The Union - Milpitas High School - November 2023

U NI N

MILPITAS LIBRARY’S NEW RESOURCES (2)

TAKING FREE PERIODS (PRO/CON) (3)

MILPITAS HISTORY SPREAD (8-9)

SMART CARS BENEFITS (7)

STUDENT SPORTS COMMENTATOR (15)

THE

November 2023 VOLUME XXXVII ISSUE II

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STUDENT VOICE OF MILPITAS HIGH SCHOOL

District emphasizes need to increase student attendance

By Agna Soneji

Maryam Mohamed | THE UNION

Police cars, resource and patrol officers were stationed at MHS for heightened security after the threat.

Threat posted to social media causes fear, widespread absences, police say

By Maryam Mohamed

A threat posted via social media alluded to a potential act of violence at MHS, causing fear and absences among students, according to Sergeant Peter Tachis of the Milpitas Police Department. The post, sent out in the evening on Oct. 23, depicted multiple guns lying on a mattress and a caption telling MHS students to “watch out” the next day.

According to a public service announcement on the Milpitas Police Department’s Instagram page on Oct. 24, the police determined that a 14-year-old MUSD student initiated the threat as “a prank due to boredom.”

“At Milpitas High School, the attendance was 83.91% today,” Superintendent Cheryl Jordan said at the MUSD Board of Education meeting on Oct. 24. “When people put these types of threats

on social media, it impacts every person and disrupts the education process.”

At least 655 students were absent on Oct. 24, mainly due to the school threat, senior staff secretary of the attendance office Lori Louie said.

The police were first notified of the threat by an anonymous report in the evening hours of Oct. 23, Tachis said. They identified the alleged suspect behind the threat a short time after noon on Oct. 24, he added.

“During the nighttime shift, officers began investigating the social media post that alluded to an act of violence that could happen at the high school the following morning,” Tachis said.

Officers and detectives worked together to identify the person who posted the threat and, more importantly, to determine the credibility of the threat, Tachis

said. The investigation bureau has seven to eight employees and this was a high-priority case, so the majority of the team was probably working on it, he added.

“Our investigators can go through a series of channels to conduct the investigation, like writing search warrants and looking through public databases,” Tachis said. “Through that, we’re usually able to piece together who somebody is.”

After identifying the alleged culprit, some of the routine procedures in an interview are to check the person’s access to weapons and prior histories, Tachis said. The investigators also try to identify the motive to see if it was malicious or benign, he added. Other interviews also help officers determine if the threat is credible or not, he added.

SEE PAGE 16

Proposition 28 provides $398,000 to school for arts, coding programs

By Savan Bollu

MHS will receive about $398,000 in arts funding from California Proposition 28, which grants arts funding to public schools, Principal and Chief Innovator Greg Wohlman said. The school was recently cleared to use the funding by the California Department of Education, he added.

Arts teachers are currently discussing potential uses for funding and the school will form plans for funding over the next month, he added.

Overall, MUSD will receive $1.3 million in Proposition 28 funding, which will be distributed among the school sites, Executive Director of Learning and Innovation Priti Johari said. The proposition grants California public schools funding based on the size of its student population and its share of the state’s low-income students, she added.

“Proposition 28 is like every VAPA (visual and performing arts) teacher’s dream because, finally, we are rewarded funding for our programs,” said theater teacher Kaila Schwartz, who attended a symposium about Proposition 28 as part of the California

Educational Theatre Association.

Arts programs have been historically underfunded, Schwartz said. For example, the theater funding primarily comes from play ticket sales or out-of-pocket rather than the district, and art teachers often ask students for donations to purchase basic supplies, she said.

“I’ve never seen money like this come in to say, ‘Hey, this is for the arts,’” Wohlman said. “Art teachers are usually scrambling to try to find enough money to just get by.”

A downside is that Proposition 28 caused reduced funding from the Arts, Music and Instructional Materials Block Grant, leading to more funding specifically for the arts but a net decrease in funds overall, Superintendent Cheryl Jordan said.

“The catch is that the state, in its budget that it passed in June, actually reduced the amount of funding that school districts will be getting, and also still has not provided school districts with the funding,” Jordan said.

In addition to funding the arts, schools can also use Proposition 28 to fund other forms of creative expression, including computer

coding and animation, according to the California Legislative Information website.

“Computer science is a different thing from animation, so I wish that they would have been a little bit more thoughtful in their wording in the proposition itself,” Schwartz said.

Overall, MHS students will benefit from Proposition 28 programs as it will help purchase materials for arts programs and fund new computer science programs, which is useful for many careers, Jordan said.

“So much of the workforce is, now and into the future, really reliant on the concept of understanding what coding is and the way that computer science works,” Jordan said. “I also am excited about the potential for augmenting our music and visual arts courses. I think that those provide students with the experiences that allow them to be building and strengthening that creativity.”

MHS will likely receive the funding in February 2024, Schwartz said. Currently, arts teachers are creating wish lists SEE PAGE 16

There has been a statewide decline in attendance rates, in part due to COVID-19 Superintendent Cheryl Jordan said. COVID-19 created a situation where people have forgotten the value of physically being in school because they became used to the online experience, she added.

Many students have heard about the district-wide goal of having 97% attendance this year, senior Muskan Gupta said. For high school students, these goals are mainly publicized in the emails sent out by administration, she added.

“For the most part, we have been hovering between 96 and 97 percent,” Jordan said. “There are some days where we have seen a drop and those days are right after a three-day weekend or right after a vacation. I think we can get” to the 97% goal, she said.

To promote attendance, Jordan pushes the idea of a “we” culture to help students feel seen on campus, she said. When students feel they are connected to each other and the staff, students will feel more comfortable coming to school, she added.

“How do we make sure kids feel that the learning matters, that

the experiences that they have matter for their purpose?” Jordan said. “How do we make sure that kids feel that they are a part of what they are learning?”

The teachers in the district seem to be doing a good job in integrating student voices within their lessons, Jordan said.

It is the shared responsibility between the student themselves, family, and staff to keep a student accountable for their attendance, Assistant Principal Casey McMurray said.

“We all play a part; we all have certain levels of influence, and so it is a shared responsibility,” McMurray said. “I don’t think it’s any one person that’s responsible for a student’s attendance.”

Attendance plays a key role in having more options and opportunities later in life because, if students are not in school, they spend their time doing other things that could negatively impact their future, McMurray said.

“If you miss school for even two days a month, the statistics show that you fall into a category of being at risk to not graduate on time,” McMurray said.

The stress that students get from having multiple tests in SEE PAGE 16

Satvika Iyer speaks at UN Science Summit, stresses humanities, arts

By Tanisha Varma

Senior Satvika Iyer spoke virtually at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Science Summit on Sep. 21 about the importance of the arts and humanities in scientific progress, she said.

At the summit, which was held live in Manhattan, New York, Iyer described environmental advocacy projects she has been working on and how the arts and humanities were integrated into them, she said.

“I was one of the fourteen students chosen internationally last January to serve as a mentor for environmental projects around the world as a member of the Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Program’s Future Blue Youth Council (FBYC),” Iyer said. The council provides grants to environmental advocacy projects around the world.”

One of her projects, The Mudzi Cooking Project, supports a single mother in the African country of Malawi and her discovery of using biomass briquettes as an alternate fuel source to limit harmful effects from the everyday burning of firewood in the rural Chisinga Forest, she said.

“As a mentor, I organized a cooking station in the forest with food made from the briquettes, as taste is an essential factor to the fuel switch,” Iyer said. “The grant supported the single mother with implementing her idea with community fairs which promoted cli-

mate education through art.”

Iyer’s role in the Mudzi Cooking Project was to organize community festivals and an educational curriculum to make the big concepts of climate change more accessible, she said.

“Through the use of songs, dances, and skits, the community festivals were able to involve the arts to publicize the main attraction, a workshop on making the biomass briquettes,” Iyer said.

“Future Blue Council’s purpose is to add the arts and humanities to different advocacy projects because they believe where science can’t be as universal, the arts and humanities will be.”

The mission of the Bow Seat Foundation is to empower youth to connect, create, and communicate for the planet, said Linda Cabot in an email interview, the founder of the Bow Seat Foundation’s FBYC. “I started Bow Seat because I wanted to teach the next generation about what was happening to our blue planet,” Cabot said.

“I am an artist, and I love nature, and wanted to combine these two passions to create a platform that could educate young people through the arts.”

Iyer and the other members of the Future Blue Youth Council submitted one proposal to the UNGA Science Summit Committee to have a speaking session at the UN summit, and were the only youth-led group present, she SEE PAGE 16

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THE UNION

NEWS

NOVEMBER 2023

SBAC scores for 2022-2023 Milpitas library offers more than books to public with their new ‘Library of Things’

By Maryam Mohamed

Courtesy of California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress

Dual enrollment program sparks debate

By Paarth Gupta

According to the MUSD website, the Dual Enrollment program at MHS is an opportunity for students to enroll in college classes taught in the San Jose City College Extension. While some point to the benefits to the program, others question the effectiveness of it.

Senior Nidhi Bhat is enrolled as a part of the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC), Bhat said.

“Doing dual enrollment in my junior year really reduced the intensity overall of my course rigor,” Bhat said. Classes in the IGETC pathway have been much easier for her than Advanced Placement (AP) level courses she has taken at MHS, she added.

According to the MUSD website, the IGETC pathway is defined as “a series of high interest courses that California Community College students may complete to satisfy the lower-division breadth/general education requirements before transferring to either the California State University or most colleges and majors at UC campuses.”

Bhat doesn’t believe the IGETC classes “are of the same course rigor simply because you are not forced to be in class and take it as seriously as you’re expected to in an AP course,” Bhat said.

“Some classes have been helpful, but some haven’t been, so overall, it’s an inconsistent experience.”

The discussion-based nature of the courses and the fact that most tests and quizzes are open-book have led to students not trying, Bhat said.

Additionally, students in other pathways that have to take both GE and major specific classes have also expressed concerns with course rigor in the program, senior Siya Sathaye said, having been enrolled in the STEM pathway at dual enrollment, known as Tech Nest, since her junior year.

The GE “classes are easy, and I don’t think they’re really helpful to my major. If it’s called Tech Nest, I think all the classes should be more geared towards my major,” Sathaye said. Classes such as dance appreciation should not be a part of the course curriculum as they aren’t relevant to the STEM pathway, Sathaye added.

Concerns with course rigor have also led to questions regarding the fairness of the GPA boost given to students for both dual enrollment and AP courses, Bhat said. “In terms of course rigor,

many of the classes don’t deserve the same GPA boost, but they have to receive them because they are, in the end, courses taken from colleges,” Bhat said.

A GPA boost is given as a recognition for any class that challenges a student and dual enrollment courses fall under that category, Milpitas Middle College High School Principal Karissa Scott said. “APs are college prep classes; these are actual college classes. I would definitely say if you’re going to give a boost to a college prep class, you should give it to a college class,” Scott, who also oversees the dual enrollment program, said.

Absenteeism at the program’s courses has also been an issue Bhat said.

“For many classes, attendance isn’t fully necessary to get a good grade,” Bhat said. “Oftentimes, going to class is unnecessary, so I don’t fully blame students for leaving early.” Administration also allows students to leave early if professors cancel class, she added.

Students see some classes as unnecessary and these classes have a higher volume of absenteeism, Sathaye said.

“People tend to skip the general ed classes that aren’t relevant to their major often, but they mostly attend classes that are part of the pathway,” Sathaye said about the Tech Nest pathway.

Absenteeism doesn’t appear to be widespread enough at the program to be an issue, Scott said. “I don’t think it’s enough to classify as an issue because our success rate was 96%.” This effectively means that 96% of students are getting a C or higher in every class, and that’s indicative of a successful program, Scott added.

Some also consider the schedule’s flexibility to be positive for students. Having one class two days a week, another class on the other two days, and, in some cases, no class on Friday, is a huge change for many students, counselor Julie Cler said.

“The flexibility of a college schedule is a lot easier than our rigid six-period schedule here” at MHS, Cler said.

The dual enrollment program’s biggest advantage is that it eliminates fear around college and has made college more accessible for enrolled students, Cler said.

“It opens the pathway for students to go to college, who maybe thought at some point that they weren’t as good enough to be there,” Cler said.

The Milpitas Library now hosts a Library of Things, where patrons can borrow a wide range of items and return them after three weeks. The program is brand new and hasn’t been promoted yet, project leader and community librarian Kelly McKean said.

The Library of Things, a vertical stand located near the back of the library entrance lobby, has various item cards organized into five separate cardholders. The five categories are children-focused items, health and wellness, technology, hobbies, and kitchen, McKean said. Among the 22 items available for rent are blood pressure monitors, happy lights for seasonal depression and mood therapy, a karaoke machine, a small bluetooth projector, a Wacom drawing tablet, a GoPro, and a sous vide machine, she added.

“This is a way to save resources, share items, and save space,” McKean said. “That’s our goal with it.”

Multiple resources are being rolled out, student member of the Milpitas Library Education and Advisory Commission and senior Yunha Park said.

“Sewing machines, instruments, and cooking utensils are going to be available for borrowing,” Park said.

The online website, sccld.org, is the best way to access the library’s resources, McKean said.

The Library of Things catalog will be live on the website for

viewing as of Nov. 6, she added.

The Milpitas Library also provides many other resources for those with the free e-resource card, which students in MUSD and all other residents of Santa Clara County automatically get, McKean said.

“You can log onto our website and access any of our e-resources,” McKean said. “We have downloadable books, movies, music.”

The library also has Brainfuse, an online tutoring service with live virtual tutoring and college essay feedback, McKean said.

Members can also use LinkedIn learning, an American online learning platform, she added.

“You don’t have to go out and pay for a subscription,” McKean said. “You can do it through the library.”

The library’s strategic plan is to belong, connect, and discover, McKean said. The Library of Things, county park passes, and Discover and Go passes that let users enter over 50 museums in California for free with their library card fall under our goal of discovery, she added.

“One of our goals is under a subsection called ‘we innovate,’ and it was to innovate without the fear of failure,” McKean said.

“Everyone here really liked that because it meant that we could try something, see if it works, but not be afraid that it wasn’t going to work.”

The Library of Things team looked at what other libraries,

like those in San Jose, Mountain View, Redwood City, and Berkeley were doing and how their communities responded to their programs, McKean said. The team also looked at what the City of Milpitas already has for the community, like the tools they lend out for home repair, she added.

“That’s where we got our inspiration from,” McKean said.

Seven library staff, including McKean, worked on the Library of Things, McKean said. Their background research included attending conferences and webinars, speaking to local libraries about policies and procedures, and researching the items themselves to ensure quality, she added.

“The hardest part was choosing what things to offer”, McKean said. “Because we wanted everything.”

After six months, the team will get feedback from everyone who’s borrowing items and make decisions about the success and future of the Library of Things, McKean said.

Many libraries help people get jobs, have internet access when people can’t afford their own internet access, lend out tools to fix things in your house, and have financial information on what cars to purchase, social studies teacher Michael Cummins said.

“It’s the best part of collectivism,” Cummins said. “We all pay a little bit in our taxes to get something back.”

Maryam Mohamed | THE UNION

Milpitas Library’s “Library of Things” cards all checked out, but consisted of many resources and materials.

Performing Arts Center construction progresses

By Dhara Mehta

The Performing Arts Center is currently being built in the MHS parking lot to expand opportunities for the music and theater programs, theater teacher Kaila Schwartz said.

The center will consist of a main stage, black box theater, and an orchestra pit, Schwartz said. The main stage is where large productions and concerts will take place, but in the black box theater, Schwartz hopes to organize slam poetry sessions, smaller music recitals, and more flexible, intimate shows, she said.

There will also be a lobby and rehearsal rooms for the theater, band, and music programs at school, Schwartz said. As the theater and music programs continue to grow, they need more space, she added.

“The theater program has no storage space,” Schwartz said. “As a result, I’ve had a lot of things stolen or broken. And then music (storage space) is beyond capacity.”

The music program will have more space with the new Performing Arts Center and they’d be able to organize larger events for symphony orchestra, choir, and other music programs at MHS,

music teacher Emily Moore said.

“With the new theater, it’s going to have a pit,” Moore said. “So we’ll probably be able to do musicals with live musicians.”

The rehearsal rooms will be dedicated to separate parts of the music program: choir, orchestra, and band, which is where classes will be held, and students will have space to practice for shows and productions, she added.

Because this project is so large, it has been in the works since before COVID-19, Assistant Principal Jennifer Hutchison said. A lot of demolition and relocation had to happen to ensure that the Performing Arts Center would be built at the parking lot, she added.

“One of the portables, K-5, which is our workability transition program, was housed there and (it has) since been relocated,” Hutchison said. “And all of the solar panels were moved and repurposed; they weren’t destroyed.”

Because of this construction, the workability transition program has been split between the program’s office at the Innovation Campus and their class at J-13, on campus, Hutchison said. The parking lots have been moved down into the old basketball courts as well, she said. With the destruction of the basketball

courts at the lots, the student and teacher parking lots have been shifted down as construction continues, she added.

According to the MUSD website, Bond Measure AA funded the Performing Arts Center and was supposed to fund the construction of facilities like a training room and a smaller gym. The Bond Measure provided MHS with $284 million.

“At this point, because of funding changes since COVID-19, right now, (construction of the training room and smaller gym) are on hold, ” Hutchison said.

While the fencing and construction has affected the student population because of shifts in fencing (for construction) that blocked student’s paths to the extension, administration is working hard to be flexible with policies for the students, Hutchison said.

“I think that the opportunities far outweigh the struggles in the fact that students are going to be able to see, right before their very eyes, a construction project right on campus,” Hutchison said.

“They’re going to be able to see careers that they may be interested in exploring right here on campus, and I think that that’s really incredible.”

NOVEMBER 2023

OPINIONS

Free periods bring balance; boost academics wake up refreshed instead of can use their free time to work rushed. on other assignments or take a For students with additional break.

Although taking secommitments such nior opens and TA peas part-time jobs and riods might be viewed athletics, a senior negatively on college open during sixth period can be a lifeline. applications or poFor instance, students tentially reduce enwith part-time jobs or rollment for elective internships can leave credit classes, it is early to make extra important to consider these options offer money to contribute to a college fund unique opportunities that can outweigh the or personal expensSANVI es. Student-athletes disadvantages. The PARVATIKAR can leave for athletic idea that a free or TA events without reperiod might negaquiring the permistively affect college sion of their sixth-period teach- applications isn’t always true ers or potentially miss any class since various colleges consider various factors in the adtime or tests.

Beyond the advantages of missions process, according to open periods, another option a Forbes article titled “What for students is to take a TA peri- Colleges Really Mean By ‘Hood. The responsibilities of a TA listic Review.’” To rectify this, vary by the teacher; some teach- students should make use of the ers assign work for TAs to grade, concurrent enrollment option, whereas others let the student and take a class at a community sit back and relax. Either way, college.

On the other hand, it is the the student gets an opportunity to build a connection with responsibility of a student to the teacher and interact with determine how valuable taking a trusted adult and potential a senior open is. Taking an open mentor. For students applying period or TA period is benefito college, the teacher might cial, as it gives students a lightgive a more personalized letter er load, a balanced lifestyle, and of recommendation if they took opportunities to make more the class previously since they money. It’s important to recoghave gotten to know the stu- nize that these options can sigdent on a deeper level. In more nificantly enhance the senior or relaxed TA periods, students junior year experience.

CON

Student should take electives, not free periods It’s common to see students have a free period in their schedule instead of a standard class. Whether it be teacher’s assistant (TA) periods or senior opens, the value and need for free periods is up for debate.

While free periods can be helpful for some students, the ease at which students take them has become an issue at MHS and the school must address it.

As more students take summer classes at community colleges and accelerated classes to meet course credit requirements, they are able to free their schedules in their junior year to possibly take free periods in the form of TA periods. It is normal for many juniors to have an empty slot in their schedule but still meet the requirements to graduate.

However, students taking free periods actively decreases the amount of people that take the large variety of elective courses that exist at MHS. Classes such as French IV or higher levels of Korean aren’t offered on this campus due to the lack of student enrollment.

Taking TA periods and senior opens also present a less rigorous schedule, which may affect college decisions. Instead, taking more classes—and especially classes that relate to your desired major—can pres-

For some teachers, they end ent a better application for colleges as a whole and show up not utilizing their TAs at all, your enthusiasm and interest which makes the role somewhat for certain subjects. Of course, pointless. Due to the oversuptaking these courses can also ply of prospective TAs and little benefit you directly, allowing demand from teachers, many you to learn additional skills or students continue looking for subjects, which can TA slots later into the semester until they benefit you in your future education. find a random teacher An alternative to willing to take them TA periods for sein or decide to help niors is the senior out at the cafeteria. open, which is only This issue could be restricted to the first fixed with more regand last periods of a ulations, such as the senior’s schedule. school only allowing With 296 total seseniors to take TA peniors taking a senior riods.

KEVIN The large number open this semester, TING of students that are according to staff allowed to take free s e c r et a r y St ac ey periods, whether it be Ryan, it allows more than a third of all seniors to a TA period or an open period, attend school for only five peri- presents many glaring issues at ods. That means that there are MHS. 296 less potential students that It would be in the school’s best can take electives or other op- interest to make senior opens tional classes, which could end unavailable altogether, while up limiting our school’s wide keeping TA periods less accessicatalog of courses in the future, ble by restricting students from as more classes are terminated lower grade levels from taking due to insufficient student en- them, saving them solely for rollment. the seniors. Instead, the school Additionally, while TAs are should encourage students to undoubtedly helpful to teach- take classes from the large pool ers, and sometimes even play a of classes that are available at crucial role in the classroom, MHS, which would be more there is still a surplus of stu- beneficial to both students and dents taking TA periods. the school in the long run.

Homeroom must be removed from schedule Every Wednesday, students are required to be in their fifth-period classes for an extra 19 minutes for homeroom. During this time, there are either videos that students often do not pay attention to, or students are using their phones scrolling social media or playing games. Homeroom is

not effective and necessary, and should thus be removed from our school’s bell schedule.

Compared to last year, the district has issued more videos on bullying as well as videos on digital citizenship. While this is a good effort by the school, there are not enough students paying

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Students should be able to keep graded tests

PRO As juniors and seniors step into their final years of high school, they are met with an influx of deadlines, exams, and stress about college and future careers. Taking advantage of a senior open or TA (teacher assistant) period can help alleviate that stress and provide a range of benefits, from reduced academic pressures by providing more time for students to unwind to a more balanced lifestyle.

High schoolers are no strangers to the relentless pressure of their academic lives. The weight of these responsibilities can leave many students feeling overwhelmed and perpetually sleep-deprived, which can negatively impact their performance and mental health. An extra hour in the morning through a senior open can offer a breather to refocus and even have a proper meal before heading to school.

According to CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines, teenagers need to have at least 8-10 hours of sleep to stay focused and well-rested.

However, with extracurricular activities, homework, and exams, teens are less likely to get the recommended amount. According to a CDC study, about 72.7% of high school students don’t get enough sleep on school nights. Taking a senior open in the morning allows them to

THE UNION

attention to the videos for them to have the desired impact. Since students do not pay attention, there is no point in allocating so much time for these videos.

Additionally, the videos and lessons played during this time also feel very rushed and contain information that seems like com-

W hether or not students the student understanding why should be able to keep their they lost points.

Additionally, another argutests after they’ve been graded is a somewhat controversial ment is that if students kept the tests, they could share subject. Teachers often pass back graded the test answers with other students. tests with comments However, such acand markings and tions are cheating, promptly take them and both the new back, but students student and the stuwould benefit from dent, or students, these corrections if who shared the test they could keep their answers would be distests and study their ciplined. mista kes. Subjects Even if teachers such as math and physics are especially needed to keep reTIFFANY cords, there aren’t difficult for some stuNG dents, so those who many instances in struggle with them which they actually look at the tests after may benefit from keeping their tests. they are graded. After students Some students are slow are finished looking at them, learners and need an extend- the tests are usually stored ed amount of time to review away in a folder, and teachers their tests outside of the time never look at them again. This already provided in class. Of proves that, other than keeping course, they could always do records, teachers don’t really homework to practice the ma- have any uses for graded tests. terial, or see the teacher during For students, however, the tests office hours, but there are times would not only have uses, but when this isn’t enough, and it also benefits.

Also, asking questions about would be more helpful for the student to keep their test and the test would definitely help, study it during their own time. but this argument circles back This further demonstrates why to the fact that some students students should be able to keep are slow learners, or are better graded tests, as comments from at processing information in a the teacher could really help different environment. While students expand their knowl- some students may benefit from edge and do better on future learning in a classroom envitests. ronment, others may need to Some may argue that teachers be located in other more peaceshouldn’t have to give graded ful environments such as their tests back to students for the bedroom, where there are less purpose of keeping records, distractions and they can rewhich helps teachers keep track view their graded tests on their of students’ test scores and if own time. they got the grade that they deLastly, students sharing test serve. answers is possible, but it is They may also claim that if a not likely that they will benefit student lost points on a ques- from it, as teachers give differtion that they think was graded ent tests each time. Each stuincorrectly, the time that they dent or class period getting difget in class to review their tests ferent tests doesn’t affect the should be enough for them to students’ individual abilities to ask questions. This would lead learn from their mistakes, proto either the teacher realizing viding another reason for stuthat they made a mistake, or dents to keep their graded tests. mon sense. Some teachers skip may simply have free time. Ultisteps of the lesson and do them mately, it shouldn’t matter where to check off that their class par- a student is for homeroom as they ticipated. This, in turn, leads to should all be doing the same acstudents not receiving that much tivities anyway, which currently information from the presenta- is not the case. tions, which is the whole purpose To eliminate the disparity in of homeroom. how homerooms are operated, While students not doing any- the 19 minutes can be removed thing useful doing and instead added homeroom may be an to other periods or enforcement issue, lunch. even when there are Having a homeroom period where no assigned homeroom activities, stustudents don’t do dents remain unproanything also leads to ductive.

Students increased fatigue in essentially doing students. Due to the nothing for 19 minnature of the schedutes is not the most ule, students are returning from lunch effective use of time SIDHANT and are thus already as they could have BURELA not as focused on actually been in their their classes. Adding fifth-period class doing schoolwork, inanother 19 minutes of stead of sitting and waiting for doing nothing on top of that just the bell to ring to get started with makes the transition into real class. class time harder for students.

As for what to replace the extra Although this homeroom time time with, the school can simply could be used to relax after lunch, extend lunch or evenly add min- I believe that having free time utes to all of the other periods. before class makes the transition Similar to the schedule on rally into learning even harder for studays where period lengths are dents.

While some may argue that adjusted, the same can be done for Wednesdays to ensure that homeroom is essential for anstudents are in school until the nouncements, I think there are simple solutions that our school typical release time.

Additionally, the way a teach- can implement to replace such er uses homeroom time is up to a long homeroom period. Simitheir discretion. When there are lar to how there are announceno required videos, some teach- ments on all other days besides ers make the period a break for Wednesdays, the school can play their students, while others start the announcements at the beginclass early. Students who are in ning of second period. As for the a class that does work the entire informational videos, the content period may view this as unfair compared to other students who CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

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THE UNION

End the occupation—Palestinians have suffered enough To be clear, this opinion article is in no way expressing hatred against the Jewish community, whom I respect. It is simply calling out Israel for its actions towards the Palestinian people and demanding we take action.

The Oct. 7 Hamas attack has led Western countries to send billions in military aid to Israel and express unequivocal solidarity with Israel, as they have been for decades. Hamas’ killing of innocent, noncombatant people was horrible. However, in the words of United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Anthony Guterres, the attack “did not happen in a vacuum.” There are 75 years of brutal ethnic cleansing—the violent removal of a particular ethnic group from a geographic area—and Israeli occupation—the effective control of foreign land by a hostile army—that give the conflict much-needed context.

Zionism is a nationalist movement calling for the establishment of a Jewish state in the Holy Land, dubbed “a land without a people for a people without a land.” According to Vox’s article “A Timeline of Israel and Palestine’s Complicated History,” Britain took control of Palestine following World War I and promised Palestine as “a national home for the Jewish people” in The Balfour Declaration without any input from Palestinians themselves.

The Declaration also stated “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine,” but didn’t enforce it. Soon after, Jews immigrated in large numbers to Palestine; British militia crushed Palestinian uprisings, killed Arab leaders, and trained Zionist militia to suppress further uprisings.

After Britain gave control of Palestine over to the UN, the UN proposed a partition plan in 1947 that gave 52% of the land to the minority Jewish population— even though most were recent immigrants to Palestine—45% to the majority Palestinian population, and 3% for international control.

Palestinians rejected the plan while Zionists accepted it. Palestinians were ignored when the UN voted in favor of the partition.

Zionists then proceeded to take over even more land than the partition called for during what Palestinians call the Nakba (Catastrophe) of 1948 and others call the Israeli War for Independence or Arab-Israeli War of

1948, which other Arab countries es but denied by the Israeli Dewere involved in. According to fense Forces (IDF), Israel has Al-Jazeera’s feature article titled fired illegal white phosphorus over civilian ar“The Nakba did not eas like Gaza City start or end in 1948,” port; this incendimore than 750,000 ary weapon ignites of the then 1.3 million when exposed to Palestinians were oxygen and causes displaced, around severe, life-alter530 villages and cities were ethnically ing burns that have cleansed, approxiled to “respiratory mately 15,000 Palesdamage and organ tinians were killed in failure.” more than 70 massaDespite how cres, and more than about half of the MARYAM 78 percent of Pales2.2 million Gazans MOHAMED tinian land was seized are children, by the Zionist regime. the bombing of The treatment of Palestinians apartment buildings, schools, only worsened in the years fol- mosques, churches, media cenlowing, with the U.S. and Europe ters, refugee camps, and hospibacking Israel through funding, tals is passed off as the human arms deals, and their legislative cost of war. When asked about power in the UN as Israel com- mounting civilian casualties, mits war crimes with impunity. President Biden had “no conFor example, Israel’s Operation fidence” in the death toll from Cast Lead in 2008 killed 1,400 the Gaza Health Ministry and Palestinians, including 300 passed it off as the “price of children, according to Amnes- waging a war,” according to a ty International’s 127-page-long White House press conference report titled “Israel/Gaza: Opera- on Oct. 25. tion ‘Cast Lead’: 22 days of death Israel’s actions are sickening, and destruction.” And just since but not surprising. According Oct. 7, Israel has imprisoned more to the Times of Israel, Defense than 2,200 Palestinians—without Minister Yoav Gallant said that charge or trial—and inflicted tor- Israel imposed a “complete ture and humiliation, according siege” on the entire Gazan popto a Nov. 8 Amnesty International ulation because Israel is “fighting human animals’’ and “are news press release.

Palestinian suffering has been acting accordingly,” Gallant ignored by the overwhelming ma- said. Collective punishment is jority of our politicians who say a war crime, according to the nothing about the war crimes Is- Geneva Convention. rael is committing; these crimes What is surprising is the have killed over 10,000 Palestin- Western world’s indifference to ians in less than a month, accord- what the Center for Constituing to the Gaza Health Ministry. tional Rights, a nonprofit legal Gaza, a strip of land half the advocacy organization, calls size of New York City, has been an “unfolding genocide.” Even under an Israeli-controlled siege Israeli human rights organizaby land, air, and sea for the past tion B’Tselem and others like 16 years; it has been described as Amnesty International and an “open-air prison” by former Human Rights Watch call this President Jimmy Carter and is an apartheid regime.

To take action, we need to inone of the most densely populated places in the world, with 650,000 form ourselves. We then need inhabitants packed into the 18 to pressure our government to not only call for an immedisquare miles of Gaza City.

According to the Human Rights ate ceasefire, but to also stop Watch news article titled “Gaza’s sending military aid to Israel, Blocked Relief,” after Oct. 7, Israel impose sanctions on the Israeblocked off water, electricity, fuel, li government, call for an end and humanitarian aid and re- to the occupation—which is ilstricted food from entering Gaza legal according to UN August via Israel and even Egypt; as of 2023 study called “The LegalOct. 30, humanitarian aid is still ity of the Israeli Occupation”— and condemn the terrorism the restricted, the news article said.

As documented in previous Israeli government is inflicting years and recently in Human on Palestinians in Gaza and the Rights Watch’s news press releas- West Bank on a daily basis.

Teachers must allow students to eat in class Classroom food policies have on time. When these students atalways been topics of debate tend their morning classes, they between staff and the student should be allowed to eat breakfast in class. body. Currently, the Additionally, many classroom policy surrounding students students join clubs eating in class is at or take on leadership the discretion of each roles in clubs. These teacher due to the abcommitments often sence of a schoolwide require participation in club meetings policy on the matter. Although some during lunch and teachers allow eating sometimes brunch in class, many elect which takes up the to prohibit students little time allotted to from doing so due to students for eating PAARTH GUPTA concerns for cleanduring the day. When liness. disruption, these students come and other reasons. I into their classes believe that preventing students hungry after not eating at brunch from eating in class is absurd and or lunch, they should be allowed that a schoolwide policy that stan- to eat so they can keep themselves dardizes eating in class is needed. fueled for the rest of the day.

There are students on campus Some students even attempt to who aren’t able to eat a proper eat during brunch or lunch but breakfast in the morning. Due the length of the school lunch to a variety of circumstances, lines makes it impossible for them some are left with no time to eat to get meals at school. If students a sufficient breakfast. Addition- need to pull out an energy bar or ally, student-athletes may have a box of cereal during class to give to practice in the morning and, themselves something that will therefore, do not have enough keep them going, then I don’t see time to eat and make it to school anything wrong with it.

NOVEMBER 2023

OPINIONS

Teachers may insist that allowing students to eat in class creates a negative learning and teaching environment, with regards to cleanliness in the classroom and noise disruptions caused by eating food. I believe that both of these issues could be resolved if teachers assert certain restrictions on the types of foods students are allowed to eat in class, instead of prohibiting students from eating altogether. If students were told that disruptive foods and large meals were prohibited, then classrooms would remain clean and noise-free.

Students who struggle to find time for eating are currently not allowed to eat in class but are also expected to pay attention to the subject material. If students are too hungry to focus on a lecture or concentrate during a test, then how can they be expected to achieve at a high level? If eating in class is what students need to succeed, then it is the responsibility of a teacher and a school to support that.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

can simply be sent in an email or ParentSquare notification so that both students and parents are notified.

Although some videos such as ones on the topics of school safety and bullying are important and require special attention, I still think that dedicating a significant portion of time to them in school

is not effective, especially since many students don’t pay attention to them.

With how competitive school is nowadays, students making the most out of their time is of the utmost importance. Having 19 minutes during which students essentially do nothing is not helpful for the students, and should thus be phased out entirely from the school schedule.

Teens should reconsider necessity of driver’s license For many teenagers, learning There are many alternatives for to drive is an important rite of students who want some of the passage into adulthood; a driver’s benefits of driving but are confident enough to get license is a symbol of behind the wheel or independence, competence, and maturisimply want to work ty. However, this peron more importceived importance ant things. For people who want cheap can influence some transportation, busteens, who may be es are convenient, unprepared to drive, cheap, and widely to learn out of social available and can pressure or expectation, not actual detake people to work, sire. Teenagers who school, or to places to view driving more as hang out with friends.

YUNXI FANG a sign of competence Walking, biking, and instead of a genuinely other similar methods of transportation desirable asset may take the long learning process can also work well in certain cirless seriously, which can lead to cumstances. Independence itself unsafe driving habits in the long is a very broad spectrum that goes beyond driving. Focusing on edterm.

Although they could still be ucation, life skills, or personal motivated, the lengthy time re- development all help lead to indequirements – 30 hours for just pendence. the online course – may be seen Not having the confidence or as an inconvenience. Teens may the ability to drive as a teen does just want to get the training over not suggest incompetence. Biowith instead of taking a genuine logically, the brain is still developinterest in learning a beneficial ing during the teenage years. The skill. This situation can produce frontal lobe, which is associated drivers who are unprepared for with executive functions such as the road beyond tests and driving multitasking, impulse control, and working memory, is not fully classes.

“Just because they can, doesn’t developed until adulthood. The mean this is the right time for frontal lobe is “the most importthem,” said Deirdre Narcisse, a ant for driver functions… Lack of clinical psychologist at Montclair development can explain an inState University, in the article creased desire to take risks, and “Teens Don't Have Interest in the inability to perform complex Driving Anymore and That's OK” maneuvers,” according to the arby Parents. As teens try to gain ticle “Teen Brain Development more confidence and establish a – The Frontal Lobe of the Brain new identity, they will inevita- is Essential for Driving” by GJEL bly try to gain control over their Accident Attorneys. own circumstances. Learning to Although driving will be imdrive is one of the first things that portant in the majority of our comes to mind when thinking futures, there are many valid about independence, but in real- alternative skills to develop in ity, does not offer much beyond the present that may prove more confidence for those who only helpful than a driver’s license and want it for such. serve as effective transportation.

Teenagers have responsibility to be more politically involved We all have the responsibility parties, it is now more crucial to educate ourselves on matters than ever to educate ourselves that not only affect us personally and vote. Teens being afraid of but also those around expressing their disagreements about us. Most current high political issues is inschool seniors will be evitable, but being able to legally vote in involved in politics is the next year’s presidential election, necessary to benefit and being informed the state of our world. prepares us to parOtherwise, avoiding ticipate in a democdifficult conversaracy and know who tions and topics may we want to be reprelead to a government sented by. Therefore, that doesn’t accurateRUBY ly represent the mawe must read the BUI jority of Americans. news, research, and For example, one ask questions to better understand our of the most concerning problems is our country’s world.

According to “The Youth Vote in contribution to climate change, 2022” on the Center for Informa- which has become significant as tion & Research on Civic Learn- temperatures have risen and nating and Engagement website, ural disasters have dramatically statistics show that the national increased. However, this topic is youth turnout was only 23% in the not talked about enough among 2022 midterm elections, whereas students due to the avoidance of the 2018 elections had a turnout political discussions. According of 28%. Considering how polar- to the National Resources Deized our government and society have become regarding political CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

NOVEMBER 2023 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

fense Council article “Why the Willow Project Is a Bad Idea” by Jeff Turrentine, the Willow Project, “a massive, $8 billion ConocoPhillips oil drilling operation on federally protected land on the North Slope of Alaska’s Brook Range,” was recently approved by the Biden administration. The Willow Project “would release an additional 9.2 million metric tons of carbon pollution into the atmosphere each year,” according to Turrentine. The government is failing to take effective measures

regarding climate change, and this ultimately serves as another reason for us to educate ourselves on current issues and take action, such as by voting or signing petitions.

Additionally, issues prominent in other countries cannot be neglected, such as the Israel-Palestinian conflict. We as students should make an effort to utilize the news and inform ourselves about tragedies and problems.

Even if these issues don’t directly affect us, we must be informed to spread awareness and try to help those in need. As teenagers, being

THE UNION

EDITORIAL too young to care about politics is an irresponsible excuse. Some may argue that politics is too complex or serious to understand at this age, but in actuality, this is a harmful mindset. Being able to hold nuanced conversations and opinions connects us to others and builds a sophisticated society.

In the face of injustice and corruption, an educated public may protest or vote to enforce change.

Thus, mass ignorance caused by a lack of understanding of issues in the world enables people to continue abusing their power at the expense of others.

U NION The

S T U D E N T V O I C E O F M I L P I TA S H I G H

The Union is published by the Journalism class of Milpitas High School.

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

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EDITOR I A L : The Opinion of The Union

Lunchtimes must be longer for sufficient food intake Having fulfilling meals is vital to maintaining one’s health, focus, and energy throughout the day. A teenager’s body is constantly growing and requires more food than an adult’s body to supplement health. However, the mere 30 minutes we are given for lunch is not enough to finish our food, and extending this is necessary for all students to be able to eat.

Some people may argue that 30 minutes is plenty of time to finish a meal, and although this may be true for eating at home where there are no hindrances or delays, MHS has around 3,000 students, many of whom regularly get school lunches.

Our vast student population leads to longer, slower lunch lines, causing many students to spend most of lunchtime waiting in lines.

Additionally, because of how populated our school is, most lunch tables are full, making it harder for students to find a place to sit and eat. This ultimately causes a significant duration of our lunch break to be spent before many students get to eat.

Moreover, students who host club meetings tend to hold off on eating lunch as they must lead presentations and bonding activities, leaving only a few minutes of lunchtime to eat. However, different teachers’ classroom expectations and policies vary, meaning that many students are unable to eat lunch at all during the school day if teachers do not allow them to eat lunch during class.

In classrooms where students are allowed to eat food, some can be seen bringing in unfinished lunches due to not having enough time. Having to eat in class during lessons and classwork time unfairly disrupts a student’s learning experience, forcing them to either multitask or hold off tasks to finish eating.

On the other hand, in classrooms where eating is prohibited, students who are unable to finish their meal before class time must endure their persistent hunger. As a result, their attention may be diverted, impeding their concentration in class. Therefore, instilling a longer lunch break would promote a more focused academic

environment.

In comparison, some high schools in the Bay Area have longer lunch breaks. According to the bell schedules on the Cupertino High School (CHS) and Los Altos High School (LAHS) websites, lunch is 40 minutes every day at CHS while LAHS students have 40 minutes of lunch every day except Mondays.

This would be the ideal amount of time to have for lunch at our school and can be achieved by simply cutting down just one to two minutes of each class and redirecting these minutes to our lunchtime. The amount of time that would be cut from classes is minuscule, yet would make all the difference in our lunch breaks.

Essentially, by extending our lunch break, students are able to remain focused and energized throughout the day as they receive the proper amount of nutrients from their meals.

With our current schedule, this is often not possible for some individuals and we request adjustments to benefit our student population.

EDITOR I A L : The Opinion of The Union

S TA F F Savan Bollu • Editor -in -Chief

Ruby Bui • News Editor Dhara Mehta • Asst. News Editor

Sidhant Burela • Op-Ed Editor Paarth Gupta • Asst. Op-Ed Editor

Tanisha Varma • Features Editor Maryam Mohamed • Asst. Features Editor

Erick Johnson • Sports Editor Akshaj Kashyap • Asst. Sports Editor

Sanvi Parvatikar • Lifestyle Editor Tiffany Ng • Asst. Lifestyle Editor

Kevin Ting • Entertainment Editor An Nguyen • Asst. Entertainment Editor

Visibility of administration promotes connected campus Administrators are essential for a safe learning environment at any school. Compared to previous years, our administrators this year have been much more visible on campus, and we commend them for creating a better campus environment and for fostering better relationships with students.

This school year, students have seen all of our school administrators at more school events, during lunch, and around campus openly talking to students. While these may seem like small gestures, they go a long way in terms of creating a more communicative and unified school environment.

Administrators openly speaking to students creates personal bonds. This, in turn, allows students to directly voice potential concerns to administration and allows administrators to effectively address them.

In September, Principa l Wohlman met with every English class in each grade level to address the issue of fighting on campus. In these meetings, the principal first opened with information about his personal life, allowing students to see him as a relatable person, not just as a principal.

Wohlman could have easily sent out an email or ParentSquare message with the same information as the assembly. However, by taking the time to talk to all of us and ask us questions in person, he showed students that he cares about

connecting with them at an individual level. In turn, he was able to more effectively encouraging students to avoid fights and make our campus a safer place, which was the purpose of the assembly.

Additionally, Wohlman is also a very approachable administrator. During the assembly, he made many students laugh with his jokes and answered many questions students had. He also often takes pictures with students, showing his commitment to making connections on campus.

Wohlman also initiated the Fight Free Campus Challenge where each grade is challenged to go the rest of the year without fighting, with an incentive at the end. This challenge is the first of its kind and shows the unity that the principal is trying to foster within the school. On Oct. 18, administrators, teachers, and students dressed up in the anti-bullying color of orange for a picture to spread the message of anti-bullying as well as kick off the Fight Free Campus Challenge. This event showed the unity the school can have and how administrators being open with students about their concerns can have a positive impact on the campus.

In addition, Assitant Principal Casey McMurray fosters unity through hosting basketball tournaments during lunch.

Along with PE teacher Jesus Zamudio, tournaments involving teams of both staff and stu-

dents play against each other.

The games also have speakers that play music as well as Zamudio and McMurray announcing the games. By creating this fun environment, McMurray along with Zamudio make the basketball courts a community for those who decide to play during lunch. This makes the basketball courts a place where both students and staff can bond, through playing against as well as with each other.

Additionally, during lunch students often see Assistant Principal Sean Anglon watching the cafeteria line before other monitors arrive. This not only allows Anglon to stop potential line cutters, but also talk to more students on campus. A simple “Hello” and “How has your day been?” may seem insignificant, but they can still have a positive effect on the campus as students get to interact with our admin more directly.

Frequently this year, administrators have walked into classes and said hello to teachers and students. They often ask students what they are learning about as well as how they are doing, showing their commitment to hearing from our student population.

We appreciate the increased visibility and approachability of our administrators and the transformative impact their actions have had on our campus.

By having open administrators, we allow our campus to be a more communicative and thus

Agna Soneji • Spread Editor Yunxi Fang • Asst. Spread Editor Stephanie Iboa • Web Editor Einbert Li • Photo Editor Akshaj Kashyap • Business/Ad Manager

Sanjit Roy

Journalism Advisor

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THE UNION

NOVEMBER 2023

FEATURES

Students take on entrepreneurship by Students cheat themselves out of academic honesty selling handmade apparel, jewelery

By Tiffany Ng

By Ruby Bui

As a high school student running a clothing and jewelry business, senior Rosie Do believes the most enjoyable aspect is seeing people from school and around the world wear her products, she said.

Upcycled by Do is Do’s self-run business where she sells handmade jewelry and clothes on Instagram and Depop, she said. A major benefit of running a business as a student is being able to produce items at your own pace, she added.

“I buy jewelry and then I reuse the beads, and I also buy pieces of clothing that I like the fabric of and use that to make other products,” Do said.

Do began making scrunchies as gifts for her family in eighth grade, she said. Her sister and mom inspired her after they suggested that she create and sell other products, she added.

“I don’t know if I would choose it as a career, but I would definitely continue doing it on the side in addition to whatever job I have,” Do said.

Senior Angel Coleman owns a business on Instagram called “Jewels by Fae,” where she sells handmade crystal jewelry, she said. Coleman was inspired during the COVID-19 pandemic to make a positive impact during a time of struggle, she added.

“When I first opened my business, I was nervous because I was afraid nobody was going to buy from me,” Coleman said. “But as time went by, I started expand-

Courtesy of Rosie Do

Do works on her sewing machine on a piece of clothing for her store.

ing.”

Because Coleman runs her business alone, the most challenging aspect is balancing school, work, and making jewelry, she said.

“I usually have to assemble my bracelets and necklaces, and I also have to wire wrap everything myself,” Coleman said. “I decide on my designs based on what’s trending at the moment, and I get my inspiration from Pinterest.”

Coleman’s jewelry business is a hobby and job, and she hopes to continue building the business in the future, she said.

“Don’t be afraid to start (your own business) even if you think no one’s going to buy from you,” Coleman said. “Just keep going.

It’ll build over time.”

Senior Arnnel Zara created “Zoan Out,” his apparel business, the summer before his junior year of high school, he said. Zara starts his process by sketching designs nearly every day then finding the proper materials, he added. Executing the product he has in mind

is the hardest part, he added.

“Usually, I try to find a bunch of crazy approaches—something similar to Balenciaga or Vermont,” Zara said. “But also, it helps to take inspiration from skate culture and surf culture.”

Zara’s interest in fashion began in second grade, but only became serious during sophomore year, he said.

“People were pretty excited” when Zoan Out was launched, Zara said. “But I also had some people putting me down for starting the brand because they didn’t like the designs at first and didn’t really understand it until I started posting more about it.”

Zara handled the initial negative feedback from his peers by reaching out to individuals who weren’t well-acquainted with him, who then became his primary supporters, he said.

“Do it for your heart, honestly,” Zara said. “If you’re doing it for the money or to impress people, you’re not going to make much out of it.”

Digital Map Project builds mapping tool, navigates through challenges

druni said. “So, the core members sat down at a McDonalds, and during that one-hour period, we coded the first iteration of the website from scratch.”

DMP convenes online twice a week for roughly three-hour sessions, as well as an in-person club meeting at school during lunch on Tuesdays every two weeks, Ramachandruni said. School is the first priority for all members, but they still make time every week for DMP in order to continually make progress, he added.

One of the biggest challenges “was at the end of the 2022 school year when every authority figure that we knew—(former librarian), the principal, (and) the IT guy— either left school or just ended contact with us,” Sainathan said.

“We weren’t able to work on anything for months, and we couldn’t get any of our paid services in time because we got approval, but nobody actually ever acted on it.”

Another significant challenge Sainathan faced was gathering a group of members, as it took him almost three weeks to gather enough members to begin their work, he said.

What started off as a relatively small project quickly developed into something much larger, with more than 20 people involved in its creation and potentially thousands in its intended audience.

By Akshaj Kashyap

The Digital Map Project (DMP) is a club that is building a physical and digital map of the school that can be accessed through an app or as a website and has had 27 different members over the past 3 years, founder of DMP, senior Kavinkumar Sainathan said. DMP received a commendation from Milpitas mayor Carmen Montano this past August, Sainathan said.

The project’s main goal is to have a fully functioning website and app ready to be released by the March STEAM Showcase, Sainathan said. The group is also planning a limited release of the app and website in January, he added.

Sainathan was inspired to create this project by “being lost at school on the first day here and not knowing where (his) classes were,” Sainathan said. “So I just wondered if anything could be done navigationally to improve the school.”

DMP received about $200 in funding from MHS to buy two 360-degree cameras in March 2021, second-in-lead and junior Vasista Ramachandruni said.

“We spent two weekends walk-

ing around every 10-15 feet, clicking a picture, and moving on,” Sainathan said. “We stitched all those pictures as a map.”

Besides funding for cameras, the club also received funding from MHS for various application program interfaces (API) to help assist their code, Ramachandruni said. APIs are a way of utilizing other companies’ services to help generate various functions for their app, he added.

Lead programmer and senior Johnny Palacios met Sainathan “in Ms. Hutchinson’s web design class and we sat next to each other,” Palacios said. “We introduced ourselves and figured out that we both do programming, so he introduced me to the project that started our friendship.”

The majority of Palacios’s programming experience came from Python, he said. For the app, however, he used Java, and for the website, he used HTML, which had a steep learning curve, Palacios said. Using new programming languages was challenging but satisfying, he said.

“We began work on the web version of the app last year, and after two weeks we could not get anything to work,” Ramachan-

Courtesy of Vasista Ramachandruni

Cheating, a commonly practiced habit among some students, can be done in many ways, and results from students looking for an easy path to complete tests or assignments.

Oftentimes, students cheat because they are in need of help, not because they lack morals, English teacher Ginger Roy said.

“It doesn’t mean that they’re bad people; it just means that sometimes they’re in desperate situations,” Roy said.

“Desperate people will sometimes make desperate choices.”

Sometimes, students find it intimidating to ask teachers for help on something they don’t understand, especially if they struggle with personal issues such as shyness or family-related issues, Roy said. This is why teachers need to encourage students to ask questions, she added.

Tests on subjects like chemistry can be difficult for some students, chemistry teacher Jason Marino said.

“I try to make sure that they [are tested on] everything that we’ve learned in the unit,” Marino said.

“And I know that, generally speaking, math is a little bit harder, and we do a lot of math in the class.”

To prevent cheating, Marino requires students to use their chromebooks for tests and quizzes, he said.

“On the chromebooks through the MUSD app, there is a link for Socrative, which is my main testing software,” Marino said. “It prevents students from being able to use the chromebook for any-

thing other than the test itself.”

Marino has caught students trying to cheat in other ways, he said. Some instances include not logging onto Socrative, using cell phones during the test, or having small slips of paper hidden up sleeves or elsewhere, he added.

Over the years, the methods which students use to cheat have changed, physics teacher Charles Schletzbaum said.

In “2004, the kicker for the football team turned in one of the linebackers’ lab reports with the photocopy with the name whited out,” Schletzbaum said. “That was not impressive. Then, there was somebody in 2009 who turned in a paper in June that their girlfriend had turned in. I’ve been more impressed with how spectacular students fail at cheating.”

In comparison to other, previous years, the school’s punishments for students who cheat has gotten lighter, Roy said.

“I definitely think the student getting a zero and a referral and then having to do some sort of educational work on cheating and plagiarism and all of that is good, but I also think it’s not really helpful, because most students know what they’re doing,” Roy said.

Students should receive a punishment that will make them think twice about cheating, but the teacher could also be considerate and understand what situation the student is coming from, Roy said.

This punishment is a learning experience, Roy said. Getting punished for cheating is not the end of the world, it is the start of something new, she added.

Courtesy of LogotypeVector

Detention reintroduced on campus

By Agna Soneji

Detentions have always been around, Assistant Principal Jonathan Mach said. It’s just that the reappearance of people normally think of as detention has started around this year, he added.

As there was increased paranoia and restrictions on the amount of students in a classroom after school hours due to COVID-19, there were far too many barriers for the school to run detention as usual for the past two years, Mach said. There has always been a form of detention at school, but it involved meeting with administration in the office rather than in the classroom setting detention is in now, he added. Fewer COVID-19 restrictions this year allowed students to be in a classroom more freely after school, Mach said.

Detention “provides accountability,” said Brian McGarry, a teacher who has run detention this year. “If students take that time to come in and say this is going to be an hour of sitting here and being quiet with no distractions and just working on schoolwork, that’d be awesome.”

A big part of the reason for detention is tardies and cutting, McGarry said. The point of detention is to create a classroom environment for students who have been consistently missing class time, he added.

“It’s a place for you to make up

work and make up time,” Mach said. “Beyond that, we have mediations, we have conferences for families, we have suspensions, and very rarely, we put students up for expulsion.”

Detention has a reputation of being a harsh and cruel punishment, McGarry said. There are many other actions like suspension that administrators take for severe misdemeanors, but detention is simply another classroom for students to have time to work, he said. However, he acknowledges that being in detention can feel not as enjoyable, McGarry said.

“Detention itself is annoying to deal with,” said senior Gavin Angelo Baradi, who has had detention multiple times. “It is a tedious task of annoyingness.”

There seems to be a disconnect between how influential teachers believe detention is and how effective it is to students, Baradi says.

“I am still late to class, I still act out in class, and to be frank, I don’t think that it really helps, but maybe other kids get help from it,” Baradi said.

Many times, Baradi naps in detention because he does not know what to do during the time he is in detention, he added.

“By all means, if someone finds a solution better than that (detention), then go ahead, but as of right now, I don’t think that there’s anything better,” Baradi said.

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SMART cars offer smart transit options

By Kevin Ting

Occasionally when driving around Milpitas, you might stumble upon a white minivan on the road, labeled with a leaf logo. The Simple Mobile Access to Reliable Transit (SMART) is an app-based system that provides affordable car transit within Milpitas, according to the City of Milpitas’s website. The transit system began on Sept. 12 of 2022, according to the website.

When it initially launched last year, SMART averaged around 50 rides per week, but the numbers have risen to over 900 between Oct. 16-20, Milpitas principal planner Jay Lee said.

“There are seven vehicles, and more drivers in the system,” Lee said. “Right now, we don’t have plans to utilize more vehicles because I believe that we can still accommodate more ridership with the amount of vehicles we have. But right now, we’re focusing on expanding the hours and creating more sustainable rides.”

Funding for the program was secured through the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Measure 2016 B Program in 2020, Lee said.

“There’s been a lot of interest in the development of the multifamily apartments around the BART station area, so we thought that

there was a need for a service that connected our residential areas to the transit stations,” Lee said.

“It was meant to funnel people towards existing transit, and help VTA by encouraging folks to use their services.”

However, after the pandemic, commuter ridership did not recover within the Bay Area, making a transit system to take people to the BART station less necessary, Lee said.

“We discovered that there’s actually a lot of demand for people to ride to other places,” Lee said.

“As the program went on, we realized how much of a need there was for other types of transportations, so we changed the service model.”

SMART charges $2.50 for adult riders and $1.00 per ride for youth under 18, disabled citizens, seniors, and low-income populations, according to the SMART app.

The cheap costs of the SMART transit is an advantage to the system, Junior Anna Kurrinyy said.

“It’s basically the same as Uber, but Uber is (extremely) expensive,” Kurrinyy said, “The experience is about the same; the drivers are the same. Uber just goes farther.”

The system operates exclusively on weekdays, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., according to the city’s web-

Courtesy of Rita Burmanroy

In 2021, Burmanroy went hiking in the Prairie Creek Redwood State Park in North Carolina, which she’d been wanting to do for five years.

Burmanroy reflects on career, interests

By Sidhant Burela

Many people want to help others through the medical field, which is the pathway that science teacher Rita Burmanroy was originally on, she said. While on this path, Burmanroy realized she did not want to pursue it and instead focused on a career in teaching, she said. Burmanroy, who also teaches AVID, first started as a student-teacher in New York for a year before moving to Milpitas, where she has been teaching for eight years, she said.

While on the pre-medical path, Burmanroy majored in biology and earned a master’s at Adelphi University and a bachelor’s at Stony Brook University, she said.

During this time, she was a teacher assistant (TA) for biology and gained experience teaching others, she added.

Being a TA “was where I was exposed to the idea that I could be a teacher,” Burmanroy said. “There was a program available for people like me who have knowledge of biology that could transfer to being a teacher and at that point, I was like, ‘Yes, that sounds great,’ and so I continued on.”

When Burmanroy first arrived

at MHS, life science teacher Karen Truesdell mentored her, Truesdell said. She helped Burmanroy with paperwork to certify her as a teacher and guided Burmanroy in how to handle certain classroom situations, Truesdell said. When Burmanroy first started teaching at MHS, her classroom was in L22, Truesdell said.

“Since then, she’s moved up (upper L building) here next door and it’s wonderful,” Truesdell said. “We talk in the morning like, ‘What are you teaching today?’ and have really good conversation.”

Truesdell has gotten to know Burmanroy on a more personal level, she said.

“It’s funny because I personally think that Ms. B is who she is,” Truesdell said. “Her personality is on her sleeve. She’ll tell you exactly who she is, and that’s beautiful.”

While working at MHS, Burmanroy met her now-fiancé, special education teacher Travis Blair, Blair said. The two became close because of their similar interests, such as their love for nature, he added.

“She’s a fantastic person all

Kevin Ting | THE UNION

A SMART transportation vehicle stopping to pick up a student customer at the intersection in front of MHS.

site.

“I think they should extend their time to the weekends, as well as after seven,” junior Jinyu Zhou said, “My work ended at eight, and I needed a ride home, but I was unable to get a ride home via SMART.” SMART also takes more than one passenger at a time, usually for the same location, but occasionally even a different location altogether, Kurrinyy said.

“It can get kind of annoying,” Zhou said, “I might want to get somewhere but then share the ride with another person, and they’d go in the complete other direction. But they’re usually consistent with their estimated time of arrivals.”

The transit system has been reliable and extremely useful to commute to work, Zhou said.

“The experience has been good; it doesn’t show up late often,” Zhou said. “Sometimes it does, but it’s still a lot better than the bus.”

Kurinnyy has also had positive experiences with the system so far, as the drivers have been timely, she said.

“They’re all really nice,” Kurrinyy said. “Sometimes they talk with you too.”

SMART was created in collaboration with Rideco, a ridesharing company, which hired their own consultant called CLS Global Transportation, Lee said.

“Rideco and the city both en-

around,” Blair said. “I can’t think of a single negative thing about her. I would say that if you have her as a teacher, be nice to her because she’s a very kind-hearted, nice person.”

Beyond school, Burmanroy loves exploring the outdoors, especially through hiking, she said.

Another one of her pastimes is listening to 90’s music and discovering new genres of music, she said.

“I used to actually be a DJ at a radio station and discovering new music is something that’s been consistent for most of my years,” Burmanroy said.

In the classroom, Burmanroy tries to give her students a more hands-on approach, she said. One of her favorite lessons to teach in the classroom is one where students in her Anatomy and Physiology class create fake wounds using arts and crafts materials and then analyze them, she added.

“It’s a really good way to have students show what they know as opposed to just a regular multiple choice test,” Burmanroy said. “I love giving them (students) more interactive opportunities.”

Burmanroy is also very involved on campus and is the advisor of the CodeQuest club, One Long Story club, and MedPath club.

“Those (clubs) give opportunities to students that like to come together with a shared interest, and that’s something that I wish I had when I was in high school,” Burmanroy said. “I want students to have those opportunities so that’s what drives me to be engaged and be a part (of these clubs).”

Despite not staying on the pre-medicine pathway, Burmanroy found a different avenue for her knowledge of biology through teaching, she said. Her main advice to students is to find what brings them happiness and pursue it, she added.

“I want everyone to pursue what lights them up,” Burmanroy said. “I didn’t go into research.

But what still lights me up is biology and those topics. So I think any advice I would give is that you need to figure out what it is that makes you want to wake up in the morning, that makes you want to go out there and be a part of society.”

Teachers discuss their opinions on the increase of banned books in the nation

By Akshaj Kashyap

There has been a 33% increase in books being banned across the nation over the last school year, according to an article called “Eating away at democracy” from The Guardian. Although the vast majority of books are being banned outside of California, many teachers find it important to understand why some books are so controversial.

Pen America, an organization advocating for free speech, reports that 48% of banned books delve into themes of violence or abuse, while 42% focus on covering students’ health and well-being. Additionally, 33% touch upon sexual experiences, 30% address issues related to racism, and another 30% explore LGBTQ+ characters. Furthermore, 29% of these books touch upon instances of grief and death. These statistics have been taken from the start of the 2022 school year.

The English department has implemented a new system in the past few years where a teacher can present a book they want to teach and “the department considers the literary merit and weighs that against potential concerns with the book,” English teacher and co-lead of the English department Carlos Lorenzana said.

“Then, as a department, we vote to either approve or reject it.”

There is required material that needs to be taught for each grade level that the English department agrees on, Lorenzana said. Still, each teacher has the freedom to pursue topics as they see fit, approaching difficult conversations and topics based on the level and maturity of a class, English teacher Sanjana Barr

sure that the drivers that are hired have gone through a rigorous background check,” Lee said.

More changes are coming to SMART, with $1.6 million in additional funding being secured from the state to continue operating the system, Lee said.

“The (city) council directed the staff to expand upon a few things--expanding the service hours to the weekends, and even a little later into the night, and maybe a little later into the morning,” Lee said. “If the program continues beyond this next round of funding through the state and the demand continues to go up, then maybe we’ll explore expanding the number of vehicles and drivers.”

said. History teacher and co-lead of the History department, Paul Harrison, believes that disagreement on controversial topics by itself isn’t inherently a bad thing.

“I believe we need to have a competition of ideas and a public debate,” Harrison said. “I think all ideas need to be publicly debated, and it makes your ideas stronger because if you have a public debate, it exposes the weaknesses within your arguments,” he added.

Media often uses a certain narrative to portray various events and statistics to appeal to a certain audience, which leads to those people being stuck in a feedback loop and unable to grow their ideas, Harrison said. People must break out of that feedback loop, as it leads to radicalization and makes finding common ground and compromises difficult to achieve, he added.

Lorenzana has an issue with tokenism, the idea that “we’re gonna throw this book in [the curriculum] because we want to make sure that every community is addressed,” he said. “If we’re going to do it, it needs to be done thoughtfully and respectfully.”

Barr also believes that the lack of a librarian at MHS’s library is another form of censorship and that it prevents students from finding books that may spark a love of learning and expose them to new perspectives, xe said.

“Your life will have things that are difficult and uncomfortable,” Barr said. “If we do not practice talking about it when we are in a safe space, then when something uncomfortable happens, we do not have the words for it, and we do not have a way to express ourselves safely.”

Akshaj Kashyap | THE UNION

Books, such as “1984,” and “The Great Gatsby,” that have been challenged or banned at some point in time and are also taught at MHS.

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NOVEMBER 2023

Ford drives creation of Milpitas

By Paarth Gupta

In 1953, the Ford Motor Company announced that it would be constructing a new plant in Milpitas after relocating from Richmond, California, according to The Milpitas Community Museum.

Ford purchased 160 acres of land in the Milpitas area, allowing for the construction of what would be known as the San Jose Ford Motor Assembly Plant.

The announcement of the new auto plant directly influenced the establishment of Milpitas as a legal city. According to the Milpitas Community Museum, after the announcement of the new plant, the city of San Jose had started to push for an annexation of the unincorporated city of Milpitas in 1954.

Residents of Milpitas formed an armed defense to fend off occupation from San Jose and to prevent San Jose from becoming the sole economic benefactors of the new auto plant. After heavy advocacy, the city of Milpitas was legally deemed a city just before the grand opening of the new plant.

After helping to establish the city, the plant was also a direct contributor to the introduction of Mayor Ben F. Gross to Milpitas.

According to Patch Media, Gross was a leader of the Local 560 Auto Union and was assigned to deal with issues at the new Milpitas plant. According to The Milpitas Beat, after gaining influence in Milpitas, Gross served as a city council member and mayor for two

terms. He was the first African-American mayor of Milpitas and one of the first African-American mayors in the United States.

According to Patch Media, when Gross moved to Milpitas, he was also tasked with the job of ensuring all the workers in his union were settled in affordable housing, regardless of their race.

This gave Gross the idea to develop the Sunnyhills neighborhood in Milpitas for his workers, which became one o f the very first racially integrated neighborhoods in the entire country.

According to Hemmings Motor News, the San Jose Ford Motor Assembly Plant shut its doors in 1983. According to the Milpitas Community Museum, in 1994, the Great Mall of the Bay Area opened its doors after an extensive renovation of the abandoned Ford factory. According to The Milpitas Beat, the mall is one of the largest malls in Northern California.

The establishment of the San Jose Ford Motor Assembly Plant gave Milpitas its cityhood, leaders, diversity, economy, and much more. In an interview with The Milpitas Beat, long-time Milpitas resident and original employee of the auto plant Patrick Sabin said, “‘If it wasn’t for Ford Motor Company, this place would’ve never been what it is. Ford was the cause of all this growth in Milpitas.’”

Trojans reflect on MHS in 2000s

By Yunxi Fang

To students today, it may seem like MHS has always been how it is now.

However, many aspects of the school have their roots in the past. Trojans from the 2000s took a look back to share what MHS was like back then.

“My freshman year was the first year we did Trojan Olympics,” physical education coach and MHS Class of 2002 graduate James Carter said. “In the first year, it was tough to get people to join because no one really knew what it was, and no one wanted to be the first to do it. But obviously, after that, it picked up and it became a big event that people love to participate in, that had a waitlist of people that could participate in it.”

Trojan Olympics was always the best event on campus, but most current students have only experienced the event outdoors, Activities Director and MHS Class of 2009 graduate Deana Querubin said.

“If you guys think outside is hype, inside is a whole different experience,” Querubin said. “That was always the best day, the best time when I was in high school. And the reason being is because you get 40 kids on the team, and they’re from all different friend groups.

You have people that might not even be on a sports team, but they’re ultra-competitive. ” A school-organized event that she misses is the cultural programs, Spanish teacher Kimberly Marion, who has been working at MHS since 1995, said.

“For instance, Chinese Club--they

would have an assembly of their culture, and it would be in the theater,” Marion said. “Each club had a separate assembly, and it would be in the theater. And the assembly usually lasted an hour, where here the students were really able to perform and the school was able to get a sense of the culture. I don’t like the way it is now. It’s just everybody’s thrown together, and it’s in the gym.”

A well-known place students would go to in the early 2000s was the Great Mall, Querubin said.

“You all don’t even go to the Great Mall anymore,” Querubin said. “We used to go to the Great Mall all the time. Back then going to the movies was still a big deal, right? Now you’re streaming everything, going to the movies doesn’t seem like that much of a thing to do (…) Great America was a big deal in the summertime, but now it’s closing down soon.”

One aspect of school that has now changed which he misses were the tardy sweeps, Carter said.

“When the two-minute bell rang they would play music,” Carter said. “And if you weren’t in class by the time the bell rang then you got caught in the tardy sweep and it was an automatic detention.”

As time passes, the school will change and new students may not know how the school life was different during the 2020s. But although these years might become forgotten, the era will have an immense influence on the school and the future.

Streets

By Erick Johnson

1. Dixon Landing Road - Named after Matthew ginia Dixon, who was born in Virand migrated to California in 1849 during the Gold Rush. He is believed to have greatly aided in the prosperity of local farmers by building a makeshift dock out of rocks to allow hay and grain to be transported from Milpitas.

2. Traughber Street is named after Ray Traughber, a World War II veteran who fought in the against the Japanese Imperial Army and was aboard two different ships that sank in battle. After his retirement, his family moved to Milpitas, where his wife Lorraine worked at City Hall for many years.

3. Abel Street. - This street was named after Henry C. Abel, who migrated to California from Wisconsin and settled in the Milpitas area in 1874. He was a major grower of asparagus and held a very profitable meat business. Abel bought

the home of Matthew Dixon, 1910 to a lot beside the St. John the Baptist Catholic Church on Main Milpitas dates its history back to the mid 1800s. Since then, multiple notable people have lived in the area. To commemorate and honor them, some streets have been named after them, to remind modern citizens of the founders and heroes of our city.

4. Gross Street. - Named after former mayor Ben Gross, who was the first Black mayor of Milpitas, which was a predominantly white town. Gross was mayor from 1966 to 1970 and was also a key member in the development of the Sunnyhills neighborhood of northern Milpitas, where he has since been honored with a street named in his honor.

5. Augustus Ruthbone Park - This park is named after one of the first business owners of Milpitas. He owned a saloon called “Ruthbone’s Saloon” which was located in the intersection between modern-day Serra Way and East Calaveras Boulevard.

All sourced from Milpitas Community Museum and Milpitas Historical Society.

Unique Landmarks of Milpitas

By Tiffany Ng

Data courtesy of city-data.com | Graphic designed by Maryam Mohamed | THE UNION

6. City Hall - City Hall is one of the most important buildings in Milpitas. At the front, a statue of the West

Coast Minuteman can be seen, which was built after the city of San Jose CONTINUED ON PAGE 9

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Courtesy of Wexarts Characters Matt (back left), Layne (right), and John (front left) drive to see Jamie’s dead body.

‘River’s Edge’ draws inspiration from real-life Milpitas murder

By Sidhant Burela

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

attempted to annex Milpitas in the 1950s, according to Roadside America. This building was previously located where the Milpitas library currently is.

6. Milpitas Grammar School. he Milpitas Grammar School, now the Milpitas library, was completed in 1915. Originally, the school had two stories, before they were burned down in 1912; according to the Milpitas Community Museum. In later years, two offices, some classrooms, and an auditorium were built to replace the earlier structures.

In 1954, when Milpitas was incorporated, classes stopped being held at the building. It was then used as the city hall, the library, and the senior center.

7. Ford Motor Assembly Plant (Great

Mall). The Ford Motor Assembly Plant, now Great Mall, was one of the earliest buildings in Milpitas. It was built after the Ford company purchased about 160 acres of land from the Western Pacific Railroad, according to the Milpitas Community Museum. The closest location to build the plant was in San José, before it was eventually moved to Milpitas.

8. Whispering Hills Ranch - As stated in a Manta article, the Whispering Hills Ranch was established in 2000, and is home to many horses. It is located near the Milpitas foothills and Ed Levin County Park, providing scenery and a beautiful trail to ride horses.

9. Jose Higuera Adobe House - The Jose Higuera Adobe House was built

by Jose Higuera in 1828. It was likely built with labor from the local Muwekma Ohlone Indians, according to the Milpitas Community Museum. Around the area, a pear cactus was planted to form a hedge. This can still be seen today, along with the pepper, fig, and olive trees surrounding the park.

Senior citizen, long-time Milpitas resident reminisces on city’s growth in past forty years

By Agna Soneji

Almost 90 years old, William Joseph Nachazel, is the first tenant of his house and has been living in Milpitas since 1972, he said. The first memory from that time is buying his house, right when Milpitas High School was newly built, Nachazel said.

The biggest change from back then to now is the number of people that live in Milpitas, he said.

“When we came here, there were 28,000 to 30,000 people; now it’s 60,000 plus,” Nachazel said.

There has been a boom in construction throughout the city, Nachazel said.

Every corner you turn has a new development being built, he added.

“Back when this house was built, they did not provide insulation in the walls,” Nachazel said. “Houses nowadays have not only the roof and the walls insulat-

ed. but everywhere else.”

One of the landmarks that Nachazel remembers from when he first moved to the city was the house in Jose Higuera Adobe Park, he said.

“My church, St. John the Baptist, the Catholic church, has a cemetery there,” Nachazel said. “Between those two, the Adobe home and the cemetery, those are probably the two oldest things that I know of in the city.”

The firetruck in the library, Leaping Lena, is quite old, Nachazel said. The city should polish it up and make it look better, Nachazel said.

“Where the library is right now used to be one of the original schools,” Nachazel said. “The side that’s out in the front is left from the original school.”

Nachazel never had children, but in 1972, he moved next to Milpitas High School only three years after it opened, he said.

Based on the true story of Russell Middle School student Marcy Renee Conrad’s murder in 1981, “River’s Edge” follows the effects the murder has on a group of high schoolers and also features now famed actor Keanu Reeve’s debut in film.

Directed by Tim Hunter, the movie revolves around teenager Samson “John” Tollet (Daniel Roebuck) who murders his girlfriend Jamie (Danyi Deats) and brags to his friends about killing her. Shocked at the scene, one of John’s friends, Layne (Crispin Glover), tries to help John by getting him out of trouble, while a more troubled Matt (Keanu Reeves) grapples with what he should do.

The movie follows them and how they handle the death of Jamie and whether or not to turn in John to the police, but it also diverges into smaller plotlines with each of the characters. This leads to some confusion, however, as the movie does not elaborate on many of these minor plotlines, like Feck (Dennis Hopper) and how he also killed his lover in the past.

Filmed in Los Angeles, the movie draws inspiration from what really happened in Milpitas. The movie fictionalized many events and changed details of the murder to make the film more suitable for the big screen. Additionally, the details of the murder are also changed, with the original one happening at the suspects house while the movie version

showed the murder occuring by the edge of the river, giving the movie the name “River’s Edge”.

The film follows the themes of peer pressure, morality, and loyalty, as each of the members of the group has to figure out which path they will take. The movie contrasts the psychology of a teenager facing an unimaginable situation to the seemingly mundane town the movie is set in.

The portrayal of the characters is one of the movie’s strongest suits. Reeves does a phenomenal job portraying Matt and the internal conflict he faces, questioning whether he should stick to his morals or his loyalty to his friends.

Glover shows the mental battle that Layne goes through as a result of trying to protect John at the expense of his own sanity. This can be seen when Layne passes John’s house, only to realize that cops have swarmed the place.

In this scene, Layne becomes almost psychotic, yelling and cursing out who he believes told the cops.

While the movie does have its fair share of positives, the seemingly glaring critique is the dragged-out plot.

The movie shows the body of Jamie on multiple occasions, with each member of the friend group having similar reactons. This left one of the most haunting scenes of the movie to feel redundant, almost desensitized me to the image.

While the movie is now outdated compared to today’s standards of film, considering the connection this movie has to the history of Milpitas, I would recommend watching it as it shows a horrific crime that happened to a student of Milpitas long ago.

Courtesy of Wikipedia The original Grammar School building is still standing today, next to the Milpitas Library.

Native American tribes still present

By An Nguyen

The Native American tribes Tamien Nation of Santa Clara County, Muwekma, and Confederated Villages of Lisjan all have a historical claim on the land of Milpitas, according to Native Lands Digital.

The Tamien Nation have lived on Milpitas and south of Milpitas land for thousands of years, but currently they own none of their historical land, according to the Tamien Nation’s website.

The Spanish began their invasion of California in the late 1700s. Many Tamien people were taken to several missions, especially Mission Santa Clara, as slaves to be converted to Christianity. They lost their land, and many families were torn apart. Their land was still lost when America took over.

Despite this history, the Tamien Nation is still alive today and continues to be a tight-knit community that values the environment. They see the world as a living being and believe that people are part of that ecosystem. They’re working to restore the environment, and their goal is to get climate change under control.

The present-day Muwekma Ohlone tribe is composed of the surviving American Indians in the San Francisco Bay region, according to the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe’s website. They trace their ancestry from the Missions Dolores, Santa Clara, and San Jose. Many distantly related tribes and a few intermarried tribes were brought together at the missions.

They were first recognized as a Native American Tribe in 1906. Many Muwekma Ohlone have voluntarily served in many major U.S. wars, including World War I to the Iraq war, according to their website.

The people of the Confederated Villages of Lisjan have lived in the East Bay for thousands of years, according to the Confederated Villages of Lisjan’s website. The Lisjan were enslaved when the Spanish invaded in the late 1700s. The Spanish colonized their lands and their people and sought to convert all indigenous people into Catholic subjects of Spain. Later on, Lisjan faced racial discrimination and vigilante killings from American citizens.

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Seniors wear child backpacks

By Tanisha Varma

Many students, especially seniors, are participating in the trend of bringing a children’s backpack to school instead of the typical backpack. This includes bags with vibrant colors, cartoon characters, and frivolous designs. According to “Why some high school seniors are going back to school with kindergarten backpacks?” by USA Today, the trend was kickstarted by a viral TikTok video posted by user @ tamialanaee, in which high school students wear backpacks with Marvel, Disney, and Nickelodeon characters to school. Some students want to emphasize the full-circle-moment of graduating from high school, ending a big chapter in most students’ lives.

This fad is present at MHS as well, with approximately 8% of 157 respondents reporting that they bring a children’s backpack to school, according to a survey conducted by The Union.

Senior Katie Leng, who brings a Hello Kitty backpack to school, is one participant in this trend, she said.

“It’s a fun little tradition,” Leng said. “I like how it’s reminiscent of our childhood as we’re going into our senior year. We’re going to graduate, so it’s like a throwback to when we were kids.”

Leng was inspired to take part in this trend by online videos and past seniors who she saw participating in it, she said.

“Sometimes underclassmen are confused and ask, ‘Why do you have a kids backpack on?’ Just because I’m a senior and it’s fun,” Leng said.

However, some students do not have a specific reason for taking part in the trend, such as senior

Jeffrey Doria who wears a Spiderman backpack to school. Unlike most people who wear kids’ backpacks, Doria was not influenced by any of his friends, and he is the only one in his friend group participating, he said.

“I was just in Staples, and I bought it because it was the only thing there and also because I like Spiderman,” he said.

Even students in lower grades, such as junior Jinyu Zhou, have noticed this trend, she said. Zhou does not currently bring a children’s backpwack to school, but plans to participate in her senior year next year, she added. Zhou hopes to find a Lighting McQueen backpack that matches her Crocs, she said. However, she is still taking rigorous classes next year, so her main concern would be finding one that fits all her belongings, she added.

“I think the trend is really cute, and it’s been here for a while,” Zhou said. “I personally don’t have one because I think only seniors should have it, and it’s kind of impractical for me because I carry textbooks.”

This is the main concern with this trend, which explains why seniors with lighter course loads are mainly taking part in using these school bags, as more of an accessory. Senior Alexys Nicolas used to bring a kids’ backpack to school, but the bag breaking caused her to stop using it, she said.

“My rigorous course load doesn’t allow me to use that backpack,” Nicolas said. “I have to carry so much homework, it just ripped from the bottom.”

This trend has proven to be a fun tradition for the senior classes. Every year brings unique types of backpacks, and they don’t seem to be going away anytime soon.

Tanisha Varma | THE UNION

Senior Katie Leng joins the trend with her own Hello Kitty Backpack.

‘Ugly’ shoes are in: trendy, chic

By Dhara Mehta

As I put my Birkenstocks on to drive my car to school last year, my brother said, “Those look like swashbuckling shoes.” A year later, I put my Crocs on to get frozen yogurt and my brother said, “Those are the ugliest shoes I’ve ever seen.”

Why did shoes with buckles and shoes with holes become so popular all of a sudden? The easy answer is comfort and functionality, but how did Crocs move from the healthcare realm into everyday life wear? And how did Birkenstocks break from the stereotype of hippie footwear? Crocs rose to fame when doctors and nurses wore them in hospitals for their Croslite material that soothed soles as they ran from floor to floor, according to “10 Reasons Why Doctors Wear Crocs” on HoodMWR. Birkenstocks rose to fame for their undeniable comfort but also as celebrities like

Kate Moss and Steve Jobs wore them, making them popular in the everyday scene and are continuously gaining more popularity as they make appearances in movies, fashion shows, and mass media, according to “Birkenstock goes public: This is how the ‘woke’ sandal became a fashion symbol” on El País.

Slowly, these shoes were recognized more and more for their utility and even those who sat at a desk all day started to purchase Crocs and Birkenstocks. Crocs, with their wide range of colors and styles, could be used in many different situations: in the garden, at home or school, or while running errands; there seemed to be no end to the use of Crocs.

The Classic Clog, priced at $49.99, is one of the most popular styles sold by Crocs and has 31 different colors. Now, you might see Crocs embellished with different

Tanisha Varma | THE UNION

College applications may be stressful, but creating college lists, advice from family, and research can help.

College app tips help deal with stress

By Tanisha Varma

Many seniors are currently working on their college applications while simultaneously juggling schoolwork and other extracurricular activities, leading to an increase in stress levels. According to Prep Scholar, a website for college application preparation, 76% of students feel stressed out during the college application process. Thus, it is important to know how to handle the process and reduce stress.

First and foremost, creating a list of schools you plan to apply to and your goals for your collegiate education is helpful. Making a list of potential college fits can greatly reduce the anxiety of not knowing what you are working towards. Within the list, labeling the types of schools you are applying to, specifically safeties, reaches, or matches, will organize your choices and give you a better idea of your options. Also, having a list of college goals categorized into academic, career, and job opportunities can help in making a better college list. Many students set their heart on one dream school, but it is important to consider alternative schools. Oftentimes, students will overlook the broad array of colleges that offer similar opportunities to those offered charms, trademarked by Crocs as Jibbitz Charms, each priced at $4.99. They could be based on movies, universities, board games, holidays, and more. Similar to the colors, there are Jibbitz Charms for everyone.

Birkenstocks are just as popular for their style and functionality.

They don’t have the color range, but they do have cork soles to increase arch support and comfort.

Their range of styles like Arizona, Naples, Boston, and Mayari cater to people with different needs for their feet. The Arizona sandals are known for their comfort and versatility, and also for their classic and minimalist design. But these shoes are also known for their large buckles and the patchy cork designs, primarily why many people think these shoes are ugly. More recently popularized, the Boston clogs are known for their comfortable design, versatility, and slip-on style. The clogs’ unconventional potato sack-like style and their open heels make these a controversial pair of shoes for the fall. However, Birkenstocks’ suede, taupe, and neutral colors can be paired with any style of bottoms and worn for different occasions: anything from running errands to dinner at Santana Row. Besides their obvious comfort and looks, many people question how “ugly” shoes became so popular.

According to “From Birkenstocks to Crocs: Is ‘ugly’ footwear a rebellious or feminist stand?” on

at many prestigious and selective schools. Having different college options and therefore different paths reduces the pressure of getting into one dream college.

In addition, time management is a crucial aspect of handling stress when completing applications. This is especially important because of the heavy workload that comes with writing a number of various types of essays, including the University of California (UC) personal insight questions and supplemental essays for select schools. Cramming essays and applications close to deadlines is a primary reason for the high amounts of stress during this time, according to Prep Scholar.

Thus, creating a planned spreadsheet with deadlines and requirements is helpful. By visually laying out the work that needs to be completed, students can better manage their other school work, extracurricular activities, and applications, consequently leading to reduced stress.

Furthermore, asking for help, or collaborating with friends, family, or other outside sources can alleviate stress, compared to handling everything alone. This includes taking advantage of resources organized by the College and Career Center on campus, such as the UC Application workshops and

college representative visits. For a lot of students, collaboration may seem even scarier than coping with pressure, as essays and other parts of the application can be personal. However, something as simple as having a friend read over one paragraph in your essay, or reaching out to older, experienced peers can lift some weight off your shoulders.

As for financial stress, students often do not look into the aid options many schools offer. Examples include a wide variety of scholarships which students can apply to. Websites such as Niche and The College Board’s scholarship search tool can assist in finding the opportunities fit for you. Additionally, many schools offer different types of financial aid; for instance, the UCs offer an often-overlooked fee waiver for up to four of their campuses when applying, along with need-based aid or merit-based scholarships for admission.

In addition, looking into pathways involving attending community college first to complete general credits and transferring to a four-year university can lift a lot of financial pressure. There are many different ways to reach your goals; it is important to remember that there is no one correct pathway.

Euronews, these shoes are a form of rebellion for women, as shoes for women are normally synonymous with discomfort and oppression, while Crocs and Birkenstocks are the opposite. Their supposedly ugly styles paired with their high levels of comfort are a modern rebellion against acceptable norms in society. While they may be ugly shoes because of their vibrant colors and hole-filled designs, all it took was one wear of my friend’s bright pink Crocs to

make me fall in love with them.

At school, this trend is continuously growing, as according to The Union survey, almost 30% of 161 respondents wore either Crocs or Birkenstocks to school.

Everywhere I went, the first thing that caught my eye were people wearing Crocs or Birkenstocks.

So when the trend started to take effect in my day-to-day life, I wondered if they were a micro trend, but the comfort and versatility of the shoes proved me wrong.

Dhara Mehta | THE UNION

Senior Pranavi Dasari wears purple crocs adorned with many charms.

NOVEMBER 2023

LIFESTYLE

THE UNION

11

RawASF presents unique flexible dining experience

By Yunxi Fang

Rating: 3.5/5 While looking for a new, unique restaurant experience, I noticed an American-style vegan restaurant located in the Milpitas Square Center called RawASF. The name evoked a sense of confidence, entrepreneurship, and an attempt to appeal to newer generations. I was intrigued.

There were a variety of foods, including smoothies, burgers, sandwiches, superfood bowls, and breakfast options. The diversity of just the burger patties, which included well-known vegan patties options such as the Impossible patty, but also some restaurant originals such as the “house taro mushroom,” showed the restaurant was really committed to being flexible and healthy. One of the restaurant’s more unique options was the superfood bowl, consisting of a variety of fruits, nuts, seeds, and other ingredients.

There was no explanation in the menu for what options like “sub salad style” and “house beet en-

ergy” meant, so I felt uninformed while ordering. I ordered an OG Burger with a black bean patty along with french fries, a “House Bánh Mì” (basically a long sandwich) with added avocado and an “Avocado Truffle Burger,” with an impossible patty, cut 1/2, extra truffle oil, and no tomato, with fries.

The food was a little pricey, as the OG Burger, which was the cheapest from what I ordered, cost $12, a side of fries cost $3.50, and cost $4 if bought individually.

Not including tips, everything together cost around $51.

The service time took around 15 minutes, a bit long for me, but this was made up for by the presentation of the food. The buns and sandwich bread looked wellcooked and, overall, everything looked appetizing.

The OG Burger was a bit disappointing for how tasty it looked.

This may have been due to my choice of a black bean patty, which tasted like nothing, while the salty sauce slightly overpowered the other ingredients like the vegetables, bread, and cheese.

The overall taste did not stand

out in any way.

The House Bánh Mì was much more enjoyable. The bread was toasted perfectly and the Beyond meat, pickled daikon, and other vegetables blended together well, although I couldn’t taste the sauce very well. The jalapeno was slightly too strong at times, which was surprising since I consider myself pretty spice-tolerant. Out of everything I bought, this was the best tasting.

The Avocado Truffle Burger didn’t have a distinct flavor either, probably because there were no tomatoes to balance out the large amount of avocado. It was like the OG Burger, but with a blander sauce and more avocado.

The sauce was nowhere near as strong, which I liked. The fries were baked and had little salt, which was pretty unique and fitted well with the health theme but were slightly burned.

Overall, the food options were unique, diverse, and well-presented. I would recommend anyone looking for an accommodating, American-style, vegan-friendly restaurant to try out RawASF, but don’t expect anything too exciting.

Savan Bollu | THE UNION

ChatGPT explains the science behind buttermilk biscuits, though certain parts require further clarification.

Utilize ChatGPT (ethically) for many purposes; entertaining, summarizing, tutoring, and more

By Savan Bollu

As I was struggling to plan a summer trip, in a moment of desperation, and perhaps genius, I decided to ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT for a sample itinerary. I gave it my starting and ending destinations, the locations of my relatives’ houses, and a list of colleges I wanted to visit along the way in the span of 11 days. In response, it generated a fully planned itinerary—one that I actually used.

Even though ChatGPT is wellknown as a tool for cheating in the academic world, it is capable of much more.

1. Schedule Planner As my summer trip example illustrates, ChatGPT can act as a travel planner if you give it parameters. Although it may underestimate travel times, which you’ll need to manually correct, it can consider many different variables and optimize your schedule, saving you hours of planning. As a bonus, I asked ChatGPT to generate a Google Maps URL with 10 stops for my trip, and it responded with a usable link, perfect for starting a road trip.

Besides trip schedules, you can also generate homework schedules by inputting the number of assignments you need to complete and how long they’ll take.

ChatGPT will then generate a schedule, prioritizing harder assignments first or giving you breaks if you request them.

2. Personal Tutor Forget using ChatGPT to cheat; the real power of this tool is it acts like a teacher to discuss ideas with, helping you become more self-sufficient and saving teachers’ time.

In addition to providing grammar and content suggestions on your writing, ChatGPT can explain concepts. When I was working on a project about the science behind a food of my choice in chemistry, I chose buttermilk biscuits—and naturally, there were barely any articles online about it, so I wasn’t sure what to write about. I asked ChatGPT for an explanation of the science, cross-checked with articles about related foods online, and asked ChatGPT to clarify its answers. It occasionally got explanations wrong, w h i c h is why my backg r o u n d knowledge was crucial, but it gave me a starting point for further research. When I finally formed a hypothesis about the biscuits and inputted it into ChatGPT, it offered clarification, and ultimately, validation. And I earned an A on the project!

Yunxi Fang | THE UNION

The Avocodo Truffle Burger comes with sauce. avocados, and fries.

6. Whoever you want it to be To preface this, I absolutely support talking to real people and not just interacting with ChatGPT. However, ChatGPT is unique in that it can slip into any role you prompt it to, such as a reliable college counselor or stoic i nt e r v i e w e r, according to a Forbes article called “ChatGPT: The 9 Crucial Components Of An Effective Prompt.” ChatGPT will then internalize the role and respond to you as that person would. You could ask it to provide feedback on a resume, act as an interviewer, or become a pen pal from a

different country to practice your foreign language skills.

Some are concerned about ethical issues because ChatGPT is trained on existing writing and may unintentionally plagiarize, part of why using it to cheat is problematic, and ChatGPT should instead be used as a learning tool. It also isn’t trained on the most recent information available and sometimes presents inaccurate responses, which is why users need to critically think about its responses.

However, if you haven’t yet experimented with ChatGPT, don’t shy away from testing it out; try these tips and see what works for you.

Other uses of ChatGPT include generating sample test questions on a topic you’re studying or creating practice standardized tests (like the SAT) for you to take while offering personalized feedback on the mistakes you made.

3. Summarizer If you input a large body of text into ChatGPT, it will summarize it for you. You can even give it a word or sentence limit. You can also ask for summaries of novels and other texts, perfect for review before a test.

4. Entertainer You can have ChatGPT rewrite the disappointing ending of a book, write a fanfiction continuation of your favorite series, or write a story from scratch. It can play games like Twenty Questions, tell jokes, and even hold conversations.

5. Coder Although this function may not be useful for the average student, ChatGPT will write or proofread code if you don’t have coding experience or want to save time on coding.

UC Berkeley researchers even trained ChatGPT to extract information from hundreds of research papers about materials combatting climate change to create a dataset in under an hour, saving the researchers years of manual work, according to a UC Berkeley College of Computing, Data Science, and Society article called “ChatGPT accelerates chemistry discovery for climate response, study shows.”

Dhara Mehta | THE UNION

12

THE UNION

NOVEMBER 2023

ENTERTAINMENT

Scorsese strikes again with new Western Crime film 'Killers of the Flower Moon' Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio), to work with him on the Osage land. Hale then encourages Burkhart to purBy Paarth Gupta sue a relationship with Molly “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Kyle (Lily Gladstone), who is released on Oct. 20, 2023, is from a wealthy Osage famithe latest addition to the illus- ly. Once Ernest and Molly are trious filmography of Martin married, Molly’s family, which Scorcese, considered by many includes her mother and her as one of the greatest filmmak- sisters, and many other Osage ers of all time. The film’s emo- all begin mysteriously dying tional plot, inspired perfor- and the tribe seems to suspect mances, and gritty storytelling foul play. The Osage attempted will make this film be revered to pursue legal action by seekas one of Scorcese’s best. ing out the U.S. government, This film focuses on the however, they were unsuccessOsage Nation, a Native ful and were instead conAmerican tribe in Oklahosistently ignored until the ma that gains wealth in the case became beneficial for 1920s due to the oil found the federal government. under their land. Histor- MOVIE In some ways, this film ically, the Osage retained REVIEW had the feeling of artistic the mineral rights to the journalism in that it seeks land and received a quarterly to educate audiences about the share of the oil revenues from atrocities committed against a the United States government. marginalized group and about These shares were so valuable the inaction of the U.S. govthat the Osage never worked ernment. This story has been again and, instead, hired white swept under the rug and the working-class individuals to release of this film achieved work for them as chauffeurs the mission of bringing it to the and maids, thus racially inte- forefront of public consciousgrating the community. The ness. shares had also singled out the This movie has garnered inOsage as they became prime terest in the film community targets for financial embezzle- due to its star-studded cast, ment by white people hoping including Leonardo DiCaprio; to make it rich.

Robert De Niro; Jesse Plemons; In the opening act of the film, and the reigning winner of the William King Hale (Robert De Oscar for best lead actor, BrenNiro), an influential communi- dan Fraser. Although Dicaprio ty leader, requests his nephew and De Niro both give master-

RATING: 4.5 out of 5

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Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Mollie Burkhart (Lily Gladstone) and Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo Dicaprio) sit at a dining table together.

ful performances, filled with nuance and skill the standout performer is newcomer Lily Gladstone in the role of Molly Burkhart. Gladstone’s portrayal of raw emotion and internal conflict feels authentic, and I have never seen such a powerful performance in film before.

This film felt like Scorcese’s attempt at displaying every artistic skill in his repertoire, as he perfected every aspect of the film. The film’s meticulous cinematography, creative scene positioning, and authentic set design all contributed to the beautiful depiction of

stress and pressure in the film.

The score, crafted by frequent Scorcese collaborator Robbie Robertson, enhanced the power and emotion of every scene and sometimes was more vital to a scene than the dialogue itself. The best scenes were when the actors displayed deep emotion nonverbally in conjunction with the powerful, guitar-heavy, country-esque music.

However, there was one glaring issue that knocked the film down slightly for me. Firstly, the story relies on the love between Ernest and Molly

Burkhart, but it doesn’t delve deeper into their story at all.

The emphasis on their strong bond and deeply rooted love is integral to the plot, so the film should have done a better job of explicitly showing the audience how this love came to be instead of the rushed 15 minutes of romance that it actually provided.

Despite this flaw, the film is a masterpiece, not only for all of its cinematic elements but also for its courageous and important purpose of making people aware of the untold and cruel history of an oppressed people.

'The Other Zoey' defies rom-com expectations 'Priscilla' presents toxic relationship the predatory nature of their relationship, with Elvis holding control over her clothes, social life, and finances.

By Sanvi Parvatikar Despite engaging in his rumored affairs, Elvis adamantly Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla” refrains from pursuing a sexunfolds over a 1-hour-andual relationship with Priscilla 50-minute saga, recounting until their marriage claiming the story of a teenage girl enthey will start when the time is tangled in romance with one right. Once they consummate, of the era’s most prominent he abruptly withdraws, almost celebrities: Elvis Presley. The as if he views her as “tainted” movie, based on Priscilla Presley’s 1985 memoir “Elvis and instead of the innocent girl he Me,” was released on Nov. 3 dated. Coppola effectively captures the disturbing aspects of and had a $20 million budget. this situation.

In line with Coppola’s sigDespite the movie’s nature style, “Priscilla” gradual revelation of the boasts stunning cinematography and meticuloustoxic dynamics within ly crafted set design. The their marriage, it leaves camera’s angles create an Priscilla’s character develMOVIE opment unfulfilled. The intimate atmosphere, reREVIEW latter half of the movie insembling glances at Pristends to portray Priscilla’s cilla’s life through mogradual depression caused by ments like her disinterest in a lonely tumultuous marriage, high school or the act of applybut it starts to feel static. The ing fake eyelashes even as she’s scenes where she gains her inabout to go into labor. Accorddependence are unsatisfying, ing to an IndieWire article, with a lack of resolution. Even cinematographer Phillipe Le as the movie ended, my sense Sourd shot the film to tell the of dissatisfaction lingered, story in contrasting colors with only leaving me questions on pinks, magentas, and blues. what happened next.

The early scenes of the movie, I wouldn’t recommend gowhere Priscilla meets Elvis in ing to the theaters to watch it.

Germany, are more dull com‘Priscilla’ possesses the allure pared to her life in America of a YouTube video perfect for with its vibrant colors. background entertainment.

Set mostly in Graceland, Elvis' house, the film does not shy away from portraying an unromanticized view of the late singer. Unlike previous portrayals, Elvis acted nothing short of a manchild, throwing objects when criticized, and asking to break up with his pregnant wife.

On one occasion, Elvis has then 14-year-old Priscilla model dresses for him, leering at her with his friends as she tries on different outfits, refusing to let her wear what she wants.

There is no hiding from Courtesy of A24 RATING: 3 out of 5

Courtesy of Gulfstream Pictures

Zach MacLaren (Drew Starkey) picks Zoey Miller (Josephine Langford) up from her fall at the ski lodge.

lori Johnson) plays a lovable character and slaps sense into Miller’s character whenever she steps out of line. Miller’s

By Dhara Mehta chemistry with male leads, If you are looking for a fluffy Miles and Zach, makes the romantic comedy to curl up to, movie even more enjoyable.

“The Other Zoey”, streaming Langford plays the nerdy role on Prime Video, is perfect for well and her cynicism turned a night at home wrapped in to belief in the power of love blankets. drives the movie forward, and The movie is based on col- Miller grows from an insufferlege student Zoey Miller (Jose- able know-it-all to a kind, senphine Langford), who loathes sitive girl. the idea of romantic love until The movie is well-paced, Zach MacLaren (Drew Star- with dramatic scenes to furkey) accidentally hits her in ther the plot, but also with the face with a soccer heart-warming moments ball. Their second time between Miller and Zach, meeting, he crashes into like their sweet kiss at the a stranger’s car with his ski lodge. The gradual debike while talking to Mill- MOVIE velopment of the relationer, and loses his memory REVIEW ship between Miller and and believes that Miller Zach makes this movie a is his girlfriend, when his girl- true rom-com. One of the most friend is the other Zoey, Zoey dramatic parts of any rom-com Wallace (Maggie Thurmon). is when the leads are split up He thinks Miller looks similar because of a disagreement. to Wallace, but only because of This movie has this, and it feels his cloudy vision. Miller con- well incorporated into the film, tinues to pretend to be Zach’s rather than something added girlfriend as to not worsen at the end to complete the plot.

Zach’s condition, but also to Many rom-coms only follow pursue a relationship with the relationship between the Zach’s cousin Miles (Archie female and male leads, but in Renaux). this movie, we see relationBesides its obvious cliches, ships develop between side the movie has its upsides. characters, like Elle and her Miller’s best friend Elle (Mal- boyfriend or Miller and Becca RATING: 4 out of 5



(her classmate), making it relatable to younger audiences.

Romantic comedies wouldn’t exist without the element of humor, and all of the supporting characters do a great job with comic relief, especially Zach’s sassy little sister Avery MacLaren, and Wallace’s quirky dialogues that reflect the modern anxieties of dating.

However, this movie had flaws. The unoriginality of the movie makes it a predictable watch, especially for a rom-c om enthusiast. When Zach and Miller patch up after the disagreement, it feels superficial and doesn’t address the underlying issues that caused them to separate, like how Zach’s and Miller’s parents would be affected. After watching this movie, it reminded me of Sandra Bullock’s rom-com “While You Were Sleeping,” so “The Other Zoey” felt like a rehashed, modern version because of the similar plot points of amnesia, falling for the other relative, and mistaking the female lead as a fiancee or girlfriend.

Apart from these flaws, I enjoyed watching the movie for its cute rom-com moments, and all the warm feelings in my stomach made this worth the watch.

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NOVEMBER 2023

THE UNION

ENTERTAINMENT

13

'Stage 1' launches with mixed success “CANINE ANTICS” by ARRYTH is a mediocre piece. The opener is an amazing, slow buildup of suspense and dread

By An Nguyen leading to the vocals. However, The label Aural Alliance re- the vocals are incomprehenleased Stage 1, a group album sible, making the track unenfeaturing 16 tracks, each pro- joyable. I was expecting more duced by a different artist un- from that rising-tension opender the label. The album's rev- er. Despite the anticlimactic enue goes to musicians, and all ending, it is still good enough of their music is licensed under to be one of my favorites.

“Screaming at the Top'' by Attribution 4.0 International, so their music is free for use for Schewee is the best track on the entire album. It’s fast, and any commercial purpose it stole my attention inas long as it is credited. stantly with its repeated I discovered this label screams, each time justiposted online, as in the fied by a different reason. application to join the MUSIC roster, the person must REVIEW It starts with “Screaming at the top of my lungs ‘Cuz agree that punching Nazis I want to!” and the tranis always morally correct.

The album has great variety sition to “‘Cuz I need to” is in its genres and styles. Howev- smooth. The message is that er, the variety also hurts the co- people should do what they enhesion of the album. There’s no joy. In the same way, the singer consistent tone or theme with finds fulfillment in screaming, the whole album. While most the listener should do what people would enjoy a portion makes them happy no matter of the album, it's likely they how “off” it may be.

Overall, I enjoyed a few but won't enjoy the whole thing. I went from listening to an 8-bit was indifferent to the rest. instrumental to a metal song The entire placement of tracks about misinformation. Despite could be better. Some of the the differences, I enjoyed the tracks have individual probalbum, and below are my favor- lems from hard-to-hear vocals to really long instrumentals. ites from Stage 1.

“Pixel Blast” by Duzzled is Fortunately, the label has rean upbeat, playful track that leased stellar albums in the weaves in calming tones near past, and I would recommend the start and end. The flow listening to those instead. of the song is perfect, and its “BLISS IN THE MIDST OF clever use of 8-bit to make the UNCERTAIN TIDES” by Gomusic is just amazing. It’s the jii released two months ago is perfect song to play when you one of the best albums ever reneed to focus on something leased, and it’s criminally underrated. like drawing or playing games.

RATING: 3 out of 5

¯

RATING KEY

Warriors

49ers Giants Quakers Sharks

Courtesy of Universal Pictures

The film focuses on Angelina (Lidya Jewett) and Katherine (Olivia O'Neill) who are possessed by a spirit.

'The Exorcist: Believer' haunts theaters with boredom mood expected of a movie like this. The tone of the film was more sad than frightening. You feel bad for the characters, but

By Erick Johnson not scared. The build-up to the “The Exorcist: Believer” was climax barely includes horror released in theaters on Oct. 13, except for some cheap jumpas a sequel to “The Exorcist,” scares and scary makeup. which is regarded by many film The acting in this film is avcritics as the scariest movie erage. Lydia Jewett and Olivia ever made. The new movie’s O’Neill have underwhelming unoriginal plot, uninspired performances, as you would acting, and lackluster special expect from inexperienced effects earn this movie a skip. child actors. However, LesThe plot revolves around lie Odom Jr. succeeded Victor Fielding (Leslie at making his character Odom Jr.) attempting to likable. His character cure his daughter Angecharmed me and was one la (Lydia Jewett) and her MOVIE of the few highlights of friend Katherine (Olivia REVIEW this movie. The rest of the O’Neill) of a mysterious actors’ performances are illness that befalls them after forgettable and unworthy of they went missing in a nearrecognition, although that may by forest for three days. Soon, be because the script limited Victor discovers that both girls the actors and did not allow have been possessed by an unthem to portray much emotion known demon and that the with their characters, other only way for Victor to get his than the bare minimum needdaughter back is to perform ed to advance the plot. the rite of exorcism.

One thing this movie does The film’s attempts at horror better than previous movies are ineffective and as somein its genre is the pacing of its one who has watched several plot, which continues at a reademonic possession movies, sonable pace and hardly stalls. this movie repeats everything While most modern demonic I have seen before, executed horror movies have a specific worse than its predecessors. problem where they include For example, the setting of the scary scenes that serve no purfilm lacked the dark and grim pose to the plot, every scene in RATING: 1.5 out of 5



“The Exorcist: Believer” adds value to the story.

Still, the movie had the potential to be much better if the script had developed some ideas that it had hinted at but not explored. For example, halfway through the film, it was implied that both girls went to hell for three days before returning to Earth, alluding to the death of Jesus Christ and his subsequent return three days later. However, this was merely implied through dialogue, even though showing the two girls in hell would have been much more interesting. The exorcism in the third act of the movie was extremely confusing, with far too many characters involved for different reasons, causing the climactic battle to lose its impact. Missed opportunities like these leave the audience unsatisfied and itching for a proper horror experience.

I would not recommend this movie to anyone, even to fans of “The Exorcist” franchise.

If you are a fan of the original film, “The Exorcist,” just rewatch that movie and save yourself the trouble of watching “The Exorcist: Believer.”

The movie is not scary, the script is unoriginal, and the acting is mostly mediocre.

‘Check & Mate’ checks all boxes for lighthearted, young adult romance RATING: 3.5 out of 5

By Savan Bollu

After writing the viral “The Love Hypothesis,” Ali Hazelwood became a household name among romance novel enthusiasts. Although I hadn’t read “The Love Hypothesis,” I was eager to read Hazelwood’s “Check & Mate” to understand her hype—and although it wasn’t an earth-shattering read, I was pleasantly surprised by its swoon-worthy moments and vivid writing.

“Check & Mate” is a novel written from the perspective of 18-year-old chess prodigy Mallory Greenleaf, who swore off playing chess at age fourteen after it ruined her family. Four years later, when her friend peer-pressures her into playing again at a charity chess tournament, she defeats world chess champion Nolan Sawyer—to the world’s surprise and her own. She rapidly gains fame, a renewed career in chess, and an infatuation with Nolan, who is supposed to be her rival but is drawn to the challenge she presents.

Although this plotline is unrealistic, the novel gets away with it because it’s meant to be a lighthearted read.

The actual romance between

Mallory and Nolan had endear- family, rather than animosity ing moments that made me between them, that prevents squeal (and occasionally laugh) them from forming a relationout loud. Their meet-cute was ship.

Speaking of Mallory’s comsomewhat disappointing: Mallory defeats Nolan at the char- mitment to her family, at the ity chess tournament, Nolan start of the novel, Mallory says stares at Mallory in a rather she stopped playing chess bestrange instead of alluring way cause of her absent father and (“He looks. After ignoring me the need to provide for her for twenty-five moves, he just family with a stable income, looks. Calm. Inquisitive,” Ha- leaving the reader in prozelwood writes), and Mallory longed suspense about what runs out of the room without exactly caused her to quit. The explanation Mallory ultimateany explanation.

However, heartwarming mo- ly reveals, however, feels like ments like Nolan telling Mallo- a weak justification for her decision to quit chess and ry a series of chess moves confused me more than it as a bedtime story make satisfied my curiosity. readers root for their reHazelwood tries to lationship.

BOOK do too many things at One thing that doesn’t REVIEW once: she presents a ricome across, however, vals-to-lover trope, a is the enemies-to-lovers plotline that this novel was woman versus society conflict, advertised for. Nolan always a found family, and a glimpse offers moral support to Mal- into male-dominated, prolory, even as her competition. fessional chess. These are too For example, he (spoiler) asks many competing ideas, and I her to be his second for the would have enjoyed the novel World Championships (essen- much more if it had developed tially, an assistant that studies and tied together just a few of his plays and helps strategize), them. This way, Hazelwood even though it would give her could have also better develan advantage against him in oped the themes of balancing future matches; he’s more fo- sacrifice for family with percused on the joy of playing sonal interests, and perseverchess with her rather than ing through sexism.

“Check & Mate” does what winning against her. It’s Mallory’s denseness and self-im- it’s supposed to: although the posed duty of providing for her writing and themes aren’t

&

Courtesy of G.P. Putnam's Sons Books

The book was filled with cute moments between Mallory and Nolan.

very sophisticated, it weaves in humor, imagery, pop culture references, and adorable romance scenes (with way too many chess puns, I might add) throughout the novel, with an epilogue that leaves readers

satisfied.

Although it isn’t a successful enemies-to-lovers novel, it’s perfect for a lot of laughs, smiles, and a glimpse into a fascinating world of romance and chess.

14

THE UNION

NOVEMBER 2023

SPORTS

last year; we lost all of our Perfect record: Girls golf from matches,” Sung said. “This year, First-ever boys volleyball when she called out the scores at end – Milpitas High School had season to start in january team puts towards victory the won – it was very exciting because

By Sanvi Parvatikar

The girls’ golf team remains undefeated this year after winning all 13 of their matches and winning the El Camino League Championship, according to Athletics Director and girls’ golf varsity head coach Joanna Butcher.

The girls’ golf team went on to place second place at the Los Altos Tournament, Butcher said.

“We were able to place sixth place out of 12 teams at CCS,” Senior Kayla Sung said.

The team was able to improve their standings from

last year with the addition of new players, Butcher said.

“We have two extremely talented freshmen, one of which, Madalynn Le, is third in the league out of 109 golfers,” she said. “Pall Shingala is 12th in the league overall as a ninth grader.”

Other player accomplishments include sophomore Courtney Pham at 26th overall, sophomore Gabby Tong at 35th overall, and senior Kayla Sung at 41st overall in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, Butcher added.

“It was kind of drastic (change)

Courtesy of Joanna Butcher

Kayla Sung puts the golf ball across the green at a summer golf match.

we had never heard that before.”

Butcher credits the success of the girls’ golf team to the recruitment efforts by seniors Kayla Sung and Isabelle Cho, she said.

“Having the team finally be formed and seeing how successful we are this season really is something I’m very proud about because our hard work paid off,” Sung said.

To help players prepare mentally before matches, players do yoga in addition to their normal practices, Butcher said. Golf relies more on the mental aspect than the physical, so she focuses on confidence-building exercises and bonding activities to keep the players motivated for the match, she added.

“Ms. Butcher will ask you to set a goal for yourself, like focusing on one thing you want to accomplish,” Sung said. “Even if you don’t play well, as long as you accomplish your goal, you should feel proud of yourself. I think that’s helped a lot.”

The golf team is diverse as it includes both experienced and new players, Butcher said. Some players play outside the school team whereas others play mostly recreationally, she added.

“I’ve been playing golf basically my whole life,” Sung said. “What inspired me to join the team was mostly my older brother. He had joined the team previously, and I had actually known some of the people on the team already. So I knew what the environment was like, and I was familiar with people.”

As an individual sport, golf is a sport that the players can play for the remainder of their lives, Butcher said. One of her goals is to make sure the players have fun, make memories, and keep playing golf, she added.

“I hope that for next year as well, the legacy continues on,” Cho said. “Some of our best players are sophomores and freshmen and so I feel like, as each year goes on, we’ll hopefully continue to win more in big league champion games and just continue to create that strong team.”

By Akshaj Kashyap

MHS’s first-ever boys volleyball team is debuting this spring, head coach of both the boys and girls volleyball teams, Marissa Canez said. Tryouts will begin in late January but Canez will be hosting open gym events on weekends in the months leading up to tryouts, she said.

The boys volleyball team will be entirely funded through donations, as the school will not provide funding for their first season, Canez said. Funding would become available after both a girls and boys sports team is approved to keep balance, which is planned to be girls flag football, Canez said. Since badminton is also a spring sport that requires the use of the gym, volleyball practices will be held off-campus, likely at Randall Elementary, she added.

“For the short term, I want to get the program off the ground with varsity and get some good funding,” Canez said. “I would really, really like to place within the top three this year for our league, and then in the next three to five years, I would love to be school-funded and have a JV program.”

A common theme between many of the prospective volleyball players and Canez, who is choosing to coach without pay, is that they are playing for passion and are willing to tackle inconveniences just so the boys volleyball team can exist and function, Canez said.

“I love this sport so much and

want it so much for the boys here because I’ve heard so much interest for it,” Canez said. “I’m so looking forward to a boys team because we’ve been waiting so long, and I’m even more excited that I get to be the one to start it.”

Canez believes that some people expect the boys volleyball team to hit the ground running, and while she thinks that is definitely possible, she imagines there will be a few hiccups along the way, she said.

“I’m expecting to have to do our own fundraising, but I don’t think that’s a problem when we all want to play,” said junior Seth Ung, who is looking to try out for the volleyball team. “I’m expecting this season to go well because we have so many talented players.”

Canez also has experience coaching boys volleyball with a club team in Los Altos, Canez said.

“Boys are a lot more aggressive, and there’s less drama with boys and somewhat less listening, as opposed to girls, who tend to (have) a little more drama, but they listen a little bit more,” Canez said.”There is a happy balance, and I enjoy coaching both.”

Junior Brian Nguyen originally started playing because he wanted to play a sport with friends but quickly found it a way to destress, he said.

“I want to play volleyball more for fun; it’s something that keeps me active and a sport that is fun because of its fast pace,” Nguyen said.

Tin Le strikes his way to gold medal at international Futsal tournament

By Erick Johnson

Courtesy of Tin Le

Senior Tin Le celebrates after scoring a goal in the Futsal tournament.

At the opposite end of the globe, Senior Tin Le brought home the gold medal while representing the United States in the International Futsal Alliance World Championship in Spain for players under 17 years of age, according to the U.S Futsal website. Futsal is a small-scaled version of soccer on a basketball-like court, with five players on each team, according to the U.S. Futsal website.

Le started playing soccer when he was four years old and began playing Futsal four years after that, he said. Le’s father played soccer on the streets of Vietnam and instilled his knowledge into him, Le said.

“It is not for everyone,” Le said. “The field is smaller, so you have to be really good with your touch. It is more fast-paced, and it gets tiring.”

Le’s main focus is on soccer, a sport he practices with his team, named De Anza Power, outside of school at least four times a week, he said. Le practices Futsal specifically when there is an upcoming tournament or he is summoned to play by the national team, he added.

Le’s parents are a big reason for his success, Le’s coach Mario Gonzalez said. They encourage him to practice and

Erick Johnson | The Union

Students play volleyball recreationally at the green after school hours.

make sure he does not miss any team trainings, he said.

Le is very dynamic and thrives in one-on-one situations,” Le’s teammate Neo Ruiz said. “He is great in tight spaces and is most successful with the ball at his feet.”

What sets Le apart from the rest of the players on his team is his ability to make quick decisions, allowing him to be fluid in offense, Gonzalez said. Because of Le’s height, he has a hard time playing defensively, but it allows him to play uniquely in the offensive front, he said.

“He mostly plays a position called a pivot or a target player,” Gonzalez said. “What Le does is post up in front of the goal and shoot or distribute the ball, depending on how he is being defended,” he said.

The U.S. team played their first match against Spain, and Le was awarded the most valuable player award for his performance in that game, Le said.

Afterwards, they played against

Scotland and Australia, he added.

“After our first two wins, it felt like we couldn’t be beaten,” Ruiz said. “Our team was just too united and focused on bringing back gold for U.S.A.” Because players were representing the U.S., they were expected to behave professionally and were given press training to practice how to talk to interviewers, Le said.

“The experience of playing makes you more inspired,” Le said. “Seeing people from other countries who like the same thing as you – they are competitive, and it makes you want to be even more competitive,” Le said.

Le enjoys rapping, and during the tournament, his teammates listened to his music before the games to get motivated, Gonzales added.

“I would say (Le) is the type of person you’d enjoy to be around – very humble and down to earth,” Ruiz said. “He is very relatable and reliable, the type of person you can count on.”

THE UNION

SPORTS

NOVEMBER 2023

15

The voice from the booth: Laino becomes first-ever student announcer

By Kevin Ting

Whenever football is played at MHS, above the chanting of the crowd or the tweeting of the whistle, the boom of the announcer’s voice is prevalent.

Freshman Braedon Laino began announcing for football games as the first student commentator for JV football in August 2023, Braeden Laino said.

“We’ve had a few student announcers here and there but the position was created this year for him with JV football,” Athletics Director Joanna Butcher said.

Growing up around his father, Nick Laino, who is a professional announcer that announced for the Golden State Warriors during the 2019-2020

season, greatly influenced his passion for sports and sports announcing, Braedon Laino said.

“I’ve always kind of had it in my blood,” Braedon Laino said. “I was going to try out for football, but it just didn’t work out with my schedules and everything, so I decided,‘Hey, I could be an announcer.’”

Although the decision to become an announcer for the school was heavily influenced by his father, Braeden Laino came to this decision by himself, his father said.

“He asked me for some advice, Nick Laino said. “I gave him advice. I gave him the story of how I became the announcer for my high school. Now he’s following a similar path I was.”

Braedon Laino personally approached Athletics Director Joan-

Courtesy of Braedon Laino

Laino prepares for a JV football game in the game announcer’s booth.

na Butcher for the role, he added.

“She gave me a tryout,” Braedon Laino said. “I apparently did really well, since I’m still here, and I’ve been doing it ever since the home opener.”

Nick Laino also serves as his son’s spotter, helping his son announce games by identifying players and plays that Braedon Laino might have missed, he said.

“It’s a surreal experience,” Nick Laino said. “He reminds me a lot about myself when I was his age, and now he helps me in my professional career with one of my announcing jobs. He’s my spotter when I do professional indoor football for the Bay Area Panthers, so this is sort of a role reversal where he’s the announcer and I’m the spotter. But I’m always happy to help out any way I can and I am enjoying the experience.”

In order to prepare for his announcer role, Braedon Laino practices by watching professional games, Braedon Laino said.

“I’d just mute the announcers and start announcing the games,” Braedon Laino said.

“I’ll go through past footage of MHS games, old college games, anything, and I would just start announcing.”

During a game, a lot of teamwork is needed between the different staff members, Braedon Laino said.

“I tend to coordinate with my dad usually because he’s my spotter,” he said. “I coordinate with Ms. Butcher a lot too. I coordinate with the clock operator, Lisa. It’s really a lot of people.”

Nick Laino felt that it was most important for his son to pick up on core values that will not only benefit him in his announcing, but also in his own life, he said.

“I taught him to be humble, to not worry about making mistakes, because we’re human,” Nick Laino

said. “We’re all going to make them, so we come in here with a professional attitude. And to take this seriously – it’s not a joke.”

Braeden Laino believes that his father’s lessons have not only helped him become a better announcer, but also helped him through the stressful experience of announcing games, he said.

“He taught me how to calm down when you’re announcing and how to relax myself,” Braedon Laino said. He taught me “not

to get stuck in my head, to block out other noise; so if someone’s yelling at me, I can just stand and block it out and keep going.”

Overall, Braedon Laino has really enjoyed the experience and is looking forward to continuing announcing the games next year, he said.

“Hopefully, they keep me for next season,” Braedon Laino said.

“I’d like to be here next year and do this again, and who knows – I might be doing it for varsity.”

erick Johnson | the Union

NOVEMBER 2023

NEWS

THE UNION

16

Security threat instilled panic, police say District strives for high attendance FROM PAGE 1 According to a public service announcement on Oct. 23 on the department’s Instagram account, “making threats to schools through social media is a felony offense.”

“In this case, due to the nature of what was put out and the impact it had on the community, there were criminal charges pursued against the student, which means we bring the case forward to the Juvenile Probation Department to determine any kind of criminal punishment or if there’s going to be criminal charges at all,” Tachis said.

The consequences are a twopronged fork, Tachis said. There’s the criminal side, where charges were pursued, and the school side, where they would decide what disciplinary action to take, he added. Laws under section 422 of the California Penal Code, added this past year that increased the penalty of criminal threats towards schools and businesses, he added.

A friend in a group chat sent a screenshot of the post with the

gun threat to senior Vanessa Lam, she said. The friend told the group to be careful, she added.

“At first, I was kind of confused because I was like, ‘Is that real?’”

Lam said. “There’s some suspicion and doubt. But there’s also surprise and concern because there’s the potential for it to be real. And if it’s real, I should take proper measures against it and report it.”

While Lam didn’t report the threat, some people in the group chat reported the post by texting a teacher or using the Say Something app, Lam said. Later, the friends in the group mentioned that many parents and students reported it as well, she added.

“I went to school because one, I heard from a number of other people that the photo was fake; it was a photo from Pinterest,” Lam said. “And two, many other students were reporting it, the principal was aware, and admin was working with the police. So I believed it was safe enough to go to school.”

When asked about school shootings in America and how real the threat feels, Lam said that there

is always the possibility for such events, but when school is considered a safe place, the danger feels a little distant, she said.

“I think it (the school’s response) was pretty quick,” Lam said. The post was on “an Instagram story, and Instagram stories are only up for 24 hours. And almost immediately after this person posted online, it was reported; I heard a bunch of people reported it using the (Say Something) app, and we heard news immediately after that.”

The police department wants students to be forthcoming with any information to prevent any kind of tragedy, Tachis said.

“This is our job to investigate and make sure people are safe,” Tachis said. “We’d much rather do that multiple times on tips that don’t lead to anything than write off a tip as not important or have a student not give us a tip and it winds up leading to a heinous event.”

Principal and Chief Innovator of MHS and New Campus Programs Greg Wohlman declined to be interviewed for this story, citing concerns for student safety.

FROM PAGE 1

one day could be a factor in why students will skip some periods during the day to get extra study time, Gupta said. There are measures that the high school administration has taken to try and promote attendance, specifically within high school, she added.

“To encourage attendance, they send out spam emails, but none of us really pay attention,” Gupta said.

There may be a small number of students who may not have the best education opportunities because of unknown factors, and the administration needs to do whatever they can to intervene to change the trajectory of those individuals, McMurray said.

“I think it’s a valid reason to take a mental health day off from school, but people take advantage of it to skip school for no reason,” Gupta said.

In the past two years, many people were on edge about every sniffle and every sneeze, Jordan said. Now that COVID-19 has settled down a little bit, it is not as big of an issue, she added.

“We are stepping into the role where COVID-19 is not a pan-

demic but is endemic,” Jordan said.

In the same manner as students taking advantage of mental health days to skip school for no reason, many students have used COVID-19 or small illnesses to not come to school, Gupta said.

She believes that COVID-19 has made students lazier because it gave them an excuse to not be in school, she added.

“Students need to feel that their learning experiences and learning environment matter to them,” Jordan said. “They see a connection and their own purpose to what it is that they’re learning in school.”

The school board has taken many steps such as creating a “we” culture within the district this year to address the issue of students who chronically aren’t coming to school, Jordan said.

The district seems to be on track for the attendance goal this year, she added.

“I don’t do my job to look at how good or bad we are compared to another school,” McMurray said.

“I do it because we have students that need the support and we’re here to give it to them, whatever the statistics might be.”

Iyer addresses her work at UN FROM PAGE 1 said.

“Since we are part of Bow Seat and their mission is for the humanities, we decided to talk about the aspect of arts and humanities and the importance of it in scientific progress,” Iyer said. “Environmental advocacy projects are not always going to be completely science-based. So we decided to take the spin on the session to say, ‘With the projects that we’ve done, what aspects of humanities have we seen with our mentors and mentees in what they’re implementing?’”

As Iyer is applying to college for majors in environmental engineering with public policy, she continues to see the need to bridge the gap between the sci-

ences and humanities, Iyer said.

“I know that you cannot just have the science and then expect to make a change,” Iyer said.

“I could see myself working in a lab, but I know that I have to work with government systems to implement data-driven policy.

To make a difference, you would have to do both.”

Despite the seemingly little progress made in environmental advocacy, Iyer looks up to people who want to make a difference, she said. She wants to harness those traits in college and career to create clean energy, food, and water systems, she added.

“I stay hopeful through action,” Iyer said. “I want to dedicate my life to this because it’s something that makes me feel like it’s beyond the individual. The impact is greater than me.”

Courtesy of Priti Johari

Coding teacher Thor Parker (left) teaches Scratch programming second-graders at Pomeroy, as part of the new arts program funded by Proposition 28. MUSD will receive $1.3 million in funding via Proposition 28.

Proposition 28 grants district-wide funding, already in use at schools

FROM PAGE 1 for materials, she added. She is hoping the district hires a director for the upcoming performing arts center and more theater equipment, she said.

“We’re not dividing the money equally (among classes), because that’s equality; that’s not equity,” Schwartz said. “We’re spending the money based on what we decide our priorities are and where our needs are.”

New arts programs haven’t yet been implemented at MHS because of recent changes in leadership and a more tentative high school budget, Johari said. Besides funding art, the money may be used to fund interdisciplinary courses at the Innovation Campus, Johari said.

“I’m hoping that students will have access to perhaps more materials, maybe better materials, and perhaps enhancing a program that we didn’t think was possible,” Wohlman said.

Although the proposition mandates that 80% of funding must be spent on new staffing positions and 20% on buying materials, MHS may request a waiver to adjust the percentages depending on the need it evaluates, Wohlman said. MHS will take community input from students, parents, local business partners, and other stakeholders to create a sustainable and effective plan for its funding, he added.

“We’re being very careful about listening to the voices of what we need, not to replicate what’s always been done, but to make sure that we’re creating the best education space in place for our current generation,” Wohlman said.

In anticipation of funding, the district has already hired three more full-time elementary teachers and initiated a new, rotating program in the elementary schools, Johari said. Prior elementary arts programs were funded by Title IV and the General Fund, but Proposition 28 al-

lows the district to expand those programs, she added.

“Now, across the elementary schools, students have access to music, visual arts, coding, and performing arts — that’s a big step forward,” Johari said.

One challenge has been the shortage of one elementary music teacher and three paraprofessionals, caused by the nationwide teacher shortage and the difficulty of working across multiple school sites, Johari said. Fluctuations in the state budget and ambiguity around proposition guidelines have also caused challenges, Johari added.

“There hasn’t been a lot of clarity, and so we were bold and pushing forward with saying, ‘Okay, we don’t have a plan for everything, but we have an idea for elementary and we’re going to keep going forward, and trusting that the state is not going to withdraw money,’” Johari said. The district “started that process before the money hit our bank accounts.”

Courtesy of Satvika Iyer

The Bow Seat grant allowed organizers of the community festivals on climate change to buy soaps and lotions to incentivize participation.

Eye on Campus: Jack Emery’s coins4change

Dhara Mehta | THE UNION

ASB officers collect coins, by grade, for Jack Emery everyday at lunch.