The Lowell Newsmagazine: October 2025 by The Lowell

SELECTIVE SENSITIVITY

October 2025

THELOWELL.ORG ONLINE

BY AUDREY BROGNO

ALEX HOHN

ALEX MANGOT AND JEFFREY CHEN

Editors-in-Chief

Maren Brooks

Kai Lyddan

Yue Yi Peng

News Editors

Milena Garrone

Serena Miller

Columns Editors

Amálie Cimala

Cecilia Choi

Opinions Editor

Stella Schulte

Sports Editor

Kai Lyddan

Multimedia Editors

Sydney Lee

Alex Mangot

Art Manager

Yue Yi Peng

Reporters

Danya Bayer

Audrey Brogno

Herschel Diamond

Kai Dohrmann

Aida Donahue

Jenny Kwan

Sophie Murphy

Charlie Steinberg

Uma Van Yserloo

Faye Yang

Photographers

Dakota Colussi

Kloe Helmuth

Matthew Leon

Felix Meil

Arav Shah

Kristin Woo

Jonathan Yang

Illustrators

Jeffrey Chen

Sarah Cuaresma

Cayce Hewitt

Soleil Wang

Fiona Yu

Business Manager

Samantha Louie

Web Manager

Faye Yang

Social Media Manager

Anita Luo

Researcher

Anita Luo

Advisor

Paul Wangsvick

ADDRESSING THE STEM GENDER GAP

At a high school like Lowell, with many high-achieving students of all genders, the underrepresentation of women in academic fields can seem like an issue of the past. But for the few female students in classes like AP Physics C and AP Calculus BC, the problem is much harder to dismiss.

Low female enrollment is an issue that has plagued advanced STEM classes at Lowell for years. In 2020, 23 out of 61 students (37.7 percent) in the combined AP Physics C classes were female; this year, that ratio has fallen to 10 in 70 (14.3 percent). Many science teachers have actively taken efforts to address this problem, organizing events including a 2023 online panel with Ignite Worldwide, a nonprofit that seeks to make STEM opportunities more accessible to girls. However, these efforts, while certainly helpful, have not led to long-term improvements to the issue.

Gender disparities in fields centered on math and science are not unique to Lowell. Despite the growing openness of STEM fields to women, barriers still exist that cause certain fields to remain male-dominated. Both overt discrimination and more subtle societal messaging dissuade women from pursuing an education or career in these fields, reducing the percentage of women who hold prominent positions. The lack of representation becomes a positive feedback loop, as fewer perceived opportunities for women in STEM discourage girls from pursuing scientifically oriented careers. These social influences have tangible impacts on the choices that girls make in their high school educations, including schedule decisions at schools like Lowell.

former seem to be more aligned with ideas of “feminine” working roles within society, while the latter is based on more “masculine” skills and rationality. This reasoning is visible throughout our culture and society, including in media for young children. Think Doc McStuffins, then think Jimmy Neutron. While both are portrayed as scientifically gifted children, McStuffins is portrayed as a nurturing caretaker, while Neutron is depicted as an eccentric child genius whose motivations are often self-serving. These recurring portrayals can lead adolescent girls to develop gendered associations to different fields, affecting the subjects they choose to study and careers they may seek out in the future.

No matter the root cause of the problem, it is a disservice to everyone when women are left out of the sciences.

Even if it’s difficult to track down exactly why fewer girls take advanced STEM classes at Lowell, the issue is nonetheless deserving of further attention. No matter the root cause of the problem, it is a disservice to everyone when women are left out of the sciences. Countless female mathematicians and physicists have made crucial contributions to society and modern scientific knowledge.

Additionally, careers in STEM are associated with high-paying careers, providing an avenue for women to reach financial success. Accordingly, Lowell has many intelligent and hardworking students of all genders, many of whom would likely enjoy and excel in classes that currently feature low female enrollment.

Some may argue that gender imbalances in STEM classes are not a pervasive issue at Lowell, and point to the gender ratios of classes like biology and chemistry as proof. It’s true that male-dominated gender ratios are not observed uniformly across the scope of STEM subjects, both at Lowell and on the national level. In 2025, for instance, 62.0 percent of students in AP Biology at Lowell are identified as female, while a 2020 study by the National Science Foundation found that although approximately 29 percent of physical scientists are female, women make up nearly 50 percent of life scientists. These discrepancies may be a result of other societal beliefs and associations about the fields in question. Ties to fields like healthcare and environmental justice can make the natural sciences appear to be more emotional in nature than math-based sciences like physics, making the

Lowell should support and expand existing efforts to increase female enrollment across the range of its STEM courses. The consistent organization of events and opportunities specifically designed to increase female students’ involvement in STEM could be immensely impactful towards reaching more balanced gender distributions in classes like AP Physics C. There are many organizations in the U.S. that provide high school girls with opportunities such as panels, field trips, and guest speakers in order to increase interest and involvement in STEM. Utilizing these resources consistently could help counteract the current lack of girls in STEM classes. Leaving the organization of these efforts up to individual teachers shifts the responsibility away from the systemic level and limits their reach, in addition to the increased burden of time and effort it imposes on teachers. Lowell has a duty, and an incentive, to counteract the influences of societal messaging and encourage more girls to get involved in STEM. Until further progress is made, this issue should be one of urgent priority.

PERFORMATIVE MEN

FROM THE EDITORS

Dear readers of The Lowell,

Welcome back!

We are proud to present our latest issue and our first as Editors-in-Chief. We would also like to introduce our new journalism advisor, Paul Wangsvick. While we have had to adjust to many changes this year, including a transfer of leadership, our reliance on the hard work, talent, and dedication of the staff of The Lowell has not changed. We hope to continue to adjust to our new positions and are excited to see what this year will bring.

The cover story for this month’s issue is about the state of political and gun violence in the United States, as well as subsequent media coverage and desensitization. We understand that responses can be varied and complex to this controversial issue, and wanted to highlight the student perspective in this debate.

In light of our new policies, this magazine also highlights student discussion following Lowell’s Mobile Communications Device Policy that was enacted at the beginning of this school year. We hope to continue to put students in the spotlight and make their voices heard while performing unbiased, professional research.

We also hope you enjoy the first issue of the school year!

Editors-in-Chief, Maren Brooks, Kai Lyddan, and Yue Yi Peng

The Lowell is published by the journalism classes of Lowell High School. All contents copyright Lowell High School journalism classes. All rights reserved. The Lowell strives to inform the public and to use its opinion sections as open forums for debate. All unsigned editorials are opinions of the staff. The Lowell welcomes comments on school-related issues from students, faculty, and community members. Send letters to the editors to thelowellnews@gmail.com. Names will be withheld upon request. We reserve the right to edit letters before publication.

The Lowell is a student-run publication distributed to thousands of readers including students, parents, teachers, and alumni. All advertisement profits fund our newsmagazine issues. To advertise online or in print, email thelowellmanagement@gmail.com. Contact us: Lowell High School 1101 Eucalyptus Drive San Francisco, CA 94134, 415-759-2730, or at thelowellnews@gmail.com.

ILLUSTRATION BY FIONA YU

SELECTIVE SENSITIVITY: PERCEPTIONS OF VIOLENT MEDIA

As students become constantly exposed to reports of violent events online, their reactions begin to diminish – sometimes.

By Cecilia Choi and Faye Yang

On September 10, 2025, the nation’s eyes were directed towards a shocking news story: Charlie Kirk, a controversial conservative political activist, had been fatally shot at a Utah college campus rally. That same day, in the neighboring state of Colorado, a 16-year-old student at Evergreen High School was firing repeated rounds of bullets inside his school, injuring two students before fatally shooting himself. News outlets and social media platforms buzzed with updates on both events, detailing law enforcement responses and bystander accounts. Then, videos of Kirk’s assassination began to circulate. Over and over, people watched the graphic clips play, some containing multiple angles of the same scene. Lowell senior Asher Barolette, one of many people who had viewed the video, found it upsetting and felt disgusted afterwards. He also heard news of the school shooting, but with no video clips associated with this similarly violent event, was later unable to recall the name of the school or the state it occurred in.

With the accessibility of the internet, social media has become a hub for the circulation of information, particularly current events and news. One common subject of

news stories that garner viral media attention is gun violence. In particular, the United States has a long and prominent history of gun violence; CNN reported 341 mass shootings in 2025 alone as of Oct. 12, with many of these incidents winding up online. Social media has the capacity to accelerate the rate at which citizens are being exposed to violence, from standalone tragedies to mass shootings. As such tragedies continue to occur, the stream of headlines blaring these reports and messages has led to many individuals feeling largely indifferent, creating a sense of desensitization as only the most sensational events are remembered.

According to Dr. Garen Wintemute, a professor at UC Davis who has researched gun violence and its prevention, gun violence is defined as an intentional act of violence with a firearm that includes but is not limited to homicide and assault, self-harm, suicide, attempted suicide, and political violence. “People commit violence when they feel like they have no sense of a future,” Wintemute said. “That can be a young man who is aware that he’s been deprived of an opportunity for a good education, a good job. It can be [someone] who sees his friends dying around him and feels isolated. It can be an old man who is facing a life without continued employment, who’s having a hard time making ends meet, who sees his friends dying around him, and is isolated.” Political violence lacks a standard definition, as different institutions and researchers describe it differently. However, general consensus states that political violence can range from harmful online rhetoric to physical threats and real

acts of violence, all with the goal of achieving a certain political outcome. While only making up for a small percentage of total violent crime, media amplification and the visibility of figures involved in political violence can increase their social and political impact. Within the last year, one of the most notable events of political violence has been the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Kirk was a prominent right-wing activist and media personality who encouraged young voters to get involved with political conservatism. According to an article from AP News, his shooter disagreed with Kirk’s political views, and wrote on a note found underneath his computer keyboard that he had “the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk” and was “going to take it.” After discovering his assassination, many students were left with mixed feelings. Wyatt, a junior under a pseudonym, initially stated that he did not feel bad about what had happened to Kirk. “I know that sounds messed up to say because it’s a person who got shot,” Wyatt said. “[But] I just said, ‘that’s just another person who gets shot’. That happens every day, right?” However, he started to feel more empathy about the situation more once finding out that Kirk had children, imagining if Kirk had been his dad. “I couldn’t imagine being their age… and seeing him basically just get murdered,” Wyatt said. For senior Celeste Murcia, Kirk was not someone she liked personally or politically, but she felt that he didn’t deserve to be killed over exercising his right to express his political opinions. “I don’t like Charlie Kirk, but that’s just f----d up. People are allowed to disagree with you, but disagree-

ment shouldn’t result in gun violence. If you’re so against gun violence, you should be against the death of Charlie Kirk, period,” Murcia said.

While Charlie Kirk’s assassination drew a lot of attention, media coverage of political violence incidents has varied over time. In 2011, then United States Representative Gabby Gifford and 18 others were shot and injured during a constituent meeting. Between the date of the shooting and 20 days

papers and had largely vanished from coverage by the 20th day. Although additional mentions appeared between 20 to 30 days after, front-page coverage averaged just 0.6 front-page articles per day and accounted for 0.05 percent of total digital media coverage. By contrast, the assassination of Kirk received 6 percent digital coverage over a 20-day window.

Part of the decrease in newspaper coverage and slight increase in social media coverage

“I just said, ‘that’s just another person who gets shot.’ That happens every day, right?”

after the event, digital coverage of the event through online news sources composed approximately 0.8 percent of all digital media, appearing on the front page of 135 U.S. newspapers in the first three days with coverage declining by about 10 percent per day. In 2017, after the shooting at the Congressional Baseball Game that injured Republican House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, coverage increased to 2 percent total digital media in the 20 days following the event and appeared on the front page of 52 U.S. newspapers that day. Newspaper coverage continued for more than 20 days but declined at a 50 percent rate, more sharply than in the previous incident.

Both Gifford and Scalise survived each of their shootings. However, in June 2025, Minnesota Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband were shot and killed, the story appeared on the front cover of just 13 U.S. news-

can be attributed to the change in news consumption, outlined in a study by the Pew Research Center, which found that the total circulation of U.S. Sunday newspapers has more than halved, going from 48 million in 2011 to 20 million in 2022. Both Murcia and Barolette received most of their news from social media and noted that they had only heard about Hortman the day of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. “I’m surprised there wasn’t more uproar about it,” Murcia said. Her understanding is that Kirk’s following had been much more massive than Hortman’s, and despite being a House Representative, had less influence and power on social media. “But I also think that’s messed up, and I never understood why no one was talking about it,” Murcia said.

Today, social media gives people easy and instant access to news, producing a generation that is constantly exposed to online in-

formation, though not all of it is accurate. Aside from Murcia and Barolette, an October 2025 survey conducted by The Lowell found that of 103 respondents, 52 percent of students receive most of their news from social media. Senior Kaela Liao credits social media for being a quick method to learn new information. “Social media as a whole is a great place to learn new information. I would say it’s a lot faster, and because it’s faster, some things might not be as credible compared to other sources, which takes more time and research,” Liao said. “I do get most of my information initially from social media, but I always double check and verify with reputable news outlets.” The role of social media in the circulation of information after Kirk’s death led to what Wintemute described as “unique” circumstances. “The videos of him bleeding to death were immediately accessible. People saw those videos, oftentimes without warning,” Wintemute said. Video clips containing sensitive imagery are usually filtered through a

media platform’s restrictions on graphic content, but the videos of Kirk’s death were shared too quickly, and at too high a volume, to be filtered out – leading to a mass influx of posts that overshadowed

overshadowed other news stories like the Colorado school shooting. With inoperative filters, social media can also contain disinformation: intentionally misleading information that is distributed to large numbers of people. The danger of disinformation, Wintemute mentioned, is the difficulty in verifying the legitimacy of the information itself. While not limited to disinformation, Wintemute stated that social media acts as an echo chamber for people of similar minds, and when it comes to disinformation influencing political opinions, can have an increase in risk for polarizing beliefs that push people to fuel violent behavior. Increase in violent behavior leads to higher coverage rates, creating a positive feedback loop where users become exposed to these incidents even more. Thus, Liao ensures that the news she receives is always verified from a credible source, and says that news from social media should be “take[n] with a grain of salt, just because it may or may not

be accurate.”

Apart from political violence, gun violence, particularly school shootings, has been a highly discussed topic for many years. According to The Lowell’s survey,

“The reality that we’re living in is that a school shooting where not that many people die is not considered a big deal and people are just waiting for the next big school shooting to happen for them to actually pay any attention to.”

76 percent of respondents believed political violence had an adequate amount of coverage, but 56 percent of respondents believed there was not an adequate amount of coverage on gun violence overall. The K-12 School Shooting Database found that since 2023, there have been nearly 900 recorded incidents of gunfire on school grounds, resulting in over 650 casualties. On the day Kirk was shot, a high school located in Colorado also experienced a school shooting. Many students recalled seeing much less coverage of the school shooting compared to Kirk’s assassination, and didn’t have the same level of reaction when they found out about it. Barolette remembers feeling underwhelmed when reading an article about another school shooting that took place just a cou-

ple weeks prior. “My main reaction was, wow, only X amount of people died, that’s pretty small, which I think is a pretty horrible reaction,” Barolette said. “The reality that we’re living in is that a school shooting where not that many people die is not considered a big deal and people are just waiting for the next big school shooting to happen for them to actually pay any attention to.” Murcia brought up how she feels that people have become desensitized by all the violence happening around them, particularly school shootings, with how often they occur. “It’s kind of not phasing people anymore. There’s not as big of an outrage as there used to be about it.”

According to The Lowell’s survey, of 103 respondents, 67 percent of students felt that repeatedly being exposed to violence in the news has made them feel less sensitive about it over time. A study published on the National Institute of Medicine website in 2016 describes desensitization as a diminished response to certain external stimuli after repeated exposure.

Dr. Edward Munnich, a cognitive psychologist at the University of San Francisco, also described desensitization as a psychological survival mechanism people adopt once they survive previous exposure that may have posed a threat. “If you survive [these events], if they don’t kill you, then you just tune them out,” Dr. Munnich said. He also warned that while it acts as a safety measure for the human mind, it can become maladaptive –leading to learned helplessness, a state in which one exhibits no control, despite having the means to. “We’re kind of just giving up and saying, well, thoughts and prayers,

what can I do? There’s nothing I can do. And it’s really tragic that we’ve gotten to that point,” Dr. Munnich said.

Retrospectively, many students felt that their reactions to such events were also tied to how much they were personally affected by them. Wyatt believes that his greater familiarity with Kirk compared to students killed in school shootings contributed to his reaction. “This person was a household name. This is someone that we talked about a lot. The fact that he was just so hugely influential amongst the young people of America – that is what made it such an explosive event for people,” Wyatt said. But ultimately, Wyatt feels that most people don’t know Kirk on a personal level, and therefore has this sentiment akin to how school shooting reactions have diminished: “I will spend much more time caring for my best friend who scraped his knee or broke his arm than caring about someone who I’ve never seen, never met, never

known.”

For Lowell’s World History teacher, Lauretta Komlos, who has previously taught Psychology, the effect of seeing violent media constantly seems to be more of a tolerance build. “It’s a skill you

grim as it appears as the vast majority of Americans reject political violence altogether. However, he emphasizes that as a society, we must all take part in order to make change. “We have two jobs to do. The first is to make that known;

“I don’t blame Gen Z for being desensitized.

They’ve grown up with it.”

learn. We taught you to tolerate it. We taught you to be ready for it,” Komlos said. “I do think that students are so used to gun violence – I mean, these are people that have been doing gun drills since they were little kids. It’s expected, gun violence is not exceptional to them.” Komlos also compared a generational change in the way she saw Generation Z grow up versus Generation X, who passed proliferation laws on guns that allowed Gen Z to be exposed to such an extent. “I don’t blame Gen Z for being desensitized. They’ve grown up with it,” Komlos said.

Despite these perceptions, Wintemute shared that his research gives him hope that the future needs not to be as

to be just as loud in opposition to political violence as some people are in supporting political violence. Number two, all of us have a responsibility to follow the old adage: If you see something, say something,” Wintemute explained. Komlos encourages students to take time away from their phones, do self-grounding exercises, and recharge by doing the things they enjoy. But ultimately, Komlos is sure that students would be able to do their best when encountering similar incidents of violence in the future. “I think one way is just unplugging for a week or two… give your mind a mental break,” Komlos said. “I’m not worried about your generation. I really am not. Yes, you might be desensitized, but I also think that your generation is very humanistic. Your generation is very realistic. I see responses to the shooting violence at the youth level and the young adult level. I think your responses are much more rational than the generations ahead of you.”

Killer Kouture

Photo by Dakota Colussi

Photo by Kloe Helmuth

As Halloween is coming around the corner, Lowellites showcase their creativity in costume designing using every-day materials such as casual clothes, aluminum foil, toilet paper, and white cloth.

Photo by Arav Shah

Photo by Matthew Leon

Off and Away: Lowell’s Off and Away: Lowell’s

Lowell students and staff share differing opinions on the use and implementation of Lowell’s classroom phone ban.

By Milena Garrone and Amálie Cimala

Senior Azadeh Gadeken is frustrated. Her teacher has finished lecturing, and has given the class time to do homework. Gadeken wants to be doing her work, but finds herself unable to focus. The classroom is abuzz with her peers talking and completing their own work, and the noise is too distracting. Normally, Gadeken would listen to music on her headphones to drown out the noise, but Lowell’s new phone policy, introduced at the beginning of this year, prevents her from doing so.

At the start of the school year, Lowell implemented a new Mobile Communications Device (MCD) policy that prohibits students from using their smartphones in class and the hallways. Lowell administration said that the policy was implemented to eliminate the distraction of smartphones in the classroom, but some students feel that it hinders their independence and learning.

day after a third offense, and a fourth offense will lead to a parent conference with the dean. Finally, a fifth offense will cause the phone to be confiscated and picked up by a parent again, with further action to be taken by administration.

According to Lowell’s Assistant Principal Abby Matthews, the policy was implemented to prevent students from being distracted by their phones while in class. This change in phone policy at Lowell comes after Governor Gavin Newsom of California signed the Phone-Free School Act in 2024, which required public schools to develop and implement a policy limiting the use of cellphones by July 2026. The MCD policy also

Lowell administration introduced the first phase of the MCD policy, which banned the use of phones in classrooms, to students this August. In September, the administration introduced phase two, which banned phone and cell phone use in hallways.

According to Lowell’s Assistant Principal, Abby Matthews, phase three, which began on October 14th, outlines “escalating consequences for repeated violations of the MCD policy in the classroom.” According to the policy, on the first offense, a student will receive a verbal warning. For a second offense, a written warning will be issued. An MCD will be confiscated for the remainder of the school

follows SFUSD’s Board Policy 5.4.1. The policy prohibits phone use at school, aside from designated locations such as the cafeteria, the courtyard, and the library. If a student has a special circumstance that needs accommodating, then exceptions can be made if they have a doctor’s note, an IEP, or a 504. According to Matthews, students’ phones have too many distractions for students to have them in the classroom and maintain focus. “[Phones] make it nearly impossible for teachers to maintain focus and a learning discipline that’s required for that deeper learning critical thinking within the classroom,” Matthews

said. “So the hope is that by removing this major distraction, students will be more engaged in their learning and focus on their academic pursuits.”

Matthews emphasized that she didn’t want to completely ban phones because she understood the importance of “chill time” for students during passing periods. “This policy is not about being anti-technology,” she said, “It’s really about just drawing a clear line between technology that serves a learning purpose and personal devices that are a source of constant distraction.”

Lowell is not the only high school in San Francisco to be implementing a more restrictive phone policy in recent years. According to an article published in the San Francisco Standard at the beginning of this month, several SF schools, including Thurgood Marshall Academic High School, St. Ignatius College Preparatory School, and San Francisco Waldorf High School, had done so.

Tomas Toch, director of the education policy center at Georgetown University, is a firm believer in implementing phone bans in schools. He believes that phones are detrimental to a productive social and academic environment. “[Students] pay less attention to what’s going on in class if they have [phones] and are allowed to have them in class,” Toch said. In fact, he believes that schools should implement more rigid bans for the entire school day, prohibiting students from using their phones even during passing periods. “If it’s in your pocket, you’re more likely to pull it out and look at it than you are

if it’s in your locker or if it’s left at home or it’s locked in a secure location.”

Not all students believe that the phone policy is helpful. In a survey of 105 randomly selected students conducted by The Lowell in October 2025, only 16 percent believed that the phone policy is beneficial to Lowell students. Gadeken agreed that phones could pose difficulties to learning, and thought that limiting cell phone use in class was justifiable, but she believes the school-wide ban is unnecessary. Many of their classes already had phone restrictions that were enforced by teachers. “I wasn’t allowed to use my phone in my classes anyway,” Gadeken said, “so I don’t understand why they’re trying to enforce something that isn’t a problem here... I think that this overarching no phones in the hallways, no phones in class policy doesn’t work for anyone. I think it creates conflict between the teachers and students.”

Mary, a sophomore under a pseudonym, said that the new phone policy hadn’t changed much in her classes, either, and that she still saw students using their phones despite the policy. “People who used their phone during class before the full policy are still going to try and use their phone,” she said. Additionally, she believes that students who use their phone for entertainment instead of as a learning tool will still find a way to do that, even with the new policy. When asked, 58.1 percent of students who responded to The Lowell’s survey stated that they have used their phone in class despite the policy.

Additionally, Gadeken feels that the policy takes it too far by prohibiting the use of phones and headphones in the hallways,

had available to do schoolwork, which is often digital. They explained that, because they have no Wi-Fi at home, it is important

“The hallways are not class time,” she said. “I do not have instruction, I do not have an authority figure watching me.

a decision attributed to the tendency of the school’s WiFi to be overwhelmed by mobile devices. “The hallways are not class time,” Gadeken said. “I do not have instruction, I do not have an authority figure watching me. It’s my personal time.” The Lowell administration cites Wi-Fi problems as a reason for prohibiting phone use in the hallway, but Gadeken feels that this shouldn’t be the responsibility of the students. “If they had better Wi-Fi,” she said, “that wouldn’t be a problem. It’s not our responsibility to accommodate for

the school’s poor Wi-Fi. It’s their responsibility to accommodate for us.” One anonymous respondent to The Lowell’s survey said that the restriction on phone use in the hallways frustrated them because of how it impacted the time they

to them to use as much time as possible to do this work at school, and that the new phone policy prevented them from doing so. Students are also frustrated by what they feel is a lack of independence. Gadeken feels that Lowell has restricted student independence, and the phone ban has exacerbated the issue. “There’s almost no independence given at school in general,” Gadeken said. “So why are you trying to restrict our independence even more? Why don’t you want to teach us how to be better with things rather than just restrict us?” Meanwhile, senior Ella Cox said that the idea of more freedom and independence was the reason she chose to go to Lowell in the first place, but that changing policies are disrupting that freedom. “I liked Lowell [because] I thought it would offer me a lot of freedom,” Cox said, “like freedom to choose my classes and stuff like that, and I feel like policies are just getting stricter.” She thinks that it’s important for high school kids

to be able to regulate and make decisions for themselves, and that the phone policy obstructs that. “We need the ability to make our own choices as we become adults,” she said.

Many students believe that

2024 Pew Research Study found that 72 percent of US high school teachers said cell phone distraction was a major problem in the classroom. Although she had a phone ban in place for her classroom before the school-wide came into ef-

“It distracts students from both what a teacher is saying, and it can reduce the opportunities for group work.”

the phone ban takes away a useful educational tool. Both Cox and junior Trevor Liao have classes that require them to take photos of their work to submit, and the phone ban prevents them from being able to do so. Cox often uses her phone to check the time or the bell schedule when classroom clocks are broken or out of sight. She says the new phone policy makes it harder. “If I’m trying to check the bell schedule real quick or something—I feel like at least personally I never used my phone as a distraction during class and it only ever really helped me with tasks in class.” Instead, now that she’s not allowed to use her phone, Cox also has to use her computer instead, which she says is inconvenient because it is bulkier and takes longer.

Jennifer Moffit, an English teacher at Lowell, said that she has seen changes in her students’ behavior since the phone ban took place. She believes that constant phone use is detrimental to student learning, focus, and mental health. She is not alone: a

Lowell

to each other, some of them are doing homework on their computers, but I feel like people are talking to each other more.” Toch agrees that phones can be harmful to students’ interaction in the classroom. “It distracts students from both what a teacher is saying and it can reduce the opportunities for group work,” he explained, “[phones are] very disruptive to instruction in many classrooms.”

fect, Moffitt said that the broader ban made her own restriction of phones in class easier to enforce. “I think people are more accustomed to putting them away,” she said. Additionally, Moffit said that she had noticed increased student interaction as a result of the phone ban. “I feel like there are more peo-

ple who are prone to talking to each other,” she said. “In my new freshman reg, they are seated with strangers, most of them are talking

Some students, however, do not find themselves interacting with their peers more since the ban. Liao found that having his phone available actually increased his interaction with peers, as they could bond over games. He said that the phone ban had actually led to him interacting with his peers less. “We used to interact by playing phone games and talking to each other [about the games],” he said, “but now because the phone ban has come in we’ve not been playing these phone games and [have been] interacting with each other less.” Gadeken and Cox said the phone ban had not changed their interaction with friends, who they still communicate with on their phones in between classes. When asked in a survey conducted by The Lowell, over 60 percent of students said that the new phone policy had not changed how they interacted with their friends at school.

Lowell students also say that they are distracted by anxiety about

what they are missing when they are unable to check their phones. Smart phone separation anxiety, or nomophobia, is a scientific area with developing research. In a 2022 systematic review of 52 studies, 90 percent of participants showed signs of nomophobia, with

rated from his phone during class. “I feel like not having a phone makes me very claustrophobic,” Liao said, “especially when I’m in classes, because I have an urge to reach for my phone to, like, search something up. But then I can’t do that, and I feel very trapped, you

“All I can think about is those test results, which could have been fixed in a ten second interval of me looking at my phone”

20 percent showing mild symptoms, 50 percent showing moderate symptoms, and 20 percent showing severe symptoms. Students say that this anxiety can take away from their attention in class times. Gadeken emphasized that it wasn’t social media that made her thoughts dwell on her phone during class, but rather messages from her friends or school related stuff. “Maybe my friend in the hallway went ‘this class just got their test results posted, and in my next class, because I can’t have my phone or it’s locked up, all I can think about is those test results, which could have been fixed in a ten-second interval of me looking at my phone,” she said. It frustrates her that she is unable to perform simple actions, like checking her grades, while in class. “It’s related to school,” she said, “but I’m missing school, I’m missing learning, because I can’t stop thinking about it.”

Junior Trevor Liao also expressed anxiety from being sepa-

know?” But in a recent survey conducted by The Lowell, 86.7 percent said that they did not experience anxiety from being away from their phone. Lowell Psychology teacher Steven Shimmon believes that, although nomophobia may be a real issue for students, it will most likely fade over time. “We would assume over time that anxiety should be reduced because there’s an idea in psychology of habituation,” Shimmon said. “We get used to changes in our environment.”

Shimmon also emphasized that being distracted in class is not a unique problem to phones—students can be distracted by anything, like doodling or wandering thoughts. Rather, it’s part of a larger issue with lack of student engagement in class. He thinks the best way to combat this divided attention is for teachers to use more engaging teaching methods. “I think that if teachers are actively engaging their students then nomophobia should not exist,” Shimmon said. “Then students shouldn’t

really even be thinking about their phones because they’re engaged in whatever they’re doing.” Toch agrees that engagement is an important aspect of an academic environment. While he emphasizes the necessity of phone bans, Toch says that there are also other things that schools should do to improve student learning. For example, addressing chronic absenteeism and getting students more engaged in the classroom. To do that “you want to have students at the center of instruction,” Toch said This means putting an emphasis on student voice, perspective, and groupwork.

Looking forward, Matthews said, the Lowell administration is looking to implement further phases of the phone policy with different disciplinary actions. To do so, they are communicating and taking feedback from the Lowell Parent, Teacher, Student Association (PTSA) and the Lowell Student Association (LSA). If students have concerns about the new policy, she said, they should express them to these organizations for consideration. She wants to work with students to reduce distractions and improve the academic environment. “We’re in a learning phase together,” Matthews said. While the Lowell administration is doing their best to make the transition to the new policy as seamless as possible, students still have their doubts about its effectiveness in improving the social and learning environment at Lowell. They feel like it can end up interrupting and inconveniencing their learning time instead of enhancing it. “I just feel like [the phone policy] is not a good use of anyone’s time,” Cox said.

Navigating Grief Through Music

By Stella Schulte

My body slumped into the restaurant’s small wicker chairs, heavy from the events of the hours before. It rained in Montauk the day we buried my grandfather. Dark clouds were pulled into the sky by the wind as it ebbed and fowed. Shadows loomed on the walls, shuddering when waiters passed and caused the candles to ficker. Te crowded space was flled with feeting conversations, clinking glasses, and boisterous laughter. But in this swarm of sounds something familiar broke through, reverberating from the restaurant’s speakers above. I recognized the signature slow drag and pulsing synth of LCD Soundsystem’s “Someone Great.” My heart beat with the baseline as my eyes welled with tears. It rang: “...When someone great is gone… when someone great is gone.”

I grieve deeply. Whether I mourn for lost loved ones, forgotten friends, or even for parts of myself, my grief swallows me whole. It invades every thought and action; it crawls to me at night like a needy dog, when the silence of my room allows for no other preoccupation. For me, music is a vessel. It carries all of my emotions and holds them close, amplifying them to great heights. Ofen, the music I love tethers itself to a person, even those that I never knew very well, and especially those that I no longer know. I ft my headphones in my ears and press play, allowing myself to be consumed in the awe of who these loved ones were and who they could have been.

Last year, my grandfather passed a day afer my birthday. My mother frantically lef the table as I blew out my candles to catch the soonest plane to New York so she could say goodbye. I remember thinking that I was at that age when people started dying more. Or maybe they were always dying, but I never paid attention to it before. Tat night I tried to cry but the tears wouldn’t come. I begged myself to have a heart: to feel something profound or deeply sad. I became frustrated with this mental block, and needed a tool to help my emotions fow.

rick is a mystery to me. I can do no more than stitch together a story for him with the few facts that I know. Everything else comes from music. Music that I’m told he loved — Te Smiths, Te Stone Roses, Tool, Led Zeppelin — and music that I have imagined him loving in my mind. Te Patrick in my imagination would let me blast “I Wanna Be Adored” in the passenger’s seat while we drive through hill country, or giddily ask what concerts I’ve seen recently when he visits San Francisco.

Te band I tie to Patrick is Car Seat Headrest. Maybe it’s frontman Will Toledo’s low, gravely speech or how his angry thrashes on guitar can suddenly become tender and tame. I wonder about Patrick, about who he was and what he was like. Toledo makes me content in this confusion. Patrick lives in this music to hold me when I’m enthralled in its sound, speaking to me from a far away place.

Sometimes, the pain of mourning a lost friendship is worse than a deceased family member. When I was in seventh grade, I was hospitalized. I lived in a building with other teens — most of them older than me. One day, around my second week there, someone new was admitted. I was at the dining table, making little stars out of scraps of paper and listening to music on my computer. Tey sat down across from me. I glanced up, trying to take them all in before they noticed I was looking: dark, buzzed hair, brown eyes, glasses, chipped black nail polish. We didn’t say a word, but I felt like I had known them for a long time.

For me, music is a vessel. It carries all of my emotions and holds them close, amplifying them to great heights.

My grandfather’s name was John, but I always called him Poppy. As I rolled his name over and over in my mind, I remembered a song dear to me: Sufan Stevens’s “John My Beloved.” I hugged myself, curled up like a fetus, and let my heavy eyelids fall shut. I listened. In that moment, I believed that Stevens had written the song for my grandfather and I. His breathy voice called to me from under my pillow: “Beloved my John, so I’ll carry on, counting my cards down to one. And when I am dead, come visit my bed, my fossil is bright in the sun,” he sang through the linen. I sent the song to my mom, who was with Poppy in the hospital. She played it for him a few hours before he died. It was the last song he ever heard.

Patrick, unlike Poppy, I never had the privilege of truly knowing. He was my dad’s cousin. Tey grew up together in the humid Arkansas heat like brothers. My dad speaks sofly when he talks about Patrick now, like his memories with him are delicate and must be handled with care. Mostly, Pat-

I fnally broke the silence and asked “do you have any songs you want to play?” and turned my computer around so they could queue something. A few moments passed before I heard the sof, familiar fute “ Te Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!” by Sufan Stevens. It swept through the room. I hadn’t heard it for a long time. I looked up at the stranger across the table, they looked at me too. “I know you. I get who you are,” I thought as the song blared on. It provided a shred of solace in that strange place.

We became close over the next month. During the day we would share earbuds and listen intently to our music. At night, we shared a room and would tell each other secrets. When we got out, we were terrible about keeping in touch. Tey went to college and I started high school. I think about them ofen, and play that song some nights to remind myself that their friendship wasn’t just a hazy dream. It was sincere. It cradled me when I needed it most and is woven into my soul forever.

Tese people, and many more, have molded me like clay. Music is all I have to sustain our connection. Certain songs open locked cashes in my mind, bringing back the sound of their laugh or the smell of their clothes. It gives me respite – a reason to explore mourning and sink into sadness. Trough music, I become tangled in the thoughts of those I’ve lost.

GAME: STRAY

By Aida Donahue

You are a stray cat. Unfortunately, you’ve been separated from your fellow feline friends, and you find yourself stuck within the shaded ruins of a decrepit, walled-in city, where light is limited to flickering neon signs and the glint of greasy metal. By befriending some of the city’s all-android inhabitants, you find yourself involved in their quest to escape from this futuristic wasteland and reach “the outside”.

This is the premise behind Stray, a puzzle-based indie videogame created by BlueTwelve studios. Stray tells a thoughtful, cutting story, with each task and character correspondence building your understanding of the world around you. In-game, your ability to communicate is limited to action and observation, however your small stature gives you an advantage in terms of exploring the city and finding clues.

The beauty of the game’s story lies in what is unsaid. The implication behind themes of power and control, as well as the portrayal of love, friendship, and the meaning behind a consciousness. All forward progress in this game requires an exchange– no door or window yields without a code– signifying the remnants of a society bent on control. Every antagonistic character you encounter is insinuated to, at some point, have been a product aligned with human interest. Their combined purpose descended into needless terrorization after the

loss of the city’s ruling class, who aimed to live in sterile luxury, while the rest of the population remained trapped within a stuffy urban cage. The game thus implies an unintended consequence for mankind’s gross obsession with command over nature and society, which seems to be a common theme in the game.

Stray encourages its players to make their own conclusions about its message, as it withholds any standard explanation. You are simply perceiving the world around you and discovering things as you go; your own motives lacking in clarity, but as the player, you’re left, nonetheless, completely immersed.

JAMAL’S JOURNEY

By Uma Van Yserloo

Have you ever come across a petite, wide eyed feller wandering about the halls, with his backpack-tobody ratio significantly higher than normal? That was either Lowell’s class of 2029 or the man, the myth, the legend: Jamal the Camel. His tale begins on a foggy and gray Au-

gust day three years ago– Jamal’s first day of school at Lowell. Jamal was ecstatic to attend a school with likeminded and hardworking individuals, but as the week progressed, he began to feel like Lowell wasn’t meant for him. Jamal tried to participate in English class, but the teacher ignored him because she didn’t believe a camel was capable of reading Shakespeare. The worst part of being a cute little camel in a school full of humans, was, by far, the hallway traffic. Every Lowell student knows the pains of the clogged up hallways during passing period, but imagine having to navigate them when everyone’s twenty times bigger than you. One day, Jamal was clomping down the hallway to his next class when he heard the footsteps of hundreds of students behind him. They were rushing into the journalism room to get baked goods after completing The Lowell’s newest crossword puzzle! Jamal’s little heart began to race as he felt himself being swept up off his hooves and rushed along the stream of the crowd. When he awoke, the aroma of quesadillas and Nutella toast hit Jamal so hard that he immediately recognized where he was- the journalism room. Jamal’s initial instinct was to leave, but something felt different about the journalism room– for the first time in Jamal’s high school career, he felt at home. Jamal was quickly adored by the journalism staff, and after some convincing, Jamal is ready to be back in the spotlight as The Lowell’s official mascot.

A SOBERING SECLUSION

By Kai Lyddan

Brandon, a senior under a pseudonym, is excited to spend time with friends on a Friday night after an exhausting week at school lled with tests, essays, and college applications. While coordinating plans, he receives messages from friends stating they are unwilling to go out if there won’t be alcohol or drugs involved. Too scared to take part in substance use, he lets the plans fall through and doesn’t end up socializing with his friends. is is far from the rst time this situation has happened, and being constantly shot down for substances has damaged his self-esteem and discouraged him from making plans with friends in the future. While this anecdote may seem extreme and unrealistic, it’s more commonplace than some adults may realize, and the morbid reality of substance abuse must be acknowledged. According to the American Psychological Association, more teens are dying from drug overdoses than ever before in the U.S. Although exposure to potentially addictive substances has been a prevalent issue among high schoolers for a while, it has become increasingly normalized for socializing with friends. As a result, teenagers who don’t partake in the use of these substances may nd it awkward or di cult when their friends are constantly using them in their presence and dodging plans to drink or smoke with other friends. e National Library of Medicine says that teens who smoke are more likely to be selected as friends by other teens than non-smokers. e biggest issue, however, is the loss of authentic interaction among teenagers due to the overarching reliance on substance use.

“It has become increasingly normalized for socializing and time with friends to be reliant on substance use.”

According to Education Week, teen substance abuse has declined signi cantly from 2013 to today (from 35 percent to 22 percent of teens who drink alcohol and 23 percent to 17 percent of teens who use marijuana, among other substances). Despite this decline, the interference of substance use with social interaction is still very much an ongoing issue among teenagers. Notably, the amount of overdose deaths among teenagers has actually increased, as fentanyl and other illicit substances continue to emerge. e reliance on substance use is in opposition with the need all teenagers have for genuine interaction with their

friends and other peers. High school is one of the most challenging times in life, from both a social and mental health perspective, and having friendships where one can build authentic bonds and feel free of social pressure is invaluable.

e National Library of Medicine says that feeling a lack of connection to others can lead to detrimental e ects on the health of students, both physically and mentally.

While other factors like preexisting mental health conditions, amount of free time, and situations at home can come into play, substance use is also an aspect that can’t be ignored. Teenagers who don’t have a close-knit group of friends to have as support can be a ected by these long-term consequences as they go through high school. Students who don’t have a strong, secure social network can also be much more susceptible to peer pressure, as they are much more desperate for social connections. is susceptibility can then play a role in creating a cycle of young adults either feeling dejected or falling prey to peer pressure and starting substance use. Some people may argue that substance experimentation and other similar activities is an integral part of the high school experience and that nothing can be done to prevent teenagers from taking part in it. It is understandable for teenagers to occasionally want to take part in substance use, especially at large social gatherings like parties or other events. In some cases, however, regular socializing with friends becomes contingent on whether substances will be used. When some teenagers’ desire to take part in the use of substances begins to damage the abilities of other teenagers and themselves to form connections with peers, or leads to them falling victim to the subjection of peer pressure, is when it’s clear there is an issue present. Instead, teenagers should learn to embrace spending quality time with friends rather than relying on the overuse of substances at the cost of social relationships.