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UT Governor Cox vetoes house bill 11

3/23/2022

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Utah Governor Spencer Cox (R)
BY JANICA STOCKING
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
    Because of transwoman Lia Thomas’s recent win in swimming at a collegiate level, the tensions surrounding the issue of whether or not transgender people should compete in women’s sports have been heightened. On March 22, 2022, HB11, a bill that would ban transgender students from participating in school sports was vetoed by Utah Governor Spencer Cox. The bill had been passed at the very end of the 2022 Utah legislative session. Shortly after the bill was vetoed, Utah Republicans announced that the legislature would convene in a veto override session on Friday. This session will convene following a special session called by Governor Cox on the issue. 
    Many believe that this bill has been at the center of a tough election season. According to FOX 13 News, Utah legislators believe that they have flipped enough votes to override the governor’s veto. Some current Utah legislators are reportedly concerned about losing primary elections in the summer if they refuse to support House Bill 11. With stiff competition in a red state and many of their constituents and competitors agreeing with a lot of aspects of the bill, some may have reluctantly agreed to back the bill in an attempt to override the veto. 
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The above map shows which states (orange) have passed bans on transgender students competing in women's sports.
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​    Some of the initial issues with the bill that compelled the governor to veto the bill included some of the legal and financial issues that could arise if this bill was signed into law. Governor Cox said the bill could potentially “bankrupt the Utah High School Athletic Association and result in millions of dollars in legal fees for local school districts.” Legislators have proposed setting aside large amounts of money to help districts and the UHSAA in lawsuits related to the bill, if passed. Many pro-LGBT organizations, such as the ACLU, have also come out saying that they would file lawsuits against Utah if this bill was passed.
  Governor Cox was also concerned because there are currently only four transgender students participating in high school sports. While the focus has been on those students, top Utah legislators including House Speaker Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, claimed that the bill was not about those four athletes and was to protect female spaces for biological females in women’s sports. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Kera Birkeland, R-Morgan, said that the bill’s passing would allow legislators “[to] actually start working together and finding opportunities for these transgender youth that [don’t] take away opportunities for girls.” Birkeland also said that “finding places for transgender youth to excel and thrive while still providing and preserving opportunities for girls to excel and thrive” should be a common goal for everyone. 
  This veto comes shortly after another Republican governor, Indiana’s Gov. Eric Holcomb, vetoed a similar bill. Governor Holcomb vetoed that bill due to a lack of consistent state policy on the matter. Despite these vetoes, 11 other states have passed similar laws banning transgender students from participating in women’s sports. These states include Idaho, Montana, Texas, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, West Virginia, Iowa, and South Dakota.
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The world against china: How Countries Are boycotting the Olympics in Beijing this year

2/13/2022

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BY JANICA STOCKING
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
    The 2022 Winter Olympics has been a topic of mass interest lately. The games began on February 4th and run until the 20th. The Olympics are being held in Beijing, China right now because of the controversy surrounding China’s lack of human rights. While most countries have sent athletes to compete at the Olympics this year, some countries are diplomatically boycotting the Olympics (for multiple different reasons). Some of the countries who are currently diplomatically boycotting the Olympics include the United States, the UK, Canada, India, Australia, Lithuania, Kosovo, Belgium, Denmark and Estonia. These countries are especially concerned about the several violations of human rights in China. While exact numbers aren’t know, various human rights groups estimate that over one million Uyghurs have been imprisoned in “re-education camps.” Hundreds of thousands of the Uyghur Muslim population in China have been sentenced to prison time. Many human rights groups say that there is evidence that atrocities such as forced labor and sterilization has occurred. 
     One Uyghur camp survivor, Tursunay Ziawudun, has told the media about her experiences in a Uyghur camp, describing that sexual assault, rape, and torture were common amd were committed against women “every night.” Even after escaping the camp she lived in fear that the Chinese government would find her and she would be tortured or punished in China. With the passage of even more laws restricting the human and political rights of the Chinese people, Human Rights Watch declared that the Chinese have been more repressed than ever. As China continues to deny that it is violating various human rights, China has condemned the US for its boycott. China claims that the US has “violated the Olympic spirit”, and “will pay a price for its erroneous actions.”
     In  addition to the many human rights concerns, other countries are boycotting for other reasons. While Japan isn’t sending government officials, it is sending Olympic committee officials. It follows the US and other countries in boycotting due to human rights, but did not specify the intent of their boycott. In addition, New Zealand, Austria, Slovenia, Sweden and the Netherlands are not sending representatives of their governments due to ongoing COVID concerns. There have also been many security and tracking concerns in China, leading to many countries advising travelers to leave their real phone at home and only travel with a burner. 
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Above: Uyghur Muslims from the Xinjiang region of China.
What has the Chinese government done to Uyghurs? (according to claims made by other countries & human rights orgnaizations)
  • mass imprisonment (hundreds of thousands)
  • sent over 1 million to "re-education camps"
  • forcible mass sterilization of women
  • rape, sexual assault, and torture (committed by prison guards)
  • attempted genocide 
  • banning Muslim religious practices and symbols (tombs and mosques)
  • family separation
  • mass food deprivation of prison inmates 
  • cruel punishment methods (being beaten, electrically shocked, bound in stress positions, etc.)
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Above: A suspected Uyghur "re-education camp" in the Xinjiang region of China.
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How Can Planners Benefit Students?

2/2/2022

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BY JANICA STOCKING
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
    I’m sure that we all remember back in elementary or middle school when our teachers would give us a planner. I specifically remember my teachers being really strict about using our planners. Some of them would grade us on how effectively we used our planners every week. My school even gathered all of us in 6th grade and held an assembly on how valuable our planners were and how to utilize them. Though my little 12-year-old self was very annoyed with how much planners were promoted. If anything, all the promotions drove me away from using a planner for years. I insisted that I could remember everything I had going on in my head. And for years, it worked. In elementary and middle school I was able to get away with not using a planner very much. Unless a teacher was grading me on using it, I wouldn’t touch it. Even when I was forced to use it, most of the stuff in my planner was meaningless. However, once I got to high school, I entered a whole new world where some sort of planning tool was required to succeed. 
    According to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, planning can help you prioritize better and lead a more balanced life. In high school, many students have to balance classes, homework, extracurricular activities, and work. Using a planner can help you achieve a better balance in your life and manage your time better. In a study published in 2006 by M. Van den Hurk, it was found that students who are better planners and are better at time management, were more prepared for classes, and even scored higher on cognitive tests. There have been many studies showing similar results in most people. Students that utilize planners are not only more likely to do their assignments, but they are also able to improve their memory and cognitive skills. According to Psychology Today, using a planner not only helps you academically but can also help improve your mental health by reducing anxiety and depression. Additionally, it can increase productivity, creativity, and organization. 
    While many students tend to gravitate away from using a planner because of all of the promotion from schools, teachers, and parents, using a planner is a highly effective way to improve your life. It helps you in all aspects of your life, from school to your mental health. While it can sometimes be an annoyance, using a planner is something that anyone can benefit from, whether it’s digital or physical.

What is your favorite planning method?

Above: Student responses to the survey question posed via Instagram.
Best Planning Methods for Students
Academic Planners
Usually run from August to May and have templates for daily and monthly planning

Life Planners
Have spaces to put in tasks and schedules 

Bullet Journals
Blank notebook - the format is completely customizable by the user

Google Calendar
Can create multiple calendars for classes and add in tasks

Planner Apps
Can be compatible with Google Calendar and allow for planning far in advance

Planning Pads
Have planning space for the week and are very minimalistic​
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Slow Walkers... Speed up!

1/6/2022

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BY KAILENE MEINERS
STUDENT LIFE EDITOR​
     Slow walkers.  Easily one of the most obnoxious breeds of humans walking this earth.  With over 2000 kids at our school, it’s easy to run into slow walkers.  This story is less for the common man, and more a message to slow walkers. To all slow walkers out there: please stop being slow. Imagine the bell has just rung, you’re leaving your 10th period English class and are now on your way to Foods & Nutrition in the tech hallway.  
      It starts out okay at first, you’re walking with your friend down the hall, you can see the stairs, you’re almost there.  Then- it happens.  Some guy steps in front of you and impulsively decides to slow down by approximately 80 percent. That shouldn’t be so bad right?  You can just move around him. Or so you thought. Suddenly out of nowhere, all his friends join him.  It’s funny how when they finally walk fast they’re right in front of you.  Now, there’s a whole group of people walking as slow as humanly possible.  
     For the slow walkers reading this, you might be thinking: “Well they’re talking, of course they’re going slower.” I would like to refute that statement by claiming that many of us walk to class chatting with friends without setting back the entire hallway by 30 seconds.  It’s not the fact that we are in fear of being late to class, it’s the simple annoyance that we are being forced to walk slower than the speed our legs want to go.  Alaina Mast, agrees with me, saying that: “Slow walkers can respectfully leave.”  Similarly, Trenton Seidel thinks that they are “the most obnoxious breed of human walking this earth.” I must admit, there are people who do not wish to bash on slow walkers as much.  Mark Oram, CCHS Language Arts teacher, says that “we need to be sensitive and remember some people may be in a low mindset causing them to go slow.”  To this I say, irrelevant, walk fast. In all seriousness, I hope you all are doing good, and I hope you all learn to be in the right mindset to walk fast.
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Former "Empire" Actor Jussie Smollett is convicted of 5 counts of disorderly conduct

12/10/2021

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BY JANICA STOCKING
​EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
    On December 9, 2021, following a week-long trial in Chicago, former “Empire” star Jussie Smollett was convicted on 5 of 6 counts of felony disorderly conduct. While the trial happened nearly at the end of 2021, the saga began in 2019 when Smollett falsely proclaimed that he was a victim of a race and LGBTQ-related hate crime. He claimed that after purchasing a sandwich at a Chicago Subway, he was attacked by 2 white men who called him all sorts of slurs. Smollett even claimed that they said to him that he was in “MAGA country.” After news of the incident was publicized, the Chicago Police Department invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to investigate. They even went as far as to spend over $130,000 in overtime for police working overtime. After the actor refused to foot the bill for his investigation, the city of Chicago announced it would sue Jussie Smollett to cover the costs of the pricey and public investigation into the alleged hate crime.
    However, shortly after this, Smollett’s lies began to unravel. In early 2020, it was revealed that the alleged hate crime was a hoax. The so-called white men who had supposedly committed the hate crime and slurred Jussie Smollett turned out to actually be 2 Nigerian brothers, Abel and Olabinjo Osundairo, who had been disguised and staged the incident at the leadership and request of the so-called victim Smollett. The brothers were originally arrested in relation to the alleged hate crime, but were later released and told Chicago police that they were paid, via check, $3,500 by Jussie Smollett himself to stage the attack. Smollett had a close relationship with the brothers, even having a sexual relationship with Abel Osundairo and doing “cocaine and marijuana” with him. 
          After learning the truth, Chicago began to build a disorderly conduct case against Smollett. They charged him with a class 4 felony for filing a false police report. The 6 disorderly charges he was brought to court on included telling a police officer he was a hate crime victim, telling an officer he was a battery victim, telling a detective he was a hate crime victim, telling a detective he was a battery victim, and telling another detective that he was a victim of aggravated battery. Smollett was convicted on all but the last charge. Though Jussie Smollett was convicted of a felony, because it is a class 4 (least severely punished) felony, he is unlikely to serve jail time, according to many legal scholars. He could be sentenced to a maximum of 3 years in jail but is more likely to just be put on probation or do community service.
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Source: Cheryl Cook, DailyMail Court sketch of Abel Osundairo testifying against Jussie Smollett.
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Is College Really necessary?

11/22/2021

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BY EMMA JOHNSON
​SCIENCE & TECH EDITOR
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Edsurge: It's Time to Digitally Transform Community College
     Parents are always asking us the questions, “What college do you want to go to? Have you applied for any colleges? What do you want to study in college?” It can be a lot of pressure, especially for someone who isn’t sure what they want to study in college, or even if they want to go to college. So I’m here to ask the question we all want to ask: Is college worth it? 
     For some people, they don’t even need to consider college. They know exactly what they want to do after high school, and they’re graduating with an associate’s degree. They can get a job right out of high school. But for most of us, that’s not the case. We all have to decide if we want to go to college, and then what college we want to go to. I think the most important things to consider when picking a college is if you feel it will work for you: it has the major you want, it has a campus you feel comfortable in, and it has a reasonable cost that you are willing to pay. 
     All that aside, is it actually worth it to go to college? I’m sure most of us have the fear that college will end up doing us no good, or that we won’t actually be able to get a job after attending. We know, however, that college is more likely to help us get hired than just high school. The National Center for Education Statistics says that 80% of college graduates will get a job, while 74% of high school graduates will get a job, and people who do not complete high school have a 57% chance of getting a job. You’re probably thinking, well hey, that’s still more than half of people who don’t finish high school or college. Why don’t I just drop out and get a job. Yes, you can still get a job without going to college, but it's much harder. While the difference between high school graduates and college graduates is a mere 6%, it’s still much better to get that extra six percent of a chance than to just throw it away. This obviously doesn’t take into consideration people who had a gap year, or anything like that. 
     So, do you have to go to college if you don’t want to? Absolutely not. You should just consider the benefits before you decide. 
Best Non-Ivy League colleges in the US
  1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  2. Stanford (yes, it's not an ivy league school)
  3. University of Chicago 
  4. California Institute of Technology
  5. John Hopkins University
  6. Northwestern University 
  7. Duke University 
  8. Vanderbilt University 
  9. Rice University 
  10. Washington University (St. Louis)  
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College Raptor: How do I actually know if a college is a good fit?
Most Popular Colleges in Utah
  1. Brigham Young University
  2. University of Utah
  3. Utah State University
  4. Westminster College
  5. Southern Utah University 
  6. Snow College 
  7. Utah Valley University
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Kyle Rittenhouse is acquitted of all charges!

11/21/2021

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Source: AP Kyle Rittenhouse in the courtroom
BY JANICA STOCKING
​EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
    On November 19, 2021, Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges. The now 18-year-old was faced 7 charges that, upon conviction, would force him to spend the rest of his life in prison. The incident that led to the trial was the unrest going on in Kenosha, Wisconsin during the late summer of 2020. The then-17-year-old Rittenhouse shot and killed 2 men and wounded another during the riots and was armed. Following his being charged, he and his defense team claimed his actions were that of self-defense. 
    The prosecution, led by Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger, charged Rittenhouse with two counts of homicide, one count of attempted homicide, two counts of reckless endangerment, one count of unlawful possession of a firearm, and one count of curfew violation. The weapons charge was dismissed by Judge Bruce Schroeder due to a technicality in the Wisconsin criminal law code allowing for Rittenhouse to legally carry the firearm in question. During the trial, there was even a juror dismissed due to a “crude joke” made regarding Jacob Blake. Jacob Blake’s death was the event that sparked the riots in Kenosha. This move was seen as an attempt to demonstrate the importance of the trial and show his neutrality in the case. While the actions of Judge Schroeder have been questioned by multiple legal analysts and scholars, most have come to the conclusion that his actions throughout the duration of the Rittenhouse trial he made the correct calls because of how public the trial was.
    One of the most controversial issues with the trial was the banning of MSNBC from the courtroom. This decision was made after an employee, James Morrison, for the NBCUniversal owned news channel received a citation for a traffic violation near the van carrying the jurors on November 17, 2021. He was suspected to be attempting to take photographs of the jurors. Judge Schroeder said that the matter was “very serious” and that Morrison was “under the supervision of a manager at NBC News in New York who allegedly asked him to follow the jurors.” Despite all of the controversies and drama surrounding this trial, the jury was able to come to the conclusion, after 4 days of deliberations, that Kyle Rittenhouse was not guilty of all charges.
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How does the education system fail students?

11/15/2021

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BY OAKLEE EWING
​MIND & BODY EDITOR
BEHIND THE SCENES 
     This interview was a lot harder than I expected. Many teachers turned me away in fear that answering this question would somehow put themselves in jeopardy - which should show you enough evidence of the flaws in this system - but I also had many people give me answers not wanting to be filmed.
     Coach Kjar once again emphasized how enabling schools are, with no tardy penalties, no late work penalties, etc. Kids don’t have any accountability with anything, which sets up students for failure in the college setting where if you turn something in late, upwards of 50% could be taken off your score simply for not being on time with it. 
     On my mission of finding teachers, I think I asked upwards of 6 teachers, and yet only 2 agreed to it. I felt like the monkey in the middle, each teacher asking me to go ask another because “they are much more qualified, or opinionated than I.” Many students stared at me saying “I don’t know what to say.” 
     All I can say is that my issue with school? The fact that I no longer strive to get 100s on things anymore, all I want is a 93% at least since that’s an A and as long as I have an A I am A-Okay. I’m just here to graduate then get a degree, that’s all I want. The college experience doesn’t even sound appealing to me anymore because all I want is just to be done with school. I’m burnt out.
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Is The Purpose of School to Learn or to Pass?

11/7/2021

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OAKLEE EWING
MIND & BODY EDITOR
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     The education system in the United States has been flawed and failing for too long. Most kids might tell you they don’t even remember what today’s lessons were on, but they sure could tell you how good/bad their grades are. Schools today have put more emphasis on trying to pass with an A rather than actually learning material and understanding core concepts. 
     “In most schools, memorization is mistaken for learning.” (Wharton) This quote is from an essay dated back to 2008. Students are taught to memorize material that will be used for a test, and once that test is over, much of said material is then forgotten to make room for the next units’ information. Then, by the end of the year or semester, students are forced to cram as much information from the entire course into their brain for a final exam that basically determines their final grade. Once that class is over, however, everything is long forgotten. 
     John Taylor, an educator, lines out his ideal classroom on aeon. He goes on to explain the importance of seminar-style classrooms, and classroom design that inspires discussion and inquiry. Taylor says, “...[T]he classroom of today resembles a military training ground, where students are drilled to produce perfect answers to potential [test] questions.” Classrooms are not for the student to learn, just to be filled with information from either a textbook, teacher lectures, or pointless assignments that do them no good for the future since, once the test has passed, the information goes out the door.
     The grading scale is stupid. Most students worry only about their grades and not about what they’re learning. Asking teachers for extra credit or to be able to redo this and that to bump them up just enough points for the next letter grade. Not because they deserve it, but because that letter grade on their transcript could make or break their ability to go to that dream college they’ve been looking at since they were in elementary school. The stress students feel purely to have good grades completely defeats the purpose of education. 
     One thing I can attest to is that I hardly ever strive for 100% on tests to demonstrate a full understanding, I only strive for a 93%. Why? Because that’s an A, and as long as I have an A I’m good. I also know there is a large number of students that feel the same. There is something really wrong with that mindset and the education system needs to fix it.
What part of the education system do you think truly failed you?​
“Standardized Testing”
- Maci Waldron (Senior)

“Testing System”
- Harrison Taggart (Senior)

“Standardized Testing”
- ​Kerklyn Hoff (Junior)

“Not stringent enough, they just want as many kids to pass”
- Coach Kjar 

“The grading scale”
- Addie Kjar (Sophomore) 

“The math curriculum is difficult and stupid the way they’ve adapted it.”
- Ellie Horrocks (Sophomore) 

“Not allowing us to redo assignments, we are never allowed to get better”
- Vee Witzel (Senior) 

“Not retaking tests or even talking through test answers so cheating is less of an issue since they can do it again and actually learn”
- Emma Gleason (Senior)
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Our school ranking system...How it fails Students

11/2/2021

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JANICA STOCKING
​EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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Weighted GPA Scale (left) v. Unweighted GPA Scale (right)
    All throughout high school, we as students are ranked against all other students in our grade. This is called class rank. Most high schools do this, but there are many different ways high schools rank their students. Ranks are assigned according to a student’s GPA compared to the rest of their grade’s. The most common ways students are ranked are decile, quintile, and quartile. Decile ranking systems rank students by percentile in increments of 10 (ex. 10th percentile, 20th percentile, etc.). Quintile ranking systems rank students by percentile in increments of 20 (ex. 20th percentile, 40th percentile, etc.). Quartile ranking systems rank students by percentile in increments of 25 (ex. 25th percentile, 50th percentile, etc.). Exact ranking systems simply give students a “place” or a number based on GPA. Ranks can also be unweighted and weighted. Weighted ranks take rigorous classes into account while unweighted ranks are based solely on your raw GPA. Our school uses exact ranking and it is unweighted. 
    While an exact ranking system can make class ranks easy to determine, it also has a lot of downsides. Exact ranking assigns all students with a 4.0 GPA (on the unweighted 4.0 scale) a rank of 1. The person(s) with the second highest GPA after everyone with a 4.0 GPA are then ranked the number after the total number of people that got a 4.0 GPA. For example, if there are 36 people who got a 4.0 GPA, the person with the next highest GPA would be ranked at 37th. Despite receiving the 2nd highest GPA, this person would be ranked 35 ranks below their actual GPA’s position on a linear scale. Because of the importance class rank for college applications, scholarships, and other academic recognitions, many students find this system unfair. Many schools now implement percentile-based GPA ranking systems to allow for more students to be better recognized for their achievements.
      Another issue with our school’s ranking system is that GPA is not weighted. Weighted GPAs can help make rankings more fair by incorporating course difficulty level as a part of a GPA’s calculation. Advanced Placement and Concurrent Enrollment courses are given extra consideration and points, therefore increasing the GPA of a student who is taking a lot of rigorous courses. It continues to recognize the achievements of students that aren’t taking as much rigor, but incentivizes students to take more advanced courses (students can often be deterred from challenging themselves because they are worried about their GPA dipping) and rewarding those who already take more advanced courses. So, should our school reconsider the way we assign class ranks? Will transferring to a percentile-based GPA ranking system make rankings fairer for students? Fill out the form to the side of this article and find out how many people agree with you!
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