Irvington Voice 25.3

Spotlight

ihsvoice.com

2016 RECAP

Girls’ Golf

Competitive Rubik’s Cuber Zili Wang (11)

Highlights of the past year (with pictures!)

Recap of the 2016 IHS girls’ golf season

STUDENT LIFE | 5-6

FEATURES | 9-10

SPORTS | 13-14

THE IRVINGTON VOICE FRIDAY, December 9, 2016

Senior Government classes hold (mock) elections

Election results spark protests and discontent

By Risheek Priyadarshi

By William Yoo

EDITOR-in-CHIEF

STAFF WRITER

On Nov. 8, millions of Americans, thousands of Californians, and hundreds of Irvington students, voted for a series of candidates and propositions that would determine the future of the country. Mirroring the real presidential and congressional candidates and ballot propositions, AP Government students held a simulation to mirror election day by hosting a mock election for 1,229 history students.

Ms. Jorgenson then compiled the results and published them on Schoolloop. Accurate in some respects but inaccurate in others, the results of the election provided a unique insight into the developing political opinions of our student population.

Like most political pundits, the students did not predict the results of the presidential election.

However, mirroring the election results in California, students overwhelmingly voted democratic, and Clinton won the mock election, earning 51.6% of the vote, compared to Trump’s 28.4%, Stein’s 7.6%, and Johnson’s 12.4%.

In comparison, the real American presidential election saw a surprise upset victory for Trump, who won the electoral college, although Clinton still won the popular vote, 47.9% to 47.2%. California, a state with a long history of liberalism, voted overwhelmingly blue in the election as well, demonstrating that student political sentiments match those of the state population.

For the Congressional election between Mike Honda and Ro KhanContinued on Page 3

CITY

City council approves controversial Walnut Residences apartment complex

The controversial Walnut Residences project has been approved by the Fremont city council. The project was initially proposed with 882 units, but concerns from residents led to downsizing.

Woman wearing headscarf targeted for antiMuslim hate in Fremont

Nicki Pancholy, a regular Mission Peak hiker, was called out for wearing a headscarf, which she wears because she suffers from lupus. After returning to her card, she found an anti-Muslim hate note on her dashboard.

VOL. 25 No. 3

SPENDER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES A group of protesters line up outside Trump Tower in New York a day after the election. Across the country, concerned and upset citizens came out in droves to voice their discontent with the election results.

On Nov. 9, the election results were announced in favor of the new President-elect Donald Trump. Winning by the majority electoral vote, Trump has caused major protests because Secretary Hillary Clinton had won the popular vote, but still did not win the election. Protests were initially peaceful, but have gotten increasingly violent and frequent.

Before the election results came out and Trump’s poll numbers were down, Trump essentially claimed that he would not accept the results of the election because he felt it was rigged against him. Clinton supporters said that no matter what, the election results had to be accepted and respected at all costs. Ironically, the moment the election results came out, Clinton supporters began protesting, saying that Trump is, “Not my president”.

The first protests started on college campuses. Students from universities such as the University of California at Davis (UCD), University of California

at Los Angeles (UCLA), University of California at San Diego (UCSD), University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), University of Southern California (USC), and University of Pittsburgh all protested the election results the night of and day after the election. At UCLA, students burned a Trump pinata and attempted to flip a car, only to realize someone was actually inside it. The protests spilled onto the freeway at UCSD and one protester was hit and injured by a car.

Anti-Trump sentiment traveled from college campuses all the way to Fremont high schools. Across from Irvington, a group of students from Robertson High School rallied together and protested Trump’s victory.

The protests have recently taken a turn towards violence. One protest called for the rape of Melania Trump right outside the Trump Tower in New York. In another, a building was burned down.

Clinton called for her supporters to accept the election results and keep an open mind about the future. Regardless of what she said, tension continues to build over the election.

LINK leaders and freshmen hop into Movie Night

By Subaita Rahman STAFF WRITER

LINK held it’s traditional movie night event this year on Friday November 18th in the cafeteria from 6-10 PM. Freshmen bundled up with their blankets and pillows to watch the always entertaining Zootopia, which LINK collectively voted on before, while enjoying free food and bonding with their LINK leaders.

LINK is proving up to their standards at the event each year. Last year they added a photo booth, and this year they added a candy bar as well.

“We were expecting about 150 people, which was the turnout last year, but ended up having around 210 people,” said sopho-

more LINK Commissioner Faye Wang. She noted that they were able to get enough food and space for everyone to enjoy themselves better. “We hope that this event made the freshmen closer with their LINK leaders,” said Wand.

Luckily, their hard work seemed to pay off, and everyone enjoyed themselves.

“It was fun to hang out with friends and your LINK kids and just chill,” said junior Sruti Nagam. “It was great way to start the break off.”

“I really loved the photo booth and hanging out with friends,” said freshman Arnav Kamra. “I think it was really successful, since a lot of people Continued on Page 3

STATE

NATIONAL

Students in California are witnessing the extensive detriment of teacher shortages. With a cycle of substitutes and lack of qualified teachers, districts are getting a hard hit out of this issue.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to oil production cuts after increased tensions between members of Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Iraq.

In this deal, Iran will continue production after sanctions were lifted.

California teacher shortages worsen in cities

California targets cows to combat global warming Although many farmers opposed the controversial bill, Governor Jerry Brown passed legislation to target the greenhouse gases produced by dairy farm cows.

The new bill requires dairies and other livestock operations to reduce methane emissions by 40 percent below 2013 levels.

OPEC agrees to oil production cuts

‘Hamilton’ sets Broadway sales record with a $3.3 million week

The Broadway show “Hamilton” earned $3.3 million for eight shows last week, setting a new Broadway record for most money earned in a single week, a record previously held by “Wicked.”

NAMAN PATEL Junior LINK leaders gather for a picture at the photo booth.

Dakota Access Pipeline protestors gain crucial victory

On Sunday, Dec. 4, the Department of the Army announced that it would not allow the controversial pipeline to cross under a dammed section of the Missouri River and would look for alternate routes.

INTERNATIONAL

Indian Government issues black money ban

In an effort to combat corruption, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi annouced a ban on all Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes after it learned that black money was filtering into the country, causing mass inflation. New notes Rs 2000 and 500 will be introduced,

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef experiences tragic coral die-off The Great Barrier Reef just witnessed its worst coral die-off ever recorded. The Australian Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef and the largest structure made by living organisms. As of now 67% of the reef has died off.

U.S. Students Score Higher Than Average on International Math Test

Around 580,000 students competed at this year’s Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, which produced impressive results for U.S. students. The test is administered at Boston College.

2 THE IRVINGTON VOICE NEWS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2016

Irvington JSA goes to the Norcal Fall Convention

By Atira Nair STAFF WRITER

Recently revived club Junior Statesmen of America, or JSA, kicked off the year with the Norcal Fall Convention at Santa Clara on Nov 12-13. The convention, which was held at the Santa Clara Marriott, presented an opportunity for students all across the nation to engage in politics by discussing issues, arguing in debates, simulating mock trials, and participating in other activities that enhance students’ knowledge of the political world.

“This convention was particularly interesting because there hasn’t ever been an election so controversial and thoughtprovoking, “ said JSA president, junior Karina Gulati.

The convention boasted topics ranging from feminism and presidential candidates to even climate change. Irvington’s JSA members prepared for the convention by researching current events and creating a six minute speech about a political issue. Events were available where students wrote and recited a speech concerning a social or political issue in front of a crowd of student judges who were able to vote on the winning speech. For instance, some members participated in the “Free the Nipple” event, where they spoke about feminism and women’s rights. Notable wins at this convention included junior Subaita Rahman, who won first place in her event. Her debate discussed Islam and whether or not it is considered a nation.

Other events, such as Thought Talks, were available for students who were uncomfortable with speaking in front of a big crowd.

These events were similar to socratic seminars. In these events, no awards were given, as they are primarily to increase students’ public speaking skills and confidence. There was also a Political Fair at the convention, which allowed students to meet lobbyists and representatives of some political parties to learn more about the American political system. Keynote speakers, such as CNN anchor Fareed Zakaria, Congressman Ron Paul, and Senator Kay Bailey gave speeches where students were allowed to ask questions and learn more from the experience.

“The atmosphere in the convention was casual and it looked like everyone was really enjoying the opportunity to come and compete at the convention,” said junior Raj Jagannath.

Irvington’s JSA members concluded the event with dances and karaoke battles. This year’s Fall State Convention gave IHS JSA members a look into the political world with many interactive experiences and activities. JSA has many more conventions and learning experiences to anticipate in the future.

Irvington’s Speech and Debate teams attends Santa Clara University Invitational

By Caitlin Chen EDITOR-in-CHIEF

Irvington’s Speech and Debate teams competed at the Dempsey-Cronin Memorial Invitational at Santa Clara University from Nov. 18 to 20, the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Irvington Debate competed against 200 of the best Parliamentary Debate teams in the nation, after which they became fifth overall in National Parliamentary Rankings and the most successful studentrun Parliamentary Debate team in the nation.

“Both debate and speech have been doing amazing considering the fact that Irvington is one of the only schools that is self-run and doesn’t have a coach,” said sophomore Isha Sanghvi, Secretary for Debate and Vice President for Speech. “And this year is arguably our most successful year to date, and that’s

amazing considering how big the field is.”

In the Speech competitions at the tournament six Irvington speech participants broke, meaning that they made it to the elimination rounds. Notably, sophomore Mehaa Mekala placed first in Open Dramatic Interpretation.

“I’ve had this piece since my last tournament at James Logan, so I had the memorization and blocking done, but I didn’t have to flow of energy down,” Mekala said. “A common misconceptions is that the best DIs are the ones where you cry the most or talk the most, but the best DIs tell a story. It has ups, downs, and parts where you stay relaxed. I think the hardest part for me was discovering when these parts occurred and how to realistically show pain. I think that’s

what put me over the top, how relatable the emotions in my piece were and making the judges actually feel something.”

In preparation for the competition, the club met in separate weekly sessions. Speech had weekly sessions of one-on-one practice with officers to edit speeches and performances. Debate had practice debates, officer lectures, and briefings on certain debate topics.

Senior Rishabh Meswani, Debate Club President, said that the officers worked closely with the club members.

“This year, we implemented a mentorship team system, in which each officer is assigned to a group of approximately 10 novice kids,” he said. “This way, we can work with the students more personally, and I think that’s made a huge difference.”

The mentorship system has allowed for novice members to slowly adapt to the new parliamentary debate format and do their best at tournaments.

For the competition, the Debate team only participated in Parliamentary debates, with two people debating a topic with 20 minutes of prep, and Lincoln-Douglas debates, with

PRITI PUROHIT Left to right: Sampreeth Moturi (12) and Rachit Pareek (11) as well as William Yoo (11) and Rishabh Meswani (12) were octo finalists in Parliamentary Open, meaning that they placed in the top 16. Akanksha Jain (12) was also an octofinalist in LincolnDouglas Open.

one person debating a topic received weeks or months in advance.

Speech competed in six events, including Dramatic Interpretation and Original Oratory.

Parents, former competitors, coaches, and college students served as judges for the students.

These judges gave the final verdict for debates and speeches during the tourna-

ment.

Speech is currently preparing for Golden Gate Speech Association’s second individual events tournament of the year at Sonoma Valley High School on Saturday, Dec. 3. Debate Club is preparing to host the very first debate tournament to be held at Irvington High School, called the Vikings Invitational, on Dec. 17.

HARRISON CHENG Drum major Kristen Wu leads the Junior Varsity Band in their final performance of the season.

JV Marching Band ends season on a high note

By Vivian Hoang

STAFF WRITER Irvington’s Junior very well, despite their third Varsity Marching Band placing in their last compeended their competitive tition.” observed Varsity season on Saturday, Nov. junior flute player Olivia 5 with a third place finish Mendoza. in the Grape Bowl Classic The band members Band Review held in Lodi, left Fremont at 5:00 a.m., California. headed for Lodi. Though The band competed they were sleep-deprived, against top high schools in there was a sense of exciteDivision 5A, such as Lin- ment in the air for the last coln Memorial and Inder- competition of the season. kum High Schools at the “The band review event co-hosted by Lodi was tiring, but a lot of fun!

High School and Tokay From the outside, it didn’t High School. look like we placed all that The Junior Varsity well, but all of us knew how Marching Band received its much we improved and highest score of the season we’re proud of ourselves,” with a 89.3 out of 100 for said freshman flute player its performance of British Shathi Gans.

Eighth by Zo Elliott. This “There was such a year’s score matched the strong sense of community 89 that last year’s band between all the marching received at the final show- band members. I think ing before the split into the overall, it was a day good Varsity and Junior Varsity enough to compensate for marching bands. having to be at school at 5 “Our Junior Varsity a.m. on a Saturday.”

Marching Band is doing

3 THE IRVINGTON VOICE NEWS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2016

Mock elections Continued from Page 1 na, students voted for Khanna by a large majority, with 54.7 to 45.3 percent.

Surprisingly, even with the Khanna campaign’s close relationship with many student volunteers, the general population voted even more overwhelmingly for Khanna, at 61%.

Finally, five propositions were on the mock election ballot, including the controversial propositions 64, legalizing marijuana, and 62, repealing the death penalty.

Again, the students matched the Californian

population well. They affirmed propositions on firearm restrictions, multilingual promotion, criminal sentence reform, and legalizing weed. Like Californians, students kept the death penalty, but by a slight majority. These results indicate an age shift in political affiliation towards the left amongst the youth, which matches demographic trends throughout the country. In summary, the mock election provided a fascinating insight into our democratic process and the shifting opinions of the future.

Link Movie Night Continued from Page 1 were there.”

However, LINK isn’t quite finished with making their freshmen’s first year of high school enjoyable. Although this movie night was entertaining for all, there are a few things LINK is attempting to improve for next time.

“There wasn’t enough freshman-LINK leader interaction,” said junior Sarvesh Nagwekar, “because watching a movie is a passive activity and people stuck to their individual groups, so there wasn’t a lot of initiative on either side to bond with

each other.”

To help deal with this issue, LINK has also planned a future fundraiser for a better bonding opportunity, a hot cocoa or cookie decorating event, and improved, specialized advisory visits similar as those during Homecoming Week.

“We’re super grateful for all the people who came out and we hope they had a good time,” said Wang.

“Hopefully this event got the freshmen more excited for what is to come in the future for LINK.”

Horner Debate Club reinstated

By Fiona Zhao STAFF WRITER

Through the combined and persistent efforts of Irvington’s Debate Team and Fremont Debate Academy, Horner Debate Club was recently reinstated under the Horner PTA. Near the end of the 2014-15 school year, former Horner Debate advisor and Drama teacher, Ms. Caine, was forced to step down due to personal commitments, leaving Horner’s debate team unable to continue without an advisor.

Irvington’s debaters, who also mentored for Horner Debate, attempted to reinstate the club at the middle school. However, efforts throughout the 2015-16 school year to bring back Horner Debate were not approved by Horner’s new administration and lacked support from Horner’s faculty.

Under the tutelage and close attention of Fremont Debate Academy, an incorporated nonprofit that teaches debate at elementary schools, such as Warms Springs and Hirsch elementary, throughout the FUSD, students had the opportunity to participate in tournaments, learn the fundamentals of debate, and further hone their craft in Horner’s debate team.

Hoping to continue this pattern, Fremont De-

bate Academy’s surrounding community worked and rallied to reinstitute Horner’s Debate Club.

Fremont Debate Academy invited FUSD superintendent Dr. Morris to their interschool tournaments, demonstrating the vital purpose and benefits of debate; impressed, Morris joined their efforts to bring back Horner Debate.

Having obtained official backing of the FUSD and rallying parents, several meetings were held with Horner’s administration to devise a solution.

As Horner was unable to provide a faculty advisor, Fremont Debate Academy would run Horner Debate Club independently under the PTA. “I came to realize that if passionate people come together to solve a grave issue, anything is possible, even if it is something that requires you to combat an established administration.” said debate club president senior Rishabh Meswani.

Run under the Horner PTA, Horner Debate Club has emerged stronger than ever and has made the difficult transition from elementary to junior high level debate much smoother for the students in the program.

Playing Through History combines history with video games Under the supervision of Honors World History teacher Mr. V, a group of sophomores devise a battle plan.

“Guys, do you want to attack the new city or the first city?”

“Look at Barcelona.

Take the New city.”

“Yeah, move that one there. Just defnd—” Playing Through History is a new part of Mr. V’s class, serving as an extra credit opportunity for his students. Students who show up to at least two out of the three sessions each week to play a selected video game are able to complete an extra credit assignment connecting the video game to the events they’ve discussed in class.

“This is a combination of my two favorite things, which is videogames and history,” Mr. V said. “So it felt like a natural thing. It was a thing I was passionate about, and I felt that this would be a way to connect with my students.”

The students will play a different game for each unit. For their first unit on French Revolution, they played “Assassin’s Creed Unity,” which follows the centuries-old struggle between different forces in Paris. For their World War I unit, they’ll play “Battlefield 1,” taking on the roles of Italian storm troops attempting to seize an AstroHungarian fortress, Bedouin rebels working with British intelligence, and more.

For the World War

By Caitlin Chen EDITOR-in-CHIEF

CAITLIN CHEN/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Prateek Ashthana (10) watches his classmate play “Civilization Revolution” on PlayStation 3 during lunch.

II unit, they’ll play a combination of Call of Duty and a flight simulator game about Pearl Harbor. During the Cold War unit, they’ll play a few indie games, including “Papers, Please,” which focuses on the work of an immigrations officer at border checkpoints for the fictitious country Arstotzka in 1982, and ICBM, which provides a realistic experience of being a deputy missile combat crew commander.

“It hasn’t translated to quantifiable improvement, but there are some students who would normally maybe not do so well who are more interested and engaged. It kind of creates a positive atmosphere and I’m seeing the difference.” Mr. V said. “I also

noticed that kids did a really good job of calling stuff out like while we were playing a game, like identifying Baroque art on the walls, or saying, ‘That’s not what happens!’

Research has shown that playing video games can help stimulate academic literacy and successful learning strategies. For example, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have launched Education Arcade, computer games meant to promote authentic and engaging play.

“Games … open up a space for people to explore, strategize, and learn,” writes Jesse Sell, a research assistant in the Education Arcade. “They offer new perspectives on old subjects

and allow players to break into difficult subjects with ease.”

This is a point that Mr. V especially wanted to emphasize.

“A lot of adults, especially a lot of adult teachers, have this mindset that videogames are a distraction to work, that they are a negative influence, or a waste of time,” he said. “And I think that’s erroneous on a lot of levels. Video games are a great way to approach content, particularly history content, in a way that’s fun and unexpected. They’re a tool, and if you use them well, they can benefit your teaching, not distract from it. It’s much more interesting than just looking through your textbook and reading about dead people.”

RISHABH MESWANI Fremont Debate Academy partners with Horner PTSA to revitalize the Horner Debate Club. Members were able to join the club after a year-long halt at the school.

Red Cross Club holds Refugee Simulation for students

By Annika Yong STAFF WRITER

Constantly fleeing with fear, struggling to settle down, and perpetually seeking safety and acceptance are just a few of the difficulties refugees from war-plagued countries experience. The crisis in these countries may seem so distant from our developed, stabilized country. Due to the lack of awareness of this critical issue among youth, the Irvington Red Cross Club held a refugee simulation activity after school on Nov. 4. The activity aims to let Irvington students to experience the struggles many refugees face by organizing simulations intended to mimic the conditions in war-torn countries. The purpose was to allow students a more insightful view into this issue and the opportunity to show their compassion for the less fortunate.

The Red Cross Club followed the activity guidelines provided by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in order to simulate different common situations. The first simulation was that of a crowded temporary center, where 18 participants filled a 3-by-4-foot area in front of the cafeteria. Next, the participants had to fill out an identification form

with nonsensical words to mimic the language barrier the refugees often experience in foreign countries.

Throughout these simulation games, the participants voiced their frustration and disappointment with the upsetting, unfair situations they faced.

“Before this game, I only knew refugees were living a harsh, unstable life, but after the simulation, I feel like they were alone, unwanted, and neglected,” said sophomore Isha Bhagavatula. “We gained insight of not only what they were dealing with, but also how they actually felt, and this [refugee crisis] needs to be fixed.”

Red Cross Club president sophomore Shreya Vajragiri held the refugee simulation to spread attention about refugee crisis after seeing pictures of suffering, distressed refugees and understanding the severeness of this crisis.

“There are about 20 million refugees in the present world, and all of these refugees are going through what the members went through in the simulation,” said Vajragiri. “I hope this simulation will evoke the participants’ empathy for the refugee plight and encourage them to do something about it.”

4

FRIDAY, DecembeR 9, 2016

Student Life

How would you explain the SURF Board E cultivates leaders through DRC color yellow to a blind person?

DRC in order to hone their dents needed to transport free-standing,

By Elaine Chan

By Isha Sanghvi STAFF WRITER

“I’d say to think about the experience they get when the warmth of the fireplace reaches them on a cold, windy night.”

Aseem Doriwala (9)

“It’s a really cringy color.

It’s really bright but at the same time, it’s the color of urine. And that isn’t pleasant either.”

Shreya Vajragiri (10)

STAFF WRITER As the normal crowd of high school students milled about the courtyard during lunch, mobs of turquoise-t-shirted elementary school and middle school kids frolicked in fortifying leadership skills -teamwork, initiative, communication, listening, and public speaking- during the District Representative Conference (DRC), an event SURF Board E (Students United Representation of the Fremont Unified Board of Education) hosted at Irvington on Nov. 9. SURF Board E is a district-wide organization of students focussed on the implementation change at their respective schools.

Each year, administrations throughout the district select outstanding elementary and middle school student leaders for

leadership skills but more importantly to understand the applicability of their skills. Unlike previous conferences SURF moved the conference day from May to November.

“Really, our goal here is for these kids to understand what the big picture of leadership holds for them,” Vice Chair Sinead Ahae said. “Holding this conference earlier really allows students to realize their potential and implement their skills at their schools.”

To break down the different components, leadership from each of the high schools in FUSD chose a leadership quality to work with and then designed a comprehensive workshop to complement that skill.

For example, Irvington designed a game in which stu-

their team over a dangerous “lava bed” using pieces of cardboard. “[The activity] would be impossible given the instructions provided,” Irvington SURF officer junior Stacy Shen said, “so [the students] needed to take the initiative to ask if they could piece all the cardboard together to reach the end.”

Other high schools such as Mission San Jose and Kennedy designed activities relating to public speaking and teamwork respectively. Mission San Jose High School’s students challenged students to speak for a certain length of time with little preparation while Kennedy High School’s students devised a hands-on approach in challenging students to work in groups to create the tallest

marshmallow-toothpick tower.

Although the activities were challenging, DRC participants widened their capacity in leadership skills.

“I definitely enjoyed the motivational speech,” sixth grade Vice President from Millard Elementary School Dorothy said. “It really helped me get the real meaning of [what it means to be a leader].”

While watching the elementary students participate in the activities, activity leaders also enjoyed the conference.

“Each year is just as inspiring as the last,” said Shen, “and the best part is that each team member’s motivation is contagious, and we all want to work our hardest [to empower these kids].”

“Well, I’m actually colorblind myself, so we’re both out of luck on that one.”

James Scott (11)

“Yellow is warmth and peacefulness. Think about the sun and its rays on your skin. That’s yellow.”

ELAINE CHAN/STAFF WRITER

Jahnavi Madhuri (12)

Students gather in groups and listen to the officer’s instructions before proceeding with the activating with sorting activity at the “Communication” station.

Vikings discuss Trump’s USA Annual Marshmallow Building Contest is anything but whom were Science Bowl not only provides students at a moment’s notice.

By Breanna de Vera mellow “Though we were members, came to measure with stress relief, but it also STAFF WRITER

only dealing with marshmallows, everyone was at

By Sabrina Sun his or her station paying full ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR attention to the instructions The annual Marsh- Mr. Lee was giving,” junior mallow Contest, overseen Cynthia Hu said.

by AP Chemistry teacher The moment Mr. Mr. Lee, occurred on Thurs- Lee announced the beginday, Nov. 10 in P-7 during ning of the contest, each lunch and gave students team burst into a flurry of the opportunity to relax as movement and excited disthey worked with friends to cussion. Some teams began build the tallest tower using with a triangular or rectantoothpicks and mini marsh- gular base. Others assemmallows. The contest is an bled parts separately and annual tradition, which attempted to stack them. As Irvington’s Science Club the towers grew in height, started 15 years ago, that many teams began expecontinues to endure under riencing difficulties with Mr. Lee’s management. keeping their structures Competitors, who signed up upright. The marshmalin teams of two, paid a fee lows were small, squishy, of $2 for the supplies. The and they deformed quickly, competition required each resulting in collapsing supteam to build a freestanding ports and drastically leanstructure inside the restric- ing towers. tions of a 8½ x11 inch pa“We honestly foper base within 15 minutes. cused too much on our towVolunteers measured the er’s height and too little on completed towers in centi- structure, which ended up meters and the winner re- being our literal downfall,” ceived a special prize: a bag junior Nikhil Shivakumar of jumbo marshmallows. said. “But my team cooperJuniors Vansh Jain and Mi- ated really well. We evenly chael Wang placed first with divided the tasks and had a a 31 cm tower while juniors lot of fun.”

Durga Badrinarayanan and During the last few Claire Stastka placed sec- minutes, competitors strugond with a 23 cm tower. gled to repair and prop up Regardless of the their towers. Once Mr. Lee silly building materials, called out the end of the each team was intensely contest, the teams stepped focused from the start and away from their towers and was ready to begin building student volunteers, most of

them.

Jain said that his team’s victory came from the carefree atmosphere and the focus on having fun.

“I think what allowed our structure to win was the fact that me and my partner were not very competitive and did this just for fun,” Jain said. “We had great teamwork and took the task very lightly.”

While Mr. Lee hosts the contest in hopes that students will have fun, he also sees the event as a way to connect further with science. He said that the event

allows them to practice practical applications of science that are important in the updated science curriculum.

“We used to move away from these fun activities where you have to use engineering,” Mr. Lee said.

“But now with new science standards that’s coming soon, these are important skills that students need to learn to do even though it seems silly. It [the contest] is an important, fun way to use the materials that are given and to try and make something out of it.”

SABRINA SUN/ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

Juniors Cynthia Hu and Emily Shao concentrate on building a secure base for their tower.

Galvanized by the recent election, students have come together to create a new open forum, a safe space for all political ideals and beliefs to be shared, especially in terms of the future of our country under president-elect Donald Trump. Seniors Ahir Datta, Owen Shen, Humza Khan, and Ryan Doolittle coordinated this unnamed group, and they have met twice so far. Multiple history teachers, including Ms. Chang and Ms. Byrne, moderated and observed the meetings.

“I’m a little aggravated because I thought we would actually be doing things,” Ms. Byrne said, “but it seems like after that one discussion, everything just kind of fell off. I’m bummed that more action hasn’t taken place, especially since this is something that people are truly passionate about.”

The first few meetings were held mainly to discuss the thoughts, feelings, hopes, and fears right after the election. Students went around the circle, and shared their reasons for coming and how they felt after the election.

Senior Paul Tang prefaced his discussion in the second meeting by acknowledging his support of the Republican Party in the

previous issue of the Voice.

He is uncertain about the diversity that this group can provide, due to the mainly liberal views of our area.

“It was a safe space, mostly,” Tang said. “But it was very liberal. If someone were to go in as a hard right, they’d be the only one there.

But only then can you really say it is a safe space.”

But others are more hopeful about the free sharing of ideas. Jacob Parsons attributes this to the presence of moderating individuals.

“The people there for the most part didn’t just throw out harsh claims or spread ridiculous propaganda,” Parsons said. “They actually supported their claims and were able to articulate and explain how they felt and why.”

Owen Shen said that this discussion group may meet weekly and is planning a presentation in the cafeteria during advisories to help publicize to those interested.

“I’m interested in reducing uncertainty about the future and teaching people to see other viewpoints, to understand and move away from identity politics, and overcome mental aversions to the othContinued on Page 6

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6 THE IRVINGTON VOICE STUDENT LIFE, FRIDAY, DECMEBER 9, 2016 From Page 4 er side,” Shen said. “It’s not us. vs. them. It’s humans, with different histories and backgrounds, trying to do their best.”

Beyond the presidential election, the group hopes to touch on all aspects of politics as well as the part most of us play as nonvoters due to age. However, Ms. Byrne said that the initial unrest following the election has died down.

“I’ve placed a few posters outside for people to write their thoughts down,” Ms. Byrne said. “It seems like people were really angry the day after and a couple of days after, but when the the weekend hit, nothing happened afterwards. I would like for something to happen, and I’d like it to be student-led if this is something that’s still affecting them.”

ATIRA NAIR/STAFF WRITER

Love Vikings Spotlight: Zili Wang’s craze for Rubik’s cubing Week brings the Irvington community together

By Vivian Hoang STAFF WRITER From Nov. 14 to Nov. 18, students appreciated both themselves and those around them in observance of Love Vikings Week through random acts of kindness taking place throughout the school. ASB Appreciation Commissioners juniors Jocelyn Kuo and Julia Matus-De La Torre planned the event and hosted fun activities and random acts of kindness such as passing out flyers with compliments and encouragements, as well as providing free food to promote self-love.

The week began with a diversity circle in the courtyard, where students could take selfies identifying themselves with various labels, such as “muslim,” “musician,” and “kind.” In the cafeteria, students saw a display of hearts represent each student by name created by ASB. Students went to a food bar in the cafeteria on Tuesday and wrote kind messages in exchange for free food. On Wednesday, Kuo and Matus-De La Torre placed flowers with attached inspirational sayings on each car in the parking lot. On Thursday, “take what you need” flyers, which had flaps that could

be torn off in order to offer encouragement, were available to the Irvington community. In addition, ASB served an appreciation dinner to the staff on Thursday evening. To end the week, students wore tiedye shirts in support of the LGBT community, and took pictures at a photo booth on Friday. Photos for the week were uploaded on social media under the hashtag “#ihslove16.”

“The social media project with #ihslove16 was a success where at least every night I scrolled through my feed, I saw at least 2 to 3 posts where people say the reason they love themselves,” Kuo said. “Even though we couldn’t get the publicity to its highest right from the start of the week, I believe that a good majority of the people were aware by Friday.”

Junior Derick Nguyen appreciated that of Love Vikings Week promoted unity.

“As an extremely pessimistic person,” Nguyen said, “I find it refreshing to have a time where I see people loving themselves and the people around them.”

VIVIAN HOANG/STAFF WRITER

Juniors Sruti Nagam and Derick Nguyen pose in front of the #ihslove16 sign outside of the small gym.

ELAINE CHAN/STAFF WRITER

Zili pops out his normal 3-by-3 cube and nonchalantly solves it a few times.

By Elaine Chan STAFF WRITER The multicolored tiles blur as Zili Wang single-handedly solves his 3-by-3 speed cube while pondering how many cubes he currently posses. With only three years of practice,

Wang’s expertise in cubing has already well surpassed an impressive 3-by-3 solve time of 8.3 seconds and has blossomed into more more impressive challenges.

Wang’s interest first took root during a stay at his friend junior Tyler Zhu’s house while his mom gave birth to Wang’s young-

er brother. Zhu, already an amateur cuber at the time, introduced Wang to this activity, and Wang fell in love with this activity.

“When you learn something as cool as cubing, you want to teach other people,” Zhu said, “[Zili] ended up liking it more than I did”.

Since then, the Rubik’s cube has become an indispensable pastime for Wang. In addition to holding his record time of 8.3 seconds, Wang has a total of fifteen cubes ranging from his largest cube at 8-by-8, windmill shape changing cubes, and cubes with tiles with cut off corners. Last year, Wang and Cubing Club attended the Berkeley Cubing Tournament, hosted by Cubing USA. Although Cubing Club did not win any awards, Wang said that the whole experience as an incredible and enlightening learning experience.

It’s no doubt that Wang brings his cubes everywhere. At any given moment, Wang retrieves his cube from his hoodie pocket spins away at his drills.

“For me, a Rubik’s

cube is kind of like a smartphone,” Wang said. “I don’t go anywhere without it. In public, people take out their smartphone to not be awkward, but I just take out my Rubik’s cube.”

Often times as he finds himself a public spectacle as adults and children of all ages look on amusingly.

“People will stare and stuff,” Wang said, “but a lot of children will come up to me, and it’s so cute because I get to talk to them.”

With the basic 3-by-3 long mastered, Wang is now working on challenging his skills in solving the cube blindfolded, one handed, and in the fewest steps. His most recent endeavor involves singlehandedly solving the cube blindfolded.

For most of us cubing has either been a childhood memory or untried for challenge, Wang recommends to go ahead and just tackle it straight on.

“Just solve it,” Wang said. “ Search it up online, it’s really not that hard. The most fun way is just straight up solving it.”

7

8

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2016

Opinions

LIES, LIES, AND MORE LIES: WHY THE U.S. COLLEGE ADMISSIONS SYSTEM IS FULL OF IT

By Michelle Huang HUMOR EDITOR Needless to say, higher education in America has changed dramatically in the last few years. From skyrocketing tuition to shrinking acceptance rates, few of the trends have been positive, but the number of colleges students are applying to is especially concerning. As the New York Times reported in 2014, it is now commonplace for students to apply to as many as 20 or 30 schools — or in an exceptional case, one person even applied for 86. Given that overapplying needlessly perpetuates a broken system, the United States should adopt the United Kingdom’s college application model; all public and private colleges should use one single application, limiting students to a maximum of five schools.

There are a two major reasons that students tend to go overboard with applications. First, acceptance rates for the most elite schools have steadily shrunk over the past few decades. In order to maximize their chances of getting into one, students apply for several elite universities, while at the same time compensating for potential rejections by applying to several “safeties.”

Second, forms such as the Common Application make it easier to apply for more schools than ever before. Students can add additional schools to their list with the simple click of a button. Although the Common App currently limits students to 20

schools, the existence of other forms such as the University of California and Coalition Applications easily allow students to exceed that limit. As a result, UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute reports that almost one-third of applicants applied to seven or more schools in 2013. In contrast, the National Association for College Admission Counseling notes that in 1990, only nine percent of seniors did so.

Placing limits on applications benefits students by halting application inflation. Application inflation is the process by which colleges purposely seek to increase the volume of applications they receive in order to artificially deflate admission rates.

The University of Chicago stands out as an example, as the New York Times points out in a 2010 article, as one of many colleges which have begun aggressive marketing campaigns to increase recruitment. Because colleges do not accept a significantly larger proportion of students even as more apply, the resultingly lower acceptance rates increase their perceived selectivity; this perceptual increase benefits them through increased fundraising, professor recruitment, and bond ratings. Students, unfortunately, are made to carry the burdens while colleges pocket all the benefits.

According to Fred Hargadon, former dean of admissions at Princeton and Stanford, larger applicant pools do not improve the quality of the class that is accepted; plenty of qualified applicants are simply rejected, turning college admissions largely

into a game of chance, especially given the fundamental lack of transparency in admissions offices. The picture is even more unfortunate for those underqualified students whom schools aggressively encourage to apply, only to reject them months later. It’s time for colleges to drop this farce of elitism that benefits no one but themselves. Because a smaller cap on applications forces students to be more selective in choosing schools, application rates would naturally shrink across the board, forcing acceptance rates to rise to reflect a smaller and more realistic pool of applications.

Additionally, students would be much more realistic about the schools that they apply to if they were limited to a maximum of five. Our current system incentivizes students, no matter how underqualified, to apply to schools to which they have slim chances of being accepted. The numbers support this — between 2007 and 2014, Harvard’s acceptance rate dropped from 9.34 percent to 5.84 percent, while simultaneously the number of applications it received increased by 54 percent. There is no point in applying for ten Ivy League universities, ten “just right” schools, and ten safety schools when a student is at most only going to attend one. In contrast, under the United Kingdom’s model, students only apply to up to five universities. As a result, students are forced to make realistic, informed decisions when applying. By forcibly limiting students to just a few college, such a system ensures that students

adequately research every college they apply to and would genuinely like to attend should they be accepted.

Limiting applications would greatly improve students’ mental health and pocketbooks. The 2016 Princeton Review College Hopes and Worries Survey, found that of the over 10,000 applicants surveyed, 72 percent were extremely stressed about applications. The last thing high school students need is even more stress; the effects of stress on our own Irvington community are well-documented. Limiting students to five schools reduces the number of essays and recommendation letters they have to worry about. In addition, applying to tens of schools takes a toll on students’ bank accounts — CNBC found that in 2014, the average cost of submitting an application to a single school was 42 dollars. Multiply that by ten or twenty and add in the cost of sending AP, SAT, and ACT scores, and the cost of merely applying for college can number in the thousands. A cap on applications would also serve to cap costs.

American higher education has fundamentally changed over the years. The silver lining is that not all trends have been negative; college is now broadly accessible to most, no longer a privilege limited to the upper classes. Nonetheless, it is undeniable that higher education, and particularly the admissions process, desperately needs reform. Students deserve a system in which colleges aren’t just money-making machines selling them on false ideals.

(HIGHLY UNLIKELY TO MAKE ANY) CHANGE.ORG

By Radhika Munshani NEWS EDITOR Change.org provides an online platform where people from around the world can voice ideas and beliefs that can ultimately culminate in strong calls to action.

The accessability to a large worldwide audience (Change.org boasts over 45 million users spanning the globe) as well as the relative simplicity of the process (a user needs only to fill out a few questions before a petition goes live) allow for a greater amount of indivudals to post and support various causes. But more isn’t always merrier.

The site is littered with hundreds of thousands of petitions with signatures struggling to get out of the double-digits.

Getting attention from the masses is unlikely without either a recognizable, commonly disliked target, or a substantial campaign in addition to the petition. The latter is especially rare, for few are willing to pony up cash to support a cause. Saying the platform empowers the everyday constituent to spur change is a gross exaggeration As the vast majority of petitions bring about little to no response, they rather function as a means for individuals to feel as if they’re taking action to make a difference, when in reality their efforts go unvalidated. A petition proposing a boycott of Wendy’s fast food restaurant based on the company’s treatment of farmworkers received nearly 100,000 signatures, but has yet to bring about a change or even a response.

CHANGE.ORG.

By lending their signature to an online petition, many feel as they’ve done their civic duty, to attempt to make a difference and contribute to change, and need not take further action. In most cases, however, such further action, be it through participating in protests or writing to a politician, is necessary to actually bring about change.Mic contributor Justine Gonzalez said, “If everyone just waited around and hoped for their representatives to understand and agree with their sentiments, nothing would ever get done. This type of mentality is the definition of slacktivism.”

In regards to important topics

which often require great involement and vested interest, Change.org instead provides an easy out.

Change.org further trivializes many serious issues. On the same platform, you may get 20,000 signatures to elect JarJar Binks as president and 200 signatures to put Brock Turner in jail. By positioning various issues as equally worthy causes, the site often devalues more serious issues, making them seem less important than they are. Right now on Change.org, there is a petition for bringing a veggie menu to InN-Out Burger and a petition to bring about stricter gun restrictions in Orlando. Both

have around 40,000 signatures.

“The kind of ease it takes to create an online petition allows for the proliferation of frivolous causes, full of signatures by the creator’s friends. As a result, e-petitions are usually not taken seriously,” said Gonzalez.

Once a petition on Change.org reaches 100,000 signatures online, it is sent to the White House. However, even “successful” petitions that hit this mark more often than not prove futile. Even after reaching these many signatures, an issue still may not be seriously addressed. More often than not, the White House releases some generic response and takes no action whatsoever. The 2014 petition to deport Justin Bieber back to Canada, even after garnering well over 100,000 signatures, only elicited a frivolous response from the White House and no action was taken. Thus, the capabilities of the platform are rather doubtful.

The reality of the matter is that, without a substantial campaign or inciting a public response, most calls to action fall flat. The vast majority of peititons on Change.org are negligible, and amount to little more that a dissatisfied individual shouting into the void. Change.org petitions solely prove valuble when they capitalize upon the vast audience to fuel an already revelant issue, or tap into a cause recognized by a great deal of people, though the latter is much rarer. In the meanwhile, it functions as the lazy citizen’s guide to veiled inaction, or rather devalues important issues. In essence, Change.org often does not prove true to its name.

THE IRVINGTON VOICE Chief Policy Statement

EDITORS

STAFF WRITERS

CAITLIN CHEN, Editor-in-Chief

Annika Yong

Subaita Rahman

sion. Anything printed represents the opinion of the writer, but not necessarily that of The Irvington Voice staff, the administration,

RISHEEK PRIYADARSHI, Editor-in-Chief

faculty of Irvington High School, or any person affiliated with the Fremont Unified School District.

Fiona Zhao

Vivian Hoang

RADHIKA MUNSHANI, News Editor

Elaine Chan

Breanna de Vera

Isha Sanghvi

Sydney Welch

William Yoo

Atira Nair

Zarah Zhao

Rahul Sudharsan

The Irvington Voice is a student-run newspaper with the sole purpose of providing an open forum for student expres-

The Irvington Voice does not discriminate against race, political orientation, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orienta-

TANISHA SINGH, News Editor

tion, or disability. Although The Irvington Voice will never refuse to publish student guest submission based on the aforementioned

AYUSH PATEL, Student Life Editor

factors, we reserve the right to edit or not publish them.

SARVESH MAYVILHANAN, Sports Editor

Write to us Disagree with the writers? Bring your letters to the editor to room 94 or e-mail them at staff@ihsvoice.com. Letters may be considered for publication. The Irvington Voice reserves the right to edit for clarity, length, and accuracy. We welcome all comments.

SABRINA SUN, Entertainment Editor MICHELLE HUANG, Humor Editor

ADVISOR

MANBIR GHUMAN, Photo Editor

Matthew Phillips

9 THE IRVINGTON VOICE OPINIONS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2016

NUH-TELLA A DESSERT

WHY WE NEED TRIGGER WARNINGS

By Sabrina Sun ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR A Google search for ‘nutella recipes’ brings up 732,000 results, displaying the variety of ways to eat and serve Nutella, confectionary company Ferrero’s indulgent chocolate and hazelnut product. Although the container clearly depicts Nutella being served on a slice of bread, the versatility of the product has prompted a debate over whether Nutella is a dessert or a spread.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering Ferrero’s recent request to categorize Nutella with spreads like jam and honey, changing the suggested serving size from one tablespoon to two. Debates such as these may continue as long as they would like. But, they will never change Nutella’s true, god-given, natural designation: spread. Nutella must never considered a dessert because its dizzyingly high sugar content makes it impossible to eat in any other manner except as a spread or ingredient, and also because Nutella’s presence in dessert recipes do not qualify it as a standalone dessert.

Nutella’s high sugar content is glaringly obvious from even a slight taste, reinforcing how toxic and unhealthy is can be for consumers to consider it a dessert and eat it as such. Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, a physician who runs the health and obesity blog “Weighty Matters,” revealed that each two tablespoon serving contained 5.5 teaspoons of sugar or 21 grams.

“Let’s say you really want your Nutella but you don’t have all the ingredients. But you do have Oreo cookies,” Freedhoff said. “If you want to make a Nutella sandwich with the same amount of sugar as you would get in those two tablespoons of Nutella, well then you’re going to need to add five Oreo cookies.”

Eating 5.5 tablespoons of sugar in one sitting may seem, at the most, very unhealthy, but in reality a large enough

By Breanna de Vera STAFF WRITER

OC WEEKLY

amount of the sugar-packed spread can be even life-threatening. The American Chemical Society calculated that if the average 180 pound adult ate 5.4 pounds of sugar in one sitting, they would have a 50-50 chance of dying. If each serving of Nutella contains 21 grams of sugar, it would take around 117 two tablespoon servings, or 36 13-oz. bottles of Nutella, to die. If Nutella were to be labelled as a dessert, consumers would feel free to gorge themselves on solid Nutella, heightening the chances of death.

Although some may see Nutella’s high sugar content as justification for classifying it as a dessert, they must first consider the true meaning of the word ‘“dessert.” Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines dessert as “a usually sweet course or dish (as of pastry or ice cream) usually served at the end of a meal.” Therefore, in order for Nutella to be considered a dessert, it must be served as a separate dish.

While multiple desserts can be combined and considered a single dessert, no sane, civilized human being would ever dare eat a dish of pure Nutella. Recipes that call for Nutella as an ingredient and not a base do not solidify the spread’s status as dessert.

If a Nutella cake marks Nutella as a dessert, anyone could eat peanut butter by the spoonful and call it “dessert” (if you do this, reconsider your life).

Treating Nutella as a dessert is both inhumanely unhealthy and also logistically incorrect. If Nutella is categorized as a dessert, more consumers will feel encouraged to eat large servings in one sitting, disregarding the high sugar content, which is potentially life-threatening. It is also wrong to call Nutella a dessert simply because it is a commonly used ingredient in dessert recipes. Nutella’s potential toxicity and independence from the dessert category cements its status as a spread.

THE CABINET OF DEPLORABLES

By William Yoo STAFF WRITER In 2016, Donald Trump won the presidency on a unique campaign of decisive divisiveness, appealing to the so-called “silent” majority — winning with the poor, the men, and the uneducated. More surprisingly, he won minorities by promising to “drain the swamp” as president — calling for an end to corruption. However, he seems far more prone on building his cabinet with conservative men, based only on their loyalty and party affiliation, and much less on their competence for their jobs.

Casting aside any illusions of bipartisanship or fairness, Trump is engaging fully in the Jacksonian spoils system by appointing only those he knows will follow, not lead, in his administration.

Although the administration is still taking shape, it is already set to shatter records and conventions. No cabinet in history has ever before been so obviously corrupt, ideologically biased, and completely inexperienced as that of our president-elect. We need to look no further than his chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, former head at Breitbart News, a far-right fringe website. Most recently, he contro-

versially condemned Silicon Valley for having too many Asian CEOs. In a time when Trump belatedly preaches unity, Bannon provides a stark counterexample of divisiveness. His reputation is tarnished by a white nationalist, anti-semitic past at Breitbart, although Trump assures critics that he is a “highly qualified” leader.

Recently, Trump also added some controversial candidates to his collection; most prominently South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley as UN Ambassador. Haley has no foreign policy experience, which is only the beginning of the many issues with her potential competence. Trump seemingly proves himself generous enough to ignore their past feuds — Haley condemned him during the primaries and endorsed Rubio, and Trump called her an embarrassment to the state. Unfortunately, several reasons prove this generosity is a facade. Firstly, Haley is the first woman appointed to his cabinet, and as the daughter of immigrants, she serves as a useful foil to accusations of sexism and racism to his administration.

Secondly, South Carolina’s lieutenant governor, Henry McMaster is a well-known Trump ally and would serve as a valuable subservient governor with Haley gone.

With this move, Trump is really killing two birds with one stone and not out of gener-

osity, but pure political self-interest.

Trump’s choice in Betsy DeVos has also led to much controversy. At first sight, she seems to be much more well-versed in her field than Haley as a conservative education activist. A fellow billionaire in Trump’s golf club, she has warred against teacher unions and advocated for charter (publicly funded but privately run) schools for years. She controversially supported redirecting funding for Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act — money reserved to support the nation’s poorest children — and redirecting it to vouchers that could help families pay for private or religious schools. She has also pushed for charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately run. Unfortunately, charter schools and vouchers are few and far inbetween, and few parents and kids can take advantage of these opportunity. The reality is that private charters awash in federal cash divert money for a select few while thousands of others suffer in their underfunded public schools.

One final choice deserves special mention in Trump’s cabinet of incompetence: Myron Ebell, head of the transition team for the EPA and a potential pick as its head. Ebell is no scientist — he has no degree in environmental science — and he worked as a lobbyist for the Competitive Enterprise Institute in D.C. More damningly however, Ebell does not believe in manmade global warming and rejects climate scientists as “alarmists” and frauds.

He mirrors Trump’s own belief that climate change is a global conspiracy to damage the economy. He believes in killing environmental regulations on fossil fuel industries and repealing Obama’s climate reforms.

The only condolence for many scientists is the EPA’s limited authority in scientific research, which will prevent potential efforts to damage climate research.

In conclusion, Trump’s cabinet is a mess between his ridiculous campaign promises, corrupt right-wing advisors, and the tiny semblance of reality that the rest of us are forcing him to live in. His cabinet, the mechanism of policy, represents not the best and brightest, but the most corrupt and whitest.

A few months ago, the University of Chicago welcomed its freshman class of 2020 with a warning: this is a campus that does not support trigger warnings. In a letter, the university claimed that trigger warnings align with the intent of censorship, and that it threatens their environment of all content, narrowing their students’ knowledge. However, the University of Chicago and many other schools misunderstand the purpose of trigger warnings, and why they are a necessity.

Over this summer, at a poetry reading at California Institute for the Arts, I witnessed a young girl run out of the auditorium, bawling, because the reader’s poem contained a graphic description of sexual violence. She was not the only audience member who was unprepared for this content, and the reader issued an apology later in the week for the lack of trigger warnings.

Trigger warnings are essential in schools-though their meaning has been diluted in many online communities, students who have experienced traumatizing events deserve to be forewarned of possibly triggering content.

UChicago’s main argument against trigger warnings and “intellectual safe spaces” is that they promote censorship of uncomfortable material. But this argument is unfounded due UChicago’s misinterpretation of trigger warnings. Trigger warnings do not censor any material. And they are not new--they’ve been in use since the late 1900s, for those who have served in the military and suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). More recently, trigger warnings have been used regarding sexual assault related content, for victims of rape or abuse. They are simply an alert of the possibly disturbing content to follow. Kate Manne, a philosophy professor at Cornell University, states that warnings require little effort to teachers, but can benefit students greatly.

“With appropriate warnings in place, vulnerable students may be able to employ effective anxiety management techniques, by meditating or taking prescribed medication,” she said. “As a professor, it merely requires my including one extra line in a routine email to the class … It may even help sensitize [those who do not need warnings] to the fact that some of their classmates will find the material hard going.”

Students will still be able to participate when content is disturbing, but they will be emotionally and mentally prepared. They will not have to opt out of the activity, or leave when they are experiencing shock, because they will be in the right state of mind ahead of time.

The reason trigger warnings have stepped into this area of controversy is because of the dilution of their meaning. Internet forums such as those on Reddit and Tumblr have facetiously overused trigger warnings to a point of mockery. A Tumblr blog, Privilege 101, dedicated to identifying “privilege,” deems snakes, vomit, and slimy things as needing warnings. These things may make individuals uncomfortable, but they generally do not trigger PTSD. Many online also misunderstand the purpose and correct application of trigger warnings, and dilute their meaning.

Another argument against trigger warnings is that this system of avoidance just reinforces trauma. However, this is not the case. Trauma must be dealt with professionally.

“Classrooms are not therapists’ offices and professors aren’t mental health professionals. This kind of work requires a controlled and private environment outlined by the practicing clinician,” Lindsey Holmes, an editor at Huffington Post, said.

Trigger warnings save students from experiencing their pasts in the classroom, in a space where they are not ready to. Content on the internet is impossible to control and regulate--but schools need to do their part and use trigger warnings for their students. With this sensitivity to others’ experiences, students will hopefully go out into the world more aware and empathetic.

10

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2016

Rio’s Greatest Hits

By William Yoo | Staff Writer

Features

A Re 201

The 2016 Rio Olympics opened in the middle of great The Voice take controversy, as charges of corruption and poverty highlights removal undercut the exhibition and exhilaration of the Games. Thousands of poor onlookers protested at the Opening Ceremony on Aug. 8 because Brazil is currently in an economic depression and political turmoil, and the massive costs of the Games had many of the poor questioning its purpose initially.

Michael Phelps won gold, his 28th medal, in the 4 x 100 relay, making him the most decorated Olympian of all time and breaking records thousands of years old. Phelps won five golds and one silver at Rio, and bid farewell to his final Games and the end to his astonishing, impressive career.

Usain Bolt completed the “triple-triple” after winning his third gold medal Daniel v at Rio. Bolt won the 100-, 200-, and the 4x100-meter relay at three consecutive this year had m games, making him the greatest sprinter of all time. viral social media Unfortunately, the U.S. track and field team could not do the same, as political climate. they were disqualified from a Bronze medal for an illegal exchange in the turnThe dance move o over zone during the 4 x 100m relay race. Terrible luck has plagued the team fire in 2016 and quickly esc for many years — this marks the ninth such disqualification since 1995 the internet by storm. and it caused much disappointment amongst American observers.

Josh Holz, the famous te However, the United States closed out the Rio 2016 OlymPop Culture of the Year ary with a montage of his friend D pics, winning a grand total of a whopping 121 medals, includBy Isha Sanghvi | Staff Writer “Damn Daniel! Back at it again wi ing 46 golds and 37 silvers. In comparison, the secondand parodied by other Twitter users place winner, China, won 26 golds out of their During June, Mike Senatore 70 medals. Overall, almost 1000 medals ent show act — flipping a water bott were awarded at the Games. laughed at, the action ultimately start The internet busted out its dan Damn Daniel wore off. The running m ens, is a variation of the running man dance moves that accompanied the ca internet.

Clearly fans of catchy dance Beat, the TZ Anthem Challenge. O viral dance has been replicated co To say the very PPAP (Pen-pineapple-app least, 2016 was an eventful year for pop singing absurd yet catchy lyrics culture, encompassing celebrity feuds, bestselling choreography. The highly am novels, and most importantly the Queen B, Beyonce.

9GAG’s Facebook video.

During this year, singer Taylor Swift found herself emThe latest fleeting broiled in a Twitter skirmish with Kim Kardashian over Kanye West’s quin Challenge, featur offensive lyrics about the songwriter in his single, “Famous.” The infamous person and a came music video contained semi-nude actors portraying celebrities, including Donald while “Black B Trump, Chris Brown, and George Bush. trend is so Kim Kardashian’s robbery at gunpoint in Paris also surfaced. The public inCli stantly became divided among steadfast fans, sympathizing with the beauty and business mogul, while antagonizers arguing Kim deserved it.

From Beyonce’s hit album “Lemonade,” Rihanna’s Anti-World Tour, and the hit Broadway musical “Hamilton,” 2016’s real forte was in the music industry. Additionally, former boy band One Direction broke up in the summer, crushing millions of hearts around the world. Canadian rapper, Drake, released his album “Views” filled with iconic songs “Hotline Bling” and “One Dance.” Additionally, Desiigner’s breakout track, “Panda” spent 15 uninterrupted weeks on Billboard’s Rap Songs Chart.

Box office breaking movies such as “Finding Dory,” “Doctor Strange” and “Captain America: Civil War” totaled a gross revenue of $236.2 million. Amidst the top movies of the year was Harry Potter’s “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” which raked in nearly $500 million opening week. Potterheads were made even happier with the release of the novel, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” the eighth installment in the series. The screenplay sold over $2 million in the first two days. “Rogue One: A Star Wars Social Media Manne2016 isChallenge almost ov Story” is set to release on Dec. 6, satisfying fans with the expansion of the By Zarah Zhao | Staff

By Zarah Zhao | Staff Writer Writer multimillion-dollar universe.

Shows such as “Stranger Things,” ABC’s “Designated Survivor,” and the new political satire show, “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee,” all became hot topics of conversation with their unique plotlines, refreshing characters, and hard-hitting humor.

ecap of 16

11 THE IRVINGTON VOICE FEATURES FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2016

STEMming the Future

By Breanna de Vera | Staff Writer

This year has been very interesting for organs and stem cell es a look at the research. Through the use of pluripotent stem cells, which are genetically modified to act like embryonic cells s of 2016. capable of becoming any type of adult cells, Tokyo and Kyoto University researchers have grown a full sized human ear on the back of a rat. After twelve weeks of development, the lab-grown cartilage resembled an ear, which will be useful for facial reconstruction.

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Washington University in St. Louis were able to fit a silicon sleeve to a rabbit’s heart, and predict it will eventually be made to replace pacemakers.

The brain is another area of interest. In April, previously paralyzed Ian Burkhart regained some arm function thanks to brain implants and a neural bypass that redirects From Dabbing to Damn signals to motor neurons. vines to the mannequin challenge, Beyond the human body, new discoveries in space and space travel have taken much to offer in terms of light-hearted off. In April, SpaceX made history by landing the first rocket in a vertical position on an trends that contrasted with the currently grim ocean drone barge. With this method, waste is minimal, and rockets can be reused. In This technique allows recovery and reuse of rockets in both land and ocean landings, saving of dabbing, which began in August of 2015, caught money. calated from a hip-hop move to a viral trend that took With new space travel techniques, scientists have discovered a new planet as well. “Planet Nine” has been speculated to exist due to perceived gravitational efeenager behind Damn Daniel, shook Twitter in Februfects on Neptune. Now CalTech researchers report a body 4,500 times the mass of Daniel’s fashionable outfits and the voiceover catchphrase, Pluto beyond Neptune. ith the white vans!” The initial tweet was quickly replicated Finally, science and math textbooks are also due to be changed s, and has to date been retweeted 334 thousand times. because of discoveries this year. The International Union of Applied e, the internet’s next hero, shared footage of his high school taland Pure Chemistry have named new elements with the atomic tle and landing upright on a table. Though first just viewed and numbers, nihonium (113), moscovium (115), tennessine ted the next internet craze.

(117), and oganesson (118), respectively. In Jan. nce moves again as the newest dance trend took over just as a new prime number was discovered as man challenge, popularized by Jaylen Brantley and Jared Nickwell, (274,207,281 − 1) n to an old 90’s song “My Boo” by Ghost Town DJ’s. The simple atchy lyrics, “At night, I think of you” spread rapidly all over the The Teams of 2016

By Subaita Rahman | Staff Writer es, social media once again went crazy, this time for Juju on that Originating from Zay Hilfiger and Zayion McCall in Detroit, the ountless times by eager internet users. ple-pen), the latest viral music video, features DJ Piko-Taro s to an irresistible beat that is accompanied by comical musing and baffling piece has amassed 44 million views on From Dub Nation g internet challenge, creatively dubbed the Mannewelcoming Kevin Durant and Peyton res people freezing in various positions while a Manning retiring from football after 18 years, to era walk through the motionless “mannequins” the U.S. golf team winning the WGC Bridgestone and the Beatles” by Rae Sremmurd plays. This Ryder Cup, 2016 was a big year for American sports. o popular that even the Obamas and Possibly the most dramatic event of the year was the Chicago intons have hopped on.

Cubs winning the World Series for the first time in 108 years, overcoming the Cleveland Indians despite the 3-1 lead. Ironically, the Cleveland Cavaliers also overcame a 3-1 lead in Game 7 against the Golden State Warriors, who were expected to win. Women’s basketball also saw a heated match, with the WNBA championships going to the Los Angeles Sparks after beating the Minnesota Lynx 92-75.

In February, the nation collectively watched the Denver Broncos win Super Bowl 50 against the Carolina Panthers with a performance by Coldplay, Beyonce, and Bruno Mars during the half-time. Another dramatic win was by Conor McGregor, who won the UFC 205 and became the first UFC fighter to hold two belts of different weight classes. Hockey fans also cheered on the Pittsburgh Penguins when they beat the San Jose Sharks 3-1 in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup. While history was being made back home, United States teams traveled around the world to establish dominance in other various sports. Serena Williams es ver once again won the Wimbledon Championships for women’s singles and the rr dynamic duo, Serena and Venus Williams, combined forces to win their 14th Grand Slam doubles title. The always spectacular women’s soccer team finished an undefeated 2016 season after their final win against Romania 5-0, and the USA men’s soccer team landed in a respectPhotos: Wallpapers Wide, Gallery Yoable 4th place for Copa America 2016, narrowly losing PriceVille, Unreality TV, against Colombia.

The Independent, E! Online, YouTube, Sports Illustrated

12

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2016

Entertainment

Ice3 Creamery

Reflections art show brings the best out of Irvington

By Elaine Chan

All we need is love (and tie-dye t-shirts)

STAFF WRITER

SYDNEY WELCH/STAFF WRITER

First place visual arts entrant Trishna Shah poses with her piece titled “A Work In Progress,” which portrays her developing “story.”

By Sydney Welch STAFF WRITER ELAINE CHAN/STAFF WRITER

I ordered the matcha mango flavored roll topped with strawberry, blueberries, bananas, kiwi boba, lychee jelly, mochi, and chocolate drizzle.

In the 21st century, ice cream is served fried, smooshed between cookies, flash frozen into dippin dots, and now ... scraped into ice cream rolls. The newly opened Ice3 Creamery, tucked in the quiet Lucky plaza on Mission Boulevard, is the first store in Fremont to specialize in these ice cream treats.

These delicate dessert creations are formed by “stirfrying” flavored cream with diced fruits over a freezing pan and scraping the hardened concoction into rolls.

Seeing as the parlor had just recently opened, I wasn’t surprised to find the shop almost empty when I arrived at 1:30 in the afternoon. The quaintly decorated pastel walls, light-washed hardwood, cream counters, and adorable accented chalkboard decorations contrasted with the cashier’s dispirited demeanor. After pondering the confusing ordering method, I ended up ordering a base of Matcha greentea ice cream mixed with diced mango. Ice3 did offer unlimited toppings, so I topped my selection with strawberries, blueberries, banana, kiwi, kiwi boba, lychee jelly, and mochi, all of which totalled to $7.45. It took a few tries for the cashier to record my order.

While I watched the servers construct my order, I had mixed feelings. On one hand, I was enthralled watching the magical, yet laborious, process of scraping together perfect rolls of ice cream spirals. On the other hand, I was skeptical of the cashier’s inability to efficiently take my order and the server’s uncertain hands as they shakily cut my strawberries. While my server painstakingly balanced all my toppings onto the rolls, the other server nervously looked on over my server’s progress. My server even allowed some of my toppings to roll off and drop back into the container and onto the ground, which, coupled with the waiter’s overall lack of enthusiasm, only deepened my skepticism.

At last, after a fifteen minute wait, I was finally able to taste my ice cream rolls. At the first bite, I was surprised how

the sweet chewiness of the mochi complemented the tart pops of the kiwi boba and blueberries perfectly.

At the second spoon-full, I was delighted to find that stir frying process allowed the matcha ice cream to be much fluffier and lighter than churned ice cream.

In addition, the chunks of mango accented the mellow sweetness of the ice cream with fruity blasts. It took me only a matter of 10 minutes to finish the mountain of ice cream and toppings.

Although the staff lacked enthusiasm and the stir fry ice cream rolls definitely took a lot longer to prepare than expected, the wait and the expense were definitely worth delicious and copious serving of ice cream and toppings. Ice3 brings a new dimension to enjoying ice cream to Fremont, and will definitely be a well appreciated excursion for those who enjoy mildly-sweet desserts and asian dessert oriented toppings. Hopefully, given more time, more customers will come to enjoy the interesting blends of flavors and textures provided by this parlor.

The Irvington PTSA hosted an art show in the cafeteria on Nov. 15, at 6:30 p.m., that displayed entries submitted to the writing, visual art, and photography categories of the annual Reflections art competition. The gallery showed off Irvington’s Arts Magnet program and allowed the public to see how various artists approached this year’s theme “What’s Your Story?”

Each category had two to three professional judges, all of whom had never seen the entries before and came into the gallery blind. The judges assigned a score to each entry, and when PTSA organizer Rohini Raghunathan tallied and announced the final scores, everybody applauded.

The contestants that will be moving on in the photography category are Ping Ya Chao (11), Vanshika Gupta (12), and Eliza Luo (9). The advancing contestants within the visual arts category are Trishna Shah (11), Courtney Wong (12), and Maylynn Sai (10).

The advancing contestants in the music composition category are Sanjay Gupta (12) and Thao Ngo (10). The winners in the literature category are Radhika Munshani (12), Isha Sanghvi (10), and Owen Shen (12).

It was very inspiring to see local Irvington students from different grades make it into district level.

One such artist is visual arts entrant Trishna Shah (11), who entered a piece titled “A Work In Progress,” and placed first. The entry started off as an assignment for her AP Art class and took about a month to complete, but Shah felt that the end product was worth it. The message of her piece is her developing, but incomplete, story.

Members of the PTSA, such as President Ujjawala Gadgil, see art as a way to relieve stress and hope to encourage more students to tap into their artistic side.

“Some entrants have long lasting passions for art while others just got introduced to it recently and are starting to get accustomed to it. Everyone should participate in Reflections at least once during their high school career to show their talent to the world, but most of all get out of their comfort zone,” said Gadgil.

This year’s Reflections had an impressive turnout in terms of both submissions and visitors to the gallery. The contest is consistently growing each year, which is a reason why people should not be afraid try entering. For any hopeful participants, the theme for next year is “Within Reach.”

JIHUN KANG/SAGA

Students used rainbow colors to dye their shirts and custom designed their white crews by using tape to create hearts or patterns to display their pride.

By Atira Nair STAFF WRITER The GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) celebrated the LGBTQ community and Irvington’s diverse student body through a tie-dye fundraiser on Thursday, Nov. 10 after school on the blacktop. A $5 fee was required and all proceeds went to the Rainbow Community Center in Concord, which provides services to support the physical and mental health of the LGBTQ community. Attendees dyed their white Blue Crews rainbow by tying the shirts with rubber bands, soaking them in hot water, and then transferring them to dye baths. By transforming their Blue Crews from a simple white to a vibrant rainbow, IHS students could wear a symbol of the LGBTQ community.

GSA partnered with ASB, who supplied the white Blue Crew shirts and helped organize the activity.

During the event, ASB also manned the “Boba Bar,” a table that offered refreshing boba to participants as they dyed their shirts. There was also a photo booth where students could take pictures, some of which are on the GSA Facebook page and website.

After seeing IHS’s blue, white, and pink crews,

GSA Publicity Officer junior Raymond Pai came up with the idea of a rainbow crew as a way to show support for the LBGTQ community.

However, instead of having ASB order pre-made shirts online, which would have been difficult and expensive, he decided to create the tie-dye event to provide students with a more interactive experience.

“To whoever might feel uncomfortable or might fear exposing their identity, seeing this group of people joining together for this cause might make them feel more confident,“ Pai said.

GSA has had little activity in the past few years, so the officers and members are working to revive the club and expand the Irvington student body’s knowledge of the LGBTQ community. The club’s main goal is to help students come together to fight back against the hate.

“We just want people to know that there still is homophobia and we want to make everyone feel comfortable,” President of GSA senior Justin Lee said.

Events like the tiedye fundraiser demonstrate how Irvington students come together to help and support one another. This event is just the start of many GSA events and activities to come.

13 THE IRVINGTON VOICE ENTERTAINMENT FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2016

“FUSD’s Got Talent” showcases Fremont’s best

By Rahul Sudharsan STAFF WRITER Several Fremont schools gathered at the “FUSD’s Got Talent” show on Nov. 12 at Mission San Jose High to celebrate the gifted students and staff across the district, all of who were competing for an $800 prize. The show featured martial artists, dancers, school choirs and solo singers. The competition divided competitors into the following categories: high school, junior high, elementary, choir, and teachers. The judging panel included music and theatre teachers as well as FUSD board members. Community figures such as Vice Mayor Lily Mei were also in attendance to demonstrate support. The Fremont Unified Student Store (FUSS) cooperated with students and board member volunteers to organize this event and to foster community spirit through friendly com-

petition.

“One of the goals for putting on this event is to bring our school community together. The best part for us is to see participants being inspired and cheering for each other!” said founder and president of FUSS Ivy Wu. “It is a collegial atmosphere that brings out the good in people.”

Mission San Jose High students Twamasi Ghosh and Anshuman Patnaik, who sang “Unconditionally” by Katy Perry, won the high school division.

Irvington student Samhita Banerjee (11) also competed, singing her original song “Real,” and playing the guitar. Hopkins Junior High students Rishita Kona and Reva Srivastava, who performed a self-choreographed dance to the Indian song “Tarana,” won the junior high division.

The elementary division also exhibited a high level of talent, despite their age. James Leitch student

Lucas Dong performed an acrobatic martial arts routine to music from the movie “Kubo and the Two Strings” and won first place in the elementary division. Aditi Gupta, who performed a hula hoop dance with a Bollywood theme, took second place while third place went to Agastya Gaur who sang a Bollywood song. The elementary choir performances then put the audience in the holiday spirit with family Christmas songs. The Warwick Elementary choir led by director Ms. Gloria Chang won the choir division.

Teachers who also participated, surprised the audience with their incredible vocal range and tone.

Ms. Suzanne Ford Negley from Gomes Elementary won the teacher division singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

There were several noteworthy and unique performances. One such performance is that of War-

wick Elementary students, Rishi Krishnan, Ryan Cheng, Shreyas Verma, and Roopaksai Sivakumar, who combined drums and ethnic percussion with ballet dance. A Horner Junior High band also performed an exciting cover of the song “Zombies” by The Cranberries. In addition, the event featured a guest performance from four members of the United States Wushu Team, all of who will be competing in the Elite World Wushu Championships. The team consisted of Irvington freshman Andrew Xi, and FUSD students Lucas Dong, Elena Chow, and Alyssa Lo. FUSS is currently looking for more ways to support the student community and volunteers in order to hold similar events in the future. This talent show had a high turnout, brought all of FUSD together, and displayed the talent of Fremont’s youth.

VAMS Thanksgiving Concert Brings Holiday Cheer to Aegis Garden’s Elderly Home

By Annika Yong STAFF WRITER The Irvington Visual Arts and Music for Society (VAMs) Club held their Thanksgiving Concert in the Aegis Gardens elderly home on Sunday, Nov. 20.

The members performed solo singing, piano, flute, euphonium, as well as the guitar for the seniors residing in the home. A large number of elderly residents in the Aegis Gardens have mental disabilities, such as Alzheimer’s, and the VAMS Club hoped to provide mental stimulation as well as

enjoyment.

The senior residents gathered in the warmly lit lobby and listened to the VAMS members’ performances. The seniors listened in silence while students performed pleasing melodies using different instruments, and some began to sway their heads to the music or drum their fingers to the rhythm.

Although VAMS was unable to collaborate with the Mission San Jose Band due to scheduling conflicts, they still held an impressive performance. Some mem-

bers performed strong, skilled piano pieces with heavily constructed and long scales and arpeggios, while others sang soothing songs, accompanied by calm melodies of the guitar. Aside from showcasing their impressive musical abilities, the performance holds a more important purpose.

“I want [the performers] to understand how it feels to make people happy, and how a simple act can help people,” VAMS president junior Eileen Wang said. “What they have

been practicing- it doesn’t only have to be for school, grades or their parents they can actually bring it to an audience that needs their help.”

VAMS members have been performing for the elderly for the past two years. The opportunity provides student musicians with a stage and audience while entertaining the elderly. Through this service opportunity, students are given a platform to both showcase their virtuosity in music and contribute to the community.

The Life (and death) of Vine

By Isha Sangvhi STAFF WRITER The nascent social media hub Vine provided millennials with a challenging form of creative expression: fit out of the box, quality entertainment into six seconds. Despite the success and popularity the revolutionary idea has enjoyed, Twitter recently announced it would shut down the the microblogging website during the coming months. Vine has struggled with a shrinking user base and constant platform updates from competitors.

Vine’s six second limit looked to be the company’s Achilles heel as this key component of the platform prevented it from adding other features to attract more users. In 2013, Instagram struck a blow to Vine with the introduction of 15 second clips. Vine, slow to adapt, eventually supported 60 second video frames.

But, by then, the company had already suffered. The Wall Street Journal reported that in 2015, the average loops for vines was down by 29 percent, and that several popular Viners had moved to other social media outlets. Viners such as

ZACH BILLINGS/WIKIMOTIVE

Twitter announced on Oct. 27 that Vine, founded in June 2012, would be shut down in the coming months.

Twaimz, who had racked up 3.2 million followers, began moving away from Vine and onto sites such as YouTube.

Elton Castee, a Viner with over 1.2 million followers, announced he would be moving his vines and other videos to his Facebook page.

While the ghost of Vine will always haunt us with its spontaneous old memes and bizarre, faded pop culture trends, it is imperative for us to reflect on the life of Vine, rather than its untimely death. Vine’s vibrant community was a diamond in the Internet’s overcrowded field of social media platforms. Every

vine was a piece of art and was incomparable to a simple selfie or a 140 character, roasting tweet. Each six second vine encompassed a quirky and intelligent story, and users could find themselves exploring the dense jungle of vines for hours.

Vine’s impact on pop culture is reflected through its unique memes and trends that later surfaced on major social media sites. Irvington students also found Vine to be a great refuge from piles of homework. From the famous “Damn Daniel” to the “10 + 9” vine, the short loops always managed to find their way into daily

conversations.

Viners, even among Irvington’s own community of users, have all felt the decline of Vine over the past year. But nevertheless, users reflect fondly on the life of Vine.

A majority started out with a shared ambition to make content intended to amuse and entertain others.

“Vine started out as a simple form of sharing something that fit into six seconds,” Viner junior Miles Chu said. “I saw this app as an opportunity to briefly display what I had created because I wanted to make content that made people laugh or smile. I heard about Vine being taken down, and quite frankly, I’m not too worried. I have not used Vine or posted videos in a long time anyway, and I’m confident there will always be another big app out there that people will use to get popular.”

While Vine’s lack of innovation led to its downfall, its short four years have generated lessons of creativity and culture. After all, life is not measured in the number of breaths we take, but the number of vines that took our breath away.

Television Review: Mr. Robot hacks our hearts <3

UNIVERSAL TELEVISION

Creator Sam Esmail has cited the movie “Fight Club” as a main source of inspiration for the show.

By Radhika Munshani NEWS EDITOR “Mr. Robot,” which just concluded its second season on USA Network, is a weekly hour-long drama that deals with the pressing issues and moral dilemmas that arise with modern advancement, from the point of view of group of dissident hackers. The series, which is the brainchild of creator Sam Esmail, has been the breakout hit of 2015, with overall ratings ranging from an 8.7/10 on IMDB to a 96 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and a second season in 2016 garnering further attention and praise, The innovative series provides a refreshing perspective on modern-day society through the eyes of anti-hero Elliot Alderson, played by Rami Malek. Elliot is a genius hacker who is deeply critical of American society, which he feels preys on the consumerist desires and moral bankruptcy of the public. He directs his disdain towards the omnipresent conglomerate ECorp, conditioning himself to perceive the company’s name as Evil-Corp. The plot thickens when Elliot is recruited by the elusive Mr. Robot to join a vigilante group with similar goals, collectively known as F- Society. The series follows the trials the group and Elliot face during their mission to take down E-Corp, specifically in eliminating all the debt owed to the corporation in a gargantuan effort to redistribute wealth.

The entire series is tinted by Elliot’s mental state, and reveals him as an increasingly unreliable narrator throughout the series’ progression. He often converses with the audience in a muddled stream-of-consciousness manner, talking to an omnipresent viewer he is suspicious and yet in awe of. Malek’s portrayal is immersive and stunning, and has won him accolades ranging from Emmy to Critic’s Choice awards.

“Mr. Robot” deals with a myriad of other relevant and charged themes ranging from concerns regarding the power of modern technology to both wreak havoc and empower millions, cynicism towards the country’s prominent wealth gap, evolving attitudes toward mental illness, and loneliness and drug abuse. The focus of the show is organization F-

Society, an extreme play on the real-life hacking group Anonymous. “Mr.Robot”’s inspiration from real-life events makes the problems its characters face trials seem even more personal.

Originally meant to be a feature film, “Mr. Robot” maintains a gritty yet stunning aesthetic, especially when the show is filmed in deserted parts on Coney Island. The entire show is set in New York City, a fitting locale to represent the harsh divide between the 1 percent and the rest that Elliot criticizes.

The show has earned lead actor Rami Malek an Emmy award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, and visionary creator Sam Esmail’s writing and directing has been nominated and awarded numerous accolades.

The only fault with the show is that it may be too cynical and require too much attentiveness for some. The former especially apparent at the beginning of season two, where the landscape seems bleak and doesn’t change much throughout the story.

Though the atmosphere is fitting, it can get tiring.

Furthermore, the show’s storyline is highly nuanced, to the point that it requires highly attentive viewing.

Missing an episode could leave you lost for weeks after, as each hour-long episode is filled with a generous amount of plot twists and surprises. Thus, the dedication it demands can be too pressing for some.

Overall, the series features in terms of excellent cinematography, a tumultuous storyline that’s impossible to predict, and powerful performances from its diverse cast.

Though it may prove too dark, gritty, and convoluted for some, the story moves quickly so as to not linger on such scenes for long.

The show boasts a broad appeal, but may be especially enticing to those in the technology sector who know about programming and can appreciate the realism. “Mr. Robot” is unique from the root up, delivers its powerful message with a new-age protagonist, and is a compelling, fast-paced show whose truth often hits too close to home.

Rating: 4.5/5

14

Sports

FRIDAY, DecembeR 9, 2016

Girls’ tennis season ends with a racquet

By Vivian Hoang STAFF WRITER

Irvington’s girls’ tennis teams ended the season with a record of 8-6 for Varsity and 9-5 for Junior Varsity. The best game of the season was the sweep of Kennedy by both Varsity and Junior Varsity on Sep. 29. According to captain Amanda Tran (12),“This year has definitely been our best year in terms of organization and team spirit, and I hope we have set a good model for future years and future captains.”

Some of the girls were recognized as the top players in the Mis-

sion Valley Athletic League. Jacqueline Ngo (10) and Arielle Wilson (11) were named one of the Doubles First Team All League. An honorable mention was given to another doubles team consisting of Brianna Nguyen (11) and Namarata Vedagarbha (10). In addition, Allison Cheung (11) was recognized as one of the Second Team Singles All League.

All of the Varsity team went to the postseason MVALs and six players in total advanced to the second day of play.

Allison Cheung (11), and Katie Grant (12) competed in the singles division.

Doubles teammates

Shanna Le and Alice Ma, both sophomores, were joined by another team of juniors Jackie Guillon and Rachel Castellino in the quarterfinals. However, none of the players made it to day three of the tournament.

Nandita Potturi (11), a Varsity singles and doubles player shared some insight of her season’s experience, “Well I did tennis for the first time this year, and I really liked how the team [supported and motivated each other]. It helped me become more of a team player and create connections with other people in the team.”

To improve for

next year, the girls’ tennis team wants to focus on keeping the competitive edge throughout the season. Junior An-

jali Thacker emphasized, “For next year I think as a team, we should work on setting goals for our-

selves so that we can have an even better season, and work harder to help us improve our record.”

JosepH NguyeN

Senior and co-captain Amanda Tran prepares for a backhand.

Cross country ends the season strong

By Ayush Patel STUDENT LIFE EDITOR

This year, Irvington’s cross country team ranked fourth in the Mission Valley Athletics League. The team came close to placing third, but due to a place difference of one, the team ranked fourth in the league, preceded by Mission san Jose at first, Moreau Catholic at second, and James Logan at third.

Captain Tony yang (12) said that the most remarkable victory was Irvington’s game at Newark Memorial High school. However, the team’s worst defeat was

against School.

Moreau

High

According to Captain Risheek Priyadarshi (12), players who stood out this year include freshmen Paloma Zuerlin and Rachel Shen, sophomores Nathan Basit, Myrthe Bellers, and emi yamasaki, junior Katherine Ong,, and seniors Mitchell Hogle and Tony yang.

“My favorite part of this season was our two day trip to Los Angeles to run the Mt. San Antonio Community College invitationals,” Shen said. “The race itself was not that fun, as it was really hot and the course was pretty steep

at some sections. However, the overall experience of going to LA with other people on the team

was enjoyable and extremely memorable.”

Captain Katharine Ong said that some

of the team’s strengths includes teamwork, endurance, pure determination, and positivity,

TaNIsHa sINgH / News edITor

Irvington’s Cross Country team poses at Quarry Lakes, where this year’s MVALs took place

but weaknesses revolved around the runners’ pace.

“I know it sounds strange to say that speed is a weakness,” Ong said, “but in the distance running world, speed isn’t supposed to be your greatest weapon during a race, it’s your pace. One place change during a race could mean the difference between a win or loss.” yang said that next year, the team should focus on a more positive attitude.

“The runners need to believe in themselves,” yang said, “because they’re full of potential and are more capable

Gymnastics goes undefeated

By Caitlin Chen EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Irvington’s gymnastics team has remained undefeated this whole season, placing first at Mission Valley Athletic League (MVAL) finals.

Co-Captain Annie Elizabeth Tseng (11) thought that their best meet was against Mission, a longtime rival.

“They’re always the team to beat, especially since we unfairly lost to them last year,” she said. “Hard work

throughout the season made our team successful this year, along with coach’s great coaching and drive for us to succeed. She always encouraged us to do more everyday and that all our hard work would pay off in the end.”

The team did not have a coach until late in the season, so practices started later in August, while in previous years the team started workouts and conditioning in late July or early August.

The team trained after school each day

from 5-7 p.m. at Washington High school. They split up into JV, Varsity, and Varsity Elite based on skill level and event difficulty and completed different assignments on different events during practice.

Co-Captain Claire Stastka (11) thought that their success was due to more training, though they could still improve.

“Everyone was more confident throughout the season from more practice,” she said.

“Some girls do or have done club gymnastics

(outside of high school) so they train year round, meaning that they are more prepared for high school meets. We need to work on getting a higher skill level (harder skills) and the small details, such as straight arms legs, pointed toes, finger position, straight back, chin up.”

Gymnastic team scores are gotten from the top four scores on each event totaled for a team score, though people do get awards for personal performance.

DIANE STASTKA

Finals took place at washington High school, where the gymnastics team took first place.

Irvington cross country finishes fourth at MVALS

By Tanisha Singh and Radhika Munshani NEWS EDITOR

Irvington’s cross country team culminated a competitive season with a strong showing at the annual Mission Valley Athletic League Championships (MVALs) at Quarry Lakes on Thursday, Nov. 10. Irvington’s athletes ran among students from Mission, Moreau, Logan, American, Washington, Kennedy and Newark Memorial in the frosh/

soph, junior varsity, and varsity divisions in both the 2 and 3 mile races.

The event saw many new personal records (PR’s) among athletes as well as new opportunities for bonding among the team.

In preparation for the big culmination to the season, athletes saw changes in practice and training. Runners focused on tapering instead of times as raceday grew near. Senior Humza Khan explained,

“Since you’ve already reached your peak potential about ⅞ of the way through the season, the last week is focused on tapering, in which we mainly maintain that potential rather than build up the stamina.”

The strategy seemingly proved successful, as Irvington placed fourth overall at the meet.

Aside from the overall results from the team, many athletes reported running personal record, or PR, times.

For example, sophomore Myrthe Bellers ran a time of 18:04 in the 3 mile varsity girls race.

The scores were also commended by the team’s coach with consideration that Irvington had a very young team competing at this meet.

“One word to describe this team is definitely passion,” said Coach David. “This season, considering we were a very young team, went really well. Next year, is a very exciting year with all

the talent that came out.

We had over 20 members that had never run cross country before.”

As always, the season resulted in strong bonds within the team which were evident on race-day. Khan further explained, “The unity and bonds inspired by this team is second to none.”

The sentiment was echoed by freshman Valerie Tai, who explained how teammates motivated one another before

events: “Each of the divisions have talks before the race. We have these pep talks before the races to help motivate everyone and get everyone pumped.”

Overall the team ended off the season strong and finished off the meet with the traditional squirrel song. All the schools joined in the celebrations and cheered their fellow teammates on for their successful showings at the meet.

15 THE IRVINGTON VOICE SPORTS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2016

Irvington putts forth first girls’ golf team

By Subaita Rahman STAFF WRITER

This year, Irvington formed its first ever separate girls golf team and saw remarkable results. From starting later in the season than other schools to limited practice time on the range, the girls overcame their challenges and finished with a record of 3 wins and 1 loss, first place in the deanza High school and san Leandro High School Trimatch, and second place in each of the three Moreau Catholic and Mission San Jose High school Trimatches.

Senior team Captain Stephanie Lai, who found out about the change from a joined team to separate teams

halfway through the normal spring season last year, was pleased with the first team, which passed her expectations.

“It’s pretty cool that we were able to advance onto NCS with all of our girls being first and second years,” Lai said. “We all worked really hard to get to where we are. I was also pretty excited because I’d be able to compete with girls my age and see where I stand with my competitors. I realized that girls’ teams are more tightknit, and there’s a sense of family, which you don’t experience a lot on a boys’ team.”

The first season of the Irvington girls golf team brought a few chal-

Girls’ volleyball falls short

By Sarvesh Mayilvahanan SPORTS EDITOR

Irvington’s girls’ volleyball team finished the season with a record of 2-12. The team fought through numerous obstacles throughout the season, but ended up losing the majority of their games.

At the start of the season, the team was aiming to make it to the

NCS championships, hoping to return after a successful season last year. However, it lost four critical members from last year who had graduated, and as a result lost much of the talent that led to the team’s success last year.

Although the season did not go as planned, the team kept their heads high and stayed determined.

Many of the team’s losses were very close.

The team lost sets with

lenges, which they managed to work through throughout their successful season. A few team members wished for more practice time out on the course rather than on the range, for a chance to adjust to the different aspects of a girls golf setting.

“By playing on the course, you’re able to touch upon different aspects of golf, from drives and fairway shots, to short game like chipping and putting,” said Lai. “you also get to challenge yourself with different lies and putting slopes that you might encounter at a real tournament.” despite the difficulties they had during

very narrow scores.

One such game was the game against Kennedy, in which the Vikings lost three sets to two and four of the sets were lost by a margin of five or less.

“Overall, the season went really well,” captain Emily Kao (12) said. “We learned how to play well together and how to play for each other and as a cohesive team.”

One player that stood out this season was sophomore Alexis Early.

Water polo teams end season strong

By Risheek Priyadarshi EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Both of the water polo teams finished the season strong—the girls’ team won 6 out of the 14 matches, while the boys’ team won 9 out of 13. This was a large improvement compared to previous years for both teams. Additionally, the boys placed second overall in the league.

Despite losing a talented group of seniors and spending time training new athletes, the girls were able to pick up their pace early in the season.

Additionally, they girls received a new coach this season.

“The beginning of this season was really rough because we had lost some of our best players last year and we were figuring out how to work together as a team and teaching some of the newer players the sport,” captain Alexis Gobel (12) said. “Progressively throughout the season we had a lot of improvements and it showed in our games and we started winning more.”

The girls’ communication and ability to recognize each others’ playing styles helped

them win several of their matches.

Captain Aaron Mack (12) attributes the boys’ success to the team’s ability to cohesively work together.

“The team was better this year than any team since my freshman year,” Mack said. “I think what made this year really amazing was that the team played played like a team instead of a bunch of talented individuals.”

The boys won against Logan twice and were close to making it to the North Coast Section (or NCS).

Captain Cody Pappa (11) thinks there

NCS, the team bonded, from practicing out on the range to sitting in the team van at 4 in the morning before competitions.

“Sometimes I did better than I expected

and other times I did really bad,” sophomore Hyunsoo Kang said. “I think I got better on average than last year, which means I improved and that’s all that matters in the end.”

Despite the difficulties they had to face from starting their first season, the girls golf team excelled past their expectations and have high hopes for next year.

yearbooK

The team posed with their coaches for a team photo after their impressive first season.

According to teammates, she vastly improved from the previous year, and was one of the best hitters this year.

The team’s outlook to the following season seems bleak, with even more seniors on the team graduating this year. Many of the starting players on the team will be gone for the next year, leaving the team very new. The team’s main setter will be leaving this year as well.

ZaraH ZHao / sTaFF wrITer

Ashley Furuya (11) spikes the ball past Kennedy’s blockers.

is still room for improvement in their teamwork for next year.

“We just need to work on moving our players around the field

and getting the ball to them so they can score.”

Varsity football improves record

By Fiona Zhao STAFF WRITER

Irvington’s football team concluded the season 5-6 for Varsity and 1-7 for Junior Varsity. Over the past season, Irvington’s performance reflected changes to their football teams.

Without enough available players, the freshman football team was integrated into the Junior Varsity team, allowing freshmen footballers to experience competitive football at a higher level. Less experienced than their opponents, JV experienced a rough season of 1-7.

Driven by Coach Ross Eddings and Assistant Coach Sean Jones, Varsity had a successful season, qualifying for the NCS playoffs. Comprised of mostly juniors who were first-year Varsity players, the team was initially largely inexperienced.

“Our worst game was the first game of the season against Encinal.

We were very naïve and inexperienced, while the opposing team was very rough and physical, so we were very unprepared,” said Assistant

Coach Jones. “We also lost 0-52 against Monta Vista, a very talented team, but it was definitely a positive learning and growing experience.”

As the season progressed, Varsity maintained a positive attitude and displayed constant improvement.

Most members consider the Homecoming game against American the most rewarding of the season.

“Winning 40-22 against American, a very talented team, was very exciting. Everyone

was able to do the little things, like all the stopblocks, and everyone was doing their job,” Jones said.

With most of this season’s junior starters planning to return to the team next season, the coaches anticipate further growth and development and aim to qualify for the NCS playoffs next season. However, most of Varsity’s success comes down to the team’s hard work in the off-season.

16

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17

Humor

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2016

A tree is growing in the horseshoe the tree allows you to empty parking lot your mind and continue

DEAR NAFU

By Risheek Priyadarshi and Sabrina Sun EDITOR-IN-CHIEF and ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

By Ayush Patel

Disclaimer: Due to a lack of input from our readers (including the customary death threats), the Ask Nafu advice column has decided to publish a very special, one-of-a-kind Nafu-Asks-Himself-Questions edition, now with 110 percent more Nafu! Please enjoy responsibly.

Dear Nafu, How do I improve my grades? Just so you know, you are literally my last resort. I have asked everyone: my teacher, my classmates, my parents, my dog, my terminally ill grandmother.

Nothing.

So, I figured if I am going to flunk, why not flunk in style? And no one I know is better at flunking at style than you. Please help.

Nafu Dear Nafu, You came to the right place for advice and wisdom. I am one of the best flunkers I know and the proudest one. When I told my parents about it, they cried tears of joy. The first thing to do is look for the most flamboyant, borderline life-threatening ways to fail. For example (don’t steal my idea by the way) I set my AP Environmental Science book on fire and then drove Mr. Gomez’s motorcycle over it.

Boom. Two classes failed at the same time.

Nafu Dear Nafu, I have no sense of style. I can never color block or match my outfits with anything. I’ve tried to shop

for better looking clothes, but I can never find anything to wear at the stores I go to. I mix up styles from different seasons and genders. I don’t know what to do!

Nafu Dear Nafu, This same problem happened to me until I started going to I- n-Out, Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, and Whole Foods.

My inspiration for clothing comes from the uniforms of the employees there.

You can NEVER go wrong when it comes to paper hats and giant safety pins with a fresh pair of socks and crocs. Splatter on some french fry oil for cologne.

Nafu Dear Nafu, I’ve been feeling very lonely lately because I don’t have any friends. I’ve gotten bored of walking around the school and eating lunch by myself. I know that you have a lot of experience in this department, so what do you think I should do to get more friends? Will you be able to help me?

Nafu Dear Nafu, You’re right, I actu-

ally do have lots of experience. However, this experience tells me that you probably aren’t the most friendly person. Sometimes, people can be interested in knowing you more but are too intimidated by your divine awesomeness to try. So, make an effort to lower yourself in front of those peasants and be more open and approachable. I suggest revamping your wardrobe with all the coolest fashion items like a sweatshirt with the face of our lord and savior: Drake.

Remember, you can catch flies being honey but you can catch way more honeys being fly.

Nafu Dear Nafu, How do you do it?

Every single day, my friends roast me to a crisp in the group chat. Every mistake I make has become an inside joke. Every selfie I have taken has become a meme.

I laugh on the outside, but I cry myself to sleep and I’ve never related more to Pepe.

I can’t bear to think about the horrid comments someone like you must experience daily.

Nafu Dear Nafu, Don’t let other peo-

ple’s’ mean comments drag you down. Build yourself up. Remember, one day you’re going to do great things and prove them all wrong. One day--not today or tomorrow, because I have a dentist appointment and also a potluck happening then, but someday. Never change yourself. Love who you are!

Nafu Dear Nafu, I noticed that lately, nobody seems to listen to your advice column anymore. Do you think that it’s because your advice is just too good? Or is it because nobody wants to read your column? Is this why you’re still single?

Nafu Dear Nafu, First of all, it’s obviously because my advice is just too good. Didn’t you hear my advice about improving grades or getting friends? If you make such broad claims that nobody reads this column, you obviously don’t have any friends. And no fashion sense either. And horrible grades. Don’t mess with me and my column. Also, being single is a lifestyle not a hobby.

Nafu

What to do when you need 372 percent on the final to pass

By Michelle Huang HUMOR EDITOR We’re nearing the last stretch of first semester, as Winter Break and finals are just around the corner. Do college application deadlines loom ominously over you? Are your grades beginning to look doomed?

Are you slowly coming to realize that all the studying you were planning to do over break may not actually happen? Fear not! Down some more of that spiked eggnog and follow our Official Guide to Surviving First Semester (results may vary widely).

1. Do the math Sit down and put that multivariable calculus knowledge to good use.

How many more assignments can you afford to slack off on, while still clinging to the illusion that the

final will bump your grade up to an A? How much extra credit will you need to do to convince your teacher to round that 69.9999 up to a 90? How many hours do you have left to procrastinate before you’re actually screwed? By this point, you should be able to calculate the amount of time you have left to subtly do homework for other classes, during class, down to the last millisecond. Don’t forget to factor in A for apathy, B for all the better things you could be doing with your time, and L for the giant one you’re about to take.

2. Have a plan Sure, the syllabus says that that one teacher refuses to round grades, but we all know that syllabuses are really just flexible negotiating guidelines they force you to sign. Just make sure you take a page out of our new president-

Your memes are federal property

By Breanna de Vera STAFF WRITER They have Daniel and his white sneakers.

They have footage of evil clowns, adorable dogs, and beat boxing babies. Stars like Nash Grier, Destorm and even KingBach are homeless and penniless, their primary source of fame stolen from them. The National Security Agency (NSA) has taken over Vine, and Twitter is keeping this a secret.

We stick post-its

on our webcams, in fear of being watched. We set our Facebook posts to “Friends Only,” so that government agencies cannot spy on our daily lives. We file lawsuits against Snapchat when our mildly scandalous photos are leaked. But we cannot stop the NSA from inspecting every aspect of our lives.

This recent acquisition is just one in a long line.

The NSA has run out of options. After the many lawsuits against Snapchats for leaks of information, the NSA has realized its opera-

elect’s book and master the art of making a deal before you bring in the angry parents. Angry parents are like a nuclear threat--you don’t want to trigger it too soon.

Instead, spend your Winter Break stalking your teachers’ LinkedIn, MySpace, Facebook-profile-that-really-should-be-private-butisn’t, whatever you can find.

Get to know them. Really know them. Memorize their birthdays. Stalk and judge their spouses. Like all of the Instagram pictures of their cat. Find their address on whitepages.com. Give them 5-star ratings on ratemyteacher.com. Then use all the information you’ve gathered on their 2003 summer trip to Hawaii and love for chocolate-covered pineapples to create the perfect bribe. One look at your carefully thought-out gift and they simply won’t be able to say no.

3. Put in the work The truth is, no matter how much you try to avoid the issue, you’re not going to get your grades up if you don’t put in hard work. So, start using the testbank now. If you get a head start, you can efficiently memorize weeks worth of chapters ahead of time.

The old pencil and phoneunder-the-desk tricks are so overrated and outdated; Irvington needs to go bigger and badder. Might as well even go the extra mile and get those physics formulas tattooed all over your body.

Now, that’s dedication.

So, close those textbooks, lie down, and take a nap. Everything is going to be okay. The world is probably going to end soon anyways (thanks, Russia!), so it really doesn’t matter. See? Perspective is a wonderful coping mechanism.

tions cannot run covertly.

So it turned to another social media site, Vine. Vine is a better source for information on our meaningless, mundane lives, because it has substantial content: pictures, words, AND sound. This is a small step from “gifs,” and a huge leap from Instagram photos and Tumblr text posts.

With a budget of $10 billion annually, and expenditures far below that, the NSA has some extra spending money. The selling price for Vine was $10 million. Is it a coincidence

that the NSA is well within the means to purchase what other social media sites turned down? Maybe, but maybe not. But what are they looking for? Hillary Clinton’s emails have been already found. What are they doing with our vines?

Anything you put on the internet stays on the internet, but it is advised you delete all your content from Vine--whether it is a video of your cat playing fetch, or you screaming at your bathtub. Because they are watching. They are always watching.

STUDENT LIFE EDITOR On Nov. 12, Irvington’s Plant Club planted a tree on the horseshoe parking lot in order to promote scientific concepts such as photosynthesis, give free oxygen to Irvington faculty and students, and relieve boredom. In addition to the Plant Club preparing for the planting thousands of milliseconds in advance, approximately one personClub President, Vice President, Secretary, Publicity Manager, Intern, Prime Minister, Chancellor, King, Emperor, Archduke, Viceroy, and Ambassador junior Lndrew Aiu-planted the tree. The tree will provide a new form of stress relief in the upcoming months.

Although Aiu planned the planting a few seconds in advance, the planting took ten minutes longer than expected due to road proximity issues.

“Principal Zarah Zmoot told me that the tree would grow too close to the side of the road,” Aiu said, “so instead, I decided to plant the tree four meters farther. After all, now that it’s in the middle of the road, it’s no longer too close to the side of the road.”

Aiu said that he had consider factors such as the soil, sun, air, and water.

“The challenge was to buy the seed, find good water, and the right angle for the tree. It took me a whole five minutes to gather and consider these materials.”

Aiu also said that Plant Club is planning a fundraiser in order to acquire materials for the tree.

“In January, I will sell cups of water for twenty-five cents and use these funds to buy necessities, such as sunlight, for the tree.”

Plant Club’s advisor, AP Biology teacher Mr. Fam, said that the tree is a good, live example of watching photosynthesis in action.

“Just staring at

repressing all of those traumatic high school memories,” Fam said. “It’s a physical example that all biology students should watch in their spare time. I’ll be signing tutorial cards from now on for students who want to observe the tree. It’s unpredictable though; we simply don’t know what will happen these next few months.

Only time can tell.”

In addition, Fam said that in place of labs, his AP Biology classes will spend their block days observing the tree.

“It’s basically a weekly field trip,” Fam said.

“I’m going to have my students record down changes every five minutes for the rest of the school year.

I’ll also offer a three letter grade bump to whoever guesses the correct number of leaves.”

Fam also said that the tree plays a pivotal role in developing new methods to learn scientific concepts and coping with stress.

“You don’t find many trees like this around here,” Fam said. “In an academic-oriented environment like Irvington High School, it is important to find ways to relieve stress, and this tree is just the solution to cope for tiring schedules, academic pressure, overbearing benchmarks, and weight of expectations. In the long term though, when tens of tree descendants spread around the horseshoe, maybe our school will take charge of restoring pre-industrial climate conditions since our government is too busy thinking global warming is a hoax.”

Junior Monali Salik said that the next few months will be a surprise.

“I can’t wait to see what will happen in a few months,” Salik said. “Who knows? Will it drop leaves as fast as my GPA falls? Will it house as many snakes as this school does? Will it provide as much shade as my friends do? Every lunch, I’m going to whiff the oxygen given off by that tree.”

AYUSH PATEL

Once Plant Club gains enough funds from Trees for Tots, it will move this tree next to the original tree so it has a friend.

18

19 PHOTO GALLERY

The Voice

MVALS

Marshmellow Towers

Fall Sports Recap

Niles Festival of Lights

PHOTOS BY: Manbir Ghuman, Arsalan Mughal (Top Left), Rahul Sudharsan (bottom right)

20 PHOTO GALLERY HOMECOMING

The Voice

IRVINGTON BAND

DIWALI

PHOTOS BY: MANBIR GHUMAN, JEFFREY DING (Bottom Left)