Aelia Gyger

Position

Writer

Graduation

Class of 2025

Aelia Gyger is a writer, journalist, artist, and photographer in her free time. She enjoys either reading stories or writing them. She has been a writer for the Berkeley High Jacket for the past two years. She likes to run and swim.

Student feedback helps classes improve

Opinion

At the end of the semester or school year, many teachers at Berkeley High School  request feedback from their students. Teachers usually ask for feedback through a Google form.

Boy with headphones listening to music with questions and exclamations he doesn

Family languages strengthen cultural ties

Opinion

Exploring languages other than English can be a gateway to understanding different cultures, widening the perspective of history, and connecting more with one’s ancestors.

Teachers embracing their baby, as they huddle under the burden of financial strain.

Lack of financial support for maternity leave burdens teachers

Investigative

“I would have loved to stay home with my newborn child longer than I did, but it was financially impossible,” said Yoshi Salaverry, an English teacher at Berkeley High School.

School board and multilingual education symbols

School Board: New multilingual curriculum, budget summary

News

On December 14, the Berkeley Unified School District held their last board meeting of the year. The meeting included the welcoming of two new members, as well as presentations on ethnic studies classes, the superintendent’s future plans, the Multilingual Master program, and the district’s budget allocations.  At the beginning of the meeting, Jennifer Shanoski and

College counselor Maya Martinez works at her computer, where students are free to drop by.

BHS counselors and students offer college interview guidelines

News

As the fall semester comes to a close, Berkeley High School seniors are starting to submit their applications to colleges, and experience their first college interviews.

A title 9 meeting

‘They should be getting more’:Teacher Title IX training lacks

News

“Title IX is effectively supposed to be a set of protections, it’s supposed to be protections set in place for you and me, and every other student at the school to be able to demand equity based on gender and sex,” said Genevieve Mage, the current yearbook teacher at Berkeley High School, who has been

The breakdown: How do students at BHS spend their money?

Features

As many high school students age, they develop the means to acquire an income — whether they or get an allowance, choose to invest in stocks, or work a part time job.

Student proctors practice responsibility and autonomy in school

Features

While teachers relentlessly work around the clock, before and after the bell rings, a little help to our educators is always welcomed with open arms. Student proctors, or teacher’s assistants, can be seen in some classes, either grading small papers, washing lab equipment, or helping out students, all in efforts to make the teacher’s job

The Logo of the Redwood Literary Magazine

BHS literary magazines reignite creativity through writing

Features

The Redwood Literary and The Foundress, both student-made magazines at Berkeley High School, are starting up again this new school year. The Foundress is a BHS class, and publishes regularly on their website, and distributes hard copy editions at the end of the school year.

An illustration of a person with 4 arms, holding various objects inlcuding a notebook and dirty dishes

Balancing jobs and school strains students

Features

In the fourth grade, Tyler Blue, now a senior at Berkeley High School, got his first job, and he’s been working ever since.  “With my family circumstances, I’ve been doing any and everything to make a quick dollar,” Blue said.  “My job was stuff on the street … I did

Juniper Dorado roller-skates at the Berkeley Skatepark.

Bay Area Teenagers Defy Gender Norms at Local Skate Parks

Entertainment

“If I’m a girl, and I’m good at skating, the first thing that guys will resort to is just being really threatened by me,” said Naiya Leighton, a sophomore at Oakland Technical High School who has been skating for three years.

BHS Field Trips Start in Spring 

Features

In recent years, cancellations on field trips have been common due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic, there was an average of at least three field trips per year for both Academic Choice and Berkeley International High School and freshmen, according to Hasmig Minassian, who leads the Universal Ninth Grade and

Sakiko Muranaka helped write the AAPI Lit course.

AAPI Literature Class to Start Next Year

Features

It all started last year, when Julianna Loretto and Medina Lam were sitting in class. They were being given a presentation on the Chicanx/Latinx History course offered at Berkeley High School when they texted each other, noting how no similar classes were available for Asian Americans and Pacific Islander students.

The Meatless Monday team holds discount flyers.

Meatless Mondays at Berkeley High School

Features

Berkeley High School has countless different clubs, and one that has steadily gained recent attention since the beginning of the school year is the Meatless Monday Campaign.

Black Public Officials: Taplin, Brown, and Babitt Pursue Equity

Features

Ka’Dijah Brown attended Berkeley schools all her life. She began at Washington Elementary, moved on to Longfellow Middle School, and finally graduated from Berkeley High School in 2009.

BHS Prepares for Potential Budget Cuts Next School Year

News

Berkeley Unified School District submitted a preliminary non-binding list of 6.6 million dollars in budget cuts for the 2022-23 school year to The Alameda County Office of Education.

Some school districts are considering new grading systems to combat student anxiety.

BUSD Teachers Weigh in On Challenges of Grading System

News

With finals fast approaching and the first semester coming to a close, Berkeley High School students are feeling the stress, especially with regards to their grades.  Other school districts have considered changing their grading systems, such as Oakland Unified School District, which has been considering removing the D grade.

After school bus services halted, parents and teachers acted quickly to get students to school.

BUSD Briefly Halts Bus Service After COVID-19 Outbreak

News

School buses for Berkeley Unified School District elementary schools were out of service from Monday, October 18 to Thursday, October 21, due to bus drivers being exposed to COVID-19.  Roughly one third of elementary school students take the bus, according to the BUSD website, with that number standing at 1,400 out of the 4,040