The Talon | Issue 6 | March 8, 2017

Los Altos High School, Los Altos, CA ■ March 8, 2017 ■ Volume XXXII, Issue 6

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lahstalon.org

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

RACHEL LU

COURTESY H. LEE

THE POT PROBLEM

How the legalization of marijuana could harm farmers in California.

News, 3

Last month in news Get up to date on February’s news and all of what’s coming up. News, 3

Goodbye, Club Penguin Club Penguin, which is shutting down later this year, was a major source of entertainment for many high schoolers. Opinions, 6

Freshman poetry slam finalist Freshman Mahita Bobba channels her activist goals in poetry. Features, 7

Considering a different California college Writer Alex Luna takes a look at CSU Channel Islands and all of the benefits it has to offer.

Features, 10

Building your portfolio Art majors describe the process of applying to art schools for college. Arts & Culture, 12

FRANCESCA FALLOW

Former Associate Superintendent Brigitte Sarraf, who supported the Latino community during her 47 years with the district, receives a gift of appreciation from counselor Ariel Rojas during the Latino Summit.

Annual summit supports Latino community

EMILY MEZA-PEREZ Staff Writer

For nearly a decade, Los Altos has hosted the annual Latino Summit.

The event is open for all community members but specifically hopes to bring Latino families together in order to provide resources and a platform for parents and students to ask questions and be informed on topics such as college and legal services.

This year’s Latino Summit, which occurred last Saturday, March 4, presented a synthesis of information about college and social services available in the area. Counselor and teacher Jacob Larin has helped organized the Latino Summit every year.

“The idea is just to bring parents and students on our campus to feel more comfortable knowing that they can ask questions and that there is a lot of good information out there for community members,” Larin said. “So [it’s] a way to get people together, and the Latino community in particular.”

During this year’s event, Los Altos organized informative activities for both students and parents

and a lunch event with members from community organizations that could provide opportunities and assistance for those who attended the summit. The event began with an introductory presentation and a recognition of the former Associate Superintendent Brigitte Sarraf for her 47 years of work for the district and support of the Latino community.

After Sarraf ’s recognition, parents were offered presentations on the college admissions process and a cautionary presentation about drugs. Meanwhile, students were offered an activity on mindfulness and were asked for their input on how the district can assist Latino students to successfully fulfill their A-G requirements and pass Algebra 2, which are the necessary qualifications to graduate high school and apply to universities.

Afterward the students listened and asked questions to a panel of college students who had graduated from Los Altos.

Sophomore Luis Perez, who attended the Latino Summit, found it to be a helpful resource.

“It seemed pretty useful because they had the student panel of college kids and that’s great to be able to talk to them about college,” Luis said. “The meditation sort of thing was relaxing and helped me realize that slowing down sometimes is okay.”

Throughout the years, the Latino Summit has offered information for students and their families to feel like the college process is more manageable, and it has provided resources for community members on prevalent issues such as immigration and rent. Larin’s involvement with the summit has allowed him to see the positive effects the event has brought Los Altos families.

“I love it when I see families asking questions from the organizations and getting help, whether it’s about rent from the city of Mountain View, whether it’s about getting health services for their kids or asking questions from the lawyers,” Larin said.

“Overtime we are starting to see families come more and more to our campus.”

Meet LAHS threesport athletes Some students at Los Altos choose to play sports every season of the school year, and dedicate their lives to sports above all else. Sports, 14

All Day Staff In-Service No Class March 27

TED Talk Presentations April 1

3rd Annual Color Run April 10

Spring Recess Begins April 17

First Day of School after Spring Recess News Editorial Opinions

2 5 6

Features 9, 12 In-Depth 10 Entertainment 14 Sports 18

The only Mexican in AP Language and Composition seventh period, junior Esmeralda Nunez finds it difficult to participate in class.

“I don’t do my best,” Esmeralda said.

“I don’t participate even though I know the answer because I always ask, ‘What if I’m wrong?’ Most of those students… are really smart. So I just try to be like everyone else, even if I’m different.”

As a Mexican moving through AP courses, Esmeralda feels constrained by stereotypes. Students around her, she says, hold prejudices that keep them from understanding her situation outside of school, where she works multiple jobs.

“If you’re a Mexican, students think, ‘Oh yeah, you’re a Mexican, obviously you don’t do the work,’ but they don’t know what’s going on at home,” Esmeralda said. “During school days, I work at five in the morning with my parents to help them out. Sometimes I work at night really late. So if I don’t do my homework, it’s not like I don’t care.

There’s just not the time.”

When Esmeralda was five, her parents divorced, and her mother moved to the United States to escape her alcoholic father. “[My father] asked my mom for money in exchange for my custody,” Esmeralda said. “He was a drug dealer, he was alcoholic, and he would always beat up me and my brother. She was tired of it.” continues on page 13

IN-DEPTH P.8

End of First Quarter Senior Talent Show March 20

News Editor

DIGITAL HEALTH

UPCOMING EVENTS

Writers Week Begins

ALEX WONG

“Q&A”

March 10

March 13

Q&A: life as a Mexican immigrant

COURTESY MARK LU

Iranian Student Union’s mission: cultural understanding JACLYN SAIK Staff Writer

“The word ‘Persian’ doesn’t even exist in the Farsi language,” president of the Los Altos Iranian Student Union (ISU) senior Sean Adibi said.

“It’s just a construct formed in the English language. No other language in the world uses ‘Persian.’ They refer to people of Iran as Iranians. And

I find that quite ironic considering the United States and Iran have one of the most strained relationships of any two countries on earth.”

Sean has been president of Iranian Student Union (formerly Persian Club, prior to last year) for two years.

He’s been a huge force in kickstarting the culture club into a large and active organization on campus, especially focusing on increasing school-wide

awareness of Iranian culture and including people of all ethnicities in his effort. The most recent event he took part in organizing was the “#NoBanNoWall” protest, created in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for a travel ban on seven countries and all refugees.

“ISU”

continues on page 13

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The Talon March 8, 2017

Get daily LAHS updates and read the news archives at lahstalon.org/category/news

RAINN launches sexual assault awareness week open mentality.”

While RAINN Week and Communication Week were created From Monday to Friday, March separately, RAINN Club President 27 to 31, the Los Altos RAINN sophomore Aditi Madhok and Club will hold its first Sexual As- Vice President sophomore May sault Awareness Campaign, also Wang worked with Assistant Prinknown as RAINN Week. RAINN, cipal Suzanne Woolfolk on the or the Rape, Abuse and Incest sexual awareness content for both National Network, is the nation’s weeks. However, because Comlargest anti-sexual violence orga- munication Week predominantly nization, and the club will orga- covers digital citizenship, Aditi nize activities held during lunch and the administration found it in the quad with the purpose of necessary to implement a separate educating students on what sexu- week only focused on sexual assault awareness. al assault is and how “I see [Communito prevent it. cation and RAINN Since the beginWeek] overlapping ning of the school I hope RAINN a little bit with the year, RAINN Club Week... proconsent workshops, has worked on imwhich talk about how plementing a sex- motes a healthito build healthy relaual assault aware- er culture and a tionships or how to ness week to spread healthier, more stop friendships or knowledge about out-in-the-open romantic relationconsent and sexual ships when we realassault to students. mentality. ize they’re not good — RAINN club advisor According to RAINN Kathryn Low for us,” Woolfolk club advisor Kathryn said. “I think it’s nice Low, initiating conthat things tied toversations about sexual assault can be a stepping stone toward gether. It’s a good coincidence that RAINN Week and Communicachanging school culture.

“The larger goal [of RAINN] is tion Week are coming together at to change school culture,” Low the same time.”

RAINN Week will kick off on said. “I hope [RAINN Week]... connects people to the club itself Monday, March 27, with a flash as a place where there are safe mob during brunch. RAINN Club discussions every week, facilitat- members will dance to a mix of ed by other students. And I hope Rihanna’s “Umbrella” and Gene that it normalizes conversations Kelly’s “Singing In The Rain” in around sexual assault and what the quad to spread the word that that looks like, and it hopefully RAINN Week has begun, followed promotes a healthier culture and the next day with the distribution a healthier, more out-in-the- of pamphlets that discuss rape

ADRIENNE MITCHEL Staff Writer

myths and coping methods regarding sexual assault.

“A lot of people would argue that those are such fun, preppy songs, but that’s the thing: in order to get people on board to this, we need to come up with creative solutions… so we’re getting to a greater population using music, which is what our generation normally appeals to,” Aditi said.

On Wednesday, March 29, Stanford Anti-Violence Educator (SAVE) Adam Schorin, who works in the Stanford Association of Students for Sexual Assault Prevention, will speak in the Eagle Theatre during lunch on how to positively change the media students see and the language they use.

“I wanted to help develop different types of consent education, especially one that treats consent more broadly and as collaborative and less as a transaction,” Schorin said on the SAVE website. “I'm also glad to work for a program [SAVE] that also encourages discussion around sexuality, gender and identity in thinking about sexual violence.”

The next day, art submissions for the RAINN Art Contest, with the theme of rape culture’s impacts on society, will be displayed in the quad. Members of the club will judge the artworks based on how well they address the theme and provide awards to the top three art pieces. Similar to the flash mob’s dance, Aditi believes that the best way to spread sexual assault awareness at Los Altos is through mediums

that appeal to students.

“The art contest is part of creating a positive media that surrounds us,” Aditi said. “I think artists have the skill and ability to impact what we’re seeing in social media, in books, in movies, in TV shows, so we’re really encouraging the artists to step out of their comfort zone and help draw something that will initiate conversations about these topics.”

On the final day of the cam-

paign, Friday, March 31, students will reflect on what they learned through RAINN Week by writing what they will do to help prevent sexual assault on umbrellas located throughout the quad the entire day.

“We’re hoping that this symbolism of the rain and the umbrella will help the message get into [students’] brains, and they’ll try to have more conversations about rape, consent, sexuality, intimacy and relationships,” Aditi said.

PHOTO COURTESY JERILYN LEE

Sophomore Jerilyn Lee created the above drawing for the RAINN Art Contest. It will be on display on Thursday, March 30, as part of RAINN Week’s effort to increase awareness for sexual assault.

Minimum wage hikes meet mixed responses AKHIL JAKATDAR AVI VARGHESE MICHAEL SIEFFERT Opinions Editor Arts and Culture Editor Senior Writer

In recent months, “Help Wanted” signs have cropped up in the windows of Mountain View restaurants. Businesses have been hit hard by a shortage of lowwage workers, which, according to Mountain View Mayor Ken Rosenberg, stems from increases in housing prices. To help alleviate this issue, Mountain View’s minimum wage rose this January from $11 to $13 per hour as part of a larger mandate to reach $15 per hour by next January. However, business owners have begun pushing back as a result of the decreases in profit that have accompanied the wage increases.

While California has implemented the same minimum wage goal of $15 per hour across the state by the later year of 2021, the rapid departure of low-wage workers in Mountain View has forced the city government toward more immediate action. The high cost of living and maintaining a job in Mountain View, Rosenberg says, can be alleviated by providing higher wages to workers.

“I believe that the high cost of living in Mountain View (and regionally) is affecting lower wage employees,” Rosenberg said in

an email. “There is anecdotal evidence that Silicon Valley is losing people… [and in Mountain View] we are… increasing the minimum wage [to help with that].”

In terms of labor shortages, according to Ramen Izakaya Yu-Gen manager Kotaro Komori, the wage increase has helped create an influx of workers from other cities with lower minimum wages.

“My kitchen guys sometimes come from South San Jose, and they come on the Caltrain or

something,” Komori said. “It’s because the minimum is up right now. Now, at $13, there’s more good money than in San Jose.”

Yet from a business owner’s perspective, the wage increase may not look so rosy. In order to sustain higher wages, many businesses have been forced to increase prices.

“From the customer perspective, the wage increases have meant multiple price increases,” Red Rock Coffee general manager Jean Boulanger said. “Everything is get-

ting squeezed here​, so the prices have to go up. We do the best we can to manage, but it's not easy.”

Komori expressed similar concerns. His restaurant has raised prices by $0.50 due to decreased profits, and nearby restaurants have raised them even further. In the future, he expects his prices to grow even more.

“I’m so scared, because the minimum wage is going up,” Komori said. “I think about everything that is bad for the restaurant. Labor costs, food costs, everything is up.

MICHAEL SIEFFERT

A sign on the window of boutique store Therapy in Mountain View reads “Now Hiring.” Signs like this have popped up around businesses in the area as low-wage workers move out due to rising housing prices.

Mountain View has increased minimum wages at an accelerated pace to combat this issue.

For the customer, the price is up.”

According to Rosenberg, one business, called Home Consignment, has cited minimum wage increases as a reason to close its doors. While he believes the increased wages will help low income workers, he noted that recent complaints over negative impacts on businesses are likely to increase with next January’s hike to $15 per hour.

“The city's Economic Development Office has been hearing from various small business owners communicating that while the most recent minimum wage increase is affecting their business, the real impact is going to be the next increase to $15 per hour in approximately nine months,” Rosenberg said. “If the economy begins to wane, we expect to hear more concerns.”

Boulanger feels that, on a general level, wage increases have been implemented too quickly for business owners to keep up financially.

“I had advocated that [Mountain View] let the minimum wage increase happen more gradually,” Boulanger said. “To go from $10 per hour to $15 per hour in just a couple years is a big adjustment. This is also happening at a time when rents for businesses are skyrocketing. Unfortunately, [Mountain View] decided not to listen to the business owners and managers, who wanted to phase in the change more slowly.”

The Talon March 8, 2017

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With marijuana legalized, farmers worry over state regulations DOMINICK LANNI Business Manager

Five hours north of San Francisco lies the Emerald Triangle, a trio of agriculture-focused counties that comprises the largest cannabis-producing region in the United States. In these three counties — Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity, marijuana growers have become increasingly concerned that California’s recent legalization of recreational marijuana under Proposition 64 will destroy their livelihood.

One member of the marijuana industry, who goes by Copall,

has enjoyed the legitimacy that legalization granted. But as a middleman that buys marijuana from growers and sells to dispensaries, he fears that Proposition 64’s regulations and taxes could put him and many local growers out of business and pave the way for larger corporate farms to take over. Proposition 64 helps erase a stigma around the marijuana industry, but at a cost to the growers that have spent their lives advocating for the industry.

“It will end traditional marijuana farming like this,” Copall said.

“The one-acre farm won't be in existence for much longer. You’ll start to see guys with millions

come in and beat out their small farm counterparts… It will end our way of life.”

That way of life has become a culture throughout much of the Emerald Triangle. Residents of the Triangle look as if they walked out of a Grateful Dead concert, and college students from Humboldt State University frequently work on farms trimming marijuana. In Eureka, the marijuana industry has transformed abandoned warehouses and buildings into marijuana grow centers.

The threat to growers’ culture comes largely from the increase in state oversight that Proposition 64 brings. Starting 2018, growers will

PHOTO COURTESY H LEE

A marijuana farmer in Humboldt County, California, weighs his product. While Proposition 64 will allow farmers to grow the plant legally, its new regulations and taxes may threaten the livelihood of the small farmers who previously dominated the industry.

have to go through the new Bureau would allow large corporations to of Marijuana Control to obtain a li- upend a community that has precense to continue their operation, a dominantly done business on its process that they may not have the own terms. monetary resources to go through.

One Humboldt grower, Kelly For now, growers have stopped ex- Rhoades, has now hired an acpanding their farms to make sure countant and a lawyer because she they can afford the license neces- has become worried over the lisary to match the size of their oper- censes and taxes that she will have ation, as the process for obtaining to pay. She says smaller growers a license hasn’t been established by won’t be as lucky. the state.

“I’m privileged Many growers enough to be an esagree that Propositablished grower tion 64 was the next Nobody thinks here, [so] I’ll be able big step for an industo pay my bills and the passing of try seeking to shake hire people to make off the negative ste- Proposition 64 sure I’m doing [everyreotypes that sur- was a home thing] right,” Rhoades round marijuana use, run. A lot of said. “What I’m sad but the cons to this people think about is that it’s probproposition have left ably going to cost new the community di- California can growers $50,000 to vided. As a result, the do better. $100,000 to just break California Growers in because of the reg— lawyer Anthony Curiale Association, which ulations.” represents 450 farmThese regulations ers and 350 supportconcern aspiring ing businesses, voted not to take marijuana cultivators. In addia stance on Proposition 64 and tion to purchasing the plant and remain neutral. its upkeep, potential growers will “Nobody, not even the support- have to pay regulation prices that ers, think the passing of Proposi- will become official in 2018. The tion 64 was a home run,” lawyer regulations further establish the Anthony Curiale said. “A lot of peo- notion that big corporations will ple think California can do better.” control the marijuana industry, Curiale — who focuses his prac- although Curiale says the smaller tice around the marijuana indus- farms will put up a fight. try — says many of the people he “Proposition 64 brings a lot represents are worried by the fact of good things to the industry, that the state plans to issue Type but the main thing that detracts 5 or “Large” cultivation licenses in from it is the absurd regulation 2023. Currently, the only licenses on this industry, from random offered by the state range from inspections… to high-priced enType 1 for small farms to Type 4 vironmental taxes,” Curiale said. for medium-sized farms, a range “This wasn’t a perfect proposiwhich creates a size limit that tion, and those [small growers prevents larger cultivation cen- in] Arcadia and Eureka will [try ters. However, the state plans on to] make sure the industry reoffering Type 5 licenses, which mains in their control.”

News Briefing Club News FUSE Club

After President Donald Trump’s inauguration, students and staff created the Freedom, Unity, Safety and Equality (FUSE) Club as a space for students to address concerns over the Trump administration.

“In this political climate we’re all learning... just how important it is to have a voice and be heard,” club advisor Dafna Adler said.

Officers were recently elected, and the club looks to attend protests and fundraise for organizations.

Women in STEM

The Los Altos Women in STEM Club has begun fundraising to send four elementary-school-age girls living in subsidized housing to Camp Galileo. The club hopes to provide opportunities in STEM to girls of lower income. They have achieved $781 of their $1,000 goal, and they plan to hold another fundraiser today, March 8, at Chipotle.

“As a girl who’s interested in science and as our club being Women in STEM, we found a good group of people to target and help out,” club President senior Anisha Palasamudram said. “So we are raising money for girls in that subsidized housing network [to provide] them scholarships.”

New & Upcoming RAINN Week

From Monday to Friday, March 27 to 31, RAINN Club will host RAINN Week, a sexual assault awareness week. RAINN Club will host activities every day in the quad, ranging from an art contest to a speaker from the Stanford Association of Students for Sexual Assault Prevention.

“I hope [RAINN Week]... connects people to the club itself, as a place where there are safe discussions that happen every week facilitated by their peers and other students,” club advisor Kathryn Low said.

Recap: March and February Challenge Day

This Monday, March 6, 100 freshmen participated in a trial run of Challenge Day, a day-long activity aiming for a more inclusive school environment. English teacher Margaret Bennett and history teacher Sarah Alvarado hope the program will become permanent for freshmen. “[Challenge Day] helps people build relationships with each other, break down barriers... and celebrate diversity,” Bennett said.

World Language Days

From Wednesday to Friday, February 15 to 17, the World Language department hosted its first World Language Celebration Days. Organized by World Language Department Coordinator Dayana Swank and Spanish teacher Terri Salsman de Rodriguex, the days brought speakers and activities to language classrooms aiming to broaden students’ knowledge of different cultures.

“We wanted to... bring awareness of culture and the differences and how interesting and fun it is learning from other cultures,” Dayana Swank said.

Tutorial scanners

Starting Tuesday, February 7, students were required to scan their student ID card or provide their student number during tutorial period. The idea stemmed from the recent implementation of tutorial in Mountain View, where it has been successful in maintaining attendance.

“The expectation was that for tutorial, you were to pick a room and stick with it,” Assistant Principal Galen Rosenberg said. “Because otherwise if [a] significant number of students are leaving their classrooms, adminstrators need to check to see where they are going.”

Construction to finish

Due to heavy rains in January and February, construction on the fitness center at the back of the school has been delayed for two months. While the fitness center itself will be completed during March, the dirt around the fitness center must dry before concrete can be laid down.

“The naively optimistic finish time was the beginning of this semester,” Assistant Principal Galen Rosenberg said. “Because of the amount of rain... we cannot install the floor surface... It’s going to be at least a couple months yet.”

KATIE KLEIN

FUSE club advisor Dafna Adler leads a discussion about the different concerns students in the club have over President Donald Trump’s administration. The club recently elected its officers and looks to join protests and fundraise for organizations that align with its goals.

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The Talon March 8, 2017

Please send letters to the editor to talon.lahs@gmail.com Los Altos High School

Laissez-faire tutorial teaches independence While taking attendance will quantify the issue of skipping, the greater problems remain unaddressed: unproductivity and practicing responsibility.

201 Almond Ave., Los Altos, CA March 7, 2017 Volume XXXII, Issue 6 Editor-In-Chief Emily Aoki Managing Editors Hanna Khosravi (Print) Jessica King (Print) Spencer Dembner (Web) News Editor Alex Wong Opinions Editor Akhil Jakatdar Features Editor Tinomuda Tugwete In-Depth Editor Miranda Li Arts & Culture Editor Avi Varghese Sports Editor Julia Santos Media Editor Andrew Young Copy/Content Editors Teddy Chmyz, Savita Govind Business Manager Cameron Avery, Dominick Lanni Senior Writers Anisha Desai, Rachel Lu, Booker Martin, Michael Sieffert Staff Writers Ross Avery, Maddie Chu, Priya Dixit, Haley Ecker, Nathan Godderis, Brian Huebner, Sana Khader, Yalda Khodadad, Emma Kwan, Avery Luke, Alex Luna, Emily Meza-Perez, Adrienne Mitchel, Javin Pombra, Jaclyn Saik, Yolanda Spura, Emma Van Geuns, Danny Vesurai, Madison Woo, Justin Yu Photographers Emily Aronovitz, Francesca Fallow, Katie Klein, Rachel Lu, Natalie Munguia, Kunal Pandit, Thara Salim, Kimia Shahidi, Michael Sieffert, Yolanda Spura Graphic Artists Ashley Cai, Carissa Lee, Anne Schill

L

ast month, Los Altos intro- with those 30 minutes is a valuable duced electronic scanners practice in independence. to take attendance during Tutorial was initially introduced tutorial for the first as an opportunity time. This weekly for students to 30 minute winease their academGiving students the dow has been the ic workload by subject of much freedom to choose serving as a time discussion since what to do with those to make up tests, its inception, and 30 minutes [of the get ahead on asthere are differing tutorial period] is a signments, review opinions about with teachers, etc. the addition of the valuable practice in However, for many scanners. While independence. students, it served taking attendance as more than that during tutorial may lead to more — it was something of a “free pestudents staying on campus, it riod,” in which they could pick up doesn’t solve the biggest issue something from home, grab a cofwith tutorial — unproductivity. fee, snack or quick nap in addition Along with that, giving students to studying. It was a time to catch the freedom to choose what to do up on both school and life.

ADVERTISEMENT

But, now that students are ex- their habits — they’ll just be unpected to stay on campus for the productive on campus instead of period, the opportunities are far somewhere else, perhaps even more limited, distracting other especially for students trying those with free to work in the Having an open-campus third and/or classroom. fourth periods. tutorial period is superior One solution While the ad- to a closed campus befor this would be dition of scan- cause, while it opens up to have stricter ners will help more options to use time classroom rules to identify the during tutorial magnitude of at unwisely, it also opens that, most imleast part of the up more opportunities to portantly, are acproblem (lack of make smart choices and tively enforced attendance dur- practice independence. by teachers. But ing tutorial), it perhaps tutorial doesn’t solve it. doesn’t need this Taking attendance won’t neces- level of control. Realistically, it is sarily make those who weren’t us- unlikely tutorial will ever reach the ing tutorial productively change level of productivity that regular class periods do, simply because students are doing many different things during the period.

Having an open-campus tutorial period is superior to a closedcampus because, while it opens up more options to use time unwisely, it also opens up more opportunities to make smart, helpful choices and practice independence.

In college, students will have hours between classes that they can choose to do what they want with every day. Allowing students 30 minutes of free time each Tuesday between classes is a valuable chance for them to practice managing free time, an important skill in any successful adult’s future. Of course, it’s understandable that the school has concerns about students getting into trouble during that free time, but the solution to that problem and what will help the students most in the long run is not to force them to class — it’s to teach them first and foremost how to be smart and independent.

Videographers Bobak Afshari, Britt deVisser, Danny Nguyen, Arjin Unlu Adviser Michael Moul

POLICIES Los Altos High School’s Compositional Journalism class is solely responsible for The Talon, which is published eight times a year. The Talon also updates its website, www.lahstalon.org, with full-time coverage.

The Editorial Board sets the policies of The Talon and crafts its editorials and thumbs. Its members are Cameron Avery, Teddy Chmyz, Spencer Dembner, Sana Khader, Hanna Khosravi, Michael Sieffert and Andrew Young.

ADVERTISE & SUBSCRIBE Send advertisement and subscription inquiries to Cameron Avery and Dominick Lanni at business@lahstalon.org.

Talon Supporters Honorary Pulitzers Kazuo Aoki, Aloma Avery, Perry Dembner, Vaishali and Sanjay Dixit, Kendall Goto, Fred and Flora Khosravi, Andi Lou, Chung and Janice Park, The Sullivan Family

Silver Supporters Wendy Aoki, Jaclyn Brode, Zhuang Qi Dai, Derek Hua, Shawn Hui, Vicente Luna, The Martin Family, Jasmeen Pombra

The Talon March 8, 2017

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Read more opinions articles at lahstalon.org/category/opinions

Cultivating activism through search engines search engines, such as Tab For A Cause, which collects ad revenue through your tab-opening habits and donates them to a charity of your choice. I was drawn to Ecosia I myself am an avid user of the due to its cute icons and promises search engine Ecosia, a Chrome for reforestation, but there’s so extension I obtained on a whim a many extensions out there that couple months ago after browsing can fit any one of your interests.

Ecosia, based in Berlin, has through the Chrome webstore.

The quirky engine promises to challenged both themselves and donate 80 percent of its revenue their user base to plant 1 billion gained through advertisements trees before 2020. Nikola Maksito planting trees through refores- movic, Ecosia’s country manager tation projects scattered around for the UK, informed me that the globe. The search screen has this goal is achievable at the rate that the user base a small tree icon is increasing. in the upper right“[Ecosia] started hand corner that Through using seven years ago, informs you of the and it started quite number of trees Ecosia, I’ve grown small,” Maksimovic you’ve helped plant to believe that it’s said.”Really, like a with ad revenue. important that startup... there are Not to brag, but I’m people use these so many startups… already at 597. trying to grow very Through using various browserquickly… But EcoEcosia, I’ve grown based add-ons as a sia actually grew to believe that it’s medium to channel quite slowly, but important that their passions. very sustainably, people use these for years and years. various browserbased add-ons as a medium to It built up a very dedicated group channel their passions. This of users... In the last year and a can be through Ecosia, or one of half we really started to grow quite the other various charity-based a lot. It's been really amazing.”

YALDA KHODADAD Staff Writer

ANNE SCHILL

Ecosia’s users are mostly those who are avid supporters of saving the environment, and those who feel that they should, but don’t know where to start. To be honest, I fall in the second category. Ecosia gives me the opportunity to not only support a cause I wish I could support on a larger scale, but it also means

I know I’m making a difference.

Knowing that my internet habits are helping reforest regions such as Madagascar, Peru and Burkina Faso not only makes me feel proud, but also involved in an issue that I think everyone should be concerned about.

And anyways, I’m not trying to convince you to start using

Ecosia. I’m not trying to convince you of anything at all.

All I’m trying to say is that if you’re passionate about a subject, whether it be world hunger, climate change, or, in this case, the environment, don’t feel like there’s nothing that you can do.

It’s possible that sending help is only a click away.

Circuit court ruling highlights checks and balances SANA KHADER Staff Writer

On January 27, President Trump signed the first executive order of two that barred citizens from Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. The reason for this bizarre use of presidential power? “To protect the American people from terrorist attacks by foreign nationals admitted to the United States.”

Of course, a new president should work on the issue of counter-terrorism, but the first executive order was completely illogical.

It barred citizens of Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya and Yemen, but did not include the countries from which Islamic radicals have killed Americans since the September 11 attacks. Not only was the literal intention behind the order irrational — restraining a religious group from entering the country is blatantly discriminatory — but the logic that it follows makes no sense either.

And beyond the carefully researched and crafted reasons above, the first order just frustrated me. It makes me mad that our country has gone from radical xenophobes committing hate crimes against Muslims to the federal government acting against Muslims. It feels as though the anti-Muslim crimes that have occurred in the past and that were formerly condemned by our government are now given a not-so-subtle nod from the Trump administration. And yes, the Trump administration can defend

its actions by claiming that the ban doesn’t specifically target Muslims, but of course this order discriminates against Muslims. I don’t need a law degree to see that.

Despite the fact that Muslims in those seven countries are targeted by terrorists groups at much higher rates than their Christian counterparts, Trump gave priority to Christian minorities who are being persecuted. Blocking Syrian refugees entry not only clashes with the humanitarian values of this country, but more than that, it’s insulting that Trump gave preference to Christian minorities that aren’t targeted at the same level that Muslims from these countries are. Speaking about Middle Eastern Christians seeking refuge in the United States, Trump has said, “They’ve been horribly treated… they [terrorist organizations] were chopping off the heads of everybody, but more so the Christians. And I

thought it was very, very unfair.” Of ence to Christians, but the fact still course it’s unfair! This whole situa- remains that the first order was tion is unfair! We could delve into crafted with the intention of helpa separate argument about the rise ing Christians over Muslims. of international terrorist organizaDespite Trump’s nonsensical tions and unstable actions, there is governments and hope that perhaps how screwed up our country isn’t our world seems to Maybe the Framers having a complete be, but the point of the Constitution lapse of judgis, the situation in didn’t foresee a Donment. Shortly after that region of the Trump signed the ald Trump, but perworld is unfair for executive order, everybody, regard- haps they understood Judge Ann Donless of religion. If better than I expectnelly from the the President of ed the potentially Federal District the United States disastrous situations Court in Brooklyn is giving preferruled that people ence to one reli- that can arise from detained in airgion over others, presidential power. ports due to the exthat only increases ecutive order could the injustice that’s not be sent back to already present. Trump’s second the country they came from. A week executive order, issued this Mon- after the ban was implemented, day, March 6, does not include the Federal Judge James Robart issued a section that initially gave prefer- restraining order on Trump’s execu-

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ASHLEY CAI

tive order. This acted as a “freeze” on the ban and let travel occur as it normally does. In response to Robart’s restraining order, the Department of Justice filed an appeal, which was unanimously struck down by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

After a devastating two weeks, the Ninth Circuit Court ruling helped me regain confidence in this country’s legal system. It’s horrible that presidential power was used in such a cruel, heartless way, and it’s beyond maddening that hundreds of completely innocent people were detained and treated as criminals at U.S. airports. But I am so, so thankful that our legal system did its job and fought for the right thing. Our government was set up this way for a reason. There are checks and balances within the three branches of government for a reason, and I never fully understood that until now.

Maybe the Framers of the Constitution didn’t foresee a Donald Trump, but perhaps they understood better than I expected the potentially disastrous situations that can arise from presidential power.

This executive order and its subsequent repeal have given me renewed hope in this country and renewed confidence in our legal system. Because though the man in the Oval Office is quite literally bordering on evil and has lots of completely crazy ideas, I do find a small piece of comfort in the fact that the American government was set up in a way to protect against exactly this situation. The system of checks and balances worked in the case of this first immigration executive order, and I pray that they will continue to do so for the second order and for the next four years.

If you would like to write about your stance on an issue that’s affecting students at our school, email Opinions Editor Akhil Jakatdar at opinions.lahstalon@gmail.com with a summary of your idea.

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The Talon March 8, 2017

GRAPHICS BY ANNE SCHILL & ASHLEY CAI

O

n Thursday, March 29, an iceberg will sink, a dance studio will close and a lighthouse will no longer shine:;the online world of Club Penguin will close. The termination of this virtual world has struck sadness among many adolescents who grew up playing this game.

MADISON WOO Staff Writer

It would be an exaggeration to say that Club Penguin has been with me forever. I stopped playing when I reached third grade (and traitorously moved to Webkinz World) but it has always been a constant presence in my life, providing me with comfort as though to say that while the rest of my life continues to change, I can always return to an online pizza studio and make a sardine pizza for another online penguin.

Club Penguin has impacted my relationship with my family.

My brother is one of the closest people to me today, but it wasn’t always like that. As children we often fought: my earliest memories were crying to my parents about my perceived injustices at the hands of my brother. In elementary school, we had nothing in common, and it seemed as if nothing could bring us together.

Board games never worked because I always cried when I lost.

We both hated sports and we were too young to listen to music or talk about social media.

When Club Penguin first became popular, I was in first grade and he was in fourth. After begging my parents for an account, my brother finally was able to attain one, spending his single precious hour on the computer unlocking virtual games and becoming a secret agent. I watched him daily, spiteful of his access to this imaginary world. Eventually, my parents caved and al-

lowed me to have my own purple penguin, and I was left to decipher the mystical virtual world of Club Penguin.

I had never played a video game before then. My tiny first grade brain simply could not figure out how my brother managed to f lawlessly use his penguin to play advanced jet pack games or play with those cute puffy balls that were called puff les. After two days of achieving nothing, I forced myself to admit defeat and ask him for help.

To my surprise, he was willing, partly because this meant he was able to spend a few extra minutes playing the game. With great patience he taught me how to control my purple a v a t a r.

Unintentionally, we grew closer a n d closer — the hour long bus rides to school became more interesting as we talked about what color we were going to customize his penguin, or whether playing the jetpack would truly maximize the amount of coins we needed to buy another red puff le pet.

When he grew older and became disinterested in the game, I was left alone again in the penguin world. Despite being on opposite sides of the country, we still maintain a close bond today, notifying one another about our daily lives and even anticipating the days we can see each other and eat banana splits together. The creators of Club Penguin most likely had not intended it for two siblings to cement their relationship but now, in partial thanks to them, I can say that my brother is one of the most important people in my life, even if he doesn’t play Club Penguin anymore.

BRIAN HUEBNER Staff Writer

When I was in elementary school I was a shy, chubby kid. I had a hard time making friends.

While other kids could almost effortlessly talk to other kids in class and make a connection in an instant, the thought of me just talking to someone brought knots into my stomach. Anytime someone tried talking to me, my anxiety got the better of me and left me unable to form coherent sentences.

Club Penguin was my solace.

When I first started playing, the game seemed extremely odd to me. I didn’t really get the point of it. See, I was used to single-player games, and the idea of interacting online seemed odd at first.

Soon, however, I found joy in these digital interactions.

I remember on one of the first days I started playing, I waddled over to the mountain, where a group of penguins were sitting by the sledding minigame, and as I

waddled up to them, they asked if I wanted to play. My heart instantly raced at the thought of this. They wanted me to play with them? Out of everybody here? I quickly typed out a response to them, got on a sled and played to my heart’s content. The four of us penguins played multiple rounds with each other, the most intense sledding of my life.

From digital sledding, a real friendship stemmed. While in real life I felt like an awkward outcast who couldn’t even make conversation, in Club Penguin, I was completely different. I didn’t worry about what others might think of me. I never had the anxiety-ridden stutters, the awkward long pauses, the pressure of everyone’s eyes on me. Instead, I had a black penguin named “Blazicen2” to represent me.

Eventually, I grew out of Club Penguin and went on to play other games, but the game will always have a special place in my heart.

It was there on my worst days and on my best days. It was there when I was unable to even speak a word at school, and allowed me to chat with new penguins almost effortlessly. It helped me learn social skills, things to say, things to chat about, and most importantly of all, it helped me make new friends at school — friends who also played Club Penguin — my first, real group of friends at school, friends who became important people in my life — people I still text to this day. Club Penguin is more than just a silly game made for kids. It helped shaped me into the person I am today.

Why companies need to be politically involved ion business, these kinds of political movements have polarizing effects on the private sector and consumSenior Writer ers, especially when other corporaStaff Writer tions follow suit.

Companies have been heavThe United States was founded on the belief that the government ily involved in politics since the would have limited oversight on pri- country’s infancy. Every company vate property. The checks and bal- sponsored campaign contribution ances on government are ingrained or donation to a certain political in America’s root values of democ- party is by itself a political stance.

Moreover, corporacy and capitalism. rate lobbyists with But should companies special interests use their influence on will often push for consumers to oversee Because of their policies that benthe government and powerful and far- efit their respective its policies? In recent industries. times, companies be- reaching platBecause of their coming more involved form, companies powerful and farin politics has sparked have a responsireaching platform, a debate on if and to bility to engage companies have a what extent the private responsibility to sector should interfere. the public in engage the public Department store politics. in politics. An educhain Nordstrom is cated and informed one of the most recent businesses to detach itself from society is the keystone to a functionPresident Donald Trump’s brand ing democracy, and company inname, dropping Ivanka Trump’s volvement in politics accomplishes line of clothing. While this isn’t a this by bringing abstract rhetoric by catastrophic loss for Trump’s fash- politicians to a more tangible level.

ANISHA DESAI JUSTIN YU

CARISSA LEE

For example, Trump’s executive order banning Muslims from entering the United States border has stirred controversy among corporations. In response, influential CEOs such as Apple’s Tim Cook gave statements to communicate their company’s political opinions.

“I’ve heard from many of you who are deeply concerned about

the executive order issued yesterday restricting immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries,” Cook said in an email to Apple employees. “I share your concerns.

[The executive order] is not a policy we support.”

Having companies vocalize their political stances is also beneficial because it raises awareness of cur-

rent issues. By speaking out against a certain political party or opinion, industry leaders speak to an audience that spans the political spectrum.

However, raising awareness is only part of the effect. By stating their political stance, companies can also democratize the push for political change. They enabled people to use their purchasing power to support the companies with which they agree and boycott companies they do not agree with.

Individual citizens, who would not otherwise have political influence, effect change.

The recent #GrabYourWallet campaign highlights another benefit to consumers. The movement is promoting a boycott of any companies affiliated with Trump or his assets, forcing companies to either drop his line of products or suffer the economic fallout.

In short, informed decisions by individuals effect change. Because the United States economy is built on individual citizens, companies give citizens the choice to support the companies they align with by publicizing their political standpoints.

The Talon March 8, 2017

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Read more features articles at lahstalon.org/category/features/

Mahita Bobba: turning poetry into action PRIYA DIXIT YOLANDA SPURA Staff Writers

“Worth” — something freshman Mahita Bobba has struggled to feel throughout her life, and the name of the slam poem that she performed at the Freshman Poetry Slam in February, in which she won first place.

“The basis of my poem was feminism ,” Mahita said. “[A woman] doesn’t need a male figure to deem her worth. She is powerful, she is beautiful and she is worth something regardless of who she’s with or regardless of who makes her powerful.”

Mahita feels that sexism and traditional gender roles have strongly impacted her throughout her life.

Ever since her mom had to quit her job to take care of her and her sister, taking on the role of a stay-at-home mom, Mahita felt the imbalance between women and men in society, as her father could have just as easily done the same. Watching her mom, who she saw and still sees as her main role model in life, give up something she loved made Mahita realize that she wanted to fight for gender equality.

“My mom had to quit her job to take care of me and my sister [even though] my dad could have done it,” Mahita said. “I understand he loves to work, but so does my mom, and she was willing to give up her job [to take care of us]. Sometimes I see her, and she’s working really hard at

home. She does a lot for us, for my was like, ‘I don’t really understand sister and me. It’s sad to see that she why people are saying this,’ but my had to give up her life for us.” sister sat me down and said, ‘It’s Despite the fact that her not saying we’re better, it’s women mother sacrificed her career as saying we all should be equal,’” a software engineer to take care Mahita said. “We should be equal of Mahita and her siblings, she genders, we shouldn’t be saying, supported and inspired Mahita ‘boys are better,’ or ‘girls are better,’ to embark in stereotypically it’s just that everybody’s equal.” male-dominated activities and Mahita demonstrated her supendeavors, such as starting Lego port of these ideals by attending the Robotics at the age of 6 in an oth- Women’s March on Inauguration erwise all-male team.

Day and has become “There [is] one thing involved in a new club she always [wants] me recently formed on to do in life,” Mahita The basis of campus. said. “She… wants my poem was “I’ve been working me to be equal to the feminism. [A with Ms. Adler, who boys… I was the only started a club woman] doesn’t recently girl because my mom called FUSE, which was like, ‘I want you need a male stands for Freedom to be equal, I want figure to deem Unity Safety Equalyou to show them that her worth. She ity, and one of the you can do it too.’ And is powerful, she big things we’re going I think that all those to tackle is women’s instances in my life is beautiful, she rights,” Mahita said. built up to who I am is worth some“We want to attend today.” protests, we want to thing.

In addition to guidbe very active in our — freshman ance and support community.”

Mahita Bobba from her mother, Though inspiraMahita believes her tion for the poem strong investment in feminism was not difficult to find, Mahiand ultimate inspiration for the ta grappled with a lack of selfvalues behind her poem came confidence in her journey to the from her sister as well. When performance.

Mahita was in fifth or sixth “I’ve struggled with feeling that I grade, she asked her sister what am not worth a lot… The first step the meaning of feminism was. for me to go and present that poem “I thought it was just women [at the poetry slam] was to get consaying that they were better, and I fidence in myself,” Mahita said. “If I

EMILY ARONOVITZ

Freshman Mahita Bobba performs her poem “Worth” at the Freshman Poetry Slam. Mahita pursues her passion for feminism and equality by participating in the Women’s March and in the newly formed FUSE club. hadn’t had the confidence, and if I hadn’t taken that first step, I probably would have chickened out... But I was like, ‘You know what, I need to go out here, not only for myself, but for everybody who can’t speak for themselves.’”

Despite some nerves before her performance, Mahita went through with performing due to her dedication to her message. She feels that the central theme of feminism in her poem is an important one for others to hear and become educated

about.

“You don’t need any validation,” Mahita said. “No one needs to stamp your resume. You can do whatever the heck you want…

We’re always seen as the weaker sex, we’re not as strong… In the sense of education, and women being political figures, we are equal… We can be equal… We are the same. That’s an equal playing field… That’s what I wanted to get across because I’m a huge believer in equality for all.”

Zimbabwe run brings the joy of Africa to Los Altos EMMA KWAN Staff Writer

Inspired by a 1997 trip to see her son’s volunteer work in Africa, Los Altos resident Ellen Clark began the Zimbabwe Run in 2000 to support AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe.

Three years later, Clark also created the Sustainable Living Foundation, a nonprofit focused on organizing the Zimbabwe Run and other service projects, alongside her family. This year’s run will take place on March 26 at St. Joseph School.

“We saw Zimbabwe up close and personal on our trip there,” Clark said. “We were so touched by the people and the tragedy of their situation, but [they also had this] ultimate joy because there’s a lot of joy in Africa.”

One of the main philosophies of the foundation is maintaining the joy that Clark first experienced during her trip to Zimbabwe. Both the race and the foundation seek to serve both the children in Zimbabwe and the children in Los Altos through charitable activities.

“It’s two way philanthropy [because we are] helping the orphans in Zimbabwe, [and] the orphanage [is] giving back to us,” Clark said. “[The run] started out small and [has] expanded, but the main philosophy [of] trying to keep it for kids in Africa as well as kids right here [has] always remained.”

Because of the emphasis on two way philanthropy, the run includes an Africa-related art contest, Zimbabwe food tasting and educational booths to increase family participation and shed light on the issues

COURTESY ELLEN CLARK

The 18th Annual Zimbabwe Run and Fair will take place on March 26 at St. Joseph School. Competitors are placed into divisions from kindergarten to post high school and run races that are 220 yards to 1 mile in length. This year’s proceeds from the run go to support the education of Zimbabwe orphans. that the orphans of Zimbabwe must dance, the food [and] the culture.” face. At the same Since the inception of time, Clark emphathe event, the Zimbabwe sizes the importance Run has attracted greater of educating Los We have the community awareness Altos about Zimba- saying, give a and support, as well as bwe’s multidimenmany volunteers from lokid a fish and sional culture. cal businesses and high “When they you feed him for schools. Some of the run’s come to the meet, I one day, teach volunteers, the Zimbathink they’re a little a kid to fish and bwe Run Ambassadors, more aware of the Los Altos students. you feed him for are country [and] they They help promote the definitely go away a lifetime event and its cause to with a positive attithe community while en— Meet Director for the Run for tude [because they couraging participation.

Zimbabwe Orphans understand] that “The AVID program and Fair Ellen Clark Zimbabwe is not all at Los Altos [and] the about death, dying National Honor Sociand AIDS,” Clark said. “There’s the ety are very much involved,” Clark

said. “From AVID, I have a group of Zimbabwe Run ambassadors [who] promote [the run] and get people excited to come and [participate in] the events.”

The Zimbabwe Run supports local low-income families as well and encourages participation from all members of the community. This year’s main fundraising project hits close to home, as Clark seeks to provide tutoring for orphans to give them access to education, a guaranteed commodity in California.

“In Zimbabwe, education is not free,” Clark said. “You have to pay [because education is] tuition based, [so] even if you go to a poor bush school, it still costs money.

It may only cost you $7 a month,

but they can’t afford it. That’s why we [have the saying], give a kid a fish and you feed him for one day, teach a kid to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Ultimately, Clark finds that the fundraising event centers around bringing happiness to both the orphans in Zimbabwe and the children in Los Altos rather than just focusing on money. Trophies for the race are stuffed with Zimbabwe notes of a $100 billion, but the money has lost much of its value as inflation and other factors ended its use.

“I think little kids understand that money doesn’t bring happiness at their own special level because they come and participate in the booths,” Clark said. “We purposely don’t give out prizes [at the booths because] they come for the fun. If people come and have a smile on their face, then we’ve accomplished our goal.”

One of Clark’s most rewarding experiences was her performance of “The Hummingbird and the Forest Fire,” a skit that highlights the importance of any contribution to a greater cause. The original storyline for the act is based on an African folktale. Clark performs the skit at local schools in order to increase awareness about the issues in Zimbabwe. “[In the story], the little hummingbird goes over and gets a little drop of water and puts out the fire,” Clark said. “The moral of the story is that you don’t have to be big and powerful or have a lot of money to make a difference [because even someone] as small as this hummingbird can make the final difference.”

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The Talon March 8, 2017

DIGITAL HEAL Health and technology are at a crossroads, and their brainchild, digital health, is revolutionizing our healthcare system. Digital health encompasses symptom tracking, personalized medicine and machine learning, among other things. It aims to reduce inefficiencies in the healthcare system by increasing the quality of care while reducing cost, making it more more accessible to everyone.

The process of seeing a doctor and the profession of medicine in general have seen little change in decades.

Analogous to Uber and Lyft’s complete overhaul of the taxi service market, healthcare may too be on the verge of a revolution informed by new and innovative technology. Our generation is likely to see the birth and growth of this movement and experience it firsthand, making it all the more important that we understand its basis and nature.

Digital Health in action The four fundamental aspects of healthcare will remain unchanged: prevention, diagnosis, treatment and post-op. Though each individual digital health technology targets a niche market, the field as a whole aims to revise traditional medicine in each of its four stages — prevention, diagnosis, treatment, post-op — and thus while digital health may seem a narrow subfield of healthcare, companies within the field are remarkably diverse.

Two local companies, Verily and HealthOutcome, span the spectrum of the field. Verily, an Alphabet company of Google, deals with the prevention and treatment aspects of digital health, while HealthOutcome addresses post-treatment feedback.

Formerly Google Life Sciences, Verily designs technology to help prevent problems before they start, monitoring the body for diseases, and ultimately create products that can save lives. “[We aim to make] healthcare active instead of reactive,” Verily Director of Special Projects Eric Peeters said. “Essentially, your car has sensors and warning lights that warn you before something goes wrong — a human doesn’t have that.”

As one of Verily’s prevention projects, Debug is pioneered by a group of scientists and engineers developing technology to release sterile mosquitoes to eliminate those that carry diseases. Merging Verily’s engineering expertise with international partners to stop the spread of disease-carrying mosquitoes, this prevention process combines sensors and algorithms to breed millions of sterile mosquitoes and efficiently sort them for release.

Prevention aside, Verily also spearheads intervention methods, aiding those who live with Parkinson’s disease. Recently, Verily collaborated with the company Liftware to make eating utensils to aid the thousands of people affected by hand tremor.

“It’s like a spoon and a fork, and when you shake it the spoon stays level so that these people can eat by themselves again,” Peeters said.

The tools are designed to reinstate a sense of dignity and self sufficiency, which Peeters says has been met by general user satisfaction.

On the other side of the healthcare continuum, HealthOutcome aims to improve current post operational services by providing a crowdsourced platform for patients to share reviews of their treatments or operations post-op.

Upon experiencing complications while recovering from knee surgery, founder and CEO Ofer Ben-Shachar realized that nobody in the medical community had warned him about complications or followed up with him. His goal in forming HealthOutcome was to create an accessible and unintimidating method for patients to share medical feedback.

“The whole concept is a technology-based company with a nice user interface,” Ben-Shachar said.

“We make it very easy for patients to share their outcome information and present it in a nice way so people can understand. It’s not treated like a scientific paper that nobody really understands.”

While Verily and HealthOutcome interact with healthcare at different points of the process, both have similar long-term goals to revise traditional medicine. The central question of digital health remains: Will healthcare ever become fully digital, or will the current model persist? Peeters believes the future is a mix of the two.

“A part of [healthcare] is going digital and a part of it is going to have to stay the way it is,” Peeters said. “A lot of the interventions cannot be digital.”

Ben-Shachar concurs with this sentiment — while he does not believe that healthcare will ever be fully digitized since the field will continue to rely somewhat on diagnosis by professionals, he predicts that the technological aspect of healthcare will become more prevalent.

“In general, fields that were changed in the last 20 years

by technology [saw changes which] did not come from those industries,” Ben-Shachar said. “The shopping industry was changed

by Amazon… and the travel industry was changed by companies like Expedia.

All of the changes came from technology.

I think medicine is going to experience the same [transformation] in which changes are coming from technology-based companies, not medicinebased companies.”

Both Ben-Shachar and Peeters agree that the current trend of digitized healthcare will continue to grow in the future, opening doors for people in various areas of expertise.

“I think if you want to improve health you can do it by being a health professional,” Ben-Shachar said. “But, in many cases, if you become a good software or hardware engineer or a data scientist, that [is also] useful for healthcare in this age.”

Personalized Medicine Thanks to the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, which determined the sequence of all human DNA, medical professionals are now able to prescribe individualized treatments to their patients in an important subfield of digital health known as personalized medicine. Though the Human Genome Project ended over a decade ago, genome sequencing and personalized medicine are seeing much of their rapid development today.

Being able to examine a person’s genome helps physicians accurately predict a person’s susceptibility to a specific disease and how their body might respond to possible treatments.

This allows a doctor to more effectively choose between treatments for a patient based upon their genetic makeup. This is a stark change from the traditional “onesize-fits-all” approach to medicine, and may shape healthcare for the next generation.

“The shopping industry was changed by Amazon… [and] the travel industry was changed by companies like Expedia. All of the changes came from technology. I think medicine is going to experience the same [transformation].”

— HealthOutcome founder and CEO Ofer Ben-Shachar

In its brief lifespan, personalized medicine has already made great progress in cancer and HIV/ AIDS. Medical professionals in both fields have embraced personalized medicine by using genomic data and genetic makeup to customize screening, diagnosis, prognosis and therapy selection for each patient.

Despite the success of the Human Genome Project and the subsequent developments in genomics, this branch of digital health is still in infancy. Few products are readily available to the average patient, so many aren’t even aware that this aspect of personalized medicine exists, but science is taking strides towards making this type of medicine accessible to all.

Digital health aims to apply technology in reforming traditional medicine. Personalized medicine does just that — it uses novel genomic sequencing technology to change the “one-sizefits-all” model of medicine by informing a physician’s decisions with genetics. There is still plenty of progress to be made, but researchers are optimistic that personalized medicine may well be the new face of healthcare.

The Talon March 8, 2017

LTH:

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USHERING IN A NEW ERA OF HEALTHCARE

SAVITA GOVIND, COPY/CONTENT EDITOR | ANISHA DESAI, SENIOR WRITER | PRIYA DIXIT, STAFF WRITER | HALEY ECKER, STAFF WRITER | NATHAN GODDERIS, STAFF WRITER | JAVIN POMBRA, STAFF WRITER | DANNY VESURAI, STAFF WRITER

Shortcomings The digital health movement is shrouded in a flurry of excitement and optimisn, but despite the acclaim, the issues of bioethics and new products’ usability have surfaced and demand concern and deliberation.

Ethics In 1996, Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which expanded access to patients’ records and allowed various drug firms, marketers and researchers to gather personalized medical data to try to make more money.

One primary concern naysayers pose against digital healthcare is that without sufficient regulation, personalized medical information collected through digital healthcare will lead to a more sophisticated form of discrimination.

“Personal health information can be used to discriminate in countless ways beyond simply denying one enrollment in a health plan,” Senior Health Policy Advisor to former Senator Olympia J. Snowe William Pewen said to “The Atlantic.” “One

GRAPHICS BY CARISSA LEE

could use [personal health information] to evaluate potential customers, employees or associates.”

Discrimination based on health records may be innocuous, manifesting in advertisements for treatments specific to one’s condition — say a new cancer therapy designed for a user’s specific tumor. However, similar usage of medical data could be blatantly damaging as insurance companies charge more or refuse to serve those with records of past medical conditions.

“Once an individual's medical record is compromised, it’s like a credit account — such data never expires, and a replacement cannot be created,” Pewen said. “The damage is permanent and irreparable.

In the language of the law, a victim cannot be made whole.”

Moreover, with digital health systems susceptible to breaches, this important and private data loses the security it once possessed. From 2009 to 2012, over 14.8 million unencrypted patient records were compromised in 10 data breaches.

Even when Congress designed policy to force companies to notify patients if their records were compromised, the pharmaceutical industry quickly rejected the idea and lobbied against it. In the end, large pharmaceutical companies or “big pharma” have often looked to increase gains at consumer’s expense, and digital health may give them another avenue to do so.

Utility Though the issue of bioethics poses important moral questions, digital health faces practical shortcomings as well.

In a study conducted with 26 patients at Zuckerberg San Francisco General (ZSFG) published in the “Journal of General Internal Medicine,” researchers concluded that mobile health apps offer little help to vulnerable populations because they're difficult to navigate. Only 51 percent of participants could finish data-entry tasks across all apps, and participants could only retrieve data from the apps 43 percent of the time.

“Many of the patients we see at ZSFG — who have serious, and often multiple health problems — don’t appear to be able to use or access this technology,” Urmimala Sarkar, an associate professor of medicine who led the study at the Center for Vulnerable Populations at ZSFG, wrote in the study.

“And they’re the ones who have the most to gain from these advances. We need to see more of a focus on designing technology for this population.”

Fragmentation poses another issue. Think of a current consumer of digital health: they may have an application to measure fitness, one to track blood glucose level and yet another to plan diet. This niche utility allows more companies

to make more profit by creating many different products, but only creates more burden for the patient, especially those whose vital medical needs are split across various fields.

Moreover, critics are skeptical about the usefulness of many digital health products. Many believe current products only track and augment a normal lifestyle, rather than adequately serving patients in more urgent need.

“The system needs to be reengineered,” chief technology and strategy officer of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a philanthropic organization focused on health, Stephen Downs said in an interview with KQED. “We don’t need an app that counts steps. This is about finding solutions for people that are more compelling than the patterns that we have established.”

“The system needs to be re-engineered.

We don’t need an app that counts steps. This is about finding solutions for people that are more compelling than the patterns that we have established.”

— Robert Wood Johnson Foundation chief technology and strategy officer Stephen Downs

Final thoughts In the next few years, digital health has the potential to significantly lower healthcare prices, create better coordination in and out of the hospital and help tackle chronic diseases. In light of this, the idea that usability currently has its f laws isn’t so much a critique of digital healthcare, rather a critique of the present. Meaning, instead of disavowing an entire field based on its current f laws, we should build from those f laws a better system to serve the needs of humans in a quickly modernizing world.

The issue of bioethics, however, is a bit messier. Similar to usability, the problems do not lie in the field of digital health itself — changes in the status quo could help mitigate the problem. With greater regulations by government organizations and advancing technical security, digital healthcare can provide safer services to patients.

There’s no reason to reject digital healthcare based on current problems. Yes, it is important to identify the shortcomings of the field in the midst of the predictable hype surrounding digital health. However, these problems are not cause for lament, as innovation to better the field is rooted in being aware of these flaws.

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The Talon March 8, 2017

The Real World is Scary

CSU Channel Islands: diverse and accessible ALEX LUNA Staff Writer

By Jaclyn Saik

You Know?

I haven’t worn a turtleneck to school. I have one, yeah, it’s gray and kinda soft. It looks okay on me, not great.

You know why I don’t wear it?

It's itchy.

Not immediately when I put it on, but later, when it’s tired of being on me. I could deal with it, the itchiness, but I don't know what kind of day I'll have then, you know? I might be sad then, or I might forget to eat lunch, or see something that makes me self-conscious on the internet. Or I might find a snake inside my friend's car. I don't want my neck to be itchy for that.

I mean, I know the beginning of the day, but what about the end?

I could be an accountant. I could wear a safer sweater, I could major in history, I could teach a class somewhere beige.

I could hang inside my birdhouse and make sure I don’t glance too much outside the little hole, and I could maybe be successful; or in twenty years I could crawl under my desk with scissors and take up a terrible hobby and hate myself for not putting on a turtleneck.

I could be in a book club. I could sit on a hard couch and compare my aging face to the aging faces of the women next to me, I could shove my irritating interpretations of the book into the wine-soaked air and I could turn catty and I could hate my children at home. Itchy.

Or! I could wear a turtleneck, but I could tear it off and start over real fast after a bad interview. Maybe I’d just end up jumping out a window with the f lames of my burning sweater wrapped around my neck like a satanic choker.

Or! I could have an easel inside my apartment, and the wooden legs would hold paint and pain. It could stay there.

It could stay used. Maybe I’d be content.

And! AND! I could risk it, I could pull on a turtleneck, I could check a couple boxes and skip a couple classes and I could turn out golden or I could turn out ridiculous. I could take a Buzzfeed quiz and find out I’ll be a successful mermaid and then I could step outside and drown. I could choose someone beautiful and chase something sparkly and then blame myself when I find out it’s tinfoil and I have to change locks. And I could refuse to take credit when I hit myself in the ear, I could refuse an ice pack when I’m offered one, I could wallow in pity in the corners of my rental unit and get addicted to opioids and wear thrift-store robes over jeans, and I could regret, regret, regret, regret, and they’d find me lying there next to the cat dish, palms up, my sweater completely unravelled.

When thinking of colleges in California, the big names usually come to mind: Stanford, UCLA, Cal and other well-known UCs and CSUs. When making the big decision on which college to attend, the lesser-known CSU Channel Islands presents an interesting option for a wide selection of students.

For those that value diversity, Channel Islands has lots of it.

There are two times more females than males, 54 percent students being first generation, and 52 percent of students being people of color.

Of course money is always a factor in making a decision in what school to go to. If money is an issue, Channel Islands offers 83 percent of current students financial aid, with the school providing more than $500,000 for scholarships per year. Those who may be less aff luent are able to receive help to pay the $27,546 total cost of attendance.

For college-bound students concerned about money, there is reassurance because Channel Islands will most likely provide financial aid.

Besides the fairly affordable cost of attendance, Channel Islands provides a unique environment. Located between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, Channel Islands gives off a mid-size suburban vibe, while still being close to a major city.

Conveniently, it is about 10 min-

WIKI COMMONS

This is the CSU Channel Islands campus, located in Camarillo, between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.

The school offers a diverse population as well as a notably high concentration of first generation students. utes away from a beach, so if the tive, the graduation rate of 55 academic rigour ever gets to be a percent means that students bit too stressful, stumay have to be more dents can just go and individually driven take a nice swim in to attain their dethe ocean or a calm Fifty-four pergrees. walk to the beach in cent of stuThose worried order to destress. about how their SAT dents [at CSU Unlike the other Channel Isor ACT score might big name colleges, affect their chances lands] are first CSU Channel Islands may want to considis relatively small, generation coler Channel Islands with only 6,611 total lege students because CSUs will graduate and under- and fifty-two not take standardgraduate students as percent are ized testing scores of fall 2016. Despite into account for stuits size, it has a high people of color. dents with a GPA of acceptance rate with 3.0 or higher. All of 72.4 percent of apthese factors make plicants admitted. Though the Channel Islands a good and safe acceptance rate is less competi- option compared to the lower

acceptance rates of some of the big name colleges.

One might ask, what else this school has to offer? The school has a variety of majors to attract the attention of many different types of students. Its most popular majors are business, psychology and biology. Even if those three don’t interest you, there are in total 24 majors to choose from.

Picking which colleges to apply to will be one of the biggest decisions in any student's life.

And once they narrow down that list, deciding which to actually attend is an even more difficult choice. Though Channel Islands is not the most prestigious school, it is still attractive option for students.

ISU CONTINUED FROM THE FRONT PAGE

O

n Sunday, February 12, students from ISU joined over 150 marchers from across the Bay Area in front of Sunnyvale City Hall. Organized predominantly by Sean and Homestead High School senior Yasaman Hakami, the protest was focused on cultivating an environment of cultural understanding among the diverse crowd of attendees.

“I felt like a burden was lifted from us after we protested,” Sean said. “Things felt tense and uncomfortable before the protest, but everyone felt happier and so connected after it was over.”

The protest was designed for students affected by the ban to take action and share experiences. After a short session of poster-making, eight different politically active individuals, ranging from high school students to seasoned activists, spoke about the affected countries and the refugee crisis.

“As we chanted, cars that passed by us honked in support and called out their windows,” ISU member junior Nika Darvish said. “I left the protest feeling empowered by the inspiring words of the speakers, and that I had accomplished something meaningful.”

The fact that the protest was comprised of so many people outside of the Los Altos ISU, despite being organized by the president, may seem at first to dilute the club’s involvement in the event. But the reason that the event was so diversely attended actually fits the character of ISU: ever since its “reboot” last year. Sean has been working to make this club as inclusive toward different cultural backgrounds as possible, and this protest was a manifesta-

DANNY NGUYEN DANNY NGUYEN

ISU joins over 150 students and adults from across the Bay Area to protest with homemade signs. In the past two years, ISU has grown into an active force on campus, sharing Iranian culture under the leadership of senior Sean Adibi. tion of that. words in Farsi are the same in Hindi.”

“One major hurdle we've had to Many students follow a friend into overcome is making sure we don't their first club meeting, but end up create an in-group and out-group staying a member because of the based on ethnicity,” Sean said, “I unique experiences the environment want to stress the offers. importance of all eth“Although at first I was nicities.” a little skeptical I would He’s succeeded. One major not fit in very well, I was Walk into an ISU hurdle we’ve surprised,” senior Nick Romeeting or social and overcome is driguez said. “ They really you’ll find Iranian food making sure we make everyone feel weland culture savored by come and they make sure don’t create an students of all differeveryone gets to know ent ethnicities. Mem- in-group and out- each other with various bers are there for the group based on activities that are fun and people, the insight into ethnicity. I want celebrate the Iranian cula different culture and to stress the ture.” the acceptance the club Along with the recent encourages, regardless importance of protest, ISU has partnered of where their parents all ethnicities. with the non-profit orgaare from. nization Prerna, which — senior Sean Adibi “I love comparing works to support refugees and contrasting culthat come to Santa Clara tures,” Sean said. “For example, an County. The Los Altos ISU often raises Indian-American member of ISU was money for this organization by selling ecstatic when he realized a bunch of traditional Iranian food or tea at Los

Altos school events. Especially after the recent election, ISU has been focusing on alleviating the strain between U.S. and Iran, starting with sharing Iranian culture with the school.

“With Trump's executive order, I oddly feel more emboldened and empowered to be an Iranian, not a Persian, not a Middle Eastern,” Sean said. “A few years back, people could be outrightly racist, but that's no longer the case. People can't call me a terrorist anymore without feeling like a bigot. People can’t call me a terrorist anymore without feeling like a bigot.”

As far as the future of ISU, activism seems likely.

“There's so much more to a nationality than diplomatic relations,” Sean said. “That's what we have to drive home. I'm Iranian, but I do not represent a theocratic government… We need to differentiate people from their respective governments in the same way we need to differentiate the American people from Trump's racist policy.”

The Talon March 8, 2017

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Catch reviews of new movies, music and more, plus read the Arts & Culture archives at lahstalon.org/category/a&c

Review: East Street Tacos’ overpriced fare ROSS AVERY Staff Writer

Given the rising popularity of quick, casual street food, it’s not surprising that East Street Tacos, located in downtown Mountain View’s Castro Street, opened in January to take advantage of the trend. The fare is described as “comfort food,” delivering an upscale take on a sidewalk classic: street tacos.

The tacos are derived from a wide array of cultures: there’s Asian-style cuisine, Mexican fish tacos and even some American selections. A variety of meat choices are available, as well as a handful of vegetarian options.

Everything is served inside either soft or crispy corn tortillas, lettuce wraps or steamed buns known as bao. When placing an order, you have a choice of shells, although the restaurant has their own recommendations on which should accompany each taco.

An immediate, glaring fault is the uneven ratio between price and quantity: simply put, the tacos are small but uncomfortably ex-

pensive. On average, a single taco will run about $5, with some of the more premium options coming to more than $6. If they were decently-sized, this wouldn’t be as much of an issue, but this isn’t the case. Each taco takes about around three or four bites to finish, making it almost a necessity to order several per person. There is a combo deal available: 4 for $19, or 10 for $45 — a better value, but still excessive. For the price, the food should have been outstanding, a true elevation of a humble dish into something memorable.

It didn’t deliver.

The thai duck curry and the “tikka chicken” tacos were both bland and felt inauthentic — neither option really captured the essence of a complex, spice-rich curry that I was hoping for.

The phở taco was, surprisingly, pretty good, although it felt like a trite continuation of the restaurant’s apparent theme of taking a well-known cultural dish and shoving it inside of a taco. The bulgogi beef option was also decent, but ultimately disappointing:

the meat didn’t have the same juicy, fresh-grilled flavor of a cut from a legitimate Korean barbeque.

To my great relief, the miso truffle pork belly taco was a success. This was the food at its best: authentically Asian (or Asian-fusion, if that’s even possible) and flavorful, the bao providing a pillowy base for the tender cut of meat. It felt real, not just like a taco-ized rehashing of a classic dish. Unfortunately, this was the only item on the menu I would recommend, and even this comes with some caveats: it still isn’t worth the steep $6.25 cost.

One would expect a better-thanaverage experience at this price point, but East Street Tacos failed to come through on this end, as well: the bored-looking wait staff milled around the tables lackadaisically and the decór felt like an awkward, vain attempt to be cool.

The bottom line is that East Street Tacos isn’t worth it, for now.

The menu is tenuous, combining a few admittedly fair selections with some duds, and it’s too expensive for what it is. It seems tailored for

THARA SALIM

A pho-filled lettuce wrap and pork belly bao from East Street Tacos, a new restaurant in downtown Mountain View. East Street allows customers to to combine foods from different cultures — though the results can be poor. a more adult crowd, probably some newly minted Silicon Valley tech workers who don’t see any problems whatsoever with paying five bucks each for something that originally started as street food. I can’t foresee

many reasons why a student, especially one who is strapped for cash, would choose it for lunch or dinner given the wide selection of decent, more affordable places within walking distance.

Review: Sunnywich succeeds with the basics four options, none of which are carrots cut through the rich meats, vegetarian, but the three that I the onions lend crunch and brighttried are well executed and only ness, the cilantro adds a freshness Walking into Sunnywich Cafe, cost around $5. The BBQ pork and the jalapeno adds spice. Bea newly opened sandwich and sandwich is made cause all sandwiches boba tea shop on Maude Avenue not with the typiare garnished in the in Sunnyvale, you’re welcomed by cal American shredsame way, all options a slightly cluttered, homey feel- ded pork coated with Sunnywich Cafe taste very similar and ing. The interior decorating is barbeque sauce, but serves up Banhare thus equally ensparse, with charming watercolors with tender, flavorful joyable. Overall, the Mi sandwiches of Pokémon and a Maneki Neko, Chinese-style cha siu fusion of Vietnamor Japanese waving cat, adorning pork. Like the BBQ and boba that ese garnish and Chithe top of the pastry case. At first pork, the roast beef is are excellent for nese or Japanese style glance, the menu appears to be packed with a tradi- a quick noonmeats makes for a standard American fare; however, tional Chinese flavor time outing. spread of unique and all options are actually reminiscent which enhances the pleasant sandwiches, of Banh-Mi Sandwiches, which are beef with warm spicall of which are worth comprised of Vietnamese ingredi- es. The teriyaki chicken is coated it for their prices. ents on a French baguette. Small, in a very light and subtle teriyaki In contrast to the sandwich unassuming and unknown, this sauce that yields a sandwich that menu, Sunnywich Cafe’s boba tea hole-in-the-wall serves up sand- isn’t too heavy or indulgent. menu is extensive, encompassing wiches that have more complexity All of these sandwiches are 55 unique flavors, including honthan the menu advertises. adorned with pickled radishes, car- eydew and lavender, for around Sunnywich Cafe’s sandwich rots, raw onions, fresh cilantro and $4 each. Original items such as menu is very limited, with only jalapeno slices. The radishes and Thai Milk Tea and Taro Milk Tea are smooth with no chalky aftertaste, are full of stated flavor, and ADVERTISEMENT avoid the pitfall of being overly sweet. Much of the sweetness actually comes from the boba, which is honeyed, squishy, chewy and plentiful. When ordering, you can opt for either 50 percent or 100 percent sweetness, but I would recommend 100 percent sweetness for Thai Milk Tea. If you’re looking for something more adventurous and you like artificial fruit flavorings, the Watermelon Milk Tea is guaranteed to be an interesting experience. I found the taste to be very reminiscent of my favorite childhood watermelon bubble gum.

As many add-ins as you want, like lychee jelly and green apple popping boba, can be added to the drink for no additional cost. If it’s complementary to the flavor of the milk tea that you order, I would highly recommend ordering the lychee jelly in addition to regular boba, as it brings another dimension to your drink with the refreshing fruity flavor and the contrasting

ADRIENNE MITCHEL Staff Writer

ADRIENNE MITCHEL

Above, Torani flavoring syrup bottles gleam from the top of a boba tea brewing machine. Below, the interior of one of Sunnywich’s Bahn-Mi sandwiches, which combine American meats with Vietnamese toppings. crunchy and slightly chewy texture that offsets the squishiness of the regular boba. The drinks are made with a milk powder, but can easily be requested to be left out if you’re lactose intolerant. As an added bonus, Sunnywich Cafe rewards their customers with a stamp card on the back of their business card that has a deal of one free drink after purchasing eight. Since there are so many excellent boba tea options,

this offer is definitely worth it.

Sunnywich Cafe may not be the biggest and is far from the fanciest cafe around, but its charm and warmth are traits that will keep pulling you back to this tiny family-run establishment. Not only are there cheap prices and quick service, but also high quality Vietnamese-inspired sandwiches and a plethora of boba tea options that do not disappoint.

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The Talon March 8, 2017

Building a portfolio for art schools HALEY ECKER Staff Writer

In the months leading up to this January, seniors across the country spent countless hours poring over their college applications. They made countless edits to essays and personal statements to prove to college admission officers that they’re the most unique, qualified candidates for their school. For visual art majors, however, this journey was slightly different, for in lieu of essays, applicants were required to express themselves in the most distinct way possible — a portfolio of their art.

In addition to submitting a regular college application through the Common App, these students also submitted a portfolio to each school using SlideRoom, an applicant tracking system. The portfolio has more significance than essays typically do because it contains the most important information that prospective students want to convey to art schools: their artwork. Though fine art applicants must write a paragraph explaining each of their creations, the technique and creativity behind the art itself is the main focus of admissions counselors.

Different schools often ask applicants to create pieces for specific prompts. Open-ended prompts are not uncommon for applicants to see, and they challenge students to think about conceptual ideas that might impress the admissions teams. In addition to these specific prompts, applicants must also balance technique with their creative ambitions as artists. Senior Neha Sajja chose to use a repeated theme throughout many of her creations, but this all depends on what the artist wants to portray to

the admissions counselors.

“You don’t necessarily have to have a common theme, but I used anxiety as a theme for several of my pieces,” Neha said. “[Art colleges] like to see a variety of media and experimentation, but they also want to see a few works that have a cohesive theme.

They want to see kids working on creating bodies of work with pieces that communicate with each other.”

Director of Undergraduate Admissions at San Francisco Art Institute Colleen Mulvey believes that the portfolios and applicants that take chances with their work often stand out the most when examining applications.

“Students that really take a risk and make work that’s very personal to them, whether it be a topic that they’re really passionate about or whether it be about them as a person, really stand out,” Mulvey said.

“It’s always very impressive when they’re really engaged with their ideas and with the work and can articulate themselves in the artist statements about why they’re making that work.”

Admissions counselors for art schools recommend that applicants place their strongest pieces first when submitting their portfolio, but the artist still might want to tell a story through their portfolio in regards to where they place their pieces. Senior Adrian Beyer said that he went to his art teacher and asked for insight on what type of pieces the colleges might want to see from him.

Before submitting his complete portfolio, however, he also got feedback from the admissions counselors of his schools of interest on possible areas of improvement, such as depth perception and perspective.

“I went to the National Portfolio

Day in San Francisco and I showed my portfolio to the Rhode Island School of Design, to Pratt and to Parsons,” Adrian said. “You take your computer out, go to SlideRoom, give it to them and they say something [about your work]. The actual consultation was very brief. It was kind of refreshing to me that they just told me what I needed to do right away, but there was a certain anxiety of ‘Gosh, I really hope this is what they’re looking for,’ the whole time I was waiting in line.”

One of the most important factors taken into consideration by both traditional and arts-focused colleges, is the applicant’s grades. However, those pursuing art majors noted

that academics aren’t necessarily as heavily weighted for their applications as they are for traditional colleges. Grades do matter, but a strong portfolio is of the utmost importance when applying.

“I always assumed when I was younger that I was going to apply to a top-tier college, so I have good grades because of that stress,” Neha said. “You can get in with a 2.0 if you have a crazy good portfolio. They’re really just looking for unique kids that will make a difference and are going to bring something different to the school.”

The next step for many hopeful artists once they get accepted to art school is to choose what field of art

to specialize in. This can be somewhat challenging and nerve-wracking, regardless of whether one is an art student or a traditional students.

However, many art schools don’t require their students to declare their major until late sophomore year so this makes it easier for students like Neha, who haven’t narrowed in on a particular branch of art, to explore all types of creative outlets.

“I’m interested in anything from architecture and industrial design to painting and textiles. They’re all creative fields but some of them are more like hard creativity versus soft creativity,” Neha said. “I’m probably going to do a little bit of everything until I can settle down and choose.”

FRANCESCA FALLOW

Senior and visual artist Adrian Beyer perfects his craft in room 913, where LAHS’s artists often gather to work. Adrian, along with other students who applied to art colleges this year, combined years of work into a portfolio that substitutes for the essays submitted by most college applicants.

When queer representation goes halfway JOCELYN MAEYAMA Guest Writer

“It’s the gayest story in the history of television...We all certainly saw it as a love story.” Martin Freeman’s own description of the relationship between his character, John Watson, and Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes would seem to affirm the suspicions of “Sherlock” viewers who saw it that way. In one scene, Watson leans intently across a candle-lit table toward Holmes.

His eyes drift from Holmes’s eyes to his lips, and he inquires about Holmes’s relationship status. When Holmes confirms he is single, Watson grins and licks his lips. Were Holmes a woman, Watson’s attraction would be clear. But to perceive it that way, the viewer would have to be receptive to the subtle interactions that emerge between closeted gays — something not always obvious to non-queer people.

But despite Freeman’s comments, in the show’s most recent season finale, Holmes and Watson were confirmed to be just friends. This caused an uproar in the LGBTQ+ audience; once again, on-screen interactions and even seemingly overt admissions of the characters’ queerness had concluded in disappointment. For queer people, such subtext is a promise of representation. In leading viewers on with these subtle interactions before denying their existence, writers appear to participate in representation — then backpedal and refuse to follow through. In confirming that Holmes and Watson would never be together, “Sherlock” writers made it clear they are, and always have been,

guilty of the practice — which is so common that it’s been given its own term — queerbaiting.

Queerbaiting, as defined by LGBTQ+ media, is the encouragement of subtextual romantic attraction between characters of the same gender without the intent of clarifying a romantic relationship. “Sherlock” isn’t the only show guilty of this; “Supernatural,” a fantasy horror television series, is also accused of queerbaiting for teasing that two of its male characters might be gay. Misha Collins plays protagonist Dean’s best friend, Castiel, and revealed that showrunner Jeremy Carver told him to “play Cas like a jilted lover to Dean.” This direction manifests in prolonged eye contact between the two men and persists despite writer confirmations the relationship would never happen. A similar pattern has emerged in crime drama show “Rizzoli and Isles,” where executive producer of “Rizzoli and Isles” Janet Tamaro has addressed speculations that her show’s two female leads may be gay by saying she “finds the lesbian theory amusing.”

However, she still declares, “Rizzoli and Isles have been heterosexual from the first episode.”

Queerbaiting reduces queer people’s sexuality to a plot twist, a device used to make shows exciting. This invalidates the identities and hardships of queer people and squanders the potential for representation.

Subtextual attraction was one of the only available forms of representation under the Hays Code, the first set of film censorship guidelines, which dictated that gay people were sinners and were only allowed to be

portrayed if they were punished. Sly innuendos, drifting eyes or other forms of subtext could work around these restrictions. If characters weren’t confirmed to be gay, writers did not have to punish them with beheadings or other gruesome deaths.

While writers previously incorporated subtext to show they were allies of the LGBTQ+ community with positive representation of queer people, times have changed. Successful shows featuring queer characters like “The Fosters,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “How to Get Away with Murder” show there’s no excuse for not committing to representation. Now, subtext isn’t caring or thoughtful.

Instead, writers who queerbait show they are more concerned with keeping their audience broad than giving queer people representation.

When writers queerbait, they can simultaneously claim representation and deny the queerness of any character. They appeal to LGBTQ+ audiences, but they also fear their viewership would drop if their film is branded as a “gay film” –– an argument also used to justify limiting racial representation. Writers will also turn on their audiences by denying queerbaiting, accusing the audience of reading too much into a show.

These low standards for queer representation allow writers to profit off of queerness without many of the benefits that result from true, openly gay depiction. Representation provides exposure of queer stories and lives to people who may not otherwise hear them, and this exposure moves people toward acceptance.

The more personal details an audience gets to know about a queer

person –– their favorite pastimes, how they take their tea, their nervous habits –– the farther the person gets from being a stereotype, and the more they become an individual.

It can also benefit queer viewers directly. In areas where homophobia is prevalent, queer people refrain from holding hands even in a darkened movie theater. Everything from seeing a judgemental double take on a bus to hearing threats and slurs shouted from across the street remind queer people they need to be careful to protect themselves. Media is a form of escape for many, and positive representation can provide queer people with a feeling of society’s acceptance.

Steven Moffat, one of the writers for “Sherlock,” voiced his support for gay representation, saying “I

think it’s important for kids watching television to see themselves on screen.” Representation for queer people breaks down stereotypes and reassures them that their sexuality determines nothing else about them. If Holmes and Watson were confirmed to be gay, queer people could see themselves not as the “gay best friend” but as a world-renowned detective or a distinguished army veteran. Yet despite Moffat’s support, “Sherlock” still lacks recurring LGBTQ+ characters.

Instead of letting their characters remain ambiguous, writers should commit to confirming their characters are queer. With definitive, positive representation instead of queerbaiting, queer people will be reminded their identity is not a death sentence.

BBC ONE

Watson (Martin Freeman, right) and Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) share an intimate moment on BBC’s “Sherlock.” Shows such as “Sherlock” often include subtext that implies homosexuality without ever officially acknowledging it, walking a fine line between representing gay characters and making queerness into a joke.

A R T S & C U LT U R E

The Talon March 8, 2017

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Q&A

CONTINUED FROM THE FRONT PAGE

Eventually, her mother came back for her and her brother.

When Esmeralda arrived in America in third grade, she stayed with her aunts. She wouldn’t see her mother, who was helping her brother immigrate, for another six months. Today, Esmeralda rarely communicates with her father, who still lives in Mexico, and she hasn’t traveled back.

It’s stories like hers, Esmeralda says, that students often never try to understand.

“Students [need] to just give us a chance,” Esmeralda said. “Every Mexican has their story. It’s always a struggle to come to America.”

With a political climate increasingly hostile toward immigrants and minorities, understanding stories can be crucial.

In the following interview excerpts, edited for clarity, The Talon talks to Esmeralda about her experiences in an attempt to understand what it means to be a Mexican immigrant.

What was it like when you arrived in America?

It was really hard to catch up.

I didn’t speak English, so assimilating was pretty hard in elementary school. Everyone was just making fun of me because I didn’t do this, or I didn’t know how to do that.

I always tried to dress like them, even though I had my own culture.

If I wore my Mexican shirt, and everyone started calling me names, then I wouldn’t do it again. Just to act like they do.

Is there pressure to be more American? Does that conflict with Mexican culture?

I think so. Everyone always favors the higher income class, and all the white kids are always the teacher’s favorites, so you want to be like them. You want to get the straight A’s like they do, be successful in AP classes like they do.

Most of the things I do at home, I wouldn’t do at school. Like for Spanish, we had to make tortillas.

All the Mexicans knew how to do it, they just pretended that they didn’t. They didn’t even pronounce things right. I was saying, “You’re Mexican, what are you doing?”

So you lose yourself, trying to be like them. Even your parents, once

PHOTOS BY RACHEL LU

Esmeralda Nuñez, left, who moved to the U.S. from Mexico, believes that her race — as well as her status as an immigrant — poses a stereotype that follows her wherever she goes. She spoke with The Talon about the role of prejudice, cultural expectations and academics in the lives of Mexican students. they come here, it’s all work, work, work. They don’t have the time to talk to you about your culture and do the traditions you’re used to doing at home.

Have you ever been hurt by stereotypes or racism?

Before presidential elections, my friends were sitting at a table where they usually sit, and a group of white kids were like, “Oh no, they took our table.” And then the kids were like, “Oh yeah, don’t worry, we’ll get them back when Trump wins.”

My friends were really pissed off, they were about to go off on them.

Not everyone can go through it.

Every Mexican has a unique story.

Like when I came here, I was bullied in school because I didn’t speak English. It’s just so hard. We hear all these things pushing us back, and we get tired. And I always tried to some say, “Whatever.

They say I’m going to dress like them, fail, I’m going to fail.” even though I And then they just had my own culgive up.

ture. If I wore my Mexican shirt, and everyone started calling me names, then I wouldn’t do it again. Just to act like they do.

Would you be willing to talk about your experiences with depression a little?

Toward the end of freshman year, my best friend was killed in a car accident.

— junior Esmeralda Nuñez That really got to me.

My grades just started going down. I was just freaking How do some people feel out. I was failing at school, I had pushed back by the stereotypes? just lost my friend. I was way too Everyone is always telling us that overwhelmed. Sophomore year, I Mexicans are going to fail, they’re tried to commit suicide, and I was not going to go to college, they’re so close to doing so. going to end up pregnant and stuff I know a lot of my friends who like that. are like this, and they’re all Mexi-

can. Some get through it, but not everyone. A lot of them have to deal with it by themselves, and they do self-harm and stuff. They don’t ask for help, and they don’t feel comfortable asking for help.

Mexicans have that stereotype where it’s like, “You have to be tough, you have to be a man.” So even my guy friends who have cut before, they’ll talk about it, but they’ll say, “No, don’t tell anyone.”

point. In Mexican homes, you strictly speak Spanish, and you cook the typical Mexican food.

But some of my friends were born here, and they talk to their parents in English, and they don’t have the traditions we have. You see them differently, the same way you see Americans, like “Oh yeah, they’re not real Mexicans.”

Although we do talk to them and stuff, we don’t feel that comfort, they don’t understand because they haven’t gone through the same struggles. They don’t really know as much of the culture, and some of them don’t speak Spanish.

With the whole Trump thing, they were like, “Oh no, we’re not immigrants. Our parents are, but we’re not.” And I was like, “You guys come from immigrant families, you basically are.”

Do you think there are ways to help students facing this?

I think the way they do therapy, like the way they sent me to therapy here and said, “Sit down, talk about your problems. Okay now go get out to class,” is not a way to help people. People need to constantly be talking to someone, not to just sit behind a desk and have someone in front of you. They need a walk, or just What helps you get through someone to hear you out but not the different struggles you face? be telling you, “Oh yeah, don’t do I move forward by finding this, don’t kill yourself.” That’s something I was passionate not going to stop you about. Last year from doing it. You I started playing just need a positive soccer. Then after I moved forperson to be there. soccer was over, because I realized ward by finding Do you think something I sports were my LAHS does a good thing to go forward was passionjob helping low and get things off income or immi- ate about. Last my head, I did preyear I started grant students? season conditioning I don’t think they playing socfor football. Then really do much to cer, then this this year I played help us. Other than football. And then the AVID program year I played I’m going to do conI’m in, they don’t have football. When I ditioning again to much special help. just completely play football next They know kids are can’t handle it, I year. It’s just finding failing, but all they what’s going to help write how I feel. you get through it. have is the tutorial center. And the kids Just to let it out.

Some people just there don’t even want need to draw, or — junior Esmeralda Nuñez to tutor, and a lot of write. I write a lot. my friends have gone When I just comto get help, but they’re so rude pletely can’t handle it, I just write about it that my friends don’t even how I feel. If I’m mad at someone, want to go anymore. So it’s not like I’ll write them a letter and keep it there’s any center that we can go to to myself. Just to let it out. to get help, or any certain group for I have to keep going, because help.

I’m a first-generation student, and I can’t give up on my parents.

Is there a divide between na- They’re the main reason I do it, tive-born Mexicans and Mexi- because they paid all that money can Americans? to bring me here. I have to pay It makes a division to some them back.

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The Talon March 8, 2017

Get daily updates on Eagle athletics and read the sports archives at lahstalon.org/category/sports

Boys volleyball enters rebuilding year fill the shoes of the graduated seniors who played club volleyStaff Writer ball for years.

“We have a lot more new playAt the start of every season, ers coming in and a lot more high school sports teams work players who haven’t played volon making adjustments and leyball in the past,” junior Casey building a new team after los- McConnell said. “It used to be ing old players and gaining just [club team] players who new ones. Last played, but now year, the varwe have guys who sity boys volleywant to play and ball team had a We have a lot more develop in the strong starting new players coming sport.” lineup full of tall in and a lot more After losing five and experienced key positions of seniors.

Those players who haven’t the six starters, graduating se- played volleyball in finding the best niors were part the past. It used to replacements has of the founding be just [club team] been a priority for members that the team leaving players who played, created boys voleven more room leyball at Los but now we have on the bench.

Altos four years guys who want to Many frosh-soph ago.

Winning play and develop in players needed the majority of to be pulled up the sport. their games, they to varsity in order — junior Casey McConnell made it past one to put together a round of CCS. full team. Much This year, however, the team like the team when volleyball will have to adjust their lineup was first founded at Los Altos, after losing five key seniors. the current roster is filled with In an effort to fill up the spac- athletes who are new to the sport es left over, many players moved of volleyball. A graduated senior up from frosh-soph. However, that was part of this founding many of these new players have group was David Stein ‘16, one of little experience playing volley- last year’s captains. ball, which will make it hard to “It was pretty great,” David

NATHAN GODDERIS

said. “Everyone came together to make the first team happen.

We had a lot of people from different sports like water polo and tennis.”

Along with player ability, the height of the players on a team is an important factor to making a good volleyball team. The average height of this year’s volleyball team decreased a lot after graduating seniors, so that factor may cause problems for the team going into the season.

“Last year we had a lot taller of a team, I think the average height was around 6 feet 2 inches,” senior Darion Jusuf said.

“Our height is a lot smaller this year, so we have to compensate for that and do better in terms of passing because shorter people are better at passing, so we’re just trying to make adjustments [for] not having as tall people.”

More than just losing good players, the team has also lost its old leaders and having a younger roster, finding new confident and spirited leaders is more important than ever. Going into the season, the team is lacking leadership from upperclassmen to motivate the players for the upcoming games. They desperately need role models to step up and demonstrate leadership for the underclassmen.

KUNAL PANDIT

Senior Darion Jusuf sets the ball during the game. While Darion is a club player, many of his teammates joined the high school team with little experience in volleyball and athleticism coming from other sports.

“I’m still waiting for some players to possibly step up and show leadership,” varsity boys volleyball head coach Ted Lancaster said. “We have a couple of seniors, but they were not really big leaders last year, so we’re waiting for the leaders to emerge.”

The varsity team will look at this year as an opportunity to rebuild and develop. It will be a hard journey to match last year’s CCS success, but the team remains optimistic and will try to win the games they can.

“I don’t really have any expectations for the season,” Darion said. “With a team like this we’re

just trying to be as supportive as possible because many players are pretty new to the game, so you want to show them how fun the game can be. We’re trying to win all of the games we can. Of course, some of the teams will beat us but we’re not going to let that put us down.”

This year’s seniors will dedicate this season to rebuilding and developing the team for the future, while also sharing their volleyball experience with the new players.

The seniors will focus on making this season enjoyable and making the most out of their last high school volleyball season.

Triple threats on the field, court and track ball and school volleyball at the With their extensive involvesame time.” ment in the athletic program, A fellow member of the three- Jamie and Albin have both athlete-of-the-year Junior Jamie Kesten’s year is sport squad and part of the foot- received a triathlon in itself; she spikes ball, soccer and track teams, awards. Sophomore Naomi the volleyball to her opponents senior Albin Mollerstedt finds Donovan, who also won an athlete-of-the in the fall, dribbles across the himself facing time year award as basketball court in winter and similar a freshman, is ends the year throwing in track constraints. On motivated by a and field. While Jamie has been most weekdays, I love getting out there similar passion a three-sport athlete since fresh- Albin has two and competing with for sports. man year, her passion for sports and a half hours of school prac- other people. It’s a great “When I was stems from much earlier on. growing up, I “When I was little, I tried all tice. Albin also experience, but then off tried out a lot of sports,” Jamie said. “[My] parents participates in of that just comes the sports,” Naomi were like, ‘Try this one!’ There a club soccer teamwork and having said. “I started were so many [sports] that I team, which has couldn't stop. Then [my parents] practice two to fun with your team. It’s a basketball and soccer in first said, ‘You have to quit! You have three days of combination of the two. grade and startto choose one!’ I never chose one, the week.

— senior Albin Mollerstedt Despite the ed track in midso now I still play three.” dle school. I went Although she enjoys all three c o n s i d e r a b l e sports, Jamie has the most interest time commitment it takes to play to sports camps over summers, so I in volleyball, the sport she hopes one sport, let alone three, Albin just stayed active [until now].”

Since each sport Naomi plays is to continue playing in college. In remains motivated to continue addition to participating in varsity playing because of his experience equally as unique and important with team bonding to her, she cannot imagine herself sports all school and camaraderie. giving up any one in particular. year long, Jamie Though he loves the “I really like the variety of also plays club sports themselves, sports and how there are difvolleyball, in line I really like the Albin finds an even ferent aspects to each one, so it with her future variety of sports more valuable ex- just keeps it interesting,” Naomi aspirations. and how there are in the in- said. “[For example in basket“I have five different aspects to perience teractions with his ball], you just lay it all out on hours of [volteammates. the f loor and push yourself as leyball] prac- each one, so it just “Initially, I [played hard as you can. It's fast-paced tice on Mondays keeps it interesting. and Wednes- — sophomore Naomi Donovan because I] loved the and exciting. Track pushes you, sports,” Albin said. the events I do specifically, the days, and then “I loved getting out mile and the 800 meter [dash].”

I have games,” there and competWhile all three athletes may enJamie said. “On weekends, we go to Las Vegas ing with other people. It's a great joy their respective set of sports, or Sacramento for volleyball, experience, but then off of that they will eventually need to so it changes [with the season]. just comes the teamwork and choose one sport to continue. Ja[Winter] is my busiest season having fun with your team. It's a mie and Albin recognize the limitations of college sports and have because I'm doing club volley- combination of the two.”

JUSTIN YU Staff Writer

already narrowed down their choices, sacrificing time from other sports to focus on the one they are likely to pursue.

“I like volleyball and basketball a lot, but I think that the whole college experience would be better with volleyball just because it is less of a toll on your body,” Jamie said.

Albin is currently deciding between college football and soccer. Even though Albin is passionate about both, Albin’s transition into college athletics means giving up one sport to continue the other.

“I've talked to a few coaches for both [football and soccer],” Albin said. “It really just depends on how that goes, [where]I get in and what opportunities those schools have.”

For now, despite their tight schedules, Jamie, Albin and Naomi all continue playing for their love of sports, recommending the three-sport experience to those who are willing to commit to it.

GRAPHICS BY THARA SALIM

March 8, 2017 The Talon

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Boys swimming dives without Gwo EMMA VAN GEUNS Staff Writer

The atmosphere for the boys swim team has dramatically changed this season, with many new players and strategies for the year. The loss of past key teammates have been replaced by an influx of underclassmen to fill in the spots of their predecessors.

For the four years swimmer Albert Gwo ‘16 attended Los Altos, he served as the star player for the boys varsity team. He swam record times in both league and CCS competitions, a hard feat when in competition with highly trained swimmers from schools such as Palo Alto High School and Gunn. He later attended Berkeley, and his absence can be felt on the team.

“Albert was kind of a high-pro-

file name for Los Altos and really got our name on the map,” varsity boys swimming head coach Seth Tasman said. “It really hurts that we lost him when he graduated last year. He won five CCS championships [races] and won three CIF state championships. He reigned here. It was very cool to have coached him.”

More than just a teammate, Albert was also a helping hand for many other swimmers on the team, offering expertise for those who fell behind. Albert lead as an example for aspiring swimmers, and his motivation carries on through the current swimmers on the team, even after his graduation.

“He did a good job at practice helping his teammates with their stroke technique or demoing how to do a flip turn,” Tasman said. “It was great for [his teammates] to

watch him compete at the highest possible level for a high school athlete. Having him in the water here was great for everyone to look up to him and train to keep up with him everyday.”

This year, the team also took in a large influx of underclassmen, an unusual change for the team dynamic in comparison to previous years, when the team remained relatively compact. These new swimmers boast a variety of swimming strengths and increase the diversity of events in which the team properly can potentially compete in.

“We are now very deep in our swim team on JV and our varsity, whereas before we only really had Albert or one or two really fast people,” Tasman said. “Now we have a lot more depth to spread out amongst everyone, so we should hopefully score higher.”

Above: In a kickset, (front to back and left to right) junior Kyle Sandell leads the lane followed by senior Jake Lee and juniors Yoel Feinberg, Eric Warmoth and Nathan Trudeau. Top right: Boys varsity head coach Seth Tasman smiles down from the pool deck in between swim sets.

PHOTOS BY EMILY ARONOVITZ

Around three-fourths of the more dryland practices have been swimmers are also water polo added to the weekly regimen, players who, while well-versed in with swimmers spending more aquatic practice and speed, may time lifting weights and running than they have in not swim with years past. Daily correct form. in-water trainA large part of ing is accompabreeding a strong It definitely takes nied by dryland team comes from someone that is mentransferring this tally tough and willing every other day, offering a rigorpower into proper to work hard and stay ous schedule for technique. committed to be good swimmers to keep “Water polo up with. swimmers look at [swimming].

“They're defivery sloppy and — varsity boys swimming head coach Seth Tasman nitely exhausted choppy in the [after practice],” water, whereas Tasman said. “It a true swimmer is very smooth,” Tasman said. “So we're trying to definitely takes someone that is combine them together to get the mentally tough and willing to work hard and stay committed to perfect swimmer.”

With new team members also be good at this. Where I feel like came new scheduling for the some other sports you kind of just team. Morning practices have show up and have a good time, been cut so that the swimmers here we're trying to get everyone can also focus on their main job to work hard and get better as a as students at Los Altos. Instead, collective group.”

Baseball aims for a stronger season start with three wins, one tie and a loss. In the first game of Staff Writer the preseason, junior Alex Reelfs Last year, the varsity boys pitched a no-hitter. He believes baseball team qualified for CCS that the team has the skills to go despite having a rough season. farther this year.

This year, the baseball team “As the competitive person hopes to make it to CCS once that I am, I want to win,” Alex again, and with their strong said. “That is what Mr. Stewart team chemistry and leadership, wants from us from day one. the goal to qualify with a stronFrom running when you make ger season performance is witha bad throw to timed drills, he in reach. does what it takes to ensure [we play at our best] and will push us to a winning season. After a rough year we made it to CCS [last year] and we are ready to go further this year.”

E v e n though the team didn’t fully accomplish their goals the previous year, it can often be difficult to replicate sucRACHEL LU cess because Junior Colin Homan pitches during their first loss of the preseason against Willow Glen school sports go on Tuesday, February 28. The Eagles have a preseason record of 3-1-1 and play their first teams through many league game at Milpitas on Thursday, March 9.

ALEX LUNA

“I think our main hope is to just be the best team that we can be,” varsity baseball head coach Gabe Stewart said. “If that means winning a lot of games and winning league and doing all those sorts of things, fantastic, we really just need to focus on the best team and the best teammates that we can possibly be.”

As of Wednesday, March 1 the baseball team is off to a solid

changes every season, with chemistry because we all enjoy many new players coming in to doing the same things and have replace the seniors that left. been friends for a long time.”

“This year we have a lot Stewart has also noticed the smaller of a team,” junior Colin positive change in team chemHoman said. “We don’t have a istry from the team this year. lot of seniors, we just have new Compared to last year, the team leaders with the same goal [to is much more connected and are win CCS].” ready to step up to the challenge.

Even with the team undergoing “[This year] there's a lot of new changes, Stewart still be- trust, and people go about their lieves that the team will improve business and I think most of the and continue to team would say get better. they believe they “We are much are putting their more focused, We are much more teammates first.” we are much focused, we are Stewart said. more motivated, Even with a and we are [a] much more motilong and difmuch more co- vated and we are [a] ficult season hesive [team] so much more cohesive ahead of them, far,” Stewart said. [team] so far.

Coach Stewart Much like othwants to make — varsity baseball head er sports teams, sure his athletes coach Gabe Stewart throughout the know of the imyears the baseportance of hard ball team has been able to de- work and have fun throughout velop strong connections due their season. to their love for the game that “We’re out here to have a posihas shown on and off the field. tive experience,” Stewart said.

Team chemistry is a key aspect “Don’t be afraid, have some for success. pride in what you’re doing be“If everyone on the team cause when you're out there on doesn’t work together as one the field and people are watchthen there is no team, no one to ing you, you’re representing pick each other up and no one to yourself, you're representing help drive each other to be the your teammates, you're reprebest that they can be,” Alex said. senting your school, you're rep“It isn’t hard to have good team resenting your community.”

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The Talon March 8, 2017

Thinking one step ahead KUNAL PANDIT, PHOTOGRAPHER

If you want to succeed in the world of sports, you always have to be one step ahead of your competitors. The overall game is a combination of tactics, coaching, preparation and teamwork — all of these things contribute to a team’s success, but at the end of the day what really makes a difference is each individual beating the player across from them. Whether physically or mentally, players do anything it takes to get the slightest advantage over their opponent. On their own, these efforts may seem small: fighting for an extra yard in football, diving for a loose ball in basketball or gaining just an extra step in front of a defender in soccer. But throughout the course of a game or season, these individual efforts add up and become the difference between a successful team and a mediocre one. The following photos illustrate such key moments within each game.

Junior Tyler Goloubef passes his defender and creates an easy passing lane for him to give the ball to his teammate. Instead of making a pass in a dangerous position, Tyler chooses to take on his defender to create a safer passing lane. This play allows Los Altos to keep possession of the ball and eventually score moments after.

Junior Matt Eberle uses his handle to beat his defender and create a scoring opportunity for his team. Matt changes his momentum, leaving his defender in a bad position to stay in front of him. Matt uses his creative handle to relieve the full court pressure put on by Soquel which gives his team a sense of calmness, leading to an overall lower rate of turnovers than usual.

Senior Hannah Wendelken passes three defenders and prepares to take a shot on goal.

This is Hannah’s third and final goal this game, completing her second hat trick of the season. Her aggressive mindset to take on and beat her defenders translated into goals and more importantly, a win against Gunn.

Junior Erik Skov uses his speed to outrun a couple of defenders, leaving them in the dust as he looks forward. This play happens at the beginning of the game and consequently set the tone for the rest of the contest as Los Altos went on to crush Gunn 46-7.

Senior Jordan Jenab locates open space to outrun defenders on his way to the end zone.

Jordan win the battle at the line and uses his speed as he finds a line to get outside the defense and beat Monta Vista’s linebackers.

Senior Victor Yu and sophomore Harry Allen work together to gain the upper hand on the defender and advance the ball upfield. Using teamwork throughout the game to gain a step up on their opponent, Los Altos secures their second win of the season against Palo Alto, winning 4-2.