THE INTERLAKE INQUIRER
The Official Student Newspaper of Interlake High School
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Gifted and General Education at Interlake
By Ananya Chavali
Interlake is amongst one of the most competitive schools in the Bellevue School District. Comprised of many different academic programs, (International Baccalaureate (IB), Gifted/Advanced Learning (AL), Running Start, etc.), Interlake works to provide the best education for their students. Among one of the most prominent programs at Interlake is the Advanced Learning (AL) Program, or more commonly known as the ‘Gifted’ Program. The BSD describes the AL Program as a program that provides “identified students with academic services at an advanced level and accelerated pace due to their ability to comprehend and process information”. This program places students in higher level classes early on (depending on when the test is taken K-9th), and, specifically pertaining to Interlake, allows students to complete the IB Program one year early, leaving senior year for opportunities such as internships. Within the Bellevue School District, elementary schools that have the AL program include Cherry Crest, Medina, Somerset, and Spiritridge. The middle schools that include the program include Odle and Tyee Middle School. Interlake is the only high school in BSD with the AL Program.
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How is the ‘Gifted’ Program similar to what we see in other school districts? To draw a parallel, Lake Washington School District (LWSD), includes the Quest Program in their school district. Likewise, the Quest Program is included at different schools within LWSD, and works to provide a strong education and higher-level classes for all of their students.
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Among one of the most common answers from students when asked, “What would you say are some of the liabilities of having the AL Program at Interlake?” includes the complaint that students feel divided from their peers. One anonymous junior in Traditional Learning explains that, “students who are in traditional learning feel like there is a social hierarchy with being in the program versus not.” While the program does tend to cause a bit of division amongst peers, the students also recognize the benefits that yield from the program. When asked, “what are some of the benefits of having the AL Program at Interlake,” students responded with viewpoints such as, “students who are truly accelerated get the opportunity to progress ahead of others and learn in at a faster rate, and in a more in-depth way.” Other students claimed that the competitive environment acts as an advantage. They believe “I’d rather finish IB as quickly as possible which is why I transferred to AL in the first place. Also, another benefit is the internship opportunities we get in senior year.”
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BSD works its hardest to implement communities in its schools. However, nothing is perfect, and there is always room for improvement. Teaching both AL and Traditional classes English classes, Mr. Villagomez adds that one way to improve the Interlake community could be, “[meshing] the AL program with the rest of the school.” He goes on to share that “it can feel insulated and when I first came here, it felt like there were two different schools.”
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While there’s no instant solution to the rift we see within the Interlake community due to these curriculums, students continue to work their hardest to make good relationships with their peers and friends. Furthermore, the Interlake staff never fails to keep all of the programs at Interlake on one page and provide the strongest learning environment possible for their students.
Interlake's Protest
By Gauri Gupta
On November 23rd, during 3rd period, Interlake held a protest near the flagpole on campus. Students were angered by BSD’s mishandling of two sexual assault cases, one involving Alex Su from Newport High School and another involving the Interlake theater department during the fall play. Students organized protests in various schools around the Bellevue School district, and it is an issue that remains crucial.
On November 19th, Newport High students started off the chain of protests, citing Alex Su’s case and demanding justice for victims of sexual assault, harassment, and domestic violence in their school. Unfortunately, the protest resulted in a lockdown and school staff criticized the way students attached sticky notes with inappropriate language and attempted to enter the staff’s office. In response, Newport administration expelled five of the organizers, including Alex Su.
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Interlake’s protest occurred four days later. After first period, students walked to the front of the building and assembled themselves around the flagpole. Student organizers and supporters held posters with slogans like “Our voices should be heard” and “We need change now”. Many in the crowd wore teal clothes to show their support. Those at the front organized the students into a chant –“What do we want? Change! When do we want it? Now!”
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Interlake’s protest was a model of peaceful resistance. Volunteers took turns sharing their personal experiences with sexual assault. Though only a few were originally scheduled to speak, many volunteers chose to step up. Those who weren’t comfortable standing up in front of the crowd were encouraged to write their thoughts on a sticky note or piece of paper. Every time someone finished their speech, the crowd erupted into applause and cheers, creating a unified community to support survivors of sexual harassment and assault.
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Regardless of the protest’s success, concerns remain that BSD’s response to sexual assault cases was insufficient. Many complained that victims were left in the same classes as their abusers, the district continually brushed off and dismissed sexual assault cases, and schools failed to encourage victims of sexual assault to speak up.
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Riju Chawla, an Interlake sophomore and main organizer of the protest said she had been dissatisfied by the lack of support for students from the administration. Many friends “come to me scared that there will be nothing done about the assaulters if they go to the staff,” said Chawla. Her efforts to communicate with staff and counselors had been “shut down”. Riju saw the protest as a “last resort” and a way to create a safe space for victims.
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Julie Chen, another organizer of the Interlake protest has similarly seen friends suffer from the after effects of sexual assault cases that were badly handled by the district. Julie said that the goal of the protest was to “create changes in district policies to protect survivors and make their voices heard.” Though she believes that policy change is a work in progress, she thinks that the protest served as a “wake-up call for the administration to do something.” It helped the district realize “how many students were unhappy with the status quo”.
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Many staff members were moved by how successfully Interlake students collaborated to create a peaceful protest. Mr. Villagomez, an English teacher, believes that for student organizers to arrange something of this scale and for it to remain peaceful was “nothing short of monumental.” Mr. Cochrun, the principal, said that he believes it is important for students to “engage in activism”. While he was impressed by how the walk-out was handled and conducted, he was upset to see so many students in pain and by how “it’s gotten to the point that there has got to be a walk-out”. He assures students that this matter has been taken into great consideration by the district, as there was “recently a board meeting discussing these exact issues” and there is a “HIB, silver lining, and Title 9 Compliance Officer” who was brought in to alleviate these issues.
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Many students were also impacted by the protest. Sienna Steinhardt pointed out that the protest emphasized the magnitude of the problem when one of the organizers asked the participants to “raise our hands if we knew someone was a victim of sexual misconduct… everyone did.”
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In the months after the protests, stories and discussions about sexual assault in the Bellevue School District settled down. Yet, hopefully, there are lingering effects. It’s unlikely that students will forget about the dozens of stories of sexual assault that occurred at their school. Just searching up “BSD” and “sexual assault” will unearth multiple news stories about the issue of sexual assault at Newport, Interlake, and Sammamish. Through the protests, students sent a powerful message to their peers and administrators condemning sexual assault and harassment in their schools.
Inside the Interlake Inquirer
By Zoya Merakov
There is a plethora of stories on Interlake’s school newspaper. Articles feature anything from studying tips and tricks to semester wrap ups, while also including serious topics such as mental health and climate change. The Inquirer has even focused on the school itself, looking at multiple clubs running at school, but there’s never been any story about the Interlake Inquirer itself. Who’s really behind all the stories posted?
Curious? Let’s dive inside the Interlake Inquirer!
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The magic begins after school on Wednesdays. There are several components of the writing process. First, the editors of the Interlake Inquirer- Lydia Bae, Andrew Lee, Sayanna Isaac, and Peter Lee- ask for article ideas called pitches. Together, students brainstorm possible article ideas that tie back to the Interlake community. Pitches must also be relevant to the season; for example, doing a “Tips for Upcoming AP Tests” article would be more suited to the Spring issue than the Fall issue. Then, all the unique pitch ideas are written on a whiteboard, and members begin to claim ideas for themselves.
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After claiming an article topic, writers are given approximately three weeks to finish the rough drafts of their articles. It’s important that articles include diverse opinions and showcase multiple perspectives in the school. To ensure their articles are well rounded, many writers create and distribute surveys or hold interviews with relevant members of the Interlake community.
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When rough drafts are completed, the club begins peer revision. Members of the Interlake Inquirer read each other’s papers, swap suggestions, and give both positive and negative feedback. After making necessary edits, writers turn their papers over to the editors, who make final corrections and upload stories onto the Interlake Inquirer website. Lydia Bae, the editor in chief, said that “editors are responsible for running club meetings and revising articles that other members wrote. Personally, being an editor, and especially editor-of-chief, in the club means I have to put a lot more thought into my participation and keep the larger picture in mind”.
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When asked about her experience being a part of the Interlake Inquirer, sophomore Gauri Gupta responded, “Being a member of the Interlake Inquirer helped me get a deeper insight into the issue going around. I enjoy being a part of the club because I can meet a lot of new people while using my creative writing skills to create a compelling and interesting article”.
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Lastly, the best part of the writing process is the release party held after the stories are uploaded, filled with a bunch of food purchased from QFC 😊
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Overall, with more than 15 writers, the diverse accounts of the authors on the Inquire have been shining light on Interlake since 2013 and has stayed strong ever since then. Look out for the spring issue coming soon and enjoy the rest of the articles on the website saints!
Omicron at Interlake
By Lydia Bae
During the last days of 2021, many looked to the next year, both hoping for and predicting a time free of the virus that has obstructed our daily lives for over two years now. After all, individuals were exhausted of the constant intrusion of the virus, whether that be mask mandates or remote workplaces or the breaking down of global supply chains. And with increased access to vaccines, COVID really did seem to be winding down. Yet, the start of 2022 was marked by a new variant of COVID-19 named Omicron.
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Omicron, a variant of COVID-19, is thought of as a more contagious, but less deadly version of the virus. Despite initial predictions that minimized the potential impact of Omicron, the virus proved to be destructive to everyday routines. Schools around the nation began to close down, as did workplaces, daycares, and theaters.
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At Interlake and in the Bellevue School District, school continues on in-person. However, there are distinct changes; absent teachers are replaced by other teachers in the building, rather than substitutes and there are conspicuous gaps in the classroom as students miss classes. Many students worry about Omicron and some have said that their parents want the school to close.
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Official communication on Omicron remains mixed. Students faced a lukewarm return to school after winter break, as administrative officials welcomed those worried about the virus to remain at home for the week, gathering absences that would be marked as excused. This policy was extended indefinitely in an email sent out to students and parents on Tuesday. Other measures taken to mitigate the impact of this virus included cancelling assemblies and field trips, creating a curbside COVID testing site for Interlake students, and urging students to stay home if sick.
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But these measures may be insufficient. Looking at the Bellevue School District COVID Dashboard, we can see that Interlake has had a total of 20 COVID cases. However, these figures are clearly outdated as a notice on top declares that “due to the recent surge in COVID cases, we [Bellevue School District] will need to change the way we report COVID case counts”. The notice indicates that a “new system for reporting” will hopefully be available by January 14th, 2022. Additional measures, such as the halt on pool testing, indicate that BSD is facing difficulties in dealing with the surge of COVID cases brought on by Omicron.
Opinions on Winter Break
By Shyam Arumugam
Let’s be frank: 2021 has been the weirdest year in our lives, maybe even surpassing 2020. The dim, grey, eye-straining video calls have been replaced by classrooms filled with posters, pictures, and decorations that reveal more about our teachers than we could have possibly glimpsed from the small squares on our computers. Once inanimate icons on the bottom of our computer screens, fellow classmates now surround us, teeming and bursting with life, laughter, and chatter. However, with the Omnicron scare, we are yet again facing a backslide into quarantine and stricter restrictions. Nothing exemplifies the amount of change we’ve seen in 2021 more than the way our breaks and holidays have changed.
At the time this article is being written, winter break is just a few days away. As we watched the classic Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in my English class, I reflected on how the meaning of holidays and breaks has changed for me. During past holidays and breaks, I was able to visit friends and family often, while spending time catching up on schoolwork and making sure I fully understood the concepts being taught in my classes.
Alongside these activities, I also felt the general magic of the holiday season and breaks. I can recall an eighth-grade band concert, where, as I walked into the practice room and saw all the players from band assembled, wearing cheery holiday hats and practicing, happiness surged through my body. It was delightful to see so many people gathering for the purpose of brining an audience together in such a magical time. I can also recollect my ability to connect with band members I barely knew over shared follies, and how nice it was to perform a concert pre-COVID.
Well, 2020 was the metaphorical block day to our days in school.
Breaks and holidays in 2020 were so … eerie. The only reminders of Christmas that remained, for example, were the Spotify ads I would get from the Shane Company, asking me to buy a ring that Christmas for my non-existent wife.
Jokes aside, breaks in 2020 weren’t what I expected, nor what I wanted them to be like. Sure, there were some calls on Discord and a few distanced meetups, here and there. But nothing beat watching a cringy movie with friends, in-person. Nothing beat being able to head to the mall and look at glooming holiday decorations. And, sure as heck, nothing beat celebrating the human ability to coexist by actually coexisting during the celebration.
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It’s been two years since the outbreak first hit, and while the time between September and March may have just blurred together, it’s important to not forget those months. If we estimate the length of a fully-lived human life to be around 90 years, and split that time into weeks, that’s just 4,680 weeks. The pandemic has already taken almost a hundred weeks of our lives, and it most likely won’t end until at least another 100 weeks have passed. In our school lives, that would be around 1/3 of our time in school.
That statistic really puts into perspective the importance of experiencing meaningful things in life. This doesn’t mean that this chunk of our lives wasn’t of much use or significance: I think we can still learn from our pandemic experiences.
Instead of being glued to our screens like we were during the pandemic, we need to instead put our devices down and appreciate the fact that we are able to physically meet during breaks, unlike those in countries where the health infrastructure makes physical meetings difficult and unsafe. It’s important that we try to spend the breaks and holidays we have left with each other, because we don’t have many left as teens.
If you can, meet up with your friends at the mall this upcoming break, socially distanced. Get together at a park and play some football. Maybe plan to join a sport or extracurricular activity to get to know other people. You never know what disaster, crisis, or hurdle will appear next, but developing great relationships and creating life-long memories can be one of the best ways to prepare for anything that’s coming.
Badminton Club
By Aryan Kedarisetty
I still remember playing badminton with my dad in our backyard as a kid. Sometimes we would just stand there rallying, but once in a while, we would play until the birdie was reduced to its base. That’s the magic of badminton. It can be played both recreationally and competitively, and it can accommodate all skill levels and ages.
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This was the idea that inspired Interlake’s new Co-Ed Badminton Club. In the Bellevue School District and many other schools nationwide, badminton as a competitive sport is only offered to girls. Unlike most badminton clubs in middle school, boys are not given the same access to the sport in high school due to decisions made by athletic organizations and requirements of the government. Here at Interlake, we have a large male student body interested in badminton.
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Furthermore, the rigorous nature of the schedules of many students in Interlake leads to a serious problem: poor physical health. With programs like IB, AP, Running Start, and AL/Honors, students sometimes have a hard time fitting exercise into their schedules. While the typical high school sports are available, it takes dedication and time to participate in them.
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These two issues inspired us to create Coed Badminton Club. It was a simple idea: offer all students the opportunity to recreationally and competitively play badminton. After many days of coordinating and planning, we were able to beat all the challenges of creating a club, including ASB interviews, paperwork, satisfying requirements of sports coordinators, finding an advisor, confirming gym space and time slots, and more paperwork. Interlake Co-Ed Badminton Club became a reality! We formed an admin team: President Tanmay Sriram, Vice President Aryan Kedarisetty, Co- Secretaries Tamjeed Ali and Kalen Chen. We patiently waited as our roster went from 20 to 60 to 100 in a month! The demand to play badminton in our school was so high we barely did any advertising. Even though we had a lot of materials prepared, we realized that advertising would only lead to a huge roster that we would not be able to manage. We were on track to become the biggest club at school. It was a success! For the first two months of our club, we provided space for members to play recreationally and challenge their peers to matches. We also started hosting mini tournaments to offer opportunities to competitive people. The week before Winter Break, we also worked with the Class of 2022 officers to plan a schoolwide doubles tournament that 32 teams signed up for. We plan on offering large tournaments and expanding competitive badminton in Interlake.
Now that you know why we created Coed Badminton Club and what we offer, feel free to give it a try. We meet every Wednesday from 1 to 2 PM. We host tournaments and provide space and time for students to play recreational badminton games such as four square and king of the hill. Our members have varying skill levels and experiences. Equipment is also provided. If you are wondering what to play with your friends in this cold winter, our indoor courts are always open to you!
Technology Addiction: The New Pandemic?
By Trinity Lee
Technology has become the crux of our lives. The emergence of the pandemic brought a growth in our dependence on technology, as conferences and meetings moved from physical locations to online calls and people began to work from home, using their computers to complete their responsibilities. For many schools, technology has taken over everyday routines, with endless laptops, styluses, and chargers being handed out to satisfy the demands of online learning. However, as the pandemic has slowly faded away, many students have struggled to adjust to a non-remote world.
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For Bhavana Nimma, one of our freshman class officers, the sudden transition from constant dependence on remote learning has provided a rather refreshing experience. Over the pandemic, Bhavana found that the increased use of technology made it “easier to keep track of assignments… and… contact teachers and classmates”. In contrast to the popular belief that the pandemic has encouraged students to become increasingly dependent on technology. Bhavana believes that “learning is [not] harmed by overuse of technology… [and that instead there are] more advantages”.
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On the other hand, Arika Wang provides a different account of her experience with technology during the pandemic. For Arica, though it was refreshing to finally be back in-person… [she found it] difficult to get back into the learning routine”. However, despite her own perspective, Arika has also observed how technology has impacted the learning environment of Interlake. “I believe that the pandemic has hindered students from learning and concentrating this year because of the overuse of technology,” Arica says, referring to her peers’ poorer performances and the dulled concentration she has seen in class.
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Though technology has admittedly created a situation in which it’s difficult for students to concentrate for long periods of time, Marshall Tsai believes that laptops and phones are not entirely to blame. Despite his acknowledgement that learning has slowed down… [and that] technology can be distracting,” Marshall believes that teachers should also be responsible for creating engaging material. Furthermore, the pandemic increased isolation and forced students to refrain from socializing in-person. Marshall believes technology was helpful during the pandemic because it provided him with social interaction, “whether it was from playing video games with friends or just talking to friends online”. Marshall views the overuse of technology as a lesson on the importance of balancing online and in-person interactions, since both have benefits that can contribute to the success of Interlake students.