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IN THIS ISSUE: District Communication READ IT ON PG. 4
Religion and Public School READ IT ON PG. 12 March Madness READ IT ON PG. 24
UNIFORM BREAKERS Scotlight: READ IT ON PG. 20
Vol. XI Issue VI | March 2020 | Carlmont High School | scotscoop.com
HIGHLANDER newsmagazine
Highlander Editors-in-Chief Nisha Marino Emma Romanowsky Scot Scoop Editor-in-Chief Veronica Roseborough ScotCenter Editor-in-Chief Mandy Hitchcock Publicity Director Rachel Matatyaou Faculty Adviser Justin Raisner Editors Andrea Butler Molly Donaldson Francesca D’Urzo Rachel McCrea Kimberly Mitchell Emma O’Connor Auva Soheili Staff Writers Joshua Baxter Audrey Boyce Brianna Cheng Samantha Chu Eoin Cunningham Natalie Doud Anna Feng Nihal Karim Zachary Khouri Audrey Luey Ayal Meyers Miki Nguyen Miles Ozorio Mari Ramirez Bella Reeves Ava Richards Alena Ruhstaller Maddy Ting Taisiia Yakovenko
Highlander is a newsmagazine dedicated to providing Carlmont students, staff, and the community with highquality news, features, and opinion articles. We want to keep our readers informed on important issues ranging from events at Carlmont to international news, and want to engage them with unique stories and designs. Highlander is a publication completely run by the students of the journalism classes at Carlmont High School. Story ideas are generated by the students and the published content is up to the direction of the editorial staff. This issue’s editorial was written by Emma Romanowsky and the editorial cartoon was drawn by Ksenia Lapshina.
in this issue... features 4-9 SUHSD communication Birth Control for teens
campus 10-19 Testing accommodations Religion in public schools Managing Type 1 diabetes
sports 22-25 Carlmont Dance team March Madness
opinion 26-31 College Board is greedy The plight of paper straws Advice for picking classes Editorial: Self-expression vs. conformity
SCOTLIGHT: Uniform Breakers Scotlight is Highlander newsmagazine’s in-depth cover story section. In this issue, Scotlight looks at the ways we choose to dress and how clothing affects how we are perceived. We examine situations which expect us to put on an almost “uniform” and explore the role of external appearance in public perception. At Carlmont, many follow trends while others are creating their own uniforms. Read on to see how clothes affect us.
READ IT ON PAGE 20 Scotlight was designed by Francesca D'Urzo and written by Mandy Hitchcock
Carlmont High School 1400 Alameda de las Pulgas, Belmont, CA
LETTER FROM THE EDITORS Dear Reader, Highlander newsmagazine is proud to be a part of Carlmont’s community and to deliver unique and community-oriented stories about the people and ideas that make Carlmont what it is. We pride ourselves on our diligence to maintaining journalistic integrity and are dedicated to the pursuit of the truth. As we are a part of the community, however, it is important for Carlmont to understand how we approach Highlander and the stories that we write. Our journalism program follows specific processes to eliminate any potential bias — every Highlander article is read by at least three members of our team, our sources are double and sometimes triple checked, and we try to err on the side of caution when we find ambiguity in our writing. It’s important to us that our Carlmont community understands these processes and how seriously we take our journalistic duty. Carlmont journalism also operates as an open forum. This means that all of our publications are completely student-lead, so all of our content is created and edited by students. We are also almost exclusively selffunded, meaning that every page you read in the Highlander has been paid for by advertisements sold by the students in Carlmont journalism or by grants applied for by journalism students. Below is a brief overview of our process divided into three distinct steps: Choosing stories: Every story seen in Highlander newsmagazine is student-generated. This means that Carlmont journalism chooses stories from pitches given by students within the program. As a publication, we look to publish
stories that will be timelessly interesting to our readers or to publish certain stories that uniquely align with the time of publication. If a story is controversial or has the potential to be, we move forward mindful of possible biases as we continue the publication process. Reporting on stories: Once an article idea is accepted, writers move through a series of checkpoints to ensure that all angles of the story are considered. This means that writers are interviewing at least three sources with differing perspectives and are looking towards the reputable organization for fact-gathering. Editors check that research remains unbiased and read the writers’ drafts checking not only for spelling and grammar but more importantly for accuracy and integrity. During this process, editors may intervene and redirect the article or determine that the content is not suitable for publication. Moving towards publication: Should an article and its complementary page design be deemed publishable by a writer’s editor, the magazine spread moves to the Editors-in- Chief for review. At this stage, the Editors-in-Chief along with the journalism adviser, Justin Raisner, evaluate the content and check again for inadequacies. The articles are then reviewed by the entire journalism program one last time. Before the magazine is sent for publication, the Editors-in-Chief review the entire magazine issue for final edits. We hope you enjoy this issue of Highlander newsmagazine. Thank you,
Nisha Marino Editor-in-Chief
Emma Romanowsky Editor-in-Chief
Sorry, your network connection has been lost Students, administration, and the district struggle to communicate Veronica Roseborough At this point in the year, almost everyone has noticed the Carlmont mission and vision statement posted in at least one, if not all, of the classrooms. While its dark background and authoritative text may seem ominous, the message on the poster serves as a reminder of Carlmont’s goal: “to provide students with the skills they need to make positive contributions to their community and the world.” However, such an aspiration has proved to be more difficult when a lack of communication persists between those attempting to better the community and those with the tools to do so. Though not explicitly stated as part of the mission of the school, Carlmont has procedures in place to encourage students and faculty to promote change where they see fit, a process that is strongly encouraged by the administration. “We like to hear from students and what things they think would make their school better because this isn’t our school, this is your school as a student,” Principal Ralph Crame said. When it comes to actively implementing such change, students have a number of options. For instance, they can utilize their resources as club leaders and bring up issues to their members and club adviser. For curricular or classroom changes, Crame suggests that students talk directly to their teachers, who can then bring up the inquiries to the department chairs. As one climbs the ladder of institutional authority, they may also find themselves either addressing or sitting on one of the two required school councils: the governance council or the site council. The governance council specifically deals with Carlmont policies that encompass curriculum, facilities, safety, communication, and rules. In 4 HIGHLANDER FEATURES
contrast, the site council periodically reviews Carlmont’s plan to address the recommendations of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges as well as other school improvement plans and budgetary allocations, according to the Carlmont website. However, arguably the most common method of petition is bringing school-wide issues directly to the Carlmont administration.
“It’s sometimes difficult to get the attention that’s required if something isn’t easy.” Kristine Weisman Microeconomics teacher
“Students have contacted me directly whenever they’ve had an idea. If I wasn’t the appropriate person to hear about that or to evaluate the merits of the possible change, I’ll direct them to the person they should address it with,” Crame said. One team of students that reached out to the administration regarding the implementation of Ecosia on school computers was Sarah Jolls and Maya Litvak, both current seniors. Ecosia is a search engine similar to Google; the difference is that the company uses their ad revenue to plant trees in areas of need. In order to advocate for the browser change, Jolls and Litvak approached Crame with a proposal. “Last year, [we] met with Mr. Crame with an initial proposal, a PowerPoint, explaining what Ecosia was. We included a way to code it into every single laptop rather than each person downloading it individually [like a] ‘mass download,’” Litvak
said. On board with the idea, Crame put the girls in contact with Bob Fishtrom, the former director of instructional technology for the SUHSD and current director of information technology at Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District. He, too, supported the project, and invited the pair to present their proposal at a districtlevel technology board meeting; however, the project did not obtain unanimous approval from the board. Although the plan was to propose the idea to the board again at the start of this year, communication between Litvak, Jolls, and the district came to a halt as summer rolled around. “Mr. Fishtrom put me in contact with the social media director for the district, and then summertime rolled around,” Litvak said. “I don’t know if she has another job because she stopped responding to my emails, and then everyone stopped responding to my emails because it was summer and then Mr. Fishtrom left the district.” Without their main advocate at the district and elongated radio silence, the push for Ecosia has halted for the time being. However, this is not the only time that a hiatus in communication from the district has inhibited the progression of an inquiry. Kristine Weisman, the AP government and microeconomics teacher at Carlmont, has been attempting to obtain electronic textbooks (e-books) for her students since the start of the year. According to Weisman, when the new set of textbooks arrived, they did not include access to e-books that came with the purchase. “We’ve just had quite a bit of difficulty [with] actually having myself and students be able to access the e-books,” Weisman said. “The priorities of the district aren’t always the same priorities of the particular school or the particular teacher, it’s sometimes difficult to get the atten-
tion that’s required if something isn’t easy.” This task was particularly difficult for the district due to their inexperience in dealing with college-level publishers. However, Weisman did have success when trying to get e-books for the second semester. “There was one person in particular at the district who has been working really hard; it felt like this was a priority to her, but ... she’s not the person that handles the technical difficulties,” Weisman said. “It seems like [the technical team] is working on it, but I assume they have a task list of 100 things and this isn’t the top of that task list.” Weisman was quick to apply her situation to her AP government course, noting the similarity in responsibilities between the district and the federal government. “It is literally an identical situation to what the states feel when they’re dealing with the federal government,” Weisman said. “You have entities, whether it’s a school or a state, who believe that they know best what needs to happen, that they’re closer to the students, and that things are a priority for them based on what they feel the students need. Then, you have this other layer that exists because there are presumably efficiencies to dealing with something like textbooks in a unified way.” Weisman believes it would be most convenient to have a contact at the district who is available to speak with faculty during prep periods, rather than just emailing back and forth. Litvak shares a similar sentiment but from a student perspective. She has worked on various projects going between the school and the district aside from Ecosia, such as a Carlmont initiative to stock specific bathrooms with feminine hygiene products. “I get that there are more urgent issues at bay always, but taking the time to reach out to students really shows that you’re willing to help make the community a better place and that you want them to do so, because not responding is really dis-
Veronica Roseborough
couraging,” Litvak said. For this article specifically, we submitted a press inquiry through the SUHSD website in order to “expedite” our request, and received no response. We then reached out to the superintendent, the communications specialist, and the district communications email. While we were initially met with a timely response, communication came to a halt during Mid-Winter break; we have yet to receive comment from the district. Ultimately, it takes two to implement change; only with substantive communication from both the advocate, the school, and the district can
such progress take place. However, both Litvak and Crame believe that there is merit in reaching out to the administration to suggest change and spearhead projects, regardless of the outcome. “Go to [Principal Crame’s secretary], Ms. Bologna, have a proposal ready, and have set solutions and refutations of counter arguments,” Litvak said. “Have another solution or a compromise you’re ready to make, because change is hard, but it’s good.” *For district inquiries, contact SUHSD by calling (650) 369-1411
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A pill a day does more than keep the baby away Alena Ruhstaller Sierra Miller* wakes up past her alarm. She scrambles to pack her backpack, wolf down her breakfast, and sprint out the door. It’s only when she steps out of her car at the minute bell that she realizes she forgot to take her birth control pill the night before. She takes a deep breath, trying her best to avoid a complete mental breakdown. For Miller, missing the Pill is more than being unprotected; it’s a matter of her own health. “I started taking the Pill in seventh grade because of my polycystic ovary syndrome, which made my blood flow extremely heavy,” Miller said. “I had to take it to just give myself a regular period like other girls.” Miller* is part of the 72% of women in the U.S. that use non-permanent methods of birth control, according to a study done by the Guttmacher Institute. “The number one recommended birth control for teens is the IUD. It’s 99.99% effective, so it has the highest rate of preventing pregnancy,” Heidi Flaig, the school nurse, said. “Teens can also take the birth control pill, the shot, the patch, and the NuvaRing, even though it isn’t really advertised as much anymore.” Contrary to popular belief, people don’t only take hormonal birth control to prevent pregnancy; 7% of users from ages 1824 rely on the pill for reasons other than contraception, like controlling
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acne and menstrual cycles. “The main negative stigma towards birth control comes from parents or others that may assume that you’re taking birth control because you’re having sex, but that’s not always the case,” Flaig said. “We see a lot of students in the health office for having lots of bleeding or irregular periods, and birth control can help regulate them. We want to make sure that students who come to us get checked out by a doctor because it can be serious.” According to Child Trends, the usage of the birth control pill hit a two-decade high in 2017, where 21% of sexually active high school students reported using it. The pill is more commonly used among older teenagers; 27% of all sexually active 12th graders reported using the birth control pill, while 9% of sexually active ninth graders reported using it. “Besides the fact that they help lighten my periods, there are a lot of positive aspects for taking the Pill. It’s nice ...just to have safe sex and not having to worry about getting pregnant,” Miller said. “It’s really convenient; it’s just next to my bed for me to grab and take. I never feel any pain because I don’t have to inject anything and simply refill my pills when I need to.” However, the experience and side-effects of taking the pill vary from person to person. According to Planned Parenthood, although the pill has the potential to prevent or lessen acne, blood thinning, cysts in breasts and ovaries, and iron deficiency. The Pill can also contribute to nausea, headaches, and weight gain. After having a bad experience with an IUD and the pill, Kira Dylan’s* mother decided to stay clear of all hormonal birth control methods. “[My mother] stayed away from birth control after having a miscarriage following the removal of her IUD. She always stresses how significantly birth control alters your levels of hormone production and how there’s no way of predicting how it will affect your body,” Dylan said. According to Planned Parenthood, the hormones within the pill aim to prevent ovulation and must be taken at the same time on a daily basis. If an individual forgets to take the Pill on one day, she can
“The main negative stigma towards birth control comes from parents or others that may assume that you’re taking birth control because you’re having sex, but that’s not always the case.” Heidi Flaig School Nurse
get pregnant right away, which makes the Pill 91% effective overall. “It’s really hard because I want to be supportive of my friends when they take it, and I think it’s vital that girls and women have access to it, but I always tell them to take precautions,” Dylan said. “Just because one person had a good experience with it doesn’t mean that the next person will, and I always tell people to at least do your research. You wouldn’t blindly take a regular prescription from a doctor without understanding what’s going through your body so the same should go with birth control.” Despite the drawbacks and benefits of the pill, it may be the best way for some sexually active teenagers to take charge of their sexual health and have control over their bodies. “I say that the positive outweighs the negative side effects because all of those things like weight gain are temporary, but if you end up being pregnant and having a kid, that’s forever,” Flaig said. “Maybe doctors and OB-GYNs won’t take you as seriously because you’re so young, but you have to be your own health advocate. There are a lot of resources nowadays and getting access to birth control is much easier than it was in the past, where it was really hard for women to advocate for themselves. Now you have the luxury that you can.” * Due to the sensitive nature of the content, these names have been changed to protect the anonymity of the sources
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Test accommodations bridge the gap
SAT and ACT accommodations are under the spotlight Audrey Boyce
exams. “There has definitely been an increase As the peak of SAT season is just around in the number of students getting accomthe corner, it is understandable that stumodations because of the increased anxiety dents are questioning the importance of the within this entire generation,” said ConSAT as many colleges, including the UC nie Dominguez, a guidance counselor at system, are seriously considering dropping Carlmont. the requirement. At the same time, the level To request extra time from the College of anxiety among parents and students Board, students need to have a 504 plan or regarding the test is at an all-time high, another accommodation that the school and high schools are under pressure to give approves. every student an equal opportunity According to the California State Counto score well on college cil on Developmental Disabilities (SCDD), entrance a 504 plan is a blueprint or plan describing how a child will have access to learning at school. The plan provides services and
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changes to the learning environment to meet the needs of the child as adequately as other students. “Whether or not a student should get an accommodation is not cut and dry; there has to be a diagnosis that shows an educational impact, that without that extra time, you’re not gaining equal access to regular education,” Dominguez said. In general, accommodations are set in motion for students in the years before high school or even middle school. If a student or parent is wondering if the student could use an accommodation, they can turn to Canvas as a resource. “You can look on Canvas, and if you see that you are acing all your homework, but your test scores are low, then you can start to look at what is causing you not to score
well: is it because you don’t know the answers or because you ran out of time,” Dominguez said. The process of requesting test accommodations at Carlmont, according to Amy White*, a parent of a Carlmont, is quite difficult and not very accessible without extensive effort. Additionally, according to White, when a student has good grades, there can be a “pushback” because it goes against the need for accommodation even if a learning difference is identified. “This has been a very painful process with the school. Participants are not being forthcoming as to what my rights are or helping me to advocate for my child. I had asked for support when school started, and then it was like it just got dropped. I wasn’t told it was within my rights to ask for a follow-up SST meeting,” White said. According to the U.S. Department of Education, it is the law to provide students with the accommodations they need. If they do not receive these accommodations, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) will get involved with the school. A common concern and misconception is that needing an accommodation on a standardized test means that stu-
dents are weaker in a specific area. However, being weaker in an area is different than needing more time doing a specific task. “The majority of students who receive accommodations usually have a learning difference tied to processing: processing written language, processing figures or graphs, or processing math terms. They may be just as capable at comprehension as other students, but they arrive at that comprehension in their own time,” said Stephen Horabin, a Test Prep Tutor at AJ tutoring. Considering that it has been a year since the college admission scandals: a series of scandals that took place in 2019 and consisted of criminal actions that had an influence on undergraduate admission decisions. Due to these scandals, there are now people questioning the integrity of the system and asking whether parents are trying to give their children the best possible advantage when it is arguably not worth it. “I definitely don’t think students intentionally request accommodations to boost their SAT/ACT score, but I think there are a lot of parents that are misinformed about how important SAT scores are and bank everything on that, and they might think that it will help their student. They mean well and just want opportunities for their kids, especially if they do see their student struggling with tests,” Dominguez
said. While Operation Varsity Blues, the admissions scandal, focused on families cheating the system to get more time on tests, the reality is that many students who genuinely need accommodations nationally cannot get them because of gaps in mental health resources and shortages of school psychologists. According to Psychology Today, 5% of students nationwide with learning disabilities get extra time on tests, but it is estimated that 15% of students qualify. In addition to accommodations for the SAT, students with accommodations can also receive extended time on certain timed tests and quizzes in class if they need it. Given the difficulties in fairly and equitably administering accommodations, some experts have challenged the need for timing in standardized tests in general. Ruth Colker, an Ohio State University law professor, believes a time-limited test is a bad measure of the things that schools theoretically want, such as critical thinking skills. In the Atlantic Magazine, she argues for eliminating the quick pace of exams overall. “Whether you can tell me the answer quickly has nothing to do with whether you, in fact, know the content,” Colker said. *Names were changed to protect the anonymity of the sources.
Art by Emma O’Connor
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Toeing the Line.
Religion and the curriculum
Zachary Khouri
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“The Color of Water,” “The Scarlet Letter,” and “Macbeth” are among many of the works that Carlmont students will read throughout their high school journey. In English class, they will discuss the numerous religious allusions within these texts. During social studies, they will learn about how Christianity influenced history around the world. After school, they will perform traditionally ceremonial pieces to a diverse audience. Karina Tseng, president of the Christians in Action (CIA) club, offered her thoughts on how Christianity is represented in Carlmont’s education. “I think [history classes] shape how people see Christians, not necessarily in a positive or negative light. When discussions are brought up in English or history class, it’s what students know about Christians,” she said. “Teachers may lead a discussion that talks about Christianity in a certain way that I might not agree with. I’m not normally uncomfortable, except for those certain situations when there might be a misconception.” The impact of religion on American culture has a long history. The first European settlements were founded by
English Puritans seeking religious refuge from Great Britain in the 17th century. They built a community that was centered around Protestant Christian theology. Long after the U.S. had declared independence, a heavy bias remained against religious minorities. The American Protective Association is only one of the organizations formed in the late 19th century that campaigned for all public school teachers to be Protestants, according to Britannica. From the perspective of a Carlmont English teacher, Emily Van Sebille described how religion still manifests in the curriculum today. “Teachers try to play the line between being informative and being preachy because we do recognize that we have such a vast array, but one of the Common Core state standards ties into biblical allusions,” she said. “We have to make sure that we are teaching it in a way for students to understand how the literature we study draws upon the history within the Bible.” It’s no different with history; in the California State Standards for Social Studies and History between grades K-12, the words Christian or Christianity are mentioned 18 times, more so than any other religion.
Centuries after the first public school was established by a Puritan settler in 1635, the influence of Protestantism persisted in education; over 300 years later, in the 1962 Supreme Court case Engel v. Vitale, it was determined that composing an official school prayer for students to recite was a violation of the First Amendment. Van Sebille cited the Pledge of Allegiance as an example of how close education remains to religion. “We’re not a school that says the Pledge of Allegiance, but there’s a big part about ‘Under God.’ It’s hard to separate [religion and education] because America came from such a strong religious background in the beginning,” she said. Van Sebille gave her personal take on how the system could be improved. “I think engaging in appropriate conversations allows for every voice to be heard. Pulling in non-fiction texts that demonstrate a variety puts a lot of the legwork on the teachers. Still, it’s important that if you draw on such a strong religious aspect, you make sure to encompass other backgrounds as well,” she said. “I think a lot of this comes from literary canon that is required from the federal, state, and district sites, so I think it’s more of a systemic issue.” Tseng elaborated on common misun-
derstandings about the faith shared by Carlmont students. “I feel like a lot of people aren’t aware that there are a lot of denominations of Christianity: Catholic, non-denominational, Orthodox. We all have a core common faith, but there are many differences with baptism and Bible interpretation,” she said. “People make certain assumptions about all Christians. Different Christian denominations are the same as studying other religions.” The CIA club hosts all denominations of Christianity, as well as non-Christians, and opens the opportunity for discussion between diverse voices. Albert Hejmadi, a choir student at Carlmont, explored the religious subtext in the music they perform. When the class attends field trips, like with Carnegie Hall in March, the director of the program will choose the pieces for them in advance. “Sometimes, when we have explicitly religious music, people complain that they don’t relate to the music or that the general content makes them uncomfortable because they don’t agree with the message,” he said. Specifically, “Trinity Te Deum” is one
of the songs the choir will be singing at Carnegie Hall in March. It features the lyrics, “We praise thee, O God: we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord / All the earth doth worship Thee, the Father everlasting.” Hejmadi elaborated on his personal experience performing the music. “I agree that some of the music is a bit intense, religious-wise. But I feel like it also depends on how the music is approached by the singer and how they feel they can relate to the message of the piece,” Hejmadi said. “Still, it’s kind of uncomfortable to sing religious pieces that I can’t connect to.” Hamza Abdelrahman, a junior and president of the Muslim Fellowship Club at Carlmont, discussed his experiences reading literature and studying history that fails to represent his faith and culture. “I definitely think that having religiously diverse authors is important. I think diversity [in the curriculum] allows people to be more accepting of others, which would help the school environment,” he said.
“For a public school class to study the Bible without violating constitutional limits, the class would have to include critical rather than devotional readings and allow open inquiry into the history and content of biblical passages.” Source: Pew Research Center
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Writing and photography by Mandy Hitchcock Page Design and illustration by Francesca D’Urzo
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e tend to follow the trends set by the established and experienced people in the fashion world as they give us a sense of community. But not everyone looks to the elite of the industry for guidance. Meet Emily Nguyen and Tri Vu, Carlmont seniors and uniform rulebreakers who take widespread and wellworn styles to the next level, combing thrift stores and utilizing sewing machines to create their looks from scratch. Of course, there is the consideration of inner beauty, the personality that shines through a person to reveal who they truly are, sometimes regardless of their outward appearance. However, first impressions are an integral part of modern society, from job interviews to social circles, and even provide a direct line to who you are as a person. Although falling into a state of “not caring” is always a viable alternative, each individual has the opportunity to kick conformity in the face and be their own brand. And then you’ll realize that, in your life, you are likely going to find clothes that fit two different dress codes: professional and casual. Meeting for an internship with an esteemed member of the board? Pull on a classy pantsuit and a pair of leather flats, and you’re all set. Friends demanding a Netflix bingeday? That oversized sweatshirt and pair of leggings have you covered. Clothes don’t lie, and while character defines the clothes you wear, those same clothes can define who you are as well. Take it from world-renowned fashion designer Gianni Versace who advises, “Decide what you are, what you want to express by the way you dress and the way you live.” Whether you pull on a pair of handcrafted jeans or slump into sweats every morning, each student pays homage to who they are through their sense of fashion.
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You’ll need to know this at some point in your life. Regardless of the accepted high school style of hoodie and jeans every day, the odd job interview or nerve-wracking college meeting will show up eventually. And the best dressed often make the best first impressions. Contrary to popular belief, obscene amounts of money aren’t always necessary to impress others around you. By modern standards, the minimalist approach has taken the professional trend by storm, where less is actually more. Shannon Hoy, a 25-year-old data analyst, recently moved to the San Francisco scene two years ago. Her observations of all manner of people who visit and work within the Golden City match the changing times we’re in. “I would say the professional dress has become considerably more casual with the boom of tech, and that industry especially has become known for its casual attire,” Hoy said. Apart from the expected approaches to impressing employers or peers, body language and professional preparation contributes just as much to the full presentation as wardrobe does. Remember to dress up your attitude, adding enthusiasm and professionalism to the conversation, and avoid poor posture like the plague. According to a Vogue interview with Cameron Bird, their West Coast Associate, “Someone once told me that the first things anyone notices about you in an interview are your shoes, your hair, and your smile. So typically I splurge on the shoes… and fill in the rest with something simple and non-distracting.” Emily Kim, a junior, has learned through her own experiences of various interviews and internships the do’s and don’t s of joining the professional world. “In my experience, the least conspicuous clothing is the best way to go. Obviously no ripped jeans or short skirts or tube tops, but heels are a nice bonus if you can walk in them with more grace than a baby giraffe,” Kim advises. So it goes without saying that the more expensive and flashy pieces should be tucked away for another day. In these situations which call for such professionalism, there is often an unsaid understanding that you and your clothes are interchangeable. They reflect how you see yourself and what role you will come to play in a professional environment. With heels, for example, the added height could provide a boost of confidence that shows through to the interviewer, further supporting your chances with the interview. The professional world can be intimidating, but with simple and efficient wardrobe choices carefully made and the right body language, no high school student will go into their next interview or job unprepared. 16
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The questions that never get asked will be answered, and students will be given the crucial knowledge they need to survive the ever-changing fashion trends that are an integral part of high school. Being a new part of the LA scene has allowed Hoy to gauge the wardrobe norms of the modern time we live in. “For casual dress, I think we’ve come to a point where we’ve gone through so many eras of fashion that it’s now an influence of past styles, whether people realize it or not,” Hoy said. “And there’s a lot more experimentation and range because of this.” This era of experimentation has marked an opportunity to explore and act on your creative urges. Jojo Lin, a senior, has found her own unique style as a result of this fluid reality. “I find that a lot of my style nowadays has a contrast between femininity and masculinity, where [some of] my clothes can look traditionally feminine and others the exact opposite,” Lin said. “It’s great how in this era no one cares if you dress contrary to expectations because fashion is all about expressing yourself; society and the media have become a lot more accepting.” Carlmont certainly isn’t the Met Gala or the Academy Awards, but much like the elaborate costumes and designer threads, what you put on in the morning lets others know how you plan to face the day. Everyone may put on their pants one leg at a time, but don’t forget that those pants tell the world all about you. That “Friends” t-shirt and jeans you throw on? It invites any single person to come up and challenge you for being an avid fan of the group. Those all-black Vans, jeans, and hoodie you wear Monday through Friday? They give life the finger and tell people you couldn’t care less what they think. Dressing casual — without the extra attention and care dressing professionally requires — is entirely grounded in how it makes you feel. “If you can’t seem to find your style, think about what you personally feel comfortable in, and that doesn’t have to mean being super expressive with your outfits,” Lin said. “Fashion isn’t limited to people of a certain age or gender or any other classification.” Hoy offers similar advice, for a method of trialand-error can produce the results that best suit you. “Experiment! And if there’s something you’re interested in, follow fashion. There’s so many different resources in this day and age, social media and magazines,” Hoy said. The modern era truly is a period of exploration and experimentation honoring innovation in the fashion industry. “Today’s fashion and inspiration for fashion, you can study it anywhere and everywhere, at any time, and develop your own style,” Hoy said. 17
All it took was a big sister’s passing tease to call her into action. Emily Nguyen was in fifth grade when her sister — older by four years — called out that awkward phase of careless sweatpants and sequin-studded jeans all elementary students suffered through. But Nguyen didn’t take it sitting down. She knew she had to “step up her game,” and her careful selection of daily dress turned into something more. “My outfits are a way to have some fun and express myself,” Nguyen said. “I go thrifting a lot to see what’s available, and I wear what I like from that — even painting my clothes or wearing things that maybe shouldn’t be worn that way, it makes me feel good so I just do it.” For many, middle school is a vulnerable time of finding the style that fits like that figurative glove. Nguyen’s days of middle school outfits may be lost to the test of time, recountable to only the memories of seventh and eighth graders who poked their heads out from whatever cloud they were in to take a look around at the styles of their peers. However, Ngyuen’s unique sense of fashion and unpredictable mix-and-match has made its name at Carlmont. Her eye-catching patched pants and repurposed vintage dress create an undeniable air of purpose about her. Out of all the teenagers scrambling to find their place in the world, Nguyen clearly seems to have places to be and people to see. “Wear what you want and people will see you as more confident as you’re willing to put yourself out there; rarely will they judge you,” Nguyen said. “At the end of the day, they’re just clothes.”
18
EMILY NGUYEN
Although the very setting of high school evokes a perpetual fear of being called out by peers, Nguyen advises to embrace an untouchable self-confidence, answerable to no one but yourself. “What I do day-to-day doesn’t depend on my clothes; I come to school to learn, and I’m still perfectly capable of doing that and interacting with people no matter what I wear,” Nguyen said. “I don’t value myself based on how I look and how other people perceive the way I look because I know I’m more valuable than that.” And for the rookies searching for a particular style that defines their individuality and goes beyond the typical Brandy Melville crop top or Nike sweatshirt, Nguyen encourages discovering a little creativity everybody has. “If you really want to challenge your style, find a piece both interesting and weird, and style it in a way where you could wear it every day — try to step out of your comfort zone,” Nguyen said. If 10-year-old Nguyen could take her sense of dress to the next level, then nothing truly prevents any student from strutting down the halls in all their new threads and finery. 19
TRI VU
20
His black jeans boasted 12 pockets when he was pulled from his math class for this interview. Unlike the vast majority of seniors who are hit by the unrelenting clutches of senioritis, he has taken his wardrobe in the opposite direction, intimidating freshmen and setting a new standard for wearing jeans and hoodies. To describe his style in his own words would be “street with a tablespoon of goth and a little bit of skate.” Tri Vu is not your normal high school dresser. While the impartial observer might notice clothing with Champion, Adidas, or Guess stitched across it — brands with a presence — Vu walks the halls every day with his own take, manipulating clothes he finds off of eBay or in thrift stores to what he has in mind. Inspiration may strike at any given time, and Vu frequently jots an idea down in his phone or mixes and matches the iconic looks rappers like Kanye West, Tyler the Creator, and Lil Uzi Vert present. Beginning sophomore year, Vu decided to “wear what [he wants] — if it makes [him] feel good wearing it, then that’s good enough.” Navigating the waters of high school is no easy feat, but discovering a style unlike any other warrants a type of power enviable to even the most timid freshman. And the experience Vu has gained showcasing his new threads around campus determined the direction of his
future; he plans to pursue fashion and design in college as his major. “It’s what I want to do in life — I want to start my own brand, and I want to design clothes,” Vu said. However, despite Carlmont’s dress policy allowing a greater freedom and opportunity to test the limits of a unique wardrobe, (nearby school Notre Dame requires school-approved uniforms) Vu still stands out among the tide of students in crowded hallways that always seem to blur together. So what prevents the average teen from exploring with the clothes they don on a daily basis? If it’s a fear of unwittingly wearing a dreaded outfit of catastrophic proportions (clashing pinstripes and polka dots, socks and sandals, to name a few) Vu has his own perspective. “Don’t be afraid to wear a bad outfit one day,” Vu advises. “No one’s going to care tomorrow, no one remembers what t-shirt or pants you wore, so just wear what you want. Because at the end of the day, you’re the only one who’s going to remember what you wore.” Why spend money on clothes just because everybody else likes it? First impressions can be a blend of both personality and appearance, uniting a personalized style to meet the occasions society calls for. “I get that it’s easy, easy just to wear what people like,” Vu reflects. “But people shouldn’t — then everyone’s just normal. I think being more unique brings the best out of people.” 21
Dancing in the rain
The struggles and victories of the Carlmont dance team
Nata
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Natalie Doud
22 HIGHLANDER SPORTS
You watch as the basketball team steps off the court at halftime, and a group of aspiring young students takes their place, their shirts labeled “Carlmont Dance Team.” However, these dancers would not have been there two years ago —the dance team did not even exist. Not only have the performances the students and parents see today been a few years in the making, but also the dance team itself. Kenna Kwok, a senior and founder of the team, had been thinking about forming a dance team since she stepped foot at Carlmont as a freshman. Then, during her sophomore year, she decided to take initiative. “I was going back and forth thinking about how much a student-run team would be taken seriously, and I spent my entire sophomore year figuring out the logistics. We got a coach, and we held auditions, and it started by October,” Kwok said. Carlmont’s dance team was officially formed in 2018. The idea percolated for around two years, eventually getting approved. By finding a team coach, Sarah Escobedo, and a place to practice, the dance team was born. Last year, Kwok and the team decided to make their debut at the Homecoming football game. After just three weeks to learn and perfect their dance, the team performed for the first time and made themselves known. However, despite the excitement that usually results from a new sports team being brought to Carlmont, the team initially lacked support from the school as a whole. The team found themselves practicing in classrooms and the Student Union, as practice space and time were limited. “There were some days we practiced in classrooms because they didn’t open up the dance studio for us. We weren’t an official team, so the school didn’t really support us that much in terms of opening up space for us or giving us a speaker,” Kwok said. “Carlmont was okay with the existence of the team, but we were kind of left on our own. Luckily, we had [Escobedo] as a coach, so that helped us a lot.” Despite lacking a solid sense of support, the dance team persisted and remained optimistic, performing at more and more home basketball games and eventually gaining more practice opportunities. Since their first performance at the 2018 Homecoming football game, the dance team has come a long way, working to improve with each dance they perform. Their overall cohesiveness and team bond are prevalent in their performances. With the increase in the quality and quantity of dance performances came an increase in recognition from the student body.
Photos By Rachel McCrea
The dance team performed at their final basketball game on Feb. 14, cheered on enthusiastically by the Screamin’ Scots “Last year was a little harder just because we were brand new, and people didn’t really know what we were or if we were even a part of the Carlmont dance program,” Escobedo said. “This year it’s been nicer, having a bigger student body come out and collectively root for us. We made a name for ourselves now, and we have seen a lot more support from the students.” With such improvement and growing support, the dance team has been presented with new opportunities, including their participation at a USA Dance Team Camp at CSU East Bay in July of 2019. They are also considering the possibility of making the team competitive in the future. “I want to make this team a competitive dance team, but we’re still trying to figure that out financially, especially with the whole issue of limited practice space. If we can find more space and time, then we can definitely commit to being a competitive team,” Escobedo said. The team is also primarily student-run, with senior captains Kwok and Jacki Awad essentially running the practices with the supervision of Escobedo. However, the captains are not the only ones who teach and choreograph the dances. The dance team gives its members the opportunity to experience leadership, as members are welcome to teach dances that they learned at the USA Dance Camp or from another dance class to the team. “I think the team has brought a lot of people out of their
shells, especially the freshman. The team has connected me with people that I would never have classes with or see at school that often and has definitely helped people step out of their comfort zone,” Kwok said. Additionally, team members get the chance to immerse themselves in one of Carlmont’s many programs, thus encouraging the growth of school spirit and relationships among members of different grades. The team also allows those who enjoy dancing in their free time to participate in an after-school sport. “From my freshman year to now, I feel like I’ve had so much more school spirit because I get to go to all of these games and enjoy them, whereas before I didn’t really care because I wasn’t as involved in the school,” said Kai Leigh Roach, a sophomore member of the dance team. With their plans for making improvements and adding more competitive factors to the team, the dance team has made a name for themselves at Carlmont and has become widely supported. The growth of the team has allowed for the dancers’ personal growth, fostering a welcoming and collaborative environment for students of all grades and skill levels. “The school has been so supportive throughout the majority of this process, especially the parents and the student body, which we really appreciate, as it has helped us grow tremendously,” Kwok said. MARCH 2020 HIGHLANDER 23
March is worth the madness Ayal Meyers
When the March Madness basketball tournament starts up again, basketball fans around the U.S. will pore over ESPN analytics reports and turn their attention to the top 68 college teams in the nation. Since its first tournament in 1939, March Madness has skyrocketed in popularity and influence, in sync with its profound effect on America’s people and economy. In 2019, one in five Americans bet on the tournament, combining for a net total of roughly $9 billion. That includes nearly $2.5 billion wagered illegally, according to the FBI. It is also estimated that $1.9 billion was lost in reduced workplace productivity. Up until the Final Four, games begin at noon and last until 11 p.m. For March Madness fanatics, this means sacrifices must be made. Students admit to faking illnesses or skipping classes for the sake of the tournament. “I remember taking an extremely long bathroom break during my first-period class on the first day of the tournament last year and then watching the second half of a particularly close game that would have ruined my bracket during
sixth period the same day,” Brad Croshal, a junior, said. Teachers and students alike notice a shift in attention as March rolls around, with more time spent on phones instead of focusing on school. “I don’t normally go on my phone during class, but I get so invested that I probably watch a part of a game at least once a day,” James Souza, a senior, said. “Last year, all my grades dropped because I did basically no homework for the entire second half of March,” Thaddeus Duffy, a junior, said
“I made my first bracket in seventh grade as a competition with my friends, and we’ve done it every year since.” Derek Chavez Junior
One purpose for the mass public involvement in the tournament is the predicting of games and outcomes, commonly known as the “bracketology” of March Madness. This phenomenon began in 1977, at a Staten Island bar when a couple of friends of the bar owner argued over who could make a perfect bracket and wagered over who could get the closest. The bar owner opened the competition for the public, and 88 people filled out brackets in the pool that year and paid $10 in a winnertake-all format. In 2006, at the same Staten Island bar, 150,000 people filled out brackets, and the prize money exceeded $1.5 million. In 2017, ESPN reported that upwards of 70 million March Madness Brackets were made, 10 million more than reported in 2015. “I made my first bracket when I was in seventh grade, just as a competition with my friends. And we’ve done it every year since,” Derek Chavez, a junior, said. Many friends embrace the spirit of friendly competition. “March Madness allows me to look my friend in the eye and say ‘I told you so,’ after calling an upset,” Duffy said. Fans like Chavez view the bracket as
Public Domain Public Domain
Left: According to CBS Sports, Texas Western was the first college to have a starting lineup of all black players in the 1966 NCAA Championships. Middle: UCLA won March Madness in 1971, beating out Villanova for the national title. Right: The 1970s were an important decade for UCLA, as they won the NCAA championship again in 1973. 24 HIGHLANDER SPORTS
Public Domain
a casual form of entertainment, while others take it more seriously. “I am normally in a couple of leagues that cost about $20 to play in, and if I win, I would normally get about $200,” William Hesselgren, a junior, said. “I also like to try to get a perfect bracket,” Hesselgren added. “If anyone can get a perfect bracket, it’s probably going to be me.” Like Hesselgren, many people believe that they will be the ones to defy the odds and make a “perfect bracket.” Despite their aspirations, the chances of a perfect bracket are a slim one in 9.2 quintillions. This can be a difficult number to comprehend. To put it in perspective, there are 31.6 million seconds in a year, so 9.2 quintillion seconds equates to 292 billion years. Similarly, there have been 5 trillion days since the Big Bang, so 9.2 quintillions would be to repeat the entire history of our universe 1.8 million times. However, the tournament has not always been about money and fan competition. “March Madness” has evolved quickly and is vastly different from how it started. The original March Madness was a 1908 boys’ high school basketball tournament in upstate Illinois organized by the Illinois High School Association (IHSA). Before the power of broadcast, and before the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) assumed the name,
a handful of Kentucky high schools teams called the “Sweet Sixteen” attracted large crowds to IHSA championship games. By 1930, the number of teams participating in IHSA’s annual March Madness tournament grew to 900. The buzz around the fast-growing popularity of the tournament fascinated IHSA secretary, Henry V. Porter. He first coined the term in a 1939 essay titled “March Madness.” Fascinated by how fans viewed the annual high school basketball tournament, he wrote that “a little March madness may complement and contribute to sanity and help keep society on an even keel.” In 1942, he elaborated on his essay in a poem called “Basketball Ideas of March.” He wrote, “The Madness of March is running / The winged feet fly, the ball sails high…” The phrase “March Madness” was not commonly used to reference the NCAA tournament until broadcaster Brent Musburger used it during the 1982 tournament. “March Madness” has been synonymous with the men’s basketball tournament ever since. In 1939, the attention shifted away from the small-town, Kentucky high schools, and shifted toward the first official college tournament. Until 1951, eight teams were invited to participate in the tournament. That number grew steadily until a 65-team
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tournament format was unveiled in 2001. In 2011, the league announced that 68 teams could qualify. In the current 68-team set up, the tournament is divided into four regions, each consisting of 16 teams. The winning teams from those regions comprise the Final Four, who meet in that year’s host city to decide the championship. The tournament began to bloom when coach John Wooden and UCLA began to dominate the league. The increase in popularity in Los Angeles led to the televising of parts of the tournament beginning in 1969. A decade later, a 1979 game between Magic Johnson’s Michigan State and Larry Bird’s Indiana State put college basketball on the map as one of the most significant sporting events in the U.S. It has remained the second-highest-rated sports event, behind the Super Bowl. Beyond the brackets, betting, and boasting, March Madness, at its core, is about the teams and their players. For the players, it is an opportunity to show their worth in hopes of earning a spot in the NBA. For colleges and universities, March Madness serves as a stage for their athletic programs and their student body to shine and earn respect. For fans everywhere, March Madness serves as a distraction from everyday life.
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Left: In 2006, the Florida Gators won their first March Madness, beating the historically dominant UCLA. Middle: Louisville was victorious in the 2013 tournament against Michigan. However, the NCAA vacated their claim to the title because of recruiting violations. Right: Zion Williamson was the star of the 2019 tournament.
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MARCH 2020 HIGHLANDER 25
Solving consumerism with consumerism
Paper straws allow companies to not care about climate change Ava Richards
R Ava
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The sparkling fizz. The sugary rush. The feeling of wet cardboard in my mouth. This sensation has become a reality every time I try to enjoy a soda at a restaurant since California became the first state to ban plastic straws at sit-down eateries in 2019. Many companies have followed the trend of eliminating the amount of singleuse plastic they use, one of the most well known being Starbucks. In 2018, the coffee company pledged to completely abandon plastic straws starting in 2020, estimating to eliminate one billion straws a year from its stores. It was a big win for anti-straw movements across the country. But it’s not a big win for the environment. Banning single-use plastic might seem like a good idea from afar. Plastic straws seem like the bigger culprit of environmental damage between the two options. They’re something that someone uses once for a short amount of time then promptly throws away. The thin material that straws are made of allows straws to break down into smaller plastic particles known as microplastics more quickly. These microplastics don’t decompose in the ocean, meaning they will stay in these ecosystems forever.
26 HIGHLANDER OPINION
Their small mass also makes it more difficult to recycle them in most factories. According to the website Sustainability Victoria, many factories won’t accept plastic straws since they easily fall through the cracks of the machines and get discarded. Even if people attempt to recycle them, they can still end up in a landfill or the ocean, contributing to the estimated eight million metric tons of plastic that enter the ocean each year, according to the National Ocean Service. “For every pound of tuna we’re taking out of the ocean, we’re putting two pounds of plastic in the ocean,” said ocean scientist Sherry Lippiatt, California regional coordinator for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s marine debris program. But replacing these seemingly evil plastic straws with paper can only marginally help solve the issue. Scientists estimate that straws only make up 0.025% of all the plastic that finds its way into the ocean each year. While moving towards paper options will help eliminate thousands of plastic straws in the ocean, the movement will not change the underlying environmental issues that the paper seems to be promoting. “Bans can play a role,” oceanographer Kara Lavender Law said. “But we are not going to solve the problem by banning straws.” But surely, you must be thinking, there must be some amount of good in using paper over plastic? Unfortunately, there’s not much. Paper straws are still a single-use, disposable item. Likewise, making them still requires going through a destructive manufacturing process: growing a tree, cutting it down, pulping it, and pressing it into the correct shape. Fossil fuels are then used to ship the straws to stores around the country. And sadly, some of the paper straws advertised as recyclable aren’t. In 2018, McDonald’s restaurants in the U.K. and Ireland promised that they would start to use paper straws to cut back on their plastic use. However, in August of 2019, McDonald’s announced that they were having issues with recycling these straws, and were still working to find a solution. Therefore, while companies have
advertised that they are making significant changes to aid the environmentalist movement, they aren’t. To add insult to injury, many companies rarely take drastic measures on an issue unless they are either forced to from a PR standpoint, or it somehow benefits them, as Starbucks did. When the coffee company announced that it would rid its stores of plastic straws in 2018, they had recently experienced a relatively bad year in terms of PR. Earlier that year, two black men had the police called on them by a Starbucks employee, even though they were sitting at a table waiting for an associate to arrive. The two men were arrested and then later released on account of a lack of evidence. Their arrest sparked outrage within the community and the Internet, with #BoycottStarbucks becoming a trending hashtag on Twitter. So from Starbucks’ point of view, announcing a ban on plastic straws was an easy win, and an easy way to gain back the public’s support after a publicity crisis. Corporate greed shouldn’t be our reason to start finding and implementing solutions to climate change. We should push to make the world a better place because we want to, not because companies want to be liked or seem like the “good guy.” If these patterns continue, companies won’t have to care about climate change or implementing green policies at all. The only thing they’ll have to care about is what the public deems ethical. But most of the time, the public is ill-informed, or tricked into believing something that isn’t true, like “paper straws are effective at combating climate change.” This strategy blames average citizens instead of companies that are producing materials and gases that harm our planet. In the end, it makes it easier for companies to get away with these massive campaigns that promise so much, but do so little. Saving the environment is going to be a complicated process, but to get started, we must generate real change instead of praising fake solutions and buying into false information. Average citizens can’t be the only people who care about the fate of the Earth.
WORD SEARCH
WORD BANK APATHY
CHANGE
CLIMATE
COMPANIES
COMPOSTABLE
CONSUMERISM
CORPORATIONS
ENVIRONMENT
FLOODING
GARBAGE
LANDFILL
MICROPLASTICS
OCEANS
PAPER
RECYCLE
REDUCE
REUSEABLE
SINGLEUSE
STRAW
TURTLES
MARCH 2020 HIGHLANDER 27
College Board has a monopoly on your future Eoin Cunningham
If you have gone or are planning on going to college in the United States, chances are, you are familiar with the College Board. Whether it’s from SATs, PSATs, AP tests, or financial aid profiles, the College Board is extremely important when it comes to college admissions in the U.S. The College Board was created to expand access to higher education and has been operating since 1899. It establishes and administers standardized tests that most colleges use for admissions, but they are a nonprofit non-governmental organization. The label nonprofit is achieved simply by “existing for the public good” as opposed to making money. According to smallbusiness.kron.com, all a nonprofit is required to do to receive the label of nonprofit is “perform works that are charitable, religious, educational, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, foster national or international amateur sports competitions or prevent cruelty to children or animals.” The College Board fulfills the educational aspect of that definition. Still, it isn’t clear how the SAT and AP tests improve education in the U.S. According to the College Board website, “The SAT Suite of Assessments helps students navigate their path through high school toward college and career, and offers a range of unique benefits to students.” Some of these unique opportunities listed include helping students plan their careers and prepare for the SAT, the second of which is blatantly redundant. Most students don’t see the SAT as a helper in choosing a job but merely as a way to attach a number to a kid. The College Board isn’t improving the education of students, but they are making a lot of money. According to the National Association for College Admissions Counseling, 95% of accredited four-year universities take ACT and SAT scores into account in admissions. Anyone who wants a decent selection of schools to apply to needs to take the SAT or ACT and, because of this, around $1 billion a year are spent on these tests. Sure, much of this money from the
SAT is spent on things like the administration of tests, but that doesn’t stop College Board CEO David Coleman from making almost $1 million a year while the Board collectively makes around $150 million a year. Just because the executives make lots of money doesn’t necessarily mean that the organization is evil. The College Board is hugely involved with many high schools with the PSAT and AP courses. Granted, offerings like the SAT and ACT, direct students to spend money on College Board tests. However, at least the AP tests can reward students with college credits and level ground to assess knowledge. At this point, it seems like all the aforementioned College Board services mainly benefit colleges and the organization itself. All the tests bring in massive amounts of revenue for the College Board and provide colleges with a universal way to measure all of their applicants’ scholastic aptitude. But of course, College Board doesn’t just offer standardized tests, they also do have career and college finders on their website. The Board even has a program that can help students find colleges where they are eligible for financial aid. Still, ironically, these programs cost money. So really, the College Board provides services that benefit colleges while charging the students. If we’re being honest, higher education in the U.S. is already ridiculously expensive, and the $65 it costs to take the full SAT is nothing compared to tuition charged by many four-year colleges. If only the SATs and ACTs were an accurate and fair judgment of a student’s ability to succeed in college... Many factors contribute to someone’s score on the SAT, and one of the larger ones is socioeconomic status. According to the College Board itself, students who live in wealthier areas with better-educated parents get higher scores than those who live in areas with less wealth. Because of the effect of wealth on scores, African American and Hispanic students, on average, score lower than Caucasian and Asian students. The College Board attempted to make plans to fix this when they announced that
they would begin to implement an “Adversity Score” that would take into account someone’s neighborhood environment, family environment, and high school environment. However, the Board decided to drop this plan after it was criticized, in part because the College Board refused to report how it would weigh all factors involved. But, they didn’t completely abandon the idea and have plans to use a tool they call a “Landscape” to provide admissions officers with multiple scores in the future to better assess students. I’m sure those at the College Board mean well, but all they seem to do is make money without helping students. The College Board isn’t even slightly necessary or even beneficial to most students in the U.S. If the Board ceased to exist, the education system wouldn’t fall into chaos, and students would benefit. Colleges would judge students on their grades and essays and extracurriculars just like usual, but myself and many others wouldn’t have to spend hours preparing for useless standardized tests that, at least for me, make it difficult to focus on real schoolwork where information is actually learned.
“$1 billion a year are spent on these tests. Sure, much of this money from the SAT is spent on things like the administration of tests, but that doesn’t stop College Board CEO David Coleman from making almost $1 million a year.” CONTINUE
28 HIGHLANDER OPINION
QUIZ
Which standardized test are you?
1. When you take a test, how do you approach a section where you have to read? A. Read the answers first, then read the passage.
B.
Try to answer as fast as possible because there’s not enough time.
C. Think about memes that you can make..
D. Instead of reading the
passage, look who said the passage and its date.
2. What do you do during the break period of a standardized test? A. Panic a little, and go to the bathroom
C. Cry inside, then laugh
If you got mostly A’s, you’re most like the SAT.
A. Harvard or Yale B. Brown or Columbia C. UPenn or Cornell D. Dartmouth or Princeton
4. When you’re stressed from school, how do you relax?
5. What extracurriculars do you do outside of class? A. DECA or Mock Trial B. Something Musical
or Volunteering with animals
C. Playing a sport on a club or school team
D. Tutor kids for money and volunteer hours
A. Procrastinating
homework through exercise or cleaning your room
B. Eating copious amounts of food, but out of boredom, not hunger.
C. Playing video games or just pretend homework doesn’t exist.
B. Eat a snack to refuel
D. Discuss test versions
3. Which Ivy League college did you think you were going to go to freshman year?
D. Stare at a blank piece of paper and hope it fills itself
If you got mostly B’s, you’re most like the ACT.
ANSWERS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
If you got mostly C’s, you’re most like the PSAT.
If you got mostly D’s, you’re most like AP Tests.
STOP
If you finish reading before time is up, you may reread in this section only. Do not turn to any other article.
MARCH 2020 HIGHLANDER 29
EDITORIAL:
Self-expression is more than the clothes teens wear It’s not always easy to decide how you want to express yourself. As high schoolers, we are faced with constant pressures to look a certain way. And even if we do not feel those pressures directly, it’s undeniable that certain perceptions are made based solely on the clothes you wear. For some, clothing is the perfect opportunity to demonstrate self expression. To break with the norm is something many can achieve solely in the clothes they wear. But to assume that all must avoid conformity in order to express themselves — at least through clothing — would be an overstatement. Conformity means to comply with standards, usually which have been decided upon by greater society, but at some point, such a term has been given a negative connotation. Teenagers are encouraged to
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embrace their personalities and express themselves, often discouraged from conforming. The truth is, however, that conformity and expression do not need to exist separately. It’s easy to spot those in the crowd who dress differently, that’s human nature. As humans, we are trained to pick up on what is different; we aren’t, however, trained to praise such differences — at least not for the reasons that those differences exist. For some, blending in is a choice, one that has nothing to do with abandoning their ability to stand out through fashion. To make a blanket statement that individuals are what they wear, or to jump to a similar conclusion in fewer words, would be foolish. Instead, the line between conformity and expression, between looking different and matching the crowd, is blurred.
Amidst the encouragement from others that teens receive to let their personalities shine their outfits, it is undeniable that there are key clothing items which most teens wear. For many, clothing is just one small fraction of self-expression, not an end all be all statement. Some may prefer to follow the trends or to stick to the signature t-shirt and jeans that have always worked for them. It’s easier that way. To judge these people’s personalities from the clothes they choose to wear, would be a waste of time. But some truly do find that their preferred mode of expression lies in their daily outfits. And for those individuals, their heart is literally (and figurative) on their sleeves. Clothing is a way for teens to display who they are to the world, and we must recognize that expression; but clothing is not the only way to be unique.
Dear Monty, Class selection season is here, but I’m not quite sure how to approach it. There are a lot of different classes I want to take and I don’t know which ones to choose. How many APs should I take, if any? I think I can handle them, but a lot of people are telling me I shouldn’t overwhelm myself. And do I need to take that extra year of science or a language? Do colleges actually care? I’m just looking for a little guidance. Sincerely, Skeptical Student
Dear Skeptical Student, I totally understand what you’re going through. Back when I was a wee high schooler, I too had difficulty deciding which classes to take. But don’t worry, there is a solution. It’s true, there is little rhyme or reason towards choosing classes, however, there are systems you can use to help your selection process. For starters, try to lean towards classes that pique your interest. For example, if you’re choosing between an AP science or an AP humanities course, go with the one that will keep you the most interested. But, if you feel like you can handle several AP courses, then you probably can. It’s okay to take a lot of AP’s. Just be prepared for the work. Or, if you don’t want to take any AP’s at all, you don’t have to. You should not feel obligated to take them. That being said, do try to take that third year of a language, it really helps. Remember the A-G requirements when choosing courses and try to take your three years of science and four years of math. If you’re trying to decide between a few electives versus academic classes, remember there is always the option to take a zero period, as long as you do a performing art. It can be a nuisance, but often it can be very worth it. Yes, colleges do take your classes into account. Whether or not you choose your classes solely based off of what you think colleges may prefer, as long as you’re comfortable with it, it’s okay. But I promise academics are not all that colleges look at. I promise. So take that extra art class. Take photography, take psychology, take AP seminar. And trust your gut. Let yourself take at least one class for passion. You’ll need some way to find relief from the load. If you have questions about a specific class, find someone you trust who has taken it before and ask them about it so you can gain some insight about what it entails. One thing that is unavoidable, however, and I’m really sorry about this, is that there will be some classes that you have to take that you might not enjoy. Some classes are a requirement to take for your interest, and it can be frustrating. You can counter those dreary classes by exploring other options that you may find intrigue in. It is important to decide classes based off of expectations and requirements, but try to find at least one class that you can really express yourself in. Remember that. Good luck and I can’t wait to see you next year! Monty
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