![Adding a tray of canned corn to the pile, junior Michael Collop assists in transporting donations for the Holiday Food Drive. The event, hosted schoolwide from Dec. 10-17, raised over 5,000 food items to deliver to the Parkway Food Pantry, helping several families in need. [The drive] is a great thing for us to do because you're giving to those who are less fortunate, and it helps provide for people who can't provide for themselves. [The] competition is always fun, too. It was fun to be in [social studies teacher Jess] Chazen’s class, because he always gets worked up over [the competition]. He made it exciting, and was always convincing us to turn in cans for the drive,” Collop said.](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/feature-photo-unsung-2.png)
![NEW CHALLENGE, NEW TEAM MEMBERS: Every season, VEX creates a new game that robotics team members are faced with and have to build a robot to compete in. This year’s game forces students to create a robot that is able to stack rings onto mobile goals in order to score points. The change in games each season is something that robotics teacher Audrea Moyers appreciates.
“One of the things that I like about VEX is that they have a new problem to solve every year,” she said. ¨Even though the equipment’s the same, they have to analyze the game, and they have to come up with solutions that are unique that year. They are using their knowledge from prior years, but they have to kind of redesign a problem.”
As returning teams were faced a new game, some new teams and members had to adapt to a uncommon playing field and game.
“Three of our four teams were competing for the first time this year, and they had very different experiences match to match, so I think they learned a lot,¨ she said. ¨It’s hard just watching a video online to know how it’s actually going to be in person, so they all learned a lot about what gameplay is like, how to work with an alliance partner [and] how to adapt during the day to changes.”](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG_9283-1-1200x800.jpg)
Welcome back to the sixth episode of Red, White, & True, a podcast that aims to navigate the world of polarized, partisan politics. Join host Chesney Evert and Edith Salvatore, president of the Sequoia District Teachers Association, as they discuss the economic and social importance of labor unions in our communities.
Labor unions are organized groups of employees in a specific industry. They utilize strategies like collective bargaining to ensure members’ interests and rights are protected. It’s democracy in the workplace; laborers come together to enforce a balance of power.
People outside the educational sphere blamed teachers and administrators for the economic recession in 2021, as school closures meant parents had to step away from their jobs to improvise childcare. Salvatore speaks to managing these attitudes and their impacts from inside a teachers union, advocating on behalf of teachers in the Sequoia Union High School District.
Resources: Democracy Dies When Labor Unions Do by Eric Levitz
This story was originally published on Scot Scoop News on January 13, 2022.