THE
B
URLINGAME B theburlingameb.org
February 13, 2020
Issue 5 Vol. 129
NEWS
C AREE R DAY I NDUS TRI AL DE SI G NE R “ I ’ m a n i n d u s t r ial designer, and I work in t h e d e s i g n d e p artment of Logitech. My b a c k g ro u n d h a s been in applied arts and d e s i g n a n d h o w to actually create and d e v e l o p p ro d u cts for people.” -Olivier G re g o ire
M E D I A M A RK E T I N G M A N AGE R “ I a m the socia l media ma rketing ma na ger for freedom financial network in San Mateo. I am in charge of being or representing the voice for our suite of companies, building our customer base, growing ou r market and talking to a lot of the clients that are currently with our program on the different social cha nnels.” -Kimberly Oca mpo-Sha w
F I RE F I GH T E R PA RA M E D I C “I’m a firefighter paramedic for the Centra l County Fire Depa rtment. I’ve been w orking here for two years. I first started off with Cal Fire and worked there for about five years and then came here as an entry level firefighter. ” -Micha el Cla nk
A I RLI N E C A P TA I N “I’m an A320 captain for Ala ska n Airlines. I’m a lso a n instructor, proficiency check air man and I lead a tea m on upset prevention recovery training in airplanes.” -Joe Emerson P H OTO S B Y H U B E RT CH E N
PHYSI C AL TH E R A PI S T “ I w o r k w i t h p a tients in trying t o re c o v e r b a c k to doing t h i n g s t h e y l o v e. A lot of times p a t i e n t s h a v e h ad an injury or a c c i d e n t t h a t p revents them f ro m b e i n g a b l e to walk or w o r k o r g o t o s chool, and s o m y j o b i s t o help people re c o v e r p h y s i c a lly and even e m o t io n a l l y f ro m th e in ju ry.” - G r a c e Wa n g
Career day exposes students to new career opportunites BY HUBERT CHEN
Senior Reporter
about potential future careers. “It was a very interesting experience, and I learned a lot of things that I didn’t know about these careers that I was interested in,” sophomore Zubin Bhaumik said. “The speaker for the Marines talked about how he was deployed and got to explore the world, and I thought that was pretty cool since he just got to see so much of the world and do the job that he loves.”
DE SI G N BY RACH E L YAP
Burlingame hosted a career day on Feb. 11, with over 50 professionals from many different backgrounds, including four Burlingame alumni. The last time Burlingame had a career day was in February 2018. “We had a number of speakers who had spoken in 2018 that returned, but we also brought in
some new community industry and representatives to join us this year,” career coordinator Carrie Hermann said. “We also added some really dynamic speakers with various backgrounds including some trades [because] sometimes students don’t always do a traditional four-year college path.” Students responded positively to the career day, saying that it was a good way to get knowledge
Freshman English classes merged for next fall BY AMELIA HARRIS
Copy Editor
Next year the administration will remove freshman Advanced Standing (AS) English from the course option list, merging all freshmen into the same level of English. By removing the class options, the administration hopes that more students will feel confident taking AS English as sophomores. Vice Principal Valerie Arbizu, a former English teacher, realizes that incoming freshmen often choose their English class based on their friends’ or parents’ opinions and do not feel comfortable changing pathways in later years. “When we looked at the demographics of who was starting in AS and staying and who was starting in CP [College Preparatory] and staying, there was a pretty big diversity gap … That’s a concern if you’re trying to connect your community, and kids are self-selecting right away into a system that divides them,” Arbizu said. For some students, the idea of a lesser academic challenge is disappointing. Freshman Ana Lunaparra is taking AS English this year and enjoys the in-depth class discussions as well as the preparation for future Advanced Placement English classes. “[Freshmen will] be able to learn similar things and be on the same page, but students that want to learn more advanced things won’t be able to,” Lunaparra said. However, the idea of combining more confident English students with the general population offers a way of equalizing the play-
ing field. “I feel like [combining the classes] would boost the confidence of people in normal English, but I feel like some of the more advanced students would feel like they shouldn’t be there, like it’s too easy for them,” freshman Brooks Bolton, a current CP English student, said. With the new curriculum, all freshmen will read the same material. Instead of teaching “Jane Eyre” to AS classes at the end of the year, all students will read “Fahrenheit 451,” according to English teacher Sophie Abitbol. The freshman English teachers are also discussing other changes, such as eliminating independent reading, although nothing is set in stone. While Abitbol acknowledges that some students may feel that the class is moving more slowly than they would like, she thinks that students will ultimately be able to adjust and succeed. “The idea here is that everyone feels more prepared. And so while [students being bored] might be a disadvantage, the positives that we’re hoping will come about, including everyone feeling prepared. And everyone feeling more connected, we’re hoping that that counterbalances those feelings,” Abitbol said. With these changes, Arbizu emphasized that she hopes students will feel more connected and improve the culture of their class in the years to come. Though it will be an experiment at first and may have some difficulties, the English Department and administration is excited to see how the new English structure benefits students.
W H AT ’ S
INSIDE
02
Exploring meme culture as a teenage coping strategy.
05
The Black Student Union celebrates Black History Month.
08
Learn about the man feeding Burlingame’s bird population.
10
“High School Musical: The Musical: The Series”: The Article