By: Merob Geleto, Dahlia Man and Calvin Westin
Category Archives: News
Women of Asian Pacific Islander month: Kamala Harris
By: Alexsia Williams
Kamala Harris who was born to Shyamala and Donald Harris, was born on October 20th, 1964, in Oakland, California. In her early childhood years Harris attended Thousand Oaks Elementary School, in Berkeley’s public school system. Alongside attending school, Harris also attended both a Black Baptist church and Hindu temple, to honor her biracial heritage.
In her teenage years, Harris attended Westmount High school In Montreal, Canada, which was 60% percent white and 40% percent Black at the time. Although she initially struggled with the language barrier at the French speaking school because she spoke no French, her peers and friends during that time described her as “very smart” and “eloquent.”
After high school, Harris majored in political science and economics at Howard University in Washington D.C. During her time at Howard, she chaired the economic society, led the debate team, and was a member of a sorority.
After attending Howard, she returned to California to attend law school to earn her Juris Doctor from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1989, where she served as the president of the Black Law Students Association.
After passing the bar exam in 1990, Harris began her career as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County to focus on prosecuting child sexual assault cases. Not long after, she moved to the San Francisco district attorney’s office, where she ran the carrier criminal unit.
Moving forward in later years, Harris served as the 49th vice president, alongside president Joe Biden through 2021 to 2025. With president Biden withdrawing from the race in July 2024, Harris became the democratic nominee for president but ultimately was defeated in the general election by Donald Trump.
Although not winning the 2025 election, Harris is recognized for being the first Black American, and the first South Asian American to hold the vice presidency. She continues to still advocate and be a leading voice for abortion rights, gun violence prevention and many other policies.
Asking Students About Another Pandemic
By: Story Houghton and Damiya Payne
Endangered Animal Awareness 7
By: Cael Schwartzbauer
Why diabetes is so dangerous
By: Abreham Debele
Diabetes is a chronic health condition that affects how the body turns food into energy for the rest of your life. In normal conditions, the body would break down food into sugar and release it into the bloodstream, where insulin acts like the key and releases the sugar into the cell. Instead though, people with diabetes have too much sugar staying in the blood. To tackle this, diabetic patients monitor their sugar levels through their diet, glucose monitors, and insulin pumps.
Diabetes is a very serious health issue because it kills about two million people a year. Because of this, it’s known as a leading health challenge these days.
This issue means much more than just a medical diagnosis. It’s a chronic disease that affects you for the remainder of your life. Risks can include serious issues like heart disease, vision loss, and kidney failure. Despite the many risks and struggles, people with diabetes are still determined to live healthy lives, and doctors around the world work constantly to provide better treatments and technology every year.
Throughout the 21st century, diabetes has become a representation of why the importance of balancing nutrition, exercise, and medicine is highly important.
Throughout the years, the hope for better diabetes management has grown as a result of scientific breakthroughs and changes in how we understand human anatomy. Researchers and doctors have announced new ways to help the body process sugar more effectively through advanced special tools like insulin pumps, continuous monitors, and glucose monitors. Immediately, thousands of patients benefited from these changes, and healthcare companies found healthier ways to prevent dangerous medical complications. While this isn’t a total cure yet, the progress that has been made in medicine allows people to stay healthy, active, and still enjoy life.
Endangered Animal Awareness 6
By: Cael Schwartzbauer
Cinco de Mayo
By: Sofia Patricio Mateo and Evelyn Solano Ruiz
Why gas prices are so high
By: Simon Pluger
Since the beginning of 2026, the biggest question is when are the gas prices going to go down? Really, we don’t know but we can statistically track when they will.
Ever since Trump helped Israel launch several bombs to Iran it hasn’t been good. Many people have died mainly in Iran. We bombed hospitals and places with kids but that’s not what we are talking about today.
Since Trump has been very violent towards Iran recently they have been cutting ties and trying to close the Strait of Hormuz which is a narrow body of water in Iran. 20% of the world’s crude oil is passed through the Strait of Hormuz, making it really important. Because of the closure, the ships that are carrying the oil have to redirect and go different routes making it take longer and using more gas and oil itself.
It is not the gas itself that is expensive but it is expensive right now because it is taking more time and importantly, more work, for the oil to arrive where it needs to be. Even if we go to real war with Iran, gas will stay relatively the same price because we will most likely just switch providers of where we buy our gas from and different ways to ship it. As soon as our conflict with Iran stops though, the gas prices will steadily go down as shipping boats are able to go through the Strait of Hormuz. People would think that it would become cheaper very fast, but it won’t because there will still be ships that are going the new alternative ways.
Also, it’s not just the physical shipping that costs money. Other countries need oil too. The supply and demand goes up everywhere so that makes prices go up as well. Since companies don’ t know when they might get their oil, they charge higher prices as they still need to make money, and they are having to spend more.
The hardest part to understand is why things won’t get better the second the fighting stops. The change won’t be rapid, but instead will be more slow. Ships are going to still be stuck at the Strait, or they are going to still be going around Africa. It’s going to take a while for the shipping routes to get back to normal, so we probably shouldn’t expect cheap gas for a few months after peace starts.
Endangered Animal Awareness 5
By: Cael Schwartzbauer
Psychology behind why people prefer cats or dogs
By: Ro’Mel Bryant-Oliveraz
People usually pick a side, cats or dogs, but not everyone questions why they really feel that way. They might think they just prefer dogs because they are more energetic and loyal, or cats because they can just do their own thing while still being present. Of course, they may also choose which, based on lifestyle, maybe they need a cat because they want company without too much work, or a dog because they want to be outside more. Or maybe they just got one as a child and that became their favorite for life. But what does the psychology behind those choices say; what does that say about your preferences?
For dogs their life revolves around their owner. They want to be with their owner all the time, their food depends on the owner, their hygiene, and meaningful fun. If you prefer a dog you want something similar to a baby, someone you can always be around, and have fun with, for the most part. Dogs are simple minded, think about the immediate, and the main thing on their mind is you. They just want to have fun, eat good food, and be around you.
Cats on the other hand are much more independent. They depend on you for their food, and to clean up their areas. They don’t need fun stimulation like dogs; their stimulation is more about hunting exercises, which don’t require humans. They clean themselves well enough without needing humans. They mostly just prefer your company, but don’t need it. If having a dog is like a baby, having a cat is like having a younger sibling. When they play with human hands or anything, their reflexes are too fast to get hit by a human, they just let it happen for fun. That’s how cats usually interact with humans, it’s mostly for the human’s sake, they also want you to have fun; not just themselves. Cats even developed meowing for communication to humans; they don’t really for each other, except kittens.
Preferring a cat is like preferring an independent pet that you interact with out of mutual interest, mutual benefit. The cat sees you as someone who gives them food and is in charge of the space they live in, so they want to interact with you a little bit, but they are independent and can get most of their necessities alone.
Preferring a dog is like preferring a pet that constantly wants to be with you, it thinks everything that it would want would come from you, and that you are the best. Dogs think about the moment, like food, fun, and blind curiosity. They depend on you for responsible things like eating healthy food, hygiene, and a place to sleep. And they love that fact.
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