From freshman to Junior year, the progress of my writing has been immense. Here are a few of my best articles which I think showcase my growth.
Second Article Freshman Year: Thanksgiving Break Length Changes
Due to many absences before Thanksgiving break to be able to spend time with family and friends, SHP has changed the length of this year’s break by making it last an entire school week instead of an extended weekend. This change was made last year by Mr. Dioli’s administrative team, SAC, for one main reason. They need “to be mindful when Christmas falls, when Easter falls, and the appropriate number of instructional and contact days,” says Dr. Whitcomb. Contrary to popular belief around campus, Christmas break was not shortened because of the extra days added to Thanksgiving break.
“When we looked at [last year’s] Thanksgiving week, we noticed that we lost families who were leaving school earlier,” Dr. Whitcomb said. “We studied attendance on this side of campus and on the other side of campus and we had pretty significant number of kids report absent when we had [a few] days.” With many students taking the time to visit friends and family, three or four days seemed to not be enough time for the break, and students can confirm that this is true. “Last year there were a lot of people who left a couple days early on the break to get to where they needed, myself included,” says Keegan Shaw ‘21. Due to this, SAC decided to make the break last an entire school week.
Out of 12 sophomores that were asked whether they preferred the week long Thanksgiving break over the length of the break last year, eight of them said that they preferred it and four of them said that they did not. “I prefer this year’s break,” says Matthew Chun ‘20. “It feels like I’m on vacation and can spend time with family instead of feeling like an extended weekend and I have to worry about school immediately” he states. Many other sophomores agree with him, but not all. “I do not believe I preferred a week of Thanksgiving Break,” says Alan Kagiri ‘20. “I really believe that both teachers and students could have used at least Monday and Tuesday, if not Wednesday as well, to cover more academic topics. With the semester almost over, many teachers are picking up the tempo in class, and so any extra days we can get in class means more academic aid, and I would gladly take that,” Alan also adds.
Out of ten freshmen that were asked whether they enjoyed the week long Thanksgiving break, five of them said that they did. “The week long break was better,” says Hugo Thomas ‘21. “People might not choose to go away for the break if it were only a long weekend,” he says. On the other hand, some freshmen do not agree. “I felt like the week for Thanksgiving was a little excessive,” says Conor York ‘21.
Out of 7 seniors who were asked whether they preferred the break compared to last year, 6 out of 7 of them said that they did. “I loved the long break, I finished 4 of my apps and still had time to hang out with my friends and family,” says Jack Brudos ‘18. Thanksgiving break was not only a time for catching up academically and to rest, but also to prepare for Christmas coming up. “I also got to get ahead on Christmas decorations,” says Nadia Paquin ‘18.
Teachers also have an opinion on the topic. “To the benefit of the students Thanksgiving is not a true break as you still have tested and finals to prepare for. At Christmas finals, projects, and college apps are done so students can enjoy more of time truly away from studies,” says Mrs. Tsutsui. When asked about next year’s break length, Dr. Whitcomb said that “we are doing the 2018-19 schedule right now.” With a long one week break now over, students are ready and refreshed for the academic home-stretch before finals.
First Sophomore Year Article: Dr. Slafter Regales Community with Espacio
Dr. Slafter, director of the SHS farm and gardens, presented an intriguing Espacio on August 30th in which he compared his sabbatical from last year to universal experiences that all students can learn from, such as low moments and times of change.
The espacio, which was presented in “a casual, inclusive manner,” says Keemya Bashiri ‘19, made it “one of the best espacios.” Not only did Dr. Slafter welcome the students in a relaxing tone that was fit for the beginning of the school year, but he also incorporated different techniques of connecting his sabbatical to what he wanted to teach the student body. “The use of slides made it easier to understand what he was saying,” explains Rohil Lokuge ‘22, one of the freshman who experienced his first espacio on campus.
Freshman, senior, or faculty member, everyone in the room had advice specific that they could take away from the espacio. For Mr. Bell, SHP Vice Principal, the message that he found most significant was that “no matter where you are in your age and stage in life, the low, middle, and high points constantly change,” a message that Dr. Slafter made clear by addressing all grade levels while using the altitude of the different places he visited during his sabbatical to act as a metaphor.
Seniors were addressed with the metaphor of different altitudes of mountains, which has a clear connection to college choices. “The aspects of preparation for college and advice for seniors that I found most significant in Dr. Slafter's Espacio was his idea that it is okay if we don't get into our top choice or ‘reach the other mountain.’We may ‘reach another mountain’ or get into another school and have the same ‘beautiful view’!" says Keemya. As a freshman, Rohil was most interested in Dr. Slafter’s messages about not being “stressed, which influenced many freshmen.”
“It sounded like a great opportunity that comes up once in a great while. Everybody is there: a perfect, patient, captive audience,” says Dr. Slafter regarding what led him to transform his sabbatical into an espacio. “At first, I was thinking of my own son who is in a completely foreign environment. [By] observing my son, I was able to conceive this conception of low lows and high highs, and the mountains acted as a great metaphor,” explains Dr. Slafter.
This reflects one of the most powerful concepts that he conveyed to the audience. “The only consistent thing is change,” recalls Mr. Bell. Dr. Slafter showed to the students that change is inevitable in life, and that it is one of the only phenomena that constantly recurs because it is universal.
Of all the different villages and locations that Dr. Slafter visited, the highlight of his sabbatical was his visit to an “old, medieval village called Graun,” he says. “In the 1950s, everyone [was] ordered to leave so [that] they could build a hydroelectric dam.” Everyone in the village left and they lost everything, so “very little people are old enough to remember it. In the winter, the lake is frozen over except for the top of one steeple and you can walk over and touch it,” explains Dr. Slafter. “The lack of permanency of things that are old and medieval [are] proof that you really need to focus on the people around you. Everything else around you could be gone in an instant.”
Dr. Slafter’s year long sabbatical was perfect for an espacio that shone light on many different themes that he, as well as all of the students on campus, learned from, such as how change is a constant part of one’s everyday life.
Third Sophomore Year Article: Investigative Report on Technology (written with three other writers)
In recent years, teachers and administrators have aimed to improve students’ quality of learning by implementing technology in the classroom, though they are starting to see its adverse effects on students’ mental health.
Addiction to Technology
This year, administrators, advisors, and teachers have reflected upon students’ addiction to technology and conducted surveys to gain insights into students’ thoughts and preferences related to technology. “When we’re in something, it’s hard to have perspective about it sometimes, and so to step back can help us,” said Ms. Monika Nagy, who directs the Health and Wellness program.
To this end, Ms. Nagy conducted a survey whose participants consisted of students taking the Leadership Inquiry course and delivered a presentation discussing the highlights of her survey as well as the broader context for the issue of addiction to technology. “Some challenges are that I'll get distracted in class when I see a shopping ad or a text from someone,” a student wrote on the survey.
Another student discussed the consequence of technology as a distraction in class. The student wrote, “The drawbacks of device use in classes lie in distraction. They prevent me from paying attention to my teachers and from keeping track of what’s going on in the classroom. They make me stare at screens instead of listening to a lecture.”
Some students feel that note-taking is more efficient on paper and without technology. “A negative of having devices in class is that taking notes is often done much better on paper. There is also the constant threat that someone texts me and my notification pops up distracting,” a student wrote.
However, Ms. Briarly Kilburn, a student advisor, still sees value in technology in classrooms. “I think the different platforms that come with technology provide a rich texture to learning, and there are a lot of kids who learn visually, which textbooks don’t achieve as well.”
Technology’s addictive nature stems from the exploitive intentions of companies in the industry. “In Silicon Valley, tech companies talk about how they can make apps, games, and social media platforms ‘sticky,’ as in whether a person will ‘stick’ to it, which determines profitability. That should be disturbing to people,” Ms. Nagy said.
In the survey conducted during the Leadership Period, a student’s response reflected the addictive impact of “sticky” applications. “On school nights, I feel like I'm constantly on my phone; I always have my phone with me, and it's difficult for me to focus on my work for long periods of time without checking it, kind of like it's pulling me towards it or something,” the student wrote.
In 2015, The Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication published an experiment in which forty adults were separated from their phones while completing a puzzle but could still hear them ringing and buzzing, which uncovered the cognitive, emotional, and physiological impacts of that separation. Ms. Nagy said, “They hypothesized that levels of self-extension would lower, anxiety would increase, blood pressure would rise, there would be more unpleasantness and less pleasantness, increased heart rate, and lowered cognitive performance. Every single one of those things happened. In any other context, we would say, ‘This behavior suggests withdrawal.’”
For teenagers, though, the consequences of that same addiction are more severe than symptoms of withdrawal. “Until about age twenty-five, your brain is still trying to figure out how to self-regulate. With any dopamine flooding, whether it’s from heroin or from nicotine or from swiping and liking, teenagers’ brains lower their natural dopamine production, and low dopamine production feels and looks like depression, which poses the risk of having long-term mood disorders as adults,” said Ms. Nagy.
Before even hearing Ms. Nagy’s comparison of heroin and nicotine to swiping and liking, a student expressed a similar idea in the survey. “I'm definitely severely addicted to my phone in the same way that someone could be addicted to nicotine or alcohol. Addiction to anything comes with a whole host of problems, and I've definitely experienced them in some capacity with my phone addiction,” the student wrote.
Last year, Dr. Anna Lembke, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University Medical Center, gave a speech to faculty, staff, parents, and students, which sparked conversations about technology on campus. She said, “In ten years from now, we’ll look back in horror at the way we let kids use smartphones and laptops because we somehow thought that was educational.”
Implementation of Technology in the Classroom
As the technology on at SHP has developed, administrators and teachers have recognized the addictive and distracting potential for technology in the classroom and have sought to implement technology in a way that enhances the classroom, facilitates creative projects, and encourages students to work together toward a common goal. “The introduction of the iPad 2 allowed for a lot of creativity,” says Dr. Lopez, Director of Technology. “They were better for students and teachers to engage in technology and use it collaboratively in classes.”
With SHP encouraging each student to bring his or her own iPad to school, and with its use of Schoology, students are able to concentrate more on thinking outside of the box and creating projects, according to Dr. Lopez.
Administrators and the technology department agree that the arts, sciences, and world languages departments have benefited from recent applications on the iPad which enrich the students understanding of the course material. Leica Microsystems, for example, allows students to project their findings from microscopes onto a large screen in order to share their learning with other students in a biology classroom. “Technology is integrated into our classes and we try to have faculty encourage wise use. If you are using iPads, which we need because they are connected to the labs in a science class,” technology can be helpful, says Dr. Whitcomb.
Dr. Whitcomb and other administrators acknowledge that the use of technology in the classroom has the potential to distract students, but they believe that exposing students to technology serves a greater good in preparing them for their lives after high school. She says, “Technology is tangled, and it has both affordances and constraints. We integrate technologies that are available to us and that students are likely to encounter down the road.”
With the integration of new technological products to enhance learning and make the school day easier, stricter policies and new systems have been put in place in order to allow students to manage their work and time with more efficiency. Mr. Vaganov, Computer Science teacher, explains the specific changes he has seen at SHP. “They’ve implemented text message alerts for emergencies. WiFi restrictions have become stricter and there is a Sacred Heart VR headset,” he says. “I used the VR to teach one of my classes.” With a schedule application, an accessible daily bulletin, text message notifications, and an easily accessible web page, Sacred Heart’s numerous ways of making the student experience easier usually stem from technology’s newest developments.
In the process of implementing technology, administrators and teachers acknowledge that it can stifle the learning experience at SHP, understanding that an emerging body of scientific research suggests that it can be addictive for students, given that it also serves as a platform for social media. “What I’ve seen shift while I’ve been here is a deeper awareness of the underbelly, or dark side, of technology. There is our understanding of both watching our students use technology and understanding the research literature of adolescence and addiction” says Dr. Whitcomb. We need to “curb our addiction to technology during times when we are in a community.” The school tries to use the “collaboration aspect of technology” instead of the “social media aspect of technology,” according to Dr. Lopez.
The Computer Science department, along with teaching valuable basic steps for coding, has integrated the ethical use of technology into the curriculum in order to raise awareness for its detrimental aspects like Dr. Whitcomb acknowledged. “Part of what a computer science class should teach you is what hacking is and how to keep yourself safe from it,” explains Mr. Vaganov. The implementation of lessons regarding serotonin and dopamine in the brain are taught in Exploring to Computer Science courses in order to further communicate the message that Health and Wellness is directly correlated with the use of technology.
With teachers and administrators alike pushing for wise freedom in students' use of technology, SHP’s gradual implementation of technology to enhance creativity will continue. Sacred Heart is “working towards what we think are subtle and bold shifts,” says Dr. Whitcomb.
Teachers’ Use of Technology
Throughout SHP, technology usage exists on a spectrum, as some teachers throw their full weight behind technology in the classroom, while others maintain that technology is a huge distraction from the learning process.
English teacher Mr. Moffat describes the use of iPads in the classroom as a “scourge on humanity.” He said, “I see iPads as a poor, ineffective, and distracting tool.” Mr. Moffat acknowledged that iPads are necessary for some disciplines, but in his own English classes, he believes that iPads are “eye and finger candy for students.”
He also dislikes the school’s use of Schoology, claiming that it deprives students of the opportunity to “practice their executive ability.” Schoology allows students to view homework as just another assignment rather than a learning opportunity, Mr. Moffat suggests, prioritizing grades and completion over actually synthesizing material.
Mr. Moffat is not alone in these concerns. Other teachers raise doubts about whether technology’s benefits outweighed its potential for distraction were prevalent. Ms. Courtney York, math teacher, said that she had come to realize, “My students were getting the surface level of every concept, but then the technology was just such a distraction that deeper level of learning was not happening.”
Ms. Diane Sweeney, head of the science department, believes that the use of iPads in science classes, especially for note taking, did not seem to produce the same results as note taking on paper. However, this is not to say that all SHP teachers are against technology in the classroom. Ms. Sweeney agreed that technology can sometimes be necessary, especially when using scientific instruments. “In science, we have a lot of instruments that communicate with technology,” she said, “and for those reasons, I really use technology.”
Teachers’ use of technology varies by both the department in which they teach and their individual preferences. Ms. York said that part of her aversion to using technology in her classroom stems from the limitations of her course material. Referring to her Precalculus BC Honors sections, she said, “There is an expectation that students think abstractly, and it’s really hard to establish that abstract learning.” She believes that the addition of distracting technology compounds the difficulty of understanding abstract concepts in her class.
Yet all the teachers interviewed responded positively when asked about the coexistence of technology-heavy classes and classes with no technology. In fact, all the teachers were supportive of the teacher’s current ability to control how little or how much technology is used in their classroom. Ms. Sweeney pointed out that such coexistence already exists, especially when it comes to each teacher’s individual style. “I don’t think we should have a school wide policy one way or the other,” she said. “When you switch from one teacher to another you learn that this teacher has a different style, this teacher has different expectations, this is how this teacher rolls Why can’t technology be a part of that?”
Ms. York, who does not encourage the use of technology in her own classroom, supported both sides of the individual flexibility that teachers have over technology in their classrooms. “Switching between classes with different technological expectations foster a sense of understanding about when technology is most productive. Teaching this balance to students is necessary in a world that grows more technological every day,” she said.
Fourth Sophomore Year Article: Camp Fires Impact SHP Athletics
With no way of preparing for the effects of the recent Camp Fire ahead of time, SHP’s administrators and athletic department began working hard on the morning of November 9th to ensure the long-term safety of the student body. What seemed to be a fire that would quickly pass by with no impact on the school’s campus turned out to be California’s deadliest fire.
Along with praying for those affected by the natural disaster and spreading awareness about the topic, SHP also worked hard to apply wise freedom to student’s decisions in their everyday lives. Athletes who were in the middle of their seasons were especially impacted, and coaches worked diligently to communicate with the athletic department about the status of their practices.
“We moved basketball practices around to accommodate our football programs [who] needed to utilize gym space in their preparation for their section playoff games. We moved our cross country team indoors for stationary bike sessions or utilized early morning practices,” explains Mr. Frank Rodriguez, Assistant Principal of Athletics.
Since athletes struggled to maintain consistent training throughout the end of their seasons, they were “a little thrown off,” says Peter Desler ‘21, who was finishing his football season as a Varsity player. “They did the best they could though. I don't think they could have done anything more that could have helped us because we did not have access to a lot of facilities,” Desler adds. Indeed, the time was inconvenient for SHP’s athletic program, which was just beginning its transition from the fall to winter season.
“The winter season coaches practiced at odd times in order to support the fall season teams who were in the midst of section playoffs,” says Mr. Rodriguez. Unfortunately, the boys and girls water polo season ended ahead of time, but they put “it into perspective with the tragic loss of life and homes in Butte County,” explains Mr. Rodriguez, recalling one of his “proudest moments [in his] tenure here at SHP.”
Of course, the school’s closure during Friday, November 16th demonstrated that the Camp Fire was not uniquely an obstacle for the student athletes. “I spearheaded a meeting between the two schools to make sure that we were all on the same page in respect to whether we were going to stay open or closed,” says Mr. Sherman Hall, Director of Campus Safety & Security. “My job is to make sure that everybody is learning in a safe environment and that would include times when the air quality is hazardous.”
Due to the Camp Fire being a very atypical event on campus for many administrators, safety protocols were either put in place or adapted to ensure that all students would not suffer from long term effects. “Wise freedom is an appropriate way to describe the way we enforce things on the high school side,” explains Mr. Hall, referring to the option for students to go indoors or use N95 masks to look out for themselves in the long-term.
Due to the fires being such an abnormal event, there were some aspects of the Air Quality Index that needed to be cemented and regulated within the various stages of the athletic organizations that SHP is a part of. “Overall CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) doesn’t seem to have an air quality policy but the NCS (North Coast Section) does. The CCS (Central Coast Section) that we are in does not,” says Coach Holly Brown, Head Athletic Trainer. Thus, there was a lack of “uniform decisions coming from the CIF when games were getting rescheduled. It was left up to each section instead of the CIF making one overarching change” adds Coach Brown.
Fortunately, a dedicated team of athletic administrators and coaches worked together to decide what athletes should be doing. “We used 150 as the point of ‘nothing outside’ and even inside we started letting our coaches know that they needed to start lessening the intensity,” explains Coach Brown.
With respect to the safety protocols on campus, many agree that administration was very effective when it came to letting everybody know what they needed to look out for in advance. We would send “a message out to all the parents,” says Mrs. Misha McKinney, SHP School Nurse. “We did a good job in terms of communicating from Day 1 via e-mail.” Of course, it was a “learning experience for us given that this is the worst fire in California in recent history,” says Nurse McKinney.
Though SHP used many of its policies that were put in place after the 2017 Santa Rosa fires, according to Mr. Rodriguez, there is still room for change. We “made an investment in Air quality monitors. We will have one outdoor monitor outside and six indoor monitors,” says Mr. Hall.
He also adds that SHP will be paying closer attention to the “particulate matter in the gymnasium and other buildings to make better choices of where we will shelter in place. McGanney does have not sufficient air filtration that the practice gym has.”
Even if such events and natural hazards are rare, it is still extremely necessary for SHP to prepare in advance so as to keep students safe-- one of the primary concerns for every person on this campus.
Sixth Sophomore Year Article: The Evolution of Political Divisions on Campus
The way that Sacred Heart’s campus is composed of multiple groups representing both sides of the political spectrum of the United States, while also containing a religious aspect to its daily teachings, has created an evolving political divide on the campus. Especially after the 2016 presidential election, which sprung the creation of multiple student-led groups that embody a certain political side, the issue about whether it is beneficial to be politically active on campus has never been more relevant.
In 1954, when Sister Nancy Morris began teaching at the school, she recalls that students and faculty “expressed no political views at all, there was no talk about politics. Now, it is quite different.” In an era where free speech has evolved to become a necessity at the national and everyday level, politics have also changed––and so has SHP’s approach to healing political divisions, which involves intermittent masses and Espacios.
Sr. Nancy Morris still acknowledges a shortcoming of these masses and Espacios. She says that “nobody is neutral and sometimes we express our favorites. The whole area is more democratic, but there is a strong conservative vein in the area.” Overall, though, she believes that “we should be impartial,” since it allows for the building of a school community without political fragmentation.
Of course, people will tend to congregate based on their ideologies, which can be seen in students clubs such as PASH and SHPolitics. Hunter Thompson ‘19, one of the leaders of the latter club, believes that the political division of SHP is formed because those with “cultural and moral values in common are more likely to associate with each other. This tends to lead to people forming social groups with those whom they share political ideology with.” As a result students do not want “to discuss politics for fear of alienating potential friends,” he says.
The nuns at Oakwood have worked around the divisions arising from political differences by inviting “guests and speakers from both political backgrounds,” says Sr. Morris. In the classroom, especially with a mandatory religious curriculum, teachers are required to balance out political discourse with religious moral teaching. The Social Ethics class that the Religious Studies department offers is “biased towards the principles of Catholic social teachings such as human dignity and the common good," says Ms. Jessica Mueller. "We don't say that our students have to agree with those principles. Whether they accept or reject them, students need to be able to understand them and think critically about what it would mean to build a world that embodies those principles." Hunter, who has taken Social Ethics, says that “SHP uses religion to inform people of the morality that Catholic Social Teaching preaches, and then gives the moral and political implications of these positions,” he concludes.
Nonetheless, there can be conflict between the two. Dr. James Everitt, Director of the Office of Mission Initiatives & Institutional Planning, says that religion has “the potential to do both” the mending of relationships and further political divide. “There is no doubt that the school has a point of view. We are always in favor of the gospel, but that can be loosely interpreted. What I would say is that when the adults on campus only use the school’s religious values to defend their position, it has the potential to cause division among the students,” he says.
The school’s relationship with the Archdiocese, which lays out the requirements for Sacred Heart to meet some basic aspects of Catholic identity is one that does not seem to have much of an impact on students in an everyday context but can have serious implications. The rule of thumb is that “when it comes to social issues, the Church has a significant body of doctrine that supports taking a stand on certain issues,” Dr. Everitt says.
Sacred Heart’s way of addressing the political repercussions of religious teachings poses an additional challenge to religion classes such as Social Ethics. In general, the class discusses social issues that are "very complex, and we want our students to dive into the messiness of it. Within the messiness, we also want to provide some guiding principles to make their way through it as compassionate and responsible global citizens. Those principles flow from the heart of Jesus, whose message is as challenging––and hopeful!––today as it was 2,000 years ago,” says Mrs. Mueller. Sacred Heart’s emphasis on global issues through the lens of the Gospel, combined with its recognition of the political divide that could arise with readings of the Gospels, makes it so that there is somewhat of a harmony between these essences.
At the same time, however, Sacred Heart’s push for students to be active and take a stand for the issues that passion them can be backed or rejected by the Archdiocese’s doctrines, however indirectly it may be. In October 2018, for example, the Daily Bulletin promoted a pro-life writing competition while there was also a march that was held in support of immigration.
Both of these are events that support the views of the Archdiocese but that have been debated by different political parties. “To say that the [school’s] mission always supports a liberal take is wrong. It has to be more nuanced than that and fundamentally you have to understand that the school has a purpose…to promote a certain set of values around Jesus’s desire for peace and justice,” says Dr. Everitt.
Even as politics continue to evolve on our campus with a somewhat liberal political message, the sisters, classes, clubs, and faculty on campus try to include all students in a way that allows for reflection, analysis, and balance. While “the larger culture is playing itself out” on campus, says Dr. Everitt, students are being encouraged to reflect and take a stance. With religious principles conflicting with modern student views, SHP holds its students to the challenge of understanding the message of Jesus with a Catholic perspective for themselves.
Seventh Sophomore Year Article: Drug Dogs Visit SHP
After multiple assemblies warning students about the consequences that would come from violating the handbook’s zero-tolerance policy, as well as the Health and Wellness Department’s effort to educate students on the risks of substance use, SHP chose a random day to bring drug dogs on campus to enforce the school’s rules. What started out as a small problem with occasional reminders from faculty about ways to seek help for addiction turned into a large-scale problem with the school’s policy, resulting in firmer action on the part of the administration.
Part of the challenge that the school has confronted is the accessibility of drugs in recent years. “We know that the change in technology, increase in the marketing and normalizing of juuling and e-cigarette use has led to an increase in the prevalence of nicotine,” explains Mrs. Monika Nagy, SHP Health and Wellness Coordinator and Teacher. "With this increase in the use of a substance that we know to be harmful to the developing teenage brain, not to mention illegal, the Administration realized they had a responsibility to find other ways to help ensure a drug-free campus for the whole community."
Before SHP turned to the drug dogs, students were informed of the harm in substance use through presentations, studies, classes, and assemblies. For example, SHP welcomed a USCF professor that shared her research on the effects of addiction and the new strategies that Juul has used to market itself to a younger audience. “The education piece has been comprehensive,” says Mr. Sherman Hall, Director of Campus Safety and Security. The “enforcement was a necessary complement; otherwise the rules are just a bunch of words.”
Even so, the student body still expressed concern about substance use on campus. “Students were uncomfortable knowing that juuling was going on and they started coming forward. Current students, 8th grade shadows in the Admissions process, and other adult visitors to campus all came forward to report that they were encountering vaping on campus. It was not what they hoped for,” says Mrs. Nagy. These concerns led to a need for “verification: Is everybody upholding our rules?” says Mr. Lamont Quattlebaum, Dean of Students. “We just don't want anything here on campus that jeopardizes the safety of other kids. It was not a mistrust of the student body.”
Leading up to the final decision, “there was talk about things that [the school] could structurally do, but we came to an agreement that it's time to do it this way,” explains Mr. Quattlebaum. After this conclusion, the faculty reflected on the pros of bringing the dogs on campus. “I find the ability of dogs to cover large spaces in a short period of time very appealing. It is efficient and not particularly intrusive,” says Mr. Hall. Ms. Nagy adds that schools who have used dogs in the past find that it's one of the most effective ways in not having “substances at school. Sacred Heart cares deeply for each student and would hate for someone to have to leave the community due to violating the substance use policy. Sometimes, when someone is struggling with dependency or addiction, a clear policy and enforcement can help prevent them from jeopardizing their wellbeing.
Luckily, the dogs found nothing, so SHP’s firm approach to the situation had yielded positive results. “I didn’t realize the dogs had come until the next day, [and] from the people I talked to, no one was really aware the dogs came until even after I found out,” says Lauren Purcell ‘20. “Almost everyone found out simply by word-of-mouth.” Because of the little information that had been provided by administration, and the way that it was a first for SHP, “there was lots of talk and anticipation surrounding it. Some people got very anxious,” says Caitlyn Perkocha ‘19.
The effect of the dogs’ investigation has had mixed results; some students think that they were a short-term solution, while others were happy to see that SHP upheld the handbook’s regulations. “We could no longer enforce the rule the way it used to be. It was not a scare tactic,” says Mrs. Nagy. On the other hand, Lauren sees how the process, “unless done routinely, has little to no effect on the students that actually have a problem if they do in fact get away with it.”
What everyone can agree on, however, is that the drug dogs demonstrated that SHP’s administrators were prepared to enforce the rules that they had explained since the beginning of the school year. “The dogs are a new way of enforcing an existing rule,” says Mrs. Nagy. They were “a response to the fact that we gave a bunch of warnings.”
The experience with the dogs was one that SHP had never resorted to in the past, but that turned out well because it demonstrated that the school’s student body could bounce back from previous mistakes and concerns by following the rules that had been set up for their safety on campus. Offering hope for the future, Mrs. Nagy says that students can still always meet with an adult on campus if they have concerns about their own substance use, or the substance use of any of their peers. "In particular, Ms. Merrill, the School Counseling Team, and the Health & Wellness teachers are all available to talk with students about this topic and it's not a discipline matter -- our main goal is to create safety for students with information & support."
First Junior Year Article: SHP Reflects on Parking’s Changes and Future
Parking never fails to spark discussion and controversy at SHP, so with the recent completion of the new Campbell building and the radical transformation of the campus’s layout, students, faculty, and administration are reflecting on the topic once again. Not only has the total number of spots increased from two years ago, but the movement of certain programs and minor changes to the uses of certain spaces have allowed SHP to embrace a new way of accommodating everyone on campus with safety and without overflow. However, this has been met with debate amongst students regarding the methods that the school is taking to make this possible.
The construction that began during last year’s academic year was devastating to the parking dynamic with a loss of 78 spots. As a result, sophomores and juniors overflowed to the back parking of Valparaiso’s Mormon church, requiring them to accommodate extra walking time in their early morning schedule. There was an overall sense of dissatisfaction for those who had to park so far from campus, as well as safety and noise concerns arising from the neighborhood.
Fortunately, everything changed with both the completion of the Campbell building and the new campus layout that came alongside the major construction. The Campbell side of campus “gained an additional two spots,” and there are “an additional twenty four spots in total because of efficiency and the way [construction] laid it out,” says Mr. Brian Bell, Assistant Principal of Student Life.
The developments may initially seem minor, but have allowed for the significant change that can be seen today. For example, the spots near the main plaza “are now perpendicular instead of parallel,” explains Mr. Bell. And there is more to come with the “redoing [of] the turf on Morey field [which] lost some spots. Once all the contractors are gone, then we will get more spots.” In addition, the Creative Inquiry program’s transition to the new building was essential in contributing to the twenty four spot surplus, with the outdoor workshops now being attached to the Campbell building. This has freed up more parking next to the Main Building to aid with the flow of vehicles in the mornings and afternoons.
The new campus’ layout has also enabled the implementation of new spaces and features to be made possible. Though it is “too early to say because we have not yet recouped all of the spots that we once had on campus…once we do, we will be in better shape,” explains Dr. Jennie Whitcomb, Principal. Most notable are the “charging stations and a better place for the van pool,” Dr. Whitcomb adds. The former of these two is “open to students, faculty, and staff. The spirit of the space is that if your car is fully charged, you would park it in a different space for the next person,” says Mr. Bell. Administration is currently being trained on how to oversee and operate the stations.
As summarized by Mr. Michael Dwyer, Director of Operations, “we saw opportunities while we were going through the construction to identify areas that could be utilized for parking and increase our efficiency.” On top of that, additional safety measures have been taken that have simultaneously helped the flow of cars on campus during busy moments. For instance, “the in-out for both the entrance and exit [on Elena Avenue] were changed to one way— in one out the other to better aid [the] flow of traffic,” says Mr. Dwyer. In general, the school is “trying to create some flow that will reduce choke points or traffic backup” while “trying to keep people farther away from Valparaiso to enter or exit the campus,” says Mr. Bell.
While the student body is certainly looking forward to some of the changes, there are others that have sparked controversy across the campus. This year, the seniors have not been designated a special lot to themselves, and students find spots based on their arrival on campus. “First come, first serve will allow more people to park on campus,” says Mr. Sherman Hall, Director of Campus Safety and Security. Students, particularly seniors, are finding this policy difficult to accept, especially since it was changed from previous years.
The reason that SHP is trying its best to accommodate the most amount of people possible is because the school is “trying to honor [the] goals and criteria,” says Mr. Dwyer. Applying the Sacred Heart’s goals to a larger scale, the Menlo Park and Atherton community, is essential to understanding the changes in parking. “Being a good and responsive neighbor is paramount to our sustained success. A greater percentage of time, when we have had designated parking we have not achieved 100% utilization of filling parking spaces on school grounds and the result is disruption to the neighborhood as cars were forced to overflow to the neighboring streets while spaces on campus remained empty,” adds Mr. Dwyer.
Despite the school’s efforts to implement the goals into the everyday process of parking, students are finding it difficult to adapt to the changes it has caused in routine. One student, who chose to remain anonymous, expressed their concern in this way: “I have to leave my house at 6:55 AM every morning in order to find parking. I have to wake up really early. It affects my academic performance because I am not as focused in class.” Others disagree and “think it's fine. First come first serve,” says Alejandro Torres ‘20. “Parking has gotten a lot better. [It] is so much easier now that I can park on campus. I can leave stuff in my car and grab it after school so I don't have to carry it around all day,” adds Daniel Grau ‘20.
Students in disagreement about the current system are proposing other alternatives, especially when it comes to the junior and senior parking mix. “I think there should be a junior and senior lot because when I’m a senior I want to park closer to school. It creates less of a competition to get to school first because everyone knows their place,” says Bennett Kruse ‘21. In a similar manner, William Nichols ‘20 proposes that “the solution is assigned and designated spots for each grade. Divide the parking lot in half and the seniors and juniors should get their own designated half.”
Additionally, some smaller concerns have sprung up about the parking layout. “The parking against the fence is really tight. When I’m pulling out I am afraid I’m going to hit a tree or something. And the trees get the cars dirty [which] makes the cars dusty. It’s so bad,” says Sofia Sanchez ‘21. The overall situation seems to be split, however, with some juniors looking forward to next year and hoping to get a special area to themselves and others satisfied with the current situation.
In order to hear the students’ voice and prepare for future changes, administrators are hard at work with initiatives such as working with Student Council. The current administrative goal is to try to “use student government to get… suggestions consolidated,” explains Mr. Bell. “If we have questions from students about parking or there is something that is unsafe, or something that would be more efficient,” then the school will work hard to implement the changes.
Whatever the case may be, the main rule when it comes to parking is that students need to hold themselves accountable to the new policies and regulations that are being put in place. “With many changes underway this year, we need to be responsible about [parking]. We don’t want to create externalities— things that create noise— or else the no parking signs [on Elena] will be back up,” says Mr. Hall. If there are incidents that “cause problems in that street, the Town will put the no parking signs back in place.”
Throughout the course of the year, SHP will experiment with parking and try to find the balance between accommodating as many people as possible, including the feedback of the students and teachers, and organizing the layout in accordance with the new changes on campus. Since parking is an issue that affects nearly everyone at the school, the main goal this year will be to find the golden mean among all of the Gators’ voices.
Third Junior Year Article:
Editorial: Big Questions About Time
Do we spend our time correctly? Why are students struggling to complete homework on time? How can teachers see eye to eye with students competing at high athletic levels? What is the most productive way to spend one hour of the school day? How does all of this apply to students who prioritize an extracurricular activity as a part of their identity? The HeartBeat is setting out to tackle these questions in the next few issues.
To foster dialogue on our campus and to create content that is meaningful for students, the News section will be pushing the boundaries of investigative reporting at SHP for the upcoming issues of the newspaper. William Briger ‘21, Maya Moffat ‘23, and I will be garnering student, faculty, and administrative opinions to write four articles for Issues 4-7 that will discuss topics to which every member of the community can relate.
In this issue, Maya has introduced the topic of the California legislation that will delay the start time of school, showing how SHP has already begun the conversation of how to reform the schedule and maximize time on and off campus. In our series of articles, however, we are aiming to reconcile administrative and faculty opinions with those of students who dedicate their time to a variety of commitments, whether it is in class, at home, when performing athletically, or with extracurricular activities.
The News section has always taken the approach of reporting on subjects that apply to the school, but in this upcoming series, students can look forward to the start of an ongoing conversation that will bring the community together and inspire change in the way that SHP approaches the most relevant aspects of a student’s life.
This series will aim to tackle these questions with a diversity of opinions from students and faculty to change the way that the HeartBeat spurs conversation, as well as to get the community thinking about the same pressing topics together. Anyone who is interested in adding their perspective to this discussion should feel free to reach out to one of the writers.
This series will be included in another blog post.
11/20/19