rhsnewswire.net

Reporter: Kelsey Chew

         It has come to the attention of many residents of California that this year in November, marijuana might be legalized. Marijuana comes from two plants that are so closely related they are probably the same species. According to this website www.thebody.com/content/art6068.html, the plants are Cannabissativa (marijuana/hemp), and Cannabis indica,a bushier variety grown simply for its psychoactive (brain-altering) qualities. Cannabis produces male and female plants, and both of them contain delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol .Female plants, especially those that are not allowed to pollinate, or fertilize another plant, contain the highest concentrations of THC. Marijuana was later found to have other health benefits. It can lower pressure within the eye. This helps treat glaucoma, an eye disease which can cause blindness. Marijuana also reduces nausea and vomiting in patients taking chemotherapy treatment for cancer. It reduces muscle spasms in people with nerve problems like multiple sclerosis and can help treat some types of pain. These uses led to the development of the drug dronabinol Marinol, a synthetic version of THC. For example, a senior Roberto Lainez from RHS  stated ” I think legalizing marijuana is a good thing for people who are sick, but at the same time its a bad influence for young teens.  43% of high school seniors reported that they have tried is at least once. Now there is synthetic marijuana a product legally marketed as herbal incense that will reportedly get you high if you smoke it. Erick Almaraz, a senior from RHS stated “I think if marijuana was legalized it would help decrease drug related conviction cases where many people go to jail just for smoking pot” . According to the state of California when you are caught with pot you are suppose to be arrested and taken to jail, depending on the amount you are caught with.  Jose Loera, a junior from RHS stated “Im not really for it because its bad for you and i really dont like the smell, it makes my head hurt and I don’t think it would be smart to legalize something that is bad for you.”

When or if to have sex is the question a great majority of our youth ponder; however, the true question is how to practice safe sex.  Not only do youth have to think about pregnancy, but they must also think about disease they can catch by having unprotected sex.  The safest and most inexpensive method for staying protected is abstinence. Abstinence is basically not having sex at all and restraining from intercourse. By using this method a person can have 100% certainty that they have not contracted any sort of STD (sexually transmitted disease) or are going to become a parent soon. Abstinence, is something that everyone can practice by saying no.  This is sometimes hard to do in the moment. 

On the other hand, for those that choose to be sexually active, there are various methods to prevent pregnancy and/or disease.   Teens have the possibility of using  several methods of birth control. 

In any relationship, both partners share equal amounts of responsibility for anything that they choose to do together, however if either partner is aware that the other is not using any form of protection, then it is their responsibility to make sure to use some. 

Everyone should use protection whenever engaging in sexual activity. There are many different birth control methods that could be used. You could always use condoms but they don’t always work. There are many options. Many girls are afraid to use these methods, because all of them could have side effects. It’s important to address the issue of birth control when students are sexually active. Many teens don’t and they end up with unwanted or untimely pregnancies. Birth control is a way for men and women to prevent pregnancy. There are many different methods of birth control, including hormonal contraception such as “the pill.” There is also the ring and the injection. All these methods could prevent pregnancy but also it regulates your period. It has other side effects. Eduardo Cacho stated “It made my ex loose her hair.” Also many girls are afraid to use birth control so they just go with condoms. I’m scare to use it” as Jennifer Vasquez stated. She has never tried birth control pills and does not plan to. The pill is taken by mouth by the woman to prevent pregnancy, and when taken correctly, is up to 99.9% effective. The injection known as the Depot Medroxyprogesterone Acetate, is a hormone injection that lasts for 3 months to prevent pregnancy. The hormones in the ring affect the ovaries and the uterus in order to prevent pregnancy. Well these are some methods of birth control but if you want to know more about birth control go to the CIS building to get further information.

March 5, 2010 – Friday

Viewing @ St. Josephs in San Pablo  Rolling Wood Street *9:00am – 11:00am

Mass @ St. Cornelious on McDonald Street *12:00pm – 28th Street *201, Richmond, CA  94804

Burial/Funeral St Josephs Cemetary *1:30pm – 2560 Church Lane, San Pableo, CA  94806

Reporter: Karolan Medina

There have been several cases of influenza throughout history, but some say that the H1N1 flu has received a lot more attention. The virus is transferred from animals to humans, but it is rumored that it might depend on race. Several people think H1N1 has gotten an excessive level of attention because the illness originated from Mexico. According to WikiAnswer, “there has been about 25,000 people that died each day in the year of 2003” which was just before the food crisis. We have issues that have not been taken care of for many centuries: like poverty, aids, drugs, flu (other than the H1N1), gang violence or violence itself. Yet the H1N1 flu that has killed 6,707 people gets so much more attention. People are freaking out. Erica Ventura, a senior at Richmond High School, said, “people should not take what the media says about the swine flu so seriously, because we have flu’s yearly that cause people to die.” This flu has gotten so much attention from the media compared to the other flu’s that have caused larger amounts of people to die. Why is this one so special? According to Wikipedia “50 to 100 million people died from the Spanish flu, from March 1918 to June 1920.” The Spanish flu was world wide.  The difference between the Spanish Flu and the H1N1 is the Spanish flu killed middle age citizens and the H1N1 has mainly killed elderly people and younger people with weaker immune systems.

Who: Mr. Bremond
What: Street Soldiers
When: Every Thursday during lunch
Where: Bremond’s class room 650
Why:  To stay alive and reduce violence

Many Americans do not have health insurance coverage – either because they are unable to afford it or obtain it. Some students even have to stay out of school in order to care for ill family members. They are often forced to search for employment to pay for their family’s high medical bills.

This issue is having a drastic effect on students, who instead of worrying about health care should be concentrating in school.  Students have plenty to worry about: death from disease, general health problems and the H1N1 virus.   These Americans will be those who cannot afford health insurance or those that do not know how to get it. Even working Americans who undergo surgical procedures are having to return to work before their recovery period is over in order to pay for their medical bills.

 Jeffrey Humble, 16, a Richmond High School student, has medical insurance, but it does not cover everything. He and his family do their best to “stay healthy” and “away from danger.” Although they have no problem paying for the insurance, when they need to visit the doctor they end up receiving a large bill in the mail.

In Victor Velazquez’ family the only insured members are he and his younger brother. His parents do not have health insurance and that is why they try to take good care of themselves to stay as healthy as possible. In their home they have lots of medicine and first aid supplies. Once when Victor was having difficulty breathing they had no other choice but to call an ambulance, In the end cost them around $2,000. “Health comes first,” he said, “So when there’s an emergency we don’t think about how high the bill will be, we think of our health.”

The family of Yahana Armendriz, who is 17 and attends Richmond High School, has no health insurance.“I went to the hospital once because I was feeling really bad,” she said, “They had me wait for a while, and then when they called me in they told me that I would have to wait for a whole week for just one appointment.” Many people are severely sick but are denied treatment by a doctor because they do not have health insurance. What if Yahana had a contagious illness it or in a worst case scenario a deadly condition? It is important that every individual in this nation have health insurance, not just for their personal well being but that of everyone around them. It is a person’s right to be able to see a doctor when they are ill.

Many people like Yahana’s mother, who studied nursing, have to take care of their own families with home remedies or other resources at hand. Yahana, like many other young people, plays sports – in her case soccer. When she gets injured her mother has no choice but to find some way to treat her without going to the doctor.

Luckily there are students who do have health insurance. One of them is Harold Guerra, who is 16. His health insurance plan charges him only $5 for every doctor’s visit. He pays nothing for prescriptions. Other students at Richmond High depend on the Communities in Schools program for STD testing, advice from personal counselors, birth control, sports physicals, eye testing and more. It is like a personal hospital and the best thing about it is that the student’s visits are confidential, so their parents will not find out.

Many Americans desire affordable health care for the future because otherwise there will be more people catching dangerous diseases and dying. This affects not just one person or one group of people, but everyone no matter the age.

Join the Richmond, California community in a healing event.  A candle light vigil will take place in front of Richmond High School on Tuesday, November 3rd from 3:30-5:30.  The community wants to come together and take a stand against violence.  According to Anna Hurtado, a student active in planning the event,  ”spread out the word about the candle light vigil to have peace in this school.”  There will be spoken word, music, dance, and a speak out during the vigil.

Please wear white. 

For more information contact YES youth Enrichment Strategies at www.yesfamilies.org

Richmond High School (RHS) students, teachers, and community members fed up with government spending marched and protested in front of Richmond High School (RHS)  on Friday, September 11, showing their disdain for the president’s health care plan, with slogans such as “Obamacare makes me sick” and “I’m not your ATM.”   Ms. Kadri, a Law Academy teacher at Richmond High (RHS),  set out to the front of the school with some of her students, Jennifer Barraza,  Marcos Gonzales,  Omar Ceja,  Benito Jaime,  Raul Gonzales,  Omar Irison,  Christian Pompa,  Sandra Hernandes, and Mona Barraza.
 The line of protesters clogged a block ( 23rd), the sidewalk was covered, people spilled onto the street.  Demonstrators chanted “enough, enough”.  Others yelled “Free Health Care, Free Health Care!.”  Throngs of people waved at cars and held signs reading “Free Health Care” and “Be fair free Health Care.” Marcos Gonzalez, a student from Richmond High, came from Vallejo, CA.   He said “health care needs to be reformed – but not according to President Barack Obama’s plan.”

According to the website “Rock The Vote” an unbelievable story coming out of Oxford, where a 22-year old woman died this week after reportedly suffering from swine flu and delayed getting medical treatment because she did not have health insurance.
According to the book, “America’s Health Care Crisis Solved,” by J. Patrick Rooney & Dan Perrin.

                There is no question about it; the system is broken ! Young people are not well-served by the current   employer-based system AND 59% of young people working full time jobs aren’t provided coverage. Americans between ages 18 and 29 are the most uninsured age group in the country. We need reform that provides options for young Americans.

Reporters : Jennifer Barraza M., Sandra Hernandez

Most students at Richmond High School (RHS) want to change the school menu.  Students have wanted this change for a very long time, but unfortunately they are not heard.  Rhsnewswire reporters asked around 20 students what they thought about the school lunch. 

1.  If you were to decide on what you wanted to change from the RHS, what would it be and how would you plan to change this issue?                                                                               

First of all, many students at RHS believe the food is disgusting and not very nutritional; they don’t give enough healthy snacks like fruits and vegetables or fresh cooked food but what they do give students is junk food.  For example, corn nuts, gummy bears, chips, rice crispy and other types of candy. RHS menu is greasy pizzas, stalled hamburgers that look like horse meat, chicken teriyaki, yogurt, burritos, and salads with browning lettuce. The food is not well cooked it’s always dripping with grease and it doesn’t taste like what it’s suppose to taste like.  It’s not very appetizing and does not prepare students for activities.   For example, freshmen and sophomore PE is a very important class to pass.  If students don’t pass PE, they won’t graduate. 

Second, another thing students are doing to get food is going off campus.  They risk getting caught, even though they know the school is closed campus. The RHS policy is a Closed Campus.  A closed campus means, no students are able to leave the gates of school without their parent’s permission. Students will receive a detention or a suspension for leaving campus. 

 Twenty RHS students were interviewed and one Para Professional.  Students and staff don’t eat here. They call up restaurants or their parents bring food. Or they leave campus to Mario’s, Burger King, Mac Donald’s, and Phila Burger; even though these restaurants are not good choices either.  These are the only choices given to the community. They are always nutritious, appetizing, or cooked

A Para Professional from RHS, Debbie Dickerson told this reporter how food was when she came here. She said “they had many varieties of food” and it was actually cooked at school and wasn’t pre-packaged.  She calls today’s food “mystery lunch.”    The food was always hot and the cafeteria seems like a home town buffet because of the varieties of food they had. Now she works here at RHS and she sees the “differences from back then and now”, said Debbie Dickerson. 

A student from RHS, Maria Rojas, told us that when she was biting down on a pizza that it wasn’t well cooked, dripping with grease and later on got her sick. “I haven’t eaten at school for a very long time since that accident happened it got me sick,” said Maria Rojas.

Another student from Richmond High, Kevin Gil, said “I once drank the from a milk carton from the school and threw up because it was sour and rotten! “What a horrible experience!” said Kevin Gil. And from then his always buys his food at stores or brings food from his house because he doesn’t like the food from Richmond High.  

Cafeteria co-worker Pat SanMiguel has been working here at RHS “I’ve been working here since December 13, 1976. They use to sell Mc Donald’s and Taco Bell right here on campus, according to Pat. She said, “since I can remember they used to cook here and students were given the option to choice from foods like Mc Donald’s, Taco Bell’ and other fast food restaurants.”  Pat told us the school has been getting our food from Down Town for the last 10 years and “it’s being pre-packaged.”  She was asked what the name of the company was that packaged the food, she said, “I don’t know the company name, I just know it comes from downtown.”

Students are asking for change!   They want less greasy hamburgers, Mexican food, Chinese food, healthy snacks, vegetarian options, and giving student the option to see the nutrition chart because there not given that option. 

 If the school were to listen to the students and help them on these issue students from RHS would be better at school and not getting off campus and start eating at school and eating healthier.  Our test scores would go up, our bodies would be healthier and our minds would be focused on out learning.