Features

By Samantha Hong

Kelis Powell

Senior, Kelis Powell, will be attending Folsom Lake College this 2024-25 fall semester. Powell plans to major in kinesiology and play in women’s basketball. 

“My experience with basketball has been very fun and enjoyable. At the age of four, I fell in love with the game. I love everything about basketball, the aggressiveness, the passion, [and] the energy all around is very therapeutic. It’s my safe place—going to the gym and taking my mind off everything and just playing the game that I love. Learning new things, developing new skills, bettering myself.” 

Powell started playing at a young age in club level leagues. The first team she ever played for was the Biddy Ball team for the boys and girls club. At age four, Powell was the only girl to play on the team. 

Then in middle and high school, she played a mixture of club and academic leagues. This year, Powell, co-captain of Lincoln Girls Varsity Basketball, took the team to city championships and won. She attributes a lot of her passion and motivation to the sport to her father. 

“He has always been supportive of me and my journey with basketball.”

At Folsom Lake College, Powell hopes to better her craft and push the limit to be the best she can be. 

“I picked Folsom Lake College because it felt like a place that I would fit in [best] at. I didn’t want to be [too] close to home but not [too] far as well.” 

Powell expressed that she wants to go to school that gives her the opportunity to meet new people and have an enjoyable social life while also still having time to focus on herself. 

“I felt [the] most comfortable and wanted at Folsom. They were the first to put me on a recruiting tour, and from there I really knew that it was the right fit for me. The coach keeps in contact with me, and I can really tell that I'm really wanted and that she will push me to be better at my craft. It feels really good and exciting being a part of this team and committing to a place where I can get better.”

In addition to playing basketball, Powell has aspirations to use her degree in kinesiology to become a physical trainer. She is passionate, excited, and ready for the future.  

“[Basketball] is not just something I want to pursue because of its potential as a future career; it’s something I want to pursue because I can have fun doing it.”

Carina Rossitto

This upcoming fall semester, Carina Rossitto, will be attending the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. There, Rossitto plans to major in Fashion Business and minor in International Business and Italian. 

“I’ve always been interested in the fashion industry and also the business side of fashion…. I’m leaning towards working in marketing.” Rossitto says. 

Rossitto’s passion for fashion sprouted from the “Barbie movies,” specifically “Barbie Princess Charm School” and “Barbie Fashion Fairytale.” Then, with the scenes of the films still playing in her mind, young Rossitto would go on to designing clothes in her mother’s workplace, cultivating makeshift crafts out of office supplies. 

“One time, I made a dress out of printer paper and tape.” 

During quarantine, Rossitto’s interest for passion spiked even more, when she started to thrift more often and even ended up taking a college program at FIT over the summer.

Since freshman year, Rossitto has spent her after school and weekends working to expand her knowledge of the industry. She has worked with the Youth Art Exchange to learn about history, design, and cultivation, signed up for night classes at City College, and has even worked backstage at the Goodwill Fashion Show, one of the biggest Fashion Shows in the Bay Area. 

Rossitto expressed that working at the show is one of the highlights to her career working in fashion, “It was stressful but in a good way; I knew this was what I wanted to do with my life,” she says. 

Despite having to move across the country for school, Rossition says that she is “So excited [to live in New York city].” Rossitto says, “I want to get to know the city, get comfortable with public transit… get a job, and join clubs.”

FIT offers numerous clubs that delve into a wide variety of topics, including dance clubs, fashion history, and costume design.

In the future, Rossitto hopes to travel around the world and work in international locations to learn about the behind the scenes of fashion weeks in Florence, Milan, and Paris. 

“If I could make it [into] any fashion company I would [be] happy, but I really like Chanel and Dior.”

By Julie Payne

The end of the academic year is often the most stressful time for high school students. With AP testing, final exams, and final grades all happening within the same few weeks, serious organization is required. Every student handles their workload differently. Since no one way is better, to help navigate these waters, Lincoln students share their experiences and strategies on staying focused and motivated and what they felt gave them a key advantage on their finals. 

One universal student strategy is having good time management. Using your time efficiently can be one of the most important factors for finals success. 

An example is Kelly Chen, a Lincoln junior who manages her time by creating a detailed schedule, “Having a written out plan really helps me manage my multiple upcoming finals; it also prevents any last-minute panic.” 

Stella King, also a junior, finds success by starting early, “I really try my best to start studying or assignments as early as I can. I realized the longer I waited, the more stressed out I was.”

 Both Chen and King’s time management strategies highlight the value and effectiveness of creating a personalized time management plan. The student body also highlighted the useful strategy of finding study methods that suit one's learning style. 

Cramming studying for finals can be tempting but not practical. We asked students how they tackle this challenge, digging into their personalized study habits. 

Hailee Huynh, a Lincoln sophomore, swears by testing herself, “I usually go online and find a test on the subject I’m studying. It helps me learn the material and get used to testing.” 

Meanwhile, Chen highlights the power of the more visual whiteboard method, “The whiteboard method is reviewing my notes and writing everything I can remember on a whiteboard, then with a different colored marker I fill in anything I missed.”

These students' strategies show many diverse ways that students can have final success. It's critical to find the one that works best for you.

Although an exam is the most common type of final, it is not the only option, and it is important for students to be prepared for other challenges that teachers may throw at them. One example of an alternate final option is a final project. 

According to Jon Ray Guevarra, who teaches US History, “I chose to do a project-based final rather than a test because I believe that project-based assessment allows students to engage more with the content that they've been learning about throughout the semester. In my opinion tests, specifically multiple-choice, only really assess how well students can regurgitate information taught [to] them rather than seeing what deeper understanding they have about the material.” 

Despite its nontraditional nature, many students prefer this type of final.  

King, who is in Guevarra’s class, echoes this opinion, “Projects allow me to show my knowledge without all the added stress.” 

Projects, in this way, allow for a different assessment of learning, allowing students to show understanding in a more natural way.

Another finals studying option, presented by Shawn Anderson, an Algebra 1 and 2 teacher, is allowing corrections on the final exam, “I haven't historically allowed corrections on the final exams, but I'm trying something new this year to find ways to support my students better. Most students think corrections are just about getting points back, but I'm primarily concerned with students gaining knowledge as a teacher. Exam corrections allow students to see where the problems took a different turn and return to their notes to correct their solutions.” 

Anderson highlights how his main goal is for students to learn the material,  “I realize that corrections on final exams aren't traditionally accepted, but I'm willing to bend some traditions if they end up helping students learn. Note that ‘grade improvements’ aren't the goal; learning is the goal. Grade improvements are a side effect of learning.” 

These different approaches are evidence of a changing system of how teachers are choosing to do finals. Presentations, projects, and seminars are all alternate solutions that can show a different picture of a student's knowledge, allowing for a more well-rounded assessment of their understanding. 

Acing finals is not a one-size-fits-all. Lincoln students showcase how different strategies are best for specific students. Finding what management, study, and motivation strategy works best for you is key to acing your tests. These study habits are not just for finals week but for the rest of your academic journey, so the sooner you find your perfect fit, the better. 

By Aneyah Wolridge

With the school year coming to an end, many feelings arise when seniors are thinking about graduation. Excitement in this long chapter of life is finally coming to an end, anxiety about what the future holds for them, sadden to part ways with the people they’ve known for the past four years, and even bitter about the things they didn’t get to experience and regret not doing. 

Meet Claire Cover, a Lincoln senior, has participated in the drama course for all four years. Although one of those years were spent in online school due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I love it [drama class], I wouldn’t have traded [the experience] for the world. I can meet people who are similar to me and have similar interests. Being in drama for all four years has made it so that I can help with a lot more things. I can help beginning drama direct scenes, overall it’s a really nice class and I like being able to help Ms. Walenta out.” Cover states.

When the thought of graduation comes up, it doesn’t feel real to her as if she should have another year of school left because of having spent one year stuck at home.

“I still feel like I’m 16 sometimes and I’m turning 18 in two months. But I’m excited. I know that it’s going to be a good new chapter in my life, I’m just sad that I won’t be able to keep in contact with everyone … It’s really bittersweet for me.”

Cover also says, “I feel a lot of excitement but then I realize that I’m going to be leaving my friends behind who are freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. And I don’t really know that many people are going to the same college as me.”

Cover will be attending UC San Diego in the fall, and is planning to major in theatre.

Morgan Hones is a senior who transferred to Lincoln in the beginning of his junior year. His first impression of Lincoln was that the school was not as rich as the one they transferred from, but the culture is diverse in terms of personality.

“It’s a different culture here,” Hones said,“Palo Alto has a different culture filled with a bunch of tech bros and very work focused people. Here [San Francisco] there’s more variety in people’s backgrounds, and you have people that are from everywhere. It was culturally diverse in Palo Alto, but everyone has the same jobs.”

Hones states “One piece of advice I have for my freshman year self is don’t take freshman and sophomore year too chill, get your stuff done. Cram in as much as you can so even though your junior year and senior year won’t be fully chill, you can take off that stress.”

Hones will be attending City College of San Francisco in the fall, he doesn’t know what he’s majoring in but is planning on majoring somewhere in the STEM field.

Cover also had some advice to give to the underclassmen.

“Don’t let yourself obsess over what other people think of you, because you will be happiest if you’re doing what you genuinely love and genuinely expressing yourself. How other people feel about you will not matter in the long run.”

The high school experience is extremely subjective to everyone. No two people are going to have identical experiences, so whether you truly enjoyed high school or not, remember that your experiences are unique.

By Samantha Hong and Ellie Meyerson

Martin Jenkins

Justice Martin Jenkins is a Lincoln Alumni of the graduating class of 1971. At Lincoln, Jenkins played on the tennis team as one of two African Americans who played varsity tennis in San Francisco. He met Coach Delman there, who helped Lincoln’s tennis team get to the playoffs. From tennis, Jenkins formed his favorite memory from Lincoln, where he met Arthur Ashe, a famous professional tennis player. Ashe inspired Jenkins to advocate for “the right thing,” as Ashe was one of few celebrities who used their platform to speak out on the Apartheid in South Africa. 

Since he was very young, Jenkins valued the importance of exposure to diverse backgrounds. He grew up attending the most diverse Catholic grammar school in San Francisco, so he wasn’t shy about different ethnicities and cultures, but Lincoln confirmed this value for him. 

Along with the high expectations and intense class rigor, the diversity of Lincoln’s student population gave Jenkins an advantage in making connections in college and later on in his career. After graduating from Santa Clara University with hopes of becoming a lawyer, Jenkins continued his love for football and began training with the Seattle Seahawks. Soon after, he decided to quit training and go to law school. 

Jenkins studied Law at USF and eventually became the first Black California Associate of the Supreme Court Justice in twenty-nine years. However, Jenkins’ philosophy on being “the first” in many ways (the first Black and openly gay Associate to the Supreme Court Justice) most likely comes from his virtues of humility and integrity. 

“Just do the very best that you can,” he says, underlining the importance of people holding themselves to their standards of their best. 

He advises that students should be okay with not knowing what comes next and ensure they have a support system of mentors and people close to them who will keep them grounded through every significant decision they make in school or their career.

Kevin Anderson

On April 29, Kevin Anderson ended his honoree induction into the Lincoln Wall of Fame speech with, “50 something years ago, I was a Lincoln High School senior and then I woke up and I was a 68 year old man and today, I woke up and I was a 68 year old man.” 

Anderson, class of 1978, was a Lincoln Athlete, playing football, track, and baseball. 

Around the time of Anderson’s education, Lincoln High School was one of the most diverse High Schools in San Francisco and growing up surrounded by different culture 

“One of the things I learned at Lincoln is how to be competitive, how to have drive, how to put things in here, [and] how to have tolerance,” Anderson says. “[They also] taught me to be a life-long learner.”

He later went to San Francisco State University and majored in political science. Anderson, initially, wanted to become a pro-athlete and play football, but instead used his leadership and executive skills to work in sports management and administration. 

With the recommendation of his friends, Justice Martin Jenkins, Anderson interviewed for the Athletic Director position at Stanford and got the job. 

During his time at Stanford, Anderson worked in fundraising and marketing in a predominantly white lead workplace. Anderson has lived his life always doing the right thing, working with integrity, and living authentically to his values and goals. 

“This is me, you either take it or leave it.” 

Mark Litke

It was six decades ago, in 1965, that Mark Litke graduated from Lincoln High School and set off to UC Berkeley with the expectation of studying pre-med, only to later become an Emmy award-winning journalist. 

His interest in becoming a reporter began with a Journalism 101 class as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, taught by a reporter from KPIX-TV.  “It was exciting. And I thought it was pretty cool seeing my name attached to a major news article for the first time in Berkeley’s ‘Daily Cal’ newspaper.”

But Litke’s real passion for journalism started in his fifth year at Berkeley when he followed a much-admired English professor to the new Graduate School of Journalism.  It was there that Litke studied under several serious professional newspaper, magazine, and television journalists who had come to teach at Berkeley.

Then, right out of college, in the height of the seventies, “[When] the world just started going into a tailspin,” Litke realized that he wanted to pursue journalism full-time.  

“The world was changing so fast [that it] demanded change,” Litke says. He was growing up in a time where the media's impact dominated popular culture and “Created some of the best journalism this country had seen in a long time.”

Later in life, Litke became the Chief Asia Correspondent for ABC News and covered major historical events in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Iraq, Israel, Egypt, Iraq, and South Africa.

He has won multiple national Emmy Awards for his coverage of Thailand’s “War on Opium”, the “HIjacking of Pam Am Flight 73” in Pakistan, and “Indonesia: The Fall of Suharto.”  Litke is also the recipient of two Peabody Awards, three Overseas Press Club Awards, a National Headliner Award, and a Southeast Asian Journalism Award.

 In his visit to the Lincoln community, Litke compared today’s world to the world he grew up in, and the similarities in conflict were stark. Litke hopes more students will pursue journalism. “Read the New York Times or the Washington Post. Read the Atlantic… read books.”