There has been a decrease in students in the class of 2025 who are meeting or exceeding the standard for the math California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP), especially from sixth grade to eleventh grade, Director of Secondary Education Maurissa Koide said at a board meeting on Oct. 8, 2024. Only about half of the class either met or exceeded the standard, according to a bar graph shown during the meeting. When the high school principal and some of the district board members met with the dean of the School of Engineering and Com-
puter Science at the University of Pacific (UOP), the dean shared that for the last few years, many college freshmen, who had taken accelerated math courses in high school, were not testing into the expected math level for college. , Koide said in an interview. Many of the college freshmen are placed into the pre-calculus level, Koide added.
“It has come up also with our math high school teachers that they’re seeing students struggle the more and more they accelerate,” Koide said. “The retention for the content is not always there, and so we have been having conversations around, ‘Is it helpful? Is acceleration actually ben-
Courtesy of Maurissa Koide
efiting students, or are we putting them on a backward path?’, inadvertently, being that we’re also hearing that now from a college partner.”
Koide would like to see, if possible, specifics on how the high school students are doing when they are entering math as freshmen in college, Koide said. Then, the district can see how they performed as seniors in high school, what math they completed, and then what math course they entered as freshmen in college, Koide said.
“That data, instead of just anecdotal statements, is important to have,” Koide said. “I also had shared that with the board, that’s kind of our next step. We’d like to hear from other colleges and see specifically how it’s impacting our students.”
Currently, the district has not found a definite correlation between college freshmen not testing into the appropriate math levels to how MHS students are performing, Koide said.
“The other thing we (the district) are looking at is our summer programming and our summer Acceleration Program, seeing, also, longitudinal data on if students are accelerating, how they (are) then faring in their high school courses once they do that,” Koide said.
There are fewer students who pass the acceleration test that self-study than those that took an actual course over the summer, Koide said. Oftentimes, the district sees that students who are self-studying are not as successful, Koide said.
“It’s hard to replace a teacher, self-studying when they have a tutor, or maybe something like Khanmigo, where they can get some tutoring support,” Koide
District maintains policies in face of Trump’s executive order on race and gender in schools
By Prisha Jain
Among the executive orders issued by President Donald Trump within the last few weeks is one titled “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” which sets protocols for how schools should handle topics like racism and gender identity and the consequences for failure to comply, according to The White House.
The executive order plans to penalize teachers for “unlawfully facilitating the social transition of a minor student” and prohibits teaching that “an individual’s moral character or status as privileged, oppressing, or oppressed is primarily determined by the individual’s race, color, sex, or national origin,” according to the White House. Social transition refers to actions such as teachers using preferred student names or pronouns upon request, according to the execu-
tive order.
The district is not obligated to change any of its current policies on the basis of this executive order, Superintendent Cheryl Jordan said.
“Our California Attorney General has been issuing lawsuits against the executive orders, and this is one of them,” Jordan said. “So, for the time being, we are perfectly within our rights to continue following our board policies in California.”
The executive order has caused concern and disrupted public education, according to Board President Chris Norwood.
“Good education is continuous, and anytime there is a disruption in education something is lost,” Norwood said.
Norwood finds it difficult to see any benefits to this executive order, he said.
“There is an effort to change the direction of modern society,” Norwood said. “That is concern-
ing. We have got to be global citizens. We have got to be international thinkers.”
The executive order upset social studies teacher Rylie Zea personally due to how it unfairly targets transgender students, she said.
“It is basically like making the whole issue again about gender identity and about teachers somehow indoctrinating children,” Zea said. “When really we’re just trying to show students that transgender people exist. It kind of demonizes teachers.”
As a citizen of the United States, Zea is not happy with the direction this executive order is pushing the nation towards, she said.
“We’ve seen other governments take this step, and it’s usually a negative direction,” Zea said. “It’s usually for erasure. It’s
SEE PAGE 16
TO: Seniors sail to victory
By Ian Choi
The senior class of 2025 won the 26th annual Trojan Olympics event on March 28. Seniors won with a score of 765, Activities Director Deana Querubin said.
The sophomores came in second at 605, the juniors came in 3rd with 590, and the freshman got 4th with 470, Querubin said.
Trojan Olympics is one of the biggest annual events of the school year, Querubin said. It is organized by ASB officers and the leadership class, she said.
This year’s Trojan Olympics competition featured dances, games, and the pyramid. Each class had a different theme: “Rio” for the freshmen, “The Incredibles” for the sophomores, “Scooby Doo” for the juniors, and “Pirates of the Caribbean” for the seniors. The games included balloon popping, musical chairs, tricycles, tug of war, and many more.
Senior class president Jerry Zhong was concerned about the “purple curse,” Zhong said.
“Every single class that’s had the class color purple – they’ve always lost, so we’re the first ever class (to win),” Zhong said.
Senior Vee Nguyen was part of the senior TO team and helped with decorations and was part of the dance, she said. Nguyen had a lot of fun participating, she said.
“I’ve been a part of the TO team since freshman year, so it was like all my hard work finally made it,” Nguyen said. Nguyen was initially worried
that the seniors wouldn’t be able to pull off the win, she said. Nguyen was worried about the infamous “purple curse,” she said.
“That part was the part that made me scared because I was confident we were going to win,” Nguyen said. “But then that was in the back of my mind, and I was like, what if it’s for real?”
The energy of the audience was crazy, sophomore class president Kavish Shah said.
“The audience that knew what their role was and what they had to do and overall, everyone was so loud,” Shah said. “We even came second in crowd, which really helped us out for our total score,” Shah said.
Zhong was very nervous about Trojan Olympics, he said.
“We could have prepped better, but it’s really hard trying to get all 46 people of your team to all show up in one spot at the same time,” Zhong said.
Despite the struggles and setbacks they faced, he thought Trojan Olympics went the best it could have gone, Zhong said.
“The fact that we were able to get a clean sweep and win everything, honestly, showed that we put in all our effort into getting first place,” Zhong said.
Trojan Olympics is an amazing event that students should not miss, Querubin said.
“It’s an amazing show, and it’s just a good time,” Querubin said. “Even if you’re not on a team, it’s a good time with your class,” she said.
Majority of AP exams go digital in May
By Akshaj Kashyap
The majority of AP exams that will be conducted this May at the high school will either be fully online or hybrid, except for some language exams, Vice Principal and AP coordinator Jennifer Hutchison said.
Hutchison believes that there are a multitude of reasons why College Board is choosing to switch to online exam formats, chief among them security and convenience, she said. “The paper process is quite
lengthy and detailed and lends itself to missing AP exams, errors on AP exams, and so on,” Hutchison said. “By having a digital capture, it’s all right there and easily scanned for them. The shipping of everything is very minimal with these changes.” College Board and all the AP teachers have been aware of the change and are planning for a transition for essentially all AP exams to move either fully online or, at the very least, hybrid,
SEE PAGE 16
STUDENT VOICE OF MILPITAS HIGH SCHOOL
The class of 2025’s California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) scores from grade to grade show gradual decrease in students who meet or exceed the standard for math.
Courtesy of Sanjit Roy
The senior TO team form a pyramid during Trojan Olympics on March 28, 2025, to show off their class theme. This team won first place.
Trans women athletes should be in women's sports
Transgender women have been subject to increasing discrimination in sports under the guise of protecting opportunities for cisgender women to compete fairly. However, banning transgender women serves no purpose in protecting cisgender women; transgender women deserve the right to participate in women’s sports.
Firstly, transgender women are women. While transgender women have different sex chromosomes than cisgender women, they are more similar to cisgender women than to cisgender men because genes are not always expressed as traits. After transitioning, the primary sex characteristics of transgender women would be removed through surgery, and through methods like hormone therapy, they would have similar sex characteristics as cisgender women.
the transportation of oxygen to the muscles, according to the study “Strength, power and aerobic capacity of transgender athletes: a cross-sectional study” by the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
While not all traits of the average transgender woman, like hormone levels, may completely fit the average cisgender woman, these same traits vary within cisgender women; not all cisgender women are the same. Some cisgender women naturally produce more testosterone and have more muscle mass than others.
For example, the relative muscle mass, fat mass percentages, and muscle strength corrected for the lean mass of transgender women are no different from cisgender women after hormone therapy, according to the study “The Impact of Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy on Physical Performance” by the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Also, there were no meaningful differences between transgender women's and cisgender women’s hemoglobin profiles, hemoglobin being essential in
For instance, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), an endocrine disorder causing increased levels of androgens like testosterone, affects around 10% of reproductive-aged women, according to the study “Female hyperandrogenism and elite sport” by Swedish gynecologist and obstetrician Angelica Lindén Hirschberg. Cisgender women athletes with PCOS are more anabolic and have greater muscle mass and bone density compared to women without PCOS, according to the same study.
The outrage over the inclusion of transgender women in women’s sports has never been based on evidence. In a society that prides itself on equality and justice, transgender women deserve the right to participate in women’s sports without discrimination.
CON
Trans athletes should play with sex assigned at birth
The concepts of transgenderism and gender identity have influenced the desire for change within sports, namely that transgender athletes should be allowed to compete against the gender they identify with. However, allowing them to compete would make sports unfair for biological women.
Biologically, transgender women are men. According to the National Library of Medicine, biological men have more muscle mass and higher lung capacities. These advantages allow them to outperform biological women across all sports. The same argument can be made against transgender men, who compete at a disadvantage due to a lack of muscle mass and lung capacity.
to perform longer during exercises such as pull ups.
In a study by the National Library of Medicine, researchers found that trans women maintained higher bone density after hormone therapy when compared to that of biological women.
The conclusions from both institutions indicate that hormone therapy does not fully remove biological characteristics unique to each sex, maintaining the barrier separating them. Subsequently, policies must accommodate for sex rather than gender identity in the grand scheme of athletics.
In a study conducted by the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM), members of the United States Air Force were tested on their performance in bodyweight and cardio exercises. Researchers concluded that even after hormone therapy, trans women maintain superiority in strength for up to two years, and in stamina past the two year mark.
In a separate study by the same institution, researchers also found that athletes who were transgender women had a higher grip strength compared to biological women. Grip strength is linked to muscle endurance, allowing an individual
After-school
A total of two years of Physical Education (PE) are required for students to graduate, according to the MHS website. As there are many sports programs and student-athletes, there should be an opportunity to earn PE credits for participating in after-school sports.
Although California requires 400 minutes of instruction according to the California Department of Education website, some school districts have allowed students to receive PE credits through after school sports and substitute those minutes.
MHS has also decided to provide PE credits for students in marching band as of several years ago, but continues to deny credits to those who play after-school sports.
Most sports require more fitness and activity than an average PE class, as practices are typically two to three hours every day after school, with up to three games each
Block
Block scheduling offers variety and better engagement in classes for students. By offering a block schedule, the MHS Innovation Campus focuses on longer class periods so students can engage in class better and focus more academically. I believe MHS should incorporate this type of schedule, for it helps students reduce stress.
The Innovation campus implements this type of scheduling, consisting of first, third, fifth, and seventh periods on Mondays and Wednesdays; and second, fourth, sixth, and seventh periods on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. To balance it out, Fridays contain all seven periods. This allows students to manage their time better, as well as focus better on that day’s classes. They have fewer classes a day,instead of juggling all 7 at once. Additionally, having an extra day between classes gives most students more time to complete assignments, prepare for tests, and seek help if needed.
week; thus, the amount of physical activity students are getting is well-accounted for. With PE classes only being an hour a day, student-athletes can get more aerobic exercise than the average student taking PE.
Regardless of the sport, there is movement involved which often include s lifting weights, running sprints, and other aerobic activities. These movements are all seen in PE classes, but sports often include more dedication to these exercises.
movement and activity.
While taking PE, the subject’s main objective is to inform students about the importance of physical movement while offering classes such as rugball, soccer, pickleball, and more. As for student-athletes, the amount of time they dedicate to their sport shows they are well-educated about physical
While there are many different recreational sports offered in PE classes, committed athletes should not have to play a sport they are not interested in or are not at all involved in. For example, a basketball player should not have to be graded on how well they play soccer. They are being graded on a sport they do not play; if they receive a poor grade, it does not mean they are not educated on fitness or physical health.
If PE credits were given to student-athletes, it also may encourage more students to get involved in after-school sports. Sports can teach students about commitment, sportsmanship, and time management, resulting in a better understanding of physical health than what is taught in PE classes.
With longer classes, teachers have more time to go in-depth into their lessons. In turn, students get more time to focus on what they are learning. These longer lessons allow students to not feel rushed and enable them to engage more with what they are being taught. In traditional classes, teachers try to fit everything into a shorter class time, which often means rushing through the material.
Oftentimes, students end up having multiple tests for classes on the same day. Some teachers may not even tell you that there is a test until two days before. For most students, this is stressful.
Block schedules can help prevent stress and enhance students' overall academic performance. With more time between each class meeting, students have more time to fully understand and work on their homework. With more
time to study for tests, students will earn better grades and increase our school’s overall academic performance. Since they get one extra day, students wouldn’t feel as pressured to do homework and tests and would get to properly understand the material. Also, fewer classes per day can help students who struggle with keeping things organized or who are taking many difficult classes at once.
With fewer students to teach per day, teachers will have more time to meet with struggling students oneon-one. Students get more time to interact with their teachers and can feel more comfortable asking questions to get the support they need. They may feel more inclined to answer questions or interact with the lessons being taught. Teachers can also take the time and give more personalized feedback to a kid when needed.
Cancel culture should not have a place in our society
The United State Constitution guarantees protection to all, regardless of race or sex. Those choosing to identify as transgender still possess the biology of either a man or a woman. Both men and women already have rights within sports, so anyone who identifies as trans should receive the rights and amenities provided for their biological sex.
The very nature of athletics is to use one's biology to train for a sport in order to perform well, and competitions should not be influenced by issues of gender identity. The ultimate solution to the controversy of trans athletes is to require them to compete with their biological sex, which ensures that competitions are conducted based on fairness and the hard work of each athlete.
People in western society often debate about whether cancel culture holds people accountable for their actions or punishes people for having different opinions. Cancel culture happens when people remove support from certain figures because they believe the views or actions of the people they cancel are offensive or morally wrong, according to dictionary.com. This practice can sometimes lead to excessive punishments for people with controversial views or statements.
One example of cancel culture is the backlash against J.K. Rowling’s controversial comments about the transgender community. Rowling voiced concerns about the health effects of transitioning and the effect of transgender people’s access to women’s areas on women’s rights and safety; in return, people advocated for boycotting Rowling’s books and the upcoming Harry Potter TV show for her opinions, with some of them even sending her death threats, according
to an article in Glamour. Although people should be able to share their opinions on Rowling’s viewpoints, unchecked negativity can snowball into increasingly harsh reactions. Sending someone death threats over unpopular opinions is completely unacceptable behavior. People should be mindful of their activity online to make sure that their responses are not excessively harmful. Kevin Hart, a famous comedian, also suffered from cancel culture. When he was announced as the 2019 Academy Awards host, Twitter users brought up his previous jokes about potentially having a gay son from a decade prior and argued that Hart should not be allowed to host the Oscars, according to a Billboard article. Hart stepped down from his hosting duties and apologized for his jokes multiple times, the article continued. While the motives of
convincing Hart to apologize for harmful things he said are admirable, causing him to lose his position as an awards host was too harsh. His jokes happened years before he received backlash for them. It is unfair to punish people with such severe consequences for trivial things that happened years or even decades ago without consideration for how these individuals could have changed. While cancel culture begins with the morally appealing motive of correcting people’s wrongdoings, it can often overstep and excessively punish, humiliate, and ruin people’s livelihoods for simply saying something insensitive or having an unpopular opinion. It’s important to be mindful of how our social media presence can affect other people and to be able to distinguish between calls for justice and punishments for people who “deserve it”.
In the last few years, ASB and several CLOGs have hosted a variety of on-campus events featuring student vendors. From night markets to festivals, these events build the school’s community and give student businesses the opportunity to grow and enrich the campus culture.
Many of the businesses at these events sell handmade items such as jewelry, small charms, clothing, and yarn goods. Most are owned by current students, but some alumni come back as vendors, which supports a tight-knit community by inviting and welcoming past students back to campus. These successful alumni-owned businesses inspire current students to start their own.
Along with giving the space for students to pursue their passions, these events allow students to build business skills, such as calculating profit, advertising, communicating with customers, and managing money, all within a low-stress environment. With events taking place throughout the year, student business owners can build experience over the span of a single school year.
The annual Homecoming Festival and the Jack Emery Winter Festival act similar -
ly for vendors. Taking place in October and December respectively, these festivals give businesses plenty of opportunities to advertise their goods while welcoming both students and community members. With a diverse range of attendees, student vendors were able to build their brand beyond just high school students.
Sweethearts Night, a new event that made its debut this past February, was a Valentine's-themed night that also enabled vendors to showcase their goods.
Aside from ASB-led nights and events, CLOGS hold their own events that are open to independent businesses. The Asian American Association's (AAA) Night Market is a highly anticipated event of the year that happens every May since 2022.
Creatorscape, a newly established event in May 2024 led by One Long Story and Youth Arts Movement, is a unique space that highlights young artists and other creatives. Along with clothing, charms, and jewelry, Creatorscape welcomes student artists to showcase their work by selling artwork and doing live commissions, all packaged in a night market form.
Because of ASB and CLOGs,
students are able to learn independence by managing their own businesses. Earning their own income, creating handmade goods, and being in a position of leadership give students responsibility over their success and thus teach them the value of hard work.
By starting a business in high school, students can build a solid foundation for their business in terms of advertising, reputability, and legacy. However, these skills also carry on to different, future careers. Even if students do not continue their businesses past high school or go into a similar career field, skills such as money-managing, leadership, communication, and timeliness are highly valued in most industries and can apply to a wide variety of jobs. Additionally, they are vital to entrepreneurship.
The multitude of campus events allows students to start and promote their businesses, thus, encouraging them to pursue their passions and enhancing our school’s culture. The promotion of these student businesses reminds everyone that besides being a place for education and learning, schools can support passion and build entrepreneurship.
EDITORIAL: The Opinion of The Union
Students need to start taking the SBAC seriously
Although many dread the week of constant testing, students should take the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) tests more seriously, and work harder to prepare for them. Many high school students complain about being required to take the SBAC because it does not affect their college applications or grades in any way. However, there are many benefits to students taking the assessment seriously and doing their best work.
The most obvious reason for taking this assessment seriously is for personal integrity and cultivating a work ethic. A true test of one’s work ethic is whether they can complete a task without an immediate incentive, and purely for the sake of doing their duty by the task. When students practice cultivating this work ethic, for instance, by taking this assessment seriously, it will help them be more successful in all their endeavors because they will not be chasing external results but rather be innately curious and motivated to learn. For example, if they later take a class in which they aren’t getting good grades, they will still have the resilience to continue learning because they will have cultivated this work ethic and will be
intrinsically motivated. In addition, personal integrity is vital to maintaining good self-esteem and to holding oneself to high standards.
Another reason for taking this assessment seriously is that it helps the school administration tailor the curriculum to fit students’ needs. If students are performing poorly on one section of the exam, it is an indication that the school needs to focus resources on improving the curriculum for that subject and determine how to meet students’ needs better. On the other hand, if many students are doing well on a different section of the test, it indicates that the school’s curriculum is strong in that area. However, if students do not take the assessment seriously, then the scores received on the assessment will not reflect the student’s actual abilities. As a result, the school would not be able to make determinations about whether its teaching methods are satisfactory and thus is unable to serve its students as well as it would be able to otherwise. In this way, trying one’s best to perform well on the assessment improves student’s experience at school and enhances their learning.
Lastly, an important reason to take the assessment seriously
is because it affects the state’s evaluation of schools. There is a minimum requirement for high schools to have at least 95% of their juniors take the SBAC. When this requirement is not met, each student who did not take the assessment receives the lowest possible score for the California Schools Dashboard evaluation. Students’ performance on the assessment, among many other factors, affects the school’s rating. If students do not try their best on the assessment, the overall rating of the school suffers. This is also detrimental to the community for the same reasons mentioned above. Whether a student opts out of the assessment or does not try their best to perform on it, they negatively affect the school.
With the SBAC season just around the corner, it is imperative to keep these in mind despite the tiring testing conditions. In order to cultivate a good work ethic and maintain a sense of personal integrity and pride in their work, ensure that schools receive accurate feedback on their curriculum, and maintain the reputation of their school, students should take the SBAC assessments more seriously and give their best effort towards them.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Grading system poses problems
School grading systems can be a double-edged sword; on one hand, they serve as a benchmark for how much effort and understanding a student has put into their studies. However, making mistakes is a natural part of the learning process, and it's inevitable that students will sometimes receive grades that don't reflect their true potential or effort.
When students get a bad grade, it often leads to disappointment and frustration,
especially when their parents react negatively. This can put unnecessary pressure on students, making them dread the prospect of sharing their progress reports with their parents if their grades aren't up to par. Instead of viewing these moments as opportunities to learn and grow from their mistakes, students may start to feel like failures.
This stress can take a toll on their overall well-being and hinder their ability to learn effectively. So it is essential for both parents and educators to
STUDENT VOICE OF MILPITAS HIGH
The Union is published by the Journalism class of Milpitas High
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.
create an environment where mistakes are seen as a valuable part of the educational journey, rather than a mark of failure (Low marks, D's, F's). By giving a more supportive atmosphere, students can develop resilience, a growth mindset, and a healthier attitude towards learning which would further benefit them after adolescent period and when they are turning into adulthood.
Justin Duong Class of 2027
STAFF
Akshaj Kashyap • Editor-In-Chief
Prisha Jain • News Editor
Marie De Vre • Asst. News Editor
Jerry Yong • Op-Ed Editor
Want to advertise in the Union? Please contact our business manager at milpitashightheunion@ gmail.com. Ads are available in full/half/quarter page and business card sizes. Upon request, The Union staff will also customize and design your advertisement.
Javier Antonio Alfaro • Asst. Op-Ed Editor
Angelrain Bacungan • Asst. Op-Ed Editor
Ved Vyas • Features Editor
Harold Hong • Asst. Features Editor
Akshata Bhuskat • Asst. Features Editor
Ronak Srivastav • Sports Editor
Andy Nguyen • A sst. Sports Editor
Shrihan Sham • A sst. Sports Editor
Namana Balakrishna • Lifestyle Editor
DieuUyen Vu • Asst. Lifestyle Editor
Ian Choi • Asst. Lifestyle Editor
Misheel Enkhtur • Entertainment Editor
Jayden Hernandez • Asst. Entertainment Editor
Atticus Roberts-Daniels • Asst. Entertainment Editor
Yunxi Fang • Spread Editor
Kiara Cassandra • Asst. Spread Editor
Vasista Ramachandruni • Web Editor
RebaVishwandhini Prabhakhar • Graphics Editor
Connor Long • Photo Editor
Sowmya Sundar • Copy Editor
Ilana Ramzan • Copy Editor
Alice Nguyen • Social Media Manager
Gengyang Lin • Business/Ad Manager
Sanjit Roy
Journalism Advisor
HAVE AN OPINION?
GOT A GRIPE WITH THE SCHOOL?
DESIRE TO PRAISE MHS?
WANT YOUR VOICE TO BE HEARD?
The WISH TO REPRESENT THE STUDENTS?
SUBMIT LETTERS TO MILPITASHIGHTHEUNION@GMAIL.COM
MAKE SURE TO WRITE DOWN YOUR NAME AND GRADE FOR ONLINE EXCLUSIVE STORIES, VISIT MHSTHEUNION.COM
College Board adds new AP cybersecurity, finance courses to offer career-oriented options
By Akshaj Kashyap
As technology and finance continue to shape the modern world, students may soon have new opportunities to prepare for these fields in high school. The College Board has introduced three new Advanced Placement (AP) courses—Cyber: Security, Cyber: Networking, and Business: Principles of Finance—through its AP Career Kickstart program, according to College Board’s website. These additions are aimed at giving students a stronger foundation in career-oriented fields.
AP Computer Science A (AP
CSA) teacher Charles Castleman had a positive initial reaction to the addition of the new cyber courses, he said.
“If you talk to most people and ask ‘What’s your biggest fear, or what’s one of your biggest fears?’
I think a lot of people would say having my information hacked or having someone open up a credit card in my name or act in other ways that could be harmful,” Castleman said. “Organizations fear their cybersecurity getting compromised and harmful things being done as a result of that. So I think it’s (courses) important. I think there’s a lot of opportuni-
Pokémon cards come back
By Jerry Yong
Many students may remember playing with Pokémon cards or watching the television show as kids, but a recent resurgence in the franchise’s popularity has led to a shift in the way the community interacts with Pokémon.
Junior Cody Soo has developed a newfound interest in the hobby.
Soo first started collecting and playing the Pokémon trading card game as a young child, but lost interest after he was around ten years old. He recently restarted the trading card collection hobby, and has seen several trends that led to the rise in popularity, he said.
“The Pokémon company, this year, started to release a lot more different sets,” Soo said. “They increased their prices by triple or quadruple the value of the cards. They also made their cards in different languages, which allowed other countries to also sell it. This got a lot of players interested in it (Pokémon), and that’s why they got into it.”
The physical card collection hobby also developed futher as people turned to gain more than just nostalgia from the hobby, he said.
“Since the cards got a lot more expensive, a lot of people found out that they could possibly ‘gamble’ with this and buy packs to re-
sell,” he said.
Freshman Gaia Tanzarella also interacts with the franchise by playing the digital card game on her phone, she said.
“It’s basically just a digital version of the physical card game,” Tanzarella said. “Most people can just save money if they have a gambling addiction; they could just play the digital game instead. So they don’t have to spend money on this (Pokémon) addiction.”
The digital version is not without its other differences and similarities compared to the regular physical cards, Soo said.
“Obviously, you have to pay for the real physical cards, and both of them are based on luck,” Soo said. “Trading, you can trade online and in person. But battling is the same, basically online is kind of the same as in real life, but you just don’t have to pay money for it.”
The resale market has taken a large jump in recent times, Soo said.
“When cards start to increase in value, a lot of people start to buy them,” he said. “And obviously, with an increase in popularity and production, then Pokémon decided to take advantage of this and print more cards, make new cards, new versions of the cards, and this got more people interested and making them want to collect more of it.”
their course before they gain the appropriate credentials to teach the course, Castleman said. For Castleman, it was a week-long summer course at Palo Alto High for AP CSA, he added.
“I would add that that’s the level of training that’s required for you to officially be able to teach the class,” Castleman said. “But in my experience, teaching a new AP class that has never been taught here at the school before also requires several years to really gel and really get it down. So it’s one thing to be able to take a week of training and be able to efficiently teach it; it’s another thing to really be able to get it down well and teach it well, and I think that requires more experience than just a week.”
The process for adding AP courses to the high school—or any other course for that matter— is relatively simple and only requires two main components, Assistant Principal Jonathan Mach said.
ties in the field, and I think it’s a good thing that College Board is offering classes on this.”
Principles of Finance teacher Dhruvangi Shah was also intrigued by the new AP Business class but foresees potential concerns about the course, she said.
“I actually thought that (the new course) was pretty cool,” Shah said. “I feel like business classes do lend themselves better as college classes that high school students can take, but I also was thinking about how practical the curriculum will be.”
Potential AP teachers need to undergo a training program for
“The two big factors are ‘Do you have a qualified teacher that will teach it (a specific subject) or will want to go out and get trained to be able to teach it?’ and two, ‘Do we have enough students that want to take it’,” Mach said.
The school administration and the wider school district do not push for additional AP courses, and the only time they would get involved is if they believe the basic requirements to pass high school are somehow being jeopardized, Mach said. Besides that, the school district believes in supporting students and teachers, he added.
“It’s all up to the teacher to
learn the material, the teacher to make sure they have the resources, the teacher to let us know what they need, and the students to fill the course,” Mach said. “If and only if we have room to offer new courses, then we can add it.”
Shah thinks that if the new AP business course is added to the school, it needs to remain student-centered and have the funding to maintain learning resources, Shah said.
“There will be a curriculum, and there are standards we have to meet once they (College Board) flesh it out, but try to cater it towards the students,” Shah said. “What are they super interested in? And I think that helps because students talk to each other, and if there’s a really cool class, they’re like ‘Oh my god, you have to take this class, it’s super cool’ or if there’s a terrible class, ‘Don’t take it’.
Castleman believes that patience and a commitment to growth are necessary for a new AP course to be successfully adopted by a school, and then for it to succeed year after year, he said.
“The reality is the first year that we’re offering a new AP course is probably not going to be the best year,” Castleman said. “We’re going to be looking at the end of the year going ‘Gosh, here are all the things that we felt could have been better. Here are all the changes that we want to make next year.’ That’s going to be a big process, especially the first few years of teaching a course that’s never been taught here before. So we have to have the growth mentality, but we also have to have patience.”
Finding the right fit: Teachers’ career paths
By Ilana Ramzan
People often have lots of different career paths and jobs before settling into one that they enjoy.
Science teacher Karen Truesdell experienced this before becoming a teacher.
I had a lot of different jobs, Truesdell said.
“Primarily, I was a student, because after I graduated from high school, I was a student the whole time,” Truesdell said. “I needed to pay the bills because I was paying for my school.”
Truesdell was a lab technician at her community college, she said.
“It was part-time,” Truesdell said. “ I liked really getting to understand the labs, because I had taken the class the year before and then I got the part-time job, so I had to really understand how to do each of the techniques that it takes in order to set up the lab for students to participate in.”
She wanted to have a service job and a lab job, and teaching was perfect for that, Truesdell said.
“The lab tech part of me – that’s not spending time with people,” Truesdell said. “It’s much more fun to spend time with people and make sure things are understood.”
Most of the jobs he had were part-time jobs because he was a full-time student, social studies teacher Paul Harrison said.
“The first job I really had was working at a gas station,’ Harrison said. “I started at the gas station in high school, and then I worked in a garage while I was in college.
Harrison later got a better job, he said.
“I actually worked (part-time) at Stanford Hospital, and this was a great job,” Harrison said. “I did data entry in the respiratory therapy department, and so you would have to enter medical re-
cords.“
The job had a lot of flexibility, Harrison said.
“What was nice about the job is that I can go in at any time, as long as it got done,” Harrison said. “I didn’t really have to clock in. I loved it because I was getting my teaching credential and could be at school during the day and then go in whenever I needed to.”
The job provided basic training, Harrison said.
“It’s one of those things that once you start learning it, you keep doing it, you get better at it, but it’s one of those jobs that I could never do for the rest of my life because it would be so boring,” Harrison said. “I realized I like working with my mind a lot more.”
Harrison decided to become a teacher in his junior year of high school because of a really good history teacher he had, he said.
“I want to be able to talk about history and then be able to have adventures in the summer,” Harrison said. ”Not many jobs give
you the time that teaching gives you, where you can go and do these other things, and I like that about teaching.”
Science teacher Glen Barrett worked in the electricity industry, he said.
“I worked at a green power, little startup,” Barrett said. “We worked 24/7, and I put in halfhour orders from places thatwho wanted to buy electricity.”
The job destroyed his internal clock, Barrett said.
“The hours were mind-bogglingly bad,” Barrett said, “and the work was fine, but repetitive and boring.”
With teaching, it’s different every day, and it’s more fulfilling, Barrett said.
“I feel like I’m doing something that matters in the world,” Barrett said. “I think the biggest thing I learned in bouncing between careers is, if you’re in a career, and even if you’re making good money, if you’re not happy, keep trying until something sticks.”
Sowmya Sundar | THE UNION
AP Cybersecurity and Finance promotes financial knowledge and online security; statistics, stocks, money.
Intro to foods inspires culinary
careers, teaches student life skills
By Akshata Bhuskat
The Introduction to Foods elective is a hands-on experience that teaches students cooking techniques, foods teacher Lori Anderson-Day said.
“We have two classes right now, Intro to Foods, which is a semester-long class, and that is really just what it is, an introduction,” Anderson-Day said. “So it’s a lot of basic skills, learning about food safety, kitchen safety, and working well with others.”
The best parts about the class include meeting and collaborating with new people every time they switch tables and new cooking experiences, junior Khenadee Trinh said.
“I just wanted to get more experience in cooking,” Trinh said. “I would never really cook for myself at home, so I just think cooking is like a good hobby to have overall.”
Senior Lizbeth Penaloza Vargas has learned how to keep a clean area in the kitchen and has learned how to do specific measurements in her foods class, she said.
“A memorable experience would be when we were making
chocolate lava cake and we had to do math and combine some of the measuring numbers, and it was so stressful,” Vargas said.
Students cover knife safety, specifically, and appliance safety, safety with water, and general cleanup, Anderson-Day said.
“We have a safety unit so they can’t cook until we have a public safety unit, and they have to pass the protocols for safety in the classroom,” Anderson-Day said. “It can be challenging because sometimes I get new students who haven’t been in my safety unit.”
The foods class has influenced her by inspiring her to go into the culinary arts path in college, Vargas said.
“My favorite thing is when we do labs, when we are hands-on with the food, and each person has a little job,” Penaloza Vargas said.
She never really knew how to cut certain things like vegetables, since she had never done it before, but after taking the foods class, she became more comfortable with it, Trinh said.
“Just be open-minded and have different ways of doing things,” Trinh said.
Counselors guide new generation, explore science camp
By Jayden Hernandez
It is science camp season for elementary students and the district gives high school juniors and seniors opportunities to become counselors and receive community service hours. The district provides 40 hours of community service to counselors, which is double the required hours to graduate, according to the MHS Website.
Science camp is an educational experience that involves traveling to a campsite and empowering students to learn about the art of nature, environmental stewardship, and our health, according to the website and campsite Exploring New Horizons.
Senior and science camp counselor Gabriela Bejinez went on from Feb. 10 through Feb. 14, and had a great experience with the children she took care of by creating close bonds, she said.
“It was really nice to grow a relationship with all of them and talk to them one by one and get to know them,” Bejinez said. “And it was really sweet because, on the last day of science camp, I think the night before, I stayed up so I could write them all little letters. And then they also made me little things too, so it was really cute.”
It is important to form a connection with other counselors and kids, Bejinez said.
“I remember being really nervous at first because I didn’t really know what to do or expect,” Bejinez said. “But I think the next day, I started getting more used to it, and I was able to memorize all my kids’ names, so it made it a lot easier to talk to them because I felt closer to them, and I built a lot more relationships with them.
Senior and science camp counselor Nicole Gardner, enjoyed her exciting experience of taking care of her group, Mount Hermon, and
Posters, maps, hot sauces: Personality behind class doors
By Namana Balakrishna
The school fosters many unique classrooms. Each space tells a story—one shaped by the teacher, the subject, and the students in it. The classrooms vary in arrangement and decoration, where some classes are decked out in posters and others are minimalistic.
In “teacher school,” as he called it, social studies teacher Michael Cummins learned early on that teachers should decorate their classrooms with items that reflect their personalities, he said.
“I think that that’s probably good advice because kids come in and they see something that you care about, that they also care about, and it suddenly gives you a connection,” Cummins said.
When it comes to organizing the classroom, most of the artwork and student work is placed around the top, French teacher Lisa Topping said.
“But I also have permanent posters that are handmade, like grammar,” Topping said. “I like to have those visible for everybody across the room.”
The idea of decorating classrooms is a very American con-
cept, Topping added. However, she finds it very helpful and believes that it makes the classrooms interesting, she said.
In France, “the students usually stay in the same classroom all day, and the teachers rotate instead of the students rotating,” Topping said. “So they don’t really decorate so much. So that’s an interesting contrast.”
Some of the posters decorating his classroom are student work, while others he ordered, science teacher Charles Schletzbaum said.
“If you contact the Nobel Prize Committee, they’ll send you free posters for the Nobel Prize winners of your choice,” Schletzbaum said. “I got the physics and chemistry one.”
Schletzbaum also has a collection of hot sauces that are a part of his classroom’s decoration. Students sometimes come in and borrow them to use on their food, he said.
“Sometimes they have to run out and just spit stuff out because they overdo themselves, like trying this one or trying that one,” Schletzbaum said. “Some of them are more mild. Some of them are
being around other counselors and educators, she said.
“Our job as counselors was to supervise the kids, report any issues to their teachers or any of the camp advisors, watch them on trails, lead group activities, and help them make their skits,”
Gardner said. “It (the skits) had to be about nature or anything about camp. So some groups did it about their experiences at camp, some did it about animals, some did it about different scenarios you would do while camping.”
The food at the camp could have been improved on, Gardner added.
“I wasn’t a fan of the food, but that might be because of personal issues, like allergies and stuff,”
Gardner said. “It is kid-friendly food, but as a teenager, I didn’t really enjoy it. There were pancakes, french toast, eggs, chicken, sausage, orange chicken, and all that stuff.”
As the high school promises,
they give you community service hours, but it is an unfair amount, Garcia claims.
“We worked for 24 hours, even during the night time, like when kids got homesick or sick, we would get up and help them,” Garcia said. “The camp, they send you a letter saying you received 100 hours but when you return to school they only give you 40 hours, so it’s kind of ridiculous.”
It was difficult to step out of her comfort zone, but she’s glad she did, Bejinez said.
“I think it’s just really good to put yourself out there and try new things,” Bejinez said. “Because again, I didn’t think I would do something like this, but after doing it, it just made me realize I can do whatever I want and it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. My friends have said that I inspired them to become cabin leaders in the future and that truly made me feel like I did an amazing job and made me feel really happy.
Xtreme Robotics qualifies for states, trains rookie team, seeks to become world champions
not. It’s like the hot sauces are also part of my decor.”
The newest addition to Cummins’ classroom is a pair of Obama socks, he said. He has it displayed near his whiteboard.
“I don’t know who brought those,” Cummins said. “I don’t think I’m expected to wear them, but I like to have them up there.”
Sometimes, things randomly appear inside his classroom, Schletzbaum said.
“One of my TAs one time came in and he had swapped that (the US flag) with the Soviet flag,” Schletzbaum added. “He would periodically put it up there, just for fun.”
In Cummins’ classroom, there is a giant poster of the United States. The map gets used and referenced a lot in class, he said.
“That’s important for government class, and not just for elections, like all kinds of things that the country is based on,” Cummins said. “And it’s nice, I like to look at it.”
Topping’s classroom features many posters. She’s had many of them for over twenty years, Topping added.
“I’ve added those over the time,” Topping said. “You can tell when the ‘Incredibles’ came out, or when the ‘Lord of the Rings’ came out, or ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’.”
In the end, Madame Topping’s French three students have been in the classroom for three years, she said. They would be very familiar with the classroom by now, Topping added.
“They know these things by heart,” Topping said. “Some of these posters, maybe it’ll be ingrained in their brain for the rest of their life.”
By Misheel Enkhtur
Milpitas Xtreme Robotics (MXR) rookie team participated in the 2025 California Region 2 VEX V5 High School Championship at the Indian Community Center in Milpitas on March 8-9, according to robotevents.com.
The rookie team won first place in a competition to qualify for the state championship, MXR club president Eusern Ng said.
“Our main goal was to qualify for the world championship, which is the next level after states,” Ng said.
Although the rookie team did not qualify for the world championship, MXR is proud of them for qualifying for states as a rookie team, treasurer Oliver Ma said. It was the rookie team’s first year of robotics competitions, so they didn’t have much experience, he said.
“In the state championship, you have the best of the best in the Bay Area competing against each other,” Ma said. “We just wanted the rookie team to get more experience with being in a competitive environment against these really capable teams.”
The VEX competition is played by two alliances of two teams each on a 12’ by 12’ field with 48 rings and 9 stakes of varying height, according to vexrobotics. com. The goal is to score points by putting the rings onto these stakes and to score higher than the opponent alliance, the article said.
The MXR rookie team built a robot that could perform every function of the game and had been working on it since August, Ng said.
“The team designed the robot and redesigned it multiple times,” Ng said. “The latest robot was able to do all aspects of the game, so it was able to intake the rings, clamp onto a goal, and put the rings onto a higher stake.”
The most important skill students learn in MXR is teamwork, MXR advisor and Computer Aided Design (CAD) teacher Paul Okoye said. They also learn about strategy and planning, he said.
“There is a different set of goals every year,” Okoye said. “For that year, you’re supposed to make your robot carry out specific tasks. That’s why it’s a competition.”
Namana Balakrishna | THE UNION “Laid-back” decoration style found in H05 classroom with cat painting.
Akshata Bukshat | THE UNION Junior Lizbeth Penaloza washes dishes in foods class after cooking.
Courtesy of nicole gardner Little waterfall with rocks found at the front of Exploring New Horizons.
Study strategies can help you ace AP exams
By Vasista Ramachandruni
AP exam season is back this May, but this time with a shakeup in the testing format. A majority of exams this year will be completely digital on the Bluebook app, with most science and math AP exams going hybrid. However, the exams for AP Music Theory, Research, Art, and Languages remain on paper. With all these changes, studying for AP exams becomes harder than ever so here are some study tips for AP exam season.
1. Focus on rubrics
Every Free Response Question (FRQ) on every AP exam has a rubric by which it is scored. If teachers have not already talked about how FRQs are generally graded for your AP class or if you are self-studying an AP, it is worth your time to search for past AP FRQs on Google and review scoring guidelines available on the College Board’s website for the class you are taking. Having a clear understanding of what the
FRQ wants will help you understand what to write to score maximum points on these questions.
2. Take notes
Among many strategies for studying, writing notes worked the best for me when I studied for AP exams last year, and I will be doing it this year as well. By going through your notes from class and writing them down again in your own words, making sure that you understand the material and are not just copying, you engage more with the material, and it makes it easier for you to recall concepts for both the FRQ and MCQ sections.
3. Target the sections that are weighted higher per exam Each AP exam has information available on the College Board’s website with the weightage (percent of questions from a unit on the exam) of each unit on the exam. For example, I put a specific focus on Units 9, 10, and 11 when I studied for AP Physics 2 last year, as they were weighted higher
than the other four units. I ended up getting a 5 on the exam. Again, Google is your best friend and you can search “AP weightage” for your subject to understand the units that you are going to get the most questions on.
4. Personal advice from AP World History and other history APs For sophomores taking what is likely their first AP class and AP exam this May and for people taking the history APs, here is some advice for the MCQ section: The AP World History MCQ section has 55 stimulus-based questions – questions that are based on a piece of information. In my experience, each question had two answers that made no sense, an answer that made sense but a part of it was wrong, and then the right answer. Realizing this pattern carried me through AP World History and I am confident that this can help you score great on your first AP exam.
No matter what strategy you use, only some hard work is needed. Since AP exams give you college credit, it is worth your time to try out some of these strategies or even take the time to come up with your own. This AP exam season is the start of a new era of AP exams, so good luck to everyone!
Low maintenance plants make herbs, home decor
By Jerry Yong
Gardening can often seem like an impossible task, as many plants require daily effort and care to ensure their survival. Many newcomers often want to try and grow their own vegetables and fruits, but jumping right into complicated produce is overwhelming. Instead, starting with beginner-friendly plants such as herbs and decorative plants can make this transition easier.
Before starting the process, you should make sure you have the proper equipment. To follow this guide, you should have at least a large planting pot, nutritious soil, and a simple shovel or digging tool. A source of water, such as a light hose or watering can, is also required. You can often find generic versions of these tools at a gardening or hardware store, such as Home Depot or Lowes.
One simple plant that everyone can start with is green onion. This aromatic green vegetable is often used in recipes to add flavor and can easily be purchased at a local grocery store for less than a dollar per bundle.
To start with growing some green onions, you need to purchase some fresh green onions at the store. In addition, you will need a water source and a small container of planting soil. I have found it easiest to cut off most of the green section of the plant, with around an inch of the white
root section of the vegetable left to plant. You can use the cut-off section for cooking, and keep the root part for planting.
The actual gardening process for green onions is relatively simple. Make a small hole in the soil, and insert the green onion root. Pack the soil back around the root, and you’re done. To care for the plant, just water it once every one to two days, soaking the dirt around the plant.
When the green section has grown back to its original height, you can use a pair of kitchen scissors and cut the green part off again. Simply repeat this process and you will have as many green onions as you want for cooking. If you purchased more than one green onion stem from the store, you can plant them alongside one another, with a one-inch gap between the plants.
I have also had great success with purchasing other live herbs from the store and adding them to my personal garden. Whether I grow a basil plant or cloves of garlic, they all require very little effort to start. Just like the green onion, these can be harvested again and again to be used to add flavor to your dishes.
Another plant species that is hardy and requires little care is a form of cactus. Because they are known for sharp spikes, many people often overlook their cozy, petite nature. When planting cacti, plant enthusiasts have two op -
Homemade boba recipe tops off your iced drinks, cold desserts
By Angelrain Bacungan
Boba, a topping commonly found in drinks such as milk tea and smoothies, originated from Taiwan in the 80’s and slowly became more popular in countries such as Japan and China, according to National Geographic.
Ingredients: ~ 5 cups of water ~ Tapioca starch ~ 4 tablespoons of brown sugar ~ 2 teaspoons of brown food cloring (optional)
Supplies ~ Small pot ~ Cutting board ~ Two tablespoons ~ Steel solid spatula
Instructions
Place two cups of water, brown food coloring and two table spoons of brown sugar into a pot and heat on the highest stove setting.
Place two tablespoons of tapioca starch in the wa ter.
Stir with a spat ula until thick. Pour four more tablespoons of tapioca starch. Turn off the heat right after you place the tablespoons, then stir the mixture until it thickens. You want a doughy texture. Apply two teaspoons of tapioca starch to the cutting board. The starch should be on the cutting board for the next step.
Place the dough onto a cutting board. Knead the dough until it is firm.
making this recipe, I had some difficulty with two factors: keeping track of measurements for each ingredient and working alone. During the first half of the process, I added too much water and not enough powder. Consequently, the dough ended up being very sticky, and rolling it into tiny balls became frustrating. It was also hard to clean the excess dough off the utensils. I strongly advise making sure that the measurements are correct before kneading the dough.
This recipe is best when working with a partner. When working alone, you need to consider more things, such as the measurements for each ingredient and which tools you need to use for each step.
After the dough is kneaded, flatten the dough evenly with a rolling pin. There shouldn’t be any lumps.
Cut the dough into little chunks (about 1cm x 1cm) and roll each piece into a ball.
Put three cups of water and two tablespoons of brown sugar into a pot and set the stove setting to the highest.
Place the balls into the pot and boil for thirty minutes.
tions. Many hardware and plant stores sell both seeds and young plants, with a variety of different species. While both options are relatively accessible, purchasing a pre-grown plant requires much less initial care. Instead of having to nurture a cactus seedling and maintaining a consistent good growth environment, you can begin right away with a regular watering interval.
While the daily care differs between species, most cacti only require watering as frequently as once every two weeks. In some cases, you may only need to water once a month. If you are looking to add some plant life to your environment, this is an easy choice to make. There are several different plant species that you can choose from, including round and tall varieties.
Decorative plants are a great choice for those who want the feeling of caring for plants without all the burden. I tried growing one of these cactus plants on my own, and the easy watering schedule made it hassle-free to care for it. They even tolerate varied growing conditions, which makes the transition easier for new gardeners. The next time you walk by the gardening aisle at your local store, consider picking up an already-grown cactus or green onion. You too can start adding to a personal garden and add decor to your home or flavor to your food.
After boiling, the balls should have a shiny, honey-like consistency. Strain the water and place the balls into a drink of your choice!
Review
I got this recipe from Ms. Shi and Mr. Hi’s website. Noticing that the instructions only required three ingredients, I knew I had to give it a try.
During my initial experience of
If you work with someone, I recommend that one checks the measurements and the recipe’s steps while the other does the tasks required. That way, the workload would be evenly split, and there wouldn’t be as much stress. Also, an additional set of hands makes the process more efficient while being a memorable experience at the same time.
Despite these challenges, this recipe is quite beginner-friendly as you do not need many ingredients and there are only twelve steps. However, you need a lot of patience while making this recipe.
The total cost of the ingredients for this recipe was $16.88, excluding tax. The ingredients I bought are the tapioca starch from 52USA, a 24-ounce organic light brown sugar pack, and buckeye brown food coloring from Chefmaster.
Although it may seem like a lot, each ingredient came in large quantities. Something that surprised me before recreating this recipe is how there’s not many ingredients you need to buy—some of the ingredients can already be found in your kitchen.
The boba pearls are best when paired with a drink, but when eaten by itself, its taste is sweet yet not overwhelming. The texture of the pearls is very soft and silky and the pearls’ appearance is jelly-like, just like the tapioca pearls you’d find in a bubble tea cafe. The taste of the pearls depends on the tenth step; if you add too much sugar, it will be too sweet, while if you add not enough sugar, the pearls will taste bland and have a watery consistency.
Place your home-grown herbs and plants on your windowsill to get an optimal amount of daily sunlight.
Sowmya Sundar | The Union
Sowmya Sundar | The Union
Once you are done boiling your boba pearls, soak them in sugar syrup.
Poor breathing techniques can negatively affect health
By Harold Hong
Breathing is such a natural and recurring bodily function that one may never give it a second thought. However, many people unknowingly breathe incorrectly, from mouth-breathing to chest-breathing – these bad habits can eventually distort a person’s facial features, according to the American Sinus Institute’s website.
Mouth-breathing transfers whatever is in the air directly to the lungs and raises the chance of infection, as opposed to nose-breathing, which filters out debris and toxins in the air and sends them away from the lungs, according to my.clevelandclinic. org. Mouth-breathing may also contribute to sleep apnea, allergies, a dry mouth, and bad breath, according to the website.
Children who breathe through their mouth see a higher chance of developing a narrow face that ruins one’s facial harmony (the proportional balance of one’s facial features), a receding jawline with underdeveloped face muscles, crooked teeth, and an “adenoid face,” according to clevelandclin-
ic.org. The typical features of an “adenoid face” include a thin upper lip, sunken eyes, pinched nostrils, and flat features.
Thoracic breathing (chestbreathing) is the expansion of the chest when inhaling, and although it may not be as detrimental to one’s appearance as mouth-breathing is, it can still worsen a person’s quality of life. For instance, chest-breathing is known to activate the respiratory muscles in the body that tighten one’s neck, chest, and vocal cords, and trigger a fight-or-flight response, according to mayoclinichealthsystem.org.
When trying out chest-breathing (purposefully channeling air in the chest and ribcage when inhaling), my chest notably feels bloated and has a burning sensation. On the other hand, diaphragmatic breathing (belly-breathing), the expansion of the stomach when inhaling, comes more naturally and carries the oxygen from my lungs more smoothly. It’s important to note that many people only chest-breathe because they feel self-concious when belly-breathing.
Likewise, the solution to
these bad habits is to switch to nose-breathing and belly-breathing. Nose-breathing filters bad-quality air, and for children, reverses the negatives that can come with mouth-breathing. Belly-breathing can stabilize a person’s blood pressure and heartbeat, help those with anxiety or shortness of breath, and reduce acid reflux, according to mayoclinichealthsystem.org.
From my tests, mouth-breathing requires a lot more energy to perform than nose-breathing. It also applies more pressure on the lungs and throat than the latter. As for belly-breathing, it feels more relaxing and refreshing than chest breathing.
Switching to these healthy habits can be difficult, so one key tip is to fix your posture. Correcting your posture to align your neck and upper back while getting your chin straightforward can help promote nose breathing, according to customfitphysicaltherapy. com.
In my experience, nose-breathing and belly-breathing feel more natural. Although it might appear trivial, good breathing habits can lead to a healthier life.
Lego Mclaren races to replicate Formula 1 racecar
By Shrihan Sham
The Lego McLaren Formula 1 edition is one of the biggest Legos to ever exist. With more than 1,400 pieces, all neatly sorted in little bags, the papaya-orange bricks were vibrant and the instruction book was so thick, I felt like I was holding my history textbook. This was not going to be like the Lego sets I built as a kid. I loved building cars since my childhood, and building this was on a different level. All good race cars begin with the base, and that is where I started.
small pistons to move, just like in a real Formula 1 car.
Next was the suspension system, and this was the hardest part of the build for me because fitting the small pieces together took some work. But once finished, it made the chassis – the base of the car – move a little when pushed down, just like a real car would. Next was the steering system, which was my favorite part because the wheel actually rotated the front tires, something that a lot of LEGO builds don’t have. Sure enough, with each
chassis, creating a perfect aerodynamic look. Putting the stickers was also very tricky as one tiny misalignment would mess up the look. Aligning them took a level of focus I didn’t know I had, but when done, the car looked realistic, like a real f1 car.
The final steps were the most satisfying. The wheels attached with that satisfying LEGO click, shaping the car into its proper racing form. And of course, I attached the adjustable rear wing, since an F1 car is not really an F1 car without aerodynamics.
The motor took shape piece by piece with small gears, axles, and connectors, which were one of the biggest parts. By this point, I knew this was going to be a challenge that would test my patience. It took me at least an hour just to get through the first bag, and then I realized I had 8 more to go. After installing the pistons, the engine actually functioned— pushing down on it caused the
Spring cleaning improves home
By GengYang Lin
After the cold months of winter, many people do a deep clean of their homes. Cleaning an entire house thoroughly can be difficult so here are some tricks and tips for your spring cleaning.
Recommended Brands:
- Scrubbing Bubbles
- Clorox
- Scotch Brite
- Dyson
- Mr Clean
Supplies:
To prevent wasting time running around and looking for items, always check the supplies beforehand.
I highly recommend a mask due to all the dust that the cleaning will create. A goggle or glasses would also help avoid eye irritations.
Other necessary items are a vacuum, a mop, rags of some kind, a glass-cleaning spray, a scrubbing bubbles multi-surface bathroom cleaning spray, a stovetop cleaner, scrub sponges, and a magic eraser. A broom is recommended for larger items instead of vacuums.
I recommend gloves and slippers for cleaning toilets and other unhygienic items or surfaces.
Rooms:
Cleaning rooms is as simple as following a list. Simply remove all trash and then empty out everything from the shelves and the floor. Proceed by cleaning from the highest point of the room to the lowest so that you won’t have to clean the floors twice.
For shelves and tables, vacuum them before wiping surfaces down with a wet rag. If there are any stains on the walls, wipe with a wet magic eraser, but be careful not to scratch off any paint.
For the floors, vacuum to remove small particles before using a mop to finish. Only use a mop to finish if the floors are hard surface floors. If the hard surface floors happen to be made out of wood, make sure to dry them so that they won’t absorb the water and bloat.
Remember to clean the removed items by vacuuming and wiping them before placing them back; use common sense. The same strategy can be applied in common areas, excluding bathrooms and kitchens.
Bathrooms:
For obvious reasons, bathrooms
are the most undesirable place to clean out of the whole house. As always, start cleaning from the highest points to the floors. Clean the mirrors with a rag and a glass cleaning spray, but be careful not to wipe them too many times, which leaves slivers of fabric on the glass.
Use the scrub sponges to clean out the sink, and if there are any issues cleaning the muck off, use the multi-surface bathroom cleaning spray.
For the toilets, fill the bowl with toilet cleaners, use the multi-surface cleaning spray on anywhere with stains, and let it sit until it stops sizzling. Afterward, wipe off the stains and use the toilet cleaning brush to clean the bowl. When you’re done, close the lid and flush the toilet.
For the floor, vacuum any hair or dust, spray areas with any stain with the multi-surface bathroom cleaning spray, and then mop the floor after the sizzling sounds stop.
Kitchen:
There are three main areas to clean when it comes to the kitchen: the floor, the stove, and the countertop.
For the countertops, simply vacuum the dust off if the vacuum is modifiable to a shorter version and wipe it down with wet rags. If there are tough spots to clean, I recommend using the magic eraser for stains or the scrub sponge for sticky objects.
The stovetop will take a considerable amount of time to clean if it is not cleaned regularly. Remove the grates, then, use a mix of a stove top cleaner cleaning spray, a wet rag, a scrub sponge, and a magic eraser until all stains are gone.
Be cautious when cleaning near the burner and do not put any water in it since putting water on the burners will prevent the use of a stove top until it dries off. Remember to clean the grates using scrub sponges and water. Apply the same procedures for the floors as the rooms.
Conclusion:
Overall, cleaning is not difficult, just follow necessary steps and work from experience. If you can’t get a stain off or don’t know what to use, just search it up. The internet will always have some answers or at least a half baked idea for you to work off on.
build, there’s that one annoying moment. For me, this was a little black connector that just vanished at the worst time possible. I looked everywhere around my house. I spent 20 minutes under my bed. I don’t recommend building any LEGOs on a bed, because I kept losing pieces.
The internal mechanics were complete, and it was time to build the sleek McLaren body. The orange panels snapped onto the
When done with my Lego, I bought a wall stand, which was separate and did not come with the set. I attached the Lego to the wall in my room, and it looks amazing.
Overall, I loved building the LEGO McLaren F1 car. For the build experience, I would give it a B+, as it had too many small pieces which were hard to put together. For the looks I’d give it an A+ as it looks realistic. I highly recom-
When you breathe properly, your diaphragm releases upwards breathing out and downwards breathing in.
Uyen Vu | The Union
Famous Slenderman story originates as urban legend
By Namana Balakrishna
Creepypastas are famous anonymously written horror stories that pop up on the internet. The term itself originates from the online term “copypasta”, where people would copy-paste large chunks of text in online forums. This was how these stories circulated during the earlier days of the internet.
These stories have been around for so long that they’ve been incorporated into many parts of internet culture. A famous example is Slenderman, which was widely popular around the 2010s
The original story still exists on the Creepypasta website, along with many other creepypasta stories.
The story describes Slenderman to be a humanoid creature with long limbs and wearing a suit. While modern depictions of Slenderman show him having shadow-like tendrils coming from behind him, that isn’t the case in the original. Here, Slenderman has bulking limbs
branching out from the joints of his arms, similar to a tree. While the idea of Slenderman is disturbing, it isn’t exactly horror-inducing.
In the creepypasta story, Slenderman attacks the main character. She is said to be suffering from second-degree and third-degree burns and has bandages covering her eyes and ears. While in the hospital, the main character’s sister notices Slenderman watching from the window, yet when she goes to check again, there is nobody there. She brushes it off as a figment of her imagination, as they were on the third floor. Overall, the story wasn’t as scary as I expected; it was more like a fun read. However, this certainly wasn’t the case at the time it was circulating. The story was widespread and provoked fear among many children at the time, becoming a new version of the “boogeyman.” He was the literal embodiment of fear.
This story had a huge impact on internet culture, and many video games and media started using the character of Slenderman in their works. There was a movie titled “Slender Man” released in 2018, and a video game called “Slender: The Arrival”. While the character might be fictional, its impact on the world was very real.
Older depictions of Slenderman typically do not include any form of shadows or tendrils.
Courtesy of TheTuneOfTurbo
American Psycho: 25 years of psychological horror
“American Psycho,” a horror genre classic, turns 25 this year. It follows Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale), a psychopathic businessman who has a deep obsession
This film is an excellent look into the mind of a psychopath and has rightfully earned its place at the top of the horror movie classics. It says a lot about society and how we are willing to look away when things become too difficult. Instead of trying to help and understand someone, people like Bateman’s friends and coworkers are far too quick to look away. While this film is a horror movie, with a tremendous plot twist, it is still worth watching even if you’re not a horror
fan. The movie has some lighthearted comedy, and the gore – at least until the very end – is kept off-screen. For anyone looking for a good introduction to the horror genre, this film is a must-watch.
In this film, the audience dives into Bateman’s psyche and is forced to experience the world through his psychotic rationale. As Bateman descends further into insanity, the audience is left questioning if what they see is true, forcing Bateman’s insanity onto them.
Bateman tries hard to fit in and come across as normal, and even takes the audience through his daily routine as a way to prove his normalcy. He does his best to hide his bloodlust from the audience and the people around him, which makes his crimes seem all the more unhinged. The audience is led to believe that Bateman is a likeable character, making it easier for them to trust Bateman’s tion of his actions.
This leads to them descending into Bateman’s madness alongside him because they see the world through his point of view. The movie’s ending only makes the audience feel more complicit in Bateman’s actions, which adds to the suspense. As Bateman loses control of reality and the rest of the world turns a blind eye to the murders he commits, all the audience can do is sit and watch helplessly.
Part of what makes this movie so interesting to watch is that it juxtaposes humanity with psychopathy. The audience knows that Bateman feels no human emotion, and yet, he knows exactly how to perform. When he murders a close friend, Bateman acts sad in front of the detective to weasel his way out of suspicion. He also has a deep desire to murder and struggles to control it throughout the movie. The most chilling part is that Bateman can return to everyday life after committing a murder.
The ending of the movie is phenomenal. There is a dramatic shift in tone after Bateman tries to kill an escort he brings home. The escort’s attempt
human emotion has on themselves and the world around them.
Devil House creates intricate mystery based on local murder murders.
By Ronak Srivastav
Score: 3.5/5
“Devil House” is a true crime/horror novel written by American singer and author John Darnielle and published on Jan. 25th, 2022. The readers follow Gage Chandler, a journalist and true crime author chasing his next big novel by uncovering the truth at a house where two people were murdered by teens in Milpitas, California. The strongest appeal of “Devil House” is its ability to make the reader question the difference between fiction and reality. Chandler does this by constantly referencing real-life events, such as Anthony Jacques Broussard’s murder of Marcy Renee Conrad in Milpitas. He also crafts a narrative where the reader can’t tell true information from the fake, like when Chandler describes how troubled teenagers fantasize about an imaginary castle or when Darnielle starts mixing up his previous imaginary book’s murder with the murders that happened within the house. The book’s illusions of what is real or fake make for better immersion within the book, as the reader tries to piece together the true story about the
Since “Devil House” is also set in Milpitas, it makes the story more engaging for Milpitas residents because you can recognize some of the things mentioned in the book, like how Chandler’s house is on Main Street. Some of the events that take place in the book are also from 1970’s Milpitas, so readers can learn parts of Milpitas’s culture from then, as Darnielle lived in Milpitas around this time and recounts folktales and mythical occurrences. However, the book is still mainly fictional, so some of these folktales aren’t actually true.
However, some aspects I didn’t like about the book are that it is a particularly slow-burn book that takes its time to set up plot threads, and it constantly switches perspectives to confusing different time periods and locations. Switching perspectives with locations and time periods isn’t necessarily bad, but I felt that at times Chandler used it excessively, like when he switched into a random folk tale that only really showed symbolism while detracting from
the current plot in the book.
Also, the book is not easy to understand, with many motifs such as a new alphabet and symbolism with changing fonts for different sections, so if you aren’t prepared to analyze a lot of the book’s parts to understand all of the overtones fully, this may not be the book for you.
Overall, “Devil House” is a wellcrafted book with a lot of parts that the reader has to figure out, which is both its largest strength as a book and a rea son why some may not want to read it.
Courtesy of Macmillan Publishers
Courtesy of Suzanne Waters
“Devil House” is primarily set in the towns of Milpitas and San Luis Obispo during the ‘80s and ‘70s.
'MUSIC' underperforms despite years of anticipation
3 out of 5
By
Playboi Carti’s fourth studio album, “MUSIC,” was expected to be released in Jan. 2024. After five long years since his previous album, “Whole Lotta Red,” “MUSIC” was released on March 14th, 2025. During the five-year hiatus, he dropped singles “2024”, “ALL RED”, and was featured on The Weeknd’s “Timeless”, to name a few. This album did not reach the expectations of his fans, despite the anticipation.
The album rollout was extensive. People in big cities like Los Angeles, New York, and Miami saw many billboards promoting the album. He posted several outfit pictures, which many people thought were part of the album rollout. Additionally, Spotify released a post on Instagram telling viewers to have faith in the release of “MUSIC”.
means that the album had to be released before that date, or else he would have to refund everyone’s money, which further increased the album’s build-up.
Something that popped out in this album was the guest artists. There were features from big-name artists like Travis Scott, Future, The Weeknd, and Lil Uzi Vert, not to mention Kendrick Lamar’s surprise appearances. My favorite songs from the album are “EVIL J0RDAN”, “PHILLY”, “RATHER LIE”, and “BACKD00R”.
In the song “EVIL J0RDAN”, the intro is nice but it felt too long. It sounds like a 2015 Minecraft YouTuber’s intro. The song is still a hit, nonetheless.
On his merchandise website, it said that the “product will ship no later than six months from September 13, 2024”, which included the CDs, boxsets, clothes, and a downloadable version of the album. This
One more song that featured Kendrick Lamar, “GOOD CREDIT” is great. The sample at the beginning of the song was creative but felt unnecessary. There’s so much hate around Kendrick Lamar for his verse on this song, but I thought it was good.
Another thing that I liked about this album was the production and the alternating uses of his higher-pitched voice and his deeper voice.
I did not enjoy the absence of lyrical depth on most of the songs. I understand that mumble rap is part of his style, but I prefer music with more meaningful storytelling or emotions. Moreover, the random “Swamp Izzo” adlibs throughout the album were unnecessary. Additionally, I’m not a fan of the short-length songs either. What he should have done differently is release the album on time. He said that the album would be released at 12:00 am PST, but it was delayed until around 4:30 am. He should have added the other songs not included in the album such as: “ALL RED” and “PLAY THIS”. Furthermore, collab songs with Ye are mandatory since they work well together, which can be seen in “FIELD TRIP”, “CARNIVAL”, and “F*K SUMN”.
Playboi Carti’s new album “MUSIC” has some high highs and low lows, so I can only give it a mid-ranking. This album isn't good enough for all of the anticipation. All those years of outfit pictures, leaked snippets, and rumors didn't live up to the hype. I think that Playboi Carti should prioritize being a featured artist because that is what he is good at.
‘Daredevil Born Again’ excites with astonishing action
RATING: 4 out of 5
“Daredevil: Born Again” is the sequel series to Netflix’s “Daredevil” (2015-2018), and with its premiere on March 4th, both TV and comic fans got to reunite with Charlie Cox’s Daredevil. “Born Again” is more of a spiritual successor to the Netflix series than a direct continuation and only requires a minimal understanding of its characters to watch.
The show follows lawyer Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) as he decides if he should return as the vigilante Daredevil, after his former nemesis, Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'onofrio), becomes mayor of New York City. Amazing acting, thrilling action, and politically relevant plot choices make “Daredevil: Born Again” a must-watch for anyone wanting something poignant from a comic adaptation.
Despite being named after the 1986 graphic novel “Daredevil: Born Again” by Frank Miller, the show doesn't stick to the novel’s gritty aesthetic, but aims to make New York look pretty and clean with a much lighter tone. Throughout the show, there are news reports of citizens reacting to the events of the show, usually with comedic or lighthearted takes. These scenes break away from the main plot and hurt the pacing
without offering anything of much substance. This change of tone can be jarring to people familiar with the original show, which depicted New York as a city that harbors and protects criminals. As the show goes on, these tonal issues subdue as the grit of the original series shows up more and more with each episode.
The performances of Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock and Vincent D'onofrio as Mayor Fisk carry the show's sometimes questionable writing. Almost a decade after the original show’s premiere, Cox and D'onofrio affirm what made their interpretations so definitive and memorable. Halfway through Episode 1, Murdock and Fisk meet in a diner to discuss the changes in their lives since the original series ended with Murdock defeating Fisk. Without any dialogue mentioning their prior conflict, the two actors make it clear how their characters loathe and admire each other.
Another stand out is Kamar De Los Reyes as The White Tiger. Although his screen time was limited, Reyes crafts an endearing and powerful performance. Unfortunately, the writers can't handle the size of their cast, and no other characters feel defined enough to truly care about them.
“Born Again” brings back Philip Silvera, the stunt and fight coordinator for the original series, and he brings the same level of brutal action to this show. The fight scenes
‘Invincible Season 3’: Enjoyable but falls short of expectations with slow pacing
RATING: 3.5 out of 5
By Atticus Roberts-Daniels
After two seasons of betrayals and jaw-dropping battles, “Invincible” flies back onto our screens with Season 3 and more bloody action and emotional turmoil. Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun), also known as Invincible, carries the responsibility of protecting his home planet Earth. After battleing his father Nolan Grayson (J.K. Simmons), also known as Omniman, Mark must protect Earth from the Viltrumite alien race and other threats, while helping his younger brother Oliver Grayson manage his new powers.
The animated adaptation didn’t reach my expectations until the last couple of episodes of the season. I was a bit disappointed with the lack of detail and effort put into the scenes and panels of the show this season. The comparison with the animation in Season 1 and Season 3 is night and day, although this may have been due to the quick release of seasons and episodes. Despite the animation issues, the season was still enjoyable.
SHOW REVIEW
character in the series is white.
Most of this season featured small subplot conflicts and stories, but one of the highlights of this season is Episode 7, “What Have I Done?”. Aside from the sad character design doing no justice to the ones in the comics, it was better than I anticipated. The creators improved their animation for this and the subsequent episode.
The creators of “Invincible” improvised holes for comic characters they didn't have rights for, such as “Spawn” being replaced with “Wolfman”, and prevented characters from dying unlike in the comics.
The consistency in Season 3 is questionable, and I’d like to see more time and effort put into the episodes even if it postpones the releases.
Lately, there has been much commentary about how the pressure of releasing animated shows and anime sooner rather than later affects the quality of the production.
are the bread and butter of the show, with the weight of every punch shifting the tide of the fight and smart cinematography that adapts to the fight's flow. During a scene where Murdock must fend off corrupt police officers, the action reveals that the officers all share a skull tattoo, a clue for viewers to catch onto one of the show’s side plots.
This side plot about corrupt cops using the vigilante Punisher's skull logo as their insignia is very topical as many far-right groups have taken the logo and made it their own in recent years. This storyline is the most politically charged Marvel Studios has been in years, and a bigger risk than the Netflix series would take. This risk-taking is felt throughout the whole show. It's impossible to not see the subtext of how Fisk, an infamous con-man, criminal, and narcissist was voted into office, with characters saying, “He’ll be interesting” and “isn't like other politicians.” If handled well, these storylines can be some of the most political on TV right now.
All in all, “Daredevil: Born Again” is a worthy successor to the original series. Despite some tonal changes, it perfectly captures what makes the Daredevil character important. Its strong performances and astonishing action carry the show when the plot lulls. If you're looking for a high-quality superdrama with a powerful message, then "Daredevil: Born Again" is perfect for you.
The plot building in each episode is very efficient, as it touches numerous parts of the story in one episode, continuously creating a lead to the next conflict or event, while accurately following the main and subplots. The changes from the comic to the show are minimal and the story remains the same. But due to the art of the show and lack of detail, we don’t get accurate representations of characters and even some have their appearance altered entirely.
While some of these changes are due to the art style and efforts of animation put into the show, some of these are a purposeful decision.
“[Representation is] something that’s been really important to us. We have to recognize that a couple of dumb white guys made this comic book in the early 2000s. And there was a real lack of diversity in that series,” Robert Kirkman, the creator of “Invincible” said, according to TV Guide.
In the 2003 “Invincible” comics, almost every single
Sunny Side Up
The fight choreography is lackluster most of the season, and some panels are literally freeze-frame Portable Network Graphics (PNGs) dragged across the screen. Nonetheless, “Invincible” shows the true magnitude of superheroes and outer-world conflicts.
The Season 3 finale reached its best heights in the last two episodes; they were amazing and exploded past expectations. The rest of the season was slow-paced with many moments that weren’t important to the main story.
The voice acting casts are top tier, as they continue to deliver engaging lines across the show. Steven Yeun nailed the roles of Invincible and his multiple other variants. Expectations were set for the highly anticipated main villain of the finale, Conquest (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), and he delivered his lines perfectly, even some added dialogue to show exclusively as it wasn’t part of the comics.
The main criticism is the slow start Season 3 had as a whole. I was a little disappointed they didn’t cover Omniman and Allen the Alien’s whereabouts in the final episode. However, I was very impressed with the finale. I'm excited for Season 4, and to see more about the intergalactic battles of the Viltrumite warriors.
Courtesty of Wikimedia Commons
Playboy Carti released "MUSIC" on Mar. 14 after five year hiatus. It was first expected to release Jan. 2024.
Courtesy of Prime Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun), AKA Invincible, defends Earth from new
Andy Nguyen
By Javier Antonio Alfaro
Half of 'Ruby' should’ve stayed in the dirt; mixes award-worthy songs with forgettable tracks
‘Plankton: The Movie’:
By Alice Nguyen
JENNIE originally rose to fame as the main rapper of the K-pop girl group, BLACKPINK, nearly nine years ago. Now, she’s making a name for herself as a solo artist with her first, highly anticipated album, “Ruby,” released on March 7. Not only is “Ruby” a versatile album featuring many different genres, but it also ranges vastly in quality from award-worthy songs to those that should have never been released.
ing Childish Gambino and Kali Uchis. JENNIE and Uchis voice a woman impressing a guy, while Gambino voices a man and his own thoughts of her. The song was essentially ear candy with JENNIE and Uchis’ heavenly vocals, and Gambino’s versatility in his rap and singing ability.
“Ruby” features 15 tracks with pre-released songs “Mantra” and “Love Hangover” featuring Dominic Fike. The album also features Childish Gambino, Kali Uchis, and Grammy-winning artist Doechii.
Some tracks were a hit for me; some were a far miss. One that surely deserves a notable mention is a sweet, R&B track titled “Damn Right,” featur-
Stuns visually, but lacks interesting storytelling; with repetitive, boring songs
RATING: 2.5 out of 5
By Sowmya Sundar
“Plankton: The Movie” released on Netflix on Mar. 7 to Spongebob Squarepants fans worldwide. The musical comedy follows Plankton (Mr. Lawrence), the primary antagonist of the Spongebob franchise, and his relationship with Karen (Jill Talley), the sentient robot he invented. Though the movie features beautiful animation, the substandard plot, jokes, and songs diminish its overall impact.
understand for people with less knowledge of the Spongebob franchise. The characters’ introduction was too brief to provide any meaningful context. They become easier to understand as the movie progresses, but it feels like the movie assumes the audience has prior knowledge. It may be hard for newcomers to fully appreciate it.
The two antagonists share an obsession with world domination but experience a falling out. Plankton’s stubborn desire to steal Mr. Krabs’ (Clancy Brown) secret burger formula leads him to neglect Karen. In a fit of rage, she transforms into a monstrous robot, set on destroying Bikini Bottom, their town, and eventually the entire world. With the assistance of Spongebob (Tom Kenny); Patrick (Bill Fagerbakke); and the Gal Pals; Sandy Cheeks (Carolyn Lawrence), Mrs. Puff (Mary Jo Catlett), and Pearl Krabs (Lori Alan), Plankton reflects on his past and reevaluates his priorities, learning valuable lessons about love and commitment.
The movie may difficult to
'White
lotus
This film is tailored to kids and thier parents rather than general audiences, so other viewers may be less entertained. The jokes were either very juvenile or lingered on the woes of Karen and Plankton’s failing relationship, which felt geared to older adults. However, some jokes were enjoyable regardless of age. I liked how Spongebob turns into an elderly psychiatrist to help Plankton reevaluate his past.
The childish air of the movie lent itself to aspects beyond its humor. At the beginning of the film, there are three songs indroducing characters. The introductions dragged on and could've easily been combined. The songs are catchy yet boring and repetitive.
The plot felt flimsy and static. Since the plot is focused on flashbacks, the characters stay in one or two locations for the majority of the movie. They experience no real development during these scenes.
The film may be for children, but that isn’t an excuse to forgo an interesting plot. I found myself constantly questioning the characters' motivations. Plankton’s “redemption” feels rushed. His sudden change of heart lacks sufficient buildup, surprising both the audience and Karen.
Despite the lackluster elements of the film, its animation is incredible. The vibrant and textured animation style draws peoples’ attention. It's paired with fun transitions like bubbles and meta zooms. My favorite aspect of the movie is the experimentative animation and soundtracks that play when Plankton reminisces.
During the film, he remembers his past through three hypnosis sessions. Each session has a different animation style and soundtrack: the first one features old cartoon animation and a jaunty tune. The next features a ‘90s style filter and pop rock soundtrack. Every time he went back to the past, I felt excited to see what the animators could pull off.
For Spongebob fans, “Plankton: The Movie” is worth the watch. However, while the animation was engaging, the movie's failure to introduce the characters, childish humor, repetitive songs, and weak plot make it a tough recommendation for those outside its target audience.
Another track that I enjoyed was “like JENNIE,” the fourth lead single of the album. The lyrics of the song basically encapsulate the overarching theme of “Ruby” — Jennie finding confidence in herself. The song stands out because of JENNIE’s rap in her second verse; “like JENNIE” showcases her skill as a rapper, unlike many other songs in the album that layer autotune over her rapping.
One last song that impressed me was “ExtraL,” featuring Doechii. The song released right before National Women’s History Month seems poetic, as it encourages women to be confident and empowered within themselves. The chorus
is addictive with the catchy line “Do my ladies run this?” — and JENNIE and Doechii certainly ran it with their flow. However, I believe that “Ruby” begins to fall off in quality on the second half of the album with forgettable and underwhelming songs such as “Seoul City” and “Starlight.” Other songs, such as “ZEN,” overuse synth and sound like an experiment gone wrong, when JENNIE’s raw raps would’ve been more than sufficient for quality. These songs did not add anything special to the album, and the listening experience may have been even better without them. Overall, “Ruby” is a mediocre first album with some redeeming tracks and more pitfalls. Despite the variety of genres between, ranging from R&B to hip-hop to pop, the album is surprisingly cohesive. The overall tone and message of the album oozes confidence and has a nice message of women empowerment. However, I do wish that there was more of an opportunity for JENNIE’s rap-
Season 3' impresses viewers with compelling character development
land and explores themes of privilege and morality.
“The White Lotus” is a dramatic comedy show that follows a group on their lavish vacation to a resort as they deal with the psychological struggles of taking a break from their privileged life. The third season follows the oddball Ratliff family: Victoria Ratliff (Parker Posey), Saxon Ratliff (Patrick Schwarzenegger), and Timothy Ratliff(Jason Isaacs). The third season of The “White Lotus” is held in Thai-
The show's creator, Mike White, uses “The White Lotus” to examine wealth, entitlement, and human emotion closely. Each season has a new cast and a new background, unrelated to the previous season, but the underlying themes remain the same. Season 3 continues the trend, this time in Thailand’s breathtaking landscapes. The serenity of Thailand is not only beautiful to look at, with its beachside views and vibrant, rich nature, but it also contrasts with the opulence the main characters are used to, highlighting the
ludicrous position of privilege they come from. The show effectively critiques Western culture as the characters struggle to find peace within themselves in a technologically unstimulating environment. One of the show’s critiques is showing how the wealthy commodify Thai Culture for their own pleasure, like….
The characters’ situations deliver the show's message in various ways. For example, Timothy Ratliff's downward spiral into a substance use disorder is because of his inner turmoil, contrasting with the tranquil nature of his surroundings. A trio of high school friends,
Jaclyn, Laurie, and Kate, add more questions about morality, especially within friendships. Their interactions flip-flop between feigned camaraderie and total resentment, suggesting the innate deception in human nature regarding interpersonal relationships.
In addition, the show’s structure will engage viewers from the beginning. It begins with a mysterious tragedy and traces the events that led to it through the rest of the episodes. The pacing may seem slow, but it deliberately builds tension and character dynamics. The show takes one episode to go through one day, focusing more on character dynamics
than furthering the storyline from episode to episode. There are moments when characters engage in yoga or relax on the beach where you feel like the plot is not developing.
Overall, “The White Lotus” Season 3 impressed me with its social commentary, pleasing cinematography, and captivating character development. I would recommend the show for those willing to let a slow burn pay off, as the first few episodes set the scene and develop the characters' personalities. It entertains the audience by cracking jokes at the ultra-wealthy and their relationship, while the drama and plot seamlessly develop.
"Ruby" sold over 660,000 copies in the first week according to KBS World
RATING: 3.5 out of 5
By Ved Vyas
RATING: 4.5 out of 5
Courtesy of Yoon So-Yeon
"Plankton: The Movie" released on Netflix on March 7. It follows Plankton, the primary Spongebob Squarepants antagonist, as he reflects on his
Courtesy of IMDb
ALBUM REVIEW
Varsity softball adjusts to new league, coach
The varsity softball team has had a rough start to their season this year, junior first and third base player Chloe Cabrera said. 2-0 in the DeAnza League, the team has struggled to score points in games but is slowly getting better, she said. 2-7 in the nonleague, according to MaxPreps.
The team lost a lot of graduating players from last season and having to get used to playing with one another contributed to the team’s rough start, Cabrera said. The team is now focusing on learning to work together, especially now that softball head coach Deana Querubin has returned to coaching, she added.
“Most people were on the team last year, but Coach D (Querubin), she didn’t coach last year,” Cabrera said. “She only coached two years ago. So there are a lot of people that haven’t played for her before that are playing for her now. So they’re new for Coach D.”
A lot of the players on the team have never worked with her before, Querubin said. She took a year off to adjust to becoming activities director, Querubin explained. Right now she is focused on setting a standard for the girls to meet and establishing a routine with them, she said.
“So basically, reteaching the system that we had and making sure the system that we have in
the softball program is clear so that we can keep replicating it, even for next year, because next year we’re going to have another big graduating class,” Querubin said. “We need to make sure that the system and how we do things is in place, so that when they leave, then this new group that’s going to come in, the returners can teach them.”
Querubin’s coaching style is much more competitive than last season’s coaching, Solis said.
“Last year we didn’t have a coach, really,” Solis said. “It was like the girls coaching, not an adult stepping up.”
Typically, practices are split up into two parts, Querubin said. The first half of practice is routine training followed by focusing on different weak areas, she said.
“In the softball-baseball world, the fundamentals are very – I wouldn’t even say it’s easy, but it’s simple,” Querubin said. “You need to work on those fundamental things, and then if you perfect the fundamentals, the other stuff comes easier.”
The softball team has two new freshmen pitchers who are replacing a pitcher who graduated last year, Querubin said. Giving such a big role to freshmen puts a lot of pressure on them, she added.
“So it’s building them – and even our young players, everyone that’s brand new to the program
– we have to build their belief in each other, and then also the belief in themselves,” Querubin said. “Because sometimes, they don’t see it, but we see it, and so we have to keep pouring belief into them so that they can see it in themselves.”
The coaches are encouraging the players to focus less on the points shown on the scoreboard and more on how their performance and skills are improving in order to keep themselves and the team motivated, Querubin said.
“But it’s like, no, we are winning because they’re getting better, and then maybe in league, we’re going to be able to get those wins where we’re going to work hard and might not expect to win that game, but because we’ve been working hard already, then we might be able to squeeze it,” she said.
Cabrera recommends taking things one day at a time to stay motivated, she said. It’s important to keep trying your best in order to succeed, she said.
“It definitely gets tiring, failing a lot and stuff like that,” Cabrera said. “But especially for softball, it’s such a big game of failure. In order to be good, you have to fail 70% of the time. So it’s just really training yourself mentally and making sure that you can recover after failing (and) bouncing back.”
Senior catcher Destiny Solis believes that despite the lack of wins, the softball team has been getting stronger and is bonding more, she said.
“We want to win,” Solis said. “We want to try to win and be competitive. Everyone wants to get better. So that’s what motivates us. And we get to see each other every day and joke around. I’d say on the softball field, we’re a family.”
Solis is confident that the team will be able to succeed next season, she said. The team has strong players and will keep building up from what they have now, she added.
“Our team is very hard-working, and we know not to give up,” Solis said. “We’ve gone through so many hard games where we did just want to give up, but we come to practice the next day knowing we can’t give up because we have to make our goals.”
Varsity boys’ volleyball grows stronger in year two
By Ronak Srivastav
The varsity boys’ volleyball team was created last year, and they had a record of 8-7 in the league last year, according to MaxPreps. So far, this season, they have had a dominant start, with a record of 4-1 in the league this season, according to MaxPreps.
To qualify for the playoffs, the team needs a 50% win rate in league games or a greater than 50% win rate in non-league games, head coach Naomi Lacuzong said. However, the team hopes to do better than just a 50% win rate this season, she said.
“I tell the boys that just because we qualify doesn’t mean we get in,” Lacuzong said. “So, they want to make it to playoffs, which means the better record you have, the better chance you have. So we’re aiming for first in league.”
This year, the team is showing more focus to do good in the league and improve in their mental game, technical game, and overall in comparison to their first year, Lacuzong said.
“They all (the team) know that their goal is to qualify for CCS,” Lacuzong said. “We talk a lot, we watch films, and everybody’s building their IQ, and they know what they need to do to get better. All of them are asking questions and want to get better, which is probably the biggest reason we’re doing pretty well.”
In their first year as a volleyball team, the boys felt more like a put-together team instead of a real team with synergy, with most of the players also more used to club volleyball, senior defensive specialist Viet Dinh said.
The team has more chemistry in this second year in comparison to last year, Dinh said.
“I felt like skill-wise, we were pretty good, but our defense could have been better,” Dinh said. “It was also our first season, so we were probably scared. This year, we definitely have a lot more confidence.”
Playing club volleyball tends to be more fast paced compared to playing games for the school team, senior middle hitter Princeton Nguyen said.
“For school season, you play best out of 5 sets,” Nguyen said. “But because club season is a lot more fast-paced, and you’re trying to get through everything, it’s best out of three. In club season, you’ll also mainly play tournaments where you play a lot of different teams, while for school, you play individual teams on different days.”
The volleyball team’s chemistry is good this year because a lot of the players are friends outside of volleyball and have better communication and cohesion as a result of that, senior middle hitter Princeton Nguyen said.
“It’s a lot easier to communicate and really have experience with the rest of the team because of that,” Nguyen said. “Overall, there’s just a better connection with them because I played with these centers for a year or two before we were even on the team. So that chemistry kind of builds on the team, and then it just makes it a lot easier to play in actual games.”
To prepare for games, the volleyball team runs a variety of drills depending on several game situations, Nguyen said.
“Drills like hitting and blocking mesh together with other drills,” Nguyen said. “So we’re running scenarios that would happen in the game, and they all come together. For hitting and blocking, we have a ball in play, and we’re just playing it out, seeing how we can reach this specific goal or how the point plays out.”
The team has more of a communal aspect, where everyone’s filling their role on the team and can replace people who are hurt or sick, so the players trust each other a lot, Lacuzong said. The team should still be more confident in their own ability and skill, Lacuzong said.
“I just want them to go out there with confidence and have fun,” Lacuzong said. “Because if you’re more confident, you’ll have fun, you’ll be aggressive, you’ll do all the things you need to do, because whether you win or lose, at the end of the day, if they’re doing all those things, communicating and just having fun with each other, they’ll get better.”
Varsity baseball sharpens skills, strengthens teamwork for De Anza league
As of April 3rd, in the DeAnza league, the varsity baseball team has a record of 2-7, according to MaxPreps.
This year’s team is still learning how to settle in, and unfortunately, plays a lot of good teams early in the season, head baseball varsity coach Zach Canez said. As an assistant coach, Canez saw many players burn out from 3-4 hour practices, so now as head coach, he wants to manage their workload better through Wednesday study hall, he said.
“The rest of our days are defense days and hitting days,” Canez said. “If we don’t have a Saturday game, then it’s more of a scrimmage where we throw everything together. They’re playing an actual game so they can see live pitching and batting.”
The varsity teams’ biggest obstacle so far is having junior varsity (JV) players and freshmen transition to varsity, Canez said. If you watch a JV game compared to a varsity game, the difference in speed is big, he added.
“It’s just getting them to learn that speed and how things are done on a daily basis at this level,” Canez said. “Our biggest hurdle is just trying to get that speed and replicate it in practice.”
The hardest part of being on the varsity team is finding your role, junior Isaiah Rodriguez said. Once you know your role on the team, then it’s easy because you’re playing with confidence, Rodriguez, who plays catcher and utility, said.
“I feel like I got better and matured as not just a player, but a person just getting used to the environment of varsity,” Rodriguez said. “Knowing that it’s not just a one-man team and it’s all of us, I’m just contributing and making the most of my opportunity.”
In non-league games, the team still has to improve on a few things, Rodriguez said. I feel like our chemistry as friends is good, but as players, we need to be one unit, he said.
“All the teams we faced were competitive,” Rodriguez said. “There are games (non-league) that slipped by us that we know we should have had. And then there are games where we didn’t let our errors or any of that stuff get in the way, and we surpassed them and got the win.”
Practice games are a great way to improve your skill in baseball, Rodriguez said.
“For a lot of our guys that are newcomers, practice is a good learning experience for them to grow and see the speed and ev-
erything on varsity,” Rodriguez said.
The biggest obstacle junior Ethan Wang encountered so far was relearning everything about baseball since he last played on a team in middle school, he said. Some of Wang’s goals for the season are “potentially becoming a starter (starting pitcher),” Wang, who plays third base and outfielder, said. “Get a good amount of playing time, and if possible, win whatever championship we’re in.”
Wang is getting closer to his teammates, he said. It’s nice to have supportive teammates around you, he added. But when it comes to the crowd in the stands, Wang doesn’t let it affect his gameplay, he said.
“I’m always focused when playing,” Wang said. “My whole life is consistent.”
The varsity team has learned a lot from their non-league games, Canez said.
“The key factor in a lot of these games is when we’re actually throwing strikes, we’re in a lot of these games and winning them,” Canez said. “Whereas the games that we don’t do the small things correctly, the game gets out of hand quickly, so it’s just learning that we have to go about the business and do it the right way.”
By Marie De Vré
Chloe Cabrera bats against San Mateo in home match on Feb. 26.
Javier Alfaro | THE UNION
By Harold Hong
Javier alfaro | THE UNION
Catcher Isaiah Rodriguez plays in home game against Piedmont Hills.
Badminton team reflects on past few years of success, sets goals for future
Over the last four years, the badminton team has experienced significant success, and is continuing that this year, varsity co-captain Arida Narayan said.
The team plays in the top leagues, including De Anza and Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL), and has consistently been winning, Narayan said.
“In the three years that there’s been something called CCS champions, we’ve been CCS champions every single time,” Narayan said. “At the state level, we have sent people to NorCal as well,” she added.
The reason for their success is the team’s emphasis on collaboration, Narayan said.
“We really focus on team support and working together,” Narayan said.
The team won the sportsmanship award, which is awarded every year at CCS, junior Charles Bi said.
“The team being very tightknit has something to do with the award, but it’s largely due to our coach as well,” Bi said. “He encourages us to talk it out with the team, and he’ll host team bonding events.”
Many of the varsity players voluntarily stay behind during games to support the players, Bi
said.
“Our energy and friendship as a team makes us stand out,” Bi said. “The fact that we stay around and cheer for games improves our performance and takes it to the next level,” he said.
Much of the JV team’s success is also because of varsity players staying behind during practice to support the team, Narayan said.
“We do feeding drills and give the JV players advice,” Narayan said. “The varsity players often act as coaches.”
The morale of the team is very good, and everyone is always supportive of each other, senior and varsity co-captain Ardra Mohan said.
“We also have very strong players, which definitely contributes to our success,” Mohan said.
Although the team is very successful, there are still some things to be improved upon for next year, Narayan said.
“This year we’re focusing on building a stronger community for next year,” Narayan said. “We need to help the team figure out how to work once all these players leave next year.”
The biggest challenge the team faces is trying to recover from the long breaks between seasons, Mohan said.
“The season is short and there’s a lot of time off, so many people aren’t yet accustomed to playing at the beginning of the season,” Mohan said. “Towards the middle and end, we usually recover and start playing normally.”
The team’s goal this year is to continue the success we’ve had in our league, Bi said.
“We want to complete the 4 peat, winning CCS for the 4th year in a row,” Bi said.
In addition, the team wants more people to make it to the NorCal level, Narayan said.
“To make it to NorCal, players need to get top four at CCS,” Narayan said. “We’re working on helping more people place at CCS, so we can send them to NorCal.”
Boys basketball has historic season, exceeding expectations
By Ved Vyas
The varsity basketball team finished one of its best seasons in recent years, showcasing talent and teamwork thanks to years of hard work. Led by Bay Area news group Coach of the Year Champ Wrencher and standout senior Jacob Wrencher, who earned second team honors, the Trojans delivered dominant wins, a strong playoff run, and memorable team dynamics. Wrencher, in his 18th season, guided the team to an SCVAL De Anza Division title, a historic CCS Open Division playoff win over Bellarmine, and a 24-5 record — his best since 2019.
“We kind of expected this to happen,” Wrencher said. “We had the same team from last year, and they did really good when they were all JV, freshmen, and sophomores. The coaches believed this year should go like it did.”
That belief paid off in a big way, Wrencher said. The team not only secured wins but dominated enough to be considered one of the best teams in the area, he said.
“We’ve been in either the top four or first place every year,” Wrencher noted. “But this year, we went really over the top.”
Junior basketball player Nicholas Nguyen agrees with the coach, saying that hard work behind the scenes leads to the team’s success, he said.
“Before the season, we did a
lot of conditioning, workouts, weights,” Nguyen said. “And during the season, we had really good, hard practices.”
One standout moment happened during the team’s game against Palo Alto, Nguyen said.
“We beat them by 20,” Nguyen said. “That’s when I knew we were on another level.”
Coach Wrencher has a similar memory of an amazing win on December 12th, where the team walked away with a 16-point win against an undefeated league opponent, he said.
“That’s when I realized this could be something extra special,” Wrencher said.
The team was under the strong leadership of a core group of seniors who had played together for years, Wrencher said.
“More of these guys are friends,” Wrencher said. “The whole group is friends. And those are good ingredients.”
The seniors have not only left behind a strong basketball legacy, but they will continue to prosper at anything they do in life, Wrencher said.
“Any of those guys will be good at anything,” Wrencher said. “They’re all A-plus people.“And so if you can work together with people, and you can have that level of commitment, keep it up when you leave high school, do the same thing. So you’ll be good at whatever.”
Roman Johnson sprints toward state glory with relentless determination
By Atticus Roberts-Daniels
The spring season has finally arrived, and so have countless spring sports athletes with the desire to accomplish their goals for this season. Track and field, for example, has some outstanding athletes who are looking for another successful meet on the track. Senior Roman Johnson, one of the very best track athletes in the state, shared his goals and accomplishments. The main goal for this season is to make it to states, Johnson said.
He is also hoping to qualify for Arcadia, a meet in Los Angeles, which is his second main goal this season, Johnson said.
“Arcadia is where you will see all the best athletes in California,” Johnson said. “It’s where the best go, and it is hard to qualify for.”
The training this last summer and off-season was really hard work, Johnson said.
“Last season I ran (under 11 seconds time) due to competition,” Johnson said. “I had someone really fast running next to me, and he pushed me to go sub 11 for the first time. Actually, we pushed each other to run that for the first time. This time I just ran a 10.63 yesterday (March 25, 2025), and I feel that was hard work and training as I worked really hard this summer and during the off-season to improve my form.”
The track season has already begun, and the first few meets this season have gone well, John-
son said.
“I have done pretty good so far this season, I am currently ranked third in CCS right now, in the 100, and second in the 200,” Johnson said. “After my meet yesterday, I am ranked 17th in the state with a 10.63 time for 100m.
The greatest sacrifice for track and field is time because training and working to get better won’t happen without the time and commitment to the sport, Johnson said. There’s going be a lot of challenges to overcome, he added.
“It is very time-consuming; it takes away from school and going out with friends,” Johnson said. “I am often working out by myself, alone after practices or on offdays just to better myself.”
The track and field team has had a lot of athletes step up this season, specifically sophomores and juniors, who have been the main improvement from last year, Johnson said. They’ve been working harder this year despite a certain strict atmosphere on the track, he added.
“Specifically, I want to mention sophomore Jace Becker and sophomore Lucas Ngo, as those are two athletes who have taken a big step in the way that they’ve trained,” Johnson said. “The way that they work and the overall dynamic and help they bring to our team.”
Motivation is a big factor in track; a challenge might be the amount of hard work and training it requires or even the competitive atmosphere and coaching behavior on the track, Johnson said.
“I faced a lack of love for the sport at one point, which caused me to question whether I wanted to continue playing,” Johnson said. “But I won’t settle for that. My motivation is to beat everyone else around me,” he said. “I want to be better than anyone next to me, I want to beat whoever lines up against me. My only goal is to win and stand out from the rest. I don’t settle for anything else besides first because I see it as a failure.”
The track practices are fine; everyone is in different groups, such as throwers, jumpers, and long-distance runners, Johnson said. We also train more on our own time and at a higher level, he added.
“They are working on giving me my own practices since I’m working at a higher level than the rest of the team, so that I have a better challenge,” Johnson said. “I’ve taken extra time to practice to work and get better. Block starts have been the main focus and hurdle for me since last season, but I’ve been improving after the training I’ve been putting in,” he added.
Track is more of a mental sport than people think, it’s really just about how far you can push yourself to get to that next level, Johnson said.
“I will be running track next year at De Anza College, and it depends on where I’m at once I’m ready to graduate from there. If I’m ready to go to a professional level, then I’ll take it there.”
By Reba Prabhakhar
Courtesy of Lee Althouse
Steven Svihovec smashing a birdie against Palo Alto HS on Mar. 11.
Courtesy of Ernesto Sto Domingo
Roman Johnson competing at the Firebird Relays meet on Mar. 22.
Lamont Davis takes a jump shot over Junipero Serra on Feb. 26.
Courtesy of Ernesto Sto Domingo
Multi-ethnic student group hopes to provide inclusivity for students of mixed descent
By Angelrain Bacungan
The Multi-Ethnic Student Group aims to support underrepresented parts of the student population and help students understand their identities so that they’re prepared for their lives after high school, head of the Multi-Ethnic Student Group Johnella Fernandez-Payne said.
During the 2023-24 school year, a student and parent brought up the concern that biracial students were excluded, Principal and Chief Innovator Greg Wohlman said. With two parents of different backgrounds, mixed individuals might witness differences of opinion at home and have difficulty expressing their thoughts, he added.
“Some (mixed) students can have challenges at school, some may be comfortable and just fine, while others may feel like they don’t fully belong in one group or another,” Wohlman said. “How can they be supported in another way, not just as a student and not just at home?”
Concerns that the student body was too divided further pushed for the creation of the Multi-Ethnic Student Group meetings; some students would say insensitive
things about others and not realize what they’re saying, Fernandez-Payne said. Forming a group that a person of any ethnicity could join would help create a more open-minded community, she added.
“The amount of slurs and hate speech I hear from other students is disheartening, even if it’s a joke,” Fernandez-Payne said. “(One of) the objectives (of the meetings) would be to help other students realize that these offensive things are not always funny.”
Fernandez-Payne hopes to create a good community with students of multiple backgrounds in the future, she said. Fernandez-Payne hopes that the meetings will become more popular and become a club, she added.
“At some point, I hope to create a multicultural festival where there are different cultural acts and different good stalls with different cultures, “ Fernandez-Payne said. “I would definitely try to help counsel it because I do know a few people who are interested in helping with it.”
Both Fernandez-Payne and Wohlman have held three unsuccessful meetings so far due to poor advertisement, Wohlman said. There has been a low turnout of students attending;
some people who did appear at the meetings either did not understand what the event was for or did not have the enthusiasm they were looking for, he added.
“We’re having some challenges with where and how to message to get our voice out,” Wohlman said. “We’re making a plan for the next meeting time to make sure we advertise early and in places that students are reviewing, not just school announcements.”
Filipino-Indian freshman Maya Patel has not faced any challenges regarding her two backgrounds and doesn’t plan on going to any meetings, Patel said. Despite that, she views the meetings as an opportunity to help guide the students who may be struggling with them; she also views the meetings as a way to learn about different cultures, she added.
“When I think of other biracial students, some may feel one-sided, like they can’t connect to one side and are just taking one over the other. ... Or students may feel like they’re not as embraced in both of them enough,” Patel said. “If they feel like they need to be more one-sided, or if they are struggling with connecting with both of their roots, then they should go.”
Technology Student Association qualifies for nationals
By GengYang Lin
The Technology Student Association (TSA) won multiple competitions which qualified them for the national championship, Vice President Eusern, Ng said. The TSA won places in drone, video game design, coding, digital video production, and debating technological issues, Ng said.
TSA was recognized for its accomplishments by the school board on March 11th, Ng said. This was due to their accomplishments in winning competitions, Ng said.
“So they got first place in drone challenge, and then they got first place in video game design for two years in a row now, and then second place in coding, third place in digital video production, and fifth place in debating technological issues,” Ng said.
TSA won these competitions because the members work together well, Ng said. Usually, one person works by themselves, but they’ll still communicate with each other to improve, Ng said.
“I think the best way to work on something right is to get different viewpoints, so I think it’s a lot of collaboration and the bond that they form,” Ng said.
For the video game design competition, the candidates have a set amount of time to code a game which the judg-
es will then play and compare against competitors, Ng said.
For digital video production, you film and edit videos, Ng said.
“ And then the debating part – you’re given an issue and then you have to either defend yes or no,” Ng said.
Senior Jeremiah De Guzman competed in two TSA regional conferences, including a Computer Aided Design (CAD) engineering competition last year, Guzman said. The prompt was to build something in CAD based on a design and accurately dimension it, he said.
“I just attended the regional conferences they have for California,” Guzman said. “Last year it was at Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton. This year it was at Mountain House.”
In TSA, people learn about how to work with a team, communication, task setting, and planning, Guzman said.
There are some solo competitions, but if you’re trying to do a team-based competition, you’ll learn how to work with a team, Guzman said.
“Since you have a set competition, you really have to spend a good amount of time working with these technologies and making sure you do your best,” Guzman said.
TSA does not have an official training program for its members, competition manager, and California state secretary
STEAM showcase encourages youth participation in the arts and sciences
for TSA, Spencer Tran said.
“We’re hoping to have a better system in place to have competitions to be better,” Tran said. “Currently we have some after-school meetings and work days to organize everything and make sure everyone’s on track.”
As the California State Secretary for TSA, Tran is planning to create state competitions, he said.
“Right now California is divided into two, NorCal and SoCal,” Tran said. “We currently have regional competitions for NorCal and regional competitions for SoCal and then we compare the scores for both and whoever gets a higher score goes to nationals. Instead, next year we’re planning to host a statewide competition.”
Joining the club helps when it comes to college applications, Tran said.
“I think it’s probably one of my higher extracurriculars. (...) It’s a good chance you can also do a lot of competitions,” Tran said. “I think it certainly helps if you score and place really high on the competitions because you can go to nationals and regionals.”
Ever since joining the club Tran has been able to connect with a lot more people, Tran said.
“Honestly the people in the club are amazing, I’ve grown to be really close with them.”
By Yunxi Fang
The Milpitas Districtwide STEAM showcase focuses on giving students across the district a way to be excited about science, technology, engineering, arts, and math, Milpitas Community Education Foundation founder Robert Jung said.
Something unique about the showcase is that it is not a competition, STEAM showcase consultant and retired MUSD educator Karen Muska said.
“We don’t have first, second, or third place,” Muska said. “It’s about showing learning and showing progress.”
Students see projects at the showcase, and the ideas from these projects will filter back to the schools, Muska said.
“(A part) of the showcase is showcasing progress and what students learned,” Muksa said. “Some of it is scattering those little seeds and programs a little more widely.”
The STEAM showcase is more of a technical showcase focused on technology, Jung said. There is a requirement to integrate at least one additional STEAM category into projects with the arts, he added.
“And that is how the industry is looking at it too,” Jung said.
“There are a lot of technical aspects that try to make products more attractive to various customers, and they use various pieces of art or ideas from art to try to do that. That’s what we’re trying to highlight.”
Requiring students to include one additional area of STEAM into projects with the arts helps them find a connection between technology and art, Muska said.
“I don’t know how you do art without science, technology, or math,” Muska said. “If it’s perspective, perspective is math. Ratios involve looking at nature. There are sometimes artificial divisions between those areas of study.”
Since the showcase first started 11 years ago, the size of the showcase has definitely changed, Jung said.
“When we first started, there were maybe 50 kids who participated,” Jung said. “This year well over 750 kids participated.”
The physical capacity for the showcase has been reached over the last few years, Jung said. The showcase has turned away people who want to participate in person, he added.
“We can fit around 150 projects on campus,” Jung said. “We do have a virtual option where we take all submitted projects and put them online.”
The showcase already takes up the gym, library, and cafeteria, Jung said.
“Unless there is a way to expand the areas, it is unlikely that we can take any more folks in person,” Jung said. “We have thought about (expanding the areas) and maybe spreading this (the showcase) out over a couple of days, but unfortunately, the logistics are very difficult.”
The showcase tries to provide every school in MUSD equal representation, Jung said.
“We collect the total number of projects at each school site and provide that to the principal and the science teachers (working on the showcase),” Jung said. “We tell them roughly the number of projects they can have per school, and they work their way to whittle down the number that will be presented in person.”
MUSD being in the Silicon Valley has definitely encouraged the growth of the showcase, Jung said. More and more parents care that their kids are getting into STEM, he added.
“This is a good entryway,” Jung said. “This program is a good entryway for kids who just want to get excited about it without worrying about the competition; that’s the main piece.”
Courtesy of Greg Wohlman
An online advertisement sent out on Feb. 7 via email inviting students who may feel out of place to attend the Multi-Ethnic student group meetings.
Courtesy of Lakshmana Ramachandruni TSA accepts an award from the school board for achievements at the regional and state level in STEM and Leadership.
District, cafeteria works to minimize food waste, balances everchanging student needs
By Sowmya Sundar
Under the Universal Meal Program, which ensures free school meals, the number of prepared meals for students has significantly increased over the years, Director of Nutrition Services and Warehouse Sandy Huynh said. The district’s current goal is to make sure they have enough food to serve the students during breakfast and lunchtime and to minimize the food waste, she added.
The district monitors the meals given out to see if there’s a trend, Huynh said. They are currently doing a good job of minimizing food waste, she said.
“We have to balance between how much food we make and
how much is enough for the students, because we don’t get a forecast of how many kids actually come through and pick up their meals,” Huynh said.
“Everything is an estimate. So, we do have to make sure we are preparing enough, but we are finding different ways to minimize the food waste, including working with local partners, putting out the share bin in and watching how much food our staff is ordering with our vendors.”
The district aims to provide students with a complete, reimbursable meal, which includes grains, proteins, fruits, and vegetables, Kitchen Lead Rachelle Dalisay said. However, once the meals are served, the staff is unsure of if the students consume the food, Dali-
say added.
“We don’t allow students to go without fruits or vegetables,” Dalisay said. “If they don’t like it, they can put it in the share bin, so all the kids who are hungry at the end of the day, or maybe after lunch, they can get it and they can eat it.”
Share bins have been implemented in 15 cafeterias across the district, Huynh said. Students who do not want to consume parts of a meal can place it in the bin, such as entrees or fruits, she added.
“That’s also a way for us to recoup some of the food that the students do not want to eat and share with the other students,” Huynh said. “Students can pick up one meal only. So let’s say they can pick up
their meal, and then if they’re still hungry, they can go to the share bin and get seconds of it, whatever’s available, and at the end of the day, that share bin gets cleaned up by our staff.”
Last year, the EcoSociety club worked with the district to introduce share bins in MHS cafeteria, EcoSociety treasurer Vera Loui said. The bins have a significant impact, and have been increasingly used over time, Loui added.
“I know that at the beginning, people were a little iffy about it, because sometimes they don’t want to go out of their way to go and put away their food,” Loui said. “So, to have it right there in front of the cafeteria definitely makes an impact.”
Huynh believes there are a number of reasons students don’t finish or throw away their food, she said. She believes that the allocated time for lunch is the biggest factor, Huynh added.
“We’ve done surveys a couple of years ago where we collected about 700 surveys from students, and one of the biggest reasons why they don’t eat school meals is because they don’t have enough time,” Huynh said. “There are more than 3000 students at the campus, and there’s only one period, 30 minutes to serve everyone. So, between the long lines, to getting their food, to actually eating it, they really just have a few minutes.”
Huynh has brought the issue of the bell schedule up to prior administration, she said. The process of changing the bell schedule does require a lengthy process and stakeholders’ feedback, but she thinks that it will benefit the students, she added.
“At MHS, we have multiple points of service (POS),” Huynh said. “Not only do we
serve out of the food court, but we also have two shacks that we serve, and in total, we have at least 12 points of service open every day. So, it’s not the matter of getting the students fed or serving the students and processing them, because we know that we’re able to serve all of the students within 10 to 15 minutes.”
The number of meals served doubled when the food became free, which required the district to double its labor and resources, Dalisay said. However, with uncertainty about whether California will continue the free meal program next year, the district will need to adjust accordingly, Dalisay added.
“If the food is not free, a lot of students will bring their food and not eat with us,” she said. “We need to plan, because every day there’s something different. But this year, this month, this day is not like before. It’s not easy to adjust. So we know already, for example, if we serve 1,600, we need to make like 1,650 or 1,700 at least. When the kids come, we have backup, easy-to-create food like taco packets.”
The district is currently working towards elevating its meals program and providing more quality meals for students, Huynh said. As part of this effort, the district is conducting taste testing at different schools to ensure the food meets federal nutrition guidelines and is something students will enjoy and won’t waste, Huynh added.
“I expect us to continue to keep working towards our goals consistently,” Huynh said. “You know, we can’t just be saying ‘Oh, this year was a good year, but next year we’ll stop focusing on food waste.’ Food waste will always be part of what we do every day.”
A typical school lunch contains a fruit or vegetable and a warm meal component. Each meal must follow strict health and nutrition guidelines before it can be served to students. Cafeteria workers do their best to encourage students to take a side of fruit or vegetables so that students eat healthier.
Reba Prabhakhar | THE UNION
Math testing scores decline
FROM PAGE 1
said. “But, otherwise, it could be difficult.”
Students are required to take an actual class of Math 2, according to what UC requires, and everything else they are allowed to self-study before taking the Mathematics Diagnostic Testing Project (MDTP) test, math teacher Annie Nguyen said.
“I believe that when students self-study, they can’t self-study correctly a whole year’s worth of material in a span of six weeks,” Nguyen said. “So then, there’s a lot of gaps that are misplaced. That’s why when they go to higher level classes, or when they take an actual diagnostic class from the UCs, they are scored below what they should be.”
The gaps in the students’ skills are in their foundational skills, and they are unique to each student, Nguyen said. For example, some students can not factor in calculus, since they memorize just enough information for a test, Nguyen said.
“When they self-study, in my opinion, they don’t really know the ins and outs of all the curriculum that they’re self-studying,” Nguyen said. “They just generalize what the classes will be, and then they just study that.”
The reason why students can self-study is because when the district switched to integrated math for the high school level, not many colleges offered integrated classes, and therefore the district decided to allow students to selfstudy to accelerate, Nguyen said.
“They (students) had to pay thousands of dollars to be in this program, and the district felt that was an equity issue,” Nguyen said. “Not every family can
afford $2,000 every summer for a student to take those courses to accelerate. So it would be unfair for those who financially can’t accelerate.”
Summer classes may provide an introductory level of understanding, but students can not be as hands-on with the skills, Tsang said.
“It’s like playing any sport,” Tsang said. “You need to have, not just the understanding part; you need to practice every day for two hours, for example, after school, to make your concept hands-on and become part of your muscle memory.”
Senior Robin Jeon took Math 2 and precalculus classes over the summer, she said. While taking the classes, the main goal was more of passing the exam at the end of the class rather than learning, she said.
“Your goal isn’t to understand what is actually behind all this, so you tend to be very negligent of what is actually going on conceptually in order to just get the problem right,” Jeon said.
The summer courses were not perfect in preparing her for the next math level, but they were good enough, Jeon said.
“It (the course) is really short,” Jeon said. “It isn’t enough to affect your results in the acceleration test, but you’ll have to probably put in a little bit more effort to master during the school year.”
Whenever the district decides to make a programmatic change, they never do so on a whim, Koide said.
“We always want to have some data to back up our decision making,” Koide said. “That’s the last thing I want to make sure is really clear to our students and our community.”
AP teachers prepare for online exams
FROM PAGE 1
science teacher and frequent AP proctor Letta Meyer said.
The original time frame for the transition “was a couple of years, and things were coming in one exam at a time, or a couple of exams at a time,” Meyer said. “It just got accelerated.”
Although the transition to online for most exams will feel intuitive and natural, other science and math exams will remain hybrid so students don’t have to show their work for Free Response Questions (FRQ) online, Meyer said.
“If we could have a stylus where we were writing on an iPad or what you guys (students) do with your Chromebooks for everybody it’d be fine, but just the amount of time it takes to type because of all of the crazy notations that we’ve got, that’s really where the challenge is,” Meyer said. “So all of those exams are still hybrid, especially doing a graph or graphing type things.”
A major gripe that many science and math teachers have with the new exam format is the lack of a physical reference sheet, which is instead built into the testing platform, Meyer said. The issue arises for students who will then be forced to constantly click between the reference sheet and the actual exam, she added. Although it can’t be changed this year, Meyer hopes to see changes in future years, she said.
“This year, that’s where it is,” Meyer said. “But afterward, you guys will get surveys. You guys have to respond and tell them you want those reference sheets off the computer screen. They’re released. There is nothing secret about them. They can print
District maintains policies following new executive order
FROM PAGE 1
usually to control how society views the norm, and unfortunately, it’s pushing the norm towards a direction that maintains systems of power that we’ve fought for quite some time now to dismantle.”
The district currently has varying policies on how teachers can approach discussions around politically charged topics, such as racism and gender ideology, Jordan said. The district’s main focus is on the strategic goal of creating a “Culture of We,” she added.
“We assure you that we are making strides to provide learners with aspects of themselves,” Jordan said. “Their ethnicities, their cultures, their collective histories within the content area, so that it is not Eurocentric.”
Zea believes that there are methods of teaching the history of the nation accurately without making individual students feel guilty, she said.
“There have been state laws that have done similar things
to this executive order in the past too, like Texas has had laws passed about, particularly the aspect of (not) making certain groups of students feel guilty about certain historical events, particularly white students,” Zea said. “If you are making individual students feel responsible for any part of it, then you’re likely not teaching it in a correct manner.”
It is difficult for Zea to see how the executive order will be executed, she said.
“Part of Donald Trump’s political strategy and the Republican Party in general right now is to release as many executive orders as possible,” Zea said. “It’s part of trying to nail down his messaging. How do we know what he’s actually going to do versus what’s just pushing his message and not going to be enforced?”
If the executive order was enforced, it would likely not directly impact the district, Jordan said.
“Our funding predominantly comes from the state and some local revenues,” Jordan said. “The federal funding is about 5%
of our budget and the main federal funding we rely on with that 5% is providing resources for us to more deeply address the needs of our learners from low-income backgrounds and second-language learners.”
Zea would have to change the entire structure of her ethnic studies class if the executive order was enforced, she said.
“Quite frankly, the executive order itself is trying to reinforce the power systems that are in order currently, and trying to continue keeping certain narratives in the limelight while keeping others out of it, embracing (certain) narratives, which all of the ethnic studies is against,” Zea said.
Jordan is very proud of the district’s diversity and inclusion policies, she said.
“We all have a voice, and we all come to the table to discuss things and we may not always agree, but we’re always working to build a ‘Culture of We,’” Jordan said. “I will never give that up as long as I am superintendent no matter what any executive order tells me.”
them as part of the packet.”
AP Psychology teacher Lauren Byler-Garcia believes that the College Board is lagging in terms of the resources they have available for students to prepare for the new exam format, she said.
“There’s not a lot of other software out there to practice with other than AP classroom, and there’s limited, limited access to versions of test questions,” Byler said. “I think test security is a bigger issue in terms of that.”
Although Byler-Garcia admits her students may not have the most optimal preparation, she still chooses to have her multiple-choice question tests on paper for the majority of the year, Byler said.
“I still don’t fully trust testing software when it comes to cheating and for multiple-choice tests, that might be disadvantageous to my kids, because they’re going to have to get used to being able to stare at a screen for hours at a time,” Byler said.
“But I think if we do practice tests leading up to it (the AP exam), they will be fine.”
Hutchison advises students to remember that the AP exam is just another test and that they should remain calm, she said. Hutchison asks students to view the exam simply as an opportunity to show what they have been working on and learning all year, and not to worry about the new exam format, she added.
“Just go in doing your very best with the new digital hybrid part, recognizing it’s just a new way,” Hutchison said. “It’s a new method, embrace the convenience of some of it, and then, if there are struggles, ask for help because that’s what we’re (AP proctors) here for. And make sure your Chromebook is charged.”
ASB plans “Tangled
By Alice Nguyen
“Tangled in a Night at Prom,” was held on April 5 at Gilroy Gardens, according to the MHS Prom website. The junior class cabinet had been looking for prom venues since the end of their sophomore year, Junior Class President Jason Nguyen said.
The cabinet began to plan prom early on because they don’t want all the venues to be taken, Nguyen added.
“For us, it was a bit more limited, just because last year, options were open to San Francisco,” Nguyen said. “But this year, due to parents and stuff, we have to keep it a little bit more constricted, just because it’s more dangerous in those areas.”
A lot of the nice locations the junior class was looking at were in Oak Ridge and San Francisco, but they had already been booked, in addition to safety issues, Student Site Council Representative Meiyi Chung said.
“Because of other scheduling issues that were outside of our control, our real only options were between Gilroy Gardens, the Tech Museum, and Levi’s Stadium,” Chung said. “Levi’s Stadium would require a very large upfront payment, without any guarantee, or is just very costly, and we would need to reach a certain minimum amount of people to come, which would put a lot more stress on us.”
ASB’s initial down payment is about half of their total payment, meaning that their total payment to Gilroy Gardens would be
in a Night at Prom”
around $80,000, Chung said.
“The way we calculate profit is estimating about 100, maybe more than that, per ticket, and we estimate about 1000 people for max capacity,” Chung said.
“To get the initial deposit, since our class account usually doesn’t have enough or sometimes it won’t have enough, we’ll take a loan out from the ASB account, and then we’ll pay it back once we sell out all the tickets after prom.”
Every year, ASB has a prom planner who they work with, Phan said. The prom planner was the same one who had been helping plan the proms for previous years, she added.
“We had a list of venues, and
then we just sent them to our prom planner, and then they told us why certain venues wouldn’t work,” Phan said. “It was also which one would give us the best deals, like the packages that were included, and Gilroy Gardens was the top pick for that.
Prom is the first ever big event that the junior class is in charge of planning, Phan said.
“I think in the beginning it was stressful just because we created a to-do list,” Phan said. “But then a lot of times we’re like we didn’t think about this, or we didn’t account for this thing, or sometimes we didn’t meet certain deadlines that we wanted to meet. But then in the end I think it’s coming together well as of right now.”
Reba Prabhakhar | THE UNION This year’s prom theme is “Tangled,” which largely features the colors purple and
Prisha Jain | THE UNION
Zea’s third period ethnic studies class, working on group slideshow presentations for a project about harmful media tropes.
