Are Students Wearing Masks and Social Distancing When Socializing?
While the pandemic steadily continues, student views of precautionary measures regarding the Covid-19 Virus have potentially altered.
During the month of April, 3 months after the first announced case of Covid-19 in the United States in January, the CDC officially recommended the use of masks in order to prevent the spread of the virus (Vox News). By the month of July, masks were made mandatory to wear in public in multiple states throughout the US (CNet).
Throughout the first few months of quarantine, feelings of unease and fear spread, as the US still had limited information regarding the virus.
“In the beginning I was really scared. I would check the cases [and] I wouldn’t go outside…Now, it’s a little more relaxed,” senior Afua Pinamang-Boampong said. “I’ll go to the grocery store with my mom, I’ll hang out with friends as long as I have the right gear on and social distance; I’m not that worried.”
Currently, regulations regarding precautionary measures have been more lenient, with the use of masks simply recommended by the CDC when in public (CDC). While more lenient, regulations are still implemented in order to insure safety, causing students to think of more creative ways to stay connected.
“I’ve facetimed a thousand times more than I ever have in my entire life,” Pinamang-Boampong said. “I’ve gone on picnics with friends, and we sit on different blankets. I’ve become more innovative in the way I hang out with people. So finding things we can do distanced and being safe.”
With quarantine continuing to be the safest precautionary measure, the lack of traditional socializing may be linked to students’ deteriorating mental health, as connections could be severed between friends.
“I would think most students are like most of the population. They are in favor of masks and social distancing until it becomes inconvenient for them,” health teacher Mr. Skipper said. “As students feel more isolated, I feel they are more likely to break the protocols. I know it has been a struggle in my own house to balance being socially responsible and the mental health of my kids. I would assume this is a struggle among lots of families.”
A survey taken on the Jesuit News website displayed that 3 out of 5 students sometimes wear masks outside, while 2 out of 5 students always wear masks outside (jesuitnews.com).
“I worry not just about students, but everyone’s view about the protocols,” Skipper said. “The longer this goes on, the less fear we seem to have. With less fear, people will be less likely to follow the protocol.”
The frequency of precautionary measures taken by students varies, as some students have begun to hang out with small, close-knit groups of select friends outside of their family.
“It’s changed because my parents [now] allow me to have ‘bubbles’ with friends,” junior Kurt Woodruff said. “So I have a selected group of no more than 10 people that I hang out with so we are still constricted, so it’s kind of sad because I’m not going to parties or hanging out with random people.”
Although unable to hang out with many people, students have found that restrictions have revealed true friendships and the value of making an effort to stay connected to one another.
“Friendships feel deeper in a way because you actually have to reach out to people, and you can see who are your real friends and who’s maybe not…There’s so many friends at school that you say hi to but you wouldn’t hang out outside of school,” Woodruff said. “I kind of missed seeing them, but at the same time all of the people who have reached out to me, we now hang out and FaceTime and that means a lot because I get to know them better.”
Scout Jacobs is a managing editor for the Jesuit Chronicles at Jesuit High School. As a senior in high school, this is her third year doing...
Student-led Organization Students Tutor Students Grows Drastically
Student-led and founded organization Students Tutor Students (STS) has drastically grown throughout the quarantine, gaining recognition from the greater public such as KGW News.
Students Tutor Students began as a small group of students aimed to match struggling students with tutors, and now the organization has expanded large enough to develop a website, prevalent social media presence, summer camp, and soon an app.
“When we began we were a small organization and all we wanted to focus on was getting kids the tutors they needed so they could succeed in online school,” said senior Ziggy Berkoff, Public Relations Director of STS. “Since then, we’ve…expanded [STS] to more about affecting education in Oregon as a whole and less about getting tutors to people, [although] that’s still our main point. We’ve grown so much that we have over 100 tutors.”
The summer program, titled the Kickstart Summer Program, was developed during this past summer, with a goal to have multiple student-teachers from different schools participate in creating a variety of classes, with subjects ranging from art to math
“We were able to work with over 110 students on bolstering their summer education,” senior Devansh Khunteta said. “In addition, we were able to create a sense of community through movie nights and these fun activities we continually held [during the summer program].”
Khunteta, the Chief Technology Officer on the executive board for STS, is also currently working on developing an app in order to make education as accessible as possible during this time of social distancing.
“I hope to release the app with the rest of my team sometime later in October, and that’s one initiative that we’ve been focusing on quite a lot,” Khunteta said. “The impetus and motivation behind why we want to do it was because we recognize that students oftentimes use their mobile devices a lot more for work. For example, [we] use our iPads a lot, so it’d be really awesome to have that mobile application where you can automatically be matched with a tutor who can help you out, as well as chat with them all throughout this one interface.”
In addition to the app, STS’s social media presence brought them to KGW’s attention. Through their Instagram profile and email, STS has been talking to KGW, but decided to pause the conversation as KGW was busy covering the election. However, the upcoming feature on STS developed when a photographer from KGW reached out to the organization.
“We had a lot of posts concerning Kickstart and how our summer program went, and apparently they found it pretty intriguing, so they had a photographer reach out to us on Instagram,” Khunteta said. “He was sort of just like, ‘Hey we saw what you guys are doing and we want to talk more about Kickstart and your future initiatives. Would you mind setting up this interview and discussing?’”
In order to prepare for the interview, the executive board met over Zoom and reviewed key points they wished to make during the interview so viewers could better understand their mission and organizational goals. The feature on STS is predicted to air next week, and focuses on STS’s future goals as well as current progress.
“I think that STS is an ambitious organization and we are going to try our hardest to impact education in Oregon for the better before we all graduate,” Berkoff said.
Scout Jacobs is a managing editor for the Jesuit Chronicles at Jesuit High School. As a senior in high school, this is her third year doing...
Society After Quarantine
With stay at home orders still in place, how society will function after quarantine is difficult to predict.
Throughout the past month, COVID-19 has altered lives around the globe. Through consistently staying home, many have developed entirely new routines and ways of maintaining a sense of normalcy.
Assimilating back into “normal” society will be a challenging process, as the definition of what is considered “normal” may be altered drastically. Whether it be hygienic precautions or a heightened reliance on technology, COVID-19 will alter numerous customs and practices of everyday life, creating a “new normal.”
One impactful change is the use of masks to limit the spread of germs. With masks being mandatory in many well-known stores, such as Costco, as well as the new, current norm of wearing masks in public, wearing masks is predicted to be an “everyday accessory of American life” (Los Angeles Times).
“I think you will see more people wearing masks in public, and it is likely that more people will stay home when they are sick or wear masks when they don’t feel well,” says Mrs. Kuenz, Associate Director of Ecological Justice & Global Networking. “We all now have a heightened awareness of how our germs can impact others and with something that is highly contagious, my hope is that people will be more responsible and do a better job of staying home when they do not actually need to go out.”
Mrs. Kuenz also voices her hopes that COVID-19 will influence many to make more conscious decisions to think about the impact of our actions, such as buying products that support local businesses and becoming more resourceful to lead a more environmentally-friendly lifestyle.
“My hope is that more people are aware of where products are coming from and keeping local businesses afloat,” Mrs. Kuenz said. “Ordering things from big chains or Amazon, while it might be easier to get those products, it hurts those local businesses. On the flip side, it could be where people are so hungry to go out shopping that all of a sudden there is a huge up-tick in shopping. So it’s about balance, and it’s hard to know what is going to happen.”
In addition to a change in consumer trends, school systems and workplaces might alter their way of continuing education and practices through a heightened online presence or change in routine, catering to health precautions by avoiding large gatherings.
“It is really hard to envision what schools and workplaces will look like in the fall. I think that there will be more options for meeting/learning remotely,” Mrs. Kuenz said. “I imagine that if telecommuting has worked well for an employer and employee, that there will be more such options in the future. There are aspects of business that can function more efficiently in a remote environment.”
One of the largest changes to everyday life may be the heightened awareness surrounding the spread of germs, specifically through hand-contact. Due to COVID-19, the importance of hand-washing has been emphasized immensely, which hopefully will continue in post-quarantine society.
“Definitely people will be more conscious with washing hands,” junior Jamie Turner said. “There’s hopefully going to be a lot more education in school about it, and I also think we are going to have to put many more health systems in place to deal with stuff like this in case it happens again. I think we are overall going to be more health conscious so that we don’t repeat our past mistakes.”
Assimilating back into society will be a slow process, and restraining from jumping back in will be difficult, especially for those who are extremely social and eager to see friends and family they have been separated from.
“Whenever I’ll go out with friends I’ll feel guilty and stressed about it,” Turner said. “Especially because my parents are doctors. I also feel like if we do have school and sports, there might not be any audience at sports games, and I’m not sure if we’ll have assemblies. As much as people want to go back to normal, I think it’s going to take so much time.”
While schools may be looking into strictly online learning, bringing students back into classrooms could be an option. However, according to NPR, classroom settings will likely look much different than what many are used to.
For example, along with heightened precautions surrounding health and hygiene, classroom sizes may be 12 students or fewer, creating an entirely new schedule and calendar to accommodate all students (NPR). For Jesuit specifically, lunch and classroom schedules could drastically change, as half as many students would be able to convene together in order to maintain a healthy distance.
Due to these schedule changes, remote/online learning may need to continue in some capacity to efficiently continue lessons. In addition, assemblies, sports games, and parent-teacher conferences may discontinue, as gathering in large groups will most likely be prohibited.
While quarantine has altered many aspects of everyday life, the excess time has allowed for a boost in new hobbies (such as quidditch) and time spent with family members.
“I sincerely hope that more people choose to emphasize and make time for crafts, hobbies, family game night, walks together and so on,” Mrs. Kuenz said. “I think that we will all cherish time with friends in a new way. Many of my students have also commented on how much they have appreciated being able to complete work in their own time. I wonder if it has given many of us an opportunity to re-prioritize our lives and the space to really understand how we as individuals work and think the best.”
Scout Jacobs is a managing editor for the Jesuit Chronicles at Jesuit High School. As a senior in high school, this is her third year doing...
Tutoring program connects students during quarantine
Junior Brian Xu founded “Students Tutor Students,” a free, online tutoring service to high school students in the Portland area.
The service matches up student tutors and tutees based on subject and availability. Currently, the program is in the development stage, as Xu is compiling a list of student tutors/tutees who would work well together.
“Interested tutors and people who are being tutored can sign up to help through a form that we have created. Overall, it’s an opportunity for people across the city to connect and educate each other in the midst of this crisis,” Xu said.
Xu, along with junior Devansh Khunteta, are working to create a website for the program, as well as social media platforms.
“Our long term future plans are lofty, but we believe that they’ll be achievable. We envision phasing the service onto an app so that people can create tutor and tutee accounts and be matched through the app, kind of like tinder, but for tutoring,” Xu said. “It will really help make it easier for a lot of people to have everything ready and accessible in the palm of their hand.”
Khunteta is the technical director for Students Tutor Students, in charge of creating the forms for both tutors and tutees, as well as creating and maintaining the website.
“Although at Jesuit we are given the resources to have programs such as NHS, not all students at other schools are given this same opportunity to have face to face interaction with tutors and teachers through mediums like Zoom,” Khunteta said. “However, by implementing a program such as Students Tutor Students, students from all different schools will be able to work together to grow academically. As a healthy byproduct, this program will also give students the opportunity to meet new people that they otherwise may not have met during quarantine.”
Khunteta and Xu both founded the chapter of “Junior State of America” at Jesuit, indicating their interest and involvement in politics. Through these experiences and focus on politics, Xu has grown to “naturally gain an awareness” on global issues, as well as issues in the Jesuit community.
“When this crisis hit, and schooling turned online, my mind was on those who would be most adversely affected,” Xu said. “Teachers would be overwhelmed quickly as they become less accessible than before without face to face contact, and getting personal help in school for a lot of students would become even more difficult than it already is. After surveying my friends and seeing that many were like me and wanted to help out during these difficult times, I realized that this was a perfect opportunity for those students who want to get involved in their communities to help their peers through online tutoring.”
With Xu’s personal prior experience in tutoring, as well as organizational skills and passion for politics, Xu created a way to grow one-on-one interactions, such as tutoring, to a larger-scale movement, striving to help students across Portland maintain connections and an adequate education.
“One of my biggest beliefs is that education is a great equalizer: that if everyone has access to adequate education, then everyone will have the power to take their lives into their own hands and achieve what they want to achieve,” Xu said. “The importance of education is undeniable in my eyes.”
Scout Jacobs is a managing editor for the Jesuit Chronicles at Jesuit High School. As a senior in high school, this is her third year doing...
Catlin Gabel Scandal influences policy changes
Four decades of sexual abuse at Caitlin Gabel have been recently alleged by alumni.
5 former Catlin Gabel students came forward with accounts of previous sexual abuse from their teachers, primarily through their middle school years. These 5 accounts elicited the reveal of potentially hundreds of more victims, exposing four decades of sexual abuse in the school (OregonLive).
While policies regarding teacher-student relationships were already in effect at Jesuit, the events at Catlin Gabel reinforced Jesuit’s concern about the ever-changing ways teachers and students communicate.
Vice Principal Ms. Tormala has been working with other administrators on the communication policies at Jesuit, working to keep faculty and students safe.
“We were already reviewing our protection policies and our communication policies before anything went down with Catlin Gabel,” Ms. Tormala said. “But, the fact that everything happened at Catlin Gabel did of course give us a real life example of what could go wrong. Because of that, that helped us be more specific and more clear in what we wanted to make sure we were doing with our policies to try to prevent something like that from happening.”
Prior to the Catlin scandal, reviewing communication policies was standard procedure to keep members of the community safe.
“There are a lot of schools across the country that have dealt with similar types of situations, Catlin is certainly not the first nor the last,” Ms. Tormala said. “There are a lot of things coming out across the country from other schools about things that happened 10,15, even 20 years ago, and because of the way our culture has shifted and the way that people are more willing to speak up, and then willing to talk about what happened when they were younger, more and more of these situations are coming to light.”
Many of the policies involve creating safe spaces for teachers and students to communicate, such as ensuring all faculty and students communicate in a public setting or with additional people in the room. Face-to-face communication policies have remained similar for many years, but communication surrounding technology has evolved significantly.
“When we’re dealing with online communication, which of course has changed a lot over the last 10 years, that was something we needed to really pay a lot more attention to,” Ms. Tormala said. “Probably the most significant change you will see in the policy has to do with texting, for instance, between students and teachers. So instead of people having each other’s personal phone numbers, and that opening a door for potential further conversations that maybe shouldn’t happen, we’re looking into other tools.”
New policies have been set into place to restrict outside relationships. The administration has been working to find new tools to use for conversation between coaches, tutors, small group leaders, etc.
“The change in policy, as of March first, was if you are texting with students you must use a school approved app so there is a record of it,” Mr. Hogan explained. “ So we are moving to an app called Remind where you actually cannot see the students phone number.”
Similar to restrictions and moderation with communication, new policies have been added regarding relationships after graduation. Law requires that a student must be 18 or older before any kind of intimate or sexual relationship can take place. However, this leaves a loophole for teachers and students to legally have some kind of intimate or sexual relationship.
“This was one thing that Catlin really taught us that we had never really thought about,” Mr. Hogan elaborated, “So our policy now says you cannot date or be in a romantic or sexual relationship with a student until they are 21. If the school learns of such a relationship before 21 this employee would be terminated. That is just our policy, state law says 18. This is the kind of thing that should be unspoken, it should be obvious.”
While the administration strives to protect both faculty and students, they also work to maintain the close-knit sense of community within Jesuit, working to create a safe and comfortable environment for all parties involved.
“So we’re looking for ways to make sure we can still preserve relationships and preserve community but keep everyone on both sides of the equation safe and in a good place,” Ms. Tormala said.
Scout Jacobs is a managing editor for the Jesuit Chronicles at Jesuit High School. As a senior in high school, this is her third year doing...
Gwynne Olson is a junior staff writer for the Jesuit Chronicle. Gwynne is the youngest of two. Brooke, her older sister, is a recent graduate from the...
Natalie Tan displays her musical talents on 89.9AllClassical
Senior Natalie Tan is involved as a “young artist in residence” for 89.9 AllClassical, displaying her talent for piano to the world through the radio station.
The term “young artist in residence” refers to a “support system” at the station, or an outlet for Tan to present her musical talents and meet other Portland youth with an affinity for classical music. While the program differs from a “professional artist in residence,” Tan performs other tasks for the station such as interviews and blog posts.
“I am under a contract as the young artist in residence, but it is certainly not an everyday 9 to 5 job,” Tan said.
The “artist on residence” program, launched in 2019, was created to help local musicians reach a broader audience and foster their creativity. Tan became involved in the program through a competition.
“There is a competition held annually called the Young Artists’ Debut! Van Buren Concerto Competition, held by MetroArts Inc., which is changing its name next year to Cognizart,” Tan said. “This organization was founded by the current principal percussionist for the Oregon Symphony and the conductor for the Oregon Ballet Theatre, Niel DePonte. For the 2020 year, six winners were chosen for the Concerto Competition, and the winners were screened and interviewed again in a second round, but this time with judges from 89.9 AllClassical.”
Along with her time at 89.9 AllClassical, Tan was also involved in the Portland Youth Philharmonic and MetroArts.
“Through my musical pursuits I have gained a lot of different connections and I am incredibly grateful to be given the opportunity to be treated as a professional alongside these people,” Tan said. “I won’t name all the people that I have met, but I am especially grateful to perform alongside the hosts of AllClassical, as I have grown up with their voices in the car, in my house, and narrating my way through life in general.”
Tan began playing piano at the age of 5, continuing to pursue her passion throughout her childhood. While none of her family members have a keen interest in music, Tan’s parents started her on her music track, fostering a 13-year passion.
“I fell in love with music rapidly, but it has been a relationship that has required so much more than the initial love,” Tan said. “It is never easy; it tears me down almost just as much as it empowers me, but I have become a better person for it.”
Along with the “young artist in residence” program at 89.9 AllClassical, Tan attended numerous camps and classes throughout her musical career. These opportunities pushed her out of her comfort zone, introducing her to a whole community of musical artists.
“Another distinct memory I have was going to Indiana University for the Jacob’s School of Music’s Piano Academy, which gave me some of my lifelong friends who challenged me and pushed me to improve everyday,” Tan said. “These are some of the bigger moments that continue to spark the passion I have. However, honestly, the beauty of music and its potential to make me laugh or cry or feel at peace brings me back to it over and over again.”
Tan’s love for music helped her to grow outside of just her musical skills, pushing her to overcome her childhood shyness. Her intense passion for music helped her to bond closely with many peers, influencing the ways in which she communicates.
“Music is a language and a form of expression that nearly everyone can connect to. I used to be the shyest person when I was growing up; I literally could not speak or connect to people without incredible difficulty,” Tan said. “Music was the thing that pushed me to learn how to step beyond my boundaries and connect very intimately and emotionally with people. As I have grown, music has also taught me to be incredibly deliberate with how I communicate and express my thoughts. I am incredibly fortunate to learn precisely this flexibility within discipline, and it has encouraged me to become thoughtful about everything that I choose to do.”
Scout Jacobs is a managing editor for the Jesuit Chronicles at Jesuit High School. As a senior in high school, this is her third year doing...
Avery Douglas: her life through vlogs
Avery Douglas
A snapshot of Avery Douglas’ Youtube channel featuring a vlog of her family vacation.
Junior Avery Douglas creates Youtube videos, documenting fun aspects of her life through vlogs.
Prior to starting her Youtube channel the summer before sixth grade, Douglas would film videos on Video Star, an app used to easily create music videos.
“I would make Video Stars and post [them], and then that spurred my channel,” Douglas said. “I would make them at sleepovers with all of my friends, so I made them when I moved here.”
Living in Minnesota prior to the start of her channel, Douglas used Youtube when she moved to Oregon to connect with others and pass the time. Her channel has evolved since starting it, shifting from music videos with friends to vlogs documenting her everyday life.
“I tried to do the whole hauls and beauty guru stuff, but I stopped with that because I [thought] that’s not me,” Douglas said. “Now I do mostly vlogs because I like to keep the memories and post them for my friends [to] look back on. So I like to do a lot of vlogs and montages, add music to it, and play around with not special effects, but different types of… ‘artsy’ editing because I love looking back on [them].”
Along with changing the content of her channel, Douglas has improved her editing skills and aptitude for filmmaking, upgrading her quality of equipment and tools.
“I taught myself how to edit, or I would go on Youtube and learn different tricks,” Douglas said. “I started off on iMovie, [but] you can’t do a ton with it, [so] I would learn how to use what I had. I finally saved up and got Final Cut Pro, and you can definitely do a lot more with that.”utside of Youtube and school, Douglas is extremely passionate about dance, as she is a part of a close-knit dance team for Elite Dance Studio. Many of her videos consist of her friends from Elite Dance, focusing on dance-related events like practices and recitals. With school, dance, and Youtube, Douglas struggles to find a balance.
“It’s definitely a lot,” Douglas said. “Second semester I’ve been a lot better at managing my time; before I wasn’t. So [I] try to get my homework done and whatever extra time I [have] I try to edit…If I don’t have the time to post a video, I won’t push myself to do it.”
Douglas also features her friends from Jesuit in her videos, making sure to document fun, school-related events to look back on. Junior Taryn Collier-Burke appears in a number of Douglas’ videos and has known about her channel since freshman year.
“I try to be in them whenever I’m with Avery,” Collier-Burke said. “I’m in them usually just whenever we hang out or when something’s going on like homecoming or Afua’s surprise birthday.”
With Douglas’ channel growing in size, nearing 2,000 subscribers, Collier-Burke is surprised to see herself on a large, growing platform. However, she still enjoys being featured in the videos to look back on in the future.
“I think it’s funny because I can see myself on Youtube,” Collier-Burke said. “And she’s really good at editing. So when we went to Bend for my birthday, it [was] kind of nice because we can look back on it when we’re older and watch the highlights of that trip.”
Scout Jacobs is a managing editor for the Jesuit Chronicles at Jesuit High School. As a senior in high school, this is her third year doing...
Apple card accusations spark controversy
FINANCE
Apple faces controversy over Apple Card
On November 5, Apple was accused of gender discrimination surrounding the algorithms of the Apple Card.
The Apple Card, a credit card specifically run through Apple, has been a target of allegations of gender bias. This issue of gender bias arose when tech entrepreneur David Hansson voiced through social media that his credit limit was significantly higher than his wife’s, despite the fact that she had a better credit score.
The New York Department of Financial Services investigated these allegations, as not only Hansson, but multiple other voices spoke out about their similar experience with the Apple Card. There has been no definite affirmation or denial of the accusations due to the difficulty investigating discrimination in computer-based algorithms.
Ms. Blumhardt, a history teacher and leader of Feminism Club, began her experience with credit by opening a line of credit when studying abroad.
With the topic of gender discrimination closely relating to Apple, the accusations highlight the ongoing struggle of gender inequality, pushing students to further widen their horizons surrounding gender inequality outside of Jesuit.
“Everyone has Apple products, so to see a name that’s so familiar and something that everybody has in their pockets and associating that to gender discrimination is difficult,” Blumhardt said. “I think that it’s a stark reminder to females that the fight is continuing. For folks to say no it’s very equal and I have all the same opportunities as my male counterparts, I think it challenges Jesuit students to look outside the bounds of school and to realize there are still issues. I think the greatest examples of gender discrimination and inequality are within corporations.”
The issue of gender discrimination has been relevant in numerous other tech corporations, such as Tesla, Facebook, and even Amazon. These issues of gender discrimination were displayed in a range of forms, from unequal target advertising to employment and hiring discrimination.
This discrimination may be due to the imbalance of gender employment within tech corporations. According to The New Yorker, studies have estimated that women make up only a quarter of employees as well as only 11% of executive positions within the tech industry.
With the topic of gender equality consistently prevalent in not only the Jesuit community, but also in outside environments, informing students surrounding the topic in class maintains the overall awareness of current events.
“I definitely believe there are wonderful faculty and staff who are here who keep their students updated on current events, but still encouraging that curiosity within our students is always really important,” Blumhardt said. “The worst thing that we can do is be stuck in a bubble, so the more that we try to engage ourselves with the outside community and on all aspects, the better off we’ll be.”
With numerous students soon leaving for college, and later entering the world of adulthood, establishing a good credit score is essential for larger purchases. Ms. Casey recently purchased a house, and she describes her tips for establishing a good credit score.
“Keep your spending within your means,” Casey said. “Realistically, a lot of students are going to graduate from college with some student loans, [so] committing to paying those off as soon as possible making sure you’re not accumulating credit card debt [is] essential because that can really get you in a hole, and it’s hard to recover from that.”
While students may be informed of the credit system, establishing a class surrounding credit could further assist students when beginning to build credit.
“A recent addition in the last few years has been an online financial planning course,” Casey said. “I haven’t gone through it, but I think that’s a great step. It seems like a great idea if there was an opportunity to build more practical financial planning guidelines and approaches for students.”
Apple graphic courtesy of Google images
Scout Jacobs is a managing editor for the Jesuit Chronicles at Jesuit High School. As a senior in high school, this is her third year doing...
Fast fashion accelerates during the holidays
Fast fashion accelerates during the holidays
By Scout Jacobs
With the approaching holiday season, consumerist ideals promote the production of fast fashion.
Fast fashion, the production of mass produced, cheap, and unsustainable clothing, is typically unethically sourced and produced in sweatshops. Throughout the holiday season, companies promote their products with the allure of sales, influencing customers to buy even more.
With increasing sales in these fast fashion shops, such as Forever 21, the production of cheap clothing that harms the environment and factory workers increases. Mrs. Kuenz, Associate Director of Ecological Justice & Global Networking, talks about the constant habit of supporting fast fashion companies, as well as how students can break this cycle.“It becomes our norm. It’s the habits that are hard to break…I think it takes a conscious effort,” Kuenz said. “We talk about inertia in physics and it carries over to other things. The natural momentum is to buy and if we see something on sale it’s a good deal, like why don’t I get it? But then you get home and it’s like where do I put it? What do I do with this? Do I actually need it? ”
Along with breaking the habit of supporting fast fashion companies, shopping in other ways and through other stores, such as shopping locally or from second-hand clothing stores, makes an impact on the environment in more than one way. The rate of discarding clothes has increased significantly as the average consumer bought 60 percent more clothes in 2014 than in 2000, but kept garments for half as long (World Resources Institute). Activities such as participating in clothing swaps and doing research before shopping at a store are simple ways highschool students can make an impact.
Ms. Case became interested in the topic of fast fashion through researching about affordable, yet high quality clothing. This exposure to information about fashion led to her further learning about human rights violations of fast fashion companies.
“Second hand shopping is awesome,” Case said. “Consigning old clothes instead of giving them to Goodwill [helps] because Goodwill only takes 10% of what we donate, and then everything else is shipped overseas to typically poor countries in Africa. What ends up happening is that clothing comes in and it’s so cheap that it ends up destroying the local people who are making clothing. We are destroying their economy by doing this, and we’re sending cheap stuff that doesn’t last.”
According to the World Resources Institute, 1 garbage truck of clothes is burned or landfilled every second, demonstrating the detrimental impact of fast fashion on the environment. While fast fashion also has unethical impacts, numerous fast fashion companies are geared towards high school students due to their low prices and trendy styles. Anna Dellit, a member of Green Team, hopes to further inform high school students of the effects of fast fashion.
“I don’t think students know enough,” Dellit said. “I didn’t know about it until a month or two ago. I think the way that students can learn more is through obviously education. So putting up more posters in the school, social media, and what helped me is having teachers talk about it. Also, we had a brown bag about it two weeks ago, but I think just getting awareness out about it because our generation wants to make change, but I think without the education or knowledge to do so, they aren’t aware of their responsibility.”
While fast fashion is typically advertised for younger consumers, fast fashion also appeals to numerous other consumers, as buying fast fashion further promotes the habit of doing what is easy and simpler.
“I think that there is such a push to fit in fashion-wise and so I think that drives students to shop at the same places,” Case said. “I think…generally we have a tendency to do what’s easy and what’s popular, and so I think that steers students typically away from sustainable fashion because of what is publicized, affordable, close by, and what’s easy.”
With the holidays further promoting consumerism in the form of gifts and presents, Kuenz stresses the importance of relationships during the holidays.
“As we enter into this season, what most of us need is not more stuff, it’s relational time with people,” Kuenz said. “So it’s making that shift in our minds [because] it doesn’t seem like that same sort of a gift, but it really is the most important one; having opportunities and experiences.”
Scout Jacobs is a managing editor for the Jesuit Chronicles at Jesuit High School. As a senior in high school, this is her third year doing...
Rosehaven provides safety and security
Rosehaven provides safety and security
Rosehaven Club connects the Rosehaven day shelter and community center to the Jesuit community.
Roshaven, a day shelter for women, children, and gender-diverse individuals, provides safety and security, as well as resources for many people to meet their physical and emotional basic needs. Rosehaven also works with people experiencing any life-altering challenges, such as domestic violence or divorce, providing tangible resources, such as clothing and hygiene products, as well as providing a sense of community and safety.
Rosehaven Club recently started at Jesuit in 2017, with the purpose of more students and youth becoming involved in interacting with people experiencing homelessness.
“A few seniors in 2017 started it because they created Youth Outreach Board, so they wanted to integrate Rosehaven and their message into Jesuit because it was kind of ignored besides [in] Christian Service,” senior Nikhita Mathur said.
Mathur has been involved in Rosehaven since her sophomore year when she volunteered for the organization for her Christian Service. Since then, Mathur has been a leader of Rosehaven Club and an integral member of the Youth Outreach Board.
“Youth Outreach Board is a group of 15 [to 20] girls from about 10 schools across the Portland Metropolitan Area…We all work together, and meet once a month,” Mathur said. “We work on goals throughout the year [such as] fundraising goals, advocacy goals, and outreach goals. We are able to work with our highschools and other members of our community to be a catalyst for change and teach other people about what is going on.”
Along with Mathur, junior Lucy Keane is a member of the Youth Outreach Board, and has been a member since the summer following her freshman year. Keane was motivated to bridge the gap between youth and people experiencing homelessnes, so she turned to the Youth Outreach Board and Rosehaven for support.
“We organize youth outreach because…there’s a real disconnect between youth and people experiencing homelessness,” Keane said. “It’s an empowerment issue where you feel like you can’t have an affect, but [it is] also an exposure issue where youth, especially youth in positions of privilege, tend to have a fear surrounding people experiencing homelessness. We use our platforms as people who have that exposure from working at Rosehaven to bring that back to our own communities [or] our school communities by running clubs.”
Mathur and Keane utilize the resources at Jesuit to promote Rosehaven Club, striving to inspire students to work with people experiencing homelessness.
“We do club fair, announcements, as well as drives at Jesuit,” Mathur said. “When people ask about drives, we let them know about what Rosehaven is. Another big part is [that] we are a part of Christian Service, so people learn about it through that.”
Along with exposure, Keane values the education she has gained from Rosehaven, striving to influence students to address the biases surrounding homelessness.
“By working through this program [you gain] the support and opportunities to educate yourself,” Keane said. “The education empowers you to make those [personal] connections…Through Rosehaven, I’ve learned and addressed those biases that would otherwise make me fearful or encourage me to avoid people experiencing homelessness.”
Scout Jacobs is a managing editor for the Jesuit Chronicles at Jesuit High School. As a senior in high school, this is her third year doing...
Health and Wellness vs. Before-School Activities
Health and Wellness vs. Before-School Activities
Jesuit has adopted a program of working to improve numerous aspects of the school, focusing on the “Health and Wellness” of students and faculty, as well as “Culturally Responsive Teaching.” This program, known as School Improvement Plans (SIP), strives to raise awareness towards students’ “self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making,” as well as maintain the overall well-being of students and staff.
One aspect of self-management is sleep. Teenagers are recommended to get 8 to 10 hours of sleep each night (National Sleep Foundation). Teens’ biological clock shifts later during adolescence, making it extremely common for many teens to struggle to fall asleep before 11pm.
At the same time, Jesuit currently offers various activities and classes before school, some starting as early as 6am, including math classes, NHS meetings, test-prep classes, and sports practices.
This poses the question: if Jesuit will be striving to maintain the health and wellness of students, should classes and activities continue to be offered so early?
Providing classes early in the morning–well before school starts–hinders students from likely obtaining the 8-10 hours of sleep needed to fully function correctly.
Early classes not only interfere with sleep schedules, but the lack of sleep students accumulate can flow into other areas of their lives, such as their mental health. A study conducted at the University of Minnesota surveyed 9,000 students in eight different high schools, with start times ranging from 7:35a.m. to 8:55a.m. The study found that with each additional hour of sleep students reported, there was a 28% decrease in students’ feelings of sadness and depression (University of Minnesota).
While early-morning activities may interfere with the sleep and mental health of students, the activities offered are optional, so students make a decision to participate. The motivation for taking a class or sport before school can be a range of reasons according to the individual, and they are fully informed of the commitment.
Despite this, a reason for taking so many classes or extracurriculars for many students is their desire to achieve high-set goals. As a college preparatory institution, high expectations at Jesuit are common and often motivating, but the pressure of these expectations can drive students to take advanced or additional courses.
This can create a domino effect, with the pressures of success leading to the decision to participate in before-school activities, potentially hindering the amount of sleep obtained by the student if they are unable to fall asleep, as noted by the National Sleep Foundation.
When a school has a culture of success and students strive to do well in all things, does offering before-school activities best serve the health and well-being of Jesuit students?
Scout Jacobs is a managing editor for the Jesuit Chronicles at Jesuit High School. As a senior in high school, this is her third year doing...
