By Samantha Hong

With their pool floaties secured, goggles strapped tight, and water guns locked and loaded, Seniors at Lincoln were ready to kill (figuratively speaking … of course)! On April 19, 2024, the “Splashin” app, a game specifically used for high school senior assassins game, set its countdown and began around 9:00 PM PST. 

Seniors split into teams of three, were assigned their targets, and prepared their means of attack! Here’s how it works: The “Splashin” app requires all participants to identify themselves with full names and allow location tracking. Seniors must join their chosen teams of three on the app, and the app’s software will randomly give each team another team to target.

If the senior uses the app without paying for the premium settings, they can only see their target’s locations, and the updates aren’t live, refreshing every ten minutes. So, many seniors choose to pay the two extra dollars for premium settings. These settings allow users to not only see the locations of all participants but also get live updates of movement. 

As for rules, seniors are safe during all school instructional minutes besides lunch periods. School events, activities, and sports-related practices are all safe. However, once seniors step off school grounds, they must have their protection on to avoid death! Seniors can choose to wear pool floaties or goggles. If a senior opts to wear pool floaties, the floaties must be fully inflated and worn around the arms or wrists. If the senior opts to wear goggles, they must be visible on their eyes or right above their eyebrows. 

“Assassins have to kill all their targets to inherit their target’s target. Over time, the number of living participants will dwindle until only two teams remain. The winners will receive a cash prize of 365 dollars!” Ariel Chen, one of the seniors planning and coordinating the event, says. 

Now, back to the game! On the very first full day out, many seniors were still adjusting to the game, so it was an easy time to kill! Charles Harding, while still in the baseball cage after concluding their game, was shot by Kieran Baker before Harding could get out his goggles. However, Harding quickly appealed the kill and, upon review, was let back into the game, only to be killed a couple of hours later by Baker again!

“I feel like both of the situations were justified.” Harding says, “Overall, it was a fun experience [and] getting out twice added a spark to the game that other [people] to talk about.”

The next day, Jacky Liu, while out at Kevin’s Noodle House with his family for dinner, unfortunately, sat right next to his assassin, Brian Li, without any immunization. Li kindly waited until Liu was done eating before taking him out right on Kevin’s doorstep.

Shortly after, late into the night, Marc Reyes was peacefully minding his business at the laundromat when players Nicole Troung and Gianna Lee in “Team Aquardd” shot him dead. Reyes screamed as water splashed him to defeat!

“After a long day of looking for targets with no luck, we felt defeated. But then, we checked the app again and saw Marc at the laundromat, so we drove over to get him. It was really exhilarating and fun, and we were super happy to get the second kill of the game,” Lee says. 

Slowly but surely, teams have begun tracking targets down! Assassins are coming for seniors in the middle of a late-night basketball game, shooting down prey as they walk home from school or even tracking teams all the way to Daly City for a showdown in Macy’s. 

Immunizations were turned off during lunch, so students were frantic about finding shelter. Many teams resorted to spending lunch periods sweltering in cars under the hot sun with fully shut windows and locked doors. If you were less fortunate and didn’t have a car or couldn’t find a car to sit in, you were forced to sleep.  

On the last day of round one, teams were desperate to beat the clock. Players tried their best to track down their targets. Cars circled around the school during lunch hours, trying to catch students lacking during lunch. Teams worked with other teams to get their targets out. 

Harrison Brown and Everett Top worked together to target Team “H2Hoes.” 

“Harrison called me and told me that his new targets were Katrina, Sam, and Ryan, and they were my assassins, so I teamed up with him to get Sam and Ryan out,” Top says. 

Top lured Ryan Tan and Samantha Hong out of the car during lunch while Brown pulled up behind them and chased both of them down while they chased Top. 

“It was kinda lucky because I was in the same place as our targets,” says Top.

“I was shocked that Everett and Harrison were smart enough to even trick us. I mean, we trusted him, I drove him around to get his target, and then he backstabbed me,”  says Katrina Huynh.

Within the first five days, 17 players were out, four teams were eliminated, and 56 players were left. By the end of round one, only 12 teams advanced to the next round, and over 50 players were out of the game. Students who failed to capture all their targets had to surrender their water guns, turn in their water goggles, and become spectators. 

Those remaining were riding on the highs of continuing to the next round. 

“Time was running out, so when I finally got her [Alexis Tooshy] out, I was very proud of myself because I got all three of my targets even without a car,” says Angie Liang.

Round two started on April 30, commencing purge week, and it was a total massacre!  The rules of Purge Week meant any remaining assassins could kill anyone still alive in the game, regardless of their target assignment. 

Students could be seen running to get their targets mid field-trip to try to navigate crowds of shoppers at Stonestown Mall as they escaped or succumbed to a watery defeat. 

By round three, the weight of the game, combined with stress from AP exams, had taken a toll on many players. 

“Senior Assassins was super stressful because I felt like I was constantly on high alert and sometimes, during school, especially after taking a test or writing an essay, you don’t want to have to deal with the game,” Tyler Sin says. “But it was still a game that I’ve really enjoyed overall. It’s fun to hunt around the city with my friends and get closer to my class.”

Like Sin, the general response towards Senior Assassins has been overwhelmingly positive. Seniors, at times, may have gotten heated in the group chat after a kill, but other players and the game leaders were always there to join in and remind both sides of an argument that the game was all for fun. 

“We did polls, coin tosses sometimes, but overall I was the sole unbiased person making the decisions because I wasn’t playing and felt like everyone trusted me with the money,” Diana Chen, the main leader says. 

Regardless, students have highly enjoyed the game, “I feel like I’ve gotten a lot more connected to my class and met a lot more new people after playing,” Michelle Chan says.

Only nine players remain as of May 12: Kyle Curiel, Brown, Jino Misiri, Kaden Woo, Brian Li, Vivian Huang, Michael Tobin, Alejandro Lepe-Lara, and Michael Schlicoff. Further information and the winner of the game will be announced on the game’s Instagram @ALHS2024seniorassasins.

By Justin Chen

From Feb. 21 to May 1, the Abraham Lincoln High School JROTC program volunteered at the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank - Illinois Warehouse to help support San Francisco citizens struggling with food insecurity.

Around 120 of the 150-plus cadets in Lincoln’s JROTC program participated in volunteering at SF-Marin, packing food items in bags and boxes to help aid the food bank in bag distribution to families and housing projects across San Francisco.

Every Wednesday within the eight-week timeframe, different groups of 20 to 30 cadets worked at the SF-Marin Food Bank for a two-hour shift. With every shift, which was once per week, the cadets packed an average of 500 bags of produce, equal to roughly 12,200 pounds. One group of cadets, however, was able to pack 1,140 food bags, which is equivalent to 25,080 pounds. Within eight weeks, cadets bagged a total of 4,809 produce bags, or 114,061 pounds of food in total.

The cadets worked in an assembly line style, filling bags with a variety of vegetables, proteins, fruits, and meat, weighing an excess of 22 pounds each, as the bags traveled down a roller belt. After the packing process, cadets loaded the produce bags onto vehicles, where they were then delivered to homes.

Aidan Bolosan, a sophomore and a second-year cadet within the Lincoln JROTC program, believed that his time volunteering at the food bank left both a widespread and positive impact on the community.

“I had a lot of fun learning what it was like to work behind the scenes at SF-Marin. I also gained a lot of new insight as to how many people are underprivileged in the city. Within two hours, my friends and I were able to pack several hundred produce bags. Families get one food bag each, which can probably accommodate them for at least one week. This means that two hours of cadets volunteering translates to hundreds of families who will be fed free of charge for at least one week.” He says.

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

Matthew Sugai, a senior and the battalion commander of the Lincoln JROTC program, was in charge of choosing the activity of the service learning project with his staff, for Lincoln’s cadets this year. All JROTC programs in the United States participate in a service learning project once a year, which is an extracurricular field of service that cadets take part in.

“I saw the San Francisco Marin Food Bank as a great volunteering opportunity because I realized that it would allow our cadets to gain volunteer hours while also helping to feed and learn about the experiences of those in the city who are underprivileged,” Sugai remarks.

“Last year, our JROTC service learning project was to pick up trash around Lincoln, which was also community service, but our cadets were confined within the perimeters of the school. Working at the food bank, however, allowed cadets to contribute to a more direct and widespread benefit to society, which was helping to feed people who could not always put food on the table. Passing on my torch to next year’s upcoming cadet leaders, I hope that our JROTC program can extend its presence in the volunteering community by hosting food drives for those in need.”

By Richard Kuang 

Yondr is a phone locker system designated for schools to restrict the usage of phones during educational hours. The Lincoln administration has contemplated implementing the Yondr Pouch, a phone-sized pouch that contains a flap with a magnetic lock that is meant to keep phones away from students until the end of the school day. 

Consideration for the Yondr Pouch has sprung with Assistant Principal Jordan Loey surveying and receiving 51 faculty opinion responses on the product, although the decision to implement Yondr for the 2024-2025 school year is now halted due to a range of budget issues and mixed feelings on efficiency from the administration team. 

Loey spearheaded the idea of implementing the phone locker device, gaining inspiration from other Yondr customers. Loey explains, “They got really popular at concerts and comedy clubs—it became really popular at schools—a lot of private schools, for example; they use it down the peninsula and in Marin [county]. There are a few middle schools in the district that have Yondr as its cell phone policy that as you check in, you check your phone into a pouch, and then you don’t have access to your phone until the end of the school day.” 

The purpose of Yondr is to assist in getting educators attention from students in a classroom setting away from distractions. “Teachers do need support because of phone use and how students can scroll on their phones, and our lessons need to be engaging when we’re up against something that is more engaging in their pocket and catches their attention,” says Loey.

The cost of the product has been one of the deciding factors in why Lincoln has halted the implementation of the Yondr pouch, with costs being quoted at 72 thousand dollars on a yearly subscription model for the upcoming 2024–2025 school year.

Loey added that the faculty responses to the Yondr pouch were mixed, referencing other teachers and their experiences with classroom cell phone usage. 

Loey states, “Teachers brought up a lot of good points where there were instances of ‘I want students to have their device and very quickly look something up’ also I know there are instances where phone usage is unacceptable and my kids know that, like they have a very strong classroom culture and they have a very strong expectation where the kids know--so a one size fits all model for the school site is very challenging because it takes away from the autonomy of how teachers choose to run their classroom.”

Although the possibility of Yondr being implemented for the 2024–2025 school year has ceased, Loey is still looking forward to possibly actualizing Yondr being enforced on campus in the future, following the upcoming school year. Until then, the Lincoln administration will be testing alternative solutions to ensure phone policies are followed by students, with the goal of allowing better focus in classrooms by students.

By Daisy Vasquez-Aguilar

 Having clean air is a necessity for everyone. However, many SFUSD schools don’t have adequate air quality in many classrooms. Since most school campuses tend to be older with no major remodels. There is no heat, air conditioning, or functioning vents in many classrooms in these buildings. 

  “Cleaner air means less sickness for students  and  their families, teachers, and improved academic performance. Parents have assembled the SAFE boxes in SFUSD schools.  I hope students and parents push to have SAFE Boxes in all Lincoln classrooms,” from a PTSA Lincoln administration sent out. 

 SAFE Boxes are 10 times cheaper, lower-efficiency particulate air filters and box fans complement High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) purifiers to help control the air quality efficiency. The Boxes were created by SFUSD parent Sri Devabhaktuni, MS, in December 2021. Parents since then have come forward to make these SAFE Boxes in four of SFUSD’s schools. 

The SAFE Box is a DIY air filter that is constructed by velcroing a 5-inch MERV13-rated (or higher) filter to the back of a 20-inch box fan. It takes roughly 10 minutes to complete. The materials used to create one SAFE Box cost roughly $80 with a MERV13 filter and $130 with a MERV16 filter. 

The cardboard shroud over the front of the fan prevents unfiltered air from recirculating into the fan from its front corners, while also increasing the SafeBox's efficiency (clean air delivery rate/CADR) by about 15%. The fan's back filter is a MERV13 or MERV16 air filter: MERV stands for ' maximum Efficiency Reporting Value, and the MERV grade indicates how well a filter eliminates particles from the air that flows through it. 

“The MERV rating scales from 1 to 20, with 1 being the lowest level of filtration and 20 representing the most. Filters rated MERV-13 or higher can capture tiny particles, including viruses. The fan draws air through the filter, and each SAFE Box filters approximately 330 cubic feet per minute at low speed (minimum noise),” says Valerie Carp. 

The creation of SAFE Boxes was to provide a CDC standard air filter that was cost-efficient. At two SFUSD schools, Devabhaktuni oversaw school-wide SAFE Box projects. Aptos Middle School and Commodore Sloat Elementary classrooms have had SAFE boxes since 2023 and 2022, respectively. 

“I started pilot SAFE ox projects at my daughter's school in October 2023, sponsoring five Lincoln High School and AP Giannini Middle School classrooms.  Sri and I were able to secure funding from the local non-profit ‘Safer Together’ and being the Health & Wellness chair of Lincoln’s PTSA, I was able to request a grant to cover several more classrooms at Lincoln.  There are now 1 in 5 classrooms at Lincoln (20 out of 100) and AP Giannini (12 out of 60) with SAFE Boxes,” said Carp. 

This is how Carp was able to help Lincoln and donate these efficient air filters to 20 classrooms including donating a $1,000 air filter by “Smarter Air” to the Wellness Center. 

Teachers here at Lincoln have been enjoying having the SAFE Boxes in their classrooms. “Thank you for the Boxes! I can feel the difference between before the SAFE Box program and now, and the kids can as well. I'm sure this will make a big difference in Lincoln students' health, attendance, and through those, their academics,”said Gaurav Thayil, a Biology teacher at Lincoln.

“Thank you again for all the fans, filters, and extensions. I feel like my quality of life in the classroom has dramatically improved with all the fresh air I have in my classroom. I feel safer, my allergies clear up when I go to class, and also the dungeon basement smell is way less noticeable, maybe even gone. I can't thank you enough,” said Pablo Salazar, Art and Architecture teacher at Lincoln. 

There have not been any bad complaints against SAFE Boxes, just thanks and improvements to the classrooms it has been in. Studies have also shown that the air quality has improved since the boxes have been installed in the classrooms. 

“I hope Lincoln students feel empowered to be one of four SFUSD schools to have many of their classrooms achieving CDC standard clean air, for those with asthma and people [who] are more prone to sickness,” said Carp.

By Ellie Meyerson

Beginning over three decades ago, the Drama and Tech Department at Lincoln presented a duo of one-act plays, but with an exciting catch. These usually 30-minute plays are directed by students, most of whom are directly involved in the Drama and Tech Club. Student directors have the opportunity to write scripts of their own or choose a script from their favorite playwright.

But directing is easier said than done, and no one knows this better than Elaine Walenta, the drama teacher and director of most productions at Lincoln. She says that being a student director means being responsible, having great time management skills, and, most importantly, being excited about the play they’re directing. However, she also says students should be somewhat experienced in theater.

For Evelyn Stirman, one of the two student directors this year, this isn’t her first time leading a cast. “I officially directed for the first time last year. I directed ‘Wanda's Visit’ and it was a really positive experience. I had a really talented bunch of actors and a really fun play that I picked out, and it all came together really well.” 

Stirman is directing “13 Ways to Screw Up Your College Interview” by Ian McWethy this year, a comedy about two college interviewers struggling to find one more student to recommend to their school’s dean of admissions. This play is reminiscent of Stirman’s 2023 One Act, “Wanda’s Visit” by Christopher Durang, also a comedy with a plot centered around a pair of normal people (in this case a husband and wife) being terrorized by an antagonist (Wanda) with outrageous manners and behaviors. After experiencing her first taste for directing, she began to think of directing as a serious career path.

“I didn't actually think I would like it that much. But it actually made me consider directing as a career, which I hadn't considered previously. I was thinking more about acting, but I really liked directing, which is crazy 'cause I've been acting for so long.”

Directors all have their own styles of leadership and giving their actors feedback, and Stirman describes hers as both “hands on and hands off.” 

“I like to show my actors exactly how I want something done. So when I'm blocking, I actually get on stage and put myself in the character's position and then figure out what I want them to do. And then I'll show them exactly the tone I want them to use and exactly where I want their tone to fluctuate,” Stirman explains, “It’s like I have this thing in my head. I have a vision.”

Claire Cover, a senior and first-time director in her four years of being in the drama program, has a different approach to directing. 

“If [the actors] have ideas, I like to hear their ideas for scenes,” Cover says. “Especially at the beginning when you're first blocking everything, we did a lot of what I like to call ‘stumble throughs’ where you treat it like a walkthrough, but then you stop and you fix it.”

Cover is directing “The Actor’s Nightmare" by a Drama Club favorite, Christopher Durang. She agrees with Stirman that she had never thought of directing before but that she was encouraged by Walenta to put her ideas on stage. She credits Walenta for her continued interest in theater and love for the art of acting, and if it wasn’t for her, she never would have directed at Lincoln. 

“I know that Claire is extremely talented, and I told her that I trusted her,” Walenta says, “and both shows are amazing.” 

Walenta states that just about any student can direct a One Act, as long as they have passion for their work and are able to work well with others. This year, the One Act had plenty of student actors who were completely new to acting.

Stella Van Ness, a sophomore starring in “The Actor’s Nightmare,” who usually works backstage in the technical aspects of theater, observes the different dynamics between a teacher directing and a student directing in both the context of acting and technical theater. 

“It’s a totally different relationship,” she says, “I think it takes a different kind of patience and trust when you’re being directed by your peers, versus taking instruction from Walenta, who has done so many shows and so many years of experience under her belt.” 

Angela Gin, also a sophomore who has worked with Walenta as well as student directors in her first two years at Lincoln, says that working with student directors allows for more creative freedom and the opportunity to get to know your director.

“They understand the external pressures outside of the stage and they really try their best to support their cast,” Gin says.

Both Gin and Van Ness also express interest in directing in the future, most likely in their senior year, like Cover and Stirman. As the school year comes to a close, the spring one acts mark Cover and Stirman’s last productions at Lincoln, and a legacy left behind for other students to remember.

“It takes very brave people to put their work on stage, and they did that!” Walenta says proudly.