Gas Prices Adulting

DRIVERS FUME OVER FUEL PRICES

Article by Laziza Talipova Photo by Anuha Tatineni

is January, junior Benjamin Knight paid just $60 to ll his 2011 Chevy Avalanche up with gas. Today, he pays over $120 for that same tank.

“It’s crazy that it takes that much to ll up even with the lowest grade,” Knight said.

A few months ago, gas was $3.18 a gallon. Now, the gas prices are raised to about $4 per gallon. In ation in the economy and the Russia-Ukraine war are both contributing to the abnormally high gas prices.

Knight drives a truck, and he lives 15 minutes away from school. Aside from interning with his parents, he plays lacrosse as well. Driving back and forth for these after-school activities takes a toll on his gas.

“It’s hard because especially now that I’m doing lacrosse, I have to drive multiple times a day to get to and from practice, and to and from school,” Knight said.

Knight’s driving is deeply a ected by the gas spike. Usually known to accelerate quickly while driving, Knight now takes more caution to save money. His driving style has changed drastically from carefree to constantly checking his gas tank. Knight is feeling the heat on rationing gas.

But it’s de nitely gotten harder,” Knight said. “Sometimes, I’ll nd that I’m low on money due to gas, and it makes me not want to drive.”

Knight isn’t the only student struggling with the high gas prices. Many working students in the U.S have had to make budget adjustments to afford gas.

According to environmental magazine Grist, because of the increase in gas prices, 72% of students combined trips together by carpooling, from the 60% a few months ago. Students also used public transportation more regularly--23% compared to the 14% a couple months back. More and more students are thinking of ways to save money. Gas is starting to become a luxury to some.

Senior Kelsey Silberbusch is also concerned with the rising costs of gas prices. To provide herself money, she works at the Heathrow Racket Club and as a camp counselor. Silberbusch plays tennis and lives 10 minutes away from school. She drives a 2020 Silver Acura RDX. Even though her car takes the lowest

grade of gas, she still struggles with the price. “I literally refuse to drive my car sometimes because I can’t a ord to get gas,” Silberbusch said. Silberbusch has had to cross certain items o of her budget to afford gas. “I had to give up my car wash, and I don’t have a car wash subscription anymore,” Silberbusch said. “It’s now gone, because I couldn’t a ord it.” Not just students, but teachers as well, are feeling the impact of higher gas prices. Math teacher Dr. Barbara Clanton lives in Mount Dora, which is 50 miles away from school. Clanton now drives a hybrid Toyota Prius V just because of the gas prices. “It’s just a lot of money, and I have to get gas every week,” Clanton said. “ ere’s nothing I can do because I have to get to school to work.” Slowly gas prices are appearing to drop, and students like Knight and Silberbusch are thankful for it. But Silberbusch still believes the gas prices will spike again. “I just really hope the gas prices go down because I can’t pay for gas this much longer,” Knight said.Clanton lives in Mount Dora, which is 50 miles away from school. Clanton now drives a hybrid Toyota Prius V just because of the gas prices. Senior Kelsey Silberbusch lls up her gas tank, which she says “It’s just a lot of money, and I has gotten increasingly expensive with the recent rise in gas have to get gas every week,” Clanprices. ton said. “ ere’s nothing I can do because Ihave to get to school to work.” e gas prices are slowly dropping, and students like Knight and Silberbusch are thankful for it. But Silberbusch still believes that over time the gas prices will spike again. “I just really hope the gas prices go down because I can’t pay for this gas much longer,” Knight said.

ACT YOUR AGE: ADULTHOOD DEFIES DEFINITION

Article by Deniz Bölöni-Turgut Graphic by Sarah Lin

Trinity Prep alumnus Varun Bhatia stares up at his lights in bewilderment. Just moments before, the electricity cut o with no warning, casting him and his apartment into darkness. e cause was not a thunderstorm, but a mistake on Bhatia’s part.

“I remember once when I rst moved into Berkeley, in my apartment, I didn’t even know that I had to pay a recurring PG&E electricity bill because the lights were on,” Bhatia said. “I thought ‘oh okay, I guess we just get free electricity.’ I think, after 8 months, the electricity shut down.”

Graduating seniors are often told that the transition to college is synonymous with the transition to adulthood. Yet, as Bhatia’s experience illustrates, this is not always the case. In the United States, a citizen is eligible to vote, to be drafted and to sign legally binding contracts on their eighteenth birthday. However, 18 year olds are still unable to rent cars at most rental agencies and are below the legal drinking age of 21. ese varying age restrictions make adulthood di cult to de ne.

“You tend to see adult behaviors more often when you have frontal lobe development which is going to be in your mid to late twen- Adulthood ties depending on gender and depending on genetics,” guidance counselor Rylan Smith said. “Once people are past the early twenties and they start to nd occupations … [that’s] when you start to see people having more adult-like behaviors.”

Eighth grader Gustavo Membreno said that he believes adulthood to be a state of both increased freedom and responsibilities, and views college graduates as adults.

“My parents are a pretty good example of adults,” Membreno said. “ ey g- HS GRAD ured it out. ey have a place to live, a job, kids.” Tangible milestones like those mentioned by Membreno are commonly cited as signs of adulthood. In a 2019 survey of 2,000 Americans aged 16-51 conducted by OnePoll and Farm Rich, the top three indicators of adulthood were maintaining a nancial budget, buying a house and ling taxes. Yet, Smith said that emotional maturity also plays a big part. “Being an adult is more than an age,” Smith said. “[Adults] are not just reacting anymore; [they] are actually looking at pros and cons and taking responsibility for those decisions right or wrong.” Bhatia agrees that both emotional maturity and the ability to apply knowledge to a personal career path are necessary. According to Bhatia, one fundamental milestone on the road to adulthood is failure and learning to overcome it. “You’re not always going to be at the top,” Bhatia said. “Because college is much more di cult than high school and your career is probably going to be a little more di cult than what you experience in college, … you need to understand in a di cult situation, you may fail the rst few times. But, [consider] what

SAT kind of learning experience can you have from those failures that you can apply to the experience that you have later on to make sure that it is more successful.”

Many of these types of learning experiences which guide a person towards adulthood come with time. Yet, Smith said that a lot of emotional growth occurs through classroom interaction which was interrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think students on one level have experienced a lesser degree of resiliency because as schools, we tended to be a little more forgiving and less stuck on deadlines [during the pandemic],” Smith said. “But, then in other ways, I look at you all and I think [that] there are actually places that you are more resilient because you recognize that certain things are out of your control.”

Every year (with the exception of the 20202021 academic year), the guidance counseling o ce sponsors the Senior Retreat, an overnight trip packed with outdoor activities and workshops designed to guide graduating seniors in the transition to college. is year, Senior Retreat took place from March 31-April 1.

“One of the things we wanted you to do on the retreat was think about where you want to go and what’s important to you,” Smith said. “[We wanted] to get you to think about [how] it’s more than just what your parents want for you, it’s what you want for you. … Who are you going to be next year and what are you going to put into place to make that happen?”

Graduating high school is only the rst step towards adulthood and Smith said there are ways to grow and re ect individually. “[You should] not be afraid to look yourself in the mirror … and own the decisions you make,” Smith said. “Recognize that your consequences are your consequences and not get caught up in the blame game where it becomes about everybody else. … Really own who you are.”

COLLEGE ENCOUNTER IN THE SUMMER

Pre-college summer programs encourage academic and personal growth

Article by Angel Zheng Graphic by Jaidyn Holt

With the school year coming to a close, students start looking forward to a variety of activities such as amusement parks, family trips, and vacation destinations outside of the United States to fill their summer break. Amidst these summer plans, some students use their break from school to engage in academics via pre-college summer programs at colleges and universities.

Both colleges and universities offer pre-college summer programs for high schoolers interested in certain academic topics while also providing a taste of the college experience. Students get to live in dorms, walk around campus, eat in dining halls, and meet interesting people along the way. Many of these programs require an expensive admission fee, and typically last from a few weeks to a few months.

Senior Alexander Wang participated in the UCF Competitive Programming Summer Institute in 2019, the summer before his sophomore year. His interest in computer science reinforced his decision to attend the two-week long academic experience at the UCF campus.

“I wanted to try to be a little bit more advanced in programming as I was going to take AP Computer Science next year, and I wanted to help build up possible skills … from a young starting grade,” Wang said.

He explained that while his classes ran from

9 a.m. to 5 p.m., there would be a four-hour long programming contest every other day. Not only that, he notes a considerable difference in the teaching styles between high school and college. “The programming techniques taught there were mainly standard for competitive programming stuff, which is stuff not really taught in school,” “I wanted to just get an introduction Wang said. “You’re and see if it’s something I’d be interable to learn more about different ested in doing further in college.” programming algorithms, techniques, - Shraddha Bhatia, Senior and more advanced skills that you need for competitions or even career later in the future.” These pre-college summer programs aren’t only available in person; many colleges and universities offer an online option as well. Senior Shraddha Bhatia attended the Harvard Pre-College Program in 2021, the summer before her senior year. She took an online course called “Great Ideas in Macroeconomics.” “I just was interested in economics and I hadn’t had any classes for it, since Trinity doesn’t offer it until senior year,” Bhatia said. “So I wanted to just get an introduction and see if it’s something I’d be interested in doing further in college.” Although the online college experience differs from that of in-person, one can still get a feel for the lecture style, homework load and discussions that occur in a typical college classroom. Bhatia compares her online course to a class in the Malone Schools Online Network (MSON).

“It is really similar to MSON because … it was the whole online setting and you’re with people you don’t go to school with, but you’re all learning the same topics,” Bhatia said.

Attending a college summer program can be an impactful experience for students, especially if they want to explore and delve deeper into their academic interests. Despite the significant costs that range in the thousands, the overall experience may help students challenge themselves and become more confident in their abilities.

“Initially, I was actually a little bit hesitant to go because I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know what these two weeks are going to be like,’ and I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but it turned out to be one of my best experiences pretty much in high school,” Wang said.

Furthermore, pre-college summer programs can benefit students who aren’t sure what to pursue later in life. Students who feel stressed about the college application process can use these programs to their advantage and figure out what kind of environment they would like to be a part of.

“I think if people have doubts about what they’re going into, especially juniors, it’s helpful for them to go explore these programs and the courses they offer and see what university styles they’re interested in, and see what courses they’re interested in and what major they might want to pursue,” Bhatia said.