Irvington Voice 27.9

The official publication of Irvington High School

in Fremont, California

THE V ice

JUNE 7, 2019

VOLUME 27, ISSUE 9

We’ll Miss You! pg.

The Voice says “goodbye” to Mr. Chan, as he retires from his 17 years of teaching at Irvington High School.

Euphoria

Class of 2019

pg.

Congradulations, IHS Class of 2019! Check out what colleges IHS seniors will be attending in the Voice’s annual college list.

STUDENT LIFE

pg.

FEATURES

FUSD Board of Education passes budget cuts

By Isha Sanghvi Editor-in-Chief

In light of declining general education enrollment and an increase in both special education costs and pension, FUSD Board of Education voted to approve $12.86 million budget reductions at the recent board meeting on May 22. These budget reforms come as a result of California Education Code, which requires school districts to maintain a 3 percent reserve in funds. The initial budget reduction recommendations involved increasing class sizes and cutting supplementary education programs, drawing widespread public backlash from educators and students across the district.

According to FUSD’s Business Services Department, over the course of the past several years, the special education deficit has increased dramatically by an average of 12 percent annually.

In addition to the increasing costs of special education, the district is also facing an economic burden in terms of financing increasing pension costs, a trend not unique to Fremont itself. Across the state of California, pension programs have cost on average about 8 percent of district budgets in 20172018 and are expected to cost 11 percent in the 2020-2021 school year. Due to these increasing costs, the district did not have the necessary funds for the 3 percent reserve; in order to meet this benchmark, they must cut $14.1 million.

In efforts to combat this, FUSD crafted two specific recommendations. The first recommendation increases class sizes

Read all about the second annual Euphoria Benefit Concert hosted by the IHS Dynamics Club.

ENTERTAINMENT

FUSD Business Services

for grades 1-3 students from 24 students per class to 28 students, saving $2.64 million. Despite this major savings for the budget, many educators across the district believe that this approach will harm younger students’ ability to learn and transition to elementary school. Without as much individualized attention, some teachers and parents fear that Fremont students will be put at an academic disadvantage early on.

However, the district does believe that this transition will benefit schools by reducing overload within the district.

“If we increase class sizes, it creates more seats in overloaded schools to the extent that we will be able to accommodate 100 percent of next year’s first, second, and third graders at all schools except for Harvey Green,

Forest Park, Millard, Glenmoor, Niles, and Parkmont,” said Interim Associate Superintendent, Russell Miller.

In addition to increasing class sizes, the first recommendation would eliminate transportation services for general education students from home to school, including school busses. Furthermore, the District also plans to reduce discretionary spending by 15 percent. This discretionary spending involves money spent on supplies and services. Opponents of this recommendation believe that under-enrolled schools like Blacow Elementary will be further under-resourced because the discretionary budget is allocated based on enrollment.

“Blacow has one of the

@ihs.voice @ihsvoice

Post-Work To Rule Salary Agreement

By Fiona Zhao and Shivani Manivasagan

Student Life Editor and Staff Writer

The growing costs of special education, coupled with the increasing pension costs, have burdened the district to cut 14.1 million dollars in order to balance the 2019-2020 school year budget.

@theihsvoice

On Apr. 4, 2019, the Fremont Unified School District (FUSD) and the Fremont Unified District Teachers Association (FUDTA) reached an agreement regarding teacher salary raises, among other changes to the overall contract. Teachers were largely in favor of the budget agreement, with 86 percent of 1,592 votes in favor of the tentative agreement, marking the first negotiated contract since the 2018-19 school year. However, the new contract only outlines salary increases for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 school year, so negotiations will resume for the 2020-21 school year.

The negotiation process itself happened between the FUDTA and District bargaining

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teams of select individuals such as FUDTA board leaders and a neutral mediator or “fact-finder” responsible for investigating both sides and reporting their discoveries. Proposals went back and forth by the hundreds behind closed doors. Once the bargaining teams thought they reached the best deal, teachers were informed and voted by mail.

Based on the official salary agreement, salary raises will be graduated. Since teachers did not have a salary agreement with the district in the past two school years, they were paid by their previous contract. The new contract will give teachers both “retroactive” raises based on their salaries from this school year, and extend to ongoing salary raises for the next school year. More controversially, the district also included Continued on Page 4

Fiona Zhao | Student Life Editor

Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA): Has Irvington followed through?

By Rory Conlon Staff Writer

Tampa Bay Times Restorative circles facilitate conflict management by allowing students and teachers to express their feelings, needs, and requests for future improvement.

Every year, each school site in the Fremont Unified School District is required to produce a Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA), complete with clearly outlined goals that have been approved by the Local Board of Education and the individual School Site Council. Within this document, Irvington elaborated on six of its goals aimed at increasing academic engagement, facilitating the procedure to recover credits and access intervention opportunities, and implementing programs that encourage parents to get involved. While Irvington

has, for the most part, assembled procedures to follow through with these goals, the administration still faces the challenge of putting their plans into practice on a school-wide basis.

School Goal #1 primarily targets students who are struggling to graduate from high school or pass their required classes. One part of the goal “allows students to make up credits for their classes through the UC system” using a credit recovery platform called Cyber High online. According to the website, the courses not only promise a learning environment for at-risk students free of “social pressures,” complete with interactive, problem-solving activities,

but an automatic student grade report will be sent to the school registrar after completion if the students achieve a “60% grade or higher.” It is unclear whether this option has been actively offered to students as of the present time, but it is, in and of itself, a viable and ideal alternative.

The second part of the goal targets the provision of extra assistance to students that need it, allowing them to receive the help they need during the school day.

This school year, FLEX periods were effectively put into place to allow students to receive the help that they need with positive results.

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www.ihsvoice.com Inside: Student Life 5 | Opinions 7 | Features 10 | Entertainment 13 | Sports 16 | Humor 18

NEWS

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Single Plan for Student Achievement (cont.)

“[FLEX periods] have helped me to concentrate better and get my homework done,” said Cindy Peng (11). “My work doesn’t get cut off by the bell. Also, I can transfer into the class that I need help in, which allows me to do things better and quicker.”

School Goal #2 and #3 seek to increase English Language Arts and Math literacy using the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) as a baseline for measuring student achievement. In order to do so, the school hopes to recruit a certified teacher that will supplement an after school tutoring program for students struggling with ELA. Also, the program hopes to provide more informational resources for its students by giving them access to “Upfront” and “Action,” two nonfiction magazines released by the New York Times. Similar programs will exist for math.

School Goal #4, distinct from the other goals listed in the plan, improves on current discipline practices. Most notably, the Responsibility Center (RC) will be officially phased out of use next school year.

In its place, the administration will attempt to implement restorative justice practices throughout the school. When attempting to deal with minor conflicts such as excessive tardiness, the administration will prioritize

getting to and solving the root cause of the problems. To resolve more major conflicts, especially regarding student disturbances in the classroom, the administration will resort to a policy of restorative justice.

According to Honerkamp, restorative “circles” will be used to resolve conflicts, allowing the people involved in a conflict to meet face-to-face in order to discuss equal retribution. In particular, he would like to use “harm circles,” which bring together both the person who has caused harm to others and the people who were affected by this person’s behaviors.

From there, he believes in the use of “I” statements, or what are better known as “affective statements.” Instead of giving commands that can make a student feel resentful, ashamed, or defensive, “I” statements allow both people in a conversation to make observations about a given situation, express their feelings, communicate their needs, and request a different result.

The more “grass-roots” approach to dealing with disciplinary conflicts stems from a desire to bring students, parents, and educators together on the same page. School Goal #5 highlighted the importance of an active School Site Council and parent information seminars that make topics such as college admissions easier to understand.

Most importantly, School Goal #6

targets one of the largest problems amongst the student population: a lack of counseling resources to account for the large population of students with mental health problems. On-site counselors contend with a large caseload of around 500 students at a time, so Irvington would like to bring in Social Emotional Counselors and Youth Family Services in order to provide specialized help that is usually only provided offcampus.

According to Ms. Wendi Bennett, one of the on-site counselors, bringing in counselors from outside resources will also allow for increased accountability. Specialized counselors can communicate on a regular basis with a given student, keeping both the parents and the students in the loop about what needs to be done. The increased accessibility and collaboration could very well allow students to be more connected, better cared for, and remembered.

The school goals set forth by the report provide an optimistic outlook for students who are struggling academically and mentally. However, the measures put into place by the plan have to be put into place on several levels of authority: in the counselor’s office, in the office of the administration, and in the classroom. A concerted effort can make way for improvement.

By Nikoo Alizadeh

“In terms of the admin or the campus supervisors going in,” said Principal Amanda Melsby, “usually we just go in and try to break it up. Obviously, we don’t want to hurt anyone, [or] grab anyone, but if we can get in between and get one person and then start backing them away, then the other person typically does not come after [the other person] again.”

Another way that Officer Luevano often finds out about these confrontations is social media. Some people post videos, photos, or even talk about a fight that has happened.

“If there’s a fight on campus or off campus, people will video tape it,” said Officer Luevano. “People will post it on their pages and talk about it. Sometimes things will get to a parent, [and a] parent will call an administrator and then they’ll share that information with me. It just depends, there’s so many different ways that information is shared, but a lot of times students can’t help themselves...that’s generally how we come across it.”

Under normal circumstances, both parties involved in the fight receive

equal punishments, which is generally a five-day suspension. However, certain factors are taken into account when determining the punishment as well as the circumstance of the fight. For instance, it depends on whether both parties engaged in the fight or whether one person punched someone who had fallen down.

plans to implement stricter regulations. According to Principal Melsby, the purpose of these stricter rules is to allow for class finalization and a more organized scheduling process. Knowing the number of students in each class earlier on allows for administration to put together classes and make accommodations ahead of time. All in all, they aim to facilitate a smoother transition into the new school year for counselors, students, and teachers.

This policy is different than previous years, when students were still able to request class changes for the first month or so of school. However, there will still be some exceptions to this policy. According to Principal Melsby, elective changes that are after the start of the school year will not be allowed, but students who were enrolled in summer school and need to progress to the appropriate level of that subject will be allowed to change their schedule on MAZE day.

“We allow changes for essential courses needed to graduate, which should be done by MAZE since we get summer school grades,” said Principal Melsby.

All other students, however, will have already met with their counselors and finalized their class schedule. Irvington ad-

ministration also organized a Google Form system in which students were given the opportunity to submit schedule change requests electronically as opposed to waiting in line and meeting with counselors in person.

Although the change facilitates administrative processes in the future, the lack of flexibility in the policy has left students slightly frustrated and worried.

“I feel constrained in that the of-

Admin response to on campus fights

Staff Writer

According to Child Trends, the leading youth research organization in the United States, one in four high school students across the U.S. reportedly get into fights at school. At Irvington, however, fights occur at a much lower rate. Every year approximately five to six fights occur on campus, all of which are handled by the principal, school resource officer, or campus supervisors.

Normally, the principal or campus supervisors find out about a fight when a teacher contacts the office, or if one of the campus supervisors or SRO see the fight starting as they patrol the campus during lunch. Everyone, including the SRO, principal, assistant principals, and campus supervisors are notified and gather at the site to stop the fight before anyone is injured.

Specifically, Officer Luevano is trained to engage in physical confrontation with students and is able to immediately begin pulling students apart as he approaches a fight.

Want to keep reading? Go to ihsvoice.com

Friday, June 7, 2019

The Irvington Voice www.ihsvoice.com

Editors-in-Chief Elaine Chan, Isha Sanghvi News Editors Isha Sanghvi, Kayla Xu Student Life Editor Fiona Zhao Opinions Editors Andrew Fu, Srinidhi Sankar Features Editors Elaine Chan, Pia Parekh Entertainment Editor Shradha Krishnamurthy Sports Editor Achintya Pinninti Humor Editor Emily Joe Photo and Web Editor Annika Yong Business Manager Sherin Lajevardi Public Outreach Director Rebeca Delgado Advisor Matthew Phillips Staff Writers Akshita Nair Alice Shu Ashka Patel Emily Liu Felicia Mo Justin Kim Kritika Sachar Megan Dhingra Michael Zhu Nancy Zuo Nikoo Alizadeh Prahalad Chari Rachel Kavalakatt Rory Conlon Roxana Shahmohammadi Sanjana Gudivada Shivani Manivasagan Vidushee Mishra General Policy The Irvington Voice is a student-run newspaper with the sole purpose of providing an open forum for student expression. Anything printed represents the opinion of the writer, but not necessarily that of The Irvington Voice staff, the administration, faculty of Irvington High School, or any person affiliated with the Fremont Unified School District.

The Irvington Voice does not discriminate against race, political orientation, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability. Although The Irvington Voice will never refuse to publish student guest submission based on the aforementioned factors, we reserve the right to edit or not publish them.

Irvington Administration enforces new scheduling policies

By Sherin Lajevardi and Michael Zhu Business Manager and Staff Writer

As of the 2019-2020 school year, the Irvington Administration employed a stricter scheduling process in order to ensure more organized classes and a smoother start to the academic year. In order to avoid extensive lines and requests in September, the new policies are meant to finalize class schedules at the end of the previous academic year.

“We moved [schedule changing] to May instead of September so we [can] build schedules and courses based, for the most part, on student requests,” said Principal Amanda Melsby. “If we have kids at the beginning of year all decide they don’t want to do this class and instead want to do that class…we don’t have enough room to accommodate [them].”

With regards to AP classes and scheduling, Melsby also stated, “If we know that all these kids [want to do a college prep class instead of an AP before the school year starts], we can [create] an additional CP class and drop AP to accommodate that…”

In addition, the administration

fice is giving me my schedule without wiggle room to change my classes,” said Raisah Khan (11). “I may want to change classes next year but now I don’t have the opportunity.”

Although it may take time for students to adjust to this new policy, Irvington administration hopes to make the transition to next year as smooth as possible to ensure the highest quality of learning for students.

Friday, June 7, 2019

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Friday, June 7, 2019

Post-Work to Rule Salary Agreement (cont.)

two off-schedule stipends, equivalent to year-end bonuses, for the teachers.

“We feel the agreement is a good balance of providing our certificated staff with a fair salary increase while enabling the district to continue providing a quality education for our students,” said FUSD Superintendent Kim Wallace.

FUDTA’s bargaining team recommended teachers to take this proposal.

Despite the 86 percent of teachers in favor of the tentative agreement, some teachers did not feel completely satisfied with it. Dissenting teachers do not agree with the ongoing salary raises being broken up so that the district would not lose as much financially. The one-time stipends outlined by the contracts would also not count towards retirement or other benefits. Ultimately, different parties were unable to agree on whether the agreement was fair or not.

Though the state increased the amount the

district receives for COLA (cost of living allowance) by 3.26%, teachers felt that they did not get their share of that amount—only about 2.5%.

However, Wallace said, “After the district pays all negotiated salary increases, there will not be enough money to cover the salary increases from the 3.26% COLA.” “I think that in the end, people decided that they trusted that the bargaining team did their best,” said an anonymous teacher, “so we just had to live with it and keep fighting. But, I feel that people believe we should have gotten COLA, and that the increases shouldn’t have been broken up into all these four different times. It didn’t feel good.”

To add to the complexity of the situation, teachers felt that the district did have enough money to support higher raises, but made it seem like they did not. Large sums of money have been allocated for oth-

er categories, such as $10 million to fund Mission San Jose High School’s swimming pool as well as around $17 million in the curriculum and instruction fund that will be rolled over for the next year. However, according to Wallace, the district cannot use these funds for teacher salaries, which can only be paid for from the general fund.

“We believe it is safe to say FUSD is underfunded in all categories,” said Wallace, “creating great challenges in achieving what is required of us by the State.”

Some teachers expressed concerns about retaliatory cuts that the district might follow this up with. In the FUSD Board of Education’s May 22 meeting, the Board proposed $13 million in budget cuts to alleviate their alleged $46.6 million budget deficit. The proposal includes increasing class sizes to 30:1 at the elementary school level and 27.5:1 at secondary schools, revoking the district’s status as an AVID (Ad-

vancement via Individual Determination) district, discontinuing GATE Testing, and reducing school site budgets by 15 percent, among other changes.

“For me, the worst part about this whole process is that it’s become such an adversarial relationship between us and the district office, when we should be working together,” said an anonymous teacher. “I’m sure they think we’re pitting against them, it’s an ‘us’ and ‘them’ kind of thing, not a ‘we.’ The thing that confuses me is that you would think we’d be in this together, that we’re all here to educate kids and value that people are educating children.”

Another anonymous teacher expressed a common frustration among teachers. “We don’t think we should have to go and beg at board meetings for a raise. We should be spending that time with our families or grading.”

FUSD Board of Education passes budget cuts (cont.) smallest home enrollment areas in the district with almost no options for development,” said Blacow parent, Amanda Pitman, at the recent district meeting, as she advocated for redrawing school boundary lines. “The number of students at a school should not determine equal access to resources and educational opportunities, especially in state-required subjects like science. You have schools like Blacow that are under-enrolled and underserved by our district. Fremont students deserve equal quality in education.”

The second recommendation involves a variety of approaches, mainly collapsing under-enrolled AVID programs and eliminating Ohlone’s College Connections. College Connections is a dual-enrollment program with Ohlone college, allowing FUSD seniors the ability to take classes in their traditional high school from 8 AM to 12 PM, and then take classes at Ohlone for college credit for the remaining portion of the day. Historically, this program has helped students who would be first-gener-

ation college students as well as students who want more exposure to higher education within high school.

“Experiencing college like this promotes the student’s ability to communicate effectively, take responsibility for themselves, solve problems, and think independently as they maneuver through the college setting,” said Becky May, College and Career Advisor at Kennedy High School. “College Connections is a great equalizer, allowing all students, regardless of their financial status or parental education level, to access higher education.”

“The program is a great platform for students to express what their career path is. I don’t know what I want to be,” said Shreyas Prasanna (11). “But being in community college gives you the time to explore. Irvington as a school has a lot of prerequisites and if you don’t meet them, you can’t take the course. [Ohlone College Connections] allows you to take classes that you can allow you to delve into your career path.”

Moved by the speeches and advocacy of current and prospective Ohlone Connections students at the board meeting, the district board of education voted against cutting the program out of the 2019-2020 budget.

While several student representatives from clubs like DECA and FBLA spoke at the recent board meeting to request the district not to cut funding for ROP classes, board member Larry Sweeney and Superintendent Kim Wallace clarified that the budget cuts would not be affecting CTE classes— career technical education courses which are required in order for students in these clubs to compete at conferences.

At the May 22 district board meeting, board members proposed alternate ideas to the current recommendations in efforts to prevent students from being adversely affected by the budget deficits.

Board member Larry Sweeney advocated for textbook adoptions to be frozen until the balanced budget could be achieved.

On the other hand, Vice President Desrie

Campbell asked why district employees or board members were not engaging in strategies such as furloughing—a set time period where employees do not work and do not receive a wage, while still ensuring job security.

In response, Superintendent Wallace brought up past budget reforms at the district office level.

“We made 23 million dollars worth of cuts in 2017-2018 and that’s when we really started at the district office level and reduced positions here first,” said Wallace. “This is where we are today after not resting any of our 23 million dollars cuts that have never been brought back. This is the most difficult time to make cuts because we’ve already done most of the high level cuts.”

At the next district meeting, the Board of Education will vote on the next budget cuts to compensate for the $1.24 million still needed to balance the budget.

Friday, June 7, 2019

STUDENT LIFE

Question Man

By Nancy Zuo Staff Writer

What assignment did you procrastinate most on this year?

Erika Yong (9) “QUEST.”

Avi Khanna (11) “Honestly, for this class, I turned in math homework two days late.”

Stella Liu (10) “I finished my policy outline in a bathroom like 20 minutes before it was due.”

Runsheng Hu (12) “I turned in my Hamlet essay for English more than a month late.”

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OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

Read articles about Irvington’s WIP Telethon, Multicultural Week events, and first-ever ICC Banquet online at ihsvoice.com!

Mr. Chan Retires After 17 Years at Irvington

By Shradha Krishnamurthy Entertainment Editor

I started working here in 2002, when I was about 56 or 57. Irvington is the first school I taught at, and I stayed. I was retired from another job, I worked as a research scientist for 30 years. I researched medicine, diagnostics, and therapeutics, and drugs. I worked with companies like the Cetus Corporation, Genentech, Bayer, and Johnson and Johnson. I was a teaching people at my scientist job, as a trainer and manager, and so I’d always loved teaching.

So then I took classes to get my credentials at Holy Names College, in Oakland, but now it’s a University. So I got interested in teaching, and I got my credentials. I went to Whittier College for my undergrad, and then I went to UOP for my graduate degree.

I taught here for 17 years, and I’ve taught Chemistry, Biology, AP Bio, Anatomy, Physiology, and I’ve taught Biotechnology.

Almost every year, I’ve had three preps, until the last couple of years, when I went to the hospital. Now I’ve got one prep. I had a hip surgery, which caused me an aneurysm, and then I got a clot in my leg, so I don’t have blood flow to my leg. My leg also got infected. I’ve had 11 surgeries. One of them, I had a heart attack on the table, I died twice. It was rough.

Not excited about retirement itself, but I’m excited for the trips my wife organized for me.We’re going to Russia, maybe China to visit my family there, and we went to Mexico already.

I’m not sure about what I’m most looking forward to. This day and age is very rough. And financial demands are getting worse and worse. So people with just a retirement fund, the amount of money we have is not very useful. Used to be, one dollar, you can buy a hamburger, now, you can’t even buy french fries. The value of money shrinks, and then life will have to get simpler and simpler. So traveling and trying this stuff, it’ll probably be limited.

Health is important. Health and family, that’s all I need. We’re eventually going to die, right? So we just want to have a good

life with family.

Here at Irvington, we endure. Despite the district administration being antagonistic to us, we survive. We are the first school in the district to receive accolades for environmentalism.

My bucket list of achievements here has been to promote new and proper science education, be a climate change activist and educator, and meet more students from around the world.

Overall, I hope that my students have learned to follow instructions. Generally, they are pretty good, except for a couple of kids that cheat. They have to eventually be corrected.

I like Irvington because there are a lot of good characters in here. It’s getting better, but a lot of students here are not prepared for the real world. They should see the wild and try camping.

Zarah Zhao

Senior Ball PROM-ises and Delivers

By Srinidhi Sankar Opinions Editor

Upon the end of AP testing season and QUEST Testimonies, the Class of 2019 enjoyed one last prom at Senior Ball on May 25. The difficulties faced by the Prom Committee were unique from those of past years because, for the first time in Irvington history, Senior Ball took place on a yacht

that toured San Francisco.

The yacht was only able to accommodate precisely 350 attendees, so, unlike Junior Prom, Senior Class Officers Maansa Kavuri (12) and Michelle Tran (12) had to turn some students away after the venue reached maximum capacity.

“We still tried our best to accommodate each student and we even extended ticket sales for two days, which allowed a

lot of students to get their tickets,” said Tran. “For the students that reached out to us about trying to get a ticket, we tried to help them as best as we [could] because we didn’t want to take away the prom experience from anyone.”

However, the attendees faced minor unexpected setbacks on the night of Senior Ball. Shortly before boarding, the Irvington administration notified students

that they could not bring any purses or bags onto the yacht, creating momentary confusion which was soon quelled by volunteers composed of other students and teachers.

“It was truly chaos finding out where to put all of our stuff last minute and a huge inconvenience,” explained attendee Anika Mehta (12). “Last year, they were able to check our bags and let us inside, and if they weren’t gonna allow bags they should’ve told us at least a day before.”

Fortunately, the grandeur of the yacht set the scene for attendees and limited the necessity for extravagant decorations on the part of ASG. The Prom Committee only had to account for the photo booth, flipbook station, and DJ. When the yacht was scouted by last year’s Junior Class Officers, they initially feared that the dance floor was too small and the ceiling was too low.

“I initially had doubts because there was a potential of getting seasick [on the yacht], but that wasn’t the case,” said attendee Sara Kaushik (12). “The view was amazing, and the pictures I got from the boat were really cool.”

Despite some logistical hassles, the Prom Committee was able to execute the event successfully and navigate the challenge of adopting a new type of venue.

The music selection was received mixed reviews, but the location itself was well received.

“The food was very average and could’ve been improved, but overall I had a much better time at Senior Ball than Junior Prom,” said attendee Tavisha Anand (12).

“The general vibes were nicer and we had room to spread out into different places like the photo booth area, dance floor, and upper deck.”

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Friday, June 7, 2019

Berbawy Makers’ Success to Cindy Peng: Love Tai Impress at Maker Faire Chi and Loving Tai Chi

By Annika Yong

Web and Photos Editor

From Friday May 17 to Sunday May 19, the Irvington Robotics Team and students from the ROP classes “Introduction to Engineering” and “Principles of Engineering” participated in the annual Maker Faire to share their innovative and inspiring creations with the public. Named the “Berbawy Makers”, a total of 87 students set up a booth that featured stunning projects ranging from 3-D Printers, to robotic hands, to augmented reality (AR) sand tables. Although the five to ten hourlong days required an immense amount of dedication, time, and effort, Irvington students learned valuable lessons and established valuable connections through their Maker Faire experience.

The booth was awarded two Editor Choice Awards, which were given to the most prestigious and engaging groups at Maker Faire that actively shared their creation and design process. The augmentedreality (AR) sand table, complete with a projector that illuminated a topographic map responsive to the depths of the sand level, was so popular among visitors that it had to be cooled down during intervals in order to avoid overheating. It used an XBox 360 kinect to detect hand gestures and the height of the sand, and processed the sensor data to project an interactive topographic map on a sand-box.

“The best part was seeing how even the adults found it really fun and intriguing,” team member Aditya Rathod (12) said. “I talked to one teacher that actually teaches geography, specifically topography, and she was interested in creating one of these sand tables so that she [could] have them in her classroom and [let] her students learn topography by interacting with the sand.”

Other popular showcased items included the robotic hand that could mimic hand movements in a glove and play rockpaper-scissors with visitors, large piano keys that played notes when stepped on, remote-controlled robots used for robotics competitions, and a life-size 3-D printed stormbreaker.

“People are amazed that we are just high schoolers and we have the resources to do all this stuff,” said Alana Val-

ino (10), who specializes in 3-D printing.

“There’s even this person who took down notes on what I was talking about and the information that I had.”

Sai Kesari (12), who was stationed behind the robotic hand project, also recounted a rewarding experience when interacting with visitors.

“There was a person who talked to me about the new microchip he was designing. In the beginning he was reluctant to take my business card, but as our conversation went on he realized that I actually understood his work. In the end he finally took my business card and that felt very good because he noticed something in me that he didn’t notice in other people.”

In these experiences unique to Maker Faire, Irvington students not only gain a sense of gratification from sharing the finishing product that took hard work and a large amount of troubleshooting to create, but also gain confidence and find a community of like-minded makers.

“When you show people the things you have created, you share this experience because they’re makers and you’re a maker.

You have this common bond, and the conversation you get to have with them now is not just small talk,” Ms Berbawy said. “It’s really empowering and changes the way you look at your project— it’s not just for your teacher, it’s not just for the class— it’s for the world.”

Networking with other makers is an especially crucial opportunity that Irvington students can gain access to by participating in Maker Faire. Since Irvington’s first Makers Faire booth in 2015, Irvington students have earned internships and scholarships and the benefits of these connections have also served as valuable assets in the classroom.

“My classroom has gotten equipment, people have come back to our classrooms and done guest lectures, and donated their time and materials,” Ms Berbawy said. “Networking helps us meet people and keep in touch, and that way when there are problems with equipment we ordered from them we get to ask a personal contact instead of customer service, which is way more helpful. There really is not another classroom— not even in private schools— like this.”

By Roxana Shahmohammadi Staff Writer

Cindy Peng Cindy Peng (middle) is pictured with Kansen Chu at the Community Hero ceremony.

While every Irvington student needs to complete their forty service hours, Cindy Peng (11) has taken her involvement in the community one step further with her own organization: the Love Tai Chi Association. For her work, she was given the Community Hero Award by Assemblymember Kansen Chu on May 2, 2019.

Peng’s inspiration for the foundation came from her participation in the annual National Tai Chi Day event hosted

by Kansen Chu. She started learning tai chi at the age of seven, and has been performing in Chu’s events and other competitions held around the Bay Area for years. With the intense practice, she has developed a passion for the activity, which not only provides an outlet for engaging with her Chinese roots but also for finding purpose and peace in her life.

“I’m motivated by my passion [for] Tai Chi since I believe in what I do and I have a true sense of pride when I can help others through my own efforts,” Cindy

said on her motivation. “[I hope to] inspire other people to also learn what I do.”

Cindy was honored to be recognized by Assemblymember Kansen Chu at his 5th Annual Community Heroes Award Ceremony, which included more than 500 people in attendance at the India Community Center in Milpitas. She ended up being one of about eighty honored community members and was in attendance with both the Milpitas Mayor and the Fremont police chief. With her certificate and medal in hand, Cindy plans to double down on her work with Love Tai Chi foundation, which is dedicated to helping people through community health programs, performing at senior centers, and donating books to local libraries.

“My next goal is to gather more interested people and students together for participating in competitions and hold conferences,” Cindy said. “I would indeed also continue my work of donating books to libraries.”

Friday, June 7, 2019 Page 7

OPINIONS

DISAGREE WITH US?

Submit your Letter to the Editor to Room 84 or through email to ihsvoice@gmail.com for the chance to be featured the next issue!

Google Drive(s) Microsoft Office Out of Town

By Emily Joe Humor Editor

The teacher assigns you to draft a script for a class skit with a group. What do you automatically pull up on your phone or laptop to get the ball rolling? The glorious Google Drive.

First, unlike its competitors’ programs like Microsoft’s Excel, Word, and PowerPoint in Microsoft’s Office, this cloud’s apps are free to use for all users as long as they have a (free) Gmail account.

This small speed bump, however, is nothing to sweat over since almost everyone already owns their personal account taking into account the fact that almost all schools automatically make each student a Gmail.

With this in mind, it is almost essential for Google Drive to be user-friendly—and that is exactly what it is. Google Drive has no need for a tutorial and includes all the functions necessary for all your documenting, powerpointing, or

spreadsheeting needs. Compared to Microsoft Office’s programs, with its confusing pathways to find a seemingly simple function, Google Drive is easy to navigate. Furthermore, Drive is superior in its accessibility as its apps are available on any device.

Additionally, because of these two above points, Google’s application is wildly innovative in its innate ability to collaborate. Only with the limit of one’s wifi, the number of people able to edit, view, or comment on one single file is essentially endless. But what if you don’t have your collaborator’s email or you’re simply too lazy to ask? There’s no need for them anyways!

It only takes two clicks to copy the link to your own document. Then, all you need to do is send it to your peers, and what are the chances of you not being able to contact them through Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, or Instagram? As all students already know, this is precisely why Google Drive is so much better than Microsoft’s Office.

Should Marijuana be a Medical Option?

By Rachel Kavalakatt Staff Writer

Due to its potential risks, medical marijuana is considered a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance by the US government.

Despite this fact, over 32 states have legalized marijuana for medical use. Because of its associated risks and health detriments, and the lack of substantial data proving its medicinal effects, marijuana should not be legalized for medical use.

Marijuana is widely used as a painkiller as well as to treat a variety of diseases, from Alzheimer’s to anorexia. A myriad of health risks accompany the use of medical marijuana, stemming from the fact that the substance is not controlled, tested, or administered like regular medications. As a result, medical marijuana is not FDA approved, and does not have to abide by the quality control standards and safety regulations in place for conventional medications. Not only is medical marijuana addictive, it can also lead to the use of more dangerous drugs, making it a “gate-

way” drug that could result in a downward spiral of drug abuse. Various chemicals and additives in medical marijuana have been linked to fetal development and fertility issues.

Although marijuana extract formulas are going through clinical trials currently and awaiting approval, only two pill medications, dronabinol and nabilone, made from certain extracts of marijuana are FDA approved. Another concern revolves around the long-term effects of medical marijuana use, and little is known about the impacts marijuana has on the health of those with different medical conditions.

With more and more teens using marijuana regularly every day, the drug has become the single most used drug among minors in America. When the drug is placed into the medical context, teens start to normalize it and dismiss the harms that accompany marijuana use as insignificant.

By sending this misleading message to kids, drug abuse is only going to become more and more prevalent among teens.

The Beauty of Math

Friendship Struggles to Sail in the Bay Area

By Srinidhi Sankar Opinions Editor

“With the amount of time it takes, a relationship is like a four unit class.”

When I asked one of my overachieving Bay Area friends why he wasn’t willing to get into relationships, he gave me this curt response. As appalling as it sounds to equate interpersonal relationships to mere college coursework, the statement is very representative of San Francisco culture. Let’s face it: among the bustling Silicon Valley and hustling career hopefuls, the Bay Area solely revolves around the ineradicable concept of time.

Apart from that one wholesome friend you have, friendships work as vehicles of exchange in the Bay. It need not be as superficial as becoming friends for material gain such as internships, but often times people are used as tools that can listen to rants. Whether it be the exchange of knowledge or sorrows, we often turn to friends in times of loneliness or need.

Even within high school environments, it is hard to sustain a friendship if students don’t share classes with one an-

Popular Opinion: Mission Should Have Quest

By Annika Yong

Web and Photos Editor

Student Loan Hero The spiral pattern in the seed head of the sunflower is one of nature’s examples of the Golden Ratio and Fibonacci sequence.

By Prahalad Chari Staff Writer

Calculating the derivative of a long polynomial may seem like the last thing you’d want to do, yet, you slog through it anyway. Math may seem like the least appealing thing, but once you look at it with the right mindset, math becomes very elegant, beautiful, and, in a way, artistic.

Math relies on patterns and shapes, and these are what make it so aesthetically appealing. The golden ratio is a mathematical concept which occurs when one dimension of an object is roughly 1.6 times larger than the other dimension. This ratio is proven to be the most aesthetically pleasing one to the human eye, and is in many of the major structures in the world.

Seashells, the Mona Lisa, the Taj Mahal, and even the proportions of things as small

as beetles are all based on the golden ratio.

Without math, most of the things in your life would not even be working. This very article that was written on a computer, which at its very core, runs on binary. Binary is a series of 1’s and 0’s which get translated into machine language. This is also based on math. Any science field has math at its core. While it may not seem obvious that gene editing has anything to do with math, there are a lot of calculations made behind the scenes to determine how exactly to do it. These can include everything from calculating the precise movements that the machine needs to take, or even calculating the probability of success.

Overall, math is everywhere, and almost impossible to avoid. So, instead of running away, embrace it. It’s beauty may surprise you.

Wikihow other. After all, we are able to converse due to relatability of quirks unique to each class, and to specify in terms of the average Irvington student, such bonds are forged from the pain students share from excruciating course loads. Some Irvington students guiltily admit that they prefer times of high stress because they were able to establish deeper connections to their peers when they struggled together.

Merriam Webster defines a friend as “one attached to another by affection or esteem.” Well, isn’t that awfully bare? Urban Dictionary is much more descriptive and describes friendship as “wanting someone to be happy even if it means sacrificing something yourself to make them happy.”

This is a much more insightful take than Merriam Webster, yet both definitions do not accurately capture the essence of friendship at Irvington, much less the Bay Area in general.

Which is why I’d like to reassess the terminology: Bay Area friendship (n): difficult to maintain, but if allowed to mature past cancelled plans, a time investment that can result in powerful emotional gains.

Finishing QUEST got me thinking about how much Irvington students learned throughout the benchmark project. We have learned how to talk to adults, conduct our own research and educate ourselves in crucial social issues. Quest has equipped Irvington seniors with essential life skills and made them into better graduates. This all planted a brilliant idea in my head— our beloved neighboring school Mission San Jose High School should also have the QUEST benchmark project.

Mission is missing out big time by not having any benchmark projects. How are they supposed to learn about MLA ci-

tations? It’s not like we can learn those in English essays or already existing projects in other classes right? Most importantly, 17 to 18 year olds get to learn how to keep everything in a binder and actually not lose anything from it throughout the entire school year, which is actually really impressive. This is why I am advocating to implement QUEST in MSJ so they can also reap the aforementioned benefits by completing three presentations, six source checks, 15 service hours and two papers while trying not to get rescinded by colleges. I mean, who could resist? This is all because I care about MSJ—I fear that they will lag behind Irvington’s obvious superior academic prowess. This just comes from nothing but genuine concern.

Page 8

Disney I Am Literally Begging Why MacBooks Suck You to Stop

By Roxana Shahmohammadi Staff Writer

There’s no doubt that Disney has a monopoly in the movie industry. Everything from Marvel to Star Wars to Fox is now a Disney property. But long before they bought all of that, Disney had a monopoly over our childhoods. Everyone has at least one Disney classic that defines them; for me it’s Aladdin. But in recent years Disney has been on a little live action adaptation grind. Everything from Sleeping Beauty to Dumbo to The Lion King has been getting the live action treatment. And every single one of them ranges from horrible to “meh” at the very best, and I’m so tired of them and everything they represent.

These movies are terrible for two major reasons: 1) the originals are already practically perfect so there’s no point and

2) they’re lazy uninspired cash grabs. It’s so sad to see a company that was once the most innovative and boundary pushing in the industry resorting to lazy money making. And what’s even worse is people are still supporting them. These movies all make insane amounts of money in the box office because of nostalgia and the Disney name. This just encourages more and more laziness and takes away from original filmmakers that are still putting effort into their work. Disney literally has not released a non sequel, non franchise, non adaptation movie since 2016 and the next one isn’t scheduled to come out until late 2020. That are future generations going to look back on as movies that defined their childhood?

Boring rehashes of good movies from years ago?

To Vaccinate or Not To Vaccinate

The Economic Times

By Nikoo Alizadeh Staff Writer

Vaccination has become a popular topic recently on both the news and social media.

However, whether or not a child is vaccinated should not be a debated topic because there is enough scientific evidence to prove that vaccines help save people’s lives, are safe, and cause adverse reactions in only a small percentage of the population..

No vaccine is 100 percent effective, but according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), they are 85 to 95 percent effective and prevent over 300 million diseases among children and adults. Since the 20th century, the number of measles, rubella, mumps, and Hib cases have decreased by 99 percent in the US. In 2015, there were zero reported cases of polio, diphtheria, and smallpox.

This is all due to the increased use of vaccines. If people were to stop vaccinating their children, the number of these cases

Friday, June 7, 2019

would increase rapidly.

Vaccination does not only benefit the recipient, either. According to the CDC, a vaccinated individual becomes immune to a disease, meaning he or she cannot spread that disease to other people. Choosing to not be vaccinated is not a decision that only affects an individual— it also impacts the health of the people around them, especially those with weaker immune systems.

Many people may argue that there are side effects to vaccines such as allergic reactions, seizures, or brain damage, but these are extremely rare cases. Sanjay Gupta, the Chief Medical Correspondent for CNN, explains that a person is one hundred times more likely to get hit by lightning than to have any sort of allergic reaction to a vaccine. A 2011 Institute of Medicine report showed that the MMR vaccine does not cause autism, which is a common argument amongst people that are against vaccines.

Apple

By Achintya Pinninti Sports Editor

The most recent generation of MacBooks has been under lots of scrutiny, primarily due to Apple preferring looks over performance while still trying to cram powerful hardware into the thin form factor.

Apple’s MacBooks all come in a sleek body, with the thickest one being the MacBook Air which measures 0.68 inches according to Apple. The problem isn’t only the thin chassis, it’s also the lack of fans.

Thicker laptops generally have more fans and also allow better airflow to promote cooling. At the same time, Apple also tries to add more powerful processors into this thin chassis. The thin and small chassis means that there is less space for a fan, and also less area to disperse this heat. Thermal throttling is most prominent in the 15 inch MacBook pros. At top configuration, the MacBook Pro in 2018 came with a 6-core Intel i9 and an AMD Radeon pro Vega 20.

The clock speed on the processor starts at a base 2.9 GHz and boosts up to 4.8 GHz. However, the problem is the poor cooling of the overall system. Though the top speed of the processor is 4.8 GHz, you will almost never actually reach that speed. As a matter of fact, various users have reported that processor speeds have dropped below base speeds during slightly intensive work. Additionally, the GPU also isn’t as effective as it could’ve been due to the lack of cooling.

Another issue with the MacBooks is the keyboard. Since 2015, Apple has been

using the butterfly key switch, after switching from the standard scissor key switches.

Since the chassis of the MacBooks are very thin, the keyboards have very little key travel. Many people have reported keyboard failure. Some possible issues include not typing and typing multiple times. The keys would start malfunctioning if debris or even dust went under the keys. Additionally, the shallow keys aren’t for everyone. You will either love it or despise it.

Macbooks also have the smallest variety in ports. The MacBook Pro comes with four USB-C ports and a headphone jack. The 12-inch MacBook has one USB-C port. Most other laptops have at least one USB 3.0 port in addition to the charging port and headphone jack. Most computers also have ethernet ports, HDMI ports, and SD card readers. This lack of ports makes it difficult to use, especially because you will have to carry a dongle or adapter if you want to use an HDMI cable, USB 3.0 cable, or even SD cards. One prominent YouTuber even called the MacBook Pro a “donglebook pro” because it is almost necessary to have a dongle while using one.

Macbooks also carry a hefty price tag. Therefore, buying a Macbook wouldn’t be in your best interest. The Huawei Matebook X, Dell XPS and Lenovo Yoga are some really good alternatives. However, if you really want the macOS, I would recommend that you consider buying a mid-spec mac mini and using an external GPU in conjunction to maximize performance for a lower price.

Friday, June 7, 2019

Page 9

The Misconception of Atheism The Force is Not Strong With This One

By Kayla Xu News Editor

The dictionary definition of atheism is “a lack of belief or a strong disbelief in the existence of a god or any gods.” Many have taken this to mean that atheists believe in nothing, have no moral code, and therefore are dangers to society. A research study conducted in the U.S. and Canada found that people with religious faiths trust atheists about as much as they trust rapists. The same study also found that declaring atheism was basically political suicide if you were running for president. While the distrust of atheism may be understandable to people of faith, that distrust is based upon extreme misconceptions.

Atheism isn’t nihilism. A nihilist believes that life has no intrinsic meaning, therefore morals and all other social constructs are meaningless. Nihilists are the

ones that believe in nothing and tend to have no moral code. Atheists, on the other hand, don’t derive their lives’ meaning from God or gods. To them, meaning in life can come from other sources: family, friends, community, society, science, or literally anything else other than theistic beliefs.

There’s also no proof that atheists are any more dangerous than people of religious faiths. Scientific research has found that religion played no role in determining altruism in children, and no research conducted has unequivocally claimed that atheists are more likely to commit crimes than theists.

At the end of the day, atheism should be regarded no different than Christianity, Islam, or Judaism in the way these beliefs affect society. In fact, no person should be labeled a threat solely based on their beliefs.

Y’all Are Judging Artists

by Their Covers

By Fiona Zhao

Student Life Editor

The Opinions section is dedicated to sweeping pieces analyzing the complex motivations of the orange president and international leaders. At other times, it divulges insider information otherwise exclusive to r/applyingtocollege. However, The Voice neglects covering the day-to-day aspects of our lives that might just apply to everyone. So I’ll start with a primer: diverting topics during communication—what, no this isn’t a lifestyle or advice-guru section. Here’s one burning thought: when scouting out musicians and pop groups to bop to, it’s vital that you check out their Bsides.

While over 100 million users, or a whopping 32% of active Spotify users, paying for Spotify Premium,there are even more radio listeners: 243 million radio listeners in the U.S. alone. That means that more people simply listen to the same old hits that loop on Top 40 radio stations and in shopping malls than actually seek out music tailored to their own tastes. Even

beyond the radio, though, most consumers still only listen to the top tracks that come with flashy dances or cinematic music videos—especially once you move beyond the most well-known Western artists and especially when you enter the void of K-pop.

But delving into entire albums and listening to B-sides beyond the hypedup singles during album drops and comebacks is exactly how people should be judging their artists. More often than not, it’s the lesser-promoted tracks within the albums that speak to the quality and consistency of musical groups and artists. And since they’re not as heavily promoted, those tracks are likely to be more experimental in nature and less tailored to formulaic radio hit material. But those are also the same tracks that make up most of the music these artists are actually releasing, which is exactly why this maximizes your enjoyment.

So for the all the ads, Spotify is incredibly valuable because you can sample individual albums to judge precisely which artists to stan long-term. And by that, I mean Red Velvet. You’ll know who to thank later.

Perversion of Language in Politics

By Isha Sanghvi Editor-in-Chief

Language is undoubtedly important. And this isn’t just because I write on a newspaper.

In every aspect of our lives, the way we name things and how we communicate about ideas frames the very way we perceive political opinions. Language is important because it can be twisted to mean something that it is not—such as in America’s current political atmosphere.

With the recent Alabama and Georgia abortion bills, the pro-life vs. pro-choice debate has re-emerged, infiltrating many conversations for weeks. However, the debate isn’t one of choice over life or vice versa.

Couldn’t pro-choicers say they care about the mother’s life, or that they wouldn’t personally support abortion but support others’ right to choose? Can’t pro-lifers say that women have the choice to put their children up for adoption?

The naming of the abortion debate is grossly misleading and allows both sides to manipulate the conversation to fit their own narrative. When liberals attack conservatives for refusing to support the women’s right to choose, conservatives are able to maneuver swiftly and claim a woman has three choices: intercourse, contraceptives, and adoption. Instead, the discussion needs to be re-framed as one of pro-abortion and anti-abortion. Sure, “anti-abortion” may be too negatively charged, but at least now, this discussion is more conducive to addressing the crux of the debate: should abortions be a legal right for women? Life and choice are factors in this decision, not mutually-exclusive to one another. It’s not that pro-life people oppose the right to choose, in the same way that pro-choice people are not anti-life. Pro-life vs. pro-choice paints the discussion as a false binary.

In the same line of reasoning, the gun control debate also needs to be

renamed to one of gun safety. When we respond to mass shootings with promises of gun control, we only give ammunition to the NRA to further bolster support for gun rights. Instead, a conversation of gun safety cannot be twisted. Most every gun user wants guns to be safe. If they don’t, they shouldn’t be owning a gun. By shifting the debate to be about public safety, we can make considerable gains in terms of background checks and closing gun loopholes, rather than being swallowed by political gridlock.

While we may never be able to agree on one specific answer, reframing the debate allows us to have better discussions—and maybe even have one that gives us the answer we are all content with.

Lucasfilm

By Andrew Fu Opinions Editor

Here’s a challenge: watch the fight between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader in A New Hope without laughing—it’s about as entertaining as seeing two old men wacking each other with canes. Sure, fight choreography may not have been so advanced during the time, and sure, it was more about the emotion of two old friends meeting after a long time, but the fight isn’t interesting no matter how you try to justify it. It may have been revolutionary during the 70s, but it’s become super outdated with time, just like the original Star Wars movies. With outdated special effects and a cliche storyline, the original trilogy is highly overrated.

Is Han Solo navigating through asteroids or potatoes? The special effects in the originals are really shoddy, especially in A New Hope. While the movies were made decades ago, it really is a big step down from the CGI work in the newer movies.

The effects are outdated and uninteresting—while it may have been revolutionary back then, it definitely isn’t now, and many fans are overly protective of these movies

and choose to ignore these flaws.

Call to adventure? Check. Meeting the mentor? Check. Crossing the threshold? Check. Final showdown? Check. The original Star Wars movies follow the Hero’s Journey chart almost step by step. A good plot is arguably the most important part of a movie, and the good-triumphing-overevil cliche, which has been done millions of times in other forms of media, makes much of the originals boring and predictable.

Even the prequels, which many audiences went into knowing the final outcome, were more interesting plot-wise because it built the story up to the finale in Episode 3. How exactly was Anakin going to turn into Darth Vader? How will the Jedi order be wiped out? What will happen to all the clone troopers? These questions made for an interesting movie about a good person gone bad.

The originals definitely deserve respect as revolutionary pieces of filmmaking, but they’re far from the cinematic masterpieces that fans see them as. Instead of being held back by nostalgia and other biases, fans should keep an open mind and give the newer movies a chance.

College Board, Please Explain

By Rory Conlon Staff Writer

Recently, the College Board announced the development of a new measure of student success: the Adversity Score, one calculated based on the neighborhood environment (which takes into account the poverty rate and the crime rate within a given area), family environment (income, education level, whether or not an ESL student), and high school environment (free lunch rate, A.P. opportunity, etc.) surrounding a student. Ultimately, though SAT Adversity Scores are based on fair principles, they need to be released to the public and perfected before they should be seriously considered by colleges.

The Adversity Score may produce unreliable results. Students who are undermatched with universities, or students who attend universities that do not sufficiently challenge their abilities due to socioeco-

nomic concerns, will benefit from the use of the adversity score in college admissions. However, a 2003 study by Stephen Cole and Elinor Barber, found that, when students who are accepted into an elite (Ivy League) university that far surpasses what they have been prepared for, they tend to suffer at the bottom of their class and become demotivated to reap the full benefits of their college education. On the other hand, if students are only accepted to a university based on academic factors, that allows them to be in the middle or top of their class, and they will likely achieve greater academic success.

Additionally, the College Board has not yet released a weighting of how different factors contribute to the Adversity Score and refuses to release the Adversity Score to the individual student themselves.

This indicates an inherent weakness or lack of confidence in the Adversity Scores system.

Community College

De Anza

Anshal Majmudar Edward Le Fareed Nawaz Ahamed Michelle Nguyen Sheng-Feng Chien

Diablo Valley Sydney West

Fullerton Angie Dao

Las Positas Joshua Dye

University of California

UC Berkeley

Adina Chen Amit Bhat Annika Yong Catherine Lei Desiree Ho Elaine Chan Eugene Ahn Eve Lin Jack Chen Jack Shang Jasmine Tong-Seely Jennie Gai Kareena Wu Kerry Huang Lily Yang Maansa Kavuri Megha Sreekanth Mehaa Mekala Mehdi Ali Namrata Vedagarbha Parnika Kant Samarth Bhutani Sherry Fan Srinidhi Sankar Shruteek Mairal Tian Li Tom Shang Vikram Cherukuri

UC Davis

Other

Out of State Public

Aatifah Mohammad Alyssa Phan Anisha Narsan Bryan Kuo

Arizona State Olivia Hogle

Georgia Tech Joyce Shen

Miami University Jimmy Yu

Michigan State Jeffrey Lo

Ohio State Jane Zucker

Penn State

Mission Christy Ma

Mt. San Antonio Jun Yan Luo

Ohlone

Aaron Ford Abraham Pamplona Adeline Arbis Aitan Ravi Virrey Amy Aramaki Cade Ross Dion Yeh Eunice Chan Faizan Haque Jason Choo

Catherine Cheng Emily Quan Gene Tian Isha Bhagavatula Jennifer Tso Jessica Li Kiyomi Blackmun Michelle Tran Sanket Shanbhag Seulgi Lee Seungwoo Lee Shanna Le Sherin Lajevardi Shruthi Somasundaram Thin Han William Li

UC Irvine

Jena Stevenson Jeremy Garcia Jodhvir Phangura Kasie Dava Laksha Chhaddva Ma The Su Moon Thu Madeeha Saiyed Madison Lira Max He Monique Tyner Neha Rampal Oliver Sullivan Ozair Khaliq Patricia Huynh Quan Duong Ran Yu Rebeca Delgado Rohan Rao Ruo Bai

UCLA

Aditi Vichare Alice Ma Bilal Pandit Colleen Li Faaizah Arshad Frank Zheng Jeffrey Chang Sean Cheah Shreya Vajragiri Vicki Liu

UC Merced Frank Song Ria Bhatia Shriya Ambre Tristin Thant Vedaant Vyas

Jasleen Singh Jonathan Santos

West Valley Runsheng Guan

UC San Diego Cherie Zhi Christina Tran Emerson Chao Helen Huynh Jackie Ngo James Wang Jessica Liu Jonathan Park Prateek Asthana Sarah Lee Vivian Liu

UC Santa Barbara Deanna Xu Kathleen Brahan Kevin Yip Kevin Xu

Akshay Gharpure Alexander Zhu Anikait Rao Ashwin Prabu Athena Xu Emi Yamasaki Fiona Zhao Henry Lin Joshua Liu Justin Fong Katie Lo Rishik Lad Swarna Mohan

UC Riverside

Purdue

Charley Zhao Iris Kan Lilian Wang Peijun Li Sainath Kesari Shiv Mulchandan Shivangi Sharma

University of Nevada

University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Sarah Joyce

Brandon Sun

Rutgers John Leng

University of Colorado Boulder Richard Tseng

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Akriti Khandelwal Boyang Yu

Anika Mehta Bryan Tang Chanananaa Sri Senthil Kumar Dylan Hopen Elmenthy Teng Meenatchi Odaiyappan Megan Dang Nidhi Chirayath Radhika Amin Saisrinath Chippa Sara Kaushik Shu Qiao Yu

Kia Sadeghi

University of Minnesota Twin Cities Erick Ti

Trinity Nguyen

Army/Navy

Sabrina Luna Sarah Chowdhury Sequoia Corsick Alcott Sofia Flores Tristen Wu William Ortiz Xuan Mai Pham Zaina Nasiri Zainab Shaikh

Ballet Magnificat Company Elizabeth Pabst

Columbian Military Carlos Sedano

UC Santa Cruz Adithya Rajendran Lucy Zheng Michelle Huang Robin Liu Roselene Chen Shreyas Telkar

Samantha Fetsch

University of Nottingham University of Texas at Dallas Aditya Rathod

Washington University

Brendan Ho Gabriella Ann Del Rosario Jeremy Leung

Gap Year

Conrad Liszka Javier Jovel

CONGRATS, CO’ 2019

California State University

East Bay

Chico

Fullerton

Long Beach

Margarita Casas

Kaila Velasquez

Meghan Wu Simone Mendoza

Angela Li Ami Shalabh Gabrielle Dubinsky Phalgun Jana

San Jose

Albert Chiang Abhinav Selvaraj Amogh Manjunath Amulya Pennepalli Anjali Nair Ann Thomas Anni Shao Anuraag Kataria Apaar Bhullar Bill Sasi Bridgette Chang Chinan Liu Corinna Chang Emily Joe Hannah Russell Hasina Khushzad Jaanvi Bains

Cal Poly Pomona

Monterey Bay

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

San Diego

Academy of Art

Fremont Beauty College

Pacific Union College

Gurnik Academy of Medical Arts

Pepperdine University

Calvin Mei Shivani Shimpi

Braxton Carlson Charlotte Matthews Jessica Zhao Kunhua Cheng Lauren Hughes Mandy Ko Myrthe Bellers

Jennifer Lee

In State Private

Mitchell Donnelly

San Francisco

Itzel Delacruz Itzel Lara

Anushka Shah Chae Yeon Kim Derek Nunotani Elizabeth Bridges Hadil Salih Kimberly Mae Sanchez

Gianna Tarquini

Art Center College of Design Maylynn Tsai

Cal Lutheran Darya Rasoli

California Northstate University College of Medicine Bhagvat Maheta

Claremont Mckenna

Harsimran Kaur

Holy Names University Gerone Rojas

Los Angeles College of Music

Jacob Jaimes Lopez

Jeffrey Yang Josie Trinh Kevin Park Mateo Castillo Max Wong Maxwell Wu Nick Emmanuel Priti Patel Shivani Shaha Sonia Patel Sonja Vasiljeva Surabhi Gupta Vicki Lin Ziran Ding

Sonoma

Jayson Tong Sonya Karpelevitch

University of San Francisco Kunj Shah Ramirez Salas

Mary Tang

University of Redlands

Santa Clara University

University of San Diego

Seraphine Hao Tanya Gupta

Isabel Garcia

St. Mary’s College

Benjamin Michael Maher

Corinne Hansel

University of Southern California

Francene Munoz Reet Atwal

Carolyn Guo Derrick Nhin Isha Sanghvi

Culinary Institute of America

George Washington

Rice

Nathaniel Basit

Amy Chen Varun Vijay Vibha Govindarajan

Dartmouth

Georgetown

University of Rochester

Priyanka Shingwekar

Anvitha Shoroff

Harvard

Vanderbilt

Menlo College Kevin Bergstrom

Nicholas Wilson

American University Martin Turriza Alcocer Rachel Wang

Babson

Out of State Private

Alisha Chawla

Baylor

Saisha Singh Sohanvenkatasai Tadi

Boston College Jessie Cheng

Boston University Jessica Vu

Brian Wang

Drexel

Anirudh Maddhuri

Duke Kunshan Shawna Wu

Emory Katie Lee

Brown

Reetam Ganguli

Carnegie Mellon Nancy Zuo

Case Western Reserve Jaime Wang

University of Chicago

Fordham

Faye Wang Rissa Chandy Tavisha Anand

Nikoo Alizadeh

Organized By:

New York University

Roshni Srivastava

Washington University in St. Louis Vivienne Chang

Bridget Daugherty Erin Choi Gabriella Funk Pia Parekh

Northeastern Crystal Hsu

University of Pennsylvania Ryan Lee

Gannon

Garrett Takei

Aaron Lin

Arranged By:

Allison Chang Jeffrey Chiu Kevin Mao

Divya Venkatesh

Elaine Chan, Pia Parekh, Vidushee Mishra

University of Portland Celine Javurek Thu Vu

Contributors:

Rachel Kavalakatt, Emily Joe, Achintya Pinninti, Sherin Lajevardi, Ashka Patel, Shivani Manivasagan, Nancy Zuo, Isha Sanghvi

Page 12 Friday, June 7, 2019

Friday, June 7, 2019 Page 13

ENTERTAINMENT

DIRECT FROM THE EDITOR

Make sure to check out our awesome review of the recent Godzilla movie online at ihsvoice.com!!

Euphoria Benefit Concert Displays Local Talent

By Annika Yong

Web and Photos Editor

On May 24, the IHS Dynamics Club held their second annual Euphoria benefit concert to raise funds for the nonprofit organization “Boldly Me”. Students from Irvington High, John F. Kennedy High, Washington High, and Horner Junior High came together to showcase their musical talents in the concert. The production featured a wide array of musical, cultural and artistic performances that drew the audience in, while simultaneously raising money through tickets, raffles and food sales.

The production started off with a speech by the president of the IHS Dynamics Club, Zainab Haque (11) and a presentation by the “Boldly Me” Founder and President Alanna Powell. Boldly Me is an organization that helps youth and kids who feel different or out of place, and addresses problems to prevent bullying and mental illnesses.

“Our mission is to educate those people who are hurting silently, and give them mental and behavioral health tools they need to become emotionally balanced and healthy,” Powell said, “The performances today show all the incredibly hard work that every single student put in to make this happen. What’s beautiful is that

Annika Yong | Photos Editor The Polynesian Club performing the dance “Sei Me Le Losa” it’s a performance done by the entire community of Fremont.”

The production was followed by 14 acts performed by students of diverse talents. Shreyas Verma from Horner Junior High played “Witches Dance” on the xylophone, demonstrating his instrumental virtuosity through zen melodies followed by rapid chords that echoed in the cafete-

ria. Samir Walai (9) from Irvington juggled light-up clubs in his complicated routine along to engaging music, earning loud cheers from the audience. Tanya Gupta (12) performed the jazz song “All that Jazz” from Chicago, featuring a smooth swingstyle, impressive range and virtuosity in controlling jazz-style vibratos, prompting the audience to clap along to the song.

“The meaning behind ‘Euphoria’ is to bring joy and lights into Irvington students’ lives and share the wonder of performing arts,” Zainab Haque (11) said, “The best part is [seeing] all of the participants’ and volunteers’ hard work pay off.”

The production also showcased diverse cultural dances. The Folklorico Group of Sazon Latino from Irvington twirled in ruffled Folklorico dresses that displayed Hispanic dance. Mia Lam (11), Andrea Toral (11), Vivian Her (11) and Sanjana Gudivada (10) performed the K-Pop dance “Gogobebe” by MAMAMOO, showcasing their fiery and synchronized dance moves.

The Polynesian Club from John F. Kennedy High School performed the dances “Sei Me Le Losa” and “Hawaiian Rollercoaster Ride”. The flowing, deliberate movements performed in precise formations matched with the calm, tropical background music to create a fulfilling island cultural sensory experience.

The last performance featured a heart-warming acapella song “The Longest Time” by Billy Joel, performed by the IHS Dynamic Club themselves. The heartening doo-wop tunes drew the performancepacked production to a close and a satisfying ending to an overall uplifting concert where students showcased a multitude of talents for a positive cause.

Hop on Over to Hopping Beans Watch Out Broadway! IHS Choir is Here!

By Fiona Zhao

Student Life Editor

By Emily Liu Staff Writer

Fiona Zhao |Student Life Editor

At the busy intersection between Fremont Blvd. and Bay Street lies a peaceful oasis: a small sidewalk café, almost elusive with its inconspicuous sign sticking out right next to the traffic lights. A sharp right turn and a quick stroll past the small structure, and you’re at the entrance of Hopping Beans Cafe. Despite its location in one of the most traffic-heavy parts of town, Hopping Beans Cafe is more personable and inviting than anything, offering more than just its selection of crepes and drinks and afternoon snacks. Overall, while there were a few regrets, I came out of Hopping Beans looking forward to another peaceful afternoon stay.

Though Hopping Beans Cafe, formerly Bean Scene Cafe, switched owners, the coffee shop itself felt pleasantly personable, complete with an inviting “homeowned” vibe. As I entered the surprisingly spacious interior, quaintly adorned with comfy leather chairs and sofas, I was ready to dig into some afternoon work, too, just like the several other people enjoying coffee and busy chatting or at video conferences.

One of the most notable parts of the interior, though, was its large bay windows that offered a nice peek into the outside traffic.

I eagerly settled down with my cousin at a small table right next to a large window, where I could see pedestrians busily going about their lives.

It was too late for caffeine, so I ordered their smoothie Cookie Monster, an

sinfully enjoyable blend of Oreos and chocolate ice cream. As I normally don’t indulge in so much sweetness, I did find the blend of Oreos and ice cream overwhelming, but despite taking me three hours, it did offer a pleasant flavor beyond pure sweetness and guilt—a pretty good deal for $4.20. My cousin, who ordered their classic Ice Island Latte, really enjoyed the coconut flavor. To top that off, we also ordered a delectable slice of chocolate-covered sponge cake for $4.15. Biting into the fluffy cake, I could taste several layers of caramel and sugar; again, while it was a very guilt-inducing experience, the cake was undeniably good, with layered texture and flavor beyond pure calories.

Craving some healthy food, I made the mistake of ordering their albacore tuna salad, which in hindsight was just store-bought tuna melt, bland lettuce and tomatoes, and a side of sour cream. Especially coupled with the indulgent smoothie and cake, the bland, overpriced salad at $9.25 was really just not worth it. Still, I really appreciated how the cashier register and store manager in front personally went up to my table to serve the food.

Ultimately, my main regret was not doing my research on Yelp; it seems that Hopping Bean’s specialty lies within their sweets, not their selection of sandwiches and salads. I personally look forward to going in again and trying out their highlyregarded nutella & strawberry crepes.

On the evening of May 30th from 7-9 PM, Irvington Choir held their annual spring concert directed by Ms. Olson with Nico Perez as the accompanist. Choir holds two concerts every year: the Christmas concert and the spring concert. The spring concert is always on a theme, and past year’s themes have included food from around the world and Disney. This year’s spring concert was “Songs from the Stage” including a mix of musical theatre and opera.

Ms. Olson always pours hours into selecting music for the concerts divided between the Chamber Chorale, Concert Choir, Encore, Treble Ensemble, Viking Jazz, Fresco Femme, and Men’s Barbershop. Viking Jazz, Fresco Femme, and Men’s Barbershop are all choirs outside of the classroom which have to be auditioned for and host practice during Flex Advisory. Notably, this year was the first year of Men’s Barbershop. This year’s selected music played into the traditional narrative of stage music on the tragic, irrational, and nostalgic dramaticized aspects of love.

Music switched between the male and female choirs, with songs including “You’ll Be Back” by the combined male choir, followed by “There’s a Fine Fine Line” and “Forget About the Boy” by the Treble Ensemble. Several songs also featured solos in between them, and senior Reetam Ganguli of Chamber Chorale also played the flute in There’s a Fine Fine Line.

The concert ended with “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story” from Hamilton, with the lyrics slightly changed to fit being about the graduating seniors. In between the chorus, choir seniors stepped up to the microphone to speak about the unique high school experience offered at Irvington incorporated into the song.

The 2019 spring concert was one to fully captivate and silence the completely filled Valhalla Theatre of friends and family. The music sends shivers down the spine

and truly does close the school year on a bittersweet note.

Proceeding the musical performance, students were also recognized on stage for MVP of the choirs. The MVPs were from the four individual choirs and voted on by students of those choirs. There was also the Singer of the Year award voted on by everyone in all the choir classes, which was awarded to seniors Oliva Hogle and Corinne Hansel this year. On top of these awards, the Todd Kendrick Scholarship was also awarded to two graduating seniors, Kiyomi Blackmun and Corinne Hansel, for being helpful, active, and aware in their community. The scholarship was started by Ms. Olson in honor of past Irvington Choir student Todd Kendrick who passed in a car accident two weeks after graduating in 2010, and awards $500 per recipient.

Both Blackmun and Hansel plan on continuing including music in their lives after high school.

For Blackmun, even though she does not plan to pursue it professionally, “Music has always been a really big part of [her] life”.

“I’ve been doing student-run shows since first grade. It was the main decision to why I went to public school and why I joined Horner’s choirs and why I’m here. I can’t see myself not doing music in the future.”

Blackmun will be attending University of California, Davis this fall and is considering auditioning for acapella groups on campus and is looking forward to exploring the musical facilities.

Hansel will be attending the University of California San Diego this fall with a choral scholarship, meaning she will be committed to both their top choir as well as their general concert choir.

“I have really appreciated all of the friendships I have been able to make through choir. it has really given me the opportunity to grow as a singer and a leader and I am so grateful for everything I have learned from Mrs. Olson and all of my fellow choir members.” said Hansel.

Page 14

Friday, June 7, 2019

KoJa Kitchen: Fancy Fusion Flavors

By Annika Yong

Web and Photos Editor

Annika Yong | Web and Photos Editor Pictured are kamikaze fries (left), braised pork bowl (bottom right) and original KoJa (top right).

Do you ever find yourself in a situation where you cannot decide which cuisine to fulfill your cravings? Then you should definitely look into fusion food to get a taste of all of them. KoJa Kitchen is a Korean and Japanese fusion fast food restaurant; hence the name ko (korean) ja (japanese). Originally a food truck, KoJa Kitchen expanded to brick and mortar restaurants five years ago and opened its doors to Fremont citizens at Pacific Commons around three weeks ago. Noticing the mostly positive reviews, I decided to try this one-of-a-kind fast food restaurant.

Their signature “KoJa” is a unique gourmet sandwich that substitutes traditional bread for crispy garlic rice buns. There are a lot of protein options such as Korean beef, pork, and chicken. I ordered the original KoJa which consists of K-BBQ short ribs and lettuce sandwiched between the rice buns. Since K-BBQ short rib slices (or galbi) are usually chewy in my past experience, I was surprised that KoJa Kitchen used cubed Galbi that ended up being perfectly browned and tender. However, cubed beef in between two layers of rice also meant that it was a mess to eat— a flavorful mess at that. This sandwich is where the marinate shines through, combined with the fragrance and brightness of the sesame vinaigrette. However, I didn’t really taste the katsu aioli and felt that it could use a denser flavor.

I also tried their miso-coconut braised pork bowl since this is a relatively unique flavor compared to the usual teriyaki and barbeque sauce. It was smart of KoJa Kitchen to prepare pork by braising since barbequed pork chops are often dry and overly chewy. The miso-coconut sauce really stood out, the coconut flavor really brought out a southeast asian flair

to the dish, which was a pleasant surprise since I only expected korean and japanese east-asian fusion. The fattiness and heaviness of the braised pork and rice was offset by the acidity and tanginess of the kimchi and lemon squeeze. I was most impressed by how Koja kitchen merged together brought together Koreran and Japanese flavors, using ingredients of different cultures to compliment and elevate each other to form a wellbalanced dish.

Craving a side, I ordered the Kamikaze fries, which are waffle fries loaded with minced K-BBQ beef, kimchi, Japanese mayo, sriracha and spring onions. I likened this dish to In N’ Out’s animal fries, only that this version featured Asian flavors (and almost double the price). The waffle fries were a smart selection since it turned out less soggier compared to most loaded fries. The sauce was definitely the star of the dish with the heat of sriracha adding a kick, and the mayonnaise providing a much needed creaminess to balance out the crisp of the fries. However, the minced beef did not cling well to the sauce, and the tiny charred pieces did little to enhance the meatiness.

Among all the elements, KoJa special sauce combinations and marinate stood out the most since it truly brings out layers of flavors. The quality comes with a price as KoJa is more expensive compared to other conventional fast food places. The a-la-carte KoJa and the protein bowls were around nine dollars, and the fries were six dollars. KoJa is also a place of hustle and bustle, so seats are not guaranteed. But if you want to splurge with your friends and try out nuanced asian dishes, look no further than KoJa Kitchen.

The “Flying Carpet” Crash Lands

By Prahalad Chari Staff Writer

Vanity Fair The camaraderie between Aladdin and Genie was not as pronounced in this film.

Throughout its brief history of making live-action remakes, Disney has faced a lot of criticism. Unfortunately, the remake of Aladdin is another movie to add to the growing list of mishaps.

The original Aladdin was wellknown for many things. Its songs won Oscars, it had nonstop comedy, and yet still managed to drive home a strong message about staying true to yourself. Sadly, not much can be said for the reboot.

Firstly, the movie made some questionable choices when changing the roles of the characters. Iago, Jafar’s wisecracking parrot, did not provide any comedy at all. Instead, Iago was used to simply be Jafar’s tool in trying to expose Aladdin to the Sultan. The animation also made Iago look more evil than comical, and his relationship with the Sultan is never explored.

This is also paralleled by Abu, who in the remake is animated poorly, and does not have the same energy that he had in the original movie. Apart from stealing a bit of food, Abu doesn’t do much but sit next to Aladdin as the rest of the story unfolds.

Overall, the side characters had a lot of unexplored potential.

The real issue in the movie, though, was Will Smith’s Genie. This version of the Genie did not have the same dizzying energy that Robin Williams’ Genie had. The jokes were not as funny as the original, but this isn’t Will Smith’s fault.

His acting style is not suited for the Genie, and shouldn’t have been cast to be “not as good as Robin Williams.”

Though it was not a good movie

Rating: 2.75

overall, Aladdin did have a few things going for it. The sets for the movie were amazing. The marketplace was very realistic, and there was a great attention to detail. All of the stalls had their own unique spin and had good art on them. This same beauty was carried over to the design of the palace.

This was quite surprising because the set was very big, and there was clearly a lot of work put into it.

The sets were further enhanced by the beautiful animation. The way the Genie was animated was really quite ingenious. They were able to achieve a smokey texture, which made the Genie seem all the more mystical. Yet, this style of animation didn’t suit all of the characters. Iago looks very dusty and dark, which ruined his effect on the viewers. Abu’s hair looked patchy, and it made him seem rather creepy. While the animation was good, it wasn’t aptly used. But, there was one exception to this.

The directors chose to do away with the “Jafar turns into a snake” scene, which was a smart move, because if it were animated, it would definitely be creepy.

Finally, the soundtrack. The songs were as beautifully composed, and with an orchestral accompaniment, they sounded more majestic. The issue is that most of the actors are not the singers. There was also one great song, “Speechless”, that was randomly and clumsily put in the middle of a scene, which was a blatant bid for another Oscar award.

Overall, the movie is not quite as good as the original, and the only things that are worth your time are the soundtrack and the set design.

Friday, May 24, 2019 Page 15

Page 16

Alexis Early

SPORTS MVPS

Girl’s Volleyball

“Obstacles and challenges don’t decide your future, you do.”

Myrthe Bellers

Girls’ Cross Country “What keeps me going through the tough times is knowing that there are others right alongside me to support me and that I am not defined by my accomplishments.”

Michael Maher Boy’s Waterpolo

“If you want to be the best, you have to do things that other people aren’t willing to do.”

- Michael Phelps

Mika Jin

Girl’s Golf

“I’m thankful for all the encouragement and support I received from my friends and family and I’m also thankful to be the captain of the Irvington golf team which has great people, and through which I got to experience what team bonding really is.”

Armon Olaee Boys’ Soccer

“I wake up in the morning I got.”

Gia Hall Cheer

“Learn to trust your team and yourself as both an athlete and a person.”

Friday, June 7, 2019

Priyanka GuptaMartinez Girl’s Tennis

“I would like to thank my coaches, captains, amd teammates for providing endless support and guidance throughout the season and for giving me the confidence to take on a tough position.”

Jeffrey Chang Boys’ Cross Country

“It’s you that puts yourself on the starting line, but it’s your team that pushes you to the finish.”

Jane Zucker

Girl’s Waterpolo

“Water has been my favorite part of high school.

I’ve made a lot of great friendships and had some really great experiences and I’m really thankful for all of it.”

Abtin Olaee

Boys’ Wrestling

“Everyone wanna be a bodybuilder, but ain’t nobody wants to lift heavy-*** weights.”

-Ronnie Coleman, 2008

Gabriella Funk Girls’ Soccer

“I’m beyond lucky to have been surrounded by a group of hardworking girls during my last year of high school soccer.“

Jaime Wang

Girls’ Badminton

“My favorite part of high school will always be badminton; even though it may not be considered a team sport, to me it couldn’t be any other way because the way we encourage, cheer for, and bond with each other is what really makes it special, and I’ll miss it so much.”

Friday, June 7, 2019

Tracey Du

Braxton Carlson Boys’ Basketball

“Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.”

Henry Chang Boys’ Badminton

“The key to success is our deep connections with one another. Our team actually feels like a team because we are not separated by small, individual groups.”

Luc Pham

Boys’ Tennis

“[To prepare I] practice everyday and make sure that I get a good night’s rest [before games]”

Derek Nunotani Boys’ Track

“Never give up.”

Page 17

Girls’ Basketball

“At one point, I really doubted and questioned my basketball abilities as well as my worth on the team, but I was ultimately able to overcome these challenges and use them as motivation to improve and become the player I am today.”

Ian Riedel Boys’ Golf

“Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.”

Brianne Tall Softball

“Softball has been a major part of my high school experience. I cant thank the people enough who have pushed me to be my best and believed in me that I could accomplish my goals in my softball career.”

Bilal Pandit

Boy’s Volleyball

“People may have more talent than you, but theres no excuse for someone to work harder than you. “

Bridget Daugherty Girls’ Track

Page 18 Friday, June 7, 2019

HUMOR

How to Pay for College

By Annika Yong

Web and Photos Editor

The Struggles of Summer

Prahalad Chari Staff Writer

Prahalad Chari “Ice cream” boy has faced the first struggle.

University of New Hampshire

When your parents give you that “back in the day I paid for college all by myself. Your generation has it so easy to have everything given to you. I guess my generation worked harder than you entitled-badwork-ethic-self-derelict-phone-addicteddepression-inflicted- snowflakes,” talk.

Fear. no. more. The Voice has ever so conveniently compiled a list of things you can do to earn money to pay off that 280-thousand dollar tuition colleges actually think you can afford.

Underpaid jobs at a…

Boba shop: What’s better than rude customers who demand you to treat them like gods when all they do is pay five dollars in total? You can also spend the majority of your remaining brainpower to memorize different recipes whilst juggling orders all specially requested for different sugar and ice ratios. Just remember to reserve around 5GB in your brain by deleting some of your APUSH stuff to make space.

But hey, at least you’ll get your boba fix before you leave for the boba-barren East Coast.

Fast Food shop: Everyone knows that Inenout pays the most. But you’ll need to sell your soul to the fast food monopolies, flipping burgers and wincing every time your aunt says “if you don’t work hard you will end up flipping burgers.”

Sell:

College Merchandise: If you are moving out for college, the odds are your parents are kicking you out of your room to make space for the family poodle. Since you will have to carry out your spring-cleaning of the decade anyways, throw away stuff merchandise from colleges you got rejected from. Throw away those sad, sad reminders of all your broken dreams, and, instead,

receive money to prepare for reality: debt.

Freshmen with most definitely be fighting for them, and three years later, the cycle of disillusionment goes on.

Middle school clothes: Whether it be random rage comic-esque meme clothes or YouTuber merchandise you begged your parents to buy, these clothes (hopefully) no longer are a good representation of your identity. You could also get rid of those Fanny packs and oversized trackp ants that made you so uncool during your self-discovery days… wait, apparently those are trendy now.

Nevermind.

AP books: Let’s just hope people ignore the doodles and self-deprecating comments next to your mistakes. Sell them soon because College Board will probably “update” the AP Exams if you wait too long!

Walking down the street with a popsicle, only to realize that it melted away before you could walk further than a block.

Ahh… it’s summer. While for most people, summer seems like a time of joy, it brings many struggles with it.

Sunscreen: This golden ball of pure torture is the root cause of many of your problems. Its rays burn your skin, forcing you to generously spread sunscreen on your epidermis. You then become “that pasty skin person” on the beach, if you are lucky. The other downside is that it sweats off, stains your clothes, and you still get sunburnt.

Ultimatums from parents: Unfortunately, you are not as talented as your friends. While they are off doing SAT prep and getting internships, you are sitting on your couch, being a vegetable. Now, you have to deal with the incessant chatter about how you mom’s friend’s child got a 17000 on the ACT. What makes this worse is that your parents won’t let you turn on the AC until you ace the ACT, and will make you open up a window instead. It seems that the only place you’ll get air conditioning is at a Test Prep place that your parents ship you off to.

Public Pools: When you try and cool off in the summer, there is only one place your parents will let you go: the pub-

lic pool. The summer heat beats down on you, and all you want to do is get into the cool, refreshing water. But you first have to cross the giant swath of lava that is the pool deck surrounding it. The sun heats up the cement to such an intolerable level, so that you can easily cook an egg on it. After you perform your weird hopping dance (which may be mistaken for a mating ritual by the poolside hotties) and get close to the pool, you spot a disgusting, nasty bandaid.

These “surprise gifts” are typically found close to the edge or in the pool. This makes you question your life decisions, including if you really want to die of an infection before vacation even ends. Yet, this is nothing compared to the most disgusting thing you can see at the pool: that one couple, making out in the shallow end. If you are that couple, please stop.

Getting Roasted By Family: Speaking of couples, here is where the struggle becomes real. Your family knows best. They know how to roast you the best by always pointing out your loneliness.

Your singledom makes you wonder if you will ever be enough, and all those times reassuring yourself that you don’t need a partner go down the drain. What is worse is when you try to defend yourself in your native language and your grandparents Point.

Out. All. Of. Your. Grammar. Mistakes.

Stats and college essays: Profit from lower classmen’s thirst for Top 20 schools. Sell your very motivating and moving essays about how you made a club for underprivileged kids and changed their lives, when, in reality, you really just organized one meeting about brainstorming what to brainstorm the next non-existent meeting.

Work study programs: To pay off colleges before you graduate, you used to need to work 6 hours per day.

Now you need something like 72 hours per day. This is when the infinity time stone becomes handy. When debt becomes inevitable just pull a very cool “I am broke” and snap your fingers because you just want to snap yourself from existence.

Mission Impossible: Escaping an Asian Household

By Andrew Fu Opinions Editor

Asian parents are difficult to satisfy, difficult to impress, and even more difficult to avoid during college acceptance season, which is why it’s sometimes healthy to stay away from them. Getting together with positive influences, such as your friends, improves mental health, although you should avoid friends with Asian parents lest they interrogate you about your grades to judge how much of a threat you are in their son’s chances at an Ivy League. However, getting out of an Asian house is impossibly difficult, which is why we’ve decided to share several foolproof, Voice-approved ways to get out of an Asian household.

There’s nothing Asian parents love more than hearing, “Mom, I’m skipping out of my mental and physical health to do hours of homework!”. Pretend you’re doing homework or studying--open up a Bozeman science video and tune it up full

volume to satisfy your parents’ dreams of you getting a biology major. Next, empty your math binder of all the Sladered homework assignments you’ve done this year.

Twist them together into a nice sturdy ladder, and if you run out of paper, don’t forget all the English and History work you have too. Tie the ladder together using cup noodles or the tufts of hair you’ve ripped out trying to comprehend how Ernest Hemingway wrote an entire book on a man’s one day struggle to catch a fish. Before you escape on the rope ladder, take those ketchup packets that you’ve hoarded from In-andOut and squeeze them all over the room so it looks like you’ve been kidnapped. Then, throw the rope ladder out the window and escape.

If you’re too lazy to fake a kidnapping, you could take the hard route and ask your parents directly. Talk to them about the heavy emotional burden that plagues you daily, and be genuine about your feelings. Asian parents are notable for being sensitive to their child’s emotional well-

being, so there really isn’t anything to fear.

Also tell them that you’re going out with friends, who yes, have really good grades, and yes, spend every minute of their lives studying. Just don’t forget to wear ear plugs and a blindfold. A full suit of metal

armor would be smart too—you might want to wear two suits of armor if they haven’t had their daily dose of Chinese dramas.

Then, break out of the house while they’re distracted by a WeChat notification. Enjoy your freedom while it lasts!

Andrew Fu 99.9% of teen deaths are related to rope ladders. But making it out of an Asian household requires extreme methods.

Friday, June 7, 2019 Page 19

Isha Sanghvi This could be YOUR EPIC Senior Bucket List.

How to Say Goodbye

By Felicia Mo Staff Writer

The end is near. In a few days, summer will begin and Irvington will be deserted faster than a traumatic humanoid Sonic. Unfortunately, three-fourths of us still need to come back next year, but for the seniors, this is their finale. So for all those lucky enough to leave high school, here’s how you can make your final mark on Irvington history.

Option #1: Project Mic Drop

This is for seniors who don’t plan on coming back to Irvington ever again. You can’t get in trouble for it, but you can definitely become the talk of the town. First, call a fake staff meeting in the Valhalla theater. Contact Principal Melsby and tell her it’s urgent business that all staff members and students need to go to. If she asks any questions, you can always use the Voice as back-up—we’ll always be there for you! Once you have all the staff members gathered in the theater, present an extravagant satirical speech about how you’re totally going to care about invasive species for the Change project, or how WIP taught you how to save the world with a couple words and a policy, or how that prepared you so very well for QUEST. Once you’re done, do the infamous mic drop, rip up the speech, and RUN. AS FAST. AS YOU POSSIBLY. CAN.

Option #2: Project Spray Paint

For all the unfortunate non-seniors, the fact that you’re coming back next year can be used to your advantage. Here’s what you can do: spray paint any one of Irvington’s

walls. You are NOT allowed to spray paint anything that will deter Irvington’s gigantic amount of school spirit (wink wink). Naturally, the school administrators will make a huge fuss about it while the students rejoice and build a graffiti shrine around it. Of course, the district will disassemble it as soon as possible. Take advantage of that! Organize a group of your friends and “volunteer” to help out with the cleaning. Not only have you become infamous on campus, you’re also technically helping your community. Repeat this prank until damaging school property becomes the norm around campus. THAT, comrade, is the impact you’ll have on Irvington. In fact, the students might just end up creating a permanent shrine wall for you!.

Option #3: Project Finals

Ever heard of Finals Ditch Week? Of course, if you need the Final to boost your grade, then you should definitely still come. But SENIORS. Why are y’all STILL HERE? If you don’t want to skip Finals Week, there’s an alternative option for you! Collaborate with your classmates, organize a schoolwide coup, and hold all the teachers hostage. Then set up several classrooms across campus and force the teachers to become the students while the students become teachers. Teach them whatever topic you want (introduce them to the 21st century teen world, they don’t have a clue). At the end of class, give them a Final. If your teacher doesn’t get an A, then you get an automatic 100% on your Final for that class! What if your teacher doesn’t agree to that? Who cares, just bypass them. Instead, bribe your counselor and have them change your grade on the transcript to an A. After all, colleges only care about that transcript.

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