A4 NewsRead The Californian online at www.thecalifornianpaper.com Thursday, October 13, 2022Cheerleaders wave from the back of a truck at Athan Downsbefore the homecoming parade begins. The parade traveledthrough the streets of San Ramon near Cal’s campus last Friday.Students from the Class of 2025 look out from their class floatduring their first homecoming parade. The freshmen chose adisco theme to decorate their float with this year.Homecoming a rockin’ good timeSeniors Sam Fomin, left, and Sophia Culver ride in style throughthe homecoming parade. The two were named the homecomingking and queen during the football game’s halftime festivities.From left to right, senior water polo players Jordyn Porter,Nimisa Panda and Brianna Farias cruise through last Friday’shomecoming parade on a boat. All fall sports teams had floatsin the parade.Photos by Judy Luo and Christine WangWhat were you mostlooking forwardto during thehomecoming week?Photos by Lili Loney“The food or dancing athomecoming seems likefun.”“The parade probablybecause I get to spent timewith my team.”“I’m excited for the spiritdays and the footballgame.”“The rally because it is funseeing all my classmatestogether.”“I like going to the homecomingdance because ofthe social aspect.”“The pink out game becausethe football gamesare always fun.”Kacie RousseuFreshmanZach RosenbergSophomoreMcKenna ReidJuniorSydney BarlowSeniorRyan HoffmanSeniorKaylee RodgersJunior
Thursday, October 13, 2022 Read The Californian online at www.thecalifornianpaper.comNews A5School Resource Officer assigned to CalCpl. Maricela Bracamonte is aveteran police officerMansi SwaminathanStaff WriterCal High has upgraded fromsharing one School ResourceOfficer (SRO) with DoughertyValley High to having its veryown on campus this year.The San Ramon policeforce’s new addition, CorporalMaricela Bracamonte, is Cal’snew SRO. Her role is to ensurethe safety and well-being ofstudents and staff on schoolgrounds.“My primary and sole role isto make sure that everybody oncampus, whether it is teachersor students, feels safe,” Cpl.Bracamonte said. “It is to protectyou guys from any harm.”Cpl. Bracamonte has beenworking as a resource officeron campus for a little more thantwo months now and likes theenvironment of the school.Her interest in criminal justicecompelled her to pursuea job as a police officer. Sheworked as one for 14 yearswith the Walnut Creek PoliceDepartment before joiningthe San Ramon department.Cpl. Bracamonte said shewanted to become an SRObecause she liked to interactwith kids.Cal Principal DemetriusBall said SROs are like abridge between students andthe police department.“The purpose of a schoolresource officer is to builda relationship between thecity’s police department andthe school,” Ball said.As a part of Cpl. Bracamonte’srole as an SRO, shehas to make sure that therearen’t any unwelcome peopleon campus.She said many peoplelike to walk around campusduring the daytime. She givesthem friendly reminders emphasizingthat during classhours no one is allowed toenter the school grounds.“If they [citizens] don’thave a reason to be here, wedon’t want them to be here,”Cpl. Bracamonte said.Photo by Mansi SwaminathanCorporal Maricela Bracamonte patrols campus in her SRO uniform during break at Cal High.Cpl. Bracamonte is usuallypatrolling near the perimeterof the school. During the day,while students are in theirclasses, she patrols near theback gate. When students areout in the quad during breaks,she tries to be there with them.She often talks with studentsand teachers during lunch.“The only way I’m goingto gain trust [from students] isthrough the interactions I havewith you all every day,” Cpl.Bracamonte said. “Hopefullythe people I talk to let otherpeople know that I’m a personthat they can always talk to.”Some students feel that Cpl.Bracamonte’s sociable and approachableconduct makes hera comfortable person to talk to.“She’s very friendly, she’swaved to me a couple of times,”senior Spriha Pandey said. “Herpresence definitely feels nice,I don’t think her being thereinterrupts any school activities.”Despite her friendly interactionswith many on campus,some students are sure aboutthe idea of a police officer onschool grounds.“At first I was quite skepticalabout it,” sophomore ReneeLaMarche said. “But this is highschool, and you never knowwhat could happen.”“Added senior Sochi Nwankwosaid. “[Having police officers]doesn’t really do anything.They are not really helping ourcampus at all.”In response to some students’concerns about having an SRO,assistant principal Jeffrey Osbornasked students to meet Cpl.Bracamonte first before passingjudgment.“I’d like for them to get toknow Cpl. Bracamonte,” Osbornsaid. “Cpl. Bracamonte isa wonderful person.”Biden’s loan forgiveness plan to help those with student debtBIDENFrom page A1the mindset surrounding highereducation and incentivize morepeople to pursue higher education.”Current Cal students shouldnot expect the loan forgivenessplan to help them because thedebt cancellation only applies topeople who have already takenout student loans.The window to apply forhelp closes at the end of 2022before some seniors even finishsubmitting applications. It’spredicted that 21 percent ofrecipients affected are 25 yearsand under, while 44 percent areages 26 to 39, according to aWhite House fact sheet.Tijero believes those whohave already been through collegeneed the loan forgivenessthe most.“I feel like you should startwith the people that have debtfirst,” Tijero said. “ That makessense.”According to an estimate byPresident Joe Biden created a new loan forgiveness plan thatwill forgive debt for people who have taken out student loans.the Wharton Budget Model,forgiving $10,000 per personPhoto courtesy of goodfreephotos.comapplicable would create an additional$519 billion in federaldeficit. Forbes analysts agreethat forgiving student loans willincrease the deficit.Cal’s college and careercounselor Kathryn Nichols expressedconcern for the potentialnegative impacts of the plan onthe local economy.“You’re trying to figure out,how do I pay my rent, my food,all my other expenses, andhave a little percentage that‘salso going to pay back mystudent loans,” Nichols said.“But meanwhile that moneyis the money that could havebeen used for something thatgoes into your local economyas well.”Spending on the plan couldcut funding from other policiesthe Biden administration hadpromised, including eliminatingfree and reduced lunches andraising the age senior citizensbecome eligible for full SocialSecurity, according to the CongressionalBudget Office. Proposedlaws such as guaranteedparental leave could also be cut.Nichols expressed additionalconcern regarding the potentialelimination of programs such asparental leave and their impacton the Cal community.“That’s a real problem becausethat’s addressing an entireother part of the population thatcould very well be this population,”Nichols said.Taxes will be raised in orderto raise funding. The plan willrun on a progressive incomebased tax system, which meansthat the more income a personmakes the more they will haveto pay for other people’s studentloan forgiveness, according tothe National Taxpayer’s union.The wealthiest Americanspaying the most money won’tbe eligible for aid.According to the NationalTaxpayers Union, the averageamount a U.S. taxpayer will paytoward student debt cancellationwill be $2,503.22. An additional$11,940 would be contributedby those making between$200,000 and $500,000, bringingthe total for those taxpayersto nearly $14,500.Cal High government teacherAlex Geller said the plan willhelp him but will excludesome people, including currentstudents.“It’s unfortunate that peoplewho already paid off their debtwon’t benefit from [the plan],”Geller said.Geller also said Biden’splan will help him greatly assomeone with student loan debt,but he believed the new taxingsystem to pay for it can be seenas both fair and unfair.According to Forbes, manyprofessional analysts, as wellas citizens including Geller,speculate that colleges anduniversities will increase theprices of tuition to balanceagainst the loss of money fromBiden’s plan.If that happens, studentscurrently unable to apply forloan forgiveness would haveto spend more on their collegeeducation in the coming yearswithout a guaranteed chanceat future loan forgiveness ordebt relief.Positive psychology class hosts food packing eventStudents will team with Kids Against Hunger topack food for people in Ukrane, Haiti and San JoseCameron HoStaff WriterThe positive psychologyclass is hosting a Kids AgainstHunger event for volunteers tohelp package meals for Ukraine,Haiti and San Jose on Nov. 9.Senior Michael Vass, who isin the positive psychology class,had the idea to work with theKids Against Hunger program(KAH) after a unit in class aboutthe effects of acts of kindness.Vass looked toward hischurch to find volunteeringorganizations to partner withand learned about the KAHvolunteering service.“Kids Against Hungerseemed to be like a good fit forus because you could set upthe events and one of the otherschools in the district did it,”Vass said.Positive psychology teacherChristina Haaverson overseesthe KAH event and lets herstudents vote on where to sendmeals. This year, studentsdecided to distribute the mealsto Ukraine, Haiti and San Jose.Volunteers will contribute $20each to pay for ingredients andpack them in the cafeteria.“It’s amazing what happenswhen we give kids an opportunityto shine,” Haaversonsaid.Some students volunteeredto pack food this year out of thekindness in their hearts.“I wanted to do somethingkind to help someone out,”junior Zaid Sharifi, who signedup for the event, said.Students such as junior CharlotteYamada saw the event asan opportunity to get into volunteeringand helping people.“I like the thought of helpingothers, especially since I don’tusually volunteer,” Yamadasaid.This isn’t the first time thepositive psychology studentsorganized and volunteeredfor this service. Last year, thestudents focused on distributingmeals to Ukraine and garneredsupport from many students andteachers. Volunteers workedtogether to pack almost 15,000meals for people in Ukraine.“People would be at differentstations doing different things,like scooping, weighing,” Vasssaid. “I ended up moving bagsto stations to fill ingredients thatwould go into bags.”Senior Sienna Lewis, whohas volunteered with KAHbefore, said she enjoyed theexperience and the way theorganization lets volunteersdirectly manage supplies.“I did an event like this withKAH in the past with Girl Scoutsand it was fun,” Lewis said. “Ialso liked KAH because usuallycompanies like this don’t giveresources straight to volunteers,but KAH does.”Last year, positive psychologystudents also raised $420 foringredients from teachers whocouldn’t attend but supportedthe cause. This year the classhopes to garner the same supportfor the event.“[Volunteering last year]gave them joy and it was fungiving back to the communityand the world around them,”Haaverson said.In order to continue with theevent this year, the class musthave 100 sign-ups before thedate of service, Haaverson said.About 120-150 students camelast year, including some whohad not registered.“Some kids came at the doorbecause friends were there,”Haaverson said. “Last year therewere whole families that wantedto give back to others, so we hadgrandparents and little siblingsall packing food.”Added junior Samantha Gee,“[The KAH event] is a goodopportunity to give back, andit’s an opportunity to incorporatepeople into the community.”
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