The School Newspaper of Southwest Career and Technical Academy.

Southwest Shadow

Southwest Shadow

Southwest Shadow
Outlining her shoebox project, sophomore Jaylene Motes leads her group, showing them how to cut out their future classroom. “It’s teaching me ways to make my future students feel safe around me and in my classroom. I like that our class is engaging, that everyone is friends with each other, and that I can talk to my teacher, and that's how I want my class to feel,” Motes said.

Teaching and Training Students Create Miniature Classrooms

Andrew Baier and Kevin Zhao
October 3, 2024
Freshmen, sophomores begin to design their dream classrooms.
Demonstrating the correct piping technique to his class, Chef Michael Hadobas goes into intricate detail about piping roses. Mastery of this technique made it easier for the students later on in the unit. “Knowing exactly how to hold the piping bag is important because just a couple of degrees off can totally change how the finished product looks,” junior Addison Marsh said. “From Chef, I also learned how to move the nail around so that you weren't making more work for yourself and just letting the nail do the work for you.”

Baking & Pastry Students Explore Cake Decorating Techniques

Johnny Tao and Jaden Espinueva
October 3, 2024
With the guidance of Chef Hadobas, the students learned all the skills included in the Cake Decorating unit.
Infographic: Starting a K-pop Collection

Infographic: Starting a K-pop Collection

Kylie Dacquel, Standards and Practices Editor
October 2, 2024
Learn how to begin and continue to grow a collection of items from your favorite groups.
Participating in a fingerprinting activity, senior Roxana Huve assists fellow club member Branden To with applying his own fingerprint to a CD. "I love being able to find and identify fingerprints," Huve said. "It [was] so fun, and looked really nice afterwards."

Criminology, Forensics newest club on campus

Donovan Allan, Staff Writer
October 2, 2024
Club activities include fingerprinting, analysis, and guest speakers.
Focusing on the monitor, junior KJ Palacios participates in a game match. While Palacios was a member of the Esports club last school year, he decided not to participate this year. “Even though it was fun, I wanted to spend my junior year working on my resume for college," Palacios said. "It’s not that I left for any bitter reason, I just wanted to do other things.”

Esports Club ushers in new additions

Donovan Allan, Staff Writer
October 1, 2024
Esports Club introduces new games to their roster.
Where Are They Now: Daniela Garcia-Montiel

Where Are They Now: Daniela Garcia-Montiel

Achilles Caranto, Staff Writer
September 30, 2024
Here’s a look at 2022 graduate Daniela Garcia-Montiel’s life after high school.
The rapid spread of wildfires has had life-threatening effects on California, as well as regions surrounding it. In 2020, the University of California, Irvine (UCI) reported that four million acres were burned across California. “Wildfires will literally come through and burn a large majority of what they come into contact with,” Environmental Science teacher Martha Horner said. “They’ll burn down the trees, the biomes, the houses…People need to be extremely aware of where they live. We are right next door to a region that has the appropriate type of biomass and living plants that are ripe for forest fires to occur in.”

California Wildfires Fueled by Increased Gas Emissions Cause for Concern

Zelina Panissidi and Amelia Castellanos
September 30, 2024
Communities evacuate as flames threaten homes and forests.
The divide between opportunity and affordability grows wider within today’s academic landscape.

You’re Not Behind, You’re Just Poor

Adrienne Vera-Perez, Assistant Editor-in-Chief
September 30, 2024
The academic playing field has become increasingly uneven, spotlighting the widening class divide that separates high schoolers.

Nursing Students Practice Workplace Readiness Skills

Yara Ahmed, Staff Writer
September 30, 2024
Newly hired Nursing teacher Maria Ortega teaches students crucial skills in preparation for tests and clinicals later this year.
With a crochet hook and yarn in hand, Fibers I teacher Brandon Lafountain demonstrates how to join separate crochet pieces together. Students were given the creative freedom to crochet an accessory according to their skill level. “We started with our crochet basics,” Lafountain said. “Now they get to choose either to do a hat or a bag.”

An Hour In … Fibers I

Rylee Del Moral, Shadow Files Reporter
September 28, 2024
Students in Fibers I demonstrate their crochet skills.
Playing on their newly purchased Ping Pong table, PE coaches Anne Kalenowicz and Michele Schmitt rally back and forth. Other pieces of equipment were also ordered to encourage students to exercise. “These are activities that they can continue throughout life,“ Schmitt said. “Our job as a teacher is to introduce them to all these different games so that they have options going forward in terms of working out and such.”

Girl’s PE Switching to Daily Exercises Instead Of the Mile

Johnny Tao, Staff Writer
September 27, 2024
Female students will now focus on daily body conditioning activities alongside their usual sport, as opposed to running the mile every two weeks.
'Best Halloween Candy' Contest

‘Best Halloween Candy’ Contest

Zelina Panissidi, Social Media Editor
September 27, 2024
Tell us your favorite Halloween Candy for a chance to win.
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