Berkeley High School's award-winning print and online newspaper since 1912. The Jacket does not receive funding from and does not reflect the views of BUSD.
06/10/2025
Honoring our graduating class! Link in bio for more
Slide 1: “Don’t mistreat people, because you never know what they’re going through,” - Zariyah King (AC).
Slide 2: “I think that that is also kind of what high school is for, is learning what actually matters and what doesn’t.” - Anita Marie Julca (BIHS).
Slide 3: “My advice is (to) use your time how your future self would want you to have used it ... there are 24 hours in a day, and ... all of those hours are yours to use, to put towards things that are important to you and that will make your life easier down the road,” - Violet Philhower (AC).
Slide 4: “My freshman self would be surprised that I can walk onto a stage and not feel like the world is about to end,” - Eostrix Garcia-Freedman (BIHS).
Slide 5: “I want to fight for that. Everyone should have freedom and access to education.” - Farhat Noorzad (AHA).
06/10/2025
Get to know our seniors! Link in bio for more
Slide 1: “Don’t let others dictate what success is for you,” - Amber Safir (AC).
Slide 2: “The idea of home can be a lot of different things. You can think of a person, or your family as home, or a place, a memory. You know, it’s a very abstract thing,” - Maile Matubrew (AC).
Slide 3: “It’s never too late to extend kindness and make a new friend, because it could change your life,” - Isabel Eknoian (AC).
Slide 4: “One thing that really changed me is being part of the Berkeley High (School) community. It opened my mind to many different people and perspectives,” - Reham Humran (MLP).
Slide 5: “I’m very proud of just growing into myself. I had a lack of identity at the start, and I definitely explored my identity. Not just in dance, but in other parts of myself.” - Maria Sanchez Perez (AHA).
06/10/2025
Celebrating the Class of 2025! Link in bio for more
Slide 1: “This year, I feel like a lot more people looked to me as a role model for what they should do in wrestling … and I felt a lot more responsibility,” - Charlie Gittelsohn (AC).
Slide 2: “I put myself out there, regardless of if I was scared to or not, and it opened up so many new doors for me,” - Zamahra Clark (AC).
Slide 3: “High school taught me how to take up space and trust my voice,” - Mariah Lillard-Richner (AC).
Slide 4: “I think the beautiful part of (BHS) is that there’s so many different things you can do. And also that you can mold your experience exactly how you want it,” - Lenka Simon (BIHS).
Slide 5: “don’t let school get to your head, it has a spot for everybody. Whatever you want to do, you can do it,” - Nate Garland (AMPS).
06/10/2025
Senior spotlight time! Link in bio for more
Slide 1: “I felt like something I’ve really been able to keep is just being true to myself and what I think is right and wrong and what I do and don’t want to do,“ - Rey Tse (AC).
Slide 2: “Smile at people if you see them at parties or in the hallways … and acknowledge them. There are a lot of people at school who struggle.” - Ella Howard (AHA).
Slide 3: “I don’t stop at challenges, I definitely try to work through them to the best of my ability,” - Jocelyn Mae Sandiego (IS).
Slide 2: “Don’t be scared about what people think. It’s never that deep. The world will keep spinning.” - Sofi Guzman (AHA).
06/09/2025
Senior appreciation post. Link in bio to read more
Slide 1: “Don’t live your life or make certain decisions about what college to go to or what extracurriculars to do for other people. You’ll enjoy it as long as you actually want to be doing it,” - Zael Johnson (AC).
Slide 2: “It’s super important to use high school as a time to experiment with your passions,” - Phoebe Dedlow (BIHS).
Slide 3: “I’ve learned I don’t need to be perfect all the time. That leads to a better quality of life,” - Addison Davis (AC).
Slide 4: “There’s always a second chance for you. There’s always a third chance, a fourth chance, a tenth chance. There’s always a way out,” - Hazel Baileh Klein Wolff (CAS).
Slide 5: “I love how big Berkeley High is. I think we have people from all different communities and ethnic backgrounds,” - Krubel B-Monroe (AMPS).
06/09/2025
Check out our Senior Profiles! Link in bio
Slide 1: “I gotta feel grateful to see these people every day,” - Emmett Price (AC).
Slide 2: “I want to be remembered as somebody who was involved and passionate about the things that I do,” - Emma Kittredge (AC).
Slide 3: “I hope my impact is remembering more than I am, because I think it’s more impactful of a mission if it’s not because of one person, because it shouldn’t be,” - Jessica A. Hipona (BIHS).
Slide 4: “Having a balance in life, and understanding being gentle and being patient with yourself is really just number one,” - Vaie’e-Talia Tu’ua (AHA).
Slide 5: “In high school I was able to appreciate the fact that there’s so many different things I had never considered. I learned how to be a more accepting person,” - Tanvi Kumar (IS).
06/09/2025
Go Seniors! Link in bio for our Senior Profiles
Slide 1: “In high school, meeting new people is so important because it gives you a space to be yourself (and) people to depend on,” - Nova Duchateau (AHA).
Slide 2: “So much injustice starts in the classroom, and so much injustice can be avoided in life with a powerful education,” - Emma Knisbacher (BIHS).
Slide 3: “BHS changed me by really liking making me mature as a person, especially in terms of my organization,” - Kalu Caldas (AC).
Slide 4: “As the Editor in Chief of the yearbook, I have been able to see a lot of the different people on campus. Even if they might not know who I am, I learn so much about everyone on campus and what everyone is involved with,” - Anna Coleman (BIHS).
Slide 5: “Having a support system can make the tough days a little easier and the good ones even better. It’s those shared experiences that will help you grow, both in what you love and who you are,” - Rose Hara (AMPS).
06/09/2025
Some of our amazing Seniors! Link in bio for more
Slide 1: “If I can make you smile, laugh, or make your day, then that’s a gift that some people don’t have. And I’m grateful that I have that gift to make people laugh,” - Manny Lane-Scott (AC).
Slide 2: “Don’t be afraid to try new things, even if you feel like you might not be the best at it,” - Jayson Dejean (AHA).
Slide 3: “I feel like I’ve gotten better at making sure my life is a happy balance,” - Ilana Nickolaus (AC).
Slide 4: “I want to be remembered as somebody that nobody really has anything negative to say about. And that I really try my best to put my best foot forward,” - Isabella Sinclair (AC).
06/09/2025
Check out our Senior Profiles!
Slide 1: “Don’t continue things you are not interested in doing. Don’t spend time with people that are not good for you,” - Hatie Bender (AC).
Slide 2: “If you don’t do anything, nothing’s going to get done,” - Alex Neira (AC).
Slide 3: “Enjoy your time in high school. Make the most of every day because it goes by really fast,” - Sierra McCarty (AMPS).
Slide 4: “When I moved here I definitely came out of my shell. I became more confident in myself, worrying less about what other people think and just trying to live, do whatever makes me happy,” - Gaia Gilberti (BIHS).
Slide 5: “While I haven’t made the biggest difference in my school community, I like to hope that I brighten people’s days,” - Jonah Fleisher (AC).
05/27/2025
Thanks to everyone who came to the Jackets first ever in person fundraiser!
05/13/2025
BHS students at the Mosaic Project are teaching kids valuable lessons. Link in bio to read more.
05/13/2025
Is RFK spreading misinformation? 🤔🤔 Link in bio to read more.
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The Jacket is the award-winning student newspaper of Berkeley High School in California. The paper is published every other Friday, and includes five sections that cover local events at the high school and current issues in the world. The staff of The Jacket includes more than one hundred student editors, reporters, photographers, and columnists, as well as one faculty advisor. The Jacket‘s editorial board is composed of about twenty-five students who are elected by the previous year’s senior editors. Many of the current editorial board are pictured on the Staff page. The name of the paper is taken from Berkeley High School’s mascot, the yellowjacket.
The Jacket is a recipient of numerous awards including ones from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association; They have been awarded a Gold Crown Award in 2010, a Silver Crown Award in 2017 and 2018, and a Gold Medal in 2017. In addition, they were a finalist for the 2018 National Scholastic Press Association Pacemaker Award.
In the late 1990s, the paper gained widespread prominence after reporters Megan Greenwell and Iliana Montauk broke a story in Berkeley that resulted in criminal prosecution. The Jacket first reported that local business-owner Lakireddy Bali Reddy and his family were importing young women from India to work as s*x slaves after one such woman died of carbon monoxide poisoning in a Berkeley apartment complex.
When The Jacket first started in 1912, it was called The Berkeley High School Weekly News. The earliest surviving copy of The Weekly News is from October 7, 1912, and can be read online here. Many pre-1950 copies of The Jacket are available at the reference desk of the Downtown Berkeley Public Library.
Edwin Madison Elam, Jr. was The Weekly News‘s founder and first editor in 1912, when he attended Berkeley High School in the class of 1913. He went on to attend the University of California at Berkeley, and graduated in 1917. During his time at UC Berkeley, he worked at The Daily Californian, was a member of the debate club, and on the staff of the Blue & Gold yearbook. Sadly, he was killed in action at the Forest of Argonne during World War I on October 11, 1918. Above are pictures of the 1912-1914 staff of The Weekly News.
