WHAT’S
INSIDE
THE December 13, 2021
2 News
8 Sports
4 Features
10 Opinion
URLINGAME B Burlingame High School, 1 Mangini Way, Burlingame, CA 94010
Issue 3 Vol. 132
Shortage of substitutes forces teachers to scramble PHOTO BY ELISE SPENNER
Lauren Rosaia, the secretary at Burlingame, gives Charles Douglas, a veteran substitute teacher at the school, his rosters and classroom key for the day. BY ELISE SPENNER through,” Rosaia said. “If while the District employed Copy Editor [teachers] call in sick and they approximately 140 subs in the In the minutes before the put their absence in, and a sub- 2019-2020 school year, it now bell rings, while students fran- stitute doesn’t pick it up, then has just 85. Across the state, tically search for a parking it’s left unfilled, so that I’m left drastic shortages of substitute teachers have marred the respot, track down their friends scrambling in the morning.” At Burlingame, finding turn to in-person learning. and rush to first period, Burwilling and capable substitute “It’s the same as the worklingame’s secretary Lauren teachers is getting harder and er shortage everywhere,” said Rosaia is scrambling to find a harder, according to Rosaia. Sandra Fewer, the Human Reteacher for every class. The shortage of substitutes is sources Generalist at the Dis“I thank Starbucks that not unique to Burlingame — trict who hires and retains subI have my coffee to get me
Annual Gobble Wobble runs to inclusion PHOTO BY SAM JOHNSTONE
BY LEXI GOLDSTEIN
Editor-in-Chief
BY SAM JOHNSTONE
Managing Editor
PHOTO BY SAM JOHNSTONE
On Thanksgiving morning, with a beep and the energetic drums of Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer,” participants in the seventh annual Gobble Wobble were off on the 5K course Burlingame students Elise Spenner and Ellie Neuman run in a in Coyote Point Recreation pack on the 2021 Gobble Wobble course at Coyote Point Park. Area. With determined sprinters in the front of the pack and families with dogs and strollers following behind, the 3.1-mile race offered pre-feast exercise for all. A Runner’s Mind, a local shop for running gear, organized the event. At 8:06 a.m., two trainers from Basecamp Fitness led a warm-up before racers embarked on their trek at 8:17 a.m. Kevin Bishop came in first Participants take off from the starting line at 8:17 a.m. on Nov. 25, with a time of 14 minutes, 53 beginning the 5K run.
stitute teachers. Fewer named a few of those reasons — teachers and their families have relocated; some have become the primary caregivers in their household; and many, especially older, retired teachers are not ready to return to the classroom amidst a deadly pandemic. In an attempt to incentivize substitute teaching, the District increased pay for substitute teachers by 15%, or $235 a day. And a pilot 2018 program guarantees medical, dental and vision insurance to retired District teachers, provided that they sub for a prescribed number of days, will continue this year. “They wanted to keep the quality of substitutes high, so [the insurance program] was an incentive to have seasoned teachers come back and help out by subbing,” said Georgaina Watson, a long-term substitute at Burlingame. Georgiana Watson, a retired counselor in the District, began as a substitute in 2018. She cited both the pay raise and the insurance program as key factors in her decision to return. However, other substitutes have not followed her lead. Rosaia still turns on her laptop at 7:45 a.m. and sees empty spots in the teaching schedule. On
these days, she calls on fulltime teachers like Erik Bennett, who agree to sub during their prep periods. Bennett acknowledges that it makes for more work outside of school — he has to “grind a little harder” to finish grading and lesson planning on his own time, rather than during prep periods. But it allows him to build relationships with students and, in the long run, enhances his classroom environment. “If I sub for a freshman class, and then a year or two later, they enter my class, they’re like, ‘Oh, you came to my class. I know who you are,’” Bennett said. “And I walk around campus, and kids are a lot more responsive because they’ve been exposed to me.” For most students, having a substitute teacher “is essentially a free period,” sophomore Pierce Schuman said. But when a full-time teacher enters the classroom to fill-in, the level of respect immediately goes up. “If a student was acting up, the student might have that teacher further in the future,” Schuman said. “Then I feel like the student’s going to act a lot more responsible than with a sub that they likely will never see again.”
seconds. Senior Dominic Marquez was the first Burlingame finisher, coming in 21st place, with and sophomore Isaac Van Voorhis finishingcoming close behind at 25th place. “I thought it’d be a good way to start Thanksgiving and go home and eat a ton of food,” said junior Ellie Neuman, who finished in 42nd place. Neuman signed up for the race with her friend and Burlingame cross country teammate, senior Rachel Burdick. While Neuman was motivated by food, Burdick found her drive in competition. “I was trying to beat these two little children who were next to me,” Burdick said. The race was structured with nine age brackets, which allowed for a diverse population of runners. “I think it’s a great way to get people into running,” Chester Rice, father of a Burlingame student, said. “So a lot of our
kids started running here, you know, this event. So I think it’s nice to see a lot of families, a lot of kids out running.” This inclusionary spirit translated into the running categories, which included three gender sectors: men, women and non-binary. Non-binary categories are increasingly more common at races, and this is the first year the Gobble Wobble offered it. This year, it had two adult participants. “That’s definitely the way things are trending, and I think that’s really good,” sophomore and Gobble Wobble participant Isaac Van Voorhis said. This was also the first in-person turkey trot since 2019, as last year’s 5K and 10K were held virtually. Due to construction at Coyote Point Park, a 10K course was not offered. COVID-19 guidelines were minimal on this year’s crisp autumn morning, with only a few runners opting to wear a mask.
News
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December 13, 2021
New guidelines for the return of concerts PHOTO BY LIZZY WAN
The Harry Styles concert at SAP Center Nov. 11 had a capacity of 17,562 people. BY LIZZY WAN best efforts, it can be difficult Senior Reporter in such a large venue to ensure After patiently waiting for every person is following the 18 months, artists are finally re- guidelines properly. “It’s very, very easy to miss turning to the stage for concerts, one of the last events to open someone that might have fake back up since the world shut documentation or not have some at all,” Carroll said. “So I down in March 2020. Many Burlingame students feel like they could have done a are enjoying the live music, even better job, but at an event with though the concert experience almost 20,000 people it is really, looks a bit different than usual. really hard to do that.” Junior Allie Hoffmann went Senior Chrissy Carroll attended the Harry Styles concert to the Luke Bryan concert at on Nov. 10 at the Golden One the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View on Oct. 9. The Center in Sacramento. “You either had to be fully outdoor venue can hold 22,000 vaccinated or you had to show guests and required both doses a negative 48-hour Covid test,” of the COVID-19 vaccine. The concert did not accept a negative Carroll said. Despite the venue security’s COVID-19 test as an alternative
to vaccination. At the same venue, sophomore Emma Gubbles went to the Pitbull concert. Although the concert was at the same location, the restrictions were much looser. “They told us all to bring vaccination cards, but they didn’t end up checking it,” Gubbles said. “I felt safe because I was vaccinated, but if I wasn’t vaccinated, I would be very concerned. I probably would have left because it was definitely in a place where you could have gotten Covid.” Junior Ana Lunaparra went to a Claire Rosinkranz concert at the Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco, a smaller venue that only holds 400 guests. Despite the small size, the venue was still very cautious, enforcing strict COVID-19 guidelines. “I think people weren’t allowed to get in because I saw Claire Rosinkranz’s Instagram story the next day and she was like, ‘Oh, a lot of people couldn’t get in because of the vaccine guidelines,’” Lunaparra said. The Warfield in San Francisco is another small venue with a capacity of 2,250 people. Junior William Chastain attended the Joji concert at this venue that
celebrated the artist’s new album, Nectar. “They required proof of vaccination, as well as an ID to verify that it was actually your vaccination, and masks were required. Although, I will say that it wasn’t really enforced, so no one really wore their masks once inside,” Chastain said. “I would say like 60 to 70% of people were not wearing their mask and were even doing things like vaping or smoking inside.” On the other hand, Playboy Carti’s concert at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco was one of the few events that did not mandate masks. Michaela Nee, a junior, attended and felt that despite the vaccination requirement, it was not safe. “Everyone was right next to each other, so I don’t think it was Covid safe,” Nee said. Juniors Danny Conway, Jared Berkovits and James Hurin attended Outside Lands, an annual music festival that takes place in Golden Gate Park. The festival had over 200,000 people in attendance this year. “It was decently loose. I wouldn’t say there were a ton of guidelines,” Conway said.
Truancies, COVID-19 affects attendance Staff Reporter
Tests, homework and sleep: three reasons why a student might silence their alarm clock and fall back asleep. At Burlingame, in wake of the disruptive COVID-19 pandemic, some students have not yet re-acclimated to the in-person learning environment. Compared to other schools, Burlingame has an extremely high attendance rate, with a daily attendance average of 97%, according to assistant principal Michele Fichera. Still, 3% of students choose to skip or “cut” periods, arriving at school late or leaving early. Some students prefer to do their work at home, similar to the distance-learning model, but in the absence of a teacher. “Sometimes when I see assignments that are listed, and I know [what] we’re going to be doing, I would just rather [do the assignments] at home,” an anonymous source said. In most cases, students will miss specific classes or be tardy
to class — rather than skipping out on entire school days, according to school-reported data. Some students feel in-person learning decreases their productivity and wish to return to the at-home school environment. “I feel like I get more done when I’m at home, actually. So in a way, I kind of do miss distance learning,” the anonymous source said. “I get things done. I get good grades on them. I just don’t want to be here for explanation and content when I could look at it on the agenda.” Students also commented that on days with tests they noticed increases in absences in the classroom. “I’ve seen classmates that don’t show up,” sophomore Minjun Kim said. “We had a lot of assignments and tests, and that’s when students started to be absent... I think it’s unfair because they have more time to study for the test, and taking a test later will give them an advantage over the other students.” Burlingame administrators are actively trying to combat truancies, especially chronic
absenteeism. Currently, the District uses the third-party company, EveryDay Labs, which aims to address issues on a case-bycase basis in coordination with Burlingame administrators. “When a student is not in class, it’s really difficult to recreate that moment or that experience that the student would have had,” Fichera said. Students can take excused absences on the grounds of illness, quarantine, medical appointments, funerals, court appearances, religious holidays and justifiable personal reasons with the approval of the principal. Unlike many other schools, Burlingame does not couple funding with attendance, though students are still required to attend school by law as found in Education Code Section 48293. While Burlingame maintains high attendance rates, tardiness is an increasingly pressing issue for teachers. “Some students were regularly late to my class,” Italian teacher Giorgia Battisodo said. “It has negatively affected the class performance in the sense that whenever there’s a student who is reg-
GRAPHIC BY AMANDA NOLAN
BY JACOB ROTHSTEIN
ularly late, students expect there will be a disruption to the class.” A letter is sent home to students that exceed five truancies and their parent or guardian receives a phone call. Burlingame’s administration does so with hopes of understanding why a student is cutting classes in order to best support them. If it progresses to chronic absenteeism, the issue is dealt with at either the district or county level, where there is a stronger response of consequences and support for the student and their family.
Sophomores Aahana Chakravartti and Gabriella Perez (behind) work on finalizing their project on Friday Dec.3. CREATE Mentoring Program competition from Dec. 8-9. “The judges scored each group and they were looking for; how thoughtful and comprehensive was the plan? How thorough and accurate was
BURLINGAME B STAFF
Editor-in-Chief Lexi Goldstein Managing Editor Sam Johnstone Sports Editor Isaac Bostonmaer Business Manager Farah Caban Webmaster Alex Kelly Head Photographer Michelle Moshkovoy Copy Editors Elise Spenner Mattingly Germack Senior Reporters Kristie Kim Safiya Loomba Julianna Oliver Jackson Spenner Lizzy Wan Staff Reporters Sophia Bella Daria Burnosova Arshia Chakravartti Wali Chaudry Leilani Dougherty Arda Inegol Isabel Liu Amanda Nolan Jake Rothstein
the engineering component? How complete and illustrative was the model? And then how clearly the students presented their project in the slides and in their presentation, ” Liu said.
Policy Statement: The Burlingame B is a student-run newspaper with the sole purpose of providing an open forum for student expression. Anything printed represents the opinion of the writer, but not necessarily that of the Burlingame B staff, the administration, or the faculty of Burlingame High School or anyone affiliated with the San Mateo Union High School District. The Burlingame B does not discriminate against race, political oritentation, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability. Although The Burlingame B will never refuse to publish guest submission based on the aforementioned factors, we reserve the right to edit or not publish them. Letters to the Editor Disagree with the writers? Bring your letters to the room A120 or email them to <theburlingameb@ gmail.com>. Letters may be considered for publication. The Burlingame B reserves the right to edit for clarity, length, and accuracy. We welcome all comments.
FICTAESTEM DITAM EATIS UT PORUM
The Architecture II class is working to decide the two teams that will participate in the CREATE Mentoring Program; a project focused on designing a new Career and Technology Education (CTE) building on campus. The program is a 10-week long competition that includes high schools throughout California. The project requires participants to complete certain criteria in order to fully represent and showcase their idea. “We have to create lots of physical models — paper, drawings and actual drafts. We also have to do 3D renderings,” sophomore Gabriella Perez said. The class is working in five separate groups, meaning there
are a variety of ideas and inspirations behind each design. Sophomore Samuel Bender is working with the @pple group, after being inspired by his sister. “I’m mostly interested in film, and my sister is really associated with a lot of BTV, so I wanted to build a building for them,” Bender said. Architecture and engineerin teacher Anna Liu was impressed with ideas such as Bender’s, and is pleased with their progression thus far. “The students are doing a great job this year. They have come up with some really solid plans for their buildings, and some really interesting engineering components,” Liu said. Once students finished their projects, they were judged at the
PHOTO BY ARSHIA CHAKRAVARTTI
Staff Reporter
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Teacher Adviser Melissa Murphy
Architecture prepares for competition BY ARISHIA CHAKRAVARTTI
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Website: www.theburlingameb.org Phone: (650) 558-2899 Email: theburlingameb@gmail.com Address: 1 Mangini Way Burlingame, CA 94010
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Features
December 13, 2021
Teachers given new technology to slow COVID-19 spread Webmaster
This year, the school gave High Efficiency Particulate Air Filters (HEPA) and carbon dioxide monitors to teachers in low-circulation A-Building rooms in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Previously, the memorandum of understanding deemed nine rooms (A103, A113, A115, A127, A144, A129, A201, A203 and A211) as unfit to meet COVID-19 guidelines. As the air in these rooms is stagnant, the school has given these devices to teachers to try and make up for the lack of proper air filtration. Other rooms in the A-Building with similarly poor air circulation have also been given air filters, but not monitors. The air filters take student and teacher breath and recycle it, filtering out dust, pollen, mold and possibly infected air from the room. The carbon di-
oxide monitors track the progress of unhealthy particles being filtered out alongside carbon dioxide Seeing as there is a connection between high carbon dioxide levels and contaminated air, it allows teachers to monitor risky COVID-19 conditions that would otherwise remain undetected. “I can usually catch when the numbers on the monitor are getting pretty high, and that’ll let me know that I should take preventative measures, and sometimes I can prevent the monitor from going off,” English teacher and occupant of A113, one of the rooms that lacks air filtration, Amy Farley said. These measures usually include turning on the HEPA filter in the classroom or opening the windows to increase natural airflow. While these actions can help carbon dioxide parts per million (ppm), it may be frustrating for students. Many students sitting near windows can get cold, and students near the
air scrubber might find it hard to hear, according to Farley. “It’s kind of like if you’ve ever been on an airplane, that kind of background noise,” junior Stephen Hwang said. “Eventually you just get used to it, and it just doesn’t matter.” For students who are less acclimated to the noise of the air filters, teachers have taken to wearing microphone headsets akin to the ones worn by theme park guides. These microphones help teachers project their voice to students when the air filter is on throughout the English teacher Marina Junquiera uses her microphone headset day. “I think that the headset during her first period English to project her voice across the classhelps regardless of the filter room. situation; it helps to be able to cus their attention on stopping move the air filter directly unhear through the mask,” Farley the monitor rather than teach- derneath the monitor to lower ing. the carbon dioxide monitor’s said. “One time it went on for a ppm, according Hwang. Though teachers are often While the measures can be able to stop the monitor from solid five minutes because we going above the unhealthy didn’t know how to turn it off, at times a hassle for students threshold of 800 ppm, occa- and yeah, it was kind of annoy- and teachers, they help Burlingame to keep COVID-19 out sionally the monitor will reach ing,” Hwang said. To eventually turn it off, a of the classrooms, keeping peothis threshold and start beeping. This can be disruptive to maintenance worker had to ple safe. class and cause teachers to fo- come in and tell the teacher to PHOTO BY ALEX KELLY
BY ALEX KELLY
CA AH FA R BY
er recruits,” said Ella Macko, senior and Division III Johns Hopkins University soccer recruit. Visits are another way colleges interact with high school athletes, which Division I and Division III schools spend different amounts of time on. “Division III was so much quicker, it was crazy. Just within a few emails, exchange s and a phone call i n , Division III invited me out. Whereas a Division I school, they really want to take their time and feel you out. They’re making a much bigger commitment to you,” Martineau said. Rice, Martineau and Macko are all excited to move onto the
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with Division I schools and later shifted to Division III. Martineau had plans to play baseball last summer and meet coaches in person, but an injury limited this opportunity. “I was talking to a lot of Division I schools at that point [in the summer]. And then when I got hurt, that kind of fell off the table, so I shifted my focus to Division III schools,” Martineau said. After high school athletes form a strong bond with coaches, they may have the chance to visit the campus and meet the team. Schools were unable to have visitors during the height of the pandemic, but in 2021, as infection rates decreased, athletes began to visit again. “Because of Covid, it wasn’t technically an official visit, but I did go with a lot of the oth-
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Student athletes from Burlingame commit to colleges and universities annually to play a higher level of sports and continue their academic careers. However, this year’s commits have had to navigate the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic along with the normal recruitment process. Every sport has its own timeline for recruitment — some start as early as the beginning of sophomore year while others begin at the start of senior year. Morgan Rice, senior and University of Notre Dame Division I rowing commit, began contacting coaches in November of 2020 through email. “I started with researching not just the program but the
actual school because I knew that if I get injured, I’m still at the school for four years. And then I started drafting emails to … 30 schools and then heard back from 29 of them,” Rice said. The COVID-19 pandemic restricted coaches from watching Rice race in-person, forcing her to communicate her athletic and academic statistics over Zoom. Although the online interaction was undesired, virtual learning allowed more time to talk with coaches and colleges. “It was easier to fit in calls at lunch or before school. From November to May of junior year, I had at least two calls every day,” Rice said. Senior and Division III Occidental College baseball commit Lou Martineau started his recruitment process by talking
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Athletic recruitment shifts due to pandemic
next level of education. “I know 14 girls that are going to Notre Dame who I am going to be friends with, and I’m also just excited to be part of a team and actually be part of the student life there,” Rice said.
BY SAM JOHNSTONE
Managing Editor
15-minute video that followed the 10-minute version of All Too Well with an acting scene in the middle. She released it just 19 hours after the album came out. “I thought it was really cool how she kind of brought a story, and there was actually a pause in the music with some acting and some dialogue,” history teacher and self-proclaimed Swiftie Joshua Gnass said. “There were] really good gas-lighting scenes, you know that’s not good, but it was impressive and believable. It seemed like a really real argument.” Senior Laurel Brown agreed with Gnass, and noted that she thought the movie was beautifully done. “It took you along for a ride, and you wanted the relationship to work so badly even though you knew it wouldn’t,” Brown said. Although there may be some disagreements regarding Swift’s ex-boyfriends, one thing fans SY
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agreed on was supporting her decision to re-record. “I think it’s a very inspiring, big power move just to say, you know, ‘I want to own my own music,’ and I think that she totally deserves to own her own music,” La Mark said. La Mark noted that she feels the industry is not treating its artists well, and she is proud of Swift for standing up, especially for smaller artists who wouldn’t have the platform to advocate for themselves if they were in a similar situation. “She’s making a statement and maybe being [one] of the first people to say, ‘no I have the influence and power so let me do it,’” La Mark said.
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Saccuman’s favorite song after listening to the album was 22 (Taylor’s Version). On the other hand, junior Chiara La Mark was most looking forward to All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault). After listening to the full album, La Mark decided her two favorites were All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault) and Nothing New (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault) [feat. Phoebe Bridgers]. Rolling Stone ranked All Too Well No. 1 out of her 206 songs, and it is rumored to detail the failed relationship between Swift and actor Jake Gyllenhaal. Swifties have taken a particular dislike to Gyllenhaal, going so far as to slam him on Twitter and flood his Instagram comments with snide remarks. “Sometimes the whole hating on Jake Gyllenhaal, I just can’t get behind that. I still love that man,” La Mark said. La Mark’s opinion differs with many Swift fans, especially following All Too Well: The Short Film. Swift produced a
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PHOTO COURTESY OF HAWT CELEBS
Taylor Swift, renowned country, pop and alternative singer-songwriter, released Red (Taylor’s Version) on Nov. 12. This was the second album she re-recorded, the first being Fearless (Taylor’s Version), which was released on April 9. Of her nine albums, the first six master recordings are owned by Big Machine Records — Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989 and Reputation. Swift left Big Machine Records in 2 0 1 8 after they denied her a fair opp ortunity to purchase t h e mas-
ters. Over the next few years, Swift will release re-recorded versions of those albums, therefore allowing her to own the masters. Swift hopes that people will only listen to songs from her re-recorded albums, or those with (Taylor’s Version) beside it. Red (Taylor’s Version) took Burlingame by storm, as students posted about it on social media, ranked their favorite songs and eagerly chatted about the album during passing periods. Junior Anthony Saccuman was excited about the Red re-recordings, as it is his favorite Taylor Swift album. He first became a fan after attending the 1989 World Tour in 2015 with his sister, but does not consider himself a Swiftie, a term for a die-hard Swift fan. “I actually just learned about the re-recordings kind of recently,” Saccuman said. “I thought the vocals sounded better, and then every once in a while, you would get a little bit of a change, but it wasn’t a big difference.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Red (Taylor’s Version) is loved all too well
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Features
December 13, 2021
Fist-bumps, weightlifting and security: Meet Coach E PHOTO BY FARAH CABAN
Campus Safety Specialist and Strength and Conditioning Coach Ernesto Nuñez smiles at lunch on Thursday, Dec. 2. BY FARAH CABAN
Business Manager
If you are a student-athlete, frequent the weight room or spend brunch in the quad, you have probably seen Ernesto Nuñez — better known as Coach E — at Burlingame. It’s
likely he has greeted you before school with a big grin and a fist bump from the driver’s seat of his golf cart — it’s clear that interacting with students is the highlight of his job. “I just don’t know how many other schools really have a ‘Coach E.’ Everyone has a train-
er. Everyone has a weight coach. But Coach E is like a pillar of the school. Everyone knows him and everyone loves him,” senior and fourth year wrestler Christian Sawyer said. Nuñez grew up in Oxnard, Calif. and attended Hueneme High School, where he played football and wrestled. “My high school wrestling coach was not an on-campus coach,” Nuñez said. “So I saw him for a minimal amount of time during the year, and I think I would have benefited if he was a teacher or some figure on campus where he was there all year.” Nuñez’s first job at Burlingame was as a full-time instructional aide. After 1.5 years of working in the classroom, Nuñez was offered the Strength and Conditioning Coach posi-
tion and worked before and after school in the weight room. As he sits in the quad, Nuñez loves to watch the growth of student athletes throughout their four years. If the student walks over, he gives them a fist bump and asks the next time he will see them in the weight room. “When we got shut down for Covid, it hurt knowing that I wouldn’t come to work and get to see all of you and give fist bumps,” Nuñez said. Sawyer has been working out with Nuñez since he was a freshman. “When I couldn’t drive, he picked me up for morning weightlifting at around 5:30 a.m. I would basically be with him until school started at around 8 a.m.,” Sawyer said. Coach E’s role also includ-
ed creating daily workouts for students and teams in addition to their typical sports practices, with hopes of improving their endurance. Then, in 2019, when Randy Williams retired, Nuñez took over as the Campus Safety Specialist. “If something happens — a student breaks a school rule or something — it’s my job to report it, and then the administration handles the punishment,” Nuñez said. Even with his new job, Nuñez still works in the weight room and finds time to train the Burlingame athletes. “He probably spends more time in the weight room now and just being around all the kids because that’s what he really loves to do,” Sawyer said. PHOTO BY KRISTIE KIM
Chinese Exclusion Act matters to students and teachers today BY ISABEL LIU
Staff Reporter
In the light of recent anti-Asian violence, many Californian communities took on a conversation confronting the past. The city of San Jose apologized to Chinese immigrants in September by acknowledging the history of violence, discrimination and the destruction of several Chinatowns. San Jose is one of the latest cities to apologize, following the first city, Antioch, to do so in May. A history of hate against Asians is especially prevalent in California, where racism fueled the creation of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Signed in 1882 by President Chester A. Arthur, the act suspended Chinese immigration into the United States and declared Chinese people ineligible for naturalization. The law was a response to the large influx of Chinese people into America — a trend that grated against white purity ideologies and induced fear from white laborers over job availability. “Today, the Chinese Exclusion Act isn’t in policy, but there’s still this resentment towards Asians…saying we dominate the workplace or educational spaces,” Chinese American junior Eva Chen said. Laws prior to the Exclusion Act such as the Foreign Miners Tax — special taxes targeted at Chinese and Mexican miners in California — and a ban on nonwhites testifying in court made it difficult for Chinese people
to deal with discrimination and violence. Even Chinatowns, neighborhoods where Chinese people were forcefully segregated into, were burned down and destroyed. These actions established a sense of “other,” by making assimilation and societal acceptance inaccessible. “It’s easy to say that the Bay Area isn’t bad, but I think the racism of the Exclusion Act emerges in more subtle ways,” Taiwanese American teacher Jim Chin said. “People say things like, ‘Oh, your English is so good’…it’s not innately malicious, but it’s the kind of thing you say when your gut tells you something about being Asian means you don’t belong or come from America.” Advanced Placement U.S. History teacher Peter Medine explained that these laws and racist beliefs were a method to enforce anti-Asian behaviors not only institutionally, but also culturally. “Propaganda from anti-Asian groups accused Chinese people of being opium dealers, corrupting white women, causing cheap labor and spreading disease — essentially calling them criminals and heathens,” Medine said. “You could compare their efforts to the campaign that the Nazis waged against Jews before they passed all their laws.” Chinese immigrants also struggled with attacks on Eastern Asian religions, instruments and even hairstyles, as well as stereotypes painting them as PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
People mill around in Chinatown, San Francisco. Established in the 1850s, Chinatown is a cultural center.
robotic, unhuman workers. In the late 1800s, such beliefs landed many Chinese Americans in near-deadly, low paying working conditions. Today, the hard-working Asian stereotype manifests itself differently. “I have had a few teachers in the past who told me I’m smart, but I doubt they feel that way because it feels like they’re going along with the stereotype, not what I’ve shown them,” Taiwanese American junior Sharon Ku said. Chinese Americans can be overlooked because of certain assumptions, and Chen described how these generalizations devalue expression of Chinese cultural values, such as educational excellence or musical ability. “We forget that the talents we have should be appreciated because it’s been translated into this idea that, of course we’re going to have this,” Chen said, “And in response to that, a lot of Asians…don’t want to be part of this group.” In the face of all these repercussions, she noted that apologies do make a difference. “As people, we’re connected forever to our heritage, our history. So I don’t think that the apologies are overdue,” Chen said, “It’s important that we confront the past to make progress.” Ku and Chin echoed similarly, but added that the apology needed to be a long term arrangement. Ku described a speech-only apology as “going in a loop.” “We’re not moving forward if we don’t use actions to address our biases,” Ku said. Chin agreed, noting that acknowledgment of progression is also important. “You can be grateful for the opportunities that you currently have while still pointing out that the US has done some pretty awful things in the past,” Chin said. “It’s about finding ways to remind people what history was erased, and then living up to our promise to improve.”
The co-presidents of the Cooking Club, Kelsey McDonald and Anna Way began the club last year from their love for cooking.
Cooking Club uses Burlingame utilities for the first time BY KRISTIE KIM
Senior Reporter
Juniors and co-presidents Kelsey McDonald and Anna Way founded Burlingame’s Cooking Club last year amid virtual learning. The electronic barrier required creativity, as seen with the implementation of asynchronous cooking assignments for the members. “We would cook on our own and take a picture and put it on a slideshow. We had themes like holiday or pumpkin,” Way said. Compared to last year, there is a significant increase in member attendance this year, likely due to the fact that students are able to cook in person. “Last year, there was a fraction of people that are coming this year. I think 76 people signed up this year and we had maybe 10 people coming regularly last year,” Way said. The high attendance does not surprise Shannon Couch, the advisor of the Cooking Club for the last two school years. “I think the reason it’s so wildly popular is that kids are really craving that … connection with other students and fortunately, food is a great connector,” said Couch, who teaches the Foods & Nutrition and Culinary Arts classes. With the popularity of the club, there were more students than allowed during the first club meeting. However, the co-presidents came up with a
solution for the problem. “Before each meeting, we send out a survey, so we know how many people are coming. So on our first meeting, 25 people signed up but then 50 people came, so half of them did not get to participate,” Way said. “So we decided to cap it at 24.” Freshman Renee Chen was one of the students who signed up for the club, joining after learning about it from the Club Fair. “We’ve made waffles, some Spanish tortillas and pumpkin spice lattes,” Chen said. Besides having fun, the co-presidents want to instill life skills and a passion for cooking amongst participants. “Our main goal is to teach kids who aren’t super experienced at cooking how to cook because that’s a really important life skill,” McDonald said. “And then we also just want to share our love of cooking with other people and meet new people who also love it and create a community of people who love cooking.” The co-presidents decide what they will make, and they set up for each meeting before Flex Time every other week. Way and McDonald also have other plans and hopes for the year. “Kelsey and I were thinking about doing something with philanthropy this year,” Way said.
Features
December 13, 2021
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Fighting climate change from the coldest city in the world Head Photographer
Junior Maiia Tomskaia, who transferred to Burlingame in September, is no stranger to the frigid cold. She lived in the coldest large city in the world — Yakutsk, Russia — from birth to age nine. Tomskaia then moved to Moscow where she lived for five years, before immigrating to the U.S. last year. Still, she has vivid memories of Yakutsk. “My school was always getting canceled from how cold it is, because it sometimes gets to -80° Fahrenheit,” Tomskaia said. Located in East Siberia, Yakutsk is the capital city of the Sakha Republic, or Yakutia — which would be the world’s PHOTO COURTESY OF MAIIA TOMSKAIA
Maiia Tomskaia, originally from Yakutsk, Russia, aims to raise awareness for Siberia’s global warming crisis.
eighth largest country if it were independent, according to The New York Times. Indigenous Yakuts, who are descendants from Turkic, Mongol and native Siberian tribes, make up 47% of the population. 38% are Russians and 15% are ethnic minorities including Evenks, according to Urban Resilience Hub. Tomskaia herself is half-Yakutian and half-Russian. “They have their own national languages, celebrations and traditions,” Tomskaia said. “We really respect nature. We have a really good celebration called Ysyakh. It’s a celebration of summer because we basically have eight months of winter. We gather all together, dance in a circle and we just celebrate the first beams of sun.” Many Yakuts also believe in local spirits and nurturing the environment that the people are surrounded by. “If you go to the forest, you should feed the local spirits,” Tomskaia said. “For example, you put a sandwich under a tree and say, ‘Thank you so much for letting us stay here. We’re very good people; we’re not going to hurt any of your possessions.’” However, rising temperatures from climate change are threatening Yakutia’s nature, infrastructure and public health — a growing crisis that Tomaskaia is passionate about fighting
PHOTO COURTESY OF PIU_PIU / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
BY MICHELLE MOSHKOVOY
Yakutsk has the biggest temperature differential in Russia, with temperatures as low as -76 °F in the winter and as high as 86-95 °F in the summer, according to Seasons of the Year. against. Built on permafrost, a thick subsurface layer of soil that remains frozen throughout the year, it holds more carbon than the amount currently present in the atmosphere. “Climate change basically depends on Yakutia, and no one talks about it because when we talk about global warming, we talk about America or Europe — but we never mention Siberia,” Tomskaia said. “The permafrost is melting quickly, and as a result, it leads to deformation of land, small flooding regions — it’s really dangerous.” One solution being devel-
Dangers persist with holiday travels GRAPHIC BY SAFIYA LOOMBA
BY SAFIYA LOOMBA
Senior Reporter
After almost two years of battling the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, families are plagued with the question of whether or not it is safe enough to travel due to the recent COVID-19 variants, such as the Omicron variant. Last winter, California was under a stay-at-home order with strict protocols for gatherings and airports. This year, while circumstances have allowed for a relaxation of these protocols, students and families still differ on the safety of traveling. Some Burlingame students and their families started traveling right after they got the vaccine. Junior Alex Gratch, for example, traveled to Los Angeles and Yosemite National Park earlier this year. While Gratch and her family are not planning to travel this winter break, it
did not surprise her that there was a new variant. “There are going to be continually new variants of Covid that are going to be more contagious. There’s no way to stop that from happening, so the best we can do is get vaccines and keep asking until it’s deemed safe to stop,” said Gratch. Burlingame parent and Chief of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism in the School of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco, Dr. Suneil Koliwad, believes that traveling is safe if one is fully vaccinated and boostered. He still recommends that all individuals, regardless of vaccination status, should wear masks to prevent passing on the virus via an asymptomatic infection. “There’s no data suggesting that Omicron is more serious than any other strains of
COVID-19; therefore, there’s every reason to believe, at this juncture, that full vaccination, including a booster shot, would at the very least, be effective in limiting the likelihood that you would ever get a serious infection,” Koliwad said. Many are still concerned for children who are not of age to be vaccinated, or have only received one dose of the vaccine. “I help take care of my dad who has compromised immunity. And we have two small kids, so we have not traveled during Covid at all. I don’t know how much of that fear now is based in reality, or if it’s just because I feel traumatized,” Burlingame history teacher Annie Miller said. Miller and her family do not plan on traveling this holiday season to ensure their safety. Although their daughters have both received one dose of the vaccine, Miller wants to wait to travel until the variants have settled down and both girls are fully vaccinated. For families who are choosing to travel this winter break, unlike Miller, Koliwad recommends taking precautions to maintain safety even if all travellers are vaccinated. “I encourage everybody to be fully vaccinated and that includes getting a booster vaccination, and if you possibly can, to wear masks in situations where you’re not sure about the vaccination status of the people around you,” Koliwad said.
oped is the Pleistocene Park, a 14,000-hectare reserve in Yakutia led by ecologist Nikita Zimov, who Tomskaia has been in contact with, and his father Sergey Zimov. The two are testing if large herbivores can rejuvenate the mammoth steppe, a grass-dominated ecosystem, by grazing. The hope is that the mammoth steppe will help retain the permafrost by protecting it from the warming atmosphere. “When they populate the territory of permafrost with these animals, they kind of recover the life cycle there. By eating
grass, they fertilize the local soil, which accelerates the growth of new vegetation,” Tomskaia said. Tomaskaia first became interested in battling global warming after watching “Permafrost melts due to climate change. Are we doomed?” — a documentary by the YouTube channel Bad Planet. Now, she wants to pay her knowledge forward. “Siberia plays a huge role in the climate change sphere. I’m just shocked that no one talks about it,” Tomskaia said. “I feel like I need to speak up about this problem.”
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New Movie Guide
Encantó
NEW MOVIES
BY LIZZY WAN
Senior Reporter
Based on a true story and the novel, “House of Gucci” follows Patrizia Reggiani as she makes her way into the Gucci family after marrying Maurizio Gucci. The seemingly happy family struggles behind the scenes as they navigate their relationships all while being one of the wealthiest families in the world. Lady Gaga, Adam Driver and Jared Leto are just a few of the familiar faces starring in the movie. Directed by Ridley Scott, best known for his work on “The Martian,” this crime-drama film was released on Nov. 24.
BY LIZZY WAN
Senior Reporter PHOTO COURTESY OF METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER STUDIOS
West side story BY ARDA INEGOL
Staff Reporter
BY ARDA INEGOL
Staff Reporter
BY SOPHIA BELLA
Staff Reporter
spider-man: no way home BY WALI CHAUDRY
Staff Reporter
Ghostbusters: Afterlife Staff Reporter
PHOTO COURTESY OF SONY ENTERTAINMENT
Continuing the widely-renowned Ghostbusters series, “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” features a single mother and her two children who move to a small town in Oklahoma following their grandfather’s death to take over his farm. Upon their arrival, they discover a connection to the original Ghostbusters and their grandfather’s secret legacy. As the family learns more and more about their ancestors and the town, the children and their friends attempt to finish what the original Ghostbusters couldn’t — defeating Gozer. This sequal will not be released on streaming platforms, and comes exclusively to theaters starting Nov. 19.
As Spider Man’s identity was revealed in the previous movie, “Spider-Man: Far From Home”, he can no longer separate his ordinary life as Peter Parker from the danger of being a superhero. In turn, he seeks Doctor Strange’s help, who performs a spell to cause people to forget that Peter is Spider-Man. However, the spell does not work as intended, which leads to the return of multiple villains, including Green Goblin, Lizard, Electro, Doc Ock and Sandman. This continuation of the previous Spider-Man movies is set to come in theaters on Dec. 17.
A continuation of the animated musical comedy “Sing,” “Sing 2” follows Buster Moon and his cast of animal performers as they prepare a major show. The group must convince Clay Calloway, a grief-stricken rock star, to perform alongside them. With music by Joey Talbot and U2, the movie takes viewers through an emotional rollercoaster to reveal the power of music and its ability to heal. Directed by Garth Jennings, the movie is set to come out on Dec. 22.
king richard BY SOPHIA BELLA Based on the true story of tennis legends Serena and Venus Williams, “King Richard” Staff Reporter depicts Richard Williams and his steadfast journey towards shaping his daughters into undefeated tennis champions. While still portraying the early timeline of Venus and Serena’s careers, the movie narrows in on their father’s sacrifices and unwavering determination to push his daughters to the top. Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green and starring Will Smith as Richard Williams, the movie was released in theaters and on HBO Max on Nov. 19. PHOTO COURTESY OF WARNER BROS. PICTURES
BY WALI CHAUDRY
PHOTO COURTESY OF COLUMBIA PICTURES
PHOTO COURTESY OF WARNER BROS. STUDIOS
The continued story of the Matrix series, “Matrix: Resurrections,” features Neo’s (Keanu Reeves) re-entry into the world of the Matrix, where he must confront his past enemies and once again bring peace into the computer-generated world. Fans will see the return of Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) along with a variety of new faces, including Neil Patrick Harris and Priyanka Chopra. This long-awaited revamp of one of the most cinematically influential franchises in movie history is set to release in theaters and on HBO Max on Dec. 22.
sing 2 PHOTO COURTESY OF ILLUMINATION
PHOTO COURTESY OF 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS
The matrix resurection
Directed by renowned director Steven Spielberg, “West Side Story”, a remake of the original 1961 version depicts the lives of two teens from two different racial backgrounds who fall in love. Their affection for each other, however, is seen as offensive by their separate communities and the film details the struggles of their relationship. Set in New York City during the 1950s, the movie incorporates music and dancing to recreate and modernize its predecessor that came out exactly 50 years ago. Spielberg’s film is set to release in theaters on Dec. 10.
PHOTO COURTESY OF WALT DISNEY ANIMATION STUDIOS
house of gucci
Hidden in the mountains of Colombia is a small town called Encanto. The Madrigal family, who lives in Encanto, is not an ordinary family. Every Madrigal child receives a unique gift, except for 15-yearold Mirabel. However, when trouble comes their way, she might be the only person able to defend her town. Filled with music by “Hamilton” playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda, the movie hits theaters on Nov. 24 and will be released on Disney+ on Dec. 24.
Sports
8
December 13,2021
Nothing but BY KRISTIE KIM
Senior Reporter
PANTHERS AIM TO DEFEND SECTION TITLE PHOTO BY MATTINGLY GERMACK
BY MATTINGLY GERMACK
Copy Editor
Senior Will Uhrich goes up for a layup in Burlingame’s 55-32 throttling of University High School on Friday, Dec. 3. they outscored their opponents Lou Martineau and Sean Richin the paint by an average of 12 ardson, the Panthers look to points per game. recreate their success from last “Normally our shots would season. fall,” Dowd said. “So to win a They will compete in two game where the shots aren’t fall- more tournaments, hosted by ing … it showed how great our Fremont High School in Sunnydefense played.” vale and Albany High School in Their early success builds on Albany, before starting league last year’s delayed and shortened play in January. Dowd emphaspring season when they rallied sized how important tournato claim the Central Coast Sec- ments are in establishing a fountion Division III championship. dation for league success. The team is chock-full of “It’s like a mini season,” experience, as their roster is Dowd said. “And we gotta get to exclusively made up of upper- the championship.” classmen. Led by co-captains
The cheer team is preparing for their second season of the year, as they transition from being a key part of the football game experience to the basketball season. Although basketball has begun scrimmages and tournament play, league games will not start until Jan. 5, meaning the squad will continue to practice stunts and cheers until then. The cheerleaders have had to adapt to a notable change in setting, moving from the outdoor football field to the indoor gymnasium. “In the gym, it’s a lot more compact, and so we really have to be a lot more mindful about how much space we take up,” senior and varsity teammate Jayden Schlesinger said. “And we’re also like two feet from the front row of the audience, so it’s a little scary.” Not only is the space a big change for the cheer squad, but their resources and ability to perform are also affected. “It is a problem with stunting because when we’re on the fields, the ground is soft, and we don’t need mats or anything,” sophomore and JV teammate Liz Forsell said. “But, it’s different when we’re in the gym because when we do practice in the gym, we have The cheer team practiced for our mats out.” JV cheerleaders, a squad the upcoming basketball seacomprised of sophomores son on Tuesday, Dec. 7.
PHOTO BY KRISTIE KIM
The boys’ varsity basketball team opened their season with a championship in the Bud Bresnahan Blue and Gold Classic, hosted by Jefferson High School. They beat Lowell High School, University High School and Jefferson by scores of 44-35, 55-32 and 59-42, respectively. They dominated all three games, only trailing twice throughout the entire tournament, early in the first quarters of the Lowell and Jefferson games. The Panthers’ discipline and physicality were evident. They had consistent success rebounding offensively and defensively while also sporting a positive turnover and foul differential in all three games. “We kept our composure out there,” senior Will Uhrich said. “The bench also brought the energy, so that was a key component in our defense.” The rim showed Burlingame no mercy, turning on-target shots into unlucky misses in all three games. But their physical dominance on both ends helped them overcome that bad luck;
and freshmen, did not get the chance to cheer for basketball last year due to distance learning. Sophomore and JV teammate Taryn Hallum performed at four football games last year, but this year will be her first time cheering for basketball. “I’m just excited to cheer for basketball because it’s new and all the cheers are really fun because there’s a lot of stomping and clapping cheers, and also to cheer for some of my friends that are on the team,” Hallum said. The stomp and clap cheers are an example of changes and additions made to the routines to account for the new environment. “When you switch up the cheers, it makes it a little new, a little more fun because obviously, you can’t do a touchdown cheer for basketball,” Schlesinger said. “But that’s always a really fun part, getting to do new cheers and different stuff.”
Girls’ soccer confident after preseason domination EXPERIENCED SQUAD POISED FOR SUCCESS PHOTO BY MICHELLE MOSHKOVOY
PHOTO BY JAKE ROTHSTEIN
PHOTO BY MICHELLE MOSHKOVOY
LEFT: Right forward Bella Tallerico scored a hat-trick against Mills High School. CENTER: Senior Sofie Rodriguez is committed to play at UC Santa Barbara next fall. RIGHT: Sophomore right forward Elise Spenner beats a Mills defender in their preseason game on Nov. 30. BY MICHELLE MOSHKOVOY
Head Photographer
After an unconventional spring season of just eleven games, with players who opted to play club soccer, high school or juggle both amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the girls’ varsity soccer team is ready to kick off their regular season. “The team was shorthanded last year, but the dynamic hasn’t changed. It’s taught us to be more grateful for this season,” senior center forward Talia Aboukhalil said. “I think if anything, it made us closer.”
The program seeks to continue their success from their last full season in 2019-2020, when they won the Central Coast Division (CCS) Division III title and made it to the NorCal Playoff finals on March 7, just four days before the pandemic brought sports to a halt. With seven seniors, seven juniors and five sophomores, the team features no freshmen — a contrast to the six in 2020 and four earlier this spring. “A lot of us have played together in the past which helps,” senior outside back Ella Macko said. “Everyone is [still] learn-
ing how everyone fits in terms of positions and formations, but we’re off to a pretty good start in terms of our ability to connect and make passes.” The experienced roster includes three college commits: John Hopkins University commit Macko, UCSB commit Sofie Rodriguez and Stanford University commit Amalie Pianim, who forwent the last two seasons. Pianim is currently out with an ankle injury. In their first preseason game against Mills High School on Nov. 30, Burlingame dominated and proved to be the more
skilled and athletic team. Retaining ball possession for the bulk of the game, the Panthers won 12-0, scoring six goals in each half. Right forward Bella Tallerico led in scoring with a hat-trick. On Dec. 2, Burlingame followed a similar formula, winning 9-0 against Archbishop Riordan High School — Aboukhalil leading the team in scoring with four goals. The Panthers fell to Saratoga High School 1-2 on Dec. 4, all goals coming in the second half, with junior midfielder Olivia Mausehund scoring off a deflected pass from outside back
Rodriguez. Burlingame played Carlmont High School on Dec. 7 — clawing their way to a 2-1 victory, with Macko scoring from distance and Rodriguez converting a penalty kick. A scrappy game against a good team, the win is a confidence booster as Burlingame prepares for league play. “It would be really awesome if we won the [bay division] because that is something we haven’t done in the past three years. And obviously, we’re looking to make CCS and hopefully win CCS soon,” Macko said.
For girls’ basketball, it’s
Wrestling season looks promising Boys shine in Berkeley tournament BY WALI CHAUDRY
Staff Reporter
BY DARIA BURNOSOVA
Staff Reporter
as everybody is helping everybody else.” Along with maintaining a positive environment, Bruening has thoughts of winning on his mind. “I want a PAL Bay victory along with either a tournament or dual meet win,” Bruening said. “But this can only happen if everyone just shows up and tries their best… everyone has a different way to improve, and all I’m trying to do is help them find that [way].” The team also participated in a tournament on Dec. 4, with four varsity wrestlers taking part — Christian Saw-
yer, Calvin Pineda, Diego Ruiz and Spencer Blyth. Three of the wrestlers secured a win with a final score of 2-1, and they hope to continue these victories into the rest of the season. The team will participate in three more tournaments before competing in their first dual meet of the season against San Mateo High School on Jan. 6 at home. Many wrestlers on the team, like Bruening, cherish the opportunity to compete in head-to-head dual meets. “Dual meets are the heart and soul of wrestling, tournaments are just for placing,” Bruening said.
BUR NOS OVA
The boys’ wrestling team has officially begun their season with a novice tournament at Berkeley High School on Nov. 20. “[The team] did well even though many of them have less wrestling experience than others,” said team captain and senior Xavier Bruening. “They tried their hardest, and everyone went home with at least a win, and that’s what I think a good team is.” Sophomore Matthew Lau, who felt unsatisfactory with his performance in the past tournament, said he knows that he can improve before his next one by using the daily practices to his advantage, along with the positive energy from the rest of the team. Bruening also emphasized team camaraderie as a means of improving. “Everybody helps each other out,” Bruening said. “I’ve seen first year [wrestlers] coaching other first years in the [mat room]. It’s The boys’ wrestling team has held two-hour practices in the been a great team environment Burlingame Mat Room since the beginning of their season.
PHOTO BY WALI CHAUDRY
PHO TO BY D ARIA
Girls prevail in challenging first matches BY ARSHIA CHAKRAVARTTI hard in practice to improve their skills and prepare for their Staff Reporter matches. The girls’ wrestling team “Overall, the atmosphere of kicked off their season on Nov. the team is very supportive, and 20 with a meet at Berkeley High I’m very grateful for that. I see School, which resulted in each a lot of people encouraged to Burlingame wrestler earning a continue working hard,” junior win. Erika Jiang said. “I’m seeing a “I think on Saturday, the lot of improvements throughwhole team did pretty well. Ev- out the team, and I definitely eryone left the tournament with feel that I’ve learned a lot from a win and then multiple went the coaches.” undefeated,” junior Emmi Cate The team has grown in size said. compared to previous years, The team has been working with interest for the sport in-
Elana Weisman goes up for a shot in a team scrimmage on Monday, Dec. 6.
With the team’s tight bond and hard work during practice, they are hoping to have a great season. “We came in knowing that this is a special team this year. We knew we had to take advantage of that, and we brought a lot of energy to the team. We are determined to win the championships this season,” Uhrich said.
Upcoming Games Dec. 18
vs. Washington High School (1:30 p.m.)
Dec. 28-30
@ West Coast Jamboree (TBD)
Jan. 5
@ Menlo-Atherton (6 p.m.)
Jan. 7
vs. Mills (6 p.m)
creasing at Burlingame. Even with the wrestling roster’s growth, there are still opportunities for others to join the team. Players and coaches alike invite anybody interested in the sport to join the squad. “I recommend more girls join the wrestling team because of its supportive environment. It’s definitely a challenging sport, but it appeals to people who want to push themselves and work hard for matches,” Jiang said.
Boys’ soccer victorious in first game BY ISAAC BOSTONMAER
PHOTO BY ISAAC BOSTONMAER
The girls’ varsity basketball team began official practices on Nov. 1, a month before their opening game on Dec. 2 against Santa Cruz High School in the Sandi Stober Classic tournament. The team came in third place in the tournament, beating Santa Cruz by a score of 53-26. Then, on Dec. 3 they lost to Leland High School by one point with a score of 43-42. On Dec. 4, they beat Branham High School with a score of 56-39. Sophomore Elana Weisman was recognized as the most outstanding player in the tournament. Weisman is confident about the season ahead because of the strong teamwork and communication the team shares. Luckily for the girls, the varsity team has not had any drastic changes to their roster from last year, losing just one senior. “The teams this year have been almost identical to last year,” Weisman said. Although the team was happy with the outcome of the tournament, the girls want to focus on honing their skills for upcoming games. “After the results of the tournament, I would say we have to work on d e f e n s e ,” co-captain junior Ava Uhrich said. Players are continuing to work hard during practice, excited to get back out on the court and win games. Head Coach Joe Dito adds how the teams have had a lot of practice prior to their season, resulting in a prepared and determined team. “We had off-season conditioning, which started in early September, which helped the girls prepare for the season,” Dito said.
9
Sports
December 13, 2021
Staff Reporter
The boys’ varsity soccer team’s hard work and dedication was on full display when they played their first game of the season against South San Francisco High School on Wednesday, Dec. 1. Burlingame possessed the ball throughout most of the game, translating to many scoring opportunities and the 4-1 victory. “It was a great way to start the season and give us the momentum we need for our next games,” senior midfielder Julian Nasser said. This year’s varsity squad first met and started conditioning on Oct. 6. After nearly a month of conditioning, tryouts started on Nov. 1. Coaches scoped out players’ skills and capabilities until the 26-player roster was finalized. From there, the team started their rigorous practice
Senior Albert Su winds up to attempt a kick during shooting drills at the varsity soccer team’s Dec. 3 practice. schedule, where they met every weekday for two hours. Last season ended a mere six months ago, as it was postponed until April due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, the varsity boys’ finished with a 7-5-1 overall record. The team secured the No. 4 seed in the Central Coast Section Division I playoffs but was eliminated in the first round by No. 5 seeded Lincoln High
School. This season, on the other hand, is back to its usual schedule, sparking positivity and confidence among the team’s athletes. “I’m really optimistic [about this season],” senior right wing Ryan Griffin said. “In my opinion, we have a lot of talented players, so I think we have a lot of potential.”
10
Opinion
Assessing the need of an SRO on campus
In September 2021, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California published an article “The Right to Remain a Student: How CA School Policies Fail to Protect and Serve,” which address that “a disturbing trend has emerged in California—police officers are stationed in schools and are replacing educators as disciplinarians for minor offenses and student behavior issues.” As part of this growing awareness, many schools have decided to forgo the presence of Student Resource Officers (SROs). The list includes public schools in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and Antioch — but not Burlingame. In the span of three weeks, guns have wreaked havoc across the nation following distorted media coverage of 18-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse and even made disturbing waves in the Bay Area. On Nov. 26, a gunman shot two people outside Westmont High School in Campbell, Calif. during the Central Coast Section championship football game between Serra High School and St. Francis High School. Burlingame students who attended the game fled at the sound of gunshots. Three days later, on Nov. 29, Superintendent Kevin Skelly in-
formed students and families that on Nov. 18, a custodial employee was arrested for possession of a firearm and large-capacity magazine in their car trunk, which was parked on campus after school hours. The following day, the deadliest school shooting of the year occurred at Oxford High School in Michigan, killing four students and injuring seven others. According to Education Week’s school shooting tracker, the tragedy at Oxford High School is the 29th school shooting of 2021 and the deadliest since 2018. Four months into the school year, the threat of gun violence on campus feels more pressing than ever. The news stories feel less like distant realities and more like ever-present reminders that school campuses, like our own, are vulnerable. This brings us to SROs. Due to staffing shortages this year with the Burlingame Police Department, our SRO Officer, Steve Vega, visits campus infrequently. Albeit limited, the presence of personnel juxtaposes Burlingame’s efforts to foster a diverse, welcoming community of students and staff. There have been numerous incidents nationwide where SROs have targeted and inflicted harsher punishments on students of color and those with disabilities. Most Burlingame campus issues
are described by Vega as “knucklehead things,” and he has not arrested a student in his nearly three years as an SRO. Vega intends on retiring at the end of the year, which means a new officer trained by Vega will be assigned to all 12 Burlingame schools come fall of 2022. Though the SRO serves as an asset for all schools in the town, Vega said he spends the majority of his time at Burlingame High School and Burlingame Intermediate School. SROs serve mainly to prevent crimes, assist faculty in student intervention and act as a point-of-reference for safety on campus. In light of recent events, we should continue utilizing an SRO at Burlingame, but not without changes. A full-time SRO can help create a sense of safety but may be traumatizing for students and families who have had negative experiences with law enforcement. In acknowledgment of the polarizing presence of an armed officer in stark uniform, we believe an unarmed, plainclothes SRO would best fit the needs of our campus. We also think they should be here full-time to establish strong relationships with staff and students. “Weunderstand the kids, and that’s why it’s important we’re here,” Vega said.
GRAPHIC BY SAFIYA LOOMBA
BY THE BURLINGAME B EDITORIAL BOARD
December 13, 2021
Turn rainy day schedule into asynchronous learning PHOTO BY ALEX KELLY
On Thursday, Oct. 21, juniors and freshmen gathered in the theater to eat lunch following the Rainy Day Schedule for even days. of students eating in a gym or BY AMANDA NOLAN theater, maskless. Staff Reporter COVID-19 protocols forced Rainy days are back and Bur- the administration to create the lingame has implemented an rainy day schedule to be crafted, interesting schedule to accom- but isn’t it a little risky? Being modate the COVID-19 pan- enclosed in a space for 40 mindemic while keeping students utes at a time seems unsafe and dry. While it has kept students potentially a super spreader. For the community’s safety, dry from the rain, the format resulted in more than a building Burlingame requires masks in-
doors. Protocols call for strictly prohibiting taking off masks in classrooms and hallways. Understandable. We don’t need nor want any COVID-19 cases at Burlingame. However, it seems contradictory to allow maskfree indoors when it’s raining, because it’s not like water kills COVID-19. With the heavy rain season on the horizon, we must be open to discussing a safer alternative. This sparks the idea of bringing asynchronous days back. Last year, asynchronous days were used to give teachers and students a break from Zoom and work on assignments selfpaced throughout the day. They were held once a month throughout the year, occurring more often during the second semester. The distance learning alternative was met with mixed opinions; while some enjoyed this day free of Zoom, others thought it gave them more work and only a minimal break from their computer screens. While it may seem like a step backward to suggest a remote alternative, it would ensure
protection for our Burlingame community. We must keep our options open and at least discuss this possibility to avoid another large-scale shutdown at Burlingame. Rainy days are going to happen often in the upcoming months, and I don’t think it is practical to eat without our masks inside for 30 minutes. While it isn’t realistic to send students home in the middle of the day if showers come through campus, it’s also not realistic to blatantly allow for risky conditions. We need a balance. If the SMUHSD is aware of a big storm prior to school hours, similar to the downpour on Oct. 24, they can notify the schools and adjust in-person learning to be asynchronous for the day. Other school districts, such as San Francisco, followed this model and implemented it the preceding day, knowing the some roads were flooded and unsafe. Not only would asynchronous days protect our school, but it would protect our families as well. Though most of
us are vaccinated, one case at Burlingame can spread rapidly and create a major setback for the community. Additionally, a case could reach a family member who’s not eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine or has not been vaccinated. The pandemic is not over. According to the New York Times’s COVID-19 statistics, cases have been rising steadily in the U.S. from vacations and family gatherings following Thanksgiving. And with the upcoming holiday season and Omicron, another COVID-19 variant on the rise, we must continue to be extremely cautious to protect our loved ones. I appreciate the school’s effort to keep our community safe, but how do we assure that this pandemic can incorporate asynchronous days back into our schedule is regressing, but it’s safe. We have to know that COVID-19 is still with us, and we can’t downplay the severity of it. Continue to wear your masks inside and keep your community safe.
GRAPHIC BY LELANI DOUGHERTY
We need restortative punishments at Burlingame
BY LELANI DOUGHERTY
Staff Reporter
Traditional school punishments are outdated and no longer fit the needs of current high school students. Suspen-
sions and detentions, current disciplinary actions for schools across the country, are more likely to perpetuate rather than defer future infractions. According to Slate, “a 2011 study showed that Texas students who were suspended or expelled at least once… averaged four such disciplinary actions during their academic careers.” To be more effective in having successful disciplinary actions, Burlingame should implement more modern forms of restorative discipline, such as a student judiciary committee. A student judiciary committee is a group of students who meet with administrators to
discuss cases of misconduct that warrant a student perspective, usually more complex cases that don’t have a specific protocol. The committee can hear several types of cases, from academic dishonesty to bullying. After the committee has heard from the students on trial, they discuss and reach a consensus about what is necessary for the students’ reform. The purpose of a student judiciary committee is to understand the perspective of the students on trial in order to work towards a more productive solution for their punishment. Suspending every student who breaks a rule desensitizes the
punishment and doesn’t allow them to learn from their mistakes. Having a judiciary committee pushes students to understand why their actions were wrong, and what they can do in the future to be better students. While students at Burlingame should face consequences for their misconduct, punishments like detentions and suspensions don’t have any real impact on students, because it might lead to multiple academic disciplinary actions. Students “do their time” and move on without learning any lessons or working towards reforming their behavior. According to Jasmyn
Mirsepahi, a junior at Crystal Springs Uplands School, the judicial committee at her school consists of one representative from each of the four high school grades, four faculty members, the president of student council, the Dean of Students and the Head of School. A student judiciary committee at Burlingame modeled after Crystal’s could help administrators understand where the students on trial are coming from. The committee could come up with more productive solutions that will help prevent issues from recurring, rather than dismissing students with the default penalty available.
Community
December 13, 2021
11
Burlingame Parks and Recreation Department finds temporary home in historic Greyhound depot building PHOTO COURTESY OF BURLINGAME HISTORICAL SOCIETY
In the 1940s, the depot building served the Peninsula’s Greyhound 40 line. Now, it is an office space for the city of Burlingame. BY JACKSON SPENNER
Senior Reporter
Washington Park playground. Inevitably, the recreation department was forced to relocate to four new offices, one of which is the compact depot building located between Howard Avenue and California Drive. “When we lost our old rec center, we were shuffled all over the place,” department director Margaret Glomstad said. “There are four of us in the depot… I’m there, the parks superintendent and city arborist are there, and the parks and rec admin is
complete with large arches and clay tile roofing. When the Greyhound line was discontinued in the 1950s, the company surrendered the lease to the city, leaving the building unoccupied until a renovation in 1993. The depot was then furnished with a kitchenette, an ADA-compliant bathroom and new windows. According to Glomstad, the building was used as office space for the city until Sam’s sandwiches moved in. “It became a city building after the city funded its renovation. For many years [the depot] was just used for meetings,”
Glomstad said. Back in use as an office building, little remains to tell of the depot’s long history, apart from a plaque on the wall remembering the old Greyhound line. But, in Glomstad’s eyes, the building speaks to how much Burlingame respects its heritage above anything else. “This community values its history,” Glomstad said. “This building may become a bunch of different things, but on the inside, it will always be the old depot.”
GRAPHIC BY JACKSON SPENNER
First, it was a Greyhound station. Then, a classic sandwich joint. Now, it’s the temporary office for Burlingame’s Parks & Recreation Department. In early 2020, Burlingame broke ground on construction for its new Community Center, which is projected to cost $52,258,603. Planning for the project dates back to the Community Center Master Plan process in 2012, with goals to modernize the facility and adjacent
there.” However, just months before Glomstad and her coworkers moved in, the depot was occupied by an entirely different crowd: Sam’s Italian Sandwich June, owned by June Williams and Rino Betti, better known as Sam. In 2005, the beloved local restaurant relocated from its even smaller location at 297 California Drive to the depot. Famous in the community for its garlic dressing and loaded submarine sandwiches, the shop attracted many students from the Burlingame campus after classes. After 47 years in business and a long fight to survive rising rent costs in the downtown area, Sam’s declared bankruptcy, closing in January of 2020. Yet, the depot’s history goes back much further than the days of Sam’s Sandwich Shop. In fact, the building was originally a Greyhound Depot, constructed in 1939 on a plot of land designated “Howard Park.” Built-in the Spanish Eclectic style, the depot was modeled after Burlingame’s historic train station,
Origins of the 100 year-old gateway arch to Broadway Webmaster
Every day, as Burlingame residents drive down Broadway, they pass under a piece of the town’s history. Despite Burlingame’s growth and expansion as a town, the sign has stayed for nearly 100 years. While the sign itself is 100 years old, it did not come to Broadway until 1927. Originally, it was a sign advertising the Pacific City amusement park, and when that closed in 1923, due to dumped sewage in the bay that made the park unprofitable, the Broadway Development Association (BDA) bought it and re-lettered the sign to say “Broadway Burlingame”. The sign welcomed people
into the city and the newly-created downtown district as commuters passed by on their way to El Camino Real from U.S. Highway 101. “The last southbound exit of 101 was … actually Broadway. So you’d have to get off at Broadway,” Jennifer Pfaff of the Burlingame Historical Society said. During the sign’s first 10 years at the Broadway location, it quickly fell into disrepair, and the city wanted to dismantle it. Originally, the sign had letters that were backlit by lights from within the sign, which did not hold up to the elements well. So the BDA decided to update the sign, and Pfaff said they paid around $500 — or $9,808 in today’s money — to add neon detailing to the sign. The neon
has been redone and fixed up periodically since 1937, and it has become an iconic fixture for Burlingame residents. “Whenever I’m driving from maybe the airport or something, and I come back home, one of the first things I see is that sign when I come back to my house, and that’s something that helps signify that I’m back in Burlingame,” junior Charlie Vaksman said. In 1987, residents lent their voices to the “Save the Arch” campaign, a fundraiser to help pay for refurbishment of the sign. They held a street fair where they sold badges and glasses among other items. “There [was] a nostalgia about wanting to keep it because it’s really iconic for that street,” Pfaff said.
Dennis J. Murphy
Your Peninsula Realtor 415.310.7956 | dennis@dennisjmurphy.com dennisjmurphy.com
Each office is independently owned and operated.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE BURLINGAME HISTORICAL SOCIETY
BY ALEX KELLY
In the 1940s, the depot building served the Peninsula’s Greyhound 40 line. Now, it is a temporary office space for the Burlingame Parks & Rec Department. The refurbishment cost $44,000, as the city had to move the sign for a public works project temporarily, and it has remained there ever since. While the detailing is not in
the best shape — some of the letters facing the highway are no longer lit — the bright red lights will continue to welcome people to the town of Burlingame for years to come.
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12 BY KRISTIE KIM
Senior Reporter BY LIZZY WAN
Senior Reporter BY DARIA BURNOSOVA Staff Reporter
Student Life
Winter Taste Test
December 13, 2021
Trader Joe’s Edition
English Toffee Bites
Mini Dark Chocolate Mint Stars
Any toffee lovers should be sure to pick up These these English toffee bites. The mini star-shaped toffee is covered in chocolate and shortbread cookies are a nuts — both of which don’t have much cute and addictive treat. The flavor — but the toffee on the inside shortbread cookie is chocolate-flashines through. They come in a small package with about 15 pieces and are the vored, covered in dark chocolate and sprinkled with crunchy pearls, creating perfect bite-size treat to pop in your a satisfactory texture. The minty flavor in mouth whenever you want something the cookie blends nicely with the chocsweet. However, those with braces olate, steering clear of the toothpaste must be weary as they are taste and towards a less-sweet Thin quite hard. 3.5/5 Mint flavor. 5/5
Candy Cane Joe-Joe’s A twist on the classic Joe-Joe’s cookies, which are secretly a twist on Nabisco’s Oreo cookie, the Candy Cane Joe-Joe’s have peppermint candy chunks inside the filling. The cookie is crunchy and thick, with lots of filling that has the perfect balance of sweetness. For chocolate lovers, there is a dark chocolate-covered version of these peppermint cookies. 4/5
Peppermint Pretzel Slims This snack is an exquisite blend of flavors for fans of sweet and salty treats. There is a thin layer of white chocolate coating the crunchy pretzel, which is very similar to a pretzel crisp, and a sprinkle of peppermint topping. Not only is very appealing to the eye but it works well as both a snack and dessert. However, they tend to fall apart as you bite into them because they are slightly too big, but overall it is a great, festive twist on a chocolate-covered pretzel. 4.5/5
Dark Chocolate Minty Mallows These chocolate-covered marshmallows are minty and cool, but they taste a bit too much like toothpaste or gum. The peppermint-flavored marshmallow is dense and chewy but maintains a fluffy texture. The thin layer of dark chocolate breaks apart, which makes it easier to bite into but also creates a mess. The main reason this item got a low review was because of the marshmallow’s toothpaste flavor, but we appreciated the nice packaging. 1/5
SMUHSD hosts first district-wide Jazz Festival Staff Reporter
With a wrap-up of marching season, the jazz band shifted their focus to the San Mateo Union High School District (SMUHSD) Jazz Festival held at Aragon High School on Nov. 19. Burlingame’s music director Kyoko Yamamoto and the music directors from San Mateo, Hillsdale and Aragon high schools were determined to create a district festival after constant cancellations from local colleges. “I want to keep this momentum going,” Yamamoto said. “We did a lot of collaboration throughout distance learning, PHOTO COURTESY OF PAUL ZAWILSKI AND JESSICA SOBILOK
Kyoko Yamamoto introduces the jazz band ensemble, performing second in the concert.
and we continue doing that.” Junior Jonathan Kon, a trumpet and bass artist, has participated in many jazz festivals since middle school, but this was his first in-person festival since the pandemic. He enjoyed playing with students from other schools. “It’s pretty cool to see all the other [SMUHSD] students and what the progress has been like, especially over Covid because I feel like a lot of bands changed, and we could see that,” Kon said. Since August, the Burlingame jazz ensemble has been rehearsing three diverse musical pieces. “At the festival, we try to feature different types of jazz music. So, in this case, it’s a fast swing, then a Latin piece and then a ballad,” Yamamoto said. The bands took turns performing their pieces for their fellow peers and judges at the festival. “It was very similar to a jazz club. The lights were dimmed, and we were all just chilling in a big circle. [Other bands] played through their songs and the judges gave feedback,” Kon said. Kon is one of 17 jazz band members, which is a competitive program. It is one of the three instrumental ensembles at Burlingame — wind ensemble, concert band and jazz band.
PHOTO COURTESY OF PAUL ZAWILSKI AND JESSICA SOBILOK
BY AMANDA NOLAN
The jazz ensemble listens patiently to feedback from the judges after performing “The South East Six Step,” “Alianza” and “Ella Fitzgerald’s Ballad.” “Playing jazz requires more skill and music,” Yamamoto said. “It is pretty rigorous to get in. But [students] can always have the opportunity to audition for the next year. Meanwhile, they can be in a concert band.” The jazz band meets during first period and at most Flex Times, but the class emphasizes frequent independent rehearsal to perfect their instruments. Students spend hours at home
preparing for performances, such as the SMUHSD Jazz Festival. Tova Ruben, a freshman who plays alto saxophone, believes that high school band is significantly more demanding and rewarding than the one she participated in throughout middle school. “I feel people are putting a lot more effort into it this year. In the past years, I didn’t practice very much,” Ruben said.
“Here, I feel like everyone’s working hard and cares about the band, and so it’s more fun to play with everyone.” After the SMUHSD Jazz Festival, the band classes turned their attention to the winter concert on Dec. 8. “I think we all took it a little easier during the concert, and we just focused on having fun rather than playing everything correctly,” senior trumpet player Jonathan Willey said.