The County Chronicle

The online newspaper of Loudoun County High School

Apr
5

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Meet Caitlin Robinson, an award-winning guitarist

Category: Arts and Entertainment Tags:

Olivia DeWan | staff writer

Award winning guitarist Caitlin Robinson practices in her backyard in June 2019. When getting ready for competitions, Robinson will practice from four to six hours a day.

Many people know how to play an instrument, but few manage to master that instrument. Junior Caitlin Robinson is one of those people.

Robinson has been playing guitar since she was six years old, and it quickly became a huge part of her life.

“My older brother had been playing for a couple of years,” Robinson said. “I saw how much he enjoyed it and wanted to start taking lessons.”

Robinson did just that. She spent hours taking lessons and learning how to play. She even takes guitar as a class at County.

“I played the classical guitar for about ten years,” Robinson said. “The main reason why I liked playing the classical guitar was because there were a lot of opportunities that came with that genre, such as competitors and the State and National ensembles.”

The State and National ensembles represent the top performing high school musicians in the United States. To make one of these ensembles requires months of practice.

With her skills in playing guitar, it was no shock when Robinson made the ensemble. She was the only musician from Loudoun County High School, and she was playing with musicians from Las Vegas, Santa Fe, and a number of other states.

“My favorite competition was the Marlow Guitar Beatty Competition in Washington DC,” Robinson said. “This is an annual competition that I had previously participated in and after over six months of work, I ended up not placing.”

Regardless of her temporary failure, Robinson didn’t let that stop her.

“After that difficult loss, I promised myself that I was going to win next year,” she said. “I started preparing and by the next year I felt ready and confident. I was extremely nervous sitting before the panel of judges and after announcing my name and pieces I had prepared, I began to play my most difficult song.”

In order to prepare for competitions such as the Marlow Guitar Beatty Competition, the musician has to work for several months on a number of different pieces.

“The year before a competition I take a couple of months to choose my pieces and then spend about one to four hours every day for at least six months practicing and memorizing the set of songs,” Robinson explained.

Using that method of preparation, Robinson hoped to place first in the Marlow Guitar Beatty Competition. When playing her first song, she forgot almost half of the piece. Still, she finished her set and walked off stage devastated, for she thought she wouldn’t advance to the next round.

However, the judges informed her that she had passed and would continue on to the next round the following day.

Robinson went on and succeeded in her final performances in the Marlow Guitar Beatty Competition, and was awarded first place in her age group.

“I worked extremely hard and achieved a long term goal I had set for myself,” Robinson said.

In addition to the Marlow Guitar Beatty Competition, Robinson achieved a number of different awards and accomplishments with guitar.

“I was accepted two times into the PAVAN Governor’s School for Guitar, and have won or placed in many competitions such as the Aguado Guitar Competition and Eastern Music Festival Guitar Competition,” Robinson said. “I was also accepted into both the All Virginia Guitar and National Guitar Ensemble for 2020.”

After years of hard work and winning competitions, Robinson decided to switch it up.

“I found that I wanted to play guitar as a way to relieve stress and find enjoyment instead of having to constantly be preparing for and playing at auditions and competitions,” Robinson said. “When I finally realized this, I decided that acoustic guitar would be the best style for me to learn and I have been playing acoustic for the past few months.”

Still, learning guitar came with a few struggles.

“One of the main struggles I faced, and I am sure many other musicians have also, is spending years trying to develop a perfect tone on their instrument,” Robinson said.

Robinson had a number of mentors and friends who helped her overcome these challenges.

“I’ve had several amazing teachers and friends that really poured themselves and their love for guitar into me. My first teacher Patrick Fritz helped me develop key foundational skills that set me up for success in my later years,” Robinson explained. “My most recent teacher, Dr. JB Taylor, taught me that beauty in a performance is not how many of the notes were ‘correct’, but actually how gracefully and effortlessly the notes as a whole were woven together to make music.”

Robinson has collected several treasured memories along her journey with guitar.

“I used to play each week for a retirement home while they were eating dinner,” Robinson said. “Watching the residents with severe dementia or medical issues be able to hum or sing along with one of my songs as I played for them was really a wonderful thing to witness.”

Due to COVID, Robinson was unable to continue to play for the residents at retirement homes. With the extra time on her hands, she was able to focus more on college.

“I would like to attend any of the Virginia schools,” Robinson said. “I really would like to pursue a career in the medical field though I’m not quite sure what job.”

In addition to guitar, Robinson plays field hockey for the varsity team at Loudoun County, enjoys taking her dog on long walks, and she has started powerlifting.

Robinson’s unfailing persistence and hard work has led her to success with guitar, and in life in general.

“The skill in being able to play an instrument well does not lie in the notes,” Robinson said. “But rather how you play them.”

Mar
27

By

National English Honor Society inducts 20 new members

Category: News Tags: ,

Pictured above is the logo for NEHS. Advised by Lara Alt, the club works to create a passion for literature amongst high school students.

Olivia Zavadil | Managing Editor

In a normal year, NEHS would come together to work on group service projects, such as making posters to promote literature in schools, filling up the library boxes around school, and donating reading supplies to families.National English Honors Society, led by English teacher Lara Alt, is welcoming twenty new members to its program this year. Seven students were accepted initially in the fall, and thirteen more underclassmen were accepted. With sixteen returning members, this makes a total of thirty-six student members.

However, due to the new hybrid and distance learning models this year, the club has had to find new ways to come together and contribute to the community. “We meet online instead of in person,” said Alt. “We have focused more on writing contests and reading opportunities offered through the LCHS library.”

One of those opportunities comes from the national office for NEHS, at Northern Illinois University, which has published more online writing contests this year that are open to NEHS members. “I am hoping NEHS members will contribute their creative writing to the online LCHS literary magazine this year,” Alt said.

This year, the induction ceremony will be held online and will be led by the NEHS student. Parents and families of the inductees are encouraged to attend the meeting.

 

Mar
25

By

Despite success, Captains basketball falls short in the region championship

Category: Sports Tags:

Jevonte Herron | sports writer

At home game on January 23, Caleb Rexroad goes for a lay up and George Mwesiga looks to get the board if he misses in a regular season game against Broad Run. Photo courtesy of Caleb Rexroad.

Loudoun County boys basketball had another successful season even with the challenges of the pandemic, such as a shortened season and no fans allowed at games. The Captains didn’t let that bother them, taking the season all the way to the regional finals.

The team finished 15-3 and were ranked as high as number 1 in the state for Division 4. “We had a great year,” head coach Mark Alexander said. “They really bonded and established some great relationships. We played 18 games which is a lot more than some schools got to play. We are very fortunate. We are thankful to have the opportunity to play.”

The Captains’ successful season follows last year’s nearly undefeated season of 15-2.

“This team was as competitive and disciplined as last year and both teams represented their school very well,” Alexander said.

According to Alexander, COVID actually made the team push harder and helped show the team how much they really care about the game.

“The kids were extremely flexible and adapted to the COVID migration procedures very well,” Alexander said. “Their ability to deal with the uncertainty and changes made them more successful. I would say the tough circumstances brought these guys together and actually helped us, it revealed the true character of the team and how much they cared about each other.”

“We played very well in our last game, but Handley just outplayed us in the last minute of the game,” said senior guard Caleb Rexroad. “We missed a couple critical shots which gave them the opportunity to hit the final shot and win the game.

Even though the Captains took a tough loss in the Region championship at Handley High School on a Tuesday evening, they still played their best.

“Handly played well,” Alexander said. “It was a very competitive game that could have gone either way, we just ran out of time.”

According to the Center on the team George Mwesigwa, one of the team’s main strengths was defense.

“One of our strengths this year was definitely our defense and something that made us really good on defense was our communication,” said Mwesigwa.

After they lost their first two games of the season the team made a few changes and went on a roll.

“This was an unselfish and very tough team, after an 0-2 start and a few changes, the guys ran off 15 straight wins,” Alexander said. “You don’t accomplish that unless you show character and toughness. Some guys really stepped up and accepted coaching and their roles, we called up some young guys that really stepped up and fulfilled vital roles for us as well, it was a total team effort this year.”

Mar
23

By

How Sports Teams Navigate New Changes During the Season

Category: Sports Tags:

Maggie Sheridan and Michaela Scott | Editors in Chief

Senior Audrey Luhr gets in position to make a pass at the varsity volleyball game vs. Loudoun Valley HS. Luhr explained that athletes are required to wear their mask at all times, on the court and off the court. Photo by Debbie Senchak.

During the school year centered around a pandemic, to say it has been challenging to continue to play sports would be an understatement. Each team has had different struggles they’ve had to deal with and have been forced to find solutions to these problems. One issue in particular includes the suspension of out of season practices.

The deciding factors for this decision include, “Consistency from one season to the next season,” according to athletic director Kate Cassidy. “Staff has shared concerns and that most are overwhelmed at this point, concerns on monitoring the mitigation strategies for out of season teams while we still have in-season competitions nightly, facility space and limitations due to COVID-19 restrictions mitigation, and increasing student attendance on school property with less supervision is a potential recipe for disaster.”

With no preseason, each team has been forced to adapt. Some have chosen to simply practice twice as hard during the actual season, while others have had captains host small practices prior to the season.

“The other captains and I would host unofficial preseason practices on the turf for field hockey,” senior Emily Tyler said. “Around ten people would show up to each, but coaches were not allowed to come due to regulations.”

For volleyball, the Captains also had a bit of prep before the official season, an annual training camp, which is traditionally run by the seniors. “Our preseason consists of a camp that runs a week long to get to know some of the players trying out,” senior Audrey Luhr, a co-captain of the Varsity team, said. “One of the biggest parts of volleyball is the relationship you have with your teammates so it prepares us for that aspect of the game.”

Although they had this small amount of practice, players have had to work incredibly hard to remain in shape and prepare alone. “Our players have been prepping themselves individually by playing club volleyball and working on getting stronger mentally and physically as one person,” Luhr said.

For football, the players had to adapt much differently than in the previous years due to COVID-19 guidelines. “We had such a lack of preparation this year, like no weight room, 7on7s, and scrimmages,” senior co-captain Tariq Sims said. “Some of us either go to a gym or have one; our coach would also post workouts on Schoology for us to do.”

For the different sports there are also different rules regarding a mask mandate according to the Virginia High School League. Some indoor sports are strict about it, while it is not as heavily enforced for the outdoor ones. However, these decisions are different for each sport.

“We are required to wear masks while at practice and on the bus going to the games, but players are not required to wear them during the games,” Tyler said. Although, some players chose to wear their masks during games regardless of this in order to try and be as safe as possible.

Similarly, football and soccer are not required to wear masks during the games, unless they are on the sidelines. “This season is just overall different,” senior co-captain Sam Welstead said. “The scheduling is really unique and wearing masks while playing an endurance game is really an added challenge.”

On the other hand, masks are required for the volleyball players. “We have to wear masks the entire time in the gym during practices as well as during our games,” Luhr said.

The number of spectators for sports has also decreased heavily this year. “Each player is only allowed to have one spectator come and watch them during the game,” Luhr said. This also means that there is no student section, like there is in normal years.

“Us playing without our student section affects us and how loud we have to make the gym ourselves. We are our student section and we are now in control of how loud or quiet the gym is while playing,” Luhr said.

“Not having many fans at the games is the main difference between this year and the previous seasons,” Sims said. “The energy is completely different; it would have played a huge part in this season to have as many fans as possible.”

One factor that has greatly impacted each sports team is the shortened schedule. “The main difference between this season and the previous normal seasons is the shortened schedule,” Tyler said, “We usually have two games during the week but occasionally we will have a third game on the weekend. Which is different from last year where we would play 1-2 games during the week.”

VHSL has also made the decision to change the field hockey games from two thirty minute halves to four periods.

Additionally, football faced many differences this season due to teams contracting COVID-19 and other schools not having enough players for a team. “Only two teams from our division can make playoffs, unfortunately, we weren’t one of them, so we got a bowl game against Riverside,” Sims said

Although football got to practice daily, Welstead explained that soccer players are practicing 2-4 times a week, and also have several games each week; she added how the shortened season can affect athletes much more mentally. “It has made teams focus and get their head in the game sooner as we realize every game counts that much more this year,” Welstead said.

Although the lack of games has been disheartening for many players, it has also pushed many such as Luhr and girls basketball senior co-captain Elayna Whitley to work even harder and focus on doing well.

“As well as the rest of my teammates, I was definitely prepping for the basketball season individually by training and going to strength/conditioning training to get myself in the best position to help my team,” Whitley said.

“This year has introduced us to becoming stronger, faster. Our season has been cut in half and this pushes us to build relationships and bonds faster. Our leadership has to learn how to manage the team in a timely manner due to the shorter season,” Luhr said.

Luhr has emphasized the importance of remaining strong throughout this process and focusing on the things that matter.

“Our main focus is playing together and doing what we need to get done. Another focus for us is building memories we will remember forever. Our relationships with the girls on my team are ones that I will remember forever. These teammates are the nicest, most caring girls I have ever met,” Luhr said.

Mar
23

By

Thermal Scanners Ensure Safety of Students and Staff

Category: News Tags:

Maggie Sheridan | Editor in Chief

Counselor Dan Croyle watches as students pass by the new thermal scanner at the beginning of the day in order to enter the gym. The scanner accurately records their temperature as they do so. Photos by Valerie Egger.

 

Recently, LCPS has installed thermal scanners at every school in order to increase the safety of students and staff as they transition to the Hybrid learning model. They are used to rapidly monitor student’s temperatures and ensure no one has a fever. There is one per school located at specific main entrances.

“Our school’s thermal scanner is pointed towards the athletic entrance and it’s capability allows it to come in contact with around forty scans per second,” School Security Officer Jessica Harden said, “If someone has a fever, the other camera will take a picture and that information is emailed to a designated group of people who will track down that individual, bring them to the care room, and reassess their temperature.”

Every school had the option to decide where to place their particular scanner. Some schools put it in the front office or some at different entrance points. “Since our school’s layout is different from all the others, it was very helpful to be able to decide exactly where to put it and pick a place most convenient,” Principal Michelle Luttrell said.

Because the scanner is located at B7, it is mostly used for those students who ride the bus to school. Students that drive are required to use the other entrances in order to avoid overcrowding and will have their temperature checked with the hand-held scanners. “It just makes the most sense to put the scanner where we have the highest volume of traffic,” Luttrell said.

In order for the scanner to efficiently scan each person’s temperature, they cannot be wearing certain articles of clothing near it such as hats, hoods, and even glasses. According to Luttrell, if there is any kind of obstruction, it cannot get any kind of accurate read, so she must ask students to adhere to these rules.

The Department for Digital Innovation is in charge of the scanners and is the group responsible for their installation within the country. The administrators, school nurses, and safety and security officers are responsible for overseeing the specific scanners within each school.

“The efficiency with which we can get students into the building will greatly improve due to the scanner,” Luttrell said, “Right now we are using hand-held scanners in order to read temperatures, and those would slow as down tremendously due to the number of students we have. It is also incredibly accurate compared to the hand-held ones, which can differ based on location.”

Now that students are coming back to school for Hybrid learning, the scanners will be very useful in ensuring the safety of students and staff. When the system detects a temperature of 100.4 or over, it alerts schools administrators via email.

According to Harden, so far the scanners have taken over a couple thousand reads at schools where students are already back and only about one or two students have had a temperature of 100.4 or over.

Teachers are not required to use the entrance with a scanner in order to enter the school; instead they will be required to do the COVID scanner and check themselves before they come to school if they feel like they are sick or have a fever, staying home if needed.

The scanners are a significant change for schools, but students and staff are slowly getting used to it and recognize its importance in helping students. “It’s a nice mitigation device to help us get you guys in schools quicker so that we can get the school day started on time,” Luttrell said.

The school is hoping to possibly incorporate the scanner as much as possible and use it during athletic events in the future as well as before- and after-school activities. “We are very limited to the number of people that can come to these events, so maybe they can explore using it in the future,” Luttrell said.

Mar
22

By

The Captain’s Chronicle Podcast: Tom Brady as GOAT

Category: Sports

Mar
22

By

Procedures for vaccinating the community 

Category: News Tags: ,

Liberty Harrison | Staff Writer

A bright sign alerts drivers to the vaccination site on the road near the Brambleton Middle School vaccination POD. Photo by Valerie Egger.

As several coronavirus vaccines were approved by the FDA for emergency use authorization at the end of December of last year they began being distributed throughout the country. In Loudoun County to help with this process, special systems were set up, both for the general public and for Loudoun County School staff in particular.

With pressure to reopen schools and teachers desiring vaccines before returning to the classroom, a main goal for the county was to quickly and effectively distribute vaccines to Loudoun’s teachers. To meet that goal, a building staffed with medical professionals and equipment was set up to administer vaccines to LCPS staff members. Located at Brambleton Middle School, this building is referred to as the POD and was created as a collaboration between the Loudoun County Health Department and Loudoun County schools. There have been several other locations around Loudoun set up to administer shots to other priority populations as well, such as in Dulles Town Center, which as of March was also serving the LCPS population.

Jamie Klucken, a clinical pharmacist who volunteers with the Loudoun Medical Reserve Corps, run by the Loudoun County Health Department, recounts her experiences administering shots. Dr. Klucken works as a Safety Evaluator for the FDA. Any views expressed are her own and do not necessarily represent the views of the FDA.

Klucken has worked both preparing and administering the Moderna and Pfizer coronavirus vaccines, first in a warehouse in Sterling, and now out of what used to be a Nordstroms store at the Dulles Town Center, since January.

According to Klucken, the first step to administering a vaccine is to take it out of storage, and then reconstitute it, if necessary (the Pfizer vaccine requires reconstitution, the Moderna vaccine does not). Reconstituting a vaccine refers to the process of adding a diluent to the vaccine to create the proper mixture needed for it to work properly.

“There are different types or requirements with the storage,” says Klucken. She described the Pfizer vaccine, which must be stored in extremely low temperatures and is unable to be used directly out of the freezer, “We have to set out the Pfizer vaccine and let it thaw. Then we have to reconstitute it, meaning we have to add saline to it. We draw up the saline, add it to the Pfizer vaccine, and then we mix it up carefully.”

After it is prepared individual doses are drawn up from the vial, up to six doses per vial of the Pfizer vaccine and ten doses of the Moderna vaccine, then it is taken to the vaccinators themselves.

Unlike many more traditional the coronavirus vaccines need certain preparation times and have certain expiration times once removed from cold storage and/or reconstituted, so the medical staff also have to plan ahead to have the proper amount of vaccines ready.

“We have a number of people coming in,” Klucken said. “We are currently vaccinating 4,000 eligible people per day at our location [Dulles Town Center], and so when we are planning we have to determine how many people are coming through and whether this is their first dose or second dose. We have to make sure we have sufficient vaccines on hand for the second dose, whether they received Pfizer or Moderna. This, and our current supply, will determine whether people scheduled for an appointment that day will receive one vaccine over another.”

After the vaccines are prepared and proper numbers are provided to each vaccination station, a screening process is done with all patients.

Patients are also confirmed to meet the requirements for the priority groups, 1a, 1b, and 1c advised by the CDC, that they were put in when scheduling their shot. The 1a grouping includes health care personnel and residents of long term care facilities. Group 1b includes people 65 or older, frontline essential workers, which includes teachers, people 16 – 64 with underlying medical conditions, and people living in correctional facilities, homeless, shelters, and migrant labor camps; group 1c includes all other essential workers.

Then the required dosage is drawn into the syringe: for the Moderna, 0.5 mL are needed, and for the Pfizer 0.3 mL are needed. Then the arm is cleaned and the vaccine is injected into the deltoid muscle.

“As we are preparing to administer the vaccine, we are sharing information about what to expect after the injection and when to follow up,” Klucken said. “We are also screening for risk factors for allergic reactions.”

Common side effects of the vaccine, especially with the second dose, which often elicits a stronger response from the body, includes fatigue, headache, fever and body aches.

“Usually people who have reactions, other than an allergic reaction, will have mild flu-like symptoms. This is pretty common after a vaccine because your immune system is reacting to the vaccine: your body is starting to respond to the antigen (the spike protein) and make antibodies,”Klucken said. “That’s pretty normal for some people to have symptoms after any sort of vaccine. I always say that means it’s probably working and doing its thing.”

For the Moderna vaccine patients are asked to come back in 28 days and for the Pfizer they are asked to come back in 21 days.

After the injections, their lot number is written down on their card and put into a log system, so that if anything goes wrong with a certain batch of the vaccine the patient is able to have a record of the vaccine they got.

After the injection the patients are directed to wait at least 15 minutes in the POD to monitor for signs of allergic reaction, as the vaccine has been known sometimes to cause severe allergic reactions in a small number of those receiving it – 2.10 % according to a study conducted by scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

“Luckily we have not seen that [allergic reactions] be a big problem with these vaccines but just to err on the side of caution we have everyone wait,” Klucken said.

Feb
27

By

Sierra captures love of photography at Brambleton Library

Category: Arts and Entertainment Tags: ,

Maggie Sheridan | Editor in Chief

Sierra stands among her work at the gallery. Her collection of black and white pictures, Breathing Fresh Air, are displayed on the wall for all visitors to see. Photo courtesy of Isabella Sierra.

Walking into the Brambleton Library felt like a dream. Right in front of her for all passersby to see was her very own photographs, which she worked tirelessly to capture. Work that she was very proud of and immensely happy to share with others.

Junior Isabella Sierra has recently found a passion with photography. This interest started around two years ago and has only been getting stronger and stronger. “After taking photography and film classes at school I realized how much I truly enjoyed it and wanted to keep doing it,” Sierra said.

These classes have urged her to continue to progress and get better. “I love creating and I love working with others, photography lets me do both and also allows me to capture the tiny moments in life that make it beautiful,” Sierra said.

She enjoys doing things the long way and letting the photos develop. “I like to shoot on my digital Canon, but my real passion is using my Pentax to shoot film and developing the images in my darkroom,” Sierra said.

Sierra recently applied to a photography contest through the Brambleton Library Teen center. “My art teacher Mrs. Woshner made me aware of the contest and I decided to go for it,” Sierra said. The application process was quite simple, she just had to complete a form to show her work and a form to include her artist statement.

Her collection was selected by the Librarians and declared one of the winners and was going to be one of few used in the Micro Gallery. It will be up for the entire month of February for people to go observe.

Sierra’s collection is called “Breathing Fresh Air.” “The grey tones of the sand can feel suffocating, while in contrast, the openness of the sky gives you a sense of effortless peace,” Sierra said.

Her goal with this collection was to create a story, rather than individual black and white pictures that did not go together. Sierra believes this idea was achieved. “My goal when creating art is to capture the tiny moments that make life beautiful and preserve them forever,” Sierra said.

Sierra is very proud of the way it turned out, after all of her hard work. “I feel so much joy. It is a great milestone in my art career and just motivates me to continue to work hard and pursue this interest,” Sierra said.

In the future, Sierra plans to continue to incorporate art into her life. “My dream is to attend the Monroe Advanced Technical Academy, also known as MATA, for TV production and film making next year. I also hope to minor or major in Film during college,” Sierra said.

Feb
26

By

Over the MOON about teaching: Moon’s passion for business inspires his students

Category: End Zone Tags: , ,

Maggie Sheridan | Editor-in-Chief

Moon spends time on vacation at the beach with his daughter before the start of the school year. He enjoys spending some quality time with his family and taking a break from work when necessary.

Jaqua Moon has always been a business teacher. He has taught several classes such as accounting, computer classes, and personal finance in Fairfax County. This will be his second year working at Loudoun County. He enjoys teaching finance because it teaches students how to prepare for life and managing money.

Personal finance is one of several classes students will take in school that really helps them understand what they will be expected to do in the future and how to properly handle their money. Moon hopes to help his students realize that they are talking about life-changing topics that will directly affect them.

“You need this information in order to be prepared in the future,” Moon said. “If not, you will have to learn the hard way what life is like and it will have really big repercussions down the road.”.

Moon’s students also appear to be understanding these life lessons from his class. “Mr. Moon is such a great teacher,” junior Jessica Booker said. “His class has really helped me understand how important it is to manage my money wisely and I really enjoy his lessons.”

Moon expresses frustration when students fail to pay attention and understand the importance of his lessons. “It ends up costing you when you make poor decisions with your money,” Moon said. “That cost can really add up over the span of your life.”

Moon was completely lost about the basics of handling his money after graduating from college. “I personally made so many financial mistakes because my parents never talked to me about money,” Moon said. “It was a topic that they just didn’t teach me about.”

One issue Moon brought to light was how the school system impacts work. “I feel like we are lowering the ball for high school students and I think it’s hurting their motivation,” Moon said, “They will only receive a fifty percent for not doing assignments and will check in and out with their focus.”

He believes school is getting easier and easier for them and they won’t realize what life will be like. “They know they can cruise through and instead of raising the bar, which just ends up hurting them,” Moon said.

Moon also argues that schools should work on teaching more applicable content that will teach student’s lessons they will use as adults. “Whether we like it or not, each and every student is going to have the courses that they love and they don’t love,” Moon said. “I would like for students to have more options into structuring their schedule and how they spend their time in high school.”

Moon believes that if students have more choices in their courses, it could positively affect them as well as their futures. “Would having the power to decide (free of requirements, other than taking a full schedule) change how a student approaches their education, could it lead to more engagement and learning?” Moon asked. “The sooner we start making decisions that have real impact in our lives the sooner we start maturing into young adults from the trials and tribulations of those decisions.”

He stresses these important issues because he hopes his students do not make the same mistakes he did. “I was very lost and disengaged as a high school student,” Moon said. “A lightbulb eventually went off and I realized how much I could help students and hopefully make their lives better.”

Moon enjoys distance learning because he believes it is more straight to the point and a student’s grade will reflect how much work they put into it. “I think some students are getting more out of this because of the focus I have with them,” Moon said. “It feels like we’ve been more efficient with tackling everything in the curriculum.”

Although students appear to be benefitting more learning-wise, Moon believes they are negatively impacted socially. “For students to not be able to interact with each other is definitely a drawback and different from what they’re used to,” Moon said.

Right out of college, Moon tried substitute teaching before becoming a teacher full-time. It helped him work in different areas of teaching and figure out which one he wanted to focus on as a job.

His goal was to positively impact their lives in whatever way he could, and he did this through subbing, coaching baseball and softball for a short period of timing, and eventually starting to teach. He also hoped his students would learn from his mistakes and know how to manage their money more wisely.

“When you look back on your life, you will want to know you made a difference and to me, teaching was one of the few professions that I looked at and thought I would be happy knowing I helped other people and had a purpose,” Moon said.

Moon is very proud to have continued to teach and help more students. “One of the best moments in my life is when a student is truly loving what we are doing in class and wants to know more and do more.  It makes me feel like everything I am doing is worth it, because I have just opened a new door for this student that could take them somewhere good,” Moon said.

One of the most important things Moon has learned from teaching relates to patience and understanding. “Teachers will make assumptions about students based on their work ethic, Moon said. “I have learned not to do this and to patiently observe without judging others.”

He has also learned how to persevere through challenging situations. Even when students are disrespectful towards him, he knows to ignore it and not let it bother him.

“As a person, I am now more patient than I have been before and I have found ways to build important bonds and relationships with students,” Moon said.

Feb
26

By

Time for positivity: Sachi Kataria creates a positivity blog to help others

Category: End Zone Tags:

Alexis Shugars | Staff Writer

Sachi Kataria gets to work on her blog “One of a Kind”, where she writes positive messages to help others.

With all the negative stories we hear on a daily basis, it’s always very refreshing to hear something positive for a change. That is one thing sophomore Sachi Kataria set out to achieve when she created the “One of a Kind” blog.

Kataria says that the purpose of her blog is to create a community where she can help others see that things will get better, and others are likely going through similar things. “It’s a blog that works to bring those who are afraid to speak up a way to come together, feel loved and accepted, empower others, and feel good about themselves,” Kataria wrote.

According to Kataria, the name One of a Kind derives from the fact that no one person is the same as another. “Everyone has their achievements, quirks, flaws, and goals,” Kataria wrote. “That’s what makes each and everyone so special.”

She decided to start One of a Kind because of her own self-image issues. “I hope that people who visit my blog will come to realize that they are worth it,” Kataria stated.

Kataria originally came up with the idea to start One of a Kind in October, and first posted January 7, around her birthday. Kataria reveals, “During this time, I was struggling to be content with who I was, but writing on the blog helped me see that I’m perfect the way I am and I don’t have to change anything.” Kataria mostly writes about things she finds herself struggling with as a teenager and student.

In the future, Kataria hopes that she will be able to encourage more people to join her blog and become and active reader or commenter. Kataria concludes, “The more people that feel comfortable helping others by showing them that they are not alone, the stronger the community can form.”

To check out the One of a Kind blog:

 

Website: https://sachikataria.com

Instagram: oneofakind_blog

Twitter: oneofakind_blog

Facebook: one1ofakindblog

Tiktok: oneofakind_blog

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