N E WS 1 , 3
OP-ED 4,5
F E AT U R E S 6 ,7
S PR E A D 8 ,9
L I F E S T YL E 10, 11
E N T E R TA I N M E N T 12 , 1 3
SPORTS 14,15
T HE APRIL 2018
Volume XXIX Issue V
UN ON
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STUDENT VOICE OF MILPITAS HIGH SCHOOL
MHS replaces past security guards; campus security owned by district BY KATHERINE HUBENY
Hope Do | THE UNION
MHS students participated in the national walk out on Mar. 14. These students are seen crossing Milpitas Boulevard while displaying their various posters.
Students walk-out of class; advocate for gun regulation BY KATHERINE HUBENY JERALD MENDOZA
In an anti-gun violence protest, around 250 MHS students walked out of class on Mar. 14, Principal Francis Rojas said. Students who walked out convened at the Milpitas Police Department to express their opinions, he explained. During the walkout, students first joined together in front of the school gym, then proceeded to walk to the police station where they shared their opinions on the matter. Participants then had 17 minutes of silence for each fallen victims and a few more speeches were given before heading back to campus right before lunch. Many students shared the same sentiments in their reasoning for
attending the walkout, according to Senior Kevin Quach. These include a dissent for gun violence and a will to decrease it, Quach continued. “I obviously take a stance for stricter gun control laws and being here and just raising awareness in general means a lot to me,” Quach said. “Personally, [I’m here] because gun control has always been something that I’ve always wanted to be involved in, and it’s obviously a pressing issue that directly involves all students in the community.” The walkout was meant to advocate for stricter gun control laws, Quach said. One of his primary concerns about gun violence is the possibility of hearing of a family member’s in-
Security on campus was replaced to allow the new ‘Campus Security Supervisors’ to build relationships with those at MHS, according to Principal Francis Rojas. The Admiral Security Company was replaced with staff hired by MUSD, Rojas added. These Campus Security Supervisors were given training specifically for school security which includes online classes, first aid, and safety, Rojas explained. The supervisors have already started to make relationships with students and other staff, Rojas continued. “Right now there are no downsides,” Rojas said. “I think this costs more because we are paying the salary plus benefits, but again that’s an investment that’s worth it because of our safety and the process of building community.” Security Guard Marcus Boone remained with the Security team after the company was replaced, Boone explained. He really loves the atmosphere at MHS and is glad that he stayed, he continued. “Now that I’m with the staff, it’s more organized, and I actually have four guards instead of just me,” Boone
said. “For six weeks, I worked here by myself, and the company couldn’t fill our need. So I stuck around, and I’m glad that the principal and Ms. Rivera asked me to stay on.” None of the reasoning for replacing the security on campus is negative, according to Assistant Principal Jennifer Hutchison. The company had done a good job for the school for a long time, she explained. “We felt that having people from within Milpitas Unified will be more supportive of students,” Hutchison said. “So it’s not a negative about their process and procedures.” The change in security guards was actually noticed by Junior Carla Romero, she said. This is probably a good change since there have been a lot more school shootings lately, Romero explained. “I see like a lot more of security,” Romero said. “Before, they wouldn’t really stop kids when they were like out of class, but now they actually ask them questions.” However, Sophomore Jenny Pham did not realize that there was a change in security, and most people do not pay attention, she said. “They don’t really have a huge affect on us, and they don’t do much that I can see,” Pham said.
N EWS IN BR IEF CLOG Chartering CLOG chartering has started. Applications for returning CLOGS are due on April 9. Spring Break Spring Break will start on April 15 and continue through April 21. School will resume on April 23. SBAC Testing SBAC testing starts on April 10. Testing dates are April 10, 12, 24 and 26. Grading Period Ends The 12-week grading period will end on April 6. Prom Prom is on April 7. It starts at 7:30 pm and ends at 12:00 am. Science Olympiad Science Olympiad will participate in the Nor-Cal State Competition on April 14 at CSU Stanislaus. Key Club Benefit Show Key Club is holding their annual benefit show on April 21. AP Test Pre-Administration Pre-Administration occurs afterschool for Seniors on April 23, Juniors on April 24, and for Sophomores and make-ups on the April 25.
Eye on Campus: CLOGs do ‘Pies for Charity’
SEE WALKOUT ON PAGE 3
Life management class is required BY MORGAN LEI
Incoming freshmen will be required to take a semester-long course of Life Management or AVID or ROTC, Principal Francis Rojas said. The requirement is due to an increase in student mental health issues at MHS, Rojas added. The Life Management class aims to teach students how to deal with stress and how to make decisions best for themselves, Rojas explained. High school is the last couple of years before adulthood, and students need to be prepared for the transition into the professional world, he continued. “It was a proposal I put forward to get this done freshman year,” Rojas said. “We can help each other with it so that really instead of focusing on those problems when they come, we can actually overcome them, be a stronger person, and really focus on our college and career goals.” ROTC and AVID work as alternatives for Life Management since both teach students about managing stress, Rojas said. By teaching these skills, MHS will be able to develop a stronger student culture, he added. “AVID provides very similar type of supports though their mentorship and through their elective course,” Rojas explained. “ROTC also has a component of that in their program according to the ROTC leaders.” Teachers for the class next year
include Life Management Teacher Bridget Hall, who has been teaching the course for four years, and Health Teacher Toby Anderson, Rojas added. “Life Management, the way I want to teach it, is to make healthy decisions while managing your life,” Anderson said. “So I think that they have a lot in common.” Life Management could be helpful for freshmen, according to Senior Catherine Ma, who is currently enrolled in the course. However, for juniors and seniors, it is a bit too late, she added. “We mostly just talk about our career and plans for life. Right now for example, we are choosing a career we want to do and fields,” Ma said. “This class will help [freshmen] focus on themselves and try to direct themselves, so it will help them.” In addition to the new class requirement next year, the school plans on partnering with the company Naviance, a software that helps students with college and career planning, Rojas explained. The software will help students find what they are interested in, he added. “It’s a software that really connects students with their skills and their interests with helping them choose the courses that they need to take during high school,” Rojas noted. “They will really help our counselors reach out to more students because it’s something that all students will have access to.”
Eric De Guzman | THE UNION
Representatives from some of the CLOGs on campus participated in Pies for Charity during lunch on March 14. Students paid $1 to a charity of the CLOG’s choice to pie the CLOG’s participating representative with a plate of whipped cream.
Common core merits unclear despite SBAC success BY MORGAN LEI LOAN-ANH PHAM
Common Core aims to single out vital skills across all subject areas as standards are revised accordingly, Assistant Principal Skyler Draeger said. Common Core’s gradual implementation into the MHS school system throughout the years has been effective, according to SBAC scores, Draeger noted. Data shows that MHS students are doing significantly above average in California, Draeger commented. There has been a 5% gain in students scoring “proficient” or above in Math, as well as a 6% gain in growth in English Language Arts, Draeger cited. “You should be able to disaggregate your data, look at your students and look at their scores in each specific part of the test, and from that,
say what percentage of the time are we either near ‘proficient’ or above,” Draeger said. “That would indicate that you’ve learned the standard.” Students skipping levels of Common Core classes (such as Math I or Math II), are a factor in the difficulty to discern a pattern of growth, Math Department Lead Mei-Hsiang Tseng noted. Whether students are learning these skills in high school or prior to high school is unclear, Tseng added. “In the old ways, we tried to make the kids do the basic math skills. Nowadays, we’ll try to make it so that you deal with more real-life problem solving,” Tseng said. “We have to wait more time to see, elementary school up to high school, because not all of the teachers get the training for how to teach the Common Core. We need to have more teachers get the training. Hopefully, it will get better and
better.” However, the introduction of Common Core has not been favored by many students due to the curriculum being difficult to follow, Senior Vivian Pham explained. The new learning style spends too much time online, and it can be difficult to maintain interest, Pham continued. “I remember being in Math I and the Common Core curriculum had not been implemented yet; I would say it was more interesting because the teachers would have their own curriculum and it’s easier for students to understand the teacher,” Pham commented. “As for Common Core, I would say students don’t really like it much. It’s pretty difficult for students to understand it. I remember students would try to get help but they would still have a bad grade.”