About Me
I'm currently a sophomore at EHS, and have been attending Englewood Schools majority of my life. I have a deep interest in music, teaching myself how to play guitar and how to write songs at a young age. I find tons of inspiration in artists, specifically bands like Waterparks, Paramore, and Twenty One Pilots. This year, I fell in love with journalism and interviewing others, making it a potential career choice of mine when I'm older.
Honors & Awards
Colorado Student Media Association: Third Place - Breaking Sports Coverage
Third Place - Sports Feature
Third Place - Special Effects
Third Place - In-depth Special Report
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Students at Englewood High School had to experience a swatting incident on Feb. 22 during 1st period. How have students recovered? We look at how the event affected the students seven months later.
“I was kinda scared coming back to school, but it’s whatever,” said sophomore Paige Shlosman, a witness of the lockdown. “I feel safe on campus sometimes, but people are just scary.”
Another witness of the lockdown, sophomore Valentine Cabrera Preston, still has lingering feelings, “It feels kinda weird coming back. The thought of the lockdown still lingers in my mind a little bit, but it’s calmed down.”
It started as a commotion in the hall, then just after 9:20, an announcement over the school speakers saying, “Lockdown, lights out, this is not a drill.” It was repeated twice. Within 40 seconds the school was swarming with swat team officers in full gear with long guns drawn.
“I feel safe here at Englewood High School and feel like being back on Campus with students in classrooms and the hallways is a blessing in my life,” Football coach and psychology teacher Bryan Daldegan expressed, “I absolutely feel safe here on campus and I know our administration and campus monitors help me feel safe here.”
The incident lasted about two hours. Law enforcement called it “swatting,” when someone makes a false call to law enforcement, claiming an emergency situation and providing a real address for officers to respond to. It felt real to the students forced to hide in closets and under desks.
When asking if their opinions changed regarding safety, both Shlosman and Cabrera Preston agreed, “It was a lot more organized than I thought,” Shlosman said, “The cops arrived faster than I thought they would.”
“I think there should be more people on watch around the school,” Cabrera Preston said, “I think they should be more cautious and more safe with that.”
“My opinion has never changed but I have a personal experience as I was a senior at Arapahoe High School when we went into a very real lockdown as a student came into the school with a gun,” Daldegan said, “It was a very tough and hard couple of months that followed but I think I am stronger for having the right people in my life during that time.”
Students have a few thoughts about what should be done to prevent school incidents, “Don’t bully kids, because that’s kind of the reason why a lot of them happen. I don’t think it should happen at all.” Cabrera Preston said.
“I think having a loving, caring, and accepting culture throughout the school is a vital part of trying to make sure students feel safe and like they belong here at EHS,” Daldegan concluded, “We are all Pirates and can make Englewood a great school and environment to be in.”
Journalism students last year did a story about the experience. It is linked here.
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EHS students are surprised to find out that students with high family incomes are more likely to get a higher score on the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT).
According to the Princeton Review, the SAT is a multiple-choice, pencil-and-paper test created and administered by the College Board. The purpose of the SAT is to measure a high school student’s readiness for college and provide colleges with one common data point that can be used to compare all applicants. Most high school students take the SAT during the spring of their junior year or fall of their senior year.
“The SAT was arguably the most stressful part of my junior year in high school, but I think I studied very well for it,” said senior Michael Marquis, “I think that I was very well prepared and that was able to get me a pretty decent score of 1110.” Marquis studied with online resources like Khan Academy and a SAT study book.
The New York Times article compiled data from economists at Opportunity Insights, based at Harvard. It found that test takers whose families were in the top 20% of earners were seven times more likely to score at least 1300 on the SAT than test takers from families in the bottom 20%. One-third of students from extremely rich families scored 1300 or higher on the test, while less than 5% of middle-class students did.
12-thousand students were studied and it was revealed that opportunities that come from wealth drive achievement and better test scores. Some of the families that paid for tutors and support, such as private schools, summer travel, and college prep services were found to be more expensive than a college education.
“I think they should make everything available for free to all students so that everybody has an equal shot,” said senior Reagan Scheminske, “because having a higher income doesn’t mean that you should be less prepared for the SAT or any standardized test.”
In January of 2022, the College Board announced the SAT will soon move to a computer-based-only test. The story that ran in the New York Times reported the changes will begin in 2024 in the United States and in 2023 in other countries.
The article says the College Board is trying to update the test. As of June 2023, over 1,900 colleges are not requiring SAT or ACT for admissions.
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urrently ranked 10th in the state, junior Eli Cortez got his interest in wrestling from his older brother at an early age, “My older brother wrestled and he’s the one who got me into it.”
He feels like his performance over the season was bumpy in the beginning, but it got better, “I was one off last year from the state,” Cortez said. This year, it is within his reach.
When it comes to moves in wrestling, he has trouble pinning the opponent, “I’m a wrestler heavyweight so they’re big dudes and I’m always littler.”
Cortez expressed his gratitude for the coaches, saying that they support him a lot, “They help us in the offseason, drive us around everywhere, and help us with practices in the offseason where it’s just one-on-one. They do everything for us.”
Several members of the wrestling team are inspired by Cortez, “I’d be surprised if Eli doesn’t go to state,” junior Avery Garcia said.
Junior Kaleb Hernandez has been wrestling for three years. He was drawn to the sport because his sister was a wrestler. He finds it nerve-wracking to go out on the mat in front of a packed gymnasium, “There are a hundred eyes on you.” Hernandez said he has two wrestlers he looks up to, “Jayce Prante and Eli Cortez. They just shine above everyone else and really fill that leadership role.”
After high school, Cortez sees himself continuing to wrestle, and he hopes to get a scholarship.
Podcast
Summary
All throughout journalism this past year, we learnt the importance of differentiating between fake and real news, what it's like to be a high school journalist, how to run a school newspaper, and the usage of media in a professional setting. By learning all these specific things, especially as a teenager, preps me for the real world earlier than others, which makes me grateful. It helps me keep an eye out on real situations with bias in news, helps me with my writing skills, and makes me gain confidence with interviewing people I don't know.