Features

By Yasmine El Hattab 

American Sign Language, initially offered during the 2024-25 school year, is now in its second year as a world language at Lincoln, offering only ASL 2, unlike last year when the introductory course, ASL 1, which is currently not being taught, was offered.

 The class has lacked an official instructor both years, and students receive online instruction under the in-person supervision of a substitute teacher. Full time Japanese 2, Japanese 3 Honors instructor and World Language Department Head, Arisa Hiroi, spends her Sundays preparing an online curriculum for the students based on an ASL 2 textbook and its complimentary workbook despite not receiving any extra pay.

 Online work is provided to students through  Google Classroom and evaluated through Google Forms and occasional Seesaw assignments on a weekly basis. 

Even with online curriculum, students are still on track and learning their way through ASL 2, earning language credits toward graduation. Since ASL 1 is no longer being offered as a class, all ASL students are on their final lap of world language credits, missing transition here Denise Mai, a junior in the class.

Despite lacking a teacher, Mai states, “ People get their work done. I feel like my ability in ASL is definitely changing, even if I'm only really doing Google Sheets and Seesaws.”

ASL 2 student Layla Mahboob is on their 4th World Language credit, having taken Spanish 1 through/and 2, and ASL 1 and now 2. For them, taking the class was to be safe for college admission, achieving an advised 4 years of language, and to build up their ability in language.

“If you asked me to hold a conversation in ASL the way I hold one in Spanish 2, I’d be just as confident; the online curriculum doesn't seem to be hindering my ability. Even if the material is moving slower and some of it feels like an ASL 1 review, I still feel like I'm learning.”, Mahboob claims.

Language wise, ASL 2’s semester final evaluation will be more relaxed when compared to other World Language classes due to its cirriculum. 

“ I don't think it's fair to have a final assessment that is high stakes when students haven't been given the opportunity to really learn like they would in a regular course,” Hiroi says about her choice to give students in the class a future assessment on par with their current curriculum.

As for the future of the class, when asked if the class will continue into the future school years,  Hiroi states, “ From what I know, so far, we are not going to offer it next year because it has been too challenging to get a full time teacher on board.”

With the future of ASL at Lincoln uncertain, with ALS students in pursuit of higher fluency and hopeful ASL students left in mystery, and with the class’ future at the hands of the district and administration.

By Kenny Lin

College application deadlines are looming, as millions of seniors spend hours huddling over their computers, struggling to put their accomplishments over the last four years on paper. Applicants often feel anxious and doubt their ability to get into their desired school because of growing insecurity about their self-worth.

“I’ve been procrastinating and stressing. I don’t know what to put on my college application,” says senior student Kaylee Zhu.

Zhu, a hardworking student, is involved in multiple extracurricular activities, such as serving as an ambassador for a blood cancer organization that raised $10,000 for research. She stays academically rigorous, earning high grades and enrolling in multiple AP classes. However, she still feels too inadequate to get into her desired school.

It is well known that college is competitive, and according to the IVY Coach, top school acceptance rates are declining, making it increasingly difficult to gain acceptance.

“I'm involved in stuff, but I'm not, like, the best,” senior Abigail Park says.

Because extracurricular activities, grades, and classes can’t improve much during the application process, applicants who want to attend a top college rely heavily on well-written essays in the hope of catching a college administrator's attention.

Additionally, the process can be messy. Researching and choosing the school, managing and filing multiple college applications, and applying for financial aid all stack up. More importantly, applicants need to find time to write while maintaining school, work, and hobbies,  increasing tension as the looming deadline gets closer each day.

Financial pressure adds another tension. According to the College Board, the average cost of an in-state public college per year, before financial aid, and including tuition, fees, housing, and food, is $25,850. This causes applicants to consider campus proximity to home alongside the college environment and culture.

“I want to get into a school I’m proud of because college is expensive,” Zhu said.

College counselor Kayden Wong recommends that students start thinking about college early by taking dual enrollment courses, internships, or volunteering during their sophomore and junior years. He also recommends starting early on the college application.

“Exhaust all of the resources that you have, use the college resource room that we have at Lincoln, or talk to your counselors to get you better prepared,” says Wong.

Even with the stress of applying, Zhu is excited to start fresh, in a new environment with more independence and freedom.

By Sophie Ng and Phoebe Seigel

On the evening of October 25th, students and guests poured into Lincoln for a night of celebration and community. They anticipated a fulfilling dance with food, music, and photobooths. With a high volume of ticket sales, ALHS expected a successful homecoming dance. However, the event abruptly ended around 30 minutes prematurely with ASB director Grant Wong’s instructions for students to leave the event.

With no clear explanation, rumors began swirling around. Attendees exchanged confused and disappointed remarks, and commotion ensued as students flocked towards the doors at the counselor’s office on Quintara. However, a safety issue outside this exit made it unavailable—but since the coat check was in the same area, a cluster continued to form.

“By the time I was getting close to the desk, […] [the chaperones] were forcing me to […] walk down the hall and go to the end of the line [that they had just formed] to get my bag,” says El Lal, a Lincoln senior who attended the event.

Chaperones directed students to leave near 22nd Avenue. 

“There was no information about why Homecoming had ended early,” Lal adds. “Everybody was just saying, ‘Get out, get out, go.’”

However, some students continued loitering around the area several minutes after closure. As a result, staff turned off the lights to urge them to exit. 

“People were still lingering by the time I left, [which was around 9:30 p.m.]  I was like, ‘Am I leaving too early? Is the party still going?’ [...] Nobody could believe we had to leave so early,” Lal says.

Up until then, the dance had been going mostly smoothly–a record number of attendees forced the dance’s location to be moved from the usual Hino Gardens into the New Building courtyard. 

“[This year] had the biggest turnout since COVID. The school spirit was there,” Wong, the ASB director, says.

In spite of these successes, attendees were confused by a discrepancy between the dance contract and an email sent out the night before homecoming. The dance contract is the same one used in previous years by former ASB director Julian Byrns. The document states, “Students and guests are not allowed to go in and out of the premises during dance hours,” implying students are not allowed to re-enter after leaving. 

Zoё Hsu Doo, a Lincoln senior who has attended every homecoming dance since her freshman year, specifically remembers being allowed to leave before the official end of the dance. 

“In past years, at the homecoming dances hosted at the school, students were able to leave early after everyone had gotten into the venue,” says Hsu Doo. 

 However, the email sent the night before homecoming stated,  “Students must remain on campus until the dance ends at 9:30.” 

 Jen Fried, one of Lincoln’s assistant principals, states that this was not a new rule. 

“I was not aware that students could exit the dance before the end in previous years. From our conversations with previous admin, we were told that students were not allowed to leave as standard practice. This is standard practice across other school sites,” she says. 

This inconsistency persisted during the actual dance. Unlike what the email stated, students were actually allowed to leave early, but only under a certain condition.

“[Chaperones] needed [attendees]to get their parents to pick them up [in order to leave early], which I thought was really strange,” says senior Kevine Liang, who was trying to leave the dance early.

Xavier Malizia, another Lincoln senior, had been trying to return to his car right before homecoming’s sudden end. As a driver, Malizia was placed in a strange predicament—particularly with homecoming’s sudden end.

He recalls, “Mr. Wong said, ‘I can’t let you leave.’ [...] I don’t remember exactly what he said, but [he said] it wasn’t [in] his control.” 

Malizia then remembers seeing a student enter the lobby in front of the counselor’s office and physically attack a chaperone. 

He stated, “I saw the student in an altercation with Tumua [Lincoln dean]. It looked like there were punches thrown at her.”

Event organizers also ran into issues when people tried sneaking into the dance by hopping the fence. 

“It was the most people we’d ever seen [try to sneak in],” Lincoln dean Tumua Fa’asua remarks.

Fa’asua and Wong declined to comment on the specific factor that led to homecoming’s early end.

“[Ending early] was a last resort. It was a call that had to be made regarding safety,” says Tammy Yan, another one of Lincoln’s deans.

Still, Fried believes the dance was an overall success. Though she admits to issues surrounding the oversell of tickets to meet student demand, she emphasizes that the overall experience only deepened her appreciation of the Lincoln community. 

“Just like with all of our school events, this experience made me appreciate even more how much our students, staff, and families care about our community. Seeing the dedication, enthusiasm, and pride that everyone brings to events like this reminds me why I love being part of Lincoln. It reinforced how special our school is and how meaningful it is to work with people who truly value and support one another,” she says. 

Anya Golden

On June 6th to 12th, around fifteen Lincoln students who took Japanese as a language for at least one year went on a 12 day trip to Japan that takes place every other summer. They traveled from Kyoto, to Hiroshima, to Tokyo, with Koichi Sano and Arisa Hiroi as chaperones.

After leaving San Francisco International Airport, the group landed in Osaka Kansai International Airport where they caught a connecting flight to Kyoto. While in Kyoto for four days they stayed at the Ryokan Hotel and visited ancient temples every day, including; Kinakuji, Ryoanji, Sanjusangendo, and Kiyoizudera. Once arriving at a temple, they were allowed to walk around to their discretion in groups, exploring the architecture and artifacts, learning about history, and observing or participating in rituals.

 In order to travel between cities the students and chaperones took the bullet train, with an hour and a half commute from Kyoto to Hiroshima and four hours to Tokyo. On the train, students talked with locals, caught up on sleep, and practiced their card tricks. 

While in Hiroshima for two days, they visited Peace Park and The Atomic Bomb Museum. At Peace Park they viewed a memorial dedicated to the victims of the 1945 atomic bombing. 

“A lot of people were crying, but it was important,” said Autumn Pritchard about visiting the memorial museum. 

The next day they visited the Miyajima and Itsukushima Shrines; a “floating” Torri Gate dedicated to goddesses of the sea and storm. 

The last five days of the trip were spent in Tokyo. The students and chaperones enjoyed a picnic at Toyosu Park, where they had a view of Tokyo’s downtown. 

According to Lucy Standford, the TeamLab Planets Tokyo was one of the most popular parts of the trip. Lincoln students enjoyed an immersive digital art museum, walking barefoot through water and other large-scale installations, featuring multiple sensory experiences.

Throughout the three cities the Lincoln students visited they had a lot of freedom to walk around and explore when they weren’t doing a planned activity.

“[It was] really interesting, [and] very fun to see all the differences and get to talk to people,” said Pritchard after talking about the amount of freedom they had to walk around the cities. 

After a quick visit with the Mayor of Minamiboo, they went to Rena Junior Highschool and elementary school. At the schools, they met with the host families who they stayed with the following night. Some students stayed in Tokyo city, and some stayed in the countryside. 

“Establishing cross cultural bonds, practicing Japanese, [and] learning cultures,” said Pritchard when talking about the highlights of her experience staying with a host family.

The next day was spent at Rena Highschool, attending the school's science fair and making friends with students that some Lincoln students are still in touch with. 

By Martin Situ

The sound of marching and groaning on the Blacktop late after school in November was Lincoln’s JROTC practicing in hopes of achieving first place at the 79th Annual JROTC Fall Competition on November 15th.  However, their hopes were left empty as the placements were announced.

The JROTC Fall Competition is an annual event held in November, where JROTC cadets from various schools compete against one another in performing complex marching sequences. The competition is divided into Color Guard, Guidon, Platoon Drill, and Squad Drill. Each of these teams consists of a range of four to 13 members, who conduct specific marching sequences. 

 In the past ten years, Lincoln has had much success in the Fall Competition, consistently placing in the top three, with last year yielding only second and first-place finishes.

Lincoln’s Color Guard has long been a part of the Lincoln community, having performed at football games, parades, graduation, and many other events. They protect and take care of the colors, or the flags which they carry at events. Performance-wise, they’ve placed second, sixth, and second the last three years.

Squad Drill is made up of six members and a commander. The commander leads team practices where they teach the required marching sequence for Fall Competition. This year’s Squad Drill Commander, Aidan Yu, has changed up how the team was led in an effort to improve from last year. Yu feels like the team was all over the place last year.

  “[This year we] focus on one thing for one practice and the other for the other practice,”  Yu states.  

Yu hopes to beat Lowell and Washington to win the Squad Drill portion .

“They’ve been better than us […] and we lost [to Washington by] 0.3 points last year, so I want to beat them this year.”

Yu also helps with another team called Guidon. Guidon consists of an individual who bears a swallow-tailed flag which represents the entirety of Lincoln JROTC. This school year, that person is Anddy Wu Feng. Yu feels confident in Wu Feng’s abilities and hopes to continue Lincoln’s two-year win streak in Guidon.

The final team is Drill Platoon. DP is led by Aidan Bolosan and consists of three squads of four. Similar to Squad Drill, DP practices the required marching sequence that they perform at Fall Competition. One difference between the two though, is that DP has to practice more advanced marching compared to Squad Drill. Bolosan has been a part of DP since his freshman year and has placed second all three years with the team. Bolosan believes there wasn’t much to improve on from the previous year.

“One of the only things we got deducted on was command voice […] I’m fairly loud and […] commanding, so […] we won’t lose points in that [this year],” Bolosan states.

One thing Bolosan is concerned about though, is the competition grounds.  

“Our biggest [opposition] […] is the uneven grounds of Balboa,” Bolosan expresses.

Bolosan is confident in his team, as he feels like they’ve done all they can and just need to trust in their practice and skills.

Even with all the effort the four teams put in, including practicing until 7 p.m. sometimes, their hopes of placing first were met in vain. Producing similar results as the previous year’s Fall Competition, Lincoln placed second in Color Guard, second in Squad Drill, third in Drill Platoon, and tied first with Washington in Guidon. Washington took first place in all the events.

However, Lincoln isn’t done yet. Bolosan has told me that Color Guard and Drill Platoon  both understand the faults that brought them second place, and will come back stronger next year.

By Christine Kang

Every year, new brainrot, absurd online material that has little to no value, arises and people take part in spreading the meme, and the content becomes globally popular for no logical reason.

Recently, a popular trend known as "6 7” emerged as a ‘brainrot’ where people would wave their arms up and down while saying “6 7”. This meme originated from a song by Lord Skrilla, a singer that referred to 67th Pennsylvania street as “6 7”. Then, it further blew up due to edits made about a professional basketball player, LaMelo Ball, who is six foot seven. 

Furthermore, an incident during a basketball game uploaded by a Youtuber called Cam Wilder led to a kid in the audience, Maverick Trevillai, screaming out “6 7”. These events exploded in popularity on social media platforms such as Tiktok, Instagram, Youtube Shorts and more with tons of views, entirely changing the vocabulary of people in the younger generations. 

Many people in the older generations dislike the trendy meme and believe it is negatively affecting our society. Despite its widespread popularity, the people are beginning to dislike this meme and are wishing for a “great meme reset” or the desire to turn back time and rewatch and enjoy the old memes. Many people seem to avoid watching the meme due to its repetitiveness and annoyance. 

One of the few reasons that the meme is so popular is due to the many celebrities that have said it featuring professional basketball players and singers. This led to a boom on media platforms which led to it appearing everywhere on the internet because of all the people talking about it.

As its popularity grew far beyond what one can imagine, most people around the world heard this term at least once from friends or family. 

Caitlin Hilt, a student at Abraham Lincoln High School, said, “I heard this term from my annoying brother. ... I also see it on Instagram.” She has experienced torment due to the constant repetition of people saying “6 7.” 

A friend of Caitlin said, “...[social media] is a bad influence because kids are really gullible,  and [they] don’t know what the online content means, yet still enjoy them..youth follow trends because they look fun and everyone they know likes it…” 

From other views, there is definitely a negative impact on adolescents due to their lack of knowledge. Comments on Instagram would mention how the more current generations are doomed to fail because of constant repetitiveness of absolutely meaningless content.

 However, not all say it's bad.

Yuhang, a middle school student, says, “my friends and I usually say ‘6 7’ because everyone around me knows this term so it’s silly ... [‘6 7’] is so common in my school. I don’t feel left out either.”

Plus, famous celebrities garner millions of views which feeds the algorithm to show “6-7” more. Furthermore, many people will copy it for the sake of popularity and views which eventually will flood the internet with that meme.

Social media is the main influence of this trend, and many people with or without an electronic device have come to know this phrase due to young peoples’ influence. Many memes spread outwards rapidly using social media because practically everyone has an app related to social media on their devices and this allows for funny, quirky memes to spread because many algorithms pick up on topics many people have seen. Due to this, terms like “6 7” become well liked by many young children. These are common recurring themes in many memes, but all eventually die down from their peak.