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The Cougar Press @the.cougar.press
Friday February 25, 2022
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“The time is always right to do what is right.” -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The scoop on the new parking permits
On Feb. 1, assistant principal Elizabeth Botello sent out an email to students which said, “All students who would like to park in the ‘Senior Parking Lot’ for semester 2 must fill out the following Google Form.” It continued to say that there will be a lottery for spots:“We have a limited number of spots available. Feb. 11th we will conduct a lottery with the names we have received. Seniors get priority.” Based on current respondents of the form, in her interview Botello said, “We have not reached capacity which is great because that means that everyone who wants a spot will most likely have one.” A lottery might not be necessary at all based on the form’s participation. “It’s just a way to be more equitable and we’ve realized that it’s easier to be more uniform with the other high schools [Foothill] so we’re trying to make those best practices,” said Botello. On Feb. 1, a poll was posted on The Cougar Press Instagram account (@the.
cougar.press) asking, “Do you agree with the new parking permit system?” 86 responded, 10 percent of pollers agreed while 90 percent disagreed. Senior Martie Pecht was one of the 77 voters that disagreed. “I honestly feel like having parking permits is not the smartest idea. It can really limit the juniors and especially the seniors to get parking spots. I think the lottery is good to an extent, but it may prevent people from getting spots that really need them,” she said. Botello made it clear that administration is limiting the current available spots in the lot, and that there are still over 200 spots. She said, “The lottery is a way to make it more equitable to all students no matter what grade level they may be who might need a spot.” Parking permits will stay the same as semester one, but with a new online organization to make it easier for administration and students. The other change is new colors of the permit stickers, from yellow to black.
Volume 74 Edition 05
What’s online?
To park, or not to park? Avery Cameron
@thecougarpress
Poster with new parking permit information, advertising for students to complete the “VHS parking permit form” by Feb. 10 to be eligible for the lottery. Photo by: Avery Cameron
Pecht said that if she doesn’t get a parking permit she will end up parking on a side street, such as Poli, Seaward or Hall Canyon. Sophomore James Rail said that he will also park on a side street: “It [not having a parking permit] will make me potentially late to classes and [I] will have less time in my day if I always [have] to walk off campus into the neighborhoods to go to my vehicle before and after school.” Rail also disagreed with the new system. He said, “Although I do not love the idea of not being able to get a parking pass I understand there is an inadequate amount
of parking for the amount of students in our high school. I think increasing available parking somehow is a must, possibly getting designated street parking from the city for students?” Despite his overall negative view on the new system he does acknowledge that he believes that the lottery is the best and most fair way to go. A similar rule change happened in 2017, Avenlea Russian wrote an article for The Cougar Press titled “Parking permits change again.” Continued on... thecougarpress.org
Boys varsity basketball makes a comeback win against Buena in their last game of the season
Graphic by: Graphic by: Ava Mohror Ava Mohror
Opinion: “Addiction” is the wrong word
Photo by: Giselle Garcia Gisselle Name
Fashion on campus
Ventura High School boys varsity basketball beats Buena High School varsity basketball in their last game of the season
Avea Baker Halle Gentry On Feb. 2, Ventura High School met their cross town rival Buena High School for their second and last game against each other for this season. After losing 65-31 in their last game against Buena, they came ready to play. “From a coaches standpoint, when we went in to get dressed it was kind of unusual because usually this group talks, but they came in quite and ready to play, which really stood out to me because our season
hasn’t been that,” said varsity basketball coach Felix Cortez. The first quarter ended with Buena leading 21-10. “As the game progressed the first quarter was pretty tough since we got beat by so much last game, and we were down 21-10 the first quarter, it was like what are we doing? What do we have to do to change that? So between the first and second quarter we talked about playing better defense and securing the ball,” said Cortez. “Actually at the end of the first we were down 2110 which is a pretty sizable
Coach Cortez giving the Varsity boys a run down on practice and a prep talk. Photo by: Avea Baker
lead, but we just kept trusting each other, trusting the game plan and our Coach [Cortez]. We also had a lot of good energy from our student section, it wasn’t the biggest student section but they had great energy throughout, so we kinda fed off of that and really trusted each other the whole way through and just kept working our way through it and that was the end of the game,” said guard junior Jack Rose. The second quarter ended with Buena leading 16-10 with Ventura catching up. “We did a much better job of that [better defense and securing the ball] which led to at the end of the second quarter finishing at 16-10. We were down 31-26 at half time,” said Cortez. “Then the third quarter came and we actually played the best third quarter of the whole season. We always struggled in the third quarter in the past. We were up by the third quarter 41-40,” said Cortez. The fourth quarter came and the team’s were tied. “Then we got up in the fourth quarter and I thought
‘okay we’re gonna do this.’ However, we did throw the ball away a couple times and ended up tied at the end of regulation,” said Cortez. There was a tie and they played a half quarter for OT. “Then in overtime we outscored them 11-7 and for this team it has been hard to be consistent with our scoring but for this we did a really good job. Kayden, our senior, really stepped up and probably played his best game of the season this game.” “Going into the game and starting knowing it was the last game as highschoolers, also the fact that it was in Buena’s territory is pretty nerve racking. Since we have people doubting us that always makes you want to do better and so knowing it was my last game, I knew I had to give it my all. I got to give it out to my teammates for being so trusting with me during the game. I just feel like it came down to who [Ventura or Buena] wanted it more,” said senior guard Kayden Gonzales. Continued on... thecougarpress.org
Photo by: Alejandro Hernandez
VHS Theater opens the stage for spring musical auditions thecougarpress.org