Prom 2009
Holly Lyon
DIGITAL MEDIA EDITOR
Senior year
is the best year of high school, according to most students. There are many activities
throughout the school year that honor the senior class, including Senior
Sunrise,
These fun events, however, only take place during the first semester, leaving the second semester as a final stretch for summer without anything fun to keep the seniors occupied. That is why the seniors have Prom in the end of May.
The senior
Prom may not be a big deal in other schools, but here at Vaca High, students go
all out. Girls spend huge amounts of money on expensive dresses and fancy hair
salons, while the guys shell out money to Tuxedo Den and Sports Clips in order
to look good on the big day. Limo after limo merges onto the freeway, headed
towards
On May 23, Seniors and Juniors, and even a few Sophomores and Freshmen stepped into their freshly dry cleaned and altered dresses or starched tuxes and headed out. Most groups went out to fancy places for dinner, like the Cheesecake Factory or the Carnelian Room, but some stayed at home for a nice money-friendly meal.
After delicious
food and plenty of pictures from doting parents, the guys and girls climbed
into their overpriced limos and took off for the
Once inside, guests rushed to the back of the building toward the bathrooms for a quick hair and makeup check, then headed to get their pictures taken. After posing for a few shots, everyone crowded on the couches and chairs on the edges of the dance floor, impatient for the dance to begin.
When the first song began to play, everyone crammed into the center of the floor, making it nearly impossible to move. After a few songs, dancers moved off to get some drinks or cookies, and movement became possible.
The DJ proved himself right away by
announcing that he would play anything that was requested, and then proceeded
to play the Pokémon theme song. Although there were only a handful of people
actually dancing to the song, everyone shared a laugh.
As the night went on, dancers
soon found their energy rapidly waning. Couples cuddled together on the couches
while those with a lot of stamina danced away on the floor. When the night came
to a close, everyone stampeded the coat check room and piled back into their
limos, ready to go home (or a hotel).
Overall, Vaca High’s Prom of 2009 was a great success, and I personally can’t wait for what next year has in store.
Living Construction
By Nicole Ehman
BARK STAFF WRITER
The life of a construction worker isn't all about drills, nails, and oversized lunch pails. It takes true dedication and hard work. So, to get some background information I decided to interview a real life construction worker, Hector Barbra.
Hector loves his job. What keeps things interesting is the fact that his work is "constantly changing and evolving."
What he loves most about his job is "the feeling of accomplishment when we finish building something important, and stepping back to look at it."
The most difficult part of his job is dealing with so many different individuals, and trying to decide who to assign what tasks in order to get the job done.
Tragic events, however, are inevitable in this field of work.
"A guy had to be life-flighted on a helicopter because he fell off a bridge working over a river."
And of course, not every tragedy is an accident.
"I've seen some crazy people commit suicide on bridges I helped build. It's pretty scary."
Other than that negative aspect of his job, a positive thing that keeps him going is knowing that he is providing for his family.
All in the Family
By Joel Cribb
BARK STAFF WRITER
Robert Wright, aged 68, views himself as having had multiple lives in his single lifetime.
As a young child, his family in Alabama owned a farm, and only had enough labor to do half the work. In result, he spent the better part of his childhood living on the farm, and working on it every morning before and after school.
However, when he reached the age of 18, he entered the military through the Air Force, where he received instruction in flying small propeller aircraft. However, he found the military not to be quite what he was meant to do when he was discharged for not being able to conform.
Upon his return to civilian life, Wright decided not to go back to the farm, and instead became a logger in the Northwestern part of the U.S. He found this much to his liking, an denjoyed the danger involved in hauling logs down the steep mountain in heavy machines.
"There were guys-rookies-who would decide they were good enough drivers to haul those logs down that hill at ninety degrees," said Robert, "They mostly got crushed flat. It was pretty close to the same as working in a sawmill, with all the chainsaws and wood and machines, except mixed with the danger of those coal mines up in West Virginia, with the dark forest, the threat of failing machinery, and the fear of being crushed at any odd moment of the day."
Wright earned enough money to relocate to California, where he started building houses with a company working in Sacramento. Among the houses he built are three that he's lived in, including his present home, and the next one he plans to move into.
In the early fifties, Wright met Wilda, his current wife. In 1964, they had their first son, Daniel Cribb (who is my father).
Wilda had recently moved west from North Carolina with her ex-husband, and moved with Wright to San Francisco, where they had another son, Steven. When Steven was eight years old, the Wrights and the Cribbs moved back to Sacramento, where they live today.
Robert is currently working on a new house, which he regards as his masterpiece. He hopes to see it completed so that his children might have a chance to live in his when he's passed away.
"It's a blessing to be this age and still be able to hold a hammer. It's my house now, but I hope that it stays in the family."
By Joel Cribb
BARK STAFF WRITER
When a subject concerning high school students comes up among an older audience, it often arises that highschoolers are chronic complainers. Adults often ask their teens, "what have you got to complain about?"
An answer may possibly be found in the resemblance of schools to various types ofgovernments, most prominently non-democratic governments.
Beginning in elementary schools, the school administration is that ruling minority, with the principal as the head oligarch. As second graders, students often have a mild to severe fear of their principal, respect for and/or a high regard of their teacher, and no question as to whether what they learn really needs to be taught to them or not.
For elementary schools, this means that the level of opposition to teaching methods, dislike of teachers or other campus staff, and the level of hostility among students remains relatively low compared to the next step in the school system: middle school.
Middle school rivals high school in its endless droves of repellent folklore. In fact, the stories that come out of those two years between high school and elementary school often make up all of the complaints anybody over thirty has about anybody under twenty five.
Starting in seventh grade, students become aware that they're not there by choice. Along with this, there comes a growing adversity to coming to school, and to paying attention in class.
Eventually, newly come seventh graders join the madness and feel like they're fighting the school system instead of going through it. Students either give up completely in middle school, or start the series of yearlong battles that ends when you graduate from high school.
As a result of the apparent repression students feel when force-fed all of the information they need to learn in order to advance to the next grade, hostility toward the "authority figures" at their schools grows exponentially.
Nobody, especially a teenager, takes very well to being forced to do things that the don't like, and since these young people are being forced daily to sit in desks and regurgitate and memorize mindless facts, figures, and abstract ideas of every sort, they turn to find someone to blame and form a timeless opposition against.
The war of Student vs. Administration is a seemingly endless one, often culminating in events such as the 2008 illegalization of the firing of newspaper supervisors on the grounds of the administration not liking the content of the paper.
No matter how many people go around acting lie they're great buddies with the principal and vice principal, very few are actually fond of anybody working in the front office. These feelings seldom change, all the way through high school.
Upon graduating to the ninth grade, the opposition to the staff's oligarchy is complete and widespread. At this point, all students really want is to get out of high school in order to leave the site of their suffering for greener pastures, less daily schooling and indoctrination, and a life in the land of cheap Coke and Top Ramen.
If this is the story for the entire California school system, then I'm both incredibly ecstatic at my being so amazingly accurate, and also suggesting that something be changed in a quick and expeditious manner.
However many billions of times you try to drill it into student's heads that the incentive for school is college, it won't make any difference, as they've been told that so many times that they either already expect that they'll automatically be let into college, or they'll have given up on it altogether. They're likely so saturated in their hate for all things school related that college is no incentive at all, but an even longer sentence.
What schools may need to do is invent some new kind of incentive system within their districts. It's not my area of expertise, so I have no suggestions as to what, but students need to not be force-fed all the way through school. In order to learn effectively, we need to want to know.
Dodge ball
By Maranna Berry
BARK STAFF WRITER
This new dodge ball season is pointless. It is boring but also entertaining at the same time. This may seem impossible, but to me it's very likely. Dodge ball is just another thing that is put on at lunch by the school. Being known as the "champions of dodge ball" seem to be the only reason people participate. Honestly, if my brother, sophomore Tyler Sewell, on team 2/3, wasn't playing, I wouldn't give dodge ball any recognition.
The room that dodge ball is played in is cramped. The gym at Vacaville High School is barely big enough for rallys, basketball games, wrestling duels, or any other events. How on earth did anyone think that the gym was a good idea? People have to RUN from their classes to the gym just to TRY to get a seat in the gym. Wouldn't it be a good idea to have tournaments on the football field? When there's a big open space like that, there seems to be no good reasons to use it. (Especially since some people make such a big deal about dodge ball).
Haley Monson and Crystal Linder explained that, "dodge ball is cramped and it's annoying to have to cramp together just to get a good seat." If students are complaining about something that they are participating in, the administration, or someone of high power should start listening.
Another negative for dodge ball is all the cheating that happens due to lack of the judges, or administration, paying attention. Many people, such as Taylor Barnes, a Junior at VHS, have said that teams who are so set on winning that they cheat profusely. When a player is hit by a ball and called out, they will wait seconds before returning to the game. This is due to little attention from the judges duringthe games.
Dodge ball needs many transitions to become "good" or entertaining enough for all crowds. There is no point to the game and since dodge ball started I have heard no information about the standings. If it was so important, wouldn't people want to show information about it to the world to get more viewers and more people interested?
Dodge ball is pointless and until someone changes the game, my opinion, as well as many other people, will not change.
A Freshman Look back
By Emma Villa
Bark Staff Writer
People often say that high school is a scary place. Filled with more people, more drama, and harder classes. Surprisingly, high school hasn’t been all of that for me. Luckily, everyone at Vaca High is helpful and makes sure freshmen have an amazing time.
Vaca High puts on so many events for freshmen that I’m almost sad the year’s coming to an end. The fist event they had was the orientation. I was nervous for this, knowing I would soon be starting high school. At the orientation, a speaker said that you don’t want to be one of the people just observing things. That was very inspirational to me. Ever since he said that I’ve made a point to try and make it to all of the events.
At the football games, you could always find me in the crowd. My friends and I would cheer on the team, even if we didn’t know what was going on.
The homecoming week was amazing! Black and orange streamers painted the whole school in spirit. People decked themselves out to fit the theme of the day.
The Black and Blue Bowl was my favorite moment in my freshman year. I was just amazed by how – for the first time in many years- Wood almost won.
It was so fascinating when a Wood player kicked the ball, almost making it through. You could just tell how tense both sides of the stadium were. Wood on one side, thinking they might win, and Vaca High on the other, worried we might lose. It was just by chance that the football bounced off the crossbar just as time ran out. That’s one of the moments I’ll remember forever.
One of the funniest times in my freshmen year was Mr.GQ. Earlier, before Mr.GQ, my friends and I couldn’t stop laughing the moment we got there. After the competition, I could have sworn that my abs had gotten a good workout for all the laughing.
Every moment at the Madison Parkway concert, I thought I would faint! Even though not many of my friends could come, I still had a great time screaming my head off.
The last dance was a little sad. Not many people attended, but my friends and I still had a good time. The room at the dance just had the essence of fun! All we did was dance the night away.
So, as the year comes to a close, I think about all the memories I’ve made. Now thinking back to the orientation, I’m no longer just an observer.