First, you need to understand, you need to conclude that the relationship is indeed unhealthy. And second, understand it is not your fault and it was never ever your fault. Third, you need to find help. You can either call 1 800799 SAFE or text start to 88788 for support with domestic violence. Third, you need to find the right time to escape and leave your situation. And fourth, you need to seek shelter. Whether it's a family member's home or domestic violence shelter, what matters is that you know you're safe in your location and that you feel comfortable. How you feel is what matters most of all. And finally, no matter what, cut every single tie with the other individual in the relationship. No matter what. Now, things may vary depending on the situation. But generally, this is the proper thing to do. I want you all to take a stand with me against domestic violence, not just by talking about the issue, though, by actually doing something and attempting to help others get out of their situation.
If you believe that a loved one is experiencing domestic violence, please inform them of the previously mentioned steps to either call 1 800799 SAFE or to text start to 88788. My name is Gabriel and I thank you all for [Applause] listening. Thank you, Gabriel. Our final junior high school speaker is from Lexington. Please welcome Michelle Lee. [Applause] Imagine a blazing flame, a roaring fire twisting and swirling with the fierce wind. You stand frozen, watching as your burning house is igniting to ashes. Sadly, this is the reality we are living in. Our lack of fire preparation is not due to lack of funding, but to unpardonable leadership. The LA fires, specifically Palisades, consumed 24,000 acres of land. The building we're currently standing in is merely 30. According to the hill.com, the average house in Pacific Palisades cost $3.5 million. For such a wealthy neighborhood, you would expect at least functional fire hydrants.
Wrong. Not only were there malfunctioned fire hydrants, but completely empty reservoirs. It is our leaders responsibility to protect the safety and welfare of the people, us. And yet our fire hydrants are empty. Instead of admitting their mistake, our leaders, for example, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, are blaming the victims, accusing them of not paying their fair tax. In contrast, the tax revenue annually for Pacific Palisades totals to $330 million. Yet, they shift the blame to innocent victims. Innocent victims who had no involvement in running the city's fire hygiens dry. The mayor of LA, Karen Bass, says if the fire department had more money, we would have been in a better position. Contrarily, she slashed $17.8 million from the California Fire Department. We the people sacrifice certain freedoms, pay taxes, and contribute resources in the expectation our leaders will provide us with safety and justice. In this case, safety and justice were sorely lacking.
The best part of it all is the government pays no price for the turmoil they've inflicted on Californian families. An eyewitness Martin Copenhaer says, "I look out and see embers. So, we grabbed what we could get quickly and in five minutes just got out of there with the clothes on our backs. Now, now I have to start all over again in a new life. This This is the perfect example of California's lack of fire preparedness. This is the price we have to pay for our state's carelessness. Because in the eyes of our government, we are utter scapegoats. It's time we keep our government accountable. Push for transparency and fire preparations. Raise awareness through social media to pressure officials. We have to stand up for ourselves, for the innocent victims in the fire. I ask you to educate yourself, to speak up and stand out. Thank you.
Thank you, Michelle. May I remind you that for the past 45 minutes, you have been listening to seventh and eighth grade students. [Applause] Amazing. We will take a 10-minute break and then come back and hear our high school speakers. I'll see you in 10 minutes. Now on to hear some more outstanding speakers. It's time to showcase our high school students. So let's get started. First up from Gilbert High School, Linda Escobar. Imagine entering a classroom where half of the students are having difficulty reading. According to the board of education, we see that 48.5% of the students are barely meeting the English language art requirements of reading. We see that 50% of our students are not able to read. So why is literacy so important? Literacy is important because it affects our daily life. From reading a menu at a restaurant to being able to read a med medication prescribed by a doctor.
Therefore, we see that students need basic reading skills. Basic reading skills come in handy whenever we need job opportunities, whenever we need to be able to make bigger financial decisions. If students don't have these basic reading skills, they're unable to make these decisions. And according to the Annie Casey 2001 Foundation, we see that they are four times more likely to fall into higher incarceration rates. Therefore, we can also see that students need our help because this is a California literacy crisis that we are in. With this, we also need to take in consideration about how they may feel. I once knew a fifth grade student that was reading at a first grade level. He was reading our first grade level not because he didn't have the ability to learn but because the because the system had failed him. Therefore, we need to be able to support our students.
One of the things we can help our students with is making certain changes, small small systemic changes. For example, being able to read to our students every day and also asking for more funding our school libraries and school education like our curriculums and asking for more sorry asking for better help in our curriculums and having students have more opportunities with one-on-one tutoring. All this can help our crisis that we are dealing with. And therefore um okay with helping out all our students uh in this crisis we're investing in literacy. Investing in literacy is investing in a better future for all of us. Thank you. Thank you, Linda. And now from Laera High School, Emmanuel Quantero. [Applause] At the end of last year, the Federal Reserve reported that 67.3% of the nation's wealth rested in the hands of the top 10% of America, while the top 0.1% own 13.8% of the nation's money.
Meanwhile, the bottom half of our country struggles to afford basic necessities. If this does not concern you, then hopefully the potential consequences of this problem will. If the wealth of the rich is left unchecked, there would be less than enough money to support the lives of the lower and middle classes. A shortage of money for these classes would result in poverty, leading to higher crime rates and a lack of education. Another possibility is the top 0.1% integrating themselves into our political system. For example, Elon Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, holds political and economic power. According to the Washington Post, on January 31st of this year, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant, appointed by President Donald Trump, granted a team of people close to Elon Musk access to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. The fiscal service pays for nearly all federal payments and processes transactions such as social security payments, health care benefits, tax refunds, and many other things.
This man has never been elected, appointed, or confirmed to any government position, nor has he ever been a federal employee. Due to this fact, I do not believe that this man should be trusted with any government documents because immense wealth should not grant you the right to view such private information. However, he has proven us wrong and has demonstrated to the country how much of a threat the ultra wealthy can be to our future and our democracy. To prevent more billionaires from buying their way into our country, I propose an annual progressive unrealized gains tax on stocks. This tax would target those whose net worth is over $10 million. And the money tax would then be distributed to the bottom half of the nation to offset the income inequality. However, a plan without the means to set it into action yields no results and remains a dream.
Only you, the people of this nation, can fight this inequality by voting for politicians who will represent us and fight for policies that benefit everyone, not just the wealthy. That is all. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, Emanuel. When are you running for office? Just let let us know. The Oxford Academy speaker is not here. So we move on to Catella High School and Sadi Sandival. [Applause] Good evening. My name is Sadi Sanoval and I have only one question for you. What is identity? Is it your gender, your ethnicity, your sexuality, or is your religion? The Oxford dictionary definition of identity is the fact of being who or what a person or thing is. In other words, it's being who or what you are. In 2012, a study about identity maturity and and moral identity was commenced by Sam Hardy and a group of other students from his college.
Throughout this study, they surveyed 9,500 students from 31 different universities ranging between the ages of 18 to 25 years old. They surveyed each of these students about their own identity maturity. When receiving the the results, they noticed that many of the students They noticed that many of the students identity maturity had can predict one's emotional well-being. Meaning that someone whose identity has grown can have an effect on their mental health. Identity is built on experiences, relationships, ancestral history, gender, religion, ethnicity, sexualities, interests, and so much more. One person, one doesn't just change their identity. their identity grows and it evolves into something that paints a beautiful portrait. One issue I would like to identify is that many of us don't know how to construct our own identities. Society tells us to pick something, pick a career, pick a major, pick a passion, but then we're told that it's wrong.
We're lost between a place where we feel half of ourselves and half of someone else. And the my solution for this issue is for schools to app for schools to apply more lessons that revolve our around identity in English world language and vapa classes. When applying identity to lessons in these classes, students can then authentically find their sense of self. Many of the students in the AUHSD, including me, have never really paid much attent attention to our own identities. If schools are supposed to be a place of education and a place of growth, then we should be able to explore a into a deeper concept of our identities. Whenever if we're ever asked the question, "What is your identity?" we'd know how to answer. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you. Number one fear, public speaking. These kids are getting up and doing it. It's amazing. [Applause] We move now to Cypress High School and Harsha Ragavan.
[Applause] Einstein said that time is relative. I see a nine-year-old in the audience looking at me like he has no clue what I'm talking about. But I'm sure everyone here can understand that our time here is limited. But for some reason, we spend so much of this precious time waiting for change. We wait all week for Friday, all summer for winter, all winter for summer, and all life for purpose. But change doesn't come from waiting. My attempt to spark change starts at everyone's favorite period of the day, lunchtime. Every single day, students dump their undesired lunches into the trash or into the share basket where it's given another opportunity for consumption. But even so, at the end of the day, these latter of these meals just ends up being thrown away. Food wasted, opportunity wasted, time wasted. In the US, 38% of the food supply goes uneaten or unsold every single year, leading to 87.8 million tons of food waste annually.
These are the human consequences of our choices. Choices that will dictate the future of the human species. Now, my plan to navigate this challenge is rooted in my senior civic action project where I want to take this food waste and turn it into something that actually nourishes my campus. So over the past five months, I've been learning about food disposal systems and have been speaking with specialists in the field to learn how I can take this food waste, put it into composting bins that will then be utilized for the school's garden and offer hands-on learning opportunities for students within the science curriculum to learn that responsibility isn't just an idea, it's action. I was watching a National Geographic video the other day and the guy said that it would take a million years for the light of a star to reach the Earth. So I was thinking by the time I see that light, the star probably isn't even there anymore.
But somehow the light still shines. The choices we make today go so far beyond what we can even perceive. And I stand here telling you this because I know that environmental action without awareness is just wasted potential. Now, I'm no Einstein, but I will leave with this. Time wasting is time wasted. And I hope you're able to see that, too. Thank you. [Applause] And now from Magnolia High School, Lily Koy Blake. [Applause] God is good and all the time. God is good.
Good evening everyone. My name is Lily Koy Patricia Blake. Today I stand before you to shed light on a crisis too many students endure in mental health struggles. the crushing weight of anxiety, depression, and uncertainty that can even make waking up in the morning feel so unbearable. Imagine being a teenager trying to focus while your stomach aches with hunger. Imagine going home to chaos and instability. Imagine feeling invisible. This is the daily reality for countless students within our district. And yet when students act out, when they disengage, when they make mistakes, they are met with punishment instead of compassion. They are suspended, expelled, and even written off as lost causes. But has anyone ever stopped to ask why? Why do students skip class? Why do they stop caring? And why do they feel like they have no way out? We don't need more punishments. We need real accessible mental health support before it's too late.
I know they struggle personally. I've made mistakes in the past. And instead of being given the chance to grow, I was defined by them. I was talked down to. And for so long, I felt like I was never good enough. Staying silent felt safer. The other day, someone asked me, "Why are you giving this speech if you're going to graduate this year?" At first, I found that question really rude, but then I thought about it. I reflected on it some more, and now I have my answer. I'm giving this speech not for myself, but for the next generations, for my younger cousins, and for every student who will walk these halls after me. Because even if I won't be here to see the change, knowing that there is hope is enough for me. There is hope at Magnolia High School, though, we have safe sentinel assistance funding essentials, a program run by staff members that provides students with necessities such as food, hygiene items, and financial aid.
but most importantly a sense of security. Safe reminds students that they are not alone. For the last two years, I have felt so loved, supported, and uplifted by my village, by Magnolia staff, and by the people who refuse to give up on me. Lower High School here, of course, recently created a wellness space, a safe haven where students can take a break, reset, and just breathe without the pressures of school work and stress. If two schools can do this, why not all of them? Why do we keep treating mental health as an afterthought when it should be a priority? The statistics are devastating. The CDC reports that suicide is now the second leading cause of death amongst teenagers. Half of all adolescents will experience a mental health disorder. Yet, most will never receive the help they need. Just as we wouldn't ex ignore a student with a broken arm, we shouldn't ignore a student with a broken heart or mind.
The time for silence has passed, but the time for change is now. We must break the silence, demand better, and ensure that every student feels seen, heard, and valued. Thank you. [Applause]
great news for Ashlin Library visitors new lighting is in place thanks to town officials and eversource the library now has brighter more efficient lighting making it a better space for reading and studying