Newly-designed Albany Unified School District Apparel!
Apparel is back, and this year we will be highlighting a new design showcasing all of the schools in our district. Choose from two designs in a variety of styles. The store will be open from October 25 through November 22 and orders will be delivered to your school by your apparel representative. Sales will go towards supporting your school’s PTA, and there will only be two additional opportunities to purchase your school gear later this year. Support your school with pride and purchase a Unified Albany t-shirt or sweatshirt today!
https://stores.inksoft.com/ausd_apparel/shop/home
Thank You!
Jennifer O'Brien
PTSA Event/Fundraising Coordinator
Thank You Parent Volunteers!
The PTSA would like to give a special shout out to our parent volunteers who worked the GG Fields Beer Booth this past Sunday. Together we raised $1150 for the PTSA to fund Parent Ed nights, support student clubs & more. Thank you!!
M Classroom Temporary Reroute
Please be advised that for the next three weeks, there will be temporary fencing in place along the current walkway leading to the M buildings from the front of the school. Access to the M buildings will be available through the alley way between the Art building and the pool as the crew puts down the pavers for our new courtyard area. We do apologize for the inconvenience this will cause.
Upcoming Film Events Sponsored by Reel Stories
Reel Stories is a filmmaking program for young women and non-binary youth. The first of the following two events is for ALL students. The second is specifically for young women and non-binary folkks.
On November 9 from 5PM to 8PM, Reel Stories is screening Amy Adrion's award winning documentary Half the Picture at Luka's Taproom & Bar in Oakland! The documentary interviews female directors in Hollywood and highlights the gender discrimination they face in the industry. Following the film, one of our student board members will facilitate a special Q&A with featured director Jennifer Phang!
We have 25 comp'd tickets for youth available and want to invite any interested students to use code YOUTH when selecting the youth admission ticket at checkout to redeem their free tickets.
Tickets and more info about the screening can be found here.
On November 16, Reel Stories is offering a FREE YouTube workshop from 12PM - 6PM at our home, the Department of Make Believe in Oakland! Young women & non-binary youth ages 12-24 will spend the day learning the tips and tricks for building their own YouTube channel & creating high quality content- all taught by experienced filmmaker Ya'Shalan (YaYa) Nelson! Register and learn more here.
Winter Sports Registration
Registration for winter sports—basketball, soccer and wrestling—closes on Thursday, October 31st. Parents can access registration at www.familyid.com. A physical exam is required.
Activist clubs organize forum to spread awareness about climate crisis
By Emily Bohr and Sasha Goldman
On September 20th, in tandem with the international Climate Strike movement, Albany High School’s student clubs organized a discussion-based forum about the climate crisis. Young Democratic Socialists of America, Feminist Club, and Earth Team coordinated speakers, a slide show, and discussion for the event.
Junior Dahlia Wilson, president of YDSA, pointed to the science of climate change as a reason for the forum.
“There are a lot of really scary statistics about what will happen in a few years to our climate and by having a forum, and hearing the ideas of others, people can find a way to deal with those realities in a healthy and productive way.”
Wilson believes “that mass movements are the core of any political change because no matter how important the small actions of citizens may be, they are minute to what mass movements are capable of.”
Wilson also said that our government and corporations mislead the public about the significance of small actions citizens can take.
“Large oil companies have known the vast scale of the damage they are doing to the environment and know that individual actions are never going to counteract that. However, we have been lied to by those corporations.”
Wilson said that the activist clubs who organized the event focused on participating in the Climate Strike locally because “we need to be focusing on ways that we can reach out to all communities and pressure our politicians, in order to counteract the climate crisis.”
Author of Juliet Takes a Breath visits Albany High School
By Wendy Chen and Isabel Hall
Writer, youth mentor, and activist Gabby Rivera visited Albany High to talk about her new book, Juliet Takes a Breath, as well as her other work and her life. Interested students and classes signed up to attend her talk on September 22 in the Little Theater.
Sophomore Tatiana Lira introduced Rivera with a speech about identity and the importance of Latina and LGBTQ+ representation in the media.
“When I heard that Gabby Rivera was coming and what her book is about my heart, once again, melted. This is what I’ve been looking for, this is the start. I’m really happy to see all of this representation in this beautiful book and in her work,” Lira said.
After Lira’s introduction, Rivera took the stage, speaking about her life and work, reading from her book, and answering questions.
When asked about how she came up with the idea for her book, Rivera responded, “I thought it would be fun to write a book about being joyful--about someone who’s in love with themselves and likes making out with girls and wants to learn and be a fully functioning and compassionate human.”
Librarian Mary Ann Scheuer invited Gabby Rivera and organized the event. Last year she arranged a visit with Elizabeth Acevedo, author of The Poet X and With the Fire on High.
Ms. Scheuer also mentioned a plan for an author visit next year and has already contacted Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, who focuses her stories around Indian mythology, and the author of Frankly in Love, David Yoon. She is very excited to see if these work out in the future.
Girls varsity water polo team wins their first game of the season against Hercules High School
By Jetsun Jungney and Melia Oliver
The Albany High School varsity girls water polo team won their first game of the season—and ever—on September 19th.
At the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year, AHS formed their first women’s water polo team. According to current varsity captain Cricket Baldwin, the team started out with “no clue what to do.”
Now, a year later, the team has improved significantly, thanks to returning players with experience and the motivation to improve. The head coach, Jesus Salcedo said that the experience has made all the difference.
“I think that’s a huge dynamic that’s happening this year that a lot of the other players are helping the newcomers on the team.”
In addition, the rise in the number of players this year has prompted the formation of two teams: junior varsity and varsity. “It is nice to have a varsity team that knows a bit more what [we] are doing,” Baldwin said. “We are practicing with people who are a bit more advanced.”
This practice paid off when the team won their game against Hercules High with a score of 13-7. Baldwin said that the team went into the game hoping to improve from last year.
“We all went in like ‘oh we lost our first game to Hercules last year 21 to 3, let’s just try to not have that big of a loss.’”
On the other hand, Salcedo expressed more optimism.
“Having the knowledge base and how our workouts had been prior to the game—I think we felt very confident in our ability to hold our own.”
Both people, however, did not express any expectations to win.
It was during the second half of the game that the team's hard work at practice was able to pay off.
“That nine [points] scored in the 3rd quarter was because of our endurance and speed,” Salcedo said.
After AHS had taken the win, Baldwin recalled that the opponent’s coach and referees expressed that they were “really surprised as to how much we had improved.”
Reflecting on the game, Baldwin said, “We were all just super proud of ourselves—proud of all of our players. It was a really good start to our season.”
Start with Hello Week at AHS aims to improve social wellness
By Emari Jorden and Ezri Mayeri
Students and staff organized the second annual Start with Hello Week event at Albany High School. The national week is designed to address social isolation in schools after a group of concerned parents tried to find solutions that would prevent school violence.
“Start with Hello Week was started by the Sandy Hook Promise Foundation. It is a non-profit run by families who have been impacted by school violence,” said social studies teacher Mariflorence Hudson, who organized the week at AHS. “However, Start with Hello week is about building a sense of community in schools and decreasing social isolation. It hopes that the activities in this one week can lead to friendships.”
At Albany High, Start with Hello Week encouraged students to start conversations and build comradery in the student body. Some of the daily events prompted students to say hello, give compliments, and hang out with new people at lunch. On Friday, students and staff wore green to promote awareness of social isolation.
Ms. Hudson saw the week as an opportunity to create a sense of community.
“I think it has a positive impact,” Ms. Hudson said. “I think we all get busy in our own lives and forget to look around and see who might benefit from some attention. Or we even fail to notice someone that we would be friends with but just haven't had an opportunity to talk with before.”
The week ended with a welcome lunch for students transitioning into a new school community at Albany. Ms. Hudson and English teacher Hannah Edber organized a lunch for new students at AHS.
“The atmosphere at the new student luncheon was very upbeat,” Ms. Hudson said. “We had almost 50 kids attend. They did seem eager to get to know each other. It was a fun time, and I would definitely want to do this again in the future.”
Organizing and publicizing Start With Hello week was difficult because this is only the second year for the event. Ms. Hudson emphasized changes for next year in order for it to be more effective.
“I really think we need more publicity and organization. It is tough because it is new to Albany High and it comes at the beginning of the year, but I do think we have the heart and the willingness to make it bigger and better.”
Intro to Cougar Bites
Hello Albany!
We are the Albany High School journalism class, a group of motivated students who are dedicated to uncovering the truth and delivering it to our community.
We’ve been quiet on Cougar Bites recently, but we have worked hard over the past few years studying professional techniques and learning to see our community through the eyes of journalists.
Now we’re ready to share credible, quality journalism with the Albany community.
We will focus on all aspects of news, from STEM to sports, arts to administration, clubs to class projects. We will report on current events relevant to student life, summarizing key information that will keep you up-to-date.
Over the next week, we will share some of our work from the first quarter. We are currently developing a schedule for more timely news coverage in the future and writing articles for a new online publication, coming soon.
In the meantime, come to Cougar Bites for quick, real news about Albany.