The School Newspaper of Southwest Career and Technical Academy.

Southwest Shadow

Southwest Shadow

Southwest Shadow
Lots of students have major tunnel vision about life after high school, but there are a lot of options other than college or the workforce. While many seniors have set plans after high school, others who are undecided look to college to help them figure things out. “College is the next step,” senior Alyssa Hong said. “For me, I feel like I need to go to college because there's going to be more opportunities for me in college, although not everyone has to go to college to succeed.”

Maybe College Isn’t the Next Step

Achilles Caranto, Staff Writer
February 2, 2024
Plans for after graduation are very college-centered, despite worthwhile alternatives.
The New Year's tradition of making resolutions has prompted people to make unrealistic goals that rarely get accomplished.

New Year, Same Me

Ava Julian, Staff Writer
January 30, 2024
New Year's resolutions fail society year after year.
Holding up the neck of the bottle, junior Monica Sarkisian watches as her partner cuts the base of their project. Students cut two liter bottles with scissors, learning about planting as well as reusable sustainability. “[Mrs. Horner] drew it on the board and then we just cut it and kind of replicated it and everyone did their own thing at the end, which I thought was kind of interesting to see,” Sarkisian said. “I feel like cutting the bottle was kind of hard because it was really sturdy.

An Hour In … Environmental Science

Violet Moreno and Ava Torres
January 23, 2024
A hands-on project teaching simple & sustainable watering practices.
Rushing to the mannequin, sophomore Bryan Pratt beats his opponent to spot the muscle. Pratt placed his hand on the rectus abdominis muscle in the stomach. “I’m not good at remembering stuff off the top of my head,” Pratt said. “But with this, especially when someone wants to become a nurse, they have to know how to work hands-on. If we know how to do this to a patient, we’ll be good.”

An Hour In … Principles of Health Science

Zelina Panissidi and Venice Jingco
January 16, 2024
Nursing students display their skills and prepare for a test.
After everyone is finished scooping, sophomore Don Balmaceda starts cleaning up their area and materials. Cleaning the area makes sure that everything is well placed and sanitized. “I like doing dishes because here I have classmates to help me out,” Balmaceda said. “I don’t have that at home so everything feels organized here.”

AN HOUR IN…FOODS I

Joy Ryan and Amelia Castellanos
January 8, 2024
Making use of the kitchen, students scoop cookie dough for SkillsUSA fundraiser.
Standing beside their prized plushies, sophomore Marcrow Farinas has grown their collection bit by bit. “I got my plushies online,” sophomore Marcrow Farinas said. “Sometimes from my parents or birthdays too. My favorite is the Springbonnie plush. I bring it everywhere with me and I clean it at least once a day.”

FNAF Fanatic: Meet Marcrow Farinas

Venice Jingco, Staff writer
January 8, 2024
Sophomore Marcrow Farinas expresses their obsession of eight years; FNAF.
Looking over the rubric, junior Nic Burgess plans out his contribution to the project. His paragraph accompanied his partner’s tribal tattoo drawing. “The paragraph essentially describes what our tattoo or kapa is about,” Burgess said. “I’m not super artistic so I opted to do the research part of the project. Our design is about Pearl Harbor and how it affected Native Hawaiian people at the time.”

An Hour In … US History H

Philipos Alebachew and Kailie Sicolo
January 5, 2024
To show their understanding of the history of Hawaii as a state, US History students sketch visual representations of Hawaiian culture and history.
AN HOUR IN … CULINARY III

AN HOUR IN … CULINARY III

Achilles Caranto and Hunter Rhee
December 18, 2023
To prepare for the SkillUSA fundraiser, the Culinary III students work together to make cookie dough.
THIRST FOR URGENCY

THIRST FOR URGENCY

Ayma Malik, Ethan Bull, Jianna Aganon, Kalista Palarca, Kathryn Peterson, Travis McGinnis, and Yaritzza Montenegro
December 11, 2023

Many upperclassmen start feeling the effects of anxiety as the impending thought of adulthood weighs upon them. To overcome the perils of stress is a struggle in itself. “So many students think there is one path and that they have to figure out what that path is,” counselor Elizabeth Hare said. “I try to teach them that life is full of choices and not to be scared of them. We often learn through our mistakes and if we grow from those mistakes, they are lessons and not failures.”

The Stress of (Impending) Adulthood

Kylie Dacquel, Staff Writer
December 8, 2023
Upperclassmen’s feelings on life after high school.
Competing in the Vegas Cubing Fall 2023 competition, sophomore Preston Schwartz rushes to solve the Pyraminx puzzle. Schwartz has competed in various competitions to display his skills. “The Pyraminx [puzzle] is my best event,” Schwartz said. “It’s the one that I focus the most on.”

Rubik’s Cube Champion: Meet Preston Schwartz

Zelina Panissidi, Staff Writer
December 6, 2023
Sophomore trains his skill of solving Rubik’s Cubes.
With four seconds left in his 40-second speech, senior Josh Burgos makes his final statements to confirm his place inside of Communications teacher Henry Evans’ Popeyes apocalypse bunker. Before presenting their speeches, students had challenged each other to earn extra points. “Honestly, I was pretty confident going into it because in order to get our extra 'ums' and 'uhs', we had to do an arm wrestling challenge and you already know I [beat] everyone in that challenge,” Burgos said. “It helps us build our speech skills without using any filler words. I need to get more consistent with it and nail it down and keep that same level of performance that I’ve gotten myself to.”

An Hour In … Com 101

Gray Barranco and Arcade Encarnacion
December 5, 2023
As a challenge, COM 101 students are asked to give a short speech without using any filler words.
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