Braves Writeup

read left to rightA monthly blog trying to document stuff that goes on in El Cajon Valley High School. This blog will also be providing resources that can assist high school students, and providing general education advice.

A Look At ECVHS Multicultural Week:

Multicultural Week is a school event at El Cajon Valley that will run from February 27 to March 3. The event itself is dedicated to celebrating El Cajon’s ethnic diversity, rich culture, and of course, food and dance. The events themselves will occur during school hours, specifically during the lunch periods. They will include the following:

Monday (2/27) - A Flag Parade During Lunch With Multicultural Speeches:Student volunteers will carry flags of nations around the school campus in a procession. The procession tends to be led by the school band curriculum. This means that you will hear drums. Loud drums. From out of nowhere.

Tuesday (2/28) - Multicultural Foods:School clubs will set up tables during lunch with, as the name suggests multicultural foods. If you don’t know what multicultural means in this context, I highly suggest you reread the first paragraph.

Wednesday (3/1) - Multicultural Fashion Show:Students and staff will dress up in their cultural clothing, and walk up to a stage platform set up near the lunch tables. On the day this is supposed to occur, it may rain. If this happens, instead of dancing on stage, people will be encouraged to go to the gym.

Thursday (3/2) - Performances (Dances Primarily):Student groups who’ve signed up to do so beforehand will perform songs/dances which represent them and their culture.

Friday (3/3) - Multicultural Music:Music from (primarily) Latinx, Arabic, African, and American cultures will play as students are encouraged to dance.

In practice, Wednesday and Friday are the days when most people participate. You can see why. I also would like to bring awareness to a potential trigger on Monday. If you have sensory issues; the school band gets loud when they parade around.Thank you for your time.

2023 ECVHS Fantastics: What is it?

Fantastics is an afterschool event in which students from each year (ex/Class of 2023, Class of 2024) compete for the Fantastics Trophy, It serves simultaneously as a fundraising event so that students can pay for future events, such as Prom; but also as a day where all the established clubs and classes can have some fun.

From personal experience, preparations for the event happen at least a month in advance. Some clubs will fundraise for things like decoration supplies and costumes, while others wing it.

If you have not heard of the event, that is understandable. At the time of writing many of the students are just three years removed from times of online learning. Current Juniors and Sophmore students didn’t get the on-campus experience, as a result, some events were simply not talked about.So what are the games? How does a class win Fantastics? The order of the following events may be wrong. However, these are the events and games that occur during Fantastics. First are the introductions. The judges will introduce themselves, then the classes will via pre-rehearsed dances. Classes will then play roughly twelve to fourteen games such as tug of war, jump rope, and hula hoop pass. Then at the end, all students will gather around in a circle, while the judges tally the points given.

The event itself is fun.I have to specify though. The event was fun for a person like me, who was there to see friends have a good time. Being able to go “-hey there's this guy I know doing a funny dance,” is part of the appeal of Fantastics. If you are a person who doesn’t participate much in school events. If you don’t know anything about ASB, AME, Culinary, or any of the Class of [insert year] clubs, then this event probably isn’t as appealing as it was to me. That kind of student probably isn’t reading this kind of article, but regardless. Participating in this is fun.Due to (bias) the Class of 2023 won.

Hopefully next year, there will be more people participating.

Testing: General Advice From A Person Who's In Two AP Classes

As Advanced Placement and CAASPP testing draws nearer, it’s very easy to lose track of what to do. This is a list of some general things to remind yourself for the following weeks.Do not overblow tests, try to keep a Level HeadAn easy way to lose information or the ability to concentrate during testing in when a person is worrying. If a person focuses too much on the importance of a test, then it’s often hard to work on actually attempting to get better scores.Anxiety is an emotion, so it can’t be controlled, but it can be rationalised. I, the writer of this article don’t know what calms you, the reader down. The reader has to find ways to rationalise their thoughts.Focus on Trying to Recognise Specific IssuesIts easy to not know where to start when it comes to studying, especially for tests with large bodies of information. When in doubt try to focus on getting better at specific ideas. Your overtly complicated formulas, the concepts or topics which you struggle with most.How you actually work through them, kind of depends on what the topic is. What I recommend, in order is: Ask for help, look for help on the internet, just try to do it by yourself and have someone who’s good at what you’re struggling at check your work.

Please Remember to Drink Water, Eat Food, and go to the Bathroom Before TestingThese are long tests. Its very easy to just forget to go to the bathroom after a long study session. On the actual testing day, students tend to receive only a ten minute break for snacks and the restroom.Sometimes the proctors do provide food. Often the food provided, although appreciated, is not desired after sitting at a desk for what may be thirty minutes to an hour. In my experience, it was a very interesting turkey sandwich. The water is fine though… what I’m trying to say is that the can be icky. If you can, please bring your own snacks.Regardless of what grades you will receive, good luck in testing. I hope this helps in some way, for first time AP or CAASPP testers.