The Irvington Voice 27.4

The official publication of Irvington High School

in Fremont, California

THE V ice FEBRUARY 1, 2019

VOLUME 27, ISSUE 4

WORK TO RULE: special issue

The Voice investigates Work to Rule’s causes and effects for Fremont students and teachers.

COMPILED BY: ISHA SANGHVI (editor-in-chief), KAYLA XU (news editor) INTRODUCTION TO THE ISSUE

As a continuation of negotiations in the past year, Fremont Unified District Teachers Association (FUDTA) have once again begun “working to the rule” in the 2018-2019 school year in an attempt to receive a cost-of-living salary raise from Fremont Unified School District (FUSD). The 20172018 school year negotiations, following last May’s Work to Rule and heated protests from students, teachers, and parents, only managed to come to a consensus on the salary of that year, and teachers entered the 2018-2019 with no salary contract. While FUSD has offered teachers a raise of 0.7%, FUDTA remains insistent on the 3.7% cost of living.

“The Bay Area [cost of living] is actually even higher than that, but we are at least fighting for what the state has had all districts designated in the budget as the cost of living and that is 3.7%,” said FUDTA president Victoria Birbeck-Herrera. “This isn’t a raise that educators are asking for. In economics you want the dollar that you have at any given time to have the same purchasing power, so if we don’t get the 3.7 cost of living allowance, healthcare costs go up and items that you buy even go up in price.”

Working to the rule dictates that teachers only work during their contracted hours from

8:00 am to 2:59 pm, excluding lunch. FUSD does pay teachers an extra 40 hour for them to work outside of school, but the majority of teachers more than satisfy this quota. Outside of the contracted time school day, teachers can no longer grade papers, create lesson plans, advise club meetings, give extra help to struggling students or answer questions. These limitations were put in place by FUDTA in order to show students, parents, and the Fremont community the amount of unpaid and uncontracted work teachers are expected to do.

However, despite FUDTA’s best efforts, FUSD has still refused to grant Fremont teachers a salary increase higher than 0.7%.

“We are at the point where we actually have to fight to receive a cost of living every single year, which is unfortunate,” said Birbeck-Herrera. “In the past, we could bargain and have reassurance for what 2 or even 3 years at a time would look like, but with the way that things are now, the district is only agreeing to terms for one year.”

While Work to Rule is intended to remain in effect for the near future, Birbeck-Herrera says that a teacher strike by the end of the 2018-19 school year is unlikely.

Contributors: Nikoo Alizadeh, Prahalad Chari, Rebeca Delgado, Rachel Kavalakatt, Justin Kim, Sherin Lajervardi, Emily Liu, Felicia Mo, Pia Parekh, Annika Yong, Michael Zhu

STEPS TO A STRIKE: The Progression of Work to Rule

Dissapointed that FUSD did not deliver their Cost of Living Adjustment, teachers voiced their concerns at various board meetings and distributed leaflets.

Unable to come to an agreement after bargaining sessions, FUDTA declared Impasse. Mediators were brought in to find a solution to the dispute.

AS TOLD BY THE TEACHERS: Featured On Pages 10-11 I'm here [because] I care about kids. I really hope the district resolves this issue quickly so we can get back to work properly. I love my job, and I want to keep doing it.”

Mrs. Berbawy

AVERAGE NUMBER OF HOURS TEACHERS SPEND OUTSIDE THEIR CONTRACT

hours spent on GRADING

hours spent on ADVISING CLUBS

hours spent on REC. LETTERS, QUESTIONS

FUDTA devised Working to the Rule, a tactic where they work the minimum requirements of their contracts to raise awareness.

If the District cannot deliver a reasonable response in a timely manner or the teachers do not agree with the compromise, teachers will resort to striking.

DIRECT FROM THE DISTRICT

With work to rule creating high tensions between the Fremont Unified School District (FUSD) and its teachers, some misconceptions of the district’s budget and perspective have been spread. The Voice interviewed Raul Parangao, assistant superintendent of the district, to get their perspective on the issue.

The district is currently facing a structural deficit, meaning that their revenue is less than their expenditures. The state is not providing FUSD with the money that they need to make ends meet. While it seems like the district just needs to cut its spending, it isn’t that simple.

“The district doesn’t have a surplus,” said Parungao.

“It’s not because we don’t know how to spend our money but, rather, because the demand is more than what the state could provide us.”

About 84.8% of the district’s budget is spent on paying the salaries and benefits for teachers, janitors, paraeducators, etc.

This percentage is set to increase as the district is expected to pay more in benefits in the coming years, hence the difficulty in raising wages for teachers.

A lack of funding is an-

other prominent issue. Due to the Assembly Bill 1469 pertaining to State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) contributions signed by the Governor into law in 2014, the district has to pay pension contributions, a specific cut of money given to the teachers annually during retirement.

However, the mandated amount towards pension contribution increases every year until 2021. Last year, there was a 1.8% increase in required pension contributions, but the district only received a 1.56% increase in funding. This forced the district to reach into its savings account and pay the rest. This year, they received a net of 1.7% increase in funding after paying for the pension fund.

A substantial amount of the budget is directed towards the special education program. The state mandates certain services be provided for special education— the cost about $78 million this year—yet the state only funded $31 million in revenue. The widening discrepancy between revenues offered by the state and required expenditures left the district reaching into their reserves once again.

Continued on Page 2

www.ihsvoice.com Inside: Student Life 5 | Opinions 7 | Features 10 | Entertainment 13 | Sports 16 | Humor 18

NEWS

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DIRECT FROM THE DISTRICT (CONT.)

“The problem that we’re facing right now is actually due to insufficient funds from the state.

The state has to do something about funding school districts, providing an additional amount for us to be able to address the basic needs,” said Mr. Parungao. “The state and the federal government have to fully fund or at least make advances towards funding the pension contribution and special education.”

If the state was able to completely fund the special education program, the district would gain $46.5 million, more than enough for a 4% raise for all district employees (a 1% raise costs $3.194 million), and fill up the reserve.

While the district did indeed end with a $19 million ending balance, $11.7 million was set aside for state-mandated

ference rooms, nor the teachers who could not afford to stay any longer because of familial responsibilities or strenuously long commutes, could stay updated through the night. Knowing they were being recorded, from the back of the room, teachers held protest signs backwards behind their heads to show on the livestream.

Despite FUDTA informing the school board ahead of time of their collected arrival, salary negotiation was still not on the meeting agenda. Therefore, people did not get the chance to speak about the issue until “oral communication” began hours later. At every board meeting, oral communication is the section dedicated to hearing miscellaneous commentary from the public. Before the meeting began, there were between “five to six hundred people” who signed up to speak, according to Administrative Assistant Patty Sandoval.

Eventually, instead of reading out every name card submitted, people began lining up to speak. Most high school teachers had left by then, and only few students remained as well. Due to the large amount of people signed up to speak that night, the board also agreed to restrict speaking time to one minute, compared to the usual three minutes.

Susan Hawkins, a science teacher at Ardenwood Elementary with both a masters degree and PhD, was one of the

The Irvington Voice www.ihsvoice.com

and board-designated reserves, which was a 3% mandatory amount. The remaining money was spent on things like salary increases, one-time expenditures, and prepaid expenditures.

With the current situation, the district doesn’t have enough incoming revenue.

Among the 50 states, California ranks 45th in per student funding, and FUSD ranks last among all school districts in the Alameda County.

“Every household is levied 73 dollars for the parcel tax.

When [homeowners] pay property tax, they pay an extra 73 bucks for it,” Mr. Parungao said.

“When you collect that 73 dollars in aggregate, it amounts to $4.3 million dollars for [all of] Fremont.”

Editors in Chief Elaine Chan, Isha Sanghvi

For more information about the budget, visit www.ihsvoice.com

Business Manager Sherin Lajevardi

many teachers who spoke about Fremont’s rapidly growing cost of living.

“I commute 150 miles a day,” Hawkins explained as she hit the one minute mark. When she kept speaking after the timer going off, President Michelle Birke repeated, “Thank you very much,” proceeding to turn Hawkin’s microphone at the podium off, before deciding, “Alright I think we’re going to have to take a recess” and then standing and leaving her seat.

Later that night, when other speakers went over their time, the board again threatened to go into a ten to twenty minute long recess.

On January 16, 2019 the FUSD board finally convened to discuss the current disputes over the Work to Rule teacher pay. After several months of trying to reach a compromise over a 3.71% salary increase, the district has upheld a firm decision to stick to a 0.71% salary increase.

Overall, despite hosting 2 board meetings regarding the issue, the district has not changed its position since the board meeting of June 2018 which provided teachers with a 1.33% salary increase.

Due to the district’s unwillingness to compromise, several students at Irvington High School have attended board meetings in order to speak up against the issue and provide a voice for the students and teachers.

work to rule affects STUDENT ACTIVITIES

News Editor Isha Sanghvi, Kayla Xu Student Life Editor Fiona Zhao Opinions Editor Andrew Fu, Srinidhi Sankar Features Editor Elaine Chan, Pia Parekh Entertainment Editor Shradha Krishnamurthy Sports Editor Achintya Pinninti Humor Editor Emily Joe Photo and Web Editor Annika Yong

Public Outreach Director Rebeca Delgado

teachers protest at THE DISTRICT MEETING

On December 12, 2018, FUDTA members collected outside of the school district building to speak out in favor of a salary increase in light of the recent COLA (cost of living adjustment) given to districts by the state government.

Teachers protested outside the district building from the end of school until 6:30 in the evening when the official board meeting began. Bay Area news sources, came to cover the event, providing light for the teachers still collected outside the parking lot after dark. Several of Irvington’s own teachers were present at the event, including Ms. McCauley who advocated for the often-dismissed work of school librarians along with Mrs. Stilwell, Mr. Stilwell, and their son holding a protest poster. Ryan Howard, English teacher at American High School and organizing chair of FUDTA, reported that over 800 teachers were expected to turn up to the meeting that night.

Howard commented that one of the larger and longer ongoing issues of board meetings was the lack of willingness of the school board to discuss negotiations. Because of the surplus of people at that meeting, many had to go into the other two conference rooms and view the meeting through the livestreams playing on the TVs in those room. However, that night, the typical livestream was down, so neither the teachers in the other two con-

Friday, February 1, 2019

Advisor Matthew Phillips Staff Writers Akshita Nair Alice Shu Ashka Patel Emily Liu Felicia Mo Justin Kim Kritika Sachar Megan Dhingra Michael Zhu Nancy Zuo Nikoo Alizadeh Prahalad Chari Rachel Kavalakatt Rory Conlon Roxana Shahmohammadi Sanjana Gudivada Shivani Manivasagan Vidushee Mishra General Policy The Irvington Voice 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 Irvington Voice staff, the administration, faculty of Irvington High School, or any person affiliated with the Fremont Unified School District.

The Irvington Voice does not discriminate against race, political orientation, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability. Although The Irvington Voice will never refuse to publish student guest submission based on the aforementioned factors, we reserve the right to edit or not publish them.

“Work to Rule isn’t just a problem for the teachers. This issue can only be resolved if more students make their voices heard at school, board meetings, etc.

Lily Yang (12)

With Work to Rule in effect, Irvington’s teachers are not working outside of their paid hours.

As a result, teacher advisors, who spend voluntary, unpaid time assisting clubs, have the option of suspending student organizations altogether. Thus, clubs that rely on their advisors during lunch or after school have been temporarily shut down until FUSD and FUDTA come to a compromise, prompting many students involved in clubs to express concerns for the situation.

“Most of Creative Writing Club focuses on actually having meetings so we can portion different tasks to people,” said Club President Lily Yang (12). “We have a Penchant Literary Magazine and in order to create that, it requires a lot of work and definitely support from both the teachers and the students themselves.”

According to ASG President Jasmine Tong-Seely (12), dances and proms will not be affected as the supervision for those events have

already been worked into the teacher contracts. However, according to Mr. Willer, the much-awaited Faculty Follies, teacher talent show, that is scheduled to happen in May is at risk of being canceled should Work to Rule continue until then.

“My biggest recommendation is really that clubs and every other student needs to advocate to the district and get their parents to advocate,” said Tong-Seely. “If Work to Rule wasn’t hurting the students, then it wouldn’t be an effective negotiating tactic.”

With input from both parents and students, the district board may be able to make changes before Work to Rule leads to a teacher strike. In the meantime, clubs are doing what they can to adapt to the situation.

“Especially with our first official conference this weekend, it’s been hard to do workshops with members,” said DECA co-president Kareena Wu (12). “Right now is the time that we need it the most. For

us at least, officers are taking a lot of their own time to work with members instead of having collective workshops.”

In addition to inactive clubs, one major concern for students across the district is regarding teacher recommendations for internships and summer enrichment programs. Without these recommendations, students are unable to apply to a majority of programs, some of which require multiple letters of recommendation. Certain summer programs have taken note of the progression of Work to Rule in the district, and have taken steps to accommodate FUSD students. Recently, COSMOS summer program withdrew the recommendation letter requirements for its applicants, enabling all FUSD students to access the program.

With Work to Rule still continuing after the January 16 board meeting, the status of many clubs and student activities are up in the air.

“Work to Rule has affected our ability to adequately work on robotics projects that require specific materials and equipment such as dremels and drills. Since we do not have these materials at home, it is difficult to really make progress on our projects.”

Sid Khabiya (12)

Friday, February 1, 2019

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Friday, February 1, 2019

Holocaust Survivor: Magda Brown

By Akshita Nair Staff Writer

The story of Magda Brown is one of saddness, tragedy, but most importantly, inspiration. As one of the rare and lucky survivors of the mass genocide known as the Holocaust of World War II, she managed to break through all the hardships.

Magda Brown grew up as a happy child, raised in a loving, religious home in Hungary. Before the Holocaust, she hoped to go to higher education and study to be a radio announcer (radio was relatively new at that time) but an anti-semitic law prevented her from being able to pursue that dream. Only about 1 percent of Jewish children were admitted, and even though her grades were good and her father could pay for the tuition, she was still rejected. It was the first sign of the extreme discrimination she would eventually encounter.

The Nazis occupied Hungary on March 19, 1994. In about one week, almost all Jews were displaced from their homes and sent to ghettos with a small bag of their belongings. On Magda’s 17th birthday, June 11, 1944, the Nazis put her family in a cattle car with 75 other people. The cable car was so crowded that Magda had to stand for almost three days consistently to allow her parents to sit on the floor. The train only had one bucket for water; it was never refilled for the rest of the trip. With only a small window to let some air in, the journey to the unknown took 3 nerve-racking days.

Upon arrival, Magda was separated from her parents and was immediately given strict instructions. First, the victims were transported to an empty room where they had to completely disrobe, place their clothing on the floor (never to be seen again), and then shave their heads bald.

The Nazis gave them ill-fitting uniforms (undergarments) and took their shoes away, only to replace them with flimsy wooden sole flip-flops that were very difficult to learn how to walk in.

Akshita Nair On Dec. 5 and 6, 2018, Magda Brown sat with Irvington students in Valhalla and talked with the audience.

After a few days, Magda asked the people who had been in the camps longer than her when she was going to see her parents. They pointed to five chimneys with dark, black smoke expelling out of them and said, “That is were your parents are.” These were the crematoriums where around 6 million Jews were killed.

So at age 17, Magda Brown became an orphan, was evicted from her home country, and as she later learned, was one of only seven members of her large extended family who survived.

By the end of March, 1945, the U.S. Sixth Armoured Division was nearing the base at which she was stationed, so the Nazis set all the Jews on a death march. On the third day of the exhausting march on a cold, windy highway, the prisoners noticed some of the Nazi guards escaping to avoid capture by the incoming U.S. army. By this point, they were near a village/wheat field

location and noticed that there was a farm nearby. Magda and a group of her fellow prisoners decided that they would make their escape in the night by crawling to the farm on their stomachs. Magda explains that her (and the rest of the groupmates’) morale was so low that they figured that they would die by the hands of the Nazis either way, so it was worth a shot. However, Magda was extremely fortunate, as the approaching Sixth Armoured Division of the U.S. army managed to liberate them.

Although free and full of hope, Magda still had no clue what to do next, since almost all her family had perished in the camps and she had no connections. Fortunately, in the summer of 1945, an army chaplain asked if she had any family still alive. She recalled that her father’s brother and his family had emigrated to America in 1908; however, she only knew their names and the city they lived in, Chicago. Never-

theless, she found her blood family in Chicago and emigrated there as soon as she could. After that, she quickly learned English and was recruited as a certified physician assistant for about 40 years.

Magda decided to travel around the country and share her story because, as she says, “A tragedy like this should never happen again because genocide doesn’t happen suddenly, it builds slowly. I tell my audience that, ‘Next to your health, the most important commodity is freedom.’

We are fortunate to live in the United States and to have religious freedom, and so we should always work towards it.”

Despite this scarring experience, she had never once questioned her faith.

She believes that there are more good people than bad, and that in itself will ensure and protect our freedom. Her mantra is, “Have faith, fantasy, drive, and determination that tomorrow will be better.”

STUDENT LIFE

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QUESTION MAN

By Shradha Krishnamurthy Entertainment Editor

Staff Writer

Kelly Feng (9)

Arjun Bothra (10)

Sleep is for the weak because it’s not essential for living. You could just drink a bunch of caffeine and you’re all set, no need for sleeping or anything.

Medically, yes; if you are weak, mentally or physically, you most likely need sleep to remedy your maladies and rid yourself of weakness.

Alison Sun (11) Welp, I guess I must be weak then.

Vibha Govindarajan (12) No, it isn’t. Staying awake is what’s really for the weak.

Should I Munch on School Lunch?

By Nancy Zuo Staff Writer

As a loyal school lunch consumer since first grade, I’ve tried everything from Walking Tacos to Chicken Nuggets with Orange Sauce. The lunch lady greets me by my name, I know how to type my ID number within a second on the keypad, and I know the exact location of every condiment on the shelf. I’m no food critic, but I can safely say that the food at Irvington is much better than at Horner.

While the cafeteria line is intimidating at first glimpse, the line moves quickly and clears up within the first 15 minutes of lunch. I have P.E. as my fourth period, so I have the added bonus of easy access to the best food options.

Walking into the cafeteria, my first impression is the salad bar’s vast offerings: canned corn, peaches, celery, kidney beans, oranges, and apples. Horner only had an entree and not nearly as many sides. After lifting a cardboard tray from the stack and a miniature one for sides, I proceed onto the entrees. A typical day will have pepperoni, cheese, hawaiian, and sometimes buffalo chicken pizza, as well as cheeseburgers and yogurt parfaits available. However, on Taco Tuesdays, the cafeteria offers exclusive hardshell tacos for the first few dozens of individuals who come to the lunch line. A chicken leg with a side of mashed potatoes and orange chicken is also offered about

DECA NorCal Gets Irvington Ready For It

By Felicia Mo

Is sleep really for the weak?

once a week. After grabbing an entree, the next stop is drinks. The cafeteria offers chocolate or regular milk, as well as apple, grape, orange, or fruit punch juices for free.

Soda and water are also available for an additional charge of $1.00. I typically grab an apple juice or a fruit punch, then type in my number on the PIN pad to be digitally charged for the total of $4.00. Sometimes freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and string cheese are also for sale at an additional charge.

Out of all the food selections, the tacos, burritos, and mashed potatoes with the chicken leg are the best. It may be since they are not offered as often, but they certainly do also run out the quickest. The tacos have lettuce, meat, and cheese in them, and the burritos have chicken, cheese, and rice. Unlike Horner’s soggy lunches, the pizza and cheeseburgers from Irvington’s cafeteria are pretty good. All lunches are served hot and are pretty good for their price. However, it is still possible to get tired of them easily when buying lunch everyday.

While many complain about school lunches because of past bad experiences, I suggest giving Irvington’s cafeteria another try. This time, run quicker to the line so the best entrees don’t run out.

Friday , February 1, 2019

From Jan. 18 to 21, Irvington DECA participated in the 2019 Northern California Career Development Conference (NCDC) at the San Ramon Marriott. Out of 900 total competitors from 28 schools, 110 students from the Irvington chapter participated in the conference.

Since early November, Irvington’s DECA officer team has been planning its trip to NorCal, such as through collecting all fees and registering all members for the conference. The week leading up to the competition, the officers gathered all their participants’ business reports, which the members had been working on since the beginning of the school year, and reviewed each one for formatting and content errors before delivering them to the San Ramon Marriott.

Although Irvington DECA did face a couple of obstacles on the first day of the conference, including rooming and unexpectedly early testing sessions, they managed to pull through to the opening ceremony. Irvington’s Kaitlyn Phan (11), who was later announced as Vice President of NorCal, made an engaging speech onstage as Irvington members cheered her on.

“I think we’re doing pretty well,”

said Raisah Khan (11), Irvington DECA’s Director of Operations Research. “During the opening ceremony, everyone was very supportive of Kaitlyn. In terms of how the conference is run compared to past years, the events are run a lot smoother. Before, they would always be behind on events but now everyone is finishing on time.”

Due to Work to Rule, DECA advisor Mr. Ballado wasn’t able to get as deeply involved in the planning that led up to the conference. In the future, especially in the weeks leading up to States, Irvington DECA plans to focus more on the content of members’ written reports.

“I think now that [members] have a basis, we need to work on their writtens more,” said Raisah. “Focus on content and make their reports nicer and more feasible.”

First-year member Cherry Zheng (9) agrees, “We can get more practice, like hosting more Minicons, with the officers beforehand. Minicons are not as stressful as NorCal and also prepares us for bigger competitions.”

Irvington DECA did very well at the NorCal conference, bringing back 23 glass trophies and 87 total finalists. Their next competition will be the State Career Development Conference at Anaheim on Feb. 28.

Friday , February 1, 2019

IHS ALL-GIRL CYBER SECURITY TEAMS

By Megan Dhingra Staff Writer

On Friday, Jan. 11, five cyber security teams of six members each from Mr. Albizo’s computer classes competed in the state round of the CyberPatriot competition and two teams have advanced to the semifinals. Two all-girl and three all-boy teams participated in the tournament, and one all-girl team and one all-boy team have made it to the semi-finals to be held on Friday, Feb. 1. The national competition consists of two qualifying rounds, followed by the state round, semi-finals, and then the national round. Teams gain points through solving problems in encrypted images. The highest-scoring teams on the platinum tier in the semi-finals qualify for the national round, held on the east coast in March.

“It really takes a major effort to succeed in the competition, and it’s very challenging. People in the middle school level, the high school level, and even military cadets compete. We’re participating in a competition along with thousands of schools in the country” said Mr. Albizo, the

teacher who is in charge of the teams.

In the tournament, however, Irvington faced several challenges.

“The servers were disconnected, and were freezing and glitching. So, we couldn’t get that many points since the images weren’t working,” said Samantha Bustamante (12), a member of the girls’ team. “Despite that, I think we did pretty well compared to last time. We finished one section completely and got a good score on the completed stuff.”

The teams are not sure whether they will advance to nationals because of the glitches with the servers, but if not this year, “there’s always next year,” said team member Annabella Mata (11).

In the three years that Mr. Albizo has ran the cyber security teams, he has observed considerably less females in his classes.

“In my class there’s only two girls and the rest are all guys, so there should definitely be more females,” Bustamante said.

Mr. Albizo strongly believes that more women should enter the field, since

they possess qualities that are well-suited for computer science.

“These girls are very tenacious.

There was one particular girl who was the last one here on the day of the tournament, until 9 at night, working,” said Mr. Albizo.

“Some kids may quit before that and run out of ideas, but this girl was there and still working. It was very admirable. You see a lot of these young women here today that are exactly like her.”

“Women can do this just as well as any guy can and maybe even better because we are more attentive to details,” said Mata.

“Don’t be intimidated by the lack of girls in technology. Cause I remember in my class last year, there were very few girls and we stuck together and did really well, so don’t be deterred by that,” said Divya Venkatesh (12).

Many of the women in Mr. Albizo’s classes continue their passion for coding and plan to pursue tech-related fields in college and beyond.

“I had one young lady come to me in eleventh grade who didn’t know what she

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was going to do. She competed in CyberPatriot that year and she enjoyed what she was doing, competed again, and when she graduated she knew what she wanted to do. She went to UC Santa Barbara to study computer science.”

Samantha Bustamante is also going into a tech-related field and will pursue software engineering in San Jose State.

The team members say a part of why cyber security is so interesting is because it connects to the real world. With advancements in technology comes sophisticated hackers.

“People could steal your identity.

They could get in while you’re surfing on your laptop one night, and before you know it, they’re in. That’s why you really gotta be careful; none of us are immune to this,” Albizo said.

This is why there is always a growing demand for people in this field; however this demand is not only limited to men.

As proven by these girls, women can also play a huge part in solving these real-world problems and should be encouraged to pursue careers in the fields of technology.

The G.O.A.T Who Cooks Goat Curry

By Srinidhi Sankar Opinions Editor

Although a vast majority of junior high students can barely grill a cheese sandwich, Natraj Vairavan (10) made cheddar cheese ice cream within five minutes on Chopped Junior as seventh grader. His culinary prowess may not have been apparent when he was in sixth grade, but his slightly burnt garlic bread during a Boy Scouts outing was just the beginning of an unforeseen competitive endeavor. Soon after returning home, he went to the grocery store with his mother to buy ingredients and create masterpieces of his own.

He learned the basics of cooking from his mother, who, though initially surprised at his interest in cooking, eventually became his biggest supporter. Together, they made his first dish, garbanzo bean curry, though he primarily observed his mother due to his fear of the hot stove.

“When you put oil into the pan and you add vegetables, it starts sizzling, so I got super scared and walked away to ask my mom for help,” reminisced Vairavan.

After developing his skill set through multiple dishes, he submitted an application to Chopped Junior, an arduous six-month process which entailed 11 to 12 video call interviews. As a culmination of his efforts and, according to him, an abundance of luck, he received the magic words from the Food Network office: that he had been se-

lected as one of 52 participants out of 7000.

Filming the episode in Manhattan was a dream come true, and Vairavan sheepishly poked legendary television host Ted Allen to make sure he was awake. He made it to the dessert round by cleverly incorporating Indian spices to make the judges’ favorite dish of the competition: goat curry and jasmine rice with fried turnips.

“I kept asking myself how I can mash two cuisines, but keep [my dishes] true to each at the same time,” pondered Vairavan as he tried to showcase his Indian American roots through cooking.

Back in California, he uses intricate dishes as an outlet for his artistic vision. He recently made macaroni and cheese, a classic American meal, and gave it an Indian twist by incorporating turmeric, green chillies, and onion seeds. To him, food is his way of paying tribute to his binational heritage and bonding with his family.

Now at Irvington, he continues his culinary journey such as by organizing ASG’s edible cookie dough contest, in which eight teams competed to win Mr. Rodocker’s approval.

Vairavan attributed the event’s immense success and overwhelming amount of signups to the fun nature of the competition.

He hosted it on Jan. 10, two weeks before finals, to alleviate the inevitable stress on campus.

Chopped Junior Vairavan (L) plans on increasing the viewership of his cooking tutorials from Youtube by using social media platforms such as Instagram.

“When everyone rushed toward me to get the ingredients [within the two minute time limit], it gave me Chopped Ju-

Justin Kim | Staff Writer

nior vibes,” chuckled Vairavan. “It was nostalgic—it felt like it was happening all over again.”

OPINIONS

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Friday, February 1, 2019

DISAGREE WITH US?

Submit your Letter to the Editor to Room 84 or through email to ihsvoice@gmail.com for the chance to be featured the next issue!

When You Wish Upon A Star, You Don’t Get What You Want Disney’s inability to release anything but live-action remakes year after year has upset audiences everywhere.

By Akshita Nair Staff Writer

Ah, Disney, the good old movie production business that never fails to wow us. Or does it? It’s not to say that Disney is failing us, but with every live-action movie that the company puts out, it starts to feel a little repetitive for viewers. Getting a few live-action movies coming out now and then would be fine, but spewing one out every other year is hard for audiences to keep up with or get excited about. Disney is so intent on making live-action remakes their main focus that dedicated audiences are left unsatisfied and newer fans are unimpressed.

While we love revisiting the classics, we’re perfectly content with viewing them in in their original animated form, which also brings along a nice sprinkle of nostalgia. Not to say that the newbies are bad, but CGI Simba will never beat the cute animated little cub we saw in 1994. When Disney does produce remakes, they try to justify their production by changing the plot slightly and saying that it is reimagined, but the changes only go so far. If they change too little, it’s often not enough for the viewers, and if they change too much, they take away from the original feeling from the movie. It’s a lose-lose situation on both sides. For example, in the upcoming live-action remake of Mulan that will be released in March 27, 2020, fans of the original were outraged at the new changes.

First, the beloved characters of Li Shang,

Imgflip the general and love-interest of Mulan, and Mushu, Mulan’s hilarious mentor dragon, were written out of the script and replaced.

This was especially disappointing since Li Shang was seen as a bisexual icon since he fell in love with Mulan both when she revealed herself to be a woman and also while she played her alter ego “Ping”.

Disney is also taking out one of the main elements that make Disney what it is: songs. Fans were enraged that they’d have to part with fan favorites such as “I’ll Make a Man Out Of You” and “Reflection”.

Fans elicited a similar response when Disney autotuned Emma Watson’s voice in the

live-action version of the Beauty and the Beast movie. While it’s known that Watson doesn’t have the most “sing-songy” voice, it doesn’t alleviate the problem by autotuning her voice to the point of unrecognition. Instead, they could have replaced her voice with someone else’s who sounds similar to her. This technique was used in the 1997 animated film Anastasia, where the speaking voice and the singing voice for the main character, Anastasia, were played by two different people. Many fans were also disappointed because the film seemed like a shot-for-shot remake of the classic animated movie and brought nothing new to

the table. While the movie itself wasn’t bad, it didn’t quite live up to the hype around it pre-release.

In the relatively recent reboot of the Star Wars franchise with the movie The Force Awakens (2015), a plethora of fans felt underwhelmed as they saw many similarities in the film with the original 1997 film, Star Wars: A New Hope. In both movies, there were a scrappy group of rebels, an evil Nazi-based Empire, a “Death Star-ish” space station, a planet getting blown up by the space station, rebels blowing up the Death Star, a secret plan that’s hidden in a droid, an old mentor figure that dies, an antagonist that’s somewhat related to the old mentor figure, protagonist who lives on a desert planet—the similarities are uncanny. Hardcore Star Wars fans were mostly disappointed in the new reboot seeing as it didn’t contain any new material, but rather copied straight from its predecessor. If a movie doesn’t try anything new, what is it bringing to the table?

It wouldn’t be so bad if Disney would release original films consecutively and a live-action film every once in a while.

If that was the case, the viewers would be a lot more excited to watch the remakes.

However, with the constant release of these movies, audiences only get more fed-up and disappointed every time they enter the movie theater. If Disney continues with its monotonous streak of putting out live-action remakes of classics, their fanbase will cease to exist, or at the very least be discouraged to attend the cinema.

Indian or Southeast Asian? Border Wall? Bad Decision.

Should Indians be considered Asian?

By Prahalad Chari

By Ashka Patel

Staff Writer

Scrolling through Facebook, a person is likely to come across two groups popular amongst Irvington students: Subtle Asian Traits and Subtle Curry Traits. The former is about east “Asian” cultures like Chinese, Korean, and Japanese cultures, whereas the latter is about Indian cultures.

At first glance, the split between the groups seems inconsequential, but these Facebook groups presents a compelling question: are Indians Asian? Although geographically India is in Asia, Indians should not be considered Asians because of the wide cultural and genetic differences between the two groups.

Culturally, there is a clear difference between Indian culture and the east Asian ones. Starting with the basics of cuisine, food chemist George Burdock writes that “[Indian food] does something radical with flavors, something very different from what we tend to do in the [other cultures].

And it does it at the molecular level … they favor dishes with ingredients that don’t overlap in flavor”. The flavor of Indian food isn’t the only difference—the way Indians eat their food is different too. While Indians typically eat with their hands, most other Asian cultures (with the exception of those in the Arabian peninsula) use chopsticks, a utensil almost unheard of in India. Additionally, Indian sarees (traditional clothing that consists of a length of cotton or silk elaborately draped around the body), are vastly different from the Japanese Kimono or Chinese Hanfu, which look similar to each other. Finally, the written languages in India, such as Hindi, are based the Devanagari script and look drastically different from the written languages in areas like China, Korea, or Japan which all look relatively similar as they are loosely based around the Hanji script. However, the differences are not only skin deep; they are in their blood, literally.

Indian people are vastly different from the rest of Asia genetically, as their facial features are drastically different. Indian skin is on average a few shades darker than other groups in Asia, and their eyes are deeper set as well. Additionally, they have higher-set noses compared to East Asian people. These genetic differences can

The border wall could cost the nation billions of dollars for something that has not even been proven to be effective.

Staff Writer

Research Gate India was once an isolated island before it joined up with Eurasia. be attributed to the fact that India was geographically isolated, with the Himalayas effectively blocking all travel by foot. What separates them even more is that India has its own tectonic plate and was initially part of modern-day Africa. This further sets them apart from the rest of Asia as the Indian gene pool is closer to the African one.

While India technically may be part of Asia, that doesn’t make Indians Asians. The geographical features such as the Himalayas and the fact that India was on its own tectonic plate help differentiate India from the rest of Asia. The same thing happened between Europe and Asia—while they are both part of the same landmass, the geographical isolation coupled with the cultural and genetic differences created a large distinction between the two groups. It is really a shame to call Indians “Asians”, as their culture and people are vastly different from other areas of the continent.

President Donald Trump has asked for $67 billion to build a border wall, something he has supported since the beginning of his campaign. This cost appears to grow and does not take into account the $150 million to $750 million dollars required for maintenance each year.

Trump originally claimed that Mexico would pay this large sum through a tax on Mexican imports, but recently has stated that Americans will be paying for it themselves. Considering that legislation does not have the exact logistics written out, it can be assumed that the wall would lead to an increase in taxes which would affect the majority of citizens, a costly expedition that might not even work. A “state-of-theart” concrete wall standing 30 feet high that nobody could get across sounds like a good idea—in theory. The flaw lies in its actual execution—factor in its large cost and long construction time, and it’s obvious that the country needs alternatives in solving our illegal immigration and border issues. Why should Americans pay for something that might not work when they could be putting that same money to a better cause?

Fixing the pipe system to bring safe drinking water to the residents of Flint, Michigan would cost $55 million. Permanently addressing homelessness would cost

$20 billion annually. Restoring US territory Puerto Rico’s destroyed power system after Hurricane Maria and giving electricity to 1.5 million people would only cost $5 billion. It becomes a question of where the American values lie when we are willing to spend $67 billion on a wall when we could bring safe water to all of our citizens, solve internal homelessness, AND fix Puerto Rico’s power grid for less than that.

Ignoring the billions of dollars spent on construction, the wall itself may not even work. The concept of the wall was built on the idea that people just seem to run across the border. However, statistics have shown that majority of illegal immigrants stay in the United States by overstaying their visas, NOT by jumping the short fence that already exists. Opposers of the wall argue that using updated drone technology to patrol the border better and stricter legislation, coupled with a path to citizenship for those already in the United States, would do a better job than any wall could. And, frankly, I agree.

A wall would do nothing for the illegal immigrants already in the United States or stop a majority of illegal immigrants from entering the country, especially considering that most do not even use the border as their means of access. The wall will NOT do enough to “make up” for the amount of money we would spend on it and creates more problems than it solves.

OPINIONS

Friday, February 1, 2019 Page 8

DISAGREE WITH US?

Submit your Letter to the Editor to Room 84 or through email to ihsvoice@gmail.com for the chance to be featured the next issue!

What does NGSS mean to Irvington?

New, Glorious, and Supportive Science

Never Gonna Succeed in Science

By Roxana Shahmohammadi

By Kelly Feng

Staff Writer

FUSD has been going through many curriculum changes in the past few years, particularly in science and math subjects. From the introduction of Common Core to the implementation of Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), most of these changes have been met with backlash from students. Despite some growing pains, NGSS is designed to help students be better prepared for college and future careers and is more beneficial than previous systems in the long run.

NGSS is much more expansive and thorough than all previous systems and is better structured for preparing high schoolers for the future. 40 states have shown interest in NGSS, and 19 have already adapted the program. This means that there will soon be uniformity between high schools across the nation, which ensures students won’t be behind when they reach college. This uniformity also makes the college admissions process much more fair as it eliminates the disparity between the different pathways at different high schools. NGSS is fundamentally different from other previous programs in its approach to teaching science subjects.

Whereas the previous systems focused on each subject separately, NGSS chooses to focus on themes that run through all of science in hopes of connecting the different fields and encouraging students to learn and truly understand the subjects rather than just memorize key terms. Through its focus on the three dimensions of science learning—crosscutting concepts, science and engineering practices, and disciplinary core ideas—NGSS will provide a more cohesive science education than the previous system, ultimately preparing students for a wide range of potential majors and careers after high school.

NGSS also fundamentally changes teaching style in the classroom into a more personalized one focused on hands-on learning. The previous system relied almost entirely on textbooks, with little room

left for teacher innovation or experiments.

The new system reduces textbook use dramatically and introduces new labs and inclass activities designed to engage students and teach them concepts directly. Subjects such as chemistry are much easier to understand practically through the use of real life examples rather than reading out of a textbook. The reduction of textbook use also allows teachers to customize their curriculum around the needs of their students, resulting in a more effective class.

However, NGSS was met with immediate backlash from students, mostly for one simple reason: sophomores were no longer allowed to take AP Biology. Irvington’s competitive nature has always put an emphasis on taking as many AP classes as possible, and AP Bio was one of the only AP classes offered to sophomores. Now that they have lost that opportunity, many students are upset that they will fall behind students from other schools in college admissions. However, taking AP Biology as a sophomore ultimately does more harm than good. In order to take AP Bio tenth grade year, you need to take a Biology (regular or honors) class freshman year. This means that students go into AP Bio with a solid background in biology, as they should.

However, after AP Bio, most students take AP Chemistry in their junior year. This means that they go into a college level chemistry class with little to no background chemistry. Adding to this, many then take AP Physics senior year, again with little to no background in the subject. This leads to students struggling in both of these classes and being forced to learn everything about a subject in a very short amount of time.

With NGSS, students will build up a strong foundation in biology, chemistry, and physics in freshman and sophomore year before taking AP science classes in junior and senior year.

Ultimately, NGSS is the better option as it connects the different fields of science, reinvents teaching to be more customizable and experiment-based rather than textbook based, and provides a stronger science foundation that will benefit students in the future.

Guest Writer

Irvington High school, like many other schools in the nation, has transitioned to a new NGSS pathway in the recent years. However, NGSS comes with many drawbacks such as the limitation of course flexibility for students and extra work for teachers.

The implementation of NGSS means that students will no longer be able to challenge themselves academically. For example, they will no longer be able to take any AP courses until 11th grade. According to the Fremont Board of Education, “NGSS are more rigorous and are cognitively more demanding than the 1998 standards”. However, students who originally planned to take an AP class in sophomore year can no longer do so. Now, they will have to wait until junior year to take AP Biology, AP Chemistry, or AP Physics. Even though NGSS is supposed to help students transition into AP curriculums, students must now spend half of their high school career just to prepare for AP classes, which defeats the purpose of having more academically rigorous classes, since students now have to wait an extra year to take AP classes. Essentially, students who planned to take their AP science class in sophomore year would now have extra stress piled on to their junior year thanks to NGSS. This change is especially detrimental for students who plan on taking marching band for all four years. For example, a freshman currently taking marching band that planned to take two science AP classes before senior year will now have to take both classes in junior or senior year, or give up taking marching band for a year. They would also have to postpone zero period PE or meeting their art credit by a year.

Overall, the new science program places extra stress on students and reduces their flexibility with choosing courses while also overloading them with the stress of having added course load later in their high school career.

NGSS establishes core concepts

and allows students to learn directly with hands-on science, but compared to the old curriculum, students have a much smaller pool of classes to choose from. Previously, students were not limited by the pathway they chose, but with NGSS, students must choose between the Physics pathway or the Living Earth pathway. If a student chooses the Physics pathway, they will only be able to take AP Physics 1 or AP environmental science in their junior year. On the contrary, if a student chooses the Living Earth pathway, they will still be able to take AP Physics 1 in addition to the other science AP courses, but they will be doing so without little to no background in the subject.

This means that students are ultimately limited by the pathway they choose and do not have the option to explore the different fields of science.

Establishing NGSS also creates extra work for our teachers. According to the NGSS official website, “It is likely, as has occurred with Common Core State Standards, that many of the most rapidly available textbooks and related resources claiming alignment to the NGSS will be superficial rather than deeply aligned and will not have been substantially redesigned”. With the introduction of NGSS, our classes will have less textbook use because the current textbooks do not fully align with the NGSS curriculum. This means that teachers will have to supplement most of the curriculum with their own materials, which creates hours of additional planning for already overworked teachers. The recent Work to Rule movement demonstrates just how hard things are already for our teachers, and forcing extra work on them outside of working hours will only exacerbate matters. NGSS also incorporates more hands-on concepts, which again means that teachers would have to take the time outside of class to develop labs and activities.

Even though NGSS was implemented with the intention of improving student learning, it morphs the current, flexible pathway into a restrictive science course load that unecessarily places stress on Irvington students and teachers.

Page 9

A CRISP(R) Look at Genomics

Friday, February 1, 2019

The Voice evaluates the controversy of using gene editing technologies to improve people’s quality of life and explores the merits of using them to cure diseases, create jobs, etc.

By Vidushee Mishra Staff Writer

Every year, 7.9 million children, 6% of the total infants throughout the globe, have a serious birth defect of genetic origin.

In the future, this number can be almost completely eliminated with the use of gene editing technologies such as CRISPR-Cas9, which allow scientists to alter organisms’ DNA by cutting their original DNA and adding or deleting segments to give them beneficial characteristics. Despite this technology’s potential to improve the quality of life for millions of people around the globe and its increasing efficiency, accuracy, and decreasing costs, many individuals are still hesitant to embrace it due to potential inaccuracies that might damage the organism’s DNA. However, due to CRISPR’s numerous successes and proven track record with various species of plants and animals, it can safely be assumed that these issues will not arise. Gene editing is a beneficial prospect for the future due to its ability to solve a myriad of health issues and increase the amount of STEM jobs throughout the globe.

One of the most exciting aspects of gene editing technology is its ability to eliminate diseases. According to National Geographic, “CRISPR could be used to modify disease-causing genes in embryos brought to term, removing the faulty script from the genetic code of that person’s future descendants as well.” In fact, “Chinese scientists have already used the technology to edit the genome of 86 human patients” (National Geographic).

By conducting these procedures, scientists would be able to reduce or eliminate genetic diseases by cutting out harmful parts of individuals’ DNA sequences. Not only will this save lives, but it will also decrease the amount

of money that people have to spread on healthcare and treatment of diseases.

Business Insider affirms this notion, stating, “gene editing could also be used, in principle, to modify genes that lower the risk of contracting or developing diseases like HIV/AIDS.” Research in this cure is proving to be very promising, showing that with the power of genetic editing, large epidemics can be eliminated. For example, CRISPR has already been used to find a cure for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, an inherited disorder of progressive muscular weakness. This is especially beneficial for minority groups, since it is been empirically proven that they are disproportionately affected by the disease, and this allows these people that are “poverty, substance abuse, homelessness, unequal access to health care, and unequal treatment once in the healthcare system” to have a better quality of life. Because this technology will be able to curb the amount of illnesses occurring, these communities will be impacted the most positively.

Another merit of gene editing is its ability to increase the amount of STEM jobs available. According to BBC, with the introduction of this technology, “the UK government predicts there could be more than 18,000 new jobs created by gene and cell therapy in Britain alone by 2030, while the US Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates it will see a 7% increase in jobs for biomedical engineers and a 13% increase in medical scientists, together accounting for around 17,500 jobs.” An influx of jobs in the STEM industry is also beneficial because not only does it increase the productivity and employment rates within a country, but also increases the amount of scientific cooperation on an global level. By inciting more collaboration among the international community, more advancements

can be made in this field, creating a further increase in the amount of jobs, creating a positive feedback cycle. BBC adds, “according to some projections, the global genome editing market is expected to double in size over the five years from 2017 to reach a value of $6.28bn (£4.84bn).” An increase in STEM jobs is bound to make countries’ economies flourish, while simultaneously improving gene editing technologies for the benefit of people everywhere.

Although gene editing software, like CRISPR, have many obvious advantages, some people are hesitant to trust them because they believe that gene editing is not completely safe and accurate. However, this is no longer a valid concern because these mechanisms have already been empirically proven to be not only extremely accurate, but they have also been shown to be safe due to a number of successful tests performed using it. According to Vox, “so far scientists have used it [CRISPR] to reduce the severity of genetic deafness in mice, suggesting it could one day be used to treat

the same type of hearing loss in people. . . . CRISPR might help us develop droughttolerant crops and create powerful new antibiotics. CRISPR could one day even allow us to wipe out entire populations of malaria-spreading mosquitoes.” Because it has already seen many past successes with animals, gene editing technology is paving the way for eventual success in fighting human diseases, showing that there is little need to be worried about its safety.

Genetic editing has many merits and the potential to solve many of the world’s problems by decreasing the occurrence of many health issues and increasing the amount of people employed. It has been shown to work on numerous occasions, showing that there is no need to worry about its success in the future. By embracing the full capabilities of gene editing technologies such as CRISPR, it will open many possibilities for the human race through a reduction in the unemployment rate and a decrease in the death rate from genetic illnesses.

China’s Social Credit System: A “1984” Vision of the Future

China’s new social credit system is a one-way road to a dystopian future, where the government controls every aspect of their citizens’ lives.

By Rachel Kavalakatt Staff Writer

Established as a digital Big Brother scrutinizing every aspect of citizens lives, the Chinese government’s “social credit” system is a mechanism of punishment and reward based on one’s social credit. There are many cited concerns about data privacy and potential abuse. China’s social credit system has a broad reach, placing government scrutiny on every aspect of a citizens’ lives, rewarding them with “social credit” for good behavior, like paying dues on time, maintaining trust in the government’s eyes, and fulfilling the role of being a responsible citizen. On the other hand, citizens can lose social credit for breaking even the most mundane of laws, risking severe consequences for a drop in their credit score.

All this means that there needs to be more transparency on the political and social values underlying the project, as China’s social credit system gives the state the power to monitor every move of every citizen. The government plans to rank all its citizens based on their “social credit” by 2020, creating a dystopian system premised on controlling every aspect of citizens’ lives.

The system links footage from 200 million closed circuit TV cameras with people’s personal data, letting the state rank its citizens based on their private lives. By 2018, the social credit system was in place in over 12 cities and residential hubs across the country. Concerns arise as abuse has been spotted within the still fetus system and its implementations in the country. In China’s Zhejiang Province, a number of students were barred from attending schools and universities because of their parents’ low credit scores.Their parents were on the province’s national blacklist, a system that monitors “untrustworthy persons” based on their negligence of court decisions, failure to repay debts, and fraud. Channel News Asia reported in March that nine million people with low scores have been blocked from buying tickets for domestic flights. Punishable offenses include spending too long playing video games, wast-

Justin Kim | Staff Writer ing money on frivolous purchases, using expired tickets or smoking on trains. The problem remains that there is no concrete definition for “frivolous purchases”, leading to the government potentially abusing the system, and subjectivity and bias creeping into the social credit system.

Currently, the systems has not been implemented in a uniform fashion.

Instead, in certain cities the system is run by city officials, in other areas by tech platforms, and yet in other areas by private companies. This poses severe risks, as the Chinese government has no way of determining if these companies are indeed trustworthy in their data collection.This lack of cohesiveness in different locations has been problematic and has drawn critics as the Chinese government keeps changing how the system operates in various places, and the regulations that determine citizen’s social credit scores. As the system currently is in the midst of trial runs, the chinese government continues to make tweaks and changes to the system, getting it ready for national implementation. To make matters worse, critics have also drawn similarities between this new social credit system to the “good citizen” identity cards, assigned

by the Japanese to Chinese citizens during World War II to track and report on them.

Proponents of the system claim

that the data-driven system would help meet market objectives by effectively extending financing options to the country’s large percentage of the population without an account at a bank or similar institution.

This would mean that people are more responsible with their money and will use bank systems, lest enduring a drop in their social credit score that could lead to severe consequences. The system is projected to employ thousands of people and is praised as a good economic opportunity, with potential to reduce crime. However, improving the bank market should not come at the expense of public security and data privacy.

The country’s authoritarian regime leaves citizens with little recourse to challenge the new and unprecedented system. Helping the country’s already booming economy should not take importance over maintaining government legitimacy and public trust in the country.

It is clear that China’s social credit system is a futuristic approach to surveillance, and severe consequences that will ensue if fully implemented.

Page 10

rents, community, and evpa s, nt de stu n, mi ad rs, he It’s important we all teac ever yone negatively. ts ec aff it d an al de big y all er yone understands it is a re d time -Principal Melsby cult time. With finals, January is a har

rs are stressed, and it’s a diffi trict and the “I know students are stressed, teache rule is the next step to show the dis to rk Wo TA. FUD of t par not is in of year anyway. To be clear, adm ds to be a little more work and little nee re the like l fee y the and this ut ious abo community that the teachers are ser that parents are more help from the district. of putting information out there so job d goo a e don e hav t tric dis the Both FUDTA and

t respect I haven’t had any e or are going to happen. From tha hav t tha ps ste the and on ng goi dents ask about aware of what’s information elsewhere. I’ve had stu the ten got y’ve the e aus bec t tha on my radar. I suppose, questions so far about any of n the biggest things that have been bee e hav se tho h bot and s trip d prep sesletters of rec and fiel es teachers would have after school tim of lot a and up ing com ls fina those are stopping also, students are worried about nted to do and they did willingly but wa y the but do to had er nev y’ve s.” sions or tutoring that the in on time and getting grade update des gra ting get and n cer con a also so grades are

Friday, February 1, 2019

When heal make up fo

“There needs to these clocks. I th transparent dist benefit students

I original health care, so if get healthcare th

I think a s don’t come to sc

“Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Fremont is now over $1000. I probably won’t be able to afford a house, ever. Also, we don’t have health insurance. -Ms. McAuley

“People are doing a pretty good job [of following Work to Rule]. After school, it is is very quiet, they are very few cars in the parking lot. When we organize outside, we have a bigger crowd than I’ve ever seen before in fifteen years. We had at least 55 Irvington teachers at the last board meeting rally, only counting the ones that have signed in.

Compared to a lot of schools, our clubs have been good, too.

I co-advise with Mr. Fung for Girls in STEM and we have lunch meetings regular ly. But for a heavy club, the outside planning time would be ten hours of work a week.

As a librarian, I only get paid until 2:40 on block days and until 3 on other days of the week, but I keep the library open for longer after school. Usually, I spend at least two hours a night and one day of the weekend working.

It’s important to define COLA (cost of living allowance), and the state govern ment says we need to increase the salary to accommodate this amount. The state gave the district an increase of 3.71%. This is our second year without a contract. They gave us 0.7% at the end of last year. The union is now asking for 4%, but I’m pretty sure the union would take a lower amount if the district offered in the middle of this percent range. When I last purchased it from the district, I was a single young person, and it cost over $800 a month. I also heard from a teacher that childcare is $2,200 per month for two kids. Since her whole salary basically goes towards that cause, they live on his salary.

It’s [also] important to talk about what the conditions will be like for students if

we go on strike. Most schools have to close, so that means extra instructional days that cut into the summer. Or they can have school, but usually they don’t have enough subs.

I read that in L.A., they asked for 65 subs—and that didn’t even cover the total amount of teachers out on strike—and they sent 6. Every time you see an Irvington teacher covering your class when your teacher is absent, that means they do not have enough subs. That teacher is on their prep. It happens quite a bit, doesn’t it?

There were 40 uncovered teaching positions district-wide at the beginning of the

year. As for Irvington, one-fourth of the science department left. Not all for this reason, but it’s a big contributing factor. Ms. Steward is a good example. She lives in Oakland with two kids, and she wanted to stay here, but it was too much, and she quit. Also, there was one Spanish class with a sub all year, because no one would take the position. I’ve never seen that before, and I’ve been here since 2003.

The 4% increase we’re asking for is not technically enough to even cover the cost of living, still, but we’re trying to ask for something reasonable. We want to be sensitive to what the district is paying for. I’m unsure if it’s an ongoing fight but I hope the district will do the right thing.”

On a yearly basis, teachers are e their job, but we’re not compensa morale. -Mr. Johnson

“I don’t see how [Work to Rule] can go on until nex than another month, the only other recourse is to s the only recourse teachers have. If arbitration fails, than later because why drag this on? We either nee needs to start negotiating.

It’s impacting clubs like DECA, class council quire a teacher’s help. I imagine parents are outrag help us voice our concerns as well. This time aroun taking it more seriously, so we are making a bigger

It may mean that we’re not able to input a te impacted by it. When students make mistakes on te so it takes longer. I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t help

WTR means I have to change the way I grad not been going well—I’m behind. We’re supposed t week to catch up on grading, then students suffer t

For one thing, the salary increase will help o another, it is a moral question. This 3% increase doe it’s better than 0.7%. If the State of California increa to honor that. Use the money for what it was intend irrespective.”

compiled by: Elaine Chan & interviews by: Achintya Pin Alizadeh, Rory Conlon, Shr Srinidhi Sankar, Vidushee M

WORK TO RULE: teacher &

Friday , February 1, 2019 Page 11

lth care is getting more expensive, the slightly better salary doesn’t or the high cost of healthcare and the high cost of hous ing.

o be more transparency between what the district spends in its budge t and teachers. Even for things like hink there is frustration because of the mismanagement of funds at the district level. There is a lack of trict funding. For me, even if I wasn’t getting a raise, but I knew that the money was going somewhere to s, I would be totally fine with it. lly came here because Fremont, in the past, paid better than other schoo l districts but did not provide f you could get healthcare through your spouse, it would solve the proble m. For young teachers who can’t hrough their spouse, that is expensive, and that doesn’t make Fremont as attractive. strike is really extreme, and no one wants that. The district would lose a lot of money because if students chool, they lose funds. In the long run, I really, really hope it doesn’t come to that.”

expected to get better at ated for it, so it’s bad for

xt year. If this continues for no more strike. I don’t like to strike, but that’s , then we should strike sooner rather ed to step it up, or the school board

l, and other extracurriculars that reged and they should be, so they can nd, teachers are more on board and r impact this year. est and the students’ grades are ests, I tend to make notes on the side p myself. de or not finish grading. So far, it’s to be teaching, and if we took a that way, so we’re not doing our jobs. offset the rising cost of living, and for esn’t do the cost of living justice, but ases the budget, the district is ought ded for, and figure out the other thing

& Pia Parekh nninti, Alice Shu, Nikoo radha Krishnamurthy, Mishra

We have teachers moving out of the district, and the quality of education in Fremont is suffering and will continue to suffer until something is done. -Mr. Ballin “Well, I can’t do anything with my students at lunch, whether it be helping them out or supervising club activities. We cancelled the open mic night, which the kids were very excited about, and I can’t work on scenes or monologues outside of class, which I often do. Normally, I’ll spend a lot of my extra hours on the play, which I don’t get paid for.

What scares me the most is that, although I get paid, our music director, vocal director, and Mr. Willer, our lighting and sound designer, don’t get paid, so we need to find replacements for them if we go on strike.

We hope that the district understands that the teachers are very unified and determined to make sure that we get a cost of living increase, which is a pretty minimal request. I understand they have some money issues but it seems they have money for some things and not for us.”

s issue quickI really hope the district resolves thi ly. I love ly so we can get back to work proper my job and I want to keep doing it.

-Ms. Berbawy

ipment in here that “My classroom is the makerspace, and I have equ rs, which are more powerstudents don’t have at home such as compute n homework, I make ful than what students have. Although I don’t assig students can come in myself available after school at lunchtime so my Work to Rule because and work on their projects. I’m really affected by . lunch, after school, I can’t offer time to my kids I’m coming back I just got back from brain surgery this year, and

e’s so much to catch to my room after being out of it for a month. Ther suming. Work to Rule is up on, and managing this space is so time-con had a competition over better than striking for sure, the robotics team we’re hosting in the bewinter break, and then there is another one that s are coming up that are ginning of February and in March. Competition not being worked on properly. less contact with Because I’ve been out on brain surgery, I’ve had

ping in for me. The stuthem already, and there are people who are step n, they’re all disappointdents understand that I’m not doing it to be mea t to be in here and ed about what it is we’re doing here and they wan ent has a real emergency, I working on getting their stuff done. If the stud g to help them, but I mean, I’m here because I care about kids, I’m goin want them to get their things done.”

& admin responses

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Friday, February 1, 2019

Friday, Febuary 1, 2019

ENTERTAINMENT

DIRECT FROM THE EDITOR

For an extra valentine and a review of DC’s Aquaman, make sure to check out ihsvoice.com.

Dil Se Sells Out Night Show

By Achintya Pinninti Sports Editor

On Jan 12, IndoPak hosted their 9th annual South-Asian culture show in Valhalla. This year Dil Se had twenty-five performances with 327 performers from over fifteen schools. The show had two showtimes, 2 PM and 7 PM. Tickets for the 7 PM show were sold out, but day show tickets were still available.

Irvington’s Dil Se is Bay Area’s biggest high school cultural show, and it turned out to be highly anticipated as night show tickets were sold out in the days preceding the show. The theatre during the day show was also extremely packed and led to people coming earlier than usual in order to secure seats that would maximize their view of the show. This year, IndoPak publicists Ashka Patel (11) and Aarnav Sharma (10) created a “Dil Se lineup video” to give the viewers a glimpse of what to expect from the show. Additionally, before entering the theater, IndoPak members passed out a pamphlet that listed the order of the shows to help the viewers keep up with the performances.

This year, IndoPak raised approximately 12 thousand dollars which will go to the Small Steps Foundation, an organiza-

Rachel Kavalakatt | Staff Writer This year, Dil Se expanded its horizons, with over 65 teams trying out to perform tion that raises money throughout the Bay Area in order to help underprivileged children in poor sections of India, get an education, according to IndoPak Vice President Tanvi Syed (11).

Throughout the course of the show, the audience witnessed 25 performances and a fashion show. Each performance was unique in its own way, while still maintaining a thematic constant. Each performance had its own style of dance, either a more classical touch to it, or a fu-

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sion of western and Indian cultures. Dance teams from high schools all over the Bay Area, including Monta Vista, James Logan, Dougherty Valley, Bellarmine, and Dublin, performed in the show. The show had solo, duo, and group performances, either songs or dances. In between the performances, emcees Jasmeen Chhabra (11), Jasraj Singh (11), Nidhi Chirayath (12), and Yohaan Birje (11) entertained the audience with puns and onstage banter.

The show’s grand finale, present-

ed by Irvington Sitare, was arguably one of the best performances, filled with energy and creativity. In the previous years, their show has been based on a movie, however, this year, their story was called “Meri Kahaani” which translates to “My Story,” which showed how Ami Shalabh (12) struggled to balance her personal life and school.

Though the performance started off sad and showed tragedy, the performance ended energetically.

One major factor that affected this year’s show was Work to Rule.

“Mr. Willer is in charge of Valhalla’s lighting and audio, but because of work to rule, we had to rely on students.” Said IndoPak Vice President Shreyas Prasanna (11).

This year, Arnav Kamra (11) and Monica Pulido (11) helped with the audio and lighting systems to fill the gap left by Work to Rule.

“We really thought Work to Rule would really affect our show.” said IndoPak president Ami Shalabh (12) “However, we have an amazing advisor, and even though he wasn’t able to attend every meeting he could, he still did everything he possibly, could which we are very grateful for.”

Shrek: The Musical Hits the Right Notes

By Fiona Zhao

Student Life Editor

From the three little pigs to the Sugar Plum Fairy, the world of centuries’old fairy tales is a peculiar one: familiar enough, but always fantastical and different each time. In the packed theatre in the Ohlone College Smith Center, these fairytale creature don’t just come alive, but occupy the same stage: in fact, they occupy so much space that they’re evicted from

their homes, and forced to make do with a swamp. Mash this with cheeky pop culture references, and you have the state of affairs of Shrek the Musical.

Starstruck Theatre’s latest offering Shrek the Musical, a youthful adaptation of the 2008 Broadway musical (in turn, adapted from the 2001 Oscar-winning film loosely based on William Steig’s picture book), raised its curtain to eager audiences on the evening of Friday, Jan. 11.

Continued on next page

Netflix, Can You Chill?

By Isha Sanghvi Editor-in-Chief

Love, Irvington

By Rebeca Delgado

Public Outreach Director

My social media feed is full of Birdbox memes (still). Weeks after Bandersnatch aired, Reddit blew up with logic flow charts in attempts to deconstruct the movie’s complexity. The new hit contemporary thriller, You, has audiences questioning the pervasive role of toxic masculinity and social media in dating culture. What do they all have in common? Birdbox, Bandersnatch, and You are all Netflix-exclusive movies and shows.

Over the course of the past couple of years, the multibillion dollar company has evolved from simply streaming media from other networks to producing and directing diverse, award-winning movies and shows. While some avid users have become fed up with the oversaturation of original, and sometimes lacking, content, Netflix’s pivot to creating more original content is ultimately the best defense mechanism against increasingly selfish movie and TV studios.

In the upcoming years, more and more media and technology companies are venturing into the streaming service, threatening Netflix’s current clear edge.

Disney is planning to release their highlyanticipated Disney+ streaming service in 2020, which will feature their vast diversity of shows and movies. As part of their new service, Disney will pull all of its content from Netflix, including hit movies from Pixar and Marvel. This trend of media

networks becoming increasingly possessive over their productions is not unique to Disney. WarnerMedia, formerly known as Time Warner and owner of hit movies and shows like Harry Potter and Friends, has also promised to launch a streaming service in late 2019. Thus, Netflix’s evolution into a creator, not just a streamer, proves to be a strong defensive and offensive mechanism.

According to Quartz entertainment reporter Ashley Rodriguez, Netflix spent around $20 billion over the least three years acquiring exclusive series, movies, and specials. Netflix’s Chief Content Officer, Ted Sarandos, released that 85 percent of Netflix’s funding is channeled into producing new content and that Netflix had over 1,000 original shows at the end of 2018. The goal: 50 percent original content in the upcoming years. However, some mainstream media sites and users, myself at first, stopped watching Netflix, deeming it as too focused on creating original content that can vary in terms of quality. Business analysts at multinational investment bank, Barclays, claimed, “the deluge of originals on the service can worsen user experience by making content discovery more difficult.” Regardless, with ten Oscar nominations for Netflix’s original documentary, Roma, and the acquisition of Disney’s famous producers like Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes, Netflix’s strategy seems to be paying off-- stocks have grown over 5 percent within the first couple of weeks of 2019.

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Friday, Febuary 1, 2019

Shrek: The Musical Hits the Right Notes, cont.

From senior citizens to five-yearolds, Fremont audiences tuned in to the three-hour musicals on the Friday and weekend evenings of Jan. 11 to 27.

Each performance came with its own “event,” including audiences dressing up as their fairytale characters, wearing green for Shrek, and interacting with the cast. I attended the Friday, Jan. 18 performance, which featured expressive ASL interpreters to the right of the stage. However, the onstage spectacle often demanded my full attention; from acting and musicality to on-stage props and effects, Shrek the Musical delivered nothing short of a quality production.

It’s the best of adaptations: faithful to the movie in tone and theme, yet also complete with its own flair. In condensing the narrative, the production emphasized the fairytale characters and consequently, its overarching theme of inner beauty.

“Gingy” the Gingerbread Man (a very adorable and outspoken Russell Lym) and Pinocchio, especially, took center stage to wonderfully comedic and touching effect.

Which is not to overshadow the main sto-

100% Match: Bandersnatch

By Nancy Zuo Staff Writer

From personalized boba toppings and customized pizzas to pick-your-path games like Undertale and Doki Doki Literature Club, we are drawn in to things that give us a sense of control, of media that allows us to make a difference. Netflix’s latest episode of Bandersnatch, a special episode of the Netflix series Black Mirror, satirizes our fascination with control, cleverly weaving in the illusion of control through a pickyour-path interface that allows the viewer to control what happens next.

While each Black Mirror episode typically runs for an hour, Bandersnatch runs a range of times from 90 minutes to 2.5 hours, based on what choices are made.

The story is told in the protagonist, Stefan’s (Fionn Whitehead), point of view. As a game-maker, Stefan looks up to the famed Colin (Craig Parkinson), who creates games for the company Tuckersoft. Stefan has recently read a book called “Bandersnatch” in which the reader flips to different sections of the book, and has been inspired to create a game like that. However, the book has a dark past of the author killing his own mother during the writing process of the book. After Stefan proposes to work on the game idea within his own home, the episode follows through Stefan’s game-creation process. We follow Stefan’s internal conflicts during the creative process, which resemble those from the author of the book “Bandersnatch.”

Though the episode starts off rather slow, like the tutorial of a game with choices like choosing the type of cereal for Stefan to eat in the morning or the tape to listen to on the way to work, the choices later in the episode lead to five different major endings. Sometimes, a wrong choice may bring the viewer back to the beginning the episode, and speed through for the viewer to make the right choice.

While watching this episode, fans of the Black Mirror series may spot occasional easter eggs of the names of other episodes. Colin has recently released a game called “Metlhedd,” and is working on another game called “Nohzdyve,” alluding to the episodes named “Metalhead” from Season 4 and “Nosedive” from Season 3. The logo from a Season 2 episode “White Bear” repeatedly appears to represent the lack of self-control, as Stefan begins to lose himself by investing himself so deeply in the game-making process.

Overall, this episode of Black Mirror is a must-watch. Exploring the different endings of the episode is like a scavenger hunt. Netflix has done a phenomenal job at weaving the choices together into an immersive experience that shatters the fourth wall, pioneers a new aspect of streaming videos, and has set an even higher expectation for the anticipated Black Mirror Season 5 that will be released in the next few months.

RATING:

Mark and Tracy Photography In the spirit of the original film’s pop culture references, some pivotal events in the show were documented onstage by the fanboy guards’ smartphones. ryline: our main players, of course, are very well-rounded and well-acted. The slightly crazed, but feisty and downright awesome Princess Fiona (a very impressive Anne Salgado, IHS alumna and acting student at Ohlone), the titular character Shrek (Irvington Conservatory Theatre’s very own

Nooran Rooen, a junior at IHS), and talkative Donkey (Diego China) played off each other with amazing on-stage chemistry.

Finally, a sassy, hilarious villain in Lord Farquaad (Zarif Shahid maneuvering on his knees) rounded out a most entertaining show.

If there’s one thing I have to complain about, though, it’s the lengthy musical numbers that dragged out the narrative.

I’m no strangers to musicals in film, especially in animated features, but I found the few instances of spoken dialogue very much a relief. While the production showcased some genuinely awe-inspiring vocal talent—the Dragon’s (Ella Child) darker “Forever” comes to mind—some of the songs went on the cacophonous, not to mention the lengthy, side. Corny, family-friendly morals like embracing inner beauty can be touching, but not when constantly hammered down through repetitive power ballads. It’s a bit like watching a lengthy holiday advert—with just a bit too much intense exuberance to handle in a two large doses of 1.5 consecutive hours.

Still, there was just so much talent, and with plenty of comedy and a genuinely subversive narrative, carried through as a great first impression to on-stage musicals. The audience was especially responsive, and as the cast lined up for their final bows, I found myself standing up for them, too.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Swings to Greatness

By Roxana Shahmohammadi Staff Writer

Despite being the 7th movie and 4th iteration of Spider-Man in the last 16 years, Sony Animation’s Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse opened to critical and audience acclaim on Dec. 14, 2018. The movie is entirely separate from the MCU despite being a Marvel movie, and even has its own version of characters present in those movies, providing moviegoers with two entirely different versions of the same beloved characters in different types of movies that explore different themes and ideas. It has so far made $305 million globally on a budget of $90 million, with a sequel and a spinoff already confirmed to be in the works. The movie has been nominated for and won multiple awards already, most notably the Golden Globe and Critic’s Choice Award for best animated movie. It also picked up an Oscar nomination. The accolades are well deserved, as Spider-Verse is a fantastic ride throughout, with beautiful innovative animation, charming and interesting characters, and a poignant and emotionally engaging plot that result in a beautiful and unique movie that breathes new life into the stale genres of superhero movies and animation.

The movie follows Miles Morales, an Afro Latino teenager who is bitten by a radioactive spider, transforming him into Spider-Man. However, after he meets Peter Parker, Miles learns that he is not the only Spider-Man and that others like him have been dragged into his dimension through the portal opened by the evil Kingpin. Miles has to team up with his counterparts in order to close the portal, saving his dimension and returning the others to theirs. The plot of the movie is very different to anything we have ever seen in a Spider-Man movie, down to its protagonist. Even though Miles Morales is a relatively unknown character from the comics who many dismiss as a knockoff of Peter Parker created for the

sake of diversity, his character in this movie is fantastic and entirely different from Peter. This movie’s Peter, who is an older broken man who’s hit rock bottom, is also a new and interesting take on an old character. The rest of the spider-people (and pig) all provide their own unique personalities and backstories, resulting in a charming and delightful group dynamic. Miles’ relationship with his family, particularly his father and uncle, is also well done and emotionally poignant. The villains are incredibly fun to watch and everything comes together to perfectly convey the movie’s main themes of family, friendship, growth and identity.

However, as fantastic as the plot and characters are, the most impressive thing about Spider-Verse is without a doubt its animation. The movie was animated using brand new techniques and aspects of both 2d and 3d animation, resulting a completely unique look. It is also stylized as a comic book, with elements such as screens split into panels and thought bubbles above characters heads. The animation is beautiful throughout, but shines particularly in action scenes, particularly the colorful and breathtaking climactic battle. Every action scene is engaging in ways that live action ones simply cannot compare to. Each char-

acter from a different dimension was drawn in a different style (such as anime and old cartoons) which make even scenes where characters are just talking visually interesting. The directors have stated that they intended to make a movie where every shot was beautiful enough to be framed, and they have succeeded.

Spider-Man: Into the SpiderVerse is a fantastic and unique movie with compelling characters, exciting plot, and gorgeous and innovative animation in a genre known for its lack of variety. It is easily the best Spider-Man movie and one of the best superhero movies ever. If the Academy didn’t regularly snub animated movies for the Best Picture category, this movie would have gotten a nomination. It is nearly perfect, with my only issues with it being some unnecessary narration and jarring placement of songs. Overall, Spider-Verse is a brilliant movie that I would recommend to people of all ages. Watch it in theaters: this is the type of movie that deserves insane box office profit, this is the type of movie we want to encourage Hollywood to make more of.

RATING:

Friday, February 1, 2019

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SPORTS

ON THE RECORD

Irvington Soccer Overpowers Moreau

By Michael Zhu

“It was a great win for us because we had to see how good we actually are as a team... all the girls played really hard”

— Girls’ Varsity Basketball Coach BJ Hagood

Irvington Girls’ Basketball Lose to American

By Sanjana Gudivada

Staff Writer

On the rainy afternoon of Jan. 11, the boys’ varsity soccer team beat Moreau 3-2 in impressive fashion.

The game started slow, with the ball moving back and forth on both sides of the field. Irvington did a good job in moving the ball, passing through the defense creating multiple scoring opportunities.

Captain Seungwoo Lee (12) attributes this to sticking with their game plan.

“Our game plan was to stay in our positions and pass the ball across the field often so we are not just attacking on one side,” said Lee, “We did a good job on this so we were able to create some goal opportunities.”

However, Irvington was not able to connect on any of their opportunities, and the score heading into halftime remained 0-0.

Both teams stepped up their intensity as the second half began. Irvington continued to create scoring opportunities off crosses by penetrating Moreau’s defense with their swift ball movement as a result, they managed to score. A few minutes into the half, a string of quick passes led to midfielder Abbas Vijayvergia (9) dribbling down the right side of the field. On what looked like a cross, Vijayvergia kicked the ball across the field and into the goal.

“Our freshmen stepped up this game, as this was the best game I’ve seen them play,” said Captain Armon Olaee (12).

However, Irvington’s lead was short-lived. On a Moreau counter-attack, Irvington committed a foul, awarding Moreau a free kick, on which they scored.

Irvington came back strong, scoring two quick goals back to back, both coming from Olaee. On the first goal, rightwing Musashi Avalos (10) crossed the ball to Olaee for a close-range shot. Five minutes later, Olaee scored another powerful shot. With the score 3-1, Irvington enjoyed a comfortable lead to close the game. Even with Moreau’s last-second efforts in scoring one last goal, it was too little and too late.

Although Irvington did a good job on the offensive end, they hoped to work on their defense.

“We were not as organized on the defensive end as previous games, especially in the second half,” said center back Kevin Xu (11).

Friday, February 1, 2019

Staff Writer

On January 16, Irvington Vikings lost to American in a basketball game at home with a score of 47-55. The score looked promising for the Vikings in the first two quarters, but Irvington was unable to maintain the momentum in the next two quarters.

During the jump ball, American got the possession of the ball and they were on offense for the first half of the first quarter. Irvington’s game was looking promising towards the end of the first quarter as they caught up with the score swiftly. With excellent long passes, they were able to keep the ball on American’s side of the court for the majority of the time. The first quarter ended with a score of 9-11.

The crowd got more enthusiastic towards the beginning of the second quarter as the Vikings started off strong. Kaitlyn Kodama (11) made several steals and three-pointers which helped Irvington catch up to American. Sakshi Thakral’s (9) amazing offense helped Irvington stay in possession as well. By the end of the second quarter, both teams were tied at 21-21.

Irvington had trouble keeping up

with American in the third quarter. They had a hard time making baskets and keeping the ball in their possession. Their free throws and positioning also became a flaw that affected the outcome of the game.

The last quarter of the game didn’t look promising for Irvington. They were several points behind American and couldn’t consistently make shots and fell behind. This gave American an advantage over them and they were able to get possession of the ball easily. Irvington missed several free throws and struggled to get in defensive position again.

“We took a lot of good shots but they just weren’t falling,” said Kodama. “I thought we had a chance of winning and we certainly did throughout the entire game, but didn’t pull through during the 4th quarter.”

Looking back on the game Coach BJ Hagood said, “We gotta work on more free throws, more layups, we win that game by ten.”

“It was a great win for us because we had to see how good we actually are as a team.” said Coach BJ Hagood, “all the girls played really hard for four quarters. It was a great game for everybody.”

Emily Liu | Staff Writer Seungwoo Lee (12) played a key role in the team’s victory by dominating the midfield.

“Sometimes we mentally turn off and don’t focus, letting them dribble past us,” Olaee said, “Letting Moreau score 2 goals on us was too much.”

With their recent win over Moreau, the team is now 2-8 overall. With the season almost half over, Irvington hopes to continue to keep up their high energy play, and win against the teams they previously lost to.

Sanjana Gudivada | Staff Writer Captain Francene Munoz (12) dribbled the ball towards the basket.

Friday, February 1, 2019 Page 17

Irvington Boys’ Basketball defeated by Moreau Scores

By Shivani Manivasagan Staff Writer

After an intense, fast-paced game, Irvington’s boys’ varsity basketball team lost to Moreau Catholic High School with a final score of 64 to 81.

The main struggle against Moreau seemed to lie in size. Physically, the players on the Moreau team were bigger and more athletic than Irvington players, giving them an advantage in being able to put pressure full-court.

Because of Moreau’s sheer strength, the team had to take a different strategy for playing this game. “Since it was harder for us to drive in and attack, the coach gave us another approach of shooting 3-pointers, so that worked,” says point-guard Jimmy Wang (12). By scoring as many shots as they could, the team was able to close in on the points margin between Moreau throughout the course of the game, but still ended up about 15 points behind by the end of every quarter.

One of Irvington’s weaknesses was their defense, though it was something they have improved since the beginning of the season. Captain Owen Schmitz (12)

says the team will continue to work on protecting the ball and reducing the number of turnovers for the remainder of the season. “We worked on a lot of defensive drills from the beginning of the season, and that’s starting to show up now. That’s definitely something we still need to work on, but it’s getting a lot better.”

With the season almost drawing to a close, the team has come a long way from where they started. In terms of team chemistry, Kaushal Bobba (11) reflects, “Over the season, our team has started to play a lot better together instead of playing individually.”

Despite the defeat, players gave their best performance and shone. “Elias (11) played really well, shooting four out of six 3-pointers. Kaushal also stepped up and played a really good game,” says Wang.

Irvington’s boys’ basketball continues to work hard to improve, as they have been doing since the beginning. The culmination of their efforts shows in their impressive 72% win record at this point in the season, having won 13 out of 18 games so far. The remainder of the season looks promising for the team.

Boys’ Soccer

Provided by Tammy Lee (10)

Jimmy Wang (12) attempted to score while a player from Moreau tries to block him.

Girls’ Soccer

Irvington Wrestling Struggles Against American

By Andrew Fu and Kayla Xu Opinions Editor and News Editor

Kayla Xu | News Editor

Abtin Olaee (11) fights to maintain the offensive over his American opponent.

On Wednesday, January 23, Irvington’s Wrestling Team fought hard against American but lost with a score of

15-60. This marks Irvington Wrestling’s last game of the season, and despite facing American, who was the second-best team

in the MVAL, the team did relatively well in light of the obstacles that they had to face.

“We were missing a lot of wrestlers due to finals and a couple of guys due to injuries, but the guys that were here wrestled hard,” Head Coach Flannery said.

“I was very pleased with what I saw. Most kids were working the moves that we had been teaching them.”

The match opened with a win from Irvington lead by Bernard Gardiner (9). Gardiner shifted stances until he found an opportunity to leverage his opponent’s arms, and locked his opponent’s head underneath him. The two wrestlers exchanged moments of dominance, but Austin was able to win a majority of the rounds and scored the first takedown for Irvington. The following matches were a mix between Irvington and American victories. Sonya Chang (11) maintained an aggressive stance, and trapped her opponent in a headlock, scoring a takedown. Hezekiah Crawford (10) struggled to maintain the upper hand in the beginning but held his defensive bottom position and turned his opponent over to successfully pin him down.

“My hips have been hurting, so I had to warm up well before the match,” said Crawford, one of the many players who were suffering from injuries.

Overall, the team performed well with all the difficulties that they faced. Perhaps their largest challenge was overcoming exhaustion.

“The biggest problem was that our people got tired,” Team Captain Abbas Nurie (11) said. “This was our last game of the season, but if there was a next game, we would definitely have to work on cardio.”

Despite minor setbacks, the wrestling team is optimistic towards next season. While there is still room for improvement, the team looks towards league championships.

“The first round is about who’s faster, the second round’s about who’s stronger or who has the better technique, and the third round is about who wants [to win] more,” Youssef Morsy (10) said. “I feel like the reason why we couldn’t win was because we were lacking the technique and cardio, but we were not lacking the heart.

I think that’s the biggest thing this team has—we love this sport with a passion.”

Boys’ Basketball

Girls’ Basketball

Page 18

HUMOR

Locked on a Problem

Learn to Rule

By Alice Shu Staff Writer

The Bazillions Students are taking this movement very seriously.

By Prahalad Chari Staff Writer

In light of the recent salary negotiations between FUSD and FUDTA, teachers have started Work to Rule. However, teachers are not the only group of people who are unsatisfied with the situation. All over the district, a new movement is taking place—one that is spreading quicker than any other previous movement. Students all over FUSD have declared a state of “Learn To Rule.”

The newly-formed Fremont Unified Student Association (FUSA) has mandated that all students only learn during school hours. The goal of this is to show support for the teachers. The hope is that this movement will enrage the parents of all children, and get them to further petition the district. During Learn to Rule, students only do school work during school hours, or whatever time that is explicitly stated in the syllabus. Since most syllabi do not contain the hours mandated to do homework, students don’t do it. This naturally means that

Friday, February 1, 2019

the student’s grades have dropped. However, some students remain hopeful.

“Since my teacher grades on a curve, we are all getting a 100!” said Niente Compiti, a senior. “Now I can add ‘peaceful protests’ to my college application!”

While this movement may bring down the grades of the students in the long run, there are some surprising benefits.

Teachers are now reporting that they are no longer behind on grading because there is simply nothing to grade. This leaves the teachers with more time for their favorite hobby: how to pass their students meeting the minimum requirement. Even better, the time no longer spent on grading means that the district is receiving more than 4x the strongly worded emails from the teachers and parents.

From the district’s end, this is a disaster. Not only do they have to address the problem that the entire school district is failing, but they also are facing increasing tensions both from teachers and very angry parents.

Burn

Backwards Turtle Comic

Most students use a locker in Irvington’s crowded hallways. Which begs the question: why get a locker in the first place? You have to admit that no one actually uses their locker as much as they orignally expected before entering high school.

Freshmen don’t know any better, sophomores want to rebrand themselves, juniors end up carrying all of their heavy textboks in their backpack anyways, and seniors just want that one locker they’ve had their eye on since they entered Irvington. But no one forced you to sign a locker form. And yet, on Maze Day, dozens of students scramble around the school to claim the locker with the most optimal location and physical characteristics. But the most annoying parts of lockers aren’t their broken shelves or rusty walls, it’s what’s on the outside.

First of all, the locks. Those things are like those mood rings that used to be popular in 2010. Both are mass-produced.

Both are shiny. Both are low-quality and both are indicators of everyone’s current emotions. If your lock opens on the first try, great: you will be in a good mood for the next two weeks. In fact, you feel so great that you could walk 10,000 miles to Yale and get accepted because gosh darnit you defeated your locker! If your locker doesn’t open after your 32nd try, you’re probably so annoyed you could punch through the locker instead, and you’ll be in an awful mood for the next 800 days. Even horoscopes are more predictable than these locks.

Now the only solution is to buy a new lock, right? Wrong. They’re still the same, except it looks less depressing because it’s not school-issued. Your day won’t change because of your lock. Nobody really cares about how shiny your new lock is. In Alice Shu | Staff Writer reality, your lock won’t make a difference.

Instead, I’ve provided several alternatives Lock instructions validate a lock purchase but not lock enjoyment. to opening your locker.

The Best Advice Column Dear Yolotl,

I’ve had this question in my head recently for over a week now. It’s preventing me from going to sleep at night and I can’t stop thinking about it at school or at home. I’m honestly afraid of what the impact of me releasing this kind of question would do to the school. But you’re the wise Yolotl so I’ll entrust this question into your hands. If people are born deaf and have never even heard a word being said in any tongue, then what language do they think in?

From, Shower Thoughts Dear Shower Thoughts,

Alice Shu | Staff Writer

1. Destroy it with your backpack, which is heavy enough to break metal on its own.

2. Pour cafeteria milk onto any locker surface, which will degrade instantly due to the milk’s acidic nature (it’s so acidic, it’s a three on the pH scale).

3. Destroy it with that couple that makes out by your locker. Make them useful for once.

4. Or, go to the Campus Supervisors’s for help but turn back because you’d rather attain the sweet, sweet reward of your locker contents through manual labor.

Will these solutions work? Absolutely. Well, you’re more likely to open your locker this way than fumbling with your lock for a few days. And if you’re worried about people stealing your “valuables” from the giant gaping hole you’ve created in your locker, don’t worry. Everyone has airpods.

You’re too broke for them. They don’t need to steal your stuff! So have fun, everybody!

Go forth and destroy lockers!

We all know if one of your senses is lost, then all of your other senses will be heightened. If a deaf person were to talk to someone, do they have a designated language for them to communicate using their hands? No, they sense the vibrations of sound waves escaping the speaker’s mouth which they sense with their heightened sense of taste and interpret this sound wave to the object which it is referring to.

And now, they will think in these vibrations whenever they are thinking of something.

It’s really not that difficult, even bats and dolphins do it.

Yours truly,

The wise Yolotl

Dear Yolotl,

I really enjoy eating pickles. The briny pickle juice really rustles my jimmies.

Nothing can beat the fresh taste of freshly canned pickles. There are many different kinds of pickles. However, I want to ask you for your opinion on which is the best pickle.

Classic dill pickles really pack a punch with their sour flavor and are quite appetizing.

Meanwhile, bread and butter pickles are nice finger food and easy to eat while being equally sweet as sweet pickles but just as briny as the dill. It really is a hard decision.

Please help.

Thanks,

In a Pickle Dear In a Pickle,

I really like your fascination with pickle and their varieties. I really do hope you advance your endeavours in pickle tasting as there are many other different kinds of pickles available. Also remember that pickles are not limited to just cucumbers.

Most vegetables can be pickled. In fact, kimchi is another kind of pickle. There are also pickled onions and garlic and many other vegetables. My favorite pickle is the soy sauce pickled onion. It really has the nice savory taste of soy sauce with the fresh crisp juices of onion exploding in your palate. Anyways, keep on eating pickles!

Always,

The pickled Yolotl

Dear Yolotl,

Recently I feel like my self-esteem and overall motivation to do things have been decreasing. I don’t know if it’s because of finals and all the pressure I’m receiving from my mom, but lately, my self-worth has really declined into a pretty unhealthy state. What should I do?

Sincerely,

Sahd R. Eader Dear Sahd R. Eader,

I suggest you take some time alone to find yourself again. There’s no point in even going to school, or doing anything for that matter, if you feel that you are lacking the motivation and self-love. So just give up. Screw school, your mental health is more important.

From,

The enlightened Yolotl

Friday, February 1, 2019

By Rory Conlon Staff Writer

Page 19

Weird Scholarships

and peculiar things you will need to do to qualify for them

To pay off their loans, students will be required to work until the day they die (or at least fifty years into the afterlife, depending on whether they die before the age of 90). However, with a generous scholarship, students may be allowed to retire at the ripe old age of 85. The following list of scholarships is meant to support the bright minds who are willing to spend hours of their life on earning one (or multiple) degree(s).

“God’s Plan” Scholarship: If a student says “God’s Plan” three times while staring at their reflection in the glass of a spotless BMW windshield, Drake will magically appear in the seat next to them with a million dollar check. In order to get the money, students must be really dank, ask Drake for the check, and listen to “Sicko Mode,” a highly intellectual single written with the help of Travis Scott. That’s it.

E-Sports Scholarships: First reported on in the New York Times, esports scholarships provide students a revolutionary opportunity to demonstrate their athletic ability through virtual FIFA and Super Smash Bros. championships. By doing so, colleges place an emphasis on the real-life grit and sweat that can result from fierce virtual competitions and virtual team rivalry. In fact, reporters from The Eciov recently sat down with one of the scholarship recipients, a boy who refused to give out his name because he was too busy “grinding through” another level of a vicious training regimen.

“I have prepared for this showdown my whole life,” he yelled. “I have sacrificed everything for this scholarship: my family, my friends, my sanity, my personal hygiene... I DESERVE THIS.”

Asparagus Club Scholarship: To apply for this scholarship, students simply need to pursue a degree in business, food management, or the independent retail industry. However, reporters belonging to The Eciov have discovered some hidden terms and conditions attached to this contractual agreement. For one whole year, students who accept the scholarship will have to wear an asparagus costume at least once a week and eat some form of asparagus in every one of their meals. A reporter had the most engaging conversation with a lovely young recipient with a mouth full of asparagus ice cream. However, she was unsure whether she said “heh me” or “help me” at the end of it. Safe to say, the reporter left quickly.

McRonald Donald House Foundation Scholarship: McRonald Donald’s gets a lot of flack from health professionals for actively fueling the American obesity crisis and killing their customers faster, but the foundation is really making up for their actions with a generous scholarship of $1 to each recipient.

In fact, McRonald Donald House Foundation has saved lives and enabled kids to live out their dreams. One boy in Ohio raved about the scholarship in a one-on-one interview with 30/30. “I was crushed when I found out that only a dollar would make a difference between me going to Stanford or to Harvard,” he said in tears.

“But now, I can go to Harvard and live freely in constant agony.”

Alice Shu | Staff Writer

The Reality of High School Dating

By Megan Dhingra

Even if you were to find someone, you probably aren’t going to spend much time with them because of the load of

High school is an experience your intense classes, all the hours of homewhich you fantasize a lot about during your work every single day, and those pesky elementary and middle school life “OMG!” benchmark projects. You probably won’t you squeal, “I’m going to be able to drive even have enough time to spend with your and use my phone during class and go to friends. Relationships require a lot of efthe mall with my fort, and it takes a lot friends and do a of that when you’re bunch of other grown trying to make the up stuff!” But, admit other person happy. it, you’ve probably High school is a time spent the most time for people to find out fantasizing about a what and who they partner to be with want to be in life. You during high school. won’t be able to do You used to think that if you’re spendthat you were going ing more time with to flirt and then date another person. someone and then Also, high they’re going to get school relationships you presents on Valare very short. This entine’s day and then is because of the load you’ll go to Prom toof high school work, gether and then live or just that people happily ever after.

High School Musical don’t genuinely like In reality, however, the other person, and high school dating #relationshipgoals from everyone’s favor- just date for the sake ite couple builds #unrealisticgoals of dating or because is nothing like that.

Staff Writer

By Nancy Zuo

their friends told them to. Having friends tell you who to date is like one of those design-your-life games, where you choose options for the character and influence their lives. It’s not okay for others to have that much control over your life. What’s the point of dating someone if you don’t like them and they don’t make you happy?

That’s kind of the definition of dating.

Lastly, you’ve discovered that some people are terrible and literally don’t care about anyone but themselves. Have you ever seen conceited people who think they are more important than everyone else? High school is a great place to meet

people like that. High schoolers spend a lot of time thinking of themselves and think that the world revolves around them. Also, they are probably wrapped up in thinking or stressing about their career and other aspects of their future, so they don’t pay much attention to others. So, It’s not easy to be in a relationship.

High school is a place where people stress, study, and have breakdowns—a lot—with little to no leisure time. This is why you won’t see many people making out in the hallways like movies play it out to be, sorry if that disappoints you, but there’s no harm in dreaming.

Elementary School Stereotypes

Staff Writer

Nancy Zuo | Staff Writer The various types of students from elementary schools are equipped with different powers prior to entering Irvington.

While we most of us are proud Vikings who have transformed from Hornets (from Horner), we all still carry a bit of our elementary school experiences with us. Whether we’re still friends with people since first grade, or we’ve branched out to others, the shared seven years at the same elementary school have cultivated a vast array of personalities among the five elementary schools.

Warm Springs: This species dominates our campus. Maybe it’s because natural selection has blessed them with the dozens of boba cafes and restaurants conveniently nearby which have sufficiently

nourished them as they’ve grown. It is safe to assume every other student we meet comes from here because there’s just so many of them. Before coming into Irvington, this pack of wolves have already built up their own network.

Weibel Elementary: These wanna-be Mission kids are a less common species, but, as some say, quality is better than quantity. They are characterized by their large-sized houses located under the watch of the great Mission Peak. These Crazy Rich Asian parents have strategically picked a nice location just out of the vicinity of boba shops and restaurants that may be a distraction for what’s really important: studying for that vocabulary test for highGATE sixth grade English. While today we lurk around Facebook and Reddit, these Wildcats knew the real deal: Google+.

Hirsch Elementary: This rare species comes from the practical location adjacent to Horner Junior High. Hirsch students make quite the journey commuting to all of their educational institutions.

Their playground is often mistaken to be part of Horner, and their students are commonly mistaken to be a Warm Springs or Weibel alumni. Their ice cream truck is constantly invaded by Horner students, and their school is invaded by QUEST volunteers.

Grimmer: During your time at Irvington, you’ll be lucky to meet one of these species because so many of them

end up going to another Spanish-speaking school. Their elementary school is located third farthest from Irvington, and you are now able to view the BART from the playground at school. Grimmer kids also have easy access to shops like Starbucks and

Quiznos unlike Weibel kids, at least.

Harvey Green: These students are the rarest of them all. While many don’t often remember this school exists, they are lucky enough have an ice cream truck, too.

-WORK TO RULEPhotos and Layout By : Annika Yong

Teachers gather on Friday mornings to protest against FUSD

Teachers distribute flyers to passersby to gain support

Students staged a walk out to the district last year

Ms. Barrett raises a banner protesting teacher’s low wages

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