UNION T HE
DECEMBER 2017 Volume XXXI Issue III
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STUDENT VOICE OF MILPITAS HIGH SCHOOL
PLPs used in MUSD classes BY KELLY LUE JERALD MENDOZA
The Summit Personalized Learning Platform (PLP) which prompted a visit from Betsy DeVos on Oct. 12 has been implemented at Pomeroy and a number of other MUSD schools, said Sixth Grade Teacher Sarah Thomsen. PLP is an online program that allows students to set their own goals and work at their own pace, Thomsen said. The former principal of Pomeroy, Dr. Sheila Murphy, looked for an improvement on blended learning, Thomsen said. She wanted to see how technology could be better used to personalize learning, she explained. “[Murphy] came across this Summit PLP platform, and I think, as far as I know, that that was kind of her reasoning behind doing that,” Thomsen said. “She had myself and the other sixth grade teachers go and see what it would be like to incorporate this into our classrooms.” Though PLP strives to make students more independent, the program does not entirely replace the traditional classroom, said Sixth Grade Teacher Hannah Cho. Within Pomeroy, working with PLP only takes about half an hour out of the school day, Cho continued. “This is going to be different from high school or middle school environments because we are general ed classes,” Cho said. “In other words, even though we are doing PLP, we are
also teaching other things, like social studies and math, on our own with the California curriculum.” The independence factor is a huge advantage that comes with using PLP, said Thomsen. Students are engaged and motivated in ways that she had never seen in a traditional classroom setting, Thomsen continued. “I think one of the biggest advantages of PLP is that my students are goal-setting in ways that I was never asked to do in school. I never had as much choice as my students have,” Thomsen said. “They’re looking at the PLP platform in history, math, science, and english and saying, ‘What do I need to be working on?’” PLP is meant to give you more flexibility in class, but that is not always the case, 7th Grader Kaitlyn Hsu said. Everything is more self-taught, with less teacher support, Hsu continued. “Often we cannot work on our own time due to the certain line that tells you whether or not you are on track,” Hsu said. “I guess it’s pretty helpful to bring the lesson plan with you, but traditional classroom settings may be better so it’s not just the computer teaching us.” The program gives freedom for students to learn what they want, 6th Grader Aditi Gupta said. It gives students resources go further than curriculum in traditional classes, Gupta continued. “I used to be very bored in class sometimes, but in PLP there are actually a bunch of things I learn, wbe-
Winter Ball prices increased BY JONATHAN TRAN
Increased Winter Ball ticket prices this year raised questions, according to 2020 Class President Valerie Lam. The Class of 2020 is responsible for organizing the entire dance as this year’s sophomores, Lam said. Blowout prices started at $25, according to ASB’s publicity video from last year. This year, in comparison, has prices starting at $40, as shown by ASB’s flyer. Each person accounts for $30 of the food price, not including the cost of renting the venue itself and other costs such as the DJ, Lam explained. “In previous years classes didn’t have to pay a minimum price for food
packages,” Lam said. “This year, we have to pay $10,000 minimum just for food.” “They still have to make a profit because the money made from Winter Ball this year goes to planning Prom next year,” Lam said. “Without this, there’s no Prom next year,” Lam said. “We didn’t really try looking at other venues because it’s always been at the Corinthian Grand Ballroom, and we didn’t want that to change.” Increasing prices of dances are unfavorable, according to Senior Sonal Mehta. “I think dances are already pretty pricey, especially since you have to pay for a dress, transportation, and other things, so I don’t really like how it’s gotten more expensive,” Mehta said.
Eye on Campus: Hydrant Explosion
courtesy of kristy le
A fire hydrant exploded in front of the F-building before school on Nov. 27, causing the school’s plumbing system to shutdown for approximately an hour.
Vivian Tsang | THE UNION
Mrs. Tseng (standing) passes out the Math II Final Exam to students who need to fulfill their Geometry requirement. The exam was administered on Nov. 28 before the UC Application deadline. Students pictured include juniors and seniors.
Students take test to fulfill A-G college requirements
BY LOAN-ANH PHAM VIVIAN TSANG
To fulfill the UC and CSU geometry requirements, a Math II Final Exam was offered to students affected by the requirement on Tuesday, Nov. 28, according to Assistant Principal Amanda Gross. Administration and staff wanted to create an easier pathway for these students to gain the credits quickly, Gross added. Students who skipped Math II or Geometry are missing the Geometry requirement and will be flagged during their application process, Principal Francis Rojas said. There are rules about Geometry since it is a very different math, Rojas noted. “I had the counselors, administration and the math department start looking at do we have some students that skip Math II?” Rojas said. “We’re lucky we identified this to see what alternative we can give.” Originally, 31 juniors and seniors were missing Geometry on their transcripts, yet almost all of the students had already taken Geometry in middle school or through Math Enrich-
ment, Gross said. While some seniors were able to self report their scores on their UC or CSU applications, it was better to have the course listed on their transcript, Gross continued. “All of a sudden we moved over to Common Core Math and somehow in the change over, [the students] were not exposed to geometry,” Gross explained. Junior Jason Li was one of the 31 students missing the requirement, he said. Once Li confirmed the issue through email with the UC system, he alerted his counselor, he continued. “I just needed to take the test and be over with it,” Li commented. “It’s more time convenient.” The exam was divided into two parts, one part consisting of 50 multiple choice questions and the second part consisting of free response questions, according to Math Department Lead Mei-Hsiang Tseng. All 13 students that took the final passed, with the majority receiving A’s, Tseng said. “I cannot show you, but all of them did very very [well],” Tseng said. “I [was] kind of surprised.” Junior Lisa Yan thought the test
was not as hard as she expected it to be, she said. She studied by doing the packets early, Yan added. Tseng volunteered to prepare review packets for the chapters covered in the final, she said. The packets were part of the credit earned to force students to study and do well, she explained. “[The packets] were actually kind of helpful,” Senior Albert Thai said. “I knew a good portion of it; I’d say I knew half of it before taking the packets.” Junior Alexander Tu said he had already learned Geometry, and that it was just a matter of obtaining the requirements. “I think the administration should tell us that taking the test to skip a class freshman year doesn’t count for credits.” Tu noted. “I hope that we are not going to have these things happen again,” Tseng said. “Kids need to have their requirements; they need to know what should you do, and what should you follow, not jump around. When you jump, you know you are going to have a problem.”
Crowded tables posed safety issue; reorganized on campus BY KATHERINE HUBENY MORGAN LEI
Lunch tables were redistributed and reorganized due to the safety issues they posed, Principal Francis Rojas said. Major incidents resulting in the rearrangement included the fire drills, the lockdown, and the fight, Rojas added. Students would come to school after hours to move tables around, damaging them in the process, Assistant Principal Jennifer Hutchison said. Students would group and chain their tables together, blocking walkways, Hutchison continued. “In the history of Milpitas there’s been a territorial kind of positional power people have had,” Hutchison said. “They have locked up tables and have not allowed other people, typically underclassmen, to go sit at tables, which caused some bullying.” The senior area was especially overcrowded, while the area near the cafeteria had only a few tables, Rojas said. The table situation was a bit of a safety hazard because it was easy for people to topple over, History Teach-
er Danielo Escobar mentioned. During the fight, it was very hectic as people got pushed, he added. “We couldn’t intervene and get in to stop people from going back, and then people were climbing over the tables,” Escobar explained. The school has added around 40 new tables in the past five years, Rojas said. It is difficult to bring in extra seating though, as each table costs from $800 to $1,000, he explained. “I’m looking at ways to get some more tables, but there’s no school around that’s going to have enough seating for all students,” Rojas said. “I mean people will sit on planters.” Administration has definitely seen fewer problems in the three weeks that the tables have been arranged this way, Hutchison said. People should realize that safety is the primary concern, she added. “I think that people really do see that they can walk around much easier, and with that comes a feeling of security,” Hutchison explained. “Then I also think change can be hard, but I think people are resilient enough to get through that quickly.”
This abrupt change in the middle of the year would not work, according to Senior Anna Te. The timing was not ideal, and it resurfaced occurrences of table wars, which were initially resolved after the first few weeks of school, she explained. “This was poor planning on the administrative part,” Te said. “If this was the goal of the new admin, then it should have been implemented in the beginning of the year. One, it caused unnecessary chaos since there are already table wars during the beginning of the year; two, they already took out tables; and then three, they rearranged it again.” The new table arrangement was not a positive change at Milpitas High, according to Senior Christopher Than. Although the new arrangement is very organized, it has limited the high school experience on campus, he explained. “This new table arrangement has seized the high school right for us to associate with everybody around us,” Than said. “It prevents us from socializing in this overhang that belongs to the subculture of the Senior Class.”