5February 2020Op/ED

thekennedyword.comThe Word

by Eliza Portillo

A Sadie Hawkins AppraisalYour peer’s Sadies expectations for 2020

Staff Writer

Approaching this February is Kennedy’s popular ‘Sadie Hawkins’ yearly dance, and stu-dents are advising the Associ-ated Study Body (ASB) what they would like to see incorpo-rated into the dance this year and why others should attend. The dance is highly popular, and many students look for-ward to the dance every year. Sadie Hawkins is in contrast to traditional expectations to a typical high school dance. The women are encouraged to ask the men to the dance. This idea is unique and uncommon, and stu-dents are fond of the dissimilar-ity that it holds to other dances. “I love the idea of it because it’s different from Prom, Homecom-ing, or any other formal dance. Girls are able to be bold and ask a boy with posters and gestures,”

voiced junior Alina Gonzalez. Unlike homecoming, Sadies is not a formal dance; it’s advertised as informal, meaning students don’t need to attend in fancy at-tire, instead casual outfits are worn at the dance. For students who enjoy being dressed down and low key, Sadies is the most popular casual dance to attend. The dance will be held on Val-entine’s Day, February 14th, in the school’s big gym. Pre-sale tickets are being sold for five dollars and seven dollars at the dance’s entrance. With its low ticket prices, students are in-trigued to attend the dance be-cause the tickets are affordable. Sadie Hawkins is not planned for many high schools; only a few have made the dance a yearly event. Senior Sophia Mu-ñoz described why she enjoys attending the dance every year. “The dance is very easy to at-tend to, I don’t ever have to put

much thought into what I wear since it’s a casual dance unlike homecoming,” stated Muñoz. Seniors who enjoy going to the yearly dance hold small opinions that will make their last year at-

A spoonful of sugar might in-crease the flavor of any smoothie, milkshake, or any dessert, but cholesterol levels, blood pres-sure, and obesity rate will likely go up as well. A good snack is usually one that is very sweet and tasty, and people who imag-ine one that contains a ton of sugar like candy and chocolate. As time goes on, the prices of food and drinks seem to become cheaper, especially at fast food chains. Stores like McDonald’s sell small size cups (16 oz) and for a large size (30 oz) fountain drink with unlimited refills. It only takes a dollar to march up to McDonald’s, get any size cup and drink as much soda as you’d

wish, consuming a few hundred grams of added, unnatural sugar. Obesity has been a grow-ing rate in today’s world, most definitely in America, and the obsessive sugar intake defi-nitely plays a role, a big one. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), the recom-mended daily sugar consumption should be 37.5 grams for men and 25 grams for women. Excessive sugar intake is linked to various diseases such as obesity, heart problems, and type 2 diabetes. Some would argue that the government should limit how much sugar the nation should be able to consume, it is not likely to happen because it interferes with our freedom of choice. Elsie Choi, a student from

the Baptist University argued, “Limiting the size of sugary drinks is a kind of health edu-cation that grabs everyone's attention.” Choi believes the public would be educated by lim-iting the size of sugary drinks. With a clear intention to help the public in mind, limiting the cup sizes is not the root of the problem. Many people will just be able to get around the new law by buying more drinks. It would only be raising the prices and the companies who thrive through the sugar addiction will only gain even more money, helping with the production. The root of the problem is un-educated individuals who are not aware of what to look out for and how to keep a healthy lifestyle. . Nutrition specialist Dr. Amy Lee urges avoiding high fructose corn syrup the most. “20 times

tending the dance memorable. Muñoz spoke about her wishes. “I hope that different types of

A potential lawsuit to the University of California system will decide whether the SAT/ACT should be used as a require-ment for admission. The law-suit claims that the SAT/ACT discriminates students based on wealth/race and doesn’t show a student’s potential to succeed. A student’s potential to succeed has many factors that the SAT/ACT doesn’t consider which in-

clude the following: GPA, school environment, a student’s test tak-ing skills, extracurriculars, and/or achievements. The SAT/ACT

A female student is asking a close friend to accompany her to Sadie’s

music is played this year. For my freshman year, EDM music was played, and I really enjoyed it; it boosted the energy in the gym and a lot of students were having fun,” Muñoz shared.

Although the Sadie Hawkins dance is planned and organized by ASB, the members of the

council have recently tried to in-clude the opinions of all Kennedy students in order for them to feel the urge to attend. ASB member Michelle Plascencia is in charge of the event and has described the initial purpose of the dance. “I really hope the dance inspires kids to go out with their friends and let loose for a while. Some-times school can be stressful, and I want it to be one of those mo-ments that you can just go out with your friends and have fun, make some high school memo-ries,” announced Plascencia. ASB wishes for the best out-come with the dance and are plan-ning efficiently for next month. The members want all students to feel included and to know that the dance is made for them. “I’m trying to make it as or-ganized as possible, thank-fully, I have the help of my fellow ASB classmates and a campus full of students with great ideas, at the end of the day, the event is for all students to enjoy,” declared Plascencia.

An illustration shows how wealthy families have an advantage for tests

by Kyle Pineda

What’s Going In Your System?Read nutrition labels to maintain your diet

Staff Writer

sweeter than sugar, fructose is a chemical that isn’t recognized by our brain” explained Lee. It confuses the ghrelin hor-mones which are the ones who are responsible for communicat-ing with the brain if you are hun-

gry. Instead of your hormones being able to communicate with the brain that you are full, it keeps making you crave more and more, sugar specifically.

A food label behind the packaging contains ingredients and amounts

is a standardized test that only measures a student’s ability to succeed in college and doesn’t compare to the four years that students dedicate to high school. The main argument of the lawsuit is based on the students' ability to afford tutoring and/or programs that help prepare students for the SAT/ACT. For example, a pro-gram called Ivy Coach, which offers advice to students on what classes to take, prepares students as early as eighth grade for the SAT/ACT, and has a five year servicepackage has prices that can go up to 1.2 millio-n dollars.

Ivy Coach is just one example of the vast test prep that high in-come families can afford; there’s also Princeton Review, which offers 10 hours of private tutor-ing for $2,600 and offers a group summer class with 54 hours of class/proctor exams for $1,599. Students from lower income families can’t compete with stu-dents from high income fami-

lies who can afford the luxury of private tutoring. In 2016, the ACT released a report showing how students from high income families and low income families had scores that differ from each other. A student from a family

earning more than an income of $80,000 had an average score of 23.6 compared to a student from a lower income family who had an average score of 19.5. Despite

the accusations, officials from the SAT and College Board ex-plained how exam scores reflect college performance and allow schools to compare students from a wide range. The officials also mention how the exam itself has

by Viviana Bravo

The Inequality of Standardized Tests How the SAT/ACT favors the weathly versus the poor

Arts & Living Editor

There are many kinds of sugar; all could be separated into two groups, in simple terms there are the natural and added sugars. Every store bought items are re-quired by the FDA to have a label stating the ingredients and how

much of it is in the food or drink. The government should put more effort into educating the public how they can be aware of how they can manage their diets.

“...SAT and College Board explained

how scores reflect college perfor-

mance...”no control over social inequalities that may influence the quality of education students receive and the overall outcome of the exam. While the SAT/ACT is a way to

see whether a student is “college ready,” the fact is that not every-one is the same; everyone has a different family background, education, wealth,experience, and test taking skills. One test can’t really show a student’s success and currently, students from low income families are at a disadvantage compared to families from a higher income.

There are different factors that schools must consider such as activities, grades, or awards that students have recieved dur-ing high school. While it’s true that the SAT/ACT does compare students from a wide range of scores, it isn’t fair that students from lower income families are unable to afford extra help to suc-ceed in the exams. Especially, when receiving extra comes at a heavy cost such as the thousands or even millions. Every student has a different educational back-ground which makes it difficult to consider these exams as a requirement for admission, es-pecially when alternate ways to measure student success exist.