horseshoes: why does it exist? (2)
U NI N Mo makes money on depop (5)
frozen 2 receives a chilly response (6)
delving into the history of eggnog (8)
THE
NOVEMBER 2019 VOLUME XXXI ISSUE III
which streaming platform is the best? (10)
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Student Voice of Milpitas High School
The Aftermath: Ethnic studies classes considered for MHS Blackface incident polarizes; By Joshanne Chiang
An ethnic studies class will be offered at MHS by 2021, Principal Francis Rojas said. This class will help students understand diversity as part of colleges and workplaces, he said. Currently, there is one multicultural literature class in development for the next school year, Rojas said. One approach to ethnic studies could be multicultural classes in many subjects, such as English, geography, art, and math, he said. “A neighborhood here, Sunnyhills, is the first planned integrated community in the United States,” Rojas said. “Having history like that and seeing diverse faces on campus, whether it be staff or students, makes you wonder why we don’t learn about [diversity] because it is powerful to learn about.” Milpitas has acquired a grant partnership with Facing History and Ourselves along with KLA-Tencor, one of the capital equipment corporations in Mil-
pitas, Rojas said. The grant is to fund teacher training and a taskforce, he said. He hopes to have an initial meeting with interested teachers before the end of the semester, he said. “I do know we have a couple teachers here with a background in ethnic studies,” Rojas said. “I hope they’ll join us on the taskforce and we can come up with more ideas for specific courses.” Teacher Tonichi Lorenzana, who will be teaching the multicultural literature class next school year, said his class would cover literature and the historical context around different ethnic groups in America. Literature is always tied to the world in which it was written, he said. “We would talk about the effect of colonization, in a sense, and how it has affected different groups of people, how the immigrant experience is similar and different for different groups of people, and also the modern sense of what it means to be a hyphenated American,” Lorenzana said.
The literature taught at MHS and at most high schools tends to not be very inclusive in spite of efforts to increase diversity in authors, Lorenzana said. His class would be different from a normal English class in that it will focus on diverse authors from various different backgrounds, he said. “English classes tend to be focused on the classics, for good reason. I get it, but [my class] would allow students to have the opportunity to read literature written by authors that maybe they would not be exposed to in their regular English class,” Lorenzana said. “It would also be different in the sense of the conversations that we have about the literature. The conversation shifts away from the technique of the literature, and it’s more about the meaning of the storytelling.” Lorenzana presented the idea of a multicultural literature class to administration after a California bill mandating ethnic studies classes as a high school graduation requirement stalled, he said.
SEAN NGUYEN | THE UNION
Junior Diya Soneji shuffles through a large pile of expired cans that were donated to the Jack Emery drive.
Annual Jack Emery food drive returns By Rajvee Patel
The Jack Emery can drive coordinated by the Associated Student Body (ASB) started on the week of Nov. 17 at MHS, ASB Advisor Jerell Maneja said. The ultimate goal is to collect donations to benefit the Milpitas Food Pantry, Maneja added. ASB is working with all of the staff and teachers to collect cans for people in need during the holiday season, Site Coordinator Tanya Saharan said. The minor goal this year is 20,000 cans and the major goal is 22,000 cans, Saharan said. “As a former activities director who ran food drives myself, I’m amazed at how great the generosity is at our school,” Principal Francis Rojas said. “It’s something we should be proud of because it does help our community.”
This year, there is a lot more initiative and interest among the student government and on campus, according to Maneja. The pace has been a success because within one week of collection, twenty five percent of the goal had been reached, Maneja added. “Last year our goals were higher. Our minor goal was 23,000 and our major goal was 25,000 cans,” Saharan said. “I lowered it because last year, we barely made it in the end.” Last year, a total of 23,964 cans were donated in total and as of Nov. 26 this year, 5,000 cans have been collected, Maneja said. The entire student government is in charge of collecting cans during SSR, Maneja added. “In the beginning of November, ASB and Leadership invited representatives from all the schools in the district and community to have a brunch and go over the his-
tory of [Jack Emery],” Rojas said. “It kicks off the event and then becomes a school and class competition.” There are class incentives, Saharan stated. Ten cans per student earns full-sized donuts and 15 cans per student earns a pizza party for the class, Saharan said. There are also incentives for teachers where they can get gift cards and stationary items, she added. “Competitions have been successful and so we are trying to push that. At the same time, I think what our school needs right now is more unification,” Maneja said. “I’m trying to promote the need to gear together as a campus for an important cause, especially this time of year as well as making sure everyone realizes that this is to make a difference in our community.”
staff member placed on leave
By Genelle Gogue
The incident in which a staff member wore blackface that occurred on the MHS campus is still being investigated, School Board President Chris Norwood said. The video that had been posted went viral and since then, concerns have raised from all different parties of the Milpitas community, he added. The community’s concerns range from what is happening next to how the district is going to handle the situation, Norwood said. Due to the staff member’s actions on Halloween, parents are disappointed and concerned for their children’s well-being, he added. “I can tell you that it’s still under investigation, and I can tell you that the video that went around the world, that there is interest in other parts of Milpitas, not just the high school,” Norwood said. “Parents, teachers, and students at other schools are interested in the entire situation. As I listened, I learn a lot of different things about how many different cultures and histories and stories that people in Milpitas have, and how they’re all surprised and shocked.” Several weeks ago, students were given a lesson on the history of blackface, but some teachers did not feel comfortable giving the lesson on such a short notice, Principal Francis Rojas said. The next move is to see how to follow up because it was not just going to be a one-day thing. It requires taking a deeper look at students and staff to see where we stand from here, Rojas said. “What I’m hearing is that it’s been a long time coming that we’ve needed to have this discussion because we have newer, younger staff and the student demographics have changed over the last couple of years, so we have to reassess ourselves and
reevaluate where we stand as a community and make some commitments around that,” Rojas said. From this incident, it is hoped that students will have more of their own voice, Rojas said. There was a meeting after the incident where students were able to speak in front of staff members to talk about how the incident made them feel and what should be done from here, he added. “Although what happened on Halloween was a very negative experience for our community, there’s something positive that will come out of it, and I think it’ll make our community stronger and strengthen our resolve on where we stand on cultural diversity as a community,” Rojas said. From the incident, the school board had to think about how this situation aligned with our five strategic goals of the Milpitas Unified School District (MUSD), Norwood said. It is about building a culture of “we” with sports culture, science culture, and more beyond just ethnicity, he said. The culture of “we” also extends out to teachers because there are many different viewpoints among them, he added. The five strategic goals of MUSD are to “build a culture of “we” that engages parents, staff, community partners in supporting students’ success,” Norwood said. “[Other goals are to] improve communications systems for better outreach to parents, students, and staff, develop educational pathways that allow students to apply their passions and learning for their future careers, focus services on support systems to ensure all students are engaged in their learning and are making social, emotional, and academic gains, identify creative student focused strategies to accommodate enrollment growth and ensure healthy learning environments.”
Eye on Campus:
Pieing faces for Jack Emery
GENELLE GOGUE | THE UNION
Senior Julian Abair receives a pie in his face. Students paid to smack pie into volunteers’ face to help raise money for the Jack Emery Drive.