Raven Report

Sequoia High School

Volume IX, Issue 8

1201 Brewster Ave. Redwood City, CA 94062

When one door closes...

May 25, 2016

ASB convention
showcases
political spirit
By MACKENZIE CLARKE

Staff Reporter

Photos by Aibigail Wang

Taylor Taradash, Madi Griffith and

the rest of their IB Art Year II class is
painting doors for their final project
of the year.

Youth Advisory Board inspires mental health awareness

By MADDIE REYNOLDS
Staff Reporter
From May 2-6, Sequoia hosted events
across campus for the first Mental Health
Awareness Week.
Activities such as an after-school showing of Silver Linings Playbook and a
Seeing Through Stigma panel were advertised on posters for the duration of the
school week.
The events were put on by students
working with the Teen Resource Center

(TRC) to address the number one problem that concerns students, as noted by
a survey sent out at the beginning of the
year.
This year was the fourth in a row
where depression and suicide was the
number one issue on the survey, said
Whitney Fitzgerald, the Youth Development Coordinator from the TRC. The
survey is sent out every year by the Youth
Advisory Board in order to document and
become aware of the issues that students
care about most.

Weve been trying to organize that

same week-long program so it happens in
the fall [next year] so its at the forefront of
peoples minds.
Redwood City has officially declared
the month of May Mental Health Awareness Month in collaboration with other
cities in the Bay Area in order to decrease
the stigma around mental health.
Senior Emily Ducker received a proclamation from Redwood City May 23 to
recognize her dedication to mental health
awareness.

Construction charges through Redwood City

By BENJY JUDE
and ALEX VICK
Staff Reporters
Unless you work at Peets
Coffee, you might be excited to
hear a new Starbucks is planned
for downtown Redwood City.
Of the 36 planned projects,
half are residential, while 14 are
commercial. The old Century
12 Theatre across from 101 may
be replaced by Villa Sport, an
athletic club, and a residential
complex. Two new schools are
also in the works: an elementary
school called Rocketship Charter and a permanent location
for Oracle Design Tech High
School.
The [building projects]
range from from residential
apartment or condominiums to
commercial office spaces and retail, within downtown, Senior
Civil Engineer Kevin Fehr said.
Two projects have been com-

pleted. Eight are under con- ers] dont close off the road,
struction. By the end of the year, theyll just tear it up when nofour will be completed, and two bodys using it, and then when
new ones will begin, accord- people need it they pave over it,
ing to Redwood City Principal sophomore Ben Kazemi said.
According to Vaughn, the
Planner Karen Vaughn.
Some construction causes amount of construction has increased in the past five-ten years.
obstruction for students.
Theres a significant increase
When [my friend] drives
to school, she has to go other [in building in the area.] That
started
ways
beback before
cause trafTheater
fic builds A lot of the things that we see
Way
exup
since around the high school campus are
simply
changes
of
uses
within
existed. Those
some of the
kicked off
roads are isting buildings.
the redeshut down
Kevin Fehr,
velopment
for a couple
Senior Civil Engineer
of downof
days,
t ow n ,
freshman
Vaughn said. [This all] corLandon Pierce said.
There have also been nine responding at the same time as
infrastructure projects, includ- when the market and economy
ing one sewer project, two pave- is doing better, is why people
ment, and two water projects are developing again.
Students have been affected
and four projects fixing transby the constant construction,
portation.
Most of the time the [build- and had to change their daily

Feature:

Special:
Whos going where? Senior
College Map

Page 4-5

A&Q: Making college

affordable

Page 3

routines to adapt to the new

projects.
At first when they were [doing construction], it was kind of
annoying because your parents
would [have to] pick you up in a
[different] location, Pierce said.
Even before school, construction can get in the way of
students coming to Sequoia.
Its just because big trucks
have to move dirt and stuff, remodeling roads. Theyve closed
off roads [so] Ive had to go
around them, Kazemi said.
Whatever students opinions
on the construction are, the city
department believes the result
will lift negative opinions.
The buildings in downtown
will be the most interesting to
students because its really in a
transformational period right
now, Fehr said. We [currently] have a traditional downtown
core; a lot of historic resources
[like] the Courthouse square,
where we do a lot of events.

The second annual ASB convention, held April 28, elected junior
Leah King as ASB vice-president
and juniors Caitlyn Gilbert and
MacKenzie Utley as student activities/dance commissioners. Delegates from each 5th period class
represented states in the Union,
mirroring the Democratic and Republican national conventions.
I like the idea of showing students what representative government really is, said Student Activities Director Corey Uhalde, who
organized and moderated the convention. We wanted it to be loosely
modeled after the political system
we have in this country, so not only
was it an educational experience, it
was also a fun afternoon in which
kids got to work on their public
speaking skills.
Next years ASB president Shayan
Weera, treasurer Andrew Acevedo
and secretary Katie Uthman were
automatically appointed to their
positions. All gave brief speeches as
a preview of their plans in office for
the next year. Other candidates answered questions, both prearranged
and from the delegates.
Its an opportunity for people
to actually hear [the candidates]
answer specific questions instead of
it being a popularity contest, King
said. Its nice to be able to reach out
to a wider range of people.
Redwood City Councilwoman
Janet Borgens presented a keynote
in which she spoke about creativity
and communication.
The convention soon took on
a more humourous mood as the
representatives from Nebraska and
South Carolina seceded from the
United States and multiple states
declared war on Tennessee.
The aim of the convention was to
include the opinions of all students,
not just those involved with ASB.
The student leaders are the representatives for the entire student
body, so we want to make sure all
students feel like they are involved
in the process and get to see behind
the scenes when electing those candidates into the positions of power
for the upcoming school year,
Uhalde said.

By the numbers

39

IB and AP tests administered

throughout the month of May