Ready for the Week
Rebecca Beddingfield
Media Editor
American High School, we made it one week into online school, and it’s been a wild ride for many of us trying to settle into this new way of life. Friday has big announcements for AHS, ending our week with a bang, as well as other news affecting the world at large.
What Students at American Need to Know
CAASP/CAST State testing that was planned to be administered to both juniors and seniors (seniors only taking the science portion) has been cancelled by Governor Newsom, affecting some teachers’ curriculum plans that went around state testing.
College Board’s Decision the College Board is planning to prepare for a 45-minute online exam in place of their traditional AP tests. Due to the lack of instruction due to COVID-19 in some locations, some units of AP courses will not be covered on the exam. To see how your exam might be affected, you can go to: https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/about-ap/news-changes/coronavirus-update
Headlines to Flatten Lines (or Curves)
California Governor Newsom has now officially put the whole state in a state of shelter-in-place, joining the San Francisco Bay Area’s decision from earlier this week. Newsom also remarked that California believes that more than half of the state will be infected with COVID-19 over the next eight weeks, but only 20% will be hospitalized due to the illness.
America at War Trump utilizes Defense Protection Act, usually used in periods of conflict to accelerate the production of war-time equipment, to accelerate the production of medical supplies in the United States. This allows the government to force companies to produce necessary medical supplies and sell them to the federal government. U.S. has also closed the border with Mexico for non-essential travel.
At Home Testing In the near future, startups are launching at-home Coronavirus testing in response to the lack of testing being done in the country due to the factors that went into testing early in the process. However, there are significant problems with taking a test attempting to detect COVID-19 at home. For more information on this new development, you can read this article: https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/20/at-home-coronavirus-tests-are-here-should-you-take-them/
A Week in Review
It’s been an interesting week at American, but as the dust begins to settle, it’s time to check in on how the theories of quarantine and social distancing are playing out in the lives of people at our school.
School is starting to look different for a lot of people. While some students are keeping roughly the same schedule as going to physical school, others are taking the opportunity to sleep in and complete school on their terms.
“I feel like we’re also getting more work assigned because we have so much time at home and I’m still getting used to the regular routine,” says Moga Pendse, a sophomore at AHS. Teachers have varied as they shift their curriculum to work in an online-only setting. You can access the educator letter to parents here: http://ahs-fusd-ca.schoolloop.com/file/1584607655897/1563867522035/2789600524651823763.pdf
However, when school is over and done with for the day, cabin fever is beginning to set in on some of the students at AHS as social distancing takes its toll.
“I get that school is suppose[d] to keep us on schedule and I don’t mind that, but the lack of human interaction is starting to get to me,” says Ysabella Ballesil (12).
Others aren’t feeling as much of a sting, including junior Trinity Manansala, as she explains “I’m not very much of a talkative person anyways.”
While talking to friends may be more limited, family is growing closer, for better or for worse. With the state-wide shelter-in-place, many families are under the same roof. While families like Manansala’s usually keep to themselves, others like Sarah Chaudhury’s are feeling the close proximity of the situation.
“My household has been going crazy,” says Chaudhury (9). However difficult its becoming inside these quarantine spaces, Chaudhury still spends quality time playing games with her brothers and making the best of a situation.
No matter how your week has been, we’ve made it through. If you have any tips for online school or general life during this shelter-in-place, or a quarantine photo of the day, you can send it to eagleeraeditors@gmail.com to be featured on our weekday quarantine reports.
Quarantine Photo of the Day
Audrey Gobaco (11) perfecting her performance on the rhythm game Osu, with an accuracy that any person would love to see on their report card.
Eagle Era 