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The Campanile

Vol. XCV, No. 1

50 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto, CA 94301 • www.palycampanile.org

Friday, September 28, 2012

The Future of Education

Kate Apostolou/THe campaniLe

Andrew Ng, Arne Duncan and Salman Khan met to discuss the future of education at Sequoia High School. The three touched upon issues ranging from e-rates, high-stakes testing and online teaching as part of a government-sponsored nationwide tour for education.

Michael Wang Yasna Haghdoost Kate Apostolou Editors-in- Chief

S

ilence swept over the vast audience as the screen and speakers on stage overloaded the senses with heavily synthesized music, whirling psychedelic images and a chorus of crooning lasses.

Sound like a rave? Try U.S Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s coast-to-coast tour promoting educational reform that started in Redwood

City at Sequoia High School last week.

Between teenage boys chanting “we are-we are-we are the future,” blurry shots and tightly choreographed dance sequences, Duncan’s face materialized abruptly on a large screen.

“Together, we must work to ensure that every child has access to a world class education,” Duncan intoned.

“One that prepares them to live, learn and work in our increasingly interconnected world.”

The young musicians featured in the music video, courtesy of the John Lennon Bus Tour, were students from Sequoia High School, who had

experienced first hand Duncan’s mission to integrate technology into education.

As the display of revelry for America’s youth concluded, the crowd of listeners cheered with glee as Duncan took the stage to initiate a discussion panel featuring Salman Khan of the Khan Academy and Andrew Ng of Coursera.

“Our challenge is to make great education the norm,” Duncan said.

“We collectively want to put you in a position to fulfill your dreams.”

In context, Duncan’s statement appeared as daunting a challenge as ever.

America, in the midst of a financial crisis, heightened national security and continued partisan disjunction, has yet another group of pressing issues to face: its children.

More specifically, the education of America’s youth.

A stark paradox has arisen lately on the world stage. The United States, with the world’s highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP), currently stands at 14th for reading skills, 17th in the sciences and a lowly 25th in mathematics out of all 34 developed OECD-rated nations. Socialist nation Finland currently ranks the highest.

Safe Ride shuts down due to lack of funding Jack Paladin Staff Writer

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ue to budget cuts and a lack of volunteers, the Silicon Valley chapter of Safe Ride, a drunk driving prevention program sponsored by the Red Cross, shut down on Sept. 5. Previously, the program ran on Friday and Saturday nights from 10:00 p.m. until 1:30 a.m., giving intoxicated teenagers rides home, in order to keep drunk drivers off the streets.

Students from Paly and Henry M. Gunn High School founded Safe Ride in 1984 after a Palo Alto student was killed in an accident involving a drunken driver.

The program soon expanded to communities all over the Bay Area, reaching 11 cities and nine schools, including Paly, Castilleja High School and Henry M. Gunn High School.

Safe Ride was run by high school students and adults who volunteered to give rides to students with no questions asked.

Volunteers answered phone calls from people in need of rides, drove to their location and brought them back to their homes.

One of the main reasons Safe Ride shut down was due to the fact that it was not receiving enough volunteers. Safe Ride was not able to run smoothly because of the lack of people behind the operations. Without

sufficient volunteers the program also began to lose reliability.

“If Safe Ride weekends have had a lot of cancellations, students don’t value it and can’t rely on it,” Becky Beacom, manager of health education at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) and former Safe Ride volunteer said.

Safe Ride created an informative way for kids to learn about drunk driving and the consequences that may come with it.

The program taught people not to The mere drive drunk, presence of Safe Ride sends even if they did not use the a powerful program. message to “The mere students that presence of their peers want Safe Ride, even the idea of it, them to avoid or the presence drinking and of the Safe driving.

Ride club on a Becky Beacom school campus Manager of Health sends a powEducation at erful message PAMF to students that their peers want them to avoid drinking and driving,” Beacom said. “Caring adults and organizations will physically support and work with youth to help them make the safer decision.”

See SAFE RIDE, A3

INSIDE News......................................A1-A5 Spotlight.................................A6-A7 Opinion..................................A8-A1 Lifestyles....................................B1 Student Life.................................B2 Style............................................B3 Technology.................................B4 Entertainment.............................B5 Music....................................B6-B7 Culture.......................................B8 Sports...................................C1-C8

In contrast, the talent pool of potential teachers in the U.S. is much smaller. A study in 2008 by University of Washington’s College of Education showed that six percent of the 600 surveyed undergraduates were “seriously considering a career in teaching,” whereas 51 percent were “definitely NOT considering a career in teaching.”

Low salaries, along with highstakes testing serve as considerable deterrents against much of the future work force considering teaching as a viable profession.

See EDUCATION, A3

National Merit Semifinalists announced Albert Lee Staff Writer

and to let all the freshman students feel like they have a say in everything that goes on in terms of the freshman events,” Hammerson said.

Dulik is looking forward to using ASB to channel plans on how to improve the freshmen’s first year in high school.

“It feels nice being on ASB because I have a lot of ideas to improve our experience,” Dulik said. “I would like create a lot of freshmen-only events for our grade to bond and unify.”

Despite being faced with the daunting task of representing a grade comprised of roughly 500 students, the duo remains positive, and looks forward to the challenges of the upcoming year.

“It feels awesome to know that I get to lead our class,” Hammerson said.

See ELECTIONS, A3

See NATIONAL MERIT, A3

Gina Scarpino/The campanile

Adam Mansour/The Campanile

Adam Mansour/The Campanile

Freshman vice president Owen Dulik and president Emma Hammerson discuss plans for Spirit Week, prioritizing class unity and participation.

Freshman officers elected to Associated Student Body John Young Staff Writer

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reshmen Emma Hammerson and Owen Dulik were elected president and vice president of the freshman class, respectively on Aug. 30. Hammerson ran against David Duggan and Dulik ran unopposed.

Each candidate gave a brief speech to the freshman class before voting commenced. The official results were announced later that day on the Facebook page of the Associated Student Body (ASB).

Hammerson has high hopes for her first year in ASB, and is already figuring out how to increase gradewide synergy and communication in order to bond the grade together.

“My plans for this year are to help make this year be the best it can be,

F

orty students from Paly were chosen as National Merit Semifinalists, according to Ann Deggelman, co-coordinator of the Teacher Advisor program.

“Nationwide, a million and a half students from the class of 2012 took the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT), while the top 1 percent of these students, 16,000 students, were chosen to be semifinalists,” Deggelman said. “Out of those, 8,300 will become finalists.”

In 2011, Paly had 27 Semifinalists; in 2012, Paly had 31 Semifinalists; and this year, 40 students have earned the title. The cutoff was at an index score of 220, based on California’s score distributions. Last year, Henry M. Gunn High School (Gunn) had 36 Semifinalists; Gunn’s results this year are not yet announced.

Semifinalists are qualified to win corporate scholarships, which goes toward students whose parents work in specific corporations, or college scholarships. Semifinalists are also qualified to advance in the competition to become one of the 800 finalists chosen nationwide and receive $2,500 in scholarships from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC).

Spotlight

Measure THC The Campanile hits on the issue of marijuana, in Palo Alto and around the country. A6-A7

eggrole/creative commons

News

Opinion

Town and Country

Football Buddies

Shopping center increases rent, causing business grief. A4

Paly football promotes an outdated school tradition. A8

Friday, September 28, 2012

The Campanile

A2 NEWS

Mitchell Park library building project delayed Julia kwasnick staff Writer

P

alo Alto City Council officials are considering taking legal action against the contracting company, Flintco, for delays and changes in order requests involving the Mitchell Park Library and Community Center construction project.

The project began in November of 2008 after Palo Alto voters passed a $76 million bond to fund improvements to the three Palo Alto libraries and the Mitchell Park Community Center. Flintco sought compensation above its original $24.3 million bid for the project and revised the project’s expected completion date from April 2012 to May 2013. A large percentage of the $76 million bond was designated for the Mitchell Park Library and Community Center project.

“Engineers’ estimates for the construction were about $32 million,” Palo Alto’s Assistant Director of Public Works Phil Bobel said.

“Flintco bid about $24 million, so the construction contract is about $8 million under budget.”

Issues arose when Flintco began requesting funding beyond their planned expenses.

“Flintco did not manage the project well, and several of the subcontractors have been below par,” Bobel said.

Despite stating that the delay is primarily Flintco’s fault, Bobel admits that the City of Palo Alto is partially responsible.

“The project’s Plans and Specifications document had problems in it,” Bobel said. “ Some of the problems were caused by inadequacy in specification, but most of

the problems were caused by the construction contractor.”

City Council quickly sought to resolve the situation.

“City Council took immediate action to clean things up, and City Manager [James Keene] sent his best people to work on it,” City Council member Larry Klein said. “Palo Alto may have the general contractor and general manager replace some of their people after the delays, and it probably has to go to arbitration.”

Despite Flintco’s several million dollar requests in change orders, the project has not exceeded its original budget, according to Klein.

“The project is not over budget,” Klein said. “Flintco bid a very low price, way under what [Palo Alto] had budgeted for. Flintco is, in effect, trying to get back what was too low a bid on their part by claiming extras caused by what they think are inadequate plans by the architect.”

Even with change orders totalling about $2.5 million, this amount totalled with Flintco’s We are all very low contract bid disappointed still leaves the that the project project under is taking a year budget. longer.

“These costs are partially Phil Bobel due to changes Assistant that [the City Director of of Palo Alto] Public Works made, that is the city wanted to add new things to the project, partially due to the deficiencies in the Plans and Specifications document, and partially due to unforeseeable problems that occurred [during construction],” Bobel said.

Klein emphasized the importance of conveying to citizens that the

NIck Kim staff Writer

Charlotte Barry/the campanile

The new Mitchell Park building, currently under construction, is planned to be finished in April of next year.

project is not over the projected budget, as Library Commission Board Member Mary Beth Train.

“Even though the delays have been explained [by numerous sources] people still do not understand what is going on and are worried if it is going to get finished [on time],” Train said.

Both Klein and Train agree that transparency is key in dealing with the issues of the project. “[Citizens] have every right to be concerned,” Klein said. “We are trying to get the message across on the status of construction through quarterly reports and City Council meetings. [We are hoping] that the word gets out to everyone.”

According to Palo Alto Library Foundation Board Member Lynne Russell, the additional costs are typical of any construction project, not just Mitchell Park.

“If you do any type of remodeling project on your house, these

types of costs come up, they are just ramped up because of [the size of the Mitchell Park Library and Community Center],” Russell said.

Russell believes that the issue is by no means resolved, but that it is not that severe and citizens should not worry about it.

“We are staying on top of it, and hoping that it will be open a little earlier than current time, and that we can figure out legal issues,” Klein said. “[I think] it will be all set and done when people [finally get to use] the facility.”

The Mitchell Park library is to be completed in May 2013. The project will hopefully be under Palo Alto’s estimate of $32 million.

“We are all very disappointed that the project is taking a year longer,” Bobel said, “but it is still substantially under budget, and it is going to be a wonderful facility that Palo alto residents will be able to enjoy.”

Yearbook’s new senior portrait structure offers free photos Anna mcgarrigle lifestyle editor

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ith the deadline for senior portraits coming up, seniors have been scrambling to make appointments with photographers. As students’ Facebook pages explode with professional looking profile pictures, some are inspired to be photographed by the Paly yearbook staff. Due to a change by the yearbook staff implemented this year to offer more professional options for senior portraits, a number of student photographers have taken students’ senior portraits for free.

“Hopefully, with all of the options provided, students will be able to

get a photo that they like,” senior yearbook Section Editor and co-Editor-in-Chief Chelsea Chen said.

Senior Masha Andreyva, an AP Photography student who also works on yearbook, suggested the idea of taking free portraits for seniors.

“I feel great that students don’t have to pay,” Andreyva said. “Even though it’s taking a lot of time, it’s totally worth it.”

Andreyva expects to have completed over 50 portraits by the deadline, which is on Oct. 8.

Senior Mia Polansky, who pursues photography independently, is also taking senior portraits.

“I think it’s a good program because it enables everybody to get a high quality senior portrait without having to pay,” Polansky said.

Polansky initially photographed only her close friends, but more seniors asked for free portraits after seeing their friends’ Facebook profile pictures that turned out very well.

I think it’s a good program because it enables everybody to get a high quality senior portrait.

Mia Polansky Senior

“[Free portraits for students] have definitely expanded a lot because if you post pictures online, people will contact you,” Polansky said.

In addition to offering free student photography appointments, yearbook has made both student and professional photographers available during tutorial sessions. The yearbook staff has also communicated with students through their website as well as on a Facebook page administered by the senior editors.

“We’ve tried to the best of our abilities to give out notices,” Chen said.

Even without all of the portraits turned in, the new structure of using a combination of student and professional photographers has been a success.

“It’s a win-win,” Wixsom said.

“Seniors are really excited about it and we have student staff who are getting experience.”

NEWS BRIEFS

College Fair will be hosted at Gunn

Spirit Week themes have been chosen

staff writer

senior staff writer

technology editor

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aly’s new Media Arts Center and math and social studies building, which are currently under construction, will both be completed by the fall of 2013.

These new renovations are in place to prepare Paly for the influx of students in the near future. Classes will be held inside of the new buildings by the beginning of the 2013-14 school year.

The Media Arts Center will house all the journalism programs and a majority of English classes. In the middle of the media center there will be a podium for administrators to speak to the students.

Along with the Media Arts Center, a new math and social studies building is currently being built on the Paly campus. Radu Toma, the head of the Math Department, clarified many speculations on the new math and social studies building.

“There will be 14 classrooms, a resource center, teacher offices and a couple of meeting rooms built for math on the top floor,” Toma said.

The administration hopes that the buildings will be done finished on time for the new school year.

Matt Morton

he Palo Alto College Fair, a convention of more than 100 college representatives, will be meeting in Henry M. Gunn (Gunn) High School’s Bow Gymnasium on Monday, Oct. 8.

The College Fair, from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m., presents an opportunity for Paly and Gunn students to meet college representatives and learn about public and private colleges.

Schools will come from all over America, and from Canada, Japan and possibly even New Zealand. The full list of the attending colleges can be found on Gunn’s College and Career Center website.

The Palo Alto College Fair’s host alternates between Paly and Gunn every year. Students who attend have access to one-on-one college counseling, financial aid information and special admission information sessions with college representatives.

Paly and Gunn students can enter half an hour (at 6:00 p.m.) before students from other high schools. They must show their student ID to get in if they choose to take advantage of the half-hour head start on learning about their favorite colleges.

Paly’s Associated Student Body (ASB), with ASB advisor Matt Hall, is planning several school events for the first few months of the school year, including Spirit Week, a new student lunch and the Homecoming Dance.

As far as transparency, ASB will be posting their agendas and the meeting times on their website and Facebook page.

This year, ASB’s goals are “inclusion and integration,” according to ASB vice president Soo Song.

A lunch for new students will be held on Oct. 12. Students will be able to meet counselors, administration and ASB leadership.

On Oct. 22, Paly will be hosting Spirit Week. ASB has planned multiple changes, most significantly, the point scoring system.

ASB will be putting out games and scoring sheets prior to Spirit Week so that students understand exactly how points can be earned.

“I think Spirit Week is going to be great this year,” Hall said. “I have a very good feeling about it.”

School Board sets new goals JOrdan smith senior staff Writer

The Board of Education discussed the short term and long term goals for the upcoming school year at its most recent meeting. One of the Board of Education’s ambitious plans aims to decrease the amount of D and F grades by ten percent.

A second goal includes the improvement of guidance provided to students. Palo Alto Unified School District is looking to review its college readiness and guidance programs such as College Bound and College Pathways.

Such improvements will be made with the help of a school software that tracks course enrollment rates, semester grades, and course retake rates. Schools can point out patterns of success or failure and then adjust their programs.

The Board of Education also wants to implement the new Homework Board Policy and Administrative Regulation in the district by fall 2013. Other broader goals include planning the district budget, establishing a plan for enrollment that reflects the community’s values, improving productivity of Board meetings and looking to implement new plans for the next four years.

UPCOMING EVENTs

Media construction to be completed in 2013

Andrew Choi

ASB plans for year to come

Wesley Shiau

n preparation for Paly’s 2012 Spirit Week, each grade has selected its class theme.

The freshman class chose the theme of “Finding Nemo.” However, there are many who do not support the freshman theme.

“I don’t like the theme Finding Nemo,” freshman Cameron Huard said. “You can’t find a Nemo costume anywhere.”

The sophomore class decided its theme will be the red carpet and would feature celebrity type costumes. “[Our theme] has a lot more flexibility than last year’s [jailbreak] theme, so you can be very spirited,” sophomore Michelle Xie said.

The junior class chose royalty as its theme. However, there was a lot of controversy for choosing this theme.

“I’m fine with royalty as the theme, but I preferred the Magic School Bus,” junior Andrew Liang said.

The senior class chose “The Matrix” as its theme.

“The matrix theme is a vast improvement from our past themes,” senior Aldis Petriceks said.

Spirit Week will take place during the second to last week of October.

SEP

27-30

PALO ALTO INT’L FILM FESTIVAL

The festival features a variety of films from all around the world.

OCT

PALY FOOTBALL VS. HOMESTEAD

OCT

SAT TESTING

OCT

END OF FIRST QUARTER

OCT

PALY FALL CHOIR CONCERT

5

6

12

14

Come out to support our football team and cheer them on to victory.

Seniors study hard! This may be your last chance to get that 2400.

Get all your classes sorted out because you cannot switch after this date.

Do-Re-Me and you to the concert?

Friday, September 28, 2012

The Campanile

NEWS

Science Bowl teams chosen

Freshman elections

Staff Writer

Dulik is also excited to be able to represent the class of 2016 but expressed different views on the relationship between student government and the student body.

“I don’t really think of [being on ASB] as leading as much as working with everyone in the grade to make sure everyone has a great year,” Dulik said.

Hammerson and Dulik have been on ASB for less than a month, however, the duo feels that their work has already begun. Hammerson has already been very involved in her job by thinking of new ways to improve the grade’s life on campus.

“I’ve only been in this position for a couple weeks, but so far I’m really impressed with the people and their ideas for the school,” Hammerson said.

Dulik also is passionate about this year’s ASB. “So far ASB has been really fun and a great experience,” Dulik said More experienced ASB members are already impressed with

Michelle Yin

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he 2012-2013 Science Bowl teams have been selected by junior Grace Lin and seniors Alvin Kim and Jeffrey Ling, presidents of the club, on Sept. 11.

The members of Team A consist of Gary Chen, Jared Filseth, Grace Lin, Jeffrey Ling and Jasen Liu. Team B consists of Joseph Chang, Travis Chen, Max Krawczyk, Andrew Lee and William Zhou. The teams were chosen based on buzzer testing and a written round created by the presidents. The difference between the two teams is that Team A usually consists of more experienced members whereas members on Team B are usually underclassmen because Team B is meant for fundamental knowledge and experience development.

The Science Bowl, launched and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is a highly competitive federal mathematics and science related contest available to high

school and middle school students.

Similar to popular television game shows like Jeopardy, it involves rapid verbal discourse and a buzzer system.

The Science Bowl features teams of four students, all with profound erudition regarding diverse science topics. Each team must compete in regional competitions, and based on their performance, they may qualify for the National Science Bowl which is held in Washington D.C. in late April.

According to the DOE, the goal of the Science Bowl is to encourage high school students to excel in science and math and to pursue careers in those fields.

Led by presidents Lin, Ling and Kim, Team A aims to exceed their outcomes from last year by winning the regional competition and qualifying for the national competition.

“We didn’t do too well last year, but we are going to work harder,” second-time president Ling said. “I know we will do better.”

As team veterans, the presidents help fortify the team with not only their vast knowledge but also help

bolster some of the newer members with their experience.

Expanding knowledge on eclectic science topics is the prominent way to build speed and improve as a team. According to members, surfing Wikipedia is extremely helpful because it provides information on an abundance of topics.

“Our goal is to learn more stuff in the fields of biology, chemistry, physics and earth science,” Filseth said.

“Also to get faster on the buzzer.”

The team also has members who are specialists in certain subjects.

“Jasen [Liu] and Gary [Chen] are really good at biology, and [junior] Jared [Filselth] knows a lot about physics,” Ling said.

Goals for this year not only include earning a spot to nationals but also strengthen the promising underclassmen to set up good teams for the future.

“We have a lot of strong underclassmen, so we want to help them gain experience,” Lin said. “Also, a few years ago [the team] earned seventh at nationals, so we hope to exceed that.”

ELECTION, continued from A1

A3

Hammerson and Dulik’s performance so far. Spirit Commissioner senior Bria Vicenti thinks the freshmen have worked well despite being in the intimidating position of being the only freshmen in their class.

“They’re both really enthusiastic and they’re trying extremely hard which is a sign they’re going to do really well in their offices,” Vicenti said.

“I’m really So far ASB has excited to be been really fun on ASB with and a great them for the experience. rest of the Owen Dulik year.”

Freshman Senior class Vice President Josh Stabinsky thinks Hammerson and Dulik show great promise.

“This happening duo really brings the energy,” Stabinsky said.

Overall the pair of freshmen are excited to be in student government, and look forward to helping to shape their grade’s first year of high school.

“This year will be a very memorable year,” Hammerson said.

Change in leadership for Science Research Project Research class instructor steps down after three years; new instructor brings more organized approach to class.

Blake Smith Staff Writer

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Sam Dodson/The Campanile

Physics teacher Keith Geller teaches one of his Physics I classes. Geller was chosen this year to replace Shawn Leonard as the head of the Science Research Project (SRP) class.

change in leadership of the Science Research Project class took place at the beginning of the school year. After three years of managing the Science Research Projects class (SRP), Shawn Leonard, a Paly physics teacher stepped down, leaving the job open to another physics teacher, Keith Geller.

The SRP class helps students contact mentors to work with and to learn from. Students in the SRP class learn how to find work and gain firsthand experience in science labs.

Technology changing education EDUCATION, continued from A1

As a result, many perceive teaching as an increasingly forbidding field, especially when held in comparison to careers in engineering or finance.

“Places like Singapore and Finland only let in their top 10 percent into the field of education. We take two-thirds of our teachers from the bottom third,” Duncan said. “The teacher pipeline is broken.”

With the increase of financial and testing pressures on today’s teachers also comes a lack of resources for students. California, with a debt of $385 million, faces increasing class sizes with further cuts in educational spending.

Finally, the achievement gap between the highest and lowest performing kids remains a persistent problem, with standardized testing and evaluation through No Child Left Behind producing few marked positive effects, and further controversy as teachers begin “teaching to the test.”

Yet, amidst the sea of problems, Duncan stood on the podium, prepared to share his vision of education to a small group in Sequoia High School’s theatre.

“We’re here to talk about technology, to talk about amazing education and how we use technology to increase access to learning not five, or six hours a week, but 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Duncan said.

Increasing accessibility to technology emerged as a common theme of the discussion. Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski took the stage to speak about how the FCC has been working towards this goal.

“This tour is meant to show how education is meant to drive American prosperity and competitiveness in the 21st century.” Genachowski said.

“And the past three years that’s what

we’ve been working on to harness the opportunities of wired and wireless broadband Internet, because they’re almost limitless.”

In the past half decade, there has been a quantum leap in the state of education. As broadband becomes increasingly available and educational resources become more integrated, new educational use-cases arise from the Internet, and they are affecting ways students access knowledge.

At the forefront of the online learning movement is the Khan Academy. A YouTube-based nonprofit institution, the Khan Academy is a highly successful example of educators harnessing technology to promote learning. Through 184 million online views spanning several languages, the Khan Academy has taken long strides towards making education more available by means of the Internet. Hundreds upon hundreds of videos, made by founder Salman Khan on a computerized notepad, explain topics ranging from simple addition to university-level organic chemistry. Exercises are provided to solidify the topics. “[Khan Academy’s] mission is a free world class education for anyone, anywhere, and we understand that it’s hard to teach at one pace, especially with one teacher per every thirty students,” Khan said. “We should try turning everything around, let children learn at their own pace. We leverage technology not to replace physical experiences but to empower them.”

Coursera, another growing online educational resource, offers classes from top-tier universities across the nation for free. Its website highlights “the extensive use of interactive exercises, which we believe are critical for student engagement and learning.”

Such exercises are carried out via essays, discussions and other physical applications through a creative use

of multiple peer reviews and crowdsourcing, which is outsourcing to the online population.

Back at the conference, the microphone was passed to Ng. “Many people say that higher education is a luxury of the privileged. I say that a higher education is a fundamental human right,” Ng said. “Coursera offers hard [college] courses, as anyone who’s taken them can tell you. You have due dates, and there are deadlines.”

Both Coursera and Khan academy place emphasis on live student exercises, in an effort to convert learned material to mastered material. Ideas new to pedagogy, such as differentiated instruction, where each student learns at their own pace, are being experimented with in online education. Together with 16 universities, Coursera has amassed over a million course-takers.

Ng recalled, “back when Coursera was just a Stanford research project with me and three of my students, we made decisions by asking ‘what was best for the student?’ and that was the end of it.”

Venture capitalists and public benefactors seem to see potential in that simple model. Coursera recently received $16 billion in venture capital, while Khan Academy is currently backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Google.

Organizations like these provide a valuable resource to the children of America, offering a free education on a wide array of topics. Through free online resources exists a possible solution to the shortcomings of the American education system.

“We hope to break down the traditional [educational] model, which has been relatively static for the past 200 years,” Khan concluded, “so that we can achieve a healthy level of experimentation to keep us pushing upwards.”

Leonard mentions that changes are made to teaching schedules every year and that this change is nothing out of the ordinary.

“I don’t think that either I or Mr. Geller initiated the discussion of a change,” Leonard said. “At the end I really liked the of the freestyle atmosphere s c h o o l year, all since it helped us sorts of go at our own pace teaching without too much assignpressure. ments are Travis Chen proposed, Junior floated around, discussed, discarded, and refined. Switching SRP assignments is just one option that came up.”

While Mr. Leonard maintained a freestyle atmosphere, Mr. Geller has

adopted a controlled atmosphere that allows Mr. Geller to stay up to date with each student’s progress in both finding a mentor and maintaining a healthy relationship.

Junior Travis Chen preferred the looser freestyle atmosphere.

“I really liked the freestyle atmosphere since it helped us go at our own pace without too much pressure.” Travis Chen said.

Chelsea Chen believes Geller’s structure will help the class.

“The pros are that it will definitely be good to ensure that all students are keeping their mentors happy which will help future SRP students find mentors easier because more mentors will agree to take on more students if they are happy.” Chelsea Chen said.

While Keith Geller’s use of due dates gives students initiative to search for a mentor, these due dates may put stress on students.

National Merit semifinalists named NATIONAL MERIT, continued from A1

“The finalists are announced next year in February, after submitting an essay and application form to the NMSC,” Deggelman said. “And even that goes on into the summer. A lot of times it depends on where a student goes to school, and whether that school gives scholarships too.”

The NMSC also recognizes Commended Students who achieve a score higher than an index cutoff line lower than the Semifinalist cutoff line. Last year, there were 83 Commended Students at Paly. The Commended Students have not yet been announced.

“We usually have around 90 percent of students win some kind of award at Paly,” Deggelman said.

Along with the National Merit Scholarship competition there are programs like the National

Achievement Scholarship Program, aimed toward African-American students, and the National Hispanic Recognition Program, geared toward Hispanics.

From Paly, the semifinalists are: Kathleen Abbott, Cecile Bourbonnais, Helen Cane, Spencer Carlson, Christine Chang, Brian Chen, Hae-Lin Cho, Aaron Chum, Savannah Cordova, Esha Datta, Victor Du, Charles Dulik, Hanako Gallagher, Francis Ge, Srikesava Ghadiyaram, Yasna Haghdoost, Hilda Huang, Wilbur Ji, John Kim, Kiho Kim, Ursula Ku, Robert Lee, Benjamin Lin, Jeffrey Ling, Juliana Moraes-Liu, Elena Pinsker, Henry Poore, Emily Rosenthal, Grant Shorin, Tran Situ, Soo Song, Jessica Tam, Evelyn Wang, Oliver Wang, Melissa Wen, Elizabeth Yan, Alexander Yang, Justin Zhang and Allen Zheng.

Safe Ride funding cut SAFE RIDE, continued from A1

Paly students believe that the program really helped the Palo Alto community by giving people a safe alternative mode of transportation if they did happen to drink.

“Safe Ride definitely worked by saving people from having a terrible night,” junior Frankie Comey said. “[Safe Ride shutting down] won’t necessarily cause more accidents but there just isn’t that option of using Safe Ride anymore.”

Although Safe Ride recently shut down, Barb Larkin, CEO of the Red Cross Silicon Valley Chapter, told the Palo Alto Weekly that the Red Cross is trying to run the program through a different organization.

“If Safe Ride returns in its traditional format, it needs a strong adult director who students enjoy, and who

has the time and resources to administer the many details of [Safe Ride],” Beacom said.

Students have expressed that they want the program to come back because it will keep Palo Alto safer and give them an opportunity to get home safely “I think we should [bring back Safe Ride] because it was a good option to have and it kept our roads safer,” junior Andrew Liang said. many details of [Safe Ride],” Beacom said.

Students have expressed that they want the program to come back because it will keep Palo Alto safer and give them an opportunity to get home safely “I think we should [bring back Safe Ride] because it was a good option to have and it kept our roads safer,” junior Andrew Liang said.

Friday, September 28, 2012

A4

The Campanile

NEWS

Inside the mind of ASB President Jessica Tam Tam plans to integrate and include all of the student body by increasing transparency and raising school spirit.

Alvin Kim Editor-in-chief

T

he Associated Student Body’s (ASB) preamble of the constitution states its purpose as “the conduct of activities on behalf of the students of Palo Alto High School (PAUSD) as approved by the principal and the governing board of the Palo Alto Unified School District.” And who oversees ASB? That person would be senior Jessica Tam, ASB President.

Tam has already set out her main goals for the year.

“For the entire school year, our overarching theme is integration,” Tam said. “Included in that is inclusion. Integration is to make ASB more involved with the student body.

We want to increase ASB’s appearance on campus and involvement in the student body activities.”

These goals expand upon those of last year’s ASB president Uma Veerappan. Veerappan’s goals centered around ASB transparency “I chose to focus my ASB presidency on change, especially because of the negative publicity the ASB received in the past,” Veerappan said.

“As an active member of the organization in high school I knew that the rumors that ‘ASB does no work’ were untrue, and wanted to find a way to show the student body what the ASB had been working on.”

Tam also wishes for the student body to alter their negative perception of ASB. “I definitely want the student body to see ASB as an useful organization on campus that they can go to if they need any help,” Tam said. “And to know that ASB isn’t just a student leadership that’s exclusive and that

we don’t do things without people knowing.”

To aid with transparency, ASB has set up a website where they post their agendas and minutes, started the ASB Post in The Campanile where they release all important ASB news and set up an active Facebook page, all in the hopes of reaching out to the students.

Veerappan believes that these changes are a good step in the right direction.

“As a result of [ASB Post] as well as several other changes made during the year, ASB’s transformation was brought up in several of the school’s publications,” Veerappan said. “Students were more aware of what we had been working on, and as a result, they ended up giving us more feedback on our events than usual.”

While student feedback is important, just as important is the relationship between ASB and the Paly administration.

“If issues come up or we need permission to do certain things we work as mediators between administration and the student body if the student body wants anything,” Tam said.

gina scarpino/the campanile

I honestly could not imagine a better person for the role. She is organized, disciplined and always willing to listen to other people’s ideas.

Uma Veerappan 2012 ASB President

“The administration also gives us suggestions on what we can do.

Like the blue lawn chairs were Mr. Winston’s idea that he brought to us.”

To help connect the ASB with the administration, Mr. Hall oversees the ASB as Student Activities Director.

“As Student Activities Director my role is primarily to be an advisor, a

ASB President Jessica Tam works towards accomplishing this year’s ASB goals and events.

counselor and an advocate for the student body as a whole and certainly for the elected and appointed ASB officers,” Hall said.“If it affects student life on this campus, ASB is going to try to make it better, and I am going to try to help them make it better.”

This year is only Hall’s second as student activities director, having started last year. Therefore, according to him there is still much to be learned.

“My start with Uma last year was about if anything, her teaching me,” Hall said. “This year, it’s about a collaboration. I truly look to Jessica as a partner. I look to her professionalism and her competence much in

the same way I rely on my fellow colleague and staff. Last year it was Uma mentoring me, and this year, it’s Jessica and [sic] I working together.”

Having already decided this main theme of integration and inclusion, ASB has already started work on projects to help facilitate their theme.

“We’re working on getting more people to go to more games by having incentives like free t-shirts or rally towels,” Tam said. “Also, we want to have little things like movie nights or more activities on the quad and stuff like that that everyone in the whole school can get involved in.”

Last year’s ASB officers previously met with this year’s officers to decide

upon several goals for the 2012-2013 school year. Written on the whiteboard in the classroom, some goals are to increase the reputation of dances, hold town hall meetings and improve prom. Veerappan showed excitement for what ASB can achieve this year under Tam. “Throughout last year, Jessica and I sat down several times to talk about the changes that we could make to help improve how student government leaders assisted the student body,” Veerappan said. “I honestly could not imagine a better person for the role. She is organized, disciplined and always willing to listen to other people’s ideas.”

Town and Country store lease expenses cause shops to move out Prices for renting a store in Town and Country escalate and cause many stores to switch locations Nira Krasnow Editor-in-chief

T

own and Country Village has always been home to many independent boutiques, small restaurants and locally-run businesses. However, certain small businesses claim to have difficulties dealing with the Town and Country Village management, stating that the owners of the shopping center have begun catering to larger corporations.

Small business owner Malika Parker previously rented a space at Town and Country Village for her small boutique, Gitane.

She recently moved her store to a larger space on Santa Cruz Avenue in the heart of downtown Menlo Park.

Parker greatly prefers her new location to her previous venue at the shopping center, expressing that Town and Country Village prefers larger businesses that are able to produce more goods and profits over small, independent businesses.

“I would never [rent a space] at a shopping center again,” Parker said.

“It’s the difference between a huge corporation and a small renter. It’s funny to me that they call it a ‘village’ because to me it’s really not a village; it’s a big corporation. [Town and Country Village] gathered all the small [businesses] first to tell people ‘we’re helping the community’ and then they ended up wanting the [big businesses] that have more volume, like chains.”

Fillmore & Fifth, the store that moved into the space that Gitane previously occupied is a nation-wide chain. According to Parker, many larger businesses have been replacing small, locally-run shops at Town and Country Village.

“The store that replaced me owns like 90 stores in the US,” Parker said. “It’s a subdivision of Crossroads

gina scarpino/the campanile

High prices of renting a store at Town and Country have forced student favorites to close and move.

Trading Company. It’s definitely cut to do much more volume. Also, that shoe store, Robert Khron, was replaced by a chain. And Atleta is owned partly by the Gap which is another big franchise.”

Parker finds that the large, non-local company that owns the shopping center creates a hostile environment for small businesses, upholding polices that favor large chains and hinder local stores.

“This corporation [that owns Town and Country] is not from around here,” Parker said. “It’s not like a community [run organization].

It’s okay that [the owners] come from another state, as a big corporation, but at least [they should] give a chance to the small businesses that are [locally-owned].”

According to Parker, Town and Country Village management did not provide the support and flexibility that was necessary for the success of her boutique.

“It was lucky that we found this [new] space [in Menlo Park] that is a lot cheaper and bigger [than the one at Town and Country],” Parker said. “If I was counting on that space there I would be out [of luck], since this is my livelihood. I do this for fun because I love what I do, but it’s also how I pay my bills. I would have needed the support from Town and Country [for my business] because I had an idea behind it but it never worked with them. I thought that the management was not flexible.”

The owners of Town and Country Village declined to comment.

Although Malika had troubles with Town and Country Village management, she was very positive about her old store’s location. ‘“It was really good exposure for us to be there,” Parker said.

Korean Barbeque, another smallbusiness that was previously at Town and Country, closed on Aug. 31 after 21 years of establishment.

The owners of the restaurant, Ashley and Richard Hong, claimed to have troubles with the management of the shopping center regarding the I would never [rent a space] at a shopping center again. It’s the difference between a huge corporation and a small renter. It’s funny to me that they call it a ‘village’ because to me it’s really not a village; it’s a big corporation, that’s what it is.

Malika Parker Gitane Owner

closing of their store. According to the owners’ son, Eric Hong, the restaurant closed because Town and Country Village management would not renew their lease and are unaware of the management’s reasoning for not renewing the restaurant’s lease.

“I don’t know why they won’t renew our lease,” Hong said. “We tried contacting them months before our final lease ended, and they wouldn’t give us any details or reasons why they won’t renew our lease.

It came as a huge surprise to us.”

The Hongs were told that the space that Korean Barbeque occupied at Town and Country Village was scheduled to be remodeled promptly following their vacancy, however, no construction of the space has begun.

“Initially, Joan, the property manager on premise, informed us our space was in need of a seismic renovation per an agreement with the city, and that the construction was to begin immediately following our vacancy, but as you may know, the space is yet untouched,” Hong said.

“So we would also like to know why they didn’t renew our lease.”

According to Oxana Morozov a property assistant at Town and Country Village, the remodel is scheduled to begin shortly.

“The remodeling has not occurred just yet,” Morozov said. “It will happen very soon. We are working on it and it’s in the process.”

According to Hong, Town and Country management also did not inform his parents of the discontinuation of their lease in a timely manner.

“At first, [the management] kept telling us they weren’t sure if our lease would be renewed,” Hong said. “At the end of our initial lease period, they renewed our lease for seven months, then three months, and finally one month, at which point they informed us they won’t be able to renew our lease.”

However, Town and Country management states that Korean Barbeque had been given adequate time prior to the discontinuation of their lease.

“They waited until the last minute and then they decided to spread the rumors that they did not have any notice [about the discontinuation of their lease] but they did have notice,” Morozov said. “They had three months in advance notice.”

The Campanile

Friday September 28, 2012

SPONSORED PAGE

THE ASB POST

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The Official Newsletter of the Palo Alto High School Associated Student Body ASB’s theme this year is “Integration and Inclusion.” Our main goals this year are to: a) increase ASB’s involvement in all student activities and b) ensure that the student body always knows what ASB is doing. We hope to achieve these goals by boosting publicity and making it more effective. We want to strengthen the communication with the student body and enact more ASB events and activities on campus geared towards improving student life. For anyone seeking the latest updates about ASB, make sure to visit our website (https://sites.google.com/site/pahsasb/), Facebook page (https:// www.facebook.com/#!/palyasb), and Twitter account (https://twitter.com/palyasb).

Executive Board Jessica Tam ASB President

Hey Paly! I am so honored and thrilled to serve as your ASB President for the 2012-2013 school year! I am also so proud of my fellow ASB officers who have been hard at work. As ASB President, my duty is to ensure that everything in ASB runs smoothly and that we can perform to the best of our abilities to give the student body the leadership that it deserves. I have been doing this by working on improving and organizing our publicity system with more posters, flyers, and faster updates online. I have also tried to implement our ASB philosophy of this year, which is “integration and inclusion,” into each ASB event by making sure that ASB gets involved in as many aspects of student life and as many events geared towards the student body. Lastly, I hope to continue with last year’s theme of ASB Transparency by giving students access to all the information about everything that ASB does, including Spirit Week, dances, and financial expenditures.

Soo Song ASB Vice President

Hi everyone! I’m so excited to be your ASB Vice President this year and hope to get to know as many of you as possible. The ASB class this year has been extremely involved and hardworking, and we aim to continue promoting “inclusion and integration” among the student body. Two of the main events I headed in the beginning of the year were freshmen elections and Club Day 1. Freshmen elections were really organized this year, and I want to thank the class of 2016 for helping make the balloting process run so smoothly! As for clubs, I created a new Facebook group for club officers in the hopes of establishing greater communication between ASB and clubs. One of my main goals this year is to support and cultivate the club culture at Paly even more; This includes regular emails, Facebook posts, and visits to club meetings! I hope to make sure clubs are active and know about the full resources available to them.

Everyone can look forward to Club Day 2 as well, which will jumpstart second semester! I can’t wait for another amazing year with all of you.

ASB officers dressed in accordance with the Hawaiian theme for the Back to School dance in August. New ASB policy states that all members will attend school dances in their entirety.

Class Officers

Emma Hammerson and Owen Dulik Freshman President, Vice President

Josh Madej Treasurer

Hi Paly, as ASB Treasurer this year, I’ve been making sure to keep ASB informed of its budget and the auditor informed of our ASB expenditures. I hope to help ensure that we spend money in ways that will most benefit the student body and keep track of the budget.

Charlie Dulik Secretary

Hey everyone! As ASB Secretary this year, my main duty has been to diligently transcribe each meeting and make sure these minutes are accessible to the student body online on our ASB website: www.sites.google.com/site/pahsasb. I’ve also been involved in general ASB publicity about the Back to School Dance. I plan to continue helping the senior class officers with Spirit Week preparation and making responsible decisions concerning ASB expenditures.

ASB getting ready for the first Club Day on Sept.

14. Over 60 clubs currently exist at Paly.

Rick Takeuchi and Anika Avadhani Sophomore President, Vice President

Hello sophomores! The two of us are so excited to lead our class this year! We just finalized our class theme--”Red Carpet”-- for Spirit Week, along with its T-shirt design and list of dancers. Our class advisor for this year is Mrs. Avadhani, who has already helped us with Stanford Parking to raise money for our class!

Other than continuing to actively participate in ASB and general school events, we hope to also regularly communicate with all of you. We want to represent the whole class as best as possible, so it’s time to get ready for a successful Spirit Week! Please let us know if you have any good ideas for cheers. Speaking of ideas, we want to create more fundraisers to promote class unity as well, so tell us if you have any suggestions for the annual underclassmen one!

Audrey DeBruine, Kate Marinkovich Junior President and Vice President

A sophomore competes against a senior in the sponge race during the first school rally in August.

Hi juniors! We are so stoked to be your class officers this year. Recently, we chose our Spirit Week theme this year--Royalty--after holding a class meeting and posting a poll on our Facebook page. Also, our class advisor for this year is Mr. Bloom, who will be helping us oversee float building during Spirit Week!

Make sure to check the page for updates and reminders. We also just finished raising money for our class through Stanford Parking and have been helping out with general ASB publicity and events as much as possible. Currently, we’re finishing up the float design, so please let us know if you have any ideas or questions.

We can’t wait for Spirit Week!

Hey freshmen! We’re so excited to lead our class through our very first spirit week, as well as the rest of the school year.

Our official Spirit Week theme this year is Finding Nemo, so get ready to dress up in your scuba diving gear and flippers on theme day of Spirit Week!

We have been working on designing our class t-shirts for Spirit Week and have just chosen the participants for our spirit dance for the spirit dance.

Our freshman class advisor this year is Ms. Brimhall, who will help us with float building and Stanford Parking to fundraise money for our class. Make sure you all come to help out with float building- it will be worth it! This year, we will also work with our advisor to make sure that everyone is adjusting to high school well. Let’s make this a great year, Class of 2016!

Michael Wang, Josh Stabinsky Senior President and Vice President Hey ballers, Spirit Week planning is underway for our theme this year: the Matrix! The shirt is finalized and float design is on its way. We also have our two class advisors for the year: Mr. Yonkers and Ms. Taylor! If we said that juniors, sophomores, and freshmen could relax, we’d be lying. We are doing all we can to ensure that they get their butts handed to them (and we mean this in the nicest way possible).

Josh and I have also jumped right into planning this year’s prom. Currently, we’re evaluating venue options, themes, and extra items.

We are not letting anything get in the way of us and an amazing 2013 Prom. In terms of goals, dances are one of the number one issues we hope to help tackle. We plan to take big strides in improving Paly dances, and we’re certain that they are a improvement from before. Make sure to look forward to Homecoming, as we’re putting a lot of fresh ideas into it.

Currently, we are also brainstorming different senior gift ideas. Our most important goal is to be remembered by something that involves as much of our class as possible so we can be known as the unified grade. Please shoot us an idea if you have one! Otherwise, keep an eye out for updates on the class Facebook page, and feel free to talk with us in person at anytime. Like stated earlier, we are interested in everyone’s ideas so we can be as unified as possible, especially as we head into spirit week completely ready to win!

Commissioners and Representatives

Sophie Parker, Emma Ketchum Spirit Commissioners

Bria Vicenti, Lorraine Chen Social Commissioners

One of ASB’s biggest responsibilities throughout the year is Spirit Week, and this year we are just as devoted as ever to delivering an exciting, fun-filled week for the student body to enjoy. We have been hard at work with planning the activities for each day of Spirit Week and carefully editing the points system so that the competition is fair and accurately reflects each class’s performance.

We aim to make things very transparent and clear this year, so Spirit Week is even more amazing and as fair as possible! In addition, we have been working on raising the overall school spirit on campus, including at sports games and during school hours. As Spirit Commissioners, we have also dedicated ourselves to playing music on the quad every Friday with many new songs requested by the student body.

The Back-to-School Dance was a success, with an attendance that hit over 370 and beat last year’s! We found the DJ after searching through Yelp and decided on the Aloha theme simply because it was both fun and easy to dress up for. We hope that you liked the food and free leis as well! One of our general goals this year as social commissioners is to make major improvements to Paly dances. We’ve already started planning for Homecoming, which takes place at the end of Spirit Week. We’ve already started discussing and finalizing a theme, DJ, decorations, and lighting! Get pumped for the dance; it’s going to be absolutely amazing.

Israa Beige Multicultural Representative

In regards to sports, we have officially ordered and received the first ever Paly Viking Mascot costume! Mascot tryouts were held on Wednesday, September 19th in the dance studio and each contestant had to show their spirit alongside the cheerleaders. Each sports season will have a different person as the mascot, which will mainly be out on the field pumping up the crowd with the cheerleaders during the football games and on the side-lines during basketball games. In addition, we recently designed t-shirts for the Paly vs. Gunn football game held on Friday, September 21st, which were sold for $5. They were a great success. As your sports commissioners this year, we hope to increase school spirit and pride, especially attendance at games! Please let us know if you have any feedback or awesome ideas.

Hi Paly! You can expect a ton of new and interesting activities geared toward raising multicultural awareness at Paly this year, something that has not been done as much in years past. A new idea I hope to launch is putting up flyers and a calendar around school that will inform students about different cultures and religions that exist. In addition, I will be creating a blog with ASB composed by Paly students about their perspective on their culture and religion, as well as how this view may affect their lives. These activities are a new dimension to ASB that I hope to promote throughout the year and introduce all of you to a different aspect of Paly life!

Keri Gee, Jack Anderson Sports Commissioners

The Campanile

Friday, September 28, 2012

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(S)POTLIGHT

By Charlie Dulik, Yasna Haghdoost and Michael Wang Designed by Chrissie Cheng and Bo Field November 2012: That frantic time of the year when we vote for the next president of the United States. Here in Palo Alto, however, we will also be voting for something a bit nearer, and, in the case of many Paly students, dearer to our hearts: marijuana.

Last year, the Palo Alto City Council voted to put Measure C, an ordinance that would legalize medical marijuana dispensaries in Palo Alto, on this year’s November ballot. Under the ordinance, terminally ill individuals with a medical prescription could legally purchase marijuana from dispensaries in predetermined locations around Palo Alto.

Given the issue’s relevance to the Palo Alto community, The Campanile decided to take a closer look at marijuana’s past, present and future both scientifically and politically, across the country and right here at home.

California passed Proposition 215, also called the Compassionate Use Act, in 1996, which legalized medical marijuana dispensaries; however, many cities countered the proposition by banning marijuana within their zoning districts. Palo Alto, for example, passed an ordinance in 1996 that placed a city-wide restriction on medical marijuana.

However, if passed, Measure C would overturn that restriction and allow up to three dispensaries to operate in Palo Alto. The dispensaries would pay a $10,000 permit fee and four percent of all net revenue in city tax. The dispensaries would also face restricted hours of operation and could not be located in residential neighborhoods or near schools, parks or day care centers.

Those who petitioned to place Measure C on the ballot, including petition sponsor, former Ronald Reagan advisor and senior fellow at the Hoover Institute Thomas Gale Moore, present many arguments in favor of medical marijuana. They posit that medical marijuana is a viable sedative for terminally ill patients, citing statistics that indicate if legalized, 50 percent of the country’s oncologists would prescribe marijuana. Petitioners also see medical marijuana as a source of revenue for Palo Alto, with Measure C including a dispensary permit fee and a four percent tax. Bordering cities who have adopted similar initiatives are hailed as success stories: San Jose saw a $290,000 net revenue in the first month of its legalizing medical marijuana dispensaries, although it repealed the medical marijuana ordinance in February 2012.

On the other hand, Palo Alto City Council and the Palo Alto Online Editorial Board have voiced their opposition to Measure C. On Sept. 10 the City Council passed a tentative resolution in opposition of Measure C. The Council letter, drafted by Palo Alto mayor Yiaway Yeh, former mayor Larry Klein and councilman Greg Scharff, includes concerns about impaired driving while under the influence of marijuana and potential drug addiction. Furthermore, the recommendation cites that “treating marijuana as ‘medicine’ sends an unwarranted message to young people and others that consuming marijuana is a benign activity or even beneficial to health.”

The Council also argues that the presence of dispensaries can lead to “negative ‘secondary effects’ on our neighborhoods, such as illicit drug sales, loitering and even criminal activity.” In refutation to San Jose’s dispensary ordinance, the letter states that the city’s measure caused more damage than good before it was repealed.

“In San Jose, for the 18 months prior to the repeal [of the ordinance], 77 complaints had been received, including public nuisance, illegal drug use, harassment of passersby, loitering, smoking too close to schools and disturbing the peace, ” the letter read.

d e e w w o h s k r wo

Palo Alto Online’s editorial published Sept. 14 makes similar arguments. The editorial claims that “In spite of Prop. 215’s requirement of a physician recommendation to purchase medicinal marijuana, in practice most dispensaries are not asking for legitimate documentation and almost anyone can purchase it.”

In addition, it accuses those who gathered signatures for the Measure C petition of being “aggressive” and “deceptive” in presenting the case to voters.

Both the Palo Alto Online editorial and the City Council letter also voice concerns over the fact that California’s medical marijuana laws (as outlined in Proposition 215), come in direct conflict with federal laws banning marijuana.

“Since federal law contradicts California law and continues to make all of this a crime, the latest concern of cities is that anything short of prohibiting dispensaries could leave them vulnerable to federal legal action,” Online’s editorial stated.

Legalize It?

The United States of America’s Controlled Substances Act places cannabis as a Schedule I drug. Cannabis contains THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), which is a psychoactive drug, which means that its primary action is on the brain. The prefix “psycho” does not entail any form of psychosis, rather it refers to anything brain-related.

While there is no absolute measure for a psychoactive substance, common foods like cheese a n d chocolate are argued to also have psychoactive effects.

Other psychoactives include ethanol (alcohol), amphetamines, caffeine, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and nicotine.

Where Legalization is Now

In 2010, marijuana legalization advocates suffered a blow to their campaign when California Proposition 19, or the Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis Act, was defeated by a seven percent margin on a statewide ballot.

The Campanile

Friday, September 28, 2012

(S)POTLIGHT

However, this year, two more states have brought up marijuana legalization as state propositions. In Washington state, ballot initiative I-502 would license and regulate marijuana production, distribution and possession for those over the age of 21, while abolishing penalties for limited possession of marijuana. The initiative would also tax marijuana sales, with some of those tax dollars guaranteed for substance abuse prevention, research and education. A Sept. 17 poll conducted by Elway Research, Inc. showed the measure to be favored by 50 percent of the voting population, with 38 percent against and 12 percent undecided.

In Colorado, a state notorious for lenient medical marijuana laws, Amendment 64 (also called the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act of 2012), will be on the ballot in November. Amendment 64 would permit those over the age of 21 to possess and consume limited amounts of marijuana, allow for local government to tax marijuana growing and selling facilities and create a tax on marijuana sales, the first $40 million of which each year would be credited to the public school capital construction assistance fund. A poll conducted by SurveyUSA for the Denver Post on Sept. 16 reported that 51 percent of Coloradans support the amendment, 40 percent are against and 8 percent remain undecided.

Efforts to legalize marijuana have been prominent recently, but there has not been any indication that a federal decriminalization or legalization law is anywhere near becoming a reality. President Obama has been criticized as being one of the harshest enforcers of federal raids on medical marijuana dispensaries, and Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has spoken o u t against medical marijuana, as well as decriminalization and legalization laws.

Pros and Cons

Marijuana legislation can be seen as falling into three tiers: medical usage,

decriminalization and full legalization. Medical usage concerns the use of marijuana as a treatment for symptoms of illness. Those with medical conditions, once cleared by doctors, can purchase marijuana from dispensaries or grow small amounts on their own. Farms that grow for legal dispensaries are tightly monitored by either state or federal government.

Advocates for medical marijuana have touted its medical benefits as an appetite increaser for chemotherapy patients, pain reliever, and a treatment for glaucoma. In opposition, those that oppose pro-marijuana legislation fear that doing so will lead to further abuse of the supposedly dangerous drug and serve as a stepping stone to full legalization laws.

Next, decriminalization, which the state of California currently instates, involves reducing or removing penalties related to marijuana possession and cultivation. Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed S.B. 1449, a bill that decriminalizes possession of up to one ounce of marijuana, reduces simple possession from a misdemeanor to an infraction (eliminating mandatory court appearances) and punishes possession of less than 28.5 grams with a $100 fine. Supporters of decriminalization hold the view that less severe marijuana punishments free up money and time for law enforcement to prevent more serious crimes.

Opponents argue that decriminalization leads to increased crime, increased cannabis usage and increased usage of other illicit narcotics.

Currently, nine states have decriminalized marijuana, 10 states have legalized medical usage of marijuana and six separate states have both decriminalization and medical usage laws.

The final stage of marijuana laws, which no states currently employ, is full legalization, which, in its proposed versions, would regulate marijuana like alcohol in terms of consumption, driving, possession and cultivation.

Legalization advocates believe that money saved from no longer having to enforce anti-marijuana laws and money gained from taxing marijuana can serve a multitude of positive purposes for states.

Advocates also believe marijuana’s negative effects are no more severe than those of alcohol or tobacco, and that by legalizing marijuana, the government will have much greater control over the supply of the drug. Other pro-legalization viewpoints include lessening government intrusion on personal liberties and cutting off business for cartels and drug dealers. Those against legalization tend to see marijuana as too dangerous to allow to be legal and fear increased youth consumption as well as the drug being used as a gateway to more harmful narcotics.

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States with medical cannabis States with decriminalization laws States with both States without marijuana use

Medical Cannabis laws allow for marijuana to be purchased and/or cultivated legally and with a prescription for medicinal purposes.

Decriminalization laws reduce or eliminate penalities for marijuana possession.

States without marijuana use provisioned in their legislation have blanket bans on any kind of cannabis posession or use.

Friday, September 28, 2012

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The Campanile

OPINION

Age-old football buddies tradition needs to change

Maya Kitiyama Staff Writer

F

lippy skirt. Hair pulled back with a ribbon. Expression of delight. Presenting a little box full of baked goods all tied up in a neat little bow. No, this is not the description of some 1950s sitcom but rather a fairly accurate portrayal of the Paly cheer and dance team, as they run across the football field in search of some huge, hunky football player.

This system of assigning a cheerleader to a football player, also known as “football buddies,” has been institutionalized at Paly for years.

Cheerleaders and dancers are paired up with anywhere from one to three boys on the football team, then are required to deliver them treats, such as home-baked goods, throughout the duration of the season. In simpler terms, girls are being pushed into a position of servitude under boys and have been quietly accepting this position for years.

I myself have been a member of the dance team for the past three years and have been observing and most recently participating in this football buddies system.

It is easy to spot the sexist and degrading side of the practice, seeing as it is a complete relapse of the kind

of expectations placed on young girls throughout history.

It is important to recognize the hard work that parents, coaches and students put into this program. This effort is on top of all the other time and energy spirit squad members dedicate to practicing and performing in order to promote spirit at Paly.

However, the question remains as to why all these people continue to participate in a system that puts girls in questionable positions. These girls are not really at fault; rather they have been submitted to a tradition that was instilled at Paly before they even set foot on campus.

“It has been a Paly cheer tradition for many years,” junior and varsity cheerleader Savannah Moss said. “As a team we choose to continue the tradition.”

Former Spirit Director Hilary McDaniel also participated in a similar program when she was in high school.

“I don’t know when [the football buddies system] started, but it No one wants was prior to my to change becoming head customs coach,” McDaniel that are said. “I graduated in 1997, so while older than I’m unsure how themselves. long it has been at Paly, many cheer [programs] and football [and] basketball teams have had a buddy program dating back many years.”

It is understandable why this tradition has been going on for so long.

No one wants to change customs that are older than themselves. But Paly has entered the 21st century, and it is

Alexander Jenson/The Campanile

“Tradition: Holding back society since... oh, just about forever.” time to question those long-standing traditions rooted back in the ideas of female servitude.

Here in Palo Alto, people claim to be progressive and educated, so seeing this old-fashioned thinking still instituted at Paly does not add up.

To be fair, there are some merits to the football buddy system in its basic intentions.

“The goal of the program is to provide a link between the cheerleaders and the players, so the cheer team knows who they are cheering for, and the football players know who is cheering for them,” McDaniel said.

Carolyn Santo, spirit squad parent,

Computer Science classes should receive world language credit

Sid VenkatasubramAniam Staff Writer

A

ny one of the 30,000 plus students who have received diplomas from Paly knows the drill. One needs to spend a minimum of three years of one’s high school life cramming lists of vocabulary, irregular verb forms and cultural traditions pertaining to one of the five languages offered in order to meet the criteria set forth to graduate.

Now what if students could earn the same credits by learning to communicate in the language of computers?

While such a proposal struggles to come to terms with our intuition as to what exactly we can demarcate as a language, accepting computer programing classes for world language credit would teach students all the skills traditionally acquired in a world language class, in addition to arming them with a set of skills that will be increasingly more useful in the years to come.

Granted, terms such as ‘multithreading,’ ‘class abstraction’ and ‘supertask’ tend to evoke images in our minds of Star Wars plot elements rather than what one might learn in French, and there is still reasonable doubt as to what exactly qualifies a ‘language.’

Famed mathematician and linguist Noam Chomsky defined a language as “a finite set of rules which would enable users to make an unlimited number of expressions using [syntactic] symbols in order to convey meaning.”

Likewise, any given programming language requires a user to input syntactical tokens, colloquially known as ‘code,’ following certain semantic rules in order to prompt a computer to execute some predefined set of instructions thereby providing a means for a computer and its user to interact, or convey meaning, to one another.

Despite that programming languages such as Java, the programming

language taught in Paly’s AP Computer Science (CS) class, meet this criterion, there has been a long standing academic tradition to only grant language credit for the study of languages designed for use by humans and humans alone. Such a position is flawed for a number of reasons.

First, programming classes teach, even to a higher level, the same set of core skills that constitute the foundation of world language classes, namely an ability to interpret languages and communicate using a certain set of words in conformance to a certain set of rules that govern how they may used. In the same way that ‘human’ languages dictate rules for spelling, stylistic conventions leave very little room for experimentation, as any deviation from the predefined rules leaves a computer unable to process or understand a user’s instructions.

The automatic compilation of computer programs enforces conformance to grammatical structures, one that is non-negotiable. A program must be perfectly spelled out in order to work and any one that is not is left worth as much as an empty file.

On the other hand, a couple of spelling mistakes on your AP Spanish essay are perfectly acceptable (and even expected!) leaving you still in the running for a perfect score on the essay. In CS, mistakes means you get no credit - you are either a one or a zero.

If CS classes teach the same language skills to students, perhaps at an even higher level, why not generate another option for students by granting these classes credit, especially when they are a more enriching educational experience?

Second, recognizing programming languages as world languages is an essential step in recognizing the emerging role of computers in our social communities. Cuttingedge research in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), a branch of artificial intelligence which, as the name implies, explores the synergy between man and machine, predicts that the line of sentience between humans and humanoid robots will rapidly blur as artificial intelligence reaches human intellectual capacity and analysis in the coming decades.

However, recent results in the field of Natural Language Processing, which addresses the ability of computers to interpret and parse human

language have placed mathematical limits on the ability of computers to fully interact in purely human languages.

Thus, the need will arise for humans to possess the ability to fluently communicate and transmit data to robots in a native language that lacks nodal linguistic structures of a human language.

CS classes such as those offered to students would develop the skills that students will need in the future to develop an ability to interact and deal with computers.

Finally, recognizing CS classes for language credit would serve as an incentive for students to take such classes, which can have benefits for our country as a whole. Relative to other countries, high schools and institutions at the secondary level in the United States have failed to place an emphasis on the importance of Computer Science that matches those in Eastern Europe and Asia.

According to The Economist, in a society in which 65 percent of the new jobs created over the course of the next 20 Accepting years are precomputer dicted to be programming IT-related, classes for such an attiworld language tude towards Computer credit would Science runs teach students the risk of all the skills developing an traditionally unprepared acquired in a workforce world language that lacks the class. skills needed to maintain a dominant economic presence in the international arena.

An inability to compete with the ruthlessly trained academic armies of the East would be the last nail in the coffin attempting to maintain American hegemony.

Whether it is for our economy and preparing our workforce, or developing study skills or developing our ability to reason and connect with an integral part of our community, Computer Science classes develop skills identical, if not superior to, those developed in traditional language classes and thus ought to be recognized as such.

agrees that the system has benefits.

“I believe that when implemented clearly, it will bond the cheerleaders, dancers and football players,” Santo said.

But who is cheering on the spirit squad? The members of the football team are surely not spending their time baking cookies for their buddies.

In order to create mutual support and gender equality, the arrangement needs balance in the give and take between the football team and spirit squad. But would the football players be willing to support the spirit squad members through similar gestures?

“I personally [would], but I don’t

know about the rest of the football team,” junior football player Andrew Frick said.

Creating positive relationships between the football team and those who support it is an excellent idea, so long as the system is not unbalanced.

“I have never heard of girls receiving this kind of support from boys,” spirit squad parent Christy Apostolou said.

“If the system is always one-sided, then it does reinforce the idea of male entitlement and female servitude.

Perhaps the boys need to figure out a way to show their appreciation.”

A case for music piracy

Hillel Zand Staff Writer

A

pril 2009 marked the beginning of a new era in the world of music. During that month, iTunes, the top music seller in the United States according to Billboard, changed prices of some songs to $1.29. As a result, many started to feel that paying even 99 cents for a song was unreasonable, much less 30 cents more. In the same month, Microsoft Zune, Bill Gates’ equivalent of iTunes, launched an ad claiming that it costs $30,000 to fill an iPod to capacity buying only songs off of iTunes. It is statistics like these that lead many to search for alternatives to satisfy their music desires.

Music piracy ought not to be looked as taboo anymore for the simple reason that while it may be illegal, it has not left a marginal impact on the music industry, both on musicians and listeners alike.

According to a team of Beijing web designers, 21 percent of all content downloaded from the Internet in North America is obtained illegally. While this may seem shocking, our continent ranks last compared to all other continents in piracy.

Music piracy occupies such a small stake in the piracy “industry” (and substantially less than the top two: pornography and movies) and is really only a means of obtaining basic entertainment for the many students that do not intend on spending their college savings on music.

Even the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) acknowledges that music piracy is not going anywhere. “There will always be a degree of piracy on the Internet,” their website reads.

If the music industry was not flourishing, would there still be extravagant award shows, new artists appearing on a daily basis or the everpopular music concerts and festivals?

Consequence of Sound, an online music publication, reported that the top 10 highest-earning concert tours of 2011 alone created a total revenue of just under $1.3 billion. Even

though music is being downloaded illegally on a daily basis, the allure of seeing an artist live in concert will never disappear and will always be one of the largest components of the music industry’s profits.

In addition, the International Federation of Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the RIAA’s global equivalent, estimates that only 10 percent of illegal music downloads account for a loss in sales, therefore indirectly saying that 90 percent of music piracy does not affect the industry as much as people claim it is.

A point should also be made that many amateur music artists have been sharing their songs free of charge online ever since Napster revolutionized peer-to-peer file sharing in 1999.

Menlo School junior Ben Taft, who co-founded Filthy Slaps, a local online music blog that promotes mainly amateur artists and has links to free, legal downloads, agrees that stealing music from global superstars has a clear moral distinction as opposed to amateur artists.

“There are people... like Lil Wayne, that if [he] had one less dollar, nothing would happen to him. When it comes to smaller artists that are struggling to make a living [and] dedicating their time and their life to music... it’s all that person has,” Taft said.

According to Taft, legally free music is something that should be appreciated more, as it allows artists to establish themselves in the ever-growing market.

“Anyone who’s striving to be an artist can’t drop their first song or mixtape and expect people to pay one dollar or 10 dollars for it and no one knows who they are,” Taft said. “[Free music] is great for building a reputation and building... and essentially once you do build up a strong enough of a reputation then you can start charging.”

Some argue that those who steal music hurt not only singers, but also music producers, technicians and talent agents (and not just the millionaire singers), but the fact remains that the music industry is still thriving and as successful as ever, as sales records show. According to IFPI, digital music revenue increased by eight percent in 2011 to $5.2 billion.

Downloading music illegally may be an example of “just because it’s popular doesn’t mean it’s right,” but in today’s world, digging deep into one’s pockets just to find some enjoyable music to listen to in the gym or on a road trip is simply unrealistic.

Friday, September 28, 2012

The Campanile

OPINION

A9

Combining, streamlining educational Students should consider websites would reduce stress on students international colleges

Jenson Hsiao Staff Writer

N

ot being able to get to your homework is a great excuse not to do it. Fortunately (or unfortunately) all teachers at Paly will be posting all homework on the newest site adopted by the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD), Schoology, by the end of the year.

Constantly changing the websites used for posting grades and homework is disruptive to both students and teachers. Schoology, Infinite Campus, Turnitin and Paly.net are some of the online resources students and teachers use every day to check homework, view grades, post written work and download documents.

Paly students are struggling to keep up with the many online mediums that they must use to do basic school work. The multiple online resources often cause confusion among students.

“It is really confusing to have a bunch of sites and it would be easier just to have one site,” junior Angela Pomeroy said. “Schoology is trying to make things simpler by trying to look like Facebook, but it’s actually really confusing because some teachers use Schoology and some teachers don’t so you still don’t have one place where you can find all your work you need to complete.”

Aside from having a different place for grades, homework and work submissions, teachers often have their own websites which simply add to the copiousness of sites students must navigate through to get their assignments.

“There are definitely some teachers that don’t put up the assignments online at all and even if there are some teachers that do put information up it

still doesn’t help because it is too confusing to find,” Pomeroy said.

Finding homework assignments is essential for excelling in school.

With the difficulties in understanding how to use Schoology, students have begun to turn to Facebook as an easy alternative.

“Facebook is really great,” sophomore Grete Saue said. “Sites like Schoology are really hard to navigate and find out what the homework because it is sometimes unclear but on Facebook you can chat any of your friends and ask them what the homework is or you can go on one of the Facebook groups because people make groups with people in their class and they post the homework and notes that can help Because of you.” the ample According amount of time to senior Shina teachers spend K i m - A v a l o s , on the set of students typiwebsites, some cally try to avoid want a simpler distracting sites like Facebook system so that while doing they can do homework. their job more However, efficiently. the pressure of having to find out homework often leads students to spend more time looking for homework and getting distracted. “[Not being able to find out] homework on Schoology has disrupted my academics because you have to ask all your friends what the homework is because you can’t find it alone and it would be easier if it was easier to find,” sophomore Kelly Swanson said. “And all the folders in Schoology don’t make sense and they are kind of just random. It doesn’t make sense when the homework is due and when it is assigned.”

The district is working to improve PAUSD’s online sites.

“The district is working on getting a single entrance point,” Assistant Principal Kathie Laurence said.

“Schoology is our new student communications system. Infinite Campus

does not the capability to do what Schoology does. So we have two separate systems, we have [Infinite Campus to] hold all the information, addresses, phone numbers, grades and attendance. [The other system, Schoology,] is the communications piece. It is really replacing InClass.

It has taken a few years to figure out what we want to do. But this is what the district wants to do.”

Regarding the frustration of students about having to search all over the web for homework, the district plans to reduce the confusion by reducing the amount of tools that students use.

“The goal is to have everyone using Schoology by the end of the year,” Laurence said. “[Schoology] may be a place where [teachers] link to their own webpages, Libguides or whatever else they are using, but no matter where you go, you can go into Schoology and see all your coursework.”

The district has concluded that Schoology will be the site it wants to use exclusively.

“It’s disruptive because every year you have to learn new things,” senior Justin Zhang said. “Two years ago it was Infinite Campus and actually they were trying to try out a beta version of Schoology last year and it is just a huge trial and error thing. It’s a very big pain even for the teachers.”

Teachers deal with Paly’s online resources even more than students do. Because of this, teachers are also upset about the mass of sites teachers are required to use. Because of the ample amount of time teachers spend on the set of websites, some want a simpler system so that they can do their job more efficiently.

Although people think that it is the administration’s fault, the administration is simply trying to streamline the process of moving to Schoology, possibly too slowly, which is affecting student academics.

Thus, a user-friendly technological program is important for the district.

When Paly students have a simple setup of websites that are updated consistently and simple to use, they will be happy.

Grace Fang Features editor

E

very year, there are a certain number of seniors who apply to colleges abroad. Some people question studying abroad when most of the top universities are right here in the United States. Though the most obvious reason may be to have an international experience, many people overlook the unique opportunities universities abroad offer that those in the U.S. do not necessarily have.

With the declining American economy and rising college tuitions, many American families are not able to afford the level of education they deserve and therefore minimize their chances of finding a job suitable to their interests and potential.

The amount of merit-based scholarships American colleges offer has been decreasing throughout the years, and even need-based scholarships are becoming harder to obtain for students who need them.

International universities are a solution to this financial problem.

They are much more affordable – the tuition for many British universities doesn’t exceed 9,000 British pounds, which is less than $20,000 a year for great quality instruction.

European university students have many more opportunities to travel than American students do. Instead of planning a huge trip abroad, students can choose to take a train from London to Paris in only a little more than two hours.

During winter sessions, students are able to immerse themselves in multiple European cultures in a span of a month. In addition, the multi-lingual and multi-cultural environment of international universities

not only allows students to meet people from across the globe, but also enables them to open their minds to new ideas.

Britain in particular offers topnotch places to study. People all over the world come to study at its universities. For example, British colleges offer study abroad programs in the United States. English is the national language of both countries, which connects the two nations in international relations and in areas of research.

Thus, if an American student at a British university would like to find an internship or job in the U.S., that student will not be only confined to opportunities in Britain.

Junior Daria Godorzha has chosen to study in Britain specifically because its universities do not require a core curriculum that students must complete, like that of high schools.

Instead, they have direct programs in almost any subject imaginable.

This diversity benefits students who know what they want to study because they do not have to spend time taking classes irrelevant to their major.

For instance, Godorozha hopes to study law at a British university, where she is not required to take classes outside of her area of study such as math or science.

“I definitely want to study law, and other countries’ undergraduate programs don’t require core classes so I can just concentrate on law,” Godorozha said.

Another benefit of direct programs is that they allow the student to delve deeper in his area of study. Instead of taking general requirements at an American university, students can take more classes in subjects closely related to their major, such as theology and philosophy for a legal focus.

Many students in the United States do not realize that there are educational opportunities outside of the country. Especially during a time when tuitions in America are becoming less affordable, students should give greater consideration to the benefits of studying at colleges and universities abroad.

Friday, September 28, 2012

A10

The Campanile

EDITORIALS

New policy on schedule changes not beneficial to student body

R

eleasing students’ schedules a week before school began is just one of the common sense ideas that the administration implemented for the first time that easily improves student lives. A plethora of other innovations greeted Paly students in the new year.

For the first time in recent history, Picture Day functioned smoothly, with nearly no lines and tedious waiting periods. However, The Campanile would also like to address the new schedule changing policies that have engendered widespread, and justified, complaints among Paly students.

By distributing schedules online through Infinite Campus before school started, the administration made it clear that schedule changes are only permitted for errors, and that they must be taken care of before the start of school. This new policy is problematic for many reasons. First, students were informed of the designated times for schedule changes on an extremely short notice, thus posing a problem for students who could

not be in Palo Alto during the mandated time. Those who came in earlier or later than their alloted times were unceremoniously shooed from the Guidance Office and told to email their counselors instead. This added massive amounts of stress on students who were left hanging.

Second, changing schedules before school starts inherently adds even more stress to an already hectic process. In order for students to make necessary changes, they must first discuss the matter with their advisor as well as any other teachers involved, keeping in mind what classes are being taught in what periods.

Establishing all this correspondence is a tremendous strain, especially considering that this process would be streamlined for everyone if it occurred when school had started and all parties involved were on campus. This issue was amplified even further for students who were away for the summer at the designated times for schedule changes, meaning that they had to

SEPTEMBER’S TOP TEN LIST “Reasons Why You Missed Class”

Essays should be graded anonymously by English department teachers

T

he subjectivity of grading, especially of essays, has long been a lament of students.

Due to the nature of essay-grading, bias either for or against the writer is inevitable, intended or not. Such biases often result in grades that inaccurately represent a student’s ability in the subject. Given the greater weighting most essays have on a student’s grade, it is highly desirable that essays be graded as objectively as possible. The Campanile proposes that essays be graded with complete student anonymity.

This anonymity has already been implemented in the AP Psychology course, as students write their student ID numbers rather than their names on free response portion of tests. We believe that the English Department should adopt this method of grading.

Literature is fundamentally subjective, and the potential for teacher bias is especially high. We propose that students credit their writing to a student number instead of their names. By reading the names on essays, teachers inherently associate the essay with whatever pre-conceived notions they may hold of that student in particular. Essays should receive a grade purely on the writing itself and not by the student’s actions in class or personality. By eliminating this association, teachers can

grade without unconscious leniency or harshness, and students can know that their work is objectively being compared to that of their peers by the teacher without any potential prior knowledge or bias.

This new process does not promote any logistical stress, as it can run on a very simple system. One possible setup is to allow students to randomly put a number on their essay and then assigning each student a respective number. Ms. Bartlett’s AP Literature class follows this system, but all teachers ought to adopt it within their classrooms.

If a number system seems too cumbersome, anonymity can easily be achieved with other methods.

An alternative method is simply not writing the name on the front page, but instead having a separate sheet of paper attached at the very back of the essay that shows the name. Many feasible possibilities exist. English teachers should come together and devise a system that everyone in the department can follow. By eliminating bias in essay grading, not only will student stress be reduced, but teachers will also be relieved of unconsciously assigning unfair grades. An anonymous naming system will ensure that student grades are based solely on writing prowess, and eliminate the undesirable variable of teacher bias.

District should limit number of online systems

S

tudents returning from summer break were greeted by a technologically sleeker and more straightforward Paly. One of the biggest changes made was to establish Schoology as an official school resource. The district hopes that Schoology’s Facebook-like design will be an upgrade over the widely scorned, difficult to navigate software, InClass. Using a cleaner, more userfriendly academic resource centralized for all classes makes sense, but the district did not go far enough. The real problem with online resources is not the difficulty of navigation for teachers, students and parents (not to say that navigation was a non-issue); the real problem at hand is the amount of systems being used.

There are still too many different sites for various services. By replacing InClass with Schoology, Paly is no more efficient than before. Online services got a marketing rebranding, not a legitimate overhaul. The district is moving in the right direction by utilizing a more user-friendly site, and in the coming years there will most likely be a change to a new software that offers all of the functions in one place. That software should have been implemented this year.

The change of systems has led to

many teacher complaints over having to learn a new system on such short notice, but complaints are an inevitable cost of moving to a new system and would be dealt with during any change.

Having to deal with teacher complaints, staff and students learning a new system and various other problems, is unnecessary unless the underlying issue of Paly online services is being addressed.

Many companies offer all of the services provided by InClass, Schoology, Infinite Campus and other school sites together. For example, ThinkWave provides gradebooks, attendance, collecting homework, uploading assignments and more.

Schoology is a vast improvement from InClass and the administration’s requirement that all teachers must use Schoology by the 2013-14 school year constitutes the type of progress that The Campanile applauds.

Unfortunately for students, the fact remains that the administration should have purchased a more complete software than Schoology in order to once and for all centralize student information. Until this is accomplished, Paly’s online resources will be much more disorganized and spread out than they need to be.

10) I lost track of time doing community service.

cope with an administrative bureaucracy from different time zones.

Finally, after school had started, the administration made it clear that students were not allowed to switch into classes, even when those classes were not full. This policy is inexcusable.

The publicity around allowing no class changes was entirely nonexistent. Students ought to be notified of such a major change well in advance of choosing classes, as it can significantly affect the classes they choose to enroll in or sign up for as alternates.

By waiting until after schedules were released before making announcements about the change in policy, the schedule-changing process became significantly more exasperating for students. While the first day of school is meant to be relaxing and welcoming, many students this year found themselves starting the year with wearied minds and frayed nerves as they attempted to wrestle with last-minute policy changes and poorly publicized protocol.

9) I walked over to Hobee’s to get coffeecake for the teacher’s lounge.

8) I was busy complimenting an administrator about your recent performance in the classroom.

7) I got a colonoscopy and hadn’t quite bounced back yet.

6) I was giving you an exemplorary review on ratemyteachers.com.

5) I missed school to demonstrate at a rally supporting teacher’s unions.

4) I was at Stanford Shopping Center getting holiday gifts for my teachers.

3) My pet otter pup was teething and I wanted to be there for support.

2) This class is awesome. Too much of a good thing is unhealthy.

1) I was in the office dropping a class so I can spend more time on yours.

-JAKE KERMAN

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Got something on your mind?

Submit a letter to the editor at campanile.opinion@gmail.com

COMIC OF THE MONTH

Alexander Jenson

“Helpful hints for all students having trouble adjusting to the school year”

The Campanile Editors-in-Chief Kate Apostolou • Charlie Dulik• Yasna Haghdoost Alvin Kim • Nira Krasnow • Michael Wang News Editor Elena Pinsker Business Managers Ben Hawthorne Elizabeth Bowman

Opinion Editor Jake Kerman

Spotlight Editor Chrissie Cheng

Lifestyles Editor Anna McGarrigle

Art Director Kate Apostolou

Features Editor Grace Fang

Sports Editors Logan Mendenhall Sophie Parker

Technology Editors Wesley Shiau Beth Yan

A&E Editor Emily Tran Graphic Artist Bo Field

Photography Editors Adam Mansour Gina Scarpino

Social Media Editor Julia Poppy Cartoonist Alexander Jenson

Staff Writers Joshua Arfin Brandon Byer Andrew Choi Rachel Cui Ryan Deslauriers Samuel Dodson Irene Ezran Marie Ezran Rose Fitzgerald James Foug Bowen Gerould Jensen Hsiao

Josefin Kenrick William Kershner Maya Kitayama Julia Kwasnick Albert Lee Emily Lee Caroline Martignetti Kian McHugh Will Mendenhall Matthew Morton Jack Paladin Nolan Perla-Ward

Charlotte Barry Chrissie Cheng Samuel Dodson

Perri Pond Emily Rosenthal Gina Scarpino Ziv Schwartz Blake Smith Jordan Smith Angela Stern Kelly Stern Kyle Stewart Heather Strathearn Daniel Tachna-Fram Alex Taussig

Photographers

Adam Mansour Anna McGarrigle Logan Mendenhall

Sidhanth Venkatasubramaniam Leslie Wan Eric Wang Rachel Wilson Michelle Yin John Young Hillel Zand Alvina Zhou Jacob Zenger Lily Zhang Stephenie Zhang Jonathan Ziegler Alvina Zou

Will Mendenhall Gina Scarpino Emily Tran

Advisor Esther Wojcicki Letters to the Editors: Email all letters to editors to campanile.opinion@gmail.com.

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Note: It is the policy of the Campanile to refrain from printing articles that misrepresent or alienate specific individuals within the Palo Alto community.

Friday, September 28, 2012

The Campanile

LIFESTYLE

Inside the

iPhone

jonathan ziegler b4

Don’t ask, Don’t tell (College Edition)

How To Vote

How many 18-20 year olds participated in each Presidential election?

an american’s guide to rocking the vote

% reporting they registered

Yasna haghdoost

% reporting they voted 50.7

The requirements for being eligible to vote should be familiar: you must be 18, a citizen, a California resident, not a prisoner or parolee and not found by a court to be “mentally incompetent” (this isn’t Orwellian at all), according to the website of California Secretary of State Debra Bowen.

If these criteria are met, the registration process is very straightforward.

Getting started

First, print out a voter registration form, which can be found in the “register to vote” section of the “elections” section of Secretary of State Bowen’s website. When filling out this form, there are two things to keep in mind, both of which involve the controversial voter identification (ID) requirement.

To register, you must provide a valid ID. This includes either a driver’s license, a California ID (which can be obtained from the Department of Motor Vehicles) or the last four numbers of your Social Security Number.

Second, keep in mind that you do not need to show an ID at the polls if you provided a valid ID on your voter registration form. If someone asks for ID at a polling station, they are trying to disenfranchise you and should be reported. Voter intimidation can be reported via the state Election Voter Complaint Form (for reporting alleged violations of the California Elections Code) or the Federal Elections Complaint Form (for reporting alleged violations of the Helping America Vote Act), both of which can be accessed in the “voter complaint” section of the “elections” section of Secretary of State Bowen’s website.

Next, mail your completed voter registration form to your county elections office. The mailing address for the Santa Clara county elections office is P.O. Box 611360, San Jose, CA 95161. This must be done by Oct. 22 if you want to vote in the Nov. 6 presidential election.

31.2 28.4

Getting good information

The alternative to relying on information published by parties and candidates is to vote based off of information from the press. However, it is important to remember that news organizations have biases, which are often reflected by their word choice and what stories they choose to report.

For example, a paper that runs the headline “Obama declares war on religion” and that frequently reports on gaffes made by President Obama while rarely reporting on gaffes made by Republican Mitt Romney would likely have a conservative bias, whereas a paper that ran a headline reading “Obama defends women’s freedom to choose against Catholic discrimination” would likely have a liberal bias. News organizations also may report false or misleading information.

“There are a couple things you should do [to detect bias]: cross reference facts with other news sources, focus on the type of adjectives used and pay attention to how much hyperbole there is,” Paly History and Government teacher Adam Yonkers said. “Look at who [the biased sources] are quoting: they won’t get an opposing viewpoint, they will just quote someone who shares their line of thinking.”

U.S. Census Bureau

Requirements to Vote

41.0

2008

happy time of mudslinging, factchecking and voter identification laws. However, you may get too caught up in the fun of election season to remember the most important part: voting. This is not your fault.

Voting, like the rest of America’s electoral process, is implausibly convoluted. That is why we decided to give you a helping hand.

41.0

2004

A

40.5

2000

It’s that time of year again: election season.

However, when it comes to voting, registering is only half the battle.

The other half is making an informed decision. While both parties publish platforms, party platforms should be treated with skepticism because they come from biased sources.

For example, the 2012 Republican Platform states that “President Obama has ... fought Republican efforts to avoid another $500 billion in automatic budget cuts through a sequestration in early 2013,” while failing to mention that the impending defense cuts are a result of the failure of a bipartisan Congressional committee known as the “Supercommittee” that the President had no control over and that he did not interact with.

1996

Business Manager

49.3

45.6

knowledge is power

BEN HAWTHORNE

check the facts

In response to the problems of the normal news media, numerous “fact check” organizations, claiming to be fair and objective, have sprung up to determine whether statements made by politicians are true. While fact checkers are typically more reliable than news organizations, one cannot forget that they often have biases, especially since many are run by larger news organizations.

The fact checking organization PolitiFact.com, for example, is owned and operated by the staff of the Tampa Bay Times, which endorsed Obama in 2008. Plus, sometimes fact checkers get the facts wrong.

The Associated Press’ Sept. 6 factcheck of Bill Clinton’s speech at the Democratic National Convention, for example, contends that Clinton’s claim that Republicans are obstructionist in Congress because President

Where Youth Stand in 2012 voting preferences among 18-29 year olds

59%

Obama appointed Rahm Emanuel, who is notoriously uncompromising, White House Chief of Staff, despite the fact that Emanuel’s job did not involve him interacting with Congress.

Further, former Republican Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott described Congressional Republican strategy in an interview with McClatchy Newspapers as “the strategy of being obstructionist...So far it’s working for us.”

Agenda or no agenda?

The final way to get information on candidates and parties is through non-partisan organizations. While some, such as the National Rifle Association or the Sierra Club have clear agendas, others, such as the Congressional Budget Office, can claim objectivity. Although these organizations may be incorrect, they are rated as correct by fact-checkers and the press more often than other, partisan, organizations or news sources.

“You have to look at who’s funding these organizations,” Yonkers said.

“With politics, it’s always about the money.”

decision time

The responsibility to register and get educated lies with each individual voter. Any news source can be reliable so long as you are aware of its biases and track record of errors.

Fulfilling your civic duty to vote is easier in this state than in many others, so there is no reason not to.

33%

Gallup daily tracking, August/September 2012 Daniel Borman

5

Katherine Cresto

INSIDE

WHERE DO YOU CALL HOME?

BY ANGELA STERN B8

Persians (i.e. “EYE-RAIN-IANS” for the bewildered rednecks) like to gossip. Your generic Persian (we call ourselves “Persian” when we want to sound seductively exotic and as unterrorist as possible) can tell you who has gained exactly how much weight (“That girl should take it easy on the hummus and start smoking hookah”), who is the subject of the latest fashion fiasco (“Did you see what that skank wore to her grandmother’s funeral?!”) and who has most recently entered into an ill-advised marriage (“If it lasts for more than a year I’m taking everyone out for kabobs.”)

But even Persians have a limit: the one thing that we don’t discuss is the college application process. Perhaps it’s because the process in Iran is infinitely more stressful than what we have here, but there it is considered incredibly rude for people to ask students about their exams and colleges.

Interestingly though, here in Palo Alto dearest, the complete opposite is true. As the final high school year rolls around for seniors and we find ourselves applying to colleges, adults and students alike will shamelessly pry and question us about our choices. I find this interesting because Persians, who will mercilessly lambast botched nose jobs and failed marriages, have the good sense to allow privacy in this one stressful area of students’ lives, something that can’t be said for many living here. Of course, I’m not implying that I perch atop my high-and-mighty ethnic pedestal, watching disapprovingly as you Palo Altans gossip about test scores and college applications.

I’m ashamed to admit that I too must share the blame.

But now a senior myself, I’ve realized that my indecent enthusiasm in knowing about everyone else’s college CRAP, coupled with my desperate wish for other people to stop asking me about my CRAP, is nothing short of cognitive dissonance. Clearly, I must purge myself of the desire to stick my very large, distinctly Middle Eastern nose in other people’s business and revert back to the sacred Persian tradition of keeping my mouth shut wherein college apps are concerned.

I’ll start with confessions.

I confess to havings asked fellow peers about colleges, their plans for the future, their test scores including AP, SAT and PSAT scores, as well as many other heinous crimes against the privacy of humanity. So there you have it.

I sincerely apologize to anyone—friend, foe, fellow Muslim, infidel—whom I have caused discomfort with my prying questions. I pledge never to repeat those offenses; you have my word, and now I’d like yours. Don’t ask me about my test scores. Don’t ask me where I’m applying to college. Don’t ask me what I plan to major in. Don’t ask me about about my plans for the future. Don’t ask, and I won’t tell (sound familiar?).

So from now on, my lips are sealed and for all you know, maybe I won’t go to college at all. Maybe I’ll break into the highly competitive burqa modeling industry instead. Maybe I’ll enlist in the Israeli armed forces. Maybe I’ll disappear into the Hindu Kush mountains for a few years and resurface as a lethally militant mofo. Or maybe, as the prophet Mohammad once famously said, “It’s none of your Allah-damn business.”

ENTERTAINMENT

Where’d all the video stores go?

A look into movie rentals inthe digital age.

B5

Culture

Gap Year Reports Recent Paly grads share positive experiences about their times of self-discovery. B8

Friday, September 28, 2012

B2

The Campanile

STUDENT LIFE

Missed Opportunities

Summer Flashback Irene Ezran Staff Writer

Rachel Wilson Senior Staff Writer

Jeremy lived in Mott Haven, an especially poor neighborhood in the Bronx. The neighborhood kids took up drug dealing at an especially early age, and many of his public school classmates dropped out early. But Jeremy had an inquisitive mind and was always searching for answers and knowledge. He wrote poetry and read Tennyson, Dickens and Edgar Allan Poe. But instead of fostering his intellectual curiosity his school frequently punished him. No, Jeremy didn’t misbehave. He merely tried to learn things that the teachers didn’t want to teach him.

Many students like Jeremy exist and attend equally incapable schools. I read a thought provoking book recently. Jonathan Kozol’s book Fire in the Ashes discussed Jeremy’s story, and many of his counterparts, who are stuck in an education system defined by poverty and confined by a lack of adequate resources and teachers.

At Paly, we are blessed. We have a free education that is on par with, if not better, than many private schools around the country. It is expected that everyone will graduate, and most Paly graduates go on to higher education. We send a disproportionate number of graduates to top colleges and universities, even compared to other high-performing public schools around the country.

Our education system is unfair.

Students like us get an education meant to stimulate learning. We always have teachers, peers and for many of us, parents, who are willing and able to provide and pay for any help we need with our academics.

We get access to up-to-date technology in the classroom. We have smart boards, document cameras and brand new computers everywhere you look. As a result of all these advantages and support, we enter into the world with a better sense of what it has to offer us.

Most Paly students expect to graduate, get a job and be self-sufficient. Students who don’t have the advantages we do most likely don’t graduate, much less expect to. In Palo Alto, we have numerous “success stories” to look at. Many of our parents are highly successful in their chosen careers and similar success is expected from us. While it may be stressful at times, these expectations give us a leg up. Students, like Jeremy, who are a part of a small minority of students who graduate from impoverished high schools intending to go on to college, have very few expectations placed upon them. They must motivate themselves to achieve something that not many in their place have done.

But what do we, as beneficiaries of the inequality in public education do with this knowledge? It is easy to feel guilty or deny that the injustice even exists. But neither of those responses make any difference towards righting these wrongs. At the same time, though, a high school student has very little influence in the larger world of national education.

I think, though, that we do still have a role to play. As students receiving the benefits of a wealthy public school system, we must work hard now, using the gifts and advantages we have been given to get to a place where we are in a position to make these changes. So whether you’re on track for admission to Harvard, or are headed for something a little more humble, there are things we can do now.

Make the best of the advantages we’ve been given. Set our goals high and make a difference in the world.

We have all the tools at our fingertips, and even all the instructions, but its up to us to actually use them the way they were intended.

Courtesy of Elle Billman

Courtesy of KRISTa Flagg

Courtesy of OLIvia Cornfield

Courtesy of Anthony villanueva

O

ver the summer, some Paly students participated in fascinating internships, some spent hours mastering various sports, while others ventured to foreign countries.

These opportunities have made the summer of 2012 unforgettable for many students. Here are the experiences that four students have shared.

Elle Billman

Krista Flagg

Olivia Cornfield

Anthony Villanueva

Sophomore Elle Billman spent her summer doing intensive training with the U.S National synchronized swimming team. Billman is passionate about her sport, and she practices several hours every day to perform well in competition.

“I practice three and a half hours, five days a week and five to six hours on Saturdays,” Billman said.

Billman is one of the top synchronized swimmers in the country. In May, she was admitted to the 13-15 U.S National synchronized swimming team, along with nine other girls from all over the country.

This summer, Billman and her team travelled around the world for training and competition.

“We spent two weeks training at the U.S Olympic Training Center in Colorado and two weeks training in New Canaan, Connecticut,” Billman said.

Billman’s hard work paid off, as she and her team qualified to go to an international competition.

“We represented the U.S. in the Pan American Synchronized Swimming Championships,” Billman said. “I competed in the team event where we won gold.”

Billman will continue to train to compete in more international competitions in the future.

Several students at Paly took part in the Amigos de las Américas program. Junior Krista Flagg traveled to Paraguay and lived with a host family for six weeks.

One of the most important parts of being in a Latin American community was the opportunity to practice speaking Spanish to natives.

“Now I can just go into Spanish mode and it’s almost as easy as English,” Flagg said.

Also, the Amigos program developed the students’ leadership skills.

“I learned how to be a better leader,” Flagg said.

Living in the community allowed the students to get to know their host family and the community.

“My host family was awesome,” Flagg said. “I had a sister my age and a 13-year-old brother who were both super outgoing and welcoming.”

Flagg believes that the Amigos trip was an unforgettable experience, especially because she learned so much about the culture in Paraguay.

“My favorite part was just hanging out with my friends there and learning about each others’ cultures,” Flagg said.

Living in Latin America was an incredible experience for Flagg and the other students who took part in the Amigos program.

Many students spent their summer traveling to foreign countries. Senior Olivia Cornfield went to Israel with Camp Ramah, a camp for Jewish youth around the world. Cornfield loved visiting Israel and learning the Israeli culture.

“We did a bunch of day trips to different sites and cities in Israel like Tel Aviv,” Cornfield said.

After several days of sightseeing, Cornfield and other teens spent four days doing “desert survival,” where they had to learn to find food and shelter without outside help.

“I learned how to navigate my way around using constellations,” Cornfield said.

After the desert survival, Cornfield and her friends went to Eilat, which is a city in the South of Israel.

“Eilat was the most extraordinary city I had ever been in,” Cornfield said. “[It is] the most beautiful city in the world!”

Cornfield believes that one of the best parts of the trip was meeting people from different countries.

“Most of the good friends I made on the trip were from Canada and the east coast,” Cornfield said.

Cornfield loved all the aspects of the Camp Ramah experience and she plans to go back to Israel with her family over winter break.

Senior Anthony Villanueva participated in an internship at Facebook over the summer. He worked as a junior tech, which is an assistant to the IT coordinator.

“I shadowed the techs that worked there,” Villanueva said.

Villanueva loved the casual work atmosphere at Facebook, where all the employees dressed very informally.

“There’s no such thing as a suit there,” Villanueva said. “If you dress too nicely people will stare at you.”

Villanueva also enjoyed meeting several interesting Facebook employees and learning about their diverse backgrounds.

“My favorite part was probably just being on the campus,” Villanueva said. “It was so exciting to get to meet all these new people and [hear] all their interesting stories.”

In addition, one of the perks of working at Facebook was seeing several celebrities.

“I got to hear a presentation from Condoleezza Rice,” Villanueva said.

“And yes, I saw Mark [Zuckerberg] almost every day in his office.”

Villanueva had a great work experience, and he hopes to be a permanent Facebook employee in the future.

“After college it would be amazing to have a job there,” Villanueva said.

VERBATIM

What is the craziest thing you did this summer?

“I rode an elephant!”

“I flew to Australia and back with a 12 month baby.”

“I went caving in a cave that was three feet in diameter.”

“Harry Styles [from One Direction] kissed me twice.”

Yalon Gordon

Ms. Snell

Mr. Winston

Kate Marinkovich

Sophomore

English Teacher

Principal

Junior

Friday, September 24, 2012

The Campanile

STYLE

B3

Bay Area thrift stores set hip clothing trends

for inspiration, just to make sure I have a look that’s super unique.”

The store is open seven days a week and offers buying hours during business hours. However, unlike places such as Buffalo Exchange and Crossroads, Black And Brown is particular in the selling item, they only accept vintage clothing, nothing contemporary.

Since the 1950s, thrift shops have been sprouting up around the U.S., saving people money.

Emily Tran Arts and Entertainment Editor

I

magine walking into Urban Outfitters. Spotted: an assortment of dip-dyed and bleached high waisted Levi’s 501 denim shorts. Make a beeline over to find the perfect size. Price: $55. Reaction: tears streaming down your face, for you do not have a whopping $55 to spend on shorts. Solution: head over to the nearest thrift shop, buy a pair of used Levi’s mom jeans for around $7 a pair, and have a do-it-yourself project.

Compare the measly $7 dollars spent to $55 on almost the same product.

Thrift shopping, or “thrifting,” has always been popular among those willing to save at any given chance.

Not only can people buy clothing and other items for a bargain, but thrift shops have unique finds from different decades, whether it is a jumpsuit from the 1970s or teeny bopper clothing from the 1950s. While thrifting can be helpful for a costume party, it can also help trendsetters revive the fashions of the past. Luckily, the Bay Area has numerous thrift shops to offer from the bottom of the Peninsula to San Francisco.

Goodwill

4085 El Camino Way, Palo Alto, CA, 94303, $ With numerous locations around the country, Goodwill is a classic second hand store. Located behind El Camino Way in South Palo Alto, Goodwill sells more than just clothing. Fairly large on the inside, the store has various sections ranging from home items to children’s toys to clothing.

People come and go buying items for a bargain, and dropping off donations. Teenagers search throughout the racks, hoping to revive an old fashion trend, or buy clothing for a do-it-yourself project. Goodwill is a standard and average thrift shop. It offers a unique variety of items for a cheap price, giving you the bang for your buck.

Empire Vintage

Buffalo Exchange

1210 Valencia Street, San Francisco, 94110, $$ With its first location in Tuscon, Arizona in 1974, this chain can now be found on both the West and East coasts. Shoppers can find a store in Berkeley, one in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district and one in the Mission district. Buffalo Exchange is a staple thrift shop.

Providing customers with an eclectic selection of clothing, accessories and shoes, there is definitely something for everyone. For the most part, all Buffalo Exchange stores are fairly large in size.

The location in the HaightAshbury district has a large room for each style of clothing, from jeans in the back corner of the shop, to jackets lined against the outer walls.

Customers come in and out either looking to score a deal, or coming in to sell their clothing. If lucky, shoppers can find bargains on new, gently used designer items. To learn more about the franchise, visit the store’s

courtesy of Creative Commons

Stores like Buffalo Exchange, Empire Vintage and Goodwill offer a wide range of clothing, all for cheap prices. As seen in Buffalo Exchange, pictured above, thrift stores have different styles suited for every taste.

website at http://www.buffaloexchange.com.

Crossroads Trading Company

1959 West San Carlos, San Jose, CA 95128, $

Another typical thrift shop, shoppers can find nine locations in the Bay Area and one in Santa Cruz.

Very similar to Buffalo Exchange, Crossroads also offers gently used clothing for its customers according to the current season. A typical store is filled with racks of clothing, from tops to dresses all around the store with a rack of shoes in the back near the dressing rooms. Above the cash registers are pricier items, usually of a designer brand. Like Buffalo

Exchange, customers can come in anytime during the day to sell their used clothing by dropping it off.

According to its website, the store pays the seller 35% of the price that the item will be sold for in the store.

Selling hours are all day during open store hours and sellers receive their payment before they leave the store, unlike consignment stores. To learn more about Crossroads, visit their website at http://www.crossroadsco. com.

Black And Brown

850 The Alameda, San Jose, CA, 95126, $$ In addition to San Francisco, San Jose also has its fair share of thrift

shops such as Black And Brown.

Unlike other bustling thrift shops, this store is usually never really crowded, giving customers more peace of mind. The store boasts all vintage or stylish pre-owned threads, offering customers a variety of clothing for reasonable prices. Shoppers can find a great collection of vintage Doc Martens shoes as well as other clothing from various decades. The store promotes local artists by displaying several paintings and other forms of art around the store.

“As an individual, I feel the compulsive desire to go to the exact same thrift stores as all my friends,” senior Dana Donnelly said. “Before I go, I actually look online at www.lookbook.nu

443 Waverley Street, Palo Alto, CA, 94301, $$ Hidden away in the skirts of downtown Palo Alto, this small shop provides its customers with vintage clothing dating from the 1940s up to the 1980s.

The store is extremely useful for those in need for a costume for a decade themed party, such as Mad Men in the 1960s to disco night in the 1970s. It also features a large men’s section with items such as suits, Hawaiian shirts, Members Only jackets and cowboy attire.

For the ladies, the store has a room dedicated entirely to vintage dresses from the 1950s to prom dresses of the 1980s. Cowboy boots line the shelves of the stores in all different styles and colors, and vintage designer purses hang above the cash register along with trunks of various sizes of each purse.

According to its website, Empire Vintage buys, sells, and trades vintage clothing that is 30 years or older. The store’s buying days are on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, from one to seven p.m.; Empire Vintage is open seven days a week.

Junior Vivian Laurence creates fashion collection in Fiji

Rachel Cui Staff writer

E

xcitement emanates from Vivian Laurence’s smile as she describes how she transforms simple ideas into pieces of art created to be worn.

Last summer, Laurence had the opportunity to design her own fashion collection in Vuda Marina, Fiji with the help of a French designer, Alexandra Poenaru-Philp.

Upon meeting Poenaru-Philp in Fiji, Laurence’s mom brought attention to her daughter’s fashion blog.

Poenaru-Philp, developing an interest in Laurence’s blog, then asked to spend a summer working and traveling with her.

Laurence said that the most interesting part of designing clothes in Fiji was experiencing firsthand the work of a freelance designer.

“The coolest thing in Fiji was being able to travel with the designer, being able to go to the factories with her, and seeing how it is when you’re a freelance designer and when you’re working for different clients,” Laurence said. “In Fiji, fashion is not a prominent career path, so it was really interesting to watch [PoenaruPhilp] work because she’s essentially [paved] the path as the only fashion designer based full-time in Fiji.”

According to Laurence, there are many restrictions in the fashion industry in Fiji due to the inaccessibility of high-quality fabrics. These obstacles, along with Fiji’s distinct culture, create a different working environment from what Laurence would have experienced if she were working in other fashion centers.

“Everything takes a little more planning and perseverance,” Laurence said.

However, Fiji is rising in the fashion industry; not only does it host the world class Fiji Fashion Week that promotes designers in the Fiji fashion industry, it is becoming a multi-million dollar design, textile and clothing industry.

When Laurence arrived in Fiji without knowing of what her internship would consist of, Poenaru-Philp assigned her to design three shirts, three bottoms, four dresses and one jacket for her mock collection.

According to Laurence, creating a collection requires immense effort, from drawing rough sketches to choosing fabrics.

The coolest thing in Fiji was being able to travel with the designer, being able to go to the factories with her, and seeing how it is when you’re a freelance designer and when you’re working for different clients.

Vivian Laurence Junior

However, Poenaru-Philp helped to guide Laurence through the steps of creating her own collection. Poenaru-Philp had a successful fashion career in Paris working with many labels.

She is currently working with Australian, Fijian and French labels in the Fiji Islands. Specializing in knitwear, Poenaru-Philp works with

clients and designs both male and women collections.

Despite being freshly exposed to the chaos of the fashion industry, Laurence was able to pull together a collection she loves and describes as clothes that she herself would wear.

Although her collection will not be coming out, Laurence is incredibly satisfied with her creations.

“I was impressed with myself,” Laurence said. “I was proud to be able to stick with [the project] and create a collection that I’m satisfied with.”

Laurence’s interest in fashion intensified when she began to experience fashion as another form of self-expression and art. To Laurence, fashion is almost exactly the same as studio art; instead of using oils or charcoal as mediums, she uses textures, colors and cloth to express herself. Although Laurence is currently undecided whether or not she will pursue fashion, she left Fiji with an enhanced perspective on working with fashion.

“The experience definitely gave me an insight into what the fashion industry is really like and how challenging it can be,” Laurence said. “It was really rewarding.”

As well as expanding her connections throughout the fashion world, Laurence also established relations with teenagers her own age. As opposed to Laurence’s previous trips where she vacationed, being able to build these bonds through exerting her own influence made her experience in Vuda Marina truly different.

“What I really appreciated this time was being able to have a group of friends to hang with and to go back to when I visit,” Laurence said. “That made it really special.”

Courtesy of Vivian Laurence

Vivian Laurence looks over her sketches while working in Fiji. In the month that she visited Fiji, she designed over eleven clothing items.

Friday, September 28, 2012

B4

The Campanile

TECHNOLOGY

Latest iPhone features new design, faster software Apple implements new features and accessories in its latest version of its most popular device.

jonathan ziegler Staff Writer

A

pple’s website describes the iPhone 5 as “the biggest thing to happen to iPhone since iPhone.” The new iPhone has some new features that definitely support that statement.

The most noticeable feature of the iPhone 5 is the new design. According to Apple’s website, it is 18 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter than the old iPhone. Also, the new iPhone is accompanied by a four inch “Retina” display. Apple has made the phone available in two color schemes, Black and Slate or White and Silver.

The iPhone comes in three different models: a 16 gigabyte (GB) model, 32GB model and a 64GB model. With a new contract or upgrade, the 16GB model in either color is $199, the 32GB model in either color is $299 and the 32GB model in either color is $399. The iPhone can be purchased on the AT&T network, Verizon network or the Sprint network.

The iPhone 5 is pre-installed with Apple’s newest version of iOS 6. The new software comes with an updated version of Siri, Apple’s artificial intelligence assistant. Siri is updated to give the user sports scores, restaurants and their reviews and showtimes. Siri will automatically utilize the user’s location to determine which restaurants or showtimes are nearest; however, this feature can be easily turned off in the settings application. iOS 6 also comes with a new application called “Passbook”, which will be a replacement for certain credit cards, tickets, store cards and coupons. These “passes” will be easily accessible on your iPhone.

In addition to new software, the new iPhone comes with a cable called “Lightning” that has replaced the old, standard 30 pin dock connector. The Lightning connector is thinner and narrower than the standard dock connector.

Also, adapters from the 30 pin dock connector to the Lightning cable will be available.

In addition to the new cable, the auxiliary port to the iPhone has been transferred to the bottom of the phone, accompanying the

improved speaker design and the Lightning cable.

In terms of speed, the iPhone has received two major upgrades. The new A6 processor that is in the iPhone contributes to the overall quickness of the phone and the graphics. Meanwhile, the LTE network capability, which is faster than the 3G network, will contribute up to speeds among 100 megabits per second.

The iPhone also comes with Apple’s new and revolutionary EarPods which were designed to fit the ear more comfortable than the standard earphones. According to Apple’s website, the EarPods have a “deeper, richer bass tone.”

Reluctantly, I must admit that I am an Apple fanatic, getting every single iPhone on the first day. On Sept. 12, I received a notification on my phone that the new iPhone had been released. The moment I saw it, I knew the phone would be great.

My favorite aspect of the new iPhone is the phenomenal 4 inch “Retina” display, which gives Apple a huge advantage in the smartphone industry. Although I do find it a bit annoying to have to hyperextend my thumb every time I

want to reach the top of the screen, the prospect of having more items to fit on every page is absolutely worth it.

Controversy surrounds Apple Maps and Google Maps. The map feature on any phone is a benefit because it replaces having to buy a $1200 built-in navigation system. But, Apple Maps was released too The moment I saw early because it lacks the it, I knew the phone accuracy that Google Maps had. However, would be great.

Google Maps lacked the turn-by-turn navigation feature that the iPhone 5 has now.

Having bought every single iPhone, I have old iPhone cables in my closet. But with the new iPhone, they are all useless because they cannot plug in to the new iPhone. The new “Lightning” cable is much better than the standard 30 pin cable, but Apple should give out a adapters to each person.

The new “Passbook” application is a little premature right now, but will prosper in the long run. The ability to store cards and other

loyalty cards (“Passes”) on a phone is the direction that the technology should be going.

However, very few businesses have given users the ability to have an electronic version of their “Passes”, but if industries and companies all start making electronic “Passes” then this application will be very useful and beneficial.

The hardware design on the new iPhone 5 has changed. The black and slate version of the iPhone has a very modern matte black finish on the back of the phone, making the phone look more futuristic. However, it seems the phone is more prone to scratching if left on a hard surface, but in this case the benefit outweighs the risk.

Last year, when Siri was debuted, I was very hesitant to use it. As expected, Siri did not function that well in a loud environment, but otherwise it worked perfectly. Now, Apple has given Siri several other features such as restaurant reviews, movie times and sports scores, making Siri much better.

I love the iPhones. Next year I will be waiting in line for the new one, but for right now, I will be with my beloved iPhone 5.

City libraries offer free music through online application City of Palo Alto introduces Freegal, a new way to download free, legal music from a catalog of thousands of songs.

Chrissie cheng Spotlight Editor

T

hroughout the past couple of years, public libraries have been advancing and modernizing, allowing patrons more access to available resources other than just books—and Palo Alto City Libraries can be considered in that category.

Not only can a Palo Alto City Library card holder borrow books, e-books, Chrome books

and iPads, but card holders can also download Freegal—a music app available online and mobile, that is totally free, and totally legal.

According to Freegal’s official website, Freegal is a downloadable music source with thousands of artists, ten thousand albums and three million songs from the Sony Music Catalog. The catalog includes over 10,000 music labels from 60 countries around the world, providing Freegal with a diverse music selection.

Freegal was originally created by Library Ideas, LLC, a private company that offers services to educational markets. By partnering with libraries across the nation, Freegal works like a regular library, where patrons can get music legally and free of charge.

Students come to catch-up, keep-up and get ahead in math Serving Grades 1st - 10th Mathnasium Power Workouts, Homework Help, Test Prep, Summer Camps

Two FREE onehour sessions with this ad, new students only, expires 10/31/12

However, unlike the traditional library system, they do not have to return the music, staying permanently in one’s MP3 player.

Freegal has a wide variety of songs, with over 100 genres. Users can search music by artist, song title, album or composer, or look at songs in the National Top 100 music playlist.

According to a press release from the City of Palo Alto, Palo Alto City Library card holders can go to https://cityofpaloalto.freegalmusic.com and insert their 14-digit library card number to access the site. Every week, users can download up to three songs using the simple website layout. The ticker limit replenishes every Monday at 12:01 a.m. The music instantly downloads onto the cardholder’s computer or mobile

Center Hours:

Mon & Tue 3 - 7pm Wed & Thu 2 - 7pm Sat 9am - 12:30pm Sun 9:30pm - 11:30am

device, and is stored as an MP3 file.Users can also burn the music on CDs and listen to it on Windows Media Player or even iTunes.

Although Freegal has over 3 million songs, its selection is still limited in comparison to other online music stores like Freegal works like iTunes.

Popular artists a regular library, such as Taylor Swift where patrons can and Fun. do not have get music legally albums available on and free of charge.

Freegal, and some of the available song are merely tributes to the artists rather than the original recordings.

In addition, images of album covers are not available for downloaded songs, and the three songs per week limit can be a drawback when one wants to download multiple songs at a time.

Despite its drawbacks, Freegal is constantly updating its music selection and continues to grow. It can ultimately save iTunes customers about four dollars a week (three songs for $1.29 a week) if they were to buy the same amount of music that they could download on Freegal for free.

At the end of the day, music is music, but getting it for free can sometimes make music sound a little better.

Friday, September 28, 2012

The Campanile

ENTERTAINMENT

B5

Anti-Obama film features questionable assertions

William Kershner Senior Staff Writer

I

t should come as no surprise that the Saturday night showing of “2016: Obama’s America,” which took place in the liberal stronghold of the Bay Area, was completely empty.

This new political movie, directed

by Indian-American conservative political commentator, Dinesh D’Souza, takes on the task of informing Americans of President Barack Obama’s past, most notably his childhood relationship with his father, Barack Obama Sr. Based on what D’Souza portrays as a strong personal connection between Obama and his father, the film attempts to predict what the political, economic and social state of our nation will be in 2016 if Obama prevails in the upcoming election.

In his movie, D’Souza accuses President Obama of maintaining an anti-colonialist agenda in pursuit of his ultimate goal: diminishing the U.S.’s foreign intervention and general worldwide power. D’Souza uses this connection and Obama Sr.’s commitment to anti-colonialism to imply that Obama himself has been and will be perpetuating this goal in his next four years in office.

To assert this claim, D’Souza begins by drawing many similarities between Obama’s past and his own. In doing so, he strives to convince viewers that he has had the same childhood experiences as Obama.

The foundation D’Souza draws upon is unsubstantiated. He uses menial factors: birth year, graduation year and marriage year to suggest a level of insight and authority on Obama’s life.

The parallels suggested in the juxtaposition of D’Souza and Obama background fall apart in their contrasting opinions.

With an idea first seen in his book, The Roots of Obama’s Rage, D’Souza paints Obama as the anti-imperialist, anti-western and practically antiwhite reflection of his father. This description, which is the foundation of D’Souza’s film, hangs on a single

Austen Hufford/Creative Commons

In his new movie, “Obama’s America,” director Dinesh D’Souza paints an unflattering picture of President Barack Obama.

interview with Professor Emeritus of Psychology at New York University, Paul Vitz.

After some contradiction, D’Souza hand feeds Vitz a loaded question with the sole purpose of gaining his requested response. D’Souza prompts “Is it possible that Obama is trying to emulate his father’s political opinions because of a lack of fatherly presence in his life?” The answer Vitz gives, and also the “fact” D’Souza uses for the rest of his movie, is that Obama could indeed be striving to prove his worth as a way of recovering from the absence of his father throughout his childhood.

That is, there is little evidence in the film that supports the idea that President Obama is extraordinarily focused on anti-colonialism.

This conclusion is used to suggest that all of Obama’s previous and future pursuits will directly match those of his father, the anti-American academic. The assertion that

Obama’s political desires are a copy of his father’s political agenda is completely subjective and a logical stretch at best.

To prove Obama’s history as a anti-colonialist, D’Souza makes a number of broad sweeping claims.

The first example he uses is that Obama is the first president to support Argentina over England in the dispute over the Falkland Islands.

This example is used to show that Obama might be compensating Argentina for past colonial injustices committed by Great Britain.

However, the notion that Obama supports Argentina is not factually accurate and should be regarded quite simply as a lie. (Obama’s administration declined to make a statement on the dispute and faced harsh criticism because of it.)

Furthermore, D’Souza correctly points out that the national debt has risen to 16 trillion dollars under the Obama administration. Still, he fails to explore other explanations of the initial explosion of debt which occurred under President Bush’s second term.

Moreover, D’Souza claims that

Movie stores innovate to prosper Bay Area rental stores use new techniques to keep up with online competitors such as Netflix and Hulu.

Will Mendenhall Staff Writer

I

n the era of Netflix and online video streaming, small video stores must innovate in order to survive. The lure of easily obtainable movies without the hassle of going to a store has pushed many devoted customers to start watching their movies online, instead of going to the store to pick them up.

In the midst of this online movie revolution, some stores throughout Palo Alto have found a way to stay ahead of the online movie movement that has been sweeping the nation.

Red Door Movies,

“Red Door is like the combination between a traditional movie store and a company like Netflix,” Raffel said.

“You can either stay at home and order a movie online or go quickly pick it up at the store.”

If you are having trouble deciding what movie to watch, Red Door also has movie review books in the store to offer guidance.

Redbox

77 Newell Road; and others

Redbox, another movie rental company, has found its own way to stand out from other video stores.

The company has set up machines all over the country that are loaded with movies. These machines are located in several different places around Palo Alto, including 77 Newell Road, 401 Waverley Street and 2811 Middlefield Road.

In order to rent a movie, all you have do is select one of the movies

in the machine, enter your cash and return the movie to any of the Redbox machines. If you are looking for a certain movie and are afraid it will not be in your nearest Redbox, you may order it online so that it will be delivered to the box of your choice.

The ease and simplicity of Redbox has attracted customers throughout the community.

“Redbox makes buying a movie as easy as buying soda from a soda machine,” sophomore Seth Alston said. “Plus with so many of them around Palo Alto it makes [the movies] easier to return too. What really makes Redbox the best is most movies only cost one or two dollars, making them incredibly cheap.”

By staying ahead using new technologies and organizational systems, companies such as Redbox and Red Door have managed to stay alive and even thrive in what seems to be a dying market.

2123 West El Camino Real

Red Door Movies has done away with the drag of sifting through countless movies at the store while looking for the right one.

Instead, the owners have installed computers throughout their store that customers can use to find out exactly what movies are in stock and where they are located.

This easy-to-use system has many students coming back time and time again.

“What I find particularly nice about Red Door is their online video archiving system,” junior Becca Raffel said. “It allows you to see what movies they have available, making my trip to the store a lot shorter.”

With rental prices starting at a low $3.50, many are easily enamored of Red Door. Another popular aspect of Red Door is their movie mailing program.

By going onto their website, you can choose a movie and have it mailed straight to your door.

Jensen HsiaO/the campanile

Red Door Movies, located on El Camino Real, uses new technical forms of distributing movies making products more accessible and faster to obtain.

Obama has done nothing to prevent the nuclear ambitions of Iran, and in his doing so, is supporting the Iranian victims of colonialism. To say that would be to ignore the strict economic sanctions Obama has placed on Iran in hopes of its halting warhead production.

Another interesting conclusion D’Souza draws is about Obama’s Marxist and communist roots.

D’Souza names five men he believes had a significant impact on Obama’s views.

These “founding fathers,” Frank Marshall Davis, Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, Edward Said and Roberto Unger, were Obama’s supposed mentors during his early life. The most prominent of these five, Davis, was constantly discounting American postwar relations in Africa and examining the factual existence of race altogether.

Similarly, D’Souza says that Obama is “weirdly sympathetic to Muslim jihadists” in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

D’Souza even goes so far as to predict that Obama is endorsing a “United States of Islam,” which would

and the upcoming election.

be a safe haven for radical Muslims in the Middle East and northern parts of Africa. This cannot be entirely true because Obama ordered the raid that killed Osama bin Laden and dozens of drone strikes on other notorious terrorists in the region.

Above all, the most striking example of D’Souza’s creative investigative journalism can be seen in the opening scene of the film. D’Souza interprets the removal of a bust sculpture of Winston Churchill from the white house as anti-colonialist.

Upon further inspection, the bust was on loan to the White House and was scheduled to be returned to its owner before Obama took office. In fact, another bust of Churchill can even be found in the president’s private residence. D’Souza is twisting the truth and even when he does show some validity, the points are mundane and inconsequential.

While D’Souza makes unsupported claims in his examples, the most perplexing points are made in his assessment of America’s inauspicious future.

Near the end of the film, the “anticolonialist” actions Obama had taken in his first term are viewed as only the tip of the iceberg. D’Souza believes that if Obama gets re-elected, a presidential monster would emerge and take advantage of his second term.

In the wake of this term, a.k.a. 2016, Obama would leave behind a radically different America, a nation of little global power and decreased patriotism.

Although the film paints an interesting portrait of Obama Sr.’s passion for combatting colonialism, D’Souza does not support his main premise. That is, there is little evidence in the film that supports the idea that President Obama is extraordinarily focused on anti-colonialism.

There are even less hard facts that support D’Souza’s gloom and doom prediction for America, should Obama win the White House and govern during 2016.

Whether the movie holds D’Souza’s personal opinions or those of an anti-Obama group is suspect as there is an uncanny coincidence between the timed release of the film

Friday, September 28, 2012

The Campanile

MUSIC

B6

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embow, 랩, ‫ راب‬, Kurap, ‫ ראפ‬and le rap are all various takes on one of the most passionate art forms this world has ever known. Experts on this unique way of expressing oneself argue whether rap came from African tribesmen or if it was conjured up in the streets of the United States.

Though the roots are unclear, rap music is an exponentially growing industry all over the world.

From the Dominican Republic to Korea, Morocco to Tanzania and Palestine to France, the famous music genre is continually becoming more popular.

Whether they are rapping about the history of their country or simply about the struggles of life, these rappers’ music plays a huge role in people’s lives all over the world.

Park Jae-Sang

Park Jae-Sang, better known as Psy, is the mastermind behind the explosively popular song “강남스 타” (Gangnam Style). Psy was born in South Korea on Dec. 31 1977 and after graduating high school there, he moved to the United States, where he attended both Boston University and the Berklee College of Music in New York.

Psy struggled to be successful under the somewhat strict social lifestyle of South Korea; many of his songs and albums have been deemed “inappropriate” by the Korean government and television corporations who did not allow it to be sold to minors.

With the help of Yang Hyun-suk, the owner of YG Entertainment, Psy’s music has become popular despite people attempting to bring him down. A loud techno beat accompanies his nasal Korean

rapping and singing in almost every one of his songs.

On July 15, Psy released the track and music video to the track Gangnam Style. The video since has accumulated over 295 million views and that number is escalating by the minute.

Psy is considered to be the first bona fide famous rapper to gain respect outside of South Korea. He plans to continue making music and representing his country.

Taoufik Hazeb

Taoufik Hazeb was born in 1983 in the city of Casablanca, Morocco.

When Hazeb was 10, thousands of miles away American rapper Notorious B.I.G. had gained control of the American rap industry.

After becoming an aficionado of his music and the rap industry in general, Hazeb became so deeply passionate about rap music that he began calling himself Bigg.

Later he added “Tha Don” to his stage name, as a reference to Tupac’s album “The Don Killuminati.”

The name taken directly from the American rapper stuck and Hazeb proceeded to practice rapping in both Arabic and English.

Eventually in 2006, Hazeb strayed away from the Western influence, as nationalism and the urge to be heard took control, and Hazeb released a 24-track album titled “Mgharba ‘Tal Mout” (Moroccans ‘Till Death).

Since then he has released one other complete album and various other singles. On these tracks, he addresses racism, politics and other ethical issues all while heavily breathing, emulating the Notorious B.I.G. Moroccan rap fans are urging Hazeb to release more music as he has not released a song since 2011.

X Plastaz

The streets of the Tanzanian ghettos are extremely dangerous. It was from here that Tanzanian rap group X Plastaz come from.

Maasai chants Swahili rhymes, and angry rhymes flow together to create this group’s music. Created

by Faza Nelly and X Plastaz in 1998, this revolutionary group raps about everything from the AIDS epidemic to the Tanzanian justice system.

Incredibly successful up through the 2000’s, X Plastaz had a downfall in their career in the year 2006. The social hero, Nelly, was stabbed while attempting to resolve an argument between two of his neighbors.

X Plastaz suffered greatly but they got back on their feet and continued to make music addressing the issues of their nation and continent.

“Nini Dhambi Kwa Mwenye Dhiki” (What Is the Sin of the Poor), is the most popular song released by the group to date. Filled with chants and exotic beats, the crew raps about what they find to be the most relevant issues in their country such as corruption and violence.

DAM

The feud between Israel and Palestine has been ongoing for decades now. The youth of these countries have been raised in a situation of constant tension and often times fear.

DAM, a group of Palestinian males who were born and raised in Israel, created a whole new era of political rap in the Middle East.

The group not only addresses the issue and states their feelings on it, they also tell the story of what it was like being raised in a country as an outcast. DAM means “eternity” in Arabic but translates to “blood” in

Hebrew, which is where the group got their name.

The group first started recording their controversial songs in 1979, and continue promoting peace and ideas such as anti-racism and women’s rights to this day.

The group records songs in both Arabic and Hebrew so they can appeal to as large of an audience as possible and they are currently planning their first American tour.

Black Jonas Point

Dominican rapper Black Jonas Point, known by family and friends as Jonás Joaquín Ortiz Alberto, was born in the chaotic city of Santo Domingo in 1989.

Alberto started rapping at the age of eight and by the age of 11 he had already recorded his first album. His obsession with Tupac first motivated him to making rapping more than just a hobby.

Alberto’s positive music is playing an influential part in helping many young boys stay out of the “gangster” life.

Now at the age of 23, Alberto has released countless songs and has climbed to the top of the Latin American charts. His music falls under the genre of Dembow, which is identical to rap but often has more repetitive verses and faster beats.

In his most popular song to date, “Lo Que Quieras” (Whatever You Want), Alberto addresses the growing drug problem his native country suffers from. In a country with very few role models, Alberto’s positive music is playing an influential part in

helping many young boys stay out of the “gangster” life that is so easy to become a part of. Many other of his popular songs such as “Solo Grita” (Just Call) and “Yo Tengo Sed” (I’m Thirsty) provide relevant and often comical songs that are loved by the youth of the Dominican Republic.

On Sept. 5 Alberto was in an automobile accident that caused tears all through Latin America. A tragic event like this would likely end most artists’ careers but his colossal fan base hopes to see him back soon.

Claude M’Barali

Claude M’Barali was born in Senegal but moved to France before he was even one year old. Now at 43 he is the most critically acclaimed French rapper in the world. In his teenage years M’Barali spent much of his time tagging, or painting walls with a trademark picture or word.

His tag of choice happened to be SOLAAR, and from there his stage name MC Solaar was born.

Growing up in France, M’Barali felt discriminated due to his skin color, and much of his music presents the idea that everyone should have equal rights and opportunities.

MC Solaar learned bits of English and Spanish just to be able to spread his ideas to a broader audience.

“La Belle Et Le Bad Boy” (The Beauty and the Bad Boy) is one of M’Barali’s most popular tracks that has been recognized internationally.

The song is in French but the fluidness of M’Barali’s voice is enough to make the song loved by people all over the world. Recently, M’Barali has been making appearances on various TV shows and movies. He did this all while working on new music which he has been releasing periodically throughout the year.

Friday, September 28, 2012

The Campanile

MUSIC

Hurricane Festival showcases local teen bands Gravel

Emily Rosenthal

Singer Jason Wagner, drummer Nate Olocki and guitarist Elijah Akers form Gravel, a rock/grunge band with punk influence based in San Jose. The band was formed in Sept. 2009, after Wagner and Akers approached Olocki with the idea.

Gravel has had previous experience onstage in venues such as Britannia Arms and the DNA Lounge in San Francisco.

senior Staff Writer

R

ock. Funk. Alternative.

Grunge. All this and more will be at the first annual Hurricane Musical Festival, organized by the Teen Arts Council (TAC) of Palo Alto. After three rounds of auditions, five emerging teen bands from all across the Bay Area were chosen to perform in the festival on Sept. 29 at Mitchell Park.

Each band will have 30 minutes of live, onstage performance, and there will also be various vendors, contests and food.

The TAC is a youth group in Palo Alto and an initiative of the Palo Alto Children’s Theatre which aims to increase youth wellness and provide events both for teenagers and the entire community. At the end of the school year in 2010 the TAC was approached by Steffan Salas, the current event organizer, with the idea for a music festival.

“The concept is that you can come into Teen Arts Council with your event, help produce it and you can have multiple iterations of this event throughout your time, and it will improve,” TAC co-president Spencer Carlson said. “The core of what we do is serving both the people who work here (the leaders) and the community.”

Within the last few years, the Bay Area has become a hotspot for developing musicians. The festival provides an opportunity for the newest teen musicians in the Bay Area to make a name for themselves and for the entire community to become involved in the music scene.

“Teenage bands in the Bay Area don’t have a lot of places where they can just perform,” TAC co-president Juliana Moraes-Liu said. “There are places for professional bands and there are places for individual singers to perform, but it’s really difficult to find a place where teenagers have a stage, an audience and the equipment that’s required for a band.”

This teen-oriented event aims to provide young musicians with support while creating a music-loving community based in the Bay Area.

“It’s the people that come that make the event,” Salas said. “I can only do so much, I can put in all

Third Nature

courtesy of the Teen arts council

The local band, Build the Empire, practices a song during a jam session. From left: Bryan Ocontrillo (guitar), Ben Kilmer (vocals and guitar) and Sergio Patino (drums). Not pictured: Evan Ocontrillo (bass).

this work but if no one shows up it’s not a music festival. It’s up to people who want to come support these bands and make a new community of people.”

Though the festival was originally scheduled for Sept. 17 of 2011, the TAC soon realized this date was unrealistic and postponed the event until May 12 of 2012. During the auditions on March 10 and 25 bands were judged on preparation, audience reaction, confidence, attitude, rhythm, style and originality. One of the requirements of the festival is that all of the bands perform at least one original song.

“I really wanted them all to have an original song to either push them to make one or to see that they are really serious about what they’re doing and are really passionate about it,” Salas said. “I feel that’s really important in a band, because eventually you have to cross over to that point where you start making your own music instead of just playing what other people play. Really in the end what’s going to get you that far is making your own

stuff and putting your own style into it without copying what’s been done before you.”

However, due to personal issues with the event organizer one month before the event, the festival was pushed back to Sept. 29. Eventually five bands formed the final lineup, allotting 30 minutes of playing time per band. Three weeks before the festival, one of the bands was forced to drop out due to a family issue, and Salas’s own band, Reckless Flesh, volunteered to fill in.

These five bands come from all around the Bay Area and represent a wide range of music genres.

“It’s really truly a Bay Area festival,” Carlson said. “We have bands from all over the Bay Area.”

While they are unsure if the actual Hurricane Music Festival will continue throughout the years, the presidents of the TAC are optimistic that there will be similar events in the future. “[The structure of the Teen Arts Council] does lend itself more to evolution than consistency,” Carlson

Student musicians pursue singing passion elena pinsker news editor

T

he Paly campus has always been a diverse place, with sports buffs and science lovers found in every corner. Among these nearly 2,000 students are two sophomore musicians, Sally Wang and Maggie Peng, who are known on campus for their voices.

Wang started singing as a young child and has been around music her entire life. She attributes her passion for music to her father, a musician himself.

“My dad plays a lot of instruments,” Wang said. “He plays the saxophone, the flute, the guitar [and] the piano. He would make children’s CDs, and he would have me sing on them from a really early age, so I started [singing] in preschool.

Basically I started when I was born.”

Now members of the Cantabile Youth Singers of Silicon Valley, a classical choir, Wang and Peng are exposed to a variety of genres by their choir teacher. “[Our choir teacher] always tries to encompass other cultures into our singing,” Peng said. “Like Indian, Arabic, African [and] Spanish.”

Wang agrees with Peng, saying, “We’re very multi-cultural, but usually it’s very Russian and Italian classical music.”

However, Wang says that this exposure is not new—she has always been immersed in different types of music because of her parents.

“My mom always used to play motown music,” Wang said. “And James Taylor.”

Wang and Peng sing in one of the most advanced groups of Cantabile.

The group is named Vocalise, and it meets once each week.

Despite their involvement in different programs, neither Wang nor Peng has taken many singing lessons.

B7

Courtesy of sally wang

Student musician Sally Wang plays a song at a youth performance.

“I’ve taken two to three lessons,” Wang said. “One of my friends has a voice teacher, so I went [to a lesson] and [it was] kind of boring. I went to Switzerland this summer and my dad’s friend’s wife is an opera singer, [so] I got [a] lesson from her as well.”

Peng has also taken a few informal lessons from her mother, also a musician. However, that is the extent of their formal training, as Peng and I respect Adele, Britney, Demi Lovato [and] Christina Aguilera, but I feel like ever person’s voice is different.

Sally Wang Sophomore

Wang say they like to “jam” together instead, each girl switching between the melody and a harmony. Both Peng and Wang play instruments, but Wang says Peng is the more serious musician in that regard. Peng says her piano career is the factor that kept her from taking vocal lessons.

“I didn’t really have time for [voice lessons] because I’m also doing piano and dance, so I don’t have that much time for that many commitments,” Peng said.

Peng is following in the footsteps of her mother, a classical pianist. She says she has been learning piano for eleven years, and will practice for two to three hours every day.

“My mom introduced me [to classical music] when I was really young,” Peng said. “She used to play a lot of [classical] CDs around the house.”

Peng says that although she really respects classical musicians, Peng and Wang also enjoy other genres of music. However, they still try to maintain their own singing styles even while being influenced by other artists.

“I feel like [one] would look up to a lot of singers because they’re so good,” Wang said. “I respect Adele, Britney Spears, Demi Lovato, [and] Christina Aguilera, but I feel like every person’s voice is different. It’s not like you’re trying to emulate other people—it’s like showing your own feelings.”

said. “The goal for next year is to have more sponsors, to be a longer event.

I think the actual Hurricane event may not survive but certainly things like it will inevitably continue. That’s

From San Jose, Third Nature is a three-piece band that plays a mix of classic rock, funk and progressive rock. Guitarist Tyler Bear, drummer Matt Shea, and bassist/vocalist Antonio Arlia were all originally part of another band, but about two and a half years ago decided to break off and form Third Nature.

As Shea entered college this year it has been more difficult, but they all remain optimistic.

“We all love playing music and are dedicated to this band, so I’m sure the band will continue,” Shea said. “Our plans are to keep writing original songs throughout the year and go into the studio to record next summer.”

The Neighbors

the nature of what a Teen Arts event would be.

The Neighbors is one of the most diverse bands on the lineup, covering everything except rap and country but focusing on rock. This will be the first time Josh Weiner (vocals/guitar), Tucker Gibbons (vocals/bass), Jackson Sheppard (lead guitar) and Will Hanley (vocals/drum) perform together as a band.

While the band has done covers, recently they have focused on writing their own songs and all but one of the songs performed at the festival will be originals.

Build the Empire

Reckless Flesh

From Hollister, Build the Empire is an alternative rock group and is one of the most professional bands in the lineup. Guitarist Bryan Ocontrillo, drummer Sergio Pantino, bassist Evan Ocontrillo and vocalist Ben Kilmer first formed the band in July 2011.

The band focuses more on feeling rather than technicality, drawing on influences such as Kings of Leon, Radiohead and MUSE.

Reckless Flesh, from Menlo Park, a thrash and heavy metal band from Menlo Park draws on influences such as Exodus, Megadeth, Pantera and Death Angel. Brothers Steffan Salas (vocals/bass) and Julian Salas (lead guitar) have been playing together for seven years and invited guitarist Surya Thekkath into the band one year ago.

The band has had previous experience onstage and is excited for the upcoming festival.

It’s really truly a Bay Area festival. We have bands from all over the Bay Area.

Spencer Carlson Teen Arts Council co-president

Friday, September 28, 2012

The Campanile

B8 CULTURE

Gap year provides unique opportunities for students

1

in

2000

This edition featuring

Skyler Cox-Koulman with The Campanile’s own Charlie Dulik, Yasna Haghdoost, Alvin Kim and Michael Wang

Clockwise from bottom left: COurtesy of yael palmon, yael palmon,Jake Stern, Jake stern

Left: For her gap year 2011 graduate Yael Palmon joined an Israeli youth group, Tzofim Shnat Sherut, which is similar to Boy and Girl Scouts in the United States. Her group, called a komuna, is envolved in various community service projects throughout the year.

Right: Paly alumn Jake Stern traveled to Ecuador for his gap year, staying with a host family and working as a medical assistant at a health center.

heather strathearn Staff Writer

A

dorned with their cap, gown and diploma in hand, after graduation the typical Paly student is prepared to leave high school and immediately begin his or her journey through the world of college. However, not all high school graduates head straight off to college, as some choose to take a gap year after graduating.

Although taking a gap year may not be the most common path out of high school, recently it has been gaining popularity among students.

Many Paly students do not even consider taking a gap year as a postgraduate option, but the few who dare to take a different path from the crowd experience a year unlike any other.

After four years of trudging through high school, some students simply cannot head right back into the stress of school work.

“I was tired and I didn’t feel I had enough energy to go through another four years of school,” Paly graduate Jake Stern said. “I had lived in Palo Alto my whole life and I wanted to explore the world.”

Stern first became interested in taking a gap year during his sophomore year of high school. The gap year program that caught Stern’s eye was lead by the nonprofit organization Global Citizens, which randomly places volunteers in developing country and pairs them with a host family.

Heading into college studies a year late may seem like a detriment, however a break from the classroom can also be beneficial according to Stern.

Stern lived in the mountains of Ecuador for eight and a half months working on a range of things, from being a medical assistant at an intercultural health center to teaching English at a local school. wThe skills Stern acquired from his time in Ecuador, he believes, will help him greatly throughout both college and life.

“Taking a gap year was the best decision I ever made in my life,” Stern said. “I came back after the gap year, and felt, in some ways, more mature than my friends who had gone through an entire freshman year at college. Going back to [Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia], I now feel energetic and prepared.”

Unlike Stern, who has already completed his gap year, Yael Palmon is just beginning her gap year in Israel after graduating from Paly this past spring.

“In the beginning of my junior year of high school—which for most American teenagers also means the beginning of the college hunt, I began questioning my identity,” Palmon said. “I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to do with my life and how and where I would accomplish it, but it was my heritage, my cultural identity, that confused me.”

To find a program that would fulfill her needs, Palmon and her parents spent a great deal of time looking up different programs, but

eventually they found the right program, Tzofim Shnat Sherut. The program is an Israeli youth group that is similar to Boy and Girl Scouts in the United States for recent Israeli high school graduates. The program entails a year of community service before the participants enlist in the army (All Israelis are mandated to join the army).

“I think that having a year to experience the world rather than learn about it is so important, and this is the year that you can do it without pressure of finding a job or paying the rent,” Palmon said. “It’s definitely been a little weird, but I haven’t for a second regretted my decision. It’s just made me really excited for what’s going to come after this year. I’m sure that I’m going to go to college now with an entirely different perspective on the world.”

So if it is taking a break from the classroom or a trip of self discovery, gap years have much to offer high school students who are not afraid to break away from the herd.

International students enjoy new school system anglea stern staff writer

W

hile most of the 2,000 students at Paly commute a few miles or less from their homes to school every morning, a handful of students have traveled thousands of miles to get here. Whether with study abroad programs or their families moving to the Bay Area, Paly is fortunate to host students from all across the globe this year.

Senior Matilda Warvne moved from Sweden with Youth For Understanding (YFU), an international educational exchange organization that operates in over 50 countries. She is very happy with her experience in these first few weeks.

“I love it,” Warvne said. “[Paly] is a really big school with a lot of students, which is fun. I like all my teachers of the classes I’m taking, which is very important. I also love the fact that there are a lot of sports going on at Paly. Good teams in volleyball and football for example, and I will play on the basketball team.”

Junior Shaked Rotlevi, who moved here from Israel this year was also very impressed with some of Paly’s unique aspects, including its sports.

“When I went to see Paly in the first time I really liked it because everything looked was so green, sunny and big,” Rotlevi said. “I also heard that in Paly, the athletics [are] something very important and I like this idea. There was no option for athletics in [my old] school, and that’s what I like better in Paly.”

Naturally, schools in the United States differ greatly from those in other countries. Spending a year abroad in the U.S. provides exchange My old school was literally fenced off and had barricades and armed guards at the entrance. I definitely like that you can basically come and go as you please at Paly.

Matt Keefe Junior

students with a great opportuniy to experience a new culture and system.

Having recently moved to Palo Alto from Denmark with her family, senior Linea Pedersen joins the Viking student body this year as well.

According to Pedersen, there are many differences between Paly and her old school. However, Pedersen appreciates what Paly has to offer.

“I like Paly a lot,” Pedersen said.

“I like that there are so many different classes you can take. I like the teachers and they way they teach. The biggest change is that in Denmark you only have one class and then you follow the class in every subject.”

Paly also has a new student, junior Matt Keefe, who lived in Singapore for the past two and a half years. Like Warvne, Rotlevi and Pedersen, he says his old school is very different than Paly.

“Paly’s a lot bigger than my old school, which only had 300 kids per grade,” Keefe said. “I think I prefer the smaller class size because I knew a lot more of the grade but that may just be that I haven’t met many people at Paly so far. Another difference is the open campus aspect of Paly.

My old school was literally fenced off and had barricades and armed guards at the entrance. I definitely like that you can basically come and go as you please at Paly.”

There are a few things Keefe prefered about his school in Singapore, one being a support group for new students.

“One thing that I feel Paly lacks is a good program to assist new students,” Keefe explains. “My old school had a club called Peer Support,

and every new student was matched with a buddy. The buddy would meet with the new kid even before the school year started and would give them a tour of the school, introduce them to other people at the school, and watch over them for the first few weeks to make sure that they made friends and weren’t too overwhelmed by the school. At Paly there was nothing like that and it was difficult to make friends.”

Warvne found the counselors at Paly to be very helpful in facilitating her adjustment here; however she agrees that creating an additional support program for new students could be helpful. Aside from a few drawbacks, Keefe seems to be satisfied at Paly and is excited to participate in some of its activities, specifically the athletics.

“I look forward to track and field in the spring,” Keefe said. “From what I’ve heard the team is pretty good and hopefully the coaching will be too.”

Although spending an entire year or more in a foreign country may sound intimidating, Warvne, Rotlevi, Keefe and Pedersen make the experience sound well worth it, and look forward to spending this school year as Paly Vikings.

The Campanile: If you were to describe yourself in three words, what would they be?

SC: Amazing. Sexy. And athletic.

TC: There we go. Do you plan on streaking senior year?

SC: I will. I will jump on a roof and I will run across the roof and I will jump down and I will go hug a teacher.

TC: Naked?

SC: Naked.

TC: Which teacher?

That’s a good question. The vice principal.

TC: Mr. Berkson, watch out.

How will you distinguish yourself from the other streakers?

SC: I’m gonna use a purple pimp cane and a black crystal ball.

TC: What do you see your legacy being in four years?

SC: I want to leave Paly with at least my name carved in one of the buildings.

TC: That’s pretty pimp, dude.

What will you do to achieve that level of fame?

SC: I’ll just be myself.

TC: Do you consider yourself as kind of a pimp?

SC: Yes, I feel like I am the best pimp in the world. I treat my h**s respectfully.

TC: Do you plan on continuing your pimping career after high school?

SC: That would be my side job, that would be my hobby.

TC: What would your primary job be?

SC: Well, I want to make money so that my kids can have good lives, so a doctor.

TC: Like a doctor pimp?

SC: Ooh, that’s good, that’s my title right there! Or a lawyer for pimps, or a thug life.

TC: What will you major in to go into the thug life?

SC: Pimp.

TC: Do you see yourself as a humanities pimp, or an engineering/science pimp?

SC: Well, you know, I want to engineer pimpness in everybody TC: Who are your top pimps?

SC: Between you and me, Michelle Obama. I feel like in this case Barack Obama is the h** to Michelle’s pimp.

TC:What do you watch for inspiration ? Pimp my Ride?

SC: I watch Pretty Little Liars.

That’s a dope show. I finished the whole season in four days.

TC: Who’s the biggest pimp in Pretty Little Liars?

SC: Probably the one who died.

She was mackin’.

TC: What are other vocabulary words like mackin’ that you use?

SC: I use dope.

TC: What does that mean?

SC: It means cool. I use drippen, starting a new slang word.

TC: What does that mean?

SC: It means awesome.

TC: Do you have a third pimp word?

SC: Dope, drippen and bitties TC: Wait what are bitties?

SC: It means b***es... I don’t think I can use that.

TC: We make the rules SC: Oh you make the rules, that’s dope.

TC: Describe The Campanile, using bitties, drippen and dope.

SC: The Campanile is very dope.

The bitties be coming looking at The Campanile, and the guys be thinking “the bitties are there, I have to check this out, that’s drippen.”

Friday, September 28, 2012

The Campanile

SPORTS

Get stoked! The new Viking mascot has arrived and will be attending every home football and basketball game.

See page C8 for more.

Keller Chryst: Quarterback

leads Vikings for second season

ADAM MANSOUR/THE CAMPANILE

The next big thing: Junior Keller Chryst has led the Vikings to a 2-1 record thus far in his second season as starting quarterback. In his first three games this season, Chryst has thrown for 741 yards and 10 touchdowns, and has garnered a quarterback rating of 106, according to MaxPreps.com.

After moving to Palo Alto before the start of his sophomore year, junior Keller Chryst has adjusted well to the pressure of school as well as the Bay Area’s highly competitive high school football league.

Ziv Schwartz staff writer

O

ther than the fact that he is about half a foot taller than the average crowd and considerably larger in size, junior Keller Chryst looks like any other Paly student. He reads books and watches TV just like other students; however, Chryst is not spending time with The Hunger Games or “Modern Family.” Rather, he is busy studying playbooks and game film so that come Friday night, he is ready to take the field confidently with a determination to destroy his opponent.

Standing at six-foot-four-inches, 230 pounds, Chryst is Paly’s starting quarterback for the second straight year.

After moving to California last year from North Carolina, Chryst is feeling much more confident compared to his previous season.

“Of course a year under the system helps,” Chryst said. “I understand the offense better, I know the other guys on the team better and I know what to expect from our opponents.”

Along with a new level of comfort from his year of experience with the team, Chryst also has a new outlook on the game.

“I am going to take it one practice and game at a time, take nothing for granted and eventually win state,” Chryst said.

After losing in the Central Coast Section (CCS) Championship game last year to Bellarmine High School, Chryst knew exactly what he and his teammates would have to do this season in order to improve both physically and mentally.

“We’ve worked really hard in the weight room as well as in the film room,” Chryst said.

Varsity football head coach Earl Hansen has noticed the amount of work and effort his team has put in and has a positive feeling towards the upcoming season.

“We have very high expectations for the season, but that’s normal for Palo Alto football,” Hansen said.

INSIDE

Lily Zhang London 2012

Zhang’s reflection on her experience at the Olympics this past summer. C4-5

Hansen also expressed how Keller has progressed and matured over the course of a year.

“He grew up,” Hansen said. “He is physically stronger, he knows the system and he knows the kids, all of his friends, better. He is not the brand new kid anymore.”

To reach this sort of level, a long and extensive background of football is needed.

Chryst started playing football when he was about nine years old and has played it ever since.

“I was attracted to football because it seemed fun,” Chryst said. “If it wasn’t fun, I wouldn’t be playing today.”

Even though football may seen like all fun and games, it is not. To get to a high level of competition and to succeed with the best teams in the league, a significant amount of time and He never slows work must be put in. down, and he is “On average, I put in about three to six hours of training always pushing a day, including practice and film,” Chryst said. everyone to do To this day, the challenge with high school sports is how more. they affect school work and other aspects of a student’s life.

The challenges of junior year are known by many and are Andrew Frick not new or shocking, yet having an extracurricular occupying Junior about half of the day and managing everything can be just as challenging as getting ready for a game against the toughest team in the nation. Chryst is aware of these conflicts but is not too preoccupied by them.

“Football takes up a lot of time, but it is worth it,” Chryst said. “There is still time to get other things done. If I had to rank the two [football and school], school ranks higher than football.”

Chryst has turned into quite the celebrity on and off the field at Paly. Students who see Chryst around campus view him with a sense of admiration; they are enthralled by his mere presence.

“Keller’s massive,” an anonymous freshman said. “He seems pretty timid but his overall presence is just awesome.”

This presence also translates onto the football field where Hansen and Chryst’s fellow teammates view him the with similar respect. “[Chryst] leads through his hard work every day at practice,” junior captain Andrew Frick said. “He never slows down, and he is always pushing everyone to do more.”

See CHRYST, C2

New Coaches

Adjusting Well

New coaches for water polo and cross country look forward to successful seasons. C2

Fantasy football

Advice

Ryan Deslauriers gives his fantasy football projections for the start of the season. C3

Friday, September 28, 2012

The Campanile

C2 SPORTS Reffing, the hardest job

New coaches take charge Paly fall sports teams gain three new coaches who hope to take teams to new heights.

Daniel Tachna-Fram Staff Writer

Alvin Kim

The pro football season has officially started, and new replacement referees grace the field.

While a majority of fans complain furiously about missed calls and botched penalties, I just feel pity. Pity for a hardworking group of people who try their best but no matter what are criticized for their actions. I never could have possibly have had this mindset towards these referees until I recently tried reffing a game of my own.

Kevin Dukovic of Viking magazine asked me to referee their annual basketball game which included their staff and some admin. I eagerly accepted, excited to showcase my basketball in a lighthearted atmosphere.

The action started right away following the tipoff. I paced the sidelines, watching intently with my exceptionally keen eyesight. Mr. Winston drove and got slapped hard on the forearm, prompting me to blow my shrill whistle and call a foul. While preparing for this moment in my head before, I imagined I would proclaim the foul confidently; what actually happened was me forgetting what the motion was for a foul and instead just stuttering a “F-f-f-foul,” barely loud enough to be heard.

Members of the opposing team immediately complained, “What?

Foul?” and even Mr. Winston said “Oh, I didn’t know you were calling fouls.”

Despite these slight complaints, play resumed quickly.

Every time there I saw a violation or a hard foul, I made sure to call it, but every time I did so I would get ripped apart. If I made a call benefiting team A, team B would voice their disapproval, but in the very next play when I made a call helping team B, it was time for team A to forget that I had made a call helping them in the previous play, and I would be lambasted for one-sidedness.

This constant shift of emotions directed towards me gave me a bigger headache than any BC Calculus test ever could. And to add onto the emotional chaos, players directed an endless stream of verbal abuse towards me.

“Get your eyes out of the stand, ref,” varsity football captain Spencer Drazovich yelled. “There aren’t even any hot girls there!”

I briefly considered confronting Spencer then and there (and by briefly I mean I did not legitimately consider it at all), but I looked at him and saw 240 pounds and 6 feet and 1 inch of muscle and realized he could snap me in half just by flicking me with his forefinger. I could only imagine what it must be like for a referee in the NFL, encircled by lineman weighing over 300 pounds and with thighs larger than most people’s waists. I supposed it would have been like being thrown into Roald’s Dahl’s BFG only the giants were unfriendly.

Many more minutes of play elapsed, with call after call and flop after flop. And then I blew the final whistle. The game ended.

I figured if a small game like this, with a high school audience less than 20, could have such an emotionally devastating effect on a referee, an amateur referee must go through an unmeasurable amount of distress in a nationally syndicated game.

So next time you watch Monday Night Football and a referee misses a call, calm down and realize that these referees truly try their best. Refereeing constitutes a thankless job that people ignore when done well but criticize when done wrong, so have some appreciation like I do for a group of people who, after every game, probably consume a gallon of ice cream while crying their hearts out and watching soap opera reruns.

A

fter the recent success Paly athletics has enjoyed, expectations are high for all sports teams. With that being said, meeting these expectations can be difficult for new Paly coaches, particularly if they have never coached before.

However, first time coach Marcus Stone is off to a good start in his new role as the varsity boys cross country coach according to the runners on the team.

“You can tell he’s new here, but he’s definitely excited to be here and committed to his job,” junior Jack Hansen said.

After growing up in Nevada where he competed in the Nevada State Championships for cross country, Stone moved to Connecticut for college before returning to the west coast. Stone hopes to use his past experience to help the Paly team.

“He’s brought a lot of new workouts to the team this year,” senior captain Benjamin May said.

Stone admits that his first foray into coaching will not be without its challenges.

“It was a little frightening the first few days when there were 80 kids on the team,” Stone said.

However, Athletic Director Earl Hansen remains confident that Stone is the right man for the job.

“He’s young, but he knows the sport really well,” Earl Hansen said.

Stone was hired following a controversial off-season in which many cross country runners were displeased by the slowness of finding a replacement coach after longtime coach Joe

Adam Mansour/The Campanile

AlexANDER Jenson/The Campanile

Left: Coach Brandon Johnson shows varsity water polo players a strategy in their game against De La Salle.

Right: Boys’ cross country coach Marcus Stone talks to runners after some laps around the track.

Ginnani resigned at the end of the 2011 season.

“I’m just trying to get these guys into the best shape they can be in for the season,” Stone said.

He is also working to replace last year’s graduating class.

“We lost some of our best runners last year but we’re still looking to improve this year. A lot of us are aiming for [a Central Coast Section] title,” Jack Hansen said.

However, Stone is not concerned with who the team lost and prefers instead to focus on working with the current members of his team who are excited to learn and improve under Stone’s guidance.

“With [Stone] around, this team can be a lot better than it has been in the past,” junior Harrison Greenwood said.

While Stone has never coached before, Paly’s new water polo coaches

have had plenty of experience. Twins Matt and Brandon Johnson have taken over the Paly water polo team after the entire varsity and junior varsity coaching staff was dismissed following the 2011 season.

Brandon was previously an assistant coach at the University of California at Irvine, and Matt has coached at a high school in southern California. Previously, they coached together at the Stanford Water Polo Club before coming to Paly. The duo hopes to use their combined experience to their advantage this year.

“We’ve been playing and coaching together for so long so that know each other really well which I think will give us an advantage over the other teams,” Matt said.

Although officially Brandon is the varsity coach and Matt is the junior varsity coach, they work together to coach both of the teams.

“Both of them sit on the bench for both teams, so we get to know both of them really well,” junior Ethan Look said.

Despite being new to Paly, the Johnsons do not feel pressured to succeed immediately.

“There’s not a lot of pressure, but we’re anxious to get our program up to the level of football and volleyball,” Matt said.

The success of other Paly teams serves as a source of motivation for the Johnsons.

“Our goal is to win our league and then see what happens in CCS,” Brandon said.

After the controversy surrounding the firing of the previous coaching staff, most people seem to be happy with the hiring of Matt and Brandon.

“Everyday when I come to the pool I know I’m going to improve and learn something new,” Look said.

Quarterback Chryst commands Viking offense

gina Scarpino/The Campanile

Junior quarterback Keller Chryst led the Vikings to a dominant 48-0 beatdown of the cross-town rival Gunn Titans. Chryst went 10 for 17 for 172 yards and four touchdowns before exiting the game early in the fourth quarter. The Vikings currently hold a 2-1 record.

CHRYST, Continued from C1 Due to his impressive physical stature and refined ability, colleges have already begun reaching out to Chryst verbally.

Although Chryst cannot sign any athletic scholarship offer presented before him until he is a senior, that will not stop colleges from contacting him about attending their universities.

Two of the Pacific Coast Conference’s (PAC-12) major football powerhouses, University of Southern California and Stanford, ranked No. 13 and No. 8 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll as of Sept. 23, respectively, have already contacted Chryst about attending their Universities.

“I like what I’ve seen so far,” Chryst said. “Those two schools are definitely some of my top choices.”

Hansen has coached collegebound athletes and he strongly believes Chryst has the ability to make it in collegiate football. “[Chryst] is going to be recruited by half the country,” Hansen said.

After college, Chryst’s goal is to one day play quarterback in the National Football League.

“Ever since I started playing, I’ve always wanted to make it to the league,” Chryst said.

Friday, September 28, 2012

The Campanile

SPORTS C3

Rules and sleeper picks for fantasy football 2012

Ryan deslauriers Senior Staff Writer

I

t is a game of (Andrew) Luck and (Marshawn) Lynches. No, I am not talking about just football, but rather fantasy football where teams score points based on the real life performances of real NFL players. Fantasy football is a tremendous game which is currently sweeping its way into households across the nation. It’s too late to start playing if you do not already have a team, but if you already have a team then the fantasy guru, yours truly, will help lead your team to the promise land.

To start us off after these weeks of football, I have found for you the greatest free agents on the market.

RYAN’S 5 COMMANDMENTS Rule #1:

Always play your studs. Unless your star is injured he should always be in your lineup.

Rule #2:

Don’t play favorites. There are exceptions of course, like if your favorite player is a fantasy champ.

Rule #3:

Never, ever ask fellow league members for their opinion, or if you do, never listen to it.

Rule #4:

Depth, Depth, Depth. I t ’ s important to have depth during the regular season so your season doesn’t fall apart.

Rule #5:

Don’t overreact to one bad week.

It happens, even the best of teams have a bad week.

Christian Ponder 68 completions 97 attempts 713 yards 4 touchdowns 0 interceptions*

Rashard Mendenhall 228 attempts for 972 yards 4.1 yards per carry average 18 receptions 154 yards 10 touchdowns total*

Quarterbacks:

Running backs:

Wide Receivers:

Tight Ends:

Christian Ponder, Vikings

Rashard Mendenhall, Steelers

Randall Cobb, Packers

Martellus Bennett, Giants

Christian Ponder ranks top five in the NFL in completion percentage and top 10 in yards per attempt and quarterback passer rating.

Ponder has consistently stayed inside the pocket, something he failed to do last year, and showed a large improvement of completion percentage and yards-per-attempt efficiency than he did in 2011.

Ponder will not have any vertical threats until Jerome Simpson is back from his suspension this week, but he showed good poise and hooked up with tight end Kyle Rudolph for some intermediate passes to keep the chains moving.

Beyond an improved offensive line, the play making abilities of Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin, Ponder has plenty of arm talent and enough scrambling skills to give him high-end QB2 potential going forward. I suggest he be owned most twelve team formats.

Mendenhall has been a full participant in practice since the beginning of the season, practicing full contact for the first time since he tore his ACL in the beginning of January. After Isaac Redman and Jonathan Dwyer have been less than stellar in the preceding weeks, it seems Mendenhall should have little trouble regaining his starting role in a prolific offense.

Mendenhall has a week four bye and might still be on your waiver wire, if this is the case I suggest he should be picked up immediately.

Randall Cobb is having a breakout season so far, just as quarterback Aaron Rodgers predicted during the preseason. Cobb has caught the vast majority passes so far this season and doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. Cobb possesses similar skills to Percy Harvin, and the Packers seem intent on making him a bigger part of their offense. Cobb should be owned in every fantasy league as he possesses huge upside in the Packers high-octane offense.

Kendall Hunter, 49ers

Jerome ended up being a poor fit for the West Coast offense he played in. The Vikings have spent the whole training camp raving about his speed and athleticism. As the Vikings are in need for a downfield threat, Simpson projects well and is a good complement to Percy Harvin. He should also develop good chemistry with Christian Ponder. Suspended for the first three games, Simpson will be an every down WR when he returns in week 4 and is worth a flier in most leagues.

Bennett has prototypical size and athleticism for a tight end, however has been a major underachiever since being drafted by the Cowboys in 2008. Bennett has been stellar so far and appears poised to have a breakout season on both the NFL and the fantasy level. Eli Manning throws to his tight ends more than people realize and has made fantasy relevant tight ends out of far less talented Kevin Boss and Jake Ballard. After a few weeks, it sure looks like the “Black Unicorn” will join that crew and surpass them as he is going to be getting more and more involved in the passing game each week.

*Statistics through week 3 of 2012 season. Rashard Mendenhall stats for 2011 season.

Kendall Hunter made efficient work of his few carries so far. Hunter spelled Frank Gore on early downs but didn’t have a role in the passing game. Hunter has the burst and elusiveness to spare, but Frank Gore has looked like the Gore of old in recent games. As the season wears on Gore and his legs, Hunter should eat into Gore’s workload this season and could even outscore Gore by the end of the year. Hunter should be owned in all 12 team or greater leagues.

Randall Cobb 11 receptions for 96 yards 2 attempts for 48 yards 14 targets 0 touchdowns*

Jerome Simpson, Vikings

Martellus Bennett 15 receptions for 185 yards 12.3 yards per reception 3 touchdowns 24 targets*

Go on “Fantasy Football Experts”, and ask me your fantasy questions 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Cross-country team finds coach for upcoming season

Emily Lee Staff Writer

T

he boys’ cross country team faced an irksome start to the season with ambiguity and frustration aplenty.

They were left to rely solely on senior leadership until just before their first meet at Gunn. Despite questionable organization on behalf of the sports coordinators, the team continues to adjust to its new coach, Marcus Stone.

XC Meets SEP 29

Stanford Invite

Stanford Golf Course, 1 p.m.

SCVAL Preview OCT Crystal Springs 2

3 p.m.

Half Moon Bay OCT Half Moon Bay HS 6

12:30 p.m.

SCVAL Baylands OCT Sunnyvale Baylands 16

3:15 p.m.

What happened to Ginnani and Hubbs, the old cross country coaches?

“We couldn’t get Coach Hubbs because he had to stay with his old school due to that school’s own personal problems; he’s a teacher there as well and they wanted to have him put their school first,” senior captain May said.

Stone, a Nevada native, had just moved into the Bay Area earlier this year. A track runner in high school, Stone proves to be a more-than-capable replacement for coaches Jonathan Hubbs and Joe Ginanni.

Stone’s positive experience running in cross country in high school

Just because a sport cannot generate large amounts of revenue from their games or is not equally engaging to spectators as it is to the athletes, does not make it unworthy of the same treatment as other more praised sports receive. inspired his decision to go out for the job.

“I was coached by a very excellent coach in high school,” Stone said. “I bring up a lot of her methodology in my coaching here. I just loved being on the cross country team in high school.”

According to the runners, practice itself has been improved since Stone’s arrival, along with team unity.

“With Marcus here we have a much better idea of what we’re doing,” May said. “He really wants everyone to compete to their full potential.”

Sophomore runner Rick Takeuchi agrees that Stone’s presence has improved his experience on cross country.

“We are more united as a team, we know our routines better and we work together,” Takeuchi said.

Led by senior captains Benjamin May, Justin Zhang and Kevin Lavelle, the team had been practicing all through the summer without any guidance or a formal structure.

Organizing and managing a large group of athletes, especially at the start of a new sports season, is never particularly easy, especially when a team is missing a coach, but the cross country team did so with relative ease.

“It’s always confusing for the first week of cross country,” May said.

“The main problem was that this year, the confusion continued for longer than a week or two, and we weren’t hearing anything from Coach Hansen or Coach Fung.”

But the team was able to pull through.

“What really aided with the transition was a lot of our runners decided to do the summer running program,” May said. “That really helped us out in terms of getting everyone situated.”

The majority of the team, apart from the freshman, had run cross country previously, which also assisted in the team’s organization and ability to manage themselves.

“We were essentially able to form our own workouts and form our own team,” May said. “Jones [the girls’ cross country coach] helped us out a bit helping get the whole team situated and making us a more complete unit.”

Though the team was able to organize itself, this does not lessen the fact that the search for a coach took a long time.

What many fail to realize are the large number of factors besides qualification that go into hiring a coach.

“Finding a coach is never easy, and finding a good coach is even harder,” track and field coach Fung said.

“Time constraints are always hard,” Fung said. “You have to be available 5-6 days a week, having the time to do it...usually, if you work a 9 to 5, you don’t have the time.

You’d have to somehow be a teacher,

Adam Mansour/ The campanile

New cross country coach Marcus Stone directs practice out on the track.

or somehow have your own business where you can leave and go.”

Fung encouraged members of the team to seek out qualified members of the community as potential candidates for the job, but such efforts were relatively unsuccessful.

“We had a couple recommendations from the parents that didn’t pan out,” Fung said.

A series of arbitrary cancellations only added to the frustration.

“We had a candidate, and he decided-at the last minute-that he didn’t want it, and that put us in a bind,” Fung said.

Sports like football, basketball and volleyball always have many applicants for open positions.

These team sports tend to have more participants as well.

Such is true with the hiring of the boys’ water polo coach.

“Finding a water polo coach, kids grow up here swimming, playing water polo, so the draw is much easier,” Fung said.

But why exactly is it that we, as a school community, are so biased toward favoring sports such as football, basketball and volleyball over cross country, which barely had any applicants?

Just because a sport cannot generate large amounts of revenue from their games or is not equally engaging to spectators as it is to the athletes, does not make it unworthy of the same treatment as other more praised sports receive.

However, it is clear that there was some what of a communication error here. While I have no suggestions or critique for the new coach, if a similar situation were to arise again, more updates on behalf of the administration such as Fung and Hansen to the athletes and parents would be necessary.

The members of the team were left in dark as to the aspects of the hiring.

For all they knew, Fung and Hansen were still “scrambling for a coach” until the very end.

Friday, September 28, 2012

The Campanile

C4 SPORTS

Lily in London Lily Zhang slams a hit against her Hungarian opponent at the 2012 World Champions in Germany.

Lily Zhang Staff Writer

I

couldn’t believe my eyes. Blinding lights, music, the roaring crowd. This was it.

Nine years of my life dedicated to this very moment.

I was walking in the Olympic Opening Ceremony as a part of the U.S. team. The sense of pride and accomplishment I felt not only for myself, but for my country was overwhelming.

All around me were amazing and talented athletes, many with their cameras out as well, recording the memories that I know none of us will forget. To my left was the U.S. fencing team and to my right was the U.S. track and field team.

The stadium was enormous, filled to the brim. Looking around, I noticed that the eyes of my fellow athletes were all in awe of the magnificence. I remember almost running into a camera because I couldn’t stop looking at everything in order to soak it all in.

And then, before I knew it, it was 1:30 a.m. and the Opening Ceremony had ended, leaving the athletes to head back to the Olympic athletes’ village. The magical feeling of being in the Opening Ceremony vanished as quickly as it had come. The dream was over and I felt a sense of dread overtake me as I realized I had to play table tennis early the next morning.

I ran back to the village in my clunky, white, Ralph Lauren Opening Ceremony shoes and I suddenly became aware of how painfully tight

Courtesy of Lily Zhang

Teammates Ariel Hsing, Erica Wu and Lily Zhang snap a shot at the Opening Ceremony in London.

they were. My feet were tired and sore as I finally walked into my room at 2:30 a.m.

I woke up groggy and tired the next day, but with the knowledge that my match would start in just a few short hours, I became jittery and nervous. I tried to calm myself down, but as the morning wore on, I started panicking with every passing minute.

It seemed as if everything was going wrong. Just a few weeks earlier in our Olympic

training camp, I had developed a serious allergic reaction to some bed bug bites from the hotel in Washington D.C. The bites seemed to have gone away but I noticed just a few days earlier that they were reappearing; this time, the bites were even bigger and worse than before. To make matters worse, my shoes from the Opening Ceremony had irritated the bites on my foot and they had swelled enormously, making it painful just

to walk. Practice was terrible.

I missed pretty much everything. All the while my foot throbbed with every step.

Finally the time came when the players had to walk out on court and be announced before the match. Peeking out at the crowd, my heart stopped. The stadium was packed tightly with thousands of people, but this time the roars of the crowd struck me in a completely different way than they did the night before. I’ve played in

front of large crowds before, but the atmosphere in the Olympic arena was something I’d never experienced. I didn’t just have the pre-match butterflies anymore. My entire stomach felt like it was filled with hundreds of crawling snakes. Walking out onto the arena, my hands and legs went numb.

When the match finally started, I was already a wreck, too far gone to come back. I tried everything to calm myself

down and just focus on my game, but nothing worked. It was almost like a dream, but the kind of dream where you want to wake up and believe it never happened. I lost my first game. Then another game.

And another. And then all of a sudden, I was done. I had lost to a woman who I never should have lost to and I hadn’t even started to really play. I rubbed my eyes as I tried to make sense of what had just happened.

It was over. Just like that.

The Campanile

Friday, September 28, 2012

SPORTS C5

Courtesy of Lily Zhang

Lily Zhang stands in front of the Olympic Torches during the Opening Ceremony.

COURTESY OF LILY ZHANG

Despite losing, I actually did win in a way. I won an amazing experience in London and the support of many people who I cannot express enough thanks for.

My Olympic dream and the expectations of everybody were ruined in the very first round of the 2012 London Olympics.

When I walked back to my coach, the cameras zoomed in on my face as I tried my hardest not to cry. At that very moment, I felt crushed. It was numbing and heartbreaking to have come all this way just to disappoint everybody. Going through the mixed zone filled with cameras and interviews while trying to be positive and upbeat was horrible. All I wanted to do was be alone.

For days afterwards, I sulked. I wasn’t able to enjoy

my experience because I was so angry with myself. But thankfully with competition out of the way, I was finally able to meet up with my parents and spend a whole day in London with them. I felt so much more at ease.

Even though I had lost in the first round of the Olympics, I could tell that they were still proud of me and loved me no matter what. My parents have always been more than supportive of me and they didn’t care whether I won or lost.

Although I don’t tell them enough, I truly appreciate everything they’ve sacrificed and have done for me.

After reflecting for a couple of days, I realized I couldn’t let this loss define me. Everybody has their disappointments and losses, but the most important thing is to get back up and keep trying. I thought about all the expectations people had for me going into the Olympics and how I had let them all down by losing.

I realized that I’m not playing this sport for everybody else, I’m playing it for myself and because I love it. So what if I did lose in the very first round of the Olympics? I can take this as a great learning experience to strengthen me in the future and use my mistakes

as motivation to work harder.

It’s been said over and over again, but it really is true: not everything is about winning.

Despite losing, I actually did win in a way. I won an amazing experience in London and the support of many people who I cannot express enough thanks for.

I have my wonderful parents, family, friends, coaches and fans who are behind me no matter what happens. My journey is far from over, and I look forward to the many experiences that are still to come. So Rio 2016, you better watch out because here I come!

COURTESY OF LILY ZHANG

Lily Zhang and 19 time gold medalist Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps meet in the Athletes’ Village.

COURTESY OF LILY ZHANG

Kobe Bryant poses with Olympian Lily Zhang.

COURTESY OF LILY ZHANG

Lily Zhang holds the Olympic Torch in Manchester.

Friday, September 28, 2012

The Campanile

C6 SPORTS

Paly football team rebounds with dominating win Riding on the momentum of shutting out Gunn, the football team prepares to face Milpitas in the first league game with another commanding performance.

brandon Byer Senior Staff Writer

T

he Palo Alto Vikings football team began its season off on the right foot after a 40-23 rout of San Benito High School in their season opener.

Junior wide receiver Malcolm Davis and senior running back Matthew Tolbert each scored three touchdowns, leading the charge for the Vikings.

With a full offseason to prepare, junior quarterback Keller Chryst improved from his impressive sophomore campaign, as he commanded the Vikings’ offense down the field on multiple scoring drives throughout the night against the San Benito

defense. With the graduation of safety Gabe Landa and linebackers Brennan Miller and Morris GatesMouton, Paly’s defense has changed considerably. These voids have been filled by seniors Erik Anderson and Spencer Drazovich.

“I lead by example,” Anderson said. “I try to spread enthusiasm around to the team every single play.

No matter if it’s a Monday practice or a Friday game, I want everyone at the school pumped for the games.”

Last year the Vikings lost to Archbishop Mitty 27-21, and it was another close contest this year as a botched snap on the attempt at an extra point late in the fourth quarter lead to the Vikings losing 28-27.

Davis continued to light up the stat sheet catching nine passes for 241 yards. Through the first three games, Davis has amassed a total of 17 catches for 384 yards.

“I have a good relationship with Keller on and off the field,” Davis said. “I give him a lot of the credit because he’s the one throwing me

open and allowing me to make the plays downfield.”

Matt Tolbert added 111 yards rushing and scored twice on reverses that caught the Mitty defenders off-guard.

In the final game of a three game home stretch, the Vikings shut out rival Gunn High School, with a final score of 48-0. Tolbert and Chryst led the way offensively for the Vikings, as Tolbert ran for 166 yards and Chryst threw four touchdown passes.

Expectations are still as high as ever since the 2010 team won the Division I State Title against Centennial of Corona. Offensively, the run first, pass second mentality plans to wear down the opponent by being physical at the point of attack. While the defense is confident playing smash-mouth football by stopping the run with depth at every position.

“Our depth is an advantage for us,” Anderson said. “Guys like Marlon [Short] and Connor [Scheel] have really stepped up and added

Adam mansour/The Campanile

The second string quarterback, junior Andrew Frick, enters the Paly vs Gunn game after Paly takes a commanding lead.

to our team which is huge for our confidence.”

With a 2-1 record overall, the Palo Alto Vikings turn towards league play

this Friday Sept. 28, when they play the Milpitas Trojans. Both teams will try to start off their respective league game with a victory.

Cross country runners aim to improve times, qualify for CCS “Our expectations are to finish in the top two in the league and the same at CCS [Central Coast Section], which would qualify the team to go to States in late November,” girls’ coach Paul Jones said.

Last year the boys’ varsity team did not make CCS but is hoping that through extra training it will qualify this year.

Both the girls’ and boys’ cross country teams enjoyed success in their first league meet at Gunn High School, staying optimistic despite losing senior runners.

Jack Paladin Alvina Zou Staff Writers

T

he Paly cross country team began its season at the Gunn Alumni meet where the team ran against Gunn High School and St. Francis High School.

The team has set its expectations high for this season and is ready to do whatever it takes to finish on top.

Our expectations are to finish in the top one or two in the League and the same at CCS [Central Coast Section].

Paul Jones coach

“I’m really hoping we make CCS this year,” varsity boys’ team captain

senior Ben May said. “Last year we were really close, but I think just due to the performances on that day, we didn’t really get there. I think this year, we have a little better of a team so, I think that’s our main goal.”

The girls’ team has started its season as a team experience playing together, as there are many returning upperclassmen.

“Everybody has been training really hard,” girls’ varsity team captain junior Audrey DeBruine said.

“We didn’t lose many seniors from the past season to this one. So, in that respect, we’re improving.”

Cross country began its season at the Gunn Alumni meet on Thursday Aug. 30. Varsity boys and varsity girls placed first and second respectively. Senior Ben Hawthorne placed

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third overall and first for the Vikings, with a time of 11:49 at a pace of 5:25.

Senior teammates Justin Zhang and Ben May placed fourth and fifth behind Hawthorne.

The Lady Vikes began Thursday with senior Nora Rosati running a time of 13:07, a mile pace of 6:01, second overall behind Gunn High School’s Sarah Robinson. Behind Rosati, sophomore Katie Foug and Audrey DeBruine placed third and fourth.

“I think we all did really well,” May said. “There’s nothing really better than first place. So, you can’t really complain about that. I think the majority of us were disappointed by the times we got, especially the returning runners, because you can really see the difference between the

beginning of the season and the end of the season.”

The team hopes to do as well in the rest of their season and is determined to continue practicing at a high level so it can show its full potential and have success.

“This is still the beginning of the season” May said. “I think we are just trying to get our general fitness up. I think as there are more races, people are going to look for better [personal records].”

The team now looks towards its upcoming meets including the Half Moon Bay Invite at Half Moon Bay High School on Saturday Oct. 6, the SCVAL Baylands at the Sunnyvale Baylands on Tuesday Oct. 16 and the Monterey Invite at Toro Park on Friday Oct. 19.

Friday, September 28, 2012

The Campanile

SPORTS C7

Girls’ water polo looks to improve after early losses Leslie Wan staff writer

A

fter suffering tough losses to Las Lomas High School, Sacramento High School and Castilleja High School, the girls’ varsity water polo team hopes to improve its scores despite its rough start to the season.

The team has high hopes to improve and eventually best the schools that it was unable to beat at the beginning of the season.

“I think we just need to come together as a team and overall improve the game,” senior Abbey Kinnaman said.

The team captain, senior Martine Leclerc looks forward to helping her team improve its unity, organization and communication.

“Our defense is really good right now, and our offense is doing pretty well as well,” Leclerc said. “But we need to improve on our communication and organization. We have a problem where we don’t exactly know what the other person is doing and we end up having two people guard one person and no one guarding the goal.”

Coach Spencer Dornin agrees with Leclerc.

“We have a great defense and I am very pleased with what we are right now,” Dornin said.

Leclerc believes that many of the returning players such as co-captain senior Abbey Kinnaman, juniors Emma Wolfe and Tara Lawrence and sophomore Tess Van Hulsen will help contribute to the team’s success.

“We have a really balanced team this year” Dornin said. “We’re scoring from a lot of different players.”

The team’s offensive players have demonstrated their strengths in many different areas of the game playing at a high level already this early on.

“Tess is really fast and can counter very well,” Leclerc said. “Tara is really aggressive. Emma and Abbey are our main set players, the people who try to defend protect the net.”

Varsity junior teammate Emma Wolfe agrees that the players on this team are overall very well-rounded and talented.

“Tess is a really great shooter and Tara is really amazing,” Wolfe said.

The team will use new defense tactics such as the “m-drop” to help the team work better together on defense.

The “m-drop” is when two people guarding the main set, otherwise known as the most dangerous player on offense, split three offensive players with two defensive players to score a goal. The team believes that their biggest rival school is Henry M. Gunn High School due to their aggressive team and high scores.

In addition, private schools such as Saint Francis High School and Sacred Heart Prep, are also some of the most challenging private schools that the team will face this season.

“Gunn is usually our biggest opponent,” Leclerc said,”Then, we’ve always had a back and forth win and loss with Los Altos. And then, private schools are pretty challenging as

well. But I think we improve the most from playing private schools”.

The team believes that they have improved dramatically since last year from better defense and increased communication to faster and more powerful We have a swimming. really balanced With these team this year. new improveWe’re scoring ments, the team believes from a lot that they have of different the potential players. to defeat not Spencer Dornin only Gunn, Head Coach but also the private schools such as Sacred Heart, and Saint Francis who have owned Paly in the past.

“We’re going to take it [each game] one game at a time,” Dornin said. “Our ultimate goal is to win a league title, and reach CCS for a shot at the championship.”

Andrew Choi/The Campanile

Junior Hannah Bundy loads for a shot on goal. The Lady Vikes are ready to get back on track with a string of upcoming league games on the schedule including crosstown rival Gunn.

Girls’ varsity tennis strives for CCS Josefin Kenrick staff writer

G

irls’ varsity tennis is looking forward to a good season this year and focusing on two goals: to improve its record from last year and to make it into Central Coast Section (CCS).

This year’s team captains are juniors Aashli Budhiraja and Felicia Wang and seniors Tiffany Nguyen and Sammy Solomon.

The tennis team went to a tournament in Santa Catalina for the weekend of Sept. 15 to 16 and played well according to coach Andy Harader. “[Santa Catalina] went well,” Harader said. “Aashli Budhiraja and Felicia Wang weren’t there so it gave other girls a chance to play.”

Paly also hosted an invitational tournament Sept. 8 and 9 and finished in second place.

“The team will do better than last year,” Harader said. “We already are beating our record [from last season].”

On Aug. 30, the girls beat Aragon High School 4-3, an opponent they had lost to the past few occasions they played.

“Our big game was definitely Aragon,” Budhiraja said. “That was kind of our measure on how we’re going to do this year.”

This year there are two underclassmen playing on the varsity team: sophomore Madeline Lee and freshman Kelsey Wang, the younger sister of captain Felicia Wang.

Only one senior left last year so the team is essentially the same.

Both the coach and players have high hopes for this year, and Wang believes that the team is already looking better than it did before.

“We have improved a lot, since many players have practiced over the summer,” Wang said. “[Harader] has been the coach for Paly’s girls and boys teams for several years, so he is very experienced.”

The team has also improved due to Budhiraja’s training over the summer.

She is now a team captain and has been playing on varsity since freshman year.

Hillel Zand/The Campanile

Junior Aashli Budhiraja hits a backhand return in one of her matches. She and her teammates have their sights set on a CCS championship.

“Our number one singles player [Aashli Budhiraja] has improved tremendously, physically and mentally,” Wang said. “We are often in need of one more match to win, so with the help of [Budhiraja], we [can] beat schools such as homestead and Aragon that we lost to last year.”

Paly had a match against Sacred Heart Sept. 19 and beat them 5-2, after losing to them last year.

The team members are also excited to play Saratoga High School again because they lost 1-6 in close matches against Saratoga on Sept. 11.

They will have a chance to redeem themselves Oct. 4 when they play Saratoga again.

On Sept. 20 they lost 3-4 to We [can] beat Los Altos High schools such School. as homestead “It was a really and Aragon close match,” that we lost Solomon said. to last year.

“We can definitely beat Los Felicia Wang Altos the next Junior time we play them.”

The biggest upcoming matches are against Los Altos High School, on Sept. 20, Lynbrook on Sept. 27 and Monta Vista on Oct. 2. “[Paly’s tennis] league is very tough,” Harader said. “It is nicknamed the ‘super league’ because it has very competitive teams.”

Overall, the team is prepared for this season and aspiring to make it to CCS, a goal they fell short of last year, but Budhiraja knows this goal can be accomplished with this team.

Talent may be one of the most prominent aspects of the team, however, players are also putting in a great deal of time training.

“The team looks great,” Budhiraja said. ” “A lot better than last year.”

Adam Mansour/The Campanile

Junior Sam Kelley battles against two De La Salle High School players for possession. The Vikings lost 16-8 but are looking forward to league play.

New water polo coaches prepare for first season Irene Ezran staff writer

A

fter the end of the 2011 boys’ varsity water polo season, the entire coaching staff was dismissed.

The team also lost players Will Conner and Nelson Perla-Ward as well as four graduated seniors.

Despite the changes in coaches and players, the team has started strong by winning over half of their games since the start of the season.

On Tuesday, Sept. 11, Paly won their first game against Homestead 11-4, and two days later, they beat Los Gatos 12-7. However, later in the season, Paly fell to Mountain View 10-8 on Sept. 18, before beating Monta Vista 12-8 on Sept. 20.

This year, the new coaches are twin brothers Matt and Brandon Johnson, who played for Henry M. Gunn High School several years ago.

The coaches and players have worked well together since the start of the season.

Brandon Johnson believes that the Paly team will do well this season. This team has a good back line with goalies Jake Weinstein and Brent Schroder leading the way defensively.

“I think we’re really fast,” Brandon Johnson said. “We’re probably not the biggest, strongest team,

but we’re definitely fast and in good shape.”

However, since two key offensive players have transferred to Sacred Heart Preparatory, the team’s offense needs improvement.

“When Will Conner and Nelson Perla-Ward left, our offence was weakened,” senior co-captain Bret Pinsker said.

The coaches believe that the team will We’re probably improve with not the biggest, p r a c t i c e a n d experience strongest team, but we’re as the season progresses. definitely fast “There’s still and in good things we can shape. improve on; Brandon Johnson we missed out Head Coach on a lot of easy opportunities,” Brandon Johnson said, “I think as the year goes on and we start to get used to each other a little more, we’ll start getting better.”

Overall, Johnson has high hopes for the team to win a league title and possibly make run for a CCS championship.

“We want to win our league for sure, and I think that we can do that,” Johnson said. “That’s a goal that isn’t too far out there. And after that, we’ll be going to CCS, and we’ll go from there.”

Friday, September 28, 2012

The Campanile

C8 SPORTS

t? i r i p s got s ’ o h W

THE PALY

MASCOT BowE Staff

n Gero uld

write r

T

wo years ago, th e 2010 Paly foot ball team won th Central Coast e Wednesday Section (CCS) Sept. 19, just Championship against heavily in time for th s candidates favored Centenn 15-13. Both te e to ia be selected be l H igh School B ams came into fore the “Littl ig Game” agai the championsh undefeated, bu e ns t G t Paly ultimatel ip game cess unn. The select y le fo ion prophy and the br agging rights th ft the field with the tro- tryo r choosing this mascot was a traditional at w ut format, and whole season w an as magical, fille ent along with it. The to at tend. The peop yone interested was able d with intense and great plays, le selected to su moments ch an ance to represen it up have the were a hit amon d because Paly was winning, t their school at the games g students and all sporting even adults alike.

“If one person That season, ts. is going to do many senior st a big time com it for the year, ence, but when ars captivated mitment,” Hal th at’s they graduated, the audi- ga l said.“ me, that’s impo amongst the st games became udent body. less popular ssible. But if w Every sport, every four people who e have two or So with some three or can do it, so m of the star play uc h ers gone, what fans coming ba Se the better.” ni or s Andre Kouch will keep the ck for more? P ekey and Glo aly A se le ct ed ou t of (ASB) thinks th ria Guzman w a gr ou p of fo ey have the answ ssociated Student Body, ere ur an d w il l re sc er ho .

Early on in the ol at th e fo ot pr es en t th e school year, mem ba ll an d ba sk decide how they et ba Kouchekey is ha bers of ASB wer could increase ppy that ASB ch ll ga m es re sp ec ti ve ly . e trying to te attendance at al events. After m st ose him an ts and feels he can l any ideas boun bring his own tw over the other conced around, they Paly sporting favorite. Why “I fe el ist to the positio comfortab settled on a fan not have a Vik n. ing mascot go tume and can be le enough to work my way ar to pump up th to sporting even e crowd? ound in the co m or e of a cr ts ow sd dressed like a vi pleaser than an “T h e m as co king,” Kouchek other cheerleade t is th e p er ey r fe ct w ay to attendance,”A said.

He also agrees SB boo that the masco “We feel like it Sports Commissioner Jack A st sp o rt s the fans will ha t will improve ve whe the experience nderson said. would make sp that orting events m students, and it “I think the mas n they go to the games. ore fun for the could make th co t w ill ad d a e student body lit an go to the games tl d e fu fla nny,” Kouchek re to games beca mor which may lead ey said. use it’s new to higher attend e excited to along with incr Kouchekey is tr ance at games, eased enthusia ai ni ng w it h sm for the spor the cheer squa games and is no However, this d but can go al ts themselves.” t re mascot is not re one to the support that stricted to the cheer routine. served for footba available for al He is thankful th l sporting even ll. e ch It ee w r ill sq be ua for d ts ha w ard to having a that request it. s “We wante less restricted ro given him but is looking ford to incre ut ine come game “They have been ase sporting attend time. really helpful w ance at ot mascot], but w ith getting me her sports n ot ju st fo r he into [being the n it comes gam , fo ot ba ll an d e time I just do Kouchekey said ba sk et ba ll but for other my own thing, . sports like lacr ”

osse and baseball,” Studen H av in g th e t Activities Dir m as co t se p ar ector Matt Hall said at e from the cheer . squad gives The mascot sp or ts ’ te am s th will be e po w er expected to atte to re qu es t th nd all home e V ik in g basketball and al o n e w h ic h football games w o u ld as well as som on ly ta ke th e e away games. co m It w il l al so be av m it m en t of on ai la e sports upon requ bl e fo r ot he r person whereas est. the cheer squad re “Having a mas quires cot opens up more notice an th e op po rt un d a comit y fo r m or e m it m en t fr om sports to get su pport and to m pe op le w h o al ul ti pl e get some love,” re ad y sa cHall said ri fi ce a go od Though the id ch un k of ea had be en in co n si time going to d er at io n the home fo r m an y ye fo ot ba ll an d ar s, A S B ba sk et ba ll had never actu games. ally gone through with it “[The members . of the “W e’ ve ta lk ed ch eer squad] are ab ou t already this for years, working their even before tails off,” I w as on th e H al l sa id . “T ca m p us as h e m as S tu de nt A ct iv cot can help th it ie s D ir ec to r, em out by about getting a ad di ng so m e mascot, and th fl av or or it ey actually looked ca n take some pr into it, research ed essure off and they never them.” got around to or it, dering it,” Hall sa T h e ne xt ch an id. ce to se e th e The mascot, w m as co t at ho m e w il hi ch was ordered l th re e w ee k s be S ep t. w hen Paly, look ag o , ar ri ve d ing to improve 28 on to overall, will ta ke on Los Gat 3-1 os in a league game.

adam mansour/The campanile