LGBTQ+ students and allies welcome at the GSA

The VHS GSA, a club dedicated to LGBTQ students and allies, formerly stood for the Gay-Straight Alliance. Today it stands for the Gender-Sexuality Alliance, a change made to reduce social stigmas and include people of various sexual and gender identities.

GSA President Thomas Funnell ’25 said, “The purpose of the GSA is to create a safe space for any LGBTQ person or ally and provide a space for anyone who wants to learn about the community. [GenderSeuxality Alliance] is more inclusive to everyone, which is why we changed [the club’s name].”

The GSA has 10 members and two leaders: Funnell and vice president Reece Pickett ’23. The club meets during lunch every Tuesday in room 102 and focuses on spreading awareness about the LGBTQ community on campus.

Funnell said, “In our club, we like to publicize issues, especially at school and around the world. We

GSA like to educate ourselves about queer history and how the LGBTQ community has changed over time, and how it is now. Most recently, during [the] food faire [on Nov. 18, 2022], we handed out pamphlets with a bunch of different organizations on them which [are] devoted to helping queer people.”

To join the club, students need only attend its meetings. The only requirement to join is that one must be an ally of the LGBTQ community.

Women’s History Month recognized at Ventura High School

The month of March is Women’s History Month; how is VHS celebrating? the featured women. Another way VHS and the VUSD have celebrated Women’s History Month is by putting together a website with resources for staff, students and families to further learn about historical women. The website has opportunities for viewers to look further into the lives and significant contributions of women in history, including links to videos as well as links to short stories about influential women.

Funnell said, “An ally is anybody who supports the LGBTQ community and goes out of their way to support people when they’re being mistreated or underrepresented in spaces that talk about them. Being an ally is a [criterion] for being in the club in the first place because if you’re not willing to be an ally in the first place, there’s not much we can do to help [them]. You can be an ally and identify anyway.

March is Women’s History Month, where the women in history who have paved the way for the world today are honored. VHS has been encouraging students to learn more about influential women in history during the month of March. There have been several ways VHS has celebrated Women’s History Month. One of these ways is through the daily school announcements slideshow. On the slideshow, there are one to two women featured each day, listing their impact and importance in history. Some of the women featured in the slideshow have been activist for female education Malala Yousafzai and 19th century mathematician Ada Lovelace. Due to the recently added communication course all students have on Canvas, they can now access the slideshow at any time, making it more accessible to go back and reread or learn more about

Principal Marissa Rodriguez shared a historical woman she admires. She said, “Mother Teresa had a heart of gold and never-ending empathy for people. She [was] fully devoted and committed her life to humanitarian work. Many of her famous quotes are centered around carrying out contagious acts of love/peace and service with small impactful acts.”

Continued on. . . thecougarpress.org

Opinion: I don’t believe that the hat rule is still relevant, do you?

Christopher Morrison

There’s a rule in the VHS student handbook stating that you may not wear hats in class upon a teacher’s request. We are sure you have had to deal with a teacher saying that someone can’t wear your beanie, hat, accessory, etc., in their class for no apparent reason. This rule was implemented because it is hard at times to identify a person with a hat or accessory. We tend to get offended by this, and likely many other students do as well.

Our opinion on hats in class is that they should not be prohibited in any way if they aren’t harmful to the classroom or its operations. If there’s no reason to stop a student from wearing a hat or head accessory in a classroom setting, then why stop them? We feel that this rule is outdated and shouldn’t be enforced, or at the very least as harshly as it used to be.

Many students will wear a hat or something similar to cover up a bad hair day, or maybe they didn’t have time to do their hair before school. Whatever the reason is, it’s often seen as disrespectful to teachers when your hat is on during class. As we and many more didn’t know the purpose of this rule, it leaves us wondering why this rule exists. We think there’s more to this rule than just being able to identify someone.

As stated in the student handbook on page 15, “Hats, caps and other head coverings, including scarves and headbands, should not be worn inside the classrooms per teachers’ directives. Faith based or health related head coverings are exempted. Also, gloves are not to be worn.” We tend not to like teachers who restrict or prohibit head coverings without an explanation as much and dread going to their class. We find the rule to be useless in the current day.

Ne’John Rice ‘26 said, “My head gets very cold. I tend to feel weird and uncomfortable [and] I don’t like it when I get told to take my hat off. I tend to feel weird, like I wear [my hat] all the time. It’s like a signature for me. It leaves a sour taste in my mouth about the teacher.”

Rice brings up many good points, and we really agree with Rice that we all don’t like the teachers that will make us take our beanies off. We dread going to their class for this reason, as it