just little kids or grown adults, our staff never fails to impress and step up to the occasion. I’m excited to see what the teachers have planned for this year!

Photo curtesy of Jeff Mielke/PEPPERBOX

Photo curtesy of Matthew Scott/PEPPERBOX

Photo curtesy of Davena Bagnall/PEPPERBOX

Photo curtesy ofTim Clewell/PEPPERBOX

Photo curtesy of Shannon Kresge/PEPPERBOX

Photo curtesy of Adam Pinkerton/PEPPERBOX

Photo curtesy of Carolyn Bareilles/PEPPERBOX

Horror movies that slay

Seneca Turechek Co-Feature Editor

It’s October 27, which means the objectively best holiday of the year is only a week away.

There are so many reasons why Halloween is the best holiday; haunted houses, trick or treating, carving pumpkins, scaring small children, but one of the best things about this time of year is the horror movies.

There are three ways to describe horror movies: good, bad, and so bad that it’s good.

I know we are all sick of being recommended the same five classic horror movies, so hopefully this article will help diversify your taste in the horror genre.

Personally, I feel that the 90s were truly the golden age of horror movies, however “X” is without a doubt one of the best horror movies made in the last couple years.

So, I’ve made an exception to the “sick of being recommended the same five horror movies” to tell you to go watch “X.”

Everyone and their mother has recommended this slasher movie from 2021.

Speaking of mothers, don’t watch this with yours, or any adult or parental figure, trust me.

“X” follows a group of adult film stars who travel to the Texas backcountry to film an X rated movie.

Stuff gets crazy when the old woman who owns the farm turns out to be psychopathic sex addict who takes her pent

up anger on the group of adults.

What makes this movie so great is unlike you’d expect, the final girl is not the morally flawless young woman.

We love a feminist film! “X” definitely lives up to its Rotten Tomatoes rating. 10/10.

Dead Alive (aka Braindead) is easily the best movie on this list.

This is a horror comedy released in 1992 and one of my favorite horror movies.

This movie gives an interesting spin on a zombie outbreak which is caused by the bite of a Sumatran rat-monkey which was kept in a cage at a local zoo in New Zealand.

It takes a minute to get into the movie, but once you get past the heavy accents that make the movie almost impossible to understand, it’s truly a hidden gem of horror movies of the 90s.

However, if you do not handle gore well, I do not recommend watching this.

Dead Alive is one of the most gruesome movies I have watched.

“This movie is kinda actually disgusting,” Senior Alauna Thompson said.

I would give this a well deserved 9/10.

Perfect choice for a movie on Halloween if you want something scary and gory without too many heavy and depressing plot lines.

If you are a fan of Scream, you will LOVE Urban Legend.

Urban Legend is a mediocre horror movie from 1998.

Although it’s starring Jared Leto (gross), this movie is definitely worth a watch.

It follows a group of college students as a set of murders occur, all of which resemble popular urban legends.

Don’t let the Rotten Tomatoes rating throw you off, *cough* *cough* 24%.

Even though this movie feels like a rip off of Scream, simply due to the vibe, and its far from lacking in mediocre acting (not surprised Jared), it totally slays.

Especially if you can’t deal with scary movies, it’s a great pick for a Halloween movie marathon.

This movie is so bad that it’s good, a solid 7/10, but only on a good day.

Lastly, but far from least is Killer Klowns from Outer Space. Killer Klowns from Outer

Space is a classic horror movie released in 1988.

The movie follows a group of teenagers after a comet crashes in their small town in California, and a gang of killer klowns from outer space take over.

When they report the giant circus tent and cotton candy cocoons to the police, everyone believes it’s a prank.

I give this movie a solid 8/10, not for quality but simply for creativity and entertainment purposes.

Killer Klowns from Outer Space is a great movie to watch on Halloween night especially if you can’t handle being scared… unless you’re afraid of murderous extraterrestrial circus clowns.

Arcata High’s Homecoming Royalty pose for a photo on the senior lawn. Pictured left to right they are Johnny Girving, Julien Wan, Lazarus Onyango, Kyra Alway, Ai-lan McGoldrick, and Taylor Appy.