| 2024: A Year in Review AHS Blueprint — December 31, 2024 By Sophie Chinn, Cameron Powell, Cedric He, Saaj Shah, Audrey Parkin, Arman Craig, and Melina Galacatos, Online Editors in Chief, Online Head o | AHS Blueprint — December 31, 2024 | | By Sophie Chinn, Cameron Powell, Cedric He, Saaj Shah, Audrey Parkin, Arman Craig, and Melina Galacatos, Online Editors in Chief, Online Head of Layout, and Online Editors This piece creates a timeline of articles that Blueprint covered in 2024 in which writers reflect on their work and its impact on our readership. January - Women Warriors | | | | Blueprint Graphic by Zinnia Khan | | | | Starting in the 2025 season, a new WNBA team will join the Golden State Warriors Franchise; Blueprint took the announcement of this team as a chance to explore the importance of inclusion and representation of female athletes. Writers on this story were Sophie Chinn, Cameron Thornton, and Maya Stafford; Online Editor in Chief, Print Sports Editor, and Print Arts Editor respectively. They focused their writing on the lack of opportunities for female athletes to compete relative to male athletes and the possibility of change due to this team's addition. "As a female athlete myself, I think it's really important to spotlight women's sports, because I don't think they get as much attention as they deserve. I also don't think that people realize how big of an impact representation makes in sports," Thornton said, "I grew up going to a lot of women's college basketball games and camps and the players were all such positive role models that I drew a lot of inspiration from" The team will present more athletes a spot to play in the league, and could be a source of inspiration for young players as well. "I know there are a lot of young female athletes that would be super excited and feel really inspired, so I thought it was important to spread the word about this new team," Thornton said. Since the article was published in Blueprint, more information about the Bay Area's new team has been released, including the roster and name: The Golden State Valkyries. The teams' inaugural season begins this spring. February - Navigating the Social Landscape of Technological Influence | | | | Blueprint Graphic by Bo Chevaleau | | | | | | Blueprint Graphic by Bo Chevaleau | | | | The growing importance of technology in our everyday lives, from use for school to fun in free time, inspired this Blueprint article. After talking to community members and experts about the effects of widespread use of technology, writers Jack Gebhardt, Hanna Wiśniewska, Molly Jones, and Aamena Shipchandler shifted focus to the implications of technology use on teenagers. "It was a showcase of journalism changing the focus of the story to better reflect what people were saying about technology to really show its impacts and implications in society," Print News Section Editor Aamena Shipchandler said. Although Blueprint has covered specific topics within the realm of technology in the past, this article took on a new angle by focusing on the large-scale view of technology's growing importance and influence in society. "I think technology is something that we all think about, it definitely has a huge impact on our lives, but I think the motivation behind this was that it is not something that we've really covered before… We talked about [technology] being in every aspect of our lives," Shipchandler said. The article details the various ways people in our community rely on technology and how this is different from past lifestyles. The writers narrowed in on scientific angles to explore technology's impact. "We were hoping that students would feel kind of seen and connected to the story. I know I don't like being on my screen all day, and it's something we all deal with, so recognizing that, "this is like me," and being informed about how it can affect you," Shipchandler said. March - These Dons are Off to See the Wizard | | | | Blueprint photo by Zinnia Khan | | | | | | Blueprint photo by Zinnia Khan | | | | During a memorable spring semester filled with creativity and student achievements, Blueprint's Volume 83 Issue 6 spotlighted the hard work and dedication that brought the school's production of The Wizard of Oz to life. The story delved into the intricate preparations for the spring musical, capturing the enthusiasm and artistry of the student body. Business Manager Hannah Geraghty wrote the article along with Staff Writers Leighton Tanaka and Ellie Hansen. The writing process involved talking with various people who were involved in putting together the play. "We definitely reached out to a lot of people, and we really wanted to highlight the work that went into it without spoiling any new changes," Geraghty said. The article emphasized the importance of showcasing the contributions of not just the performers, but also the creative teams behind the scenes. "We also wanted to make sure we highlighted not just the actors, but also set and costumes," Geraghty said. The article was designed to build excitement for the production and celebrate the student dedication to various aspects of the show. "The purpose of writing the article was really to highlight student achievements but also to get people excited to potentially go see the musical," Geraghty said. The team worked to produce a piece capturing and celebrating the diverse passions of the student body while inspiring both pride and anticipation within the community. "I think the story turned out well. I really enjoy stories where students get to highlight their interests, and I think that came through in this story," Geraghty said. April - Harnessing Creativity for Change | | | | Blueprint Photo by Olivia Foster | | | | As discussions about art's role in activism gained traction, Blueprint took the opportunity to explore how creativity can be used as a medium for social change, focusing on impactful murals, museums, and student-led initiatives in the local community. Writers on this story, Print Arts Editor Maya Stafford along with Molly Jones and Melina Galacatos, conducted research on local art projects and interviewed key figures to uncover the connection between activism and art. "At first, it was about getting a good understanding of how activism has been used through art in the past. We looked into murals in San Francisco, like Clarion Alley and other locations, and even reached out to Mr. Porter for his insights," Stafford said. From their research, the team chose to highlight specific examples of activism through art, including murals in Clarion Alley, the Oakland Museum's exhibitions, and student-created posters at Acalanes. "We wanted to showcase how art can be a powerful outlet for change, especially in ways people might not expect," Stafford said, "Locally, we looked at how student leadership uses art—like the activist posters on doors—as a way to emphasize important causes." The writer's vision for the piece was to encourage readers to see art not only as a form of expression but as a tool to fuel meaningful change. "Our goal was to create a more serious art story in Blueprint, which isn't something you see often. We wanted to highlight activists using art as their platform and inspire others to explore similar avenues," Stafford said. Writing this story required significant collaboration and research, but writers note that the effort paid off. "I'm proud of the work we did. It took a lot of communication, sending emails, and finding the right contacts, but we managed to create something that not only tells a story but also promotes the idea of using art for activism," Stafford said. "I hope it encourages other artists to feel comfortable using their creativity as a way to make a difference." May - Student Athletes Race to the Finish Line at the Special Olympics | | | | Blueprint Photo by Haley Chelemedos | | | | As the spring semester came to a close, Acalanes hosted the its annual Special Olympics, an event that Blueprint was eager to cover. Print Feature Editors Molly Connelly and Emily Roberts envisioned the piece would highlight the community aspect of the event. | | | | Blueprint Photo by Haley Chelemedos | | | | "It's an example of community coming together and we got to go to the event and support a lot of Acalanes athletes that don't generally get a lot of attention, I think that's an important part of our Blueprint mission statement is to uplift members of all communities and making sure that we highlight everyone that goes to Acalanes," Connelly said. The writing process involved attending the event in order to conduct interviews and take photos. "This was a great event… we took pictures, we got interviews on the spot from athletes and the volunteers that are helping, and it was just really cool to see how everything happened," Roberts said. Covering this event was impactful to the writers as they experienced a unique network of support, writers hope their work had a similar impact on readers. "It was really beautiful to see everyone kind of come together, especially from all different schools and really everyone was just here to support the athletes and it was really cool to see and it was kind of an inspiring thing to write about," Connelly said. June - San Francisco Festa Italiana | | | | Blueprint photo by Jenna Kessler | | | | Although students were not on campus during the summer months, they were still participating in events within the community. One such event that Blueprint covered in the form of an online photo gallery was Festa Italiana, an annual festival that occurs in San Francisco celebrating Italian culture. | | | | Blueprint photo by Jenna Kessler | | | | Business Manager Jenna Kessler attended the event in order to put together the photo gallery. "I decided to take the photos because I thought it was nice to highlight different events that a lot of people don't normally know about, especially ones in San Francisco and to highlight different cultures that are celebrated in the area," Kessler said. The event itself is one that involves various activities for attendees, including food, live music, and art. "It was really fun to go and experience the culture through the food and the art and the music and then take photos of it and be able to share with other people in the community in hopes that more people will experience it next year," Kessler said. Ultimately, the purpose of the gallery was to encourage people to attend such events, whether that is within the local Acalanes community or beyond. "I always forget… how many different events there are to celebrate [different cultures] and it's really fun to recognize that people go and have fun at these different festivals to celebrate culture," Kessler said. August - Classroom Crunch | | | | Blueprint Graphic by Bo Chevaleau | | | | As the school year geared back up and students made their way from class to class, Blueprint noticed various observations of certain classes seeming cramped and overly full. Due to changes in demand for some classes, as well as financial complications in the Acalanes High School Union District (AUHSD), the 2024-2025 school year is facing a unique struggle with irregular classroom sizes. "[The story] was an investigative journalism piece [about] the over-population in the class sizes on campus. It was a really prominent issue around the campus and something especially noticeable this year, so we wanted to address it and get people to understand why this is [happening]," Staff Writer Mika Katznelson said. A larger part of the story hinged on the inner workings of funding for the AUHSD, so, Print Feature Editors Molly Connelly and Emily Roberts as well as Katznelson explored this angle through interviews with major funders of the AUHSD. "I think one of the more important interviews that we did that also helped a lot with [the financial] angle is Danielle Gallagher from LPIE, who I interviewed... It was essentially getting information on what was being funded by LPIE and what was being funded by the district, and what other projects were being funded that may be taking away from the classroom sizes," Katznelson said. Although the cause of the problem was largely out of the hands of individuals from the immediate community, the problem itself had a visible impact on community members, and so writers note the function of this story to help bring light to an issue that may have been mysterious or confusing for some. "Our intended effect was really just for education and especially because I know a lot of people were upset by the greater class sizes this year, so I think it was good to provide some background about it so people actually understood what was happening," Katznelson said. September - Striking the Final Chord: Acalanes' Last A's Performance | | | | Blueprint Photo by Isaac Topp | | | | To kick off the year, Blueprint acknowledged the Acalanes band's involvement with the Oakland A's baseball team for the past two years, and the recent end of their connection, due to the team's relocation, at an A's game on Sept. 2, 2024. "The story was about the last Oakland A's games and how our band was going to perform [the national anthem] there for the last time. It was about the student experience and the fact that it was the last game they were going to be able to perform at," Staff Writer Gwyneth Lee said. | | | | Blueprint Photo by Isaac Topp | | | | The writers on this story, Azure Editor in Chief Zoe Stafford, Business Manager Sophie Gold, along with Lee spoke to various involved members of the Acalanes community to bring to life the experience and impact of the Acalanes music department at events beyond the local community such as this one. "I interviewed Mr. Cordoba, the director of the music program, and they told us a bit about how long students have been performing at the A's games and what they do to prepare, and what the experience is like for them," Lee said. Through the story's process, the writers were able to see into the individual, personal experiences of the band members and what this game meant to them. "I liked seeing how the experience was for the band members and the fact that for some of them, it would be their first time performing, and for some of them, it was their last time even though it was a new thing for the band to perform at the A's game," Lee said. The story provided an insight into the impact of Acalanes community members inside, as well as outside of the immediate community. "It showed the impact the Acalanes community had on the A's games and the impact the A's games had on us. Even though it's further out in a different city, our community is still in touch with that and we're connecting to bigger communities," Lee said. October - Celebrating LatinX Heritage Month at Acalanes | | Acalanes Leadership, Latinos Unidos, and Spanish classes hosted and participated in various events throughout LatinX Heritage Month, spanning from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, to spotlight the ways in which students participated in the celebration. | | Staff Writers Trevor Krick and Noah Frankel wrote this piece, focussing on various events. Writers covered a LatinX potluck on campus, "Mes de Herencia Latina" assignment within Spanish classes, a Zumba class with Latinos Unidos, as well as door decorations across campus. "The piece was fun because I was able to participate in many events such as potlucks and a field trip to Peña Pachamama in San Francisco," Frankel said. A key element of this story was the photos as they guided the writing process. "It was a photo story so we would take a photo of an event and base our writing off of it," Frankel said. The emphasis on the visual components within this article gave it more depth and aided the writer's vision of putting LatinX culture in the spotlight. "This piece was impactful to our readers because of how it highlighted LatinX culture in our school and community," Frankel said. November - Empower Teens Through the Ballot | | | | Blueprint graphic by Sof Cerruti | | | | As the 2024 election season approached, Blueprint published an opinion piece exploring youth voter participation. The article focused mostly on Proposition 18, a 2020 California ballot measure that sought to allow 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections if they would turn 18 by the general election. Senior Graphics Editor Sof Cerruti explored how Proposition 18 would have impacted young voters like herself, emphasizing the importance of political education and early engagement. "Political involvement and education have always been in my life, so it's something that's always on my mind. I also happen to fall into the specific age group of voters that I wrote about since I was able to vote in this last election, so it was personal to me," Cerruti said. The writing process involved thorough research into voter demographics, patterns, and the broader implications of youth voting, making the piece exciting yet difficult to write. "The process was interesting because I hadn't actually written an opinion since sophomore year, but I had a lot of help, so it was really fun," Cerruti said. Exploring these topics allowed her to learn more about the dynamics of voter participation and develop a stronger argument for her case. A significant focus of the article was the minimal developmental difference between 17 and 18-year-olds. This challenged the idea that younger teens lack the maturity to vote in primaries. The piece also examined the potential ripple effects of youth engagement, specifically how teenagers' participation can encourage their families to vote as well. Cerruti hoped to inspire readers to value political awareness which could in turn foster a more inclusive and informed democracy. "I hope people take away how important it is to be politically educated in a quickly developing political climate. It's super easy to kind of push those kinds of topics to the side but being more aware will be so much more helpful than I think people realize," Cerruti said. The piece emphasized the importance of including younger voices in the political process while encouraging readers to reflect on their political engagement. "I think the biggest thing I took away from writing this was how lucky I am to have an outlet for my interests and opinions. It's really a privilege to be able to write about what I want and to get help from people who also care," Cerruti said.
December - From Classroom to Community | | As the winter season approached, Blueprint took the opportunity to reflect on the spirit of giving around campus and beyond by highlighting student volunteer work efforts. Staff Writers Tselmeg Orgilmunkh, Natalie Pecci, Cypress Reid, and Audrey Tugade focused on five ways in which students are getting involved in volunteering: Adopt-a-Family, GLIDE Memorial Church, Hope Solutions book drive, Pledge to Humanity, and blanket making. | | | | Contributing Photo by Hetty Lofting | | | | "A lot of the process was getting interviews from people organizing, running, hosting, and attending the different events. Overall it was cool to see how enthusiastic and like wanting people are to do service," Pecci said. Talking with student sources was a key aspect of the writing process as writers envisioned that reading about student participation in volunteering would be impactful to other students. "Interviewing the student organizers was really helpful because they talked about how they enjoy helping others and the happiness spreads, which hopefully can be inspiring," Orgilmunkh said. In addition to highlighting the individual students who take on volunteer work, the article served to exemplify the numerous volunteer organizations on and around campus as opportunities for more student participants. "I hope people take away that helping people is very accessible through Acalanes and Helper Helper, and if they can they should volunteer," Orgilmunkh said. Ultimately, writers intended for the piece to impact readers by reminding them of the importance of giving, highlight students who are involved in volunteering, as well as draw attention to the opportunities that there are to join these efforts. "I hope readers took away the importance of reflecting on what you have and giving back, whether that's through time, money, supplies, etc. It's especially important during the holidays when lots of people get gifts and stuff like that and some don't get that privilege," Pecci said. | | | |
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