How to Ace Your ACT

By Camille Yost You have known about your ACT exam for the past couple of months, and now, it is only a few days away. You’re scrambling to find last minute ways to study because you feel unprepared. Here’s the first tip: Do not procrastinate. That being said, whether or not we like to admit…

Betsy DeVos Confirmation: Why She’s Stirring Up Controversy

By Gigi Hume and Jacob Rivas DISCLAIMER: This article displays a liberal bias and highlights the negatives of DeVos’ new position.  The opinions in this article do not represent the Pitchfork or Tustin High School as a whole. On February 7, 2017, the Senate confirmed Education Secretary Betsy DeVos with a slim 51-50 vote as…

Deceased Body Found Near Freeway in Santa Ana

By Karimar Gatica Orange County Firefighters attended a blazing fire due to reports of smoke near the Discovery Cube by the 2700 block of N. Main street near the 5 freeway around the time 5:45 a.m. The authorities used an electrical saw to cut through the hot bars separating the bursting fire in the large…

Trump’s Executive Order, Banning Travel

By Michael Rodillo After about a week of being the President, President Donald J. Trump has unleashed his executive order of banning seven middle-eastern countries from having the opportunity to get underway their lives in the United States. Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia are all banned to keep out ‘Radical Islamic Terrorists.’…

When Life Gives You Lemons…

By Bryan Garcia, Edwin Contreras, and Jason Aquino Happy – feeling or showing pleasure or contentment. This emotion is so simple to understand, yet many do not have it in their lives. The many obstacles that we face in our lives has taken away what little faith we have in this simple emotion. Examples of…

Forget the False Conception Of Female Perfection

By Galilea Oregon Teenage girls—either the most over romanticized or unacknowledged beings on the face of the Earth. Portrayed in films as either condescending boy-crazy mall rats or self-deprecating overly emotional brats, the average female adolescent cannot relate to over exaggerated characters intended to be “relatable” or “fun and quirky.” However, most of these takes…

“Muslim Bans” in America

By Antonio Nunez and Tino Hernandez In his first 100 days of presidency Donald Trump has generated a lot to talk about after having created various shocking and controversial revelations. One of his most popular being in which he states that “I Donald J. Trump, is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims…

Oroville Dam Crisis

By Antonio Nunez and Tino Hernandez Throughout recent weeks, the state of California has been the topic of discussion for many news outlets. Though this time not because of its various attractions but because of its major crisis concerning the Oroville Dam, one of California’s major “tourist magnets” is in danger of destruction. This huge…

Smells Like Kurt’s Spirit

By Ivette Barajas Fifty years ago today in gloomy Aberdeen, Washington, “Nirvana” singer Kurt Cobain was born to Wendy Elizabeth and Donald Leland Cobain. Through his lyrics that speak of angst and melancholy, Cobain touched the lives of millions who finally felt as though they had someone, something to relate to. Though Kurt sadly passed…

Dear Freshman,

Dear Freshman, Okay, breathe. You’ve made it.  Sort of anyway. You just completed your first semester of high school, just seven more to go. Yeah, that may seem like a lot, but you’ve come a long way from the kid desperately clutching the blurry map you printed out from the school website searching left and…

Dear Sophomore,

Dear Sophomore, You’re halfway there. Be proud of yourself. Maybe this is the first year you’re taking an AP class. Maybe this is the first year you’ve actually had to study. Maybe it’s the year you’ve had to learn how to balance six classes, a sport, a job, and a social life. Maybe it’s not….

Dear Junior,

Dear Junior, I know right now that your priorities are in a fumble. For instance, I understand you are being forced to read this letter right now when there are an abundance of other productive things you could be doing. I’m a senior, in another CCR class reading a different letter. I know what you’re…

Dear Senior,

Dear Senior, Senior year is weird because you still feel like a kid who is stuck in high school, yet you know that by the end of the year, you’ll be expected to know what you want to do with your life. The concept of “the rest of your life” is odd, too. What are…

Bilingual Benefits

By Zachary Apperson and Genesis Montes Do you know the benefits of a secondary language? Learning a foreign language opens opportunities for the individual in their personal endeavors as well as bettering overall cognitive abilities. In turn, this can affect other aspects of a student’s education, attributed to raising overall test scores. Many states promote…

Tripping Through High School

By Ivette Barajas, Karimar Gatica, and Michael Rodillo Like every other high school in America, Tustin High contains students ranging from different grades, ages, cultures, interests, hobbies, etc. In the small but significant four years spent in high school, there is a drastic transition that occurs in every single individual; whether it be physical, mental,…

Tiller Teacher Throwbacks

By Karley Bailey and Nayeli Medina As you slide into the same old wooden desk in your third period class and begin to block out your teacher’s lecture, you start to daydream… do you ever wonder what your teacher felt like in your position? Did they have the same feelings of teen angst and desperation?…

Say Bye to “The Bye Bye Man”

By Yaire Alfaro If you’re enthusiastic about thrillers and horror films, the newly released film, The Bye Bye Man, is NOT the right fit for you. The movie is directed by  Stacy Title and written by  Jonathan Penner; it was also released on January 13 and rated PG-13 (due to terror, horror violence, blood, and…

Mr. ‘One-of-a-Kind’ Martyn

By Eileen Obregon Confucius once said, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life,” working should, realistically, be just another activity that you cannot get enough of. Educating students and empowering them with knowledge can be a natural gift for most teachers and here at Tustin…

40 Years of Dreams

By Ivette Barajas and Kimberly Aguilar 40 years ago, the world and their ears were blessed with what could come to be one of the best selling albums of all time; Fleetwood Mac released “Rumours”, which took no time to top both the American Billboard and the United Kingdom’s album charts. Music lovers all over…

Everlasting Lip Stains

By Camille Yost Recently, women have been raving over matte liquid lipsticks and lip stains, and, luckily for them, there’s a plethora of brands to choose from. Colors vary from vibrant neons to subtle nudes. Although there has been hype placed on brands such as “Kylie Lip Kit” and “Too Faced Melted Liquified Longwear Lipstick”,…

Top 10 Games of 2016

By Tino Hernandez and Antonio Nunez 2016 has finally come to an end and a new era has begun for gamers of all platforms, but before we move along and enjoy all of the fresh unique games this brand-new year has to offer we have decided to relive and reminisce about the great experiences that…

OC Based Escapades

By Alena Tran California is one of the largest tourist hotspots in the United States. It’s easy to take it for granted, as silver linings are easily missed amongst any clouds. Admittedly, as high school students, a lot of what we can do is limited. There are certain restrictions to our freedom, but that doesn’t…

Stealing Fashion From Your Favorite Friends

By: Galilea Oregon Ever since all ten seasons of Friends were added on Netflix, I’ve been shamelessly binge watching. With every passing episode, I fall in love more and more with the styles of protagonists Monica, Rachel and Phoebe. From Phoebe’s bohemian skirts and dresses to Monica’s classic mom jean and t-shirt combos, every outfit…