In 2017, Poway Unified School District (PUSD) Board Trustee Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff’s was left 226 identical replies on her Twitter page. On her Facebook, another comment was left on 42 separate...
Chen savors life after college apps
In late January, Mia Chen (12) found herself on a road trip in the Joshua Tree desert with a few of her closest friends, sitting in the hot tub of an AirBnB they’d...
Every year, twenty students in the United States become U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts, one of the country’s highest honors for students in the arts. Amy Wang (12), on May 10, became one of the...
Dear Swasti (9),
You’re scared. You’re scared of speaking up because you think you’ll be wrong. You ask your friends if your answers are right before sharing them. You’re scared of failing,...
For the past few months, I’ve worked as a crisis counselor with the California Youth Crisis Line. In the 1,247 minutes I’ve actively been on call or chat, I’ve spoken to 25 people. Ten struggled...
Sometimes, I feel as though I could stay here forever, blasting Taylor Swift down roads I’ve driven on thousands of times before, laughing during class more than we ever have before because we know...
Among all U.S. adults, 43% say they trust Fox News, an institution better described as fictional entertainment, for political and election news. Fox often cares more about reporting what their viewers...
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reviewed the pregnancy-terminating drug Mifepristone for four years, even though the drug was approved in nearly a dozen countries, including...
Sophia* (class of ’22) had no idea what she was going to read about, over Zoom, within Chapter 13 of The Bell Jar. To her surprise, a detailed description unfolded of the main character attempting...
Lucas Solomon (12) was in complete control of himself. He stepped onto the red and blue foam karate mat with conviction, his every stride precise. Judges, seated at each corner of the rectangular ring,...
When stepping into the Ellegaard home, one is greeted by an intricate, handmade marble ball track lining the staircase, Legos sprawled across the living room floor, and a woodshop in the garage, home...
Thirteen and a half million people are victims of stalking each year. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, more than a quarter have reported that they don’t know their stalkers “in any...
After the reversal of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, Winnie Xu (’22) and Devanshi Tomar (’20) knew they wanted to help. They knew they wanted to preserve abortion access in California, one of the 15 ‘safe...
For the 12 years he attended school within the Sturgis Public School District, Miguel Perez was lied to.
The school district knew that he required instruction in American Sign Language (ASL),...
Westview is home to eight Career Technical Education (CTE) Pathways, specializing in areas ranging from biotechnology to performing arts. There are three additional pathways offered to Westview students:...
Student loan debt in the United States currently totals approximately $1.76 trillion. An average U.S. household with student debt owes $58,238—one of the highest averages for student loan debt globally.
From...
Construction of a new building with expanded engineering and robotics facilities will begin later this year and is slated to finish in fall of 2024. The building will be located behind the D-building,...
One of the United States’ first environmental laws, the Clean Air Act, was passed in 1963. The act allowed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate power plants by setting a “standard...
Despite the difficulties COVID-19 posed in fundraising and organizing outreach events, Katie Ditter (11), alongside her Team Answer for Cancer, was able to fundraise $40,000 during the Leukemia and Lymphoma...
In Nov. 2021, the PUSD Board of Education approved a Letter of Intent with ForeFront Power to install solar panels; last month, drilling took place at Westview in order to test soil.
Rheia Alschbach...
In just the past decade, technology has been advancing at unprecedented rates: network speed has increased tenfold, social media users have increased from 970 million to approximately 3 billion,...
Jake Farrell (12) felt like he couldn’t breathe. Since his first growth spurt near the end of eighth grade, the pressure in his chest had only begun to increase. He was diagnosed in August 2019 with...
Tamara Deverell was surprised. After stumbling upon the book Gender Queer through her friend’s Facebook post about book bannings in PUSD, she was concerned to see numerous graphic images of sexual...
As Amelia* walked on campus, realization dawned over her.
She had forgotten her ID card.
Hoping to avoid a visit to the office or a lengthy wait in the sign-in line, she resorted to pulling out...
On Halloween, the Supreme Court heard a case brought by Students for Life against Harvard University. The students were pained to learn that they were a part of the 95% of applicants who were rejected...
In 2018, California passed Proposition 12, the Prevention of Cruelty to Farm Animals Act. The proposition established requirements for farmers to provide a minimum amount of space for egg-laying hens,...
In this year’s California legislative races alone, more than $80 million has already been spent. Political campaigns are generally an extremely expensive process, with expenditures going towards traveling...
Last October, San Diego Redistricting Commissioner Mitz Lee resigned. Her resignation was prompted by claims of unethical conduct. While community members advocated for the incorporation of UCSD and its...
We’ve seen many politicians with empty promises: grandiose plans, commendable dreams, powerful words. They advocate for causes that enable them to garner widespread popular support, regardless of their...
In the United States, San Diego is the only city that provides free trash pick-up to single-family homes. Established in 1919, the People’s Ordinance guaranteed this service at least once a week.
Measure...
Golden lights illuminated the glass-encased pool, the sounds of a Christmas carol with a trumpet accompaniment rang throughout the audience, and streams of water sprung from the ground in a perfectly...
In March 2014, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Carlos Vega questioned Terence Tekoh, a certified nursing assistant at a Los Angeles Medical Center, after a sexual assault claim was brought...
Rahul Iyengar (12) started his day in the office across the hall from Rangadore Medical Hospital’s dialysis ward in Bangalore, India. In the second out of four rows of tables, Iyengar opened his...
On June 29, the Supreme Court erased 200 years of precedent by expanding state jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed by non-Native Americans against Native Americans in Native American county.
Victor...
The first time I noticed it was in a flea market in India. Bustling crowds, shelves lined with colorful accessories and creams, product advertisements hanging on the walls—in the midst...
Kaitlyn Arciaga (10) finished third with a time of 12:05 out of 105 runners in cross country’s first meet of the season, the Vaquero Stampede, on Aug. 20 at El Capitan High School.
“This was my...
Antonio Arteaga-Martinez is a Mexican citizen. First arriving in the United States in 2001, Martinez had gone back to Mexico a decade later only to be beaten by a street gang, prompting his return...
As an eighth-grader, Justin Wu (11) gripped his cello as he stepped into the small music studio. The room that used to be enveloped with the sounds of his instrument alone was now filled with the sounds...
Last week, 19 elementary school children woke up to go to school. Millions of students do, but for those 19, Tuesday was different. Because for the last time, they ate breakfast—maybe cereal, maybe pancakes,...
On April 15, I celebrated my 10-year anniversary of standardized testing. The CAASPP test I took a few weeks ago was no different than the dozens of others I’ve taken— seemingly unnecessary, time-consuming,...
After spending six hours in the air on a red-eye flight and waiting for delayed connections to Washington D.C., Ananya Narayanan (12) arrived two hours after American University’s admitted students program...
Area Administrator Teri Heard rewards students cashing in their Wolverine Bucks, April 25. Heard is in charge of the Wolverine Bucks program on campus.
Rayyan Nasser (12) helps Nirja Trivedi (10) practice for the speech state competition. Both advanced to States, with Nasser competing in Impromtu speech and Trivedi placing 15th in International Extemporaneous...
Leah* had always admired her teacher for consistently interacting with his students to make sure they understood the material. Leah thought that he was good at helping those who were struggling in...
I could only stare at the plate of food in front of me: the mere thought of ingesting it was nausea-inducing. I would rather hide in my room all day with my newfound excuse of virtual school than face...
When Keith Hawkins was in high-school more than 30 years ago, as a part of his school’s ASB and leadership programs, he carefully listened to an inspirational speaker from UC Santa Barbara, Phil Boyte....
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, with cases surging and schools scheduled to reopen, Eileen* wanted to get vaccinated. She believed it was her duty to help curb the virus’ spread, to do whatever...
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At 3 a.m., Justin Siu (11) finally finished coding the detection protocol of the GearUp robotic team’s robot. Due to a busy finals week, he said he was unable to code the program...
With the number of times I’ve opened my phone, hastily typed in the password, and mindlessly logged in to the StudentVue app, I could probably do it in my sleep. Honestly, I probably have. I genuinely...
Every morning before school, Nirja Trivedi (10) opens her laptop to either The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Reuters, Foreign Affairs, Al Jazeera, or the BBC. Some days she...
In 2013, Lara Markey was an economics major at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Knowing she wanted to be a lawyer since middle school, she was planning on taking the traditional path...
Ekene Okolo (12) raised her right hand, solemnly affirming her duty to defend the Constitution of the United States, in faithfully conducting the duties of the office, in taking this obligation freely.
She...
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Complete with lighting repairs and novel animations displayed through projections, the theater is back since the COVID-19 pandemic closed school with the play “Alice in Wonderland”...
After noticing a spike in mental health concerns—specifically, suicidal ideation—PUSD partnered with the non-profit organization Mending Matters this fall to provide students with direct mental...
Two weeks ago, Annabella Mosolgo (12) dove off the three-meter diving board, like she’s done the past three and a half years. She did it not knowing of the harsh impact about to follow, without realizing...
The cross country team competes in a series of races separated by grade, the cross country team at the CCA Invitational, Sept. 4.
Even though it’s early in the season, Alexandre Leroy (12) said...
A year ago, Westview was a ghost town. Students and teachers, confined to their screens, rarely ventured out of their homes. It became a new normal, one brought about by the dangers of a pandemic.
For...
When the four co-founders of the Unconfined Project met in the same art studio three years ago, they would have never foreseen the heights their art and creativity would take them and their community.
Gavin...
