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.
05/06/2024
Apply to join The Buzz, The Jacket’s Podcast, and get class credit! We cover stories about Berkeley High culture and events, and the Berkeley community as a whole. We are looking for applicants to join a fun team of audio storytellers who want to put together a bi-monthly podcast. We are also looking for a dedicated audio editor with previous experience with Soundtrap or another editing platform/sound engineering. Applications are due May 24th.
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05/03/2024
Please consider applying!
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05/02/2024
As they won both the Tournament of Champions (TOC) and the California State Championships, the Berkeley High School Speech and Debate club ended the season off strong. Members celebrate their victories.
Photo by Eliot Hertenstein
04/10/2024
Being stereotyped as a club that often lacks diversity, the Robotics club at Berkeley High School seeks to make their space open and welcoming to all students. The club is continuing to make its environment a safe space for all students by first addressing its diversity issues.
Photo by Madeleine Wilson
02/27/2024
From fried chicken, to hot water cornbread and gumbo, Black students at Berkeley High share some of their favorite family recipes.
Photo by Willow Pimadaly
02/26/2024
Through fundraising, the Berkeley High School Jazz program was able to send many students a part of the program to Cuba this past January. Students were able to experience Jazz culture in Cuba, different from what they’re used to here.
Photo by Nolan Whitehill
02/06/2024
Berkeley High staff and students recall their experiences with having tattoos and the meaning behind each of them. From representing a loved one to deciding to change up a look, staff and students reflect on their tattoos.
Photo by Ida Marshall Lappe
02/02/2024
Led by Klea Bajala and Cordelia Millerwhite, the Carpentry class at Berkeley High School offers students a chance to work in the shop. Bajala and Millerwhite hope the class will lead students into majors in mechanical, structural, and electrical engineering, along with construction management and architecture.
Photo by Jahan Ingraham
02/01/2024
If you have any submission email [email protected]. Please consider submitting, we’d love to see what you have!
01/11/2024
The BHS Wellness Center, located in H104, opened on the 2nd of December with the intention of being a space for students to have a place to rest during the school day. Wellness Center supervisor Melissa Virrueta hopes students will get a good use of this new, important part of BHS.
12/14/2023
Studies from Cantwell Sacred Heart of Mary High School in Montebello, California showed an increase in student’s GPAs and the number of honor roll students after creating a study hall period.
Photo by Ziva Amendola
12/07/2023
The Women’s Student Union at Berkeley High School is holding a hygiene products drive through Friday, Dec. 8 in collaboration with the Dorothy Day House, a non-profit that works to support houseless people in Berkeley.
Photo by Ziva Amendola
12/07/2023
For the first time in 41 years, the Berkeley High School Girls cross country team won NCS. Sophomore Carina Nottingham won a three-mile race in 18 minutes and 24.8 seconds with her team and coach very proud of what she’s accomplished.
Photo by Alex Tripcevich
11/30/2023
In 2019, 27 % of Black students in BUSD met California’s Reading Standards, which grew by 3% by 2022. Although efforts from BUSD are trying to close this noticeable achievement gap, Black students are still continuing to suffer from this systemic issue that arose from the previous segregation of schools.
Illustration by Rebecca Birenbaum
11/29/2023
BHS Football team alumni reflect on their time playing Football at BHS after this past Homecoming game. As many alumni still frequently come to games, they notice how the team has changed drastically since they played.
Photo by Jules Droz
11/25/2023
Please consider applying!!
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11/15/2023
From IB math teacher Dan Goldfield, to U9 math teacher Elyssa Thome, to student teacher Jim Morehead, BHS teachers explain why they changed their careers to become the teachers that they are now.
Photo by Julian Nathan
10/26/2023
An outrage from Berkeley citizens has come from BART’s new plan to make the Ashby parking lot a new energy substation, where many hoped for affordable housing to be built, while also being a space for the Ashby flea market to be held.
Photo by Julian Nathan
10/25/2023
As one of many gun related incidents at Berkeley High School, on Wednesday, September 27th, two students brought fi****ms to school and were then caught and arrested by the Berkeley Police Department.
Illustration by Sabine Shaffer
10/19/2023
In hopes of getting more Berkeley High students to connect with Latinx culture, the Latinos Unidos Club hosts many events celebrating Latinx culture. Most recently, they hosted their annual Latinx Heritage Month assembly on Wednesday October 18th.
Photo by Sanam Rozycki-Shah
10/16/2023
As California has a history of having a huge population of Latinx people, 77% of Latinx immigrants coming from Mexico, Latinx influence on California’s culture is incredibly significant since the founding of it as a state.
Illustration by Gwendolin Weber-Stover
10/12/2023
Bay area musician John Santos is interviewed about his story and his process trying to protest against injustice through his music. Now, Santos passes his musical knowledge on to his student Mario Barragan, a BHS jazz musician.
Photo by Georgia Paulos
09/29/2023
Whether it is a personal or a situational choice, some BHS students chose to graduate high school early. Often, graduating early can help students access college and careers faster.
Illustration by Jo Purcell
09/27/2023
As drug harm reduction is becoming more necessary for BHS students, the Harm Education Reduction Organization (HERO) is working to supply the BHS health center with Fentanyl test strips to hand out to students.
Illustration by Claudia Bloom
09/21/2023
Email [email protected] with any submissions by 7pm on September 29th. Please consider submitting!!
08/30/2023
As climate change is getting more and more out of hand, BHS students are becoming increasingly aware of how they are being personally affected by these growing conditions on our planet, especially after this summer.
Photo by Malina Meissner
06/05/2022
African Diaspora Comes Alive
Berkeley High School (BHS)’s African Diaspora dance program — previously known as Afro Haitian — performed their last show of the year on May 5, 6, 12, and 13. The classes put on live performances in…
06/04/2022
‘Roe v. Wade’ Supreme Court Draft: BHS Students Respond
“It kind of felt like a slap in the face,” said Sam Matsumoto, a film photography teacher at Berkeley High School (BHS) as she shared her opinion on the pending overturning of Roe v. Wade.
06/03/2022
Athlete Profile: Sienna Prak-Perry
When Sienna Prak-Perry first began playing lacrosse in sixth grade, she was one of few players of Asian and Black descent on her team. At that age, she believed that she was an outsider in the…
06/03/2022
Crew To New Jersey Nationals
On April 24, for the first time since the pandemic shut down athletics, the Berkeley High School (BHS) crew team was able to compete in the Scholastic Regionals against fellow Bay Area high schools.
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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.
