I am a writer for the Clubs and Humans of Redwood section. I prefer to write deep dive stories on RHS entrepreneurial students due to the risk and open possibilities they create. Throughout the first semester of being a journalist, I've learned the right worded sentence could give you tons of information and that every single one of us has a story. Everyone and everything. I believe my stories are important because they highlight those who are really trying to stand out and beat the system we live in while lots of people are in doubt and believe what they're doing isn't worth it. I'm proud to be able to give those underdogs the spotlight and a voice.
Semester 1 Stories
Teenage Entrepreneur Richard Saldana approaches third year of his business: “RS Detailing”
Richard Saldana, ‘23 is a full-time student at Redwood High, whilst owning his business within the auto detailing industry at age seventeen. He first peaked interest in starting a personal business at the age of fourteen during freshman year to support his family members throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. An obstacle he faces in his business is mobility. Saldana, throughout the two years, has learned many skills. He says he acquired skills in “marketing, photo editing, reaching out to customers, time managing, scheduling, and also how to work money.” This shows my ability to create a safe enviornment for a student to be able to speak on the weakness and orgin of their creation.
I believe this story will impact not only the owner through allowing his business to grow, but those who are wanting to start their own venture. This story helps our reader community by show casing Redwood high is not only a school with good athletics, but a school of students who are capable in creating a profitable business.
Student Entrepreneur Brett Topete, reminisces on his accomplishments with “Certly.Resells”
Brett Topete, ’23 has a three-year business, Certly.Resells, which consists of reselling limited sneakers with the use of softwares. Topete is able to beat some of his competitors through acquiring software’s such as ‘bots’, proxies, servers and other subscriptions. Proxies are essentially a mimicked Ip address. Topete says, “At home you have your IP address, that’s one Ip (address). One of the bot protection methods is tracking the IP, So if run 1,000 tasks – 1,000 people trying to get the product. They can see that a thousand people are coming from one IP address, they know it’s fake; you’ll get banned. But, with proxies you can generate as much as you want. If I wanna gen[erate] a thousand tasks, I’ll gen one thousand proxies. That makes it one IP address per task.” Reselling bots is simply selling the software (which helped the reseller sell shoes) after the bot no longer able to by-pass the websites bot blockers . The market place for buying or selling bots is on a discord server. All transactions are online transactions and require a middle man. This story shows my ability of bringing depth to any story.
The story has bought about the capability on being able to create a stream of income solely based within the digital world. It helps our readers understand that there is more than a simple 5-9. It brings hope we can create smarter lives.
Mock-Trial kicks off season with annual club tryouts
The Mock-Trial Officer team has been preparing for club try-outs that are set to kick off on August 30th in room 44. After collecting an old court case witness statement from room 44, students are asked to memorize the facts, which they are later tested on by an Advisor or President of the club. Mr. Zach Adams says that the process for auditions is "an opportunity for [advisors] to gauge a person's confidence, speaking ability, ability to project.” Although, the team does not expect students to know every detail, but rather have the potential to grow. Adams says, "We’re not a sport but we are a competitive team. Co-President Morgan Castaneda, '23 is a four year member who says that a common obstacle is memorization. "[Its] almost like having an extra class. [Members] have to memorize alot, [members] have to recite alot and communicate with other team members," she adds. "Their confidence as human beings just expands ridiculously: their ability to speak for themselves, to speak out, to speak up. We’ll get people in as freshmen--- they're like little mice--- just so meek and two to three years later they’re the first to stand up and talk; it transforms these people." Mock-Trial Advisor Mr. Zach Adams on student growth through their participation
My story on the Mock-Trial club has shown that there is more of an effect than we may see in the very beginning. It's not about the hardships we face, but how we learn from them.
Reflection
Where have I been?
Honesty. I thought journalism would've been way more technical. More....psychological. There's so many techniques people can use to seem charismatic and allow people to open up easier and faster. I also thought we would've learned techniques on writing entertaining stories.
Where am I now?
Being in journalism, I've learned a lot. I've gained new skills. I now can ask questions in a certain order that'll allow for a person to feel comfortable. I can now ask quality open-ended questions. I can now come up with questions. I can now interview people comfortably. I also can now create connections with many types of people.
Where am I going?
For the next semester, a goal would be to create better connections. I hope to one day interview someone who's interested in the things i'm interested in. I haven't had a 'best friend' in 6 years. Another goal of mine would to be an interviewee. I have something up my sleeve; something...BIG. You'll see what it is. In a story. A goal i hope my section could accomplish would be to do something big on those entrepreneurial students.