How did you find your closest friends at BHS?

Features

“We’ve been hanging out as family friends and then at school,” said Rubèn Murillo, a senior. Despite an incident where he destroyed his friend’s favorite toy, a fire truck, Murillo still sees him regularly to this day.

Teachers across Berkeley take on second jobs to make ends meet

News

With the cost of living steadily increasing throughout the country, many teachers rely on second jobs during summer break to make ends meet. According to federal data from the 2020-21 school year, 16.8 percent of public school teachers work second jobs outside of the school system in addition to teaching.

"I kind of tried to stay off social media as much as possible"
"I didn’t and don’t have social media"
"I decided I hate it even more than I did before"
What was your relationship with social media this summer?

Berkeley Copwatch Investigates Possible BPD Arrest Quota

Investigative

In November of 2022, recently fired Berkeley Police Department officer Corey Shedoudy leaked a series of texts from the BPD Bike Task Force. These texts included officers joking about a hypothetical disease that could wipe out the homeless population in Berkeley and alluded to a possible arrest quota that had been established within the

Let's Be Friends

September 22, 2023

Welcome to this year's first episode of The Buzz! For the 2023-24 school year, we’ll be featuring in-depth discussions and interviews about topics that matter to our community.

The school year is well underway. We’re sitting next to new people in class, joining clubs, and meeting up with old friends. But making friends in high school isn’t as simple as it was in elementary school, when asking someone to join you on the swings was all you had to do. It’s more challenging now.

For this episode, we asked Berkeley High students to share their experiences. We also talked to Eva Cantor, a Bay Area therapist who works with teens, about how we can build more genuine connections and make good friends in high school

This episode was produced and edited by Miriam Reichenberg and Zazie Duchene. Interviews and additional reporting were conducted by Zazie Duchene, Emmett Price, Julia Brimmer, and Paolo Rivera. We included a clip from the song We’re Going to Be Friends by The White Stripes.

Opinion

Avatar of Carina Thomas

Born a Leader

Me? A leader? My past self could only laugh at the very suggestion of that title being assigned to me. As a quiet kid, taking on leadership roles was so foreign to me– as if that title were reserved only for those who were loud, authoritative, or just incredibly confident.

Two hands shaking each other.

Legacy admissions: rooted in inequality

Should college admissions be based on merit or circumstance? Now that the Supreme Court has ended affirmative action, a practice meant to ensure equal opportunities for all, it makes no sense to allow a true injustice in college admissions to linger: legacy admissions.

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Investigative

A new graduate going to college of the back of a letter of reccomendation.

Letters of rec process overloads teachers

“Out of all the 50 letters of recommendation that I wrote, I was happy to write all 50, and I think that each student deserved a great letter of recommendation,” said Erin Smith, a Berkeley High School Biology and Integrated Science teacher, “(but) at the same time it’s a ton of extra work that I

Entertainment

Kea Morshed pretending to take a photo without a camera.

Artist Spotlight: Kea Morshed

Kea Morshed feels making films has been very therapeutic for him. He describes how, “Because I write most of my films, whether I like it or not, they always represent what was going on in my life at that time in my head.

Illustration of Karl Lagerfeld with sunglasses with flames in them and flashing lights behind him.

Controversial Met Gala theme spurs celebrity and fan outcry

On May 1, 2023, the annual Met Gala was held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The theme was Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty. Celebrities from all over the world came to the Gala dressed “In Honor of Karl,” which varied from dress and attire simply inspired by his style to celebrities actually dressed

People marching with signs behind a cracked computer.

Writers Guild fed up with low wages and AI

“We must now exert the maximum leverage possible to get a fair contract,” reads the announcement by the Writers Guild of America, regarding the strike that started May 2, approved by over 98 percent of its members.

Sports

Independent Study allows athletic freedom

“The path that I’m taking right now is the most sure pathway to go play as a professional soccer player,” said Simon Diagana, a Berkeley High School senior who switched into Independent Study to play for the San Jose Earthquakes Major League Soccer Academy team.

Manny Selles awaits a pitch.

BHS spring sports: Recaps and reviews

As regular seasons wrap up, Berkeley High School spring sports teams prepare for postseason tournaments.  The BHS boys’ baseball team finished 2nd place in their league with a record of 18 wins and seven losses.