Culver City Observer -

Your high school teacher gives you a project: Find something important to you, then research the subject. Write it up, get it peer-reviewed by fellow students. Ultimately, students were asked to choose which subjects were most significant to them.

Then take what you think is important, and write a compelling letter to the editor.

Thanks to Culver City High School teacher Kathleen Rowley, and her ninth-grade students, we've decided to publish some the letters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In Defense of Playing Video Games

Dear Editor,

The media and large groups of people see video games as a tool to make someone mentally ill and violent; however, they may help improve mental health. Many American youth fight depression and this means there lots of Americans that are not motivated to be productive. Video games can form communities to help players learn about events, feel connected, and help with depression. Parents can learn that video games can have a positive impact on teens who are depressed..

Parents should know that not all games are full of violence. According to our classmates, many games are, in fact, fun and positive. One may think that we will just get hooked on games and they waste time, but what they fail to recognize is that video games can help relieve stress in our lives. Games like ¨Firewatch¨ can be used as a way to boost confidence.

Kids also need video games because it gives them a chance to make friends. To explain, when people play video games they talk to other people from their team to beat the game or win the match, which can help people that feel lonely. Furthermore, trying to address depression adds to society by removing unmotivated people, and for youth, to make better decisions to decisively affect their future. Video games might have a positive impact on mental health for people who are depressed, including teens.

Sincerely,

Max Varsano and Daniel Rodriguez

Why DACA Is Important To Americans

Dear Editor,

America has a huge problem: it is kicking out its people, people who can one day be the commander of army, mayor of city, or even a future scientist who finds the cure to cancer. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) allows young immigrants to live and work in America legally. The immigrants who qualify must be under 31 years of age as of June 15, 2012, must live in America from June 15, 2007 to present, and have not committed felonies. If an immigrant does qualify, they will have to pay up to $500 for the membership. In September 2017, President Donald Trump announced plans to stop the DACA program. To this we say that the DACA should not be overthrown because it is not in the best interest of the future of America, all youth, or the government.

President Trump wants to get rid of DACA because he wants to get rid of the undocumented residents. He thinks taking away DACA will help the country out. DACA is like a type of citizenship. With DACA, federal officers can't deport participants while they are at work or at school. President Trump was quoted, by CNN, "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending the best. They're sending people that have lots of problems and they're bringing those problems." First and foremost, kids in America are the future leaders of this country. The people of Culver City should care because DACA gives everyone a chance in this country. Some of our well-known Americans were immigrants then given citizenship, including our founding fathers. Overall, people, if given a chance, will take it. So why can we not give more immigrants a chance to shine?

We want to bring awareness to this topic because many people are affected by this. President Trump already ended DACA, yet DACA was bringing money to the United States government because DACA members are paying for their temporary citizenship. Ultimately DACA should be kept because America was built off of immigrating to America for freedom. To remove DACA is to make America and Lady Liberty herself redundant. Native Americans are the only non-immigrants in America so if we were to kick out all the immigrants in America that would be hypocritical .This is important because America is the land of the free and that is something that should never be taken away.

Sincerely,

Anthony Mateo

Juan Lopez

Luke Forman

Jordan Henry

Concerns About Safety in Uber/Lyft

Dear Culver City Community,

Have you or your family ever used ride-hailing, like Uber or Lyft? People in the Culver City community should be concerned because ride-hailing is a convenient way for transportation nowadays, but sexual assault happens occasionally through these new and up-and-coming businesses that use ride-hailing. No one would want to see their friend or family member get into a car and then hear that they were harmed on the way home. This danger is shocking. We attend Culver City High School and we care about this topic because we want our friends to be able to safely ride in ride-hailing apps.

A serious matter we should discuss is driver safety. In recent news articles from across the country victims have reported being sexually assaulted after getting in a car with people pretending to be ride-hailing drivers. Recently, a woman ordered car to come pick her up after she was intoxicated. She got in the car had no idea what was happening. The man who was behind the wheel took her to an area and assaulted her. This demonstrates that people are posing as ride-hailing drivers and people are mistakenly falling for it.

People who use ride-hailing to travel need to pay more attention to what is happening and their surroundings because they can be assaulted. People, especially teens, who use ride-hailing apps should either go with a friend or someone they know or, if possible, have a friend or family member pick them up and give them a ride so they can get where they need to be safely.

Individuals should be aware when they use these apps so they can get where they need to be. When individuals use an app for transportation should check if the car has the correct company logo. People should check if the picture in the profile picture matches the driver and if the license plates match. If a friend is drunk or intoxicated, either take that person home instead of calling them a car or take the car with them to make sure everything matches with the information on the phone. It's important that we know about fake ride-hailing drivers because it can happen to anyone who is drunk or sober.

Sincerely,

Peter Rampersad, Justin Beighey, Daniel Cadena, and Kimberly Fernandez

Why We Should Pay College Athletes

Dear Editor,

College athletes across the country work extremely hard for their school's success and bring in thousands to millions of dollars into their universities, so why not pay them? As student athletes of Culver City High School, there is something other students need to know about playing a sport in college: athletes do not get paid for their hard work, even if they are granted a full-ride scholarship. Full scholarships cover tuition and fees, room, board and course-related books. Most student-athletes who receive athletics scholarships receive an amount covering a portion of these costs. As a result, student athletes still have to pay the remaining portion. As student athletes of Culver City High School we want this to change; if given the opportunity to play in college we all would love to receive an amount of money that will cover all costs due to the fact of how much money we would in to our schools as well as the hard work we put in. As a community we need to recognize this issue and fight to resolve it to benefit student athletes moving on to college.

Fans buy jerseys with a college player's name on it to show love and support for their school. The NCAA profits each year from selling the jersey, but the athletes are still left with no profit. According to Jeremy Bloom, an NFL player, "They clearly pick the numbers of the best players. There's not anyone in the world that can possibly argue that the selling of jerseys with specific numbers is not taking advantage of those athletes." Playing a sport in college is a great way to be involved, active, and having an opportunity to get a scholarship is even better. However, students need to know they aren't getting paid for items that have their names on it and they should plan out what they're going to do to for finances outside of their sport because they practice 90 hours a week and don't have time for work.

College athletes may face financial struggles; they also have to deal with school and practice. In fact college athletes devote most of their time practicing. They want to get better so they can make it to the professional league. Less than two percent of college athletes make it to pro league, but they all compete to be in that two percent. According to Dave Anderson, college athletes have to work 90 hours a week to stay in school with having a sports scholarship. This means working two full-time jobs and a side job on the weekends. Not all scholarships pay for everything. For students who are considering athletics in college need to be aware of how much it costs to be in athletics and stay in school. Ultimately what is at stake here is many college athletes will not having enough time to get a job if they need to practice. In fact, an article by Lynn O'Shaughnessy states that college athletes practice on average 40 hours a week. Not being able to get a job and practice at the same time can negatively affect a college athlete. They won't be able to buy textbooks, buy food, or keep up with their rent. If college athletes cannot afford to stay in college and play a sport then they might just have to drop out. Future college athletes shouldn't have to struggle with money if their sport could be a job that will support them.

There is no doubt that college athletes should get a piece of what they rightfully worked hard for. Therefore, as athletes, we believe that when high school students go to college they should get a piece of the money that they rightfully deserve.

Sincerely,

Jovanna De La Trinidad, Amayah McKinley, Jagger Williams, Roman Carrillo