October Issue by The Burlingame B Newspaper

WHAT’S INSIDE

Learn about boba’s future after Read about Shirley Jackson, Hear how BHS alumni created plastic straw bans horror author and BHS alumna TV show “Warriors Outsiders”

12 Read how Alex Mak learned Italian in 6 months

THE BURLINGAME B theburlingameb.org

October 26, 2018

Issue 2 Vol. 118

Dress code petition drives conversation Managing Editor

In early September, junior Arianna Jasmine Manning created a petition to change the dress code because she believes it to be implemented unfairly. As of Oct. 22, the petition has 1,115 signatures. Belzer is currently reviewing the wording of the dress code, specifically the regulation which contains the idea of “distraction.” If any revision occurs, Belzer plans to submit a draft to the Parents’ Group, the Associate Student Body (ASB) and staff and administration to review it. Belzer hopes it will happen before the publication of the Code of Conduct for the 2019-2020 school year. “It’s trying to find that balance between a certain level of autono- Crop tops and tank tops (pictured on mannequins in the store Formy and choice while maintaining a ever 21) no longer violate dress code regulations at Alameda High level of decorum and expectations School. The new regulation states that students are required to wear for the community,” Belzer said. a top, bottom, shoes, and coverage of private areas.

SMUHSD holds consent assemblies

The San Mateo Union High School District with the Peninsula Parent Speakers Series presents

BY CADEN THUN

enough for all our kids to be exposed to,” Skelly said. Senior Olya Egorov, who runs This year, for the first time in the Youth in Democracy club its history, the San Mateo Unified High School District (SMUHSD) along with senior Lily Nevab, mandated that all of its schools hold assemblies on consent and sexual awareness. The assemblies, scheduled to take place between Oct. 26 and Nov. 27, will consist of a 90-minute presentation by guest speaker Anea Bogue. The district came into contact with Bogue after she spoke at similar assemblies in the Palo Alto Unified School District. “A lot of people have thought that this is training that we should be doing,” Superintendent Kevin Skelly said. “We want our students to understand how to think about these issues, to have some training on them and to prepare them as they go forward.” The district’s board recognized the importance of consent training thinks that the assemblies are a for high schoolers, making it an step in the right direction. The annual goal in its Sept. 13 board club, which strives to educate and inform students on local and nameeting. “We think it’s important tional policies, wants to provide

Copy Editor

Real You: Building Healthy Relationships and a Culture of Consent Tuesday, November 27, 2018 • 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. San Mateo Performing Arts Center • 600 N. Delaware Street

PRESENTER

ANEA BOGUE

Director of REALgirl, REALboy, & REALyou Empowerment Programs Sexual Health Educator/Author/Speaker

The impact of an incident of sexual misconduct is far reaching and long lasting. No matter how much time, money, and effort parents invest in getting their child to college, an incident - either as a victim or an accused perpetrator - could derail everything. Join us for a presentation that will help parents/guardians: • Understand the issues surrounding consent • Empower their children with the tools for consent in sexual and non-sexual situations • Learn how to be an “askable” adult when their children need support • Help their children build the skills and confidence to create healthy, fulfilling relationships

Spanish and Mandarin interpretering will be available.

“We want our students to understand how to think about these issues, to have some training on them.” -Skelly

resources to students who need help and raise awareness about sexual assault and consent, among other things. “I think it’s a good place to start at least, and then moving forward we’ll see how our district takes care of future stuff, like providing resources and counseling,” Egorov said of the assemblies. School administrators, health teachers and counselors underwent a brief training session on consent given by Bogue in September, and there will be a presentation for students and their families on Nov. 27, also to be given by Bogue. Burlingame will be the first school in the SMUHSD to hold the assembly, on Oct. 26. Students will be divided into three groups which will rotate through three 90-minute activities: the assembly, the annual Healthy Kids Survey and a series of activities relating to anonymous alerts and bullying. The activities will take up the entire day and there will be a 1:30 p.m. dismissal.

PHOTOS BY LILY PAGE

In early September, junior Arianna Manning wrote a petition to change the BHS dress code. She stayed up until 2 a.m. formulating it. She was chiefly concerned with her observation that curvier female students receive more dress code violations for wearing the same rule-breaking garments as other students. “We’re still put down for our bodies,” Manning said. The next day, Manning submitted the petition draft to @siliconvalleyprobs, an Instagram account with over 30,000 followers. The account featured the petition on its story, including a link to the petition on Change.org. As of October 22, the petition has 1,015 signatures. Manning spoke about the petition at the student council meeting which took place on Oct. 9. After, junior Katerina Rally recited the dress code regulation against “suggestive or revealing attire that would divert attention from the learning process or contribute to inappropriate conduct by other students.” She read the regulation from her phone. As soon as she finished speaking, the crowd of students erupted into disquieted murmurs. “The trigger word for a lot of people is this idea of ‘distraction,’ that what I do and what I wear is my responsibility and how that impacts other people is their re-

sponsibility,” Principal Paul Belzer said. He initiated the dress code conversation at the student council meeting, allotting 15 minutes to answer questions and discuss the issue with students. Belzer believes that there is a need to address situations in which students feel disrespected, but that there is also a need to cultivate a sense of professionalism and decorum at school. He repeated throughout the student council meeting that the issue requires the administration to “draw a line in the sand,” and listen to a wide variety of student perspectives. “I think people are finding issues in something that is a non-issue,” senior Matt Zell said. He agreed with Belzer’s idea that the school environment warrants a level of professionalism. Zell also emphasized that there is a difference between dressing for the beach and dressing for school. “Standards of decorum only ensure that students at school are focused chiefly on academics, instead of who is wearing the latest fashion,” senior Charlie Chapman wrote in a column in the San Mateo Daily Journal. Meanwhile, Alameda High School has dramatically rolled back regulations regarding student dress. The new rule states that students are obligated to wear a top, bottoms, and shoes, while covering all necessary areas. In response to the discussion sparked by Manning’s petition,

PHOTO BY LILY PAGE

BY LILY PAGE

News

October 26, 2018

Senior Reporter

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously this summer to ban plastic straws, even compostable ones. The ordinance, set to go into effect in July 2019, may severely impact boba businesses unless they can find a cheap alternative to plastic. Unlike other beverages, which customers can easily drink with nothing more than a cup, boba depends on a thick straw to suck up tea and tapioca balls at the same time. Environmentally-conscious tea shops such as Boba Guys, a trendy San Francisco chain, are working to find a solution, but non-plastic straws tend to be more costly and difficult to find, particularly in the special width needed for boba. More recently, Gov. Jerry Brown passed a bill banning California restaurants from handing out straws unless specifically requested. This will also become a reality in 2019. The state-wide ban is part of a larger movement to ban plastic straws due to their harmful environmental impact. According to the World Wildlife Fund, there may be a pound of plastic in the ocean for every three pounds of fish as soon as the coming decade. In Taiwan, boba tea’s place of origin, the government has passed its own straw ban, which will also

take effect next year. Senior Carmen Lavilla has loved iTea ever since she first bought boba from their Irving Street shop in San Francisco. When the Oakland-based tea chain opened a Burlingame location, she was one of its first customers. She has now been working as a cashier at iTea since July. Lavilla loves her job, but the recent straw ban movement has shifted her perspective on the boba industry. She and her boss, Nancy Li-Chen, have discussed these straw bans and brought up solutions such as bamboo straws and straws that decompose in 30 days. Lavilla and Li-Chen both support such a change, but, ultimately, it is not up to them to decide. “A lot of our customers ask us, ‘what are you guys going to do about [the straw ban]?’ and it’s hard to respond,” Lavilla said. “My boss really does care about it, but iTea has to use materials given to us by our one manufacturer, so it depends on the franchise. It’s their decision.” While Lavilla does not believe the statewide ban will affect iTea as it is not a sit-down business, the chain’s San Francisco locations will have to deal with their city’s ban. In the meantime, Burlingame customers are doing their own environmental work. Giving everyone a metal straw may be too expen-

PHOTO BY TEKLA CARLEN

Boba faces uncertain future in wake of plastic straw bans

BY TEKLA CARLEN

Lavilla (far left) and the rest of the Key Club sold boba on October 11th to raise money for the Pediatric Trauma Program. Many students buy boba tea on Burlingame Avenue at shops such as Tpumps, iTea, Happy Lemon and Quickly. sive for iTea, but customers are in- fight against climate change, which floating around the ocean and that creasingly bringing their own wa- helps her overcome her reserva- 71 percent of all greenhouse gas ter bottles, mason jars and metal tions about losing out on part of emissions since 1988 are from 100 straws to avoid the disposable plas- the boba experience. Even though large companies. Environmental tic variety. Lavilla is happy to ac- she cannot make iTea change their concerns on both sides are especommodate these efforts. She feels packaging, she supports the plastic cially relevant seeing as the U.N. nostalgic for the plastic straws, but straw bans catching on worldwide. released a report this month that she believes their replacement will The plastic straw ban is a rela- gave us 12 years to save the planbring about positive change for the tively minor change in most indus- et from irreparable damage due to environment. tries, but its supporters are hope- climate change. “The feeling of poking a boba ful that it might eliminate plastic “We only have one shot to take straw into a cup is just part of the waste in the ocean that takes up care of Earth and make sure evexperience,” she said. “There’s just to 1,000 years to break down erything goes right,” Lavilla said. this satisfaction, but knowing now and harms marine life. Neverthe- “We’re about to go into another how it impacts our environment, less, critics have noted that plastic extinction.” it’s different.” straws only make up 2,000 tons of Lavilla is passionate about the plastic out of the almost 9 million

News Briefs

Your news. Unpacked.

BY ALEC ABRAMSON

BY WESLEY CHEN

Staff Reporter

On Oct. 11, Rapper Kanye West, dressed in all-black and wearing a bright red ‘Make America Great Again’ hat, delivered a 10-minute speech in the Oval Office - one that was at times hard to fully comprehend. Topics ranged from the 13th Amendment to pictures of hydrogen planes and alternate universes, which ultimately culminated in a sort of bro-hug, during which West declared, “I love this guy right here.” Afterwards, Trump and West convened for lunch. That Saturday, SNL mocked the interac- Kanye West tion in a cold open skit featuring Alec Baldwin as President Trump and Chris Redd as Kanye West. West’s support for the President has been made clear in several instances prior to this interaction, but the soliloquy was perhaps its most intense demonstration.

Saudi Arabia allegedly kills journalist in consulate Staff Reporter

Recent legislation proposed by California’s state legislature mandating a later start time for schools has been rejected by California Governor Jerry Brown. The legislation would have forced all California schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. each day. The governor reportedly stated that local school boards should be allowed to control their start times without interference from the state government. This would allow schools to plan around extracurricular activities that could need an extra half hour in the day. However, supporters of the bill believed that later start times would help improve student sleeping habits, citing pediatric studies recommending the Governor Brown (D-CA) 8:30 a.m. start time. To senior Andrew Cummings, any legislation would be completely meaningless. “[Students] would just be sleeping later,” says Cummings. “All it would do is push my schedule later into the day.” However, other students have claimed that the extra half hour would help them wake up in the mornings, and that “it would be like late start every day.” Schools will continue to have the freedom to choose their own start times, meaning it will be up to each individual school board to decide whether or not they will adopt a later start time. The bill can still be voted through the state Congress, however, so there is still a chance that this bill will pass into law. For this school year at least, the BHS schedule will remain the same.

Arguments in Harvard discrimination case begin BY ALEC ABRAMSON

Staff Reporter

PHOTO COURTESY OF CREATIVE COMMONS

On Oct. 2, journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Surveillance video showed him walking into the building, reportedly in an effort to obtain documentation to secure his divorce. But there is no video of his exit. Now, it has become apparent that officials with direct ties to the highest levels of the Jamal Khashoggi Saudi regime perpetrated the attack. In the aftermath of Khashoggi’s disappearance, there have been major discrepancies in the narratives put forth by the Saudis and Turkish. While the Turkish have been claiming for weeks that they have audio and/or visual evidence of the attack itself that will reveal the “naked truth” of what transpired, the Saudi government has been constantly changing its story. The current statement from Riyadh takes responsibility for the attack, but claims that it was a “tremendous mistake” (this from the foreign minMohammad bin Salman ister). President Trump, meanwhile, has appeared sympathetic to the Saudi government’s various denials, suggesting at one point that those guilty may have been “rogue killers.” Recently, he has been reluctant to blame the Saudis explicitly, but has pledged to “get to the bottom” of the case. Either way, Khashoggi’s death comes amidst growing concern about the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). Once touted as a fresh new face for the conservative nation, MBS has been praised for his various social and economic reforms. But there are darker aspects of his reign that are coming to light, including his persecution of dissidents and policies in Yemen.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CREATIVE COMMONS

BY ALEC ABRAMSON

Staff Reporter

PHOTO COURTESY OF CREATIVE COMMONS

Governor Brown vetoes late start legislation

PHOTO COURTESY OF CREATIVE COMMONS

Kanye West visits President Trump in Oval Office

A once notoriously oblique process may finally be coming to light. Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) is suing Harvard University for allegedly discriminating against Asian-American applicants by consistently giving lower ratings on qualities such as “leadership,” “kindness” and “integrity.” The court case is forcing the university to release documents pertaining to their admissions process, including the officer guidebook, which details how each applicant’s “personal rating” is derived. The Dean of Admissions, William Fitzsim-Harvard University crest mons, claimed in his court testimony that “stereotypical comments” are “not part of our process.” On a larger scale, however, SFFA v. Harvard has brought the Affirmative Action controversy back into the national spotlight. Harvard’s admissions are “race-conscious,” which ideally means that an applicant’s race is considered, but there are no arbitrary quotas. Some have claimed that this case could bring about the end of such policies entirely, or at least drastically change them for generations to come.

News

October 26, 2018

3 PHOTO BY VISHU PRATHIKANTI

Students tackle inadequate recycling

BY HANNA SATO Chief Photographer VISHU PRATHIKANTI Editor-In-Chief

Two years ago BHS handled its recycling through Recology — a program that took trash and separated recyclable materials from it. However, this system proved expensive, and the district transitioned to its current program, Redwood Debris Box. Under the new program, if a green bin in a teacher’s classroom has even one piece of trash in it, the entire bin is deemed trash. The search for a better recycling program has proven to be complicated, with no one really knowing the correct path to initiate change. In early October, associate student body president Lily Navab and freshman class President Zoe Steinberger wanted to bring BHS to the same recycling standards as the City of Burlingame and want-

ed to implement better recycling at BHS. They approached the city council with their grievances. “We discussed the possibility of extending programs for city Burlingame [to BHS], but the city has no jurisdiction on the recycling program for schools,” Navab said. “So from there, we were put in contact with the district board.” After contacting multiple district officials, Navab managed to put recycling on their agenda. However, the prospect of implementation is uncertain. When Navab tried to find out who at the district would initiate these changes, she was not given a clear answer. “No one — the District Board, Belzer, City Hall — no one knows who is really in charge of our trash. There’s no set person who’s at the core of it, and every person who’s supposed to be in charge doesn’t really know who to go,” Navab

said. Navab explained that the recycling program was changed two years ago only because of “environmental companies in the area” supplying the school with grant money to implement recycling changes. These changes were mainly focused on recycling bottles, and as a result, the only containers for recycling outside of the classroom were for bottles. “There was no private grant for an actual program, and so we just started circling around this issue because no one really knows what to do,” Navab said. The recycling problem will be presented to the district board at an unknown future point. Changes are sure to be slow and deliberate, so until then, students will have to work with the current program and learn to recycle properly. All across campus, recycling bins like these are full of trash. The banana peel here deems this entire recycling bin as trash.

Robotics recuperates after rough showing at Chezy Champs BY JAMES LOWDON

Senior Reporter

too high expectations,” senior Junha Park said. Nevertheless, the Iron Panther’s determination was not tempered. Hope is still high for the team’s future success. “[The team’s attitude is] positive . . . we’re gearing up for the competition season starting in January,” senior and Programming Lead Andrew Cummings said. Another tournament the Iron Panthers have been preparing for is the off-season Capital City Classic (CCC), which takes place in Da-

vis, starting today and ending Oct. 28. Some members are looking to this tournament as a chance to redeem themselves and demonstrate the progress they have made. “We are excited for Capital City Classic because we know that we can do better and we want to prove ourselves. Also, we learned a lot during Chezy and we have made a few changes to our robot,” Park said. “It’s going to be an easier competition than Chezy, but we can’t relax too much.” PHOTO BY DARRION CHEN

Teacher Adviser: Melissa Murphy

Sports Editor: Tyler Idema

Editor-in-Chief: Vishu Prathikanti

Chief Photographer: Hanna Sato

Managing Editor: Lily Page

Copy Editors: Tekla Carlen Caden Thun

Design Editor: Allie Kennedy Business Manager: Moya Liu Webmaster: Ben Neuman

Senior Reporters: Charles Chapman Darrion Chen Claire Hunt James Lowdon Annie Sun

Staff Reporters: Alec Abramson Hubert Chen Wesley Chen Ethan Gardner Mark Habelt Amelia Harris Jacob Lubarsky David Mehran Aidan O’Sullivan Allison Szetu Rachel Yap Caroline Yeow

Policy Statement:

PHOTO BY JUSTIN ZHENG

The Burlingame robotics team, the Iron Panthers, has already finished an offseason First Robotics Competition (FRC). The FRC team, team 5026, recently participated in its first competition on Sept. 30. The tournament, Chezy Champs, was held in San Jose with some of the best robotics teams in the world. Unfortunately, the team underperformed, placing 42nd out of the 42 participants in the tournament. The robotics team lost many key members with the graduation of last year’s class, and as a result, they have had to work hard to fill their absences. “Two people from our drive team last year left for college, so we have trained some new members to take their place,” senior Maxim Yu said. “Since they do not have as much experience with driving the robot, they could not [have performed at the same level] as the people from last year. However, I am fully confident that they can do so with enough practice.” Chezy Champs is a highly competitive tournament that entails a rigorous application process, and the Iron Panthers competed with members who had only had a few weeks of experience compared to the seniors’ four years. The Iron Panthers were expecting a better performance, but the results, though bad, are not a great indicator of the team’s potential. “I think we were too confident The Iron Panthers’ robot, “The Guillotine,” prepared and waiting to for [Chezy Champs], and we had start a match at Chezy Champs.

THE BURLINGAME B STAFF

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 The Burlingame B staff, the administration or faculty of Burlingame High School, or any person affiliated with the San Mateo Union High School District. The Burlingame B does not discriminate against race, political orientation, 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.

SEPTEMBER 2018 ISSUE CORRECTION BOX Correction from “Martinez’s return to the dark past” by Hanna Sato: Mr. Martinez escaped Nicaragua when he was 15 years old, not 9. The civil war started when he was 9 years old and it was six years later that he managed to flee the country in 1985.

Features

October 26, 2018

BY LILY PAGE Managing Editor She was born in San Francisco, and she died in Vermont. She had few friends as a young girl and agoraphobia as an adult. She existed as a social pariah in her three years at Burlingame and received worldwide renown for her stories of ghosts and public stonings. To this day, the horror fiction genre stands in the shadow of powerhouse author Shirley Jackson. Jackson’s writings would inspire notable horror authors such as Stephen King and Neil Gaiman. Born in 1916, she was raised in a shingled house on Forest View Road, now called Forest View Avenue. Jackson’s home life was fraught with conflict. Her mother, thoroughly a “Hillsborough mom” by modern-day standards, was discontented with her daughter’s reclusive temperament. Jackson wrote in her diary, “I thought I was insane and I would write about how the only sane people are the ones who are condemned as mad and how the whole world is cruel and foolish and afraid of people who are different.” The strained relationship between mother and daughter, societal expectations versus individual eccentricities, was to be a recurring theme in Jackson’s novels. Jackson attended Burlingame for three years. She played violin in the school orchestra. In her senior

year, she and her family moved to Rochester, New York. Thereafter, she attended Brighton High School, also abbreviated as BHS. In 1934, Jackson began her freshman year at University of Rochester, later transferring to Syracuse University. Stanley Edgar Hyman, another Syracuse student, read Jackson’s first short story appearing in the literary magazine and vowed to marry the author. Two years later, his vow came to fruition. When Hyman accepted a professorial position at Bennington College, the couple settled in Vermont. It was during this time in Bennington that Jackson was most prolific. As a housewife, most of her time during the day was spent in solitude when her husband went to work. The Lottery, published in The New Yorker on June 26, 1948, catapulted Jackson to fame. In response to the controversial communal violence portrayed in the short story, The New Yorker received hundreds of letters. To this day, it is read widely in high schools across the U.S. Even after she became a successful author, Jackson’s mother still criticized her daughter, mainly for her lack of photogenic physical traits. But Jackson couldn’t care less about the way she was portrayed in the media. In fact, a rumor emerged among several gossip columns that Jackson was a prac-

Horror writer Stephen King cited The Haunting of Hill House as “...one of the most important horror novels of the 20th century.” On Oct. 12, Netflix released a TV series loosely based off the novella. ticing witch. She did, after all, own at least six cats of the same color fur at any one time in order to fool her husband into thinking that they only owned three or four cats. Jackson, for her part, did nothing to dispel these rumors. She found a measure of amusement in them. As her name recognition increased in the publishing industry, the shunning of Jackson’s eccentricity became celebration. In 1959, the publication of The Haunting of Hill House cemented Jackson’s status in the horror literature pantheon. Celebrated horror writer Stephen King even cited Hill House as “...one of the most important horror novels of the 20th century.” The plot follows four main

characters as they attempt to spend a summer living in a notorious haunted house. It is revealed in the beginning that one of the characters will die at Hill House. What makes the novel so terrifying is its central premise: the malicious ghosts are really the repressed “inner demons” lurking in the minds of the characters. (The main character is haunted by painful memories of her emotionally abusive mother. Sound familiar?) To that end, the horrors of Hill House are inescapable. One can hardly run away from the dark thoughts concealed in their own subconscious. Ghosts, bogeymen and the things that go bump in the night are figments of the human psyche. Jackson’s novel begets the question:

what does that connote about the human psyche? The good news is that you can answer that question for yourself. On Oct. 12, Netflix released a TV series called The Haunting of Hill House, loosely based off the original text. For her part, Jackson believed that the only way to vanquish her “inner demons” was to transform them into fiction. The self-conscious girl from Burlingame derived success from accepting her strangeness, and now the literary world is forever changed. “As long as you write it away regularly,” Jackson wrote, “nothing can really hurt you.”

ten cheaper after the total cost. Factors such as maintenance, gas, insurance, registration, or smog and tickets can add up to a large amount of money per month. The only cost of ride-hailing apps is the charge for the ride. Car owners are beginning to feel that the cost of owning a car outweighs the cost of an app. For the first year of owning a license, an underage driver must have a licensed driver over the age of 25 in the car with them if they are driving after 11 p.m., or if there are other passengers in the car under the age of 20. These restrictions limit teenagers’ ability to legally drive friends alone in the first year of having a license and late at night. Because of these regulations, teenage car accidents have been on a decline. However, the multitude of regulations also frustrate underage drivers, leading them to work toward their drivers’ licenses only after they have reached age 20.

Uber and other lift sharing businesses are becoming increasingly popular among teens and young adults in the business world.

BY ANNIE SUN Staff Reporter Principal Paul Belzer begins his day by waking up in the early hours of the morning. Currently, his house is being remodeled because the house was last remodeled in the 1990s and needed an update. The only appliances still “living” in his kitchen, as he phrased it, are the stove and coffee maker. In the morning, Belzer drinks his coffee in his Green Bay Packer mug while watching his dogs, Dori, a Spaniel mix, and Jessie, a labrador retriever, in the backyard to make sure that Dori does not jump the fence. Then, he lets the dogs into his bedroom during the day due to the ongoing construction. His wife, a 4th grade elementary school teacher in the Ravenswood district, must leave early and Belzer and his daughter, a junior at Aragon High School, make sure to lock the house before they leave. Belzer then drives his new blue Infiniti G35 coupe to school. “I like to start my day, if I can, being at the front of the school or someplace because I really enjoy seeing the students and I like to be there when they are coming in,” Belzer said. His mornings consist of meetings with teachers and other staff members, checking emails and returning phone calls. On October 15, Principal Belzer, Assistant Principal Arbizu, the wellness counselors, and head counselor, Mrs. Renzi met with the district office to review the multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) to ensure that the student support program is aligned with the needs to the students. There are three different tiers in the system: tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3. Tier 1 includes support for all students such as office hours and provides students with help if needed. Tier 2 is for students who need more help in order to succeed such as guided studies, wellness counseling and 504 plans

PHOTO BY LILY PAGE

Are driver’s licenses still A day in the life of the principal worth working for? BY AIDEN O’SULLIVAN Staff Reporter Fewer teens are getting their driver’s licenses than ever before. Instead of getting a driver’s license to drive themselves home, many teenagers are waiting until 18 years old to get a license. Many are saving money using either ride-hailing apps or public transportation such as buses and trains. Apps such as Uber and Lyft give anyone the capability to be picked up and dropped off whenever and wherever they want. Also, the driving restriction laws put in place for drivers under the age of 18 make getting a license before the age of 18 quite a hassle. These are a few of the reasons why many teens are not acquiring their license. A common misconception is that owning a car is cheaper than using a ride-hailing app. The idea of paying everyday for a ride home by an Uber or Lyft driver at first glance can seem to be expensive, but in reality, ride-hailing is of-

PHOTOS FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Burlingame’s queen of horror revived in modern media

Principal Paul Belzer speaking at a student council meeting. which ensures the academic suc- policies, expectations, and dicess of students through accom- rections which can feel very topmodations. The highest tier, tier down, so I try to have an open 3, provides students with an IEP, door policy to allow me to engage Individualized Education Plan, with students and staff to discuss which is developed for students in our goals and how they see their roles in the school,” Belzer said. need of special education. Additionally, he attends stu“Students who are struggling are not necessarily all struggling dent athletic competitions and is with the same thing and there are very involved with school activities a variety of different reasons. So, such as school dances and sports we are looking at how to support games. “I like being engaged with stustudents both academically and sodents and teachers and helping cially,” Belzer said. During lunch, Belzer helps su- facilitate their learning. I also like pervise the students and either eats the fact that no two days are the his lunch, cafeteria food, sand- same and that I am a part of somewiches, or leftovers, in his office or thing that is constantly growing and moving forward,” Belzer said. in the faculty lounge. Most of Belzer’s meetings are In order to facilitate interaction with the students, he has an open after school at around 3:30 pm. door policy in which students are After, he often stays at school until able to talk with him in his office 5:30 to 6 pm checking emails and about any issues or problems. This connecting with teachers. Finally, policy also applies to staff mem- when he arrives home, he walks bers. Belzer wants to create a safe his dogs, has dinner with his famienvironment in which students ly, and either watches TV or reads and staff are able to express their his current book, The Scarlet Letter, which is also being read by his concerns and thoughts. “A big part of my job is to set daughter at Aragon.

Features

October 26, 2018

PHOTO BY JACOB LUBARSKY

School food for thought The origins of the Ave’s oldest shop and Maureen making jewelry and other accessories. In the early 1970s, when the sisters attended BHS, Burlingame Avenue looked very different. Almost all the stores had single owners, as opposed to the large chains present today. Munroe remembers a store called Miller Drug. “[The store had] a soda fountain in the middle [with]... a white marble counter; you could go in after school and all the kids used to hang out,” Munroe said. “It was like something out of an old movie.” Despite many renovations and changing store fronts on Burlingame Avenue, Morning Glory still stands. Originally across from Copenhagen Bakery in an 800 square foot space, it has moved multiple times and is now located at 1436 Burlingame Ave. “[There’s] really nothing about

[running the store] I don’t like… you know the customers so well…. You know what you have, you know what they like and they sort of just count on you to guide them,” Munroe said. After all these years, Munroe still owns Morning Glory, although it’s not just her and her sister anymore. She now has seven salespeople working for her and though she no longer makes all the clothing (almost all of it comes from wholesale manufactures), she still does all the alterations by hand and loves the community aspect of owning a small business on the Ave. “I [love it] because you know the customers so well. And this town is really good for it, because even if people move away, everybody’s parents are still here,” she said. “They all come back.”

PHOTO BY AMELIA HARRIS

Dozens of students line up at the BHS cafeteria to receive their food. “For me, BHS’ [lunch] is pretBY JACOB LUBARSKY ty trash... Plus it’s $2 more,” freshStaff Reporter The school cafeteria has been man Bilel Harrat said. “I just feel in two difficult situations over the that BIS’ lunch was much better past few years. The school lunch- for its price than BHS’.” Although some students may es have consistently climbed, with the most recent addition of $.50 feel cheated by their costly lunchadded to the lunches this school es, the Nutrition Services have a year, leaving the lunches priced at far different stance on the situa$5. Meanwhile, the Special Nutri- tion. Vicki Ottoboni, the Nutrition program reports the average tion Services lead at BHS claims school lunch in California only that the high lunch price is still costs $3. And yet, the cafeteria is not high enough to support the still hundreds of thousands of dol- lunch program, even with the additional $.50 added to the lunch lars in debt. The transition from Burlin- price this school year. “$5 for a meal is really not that game Intermediate to BHS has created an impact on freshman, expensive,” Ottoboni said. “Bemost of who come from BIS, cause if you walked Burlingame where the lunch price is a reason- Avenue and bought a Caesar salad, able $2.75. Their lunches include for example, you would probably a main entree, sides of vegetables pay 10 or $11.” “We don’t raise prices every and milk. BHS, on the other hand, is pricing the same lunches year…even though we should,” $2 more. However, it is split as to Ottoboni said, citing labor costs, how the quality of the food com- food costs and benefits. “But we are a break-even propares to BIS’ lunch. “The [BHS Lunch] looks like gram so our goal is to break even… something I could buy at a store, but we’ve never broke even. We’ve which I like about the lunch...And always been hundreds of thou[BIS’] lunches were just nasty,” sands of dollars in debt. But at this freshman Dean Belhoucine, said. school and throughout the district, However, other students have we seem to be selling more meals, an opposing view regarding the more snacks or drinks,” Ottoboni said. “So hopefully it’ll be better.” BHS’ lunches.

BY AMELIA HARRIS Staff Reporter When Paulette Munroe graduated from Burlingame 46 years ago, she was not entirely sure what she wanted to do with her life. However, a plan for the future soon presented itself in the form of Morning Glory, a store where she had been selling her handmade clothing since she was 16. Munroe and her sister Maureen bought the business from a friend’s sister with financial help from their father. Munroe recalls the early days when her father, who was very frugal, would loan them money. “[He would] only lend us exactly as much money as we had saved. So together we had saved $2,500 so he lent us $2,500,” Munroe said. “We opened it with $5,000.” They worked together making a majority of their inventory with Paulette sewing clothes

Morning Glory has been open since 1972 and has been on 1436 Burlingame Avenue since 1995.

Demonstrated interest BY ALLIE KENNEDY Design Editor In an age when applying to some colleges is as easy as checking a box on the Common Application, schools are increasingly tracking demonstrated interest in an attempt to predict which applicants consider the college to be their first choice, and which are applying with no real intention of attending. While many students are aware that colleges track demonstrated interest, most do not know the extent to which colleges can monitor a prospective student’s behavior. Students typically try to show that they are interested in a specific college by visiting the campus, scheduling an alumni interview, attending a college fair or emailing admissions representatives. The college’s goal in recording these actions is to increase its yield, or the percentage of admitted students who choose to attend the school. However, tracking demonstrated interest extends far beyond what students expect. According to Stefanie Niles, the vice president for enrollment management at Dickinson College, many schools have a database tool that checks whether or not prospective applicants are opening the emails that colleges send. The website CollegeMapper, created by Susanna Cerasuolo, M.Ed, also claims that colleges can detect whether or not an applicant scrolled through the email, which links in the email the applicant clicked and how long the applicant spent looking at the college’s website after clicking a link. The National Association of College Admission Counselors reports that about half of all colleges

consider demonstrated interest to be a highly or moderately important factor in the admissions process, meaning small actions, such as looking at college emails, can make a difference in the admissions process. Some college applicants, such as senior Samantha Goldstein, want schools to make their methods of tracking demonstrated interest more transparent. “I think tracking emails is little scary. I thought that those were emails that didn’t hold a lot of weight and they were more like sales pitches for schools and not important in terms of your admission,” Goldstein said. “Since college admissions are so competitive, hiding something that gives students a better chance of admission is unfair.” However, alumna Priya Koliwad, currently a freshman at American University, believes that revealing exactly how colleges measure demonstrated interest would decrease the value of tracking demonstrated interest in the first place. “Schools want to see genuine interest. If kids knew that they were tracked, they could falsify that interest,” Koliwad said. “There are ways to make the information [on how students can show interest] more accessible, but I think it would defeat the purpose of tracking.” Most private institutions track demonstrated interest. If you are unsure whether or not a certain college pays attention to a student’s interest in the school, the admissions sections of college websites frequently have more information.

W hat ’s o n t h e No v ember Ca l if o r nia Ba l l ot Key Cong r essio na l Rac es

Guber nat o r ia l Rac e

On Nov. 6, Gavin Newsom (D) and John Cox (R) will compete to become California’s governor.

Gavin Newsom

John Cox

Democratic candidate Newsom is the current Lt. Gov. of California, and has been in politics since 1995. Newsom was born and raised in San Francisco, and received a B.S. in Political Science at Santa Clara University. Newsom has been involved with California politics for 22 years, first serving as a member of the San Francisco Parking and Traffic Commision under then-Governor Willie Brown. In 2003, Newsom was elected mayor of San Francisco, and was reelected in 2007.

Cox, the Republican candidate, is a businessman who has been on his most successful legislative campaign in 20 years. Cox was raised in Illinois, where he became an attorney after receiving a B.A. in accounting and political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a J.D. at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Cox has proclaimed himself a “self-made millionaire,” as he put himself through college by teaching tennis and working at Coopers & Lybrand as an accountant.

Education Cox has advocated for the cutting of college funds and has said colleges and universities should examine professors’ course loads to make sure the school is getting the most for its money. Newsom has promised to make the two years of community college free for students and also seeks to reduce the cost of four-year colleges and universities.

Transportation and Infrastructure There are three important projects regarding infrastructure that Gov. Jerry Brown planned. The first is the increased gas tax, which is a 12-cents-pergallon increase and a new $25 annual vehicle fee for cars valued at under $5,000, to $175 for cars worth $60,000 or more. The second is known as the Water Fix and Eco Restore project, which will construct two four-story-high tunnels bringing water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to the San Joaquin Valley. The third is the high-speed rail, which has faced numerous delays and underestimations for the cost. Cox is opposed to all three projects, wishing to terminate them, while Newsom supports all three, hoping to continue Brown’s vision for the future.

Gubernatorial Race by Vishu Prathikanti

District 10

District 50

Josh Harder

Ammar Campa-Najjar

Jeff Denham

Duncan Hunter

Incumbent Rep. Jeff Denham (R) has represented District 10 since 2011. Now, Denham is competing with venture capitalist Josh Harder (D) in the upcoming election. Denham served in the U.S. Air Force before entering into politics. Denham’s campaign emphasizes decreasing the size and role of the government in the private sector, working to expand water storage and fighting regulations regarding water storage. Harder prioritizes the expansion of Medicare accessibility and the creation of jobs by investing in education and infrastructure.

The Cook Political Report has changed its listing for this district from “Solid Republican” to “Lean Republican.” Incumbent Rep. Duncan Hunter (R) is competing against Ammar Campa-Najjar (D). Following 9/11, Rep. Hunter served in the Marine Corps. He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2008. Strengthening national defense is a priority for Hunter, along with passing policies to protect small business-owners. Campa-Najjar is a small business-owner who previously worked in the Obama reelection campaign of 2012. Campa-Najjar supports the expansion of Medicare services, adjustments to NAFTA to promote domestic production and an end to offshore drilling in federal waters.

District 45

District 39

Katie Porter

Gil Cisneros

Mimi Walters

Young Kim

A Republican has represented District 45 since its creation in 1983, yet Hillary Clinton (D) won this district in the 2016 presidential election. Incumbent Rep. Mimi Walters (R) is competing against Katie Porter (D). Walters previously worked as an investment advisor, and was elected to the House of Representatives in 2015. Walters’ campaign emphasizes pro-business fiscal policies to reduce the national debt, as well as support for recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and increased military earnings. Porter, her opponent, is a law professor at UC Irvine. Porter is also a consumer protection attorney, which means that she specializes in ensuring consumers are treated fairly by businesses and that businesses are following regulations. Porter supports a ban on assault-style weapons and expanded access to Medicare. Both Walters and Porter support a repeal of the gasoline and fuel taxes passed in April 2017.

Orange County is typically a Republican-held district, yet Hillary Clinton (D) won this district in the 2016 presidential election. Former state legislator Young Kim (R) is competing against Gil Cisneros (D), a veterans and education advocate. Kim worked for incumbent Rep. Ed Royce (R) for 25 years as his director of community operations and Asian affairs. Kim’s campaign emphasizes her role in a bipartisan effort to legislate against sexual violence. Kim supports increased border security and, due to her own background as an individual who immigrated to the U.S. at a young age, she supports measures protecting undocumented children. Cisneros served as a U.S. naval officer before entering into politics. Cisneros has decided not to take any Political Action Committee money (a source of campaign financing for candidates) because it is one of his goals to “...get corporate money out of politics.” Furthermore, Cisneros supports expanded access to Medicare and expanded benefits for veterans.

Pr o po sit io ns 1 Immigration Cox has opposed California’s sanctuary state law, which limits state and local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration agents. Cox has also voiced his support for Trump’s border wall, relating it to human trafficking, drugs and guns. Newsom has voiced his support for keeping California as a sanctuary state, and called Trump’s border wall “a monument to stupidity.”

Issues $4 billion in bonds for housing programs and veterans’ home loans

Revises process for homebuyers who are age 55 or older or severely disabled to transfer their tax assessment

Asks government to divide California into three states (removed from ballot by California Supreme Court)

Authorizes state to use revenue from millionaire’s tax for $2 billion in bonds for homelessness prevention housing

Repeals 2017’s fuel tax and vehicle fee increases and requires public vote on future increases

Allows local governments to regulate rent on any type of housing

Information from Ballotpedia

Issues $8.877 billion in bonds for water-related infrastructure and environmental projects

Authorizes legislature to provide for permanent daylight saving time if federal government allows

Allow ambulance providers to require workers to remain on call during paid breaks

The rise and fall of Proposition 9

Design by Allie Kennedy

by Lily Page

Issues $1.5 billion in bonds for children’s hospitals

Requires dialysis clinics to issue refunds for revenue above a certain amount

Bans sale of meat from animals confined in spaces below specific sizes

Silicon Valley investor Tim Draper sponsored Proposition 9, an effort to split California into three states: Northern California, California and Southern California. According to Business Insider, Draper gathered 402,468 signatures, which qualified Proposition 9 to be placed on the ballot. However, the California Supreme Court ruled in July that “the potential harm in permitting the measure to remain on the ballot outweighs the potential harm in delaying the proposition to a future election.”

Opinion

Oct. 26, 2018

Two contributors debate:

Should football players wear helmets? YES NO BY BEN NEUMAN Webmaster Football would be safer without helmets. Now before you put down this article saying the idea is ridiculous or football without helmets would become a “soft” sport, hear me out. In the 2018 NFL Combine, Giants running back Saquon Barkley ran a 4.40 second 40-yard dash. When converted, that turns out to be an average sprint speed of 18.6 mph. Now, let’s say that when the same player puts his head down into another player’s helmet while running at the same speed and their head rams to a complete stop in one-tenth of a second. That would mean that the given player’s head is subject to a deceleration speed of 90.9 yd/s/s. According to the Cleveland Clinic’s website, concussions are a result of the brain twisting around and scraping against the skull, leading to damaged brain cells and chemical changes. If anything can cause a big enough jolt to move the brain around inside the skull, it is the impact of two grown men who exceed 200 pounds running directly into each other. To make matters worse, the players feel safe due to the helmets on their heads, and will put their heads down in an attempt to better absorb the impact. In reality, the helmets provide little protection from a concussion due to the fact that the actual damage to the brain comes from the deceleration upon impact. If helmets were to be eliminated altogether from the game of football, players would no longer have the false sense of the security that they have now. Players would intentionally avoid lowering their heads into other players and instead tackle with their body weight. The ball carriers would also refrain from using their head as a sort of battering ram in favor of relying on evasive speed rather than brute force. Some people argue that concussions are t as common in rugby as in football, meaning removing helmets would seemingly make no difference in terms of the rate of head injuries. However, when one looks deeper into how concussions actually occur in rugby, it is usually during what is called a scrum, according to the British newspaper, The Telegraph. Scrums are when players from each team line up, put their heads down and use their necks and heads to push against the other team, which is doing the same thing in the opposite direction. Players are basically required to jam their head into other people, calling for a neck injury or concussion. In football, scrums do not exist, and the most pressure ever put on a player’s head is when they put it down and try a ram into defenders for extra yards --a type of play that would be avoided if helmets were removed. PH OT OB Of course, the removal of helmets from the game of YR AC HE LY football would not make the game safe; that is not possible AP in a sport where the world’s largest men tackle each other while running at close to 20 miles per hour; it would just greatly decrease the risk of head injury for those playing the game. Football would remain the same in how the game is played, and the only difference from today’s football would be that players would consciously avoid using their heads as battering rams when fighting for yardage.

BY ETHAN GARDNER Staff Reporter Football is one of the most dangerous sports played today, specifically due to head to head collisions. According to CNN, there were 291 concussions during the 2017 NFL season. Although there has recently been a movement supporting the removal of football helmets, this would b e counterproductive and would drastically increase the already high number of concussions on a yearly basis. Rather, players should focus on better tackling techniques and have helmets as an extra layer of safety. For starters, there has been an ongoing effort to change the way football players tackle altogether. In 2018, the NFL initiated a series of rule changes in order to prevent not only head to head contact, but lowering the head in general. These rules are extremely strict and can result in ejections and harsh penalties if broken.. These rule changes include ejections for head to head contact and penalties for head to body contact, even if it’s incidental. These rules prohibit players from lowering their heads at all during a hit, meaning players wouldn’t even think about lowering their head to absorb the impact or hit harder; the risk of penalties or ejection is not worth the reward. Therefore, the number of players lowering their head to hit would be the same, with a helmet or without. The extra level of safety that a helmet provides becomes a safety measure, rather than a tool to exploit. In addition to new rules, coaching at all levels of the game encourages safer hitting techniques. From peewee to the NFL, coaches are teaching the right way to hit: head up, use your shoulders and avoid hitting the opponent’s head. If kids are taught at a young age to hit correctly, they will keep themselves out of harm’s way. Players wear helmets for a reason, and taking them away will not cause them to lower their head less; they are already taught proper tackling form. As varsity cornerback Leo Bashaw puts it, “players are taught to keep their heads out of the equation when tackling regardless.” Lastly, there is only so much a player can control. At some point, heads are going to hit, whether it be other heads, bodies, or the ground. If players are not wearing helmets, those hits turn from small injuries into devastating head trauma. For example, in week two of the NFL, Taiwan Jones was hit without a helmet, and it resulted in a brutal head injury. Although Jones had lost his helmet during the play, the result is the same: helmets provide an important level of protection against accidental hits to the head. Players could accidentally hit heads or smack against the ground, and without helmets, the injuries would be much worse. Overall, the NFL would be much less safe without helmets. Players are already transitioning to safer tackling techniques, and soon head to head contact will be essentially eradicated. Helmets should be utilized as an insurance policy, and should be used as a backup to already-safe tackling techniques. The risk of not wearing helmets is too great, and instead of taking them out we should focus on new technology that makes helmets as safe as possible.

Newest generation perceives sex and drugs with complexity BY CLAIRE HUNT Senior Reporter Because our generation is the first to grow up with iPhones and social media, we are a generation defined by our access to technology. People have more access to information about typically taboo subjects, like sex and drug use. By discussing and educating ourselves on these subjects, our generation has the lowest teenage pregnancy and alcohol or drug abuse rates in decades. Yet, at Burlingame, students seem to be engaging in the same behaviors as past generations, and to a greater extent. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey found 14 percent of high school students nationally used illicit drugs in 2017, a decline from 22.6 percent in 2007. Comparatively, the 2017-2018 San Mateo Union Healthy Kids Survey revealed that 55 percent of high school seniors in our district used drugs or alcohol in their lifetime, 54 percent used illicit drugs to get high and 35 percent were engaged in drug or alcohol abuse on a regular basis. “Drugs help me to disassociate from everything. It takes away the stress for a few hours and I can just sleep or relax without feeling all over the place,” one Burlingame junior said.

As colleges become increasingly competitive and academic pressure peaks, teenagers have to deal with hours of homework, college applications and involvement in various extracurriculars to build their resumes. So, they turn to alternative methods to deal with their scholastic stress. In our school, it’s the students taking five AP classes who use drugs most often, showing that drugs have morphed from a recreational habit to self-medication and escape. The national survey found that 47.8 percent of students interviewed by the national survey in 2007 had had sex, while only 39.5 percent had by 2017. However, the Healthy Kids Survey does not provide statistics on Burlingame student’s sexual activity. “Oh, in the fifties and sixties it was unheard of. Nobody talked about sex at all,” health teacher Donna Krause said. Playboy and the occasional ‘dirty flic’ used to be the apex of a teenager’s access to sex, and social themes stigmatized sex into a shameful and condemned subject. Our generation has an increased awareness of how society sees sex, creating a fear of stigma and making teenagers less inclined to engage in sexual activity. Mandatory health class and years of being told unrestricted sex and

drugs are bad for us has made our generation more wary of the dangers of traditionally ‘unhealthy’ behaviors. Anti-smoking campaigns and urban legends about teenage ruin at the hands of drugs has led teenagers today to engage in fewer risky behaviors. However, our generation also has access to sexually explicit movies, online pornography and the over-sexualization of women over social media. Pop culture reinforces a trend of seeking physical intimacy over real relationships through apps like Tinder and titles like ‘friends with benefits.’ “[Teenagers] are more into hooking up because sex is a biological need,” chemistry teacher Susan Marcan said. “You can date, but you’re not developing relationships in the same way. You’re getting the quick intimacy, but you’re not doing the foundational work.” While our generation shows an overall trend of engaging in fewer risky behaviors, contradictions on a local scale mean teenagers are participating in more sexual activity and drug use than before. As we grow up in this information era, awareness about sex and drugs is increasing, and the normalization of these behaviors is prevalent in Burlingame.

Internet access has transformed the way our generation views sex.

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.

Entertainment

October 26, 2018

BY AMELIA HARRIS Staff Reporter Omigod, omigod you guys, “Legally Blonde,” with catchy songs, amazing choreography and creative sets wowed audience members on its opening night, Friday, Oct. 19. Directed by Cindy Skelton, Elle Woods (Suzanna Longworth) starts out as a seemingly “dumb blond.” “Throughout the course of the show she develops into something more than just her hair,” Longworth said. At the start of the show, Elle is the president of Delta Nu sorority at UCLA and ready for her boyfriend Warner Huntington III (Lucas Gilmour) to propose. To her surprise, he breaks up with her, saying he wants someone serious as he gets ready for law school and his future career path as a senator. The scene is able to inject a little humor; as Warner consoles Elle, he gets down on one knee, caus-

ing her to cry harder, but earning a laugh from the audience. Determined to win the love of her life back and prove to him that she is serious, Elle chases Warner to Harvard and the musical follows her trials and tribulations as a law student and her budding romance with fellow law student Emmett Forrest (Eric Broman). The interaction between cast members both on and offstage is dynamic, though Elle portrays her anger towards various characters during the show vividly, before rehearsal they all hang out in a group, talking and joking with one another. “The underclassmen are extremely talented this year, like one of the most talented freshman grades I’ve seen, I’m glad that we’re leaving the show in good hands,” Gilmour said. The crew’s dedication to making the show run smoothly is evident. The show starts with the Delta Nu sorority house and changes

to a hair salon, Elle’s room, a trailer park and a courtroom, to name a few. The crew, the backbone of the show, has spent almost three weeks in rehearsals with the cast. “Getting to feel like you’re part of the show, even though you can’t sing, and still getting to know the people,” sophomore Kyra Schlezinger said in regard to her favorite part about being a crew member. With catchy songs such as “Gay or European,” a cast favorite due to the humorous lyrics, as well as “Blood in the Water” and “Whipped Into Shape” all played by the pit orchestra consisting of Burlingame High School students, the score alone will be stuck in your head for days. Overall the show was well produced, although off-key at times, the actors seem to understand their characters and are believable. The subtle jokes throughout the show, occasionally corny but nevertheless funny, had the audience cracking up.

Collegeboard is nonprofit, right? BY DARRION CHEN Senior Reporter

Modern music review

BY JAMES LOWDON Senior Reporter

Trench review

Dennis J. Murphy

Your Peninsula Neighbor 415.310.7956 | dennis@dennisjmurphy.com dennisjmurphy.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE BURLINGAME B

Legally Blonde smashing debut by Burlingame theatre

Twenty One Pilots, the musical duo with lead vocalist Tyler Joseph and drummer Josh Dun, released their latest album, Trench, on Oct. 5. The album features 14 tracks for a total of 56 minutes. Although labeled as “alternative,” the album uses elements of hiphop, progressive rock, reggae and even metallic rock. Never having paid much attention to the group, I was pleasantly surprised with the consistently catchy, yet well produced instrumentals of Trench. The album begins with the track Jumpsuit, a good progressive rock song that decently juxtaposes a piano medley and a 10 second metal guitar riff. One of the most interesting elements of Trench is Jo-

Repetetive songs

Weezer, the alternative rock group that rose to fame with their 1994 Blue Album, have somehow survived over 20 years later, recently releasing the track Can’t Knock The Hustle on Oct. 11 as a teaser for their upcoming Black Album. Can’t knock the Hustle is a three and a half minute, flashy alternative rock hit. The song features

seph’s vocal versatility. He demonstrates a good lyrical flow in tracks such as Morph, and successfully incorporates great melodic vocals along with catchy choruses in most of Trench’s tracks, most notably in Cut My Lip. Just barely beating out Cut My Lip is my favorite track, Nico and the Niners, a unique track that combines indie rock, reggae and R&B to create a long lasting, catchy, slow burn. Overall, the consistency in quality of each track was great, and the experimentation with various genres and sounds helped the tracks from not being too repetitive. I was originally going to give this album a 7.5/10, but with each listen I found more and more that I liked about the album. I give this album a solid rating of 8/10. some clever and fun lyrics, and the chorus of “Hasta Luego” is fairly catchy. However, my main critique of the track is its repetitive nature. The instrumentals make for a very energetic, bumping sound, yet offer little variation. As a result, I found that the track grew boring quickly. Despite this, the song was an enjoyable listen and I give it a decent rating of 6.5/10.

Sports

October 26, 2018

Girls water polo perseveres through season PHOTO BY CLAIRE HUNT

BY CLAIRE HUNT

Senior Reporter

Varsity has a record of three wins out of seven overall games, while Junior Varsity has a season record of zero wins in 10 games. The water polo team has endured an entire season without a pool, meaning every practice and game has been away, but it continued to persevere and maintain its Panther pride throughout. “It was fun in the beginning and through the middle of the season, but now that it’s over, there’s not many games that we can actually play, because we’re not invited to tournaments anymore. And tournaments are the only things that you really improve at,” junior Isabel Downey said. Tournaments can have three games Season Record in one day, and have proven to be a as of Oct 22 great way for the team to learn and improve. The team has been to two tournaments so far. “The loss of the pool has led to a lot of tension and having our Junior Alyssa Archie plays teammates being mad at us for not defense in a game against knowing stuff that we should because Carlmont. we don’t really have the space or time to sit down and talk about all the rules

3-4

and our game plan and what we should do if something happens,” Downey said. The team was also shaken up by another change: the hiring of new coaches Dennis Clement and Ariel Dyer. The combination of new coaches and the loss of the pool has led to problems, but nothing unmanageable. “Our coaches don’t know much about the water polo overall district stuff and what’s happening. So they don’t know how to sign us up for tournaments,” said Downey. “They’re really late in getting the gear, like the t-shirts and the sweatpants. It’s going to come in three weeks, but our season ends this week, which kind of sucks.” With the confusion of always having practices and games at other schools, the team has dealt with losing time and motivation. When they have shown up to other schools to find a game going on or the pool being closed down, the team instead goes out for a spirit-building breakfast or lunch. They have bonded over the fire drills and miscommunications involved in always being the away team, and hope to use this sense of camaraderie next season.

BY ALLISON SETZU

Staff Reporter With a record of 13-4, the girls junior varsity volleyball team is wrapping the season up with success. With only two games left to go, the team will work hard in order to win their final game. The team feels confident that it will be able to end the season with one more win. “Our beginning goal was to improve individually and bond to work together better during games,” sophomore setter Neha Bandrapalli said. The girls stated that they have become close friends throughout the season, which was the reason for their success. Bandrapalli says that they have had many practices which improved their endurance and communication skills significantly. The team has made great strides toward bonding with one another and strengthening its skills on the court. “We have bonded so well with each other because we have been winning the games, so it pushes us to want to work harder and become closer as a team,” soph-

omore setter Camilia Noureddine said. “At the beginning of the year, we didn’t really feel comfortable with each other, we didn’t have chemistry yet. And now, after spending so much time with each other, I think we really bonded and we’ve made a really good team,” freshman setter Danielle Lewis said. The team’s chemistry has also been good motivation for the team, as each of the players push each other to improve. “We have improved so much this year as a team because we found a way to bond with each other and we found a way to work with our strengths and combine our weaknesses to limit them,” sophomore libero Madison Season Record Kamuller said. as of Oct 22 Although they started off struggling to work well, the team has overcome their early season Freshmen Samantha Palacio obstacles and finished off and Theresa Dakin get ready to strong. return the opponent’s serve “We want to show off who we are and we want to show how far we’ve come as a team,” Kamuller said.

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BHS Alumni host popular Warriors TV show BY MARK HABELT

Staff Reporter

Combining quirkiness, comedy and unrestrained energy into Golden State Warriors analysis, “Warriors Outsiders” has developed a strong fan base among sports fans throughout the Bay Area. As the the Warriors look to defend their Lar-

PHOTO BY ALLISON SETZU

Volleyball team cultivates confidence

ry O’Brien Trophy, BHS alumni Drew Schiller and Grant Liffman are beginning the second year of their NBC Sports Bay Area show, providing die-hard Warriors fans with insightful observations and light-hearted, free-wheeling entertainment after every game. The longtime friends combine Grant’s Hollywood-bred skills in front of the camera with Drew’s fountain

PHOTO BY MARK HABELT

BHS grads Drew Schiller (‘05) (left) and Grant Liffman (‘05) enter their second season entertaining fans as the Warriors pursue their consecutive third title.

of basketball knowledge while answering their audience’s questions on Facebook to appeal to their youthful viewership. An illustrious athletic career that included a baseball and football CCS championship, as well as appearances in three straight CCS basketball title games, propelled Schiller into the BHS Athletic Hall of Fame and San Mateo Sports Hall of Fame. After turning down Division 1 football scholarship offers, Schiller chose to attend USF on a basketball scholarship for his freshman season. When a new scholarship opportunity arose, he transferred to his dream school, Stanford, where he played in the backcourt for three years. However, a devastating hip injury prevented Schiller from pursuing a professional playing career overseas. Armed with a competitive spirit and an innate drive to succeed, Schiller was determined to build an off-the-field career out of his love for sports. A Stanford diploma, strong networking skills and a radiant personality helped Schiller land a job calling Stanford and Santa Cruz Warriors G-League basketball games in November 2010. He soon moved to NBC Sports Bay Area in June 2011 and the fledgling PAC 12 Network during its inaugural year in August 2012. While working on the NBC Sports website in 2016, Schiller collaborated with Liffman to come up with a new project idea. “We would talk about the Warriors almost daily and we were having a phone conversation one day and he said ‘Hey, man, we should have a show about the Warriors’ and I was like ‘yeah, that would be awesome,’” Schiller said.

After deliberating and negotiating with their superiors at NBC Sports, the friends initially launched the show on Facebook but soon extended it to television as their ratings grew. The idea of two analysts talking about their team while answering questions from viewers on Facebook has caught on, as networks around the country have launched shows such as “Giants Outsiders” and “Blazers Outsiders.” “It’s cool to see it grow and we obviously care a lot about it and we want it to be successful,” Schiller said. Considering the Warriors’ recent success (three championships in four years) and a major metropolitan TV market that will consistently provide good TV ratings, the “Outsiders” could easily ride their early wave of success and keep the show exactly the way it is. However, the two former competitive athletes are not inclined to get complacent with their current product. “You are always looking to grow...you have to be versatile, you have to be able to adapt and do different things, you can’t just be someone who is stuck in their ways. I definitely think that new opportunities will arise and stuff that we can’t even imagine right now we’ll be doing in a couple years,” Schiller said. Even amidst his current success, Schiller acknowledges how the Burlingame community provided him with endless support as he pursued his endeavors. “Burlingame was a tremendous place to grow up and I have nothing but fond memories because of the people,” he said.

October 26, 2018

Sports

Boys water polo enters PALs placing third Editor-in-Chief After an astounding defeat from Menlo-Atherton, the Panthers look to reset during their PAL run. They go into the playoffs tied for third place in the league after earning a record of 3-4. Roughly three weeks ago, the Panthers ended their pool-hopping around the district and settled on the San Bruno pool for practice. However, after deeming the pool inadequate, team captains Davor Koprivik and Sebastian Duong, along with senior Jason Schevach tried to find a solution with Principal Paul Belzer, Assistant Principal Markus Autrey and Athletic Director John Philipopoulos on Oct. 4. “We uncovered an essential flaw in the administration’s creation of the schedule,” Shevach said. “[They told] schools that they only had to allow us to practice at their pools until September 26 when the season doesn’t end until late October at the earliest.” Additionally, the date for pool construction has been confirmed to end in December 2019, meaning that next year’s

team will have to continue practicing in different pools. However, junior Adrian Cahuana, who plans to continue playing next year, has remained positive about the future. “I’m kind of sad, because, we don’t get our own pool, but I’m actually starting to get used to it,” Cahuana said. “Another year won’t really affect me because I’m already getting used to it this year, so it won’t be as bad as it could be.” Cahuana noted that he wasn’t the only one who felt this way, and when asked if sophomores and juniors were losing interest in Water polo, he confirmed that the team was still committed to excellence. “They just deal with the problem and try to overcome it and Season Record just use as much of the time as of Oct 22 that they’re given in the pool. And they want to use it wisely and use every minute and every second Senior Brandon Pham prepares to improve.” to pass the ball in a game Depending whether against Carlmont the Panthers beat Woodside on Oct. 23, their next opponent will be Menlo-Atherton on Thursday, Oct. 26.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BRANDON PHAM

BY VISHU PRATHIKANTI

3-4

Football builds on a strong season PHOTO BY HANNA SATO

BY BEN NEUMAN

Senior Reporter

Despite a slow start to the season, the football team has regained its footing and is looking ahead to attain its first PAL championship since 2015, when it won the Bay Division. Led by a powerhouse offensive attack that has clicked on all levels, the Panthers picked up two big wins against Half Moon Bay (27-26) and South San Francisco (51-0). “In the beginning of the season we struggled a little bit to come together but we’ve definitely joined and merged as a team,” cornerback Leo Bashaw said. “I’m feeling confident about our progress so far.” The Panther offense struggled to find its footing early Season Record on, as coach John Philias of Oct 22 popoulos experimented with different playcalls and personnel to try to cater to quarterJunior quarterback Jordan backs Jordan Malashus Malashus lines up against a and Wyatt McGovern’s formidable Half Moon Bay unique talents. Howevdefense. er, after a loss at Live Oak in week three, Philipopoulos

6-2

permanently inserted Malashus into the starting role, and the offense took off from there, scoring 49, 27, 51 and 36 points in consecutive games. On defense, a strong front seven has helped to propel the Panthers to multiple strong outings, including a shutout against South San Francisco. The Panthers, (6-2 overall and 3-0 in PAL play), are at the top of their division and hope to stay there. After a showdown against fellow frontrunner, The King’s Academy, the Panthers are just 1 game ahead. “Ultimately we’d like a PAL championship, a CCS championship, but for now we are just going week by week, winning games, doing what we can,” Bashaw said. The move to the PAL Ocean Division is increasingly looking like a good one, as a division title and CCS playoff berth are well within reach. With a deep senior class led by defensive anchors Noah Lavulo, Dylan Neeley, Scott Atkinson, Curtis Lauti and Youcef Benchohra, the Panthers must capitalize with this talented core or lose a chance to prove the viability of the program.

The origins of a 91-year-old rivalry Staff Reporter Each year, students from Burlingame High School and San Mateo High School gather to witness the Little Big Game, the historic matchup between the two schools’ rival football teams. The game, along with other events, highlights the Burlingame-San Mateo rivalry. This is one of the oldest high school rivalries in the Bay Area. It started back in 1923 when the SMUHSD created the San Mateo High School: Burlingame Branch in order to ease congestion at San Mateo High School, originally located on Baldwin Avenue. The two schools functioned as one, with the same sports teams and band. Eventually, the population of the Burlingame Branch grew to its intended capacity. Four years later, a bond was issued to build a new San Mateo High School, which is the one that still stands today, allowing the Burlingame Branch to be established as a separate school under the name Burlingame High School in 1927. As soon as the two schools split, the rivalry that has lasted for 91 years started. The first Little Big Game, named after the Cal-Stanford football game, was hosted that year and won by the Panthers 7-6. Throughout the years, thousands of students have been through the halls of San

Mateo and Burlingame and taken part in activities relating to the rivalry. Not only is football involved in the Little Big Game, but programs such as cheer, leadership and band are as well. “The leadership programs bring out their spirit game 100 percent during the games, which makes it a fun time,” San Mateo sophomore Edward Huang said. San Mateo band director Attilio Tributi has been teaching since 1992, directing the San Mateo Band through 25 Little Big Games. “The [San Mateo and Burlingame] bands manifest themselves one day a year, during the [Little Big Game],” Tributi said. “I think that the [rivalry] is a fair one and healthy for [the communities] of both schools.” The next Little Big Game will take place at Burlingame on Saturday Nov. 3 from 11 a.m. to Burlingame’s 1 p.m. Little Big Game Record “We’re gonna beat as of October 2018 them [this year],” Burlingame sophomore 53 - 32 - 4 Ilan Rosenbaum said. Be sure to come out The Burlingame Panthers and and support the Panthe San Mateo Bearcats comthers during the game pete in the 2017 annual and celebrate 91 years of Little Big Game rivalry.

PHOTO BY CADEN THUN

BY HUBERT CHEN

Student Life

October 26, 2018

Alex Mak decided to learn Italian; 6 months later, he’s in AP

Toward the middle of the second semester last year, senior Alex Mak reached his tipping point. Mak grew agitated with how often his friend group chattered about Italian class during track practice. Feeling excluded, he made a decision to learn Italian for himself. “It’s a really pretty language,” Mak said in an explanation of his decision, “and I already know Spanish.” He also speaks Mandarin and Cantonese, making Italian his fifth language. Fast forward six months, and Mak is taking AP Italian. He achieved language proficiency in roughly a semester and a half. “It was a lot of work, but it was rewarding,” Mak said. The first step was to check out the Italian textbook Percorsi from the school library. Moving from cover to cover, he finished it in 6 months. But studying vocabulary lists would hardly support his conversational skills. Mak turned to Youtube to learn how to understand spoken Italian. “I watch a lot of Italian Youtubers, and a lot of Italian singers,” Mak said. He knows practically all of the words to Andrea Bocelli’s classic song, “Con Te Partiro.” (The English title is “Time

to Say Goodbye.”) In addition to appreciating Italian opera, Mak has committed himself to staying well-versed on Italian pop culture. He often watches videos made by the Italian Youtubers Matteo “Matt” Pelusi and Valentino “Bise” Bisegna, known across the internet as “Matt e Bise.” In one of their ongoing gags, Bise dresses up as an elderly woman and pretends to be Matt’s mother. I asked Mak what he thinks of the Italian rapper Fedez, who recently married the celebrity Chiara Ferragni. Mak remarked that he does not really like Fedez’s music, and that the rapper is not nearly as attractive as people think he is. Mak also began doing tutoring sessions with Italian speakers on italki, an app that connects language students with native speakers for Skype-like video chat sessions. Each session costs around $10 depending on the price set by the teacher. Mak’s teacher is named Giovanni, and he lives in Rome. Mak does not know Giovanni’s last name. In their first session, Mak and Giovanni discussed greetings. In their most recent session, they discussed the role of the internet and globalization in Italian culture. Mak even taught himself to roll his r’s, which he had spent several months trying to do to no

PHOTO BY DAVID MEHRAN

BY LILY PAGE Managing Editor

Alex Mak taught himself Italian in 6 months, and then directly enrolled in AP Italian. avail. He watched Youtube vid- rolling one’s r’s. (He clarified that “You know the adreneos of people practicing rolling this part of the mouth is called aline that you experience after their r’s to the tune of “Twinkle, the ‘alveolar ridge.’) Still nothing. you do something unexpected, Twinkle, Little Star” and in varOn a random day in June, something really difficult—that’s ious arpeggios. He even memo- Mak was driving alone in his what I was feeling,” Mak said. rized the anatomical name of the car, a purple 1996 Lexus Sedan. part of the mouth upon which Then, inevitably or miraculousone places their tongue when ly, it happened. He rolled his r’s.

Christian Club’s genesis

What sneakers do you wear? What color sneakers do you prefer? White (50%)

Other (16.50%)

black (33.50%)

What brand of sneakers do you prefer?

BY DAVID MEHRAN Staff Reporter

Why do you prefer this color? Here is the gist of over 250 responses we received:

"It goes with everything" "They look clean" "because its different" "Having different types of Colors make you stand out and express yourself further" "White is a more sleek color and I think it looks much better with different outfits then many black shoes do."

Why do you prefer that brand? Here is the gist of over 250 responses we received:

"Because Vans are very comfortable and trendy" "Converse are versatile, comfortable, and, come in a variety of styles and colors. Hightops and low tops!" "Nike shoes are comfortable and have a very fitting style." I think white Adidas will look the best Converse (11%)

Nike (21.30%)

Adidas (14.20%)

Vans (37.40%)

Other (16.10%)

1-3 (60.26%)

4-6 (28.73%) 10+ (5.51%)

7-10 (5.51%)

How many pairs of the same BRAND of shoe have you owned in high school?

1-3 (63.80%)

4-6 (24.40%)

PHOTO BY DAVID MEHRAN

How many pairs of the same COLOR shoe have you owned in high school?

The Burlingame Christian Club has now joined the ranks of multiple identity-based clubs on campus. The club is held every Tuesday lunch in Ms. Hudelson’s room and emphasizes morality and discusses self-improvement. “There are a lot of Christians on campus, but they didn’t know or communicate with each other, and [the club] is a way they can meet and encourage each other to be united in belief,” junior Josh Wong, BCC’s cofounder, said in regard to the reason for the club’s creation. Like many clubs, BCC is a way students who share a common identity can bond. “[The Christian Club] aims to serve as a light on campus,” Wong said, referencing the BCC poster emblazoned with the catchphrase “Be the Light,” which has been hung up in severals hallways on campus. . Wong feels Christianity has been unjustly stigmatized in recent years by the media, and wants to reverse any misconceptions students might have about the faith. “There are good and bad parts of Christianity, the media often only focuses on bad stereotypes,” Wong said. “We want to encourage others not to see our religion as just what’s on the news.” BCC has expanded to around 25 people since the founding of the club, mostly Christian but

not all. Club member Camden Stuart said that he joined the BCC because he’s been Christian his entire life and felt compelled to be part of the new BHS Christian community. Week to week, the club has many plans such as conducting prayer support groups, hosting guest speakers, and conducting discussion groups on certain topics. However, according to Wong, the overall theme for the club this year is how religion affects one’s day to day life. On Tuesday, the Christian Club was visited by Pastor Jeremy Wong of Millbrae Bible Church, who shared about his life, and religion as a facet of high school identity. He also discussed the threat that idols can present towards one’s faith; how pleasure, power, wealth and fame disrupt the path towards finding God. Having an identity is a commonality for clubs on campus, but some feel that religion crosses the line of an identity that should be openly public. Junior Vinhson Nguyen shares his concerns with the BCC. “The club is slightly alienating,” Nguyen said. Nguyen isn’t Christian himself, and shared that he sometimes feels ostracized from the club’s activities. That said, BCC was founded with inclusive intentions, and stated that it is very open to hear the beliefs of all members of the student body, regardless of religion.

7-10 (7.50%)

10+ (4.30%)

Pastor Jeremy Wong talks to the club about identity.