The Chronicles of Weibel
Fred E. Weibel Elementary
Farewell from the Team
Aarav Gulrajani
I am sad to say goodbye to the newspaper team. Ah, the good times. We used to have so much fun collaborating and writing the news articles for you all. This was one of the best experiences I have had this year. Our newspaper articles were only possible because of our epic team, our awesome teachers, Mrs. Riva and Mr. Ontiveros, and of course, you lovely Wildcats who took the time to read them. I also want to thank all the other teachers and parents who took the time and effort to help our club. I am still in fourth grade, so I still have a chance of coming back into the newspaper team the next school year. I am looking forward to it! Till then, take care and stay safe. Hope you all have a great summer break.
Advika Bamididpati
Throughout our school year, I didn’t really enjoy virtual learning, and I'm sure many of you feel the same way. There were many things we missed out on, and most of us missed the experience of seeing our friends and teachers on campus. We also had to sit in front of a screen for what was definitely too long, instead of our classrooms, where things flow more smoothly. So yes, this school year was not what many of us were expecting and it wasn’t the best year for most of us. But, you have to admit that learning virtually has it’s advantages. There were still assemblies and events (that were virtual), plus all of us became very tech savvy. In the end whether it was good or bad...it was still an experience, and we made it work. All of fifth grade will be moving on to sixth, and that means not only moving on from Weibel, but moving to middle school. This also means our last year will be virtual, and that’s not great, but I’m excited for how we’ll make the “graduation” work.
Anandi Pota
This school year has been tough for all of us. But our friends and teachers really make sitting on our screens a little bit better. Distance learning really affected me because I like to meet my teachers and friends in person to learn and have fun together. What I missed most was just being around other people and going to the cafeteria and playground without wearing masks. I want to thank all the teachers for doing a terrific job in these hard times. They have tried their hardest to make us have fun and learn. I will also miss my newspaper team very much. This team really helped me get over the emotional pandemic stress because when I do something that I like, it really makes me feel better. This was also a great way for me to express my thoughts through writing, art, puzzles and other creative outlets. What’s more is that through all the Google hangout chats and zoom sessions we actually still ended up making new friends virtually! Goodbye Weibel, teachers, and friends and I will see you all next school year for a fresh start...hopefully with less social distancing and more socializing :)
Caitlin Hou
At the end of this school year, I’ve learned about many subjects and have done multiple projects with my friends. My favorite part of this school year were the art projects, math problems, and the computer lab assignments. I met new classmates and a new teacher and had fun this school year. Even though this year was hard because of the pandemic, I learned a lot of things and had fun with my classmates and teacher.
Ira Thota
During this year, one thing that has really taken the focus away from school work and not being able to meet your friends was the newspaper team. It has given me an opportunity to write about things I enjoy and meet new people. I want to thank everyone on the team for making this such an enjoyable experience. Apart from the team, I also want to thank our hardworking teachers who try their best to make every lesson enjoyable. It is amazing to experience how much the world is changing, and how much our teachers care and support us. It is extremely hard to have that amount of responsibility, having to teach many kids and go on with family life as well. I can’t believe that this is my last year of elementary school. It seems odd that next year I will be in a new place. I cherish all the memories I have had at Weibel. Apps like google hangouts and zoom have made this year much easier. A benefit from all this technology is that my typing skills have improved! Don’t ask about my penmanship though! Next stop middle school!
Kashvi Lath
Congrats wildcats we made it through this school year! We should certainly be proud of ourselves. I know I am. I made it through this school year only because of my excellent teachers including my classroom teacher Mrs. Lo and prep teachers. Mrs. Lo always makes class entertaining and I don’t even remember one time where I got bored in class. Even tests were fun. Next I would like to thank my also very nice prep teachers. First Ms. Asthana who makes science fun and Mr. Xiatrey for making me like P.E. I would also like to thank Ms. Comendant and Mrs. Hawks. Lastly I’d thank technology which is the only reason we’ve still been able to do school this year. I also want to thank the Newspaper team because I’ve had a great time writing articles. This school year has been so different and that’ll never be forgotten!
Libelle Hsu
This year was pretty depressing...full of COVID-19 and sadness. A lot of people died last year and those who survived it, couldn't go out to meet with family and friends. But writing articles for the Chronicles of Weibel helped me stay free of boredom. Writing is very entertaining, and it is also fun to read and learn. Now the newspaper club is wrapping up. I will really miss writing all these fun articles.I also miss playing outside with my friends. But I am not very upset. Summer is the season of vacations and fun. Still I will be sad at the closing of this school year. I hope everyone enjoyed reading our articles.
Mihika Agarwal
Hi Everyone! Thank you for reading the newspaper article. We have worked so hard and knowing that you are just reading fills our heart. I know it has been a hard year for everyone including our teachers. We have made it through this school year and let's hope that next school year isn’t online. It is hard to communicate with your team members to get a project done and projects are often harder since you have to do them online. People may have missed seeing their friends and their teachers. But let's look on the bright side, all of us have gotten better at technology. You may know shortcuts and some more apps that you haven’t used or know before covid-19. Apps have upgrades including zoom and hangouts. You couldn’t do the virtual filters before the upgrade. There are some things that we can only do online like games. Apps you chat with are used more often and this way you can ask your teachers any question about your homework. You can make calls with your friends and chat with them after class which you didn’t do before covid-19. Thanks to all the teachers for still teaching us even in covid-19!
Nikita Jain
I really loved writing in the newspaper this year, and I hoped you loved reading it too! This is our last issue for the year and I hope you like it! We all have spent so much time and effort into this, and I am sorry that we can’t write any more articles. But you can start to write your own articles and become the writer you want to be. You could also try for newspaper next year. I hope you liked reading our issues.
Om Vatsyayan
It is my sad duty to report that this will be the last newspaper article of 2020-2021. This year was an unusual year for all Weibel students, working on a computer rather than hanging out with friends in person. This year- well technically last year, was full of memorable moments and most, if not all, have been from newspaper club, all the meetings and writing articles. This is definitely a sad moment in time, but all good things have to come to an end eventually. I am very thankful to my teachers Mrs. Riva, and Mr Ontiveros for the grind that they put and how even when times were tough were still devoted and loyal to the newspaper club. OK, I may be overreacting; mainly because I can still try out next year, but still, it is a sad day in the series of events that led here. Hopefully, by then Mrs. Riva will still be teaching, and we will share more fun moments with her. It was fun working with my former club people and I look forward to trying out next year.
Prisa Singh
It has been a tough and unique year, but it finally came to an end. Now all the experiences we had in virtual school will just be a small part of your life. But it's always nice to keep a memory of something like this. Of course, this year was a great challenge after all who would have predicted we would have virtual school. Thankfully students and teachers managed it well and this year wasn’t as terrible as I thought it would be. As a bonus we learned how to use features like zoom, hangouts, google products, and much more. However, the majority of us would rather have in-person school. Even though virtual schools have perks like sleeping in, have left over breakfast during school, or fresh lunch, many students,teachers, and parents would have school in person.Hopefully next school semester we can go through school without frustrating internet issues and achy eyes.
Rohil Manwani
This year was very unusual with Covid-19 around the world. A lot of people have died due to Covid-19, but writing these articles was very fun and saved me from boredom. Writing is very entertaining and can inspire a lot of people. Sadly, the Weibel Newspaper will be ending soon. Writing these articles was very fun and enjoyable. I really miss being in school. But, I’m not too sad. Imagine the fun we are going to have this summer. I hope you enjoyed reading our articles. Bye!
Ruhan Mitra
This year was very hard. We had to do our last year of elementary school on a computer and turn in all of our assignments virtually. It was really hard because we had to buy and have everything ready at home instead of already having the supplies we need at school. Science Lab was really hard for me since I didn’t have a lot of the things I needed. P.E was really hard too because I don’t really have a lot of space in my room. The only places where I had everything I needed was Computer Lab. Hopefully the pandemic will be over before 6th grade starts and we won’t have to go through this again. Goodbye 2020.
Sameer Rajdev
This school year has definitely not been the best. It has been full of Covid and bad news. Many lives have been lost, and for those who survived, there was nothing but mind-numbing boredom. However, the newspaper has really helped with the boredom. Writing it has been really fun, and I hope reading it is just as satisfying. However, along with this school year, the Weibel newspaper is ending soon. I will really miss writing all of those fun articles that were so fun to write and research. I will really miss having all that fun at school. However, I’m not all that sad. Just think about all the fun there is to have this summer! I will still really miss everything here at Weibel, and I hope that people will enjoy this last issue of our newspaper. So without further ado, read on, and enjoy!
Shruthi Suresh
I had a great experience this year at Weibel. It could have been better, in the sense that I didn’t get to meet my classmates in person this year, and I didn’t get a chance to smooth out some of my rougher friendships. I got to try a bunch of new learning platforms and was introduced to Kahoots!™ , a really fun game that you have to try. I also really enjoyed getting extra family time and eating so much ice cream! And getting extra TV time. But the most important thing is that I am really looking forward to an in-person full three years of Horner Middle School and, hopefully, something at least similar to a graduation. Congrats to everyone for making it through this terribly tough virtual year!
Simrah Mustafa
We did it! We made it through our first whole year of online school! It has been a hassle, having internet issues and very unnecessary background noise, but we made it through a long, hard year.
Texting classmates on Hangouts, Zooming with friends, and even just sitting in class, I actually got to learn about the people in my Zoom classes so much better. It’s likely that this year is the last year of online school, though. I’ll especially miss seeing cats walking into the Zooms and people spamming in group chats (definitely the best 2 parts of online school). I’ll also miss texting you guys each day, but thankfully, I’ll get to relay my messages in person at school!
These memories from this unpredictable year will stay with me forever. It will be hard to say farewell to the world of online school, but fortunately, I’ll be saying hello again to a better world, the world of in-person school with less screens and more fun! Farewell virtual Wildcats, but we will meet again very, very soon!
Mr. Chuck A. Ontiveros
I am a first grade teacher here at Weibel. I have been in this position since August, 2000. It's been my pleasure to work here.
I enjoy riding my bike on and off road. I collect Hot Wheels and LP records. (LP records are "long play" vinyl albums.) My favorite band is The Beatles. I enjoy reading, but comics are my favorite. My favorite author is Stephen King. My favorite pass-time is listening to music while I work in the garden. I am also a big fan of sports. I have worked for the Oakland Athletics since 2003 as a ticket seller during the summer months. I enjoyed going to Sharks games, pre-COVID, with my friends and family.
I live in Newark with my wife, Heidi, and my daughter, Celia. We enjoy watching movies, videos and television programs. We also loved to go out, pre-COVID times. We enjoy hiking with our two dogs. We also have a pet cat. We call her the bad kitty, but her given name is Mandisa. We have a pet bearded dragon named Bentley Beardsly. We also have a pet Mexican rose-haired tarantula named Emily. We had another tarantula, but the bad kitty knocked over her terrarium and killed her. Since Celia was in 4-H we've had a variety of pets throughout the years.
I will be the editor of this year's newspaper. So, if you see any grammatical errors you know who to blame.
Mrs. Riva Ahsan
It is surprising how time flies even in a school year that was all about slowing things down, staying at home and staying away from others. This school year along with the experience of leading an elementary school newspaper run by students is coming to a close and I have learnt many things in the past 12 months. I am grateful for every moment of health and every breath of well being; and I am mindful of every low point as a jumping board to be a better me.
All our little reporters did a great job trying to figure this out over zoom and google hangout. We got to know each other and discover hidden talents. This was a great experience for me, as a new parent at Weibel, because I like leading clubs/events which allow me to get to know the kids that my kids spend half of their day with. I am pleased to see how smart and well-mannered Weibel students are.
Best of luck to the 5th graders heading on to middle school, and congratulation to the 4th graders for turning into the seniors of this school. May the coming years be full of learning and laughter for all of you.
