Homecoming recap: Powderpuff audio slideshow and highlight reel • elestoque.org
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Reducing library hours inconveniences students • Page 7
opinion
Swank Farms disappoints in its labyrinth of mazes • Page 19
MVHS varsity football resoundly defeats Lynbrook • Page 15
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entertainment Growing Green Taking a look at the health trends • Page 11
Volume XXXX • Issue 2 • Monta Vista High School • Cupertino, CA
Life-changing program Challenge Day arrives as a new experience by Brittany Hopkins
O
n May 8, 2008, the School Site Council came to its final decision: get rid of Camp Everytown. This year, students and staff alike were surprised to learn that Monta Vista will be replacing Camp Everytown with a new program called Challenge Day. Camp Everytown is geared toward breaking down stereotypes and learning about other people as well as oneself. Over a course of four days at a campsite in Santa Cruz, teens and adults learned the value of respect. “Most of the kids I’ve spoken to said it was a life-changing experience,” social studies teacher and Camp Everytown alumnus Ben Recktenwald said. “You really develop a sense of community [at Camp Everytown].” Though a number of students and staff members agree with Recktenwald, going to Camp Everytown is no longer an option. Instead, the school has decided to participate in Challenge Day, which only lasts for one day instead of four, and is held on campus. Those who have participated in Camp Everytown in the past feel uneasy about this recent change.
October 22, 2008
Saving
pennies
When the economy heads south, every cent counts
by Jeremy Lee, with additional reporting by Serena Lee
W
hen Christmas arrives this year, sophomore Annie Lanter hopes that she won’t find extravagant gifts wrapped for her by family members, or even a tree decorated with ornaments in her home. Worried about the financial health of her family, she would rather forego the usual gifting in exchange for more money in her family’s bank account. The recent downturn in the U.S. economy, which began with the subprime mortgage meltdown and led to the recent instability and decline in the stock market, has resulted in increased stress in many families. While Cupertino may appear insulated from the worries due to its affluence, many people in the area are mindful of the economic woes. “To see stores [such as Mervyn’s] closing and people struggling has just created an atmosphere of gloom everywhere,” senior Harsha Gorti said. “But at the same time, even the slightest hope creates a bundle of happiness if you look at it optimistically.” Yet for others, it is difficult to find optimism in the current environment. Lanter’s family moved from Oakley,
Calif. to Cupertino 12 years ago in order for her two older brothers to attend MVHS, and she immediately noticed the increase in the rent of her family’s home. Her father, a construction worker for over 30 years, and her mother, a graphic designer for a similar amount of time, have had difficulty supporting their family for many years, and with the economy going into a recession, her situation has only become more taxing. “I feel like I’m the one keeping them in Cupertino, and I’m the one putting pressure on them and myself,” Lanter said. Though the economy has added additional strain to her social life, it has only motivated her to work even harder to achieve academically. Lanter’s father has an upcoming surgery which is only further stressing her family’s finances. After years of overworking see ECONOMY on page 6
see ON CAMPUS on page 6
Jeremy Lee, Serena Lee, and Daniel Stenzel | El Estoque Photo illustration
Separated at birth
Library checks out, students in disbelief
Cler and trainer bond over fitness trials
New policy shuts out students on seven period days
by Kanwalroop Singh
by Serena Lee
Fitness gym. They are like peatacey Cler twittered nut butter and jelly, like milk around her desk. She ruf- and cookies, like Billy Blanks fled papers, peeked under and Tae Bo. Together, they are a them and over them, and since complete entity. “I always felt by she could no lonmyself,” said ger eat 100-calorie Cler. “The cookie packs, she carrying the minute that opened her mouth I met Danwide and smacked ny, I felt like and chewed and This is part two of I wasn’t.” pulled apart her a series of articles After a battle gum, sucking all the discussing English with cancer and sweetness out of it. teacher Stacey a life-threatening Then she paused. Cler’s decision to blood clot in 2003, She hunched lose weight, her Cler decided that she over, her eyes flitjourney to become was going to change ting sideways to the fit, and the impact her lifestyle and door, and with her her lifestyle change embark on the moleather bag slung has had on her and mentous journey to over her shoulder, her students. lose weight. For the she made her way next five years, Cler out of the classroom, through the hallway, went to school and taught; she down the A-building stairs, and gave herself shots of blood thininto her car. She wanted to see ning medication while watching bruises splatter over her anemic Danny Page. Page is her personal trainer stomach, and she did hours and and the extension of her person- hours of cardio, abs, stretching, ality. Together, they are as ma- swimming, kickboxing, dieting, ture as one adult, and together see COMPANIONS on page 3 they are conquering the 24 Hour
S
weight
E
leven students with unscheduled periods gathered around the whiteboard placed in front of the library entrance during fourth period on Oct. 16. It was a simple sign that explained that the library will no longer be open for unscheduled periods with the exception of block periods. Frustrated students filtered into the academic court and sat on the benches along the library rail or on the library steps. Others trickled into the rally court and the cafeteria. One student even tried getting into a French teacher’s classroom, but was
Serena Lee | El Estoque
CLOSED OFF The policy change leaves students in frustration during fourth period on Oct. 16.
quickly denied. And some just stood in complete disbelief. After eight weeks of discussion, Principal April Scott and Library Media Teacher Megan Birdsong made a compromise on Oct. 10 to open the library only during block periods, brunch, lunch, and tutorial, and before and after school. According to both Scott and Birdsong, students are calmer, focused, and less social during block periods; thus, there are usually less than 30 students in the library. During seven period days, however, it becomes a challenge for the librarians to manage the library, as it quickly becomes filled with noisy students. “We would love for all students with unscheduled periods to use the library,” Scott said. “The problem is we still have to use it as an instructional space.” According to both Scott and Birdsong, the primary use of the library is to support instruction. For the past eight weeks, Birdsong and library technician Jodi Mitchell have had to focus on maintaining student behavior all day rather than other tasks such as ordering library materials, maintaining collection, and developing resource curriculum. “We’ve been looking at the number of students in the library and in the previous years, it was more manageable to have unscheduled students in the library because there were fewer,” Birdsong said. “Now we’re running at a minimum of 30 [students], average of 50 [students], and high of 100 [students] in addition to classes, and it was disruptive to our work and disruptive to instruction.” see LIBRARY on page 4