Who doesn’t love going to school games, leaving school during lunch hours, or participating in BP activities? Well, students at Buena Park High School enjoy all of these acts. Our Coyotes are very interested in their school spirit and make the “high-school experience” one to remember. However, this must be done in a proper and effective environment. With good, the ugly usually soon follows. On a less extreme note, some students may not know what website to visit when participating in a school election voting. Or, many students across campus could hear stories of their peers ditching school after lunch hours. These problems are some that need to be addressed. So, how did Buena Park’s administration leaders fix this?

To answer that question, 5Star was enabled. 5Star is an app accessed through the Apple or Google Play stores. This app almost acts as a “hub” for all things BP; it’s meant to be the destination for anything school-related. Need to leave class to go to the restroom? Pull out your 5Star app. Want to leave campus during lunch to enjoy Subway or Taco Bell? Open 5Star and show a hall monitor. In the 2023-24 school year, 5Star has become a staple of the BP routine. Almost every student and faculty member knows about it.

With that in mind, many opinions about 5Star’s use have been formed. “5Star is super easy to use because everything is online. Plus, every student at Buena Park uses their phone,” says Melia Hinojos, who thinks that 5Star is a smart app to implement in everyday life. As previously mentioned, the accessibility of 5Star has made the application a hub for all BPHS affairs. Unless you’re like a small population of students that Paw Prints students interviewed (1-2 outliers out of a group of 5 interviewees), 5Star is installed and receives daily use. Overall, it seems to be making life easier for those involved.

Who can forget about the administrators and hall monitors who enacted the 5Star app in the first place? To hear the thoughts of these individuals, some of Paw Prints’ journalists visited Dr. Berg’s office to discuss these matters. “With attendance, tardies, and people out of class, we’ve been trying to really raise our improvement onto the next level,” says Dr. Berg. “5Star is meant to make people more cognisant of ‘How much time am I actually spending out of class’ because students are needed inside of the classroom.” The emphasis on school etiquette and awareness stems greatly from using 5Star. As Dr Berg mentions, this app keeps everyone responsible over the time they spend during those crucial school hours.

Now, 5Star can almost not be ignored by any student that attends Buena Park High School. Not only has it benefited students, but it’s also made school activities much easier to maintain. The useful nature of 5Star most likely proves that this app will remain in the “BP norm” far past the 2023-24 school year!