Senior Nick Seto
What was your initial reaction to hearing news of the events that transpired at the Capitol building on Wednesday?
“Mostly disbelief and surprised because I wasn’t really following it and suddenly it was just people in the Capitol building so it was kinda a sinking gut feeling.”
Would you consider the people who entered the building protestors, rioters or something different?
“I would say something different like seditionists. Definitely more advanced rioters because it was a passing onto federal land especially with the Capitol building.”
How do you feel these actions will affect the future of our country and what steps should be taken next by our lawmakers?
“I feel like it’s a sign for things worse because people are willing to do basically anything. Donald Trump and certain hardcore right wing people are willing to go to any length to do terrible acts, and it could’ve been a lot worse if Donald Trump had told them to do worse. And I think for the lawmakers, I don’t think they’re going to do anything but I think they should probably try to address the base issues that caused these things like why these people are angry in the first place.”
Do you believe the 25th Amendment (which states if the President becomes unable to do his job, the Vice President will assume the role of the President) should be exercised in response to the president’s words and actions on the day of the Capitol shutdown?
“Hell yeah brother.”
BYOD
Junior Joe Kearney works intently on his final project for World History on a Chromebook he borrowed through the Bring Your Own Device program.
The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program was rolled out in November to allow technology to be incorporated into the curriculum more readily.
Under the BYOD program, students have a device, whether school-issued or their own, with them at school every day. The school provides anywhere from 60 to 90 day loaners per day and has 50 long-term loaners.
“[The loaner program] went very well,” librarian Kimberly Honey said. “…There was this misconception that students would be late to class because they have to wait for a chromebook, but we actually timed how long it takes for a student to walk through the door and check out a chromebook and it takes less than 90 seconds. We got the check-out and check-in system down really fast.”
According to Instructional Technology Specialist Brian Calnan, the program has been an overall success.
“I think there was definitely some hesitation at the beginning,” Calnan said. “Just people weren’t sure what it was going to be. Was it going to totally change what their classes would look like? Were they just going to be on computers all day? But I think it ended up being a lot smoother than a lot of people expected.”
Looking forward, Calnan hopes that teachers continue to think about designing lesson plans that make use of the technology now at every student’s disposal.
“I don’t want students to have to carry around a device and use it once a day and I don’t want them using it seven periods a day either,” Calnan said. “[The school should be] finding that balance and just consistently using it as it becomes integrated into part of [the students’] learning.”
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