​By Nagely Perez Calderon
 
The amount of food being wasted is an issue because instead of throwing it away we as a community can save all that food from going to waste and feed the hungry homeless people in the streets. Having homelessness and hunger in our community affects the entire community, because as a community we depend on each other. Helping others is ethical.  Seeing hunger in the streets affects everyone emotionally and makes them think how fortunate they are.  So many people buy pairs of shoes which they don't need instead of using that money to help needy people in the community by buying them clothes and something to eat. People are often driven by their religion to help the needy by keeping in mind that all humans life matter. Parents should explain this to their kids. This is an issue because it’s extremely surprising how 2% of the wealthiest Americans have more money than the next 80% combined and we still have extreme poverty in our country and in our city.  Reducing wasted food could help bring us closer to ending hunger in Rochester.

By Wilson Rivera

Student Internet access at home is a problem, especially in Rochester. About 45% of families in Rochester do not have access to internet. Although that is a big deal a bigger problem is that the 65% of families that do have access to the internet do not have a fast and/or stable connection to the internet. It’s a problem because without students having a fast and a stable connection to the internet they are unable to do their school work effectively. After most to all education systems moving to the digital age and teachers putting their classwork online instead of having it all in paper form and textbooks, it is important for the students to have a strong stable and fast connection to the internet in order to access their work and complete it.

This problem affects roughly about 65% of families in Rochester, but the main victims are students because without kids having the internet, which is a powerful resource in order to do their work, their work will be hindered. The school internet is like trying power a car with a AAA battery and a copper wire - it’s bad - especially with the school blocking 95% of the sites and having 100s of devices connected to it.
​
It is an important issue to solve because if students had a faster and stable internet connection at home they can work on their school work without their devices freezing up and holding them back. The quality of work would go up too and could possibly correlate to schools having better scores and can even possibly lead to a higher graduation rate.

By Clairissa Moore

We feel the weight of it all every day. To put it frankly, teachers here at East use way too much paper. Whether it comes in daily handouts, or textbooks that aren’t used, the paper we actually use is obviously much less than what is given. This problem likely stems from the transition the district is making from paper-and-pencil only to a “121,” or one-to-one, as in one computer per student. Since we aren’t at 121 status yet, teachers usually provide physical documents as well as digital assignments. However, many students already have their own computer, so for them, the paper is useless. For example, in my AP U.S. History class last year, every student in the class was provided a textbook, however my class and our teacher eventually realized that it was easier for everyone if we just used a pdf file of the textbook. After that, about twenty $200 textbooks sat collecting dust in our lockers.
​
All this paper has a huge impact on our school environment. Firstly, it’s heavy and cumbersome. A few sheets of paper isn’t much, but it adds up quick and we end up with a Sunday New York Times in our backpacks and on our desks that’s just going to be thrown away. Secondly, all that paper is just going to be thrown away. As some of you may know, the recycling bins in the building and the trash bins all end up in the same place― landfills. And thirdly, it comes with a cost. Disposal itself is a pretty penny, but so is printing, the paper itself, and the textbooks that go unused. Think about how much benefit limiting paper would have. The cut on costs could help bring us closer to 121 status.

By Lynnola Christman

Graduation rates in the Rochester City School District (RCSD) are below standards. Rates increased by 10 points since 2013 when it was 43%. This is a problem because there are so many kids in the district that just give up on themselves instead of trying. That’s hard when the education of the students aren’t valued at home, or when kids are bored, frustrated, pregnant, work to provide for their families, or missed too many days according to npr.org and educationseattlepi.com. This affects students because when the students drop out, they are more likely to live periodically unemployed, on government assistance, or be in and out of prison then students who have a high school diploma according to all4ed.org.
​
26 schools in RCSD have closed since 2002. 18 have reopened according to Democrat and Chronicle. RCSD schools don’t even have engraved names on their buildings but instead banners where they can be easily removed in case schools get shut down. East was going to be one of these schools before the University of Rochester got involved. The reason for shutting down these schools is to have better performance, but yet graduation rates are still the worst in the state. This is a problem that we should look more into because every student in the RCSD should have a fair chance at success as anyone else in other districts.

​By Zaire Briggs
 
Many teenagers are not learning good spending habits. This could turn into the main source of their financial problems now and long into their future. Most teens are uninformed or misinformed. Some teens may not even realize they have a problem at all, and not ask for advice before making important financial decisions that will affect their future.
 
This problem affects teenagers going into adulthood. This problem affect teenagers going into adulthood because financial problems can stop people from doing many things in the future, such as buying a house, taking out loans and etc.
 
When a child has a regular allowance every week and can spend it however they want, it gives them bad financial habits. Teenagers need to learn the right financial lessons when they’re young. Otherwise, they are unlikely to develop the level of financial intelligence that they need to succeed in life.
 
East High can play a major role in helping teenagers learn how to manage their finances, so they don’t ruin good opportunities for their future. More financial training part of education curriculum. Students do learn some of this is Personal Finance class, but there should be even more classes offered and it should be emphasized more.

​By Taniya Gaines
The state of New York has the most racially segregated public schools in the nation, according to WXXI. Schools in Monroe County have become steadily more segregated in the last 20 years. In the inner city of Rochester you see high levels of concentrated poverty that you don’t see in the suburban parts of Rochester. The problem with this is that it’s causing students in Rochester with the most need to be concentrated together in under resourced schools and neighborhoods.
Many students in the RCSD are attending schools where most of the school population is poor or of low income. But in places like Pittsford it's the exact opposite. This has to do with the idea White Flight. White populations are moving to suburbs, putting racial clauses in housing and education opportunities making it difficult for minorities to do the same, according to OpenMicRoc.
This is affecting under privileged students in districts like the RCSD because they aren’t getting a quality/equal education under the law. Students are graduating high school not prepared for college or whatever their next step is. Students in these districts aren’t being taught what they need to know to succeed in their future in their schools. But this also is affecting students where there is no integration in their classrooms. Often times they say racist things but aren’t called out on their actions because no one of that race is there to confront them.
This is important to understand because until we find a way to integrate our schools and communities the racial isolation rates will continue to get worse and students will never get the equitable education they deserve. We want our students to succeed economically just like other students around us.

​By Tiana Orbaker
White Privilege is an invisible force that needs to be recognized and not ignored. The issue is how it goes unnoticed by white people themselves. The problem is whenever white privilege is brought up people get offended and say it’s not a real thing or assume you’re calling them racist when saying they have “white privilege” which is not true. White privilege exists because of historic events enduring racism and biases. “This idea of white privilege as unseen, unconscious advantages took hold.”(Teaching Tolerance article.) This affects anyone, even white people themselves.
Some notice how things are easier for them and that they have subtle advantages.  For instance, being able to turn on the television or open the front page and see their race widely represented. Whites easily can choose blemish or bandages in “flesh” color and have them match their skin. This alone shows that one race is valued more than others, according to activist Peggy McIntosh. We should care about this injustice because it goes deeper than just tv shows: people’s feelings have been hurt and people’s lives have been taken over this matter. We need to recognize this and not ignore where this comes from and why white privilege still has its staying power. 

By Kermarie Principe Caceres

Many people are affected by these classified controlled substances. It affects all populations, people with health problems, teenagers battling with depression or other mental and emotional illnesses which makes it an issue. It is important to consider solutions to this problem since there has been many deaths, people that overdose, families affected emotionally or many people entering rehab because of the opioid epidemic.

During my research, I had the pleasure to interview few of the nurses I work with at Strong Memorial Hospital. I first interviewed RN Castro about her knowledge on opioids and she said that opioids are used as pain relievers but people misused them for other purposes. She said there were Narcan available for opioid overdose.  When asked how someone could support a friend or family member with this addiction, Castro recommends helping them avoid risky situations.  And I started thinking about all the suicides on social media because of depression. For example, someone suffering from depression has a bad day and harms themselves which in this case would be an addict having a hard day and trying to get high to forget their worries. Her ideas for solutions were to educate the patient, their family and friends about opioids, the kind of support the patient needs and educate them about Narcan. There’s also in-patient rehab and methadone clinics.
​
In Rochester, there are many rehab clinic such as Pathways, Helio Health: Rochester Evaluation Center, UR Medicine Mental Health and Wellness- Strong Recovery, Rochester VA Outpatient Clinic and so much more. These places are recommended for anyone battling with opioids seeking help to stop.  The Methadone Clinic in Rochester has a line where privacy is guaranteed, and offers help 24 hours a day at 800-530-0431. Feel free to call!

​By Hana Nakayama
 
The problem we are facing is potholes and bad road conditions. It is a problem for everyone who drives because of the damage they can have on your car. This problem affects the entire community: those who drive every day. When driving you want to avoid the holes as best as you can but that isn’t always the case. The bigger and deeper the pothole the greater the damage it can have on your car. It can cost a lot of money to fix your car. This is important because more of them are becoming bigger and then more are popping up out of nowhere. We should care because this is a very great problem on those who are constantly getting their car fixed. People are losing money on fixing their car, and this could hurt many people. The more potholes that are popping up the harder it will be to avoid them and then more damage and money add up. To find solutions to this problem will save people money and having to go to the repair shop all the time. This has been an ongoing problem for a while and more are coming to light.  
 

By Joshua Madera

East High School isn’t doing a fantastic job with recycling. Schools normally contain a large supply of paper which lots of money is spent.

A school of 100 teachers utilizes 250,000 pieces of paper each year leading the wastes of schools being at least 40 percent paper. Recycling paper is needed in schools to prevent 4 billion trees from being cut down around the world. Recycling in schools will increase the rate of recycled wastes because 75 percent of paper waste in the United States are recyclable but as citizens, only a little over 34 percent is recycled.
​
Jason Taylor states, “Recycling is a behavior. Unless it's already an ingrained habit for someone to recycle, they likely won't do so unless it's made very convenient for them. For example, some people struggle to throw out their trash in the giant trash bins that are all over the school. Some struggle to throw out their school lunches in the trash bins that are literally inches away from them.” The quote reveals that our habits as human beings can lead to negative effects on our environment as littering, not recycling, and contamination within the water. Recycling in schools is a problem because in certain places if we don’t see anyone recycling and littering instead we may develop the same type of habit. Another problem is that not recycling and constantly littering we will be in a state of global warming which will be difficult to get out of.