Elijah Cabatic, Staff Writer
After the internet outage which crippled Mills the school admin has decided to switch from the internet to using seagulls for transmission of information. This is not an unprecedented move as birds have long been a popular way to transport letters. Pigeons were often used to transport mail and information. Even after the invention of the telephone and internet some still used pigeons such as during the world wars. Some even won medals such as G.I. Joe the pigeon. When the British 169th Infantry Brigade took the village of Calvi Risorta, Italy they had to call off a previously requested bombing on the village, but their radio failed. In desperation they turned to G.I. Joe who they sent to stop the bombing run. He traveled 20 miles in 20 minutes and successfully stopped the bombers from taking off earning himself a British Dickins Medal (the animal equivalent to the Victoria’s Cross).
While Mills is not at war, we have become too reliant on the internet as it is fickle and as shown by the outage can cripple the learning of students. Instead of relying on the internet the school has decided to invest in an avian delivery system, but instead of using pigeons which prefer the cold fog of San Francisco, uses seagulls. The plan is for students to move back to paper and if they need something sent to a teacher or other student then they can call a seagull to safely and quickly transport their work. According to Save Coastal Wildlife, a environmental non-profit, seagulls can fly at up to 28 mph which is faster than prime Usain Bolt. There is also the fact that they, being birds, fly which means it will not interfere with foot traffic of students.
Mills history teacher Barbara Campbell said, “The school has become too reliant on computers as almost everything we do is based around them”. Everyone at school carries a Chromebook around with them doing a majority of their work on them, but when the internet slows or goes out then all of a sudden all of the lesson plans grind to a halt. “Having an alternate way of communication for the school; a way to get information around is going to be great for the school.”
As for the logistics of this operation it was also announced that the East Gym would be converted into the aviary where all of the birds would be housed. Each classroom will have a seagull assigned to them and when they want to send something the seagull will go to the aviary where it will be transferred onto its final destination.
If this system works it could disconnect the school from the internet and insulate us from any future internet outages as well as making Mills the only school in the world to have a bird based transportation system which will be cool. Only time will tell if this system works and if it will help improve the student experience at Mills High School.
