The Downside of Virtual Learning — By: Ashley Calixto —
As students are at home, it is more
A big part of this has to do with
likely to also fall behind and lose
the power outages occurring all
motivation. Being in a comfortable
over the county. With all these
environment influences the students
power
to grow more “lazy” to complete an
connections are more prone to
assignment or join school at all. With
being cut off. Beyond internet
Due to COVID, school for all
the capability of just closing a
connections,
LAUSD students turned completely
laptop, work won’t be completed and
also stopped working which
virtual - which wasn’t an easy
most students will fall behind or fail
could influence why a student
the class. Students may not see a
couldn't do an assignment or
point to continue school and see this
attend school.
From Website: Expect More Arizona,
transition for most students due to household and technological issues faced along the way.
as
At-Home Issues
an
opportunity
to
take
outages,
charger
internet
outlets
a
“vacation” and not do anything,
Adjusting to this new way of
With being at home, most students
forgetting about the existence of
learning hasn’t been easy for
could find it more likely to get
school in general.
most
students
but
it
is
distracted. Having siblings who are
important to figure out ways to
also in school, some students do not
cope with it. Learning how to
have a place of their own to
manage stress and time are
concentrate on their own school
crucial parts of this new way of
work. When asking a few students about
their
school
some
said
“overwhelming,
living but also important ways
experiences,
to develop a prosperous and
too
much pressure, overworked,” due to
From: Houston Methodist Leading Medicine
the fact that they are trying to
Internet Issues
manage their time with handling
When conducting an Instagram poll,
any distraction at home with their
one main problem most students
school responsibilities.
have
faced
malfunctions.
involved
internet
successful school year.
Ready or Not, Smart Start? — By: Fariha Anwar, Onima Khan — On August 18, 2020, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) officially considered the first two weeks of school as a “Smart Start.” Their dedication to the smart start includes using instructional time in order to adjust to technology and the new era of distant learning. Was this the correct method to begin with this prolonged computer based education for students? The Smart Start week was used for all grade levels and students throughout LAUSD. The main purpose of this event was to help students, teachers, and parents adapt to their new virtual environment. For LAUSD, their age levels of students range from five to eighteen, causing many questionable opinions on this coping attempt. When asked about Smart Start, the students of Bravo Medical Magnet High School had mixed responses. “It was great actually,” freshman student Tanjua Tanjin explained, “all my teachers were super understanding.” On the other hand, senior student Karla Ortega-Rios stated, “It didn't provide enough students, including new students at Bravo, time to settle and adjust to the setting of learning online.” Regardless of the different perspectives, teachers throughout the district used the opportunity of Smart Start to learn more about their students, giving students the chance to start their new semester off slowly yet progressively. After the first week passed, the new semester and education experience began. The year of 2020 brought new events and activities to the world, including new virtual education ways to adapt to it. For more information on Smart Start, visit the LAUSD website at www.achieve.lausd.net. For more specific scheduling, visit the Bravo High School website, https://bravomedhs-lausd-ca.schoolloop.com/bellschedule.
Provided by the Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet Website https://bravomedhs-lausd-ca.schoolloop.com/bellschedule
ADVISORY COMES TO BRAVO _____________________ By: Gabriela Acosta and Victoria Oviedo
According to educators, middle and high schools within the LAUSD use “Advisory” as a support program. Advisory programs serve many purposes in high schools, but the overarching purpose is to personalize students’ learning environment. Advisory is meant to connect students and staff in ways to decrease anonymity from both perspectives. At Bravo Medical Magnet High School, it is meant as a regularly scheduled meeting to support beyond the Zoom meeting instructional time. Due to distance learning, the district added this class to student’s schedules in order to provide extra time for educators to advise the students.
Student Perspective __________________________ The advisory course can make a meaningful impact on students’ approaches to colleges or their future schools. In schools where guidance counselors are overburdened, personalized attention may not be a critical role they play while ensuring students are on track to graduate. Due to COVID-19, Bravo has adopted this program, which has caused some conflict between teachers and students.
The first week of school, our advisory staff were random teachers given to us - but then they changed to second period teachers for some students. Our advisory periods are typically 18-22 students and 30 minutes long from Tuesday - Friday.
“On one hand, it’s fun talking with the people there, and since I have Ms. Montes and she gives good advice on college apps and stuff - I don’t mind it personally. I can’t imagine what it’s like for other classes, not to mention that I still don’t know if it’s a waste of time.” - Anonymous ‘21 “ It’s alright. It’s filler time but I appreciate it to just chill and get a breath in. My teacher is super relaxed with Zoom attendance. Only twice a week. So not bad. Grading in that class is just erroneous. It’s an advisory period, it’s just BIC, or whatever break period in the middle of the day. I don’t know how teachers might see it though… I know a few who don’t do it at all and some who enforce it and grade everything.” - Anonymous ‘21 “This period of time can be used for other things that I have to do. For example, I can finish a homework that I didn’t turn in and I can also use this time to take some mental breathers. In my opinion, I think that it would mostly benefit the seniors because most teachers take this time to talk about college announcements.” -Anonymous ‘21
Warning From The Future? -Date: September 14, 2020-
-By: Carlos Villalba, Michelle Crisanto-
forests in Southern California due to the heatwave in order to prevent hikers from receiving heat strokes. Low income families also struggle with obtaining an AC in this heat, however, even then air conditioners prove to be a double edged sword for the fossil fuels that are burned to use them are the primary source adding onto the extreme heat. PHOTOGRAPH BY GEORGE ROSE/GETTY IMAGES
On Sunday, September 6, 2020 California finished a rough weekend. Death Valley arrived with a temperature of 130 degrees and hadn’t reached that high since 1931, a difference of 89 years. While Los Angeles hit the record of 121 degrees in Woodland Hills. This forecast is truly alarming since it has reached its peak that no one could've imagined. Some researchers and activists say it’s due to the negligence of the ongoing problem of climate change.
Everyday the earth has been heated up for a big amount of time since the start of the Industrial Revolution. Fossil fuels are being burned and are leaving huge amounts of carbon dioxide in the air that traps excessive heat. Ongoing fires are also adding on to the heat but the heatwave threatening California is far more deadly than people believe it to be. Last week, the U.S Forest Service had to declare that it would close eight of its national
Can this weather be more common in the near future...?
The Road to Salvation By: Jazmin Gonzalez, Brandon Martinez
September 23, 2020
Beginning in the month of August 2020, various wildfires ignited by a series of lightning storms and scorching heat waves fell upon the State of California. With many fires located near Fresno,
Sacramento,
and
El
Dorado, residents were forced to evacuate, while nearby cities faced Bidwell Bar Bridge located in Oroville, California surrounded with flames from nearby
exposure to smoke, ash, and heat.
wildfire. Photo by Noah Berger
California experienced a series of lightning storms near Sacramento, with around 13,000 strikes over a three day period beginning August 15, 2020. With storms producing lightning and powerful gusts of wind, fires began to scatter across the state. Currently, over 28 wildfires are raging through California, with the fire located in Mendocino National Forest being the largest fire recorded. Utah, New Mexico, Texas, alongside Israel and Mexico have even sent aid to help California battle these wildfires. As a result, the Golden State sky turned into a deep orange haze. Evacuations were issued, forcing many to flee their homes in search of safety. Over 3.2 million acres of land have been burned this year, making it a record year for wildfires. In addition, 27 people have perished to these wildfires. This all represents how dire the situation is, and the possibility for it to get even worse.
For the past few years it is becoming a new normal to have “apocalyptic skies” in the western states. On Wednesday 9, 2020 apocalyptic skies began to appear in states like Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona and Utah, according to the National Weather Service. Believe it or not the reason for these ominous apocalyptic skies are wavelengths distributed by the smoke. The smoke particles from the fires block shorter length wavelengths like yellow, blue and orange, but the longer wavelengths such as orange and red filter through the smoke. According to NASA. As the record breaking wildfire continues we are more likely to see these apocalyptic skies.
Bravo’s Vital Signs 2020-2021 Staff ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Brandon Martinez Carlos Villalba Onima Khan Fariha Anwar Gabby Acosta Kayla Obregon Jazmin Gonzalez Lopez Maimuna Chowdhury Michelle Crisanto Victoria Oviedo Karla Ortega Rios Karen Aguilar Ixmata Andrew Aguilar Jr. Dania Alejandres Ann Thomas Sumaita Iqbal Ashley Calixto Gonzalez