Shortly after taking office, President Donald Trump removed a national policy that had established schools as “sensitive areas” safe from immigration enforcement, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
On Jan. 28, the school board unanimously approved resolution 2025.31, titled “Resolution of the Milpitas Unified School District Board of Education Reaffirming Support for Save and Inclusive Learning and Working Environments for All Students, Families, and MUSD Team Members, Regardless of Immigration Status.”
“Under California privacy law, our school staff does not need to give U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers any information about any of our students,” Jordan said. “We have protocols in place where an officer cannot see a student without
a guardian present, and California penal code allows us to remove any person who is creating a disturbance on campus,” she added.
The district is hosting workshops aimed at educating staff, students, and parents on staying safe, Spanish liaison Norma Morales said.
“We are training all of our staff members and registrars for dealing with immigration enforcement,” Morales said. “We teach them the signs to look for when identifying ICE officers as well as ways to report ICE activity.”
The school district is handing out cards that connect to a Rapid Response Network, Morales said. There are red and yellow cards that allow students and families to connect with a hotline that provides support, she said.
“The yellow card is for people who see any ICE activity and want to report it,” Morales said.
“The red card states the rights of
the students, and tells them what to do in case they come into contact with ICE,” she added.
The district does not have official immigration information on students, and will not be giving out any information to immigration enforcement, Morales said.
“We don’t ask students for their Social Security when they register, and we have no record of who is here with paperwork, so there is a lot of protection,” Morales said. “We’re allowed to give zero information to ICE,” she added.
ICE officials are only allowed to enter with an official warrant, signed by a judge, Morales said. These warrants are difficult to obtain and are usually only for adults with criminal history, she added.
“We are denying every single request unless we are provided with an official warrant,” Morales said. “Most times, when ICE ac-
SEE PAGE 16
Faculty, students weigh in on benefits, drawbacks of AI tools
By Vasista Ramachandruni
The district is introducing multiple new artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives for students this year, MUSD Director of Technology Chin Song said.
The first district-wide initiative is Khanmigo, an AI teaching assistant built by Khan Academy, Song said. Khanmigo offers students a variety of features such as a writing coach so students can improve their writing by submitting their own writing samples, he added.
“If AI is adopted well, they’ll actually save both the teacher and the student a lot of time,” Song said. “And so rather than getting a not-so-great first or second draft, they might get a better third draft, and then teachers could put in more poignant comments, and then nudge systems towards better writing.” Technology amplifies both ac-
ademic honesty and dishonesty, Song said.
“The one reason why we love Khanmigo is because of the fact that it’s a walled garden of sorts, and if you ask a question, it doesn’t give you all the answers,” Song said. “It’ll be very Socratic, and it’ll say ‘Hey, what did you mean?’ ‘What do you think is the next step?’”
This may be annoying for some students because it doesn’t provide all of the answers as ChatGPT does, but it reassures educators that students are learning rather than copying down answers for homework, Song said.
Students should face some adversity while learning, but AI removes that struggle, English teacher Sanjana Barr said.
“ The AI tools won’t give you the answer from Khanmigo, but kids are not stupid,” Barr said. “They know if they just keep saying ‘I don’t get it’ over and over, it’ll
eventually give them the answer.”
We have had AI for long enough that we begin to see students unwilling to use their brains, Barr said.
“ In general day to day for students, I think an over-reliance on AI to solve their problems leads to a lack of ambition because they never want to try something that’s too hard because they want to be able to just get an answer,” Barr said. “If it’s too hard, they give up. So they don’t have resilience,” Barr said. If children enter the world incapable of self-expression, trapped in their own minds due to AI, that’s a very bad thing, Barr said.
“I think that we process ourselves and our identity and our emotions through language,” Barr said. “Part of the way we give children language is by hav-
District representatives
discuss funds, budgeting
By Ved Vyas
The district is currently in deficit spending, where its expenditures exceed the revenues it receives from the state, federal, and local sources MUSD Chief Business Officer Dorothy Reconose said.
Since 86% of the District’s budget is allocated towards teachers and staff and costs are rising, the budget has a huge impact on students’ opportunities and well-being, Reconose said.
“So the negative is what we call deficit spending, … meaning we’re spending more than the money coming in,” Reconose said. “And you know that doesn’t happen overnight, right? So it’s a series of previous spending that when our expenditures keep growing every year, we have costs or positions.”
While these issues may seem pressing, the district is actively working to fix the financial situation, Superintendent Cheryl Jordan said. Leaders are actively advocating for more stable funding at the state and federal levels, while also encouraging creative local solutions, Jordan said.
“We can advocate at the very local level with our parent, teacher, and student associations,” Jordan said. “We can advocate at the city level, at the county level, and at the state level. And we can advocate with other school administrators (and) with other board members as a collective”.
Beyond advocacy, MUSD also makes sure to allocate funds and resources properly, Jordan said.
“So essentially, our five strategic goals are what should be guiding all of our expenditures,” Jordan said. “So if there’s something that we want to spend money on, then the first question we need to ask ourselves is, ‘Which one of our five strategic goals does that meet? Does it meet building
a Culture of We, does it improve communications?’”
Following these goals also means finding replacements for ineffective or outdated programs, Jordan said.
“I’ve been talking with our district leaders about (how) we (have to) find something better than that (Iready)” Jordan said.
“When we do find someone that’s better than that, well then that thing is where we’re going to invest our money because they’ll do a better job of keeping our learners engaged so that by the time they’re in sixth grade, they’re not bored with it.”
With these financial challenges, the district is also looking for new ways to generate revenue to alleviate the financial burden, Reconose said.
“There are a lot of small grants that are happening around (high schools),” Reconose said. “A lot of private organizations are offering grants for schools and sometimes it’s specific to some program that’s running in high school.”
The school district has a systematic issue of underfunding, so although small grants help in the short term, there needs to be a long-term change, Johari said.
“Our current public education model is underfunded, for us to be able to do all the things to meet the needs of our current students who come in at varying levels of readiness, to both support acceleration as well as support students getting supports just in time, supporting our neurodivergent students.”
The school district’s financial well-being affects students’ and teachers’ lives so Reconose encourages students to be proactive abiut seeking out grant opportunities and funding , Reconose said.
“Schools that are proactive about local funding can create more opportunities ,” she said.
Eye on Campus
One of the cards the district is distributing, giving instructions on where to report observed ICE activity.
Reba Prabhakhar | THE UNION
Courtesy of Kayden Ho
The lion dance club performed at the Lunar show on Saturday, Feb 8. The show included various club performances and dances.
Tipping should be required for good service
For someone working in the service industry, receiving a single tip could make a profoundly positive difference in their day or week.
According to Eli R. Wilson, the Assistant Professor of Sociology at University of New Mexico, the lives of three million service workers in America are entirely dependent on their tips due to the current Federal Wage System. The U.S. Department of Labor mandates that tipped workers, workers in services dependent on tipping, are only guaranteed a baseline of $2.13 per hour from their employer, compared to the standard $7.25 minimum. The tips they make don’t make up for this significant difference, as stated by the U.S. Department of Labor.
According to Drexel University, only ten states will likely have $10 an hour or more by 2026 with current legislation.
The dire condition of the wage system in America does not mean that you shouldn’t tip. It should instead invigorate you to tip if you are in the position to spare the extra cash. Your contributions can help service workers pay for their necessities that week. Though feeling obligated to tip is uncomfortable, you may have the ability to support underpaid and possibly impoverished individuals.
However, in most states, such as California, Alaska, and Montana, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, all workers are guaranteed a baseline minimum wage, $7.25, independent of their tips. This isn’t much of an improvement.
Drexel University explains that ,”Employees working fulltime at minimum wage cannot afford basic necessities, such as food, housing, transportation, childcare, and healthcare in any location across the country.” Congress established the minimum wage in 1938, ensuing the Great Depression. It had risen gradually in subsequent years, but had halted in 2009 at $7.25.
It is a common argument to claim that people shouldn’t ever tip since service workers shouldn’t be rewarded for simply doing their job. However, it is extremely important to tip a substantial amount, 20% instead of 10% according to UCLA Dashew Center, when workers have to serve you for a long period of time or assist in an excessive task, such as if you host a large party at a restaurant.
Their jobs aren’t ones that naturally compensate them for extra work. Your action also encourages workers to continue providing good service.
Customers should continue to tip to support workers’ livelihoods, which are unstable due to the imperfect wage system in America. They are not rewarded enough by this system, so we should also ensure to thank them for their extra service with occasionally generous tips.
CON
Tipping hurts workers more than it helps
The practice of tipping is very prominent in the United States. According to the Pew Research Center, seven out of ten adults say that more places now expect tipping than five years ago. Although tipping may have been useful for small businesses to rely on during times like COVID-19 pandemic, it is now an unnecessary custom.
Contrary to popular beliefs, the practice of tipping could actually hurt employees. Restaurants technically could pay their waiters less due to tipping, which could be upsetting if this unreliable source of income was cut off from them on a bad day. It also puts the responsibility of deciding whether the employee gets a livable wage on the customer, thus pressuring customers to tip more than they would like to. People should not have a moral dilemma forced upon them every time they purchase something.
Bay Area sports team owners make poor choices
The Bay Area, renowned for its rich sports heritage, is currently grappling with a series of ownership decisions that have adversely affected its professional teams and their devoted fan bases. Multiple owners have threatened to relocate out of the Bay Area, or failed to invest into the product, and these actions have resulted in jaded fans all across the Bay. The owners’ greed are the biggest obstacles for a successful sports community in the Bay.
There are six major sports franchises in the Bay Area: the San José Sharks, San José Earthquakes, Athletics (formerly of Oakland), San Francisco Giants, San Francisco 49ers, and the Golden State Warriors. Over the past few years, all of these teams have had issues with city governments and a lack of spending, creating a very underwhelming sports market in the bay.
This ineptitude on the field is mirrored by the owners’ choices off the field too. Earthquakes and A’s owner, John Fisher, has become infamous for his lack of spending to improve team talent and his complete avoidance
of the press.
Just recently, Fisher finally completed his decade-long goal of moving the A’s out of Oakland, the city they have resided in for more than half a century. This would have never happened if the Giants had not blocked the A’s proposed move to San José to have a tighter hold on the Bay sports scene.
The theme of Bay Sports teams fighting each other is one that Raider and Sharks fans will know well. CBS reported that the Bay’s one and only NHL team is looking to change venues and with no good home in the Bay; they may look at other cities.
This was only made worse as the team’s home, Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, was ranked as the 7th worst stadium in the NFL by Sports Illustrated. Levi’s has been criticized for highpriced seats, bad location, and a lack of a roof that can make summer games horrid to attend. The way the stadium is set up creates a shield of shade for the expensive box seats but leaves the majority of fans in the path of weather.
ness owners to cut off costs at the expense of their employees. Increasing the federally mandated minimum wage would ensure that servers get the rewards they deserve from tipping and allow customers to decide whether they really want to tip or not.
Furthermore, Tipping is a way for people to show their appreciation for service, so it makes no sense to tip if you are ordering takeout or just buying food to go. However, when someone goes to a place like a coffee shop and orders a cup of coffee to go, they are still expected by social norms to tip. There is no reason for someone to tip if they are only there to buy the food without expecting to be waited on.
Tipping should not decide how much people get paid; it should be reserved for showing appreciation when services are done superbly. Therefore, we should raise the minimum wage in the United States to a livable wage and stop pressuring customers to tip. The Federal Government has a minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. However, the minimum wage could be decreased further to a 2.13 dollars base salary if tipping covers the minimum wage. This allows busi -
Businesses also often pressure customers to tip more with tablets showing predetermined tips for customers. Although customers can use the no-tip option or customized tips, the customers may feel pressured into tipping more. Some businesses even put 20 percent as their lowest predetermined tips, which is preposterous.
Tipping should not be a necessity because customers should not be socially pressured to pay an optional fee that is essentially the lifeline of waiters and waitresses. It is awkward and it transfers the responsibility of paying a livable wage from the employers to the customer.
This is similar to what happened when Fisher refused to help renovate the Raiders and A’s shared home of the Oakland Coliseum. This forced The Raiders out of the Bay and to Las Vegas.
The Bay’s other NFL team, the 49ers, made the Superbowl last year but the 2024-25 season has left many fans feeling deflated.
Notably, the Golden State Warriors remain the Bay Area’s one bright spot, with Joe Lacob’s ownership setting a standard. Lacob has consistently invested in the team and its fan base, building a championship dynasty. He has also made attempts to purchase struggling Bay Area teams, but has been blocked by resistance from other owners.
For a region as proud and storied as the Bay Area, these setbacks are not just about sports— they symbolize a broader loss of identity.
‘Booktok’ reading trend vulgar, excessive
When shopping for books, you may have noticed that some stores such as Target have started to display sections marketed specifically as “booktok.” Just recently, the book Onyx Storm was released, a part of one of BookTok’s popular series. During its first week of release, the book sold over 2.7 million copies, according to New York Times.
BookTok is an online community of book lovers and reading enthusiasts. While there are many different types of content shown, common ones are book recommendations and hauls. Most of the books recommended are in the genre of romance, often featuring sexual scenes. Book hauls are similar, where people go to bookstores and buy stacks of books and show it off.
Speaking of the romance genre, two specific subgenres have emerged from BookTok: “romantasy,” a genre that combines fantasy and romance, and dark romance. However, dark romance can hardly be considered as “ro -
mance.” The genre romanticizes stalking, abuse, and problematic behavior. In addition, these kinds of romance fall more under the category of lust rather than love. Readers have been pushing for “smut,” or sexually explicit content. This trend has been apparent, with people giving out book recommendations based on how “spicy,” or explicit a book is. While people have the right to read whatever they want, this push for reading smut is starting to become unhealthy. When it comes to the books being marketed on social media, they tend to follow the same characters and relationship dynamics. Authors capitalize on these to hook readers, and the book becomes a dumping ground to see how many tropes can be included. This results in books lacking an actual plot line, where the story covers whatever is trending at the moment.
The rise of social media on books has also led to overconsumption of buying books. People often joke that buying and reading books are two different hobbies. Many people buy multiple versions of the same book, trying to collect all the different editions published. This excessive buying is usually done to show off the aesthetic of reading. BookTok creators like to show off their limited editions of books they collect. They end up equating reading with book buying. Rather than focusing on what exactly they’re reading, the focus gets shifted onto how their books look. This makes reading look more desirable, but reading should focus on the activity itself. There are many problematic things in the BookTok community. Social media capitalizes on the aesthetics of reading, rather than prioritizing the quality of books and what they are promoting.
FasTrak costs, tolls should be removed for drivers
Over $800 million went toward using express lanes around the Bay Area between 2023 and 2024, according to the Bay Area Toll Authority. FasTrak runs the toll-collecting service, to maintain Bay Area roads and bridges and environmental friendliness. Payments are made to be given access to express lanes and to cross Bay Area Bridges. However, there shouldn't be charges for using any lanes on California's roads.
Freeways and bridges are public goods, paid for by taxes and maintained the government. People must pay taxes, but to use the "express lane," they must pay more. According to FasTrak itself, unpaid tolls can warrant fines; the fines increase each time depending on the bridge or express lane crossed. It makes no sense to be punished for
using a pure public good, fully paid for by tax dollars.
FasTrak provides fee reductions for clean-air vehicles, as part of their objective is to reduce carbon emissions, as stated by the FasTrak website. According to the National Library of Medicine, the carbon emissions from rush hour contribute to air pollution. FasTrak's actions are counterintuitive toward the objective of environmental friendliness, leaving one lane open while leaving others extremely congested. By allowing express lanes to be toll-free, the flow of traffic can speed up and ensure that cars emit carbon for a shorter period of time.
According to Commissioner Adrian Allen of the Northern
California Employment Security Commission, some benefits that come with FasTrak include saving time and money, ease of access, and less impact on the environment. However, the service only allows people who pay to save time, which makes FasTrak a private company running public roads. Money isn't saved at all; it is further spent because money outside of taxes is collected for maintaining roads. By removing FasTrak's authority to collect tolls across the Bay Area, taxpayers can save money and reduce their environmental impact. The company's goal is positive, but its methods take money from drivers when costs aren't necessary.
JAVIER ANTONIO ALFARO
ALBERT LIN
NAMANA BALAKRISHNA
SOWMYA SUNDAR
CONNOR LONG
Elon Musk excessively influences global relations
Elon Musk is the world’s richest person with an estimated net worth of $378.8 billion as of Feb. 11, 2025 according to Forbes. With the 2024 campaign of President Donald Trump, the amount of power that Elon Musk holds was observable in how he was able to foster a right-wing environment on his social media platform X and rally support for his initiatives such as the Department of Government Efficiency. X is used by journalists, political leaders, and civilians, but one person controlling it raises security concerns. As a majority shareholder (79%), Musk has the power to remove executives and board members as well as pass any amendments to bylaws or articles of incorporation as he sees fit.
One of the first controversial moves by Musk at X was laying off more than 80% of the workforce. In an interview with Tucker Carlson, he mentioned that these layoffs primarily laid off censorship staff. This paves the way for him to promote free speech. But while this can increase free speech by preventing outside interests from censoring opposing parties, it does remove any opposition he may
face from censorship staff. This move is dangerous for society and brings up security concerns as one person should not have this much amount of control and influence on a platform that has 611 million active monthly users and is used for international communication according to demandsage.com. While many influential figures exist online, Musk is perhaps the only one with potential control over the algorithm used to recommend posts to users as well, further amplifying security concerns.
He has also used X to attack governments across the world. Musk’s siding with European far-right groups gives an unfair advantage to these political parties as his chats with leaders of these parties might be pushed to more users than it normally would due to changes in X’s algorithm, according to Politico. He has also publicly argued with the Brazilian government and their Supreme Court justices over censorship. The
Brazilian government wanted X to censor political opponents, according to Musk. This is despite Brazil stating this was due to misinformation. Musk particularly focused on Justice de Moraes, calling him corrupt despite his rulings being upheld by peers. Having disputes with national governments and influencing their politics shows how he has begun to use X to change the world in the image he prefers, fostering right-wing and patriotic sentiments that could lead to irrational political decisions. Furthermore, his role in politics is increasingly evident. Despite his surface-level comments in saying he is helping President Trump “save America,” he opens the door to less regulatory scrutiny from the government through his position in DOGE. It would result in favorable regulations for his ventures such as his car company Tesla, space exploration company SpaceX and brain chip maker Neuralink, among others.
EDITORIAL: The Opinion of The Union
School Library revamp proves beneficial to students
Until Mia Gittlen became our librarian at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, students were unable to access the MHS Library and all the resources it had to offer. Without a librarian, the library was forced to remain closed, with the exception of some events. But since reopening its doors earlier this year, the library has become a prominent fixture in our school’s environment.
Gittlen has done an excellent job organizing the library and making it a usable space for students and staff to use. Through the library’s new website, students can view all the events taking place there and an online catalog of all the books they can check out. Students can physically check out books during the school day, and the library also has an online page where students can check out ebooks and audiobooks, making reading much more accessible. There are also plenty of nonfiction books students can use as
research sources for projects.
This year is also the first year the library is holding its Tournament of Books, an event led by Gittlen meant to encourage reading. It’s a fun initiative in which students read select titles and vote for which books they like best. A book gets eliminated every round until one last book remains – the favorite among students. And all these books are available to check out in the library, making it super easy to get involved.
On top of that, the library has become an excellent study space for students. Students can now head over to the library during lunch and after school and can even reserve one of two dedicated study rooms in the library. This opportunity wasn’t previously possible due to the library being closed to students.
The library has also supported clubs in successfully hosting their events. One such event was NaNoWriMo. This monthlong event organized by Arras
Periodical and One Long Story encouraged students to visit the library during November, National Novel Writing Month, and challenge themselves to see how much they could write. Student writers could meet with other writers and exchange ideas, and they were able to do so in the productive environment of the study room the library reserved for this event. Now students cannot only utilize the space for reading and researching but also to connect with other students.
Overall, these events have left a positive impact on students and continue to cement the library as a place of knowledge and fun. The library is an excellent space for studying, researching, connecting with others, and learning about different perspectives, and it will continue to have a positive influence on students’ lives. Hopefully, as time goes on, more students will visit the library and utilize it to its fullest.
EDITORIAL: The Opinion of The Union
School Rallies do not boost school spirit, energy
Our rallies at MHS have some major flaws, which result in a lack of energy and school spirit. In the 2022-23 school year, school rallies were moved outdoors to lessen the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak. However, recent rallies have been moved indoors to the large gym, where several student complaints include cramped seating, diminished satisfaction, and worsened environmental details. One of the main problems is the two-period rally schedule, which creates scheduling issues. To date, several split rallies have had the second rally period experiencing extended lunch due to events and performances ending earlier than scheduled. This results in timing issues for the teachers and unfairness for the first rally students, who only get a normal amount of lunch period time. In addition, students who experi -
ence the first rally can ruin the surprise of performances and other unique events. Already knowing what you will watch beforehand ruins the element of surprise when attending major events such as these school rallies.
Another significant concern that students face is the indoor venue itself: The lack of proper ventilation and air conditioning within the large gym. Packing hundreds of students into the gym with no cooling and cramped seating causes the humidity and temperature levels to skyrocket in the bleachers. Because of these conditions during indoor rallies, students’ willingness to show school spirit is diminished. A good solution would be to renovate the ventilation system to allow for better airflow.
Additionally, indoor performances are worse when com -
STUDENT VOICE 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. The Union is published by the Journalism class of Milpitas High.
pared to the outdoor ones. Since the dual-sided seating only allows half of the students to view the full routine, many students feel left out of the celebrations. The gym may be well suited for athletic activities, but the physical space creates heavy sound pollution. The nature of the room causes sounds from the speakers to resonate on the gym walls and overpower the audience’s ears. Over time, this excess noise can become uncomfortable and ruin the rally experience for many students. Making these school spirit rallies mandatory despite the significant quality-of-life conditions seems illogical, as students will be less willing to give all their energy. Changing the rallies to be outdoors again remedies alot of these issues, and should help boost enthusiasm for students supporting the school.
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STAFF
Akshaj Kashyap • Editor-In-Chief
Prisha Jain • News Editor
Marie De Vre • Asst. News Editor
Jerry Yong • Op-Ed Editor
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
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Breakdancers represent forgotten dance style on campus
By Uyen Vu
MHS fosters a wide variety of dance styles, from Bollywood fusion to the catchy, energetic moves of K-pop. Despite the vast selection of dance clubs and teams, only a select few participate in the improvisational street dance of breakdancing.
“I’m shocked because that was the one time to shine for me in high school,” former b-boy and ceramics teacher Jonathan Huang said. “Most school dances, I just go to just practice in the corner, and then wait until a cool song came out, and then I go out and do a little something.”
Breakdancing, also known as b-boying or breaking within the dance community, is one of five
essential elements of hip-hop culture, Huang said. It comes from the late 70s to early 80s in the Bronx, where the pioneer of breaking, DJ Kool Herc, extended the instrumental part of a record, Huang said.
“He got another turntable and a mixer, and he would just extend, seamlessly, extend the beat portion,” Huang said. “So if you were dancing during that breakpoint, during the break of the song, you’re a b-boy, and that’s where the term came from.
Huang’s b-boy name was “Füthertz”, coming from the words “foot” and “hurt”, he said.
“I would get injured a lot,” Huang said. “So I thought I was so clever because it was like a play on words. I was like ‘speed’, but
also I’m ‘hurt’.”
As an amateur breakdancer, senior Nithila Thirumoothy first learned the basics from her friend, senior Edward Wong, who taught her how to do a handstand, which then progressed to a baby freeze, Thirumoothy said.
“It is a lot of strength (and) it’s a lot of balance, but I feel like anybody could do it if they really tried,” Thirumoothy said. “It’s not so bad.”
Strength and knowing how to use your muscles in the right way is a large factor, Wong said. When he just started, it was hard to lift himself even though he had the muscle since he was untrained with it, Wong said.
“And it was hard to learn how to use muscles, because similar-
ly to working out, if you could do 100 pounds on a lat pulldown, it doesn’t mean you could do a pullup,” Wong said.
Besides physical differences, it is harder to get into the breakdancing scene for girls because of the sheer number of guys in the community, Thirumoothy said.
“I feel like it is such a male-dominated area already that it’s intimidating,” Thirumoothy said.
“But having friends really helps because it makes it easier to break down that kind of mindset where it’s like, ‘Oh, I feel like I’m not going to fit in because there’s so many guys and I’m a girl.’”
However, the breaking community is very welcoming and encouraging for beginners, Huang said.
“Like in the skateboarding community, people don’t care if you’re not very good, because everybody who is good was once a beginner,” Huang said. “So it’s not, ‘Oh, you’re not very good, so I don’t respect you’. Everybody respects everybody, as long as you’re not in people’s way.”
Huang was always interested in hobbies that had high difficulty and required high skill, including breaking, he said. Before Google or YouTube, the only way to learn was from someone else or from VHS tapes of dance battles, he added.
“I would get bootleg copies of battles in the Bay Area, and I would just watch them over and over again and try,” Huang said. “They were terrible quality. Terrible. It’s dark and people are shoving the cameraman around and all that stuff, but I would just pour over these videos and then try and figure out, like, dude, how?
Formal b-boying battles are when dancers compete against
each other based on a bracket, Huang said.
“I definitely competed in a bunch of battles, and I’ve competed against some really good people,” Huang said. “I remember one battle I went (in) the first round. I went against the guy who won it all. His name was Little Rock. He was a ‘Rock Steady Crew’ guy, and I got so smoked, but it was fun.”
Practicing and knowing the different movements of breaking is like understanding grammar and syntax, Huang said.
“Those are the underlying rules for your vocabulary.” Huang said. “That’s the beat right there. And then you can break the grammar and syntax too, right? You can, if you break it in an interesting way, in an unexpected way, that’s really fun.”
Pop culture and media inspired senior Mukil Kumar to start learning how to break with his friends, Kumar said.
“We really just doomscroll, and then we find something,” Kumar said. “And then we share it with another person. And then, ‘Hey, you wanna try this out?’ And then we’d spend some time dancing at this community center.”
The breakdancing scene in the Bay Area is large, but it is one of the smaller regions compared to LA or New York, Kumar said.
“I feel like, here it’s just people like us trying stuff out, just seeing where it goes,” Kumar said.
To those wanting to get into breaking, the best thing to do is try and keep in mind that it will take time to learn, Kumar said.
“You’re gonna feel like giving up, but it’s worth it,” Kumar said.
“The adrenaline rush you get after finally learning a move after maybe spending maybe three months is amazing.”
Forging bright future: Senior Lance Chen’s arduous journey to Naval Academy
By Marie De Vré
Senior Lance Chen has been working to join the Naval Academy, one of the most rigorous military academies, Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NJROTC) instructor Lieutenant Margie Jackson said.
Chen has already begun the process to get accepted into the Academy and is almost done, he said.
“They open up the applications pretty early because it’s a long process,” Chen said. “Not only is there the application with essays and everything, there’s also interviews, a nomination process, there’s the fitness assessment, and there’s also a general medical examination that takes a long time. I’m still working on my medical examination because it’s a long process.”
After completing the first set of applications, Chen had to work on nominations – the second part of admissions, he said. Chen received a nomination from Ro Khanna, the representative of Congressional District 17, where Milpitas is located, he added.
“I had to email him an entire portfolio of what I had in my resume and some recommendation letters,” Chen said. “Then I had an interview with the board; for me, it was five people. I had to be interviewed for whether I would survive in the academy.”
Before joining NJROTC, Chen was a member of the Sea Cadets, another Navy organization where he attended military boot camps, he said. This pushed him to be more interested in the military, he said.
“I did a master of arms training; that’s like police training, so close-quarters combat,” Chen said. “I would be learning to go into public, firing rifles, that kind of stuff. I went on a warship. That’s where I learned how
to load cannons, firing anti-aircraft cannons, that kind of stuff. Recently, this winter, I went to Petty Officer Leadership Academy, where I learned leadership skills.”
Chen wants to become a Navy officer because being in a leadership position and doing something for the community is important to him, he said. As a high school student, Chen has done a lot of community service, he said.
“For a couple years I was the president of a community service club (Team Transformation),” Chen said. “Right now I help for Hope for the Unhoused, I foster dogs for Humane Society, I helped clean and take care of horses at the horse ranch, and I also used to host park cleanups just to help.”
Chen focused his academics around engineering and is interested in pursuing that subject alongside the military, he said. He would like to attend college before becoming an officer, and after serving as an officer, he wants to go into the engineering field, he said.
“One of the things to become an officer especially, you need a college education,” Chen said. “I’m planning to go either to the Naval Academy or do an ROTC scholarship for college.”
Being a part of the military gives you a much higher chance of being hired by companies later in life, Jackson said.
“(…)If you finish military service without any discrepancies in the record, people know that you’re committed, they know that you’re disciplined, they know that you’re loyal, they know that they can count on you,” Jackson said. “So you have all these qualities any company would want.”
In NJROTC, Jackson tries to instill a sense of confidence in her students and get them to recognize the mistakes they need to work on, she said. She also pushes
for the cadets to be disciplined, she added.
“For people in the military, discipline is that you’re disciplined about what you’re doing,” Jackson said. “That you’re not pulling something out of your pocket and trying to do it, that you follow the right procedures to help you get there (…) Discipline can help you get what you want to do – not only being committed, but you have to have the discipline and the structure.”
When he came into the NJROTC program earlier this year, Chen already had strong self-discipline and leadership skills, Jackson said. In the NJROTC program, Chen has been able to practice his leadership skills and help others, she added.
“So as a 12th grader, he helped lead our eighth, ninth, 10th, and 11th-grade students because he has a lot of the knowledge and he knows where he’s trying to go,” Jackson said.
a member of Chen’s NJROTC platoon, believes NJROTC has helped Lance become a better leader and learn new things, Sto Domingo said.
“We have (Lance) sometimes lead the class, just the normal taking attendance, leading them throughout the morning, bringing them inside,” Sto Domingo said.
Chen believes that other students could benefit from joining NJROTC, especially because it looks good on college applications, he said.
“During my college applications, a lot of things that they mention is, ‘have you been in any leadership position?’” Chen explained. “Having leadership positions, leadership skills, public speaking skills, all kinds of stuff is going to help with anywhere you’re going to go.”
In NJROTC, Chen also learned discipline skills, citizenship duties – including how the government works and staying informed
on current events – and how to work with others, he said.
“It’s (NJROTC) a good sense of camaraderie, and people working as a team is very important, especially at school,” Chen said. “It’s very important to feel like you belong somewhere.”
Students might see the NJROTC program as strict because all they see is yelling, Sto Domingo said. But the yelling is there as part of leadership training, he explained.
“At the end of the day, we’re all still high schoolers, and we all treat each other with respect and kindness because we already know that if we get out of line, then there’s going to be consequences for it,” Sto Domingo said.
“We mainly want to help the cadets because even we made mistakes when we first joined, and if they make mistakes, we understand that. (…) Besides all that yelling that students might see on MHS, we’re all really great people. It’s like a whole family.”
Junior Ernesto Sto Domingo,
Jonathan Huang does a ‘J-kick’ and stylishly poses for the camera in Huang Long, China, in the early 2000s.
Courtesy of Jonathan Huang
Courtesy of Lance Chen
Lance Chen (middle) attends the Sea Cadet Cadet Petty Officer Leadership Academy at San Luis Obispo.
Senioritis strikes: Teachers weigh in on infamous
conflict between lack of motivation, graduation
By Akshaj Kashyap
As the final months of high school creep closer, seniors everywhere find themselves caught in a strange paradox: the finish line is in sight, yet the motivation to keep running has vanished. Call it “senioritis,” the unofficial epidemic that swaps ambition for apathy and homework for daydreams of freedom.
Social studies teacher Riley Zea believes that senioritis is a very real phenomenon, she said. However, it affects students differently, she added.
“I think it can be a problem for some seniors, where it ends up being that they maybe are nearing not graduating because of it,” Zea said. “But for most seniors, it’s kind of just they feel like they’ve put in their dues, they’ve done their time, and they’re ready to kick back and kind of chill, especially after those college announcements come out.”
Social studies teacher Brian Knitter believes that senioritis affects all facets of students’ education, he said.
“So it starts with homework and classwork not getting done or on time, which then lowers test scores, then the grade lowers, and attendance drops,” Knitter said. “That’s the thing that you see most often that actually annoys the teachers is, you know, they’re trying to do group activities, and there’s no group because half the class is out.”
Math teacher Ivy Nguyen wants to remind seniors, and other students, to not lose sight of the finish line, she said.
Seniors have “worked so hard to get to where you don’t want to put that in jeopardy by not performing at the level that you usually do,” Nguyen said. “It does make sense to want to take a break before you’re in college, but at the same time you don’t want those habits to follow you in college because things are a lot more high
stakes than in high school.”
Knitter tends to focus on uncovering the root of the issue when a student starts slacking off before addressing the so-called symptoms, like missing assignments, he said. Knitter also spends a lot of time trying to ground students and prepare them for reality after high school, he added.
“I also remind students that everybody’s on a different path to success, and success is maybe not an Ivy League college,” Knitter said. “Some are destined to trade schools, some are not destined to go to college at all, and that’s okay.”
Knitter works with struggling students to make sure they aren’t getting overwhelmed, and to get their work done slowly, step by step, he said. He also makes it a point to try and teach useful life skills, he added.
“I teach in classes: ‘Hey, here’s a list of things you have to do today; what’s the best way to do it?”
Knitter said. “And it turns out the best way to do it is to do the most important thing first, even if you don’t want to. That simple step alone will save a lot of stress, (...)
“I’m mostly seeing, and I hate to say this, is for the last few years, students don’t strive for success,” Knitter said. “They want to do the minimum, and it’s hurting the way I teach, it’s hurting the students as they aren’t growing up as fast. The students themselves seem less resilient, more prone to stress.”
Knitter wholeheartedly believes in risk-taking and that students who avoid risks are only limiting themselves and their potential, he said.
“Throughout life, people who succeed are ones who try – they take a risk,” Knitter said. “I’m big on that in my classroom. My students don’t necessarily buy into it, but being from a semiconductor background myself, those who risk will succeed. They’ll fail spectacularly, and they will learn from it. But if you’re too afraid to fail, you will not succeed. So try.”
Zea finds it important and crucial to make time to care for yourself in this pivotal moment of your life, she said.
“There’s a lot happening, and it’s okay to say ‘no’ to some things,” Zea said. “I will say that, take care of yourself. If you need help, ask for help. I have a lot of people who refuse to ask for help, and I think that it’s an important
From ink to stage to service: Seniors chase unique careers
By Albert Lin
While it may seem like the typical high school student in Silicon Valley wants a career in STEM, some Trojans prefer a different path.
Senior April Price Rodriguez has been preparing to become a tattoo artist. She plans to practice her tattoo skills on fruits in the future to further her skills, Rodriguez said.
“I’m hoping that I can end up working under someone and watching them tattoo and everything, and just helping out so I could learn from them, so I get a first person experience,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez’s desire to become a tattoo artist came from seeing her father’s multiple tattoos, Rodriguez said.
“I always heard about tattooing and stuff like that, and how much (money) they make,” Rodriguez said. “(It) was a lot, depending on how much I want it to cost, and I’m hoping that I can have my own business eventually. So that’s why I am going to end up majoring in marketing.”
Another appeal of becoming a tattoo artist is interacting with the clients, Rodriguez said. By conversing with her clients, she would understand their vision and put some of her own ideas in it, she said.
“I just feel like it’s simpler, it’s just in the moment, I get to enjoy that time, to have that conversation with someone and really connect, instead of just doing the
art by myself,” Rodriguez said.
April Rodriguez is not the only one with an interesting career choice. Senior Nick Onalfo has a passion for theater acting, Onalfo said. He is planning to one day become a Broadway actor, Onalfo added.
“I love being on stage and just knowing that I am in the moment, and it’s very stressful because anything could go wrong at any moment, but knowing that if I do it well, 100 people – hell, five people – in the audience could be impressed by me,” Onalfo said. “I love that feeling. I love being able to go on stage with everything I have and let that be appreciated.”
Onalfo has been in theater since his freshman year, he said. Onalfo has a lot of experience in theater and has acted in a movie as a background character, Onalfo added.
“It was actually really cool to see how, like the film set kind of things work,” Onalfo said. “But I realized that I just don’t like having to go back over and over again for one shot. And I think I like stage more because it’s like, you just do it.”
A challenge that he will face in his pursuit of acting is luck, Onalfo said. Acting is hard to get into due to the skills, experience, and luck necessary for an actor to be picked for an acting role Onalfo added.
“You don’t know what someone’s going to like or dislike,”
Onalfo said. You don’t know if you’re going to walk into a room and they’re going to love you or
Students provide unique insights into favorite elective classes
By Jayden Hernandez
Students are finishing up their class schedules for next year, and many have to think about what elective courses they want to take. Students must take 65 credits of elective classes, and there are many different classes to choose from such as animation, oral composition, drawing, and more. Seniors give insight into their favorite elective classes and talk about the different experiences they had in their elective classes.
Senior Angelina Hoang enjoyed her time in Korean, a world language elective, she said.
“Taking this class was my favorite because I got to learn a new language and also learn about the culture and history of Korea,” Hoang said. “Learning specifically about Korean holidays and how they are different compared to American holidays was interesting.”
Assignments and projects in this class were very fun and collaborative, she said.
“For our Korean final, we got to pick a song, memorize it, and sing it in front of everyone,” Hoang said. “Also, I liked the projects that we have to do and the skits we create because we got to dress up and write our own lines.”
Having Ms. Park as her teacher was also very enjoyable, Hoang said.
“The teacher is very sweet, and she takes time to get to know you as a person and helps you with your work and projects,” Hoang said.
Senior Giselle Morales’s favorite electives, her two dual enrollment classes, have had a huge impact on her, she said. Taking college and life success as well as child development has helped her learn more about her future after high school, she said.
“I’d say college and life success is a very good class, it helps you prepare, so I definitely recom-
they’re going to hate you,” Onalfo said. “Directors are very good at hiding that kind of stuff, and even then, it’s hard to be taken seriously. And I think it’s also very hard financially, because I’m going to want a job to keep myself afloat while I continue to try and push for doing this professionally.”
Sophomore Don Pham wants to become a military officer, Pham said. Since he is an only child, he is more interested in a logistics position rather than front-line fighting, Pham added.
“I’m already part of many military programs,” Pham said.“I’m part of two right now, Civil Air Patrol (CAP), and Air Force Auxiliary … I’m trying to pursue a scholarship or go to Naval Academy.”
Civil Air Patrol is like JROTC but with more responsibilities, Pham said. In Civil Air Patrol, you do emergency services and you are allowed to shoot weapons, he added.
“The higher rank you have, the more leadership experience you have,” Pham said. “Let’s say that I have a leadership position here (NJROTC) and in CAP. Who do you think would be more competitive compared to a fresh out of high school guy?”
Pham wants to join the military because of the multifaceted benefits, Pham said.
The military would pay a pension once he retires, and he could also decide to work in the private sector in a managerial position later because of his logistics experience, Pham added.
mend it, especially for any upcoming seniors,” Morales said. “As for child development, I’d say only pursue it if you want to deal with children in the future.”
Learning about future necessities such as dealing with taxes and finances, as well as general and important college plans has helped me a lot, especially with Professor Long because he is very inclusive, she said.
“I like these classes because for me, it taught me a lot about my future, and it helped me decide what I wanted to do (sonography) and how to deal with college,” Morales said. “Honestly, I have nothing bad to say about it (College and Life Success). It was pretty good and with a good professor. However, with child development, I wish it was more hands-on and not just lectures.”
Senior Cassidy Rudolph likes ethnic studies with Ms. Zea and enjoys learning about different ethnicities, genders, and cultures, she said.
“Taking this class lets me learn more about other ethnicities and cultures while researching and reading into different studies,” Rudolph said. “For example, we have learned about the Black Student Union at Berkeley and how they fought to teach ethnic studies in schools.”
Having Ms. Zea as her teacher for Ethnic Studies makes this class more enjoyable, she said.
“My teacher is wonderful,” Rudolph said. “She is very collaborative, helpful, and super understanding.”
As students pick elective classes for ‘25-’26, they should keep their options open and pick classes they enjoy, Morales said. “Taking college and life success really helped me with my academics and will help me with my future as I am going to college after this year,” Morales said. “Picking an elective helped me and was one of the best decisions I made.”
Rehearsal for the narrator of “Attack!
Sowmya Sundar| The Union Illustration of a lazy teenager slacking off, gaming instead of working.
Strangers to friends: Starting conversations with new people
It can be nerve-wracking to approach a stranger that you may admire or someone you would like to get to know better, but meeting new people is essential to broadening your horizons and developing a greater connection with those around you. It’s essential to develop these skills while you’re still growing and changing as a person, because it’s hard to break old patterns of behavior as we get older. Also, being able to approach others seeking friendship will allow you to make a community for yourself no matter where your future takes. So, here are some tips on how to talk to someone you’ve never met before!
The easiest way to start a conversation is to compliment someone. You can appreciate something really simple about them, like an article of clothing or a piece of jewelry, or get really specific if you liked a certain thing they did
or said. Complimenting someone can make you appear confident and friendly, and most people enjoy it when someone notices and appreciates details about them. You’ll be able to start the conversation on a very positive note and can steer it in many directions. Be careful, however, not to comment on physical appearance excessively—it can be off putting unless you do it in the right way.
Relax—it’s okay to feel apprehensive, but remember that just like you, they’re human too. Many people fear being judged for parts of their personality or appearance, but it’s important to remember that most people aren’t looking for flaws to pick on in any social situation.
Usually, insecurities are self-projected and only inhibit your ability to talk to others. It’s important to be relaxed and have confidence in your actions. Even if you embarrass yourself in some way, the people around you are
unlikely to remember or care, especially if you can laugh it off. So, before you approach someone, take a deep breath and remind yourself of this fact.
Be authentic and genuine. This applies to both your personality and how you communicate. It’s important to be true to yourself and to speak your mind when making new friends—in fact, your personality is what ultimately draws the people that you want to be friends with to you. Let your true self shine. Don’t say things you don’t mean—faking interest in someone’s hobbies or other aspects of them is disingenuous and can harm a future relationship.
As with everything, consistency is key. It might be difficult to approach others and strike up a conversation initially. But the more you practice putting yourself out of your comfort zone, the easier it will become, and the more confident you will become in your social skills.
Streaming impacts cinema, physical releases
By Harold Hong
Since the 2010s, movie rental stores and theaters have slowly been phasing out or falling into bankruptcy, mostly because of streaming services, according to motionpicture.edu. People choose streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, and Apple TV+; for their accessibility, price, and large variety of content.
Think about it, why drive somewhere to purchase a ticket or physical release when it costs less money to pay for a monthly streaming fee in the long run? A person paying for streaming can stay home and watch dozens of movies for the price of one physical movie; a monthly Netflix fee is $7.00 compared to the average cost of a movie ticket at $10.45, according to FilmTrack.com.
Comparing ticket sales in cinemas before and during the pandemic (2020-Present), 2020 saw roughly 219,986,842 sales to 2019’s 1,225,394,583 sales, a decrease of over one billion, according to the-numbers.com. Annual ticket sales still have not recovered to 2019’s ticket sales, with 2024 only seeing 817,847,946 sales, nearly quadrupling 2020’s
sales but still 400,000,000 sales off 2019.
Ticket sales dropped heavily due to the pandemic shutting people in their homes, forcing them to use streaming services to watch movies. During the lockdown, people got comfortable binging movies in the privacy of their own homes. Some people may find the theater too noisy and distracting, and so prefer watching movies alone.
In my experience, the theater offers a more profound experience with its speakers and large resolution but can often be uncomfortable due to the audience.
As for streaming services, it’s enjoyable to binge dozens of movies back to back while having access to all the perks of the household: the bathroom, pantry, bedroom, and more. Instead of buying overpriced theater snacks, you can spend that money buying takeaway or cooking your own food.
In the case of movie rental stores, they require time to travel to, time that could be spent on other tasks. These rental stores also expect that rented movies be returned by a certain date, meaning that you have to watch a movie by a deadline instead of at one’s
own leisure. It also is not guaranteed that a physical store has the movie that you are looking for, or if that movie is even in stock anymore.
Some streaming companies have also been launching original shows and movies to compete with theaters and physical releases. For instance, Netflix Originals and Apple Originals are movies and TV shows exclusive, sometimes temporarily, to their respective streaming platforms.
Some award-winning originals from these platforms include Klaus, Nimona, and Napoleon. This large and diverse catalog of entertainment explains why streaming is currently dominating the market. In the case of Netflix, you can even play video games on its service.
Streaming companies’ tight grip over the entertainment industry has caused video rental chains to fade away from the public eye, marking the end of an era. As for theaters, they can still coexist with streaming services, but as a more intimate experience for the viewer. Nonetheless, streaming services still dominate the movie market now and for the foreseeable future.
Journey to ‘ace’-ing card tricks
By Ved Vyas
Magicians have been performing magic tricks for decades, acting as a source of amazement and skepticism. Determined to uncover some of magic’s secrets, I spent a week to learn the basics of card tricks—a polarizing art form that demands dexterity, quick thinking, and a touch of theatrics.
With nothing but a deck of cards and a laptop, I turned to YouTube for guidance on magic. Two channels that stood out to me were Chris Ramsay and Xavier Spade, both of whom teach a variety of sleight-of-hand tricks and illusions. Their tutorials gave me not only a deep dive into technique but also a look into the philosophy behind what makes a good magician.
I began with a routine called the “Impossible Card” trick. For this effect I had to sneak an audience-signed card between two face-up kings, which were laid on the table, without anyone noticing. At the heart of this trick were two pretty intensive sleight-of-hand moves – the Gambler’s Cop and the AP Spread Control.
I would first use the AP spread control to control the audience’s chosen card to the bottom of the deck under the guise of spreading and squaring up the deck. Then, I would use the Gambler’s Cop to secretly steal the card from the bottom of the deck to my hand; the card is held between the fleshy part under the thumb and the middle finger with the other fingers curled in a C shape to avoid flashing.
er and sister. Apparently, I performed the trick well enough.
Encouraged by one semi-victorious performance, I decided to learn and perform another trick. This one was “the Spade” trick. In the performance, a spectator selects a card that I would then falsely shuffle into the deck. Next, I would locate the ace, two, and three of spades along with the spectator’s card. I would show them the ace of spades, put it down on the table, then the two, then the three. First, I would make the three pop out of the bottom of the deck after placing it on top. Then, I would place the two at the bottom of the deck and make it seemingly teleport to the top. Lastly, I would make the ace of spades appear to transform into their selected card.
The simple sleight of hand behind this trick is swapping the cards using misdirection when the audience is not looking.
By the time I performed the “Spade” trick for my mom and sister, my handling was better, and I was confident with my speech. I spun together lore about why the ace, two, and three of spades were the most important cards in the deck while performing to add to the effect.
As I kept putting myself into a more uncomfortable spotlight, I became more relaxed when performing, more conversational, and creative on the spot. As my friends and family were excited to see more magic I got more excited to perform it for them, and we spent more time together.
After just a few days I found these moves to be physically demanding, requiring dexterity from the fingers. Holding the deck and cards in different positions and grips to perform more and more sleights left my pink and forearm aching. However, with around an hour of daily practice for a week, my fingers adapted. That next week, I mustered up the courage to finally perform my first serious trick, “The Impossible Card” for my mom and sister. The challenge was not entirely the sleight of hand but more just talking. Since I had practiced the hand movements so much, they were practically second nature to me. I did not, however, practice maintaining smooth and casual conversation while focusing on controlling and stealing out their card. My stuttering and hesitation drew attention to my hands and made my sleight of hand more suspicious. Despite my nerves, the trick genuinely surprised my moth-
A single week is hardly enough to learn, much less master, card magic. True experts have made long-term commitments to technique and performance. However, what novices such as myself can do is learn fundamental principles like palming cards or controlling cards quickly and learn to apply them later.
Applying these fundamentals is the tricky part. Even just a simple card prediction trick can amaze audiences with a confident performer who builds a storyline. The real “wow factor” depends much less on the complexity of the moves and much more on how you converse, interact, and tell a story.
For anyone looking to become a better conversationalist, strengthen relationships, and spark wonder, I would strongly recommend picking up card magic as a hobby and skill. You may start your journey feeling physically and mentally uncomfortable but the rewards can be, well, magical.
Uyen Vu | THE UNION
Vyas flips the final card for a trick, revealing four queens on each deck.
Sowmya Sundar | THE UNION
Jain applies her tips to talk to new people by starting off the conversation, complimenting Marie De Vré.
Uyen Vu | THE UNION
By Prisha Jain
Traditional Mongolian dumplings for Lunar New Year
RATING: 4 out of 5 stars
Although Lunar New Year took place on Jan. 29, some cultures use different lunar calendars and celebrate Lunar New Year on different dates. One notable example is the Mongolian Lunar New Year on Mar 1st. Mongolians have yet to celebrate this holiday and enjoy delicious cultural meals. If you are interested in exploring this unique cultural holiday, this traditional Mongolian dumpling recipe from my family may be your new favorite dish.
In Mongolia, steamed dumplings, also called “buuz”, are commonly eaten on holidays like Mongolian Lunar New Year, also known as “Tsagaan Sar”, and on ordinary days. Since Mongolia has a long history of herding and eating cattle, “buuz” is often very meaty with relatively few vegetables.
Mix beef, onion, garlic, pepper, salt, olive oil, 1 tablespoon flour, and 3.4 fl oz. water in a large bowl. Cover and set aside.
In another bowl, add the rest of the flour and water and mix them, adding the water gradually. Place dough on a cutting board and cover with the bowl. Let it rest for at least 40 min.
Knead the dough for 5 min, then cover it and rest for 15 min.
Cut dough into long strips and roll the strips. Cut strips into 1
Once the water has boiled, add the steamer to the pot and steam the dumplings for 20 min. Serve and enjoy.
Pro tip: Add flour to the cutting board to keep the dough from sticking to the cutting board. This recipe yields about 20 to 30 dumplings and serves about 4 to 6 people. The cooking process takes a few hours when cooking alone, so I recommend partnering with another person to shorten the process to about one or two hours.
Dumplings are also common in China (“jiaozi”), Korea (“mandu”), Vietnam (“banh bao”), and many other countries.
Ingredients:
1.62 pounds of ground beef
⅛ medium cabbage, chopped
¼ medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon olive oil
12 fl oz. water
2 ½ cups flour
inch pieces.
Use a rolling pin to flatten the pieces into circular wrappers. The circles should be slightly thicker in the center than the edges and around 4 inches in diameter.
Scoop meat onto the dough circles and pinch the edges together in a circular pattern to form the dumplings.
Boil water in a pot. Add oil to a steamer, then arrange the dumplings on the steamer with an even distance from each other.
These dumplings are mostly made of dough and beef, resulting in a rich and savory flavor. They earn 4 out of 5 stars because of their meaty, perfectly salted flavor and juicy texture. However, the only drawback is the difficult and time-consuming process. Making and kneading the dough is a challenging process that requires a high level of skill.
Buuz has very little vegetable content, so you can pair it with “niislel salat”, also known as Mongolian potato salad. This is a mix of potato, carrots, peas, eggs, corn, ham, cucumbers, and mayonnaise.
If you’re looking for a unique traditional dish to cook and don’t mind a challenge, then this “buuz” recipe might be a great dish to try out.
Bay Area offers diverse public transportation op tions
By Reba Prabhakhar
Milpitas and the Bay Area in general are not very walkable for residents, with cars being the preferred form of transportation. Despite this, public transport is often a viable option for people hoping for a more affordable, convenient, and environmentally friendly way to get around the city. Some of the most common types of public transport that are available for residents to get around Milpitas and the Bay Area as a whole include the BART train, Light Rail, and VTA Bus.
BART Train: 3.5/5
The BART connects all the cities in the Bay Area, going from North San Jose to Antioch. The Bart trip planner available on the website makes it easy to plan trips, even for people with minimal experience using public transportation. The BART is relatively affordable with trips costing around two dollar per stop for regular customers, and one dollar per stop for youth customers. However, the cost can add up, with a trip to San Francisco from Milpitas costing around 15 dollars. The consistent security presence and camera recording make the train feel safe, but some of the trains are old and dilapidated, making the experience less
enjoyable. Some trains are newly renovated and clean, however, so users’ experiences can differ each time. The trains come very often, with a new train coming every 10-20 minutes depending on the timing and days. The primary disadvantage is the constant delays, which can sometimes affect schedules by over 30 minutes. Although delays often happen, they are usually no more than a few minutes. The BART doesn’t help with getting around Milpitas itself, but it can be a convenient option for people making longer trips around the Bay Area, such as to the SFO or Oakland airport.
Light Rail: 4/5
The light rail is a convenient option for passengers going to popular destinations in and around Milpitas. With stops near Great Mall, Great America, and Levi’s Stadium, the light rail makes going on slightly longer trips around Milpitas convenient. The cost varies from one to two dollars for a single ride, but there are subscription options that can reach up to $990 a year for adults and $385 a year for children. The trains come every 20-30 minutes on most days but can vary depending on the time and station, meaning passengers sometimes have to wait longer in case of a missed train.
Uyen
Examples of pilates poses you can do at home, labelled easy to hard.
‘Pink pilates princess’ workout: promising alternative to exercise
By Uyen Vu
Pilates, a type of strength-building technique that involves precise movements and intense amounts of control and concentration, is glorified on social media as a less intensive and accessible alternative to the gym or high-impact, at-home workouts.
Social media apps, such as Instagram and TikTok, associate the exercise with the “Pink Pilates Princess” aesthetic, a hyper-feminine and overidealized image of the perfect, self-care-oriented athletic girl. Thus, the stereotype raises the question: “Does Pilates actually work?”.
Besides improved strength, pilates promises many benefits, such as improved posture, flexibility, and reduced feelings of depression, according to an article by BetterHealth. However, its limited range of movement gives many people skepticism about its effectiveness.
The interior of the trains is very clean and comfortable, but the lack of staff and security on many stations near nighttime can make a trip feel less safe. In addition, there often aren’t security personnel on the trains themselves.
VTA Bus: 4.5/5
The VTA has three different bus line types in the Bay Area: Frequent, Local, and Express. The Frequent and Local lines usually come every 10 minutes on the regular schedule, making it a very efficient transport option. The Express Buses are less frequent, but they provide reliable transportation from important areas, such as the BART station and the Stanford Research Park. The express buses are slightly more expensive than the train options, averaging five dollars per trip and going up to $1980 for an annual pass. The buses are the most local form of transport, stopping all around Milpitas, including Milpitas High School. The only con that comes with the VTA bus is the relative difficulty for new commuters, who may find it confusing to figure out the bus paths and prices. The VTA website isn’t very clear or well designed, but commuters can usually find the correct buses by looking at the Google Maps public transport option.
As someone who does not live an active lifestyle, I thought it would be easy for the average person to incorporate it into their daily routine and reap the aforementioned benefits.
Along with logging my weight, I noted how many push-ups I could do as a benchmark for my strength, as it was included in the first workout video I chose. After seven days, I would attempt them again and log my mood and difference in posture. One week is usually not enough to see body changes, but it would be long enough to notice improvements in mood and flexibility.
I had the most time to exercise right before my daily night routine. On the first day, I blindly jumped into a 20-minute “express” beginner session from Move With Nicole on YouTube, which had a high view count compared to other videos of the same length and difficulty level. To say the workout was humbling would be an understatement.
The workout took double the amount of time because I had to repeatedly rewind and rewatch each exercise as the verbal instructions themselves were unclear, and I took frequent breaks – not included in the video – as my endurance was unsurprisingly weak. Timing my breath, a ma-
jor principle of pilates, with each movement felt very counterintuitive as well.
My limbs were especially hard to control while keeping my core engaged, given how precisely I had to raise and lower them. One thing that proved helpful was recording myself with my phone since I did not have a big enough mirror to exercise in front of to keep watch of my body. Leveling my hips, keeping my back still, and precisely moving my spine made a large difference in whether I felt any stretch or difficulty while exercising.
For the next two days, I decided to slow down and switch over to a ten-minute session from Jessica Valant instead, which was much gentler. She walked through each exercise thoroughly, which reduced the number of times I had to rewind. Additionally, shorter sessions meant starting was less daunting.
On the fourth day, when ten minutes became easier, I ramped it up to a new 15-minute video by the same fitness YouTuber. To my surprise, the exhaustion of each workout kept my mind off of the stress of the day, and I could go to bed shortly after without as many negative thoughts plaguing my mind. I even felt accomplished after completing a workout that was harder than the last. On the last day, I could do the 20-minute workout from the first day with more ease.
After the seventh day, I attempted some push-ups. Disappointingly, my record remained at one; however, my form improved a significant amount. My weight remained the same, which I expected after a week, but I could feel less strain in my back as I worked and sat upright at my desk.
In conclusion, pilates is suitable for those who don’t have access to gym equipment and aren’t seeking high-impact muscle or strength training. Even short sessions made a difference in my posture and stress levels.
Conclusion
Although I will unlikely continue doing pilates daily, I can confidently see it being a viable option for days when I need to move my body. As with all exercise programs, results take time, but the outcome is always worth it.
Vu | THE UNION
Courtesy of the VTA website
A bird’s eye view of the Milpitas BART Station. Passengers scan their pass before entering and boarding.
By Misheel Enkhtur
MHS alumni share experiences, differences in past student life
By Angelrain Bacungan
Trojans from the 2000’s and late 2010’s take a look back to share their experiences at MHS; there are similarities and differences between current and past student life.
Science teacher Huy Pham graduated from MHS in 2006, Pham said. Since it was his third year at MUSD, the tran- sition to high school was quite dif ficult, he add ed.
“I didn’t know all of the kids,” Pham said. “It (MUSD) was dif ferent than my other dis tricts. came from – Fremont District. In Fremont, it was defi nitely more academically competitive compared to here.”
towards myself, especially as a young man growing up throughout high school.”
Dacallos had an very outgoing high school experience, he said. At the time, there were many trends such as the Ice Bucket Challenge and the Black Beatles Challenge, he added.
“I think the only challenge I par took in was the cinnamon chal lenge – it’s where you put a spoon ful of cinnamon in
Despite having a rough start to high school, Pham did have a fun yet productive experience at MHS, he said. Pham had a more academic student life rather than an athletic one as he didn’t participate in any sports, he added.
“I did run my own club which I started in my freshman year; it was called the Tutoring Club,’’ Pham said. “Every week after school, we would go over to Pomeroy (elementary) school and just help students with their homework – like reading and math – at the elementary school level.”
A popular forum for communication during the 2000’s was MySpace, Pham said. Despite it being popular, he didn’t participate in it. It was more exclusive compared to Facebook, he added.
“You posted information about yourself, and your hobbies,” Pham said. “It’s strong like Facebook where you have to send a request in order to view someone’s page.”
Class of 2016 graduate Kyle Francis Ordona Dacallos was a part of the NJROTC and was a commanding officer during his senior year, he said. Being a part of the program taught him many valuable life lessons which he still applies to this day, he added.
“I had a really rough upbringing as a child and even through high school too; there was just a lot of family dynamics at home where it was something that made school harder for me,” Dacallos said. “Keeping busy with NJROTC really helped me get through all of
both their junior and senior years, Dacallos said. Despite the class of 2016 having its disputes and dis agreements, they were united as a class at the end of the day, he added.
“It (winning junior year) boost ed a lot of spirit and morale in the class for both years,” Dacallos said. “When we went into senior year, we already knew we’re gonna take it.”
English teacher Sheldon Hentschke graduated from MHS during the 2010s, Hentschke said. In his junior year of high school, he had gotten his motorcycle license, he added.
“My dad enjoys fixing old jeeps so I inherited the joy of mechani cal stuff,” Hentschke said. “Then I started learning how to fix up old motorcycles.”
A specific type of motorcycle that he took interest in at the time was cafe racers, he said. There was a revived interest in them, and he happened to like them due to a lot of factors, he added.
“I liked that type of motorcycle because they were easy to work on,” Hentschke said. “Relatively speaking, it was about the mechan ics of it more so than the wealth in volved.”
Advice that Dacallos wants to share to current and future high school students is to have as much fun as you can possibily have, Da callos said. What you do in as a high schooler can influence you negatively or positively in your fu ture adult life, he added.
“After high school, life really hits,” Dacallos said. “Especially going to college, getting a full time job, pursuing a career your friends or family might not support you with. High school can really instill
Disney: Evolution of animation technology through decades
By Jayden Hernandez
As new technology has emerged, Disney has changed its animation styles and has been making more live-action films with real actors and computer-generated imagery (CGI) to create realistic-looking animals. Recent Disney movies such as “Mufasa: The Lion King,”, “The Little Mermaid,” and “Cruella,”have also been produced as remakes of older Disney characters and films.
Gen Z fashion: Iconic retro fashion styles returning to our wardrobes
By Akshata Bhuskat
What goes around comes around, and fashion is no exception. Several old trends have made a comeback in popularity.
Gaining much popularity in the 1970s, flare jeans, which were influenced by bell-bot toms, a popular style of jeans in the 1960s. Flare jeans are a type of denim pants that are tight er above the knees and slowly wid en from the knee down. They came back as a part of the retro fashion re vival. Flare jeans can be worn with ca sual tops, as well as more fancy tops.
“Mufasa: The Lion King,” for example, has been remade as a sequel to both the 1994 “Lion King” and the 2019 “Lion King,” and is filmed with very detailed and a newer style of CGI. Disney recreated the film as a way to explore the perspective of Mufasa, Simba’s father, and how he became the king of the land. CGI makes the film more realistic and enjoyable to watch as we see lions, birds, monkeys, and other animals real form rather than cartoon form.
Giving new perspectives of old characters in the films provides another interesting aspect to Disney, and they have done the same with Cruella and her upbringing with 101 Dalmatians.
“Cruella,” a Disney movie released in 2021, shows how Cruella (Emma Stone) became an evil woman who was obsessed with Dalmation fur and revenge. The movie shows who she was as a hopeful fashion designer and develops a better understanding of fur and fabrics, leading to her use of Dalmatian hair from her mother’s
killer’s dogs.
As this was all before her Dalmatian-hunting days, it adds an entertaining spin to the original movie, showing how she became who we know her to be, Cruella De Vil. By creating “Cruella,” Disney adds to the enjoyable perspective switch of films and characters in a film.
As this is a newer live-action film, it is entertaining for children and adults.
Another newer live-action Disney film is 2023’s “The Little Mermaid,” which was produced as a remake of the 1989 Little Mermaid and followed the same plot of the original. Ariel (Halle Bailey), a mermaid, wants to explore the land outside of the ocean and learn what it is like to be a human. She meets Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) and explores the human world with him while secretly being a mermaid.
The live-action takes place in the beautiful country of Italy, on an island with buildings that fit the perfect envisionment of the underwater kingdom.
Disney also used a newer style of CGI as they created realistic talking fish and birds and formed a beautiful aquatic kingdom underwater, displaying the beauty of the ocean that Ariel calls home.
Although our generation grew up with animations and cartoon Dis
embracement of vintage and nostalgic styles.
into our wardrobes.
Originat ing in the 80s
and 90s, baggy jeans have become a gender-neutral piece of clothing. These jeans were popularized by skateboarding and hip-hop cultures. Now mostly paired with oversized shirts or crop tops, baggy jeans have come back in a different style. They are often paired with shoes such as Converse, Vans, Nike dunks, and other similar
Low-rise jeans are known for being worn a few inches below the natural waist. Introduced in the 1990s, these jeans quickly became a part of the early 2000s fashion sense. They are usually paired with crop tops or tank tops. Usually popularized by many female celebrities, these jeans started to decrease in popularity during the 2010s. They have made a huge comeback adding to the
In the early 2000s, Juicy Couture, a part of the Y2K fashion revival, became famous for their zip-up hoodies and matching pants. Y2K was a style famous in the late ‘90s and early 2000s that popularized baby tees and lowrise jeans.
Juicy Couture had clothes that were often branded with the logo of the brand and is popularized in the Y2K fashion trends. Most of their products are also designed with the logo covered in rhine stones, especially their track suits. This made the brand instantly more recogniz able. With the increasing popularity of thrifting, the brand has made a huge comeback
The revival of Y2K fashion has caused many old trends to come back. Animal prints, being one of the most popular trends to come back, have brought us newer clothing options. Prints, such as leopard, zebra, and snake prints, were popular in the 1930s through the early 2000s and even now..
In footwear, brands like Vans, DC Shoes, and Converse sold well in the 1980s-1990s due to the rise in the popularity of skateboarding. These shoes could be worn with any type of jeans. They were associated most with skateboarding culture. Now, these shoes can be worn with all types of jeans, including baggy, low-rise, and flare, but also with shorts. They are now mostly worn with streetwear-inspired clothing, making them an easy addition
courtesy of Michael Hanscom
‘Disconnection’ felt isolated at times
A lady-in-waiting takes it upon herself to solve a murder mystery. Two best friends reconcile after five years. A grieving widow finds herself in a strange predicament. A prince’s throne is usurped by his best friend. These stories and many others unfolded in the span of two hours in the theater on Jan. 31. The Arras Periodical, an art and creative writing club, and Thespian Troupe, a theatre club, collaborate annually to perform student-written plays. The Arras writers were given full liberty to interpret their own definitions of the word “disconnection” and wrote eight plays based on their chosen meanings.
duchess. However, I did not quite understand how the play related to “disconnection.”
My favorite play was Artemis Kwok’s “Retaking Borrowed Time,” which features two best friends, Yano and Erwo, who abruptly stop talking after an indirect confession of love from Yano to Erwo. The pair reunite after five years, and after a heartfelt conversation, reconcile and begin a new relationship.
PLAY REVIEW
With plot twists galore, “A Lady’s First Case: Tears, Tears, and Treachery,” written by Asha Balu and Amy Phan, takes the cake for the most suspenseful play of the night. The lady-in-waiting (someone who escorts the queen) acts as the detective of the mysterious murder of the Grand Duke of Arseington. The three main suspects are the Grand Duchess, the maid, and the stable boy. With many twists, turns, betrayals, and unrequited loves, this play was memorable in storytelling and performance, and I specifically enjoyed Aria Pascual’s portrayal of the
The play was short, sweet, and had a memorable ending scene featuring the song “Taking What’s Not Yours” by TV Girl. I enjoyed the realistic aspects of their relationship and their discussions about the struggles of achieving their dreams -- like Yano being stuck in the same town as he grew up in despite wanting to leave the second he could. Travis de Villa and Izair Guzman’s performance as Yano and Erwo, respectively, made Yano and Erwo’s relationship natural and not forced, as if they were truly best friends.
Another favorite of the night was “Fractured Heart of a Widow,” written by Raaghavi Kalluri, with the best plot twist of the night. Mrs. Agatha, played by Paulina Peters, spends a decade in isolation after her husband Arthur’s death, unable to move on. Peter’s performance also stood out to me, whose outstanding acting brought Mrs. Agatha’s character to life.
The play takes a shocking turn
'Dog Man' adaptation of childrens' book provides goofy, funny action
at the end when Mrs. Agatha is woken up by Arthur’s ghost, who tries to persuade her into coming into the afterlife with him. The play made me think deeper into the conflicting emotions of grief and how to find a reason to live after a huge loss.
The longest and last play of the night was called “The Excerpt of the Story You Started,” written by Rohil Bhargava. The play is about a prince whose throne is taken over by his hypocritical exfriend Kasanya. At times, the writing seemed like the author was trying too hard to turn the play into something more meaningful and deeper,primarily near the end of the play, when the Prince confronts Kasanya over her cruel rule. Their lines felt more like separate speeches addressed to the audience rather than a natural conversation.
However, I also noticed that this play used technical aspects to more of its advantage than other plays. For instance, the blue lighting and windy sound effects were used much more creatively, effectively establishing a cold winter setting.
Although some plays fell short in quality in comparison to other plays, I enjoyed the overall experience of watching the performance. The Arras and Thespian clubs put together an impressive event, and I encourage people who enjoy watching plays to find the time to watch next year’s collaboration.
Hyper Light Breaker: Immersive but confusing
RATING: 4.5 out of 5
By Ilana Ramzan
Hyper Light Breaker is a new video game released on Jan. 14 and published by Arc Games. It's a new edition developed by Heart Machine serving as the prequel to Hyper Light Drifter. The version of Hyper Light Breaker I played is currently available for Early Access, meaning that improvements and frequent changes will likely be made to the game over time.
In Hyper Light Breaker, the player controls a "Breaker,” the character they play as, who ventures into the Overgrowth to defeat the Abyss King, the game’s final villainous boss, after defeating smaller enemies along their journey. It delves into an adventure-like journey where the player gathers resources, weapons, and armor to make their way through the world of the Overgrowth.
GAME REVIEW
I played the game for five days and did not make it to the point of defeating any of the “Crowns,” or
the bosses, of the game. I defeated some lesser characters that were in the way of collecting the prisms necessary to beat the Crowns. However, defeating more characters increases the danger level of the game as the Breaker will eventually have to face the Abyss King. The early stages of the game were difficult because of the bad navigation features of the game. It was easy to get lost in the terrain of the Overgrowth when I began playing, as the map of the game is expansive and very dense. As I continued playing, battles with enemies became significantly more difficult due to this feature of the game. However, this quality of the Overgrowth helped keep the game more engaging and interesting during later battles. Combat within this universe was a bit strange at first, as there are no guides for what to do once the journey through the Overgrowth begins.
As someone who doesn’t play video games too often, I found that without armor and upgraded weapons, it was easy to get overwhelmed with fighting enemies.
Since there are no structural components or guides to the game, the player has to rely on themselves as they make their way through the world. Newer players or people who aren’t familiar with video games may not enjoy this feature of the game.
Features that Hyper Light Breaker succeeds in include developing its visuals and the maps that the player can explore. The game utilizes amazing visual effects, with harmonies between three-dimensional objects and colors to various designs and textures. Along with this, exploring the Overgrowth felt extremely immersive since the use of synth music tracks matched the map’s surroundings. I enjoyed taking my time to explore the maps of the game more than having to defeat new enemies.
Hyper Light Breaker is a great new video game for audiences of different skill levels to explore. I recommend this game to people who are looking into trying out a new video game or who have enjoyed the Hyper Light Drifter universe and other games from Heart Machine and Arc Games.
By Shrihan Sham
“Dog Man,” the book series written and illustrated by Dav Pilkey, became popular among schoolaged children in 2016, with over 60 million copies sold worldwide. With foolish humor and stories packed full of action, the book series was a child's dream book collection. When “Dog Man: The Movie,” released in theaters on Jan. 31, people who grew up reading the books could finally see their favorite half-man, half-dog cop in action. Bright colors and constant amusement come through in Pilkey’s simplicity. The simple plot, humor, and action will excite kids, but it is not deep enough to attract older audiences.
basic and cartoonish, but it works well for a kids' movie. The movie also succeeds in bringing Dog Man to life for the kids who grew up reading about him. All about it from the humor and the action down to its repetition of the plot of the story is exactly like the actual book series. The movie full of fun and nostalgia for fans of the comic books.
Unlike other movies from Pixar and DreamWorks, “Dog Man” is full of childish humor, making it less interesting for adults and older kids, and the plot is quite simple.
MOVIE REVIEW
The story follows and develops around Dog Man, a silly but courageous and heroic police officer who faces villains and works towards rescuing his city from all sorts of trouble. In the books, he is not necessarily a smart hero, but his heart is always focused on his job. Dog Man is mainly known for his humor which made him really famous and popular. One of the more prominent criminals that Dog Man fights against is Petey the Cat, who adds mischief, conflict, and anarchy to the plot. He is well known for getting in trouble, but when it comes to his kid, Lil Petey, he is a softie. With Petey and his son, the movie presents a father and son relationship that contributes to the whimsical nature and action of the film.
Visually, the movie portrays the high energy and style of the books to the screen perfectly. It is bright and quick, and it is also full of funny and goofy little scenes that remind fans of the comic book. The humor of the movie is a significant part of its appeal. Rapid-fire jokes fly, with a large amount of silly humor and childish occurrences that kids enjoy.
The animation of the movie was
The movie progresses quickly and rushes important plot points and character moments. Many important things that happen in the book are not shown clearly in the movie, so for some people who read the book series, the movie might not have adapted the comics as closely as they should have.
For example, in the book series Petey and his son spend a lot of time together in order to understand each other. In the movie, the time Petey and his son spend together is minimized, decreasing the impact of the emotional scenes. Other parts of the plot do not have enough room to develop well. This tendancy to rush some of the important story and character moments is a big obstacle that prevents the audience from feeling more attached to the characters' personalities and plotlines. In comparison, the characters display more complex development in the books.
“Dog Man: The Movie” is a perfect opportunity to watch Pilkey’s dynamic and humorous universe in a whole new perspective and medium. It is a spectacular watch for children, and some teenagers or adults who grew up reading the books may enjoy it for nostalgia. However, the simple plot and childish humor might not be enjoyed by everyone, especially older audiences like adults and teenagers who never had exposure to the comic books.
Hip-Hop Classical Heavy Metal RATING
Country Pop
KEY
RATING: 3.5 out of 5
By Alice Nguyen
RATING: 3.5 out of 5
Namana Balakrishna | THE UNION
Paulina Peters (Mrs. Agatha) and Doris Phi (Carol) have a stand off in the play “Fractured Heart of a Widow”.
Courtesy of Thrifty Minnesota Dog Man, the titualar protagonist, is ready for whimsical action!
‘Sakamoto Days’ excites with explosive action yet lacks emotional depth
By Ronak Srivastav
“Sakamoto Days” is a new action anime that follows Taro Sakamoto, voiced by Tomokazu Sugita, who used to be a legendary hitman. However, he falls in love with Aoi Sakamoto, voiced by Nao Toyama, and now works at a convenience store and has forsaken his life of crime in some ways. The first episode was released on Jan. 11, with weekly episodes available to stream on Netflix.
In the first three episodes, “Sakamoto Days” portrays jaw-dropping action, with Sakamoto using cough drops as projectiles or even pencils as weapons, like in the John Wick franchise. Overall, the theme of action surrounding the show is the main reason to watch it.
scenes. The character designs are adapted faithfully from the manga, and the show goes above and beyond when adapting the action scenes. In some of these scenes, the show employs effects from light and dust particles and even has more detailed backgrounds in comparison to the manga’s less action-oriented scenes.
The show also includes many humorous moments, sometimes even during action scenes, with one of the common ones being Sakamoto imagining killing Shin Asakura, voiced by Nobunaga Shimazaki, a mind reader, but not going through with anything.
Overall, the animation for “Sakamoto Days” stands out, with each scene being vibrant in coloring and dynamic in the action
The music for all of the action scenes, and in general, is also extremely well done. The music also blends into the action scenes to the point where viewers may not even recognize it playing. However, the show isn’t perfect. One of the issues with “Sakamoto Days,” and probably any show in the same genre, is setting up proper stakes throughout the show and ensuring that the viewer gets some emotional impact aside from the humor and action scenes. The show did a good job of this in episodes one and three, where the reader can visibly see Shin’s mentality and emotions beyond just a gag.
However, in episode two, when a character should’ve been enraged because she just found someone who killed many people
close to her, the show simply portrayed the character as calm and composed. Instead of showing her emotional turmoil, the directors included all of the damage offscreen. Although “Sakamoto Days” is, at its core, an action and comedy show, I think that the audience should’ve been shown the development of the characters instead of just cutting it offscreen. Another issue, albeit less important, is that the show almost completely cuts chapters two and three of the manga. This isn’t as big of a deal because these two chapters didn’t add as much content and the anime made sure to smoothly introduce some details in those chapters by moving around content from other chapters. However, it still takes away from the source material that the manga medium had to offer.
Overall, “Sakamoto Days” is a very good show to watch if you are fine with having less of a plotbased show and just going along with the flow of it. Its action is very dynamic and fun, but if you are looking for a lot of emotional depth in the characters or plot, this might not be the best show for you.
‘Solo Leveling’ season 2 fails to reach next level with lackluster story, bland worldbuilding,
By Yunxi Fang
Following the success of the first season, “Solo Leveling”’s first episode of season two started airing on Crunchyroll and Amazon Prime Video on Jan. 5 with a mostly faithful and well-animated adaptation. Although the anime’s quality has definitely improved from the first season, including smoother animation, especially during action scenes, and less vibrant color style for the season’s more “mature” themes, the show simply doesn’t have much interesting about it besides the fights.
Solo Leveling is considered a “portal fantasy,” a sub-trope of a power fantasy, where the protagonist receives some sort of unique power-up, usually in the form of a video-game-like leveling system, and fights against antagonistic supernatural forces, in this case, coming from portals. There is also typically an organized group of people – in Solo Leveling’s case, the Hunters – organized by how powerful they are, that fight alongside the protagonist against the enemy. However, the problem with “Solo Leveling” is not its genericness, but the lack of depth in
its storytelling.
At its core, Solo Leveling is a power fantasy that aims to make the viewer feel good about themselves. At the beginning of season 1, Sung Jin-woo (Taito Ban), the protagonist, behaves relatively normally as an awkward, anxious but brave teenager. By the end of season 2, he becomes rather emotionless and one-dimensional, which technically does help make it much easier for people to view him as nothing more than an inoffensive self-insert.
I did not feel any sort of interest while watching the anime. I’m not curious about the mystery behind the supernatural elements because there isn’t anything unique about the show’s power system.
To summarize: everyone else has an innate talent that cannot be altered while Jin-woo becomes stronger by leveling up.
The portals from which the supernatural monsters come from are treated more as a device for creating conflict than actually having any meaning on their own.
The characters are somewhat curious about the portals and want to close them to stop the monsters, but narratively, the story is more focused on Jin-woo becoming stronger and the portals are just simply the means by which he does so.
generic tropes, basic side characters
There is nothing at stake and nothing to create tension as its difficult to care for any of the characters. The cast is pretty broad, including many powerful hunters that fight alongside Jin-woo, but they generally come in two categories: strong characters whose sole character trait is being strong (in this day and age we would call this “aura”), and cute, wholesome characters who in some way show how great of a person Jin-woo is. The characters simply don’t serve a purpose or contribute to the story in any way besides making Jin-woo look more “human” or powerful.
While Jin-woo is the protagonist, it is hard to be interested in him as a character. It is painfully obvious how the story tries so hard to make him so perfectly mysterious, charismatic, and intelligent.
There are no inherent flaws in the show. There are no egregious plot holes or poor animation, but there is nothing particularly interesting about it either. I wouldn’t say this is all the fault of the creators of the show, as it was one of the first popular portal fantasies in the first place and it pioneered the genre. However, because the genre is now so oversaturated, shows like “Solo Leveling” need more than just the basics down to stand out.
Even though he tragically passed away from an accidental drug overdose in 2018, hip-hop artist Mac Miller currently averages twenty-six million monthly listeners on Spotify.
“Balloonerism” was originally an unfinished project that was recorded in 2014. It was not released earlier because Miller was working on his other albums, “Watching Movies with the Sound Off” and “Faces.” It was recently released on Jan. 17 by Warner Records.
Of the album’s 14 songs, many are great, but “DJ's Chord Organ,”
featuring SZA, stands out.
The song is very creative, especially the way Miller starts the song by listing the names of the notes. Additionally, SZA’s beautiful vocals match so well with the instruments. Another song that I really enjoyed was “Friendly Hallucinations.” Here, Miller compares a loving relationship with getting high and hallucinating. I like it when artists put their real-life feelings in a song, and you can feel its authenticity. In the song, he repeats the line, “It’s only real, if it’s real to you,” talking about how both love and hallucinations are only real if you believe that they’re real.
The last song, “Tomorrow Will Never Know,” is almost a 12-min-
ute track and ends with instrumentals for almost 7 minutes. I felt like this was too long and he should’ve kept it about 6-7 minutes. The song reminds me of Kanye West’s “Runaway” which also ends with a long duration of instrumentals. I thought that the album was pretty good; however, it is very dark because it talks about sensitive topics such as drug abuse and loneliness. The album has a lot of replay value with many great songs that you can put in your playlists or just listen to by itself. If I had to describe this album in one word, it would be “introspection.” Miller speaks about his drug addiction, love, and mental health. If there was a correct way to do a posthumous release, this would be it.
Protagonist Sung Jin-woo lies on a bloodied alter in a pivotal scene.
Courtesy of Crunchyroll
Courtesy of Razon Neko
Protagonist Taro Sakamoto’s peaceful life with his family is threatened when his past job as a legendary assassin comes back to haunt him.
Courtesy of Malcolm James McCormick
“Balloonerism”, released after Mac Miller’s death, reflects on his experiences and covers heavy topics such as drug abuse and loneliness.
Jordon North runs through his basketball journey, shoots to participate in college ball
By Yunxi Fang
Senior and varsity basketball player Jordon North’s motivation to start playing the sport was watching Steph Curry highlights, he said. Jordon North, a point guard, thought what Curry did was really cool, and watching the Golden State superstar motivated him to try a new sport, he added Jordon North started playing basketball when he was 9 years old, he said.
“When I first started playing, I liked the freedom,” Jordon North said. “I like all the different skills you can learn, from shooting, passing, dribbling, defense. I liked the uniforms, I liked the shoes, I liked the atmosphere; I just found it the most fun.”
Sophomore Jelani North and his older brother Jordon North practiced playing basketball together growing up, Jelani North said.
“It was good playing with him because I feel like we have a similar playing style so we’re able to know what each other wants to do in terms of scoring and getting the ball moving,” Jelani North said.
Jordon North and Jelani North have a more fast-paced playing
style with an aggressive defense, Jelani North said.
“We’re like the little guys of the group so a lot of people don’t expect us to be as aggressive as we are,” Jelani North said.
Jordon North played junior varsity during the first half of his sophomore year and then joined varsity for playoffs, boys basketball coach Champ Wrencher said.
There wasn’t any talk of Jordon North going up to varsity before he actually joined, he added.
“It turns out that during the first playoff game we played, we played someone that a lot of the guys here are familiar with because they played with him in the off-season,” Wrencher said. “It made sense to have Jordan play in that game because he could match up pretty good against that person.”
Having great ball-handling skills and fast breaks, being really good in the open court, and finishing lay-ups helped Jordon North get onto the varsity team, Wrencher said.
“He has become a better shooter, orchestrator, and point guard,” Wrencher said. “He has toned out the number of dribbles he takes
and is playing a lot more patiently.”
Jordon North’s first impression of playing basketball at MHS was that it was tough, Jordon North said.
“When I came off the bench for the first time, that was a big, humbling moment and a reality check,” Jordon North said. “Eventually, I learned that I had work to do, and it helped me improve.”
Regarding his team, he really hopes they can get a good record through the playoffs, Jordon North said.
“The last few years we lost pretty early on,” Jordon North said. “I hope we can make it to CCS.”
To train as a point guard, he prioritizes dribbling and ball handling, Jordon North said. He needs to make sure he doesn’t have the ball stolen and get a lot of shots up, he added.
“I’m not the tallest player, so being able to shoot is important, especially for my position,” Jordon North said. “(To train) for plays, I ask questions, I write them down, I keep doing them over and over again, making sure I know everyone’s positioning.”
Besides playing point guard, he also played shooting guard in the past, Jordon North said. Shooting guard is typically for taller players, and he hasn’t always been the tallest on his team, he added.
“I’ve always wanted to be able to experiment with different positions, but you have to have the physical capability to do that, like being taller or bigger,” Jordon North said. “I’ve been a point guard for the majority of my career, so I think that is what I would like to stick with.”
To balance between training for skills, weightlifting, and cardio, he tries to play basketball either at school or on his own every day, Jordon North said.
“I lift weights about three times a week, sometimes two, depending on what the week looks like,” Jordon North said. “Cardio just comes with basketball.”
On his future goals in basketball, Jordon North just hopes he can get to play on a college roster, whether it’s junior college or whatever other division he is able to get into, Jordon North said.
“Hopefully, I’ll be able to play as long as I can no matter where I get to,” Jordon North said. “I hope I can still keep playing.”
New athletics media team captures sports highlights
By Akshaj Kashyap
The Athletics Media team started last August with juniors Able Liang and Kayden Ho, and has now been joined by junior Ernesto Sto. Domingo, Athletics Director Joanna Butcher said.
The media team members are responsible for taking photos of all sports and media days as well, Butcher added.
Butcher has been trying to get a functional athletics media team during the entirety of her tenure as Athletics Director to give greater recognition to student-athletes, Butcher said.
“The best way to celebrate our athletes is social media,” Butcher said. “We need to use social media more and use our athletics website and to be able to recognize because not every team can be successful, but there are highlights and positives from every contest that you can focus on (...) and recognize that their hard work is paying off.”
This past school year was the first one when she found enthusiastic students who could embrace her vision of equitable coverage, Butcher added.
“If you’re going to have the rights and privileges to be on the field, go to an away game, that type of thing, you need to have the willingness or someone in the team needs to be able to cover different sports,” Butcher said.
Working with the media team has opened a lot of opportunities for Liang that he hadn’t gotten access to before, he said.
“Now a lot of people just find me online and they’re like ‘Hey, can you come shoot a video for us? Could you do a photo shoot for us?” Liang said. “So I’ve (shot photos) for college football games like De Anza. I’ve done many sports companies, like Milpitas Boxing. I’ve done many dance studio shoots which has brought attention to what I do.”
Liang has built up a small clientele and is bringing in several hundreds of dollars each month, he said. Despite making money from photography, something that started out as a passion, Liang still wouldn’t consider himself to be a professional, he added.
“I don’t think anyone should state themselves as a professional because every time you go to
a different gig, you learn something new; (...) it’s just like a side hustle for me,” Liang said.
Liang is interested in working towards having retainer clients, clients that pay a reoccurring fee, for a more stable source of income but besides that is just going with the flow for his photography career, he said.
“Every time I (take pictures and/or videos) of something, I always have fun,” Liang said. “I don’t really care about money;I care more about the experience, (...) so it’s really just about the hobby.”
Ho, a founding member of the media team, has been branching out into videography alongside photography, he said. He has been taking videos for the media team since November, he added.
“At first, I had been watching a lot of inspirational cinematic videos from a lot of content creators online, but then I had one person (student-athlete) actually ask me to record them a video,” Ho said. “That kind of inspired me to keep up with videography and expand with that too.”
All of the media team members hold flexible schedules that allow them to cover games without overworking themselves, Domingo said. He finds ways to section off his time so he can manage extracurricular activities like NJROTC, football, and his involvement with the media team without taking away from academics, Domingo said.
“Since we always have a few extra minutes throughout the school day, I always focus on doing my homework within class first, so that if I know that night that I’m going to go shoot a game or anything, I already know that I either have no homework or I decrease the amount of homework that I have,” Domingo said.
The media team is open and looking for more student photographers and videographers with the only requirements being to remain enthusiastic and to embrace covering all sports, Butcher said.
“Do we want to grow the team? Yes,” Butcher said. “We want everybody to understand that it is more than just your desire to cover one sport (...). We want to make sure that the athletics media team is being equitable and covers everything.”
Girls varsity soccer learns to adapt to losses through teamwork, practice
As of Feb. 12, the girls varsity soccer team currently ranks third in the El Camino League with a league record of 8-3-1, according to MaxPreps.
The team is currently using a 4-4-2 formation – one goalie, four defenders, four midfielders, and two attackers/strikers, head coach James Sampson said. The team has been liking this formation better than their previous one, a 4-3-3, which is one goalie, four defenders, three midfielders, and three attackers/strikers, he said.
“I started off with a 4-3-3 which is a little bit more focused on the mid and attacking, so really trying to put goals in the net, but we had some hiccups, so we went back to a 4-4-2,” Sampson said. “A 4-4-2 is a very balanced soccer (formation); you’re not trying to make attacking heavy or defense heavy.”
The players have been working on playing more aggressively, Sampson said. The players are told it’s not necessarily about winning or losing, but it’s the productivity and how you get to the
goal, which is either a win or loss, he said.
“We (girls varsity) make adaptations,” Sampson said. “We learn to adjust. But sometimes it does take us a little while or half of a game to figure out what those adjustments are, but they (the team) are more than capable of making those adjustments during the game and then at half time.”
In games, the team realizes what formation the enemy team is playing, and so that helps the team decide how they will attack and defend, sophomore and girls varsity captain Tea Eugenio said.
“There are definitely games that I think we could have won; we just came up a little short and underperformed,” Eugenio said. “There are games that were against teams above our level of play, but I think learning from those games, we can get better results.”
The players are all very close and are friends inside and outside of practice and games, but sometimes they can lack communication during games, Eugenio said.
“We get in our heads, or we’re not communicating enough so we
aren’t on the same page,” Eugenio said. “It also comes to when we’re being too selfish on the ball, or taking shots when we don’t have the angle, or even when we’re not dropping back to help defend.”
Senior and goalkeeper Isabelle Plascenia has a strong relationship with her teammates because she’s been playing with some of them since third grade, she said. It’s really good to have strong chemistry with your team because it helps everyone connect more on the field, she said.
“I think the times we do lose is because our chemistry is off on the field,” Plascenia said. “If we’re not all on the same page, it easily shows on the field.”
If the other team is on the same level, or even better, it makes the players want to win more, so it makes everyone more competitive, Plascenia said. The atmosphere around the team after a loss isn’t that bad, since we focus on the positives and what we did well, she said.
“I think when we do lose, it’s a good loss,” Plascenia said. “It’s never really a bad loss, because at the end of the day, I think we tried our best to connect. If we did lose,
that’s fine. The next time we play them, we’ll know what to fix.”
Younger players should try their hardest in their games, Eugenio said.
“Always put in 100%, because as long as you’re doing that, you won’t have any regrets,” Eugenio
said. “Just play your game. Someone might try to tell you differently when you’re playing your way (...), but I say play your game and what you think is best for the team. In the end, soccer is for you to express yourself and play the way you want.”
Point guard Jordon North dribbling around opponent guard Luke Bekkers during their 60-35 win over the Gunn Titans on Jan. 10th at home
Courtesy of Ernesto Sto. Domingo
By Harold Hong
Midfielder Sarra Yadav dribbles the ball against junior Rebecca Oxtot during their 0-5 loss against Ann Sobrato High School on Jan. 7th
Competitive cheer team flies into All Star Cheer Super Nationals in LA
By Sowmya Sundar
The competitive cheer team participated in the Novice Non-Tumbling All-Girl Small division at the USA All Star Cheer Super Nationals in Los Angeles on Friday, Feb. 14, junior Kaylynn Dang said. They placed 12th out of the 17 teams in their division, she added.
In their first competition as a competitive cheer team, they scored a 63 out of 100 (based on the difficulty and perfection of the team’s performance), so they doubted they’d even make it to nationals, Competitive Cheer Coach Leslie Franklin said. However, by the third competition, they were overqualified, scoring above 80 points and qualifying for Nationals, Franklin added.
“They were screaming, jumping up and down and hugging each other,” Franklin said. “They were really excited when we opened our scorecard, and we realized what our score was. We were like, ‘Oh my god, wait, we’re going to Nationals. This is crazy.”
Their season began with choreography from another coach since they haven’t made competitive cheer choreography before and aren’t sure how to make it themselves, Franklin said. They have to prepare for a sequence of different stunts they have to hit, perfectly do, throughout the season, Franklin added.
“When we’re competing, the girls do a performance that includes a 45-second cheer,” Franklin said. “That engages
the crowd. And then it goes into a music sequence, which includes different stunt sequences, and ends with dance. We get feedback (from the judges), we build off that feedback, and we just try to do better from the last time,” she added.
The team might have qualified due to the dancing section of their routine, which they are particularly well-rehearsed in, cheer team co-captain Alexa Garcia said. Their energy and cohesion could have stood out to the judges, Garcia added.
“I think it’s just something really special,” Garcia said. “Everyone gives 110% every practice, every competition. So the effort is definitely there. And we all want it, which I think is really important in a team for any sport.”
After qualifying, the team had done extra practices, longer hours, running, and weight training, Dang said. They’ve emphasized communication during the preparation process, Dang added.
“If we don’t remember what we need to fix or one of us does the same thing that we did before, it could throw up the whole stunt, and it makes us stay in the same place,” Dang said. “So just knowing and remembering what we need to do and making sure that we’re all on the same page is how we’ve been preparing.”
Over their past few competitions, they’ve also focused on practicing and gaining experience, Garcia said. They hope to go into next year’s season more prepared, she added.
“I just want everyone to be able to leave every competition being happy with how they did, no matter how we score or what happened,” Garcia said. “So I really just have been trying to push everyone to do the best they can at practice so they can feel confident at our competitions.”
Since it’s their first year, Dang doesn’t expect their team to win, she said. She hopes that they can leave feeling accomplished, she said.
“I hope that our team feels like they could set a good middle ground for future generations,” Dang said. “(We should) know that we were able to do the best that we could with the materials and practices we had.”
The team should emphasize getting along with each other, and trust that they are all on good terms, Garcia said.
“I definitely want everyone to get closer with each other as a team because it’s really important to be able to trust everyone who you’re on the team with,” Garcia added. “You’re literally throwing people in the air and just trusting that they’re going to catch you.”
From qualifying for Nationals, they’ve learned that if you work hard to get something you can get it, Franklin said. They hope to continue trying new things and push themselves out of their comfort zones, she added.
“As long as we’re doing better than the last time, then we’ve already succeeded,” Franklin said.
New NCAA rule changes offer more flexibility for junior college athletics
By Atticus Roberts-Daniels
College sports are changing at a rapid pace and that also means academically for the student-athletes. A big ruling by a court on Dec. 18, 2024, decided that the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) will grant players 4 years of eligibility even if they played a year or two in junior college (JUCO) according to the according to the U.S. District Court preliminary injunction order. The decision also gives former JUCO players an opportunity to apply for an extra year of eligibility if they exhaust their eligibility in 2425, provided they meet certain requirements, according to the website for college sports and recruiting, 4PlayingTime. These changes may not be final but could impact the landscape of college athletics a lot, The NCAA will appeal so the ruling is yet to be finalized
“For the colleges, this makes sense,” Counselor Cory Nakamoto said. “They’re going to know a lot more about a player and whether or not they can handle the rigors of D1 (division one) or D2 (division two) college sports.”
You’re gonna be seeing older players in college now, Nakamoto said.
“There’s a big difference(…) when it comes to that.” Nakamoto said
Having a successful year or two at junior college will be a big difference from playing in your local high school, Nakamoto said.
“I’m hoping that this doesn’t change much in terms of student-athletes,” Nakamoto said. “I hope it doesn’t change their goals and ambition to get a college degree. Getting a college degree opens so many
doors… And so I’m hoping that students can really persist and view this as a way to get that degree so that it benefits their future.”
The goal needs to be using a scholarship to gain a bachelor’s degree, the difference between a bachelor’s degree and just an associate’s degree is about a million dollars, and it’ll provide opportunities for better pay and employment, Nakamoto said.
“Colleges are going to basically know exactly what they’re getting in the scholarship offers where it might be a little of a wild card straight out of high school,” Nakamoto said. Keep academics number one, get your degree, keep the doors open for the future, work really hard, and keep a mindset to focus on academics while working really hard on athletics, Nakamoto said.
“The landscape is changing recently,” Varsity Football Head Coach Kelly King said. “Right now, the latest rulings that I read and saw about, and what I’ve heard about them talking with coaches, is you get those years back from the JC (junior college), so you finish your JC, you get another four to go, potentially six.”
The new NCAA rule allows junior college athletes to regain eligibility years, (years of playing time), which could extend their time in college sports to as much as six years, King said.
“The education side of it is, you got a chance to pay for your post-grad stuff and get out with a degree and keep playing football,” King said. “You can get your master’s on top of this, get years back from the JC, and potentially even start working on your PhD.”
Senior Noah DeLeon plans to attend a junior college for
track, he said.
“The whole point of me going to a JC is to give myself the exposure to show that I can compete at a division one level,” DeLeon said. “And if I’m able to have four years at the NCAA level, then that would be really big for me when it comes to showing what I can do.”
Having additional years of eligibility benefits athletes by allowing them more opportunities to compete, gain experience, and work towards higher academic degrees, DeLeon said.
“JC sports are going to be more competitive,” King said. “They (NCAA) cut the scholarship numbers down, so you don’t have as many people. Those 20 per program that used to be in D1’s aren’t there anymore, so you have to come in ready to play right away.”
More athletes will now consider junior college as a viable option since transferring won’t impact their eligibility, making it a more appealing route, DeLeon said.
“I think there will be more athletes playing JC to go to the next level, because it gives them more of like a safety net to fall on,” DeLeon said. “A lot of athletes will believe that they have nothing to lose if they go to a JC.”
The recruiting process for college has already changed, and still is constantly changing, King said.
“Recruiters are going to be paying more attention,” King said. “They’re just kind of seeing and maybe take a note and they can come back around again.”
It’s nothing like how it used to be, the whole landscape has changed, King said.
“The key is to get the academic level to go to an academic uni-
versity, get your credits with a 3.0, 3.5 GPA to get out and hit that avenue, or if you’re kind of not in that boat, go JC then get out and take your education seriously,” King said. “You could get your masters out of this thing and maybe start working on your PhD.”
Junior colleges will serve as a safety net for athletes aiming to reach the next level, allow-
ing them to take risks without sacrificing years of eligibility; it’ll become more competitive at the JC level too, DeLeon said.
“This will make junior college sports more effective,” DeLeon said
The future of sports is changing slowly; it’ll continue to change and most likely be different as soon as next year, King said.
Competitive cheer team practices stunts on Feb. 5th before a competition
Sowmya Sundar | The Union
Sowmya Sundar | The Union College football player preparing to transfer from junior college to D1
Staff, students share thoughts on upcoming cell phone restrictions
By Shrihan Sham
California Assembly Bill 3216, also called the Phone-Free School Act, passed last September. The new law requires school districts to establish “a policy to limit or prohibit the use by its pupils of smartphones while the pupils are at a school site or while the pupils are under the supervision and control of an employee or employees of that school district.” School districts must implement this policy by July 1, 2026, according to the bill.
The school has current policies in place to manage students’ use of cell phones in the classroom, Principal and Chief innovator of MHS Greg Wohlman said. However, the next step to comply with the cell phone law is to create a baseline limitation on cell phones that is the same for all classrooms, he said.
“It (Phone-Free School Act) caused a lot of concern between students, parents, and staff members all across the state. There’s always two sides to it – like, ‘Oh, finally, people are doing something,’ and then the other side is, ‘Nobody’s taking my cell phone away. And that’s not right, and I use it for learning,” Wohlman said. “So there’s always the two sides of it, so (we’re) trying to manage how and what we’re going to do as a school moving forward.”
Some teachers are concerned about how the act will be implemented, Wohlman said.
“Some people say we already have restrictions,” Wohlman said. “But I think the missing piece is that common restriction
in all classrooms where students and parents know what the minimum restriction is, and then after that, teachers can ask for more depending on the class. But this would bring a commonality or connection between all classrooms during instructional time – this is the rule. …(The common restriction) will help students, parents, and teachers find common ground.”
While it depends on the context of the classroom, Wohlman believes limiting cell phone use could improve academic performance or classroom engagement, he said.
“If we have 100% engagement, and we have a feedback loop for students to say, ‘I’m missing something in the learning environment in the school’, or ‘I want to learn in a different way,’ that’s easier to understand and accept if everybody was following the cell phone policy,” Wohlman said. “So there is not an angle to say, ‘Well, those students were on their cell phones,’ because then that attitude is that (if) people would put their phones away, they could understand the lesson better, and then our curriculum would work. If we could follow a policy, we have a higher probability of getting accurate data from students and teachers.”
Social studies teacher Danilo Escobar has already implemented a strict no-phone policy in his classroom, requiring students to turn in their phones upon entering his classroom, he said.
“It’s too much of a distraction, and it’s too hard to expect anyone – adult or teenager – to regulate themselves,” Escobar said. “Usu-
ally, we pull them out of compulsion, rather than for any particular reason.”
Escobar has noticed a shift in student behavior due to stricter cell phone restrictions, he said.
“They actually start to talk more with each other,” Escobar said. “Even if they move to their Chromebooks, it’s less isolating than phones, since people can see their screens. It helps build a sense of community.”
However, enforcing the rule does come with challenges, Escobar said.
“I haven’t had to take any major disciplinary actions,” Escobar said. “If a student continues to break the rule, I would have to come up with a specific plan of action with that student.”
Some students may need their phones for specific reasons, Escobar said.
“If they’re expecting an important call, they just need to let me know, and I’ll work with them,” Escobar said. “But that’s a rare occurrence.”
Junior Brandon Soo does not think cell phone use should be restricted entirely, he said.
“Usually, students can’t really control themselves or how long they have their cell phones out, but a limited ban, such as restricting phones during assignments or exams, would be more reasonable,”
Limiting cell phone use could help students focus better in class, Soo said.
“It would probably help students socialize a lot more,” Soo said. “During class, people mostly use their phones instead of talking. But during breaks, most students
already talk to their peers rather than being on their phones.”
The cell phone ban would not impact academic performance, Soo said. That depends on whether a student actually has the motivation to complete assignments, he said.
“My cell phone is quite important for staying in touch with my parents during the school day,” Soo said. “If an emergency comes up, I’d rather have direct access to contact them than go through school staff or the office.”
Students will have access to their phones outside of instructional time, Wohlman said.
“You think about how much you have access to your cell phone every hour of every day, including brunch, including lunch, before class, after class,” Wohlman said. “You have access to it.”
Wohlman ran a school a decade ago, and the school restricted cell phone use, he said.
“Every kid put the phone in a box when they walked in the door. And as those kids graduated and came back and told their stories, they were so grateful that we restricted cell phone use, and we did that without a state law, (or) district mandate,” Wohlman said. “We just did that because we knew that it was powerful for students, and so now those students have that skill when they go in the workforce, that they know how to put their phone away.”
Parents all over the country have concerns about tackling the issue of limiting cell phones usage in the classroom, Wohlman said.
“It’s a big deal, so as a school, we’ll try to come together and make it work,” Wohlman said. “I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, and it’s going to be hard for students and hard for staff, but we will find a way to follow the state law.”
Shrihan Sham | The Union
A sign outside of E09 prohibiting cell phone use in the classroom.
Student attendance helps district gain funds
By Namana Balakrishna
The district started an attendance initiative last year, trying to get all schools across the district to reach 97% attendance, Assistant Principal Casey McMurray said. By raising student attendance, it not only benefits the student’s education but also helps give the school funding, he added.
To try and bring more awareness about the attendance initiative, attendance data and emails are being sent on Parent Square, McMurray said.
“We’ve included it in our School Site Council, in our PTSA meetings, as well as other meetings at the district level,” he added. “We’ve tried to come up with some incentives and rewards and recognitions for school attendance by month, by grade level, by school.”
McMurray had asked leadership to help with giving out incentives, Activities Director Deana Querubin said. One of these incentives is giving out lunches to students with perfect attendance, provided for by PTSA, she added.
“We actually visit the classrooms,” Querubin said. “If a person wins for that month of the lottery, our job is to visit those four or five (students) per class. We send our class officers to go visit those kids in their fifth period. We just tell them congratulations
on getting great attendance.”
The reason why the district chose to have a goal of 97% was because that was the average rate of attendance prior to COVID-19, Chief Business Officer Dorothy Reconose said. After COVID, the average attendance rate dropped to 95%, and they wanted to raise it back up again, she added.
“The hope is once we get ourselves back up to 97%, then we increase the goal,” Reconose said.
“Maybe now we reach out for 98%. We don’t want to just say our goal is 98 or 99% but we’re so low right now. So it may seem like it’s unreachable because you’re talking 4% increase. So we want to start working little by little.”
Most of the district’s funding comes from student attendance, Reconose said. It makes up $121 million out of $162 million of the budget, she added. This isn’t enough to run the schools, which takes about $180 million, she said.
“Grants are not attendance related, but it’s still based on the population of the students,” Reconose said. “Federal funds are based on our unduplicated pupil count. Other state grants are the same thing, it’s always based on the population of the students. They always ask, ‘how many students do you have?’”
Looking at the attendance trend for the past eight years, freshmen have always had the highest attendance rate, McMurray said. The one-time exception was last
Elementary music program faces large classes
By Uyen Vu
The District has relaunched the elementary band and strings programs this school year, with over 700 enrolled students across ten elementary schools, District Music Lead Emily Moore said in a board meeting on Oct. 20, 2024. With only two teachers to teach all 700 students, the music program is stretched thin, Moore said.
The band and strings classes are held twice a day before and after school at each respective campus every weekday, with each school getting one class a week—with the exception of Mattos band— according to the MUSD music program website.
This year, there are only beginner classes, so it brings the question of where next year’s students who have completed the beginner level will go, elementary strings teacher Nicole Poulin said.
“This was the only schedule they (the district) could possibly give us, (which) was before and after school,” she said. “For years, they’ve been telling us they were going to move these classes back into the day like they used to be. So unless they do that, I don’t see how they’re going to get how we’re going to do it. It’s physically impossible to do it.”
Elementary music is provided to 4th-6th grade students, whose ratio for regular, daily classes of students to teachers is 32/33:1, Assistant Superintendent of Human Relations Damon James said in an email.
The elementary music classes consist of around 50-60 kids, which should be closer to 20, Poulin said. The current size of the classes would work for intermediate students, but it is detrimental to the current, elementary beginner students, Poulin added.
“(For) intermediate, you can put more kids in,” Poulin said. “You can do 40 kids in an intermediate class because they have the basic skills; it’s not so much hands on with the (intermediate) kids.”
Proposition 28 money is allocated to the district based on
school year, when sophomores had the best attendance, he added. However, seniors have consistently had the lowest attendance rate, he said.
“Mr. Wohlman and I met with a small group of seniors, and it was based on the fact that they had less than 90% attendance for the first semester this school year,” McMurray said. “We had lunch with them, and we asked them some questions about why they don’t come to school sometimes, and we heard some really insightful comments.”
All the seniors were virtually projected to be on track to graduate, McMurray said. They all had various reasons for not coming to school, he added.
“Some had to do with illness, some had to do with work,” McMurray said. “Some had to do with how much they could get done at home versus being at school and not really seeing a difference that it made.”
Overall, the initiative has increased attendance and has brought positive effects, McMurray said. He’s received a lot of positive feedback from parents, staff, and students about the messages sent out on Parent Square, he added.
“Maybe they’ll (students) start to pay attention a little bit more, or maybe they’ll become more aware of the importance of attendance,” McMurray said. “We really care about attendance.”
Officer Wutzke becomes Resource Adviser
average daily attendance at each school site, then is distributed to school sites for decision making, James said in an email.
Proposition 28, or The Arts and Music in Schools (AMS) Funding Guarantee and Accountability Act, provides funding for expanded arts education programs, according to the California Department of Education’s website. It requires that educational agencies with an enrollment of 500 or more students provide 80% or more of expended funds to be used to employ certificated or classified employees to provide arts education instruction, according to the website.
The high school has also been supporting the elementary program through StemUpAcademics, a tutoring program led by senior Jorel Hernandez and junior Avik Jain. They hold tutoring Mondays at MHS after school for students who need extra support as a result of understaffing, Hernandez said.
“We talked with the elementary band teacher (Kayla Parolini), and we wanted to help out, so we paired with her to help out as much as we could towards this,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez and Jain were also inspired to work with the elementary students because there was no district concert last year, which was due to the absence of the band and strings classes for the elementary students the previous school year, Jain said.
“And these events, like concerts, you get to pair with older kids who are playing harder music,” Jain said. “That feeling is what makes them fall in love with band and continue it throughout high school. I think it’s really important that the band program is supported from elementary all the way to high school.”
The Union reached out to numerous people at the District Office for this story. Damon James agreed to an interview but did not consent for the interview to be recorded. Director of Human Relations Kristin Stonehouse and Executive Director of Learning and Innovation Priti Johari declined to be interviewed.
By Akshata Buskhat
On Jan. 7th, Officer Loren Wutzke, a former Trojan from the class of 2006, took over as the new resource officer, after Officer Mostafa Asefi’s three-year term came to an end, Wutzke said.
A desire to help people stay on the right track motivated him to take this job, Wutzke said.
“My role is to make everyone feel safe, to interact with students (and) staff, build a good relationship with everyone here, and part of being safe is not just enforcing laws but as well as emotional support, (it) is talking with students (and) helping them deal with difficult times,” Wutzke said.
The resource officers help assist with the drills, such as fire drills, and find the best way to practice them, Assistant Principal Jennifer Hutchinson said.
“I would say our best resources are that we work as a team,” Hutchinson said. “Milpitas is unique, and so is the role of a school resource officer. A police officer in that position can come in as a police officer; however, most of the time they are actually a resource. So they follow the lead of what the school is working on and just provide support.”
Asefi has been showing Wutzke the logistics, how his communication is with the kids, what his relationship is with different clubs, and getting him introduced to the faculty members and administrators, Asefi said.
“I’ve learned it takes time to build a rapport or a connection,” Asefi said. “Once you build that rapport, I noticed that kids, those were the kids that were nervous and shy to talk to me in the beginning, now, just see me as Asefi, not ‘Officer’ Asefi.”
There has been almost a month-long cross-training between Wutzke and Asefi with Asefi guiding Wutzke on what is going on at our school, Hutchinson said.
“Over the past month, Officer Asefi has been working closely with Officer Wutzke, providing hands-on guidance to help him
understand the school environment and how things run here, ensuring a smooth transition,” Hutchinson said.
It’s bittersweet because he has built strong relationships with the students over time. He has seen them grow from nervous freshmen to confident seniors, and it’s been really rewarding to be part of that journey. He will miss that connection, but is excited for Officer Wutzke to step in and continue making an impact, Asefi said.
Being a Resource Officer “has been one of my favorite assignments so far at the police department,” Asefi said. “I’ve worked patrol, I’ve been on the recruitment team, and I’m currently on the SWAT team too, and of all the things I think SRO is the most impactful in my opinion.”
Resource Officers rotate every three years, Hutchinson said.
“Some parts of the role of a resource officer are to establish a connection between the city and our schools, giving students opportunities to interact with police officers in a way that makes them safe, but also giving them someone to talk to if they need help and support,” Hutchinson said. “Officer Asefi and Officer Wutzke meet with students all day as well as going out into the
community and seeing people. Sometimes during lunch, they can be found on the basketball courts as well.”
Wutzke was on the football team for all four years of high school, he said. Some of his favorite moments from MHS were playing football and just competing on the field, he said.
“A lot of my friends that I hung out with outside of football or even school, were football players,” Wutzke said. “So the Friday night games were fun, playing in the lights, the band playing, hearing the national anthem go off and like remembering, you know, standing there and getting ready for the game, to start being pumped up and motivated to play.”
Wutzke looks forward to having new experiences every day, interacting with the community like teachers and students, seeing students he has coached before, and building the relationship between the community and the police department, Wutzke said.
“Something that stuck with me is a phrase from Coach King and football is that ‘success is often overshadowed by hard work,’” Wutzke said. “That’s something that I use to this day. I pass it on to my kids, and I think it’s very true.”
A graphic sent out by Mr. Wohlman through email, discussing progress in increasing attendance and decreasing suspensions and fighting.
Courtesy of Greg Wohlman
Courtesy Of Carmella Henderson
Officer Wutzke (left) and Officer Asefi (right) pose for a picture together
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ing them read things that are unfamiliar to them, that explore worlds that maybe they’re not familiar with.”
With the mastery learning provided by Khanmigo, students actually perform two standard deviations, or 47% better, than students with one-on-one tutoring, showing how beneficial AI can be, Song said.
“You can chat with Martin Luther King Jr., so then your writing is not so much based out of, what did you find out in a library and a static text, but you can have an honest conversation with a digital version of Dr. King, and then your teachers may say, ‘What did you learn from your conversation?” Song said. “Because then the teacher can see what type of questions that you might have asked, and then also push you towards your zone of proximal development, which is at the edge of your questioning ability, which should provide you better answers.”
Being able to listen to historical figures like that would be beneficial for school work, senior Vyshnavi Bhavanam said.
“I’m thinking if it’s for a report or a presentation you have about that person, then feeling like you’re hearing from that person would be valuable,” Bhavanam said.
“ The concept of taking a dead black man and, for profit, inserting words into his mouth goes against literally everything we are taught about historiography,” Barr said.
Khanmigo has AI versions of historical people other than Martin Luther King Jr., and some of them have no personal writing ever recorded from them, Barr said.
“When we pretend that these AI characters are really that person, we are allowing students to conflate primary and secondary and tertiary sources, and they (students) no longer have a way to corroborate that in any meaningful way,” Barr said. “Especially at younger grade levels, that’s going to be a problem.”
Another tool that the school district would like to implement is NotebookLM from Google which is already available for students and teachers to use, Song said.
“For example, put (this interview) into Notebook LM and then create a podcast,” Song said. “So you can say, ‘Make a podcast,’ and it’ll actually do the podcast.”
AI will have the same spot in history as revolutions such as the internet, Song said. “For example, when Google, Yahoo, Excite.com were all coming on board, the internet was supposed to improve and change people’s conditions of learning, as well as their way that they live, and the way that they learn and as well as work,” he said. “Similarly, AI will just be embedded in our everyday workflow.”
There are concerns about layoffs and too much automation making jobs disappear entirely, but it would result in more efficient work rather than suffering from less labor, Song said.
“It’s a logistics and a political problem, and so hopefully we can now use this AI, ” Song said. “All these AI tools are coming out the same way that we use farming, which is to multiply our human efforts to go towards something that may improve the human condition and let us explore things outside of this planet.”
Undocumented Student Protections
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tually comes looking for a specific person, there is a warrant or evidence of a criminal history, and the visit is not a surprise,” she added.
The Police Department is also committed to protecting our students, Superintendent Jordan said. They are supportive of families of any immigrant status, she added.
“In talking with Chief Hernandez, I know that there most likely won’t be any ICE officers who even try to come into our schools,” Jordan said. “We are posting signs that nobody is allowed beyond the public space unless they’re accompanied by an
Staff talks new EL mentorship program
By Ronak Srivastav
Norma Morales, the school link services supervisor of well-being and immigrant support, is helping relaunch the English Language (EL) mentorship program this year at MHS, mainly to support students who just immigrated to the country but also to help students failing two or more classes, she said.
Morales created the program not only to teach foreign students English but also to help them culturally adjust to living in a new country, she said.
“It is not just tutoring,” Morales said. “It’s to create a mini belonging place, where they can feel part of a community and that they belong. Some of them come alone, so it’s just a place where they can feel safe.”
To make foreign students more comfortable, Morales wants them to have the ability to access some of the resources easily available to other students, like clubs and sports, she said.
“Belonging to a school that they don’t know what the culture is, what prom is, or what is a club so they might miss deadlines, or the language is really just a barrier for them to be able to, for example, apply on a timely matter when everything has to be in English,” Morales said. “For example, for sports, when some of them come without parents, it’s really hard to go through the physicals or find doctors. So, those are the barriers that I’m trying to help them navigate through the system.”
The EL Mentorship program used to exist with more teachers compared to now, but because of budget, they couldn’t maintain the program, Morales said. To combat that, Morales created the
Mentor program which has been running for 3 years now, she said.
“The mentor program is kind of like tutoring, but it is more one on one and the teacher gets to know you,” Morales said.
The EL Mentorship classes are held from 3:45 to 4:45 after school on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, with math and English teachers helping failing students and international students, Morales said. Sitting down with some students made teachers realize that some are really behind and need guidance, she said.
“Some students struggle with basic multiplication or adding because they might not have an adult at home that can guide or teach them or have the time to sit down with them,” Morales said. “This is where we provide a trusted adult that can teach you and guide you. They notice that we have a lot to catch up on, but they make it because of summer school and other stuff they get to do.”
Counselor Julie Jones supervises EL tutoring one day per week and makes sure that the EL students can be as organized as possible, she said.
“My role is to go after school with the students to make sure they are signing into the program for their attendance purposes, making sure they have a Google Sheet that they have to fill out, and checking their grades on Aeries to make sure that if there’s any work that they need to do, that they would work on that during tutoring,” Jones said.
Jones also provides supplemental work for students who already have completed their homework in their core classes and tries to teach them some basic English
concepts through that, she said.
“For a lot of students who come to EL tutoring for English, they may need more practice with reading, writing, and reading comprehension in English,” Jones said. “So one of the supplemental assignments we might give them is giving them a paragraph to read, and then maybe pull out some vocabulary or some main ideas, like who the main character is in the paragraph, the setting, to help them to practice identifying these specific qualities in reading.”
Dina Chavez is an English and English Language Development (ELD) teacher, with her 1st and 2nd periods being specifically devoted to teaching English to students who recently arrived in the country, she said. The best way to help newcomers who speak minimal English is to involve the bilingual kids or more advanced ELD kids to help each other, Chavez said.
“For example, I got a student from Nicaragua who’s very advanced in math, but doesn’t speak any English at all,” Chavez said. “So that math teacher would pair him up with someone who’s bilingual in his class to help explain the instructions to him.”
To best help the recent immigrants, students should continue interacting with them and just being a helping hand in general by saying “Hi” to strangers, Morales said.
“We all came here from different backgrounds,” Morales said. “So, just think about how it would feel for you to be in a country when you’re alone, but then at least somebody from the same age is talking to you or even showing a smile. That makes a difference.”
Spring CLOGs discuss goals, plans
By Ilana Ramzan
Clog Rush occurs twice each school year, once in September and once in January. Each semester, many new clubs and organizations, like Bhangra Club, Career Club, and Through the Lens, charter for the new semester to hold various events and collaborations.
Chehak Batra is the president of Bhangra Club and creates choreography for the club, Batra said.
“Bhangra is a cultural form that’s found in the region of Punjab in India, and it’s a folk dance,” Batra said. “Our club is teaching others how to do it, and we want to perform at rallies.”
The club is a way for people to learn more about our culture from Punjab, Batra said.
“We’re very welcoming and everything we do is beginner friendly, so even if you’re nervous that you won’t know how to dance, we’ll be really welcoming and we’ll know how to help you,” Batra said.
MUSD team member,” she added.
Teachers should mainly focus on maintaining a safe environment for students within the classroom, AP Spanish teacher
Monica Rivero said.
“We’re here to support them in every way we can, and we want them to feel safe and able to learn,” Rivero said. “We identify with the issues that are affecting them,” she added.
MUSD’s strategic goal is to build a “culture of we,” Jordan said.
“That includes making sure all our learners see themselves in what they learn, and everybody knows they have a voice,” Jordan said. “We are here for each other to keep our community strong.”
Career Club is a new club for people to become interested in different pursuits they can do later in life, Club President Hannah Robbins said.
“A lot of people, when they come into high school, they want to know where they want to go in life – especially me, I was still figuring it out,” Robbins said. “So I felt like (the club) could be a helpful tool, especially for freshmen and sophomores if they’re still not sure about what they want to do in college.”
The club has been able to work with the College and Career Specialist, Ms. Rosas, Robbins said.
“We plan to present about different career paths and have speakers come in to share about
their jobs,” Robbins said. Through the Lens is another new club whose main goal and purpose is to educate and teach about photography, education chair of Through the Lens Ernesto Sto Domingo said. The club also plans to hold community service events and other team-building activities, he added.
“The president of the club and I talked and we were thinking about doing some (photography) competitions as well, or finding some competitions that we could enroll in so that [our members] could have fun in some way,” Sto
Domingo said.
The club also plans on hosting workshops and teaching photography fundamentals, Sto Domingo said.
“Some people are nervous about getting into photography,” Sto Domingo said. “[Our officers] are all really positive. We all get together really well, and we just really want to be a good environment where students [at] MHS can just talk and collaborate.”
Joining new clogs are a wonderful opportunity to meet people, find new interests, and build lasting supportive connections.
Courtesy of Surese
Reba Prabhakhar | The Union
Khanmigo has been one of the district’s most notable investments in AI tools, Song said.
