The Roar 2017 October Issue

Pajamas should be allowed at school

Inside This Issue

Increase in students taking AP classes

Girls volleyball is the first sport to have a freshmen team

FOCUS

SPORTS

OPINION

The Roar SCroar.net

Vol. XVIII No. 1 Friday, October 27, 2017

Santa Clara High School 3000 Benton St. Santa Clara, CA 95051

Marching band takes the field with nearly 90 members

By Miranda Hunt Five years ago, the SCHS marching band had 47 members. This year, the band has nearly doubled in size with 89 members, making them the largest group on campus.

When SCHS music director Johnny Erdman began helping with the marching band in 2012, there were three saxophone players, one tuba player and fewer than 20 people in the horn section, just to name a few. Because of the lack of people in each section, there was a lot of pressure on each individual member to be perfect.

“It was tricky because every individual player had to know everything,” Erdman said.

“You really couldn’t depend on someone else to cover you.”

Since then, the marching band has seen growth for every instrument section in the band. In addition to creating a fuller sound, Erdman thinks having a bigger band makes the atmosphere of marching band practices more energetic.

“The more people we have, it just seems to be this electrifying positivity that we have at all of the rehearsals,” Erdman said.

Senior Cheyenne Martin has been in marching band for the past four years, and has also been able to witness the growth in both quantity and performance level.

“It’s really amazing to see how we’ve grown so much in numbers and quality. I think it’s important to look back on [previous marching bands] and realize, ‘Oh, this is where we’re headed,’” Martin said.

Erdman attributes the growth to the welcoming environment the music students have created in the band room and by word-of-mouth advice to join the music program.

“The reason for the growth is because the

See Marching Band, Page 9 Photos courtesy of Tom Chivers

This year’s performance for marching band is titled “Circutry”, and tells of a system gone awry.

Agnews campus delayed

By Alina Jafri The new Agnews High School has been further delayed and will not be ready until all current SCHS students graduate due to lack of funds.

“It will take longer to build the new high school on the Agnews site, which is definitely going to impact our existing high schools,” SCUSD Board Member Jodi Muirhead said.

“We are fortunate to have a great staff who have come up with solutions to handle more students while still keeping the high level of teaching we expect.”

In November 2014, the SCUSD placed Measure H on the ballot to ask

the voters for permission to borrow $419 million from bonds to complete a number of projects in the district, Muirhead said.

In addition to building an elementary, middle and high school campus at Agnews, other projects were on the list, such as opening the new Central Park Elementary across from SCHS, remodeling the Buchser Gym and adding offices for additional high school counselors.

When the ballot measure was first presented, it was estimated that the cost would be $200 million to build the three Agnews schools, an amount that seemed sufficient for the job.

The other $219 million of the bond

was for the other projects and program expenses.

However, Muirhead said the large amount of building and high prices of housing in the area have made construction workers less available, causing the cost estimates to increase.

In May, the SCUSD school board determined that the $200 million they set aside for the Agnews project is enough for the elementary and middle schools only. The high school is now estimated to cost an additional $345 million.

According to Muirhead, the SCUSD school board has been

See Agnews, Page 5

HAWK Beacon coming in November

By Hannah Shin The HAWK Beacon for the Benton and Moraga crosswalk, originally planned to be installed by early August, has been delayed and will now be completed in November.

According to traffic engineer Dennis Ng, the contractor for the project could not start work until the insurance and contractual documents were in compliance with the city, which took the whole summer.

Once it is up, however, the High intensity Activated crossWalk will protect pedestrian crossing. Unlike the conventional three-color

See Crosswalk, Page 5

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OPINION

Editorial

OCTOBER 27, 2017

The push for AP classes is becoming too common

Advanced Placement courses were created in the 1950s as a way for students to earn college credit while they were still in high school.

Today, AP courses are used as a GPA boost and an unwritten college application “requirement.”

This year, an overwhelming 50 percent of students at SCHS are currently enrolled in AP and honors courses. Five years ago, only 283 SCHS students were enrolled in AP, but that number has risen to 430 students this year. However, if students are enrolling in multiple AP classes for a reason other than their desire to learn, the entire concept of AP courses is lost and instead, contributes to societal pressure for high school students to somehow balance extracurriculars, personal lives and a crazy course load.

In many schools, AP classes are offered to juniors and seniors as they start seriously evaluating their futures and deciding whether to apply to college. Though some students may take only one or two AP classes, there’s a crowd of students who will enroll in as many AP classes offered to them.

These students may not know what they’re going into. In a 2015 study, The Princeton Review discovered that over 50 percent of students reported feeling stressed,

THE ROAR 2017-2018 editors-in-chief Maya Singh • Hannah Shin opinion | Cleo Chow campus | Alina Jafri focus | Bonnie Liu sports | Miranda Hunt a&e | Maya Singh spotlight | Hudha Khan photography | Hudha Khan graphics | Cleo Chow copy editors | Amy Kennedy • Sophia Kennedy • Melina Kritikopoulos Annie Liu • Kiera O’Hara-Heinz Danielle Schmitz staff writers Samantha Alde • Aryanna Gregoire Sam Hunt • Olivia Jones Sydnie Ludlum • Vincent Nguyen Eunice Oh • Marvyn Parayno Emilie Ramirez • Zianna Razon • Ayden Salazar • Sasha Syrevych Kiara Thorp advisor Bob Ansaldo Mission Statement The Roar works to inform students, showcase their accomplishments, and explore issues relevant to them as individuals and as a generation. We value journalistic ethics and professional behavior toward both our sources and our readers. We will investigate and inform students about happenings on- and off-campus, and provide information comprehensibly. As a student-run newspaper, The Roar strives to establish itself as a reliable news source for Santa Clara High School.

Letters and Opinion columns submitted to The Roar must be signed, although names can be withheld. Submissions should be limited to 200 words and may be edited for content, libel, or grammar. Opinion submissions can be delivered to Mr. Ansaldo’s room (B109) or his mailbox in the front office.

DISCLAIMER The opinions on these pages reflect the views of the individual writer, not those of Santa Clara High School.

The Roar Newspaper Santa Clara High School 3000 Benton St. Santa Clara, CA 95051 (408) 423-2720

Olivia Jones/Roar Staff

25 percent reported that homework was their biggest source of stress, and on average, teens are spending a third of their study time feeling stressed, anxious or stuck. It also found that of all age groups sampled, 17-year-olds had the largest percentage of kids with no homework and the largest percentage with over two hours. This likely means that sometimes students on

the college-prep track are receiving more homework, but the statistics are cloaking it with the students who aren’t getting homework.

It’s one thing to enroll in several advanced classes if the workload can be managed healthily, but it’s not beneficial to sacrifice mental health. Normalizing the feeling of being overwhelmed contributes to the mentality that students should

be able to handle large amounts of stress on a daily basis, and would eventually snowball to where students are expected to do even more in school and have to deal with even more stress.

Some students push through the stress and see piling on advanced classes as a way to get a college’s attention, but oftentimes colleges have a different mentality. In an interview for the New York Times in 2016, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Dean of Admissions, Stuart Schmill, explained that M.I.T. and other highly selective colleges want students who “prioritize quality over quantity.” Schmill said he often tells students applying to college, “If you couldn’t write about this on your college application, would you still do it?’ If the answer is ‘no,’ then you shouldn’t be doing it.”

This is not to say that AP is a bad idea. Advanced classes have opened doors for several and have satiated students’ hunger for knowledge in several interesting and important subjects. But if they’re enrolling in advanced classes to look good on their transcripts and aren’t factoring in the added stress, students should think again about their academic choices.

Editors’ Picks

*To the Hawk Beacon *To getting chromebooks! *To the cafeteria’s breakfast Pumpkin Spice scones *To pizza deliveries *To the 2017 movie “Memoir of a Murderer” *To Halloween candy

*To North Bay wildfires, and to wildfires in general *To air pollution *To dress codes not allowing pajamas *To overfilled classrooms *To bed hair *To being sleep deprived *To studying for SATs

Student teachers deserve a chance to learn like students

By Sydnie Ludlum

Student teachers are the adults who seem to be sitting in the corner of the classroom at all times. But at the beginning of the semester, they can take over and put the 18 years of school to good use. Some students get a shock down their spine when they realize that their grade and future is in the hands of an inexperienced college student.

As scary as that may seem, student teachers have been trained already to go into classrooms.

They’ve already attended multiple

years of college and are mastering the art of teaching.

“I believe that we need to develop new educators because I’ll get old and die someday and other teachers will need to come up through the field,” SCHS Biology teacher Eric Wozadlo said. Wozadlo is mentoring a student teacher this year, James Lucas.

Not only is student teaching beneficial for the guiding teacher, it’s beneficial for the student teachers as well.

“There’s definitely some foundational stuff that I’m learning,”

Lucas said. “Like how to deal with a classroom full of teenagers.

That’s one of the biggest fears of student teachers.”

Coming right out of college and going straight into managing a classroom of 38 teenagers or 20 kindergarteners is a lot of pressure. Teachers need to learn somewhere how to do their job, and if being in a classroom with real-life students is the best way, then so-be-it.

Some students may argue that their grade is in the hands of a student teacher and that their grade

may struggle due to the teacher’s lack of experience.

However, a student might learn better with someone who has a fresh perspective, like learning on a Chromebook instead of in a textbook.

“I really enjoy Mr. Lucas teaching us because he adds a lot of fun to the class,” freshman Avery Evans said.

Some student-teachers are loved by all and some just aren’t.

They’re still learning and preparing for the future, and they should be able to do whatever it takes to be a great teacher.

Should SCHS invest in sending student on college tours?

By Ayden Salazar

If you think about it, the ultimate purpose of high school is to prepare students for higher education -- community college, state, or university.

Thus, these four years of our life are critical to our success and it is essential that we make the most out of them. Ironically, however, visits to college campuses -- a crucial checkpoint in the application process -- is something many high schools leave up to their students. College visits prove to be beneficial, as they can give a student a general feel of the place they will call home for the next four years. With that said, it would be most reasonable for high schools to invest in such visits.

College brochures and online resources can provide some insight, but nothing beats the real thing. The

only way a student will know if a college is right for them is by experiencing the sights and sounds of the campus. What is student life like? What is the atmosphere of the surrounding city or town? Where are things located?

These are all questions that must be answered by seeing it with your own eyes. Genuine experience will never fail in determining whether a college is right for you or not -- the more you see, the more you know, in this case.

With that in mind, a college visit during high school would be extremely beneficial to students. By witnessing how college operates, such students would have insight into prospective schools that interest them.

How would students know if a certain college is right for them?

Sometimes, after gaining a reasonable amount of observations, they sim-

ply “click”. They see themselves walking down its tree-lined paths, wandering around campus, and sitting in its lecture halls. Maybe a specific trait about the location intrigues them -- some might prefer a calm, rural setting, while others are drawn to hectic city life.

Regardless, high school is meant to prepare students for such decisions. If the only purpose of high school is to sit students down, lecture them, and test them on the material, we have lost a key objective.

We have forgotten the end result: success for all students in their future endeavors.

So would it not make sense to provide high school students with funded trips to college, the one place they are tirelessly urged to attend? It makes total sense, but

some might argue about the funding. Should high schools sacrifice much needed money, which could possibly go towards school improvements and educational materials, for college tours? I say yes. The pros far outweigh the cons.

By investing in college trips, high schools are encouraging students to pursue something larger -- something that no standardized test can prepare them for. Perhaps some students, harboring mixed feelings about college, might change their minds after an inspirational tour.

Perhaps some might feel a greater motivation to study. Some might even try their luck with scholarships.

In the end, it is all about maximizing a student’s success; and if a student feels inclined to succeed, it is a winwin for everybody.

Dream School

Daylights Savings is no longer a necessary practice

By Samantha Alde

During Daylight Savings, the clock moves forward one hour in March for longer days, and winds back one hour when it ends in November. Although Daylight Savings Time is a long tradition dating back to 1918 during World War I for the purpose of saving fuel, it just seems irrelevant and vexing now.

Something tedious about DST is the fact that everyone in the U.S. has to shift their clock back and forth twice within the year.

When the body is used to one time set half the year, it’s both mentally and physically taxing to adjust for the other half.

Additionally, DST actually wastes energy. The Department of Energy found that during DST, about 0.5 percent of the U.S.’s electricity is saved per day. Another study discovered electricity use rose by 8 percent, post DST, from November to March.

It’s pointless to continue DST when energy is saved one half of the year but wasted an even larger amount the other half.

There are, however, benefits to DST. The increase in sunlight during leads to better health, and there is more time in the day to be productive. It’s also considered beneficial to health since longer days mean people could spend more time with recreation and sports.

However, it’s been proven that the sudden shift during post DST can affect people negatively. An international team of researchers looked at Danish hospital records from 1995 to 2012, including 185,419 diagnoses of depression, and found that longer evenings, which occurs often in winter, have shown to contribute to seasonal affective disorder, or seasonal depression.

Alfred Lewy, M.D., a seasonal affective disorder researcher at the Oregon Health & Science University, says it’s not only a matter of getting light but also getting it at the right time.

Seasonal depression may also have something to do with sunlight’s effect on cognitive function in the context of depressive symptoms, and could be a result of disrupted sleep patterns and biological rhythms.

During spring and summer more energy is saved, but in fall and winter, more energy is wasted. There would be no need to adjust if the time remained constant throughout the year.

Overall, with all of the trouble DST causes, such as everyone scrambling to readjust, it would be best if the time remained constant throughout the year.

Scan the QR Code to the right to learn more about the effects of Daylight Savings

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OPINION

OCTOBER 27, 2017

The solution to the scramble for the lunchline

By Ayden Saazar

Imagine missing breakfast.

Sounds familiar, right? Imagine hunger setting in, a low rumbling in the pit of your stomach, as you walk from class to class. Imagine hearing the lunch bell ring, jolting up, and sprinting towards the cafeteria.

You are but one of many students eager to get in line, to get your hands on some delicious ham and pineapple pizza -- after all, it is Friday’s special. But as you take your rightful place in line, someone cuts in front of you. You feel cheated, upset, and a little angry, too.

This could have been avoided had simple precautions been in place. The noticeable amount of cutting in the cafeteria is not only an inconvenience but a total embarrassment for our school image.

There are, however, simple fixes to the problem.

Crowd control barriers already exist inside the cafeteria, but the effect they have is minimal. If a staff member is not present, nothing stops a student from slipping underneath. A quick fix to this may be placing more efficient dividers, such as chairs, that not only keep students in a single file, but also discourage cutting. With this in effect, students could receive lunches in a more organized manner -- one by one, single file, with no easy

Amy Kennedy/Roar Staff

way to cut around the blocks. It is a great start, but the real self-discipline will ultimately come from us students.

As you might have experienced before, hunger and mood go hand in hand (think back to when you missed breakfast and argued with a friend over something petty). If a student is “hangry,” a term often used to describe being angry due to being hungry, certain psychological elements can arise: mood swings, irritation and extreme frustration.

Blame it on serotonin, a hormone that regulates our mood and appetite. If serotonin levels are low in the body, we become grumpy and short-tempered -- not the best com-

bination to feel when faced with a cheater in the cafeteria. Thus, we are not only hungry by the time lunch rolls around but also edgy, food-seeking beings.

Fortunately, our lunch staff stands by to defuse issues that arise. For this, we must be thankful, but also ask ourselves: What more could we be doing as students? A couple of adults watching over several hundred hangry teens is not nearly enough. And that is why it is up to us to take the initiative.

First and foremost, we should be respectful to one another -- yes, it sounds cheesy, but it is true.

Secondly, we should find opportu-

nities to help. Helpful students are those who volunteer inside the cafeteria, coordinate lines at the snack bar, and lend themselves to the solution rather than the problem. Letting someone cut is a problem; it takes courage to call them out, notify staff, and make sure the cheater is held accountable.

When all else fails, remember that you are not you when you are hangry. Make decisions rationally.

Think before you act. Ask what you can do to create a more organized environment, whether it is lending a hand, or simply respecting your peers. As a student, you have an obligation to reflect a positive image of SCHS as a whole.

Pajamas aren’t threatening or distracting; so why are they banned in the school dress code? fortable, and being comfortable can lead to increased productivity. Research from Warwick University shows that being happy and comfortable leads to having a 12 percent increase in productivity, which is important when one has five to seven classes worth of homework to deal with every day.

Comfort also affects leadership and collaboration skills by making people less irritable, which

When someone wears sweatpants to school, they don’t get dress coded, but when they wear pajamas to school, suddenly it matters.

Sophia Kennedy/Roar Staff

By Sam Hunt

At some point in life, many people have probably considered wearing their pajamas to school.

Unfortunately, these dreams will never come to fruition as the dress code forbids pajamas being worn at school. When this rule is examined though, it doesn’t make any logical sense to prohibit students from wearing their pajamas so long as they follow all other dress code policies.

The dress code states that punishment awaits if “your personal

actions, hygiene, or dress is offensive, disruptive, overly distracting or dangerous to others or you.”

Pajamas are about as offensive as any normal piece of clothing, and if they are disruptive, overly distracting or dangerous, then they are not particularly good clothes to sleep in, which defeats the entire purpose of pajamas.

When someone wears sweatpants to school, they don’t get dress coded, but when they wear pajamas to school, suddenly it matters. There is no point of allowing sweats but not pajamas.

They’re practically the same thing.

Additionally, the dress code definition of pajamas is unclear.

If someone were to go to school in a pair of sweatpants they had slept the previous night, those would technically be pajamas since they’re clothes the student wore to bed. But that student would most likely not get dress coded.

Pajamas not only completely follow the code but may also have positive effects on students who are allowed to wear them.

Pajamas are incredibly com-

can help when collaborating with others on group projects.

Being uncomfortable also has an affect on a student’s ability to work. According to the Warwick University study, discomfort can negatively affect a person’s productivity by 10 percent. Furthermore, being uncomfortable generally harms a person’s mood, which makes a person more likely to lash out at classmates and teachers and less likely to pay attention in class, which may make everyone cynical and bitter.

CAMPUS

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OCTOBER 27, 2017

Wellness Warriors address mental health

By Olivia Jones Due to the fact that many high school students struggle with mental health, SCHS and the Wellness Center are working to make a positive effort to help students, such as founding the Wellness Warriors club.

Approximately 20 percent of teenagers live with mental illness. However, it can still take an average of 8-10 years for them to get the help they need, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Junior Gina Filatov stepped up as president of the Wellness Warriors to combat these statistics.

“At this age, teenagers are hesitant to share their feelings and depression is just a joke, but mental health is important. That’s why I wanted to bring awareness to this issue,” Filatov said.

The club will be pairing with a larger organization, Bring Change 2 Mind, a program created “to end the stigma and discrimination surrounding mental illness,” according to their website, bringchange2mind.org. Over

Emilie Ramirez/Roar Staff

Wellness Warriors’s president Gila Fialtov (above) wants to change the stereotypes of mental health.

100 schools and 2,000 students are already participating in BC2M’s high school program. Through BC2M, the Wellness Warriors will receive funds based on how many activities they host.

Dupe Thomas, advisor for the Wellness Warriors, plans to let students do all the decision making for the club.

Thomas believes students should have a voice in what

the Wellness Center does for SCHS. “I think it’s important to have conversations about mental health, and to welcome everyone and be very open about what we’re able to provide as a Wellness Center and as a wellness club,” Thomas said.

The Wellness Warriors have already started planning activities for SCHS. One will

Tech professionals on campus:

By Annie Liu The Technology Education and Literacy in Schools program has allowed SCHS students to interact with industry professionals in their AP Computer Science A class.

TEALS is a collaboration between teachers and technologyindustry volunteers, which is partially funded and supported by Microsoft Philanthropies. Founded in 2009 by former computer science teacher and software engineer Kevin Wang, TEALS aims to guide and support teachers in learning how to effectively teach rigorous computer science courses in different ways, such as improving students’ problem-solving skills and computational skills.

According to the TEALS website, 1.4 million computer science-

related jobs in the U.S. will be available in 2020. However, less than one-third of those jobs will be filled by college graduates.

“Coding is perhaps the most useful skill to have at this age,” fouryear experienced TEALS volunteer Vinay Muttineni said. “Very few public schools offer a computer science program, which is just unfortunate.”

SCHS has brought in TEALS volunteers this year in hopes of helping to fix this issue.

“Java is a pretty high-level course,” SCHS AP CSA teacher Peter Holley said. “In order to get it started, having two professionals is just the right idea for rigorous courses, such as AP CSA.” Volunteers usually guide students at their respective high schools for two to four years before phasing out

and leaving the class.

“The first year, the volunteers help teach it,” Holley said. “The next year, they’re going to be more like an assistant position, and then the year after that, if the school wants to keep paying for it, they’ll keep coming in to be assistants.”

Himanshu Raj, Jeremy Hintz, Vinay Muttineni and Amisha Singh complete the volunteer team at SCHS. These volunteers take shifts between the course of the week and only help SCHS students on their assigned days.

At most, three volunteers assist Holley’s AP CSA class during first period everyday, enabling students to have more opportunities to interact with professionals who work in the computer science field.

“AP CSA connects professionals with students,” senior Luis Sanchez said. “TEALS enables us to get

likely be a stress free event around finals time at lunch in the quad. Students will write their sources of stress on balloons and release them, which is symbolic for the releasing of stress.

Another plan is to place suicide prevention stickers with the number for the crisis hotline around the school so all students can have access to this resource. All the funds

and ideas for activities come from BC2M. “As we know, mental health can affect anyone and everyone, no matter your age, background, status, and job, no one is exempt from dealing with mental illness. We need to talk about it, because it’s very normal,” Thomas said.

Club member junior Madison Kohls first heard about the club when she came to the Wellness Center for a friend. She believes having a wellness club will encourage students to come to the Wellness Center when they would otherwise be hesitant.

“Students might know about [the Wellness Center] but be too afraid to come because they think it’s a weird place for only really messedup kids, but there’s a club to show that it’s really open for anyone to come anytime,” Kohls said.

The club meets every other Wednesday in the Wellness Center, F201.

“The wellness club is a safe and welcoming place that’s always open for everyone,” Filatov said.

AP CSA students interact with industry volunteers some insight of what the technology field truly is like.”

Sanchez believes that more instructors allow him and other students to receive more attention and a “more personalized experience in learning,” which helps create a calm and thought-provoking atmosphere.

One volunteer who has been guiding Sanchez and other AP CSA students in the computer science field is Amisha Singh, a TEALS volunteer from Tintri.

After listening to a TED Talk a few months ago about giving back to the community, Singh had been thinking of the best way to contribute. Through research, Singh said she decided nothing could be better than helping future programmers, so she signed up for TEALS. “TEALS is very close to my

heart,” Singh said. “We are so lost in our busy lives, but TEALS gives us an opportunity to look down and help young students grow towards a successful future.”

After multiple training sessions and lessons about school rules and common teaching practices, Singh and three other volunteers began their journey at SCHS, aiming to prepare students for a possible career path in computer science.

Although TEALS may not expand to any other class at SCHS, the volunteers wish to stay for another year or two, hoping to continue to broaden computer science at SCHS. “There’s space for everyone here,” Muttineni said. “Hopefully, students taking this class feel empowered by the end of the course.

One in seven students are part of a special education program at SCHS

By Danielle Schmitz With 2,044 students at SCHS, some may not notice that one in every seven students are in the special education program.

According to Vice Principal Tony Lam, there are three main special education programs: Specialized Academic, Therapeutic and Life Skills.

In the Specialized Academic program, in which most students with learning differences are enrolled, students spend at least half of their day in general education classes with specialized support and modified curriculum. The Therapeutic program is for highfunctioning students who still attend general education classes but

have social and emotional needs.

The Life Skills program is for students who have trouble completing daily tasks, such as tying their shoes. It is the highest level of special education in terms of assistants students need.

These programs are not available everywhere, so students in the Wilcox area come to SCHS for the therapeutic program, and students in the SCHS area go to Wilcox for its Autism program.

In these programs, students have the option to use different resources, such as one-on-one teaching, stand alone classrooms, PARAs, co-teaching and workshop classes.

According to ADD and Processing Disabilities teacher Bill

Cheney, the hardest part of special education is figuring out what level of support each individual student needs.

“Depending on support received earlier in school, some students feel like they can’t do anything, but they can do more than they think they can,” Cheney said. “There are also some students who may need more support but don’t seem like it.”

Another issue for special education teachers is they find it hard to be there for all students all the time, special education chair Shinichi Hirano said. Most special education teachers have more than one disability in their class, challenging them to provide for all the students’ needs at once.

“We just don’t have enough time

to support all the students,” Hirano said. “When you’re teaching classes and have to watch the students inside the class and outside the class, it becomes much harder.”

According to Hirano, the programs at SCHS are found to be beneficial to the students.

“The students are very nice and want to accept the help and be a part of the school system,” Hirano said. “[The teaching staff] is also very present and wants to support the kids.”

According to Lam, the school’s main goal with the special education programs is for students to graduate out of its services to general education where they do not need assistance.

“We don’t want students to be

in special education,” Lam said.

“We want students to be out of special education and have them be a part of the general education as much as possible.”

Over the years, there has been some controversy regarding the placement of the special education portables, but the special education teachers agree that separating them from the rest of the campus is better for special needs students.

“At first I thought that having them integrated was better, but this arrangement seems to be working. I don’t think it has affected our kids at all,” Hirano said.

Even though he agrees with Hirano, Cheney’s room is integrated into the campus.

OCOTBER 27, 2017

Agnews Continued from page 1 working on a solution. They consulted a demographer who studies factors such as birth rates and their effects on local schools.

The demographer is predicting SCUSD will have more growth at the elementary and middle school level than the high school level.

“We are more comfortable going forward with the younger grades and postponing the high school for a short time,” Muirhead said.

The school board has also been designing a comprehensive high school like SCHS, but they plan to build only part of it to start. The high school will open with approximately 400 students instead of the planned final size of 1600 students.

The smaller version of the high school will cost between $40 and $75 Million.

To complete the full-sized high school, the SCUSD Board is planning on adding another bond measure to a ballot in 2018.

“Since we now have a phased

approach to the high school, we have a phased approach to funding it,” Muirhead said.

According to Principal Greg Shelby, SCHS is experiencing some overcrowdedness with a student population of 2040, but the staff is doing their best to handle the situation. The school is using portables and will continue to add them if numbers continue to increase. Shelby hopes to do some special projects with the portable space after the new high school is built.

“This year will be the last year we see major growth,” Shelby said.

“We will see more growth when elementary students come here, so if Agnews is not opened within six years, we could have a problem.”

Some students, including sophomore Mariam Bachar, hope for the new high school to be built soon because it will help provide a stronger, more intimate experience in the classroom since there will be less students.

“It’s hard to make room for everyone and maintain a strong and effective environment for stu-

5

CAMPUS

Since 2012, SCHS’s enrollment numbers have consistently gone up, with a total increase of 272 students.

dents,” Bachar said. “It can be managed, but it will be a definite issue over the upcoming years.”

Originally, all three schools were estimated to open in 2019, but due to the delay, the elementary and middle schools will open in 2020, and the small high school

will open in 2021. Muirhead said the school board does not have an estimated time when the full high school will be built because it depends on the ballot measure passing, providing additional funding.

According to Shelby, the delays should not affect SCHS’s campus

Freshmen enrolled in AP French

Samantha Alde/Roar Staff

With backgrounds in French, Alexa Glamcevski (left) and Arthur Tallet (right) opted for AP French instead of level 1.

By Aryanna Gregoire Alexa Glamcevski and Arthur Tallet are the only freshmen in the AP French class at SCHS, but both have prior

“ They are good members of the class, and I’m excited to have them this year.”

- Grace Garvin, AP French Teacher

experience with the French language.

Glamcevski lived in Toronto, where English is the main language, but she was enrolled in a French immersion class.

She took the class from first grade to seventh grade and has been through three different French immersion schools.

“They were great,” Glamcevski said. “I loved them.”

Glamcevski said she does not regret her experiences in the schools and is glad she continued.

“The teachers wouldn’t punish you if you weren’t speaking French all the time, but it was strongly encouraged you should speak French most of the time.

We didn’t have to speak French in English and Math,” Glamcevski said.

Glamcevski said she uses French when she travels to places where it is the primary language, such as parts of Canada.

English is Glamcevski’s first language and French her second, but she also speaks some Macedonian. Most of her family is Macedonian.

Glamcevski thought she would be bored in a non-AP French class. Even though she is mostly fluent in French, she still believes there is always room for improvement.

“I knew a regular class would’ve been too easy for me, and I wanted to be challenged,” Glamcevski said. “I’m not per-

fect, and I wanted to further develop my skills.”

According to Glamcevski, when she first joined AP French, she was intimidated by the upperclassmen. She now thinks that the older students are really nice and helpful. Knowing another freshman in the class has also brought her comfort.

“The learning environment is good for me and having another freshman can be helpful, and I

“ I knew a regular class would’ve been too easy for me, and I wanted to be challenged.”

- Alexa Glamcevski, freshman feel more comfortable with him there,” Glamcevski said.

Unlike Glamcevski, Tallet was born in the U.S. to French parents. He has grown up speaking

French and English and has dualcitizenship with France and the U.S. Tallet learned to speak both French and English when he first learned how to talk. Tallet speaks French often when he travels to France to visit his family and while communicating with his parents at home.

According to Tallet, he decided to take AP French instead of a regular class because he believes it will help boost his GPA. “It always looks good on college applications to have AP classes,” Tallet said.

Although he is one of the only two freshmen, Tallet says he does not feel different with another freshman in the class and does not really notice the age gap between him and the other students. The learning environment is as he expected.

“The curriculum isn’t difficult because I’ve been speaking the language my whole life, but I don’t feel superior to the other students,” Tallet said.

Tallet is also learning Spanish. He took Spanish 1 last year in eighth-grade but plans to wait until next year for Spanish 2.

French 2 and AP French Teacher, Grace Garvin said the AP curriculum is designed for students of a higher age group.

She thinks Tallet and Glamcevski are doing great keeping up with the class.

“It is meant to test your critical thinking, listening and writing comprehension on current issues, but so far they are keeping up well,” Garvin said.

Garvin thinks they are also great assets to the class because of their “real world” experience using the language.

“They are good members of the class, and I’m excited to have them this year,” Garvin said.

life at all. The school made it through its population spike, and for the next few years, it will be able to handle waiting till the new high school opens.

“We can handle this and have been handling this for a while,” Shelby said.

Crosswalk Continued from page 1 traffic signal, the HAWK Beacon will only stop road traffic when necessary.

Ng, SCUSD board member Jodi Muirhead and Principal Gregory Shelby have confirmed that the HAWK Beacon is on track for pedestrian use by the end of November.

As of now, SCHS is controlling the traffic at the crosswalk with its own staff members, Vice Principal Terry Flora and Campus Supervisor Mary Fatuesi, who direct the pedestrians and vehicles for a more organized crossing.

“It’s a tough part of the morning because … there’s a lot of people coming in at the same time,” Flora said. “In high school you got kids who are driving and kids who are walking.”

Flora and Fatuesi have been monitoring the crosswalk before first period and after seventh, which they believe are the busiest times of the day. “[The HAWK Beacon] will be of big help, but we will continue to do what we’re doing until we get that,” Flora said.

Alongside SCHS, the difficulty in obtaining the insurance certificates has also delayed the installations of two more HAWK Beacons on Monroe St. in front of Wilcox High School, according to Michal Healy, Director of Facility Development and Planning.

In a Principal’s Update, Shelby showed his support for the traffic signal.

“This will be a major improvement for student safety, and it should help with traffic flow as well,” Shelby wrote.

“We encourage everyone to be patient, look carefully and keep student safety at the heart of what we all do.”

6

FOCUS

OCTOBER 27, 2017

OCTOBER 27, 2017

7

FOCUS

More SCHS students take on advanced courses SCHS experiences A “Change in Culture”

By Kiera O’Hara Heinz

Amy Kennedy/Roar Staff

Over 50 percent of students at SCHS are taking at least one AP or Honors class.

With college looming overhead, many students choose to challenge themselves in high school with advanced classes. According to Vice Principal Tony Lam, over 50 percent of students at SCHS are taking Advanced Placement or honors classes.

Some, like Principal Gregory Shelby, believe this shows a change in the school’s culture.

“18 years ago, it was maybe a quarter of the students taking AP or honors,” Shelby said. “Getting to that 50 percent point is a real change. It reflects that this is a very highlevel high school.”

AVID teacher Risha Shah believes the increase in AP students shows a change in the school’s focus.

“It makes it more academic geared instead of socially geared,” Shah said.

Some teachers believe the increase in students taking advanced classes is a result of the increasing difficulty of college admissions.

“It seems like colleges are expecting more kids to take AP classes,” AP Spanish teacher Adrian Solorio said. “I think it has a lot to do with what colleges look for or at least how parents and students think [AP classes] are the expectation.”

AP European History teacher Jonathan Wilson has noticed an increase in students taking his class. He accredits this to AP European History being the first AP class offered to many students.

“I believe [students] are wanting to experience the rigors of AP classes early, so they see sophomore year as their chance to do that,” Wilson said. “It gives them a little window into [what] AP life is all about.”

Lam thinks it’s important for students to challenge themselves and work

at their potential.

“College ready isn’t just taking the basic courses. It is challenging yourself and taking the right level of AP and honors classes,” Shelby said. “We want [students] to take what’s right for them.”

Shelby accredits the increase in enrollment of advanced classes to a deliberate outreach by the school towards underrepresented and socioeconomically disadvantaged students.

“We have been very deliberate in helping students of all backgrounds see the benefits of AP and honors,” Shelby said. “We can’t overstate the importance of AVID and what it has done for our school culture in terms of bringing a wider array of students into the college preparation plan.”

AVID, which has been offered at SCHS for seven years, is a program that aims to help all students achieve and be college-ready.

“We as teachers encourage students to take honors and AP classes, and we provide support for them,” Shah said.

There are many pros and cons of more students taking advanced classes. According to Lam, having more students take advanced classes is fine as long as they take the classes they signed up for.

“We have problems when students sign up for one level and end up taking another,” Lam said.

In addition, SCHS has had to send more teachers to AP training workshops, but Shelby said that this is an “expense we are glad to bear.”

As for benefits of more students taking AP and honors courses, Shelby said, “We have more students that are not just going to get into college, but are going to succeed in college.”

AP Exam Results improve as AP enrollment increases

By Vincent Nguyen

Sophia Kennedy and Bonnie Liu/Roar Staff

In 2014, 306 SCHS students took 515 AP exams, and in 2017, 430 students took 772 AP exams.

In the 2016 school year, SCHS had more students taking AP exams than ever before.

According to Vice Principal Tony Lam, 772 AP exams were taken by 430 students last school year, while in 2014, only 306 students took a total of 515 AP exams.

In addition, more SCHS students have been passing their Advanced Placement exams, scoring a three or higher. Lam attributes this increase to the school district funding for the test, which began in early 2017. “[In] previous years, when the district didn’t pay for the exams, it was costing students $98 per exam, which was difficult for some families,” Lam said.

AP Government teacher Dominic Caserta

sees the student increase as a result of more information about AP classes spreading.

“I’ve been here for 20 years,” Caserta said. “I believe that students talk to other students, [being that] they can go on websites like Rate My Teachers.”

In 2015, two school years before district funding for the AP exams, only 58.5 percent of SCHS students passed an AP exam.

In May, SCHS boosted the pass rate to 67.4 percent — a percentage greater than the national pass rate of 60.3 percent and the California rate of 62.3 percent in 2017.

“When the district set aside some money to pay for it, we had a lot more students [take the test],” Lam said. “It really says we have students that are capable of taking the exam, it’s just the financial cost preventing them.”

Increase in Class Sizes cause problems for some

Sydnie Ludlum/Roar Staff

By Eunice Oh Junior Kristine Buriel walks into her fourth period AP Calculus AB class. Ready to learn, she takes out her math binder, calculator and pencils, and listens intently as her teacher begins a new lesson.

Although Buriel may seem like a regular student in an AP math class, she is actually a teacher’s assistant who is auditing the class but not receiving full AP credits for the course.

Math teacher Sarah Wellberg’s fourth and sixth period AP Calculus AB classes have 36 and 38 students, respectively. Due to lack of space, Buriel and senior Kelly Koh have resorted to being TAs for the class.

Koh completes the homework, tests and quizzes for AP Calculus AB, but her grades are not recorded on School Loop or on her transcript. Koh initially signed up for AP Calculus BC and said she was disheartened when she could not switch to AP Calculus AB. Vice Principal Tony Lam commented that there has been a history of students dropping out of AP classes.

“When you’re talking about an AP class, there’s always an attrition to those classes,” Lam said.

AP classes are intentionally packed because of the apparent decrease in students.

Lam believes overfilled classrooms are linked with overcommitment from students.

However, this may not always be the case.

Wellberg said she has had over 35 students in AP Calculus AB consistently but the administration has not added another period of it.

Less time is being spent with individual students because of the packed classes, noted Wellberg.

“It’s easy for quiet kids to get overlooked,” Wellberg said.

According to Lam, the district’s limited funds cannot decrease class sizes.

The lack of space for students in AP classrooms is prevalent in AP Calculus AB and AP Chemistry. Some AP U.S. History classes are on the brink of maximum capacity.

“I don’t think the administration is trying

to overpack the AP classes,” said Jean Liao, an AP U.S. History teacher. “We just have more students signing up.”

Liao’s grading workload can mean less essay or AP test practice for the students.

Science teacher Saheed Mohamed teaches AP Chemistry, a classroom packed with 37 students Some students are not bothered by the numbers.

“It’s not affecting my learning,” junior Katherine Chapin said.

Others feel it hinders their learning.

“I feel it is a little chaotic here because of the sheer number of people,” junior Devin Wong said. “It makes the classroom more cluttered up.”

Two sections of AP Chemistry were planned according to Mohamed, yet only one period of AP Chemistry was scheduled to accommodate 57 students, which was the original number of students who signed up. “[The administration] said the students would just eventually drop out,” Mohamed said.

Safety becomes the main issue for the overfilled AP Chemistry class. The American Chemical Society and the National Science Teacher Association recommend 24 students for lab safety reasons.

Mohamed has never taught a class so big, proving to be a heavier workload than he had anticipated.

“It’s frustrating. It’s tough. And it’s stressful,” Mohamed said.

Meanwhile, AP U.S. History teacher Christine Byerley enjoys her period of 33 students. She called her situation a “fine balancing act” since the benefits of discussions and projects coexist with her classroom size.

Lam does not foresee negotiations with the United Teachers of Santa Clara about class sizes, so for now, the class sizes will not change. Starting this year, as part of their contract, teachers who teach classes above 35 students receive additional payment.

“The district will compensate the teacher for every student above the contractual limit,” Lam said.

Cleo Chow and Bonnie Liu/Roar Staff

More students are passing the AP Exams school-wide, statewide and nation-wide. The SCHS AP Exam pass rate increased by approximately 8.9 percent from 2015 to 2017.

Olivia Jones/Roar Staff

This school year, 57 students orginally signed up to take AP Chemistry, and the class size has eventually shrunk to 37 students. However, this number still significantly exceeds the recommended lab safety classroom size of 24 students, according to the American Chemical Society and the National Science Teacher Association.

What do you think about more SCHS students passing AP Exams?

All photos: Samantha Alde and Kiara Thorp/Roar Staff

“ [Higher AP Scores] make our school education stronger by creating an environment of growth and learning.”

“I’m proud of my school, and these scores should motivate students at SCHS to try even harder.”

-Hashem Alhamdani Freshman

-Trisha Ignacio

Sophomore

“I think students are terrified of taking AP classes, but it’s not that difficult, you just need to be on top of your stuff.”

-Salman Dazine

Senior

Reporting by Vincent Nguyen

“I think it reflects well on the school that so many people are taking AP classes, and it’s great that they’re trying to get into college.”

-Jenna Houle

Freshman

SPORTS

8

OCTOBER 27, 2017

Girls basketball moves up to De Anza League

By Zianna Razon

The SCHS girls varsity basketball team is advancing to the De Anza League this season, thanks to their nearly undefeated record last year.

The team won 25 games during the season. Unfortunately, that winning streak came to an end when they met their first defeat in the final game of the season.

“At the end, we were devastated with our first loss,” senior Yvonne Delgado said. “It was just an amazing feeling knowing that we were undefeated.”

New challenges await in the De Anza League, including an increased level of competition.

“We are in a tougher league, so the teams are going to be stronger, faster and bigger,” coach Melodee Kiyota said.

Hard work and great leadership were the components that led to an undefeated basketball team, along with their skilled seniors from last year. The previous group of leading players graduated, so this year will bring a whole new season with new faces.

“We just kept playing our hardest and eventually it came to an end, but it was fun in the process,” basketball team member junior Kayleigh Watanabe said.

Last season, the four senior players -- Devyn Snyder, Taylor Snyder, Katie Knowles and Jazalynn Seguritan -- contributed to the success of the team and helped carry the team all the way to playoffs.

“The girls who graduated were the core of the team,” Kiyota said. “[They] left a positive impact on this program that will continue on for many years.”

In the absence of last year’s main

Courtesy of Melodee Kiyota

Senior Yvonne Delgado (left), number 21, dribbles against her opponent during a game versus the Cupertino Pioneers. leaders, other team members are looking to the returning players to take charge this season. Seniors Dejah Swanson, Yvonne Delgado, Yvette Delgado and junior Kayleigh Watanabe are expected to step up and take on leadership roles for the team.

The success of the team’s season greatly depends on the skill level of their players. According to Kiyota, the team is on the lookout for athletes who show a wide range of potential. “[We want] girls who want to play, girls who want to work hard, and girls who are dedicated,” Kiyota

said. “We work and run a lot. We push the girls to their limits. We go hard ev-

“We are in a tougher league, so the teams are going to be stronger, faster and bigger.”

- varsity girls basketball coach Melodee Kiyota eryday. Those are the types of girls we want.”

The team is looking forward to seeing what the new recruits do and whether or not their team will be as strong as they were last year. Freshmen who want to join the team are getting ready for tryouts on October 30.

“I got to meet some of the players I’m playing with this year and they were super nice and that encouraged me to want to play even more than I already wanted to,” freshman Maia Garcia said.

According to Watanabe, the veterans of the girls varsity basketball team are impressed by some of the new recruits and are excited to see what they

will bring to the team.

“They’ve got a lot of heart, they really don’t quit, and they always give a hundred percent,” Watanabe said.

Along with the new additions tryouts will bring, Kiyota expects the whole team to bring up their game in order to smoothen the transition into a more competitive league.

“I look at every single one of the girls out there to step up,” Kiyota said. “They know they have to, especially moving up to the De Anza League.”

Legal issues continue to delay reconstruction of the snack shack

Kiera O’Hara-Heinz/Roar Staff

Scorch marks on the snack shack make the building “a black eye on the school,” Principal Shelby said.

By Emilie Ramirez

On April 6, 2016, a fire burned the snack shack as students and teachers looked on, watching as smoke poured out of the small building and fire alarms blared. Footballs, jerseys and other sports equipment were

destroyed as metal rafters bent and twisted.

It has been 18 months since then, yet there seems to be little visible progress of its repair.

“There is something that needs to be done about the snack shack,” SCHS varsity football coach Hank Roberts

said. “People have to find the truth on why it’s taking them now two football seasons.”

According to Roberts, the fire wrecked many tools inside the snack shack, Including the ice machine. As a result, ice has to be bought for each game rather than being stored

in the snack shack.

“It’s bad whenever it’s the hottest day and we can’t provide ice for a team that’s playing us,” Roberts said. “And then our football coaches have to go out and buy ice.”

But there are reasons for the extended absence of the snack shack. According to SCHS Principal Gregory Shelby, the delays are caused by several factors, such as the legal issues the school is facing.

“Insurance is playing a role in this, basically determining who is at fault since this wasn’t a case of arson,” Shelby said. “It’s not so much the cost of it, but the legal maneuverings about who has to pay that cost.”

Another barrier preventing the restoration, according to Shelby, is the architectural plans. Problems with the approval of the plans continue to prevent reconstruction.

“There was a set of plans that wasn’t approved by the state,” Shelby said.“The plans to fix it have been complicated, such as determining which portions [of the snack shack] need to be removed, replaced, and which portions are good enough [to keep].”

Both students and staff members have been discontented by the delay in construction.

“The delays are frustrating to everyone here,” Shelby said.

“We check in with the bond office

about every week or two, and they are as frustrated as we are.”

The snack shack not only stored important athletic equipment but also sold food and drinks during football games. Because of the fire, the production of food has been hindered.

“I think it’s really quite annoying because we could make a lot more money for our programs at school if we had better food,” senior Grace Wills said.

In addition to equipment and food, the snack shack also provided bathrooms for both spectators and athletes to use during games. The bathrooms have been replaced with a line of porta-potties.

“I’m an athlete, and I’m not able to use the bathroom because the snack shack is burnt down. When I need to change, there’s not enough room in the porta-potties,” Wills said.

Despite the lack of final agreements and the amount of frustration the delays have caused, Shelby maintains hope for the repairs.

“I’m still hopeful that we’ll have a snack shack by track and field season,” Shelby said. “But there’s been so many delays that it is a hope and not a plan.”

OCTOBER 27, 2017

Volleyball program adds a freshman girls team

By Zianna Razon

A third girls volleyball team is back this season. Along with junior varsity and varsity, SCHS will have a freshman volleyball team.

The idea for bringing back the freshman team began when head coach Megan Morse-Quevedo realized there was an abundance of freshmen girls trying out for volleyball. The final decision to create the team was made after it was discussed between Morse, JV coach Shayna Crawford and fall Athletic Director Tony McGilvery.

“The team was started originally to keep more girls in the program who wanted to participate and to get less-experienced players ready for JV,” Morse said.

There has been a freshman team in the past, but it was discontinued last year for financial reasons. There have also not

“I love starting fresh with a new and with players who are eager to learn about volleyball.”

- freshman girls volleyball coach Megan MorseQuevedo been enough girls to maintain a full freshman team, according to Morse.

Although the team has not yet won a game this season, Morse believes her girls are still en-

Marching Band Continued from Page 1 members of the marching band have found a place in the music room where they can go and be themselves,” Erdman said.

With more members, the band has the capability to perform more challenging and detailed shows. This year’s performance piece, “Circuitry,”

Cross country and track and field head coach Julie L’Heureux

By Emilie Ramirez

Julie L’Heureux keeps running, ready to finish another marathon. She doesn’t look back.

Nothing seems to stop her: not exhaustion, not pain, not even pregnancy.

L’Heureux has run pregnant with all four of her children. Her philosophy of always staying ac-

fall SPORTS Upcoming Dates

Football 10/27 vs. Monta Vista Varsity 7:00 11/3 @ Wilcox Varsity 3:00 11/10 @ Cupertino Varsity 7:00

boys Water polo

Emilie Ramirez/Roar Staff

The SCHS girls freshman volleyball team prepares for a match against The King’s Academy . hancing their skills “each and every practice” over the course of the season.

“I love starting fresh with a new team and with players who are eager to learn about volleyball,” Morse said.

Due to Coach Morse’s busy working schedule, the freshman team is only able to practice two times a week. Since she also coaches the varsity team, who has games each week on Tuesday and Thursday, finding times to practice has been a challenge.

“It would be better if we had more practices in so we could work on some things we need,”

freshman volleyball player Kayla Phan said.

Since the freshman team is a new addition to the volleyball program, not as many people know about it, and there is less crowd support, according to freshman volleyball player Hannah Marin.

“Some people say, ‘Oh, you’re on the freshman team?’ and, ‘Oh, there’s a freshman team?’ It’s unknown. It’s not a team that’s known, unlike JV and varsity,” Marin said.

Freshmen teams are not as common as JV and varsity teams, which means only eleven out of the fourteen schools in the division have a freshman volleyball team. As a

result, the SCHS freshman team plays two schools twice during their scheduled thirteen games.

“It’s a lot better because we’ve already played them once so we’re able to guess how they’ll play next,” Phan said. “We were able to evaluate them.”

Aside from the rough season so far, the girls freshman volleyball team is working towards becoming a more skilled team to prepare for their chance to be on JV or varsity next season.

“I am very proud of them, and I believe in their abilities,” Morse said.

tells the story of a system that goes awry. Throughout the rest of the show, the band works to put the system back together, according to Erdman.

In the past, the band has performed shows with themes like the “Batman” franchise and the famous musical “Newsies.”

Although band members had not previously heard of “Circuitry,” they have enjoyed performing the show.

Junior Kendall Tinianov has especially appreciated being able to watch the growth that the marching band has made from the start of the season till now. Tinianov is the Drum Major, the student who conducts the band during performances.

“We have so many students who are brand new. Watching any person who’s never done anything that they’re doing now get comfortable [with their instruments] has been

cool to watch,” Tinianov said.

The marching band has improved in both size and performance quality, but students continue to come back each year for the strong relationships that build as a result of being a part of the group.

“Watching the friendship on the field has been really fun because everyone gets along,” Tinianov said. “It’s probably the closest group on this campus.”

Cross country and track coach Julie L’Heureux ran marathons while pregnant

Emilie Ramirez/Roar Staff

9

SPORTS

tive has kept L’Heureux running and breaking barriers.

“I’m a runner. I keep running.

I’m not one to sit around and relax,” L’Heureux said. “If one is active, one should stay active.”

L’Heureux is in her 33rd year of coaching both the cross country team and the track and field team at SCHS. After graduating from SCHS, L’Heureux was inspired by her own running coach, Charles Kappen, to come back and be a coach.

“I enjoyed my four years here [at SCHS] because of [Kappen], and I’ve come back to repay him,” L’Heureux said.

Initially, L’Heureux’s first sport of choice was not running. When she attended SCHS, L’Heureux started out with volleyball in the fall. But according to L’Heureux, she was required to do a spring sport in order to earn physical education credits. Her choices were gymnastics, softball and running.

Her disinterest in gymnastics and softball led to her decision to be a runner.

L’Heureux did not expect to fall in love with the sport. She gave up volleyball, joined the running team and volunteered to be one of the few long distance runners.

“Most people come out and want to be sprinters, and I said, ‘nah.’ The rest is history,” L’Heureux said.

L’Heureux’s original plan was only to coach for four years but her runners, including her children, encouraged her to stay at SCHS. “I used to say I would stop when my kids got here, but they wanted me to stay,” L’Heureux said. “Soon, the original plan of four years became more than thirty years.”

L’Heureux’s passion for helping athletes improve both mentally and physically has stayed consistent over her long coaching career. According to L’Heureux, an important aspect of performing successfully in races is in the racer’s self-assurance.

“I’ve had kids who have had no confidence, and then they realize that they can do something. Their times drop and they gain more confidence,” L’Heureux said.

L’Heureux enjoys working with her students to help them achieve a new goal and use those skills to get ready for the races. One of her runners, freshman Bilal Adam Malik, enjoys her supportive and encouraging style of coaching.

“She always has something fun for us to do. She’s always there for us when we’re injured or hurt and overall. She’s a great coach,” Malik said.

L’Heureux plans to coach until her last child graduates, but she isn’t sure if she will be able to stop.

The passion and dedication of the students she coaches continues to keep her at SCHS. “Some kids are here to work hard, improve and want to listen to you, and those are the ones who keep me around,” L’Heureux said.

10/27 SCVAL El Camino League Tournament 2:30 10/28 SCVAL El Camino League Tournaments 2:30

girls water polo 10/27 SCVAL El Camino League Tournament 2:30 10/28 SCVAL El Camino League Finals 2:30

Girls tennis 10/31 SCVAL El Camino League Tournament 3:30 11/1 SCVAL El Camino League Tournament 3:30

cross country 10/31 SCVAL League Finals @ Crystal Springs 1:45 11/11 CCS Meet @Toro Park 1:30 11/25 State Meet @ Woodward Park Time TBA

Schedule and standings are according to MaxPreps.com

A&E

10

#FirstTimeISawMe:

OCTOBER 27, 2017 How a Twitter hashtag started an important conversation about the lack of diversity in entertainment

Courtesy of Google Images

Above are some of the most popular tweets from Netflix’s Twitter campaign #FirstTimeISawMe.

By Marvyn Parayno Netflix released its campaign #FirstTimeISawMe in early August, which raised awareness regarding the lack of representation of minorities in entertainment and celebrates the diversity of their programming.

With the hashtag, a diverse set of users on Twitter shared their stories when they saw themselves represented in on-screen enter-

tainment for the first time.

Some SCHS students do not think there is not enough representation of their cultures, such as Filipino-American Student Association co-president, junior Damarah Madriaga.

“I don’t really see Filipinos represented [in American media],” Madriaga said. “I want to see that changed … not just for me but for other cultures as well.”

According to the Gay & Les-

bian Alliance Against Defamation 2016-2017 report, only six percent of television series regulars have been Asian-Pacific Islander characters since 2015, the highest it has ever been.

GLAAD’s 2016-2017 report also states that of the 278 regular and recurring LGBTQ characters on programming, only 16 are transgender.

There is also an issue with present representation, according to

Movie Pilot, where the portrayals are disrespectful to the people portrayed on the screen.

According to Gay-Straight Alliance club president, senior Dakota Menard, the film and television producers are getting better at showing LGBT characters, but they do need to work on improving their portrayals.

The character Him from the original The Powerpuff Girls series, for example, stirred some controversy surrounding the character’s portrayal.

Him was one of the main antagonists of the children’s series. It was heavily implied in the show that he is the devil himself. He had pointy ears, sharp claws and lime green eyes. He also wore blush and spike-heeled boots. His flamboyant personality and appearance led some to plausibly classify Him as an LGBT character.

“It’s a bad stereotype [of transgender people],” Menard said. “He’s lovable, but it’s a bad stereotype, and his appearance throws people off.”

In addition to students, SCHS teachers are also aware of the issue and are taking steps

to make a change.

English teacher Christy Gutierrez said classes like Multicultural Literature are designed so students have the opportunity to see themselves in the curriculum.

“Students seek materials with characters like them,” Gutierrez said. “So with Multicultural Lit, I try to include everyone in this curriculum.”

The GLAAD report states that 20 percent of series regulars are black characters, which is a high increase from last year’s 16 percent.

Black Student Union president senior Savannah Phommavong saw herself represented, especially in shows like That’s So Raven.

“I saw myself really represented in the episode with the fashion show,” Phommavong said. “I saw myself as a thicker girl, and it made me more comfortable with myself.”

The hashtag #FirstTimeISawMe raises awareness and understanding to people who did not initially notice the issue before.

“People are more aware [of the lack of diversity], and they’re not accepting it as the status quo,” Gutierrez said.

SCHS’s Breakfast Club aims to smash stereotypes

By Melina Kritikopoulos

Sydnie Ludlum/Roar Staff

Russell (left) gives notes to actors including Rudy Tanugula, Antonio Davila, and Isabella Niclock. during rehearsal for the comedy “Noises Off.”

Junior Laine Russell directs and acts in“Noises Off”

By Amy Kennedy Junior Laine Russell is this year’s student director for SCHS’s fall play, “Noises Off.” Russell has been in Theater 2 since her freshmen year and has been a part of theater productions since fifth grade. Since her early start, Russell has found theater to be “the most amazing, wonderful thing” in her life. She said it has given her valuable opportunities to realize her dreams and work towards achieving them.

But Russell’s interest in theater is unlike that of most of her peers.

“I don’t want to act,” Russell said. “I want to direct.”

As the director of “Noises Off,” Russell is in charge of many technical and behind-the-scenes aspects of the show. She helped cast the play. She decides all of the blocking, which is the movement that the actors do onstage. She also helps build the props and the set and gives constructive criticism to the actors.

“Basically, I just tell people what to do,” Russell said. “It’s fun.”

Although she is ultimately the one in charge, Russell collaborates with the actors to put the show together.

Junior Madison Kohls, who is acting in “Noises Off,” said the cast is there to help Russell if needed, whether it be to build the set, put the script together, or make sure everyone’s on task.

“Everybody ends up helping,” Russell said. “It’s great.”

Senior Khalil Malik supports student directing because “it allows students to have their own creative outlet in ways other than acting.”

This is perfect for Russell, who hopes to express her creative vision through directing as a career.

Junior Maha Elatta said that watching Russell work hard to “pursue her dream and actually make her career a reality” each day at rehearsal has made her “see how much she really wants it.”

While Russell’s main focus is directing, she is also acting in “Noises Off” as a character named Brooke.

Russell described Brooke’s character as “a horrible actress [who is] really, really dumb.”

A comedy-lover, Russell fell in love with her role and “Noises Off” after reading the script. Mr. Reyes, the theater teacher, describes the show as “a zany, crazy type of comedy.”

But because “a lot of stuff is going on [in the play],” it is a hard show to direct, Reyes said. “It’s a play about a play.”

However, according to Kohls, Russell is doing a good job directing.

“She’s worked really hard,” Kohls said. “She’s on top of it.”

Russell’s dedication to theater has helped her see “how much theatre can change people’s lives.” She believes everyone involved “loves what they’re doing so much and puts their entire heart and soul into it,” which is something she finds truly amazing and inspiring.

“I guess that’s why I keep doing it year after year,” Russell said.

“Noises Off” will run at the school theater on November 10, 11, 17 and 18 at 7 p.m. There are also Saturday morning performances on November 10 and 17 at 10 a.m.

Stereotypes affect students daily in schools everywhere.

According to a 2015 study from PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center, 55 percent of bullying was based on looks, 37 percent on body shape and 16 percent on race. The same study reported that over 50 percent of students of color report being bullied in their school.

While walking down the halls of SCHS, president of the Breakfast Club, senior Rachel Spektor, noticed many stereotypes and how bullying affected her peers.

“I will hear throughout the halls … a Caucasian person calling an African-American person the n-word! Constantly!” Spektor said.

So Spektor decided to do something: “[I] wanted to create awareness about some of the things that weren’t seen the right way.”

The idea behind The Breakfast Club is to create a space where students can learn and educate others about the effects stereotypes have on students and how they can help end bullying. Named after the iconic ‘80s movie where the characters destroyed their own labels, the club focuses on a different topic of appearance-based bullying each month. Their hope is to give a school-wide presentation monthly to educate the school on various topics.

“My goal is to create awareness and have a more educated school,” Spektor said. “[The club] can create more acceptance for everybody as who

they are instead of what they look like or how they act.”

“There’s a bunch of other clubs that have single ethnicities that they talk about,” club member senior Jacob Soto said. “This [club] doesn’t talk about an ethnicity; it talks about the stereotypes of [those ethnicities].”

So far, the club has been a safe space where students of all ethnicities can learn together and be accepted.

“Even the people in the club are all different,” senior Megan Scheid said. “We have different backgrounds, different experiences, so we have different viewpoints on how to achieve this [educating the school and raising awareness].”

Scheid feels strongly about the issue of stereotyping in schools and is an active member of the club.

“I’ve experienced people having misconceptions of me very often … I’m basically the poster child of not normal.”

Scheid, who suffers from bipolar disorder and anxiety in addition to other mental and physical disorders, was often bullied at school.

“When I was a little bit younger, people would say, ‘You’re just a freak. Like, what is wrong with you?’” Scheid said.

Members believe educating others on the effects of appearancebased bullying can help create a more supportive and welcoming community at SCHS. “[My goal for the club is] showing people how they can help,” senior Pearl Nguyen said. “It has kind of opened my eyes to the different problems and the specific struggles [others] have...”

11

A&E

OCTOBER 27, 2017

Vegan restaurant reviews

Photos by Sasha Syrevych

vegetarian house

Merit vegetarian restaurant

Merit Vegetarian Restaurant is located on Lawrence Expressway, on the corner of several buildings, making it hard to find. The restaurant is a homeydecorated place with pictures on yellow walls, fake flowers standing everywhere and couches. Relaxing music is on in the background. The atmosphere is peaceful and quiet. When I entered, I was seated right away and given a menu. The server gave me time to read the menu and decide what I wanted. I ordered the dishes called Wonton Soup, Gourmet Deluxe, Golden Era and Golden Nuggets. A very friendly server brought glasses of water immediately and constantly checked if I needed a refill. I only had to wait seven minutes until he brought the first dish, the Wonton Soup. The soup itself was really tasty -sweet and salty -- and delicious wontons added some texture.

Cost

Loving Hut is a chain of vegan restaurants, which has 38 locations in 14 states. In our area, the place stands right in the middle of the Westfield Valley Fair Mall. A minimally decorated restaurant that specializes in vegan cuisine, Loving Hut mainly focuses on items from the steam table. The table looks like a buffet, with the exception that during my visit, I could only look at how my food was served without controlling the portion size. Loving Hut’s menu also includes different types of soups, noodles and beverages. The food was packed visibly by an unfriendly server who was also the cashier. She did not have much enthusiasm but was not mean either. Since the line went pretty fast,

Loving hut

By Sasha Syrevych

KEy

The nuggets tasted and looked so close to real chicken that I had to check if they were actually vegan.

Despite my confusion, they tasted great and the sauce that came with them completed the whole dish.

Golden Era turned out to be fried seitan chunks sautéed in BBQ garlic seasoning and embedded in lettuce and tomato. The chunks were too oily and lacked flavor, so they turned out to be the worst thing I tried in the restaurant. Gourmet Deluxe was a fried protein cooked with spicy lemongrass and served with steamed broccoli, cucumber, carrot-daikon pickles and tomato.

The dish was very spicy, almost impossible to eat, but had great meat texture. Another problem that I found in two of the dishes was huge slices of lettuce, which were hard to eat and seemed useless as they didn’t add anything to the dishes. The cost for all four plates was nearly $45, which is about $10 per one plate.

Vegetarian House is an organic vegan restaurant located on East Santa Clara Street in San Jose. The owners seemed to have

Veggie grill

service

Taste

the time it took me to get my order was relatively short. I ordered two Chef’s Special entrees and one side. The first entree was Mongolian Wonder: vegan protein slices, which looked and tasted like meat, stir-fried with onion and chilli pepper. Slices had a spicy and savory taste to them but held excessive oil. The second Chef’s Special was eggplant tofu, the title of which is pretty self-explanatory.

Tofu was not too spicy, and the amazing sauce made the horrible texture of the tofu a little more bearable. For the side, I ordered steamed veggies, which were underseasoned and cold. Overall, I paid $11 total, a reasonable price for getting full with vegan food.

just bought a house and transformed it into a restaurant. The place looked poor and a little scary from the outside. However, once inside, the restaurant’s atmosphere switched into being an old, vintage house. The windows held colorful glass, which gave the restaurant joyful sun light. The restaurant was enhanced with flower paintings on the walls, old red chairs and old lamps, giving the restaurant an antique feeling. What I did not like about the house was that it was small and crowded, and I also saw a fly on one of the windows, which completely outraged me. Nonetheless, the service was more or less friendly.

The waiter offered me water in the beginning, smiled through the whole experience and picked up dirty dishes when I finished eating. I ordered Crispy Spring Rolls, House Special Soup and Happy Crispy Rice. I had to wait nearly ten minutes for the first dish, which were the rolls. They were

really hot, and I had to wait some time for them to cool down. The taste was amazing: the rolls were savory, flavorful and crispy. The soup’s texture confused and disgusted me at first. The bouillon was jelly; it seemed like several different elements from different cultures, such as seaweed and oyster mushrooms, were stuffed in it. Despite that, I changed my mind when I tasted it. Even though it carried little spices, the soup was savory and fulfilling, but the cilantro and peas seemed unnecessary. The rice was the best dish I tried that day. It was buttery but not oily or crispy. It was not spicy but salty enough.

There were some vegetables and tofu on top of the rice, which did not change the taste but added texture. For three dishes, I paid approximately $32, which is normal for a restaurant like this.

Veggie Grill is a fast-casual vegan restaurant chain located on Santana Row. It is a cozy place with red couches, low yellow lamps, striped carpet on the floor and tables outside so visitors can enjoy sunny days.

Their menu is completely vegan even though some items, such as their burgers and sandwiches, look like they contain real meat products. I ordered a Beyond Vegan Burger, one of their favorites, with fries on the side and a medium-sized Ginger Green Tea. They gave me the cup for my drink so I filled it right away, but I had to wait nearly ten minutes for the

burger and fries. However, when the server brought the food to my table, he apologized nicely for the wait. When I first tried the fries, I loved them for their crispiness on the outside and softness on the inside although they lacked flavor.

The burger was just perfect with its juicy, plant-based Beyond Meat combined with melted vegan cheese and soft warm buns.

The green tea was refreshing and sweet enough: perfect for a hot day. My total order cost nearly $17, which was a little high but worthwhile.

Junior Rachel Bergado is following her passion for singing

Junior Rachel Bergado (above) has been singing her whole life.

Left, Bergado is picturedperforming at

“Sing Filipina.”

Photos Courtesy of Rachel Bergado

By Maya Singh She’s known at SCHS for performing at rallies, but junior Rachel Begado got her start singing for much smaller audiences.

When she was four, Bergado discovered her passion for singing

on the family karaoke machine.

“Performing anywhere is always so magical,” Bergado said.

Nowadays, Bergado is used to performing in front of crowds even larger than the ones at SCHS rallies. Often performing as the opening act for visiting Filipino artists

like Martin Nievera, Fe de los Reyes and Gina Padilla, Bergado has the opportunity to perform about four times a month. She is no rookie when it comes to performing, but that does not change the jitters she gets before each performance.

“Of course [I get nervous] every time,” Bergado said.

“My mom does this thing where she rubs my earlobes to calm me down before a performance. If she’s not there, I make someone else do it for me.”

To Bergado, who plans to pursue singing as a career, family is both what soothes her and what compels her to work hard.

“My family wasn’t given much. We aren’t the richest family,” Bergado said. “I guess my drive is to make their lives better and support them in the way they’ve supported me.”

Bergado isn’t relying on wishful thinking -- she vocalizes and rehearses on her own every day in addition to up to four rehearsals a week, depending on upcoming performances.

“A lot of people think I sing because I can sing. I want people to know that it’s not easy. It’s very difficult. I’m always practicing,” Bergado said. “It’s not easy, but I love it, and I want to be successful at it.”

Her hard work recently earned her a spot in a Filipino global competition called “Tawag Ng Tanghalan,” where she competed in Las Vegas as one of the top 10 singers representing America.

Though performing feels like magic to her, Bergado is primarily thankful for the sanctuary that music provides her.

“I’m a very emotional person.

When I’m singing, though, it’s not about me; it’s about the song,” Bergado said. “If I can sing a song a certain way, it’ll make me feel better. It’s an outlet.”

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SPOTLIGHT

12

OCTOBER 27, 2017

Student Activism

By Hudha Khan and Sophia Kennedy

In addition to balancing academics and extracurriculars, many students at SCHS have taken on another challenge: creating lasting change on our campus, in the community or around the world.

Students participate in rallies, volunteering events, protests and other forms of activism to bring attention to worldwide issues such as racial discrimination, gender stereotypes, mental illnesses and climate change.

Many, such as Vice Principal Erin Brown, see student activism at SCHS as a great way to connect students, build school spirit and share valuable ideas.

“The clubs allow our students to be able to meet other students that have similar interests, and because we work really hard to make sure that our clubs are proactive and positive, we have a huge, huge diverse group of students that are making changes in our own school community, but then outside our community,” Brown said.

College and Career Resource Technician Anthony

Butler believes the clubs and student activism promotes a positive school culture.

“I think [student activism] helped there to be a better morale on campus. That’s our way of building a stronger school spirit,” Butler said.

He also encourages all students to get involved. “My wish is that by the time everyone graduates, they will have participated in one activity,” Butler said.

Some active clubs at SCHS include: UNICEF, Key Club, Black Student Union and Girl’s Empowerment Project.