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The
Harbinger Miami Lakes Educational Center March/April 2020 ~ Vol.
XXI No. 6 5780 NW 158th St Miami Lakes, FL
Taste of Education
Intheirfirstevercompe-tition,Miami Lakes
EducationalCenter’s(MLEC)culinarystrandbeat out the competition at
the“Taste of Education,” an eventfounded by the Education Fund.
“About30schoolscom-peteeachyear.Thisisthe5thyearthatwe’vehosted
thisevent,butthisisthefirstyearthatMLEC’sculinary students have
actuallyentered. Itwas the first
timewehadgonetoaneventandcompet-
edasaschool,”saidMr.Nunez,the culinary strand teacher. For the
competition,students had to make the bestvegetarian dish. Although
itwas not an easy feat, MLECjaguars still reigned victorious. “At
first, we didn’t re-ally knowwhat kind of vegetar-ian dish to
submit to the com-petition, but after doing someresearch and
figuring out howto make falafels, we came upwith something we were
happywith,”saidMr.Nunez.“Itwasa... Continued on A2
By Khimmoy Hudson@hudson_khimmoy
ChangingTheGame:TheShiftToTechnology
Empoweringyoungmindsthroughinformation.
For centuries, peo-ple have primarily relied onface to face
interaction as a method for teaching, dissem-inating information,
and or-ganizing—that has changed. Across the country,students
everywhere are devi-ating from their normal routineand scheduled
school day: Theearly morning rise, catchingthe bus, making the
breakfastline, and themidday gossip thatblends with casual, school
dayconversationhas come to a halt.That shift has not been easy.
But, we find ways to cope. “Social connectionduring a time of
distance learn-ing is both a moral as well aslegal imperative for
us,” Al-berto M. Carvalho, Superin-tendent of Miami-Dade Coun-ty
Public Schools (MDCPS)posted on his Twitter account. M-DCPS, which
is thefourth largest school district in
thecountry,beganmonitoringthespreadofCOVID-19inDecemberandbeganpreparing,intheeventthatschoolswereforcedtoclose.
“The resilience that ev-eryone has shown, and the pa-tience
theyhave shown for sucha dramatic shift of the
fourthlargestschooldistrictinthecoun-try is laudable and
appreciated,”saidMarie Izquierdo, ChiefAc-ademic Officer for
M-DCPS. Now, well into thefourth nine weeks, distancelearning has
become the newnormal —as students Zoom,post and collaborate on
virtu-al spaces—and this new routinewill continue for the
foreseeablefutureastheCentersforDiseaseControl (CDC)continue to
pre-scribesocialdistancingmeasures. And, in fact, before
schoolswereclosedattheendofthe day on March 13th, MLEChad already
surveyed studentsand teachers on their technolog-ical needs,
including the needfor devices and challenges withinternet
connectivity. Teachers
had already established linesof communication with stu-dents, in
the event of closures. Even with all the preparation, it was not an
easy transition. “I don’t think that peo-ple expected to be away
fromschool for so long,” said Ms.Castro, MLEC’s Activity Di-rector.
But, as the [novel coro-navirus] continued to spread,it became
clear that closuresacross the countrywould be forfar longer than
people expected. City, county and stateofficials declared a state
ofemergency. Businesses closed.Stayathomeorderswere issued Across
the country,parents and caregivers juggledto balance their own work
withhelping their children learn. Around the country,many
disadvantaged commu-nities have struggled to keepup. Not all
households havethe technological resources,like tablets and
computers, tokeep up with distance learning.
That is not the case in Miami-Dade County. “For Miami Dade
atleast,thebarrierwasn’tthecom-puters, it hasn’t been the
com-puters, it’s really been the con-nectivity,” said Ms.
Izquierdo. Over 95,000 devices,that includes iPads, laptops,
andcellular hotspots, were distrib-uted to students—from PreK
to12th graders—and the Districtopened up a Help Desk hotlineto
assist parents, teachers andstudents. The team fielded callsfrom
throughout our commu-nity and beyond. Many of thecalls came
fromparents inotherdistricts, looking for direction. And, Ms.
Izquierdo,M-DCPS has embraced
partner-shipswithnetworkssuchasCom-casttoprovideinternettohomes,and
Sprint’s ‘1 Million ProjectFoundation’whichseekstograntstudents in
grades K-12, wholackinternetaccess,withcellulardevices to be used
as hotspots.
“Adeviceisnevergoingtoreplaceahighqualityteacher,butadevicecanserveasabridge,or
as pipeline, to a high quali-ty teacher,” said Ms. Izquierdo. Yet
still, M-DCPS con-tinues to face minor challenges, but the District
is on the fore-front of change and innovation. “Moving
forward,whether it’s another
pandemic,whetherit’sanothercategoryfivehurricane I think that
thismedi-um is going to allow for somelevel of continuity in terms
ofbeingable toreturn toeducatingstudents—notnecessarily return-ing
to school, but maintainingthatcontinuity,”saidMs.Castro. And
inmaintaining that
senseofcontinuity,M-DCPShasevenobservedagrowingpercent-age of
attendance in the Dade-schools system, which
deservesrecognitionconsidering
thevari-ouscircumstancesofeachstudent. “Our attendance is get-ting
better every day,” said
Ms.Izquierdo.“OnThursdaywehad90.7%attendance,whichisprettyonparforabrickandmortarday,aregularschooldayinMiamiDadeCounty,
but if you filter studentportal attendance for the week,so Monday
through Thursday,98%ofourstudentsgotothepor-talat
leastonce,”shecontinued.
Notonlyismaintainingasenseofcontinuityandpracticingdistance
learning about shiftingtovirtualplatforms,butitisalsoabout
providing basic suppliesforstudentswhoareinneedofit. The District,
and our teachers have jumped in to fill those needs.
AtMiamiLakesEduca-tionalCenter,forinstance,studentsenrolled in AP
Studio Art wereabletopickupartsuppliesthey’dneed to finish their
portfolios. Ms. Soto, Communica-tion Academy Leader, set up agrab
and go station where students could pick up those supplies.
Wemaynotreallyknowwhen we can return to a sense of normalcy,
despite our shared ef-forts to embrace this seeminglynew era of
technological usageandfar-distancedcommunication. “The reality is,
studentswant to be in school, teach-ers want to be in school
andthere’s never going to be a sub-stitute for classroom
learningand the engagement of teacherswith students,” saidMs.
Castro.
Dan
iel G
onza
lez I
II
MDCPShasshiftedtodistancelearningasameanstoallowstudentstocontinuetheirgrowthineducation.
Whether one likes itor not, schedules are now com-pletely empty
thanks to the ap-pearance of the coronavirus. Inconcern for the
public safety,severaliconicandpopulareventshave been cancelled or
post-poned.Theredoesn’tseemtobeanendinsighttothispandemic. As
things grow worse by the day, and countries areseeing an
overwhelming swellin their coronavirus cases, thebest thing many
politicians candotoprotectthecitizensoftheircountry is to
shutdownall pub-lic events. Some states, such asCalifornia, have
even bannedgatherings of over 250 people.
“Eachofushasextraor-dinary power to slow the
spreadofthisdisease,”GovernorGavin
Newsomsaidinastatement.“Notholding that concert or commu-nity
event can have cascadingeffects—savingdozensoflivesand preserving
critical healthcare resources that your familymay need a month from
now.” Closer to home, citi-zens of Miami, eager for theirfavorite
party opportunities,have to put away their cos-
tumes and pack their cameras. The Youth Fair, CalleOcho, and
evenmusic and filmfestivals have been postponedor cancelled because
of thedreadedvirus.Supercon, apop-ularget-togetherforcomicbookand
anime nerds has also beenmoved,unfortunately.AtMLEC,students were
faced with the... Continued on A2
CancelAllPlans—TheEnd’sNotNearBy Vanessa Falcon
@vanessa_falcxnByKellySanchez
@kwllqq
Get
ty Im
ages
Moreandmoreplacesareclosingandeventsarebeingcancelledduetothecoronavirus.
NEWS Pgs. A2-A3 Feature Pgs. B4-C6 Editorials Pg. D7-D8 Online
Exclusives mlecharbinger.com
MLEC’sculinarystudentsposewiththeirawardsforbestvegitariandish.Mr.
Nun
ez
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SocialDistancingvs.QuarantineExplainedByJaylynGonzalez@jaylyn_gonzalez
Amidst the coronavirus(COVID-19) pandemic,
takingactiontoimplementpreventativemeasures and avoid its
spreadhasbeena toppriorityformanycountries the past few months.
Through the chaos of
tryingtofindavaccine,informingthepublictowashtheirhandsfre-quently,
to staying six feet apartbetween each other, the
govern-menthadnoother choicebut totake preventative measures
andadvise people to social
distanceandself-quarantine—oneofourlastresortsoftryingto“flattenthecurve,”theuseofprotectiveprac-ticestoslowtherateofinfection.
However, through theexposure of various social me-dia platforms,
the public hasbeen misinformed as to the dif-ference between the
terms “so-cial distancing” and “self-quar-antine —assuming they
definethe same idea: staying home. But, the difference be-tween the
two is drastic—onegiven the possibility of be-ing pre-exposed and
the otherjust as a preventive measure. TheCentersforDisease
Control and Prevention (CDC)recommends isolation and quar-antine
measures to help protectthe public in times of a
publichealthcrisisandoutbreakofcom-municable disease. Due to
this,the general population has beeninformed to stay in their
homesand“socialdistance”themselves,while others that have
beenpre-sumably pre-exposed to the vi-rushavebeen told
to“self-quar-antine” for a total of 14 days. With many
cruises,sportsevents,andfestivalsbeingcanceled,thereisapublichealthreason
for these measures: toreduce the likeliness of crowdsand the spread
of COVID-19.These cancellations help to stopor slow down the spread
of thisvirusandincreasethepracticeofsocial distancing—allowing
thehealth care system to handle in-fectedpatientswithoutoverflows.
These necessary pre-cautions are being advised forthe advocacy of
one major is-sue: the safety of the public.
Upuntilnow,moststateshave been advised to stay homeand
social-distance themselvesto prevent the spread of this
vi-rus.Working fromhome insteadof at the office, closing schoolsand
switching to online class-
es, communicating with lovedones by electronic devices
in-steadofinperson,andcancelingor postponing conferences andlarge
meetings—all are actionstaken in the past month to
en-couragethepublictostayinside. Incontrasttosocialdis-tancing, the
term “self-quaran-tine” refers to a person that hasbeen exposed
toCOVID-19 andis at risk of containing the vi-rus themselves and
spreading it. Commonamonghealth-care workers, those who
haverecently traveled, and ones whobelieve they’ve come in con-
tactwith someone infected, it isrecommended by healthcare
ex-perts to self-quarantine for twoweeks—providing enough
timetoknowwhetherornottheywillbecome ill and be contagious
toothersaround them. Ifno symp-toms are present after the
14-dayquarantine, thepersonisnotconsidered as a risk for spread-ing
the virus to others—thusleaving the self-quarantine state. COVID-19
is a
virusthatcanposeathreatnotonlytoanindividual,butit’shighlycon-tagiousspreadcanposethreatstocommunitiesaswell.Anindivid-
ualwhodoesn’tgettoosickmightstill pass the virus along to
oth-ers,includingparents,neighbors,peopleonthebus—someofwhoare more
prone than others, inturn,mayendupinthehospital.
Withoutthesetwoprac-tices,asurgeofpatientswiththeviruswillendupfillingbedsalsoneededbyabroadrangeofotherpeople,
such as cancer patients,newborns,orcaraccidentvictims.Knowing the
differencebetweensocialdistancingandself-quaran-tinecansavelives,asoneprotectstheir
immune system and doestheirpart inflattening thecurve.
MaketheMostofItAtHomeByVanessaFalcon@vanessa_falcon
There is only so
muchstudentscandowhilestuckinsidethefourwallsoftheirhome,butkids
atMLECaren’t letting
thisbringthemdown.MLECstudentsaredeterminedtospendthebesttime at
home despite the issuesgoingonoutsideintherealworld. With the new
releaseof Nintendo’s Animal Crossing,several students have picked
uptheirswitchesandhaveputtheirheadsinthegame.Othergamers,likemembersofthee-sportsclub,have
also decided to take thetest and see how much they’veimproved in
Super Smash. “I’m playing AnimalCrossing because it’s a calmgame
todistractmefromall thecommotionhappeningintherealworld. Instead of
hearing aboutthe coronavirus constantly, An-imal Crossing gives me
a calmescape…” saysYoselin Rimada,asophomoreincommercialarts. Video
games aren’tthe only escape from reality.Some can rely on sources
suchas Netflix or Hulu to fill theirempty days. Some studentshave
even set new records forstreaming shows, while oth-ers are
competing to beat theirbest score. The streak of showsnever seems
to stop, and for thewatchers this is a lucky break.
“Ihaveplansofwatchingnewshows
thatmyfriendshaverecommendedtome.Ievenhavea whole list planned
out,” says
IT sophomore Christian Mayol. Forothers,it’stoomuchto just sit
around and do noth-ing.Newhobbiesarepickedup,new activities are
experienced.Fromcreatingasongtopainting,there are other ways to
stimu-late the mind besides stressingschool work. Others, like
Lau-dith De Los Santos, may findcomfort in baking and cooking.
“I’ve made cookies,brownies, and I’ve cooked la-sagna. I’ve even
made break-fast for the family at times.Next on the list is
cheesecake,” said De Los Santos, a juniorin finance who has never
imag-ined herself baking before. Finally, no one can for-get
theworkaholics.Despite thebreaksoffered, despite the
insis-tence,thesestudentsarestillhard
at work. Nothing can stop thetrain of thought and the hard
worksomeMLECstudentsputintoeveryaspectoftheirlives. “I don’t even
know ifwe’re coming back to schoolbut for some reason teachersare
still expecting work to bedone.AtthispointIdon’tevenknow ifdoing
the springworkis worth it but I’m not goingto risk it,” says Paolo
Rodas,a junior in engineering who is strugglingwith amoral
debateeverystudenthasbeenhaving. The coronavirus
maylimitthefunthingsstudentscando,butthereareplentyofthingslefttodoathome.Schoolmaybe
cancelled, the Youth
Fairmaybecancelled,allspectacu-lareventsmaybecancelledbutlifeisn’tsomakethemostofit.
CompetingIntheWorldofSTEM
MLEC is known foritsparticularlystrongacademicachievements, but
its strengthswhen it comes to extracur-riculars often go
overlooked. Our school hasseveral clubs, all of whichfocus on a
variety of in-terests, including STEM. One of our clubs
re-centlyearnedsomerecognitionat the FloridaTechnology
Stu-dentAssociation State Confer-ence Competition:
TechnologyStudent Association (TSA). Two members
camebackwithtwotrophiesinhand:William Asencio brought
thesecond-place trophy and Fran-ko Sanabria; the third-placetrophy
— both are juniors. Seven other mem-bers also won several
finalistpins in a board game com-petition, Computer Integrat-ed
Manufacturing (CIM),structural design and such. The confer-ence
took place on Feb-ruary 29th at the Double Tree Hilton Hotel in
Or-lando and 10 out of the 26members of TSA attended. The
competition con-sisted of 38 different eventswhich fluctuated from
chil-dren’s stories to fashion design to essays on technology
andmore, and MLEC TSA pre-paredallyearforanychallengethat could be
thrown at them. The trophies came
ByKarlaPerez@karlaperez_
from the event on Comput-er-Aided Design (CAD) inthe section of
Engineering. “Computer-aided de-sign refers to computers beingused
to assist engineers and drafters to create 3D models. CAD software
allowsyou to measure height, width,and length of anything andcan
help engineers designanything from a violin to thesystem of a car,”
explainedFranko, TSA’s President.
Forsome,thiswastheirfirstTSAConferenceinOrlando. “As a freshman,
itwas a pretty fun experienceto see how schools across thestate
compete in such a largeevent. I got lots of experience and it gave
me lots of as-pirations to come back nextyear with an even better
per-formance,” said Sergio Paez. Out of the 53,000members of TSA
Florida,around two to four thousand
Continued from
A1...challengetolearnhowtomakeavegetariandish,espe-ciallysincewedidn’texpecttomakeoneinthefirstplace,”hecontinued.
The competitionwas asexciting as it sounds.After
theirentryinOctoberof2019,studentsgathered at Jungle Island for
anevening of food and celebrationand, of course, to prepare
gour-met meals on the spot. Under-classmen learned new skills
andgot a one-of-a-kind experienceas student ‘chefs-in-training.’ “I
was nervous at first,but as we went by, it was veryfun. I learned
what to do andwhat not to do while makingand preparing food. The
seniors
TasteOfEducationtaught me how to plate; it wassomething I had
never done be-fore,”saidMayaRodger,afresh-manatMLECanda teammem-ber
fromthecompetition.“Ihadneverbeen to a competition likethat
before,” Rodger continued.
ThisisonlythefirsttasteofcompetitionfortheMLEC’scu-linarystrand,buttheyarealreadyhungering
for more and lookingto showoff their skills andhardwork outside of
the classroom. “Now more than everI’m more inspired to keep go-ing
in the culinary field. Allof that adrenaline by work-ing fast and
by working withthe seniors really inspired me.Next year we’re going
to go allout. I can’t wait,” said Rodger.
Tri-c
ityhe
rald
Khi
mm
oy H
udso
n
Coronavirus:Factsand11QuestionsByMichelleMairena@miixchii
The news that there are now four reported casesof the novel
coronavirus dis-ease in Florida has driven mostSouth Floridians
into a frenzy. Hand sanitizers, cannedfoods, Vitamin C
supplements,andwater packages are some
ofthethingsthathavequicklydisap-pearedfromstoresinthepast48hours.Somepeoplearenowpub-liclywearingmasksandcarryinggigantichandsanitizingbottles—this,accompaniedwiththevisionof
empty stores,makes the sun-shinestateseemlikeaplacetakenout of a
pre-apocalyptic movie. Thedirerealityis,SouthFloridians—just like
the rest ofthe world—are scared.And,
it’snormaltobe:nobodywantstogetsick.Butpartofthisrealityoffearfor
thecoronavirusalso
includesacrudefact:somepeoplearenotactuallyinformedaboutwhatthevirus
isorhowtoprepare for it. So,herearesomeques-tions about the virus,
answered. What Exactly is it? Is it True There’s More Than One
Coronavirus? Thevirus,“COVID-19,”is a member of the
coronavirusfamily: viruses that are
commonthroughouttheworldandcanaf-fect both humans and animals.
Originally,theseviruseswereonlyknowntoinfectanimals,
butsomeofthem—seveninspe-cific, including the novel
coro-navirus—have been registeredto cross the species barrier
andmove from animals to humans. These seven diseas-es that can
affect humans are229E, NL63, OC43,
HKU1—whicharefourvirusesthatwerefirst identifiedduring the1960sand
are known collectively asCommon Human Coronavirus-es—and MERS-CoV,
SARS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2 (alsoknown as
COVID-19)—whicharethreerelativelynewviruses. The new
coronavirusthat everyone is worried aboutis COVID-19, which was
firstrecognized during an investiga-tionintoanoutbreakinWuhan,China
at the end of last year. Manyof those initiallyinfected either
worked or fre-quently shopped in
theHuananseafoodwholesalemarketinthecentreofWuhan,soitisbelievedthatCOVID-19,whichisamem-berofthecoronavirusfamilythathas
never been encountered...
Busi
ness
insi
der
Withnewvideogamesreleasedtothepublic,nowstheperfectchancetogamethenightaway
Withcoronavirusattheforefrontoftoday’snews,timetobreakdownthedifferencebetweensocialdistancingandselfquarantine.Ja
ylyn
Gon
zale
z
Continued from A1...saddening news of their Ham-ilton field trip
being cancelled. “Thetop8Smashplay-ers in e-sports were eager to
gocompeteattheYouthFair,butthevirus ruined that. Well
honestlywhilethisisforsafety,Idon’tseea reason for this. Closing
downpopularplacesisgoingtocostMi-amialot,alotmorethantheben-efits
it’shopingfor,”saysChris-tianClaro,amemberofMLEC’se-sports club and
one of theclub’sbestSuperSmashplayers. Now that St. Patrickswason
thehorizon, parades andcelebrations were cancelled as
well. It seems that there’s noth-inglefttodoexceptsitandwait.
Other events that aremorepersonal toothers, such
asMiamiPride,havealsobeende-layedinfearofspreadingthevirus.Now,
many hide in theirhomes and rush off to storesto stock up on
supplies. “It feels heartbreak-ing.Amidst this fiasco with thenew
virus people have stoppedpaying attention to other events.Many
people were looking for-ward to several things includ-ing pride but
all of these eventsare being cancelled. I under-stand it’s for our
own good but it’s disappointing nonetheless,”says Karla Perez,
President ofthe Equal Rights Alliance club. Even schools
wereclosed,contrarytothewishesoftheMiami-Dadeeducationaldistrict.Devices
and plans were handedout to all students, and teach-ers are
encouraged to com-municate with their studentsin whatever way they
can. “I have always hadmixed feelings about onlinelearningas it
relates to this typeof emergency situation. Onthe surface, it
sounds feasible.SchoolslikeMLECwillbeokfor
CancelAllPlans—TheEnd’sNotNear
FrankoSanabria,oneofthecontestantsattheTSAcompetition,bringshomethethirdplaceprizeforComputer-AidedDesign(CAD)Engineering.
Mr.
Nun
ez
NEWSMarch/April, 2020A2 A3The Harbinger The Harbinger
March/April, 2020
FEATURE
Continue reading online
Theaward-winningvegetariandishcreatedbyMLEC’sculinarystrand.
themost part.Courses that haveaccess to a textbook and
onlineresourceswillbeok.Theproblemis when you have a course
thatrequires a specific software thatyouwon’t have a license to
useathomesuchasAdobePremiere.Most students don’t have
thatprogramandwon’tbeabletobuyit.Automechanics
andelectron-icsthatrequirehandsonactivitywill be hurt,” says Mr.
Melton. “Where the greatest damage to learning will
takeplaceisinthelowergrades.Iamassisting my wife in preparingonline
lessons forherkindergar-ten class. She barely had a dayto prepare
her students to useonline platforms. Many of herstudentswere given
a device
onFridayandsomepickedthemuponSaturdayandhadnoaccesstoteacher
support,” he continues. At this point, coun-tries are scrambling to
find acure while the virus spreadsand rises in death rates. While
more and
morepeoplesufferfromthesymptoms,theU.S.andotherinfectedcoun-triesaretryingtoisolatetheissueand
eliminate it at the source. For now, cancel
allplans,too.Thereisnowheretogo.
attended the state conference and MLEC ended up victo-rious
regardless of the myr-iad schools that attended. “Everyone in the
com-petition was in the same roomand based on what I saw there,
IthoughtIhadwonfirstplace. Iwas a bit disappoint-ed at first but
now I’m proudregardlessofwhatplaceIgot,”said William Asencio,
whowon the second-place trophy. ThosetenTSAmembers
weren’t the onlyMLEC repre-sentativeswhoattended,though. We had
an alum-nus attend as a volunteer atthe event: Herman Gonzalez.
Eventslikethesegoasfar as to showMLEC’s excel-lence and quality,
demonstrat-ing that our students’ passionsfor different subjects
are re-inforced with our outstanding extracurriculars—and
thesesometimes stick with themeven after leaving MLEC.
MLECTSAmembersbroughthomesometrophies,withWilliamAsencioplacingsecondandFrankoSanabriaplacingthird.M
LEC
TSA
-
ed because of its pore-clogging tendencies. Synthetic fragrances
are also a red flag, as there is no separate ingredient list for
them, and their artificiality could signi-fy hundreds to thousands
of unlisted ingredients. It Takes TimeOnce you find your routine,
wanting to see immediate chang-es is something that we all want
when we first start a skin care. But, the reality is that it takes
time to see change — so, be patient, because it is worthy. We are
all (for the most part) stuck at home, and start-ing new ways of
self care can distract us from the inevitable ennui. So why not try
to pick up this self care habit, skin care?
HowtoStayConnectedDuringSocialDistancingByKrystalAlverio@krys-alee
Social distancing is es-sentialduringaglobalpandemic.But, it
canget incredibly lonely. Humans are socialbeings; we yearn to be
togeth-er, to hold each other, and bein the presence of friends
andfamily.AsHumans,we play to-gether, fight together, and
lovetogether. Socialization wascrucial to our survival as a
spe-cies, and now, we are forced apartbyourdutytokeepthosearound us
safe fromthe spread of disease. The Coronavirus,and the disease
COVID-19,
has forced many of us to putour lives on hold, break rou-tines,
and create a new normal. It can be stress-ful to separate oneself
fromthe world, especially since socialization and connec-tions with
others are how peo-ple, historically, have gottenthrough the
toughest of times. Even so, It’s import-ant to remember that social
dis-tancing means keeping physi-cal, not social, isolation. In
theyear 2020, we as a people aremore connected than ever, be
itthroughtextmessage,phonecall,orInstagramDM.Thereisstillamultitude
ofwayswe can inter-act and fulfill our social needs.
And while crucial, so-cial distancing can be hard formany, and
can, once again, increase feelings of loneli-ness and despair—So
here area few ways to combat thosefeelings, and stay connected.
VideoChat Since COVID-19has placed us all on a figura-tive house
arrest, it’s becomemore challenging to keep upwith friends and
family. Thank-fully, there is an abundance ofvideo chatting apps
and soft-ware to help us stay in touch. For Apple users, Face-time
seems like a no brainer.It’s the most prominent
vid-eo-chattingsoftwareusedamong
young and old audiences alike,which makes it a piece ofcake to
communicate withboth friends and grandma. But for those on
theAndriod side,Whatsapp, Skype,and Facebook Messenger are asafe
bet.All of these apps havethousandsofusers,andarecom-patible with
most devices, mak-ing it easy to connect and chat.
MovieNightsOnline While you may notbe able to go out with friendsto
the local movie theater,there are still ways to enjoy amovie night
with friends. WithappsandextensionssuchasDis-cord, Netflix Party,
and
Metas-tream,It’seasytoforgetthestressandvirtuallyhangoutwithfriends.
Theseappsallowapar-ty to simultaneously watch a movie or series
together, withthe videos entirely in sync foroptimum viewing
experience. It’s not the real deal,but hosting movie nights
onlineis still a great way to connect. PlayVideoGames Join, create,
andplay with friends in onlineservers explicitly designed for
yourfriendgroup.It’sbeenprov-en that playing video
games,evenviolentvideogames,hastheabilitytoimprovefriendshipandcamaraderie
among players as they work together as ateam. It’s also an
excel-lent way to take yourself outof an isolation hole, as
itstrengthens the bonds between friends, even at a distance.
UseSocialMedia Even though quarantinehas put a stop to travel
plans,hangouts, and other events, itdoesn’t mean you should letyour
feed run dry. Posting onsocial media and keeping up apresence on
Instagram, Snap-chat, or Tumblr can bringpeople together
throughposts of shared experiences.
Evenifitseemsuninteresting,postingaboutyourdaycanrelievestress,anxiety,andotherbottledupemotionsIt’simportanttohaveanout-let,andthepeoplewhoseeyourpostcanbecomeyoursupportsystem.
Whilesocialdistancing,keepinmindtostayatleastsixfeetapartatalltimes.
TheArtofCookingWhileatHomeinSelf-QuarantineByCarlaRubio@carlaaarubio
Asmanyofusfallvic-tim to self-quarantining, findingways to be
productive is key tonot losing motivation during
atimewhereitisneededmost.Oneeasyat-homeactivityiscookingandbaking—andiftherewasaperfecttimetopickupsomenewtricks
or learn thebasics of
thisart,itisnow.Ratherthanorderingin,cookingnotonlyboostspro-ductivity,butitalsosavesmoney.
To aid the boredom,find a new hobby, save
money,andimproveefficiency.Herearefiveeasydishestomakeathome:
FrenchToast Whether one is
wak-ingupearlyforonlineschoolorworkorwhetheronejustwantstoeatsomethingquick,frenchtoastisaperfectbreakfastoption.
Only taking five toten minutes to prepare, therecipe calls for
coating reg-ular bread in a mixture ofegg, milk, and vanilla
extract. Cooking the bread
inthismixforacoupleofminutesonthepangivestheregularbread
an instant crunchiness and sweet-ness that can be
eatenwithma-plesyrup,bacon,andevenfruit. RiceandEggs A more filling
optionfor an mpty stomach is theclassic latin lazy meal: rice
andeggs.Thename says the rec-ipeitself.Thestepsaresimple: Make the
rice in acooker with some oil and saltand in the meanwhile fry
someeggs on the pan. Once both aremade, the eggs are mixed withthe
rice— the runny yolk act-ingasagluebetween the two—and the plate is
ready to eat. Quesadilla Chicken, steak, orsimply cheese are all
greatoptions for a quesadilla. This popular Mex-ican dish has been
interpret-ed by many chefs worldwide,each finding a different wayto
twist the simple recipe. A basic quesadilla onlyneeds a tortilla
heated on a panand one’s best cheese thrown on top of it. For a
more fillingplate, any protein put inside thetortilla would work
perfectly. FudgeLavaCake
At the end of the day,a meal is not complete with-out dessert.
In typical bakingstyle, this recipe calls for flour,salt, eggs,
butter, melted choco-late, and even powdered sugar. Mixing these in
a bowlin the order of dry ingredientsto wet ingredients, along
withthe chocolate will create a cakemixture that, when put in
theoven for about 12 minutes at425 degrees, will create a cakewith
a smooth liquid center. A little ice cream
anddulcedelecheandthecommondes-sertservedatrestaurantsisdone.
FriedOreos Lastly, to satisfy thesweet tooth, this iconic
carnivalsnackcanhelpreplacethosethatone would buy at a nearby fair.
The batter for fried oreos is easy to make by com-bining pancake
mix, egg, milk,vegetable oil and vanilla ex-tract in a bowl. It
looks likenormal pancake batter but isperfect for frying the
cookies. Once turned goldenbrown, top them off with some powdered
sugar and thesweet treat is complete!
QuarantineandChillByRoxanaCasanueva
@roxcasanueva
Are you bored, quar-antined, thinking you’vewatched everything
on Net-flix already? This coronavirusmadness has all of us layingin
bed for hours binge-watch-ing our favorite TV shows,daydreaming
about catch-ing those $75 flights, and eat-ing all the snacks for
fun. Many of us are pass-ing the time playing vid-eo games, board
gamesor reading a good book. If the thought of not being able to
physically hang-out with your friends or goeat at your favorite
restau-rant is getting you down, hereare some shows and moviesthat
will keep you entertained. If you haven’t al-ready, check out the
gangsand brewing rivalries of On My Block and All American. These
shows highlightthe challenges of adolescence. The drama series
Elite has also released a newseason with more dramaand mystery
than ever be-fore. All my Supernatural and Grey’s Anatomy fans have
allthe time in the world tofinish more than 14 sea-sons of pure
awesomeness. Catch up on Mon-ey Heist because part 4was realeased
on April 3rd.Watch a group of thievespull off the biggest heistin
history, the heist ofthe Royal Mint of Spain. Want to watch
moreshows that keep you on theedge of your seat? There’snothing
more suspenseful thanSpanish novelas. Take yourpick: Sin Senos Si
Hay Parai-so, La Reina Del Sur, Puerta 7, Toy Boy, and Rosario
Tijeras. Crime, romance,drug cartels, and murder mys-teries will
keep you occu-pied during self-isolation.Reality TV shows like The
Circle, Love is Blind, and Back with the Ex are trend-ing Netflix
originals that willdefinitely keep you dis-tracted for a while.
Love is Blind is
#5onNet-
flix’s top 10 shows in
theU.S.It’sanexperimentwheresinglestrytofallinlove--withouteverseeing
each other face-to-face. Canemotional connec-tion beat a physical
attraction?Find out if love is really blind. If you’ve even got-ten
tired of that blood redNet-flix logo popping up on yourTV screen,
Hulu offers somemovies and shows that Net-flix doesn’t, but be
preparedto sit through commercials. If watching mov-ies isn’t
really your thing,there are still plenty ofthings you can do at
home. FaceTimeyourfriends,play iMessage games, playboard games with
your sib-lings, go on Snapchat and Ins-tagram for the 17th time
today. Download TikTokand you will be watching vid-eos for hours.
As long as youhave an internet connection,you can keep yourself
en-tertained. Staying home canget a little boring at times,but stay
strong and stay safe.
Skincare:AMomenttoIndulge
With everyone at home due to the COVID-19 in-duced quarantine,
there is no better way to pamper oneself and pass time than
skincare. As a sect of self-care, skincare is what it sounds like:
the upkeep of one’s skin, with particular attention to the face.
When considering one’s skincare routine, it’s im-portant to
consider your skin type, and any concerns you may have. Here is a
short guide to skincare for every skin type: The BasicsFirst, if
you use makeup, don’t ever sleep with makeup on — and always make
sure that, if you use wipes or other products to remove your
makeup, the products are non-alcohol based. Second, stay hydrat-ed.
Drinking water is a step that many usually overlook, but the
reality is that yes, staying hydrat-ed does help — and overall,
hy-dration is universally beneficial. Besides removing make-up and
hydration, another ba-sic is moisturizing — even
for people with oily skin. Moistur-
ByKaylaCheung@KaylaCheung3
ization is simply important be-cause without it one’s skin may
feel dehydrated or even more oily. In addition, mois-turization has
mild anti-aging benefits. You can also buy moisturizers that have
sun-screen, because using sunscreen —regardless of
weather—pre-vents premature aging and skin cancer caused by UV
rays. Choosing The Right ProductsBuying what’s best for your skin
can sometimes be difficult, so you need to “sur-vey” your own skin
before buy-ing anything. You need to look for skin concerns such as
dry-ness, oiliness, and discoloration. Of course, once you identify
where exactly your skin lays, don’t necessarily seek the most
expensive products on the market because skin-care really isn’t
about emptying your pockets for a clear skin. Buying sample size
items (which right now you can order through different online sites
to continue social distancing) to test different products is a
smart way to not splurge too much (in some cases), and if you don’t
like the
product much then it’s still less-re-grettable than buying a
full-size. When purchasing new products after already trying some,
pay attention to the in-gredients too. Buying products with similar
ingredients to your go-to’s can, in some cases,
prevent some disap-pointment with
the item’s performance. Now, there are some ingredients that
should just be avoided at all costs, such as parabens and aluminum.
Both ingredients have been
shown to contribute to hormone im-
balances by d i s r u p t i n g
endocrine f u n c t i o n with artifi-cial estro-g e n - l i k e
p r o p -e r t i e s . M i n -eral oil s h o u l d also be a v o i
d -
Whilemostpeopleacrosstheglobecontinuetosocialdistance,socialmediahasbecomeacriticalmediumforstayingconnected.
Skincareisnojoke.Findthebestproductssuitedforyourskinandstartanewroutineinquarantine.Adob
e St
ock
Bum
ble
Shut
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March/April, 2020B4 B5The Harbinger The Harbinger March/April,
2020
6 feet
APART
6 feet
APART
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Theshortweekofspringbreak calls for abundant activ-ities to
attend with friends and family.But, there isonespecificlocation
that all South Floridi-ans just can’t miss this upcom-ing break:
Burr’s Berry Farm. This roadside farmstand is open annually
fromDecember to May and ispopularized for their local-ly-grown
strawberries, shakes,snacks, jams, and jellies. At this point in
theseason, you can take pictureswith sunflowers, sit on a
picnictable, drink a delicious milk-shake, or even pick
strawber-ries from nine to five P.M. ev-ery Monday through
Sunday.
The variety of ac-tivities available on this farmis also
limitless for all ages. It ranges from afarm-like playground
foryoung kids, a sunflower fieldfor Instagram selfies and stationed
tractors for teens to explore, and a sitting areafor adults to be
able to sit,watch, and drink their shakes. If one wants to takethe
feel of the farm home withthem, they can grab a basketpick their
own strawberries orgrab a car key to cut off somesunflowers
straight from Burr’sBerry’sfieldforjustasmallfee. With this, it’s
safe to say that they offer more thanjust eventful activities,
butgreat snacks and shakes aswell. They sell strawber-ry,
chocolate, vanilla, pineap-
Burr'sBerryFarm—ADelight
ByJaylynGonzalez@jaylyn_gonzalez
ple, key lime pie, cappuccino,and cookies & cream
shakes,while their snacks assortfrom strawberry shortcakesand
Belgian waffles to hotdogs and nacho & cheese. There is also
the op-tion of buying fresh produce(produced at their farm),like
peppers, kale, orang-es, tomatoes, and onions. As well as a
recentaddition of a window serv-ing fresh-pressed juice for a
healthy refresh-ment during your visit. Some combina-tions include
kale-apple-car-rot, cucumber-apple-basil,and apple-strawberry-lime.
Taking a pit stop atBurr’s Berry Farm this weekof spring break is a
sweet op-portunity one can’t miss.
StigmatizedCreativityBySamanthaJimenez
@SammyJ1003
Why don’t you studysomethingthatwillgetyouarealjob? Will that
get you money? Wouldn’t you rath-er have a more stable ca-reer like
a doctor or lawyer? Chances are, if youhave ever brought up any
in-terest that isn’t your typi-cal office job or
notoriouslygood-paying job, then you’veheard these statements
before. It has been an issue for
decades,andthecommonphraseofa“realjob”hasalwaysexcludedyour
out-of-the-ordinary careers. Without a set payday, there is no way
thatyou’ll succeed— at least thatis what we grew up thinking. The
fear our parentshad of us diving into a careerwith a seemingly
uncertain fu-turemade them turn us towardsmore stable jobs, but
it’s growninto a bigger issue of having norespect for those who may
beconsidering these “risky” paths. Pursuing these
artisticpassionsoftentakesmoretimeandmoreluck,there’snodenyingthat.
However, this doesn’tmeanthattheentirefieldismean-ingless. If it
was, then no onewould even be considering it. “If art wasn’t
anything,
thenwho designed your
clothes.Whodesignedeverythingaroundyou.Everythingisaformofart,”said
MLEC Commercial Artsstudent Sophie Ronella-Nuñez. And it’s not just
art-ists who have to deal withthis stereotype, it’s musicians,it’s
writers, it’s anyone andeveryone who wants to pur-sue a career out
of the norm. Now that seniors arereceiving their acceptance
let-ters and juniors are deciding on where they might gowithin the
next year, ma-jors are at the forefront of these college
conversations. But family expecta-tionsandthesecommonopinionsmakes
it hard formany studentswhotrulyaspiretostudythearts. It is a
commonmisconception that any-one who is interested in the arts is
shooting for stardom. Noteveryartloverwantsto be the next Van Gogh,
andnot every dancer wants to landa job at Radio CityMusicHall.
There are endlesspossibilities with careers inart, music, or even
writing—without ending up home-less like everyone envisions.
“There’s always a
waytofindartasacareer,it’sjustthatmanyartistsdon’tpursuethatas-pectofit.Becauseyesyoucanbeanartistas
inyoudraw,butyou
canalwaysbecome,forexample,agraphicdesigner—it’sthesameskills,”
said MLEC Commer-cial Arts student Andy Suarez. Careers take time,
en-ergy, and of course luck. Itseems like we focus on the
failure in the arts and the suc-cess rate of every other career.
It creates this unnec-essary stigma against it and sin-gles out the
arts in particular.Yes, it’s a difficult and compet-itive field,
but isn’t every field
likethat?Beingadoctordoesn’tcomesoeasyeither. Any path that
onewants to take is bound to haveit’s obstacles, some harderthan
others, but it shouldn’tstop someone from pursuing it.
NotYourAverageBobaTeaChainByGabriellaLicona
@gxbriellaaaa_
While it is true thatwe all need to socially dis-tance this does
not meanthat we have to stop crav-ing the foods we love
or trying new things. Many restaurants dodelivery and pick up,
and tobreakennuiandmonotony,spic-ingourfoodsupabitisexactlywhatmany
need—and if youlike Boba tea, Zero Degrees isthe perfect food joint
for you.
Zero Degrees is anAsian-Hispanic infused fastfood joint in
Davie, specializ-ing in exotic boba tea flavors. Miami is known
forgetting creative with theirspices and Zero Degreesis no stranger
to the trend.
Zero Degrees isknown for its cultural cuisinethat serves plates
of carne asa-da with a side of Taiwanese popcorn chicken— soyes, it
is a whole cultur-al fest with this food joint. Guests can enjoy
avariety of classic Americanmeals like wings and fries,or spice up
their plates withcurry fried chicken and othermeals from around the
world. Unlike common coffeeand tea restaurants in Florida,Zero
Degrees has introduceda new Hispanic and Asianmix with their
mangonadas. With signature milkteas and fruity-flavored
bobaadd-ins, the restaurant features Mexican tang with
mangoshaved-iceandtamarindblends. A popular drink cus-tomers have
purchased is thetropical flavored horchatas. Horchata is asweet
foreign drink thatoriginated in Honduras, con-sistingof rice,
cinnamon,milk,and sugar. At Zero Degrees,the specialty can be
served
with infused strawber-ries or in its original form. As part of
their Asianinfused drinks, the culturaljoint has more than boba
tea. Many of their cus-tom milkshakes consist oflychee or green
tea, pop-ular Asian flavors. Guests who have or-dered the pink
lychee slushwithbobafindittobeanunusu-al but enjoyable
combination.Zero Degrees is the newtrendy joint in Floridawhere
guests can pick anastonishing mix of drinksor order a split cup to
gettwo separate combinations. In respect to theAsian and Hispanic
culture,Zero Degrees simply features different traditional and
non-traditional cuisine that Mi-ami residents will enjoy. So, if
you can,order or if you wouldrather wait for things to subside,
then make sure tospicy it up and try out ZeroDegrees for yourself
oncesocial distancing is over.
MenDeserveMoreRecognition
Art,oneofthemanycreativeoutletspeoplelikeAndySuarezparticipatein,isoftenputdownbythepublic--especiallyifonewantstomakeacareeroutofit.
Dan
iel G
onza
lez I
II
Thisisfoodchainisunlikeanyother,specializinginboba,smoothiesandhotsnacks;you’lldefinitelybewantingmore.
AtBurr’sBerryFarmyoucanpickthefreshest,sweeteststrwberriesandenjoyamultitudeofsmallattractions.
Burr
’s Be
rry
Farm
Burr
’s Be
rry
Farm
Burr
’s Be
rry
Farm
Gab
riel
la L
icon
a
ByLuisMila@LuisMila
ByAngelyPeña@angelypena06
&
Menare theepitomeofpower and they deserveamonth for
themselves,they have created wars,sparked revolutions,developed
laws, andall for a better cause— such a progressive sexcalls for
celebration. “ W o m e n ’ sHistory Month ‘’ con-gratulates the
progressof women that soci-ety believes to be “im-portant”. What
has thefeminist movement ac-complished anyway? It has changed
women’s suffrage, pro-vided greater accessto education,
moreequitable pay withmen, revolutionizeddivorce
proceedings,individual choices inregards to pregnan-cy, and has
garneredrespect for their own bodies. Basically, the
feministmovement hasn’t done much,nothing too important that is. On
the contrary, itwas men who have foundedand developed countries,
es-tablished extensive, detailedlegal codes, created religions
and distinctive social structures, defended the interest of the
nations they’ve lead—and that’s what’s most important. Men have the
incredi-ble ability to take advantage ofcountless women of all
ages,and the potential to change
the world for the better of thepatriarchy they’re running Every
24 minutes,there’s a victim of rape, phys-ical violence, or
stalking, mostly comprised ofmenagainstwomen. Over 80% ofhigh
frequency victims are
women and 82% of domes-tically abused women weremurdered by
their partner. Not only have menmanaged to develop a gen-dered
economy, social structure, and job force, but crime
too—congrats.
But obviously, a monthis far too long to recognize thefemale sex
that only got theright to vote in the land of thefree nearly a
century ago, incontrast tomenwho have right-fully possessed that
right sincethe beginning of timeand have dominated soci-
ety - using their power to opressothers–itsjustwhatmendo. Women
have parad-ed with their breasts out for #FreeTheNipple, fought
againstoppressive employers that ha-rassed them with #MeToo,
andshared their stories of sexual
assault online to providesolace for others
with#WhyIDidn’tReportandWomen-sRealityonTwitterandInstagram.On the
other hand, men pop-ularized femicide, killinga woman or a girl on
thesole account of her gender –and hyped it throughout Lat-
in America and the Caribbean,where in 2018, 3,529 cas-es of
femicide were reportedaccording to Global Amer-icans—let’s all clap
to that.More than half of all wom-en feel safe being outside
atnight, and to the other half, it’s
probably in their head. Afterall, only65% of women
hadexperienced harass-ment in the street ac-cording to Stop
StreetHa r a s smen t—w h i c h isn’t even that much.And it’snot
likehumantrafficking – where 72%of all trafficked
victimsarewomen–hasreachedits highest point in thir-teen years:
from fewerthan 20,000 tomore than 25,000.Men you have done itagain,
constantly rais-ingthebarforeveryone.Men have done a lot. They’ve
de-fendedtheirlands,definedsociety,builtcivilizationsfromthegroundup,pro-vided
for their families.Their fall from
grace is inevitable, and it hasgiven a rise to a new, pow-erful
force to be reckonedwith, women. Women are resil-ient, fierce,
proud, formidable. They’re here forchange, and they’re not will-ing
to take no for an answer,especially because of a man.
Luis
Mila
DuringthemonthofMarch,werecognizeoutsandingandexceptionalwomen.Sincethebeginningofhumanexistencewe’vepraisedmen—butsure,theydeserveamonth.
FOODIE FINDSMarch/April, 2020C6 D7The Harbinger The Harbinger
March/April, 2020
EDITORIAL
-
MLEC’S Harbinger staff pledges to: Publish articles that will
not dis-parage any individual and will not interfere with the
rights of pri-vacy. We publish this newspaper for the student body,
faculty, andcommunity members. No articles will convey bias or be
based onpersonal motives. We will not take credit for the work and
publica-tion of others. Any opinions expressed in this publication
are not nec-essarily those of the faculty and administration but
rather those ofthe newspaper staff and its editors. MLEC’s
Harbinger is intended toinform, entertain, and communicate to the
public in an open forum.
NeydaBorgesAdviser
AbigailCastroCo-Editor-In-Chief
DevinDubonCo-Editor-In-Chief
KhimmoyHudsonAssistant News Editor
SamanthaJimenezLayout and Design Editor
Web MasterCopy Editor
KrystalAlverioPhoto Editor
Layout and Design Editor
LuisMilaCopy Editor
MichelleMairenaWeb Master
JaylynGonzalezCopy Editor
Business Manager
RoxanaCasanuevaMarketing Director
DanielGonzalezIIIPhoto Editor
Publication Policy
StaffStaff Writers
TylerBanks
AndresCruz
AileenDelgado
AjmaanieDort
FabihaFaruque
VanessaFalcon
KymaniHughes
MaliqueLewis
GabriellaLicona
YasmineMezawi
AngelyPeña
KarlaPerez
AbigailRosales
CarlaRubio
KellySanchez
RhobieToussaint
Social Media Handles
Like us at MLEC’s
The Harbinger
Follow us @HarbingerMLEC
Listen to our podcast
Follow us @mlecharbinger
FloridaSchoolsExpectedtoRemainClosed
Institutional closure inall of Florida solidified
Sundayafternoon, after state Gov. RonDeSantis announced the
contin-uation of online learning for
theremainingschoolyear.Panicsub-merges communities, educationis
disrupted—and as institutionslook for guidance, there is
littleclarityonwhentheycanreopen. Current hazardous con-ditions
show no endgame in thecomingmonths.NancyMesson-nier, the director
of CDC’s Na-tional Center for Immunizationand Respiratory Diseases,
con-firmedthatthediseasewouldcon-tinuetobeactiveuntil2021.“Asthetrajectoryoftheoutbreakcon-tinues,
many people in the
U.S.willatsomepoint,eitherthisyearornext,getexposedtothisvirus,”she
stated in a media briefing. Still,somepartsofFlor-idaare reported
tobeoneof
theleastaffectedcountiesinthestate.Opposingcommentatorsquestionthe
need to extend school shut-downs into summer vacation
asitwouldunreasonablyholdbacksocietal production as a whole. But,
under the cur-rent dire circumstances, where
the United States bargainsone of the highest numbers ofCOVID-19
cases in the world,students should not have to re-turn to school
for the year. Do-ingsowouldendangertheyouth,all the while
stimulating riskfactors for the general public. There is no doubt
that the virus has affected all sec-tors of this state and the
numer-ically minimal cases in certainareas alone would constitute
toa greater exponential growthboth in and out of a
particularjurisdiction. Regardless of howlittle of an impact the
corona-virus has left on certain parts ofthis state, fatal
circumstanceswould eventually catch up withthe entire Floridian
population. More than that,
schoolsareoneoftheworstplacestobeduringapandemic.Byswitchingeducation
to online courses, theadministration finalized a
deci-sionthatwouldcloselyensurethesafety of thousands and reducethe
flying rates of disease trans-missionforanentirecommunity. Children
are eminenttransmitters for infections andare always in contact
with eachother throughout the day. Oncethey confront viral
transmis-
sion, theycanpass iton to theirfamilies who, in turn, couldpass
it on to neighbors, friends,and all those that they regular-ly
encounter on a daily basis. Southeast Florida—par-ticularly
Miami-Dade, Broward,and Palm Beach—are
vectorsfortheinfectiousvirusinastate-wide comparison.
Miami-DadeCounty exhibits over 9,460
cas-es,leadingFloridawiththemostpositive coronavirus case testsby
approximately 35%, whilesporting a total of 215 reporteddeaths. The
big plan is to flat-ten the curve but forsaking so-cial distancing
standards couldbe disastrous in the long term. Companies are
devel-opingvaccinesatahistoricpace
with the help of technologicalevolution. Although one is
cur-rently in the making to combatCOVID-19, the procedure
willextendup to18months to reachthe finish line. The
population,blind to infants, teenagers, andadults,will
remainvulnerable tothiscontagiousillnessuntilthen. Unforeseen
situations call for a great deal of changes.Unless school leaders
can de-velop a strategic framework thatminimizes the liability to
viralexposure on campus, openingthe gateswould
simplydomoreharmthangood.Advancingshut-downsandlimitingsocialcontactis
anefficientprecautionarysteptohaltthischainofdispersalandslow down
the risk of infection.
Times like these,
whenapandemictranspiresabruptly,iswhentechnologyhitsthepeakofitspurpose:tobeinnovative,effi-cient,andproductive.Machineryandgadgetshavemadeitpossibletostayconnectedfromhomeandlearnthroughvirtualclasses.Cur-riculumsmaynotcontinueasusu-al,
but online coursework offersmorefreedomthanatfacevalue—it assures
safety and flexibility. Itisimportanttounder-stand the nature of
assignments,exams, and academic
readiness—allarenegotiable.Butthewel-fareofhumanlifeisnot.Return-ingtoschoolisnotworththeun-derlying
riskofgettingperfectlyhealthy individuals caught intothe web of
this novel disease.
By Fabiha Faruque@FabihaFaruque
Openingschoolsadmistapandemicisnottherightchoice.
THE HARBINGER
Shut
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STUDENT LIFEMarch/April, 2020D8 The Harbinger
DearJuniors,ByYasmineMezawi@yasxminee_x3
DearJuniors, The world isn’tending, but junior year is.As the
nation enters a shockwave during these unprecedent-ed times,
students are foundstruggling through the ropes ofonline
classes.Yet, the class of2021isfoundtobetheonesim-pacted the
most—academically.As college entrance exams arecanceled nationwide
and thethought of entering one’s finalyear peaks through, stress
lev-elsaregoingthroughtheroof.Ayear filled with financial
strug-gles, college applications, andthose last few tries to secure
animpressive transcript
awaits.Yet,noonecouldhavepreparedfortheunexpected—sothisyearwouldbedifferent,tosaytheleast.
Worryingdoesnogoodand harping on something withno control is
useless. Instead,geta jump-start intosenioryearwith goals instead
of doubts. Before even enteringsenioryear,juniorsshouldfocuson
perfecting their
SAT/ACTscoreinordertostarttheyearoffstrong.Although exams are
be-ing rescheduled, instead of
pro-crastinatingonecanusetheextratimetoperfecttheirstrengths.Itispreferredtotaketheserigorousexamsneartheendofjunioryear,rather
than the beginning of the
collegeapplicationseason.How-ever,thisisnolongeranoption. Although
the scoredoes not define a student, itgivescollegesaglimpseat
their
potential and ismeant to negatethe last four years of a
student.Studying now may be harderbecause contact tutoring is no
longer an option. But, takingtimed practice exams, workingon Khan
Academy’s SAT/ACTsites, and even setting face-time calls with
friends to reachout for help can go a longway. Other than testing,
ju-niors are found struggling tocreate the perfect resume
whensummerinternships/programsarebeingcanceled.Someoftheseareshifting
remotely to online plat-forms. But as of now, the widemajority have
nomeans to, thusreducing a student’s chance of developing
impressive summeractivitiesthroughtheseprograms. Even with this
setback,there are still ways to becomeinvolved from home. One
canreachout to local businesses forinternship—benefitting both
theemployer and intern. This in-ternship can involve
catalogingtheir monthly goals or
learninghowtodopaperworkinthatfield(providing minimal
physicalcontact during these times).On-
line summer programs are alsoharder to find, but researchinga
few more that have remainedopen and are virtual can help.
Allofthisgoesintotheprocessofbuildingaroundedstu-dentsresumetothenbeginthecol-lege
application process. Hoursof erasing and rewriting,
decid-ingwhatcollegetoapplyto,andfocusing on becoming an adultsoon,
college applications takesa big toll on one’s senior year. Entering
senior yearwithalistofcollegestoorganizeand apply proves to be a
hecticprocess itself. While research-ingcolleges, focusonwhat
theyhave to offer—both academical-ly and financially. Get in
con-tact with representatives or paststudents to receive insights
onreal campus life.A quick searchcan spark a fire of creativityand
get one in the flow ofwrit-ing for their essays to come.Junior year
isn’t easy and se-nior year isn’t any easier.Academically hectic,
men-tally frantic, it’s worth itto start senior year with aleap
rather than a mere step.
Junioryearmayhavecometoanabruptend,butyouracademicjourneyhasn’t.Stayingpreparedandmaintainingyourcurriculumwillkeepyoumentallyinshapeforwhenwereturn.Ya
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