The Union - Milpitas High School - April 2014

E D i to r i a l 3

UN I O N

O pi n i o n s 4

April 2014

Volume xxV Issue V

i n - Fo c u s 7

F e at u r e s 8

T HE

L i fe s t y le 10

E n t e r ta i n m e n t 13

s p o r t s 16

MHSTHEUNION.com For the latest updates

STUDENT VOICE OF MILPITAS HIGH SCHOOL

CLOG chartering process changes for next school year

by Jonathan Ngo

The process of chartering clubs and organizations (CLOGs) will be revised to better prepare CLOGs for the following school year and ensure that all CLOGS are legitimate, according to CLOG Commissioner Chloe Lam. CLOGS will be required to sign up for a meeting to discuss their plans as well as complete questionnaires outlining their service goals, she said.

CLOGs will personally meet with Lam to communicate their plans.

When chartering documents are released, sign ups will be available for different meetings, she explained.

“We want to help [CLOGs] out and create a more solid plan to see them more active in the school,” Lam said.

A lot of clubs are just for college applications. We want to limit that too.”

Although CLOGs generally have autonomy, the goal is to communicate more effectively, she continued.

CLOGs will be limited to one officer and co-officer to simplify communication with A.S.B., she added.

“We cut some people because we want to have one person to communicate with,” Lam said. “Definitely, the delivery process will be very difficult and getting clubs to go along with this will also be difficult.”

The new CLOG regulations can be easily abused, Speech and Debate Club Officer Aarsh Vyas said. The CLOG system does not need any changes since inactive clubs are not a problem for anyone, Vyas explained.

“The concept may not be bad, but

the biggest problem is what do you define as a club not doing anything?”

Vyas said. “This can be easily abused by other people down the line. It is a big overstep.”

Ideas to improve MHS’ CLOG system came from observing other schools and having discussions with

“We want to help [CLOGs] out and create a more solid plan to see them more active in the school.”

CLOG Commissioner chloe lam Sidney Le | THE UNION

their A.S.B. officers, Lam continued.

Changes should not be too difficult to implement and should help CLOGs overall, she added.

“If [CLOG officers] actually have concerns we can hopefully figure out a compromise,” Lam said. “Nothing is final, but if there really are some concerns, I’m definitely open to them.”

The revised CLOG system will also expose clubs to the whole school, Lam said. Currently, when a club holds an event, most of the school is unaware of what is going on, she explained. “[CLOGs] do a lot of great things so we want them to be able to share what they do with the rest of the school,” Lam said. “These fun events that people can actually take part in will not only benefit the school, but also benefit the club itself.”

Seniors Ted Ngo (left) and Mahad Mohamed (right) lift the Trojan Olympic trophy above the crowd of rejoicing seniors. The seniors seated in the bleachers flooded out on to the basketball court when their win was announced.

Seniors victorious at Trojan Olympics

by Rishika DugYala

The Senior class was triumphant at the 2014 Trojan Olympics held on Friday, March 28, A.S.B. President Germain Louie, also the Chair of Trojan Olympics, said. Trojan Olympics has been a classic tradition that people are always anticipating and this year, Louie said.

This year the Seniors stole the show, accumulating a total of 430 points, Louie said. The Juniors placed second with 390 points, followed very closely by the Sophomores with 385 points. The Freshmen finished last with 195 points.

by Michelle Huang

Junior-Senior Prom to be held Prom, “A Royal Affair,” will take place on Saturday, April 26 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose. Tickets are $60 from April 14 to 18, $65 from April 21 to 22, $70 on April 23, $80 on April 24, and $90 on April 25.

Vietnamese Student Assocation (VSA) to host show on April 19 VSA will host its annual show at night on Saturday, April 19. The day show will be held on April 17.

No school on Monday, May 5 School will not be in session on May 5 in honor of Cinco De Mayo.

Advanced Placement (AP) exams begin May 5 AP testing will begin on May 5. The last test will take place on May 16.

Principal expected to be chosen at May Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Cary Matsuoka said The Board of Education is expected to decide on the new MHS principal at the May 13 meeting. A student input meeting was held on March 4.

There were also three input meetings with staff and one with parents.

this year was his fourth year participating in Trojan Olympics. “This year, everything for us seemed on point. Practices went by smoothly and there weren’t many problems, especially with paying attention,” Pham said. “Winning definitely was sweet, no pun intended.”

The week leading up to the night of Trojan Olympics was filled with activities to help boost the spirit of the student body, Louie said. The spirit days for the week were Blue and Gold Day, Marvel Day, Tye Dye Day, -Er Day and Class Color Day. see seniors win on page 2

Parcel Tax renewal placed on ballot

n ews in br ief District musical festival to be held April 10 The 11th Annual District Musical Festival will be held in the MHS gym on April 10.

Golf tournament to raise money for athletic department The 6th Annual MHS Athletic Department and Athletic Booster Club Golf Tournament will take place on Saturday, May 3 at Summitpointe Golf Course in Milpitas.

“The student body responds to Trojan Olympics with a copious amount of spirit opposed to other events and activities hosted by A.S.B.,” Louie said. “There were even several people standing near the Senior section because there was no more space to sit.”

The Trojan Olympics allows students to really get involved in something on campus, as well as show class pride and school spirit, Activities Director Joanna Butcher agreed. 1200 team tickets are usually sold but the total number of people who show up is anywhere from 1200 to 1500, Butcher said.

According to Senior Jake Pham,

Sarah Tang| THE UNION

Junior Nathan Bond displays an innovative science fair project. Bond and the Robotics Club deigned a robot, using a prewritten code, to move items.

MHS hosts second science fair

by Sarah Tang

MHS hosted its second science fair which took place on Saturday, March 1 in the school gymnasium from one to five in the afternoon. The goal was to help encourage students conduct research and to provide a place where students from different schools could connect and share their passion for science, according to Science Club President Ivy Pham.

The science fair took a few months to prepare overall, Senior Sharon Diep said. Preparations included advertisements and communication between schools.

“It took two months and we had a committee to help us prepare. We advertised through flyers, Facebook, and talk[ed] to people in our classes about it,” said Diep. “In addition, on

the day before the event, we moved all the projects to another room so that we could wheel everything over to the gym the next day,” she added.

Various grade levels were accepted to participate in the science fair. The projects were judged based on the students’ own grade category, Pham explained.

The fair was worth participating in, Junior Christina Luo said. She entered for the first time with her project on thermal conductivity.

“I decided to join because I wanted to experience a high school science [fair] and check out all the other projects,” Luo said. “I was able to learn about the different kind of sciences and projects which I would not have thought of.”

The Parcel Tax renewal was approved by the Board of Trustees for the election on June 3rd, according to Superintendent Cary Matsuoka.

The measure applies to those in the Milpitas Unified School District.

The Parcel Tax is a tax assessment on each piece of property; the current tax rate is an annual fee of $84 per parcel of land and the Board intends to keep the amount consistent, according to Matsuoka. The tax has already been in place for three and a half years and the extension will last for eight years, Matsuoka said.

“The commitment of the original Parcel Tax was to support classroom instruction only,” Matsuoka said.

“The money is currently being used to pay for teachers, at all three levels: elementary, middle, and high school.

Towards paying for their current salaries. and things that impact the classroom.”

The money cannot be used for administrator salaries, according to Matsuoka. The tax is part of the whole district budget, Matsuoka said. “[The Parcel Tax] needs 66-2/3 percent to pass. The polling results were running about 72 percent,” Matsuoka said. “They called up 400 households and 72 percent said they’d probably say yes, but it’s a sampling, so it could be give or take four percent. It could go four percent higher, but it could also go four percent lower.”

There is a plan of action to campaign for the Parcel Tax which includes walking, giving out information door to door, and holding meetings, according to Principal Kenneth Schlaff.

All promotional activities must take place outside of the school and cannot be associated with the district or the school facility; all meetings are held in a neutral community setting, Schlaff said.

“We are communicating through our PTA groups and School Site Council,” Matsuoka said. “Volunteers will include PTA, teachers, classified employees, parents, people who are in support of the school district, and administrators. It now becomes a political process.”

The Parcel Tax was able to keep a number of programs floating, according to Schlaff. The money allowed MHS to maintain its present level of staffing and programs, Schlaff said.

“If you get rid of [the Parcel Tax], you have to depend on state money coming to offset that, but that won’t be for a while,” Schlaff said. “You can’t make up that particular gap because they’re beholden to a certain level of spending, and therefore certain things would have to probably go by the way side,” Schlaff added.

Without the Parcel Tax, the district would lose $1.4 million each year, according to Matsuoka. It would take money away from our other income sources, Matsuoka said.

“It’s so important for our community to invest in their school system because without good schools, then we don’t have good education; the payoff of good schools is tremendous,” Matsuoka said. “It’s a really important funding measure for our school district and our students, and we hope the community continues their support,” Matsuoka continued.

T he U nion

2

April 2014

NEWS

SENIORS WIN: Trojan Olympics Scores 2014 Sweet Escape

2015 Rise of the Toys

2016 Jail Break

2017 Freshmen of Bel Air

Ticket Sales Decorations

60

60

60

10

70

70

40

30

Dance

50

30

80

20

20

0

Barrel Racing Jump Rope Relay

0

0

Whizzing Wheelbarrow Frozen T-Shirt

20

20

5

Fishy Wobble Walk Three-Legged-Race Musical Chairs Mania Balloon Pop Relay

20

Sack Hop

0

Tug-OfWar

10

Basketball Relay

20

Skateboard derby

20

Crab Crawl

0

20

20 10

15

0

20

0 20

0

15

5

10 20

25

15

5 0

5

15

10

20

Ski Walk

20

Leap Frog

20

0

Sophomore Jessica Kuo, Junior Andrew Luu, and Senior Lordique Fok celebrate after placing fifth in the Experimental Design event on March 15.

15

5

MHS Science Olympiad competes, places fifth at BARSO competition

Egg Fling

15

25

Over-Under-Through

20

0

Bunny Cones

25

15

5

10

Pyramid

20

40

60

10

Sportmanship

60

20

40

10

Total Points

430

390

385

195 Rachel Alvelais| THE UNION

Scores in 23 categories determined the winner of the 2014 Trojan Olympics, which was held on March 28 at night in the large gym. Seniors won with 430 points, juniors placed second with 390 points, sophomores came in third with 385 points, and freshman placed fourth with 195 points. Some events were only held between two classes.

Mitchell starts student internship program

by Zahra Surani

Travel and Tourism Academy Teacher William Mitchell started an internship program at MHS, Mitchell said. The program is currently primarily for his academy’s students but may reach to other academies and the general student body in the future, according to Mitchell.

This program has given Seniors Angelica Guting, Shelley Nguyen, Stephany Del Pena, and Thuy Nguyen internships at the Crowne Plaza hotel, Mitchell said.

“Mr. Mitchell’s internship program helped me learn a lot about how it will be growing up,” Guting said.

“The program teaches us how to be responsible by managing school and work. Also, being an internship gives me plenty experience and gives me an edge when it comes to looking for a job or my future career.”

The logistics of the program is information, according to Mitchell. Af-

ter its finalization, the program will be marketed to companies and foundations, Mitchell said.

“I am working as a board member for the Milpitas Chamber of Commerce,” Mitchell said. “I’m working with a couple of colleges to try to facilitate an engine that will drive even more opportunities for interns through our local community businesses, as well as our major tech industries.”

The internships benefit the students, who gain real life skills and form real connections, Mitchell said.

The businesses will grow and have unpaid interns to contribute, and the school will be able to provide opportunities for students, Mitchell said.

“I see a generation that is sliding backwards, not forwards,” Mitchell said. “I will be willing to bet that this generation is probably, when it is all said and done in forty years, one of the most uneducated [group of ] students that come out of school.”

Jamie Lam | THE UNION

0

Students, in today’s society, are not able to perform necessary skills, according to Mitchell. They do not know how to send good emails, dress properly, or communicate well. These internships will teach students proper etiquette and knowledge on applying, Mitchell said.

“I think we are in a high-tech industry; I think we can become a landmark school,” Mitchell said. “I think we can be a school that provides an opportunity that no other school in the country can.”

Success is defined through three terms: rigor, relevance, and relationship, Mitchell said. Only with these requirements achieved through internships can students be positively affected, according to Mitchell.

“It’s easier for students to get work experience without having to search and access to internships on their own. All students have equal opportunities,” Junior Manasi Aranake said.

by Karen Shyu

The MHS Science Olympiad (SO) team placed fifth at the Bay Area Regional Science Olympiad (BARSO) competition on March 15; the top four teams progressed to the state competition, according to MHS SO Advisor Letta Meyer. The competition was held at Cal State East Bay and two teams, each with 15 members, were sent to compete, Meyer said.

There are over 70 schools competing with approximately 40 from the middle school division and 30 from the high school division, Meyer said.

It is the eighth year MHS SO competed at BARSO, Meyer said.

“Definitely to place in the top three would be for one [goal] for our teams.

Our overall [goal] is to learn something and have fun,” Meyer said.

“Learn something about science, learn something about how science works, and have some fun.”

The team has been preparing since September, Meyer said. The team approximately worked for five to 10 hours a week and the week before the competition had the most intense preparation, Meyer added.

Co-Captain Forrest Tran prepared for his events using Wikipedia and MIT Open Courseware for studying There were late days after school for building and studying the entire week

SAT to undergo revisions

by Amy Nguyen

eye on campus

Sidney Le | THE UNION

Attorney Neal Cabrinha (left) and Judge Charles Cummins (right) visited Social Science Teacher Michael Cummins’ (middle) Advanced Placement (AP) United States Government and Politics class on Thursday, March 20.

before competition and every prior Friday afterschool and every Saturday from 8 a.m. until they finished, Tran said.

To prepare for building events, the students do a lot of testing, trial and error, research, prototyping, and continue to work from there, Meyer said.

Knowledge-based events involve a lot of self-studying and quizzing each other on the material.

“Our entomology team has a power point that they have put together where they have pictures of bugs,” Meyer said. “They just have to identify what they are because if they can identify what the bug is, they get resources to be able to help them , but they have to start by being able to identify the bug.”

Sophomore Tony Zhao, who leads several events, spent 40 to 50 hours on SO. Geology and physics are completely new to him while he competed in astronomy last year.

“Adding on to middle school, [I’ve competed] for roughly four years,” Zhao said. “I lead astronomy and Maglev. I’m competing in astronomy, geology, and simple physics. For astronomy, I simply look at charts and do math. Compound machines actually requires building and geology is just looking at charts and pictures, understanding how things work.”

The SAT Reasoning Test will undergo its first significant change since 2005, according to the CollegeBoard website. Changes will include eliminating the guessing penalty, cutting arcane vocabulary words, and making the essay optional, the website continued.

The College Board plans to make the test more clear and more open than any other SAT, College Board President David Coleman said on March 5. The test will be more focused on the curriculum learned in high school courses, he said.

“It is time for an admissions assessment that makes it clear that the road to success is not last minute tricks or cramming, but the learning students do over years each day,” Coleman said.

“And we need to do more.”

The new test will ensure that students know how to justify their answers, Coleman said. The three new sections include evidence-based reading, math, and an optional essay.

“No longer will it be good enough to focus on tricks and trying to eliminate answer choices,” Coleman said.

“We are not interested in students just picking an answer, but justifying their answers.”

Alterations include the change from a 2400-point system back to the previous1600-point system with a separate score for the essay, according to the website. There will be eight key changes, the website said.

The eight major changes are: more relevant words in context, command of evidence, essay analyzing with a source, math focused on three areas, problems with real-world contexts, analysis science and social science, founding documents and great global conversation, and no penalty for wrong answers, the website said.

Freshmen are ready for the new changes, according to Freshman Natalie Phan. The new style of testing is one that test takers will have to get familiarized with, Phan said. It is new to the students and will be a challenge, she added.

“I feel as if the Class of 2017 is going to be well prepared from the people around me and how much they care and how much they study in general,” Phan said.

April 2014

T he u nion

Editorial

Editor i a l : The Opinion of The Union

3

pat rons

Union is a student-run publication that is partially funded Graduation ceremony policies unreasonable; Theby local businesses and private citizens. The patrons listed below have demonstrated their generosity by extending both strict rules unecessarily inconvenience students moral and financial support to our newspaper for the 2013-

We, The Union, would like to recommend a change to the current graduation ceremony policy.

It prohibits students from bringing personal belongings, which include food, water, and cell phones, to the ceremony.

Graduation takes place on a typically hot day. The graduating seniors are required to sit on the football field for four hours under the hot sun.

One would think the obvious reason water bottles are banned is the potential for the smuggling of alcohol into the ceremony. This problem could be solved if the school provided small water bottles for students. This isn’t the case and suggests the real reason behind this policy is the concern about trash.

Trash can be promptly cleaned up through a number of easy solutions. For example, student volunteers can clean up the trash in exchange for community service hours. The current zero tolerance policy ignores the obvious health risks of dehydration and heat strokes, as well as the basic comfort of MHS graduates.

Health and safety should always be the first priority. Prohibiting water bottles solves one problem, while creating a much larger one.

Teachers walk around during the graduation ceremony with spray bottles in a pitiful attempt to regulate the students’ body temperatures. But in reality, we are getting sprayed like misbehaving dogs with lukewarm or hot water. This does very little to relieve the students’ discomfort and dehydration and undoes hours of hair and makeup work.

Currently, students must be thoroughly searched by security prior to entry into the ceremony in order

to ensure they do not possess any electronic devices on their person. We understand the purpose of this rule is to prevent students from causing disruption during the ceremony--flash photography and loud ringtones are annoying to those participating and members in the audience.

Again, the implementation of one policy engenders another greater problem: it makes it extremely difficult for students to rendezvous with friends and family members after the ceremony.

Students must establish a post graduation meet up location with their family before the ceremony begins. Often, these locations are completely crowded and it is impossible to find graduates in the sea of bodies. If the administration inspires students to respect their graduation ceremony, then there will be no disruptions, and students can be allowed to use their cell phones.

Although the ceremony is recorded by the school, high school graduation is not a single remarkable moment in our lives. Rather, it is an amalgamation of the little details, such as who sits next to us, the speeches we hear, and the cheers of our friends and family as we walk across the stage.

Clearly, there are a multitude of ways the administration can improve the graduation ceremony without undue inconvenience on their part. Health, safety, and basic comfort do not necessarily need to be sacrificed.

The graduation ceremony is the culmination of student high school careers and is meant to celebrate the students’ achievements. Let the seniors themselves enjoy graduation.

2014 school year. The Union staff would like to thank them for their patronage and encourage others to contribute. If you are interested in becoming a patron ($25 donation), please contact our Business Manager.

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U NION THE

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The views in The Union are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect those of the school, students, administration, or Milpitas Unified School District.

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Editor i a l : The Opinion of The Union

Importance of fire drills ignored by students;

emergencies indistinguishable from false alarms We, The Union, believe the MHS fire and emergency drills do not adequately prepare students for legitimate fires, emergencies, or other situations. Our current drill procedure requires students to evacuate their classrooms, led by their teachers, to a specific evacuation destination.

Upon arrival, students are instructed to queue for the complete evacuation of the school. Teachers are then required to account for the students present in queues.

MHS’ fire drill procedure has been ineffectively attempting to prepare students on how to respond to actual fires on campus. Instead of preparing students for a disaster, the fire drills distract them from the chaos and disorder of a true fire. Our fire drills do not properly reflect a real case scenario.

In an actual fire, it is unrealistic to line up at our current evacuation destinations: behind the L-Building, the football field, the island on Escuela, and the green in front of the theater. They are far too close to the school, and will not provide students with any protection from a fire.

A real fire will ignite and detonate the reactive chemicals located in the L-building. This could result in deadly explosions around campus. If that were to happen, students who have queued behind the L-building for evacuation would be in immediate danger.

Current evacuation destinations do not adequately address these possible hazards. These locations need to be changed so they are farther away from the buildings, or the entire procedure needs to be revised.

The procedures themselves are not the only

problem. MHS has more false fire alarms than it does actual fire drills, so students and teachers alike do not respond with the alertness and concern that should be triggered by fire alarms.

It has gotten to the point where many teachers treat the alarms as if they were the morning announcements: simply ignoring them and continuing to teach over them. If fire alarms rang because there was an actual fire, half of the school would not evacuate because we’ve grown so accustomed to assuming every time fire alarms ring, it’s a false alarm.

These numerous false alarms are incredibly dangerous because students and staff will not be able to differentiate between a false alarm and an actual alarm until it is too late. If the administration must test the alarms to ensure that the alarms work correctly, it should wait until after school is let out so that we do not become even more accustomed to these false alarms.

We suggest our school to collaborate with certified emergency responders and experts, such as Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), law enforcement and national experts, in order to formulate a safer and more efficient, practical, and comprehensive emergency response plan. Currently, fire drills cause undue distractions. Therefore, improving the current fire drill procedure would perhaps alter students’ perspectives on safety by encouraging them to take fire drills seriously.

Students know when they are not being taken seriously, and do not take well to being treated thusly.

Only when the MHS administration begins to take the fire drills seriously, then students will too, and the drills will truly prepare them for an actual fire.

C o n tac t u s 1285 Escuela Pkwy, Room E-17 Milpitas, CA 95035 General Info: (408) 635-2800 Business Manager: (408) 674-2941 Ad Manager: (408) 768-3073 Fax: (408) 635-2848 Email: mhstheunion13@gmail.com

S taff Rachel Alvelais Sidney Le Editors-in-Chief

Brenda Su • News Editor Jonathan Ngo • Op-Ed Editor Jennifer Duong • Features Editor Karen Chi • Lifestyle Editor Moshe Yang • Entertainment Editor Akshat Das • Sports Editor Jamie Lam • Copy Editor Rakshit Garg • Web Editor Shelly Hsu • Photo Editor Pranay Patni • Business Manager Rishika Dugyala • Ad Manager

Naomi McCracken • Asst. News Editor Zahra Surani • Asst. Op-Ed Editor Amy Nguyen • Asst. Features Editor Vikram Sastry • Asst. Lifestyle Editor Ruth Park • Asst. Entertainment Editor Neal Bansal • Asst. Sports Editor Shubhangi Gulati• Asst. Copy Editor Sumukh Shekar • Asst. Web Editor Sarah Tang • Asst. Photo Editor Karen Shyu • Asst. Business Manager Amy Bui • Asst. Ad Manager

Jazmin Drop • Reporter Stephen Hsu • Reporter Michelle Huang • Reporter Elliot Ng• Reporter Bryan Tran • Reporter Nhi Tran • Reporter Michelle Wu • Reporter

Jeff Colburn

Journalism Advisor

L etter to the editor Students lack support for competitive academic teams Competitive academic teams are vital in that they allow students to go from simply learning dull material from a set curriculum to engaging with a variety of students from other schools and applying their knowledge and skills. At MHS, however, rarely are any of these clubs – DECA, Science Olympiad, Robotics, Speech and Debate, and others – given any true acknowledgement or support.

When Science Olympiad comes home with many students placing first in events involving astronomy, magnetic levitation, or rocks and minerals, rarely does the average MHS student notice or care. Similarly, when Speech and Debate brings back trophy after trophy, the average MHS student is unaware of their accomplishment. What we instead find is an emerging pattern of apathy towards the academic achievements of MHS students.

I will admit, there is no easy way to solve this issue. No student can be forced to care about something they think they’ll never be involved with.

However, the fact that many students are not involved in academic clubs or don’t think they will ever do so is exactly what needs to change. MHS needs to become a campus that fosters more student involvement in activities that drive them to go beyond their comfort zone.

It is always fun to hear about the really close tennis match or exciting swim meet, but there is absolutely no harm that comes with greater discourse on the state of MHS’ academic teams. The main purpose of school is to educate the next generation of citizens. Pairing that with the ability to engage in intelligent discussions will only further education at MHS. All MHS students should consider joining an academic clubs on campus.

You may feel uninterested or unmotivated to join now, but as a member of a few of those clubs, I can guarantee that it will be one of the best decisions of your high school career.

David Ngo

Class of 2017

4

T he u nion

OPINIONS

April 2014

PRO

Many students skip college; workforce training necessary Should high school prepare stu- who can’t find jobs in their fields of dents to enter the workforce when study, pushing out their peers withthey graduate? Should students be out degrees. The future looks bleak prepped to attend college, or simply for those with college educations, to vote conscientiously and partici- crushed beneath debt and unemployment, but it’s bleaker pate in our democracy? for those who graduate According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only high school to enter the workforce.

66.2 percent of high school I think students realgraduates were enrolled ize the American dream in colleges or universities as of 2012. College is of owning a house, a car, an expensive commodity and having two children that prices itself out of the is unattainable. Instead, we foster wild fantasies of grasp of many high school being able to retire. Most graduates. of us just want to find a job Some private colleges Rachel in the first place. are adopting generous Alvelais It’s not likely that we loan-free financial aid policies, but remain outnumcan create more jobs for bered by public and private univer- those without college degrees that sities that are drowning Americans won’t get filled by those who hold in loan debt. To many, college is not one, and leaving high school gradufinancially appealing, let alone pos- ates on their own to figure out how in sible. the world they’re supposed to make Where does the other 33.8 percent money seems cruel.

Common Core Standards are beof high school graduates go, then? 77 percent of them are in the workforce. ing put into effect, so it’s clear that They seem to be at a disadvantage, the country now realizes that high however, as their unemployment school must give students more skills rate is 19.3 percent. 86 percent of that are applicable to the workforce. those with an associate degree are That workforce is becoming more working, with an unemployment and more specialized across the rate of 9.9. And those with bachelor’s country and the world, but it is espedegrees or higher have even better cially so here in the Silicon Valley. statistics.

Should high school students know People used to be able to find em- a coding language before they graduployment anywhere without college ate? How rigorous should our classes degrees. As their experiences in- be, to make students both competicreased, they could expect to receive tive and competent workers? a promotion, an increased salary, and These are the questions of the future, not whether high school should a comfortable life.

However, most blue collar jobs are or shouldn’t prepare students for being filled with college graduates work or not.

CON

Higher education important; workforce training irrelevant Educators across America are tran- outsourcing the open job to a below sitioning towards Common Core minimum wage, just as unqualified standards due to various financial worker from another country? The incentives from the federal govern- only solution to decrease outsourcing ment. The new national standards is to make sure our workforce is more are an attempt to ensure all students qualified, specialized, and educated in to have the skills and knowledge nec- the U.S.. essary to succeed in their education, We must encourage students to career, and life upon graduation from pursue education at colleges and universities. What we need now is not high school.

High school should encourage to direct our national attention to students to enroll into colleges and producing an immediate high school universities for higher education. It graduate labor force, but rather to is understandable that some indi- implement a curriculum that enviduals are unable to pass courages personal growth a curriculum or would like in all students and equips to begin working straight them with independent thinking skills so they can out of high school due to be successful professionspecial circumstances, but als from higher education. higher education should always be prioritized.

Take, for example, the The government subdevelopment of the iPsidizes the expense of hone and iPad, which was colleges and universities completed, for the most part, outside of the United through grants and scholarships, but many still States. Before his death, Bryan Apple CEO Steve Jobs was find themselves unable Tran said to have told President to afford higher education. Many overlook the Barrack Obama that his option of community college, a very justification for so much employinexpensive way to pursue higher ment of workers outside of the U.S. is education that prepares students as due to the fact that there are simply citizens and workers. College isn’t not enough qualified engineers in an alternative to work, but instead America.

In total, America needs more profacilitates an educated and skilled workforce that will help develop our fessionals in order to recoil from economy and standards of living. our current recession. High schools 33.8 percent of all high school grad- should continue encouraging stuuates from 2012 are currently in the dents to pursue higher education to labor force, while 19.3 percent remain decrease outsourcing as well as stimunemployed, according to the U.S. Bu- ulate development in our technoloreau of Labor Statistics. When busi- gies, economy, politics, and standards nesses need to cut operating costs, of living, rather than adopting the why would they choose to employ goal of preparing students to directly someone with only a high school di- enter the workforce after high school ploma and no specialized degree over graduation.

Sarah Tang | THE UNION

Obsession over prom ridiculous, unnecessary It’s finally April. The majority of college admission statuses have been released, spring has started, break is over, graduation and summer are near, and prom is just around the corner.

Prom is the event to attend during high school. It is the day where girls dress up and feel like princesses -- the day guys wear tuxedos and attempt to survive the plethora of pictures taken.

Although the event is a unique and wonderful experience, prom is outof-hand.

Don’t get me wrong. I went to prom and I think every high school student should attend the event at least once to receive the full high school experience. Prom, however, has become an obsession for many individuals, particularly for females.

Countless weeks are spent shopping for prom dresses, numerous days looking at the same dress over and over. Many individuals purchase their dresses for about $300 several months before prom, only to later discover a ‘nicer’ $300 dress, which ultimately ends up being bought. I know several girls who bought their dresses around October, only to find a nicer dress around February or March.

Last year, one of my classmates skipped several days of school to find a prom dress, despite already having a $400 one from Tracy’s. Why? Her periwinkle dress did not perfectly coordinate with her date’s lavender tie.

Although this may seem ridiculous, there are many who replace their expensive dresses for such reasons.

The huge dilemma over finding the or her group will make the pictures perfect prom dress extends to posting turn out better. In my eyes, more a picture of the dress onto an event people make a better experience. Are page so that no one else will claim it. seemingly nicer photos really worth ruining a friendship?

Is it really the end of the world if another girl wears Aside from purchasing the same dress as you? Will several different dresses people really care when and attempting to claim they see that ‘copycat’ after ‘the one,’ many girls also hours of dancing? skip school to go to a fancy Like every other year, salon to get manicures and there was also a prom pedicures. dress event page this year.

Is skipping school just to On it, there was a girl askget one’s nails done really ing another girl if she could worth it? It is understandbuy a different dress. able that one wants to look Jennifer The girl said that she perfect, but not at the cost Duong posted the dress weeks ago of education. Is all the time spent really worth all that and complained that combining junior and senior trouble when barely anyprom was a terrible idea. Ultimately, one will see your face on the dimly-lit the offended girl bought a different dance floor? dress.

In addition, blowout sale is often Many may argue that the time put extremely inconvenient for many, as into prom is for the photos. Don’t get the lines are outrageously long, with me wrong, I love taking photos and over 400 people waiting. It is nice to want to look amazing in them. The have prom tickets for a low price, but problem with photos isn’t the pleth- not for only one day. ora of weeks preparing for them but Additionally, students shove and the individuals. push each other in order to save their Group photos are one of the most spot in line or get to the front quickly. popular options when hiring a profes- This results in longer lines. sional photographer. I myself cherish Prom is a wonderful event which the group photos I took last year, and completes the high school experihope to take group photos this year. I, ence. However, it has become an however, know many individuals who obsession with many. From treating have kicked some of their friends out classmates poorly to get in front of a of their group to make their photos line to buying multiple dresses or to ‘better.’ skipping school simply to get one’s I do not understand how excluding nails painted, prom has gotten outbeloved friends from pictures with his of-hand.

A.S.B. elections meaningless for most students What’s that? It’s your phone going off in the middle of class because of an email you just received from the school (Seriously, why do I get these emails in the middle of class?). Is it another school dance? Or maybe it’s a new fundraising idea like the Paparazzi Wall that A.S.B. wants you to participate in. Nope, it’s actually about something you’ve been excited for this whole school year, A.S.B. elections.

A.S.B. elections are kind of like professional curling games. Less than one percent of the population actually cares about the outcome of the games, and its results have zero impact on our daily lives. If you don’t know what curling is, well, that just illustrates my point.

There are many reasons why the majority of our student population could care less about these elections.

For one, each year seems to yield the same results. For example, let’s say last year we had President A. Suppose he or she gave us a year of fun, well-organized events and raised a lot of money for future class events.

Now let’s assume President B takes office. President B may come up with some new kind of fundraiser, but the end results will always be the same.

The events that were going to happen will still happen; money will be raised and spent on spirit and tradition. Nothing innovative occurs.

This is not to say that A.S.B. officers

don’t work hard. I know that officers class, most of the time we have only are overloaded with work planning two people competing for one spot. and executing multiple events one In fact, on many occasions it’s been after another over the course of a just the incumbents running for the year. But, it seems the work is sort same spot every year uncontested. of set. The officers know what needs If lack of interest exists to even run, to be done and as a result, get the job how can A.S.B. expect people to care?

Even after all this is said, I might be done the way it’s expected with little wrong. The case may be that A.S.B. is deviation from the past.

Another problem other students trying to brighten our daily, munmight identify with A.S.B. dane lives by doing someelections is how the electhing new and creative tion results are decided every year. A.S.B. may be (not including the posidoing a better job every tions appointed by Mrs. year, but it doesn’t really Butcher herself). Many matter. The fact that everyone around me and I people view these elections as popularity condon’t take notice to these tests since every uninterchanges, big or small, furested voter in the student ther proves the point that body doesn’t sit for hours whatever is happening analyzing which candisimply does not affect our date to choose based off day-to-day affairs enough Sumukh of qualifications. Instead, for us to actually care Shekar about A.S.B.’s affairs. voting becomes a simple One thing I must commatter of subconsciously deciding which candidate you know mend A.S.B. for doing is making better. It’s much easier to vote for the watching elections optional. People incumbent you know that everyone who have no interest don’t have to else is voting for than it is to vote sit in a crowded room and listen to for some other person you’ve never speeches that all say the same thing heard about. instead of doing what they came to The lack of candidates within the school to do, which is to learn (no A.S.B. elections also contributes offense to the people running, it’s to the lack of interest. While other just how the nature of the elections schools like Monta Vista High School are). These elections aren’t exactly have six or seven people running for as complex or life-impacting as real one vice-president slot under just one political processes.

April 2014

Lack of diversity in MHS language courses Again and again, students unwill- take a language they know just to sit ingly take a couple years of a foreign back, relax, and get easy As? A prime example would be the AP language. There is only one point to taking four or more semesters worth Language classes. More often than not, they are filled with native speakof an elective that you do not enjoy.

Credits. MHS requires two years ers who already speak and practice of a foreign language, similar to the the language at home, therefore being overqualified for class CSU and UC systems. The already. languages taught at MHS, There are seven Spanhowever, are extremely limited. ish teachers compared to We have four languagtwo French teachers and es available-- Spanish, one Chinese teacher. This French, Chinese, and Sign arises questions such as, Language. Other schools ‘Why do we have so many from around the area offer Spanish teachers? Why is other languages such as our Spanish Department Hindi, Japanese, and Vietso large? Why is there only namese. one Chinese teacher?’

Amy It is unfair to students Because of the small size Nguyen of the Chinese departwho do not already speak ment, students are usually one of the four languages taught at MHS. Why do they have to waitlisted for Chinese and are asked struggle to learn a new language at to take their second choice, somea fast pace while some students can thing no one enjoys doing.

With the kind of budget it takes to fund that many teachers for one language, it is reasonable to make the department smaller to expand another or offer a completely different language students would be willing to learn.

One would say that students choose to take Spanish because it is considered the most practical. Students take Spanish, because they have to.

If languages were not a graduation or CSU/UC requirement, I am sure that not as many people would be taking language classes.

Some take French because it’s against the norm, which is Spanish since the department is so huge. Students take these languages because they have no others to choose from.

Colleges look for two years of languages but not necessarily Spanish, French, Sign Language or Chinese.

Why not offer languages that students would be motivated and excited for?

Revised CLOG policies beneficial to clubs The new clog policy regarding the creation of new clubs on campus will help solve many of the issues we have about clubs. It will make existing clubs on campus more unique and ultimately create more competition amongst students aspiring to become club officers. It will force clubs to be more organized and eliminate the problem of fake and/or dummy clubs.

As of right now, there is large surplus of clubs. Many clubs are clones of others, participating in the same exact activities and events. Others are extremely small and inactive and are usually left unattended or are abandoned by its members. Some are even created for the sole purpose of decorating people’s college applications.

We do not need these types of clubs on our campus. Nothing negative can result from the removal of these types of clubs.

With A.S.B.’s new clog policy, there will ultimately be a reduction of the number of clubs. With fewer clubs on campus, there will be more members

campus, rather than waste their time per club. With more members, clubs dealing with fake or dying clubs run can become more prepared for their by people who don’t even put any efactivities. More members will allow clubs to perform more efficiently and fort into their club. If a club president effectively and force more competidoesn’t even care about the well-betion for officer positions. Therefore, ing or success of his/her own club, the quality of future club officers will then why should A.S.B. even bother increase and will make officer posidocumenting his/her paperwork? tions more worthwhile and Although the new policy significant. Then, becommay cause frustration and ing an officer for a club will annoyances for the legitiactually mean something. mate clubs, it is well worth Right now, many of our it. In exchange for a stricter club policy, we get stronclubs contain lazy officers ger and more competent who don’t contribute to their own club. clubs. We sacrifice a little The policy will also be bit of time and effort to more convenient for A.S.B., gain uniqueness and qualwhich manages all MHS ity. There is essentially no clubs. With our current good argument for those Elliot club system, A.S.B. spends against this policy. If peoNg ple feel that they shouldn’t a lot of its time processing be forced to show a little all of our clubs. With the more effort and perform new system, A.S.B. won’t slightly better for the sake of their have to process any of the unnecessary and useless clubs. This will alclub, then they should not even be inlow A.S.B. to focus on other issues on volved in clubs in the first place.

Parcel tax ensures local funding for classes California is not only the state with up for the lost funds, activities and the largest population in the U.S., but agendas would be removed to allow also the one with the greatest number the school to adapt to its reduction in of students enrolled in public schools provisions. from grades K-12. Despite the imThe money garnered from the Parpressive size of our education system, cel Tax goes directly towards mainhowever, the state’s expenditure per taining core academic programs, student is far below the national aver- funding teachers, and allocating age and falls in the bottom resources for the various half of the rankings among courses offered at MHS. states.

The greatest impacts we In an effort to alleviwould see from the aboliate the lack of funds, the tion of the measure are an increase in class sizes and School District issued the a reduction in the number Parcel Tax which requires an annual payment of $84 of classes. for each parcel of land.

Teachers would also be affected as part of their salAfter three years with the measure, it has come time aries comes from the tax for the public to decide payments. The number of Michelle students per classroom is whether or not it would Huang like a renewal on the existalready reaching its maxing tax. imum capacity with many If the payments are ended abruptly, students lacking desks and chairs in there will be a large gap of insufficient the first few weeks of the school year. support that would compromise the Severing the Parcel Tax would only quality of our classrooms. To make worsen the situation.

The Parcel Tax is used solely for the purpose of improving in-class instruction. The funds cannot be used for purposes outside of the School District. This ensures that the money remains on the local level and goes only towards helping the students.

Consequently, the residents of Milpitas are investing directly into public school instruction.

Since the funds are spent only within the district, the tax serves as a safety net for the school. If the state were to cut back on spending towards the education system, we would still be able to use the tax money to support many of our current programs, thus minimizing the impact on our school.

In the future as funding from the state increases, there will eventually come a time when it is no longer necessary for us to continue the Parcel Tax. For now, however, the measure still makes a considerable attribution to our school and enables us to maintain the current learning environment.

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Opinions

top ten reasons to avoid MHS Bathrooms

10

Long lines

9

Bad smells

8

Lack of soap

7

People smoking weed

6

Getting caught smoking weed

5

Lack of urinal dividers

4

Menstrual stains

3

Fear of someone watching or peaking inside

2

Awkward eye contact

1

They’re locked anyway

More counseling resources needed As high schoolers, it is crucial for us With everything they already teenagers to start thinking about our do for us, it is tough to do the extra future. That means no more lazing work necessary to help students attain summer internships and more. around, watching TV, and sleeping When can they find the time needed in during the summer holidays. No, to dedicate themselves to locating it means stressing out about getting programs for each specific career into those prestigious summer programs or scoring that once in a lifefield and keep track of all the individtime opportunity to work as a lab ual applications for said programs? assistant.

In addition, counselor appointBut the main aid any teenager can ments are only fifteen minutes long receive in order to get into a summer and throughout the school year, alprogram or internship comes from most all the appointment slots are his or her counselor. Now before I filled every day. I know when I sat continue, I would like to down with my parents make it clear that this is in to research summer opno way an attack against portunities, it took hours.

There is simply not enough the dedicated counselors we have at our school. time made available to the MHS has over three thoustudents to make an edsand students and only ucated choice along with four counselors in charge their counselors regardof the entire student body. ing which programs and Each of our counselors camps to apply to.

This is why I propose works extremely hard to that the school uses some ensure we students have Rishiska of its money to hire one or the most fruitful high Dugyala school career possible. two counselors solely dedThat being said, our icated to finding internships and programs for the students school is lacking in the resources of Milpitas High School to partake in necessary to help students score a during the holidays. spot in summer internships that would potentially help them advance With these extra counselors hired in the direction of their careers. specifically to search for summer Now our counselors advise us on programs and help students with what classes to take and how to get gaining a spot or chance to attend said programs, there would not be as by in school. They are more than much pressure on our main school helpful in giving us insight on what career would be best suited for us, in counselors or on the students. Our writing us recommendation letters, counselors always will remain important in our lives because they are and in helping us focus on our academic progress in school itself so we essential to making us a success. So can fill out our college applications to why not add one or two more to help our best ability come senior year. ensure that we truly are successful?

Question of the Month: What was your favorite childhood t.v. show?

“‘Dragon Tales’ because I liked the theme song.”

Junior Manasi Aranake

“‘Berenstain Bears’ because it taught me valuable lessons and it was funny.”

Sophomore Krupa Patel

“‘Arthur’ because it taught me morals I would use.”

Freshman Long Dang

“‘WordWorld’ because it was ridiculously stupid.”

Sophomore Derek Ngo

“‘Spongebob’ because it was funny and there were many funny jokes.”

Senior Pooja Patel

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T he U nion

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April 2014

FOSTER WORLD PEACE host families wanted

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT Milpitas Sister Cities Commission 455 E. Calavaras Blvd Milpitas, CA 95035 (408) 586-3352 www.ci.Milpitas.ca.gov/government/commissions/sister/asp

T HE U NION

IN-FOCUS

APRIL 2014

7

of teen driving

fatalities

48%

in 2011 due to drunk driving

decrease in teen

driver fatalities

MARIJUANA

OTHER 14.4%

9.3%

HALLUCINOGENS AND SEDATIVES

7.4%

ADDERALL

PAST-YEAR USAGE OF DRUGS BY TWELFTH GRADERS NATIONWIDE Data Courtesy of University of Michigan, Graphics by Sidney Le

Teen use of ‘designer drugs’ increase

BY JAZMIN DROP

h 32%

VICODIN 5.3%

5%

COUGH MEDICINE

4%

VARIOUS TRANQUILIZERS 4.6%

Youth is a time of experimentation; hormones fuel new sexual urges, and teenage rebellion goes hand-in-hand with the birth of drug curiosity. The brain is at a critical point in development during the teenage years, which also means teenagers are more susceptible to drug abuse. The drug culture among teenagers has existed for about just as long as the modern society has existed, but today’s youth faces new challenges: the introduction of new narcotics as well as the dangers that accompany them. The Union staff explores the popularization of new methods of intoxication, what leads to drug experimentation, and the potential hazards that irresponsible usage poses.

MDMA (ECSTASY) AND DERIVATIVES

FIX?

44.3%

What’s YOUR

Among teenagers, the diversity of drugs has been increasing--marijuana has new competitors. Commonly used ecstasy pills, such as “molly,” are being modified to “smackers,” also called “thizzles,” which contain traces of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and several other drugs.

The drug market has expanded recently as the rise of different types of pills become more popular. The rave scene birthed a new pill, called “vitamin K” or “special K,” which is a tranquilizer capable of killing. According to the California Narcotics Officer Association, it works faster than phencyclidine (PCP) and gives the effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD),

giving an out-of-body experience. A similar psychedelic, hallucinatory drug, often misrepresented as LSD, only referred to as DOC, has popped up. DOC contains amphetamines, but unlike most amphetamines, DOC influences cognitive and perception processes of the brain.

There’s also a home-made drug called “lemon drop,” which can be made from mixing painter’s solvent with over-the-counter cough syrup.

Dextromethorophan (DXM) is extracted from this mix and and added to lemonade. A study in 2008 revealed that one in every ten American teenagers abuse DXM, making it more popular than methamphetamines.

Side effects include euphoria, hyperactivity, mania, and hallucinations.

An overdose can result in confusion, constipation, and vomiting.

One of the most notorious drugs in the Bay Area is called dimethyltryptamine (DMT), also known as the “spirit molecule.” According to the Mountain View Police Department, the “spirit molecule” is ten times more effective than LSD. One gram can cost up to $900. The side effects are described as passing out for a few minutes where one can have extreme delusions, such as euphoric insights into other dimensions or fake alien abductions. DMT can be extracted from plants and was used by shamans in the Amazon for sacred rituals. DMT is usually smoked and can resemble small yellow crystals in one form or be a powder in another.

from 2002-2011 Data Courtesy of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Graphics by Sidney Le

With more and more teenagers on the road , we as a community must consider how to deal with underage drinking responsibly and intelligently. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that , since 1975, the minimum drinking age laws have saved approximately 29000 lives and reduced alcohol-related traffic fatalities by 13 percent; of those approximately 40 percent were people under the age of 20. Beyond just a problem in terms of legislation, drunk driving poses a serious threat to our way of life and the stability of our society.

Marijuana use expanding

BY BRYAN TRAN

Has anyone ever asked you if you wanted to buy some weed? Some hash? Ever seen in-class exchanges of cash for drugs? Chances are, you have, or at least you know someone who has.

Illicit drug use by high school students is trending upwards and proving to be more and more popular each year, particularly in the case of marijuana. In 2013, seven percent of 8th graders, 18 percent of 10th graders, and 22.7 percent of 12th graders used marijuana in the past month, up from 5.8 percent, 13.8 percent, and 19.4 percent in 2008, according to National Institute of Drug Abuse. The question now is “why?”

One explanation would be that acquiring marijuana and other illicit drugs is rather easy. It is easier to buy marijuana than to buy beer, and 40 percent of teens say they can obtain marijuana within a day, according to a study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. Are restriction laws too weak, or are they simply producing an effect opposite of their motive?

It seems impossible to stop drug use, but there is a way to control it. An alternate solution would be to legalize such drugs to create control over the substances for the government. It would get rid of the rebellious nature of many who buy drugs in order to

demonstrate disobedience to the law.

In Colorado and Washington, where marijuana is legalized for recreational use as well as medical use, there is more control over the flow of marijuana and the states are actually getting more profits than they expected. Sales of recreational cannabis in the US state of Colorado have reaped more than $2.1 million from tax revenues just one month after the drug’s legalization, the state’s public financial ledger revealed for February 2014.

Another explanation of increased drug use would be stress and depression. Are schools being too tough on their students? The number one reason teens give for using drugs is the pressures and stress of school, according to the 2007 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study, which surveyed more than 6000 students across the US. Teens who feel isolated and overwhelmed by the pressure of high school and of getting into a good university often resort to using illicit drugs and misusing prescription drugs. Drugs such as alcohol and marijuana are the most common escape mechanisms for young teens.

This typically happens when parents underestimate the pressure of school.

With more communication between teens and parents, there likely will be a significant decrease in drug use.

Sidney Le | THE UNION

Brandon Brown, an employee at Elements SJ, is one of many who have begun using vapor pens. Many smoking lounges and shops, such as this, have started up in the past few years as a response to the growing community.

Electronic cigarettes controversial

BY RACHEL ALVELAIS

You’ve probably seen them over the counter at 7-Eleven. Now, you can see them on campus here at MHS—but I wouldn’t recommend advertising the fact. Just ask the eleven freshmen who were caught using electronic cigarettes all in a single class.

Electronic cigarettes, called e-cigarettes or vapor pens, are advertised as the smokeless and tarless alternative for nicotine consumption. E-cigarettes vaporize solutions of nicotine to provide inhaled doses of the substance; the devices emit no smoke, only an odorless or sweet vapor.

The California Health and Safety Code prohibits the sale of e-cigarettes to minors. Nevertheless, more students in the Bay Area are using e-cigarettes. Because e-cigarettes

give off a sweet smell or no smell at all, it’s easier for students to use them on campus without getting caught.

Assistant Principal Hillary Brittan expressed concern over the effect of e-cigarette use on students’ health.

“Many [students] don’t see the connection to nicotine addiction or health problems created by the use of the product,” she said in an email sent to MHS teachers.

Currently, there are no standards for the quality of the liquids the e-cigarettes convert to vapor. Since e-cigarettes aren’t defined tobacco products, they’re exempt from regulations provided in the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Act. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) states there is currently no way for consumers to know if e-cigarettes are safe. The amount of nicotine or

other harmful chemicals are in cartridges, as the technology is still relatively new and hasn’t been studied.

State authorities are creating regulations similar to those on tobacco products; both San Francisco and Santa Clara Counties have restricted the use of e-cigarettes in places where traditional tobacco products are banned, such as schools.

The liquid nicotine contained in e-cigarette cartridges is a danger to children and adults alike, said Lee Cantrell, director of the San Diego California Poison Control System.

“This is one of the most potent naturally occurring toxins we have,” Cantrell said. Even a small dose of nicotine, especially in its liquid form, can cause vomiting and seizures and potentially death when exposed to the skin or ingested.

8

THE UNION

APRIL 2014

FEATURES

Quiocho interns at hospital; gains experience

BY MICHELLE WU

Aside from being a part of the MHS band for four years, playing the drums for the St. Elizabeth choir, and running long distance for the MHS Track and Field team, Senior Christian Quiocho dedicates his spare time to volunteering at a hospital. Quiocho has been volunteering at San Jose Regional Medical Center since 2011 and has devoted over 500 hours of his time assisting patients.

Quiocho initially began volunteering at the hospital to be exposed to the medical field in preparation for becoming a nurse for the Navy, according to Quiocho. He then continued to volunteer more frequently because he enjoyed helping people and

wanted to help ease the pain of those who are suffering, Quiocho said.

“I have a passion for taking care of others,” Quiocho said. “When I help others, either visitors or patients, I feel accomplished knowing that I was able to aid that person, no matter how small or big the help [is].”

Quiocho’s typical schedule is working for dispersal, where he receives calls from other departments for assistance. His jobs vary from transferring specimens or discharging a patient, to working for the front desk and communicating with visitors who need directions or are visiting a patient, Quiocho said.

“I also enjoy discharging patients, because every patient I meet is different,” Quiocho said. “It’s always

interesting to be able to assist these patients and get to know them a little before they leave.”

Quiocho previously worked at the Emergency Room (ER) of Regional Medical Center and found it to be his most hectic job, Quiocho said.

Although the ER was chaotic at times, Quiocho felt that it was not as stressful as he had imagined, Quiocho continued.

“This volunteer opportunity has shaped the way I feel about my future career as well as my perspective on other people. Meeting new volunteers, assisting nurses, conversing with patients; it all pays off in the end,” Quiocho said. “I’ve definitely changed my ways as a person and I’m now aware about those around me.”

MHS’ Ribovich hosts weekly theater workshop

BY JAZMIN DROP

English Teacher John Ribovich has started a beginners’ acting class on campus aimed toward second semester seniors who did not have room in their schedule for the MHS Theater class, Ribovich said. Ribovich is the founding director of Calaveras Repertory Theater and has directed plays for almost 19 years, Ribovich added.

The Calaveras Repertory Theater received a grant from Silicon Valley Creates to provide beginner acting classes to high schools, according to Ribovich. The acting classes began on March 19 and will end April 23.

Students in the acting class will learn how to improvise and make a set out

of minimal props. Students can also learn different types of scene study, and other acting styles, Ribovich continued. “[I’m offering this class] to give students that don’t really get a chance to get involved with theater because of their schedule,” Ribovich said. “Most of the time my students are AP [classtaking] second semester seniors who are so overcommitted, they wouldn’t have enough time to take an acting class in their schedule.”

Ribovich will also host a screenplay writing class from April 30 to May 28, he said. Each class meets once a week on Wednesday from 3:30 to 5:00 for five weeks, Ribovich continued.

Senior Valerio Scherini signed up

for the acting class to receive more experience, Scherini said. Scherini plans to sign up for the screenplay writing class as well, he continued.

“The environment is super positive; no one makes fun of anyone for messing up. My main motivation going into this is to get some acting experience because we will make movies after AP testing and I wanted some experience beforehand to make it better,” Scherini said. “Our homework this week was to sit down at home and write about what’s above us, behind us, and next to us.”

On the last day of the acting class, students will perform a scene in front of their friends, Ribovich said. The show is an invite-only event.

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Senior Jason Ryan Henshaw introduces himself to the program attendees.

The weeklong Honeywell Leadership Challenge Academy was in Alabama.

Henshaw attends space program; creates rockets, launches shuttles

BY AMY BUI

There are many interesting and unique programs that high school students can get involved in. One student, Senior Jason Ryan Henshaw, took advantage of one of these programs and participated in the space program at Honeywell Leadership Challenge Academy in Alabama.

Henshaw’s mother’s work company referred the program to him, resulting in his decision to submit an application, he said. The program was free of expense and included food and board, according to Henshaw. Students only had to pay for their plane tickets, he continued.

“I left for the weeklong program on March 1 and returned on March 7, so I missed a week of school,” Henshaw said. “I decided to take a chance with the application and was surprised I got selected.”

The program was incredibly diverse and students from several different countries around the world participated, Henshaw said. The experience was rewarding and he was able to meet new people, according to Henshaw.

“Some of the activities included building rockets and experiencing a

space shuttle,” Henshaw said. “We got to be one of the commanders of the shuttle with a pilot and learned how to control the switches and follow commands.”

Henshaw met several new friends in the program by working closely with a group of 15 students, he said.

He also learned leadership and communication skills, according to Henshaw.

“The students had to quickly learn how to work together through small experiments such as building small rockets,” Henshaw said. “An accomplishment was being able to build a rocket that launched and flew straight and was able to keep an egg from breaking with a parachute system.”

Most of the activities were paralleled to real situations, such as the space shuttle simulation, Henshaw said. There were people back in mission control alerting the commanders of any problems, and another team of engineers doing experiments they would perform in space, he added.

Henshaw also went to Hudson Alpha Institute for biotechnology beacuse it was a part of the program, he said. Henshaw hopes to pursue a science major and potentially work in the medical field, he continued.

Questbridge National College Match assists Pham with application process

BY JAMIE LAM

C������� O� L������ S����

Junior Lovejot Singh aims his bow and arrow at a target during target practice. He practices archery at the park every week and often goes to the Cupertino Mountains. Singh hopes to participate in archery after he graduates.

‘Robin Hood’ inspires Singh to pursue archery

BY RISHIKA DUGYALA

The recent outbreak of “The Hunger Games” mania has triggered a desire in many people to aspire to be like Katniss Everdeen. Who doesn’t want to be able to use a bow and arrow to shoot, kill, and hunt?

One student on campus, however, started archery a full decade before Katniss Everdeen. This student was inspired by the first archer who ever graced television as a child’s hero.

The hero? Robin Hood. The student?

Junior Lovejot Singh.

Singh received his first bow when he was six or seven years old, he said.

Robin Hood was a very influential character, according to Singh. He was

someone that stole from the rich and gave to the poor with the aid of his trusty sidekick, the bow, Singh said.

“I have to go outside the city into the Cupertino Mountains to do archery,” Singh said. “I know I’m good, because it just comes naturally to me. When I practice, if I want to hit a target, I’m really good at it, and [the arrow] goes where I want it to go. I have this connection with my bow.”

Archery is not a sport to be taken lightly, Singh explained. A lot of people do not realize there are other gears required before one can truly practice the sport, he added.

“You need an arm guard to stop the string from slapping your arm,” Singh said. “Also, you need a finger tab to

help you pull the string back because the string really hurts your finger if you pull it back without protection.”

Singh has bettered himself and his character via archery, he said. He has learned countless life lessons from following the sport, according to Singh.

“One important thing it has taught me is that if I stick with my goals, whatever I want to do, I can get there,” Singh said. “I just have to have patience.”

Singh plans to continue archery for the rest of his life, especially if it is available in the university he plans to go to, he said. He hopes to pursue the competitive side of archery while attending college, Singh said.

Now that it is April, many seniors have already heard back from the colleges they applied to in the fall.

Among several other seniors, Senior Ivy Pham has received acceptances to many prestigious universities, including Stanford, Yale, Columbia, MIT, Harvard, Brown, Caltech, and Princeton, to name a few.

One of the steps that Pham took in her college application process was to look into Questbridge, a program that encourages high-achieving, low-income students to apply to top colleges. Pham said she applied to Questbridge’s National College Match Program (NCM), and was selected as a finalist. Finalists could rank up to eight of NCM’s partner colleges, and their applications would then be forwarded to the colleges, Pham said.

“The college makes the decision, not Questbridge. I wasn’t matched to a college in the NCM, so I forwarded my Questbridge application to colleges such as Yale through the regular decision process,” Pham said. “Yale notified me early and said they’d send me an official letter in the mail later in March.”

Yale’s website states that “Families whose total gross income is less than

$65,000 are not expected to make a contribution towards their child’s Yale education.” In this way, Pham’s family will not have to pay anything towards her education if she chooses to attend Yale, as she will receive a full-ride scholarship, Pham added.

“I’m not sure where I’m going yet, because I still have until May 1 to think about it,” Pham said. “I’m looking forward to all the new opportunities to study math and science more in depth, participating in other academic and community activities, and meeting new people.”

Pham found out about Questbridge from Counselor Cory Nakamoto and her uncle, who recommended she apply. When she attends college, Pham said she plans on majoring in Mathematics and Biology. In the future, Pham would like to become a medical doctor.

“The most important thing is to start early; the earlier the better because it takes a lot of time,” Pham said. “The essay is extremely important, because the only way colleges can know more about who you are is through your essay.”

Pham would also like to thank her principal, teachers, family, and friends for supporting, guiding, and helping her. She contributes her success to their support.

APRIL 2014

FEATURES

THE UNION

9

Holocaust survivor visits MHS; shares experiences, misfortunes

BY MICHELLE HUANG

George Elbaum spoke to MHS students about his childhood experiences during the Holocaust on March 20. His visit was arranged by Jack Weinstein, the director of the West Coast office for a group called Facing History and Ourselves, according to Weinstein.

Elbaum is the author of “Neither Yesterdays Nor Tomorrows,” an autobiography that tells the story of his life during the Holocaust in Warsaw, Poland, Elbaum said. He was inspired to write and publish his vignettes after watching “Paper Clips,” a documentary about a small white school in Tennessee that collected paperclips to represent the number of Jewish deaths during the Holocaust, he added.

“I saw what the Holocaust and its memory did to my mom. She was haunted until the very end, so I kept the Holocaust at an emotional distance,” Elbaum said. “The documentary ‘Paper Clips’ showed that my stories had emotional value.”

Hitler’s armies invaded Warsaw, Poland in Sept. 1939, according to Elbaum. The Nazis swept across Poland in about one month and held a victory parade on the streets of Warsaw afterwards, Elbaum continued.

“I lived in Warsaw; I was born there.

And at that time I had a family of a dozen people. Within three years, of that dozen people, only my mom and I were still alive. The other 10 were murdered by the Nazis one by one because they were Jewish,” Elbaum said. “The goal of the Nazi party was to exterminate everyone who they considered undesirable. Jews were on top of their list for extermination,” Elbaum said.

The killings were spurred by antiSemitism, the hatred of Jews, according to Elbaum. The deaths were not battle deaths, but those of civilians, including men, women, and children, he said.

“Anti-Semitism is just like all the other antis; it’s hatred for someone who has never done anything to you,” Elbaum said. “All the antis are nothing but negative. They only can lead to destruction. If you want to do anything good in your life, you have to be for something, not against something, and the Nazis were against a lot of things and a lot of people.”

The Nazis chose two to three major cities in each country that they conquered and walled in the areas, creating what became known as the ghettos, Elbaum said. As soon as the ghettos were packed, the Nazis began taking all the residents out of the ghettos and shipping them to concentration camps, he explained.

“I recall seeing some groups being led out by the soldiers. Then suddenly, I saw my mother running in through the gate, holding a piece of paper in her hand, and then leading us out of the courtyard,” Elbaum said. “My mother somehow learned that our apartment block was being emptied out that day. Because of that, she got from the factory director a temporary permit that allowed her to keep her family in place; had she arrived a few minutes later, it would have been too late.”

Elbaum’s mother smuggled herself, Elbaum, and his grandmother out of the ghetto to an intermediate place known as the shed, Elbaum said. The cover of “Neither Yesterdays Nor Tomorrows” is based on Elbaum’s memories of the shed, according to Elbaum.

S����� L� | THE UNION

Seniors Catherine Le (left) and Gerilyn Barairo (right) measure a chick’s beak to document its growth in Anatomy and Physiology Teacher Lisa Brizuela’s �fth period class. The students applied testosterone on the baby chickens.

Students experiment on female chicks in class

BY NEAL BANSAL

The Anatomy and Physiology classes experimented on female chicks to visualize the effects of hormones, according to Anatomy and Physiology Teacher Lisa Brizuela. The students in these classes have been learning that hormones target only specific areas of the body, which is what they are attempting to test in this experiment, Brizuela said.

The chicks are all female, Brizuela said. Testosterone is applied to the comb of each chick to test if the comb

will grow out as it would on a rooster, according to Brizuela.

If a comb grows out, the results support the idea that hormones promote specific gender traits, Brizuela said. If no other areas are affected, the idea that hormones only promote traits in specific areas will be supported, Brizuela added.

“The class is divided in two groups in order to conduct a double blind test,” Brizuela said. “One group is given a pure alcohol solution, whereas the other is given an alcohol plus testosterone solution. In a blind

test, the students are not told which solution of the two they are given; they are to determine which one they have experimentally.”

The alcohol solution alone should have no effect on the size of the comb, Brizuela said. On the other hand, the testosterone-alcohol solution should make the comb larger, she added.

With this data, the class must determine if the testosterone actually affected only the one target site, according to Brizuela. The chicks were later weighed to determine if any muscles developed, she said.

THE UNION

10

APRIL 2014

LIFESTYLE

JUNIOR SENIOR PROM SEASON HAS ARRIVED DIY: HOW TO TIE A TIE

BY RAKSHIT GARG

Prom is coming up and it’s that one night where we can’t wear sweatshirts and jeans. While the ladies get all dolled up with their hair, make up and dresses, the men are expected to at least wear ties. I’ll show you how:

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Sidney Le | THE UNION

Senior Michelle Wu shows a simple prom make up look in three major steps. Wu’s face is made up first, then her eyes and eyebrows, followed by her lips. It’s important to use primers to ensure your make up lasts.

Simple, quick make up tutorial for prom night Start with the wide end of your tie on your right side and about a foot longer (more or less depending on your height) than the narrow end of your tie (which should be on the left).

2 Wrap the wide end of your tie twice around the narrow end, and hold the wide end to the right. At the same time, pinch the narrow end of the tie at the point where the wide end wraps around it.

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BY MICHELLE WU

Don’t know how to do your make up for prom? Don’t fret; here is a guide to a basic and essential make up look for prom. In 12 steps, transform yourself from ordinary to flawless.

The first step is to apply face primer. This is to ensure the durability of your make up and to help smooth out the skin’s surface. Next, apply foundation using a foundation brush, a stippling brush, or a moist beauty blender. Afterwards, use concealer to brighten up under the eyes and hide blemishes. Fourth, set your make up by using loose or compact powder.

When looking for foundation, concealer, and powder make sure to know the undertone of your skin.

If your veins are blue you are most likely have a cool undertone; if your veins are green you are most likely a warm undertone. Those of you in between have a neutral undertone.

When in doubt, try it on at the store or try at home and return it if it isn’t the right shade.

Make sure the foundation you buy has a Sun Protection Factor (SPF) below 20 to avoid a white cast while taking pictures. Look for matte foundations and powders; avoid any shimmer, which can look like oil. Alternatives to foundation are BB or CC creams, tinted moisturizer, or concealer to cover up any blemishes or scars.

Step five is eyebrows: if you have

thicker eyebrows, lightly shade them in which a powder or pencil.

If you have thinner eyebrows, play with different shapes until you find one that matches your face shape best. While pencil makes a cleaner shape, powder will look more natural.

After filling in your eyebrows make sure to lightly comb it out to make it look as natural as possible.

Try using a powder or pencil color similar to your hair color or a shade darker. You can also go over your eyebrows with gel to make sure your eyebrow hairs stay in place or to change the color of your eyebrow hairs.

Step six is to use an eye primer to increase the longevity of your eye shadow. You can also use a cream eye shadow or cream pencil as a base to make the eye shadow last longer and intensify the colors.

Step seven is the eye shadow. Apply a light shimmery or matte color as the base; apply it all over your eyelid until your crease (at your brow bone). Then, with a matte taupe color apply it to your outer crease and blend it into your eye shadow with a blending brush. If you want to intensify the look, add a dark brown where you applied the taupe and blend it in. Then, highlight your brow bone with a matte color such as white or cream.

Step eight is to apply black or brown eyeliner. The best way to get the perfect eyeliner look is to practice until you get it right. Gel and

pencil eyeliners offer more control, while liquid eyeliner has a cleaner look. If you want to enhance your lashes curl them and apply mascara, or for a more dramatic look, use fake eyelashes.

Step nine is to contour with bronzer. Look for a bronzer that is a few shades darker than your skin tone and always blend it after your apply it. Contour the cheekbones, the edges of your nose, and the outer part of your forehead. To find your cheekbones suck in your cheeks and they will stick out. Contouring is used to slim down your face and enhance your features.

Step 10 is to apply blush to the apples of your cheek, which you can find while smiling. Step 11 is to highlight your face; highlighting brings attention to that certain area. Using the picture as a guideline, apply a white powder or concealer a shade or two light to the bridge of your nose and under your eyes.

Step 12 is to apply lip color. Before using any lip products make sure to moisturize your lips with lip balm and to outline your lips with lip liner.

Always practice your make up look before prom; the only way to get better is through practice. Make sure to ask a friends or family members for their opinion on your make up while you practice so you can fix any mistakes. If you are bringing a purse to prom bring oil wipes, powder, and lip products to touch up your make up.

Students start businesses, service prom needs

BY AKSHAT DAS

Take the wide end, bring it up towards your neck through the hole formed by your collar and the knot, then take the wide end and tuck through the coils that you made earlier. Pull until you have a knot.

4 Once the knot has been formed, adjust the tie to its desired level of tightness by pulling on the narrow end and pushing the knot upwards towards your neck.

With prom quickly approaching, several MHS students have started shopping for dresses, tuxedos, and everything else prom-related. Prom season has also brought out the entrepreneurs at MHS. Some of the people who have started their own business are: Jessica Cohen Business: Hair and make-up Prices: $25 for makeup or $40 for both hair and makeup Contact: jessicacohenmua@ gmail.com What makes this business unique: “I love what I do. I’ve been running a legitimate business as a freelance makeup artist for over a year.

I have clients weekly, am capable of anything brought to me and am very skilled at my practice. My prices are also considerably lower than other hair and makeup artists as I understand prom is a very expensive event to attend and I try to make my services as accessible as possible. ”

Kimberly Duong Business: Hand-made corsages and boutonnieres Prices: two for $15 or one for $8 Contact info: Find her Facebook or talk to her brother, Senior Timothy Duong.

What makes this business unique: “I will be using a wristlet and fake flowers and ribbons since they last longer and are easier to work with.

They’re unique because they’re cheaper than a lot of other places. I got motivated to start this because my brother went to junior prom last year and had me make his and his date’s corsage.”

Brandon Do and Timmy Nguyen Business: Photography Prices: Base price is $40 dollars per couple; which includes a set of 10 images (printed/digital) with couple and solo pictures. The next photo package is for a group of four which will be $60. Any group above four persons will have an additional fee of $10 per couple.

Contact: www.facebook.com/ promtog or 13paradigmdesigns@ gmail.com

Materials used: 2 Canon 60D, 2470mm 2.8l, 70-200 2.8l, reflectors, diffusers, flash units, tripods, industrial editing software, etc.

What makes this business unique: “Our services are a lot cheaper compared to professional photography studios. We’ll go through extensive shooting and editing to attain the perfect image for the prom albums. Our schedules are also very flexible, we estimate each location shoot to be around 30 minutes long.”

Lidia Kuo Business: Corsages and boutonnieres Prices: $10-12 for corsage and boutonniere set Contact info: Find her Facebook What makes this business unique: “I’m using fake flowers with varied ribbons. My items are handmade and each designed uniquely.

They’ll last forever. I started this last year because I needed a corsage and boutonniere for prom. I had extra material, so I made some more for a friend. People liked what I made so I started selling them as a business.”

APRIL 2014

THE UNION

LIFESTYLE

Students volunteer at Cinéquest film festival

BY JAMIE LAM

An event that many film enthusiasts and community service clubs look forward to in March is Cinéquest, a film festival that shows premiere films and renowned and emerging artists. This film festival provides a chance for film lovers to watch new films, and for volunteers to help keep the event organized.

Many clubs at our school volunteer at Cinéquest yearly, including California Scholarship Federation (CSF) and Making Our Voices Echo (MOVE). This year, Cinéquest took place from March 4 to March 16.

“I personally really enjoyed the time I spent volunteering with Cinéquest,” MOVE President Johnathan Yeung said. “The actor who starred in the film was there at the showing, and a bunch of audi-

ence members crowded him afterwards and shared what they loved about the film. Watching them have such a great time talking made me feel happy and accomplished as a volunteer. I would love to volunteer again in the future if I could.”

Yeung recruited volunteers for Cinéquest by introducing the event to MOVE members and talking to his friends, Yeung said. Before the festival started, MOVE volunteers worked with the Cinéquest marketing department to distribute brochures and fliers throughout Downtown San Jose, Yeung said.

CSF Co-President Vivian Lau said she has volunteered at Cinéquest for the past four years. Her favorite memory of Cinéquest was when she helped at the California Theater during the showing of the silent movie ‘Faust,’ Lau said.

“There was a live, world-renowned organ player that played all of the sound effects of the movie,” Lau said. “It was amazing. Before the movie ended, we went out to hand out surveys to movie goers.

I would definitely come back and volunteer again if I could.”

Some of the volunteer activities that Lau has helped with include handing out surveys and pencils, keeping track of how many visitors came in each theater, and directing visitors to theaters, Lau said. She also helped transport supplies between theaters, Lau said.

“Volunteering at Cinéquest is a great experience, and it’s something everyone should do at least once in high school,” Lau said. “I want to come back as a visitor in the future instead of a volunteer, just to see how the other side is like.”

Skin care routines offer protection in summer

BY BRENDA SU

The sun has finally returned.

While you may celebrate by heading to the beach, the prospects of harmful radiation and skin damage call for a modified skin care routine.

Too much sun can dehydrate your skin, cause wrinkles, and increase the risk of skin cancer. Sunscreen is the basis of skin care for warmer weather.

A sunscreen with a Sun Protection Factor (SPF) of at least 20 is recommended, and there are many sunscreens available for those with sensitive skin. Oil-free sunscreens are also recommended to prevent breakouts.

Many moisturizers and makeup

like BB Cream and foundation include SPF, making them very versatile products. Sunscreens should go on after you cleanse and moisturize your face.

Skin is also more prone to acne breakouts during warmer months.

Make sure you wash your face regularly and use clarifying facials and body washes.

Switch to gentler cleansers if your face wash dries out your skin. After cleansing, you should apply an alcohol-free toner onto your face.

Heavier moisturizers that are more appropriate for winter should be switched to something lighter.

Facial serums have light formulas that concentrate doses of nutrients and penetrate deep into your pores.

Exfoliation also helps prevent breakouts by shedding away layers of dead skin cells that clog pores.

You should get a facial scrub weekly.

Those with spring allergies are exposed to airborne allergens like pollen. This can set on skin and cause the skin to release histamine, causing inflammation. Washing your face regularly and using serums specifically designed to stop allergens from penetrating your skin can help reduce itchiness and redness.

Allergies also cause eye-itching, and constant eye-rubbing can create dark circles. Eye-drops can alleviate symptoms. Reducing your intake of salt, sleeping on your back, and drinking more water can also prevent puffy eyes.

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FASHION SPOTLIGHT

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ritchie le Senior

1. blazer from H&M 2. watch from Armani Exchange 3. rings from eBay

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4. shoes from Gucci

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His Fashion Inspir ation:

“I’m what you call an urban bohemian. I look at people at school for what not to wear.

I like jewellery - I wear meaningful pieces.”

Rachel Alvelais | THE UNION

Senior Ritchie Le (left) and Junior Charline Hoang (right) wear some simple, but unique prom attire. Prom will be held at the Fairmont Hotel.

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charline hoang Junior

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Her Fashion Inspir ation: “I draw my inspiration from the people I surround myself with, but I also like doing my own thing.”

1. hair loose waves 2. dress from mom’s closet 3. wedges from Off Broadway

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T he U nion

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April 2014

Play CommonWealth’s TrojansTrivia.

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APRIL 2014

THE UNION

ENTERTAINMENT

13

‘Thief’ enjoyable, lacks difficulty, variety RATING:

••••

BY SUMUKH SHEKAR

“Thief” is a new stealth game developed by Eidos Montreal and published by Square Enix. The game is centered around Garret, a very skilled thief who specializes in stealth. The game is fixed in a first-person point of view, immersing the player in the life of Garret as a night thief.

The overall gameplay is controlled by the player. Every level is designed to be completed however the player wishes to complete it. For example, a player can try to test his or her stealth skills and try to maneuver through the levels, stealing items and leaving without getting caught. However, the player can also go into direct combat with the non-player characters, attempting to kill them in an attempt to escape.

The difficulty of the game can vary.

Some players may find that normal mode is too easy with the simple

combat system that allows one to get away with ease. This may cause some to opt for the hard difficulty. Difficulty can be changed anytime throughout gameplay to alter the game’s artificial intelligence, making the completion of a level easier or harder.

There are a few problems some may find with the game. No matter what system the game is played on, “Thief” is plagued with many load screens when transitioning from one place to another. While some load times are not large, it can become a distraction from the overall gameplay. Another problem lies with the game’s mechanics. Combat is not very diverse, limiting players to a small array of weapon choices and combat styles. You are only provided with a bow and arrow, two bludgeoning GAME tools, and a claw.

REVIEW However, the stealth gameplay is something the game does a very good job in immersing the player. It

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would have been nice though, if the game included some RPG elements such as experience points and player leveling to further immerse the player so they feel as though the character is growing with each level.

The graphics will vary depending on the system. While the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions tend to blur the minute details present on objects, the next generation console versions’ graphics significantly differ with more detail and shading.

The overall setting of the game is a dark fantasy world, filled with a gloomy atmosphere. Garret lives in a city ruled by a tyrant and plagued with a large gap between the rich and the poor. As a result, Garret takes advantage and tries to steal from the rich during a period where the poor people are fighting the authorities through protests. While the plot itself is not very memorable, most players can completely forget about the plot during the gameplay. Overall, “Thief” makes for an enjoyable stealth game.

Brenda Su | THE UNION

Courtesy of Electronics Arts

“Titanfall” gives players a chance to participate in a futuristic, planet-side war. In matches of up to 6 against 6, players controls mechs and soldiers.

‘Titanfall’’s gameplay wows

RATING:

•••••

BY VIKRAM SASTRY

As I sat in the corner of my room crying that Watchdogs had once again been postponed, I heard my laptop begin to play a Youtube ad for a new game. This game allows the beautiful graphics of Battlefield 4 and the interaction of something like Assassin’s Creed. Without any warning “Titanfall” has hit the world by storm and is quickly becoming one of the most popular games of this year.

“Titanfall” has a number of qualities about it that not only provide the classic first person shooter player with shooter gameplay but also revolutionizes the act of simply running and shooting. One of “Titanfall”’s key characteristics is the fact that it includes a large amount of parkour. This has been instrumental in the gameplay of the game. Instead of players having to press X to jump over a barrier it automatically allows players to do so.

“Titanfall” also included an awesome new movement ability which allows you to make like Mario and jump on walls. With such an interac-

tive battleground, the player can now use multiple movements to avoid gun-fire and titan missiles. Not only do you get to interact with walls but you can also run alongside them to get from one point to another. This has allowed players to move around the map much more efficiently while being able to keep away from possible enemies.

However, while Electronic Arts gives us amazing gameplay it takes away any real campaign. The understanding here is that with amazing gameplay and insane graphics, you lose campaign which is a sacrifice some may not be willing to make.

“Titanfall” may be eliminating an important base with the cast off of campaign mode. is an amazGAME ing“Titanfall” game all in all. It alREVIEW lows for players to have a new way to move when playing this revolutionizing fps of a game. Even though you might lose campaign mode you gain something more important. With the amazing gameplay and beautiful graphics you can’t find too much to complain about this game. v

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In “Knight in the Alley,” Sam (Yadyrra Cravin: left) ties up Alice (Faith Hilliard: right) with the intention of cannibalizing her. The work was the first work out of eight separate pieces written, directed, and performed by students.

Spring Play features student-written plays ‘Pretty Little Liars’ intense

RATING:

•••

BY BRENDA SU

Intersections, a conglomerate of eight separate works, was the first MHS production that featured student-written and student-directed plays. Themes like love and familial relationships connected the pieces together.

“Knight in the Alley” Alice (Faith Hilliard) walks through a dark, deserted alley when she is stopped by William (Alex Sapien), a suspicious stranger. She flees from William, who ultimately saves her from a cannibal, Sam (Yadyrra Cravin), lying in wait for her.

The actors all gave effective and convincing performances. While the work was an interesting concept and contained an unexpected plot twist, the play’s main weakness was its stilted and unnatural script.

“Happy Anniversary” John’s (Simeon Alojipan) anniversary with his wife Sophie (Leika Keys) takes an unexpected twist when he wakes up next to a corpse. They discover it was their family friend Ethan (Kyle Bobay) trying to frame John in order to win Sophie for himself.

The actors’ performances were fairly strong overall, especially Keys’.

However, the plot was predictable.

“Better Late than Never” William (Phuc Nguyen) is an aging grandfather who regrets never having taken any risks in his life. He comes up with a bucket list with his grandson June (TJ Dunn). The play jumps forward in time and ends with June lamenting his grandfather’s death,

and it is revealed that the only item crossed off William’s bucket list is “Spend time with June.”

The play was a bit tedious and long-winded while William and June planned William’s bucket list. The emotional and poignant ending was definitely the highlight of the play; audience members even let out sounds of protest!

“Table for Three” In this comedic work, Max (Simeon Alojipan), a socially awkward guy, wears an earpiece during his restaurant date so Zach (Jevons Lin) can tell him what to say. Zach himself falls for the beautiful Joann (Sarah Rendon), and Max and Zach compete with each other for Joann’s affections. Joann is overwhelmed by Max and Zach, discovers she is a lesbian, and falls for the waitress (Yadyrra Cravin).

The directors chose an effective cast. All the actors fitted their roles and succeeded in delivering a humorous performance.

“Three Minutes Left” The mother (Cameron Mateo) calls her sons and convinces them she is on the verge of death. The apathetic Gamer Son (Forrest Tran) dismisses his mother while her Favorite Son (Jason Ting) is overwhelmed and faints.

We discover that the mother was actually not PLAY sick, and was simply testREVIEW ing out a cell phone at the store for three minutes.

®

“Broken” During an emotional confrontation between Jenn (Amanda Cullen), her mother Marie (Jay Vinluan), and Marie’s boyfriend Chris (Phuc Nguyen),

RATING:

Chris reveals that Marie’s husband left their family seven years ago because he had a brain tumor. Marie becomes angry at Chris for keeping this a secret, and the play concludes with the characters unsure of how to proceed in light of this revelation.

Although the dialogue was repetitive, the acting was spot on. Cullen successfully portrayed an angry, resentful teenager, and audience members felt Marie’s emotional distress.

“Here” In this supernatural work, Darren (TJ Dunn) wakes up at home, haunted by a specter (Nicole Alfonso) of another self who convinces him to kill himself ostensibly in order to save his sister (Cameron Mateo) from his abusive mother and the unknown man (Scott Hall) who she’s brought home. The specter then takes over Darren’s body.

The complex plotline and intriguing concept made “Here” one of the better written plays. The specter’s psychological tormenting of Darren was dark, twisted, and enthralling.

“Check, Please” Everything goes wrong during the grand opening of Nick’s (Phuc Nguyen) and Trisha’s (Sirena Shreve) restaurant. In this outrageous comedy, Trisha breaks down emotionally, Jason’s (Jevon Lin) skanky ex Ashley (Simeon Alojipan) strips off her own clothes and flashes her breasts after Charlotte (Yadyrra Cravin) dumps water on her -- and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The audience roared with laughter, and “Check, Please” proved to be an entertaining ending to “Intersections.” The shock factor and ludicrosity contributed to the hilarity of the

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BY MICHELLE WU

In the season four spring finale of “Pretty Little Liars,” Alison DiLaurentis (Sasha Pieterse) is back and fills in all of the missing pieces. The episode is called “A Is for Answers” for a reason. Not only do we find out what happened to the summer during which Alison went missing, but we also find out that her mother, Mrs. DiLaurentis (Andrea Parker), saw who tried to kill her. But the question still remains, who is A? During season four we were led to believe that Ezra Fitz (Ian Harding) was A, but we then discover that he was just spying on Spencer Hastings (Troian Bellisario), Hanna Marin (Ashley Benson), Aria Montgomery (Lucy TV-SERIES REVIEW Hale), and Emily Fields (Shay Mitchell) to write a book about Alison’s and their lives. Later on in the season, we

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are led to believe that Alison’s mother is A, only to find out that her mother did not even know she was alive.

Alison tells her friends that if they do not discover who A is by the end of the night, she has to leave for good.

As the girls are talking to Alison, the police discover that Alison is alive and are searching for her. Before the police find Alison, A shows up with a gun and begins to shoot at the girls.

The episode ends before we discover who A is and whether or not Ezra will live or die. Like every episode, it ends with cliffhangers that make us begging more.

Despite most episodes being slow with all of the action in the end, this episode was full of suspense and drama. However, the previews are always misleading and have more action than the actual episode.

Unfortunately we are still being dragged through another series to find out who A is. We will have to wait until the next season for all of our questions to be answered.

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APRIL 2014

ENTERTAINMENT

Good shows wrongly canceled

BY NHI TRAN

Courtesy of Marvel Entertainment

“Captain America: Winter Soldier” brings back Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) a.k.a. the Black Widow from “The Avengers” and Captain America (Chris Evans). “Captain America: Winter Soldier” was released April 4, 2014.

New ‘Captain America’ alters Marvel universe RATING:

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BY PRANAY PATNI

A superhero film is only as good as the villain that the hero faces. If there are no challenges, surprises, and mistakes along the way, the superhero’s job is just too easy. It is without a surprise though, that Marvel Studios’ newest installment of movies, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” packs all of that and more.

“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” jumps right in from where the Avengers left off, but it also draws a lot of it’s plot from the first Captain America movie. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), a.k.a. Captain America, continues to struggle with the reality that he has come into and has a hard time understanding the morals of present day. When faced with a challenge

where one side seems politically correct while the other seems morally correct, Rogers has to make a choice.

The aftermath of his decision involves a pursuit of Captain America by the very people he thought supported him. Along the way, he makes new friends such as the Falcon (Anthony Mackie), faces old enemies, and has to come to terms with a new, masked rival: The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). Captain’s adventures destroy much of what we previously knew the Marvel Universe as and the stage perfectly to MOVIE sets establish the future evils REVIEW in their world.

But the title aside, this is a movie about Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) a.k.a. the Black Widow just as much as it is about the Captain. Given a much more sub-

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stantial part in this movie than “The Avengers,” the Black Widow finally proves that she is just as big a member of the Avengers as anyone else. With her smart, seductive, and sometimes sinister ways, the Black Widow has definitely outdone her previous appearances and proves that her backstory is one that deserves a movie of it’s own too.

“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” definitely leaves a lot of questions unanswered. What will become of the secrets that are unveiled in the two post-credit scenes? How will the events of this movie affect Marvel’s television franchise “The Agent’s of S.H.I.E.L.D.” ? Will Scarlett Johansson finally get her own franchise as the Black Widow? How will Hydra, the Winter Soldier, and Falcon play into the second Avengers movie?

We’ll just have to wait and see.

The early cancellation of many beloved and well-written television shows such as “Pushing Daisies” and “Firefly” was a huge loss to its devoted fans. They had bright futures with creative story lines for upcoming seasons before being canceled in their prime. Most of these quality shows were hurt by low viewer ship and had trouble gaining large audiences in key demographics, but they had no problem getting positive reviews from critics or even racking up awards and nominations. All of them had the potential to become even better. However, they were denied the opportunity to grow over the course of several seasons and have left fans mourning the deaths of their favorite shows. The early axing of these shows causes show runners to quickly wrap up all the story lines and create an unsatisfying ending.

“Pushing Daisies,” created by Bryan Fuller, was a quirky and charming show about Ned, who has the ability to bring people back from the dead with a touch. He teams up with Emerson, a private detective, to solve crimes and reunites with Chuck, his childhood sweetheart. The show racked up seven Primetime Emmy Awards with 17 nominations and was well-received by critics. However, it dropped to a series low of two million viewers per episode in its second season even though the series consistently delivered with its original concept and layered characters. It was canceled after two short seasons and left viewers with unanswered questions .

“Firefly,” created by Joss Whedon, follows the adventures of the crew of a spaceship called Serenity. The show gained a rapid fan base due to its witty writing, original story lines, and talented cast and was well-received by critics. It was unjustly canceled after only eleven episodes out of the

Twitch.tv stream popular

BY SIDNEY LE

On Feb. 12, 2014, the social experiment known as Twitch Plays Pokémon (TPP) began and by the end of the month, the experiment, according to Twitch.tv, had more than a million participants and had catapulted both the streaming website Twitch.tv and Pokémon back into the mainstream consciousness.

For those unaware, Twitch.tv is a website which allows users to broadcast video content to other users, who are then able stream these broadcasts live. One of the most prominent uses for Twitch.tv is the live-streaming of video games.

An anonymous Australian Twitch user and programmer created a program which would parse the internal chat stream on Twitch into commands for the game, which in this case was Pokémon Red. Using a Game Boy emulator called VisualBoyAdvance, he used his program to input the commands and streamed the game live on Twitch.tv. Essentially what he created was a single game of Pokémon that could be controlled by many thousands of people at once.

In just the duration of the Red version of game, more than 100 million commands were issued into the chat by viewers and participants, according to Twitch.tv. The utter chaos that ensued as a result of the huge input pool, not to mention the lag involved with such a large volume of command inputs, meant that the game was played erratically, seeming completely random most of the time. For example, every Pokémon the character receives can be named, and the character’s first Pokémon was named “ABBBBBBK (“ at the whims of the audience. Often the game would get stuck in a seemingly infinite loop of inputs, getting caught in inventory menus and dialogue hooks. Such randomness meant that a unique challenge was posed — could the game be beaten by sheer randomness? This challenge is perhaps one of reasons why so many were drawn to this odd spectacle. The stream ran without end, with the exception of the time the showrunner pulled the stream in order to add a “democratic” mode, which input the most popular inputs, for just over 16 days, until the game had been beaten.

fourteen created aired. The series is known for its imaginative blending of elements from a western and science fiction. It had an average viewer ship of about four million people per episode during its broadcast, but after its cancellation, DVD sales skyrocketed.

This led to a follow-up movie called “Serenity”.

“Arrested Development” follows the struggles and adventures of the Bluth family who were previously wealthy and always dysfunctional. It ran for three, critically acclaimed seasons before its cancellation but was revived on Netflix for a fourth season in 2013. The show won numerous awards and nominations including six Primetime Emmy Awards, but it had low viewer ship and averaged only six million per episode in the first season.

It later dropped to four million people in its third season despite being a consistently funny comedy during its run. The series was highly enjoyable and extremely funny, and its hilarious cast, which included Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Jessica Walter, never disappointed.

There are many more shows that had great casts and wonderful plot lines that were canceled after only a couple of seasons like “Happy Endings” and “Wonderfalls.” All of these high-quality shows deserve a second chance. Only a select few were revived in movies or another season, but some could not recapture the quality and magic that was present during its run and return with disappointing results.

High quality shows should not be canceled after only a short broadcast when shows that rely on crude humor and lazy writing like “Two and a Half Men” have been on for eleven seasons. The large amount of police and medical dramas on air is mind boggling considering all the unique and well-written shows that are canceled each year. These shows should never have been canceled in the first place.

MUSIC REVIEWS

GIRL

ST. VINCENT

OXYMORON

by Pharrell Electro-R&B RATING:

by St. Vincent Indie Rock RATING:

by Schoolboy Q Hip Hop RATING:

BY STEPHEN HSU

BY KAREN CHI

BY AKSHAT DAS

Pharrell’s “G I R L” album is in stark contrast from the days where he used to rap lyrics like “Pimps in the crib ma / Drop it like it’s hot.” Now the only thing that Pharrell is dropping is childish music. Pharrell does not hold back in referring to copulating in any song of his album, creating an almost comedic album that gets repetitive after two songs.

The first track is “Marilyn Monroe,” in which Pharrell states that there is one girl that only historic girls like Marilyn Monroe, Queen Cleopatra, or Joan of Arc can satisfy. As a former AP World History student, this song makes me cringe. From a lyrical standpoint, it is a large anachronism “Happy” is the only good song on the entire album. “Happy” sounds like soul music that one would hear at a church although there is definitely a dearth in lyrical ingenuity The final song, “It girl,” presents the most sex-filled lyrics of the entire album. Pharrell ends the album with as many copulating references as possible in a four-minute song, fitting for a comical album.

Strange and oddly soothing are the words that come to mind when describing St. Vincent’s new self-titled album. It’s completely different from previous albums, suggesting a more bold new sound from St. Vincent.

Vincent finally gets the recognition she deserves with “St. Vincent.”

Releasing her last solo album three years ago, she comes back with a more definite sound.

“Rattlesnake,” with its bare, postpunk riffs and imagery, opens up the album. Vincent’s voice finds the right balance between gentle and energetic in, “Birth in Reverse.” “Psychopath,” represents true St. Vincent: a perfect blend of moods and feeling, from effervescence to raw emotion.

“Severed Crossed Fingers,” “Every Tear Disappears,” and “Rattlesnake,” are the best tracks. Vincent gets her lyrics across while also appearing taut, meticulous and self-indulgent.

Similar to previous albums, Vincent uses disparate sounds and eerie vocals demonstrating her skills as a polymath. If anything, this album solidifies St. Vincent as an artist: bold, poised and confidently precise.

Schoolboy Q’s album “Oxymoron” has been one of the most anticipated hip-hop albums of the year. Long considered Kendrick Lamar’s sidekick, Q had a tough act to follow since “Oxymoron” was scheduled to be released right after “Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City.”

The heavy bass and unanticipated hooks ensure that “Oxymoron” lives up to the expectations that were set.

Having to follow up one of the year’s most successful rap albums is no easy feat.

Q also transitions to lyrics where he blends his past life and links it to his current life as a rapper. In “Hell of a Night” Q explains how he is partying hard because he’s lived a tough enough life to enjoy and deserve his current, carefree life.

The seven-minute centerpiece “Prescription/Oxymoron” is the cream of the crop: a harrowing snapshot of a man “stuck in this body high” of prescription pills, slipping in and out of consciousness while his child tries to wake him. Despite the overly used drug references, Q’s newest album is definitely an album to enjoy.

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April 2014

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T he U nion

15

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16

SPORTS

APRIL 2014

Golf rebuilding for next year With the departure of Math Teacher Nathan Dixon, MHS has not only lost an accomplished teacher but also the head coach of the golf team. Taking over his place is the former Assistant Golf Coach Brett Burns. Many of the veteran players who performed well have also left, according to Veteran Golf Player Harrison Cross.

With many of the old players and Dixon gone, “it is definitely a rebuilding year for [the golf team],” Burns said. He hopes that many of the current freshmen and sophomores, who form a bulk of the golf team along with a few juniors and seniors, will return next year, so the team is “building to next year,” Burns said.

The purpose of a golf coach is not to necessarily teach the players how to play golf, but to be there as a “supportive leader kind of role,” Cross said. Dixon was a great leader of the golf team, leaving Burns a hard act to follow.

However, Burns is similar to Dixon in his coaching style as he allows the team to basically run itself and play as it wishes, not interfering much with the players’ practice styles, Cross said.

“The goal of a golf coach is to give guidance and structure to practice,”

Burns said. The coach is there to set up procedures and routines to let students make the most out of a practice session, Burns said.

The coach is not allowed to give guidance during matches. It is up to the players to recall what happened during practice and apply that during the match in order to perform well, Burns said.

Most of the veteran players left the MHS golf team for various reasons.

Many simply were seniors that graduated last year,Cross said. This leaves the golf team with only one good veteran member able to play and perform well individually. Two brothers, a sophomore and a freshman, however, appear to have potential to perform well within the team, Cross said.

Golf is not a solo sport as many would be lead to believe. Rather than individual players going head to head, two schools go head to head, and the winner is determined by the greatest score earned by the players.

During competitions, the top five out of six scores are taken and added up in order to determine the winning school. If the teams cannot field the entire six people, they are forced to either forfeit or reschedule the match.

Boys basketball takes fifth at CCS

BY SHELLY HSU

The MHS Varsity Boys Basketball Team has qualified for CCS, according to Varsity Coach Clarence Wrencher.

Placing second in the De Anza League automatically qualified the team, Wrencher said. The record was 15-9, according to Wrencher.

The team’s success was largely weighed on the fact that a majority of the team consists of veterans, according to Wrencher. The players had more experience from previous seasons, and the same players will return for next year’s season, Wrencher continued.

“I thought the team was very strongly prepared for this year’s CCS,” Wrencher said. “They proved to me that this was a good team.”

MHS won its first round against Salinas High School, according to Wrencher. The team won in overtime with the score of 62-61, resulting in its advancement to the quarterfinals, Wrencher said.

At the quarterfinals, the team faced

Bellarmine College Prepatory. There, Milpitas lost to Bellarmine. In the end, Bellarmine moved on to become the champion of CCS, according to Wrencher.

“We ranked number five out of 24 teams,” Wrencher said. “It was a very big accomplishment for this year. We also placed second in league,” Wrencher continued.

Junior Jason Scrempos has played for the MHS Boys Basketball Team since he was a freshman. He started playing basketball in second grade, Scrempos said.

A few players were injured before the game, according to Scrempos.

This negatively affected the game, Scrempos added.

Although the members tried to make up for the injured players, the team lost, according to Scrempos.

Therefore, the team could not advance from the quarterfinals Scrempos said.

“We could have made it farther this year,” Scrempos said. “We made it to the same spot as last year.”

FEATURED ATHLETE wasn’t till I started playing Wii tennis when I realized how fun the sport was, and after that, I just started playing more and more. It eventually lead me to where I am now.

What makes tennis different from other sports?

Well, it’s an individual sport, so I don’t have to be on a team. I feel like if I played on a team, I would’ve let them down and I would just feel so bad. And, I can hit the ball as hard as I want and no one will care.

Nhi Tran | THE UNION

Dillon Lam

Sophomore Varsity Boys Tennis

What is your ranking in tennis?

For the high school team, I’m number one. For Northern California, for boys under sixteen, I am number 45.

How did you become interested in playing tennis?

I picked up a racket when I was nine, but it wasn’t love at first sight. It

What do you find challenging about the sport?

I practice all my shots hundreds to thousands of times, but when the match comes and I miss those shots, it’s frustrating because I’ve worked on it for so long yet I still miss.

How do you train for tournaments?

I play seven times a week. During the summer, I would play about four, five hours a day. On school days, maybe one or two. I would always have at least a good half an hour of conditioning.

STEPHEN HSU | THE UNION

Nathaniel Chu returns the ball during a table tennis intramural match. As of March 25, Nathaniel and his partner, Senior Rakshit Garg, are undefeated. Unlike other intramurals, table tennis has no restrictions on doubles play.

Table Tennis Intramurals fun, competitive

BY STEPHEN HSU

Intramural table tennis started the week of March 11, 2014. This year’s table tennis intramural is bringing fierce yet friendly competition. Table tennis matches are held every Tuesday and Thursday during lunch in the small gym, according to Junior Neel Srejan.

The table tennis intramurals are played in round robin style competition amongst four pools of four teams.

Each team consists of two players, according to Senior Kevin Chu. “Teams in their pool are only allowed to play against others in their respective pool,” Chu said.

After the matches, the round robin style competitions break off into elimination rounds to determine the winners of the intramural table tennis.

Financial Aid and Scholarships are available at Mission College www.missioncollege.edu For Financial Aid: visit www.fafsa.ed.gov and remember to list Mission College as a recipient of your application.

For Mission Scholarship oppor tunities: www.missioncollege.edu/student_ser vices/financial_aid/default.html

BY NEAL BANSAL

“The team with the most wins then represents its pool in the elimination rounds. The winners from each elimination then play each other for first place,” Chu said.

Unlike other types of intramural sports, the table tennis intramural has no restrictions on who can play whom. Mixed doubles versus nonmixed doubles are allowed. There are also no limits to the number of tennis players on the MHS team on the intramural team,Chu said.

“Mixed doubles can play against non-mixed doubles with no handicaps,” Chu said. “I have not played against any mixed doubles so far.”

Furthermore, intramural table tennis runs on an honor system, meaning that scores from matches are self reported, according to Srejan.

“We must play the teams that are in our bracket first and then report

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the scores to the coordinator,” Srejan said. “After that, just for fun, we are allowed to play any team that we wish to play against, but those games will not count towards the overall tournament.”

Table tennis intramurals and other sport intramurals have been enjoyed by the students of MHS, Chu said. It allows students to to enjoy the sport in a friendly , yet competitive atmosphere., according to Chu. “[Table tennis intramurals] provide an opportunity to display your own ability at table tennis and to have fun playing a sport you like,” Chu said.

“Table tennis intramural is a relaxing tournament and fun game to play during lunch.” Srejan said. “The ability to play any other team after the fixed tournament games is fun because of the diversity of the other teams that you can play.”