The class is taught by Jason Seals, who also teaches at Merritt College and who ran a pull-out class called “Males in Motion” for African American boys at Fremont last year.

The new class is part of the African American Male Achievement (AAMA) program, which was started by Superintendent Tony Smith to try to help reverse the trend of African American males dropping out of school.

“We believe all African American male students are extraordinary and deserve a school system that meets their unique and dynamic needs,” said AAMA Director Christopher Chatmon.

Chatmon also said the program aims to improve attendance, decrease the number of disciplinary incidents and improve the “life outcomes” of participating students. He said he thinks the class will help students improve their self esteem.

This is the first time African American males have had a special course for a regular class. The class, held in Mandela Academy during second period, has 17 freshman boys enrolled.

Students “will be learning about what it means to be a man,” said Seals. ”I hope they build a community even after I’m gone for peer support.”

Sirtoine Walker is a freshman from Media Academy who agreed to drop his computer graphics class so that he could take the new course.

“I can learn about my heritage, more about myself as an African American student, and it helps us to be more respectful to each other and to stay together as a brotherhood,” said Walker.

Another student in the program, Brandon Etter, said he is happy to be in the program “because I don’t have any African American teachers, so I have a chance to bond with other African Americans.”

Seals said students will be learning about values and African American history.

“They are learning about legacy [what they want to leave behind] and skills on how to be successful,” he explained.

One of Seals’ former students agrees that the program is important.

“It influences people to come to school and [do] what they really like and not what the government expects,” said Anthony Coleman, a Media Academy junior who was in Seals’ “Males in Motions” class last year.

“I hope [the program] comes back for years to come,” said Coleman.

The class is funded by the Mitchel Kapor Foundation, Kaiser Foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies Foundation, Open Society Foundation and Waste Management, according to Chatmon.

In response to some criticism that the class helps only boys who are part of one racial group, Media Academy Vice Principal Sarah Mazzotta said, “A lot of different races are in need, but there’s a larger achievement gap in African Americans.”

That’s the plan that Principal Daniel Hurst and his Central Planning Team released to teachers on Friday, Jan. 27, and later to parents and students at the Feb. 2 report card night.

Many of the big decisions are already made, but many details are unclear. We like some parts of the plan, but are concerned about other parts.

One of the major decisions we do know about and like is that freshmen will have their own small learning community, or “house,” to which the school will devote many resources. A team of teachers will get an extra planning period to work together just on freshman achievement and lessons. Three of the teachers will only teach freshmen, and there will be a vice principal and case manager solely in charge of the 9th grade.

It is good for freshmen to be granted more help and to have a chance to know one another and gain a connection with their teachers.

Next year, Fremont freshmen will have their own section on campus away from the other grade levels.

Hurst says freshmen need the most support because traditionally they have the highest rate of failing classes and the most discipline problems.

“Next year, freshmen will only take classes with other freshmen during [first] to fourth periods, and during fifth and sixth period, [they] will partake in mixed elective classes,” explained Hurst.

We think this would create a better learning environment for the students.
However, why stop with freshmen?

We find it unfair that other grade levels — especially the senior class — do not have their own small learning communities.

Seniors deserve additional support from the school, including getting help with college applications and the senior project.

Seniors also need help registering for financial aid and other important tasks.

After all, seniors are transitioning from high school to the real world. It is the most important year of high school, and that’s why they should be treated with just as much care as 9th graders transitioning into a new phase of their lives.

As it stands, the most uncertain part of the plan is what the school will do for sophomores, juniors and seniors.

They are supposed to be broken into two “colleges” that Hurst says will give students a chance to take more electives.

We are in favor of having new electives next year. Electives engage students — they might actually want to come to school to take the classes they choose.

According to Hurst, electives would give students a chance to explore different careers. For example, the College of Humanities may offer psychology and sociology electives.

The Green & Gold also would like to see electives focused on music, art and dance.

Other issues that are not decided include whether there will be a new bell schedule, if advisory will be expanded to four days a week and who will be the new principal.

As these decisions are being made, students should have more of a say because they are the ones who are will be the most affected by this transition. Currently, it feels like only adults are making all of the decisions.

Hurst said that the Leadership class has held focus groups to find out what students want and that students have been invited to come to monthly School Site Council meetings to help plan the school.

But these efforts haven’t engaged enough students. It is time for more students to get involved.

You can let your voice be heard by going to the Den to talk to the Leadership members; you can ask to be on the principal selection committee; you can even send letters to the editor of the Green & Gold about what you want for the new Fremont High School.

That is according to a national study of 50,000 students in grades 8, 10 and 12 conducted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and released in December.

“I’m happy that tobacco use has gone down because of the long-term effects and because it’s expensive,” said Katie Riemer, health educator for the Tiger Clinic. “But [as] for alcohol and marijuana, I’m more concerned about the short-term effects.”

Riemer said she especially worries about the effects alcohol and marijuana have on students and their ability to pass classes and graduate.

“Substance abuse may keep them from escaping poverty. That’s the real message I hope teenagers take to heart,” said Riemer.

Media Academy senior Ysaira Torres is one student who feels encouraged by at least part of the results.

“It’s good that teens smoke [tobacco] less because it decreases chances of lung cancer. Teens need to be more aware of what they put in their bodies,” said Torres.

One third of seniors in the NIDA study reported using marijuana in the last year. This is slightly higher than the 29 percent of Media Academy seniors who told the Green & Gold they’d used marijuana in the last year.

Mandela Academy senior Ricardo Mendoza said he believes the rise in marijuana use is due to students being under pressure. “Teens smoke to relieve their stress and pain,” he said.

Mendoza said he believes teen alcohol abuse is due to its easy access.

Experts say people are using marijuana more often because it is seen as less harmful than tobacco.

“We’ve seen a significant decline in the perception that marijuana is risky. Fewer kids see smoking marijuana as having bad health effects,” NIDA director Nora Volkow told ABC News.

But marijuana has the possibility of affecting the growth of the brain, reports About.com. Marijuana’s effects include loss of coordination, increased heart rate, lowered blood pressure and difficulties with thinking and solving problems.

While cigarette and alcohol use amongst teenagers is on the decline, the effects these substances have on teens are still significant.

According to NIDA, cigarettes have more than 4,000 chemicals, many of which are poisonous. Cigarettes also have tar that can cause lung cancer and carbon monoxide, which can cause heart disease.

According to abovetheinfluence.com, about 5,000 people under the age of 21 die every year as a result of alcohol. Alcohol leads to drunk driving, and it also poisons the liver.

“Cigarette [usage] went down because there’s no [stimulating] effect weed has, and people want to feel happy,” said Media Academy senior Ricardo Vargas.

No matter what the substances are, teenagers often use them to “escape problems in their lives,” said Riemer. She encourages those teens to instead see a counselor “so they can learn healthy coping skills.”

Freshmen at Media Academy do.

They were assigned to record what they ate every day in a food journal from Jan. 9 to Jan. 15 as part of a collaborative project in Journalism, English 1 and Computer Graphics.

“Doing the food journal made me realize how I ate too much unhealthy foods,” said Natiyah Cowan.

After finishing the food journal, Cowan came up the idea to have a salad party in her 6th period class. She says she wanted her classmates “to experience more healthy foods.”

“It was hecka fun,” she said. “Better than a pizza party.”

The food journal was a paper booklet in which students had to write down what they ate and drank and what they did for physical activities. They also had to fill in circles each day to show each serving of water, oils, milk/dairy and fruits/vegetables that they consumed.

Students recorded this information so they could observe everything they ate in order to stop eating on impulse.

“We are doing the food journals because we want freshmen to think about what they eat,” said Journalism teacher Lisa Shafer. “Hopefully, it will lead them to make better choices.”
Most students were positive about the experience.

“I am interested in the food journal because I want to be healthy,” said freshman Darianna Figueroa.

But not all freshmen liked the food journals.

“Writing down what I eat every day and night is such a waste of time,” said Damon Randle. “It’s not going to change the impulse of what I eat.”

Tiger Clinic health educator Katie Riemer introduced freshmen to the food journals during visits to the Journalism classes. She, along with Shafer and English 1 teacher Sonja Totten-Harris, came up with the food journal idea last year because they wanted freshmen to do a project about nutrition in several classes.

After the food journals ended, Riemer came back to the classes for a press conference as part of the Journalism final exam. She also analyzed a day’s food and exercise for two anonymous students.

The idea of thinking more about what you eat instead of eating it automatically was a big theme in Eric Schlosser’s “Chew on This,” a book freshmen read before doing the food journal assignment. The book made students more aware of what dangers are associated with fast food and junk food.

As part of a Do Now done during the food journaling, freshmen came up with several ways they thought the cafeteria could change to improve the wellness of the campus. Their ideas included limiting the sale of hot chips to once a week and serving fruit cups every day.

Riemer said she was impressed with both the suggestions and the food journals because “students had an opportunity to honestly assess their diets.”

Most athletes have a personal preference of one brand over others because of how the shoes feel and how they believe the shoes improve their performance. Below are a few Tiger favorites.

Fremont soccer player and Mandela High senior Joel Lopez purchased one of the newest soccer shoes of 2011, the Nike Mercurial Vapor Superflys, online at soccer.com. Lopez spent around $400 on the pair because they are made with carbon fiber which makes the shoes light and helps players run faster. It also helps their feet stay cool.

“I like my shoes because they are really comfortable and light. It helps me feel better in the field,” said Lopez.

Varsity basketball player and Media Academy junior Dejanay Wayne has the Nike Hyperdunks of 2011. Nike.com claims the shoe gives a supportive fit and is made for lightening quick cuts and fast-paced play on the court.

“It makes me run faster and jump higher,” said Wayne.

After seeing the shoes in East Bay magazine, she ordered them from eastbay.com and the Nike Hyperdunks were shipped to the school.

Wayne purchased her shoes for $80.

Soccer player Karina Flores purchased the 2011 Nike Mercurial Vapor Superfly III Rose Black. Flores spent $85 at the store Sports Authority. Flores said that the shoes make her feet more flexible. She likes the pair because they are pink, and it makes her think of the fight against breast cancer.

The girls basketball team will play on Friday at Skyline and Wednesday at home against McClymonds.

The boys basketball team plays at home on Friday against Skyline and at McClymonds on Wednesday.

Oakland Section Playoffs for both the girls and boys basketball begin Feb. 28.
Meanwhile, the girls soccer team plays Friday at Skyline and Wednesday at home against Mack, and the boys soccer team plays Thursday at Oakland High, Tuesday at home against Skyline and Feb. 23 at Oakland Technical High School.

That’s because Fremont is going to have a new cheerleading coordinator — a spirited former Raiderette — after a semester without a solid cheerleading team.

The coordinator, Roxanne Pringle, visited Fremont Federation advisories on Feb. 10 to recruit students to the squad.

After a semester of frustrations, Pringle was welcomed warmly by students.

There were more than two dozen girls who started out the year practicing chants, cheers and dances, many of them enthusiastic freshmen. But the team fell through when cheerleaders had difficulty getting uniforms or a cheerleading coordinator without too many other responsibilities.

During the beginning of the year, the cheerleading team was overseen by Athletic Director Darlene Miller, who was also the coach of the girls volleyball team.

“She had too much going on already,” said former cheerleader Briajanae James, a College Preparatory & Architecture Academy sophomore.

Miller said she did not want to comment for this article.

James said lack of uniforms also contributed to people quitting the team.

Cheerleaders were also told to either pay for their own $200 uniform or fundraise by selling popcorn and Lady Tiger shirts. But, according to James, the fundraising effort was unsuccessful.

Former cheerleader Tilinda Martin, a Media Academy freshman, agrees that the lack of uniforms was a problem.

“Every other school had uniforms but we didn’t have uniforms. They wanted us to wear hand-me-downs for games,” said Martin. “That’s when hecka people started quitting.”

Without clear leadership and no uniforms, James saw the team falling apart.

“I was one of the only people left,” said James. “We didn’t have uniforms and it was basically us kids making up dances.”

Just a few weeks ago, however, after-school coordinator Roxanne Isaguirre hired Pringle to help the team this semester get ready for next year.

“She is originally from the Bay and has worked with other schools in Oakland,” said Isaguirre about the new instructor. “We have the potential to bring a really strong program.”

Isaguirre says the new coordinator was a competitive cheerleader in high school and throughout college. Pringle will be recruiting students still interested in being part of the cheerleading team and will start holding practices in March.

“They will have a brand new routine, new choreography,” said Isaguirre.

According to Isaguirre, the girls who join the team will be practicing during the spring and possibly sent to cheerleading camp during the summer. They would also cheer at school events but the emphasis would be on training for next year.

Having a cheeleading team may boost school spirit, says Leadership coordinator Nidya Baez.

“If we had cheerleaders, people would be more excited to go to the games,” Baez said. “Students would feel more included and proud of the school.”

Baez said she hopes the cheerleaders will raise money and “really be a team, to be united and work with Leadership to organize events.”

Meanwhile, James is looking forward to being able to cheer, dance and compete against other schools.

She also believes getting a good start this year for next year is important to having a successful cheerleading squad.

“We need to start practicing early and really fundraise,” said James.

Due to declining enrollment at Media, there weren’t enough students to fill all the classes usually taught by media teachers Lisa Shafer, Richard Yacco and Howard Ruffner.

By adding an extra media class to the freshman schedule, one of the teachers did not have to move to an English position, which would have pushed one of the current English teachers, who have less seniority, out of a job.

This year, Shafer teaches Journalism and Ruffner teaches multimedia to freshmen. Previously, Shafer taught Media Studies to sophomores for a semester and Ruffner taught Journalism to freshmen. Another change is that Yacco teaches Media Studies to sophomores for a full year instead of just a semester.

The decision to change the freshman and sophomore electives was made at the end of last year.

“We decided to try something new with 9th graders by having them start newspaper, print journalism … and take Spanish next year,” said Vice Principal Sarah Mazzotta.

The changes have made some students glad and others mad.

Freshman Melissa Mejia thinks freshmen should take Spanish in 9th grade because as she has gotten older she has forgotten how to speak it.

“I feel like I want to take it since I’m Mexican,” said Mejia. “I need to relearn my Spanish since I lost it.”

Freshman Bopha Chim is glad to take journalism this year instead of Spanish.
“I wouldn’t want to take it because it’ll be hard for me to learn another language,” Chim said.

Administrators thought that having freshmen take two media classes this year would help decrease the dropout rate.

“It was a conscious decision by the staff at Media Academy in order to maximize the opportunities for incoming freshmen and also employ some of your favorite teachers,” said Jackson.

Jackson believes giving freshmen extra reading and writing practice this year will help them with their literacy skills.

“English students who are not functional in English could wait a year to learn a second language,” said Jackson.

Shafer said she enjoys her new teaching schedule.

“Teaching journalism for an entire year to the same students gives me a better chance to dig deeper than I [could] teaching only one semester of Media Studies to sophomores,” said Shafer. “On the other hand, I am sorry that students in the heart of Fruitvale don’t have the chance to take four years of Spanish. This is a community where Spanish skills are essential to have.”

Spanish teachers Felicidad Guirao and Rebekkah Ford say they miss having freshmen as students.

“I would love to teach Spanish earlier, but I respect the decisions that were made to better our freshmen’s learning,” said Ford.

Guirao was disappointed that she no longer had the opportunity to teach freshman.
“I miss freshmen because they are very energetic and they have so much vitality,” said Guirao.

It is unknown what will happen with next year’s freshmen schedule as Fremont Federation becomes a big school. It is still up in the air, said Jackson.

Dave Waddell, director of Journalism at Chico State University, came to Media Academy on Oct. 31 to recruit seniors and inform juniors about the journalism program at Chico.

“Our school newspaper, The Orion, won 11 Pacemaker awards,” Waddell told members of Media Academy’s Green & Gold newspaper, which won fourth place last year in a national competition.

The Pacemaker is a national award for excellence in student journalism and is known as the “Pulitzer Prize of college journalism.”

Media Academy has been a recruitment target for Waddell for at least five years. Several former Green & Gold editors have attended Chico State, including student Emely Srimoukda, Ronald Johnson, Elizabeth Rodriguez and Brittany Sneed from the class of 2009. Jamari Caldwell and Powell Lee, both members of the Class of 2008, also are at Chico.

Waddell, who has been at Chico more than 16 years, wasn’t just trying to admit more newspaper journalism students. He also spoke about other majors such as a new multimedia program.

Features editor Aleanna Santos was one of several Green & Gold students to talk to Waddell about how Chico would match her interests. Speaking with Waddell, she said, expanded her knowledge about the college. It is one of her top choices.

“I would recommend students to go to Chico because it’s really different compared to Oakland,” said Santos, who learned Chico has very few minorities. “If people only stay in their comfort zone, then I feel like that won’t get them really far in their life because of the lack of experience.”

Green & Gold adviser Lisa Shafer said Chico has been a good fit for many Media Academy students.

“Chico State has an excellent award-winning newspaper,” said Shafer. “Dr. Waddell is committed to having more diversity in his journalism program, and when our kids go to Chico, he helps them feel at home.”

During his visit, Waddell also shared his thoughts about the Green & Gold.

He liked a lot of stories, including one by Santos on the California Dream Act and one on teacher Richard Yacco’s experience in the world-famous Stanford prison experiment by Gloria “Jack” Mejia. However, he told Mejia she could have used more than one source in the story.

Mejia added another source for that story and it will be published in the Oaktown Teen Times.