Culture

Every year, during the month of March, Women’s History Month is celebrated. Women’s history month began as a celebration in Santa Rosa, California in the 1970’s. It originally was a week long, with the official Women's History Day in the middle. Over time, the idea spread throughout America, and in 1980, Former US President Jimmy Carter declared the week of March 8 Women’s History Week. Later on, this weeklong celebration was extended to last the entire month of March. Every year, Women’s History Month has a different theme. This year’s theme is “Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion” (NWHA). In previous years, the themes have ranged from “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories” to "Generations of Women Moving History Forward". 

On the fourth day of the trip, OHSers contributed to a global citizen science project, where they helped to document and monitor the populations of tropical fish surrounding the island. Already demonstrating the significance of their work, the students documented the Crown-of-thorns starfish which is a nonnative species. This is one of the many discoveries that are sure to come from the documentation and data the OHSers gathered on this trip. On the fifth day of the trip, students went on a desert hike and learned about the ecosystem and species that live on Espiritu Santo Island.

If taxes from homeschooling households contribute to their local school district like any other brick-and-mortar family, why are homeschool students discriminated against, like clockwork, every fall when they go to register for AP exams?  If a homeschooled student lives within the district of a school, they are as entitled to a seat as any given student who happens to attend. They should be permitted to pay the College Board for the test and sit for AP exams, regardless of attendance status. 

Reminding us of the togetherness of our OHS community, Ms. Mustafa, the director of Student Life, mentions how parents specifically can partake in sessions “...focusing on social-emotional well-being and college counseling” led by expert OHS instructors. Rounding off the night, students can let loose at the Winter Formal filled with music, board games, and lots of delicious food.

Alas, we do indeed have some students who celebrate with splendid spirit, but with their twist! Aishwarya (‘27) shares that, I don’t think I’ll ever celebrate Valentine’s Day the way it’s meant to be. But I have my own unique way of celebrating it with family and friends! Valentine’s Day is a day of love for my family.” Rebecca (‘25) also thinks of it as “a fun day to celebrate meaningful relationships and eat chocolate.” A tasty agenda in addition to family, friends, and fun? Count me in. 

But it certainly affects a majority positively. From the collected data, it seems that the reason why students don’t love the longer winter break is that it makes getting back on track with school harder. Of 39 students that were asked whether or not the longer break made it harder for them to re-adjust, 9 replied “yes” and 3 replied “maybe”. 

In general, there was a lot of flexibility in the organization of the event. Although Maxwell stayed in a separate hotel for the weekend, most people stayed at the same hotel. Some students were even able to drive everyday to the meetup! Moreover, students were able to select which events they wanted to attend each day. For instance, Maxwell’s favorites were the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Gianni’s Pizza, and the Bird Rock Hike. He was able to make cherished memories at Gianni’s Pizza, which was a “highlight of the entire meetup for me!” 

In terms of how OHSers feel about these assessments, let’s start on a relatively positive note. When asked how confident the OHSer feels about their finals, 48.1% of students reported their confidence as a 3 within the scale of 1-5. There is also the slightest left skew with 29.6% of students reporting their confidence as a four or five as opposed to the 22.2% describing their confidence as a one of two. This is definitely good news because confidence is key.

October is a busy month for OHS’ers, because of midterms. However, the end of the month provides a chance for celebration and having fun: Halloween! Halloween, which originated as a pagan festival called Samhain, marks the end of summer and beginning of fall. Trick-or-treating, a Halloween staple in the US, was established throughout the 1920’s to the 1950’s by immigrants. Given the diverse body of OHS students, there is also a diverse range of plans.

Based on a survey of 30 OHS students with a combination of multiple choice and short answer questions, over 70% of students use Pronto over 40% of the time to connect with others across the school, but there are mixed emotions as to how students feel about Pronto at this current stage.