The Battleground Bulletin

By Yearbook Staffer Isaac Hernandez

This year, Lathrop High Spartans won’t let anything get in the way of their at home gaming, not even a global pandemic. While indoor activities and sports on campus come to a halt, gaming has never been more popular among the youth. From consoles like the PlayStation and Xbox to custom builds of gaming computers, there are plenty of ways to play todays latest titles on the market.

Gaming allows these students to maintain in touch with their fellow classmates they don’t usually get to see at school through online chats and servers. Thankfully, the current pandemic doesn’t put too much of a damper on this school’s gaming community. Plenty of students here at Lathrop take to the virtual world for fun and entertainment while the outside world seems to be on hold.

With students separated into separate groups that attend schools on opposite schedules, online gaming allows for them to uphold that friendship while still keeping everyone safe. “After school and whatever work I need to get done, it’s always nice to relax and play games with the people I got to meet at school before the whole pandemic,” says senior Jareth Doctolero.

By Yearbook Staffer Itzel Ochoa

Juniors and seniors are maintaining their social, school, and now work life. Students are now working and making their own money setting an example for their younger peers. These people are trying not to let it effect their social life as they work long, hard hours. Karina Moreno-Andrade, a senior, feels relieved knowing she can depend on herself for buying necessities. Even though it can get rough saving and spending money, Karina is proud of herself for earning her own money.

Karina has been working at her job for about seven months. Working has helped her grow confidence and has taught her many things. It has gotten difficult for Karina balancing work and school, but some advice from our wise senior is, “It may interfere with homework sometimes but it is manageable when you ground yourself and keep a steady routine.”

By Yearbook Staffer Joannali Marzan

Since quarantine, students have been finding different ways to help around the community. There isn’t much to do but there is community service and it does not require people to be in big crowds. It goes great for future references for students’ futures. Many students have been finding different ways to help around their community while at the same time being able to carefully work without making coronavirus a huge risk. Community service is perfect for that because you don’t have to work in big groups and you are able to keep away from other people. When students were interviewed they gave somewhat similar answers saying that they just want to help out. They want to help make peoples day better and to be able to help the community and to make other people smile. They just want people to experience some good through these tough times. Because of Covid-19 people have been finding different ways to help their community while at the same time practicing social distancing, and this is one of those options that critically help the community. Community service also brings people together. Students that were interviewed even stated that it’s a good team building exercise for classes or small groups of students working together.

Godwina Ogbeide is a junior at Lathrop High School, and she is known for helping around the school. She does multiple activities including sports, and even some community services. She loves to help people who are in need and will try to make someone smile when they seem down. She thinks that it is important to acknowledge those who are in need and those who need recognition. She said, “When you have a roof under your head, and don’t have to worry about where the money is going to come from, you have to keep in mind that there may be others around you who don’t have it like you do. So, I just wanted to treat people how I would want to be treated if I were in their position.” Overall she loves to help people who are in need because she understands that it’s possible that they may be going through something and they want to do whatever they can to help make things better for anyone. She loves the thought of helping people and knowing that she helped even if it’s a little bit.

By Yearbook/Journalism student Kaylin Phothipanya

Do you have a collection or addiction? Well it’s not too late to start one! A collection is something that is collected. It could be a group of objects or an amount of materials. Some examples that you could collect are seashells, souvenirs, stuffed animals, sneakers, book series, etc. An example of addiction is playing video games, baking/cooking, painting/drawing, etc.  

Freshman Tatiana Lowery, has a collection of sneakers. It all started in 6^th grade when she became a sneaker head. She stated, “My favorite pair of sneakers from my collection are the Air Max 97 because I can pair them with any outfit, and it would look great!”

Written by Journalism/Yearbook student Jordan Che

Recognizing the importance of friendship and how it keeps us staying healthy. While staying connected with people who we call friends, they help us decrease our stress levels as well as help us to make better life decisions. As the global pandemic stuck, schools have transitioned to virtual education, which we now call “distance learning”. Distance learning has made socializing difficult for students, staff, and teachers, off and on campus. Friendships here in LHS, as Spartans, have never given up on being connected.

Students found their method of communicating during and after quarantine with apps, like Instagram, Snapchat, Teams, etc. Finding ways to reconnect with their friends by seeing each other in person, while being in a safe zone. 

Grade levels from freshmen to seniors have reconnected and kept each other safe during a pandemic. As distance learning began, a small group of well-known friends visited each other at their friend’s house and got lunch together. They continued their friendship by caring for one other and protecting themselves as well as people that they for care by wearing masks. Seniors mentioned that they would do whatever they could to keep their friendship in place. “Charlene’s mom said no, but we’re going together anyways,” said Vanessa Laoeng while they were going to Taco Bell. This group of friends–Charlene Bernal, James Galbadores, Vanessa Laoeng, and Elisha Atengco–kept their friendship together and have stayed connected since elementary school.  

“Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.” – Charlene Bernal 

By Journalism/Yearbook student Jasmine Rodriguez

Due to the global pandemic, students’ worlds have had to adapt to a new form of schooling. Schools worldwide have had to transition to distance learning, and it has become a challenge for many students and teachers. This has effected many kids due to living situations or simply not understanding all the new information given to them. This has not stopped our teachers and staff from doing their best to teach students everything we need to know.  

Schools have found ways to interact with their students safely. Lathrop High School has hosted several events where students were able to come to campus safely and have activities from their vehicles. Seniors started off the year with the traditional Senior Sunrise that happens every year in the morning at 5am. The seniors were able to watch the sunrise with their classmates from their car. The leadership students had provided drinks and snacks for the seniors while each student followed the strict guidelines to keep each other safe. Along with Senior Sunrise, the Lathrop High staff had set up a Bingo! Night and had scavenger hunts set around the area so all the students could participate.  

 Even though their last year has started off very different, they are still staying positive. “Starting off my senior year with distance learning has affected me in a different way because its harder for me to learn but it has also gave me time to focus on other things and allowed me to stay safe at home through distance learning,” says senior student Charisma Zapata. 

Written by Yearbook/Journalism student Magali Fernandez.

These first months of school were different to say the least. Students were faced with the challenge of learning from home and having to balance their education with their home life and other responsibilities. Teachers and staff also faced similar challenges on top of the stress of making sure their students were receiving the help and knowledge they need and deserve. As students begin to return to campus and new challenges arise such as safety and health, now more than ever it is crucial that as a school and community we come together, not only to protect ourselves but our families, friends, teachers, staff, and students.

In these past few months we have seen more than ever a community coming together to safely help one another. Whether it’s planning something like a socially-distanced senior sunrise and Bingo! Night or simply reaching out to a staff member and thanking them for their patience and understanding. Gestures like have these have made these past months a little less difficult and bring people together during a time we need it most.

As new precautions are put in place such as hand washing stations and one-way hallways, it is important that we try our best to follow these new rules not only for our own well-being but the well-being of others. As Cienna Duenez, LHS senior stated, “We must continue to show compassion and encouragement, and like true Spartans, we will persevere through any challenge.”

This year’s Yearbook and Journalism students are hard at work creating interesting newsletters to publish on this site in the coming weeks! Keep checking back!

The annual Crystal Apple Award Ceremony took place last weekend, and Lathrop High teachers were among the many recognized for outstanding contributions to education. When asked about the ceremony itself, Principal Greg Leland said, “The Crystal Apple Awards is a wonderful ceremony, giving students the opportunity to honor and recognize their teachers as heroes.”

Kenneth Myers was honored for going above and beyond. He currently teaches Be.Tech, and was nominated by his students Oren Ross and Richard Johnson Jr. When asked about the honor, Myers stated, “Getting an award from my students, especially one that required them to write an essay for the nomination package, was a wonderful experience and reminded me why I teach. These kids are in the room with me every day, and for them to take the time to write the package and honor me with this award validates the hard work and success we all have in the classroom.”

Allison Birakos, Lathrop’s leadership teacher, was also recognized at the prestigious event by her senior student Darlene Hoang. 
As a staff, we couldn’t be happier that two of our Spartan leaders were recognized for their constant willingness to soar above and beyond. Leland added, “We are proud of both Allison and Scott, who are truly deserving of this award!”

Above, award recipients from Sierra High School and Lathrop High School pose with their respective administrators.

Lathrop High celebrated their second annual Whobilation yesterday, ringing in the holiday spirit with costumes, lunchtime activities, costume contests, and campus decoration. In addition, to get into the true spirit of the season, each campus club collected toys to be donated to children spanning from kindergarten to twelfth grade.

Clubs decorated poles festively, plastering them in wrapping paper, bows and ribbons, and snowflake-cutouts, creating a true Winter Wonderland. “The band one was my favorite–it was decorated with streamers and snowflakes,” sophomore Marqais Tolentino said with a smile.

For the costume contest–who can dress with the most “Who-worthy” flare–Dramabombs came in first place, College Bound Club came in second, and JROTC came in third.

In the quad, students participated in activities from scavenger hunts to a bean bag toss competition. Sophomore Ian Oino said, “When I went into the quad, I saw classmates throwing the bean bags. I didn’t win, but I had fun, and would do it again.”

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Whether students and faculty were dressed as Grinches, Cindy Lou Whoo’s, or simply decked in ugly sweaters, it’s safe to say the second annual Whobilation was a success.