How students at West use language in various ways to communicate. (Pages 24-29)
FIRST THINGS FIRST
The Big Picture: A debrief on world, nation, state and local news 04-05
How To Host a Party: A guide on how to throw a fun party for any occasion 06
This One Movie: Mind-boggling movies 07
By the Numbers: Why students don’t view college as the only pathway 08
From My Perspective: Student shares how bullying has influenced them 09
RED, WHITE, AND YOU
Reliable information for any new voters 10-11
NATIONAL TREASURE
Seeing how Joey Running was able to win a state award 12-13
CELLULOID TO CGI
How 3D animation has progressed within the last 2 decades 14-15
TOUGH LOVE
How one woman made all the difference in a community 16-17
PEER PRESSURE
The culture of mentoring in West Albany sports 18-19
WHY I...
What drives 4 students to do what they are passionate about 20-21
BREAKING THE RICE
Recipes from around the world that utilize rice 22-23
TAKE MY WORD 4 IT
Exploring how a persons life can be influenced by things like language 24-29
BREAK THE SILENCE
Staff Editorial about how and why students are not learning another language 30-31
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Cover and Back Cover Illustration | Ming Wong
EDITORS’ NOTE
As young people, the way we speak is incredibly important—not only to be taken seriously, but also to combat the many stereotypes that are associated with high schoolers. Communication has been and always will be crucial to the way that we form connections with our peers, family, and with the people around us.
Whether about the way we say ‘like’ too many times, or how our slang changes so quickly, we, as high schoolers, have always experienced scrutiny in our speech. It can be disheartening to not be recognized as valuable, or to
YOUR WORDS HOLD MEANING
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feel as though our voices don’t matter; however, language and linguistic expression is an important part of our identities that should be celebrated. The way we express our deepest thoughts and emotions is often through language, and there is an intricacy in the way every person speaks that is profound.
Taking this into consideration, it is also important to be aware of the effects of our words, and the assumptions we may have on others based on the way they speak.
These ideas are what led us to the language issue. We wanted to recognize the beauty of the diversity of language, while also acknowledging where certain tendencies may come from.
This begins with the statement “take my word for it,” which was intended to boldy urge the readers to consider the words in the following pages. It defends our validity as writers in a way that is confident and assertive, and aims to encourage readers to be sure in the weight their own words hold.
When faced with scrutiny, finding validity in oneself is so important. It means facing criticism or stereotypes and still being able to say, “I know what I’m talking about.” This is what leads us into the rest of the special section of the magazine.
We go on to explore the effects of code switching in “I said what?” which encourages readers to celebrate linguistic diversity, and to be aware of the barriers faced by bilingual and multilingual people, a theme continued in “Who said?” which assesses the dynamic of families that are bilingual.
Ending the section with an analysis on the growth of slang and importance of being aware of tone over texts was intended to connect with young people, and their experience with language.
With this magazine, we want to make people proud of the way they speak, and to recognize how important language is. Not only its importance as a society, but also its importance as people trying to connect with others. Holding space to appreciate the beauty of the unique ways in which people express themselves is so important, and will help us to become better people.
Mollie Brown, Avneet Dhaliwal, Gigi Roldan, Helen Whiteside, Ming Wong The Whirlwind Editors in Chief
Editors-In-Chief
Mollie Brown
Avneet Dhaliwal
Gigi Roldan
Helen Whiteside
Ming Wong
Art Director
Mika Winder
News
Mina Clower
Kayla Stefan Opinion
Julia Berg
Emi Ludlow
Special
Yesenia Rosas
Bri White
Sports
Edson S. Conn
Taylour Veith
Arts & Entertainment
A’Shyia Swensen
Mika Winder
Reader Engagement Director
Arabella Autry
Staff
Adilynn Atchley
Braxton Bullard
Jesus Cisneros-Obledo
Ariana Goettl
Charley Harrington
Zion Mollel
Ayrianna Vanhoorebeke
Addi Winter
Chance Young
Adviser
Michelle Balmeo
CONTACT US
Corrections and Letters to the Editors
Please send corrections or comments on this issue to: wahswhirlwind@gmail.com
THE WHIRLWIND is a dedicated student forum. Content and editorial decisions are made by student staff members exercising their rights as protected by the First Amendment and the Oregon Student Free Expression Law (Ore. Rev. Stat. sec. 336.477 (2007)). Opinions are those of The Whirlwind staff and not West Albany High School or the Greater Albany Public School District.
BREAKING PAR: WOMEN’S RISE IN GOLF
HOW IS THE WOMEN’S GOLF SEASON GOING THIS YEAR?
By Addi Winter
Spring sports have sprung into action, meaning the women’s golf team has started their season. The women’s golf team, which has eight girls on the team, isn’t quite the same as the men’s team, which has twenty-one current athletes. That doesn’t mean that the girls aren’t having as much fun as the boys.
“It’s really fun. It’s super supportive. we’re a really solid team,” sophomore Madelyn Perkerewicz said. “There’s not a lot of separation between the guys and girls, so we all hang out.” Perkerewicz has been on the women’s golf team ever since her freshman year and wishes to continue in the sport.
“My personal goal is to make it onto varsity,” Perkerewicz said. “There are people on the golf range that can hit far, and I’m barely making a hundred, [so] that is a goal.”
and putting,” the girls’ head coach Kelli Baker said. “Then a lot of our kids will go out and play a few holes on the golf course.”
WE’RE A REALLY SOLID TEAM “
IT’S REALLY FUN. IT’S SUPER SUPPORTIVE.
The team meets at the Spring Hill Golf Course’s driving range, practicing from 3:30 to 4:45. “Our practices consist of using the driving range to practice long balls, and then we use the putting green to practice chipping
The women’s golf team competes against other schools in the same league in tournaments. The girls are placed in groups of three and play with two other girls from different schools.
Tournaments allow girls to improve their skills and meet other kids who are also interested in golf. Golf is a sport that you can play until the age where you no longer enjoy it. Golf is a sport where there is no skill requirement, age, or status in order to begin.
“Hopefully we’ll start attracting more kids [to play],” Baker said. “It’s really fun and pretty lowkey. It can be as stressful as you want it to be. If you want to be super competitive, then you can go out and play more golf, [so] it’s kind of up to the individual.”
THE BIG PICTURE
WORLD
Dr. Rachel Bender, principal investigator for the University of Washington’s UW Positive, a clinical research site focusing on H.I.V. and a group of avid H.I.V. researchers have developed Cabenuva, a mix of drugs Cabotegravir and Rilpivirine, a once a week pill to combat H.I.V. The pill, though still in development for the next five to ten years, is going to treat H.I.V. for those resistant to many other treatment drugs.
NATION STATE
Students at Columbia University and the University of Southern California led recent protests on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Columbia University has had arrests for peaceful protests, while a student at USC, Asna Tabassum has been barred from giving her valedictorian speech in fear of safety issues with her pro-Palestinian views. Principal Rich Engel said that graduation ceremonies should be a time for celebrating overall student success, not individual political statements. “All of the people that are speaking, I would sit down with them and I would know what their speeches are prior,” Engel said, “so if there were things that were going to be potentially deemed outside of what we would accept, then we would ask them to rewrite it at that time, but I wouldn’t bar them from speaking.”
FROSH HISTORY
On April 11, the freshman class, as led by freshman Godfrey Conn in the relay competition, makes history. They beat all upper class-men at the prep assembly for the first time in over ten years.
Return of Dodgeball
On May 25, an old tradition is to return to West. The West vs. South dodgeball tournament, which was paused for several years, will take place at the YMCA. “It’s gonna be a really, really fun event for everyone,” sophomore Olivia Kinion said. “And it’s also bringing back an old tradition, so that’s nice to sort of incorporate West Albany’s past with us now.” So, assemble your team of five, practice, and “compete for glory.”
Albany Bike Show
In Nov. 2020, Oregon passed Ballot Measure 110, allowing possession of small amounts of drugs. Police could not arrest users but were allowed to write citations for treatment. However, after a surge in fatal overdoses and public drug use, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek signed House Bill 4002 into law, thus re-criminalizing the possession of small amounts of drugs.
The annual Albany Vintage Bike Show is returning to Albany on May 11, and you can expect 75+ vintage bicycles. The 2024 Categories are Best Original Condition, Best Restored Condition, Best Custom Build, Best BMX (Freestyle or Race), and The People’s Choice Award. All bikes constructed before 1989 will be considered vintage. This event is part of Albany‘s celebration of National Historic Preservation Month.
Photo by Jada Cavazos-Ang
Story by Edson S. Conn
HOW TO HOST THE BEST SUMMER BASH
THE INS AND OUTS OF THROWING A PARTY
Story
TIME AND PLACE
One of the first things of planning a big bash is figuring out exactly when and where this party is taking place. It could be on a weekend or weekday, in the afternoon or at night. The options are almost endless. After figuring out exactly what you want to throw together, the next thing is to send out a text with all of the details for the people you are going to invite. A Good way of doing this is saying something like, I am having a party on a chosen day and time. then add if they need to bring anything like a swimsuit, water guns, or anything else they might need.
GUESTS
The next thing to prepare is the guest list. It could be an exclusive event with only five people or a larger one with as many people as you desire. Junior Erica Hildenbrand said “I think anywhere from three to twenty people works best.” The most important part of this process is making sure that people RSVP répondez s'il vous plaît. This part is vital for the next stage of planning.
FOOD PLANING
After there is a rough amount of how many guests will be there, the next part of planning a party is figuring out if food and drinks are going to be provided by the host aka, You!. Although this part sounds easy, it can be much more complicated than it appears. Some nice questions to ask are: Is there anyone with dietary restrictions? If so, what are they? What type of party is it going to be? And what is the budget? All of these things are a part of the process to figure out what will be available.
REFRESHMENTS
If the party is a picnic then a charcuterie board is cute. But if it's a movie party, a popcorn bar, sodas and chips is a classic pick. Sophomore Cason Reinhart said “Apple Juice is pretty good.” Remember, things like chips and sodas are relatively cheap, provided in bulk, and many people enjoy them.
ACTIVITIES
Activities add action to a party. They can be the thing the party revolves around or can be something fun that’s included. Activities range from water balloons,water gun fights, watching movies, board games, video games, dancing, cake decorating, and many more. Freshman Kellen Bornheimer said “I like building epic blanket forts.” Although having activities is a good thing, having too many can be overwhelming so planning 1-3 activities is recommended depending on time and scope of the activity and party.
by Julia Berg, Photos by Unsplash
THIS ONE TIME...
MIND-BENDING MOVIES
STUDENTS AND STAFF SHARE THE MOST JAW-DROPPING FILMS THEY’VE EVER SEEN
By Zion Mollel
Movies, the cinematic creations of Hollywood that are watched and enjoyed by people all around the world, includes the students and staff at WAHS. Some of these films people watch can end up going on their personal list of the craziest movies ever.
English teacher Chris Martin claims the craziest movie he has ever seen is an early Peter Jackson film called “Dead Alive.”
“It’s sort of like a B-grade horror movie with tons of crazy stuff happening,” Martin said. “In a scene, one of the characters straps a lawn mower to his chest to kill these undead beings.”
Though the craziest movie on Martin’s list was a horror flick, films on this list can be tons of genres, not just guts and gore. Freshman Sam Peña claims that the craziest movie he’s ever seen was a Humans vs Robots movie titled Pacific Run. He saw the trailer as a kid and was instantly intrigued. “Robots fighting big Monsters, that was like my dream as a little kid,” said Peña. “This movie was and honestly still is my favorite.”
The film that sophomore José Jimenez chose as the craziest movie is Human Centipede 2. According to Jimenez, it was a disturbing film to watch. “He puts these contraptions on people— and connects them into a circle,” said Jimenez as he describes the movie. “He makes them do stuff in the prison courtyard and it’s bad.”
CHRIS MARTIN ENGLISH TEACHER
MOVIE: DEAD ALIVE
RATING: R
DESCRIPTION: A young mans life spirals into chaos after a monkey’s bite turns his mother into a flesh-hungry zombie, unleashing a gruesome rampage on her once-peaceful Neighborhood.
RECOMMEND: YES
“IT WAS DEFINITELY IN MY SHELF AS I WAS COLLECTING B GRADE HORROR MOVIES. IT WAS ONE OF THE HIGHLIGHTS IN THERE. “
SAM PEÑA FRESHMAN
MOVIE: PACIFIC RUN
RATING: PG - 13
DESCRIPTION: Giant robots piloted by humans clash with monstrous sea creatures emerging from an oceanic portal, in an epic battle to save the world from destruction.
JOSÉ JIMENEZ SOPHOMORE
MOVIE: HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2
RATING: R
DESCRIPTION: Martin, a disturbed loner, embarks on his journey to make his grotesque vision of connecting 12 people into a single entity come true. His journey being inspired by Dr. Heiter’s fictional experiment.
RECOMMEND: YES
“IF YOU LIKE BIG ROBOTS, AND YOU LIKE BIG MONSTERS, I WOULD RECOMMEND. ITS A 10/10 MOVIE.”
RECOMMEND: NO
“I WOULD HOPE NO ONE ELSE DECIDED TO WATCH IT [HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2] BUT IF THEY DO, THEN THATS ON THEM.”
CRASH COURSE
WHAT FACTORS CAUSE STUDENTS TO CONSIDER OTHER OPTIONS AFTER HIGH SCHOOL
Story by Kayla Stefan, Illustration by Addi Winter
WHAT IS YOUR PLAN AFTER HIGH SCHOOL?
FIREFIGHTER PARAMEDIC PROGRAM
“I THINK THAT I CAN BRING LIGHT TO THESE PEOPLE’S
DAYS THAT ARE PROBABLY GOING TO BE THE WORST DAY OF THEIR LIFE”
Senior Madison Shipley
NATIONAL GUARD COMBAT MEDIC
“I’M REALLY PASSIONATE ABOUT HELPING PEOPLE AND I LOVE THE THRILL OF IT, AND I WANT TO CHALLENGE MYSELF”
Senior Catherine Bussard
CONSTRUCTION TRADE
“I THINK THAT YOU GET MORE HANDS ON EXPERIENCE RATHER THAN SITTING IN A CLASSROOM”
Senior Emma Boland
“In the counseling center, we spend time talking with students about what they need to get done [in] high school, which opens the doors to whatever they might want to do.” Counselor Karen Beattie said. “It is always encouraged to start out at a four-year community college if you’re trying to figure it out. Take some classes, meet some people.” By starting at a community college it allows the student to find out if college is the right choice for them.
Public 2-year
Public PAB
Non-Profit
For-Profit
Public 4-year
High School graduation is approaching quickly, and many students are considering what to pursue after high school. Traditionally, there has been the expectation that students will attend college after high school, whether that is a four-year university or a local community college. However, in recent years, data has shown that fewer students are applying to college.
Many factors are considered by students when deciding what path to take for their future. Some of these deciding factors can range from geographic location, available opportunities for religious and cultural groups, career opportunities, to how their decision may affect friends and family.
Students can be influenced by family members as well as people around them. “I chose community college because all the firefighter paramedics around town told me I Chemekta is the best program and I want the best education and community college happened to be that for me.” Senior Madison Shipley said. “Sometimes people will follow in the same footsteps as parents or aunts and uncles,” Counselor Karen Beattie said. Some families may have one or two parents that have gone to college or earned certificates that shape the path their children may follow.
Based on the National Center for Education Statistics, students are more likely to attend college if one or more of their parents have received a college
ANNUAL PERCENT CHANGE IN FALL TOTAL ENROLLMENT BY SCHOOL TYPE ACCORDING TO NATIONAL STUDENT CLEANINGHOUSE RESEARCH CENTER
degree or certificate.
“There are some students that know exactly what they want they want, so they go directly to a four-year university, and they can just hit the ground running. Some don’t know yet, and that is actually more common,” Beattie said. At West Albany High School, many resources are available, including the College and Career Center, which is a new addition to our
Public Private
school.
“We have [an LBCC representative] here every Thursday to meet with students,” Beattie said. Recently, he has been helping students with FAFSA. The College and Career Center also has job postings that students can look at to find out what companies are hiring.
For-Profit Non-Profit
TOTAL COSTS BY SCHOOL TYPE FROM THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS
Sticks and Stones
HOW GETTING BULLIED AFFECTED MY VIEWS ON THE WORLD
When I was in 3rd grade, I was bullied because of the color of my skin. I remember having a group of friends that I was closer with that were Mexican, Mixed, and White. It was later in the year when I started to get bullied by them. They would say things about my skin, and that I would never be smart due to the different tone. They started to leave me out of things and not talk to me. I remember being confused as to why that would be happening, because to me, they were my best friends. To them, I was just a pet that they could say or do what they wanted with and I wouldn’t say anything back.
In one of my classes the teacher had the walls covered in owls. I wore this owl shirt once and the teacher, my classmates, and I made light-hearted comments and jokes about my shirt and the room. Then, I started wearing this blue and white owl shirt all the time, because it made me feel like I was included amongst my peers.
It was around summer when I was at a birthday party with one of my best friends and she made fun of what I was wearing. She said it was a ‘diarrhea jacket’ and that it looked ‘stupid.’ I never wore that jacket again. When I got to 4th grade, all I could ask myself was, ‘what if I get bullied again’, and I kind of did. In 4th grade I got picked on more about the style of my hair, the way I acted, or things that I ate because it matched silly stereotypes that were associated with my race. And because of this I was in a lonely place where I was bullied and picked on by one of my friends, making me scared of what people had to say about me.
These incidents made me feel very lonely, and I started to develop a lot of social anxiety. I went from the kid that talked all the time and with everyone to the quiet kid to whom everyone would say, ‘wait you talk?’
Despite this, I started to get close to one of the kids in my group of friends that didn’t pick on me, and his name was Ethan. I hung out with him and his mom every day. We’d do things like play “Fantastic Gymnastics,” “Mario Kart,” paint, roll around on the couch, make food, and eat. These two people became a huge part of my childhood and made me realize that for every bad person in the world there are just as many good ones. They moved away that summer, and I was never able to see them again.
Since then, I’ve made it my job to make people feel comfortable around me and feel like they can tell me everything, but being hyper focused on other people’s feelings, I haven’t noticed my own. I recall getting so upset when people have said that I’m rude or that I don’t pay attention because I’ve always tried my best. However, as I grow older, I remind myself that there are people who will always judge without any reason but you just have to keep going.
WHEN AND HOW TO HELP
WHAT AGE BULLYING HAPPENS AND STEPS ON HOW TO HELP
When you see movies it’s mostly teenagers getting bullied or maybe middle schoolers, which does happen a lot, but bullying can happen at any age—even preschoolers. The Hechinger Report says, when preschoolers get bullied, because of their age, they are more likely to become depressed and that depression can carry through their late childhood. There are differences from getting bullied and healthy conflict though, healthy conflict is feeling left out, having disagreements and arguing but bullying is unwanted aggressive behavior, power imbalances and repetition. There are four steps you can take to help the child get through the bullying:
1) ASK IF SOMETHING IS WRONG
IF YOU SEE YOUR CHILD ACTING DIFFERENT YOU CAN ASK IF SOMETHING IS WRONG AND IF YOU CAN HELP
2) RECOGNIZE THE PROBLEM
FIGURE OUT WHAT THE PROBLEM IS AND WHY IT’S HAPPENING
3)HELP THEM WITH HOW TO DEAL WITH IT
YOU CAN TEACH YOUR KID THAT IT’S HEALTHY AND THAT IT’LL BE OKAY.
4)TELL THE SCHOOL
LET THE SCHOOL KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH YOUR KID
Story, artwork and courtesy photo by Ariana Goettl
Photography by Emi Ludlow
RED WHITE AND YOU
PSTORIES, RESOURCES, AND INFORMATION FOR FIRST-TIME
residential elections only happen once every four years, and with each one comes four years of new voters. 2024 is one of them, and West Albany holds a slice of that new generation. Voting-and politics as a whole-can feel very intimidating, especially to youth. It can be hard to differentiate facts from falsities, form personal opinions, and navigate the process itself. However, political literacy holds the power of knowledge and understanding in our ever-changing state and nation.
This year, for Albany voters, there are 5 Linn County positions to be elected, 13 Oregon state positions along with the Attorney General, Secretary of State, US house, and Treasurer, and of course, most notably, the President. Shifts in so many positions of power will undoubtedly bring change in our community and state, and every ballot contributes to each decision.
% of 18-24 year old Americans that voted in
PERSPECTIVE OF WAHS’S SCHOOL BOARD REPRESENTATIVE
Politics and government tends to be a subject most youth aren’t particularly interested in, but for senior Hadley Huzefka it’s not only a passion, but a hobby. Huzefka was elected as WAHS’s student school board representative, a position held by students who have the opportunity to advocate for and report on the happenings at their respective schools. “I’m showing [that] this is a student from West Albany, and then there’s a student from South Albany to represent their student body, just
“ STUDENT VOTERS
By Helen Whiteside
as school board members represent certain districts.”
NO MATTER HOW BIG OR SMALL THE ELECTION IS, IT’S A WAY FOR ME TO PARTICIPATE
Huzefka also participates in Youth and Government, a club in which students participate in writing bills and passing them in mock Congress with other students in the state. With senior Noah Wines, she has received the Don Andrew heritage award twice. “Former youth governor Kylie Johnson…she signed our bill,” Huzefka said. “It was passed in the house and senate and was
Hadley Huzefka
Ramycia McGhee
Ramycia McGhee is an English and Literature professor at LBCC, and is serving her first term on the Albany City Council. The Chicago-born teacher originally ran for the council based on a recommendation, but has found a local way to spread her word and further her involvement in Albany’s community. “It’s important to have representation,” she said. “I’ve been the first woman of color to sit on the Albany City Council… it’s a huge stepping stone for our community.”
McGhee is a huge advocate
signed by our youth governor, just like the real deal.”
For Huzefka, voting is more than a check mark on a ballot. It’s a way to contribute to her community. “The vote is important to me because it’s how I can demonstrate what I’m interested in, and it means that no matter how big or small the election is, it’s a way for me to participate,” she said.
2024 being her first year to vote simply further encourages Huzefka to advocate for youth involvement in government. She praises research on all sides of the spectrum, and review of
for youth voting, emphasizing the impact it has on the future of our community, state, and nation. “It’s up to people like me and you and folks in our generation to really fight for the right thing…we need to be on the right side of history,” she said.
As a Black woman, she stresses the privilege that comes with voting, and the honor it is to cast a ballot. “Our ancestors, black people, women…have fought for
“CHRISTIANS ARE KNOWN BY OUR LOVE.
ALL OF THAT PLAYS INTO HOW I MOVE IN THIS COUNTRY, HOW I NAVIGATE THIS COMMUNITY, AND HOW I TEACH IN MY CLASSROOM
us to be able to vote. it’s also a proof of life and a way to let our voice be heard,” she said.
As far voting itself goes, McGhee recommends sharing the experience with those around you. Making research or even casting your ballot as a group can help boost motivation, and strengthen
unbiased sources for those looking to prepare for the elections and form their own opinions, and ask any questions fearlessly. “I don’t look at news having a lean as a bad thing,” Huzefka said. “If you
ENCOURAGEMENT FROM A CITY COUNCILOR BALLOTPEDIA:
your sense of community purpose. “Make it an activity. Let’s get together and go to a coffee shop. Let’s talk about it, let’s look at the candidates, let’s read up and see what they’ve done. what they’ve not done,” McGhee recommends. However, she urges the right to privacy in your vote. “If you don’t want to share your voting results or what you’re choosing, that is your personal business.”
Personally, McGhee formed her perspective through her background and experiences, specifically through her Blackness and Christianity. “Having a huge strong presence of African American Black folks…it was easier for me to lean into what my values and vision is…and my moral compass,” she explained. McGhee’s relationship with God also plays a significant role in her actions, both professionally and otherwise. ”I have a huge huge faith…Christians are known by our love. All of that plays into how I move in this country, how I navigate this community, and how I teach in my classroom,” she said. “Before I make any decisions about anything, I pray about it….I in no way use that to beat people down. I wasn’t created for that.”
surround yourself with moderate and equal parts of both sides…you can formulate a pretty educated opinion on how you feel.”
RELIABLE RESOURCES
Encyclopedia of American politics with free sample ballots
VOTE.ORG:
Nonpartisan nonprofit website with voter registration, pledging and sample ballots
SOS.OREGON.GOV:
Oregon’s secretary of state website with information on local measures, candidate filings, data of Oregon’s past elections
OREGON VOTER’S PAMPHLET:
Pamphlet mailed to all registered voters containing explanations of measures, candidate statements, and translations into different languages
ADFONTES MEDIA BIAS CHART:
Rates popular news and media sources by reliability and bias (as reccommended by Jodi Howell to her AP Composition classes)
VOTE411.ORG
Provides voting information by state, locates debates and polling places, offers first time voter checklist
UNIED STATES ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISION
Information of US Electoral College, signups for poll working, voting reports
Noah Wines and Hadley Huzefka with Kylie Johnson after the signing of their bill
Hadley Huzefka at a school board meeting
Photos used with permission of Hadley Huzefka and Ramycia McGhee
NATIONAL TREASURE
HOW A FINANCE TEACHER CAME TO WIN A STATE AWARD
When personal finance teacher
Joey Running was in high school, there was one thing she knew for sure.
“In my senior year of high school, my public speaking teacher suggested, ‘You should be a teacher,’ and I said I am never, ever going to high school again.” As she began college, Running decided to major in computer science, but it quickly became clear to Running that she was not interested in being a programmer.
“I would rather use and apply the programs,” Running said, “which I was very good at and really enjoyed at that time.”
Yet, as she came to the end of her junior year of college, she needed one more class to fill her schedule, and the only class that was available was Education 101.
“I took this class, and I was like, I’m supposed to be a teacher,” Running said. “It was clear at that point that I was supposed to take what I love doing and help students learn these skills so they can be workplace ready.”
Running’s first teaching job was teaching an Intro to Business class at her own alma mater in New York. Since beginning her teaching career in 1992, Running has taught personal finance.
This year Running was named the Financial Empowerment Educator of the Year by the National Financial Educators Association. After a conference Running chaired for in February for the Western Business Education Region, Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read informed her of the competition.
“I asked him [Read] to be a keynote speaker,” Running said, “and during that time, he said, ‘We have this financial
Credit is an agreement between a lender and a borrower that allows the borrower to buy things without having the immeadiate funds pay back the money later.
Banking
and services such as taking out loans and storing
between a bank and a customer.
Savings are the amount of money that is set aside for the future instaed of being spent immediately.
Investing is the act of buying assest that will gradually increase in value and create profit over time.
Story and Photos by Mina Clower
empowerment award, if you know of someone who is a champion for personal finance there’s a website to fill out to nominate them.’”
Running was nominated 10 times by students, peers, a state non-profit leader, and the director of the national Jump$tart Coalition for Financial Empowerment.
“I felt very supported by my students, by my administrators, by my mentors and colleagues,” Running said.
In her classes, Running helps get students workplace-ready and prepared to make good financial decisions in adulthood.
“Everybody needs a strong financial foundation to go to the next step,” Running said. Throughout the semester, she says she tried to cover five big categories: credit, investing, banking, savings, and behavioral. Oftentimes, when people find themselves in negative financial situations, it’s because of easily preventable spending habits; educating students to be aware of the way they spend their money is an effective way to prepare them to be financially successful and independent.
Every year around December, Running holds an alumni panel. Alumni come in, and they share with their takeaways from the class with students and explain how the class that helped them be successful.
During this panel, alumni share how they save money when buying cars or how they plan for retirement.
“The best part is when they come back for the alumni panel,” Running said, “and share their story and how this class was able to affect them in positive ways.”
Behavioral finance is taught to help manage personal choices about spending money.
IF WE ARE STRONGER AS A COMMUNITY, IF WE HAVE PEOPLE WITH A STRONG FINANCIAL FOUNDATION, IT WILL HELP ALL OF US, ESPECIALLY OUR DISADVANTAGED POPULATIONS,”
Mrs. Running and her 2nd period Accounting 1 and 2 class act of
UPDATED
FINANCIAL LITERACY GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS
On August 1st 2023, an Oregon bill was signed into law stating that in order to graduate all high school students would need to take one semester of Personal Finance and one semester of Higher Education Career Planning. These credits would not be adding extra credits to graduate but instead will be replacing one elective credit.
Financial Education used to be a graduation requirement until 1998 when it was repealed. This updated requirement is seen as a correction to the repealment in 1998. This updated standard is set to affect the Class of 2027.
TO CGI
HOW HAS THE STYLE OF ANIMATED MOVIES PROGRESSED AS GEN-Z HAS GROWN?
Story and illustration by Gigi Roldan
In 1995, the first fully computeranimated film, Toy Story, was released, focusing on entertaining mainly younger generations of the time. Created by Pixar, it opened the doors to a completely new style of animated films.
In the past, many family-friendly animated films were primarily 2D or stop-motion captured. Studios such as Disney would create films that were hand-drawn by each frame with different softwares, or had poseable puppets that would be moved slowly.
This caused Generation Z, born between the 1990s and early 2000s to grow up seeing and watching these installments.
“Animation was a big part of my childhood, and is still a big part of my life,” Senior Z Cox said. “It [animated films] was all I watched as a kid.”
Studios like Pixar saw overwhelming success from the positive reception from
children, earning hundreds millions in the case of movies like Toy Story, the Incredibles, and more. Many companies began to follow the animation style that Pixar pioneered, as shown by various movies deemed the best animated feature within the Academy of Motion
Disney/Pixar.
One movie stuck out. The Lego Movie from Warner Bros decided to turn to a different way of using 3D, instead taking inspiration from a section of the online Lego community: BrickFilms. These are stop-motion videos or movies made with legos, giving the movie an extremely unique look.
THE CHARACTERS “
feel liberated by animation, and the audience will, too.
Pictures and Sciences.
Of the 18 past movies that received the Best Animated Feature Award, only 3 had followed a different technique of animation from the majority 3D films: 2D animated Spirited Away by Studio Ghibli, stop-motion animated Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit by Aardman Animations, and stylized 3D movie Rango from Nickelodeon Movies. Of those 18 movies, 12 were created by
The idea was met with extremely positive reception, grossing 468.1 million in the box office, and scoring a 96% on the Tomatometer. But, other than the Lego Movie, there was a clear lack of variability between styles, partly due to Disney’s hold upon the academy.
Perhaps this was why Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse from Sony Animation was surprising in the best possible way. “The characters feel liberated by animation, and the audience will, too,” said New York Times Critic A.O. Scott in his article ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ Review: A Fresh Take on a Venerable Hero’.
Spider-Verse was fresh and new, knocking over dominos that the Lego Movie had painstakingly set up. After 4 years of production and 800 artists, according to NME, it shocked critics and audiences alike. “Obviously the Spider-Verse movies are so good,” said Cox. “They do such a great job of arching older 2D animation and newer 3D animation.”
For example, throughout the movie the main character Miles Morales’ thoughts and reactions are emphasized with striking boxes that are reminiscent of the mentioned artwork.
Along with that, Spider-Verse experimented with new frame rates. Within the industry, the standard fps, or frames per second, runs at 24. This means that every second, there will be 24 drawings to properly capture the feeling of artwork moving across a screen.
Audiences seemingly adored the movie, with it landing it in the top-10 of the Tomatometer, a site that shows the percentage of positive professional critiques for a movie. Spider-Verse
is also one of two non-Disney to have breached the top-10, with the other being Dreamworks’ How to Train Your Dragon. It made a substantial amount in the box office, making 834 million, and won Best Animated Feature of 2018.
Spider-Verse not only represented how far the medium of 3D animation could go, but also proved that it could be just as or more successful than the preconceived industry standard.
After Spider-Verse, Sony Animations set to create another stylized film; Mitchells vs The Machines, which was met with extremely positive reception from critics and audiences alike, according to the Tomatometer.
Pixar released two movies around that same time that also explored new art styles. “Turning Red was super good in my opinion,” Ramseyer said. “The animation flowed so well, and the backgrounds worked with it. I also really liked Luca… I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite style of animation, but that’s just my own preference.”
Dreamworks, one of Disney and Pixar’s
“
main competitors, entered the ring with two new movies, “The Bad Guys” in 2022 and “Puss and Boots: The Last Wish” in 2023. Each of these movies landed a place in the academy nominees in their respective years.
Most recently, SpiderMan: Across the Spider-Verse came out in 2023, officially ending the 5 year wait. This movie was extremely advanced in terms of new animation techniques, with one sequence involving hundreds of Spider people taking a full 4 years to
Beauty and Wish have a very wide screen ratio,” Micheal Giaimo, the production designer of Wish, said to the Walt Disney Company.
“I think Wish had potential, but it wasn’t reached whatsoever,” Ramseyer said. “People practically begged them [Disney] to bring back the old hand drawn style, but they can’t because they lost all the resources for it. So they gave us these fluid watercolor backgrounds that look like they are just plastered there.”
“Lots of the frames in the movie looked poorly shaded. It felt like the movie was trying to have the people be the focal point, but the people looked boring as hell.”
A majority of reviews on IMDb, a movie review site, agreed with this sentiment. “I’ve read several comments about the animation, and plenty seem to applaud the style, quality and colors… Let me be honest, this sucks, the most basic and unimaginative animation I think I’ve seen… to me it looks unfinished,” user Sleepin_dragon said. And within more professional reviews, it tended to also be criticized.
“It’s the ultimate cop-out — a
I THINK WISH had potential, but it wasn’t reachd whatsoever.”
animate. “... if you were to line up the hours worked on this film in a straight line, it’s like 792 hours straight … it’s insane,” Co-director of Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse Dos Santos stated in an interview discussing the scene.
Of these newly styled animated movies, only one experimental one has been made by Disney. Their 100th anniversary film, Wish, had a style that was modeled after picture books and older 2D animated movies. “For the watercolor look, which primarily drives the film, [Snow White and Pinocchio] were the two main shows, and Sleeping Beauty was leveraged in a couple of ways, probably in the largest way, which is both Sleeping
lifeless, uninspiring mess of bland brand management,” Bilge Ebiri wrote in an article for the Vulture.
Of the movies that experimented more with styles, Wish seemingly received the least positive reviews. Despite being nominated by the academy for Best Animated Feature, it lost to “The Boy and the Heron”, a 2D animated movie from Studio Ghibli.
“I think it’s because Disney has a style and it’s getting a bit too comfortable in it. The branching out of Spider-Verse where each character had a unique style brought soul and visual effort,” Cox said. “I think that if we learn new things and we continue to learn and take new steps, we can keep making it a little bit better.”
“
IF WE LEARN and we continue to learn and take new steps, we can keep making it a little bit better.”
TOUGH love
HOW ‘MAMA JEAN’ HAS IMPACTED THE WRESTLING COMMUNITY. Story and photography by Jesus Cisneros Obledo & Ming Wong
When the 2024 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Women’s National Championship came around, Class of 2023 alumnus and wrestler Ariana Martinez was unable to have her family there to support her, yet she wasn’t alone. In the parent section of the stands was a friend and “family member” to Martinez, someone who traveled to North Dakota on her own dime to watch her wrestle: Student Education Assistant Jean Smith – more commonly known by wrestlers as Mama Jean.
“She recorded my matches and she was there when I won and when I lost,” Martinez said, “and she was just really comforting. I didn’t feel like I had to be alone.”
college freshman – the same feeling that Martinez hoped Smith felt about her when she was in high school.
“
LIKE [HOW]
BOYS NEED MEN, SOME GIRLS NEED WOMEN AROUND, AND I HOPE THAT I’M A MOM OR A GRANDMA OR JUST SOME FEMALE FIGURE FOR THEM.
Smith found out about the National Championship as the two have continued to stay in touch over text since Martinez graduated from West. Though it was financially impossible for Smith to attend all her tournaments, she was there to watch Martinez compete at her first one in California as well. Emotionally, Smith says she’s proud that Martinez was able to make it to the National Championship as a
“I just wanted her to be proud of me,” Martinez said. “Not only of my accomplishments, but as a person.”
The introduction of the girls wrestling team in 2019 is what brought a new sense of excitement to an aging sport for Smith, who hopes she can offer support to female wrestlers. In difficult conversations between wrestlers and coaches, such as head wrestling coach Casey Horn, she’s known to offer an outsider’s perspective, consequently strengthening relationships, especially when it comes to the girls team.
“Like [how] boys need men,” Smith said, “some girls need women around, and I hope that I’m a mom or a grandma or just some female figure for them.”
Martinez met Smith her freshman year of high school and says talking to her came with ease, making the close relationship between the two of them come about. The two have gone hiking together, bonded over the video game “Animal Crossing,” and she even recalls one instance when
1995
Mama Jean gets into scrapbooking
2004
Mama Jean starts getting involved at WAHS through the Mat Club
2008
Mama Jean first meets Wrestling
Coach Casey Horn
2009
Mama Jean starts doing finances for the wresling team
2009
Mama Jean learns how to make posters along side another team mom
2015-18
Mama Jean’s son goes to college and plays football in California
2019
West Albany starts doing Women’s Wrestling
2019
Ariana Martinez meets Mama Jean
2024
Mama Jean goes to North Dakota to watch Ariana Martinez wrestle
PHOTO BOOK GRAPHY
In the picture above is wrestling Coach Casey Horn’s 2024 memory book created by Jean Smith. Smith says she got into photography through scrapbooking as a hobby when her children were babies. When it comes to her process of going through the hundreds of photos she takes of wrestlers, she starts by sorting them into folders for each one of them and then will only use the positive ones.
“I always choose a photo where they’re winning. I don’t choose one where they’re getting pinned or losing,” she said. “And I don’t choose photos where they’re upset.”
Smith says that a challenging part of choosing the photos she decides to use is finding ones for each wrestler on the team.
“Maybe they haven’t had as much experience, so they don’t win as often,” she said. “I want to try to find something where everybody has a chance to be in the memory book.”
Smith drove her to a tournament in Central Point, describing it as being similar to traveling with a family member.
“It’s a really chill, laid back atmosphere,” she said, describing what it’s like when Smith is around. “You can joke around and poke fun at her, and she doesn’t get upset.”
couldn’t stop myself from crying because [of] my problem,” Martinez said, “and I went to her and talked to her and she really helped me feel a lot better.”
“
IT’S A REALLY CHILL, LAID BACK ATMOSPHERE. YOU CAN JOKE AROUND AND POKE FUN AT HER AND SHE DOESN’T GET UPSET.
However, when Martinez faced problems, Smith was there as someone she could vent to and help her work through it, reminding her of her own self worth.
“I guess my senior year before districts, I had a problem and I was really going through it. Like, I went into the practice room and I
Coach Horn is said to have given Smith her nickname, Mama Jean, because of her desire to assist the wrestlers. He says she’s given them food, assisted with laundry, and even provided housing to members of the team. One of these wrestlers is now a police officer for the Albany Police Department.
Smith says this wrestler would go home with a group of boys that he hung out with, and with no place to go home to, he would wind up staying the night, time and time again. At first, she would take him in during the wrestling season and another family would take him during the baseball and football seasons, but as time went on other families helped out as well.
“And it just proved to me that it’s true. The old saying that it takes a village,” she said. “So I’m glad I was part of that.
And I’m proud of him. He calls me a mother still.”
PROUD MOM
Upstairs in the Commons you can find a picture of Ryker Smith, Jean’s son. Jean has two kids who have graduated from West: her oldest son Ryker in 2012 and her other son Steely Smith in 2014. Jean grew up in Sweet Home, which is a town she says is known for wrestling and it left her with a negative view of the sport. This view led her and her husband – who was a wrestler himself in the 70s – to originally say no to letting their youngest son wrestle.
“The germs. The skin. Some of the eating habits. Different things,” Jean said.
“But when your son’s crying and he really wants to join, so we did it. And then the oldest boy said, ‘If I have to sit here and watch my brother wrestle, I might as well wrestle.’”
She says she came to the decison to let her children wrestle after learning that their were changes made to the sport to make it healthier.
“Like when my husband wrestled, they would cut weight the wrong way and they would eat wrong,” she said. “But now, they get their hydration tested. They have to have a certain amount of water and they have doctors come in and check them. Make sure it’s healthy weight loss.”
Jean says she never missed one of her children’s sporting events – even missing work to do so – due to her desire to be supportive. She also says coming from a sport’s family played a role in her attendance. Even after her children graduated from high school, she says she would drive back and forth from California to watch one of her sons play football in college.
As a mother, she says she’s proud of them as wrestlers and as her sons.
“I’m not going to claim that I did everthying right. There’s no book that tells you how to raise your kids,” she said. “But so far, they are good human beings and I’m proud of them.”
MENTORS SHOULD BE...
• Accessible
• Approachable
• Encouraging
• Set clear and specific milestones that should be met
• Give honest feedback to your mentees
• Respect the apprentice
• Patients, greatness takes time
• Organized
• Tactful
• Punctual
• Friendly
• Professional
• Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your team
• Understanding
• Open minded
• Realistic
• “If you cannot see where you are going, ask someone who has been there before.” - J Loren Norris
• “We all wait in life for things to get easier. It will never get easier. What happens is you handle hard better ... So make yourself a person that handles hard well.” -Kara
Lawson head coach of Duke Athletics
Peer Pressure
HOW ATHLETES AROUND WEST ALBANY MENTOR EACH OTHER TO HELP GROW IN THEIR SPORT.
The tradition of mentorship within the cheer team at WAHS extends beyond the sidelines. It’s a practice of mutual support and recognition that they’re not only performing for an audience but uplifting one another as well. “My big, [junior] Ryenn Domagala and I know what we both like so we would buy each other things like Starbucks, Dutch Bros, and gift cards,” says Freshman Leticia Sifuentez.
The Bigs and Littles program for the cheer team had started before current Head Coach Morgan Wadlow had taken her position. Usually, a veteran cheerleader who can teach and support others is paired with a starter cheerleader. This year it turned out that there were more new cheerleaders than old, so there were even some new senior cheerleaders with veteran ones.
MY BIG, [JUNIOR] RYENN DOMAGALA AND I KNOW WHAT WE BOTH LIKE SO WE WOULD BUY EACH OTHER THINGS LIKE STARBUCKS, DUTCH BROS, AND GIFT CARDS
Wadlow continuing this program hopes that next year there will be more veterans than new cheerleaders and that it can be an actual mentorship system. “The returning cheerleader will help them learn all the new cheers, chants, and fight song,” says Wadlow. “There is a lot of material that our new cheerleaders have to learn and memorize and then it can be more of a mentorship role.”
When people think about mentors they believe it is someone highly experienced and has a lot of years in that sport. While the skills and techniques are a big part of sports the amount of time they have spent does not matter. “I think they [athletes] can have one year of experience,” Wadlow says. “I think it depends on the situation and the sport. A good mentor could be someone who only has one year ahead.”
At the same time, not all athletes are required to have a mentor. “I don’t think you need one but I always think it is good to have
Story by Taylour Veith photos by Lizi Kutchukhidze
someone to look up to,” Senior softball player Adie McArthur says. That said, having a mentor within every team is important. The athlete doesn’t need to help everyone out but has a good attitude for the whole team especially for younger teammates. “I think that it is important that every team has positive role models,” Wadlow says. “The younger athletes are hopefully looking up to them whether or not it is a two-way interaction mentorship.”
“THE YOUNGER ATHLETES ARE HOPEFULLY LOOKING UP TO THEM WHETHER OR NOT IT IS A TWO-WAY INTERACTION MENTORSHIP.
Just being encouraging towards teammates can help them improve and feel better about themselves. While McArthur doesn’t talk to her fellow softball players a lot she will remind them when they do something good to let them know or when they make a mistake to support them and stay supportive.
HOW MENTOR AND MENTEE DUOS SUPPORT EACHOTHER THROUGH THEIR SPORTS
What is it like mentoring Arnett?
Kate Williams: We started playing tennis together, so we help each other. We are close enough that when we are playing together we can get over mental blocks.
How has Williams helped you throughout tennis?
Molly Arnett: She is very positive all the time and that helps me a lot. I will get down on myself and she is good at bringing me back. Who taught you the things you know?
KW: The pro at the tennis club Lukasz Jaworski has helped us a lot.
What makes a mentor?
KW: They should be able to be positive and not get down on their teammates or make sure that they can stay positive. The most important thing is to have fun.
MA: They should have good leadership skills and just always have a good attitude.
What is it like mentoring Alexander?
Lily Peña: I don’t have to mentor her too much because she probably has more experience in lacrosse than I do. I think that helping to transition from boys to girls has been fun because she knows the basics so I didn’t have to start from scratch.
How has Peña helped you throughout lacrosse?
Hannah Alexander: She helped me a lot like learning how to catch. I did have to start over, but she helped me build my fundamental skills back up. She helped me get through the first week because there was a lot of mental stuff going on.
How long have you both been playing lacrosse?
LP: This is my third year playing.
HA: This is my first year of girls but I played boys for four years. Who taught you the things you know?
LP: Most of my experience comes from my previous coach Monet LeMay and my sister combined. She helped coach me and coach our current coach [Isidro Peña] my dad, so he was able to help further our skills. Just basic skills like passing and catching because with girls’ sticks, it is a lot harder to keep the ball.
HA: I learned from Jonathan [Rich] that is the head coach for the boys’ lacrosse team right now. What makes a mentor?
LP: Being able to change the way you teach is based on the person you’re trying to teach. Also having patience just learning how to help others.
HA: Being able to teach but also being able to learn at the same time so you are very open-minded and learned how to help others.
Why I...
STUDENTS TALK ABOUT THEIR ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND WHAT MOTIVATES THEM IN ACADEMICS, SPORTS, MUSIC, AND ART.
Senior Kyle Milburn
Milburn has had a goal of success since he was younger thanks to his older brothers influence, and in the words of Milburn
“I couldn’t let him be better than me.” If Milburn has lived up to that goal is up to you, as Milburn has taken: Advanced Placement Biology, AP Physics C, AP Chemistry, AP Calculus AB, AP World History, AP U.S. History, AP Literature, AP Composition, and four years of Spanish which counts as an AP class. In all he has taken nine
AP classes and continues to have a four point grade point average.
While on top of academics, he has participated in competitive swimming since he was six, taken four years of choir, band, and is in 4H.
What gives Milburn the energy and motivation to keep going? He answers “I enjoy what I do, I have to keep moving.”
Milburn continues on with a plan of majoring in theater.
Junior Addie Peterson
Tocreate is a skill that is sought after in the arts world. Artists are always looking for something new and different as they look through a different perspective at the world around them.
At 10 years old, Peterson got into art as a way to express herself. She continued throughout
to document her history. Some people may journal or take photos, but for Peterson, it’s something that only she can understand.
“It’s fun to see different stages of my life,” she said. “Like documenting.”
middle school now an is now in AP Art “I really wanted a challenge for myself, and I thought it would be a fun way to do it,”she said
What makes Petersons art unique is that she uses it as a way
As of currently, Peterson is working on a project to try and reflect on how other people feel and their lives through the window of their eyes.
“My sustained investigation is about eyes and emotions through eyes,” she said. “The effect of trauma.”
Story and photography by Emi Ludlow
Here at West Albany High School, “Where Excellence is a Strong Tradition,” this slogan holds true for many students. Through academics, sports, music, and art, West has strong programs and it can be demonstrated through the hard work and dedication of these students. Senior Kyle Milburn, Junior Addie Peterson, Sophomore Drake Morvay, and Freshman Lola Chamberlain talk about what helps them continue on and drive to improve themselves.
Sophomore Drake Morvay Freshman Lola Chamberlain
Asa freshman, Morvay joined Wind Ensemble and Jazz 1 second semester. Now a sophomore, Morvay is still in Wind Ensemble and Jazz, but has expanded his participation in performing arts to Rhythmics, school musicals, and festivals. What makes Morvay such an asset to the music program?
“For a high schooler, having someone who can sing an E^2 is [near] impossible,” he said.“It’s very rare.”
do these crazy cool things was inspirational. I really wanted to be like that.”
Putting in the extra hours outside of school with evening Rhythmics rehearsals and Jazz during a zero period resulted with Morvay singing solos, playing leads, and winning awards.
What got him on this path?
“My sister was in a lot of music classes…seeing them perform and
In the Solo ensemble festival, “We [won] first place in small low brass ensembles,” Morvay said.
Asa freshman varsity athlete in basketball, soccer, and track, Chamberlain began to take basketball seriously about two years ago after previously only playing the game recreationally; however, her sports career didn’t start there.
Starting her soccer career as a six year old, she only expanded her sports calling.
“My life centers around [sports],” she said. “Without sports, I just sit at home and not do anything.” What makes Chamberlain exceed is the extra time and effort she puts into practice and clubs.
so I try to get 15 minutes everyday with the ball.”
Neurology researchers, Annie Bosler and Don Greene, presented their work on TED about how practicing weaknesses and repetition will help strengthen the pathways from the brain to the muscles. This will help improve the speed and accuracy of an action. By continuing to take time out of her day, Chamberlain hopes to continue her athletic career and continue to get practice and improve.
“I want to get better because sports is really my life.”
“I went to [a] camp for soccer to improve my skills,” Chamberlain said. “I’m trying to practice more,
WHAT IS PILAF?
Pilaf or pilau is a seasoned rice dish common across southern Europe, Asia and Africa. It varies from culture to culture, but often is spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, cumin, and cloves. It can have meat or vegetables added to become a main dish. The consistency varies, with some areas preferring it to be sticky, soupy, dry, or soft. In Africa, pilaf bears some similarities to other rice dishes like jollof or bariis iskukaris. In terms of additions, tomatoes and meat are popular in Tanzanian cooking.
WHAT IS MOCHI?
Mochi is a Japanese food made out of mochiko (glutinous rice flour) or cooked and kneaded mochi rice. It is traditionally made by steaming the rice and pounding it using an usu and kine, a large wooden mortar and pestle. It can also be made in less traditional ways using a microwave, or purchased at many Asian groceries. The resulting mochi is chewy, and can be either savory or sweet. Most commonly, it is filled with red bean paste or ice cream for a dessert, or as ozoni, a dish served as part of a soup similarly to gnocchi.
WHAT IS BIRRIA?
Birria is a Mexican meat dish typically made using beef, mutton, chicken, or goat. It is similar to a stew, with the meat being cooked in broth after marinating in an adobo, [a method of seasoning meat where the meat soaks in a spiced broth before cooking]. The most common seasonings for the adobo include chiles, garlic, cumin, and thyme. The dish was named when Spanish conquistadors were served meat cooked with traditional Indigenous methods and called it ‘birria’, meaning worthless or useless.
Breaking The Rice
COMFORTING TRADITIONAL FOODS UTILIZING A COMMON AND VERSATILE STAPLE GRAIN
Story and Photography by Mika Winder
What is eaten by 3.5 billion people, grown on six continents, and is even used in the construction of one of the most well-known man-made landmarks in the world? It isn’t a bacteria, molecule, or element; it’s rice. Rice is one of the oldest and most common food staples in the world, and is used in cuisines from Asia to Africa and South America. It is also incredibly versatile, commonly eaten with meat, sauce, vegetables, desserts, or even on its own as a side dish. Each hailing from a different background, three WAHS students shared their personal experiences with this common grain in cultural foods.
SOPHOMORE NENGAI MOLLEL
“Back home in Tanzania, we only eat meat and milk. That’s pretty much it. In America, we have burgers and fries, but we [Tanzanians] only eat cows’, sheep’s milk and what’s called ugali. It’s basically cornstarch with water and then you just eat it with other stuff... I love eating pilaf. It’s a dish with rice, beef, tomatoes [and] a lot of seasoning. My mom always makes it on a cold day.”
SENIOR AIDEN HANAMOTO
“There are some foods that I eat that are Japanese based, like fish over rice with specific types of salmon. [Also], New Year’s mochi. I eat a crap ton of mochi. [Whether or not I make it at home] depends on if I have the stuff to make rice flour, but I’ll make rice flour and put ice cream in which is mochi. My favorite is mint. I love mint. I’m addicted to mint.”
“All of the rice I eat is basically as a side, but my mom makes it look a certain type of way. So it would be like orange rice, birria–which is one of my favorite foods–and then beans. I would eat it almost every day. My mom cooked a lot of [different] foods for a wedding, so we had a lot of leftovers. Back then, I remember we’d eat a lot of it.”
FRESHMAN VALERIA CORONADO
Sweet Success
BAKING AND PASTRY ARTS STUDENT AT WEST ALBANY SHOWS OFF THEIR BAKING BRILLIANCE
In the kitchen of West Albany’s Baking and Pastry arts class, the rich aroma of bread baking fills the air, the warmth of the oven envelops, and delicious pieces of culinary art being created. Whether it is cakes, breads, or something completely different from what many are used to, the baking world has endless flavors and surprises.
Junior Henry Zinck has been a baker since the age of three, and has had an interest in it ever since. They decided to join the class due to wanting to upgrade their skills.
“[Culinary teacher Dolly] Victorine is great, one of the best teachers at the school,” Zinck said. “[Baking and Pastry class is] just generally good for anyone that wants more experience in baking.”
Victorine, seeing the students’ growth, notices what they’re best at “Their baking of breads is incredible,” Victorine says.
“THEY TAKE A LOT OF TIME, PRACTICING AND TRYING DIFFERENT THINGS, TRIAL AND ERROR.”
Zinck’s interest in the class has also furthered their experience in their baking process, with new dishes being served in the class.
“We have been baking quick breads, yeast breads, and we’re in the middle of our chocolate unit. It has led us to a whole bunch of different recipes, [where we] test out some new techniques. Pretty simple stuff, but it’s fun.”
In the pastry class, each person excels in their own specialties, whether it’s a dessert, savory pastries or baked goods.
“Focaccia [is what I’m best at],” Zinck said. “It is an Italian flatbread, normally covered with olive oil, tomatoes or basil.”
Victorine confirms Zinck by saying Zinck uses their strength in the kitchen, but with every strength lies an accompanying challenge.
“I THINK THAT THEIR ROSEMARY GARLIC FOCACCIA WAS THE BEST.”
According to Zinck, cake is one of the hardest things to bake.
“It doesn’t seem like it would be [that hard],” Zinck said, “but it is so ridiculously difficult.”
With all of the experience that Zinck has gone through in their life, including their time in this class, they still stay interested in this hobby and plan a future with it in mind.
“I’m going into the culinary field, so I’m probably going to become a pastry chef and make it my professional career.”
Focaccia made by Zinck
Focaccia Ala Amatriciana made by Zinck
Story by Braxton Bullard, photos by Taylour Veith and Zhaine Raymundo and food photos with permission from Henry Zinck
HENRY ZINCK’S DISHES
Tarte Aux Charlotte de Pommes made by Zinck
Babka Challah made by Zinck
25 What does the font say?
What is the history of fonts, and why they even exist too begin with
Contents The Language Issue
The concept of code swiching, and why linguistic diversity should be celebrated
26 I said what?
Do u get the slang-uage?
How do your teachers feel about the current slang language?
28
WHAT DOES THE FONT SAY?
Story by Chance Young
Unless someone is working on an essay, it is easy to forget about fonts. Most sites just default to a single font, such as Arial or Times New Roman. Despite this forgetfulness, they are of insurmountable importance to how people communicate, post and pre-Internet.
From Video Game Fonts to Professional Fonts, and much more, fonts are very versatile. Anyone can create a font, as by dictionary definition, a font is an assortment or set of characters all of one style and sometimes one size.
The first font, or typeface as it’s called professionally, is the Blackletter typeface; also known as Gothic script. According to the British Library, this font was invented sometime within the 14/15th century in Western Europe,
and is still commonly used up until about the 20th century. The Germans were among the last to commonly use it over other fonts.
The use of fonts was heavily linked with the invention of the press print, the printer’s purpose was made to make the mass production of books easier. Fonts and printing presses are linked because both are related to the other’s creation. The press uses a block of either wood or metal that has the text needed on it that is then covered in ink and pressed onto a stack of papers on both the top and bottom.
If that was too long of an explanation, in the simplest of terms, it’s basically a giant stamp that puts words onto large amounts of paper.
One would assume that with over 200,000 different fonts, people would have a unique favorite font, as there are so many to pick from, but this doesn’t seem to be the case, at least when looking at these four students.
“I like the original Arial and maybe cursive on special writing things,” freshman Jordan Castaneda said. “You know, I don’t like those fonts that are just really big and weird looking.”
Who’s to say?
Navigating life as a bilingual kid with single language parents
27
29 Did u mean that?
How texting can lead to miscommunications.
For others, default fonts can be boring or unappealing.
“My favorite one is Comic Sans,” freshman Kiara Portrey said. “I don’t like the generic font[Arial].”
Fonts like Comic Sans draw strong opinions from people, including from sophomore Mo Carlson. “[My favorite font is] Times New Roman,” Carlson said. “[My least favorite font is] Comic Sans.”
Sophomore Mari Smith agrees with Carlson about Times New Roman, but said, “[My least favorite font is] Arial.”
While all picking different fonts when it comes to the ones they like and dislike, they all mostly mention the same fonts, and the freshmen when asked said they didn’t even know the names of the more common fonts. Despite their importance to the internet and communication in general, fonts are an overlooked art. There is so much creativity and fun involved in fonts. Some are funny, some are cool, and others are professional.
The whole take away from this is, find some cool fonts. There are many interesting and cool fonts out there to use, or if you somehow find all of them boring, make one of your own!
Who says
NAVIGATING LIFE AS A BILINGUAL CHILDS WITH NON-ENGLISH SPEAKING PARENTS
The definition of a language broker is a child who translates the English language and/ or cultural practices for their non-English speaking parents. Being a language broker includes translating in social settings, escalated situations, possible day-to-day interactions, and translating at restaurants and doctors offices.
According to the National Institute of Medicine, a lot of early research shows that language brokering can be psychologically bad for children. It can be associated with stress and feeling burdened, but not every experience is like that, according to sophomore Kevin Cervantes’ own experiences.
one time there wasn't any, so I had to just step up and be a big boy.”
BEING BILINGUAL HELPED ME HELP PEOPLE. “
Cervantes' first language is Spanish andl earned English once he started going to a bilingual elementary school. He explains how learning a new language was hard at first, yet time helped. “I got more comfortable [with English], but I still had trouble with accents but I picked them up later in my life,” Cervantes said.
Once starting middle school, Cervantes was placed into a Spanish class where his teacher helped him develop his English further. The diverse Middle school he attended also helped.
“Having a lot of diversity at that school helped me stay bilingual and connected with the different languages, English and Spanish,” Cervantes said. Becoming bilingual gave Cervantes the opportunity to help his mainly Spanish speaking parents and he took advantage of that.
“I remember when I had an appointment and my mom would usually get a translator but this
This was one of the first times where Cervantes remembers stepping up and being a translator for his parents. He explains that he was a very shy kid and that affected his ability to translate often. He explains, “They [His parents] could understand some English, but they couldn't really speak it.” The combination of Cervantes being shy and his parents not being able to speak the language well brought him embarrassment when it came to his parents not being able to communicate. As Cervantes continued to help translate for his parents, it helped him remember his priorities.
“Family is one of my priorities and at the end of the day, it's not even that deep to just be helpful.”
A time where Cervantes remembers having the bravery and courage to step up and translate was after someone tried to break into his home. He spoke to the 911 dispatcher and to the cops that arrived at his house to file the report. At the time he was only in 4th grade but he took charge in order to help his family.
“Ever since that I felt like I needed to step up because you never know what the situation is,” he said. “It may be good, it may be bad, but you need to step up and help your family,“ Cervantes knows that the power of being bilingual and a language broker was a gift for him to help people. “It shaped me into showing my culture, [representing] the Mexican community and embracing that I am bilingual, [which] is a gift.”
Story by Yesenia Rosas
Kevin Cervantes and his family, including his parents and little brother
i said what
THE CONCEPT OF CODE SWITCHING, AND WHY LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY SHOULD BE CELEBRATED
Story by Mollie Brown
Ever since they were young, senior B Gutierrez-Villanueva, who is non-binary and uses “they/them” pronouns, has been expected to speak a certain way. At home, they speak English with their father but Spanish with their mother, and at school they speak exclusively in English—a disconnect that has gone to affect the way they hold their identity and culture. They describe this as a line drawn between what people see as understandable, and what is most comfortable for them.
“I feel the pressure to speak English instead of Spanish because that’s the way people will understand [me],” Gutierrez-Villanueva said, referring to their experience growing up, “but Spanish was the place where I was most comfortable speaking.”
This experience can be described as ‘code-switching,’ which describes the act of switching between a dialect or language. Valeria Ochoa, Doctor and Assistant Professor of Spanish Linguistics and Heritage Education at Oregon State University, says it is a very complex linguistic phenomenon.
“There are people that believe there are distinct languages that exist in the brain, [and] if you were to try to see those languages, they could be separate entities. We can think of them in this case as codes,” Ochoa said. “So the idea would be that you’re navigating different codes. People often refer to Spanglish as a type of code switching between English and Spanish.”
Gutierrez-Villanueva recognizes this as being especially relevant to their experience as a bilingual person growing up.
“I would use Spanish words to substitute for phrases that I
didn’t know in English,” Gutierrez-Villanueva said. “For example, braid—trenza or zapato—shoe.” This would be called inter-sentential code switching, or switching between languages in the middle of a sentence.
Since they were exposed to English much more frequently than Spanish, especially in school, Gutierrez-Villanueva stopped using Spanish interchangeably with English
“I would pretty much only use [Spanish] with my mom,” they said. “Years of code switching in school, and having that still be present in my house, has led to me not knowing as much Spanish as, say, my cousins.”
Gutierrez-Villanueva contrasts this with the experience of their older sister, a first generation immigrant from Mexico.
“I remember at one point, we were talking about how different school was for us, and I [asked], ‘Why did you fail so many classes?’” Guitierrez-Villanueva said. “And she was like, ‘Well I was learning English, my main language was Spanish, so that’s why.’”
Although there has been growth in addressing this problem since (their sister graduated in 2014), there are still steps that need to be taken to provide more classroom resources to bilingual students or students learning a new language entirely.
speaker and a monolingual English speaker at the same time, which is not something that they’ve ever had to do.”
For this reason, having resources to support multilingual students is incredibly important and will help students to feel more comfortable in class. Besides teacher trainings and additional resources, these disparities can be addressed through greater compassion, learning and understanding.
“I’m not going to say that language teachers have bad intentions when they create certain language policies, it’s just sometimes lack of familiarity with how heritage or bilingual or multilingual [speakers] grow up and what’s naturally going to help them continue to use the language,” Ochoa said. “It’s like anything else—just because you’re not in a community doesn’t mean you can’t learn about them.”
I FEEL THE PRESSURE TO SPEAK ENGLISH INSTEAD OF SPANISH BECAUSE THAT’S THE WAY PEOPLE WILL UNDERSTAND [ME] “
“Teacher trainings are the number one thing, [and] we don’t have enough options, but there are places like the National Heritage Language Resource Center through UCLA, and a lot of other wonderful people doing work that often is free,” Ochoa said.
Ochoa emphasizes that many of the pressures faced by bilingual and multilingual people to code switch or to speak almost exclusively one language in school is an oversight that has a major effect on their experience with academics.
“[If] your brain is used to using everything all at once, when you try to restrict that, it’s actually the opposite of natural for bilinguals or multilinguals,” Ochoa said. “They are forcing them to try to behave like a monolingual Spanish
this hatred for something because I didn't understand it,” Gutierrez-Villanueva said. “She wanted to show me cultural stuff, but I would push that away because I was feeling hurt by not being understood by her.”
Gutierrez-Villanueva, in hindsight, has recognized the importance of connecting with their heritage. They’ve taken Spanish classes at West, and also made efforts to open more communication with their mom despite the language barrier.
“I didn’t think to ask her any questions about what she did when she was in Mexico,” they said, “and when I got out of that fog, I started asking her more questions.”
Creating a classroom environment that fosters linguistic diversity and holds space for bilingual and multilingual students could help them to connect with their cultural identity, especially if they don’t feel as much pressure to act or speak differently in an academic setting. Gutierrez-Villanueva suggests that a having time to speak with other Spanish speakers in school may have helped them to maintain more proficiency in the language.
“If I had a Spanish speaking group that I talked to, I would have possibly connected with other Spanish speaking people about things like our upbringing,” Gutierrez-Villanueva said. This would not only help them to get more practice outside of the home, but also to build a stronger community with people of similar backgrounds. Unfortunately, Gutierrez-Villanueva’s loss of proficiency in Spanish speaking has led to a disconnect with the way they understand and interact with their Mexican culture.
“There’s kind of a language barrier because my mom is the only person that speaks Spanish to me, and that culminated into
Linguistic identity, similar to any trait or characteristic, decides so much of how an individual is perceived, and being a part of a minority group can make it difficult to feel accepted and seen when faced with stereotypes and a disparate amount of barriers to overcome. Moving past these perceptions and prejudices means finding validity by looking inward.
“Being a woman that’s brown that shows up in a space, people have ideas just by looking at me,” Ochoa said. “I’m like, why would I want to live in a world or in a space the rest of my life pretending to be someone else?”
TERMS AND DEFINITIONS:
inter-sentential code switching
When the act of switching between languages occurs at sentence boundaries.
intra-sentential code switching
A shift that is done in the middle of a sentence without hesitation.
Linguistics
The scientific study of language and its structure. Lexicon
The stock of words and their elements that carry meaning.
Do u get the slang-uage?
HOW DO UR TEACHERS FEEL ABOUT CURRENT SLANG LANGUAGE?
Story and photos by Adilynn Atchely and Ayrianna Vanhoorebeke
Did u that?
Have you been in a situation where someone acts different online than they do in person?
Absolutely, but even in emails. People send off angry emails, it’s just easy to remove the human on the other [screen] when it’s online. And you guys have to deal with that amongst your friends, or even secret groups on [social media]. I just don’t think adults deal with it the same way you guys do
Do you ever get emails from students using slang or abbriviations?
I taught at LBCC for about eight years and a good amount of my students were older, already had jobs and their bosses had asked them to go back to school to get better writing skills because of emails. I think it’s something that we need to talk to kids about, [because] of how important it is to present yourself. Understanding time, place, context, and how those things come across is really important.
How do you feel about the way teens act/talk to eachother now days?
I think one of the things for me is, ‘Are they texting? Are they writing a professional email? Are they writing for an assignment?’ And I would say that one thing that students don’t do, as to why [they don’t use formal grammar rules], [its] probably just out of convenience and they get so used to writing in one certain style. In one way that they just haven’t been forced to make the adjustment from one format to another.
Do you think there could be a balance between slang and academic language?
It’s just making sure [you’re] changing over from your formal communication to your informal communication. I think students seem to understand the importance of that, making sure that you actually have to capitalize your name. Like if you’re gonna be going to a job and you’re going to communicate with customers or your boss or somebody like that. That’s probably one of the biggest things is basic grammar punctuation, if they don’t pay attention to those types of things [then it’s tough].
Have you noticed a change in the way students talk/act now vs when you were in highschool?
When I was in high school we didn’t have cell phones, so it was a lot more direct conversation. I miss that whoever you were with was the only person you were talking to, you couldn’t be interrupted by something in your pocket. No matter where you were, there was an exclusivity of attention, you were only with those people, and it was awesome.
How does it feel when students use slang on school work?
For most assignments, if a kid uses slang I don’t mind. Right now one of the biggest battles as a teacher is having people using Google or AI instead of thinking, so if a kid is using slang, that means it came out of their brain, so I only discourage it on essays.
SOCIAL STUDIES
MARTY JOHNSTON
LANGUAGE ARTS AND SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHER
SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHER
JODI HOWELL ERIK IHDE
u mean that?
HOW TEXTING CAN LEAD TO MISCOMMUNICATIONS
Commentary and illustration by Bri White
Being a teenager in this generation means you are held to so many standards and expectations, especially on social media. I’m constantly struggling trying to fit in while also not standing out.
A lot of us would rather hide behind a screen instead of talking to people face to face. This can lead to miscommunications and break down relationships.
One of the biggest problems is that you can’t interpret someone’s tone by reading words on a screen. It’s like when someone compliments you but they have a rude tone; it sounds insincere. Or how you can tell when you’re in trouble by the way your parents call your name. Tone makes the world of a difference.
Have you ever realized how we pay attention to body language and express how we feel through physical cues? This is also taken away when you communicate over the phone. For example, I have gotten into many arguments because of the lack of social cues and misinterpreting tone. I’ve made my friends think I’m mad at them because they misunderstood my use of a period. It came out sassy and sounded rude. They didn’t know I wasn’t upset because they couldn’t see my body language or hear my tone of voice.
After talking about the problem in person, I realized that it was just a huge misapprehension and the message was actually intended to be inviting, not excluding.
COVID-19 has played a huge role in the way we talk and interact with each other. The Frontiers in Human Dynamics, a research team whose’ goal is to make science open to the public, has put out a survey to see how people have started relying on social media using it more during COVID. The results showed about a 50-70 percent increase in social media use during the pandemic.
Technology has taken away many aspects of our social health and made it difficult to get back to acting the way we did before. Since COVID, I’ve struggled to communicate how I feel in person without getting super anxious and backing out. I can see how much being isolated at home for almost a year has impacted my social anxiety and the way I think.
According to Pew Research Center, about a third (35%) of Americans said socializing and going out is not a priority to them anymore. COVID has strongly affected my way of communication after losing so much in person contact with my peers.
A problem found in communicating online is how some people are super confident and say whatever they want, but in person they don’t act the same. I’ve had countless times where people have been incredibly rude while texting but act like nothing happened the next time I see them in person.
One time a friend was texting me, being so inconsiderate of how I felt and not thinking about how their words were affecting me. Then they started blaming me for a situation and pretending like they played no part in our argument. At school, they acted like nothing had happened the night before. I felt so unimportant and unheard. Although it can be hard to talk to people face to face about serious subjects, it is so much more beneficial to see their point of view.
So many social aspects are taken away when you are talking over the phone instead of face to face. There have been many studies to show how tone and body language play the biggest role in interpreting what people are saying. Therefore, if you question what someone means over text, just ask them.
BREAK THE SILENCE
HOW BEING UNWILLING OR UNABLE TO UNDERSTAND OTHERS CAN BE DETRIMENTAL AND ISOLATING
More than half of the world speaks more than one language, and Americans should no longer be the exception to this. Although English has been established as the ‘universal’ or ‘common’ language throughout the world due to historical, political, and economical factors, and is considered prestigious in the hierarchy of languages, this does not correlate with English being the most spoken language in the world. English should not be prioritized over others. When interacting with foreigners and immigrants, many older Americans hold the belief that proficiency in the English language is directly equivalent to one’s overall intelligence, which stems from a colonial mindset where the spoken language of the oppressor was associated with authority and opportunity. This mindset has placed English on a pedestal and has led native English speakers to be entitled when traveling abroad and apathetic at home during interactions with nonnative speakers.
One reason people lack interest in other languages is the lack of interaction with people who share a different cultural background than them, which in turn, also influences how many American families view the ability of being bilingual or a polyglot. The lack of interaction isn’t entirely to be blamed upon individual families as out of the four million people living in this state, only about 15.3% speak another language as reported in 2022 by the United States Census Bureau. This data may be a bit inaccurate as many families may not participate due to the census being offered in 12 languages.
Language is the tool that gives you the ability to not only communicate with another person but with entire ways of life that hold ideals different from ours. What starts with differences at the grammatical level eventually explains the valued practices that are followed at a societal level. For example, English only relies on the word ‘you’ when speaking to people of all different demographics regardless of age or status; however, the next level is languages like Spanish and Farsi which use two different words for ‘you’ in regard to how much respect or politeness is to be shown to someone; furthermore, there are some languages like Korean and Japanese that take honorifics to the next level by having over four different politeness levels when addressing others appropriately. These forms of address are not arbitrary, as they hint at how individualistic or collectivist a society deems itself to be.
Due to the overall lack of interest in learning different languages, it eventually becomes a systematic issue as educational departments, ranging from a national to local level, do not see the point of using limited taxpayer funds on already underfunded linguistic departments when there is little to no societal demand for these skills within the public. Many higher educational institutions do encourage
proficiency in another language to encourage exposure to different cultures. High schools try to meet this expectation by requiring at least two years of foreign language credits in order to receive a diploma. The problem that arises with this is similar to how reverse psychology works, when people are told that they must do a certain task they are more unwilling to do so, compared to when they choose an option themselves. Many students do not want to be told which classes to take, especially if they believe that those courses will not be applicable or beneficial to them after high school. Additionally, learning a language is not as simple as being taught a concept in science or a fixed time period in U.S history. Language constantly evolves, dialects differ drastically, and they are infested with everchanging slang. So, putting in such an extensive effort to learn a language that you may not be fully able to communicate in seems pointless.
Furthermore, it is tough to leave a personal comfort zone and even tougher to speak out in front of peers while trying to learn new skills. There is an aspect of pride that plays into the unwillingness to learn about other peoples and try to fuse their cultures with ours. Many people devalue the inclusion of different languages in public spaces, as English has been established as the one that’s commonly spoken and there is an expectation that others must accommodate us.
While it is a reasonable demand to want people coming into this country to learn the language taught in schools, it is not reasonable to push them to assimilate. Adding on to that, the disconnect between Americans and multilingualism creates an environment of cultural ignorance and stereotypes about other people. Apathy only creates frustration between Englishspeakers and immigrants who may not have the resources to learn English and find themselves unable to share their experiences and hold meaningful conversations with the locals here. This can be extremely isolating to immigrants who move to places where there are very few of their own people, and it can be disheartening to immigrants who want to connect and contribute to their communities.
This inability to communicate creates frustration between locals and foreigners, which creates a breeding ground for miscommunication and animosity.
There are a lot of actions that can be taken to improve the social lives of people who come to our country, and there are steps we can take from our side. There are already English-Spanish resources and services offered at the Albany Public Library’s main branch. Additionally, due to activism from the growing Hispanic community, there are more and more businesses that are offering bilingual services, which allows these businesses to not only be accessible and grow their consumer bases, it allows opportunities for people of all demographics to be able to get to know people who share the same interests as them.
Moreover, with the public creating inviting spaces for many people to be a part of, local and state governments have been and are doing their part in making more services accessible to the wide range of people that make up our population, thus allowing them to take an active role within their communities. With the government expanding these programs to keep up with rising demands, a way they could make the biggest difference is by offering more accessible language program options for adults and promote more dual-immersion curriculum in public schools, which would allow for more of the U.S to have a more bilingual population at a younger age.
With extensive efforts being made on both sides, together, we can break the silence that keeps our lives separate and bridge the gap between our worlds.
MOST SPOKEN LANGUAGES IN LINN COUNTY BY LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENT INDIVIDUALS
TAGALOG - 112
CHINESE - 128
SPANISH - 2,828
Data from 2022 American Community Survey at oregon.gov
MOST SPOKEN LANGUAGES IN OREGON BY LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENT INDIVIDUALS
