Digital ID’s
Photo of: The Minga app Photo Courtesy: Advanced Photography student
October 20, 2022
This year, Millikan, along with every other major high school in LBUSD, has opted to use online IDs.
Photo Courtesy: Advanced Photography student
This change was decided at the end of last year when Lifetouch, the company LBUSD uses for ID and yearbook photos, reached out to the activities coordinators of Long Beach high schools with a new form of ID on the Minga app.
The main reason that Millikan and Mr. Robinson, the Millikan activities director, chose to move to the digital platform was because of students’ connections to their phones.
“What is something that a student more than likely doesn’t forget?” said Robinson, “and it would be their cell phone.”
While the administration may focus more on the benefits of the new IDs, some students have a little more skepticism.
“Using digital IDs is an easy way to access your information but aren’t a hundred percent dependable,” says PEACE junior Kweli McIntosh.
This skepticism is also valid. Since the start of the new year, Mr. Robinson has noticed three major cons to the new IDs: students who don’t have phones, students who have their phones taken away, and students whose Minga apps don’t load on school wifi.
However, this change means fewer students forgetting or losing their IDs, so no more fees for temporary replacements or printing new ones.
As most of school goes online, it was only a matter of time before our IDs followed.
Levi Diniakos • Nov 17, 2022 at 1:56 pm
17 November 2022
Dear Corydon Editor,
On October 20, Alma Perez wrote an article titled “Digital IDs.” The article mentions how every school in the LBUSD has opted to use digital IDs through an app called Minga instead of card IDs to get into school, buy cafeteria food, etc. Before reading the article, I was already skeptical about the use of digital IDs. What if you leave your phone at home? What if you don’t have a phone? And what if you got your phone taken away by your parents? All these questions are thoughtfully mentioned by Perez in her article. But also Perez mentions that there are a few cons to switching to digital IDs. Students are less likely to forget their IDs because they are on their phones, and a student’s phone is the number one thing that they remember to bring to school every day. That means no more fees for temporary replacement or having to pay for a new ID. It also means students cannot use their friends’ IDs to get out of school early by acting like they have unscheduled periods when they actually need to be in class. I am glad Perez shared with us her thoughts on the use of the new digital IDs.
Sincerely,
Levi Diniakos, Grade 11
Armando • Nov 17, 2022 at 1:54 pm
I thought it was a very good idea because it is something no one will forget most of the time because every teenager at this day and age will always have their phone on them no matter what. Another thing I liked about this article was having the view from the actual principle because he also says that something people will almost never forget is their phone. The idea of not being charged for temporary ids was an interesting fact they brought up because I thought it would still be something they do. Not only that but we know this is something that is very accurate information and can be arranged if needed. Something I like is the concerns about using online ID such as the people that don’t have a phone or even how people won’t be able to access it even with school wifi. Not being able to get a signal over school wifi is one of the biggest concerns because it is something I deal with a lot of the time. I just hope they try to find a way to make it easier to load up your ID.