The Aragon Cloutlook

Amidst much anticipation for the 2020-2021 school year, Aragon administrators have decided to implement Yondr, with a schoolwide pilot for the summer before the school year starts.  Yondr was first seen in the San Mateo Union High School District at San Mateo High School as a pilot in the spring of 2018, then was fully implemented in the 2019 fall semester, gaining national media attention. It was only a matter of time before Aragon followed behind with ever popular green and grey phone cells.  “In the best interests of our students, we decided to purchase Yondr pouches not only for phones but also tablets, laptops and televisions,” said Assistant Principal Lisa Nagendran. “With extra funds that were previously dedicated to now canceled extracurriculars, we decided to invest in Yondr for our students.” While most students are faced with boredom and cabin fever amongst shelter-in-place orders, Nagendran believes the pouches will help students make more time for the simple jo

Dear Aragon Outlook, I am absolutely outraged by the decision to move to credit non credit. This is a threat against my intelligence and my hard work and I will not stand for it. We are in the middle of a pandemic and our leaders and representatives should be advocating for legislation that will benefit us, the people. I demand for the SMUHSD to switch to a choice grading policy because only then will true equity be instilled.   But first, you may be thinking, who is this person writing to me? Well let me tell you all about my credibility because you definitely asked. I, Tri Huard, am a HIGH ACHIEVING student. Hear that? High achieving. I currently take 7 AP classes: AP Linear Algebra, AP Eng Lit Lang, AP Push, AP Chemical Physical Motion, AP PE Honors BC, and AP Swahili. In my free time, I enjoy updating my achievements on my LinkedIn page and engaging in insightful philosophical conversations about economics. I plan on pursuing a degree in Aerospace engineering, which I m

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, school was brought to a screeching halt. Even with the administration and staff’s best efforts, all senior events were eventually cancelled. “Honestly, I don’t really get why we had to cancel everything. Why couldn’t we just do prom and graduation and stuff but like without Asian kids and everyone else injects themselves with bleach? I feel like people would’ve been happier that way,” said super senior Bill DeWall. Although DeWall petitioned for events to continue as planned, Leadership was unresponsive. Instead, Leadership sublimated the loss of these momentous occasions that mark seniors’ passage to adulthood with alternative gifts. “We couldn’t hold real events, so we brought the magic of those events to the seniors at home,” said junior Mimi Dumás said. “Me and some of the other seniors [in leadership] suggested alternatives that would be a more meaningful sendoff, but the final choice wasn’t really ours because we’re not the ones most impacted by

The San Mateo Union High School District’s Board of Trustees was completely replaced by community members who ran for positions in an emergency election last week. The new Board is immediately implementing new policies and changing Board processes after watching the way that the coronavirus pandemic was dealt with. “The decision for credit/no credit for this semester came after a five hour meeting that I can only describe as an absolute circus,” said Burlingame parent Karen Wilson, the new Board President. “The meeting was just ridiculously bogged down by democratic nonsense and wanting to allow everyone to share their opinions, even ones that were super irrelevant. I was appalled by how inefficient it was.” Wilson said before announcing her candidacy she had already been involved in Board processes by fundraising for the campaigns of her favorite Board members and threatening to pull program funding on the frequent occasion that she disagreed with administrative processes. “I just wan

An Outlook investigation into district messages since school closures has unearthed hidden messages, both poetic and disturbing.

With limited options for how to conduct remote classes, lots of Aragon teachers are finding creative new ways to make school feel as normal as possible. For underclassmen, this means a rigorous physical education course from the comfort of their own homes. “We don’t really buy excuses to get out of P.E.” said Athletic Director and P.E. instructor Steve Sell. “Unless you have a positive coronavirus test, you’re gonna be working out.” Freshmen and sophomores have been asked to participate in a series of “Zoomba” classes, where they follow along to jazzercise routines with classmates and their teacher on Zoom. Other teachers had their classes practice traditional tinikling routines using at-home items like broomsticks and mop handles. “It’s a little bit awkward,” said freshman Dy Ing. “Having your camera on is embarrassing and the music is terrible.” Some creative students have found ways around P.E.’s at home standards. An unnamed sophomore strapped their phone’s pedometer app to their d

A month into quarantine, the Pentagon released classified footage of strange unidentified phenomena spinning in outer space.  However, little did the public know that it was actually a spaceship identified 15 years ago and carried aliens from outer space.  “I saw it with my own eyes! I was staring at the sun to fire up my soul and I saw it!” said sun-watching enthusiast Alicia Burns. “I live in Seattle, Washington and I saw it crash near the space needle! I think it’s because the needle is a large antenna that helps us connect to UFOs. No wonder we have more UFO sightings than any other state.” The FBI mandated that this remains a secret until the origins and contents of the ship were further investigated. They forced civilians to take a written oath that if they talked about the incident then they would lose their lives. This mandate expired a few days ago.  Disney animator Sir Donald Duck also was in a state of shock when this happened.  “I was walking to work and it honestly was lik

In light of the social distancing order, the future of how high school sports are going to work has been a topic more controversial than closing the bathrooms near the girls locker room. However, there is a way to save our star student athletes. Esports. The esports culture has been spreading faster than ever and the Aragon sports department has decided to embrace the change. All physical sports teams have been disbanded as they cannot comply with the state guidelines for actions to prevent the coronavirus. Because there will no longer be physical teams, we have to resort to online gaming. “We are switching to sports video games on Xbox, Playstation, Wii and Nintendo devices,” said athletic director Steve Sell. “It’s simply not safe to have kids playing contact sports anymore. Esports are our only option if we want to continue the athletic program.” Some sports were easy to find replacements for, such as football, which will be replaced with Madden, soccer, which will be replaced

               The first semester of remote learning came to a close in late May and many are still pondering over what is to come next school year. From finals either heavily adapted or completely canceled, to second semester curriculums being turned upside down, the Aragon community is currently attempting to plan out a new process for the 2020-2021 academic year. The biggest question on the minds of parents, students and teachers is how testing is going to continue if remote learning continues. The transition to remote learning and the credit/no credit system this year has prompted the majority of teachers to dramatically reduce the amount of testing required for their class. However, teachers have decided that the reduction in testing this semester will not be accepted for next year and the school board has agreed. “We’ve talked to the board and have decided that more frequent testing will be required for next year,” said English teacher James Daniel. “To make up for the lack of ex