Empowering students to think critically and creatively since 1913
VOLUME 111 ISSUE 7
APRIL 25, 2025
On Saturday, May 3, SPHS will host their Junior/Senior Prom at the Natural History Museum of L.A.
AP Exams will begin on Monday, May 5 and run until Friday, May 16. The SPHS library will be closed for testing.
RACC NIGHT
The annual Hartsough Assembly will be held on Friday, May 2 in the auditorium to commemorate exceptional faculty.
STORY GAVIN BARTOLOME & OWEN HOU PHOTO KAITLYN LEE
South Pasadena’s Community Services Department organized its annual Spring Eggstravaganza, hosted at Garfield Park on Saturday, April 12 from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. An advertisement was sent out to families with children 18 and under to bond over egg hunts, games, inflatable displays, and a chance to take photos with an Easter Bunny.
The Community Services Department was the primary organizer of the Eggstravaganza itself. To host the celebration, the department received money from the city’s general fund, which had been used for various services and events. Groups that had contributed to the event in prior years helped organize the Eggstravaganza.
Among these organizations are the public library, the police and fire departments, Brit West Soccer, and a few others, who all contributed to running and arranging the event.
This annual city gathering has brought together many South Pasadena residents,
tying together the culture in a welcoming and inclusive manner.
“If there weren’t events in the town … we would go somewhere else,” another South Pasadena parent said. “That takes away from the closeness that we feel with our neighbors and the friends at school. It keeps us here, supporting local businesses, supporting our neighbors.”
The organizers of the event continue striving to make this year’s festival more open, offering the adaptive egg hunt.
This newly introduced event held in Garfield Park’s tennis courts is aimed toward anyone with physical or mental disabilities. The ground is smooth and flat as opposed to the uneven grass, eggs can beep and vibrate for the visually impaired, and there are plastic obstacles for children to navigate and find eggs in.
Tickets could be pre-ordered digitally or at the event desk, a reception area located closer to the park playground, where children received wristbands to enter the event and gain access to the different activities throughout the venue.
Families participated in an array of activities, including Easter-themed
SPHS PHONE POLICY
Tiger deconstructs phone policy and usage at SPHS throughout the years, analyzing its implementation and surveying the student body for their perspectives.
Children were divided into several age groups for the egg hunt. There, children participated in a playful experience where groups would search for colorful eggs containing prizes inside. During each round, flocks of parents swarmed the area.
“The kids love it. They love the different activities they could do, they love the train rides … of course, the Easter Bunny picture was first on their list,” a South Pasadena parent said.
Organizers of the event started looking for feedback on its execution after the event, aiming to improve the systems they already had in place.
“Whether they cost money or whether they’re free, [we want to] feel like we’re continuing to support our neighbors and be with our neighbors and get to know our neighbors. Especially in this world where we all feel really isolated and busy … for everyone to come out and be together and talk to each other, that’s really important right now,” a participant said.
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SCIENCE UNDER SIEGE Tiger discusses the impact of Trumps federal funding cuts and targets to foreign students on science, and what American stands to lose when science is no longer a priority.
The importance of mental health resources on campus
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, an estimated 5 million 12 to 17-year-olds have experienced at least one major depressive episode. The World Health Institute reports that one in seven teenagers will develop a serious mental health disorder, and suicide is the third leading cause of death among high schoolers aged 14 to 18. These statistics are not just numbers, they are people; classmates, friends, siblings, and children in need of support that is not always offered or available. The alarming rates of teenagers struggling with mental health highlight the issues of how mental health is treated by society and how schools handle struggling students.
See full article on Page 11
A look into the Tiger Invite
Each year, the South Pasadena Tiger Invite draws athletes from across the country, and even the globe, to compete in a one-day track and field event packed with energy, competition, and school spirit. This year marks the 14th year of the invite, a staple tradition that requires months of planning and coordination behind the scenes. Athletic Director CB Richards calls the meet “the biggest little track meet in the West.”
While the Tiger Invite has grown into a competitive and spirited meet, it remains the smaller sister to the Arcadia Invitational, which is one of the biggest high school track meets in the nation. The Arcadia Invite typically draws over 4,000 athletes from 37 states and has featured young Olympians, including Noah Lyles, who competed at the Arcadia Invitational in 2016 before going on to win gold at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
full article on Page 14
STORY OWEN HOU
PHOTO HELENA EASTERBY
SPHS’s Counseling Center held the annual Career Fair to educate students on their possible career paths in the future on Tuesday and Thursday, April 15 and 17.
The fair, with a three-year history at SPHS, includes professionals from 10 different fields — engineering and research, trades, technology and design, education, information technology, entertainment, journalism, social services, healthcare, and the military — to answer high schoolers’ questions and give additional advice.
[The Career Fair is] a great way for [highschoolers to] all to be able to come and speak to different people in different professions and just kind of get an idea of what the real world is like, and if anything, pique interest,” developmental optometrist Wendy Shem said.
The fair was inspired by college admission representatives for juniors and seniors visiting SPHS during the fall. The fair was created to allow freshmen and sophomores to meet with professionals in a wide range of fields and get more information on them.
“[The Counseling Center thought] it would be a great idea to bring different professions and professionals to do something similar. [Professionals] can meet with students … in an informal setting to ask questions about their particular profession and their industry [and] give them an idea they can start thinking about,” Counseling Center Clerk and journalism professional Jorge Carreon said.
Planning for the fair began in late February and consisted of gathering representatives for each of the professions at the fair, which the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) assisted with.
Past career fairs helped to lay the groundwork of this particular event, as the organizations created a list of
The Career Fair provides a way for students to view possible future occupations.
past individuals to reach out to again. Along with the past lists to log previous participants, another factor that contributed to the success of finding professional representatives was South Pasadena itself.
“This community is very, very tied to a lot of different industries, which is actually one of the beautiful things about South Pasadena is its diversity,” Carreon said. “There’s a lot of different people who [are] tied to a wide variety of fields and industries. And so it makes this happen in a very organic way, so we’re not struggling to find people to fill those gaps.”
During the 2024-25 year, the PTSA president found two new representatives for the Career Fair, and the organizers of the event plan to fill gaps in absent industries. Moving forward, the Counseling Center plans to continue their Career Fairs and slowly expand the operation.
“Career Fairs can help answer those really early questions, like the little itch you have in the back of your brain,” Carreon said. “It’s a nice way to start. It’s not something coming at you like you have to make a choice right now — you don’t — but it’s nice to start thinking about possibilities.”
The results of the 2025–2026 class officer elections were announced last week, concluding two days of student voting held on Thursday, April 17 and Friday, April 18. While several positions were secured in the primaries, five races were unable to produce a candidate with a majority of votes, triggering runoff elections scheduled for Friday, April 25.
The Senior Class Secretary will be determined in an election between Aidan Garcia and Elliot Matlock. The Junior Vice President race has runoff candidates Abigail Kim and Jayden Lee, while Kayla Chang and Maiya Gallo will compete for Junior Class Secretary. The Sophomore President and Vice President are both in runoffs, with Jayden Kim and Kayla Yau facing off for President and Claire Huang and Tara Wu competing for Vice President.
ASB election policies dictate that candidates must receive over 51 percent of the school’s votes to win. When no candidate meets this requirement, a second election is held between the top two candidates. However, in races with four or more candidates, a third candidate may be added to the runoff if they finish within two percent of the second-place candidate.
The new campaign period for runoffs begins the following Monday after primary elections and lasts through Thursday, with Friday set aside for voting. Campaigning is not allowed on the day of the vote, and all the same rules apply from the first round. If a third runoff round is needed, the campaign period is shortened to three days, beginning on Monday. A simple majority is all that is needed to win the final round.
Point deductions, which serve as penalties for violations of campaign guidelines, are applied after voting ends and can alter the percentage of votes a candidate retains.
“If you get 200 out of 800 votes, the deduction you have [is applied] to the amount of votes you got,” senior Commissioner of Internal Affairs Sawyer Donaldson said. “We take [those votes] off and then recalculate [the percentage] you [won].”
Donaldson explained that the deductions are applied to the raw vote count rather than subtracted from the final percentage, which prevents candidates from being disproportionately penalized.
Common violations include submitting campaign materials late, failing to attend required meetings, going over the speech time limit, or not properly labeling or disposing of campaign posters.
“We really do pay attention and really do deduct for everything,” Donaldson said. “You [have to] level the playing field.”
Posters must be signed and approved before going up, and only blue painter’s tape is allowed to be used to avoid damaging school walls. They also must be removed by the time voting begins. Poster content is heavily regulated, with candidates not allowed to specifically ask students to vote for them on the day of voting.
“On [election day], I walk around the entire campus. I check every trash can, just to make sure [all the posters] are taken down,” Donaldson said.
Online campaigning is equally regulated. Campaign social media accounts must be registered through ASB, and candidates are required to submit their usernames and passwords before posting. All social media content is approved by commissioners, with videos directly reviewed by Donaldson.
Each campaign season brings slight rule adjustments, as the Commissioner of Internal Affairs and their election committee vote on appropriate changes to the deduction rubric each year. For the 2025 elections, Donaldson has pushed for a fixed deduction rubric that should not be altered once the election cycle begins.
“I’m very against the changing of deduction [percentages after elections begins],” Donaldson said. “It should just be [that before campaigning starts], these are the deduction percentages laid out … my hands are off after the week starts.”
The Tiger Guide Constitution grants the election committee discretion in applying deduction percentages in case of special circumstances. To ensure the fair and unbiased application of deduction rubric deviations, a quorum of eight commissioners will discuss and approve the specific penalty amount given to the candidate.
A comprehensive list of campaigning regulations are shared with candidates, however the specific weight of penalties are not. This is meant to discourage candidates from calculating which rules they can afford to break. A candidate who receives a total of 15 percent in deductions is automatically disqualified, although such instances are rare.
Deductions are also kept private. Only Donaldson has access to individual candidates’ deduction details, though candidates may request to see their final vote count and percentage. Vote percentages for other candidates will not be disclosed.
Donaldson encourages students to take the process seriously as the final round of voting takes place.
“The people you elect have a lot of power … even if it’s just spirit days or dances,” Donaldson said. “Don’t just vote for someone because you think it’s funny. Vote for someone who will actually do a genuinely good job.”
The team entered the 2025 Southern California Science Olympiad State Tournament for the third year in a row, placing 10th overall.
STORY GAVIN BARTOLOME
PHOTO MADELINE MADRIGAL
SPHS’s Science Olympiad team placed 10th in the annual Southern California Science Olympiad State Tournament at the California Institute of Technology on Saturday, April 12, which they attended for the third year in a row. Out of 31 separate school teams, SPHS set a personal record with a sum of 271 points that were added up from 23 unique categories. The team, finishing five points behind sixth place, hopes to make the leap to the top six next year.
The team consisted of 15 students who competed in various challenges within the STEM field that tested students’ practical skills in each field. Challenges included Astronomy, Codebusters, Fossils, Forensics, and Electric Vehicle.
In the Astronomy event, teams answer questions on the math and physics behind star formation and exoplanets. In Codebusters, students decrypt encoded messages. Fossils challenges teams to identify and classify fossils, while Forensics has them analyze a crime scene scenario and evidence to identify the suspect responsible. In Electric Vehicle, teams construct a vehicle running solely on electric energy.
SPHS delivered high marks in several challenges, winning first in Entomology, the study of insects, and Write It Do It, a task where one student describes an object to another who has to recreate it based on that given description.
The SPHS team additionally placed third in Optics and Wind Power and fifth in Helicopter. In these events, teams had to guide a laser to a target using mirrors, create a device to capture wind energy and take a test on alternative energy sources, and construct a rubber-bandpowered helicopter, respectively.
A team’s rank in each category is totaled up at the end of the competition, with the goal being to have the fewest points overall.
The team that places first in the competition will not only receive the prestigious title of State Champion, but additionally get the chance to represent Southern California at the National Tournament at the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln on Friday and Saturday, May 23 and 24.
“The team gains a lot from just working on events that are beyond what we study academically in class … At the end of the day, we want to develop a deeper passion for STEM, so people have fun next year,” team advisor Benjamin Ku said.
Participation for the competitions since October helped SPHS’s Science Olympiad team to learn and grow from each experience. The group is striving for more, with six to twelve hours of practice every week and study sessions
led by team captains. This year’s new record for the team was supported by their rigorous training.
“[Being able to work] hard toward a goal, not giving up, and being diligent in it, [is] something commendable. No [student] gets a grade for this, [yet] they have committed themselves to putting in 6, 12, 15 hours a week,” Ku said.
Science Olympiad is looking to recruit individuals interested in STEM fields for next season. Applications to join Science Olympiad will open in August, and all students, experienced or otherwise, are invited to their meetings.
Tiger breaks down South Pasadena High School’s phone policies, analyzing the history behind the rise in regulation over phone usage, as well as the implementation of such policies in the classroom by SPHS faculty. Through a student survey, Tiger illustrates the differing perspectives across the student body, providing a Pro-Con regarding the phone regulations.
STORY OWEN HOU, MORGAN SUN, & LINDA YUN PAGE DESIGN LANAH KIM ILLUSTRATION NATHAN FRIEZER & LANAH KIM
SPHS’s phone policy has changed significantly since cell phone use grew prominent in the 2010s. Prior to 2019, cell phone use was completely prohibited on campus. While students’ opinions on phone use differ, the existing policy views devices as distractions and aims to minimize their attention-grabbing impacts in the classroom.
Regulations are informed by district policies and enforced by SPHS faculty. Prior to 2019, students abided by a phone-free policy: any phone usage on the school campus — including brunch and lunch — was prohibited. This policy, while motivated by hopes to promote socialization on campus, was difficult for faculty to enforce.
The technological committee drafted new rules and regulations in 2019, which updated the mission statement of SPHS around technology. Its most significant change is the permitting of phone usage during non-instructional hours.
Such change led to the rise in the use of phone pockets. This strategy, however, is only a suggestion, not a schoolwide directive. Some teachers, like the Science department chair Benjamin Ku, rely on verbal instruction to prevent distractions in the classroom.
“In my classroom, there isn’t space for a phone pocket,” Ku said. “Before class starts, I tell students to put their phones away. Not on their bodies but somewhere where they definitely can’t [reach].”
While the cursory effects of phone policies are felt by students’ lack of phone access in the classroom, there is a deeper motivation. Beyond maintaining focus in classrooms, many staff members support phone restrictions because they are deeply concerned about the overreliance on phones as a social clutch.
“For me, this issue is highly nuanced,” Shotwell said. “I believe being denied access to a cell phone could have its own negative impact on a student … For some students, [phones] are where they connect and they find support.”
SPHS’s phone policy is unlikely to change in the upcoming future. With the passage of A.B. 3216, the Phones-Free School Act that mandates districts to limit phone use by 2026, Principal John Eldred remains unaware of possible changes to SPHS policy.
Smartphones in schools are a relatively recent development, having been popularized since the early 2010s. Due to this surge in use, schools had to place regulations and rules in place to ensure the new technology was not exploited.
Phone policies vary from classroom to classroom within SPHS but generally consist of a limited use of phones during instructional periods. Policies usually include some way to prevent students from using phones during class time, which include methods such as the phone pockets or certain penalties.
Tiger surveyed the student population, to get their thoughts on the regulations. In total, there were 136 responses, with 47.8 percent coming from seniors, 5.1 percent coming from juniors, 14.7 percent coming from sophomores, and 32.4 percent coming from freshmen.
A majority of students believed that the phone policies were necessary. Overall, 59.3 percent of students agreed that the regulations were needed, while 31.9 percent of students thought that the regulations were unnecessary.
Various student responses brought up that although they themselves did not completely agree with the policies, many recognized the importance of the rules. However, others completely disagreed with their existence. The remaining population felt they were needed to maintain integrity.
Around 43 percent of those surveyed said the current policies in place were insufficient and ineffective, while 50.4 percent believed that they were effective. Although a few argued for harsher enforcement, the larger portion of those who wanted change felt that students should be given more freedom. Outside of these two groups, the overall majority felt that the current system was fine and no changes needed to be made.
“I imagine there’s not a lot of people who are like, ‘I need my phone at all times in all classes.’ Hopefully [the phone policies] should be removing a distraction, not creating one, by making [students] think about [their] phones,” a student said.
“ “ “ “ “ “
I
don’t think the current phone policy should change. I think it’s reasonable to allow students to have their phones out during brunch and lunch and require phones away during class.
The policies aren’t too strict or too lenient; the issue lies with the students...the only expectation is to not be on your phone in class.
They should make the phone policy only a thing for lower level classes. For Higher level courses, I think the upperclassmen are mature enough to know that this is an AP course and they need to manage their time well during class.
• The policy allows students to concentrate solely on work and instructions during class time, preventing distractions.
Free use during brunch and lunch allows students the ability to check their phone without penalty or supervision.
• Phone pockets allow for accountability between students and teachers to ensure phones are put away.
Phones away during instructional time blocks the possibility of cheating or game playing.
• Phones away can provide a break for students who are overstimulated and burnt out, improving mental health.
• No phones in class allows proper communication between teacher and student, and students may catch up on notifications during breaks.
• The over-restriction against phones does not allow for students, young adults, to develop their own self-discipline.
Use of phones during brunch and lunch can affect student connection, with overuse during those free periods.
• The over/underuse of phone pockets leads to confusion among students about different teacher requirements.
Phone use is rampant, with many instances of game playing, despite the phone policy.
• The disallowance of phone use can prevent adequate relaxation or breaks between focus sessions.
• Phones being put away can impede a student’s ability to communicate necessarily, with parents or peers.
ESTABLISHED 1913
NSPA FIRST CLASS 2025
CSPA GOLD MEDALIST 2024
CSPA SILVER CROWN 2021
CSPA GOLD MEDALIST 2019
CSPA SILVER CROWN 2018
CSPA GOLD MEDALIST 2017
CSPA CROWN AWARD 2016
CSPA GOLD MEDALIST 2015
CSPA GOLD MEDALIST 2014
CSPA GOLD MEDALIST 2013
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
LINDA YUN
MANAGING EDITORS
BENJAMIN REGAN, Print
CLEMENTINE EVANS, Online
SONYA SHIMPOCK, Associate
NEWS
CLAIRE MAO, Editor
OWEN HOU, Associate
OPINION
SONYA SHIMPOCK, Editor
RAFA ESTOLANO-SRIDHARAN, Associate
FEATURE
MORGAN SUN, Editor
RAFA ESTOLANO-SRIDHARAN, Associate
SPORTS
ZOE CHEN, Editor
GAVIN BARTOLOME, Associate
DESIGN
OLIVIA CHIN, Editor
ISOLE KIM, Editor
LANAH KIM, Associate
PHOTOGRAPHY
EMIKO ESSMILLER, Editor
HELENA EASTERBY, Associate
COPY
ZOE CHEN, Editor
ETHAN KWAK, Editor
SOLANA SINGER, Editor
EVELYN DIAZ, Associate
BUSINESS AND ADS
CHLOE LUONG, Staff Ads Manager
STAFF WRITERS
TRISHA CHAKRABORTY
CHRISTIANNE DULEY RUBY FOUDY
ISABELLA JONASEN
PHOTOGRAPHERS
ZOE CHEN
SUNNY (SUNHYE) CHOI KAITLYN LEE
MADELINE MADRIGAL MAC SHROPSHIRE
ILLUSTRATORS
SUNNY (SUNHYE) CHOI
NATHAN FRIEZER
DIANA LOPEZ
PAGE DESIGNERS
HANA OBERLANDER
VIDEOGRAPHER
HELENA EASTERBY
FACULTY ADVISOR KAREN HAMES
VOL. 111 NO. 7 DISTRIBUTED ON APRIL 25, 2025.
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It really is the phone: shorter attention spans spell trouble
The
constant and addictive hunt for dopamine pulls people out of the present.
Time Magazine published an article in 2015 claiming that fish have a longer attention span than humans. Some psychologists are skeptical, labelling this claim as misleading and an oversimplification, but either way, this decade-old article did identify an undeniable trend: the decline in attention span. The main culprit behind the inability to focus for sustained amounts of time is technology. For many students, switching between tabs is less like a conscious choice and closer to a second-nature reflex. This is dangerous because everything requires awareness and focus, so a short attention span could prevent people from engaging in all aspects of life.
A study by the Pew Research Center reflected what many are feeling: that screens pull people away from their intended activity and are tempting distractors. Of the teenagers surveyed, 31 percent said their attention strayed to their phones during class, and 49 percent said off-task technology use was distracting.
Short attention spans don’t stop with school work; they carry over outside the classroom and have become a burden on necessary parts of life. For example, people report that reading books has become more challenging, and there is some anecdotal evidence that finishing a movie, in a world where preferred entertainment comes in concise 15 to 20-second segments, is hard. Movies and books are meant to keep their audiences engaged, but since their social media successors have achieved the same result while shortening the duration of their product, even entertainment struggles to capture people’s attention.
The Pew Research Center also found that difficulty memorizing and frustration with having to redo tasks coincide with the drop in attention span. Almost everything demands attention, and it is easy to imagine how this applies to other aspects of life, like driving and basic conversation. As the mind becomes accustomed to shifting between various tasks, it also feels a gravitation to leave the current situation or split its focus. Even daily dialogue requires concentration; activities cannot be done
halfway, and people cannot sleepwalk to success. Deliberate thought and complete attention are so often necessary, and dividing attention up or frequently putting it in oscillation will block one from truly doing anything themselves.
The story of fleeting attention spans is predictably linked to social media. It is also cemented in the myth of multitasking and the belief that combining two responsibilities into one will shave time off of doing both. Instead, it creates irreparable inefficiencies and lost time.
Researcher and analyst Jonathan Spira, author of Overload: How too much Information is Hazardous to your Organization, portrayed this inefficiency in a very practical way. He told the New York Times in 2007 that balancing excess information and constantly multitasking “Costs the U.S. economy $650 billion a year in lost productivity.”
In another sense, multitasking can be very stressful. Gloria Mark, Chancellor’s Professor of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine, said in an interview with the American Psychological Association that her team “find[s] in [their] research a correlation between frequency of attention switching and stress.”
Students are struggling to devote the deserved time to a task before taking a break and beginning the next, and this is particularly shameful because earning a break is fulfilling. There is a reason productivity feels good; the brain uses dopamine as a reward mechanism. If a student can focus on just one task for a significant time, forcing themselves to maintain their attention and fend off multitasking or blatant procrastination, there is a prize awaiting them.
“It’s so important to take breaks and replenish. And by taking breaks, we have more energy, we have more attentional capacity, and we can actually do more. We can be more productive,” Professor Mark said.
Tiger’s cheers and jeers for the month of April
BOO to proofs. IDK leave me alone.
BOO to JD Vance. Why’d you kill the pope?
BOO to people who literally can’t stfu. Let’s zip our lips, friends!!
BOO to calling things zesty. Just say gay.
BOO to junior year. I’m tired of this, grandpa.
BRAVO to senior ditch day. It was nice without all of you guys.
BRAVO to meeting Jack Black. Quite literally changed my life.
BRAVO to Katy Perry, inventor of feminism.
BRAVO to that possum in the tree. #thriving
BRAVO to the USC mind challenge; Mr. McGough you’re next
America’s reputation as a science powerhouse is crumbling under its own policy choices.
STORY TRISHA CHAKRABORTY ILLUSTRATION ISOLE KIM
F
rancesca Walsh is in the final stretch of her Ph.D. in neuroscience and behavior. She researches how the brain makes economic decisions, hoping to protect markets and consumers from financial harm. She was preparing to apply for postdoctoral jobs–until they started disappearing.
“I felt the door of an entire sector of jobs, including federal research jobs, slam overnight,” Walsh said. “It’s very disheartening, and sometimes I wish I [had] just bec[o]me an accountant.”
Walsh is among a growing cohort of early-career scientists being pushed out of their field, not by a lack of passion or qualification, but by a wave of political decisions from the Trump administration that have left the future of American science increasingly unstable. Cuts to science funding and hostile immigration policies are pushing young researchers
out of labs and out of the country, threatening America’s longstanding status as a global powerhouse of innovation and economic growth.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has pushed through major cuts. In February, the National Institute of Health (NIH) announced that it would slash nearly $4 billion in indirect costs that often cover lab operational needs. Additional DOGE-backed cuts have targeted “politically sensitive” fields like HIV research and triggered layoffs across the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services. Universities are responding with hiring freezes and rescinded Ph.D. admissions offers, leaving young scientists without a clear path forward.
These cuts are especially damaging to early-career researchers whose fellowships and salaries depend on renewing competitive grants. Labs operate on tight margins — when funding falls through, junior researchers are usually the first to go.
This instability threatens the kind of long-term research that has historically fueled American scientific breakthroughs. Innovations like the mRNA COVID vaccines, Ozempic, and pediatric cancer treatments all began with decades of NIHfunded basic science grants. Without steady federal funding, these pipelines collapse.
The threat to science is not just financial. The Trump administration has also targeted international students, the backbone of many U.S. labs and graduate programs. Over 300 international students have had their visas revoked, with some detained or scheduled for deportation after participating in or being loosely connected to university campus protests.
It is no surprise, then, that in a recent Nature poll of over 1,200 scientists in the U.S., 75 percent were considering leaving the country — particularly younger researchers. Meanwhile, other nations like China and Canada are actively recruiting them with promises of funding and stability.
This poses a serious risk. In 2017, over half of all STEM graduates in the U.S. were international. American students are not enrolling in STEM fields at rates that can fill the gap, and national test scores continue to lag behind global peers.
American investment in international students and researchers is vital to the U.S. economy. Over 408,000 jobs are supported by NIH grants, and every $1 of NIH funding is estimated to generate $2.56 in economic activity. When these funds dry up, labs close and promising and lucrative research gets abandoned.
The U.S. built its global scientific reputation on openness, investment, and a belief in discovery. But that leadership and subsequent prosperity is not guaranteed. If the U.S. continues to treat science as expendable, it won’t just lose the next generation of researchers. It will lose the future they were trying to build.
STORY RUBY FOUDY & DIANA LOPEZ ILLUSTRATION DIANA LOPEZ
Reading is one of the most foundational skills a student can learn. It extends to all areas of life, from being able to read a menu to securing a job. While reading skills are primarily attributed to in-class instruction, they can be stunted by systemic, social, and economic factors. Illiteracy is a devastating disadvantage in both education and life, and because it is rooted in greater societal issues, there is no “easy fix.”
Illiteracy can have extremely damaging effects on both a student’s academic performance and their behavior. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) found that in 2022, 69 percent of fourth grade students in the U.S. scored below the proficiency level in reading. Students who continually fail to meet their grade standards are more likely to fall behind in school and feel inadequate due to their low reading ability. Frequent absences are more prominent in those already struggling with school, and can lead to feelings of shame and embarrassment. These absences only increase the learning gap, and students fall even further behind.
While the consequences of illiteracy are clear, many blame teachers for this crisis — an accusation that oversimplifies the problem. Teachers do not have the resources to teach students individually. Because they’re teaching students who are present every day as well as students with frequent absences, it’s simply impossible to ask a teacher to educate a class while waiting for those falling behind to catch up. This disrupts the flow of the classroom, making it harder for teachers to teach efficiently and leaves future teachers with students who don’t meet district standards. In addition to the difficulty of teaching students on different levels, underpaid teachers create staffing shortages and make educating students more difficult.
Due to major flaws in the education system, the responsibility of encouraging reading boils down to a child’s parent, something they may not even be aware of. A poll showed
MORGAN SUN
I’ve recently come to the realization that across social media, em dashes — the form of punctuation currently being used to insert this thought — have come under fire for being used solely in AI writing by ChatGPT. Now, it’s safe to say I was outraged.
As my friends, avid writers, and readers of my own writing know, the em dash is simply the most superior
that 92 percent of parents wrongly think their children are at academic standards in both reading and math. This, with parents unaware of the curriculum their children are using, makes it harder for them to support their children, but they mus be involved in their child’s education. This can be done through reading to their child, helping with homework, and attending functions such as parent-teacher meetings to get feedback from their child’s educator.
However, this can be a demanding request for lower-income families. Children who have a lower socioeconomic status (SES) find it more difficult to develop their academic skills than children from higher groups. Lower-income households don’t have access to the same materials necessary for learning, such as books and tutors to help support their children.
Lower-income parents may not have the means to educate their children, as too often they are working more than one job, and didn’t get a good education themselves. This means they can’t assist their children academically, furthering their challenges and possibly continuing this cycle of illiteracy.
Teaching undertheseconditionsisincrediblychallenging. Given budget limitations, overcrowded classrooms, unresponsive parents, and illiterate students, reform is necessary.
Though the literacy issue is not rooted in one particular place and cannot be easily solved, not all hope is lost. There are many possible ways to provide teachers and students with additional support.
One possible solution is to allocate more funds to education to hire assistants in order to lower the student-to-teacher ratio. Having reinforcements such as teacher aides and parent volunteers lets teachers assist students who need extra support. Organizations such as Reading Partners help provide one-on-one tutoring to elementary school students who are below their grade level. Through reform and effort, this issue can be addressed.
form of punctuation. I, who can never complete a thought and leave it be, use it religiously to add connecting thoughts; not quite separate enough from the preceding point to use a period, but too abstract to use a comma.
But it’s not only in my writing where this is used — it also crops up metaphorically in the non-written parts of my life. Outside of the black-and-white letters on the page, my life is a series of em dashes strung together in a haphazard fashion. There is no end, no period, to the scenes amid my life. While I am not prone to do so, I can mold each written word into its own hard and fast sentence, cutting thoughts off like a gGod in the making. But life, despite my protests, continues to be long-winded and unending with no break.
Even through second semester senior year — allegedly the most relaxed time of all four years — it seems like each week, each day, is linked by an unerring ability to race by while time merely crawls forward. There’s a hollow feeling of time dilation in my brain where my sense of time should be.
There’s not much I can say about senior year that hasn’t already been said by generations before me. The nostalgia, the last-firsts, the looming uncertainty of what comes next, the tango between staying and leaving — it has all been written before. But I don’t have to reinvent the wheel; I’ll just continue what has been started, picking up the threads with my trusty em dash to tell the tale of life that can’t be finished.
In a month, I’ll have my final farewell on Tiger Newspaper, my last hurrah. And this, these lines, will be the last time I write for this column. Somehow, just 2,000 characters does not seem to suffice when it comes to the sheer amount of highs and lows encompassing not just these past four years, but also the three years on this paper.
Alas, I don’t think this everlasting problem can be solved by one woman. So I’ll keep it short and sweet (these very words having never before left my pen): “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter,” — allegedly, Blaise Pascal.
A
balance of regret in one’s life can revisit the past and change the future without wasting the present.
STORY ETHAN KWAK ILLUSTRATION SUNNY (SUNHYE) CHOI
Regret is in need of a reframing. Defined as remorse regarding past actions or, more commonly, inaction, regret carries a bad reputation. Regret is the swelling unease after a series of bad decisions or a bundle of opportunities passed by (I could’ve, should’ve, would’ve). Regret is something to throw away, hence the phrase “no regrets.” It’s also something to compartmentalize. Regret is frequently partitioned into more palatable emotions such as rage or insecurity.
Zora Neale Hurston once wrote: “I regret all my books.” In the same passage from her autobiography, Dust Tracks on a Road, Hurston states that “one of the tragedies of life is that one cannot have all the wisdom one is ever to possess in the beginning.” That statement is the regret-killer: the understanding that one will always, at some point, be “rash and foolish for a while.” While in this passage Hurston refers to her own writing, this sentiment is universal.
Many argue against regret as a tenet of life. They argue that a constant reconsideration of past decisions
prevents one from personal fulfillment. Furthermore, many people strive to live their lives freely and unconstrained by previous mistakes. There isn’t enough time to dwell on the past.
However, this approach mistakenly frames regret as completely unproductive. While it is dangerous to consider regret a time machine capable of changing the past to result in a different future, regret can still be productive as a form of reflection. In other words, regretting in moderation can help align one’s everevolving values with their future objectives without tarnishing their present contentment.
Despite these benefits, overwhelming regret is detrimental if it spirals into the “if … then” generalization. In this way, regret as a “what if?” hypothetical can develop into anxiety, interfere with relationships, and disrupt one’s life. It hinders people by forcing them to live in the past, and by being unable to find closure in previous shortcomings, one cannot learn from their mistakes and move on.
Ultimately, when not abused, regret is an opportunity for critical thinking and personal reassessment. It
is rarely taken advantage of in this way, but regret is sometimes advantageous. In The Power of Regret: How Looking Backwards Moves Us Forward, author Daniel H. Pink parsed through thousands of accounts collected around the world for trends. In the end, Pink identified four main types of regret: Foundational, Moral, Connection, and Boldness.
The foundational label is used for regrets that reveal the actions that led to one’s present state. Moral regrets signify past failures to uphold individual values. Connection regrets relate to relationships. Finally, boldness regrets represent past inactions, which cannot be undone or reversed. Regret can be described as a spectrum in which all four of these regrets overlap.
It’s not typically regarded as a redeeming quality, but regret has a place among the necessary emotions. The world is accelerating towards a future of increasing impermanence, and it can be easy to dismiss failures behind the motto of “no regrets.”
Regret is a method to understand the past as a means of improving the future.
The privilege of healthy eating is for the rich
Food was always meant to be something that could unify people. From grand feasts that used to signify the alliance of two kingdoms to the mountains of chicken wings enjoyed at Super Bowl Sunday, sitting down and enjoying a meal with others is a social cornerstone in today’s society. However, in modern America, food acts as a constant reminder of the growing systemic class divide — it embodies the struggle to eat healthy living paycheck to paycheck and the slow conversion of food from a human right to a privilege.
Most people understand the concept of having to eat on a budget. In today’s economy, eating with limited funds is a sentiment shared by many. However, beyond just this surface level of thinking lies a barrage of issues that many people face in their day-to-day lives.
Fast food exists everywhere. It is cheap, fast, tasty, and delicious, beloved by many millions, and exists in most populations around the world. However, as a cosmic trade-off of sorts, it is inevitably unhealthy and is filled with unnatural chemicals, excess fats, and other things that are not great for the body. For some people, however, it is the only way they can get good-tasting food at a low price.
When someone is juggling multiple jobs, living a stressful life, and trying to hold everything together, their solace may come from sitting down and eating dinner. While a meal prep plan may be healthier than a fast food run, it may be unable to provide the same relief, hence why a person may opt for the processed option despite the detriment to their body.
Primarily, however, the main barrier to healthy eating is cost. In a 2023 survey by the USDA, 13.5 percent of US households, or around 18 million, were food insecure at some time, with 8.4 percent having low food security and 5.1 percent having very low food security. This meant that the families were uncertain of or unable to acquire enough food for their members due to insufficient funds or other resources. Unable to get nutritional food, people in these situations must rely on aid from others, participate in government programs, or substantially alter or reduce food intake to obtain enough food. This results in the food-insecure having to live with poor nutrition, as before they can even begin thinking about health, they have to survive.
Another component of the challenge of eating stems from location and the convenience of eating fast food over more nutritious sources. One instance of location is people
living in food deserts, or urban areas where affordable and high-quality fresh food is scarce. For example, take the numerous metro areas scattered across Memphis, Tennessee. These communities usually lack supermarkets or grocery stores, instead having fast food chains and convenience stores. Faced with no other option, this results in residents turning to the local drive-thru to get their nutrients for the day.
On a national scale, the nutrition of the everyday American is also being affected due to policies and new acts being rolled out by the government. During the Trump administration’s time in office over the past few months, they’ve made many changes, one of which has been the tariffs on imported goods. These tariffs have affected systems, people, and organizations on a global scale, which has included imported food items. As a result, the
price of healthy food items has increased, and healthy eating will continue to grow more difficult as time goes on. Additionally, budget cuts have also been proposed, some of which would eliminate funding for nutrition programs such as Head Start, which helps young children prepare for school, have proper nutrition, and supports them in a variety of different ways.
Even with all of these healthy eating struggles, many in society still fail to recognize the issue. From the outrageously expensive Erewhon stores that seemed to take over the internet, to the influencers online who can only seem to eat off of cutting boards, healthy eating online is growing into a “trend” that only the rich can partake in. Although these trends may seem like superficial Instagram posts, they outline the borders erected between classes in American society and how nutrition acts as just one part of a much larger modern issue.
s President Trump slashes DEI, Tiger analyzes and promising initiative falls short.
DEI has become a political target in recent years, but its goal remains simple: to create systems where everyone has a fair chance to succeed. As efforts to dismantle DEI grow, experts warn of what is really at stake.
“Diversity, equity and inclusion is the terminology we use now, but this has been evolving for over 60 years,” Georgetown professor Dr. Ella Washington said. “At the core, it’s about creating systems in society and the workplace where everyone has the opportunity to succeed.”
DEI policies trace back to civil-rights era legislation that aimed to provide equality of opportunity. Before the 1960s, Black Americans were largely excluded from higher-level jobs. DEI helped change that, and studies show it worked. Harvard professor Frank Dobbin’s research found that diversity training and mentoring programs significantly increased representation across racial and gender lines.
Equity has recently become a guiding principle in academia, philanthropy, social justice activism, corporate America, and politics. It is often compared to its counterpart, “equality” and it began to catch on during former President Barack Obama’s second term, as identityfocused politics gained popularity.
Equity differs from equality in that it recognizes that everyone begins at different levels and allocates resources as needed for individuals to have a fair shot at achieving equal outcomes.
In corporate settings, DEI is seen through numerous concrete practices. Many companies have implemented employee resource groups or affinity groups based on shared identities or experiences, providing support networks for employees from unrepresented backgrounds.
Blind resume reviews — where identifying information like names, addresses, and graduation years are removed — help reduce unconscious bias in hiring processes. As of January 2025, companies such as Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and Salesforce have embraced
In January 2025, the White House issued a scathing executive order that gutted Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs across the federal government. Branding them as “radical” and “wasteful” remnants of the Biden administration, the order condemned DEI policies as promoting “shameful discrimination.”
The harsh language of the order was quickly turned into policy, terminating all federal DEI offices and initiatives, directing federal employees to disregard DEI mandates, and eliminating equity-focused goals and grants.
“Americans deserve a government committed to serving every person with equal dignity and respect,” the administration said, “and to expending precious taxpayer resources only on making America great.”
At first glance, this rhetoric may seem appealing — it echoes familiar values of meritocracy, hard work, and equal treatment. However, this framing is not just misleading; it’s also incredibly dangerous.
DEI is not, and never has been, about handouts or unfair advantages. It’s about building a truly level playing field — something that has never fully existed throughout American history. Achieving this goal requires more than good intentions; it requires specific initiatives that combat institutionalized inequities that have long been rooted in American society. This is the foundation of DEI.
DEI extends far beyond the common perception of it; it includes not only efforts to address racial inequity, but also initiatives that support people with disabilities, firstgeneration college students, non-native English speakers, and individuals from low-income backgrounds. Diversity acknowledges the vast spectrum of human experiences — race, gender, age, disability, sexuality, and socioeconomic background. Equity requires confronting and correcting the historical imbalances that influence opportunity. Inclusion creates environments where every person feels genuinely welcomed and valued.
blind hiring practices the Trump administration’s DEI practices in the practices remain uncertain.
“DEI enhances merit job or make sure we an executive director School of Law, said. that might be getting
Jessica Fulton, the Political and Economic programs create access
“These policies don’t to open doors to people connected in an industry Flexible work arrangements benefit diverse employee hours, and parental caregiving responsibilities, workplaces. Such accommodations, parents, extend beyond Pay equity audits investigate pay structures gender, race, or other committed to regular identified gaps.
In schools, DEI initiatives teaching methods backgrounds by instruction and encouraging other cultures and
In practice, the principles of DEI expand access to education and employment. Schools may broaden their curricula to include different perspectives or overlooked histories and provide necessary accommodations for disabilities. Workplaces may use anti-bias training, cultural competency programs, and language access services to ensure equal opportunities for success.
Yet, despite these aims, DEI has been mischaracterized — and weaponized — by critics who claim it promotes exclusion rather than opportunity. Instead, they champion so-called “colorblindness.” This approach insists that the fairest way to treat people is to ignore race, gender, and background altogether — to judge solely on “merit.” But this ignores the realities of systemic privilege.
Ignoring identity does not erase inequality; it erases accountability. It falsely assumes that opportunity is equally distributed, even when long-documented historical and structural barriers prove that it is not. “Colorblindness” pretends that privileges and biases do not exist. It overlooks the fact that the systems shaping education and employment were built in ways that advantaged the privileged few and discarded the rest. Colorblindness is not neutrality — it is willful ignorance.
And yet, this rhetoric has become a cornerstone of the political campaign against DEI, twisting efforts towards equity and inclusion into partisan talking points. But morality and politics are not the same. Human dignity does not belong to a political party. Fairness is not a partisan agenda. DEI is not a liberal idea — it is a fundamental human imperative.
America is a country built on opportunity, but opportunity means little without access. As the Trump administration tears down DEI, they are sending the message that this country is for the privileged few, and not the many. To dismantle DEI is not to return to “neutrality” — it is to return to inequality.
practices in their recruitment process. However, after administration’s executive order calling for an end to the federal government, the status of these hiring uncertain.
merit by saying, ‘How do we find the best people for the we are promoting the best people?’” David Glasgow, director for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at NYU said. “That means thinking about barriers and biases getting in the way of considering the full talent pool.”
the Vice President of Policy at the Joint Center for Economic Studies, explained that well-designed DEI access rather than mandate specific hiring outcomes.
don’t actually dictate who gets hired. They are ways people who might not have access or aren’t as wellindustry or occupation,” Fulton said.
arrangements are another practical DEI application that employee populations. Remote work options, flexible parental leave policies accommodate employees with responsibilities, disabilities, or those living far away from accommodations, especially important for working beyond race-focused policies.
have become increasingly common as companies structures to identify and address disparities based on other factors. Companies like Salesforce have publicly regular pay equity analyses, investing millions to close
initiatives take many forms. Culturally responsive help teachers connect with students from diverse developing culturally relevant curriculum and encouraging students to examine their knowledge of experiences.
STORY TRISHA CHAKRABORTY, EVELYN DIAZ, RAFA ESTOLANOSRIDHARAN, & SONYA SHIMPOCK
“Some instructors may resist culturally responsive pedagogy without realizing they already use culturally responsive practices — just primarily for dominant cultures or ways of being,” Dr. Stephanie Hicks, a lecturer at the University of Michigan’s Program of Intergroup Relations, said. “[My advice to these instructors would be] what cultures are they already responding to? Are they intentionally or unintentionally supporting the success of only some students?”
Schools implementing DEI practices often revise curriculum to include diverse perspectives and histories. This might include expanding literature selection to include authors from underrepresented groups or teaching historical events from multiple perspectives.
Targeted support programs like first-generation college student initiatives provide resources, mentoring, and community for students navigating unfamiliar schooling environments. Many universities have established dedicated centers for these students, offering specialized academic support, financial guidance, and social connection.
Another example of DEI’s real-world implementation is accessibility accommodations. Schools providing materials in multiple languages, ensuring physical accessibility for disabled students, and offering various testing options demonstrate how DEI practices serve diverse student populations.
Despite the heightened political polarization around DEI, many practices transcend controversy when focused on creating fair opportunities rather than requiring specific outcomes. Addressing specific disparities, like Black maternal mortality, can lead to universal improvements in healthcare that benefit everyone regardless of race or ethnicity. Similarly, many federal equity initiatives — such as replacing lead pipes — are universal rather than restricted to certain demographic groups.
“[A] lot of the language and framing right now of DEI as illegal and discriminatory obscures who it’s really for, which is all of us, and to the benefit of companies,” Fulton said.
The Trump administration has made the demolition of DEI efforts one of its core missions. As well as making moves to end anti-bias training in the federal government, the administration has taken more absurd actions like removing videos about the Tuskegee airmen from Air Force training videos.
Because it is under attack, it is easy to idealize DEI. However, it is also important to realize that despite its noble mission, it was never a proper solution to the systemic discrimination that plagues America.
DEI training is often painted as the path forward, the way to eliminate discrimination in the workplace and beyond. The truth is that DEI will never be a strong solution because DEI does not attack the root of the discrimination it aims to address.
Despite DEI training existing for nearly a century, the United States is still grappling with intense systemic racism. Black communities are still overpoliced. One survey found that Black Americans were 12 times more likely to face police misconduct than white Americans. Despite almost the same rate of marijuana use, Black Americans are 3.6 times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession as white Americans. Crimes that are disproportionately committed by people of color are more likely to carry mandatory minimum sentences, which result in higher incarceration rates for Americans of color.
The only real effect of DEI programs is to create less hostile workplace and school environments, but still, DEI fails to do that. A meta-analysis of 426 studies on anti-bias training found that these trainings have a “weak” effect on unconscious bias and an even “weaker” effect on explicit bias. Another study by Patricia Devine published in the Journal of Experimental Social Pyschology found that these trainings were much more likely to work on people who already believed that discrimination was an issue. In other words, these
trainings are not as effective for people who could benefit the most from them.
DEI fails for a few major reasons. The primary reason is the short and infrequent nature of the training. DEI trainings usually last only a few hours and tend to include video and in-person presentations about mitigating workplace discrimination. Short-term interventions like these will have very little effect on the biases and ideas about the world that someone builds over a lifetime. Some studies also show that anti-bias training can cause unwarranted confidence in one’s abilities to recognize and eliminate bias from their actions, meaning discrimination goes overlooked.
DEI training is also not always done in good faith. In many cases, DEI initiatives are put in place by corporations or government entities to gain a good reputation, especially if the company is already having public relations issues. Disney is a great example of this misleading phenomenon. For many years Disney has promoted its pro-queer rights attitude in an effort to better its reputation and market to queer audiences. What they do not make public is that Disney frequently donates to anti-queer conservative lawmakers, hoping for more profit-friendly policies.
Raytheon, the second-largest defense contractor in America, is also guilty of this. Raytheon makes weapons systems used by countless militaries around the world and has likely been responsible for the deaths of millions of people. To create a better image, Raytheon advertised its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. DEI doesn’t make up for the atrocities that companies like Raytheon commit. It is plainly absurd that a company that makes money entirely on the deaths of others is touting a commitment to creating a better world.
These companies do not create DEI programs on the basis of principle. They do it because it is good for
profits. For years, Target marketed a pride collection to queer customers every June, but in recent years, conservative boycotts have proven a threat to their bottom line. As a result, Target has started abandoning pride-themed merchandise. The second inclusion becomes a threat to a company’s ultimate goal, it is dropped. This can be seen in the countless companies that have kowtowed to the Trump administration’s attacks on DEI.
DEI does not address the root of the systemic issues facing America. Truly tackling these issues is a massive challenge, as America’s institutions would need to be fundamentally changed. Education on diversity must not be limited to a few hours once a year. DEI might be a noble idea, but in terms of solutions, it is only a Band-Aid.
Drama will put on the comedy musical Spamalot from April 25 to 27.
STORY CHRISTIANNE DULEY
PHOTO MAC SHROPSHIRE
SPHS Drama will perform Spamalot in the Anderson Auditorium during the weekend of Friday, April 25, at 7 p.m. to Sunday, April 27, at 2 p.m. The musical, based on the 1975 comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, revolves around the Knights of the Round Table searching for the Holy Grail. Countless students and faculty have all contributed to bringing life to SPHS’s rendition.
“The musical is going to be so funny,” senior actor Maggie Vyas said. “I like Monty Python, so I’m excited to be in Spamalot.”
The story follows King Arthur rallying the other knights to meet in Camelot so they can embark on their journey to find the Holy Grail, which heals all ailments and grants eternal life. While recruiting knights and searching for the grail, King Arthur and his men encounter multiple humorous obstacles and helpers along the way. As an adaptation of the Broadway musical and 1975 film, Drama aims to recreate the classic moments of the story while also breathing new life into the production and giving it a unique SPHS flair. With numerous comical songs and witty scenes, Drama intends for Spamalot to be an enjoyable experience for the audience.
“I hope everyone can come to the auditorium for two hours and just laugh,” musical director and Drama instructor Nick Hoffa said. “I think coming together as a community and sharing an experience is really important and rejuvenating and gives people energy to attack other problems going on in their lives.”
The production of Spamalot has been highly anticipated for five years. Preparation for the musical started with auditions in January 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, production was halted. The original cast did not get the chance to perform the show, and they have all now graduated.
“That cast was so kind and seemed to be having so much fun,” Hoffa said. “It was just heartwrenching that the show was never completed.”
After the musical was cancelled, it was a matter of waiting for the right cast to revive Spamalot. The comedy was finally
chosen as the spring musical last semester and production resumed last December with preparations for auditions.
“This group of students makes me laugh,” Hoffa said. “Comedy is hard and it just felt like this group could tackle the absurdity of the piece. Also, it’s a very talented group and Spamalot spreads the wealth around with lots of different solos or duets and funny moments as well as any musical I have directed.”
A total of 53 actors and producers have dedicated the last five months to putting on an outstanding show. Drama has rehearsed every day after school since February with the help of Hoffa, choir teacher Wylder Reinman, dance teacher Courtney Cheyne, and stage production teacher James Jontz. Preparations for students have included learning lines, practicing choreography and harmonies, set creation, costume and prop planning, and the technical elements of the musical.
“The biggest challenge is the sheer number of costumes and props,” Hoffa said. “This show has 219 costumes, which is approximately 1000 costume pieces. Some of the jokes are literally based on a funny costume, so you’ve kind of got to go for it.”
As the largest Drama production of each school year, the spring musical is a chance for students to show off the skills they have earnestly developed over the years. Many of the actors, especially the seniors, have been preparing for this musical since their freshman year.
“I feel incredibly privileged to be a part of this rite of passage and something I cherish every year,” Hoffa said. “It’s a truly special part of teaching to remember who these kids were when I met them and to now see them as young adults taking a bow on Sunday afternoon getting ready to tackle what is next.”
Spamalot will highlight the dedication of SPHS’s students and faculty, as well as entertain audience members of all ages looking for a night of fun. Tickets will be sold online and at the door. Online tickets are $27.25 for reserved seating, and online general seating is $22 for adults and $11 for children. Tickets sold at the door are $20.
LINDA YUN
They Both ... What In the End?
I recently finished Adam Silvera’s hit young adult novel They Both Die at the End. The plot was welldeveloped and the story was rather moving. However, what I remember most vividly are the reactions of my friends and classmates as they glanced at the morbid title. After all, it’s not everyday that a title spoils a book’s exact ending.
In the novel, an advanced system can pinpoint with 100 percent accuracy the location and time of one’s death. 24 hours before one’s death, the victim receives a notice on the Death-Cast intercom system.
Two young teenage boys by the names of Rufus and Mateo are the protagonists of the story. Through the juxtaposition of their opposite personalities and the development of their unlikely friendship, we as the audience learn about their regrets and aspirations as the duo grapples with what to do with their remaining time alive. While targeted toward young teenagers, this book is mature beyond its audience’s age. Silvera’s world, while logistically impossible, begs important questions about life that feel oddly relevant to the archetype of the high school senior.
The first question being: What would you do if you had 24 hours left to live? In the book, Mateo has lots of aspirations but equally as much anxiety to prevent him from putting any of his dreams into action. Before meeting Rufus, he is terrified to leave his apartment and has to perform mental gymnastics to overcome his fear of death.
Curiously enough, Mateo’s acceptance of death eased his anxieties. Understanding that death was at his doorstep, he adopted a YOLO attitude and a mentality that because he will lose everything soon, not meeting certain expectations no longer matters. In this metaphorical sense, I think I speak for many seniors when I say that I see a lot of myself in Mateo. While the tale of senioritis, regret, and sentimentality has been told and retold, I don’t think the emotional freedom of being a senior is appreciated often enough. Just like how Mateo felt as though he had nothing to lose, I genuinely think that the clock ticking down to graduation has changed my personality. In the past few months, I’ve felt emboldened to connect with so many new people that I truly wish my friends and I had another year (of course, without the college element).
While reading the book, the second question that came up surrounded the ethics of the Death-Cast system: In other words, if you were Mateo or Rufus, would you want to know your fate? Alternatively, would you want to find out about significant milestones of your life before experiencing them? For me, this connects oddly with our obsessions with the future. Many high-achieving SPHS students want to map out every minute of their coming days, weeks, and even months. This planning is one way to keep our worries at bay — we feel secure when we convince ourselves that the future is in our control.
However, as I’ve recently come to realize, there is a beauty in not knowing. Ultimately, Mateo and Rufus teach us that we don’t need to know the end — our lifelong careers, our dream colleges — to start living fully. We just need to choose to live. And as seniors on the brink of one of life’s biggest transitions, maybe that’s the most important lesson of all.
STORY RUBY FOUDY ILLUSTRATION LANAH KIM
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, an estimated 5 million 12 to 17 year olds have experienced at least one major depressive episode. The World Health Institute reports that one in seven teenagers will develop a serious mental health disorder, and suicide is the third leading cause of death among high schoolers aged 14 to 18. These statistics are not just numbers, they are people; classmates, friends, siblings, and children in need of support that is not always offered or available. The alarming rates of teenagers struggling with mental health highlight the issues of how mental health is treated by society and how schools handle struggling students.
School is a stressful environment. The pressure of maintaining a grade, upholding expectations held by parents and teachers, and facing constant judgment from peers takes a toll on teenagers’ mental health. Almost all schools are aware of this fact, but how it is handled varies drastically.
In 2024, 48 percent of public schools reported that they can effectively provide mental health services to all students who need them, a nearly 10 percent decrease from the 2021–2022 year. Many factors, such as inadequate professional staff coverage and funding, contribute to the inability to support students. Providing aid for mental health is extremely important — it can literally save someone’s life. Many teenagers are unable to get this help from their parents or independently, so they turn to their school. While many schools do provide support, over half of all American public schools do not, making students feel they have nowhere to turn, leading to devastating effects for both students and schools.
Struggling with mental health impacts all areas of life — relationships, work, and even basic functions are disrupted. When students have issues with mental health, it impacts their performance in school. Students struggling with mental health can experience difficulties with concentration, motivation, and memory, leading to lower grades and increased absenteeism. This negatively impacts the school, as a school’s credibility is measured by the performance of its students. The lower a school is regarded, the less funding it likely receives, meaning schools do not have enough money to provide mental health resources, creating a vicious cycle.
Although many schools do not provide adequate resources, there are a large number that do. Resources such as available counselors, social workers, safe spaces, and opportunities for mediation are key ways to support students’ mental health. Another factor is the general attitude or community around a school. Schools need to foster positive, nonjudgmental attitudes towards mental health, as it is a very stigmatized topic, and students may not feel comfortable disclosing their struggles. Providing resources may be
difficult for under-funded schools, but that does not mean they cannot support students’ mental health. Even an act as simple and cost-free as a staff member making a student feel comfortable and safe can make all the difference.
SPHS is one example of a school utilizing its funding to support students. Resources such as available counselors and the wellness center are fundamental for aiding students in times of mental distress. SPHS has a staff of five counselors available that students can reach out to for academic guidance and advice, as well as for personal issues. Inside the counselor’s office are two wellness centers. Both wellness centers include couches and fidgets, as well as the opportunity to talk to a counselor. SPHS also has a health and wellness website, with links to additional resources. Although there are many resources available, it does not necessarily mean that they are used. Most students do not reach out to or contact their counselor for any reason other than to make course requests or reschedule classes. The reality of offering up resources in schools is that although they may be present and students can use them, in actuality, many will not.
While SPHS has many resources, there is always room for improvement. For example, Peer Mediators, a class intended for students to help mediate conflict amongst their peers, does not have the desired effect.
“There’s a lack of activities and studies of what it takes to be a mediator,” an anonymous peer mediator said. “We don’t advertise ourselves as mediators, more as the group of people that do mental health events in the background. It’s inherently fine, but it doesn’t make us a present name on campus.”
Another change that can be made is the number of counselors and mental health-related staff. There are around 1,500 students at SPHS, with only five counselors, a startling ratio. If the counseling staff were expanded, the counselors would be able to provide more one-onone support, and students may feel like their interactions with them are more personal, and be more encouraged to reach out. However, the ability of the district to hire more counselors is hindered by financial difficulties. Though South Pasadena is a relatively wealthy area, SPHS is still a public school, and therefore, still subject to the whims of state funding, unlike private schools.
The mental health of teenagers, though it can be overlooked, is extremely important. Schools play a huge role in it and carry the responsibility of supporting their students — with some schools doing so much better than others.
STORY GAVIN BARTOLOME
& OWEN HOU ILLUSTRATION NATHAN FRIEZER
If much of Generation Z had to choose one game to sum up their childhood, it would be Minecraft, a blocky sandbox filled with imagination and wonders. From late-night calls with friends to being forgotten about by one’s parents, Minecraft truly is a portal into the aether. Thus, when the blockbuster film A Minecraft Movie was announced along with a jolly, bearded Steve played by none other than Jack Black himself, many fans shed joyful tears.
Despite the recent news of viewers creating chaos within theaters, from hurling buckets full of savory butter popcorn into the aisles in front of them and literally bringing live chickens into the theater, the movie itself was mundane at best.
People did not just go to see the movie, though. They went for the memes. The experience. The chicken jockey. Of all recent cultural phenomena, the hype surrounding the Minecraft movie has been a foremost thought on everyone’s minds.
Black’s moving, powerful words hailed a maelstrom of jokes, debates, and praise across the internet, which turned the dreaded film into a hotspot of attention. And to see this bit of core nostalgia through, Tiger went to see if the long-awaited Minecraft feature was truly worthy of its promotion online.
The minutes before the start of the movie felt like the curse of Tantalus. Every second someone threw out a sped-up line from the movie, eyes darted to the screen to no avail. After nearly forty minutes of advertisements, the classic loading screen came on and that rush of nostalgia washed over us.
The movie began with the introduction of the Minecraft world, where Steve gave a brief backstory of the blocky world. Through the classic, almost isekai-like trope of a middle-aged man being placed in another world, our main character unearthed an ancient artifact, opening the doors to a different reality. Despite the questionable mob designs and clear aim at a younger audience, an air of nostalgia still hit, bringing back past memories of playing on Minehut servers and Hypixel. These waves were only hammered home by the time the title screen rolled around, displaying A Minecraft Movie in a revamped, yet mostly identical font to that used on the loading screen. There were a few moments that stood out as memorable, which made the film truly worth watching. From the infamous “chicken jockey,” to the “water bucket — RELEASE,” and even “these guys, they’re the villagers, they love crushing loaf,” perfect clips and short memes were constantly being churned out in every scene.
However, in terms of plot, the movie was exceedingly dry. With generic characters, essentially no
development, and an antagonist that felt like it was ripped out of any cheesy animated film, the story and movie itself fell short of an actual quality feature.
The characters themselves essentially remained the same throughout the story until the climax, where there was a sudden burst of development with no buildup whatsoever. Meanwhile, Malgosha, the primary antagonist of the movie, did not have a great motive or origin, and felt like a rushed character with little weight to any of her motives. Overall, the movie was a bit of a disappointment in terms of plot and fell short of fans’ expectations.
After hitting theaters, a common criticism was its art style. While the landscapes were beautifully painted and kept that expansive feeling, the mobs were eerily realistic. Falling short of breaking away from its blocky origin, the movie plasters on a realistic texture onto every mob. Creepers had a green fur wrapped on them and villagers looked like a sentient piece of SPAM stuck together in blocks, with the only exception being the pigskins who are supposed to be ugly. This unsettling contrast was emphasized more with the use of live-action actors who served as a comparison for what realism would appear like. In the end, the art style further drew away from the plot, detaching the audience from the movie.
Despite this, in every case, whenever a short meme was even hinted at, cameras started rolling, chants started building, and an undeniable ecstatic excitement rang through the theater. One thing was clear: no one was taking the movie seriously. Not the audience. Not the cast. Not even the directors. It simply was a break for everyone overwhelmed with their own lives to watch some truly unique Minecraft comedy.
Overall, while A Minecraft Movie read like a children’s book in terms of plot, it was a nostalgic one-and-a-halfhour filled with memorable moments and lines.
Instead of bringing new life to the Disney classic, the live adaptation sends the story to its grave.
STORY MADELINE MADRIGAL
ILLUSTRATION DIANA LOPEZ
The most poisonous element of Disney’s 2025 Snow White live action film was the flood of controversy surrounding it. From its 2021 announcement, the film was received with a roar of backlash regarding the cast, comments, and changes made. The film itself also lacks adequate writing and a proper direction. With classics such as Snow White, those involved needed to be incredibly careful with their source material and do justice to a film that not only revolutionized and reshaped the Walt Disney Company, but the film industry as a whole. Unfortunately, the newest adaptation of this film fails to do so.
One of the largest controversies to come from the project were the comments actress Rachel Zegler made, suggesting the new movie would correct gender stereotype issues from the original animation. However, Disney’s political messaging, whether right or wrong, was very much diluted by their paradoxical and lackluster attempts at justifying changes in the new film.
Snow White is famously known for her “skin as white as snow,” so fans did not shy away from expressing their discontent with the casting of a Latina actress. Many have argued it was done as a form of performative activism, feeling the societal pressure to fit a diversity quota. Others argue that inclusivity, whether performative or not, is still representation. Of course, there are also those who believe such discourse over a fictional tale is foolish. If Disney’s dedication to inclusivity was genuine, they would create new stories surrounded by characters of ethnic backgrounds — but that seems to be difficult with a current film industry that heavily lacks originality.
Some attribute the dissatisfaction with Zegler as a testament to fans’ deep appreciation for the original story; however, that could very well be a disguise for blatant racism. Whether the decision to be more inclusive has genuine intentions, or is simply a lazy attempt at diversity, remains unknown. What is certain is that the film is incapable of escaping its controversy, and the quality of the film alone is enough to sink its ratings even further down.
It takes no film expert to notice the many errors prevalent. For starters, the film fails to “show, not tell,” meaning audiences are told of events that occur rather than shown. The film states that Snow White’s father was murdered by the Evil Queen, and Snow White seeks vengeance. However, viewers are never shown any scene regarding his death, nor Snow White actively seeking to avenge him.
Furthermore, a film is only ever as good as its ending. All plotlines and conflict lead up to the climax and resolution.
The “final battle” occurs as Snow White, along with the people of her kingdom, march to the castle and demand the Evil Queen to “leave.” Asking the woman who killed her father and stole her kingdom to politely leave highlights naive script-writing, and the fact that the Queen went through with the request undermines her wickedness as a villain. Disney falls flat in executing a rewarding conclusion, supported by the film’s 40 percent Rotten Tomato score.
The original Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the film that brought the Walt Disney Company out of bankruptcy, while its live adaptation is the film that has shown Disney is not so far from it, losing over $115 million in box office sales. The original film was a pioneer for animation and the Walt Disney Company — in creating the remake, filmmakers needed to elevate the story, adding a modern flair while still honoring and remaining true to the original.
Ultimately, the adaptation lacks emotional connection with its characters, a clear direction, and authentic storytelling, leaving viewers more lifeless than they came. The controversy, public outroar, and justified criticism are all proof of what happens when a film is not handled with proper care, making Snow White a clear example of why further discussions of Disney live action films should be put to sleep.
STORY CHRISTIANNE DULEY ILLUSTRATION LANAH KIM
The 1990s and 2000s were defining decades for personal computers and the internet, during which surfing the world wide web became ubiquitous. Old websites were characterized by their pixelated fonts, bold colors, walls of text, and clunky box layouts. These characteristics differ greatly from the simple style of modern websites.
Since the times of tacky internet visuals, the internet has morphed into a minimalistic presentation of information that is easy to access and find. Websites now are simple and clean, combining visuals and text to make plain but effective layouts. While senior citizens still struggle to master browsing, the internet is significantly more beginner-friendly and enjoyable to use.
A major factor that contributes to the shift towards minimalist designs online is advertising. For example, lower contrast and fewer colors in a website is more visually appealing to internet users and therefore results in that website getting more views. This also
makes big boxes that advertise a product or say “CLICK HERE” more obvious, resulting in even more clicks, although younger generations are more aware of advertising tricks and might avoid these ads.
A recognizable branch of minimalism for the sake of advertising is brand logos. Brands like Instagram used to have more realistic logos, while brands like Ebay used to use unique fonts. Now, all of their designs appear uniform, with fewer differences from each other style-wise. These changes are being made for easier legibility and recognition. As users might see dozens of advertisements and brands daily, creating a logo that is not complex will mean more people remember that brand: When a logo has less details to remember, it becomes easier to recall. On the other hand, it can also make it harder for people to differentiate between logos when they are too simple.
The internet is moving faster than ever and the intake of information online is tremendous, which is why minimalism is so effective. Minimalism is efficient; people can take in more information and process it faster when it is simple. Headlines are short and impactful to
catch the reader’s attention, and social media posts are brief and straightforward to keep the reader engaged.
Photos and graphics are another big contributor to the quick consumption of online content. Text takes longer to read, so images, which humans remember easier than text, are used to convey the same amount of information in significantly less time. If there is a way to speed up consumption, it will be used online.
Critics of online minimalism often claim it hinders creativity. When all brands and websites share a similarly reduced style, they lack originality. This can make simplistic websites seem boring and repetitive to consumers. In certain perspectives, minimalism sacrifices entertainment for efficiency, although sometimes it does not seem efficient if a layout cuts down on too much. Some internet users value personal enjoyment from seeing new ways of presenting information and view simplicity as low-effort.
Other users argue minimalism promotes antiintellectualism. The advertising choice to present less information for the sake of a clean-looking layout results in less depth in the topic shown. People online are not always given the full picture and, over time, they might not care to look further due to a disinterest in anything that is not fast-paced.
Low attention spans are starting to be a common occurrence in online users. If a website is minimalistic in its design, viewers can consume all the presented information quickly and move onto the next page. This is especially true for social media apps, like TikTok and Instagram, which encourage its users to post short videos or images and continue scrolling through the home page to see more advertisements.
With trends, news, stories, and society changing daily, being able to retain the loads of information shown on the internet becomes a challenge. Some people consume hundreds of videos, photos, and posts everyday, and as the content is made to be short, these people lose interest if the content is longer than the length of their screen.
Minimalism online is a double-edged sword, offering efficiency and blandness at the same time. Bright, creative color use and confusing layouts have been replaced with easily accessible material and technology addiction. The vast size of the internet means it is a different experience for everyone, and each opinion on minimalistic design holds weight. Ultimately, it is individual choice that determines if online content is enjoyable or unproductive.
Tiger explores Quentin Tarantino’s famous Vista Theatre, a historic gem of a classic single-screen theater. The Vista showcases movies on true film reels, creating a uniquely nostalgic moviegoing experience.
STORY ISABELLA JONASEN
PHOTOS RUBY FOUDY & MADELINE MADRIGAL
T
he Vista Theatre, formerly known as the Vista Continental, is a historic single-screen movie theater in Los Feliz on the border of East Hollywood. The theater has undergone many ownership changes throughout the past century, but is managed today by renowned filmmaker Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino purchased the theater in July of 2021 and oversaw various renovations in an attempt to revive the theater’s rich history. Under his ownership, the Vista incorporated 70mm film projection as well as a relatively new cafe next door.
The exterior of the theater is heavily inspired by Spanish mission revival, and, though the theater has existed for over a century, it maintains its original character. The Vista’s windows and walls are crafted with beautiful white trim and emblems that pop against its beige paint. On the walk to the ticket booth, moviegoers will notice the muted colored handprints forever imprinted into the ground of filmmakers and actors who have had films shown at the theater. The inside is lined with a red velvet carpet and a large matching curtain. Above the seats lie icy blue light fixtures that almost mimic icicles. Tan stones also decorate the interior of the theater.
Ruby, Rafa, and I began our journey at the South Pasadena metro station in the early evening — the three of us felt enamored by the complete zen we were feeling sitting upon the green metal bench of the train station. We basked in the warm sun and the cool breeze as we pondered the obstacles we might come across on this excursion. The train came rather quickly; we scurried off the train platform into the rather warm metro car and sat down swiftly to avoid taking a tumble. We appreciated the tasteful graffiti surrounding us as well as the melodies of the SoundCloud rapper sitting next to us, blessing our ears with soon-to-be Grammy award-winning bars. Once we reached Union Station, we followed the sweet scent of Wetzel’s Pretzels to reach our next destination, the B line subway. After a few too many hops over payfront checkpoints, we made it to the entrance.
Once again, we were blessed with more musical melodies — some a capella courtesy of our fellow passengers. We perched ourselves on the blue textile-like pattern of the subway seats. We felt utterly consumed by the warmth provided by the yellow lighting of the subway hanging over us. Although there were some interesting characters on the subway, I had never felt safer. Two elderly individuals conversed with lovely words across from us; it is spring, after all, and love is in the air. We then reached East Hollywood and made our way toward the Vista. As we crossed the street to get our first look at the theater, we could not help but notice the incredibly long line of people stretching along the block. Although the showing of the movie we were seeing that day was far later, at 12 a.m., I commented on the immense number of people in line there. A lady turned and interrupted me with, “It’s a movie.” To that woman: Thank you for that insightful intel.
With so many hours to kill, we decided to explore our surroundings. Right across from the theater sat a Crossroads, a donation-based clothing store. Once Ruby and Rafa made some thrift finds, we swiftly made our way down the road to a bus stop. As we waited for our bus to arrive, we danced about, hitting the whip and the nae nae.
A short bus ride later, we arrived at Silver Lake Ramen, where they sat us immediately. Filled with joy and whimsy, we were excited to indulge in some delicious food.
As we waited for our food, I took out my cat tarot deck and gave Rafa and Ruby their own personal reading. Ruby’s reading, conducted by myself, revolved around our photographer, Mac, who was attempting to bring her .
vibes down, predicting that she would end up in a dumpster. Rafa’s reading consisted of peaceful energy — kumbaya, if you will. After we ate our food, Rafa then decided to do an outfit change with the pants he purchased at Crossroads, and as Ruby and I waited, we played with two small children in booster seats.
After our feast, we spotted another bus stop and spontaneously hopped on. This was unfortunately the wrong bus. We did not let this halt our joy and whimsy; we persevered, quickly getting off the bus to find the correct one. Thankfully, this small bump in the road did not cut any time out of our wandering, as it was only 10 p.m.
We returned to the Vista and encountered the same large sum of people outside the theater; this time, their film was over. We stood around with these individuals looking for some characters to converse with and were faced with our first encounter with a certain man who worked at the theater. As we stood with the huge group of people, he came up to the three of us and singled us out, asking us to leave. We were dumbfounded but obliged, running down the road to acquire some Handel’s Ice Cream. Ruby said it best: “It’s giving me that Baja blast feeling.”
At roughly 11:10 p.m., we needed to take a stop at the bathroom. After we hung around the concession stand, the same individual who had asked us to leave before kicked us out once again. He was not a fan of our presence nor our giggling.
We sat outside on the window seat waiting to be let in for the movie. The three of us wanted to find an interesting person to converse with, but as the clock struck 12 a.m., we were losing all hope. At that exact moment, Jack Black rolled up on a Lime scooter. We were beyond shocked — I first began to call out to him, but he could not hear us with his AirPod Maxes in. He parked his scooter and walked past us to the ticket booth. On his way back, he heard Ruby call out his name and stopped in front of our entirely starstruck group. He asked the three of us our names and then repeated them back to us. It was a magical moment. He was surprisingly very kind, quite literally giving us the last bit of hope we needed to complete this excursion on a high note.
The film we watched was called Reefer Madness, and it was incredible. The movie was from 1936 and was definitely not intended to be viewed by the people of this decade. It was a propaganda-based movie stating that marijuana was worse than every other drug under the sun. It was apparent that the funding for this movie was incredibly low, as the actors were awful and the director was even worse. The quiet pauses every time a new scene would begin, as though the actors were being told when to start speaking, were inherently bad but incredibly funny. My personal favorite moment was the very beginning of the movie, which started with a giant rolling disclaimer stating that some scenes may “disturb you.” Then the word MARIJUANA filled the screen in bold cursive, which led to the entire theater letting out a chuckle.
The energy of the patrons was phenomenal, as we all were there for the same purpose — to have a joyous time. The Vista Theatre provided the perfect environment for a giggle and an incredibly unique experience.
STORY EVELYN DIAZ
brings together hundreds of athletes and schools, showcasing high-level competition.
PHOTOS SUNNY (SUNHYE) CHOI
E
ach year, the South Pasadena Tiger Invite draws athletes from across the country, and even the globe, to compete in a one-day track and field event packed with energy, competition, and school spirit. This year marks the 14th year of the invite, a staple tradition that requires months of planning and coordination behind the scenes. Athletic Director CB Richards calls the meet “the biggest little track meet in the West.”
While the Tiger Invite has grown into a competitive and spirited meet, it remains the smaller sister to the Arcadia Invitational, which is one of the biggest high school track meets in the nation. The Arcadia Invite typically draws over 4,000 athletes from 37 states and has featured young Olympians, including Noah Lyles, who competed at the Arcadia Invitational in 2016 before going on to win gold at the Paris Olympics in 2024. With so many athletes already in Southern California for the multi-day Arcadia Invitational, South Pasadena hosts the Tiger Invite to give teams another opportunity to compete and make the most of their time in Los Angeles.
Organizing the meet is no small feat. Planning begins as early as spring, with a team of coaches, volunteers, and staff working behind the scenes to coordinate every detail. From securing officials to organizing event heats and setting up logistics, each step requires careful attention. On meet day, the SPHS track is buzzing not only with athletes and coaches, but with the energy of music from a live DJ, lines at local food trucks, and the constant hum of spectators cheering from the stands.
This year’s Tiger Invite hosted hundreds of athletes from 190 high school teams across 18 states, plus Canada and New Zealand, with competition running from morning into the night. Publicizing the event and securing international participation takes strategy, consistency, and a strong reputation built over the years.
With an event of this scale, cost is another factor. Expenses range from equipment to facility rentals and security, which takes multiple days to prepare. Despite
the challenges, the Tiger Invite remains one of the most anticipated events on SPHS’s athletic calendar. Track has earned $30,000 just by hosting the biggest fundraiser, reflecting on what makes the Tiger Invite special year after year.
Whether it’s the competition, the community, or the chance to welcome teams from around the world, the Tiger Invite continues to be a highlight of the spring season at South Pasadena High School.
STORY EVELYN DIAZ
ILLUSTRATION LANAH KIM
In a world where people are often divided by politics, background, or beliefs, sports remain one of the few spaces where strangers can come together and, at least for a while, root for the same thing.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a packed stadium or a casual watch party at home, sports have a unique way of creating community. Though sports are rooted in competition, rivalry, and high stakes, they also have a unique ability to bring people together. Even intense rivalries rarely divide people in any lasting or serious way. Instead, they often create shared experiences and surprising connections, regardless of who someone is or where they come from.
Such as the Dodger fans. On any game day at Dodger Stadium, it’s not uncommon to see complete strangers chatting over hot dogs, high-fiving after a big play, or singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” all together. It’s not because they know each other. It’s because they’re all wearing blue.
That kind of connection doesn’t require a name or a conversation starter, it’s made into the shared experience of being a fan. It don’t matter if you’re celebrating a walk-off home run or mourning a tough loss, those moments form a sense of coming together among people who might never cross paths otherwise.
Beyond professional games, this sense of connection shows up in high school sports, from teammates who become like family to siblings playing side by side, as well as in pickup games at local parks and even fantasy leagues. Sports create a common language. People who wouldn’t normally talk to each other suddenly find themselves debating trades, sharing superstitions, or reliving classic games.
This bond goes beyond just fandom. It can even cross national or cultural lines. During the World Cup, for instance, entire nations come alive. It’s not unusual to see
people from completely different regions or backgrounds, sometimes even different continents, coming together in restaurants, parks, or public squares to support their team. The shared excitement can blur national lines and create a sense of global unity, even among fans cheering for rival countries. For a few weeks, flags are waved, jerseys are worn, and chants are shouted, not in an argumentative way, but in celebration.
Even rivalries, though intense, often come with a mutual respect. Fans may cheer for different teams, but the shared passion for the sport is what ultimately brings them together, though their paths and personalities may be differnet, it’s their shared passion for the sport that ultimately brings them together, a bond formed not just by blood, but by the love of the game. It’s a reminder that, at its core, sports aren’t just about who wins, they’re about what it means to belong to something bigger than yourself.
Sports create emotional ties that go far beyond the scoreboard. People remember who they were with when their team won, where they were sitting, what they felt. Those memories stick, not just because of the outcome, but because of the connection made in that moment.
Even rivalries can bring people together. Rooting for opposite sides doesn’t always cause conflict, it can start conversations, friendly debates, and shared traditions. At the end of the day, everyone’s there for the same reason: love for the game.
STORY GAVIN BARTOLOME
PHOTO GRANT JUDKINS, Contributor
The SPHS Sports Medicine Team competed in the American Academic Competition Institute’s Sports Medicine challenge at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Tuesday, March 15. Composed of around 30 students who are in the Sports Medicine Club or the Advanced Sports Medicine class, SPHS placed third overall out of 42 schools. Despite it being SPHS’s first time competing in a regional competition, a handful of students have also qualified for the national-level competition by placing high in their events.
“I’m just very proud of what the team was able to accomplish. They definitely rose to the occasion, and I’m just very happy with the results,” Sports Medicine teacher Andre Zumaeta said.
The competition was split off into two parts: a written exam testing students’ general knowledge of the Sports Medicine Field and a practical exam where teams performed four tasks and were evaluated on their taping skills. SPHS did exceptionally well in the Quiz Bowl, a Jeopardy-like game that covered several categories across the healthcare field, where students seniors Elena Torices and Nicholas Yeh, and junior Will Girvigian worked together to earn first place. Overall, with the combined results of the main event competitions, SPHS placed fourth in the division for the main competitions, which were separate from their overall placement.
Students who participated in the competition had long been preparing for it during the school year. Especially in the second semester, the Advanced Sports Medicine class already covered a multitude of topics that are tested, as
Zumaeta slightly reshaped the curriculum to help students prepare for the class’s first competition.
Not only has the competition challenged participants in their capabilities within the field, but also their comfort zones. With the way events are organized, students are challenged to perform under watchful gazes, building pressure that Zumaeta ultimately believes will build his students’ character and encourage personal growth. All the while, the connection made between the textbook and the application also reinforces the mental connection to real-world problems.
“It’s nerve wracking to attend a competition and have judges judging you. And while I do that with my students alone in class, it’s a different kind of setting, a different level of comfort coming from being judged by somebody you don’t know. It’s just, in a way, to just get out of your comfort zone and grow as an individual,” Zumaeta said.
The impactful performance of the SPHS Sports Medicine students this year has set a precedent to continue competing fiercely. This expectation for success has left a chance for a skillful group of upcoming students, inspired by the performance.
“I’m hoping that the students that are coming up understand that this is, this is what’s expected. We participate in this competition, so we do the best that we can to prepare for it,“ Zumaeta added.
The Sports Medicine team hopes to continue their explosive start, aiming to represent SPHS in the Nationals on May 20 for those who qualified.
Sophomore Michael Scarince is one of SPHS’s top runners, once holding the fastest freshman mile time in the nation.
STORY CHRISTIANNE DULEY
PHOTO SUNNY (SUNHYE) CHOI
R
unning is a simple form of exercise that most people only engage in occasionally to stay healthy, but sophomore Michael Scarince finds the rush of wind to be electrifying. Scarince is only in his second year of high school and is already one of the top runners in the nation. To achieve this, he dedicates his free time to varsity track and field and cross country. The athlete delivers success to SPHS with his speed and commitment.
Scarince has always been a natural runner and has played a variety of competitive sports. He started out by playing soccer in his younger years, but Scarince eventually found his calling in track and cross country. His father, who is the head coach of La Cañada’s girls’ cross country team and also a coach for La Cañada girls’ track and field, encouraged him to pursue competitive running.
“When I was younger, I was always running and I was faster than a lot of kids in my grade,” Scarince said. “In 4th grade my dad wanted me to do another sport besides soccer so I chose track.”
The athlete’s running journey was supposed to kick off in fourth grade, but Scarince injured his knee before he could start the season, setting him back three years. When seventh grade rolled around, Scarince was ready to get back in the race, and so he started track that year. He stuck with it when success came naturally and later joined cross country in his freshman year. As a freshman, he had the fastest freshman mile time in the nation.
“Within my first season [of track] I made a lot of progress, finishing top in the nation, and I realized that it could be something worth continuing,” Scarince said.
Track and cross country can be highly competitive sports where crossing the finish line first is the ultimate achievement. First place tends to be hard to come by, but it can serve as a strong motivator.
“What inspires me the most is seeing people who I used to be faster than run faster than me,” Scarince said. “That pushes me and motivates me to be the best athlete I can be.”
This motivation paid off when Scarince broke the SPHS freshman record for the cross country three mile run by over a minute with a time of 15 minutes and nine seconds at the 42nd Annual Woodbridge Cross Country Classic in 2023. He often places high in track and cross country meets, and he hopes to place even higher in the future.
“My goals for this season are to make it further in CIF than I did last year and also to get as close as possible to the 1600 meter school record,” Scarince said.
Scarince attends class during the day and is busy with practice into the evening. The pressure at meets can be potent, so proper preparations are crucial to success.
“When I’m competing I usually feel nervous but calm and at the same time,” Scarince said. “I have a lot of adrenaline before and during the race.”
The athlete mentally prepares for meets by listening to music. While adrenaline keeps his mind sharp and his focus on the track, Scarince’s music grounds him.
“The hardest part is the mental part of the sport,” Scarince said. “Most races and workouts, you’re so tired and in so much pain but you know it’s worth it in the end to just push through.”
Scarince manages to push through with extensive training. He trains by running every day of the week. He also increases his strength and prevents more injuries through weight room training. Scarince makes sure to train his mentality to improve further.
“I’m motivated and I don’t give up when my legs and whole body are tired,” Scarince said. “My biggest strength is my mentality. No matter how tired or how much pain I’m in, I’m going to finish the race or workout.”
Scarince sees a future for him in track and is considering dedicating his upper-class and college years to honing his skills and becoming faster. The energy on the race track is something irreplaceable for Scarince.
“I really enjoy the atmosphere on the track and even in the stands from the viewers,” Scarince said. “It just makes the whole experience way better and way more enjoyable.”
The joy of racing is embedded in Scarince and will stick with him for a long time. His dedication to track and cross country invigorates his dedication to the rest of his life. As his second home, the race track gives Scarince the energy to succeed and move forward into a speedy future.
FRIDAY, APRIL 25TH @ 3:30 PM, SOFTBALL VS. MONROVIA AT HOME
SATURDAY, APRIL 26TH @ 10:00 AM, BASEBALL VS. PARACLETE AT HOME
MONDAY, APRIL 28TH @ TBD BOYS’ TENNIS RIO HONDO LEAGUE PRELIMS
MONDAY, APRIL 28TH @ TBD SWIM RIO HONDO LEAGUE PRELIMS
STORY GAVIN BARTOLOME ILLUSTRATIONS SUNNY (SUNHYE) CHOI
Girls’ swim keeps a strict initiative for new swimmers, having them swim the 500 yards, the longest high school race allowed, without stopping. The ritual continues with no incoming athlete wanting to break long-standing tradition. While the event does push swimmers to their max, both the coach and senior swimmers support the activity as a cornerstone of their culture.
However, beneath that initiative the team keeps, lies an even darker ritual: their love for Goldfish. Oftentimes, the girls’ team has made a point of bringing along bags of Goldfish to snack and worship before the race, similar to the Minnesota Twins’ Summer Sausage. The item has become more than a simple joke to the team, somehow managing to establish itself as a tradition after it was repeated enough times. At this point, the Swim team hopes to showcase their love for Goldfish to the largest extent. Going forward, they jokingly hope to establish a sponsorship from the Goldfish company, Pepperidge Farm, by tagging them in social media posts and competitions.
Recently, the baseball team has started a trend of bleaching their hair a yellowish-blonde color. The craze started when senior Charlie Vogel decided to bleach his hair. Baseball Head Coach Jaime Garcia soon worked to popularize the fad, bleaching his hair and constantly joking to varsity players, asking when they would do the same.
With the addition of a couple of other players bleaching their hair, the act began to pick up speed within the program, even spreading to a couple JV baseball players. Now, many players have chosen to dive headfirst into the trend, while others are still being convinced. The team hopes to continue spreading this simple joke throughout the team, bleaching their hair that eye-catching blonde.
Water polo is well-known for being chaotic during games, with students clawing at each other underwater. However, their unique play style also extends beyond the pool, in their ritualistic traditions. Water polo detours from other sports in their pre-game rituals. While some sports teas gather and feast on carb-rich foods for energy, water polo prefers a more exotic method of preventing mid-game stomach problems: a pungent shot of pure mustard.
The reason behind the long-standing tradition lies in the minuscule amounts of potassium hidden within the yellow condiment. For every five grams of mustard taken, seven milligrams of potassium is also ingested. As a reference, in each medium-sized banana, there are 422 mg of potassium. While the tradeoff might not be superior, with some athletes even cramping, the tradition holds firm within the team.
Nothing screams “memorable moments” more than trying not to hurl the remains of a chili-stuffed meal whilst tuning up hills. This was the exact thought process behind the seniors and coach of cross country and track, who forged Tommy’s Run, an 8-mile at the start of every season. The tradition dates back years ago, with new runners following suit even without knowing when it started. Going from SPHS up into Eagle Rock just for Tommy’s Hamburgers, runners can test themselves with either the Sidekick or Superhero challenge.
The Sidekick challenge is the notably more tame option, requiring challenges to consume an order of chili fries, drizzled with cheese and beans. Meanwhile, the Superhero version hogs the spotlight, ordering the chili fries along with the final boss, a chili burger full of meat, rich cheese, and of course chili. For the few that manage to run back up the hills without regurgitating their unfortunate meal, their meal will be compensated by varsity players, and they will be given clout for surviving and the unofficial badge that they are an inhaler of food.
PHOTOS WILLOW BAUGHMAN (Copa De Oro), ZOE CHEN, SUNNY (SUNHYE) CHOI, KAITLYN LEE, MADELINE MADRIGAL, MAC SHROPSHIRE
Last Tuesday, I capped off a memorable and enriching series of guest author visits throughout high school by bringing in Grant Faulkner to speak to the SPHS Writing Club. Faulkner is an author specializing in 100-word stories, and he told us about how to write directly and effectively as opposed to wasting words on unnecessary details.
From my time on the newspaper I have practiced this writing style because every article is constrained by a certain character count, but 100 words is uncharted territory. After hearing from Mr. Faulkner, I want to try capturing an entire story in 100 words.
Since freshman year, LA Times Sports Writer Dylan Hernandez, novelist David Ebershoff, non-fiction writer Susan Compo, poet Ron Koertge, crime fiction writer Gary Phillips, LA Times Science Reporter Karen Kaplan, science correspondent and Pulitzer Prize winner Usha McFarling, and journalist best known for his coverage of the opioid epidemic Sam Quinones have been generous enough to volunteer their time and spend an hour with our club. Faulkner is the latest author, and will be the last of high school.
We have heard from a wide variety of authors, all experts in their respective fields. From Compo we learned how to tell the history of others. She wrote two books on the career of David Bowie, and emphasized the importance of interviews in bringing a story to life. Similarly, Quinones told us about his experiences documenting the fentanyl crisis and the scope of people he spoke with to better understand the situation. Journalism– he repeatedly said– is about finding a story and learning as much as possible about it.
These guest author visits have been so valuable because each writer brings experience and advice that cannot be replicated in the classroom. It is also inspiring to hear from an accomplished author knowing that they were once in our shoes and finding their passion for writing in high school. Phillips echoed something that almost every writer has told us: “Just keep writing.”
One of the guest author visits that stands out is Percival Everett’s. He is a distinguished writer across multiple genres and his most recent novel, James, a retelling of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Jim, won the 2024 National Book Award for Fiction. James is being adapted into a movie and will be directed by Steven Spielberg.
I asked Everett “How do you overcome writer’s block?” and his answer was unique. He told us to write a first draft as quickly as possible, just getting ideas onto paper. Everett also said that the revision and editing process is what really counts. Instead of spending time trying to pick the perfect word, the first draft should serve as a collection of thoughts.
Since then, I have tried to employ this strategy in my writing. I still feel the tension of wanting to construct each sentence and each paragraph flawlessly, but I have gotten better at “just writing” as the authors have said. Accompanying the guest authors, I have brought doughnuts to each meeting. This seems to be very persuasive in convincing my friends and club members to attend the visits, most of which take place at 8:30 a.m. on a late start.
The best thing that I’ve learned from all the guest author visits is that if you don’t ask, you don’t know. I have sent out many emails to writers with little expectation that they would accept my invite, but I have repeatedly been pleasantly surprised. Even bigname authors like Percival Everett were interested in speaking to the club. I learned that there’s no downside to asking and that they might say yes.
Thank you to all the authors who have taken the time and talked with the SPHS Writing Club. Myself and my classmates have learned so much from each meeting and are very grateful.