In Favor of Free Dress Day



This article also appeared in the Toiler Times, the student newspaper of Manual Arts High School.

By Mariana Ruiz

Over a year ago the administration decided to give our school uniforms. The reason for this was to reduce the presence of gangs, but that hasn’t changed.

Everybody is unique, everybody has different styles, and everybody has different interests. If every kid wears the same outfit and looks the same as everyone else, they’re losing their individuality. We look like a sea of purple, grey and black and we need more colors. Teenagers’ expressing themselves can help find who they are.

Having free dress day can be a school motivator. I think Friday would be a good day to have free dress day because it’s the day right before our weekend, day where many students don’t come because of it. If the school were to let us have our free dress day every Friday, it’d help students come to school.

We’d all fit into one place. We have our Jocks, Cheerleaders, Goths, Emos, Geeks, Class clowns, Band freaks, etc. if the school gave us an opportunity to let us be who we are once in a while, it will help build community.

Manual Arts student speaks at USC Annenberg



This article also appeared in the Toiler Times, the student newspaper of Manual Arts High School.

by Carla DeLeon

On December 4, 2010, I was selected from my journalism classroom to present my school’s newspaper article at USC. The program with which I was going with is called Youth Media Los Angeles Collaborative. In the auditorium there were about 100 people, everyone from all over LAUSD. I was happy I wasn’t going to be the only student presenting.

I didn’t have much time to prepare my presentation because I arrived about 25 minutes before the event started. This made me very nervous; I wasn’t exactly sure about what it was I was going to say. My mentor, Silva, helped me out with as much as she could and prepared a presentation with prezi.com for me.

When the big day came, my mentor was directing people to the auditorium and helping others. While she did that, I was in the back with her laptop thinking of what exactly I would say for each slide of the Prezi. Silva wasn’t able to help me out as much as I wished she could because she couldn’t be at ten places at once, but thank goodness that my boyfriend Carlos, my friend Kerlie, and brother Marvin were there to help me out.

The event started at 11:15 a.m. A lady taking photographs was telling us to go inside the auditorium. Silva, Mike, and the director of journalism school, Geneva Overholser, began the event. After that, high school students and college students presented on women’s rights, Cesar Chavez, public matters, and more.

The whole time, I was counting down for when it would be my turn. I was a nervous wreck. I felt cold sweat running down my neck and I was shaking like an earthquake. Soon I knew I would go up to the podium. Carlos was telling me to relax and that it would be okay, but I didn’t want to listen. I believed it wasn’t going to be okay until I was home.

When my turn finally arrived, I went up on stage. The prezi Silva prepared malfunctioned. I figured I had already started everything wrong. After a few seconds the prezi started working so I began to talk about my article, which discussed teen suicides among gay, lesbian, and intersex students.

When all the presentations were over, the audience began asking questions. Public matters and Alejandra Cruz were receiving most of the questions so I figured I was safe because no one would ask me any questions. I was dead wrong. Out of nowhere, people began asking me questions.

But by the end of the day, I felt such a relief to be done with it. Even though I did have a few problems, such as forgetting what to say and not knowing how to answer the audience questions, I had a good time and the experience was amazing. Knowing I can present something in front of many people felt good and I can’t wait to do it again.

A Word of Advice to Freshmen



This article also appeared in the Toiler Times, the student newspaper of Manual Arts High School.

By Jose Cornejo

Welcome to Manual Arts Senior High School. We are happy to have you here, We are looking forward to working with you and helping you to achieve your goals. In your first year of high school, classes should be smooth. You will learn how our system works and know what classes to take. What you don’t want to do in your first year is fall back in your classes.

When I was a freshman I slacked off and did not work. I always talked to my friends or disrupted the teacher from teaching. The times I was doing my work, there was always a person distracting me and it preventing me from finishing. Going to the third semester, I started doing my work. I had teachers that cared about me and wanted me to do well in school.

Talk to your teachers when you start to fall behind. Most likely the two teachers you will have are Mr. Garlaza and Mr. Gailbraith. If you have problems with any work they would gladly help you. What you could also do on your own time is to go talk to them. Both teachers are supportive and trustworthy, when he sees students interested in passing their class.

Absences have a great impact in your freshman year as well. The more you miss, the more work piles up. First year shouldn’t be stressful. That’s the year were most fun is, but at the same time do your work. Ninth grade you should not be missing a lot classes, because they are easy. School is mostly about just coming, paying attention, and doing your work. If you notice, every test the teacher gives you is just a review of the same work over and over.

Manual Arts High School students explore abuse and violence



This is the last write-up from freshman students at Manual Arts High School. Some participated in weeks-long projects about animal abuse, drugs, gangs, prostitution and racism. Part of their projects included surveys they created for their communities. After they gathered information, all of the groups presented their findings at a school presentation. Two days later, each group wrote about their experiences during an Intersections: The South Los Angeles Report mentoring and writing workshop.

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Child Abuse and Violence

By: Nicolas Arevalo and Juan Luis

We chose violence because it is something that exists inside every single human being. It is an important issue because people suffer through violence, including child abuse and domestic violence. We learned that there are many forms of abuse, and there are also ways that we can help people who have experienced abuse in their lives.

Human beings are not the only ones who suffer through violence because animals get treated badly, too. They get hurt and are pushed around, and that is also known as animal abuse.

Our group also learned that people who usually have been treated badly and have been suppressed are the ones who might do the same thing to others that happened to them.

We discovered all of this information after we conducted about 370 surveys on how to stop violence in communities, and if there is violence around and inside us. People who have gone through violence have had a hard time recovering from it.

For example, have you ever seen someone get shot right in front of you? Some people in our group have, and they have seen one friend get shot right around the block. It was a terrible experience because that is the first time the group member has seen someone on the floor, full of blood. You could see the rounds on the ground, cartridges on the floor and the helpless body.

That is one of the reasons why violence is not such a good idea. It is also another reason why people should not get involved in it.

Exploring drugs and drug dealing



This is the seventh of eight write-ups from freshman students at Manual Arts High School. Some participated in weeks-long projects about animal abuse, drugs, gangs, prostitution and racism. Part of their projects included surveys they created for their communities. After they gathered information, all of the groups presented their findings at a school presentation. Two days later, each group wrote about their experiences during an Intersections: The South Los Angeles Report mentoring and writing workshop.

Drugs and Drug Dealing

By: Khyla Brown, Victor Coronado, Jocelyn Garcia, Crystal Leon, Cesilia Orellana and Sarai Teodocio

We chose drugs and drug dealing because it is something that really affects our communities, and we have experienced it in our lives with friends and family. It is also one of the biggest things going around in our communities. Our group was asked to research and interview people to see the different perspectives about this topic.

Our interviews included our teachers and people from community organizations. We also did plenty of research about the topic. We handed out surveys at the senior quad on campus and around the lunch area. When people walked by, we gave them the surveys and had a conversation.

What we have learned is that you can stop the use of drugs, but you cannot stop them from existing. And even though you can tell people not to do drugs, some of them will not listen to what you are trying to tell them. We also learned that drugs will always exist in life, and that we can help you, but it is your choice to see if you want to stop selling or using drugs.

We observed that most of the students at Manual Arts High School do drugs, and they felt that if they told us they smoked weed, we would tell the counselors. We told them not to put their names on the surveys because we wanted their answers to be completely confidential. We told them to be real about their answers and not to lie because their names would not go on it anyway.

One other thing our group learned is that a lot of people have not used any type of drugs, but they would like to try it some day.

Local high school students research ethnicity and racism



This is the sixth of eight write-ups from freshman students at Manual Arts High School. Some participated in weeks-long projects about animal abuse, drugs, gangs, prostitution and racism. Part of their projects included surveys they created for their communities. After they gathered information, all of the groups presented their findings at a school presentation. Two days later, each group wrote about their experiences during an Intersections writing workshop.

Racism

By: Jorge Arana, Sergio Corona, Rayshawn Holifield and Mayra Romero

When we learned we were going to have a Community Action Research project and present a PowerPoint presentation to the school about a deficit in our community, we were not confident about the project. Two major deficits that influence us are animal abuse and racism. We chose racism because we believe that people need to know that we are all the same, and we wanted to prove that no race is superior and no ethnicity is inferior to any other.

Just because we look different or have different believes does not mean we should be treated differently.

During our research, we found that some people did not take racism seriously, but we also found that a majority of people actually cared. We interviewed two parents to get their opinions. Most of our questions revolved around how racism affects our communities and what we can do to change it.

We learned that we cannot stop racism, but there are ways people can reduce harm. Many people affected by racism are people of color, including African Americans, Latinos and Hispanics, Native Americans and Asian Americans.

African Americans were the most affected in South Central Los Angeles. They are treated as if they have no value, and they are victims of police brutality. Some African Americans decided to have an uprising in Watts in 1965 and a rebellion of what happened with Rodney King in 1992. During those two situations, police were permitted to beat and kill African Americans. This is where some gangs originated from.

The tactic we want to use to reduce the impact of racism is organize community. We want to gather people who have been affected by racism and figure out a way to stand up together to protest and fight for our rights to be treated equally. Another tactic that we plan to use is propaganda. We could paint a mural on our school walls of people from different races socializing and working together through conflicts.

Manual Arts High School students learn about gangs in their communities



This is the fifth of eight write-ups from freshman students at Manual Arts High School. Some participated in weeks-long projects about animal abuse, drugs, gangs, prostitution and racism. Part of their projects included surveys they created for their communities. After they gathered information, all of the groups presented their findings at a school presentation. Two days later, each group wrote about their experiences during an Intersections writing workshop.

Gangs

By: Byron Chaperno, Luis Mateo, Carolina Mercado and Cynthia Molina

We chose to research gangs because it is one of the biggest things that influences our communities. While doing this project, we discovered a lot of information. Our group surveyed about 121 students and one teacher. We visited six classrooms.

Many people agreed that one of the most dangerous gangs is one called Mara Salvatrucha. And a lot of people believe that people join gangs because they want to be “cool,” but nobody really knows specifically why people join gangs.

Ms. Sarah Glasband, our wonderful teacher who helped us discover information, also helped us come up with the main question for our survey. Some of our questions were easy, and some were hard. We asked questions that had “yes” or “no” bubbles, and some that people really needed to think about.

During our presentation, we were very nervous. After we finished the presentation, though, we were all happy. We had a great semester, and we hope we can do this again but better.

If we had more time to do this project, we would have liked to interview more people in the community and try to survey some elementary and middle schools. We also would have interviewed more students and teachers at Manual Arts High School.

Exploring the meaning of violence



This is the fourth of eight write-ups from freshman students at Manual Arts High School. Some participated in weeks-long projects about animal abuse, drugs, gangs, prostitution and racism. Part of their projects included surveys they created for their communities. After they gathered information, all of the groups presented their findings at a school presentation. Two days later, each group wrote about their experiences during an Intersections: The South Los Angeles Report mentoring and writing workshop.

Violence

By: Hugo Castaneda and Christian Garcia

We chose violence because we had overall topics that we wanted to talk about. We thought about animal abuse, domestic abuse and gang violence, and they all fell into the category of violence. This led us to our inquiry question, which was, “How can we stop violence in our community when we see violence within us and all around us?”

Our team conducted research by distributing surveys and giving interviews to multiple people. Facts that we got from the surveys are: many students think violence comes from school, and most students would like to stop violence, but they are too scared to try. Also, students do not see other ways to solve problems because most students see violence in themselves. Victims of violence include everyone from children to elders and from pets to farm animals. Men and women also experience verbal to sexual abuse, and the entire world is full of violence. Everyone is a victim. Violence is found in our homes, the media, video games, television shows, schools and movies.

Manual Arts High School students research impact of prostitution



This is the third of eight write-ups from freshman students at Manual Arts High School. Some participated in weeks-long projects about animal abuse, drugs, gangs, prostitution and racism. Part of their projects included surveys they created for their communities. After they gathered information, all of the groups presented their findings at a school presentation. Two days later, each group wrote about their experiences during an Intersections: The South Los Angeles Report mentoring and writing workshop.

Prostitution

By: David Delgado, Jocelyne Recinos, Jesse Rodas and Sophia Salazar

Prostitution is a concern in our community, and we would like to change or help in any way we can. Our main question was, “How does prostitution affect women in our community, and would it help if we made it legal?”

While doing this project, we learned that prostitution has been seen by a lot of students at Manual Arts High School. We handed out 136 surveys to students, and our team visited about 10 classrooms. We discovered that prostitution is in a lot of our communities.

We also learned that making prostitution legal, or giving it its own area, will not make our streets safer. Our group thinks this because we believe a lot of people will still prostitute themselves for drugs or other illegal substances.

Our group interviewed Mr. Irving, our principal, and he was concerned. He asked us why we had chosen this topic, and we answered that we were concerned about our younger family members. We told him we wanted to know how to explain to them why these women do what they do. We discovered that most prostitutes do what they do because they are poor, and they have no other ways to get money. Instead of helping them, the government is investing money in prisons and the war.

Some women do not have any jobs, and they need to pay rent, bills, and food and water to support their children. But prostitution is basically slavery for women.

Wherever there have been bad economic situations, there has been prostitution.

Exploring the meaning of racism



This is the second of eight write-ups from freshman students at Manual Arts High School. Some participated in weeks-long projects about animal abuse, drugs, gangs, prostitution and racism. Part of their projects included surveys they created for their communities. After they gathered information, all of the groups presented their findings at a school presentation. Two days later, each group wrote about their experiences during an Intersections: The South Los Angeles Report mentoring and writing workshop.

Racism

By: Anahi Acevado, Daniel Aguilar, Ana Gonzales, Dillon Rivas and Darwin Vicente

We chose racism because it is very interesting to us. It is an issue and problem we wanted to discuss and look up. We studied and searched websites, articles and documents. We found and discovered many things.

Our group learned that racism is very familiar to people and it exists in our community. We surveyed many classes and students, and we interviewed five people, including an English teacher, a physical education teacher, a coordinator and an assistant dean.

Everyone we interviewed felt the same way we did. We all feel that racism is a problem that needs to be dealt with. This problem will not change or stop if we do not work together to make a difference. We think that if everyone works together and resolves their issues, we will succeed.

Our group also thinks racism most likely comes from pure ignorance. Ignorance is the cause of racism because people who are racist do not realize that racism just brings more problems and violence in our community and world.

Racism can negatively affect you and everyone around it. It can start problems and create violence. Race itself can stop you from getting or keeping a job. We believe you should earn your job based on your hard work, experience and loyalty, rather than your race. Most importantly, race can keep you from having a nice, soothing and joyful life, but that is not okay.