The Student News Site of Foothill Technology High School

The Foothill Dragon Press
The Student News Site of Foothill Technology High School

The Foothill Dragon Press
The Student News Site of Foothill Technology High School

The Foothill Dragon Press
Layla Solomon

Layla Solomon, Writer

Class of ‘26 | Women love me, fish fear me.

All content by Layla Solomon
Scattered throughout the Universal Studios park are four scare zones: areas where guests can walk by scare actors and small set pieces or props. Located near the front of the park is the Carnival of Carnage scare zone, themed around clowns and the carnival. Actors were dressed in clown outfits with chainsaws, giant hammers and creepy makeup as they jumped out at guests.

A review of Halloween Horror Nights

Layla Solomon, Writer
October 15, 2025
Along Telegraph Road, construction for the Telegraph Road Resurfacing Project has been underway. Aiming to improve sidewalks, bike lanes, medians and more, the project began in late July 2025, with its completion expected in early 2026. As one of the busiest roads, Telegraph is experiencing large amounts of traffic as a result of the daytime construction, often at the peak rush hours. Bus drivers for Gold Coast Transportation, one of the main bus lines for Ventura, Calif., are frustrated with the concentration of traffic and the city's planning of the project.

No bus driver likes construction

Layla Solomon and Oliver Kelley
October 1, 2025
The second annual Lima Bean Festival was held on Sept. 13, 2025, in Oxnard, Calif. Organized by the Oxnard Historic Farm Park, this event serves to honor Oxnard and Ventura County's rich history in the agricultural industry, with the spotlight crop being lima beans. Starting as early as noon, eventgoers enter the park and are greeted with lively music played by Frankie and the Lima Beans, numerous local restaurants take on lima bean dishes, and a wide array of arts and crafts. Those attending were also allowed to grab a copy of a new book published by the director of the park, Jeffery Maulhardt, which covers the impact lima beans have had on California as a whole.

Beans, beans, the magical fruit

Layla Solomon and Kellen Spears
September 16, 2025
Foothill student Luzmaria Sanchez Guevara '27 spent seven weeks of her summer interning at the public defender's office, located in the Ventura County Hall of Justice. Sanchez Guevara developed new skills in the professional environment of the courtroom, shadowed attorneys and translated in English and Spanish for clients.

Students gain experience with Ventura County summer internships

Layla Solomon and Katelyn Newman
August 29, 2025
"100 men vs. One gorilla" was a viral debate in online internet spaces about whether or not 100 men could best a gorilla in a fight. The question first emerged in 2020 on Reddit page r/whowouldwin, and recently saw a resurgence in popular media after popular influencer Mr. Beast made a post about it on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Answering the age-old question: 100 men, or one gorilla?

Kellen Spears and Layla Solomon
May 30, 2025
Two presentations were held in the courtyard of the adobe during the festival. Each demonstration featured information about local owl species, such as diet, anatomy, habitat and ways to protect them. At 11:30 a.m., the Ojai Raptor Center presented with real owl specimen. At 1:00 p.m., Ventura Katie Adams handled a live Eurasian eagle owl named Periwinkle.

Ventura’s annual Owl Festival was a hoot, celebrating local nature and history

Layla Solomon and Julia Brossia
April 16, 2025
In San Diego Calif., off the coast of La Jolla, many sea lions are seen lying on the beach. Normally, one would look at these animals and think they're just sleeping or resting. However, after taking a closer look, it was clear to see that the behavior of these sea lions were anything but normal. Many were swaying, hyperventilating and even becoming violent. As a result, residents and tourists have needed to call animal control and marine-life services on their trip to the beach.

California’s recurring toxic algae bloom is destroying Ventura’s local beaches

Audrey Szijj and Layla Solomon
April 12, 2025
Ventura's river estuary, a marshland area that funnels into the ocean, provides a refuge for many different species of birds; from sea and shorebirds to waterfowl and songbirds. The area is adjacent to a popular path for biking or running, but despite the proximity to human activity, the wildlife thrives in their own little world.

Photo essay: A dreary morning at Ventura’s river estuary

Layla Solomon, Writer
March 31, 2025
The United States cherishes 63 total National Parks, ranging from valleys to forests. The Trump administration fired over 4,000 National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service employees combined, on Feb. 14, 2025. With the decrease of staff, protecting the natural beauty of the National Parks will become more of a challenge than ever.

[Photo] Opinion: The future of National Parks endangered by mass layoffs

Morgan Houston, Writer
March 21, 2025
Bald eagle couple Jackie and Shadow hatched a complete three eaglet brood for the 2025 breeding season. The three previous years, the pair had lost their eggs to weather conditions or ravens. The eagles can be observed via live video feed on the Friends of Big Bear Valley YouTube page, where thousands watch daily to see the birds.

Baby eaglets bring joy from Big Bear

Layla Solomon, Writer
March 12, 2025
As one-time funds that supported Ventura Unified School District's budget deplete, the district announced the imminent implementation of budget cuts. Staff and faculty alike remain unsure as to what the future holds.

[Photo] VUSD staff at risk of being pink slipped: Investigating VUSD budget cuts

Kalea Eggertsen, Writer
March 8, 2025
Redpilling is a dangerous form of online indoctrination that radicalized young white men to fall into the alt-right pipeline. This is achieved by many tools: YouTube videos, online forums, podcasts and more. The pipeline pushes harmful values that reinforce ideas like toxic masculinity, white supremacy and conspiracy. Although users online may not be purposefully searching for this polarizing content, the algorithm can accidentally boost videos, ultimately permeating a large array of viewers.

Opinion: What is “redpilling”?

Layla Solomon, Writer
February 21, 2025
10900 Telephone Road Ventura, Calif., is home to one of many CalVet homes across California, acting as a haven for veterans to live and find community. Through the main entrance of the home before you enter the dining room, there is an honorary wall with displays of pictures showcasing the many residents that have served the United States of America. These pictures capture moments from when the residents were in service. These photos stretching the length of the wall shows how much respect and honor the home provides for the incredible people that risked their lives for their country.

Holidays for the veterans of Ventura

Layla Solomon and Kellen Spears
January 25, 2025
As another year comes to pass, it's time to look back on 2024 at Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech) and see what's come to pass. From the arrival of a new principal to the 25th anniversary of our school, join our writers as we review the last year.

Best of 2024: Foothill Tech

Emmanuel Takaya, Jane Kim, Layla Solomon, and Amber Duhs
January 9, 2025
Throughout the year, 2024 has gifted the musical world with any number of incredibly well done albums and impressive songs. Popular artists such as Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar's albums gained a large amount of traction after release, earning a spot on the best of 2024 list. Other artists such as Charli XCX, Wallows, and beabadoobee's albums are similarly featured as the highlights of 2024.

Best of 2024: Albums

Morgan Houston, Ruby Jenkins, Oliver Kelley, Audrey Szijj, and Layla Solomon
January 9, 2025
2025 has begun! And with that, it's now time for us to look back on 2024 and remember all that has come to pass. Join the Foothill Dragon Press's writing section as we review a variety of popular topics from the year, ranging from albums and movies to fashion trends and books. It's sure to bring back memories from the past year and let us appreciate all the change and excitement we've experienced.

Best of 2024: A year in review

Emmanuel Takaya, Lyla Huff, Audrey Szijj, Morgan Houston, Jane Kim, Amber Duhs, Layla Solomon, Julia Brossia, Oliver Kelley, Ruby Jenkins, Kalea Eggertsen, and Kellen Spears
January 9, 2025
Reading a book, an activity that requires thought and literacy, is becoming a dying art as technology craves short, dopamine-driven attention. From young children in elementary schools using phones and tablets to high school students, the attack on literacy levels is affecting more than just test scores: it's affecting your brain.

Easier read than done: The slow death of literacy among teens and tweens

Layla Solomon, Writer
December 10, 2024
The different childhood entertainment of Gen Z and Gen Alpha are representative of how technology like AI and social media affects each generation. For Gen Z, physical toys or education-based technology, such as Shopkins and LeapFrog, were popularly enjoyed by many children. For Gen Alpha, however, entertainment has shifted to being more technologically dependent. These relationships with media are formative in how both Gen Z and Gen Alpha react to technology in the present and the future.

How childhood entertainment affects generations’ technology use

Layla Solomon, Writer
November 6, 2024
Nov. 5, 2024, marks one of the most highly anticipated and pivotal days of the year: Election Day. After years of preparation, the stage is set for a historic showdown between two major political parties. As shown above, Donald Trump, with his running mate J.D. Vance, is leading the Republican ticket, while Kamala Harris, with her running mate Tim Walz, is representing the Democratic Party. This election is set to be a defining moment in American politics, with both candidates offering different visions for the nation's future. This series covers a range of ropics such the importance of swing states, Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech) students' opinions on the election, enviromental policy and much more.

2024 Presidential Election Series

Jane Kim, Layla Solomon, Bailey Basurto, Beatrice Barnes, and Ruby Jenkins
November 5, 2024
Erik and Lyle Menendez, famously known as the Menendez brothers, became part of the national spotlight for the murder of their parents on Aug. 20, 1989. Decades later, the brothers are still receiving attention through documentaries and Netflix series such as "Monsters."

[Photo] “Monsters”: The controversial story of the Menendez brothers

Lyla Huff and Madden Velasco
October 31, 2024
A visualization of several key rallies in the Trump Vance campaign, from early June to early September. This does not represent every rally or event by the campaign, updated as of Sept. 7, 2024.

2024 U.S. Presidential Election: Swing states and campaign trail

Layla Solomon, Writer
October 2, 2024
Veronica Muñoz from BG's Cafe, one of the five restaurants featured, served guests ladles of homemade lima bean and ham soup. Each guest was handed three lima beans to place their vote for their favorite restaurant dish.

Crops and community: Oxnard’s first Lima Bean Festival

Julia Brossia and Layla Solomon
September 18, 2024
With the dawn of a new school year comes new faces among the staff at Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech). Joining staff, Edward Gillet is a new English teacher at Foothill Tech. He attended the University of Florida and then later transferred to University of California, San Diego.(UCSD). There Gillet studied philosophy and taught at East Lake High School in San Diego.

Five of Foothill Tech’s newest teachers

Layla Solomon and Lyla Huff
September 4, 2024
Banning books is a rising form of censorship, especially in school communities. Often suggested by teachers or parents, information that is interpreted as inappropriate or controversial can be met with a subsequent book ban. In the 2022-2023 year alone, over 3,000 books were banned or challenged.

[Photo] Into the pages: Investigating the rising cases of book bans

Kalea Eggertsen, Writer
August 20, 2024
"I Saw the TV Glow" is a psychological horror drama film released by A24 on May 3, 2024. It was written and directed by Jane Shoebrun and stars Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine. The film follows two young teens dealing with a variety of mental health difficulties, and their downward spiral following the cancellation of their favorite TV show. The film deals with a variety of themes, most notably mental health, identity and sexuality.

“I Saw the TV Glow:” A nostalgic, neon trans allegory

Layla Solomon, Writer
June 15, 2024
Technology is an integral part of students' school supplies. Chromebooks or other school-issued devices are constantly restricting arrays of information. Students' access to information, both useful and recreational, is subjectively blocked for being "controversial." However, most of these device parameters are overcome in order to play browser games to combat boredom in the classroom.

[Photo] Opinion: Censorship on school devices

Audrey Szijj, Writer
May 21, 2024
The Associative Student Body (ASB) at schools host and execute various events, such as Spirit Weeks, rallies and dances. At Foothill Technology High School, (Foothill Tech) events are often cancelled from lack of participation. While most ASB events are successful, the growing lack of school spirit towards the end of the year is a problem for attempted events.

[Photo] News Brief: Discussion on recent ASB canceled events

Bailey Basurto, Reporter
April 20, 2024
Despite great improvements in women's rights movements across decades of progression, modern society has been stagnant towards recent feminist movements. While the physicality of such past improvements can be seen, the long-standing psychological impact of stereotyped gender culture is the greater conflict to fight.

[Photo] Women’s History Month and the stagnance in gender progress

Jane Kim, Writer
April 11, 2024
Drug use, particularly vaping or smoking marijuana, is a prevalent issue among high schoolers. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) states that 23.2 percent of 12th graders had vaped nicotine in the past year, and 29 percent of 12th graders had reported using cannabis in the past year, according to the 2023 NIDA Monitoring the Future annual survey. While drug use among teens is not rising dramatically, the dangers of doing so have. With deadly synthetic drugs like fentanyl contaminating drug supplies, drug use in teens has been more dangerous than ever before.

[Photo] Investigating student drug use at Foothill Tech

Ella Asher, Reporter
March 29, 2024
House sparrows are one of the most common birds to see in North America. They nest in all manner of buildings, both backyard and in urban environments. Despite their adorable appearances, house sparrows are invasive and damaging to native species. They're also extremely territorial and injure or kill other birds, and even hatchlings.

Satire: Foothill Tech’s hidden metropolis of menaces

Layla Solomon, Writer
March 14, 2024
"Lisa Frankenstein" adds a new twist onto the classic tale "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley, bringing a modernized take on the story for teens. It's a fun horror, comedy and romance mash-up, reminiscent of old '80s and '90s movies as it follows a young goth girl Lisa and her developing relationship with a reanimated Victorian corpse. Follow writer Layla Solomon as she reviews the film.

“Lisa Frankenstein”: Eclectic, striking and camp

Layla Solomon, Writer
March 6, 2024
Car clubs from over Ventura County, Calif. gathered to share their cars with glittering rims, smooth paint jobs and unique decorations.

Lowriders of Ventura County: Cars and culture

Layla Solomon, Writer
February 18, 2024
Ghost kitchens operate in delivery apps, allowing companies to host multiple restaurants within one building. The food is made in the same kitchen but delivered in slightly different packaging.

Ghost kitchens of Ventura: Is it all … Denny’s?

Layla Solomon, Writer
February 8, 2024
2023 was a year to remember! Join the Foothill Dragon Press's writing section as they discuss popular topics such as movies, concerts, video games, books and fashion, along with year-shaping events at Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech). The Best of 2023 series has everything from old favorites to newcomers.

Best of 2023: A year in review

Ruby Jenkins, Camilla Lewis, Isheeta Pal, Beatrice Barnes, Julia Brossia, Amber Duhs, Paula Gonzalez, Emilie Huovinen, Kelly Quinn, Layla Solomon, Audrey Szijj, Kalea Eggertsen, and Jane Kim
January 1, 2024
2023 was a compelling year when it came to movies. Hollywood was booming, with "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" taking over the summer and "Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse" setting the bar high for animation in the early half of the year. Ranging from comedy to horror, theaters to streaming, movies were at an all time high in 2023.

Best of 2023: Movies

Camilla Lewis, Layla Solomon, Amber Duhs, Kelly Quinn, Paula Gonzalez, and Julia Brossia
December 31, 2023
Foothill Tech's annual Winter Formal began on Dec. 16, 2023, with an enchanting Yule Ball theme. The venue was decorated in icy blue and stark white lights, glitter, balloons and candles on every table.

Dragons have a magical night at the 2023 Winter Formal

Layla Solomon, Writer
December 17, 2023
As one of the many full-time laboratories of the Ventura Wastewater Treatment Facility, scientists are constantly clocked in to sample and monitor the city's water quality.

The intricacies of Ventura’s water treatment

Layla Solomon, Writer
December 13, 2023
Hot chocolate was offered in free ceramic toilet-shaped mugs, which attendees could take home as a souvenir from the event.

Celebrating World Toilet Day

Layla Solomon, Writer
November 24, 2023
Birds are a common sight around the world, with 11,118 species of birds existing around the world. Around our town of Ventura, we have a variety of species of which nine are brought up in this article. The nine bird species that are covered are the Cooper’s Hawk, Brewer’s Blackbird, Black Pheobe, Brown Pelican, Dark-eyed Junco, Eurasian Collared-Dove, House Sparrow, Turkey Vulture and the Sanderling. Jane Kim and Layla Solomon decide to research and show off these nine birds, sharing facts about each of them in turn with individual drawings to display the birds.

Why we may be living in a mass extinction and a casual guide to birds of Ventura

Jane Kim and Layla Solomon
November 13, 2023
Proposition 28 (Prop 28) is an upcoming funding stream based on enrollment per school, totaling close to $1 billion statewide. The money will be used to expand arts and music education in public schools.

Proposition 28: Arts and music in schools

Layla Solomon, Writer
November 11, 2023
Mitski's seventh studio album, "The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We," features many nature symbols, along with poetic lyrics. This album is preceded by "Laurel Hell", the sixth album from the singer, which received acclaim from critics. "The Land is Inhospitable and So are We" has received unanimous praise from both fans and critics alike, as well as being home to "My Love Mine All Mine," which is Mitski's highest performing song to date.

A dissection of “The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We” by Mitski

Layla Solomon, Writer
October 4, 2023

Hey! Friends shows Ventura why shopping locally matters

Audrey Szijj and Layla Solomon
September 19, 2023
Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai Tea Latte, Iced Apple Crisp Oat Milk Shaken Espresso, Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin and Baked Apple Croissant are all highly recommended drinks and pastries that are included in the Starbucks seasonal menu.

Satire: Starbucks menu ushers in the official “fall era”

Layla Solomon, Writer
September 11, 2023
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Layla Solomon