From tHe editors-IN-cHieF

ILLUSTRATIONS AND DESIGN BY SHREYA CHOUDHURY • PHOTO COURTESY OF AMY ULUG

With a cover that came together 6 days before this issue was sent to the printer, articles almost entirely from first-time reporters, and Aquila’s first Spanish article, Volume 12 Issue 2 is definitely one for the books. Throughout the process of production, we saw first year students grow into full-fledged reporters and editors.

In the article “Students Petition for Advanced Courses at UPA,” reporter Samita Golla shares her research into UPA’s system of adding new classes. Golla discusses how AP Physics 1 was adopted into UPA’s course catalog and how Digital Art hopes to do the same. Read the article on pages 5 and 6.

Reporter Lena Nguyen dove into the world of creativity with her profile of artist Aimee Salazar. In “Her Starry Night,” Nguyen explores the concept of perseverance when creating art, and the challenges that come along with pursuing a career in the arts. You can read the article on pages 9 and 10.

Aside from creating art, UPA students have a variety of hobbies. Reporter Nadia Hamilton documents the passions of Ryn Ryan, Fern Woertink and Axel Lehtinen in skiing, cosplay and fencing respectively. Read “Gear Up!” on pages 13-15.

One of the unique challenges faced by our staff this issue was writing Aquila’s first Spanish article. Reporter Isaac Rios’ article “Y nosotros, ¿qué?” is a comment on UPA’s resource accessibility to Spanish-speaking parents.

To accomplish this purpose, we decided to write and print the article in Spanish, translating it into English for the rest of the UPA audience. The process included a complete overhaul of our editing system, switching out copy editors for Spanish-speaking reporters and using a Spanish journalistic grammar guide we requested from a professor at San Francisco State University. You can read “Y nosotros, ¿qué?” in Spanish on pages 17-18. The article is available in English by scanning the QR code on page 18 or by searching “What About Us?” on our website.

Reporters in Aquila also voiced their concerns regarding the maintenance of bathrooms on campus. As an editorial board, we ranked the restrooms, separating them into girls’, boys’ and gender neutral bathrooms. Students’ upkeep of the restrooms has been poor and this editorial is our call for a change in behavior as a student body. Read “Stop Peeing on the Floor!” on pages 19-20.

Continuing to examine UPA’s student body, reporters Angel Froumis, Sneha Madan and Samira Madden decided to dig deeper into how student athletes manage their sports schedule and schoolwork. “Sorry, I Have Practice” chronicles the experiences of a basketball player, volleyball player and swimmer and how they sometimes struggle to balance their school, athletic and social lives. Read the article on page 21.

In “Where in the World is Ben?” Reporter Ben Meyer shares his experience being a foreign exchange student from Germany. Meyer compares the culture of the two countries, from how education is structured to why German students rarely have drivers’ licenses. Read “Where in the World is Ben?” on page 24.

From artists to student athletes, and foreign exchange students to Spanish-speaking parents, Volume 12 Issue 2 is a slice-of-life magazine. As you open its pages, we hope you learn about the lives of people part of the UPA community: students you walk past in the hallways and the parents who pick them up after school.

We traveled to St. Louis, MO for the 2022 Fall Journalism convention, our first in-person convention since 2019.