A Month for Mental Health Awareness

by Olive, 11th Grade

October is recognized as National Depression and Mental Health Screening Month. It focuses on early detection and reducing the stigma around mental health conditions. October 10 is World Mental Health Day, which encourages conversations and efforts to improve mental health care worldwide.

The first full week of October is Mental Illness Awareness Week, established to raise public awareness about mental illnesses and fight stigma through community action. ADHD awareness runs throughout October to increase understanding of the disorder, while the second week highlights OCD awareness. Mental health awareness is not only about recognizing these conditions but also understanding how they can affect people’s everyday lives.

Learning about mental health can help reduce stigma and make it easier for people to seek support when they need it. To participate, take advantage of free, confidential mental health screening tools for depression and anxiety. Educating yourself and others is another way to raise awareness. Simply checking in on loved ones and having open conversations about mental health with friends and family can also make a difference.

West Nile Virus Season

by Declan, 11th Grade

If you’ve been participating in outdoor activities during the evening recently, you’ve likely experienced one of the most irritating sensations known to humans: mosquito bites. Over the past two months in Fullerton, many cautionary signs have warned of the spread of West Nile Virus (WNV).

According to the OC Mosquito and Vector Control District, this year’s mosquito season is alarming because both the mosquito population and WNV have increased. This year, around 718 mosquito samples were tested for the virus, compared to 70 last year, showing a rapid increase in WNV activity and recorded deaths this season.

West Nile Virus is an illness spread by infected mosquitoes that have most likely fed on infected birds. As a single-stranded RNA virus, it fortunately cannot be passed back to mosquitoes by large mammals like humans because of its low concentration in our blood. WNV is harmless to most infected people, as they do not show symptoms. However, two to six days after exposure, a small percentage of people may develop mild symptoms including a rash, body aches, joint pain, vomiting, diarrhea, fever or headache.

People are most concerned about neuroinvasive diseases caused by WNV, which can result in aseptic meningitis, encephalitis (inflammation of brain tissue) and acute flaccid paralysis. Although extremely dangerous, these severe symptoms occur in only around 1 in 150 infected people. The risk of developing mild or severe symptoms increases with age, chronic medical conditions and weakened immune systems.

No vaccine prevents WNV. The best way to defend against the virus is to prevent mosquito bites. Mild symptoms can be treated with over-the-counter medications and rest, while severe symptoms require hospitalization. Using insect repellent, wearing long clothing and eliminating standing water around residences are effective ways to reduce mosquito exposure and stay healthy during mosquito season.

Student By Day, Rockstar

by Night by Erin, 12th Grade

You’d never guess the Troy Tech sophomore sitting next to you in class has millions of views and 80,000 followers on TikTok. Amp.mp3 picked up the guitar at age eight but didn’t start posting faceless guitar cover videos until about a year and a half ago, inspired by his cousin, who was already gaining traction online with a different kind of content.

As a left-handed guitarist, he’s had to work harder than most to find guitars that fit him since only a small fraction of guitars on the market are made for lefties. Despite that, he’s built a collection of eight guitars, some gifted by small companies and family, and turned his hobby into something much bigger than he expected. His big breakthrough came when a guitar cover of an Ariana Grande song blew up overnight, racking up two million views and kickstarting his growth on both TikTok and Instagram.

Since then, he’s reached 80,000 followers, partnered with guitar plugin company Aurora DSP and even seen fans create tabs based on his arrangements. He balances all of this with a packed schedule of school, baseball and homework, often creating content late into the night. Looking ahead, he hopes to become an aerospace engineer and treat music as a lifelong passion rather than a career. To young musicians who want to put their music out there, Amp.mp3 said, “There’s this one quote that I know really well. It’s like ‘day one or one day’… You should start now instead of waiting for that one day.”

Chills, Thrills, and Girls

by Dahlia, 8th Grade

In the ’90s, thrillers such as Scream and “I Know What You Did Last Summer” were very popular, but they often featured weak female characters. Damsels in distress were portrayed through characters like Sarah Michelle Gellar’s beauty queen in “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and Drew Barrymore’s helpless victim in Scream. These women were often beautiful side characters destined to die.

On the other hand, a “final girl” is a protagonist who survives after everyone else has been killed by the villain. However, even final girls like Jennifer Love Hewitt’s character in “I Know What You Did Last Summer” often spent most of the movie screaming and running, surviving only because the male protagonist, Freddie Prinze Jr., arrives just in time to fight the killer. Rare exceptions included Neve Campbell’s and Courtney Cox’s characters in Scream. Today, however, thrillers offer a different portrayal of women.

In modern series such as “Stranger Things” and “Squid Game,” female characters are shown as strong, capable and independent. Eleven from Stranger Things is brave and powerful. In a role reversal, she protects her male friends and becomes the savior of the series.

In “Squid Game,” characters like Sae-Byeok, a risk-taker who protects her little brother, Hyun-Ju, a transgender woman willing to sacrifice herself for her friends and care for an elderly woman, and Geum-Ja, an older woman who risks her life for her son, may have died but remained strong-minded and true to their values despite the deadly competition.

In the past, young girls mainly saw voiceless female characters who needed to be rescued. Now, the script has flipped. Girls have strong role models to look up to on the screen. Even when she is screaming and being chased by a huge monster, we know she is capable of saving herself. And she will.