Tag: Long Beach Polytechnic High LIfe

  • Dangers of Long-Term Screen Exposure

    Dangers of Long-Term Screen Exposure

    Screens in 2020 have become the fulcrum of many people’s personal, professional, and familial lives. Almost every interaction between people is done with a phone, chrome, laptop, or desktop. Because of this, many can spend tens to hundreds of hours looking at a screen over the course of a month. And with school going online in March and continuing into the 2020-21 school year, it would come as no one’s surprise if teens and young children who have spent all of this time staring at screens begin to show eye problems beginning in their late teens or early twenties.

     

    Eye problems have already existed in recent generations affected by the introduction of electronics. Many young people spend most of their social life on apps behind a screen, and the extended exposure has already proven to cause multiple eye problems. These problems are described on UMPC: Life Changing Medicine and can include eye irritation, nearsightedness, and long-term retinal damage.

     

    The retinal damage can also lead to a possible loss of sight, as UMPC says, “Studies show that blue light can damage light-sensitive cells in the retina. This can lead to early age-related macular degeneration, which can lead to loss of eyesight.”

     

    This is caused by a blue-light that screens emit, that can cause erosion at the back of the eyeball, and can eventually lead to blindness. The best way to avoid any long-term ramification that comes from staring at screens for hours at a time is to take time away from them, and allow your eyes to rest from the strain.

     

    The best way to counter this is to minimize the time spent on all devices, regardless of how big or small they are. With developing eye problems, and the warning headaches and eye fatigue of eye strain, The Clinical Eye Institute suggests the 20/20/20 rule to assure that your eyesight doesn’t deteriorate due to eye strain. “For every 20 minutes a person is working they take a 20 second break, looking at something 20 feet away.”

  • The Competitive Nature of PACE

    PACE being the oldest  specialized program in the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD), it was not surprising that the number of qualified applicants has increased. A problem arose when the final number of incoming ninth graders exceeded the maximum spaces available in the PACE ninth grade class.

    The contractual maximum for English teachers in LBUSD is 175 students, which means that accepting more than 175 students becomes a problem for the school’s administration. Between 175 and 185 students are accepted into the PACE program each year.

    The selection process for PACE is based on grades and standardized test scores, which are put into a formula that calculates the High School Academic Index (HSAI). Admission is based on that number. For the past two years, most applicants who met the minimum HSAI to apply to PACE and who listed it as their first choice, were accepted.

    “At the CHOICE events this year, I told parents that based on the past two years’ experience, they need not worry if their child was near the cutoff point on their HSAI, that we had admitted everyone that qualified for the past two years,” said Michelle Aberle, the PACE facilitator. This year, however, there were many more students who qualified than available space in the program. This was true for a number of pathways this year.  This is concerning to Aberle, who worries that parents will feel betrayed by the system. Why this occurred this year is not known.

    Within the past several years, LBUSD has taken control of the CHOICE process, with more inconsistent results, according to Aberle. The district mandated that programs in the district have the same entrance requirements, which for PACE, lowered the GPA and initially raised the standardized test scores. The Pathway Coordinator at Wilson High School, Edward Steinhauser, said in an email, “This year, in an attempt to lessen the nuanced confusion around entrance requirements, QUEST, WAVE, and PACE were all given the same entrance requirements (GPA, SBAC score on English Language Arts, and Algebra 1.  PACE calculated acceptance with the High School Academic Index while QUEST and WAVE used GPA top down.”

    The school district is using the same admission process, using a top-down HSAI, but with results that fluctuate every year.  A few years back, PACE handled their own admissions, using what the district now says is the same process.  But in the previous years, results were much more predictable, and the problem of admissions exceeding contractual maximums did not occur.

    “If a program like PACE has more qualified applicants than allocated spots in a given year, some of the students will be offered places at their second or third choices,” said Russ Anderson, a counselor at Lakewood High School, “Two years ago, Merit Scholars at Lakewood experienced a drop in enrollment for the first time. So, for the first time, we were able to enroll some students who had not been accepted to other programs that happened to be impacted that year.  I would imagine that one reason the current selection process exists is to keep pathways strong across the district.”

    At PACE, the number of acceptances sent out to the eighth graders has been based upon the number of students, historically, that ultimately accept. Some students apply to PACE with the intention of attending private schools, whose acceptances come out later than those of LBUSD. However, far more students accepted than what could be anticipated from the previous averages.

    “I believe that what happened this year,” said Aberle, “is that many students, unfortunately, selected impacted programs for all three of their top choices.  This means that students may be placed in programs that were not among their selections.” It is for this reason that Aberle looks back on the days when programs had more authority in the process and the process was more transparent.  The district maintains, that students get at least one of their top choices.

    PACE has also noticed a trend toward decreasing resiliency in the students coming into the program.  Teachers, counselor Connie Loggins, and Aberle are all interested in finding ways to decrease stress and to increase the satisfaction that comes to students who enjoy learning among teachers who clearly enjoy their students.  The program remains resolute that program standards be maintained at the current high levels.  And according to both Aberle and Steinhauser, all LBUSD high schools are looking at ways to better serve our students, making sure that all pathways are accessible and prepare students for success.

  • US Senator Kamala Harris Addresses Key Issues Californians Face

    US Senator Kamala Harris Addresses Key Issues Californians Face

    Shortly after US Senator Kamala Harris had been sworn into office in 2017, she was speaking at her stepdaughter’s high school when a student raised her hand and asked, “What are we going to do about a divided America?” Harris distinctly remembered that question and, at a town-hall meeting at the Long Beach Convention Center on Friday, April 6, explained to a crowd of local residents how relevant the answer is today.

    “It broke my heart,” Harris said. “Here these kids are– they should be coming out knowing that they can be whatever they want, they should be dreaming with their eyes wide open about the possibilities for their future– I looked at her and I said, ‘You know, I reject the premise. I do not believe we are divided. I believe, based on all of my personal and professional experiences, based on the things that I have seen and known, that the vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us.”

    Public health

    Harris went on to explain how the government has three main roles.

    “You should also understand that government has three essential functions– public health, public safety and public education,” she said. “We’ve got to support and put resources into all three, understanding that is just the noble cause and reason for being of government, and it must perform its job and do it in a smart and effective way that is relevant to the people– meaning, making sure that we give all people access to those three.”

    As for public health, Harris stated that health care should be considered a right and not a privilege.

    “We should not be playing politics with public health,” she explained.

    As a result of the politicization of health care, the debates surrounding it are ongoing.

    Harris explained how, for seven years, Republicans were trying to get rid of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that was signed under former President Barack Obama. She stated that the party began to politicize the act and coined it Obamacare. Then, Donald Trump took office, and his administration made repealing and replacing the ACA their No. 1 priority.

    “It was interesting to see that some of the town halls that would happen in so-called red states, folks would show up and say, ‘Yeah, get rid of that Obamacare, but this here health care I got right now, I like this,’” Harris said while laughing with the audience. “Even though it was not perfect, what it did was it dealt with things like pre-existing conditions and said that that should not be a barrier to having access. It said that it should not be a deficit if you happen to be a woman, and therefore, responsible for reproducing the human race, that you should not have barriers to your ability or have to pay more for your ability to have access to reproductive health care.”

    The outcome of the ACA supports the theme of commonality Harris discussed at the beginning of the town-hall gathering.

    “Back to my earlier point,” she said. “We should look at a victory in terms of the people speaking and understanding there are certain things we all have in common. What ended up happening is that people in so-called red states and so-called blue states and purple states spoke up and said, ‘Don’t play politics with our health care.’”

    The attempt, according to Harris, to repeal and replace Obamacare was defeated because of the people who stood up and spoke out exhibiting “the beautiful system of democracy.”

    “As we are going through these days, and we are shouting at the TV, and we are wringing our hands, and we are having all of these feelings of anxiety and frustration,” Harris said, “let’s remember also that, again, it may not be perfect, but we designed a beautiful system of democracy in terms of making sure that the people can have a voice, and hopefully, will be heard.”

    Education

    Toward the end of the town-hall gathering, Harris began answering questions from the audience.

    A resident asked that, since “Long Beach is an education town, what can we do to support your efforts, and where do you see the federal government and U.S. Senate? What could you do to help us improve locally within

    the education area as well?”

    “One of the best ways to achieve safety in a community, much less productivity and success in a community, is to focus on educating our young people,” Harris responded. “Those are just dollars better spent.”

    Harris added that she is also in favor of tuition-free college.

    “There are so many of our students right now that are sitting back, you know, out of high school, in high school or sitting down at the kitchen table with their parents looking at the numbers and wondering does it make any financial sense for them to go to college,” she described. “Those that do, end up with a burden in terms of student-loan debt that is literally distracting them from their ability to thrive and to be creative and to succeed. It is causing a lot of our kids actually going to bankruptcy without an ability to actually refinance or deal with the bankruptcy. So, those are some of the things that I could use your help on to make sure that we are loud and clear about the need to reform what we are doing at the federal level around that.”

    In addition, the current education system, according to Harris, is quite outdated.

    “We have to fund education,” she said. “We have to understand that, frankly, we have got to bring education forward 150 years. […] In terms of what we can do to be more effective around educating our children, it’s about resources, it’s about valuing our teachers and paying them for what they do. We are giving them the resources and not requiring them to be the school nurse, the guidance counselor, and the therapist and God forbid asking them to go to school with a gun. Right?”

    Harris said that, as jobs transform and fit the standards of the 21st century, schools and education should as well.

    “Let’s begin to think about how we can modernize our education system in a way that we achieve greater equities,” she said.

    A version of this article was first published for The Signal Tribune.

  • What in the World?!?

    Monday, February 12

    Penny Lawrence, ex-deputy chief for the British charitable organization Oxfam, resigned because of her inability to act immediately in response to the sexual misconduct scandal involving Oxfam workers volunteering in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.

    Tuesday, February 13

    Chinese prosecutors have charged senior politician Sun Zhengcai with bribery. He is accused of “illegally accepting a huge amount of assets from others” during his various posts over the years , the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing prosecutors.

    Wednesday, February 14

    Florida High School shooter was identified as 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz.

    Thursday, February 15

    Authorities said three skiers died after being swept away by an avalanche in the French Pyrenees.

    Friday, February 16

    Italian police turned water cannons on anti-fascist protesters in Bologna who were trying to disrupt a planned campaign appearance by the head of the neo-fascist Forza Nuova.

    Saturday, February 17

    Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman, the son of two Holocaust survivors, questioned Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki regarding a controversial bill on the Holocaust.

    Sunday, February 18

    The Israeli military said it struck 18 targets in the Gaza Strip overnight, in response to an explosive device that wounded four soldiers along the border with the territory, as Gaza officials said the bodies of two Palestinian teenagers who were killed trying to infiltrate Israel were recovered Sunday.

    Monday, February 19

    Islamic State militants ambushed a group of Iraq’s Shiite-led paramilitary fighters, killing at least 27.

    Tuesday, February 20

    Search-and-rescue teams on Tuesday offered the first images of the site of an airplane crash in southern Iran that killed 65 people.

    Wednesday, February 21

    An unidentified man threw an explosive device at the US Embassy’s headquarters in Podgorica.

    *Information for this segment was used from the World Digest section of the Washington Post*

  • ‘One Out Of Five Young People Have A Mental Disorder’

    C.A.R.E. Center counselor Michael Grey appeared on 93.5 KDAY for an interview about America’s Education System. The interview was about 38 minutes long. Joining Grey during the invterview were Hershel Dennis, Poly class of 2002, head trainer and chairman at Team Hustle, and Arlana Walton, Poly class of 2006 and current professor at Long Beach City College.

    To start the interview off everyone introduces themselves and shares what they do. Then Grey shares shocking statistics. Grey said, “1 out of 5 young people have a mental health condition, 1 out of 8 people have an anxiety disorder.” That means anyone around you could have a mental health problem. Family, friends, or even you could have mental health disorder.

    Grey also mentioned in the interview that most mental health disorders are developed around the early age of 14 years old. “The average time that people usually get help is between 8 – 10 years after they find out. 15% of students 14  years and older end up dropping out of high school.” Kids are dropping out due to mental health issues maybe because they are being bullied due to those mental health issues. People should get help as soon as possible and not wait 8 or more years to finally get the help that they need.

    “Suicides have tripled among 10 – 14 year old young women since 2007,” Grey said in the interview. Walton said, “I realized we needed more for our youth…what if we do not sing or dance? What if we do not do sports?” Society is mainly focused on the fancy rich life which mostly focuses on the dancers, singers, actors, and sports players. But what about the rest of us? We grow up hearing about all those famous people but not the important jobs. We should pay attention to the more realistic jobs so the youth can see the other things we can do in life.

    Dennis said, “That is why we paired up with Mr. Grey to spread the importance of the academics.”

  • ROTC Pays College Tuition

    ROTC Pays College Tuition

    It is officially college season and this is the time when high school seniors are working on college applications and looking for any and all ways to get money for tuition.

    Unfortunately, not all scholarships guarantee a full ride for college. However there is always the choice of a military scholarship that does in fact pay for all years of a student’s college education. The Air Force, Army, and Navy branches of the military have Reserved Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs in colleges that give scholarships to anyone willing to apply.

    While the scholarship provides students with full college tuition, in return the student has to be committed before the start of their sophomore year in college to stay in the program while they remain in school. That student has to not only be committed to the ROTC program but also to being a commissioned officer in the military at a minimum of four years after college. The choice of being enlisted to the military is always a choice but there is also the choice of going into the military as a Health professional; there are many choices for health professions in the military, anyone can be anything from a Doctor to Obstetrician to Veterinarian and anything in between.

    Unfortunately neither the Marines nor the Coast Guard have the option of ROTC for college students but they do have something similar. The Marines have an option under the Naval ROTC program that allows students to apply for a Marine Corps scholarship and the Coast Guard has a separate program called the College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative that gives students who may be interested, the chance to get a scholarship as well.

  • DACA is Still a Thing

    DACA is Still a Thing

    About 9 months into his presidency, Donald Trump has managed to repeatedly mortify many Hispanic families. Apart from the fact that he is still working on building his “border wall,” he has repealed DACA impacting many Hispanic members who were part of the program.

    The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was created by former President Barack Obama in 2012 and allows certain people, or Dreamers, who come to the U.S. illegally as minors to be protected from immediate deportation. Recipients are able to request “consideration of deferred action” for a period of two years which is then to be renewed.

    DACA increased wages and labor-force participation of DACA-eligible immigrants and has increased the odds for a career and better standards of living than previous family members.

    One Poly student has felt the impact of Trump’s DACA repeal.

    “I, out of my whole family and my two brothers, am a DACA recipient,” the anonymous student said. “One of them is graduating this year and when he got the news it struck our whole family hard.’’

    Around 800 college and university presidents have signed their institutions support onto a letter urging Congress to pass legislation as soon as possible to permanently protect Dreamers. These universities would like to provide security for dreamers who currently study on their campuses, and who will be seeking an education with their establishments in the future.

    “Colleges and universities have seen these remarkable people up close, in our classrooms and as our colleagues and friends,” according to the letter posed to congressional representatives. “Despite the challenges they face, they have made incredible contributions to our country and its economy and security.”

    Many people think that DACA is no longer an issue, however, it still impacts a wide variety of Poly’s surrounding communities.

    “The repealing of DACA was a big hit to many other families and I know, some way, my family such as other families will not stop fighting for our loved one’s dreams,” the anonymous DACA recipient said.

  • Video Class Receives Grant

    Video Class Receives Grant

    Contemporary Video is a class that allows students to explore the world of film, from scriptwriting to editing. The class can be difficult for students, even more so without the proper equipment. Contemporary Video teacher Laura Stringer realized this problem and set out a plan of action to get the necessary funds for her class.

    “I’ve never really taught this kind of class before, which in itself can be difficult, but not having the proper equipment doubles the challenge,” Stringer said.

    She, along with the other film teachers in the Long Beach Unified School District sought out for a grant.

    The Career for Technical Education (CTE) decided to give a state grant of a $200,000 range to the teachers. The changes within our school are already inaction, as room 804 received new computers on October 26.

    “These are from the last millennium,” Stringer sang in pure excitement as she and her class carried out the outdated machines. Her wooden tables are the next to go, and she has plans for a new layout for her room for the following year.

    New air conditioners and a possible field trip are expected to be in her possession by spring. By December, she plans to obtain new cameras, desks, and blackout curtains.

    “We can practice filming some sort of show for the school, with the curtains,” Stringer said with a wide smile. “Maybe with news, maybe even with The High Life, anything really. I went back [to college] for my credential just for this class. I’m very excited.”

    Contemporary video is a PARTS class, which offers students a chance to expose themselves to careers in film beyond college. The goal of the class is for the students to have a hands-on experience in filmmaking.

    Although the class does have the new Mac computers installed and ready to use, the class itself is far from ready. Students are to use their own personal devices as there are not any cameras. Any editing is to be on hold until the spring.

  • Additional Beauty on Campus

    Additional Beauty on Campus

    Poly’s very own Japanese garden is under construction. Seniors Lily Brossus and Aidan Harper are two of this year’s International Ambassadors who are in the process of creating the garden. The two students are working on this project along with project director Jeanette Schelin, who also worked on the Japanese garden at California State University Long Beach. According to Brossus, “It started when Aidan and I were accepted as the 2017 Trio Ambassadors to visit [Long Beach’s] sister country in Yokkaichi, Japan.”

    Seeing as Brossus and Harper are both very passionate about the Japanese language and culture, International Ambassadors gave them an opportunity to spread that love to Poly from now until forever. The garden’s purpose is to represent friendship between the cities of Long Beach and Yokkaichi while highlighting Poly’s Japanese program and student diversity. Brossus and Harper both hope to educate others on the Japanese culture through the making of this garden.

    “Together, as ambassadors, our ultimate goal is inclusion.” Brossus said. “We want to leave a legacy that benefits and includes all the members of the Poly family.”  When asked how she felt about the project on a personal level, Lily Brossus went on to say that, “Personally, the three weeks I spent in Japan this summer are very special to me. This garden will be a physical presentation of my love for Japan, and kind of my thank you for the experience. I hope the uniquely kind, and welcoming spirit of Japan will exist in the garden.”

    Poly is now waiting for the plot of land, which is next to the language building, to be constructed. The project is hoped to be completed by the end of November. The Japanese club has agreed to tend not only to the physical aspect of it but also the legacy and publicity. Club members will receive service learning hours for their time.

    Brossus explained how grateful she and Harper are for the grounds keepers who are currently working on the plumbing and preparation for the garden’s land. At the homecoming game  on Friday, October 20 Brossus, Harper, and other Ambassadors will be honored.

  • An Ongoing Trial

    On April 23, 2013, 42-year-old Christopher Waters was murdered, and it hasn’t been until recently that the trial for the alleged perpetrators began.

    In a phone interview, Deputy District Attorney Brian Kang said the crime scene was discovered shortly after the murder took place.

    “The police were notified, and the fire department were notified of a fire that was happening in Rancho Palos Verdes,” Kang said. “When the fire department arrived, they found that on a private property that had a basketball court on it was [an] SUV that was on fire. The homeowner, you know, didn’t know where the SUV came from. They put out the fire, and when they put out the fire, they found that in the back of it was a human body.”

    According to Kang, police were notified after the fire department found the body, and the homicide detectives began their investigation.

    “What they found through the investigation,” Kang said, “was that there were two Long Beach Poly students who were involved.”

    Kang explained that one of the students was 18 years old at the time and considered an adult, while the other was 17 years old and considered a minor.

    The adult was Jose Angel Martinez. The Press Telegram and the LA Times have reported that the minor, who was originally charged as an adult, was Angel Beruman. At the time, both were seniors at Poly.

    The crime was committed long before the burning SUV was discovered by the authorities, according to Kang.

    “We found out that the crime actually occurred at the home of one of the two students,” Kang said. “They beat him, they strangled him, and killed him.”

    Kang said that afterwards, the two drove the body to what they thought was a remote, private location and then burned the car with Waters inside.

    According to an LA Times article, the minor went to the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) to speak to the homicide detectives on Waters’ case. However, authorities were not able to comment on what he said during that time.

    Deputy Los Angeles County District Attorney Diana Martinez explained that, after the minor spoke with the LBPD, the suspects were taken to county jail to be held until trial. However, if found guilty, they will be sent to state prison.

    Kang said that the motive for the murder of Waters was robbery.

    Poly health teacher Danielle Sawyer explained that one of the alleged suspects, Jose Angel Martinez, was in her AVID class for his first three years of high school.

    “When I first had him freshman year, he was one of my smartest kids in the class,” Sawyer said. “He understood complicated concepts better than any other kid in my 9th-grade class. He was supreme in math and was usually ahead of his peers when it came to math, and he had a nice breadth of vocabulary for a 9th-grade student.”

    Sawyer said that she noticed Martinez right away and was instantly impressed. However, she explained that he often downplayed his intelligence and would act as if he were the class clown.

    Martinez and his family became close with Sawyer, and she explained the teacher-student-family relationship.

    “I developed a really close relationship with [Martinez] because I was helping him in that way, but also developing a relationship with his dad,” Sawyer said. “His dad and I got really close, because I saw a different side of Jose, so I had a good relationship with his family, his teachers, and with him, and he was a really good kid.”

    For Martinez’s senior year, he started a business, according to Sawyer.

    “Senior year, he met another young man who is currently being tried for the same crime as a minor,” Sawyer said. “They started a business together, and they were doing really well. It was a graphic T-shirt design business, and Jose felt like it was really going somewhere. I know they were doing pretty good at it. Then, someone they were doing business with, their relationship went awry, and now they are at where they are at.”

    Sawyer then went on to explain her reaction to the 2013 news at the time of the crime.

    “[Martinez] came into my room a week earlier to print out a paper, and I was asking him about his life. I said that I hadn’t seen him in a couple of weeks, and he said everything was great,” she said. “Then, a week later, [the AVID students] heard before I did, and told me that he was arrested and what the potential crime was, and I cried when I heard about it, and when I cried, some of the other kids cried, because they were definitely Jose fans and were sad about what they heard.”

    Martinez was one of Sawyer’s students, so she was able to speak on his behalf. However, Sawyer explained that she didn’t know the other student, and thus, she couldn’t do the same for the minor.

    Though the crime took place in 2013, the trial phase of the investigation did not start until recently. Kang explained a few reasons as to why the trial has been delayed for the last four years.

    “As prosecutors, what we do is we get the evidence from the police agencies, and then we turn that over to the defense,” Kang said. “Sometimes it gets delayed. I can’t speak to what happened before I got on the case, but when I got on the case there were a couple of different delays because either the defense attorneys were on trial or we would get new information, and once we got that new information, we would give it to the defense, then they have to have time to prepare the case.”

    Kang explained that for the case it was important for the defense to have as much time and information as possible going into the trial.

    The verdict has already been delivered for the adult defendant, Martinez, who was the suspect Kang prosecuted.

    “One of the defendants, Mr. Martinez, he was convicted,” Kang said. “We are going to have sentencing in about a month and a half.”

    As for the minor, Kang said that they have to go through a completely different process than Martinez had to undergo. “Before, I guess, a year ago or a year and a half ago, if a minor committed certain types of crime that met certain criteria, we used to be able to file directly in adult court,” Kang said. “So, what would happen is, we would file, even though the person is a minor, we would direct file because it’s how serious the crime is or some other factors.”

    Initially, the minor was to be tried as an adult, however, after the passing Prop 57 in 2016, the minor’s case was moved to juvenile court which will decide whether he should be tried as an adult. Prop 57 states that the juvenile court has the right to decide whether a minor 14 years or older should be prosecuted in adult court or juvenile court.

    This also explains why the two defendants’ cases had to be prosecuted separately, and it is one of the reasons why the adult defendant had a quicker trial.

    Kang said that after he prosecuted Martinez, he was transferred and was no longer on the minor’s case.

    Even though Kang is not on the juvenile’s case any longer, he stated that he thinks the trial’s end should be no sooner than six months from now.

    Overall, Kang explained that the case has been sensitive for the Waters family, and the end is finally near after the four years of waiting for answers.

    “I was just really glad to allow the family to get some measure of closure,” Kang said. “It’s been a long journey for them, and to allow justice to be served in a sense. In this case, it came very slowly, but we got there.”

  • Recycle Now!

    Recycle Now!

    Facts are important, extremely important. When Intensive Studies teacher Tonia Schwichtenberg voiced the controversy surrounding Poly’s recycling program, it was apparent that there were many misunderstandings.

    During certain periods of the day, students with intellectual disabilities can be seen picking up and recycling bottles and cans.
    The point Schwichtenberg has been trying to get across is that the students participating in this program are choosing to participate.
    “It’s a school-wide program that is their choice to be a part of,” Schwichtenberg said. “It is NOT trash pick up. I need everybody to understand that.”
    To clear up any confusion and end the recycling program’s negative connotation, a list of facts was included and discussed by Schwichtenberg herself.

    Schwichtenberg’s List of Facts:
    1. The program is not a trash pick up. The students recycle cans and bottles, and it is called Recycle Now.
    2. Recycle Now was designed by and for students who have intellectual disabilities.
    3. Students involved in Recycle Now use the bottles and cans recycled each day to create reusable products, such as backpacks and rulers.
    4. Recycle Now is a paid job for students who are interested.
    5. Students that choose to be a part of the program have to go through an application process to be picked for the position. 6. Schwichtenberg and her students began Recycle Now around 19 years ago and have proven the success of the program each day. The students that have this job recycle around 3,000 pounds of bottles and cans on the Poly campus each year, and Recycle Now has been honored with various awards from the City.

    Recycle Now has been beneficial for students with disabilities, and the program will continue to thrive. There is always more than what meets the eye.