The student news site of Carlmont High School in Belmont, California.

Scot Scoop News
The student news site of Carlmont High School in Belmont, California.

Scot Scoop News
The student news site of Carlmont High School in Belmont, California.

Scot Scoop News
Julia Cline

Julia Cline, Staff Writer

Julia (class of 2027) is a sophomore at Carlmont High School. Outside of school, you can find her dancing, reading, listening to music, or painting.

All content by Julia Cline
After most signup prompts comes a terms and conditions page–one that most people don’t bother to read through. According to Pew Research Center, only 9% of people say they always read the terms and conditions clauses. By skipping over terms and conditions entirely, people miss important clauses about surveillance or data use, meaning they don’t realize they have agreed to their private data being sold until after they face issues because of it. Reading clauses, or at the very least, skimming them, is important to help keep data from being sold to companies that shouldn’t have it.

Cartoon: Terms and conditions

Julia Cline, Staff Writer • May 31, 2025

Hustle culture promotes the idea that constant work and productivity are favorable compared to a balanced lifestyle that includes time to rest. People who succumb to this idea believe that success is achieved through long hours of work and relentless effort. However, this culture often does more harm than good. According to NPR and ResearchGate, work schedules that align with hustle culture (late nights and seemingly endless work) are linked to worsening health and depression. It is important to realize that rest can be just as productive as working, and promoting a culture that tries to eliminate one completely is dangerous.

Cartoon: Sleep sold separately

Julia Cline, Staff Writer • May 31, 2025

While tree-lined streets and clean air show the benefits of green infrastructure in wealthier cities like Belmont and Redwood City, neighborhoods near freeways face smog, fewer trees, and greater health risks. This reveals how race and income influence access to a healthy environment. In contrast, East Palo Alto remains especially vulnerable to climate change. “These include contamination from former industrial activities, particularly in the Bay Area, limited access to healthy food and open space, and vulnerability to flooding, heat, and sea level rise,” said Michelle Huang, assistant planner for the city.

[Photo] Fighting for a better future: the DEI gap in climate policy

Rachel Hong, Staff Writer • May 19, 2025

While tree-lined streets and clean air show the benefits of green infrastructure in wealthier cities like Belmont and Redwood City, neighborhoods near freeways face smog, fewer trees, and greater health...

In his second term as President, Donald Trump has implemented and abolished many policies. Among these are the instatement of tariffs and the removal of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) organizations from universities. The latter ended in a legal battle between the President and Harvard University, in which Harvard surrendered and re-branded their DEI program. President Trump’s policies have done more harm than good. His tariffs have crashed the economy, worsening an already bad inflation problem. Furthermore, the now legally mandated removal of DEI policies is a violation of the Constitution because all universities, especially private ones, should have the ability to determine what programs they deem appropriate and beneficial to their students.

Cartoon: Caving in

Julia Cline, Staff Writer • May 9, 2025

Weight loss drugs like Ozempic are becoming increasingly popular and accessible to the general population. According to Pew Research Center, 12% of people familiar with these types of drugs say they are good options for people who want to lose weight but don’t have a weight-related health condition. The widespread usage of weight loss drugs by people who don’t need them adds to an already problematic weight-focused view of health in society. Health is the overall goal, and it should be determined using metrics like a balanced diet and a good relationship with exercise rather than a singular number. These types of drugs should not be accessible to people who do not have a health reason to merit their use.

[Photo] Cartoon: Fork the diet

Julia Cline, Staff Writer • April 29, 2025

Weight loss drugs like Ozempic are becoming increasingly popular and accessible to the general population. According to Pew Research Center, 12% of people familiar with these types of drugs say they are...

University of California, Berkeley students and faculty rally at Sproul Plaza, holding signs that say "stop the war on universities" and "hands off our students" to protest federal threats against diversity programs.

[Photo] UC Berkeley rallies to defend higher education and DEI initiatives

Rachel Hong, Staff Writer • April 28, 2025

University of California, Berkeley students and faculty rally at Sproul Plaza, holding signs that say "stop the war on universities" and "hands off our students" to protest federal threats against diversity...

From a lack of location precision to delays in forecasting, weather apps can seem inaccurate, though they are based solely on data. Users can be confused and misled by the ever-changing and often delayed predictions. There is no way for weather software to know if its predictions are accurate if there is no way to tell it otherwise. Weather forecasting would benefit from user feedback because it would then have a way to tell whether the forecast is accurate or not.

Cartoon: Mist-stake

Julia Cline, Staff Writer • April 18, 2025

As spring blooms, Canada geese flock to the streets, halting drivers and sometimes resulting in accidents. The often slow-moving birds annoy drivers, who must yield to them by law. Though geese and other wildlife can be a slowdown, it is important to respect wildlife and let them be in their habitats. Geese serve as a good reminder that drivers should be more aware of their surroundings in general, not just to avoid the birds.

Cartoon: Geese galore

Julia Cline, Staff Writer • April 5, 2025

People are often expected to respond to emails and calls while on vacation leave from work, which ultimately results in more stress and defeats the purpose of the vacation in the first place. In other countries, however, there are laws that give employees the right to ignore work communication while on leave. The expectation to be responsive while on vacation harms everyone because an inability to fully relax means that the quality of work produced will not be as good. The U.S. should implement similar laws allowing employees to make the most of their time off in order to improve employees’ quality of life and quality of work.

Cartoon: Ping prison

Julia Cline, Staff Writer • March 31, 2025

The Tesla Cybertruck, which launched in 2019, is starting to make its rounds in local areas. The extremely modern design has gained traction with some groups, but opposers often have stronger opinions about the car’s angular build, causing them to commonly refer to it as a “trash can.” The car sacrifices a lot of safety features for a design that doesn’t pay off. For example, the rearview mirror doesn’t work unless the bed cover is open. Instead, the truck relies on a camera for vision, which can cause major problems if it malfunctions. Admiration of the truck for its price tag rather than its features should not be happening because it contributes to an ongoing issue of money obsession in our society.

Cartoon: Can confusion

Julia Cline, Staff Writer • March 27, 2025

Egg prices have continued to stay high, having doubled since January 2024. Distribution companies blame the price increase on the Avian Flu, but people have started to become suspicious, especially as these middleman companies benefit greatly from the surcharges. These companies should be more tightly managed in order to prevent similar situations in which the companies deliberately keep prices higher to make themselves more money while harming consumers throughout the country.

Cartoon: Golden eggs

Julia Cline, Staff Writer • March 26, 2025

Subscription services like Netflix, Disney, and Spotify are on the rise, but come with their drawbacks. These companies are hungry for users’ money, often lacking price transparency. Subscriptions are also notoriously difficult to cancel, eventually making users give up and continue to pay for the subscription, even if they don’t want it anymore. These services are an example of companies having far too much power to manipulate their consumers. Rules like the FTC’s “Click-to-Cancel” rule, which was finalized in late 2024, should be more widely implemented because they force subscription companies to simplify the cancellation process.

Cartoon: Subscription overload

Julia Cline, Staff Writer • March 24, 2025

Dancers wait backstage for their turn to perform at a dance competition. Dancers and dance companies globally compete against each other and are judged by a panel of experienced critics.

[Photo] Opinion: Dance should be recognized as a sport and an art

Ami Dong, Staff Writer • March 11, 2025

Dancers wait backstage for their turn to perform at a dance competition. Dancers and dance companies globally compete against each other and are judged by a panel of experienced critics.

Younger generations are hooked on a new game, Block Blast, in which players are given tiles to strategically place on a grid with the aim of completing rows or columns to clear space and earn points. The game has no time limit, but players lose if they fail to clear enough space for the pieces they are given. Though many play Block Blast leisurely, the game has become an addiction for some, causing teens to waste hours of their day on their phones. It is important for them, especially as they approach complete independence, to learn to budget their time wisely. With continual advertising of the game on social media, teens may feel pressured to follow the trend. We need to be more careful of what exactly is being promoted: is it a fun game, or is it encouraging an ongoing epidemic?

Cartoon: Blocked out

Julia Cline, Staff Writer • February 25, 2025

After the TikTok ban was revoked, users of the app began to take note of the fact that some topics, specifically ones that went against President Donald Trump’s ideals, were censored. So, they created a code hashtag: cute winter boots. under this hashtag, people began to post their videos on topics that would have otherwise been censored, allowing the information to reach a wider audience. As much as the government wants to limit free speech, people will always find a way to express their opinions, even if it means they have to go out of their way to do so. Either way, the government, under the Constitution, does not have the right to censor speech against it, and the fact that people are recognizing this and making it known is a step in the right direction.

Cartoon: Stomping grounds

Julia Cline, Staff Writer • February 11, 2025

A dance student is recorded performing choreography in front of the Filoli Historic House in Woodside, Calif., for a film piece directed by her teacher. Jobs in dance can vary, ranging from performances to choreographing to music videos. Videos are an integral part of sharing choreographic works with the dance community and aid in building connections.

Going backstage on every dancer’s decision

Julia Cline, Staff Writer • February 10, 2025

Dancing begins as an escape — a joy sparked by rhythm and movement. But as ambition grows, so do the stakes. For many young dancers, the dream of going professional brings a whirlwind of challenges:...

Artificial intelligence yields varying results to users, often contradicting itself. It often reports information that is just plain wrong, which causes a ripple effect within the population: someone becomes misinformed, shares the misinformation and causes others to also believe the untrue information. AI is not a replacement for true research. It has its purposes, but quality information is not one of them. With the growing number of people using AI will come an even larger number of people who are misinformed because the “facts” are being shared with wider audiences. Artificial intelligence programs should, at the very least, provide more disclaimers if it is not able to adequately fact check an answer to a question the user has asked in order to prevent the rapid spread of misinformation.

Cartoon: Glitch genius

Julia Cline, Staff Writer • February 5, 2025

In late 2024, Maurizio Cattelan’s artwork “Comedian” sold for 6.2 million dollars at an auction. The piece was simply a banana taped to a wall. Though the piece likely wasn’t meant to be taken seriously, hence its title, it has still sparked conversation and debate in the art community, as have many similarly simplistic modern art pieces. Modern art has become so minimal that the effort some pieces, like this one, take to make is so low it’s comical. There is a line between minimalism and low effort. Some modern artists have begun to cross into the low-effort territory while still categorizing their work as minimalistic and receiving the same revenue. This is unfair to artists who put time and effort into the symbolism of their pieces.

Cartoon: Modern art is rotting

Julia Cline, Staff Writer • January 29, 2025

President Donald Trump is of the opinion that children of immigrants in the U.S. should not be citizens because he believes it provides an incentive for people to come to the U.S. illegally. He has made ending this an integral part of his presidential campaign for years. However, these children and their parents are an important part of the U.S. as we know it, and, without citizenship, would do more harm than good to our society. President Trump should not be able to determine their citizenship status.

Cartoon: Illegal input

Julia Cline, Staff Writer • January 22, 2025

After years of rumors of a TikTok ban from U.S. officials, the Supreme Court has decided to go through with the ban unless the app is sold to an approved buyer. Members of the Supreme Court claim the ban is to protect the safety of U.S. citizens using the app. Meanwhile, however, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that content moderation policies on Facebook and Instagram will be loosened to a community-based moderation system. Though TikTok and Meta are unsafe in different ways, they should still be held to the same standard. If user safety is the U.S. government’s issue, Meta shouldn’t be allowed to loosen their restrictions protecting their users from misinformation.

Cartoon: Rollercoaster rules

Julia Cline, Staff Writer • January 16, 2025

Vendors at a jewelry stand drink and engage in a lively conversation. All around them, other people move about the bustling halls talking to one another.

Dickens Fair brings Victorian Christmas to Cow Palace

Julia Cline, Staff Writer • November 25, 2024

The Dickens Fair welcomes the wafting smells of cinnamon and spice to the air of Cow Palace from Nov. 23 to Dec. 22, showcasing the works of Charles Dickens in an immersive Renaissance Fair. People...

A person navigates their smartwatch, utilizing its different functions. The use of such devices in classrooms has become a debate among teachers and students of whether or not they are a diversion to students’ learning.

Smartwatches raise debates about distractions in the classroom

Julia Cline, Staff Writer • November 5, 2024

Smartwatches are rapidly becoming the new widespread technology for youth, providing a wearable method of communication that sparks conflict when it comes to distractions.  Parents of elementary and...

Spectators of the Blue Angels show during San Francisco Fleet Week track the fast-moving planes as they change formations. The breakaway movement the pilots perform demonstrates speed and agility.

San Francisco Fleet Week takes off in sky-high celebration

Julia Cline, Staff Writer • October 16, 2024

Planes soared across San Francisco last week in an annual tradition meant to honor the contributions of the members of the United States Armed Forces. San Francisco Fleet Week, held from Oct. 7 to Oct....

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