New Recycling Program Saves Money and Helps Environment

Fortuna, California

Jarod Jones

A new recycling program has been established by two teachers at Fortuna High, Ms. Heavilin and Ms. Lynch. It is used to reduce the use of styrofoam and make steps to saving money and the planet. This was introduced this year and has helped us save money by reducing our load to the dump and getting paid turn in our recycling. In every classroom, there are 3 different trash cans or containers with signs on them letting them know what goes into what. The teachers are also pretty good at wondering if we are placing items in the right cans. The cans are collected once a week, putting everything in one area and then taken to the recycling all at once.

Ms. Lynch one of the people who created this program explained that the previous program wasn't fulfilling doing its job and a huge amount of styrofoam was going to landfill and her and Ms. Heavilin  goal was to reduce that styrofoam and other products to make Fortuna High school a more environmentally friendly campus.

Lynch says, “We have already had the need to order larger recycling bins because so many people are being mindful of the recycling process and utilizing the bins that have been placed in all the classrooms” The students of Fortuna are not only helping with this new program but it's also teaching them to be environmentally conscious. This program is also helping the school financially as it is less expensive to buy the trashcans then to take everything to the dump. If you are a student at Fortuna High and are looking to get involved, Lynch says, “We would love to have more students get involved with the recycling pick ups and the sorting process in the cafeteria. Students can sign up with me or Ms. Heavlin to get involved with the program. It can be as simple as donating twenty minutes of your time each week.”

Fortuna Weather Report

Fortuna, California

Cayden Sauls

Fortuna weather report for the next week. The weather has been changing from muggy to beach weather lately and you don’t really know what is coming next. Well, you wouldn’t if we didn’t have weather reports.

Next week is supposed to be a nice one with it getting up into the 70’s for some of it. We won't see any rain until the week after.

Fortuna High’s Girls Soccer Program Takes on the New Season

Fortuna, California

Tia Graham

The Fortuna’s girls soccer program is just about to kick off their season. Last year, they lost a substantial amount of seniors and have gained many new players this year. Their coach Kathleen Lynch and former and present player KC Cortes has agreed to answer a few questions about the team.

KC  Cortes says that she’s most excited about getting to know the new players and adapting to their style of play. Every year players graduate and some years they lose players more than other years and this year that was the case. KC thinks losing players will affect the team but she has high hopes and says that it’s just creating new opportunities for former and new players. As she remembers how intimidated she was and how she was grateful for the opportunities she was given.  KC says that “my freshman year I was intimidated. I want to help new players improve just like the older ones did for me.”

Some of the best qualities of the team are their relationships with each other and also working together and supporting each other,  Coach Lynch says. Lynch explains that 8 out of 20 players graduated last year and there was a lot of new faces coming out for tryouts. “ The first year players coming in has a lot of potential which we are excited about,”  says Coach Lynch. The team is very good at adapting to new changes as this year she made the decision of running multiple formations instead of one. At the end of the day a coach  has to be focused on one main idea and that is leadership. As they’ve lost the majority of the leaders last year, they have to rebuild. She wants to create hard working atmosphere and fast pace style of play with the help of the leaders she hopes to accomplish this.

County Fair is a Learning Experience

Humboldt County, California

Hailey Hipes

The 121st annual Humboldt County Fair is coming to Ferndale, California August 23rd! All of the fair kids are preparing to show their animals. Everyone is working together to put this event together.

Skylar Mattly, a member of the FFA raised a sheep this year for fair. “This is only my first year raising a lamb” she says, “and I plan on doing it next year as well.” She chose to raise a lamb because they “are very playful, easy to control, and they have a personality” She is obviously very happy with her choice to raise a lamb, but it also came with a list of pros and cons. A few pros included “meeting new people at fair, connecting with the animal, and seeing the many different ways that people do things.” Overall, it was a great experience.

Lindsey Kleiner, a Fortuna High agriculture teacher, is also very passionate about her job as well as the things that come with it. “There are 49 kids that raise animals through Fortuna FFA,” she said. Each animal has a certain amount of time that it needs put into it. The most common, goats, sheep, and pigs, need a minimum of 5 months of care and attention. Other larger animals, like cows need 12-18 months of care and attention. Each animal’s costs for everything are different. Cows cost around $2,500 to raise, as to a goat or a sheep that costs around $700. Kleiner said that there are many different hardships that are faced. “Animals can get diseases and die,” and that is a very hard thing to deal with, but if you raise your animal well, that makes the fair so rewarding.

Fortuna Huskies Football off to solid start

Fortuna, Calfornia

Ethan Higgins

The Fortuna High football team is looking forward to a very competitive, and hopefully a very long season for the 2017-2018 school year. Coach Mike Benbow stated in an interview that he is most looking forward to the game against Cardinal Newman, saying “to be the best, you've got to beat the best.”Quarterback JB agrees with Benbow saying that he too is, “looking forward to Newman the most.”

The Fortuna High football team is looking at a roster full of seniors who have varsity experience and have been working very hard over the off season. “Although every player is important and plays a part, it's hard to not say something about the three and four year varsity starters Church Crenshaw and JB Lewis,” who Benbow says are great leaders. The Huskies start their season off with an away game against Cardinal Newman on August 25th where they will travel to Santa Rosa to play the returning section champions.

Update: Friday night senior Bailey Foley number 20 on the Fortuna High Football team suffered a traumatic brain injury and had to be rushed to the hospital. The previous part of this article and interviews were done before the game on Friday night. This event is a tragedy to say the least, and prayers go out to Bailey and his family.

Fortuna tennis welcomes new season

Fortuna, California

Bailey Sanderson

The Fortuna High girls tennis team season started a few weeks ago, and they are all excited about the new season and striving for victory. Although this team isn't the most popular at Fortuna High, the team is still very proud to be representing the high school. They have been practicing for two weeks and couldn't be more excited for their first match. Although not everyone on the team gets to compete, so they have been fighting for their starting spots.

Savannah Houseworth, a first year tennis player, decided to try out for her senior year, so she could play one sport before graduation. This is her first year; she is hoping to get good enough to be able to play in an actual tennis match.

She has confidence in her team saying, “Pretty much everybody but me have been playing tennis for a number of years and they're really good. I have a feeling we will do really well this season.” The team seems to bond very well together, and she says that is her favorite part of being on this team. The Fortuna tennis team needs all the support they can get, so check out their schedule on the Fortuna High page.  

Abigail Albin, a four-year team member, is very excited for her last season on the tennis team. She is ready for the matches and is excited to see how they do. She said,  “I'm very happy the season is starting and I can't wait for our first match in Del Norte this saturday.”  She expresses that they could use some more support at the home tennis games though. So if you can get the chance to come, check one out.

Senior at Fortuna High Explains Her Love For Volleyball

By Jessi Shinn

The 2017 Varsity Volleyball season has just begun. A player on the team, Meelah Milligan, just made the team for her fourth consecutive season. Milligan has been playing volleyball for 6 years and loves the action and competitiveness of the sport.

Milligan continues to benefit from the sport in many ways. Her favorite part of the sport is the excitement she feels for her team on and off the court, “My team makes me happy and I love the laughter that is brought to the court.” She says she has always loved sports and enjoys being active. She decided to try volleyball in the seventh grade and has played ever since. The love for the sport began after her 1st year when she had realized the special bond she created with each individual teammate. She loves being on the court with her team and has become fond of the excitement she feels when her team gets a “kill.”

Milligan says she feels great about her team this year and feels they will do excellent. Last season, Milligan and her team did exceptional, coming home with only a few losses. “Arcata is our biggest competition and we are really hoping to bring home that win,” Milligan stated.

Marijuana Grown on Agricultural Land and its Effects on Land Prices

Fortuna, CA.

By Benny Pavloff

The legalization of marijuana in California has affected land prices in Humboldt
County immensely. Large corporations and pharmaceutical companies have bought up ag land in Northern California in the heart of the Emerald Triangle and people don't know how to feel about this. A positive factor of growers coming in is more money will flow through the counties, but land prices for crop and dairy farmers have gone up, a lot.

Humboldt County is known for its beautiful forests, its rough oceans, and most of all, marijuana. We live in the heart of the Emerald Triangle, the name given to Humboldt,
Trinity, and Mendocino counties, for obvious reasons.

Sally Conley, a real estate agent, says the prices for land in Humboldt have actually declined since last year, the last places to see the most spike is price is east of Fortuna in the Dinsmore area and in southern Humboldt. Homeowners in the area were surprisingly not affected, instead cattle and dairy have seen the most impact with land prices almost doubling.

With marijuana being a cash crop nowadays, permits are required for legal grows, and in the Humboldt and Trinity counties upwards of 2800 growers have applied, out of that 2800 only around 10 have been permitted. Large grows supervised by companies have pushed out smaller, and usually illegal,  growers from the area by raising the land prices. Will the same happen to our dairy and other local crops?