NOVEMBER 2019
News
High-School Seniors are Stressed
By Catherine Brown, Photo Editor
Senior year, the final year of compulsory education, is often seen as a particularly stressful year for students. Seniors are hit with a harder course load and college applications, both of which make for a busy schedule when added to sports and extracurricular activities.
A survey was sent out to the senior class to examine just how stressed the senior class felt.
The Riptide sent out a six-question survey to all the seniors about stress levels and their causes. Twenty five students responded.
The first question asked “On a scale of 1-10, 10 being ‘crying everyday’ and...Read More
Learning about Clubs at VHS
By Rees Thomson, Reporter
Clubs offered at the high school are often a mystery to students because many groups aren’t advertised, meaning that some of the 19 total clubs often slip under the radar. Here are just a few of the student-run groups at the high school...Read More
Drug education prioritized at VHS
Elias Cantebury, Reporter
As with many school administrations, the school district experiences its fair share of difficulties in preventing student drug use. With a recent spike in local fentanyl overdoses, drug abuse and drug education have come to the forefront of student and staff discussion.
There are many groups throughout the school that focus on drug education. These include the health class’s drug curriculum, Teen Council, and Teens Leading Change (TLC)....Read More
Sensitive topic is cause for discussion
By Hannah Spranger, Co-Content Editor
Incorporating sensitive content into the English curriculum is an issue the department has been grappling with for years. There is a fine balance between pushing students to embrace tough conversations and introducing content that students may not have the emotional maturity to handle.
The high school English department has clear parameters for how teachers handle sensitive content, but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy...Read More
Arts & Entertainment
Bingeable shows to get us through the gray winter days
By Amelia Spence, Reporter
Spooky season has come and gone, and hopefully taken with it the horrific slasher flicks and emotionally draining psychological thrillers that have caused so many sleepless nights. Now, as Vashon settles...Read More
Sifting Through Coffee options on Vashon
By Savannah Butcher, Social Media Editor
Vashon has a plethora of coffee shops, enough that some may considered the island to be “over caffeinated.” But how do islanders decide where to go to, and how do they know if they’re making the...Read More
Footloose Comes to Vashon
Alexander Wolf, Reporter
The musical version of Footloose, which follows the plot of the 80’s film, will debut at the Vashon Center for the Arts on November 16. The theatrical retelling of this classic movie follows a tale of...Read More
Orbit Teen Space Opens On Vashon
By Olivia London-Chambers, Reporter
Vashon has always lacked youth-specific spaces, but Veronica Aristeo, the Youth Program Coordinator at the Open Space, has been working hard to change that. Aristeo is creating a space for teens, located at the Vashon Island Open Space building, called “Orbit”. Orbit has endless possibilities — teens now have ...Read More
FEATURE
School discipline policy divides students and administrators
By Mari Kanagy, Publishing Editor & Halle Wyatt, Co-Content Editor
Reporting methods
The school’s disciplinary policy has been questioned by students since before this past October, but the incident with the sophomore’s Homecoming royalty voting brought to light the lack of trust between students and staff.
Some of this distrust originates with poor communication around what the school’s discipline policy entails. Although students generally know their options when...Read More
EDITORIAL
Absence policy fails to address the root issue
By Isabelle Spence, Editor-in-Chief
In recent years, the high school has struggled with student attendance. Many students often feel as though they can skip class and not face any consequences, an opinion that was seemingly supported by what seems to be a lack of response from the administration. To address this problem, the administration recently announced that they would begin to enforce the previous attendance policy. Mere months later, this decision has been overruled in favor of...Read More
OPINION
Pilates and Paragliding; A Look Inside the Life of Kristen Dallum
By Isaac Escovedo, Columnist
The way Kristen Dallum exercises is not exactly conventional, so we went for a walk instead. Dallum walks fast — she likes to get the blood flowing. She walks for at least an hour a day, often with her dog, an Australian Shepherd named Charlie, and sometimes during her planning period...Read More
Concussive consequences: Football poses unnecessary health risks
By Chancellor Mentink, Reporter
Football is one of the most notable American sports, acting as the center for many family traditions. However, it is also one of the most dangerous sports in the world. With higher rates of serious brain damage than other competitive sports such as soccer, football can lead to severe trauma and permanent mental problems. Football is the most likely high school sport to lead to injuries which can cause severe and repeated damage. For these reasons, I believe that this brain damaging form of football should not be a highschool sport, perhaps being replaced with flag football or some other alternative. Having students play under these terrible conditions is immoral and senseless.
The biggest safety difference between football and most other school sports is the extraordinary rate of concussions and the severity of the injuries. According to The National Library of Medicine, in 2017, 99 percent of all football players in the NFL had Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), which is a symptom of ...Read More
PEOPLE
New coaching for girls basketball
By Eliza Pinckney, Reporter
This basketball season, the high school girls basketball team will be led by Vashon alumnus Anya Serebryakov. Though Serebryakov has experience with assistant and individual coaching, this is her first year as a head coach.
“Something I’ve always wanted to do is...Read More
Kelly commits to UVA
Elizabeth Lande, Managing & Copy Editor
Kate Kelly showed up to eighth grade crew camp in khakis, not quite sure what she was getting herself into. Now a senior, she’s a world-class rower with a scholarship to the University of Virginia beginning next fall. However, even with her near future planned out, Kelly hasn’t let up her drive to succeed.
“I continue to do [crew] because I enjoyed the friendships that I made through it and also because I wanted to continue to push myself,” Kelly said. “It kind of started out as just a little...Read More
My Friend, Logan Stark
James McCrackyn, Reporter
Each issue, Riptide reporter James McCrackyn will be interviewing his friends around the high school. Look for more to come!
How do you like your steak cooked?
Answer: Medium Rare
How so you like your fried chicken?
Answer: Crispy with olives....Read More
Vashon’s Alianza Unite Latinx Youth Together
By Stella Chilcote, reporter
The constantly growing organization Alianza has been doing a lot for the Latinx community on Vashon by helping young Latinx to become more confident in politics, as well as encouraging voter registration. The group started in 2017 when two Vashon students, Maria Guerrero-Rivas and Brandan Guerrero-Rivas, got in touch with Alejandra Tres, the organizer for the...Read More
LOCAL
Lunches at Vashon contribute to healthier students
By Milo Carr, Reporter
“Oh, I didn’t have breakfast this morning,” is a phrase commonly heard at the high school and thus easily dismissed, but how healthy is it? One out of six students in the U.S. are malnourished, but in what ways does this statistic apply...Read More
Vashon Becomes Uninhabitable for Young Adults
By Chick Green, reporter
Vashon Island has built a reputation over the years for being an increasingly difficult place for young adults to live. People often leave the island immediately after graduating high school, and most never come back. When talking about why they want to leave, most people’s motivations are centered around three main factors: employment, cost of living, and social life.
Most students at the high school want to pursue some form of higher education into a certain field or trade and have expressed concern that Vashon doesn’t have the options available for ...Read More
Park and Hospital District levies pass
By Elizabeth Lande, Managing & Copy Editor
and Isabelle Spence, Editor-in-Chief
In accordance with the recent election results, islanders will continue to have a park district while also becoming the 59th district in the state to create a hospital district. Both issues passed with a significant majority — the Park District at close to 80 percent in favor and the hospital district with just over 70 percent.
While voting on Park District levies is a regular process, occurring every four to six years, this one carried particular importance. Without it, the Park District likely would have...Read More
What You Need to Know for the 2020 Presidential Election
By Isaac Escovedo, Reporter
Excitement for the 2020 presidential elections is building up, but a lot of people are still in the dark about what the primary candidates really stand for. The Riptide is here to provide you with a quick primer about the highest polling candidates.
The President has a lot of powers in the US government, but people forget exactly what...Read More
SPORTS
Fall sports see success
By Chancellor Mentink, Reporter
The fall sports season has come to a close for high school athletes, with most teams enjoying a successful season. The girls soccer team did well in their league, falling just short of the state tournament. From boys tennis, seniors Jeremiah Bogaard, Hank Rodgers, and Towner Aderson will compete in the state competition this spring. Cross country junior Ella Yarkin advanced to state...Read More
Winter Sports Preview
Aiden Jansen, Design Editor
Wrestling
Coached by Anders and Per Lars Blomgren, the wrestling team is looking to take names this season.
“We need to finish better — finish our season, our state tournament, our individual matches, and our takedowns and pins,” Anders Blomgren said. “We will train with this in mind. And we will make it happen. We hope to return as League and District Champs, and then get back...Read More