There’s no doubt that turning 18 is one of the most important birthdays. That one number signifies adulthood and its many responsibilities, problems, and freedoms. And 17-year-old Aspen, the week before...
Max Graham (12), legally, doesn’t exist.
The vibrant art and theater lover cannot be found on any government systems. Neither can Callum Conyers (12) or Skylar Shean (12). All three students...
Westview plans to add three additional online classes to the course catalog next year. Civics/Econ, US History, and World History will be added to Westview’s course offerings, residing alongside...
When my parents told me Santa wasn’t real, I cried for hours.
How could the kindly, old celebrity with the toy-making genius of Hasbro, Fisher Price, and Mattel combined, not exist? For me, it was...
Fatty.
Big back.
Fat-tivities.
These joking slang terms were thrown around Sophia Wang’s table at a hotpot dinner with her friends. Sitting in the middle, Wang felt incredibly uncomfortable,...
The Hawaiian islands are known for their touristic draws: the clear turquoise waters of their beaches, the dense foliage of the jungle, and for the ubiquitous palm tree, swaying in the breeze.
The...
Sanchay Koppa (10) demonstrates how to build a Legos with the FIRST Lego League (FLL) Explore Engineering Notebook, Oct. 9, Koppa mentors elementary school students to prepare them for the engineering,...
Varsity water polo player Ethan Diep (9) has spent most of his life in the water.
Having started swimming when he was 6, the open waters of a pool always felt natural to him. He spent his younger years...
Walking up to the pitcher’s mound in Detroit's Comerica Park, Philadelphia Phillies’ pitcher Michael Mercado (’17) was surprisingly unruffled as he stood in front of a crowd of nearly...
Sébastien Wenger - University of Alabama
Sébastien Wenger (12) began swimming when he was only 2 and started competitively by 4 years old. After trying football, rugby, and lacrosse in elementary...
In the beginning, I felt optimistic. My taxes should be easy: I had one job over the summer and did not own any property, have any spouses, or run a business.
Taxes are a right of passage into...
Rosemary Cabanban (10) stood on stage at the United Spirit Association’s (USA) Dance Nationals in the Anaheim convention center, March 22-23, balancing on one foot and staring into...
The SWENext club hosted its first-ever hackathon, Feb. 23. The three-day event challenged coders to make an app, game, or program that addressed one of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development...
It seems that production conglomerates like Disney and Warner Bros. have been pumping out large-budget films as of late. The number of Marvel movies coming out has skyrocketed to 33, Star Wars and...
David Jang (10) sat in the echoing hall of Sacramento’s Safe Credit Union Convention center along with 125 other high school musicians, each with their various instruments. It was Feb. 3, and they...
Picture young Aspen, about 7 years old, standing outside of the local Vons, sulking. Wearing a bright blue vest, I had been standing for two hours behind a table piled high with unsold boxes of Girl...
In the early 20th century, as more and more women started to play sports, the sexism of the time followed right beside them. Infiltrating the public’s opinion, the sports’ rules and expectations,...
Elena Tran (12) and her team at the Studio 701 internship arrived at Abraxas High School at nine and immediately split up to film their respective assignments. Tran filmed in the school’s unique...
The Poway Unified Student Superintendent Advisory Committee (SSAC) was awarded a Golden Bell award for the committee’s current and past work promoting student health and wellness through the many programs...
Adriana Ballesteros (11) began rowing her freshman year, after not having much exposure to the sport previously. Her devotion to rowing was cemented one night, out on the waters of Mission Bay. Her practice...
It has recently come to my attention that not everyone knows the name Bob Ross. Apparently, my English teacher and a small group of friends had never heard this amazing man’s name and knew nothing...
On July 10, San Diego’s The Union-Tribune was sold to a newspaper publisher run by the hedge fund Alden Global Capital. If Alden’s history offers any indication, this business deal will have extremely...
Aspen Cotton, Editor in Chief
• September 15, 2023
Politicians like to scare people. It’s a tried and true method of immediately getting the public’s attention and urging them to action. However, sometimes the things that politicians mention aren’t...
I have many hobbies; however, most of them are in the back of my closet, gathering dust. From my quarantine obsession with painting rocks, to my short-lived interest in making earrings, my hobbies,...
My father is a quirky man in many respects. And because of these quirks, he fits perfectly into the universal stereotype of what most teenagers would consider a “dad.”
My father, of course,...
Lauryn Rowe (12) has been dancing since she was 5 years old. She originally started doing ballet and tap, but after joining a dance studio, she broadened her horizons: trying out jazz, lyrical, hiphop,...
Many teachers have animals in their classrooms, ranging from fish to bearded dragons, snakes to turtles. But what role do they play?
These animals are not just for show, as science teachers,...
Option 16, Westview’s First Robotics Competition (FRC) robotics team has almost 4,000 hours of community service and outreach compiled over the past few months. With this extensive time spent in the...
Texting is perhaps the least understood of all English dialects. We all participate in its convoluted structures, yet when asked why adhere to the styles we do, we say something vague about not liking...
Sitting on my couch, with the ashes of my Integrated I and II notebooks dusting my hearth, I went over every single thing I did or said last year. While thinking, I came to an undeniable conclusion: freshman...
Tiffany Lu (10) has been going to Lac Hong Vietnamese School ever since she was in kindergarten, first as a student, and now, as a student helper, or a TA. Classes are held every Saturday at Wangenheim...
I, like many who have taken Honors Humanities and were subjected to the horrors of Dada and Cubism, developed an extreme distaste for “modern” art. I originally planned to write a 500-word article...
Stepping onto the stage at the 24 SEVEN Dance Competition, Elizabeth Zalevsky (10) took a big breath, trying to calm her nerves. It was her first-ever solo performance, and naturally, she was eager, but...
I love my friends, at least, most of the time. As all of us know, friends can be the bright spot of light in our otherwise dreary school days. After what feels like four hours of learning about the...
Bina Mbuloko (9) has always been outspoken. Earlier this year, looking for an outlet for her love of talking, she was considering joining Speech and Debate when she came across Mock Trial.
Both activities...
In the weeks leading up to Election Day, advertisements for propositions are common. These propositions are citizen-made laws that are put on a ballot for the public to vote on once enough support...
This year’s Homecoming dance, themed Party with Pixar, will be hosted at Westview from 7-10 p.m., tomorrow. The event, pep rally, floats, decorations, and spirit days are all based on Pixar movies.
To...
This year I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that I am too tall to trick-or-treat. If I don my Ron Weasly costume and parade door to door with my gaggle of friends, I will be met with strange...
Aspen Cotton, Editor in Chief
• September 16, 2022
An ongoing competition has been sweeping Westview students into a frenzy, almost as long as this school has been around. No, it’s not senior assassin. We have all seen students plop down into their...
Ah. Freshman year. A time, according to the media, filled with wedgies, 7-foot-tall seniors ridiculing your every move, and homework. Lots and lots of homework. Many upperclassmen look back on freshman...
Kailyn Donnelly (10) had just barely gotten through another school day, exhausted beyond belief. She had felt tired and nauseous the entire day, which had been happening more frequently in...
Everyone has read articles about Covid, about the mass death, the horror that that's caused, and anti-vax facebook moms that refuse to believe any of it is real. Well, this isn't that story, I promise.
In...
There are so many ways to consume media. Magazines, newsletter, podcasts, and my favorite, books. Yet there’s something just so satisfying about picking up a book. You can hold it in your hands, breathing...
A food critic’s job may seem easy, yet I find that, as the pickiest eater on campus, I am the person best suited for this position of extreme importance. Without me, the average student would not know...
As I slowly opened my eyes, being reluctantly pulled from my few hours of true peace, I blinked and rubbed away the sleep. Sitting up, I paused. What’s that on my hands? It… looks like… cream cheese?...
I remember the first fitness test I ever took. I was in 6th grade, and panicking. It was about three months into my first year of middle school, and coming up in a week, was fitness testing. They expected...
In the second meet of the season, the Wolverine swim team topped Valhalla, 95-76. The boys and girls swim teams combined to create this score, March 8.
In the meet’s first race, the boys 4 by 50...
Poop-slinging predators and war crimes: a study
Westview’s native population is a diverse array of species, perfectly adapted to surviving in this beautiful but brutal environment. In this environmental...
