Tag: Jilliann Denbo

Column: Education system should do more to relieve neverending pressure

by Jilliann Denbo

As a kid, I’ve always thought I would be a teacher, or maybe do something with ocean animals. And I always thought I could just change my job whenever and it wouldn’t affect me. I used to have so many goals and different career paths I had wanted. But now all that is just a fantasy.

Kids like me didn’t even know there were many options for careers only because I was never opened up to the idea of ‘different jobs’.

Now that I’m a sophomore, the next two years really impact my career. I’ve always been indecisive on what I want to do or how I want to do things. And knowing I have to make the right choices sometime this year really scares me even though I know exactly what I want to be, I just don’t know where to start.

I never really thought about how much money I’m going to make, or how confusing it would be to pick the right paths for my career. There are always little Google forms about picking classes to help with a career choice , I never know which ones to pick. It always makes me nervous because I don’t have any idea if I chose the right thing or how it will affect me.

Many people like me feel this way too. There is just a never ending pressure about picking our career. Maybe it’s all too soon?

Teachers don’t give us enough opportunities to explore their career, yes we get to move paths only once maybe twice. But what if that isn’t even enough?

Education should focus on more than making us pick a path early, it should equip us with a broad knowledge base, and explore many different possibilities open to us.

Some students mix up degrees and careers, leading them to pick the wrong classes. I feel us students should have a little more of an understanding about exactly what classes to choose for each career. 

Yes, picking a wrong career will not ruin anything. But pressure from friends, family, and society make it feel like it will. Even if we know exactly what they want to be, people can push us to pick classes that have nothing to do with our career. 

Feeling stressed about a career can affect our mind and body, as well as, a lot of students overthinking options before making a decision. 

Teachers can start giving kids more options at a young age by opening our minds to different ideas and pathways.

In all, students shouldn’t have to stress out as badly as they do just because they have zero idea where to start. Education should have more openings into teaching students where to start.

by jhshyphen

Review: ‘Winnie the Pooh’ offers return to childhood enchanted place

by Jilliann Denbo

The first sense of the “Winnie the Pooh” movie, colors on the walls from the TV, the familiar theme song tugging me in. It’s like I’m a kid again. This wasn’t ever only a movie to me. Winnie the Pooh was like a small portal back into my childhood. I always remember sitting on the couch, eager to see all my favorite characters. I always knew how it was going to end or what the characters would say. But the movie never got old. Pooh bear and Piglet always lost or scared. Eeyore always moping around. Tigger jumping. All the characters trying to save Christopher Robin.

There are many movies about “Winnie the Pooh” and the characters, different adventures, different holidays. Some include capturing the “backson” or helping Rabbit find his love for Easter again. Each movie helps children understand friendship and teamwork. These characters show how to be there for each other and to understand each other.

The original movie was made in 1977, called “The many Adventures of Winne the Pooh”. This movie ties in three classic animated shorts “Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree” (1966), “Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day” (1968), and “Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too” (1974). This movie is my absolute favorite movie. The second I hit play I remember what it felt like to see this movie for the first time, giggling when the characters had a small mishap, and loved all characters working together.

The first full length movie focusing on one single character was made in 2000 called “The Tigger Movie.” This movie is full of laughter watching Tigger jumping around and trying to get his friends to learn how to jump around with him. Then he gets upset about not having a family, so he tries to find his family because he believed he couldn’t have a family if they weren’t related to him.

A return to the classic animation style was “Winnie the Pooh” (2011). This movie comes in second place for me. It shows how all the characters truly care about each other. From when Eore was trying to find his tail, or when they all worked together to help Christopher Robin.

These characters like Rabbit, Piglet, And Owl, tend to overreact about many situations, while Tigger, Pooh, Eeyore and the other characters underreact and go with the flow about everything. They all realize that they are family no matter what, and they are all there for each other no matter what. 

The creators of Winnie the Pooh, A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard, created my childhood. These characters aren’t just a childhood fever dream; they embody the beauty of a friendship, acceptance, and just the joys of being together. 

Each character shows an actual human experience. Pooh has a love for honey and shows great pleasure in life’s small pleasures. Piglet’s timid bravery at times shows everyone that great courage is not an absence of fear but the act of facing it. Eeyore’s mournfulness teaches empathy and how important kindness is to everyone. Tigger’s unending energy shows individuality and enthusiasm. Last but not least, Christopher Robin’s wisdom and mindfulness shows the innocence and imagination of childhood. 

Together each character shows that every single personality has a value. And that true friendship means embracing each other. They take in each other as family no matter what. 

Movie Review Chart

Movie Title: Winnie the Pooh

Starring: Winnie the Pooh – Jim Cummings

Director: Stephen J. Anderson and Don Hall

Writers: Stephen J Anderson, Clio Chiang, Don Dougherty, Don Hall

Rated: G

My Grade: A+

by jhshyphen

Column: Humans must unite to protect sea creatures from ocean pollution

by Jilliann Denbo

As a kid, I’ve always loved turtles, the way they swam, their shells, and just how they looked in general. 

But, there is one main reason I love them so much.

When I was little, I would go over to my mom’s aunt’s house. She had a ton of little knick knacks, and little turtles that were made out of seashells were one of them. I always loved going to her house and looking at them, I was always careful to not break anything no matter what.

The turtles were always my favorite, though, because I thought it was cool how people made an animal out of tiny shells from the beach. 

I was only around four and most people may not think I remember, but I will always remember seeing those turtles. Even though my mom’s aunt is not with us anymore, that will always be one of my favorite memories from when I was little. 

But these sea creatures are far more important than a childhood memory. 

From the tiniest plankton to the biggest whale, ocean animals struggle to live a lot more than we think they do. The reason? Ocean pollution. 

Graphic information by Jilliann Denbo.

We may not understand the effects of ocean pollution but we are running out of time to help these ocean creatures. We have to put a stop to unwanted pollution.

The biggest sources of ocean pollution are nonpoint sources like septic tanks, cars, trucks, and boats. Eighty percent of ocean pollution comes from the land.

Over 100 million marine animals’ lives get lost every single year because of the devastating living spaces of these creatures. 

These factors are endangering our health as well. Around 3 billion people are being affected negatively by ocean pollution. There are many ways we can put a stop to all of this.

We can start to change ocean pollution by recycling properly, avoid products containing microbeads, and participate in a beach or river cleanup.

All these actions can help us change our home and our health. But most importantly, the animals’ health. 

Ocean animals suffer because we don’t think enough about our actions and we don’t think that it actually affects the oceans. 

Unlike most ocean animals, turtles and whales get affected by ocean pollution a little more than the rest of the animals.

Because of pollution sea turtles ingest too much plastic, causing them to be unable to dive properly to get the food they need. Over 260 loggerhead sea turtles are suffering because of plastic pollution in the ocean.

Whales often mistake plastic for prey, this leads to their stomach being stopped up, which then leads to a slow and painful starvation.

Plastic pollution is the leading threat to ocean health. 4 to 12 metric tons of plastic enters our oceans every year. This travels to every ocean, and even rivers.

Once the vibrant ocean, full of life and wonder, now covered in plastic with suffering animals, and what feels like cold waters. The ocean now looks like a graveyard. We have to stop this pollution.

by jhshyphen

Social media impacts fashion in teens

by Brennan Zoeller and Jilliann Denbo

Men’s Fashion

Many fashion styles have changed over the years, some good, some bad. Teens’ fashion, specifically boys, however, changes the most, usually from social media impacting the way they dress. Seeing the way many people style and express themselves impacts how a lot of people dress, in many different ways.

When seeing other people on social media make outfits in different ways, it changes how students want to dress.

Class of 2025 graduate Shawn Boyd stated, “By seeing other types of clothes and styles, it gives me a broader imagination on the different types of styles I can mix and match.”

Many teens don’t necessarily get their outfits directly from social media, but they get inspiration from it.

“I get a lot of inspiration from different fashion influencers and wouldn’t know a lot of brands without advertisement on social media platforms,” sophomore Isaiah Valenzuela said about how much social media impacts his style.

Social media lets students express themselves in ways that they’ve wanted to do but couldn’t because of the pressure of it not looking good. Now with social media, they can express themselves in ways they want.

Boyd said,”Social media really allowed the things I wear to be more acceptable and accessible,” while Valenzuela said,”I wouldn’t really think to put some things on without seeing it on social media first.”

Sophomore Ryder Lott also stated, “The things I wear are meant to express myself.”

The way that students dress isn’t entirely changed, but it’s inspired and blossomed out because of what they see on social media.

“The way I dress really comes from how I feel within. I’ve gotten to a point where I just use social media to see the different types of clothing that are available, rather than following the latest trend,” Boyd said

Women’s Fashion

Most girls sit in front of their closets and wonder what they are wearing for the day, while others scroll on their phones trying to pick out outfits. Social media helps most girls pick out their outfits; it also can influence them to change their styles all the time. But others don’t use social media at all to pick their outfits.

“I don’t feel pressure to change what I wear. But the way I keep up with fashion trends is normally when I think a style is cute I’ll look up inspiration. But I normally don’t rush to change my style every couple of months,” said sophomore Cheyanne Bogan

Despite some girls not using social media for their outfits, others typically rely heavily on social media for those reasons.

“Social media definitely affects what I wear because I constantly see new styles and outfits when getting on Tik Tok or Instagram. It makes me feel like I need to buy new items and wear what that person is wearing to feel confident and to feel like I look good,” said sophomore Miaa Caporale

Most girls also like to have many different outfits and styles, but a lot of the time they need help figuring out which ones to choose from.

“Influencers definitely affect what I wear. If I like what they are wearing, I buy outfits off of that. I normally use different influencers to choose from multiple different styles,” said sophomore Malloree Fletcher

While a lot of girls think it is a positive influence, changing styles when trends change is hard to keep up with, along with most girls thinking they have to change styles when others do.

“I do feel pressure to wear what I do because I don’t want to be left out or not fit in a trend. With Tik Tok and many other social platforms, there’s so many new trends that it’s hard to keep up with. These trends make me feel like I need to adjust my style to fit in,” said Caporale. 

While it’s tempting to jump on every little trend, always know that a style is about a person’s personality and lifestyle. And not always about the latest trends and looks.

by jhshyphen

Holden Henderson blends positive life advice with language arts lessons

by Jilliann Denbo

Former JHS student Maxine Prickett took English teacher Holden Henderson’s advice all the way to Florida.

Prickett, a former student of Henderson’s said, “Mr. Henderson’s words have carried with me since he told me that he was proud of me while receiving my award for most changed during freshman year. It wasn’t that he said he was proud, it was that he meant it.”

This is how Henderson makes an impact on each of his students.

“I hope that I inspire them to be themselves and to try to make the world a better place,” Henderson said.

English teacher Holden Henderson helps his former student, senior Tobey Wilder, with work on August 27. Photo by Jilliann Denbo.

Henderson undeniably enjoys his job daily, working with his students. 

Most people only look at Henderson as a regular English teacher that has a man bun and wears crazy shirts daily, but that’s not the case. He strives to make sure he understands each of his students no matter what. 

“He doesn’t try to be your friend, rather, an adult that you can trust,” said Prickett.

One of Henderson’s favorite parts of his job is to see his students’ success after leaving his classroom.

“It seems a lot of times I see growth over the course of the year, so I hope that it’s from them taking my advice,” he said.

Not only does Henderson make sure his students feel well, but he creates a positive environment for them in his classroom.

“I try to make sure that the decorations represent me and not just school stuff so that they understand that this is, you know, a place where they can be themselves. Then personally I just try to make sure to greet the students with a smile, I try to check on them to make sure that they understand that I care and that they should feel safe here,” Henderson said.

He takes pride in making sure his students feel welcomed.

“Mr Henderson was a caring and fun English teacher and always made sure we were learning something new each day,” said sophomore Reese Dobson.

Even with all the work, Henderson finds ways to pull his students into what he is teaching. 

“The stories that I pick as an English teacher, I try to make sure that they aren’t terribly boring and stuff like that, even the ones that are, I try to explain the significance and bring it related to the students so that it’s not as boring because it’s hard to learn when you are bored,” He said. 

Henderson takes pride in teaching at JHS, he knew from a young age that he wanted to be a part of the Red Devil community.

“When I was young, my grandparents had season tickets to Jeff games and so I was here a lot.  I was kind ofa always proud of the Red Devils. Growing up in Jeff, I want to give back to the community. And by trying to be a positive influence in students’ lives, I hope that I’m making the community a better place,” Henderon said.

Henderson’s words will always carry on with his students, and they will always continue to do so. 

“When I did my student teaching, I just fell in love with the school and this is where I knew I wanted to be.”

by jhshyphen