“We’re Going To Be Friends”
By Marina Halbert
When you graduate high school, as I’m about to do in a month, I can promise that the thoughts consuming your time, making you cry, and getting you through those last few classes do not concern the A- you got in Spanish 1, the time you failed a test in AP World History, or the third year in a row that your volleyball team lost to Evergreen High School on their senior night. No, you’ll be thinking about the people you chose to surround yourself with: the friends who’ll be hundreds of miles away starting next fall and the teachers who will still be at Westmont, inspiring students just like you.
Looking back on my years at Westmont, I’m proud to say I have few regrets. I got involved in school spirit, put in full effort on all my classes, and did everything I could to give back to our community. However, it wasn’t until this year that I got my nose out of my textbooks and looked around enough to realize how many incredible, unique, and wonderful people there are at Westmont.
This Day In History
May 28
1889 Édouard and André Michelin incorporate the Michelin tyre company
1892 Sierra Club formed by John Muir and others in San Francisco, for conservation of nature
1928 Dodge Brothers Inc and Chrysler Corporation merge
1936 Alan Turing submits “On Computable Numbers” for publication, in which he set out the theoretical basis for modern computers.
1937 Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1946 Manuel Roxas is inaugurated as the last President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines
1958 French government of Prime Minister Pierre Pflimlin resigns; 200,000 demonstrate against Charles de Gaulle
1976 29th Cannes Film Festival: “Taxi Driver” directed by Martin Scorsese wins the Palme d’Or
1996 U.S. President Bill Clinton’s former business partners in the Whitewater land deal, James McDougal and Susan McDougal, and Arkansas Governor Jim Guy Tucker, are convicted of fraud.
Fun Facts
By Diego Mantelli
– Ortolan, a dish that is illegal in the U.S. and the EU, involves drowning songbirds in cognac, roasting over a live fire, then eating them whole, all under a napkin placed over the heads of people eating it in order to “Protect them from the eyes of god”
– Every aircraft carrier made in WW2 was exactly the same width, so they’d all fit through the Panama canal.
– In WW2, the British started the rumor that eating carrots improves your night vision in order to cover up that they had developed radar.
– The world was almost destroyed in 1964, when a soviet submarine almost fired a nuclear torpedo at a U.S. vessel, but since to launch nuclear weapons required 3 officers, and the third officer refused to authorize the launch, a nuclear war wasn’t set off.
The Daily Explorer: The Lick Observatory
By Emi Gruender
As the first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory, the Lick Observatory has stood in the Diablo Range since 1888, looking over the persistently changing Silicon Valley. This issue, editor Faith Gonia will be joining me in the second ever journey of The Daily Explorer– this time, taking place in the dead of night.
Short Hair, It’s Nice to See You Again
“Why do you have a boy’s haircut?” the classmate next to me curiously asked. In seventh grade, I came out as gay. Ignoring my mother’s concerned warning of “flaunting it,” I also cut off ten inches of hair. I didn’t feel worried though. The only gay woman I knew of was Ellen Degeneres, and if she could rock the pixie, then I could too.
2024’s Teacher of the Year
Commonly found on the pitch or in Room 14, Matthew Schembri does it all. With the teaching of Specialized Academic Instruction, he has found a way to inspire those who know him, leading to him winning 2024 Teacher of the Year!
She’s The Kappen-Man
By Anjali Nayak
“Stay positive,” Senior Amanda Kappenman suggested, “especially when that’s all you can do.”
And that she did.
Along with a big heart, infectious laugh, and impeccable style, Amanda also had a stubbornly resilient attitude that defied laws of nature. Who else would have been able to combat the harshness of chemotherapy and cancer treatment with bright smiles of optimism?
It’s easy to get lost in the imminence of the present and the absoluteness of the past. To wonder and ruminate about each detail of each decision; a paradoxical spiral of apprehension and disbelief. Yet, Amanda inspired me to make the most out of every hour, minute, and moment. “I’ve made the most out of every day,” she grinned, “and I’ve been able to participate in a lifetime worth of experiences I used to only dream of.”
Of course, her mindset showed. Each time I greeted Amanda with a typical “How is your day going?” she answered with a rose rather than a thorn. Even amidst a waking nightmare of MRI scans and painkillers, she found glimmers of positivity: funny moments with her cat Willow, ironic jokes, good movies. Because a glimmer is all it takes. She had the strength to do anything, and while most trip over anthills, Amanda ventured past mountains. Though I write about Amanda in the past tense, her warmth transcends her physical presence. She lives in every person she laughed and cried with.
The Shield dedicates this issue in memory of Amanda Kappenman.
The Shield is an independent publication of the Journalism class at Westmont High School. Editorials reflect the opinion of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Westmont High School, its Board of Trustees, faculty, administration, or students. The Shield welcomes all opinions, editorials, poems, artwork, complaints, pictures, advertisements, and letters to the editor. Submit all material to Room 58. We appreciate articles from students, faculty, parents and subscribers. The Shield, Westmont High School, and CUHSD do not endorse any advertisements that run in the newspaper.
