The Bolt

The BOLT

Sage Hill Mulls Historic Step to Launch Middle School

The

Board of Trustees is slated to consider a fundraising campaign in June.

Courtesy of Sage Hill School Middle school students work on an art project at Camp Sage in 2019. Their demographic would be served by the proposed middle school.

By Roya Yaghmai and Isabella De Leon

In a potentially landmark move, Sage Hill School may add a middle school on its existing campus if school leaders agree to fundraise $25 million for construction of a new building serving seventh and eighth graders.

The concept for new classrooms, a cafe and a second gym is still in its early stages, school administrators said. The Board of Trustees must first approve the fundraising campaign at its June meeting.

Head of School Patricia Merz, Assistant Head of School for Academics

Dr. Matt Balossi and the Board ofTrustees are spearheading the historic proposal that would see the school’s maximum enrollment cap increase from 600 to 750 students.

“Sage Hill has already grown tremendously in the last 20 plus years. A potential next step for Sage Hill is to consider providing the excellent Sage Hill experience to a younger population,” Ms. Merz said.

While the construction plans have yet to be finalized and confirmation of a possible middle school’s future is yet to be announced, planning documents show a roughly 38,000-square-foot building that would house eight new classrooms for seventh and eighth graders, an 824-seat gymnasium, an outdoor amphitheater and a second school café.

This proposal is coming to life as school officials work alongside capital campaign consultant, Grenzebach Glier and Associates, on a feasibility study. The creation of a middle school and gym

is being carefully considered before any construction begins or curriculum details are conjured up. Sage Hill leaders are seeking donors to fund the entire project; tuition dollars won’t be spun off for construction, school officials said.

“With [creating a middle school], we have the opportunity to continue to grow and change the lives of even more students for generations to come,” said Dr. Balossi when asked about the motivation behind this new project. Additionally, as financial assistance is a founding vision and constant goal for Sage Hill, the school “could move from 12% to 20% of Sage Hill students receiving financial assistance in four years,” Dr. Balossi said.

The possible middle school and second gym were designed within a single building, which would be built on the

practice field between the Lisa Argyros and Family Science Center and Hague Field. The proposed middle school would be physically separated from the high school classes and have its own town square, classrooms and cafeteria, while paralleling Sage Hill’s architecture.

“Part of the middle school building would include a second gym. This space would be utilized by students of all grade levels,” Merz said.

Junior Sara Alizadeh, a member of the Sage Hill girls’ varsity basketball team, expressed excitement over this plausible construction. “The addition of a second gym will increase the amount of times all teams receive in the gyms. It [will] allow more practice time and space for the teams to improve,” Sara said.

MIDDLE SCHOOL, PAGE 3

Learning in the Modern Age

Is ChatGPT Beneficial for Academics?

By Lauren Chung, Noe Lee

&

Xinyi Xie

OpenAI launched their prototype AI language model, ChatGPT, on Nov. 30. It quickly became a global sensation—just two months after its release, ChatGPT reached over 100 million users, making it the fastest-growing consumer application ever to date. The public is stunned by its ability to access vast arrays of information and provide answers to questions across a wide breadth of different disciplines, and fascinated by the extent to which modern AI technology has evolved.

ChatGPT’s booming popularity has also led to controversy, especially in the academic world. One simply has to spend a few seconds typing in a prompt or some keywords into the chatbot for it to solve math problems, code computer programs, write English essays and even produce “creative” work such as poetry and music. The convenience and speed of the AI tool has allowed students across the globe to abuse the chatbot in several ways. While some use ChatGPT’s generated responses to guide their thought process or outline writing, others take advantage of the tool’s ability to copy and paste text directly into their assignments and substitute it for original work.

Besides concerns of plagiarism, ChatGPT can also mislead students by generating incorrect answers. If the user asks the chatbot a question it does not know the answer to, it will sometimes return a random, plausible-sounding but factually untrue response, and upon regeneration it

will maintain that its response was correct. This process is known as “hallucination” and is a major problem in all AI language models. Because of this issue, students’ heavy reliance on ChatGPT can often lead to a misunderstanding of concepts previously learned in the classroom.

In January, The New York City Department of Education issued a ban on the use of ChatGPT in schools. This issue has sparked nationwide debates both against and for the use of AI in modern-day learning environments. The issue of ChatGPT has not gone unnoticed by the Sage Hill administration and faculty.

As of right now, the consequences of utilizing ChatGPT are not detailed in the Sage Hill Student Handbook. Recent cases of suspected chatbot use have gone before the Honor Council. However, Sage Hill administrators say they will add a policy specific to using programs like ChatGPT in the next version of the School Handbook.

Most teachers do not discourage the use of ChatGPT. While it is generally agreed that the outright copying of ChatGPT-generated text into students’ assignments and assessments is classified as academic dishonesty, the use of ChatGPT as a study tool or a reference for further learning lies in somewhat of a gray area.

Modern-day learning has evolved with the continuous development of technology. Although the growth of ChatGPT has raised concern in the academic community, this groundbreaking tool has also paved the way

THE BOLT

The Bolt is a student newspaper and serves the public forum at Sage Hill School. Its content - news, editorial, opinion, and feature - is protected by Education Code 48907, the state student rights law and the California Constitution which guarantees all citizens the right of freedom of speech and of the press. The Bolt accepts signed letters to the editor from members of the Sage Hill Community which may be posted as comments to our website, lightningboltonline. com, or addressed to Editors-in-Chief Lauren Chung, Noe Lee and Xinyi Xie and put in their mailboxes on campus. These letters may not exceed 150 words or they will be edited for inclusion.

Editors-in-Chief Lauren Chung (Bolt), Noelani Lee (Bolt), Xinyi Xie (Bolt), Phoebe Pan (Online)

Editorial Board

Isabella De Leon, Yasmin Dennis, Alia Sajjadian, Roya Yaghmai, Grace Yan

Advisers Jennifer

Kucera, Daniel Langhorne

for a completely new era of learning and creating.

When used without the intent to plagiarize and slack off on school work, ChatGPT offers students the opportunity to learn in a brand new way. The U.S. government is setting new regulations for the usage of AI in student learning and many other fields.

Although the future remains uncertain, ChatGPT’s impact on schools like Sage Hill has proved that times are changing both academically and technologically.

Anne Chen

Alia Sajjadian

Ceyda Shamsai

Jesse Lew

Carson Green

Claire Casey

Madeleine Carroll

Fiori Lee

Ava Eimani

Aidan Chung

Jenny Li

Isabella Palacio

Arya Rawal

Mirabelle Jiang

Matheus Bartelli | Creative Commons

User running the ChatGPT program.

Criminal JustiCe Panel insPires students

By Claire Casey

The Sage Hill Internship Program (SHIP) hosted criminal justice professionals for its third and final career panel of the 2022-2023 school year on March 16.

Jody Ward, a forensic psychologist; Orange County Superior Court Judge Ebrahim Baytieh; and Orange County Assistant Public Defender Seth Bank shared their experiences working in the legal field. They discussed the many ethical dilemmas they face in their jobs and how they fit into the criminal justice system, and they shared some advice for Sage Hill students.

All three panelists stressed the importance of trusting the U.S. legal system to handle all trials fairly. Early in his criminal defense career, Bank often grappled with his own guilt when his client was convicted.

“[It feels] like it’s my fault because I didn’t defend my client well enough,” Bank said.

But he also remembers that he did everything that he could and has to trust that the judge is making a fair, impartial decision. And on the other side of that process is a judge who also has to trust the rules of the legal process. Baytieh, a former

Middle School

Page 1

While some current students may be concerned about the logistics of parking and traffic, administrators have found a plausible way to ensure a smooth transition. There would be staggered start and end times of the school day to alleviate congestion in the parking lot and drop-off lane and discourage any disruption to middle or high school classes.

Even though the possible middle school is still a few years away from construction, Dr. Balossi said the middle and high schools “would be two completely separate programs. The high school experience that we already know and love will not change. It is important [to] maintain and protect small class sizes and the close-knit relationships between teachers and students at the high school level.”

If and when constructed, Sage Hill plans to enroll about 70 students in both seventh and eighth grades, Merz said. Sage Hill officials would like to primarily attract students from over 250 Orange County public elementary schools that end after sixth grade. As Sage Hill has a partnership and understanding with private feeder schools including The Pegasus School, St. Mary’s School and Harbor Day School,

prosecutor with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, said that when deciding on a case, even if he feels personally biased toward one ruling, he has to decide in favor of the evidence presented to him.

The panelists also agreed on the importance of separating their personal feelings from their work when dealing with difficult situations and cases. This applies when defending someone accused of a violent crime.

“A lot of times there are circumstances that explain why a person made a bad choice,” Bank said.

Even if he personally thinks his client is guilty and should be punished, he has to do his job and defend him or her to the best of his ability. He has to treat his client fairly and try to understand his or her perspective before jumping to judgment. The notion of separating personal feelings from the job also comes up when dealing with distressing cases.

Ward said that a lot of times when she interviews someone in a troubling situation, she has to step back and take a break before returning to her work to avoid burnout. Over the course of her career, Ward has learned that sometimes she has to put

middle schoolers at those institutions would be offered “deferred enrollment” and “be able to finish seventh and eighth grade at their feeder school knowing in advance that they [have] secured a spot for ninth grade at Sage Hill School,” Dr. Balossi said. Because of deferred enrollment, “there would be less spots to fill in 9th grade” with students mostly coming from the proposed middle school, Dr. Balossi said.

Senior Andy Du expressed concern about the impact of having fewer open spots for the incoming freshman class and whether that could make admission to the high school more challenging. Some say it may also take away from Sage’s unique asset in bringing students of various backgrounds together into one high school.

“[Sage Hill] may be less diverse since most of the incoming 9th grade class would come from Sage,” Andy said. “[The middle school] would make entering 9th grade more competitive.”

Junior Riley Robinson expressed concern for the prospective location, as well as shift in priorities that could ensue with the possible construction of a middle school. “The space that the middle school would occupy is not that large,” Riley said. “We could use that space for more resources for the high school students.”

She highlighted the benefits in Sage’s signature small class

her own mental and emotional health first, and she even stopped working on child abuse cases because it was too painful to hear so many awful stories. When asked about advice

for Sage Hill students, Baytieh said to “make the most of the great opportunities you have and aim high so that you can give back.” He encouraged students to take advantage of

these privileges and use them to achieve great things, but also remember to help those who have not been so fortunate.

A view of the athletics practice field that might host the proposed middle school.

sizes and personal attention from teachers, fearing middle school grades could take away from that. School officials emphasized that new faculty members would be hired to teach seventh and eighth grade classes.

Students across all grade levels also agreed that separation between middle and high school students should be effectively implemented.

“With a middle school, the transition into high school will be a lot more seamless as long as there are some boundaries,” freshman Ella Wong said.

Senior Arman Sajjadian agreed there should be separation between the middle and high schools.

Regarding the importance of keeping a similar environment on campus while taking on this project, Dr. Balossi said that “[the Sage Hill administration] would aim for the impact on students to be as minimal as possible.”

Current Sage Hill students will graduate before the middle school opens, but have expressed a liking as well as hesitance regarding this change. However, this change is an

exciting one that signifies a new chapter for the Sage Hill community. School administrators have high hopes for expanding the Sage Hill outreach in Orange County, serving a broader demographic to provide more students with a rigorous and diverse education before heading off to college.

As Sage Hill considers this next step, school leaders look forward to “providing the excellent Sage Hill experience to a younger population,” Merz said.

Jenny Li | The Bolt

Junior Carisa Koh (right) moderates the SHIP career panel with forensic psychologist Jody Ward, Superior Court Judge Ebrahim Baytieh and Assistant Public Defender Seth Bank.

Courtesy of Sage Hill School

Swim Team Enjoying New Lane in Pacific League

By Grace Yan

The Sage Hill swim team has been making waves in the pool this season. With dedicated coaches and hard working athletes, the team has shown immense improvement and has had successful meets.

This year, many freshman swimmers at all levels joined the team. Some have been swimming for an outside club for many years, while others have just started learning the ropes.

“I like that the team is super supportive and everyone feels really welcomed,” Senior Team Captain Annie Ta said. “Seeing new swimmers come in and learn to love the sport is really inspiring… I like that new freshmen can find a fun group to be a part of during their high school experience.”

The team is looking forward to

the rest of the season, where they will compete against some of the best Pacific League swim teams.

“It’s been hard swimming in our new league. All the Irvine schools are super fast, but we’ve been holding up until now, and that won’t change,” sophomore Oneal Wang said.

Despite their new, more competitive league, Sage Hill swim has scored some major victories. In their recent match against Laguna Hills, both Sage Hill girls’ and boys’ swim came out on top by a large margin.

“I’m very proud of our swimmers,” Head Swim Coach Pavle Filipovic said. “Although everyone still has more to improve on, our team swam hard and swam well. Our girls especially pulled off a great feat with the little numbers they have.”

Senior Ryan Chang primed for action ahead of a race he won by four seconds.

Aidan Chung | The Bolt

Senior Aaron Li performs his signature dive in a relay he won by four seconds.

Aidan Chung | The Bolt

Sports Lightning Track Sets New School Records

By Carson Green

Sage Hill track broke numerous school records during the 2023 Earl Engman Relays at Northwood High School on March 4. The four relays were run by junior Danyel Khan, junior Mikhail Vasilevskii, sophomore Jake Pirnazar and sophomore Preston Simpson.

Led by Coach Richard Colarossi, the racers went on to break multiple school track records. The runners finished third in the 4x100-meter relay with a time of 45.1 seconds, first in the Spirit Medley Relay with a time of 139.1 seconds, second in the 4x200-meter posting a school record time and first in the 4x400-meter with the seventh best time in Sage Hill history.

“It felt absolutely great setting the new record, as everyday our team puts in the work to be the best versions of ourselves, and that effort starts to pay off,” Mikhail said. Mikhail ran the third leg for all of the relays the team participated in.

First-time track runner Danyel Khan said, “track has helped me truly tap my inner potential for speed. My coach demands me to give everything I have every day of practice and this truly allows me to reach potentials I never thought were possible.”

Danyel added that track has propelled him to become a better football player and hopes to earn a collegiate football offer this summer.

Sage Hill track team members hold their ribbons after a recent meet.

Courtesy of Sage Athletics

Sage Hill School

A Snapshot of Sage Spirit: Pep Rally,

Spirit Week, Winter

Formal

By Anne Chen

The Sage Hill community was decked out in class colors when it gathered in the Peter V. Ueberroth Gymnasium for Pep Rally and Accepted Student Day on March 7. The gym was extra packed and full of energy for an exciting day as current Sage students welcomed the Class of 2027, who had the opportunity to experience a high school event and meet their new peers.

After a traditional pep rally game with the juniors taking first prize, each grade showcased the creativity of their class. However, instead of the traditional skits, class co-chairs coordinated music videos instead. Originally, the idea of class skits was to get the whole grade to participate, but in recent years, it has become more focused on a select group of student actors. The goal of shifting to music videos was to provide a better opportunity for more students to be involved and enthusiastic about the class showcase, Junior Co-Chair Sina Emtiaz said.

The filmed and edited music videos yielded higher grade participation and excitement in the crowd. Students sang along to familiar songs and lit up as they saw themselves projected on the screen.

Firstly, the freshman class had students lip sync to a mashup of songs including “Fifteen” and “Call Me Maybe.” The sophomores followed up with an electric video, opened by Stryker surrounded by edited lightning. Juniors sang along to “Boy’s a Liar,” and the seniors put together a photo montage with students dancing along to “Just Wanna Rock”.

It was then time to determine the victorious class of the Pep Rally. Courtesy of History Teacher Dr. Christopher Farrish, the judges used a decibel meter to scientifically measure the loudest class cheer of the morning, which was the junior class. Yet, the panel’s final verdict fell in favor of

the reigning senior class. Pep Rally ended with roaring excitement from a spirited student body.

The rest of the week was jampacked with spirit days, such as Adam Sandler Day, Ski Day, and Pajama Day. On Wednesday, students were encouraged to dress up as Adam Sandler in baggy and oversized clothing. Thursday was all about winter and ski attire, and Friday was the fan-favorite, Pajama Day.

“It’s a fun way to come together as a community,” sophomore Baominh Le said.

Students enjoy finding out the themes of spirit week and seeing what their peers come up with. Student participation dipped after Pep Rally, during which Student Council maximized class participation by providing extra T-shirts.

“I feel like if students tried to dress up every day and we made a decisive effort to come in early for Pep Rally to decorate and prepare together as a school, then we could really create a stronger and more spirited community culture,” junior Sophia Sun said.

“Not many people participate except for Pajama Day,” Baominh said, “but it’s a fun way to do stuff with friends.”

However, many students attended Winter Formal, which was hosted at the Yost Theater in Santa Ana on March 11. Much of the excitement surrounded the fact that there has not been a dance held at a venue since before the pandemic’s start.

Students excitedly walked down the red carpet into the theater, in the spirit of this year’s theme, Red Carpet. Unlike the formals from past years, this year’s event provided refreshments, desserts and couches for students taking a break from the dance floor. Students particularly enjoyed being in a different environment with their friends, rather than being at a dance on school campus.

Club Spotlight: ACEing Autism

Serves Up Tennis, Memories For

Kids With Autism

By Cedya Shamsai

Every Sunday afternoon, the Sage Hill tennis courts buzz with activity and excitement. ACEing Autism is a nonprofit organization that invites tennis coaches to volunteer their time to teach tennis to children living with autism. In 2017, alumnus Brian Yu brought the program to Sage Hill after discovering the positive impact it has on the community. The nonprofit allows participants to enjoy physical activity and develop connections with others their age. Volunteers build relationships with the children and create a positive environment for learning and fun.

Senior Sunny Sun has participated in the program throughout her four years at Sage Hill. Her favorite moment during her experience was

receiving feedback from the participants’ parents.

“Talking to the families during the program and having them tell me how they look forward to our program every weekend and that we are making a true impact on these kids has stuck with me,” Sunny said. “I’m very inspired by them and the fact that we are giving back to the community.”

ACEing Autism will return for the spring season. For six consecutive weeks, volunteers and participants will meet at the Sage tennis courts to bond over their shared love of the sport and make memories that will last a lifetime.

Learn more about ACEing Autism at aceingautism.org/locations/newport-beach-ca.

Courtesy of Annabel Chung Sage Hill Winter Formal at the Yost Theater in Santa Ana.

Grace Yan | The Bolt

Students gather in the Peter V. Ueberroth Gymnasium for the Pep Rally.

Courtesy of ACEing Autism

Members of ACEing Autism on the court during their session at Sage Hill.

Say Their Names: Migrant Children Are Exploited

By Isabella Palacio

In 2022, nearly 130,000 unaccompanied migrant children aimed to enter the U.S., CBS News reports. Across Latin America, the number of economic opportunities is limited, a problem exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The threat of cartel and domestic violence, as well as other debilitating factors, serve as driving forces for migration to the U.S.

In 2020, the Trump Administration enacted a public health order called Title 42, which aimed to reduce the overcrowding of border facilities amidst the pandemic. Administered by the Department of Health and Human Services, the health code allows border patrol agents to reject entry to any asylum seekers who have recently been in a country where a communicable disease is present.

Over a year ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention repealed Title 42’s control of unaccompanied minors, escalating the number of children leaving their families in search of better opportunities.

A main factor contributing

to unaccompanied treks is that adults know that they are more likely to be turned away at the border. However, when a child crosses the border, the system is completely different. First, a government agent will identify the child and see if there is contact with anyone in the U.S. able to care for the child.

“But as more and more children have crossed the border, the government has come under [huge] pressure to [try to] get these kids released faster than they ever have before,” said Hannah Drier, investigative reporter for The New York Times and Pulitzer Prize recipient.

In the course of her reporting, Drier waited in the parking lots of major factories, finding young children leaving the buildings at midnight with their school backpacks for the next day. “We found them producing milk for Ben & Jerry’s, packaging Cheerios and Cheetos,” Drier said.

Companies are not legally allowed to higher children under the age of 14, and yet, it occurs on a daily basis. The U.S. Department of Labor recently

Freshmen Showcase

NHD Projects

fined Wisconsin-based Packer Sanitation Services with $1.5 million in penalties for hiring more than 100 children as young as 13 years old to work in hazardous conditions at meat processing plants. Children were forced to clean electric knives and conveyor belts, some only spoking Spanish.

Despite the illegal activities, Parker Sanitation remains in

petition included Megan Vahdat with an individual podcast, Jayla Chan with a group website, Aarav Putrevu with a group website, Kevin Hu with a group exhibit, Grace Yang with a group exhibit, Christine Li with an individual exhibit, Alia Sajjadian with an individual documentary, Arya Rawal with an individual documentary, Phoebe Pan with an individual paper, Ben Haworth with an individual paper, and Katherine Liao with an individual website. Megan, Jayla, Aarav, Kevin, and Grace will move on to the statewide competition in Sacramento from Friday to Sunday.

By Yasmin Dennis

The freshman class recently gathered in the Peter V. Ueberroth Gymnasium to present their National History Day projects to their peers and parents. Having worked on these projects for several months in their Patterns of Civilization class, they stood by their tables with pride, some dressing in costumes related to their website, documentary video, exhibit, or paper.

The theme for this year’s National History Day was “Frontiers in History: People, Places, Ideas,” and accordingly, students investigated research topics that sparked their interest, exploring historical figures and events that changed the course of history.

“I enjoyed researching a topic that I would like to pursue as a career in the future,” freshman Andrew Lopez said. “I also enjoyed researching World War II, as I’ve always been interested in it. This is not a well-known

topic, as I researched how radars impacted the course of the war and aircraft. I’ve never made a website before, but I was able to format it by looking at broad to very specific aspects of the radar in the war, like the Battle of Midway and the Battle of Britain.”

As a jazz lover, Freshman Soraya Dennis wanted to look at her favorite artists and the impact that they had on society during the Civil Rights Movement. “The project was a great experience because I learned more about researching in addition to how important music has been throughout history,” Soraya said.

Beyond the on-campus event, 11 students with nine projects competed at National History Day-Orange County, a competition for high school students in Orange County at the Orange County Department of Education campus in Costa Mesa. Participants in this com-

In addition, Megan was the only recipient of the NHD-OC Spotlight Award, an award given to seniors who demonstrate excellence both academically and socially, recognized for being a hard-working and compassionate leader in their community. With this award, Megan received a $500 dollar check, sponsored by the OCC GATE. In addition to this award, Megan also received the Bessie Reed McDonald Award for Women’s History for her project “Starved for Change: Hunger Strikers Communicate the Need for Women’s Suffrage in Edwardian England” by the NHD California State Competition in 2021. This year’s win marks Megan’s fifth championship in the NHD competition.

“NHD has been an incredible experience for me,” Megan said. “I have enjoyed exploring topics that are often only mentioned in the footnotes of my textbooks and have met abso

lutely amazing students from many other schools. I have also gained a much deeper appreciation for those who have sacrificed so much to bring about political change.”

operation. The federal government charged the maximum fees allowed under the law and once paid the problem seems to have been resolved through the lens of society.

But in America, lack of federal accountability leads to the continuity of issues.

“You know unfortunately there’s really a lack of safety net for immigrant families,” said

Lindsay Toczylowski, Executive Director at Immigrant Defenders Law Center.

While the Biden administration fails to solve the crisis, individuals can support grassroots organizations dedicated to examining the root causes of the issue and innovating solutions that will put an end to the exploitation of migrant communities.

Girls Empowerment Movement Returns

By Fiori Lee and Ava Eimani Sage

Hill School hosted GEMfest (Girls Empowerment Movement), welcoming middle school girls to focus on empowerment, learning new skills, and fun. GEMfest is open to middle school girls in sixth through eighth grade who learn and receive guidance from high school students. They also connect with female mentors working in various industries. Girls learn how to confidently talk in front of others and becoming motivated to persevere and chase their dreams. The middle schoolers were able to hear an inspiring keynote speech, learn about local businesses and nonprofis and attend hands-on workshops teaching skills for success such as creativity and leadership.

“Any event that promotes empowerment and serves as an inspiration for young girls is just amazing and I wanted my daughter to take part in that and I feel lucky that Sage provides opportunities like this,” said Ilham, a parent whose daughter attended GEMfest.

After listening to the keynote speech, girls went to a myriad of workshops, which consisted of Public Speaking, GEM Team Panel, Confetti Lab, Yoga, Dancing with Synergy, Intro to Coding, How to Make Herstory, Be a Girl Boss and Science Scoops.

“I was happy to be able to dance with Synergy and I was really excited to hear the panelists,” attendee Sienna Burnette said.

The event closed with a diverse panelist of speakers including Dr. Amber Burnette, Assistant Medical Director at Kaiser Permanente Orange County; Celebrity Photographer Lesley Bohm; Sung-Hee Suh, Managing Director and General Counsel at PIMCO; and Entrepreneur Tiffany Cheng Nyaggah. The panelists shared about their professions and how to succeed in a variety of career fields.

After a fun and informative day of female empowerment, middle school girls went home knowledgeable on how to manage stress through yoga, how to dance in an ensemble, coding fundamentals and more.

Bruno Sanchez-Andrade | Creative Commons

A U.S.-Mexico border fence in San Diego.

Courtesy of GEMfest

(From left) Junior Priya Bhakta, junior Anne Chen, junior Isabella Palacio, sophomore Raquel Rybakova and junior Alia Sajjadian.

Grace Yan | The Bolt

(From left) Theatre Teacher Mary Kildare talks to freshmen Amalia Holguin and Luna Rodriguez on National History Day.

The Necessary Change From Skits to Music Videos

By Jesse Lew

In years past, Sage Hill students were instructed to plan and perform a live skit for Accepted Student Day. Each grade level and their co-chairs prepared and rehearsed whenever possible, not a great start as Sage Hill students aren’t exactly known for their ample free time.

Paired with uncooperative technology and other day-of mishaps, this resulted in a vast catalog of performances that may not have left accepted students with the intended perception of Sage Hill. This year, however, the Accepted Students Day entertainment would be a little different.

A little over a week before Accepted Student day, it was announced that the grade levels would each be presenting a pre-recorded music video rather than a live skit. Even on paper, this makes a lot more sense to achieve the goals of an Accepted Student Day performance. Sage Hill’s first impression on accepted students should be somewhat polished. Pre-recorded music videos have the luxury of editing which add another layer of professionalism to the performance that simply could not exist prior.

Another important part of both the skits and music videos is the class-wide participation aspect of performing/filming. It’s far easier to get more people featured in a music video than a live skit. Not only because being filmed is far less nerve-wracking than live performance, but also because music videos usually move a little faster and thus lend themselves to giving a more diverse pool of students the spotlight.

Even preparing a music video feels more intuitive than a skit. Since there isn’t much time to plan, only having to pick which pre-existing song to use is a far

more reasonable request than planning and rehearsing an entire skit, especially considering the time restraint. And for the most part, this year’s music videos delivered and students took advantage of the new medium and created solid finished products ready for incoming freshmen to watch. Clean cuts, more people, strange dances, the music videos had it all.

It just goes to show that when Sage Hill students don’t need to come up with

a random story about the six C’s, they’re free to do what they really want to do: make a two minute Tik-Tok. And while these videos were definitely a step up from the usual entertainment on Accepted Student Day, there is definitely a case to be made for how charming the live skits could be, however awkward. Part of what constitutes that charm is the honesty of it all. What students saw and performed every year in the gym was

barely rehearsed, unedited, and unadulterated by glitz or glamor. Did a little glitz or glamor ever hurt anybody? No, but sometimes it can distract from the personality such a collaboration already naturally oozes. That being said, if the music video trend continues, it will probably be for the best. Although, the live skits will forever be a part of Sage Hill history and will never be forgotten, whether you’d like them to or not.

Flik Often Sees Nutrition Clash With Students’ Sweet Tooth

By Madeleine Carroll

Flik is one of the most popular places on campus with students. Whether it’s during passing periods, lunch or after school, Flik provides people with food. Flik sees a line out the door during lunchtime.

At the beginning of the school year, Flik created a pre-order lunch system allowing students to order their lunch beforehaand. However, the line of students picking up their food was incredibly long. Students waited up to 15 minutes, whereas before, students waited five minutes to grab the lunch meal of the day. The pre-order system caused students to spend a sizable part of their lunch just waiting in line. Now, students are able to choose between pre-ordering or grabbing ready-made meals from Flik.

Students can buy a multitude of drinks, candies, chips, meals and other snacks. Flik also sells fresh, healthy meals daily that students can just pick up.

“To keep things fresh and interesting, we change with the seasons, always taking full advantage of the current crops Mother Nature so generously provides. We boast the most comprehensive nutri-

tional data base in the business, with over 7,000 chef-tested, nutritionally analyzed recipes,” Kitchen Manager Sharon Luengas said.

Flik has a multitude of healthy lunch recipes that are catered to student interest. Each part of a Flik meal is specifically chosen and thought out in order to make it as healthy, but delicious as possible, Luengas said.

The majority of the food that students purchase are junk food and sugary drinks. Flik has an array of healthy options, yet students don’t buy them. The cafe regularly offer healthy choices such as fruit, vegetables, and nuts. They put out foods that are proven to help students study and work more efficiently like trail mix, yet they remain on the shelves until they expire.

Last month, Flik created a pop-up smoothie stand where students could make their own smoothie from just fruits and vegetables. Many students stopped to create their own smoothie, but if that same smoothie was sold at Flik, I believe no one would buy it. Flik offers students nutritional meals and snacks but students rarely pick those items.

Courtesy of Sage Hill Student Council

The school mascot, Stryker, walks up the bleacher stairs dramatically in the sophomore pep rally video.

Grace Yan | The Bolt Flik sells a mix of snacks to Sage Hill students.