The Union - Milpitas High School - November 2014

E D I TO R I A L 2

O PI N I O N S 3

FE AT U R E S 5

S PR E A D 8

E N T E R TA I N M E N T 10

LI F E S T Y LE 12

SPORTS 14

T HE

NOVEMBER 2014 Volume XXVI Issue II

UN I O N

MHSTHEUNION.COM For the latest updates

STUDENT VOICE OF MILPITAS HIGH SCHOOL

Lunch incident clarified; consequences handed out

BY AMY NGUYEN AARISHIKA DUGYALA

Regarding the events that unfolded during lunch on Friday, Oct. 10, the day of the Homecoming Football Game, two students directly involved with the altercations received a suspension, according to Assistant Principal Ethan Stocks. Four or five students received an in-house suspension, Stocks continued.

Some students were dealt consequences for harassing and intimidating another student, Principal Cheryl Lawton said. A student was disciplined for throwing a punch after being harassed, and lunch was cut short to break up the commotion and send students to class, Lawton added.

“The football players all had their jerseys on; everybody was dressed in similar colors,” Lawton said. “They stood out. [...] So I think that’s why [the altercation has] been pinned on them. There was some involvement by a couple of football players and they have been dealt with, but they did not actually cause any physical harm to anybody.”

There were three altercations in total: one at the cafeteria, one at the green, and one at the F Building, Lawton said. The incidents on campus did not constitute as fights, because they mainly involved students yelling, and only one punch was thrown overall, Lawton continued. Yet there has been a misconception that there have been multiple fights, Lawton said.

“On Friday it looked like there was more stuff going [on], because a lot of people were just trying to pull

people away,” Lawton said. “I think that’s why people are thinking it’s more than a fight. One person threw a punch; that was it. That person has been dealt with.”

Senior Noah Walter saw the second altercation arise, he said in an online interview. It seemed like a circle of students screaming and yelling, he continued.

“I saw [a student] run into the group of football players walking away from the first fight,” Walter said. “Once he did get into the group he started swinging. The security guard had [the student] in a hold, and he kept swinging around randomly. He hit a few people including the security guard.”

Lawton felt that there was enough security handling the event, she said.

However, after the second altercation started, Lawton decided to get extra help, she added.

“I asked the office to call the police when we didn’t know what was going on,” Lawton said. “After the second thing started like, ‘forget it, we need some help here, because I don’t know what’s going on.’”

The decision to ring the bell was made so that people would start going to class, Lawton said. Administration needed people in the classroom for a couple of minutes until the campus was cleared, she continued.

“Lunch was cut short because we were worried the situation would continue to escalate,” Stocks, who handled the investigation on that FriSEE LUNCH ON PAGE 16

Ivan Huang | THE UNION

The Marching Band and Color Guard perform their Romeo and Juliet: Love Resurrected piece at halftime of the Homecoming Game on Oct.10. Due to their increased size this year, they are now performing in a higher division.

Band advances a division, more competitive

BY AYSHA REHMAN

This year the MHS marching band moved up a division, from 4A to 5A, according to Instrumental Music Director Chris Kaldy. The change came because the number of students increased this year from the previous year, Kaldy said.

The band competes in two different California competition circuits, Kaldy explains. At the three Northern California Band Association competitions, the band competes as 5A because it has more than 96 musicians, according to Kaldy. At the Western Band Association competitions, the

band will compete as 4A because the band has 101-140 students, Kaldy said.

“Moving up a division is important to Milpitas because it shows increased student interest and participation in our music program.” Kaldy said, “When I first started teaching at MHS, there were only two music classes with about 80 students total.

Now there are six music classes with about 300 students enrolled and participating in band, choir, orchestra, and color guard.”

MHS has one of the top music programs in Santa Clara County based on accomplishments, course offerings and the participation of students, ac-

cording to Kaldy.

Junior Edmund Lau added that in competitions they will now be performing towards the end of the tournaments with the other larger marching bands. With a move up, the competition gets harder, according to Lau. At its competition at Tournament of Bands in Cupertino on Saturday, Oct. 11, the marching band did well, according to Junior Peter Ton. “Our music is pretty solid; however our marching technique and blending needs some work,” Ton said. The band placed second overall at the Cupertino tournament.

N EWS IN BR IEF

Debaters place high at tournaments

Jack Emery Drive starts The annual Jack Emery Drive kickoff will be on Nov. 17, and the Drive will continue until Dec. 10. If the goal of 8000 cans and 5000 dollars is reached, ASB’s Core Four will be pied in the face. Administration will also participate in a challenge.

BY ANTHONY TSENG

Kindness Week Kindness week will be held from Nov. 17 to Nov. 21.

Fall Musical XANADU The Theater Department’s annual Fall Musical will be held from Nov. 20 to Nov. 22. Doors will open at 7:30 PM, and tickets will cost $10 if bought beforehand, and $12 if bought at the door. Tickets will be sold starting Thursday Nov. 13.

Upcoming SAT and ACT testing dates ACT Testing will be occurring on Dec. 13, and the last day to register without paying a late fee is Nov. 7.

SAT Testing will be occurring on Dec. 6, and the last day to register without paying a late fee is Nov. 6.

School not in session School will not be in session on Thursday Nov. 6, due to a staff in service day. No school on Tueday, Nov. 11 due to Veteran’s Day. Thanksgiving break is on Nov. 27 and 28.

Grading period ending The six week grading period ends on Friday Nov.7.

New Lunch Tables 25 new tables arrived on Nov. 3

Krupa Patel| THE UNION

Sophomores Tilak Patel and Eric Yu take notes in zero period Honors Chemistry. Taught by Roberto Alvelais, the class is held from 7 AM to 7:50 AM.

Additional class periods offered

BY KRUPA PATEL

Zero period classes have been implemented into the MHS schedule, according to Principal Cheryl Lawton. Students now have the opportunity to take zero period Honors Chemistry and Algebra II, Lawton said.

Extra classes of Heritage Spanish and two classes of Physical Education were added during the day due to the overcrowded classes, according to Lawton. Computer Programming and Jazz Band continued from previous years as zero period classes, Lawton continued.

Zero period Honors Chemistry has some benefits, Chemistry Teacher Roberto Alvelais said. “If I have one lab or something for Honors Chemistry and a different lab for regular

Chemistry, I can then set up that lab.”

Alvelais teaches six classes including zero period and has third period prep, he said. He was willing to teach zero period Honors Chemistry as long as he still had his prep period, Alvelais continued.

“We will probably offer [zero period Physical Education] next year going in, so people can plan for it,” Lawton said. “That way if students want to take a seventh class they have that option.”

More sections were offered by the district, but it was three weeks into the school year, and it was difficult to find teachers for the proposed classes, Lawton said. Administration will be working to discuss the next steps in creating new classes in the future, Lawton said.

Three MHS Speech and Debate teams broke to double octofinals at the Fifteenth Annual Nichols Debate Invitational at The Harker School on Sept. 27 and 28, according to Director of Debate Charles Schletzbaum. The teams competed in varsity public forum, and the double octofinals were the first elimination rounds, Schletzbaum added.

The three teams that reached double octofinals consisted of Junior Divyesh Chotai and Junior Nicholas Luc, Senior Akshat Das and Junior Vincent Le, and Junior Amal Mulaomerovic and Junior Grace Shau, Schletzbaum said. There were 66 other varsity public forum teams competing in the tournament, Schletzbaum added. “[A goal this year is to] qualify somebody for the NSDA Nationals for the first time,” Schletzbaum said. “Take another team or two to Tournament of Champions in Kentucky.” This tournament at Harker was a qualifier for the Tournament of Champions, one of the three national championships, Schletzbaum added.

To prepare for the tournament, the varsity members practiced by teaching middle school students on the same topic they had to debate, Schletzbaum said. They also participated in practice rounds after school against each other, Schletzbaum said.

“The topics [debated] change every month in public forum,” Mulaomerovic said. “An advantage we had is my partner and I went to debate camp over the summer. The lessons at camp focused on the topic we were

debating [at the Harker tournament], so we had a head start over the summer to prepare.”

Shau said camp helped improve her skills. Collaborating with other teammates on her cases helped prepare for the tournament, Shau added.

“There is more communication this year in preparing and in terms of practicing and organizing practice rounds,” Luc said. “The varsities now are pretty dedicated and they go to most tournaments.”

The MHS Speech and Debate team also competed at the Jon Schamber High School Forensics Tournament at the University of the Pacific from Oct. 24 to Oct. 26, Schletzbaum said.

MHS sent fourteen high school students and eight middle school students that the Speech and Debate team had trained for the tournament, Schletzbaum added.

The varsity policy debate team of Sophomore Sonia Tripathy and Sophomore Elakya Thirumoorthy made it to quarterfinals, and Thirumoorthy got fifth speaker, Schletzbaum said.

There were 11 varsity policy debate teams competing, Schletzbaum said.

The public forum debate team of Vincent Le and Senior Sahil Hansalia broke to quarterfinals, while the team of Shau and Mulaomerovic broke to octofinals, Schletzbaum confirmed.

There were 70 varsity public forum teams at the University of the Pacific tournament, Schletzbaum added.

“It was the last tournament for the resolution they had debated for two months, so [the public forum debaters] already had a multitude of practice rounds,” Schletzbaum said.

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EDITORIAL

THE UNION

NOVEMBER 2014

S TA F F

EDITOR I A L : The Opinion of The Union

Rishika Dugyala Editor-in-Chief

School security improvements are beneficial, need refinement to meet increased demand We, The Union, support administration’s efforts to increase campus security through the use of security cameras and updated security procedures, especially in the wake of recent incidents on campus. Though we approve of administrative efforts to provide a safer and more secured environment, there are still issues that need to be addressed.

MHS campus is still relatively easy to enter. Entrances to the front of the school are often left unmonitored or watched by very few guards and staff.

In order to prevent campus intruders, there should be an increased number of security guards monitoring these borders. There should also be stricter processes for inspection before visitors are allowed to enter, in order to further prevent intruder crime.

Furthermore, our security team is often being used to transport students to and from places. In case of student injury preventing timely travel, this practice is understandable, yet the efforts of our security team should be kept to addressing security issues and keeping watch for crime. Furthermore, the practice of calling security to confiscate student electronics should be discontinued.

Both these practices are lengthy and detract security from monitoring our school. Recognizing this opens the door to reform. Perhaps, instead of calling security to confiscate electronics, the task can instead be done by Teacher’s Assistants.

The limited number of security guards on campus is not enough for our population of approximately 3,106. An increase in the number of guards would allow more ground to be covered, securing our school with increased efficiency.

In terms of lock-down drills, the new practice of blockading doors with classroom materials is a great improvement. However, we hope that this drill system can be further reinforced by clearer instructions for teachers and students to follow. Perhaps teachers can be supplied with additional materials to secure their classrooms, such as black cloth to cover doors and windows and classroom layout plans that would allow for the immediate obstruction of entrances. In addition, student injury should be taken into account: blockades, when done frantically,

may increase the chance of injury to students. More specified procedures for blocking entrances should be decided by teachers, administration, and students together. Going into a drill with a more detailed plan would be safer for everyone.

We commend the administration for being proactive in changing the lock on the softball gate to allow teachers to open it. The L-building classrooms evacuate to this field during a fire. Last year there was an issue in accessing the area when a potential fire had occurred.

In order to more effectively prevent crime and obtain evidence of incidents on campus, there should also be an increase in security cameras in various locations, such as the vending machines, outside lockers, and other hot spots for delinquent activity, such as the bathrooms, where potential drug use is common. The current amount of security cameras is too low to adequately keep safe our large population; if we increase the amount of cameras, and possibly modernize new ones, more crime can be prevented.

If such improvements in security cameras had been made, the fights that occurred on Friday, Oct. 10 would have been sorted out by administration more quickly.

Assistant Principal Ethan Stocks informed us of the formation of a school safety committee composed of four to five teachers. We support the creation of this group but ask that the number of three annual meetings be increased to better meet current demands of security and crime.

We advocate increasing student participation in security discussion. The subject of security has the potential to create active students if teachers and administrators seek their input. Students are missing from the current debate.

If there are to be improvements, student opinion should be included in these plans--students are, after all, the largest group being protected. If we bring the voices of students into a clear outlet where they deliberate with teachers and administrators, the topic of security has the potential to increase safety and solidarity, connecting the gap between students and staff that has been present for too long.

Akshat Das ƀɠNews Editor Divyesh Chotai ƀɠAsst. News Editor Neal Bansal ƀɠOp-Ed Editor Simeon Alojipan ƀɠAsst. Op-Ed Editor Michelle Huang ƀɠFeatures Editor Andrew Luu ƀɠAsst. Features Editor Amy Nguyen ƀɠLifestyle Editor Julia Nguyen ƀɠ Asst. Lifestyle Editor Denny Bao ƀɠEntertainment Editor Terra Walls ƀɠAsst. Entertainment Editor Ruth Park ƀɠSports Editor Ivan Huang ƀɠAsst. Sports Editor Amanda Nguyen ƀɠCo-Copy Editor Anthony Tseng ƀɠCo-Copy Editor Ashley Ricks ƀɠAsst. Copy Editor Aysha Rehman ƀɠWeb Editor Abigail Ecal ƀɠSpread Editor Patrick Ly ƀɠAsst. Spread Editor Ivy Nguyen ƀɠPhoto Editor Christina Luo ƀɠAsst. Photo Editor Wee Jin Koh ƀɠBusiness Manager Krupa Patel ƀɠAsst. Business Manager Crystal Tran ƀɠAd Manager Xavier Balsbaugh ƀɠAsst. Ad Manager

Jeff Colburn

Journalism Advisor

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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L E T T E R S TO T H E E DI TOR New furniture layouts needed The new furniture in the classroom L-23 is a step backwards from when the classroom was held in the portables. Although L-23 has “lab” tables, the classroom is extremely tight on space. It is so tight on space that the teacher, Ms. Downum, has trouble arranging the tables and chairs so all students may easily sit and observe her lectures.

With the classroom being tight on space as is, the chairs used with the lab tables also pose a problem. These chairs are extremely high, and the average student is not able to touch the ground while seated. While the tables are able to be adjusted, the chairs are not and it is clear that the two were not tested in the classroom before placement. To make a small pathway for others to walk by students must also “pull-in” the chair after they are seated, which is not the easiest task.

This distracts from the student’s ability to learn due to multiple

distractions that could have been avoided if the normal furniture was used. To prevent classroom from being too packed, one should plan on how all the furniture will fit rather than leaving it all up to the teacher to deal with.

Brian tran Class of 2015

Additional trees are beneficial It has come to my attention that the school campus should increase its population of trees. I strongly encourage the students and staff of Milpitas High School to raise awareness and provide support to plant more trees on this campus.

By tree planting, the campus and its members can greatly enhance their experience at this government institution. Firstly, trees are an excellent source of cover from the elements. Placement of trees around the campus can provide more shade.

As more regions of the campus are sheltered by the trees, students can hide under the branches to avoid the

sun’s harmful rays and the clouds’ precipitation.

Secondly, the increase of trees on campus will help humanity’s fight against global warming. Trees can absorb the carbon dioxide released from our factories and automobiles, which pollute our air.

In addition to the environmental benefits, the school’s image will be improved. Tree planting will ameliorate the scenery of the campus, thus impressing visitors. Milpitas High School can transform into an attractive campus and aid its members.

With all the points above, I strongly urge students and staff alike to push for an increase of trees in Milpitas High School. Though the current students of Milpitas High School may not see the full effects of this adjustment, future students will experience the splendor of having many trees and hopefully continue to plant more trees.

raymond dong

Class of 2015

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C O N TAC T U S 1285 Escuela Pkwy, Room E-17 Milpitas, CA 95035 General Info: (408) 635-2800 Business Manager: (408) 981-8008 Ad Manager: (408) 582-4391 Fax: (408) 635-2848 Email: mhstheunion14@gmail.com

R ET R ACTION

In our editorial in the last edition of The Union, we incorrectly stated that the construction taking place on campus had been delayed, or was not on schedule.

We have since learned that the construction is in fact proceeding on schedule. It is our policy to correct errors when they are discovered. We regret the mistake.

NOVEMBER 2014

PRO

Spirit days must require effort to build school spirit and unity

Spirit weeks are good indicators of er to show that we care about those the level of school spirit on campus fighting a disease that has claimed the and have been a part of our academic lives of many. Allowing anyone to be careers as far as I can remember. Let able to display awareness through the us go back to elementary school when use of wearing the pink ribbon iconic spirit days consisted of having to wear to the cause introduces it to people our pants backwards or that may otherwise have making our hair stand up not known about it. and call it “Crazy Hair.”

The only addition I Anyone could particwould suggest is a donaipate in these days with tion system to be set up so little to no preparation, so that the school could play they required little effort, its part in the funding toor school spirit, to be a part wards research. As a camof them. It is for this reason pus we have shown our that I commend ASB for generosity multiple times. creating spirit weeks that This time would be no excontain days that require ception, and any extra bit NEAL people to go out and plan would help.

BANSAL in advance to participate.

Others may claim that This last spirit week we the materials required for had days such as “Preps vs. Jocks,” “Preps vs. Jocks” and “Generation “Generation Day,” “Class Color Day,” Day” were difficult to obtain, in that and “Blue and Gold Day,” plus a day they actually required people to go dedicated to breast cancer awareness. out and purchase what they need, or These days, with the exception of be creative with what they could use breast cancer awareness day, require from home. It was clear it was not you to be conscious of them in order ASB’s intentions to stop people from to make sure your wardrobe meets showing their spirit. The ASB stuthe requirements. None of these days dents also participated, so it would were particularly difficult to get the be safe to assume they would not set materials for, so they were accessi- a day for something they would not or ble to anyone while still making it so could not personally wear. you couldn’t just mess up your hair or Off-day spirit weeks give people turn your shirt inside out before fifth more artistic license than the spirit period to be counted as having been days so fondly remembered from the dressed up for the occasion. elementary school days. This extra In addition to the spirit days that re- creativity makes the campus look so quired effort, it was a good gesture by much more interesting and may inASB to make breast cancer awareness duce others to also participate in fuday accessible to anyone. That day ture spirit weeks, fostering a greater should not be considered an indicator sense of school spirit and community. of our school’s spirit levels, but rath-

CON

Current spirit days off-putting, should become more accessible Spirit Week comes up every school tive to spirit week promoting school year, and for the last three years it spirit and unity, the theme showcashas had its ups and downs. Our hard- es two student stereotypes and puts working (and under-appreciated) them against one another, hence the ASB plans and advertises a week theme “Preps vs. Jocks.” where student dress up in a particuBreast Cancer Awareness was anlar way to show off their school spir- other spirit day that happened, and it. Besides the usual class color day because October is National Breast and our school colors day, the other Cancer Awareness Month, it was a three days are chances for students great idea. But like Preps vs. Jocks, to stretch their imagination and Breast cancer awareness doesn’t recreativity with often wacky or weird ally create any school spirit. Students themes. painting pink ribbons on themselves Not all students dress up for these to gain spirit points seems very off days, which could be a result of not from promoting school spirit. having an outfit, not wantStudents even painted ing to put in the effort to pink ribbons on those that dress up, or just not havdidn’t dress for breast caning any school spirit. Havcer awareness, generating ing school spirit is healthy more spirit points for for schools, especially a big their respective teams. It school like MHS. felt as if wearing pink was Having 3,000 students more beneficial in regard unhappy with where they to grabbing points rather go to learn is just a time than promoting breast bomb for social unrest. cancer awareness.

School should be an en0Many students don’t ANDREW joyable environment, and even know that Estee LUU spirit days should help Lauder, a giant cosmetic make getting an education company, helped create not as painful or frustrating. the pink ribbon. If days like Breast Sometimes, however, these days Cancer Awareness are going to be a seem to be counteractive at creating part of spirit week, the details should school spirit or are not very effective be focused on to truly spread awareat demonstrating school spirit at all. ness.

The most recent spirit week featured Another flaw of Spirit Weeks is its an 80’s theme reminiscing “Preps inability to uplift student school spirvs. Jocks.” Preps are stereotypical- it on certain days. Some days even ly wealthy, polo-wearing teens that seem to be more of a free “dress weird generally play tennis, lacrosse, or day” without many weird looks and polo. Jocks refer to stereotypical judgment from your fellow peers. Deathletes who are “popular” and wear spite these issues, we still have to give jerseys and letterman jackets. credit to our hardworking ASB crew Although many students did par- for its efforts. It’s easy to criticize the ticipate for this spirit day theme, it is group in charge of student activities not apparent how being against an- for various reasons, but it takes a lot other group of students creates any of actual effort to make those activitype of school spirit. Counterintui- ties happen.

OPINIONS

THE UNION

3

School needs reform in sex ed and health services There is a weight on your shoulders, one you may have always felt, one you may feel very soon, and it isn’t being addressed by this school. There’s a problem that needs to be fixed, but we aren’t doing the fixing.

The sad truths I’ve learned in my four years here: 1) We go to a school that fails to offer the adequate education to face and combat sexual and gender discrimination.

2) We go to a school that fails to offer adequate sexual health education to its growing student body.

3) We go to a school that fails to offer sexual and protective health services to its 3,182 students.

And then, upon graduation, we are thrust into the real world, shocked at the lack of racial diversity and tolerance that make Milpitas so unique.

We realize that our educational environment, in its positive focus on academics, unfortunately did not equip us with the right tools to function in the outside world, much less to strive for acceptance.

How do we empower ourselves, then? Equality begins with education. We must tackle the lack of social and gender education on campus, and push for a class that teaches students the reality of gender and sexual norms and discrimination.

So far, there is no required course that helps us understand ourselves

and each other. Our maturity and ac- year. What will high school be like ceptance (self-acceptance, especially) for them if MHS stays like this? Our stagnates. school simply doesn’t provide adeThe efforts of teachers on their quate protection or health services. own have been admirable.

How can we make sure Outside of the numerous we’re safe if we don’t even humanities courses we ofhave the resources? fer, English Teachers Kaila Now, have you ever Schwartz and Thu Ngo, heard any of the following on their own accord, have phrases or felt the followincluded gender studies ing way in your life? units in their classes. En“Sit like a lady. That’s glish teacher Skyler Draeso gay. She’s on her periger has gone as far as to od. But you’re a girl. But create the Facing History & you’re a guy. Do this. Do Ourselves Class. Of course, that. Watch yourself. Act SIMEON there are others courses this way. Shame those ALOJIPAN I’m not naming, but the who don’t.” point stands: Why should Reinforce, repeat... teachers have to pull their How many times have own weight in creating curriculum you heard these words spouted at that should already be provided? school? How many times have you Other teachers, such as History felt like shouting back?

Teacher Toby Anderson, have been How many times did you wonder: pushing for improvements in sexual How do I shout back? health education. Though pamphlets If we wish to build an equal world, are available in the nurse’s desk for if we want to eliminate these phrases, you to legally take on your own, out- we must begin by building the founside of ninth grade Biology, there isn’t dation of sexual and social education a good amount of required health in- at our very school. We must also begin struction for students. This is wor- to establish equal and complete sturisome, especially considering that dent access to sexual health services. students are more and more likely to Until then, we’re stuck in the same become sexually active as they grow cycle of ignorance, health risks, and older. intolerance. We may not be reactionConsider the large number of ninth ary, but our passivity allows the cycle graders our school has taken in this to continue.

Dress code policy shouldn’t prioritize body image Looking forward to wearing that get “dress-coded” for cutoffs or shorts new cropped sweater you just bought, that sag too low. or that adorable dress you just orDress coding female students for dered online? Well, you better go distracting attire implies oversexuhome and change, because admin- alization of the female body, and sugistration has recently become more gests that women must always have strict on prohibiting some of these the concerns of men at the forefront options. of their minds, even when While the dress code regetting dressed in the mains the same as stated morning. Does this seem on the school website, adunreasonable? Well, the ministration has become dress code crackdown is less lenient on what is and occurring nationwide. is not acceptable. Baring At Haven Middle School any midriff or wearing in Evanston, Illinois, fe“excessively” short shorts, male students began to skirts, or dresses is still not protest when teachers allowed. Low cut tops are announced that leggings also not allowed, so if you were “too distracting for TERRA are violating any of these boys.” One high school in WALLS rules, a wardrobe change Staten Island handed out will be necessary. about 200 detentions to Beginning with the first those that violated dress day of school, female students have code, with 90 percent of the violators been stopped on their way to class or being female students. pulled out of their classes and forced If administrators pull a female stuto change because their outfits were dent out of class to tell her that her “disruptive” or “unsafe” for other outfit is troubling or unsafe, they’re students. Nothing is more eye catch- implying that her education is not as ing than an ashy kneecap or shoulder important as that of a male student’s blade, right? education. Pulling a student out of While banning certain gang affiliat- class results in that student missing a ed clothing is reasonable and clearly lesson, which further impacts the stuunsafe, some of the other dress code dent’s progress in his or her class. The guidelines seem very gender specific. supposedly “distracted” student conIt’s hard to believe that male students tinues learning without interruption.

Does the sight of a bra strap really hinder a male student’s education to the degree that a female should miss the class? Self expression through dress doesn’t harm other students, and it also doesn’t exhibit bad judgment.

When young girls are blamed for the actions of men, the wrong message is sent. When girls are told to be responsible for the actions of the opposite gender, it perpetuates the idea that men are not responsible for their own behavior.

A shoulder is a shoulder, and if a man can’t contain himself at the sight of normal female anatomy, then maybe there is more to blame than bra straps for the disruption his education. Instead of shaming girls and teaching them to cover up, why don’t we teach boys to stop viewing girls as solely sexual objects?

The education of students shouldn’t be affected by clothing choices. If school test scores are low because students are “distracted,” surely kneecaps and bra straps aren’t the real cause. Education should be the main focus at school, and while some items of clothing may be inappropriate for a school environment, administration should begin to make this judgment without placing blame on female anatomy.

Too many students, too little space to walk to class There are several benefits that stem from having a large school. You have more students to make friends with, more variety of classes, longer passing periods and other such benefits.

However, the large number of people walking around during these passing periods creates a problem that no student should have to deal with: human bumper cars.

As our school’s enrollment grows each year, common sense would dictate that fitting more kids in a limited amount of space will at some point become a problem. Given that we only have six minutes to get from class to class, we have no time to dilly-dally in between classes. Factor in the sea of hundreds of kids you have to walk through, and that six minutes shrinks even more.

On a day to day basis, my walk between periods has come to mirror a

stop-start pattern. When I try speeding up, sure enough someone runs into my path and I have to put on the brakes in order to avoid a socially fatal collision. If I walk too slowly, I risk facing the wrath of the tardy policy (as well as that of my parents).

I’m not forwarding the supposition AKSHAT DAS that passing periods are too short, rather, I believe that our school’s facilities aren’t adequate for thew number of students on campus. Building constricted walkways, like the one in-between

the L-building and the E-building, make it harder for kids to get from one side of school to another, as they inevitably have to walk behind a mass of students that have no regard for the kids waiting behind them patiently.

Granted, there is not much that can be done to fix the problem of overcrowding. We can, however, do our utmost to mitigate the effects of the large amounts of people. Instead of dilly-dallying in crowded walkways during passing periods, students could stand off to the side, and do their fellow students a favor.

As our school is the only high school in Milpitas, and new housing facilities are being created each day, we can only expect the number of students enrolled to keep rising. The question is, will the number of students at our school grow at a higher rate than the number of buildings?

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NOVEMBER 2014

FEATURES

NOVEMBER 2014

THE UNION

5

To produces movies and short films; releases first episode of documentary

BY DENNY BAO

Many students rush home from school to catch their favorite television shows, but how many of them stop to consider the amount of work required to produce them?

Senior Jonathan To became interested in surreal short films in sixth grade, To said.

To releases a new movie every couple of months, according to To. “It’s great. I’m following my passion. That’s all I care about,” To said.

Usually, To’s ideas stem from something random that pops up in his head. However, he sometimes gathers inspiration from his friends, according to To. Othertimes To draws inspiration from music, he said.

To uploads the majority of his work on his Youtube channel, “Jonathan To.” His work includes short films, music videos, promotional videos,

and commercials, according to To. To is also developing a podcast empire on Mixcloud called ‘Carjon Podcasts,’ he said.

5Weeks

Courtesy of Toral Suthar

Senior Toral Suthar (right) stencils henna designs on her client’s hand.

Suthar aspires to become a wedding planner and continue her practices.

Zhao participates in second year of CYS

BY AMANDA NGUYEN

Many of us admire the skill displayed by the student musicians we see practicing on campus, but what about off-campus music programs?

As the marching band season approaches its end, Sophomore Allan Zhao continues on his musical endeavors as a second year member of the California Youth Symphony (CYS). Zhao is also the Tenor Saxophone section leader in MHS’ marching band.

CYS is a local youth orchestra organization based in San Francisco.

It has been an established organization since 1952 and was founded to provide opportunities for young musicians to improve and practice

together.

Before auditioning for the senior division of CYS last year, Zhao played in a lower division: wind ensemble.

“Anyone can sign up [to audition],” Zhao said. “You choose a solo piece that shows your abilities and play it in front of conductors.”

Although this process may seem simple enough, the practice and dedication needed to participate in CYS is largely independent.

“We have rehearsals every Sunday and right before concerts,” Zhao said.

“We are expected to practice on our own.” “[Through CYS] I’ve learned how to listen to other people and watch for errors,” Zhao said. “We also learn how to work together as a team.”

Zhao is first principal in Bassoon.

Last year, Zhao’s senior division played at many local and international shows.

“Last summer we went on a tour in Eastern Europe and performed in four different countries,” Zhao said.

“We go on an international tour every other year.”

The senior division of CYS also lends its musical talent to the Bay Area community by performing at six to ten local shows every year. These shows are usually hosted at junior colleges such as Ohlone College and De Anza College.

“This year we have the hardest repertoire,“ Zhao said. “We get to play music some people would not get to play.”

Shergill, Khan, Suthar create henna designs for customers

BY KRUPA PATEL

Artists have their own unique style that distinguishes them within the realm of creativity. For Sophomore Abby Shergill, Junior Ruby Khan, and Senior Toral Suthar, this creativity is expressed through a cultural art called henna.

Henna is a tropical plant that is used as a dye to make intricate designs on the hand and to decorate the body. These impermanent patterns are drawn on the top layer of the skin with a henna paste in a process called ‘mehndi’.

Many of these artists’ stories are similar in that they self taught themselves the art of henna by practicing on others.

“When I was younger I used to draw a lot. I used to go to weddings and I found henna very interesting, so my mom got me some henna tubes.

I started practicing for two years and then I started freshman year,” Shergill said.

Customers contact Suthar by messaging her through her Instagram, whereas Khan is often reached through her Twitter account.

The students’ inspirations come from other artists. “I come up with my own designs and sometimes I recreate other people’s designs,” Shergill

said.

Designs can be drawn anywhere on the body, said Shergill. She has even put henna on people’s backs before, she continued.

Henna cones can either be made or bought; however, Suthar likes to make them on her own. “When you make natural henna, it’s perishable so you can only use it for 24 hours after making it,” Suthar said.

Ready-made cones can create big blisters or scars, therefore she makes the henna cones by ordering the powder online, Suthar said.

Henna powder is added to a few other ingredients, left aside for a few hours, and then filled into cones, Suthar said.

Suthar’s dedication and talent for henna is seen through her experience. “One time 10-15 girls had a dance perfomance and came to my house to get henna done,” Suthar said.

The girls had henna done inside both their hands and on their feet.

This project took Suthar approximately six hours to complete.

Suthar’s ambition for henna does not end there. “In the future I want to get into wedding planning, so I feel like this is a gateway to that,” Suther said. “I’m meeting all these artists and they have connections with people that plan weddings,” Suthar said.

Ojeda runs barbershop business

BY PATRICK LY

Courtesy of Allan Zhao

Sophomore Allan Zhao plays the saxophone with California Youth Symphony at The Flint Center for the Performing Arts on De Anza College campus. Zhao is returning for his second year with the local youth orchestra organization.

Quartet performs tribute to ‘The Beatles’

BY RUTH PARK

Music manages to please different audiences because of the wide variety of genres it has. Music can unite people with different backgrounds and interests. Music brought together four MHS students to form a string quartet, who otherwise may not have met each other.

The MHS Orchestra formed a quartet with Senior I-Ching “Ariel” Chen, Juniors Martin Lopez and Benjamin Yuan, and Sophomore Kinbert Chou, according to Chou. Chen and Lopez played violin, Yuan was on the viola, and Chou played the cello.

Together, they accompanied the album “Abbey Road,” at Campbell’s Heritage Theatre on Oct. 20, Chou said.

The performance was a tribute to “The Beatles.”

“MHS was the only high school repre-

sented that night, but other high schools still perform on other performances,” Chou said. “The band we accompanied tours at different places.”

Chen’s favorite part of being in a quartet is being able to perform with professional musicians in front of a live audience, she said. If given the chance, she would perform at the tribute night again.

“It was a great experience because it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Chen said. “Kaldy just asked me if I wanted to do it, and I agreed, but he didn’t force it on me or anything ” Music Director Chris Kaldy opened up the opportunity to the MHS Orchestra, according to Chou. The decision was voluntary.

“Mr. Kaldy found the gig for us,” Chou said. “I volunteered to be the cello.”

Overall, the quartet has little regrets in

its performance, Chen said. The members were able to practice in class on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, according to Chen.

“We didn’t really mess up,” Chen said. “One of the only things we messed up on was the bow.”

The quartet was paid as a professional group, according to Chou. The money they earned was given to the school’s music fund, he continued.

“We don’t really know what it means to perform as pros,” Chou said. “But I felt like the audience really liked us. I encourage other students to do it as well if they have the opportunity.”

“I think the only thing I would redo is practicing more,” Chou said. “The average practice was like four hours a week, for about four weeks. I guess that would be a total of about 13-36 hours of practice.”

“What’s new with you?”

“Not much, just school and work lately.”

“That’s good to hear. So, what did you want to get today?”

Casual dialogue as such became the norm for Junior Cristopher Ojeda as he works on his customers in his back yard self-made barber shack.

An aspiring barber, Ojeda has practiced and used his trade to provide customers with versatile haircuts for over a year.

The business first started out of desperation, according to Ojeda. “I started just cutting my own hair because my mom didn’t want to pay for my haircut.” Ojeda said.

With the school year coming in full effect, along with its many social outings, the customer list has skyrocketed for Ojeda. On usual weekdays, Ojeda cuts hair from 4 p.m. – 8 p.m., and on weekends, as early as 6:30 a.m. – 7 a.m. according to Ojeda.

Cutting hair is not only Ojeda’s favorite pastime and occupation; it also proved to be his salvation during a time of unfortunate events.

In December of 2013, Ojeda ventured to Mexico to visit his family.

During his stay, Ojeda helped run a pizza parlor that his cousin worked at.

While working, Ojeda slipped and reached for the closest thing to him – an operating cheese grinder. The ma-

chine cut off a significant portion of Ojeda’s ring finger. Ojeda was rushed to the hospital and eventually ended up in surgery.

“Since the hospital in [Mexico] had so many people, they took at least half an hour to get me into the room.” Ojeda recalled.

“On the plane, I was like, ‘man, I literally lost my finger.’ I told a lot of people on Facebook I couldn’t cut hair. But in two weeks, when I got my stiches, people hit me up for a haircut. I was like, ‘I’m not going to start something and not finish it,’ ” Ojeda said.

The process of cutting hair after the accident proved not to be as painful as Ojeda perceived it at first. “You know how the barber razor machines vibrate? So the machine, while I was holding it, was giving off vibrations to the tip of my fingers, so it didn’t hurt,” Ojeda said. “It was actually giving me physical therapy.”

Ojeda also credits a significant portion of his love for barbering to the actual clients. “I have people come in that I don’t really know. Barbering starts off a bond with the person,” Ojeda said.

Ojeda does not plan on stopping anytime soon. “First, I want to graduate high school so I can go to barber school and get my license,” Ojeda said. “Then, I’ll work for a couple of years to save up money, and open my own barbershop.”

6

THE UNION

FEATURES

NOVEMBER 2014

Mantia finds passion in dance

BY RISHIKA DUGYALA

Courtesy of Josille Candari

The band Synesthesia performs at the Holy Spirit Festival in Fremont. The members from left to right are Freshman Camille Bailon, Sophomore Josille Candari, Freshman Lyshia Mangulabnan, Senior Scott Lien, Sophomore Lucien Mangulabnan, and Seventh Grader Nathan Kuo. The group is one of many bands run by MHS students.

Students establish bands; perform locally

BY IVY NGUYEN

New bands have been popping up like wildfire throughout MHS in recent years. While some serve as creative outlets for musically inclined students, others stem from genuine interests in pursuing careers in the music industry, according to Sunkids’ bassist Carlos Duran.

Sunkids is comprised of Duran and two other MHS students: Guitarist/ Singer Christian Bui and Drummer Vishal Reddy.

“We’re hoping to continue playing throughout high school and hopefully college,” Bui said.

One reason the bandmates get along so well is because of their mutual affinity for alternative rock, according to Bui. The Sunkids jump at any chance

to perform at gigs, according to Bui. They usually play at local festivals and school club events.

Sunkids has no official manager, so the group often performs free of charge, according to Bui. Singer Marhiel Laya is a part of the South Bay School of Music Arts, a program that allows and organizes students in the Bay Area to perform in various musical groups.

“The bands are organized by our mentor Joe Santoro,” Laya said. Santoro organizes the gigs that the bands play in.

Laya, along with her fellow bandmate and MHS student, Singer Shanel Adolfo has been in the band for roughly two years.

“Get Ready, the band I’m in at South Bay, has about twenty other kids,” Adolfo said. “After the season ends, we

sing in solo acts as a part of the Variety Show that lasts year round.”

Get Ready was invited to perform in Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, and the Ventura County Fair, according to Adolfo.

“In Get Ready, we normally perform songs from the 60s and 70s,” Laya said. “It’s pretty amazing having a huge group of kids belting out songs from that era.”

Yet another student from South Bay School of Music Arts is Bassist/ Singer Josille Candari. Candari is a member of Get Ready and is the bassist for another band from South Bay: Synesthesia.

“When we get together for practice and what not, we usually hang around for 3 hours,” Candari said.

“During that time we play our music and bond.”

Truth: almost everyone has danced at some point in his or her life. People attend school dances, they do a little jig when they receive college acceptance letters in the mail, and some are inevitably forced to learn how to do the Waltz so they can perform it at a relative’s wedding.

According to Senior Mariel Mantia, there’s another truth: many do not believe dance is a serious sport. They do not understand the time that goes into perfecting a single turn or the dedication people must have in order to continue pursuing dance.

This truth frustrates Mantia, someone who not only hopes to minor in Dance, but who is also considering becoming a choreographer.

“I tell someone ‘Oh, I’m a ballerina,’ and they’re like ‘Oh, I took ballet when I was five years old. All right, it’s not a big deal,’ ” Mantia said.

Mantia puts in an hour of dance every day, Monday through Wednesday.

On Thursdays and Fridays she dedicates three hours, and on Saturdays, seven hours of her time. As a result, one of the things dance has forced her to be is a great time manager. She has had to juggle school and dance, and in the past, even soccer.

Having been a dancer for fourteen years, Mantia has explored many different styles including ballet, jazz, tap, hip-hop, lyrical, and contempo-

rary dance. As she attained trophies from competitions and experience in dancing with her company, The Joy of Dancing, Mantia also tried her hand at choreography.

“I’ve choreographed a dance before, about two years ago,” Mantia said.

“And we have specific auditions if you want a duet, a trio, a solo, or a quartet.

You have to make a dance yourself so you can audition.”

However, regardless of talent or effort, everyone faces disappointment sometimes. Because of the hardships, dance has taught her to be a good sport, according to Mantia. The key is to not get upset about a loss and to instead regard it as a learning experience, Mantia finished.

Mantia’s team has collaborated with people from Broadway, various ballet schools, and the season one winner of So You Think You Can Dance, Nick Lazzarini.

Mantia has traveled to Florida to compete at her team’s national convention. She experienced how a real audition works when she attended a company workshop in Disneyland and has also been to a cruise line audition to discover how it would be like to perform on carnival cruises.

“Dancing is a comfort zone,” Mantia said. “For all the stress that I’m dealing with in school, outside of school, or with my family, dance is my exit. If I’m feeling sad, I can just dance it away.”

Clubs recruit new members from middle schools

BY JULIA NGUYEN

With CLOG Rush a distant memory of MHS’ past, how can clubs possibly gain more members and expand their audiences?

Multiple clubs on campus such as Speech and Debate, Interact, Science Olympiad, and Science Club, have come up with a solution for this daunting dilemma: reaching out to middle school students.

The strategy of expanding CLOGs to middle school students has been long established in clubs like Interact.

Other CLOGs such as Speech and Debate have only recently started these programs.

Speech and Debate President Akshat Das was one of the founders of the Speech and Debate middle school program, along with three other MHS alumni. “[The middle school program for

Speech and Debate] was created last September,” Das said. “We passed out flyers during their club rush, and our representative at the middle school put it on daily announcements,” acording to Das. “Speech and Debate is a very popular high school activity, but we want to branch out and give middle schoolers the opportunities we have,” Speech and Debate Vice President Amal Mulaomerovic said.

Interact, a service based club, also uses this method to its advantage and recruits middle school students through its popular and long established middle school subdivision: Youthact.

Youthact Coordinator Hieu Nguyen also participated in Youthact during middle school. She explained that Youthact, although mostly independent from Interact with its own body of officers and members, stress-

es the same core values of service and also strives to fund the international project.

“Our main motto for Interact is Service above Self, this carries onto the middle school,” Nguyen said. “[Youthact members] discover that service is more than just hours; it makes a bigger difference.”

With the recent establishment of the Rancho Middle School Youthact club, the focus has been shifted to include cooperation between both the Rancho and Russell branches.

Interact has also gained increasing involvement from middle school students through its use of social media and bonding events.

By reaching out to middle school students, both Interact and Speech and Debate have accomplished their goals, whether it be creating bonds or providing students with opportunities.

Haque interns with Red Cross; teaches Safe Kids

BY ASHLEY RICKS

While the rest of us were waking up at noon and marathon-ing through multiple seasons on Netflix, Senior Raisa Haque spent her summer hours partaking in a Red Cross internship.

The program ran from June 16 to Aug. 8. Over the duration of her internship, she conducted health and safety workshops for local elementary schools, preschools, and daycares.

The American Red Cross, present as a club on campus, works to alleviate suffering with the help of donors and volunteers, according to Haque.

Red Cross has five pillars: international services, disaster services, blood services, service to the armed forces, and health/safety, Haque said.

“[My work over the summer] was a Safe Kids internship position,” Haque said. “Safe Kids is a program where we basically teach the youth about health education and health-related safety.”

“We were teaching this class at the library, and this little kid came up to us and was thanking us,” Haque said.

“He was like, ‘I’m going to show this to my parents.’ That felt worthwhile, knowing that he would pass it on.”

Although the internship only lasted one summer, Haque remains active with Red Cross. She is the MHS club Vice President and the Spirit Coordinator for the Youth Executive Board.

Haque works to organize socials for volunteers throughout Silicon Valley, according to Haque.

“I just fell in love with it and I want-

ed to do more with Red Cross,” Haque said. “I throw picnics, bowling nights, movie nights, and we had an ice skating social last year.”

Haque said that she first joined the club solely for the purpose of community service hours. However, once she began attending Chapter events (events held by the Youth Executive Board), she was inspired to take on larger leadership roles.

“I would suggest for [students] to join the club, because that opens them up to numerous opportunities.

At the end we offer summer internships like the one I did,” Haque said.

In terms of her future plans with Red Cross, Haque added that she hopes to continue her involvement in college.

Courtesy of Mariel Mantia

Senior Mariel Mantia is lifted by her teammates during their performance at Mt. Pleasant High School. The dance performance was dedicated to the celebration of the ten year anniversary of Mantia’s dance group, Dynamics.

Comparing the ACT and SAT

BY ANTHONY TSENG

Many students often have a hard time deciding whether to take the ACT or SAT for college admissions.

It is important to consider that the SAT will undergo a revision and have a new format in spring of 2016.

This change means there will be an optional essay, less complex vocabulary words, more real-life context for passages and questions, and no point deduction for wrong answers.

Until then, however, the ACT and the current SAT will maintain a variety of differences.

To begin with, according to the official ACT website, the ACT is an achievement test geared towards measuring a student’s knowledge gained in school.

The SAT is more of an aptitude test focused on measuring critical reasoning and verbal skills.

The questions on the ACT are usually more straightforward compared to the questions on the SAT, which may require more critical thinking and inference from texts.

“The ACT is more general knowledge while the SAT is more logic based,” Senior Jessica Punzalan said.

“The ACT gives you a better sense of what students learned.”

Both tests are formatted differently and focus on different subjects. For the ACT, students are tested in up to five areas: English, Mathematics, Reading, Science, and an optional

Writing Test. On the other hand, the SAT tests students in Mathematics, Critical Reading, and Writing; the essay is mandatory.

“I personally think the ACT is better because it doesn’t have the weird grammar rules you have to memorize,” Junior Tony Zhao said. “The [SAT] questions don’t really test your intelligence.”

One final major distinction between the tests is that the ACT does not penalize students for guessing.

Having a wrong answer will just result in no points.

This contrasts with the SAT, which subtracts a quarter of a point for each wrong multiple choice answer.

Most colleges in the United States do not have a preference for one test over the other; they usually will accept both the ACT and SAT with equal weight.

However, there are a few exceptions. For example, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s website states that the school prefers applicants take the ACT over the SAT. A few schools like Brown University and Yale University require applicants to take two SAT Subject Tests if they take the SAT, according to their official websites. But the ACT can be taken in place of both the SAT and SAT Subject Tests.

Yet, some colleges do not require SAT Subject Tests at all, so it is best to check the requirements for the specific school first.

NOVEMBER 2014

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HOW DO YOU GET YOUR POLITCAL

NOVEMBER 2014

WHO WOULD YO

INFORMATION?

Abigail Ecal | THE UNION

382 students and teachers of MHS were surveyed in terms of where they get their political knowledge. People surveyed could pick choices that all apply to their preferences. The 9% in ‘Other’ included AP Government, Teachers, and Campaigns.

OPINION: Adolescents lack political schema; concerning

Courtesy of Natasha Gangal

Senior Natasha Gangal (right) trains volunteers on how to canvass for the Ro Khanna campaign. These volunteers knocked on doors and talked to voters in California’s District 17. Gangal has been working on the Khanna campaign for over a year.

Student interns campaign during elections

BY KRUPA PATEL

Several MHS students had the opportunity to become political interns or fellows for the Ro Khanna versus Mike Honda for Congressmen campaign. Political campaign interns and fellows got the chance to work with a team to reach out to others and support their delegated candidate.

Fellow Captain Kyle Nguyen was one of the Canvass Captains of Milpitas in the past and now currently is a fellow for the Ro Khanna campaign.

As a Canvass Captain, Nguyen spent upwards of 15 hours a week, while as a fellow he spent about five to eight, he said.

“I benefit from the skills I have learned through the campaign. I have honed my persuasion, and public speaking skills throughout my direct voter contact,” Nguyen said. “The best part about being an intern is knowing that you are working to make a difference in the community.”

Nguyen took on many different tasks including engaging in trainings, community events, small business outreach, phone banking, and canvassing, he said. His main responsibility was to engage in direct voter

contact, either through canvassing or phone banking, Nguyen continued.

“This is my future. I always knew I wanted to do project management or event coordination for a non-profit organization that will positively affect my community and now I know that I want to major in political science to do just that,” said Neighborhood Team Leader Natasha Gangal.

“I’m planning on taking the first semester of my sophomore year in college off to work on Hillary 2016.”

During the summer, Gangal spent 30 hours a week on the Ro Khanna campaign, though towards the end of the election she spent 45 to 60 hours a week, she said. Gangal is in charge of all her volunteers and interns in Milpitas and gets goals every week, which she is responsible for making sure her team reaches through recruiting other family and friends, she continued.

Fellow Arvind Kumar spent 12 hours a week during the summer on the Ro Khanna campaign and six to nine hours when school started, he said. Kumar’s main job as a fellow was to canvass and recruit, he continued. “[Ro Khanna] is new blood and has better ideas,” Kumar said. “He is bringing in more well-paying jobs

and he’s bringing new technology to our schools.”

Canvass Captain Jessica Kwong also worked on the Ro Khanna campaign for four months with about 80 to 90 hours spent, in which she would train recruited volunteers and canvass together.

“We knock on doors trying to get people to vote and we teach them a little more about the whole campaign so we get his name out,” Kwong said. “The whole experience of being able to see the whole [campaign] grow was why I did it.”

Some of the positions with the campaign for the students include fellow, canvass captain, and neighborhood team leader, Kwong said.

Everyone on the team has the same goal and working towards it is like family, Kwong continued.

Fellow Amy Trinh started working on the Mike Honda campaign in September and has been spending 10 to 11 hours a week on it. A representative recruited her in her United States history class, she said. “[Mike Honda] is really progressive,” Trinh said. “He supports the right things and he takes the time to do stuff, making sure its thorough.”

Let’s face it: teenagers today politics because it affects our daily are apathetic and superficial. We lives. Affirmative action, budget know everything about popular cuts, and taxes are things that affect culture and almost nothing about all of us.

American culture, namely American Our interests, such as keeping the environment cleaner or ensuring government and politics.

If our lives depended on our safer working conditions can be knowledge our favorite more than just hopes celebrities, we would if we actually work for them. survive. We can easily I must admit that it name 20 singers or actors, is a lot easier to focus on yet have trouble naming one senator. This concerns superficial things such as me greatly. the newest music video In no ways am I saying I or the latest episodes am greater than my peers. of our favorite shows.

I am a victim of the apathy They require no critical our society has become thinking on our part. All accustomed to. However, we have to do is sit back and enjoy what the world I hope to persuade our RUTH PARK has to offer us. generation to be more involved with what is going However, we gain little from tuning out politics. on in our government.

According to the National Census It is important to be able to relax, but Bureau’s website, 18 to 24 year olds we should not dedicate our lives to have voted the least in 1964 to 2012, easy media. while adults older than 45 dominate If the main reason why people are the voter turnouts. deterred from voting is that they do Voting is the most common not believe their votes count, this is political participation in America. an invalid excuse. It is true we are individuals, however, if all of us work Adults vote more than adolescents. together, we can make a difference.

Thus, politicians will address the Though most of us cannot vote older people’s needs more than the younger people’s needs to receive the yet, we can try to influence others’ most votes possible. votes. For example, all students can For example, the United States and are welcome to campaign for (US) government spends about candidates they support. We can one-fifth of its budget on Social teach our parents the difference Security, according to the textbook between candidate A and candidate “Government in America.” That is B. We can be heard. about 740 billion dollars a year.

Getting involved is a lot simpler Contrastingly, education in the US than most may imagine. Our society only receives about 141 billion dollars has more access to political news and a year, according to the official New media than ever, yet we do not take America Foundation website. advantage of the Internet, TV shows, The most prominent age group in and newscasts.

America is citizens over 65 years of I personally have been more aware age. Most of this population is also because of my Advanced Placement retired, meaning they have more American Government and Politics time on their hands to follow politics. class. Some of my friends have been However, the fact that there are involved with the recent election through canvassing for candidates. more older people with more time Seemingly simple steps are what should drive us to work harder to get our voices heard. Instead, we make the huge differences in our political lives. Instead of being lazy remain apathetic and make almost no difference in American politics. and unaware, we should try to be It is crucial to stay updated with more politically active.

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HOW DO YOU PLAN TO SPEND NOVEMBER 4TH?

“I will be spending Nov. 4 canvassing all around Milpitas to ensure that people will be turning out to the polls after Jack Emery brunch.” -Senior Kyle Nguyen

“I’m going to watch the polls on Politico, CNN, and MSNBC, praying the demand don’t lose too many seats.” - Senior Ralph Balaoing

"On Election Day, I'm going to cry because I procrastinated and didn't get to send my voter registration on time.”

- Senior Aldrich Quijano

“I think I’m going to get a haircut.” - Junior Tony Zhao

Abigail Ecal | THE UNION

343 students and 39 teachers were surveyed.

"I'm gonna be eating." - Freshman Aahana Sandhu

“I’m too young to vote, so I’ll be studying and eating and asking if my parents if they’re voting during the elections.” - Junior Alexis Tran

“I’m doing homework, then sleeping because I’m not old enough to vote.” - Senior Peter Phan

“I’m going to be going door-to-door asking people if they’re voting, and if they are, I’m asking if they are voting for Khanna.” - Senior Peter Dang

How to become politically aware Abigail Ecal | THE UNION

382 students and teachers were surveyed in determing what political issues mattered to them the most. People surveyed could choose the options that fit their preferences.

Abigail Ecal | THE UNION

382 students and teachers were surveyed.

BY RISHIKA DUGYALA

Even though political awareness among teenagers in today’s generation has decreased, the outlets where people can get political information have, in fact, increased greatly. The Internet, media, school, and even local politics offer many opportunities for students to become educated.

So why are we still politically apathetic? Many teenagers find politics boring, especially when they have no idea what is going on in the government, in the news, and in the world.

The solution is to find something about the government or one of the widely debated policy issues that interests you, learn about it, and get involved. Here are some ways to do just that.

Read a newspaper. Newspapers are the most important and comprehensive sources of, well, news. Journalists for papers like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal are paid to know what is going on in the country and around the world. Their job is to reveal or investigate what they believe the public should and has a right to know. So subscribe to a newspaper of your choice, or download the newspaper’s app, and take some time to read through the top articles of the day. There is nothing more satisfying than knowing what

is going on and being able to educate the people around you.

Watch the nightly news. Turn on the TV for half an hour in the evenings while you’re eating dinner.

Tune into different channels like Fox News, MSNBC, ABC, or CNN to determine which one captures your attention the most and slowly integrate watching that channel into your daily (or at the very least, weekly) routine. Being able to associate a face with the report or video and images with the breaking news stories makes broadcast news easier to pay attention to than newspaper articles, although you won’t get as much information through television.

Watch Infotainment. There has been a sharp rise in young people watching comedic political commentary shows. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, and Saturday Night Live are regular shows that offer viewers a decent amount of campaign information and news coverage, while adding an appealing element: comedy. Who doesn’t want to watch informed individuals make fun of government, candidates, and their decisions on television?

Join a local political campaign.

The best way to get hands on experience in the realm of politics is by volunteering for a candidate running for

a local office. Educate yourself about the candidates’ stances, pick a side, and help convince others the person you favor should be elected because he or she will help your community the most.

Recently Ro Khanna and Mike Honda ran to represent California’s District 17 in Congress, recruiting student volunteers from MHS to help on their campaigns. Local elections are also held for Mayor, the School Board Council, and other positions, so it is not difficult to find a candidate to assist. The best part is you don’t need to know everything going into the campaign. You learn more as you go along while gaining a valuable opportunity to put your newfound knowledge to good use.

Take Oral Composition. Our school offers a half semester introductory course to Speech and Debate.

The topics students are required to debate on are mainly policies that government has implemented or is planning to implement and controversial issues circulating the nation, such as abortion. You will develop your speaking skills and learn much information through prepping for in-class debates. And if you decide you love the course, try your hand at competing with the MHS Speech and Debate club on campus.

10

ENTERTAINMENT

THe UnIon

FEATURED ARTIST

november 2014

iPhone 6 appealing, upgrade over old models RATING:

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BY ANTHONY TSENG

Courtesy of SJ Quimby

Senior Zachary Barnes (first from right) poses with his band, SJ Quimby.

Zachary Barnes Senior Musician

How long have you been playing music?

I started band in elementary school and played alto sax when I was in fourth grade. When I joined marching band in high school I started playing the trumpet.

Do you play other instruments?

Yeah, I also play the piano, guitar, tenor sax, and the drums.

Are there any groups you perform with outside of school?

together and perform since we’re mostly local. We usually perform around San Jose.

Do you travel a lot to perform?

In marching band, we compete at different high schools throughout the season; a lot of them are pretty far away. The band I play in with my friends tries to stay within the Bay Area.

Anthony Tseng | The Union

The iPhone 6’s metal unibody design offers a sleek, minimalistic look.

While it is more accessible than trying to reach for the top of the phone, I find myself subconsciously pressing it whenever I click the volume buttons on the left side at the same time.

The iPhone 6 also ships with iOS 8, the newest version of Apple’s software for iPhones. iOS 8 has brought some dramatic changes, like allowing for different customizable keyboards.

Reachability is also a new addition that lets you double tap the

Are you or your band planning to perform at MHS any time soon?

I used to be in the jazz ensemble at the South Bay School of Music Arts, but now I just play in a band with a couple of my friends. I’m also the pianist for the plays held here [at school].

I am playing piano for Xanadu in November.

How often does your band perform?

I’m probably going to minor in music, something like jazz studies.

It might be at an art school or somewhere, but yeah I’m definitely going to study it.

We play almost every weekend at places where small bands get

Apple is clearly aiming to compete with its Android competitors by making its new phones bigger. The most noticeable new feature of the iPhone 6 is its updated 4.7 inch display, The iPhone 6 is stunning with its metal unibody design. The phone is very light, and it definitely feels and looks like a premium device. One of my favorite features is that the glass is slightly curved, providing for a smoother experience when you swipe across the screen.

Yet, the new iPhone does have its design flaws. To begin with, the iPhone has really wide bezels, especially when compared to Android phones that have the same display size. This is mainly due to the necessity of the physical home button.

Furthermore, because the phone itself is so thin, the camera protrudes from the rear of the phone; when placed on its back on a flat surface, the phone is not completely level.

The power button has been moved to the right side of the phone.

Are you planning on pursuing your musical interests after you graduate?

Courtesy of Digitaltrends.com

The iPhone 6’s bigger screen and new landscape mode are displayed.

iPhone 6’s home button in order to minimize the screen and offers easier one-handed use. This has been proven to be surprisingly useful. Touch ID is well implemented and has worked well every single time. It recognizes my fingerprint almost instantly and saves time from having to manually enter a password.

The iPhone 6 is very fast and can handle most applications and games without any problem at all. The battery life is also better than that of the 5s and will last throughout the entire day.

Once again, the iPhone 6 does not disappoint with its camera quality.

The pictures taken with it have excellent quality, and colors are accurately captured for the most part. The camera focuses extremely quickly and low light performance has definitely improved too.

All in all, the iPhone 6 certainly is a worthy successor to the iPhone 5s.

The bigger display is appreciated as I have always felt that the 5s had too small of a screen. While there are a few drawbacks, there is nothing serious enough to dissuade me from recommending the iPhone 6.

NOvEmbEr 2014

ENTERTAINMENT

11

THE UNION

‘XANADU’ cast hopeful for upcoming show

BY RUTH PARK

“Xanadu,” the fall musical, will be showcased at the MHS theatre on the nights of Nov 20, 21, and 22, according to Actress Rachel Fussell. Fussell will be performing alongside with other MHS students, she said.

The musical is based off of the film “Xanadu,” according to Stage Manager Jonathon To, who has been a part of stage shows for two years. It is amusing to see the differences from the original production and the modern one, To said. He enjoys the music and sees lots of progress among the cast.

“The show is great fun,” To said.

“As stage manager, I make sure everything is okay backstage. I don’t actually show up onstage,” he continued.

Lead Actress Tina Nguyen loves being a part of “Xanadu,” though

she only developed her love for theatre arts in her freshman year of high school, she said. Her favorite part about the musical is meeting new people who share the same love for theatre as she does.

“I love being exposed to such creativity and diversity,” Nguyen said. “Everybody is so different, but it’s amazing to see that we all love theatre and that brings us all together.”

Students are cast for the musical through an open audition process, according to Theatre Director Kaila Schwartz. Rehearsals last a couple of hours, are five days a week, and increase as the show gets closer, Schwartz said.

“I choose the people who are most right for the characters,” Schwartz said. “No matter what I’m directing, I love watching the personal growth happen. From the first rehearsal to opening night, there’s so much

transformation and people realize they have so much more talent than they had thought.”

Fussell decided to audition for the musical because she has always loved theatre, she said. She hopes to pursue acting even after high school.

“I love acting and singing and jump at any chance to be onstage,” Fussell said. “The hardest thing is time commitment. Sometimes, we’ll have rehearsals until six, and that means you really have to buckle down with your school work.”

Nguyen plans to be a part of more productions in the future, she said.

The experience she receives is valuable and helps her feel like life is worth living.

“I encourage everybody to come see the show if they can,” Nguyen said. “Mama Schwartz, thank you for believing in me.”

Amanda Nguyen | The Union

Jonathan Pierce (center), lead singer of indie pop band The Drums, performs a free concert at Amoeba Music in San Francisco, California.

The Drums offer free concert RATING:

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provided the pop-filled set list.

The Drums performed an eclectic I wasn’t expecting The Drums’ set list featuring a mix of songs dating back to their self-titled debut album performance to be anything short and their previous one, “Portamenof their past live performance that I had watched online. To say the least, to.” This included cult-favorites like “Best Friend” and “Money.” The band I got exactly what I had anticipated: also opted to play “I Can’t Pretend,” a small stage surrounded by shelves the second single from its new album of records and clusters of college students trying to capture Singer titled “Encyclopedia,” which Jonathan Pierce’s signature seemed to be popular among the audience. dance moves on their smart Throughout the entire show, phones.

The Drums recently began CONCERT Pierce, fellow band member REVIEW Jacob Graham, and their suptheir tour in September to promote the release of their new porting musicians performed album titled “Encyclopedia.” each song flawlessly. Although After a month of touring, they still some of the audience members seemed to be genuinely excited for seemed reluctant to do anything oththeir performance at Amoeba. er than stand with their arms crossed, Known for its wide selection of mu- Pierce’s energy was enough to keep sic, Amoeba Music served as an inti- the concert from being dull.

Overall, the venue and performancmate venue for this concert. Although the area seemed blocked off by store es created a memorable experience merchandise, there was ample space and added the Drums to my “watch for the dancing that was inevitable live” list.

BY AMANDA NGUYEN

MUSIC REVIEWS

Courtesy of Forbes.com

Bruce Wayne (right) is consoled by Detective James Gordon (left) after he witnesses the murder of his parents.

‘Gotham’ well-developed, has potential RATING (out of five)

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BY MICHELLE HUANG

Introducing “Gotham,” the widely anticipated television series spun off of DC Comics’ arguably most popular hero: batman. The show incorporates many of the characters found in the original story, as well as several new additions that offer a different angle on the traditional plot.

The events are told from the perspective of Detective James Gordon, a new recruit to the Gotham police force. The show is unique in that it does not focus heavily on batman, but rather on the criminals and detectives that battle each other for control over the city.

The plot is well developed and the characters are particularly engaging.

Although different events occur in each episode, the happenings are all linked in the grand scheme of things.

This allows each installment to captivate the viewer with a fresh and interesting tale, while still building up

Gordon’s righteous persona. season.

The rest of the show does well to The series started with a strong contrast against Gordon’s personality, introduction featuring the further emphasizing his death of bruce’s parents and differences and isolating him the involvement of the police from the crowd. force. However, I found parts Each episode is packed with of the show to be a little slow TV-SERIES plenty of action and terror. The REVIEW suspense from one installment and boring, particularly those featuring James Gordon and to the next is enough to keep his encounters at the police station one hooked on the series, and and with bruce Wayne. Although the character development of the I appreciate the new perspective, it villainous characters is excellent. is unfortunate that batman has been The rest of the show is exciting and fun.

The unique plot and And while the storyline of James change in viewpoint offers a fresh Gordon holds much potential, outlook on the “batman story” and the character is far from exciting. prevents redundancy among the many Gordon appears rather dull amidst the adaptations that currently exist in the gripping action that dominates most entertainment world. of the scenes. However, I admit it Overall it is an enjoyable, thrilling is entertaining to watch him skirt the series that carries much potential border between “good” and “evil.” for future plot development. I am As the show continues, we can especially curious as to how the count on seeing more of the corruption “batman” aspect of the story will play that has already begun to consume out in later episodes.

‘Olympus’ disappointing, tries to do too much RATING (out of five)

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BY IVAN HUANG

In “The Blood of Olympus,” acclaimed author Rick Riordan releases the much-anticipated end to the “Heroes of Olympus” series, allowing readers to finally know the fates of characters such as Frank Zhang, Leo Valdez, and Percy Jackson.

BOOK Though well-crafted, REVIEW with the trademark wry

humor and fast-paced action one has come to expect from Riordan’s writing style, the book simply attempts to do too much, failing to end the acclaimed series in a fitting fashion.

The book attempts to tell the lives of five main characters, even after the exclusion of the accounts of important characters Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase.

The book, although overall a

good read, filled with suspense on each page, is subpar compared to what readers have come to expect from Riordan from years past.

This new installment is filled with more controversial scenes than previous books, making the book not for the faint-hearted.

Despite its shortcomings, the book is still worth reading, especially for those seeking closure on the fates of their beloved characters.

PRAYER

by Robin Schulz

SWEET TALKER

by Jessie J

Deep House RATING (out of five)

Pop RATING (out of five)

BY DENNY BAO

BY ABIGAIL ECAL

Don’t mistake this house album for another collection of obnoxious drops and high-pitched vocals.

German Producer Robin Schulz’s debut album, “Prayer,” is the opposite.

The album features a subgenre of house music: deep house, which fuses jazz, soul, and electronic dance music.

The tracks on the album, especially “Prayer in C” and “Waves,” follow common themes: catchy melodies, great vocals, and soothing vibes.

The vocals on this album are not annoyingly high-pitched, unlike some more popular electronic titles.

My only critique of the album is that most of its songs are too similarly structured: they start with a progressive introduction, follow up with catchy vocals, feature the melody, and repeat.

Overall, Schulz’s debut album is a smashing success. It delivers good song after good song. The album deserves much more recognition than it is currently getting.

Jessie J’s Sweet Talker is her third full-length release album. While some songs are catchy, her music lacks creative innovation.

In her new album, Jessie J makes great strides towards becoming more distinctive, especially on the fast-talking hip-hop twirl “Ain’t Been Done.”

As far as the beat goes, it is forgettable. This is not the type of song one dances to at a club or listens to relax, but instead, the perfect kind of song to play where one bangs his head on the wall.

In the popular track “Bang Bang,” Jessie J attempts to do another upbeat song. Although the song is fun with top-notch high vocals, the lyrics are misleading.

In the first verse Jessie J portrays the “good girl” while Ariana Grande portrays the “bad girl,” but as the song progresses, Jessie J turns into the bad girl.

In her tracks, Jessie J displays her vulnerability by using too many showboating lyrics. Do not credit the Jessie J for coming up with mediocre songs.

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12

LIFESTYLE

THE UNION

FASHION SPOTLIGHT

1

C el in e K uang Sophomore

1. crop top from Brandy Melville 2. Flannel from Brandy Melville 3. Shorts from Urban Outfitters 4. Shoes from Sperry Topsider

4

2 3

Her Fashion Inspir ation:

“I get inspiration from Tumblr and Instagram. I pick out clothes that catch my eye. I love finding outfits to show my style.”

NOVEMBER 2014

Raw denim trending, allows customization

BY AMANDA NGUYEN

Most of us throw our 40 dollar jeans into the wash after a day or two of wear, then throw them away after they look faded or dull. For denim connoisseurs this process of wear and tear will simply not suffice.

There are many complex aspects that these enthusiasts look for in a pair of jeans.

Raw denim in particular has become increasingly popular as a form of Do It Yourself (DIY) fashion. Instead of the cheaper and less durable jeans that we invariably see in typical retailers, raw denim is constructed using older forms of manufacturing. This traditional manufacturing process allows for consumers to create their own fades and control the wash of their jeans over time.

Senior Aldrich Quijano explained that buying raw denim, in many ways, is a process of developing personal customizations.

“Another characteristic of raw [denim] is no pre-distressing; you do it all yourself,” Quijano said. “It’s like a blank slate.”

Denim enthusiasts also consider quality to be one the most promi-

nent advantages to investing in raw denim jeans. Most of the search for raw denim jeans is hunting down the perfect pair in terms of where and how it’s made, Quijano said.

“It’s hard to find raw denim in the mall; the only mainstream retailer [that sells raw denim] is Urban Outfitters and prices are usually higher than regular jeans,” Quijano said.

“It’s about the value, and for the price you’re getting, it’s top quality denim. It’s superbly made.”

Investing in raw denim might seem like a winding road with an overwhelming amount of options, but there are many online forums that can ameliorate the process and make it easier to understand how to get specific fade patterns and make a pair of raw denim jeans truly unique.

“Don’t let prices fool you, there are a lot of different options,” Quijano said “Check out online forums often. Collective knowledge will help you a lot on your journey to sick fades.”

A quick glance at these online forums shows that raw denim is as much of a time investment as it is a monetary investment. Getting the desired fades and washes requires

a long period of wear time without washing in between.

“The general rule around [the] internet is to wear [your pair of jeans] for six months, but you don’t have to follow that. A lot of manufacturers recommend that you should wash it when it feels grimy because bacteria start to eat away fabric,” Quijano said. “I’ve worn mine for about four and a half months.”

The reward of investing time and money is worth it, Quijano said.

“Your jeans mold to your body and eventually stretch out to fit you perfectly, and fades are unique to you as well,” Quijano said.

Senior Jonathan Kcomt, who has been wearing raw denim since middle school, compared the choice between raw denim jeans and pre-distressed jeans to the choice between making and buying art.

“It’s like choosing between one size fits all or something that is completely unique to you,” Kcomt said.

Overall, raw denim should be a rewarding process in which the wearer can view each imprint as progress, Kcomt said.

“It’s something you create yourself,” Kcomt said. “Just wear them every day and really enjoy them.”

CLOGs unite through We Scare Hunger

BY IVY NGUYEN

MHS’s Unity team, a leadership organization on campus, is working with Free the Children, an international charity and youth movement, on the annual We Scare Hunger campaign according to Unity Chair Natasha Gangal. She is one of the chairpersons in charge of the program, she said. This will be its second year involved in the project, Gangal said.

The Unity team is well structured and runs all these events efficiently Gangal said. It is extremely capable of maintaining itself, a feat only achieved in recent years, she continued.

This year, they are helping Free the Children with their current focus: empowerment, she explained.

The charity dedicated last year to focus on education; through the movement and with the focus of the charity in mind, Unity helped build a school in Ghana, Gangal said.

The shift in goals have had these student leaders striving to accomIvy Nguyen | THE UNION

Senior Vincent Nguyen (left) and Sophomore Celine Kuang (right) show off their casual outfits as the weather shifts from warm and sunny to cloudy and chilly.

1

Senior

1. T-shirt from Breezy Excursion 2. Joggers from Cotton On 3. Shoes from New Balance

2

His Fashion Inspir ation: “My style is based off the culture of hiphop and skateboarding. I just wear whatever I think looks nice.”

3

“It’s more of a seasonal thing, so once Halloween comes around, we take up this campaign he continued.

After it ends, we focus on another one,” Hoang said. “Most of the campaigns come with clear-cut instructions that allow us, the students, to perform the tasks easily.”

The leadership organization came together and distributed flyers on October 26th to notify local neighborhoods of what would be happening on the day of Halloween to allow the residents to prepare their canned goods, according to Gangal. On the day of the event, those involved with the campaign would trick-or-treating from 4-6 p.m she continued.

“Last year, we were able to collect 600 cans in three hours, which is pretty amazing,” Gangal said. “I think we can do better this year; we aim to up that goal by 150 cans and collect 750 on Halloween day.”

We Scare Hunger at MHS is run exclusively by the students on campus, with little to minimal help from adults, according to Gangal.

SVCTE students gain workplace experience

BY AYSHA REHMAN

Vincent N g uy e n

modate the less fortunate with alternate modes of income, which happens to be Free the Children’s objective this year according to co-Unity Chair David Hoang who also oversees We Scare Hunger alongside Gangal.

“An example could be us essentially providing a family with a goat that could potentially aid in producing additional material goods,” Hoang said.

Free the Children does not only focus on that one aspect of its theme; it also has numerous local and global projects that, together, will achieve the goal of the current year according to Hoang.

“We Scare Hunger is basically Free the Children’s Jack Emery Drive,” Hoang said. “It’s a food drive held on Halloween where we send people out to trick-or-treat for non-perishable food items instead of just candy.”

The We Scare Hunger campaign is one of the many that are authorized by Free the Children, according to Hoang.

MHS offers its students a wide range of activities and programs aimed at the growth and success of its students. One such program is the Silicon Valley Career Technical Education (SVCTE), according to Guidance Counselor Beth Harke.

The program is similar to that of an ordinary high school, however it focuses more on hands-on education related to the careers that students in the program wish to pursue, according to Harke. “[SVCTE] is for kids who want a head start on their career,” Harke said.

“For three hours a day you’re working on what you love and what you want to do,” Harke said.

The program consists of 26 different courses available to students and includes free busing to and from the facilities and the MHS campus, according to Harke. SVCTE has also started coverage of various A-G requirements required by UCs and CSUs as of August 2014, according to Harke.

One of the students in the program is Junior Michael Lambert.

He goes to SVCTE for Truck Mechanics in the afternoon block from 12:30 to 3:30pm according to Harke.

Lambert’s day consists of working

on various projects in the lab, currently brakes on semi-trucks. Some days are full days, spent entirely working on projects, as well as halfdays, in which a portion of the day is spent doing book work, according to Lambert.

Regarding the real life application of training, people occasionally bring in vehicles for brake adjustments and oil changes. Lambert has completed brake adjustments before.

With the whole concept of applying learned skills to a real-life working environment, the students are also held accountable for all their mistakes, Lambert said.

Another student in the SVCTE program is Junior Karen Pimentel, who is training to become a paramedic through the Fire Science and First Responder course, according to Pimentel.

The students in her class have learned how to help choking victims, use an (automated external defibrilator) AED and oxygen tanks, and how to find a patients pulse, Pimentel said. The trainees also have days in which they train their bodies physically, called PT which is usually scheduled for Fridays.

At the moment, her schedule consists of hands-on training in which

the students utilize dummies to learn how to perform CPR, according to Pimentel. With this portion of the course, the students are also expected to study from their textbooks and then take a test administered by the American Heart Association, Pimentel said.

The reason why Pimentel chose to do the SVCTE program as opposed to waiting for a four-year college is because she wished to get ahead and start on the career of her choice, Pimentel said. Many members of her family are also in medical or medical related fields, so she wanted to partake in a related career as well, Pimentel said.

“This is the only opportunity to start before high school ends, and [the program] is not offered at other schools, so we’re fortunate to try it.”

Pimentel said.

An additional student in the Fire Science and First Responder course is Junior Alberto Torres. He is training to become a firefighter, according to Torres .

“I train with industrial grade equipment and methods, all while being supervised by an acting fire captain,” Torres said. He adds, “I am getting multiple certifications that will help me on the road to becoming a fire paramedic.”

NOVEMBER 2014

LIFESTYLE

Local coffee shop offers unique experience

BY TERRA WALLS

As the weather grows colder, the popularity of warm beverages increases. While Starbucks and Peet’s Coffee are great, the lines are often long, and the repetitive drinks can grow boring. Why not try someplace new?

B2 Coffee (87 N San Pedro St San Jose, CA 95110) If you’re after an atmosphere different from that of Starbucks or Peet’s Coffee, then B2 is a destination you definitely must try. Located inside San Pedro Square, B2 is open and warm with speedy service as well. TVs are located around the building accompanied by tea lights strung around the room that create

a cozy and warm feeling throughout the coffee shop. Bookshelves littered with artsy flyers and pamphlets surround some of the booths.

B2 has a variety of fresh bakery goods such as chocolate croissants and danishes. The drink selection is smaller than that of the bakery items, but what B2 lacks in variety it makes up for in flavor and quality. From Iced Americanos to hot Vanilla Lattes, the drinks will have you ready to start the day after just one sip. The prices are relatively similar to Starbucks, with some teas and fresh food items around $2.50.

Other caffeinated drinks like cappuccinos are priced around $3.50.

The baristas are extremely friendly and patient. Once your drink is done

you simply pick it up at the counter.

Within seconds your drink is ready to go. If you’re hungry for more than coffee and a dessert, look no further.

Because B2 is conveniently located within a marketplace; restaurants are situated within a two minute walk next door.

While B2 has wonderful ambiance, the location was difficult to find. The sign outside of the shop was written in faded chalk, making it easy to walk past. Also, if you’re looking for a place to study or read, B2 may not be the right place for you. With the televisions inside the buildings, it’s a little loud and hard to focus in. There aren’t too many long lines at B2, but the marketplace itself is usually filled with people.

THE UNION

13

DIY: DISTRESSED DENIM

BY AMY NGUYEN

Along with the raw denim trend, distressed denim has also becoming more prevalent in our everyday wardrboes. If you don’t have the time or money to go and get a new pair of jeans, here’s how you can do it at home.

Materials: - pair of denim - scissors - tweezers - pencil/chalk/paper (optional) - washing machine/dryer (optional)

1

New season brings innovative fashion trends

BY JULIA NGUYEN

With the arrival of a new season comes refreshing new collections and styles. Fall is in full swing, so it’s time to revamp your wardrobe by adding trendy pieces to the mix.

Women’s Mock Neck Tops: As a hybrid of thick turtlenecks and breezy tee shirts, mock neck tops are perfect pieces to transition your wardrobe from summer to fall. The unique necklines make them suitable for our moderate California fall weather, and allow for experimentation with proportion and cut.

Chelsea Boots: After years of oppressive rule under combat boots, Chelsea boots have finally prevailed, becoming a prominent style this season. Without the complicated laces and zippers, Chelsea boots are more simplistic and versatile

than combat boots, making them a smarter buy.

Distressed “Boyfriend” Jeans: With a looser, more casual fit, the “Boyfriend” Jean is yet another trend that signifies the revival of nineties grunge that carried over from previous seasons. The texture created by the deconstructed denim adds interest to any outfit and makes Boyfriend jeans the epitome of the “normcore” trend, which stresses casual apparel.

Grid Print: Plaid is a classic pattern that always makes its annual debut during fall, but this year a new print has stolen the spotlight: grid print. By combining the familiar lines and shapes found in plaid with a simplistic background, grid print is a more modern take on this classic and is representative of contemporary architecture and graphic design.

Men’s Bucket Hats: From nineties underground hip hop groups to Schoolboy Q, the bucket hat has been revived. Bucket hats are an innovative way to add print and patterns to any basic outfit. This trend is yet another example of how the fashion industry has turned street into chic.

Joggers: Jogger pants combine the comfort of sweatpants with the more practical look of fitted pants making them an essential part of any student’s wardrobe. Because they feature an elastic cuff that offers a looser fit, joggers are a more casual interpretation of the classic cargo pant.

The trends listed above are just a few of the many trends making their cameos this season. So with all of these options in mind, which trend will you be sporting on campus?

First, find a pair of denim that you are comfortable with experimenting with. You can finally put to use the old pair of denim you couldn’t bear to throw away. You can also find a lot of inexpensive options at thrift stores or other second hand shops.

2 Decide where you want you want your denim to be distressed. Mark these spots mentally in your head. If you want to be extra careful, you can use a pen, chalk, or paper to mark the areas on your denim.

3

Cut horizontal slits across the areas you wish to distress. These cuts should be about 1/2 to 3/4 inch next to each other. This will make the next step a lot easier.

4

Use tweezers to pull out the threads in the areas you cut. Make sure to remove only the blue threads, not the white. Once you have finished, throw your denim into the wash for a more natural distressed look.

14

THE UNION

SPORTS

NOVEMBER 2014

Online course required; raises SCA awareness among coaches

BY RUTH PARK

ivan huang | THE UNION

The MHS Football team played Saratoga High School on Oct. 10. The varsity game ended 49-0 with a home victory. The team hopes to defend its CCS Football Division I title, and is currently fifth overall in northern California.

Football adapts to new team; improves overall

BY IVAN HUANG

The MHS football team has been winning all its games in the season so far. It has a record of 8-0 in all games and 4-0 in league play, according to Maxpreps.

The team has been performing at a level similar to that of last season, Varsity Football Coach Kelly King said. It won the CCS Football Division I title last season, he added.

“It’s been good. I think we’re getting better offensively and continuing to grow.” King said. “You always try to work on the little things every week.”

The team has improved this season, Quarterback John Keller said.

There is an emphasis on playing to the best of the team’s ability.

“We just stay within ourselves and focus on our goal,” Keller said. “That’s to be the best we can.”

The team has also placed an emphasis on staying calm and collected, not allowing its record to influence team effort, Keller said. The emphasis has had a positive effect on the team’s performance.

“It’s going pretty good,” Keller said.

“We’re just taking it week by week, trying our best, giving it one hundred percent.”

The team has also coped with the pressures of defending the title well, King said. The only game the team prioritizes is the impending game.

“We look forward to Friday night, to get a chance to get out there and compete, and try to raise our standard of play,” King said. “Whoever we’re playing next, that’s the key game.”

Each game in the season is important. No opponent is prioritized over another.

“Every game to us is an important

game,” Keller said. “We take every game as seriously as the last.”

The team has adapted well to a new starting quarterback, King said. It has united and played with a coordinated team effort, King said.

“Every year the team changes. People graduate,” King said. “This has been a great group.”

Keller said that he was not pressured by any expectations set by the previous ity to do the best he can for the team.

Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is the number one cause of death among student athletes, according to Athletic Director Jeffrey Lamb. No MHS students have been affected yet, Lamb said.

MHS Coaches are required to take an online class about SCA, according to Lamb. He believes the coaches should know what to do when an athlete has symptoms of SCA. “One of the major symptoms is fainting,” Lamb said.

Other symptoms of SCA include vomiting, fatigue, and dizziness, according to the official Mayo Clinic website.

During SCA, heart function ceases, according to the official Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association (SCAA) website. The heart’s electrical system malfunctions and the heart stops beating, the website stated.

“Once a cardiac arrest occurs, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillation are required,” the website stated. “They are required within the first several minutes to restore electrical activity to the heart and revive the heart’s pumping function.”

SCA is different from heart attacks.

A heart attack occurs when a blood vessel becomes blocked and interrupts blood flow to the heart, according to the SCAA website.

All MHS Coaches must know basic first aid, including CPR, Lamb said.

There are also three defibrillators on campus, according to Lamb.

“All three of our defibrillators are in the athletic department,” Lamb said.

“One is even portable. And we have one for children because you never know who is going to need it.”

The defibrillators are easy to use.

Experience is not necessary to use them, according to Lamb.

“They actually talk to you and tell you what to do,” Lamb said. “They’re pretty simple to use.”

The online class includes a short, informational video as well as a ten question quiz, Lamb said. The coaches can pass by getting 70 percent on the quiz, according to Lamb.

“If the coaches are unable to pass the first time, they can retake the course,” Lamb said.

“The course is not that long and I decided our coaches could take ten minutes for it,” Lamb said. “It’s not a current law yet, but our coaches should be aware of it.”

SCA is especially at higher risk for football, softball, and baseball players, according to Lamb. There have been no MHS cases and Lamb hopes it will stay that way.

“We’ve never had to use the defibrillators so far,” Lamb said. “But just in case, we do have them. Obviously, we don’t want to have to use them.”

Keller said.“I know I can do it. I’m just and do as much as I can for the team.”

The team hopes to win each week, playing the best it can on a consistent basis, Keller said.

“Our hope is to be 1-0 every week and do the best that we can every game for 48 minutes,” Keller said.

courtesy of Emily hsieh

Pictured above is Dragon Boat during its last race, Treasure Island, held in September. It is currently the off-season, and will restart in the spring.

Dragon Boat rises in rank; increase in dedicated members

BY ASHLEY RICKS

Dragon Boat (DB) has increased its presence at MHS, according to DB Advisor Darra Cacao. It has grown due to the successful recruitment of new members, Cacao said.

The club has been on campus for a little more than five years, Cacao said.

The MHS DB races in conjunction with Mountain View Dragon Boat (MVDB), Cacao said.

“The numbers have grown significantly,” Cacao said. “The people who are dedicated to the sport really show up.”

A dragon boat team consists of 22 people: one steers person, one drummer, and ten people on the left and right. All must work together during a race, according to DB President Noah Walter.

DB President Noah Walter joined the sport in his freshman year, he said. Since then, the team has improved greatly.

“We’ve definitely gotten a lot better in terms of how we are in the state, compared to the other high school teams out there,” Walter said.

“When we first started, we would get into the top division which is A division, but we would only get like sixth place,” Walter said. “Now it’s pretty normal for us to get first, sec-

ond, third, stuff like that.”

MVDB’s typical race schedule begins with Lake Merced around May, according to Junior Emily Hsieh. It is followed with a sprint race in early July, Long Beach in late July, and finally Treasure Island in Sept., Hsieh said.

Currently, DB is in its off-season, according to Hsieh. Nevertheless, every Saturday the team goes out to Redwood City and practices on the water at Bair Island Aquatic Center, Hsieh said. “[Members] have a lot of open paddles where they go out and try out the sport,” Cacao said, who participated in rowing in college. “They have a great camaraderie.”

Senior Austin U, who has been in DB for all four years of his high school career, hopes that the team will continue to improve in the years to come.

DB gives its members opportunities to meet great people and also helps them throughout life, U said.

Sophomore Christoper Do joined DB, though he does not consider himself an athletic person, according to Do. He encourages all students to join.

“The sport is more of like a family thing, so I’d definitely go out and [give it a try],” Do said. “It may change your life; it’s changed mine.”

NOVEMBER 2014

SPORTS

THE UNION

15

Homecoming Dodgeball raises school spirit

BY WEE JIN KOH

The Homecoming Dodgeball Tournament was held after school on Oct. 9, Tournament Director Daanya Anand said. Team Woo Woo won the tournament and was awarded medals during the Homecoming Rally, Anand said.

Senior Alfonzo Alger was part of the victorious Team Woo Woo, according to Alger. It was his first time winning the tournament, Alger said.

“I participated in this event for the past three years,” Alger said. “I finally won.”

“There were nine teams, so we had a bracket where teams would have the chance to play each other,” Anand said. “From Pool A and Pool B, two finalists who would play each other to get to the finals.”

The top pair of teams from each

pool was chosen based on the number of wins that they had, according to Anand. If two teams were tied in the number of wins, the team that scored the most points would be ranked higher, Anand said.

Competitors had to follow certain rules during the tournament, Anand said. The rules were enforced to ensure a fair and safe environment, according to Anand.

“No head hits, because we don’t want students to get injured,” Anand said. “Competitors couldn’t hold the ball for more than 10 seconds.”

Each team had to pay $10 to participate in the tournament, according to Anand. The entry fees were added to the ASB events fund, Anand said.

“This fund contributes to the Homecoming events, including the dance,” Anand said.

“The event brought an athletic as-

pect to Homecoming Week,” Anand said.“It’s just a feeling that adds to the whole Homecoming vibe. I think it promotes school spirit.”

Senior David Nguyen, who played with the team Pariz by Night, believes that the event promoted school spirit. The tournament brought students together to compete with each other.

“This event was really fun, and it brought many people together,” Alger said. “It also demonstrated good sportsmanship.”

This year’s tournament was smaller than the previous tournaments, according to Anand. ASB also had less advertisement this year, Anand said.

“I wished that there were more people in the audience,” Anand said.

“We didn’t really have any difficulties except for the blacklights, which had some technical difficulties and didn’t work.”

christina luo | THE UNION

Lunchtime soccer started on Sept. 23 and lasted for five weeks. Matches are about 20 minutes. Players hope to see more females participate.

Lunchtime soccer less stressful, deficiency of female competitors

BY CHRISTINA LUO

crystal tran| THE UNION

The Powderpuff games kicked off on Oct 17. The class of 2017 was named the winner after its victory against the class of 2015 in the championship game. Unlike previous years, there was no admission fee for the games.

Sophomores emerge victorious at Powderpuff

BY CRYSTAL TRAN

The Class of 2017 won the Powderpuff games this year. Powderpuff is a traditional girls flag football game, according to Activities Director Joanna Butcher.

All girls can play in the competition.

They must pay for their uniform to have a guaranteed spot on the team, according to Butcher.

The first game was scheduled for Oct. 17 at 3:30 p.m. There was no admission fee, compared to previous years, where people had to pay to watch, Butcher said.

In the first game, the sophomores won against the freshmen. The juniors lost to the seniors.

“It was a great game filled with friendly competition,“ Junior Kaitlin

Bezema said. “I was glad to be a part of it.”

The sophomores played the seniors in the championship game. It was held the following Friday on Oct. 24 during lunch.

In the game, Sophomore Cindy Duong scored the first points with a touchdown, making the score 7-0.

Sophomore Alexis Romero scored a second touchdown earning another seven points. Senior Gabrielle Morales also scored a touchdown, ending the game at 14-7.

“It’s my first time playing Powderpuff,” Sophomore Sarelis Villalobos-Martinez said. “My favorite memory was probably just spending time with my teammates and coaches.”

The coaches of Powderpuff were MHS football players, Butcher said.

The coaches were in charge of their teams for practices, games, and organization on playing time, according to Butcher.

Junior Dejaun Crummie was the coach for the sophomores. He knew that a lot of girls wanted to try football and he decided to be a part of it, Crummie said.

“Coaching the team can be easy and hard,” Crummie said. “So we [coaches] just handle it like the girls don’t know what they’re doing at all so they catch the drift of things and figure the rest out on their own.”

Many participants said they would prefer the first game to be on the same day as the championships.

Having the championship at lunch did not give the players enough time to warm up, according to Senior Gabrielle Perez.

Bolden trains with ODP, program feeds into Olympics

BY DENNY BAO

Soccer is not yet a cornerstone of American sports. However, an MHS student has been playing it for as long as she can remember.

Senior Sarina Bolden has competed against tough teams across the country. She does not plan to stop soon, she said.

“I started [playing soccer] when I was around five,” she said. “I got interested because of a friend, whose family was really into it.”

Bolden now regularly plays in the Elite Clubs National League (ECNL), she said. The ECNL hosts games every weekend, she added.

“The games are in a big setting. Everyone is really good,” Bolden said.

Bolden also recently participated in the Olympic Development Program (ODP), which fosters young talent

for the Olympic Games., according to Bolden.

ODP players can go on to play for the United States Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT), she said. The ODP has four levels: district, state, regional, and national, Bolden said.

“The program is voluntary. You show up on your own will,” she said.

“They make cuts, so you play against the toughest competition. Obviously, the national level is the highest.”

Bolden also plays for the MHS Varsity Girls’ Soccer Team, she said. She has been playing at the varsity level since her freshman year.

“I want to play at a high level so that I can get recognized and compete with the best players,” Bolden said. “I also want to gain a new experience.”

Despite her busy schedule, she practices for two or three days a week, she said.

“It’s off and on. I usually practice every week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday,” Bolden said.

Bolden admires noteworthy players like USWNT Forward Abby Wambach of the Western New York Flash and Argentine Forward Lionel Messi, who plays for FC Barcelona, she said.

“I also watch a lot of college players.

They’re all really good,” Bolden said.

“Messi is one of the best though.”

However, Bolden is also an inspiration herself, according to Senior Mithalee Thakkar. Thakkar and Bolden are teammates on the MHS Varsity Girls’ Soccer Team.

“Sarina Bolden is the most amazing soccer player I have ever played with,” Thakkar said via Facebook Messenger. “Not only does she push herself and lead, she also tends to have a positive impact on all those around her.”

Lunchtime soccer usually has more action and higher scores than normal soccer games, Lunchtime Soccer Head William Conley said. It is a pre-season competition for those on the soccer team, according to Conley.

The teams play in groups of five, Conley said. Each game is approximately 20 minutes long.

“It is another way of involving students in school and school related activities,” Digital Business Academy (DBA) History Teacher Ana Pardo said. “One thing that illustrates that these are friendly matches is that the kids don’t even bother to wear shin guards.”

Lunchtime soccer started on Sept.

23, Conley said. It lasted for about five weeks, Conley added.

DBA and Academy of Engineering and Technology compete as a tradition, according to Conley. The team that wins has bragging rights over the other team, Conley said.

“We are the only team with girls,” Pardo said. “Mr. Conley, Mr. Keller and I were discussing whether we should make it a requirement that every team should have at least one girl and make it co-ed.”

Coaches are present to keep track of goals and to remind the players that they need to cover man-to-man, Pardo said. The players manage themselves, Pardo added.

Sophomore Nisha Shankla likes lunchtime soccer because she is able to meet new people and have fun playing soccer, she said. She was on

the DBA team.

The skill level is different from the regular soccer season, Shankla said.

At the same time, however, she is able to have more fun, Shankla added.

“I like the competition,” Senior Gabrielle Perez, from the DBA team, said. “I would like the locker rooms to be open so we’d be able to change our clothes.”

Normal soccer games are more stressful while lunchtime soccer is more fun, according to Perez. It is amusing when the girls on the team are able to exceed their guy teammates’ expectations, Perez added.

“It is the first time that I was asked to organize it,” Pardo said. “Now that I’ve done it once, there is room for improvement.”

Instead of passing, many players would go solo with the ball, Senior Sahil Hansaila said. They were able to play against people they know, according to Hansalia, who was on the Hooligans team.

Senior Sergio Franco, who played on the Tigres team, said he enjoyed hanging out with friends while doing his favorite hobby. Franco said that he would definitely do lunchtime soccer again if he was given the opportunity.

More girls should join lunchtime soccer, Franco said. Lunchtime soccer was fine the way it was set up and organized, Franco added.

“You have the ability to show off more moves,” Senior Richard Aguilar, from the Hooligans team, said. “We have chemistry from playing together outside of school.”

16

NEWS

T HE U NION

Lunch shortened; further light shed on incident

EYE ON CAMPUS

FROM PAGE 1

Courtesy Of Tina Nguyen

Seniors Tina Nguyen and Scott Hall scare visitors at the Haunted Theater.

The Theater opened on Oct. 24 and 25 and was put on by the Drama class.

Overpopulation ‘a problem’

BY ABIGAIL ECAL

The student population at MHS is gradually rising, according to Principal Cheryl Lawton. There were 3,106 students enrolled as of Oct. 1, Lawton said.

The student-teacher ratio varies from class to class, according to Lawton. The school does not have a maximum number of students that it can hold, Lawton said.

“The School Board members had interesting ideas to control the amount of students here,” Lawton said. “One of them said to build a new high school, which again, has been talked about for 30 years so that’s probably not going to happen.

Somebody suggested making all the buildings second story and another suggested to have more portables.”

According to Lawton, there will be a college campus across the street from MHS. It will offer classes that students can take there instead of at the high school, Lawton said.

“Once they open a college campus across the street I think it will help because we get to send a couple hun-

NOVEMBER 2014

dred students over there during the day for classes,” Lawton said. “They are looking at around 10 to 12 classrooms, so 300 to 400 students can go off campus at any given time of the day.”

There are too many students, according to Science Teacher Kenneth Lewis. A science room averages about 32 students, Lewis said.

“Large amounts of students in science classrooms can lead to potential hazards,” Lewis said. “There are a limited amount of lab tables in each classroom. It’s a problem when you have six students doing labs in one table.”

According to Senior Lovejot Singh, the school should limit the number of students. Another building, if not another high school, should be built Singh said.

“The large population of students causes schedule changes,” Singh said.

“One drawback of a large student population is the waiting list for getting into classes. It is not fair for students to not be able to take the classes they want to.”

day, said. “We felt that ending lunch was the best way to keep our students safe.”

Some teachers thought that cutting lunch early was due to scheduling issues, according to English Teacher Ginger Roy. She was eating lunch in another teacher’s classroom at the time, Roy said.

“I heard the announcements on the PA that lunch was being shut down early, and at first everyone thought it was a mistake,” Roy said. “There was a lot of confusion among the teachers.”

Lunch was cut 10 minutes early, according to Senior Brian Dinh. Students were forced to go to their fifth period classes, he continued.

“I kept eating my lunch, because it’s my given lunch time,” Dinh said.

“A second security guard told me to go back to class or it’ll be a cut.”

“It was probably about six minutes left when we rang the bell, I think,” Lawton said. It is not against the education code to have lunch for less than 30 minutes because students just have to be able to get their food, she added.

The California Department of Education recommends that students receive no less than 20 minutes of lunch time after they are served, according to its website.

“There was no line at the time; the lunch line was done,” Lawton said.”

The students who had to get lunch had gone through the lunch line already.”

Some students, however, did not get lunch, Senior Sandra Monreal said.

Her fifth period teacher allowed her

class to get food after lunch was truncated, she said.

“There were people waiting in line at the cafeteria who got sent away by security,” Monreal said. “My teacher let us go out to get food from the satellite kitchen. She told me that apples were free, so I thought it would be free for the rest of my class, so I took the box of apples and ran.”

Roy was walking around, because she does not have a fifth period class, she said. She wanted to see what was going on, but by the time she got there, everything was over, she continued. She saw football players in Social Studies Teacher Caitlin Bellotti’s room, she added.

Varsity Football Coach Kelly King was called to the office following the decision to make lunch shorter, according to Lawton. She did not know why he was called to the office, she said. “I was covering [King’s class] as a matter of fact,” Lawton said.

The football players involved in the incident were allowed to play the same afternoon that Friday at the Homecoming game against Saratoga High School, Stocks said. The administrative team did not know who the main students involved were and therefore decided not to take disciplinary action until enough information was gathered, he added.

“We did not feel that it was fair to pull anybody or to cancel a game.”

Lawton said. “We knew there were a few people involved; we did not know who they were.”

Consequences were enforced as soon as the administrative team knew who the main students involved were, Lawton said. They listened to at least

35 different witness statements before wrapping up the investigation, she continued.

The administration would not provide much information regarding the details of the consequences that students involved were given, other than they had been suspended, because these students are entitled to some privacy, according to Stocks.

However, some of the students that were dealt suspensions or in-house suspensions for harrassments or intimidation were football players.

Stocks verified.

The investigation wrapped up on Monday, Oct. 13, according to Lawton. “Fortunately we [had] enough adults that were all around [the altercations],” Lawton said. “I think we definitely have their word of what was going on, and we can see what the students said too, because again, students see things from different angles and sometimes they might see something that the teacher didn’t see.”

There are many rumors circulating the events on Friday, Lawton said. There was no blade pulled, no stretcher, and no handcuffs, she clarified.

“The administration team never publicly addressed the incident on Oct. 10 for cutting lunch early,” Senior Germain Louie said. “The only public notice made to the entire school from what I remember hearing is that our school was to be in lockdown for the remaining period of lunch that was left.”

“Our school should just have more people prepared for a fight whenever and wherever,” Monreal said.

Donations needed, not required

BY DIVYESH CHOTAI

California state law prohibits schools from charging students for extracurricular activities, according to the California Department of Education’s website. The goal of the law, AB 1575, is to improve awareness of existing laws and ensure all students’ constitutional rights are protected.

AB 1575 states that “all supplies, materials, and equipment needed to participate in educational and extracurricular activities shall be provided to pupils free of charge.”

Due to budget cuts, MHS is not entirely capable of providing all equipment for free to its students, according to Athletic Director Jeffrey Lamb.

To compensate, MHS seeks voluntary donations of funds to maintain the quality of extracurricular programs, Lamb said.

AB 1575 permits the use of these donations by stating the law “shall not be interpreted to prohibit solicitation of voluntary donations of funds.”

“Fair Share donations go to the operational costs for athletics,” Lamb said. “We ask for around $100 per athlete, but the donation is not a fixed amount nor mandatory. If an athlete can’t afford the donation, they can turn in a form after having their parents [or guardians] sign it.”

A majority of the funds from Fair Share donations go to coaches’ salaries and transportation costs, accord-

ing to Lamb. The rest of the funding goes to state funding, league dues, game costs, and Central Coast Section fees, Lamb said.

Other organizations, like MHS’s Marching Band, also depend on funding to operate.

“We pay over $300 to cover costs for the whole year,” Baritone Section Leader Henry Than said. “The payment includes transportation, uniform, and food costs for the whole year.”

Clarinet Section Leader Edmund Lau explained that adjustments can be made for those who are unable to pay the Marching Band cost.

“You can pay [the fee] in small increments over time,” Lau said. “You don’t have to pay it all at once.”

Materials that can be taken home by students to keep can also be charged for, according to AB 1575. Students do not need to pay for any materials used for class participation alone.

In Photography, students are asked to donate $30 per semester, according to Photography Teacher Ian Danielson. However, the class curriculum may be modified if the program lacks funding.

“The quality of the program is dependent on donations from the students that take [Photography],” Danielson said. “The donations have an effect on the quality of the lessons we have and the amount of work [students] can print out and take home.”

Ashley Ricks | THE UNION

AP Spanish Tutor Adriana Andrade assists Senior Kacy Mendoza with her assignment during her AP study session. The tutoring sessions are offered during lunch on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday each week in room L-22.

AP Tutoring program begins, assists students

BY ASHLEY RICKS

Tutoring geared towards the AP courses taught at MHS is being offered every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday in room L-22. The sessions are held during lunch through SSR, and are run by tutors from the Bay Area Tutoring Association (BATA), according to Supervisor Aldine Dimmick.

The current courses that tutors come in to specifically assist with are AP Biology, AP US History, AP American Government, AP Psychology, AP Spanish, AP Studio Art, and AP Calculus AB/BC. However, many students come to receive extra help with other subjects, Dimmick added.

“Anybody that needs help can come in,” Dimmick said. “During lunch is the best time to get a tutor’s attention; you come in closer to SSR and it gets busier. We have six to eight tutors that come.”

Should a student come in with questions about a subject not yet covered by the current tutoring staff, MHS and BATA work together to send another tutor for their specific needs, according to Dimmick. In an effort to encourage students to come,

pizza is brought in on Mondays and snacks are offered throughout the rest of the week, Dimmick said.

BATA Tutor Sandy Rosas, who helps students with math, chemistry, and Spanish, was introduced to the tutoring association through a friend who encouraged her to apply.

After researching BATA and eventually becoming a tutor, it has been an enjoyable experience, Rosas said.

Rosas added that she currently attends San Jose City College, where she is involved in another tutoring program, and also tutors children at an elementary school.

“All of my jobs pertain to school, and I just like to help people -because when I was younger I didn’t have anyone to help me and I always struggled by myself,” Rosas said. “I just feel like it’s nice to give back.”

Of the tutors available, there are alumni and current students from both local colleges and ones across the nation, including UC Santa Barbara and Whitman College, Dimmick said. Chemical engineering, physics, and biology majors are present, amongst others, Dimmick added.

BATA Biology Tutor Ana Kolosova noted that her favorite aspect

about the sessions is working on a school campus, and directly helping students with what they are doing in class.

The students attending have found that the tutors help clarify what the fast-paced AP courses tend to gloss over, according to Junior Sarah Rendon. “They make it comprehendible, so you understand why it happened and why they said it; that’s definitely been a lot more helpful for me because otherwise I would have probably dropped out of [US History],” Rendon said. “[My tutor] helps a lot; he explains very thoroughly what to do-unlike my teacher, who just gives you the information but doesn’t explain how to use it,” Junior Aaron Truong said, who comes to the sessions for assistance with physics. He, along with the other students in the program, plans on continuing to attend in the future.

Dimmick said that although the program started off slow, it eventually built up to a solid number of students with people showing up at every session. She hopes to see more students utilize the opportunity to meet with tutors in order to succeed in their respective classes.