On September 8th, Arthur Ashe Stadium held the US Open Women’s Tennis Final. The last two contestants were Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka. Naomi Osaka defeated Serena Williams, which made her the first Japanese player to win a Grand Slam Final. After the match, there were still many discussions about what had happened during the match, with Serena Williams’ actions dominating the discussion.
During the match, Serena Williams was given penalties from the chair umpire, Carlos Ramos. The first penalty was given during play; Ramos had given her the penalty for receiving coaching during the match. Serena Williams replied to Ramos saying that she has never cheated before and that she doesn’t cheat to win, she would rather lose instead. Also, she included her daughter in the conversation, making sure he understood that she does not cheat.
The second penalty was a point penalty given when Serena Williams smashed her racket on the ground. The response Williams gave was not a positive one. Serena called Ramos a thief for stealing a point from her, but the match continued.
Through the next couple of games, Serena kept talking back to the umpire, continuing to call him a “thief.” Because of this, he gave her another penalty for verbal abuse, causing her to lose a game.
With each penalty given, Serena Williams spoke up about her feelings to Ramos, with some calling it an outburst, and others calling it standing up for herself. This sparked the debate of whether sexism came into play, as other players, or specifically male players, do worse things during matches, but don’t get called out for their conduct. The attention was also given to how Carlos Ramos handled things, with many disagreeing with what he did, though others agreed and said that his decisions were reasonable.
With all the things that happened, many believed that Naomi Osaka’s win was overshadowed by the drama that happened on court. Many can agree that Naomi Osaka played well and was respected for being able to stay calm during the match even with Serena Williams’ actions. During the winning ceremony, many boos were heard, causing Naomi Osaka to hide her face as tears came up. Even so, Naomi Osaka celebrated her first Grand Slam well.
On Friday, September 7th, during 2nd period, juniors were dismissed with their class to go to the auditorium for a assembly. The assembly started with the principal, Dr. Tucker, welcoming all the new juniors, and the returning ones to the school. The assembly was held to give information from the principal and staff at Highland Park about junior year, and what you’re responsible for during the school year.
Some main things they talked about were the IB program and the classes that you will have to test in, in order to get your IB certificate. Any students who are motivated to take harder classes are welcome to participate in Highland’s International Baccalaureate (IB) program. They can either take the complete IB Diploma curriculum or an IB Diploma individual class in an area of interest.
They also talked about safety in school; they encouraged you to talk about your concerns and to speak up if you see anything wrong going on (such as bullying, threats, or talk of suicide). Keeping the school safe requires everyone’s participation, and they wanted students to take that more seriously to help make the school a safer place for everyone.
Something else they talked about was the upcoming exam called the “ACT” which is an achievement test that determines college readiness. Students who take the ACT are tested on their skills in: English, mathematics, reading, science, and writing. They wanted students to be aware of this test so they can prepare and know it’s coming very soon.
During the assembly the staff addressed that it’s very important for students to take school seriously and to pass all their classes; many kids don’t take their grades seriously and wait until the last minute to get them up. That’s not how it works though, if you turn in some work late some teachers might not accept it and will fail you. You’re required to have all your class credits before graduation and many students leave it until the last minute. They wanted us to think more about the consequences and work harder this school year.
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