Category: News

The 2024 school year is coming to an end, and for seniors, the end of their high school career. But there are still many things to go over before the end of the school year, including many schoolwide tests, dances, and finally, graduation.

In the months before graduation, seniors will be taking a couple of required tests like, the science portion of the CAST test on April 24th to April 25th, with makeup testing on the 26th. For seniors taking AP classes this year, AP testing will be taking place from May 6th to May 17. If you pass with 3 or above, you may be eligible for extra college credit. These tests are optional and do not need to be taken. Senior finals will take place from May 31st to June 4th.

Senior’s last instructional day of school will be June 5th and then graduation preparation will take place. Caps and gowns will be given out in the next two days. 

Graduation will be held at the River Cats Stadium at 10 AM on June 11th. Seniors will be expected to arrive at 8:15 AM to prepare for the ceremony. After the seniors walk the field, the day following will be an opportunity to collect your diploma from the McClatchy auditorium from 9 AM to 12 PM. After that, seniors are finished with their last year of high school. Congratulations seniors!

A lot of changes are happening here at McClatchy. One of them is the creation of a garden on campus which will be located in the science quad.

The Eco Club and the AP Environmental Science programs are starting different fundraising events to help support the building of the new garden. One of their first fundraising events is hosting an Annual Plant Sale where you can buy a variety of vegetable and flowering plants for $2.00 each.

Some noticeable plants being sold are sweet corn, black beauty zucchini, sugar baby water, black cherry tomatoes, and many other vegetables that can be planted this spring.

If you are interested in plants or learning more about gardening, located in the Sunday Roar you can find a link for more information.

Pre-orders are going out, and they expect them to be filled by mid to late April. There are limited quantities, so if interested in ordering, order quickly.

Not just students, teachers, or staff can donate to the program, it is open to everyone.

If you’re a senior taking AP Government or Econ, a college and career center or other counselor has likely come to your social science or history class to remind you about the scholarships available for CKM students, many of which have upcoming due dates. If you missed your counselor’s speech about student opportunities, here is a brief reminder!

First and foremost, make sure you submit your FAFSA, as its deadline has been extended several times due to delays, giving those who have been struggling with the new application a greater grace period to troubleshoot. Counselors should’ve also made a trip to your classroom over the last few months to talk about financial aid, where they would’ve guided you through the FAFSA application process; however, if you somehow missed one of these support days, use your school account to sign into californiacolleges.edu, where they will have a step-by-step guide to help you through the application.

There is a Weebly website for the CKM career center which has links to several portals for scholarship applications, but many of which are due this week, April 17th at the latest, so get your application in as soon as you can. The majority of the CKM exclusive scholarships are due by April 12th, so if you haven’t already asked for a letter of recommendation from a teacher or extracurricular leader, you may be in trouble.

There are also a handful of scholarships for certain cultural groups available, like the MLK and initial catholic scholarships, which are both still open to applications (as of when this is published). Some of the scholarships are based on experience and may require an essay or personal statement, so be prepared to get personal on the application for some of the grants.

Only a handful of CKM and Sacramento Area grants are still available, so if you have already missed the window for some of the larger grants, there are also several other scholarship websites listed on the career center’s page. Scroll down to the bottom to find about a dozen 3rd party pages that host many different scholarships from around the country, for all kinds of highly specific majors and backgrounds. Be sure to sift through as many as you can, for you may find one perfectly tailored to you. Don’t miss out on opportunities for free money!

https://ckmhscareercenter.weebly.com/scholarships.html

Spring break has ended, and there are new changes around McClatchy. One of those changes is the new lunch lines.

These new lunch lines have been introduced due to the remodeling of the cafeteria. That means the cafeteria will be off-limits at all times.

There are three new lunch lines around campus. The first spot is in the ROTC quad. The second spot is behind the lunch quad near the student parking lot. The last spot is at the blacktop under the McClatchy mural.

The largest lines are in the ROTC Quad. However, if the ROTC Quad gets crowded, administration suggests going to the sub-locations.

In the morning, breakfast will only be served in the ROTC Quad. Every student should receive an email showing where to look for these lunch lines.

Administration advised everyone not to enter the cafeteria as it’s under remodeling, and there are workers during school hours. Keep a safe distance from the fencing surrounding the cafeteria entrances.

The side door to enter from the student parking lot into the lunch quad will be semi-fenced to keep away from the workers. If that’s the route students take, make sure to go around the fencing, and there will be a door still open to enter from. These changes will continue for the rest of the school year. Renovations are hoping to end by the end of summer.

In the upcoming week, the reinforcement of the campus phone policy will be pushed once more. A resurfacing of the old policy in reaction to previous phone restrictions not being followed by both students and teachers.

In an email from Principal Egan, she explained that allowing them in school is disrupting the learning process of the students and making the teacher’s job harder as there has been a decrease in completed work in the classrooms due to cellphones being distractions. This policy will also be extended to the hallways and bathrooms during class periods. Faculty hopes that students will adapt to phasing out phones on campus, preparing for the new policy to become standard next year.

If kids happen to have them out they get a total of one warning from the teacher. On the second they call home, on the third they have to call a staff member to get the phone and escort the student out.

Administrators are trying their best to help improve the learning environment for teachers and students. Education is important for every student, limiting the distraction during class hopefully will make a noticeable change.

Photographs taken by Francisco Escobar:

Just after 3:00 pm on March 21, 2024, a shooting at the University and 65th SacRT light rail station took place, leaving one dead and two injured. The shooters fled from the scene and the victims were taken to a hospital.

The two suspects are unknown at this time and police continue their investigation. Witnesses state that the shooters seemed to be adult African American males in hoodies and jeans. The two men are thought to have stolen a car from the gym parking lot across the street from the station.

Police say that the car was left down the street from the crime scene on University Avenue. At this time we only know the status of one of the victims, a woman, who is in stable condition.

The police believe that the men could still be armed and dangerous and that people in the area stay aware and safe.

If you or a friend were witnesses to this shooting and need help processing it, please seek help at the student support center or speak with a counselor. This was a traumatic event for all involved.

Until the suspects are found, stay safe and try to be with another person at all times when in that area.

With growing cybersecurity concerns, the extremely popular video-sharing app TikTok has become a topic of discussion in the U.S. House of Representatives. The U.S. government is concerned about this Chinese-based social media platform, as it may be a way to feed propaganda to the American public or to spy on the American people. However, no evidence of interference from the Chinese Communist Party has been provided. 

But with the huge user base of around 1 billion people, information is bound to be collected and sold by the app. That’s ultimately what social media apps are made for. If the product is free, you are the product. Apps get their money from selling users’ information to advertisers. But, this information isn’t just what you like to look at.

Banning TikTok would be a very controversial decision, but attempts to regulate the platform have been done before. With the company being based in Beijing, China, U.S. laws don’t really affect the company. So, The House of Representatives is giving ByteDance, TikTok’s owners, two choices: Sell the social media platform, or the app will be removed from app stores in the United States. The removal of TikTok from U.S.-centered app stores would lead to an extreme decline in its user base, causing ByteDance to lose possibly billions of dollars. If the app is to be sold, it could go for billions, which is a steep price few other companies can afford. The popularity and possible revenue of the app is a huge selling point.

The future of TikTok is very up in the air. The U.S. Senate has yet to vote on the issue, and until then, a complete ban is more than possible.