Freshmen Elections Page 2
New Teacher Interviews Page 3
Sports and Creative Writing Page 6
October 10th, 2017
New website: www.hillsdalescroll.org
News In Brief Congratulations to the Hillsdale Asian Trivia Team and winning the district championship for the SkyLink Bay Area Quiz Tournament!
The Hillsdale Effect raised $7518.24 last year, helping 10 Guatamalan women. This year’s Penny Wars competition is 10/6 - 10/20!
New Comic, Crossword, Polls! Page 8
Editors’ Note We are extremely excited to release our first official issue of this year, through the hard work of a new staff. We’ve decided to start the year with an eight-page, color issue. This year will not only introduce improvements in quality of writing, but also in content. Student polls have been introduced, to give voice to Hillsdale students and recognize their opinions in the newspaper. Our entertainment section is enhanced with new features such as the new crossword puzzle and comic strip. And we’ll be going digital this year! All the articles will be published online. We hope you enjoy reading! The Editors
Reactions to the New 800 Wing Julia Chen Staff Writer After many months of construction, the 800 building is finally open. With two stories full of new rooms, bathrooms and a small garden outside, most students agree that the wait was definitely worth it. The two departments that moved into the building were the science and world language departments. While the building opened in February, many teachers have only just moved in over the summer and begun to get used to their new rooms. The new rooms are mostly bigger than the old rooms and each one has a flat screen TV, along with shiny new tables and chairs. Many teachers agree that the windows bring in lots of natural light, which is a nice change from the old closedin rooms. Ms. Lum-ku mentioned how the building is very energy efficient and green, which is very important to her as a science teacher. Many science buildings also get more lab benches, which allows teachers to assign smaller groups, giving each student a greater opportunity to participate. The rooms also have much better storage, with their many storage cabinets and huge shared stockrooms. The stockrooms also serve as a connection between certain classrooms,
making it easy for teachers to communicate. Many teachers have also had to share classrooms in the past, so being able to have a classroom specifically for their use is a great change for them. Students enjoying the new building Having their own classroom after school! Photo Credit: Henry Gu helps with organization and convenience in general. It also allows who sits there every day for lunch, stated, teachers to decorate the classroom walls “The new courtyard is a convenient place with their students’ work and other posters to eat lunch since it’s very close to all my regarding the taught subject, rather than classes.” Not only that, the new plants and splitting the walls for two different subjects. trees are all a great addition to the school. The new building was mostly Overall, Spanish teacher Mr. Stuebbe met with positive feedback, but, like most explained, “I feel like [the new building] things, there are the downsides. The long is a really good environment for learning, tables in the science classrooms that seat and students seem to really appreciate it.” two students create some space issues In addition to the new classrooms, because it’s difficult to form groups while there is also a small garden outside that gives also orienting the tables in a way that students more space for lunch. It didn’t take makes it easy for students to see the board. long for groups of students to settle in (continued on page 6) and claim their spot. Isaac Mao, a junior
Hillsdale Responds to Bomb Threat Ben Liao Editor-in-Chief
Sophomores and juniors, good luck on the PSAT tomorrow! Do you have comments, feedback, letters to the editors, or want to buy an ad? Contact us at: thehillsdalescroll@gmail.com
On September 7, the Hillsdale community responded to a bomb threat— which turned out to be, thankfully, unsubstantiated. However, it served as a good reminder to the Hillsdale community of the importance of proper emergency education and preparation, as well as an exercise for the administration and police department in case an attack were ever to actually happen. The event started in the morning, when a note was discovered in the boys’ bathroom in the upper court. As reported on social media, the note said that bombs were hidden all over the school and detailed the person’s intent to blow up Hillsdale. Students began sharing the picture on social media, until it finally reached the administration after lunch and triggered a response. Our school’s protocol contains five responses to threats, depending on the level of danger the threat poses to the school. Each time a threat is presented, Hillsdale contacts the San Mateo Police Department; together, they decide which response to
execute. For this threat, the decision was to order the campus to shelter-in-place. Mr. Gilbert, our lead principal, explained that he “really wanted to emphasize that this was a hard decision,” due to the lack of information and the inability to determine the seriousness of the threat. “If the building’s on fire, you know what to do. If someone is on campus with a gun, you know what to do,” Gilbert explains. It’s these grey areas where the threat isn’t clear but could potentially grow into something much more serious that are tough; in the end, the police and the administration decided to err on the side of caution. However, Mr. Gilbert feels “confident” that they “made the right decision,” citing comments from staff members as well as the SMPD. Mr. Childress, a staff member who was here when Hillsdale was attacked in 2009, agreed that the administration “did exactly what they were supposed to do” by reporting it to the police. The police “responded with extreme caution, and it might seem extreme to some folks,” but “given not only the history but also the protocol”, he
believes that the caution was warranted. However, junior Patrick Chiang, was worried that it was not well thoughtout. “If there were actually a bomb at our school, it’s probably not the smartest thing to keep all the students in the buildings that might blow up,” he questioned. He suggested that an evacuation to get students and staff off campus, away from the bombs, would have been better. After the decision was made and the school sheltered in place during sixth period, police decided that it was safe to clear the campus. Students were escorted off campus, and police moved in to assess the situation for the remainder of the afternoon—causing Back-to-School Night and all associated events to be cancelled. Mr. Gilbert was very pleased with how the situation played out. Students “have been responsible, listen, and take it seriously,” which helps the administration tremendously. M r. K i r k , t h e K y o t o p r i n c i p a l . . . (continued on page 6)