The Union - Milpitas High School - February 2023

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School Site Council make-up does not comply with state law

By Satvika Iyer

The School Site Council (SSC) at MHS is out of compliance with California law because student and teacher members were not elected by their respective peers, Interim Principal Charles Gary, Jr. said.

California Education Code Section 65000 stipulates that “a school that operates a program that requires a School Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA), pursuant to Section 64001, shall establish a schoolsite council.”

District plans to open MHS extension at Innovation Campus in fall 2024. Project still needs $25 million

By Savan Bollu

The MHS extension at the Innovation Campus is tentatively scheduled to open in the fall of 2024, Executive Director of Learning and Innovation Priti Johari said. The extension will expand career pathway programs for high schoolers and alleviate overcrowding at MHS, Johari said. The facility will also house Calaveras Hills High School, the Milpitas Adult Education Program, a community college extension, and the district offices, she added.

The Innovation Campus will be completed in three phases; the target date for completion of the third phase is fall 2025, Superintendent Cheryl Jordan said. The district successfully passed Bond Measure AA in 2018, which allocated $66.8 million to develop the Innovation Campus, according to the MUSD website. However, the district still needs $25 million to complete the Inno -

vation

“We couldn’t predict in 2018, when we calculated the amount of money that we needed, that we were going to go through a pandemic, and there would be a gas shortage and drought and all these other things that drove the costs up more than 50%,” School Board President Chris Norwood said.

MUSD has been talking to local legislators like Ro Khanna and asking corporations for donations to cover the costs, Norwood said. The district is not very interested in asking taxpayers for more funding when it could be used for other resources, he added.

“Currently, we have applied for matching bond dollars from the state, and we expect to get around $12 to $13 million,” Jordan said. “The board and I have been working very diligently to get business partners as well as institutes of higher education interested in supporting and becoming partners. For example,

one is KLA. This is the third year of their three-year agreement and they’ve done $750,000 in exchange for naming rights of the STEAM lab.”

The Innovation Campus will have a capacity for around 500 MHS students, Norwood said. Other programs at the campus include an early education research center and a workforce development center, he added. The Innovation Campus will have local-industry-related programming like manufacturing, environmental science, biotechnology, and virtual design, he said.

“We’re looking to partner with businesses in the city to provide internships, apprenticeships, summer jobs, job fairs, and those types of things for our MUSD students,” Norwood said.

Teachers from MHS will relocate to the Innovation Campus upon completion, though details are still being planned out, Nor-

SEE PAGE 16

SBAC opt-outs lead to lower school rating

By Varun Ravuri

The number of student opt-outs for the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) test at MHS increased significantly last year, impacting MUSD school ratings, Assistant Principal Amanda Gross said.

According to the California School Dashboard, MHS is rated currently as “very low” for English language arts (ELA) and “low” for mathematics.

The participation rates for the ELA and mathematics portions of the 2022 SBAC exam were 59% and 57%, respectively, according to the California Department of Education’s website. In 2018 – the last year for which the participation report is available on the website – the participation rates were 95% and 94%, respectively.

“The school and district seem like they have not made the gains that we potentially have in the last few years because our parent exemptions went in as the lowest score possible per individual,”

Gross said.

In order to promote SBAC testing and improve scores, various courses of action such as practice tests and homeroom activities have been planned to be set in place to better prepare juniors, Gross said.

“There will be a letter that … we send out electronically to both parents and students via ParentSquare about the test itself and the need to take it,” Gross said.

In the past, having access to a larger number of student scores allowed the English department to utilize them to decide what novels and skills to focus on, and help plan out curriculum, English teacher Heidi Shannahan said.

“When we used these tests every year (to measure progress), we could know what kind of class a particular student should be placed in, and a group of scores helped determine where they were at at the end of the year,” Shannahan said.

However, to improve prepara-

tion for such standardized tests and further encourage students, she believes teachers and the state should work together more. on establishing and applying state standards in accordance in what is taught at school, and make the common core expectations more clear, which can boost scores, Shannahan said.

“There does not seem to be a direct correlation between what is being taught in the classroom and what they kids are being asked to do (on the SBAC tests),” Shannahan said.

Other than knowing how they compare to their peers and other students in the state, the SBAC test does not particularly benefit test takers and is not reflected on transcripts, and there is no other motive for students to take it and do well, Shannahan said.

Students tend to opt out because they “may feel that it allows for more time to study for AP tests, some students would like

SEE PAGE 16

“The SPSA is designed, implemented, and monitored by the SSC to ensure that the LCFF (Local Control Funding Formula) funds are being spent effectively to support the school’s improvement efforts to attain the highest possible levels of teaching and

learning at the school,” according to MHS’ website.

For a secondary school, California Education Code says that the SSC should consist of the principal or a principal designee, teachers, non-teacher school personnel, parents, and students, all chosen by their peers.

At one of the SCC meetings this school year, only two teachers and two students were present, and none of them were elected, Gary said.

“The two students there left the meeting right after they finished their report, before we had even begun to review the SPSA,”Gary said.

Associated Student Body (ASB) class commissioners are appointed to the role of SSC representa-

SEE PAGE 16

State deficit could impact MUSD

By Erick Johnson

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced an expected deficit for California’s state budget for the upcoming 2023 fiscal year on Jan. 10, causing concern over possible cuts to education funding across the state, according to reporter Sophia Bollag from the San Francisco Chronicle. If this shortfall were to happen, school districts will be forced to revisit their budgets, Bollag reported.

While no immediate budget cuts are expected, the district nevertheless prepares for such a contingency, Chief Business Officer Wendy Zhang said. The district is aware that most of its funding comes from the state, she said.

“We have a budget of approximately $174 million,” superintendent Cheryl Jordan said. “We get the bulk of our funding from the state in the form of the Local Control Funding Formula.”

The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) and excess property taxes are responsible for adding $111 million to the budget, and that accounts for approximately 75% of the budget this school year, according to Zhang’s Approved Operating Budget (AOB). The remainder of the budget comes from local, state, and

federal revenues, according to the AOB. Of the $111 million from the LCFF, $57.4 million came from local taxes, while the rest was granted by the state as aid, Zhang said.

“(Funding is) based on the number of students who are English learners, from low-income backgrounds, (or) might be at risk of homelessness or foster youth,” Jordan said. “The district gets additional funding dollars the higher that percentage of our population is, which is about 32% right now.”

Overall, MUSD had a revenue of $150 million and would have spent $165 million, according to the AOB. MUSD has been forced to pull money from several of its reserves to compensate for this loss, Zhang said. If the state or federal government were forced to reduce budgeting for school districts, MUSD would not be immediately affected, but will eventually have to begin saving money, Zhang added.

“We can encourage attendance across the district,” Zhang said. “Attendance across MUSD is at 96%, and if it increases just one percent more, that can result in the district receiving one million dollars.”

Beyond that, if the district disciplines itself in its spendings, it will face no problems, Zhang said.

A 3D rendering shows the new campus, which will serve over 2700 students at 1331 East Calaveras Blvd.

Campus, the website says.

Courtesy of MUSD

Satvika Iyer | THE UNION

Sandy Scrempos refers to the SPSA to justify major school expenses.

Take SBAC to secure better community future

Last school year, an unprecedented number of students opted out of the annual Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) exams, offered through the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) System. For the English Language Arts (ELA) exam, 197 out of 714 students opted out of the exam; for the mathematics exam, 310 students opted out, according to https://caaspp-elpac. ets.org.

Compared to the 2018-2019 school year, this was roughly a 55% increase in opt-outs for the ELA exam and more than a 146% increase for the mathematics exam. Since MHS collectively only was able to attain a 71% testing rate, which is under the 95% threshold set by the state, MHS has been given a “low performance” rating on the California School Dashboard. Students should be concerned with these numbers because choosing to not take the test means you are preventing the school from receiving as much performance data as they could. SBAC data is important for your parents, teachers, and administrators because it provides them with a clear picture of what they could be doing better and ensure learning standards set by local educational agen -

Mandate preventative education on substance use

cies, the state of California, and the nation.

Especially for students who are considering taking the SAT or ACT exam, taking the SBAC in your junior year can be helpful in ensuring that your test-taking nerves are completely gone before you embark on the three-hour test.

Beyond moral obligations, the SBAC also plays another important role in property values. A major concern is if large numbers of students continue opting out of exams and the school’s low-performing status persists over a long period of time, prospective home buyers will be discouraged from living in the city and sending their child to the school district. According to realtor. com, homes in top performing school districts receive 42% more views compared to ones in low performing school districts. While it won’t affect your college admissions, it is up to you to ensure the continued success of our school and city. Even if one is on-the-fence on taking the SBAC exams due to, say, pure laziness, or maybe they would rather not go through the stress of taking a 3 hour long test, for the future health of our school and community, students should do their part in ensuring a brighter future for all.

CON

Standardized testing should stay in the past

Every April, the junior class spends three days taking the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) exam. After about 310 MHS students opted out of it last year, according to the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress’ website, we must consider whether the SBAC, and standardized testing as a whole, is truly necessary. Standardized testing ignores a simple truth about people: we are all unique. How can you create a test that is meant to be fair to an entire population?

According to an article written by UCLA professor James Popham,“Many items on standardized achievement tests really focus on assessing skills learned outside of school —skills more likely to be learned in specific socioeconomic settings.”

It has long been known that there is a direct correlation between wealth and students’ academic achievement, especially standardized test scores, according to “Gentrification and Student Achievement,” a study by Justin Joseph Ward and published by Portland State University. When students have money, they’re more likely to do well on these tests because they have access to resources that others don’t. California School Dashboard reports that around 31% of MHS students are economically disadvantaged. The SBAC uses how well a student does on the test to make a judgment on

As opioids continue to take students’ lives nationwide, schools stocking up on Narcan, a nasal spray that can reverse the deadly effects of opioids, isn’t enough without crucial health education. While reported drug use continues to decrease in Santa Clara County, according to the Population Reference Bureau, overdoses are rising. The sheer strength of illegally distributed synthetic opioids significantly contributes to this harrowing statistic. The risks of synthetic opioids must be discussed in schools and the community.

Fentanyl is a highly addictive synthetic opioid and the leading cause of drug-related deaths in California’s young people aged 15-24, according to EdSource. The opioid is 50 to 100 times stronger than heroin, and drug dealers often add the substance to opioid prescription drugs like Adderall, Percocet, and Oxycodone. Cutting these drugs with fentanyl for higher chances of their clients

returning is a fatal economic incentive many dealers exercise. Most overdoses are accidental, with just two milligrams of fentanyl being fatal, demonstrating how threatening these substances can be in our schools and community. Change must begin with mandated education along with a preventative and caring approach to drug use rather than one based on stigma and punishment.

family engagement programs, according to the Santa Clara County Department of Behavior Health Services. School-wide measures must be in the form of support, not outsouring.

SATVIKA IYER

As overdoses rise in neighboring counties, administration and teachers will soon be able to receive Narcan training, according to Assistant Principal Jennifer Hutchison. Still, MHS is among the majority of schools in California where education on addiction and the risks of substance use, is optional. Furthermore, students struggling with drug use are often met with suspension and connected to School-Linked Services, which connects students to

Additions to the school like social-emotional learning can have an immense impact. However, MHS does not currently have any active dialogue on the dangers of drug use, let alone fentanyl. Although creating a connection betweenthe student body and administration is already tricky, the lack of strategy other than possible Narcan training is terri

In an anonymous survey administered by The Union, 47% of the 150 student-respondents did not know what fentanyl was. As vital health education takes on the role of an elective or a hasty addition to physical education, what could be a powerful tool is now too little too late.

Student-to-counselor imbalance hurts outcomes

Guidance counselors provide key services such as creating four-year plans, mapping college and career paths, and providing a safe space for students to talk about personal struggles. However, our school’s astronomical student-to-counselor ratio inhibits counselors from helping students.

The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250:1 student-to-counselor ratio, but the MHS average is 533:1, or 355:1 including college and career, ELD, special education, and academies counselors.

an entire school while ignoring broader issues.

ricular activities — on top of attaching a resume. In short, it’s a form designed for counselors to understand strangers, not students that they’ve known for four years. The fault doesn’t lie with the counselors, but with a system that hires six guidance counselors for a school with over 3,000 students.

DAVID RENDON

Moreover, standardized testing has a troubling history with racism, writes John Rosales in an article written for the National Education Association. Although the overt racism has been toned down in standardized testing, traces of it are still found today — the worst part is it’s seemingly intentional. Educator Young Whan Choi said in “How to Address Racial Bias in Standardized Testing” that “test designers rely on questions which assume background knowledge more often held by White, middle-class students...depends on these kinds of biased questions in order to create a wide range of scores.” According to the 2020-2021 MHS School Accountability Report Card, about 96% MHS students are racial minorities. Standardized tests, including the SBAC, aren’t made with our student body in mind, and it’s not right that we take them.

While proponents of the SBAC may argue that it’s important that people take it or else their school will be labeled “low-performing” as MHS now is. However, this label largely affects housing prices, and students aren’t responsible for something like keeping the price of homes high.

Standardized testing is inherently flawed and we can’t let it be the determining factor of a school’s success. Students shouldn’t take a test that does them no good.

The overwhelming number of students assigned to each counselor makes it difficult to form meaningful relationships necessary to guide students through high school. The hefty “Letter of Recommendation Counselor Packet” college applicants fill out is the perfect example — it includes questions that serve as essay prompts and asks students to describe in detail each of their extracur -

Moreover, the ratio puts the burden on students to reach out to their counselors, which can prevent those who need the most help from getting it. While an academically drivenstudent might be inclined to regularly schedule meetings, a struggling student may not take that initiative. The ASCA finds that “(s)tudents of color & low-income families are shortchanged, receive unequal access to school counselors when there are too few.”

The resolution is straightforward: MHS needs to hire more guidance and mental health counselors. The ASCA finds

RIYA VYAS

that lower student-to-counselor ratios increase standardized test performances, attendance, and GPA, while reducing behavioral issues. To narrow counselors’ caseloads, MHS should take inspiration from the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and hire more counselors with specialized skills, such as psychologists and social workers, making them available to everyone, not just to those that demonstrate a significant need. Taking advantage of local, state, and federal funding and prioritizing student services, the LAUSD brought its student-to-counselor ratio down to 240:1, according to senior EdSurge reporter Emily Sullivan.

Ultimately, lowering the student-to-counselor ratio will create a more equitable environment, cultivate deeper relationships, and ensure all MHS students are set to prosper.

Paying for extra credit poses ethical dilemma

Extra credit assignments present opportunities for students to go above and beyond their class’s current curriculum and expand their knowledge while granting a small bump to their grades. For example, any English teachers award extra credit to students who attend and analyze school plays. The students are not only granted a grade boost but enjoy a showing of youth talent while supporting the school’s Theater Department. However, the innocuous idea of rewarding students for transcending academic expectations is jeopardized by teachers’ need for school supplies and their conflicting moral obligations.

The district does not supply teachers with a sufficient amount of resources for their classes. Teachers then turn to students for basic classroom supplies, as it is financially unreasonable for them to carve a chunk out of their own paycheck to address the

district’s inability to provide basic classroom necessities. A single ream of copy paper from Staples can cost up to $15, and a six-pack of Kleenex tissues, $33.99. Thus, teachers have turned to offer extra credit points in exchange. This practice is unethical, as it provides zero educational knowledge to students and only allows those who are financially well-off to essentially buy boosts to their GPA. Tissues are especially in need amidst this time of the pandemic.

Another problem arose when the 2022 Jack Emery Drive had a slow start this year, with donations falling drastically short of ASB’s goal of $22,000. However, the number of donations shot up exponentially after the school encouraged teachers to motivate students to donate. Some teachers rewarded students who donated

bulk amounts of cans and cash with extra credit points. Rewarding students who can afford to go beyond their budget to aid their grades is unfair and undermines bona fide altruism, as most students likely did not donate out of heartfelt compassion, but to inflate their grades. The solution to the shortage of school supplies is simple: the district must allocate more funds to classroom supplies, specifically copy paper and boxes of tissues. Extra credit can then be turned into assignments related to course material. Some teachers offer to change the format of final exams to classes that donate a set amount of cans, but that does not eliminate the problem. Instead, incentives must be thought out thoroughly and discussed with

STEPHEN HUANG

ALBERT FUNG

the school or district ensure all students have the same chance and opportunities to improve

their grades while strengthening their passion for subjects. Teachers should not throw away the idea of extra credit as a whole, for some classes are not

survivable without them. Still, they should level the academic playing field with course-related assignments rather than incentivized donations.

EDITORIAL: The Opinion of The Union

Affirmative action establishes education equity

Affirmative action is a policy that aims to address the historical and ongoing effects of racial discrimination by increasing the representation of marginalized groups in education. The policy can include setting quotas, offering special scholarships, and providing preparation programs.

On Oct. 31, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) heard cases arguing that affirmative action programs in college admissions were unconstitutional, specifically at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Harvard University. We, The Union, believe that affirmative action must not be deemed unconstitutional, as doing so would diminish the progress made for equality in the last four decades.

Affirmative action levels the playing field for marginalized groups who have traditionally faced barriers to education. For African Americans, the lasting legacy of slavery, redlining policies, and legal segregation in the Jim Crow South persist in higher education. Hispanics were treated as scapegoats for the Great Depression, segregated into “Mexican Schools,” and deported by the masses during the Mexican Repatriation. Socioeconomic status leads many Hispanics straight to the blue-collar work after high school, perpetuating a generational lack of higher education. In the past, quotas have been used to set aside a fixed number of spaces in universities for racial minorities, but they were deemed unconstitutional by SCOTUS in 1978. In the lawsuit, Harvard was accused of setting racial quotas under the guise of using a “personal rating” system that judges subjective character traits such

as “courage,” “leadership,” and “likability.” According to UC Berkeley economist David Card, Asians receive consistently lower personal scores than any other ethnic group, effectively capping the number of Asian admissions and leading some to believe that Harvard is discriminating against Asians to satisfy a quota.

On Nov. 3, 2020, 57% of Californians voted against Proposition 16, which aimed to repeal Proposition 209 — the 1996 law that made affirmative action illegal in California public universities. Some critics of affirmative action argue that it is reverse discrimination and that it unfairly favors African Americans and Hispanics, over Asian Americans. They believe that people should be admitted to schools based solely on merit and that affirmative action undermines equal opportunity.

The current UC system is 100% merit-based as a result of Prop. 209. According to the Best Colleges website, UCLA is 34% Asian and 6% Black; UC Berkeley is 40% Asian and 4% Black. The universities have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on outreach and resource programs to recruit more underrepresented and underserved minority students. The disparity reinforces the fact that racial diversity in education requires affirmative action.

Because of the high percentage Asians make of higher education student bodies, many opponents refer to them as the model minority. The myth is a common generalization that falsely portrays Asian Americans as more hard-working, diligent, and therefore more deserving than other races.In actuality, this stereotype not only shovels the ethnic diver -

sity of Asian Americans into a monolith, but also excuses politicians from addressing the real issue at hand: racial disparity in education. Asian Americans are used as proof that putting emphasis on education can “undo” the effects of discrimination and raise a minority up to high socioeconomic status, but such claims rely on false stereotypes of “Asian excellence” that are deliberately manufactured by immigration laws.

In 1965, the Hart-Cellar Act created two “preferences” for immigration — family and skill. Immigrants with family already living in the U.S. or those with professional skills in areas such as engineering were allowed entrance. A majority of the Asian immigrants were wealthier and more educated than the other minorities in the country, leading to a skewed perception of the race as a whole. Having “tiger parents” is not a plausible explanation for the racial gap in academic success. Having money is, as merit is not always subjective, but is often determined by nepotism and socioeconomic status. Being financially flexible allows families to invest more into their child, whether that is extra tutoring or participating in an extracurricular activity. According to Statista, Black and Hispanic people have a poverty rate of 19.5% and 17.1%, respectively, while Asians and Whites are 9.3% and 8.1% respectively.

Affirmative action should not be repealed, for its constitutionality is justified by its promotion and progress toward a more diverse and inclusive society. We, The Union, believe it remains a necessary and effective means of addressing the ongoing effects of discrimination in the classroom.

EDITORIAL: The Opinion of The Union

Recognizing that access to menstrual products like pads and tampons is a “basic human right,” California passed Assembly Bill (AB) 367, the Menstrual Equity For All Act of 2021, which requires all California public high schools to regularly stock free menstrual products in all girls restrooms, all gender-neutral restrooms, and at least one boys restroom, beginning in the 2022-23 school year.

MHS has installed menstrual product dispensers in all girls restrooms to meet these requirements but has failed to keep them consistently stocked in certain restrooms, possibly violating AB 367. In particular, the dispensers for the girls restrooms in the lower L building and between the F and G buildings were empty of both pads and tampons when The Union checked multiple times over the course of a week.

The Union has also observed that there are no menstrual product dispensers installed in any of the boys restrooms for transgender students or others who may menstruate, which is another possible violation of AB 367.

Since the bill guarantees that

the state will reimburse school districts for state-mandated costs like purchasing menstrual products as per the California Constitution, there is no real justification for not adequately stocking and restocking hygiene products in restrooms.

An unclear schedule for when restrooms are open exacerbates this issue of accessing menstrual products and must also be addressed. Both L building restrooms are usually closed by lunch and the other restrooms on campus are often unpredictably closed because of hazards like vandalism or flooding. As a result, students who can not find menstrual products in a particular restroom must walk across campus — while potentially suffering from menstrual leakage — in search of products, unsure of whether the next restroom they go to will be stocked or even open.

AB 367 also states that restrooms must have a notice in a “prominent and conspicuous location” to notify students that they contain free menstrual products, and yet, even the stocked restrooms at MHS do not contain such notices. We urge the school to add them, as it is just as important to notify

by state law

students of these products as it is to provide them.

There are alarming consequences for lack of convenient access to menstrual products, including emotional strain, risk of infection through using unsafe alternatives, and absenteeism. A study by the Thinx and PERIOD orgaizations found that 84% of teens have missed class time or know someone who has because they did not have access to menstrual products, an issue that many MHS students may be facing as well.

Last year, The Union wrote an editorial commending the school for taking initiative by adding and stocking menstrual product dispensers in all girls restrooms before it was state-mandated. Unfortunately, those same dispensers are now sometimes empty or inaccessible when restrooms are closed. We can no longer claim that students can reliably access menstrual products at MHS, especially when the school has failed to meet the AB 367 requirements. Thus, we urge the school to fulfill its duty by more diligently complying with state law and providing students with convenient and equal access to menstrual products.

Those who would like to advertise in The Union can contact the Ad Manager at milpitashightheunion@ gmail.com. Ads are available in full page, half page, quarter page, and business card sizes. Inserts are also accepted. Upon request, The Union staff will customize and design your advertisement.

STAFF

Riya Vyas • E ditor -in -C hi E f

Anannya Bhuskat • News Editor

Stephen Huang • Asst. News Editor

Satvika Iyer • Op-Ed Editor Deeksha Venkateswaran • Asst. Op-Ed Editor

Tiffany Lieu • Features Editor

Savan Bollu • Asst. Features Editor

Sidhant Burela • Sports Editor

Erick Johnson• A sst. Sports Editor

Zaynah Turabi • Lifestyle Editor

Albert Fung • Asst. Lifestyle Editor

David Rendon • Entertainment Editor Varun Ravuri • Asst. Entertainment Editor

Sanvi Durbha • Spread Editor

Ruby Bui • Asst. Spread Editor

Angelina Barnes • Copy Editor

Sanvi Parvatikar • Web Editor

Adrian Pamintuan • Photo Editor

Kevin Ting • Business/Ad Manager

Sanjit Roy Journalism Advisor

WANT TO REPRESENT THE STUDENTS?

Bathrooms must stock menstrual products, abide

Disabled students access facilities, curriculum with accomodations

By Riya Vyas

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a federal law that prevents schools and other state agencies from discriminating against and denying benefits to people with disabilities, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. As a result, schools provide various accommodations to ensure that all students, including those with physical and learning disabilities, are able to access the same curriculum as abled and neurotypical students.

Students that require accommodations can be on either 504 plans or individualized education plans (IEPs), MUSD Executive Director of Inclusive Services for All Learners Mary Jude Doerpinghaus said. An IEP, in addition to providing access, ensures students can have educational benefits and includes services such as speech therapy, occupational therapy, and interventions, Doerpinghaus said.

“Accommodations don’t alter what’s being taught,” Doerpinghaus said. “They alter the environment, or a format, or provide equipment or additional support that allow individuals with disabilities to gain access to the content or to complete a task.”

Teachers district-wide receive students’ IEPs at the beginning of each school year, and students’ case managers are responsible for making sure teachers know the accommodations those students need, Doerpinghaus said.

“There are some folks who have a hearing loss where they can benefit from something like an FM (frequency modulation) system, where the room might have speakers that amplify the speaker’s voice,” Doerpinghaus said. “If they are perhaps deaf or have a permanent loss, the teacher could speak into that that lapel microphone, but it might go directly to their hearing aid.”

Students who have visual impairments might work on learning braille at school with vision specialists, Hutchison said.

“If you have somebody who’s

blind, instead of having to read using braille, they could also have things audio taped for them. They could have notes electronically formatted,” Doerpinghaus said.

Some students have powered wheelchairs to help them navigate the hilly MHS campus, but those that cannot operate the wheelchair themselves will have an adult pushing the wheelchair for them, occupational therapist Priti Shukla said. The role of occupational therapists is to help students access their academic programs through modifications, accommodations, and adaptations, Shukla said. To provide classroom accessibility for students who use wheelchairs, the school district provides adjustable tables and other assistive devices, she added.

“They may need an assistive device, like a universal cuff, if they’re not able to hold a pencil or a pen,” Shukla said. “It’s a device that you put on your hand, and it holds a pencil so you’re able to hold it.”

Senior Don Jose Navarro, who has autism, gets extra time on assignments and has a team of people who can help him with his work, he said. He finds it easy to navigate the MHS campus because he has been here for four years, Navarro said.

“All of my friends, classmates, and teachers have supported me,” Navarro said.

Shukla works with students to make sure they feel like they belong and are able to participate in school activities, she said. Physical education activities can be adapted so that students with physical disabilities can participate, she explained.

To promote a greater sense of belonging on campus, a center or a designated place where students with disabilities could meet each other could help, Navarro said.

“It’s really tough for someone like me to make friends, or for people to want to reach out,” Navarro said. “I’d suggest a place where people can meet with people that have the same disability.”

School cooks up balanced, diverse lunch menu

By Adrian Pamintuan

In spite of the long lines and the overall stereotype that school lunch is poorly received, a school survey conducted by The Union found that 58%, of the 148 student respondents expressed positive feelings towards the items on the brunch and lunch menu. The development and maintenance of such a menu, intended to serve a little over 3000 students, is a lengthy process, MUSD Director of Student Nutrition Services Sandy Huynh said in an email.

“Our meals must meet the federal meal pattern and nutrition guideline, and they are grade-level specific,” Huynh said. “Each of our meals must offer whole grains, lean protein, fruit, vegeta bles, and milk while meeting the specifications for calories, sodi um, and fat.”

While the develop ment process for the lunch menu is largely handled at the ad ministra tive level, on the field interaction with students are handled by the cafeteria work ers. Whether it’s preparing or plating the food, restocking ingredients, or monitoring the ID lines, these essential service workers have firsthand experience with student attitudes towards the menu. Certain items

have become student favorites over time. However the main struggle is encouraging students to take a complete meal, Student Nutrition Services (SNS) Senior One Patricia Yount said.

“We don’t want to nag them or make them feel like they have to, but they really do have to take a complete meal,” Yount said. “You know, they have to have a fruit, they have to have a vege table.”

Though student resis tance to complete lunch meals is ongoing, MHS Student Nutrition Ser vices branch lead Caterina Lapena said that there are consistent efforts to diversify the menu to cater to a variety of stu-

“Just recently we were doing Indian food, so that’s something new,” LapeHowever, the process of adding new menu items is tedious due to compliance regulations from both the federal and state government that the school district must follow, Huynh said.

“We constantly are searching for new, compliant products; reviewing historical data; solicit-

they will be placed in a Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE) class, so they must be ready to read and compose easy and small essays, she added. At the end of the day, the students’ biggest challenge is communicating and connecting with people outside the program, Huddleston said.

“I think it’s very hard to make friends outside of the ELD classes for them,” Huddleston said. “They are kind of limited by who they can communicate with, and navigation of the whole high school experience is a lot more challenging for them. We have to keep an eye on them. Are they able to advocate for themselves if they’re in the wrong class, or if a teacher is being unfair to them?”

ELD cultivates essential language skills, prepares students for mainstream classes

By Erick Johnson

Milpitas is a city with a large pool of immigrants, and young people arriving in the United States need to learn how to communicate properly and adjust to a new school system. The English Language Development (ELD) program is designed to assist these students to integrate into their new life.

With 70 to 100 students enrolled in the ELD program, En-

glish learners make up a significant population of MHS, ELD teacher Amy Huddleston said. The ELD program, at its core, is designed to develop speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills at an accelerated rate, she explained.

“The first level, Emerging ELD, is all about speaking,” Huddleston said. “We want them to be conversational when they leave that class. ELD 1, which is taught by Mr. Payne, is much more read-

ing-focused — being able to summarize texts and being able to understand when you’re reading something. When they leave that class, the expectation is that they can write a simple paragraph.”

In ELD 2, the students begin to read novels and analyze text, similar to a mainstream English class, but with added support, Huddleston said. The process is slow, and students are guided through it, but the expectation is that after they complete ELD 2,

ing feedback from students via surveys; and taste testing new items,” Huynh said. “We strive to offer a menu that is not only compliant, but tasty and enjoyable to

Yount said both students and the supervisors of SNS were working towards being more culturally responsive to the student body.

“We really are trying to please everyone,” Yount said. “There was a student member that came in and started this little vegan area.”

The universal meal program, which is a state initiative that began providing free brunch and lunch meals in the 2022-2023 school year, has added a new strain on her department to meet the demand, largely because meal participation has increased as a direct result of the free waiver, Huynh said.

“In addition, the pandemic has disrupted the supply chain,” Huynh said. “We are constantly experiencing supply shortages and limited product availability.”

Sophomore Carmella Henderson, who gets brunch and lunch almost everyday, noticed the food department’s efforts to diversify the menu, she said.

“It’s pretty good how we have different things,” Henderson said. “And it’s kind of interesting to discover new cuisines from different areas of the world and different cultures.”

er who teaches ELD speaks the student’s language, which is currently not the case with any of the ELD teachers, who can only speak basic Spanish sentences, Valderrama said. When a student has a question, the current ELD teachers can not directly explain and help the students and instead rely on an assistant to act as a third-party translator, she said. As a result, there is confusion about the instructions being given and students might not fully understand the material being taught, she said.

The challenge for ELD students is that they’re not exposed to other people at school, and the interactions are usually limited because of the language barrier. They are not given opportunities to be exposed to things they have not experienced before because they are usually all together all the time for their classes, ELD teacher Yeonsoo Kim added.

“The (mainstream) teachers get upset with us because we don’t know their language and we don’t understand them,” ELD student Daniela Valderrama said in an interview translated from Spanish. “They come here to teach and do their job, and with us who don’t speak their language, they feel frustrated.”

It is important that the teach-

“I always ask for ELD tutors in this class who speak Spanish or Vietnamese because they can help students,” Kim said. “(Students) are not on the same level, and all of them are at a different place because they have different educational backgrounds.”

Despite the language barrier and other educational concerns, being an ELD student also has its advantages, Huddleston said. ELD students have their year schedules filled out before most students and receive priority attention from course counselors, she said. Unlike most students who can only take MHS courses over the summer to recuperate credits, ELD students can take summer classes in order to help them catch up with their English, she said. The school also makes sure ELD teachers have sufficient materials, and the school sets aside a portion of the budget for the ELD program every year, Huddleston added.

Courtesy of Yeonsoo Kim

Students in the first-level language development class, Emerging ELD, take notes to learn English.

Students choose from an array of brunch menu items, including burritos and oatmeal bars, at the cafeteria.

Adrian Pamintuan | THE UNION

School dances waltz away over time

By David Rendon

Many movies portray dances as a staple of the high school experience. However, MHS has only held prom and homecoming for the last few years, Athletic Director Joanna Butcher said. It was not always like this, she added.

Butcher, who served as Activities Director for 11 years, said that when she started working at MHS, there was a Homecoming dance, Winter Ball, Sadie Hawkins dance, Junior Prom, Senior Prom, and an End-of-the-Year dance. However, many of these dances were discontinued as time went on, she added.

“We used to have the End-ofthe-Year dance, because (the school year would) go a little bit longer into June,” Butcher said. “It was one of the biggest dances of the year because all the freshmen would want to go, and it would be the casual one. There were a lot more problems that occurred at the dance in regard to not-appropriate activities for minors, so the administration at that time ended up getting rid of that.”

The Sadie Hawkins dance, where female students would ask out male students, was eventually phased out because Leadership wanted to start moving away from the idea of Sadie Hawkins, Butcher said. A casual dance in February replaced the Sadie Hawkins dance, she added.

The Sadie Hawkins dance was moved away from because the concept wasn’t inclusive to all students, activities director Jerell Maneja said. It had the lowest turnout of all the school dances, he added.

“We also used to have a Winter Ball that would be off-site,” Maneja said. “The last time that was created, there was a low turnout, and it ended up being thousands of dollars of loss due to not enough attendees.”

It was difficult to find an affordable venue for the winter ball because there is usually high demand for holiday party venues in December, Butcher said. The Winter Ball ended up being merged with the casual dance in February, formerly the Sadie Hawkins dance, she added. Junior Prom and Senior Prom were merged because students tended to go to both, and it seemed like people were spending too much money, Butcher said.

“Next year, we are trying to install one or two more dances, including one additional one on campus,” Maneja said. “When I came in, every year, the Homecoming dance broke records. We had 750 (attendees), approached 1000 after COVID, and then now we had our 1500 record breaker, so we understand the demand is there.”

When planning dances, all students’ needs are considered, which means finding an afford-

District recycling lacks consistency

By Tiffany Lieu

Recycling operations have changed in MUSD over time, and they currently include a longstanding paper recycling program and a more recently developed bottle-and-can recycling program, according to Thomas Russell Middle School (TRMS) recycling coordinator and teacher Barbara Knitter. Knitter had formerly coordinated recycling across the district, she added.

“I was doing it district-wide until all the other schools had recycling bins and programs in place,” Knitter said. “Then COVID happened, things kind of fell to the wayside, and I wasn’t getting paid for it or anything. So, I just kind of let it go, and no one’s asked me to continue it.”

A paper-recycling dumpster was added to the MHS campus in 2014, according to Environmental Society advisor and science teacher Glen Barrett.

“We finally got the white big dumpster out in the parking lot, which does get used significantly; I think it gets filled every couple of days,” Barrett said. “That dumpster was huge in changing our recycling on campus.”

Later, in 2016, MHS supplied each classroom with new blue paper-recycling bins, and teachers could either manually empty their bins into the paper-recy-

cling dumpster or into a collective bin for their department, Barrett said. In recent years, paper waste production has decreased, he added.

“My paper production went way down when Google Classroom kicked in,” Barrett said. “Mine (recycling bin) fills up so rarely that, every so often, I’ll take it over to the white bin, but usually I don’t because there’s so little of it.”

Custodian Zenaido Alvarez said that the custodians will generally empty the classroom recycling bins and collective bins into the recycling if they notice that the bins are full. However, there are no strict guidelines, and this process can vary from custodian to custodian, he added.

The waste disposal company Republic Services processes paper recycling within the district, and allows any type of unsoiled paper to be recycled, Superintendent Cheryl Jordan said. The provider differs from the city of Milpitas’ provider, she added.

“Republic gave the school district a much better contract option,” Jordan said. “Also, Republic has a long record of providing our teachers with mini-grants. So we, as a district, felt that Republic better met our needs as a learning organization.”

Around the 2015-16 school year, the state of California required all

able venue for students, Maneja said. It’s also a priority to ensure that all students feel welcome to come even if a dance may not be their typical scene, he said. It shouldn’t matter whether people have a date or want to dance; they should still be able to enjoy the dances, he added.

“My feeling has always been that it’s your attitude going into it,” Butcher said. “In 2012, we went up to the Scottish Rite Center. We had a couple of kids come in with Monopoly boards and cards and they had a great time. It was a side room so you could hear the music. They would go get food, they’d sit down, and they were all playing games.”

government agencies, including schools, to have a recycling system in place, Knitter said. When Milpitas city officials reviewed MUSD schools, none had bottleand-can recycling programs as developed as TRMS, she said.

“They started going to the middle schools, came to Russell, and were astonished by what they saw,” Knitter said. “They came to me and said, ‘We want you to do what you’re doing at Russell districtwide.’”

With the help of her AVID students, Knitter distributed recycling bins to other schools in the district and designated recycling coordinators, who were volunteer teachers that oversaw the maintenance of these bins, Knitter said. While overseen by teachers, the operations themselves were generally student-run to avoid additional strain on custodians, she added. Still, collections remained limited to items that could be cashed in at recycling centers, Knitter said.

“We were only interested in bottles and cans so the money could come back to the school,” Knitter said. “For anything else, we would love to have a program, but it was just too intense labor.”

At MHS, bottle-and-can recycling bins are picked up by Environmental Society student volunteers and cleaned out every few weeks, and all bottles and cans are traded in at a recycling center so that funds can come back to the club, Barrett said. However, there is often an issue of students placing their bottles into the wrong bins, he added.

At TRMS, Knitter combatted this challenge by educating the campus with student-made educational videos, she said.

“The first three years that I did the recycling program, the garbage cans and the recycling bins looked identical,” Knitter said. ”It wasn’t until I started doing the videos schoolwide, until those education elements began, that they started to look correct.”

Jordan said that no major changes are currently planned for the recycling program.

“The structure is there,” Jordan said. “We just need to be consistent following it.”

Senior Kaden Nguyen has no particular desire to see more dances, but also doesn’t see any downsides to having more, he said. For the most part, he feels that the best part of the dances isn’t the dances themselves, but the buildup to it all, Nguyen added.

“I think (the buildup) is pretty integral because it really helps you feel like you’re a part of the school community,” Nguyen said. “You’ll see other people participating in the spirit days, and it’ll immediately build a connection for you on campus. This allows you to really venture out of your comfort zone because being able to explore these flamboyant

themes can help people break out of their shell.”

For students to feel connected to the school, there needs to be an opportunity to make memories, Butcher said. When students look back on high school, they’ll remember the activities, the clubs, the school plays, the athletic events, and the school dances, she added.

“Students are finding more opportunities to call this place home,” Maneja said. “And that’s the priority of my organization, to promote school belongingness, and to define pride as not whether or not you dress up on this day, but that this is your second home and that you are happy to be here.”

School resource officers provide safety, form bonds with students

By Kevin Ting

School resource officers are a familiar sight on the MHS campus, often conversing with students or watching over the school. These police officers have been stationed on campus since before 1989, MUSD Superintendent Cheryl Jordan said.

These officers are stationed at MHS most days of the week, and are usually stationed for two to three years at a time, Associate Principal Skyler Draeger said.

“They’re here, of course, to provide safety,” Draeger said. “But generally, we try not to do things punitively and that prevents things from escalating.”

The role of these officers is also to build positive relationships between law enforcement and the wider community, Jordan said.

“We have officers who come at the elementary level, they read to the classes, they come at recess and play wall ball,” Jordan said, “And then at the middle schools, they play basketball and bring pizza.”

San Jose Unified School District (SJUSD) also has officers stationed on their school campuses, courtesy of an $800,000 contract between SJUSD and the police department, according to “SJUSD, SJPD outline agreement under new SJUSD agreement” by the San Jose Spotlight.

However, MUSD has not made any formal contracts with the Milpitas Police Department, and instead has a verbal agreement,

Jordan said.

“Our relationship started with our last police chief, and has been even built upon with the current police chief, Hernandez, and that is a building relationship, our core, between our police officers and our students,” Jordan said.

MHS resource officers also often work with school administrators to improve student conduct, Draeger said.

“If it seems like that a student is verging on activities that might at some point become an arrestable offense, we would rather proactively bring in the police officers to sit down with that student and talk to them,” Draeger said.

However, the officers are rarely asked to directly intervene in situations with students, Draeger said.

“As a school, what we don’t want to do is funnel students into the police system,” Draeger said. “We don’t want our students to have a record.”

While officers are able to build bonds with students, the reaction to the officers is not always positive, Draeger said.

“There’s always a fear if you’re bringing a police officer into a situation,” Draeger said.

Draeger hopes that the relationship between the officers and the community will only continue to improve, he said.

“I think we have a really strong working relationship with the police department, and I think it’s a relationship that has benefited our students,” Draeger said.

Courtesy of Joanna Butcher

“Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” was the 2018 homecoming dance theme. Homecoming was also held this year.

Tiffany Lieu | THE UNION

Some trash sits on top of a recycling bin intended for bottles and cans.

School resource officer John Muok oversees students during lunch. Kevin Ting | THE UNION

Food trucks serve global cuisines

By Zaynah Turabi

Food trucks have been around for a long time and have become known for convenient and inexpensive bites. In the modern world, food trucks can be an efficient option for people who can’t find the time for a sit-down meal. Here are a few options in Milpitas.

1. El Taco De Oro: 3/5 stars

For my first stop, I tried a taco truck I’ve driven past hundreds of times but never eaten from. Located at a gas station off the 880 and 237 exits, this location was the least impressive out of all the food trucks. The carne asada taco was perfectly done, and it came with a regular option or an upgraded option with sour cream and cheese. I ordered the upgrade, and the flavors worked pretty well together. It’s not a heavy taco, as the regular only comes with onion, cilantro, and salsa. While I was initially skeptical, I found that the light toppings worked well to accentuate the meat. I also ordered a burrito, which was unfortunately a bit disappointing. It was a lot less balanced than the taco, too riceheavy with hardly any cheese. It was a little on the dry side and blander than I would have liked, so I was definitely disappointed. All in all, the food was okay, but I probably won’t be coming back unless I’m desperate for a quick meal.

2.

India: 3.5/5 stars

This truck was also at a gas station, across from Foster’s Freeze, but there was a bigger crowd at this location. Since it was a popular spot for pani puri, I knew I had to try some. Pani puri is a common Indian snack consisting of hollow fried dough balls meant to be filled with potatoes, chickpeas, veggies, spices, sauces, and fla-

Make chocolate for Valentine’s Day

By Varun Ravuri

Recipe (3 servings)

1.5 tablespoons coconut oil

1 tablespoon milk powder (optional, recommended)

½ tablespoon cocoa powder

2 tablespoons sweetener (maple syrup, sugar, honey, etc)

¼ cup water

⅛ teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Instructions

First, turn up the heat to a medium-low temperature and place a medium-sized pan on the stove. Add the water into the pan and bring it to a simmer, and then add the coconut oil. I used butter, which is one of many possible subsitutions, such as cocoa butter, palm oil, and just plain old butter. Results may vary slightly depending on the product chosen, but they should all result in a delicious, homemade chocolate. Let it melt completely and occasionally stir to ensure the water and oil are well combined. At this point, add in the cocoa powder and milk powder. The milk powder is completely optional, but

it makes it taste like classic milk chocolate, giving it a more creamy and lush consistency. For better results, I sifted in the cocoa powder and milk powder using a coffee filter.

Stir and completely combine the cocoa and milk powder for 2-3 minutes, then begin to add in your sweetener. I used white cane sugar, but the sweetener is up to the individual—brown sugar, white sugar, sugar-free options, maple syrup, and honey are a few among dozens.

Remove the mixture from the heat and begin to let it cool down while occasionally stirring. Once it has reached a temperature where it does not burn to touch, optional items can be added, including nuts, vanilla extract, and peppermint extract, which are all popular options.

Begin to pour the chocolate into molds; store-bought ones or even simple containers at home will suffice. However, ensure that it is not too thick, which may make it harder to chop up and consume within multiple servings. If you are in the Valentine spirit, you can use heart-shaped molds for a spe-

cial occasion or person. The chocolate has a freezer life of four months and a shelf life of two weeks, but with the simplicity of this recipe, it can be made multiple times.

Review

After trying the first piece of my homemade chocolate, I quickly realized how rewarding the experience is. The chocolate was creamy and delicious, all with a simple four ingredients that can be found in almost every grocery store. I didn’t have molds on hand, so the shape did not come out perfectly, but the taste made up for it entirely. However, there are a few changes I would make to the recipe next time to fix a few minor flaws and better the flavor. A pinch of sea salt on the top of the chocolate before placing it in the fridge would add a nice contrast of flavors. Also, now that I have realized how easy the process can be, I would put in plenty of toppings next time and be more creative. The entire recipe is completely open-ended, whether you want to use it for Valentine’s Day or any other holiday. Get creative with it.

vored water. Their pani puri was underwhelming and a little bland, but it hit the spot. I found that the fillings were pretty basic and didn’t offer any unique flavors. I also tried the vada pav, which is a potato cutlet slider. I liked the vada pav better since the spices were perfectly balanced and the bun was soft and fluffy. The potato wasn’t too heavy, and I thought it would make a nice snack in the future. Overall, it was a pleasant experience, and I could see myself coming back if I was in need of an Indian street food fix.

3. Mount Everest Momo: 4/5 stars While their menu consists of several Nepalese dishes, the Everest Momo truck is definitely known for their momos, which are Nepalese dumplings. They are located in a parking lot near the Milpitas library, and while the area was eerily empty, the food was worth it. I ordered both the chicken and vegetarian momos, and was extremely impressed. The vegetarian momos were seasoned well but a little too soft, as they fell apart when I tried to pick them up. I did not enjoy the flavor of the vegetarian ones that much but my friends did, which made me think it was just personal preference. However, the chicken momos stood out to me because of their perfect flavoring, texture, and juiciness. The meat wasn’t dry or bland and the dough held up even when taking a bite out of it. The momos came with two chutneys, one mild and one spicy, and both were good in their own ways. I also tried the masala chai, since I was getting cold while waiting for the food. The chai was basic and didn’t make me feel too impressed, but the momos blew me away enough to give this truck the top spot.

Trying to unshackle myself from phone addiction

By Adrian Pamintuan

Cell phones. They are seen in almost everyone’s hands at almost every waking moment. Whether it is before we head to bed at night, wake up in the morning, or throughout the day — it is an understatement that phones have taken over the lives of this generation. Though not present for much of human history, mobile phones are used on a day-to-day basis — largely replacing much of our social interactions at dinnertime, school, and even hangouts with friends. I took a shot at breaking my own phone use habits to hopefully inspire more people on our campus to do the same.

A tip I have used numerous times in the past, but decided to employ more rigorously, is the Apple iPhone “Focus” mode. Essentially, I set my phone on a lockdown mode to avoid receiving messages, app notifications, and alert sounds from select apps and contacts. I also manually disabled notifications from my largest consumed apps like Instagram, Twitter, and Discord, making it intentionally more tedious to respond to pings. Next, I challenged myself to the 30-30 rule—which no doubt tested my discipline skills—where I would not be able

to pick up my phone 30 minutes before bed and 30 minutes after waking up.

With these measures laid out in front of me, it was not an easy task to keep up with for an entire school week. Believe it or not, being forced to break years of a habit is no easy task.

In addition to this change, I made it a routine to leave my phone in my room whenever I had to be in other parts of the house, forcing myself to physically separate my body from my phone. While I was not completely cut off from the Internet, I found that within the first couple of days, I was able to complete my schoolwork faster. Due to my phone’s “Focus” mode being turned on throughout the day, I had less reason to pick up my phone or listen out for its pings and vibrations. Charging my phone away from my bedside came in addition to helping remove urges to reach for it at night. As a result, I was able to stay focused when reviewing a textbook section, filling out my mathematics worksheet, or writing my English journals.

The most effective aspect that I learned was physical separation from my phone. At times before this experiment, it was easy to reach for my phone, only intend-

ing to use it for a little while, and finding myself getting sidetracked because of a new notification. This case was especially common during dinnertime where halfway through the meal, I would eventually be glued to my phone screen while the food turned cold. However, post-experiment, I established a good balance of efficient phone-time use and an increased physical presence in the world around me.

Avoiding the bright LED screen made a huge difference in how I ended and started my days. Though at first it seemed like I had nothing to do in the morning, I decided to try new routines such as boiling tea, preparing meals, or even getting some extra sleep.

One thing I have come to learn out of this experience is that even making small attempts to break bad habits provides me the opportunity to fill that headspace with more beneficial, self-improving measures. What phones have trained our bodies to respond to is instant gratification — shortform videos that people find themselves watching for hours or feeds to scroll through. Though breaking these routines can be a hard task in the short-term, even five days can open your eyes to an entire world of possibilities.

Tiffany Lieu | THE UNION

Varun Ravuri | THE UNION

Swaraj

Zaynah Turabi | THE UNION

The Everest Momos truck on Main St. is remarkable for its momos.

AI offers lucrative opportunities

By Sanvi Parvatikar

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the fastest-growing, revolutionary developments in history. Beginning as early as the 1970s, AI has benefited humanity in countless ways, from health care to business, according to the Analytics Insight website.

For one, AI has provided several innovations in the health care industry. According to the US Government Ac countability Office, through machine learning technol ogies such as AI scanners or powerful AI-based plat forms, doctors can diag nose various diseases such as Alzheimer’s, heart disease, cancers, and COVID-19. These advances can help detect and treat diseases in their early stages, poten tially saving patients’ lives.

Some of America’s top hospitals also use machine-learning technology to incorporate chatbots into websites to assist customers, use predictive analyt ics, and help with health tracking. For example, the Mayo Clinic partnered with Omron Healthcare to invest in a device called Kardio Pro, which has helped doctors monitor patients at risk for a stroke due to cardiac arrhythmia. AI technologies also benefit the

economy by creating lucrative job opportunities such as machine learning engineers or big data engineers, writes Nahia Orduna in an article for the Harvard Business Review. Even though there is a decreasing demand for jobs in food and retail services, and jobs such as bookkeeping, AI increases the demand for jobs in which younger workers can pioneer and earn higher incomes.

AI can also serve as a tool for the farming industry, through precision agricultural techniques to detect weeds or even diseases in plants. According to “10 Ways AI has Potential to Improve the Future,” by Louis Columbus from Forbes, AI can bring insight into weather patterns, feeding patterns, irrigation cycles, and the overall effects of these factors on crop yield. Through the use of drones, and field data, AI can predict crop yield patterns. AI is also useful for monitoring livestock health, such as activity levels, and vital signs which ensures that cows can produce high amounts of milk.

AI continues to serve as one of the most helpful tools of the modern age, with unique contributions that make our lives and careers easier.

AI poses socioeconomic threats

By Zaynah Turabi

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been gaining traction in recent years in several areas of society. While these advancements are beneficial in many ways, the negative consequences of AI could have a dire effect on our world. One destructive side effect is unemployment that could be caused by the mass adoption of AI. Due to the conve nience of AI, it isn’t difficult to imagine that these systems will soon over take many manual labor jobs that have the capacity to be done by machines. Machines have been integrated in severawl fields for decades but are still widely manned by peo ple and depend on human la bor. A 2018 report from the World Economic Forum estimated that AI would eliminate 75 million jobs by 2022. The incorporation of AI can make these machines entirely indepen dent and ultimately lead to job losses as computers learn to create, rather than just replicate behavior. Another drawback of AI is its lack of humanity. While machines are undoubtedly more efficient, they cannot replicate human emotions and relationships. A result of the incorporation of AI to machines will be a lack of conscience in the work they produce, which can ultimately prove to be harm-

ful in situations that machines are not programmed to deal with. There is also an issue of implicit bias in AI, which can be caused by the manufacturers. A Columbia University study found that “the more homogenous the [engineering] team is, the more likely it is that a given prediction error will appear.” Because of this, AI can be susceptible to developing bias either towards or against certain outcomes.These problems could cause harm to the people working with

Finally, the advancement of AI poses a security concern. With all the possibilities it proposes,

AI also allows space for more nefarious acts such as phishing and AI terrorism. AI allows for more space for hacking through viruses that could become increasingly dangerous as AI begins to have more control over different aspects of human life. According to Unite AI, 2021 saw 20,175 security vulnerabilities, which was a large increase from 2020. On a larger scale, implementing AI can create a gateway for AI terrorism. There would need to be serious defense mechanisms to combat the possible threats that this could pose.

In the end, AI has shown to have several benefits in the modern world. However, with its advancement, there are drawbacks that can be detrimental to our society in the long run.

AI could impair student education

By Erick Johnson

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a hot topic of conversation recently, especially in education. It is starting to raise questions about what the future of education may look like. A growing concern across the nation is that with these tools, students cheat by relegating their work to the AI, who can write a long, detailed assignment in a matter of seconds, bypassing the learning process that is usually required to complete the work.

For example, ChatGPT, a software developed by OpenAI, is capable of writing complex essays, poems, stories, and more at a user’s request. OpenAI is a company dedicated to ensuring that

artificial general intelligence becomes beneficial for humanity. However, the software has become controversial since it has been considered to have a negative impact on the classroom.

“ChatGPT risks damaging students’ writing ability, as well as their general work ethic,” English teacher Mx Barr said. “Even if they block the website on school servers, students have personal devices they can use. There’s a limit to what a school district can do to restrict that activity.”

ChatGPT can produce a basic summary, but it can’t reproduce human originality, Barr said. A machine can produce randomness, but that’s not the same thing as the originality or creativity that a person could write, xe

said. Technology is getting to the point where AI can edit more effectively than a lot of the things we’ve seen so far, Barr added.

“I’m sending kids out to the world, hopefully knowing how to communicate and document their ideas,” Barr said. “ And if they’ve cheated their way through that using AI, there are going to be other barriers that come into their way even if I’ve failed to catch it.”

However, there are a few ways teachers can recognize the work of an AI, such as pinpointing a student’s vocabulary. For example, teachers are able to learn a student’s vocabulary, writing styles, and other patterns, and then, when an assignment does not match, it is an indicator the work was written by AI, English teacher David Soltero said.

“As teachers, we know our students, and we know, based off how much time we spent with them, their own capabilities, their own writing style, their own comprehension,” Soltero explained.

“And so if it’s like something out of the ordinary, right, then it’s kind of an indicator that it might not be their work.

Around the country, ChatGPT and other similar software is being blocked at schools, according to Business Insider. At the same time, new software is being developed to detect computer-written text, including an update to Turnitin.com that would successfully detect ChatGPT written text, according to Business Insider.

“At the moment, I think it’s on the

fence because it’s new, and we don’t know a whole lot about it and how to actually incorporate it into the classrooms and the limitations to it and also identifying if a student’s response is AI-generated,” Soltero said. “I think right now, the limitation is okay, having (ChatGPT) blocked in school computers, but I think once we start to know more about it, and how it can be a tool in the classroom, then we start to refocus and reevaluate the limits that we place on it,” he added.

There’s not much that teachers can do except stay vigilant and catch as many students as they can when they do cheat and educate them about why that is wrong, english teacher Ana Hahs said. She has caught approximately 50% of her students cheating using ChatGPT to turn in their assignments, whether the assignments were “big or small”, she said. There is a growing need for teachers to assign handwritten work in their classes in order to limit the amount of cheating taking place in all assignments.

“In order for it to be positive, it has to be students still creating their own original responses, but also a responsibility on the students to recognize that it’s a tool that’s supplemental,” Soltero said. “I do think that maybe in the future, it could be something that we use similar to how we use other resources online that help us with our understanding or comprehension of texts or even learning more about how to grow as a writer.”

Sketchy or priceless? Artists reflect on implications, impacts of AI-generated art

By Savan Bollu

While an artist uses a lifetime of experience and carefully honed technical skill to create their art, Artificial Intelligence (AI) art programs like DALL·E 2 and Dream can generate artwork in mere seconds based on short text prompts from users. In response, artists have expressed both excitement and concern.

Junior Agna Soneji, an AP Art and Design student, carefully crafts the composition and color in her art to convey emotion, she said. AI doesn’t put the same emotion and background in its art, she said.

“I don’t think it has the authenticity of art,” Soneji said. “It doesn’t have the meaningfulness we find in art.”

Artists and hand-made artwork may become undervalued because people can now generate art using the internet, Soneji said. Copyright issues are another concern because AI art is generated from existing human artwork that may have been used without artists’ permission, she said.

“I think they’ve ripped off artists and have just cut-and-pasted pieces, and that should (violate) copyright because you’re using other people’s art to make something out of a computer,” Soneji said. “Just like you can’t use ChatGPT

for an essay, that’s what you’re doing for art. It’s ripping it off and saying it’s your own.”

Ceramics teacher Jeff Albrecht has spent the last decade selling artwork in galleries in Hawaii and around the world, he said. People buy his art because of the emotions he instills in it based on his experiences and the subsequent connection that people make with it, he said.

“If I go into my studio and it takes me two nights to work on a piece, it’s really a culmination of all those years and all those projects that I’ve played around (with) and explored,” Albrecht said.

“Really, paintings take me 50 years. The next year, they’ll take me 51 years. It’s a process, and it’s a journey.”

Just like some of Albrecht’s clients prefer purchasing his original paintings instead of a print, there will always be people in the world who value a oneof-a-kind artwork touched by a human, Albrecht said. As a result, he is not con cerned about AI replacing artists, he said.

“There are billions of people on the planet,” Albrecht said. “I know that no matter what happens with AI, I’m nev er going to have one of my paintings in everyone’s house. … Since that market is never going to be oversaturated with my artwork, why am I concerned about

AI, which is a totally different vertical in the art world?”

AI is a powerful tool that is already integrated into platforms like Photoshop, and Albrecht may even consider using it to make art in the future, he said. In a changing art world, Albrecht recommend that artists try different types of art instead of specializing in a single area that AI could easily take over, and to be cautious when posting pictures of artwork online to avoid unwanted additions to AI databases, he added.

“Those are some of the challenges you’ve got to be aware of, and you can’t let them stop you (from making or selling art),” Albrecht said. “You adjust and you adapt.”

Alternatively, AI can make art more accessible by encouraging people who aren’t as technically skilled to make art, drawing teacher Hyemin Jo said.

“There are always going to be people who appreciate traditional art, so I don’t think it’s going to take away their (artists’) jobs,” Jo said. “But by making art a lot more approachable to a

larger population, it actually opens the door for more people instead of closing (them).”

Jo compared users who generate AI art to Marcel Duchamp, an artist who found a urinal and signed it with a made-up signature, creating a controversial yet revolutionary piece of art that museums still showcase today, she said. People debate whether his work was art because he did not make the urinal from scratch, Jo said. However, she views his work as art, she said.

“I think just coming up with a creative idea and showing it visually itself is already an art,” Jo said.

Computer scientists consider benefits, drawbacks of ChatGPT

By Sidhant Burela

Recent developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) such as ChatGPT have sparked concerns over the future of the education system. For some people, these developments just create an easy opportunity to cheat, but for others, they represent an integral technological advancement in society.

ChatGPT is a program that is causing controversy over the issue of cheating in the classroom. Designed by OpenAI, the software can respond to anything the user asks quickly and effectively. The program is able to process and create answers that can have the authenticity of a human by pulling information from all over the internet. This creates problems in the classroom environment as students are able to give ChatGPT an essay prompt and the program is able to reply with a full essay on the prompt in seconds, allowing students to easily copy and paste.

While this software is the perfect breeding ground for cheating in schools, ChatGPT represents much bigger real world developments, AP Computer Science teacher Charles Castleman said.

“I think the advancement of technology and AI is reality,” Castleman said. “It’s not like we can decide that we don’t want to advance in things that could potentially help us solve our problems as a society and solve engineering problems just because it creates issues in schools.”

However, the way ChatGPT obtains information causes problems as to whether or not all the information ChatGPT replies with is true, according to “AI experts on whether you should be ‘terrified’ of ChatGPT”.

“It (ChatGPT) wasn’t taught to understand what is fact, what is fiction, or anything like that,” AI researcher Timnit Gebru said. “It’ll just sort of parrot back what was on the internet.”

This program is not perfect, Castleman said. For example, when asked whether the root of four is rational or irrational, the program replied by giving proof as to why the root of four is ir-

rational, he said. However, after giving the program the same prompt a week later, ChatGPT was able to correctly say that the number is rational, he explained.

Rather than spelling disaster for the education system, AI could assist it in some cases, junior and five-year coder Arnav Khinvasara said.

“I think as we progress more towards AI, the classroom environment will be different,” Khinvasara said. “We will have different things teaching us, maybe not just teachers or platforms that we have right now.”

Cheating is nothing new as there have always been resources available to students that encourage it, Castleman said.

“There are other ways (to cheat) even before there was ChatGPT,” Castleman said. “Quizlet, things like that with students being able to look up answers.”

In addition, blocking ChatGPT in the school environment and creating necessary programs to detect whether or not ChatGPT was used would curb the amount of cheating, Khinvasara said.

“As we are using AI more, and as we progress, we will learn more about how to stop AI in some situations where we don’t want AI to be useful … in cheating, for example,” Khinvasara said.

Castleman explained that a way to reduce the ChatGPT use is to form a curriculum based more on understanding and developing, he said.

“I think while ChatGPT can give you answers to certain questions, it doesn’t tell you what questions to ask,” Castleman said. “You still have to know the basics. Just because we have calculators doesn’t mean we stop teaching first and second graders basic math. Because if you don’t know the basics, you won’t be able to learn stuff later,” he said.

While developments in AI will affect the education system, that doesn’t mean that there is anything inherently wrong with ChatGPT, only the way it is used, Castleman said.

“I don’t think there is anything wrong with building tools to help us think,” Castleman said. “The problem is when they begin to think for us.”

Savan Bollu | THE UNION

Courtesy of West Park Gallery

AI art generated on Dream with the prompt “An acrylic painting of a flying American flag in extreme colors,” with art style set to “Expressionism” and allowance of “Minor influence” from Albrecht’s “Forever Flying” painting. The painting “Forever Flying” by Albrecht.

Courtesy of ChatGPT

‘M3GAN’ falls short of expectations with rusty scares

RATING: 3 out of 5

By Ruby Bui

“M3GAN,” a Blumhouse-produced horror film based on a life-like doll operated by AI, was released on Jan. 6. Blumhouse Productions is illustrious for their notable horror movies, which automatically intrigued audiences by the release of a new film produced by this huge company. However, “M3GAN” is more of a suspenseful sci-fi film as there are hardly any scare factors that a typical horror movie should have.

The film follows Cady (Violet McGraw), a young girl, who has just lost her parents to a tragic car accident and goes into her aunt’s custody. Roboticist Aunt Gemma (Allison Williams) is clueless when it comes to nurturing a child and thus resorts to what she knows best. Gemma finalizes her latest AI project, M3GAN (Amie Donald and Jenna Davis), to pair with Cady and accompany her in her time of loss and grief. Director Gerald Johnstone does a beautiful job of exploring children’s trauma responses after experiencing

a traumatic event. After Cady grows unhealthily dependent on M3GAN, she treats the doll like a human and reacts violently when away from her. M3GAN is programmed to learn and adapt to surroundings, meaning those who pose a threat to Cady are seen as targets to eliminate. This movie has a classic killer-robot plot, playing on society’s fears that as AI progresses, robots may one day turn against humanity.

Unfortunately, “M3GAN” did not live up to expectations.

The music for the vast majority of the movie is unsuitable for its scenes and makes scenes less horror-inducing than they could have been. The scene depicting M3GAN singing “Titanium” by David Guetta as a lullaby was a missed opportunity for Johnstone to create an eerie atmosphere. Her singing sounds professional, which gives the opposite effect of a killer doll. This part of the film feels rather out of place, considering how M3GAN had just committed murder.

However, this movie certainly did not disappoint in terms of visuals. The human-like and

unsettling design of M3GAN evokes the uncanny valley effect, which explains the eerie and uncomfortable feeling that may arise when audiences watch “M3GAN.” Johnstone incorporates this phenomenon into the design of the robot to make it truly emanate fear. Various scenes where she lurks in the corner or sinisterly stares into another human’s eyes creep even the audience out. The cinematography and CGI are outstandingly realistic and smooth, making the movie visually appealing.

Moreover, McGraw executes her character excellently for a child actor and demonstrates realistic emotional responses to trauma and distress. It is easy to feel sympathy as an audience during scenes where Cady acts out and opens up about her emotional pain. Despite the impressive visuals used in ‘M3GAN,’ the film overall was more intense and suspenseful than scary. Ideally, elements such as a suspenseful soundtrack or a greater feeling of paranoia in the audience would be more heavily incorporated into a horror movie.

‘Carvings’ explores life after loss in intimate album

RATING: 4.5 out of 5

By Satvika Iyer

Juni Habel’s sophomore album

“Carvings” is a raw and reminiscent journey through grief in a decidedly folk exploration of ephemeral life in the permanence of nature. The album is also Habel’s tribute to her teenage sister, whom she recently lost in a car accident. Creating the album was a family effort, with her husband on guitar and brothers accompanying with glockenspiel.

On the album cover, Habel’s grandmother looks down from the upper window in their shared home where the album was recorded. Habel embraces the charms of a threadbare home studio setup, giving her songs the timeless quality of Joni Mitchell and Vashti Bunyan.

afloat with sentimental and vivid musings through the lens of nature and kinship.

The tracks “I Went Out And Sought For Your Name,” “I Carry You, My Love,” and “Valiant” address Habel’s grief directly through imagined conversations with her sister. Eerie, melancholic humming and fragile fingerpicking complement soft Spanish guitar riffs and catchy string quartet hooks in the comprehensive backing tracks. These intricate backing tracks complement the profound lyrics. The lyrics in

MUSIC REVIEW

The album opens with “Rhythm

Of The Tides,” a poignant metaphor for her sister’s unexpected death. Habel sings of dark water enveloping her, a pitch-black omen that gives the track a sense of urgency. She continues to question the melancholy in her life through her lyrics and frantic backing music. The standard drum kit and hypnotic strumming are joined by unexpected reedy wind chimes that devolve into an abrupt choral harmony at the end of the track. The motif of nature in lyrics like “endless games of love and hatred/are the rhythms of the tides” set the theme of the album: a dark exploration of death kept

“I Went Out And Sought For Your Name” evoke the imagery of children’s fairy tales, poetically describing her sister’s passing away as a “journey, you pulled the anchor while we gazed up at the stars.” The double-backed vocals in “I Carry You, My Love” form a makeshift duet, possibly Habel and her late sister, singing, “When the heart longs to be together in the ground … when my words won’t find you, I will find you in my tears” over the sorrowful humming and violin.

The album is also dotted with nostalgic, frolicking tracks like “Little Twirl,” “Chicory,” and “Drifting Pounds on the Rain”. The spirited combination of strings, a confident drum beat, bagpipes, and Habel’s bright voice provide a brief respite from the other delicate, emotionally heavy tracks. Alone though, these lighthearted tracks can lack substance, as the lyrics are generic and overdone when taken outside of the

context of the explorative album. My favorite, “When We Awake,” is a crossroads between the lighthearted and wistful sides of the album. Opening with sad velvety strings, the track gives way to optimistic, clear guitar strumming and a flighty piano for a jazzy touch. The lyrics are confident and the strongest of Habel’s lullabies, she heartily sings that “when we awake, the music dies.” Ironically, Habel’s album comes alive in this track, finding a rewarding harmony within the mismatched samples.

While the album is in the style of tried-and-true, simple yet evocative folk, the effortless connection of the instrumentals to the emotionally laden lyrics makes the album a must-listen, but not always an easy one. The songs harp on the same story, using the same motifs of nature and death in lyrics and the instrumentals, making for a thorough and immersive experience, but also a bit repetitive. When Habel does try to introduce variety, switching abruptly from brooding to upbeat numbers throughout the album, she excels and is able to showcase her evocative voice to the fullest. I was left wanting more variety in the album, but Habel’s monotony is also a testament to her adherence to her album’s core themes. In the unrelenting darkness of grief, Habel bottles the tinges of warmth and yearning found in sorrow and creates something truly beautiful in her committed exploration of death.

MOVIE REVIEW

Habel outside the refurbished schoolhouse she created ‘Carvings’ in.

COURTESY OF STEVEN WARBURTON

The Union conducted an Oscars simulation, based on the real nominations, that recieved a total of 171 responses from the MHS population.

David Rendon | THE UNION

Courtesy of Mars Garrett

M3GAN (Amie Donald and Jenna Davis) holds the blade of a paper cutter threatening David (Ronny Chieng).

Thespian, Arras showcase seizes control of fate in new performance of original stories

By Riya Vyas

“Fortunes,” a series of seven plays written by members of the Arras Periodical and performed by actors in the Thespian Troupe, made a mixed debut on Jan. 13. The showcase, which marked the second annual collaboration between the two organizations, explored the concept of luck through various critical, humorous, and superstitious lenses.

The standout play was “miss fortune,” by Jeslyn Nguyen which begins toying with the theme of luck in its title and continues throughout the whole script. Miss Fortune bestows gifts upon townspeople as the devil follows her, falls in love with her, and sabotages her gifts to reveal the townspeoples’ corruption. Instead of dialogue, the entire story was narrated through an elegant voiceover layered over a beautiful musical composition that enhanced the story’s drama and romance. Clever symbolism — such as Miss Fortune (Allie Klaydman) dancing with the devil (Haleta Ayalew) — was enhanced by the actors’ evocative performances. In particular, Klaydman delivered clear emotion through her body language, enunciation, and facial expressions throughout her performances. The audience’s

audible gasp when the devil got down on one knee to propose and their thunderous applause after the conclusion demonstrated the play’s impact. In the showcase as a whole, the actors did an impressive job maintaining expressiveness with scripts in hand, glancing down for their lines only occasionally. However, more expressive body language, especially in plays that had less onstage action, such as “Turn of the Table” by Andrew Zhu, would have helped to maintain audience engagement and enhance the actors’ command of the stage.

Many of the plays were dialogue-heavy, which often made them difficult to follow, especially with the lack of microphones and inconsistent delivery. Some parts of the scripts didn’t fully translate on stage, resulting in scenes with talking heads and stillness that struggled to maintain my attention. Nevertheless, unique and dynamic formats that optimized stage space — such as “Money Can Grow on Trees” by DieuUyen Vu, which used the front of the stage for mockumentary-style asides — added nuance and complexity to what would have been otherwise simple plots. To the writers’ credit, dialogue throughout the showcase was delightfully witty, littered with double entendres and pop culture references that prompted chuckles throughout the audi-

‘Glass Onion’ combines tropes into charming murder mystery

RATING: 3.5 out of 5

ence.

Compared to last year’s showcase, “Fortunes” was lacking in its exploration of the central theme. Interpretations were often literal — such as “Call of the Fortune Favored” by Crystal Huang, in which characters’ survival indicates that they are lucky, or “A Shot at Luck” by Kate Chua, in which a character is embroiled in several unlucky situations. The pacing was at times awkward and stilted, but the plays that broke up dialogue with action scenes, like “Fortune Royale” by Andrew Ton, avoided that mistake.

Finally, the props and costumes were minimal but effective. Contrasting colors — notably in “miss fortune,” in which the devil dressed in all red and Miss Fortune in all white — were visually engaging, while simple accessories such as horse ears or cowboy hats successfully established characterization and added comedic undertones. The backstage crew did an excellent job moving props such as couches, tables, and chairs rapidly in between scenes and plays, though the lack of a full painted backdrop and a larger prop setting often made it difficult to fully immerse myself in the story.

Ultimately, “Fortunes” presented an engaging showcase, even if it didn’t quite live up to its predecessor, displaying the talent and creativity of MHS artists.

By Tiffany Lieu

Director and writer Rian Johnson’s 2022 film, the Oscar-nominated “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” transports viewers into a story that is simultaneously complexly layered and infuriatingly obvious; the movie almost acts like a glass onion itself. While it is officially a sequel to Johnson’s 2019 film, “Knives Out,” the film is easily able to stand on its own. Set on an idyllic private island — dubbed the “Glass Onion” — renowned detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) investigates a murder among the eccentric friend group of the even more eccentric billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton).

The story remains grounded in the present with references to the COVID-19 pandemic.

These references are often tasteful; moments like Blanc playing “Among Us” in his bathtub help to keep the film lighthearted. On the other hand, details like the unexplained spray that eliminates the need for the characters’ masks on the island feel like a bit of lazy writing and risks dating the film.

Overall, the story is well-crafted. It builds a healthy amount of tension and cuts it with perfectly timed humorous moments, as seen in scenes where a freeloader on Miles’ island pops in at unexpected moments. “Glass Onion” also cleverly omits parts of certain scenes, skewing the viewer’s

interpretation of the plot before later revealing the full context. The film does utilize some trite plot devices to explain some of its deception, but the film doesn’t suffer greatly because of it.



MOVIE REVIEW

At first, the cast of “Glass Onion” seems like an ensemble of caricatures, but each character grows more nuanced as the film goes on. In particular, the film doesn’t allow secondary characters to be sidelined: one character’s assistant Peg (Jessica Henwick) and another character’s girlfriend Whiskey (Madelyn Cline) are both shown to be more intelligent than they originally seemed. The distinct personalities of each character are also amplified by the actors that play them. From Odom easily embodying the practical scientist to Janelle Monáe flawlessly carrying out the intricacies of her role, the cast was brimming with talent. The individuality of each character is further emphasized by wonderful costuming. Down to the masks they wear, every outfit was clearly carefully chosen.

“Glass Onion” often relies on clichés and the mystery is quite simplistic. However, the film maintains a level of depth as it explores the pitfalls of extreme wealth and balances that by being continually playful. Containing frequent twists and turns, “Glass Onion” is an ingeniously simple story that is as dramatic as it is fun.

Athletes commit to colleges, dreams

By Angelina Barnes

Student-athletes are some of the most driven and disciplined students on campus. Many spend countless hours practicing their sport while diligently keeping up with their grades and academic responsibilities. Athletes at the top of their game are often scouted by college recruiters and offered admission, scholarships, and other benefits if they decide to commit to a specific college. A few athletes at MHS in particular have been scouted by colleges and have started the committing process.

Duke commit Madeline Le began playing baseball at the age of eight and played for four years before she switched over to play travel softball in eighth grade, she said.

“I think I’ve known that I wanted to play (softball) in college since I was a freshman,” Le said. College coaches can begin reaching out to athletes for softball recruiting after September of their junior year, although the date varies based on each sport, according to Le.

“I wouldn’t say there’s like an application process, but most people get looked at when they play at camps or when they’re playing in tournaments or games,” Le said. “I would say that most coaches look for players that they need to replace like on their current roster, like their seniors that are leaving, or transfers, and then whoever they’re really interested in by position.”

Senior Sahil Raj, who has participated in cross country and track and field for multiple years, was scouted through an online program and later received offers, he said.

“I had a recruiting profile online through a program called NCSA (Next College Student Athlete) that I could use and that’s how I started getting in contact with the coaches interested in (my) profile,” Raj said.

He believes that any student-athlete looking to commit needs to ensure that their needs are also being met by the coaches looking to recruit them, Raj said.

“The way I think about it is like a coach shopping for their next athlete and an athlete shopping for their next coach,” Raj said. “A simple way to think about it is which college has the best deal for both.”

Cross country and track and field Coach Yohaness Estifanos Asnake has been a coach at MHS since 2019 and has extensive knowledge regarding scouting for track and field and cross country, he said.

“For cross country and track sports, there are websites where all the race results are uploaded from across the country,” Asnake said. “College coaches look at the race results and the profiles of the athletes and start reaching out to those that they think would be a good fit for their college program.”

Raj believes that there are key factors, such as campus life, tuition, location, and weather, all of

which an athlete should keep in mind when considering the college they want to commit to.

“They ask you about what you want to study, what you’re interested in major-wise, and what you value as an athlete,” Raj said.

Athletes looking to be scouted by specific schools can also reach out to contact coaches that they would like to work with in order to see if there are opportunities at the college they choose, Asnake said.

“The college coaches can also send recruiting letters to athletes via school or directly to the athletes’ home addresses,” Asnake said. “Recruiters can invite athletes they’re interested in to visit the college campus, usually over weekends, and cover the cost of the visit.”

Once an athlete has decided to commit to a college, they can both verbally and officially commit, but only the latter is legally binding, Le said.

“You can decommit or a coach can pull your commitment whenever they want for any reason,” Le said. “Officially, there’s just a couple of forms, and one of them is called the National Letter of Intent, which is the one that you sign on your official signing day.”

Athletes interested in eventually committing to a college should stick with a sport they are passionate about and enjoy participating in, Le said.

“Keep working hard and have confidence,” Le said. “Play on a travel team that gets you a lot of exposure to college coaches.”

ASB tries to strengthen student sections, improve spirit at various sporting events

By Anannya Bhuskat

Sporting events and games at high schools are some of the most important and uniting events that take place over the course of the year. The student section plays a crucial role in bringing and demonstrating the school spirit and represents a sense of pride in the athletic community.

“The student section consists of people showing up to athletic

events as well as participating in the cheers and chants,” athletics commissioner Mia Rodriguez said. “We typically hand out things like shirts and candy, and encourage the students to celebrate the athletes,” she added.

The most populated student sections are usually football and basketball games, so there is no issue promoting them, Rodriguez said. However, ASB is attempting to encourage students to go to

other sporting events and support the athletes, she added.

“I think it (the student section) is really important to our school because it makes sure that all students belong on this campus, and we’re raising spirit,” sophomore class president and athletics committee member Karissa Kwok said. “And honestly, it’s kind of a good practice for our big events like Homecoming and Trojan Olympics. It also brings

inclusiveness to all the students because a lot of students are really there for friends, to hang out, socialize … and with them all being together,” she added. After the pandemic, people have been less involved and the turnout has been lower in the student section, Rodriguez said.

“We have a student section, but we don’t participate like other schools. I see other schools where everyone’s completely involved,” Rodriguez said. “Everyone has spirit, and I think our school lacks that very much. I feel like there are individuals who are willing to be loud and to be happy, but I feel like the whole school overall is very introverted.”

ASB is attempting to do more fundraisers at these events to encourage people to show up and support the athletes, Kwok said.

“We are very fortunate to have the PARTI (Positive Alternative Recreation Teambuilding Impact) program support us for these events. I know they’ve been helping us with coordinating these fundraisers and giving out free stuff like gift cards, which makes more people want to come,” Kwok said.

To the cheerleaders, the student section is just as important as the game, varsity cheerleading captain and senior Rhea Karanwal said. The student section creates the atmosphere, and without it, the game isn’t fun, she said.

“As cheerleaders, we can definitely tell the difference when the crowd has low energy, and that affects our experience as compared to when the student section is really packed and when people are really passionate,” Karanwal said. “Both the players and cheerleaders perform better when there’s a lot more people backing them up.”

The cheerleaders have attempted to get more students involved by making posters, introducing new cheers and dances, and throwing out t-shirts and candy, Karanwal added.

“I’m sure the players want to see people cheering for them. I’m sure they want them to see how they perform and how they play. So, for those that don’t get a student section audience, it kind of hurts them because they have no crowd and (don’t) really feel recognized and supported,” Rodriguez added.

Sanvi Durbha | THE UNION

Le officially made a future career decision by deciding to commit to Duke University’s softball team.

Courtesy of Madeline Le

Parrish suits up in navy blue for the central coast section tournament.

Courtesy of Trojan Athletics

Erick Johnson | THE UNION

Empty bleachers signify the lack of a student section at the Sep. 9 football game against Silver Creek.

FROM PAGE 1

to sleep in, and some feel that the tests are not important,” Gross said.

Senior Aarush Arora opted out because he did not feel that the SBAC had any personal benefits. He only would have considered taking the test if it was shorter, the testing schedule was different, and he had been informed of its potential benefits, he added.

“As juniors, we are already stressed with SAT preparation, keeping up our grades, and focusing on extracurriculars, so no one really has the time for the SBAC,” Arora said.

However, juniors should consider taking the SBAC because in

Campus prepares to fight fentanyl overdose crisis

By Tiffany Lieu

In 2020 and 2021, one-fifth of deaths of Californians between the ages of 15 and 24 were caused by fentanyl, according to the Mercury News. Fentanyl is a cheap opioid that drug cartels are increasingly adding to other drugs, making these less powerful drugs more addictive and dangerous, according to the Mercury News.

Also referred to by the brand name Narcan, naloxone is the life-saving medication used to address fentanyl overdoses, MUSD Program Manager for Special Education and Student Services Jillian Valdez said. At MHS, Assistant Principals Jennifer Hutchison and Andrew Dinh, as well as Health Clerks Lea Labrador and Felicitas Dacanay are trained to administer naloxone, Valdez said.

“Through our county partnership, we will be receiving an allotment of naloxone for all of our campuses,” Valdez said. “It’ll be about 22 boxes, which is about 44 doses of naloxone for our high school.”

The campus resource officers are also trained to administer naloxone and have it in their possession, Assistant Principal Jennifer Hutchison said. The rest of the administration team plan to be trained within the next few months, Hutchison added.

“We worked with the district and the district nurse so that all admin can get trained with Narcan,” Hutchison said. “We all

stay as up to date as we can with just all kinds of drug knowledge: what’s out there, what we’re seeing on campus, how it looks, and how we should move forward.”

In the case of a fentanyl overdose, a point person will assess the individual’s symptoms and 911 will immediately be called, Hutchison said. Since Hutchison oversees school safety, she would be the point person, but any member of school administration nearby would respond to the situation immediately, she added.

“If we determine that Narcan is our best response, we do know that it’s not going to hurt somebody who does not need it,” Hutchison said. “If the signs are pointing to the fact that it could be a fentanyl issue, we’re going to opt for that (Narcan).”

The district planned to send out a solicitation letter in late January to train as many staff members as possible in the administration of naloxone, Valdez said.

“Any staff member can volunter to administer Naloxone, but we can’t force anybody to volunteer,” Valdez said. “Anyone who does volunteer for Naloxone does have what’s called ‘indemnity,’ which means there could be no legal action taken against them for administering Naloxone if something were to happen.”

The county has previously hosted community trainings on Narcan administration, Valdez said. The district is also creating a virtual presentation about fentanyl and plans to present it in at

least two sessions before the end of this school year, Valdez added.

“It’s a nationwide, observable crisis,” Valdez said. “It’s so easy for it (fentanyl) to be in so many different things now, that we really need to get education out there for our students and our families about the real risk of death.”

While health education is a part of other curriculum at MHS, there is no required health education class for students, Assistant Principal Jonathan Mach said.

“The use of drugs is currently not a required part of MHS education,” Mach said in an email interview. “Although, I do know that some teachers have lessons about it to varying degrees.”

Clare Sanchez, president of Friday Night Live (FNL), a group that advocates for substance abuse awareness and prevention, said that drug use needs to be addressed more.

“FNL’s job is to try to make it (the issue of substance abuse) more prominent, more well known,” Sanchez said. “There’s not that much education about it in our schools.”

While there have been no reported cases of fentanyl use or overdose on campus, the drug still poses a threat, Hutchison said.

“We do have students who try different substances, and we’ve been fortunate so far, but there’s always a risk,” Hutchison said. “I’m not going to bury my head in the sand and say, ‘It couldn’t happen to us.’ It very much could.”

Innovation Campus to offer students opportunities in industries

FROM PAGE 1

wood added.

“We don’t have to hire because we have teachers at Milpitas High School, so to alleviate some of the traffic (on Escuela Parkway) or some of the overcrowding there, those teachers would move over to the new campus,” Norwood said.

The Innovation Campus will offer game design and coding technology, along with well-equipped science labs, Johari said. The district is exploring bringing the MHS Engineering Academy to the new campus, she added.

“We actually are working with Evergreen Community College to develop an advanced manufacturing pathways program,” Jordan said. “That would be very beneficial because, in our own backyard, 30% of the jobs are in advanced manufacturing. For example, that’s Flex, Cisco, KLA, and TDK.”

An MHS student enrolled at the Innovation Campus might attend all their classes at the campus, or they may need to commute between the Innovation Campus and the main MHS campus, Jo -

hari said.

“We’ve been talking about how we could create a shuttle system so that we would have a shuttle that goes back and forth,” Jordan said.

The district has conducted meetings with Jordan, Milpitas Middle College High School Principal Karisa Scott, Calaveras Hills High School Principal Carl Stice, MHS Associate Principal Skyler Draeger, other administrators, teachers, and student leaders from the MUSD middle schools and high schools about the goals of the Innovation Campus and what programming it should offer, Johari said. For example, the district has conducted empathy interviews with around 10 high school students to learn what has supported and inhibited their interest in STEAM fields, she said.

“Something that we know across our district is that we want to focus on creating more equitable outcomes for all of our students,” Johari said. “Right now, there’s still a disparity in terms of outcomes and access, in particular to STEM careers, for our African American and Latino

students.”

Calaveras Hills High School, Adult Education, and a few district offices have remained at the Innovation Campus site even during ongoing construction, and the other programs will be integrated in phases, Norwood said. However, construction has not been on schedule, he added.

“COVID-19 has slowed down the supply chain,” Norwood said. “It has slowed down access to some materials, so we had to wait for those materials. Plus, we just had that three weeks of rain (in January), which is going to probably slow down the project as well because construction crews are designed to work every day.”

Jordan is excited about the unique approach to education that the Innovation Campus will take, she said.

“We want our learners to be able to go into businesses to actually apply what they’re learning,” Jordan said. “We would also like to have business partners who are co-teaching or guest teaching in classes, so we’re really trying to think outside of the box and make this something that is an exciting place for people.”

California community colleges and state universities, SBAC scores can replace placement tests for college courses, allowing students to potentially take some higher level English and Math classes, Gross said.

“Scoring low does not have any negative impacts in college or university, or any acceptances, but there are a number of scholarships available based off of these scores,” Gross said.

The SBAC is an opportunity for our students to show what they have learned throughout their high school career, it is therefore in our school’s, district’s, and our community’s best interest for students to participate in the SBAC, Gross said.

Members of School Site Council not elected

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tive, Activities Director Jerell Maneja said. The role of the representatives has been one of liaisons, Maneja said. The scope of their impact on the council was limited to their lens on ASB, he said.

“The goal is to represent the student body, and ASB commissioners create reports for every SSC meeting that reflect their impact on the student body,” Maneja said. “It’s difficult to know the impact of their presence at SSC.”

To shed light on the importance of the SSC and comply with state laws, MHS will offer a new position of SSC representative in the coming election season, Maneja said.

“The question then becomes, for a fair representation of SSC for a campus of 3,200 students, how many people would have to participate in these monthly meetings,” Maneja said. “There’s an apathy surrounding these valuable opportunities for engagement, and we’re trying to figure out why.”

According to the California Department of Education’s website, “The SSC shall develop the content of the SPSA. The SPSA shall be reviewed annually and updated, including proposed expenditure of funds allocated to the school through the ConApp and the local control and accountability plan (LCAP), if any, by the SSC.”

“The SPSA is a tool for us to self-evaluate, but it requires more work on our end to succeed,” Maneja said. “Anything can look good on paper; it’s about how we implement it.”

William Lam, a parent representative and the chairperson of the SSC, has served on various SSCs in the district for twelve years, hoping to make a positive

change, he said.

“I have a passion for education and like to know that I can make a tiny difference when I serve on the council,” Lam said. “I don’t know if everything I say truly has an impact, but at least there is a system in place where parents can have firsthand information from the principal and voice their opinion directly.”

The lack of participation on the council shortchanges its productivity and functioning, Gary said.

“I would like to see more student participation, but what I notice is that after students give updates about events at the school, they don’t raise their voice afterward,” Lam said.

Lam finds that participation is closely tied to time, as parents and administrators must take a portion of time outside of the workday to participate in the council, he said.

“I’ve been trying to promote the SSC for many years,” Lam added. “Unfortunately, I find that parents, even if they want to participate, might not have the bandwidth to do so.”

At a recent staff meeting, Gary asked for volunteers to address the issue of compliance for the SSC and was met with hesitation, he said.

“Since the co-curricular duties for teachers changed to a number of after-school service hours, it’s a choice between going to a few basketball games or a monthly meeting where teachers take on a leadership role outside of their job,” Gary said. “To meet our quorum, we need three more teachers to serve on the council.”

Tiffany Lieu | THE UNION

Varun Ravuri | THE UNION