Issue 2

The Campanile

See our new C Magazine inside!

PALO ALTO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT PALO ALTO HIGH SCHOOL 50 EMBARCADERO RD. PALO ALTO, CA 94301 NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE

PAI D PALO ALTO PERMIT #44

Vol. XCV, No. 2

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

Friday, October 19, 2012

ASB reduces parking permit price to $40 bowen gerould staff writer

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Spirit Week 2.0 Hillel Zand Staff Writer

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aly’s Associated Student Body (ASB) continues to make preparations in anticipation of a reformed and unbiased Spirit Week, which will take place from Oct. 22 to Oct. 26.

After an activity filled-week, Spirit Week will culminate with Friday’s two rallies and Saturday’s homecoming dance.

Friday’s after school rally, also on the football field, will feature performances by Paly’s cheerleading and dance squads.

The day ends with performances by each of the four class’s Spirit

Dance and presentation of class floats. The five to seven judges for the after-school rally have not yet been decided, but possible candidates include: Paly teachers that teach multiple grades, the mayors of Palo Alto and East Palo Alto, school board candidates, and the ASB president and vice president of Henry M. Gunn High School.

aly’s Associated Student Body (ASB) voted to change the price of parking permits from $100 to $40 and to provide a rebate for students that already purchased permits at the higher price.

The reduction of pricing was a goal of ASB’s last year, and has been brought up in previous discussions early on this year and even past years.

This year, ASB has decided to make the price cut.

Because of ASB’s surplus of nearly $200,000, the loss of revenue from permits will be afforded without cutbacks in other areas.

“When we started researching it and looking into our budget, and how much we could afford and how much we had carried over from the last several years of ASB budgets, we felt like it was a doable thing,” student activities director Matt Hall said.

The change will be effective as of Oct. 15 and those who purchase permits from that day onward will only have to pay $30 as opposed to $75 for the remaining three quarters

See PERMITS, A3

Hall insists that he and ASB will continue the judge selection process by making sure that all judges have minimal bias toward any one grade.

Saturday’s dance will include a new DJ and entertainment company and ASB has set an attendance goal of 500-600 students.

See SPIRIT WEEK, A3

on glass collected from local community members.

Another project on display that can be seen along Embarcadero Road as well is artist Anthony Discenza’s “Community Advice.” Discenza collected advice from different people around the community and used it to created street signs.

Also on display is Jean Finley and Mel Day’s delicate video exhibition, inspired by local senior center Lytton Gardens.

“This exhibition was created in attempt to not only honor but also celebrate the critical transitions that the seniors are going through,” said Day. “We wanted to give some of the physically immobile seniors a sense of going somewhere.”

With the help of Stanford Center for Computer Research in Music and

See ART, A3

See API, A3

kate apostolou/the campanile

Jenny lee silver/creative commons

staff writer

See HOBEE’S, A3

Charlotte Barry/The Campanile

The new, remodeled Art Center opened on October 6. The new art center features fiber-glass doors and windows to create a sense of open space for the galleries.

Art Center celebrates opening after remodel

Michelle Yin Staff Writer

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alo Alto’s Art Center, located on Newell and Embarcadero, celebrated its grand opening on Oct. 6 after a year and half of renovations. The Art Center celebrated with performances, arts and crafts activities for both children and adults, as well as the promotion of its new galleries.

Originally built in 1953 by architect Leslie Nichols, the facility now has a new brightened look through the incorporation of fiber-glass doors and windows, and raised ceiling to create a sense of open space for the galleries.

In addition, walls were freshly painted and remodeled, and new lighting was also added to highlight the galleries with a vivid sense of light

INSIDE News......................................A1-A5 Spotlight.................................A6-A8 Opinion..............................A9-A12 Lifestyle....................................B1 Student Life.................................B2 Community..................................B3 Spirit Week............................B4-B5 Food......................................B6-B7 Culture...................................B8 Sports...................................C1-C8

Editor-In-chief

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jack paladin

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Charlie Dulik

he Palo Alto Unified School District’s (PAUSD) Academic Performance Index (API) reached its highest point in the last six years, according to a report published by the California Department of Education on Oct. 11.

Among other points of interest, the API of various subgroups in the district show PAUSD’s racial and socioeconomic achievement gap closing.

The API tracks school and district performance on tests in the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program and the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) as part of a statewide accountability system. The API is reported on a scale of 200 to 1000, with at least 800 being the state’s goal for schools.

In 2012, PAUSD’s API increased to 934 from 926 the year before.

Paly’s API increased from 900 to 906, and Henry M. Gunn High School’s (Gunn) increased from 909 to 920. Both rank in the top 50 high schools in the state, with Paly and Gunn ranked 49th and 27th, respectively. Three other PAUSD schools, Herbert Hoover Elementary, Jordan Middle School and Terman Middle School, all also rank in California’s top 50 schools for their school type.

PAUSD saw an increase in API across all numerically significant subgroups, which is a group with “100 or more students with valid STAR program scores” or “50 or more students with valid STAR program scores who make up at least 15 percent of the total valid STAR program scores,”

Hobee’s to close at beginning of 2013

obee’s Town and Country location will be closing due to an increase in rent and a required facility remodel, that Hobee’s is unwilling to undertake.

The restaurant reports that its estimated closing date is Jan. 5, 2013.

If Hobee’s were to renovate their building, the owners would have to close their Town and Country location for an unknown amount of time. Hobee’s owners believe that it would not be financially beneficial to do so, and have therefore decided not to pay for the renovation.

While Hobee’s Town and Country location is closing, the company will continue to operate at eight other locations throughout Silicon Valley. All of the employees currently working at Hobee’s Town and Country will have the opportunity to transfer to a different location.

Hobee’s has been at Town and Country for 28 years, and its owners state on their website that they are very sad to see their business leave.

However, they hope that they will be able to reopen their business in another location in Silicon Valley.

PAUSD standardized testing scores improve

for each of the pieces that are in the art center.

“The transformed gallery space is much more open and expansive with concrete floors and new lighting,” art center director Karen Kienzle said.

“We also created a new open lobby space that welcomes visitors into the facility and a new Children’s Wing with double the number of classrooms for kids.”

The primary objective of this project was to transform the art center into a more “cherished and appreciated” resource for the community, according to Kienzle.

A multitude of unique new galleries and exhibitions were built including artists Angela Filo’s “Palo Alto Forest.”

Filo is most known for documenting the changing landscape of the Silicon Valley and in this gallery, she printed historic Palo Alto trees

Spotlight

Mock Election The Campanile conducts a mock election on the Quad to determine the future of the United States of America. A6-A7 numb3r5/Creative Commons

News

Opinion

Get Schooled

Contraception

School Board candidates discuss the current issues in education. A4

The administration should distribute condoms around campus. A8

Friday, October 19, 2012

A10

The Campanile

OPINION

Vote, you fools!

Art department deserves additional funding

Ben Hawthorne

I’ll spare you the witty intro and cut straight to the chase: YOU. MUST. VOTE. This election is big. It is impossible to deny that this presidential election is a contest between two people with diametrically opposed world views.

The contest between Obama and Romney embodies the fight between big government and small. In this election, you have a real choice; one that will determine the future of the country.

This election will also be close. In the first debate, Romney successfully nullified much of Obama’s caricature of himself as an uncaring plutocrat by embracing his healthcare reforms in Massachusetts that he previously rejected and by claiming he would regulate business and banks.

This translated into a boost in the national polls, as a new poll by the non-partisan Pew Research Center, which showed that Romney gained 12 points in the week following the debate, shows. Romney is now four points above Obama.

Nate Silver, a New York Times pollster who successfully predicted the results of 49 states in the 2008 election, has also noted that the chance of Romney winning has jumped 15 percent since the debate. The closeness of the race means that your vote will have a greater chance of making a difference.

There are a few common justifications for voter apathy. Especially common among us shiftless youth is the “I’m too busy to vote” excuse. This is simply false. Registering to vote, via an online service like Turbovote (turbovote.org) or registertovote.org takes less than five minutes.

Turbovote even sends you email reminders to get out and vote so that you don’t forget to send in your ballot on election day.

The actual process of voting could not be easier: just drop by your local polling place, vote and leave within half an hour. Don’t know where your local polling place is? Just look it up on Smartvoter.org (smartvoter.org/ ca/scl/; enter your address and zip code into the “my ballot and polling place” section to find both your nearest polling place and detailed information on the candidates and legislation on your ballot) or contact the Santa Clara County elections office.

Even getting informed is easy.

A brief, regular scan of the news, which can be accomplished in minutes over breakfast, is an easy shortcut to being an informed voter. Our state puts descriptions of ballot initiatives and bios of local candidates on the ballot. Descriptions of anything not described on the ballot can be found on Smartvoter.org or Ballotpedia (ballotpedia.org, a wiki with descriptions of local legislation and candidates).

The final common reason for apathy is the belief that voting won’t change anything because all politicians are immoral. The problem, of course, is that it is both not true and changeable. Politicians are not bad, or, at least, they are not all equally bad (before you object, remember that every presidential candidate save two in the last 25 years has had an Ivy League education).

While some politicians are bad, it your job to ensure that only the talented, earnest ones secure office. If voted, you could actively bring about change in the system.

In short, you have no reason to duck your chief civic duty of voting.

Liberal regulations and technology make registering, getting informed and voting easier than at any other time in American history.

The unique circumstances of this election mean that not only will your vote count, but it will determine which direction this country takes.

This time, the stakes are high and so are the consequences. So get out there and make a choice.

America is counting on you to exercise your judgement in making an informed decision in choosing a leader.

Grace Fang Features editor

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ue to the recent budget crisis, school funds have been cut immensely. Though most students do not feel a huge impact of the decrease in funds in their academic classes, art students, especially those in higher levels, are directly affected.

Last year, the average amount of money allocated to each student taking an art class was $9.50. This year, that amount has gone down to $8 per student, cutting the budget even further.

“I feel like over the years I’ve seen the materials in quality go down,” senior Alisa Glenn said. “For art spectrum kids they should have the same privileges as we did as art spectrum students. “The gap between the amount of money allocated for the art department and the amount needed for students to make the most out of the classes has been increasing.”

AP Studio Art teacher Kate McKenzie has been relying largely on grants, individual donations and the Parent-Teacher-Student Association (PTSA), a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that supports students in the Palo Alto community, to fill the gap.

This year, $1392 is allocated to 169 students in art spectrum, $392 for 49 students in the combined painting and drawing classes, and $128 for nine students in AP Studio Art. That averages to be about $8.23 per art spectrum student, $8 per painting and drawing student, and $14.22 per AP Studio Art student, according to Vice Principal Jerry Berkson.

This lack of funding causes student to be conscious about what materials they are using and how to best preserve them so that they can last for

Gina Scarpino/The CAMPANILE

Students work on sketches in Ms. Hale’s Art Spectrum class. The art department has faced many cuts this past year.

the longest time possible. A tube of oil paint costs at least $8, and a good set of brushes would cost well over $30. Eight dollars per student would barely account for a tube of oil paint or an adequate-sized canvas.

“The lack of funding is extremely frustrating,” Junior Jonathan Friduss said. “And it’s not even about being frugal about the supplies I use. There is no access to these supplies so that I can be frugal.”

For example, Friduss borrowed woodcut supplies to create a woodcut to fundraise for the arts department through Project 868, a student-run organization aimed to raise money for the arts department.

He hoped to make woodblock prints for the cards that 868 sells but could not include the amount of intricacy in it as he would like to, since he had to use cheaper supplies.

“The tools are as close to nonfunctional as they can be,” Friduss said. “ As a result, I had to make the simplest, most graphic woodcut ever.”

On average, an AP student would use at least $50 worth of materials per year. Many materials students use that are not covered by the base

amount allocated to them are art supplies such as canvases, paints and brushes that have been accumulated from previous years, according to McKenzie.

Many people do not hold the importance of art at the same level as that of other academic subjects such as math and sciences. However, the arts are indeed an academic courses Artists in the higher classes in particular understand the effect of the budget crisis on the arts, and make every effort to conserve the classroom materials. and are essential to fostering student creativity.

Oil paints, canvases and other expensive supplies are especially essential to higher level art classes.

They are much more costly than more basic materials that the beginning art classes use due to the more refined and specialized nature.

Artists in the higher classes in particular understand the effect of the

budget crisis on the arts, and make every effort to conserve the classroom materials.

“Since the funding is so low I always feel bad using the art department’s supplies if I have paint of my own,” Glenn said.

However, there have been improvements in other areas in terms of the dissemination of department funding. Money in previous years was allotted to each department based on the number of students, but consumables are now being taken into account this year.

The PTSA, grants from organizations such as Partners in Education (PiE) and generous individual student donations play a huge role in keeping the arts department going and have helped immensely in keeping the richness of the arts.

Students and teachers should not have to worry about the art program; rather, having the administration provide funding for the arts department would enable the students to foster their creativity to the fullest without worrying about getting donations to further their study of the arts and continue to do what they love.

Community colleges provide valuable options for students

Courtesy of FootHill.edu

Foothill College is one of many local community colleges in the Bay Area. It provides a viable alternative for students looking for a reasonably priced quality education.

Josefin Kenrick Staff Writer

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hen our parents went to college, it was possible to be accepted with a 2.0 GPA and low expectations. Now, us Palo Alto students are required to get 4.0 GPA’s and a score of 2350 on our SAT in order to get into a “good college,” such as Harvard or our neighbor Stanford across the street.

By Palo Alto standards, it is only fine to get into a UC or a college back East. But what if none of these colleges appeal to you, or they are too pricey or you just do not get in?

That is when you choose to go to the taboo of Palo Alto: Bay Area community colleges, such as Foothill or DeAnza. “[There] is an inaccurate and unfair stigma around community college that really prevents people from reaching their potential,” Paly 2009 alumnus Cat Chiang said. “It is a great place to get a fresh start [because] no matter what your grades were in high school you can to go to

a dream school of your choice which can set you up for the rest of your life.”

Community college is a perfect option for many graduated students because it is cost-effective and can provide students with a clean slate.

Because the classes are smaller, it makes it easier for students to learn and it also allows for transfers into the UC system.

Foothill community college offers a $31 enrollment fee per unit and a basic fee of $47, which includes health services and use of the campus center. At this point you are already saving thousands of dollars by going to Foothill over a four-year institution, and, it is possible to get a job in order to make some money while others are drowning in debt.

“I worked at the [Palo Alto] Creamery and saved a bunch of money,” Chiang said. “I was also able to finish a bit early because of Foothill’s quarter system so I got a chance to use the money I made and travel [to Rwanda].”

Foothill is also excellent for students who got accepted into a four-year university but after their first semester realized that it was not a place to thrive and learn.

“I chose to go to a community college after the university I attended did not work out,” Paly 2009 alumnus Lucy McComas said. “For me, community college was the perfect option [because] I was unsure about what

I wanted to major in [and] Foothill gave me the chance to realize what my goals and aspirations were, setting me up for the rest of my life.”

On top of all of this, it is still possible to get into a dream college after going to a community college.

Foothill has a transfer center that allows students to apply to a UC. “Their honors program offers tracks to UCLA, and there are other programs (TAGS) that make admission into Davis, UCSD, and other great schools easier,” Chiang said.

A Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) which is a contract between the student, Foothill and a specific college that guarantees admission if you meet certain requirements. These requirements vary but usually include a minimum GPA, a certain number and type of courses completed before transferring and the number of units required to transfer.

“The TAG system is easy to use for students who want to transfer,” McComas said. “Foothill prepared me enough that I did not feel overwhelmed or completely out of my element [when I transferred].” After spending two years at community college, both Chiang and McComas transferred to a UC. Chiang graduated a year early from UC Los Angeles and McComas is currently at UC Berkeley.

Although Foothill may not offer “the true college experience” of living in dorms and getting away from

your parents, it is still an exceptional resource for students who are not happy with where they got accepted and want a fresh start in life to use as a springboard to a professional career.

“You have the opportunity to make [your experience] whatever you want,” McComas said. “I had lots of fun and met plenty of people who lived with friends, played school sports and was part of school clubs.”

Although people may miss the first two years of a traditional fouryear university, they can still stay in dorms and have the traditional “college experience” during their junior and senior year.

“Honestly, I [do not] feel like I missed out on much,” Chiang said.

“I know countless people that were happy with their Foothill experience.”

As surprising as it may seem, going to community college does not define a person and can set one up for success. Also, the students who go to Foothill might go to an impressive university while others are rejected from their top choice. There are definitely advantages to going to a community college, so the next time someone brings it up in a conversation do not discount the option because it is a viable solution to many student problems.

“Community college does not always get the best rep,” McComas said. “But what people don’t realize is [that] everyone there is looking for something better [and] beneficial.”

Friday, October 19, 2012

The Campanile

OPINION

A11

Students should have additional options for Economics

Josh arfin Senior staff writer

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aly is an exceptional educational institution in part because of the opportunities it provides students to take a wide variety of classes at varying levels of difficulty. For most subjects, classes are laned, ensuring that all students are offered a class that matches their skill level.

The English department has three levels of classes that fulfill the world literature requirement. Math has five different lanes for students. All introductory science classes have two lanes. However, for seniors, there is one required course that is not laned: economics. For those students that want to be engaged with economics, there is no option to take a more comprehensive version of the class.

Therefore Paly should introduce an advanced economics class or an AP Microeconomics class.

In an class with one lane, there is a broad range of ability, forcing teachers to go over concepts multiple times in order to ensure that the entire class has a solid understanding.

Although this is an understandable teaching strategy, some students do not need nearly as many repetitions to grasp the concepts being taught and therefore would benefit from a quicker-paced, more rigorous economics course.

There are valid arguments against having an additional economics lane.

Mr. Bloom, an economics teacher

and the person who implemented the current policy, focused his arguments for the current system around providing more electives.

“If we offered AP Micro, Psychology would be eliminated and there is a good chance that foreign policy and sociology would go down to one period,” Bloom said. “You benefit from having a more heterogeneous mixed class, especially in economics.”

The history department values providing a variety of senior elective classes. It is his belief that adding an advanced economics course would inhibit the department’s ability to run a variety of electives.

Adding an advanced economics class would allow for more comprehensive economics knowledge and better prepare students for college courses.

While Mr. Bloom has a reasonable position, it is unlikely that adding an additional lane would reduce the number of electives offered. If the students that take AP Macro would be the students to take this advanced lane, there would be little change in enrollment in history electives. The only way that adding an advanced class would reduce enrollment in other classes is if more people decided to take economics or students enrolled in economics choose to take fewer electives.

The enrollment in AP Macro would likely not change as the students interested in economics are already taking AP Micro in the spring and those not interested would not become more interested by the addition of a second lane. Students who take the advanced class would take the same number, or close to it, of electives. Enrollment in other

History curriculum lacks senior AP options

Leslie wan Staff writer

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n the final year in high school, seniors should have the liberty of selecting the most challenging classes of the year. However, they are limited by certain classes not offered at Paly. Numerous AP courses such as AP European History, AP World History, and AP Government are offered in other schools, but they are unavailable at Paly.

Seniors can take such social studies classes such as AP Psychology and Sociology but they should have the option of an AP history course.

“I have more of an interest in world history and European history, but not in U.S. history,” junior Sarah Ohlson said. “I ended up not taking AP U.S. History, but I would have most definitely have taken an AP World or AP European history.”

Moreover, AP Psychology, AP Economics, and Sociology do not contain the ideal historical content that is offered in AP European history and AP World History.

“It would be nice to have an AP history course for social science credit,” senior Brian Chen said.

Many students have wished that Paly offered different leveled history courses for seniors. Students would be able to choose which course would best suit their abilities and their interests.

“Seniors should have the choice to take AP history courses,” junior Victoria Kyone said. “Just like junior year, during which the school offers the choice of regular U.S. History and AP U.S. History, seniors should be able to choose between harder and regular history courses as well.”

By offering more history choices, seniors would be able to choose between taking a fun history elective or a challenging AP history course.

Seniors would not only be able to add another AP to their transcript, but also allow seniors to expand their knowledge of international relations and interest in world affairs.

“History is a more fun and accessible subject for most students, so I would think that many students as well as myself would love to have the opportunity to expand their knowledge in European and World History,” senior Alon Cohen said.

“AP courses generally involve a higher level of learning directed at mastering a subject, so AP history courses would naturally be more in depth than other history electives.”

Moreover, AP history courses would help students understand the development of contemporary institutions, the role of continuing and changing roles in present day-society and politics and the evolving disputes and discussions of foreign and domestic issues.

Expanding the knowledge of world and European history would help students not only in their writing, but also teach information that the fun history electives do not have.

“Students that take our courses are challenged. There are definitely some students who don’t think my classes are challenging enough;thus, perhaps the AP classes are something that they can take,” U.S. government teacher Grant Blackburn said.

In other words, the history electives may offer a diverse set of classes, but history teaches students fundamental ideas and knowledge that the electives do not offer. The current history electives are enriching and give students an array of different topics to explore, but do not specifically focus on the historical content that AP course offer.

“I personally favor world and European history to any other subsection of history, so I would have definitely enrolled in this kind of class,” Cohen said.

Alexander Jenson

“Just go with it.” electives would be largely unaffected if there were an advance course.

The solution to the problems outlined is to add a more comprehensive economics class for students who are interested in economics and want to explore the subject in a more challenging environment.

This goal could be accomplished in two ways. The first is to make AP Economics a year round class that covers both Macro and Micro economics, as opposed to just Macro.

This would allow students to obtain more knowledge out of their economics class. Students that want a more challenging class will be able to take it and gain a better

understanding of economics. It would also allow students to take both AP Economics tests without having to self study. This is important because most schools require both economics classes to pass out of introductory economics courses in college.

The second solution would be to simply add a second lane for students that want a more thorough knowledge of economics. This system would allow students to decide if they want to take a more comprehensive course while still keeping the current department structure with semester long classes. It also allows students that want to learn economics but want to take a different elective in

social studies for their other semester to do so.

Adding an advanced economics class would allow for more comprehensive economics knowledge and better prepare students for college economics.

Paly is exceptional at allowing students to determine where the focus of their schedule is. An additional economics lane would allow students that are interested in economics to better engage the subject. Changing the structure of economics courses would allow those able to move at a faster pace to do so and allow more students to enroll in a class that matches their abilities and interests.

Friday, October 19, 2012

A12

The Campanile

EDITORIALS

Caswell, Dauber, Emberling are best candidates in School Board election

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he next School Board has many challenges to tackle, such as the counseling system at Gunn and the controversy that arose after the district aligned graduation requirements with A-G requirements. The Campanile endorses Melissa Baten Caswell, Ken Dauber and Heidi Emberling to guide the School Board through these issues in coming years.

We feel most compelled to support non-incumbent Ken Dauber.

Through his relentless work from outside the system to impact Board decisions, Dauber has helped shape homework policy, drive discussions on student well-being and Project Safety Net and more. Dauber’s focus on datadriven decision making would allow the Board to make informed choices grounded in research.

Dauber is also the only candidate who supports mandating teacher usage of Schoology, and the Campanile views this mandate as an example of Dauber’s ability to recognize instances for which top-down

decision making can lead to an effective use of district resources. The Campanile also applauds his support of revising the Gunn counseling system to model Paly’s Teacher Advisor system.

Next, the Campanile endorses non-incumbent Heidi Emberling.

As the only candidate with a background in education, she would bring a unique perspective to the Board.

She has young children in the district and can voice the concerns of parents.

She also has a strong focus on elementary schools, and as an educator and child development specialist at Parents Place, can effectively lead in this usually underlooked area. However, we are concerned by her lack of specifics, especially her reluctance to take a position on the new academic calendar.

Finally, the Campanile supports incumbent Melissa Baten Caswell.

Though we disagree with her views on the Teacher Advisor system at Gunn, her strong background in finance and work securing a strategic plan for the Board make her a positive asset.

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handbook even requires that students carry ID cards with them at all times so that they can be identified by teachers or administrators if necessary, so providing an incentive for students to pay heed to an oftoverlooked rule while simultaneously streamlining the printing process would create a more ideal situation.

Another solution to be explored is the possibility of an ASB subsidy.

Being able to provide free printing to all students will be a direct way to benefit the entire student body, and at the same time, relieve the library staff from managing the current printing system.

A flat subsidy would be allocated every year towards student printing costs, and money from the ASB general account could be allotted for continued printer use for all students.

A final proposal would be to allow students to pay per sheet, without having to carry a card on them. In that way, students will be able to pay for their printed articles on a page by page basis, which would increase accessibility to all students. The advantage to this solution is the ease at which it can be instated.

While the Campanile appreciates the library’s efforts to curb wasteful printing while providing access to students, the current system often places an undue burden and creates many inconveniences for the students and librarians alike.

By looking into alternative solutions, as outlined here, the Paly Library can form a printing a system that will hopefully ease the process for all parties involved.

ASB should play music every day at lunch

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n the occasional Friday, students walk out of their third period classes in time for lunch and are met with music emanating from the Senior Deck. The music creates an inviting, pleasant atmosphere on the Quad, giving students a nice mental break from the stress of the classroom.

Many students enjoy the music so much that they have voiced their desire to have music playing every day at lunch, as opposed to the occasional Friday.

Having music every day on the quad would improve the school’s overall atmosphere and would give students something fun to look forward to. It is an activity that is fairly easy to facilitate, according to members of the Associated Student Body (ASB), the organization in charge of providing music during lunches.

Playing music at lunch would likely require a member of ASB leaving class early to set up the speakers, which is about a five minute process.

Currently this is a nonissue as ASB only plays music on Fridays when the ASB class immediately precedes lunch.

However, if we were to have music every day of the week, a member of ASB would have to leave an academic class about five minutes early to set up the sound system on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, when the ASB class is not directly before lunch.

Similarly, someone would have to dismantle the speakers everyday at the end of lunch, which would cut into the class the student has after lunch.

In order to address these issues, the music could start five minutes into lunch and end five minutes prior to the end of lunch. Although this would reduce the amount of time music is being played every day at lunch, it would allow an ASB member to set up and dismantle the speakers without disrupting his classes before and after lunch.

The music would be played from ASB’s official iPod, which has a large library that students can contribute to by emailing ASB Advisor Matt Hall suggestions.

Music on the quad each day is an easy improvement to student life, and ASB should work on implementing it for the remainder of the school year.

“ You Hella Know You’re In Northern California”

With regard to incumbent candidate and current School Board President Camille Townsend, her disregard for transparency is a major concern. Townsend, among other Board members, privately communicated with Superintendent Skelly about School Board matters last year.

Though we agree with Townsend’s views on the Gunn Teacher Advisor system, she should have been a stronger advocate at School Board meetings rather than in private emails. Townsend has already served two terms, and the Board could benefit from fresh blood and new ideas.

The Campanile supports a guidance system at Gunn that models that of Paly, graduation requirements that align with A-G requirements and measures that promote student well-being. The Board aims toward efficiency through more substantive, data-driven and transparent discussions. The Campanile believes Baten Caswell, Dauber and Emberling have the backgrounds and skills to accomplish these goals.

Library printing system needs to be improved he Library’s printer card system has been a source of continued inconvenience for many students since the beginning of its implementation.

Many students rely on on-site printers to print work and other articles, but are constantly saddled with the inconvenience of carrying yet another card on their person. Students often need to borrow a library card and pay in coins, which defeats the entire purpose. Having to replenish that card only adds to the hassle. As a result, the Campanile would like to collectively voice its support for a revised library printing system that avoids the distribution of cards with only one purpose: printing.

In theory, it is understood that printing paper and ink are resources that come with a cost, and that it is only logical for students to foot the cost of the usage of such materials.

Unfortunately the process of loading money onto printer cards, only for them to be used a few feet away from the printer, is inefficient and inconvenient.

As an alternative to carrying another card that students often misplace, the printer-computer system in the library could be reprogrammed to scan student ID cards instead.

It is not convenient for most students to carry another card, especially when the card can be so easily lost, misplaced or borrowed by others.

While not all students always carry their student ID cards, it is still more prevalent and accessible, seeing as it is issued to everyone at the beginning of the school year. The student

OCTOBER’S TOP TEN LIST

10) You get harassed hella for not driving a Prius.

9) There are hella frozen yogurt shops within a mile radius of your house.

8) Hipsters are hella mainstream now.

7) Your fridge is filled with hella organic food.

6) Your four year old sister just got the hella nice iPhone 5.

5) Hella conservative kids get beat up after school.

4) Hella kids know the upcoming dates for the MGMT tour.

3) You hella love trees.

2) You hella hate kids from SoCal. 1) You use the word “hella” hella.

-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

“Election banter at a local watering hole.”

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

Lifestyle 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 Charlotte Barry Brandon Byer Andrew Choi Rachel Cui Ryan Deslauriers Samuel Dodson Irene Ezran Marie Ezran James Foug Bowen Gerould

Jensen Hsiao Josefin Kenrick William Kershner Maya Kitayama Julia Kwasnick Albert Lee Emily Lee Kian McHugh Will Mendenhall Jack Paladin Perri Pond

Charlotte Barry Chrissie Cheng Samuel Dodson

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

Photographers

Jensen Hsiao Adam Mansour Logan Mendenhall

Sidhanth Venkatasubramaniam Leslie Wan Rachel Wilson Michelle Yin John Young Hillel Zand 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.

The Campanile prints letters on a space-available basis.

We reserve the right to edit submissions.

The Campanile only prints signed letters.

Advertisements: Advertisements with The Campanile are printed with signed contracts.

For more information regarding advertisements in The Campanile and their size options and prices, please contact The Campanile Business Managers by email at campanile.ads@gmail.com.

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, October 19, 2012

The Campanile

A2 NEWS NEWS TO KNOW

Student revives fundraising group for art department

ukberri.net/cReative commons

@nytimes: Hugo Chávez wins a 3rd term in Venezuela’s presidential election @guardiannews European Union wins Nobel peace prize Gina Scarpino/the Campanile

@lhagiimn U.S. unemployment drops to 7.8 percent, 114,000 jobs added

@guardiannews Obama regains the initiative to win second presidential debate @nytimes European Union Intensifies Sanctions on Iran

EpicChase.com/Creative Commons

@CBSAtlBreaking: Stratos launches human 120,000 feet to break sound barrier

@washingtonpost Britain, Scotland sign deal to allow independence vote

@KenRoth Study in Fallujah, Iraq suggests relationship between Western military action there & large increase in birth defects

Junior Annie Chen works on her art projects to help raise money for the Paly Art Department.

Emily rosenthal Senior staff writer

J

unior Annie Chen is attempting to revive Project 868, a group aimed at raising money for the Paly art department. The group began last year when a collection of AP Art students decided that the funding received from the state simply was not enough to support their art projects.

However, as the group was composed entirely of seniors, there was no one from the original group to continue the project this year.

The project’s name came from the $8.68 per student that the state gives the art department for supplies each year—which is, according to Chen, not even enough to buy a tube of high-quality paint.

At the beginning of the school year Chen stepped in to try and reinstate the program. Currently the organization has six members at Paly.

“Right now I’m trying to revive the program from last year,” Chen said.

“We’re trying to start the project again so we’re making designs for cards.”

Last year the students tried to form a club, but could not.

“Apparently it’s state law that prevents a club from specifically funding

for one department of the school, so they decided to make it a fundraiser outside of school,” Chen said.

There is also a branch of the project based at Henry M. Gunn High School (Gunn). Though the two groups share a Facebook page showing cards available for purchase, the organizations are not closely linked.

“Apparently Gunn has a different situation for their art program,” Chen said. “It’s a little bit more well funded than our program.

Chen is hopWe’re trying ing to raise to start the between $400 project again and $500, but so we’re may revise this making after seeing the designs for level of interest in cards. the cards.

The cards Annie Chen they are selling Junior will be priced from $4-$10, depending on the size, detail and customization.

Currently the group is fundraising solely off of cards they design. Some members are struggling with finding the balance between raising money for the program and retaining their artistic integrity.

“On one hand we don’t want to mass produce things, but on the other we want to make money,” junior and project member Jonathan Friduss said.

Project 868 not only wants to raise money for supplies, but also aims to raise awareness about the art department at Paly. To do so they are trying to keep the cards more artistic.

“I know that some people like how cards look sleek or are funny, but it would better promote our message if we had the people in the project draw something showing their own artistic style, to raise awareness that the art program has a lot of [talented] people,” Chen said.

The group has faced organizational issues, but has already made sales and are optimistic for the upcoming year.

To avoid the group collapsing as it did at the end of last year they are looking to get more students involved in helping.

“We have unity but in terms of executing everything we’re all busy,” Friduss said. “I think adding more people to it will help.”

They are particularly interested in having underclassmen join the group, as it currently consist of primarily juniors and seniors.

Community Service Fair attracts large crowd

jordan smith Senior staff writer

O

n Oct. 10 Paly hosted its annual community service fair on the quad at lunch.

A total of 24 local organizations, ranging from athletic to environmental, were represented.

Some of the organizations include American Cancer Society, 10 Books at Home, Bay Area Sports Initiative, Breathe California, Canter Art Center, Youth Community Services,

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and many more.

Three hundred slices of pizza were made available by the College and Career Center to students who visited four booths or more. A student raffle also awarded students for signing up to donate their time.

The student raffle prizes ranged from Baskin Robin’s gift cards to Books Inc. gift cards.

“I would say there was at least two hundred and fifty students going to the booths,” career advisor Christina

Owen said. “Most of the organizations got 20 to 30 names who were interested in their cause. I would say about one-third of the seniors are actively involved, which is huge.”

Some of the more popular causes include sports and educational related organizations. Examples of activities for these causes includes coaching at sports clinics or tutoring. Considering the short amount of time the organizations had, the number of students present at the booths far exceeded expectations.

NEWS BRIEFS

ID Chief shut down

Downtown construction soon to be completed

Colin Kelly

lily zhang

Senior staff writer

staff writer

Earlier this fall, the popular fake ID website, ID Chief, was shut down due to a letter sent by four U.S. Senators to the Chinese ambassador.

Four senators sent the letter in order to urge the Chinese government to shut down the China-based company. Chinese government moved quickly to shut down ID Chief once the letter was sent.

ID Chief’s website allowed thousands of U.S. teens to order fake IDs online. Jessica, a former Paly student whose named has been changed to protect her identity, was surprised by site getting shut down.

“ID Chief was definitely a profitable business and many teenagers, including myself, made good use of it,” Jessica said. “I am surprised at how long it lasted before it got shut down due to the enormous amount order just from Palo Alto itself.”

Now the ID Chief’s site displays a strange note on the homescreen.

The note says that anyone who got an ID from the site should only use the ID “to buy beer in movies.” The note continues on to apologize and says that it was only trying to help “poor students have fun.”

Downtown Palo Alto developments plan to finish construction and open soon to the public, creating new shops, offices and apartments.

Developments approved months ago are finally close to finishing.

According to the Silicon Valley/ San Jose Business Journal, four large developments within a two block radius add about 70,000 square feet of Class A office, retail space and five residential units to downtown Palo Alto. A city report also states that since 1986, the city of Palo Alto has only added about 160,000 square feet of commercial space, so the new developments are a huge addition to the city’s map.

On 278 University Avenue stands a four-story, 24,000-square-foot Spanish colonial-style building, originally designed by veteran Palo Alto developer Roxy Rapp. According to Palo Alto Online, Rapp’s original plan expected to run between $8 million and $9 million and finish spring of 2012.

Although currently under construction, the project does not appear to affect any nearby stores. The close by stores of Three Seasons Restaurant,

Stript Wax Bar and Jos. A. Bank are all currently open for business omit during construction. However, many of the neighboring stores aren’t quite sure of what exactly is going on next door.

“They tore [the previous building] down and built a whole new one,” JoS.A. Bank store manager Chuck Berton said. “I’m not sure but supposedly it’s retail stores and offices above.”

On 180 University Avenue stands a finished construction site. The store that takes its spot is the West Elm, a home furnishing retailers, that has recently announced its grand opening on Oct 18.

The new Palo Alto store will feature an extensive collection by Etsy artists from the South Bay and is the second West Elm store to sell goods made by Etsy artists.

“We are excited to open a store in Palo Alto that will bring not only our assortment, but also the arts and crafts of some of the talented artists and designers of the South Bay, to University Avenue,” president of West Elm, Jim Brett said.

According to Palo Alto Online, developers building capital firms and commercial startups desire to be near the downtown region where they expect more lucrative leases.

ASB Update

Alex taussig

Senior staff Writer

ASB officers have several plans for this year’s Spirit Week, in addition to other upcoming events.

Spirit Week’s scoring has been revised, and the “unity points” that resulted in the class of 2012 claiming victory over the class of 2013 have been eliminated.

The Spirit Week games include musical chairs on Monday, sumo suit wrestling on Tuesday and relay racing on Wednesday.

Football’s Homecoming game against Saratoga High School will occur after the last rally of Spirit Week. It is themed “Paly Goes Green,” and students are encouraged to wear green to the game in support the team.

The “Big Electronic Dance” (B.E.D) is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 27.

“This dance will be like no other dance that Paly has ever had—we are hiring SOS Entertainment to decorate the gym and the dance will be electro-neon themed with a mix of EDM and regular dance music,” ASB president Jessica Tam said. “There’s going to be really cool lighting and even a haze machine, so it’s definitely going to be an amazing dance.”

School Board Update logan mendenhall sports editor

The Palo Alto Unified School District board met this past week on Oct. 9 to discuss schedule changes and construction policies.

One major topic that came up was the authorization bid to replace the heating system in the gymnasium at Henry M. Gunn High School (Gunn) and build an athletics stadium fence and entry gates to Paly.

After discussion the board consented the bid and maintenance will begin.

Another topic that was discussed was the Authorization to Issue Addendum No. 8 to AEDIS Architecture and Planning for Additional Services at J.L. Stanford (JLS) and Jordan Middle Schools.

The Board discussed authorizing an addendum in the amount of $63,078 to AEDIS Architecture and Planning for site improvements between the classroom wings at JLS and for connecting underground utilities at Jordan.

An important topic that was addressed was the update on High School Guidance Program Improvement Efforts.

Staff from Paly and Gunn presented updates on their efforts-todate to improve counseling services.

UPCOMING EVENTs OCT

float building

OCT

SPIRIT WEEK BEGINS

OCT

BIKE TO SCHOOL DAY

OCT

HOMECOMING DANCE

NOV

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

20 22 24 27 6

Float building begins at 10 a.m. You can stay home if you want, whatever boats your float.

2-4-6-8 what do we appreciate? Your spirit!

Come out to the Quad to support your grade.

Get those wheels turning, them calories burning and be sure to bike to school!

Baby, come to B.E.D with me? We can go on a dancing spree.

Every vote counts! The candidates are as different as night and day, black and white.

Friday, October 19, 2012

The Campanile

NEWS A3

Spirit Week revised to avoid previous issues SPIRIT Week, continued from A1

However, unlike last year’s dance, spirit points will not be awarded based on class attendance because ASB considers it to be a separate part of Spirit Week and the incentive of class points did not work last year.

The highlight of this year’s Spirit Week overhaul is a modified point distribution system after last year’s highly controversial results. The lead was occupied by the juniors with the sophomores right behind in second place before the introduction of “unity points” that resulted in a senior class victory. “[Last year’s defeat] is still fresh in our minds,” junior class president Audrey Debruine said. “We got cheated last year.”

Many accredited last year’s finish to an unwritten tradition that the senior class must win the annual contest.

“I think that’s the mindset that a lot of people have,” spirit commissioner Emma Ketchum said. “But this year we’re making it very clear that you have just as much of a chance to lose as anyone else does.”

Student activities director Matt Hall believes that the tradition is fairly recent and that ASB is returning to Spirit Week’s original practices.

“If you talk to people who have been on this campus for 10, 15, 20 years, the true tradition was a fair game where anybody could win,” Hall said.

The points for Spirit Week this year will also be more evenly distributed to level the playing field.

“The final rally was worth way more points than basically the entire week [last year],” Ketchum said.

“We’re definitely trying to make [Spirit Week] as even as possible.”

While the float and dance will still be worth more than the rest of the lunchtime activities, they will not be worth as much as last year. Points will also be awarded or deducted for bleacher cleanliness and will be deducted for inappropriate cheers, which was an issue last year.

“Spirit Week can be fun, it can be competitive, it can be racy, but it doesn’t have to be cruel,” Hall said.

“And talking about people’s private issues... that’s just beyond the pale, in my opinion, and I won’t stand for it, and neither will Mr. Winston.”

Ketchum and Hall both cited a lack of transparency in last year’s week-long contest, even though points for each day were posted online, but are confident that it will not be an issue this year. Students can find out each day’s theme and rallies, rules and point distribution on the ASB website, and can also learn more about the week’s festivities on the ASB Facebook and Twitter pages for “the right answers,” according to Hall.

Hall confidently reported that this year’s ASB is a stark contrast from last year’s class and will succeed in organizing a successful and unbiased Spirit Week.

“Part of it stems from leadership,” Hall said. “[ASB president] Jessica Tam and [Vice President] Soo Song set the tone for the class. The other credit needs to go to [senior class officers] Michael Wang and Josh

Hillel Zand/The Campanile

Juniors (from left) Josh Totte, Becca Althoff, Elijah Wax, Kenny Rapaport and Shiri Arnon practice their spirit dance, which will be performed on the Friday of Spirit Week.

Stabinsky because, if anything, their class has the most to lose. But they’re confident enough leaders... to say ‘You know, we can do this and we’re going to play it straight and let the chips fall where they may.’ I think they should be admired for that.”

Ketchum emphasized that this year’s Spirit Week will be “not rigged.” Hall also mentioned it will not feature any unity points, which were introduced by last year’s senior

class officers, Sam Blake (‘12) and Zorawar Singh (‘12).

“The seniors got beat clean last year,” Hall said. “It’s embarrassing to pretend otherwise, it’s intellectually dishonest. It’s pathetic, everybody knows. To pretend otherwise is not something we’re prepared to do this year.”

Ketchum has high hopes for a successful Spirit Week this year and encourages all students to participate

“The Crucible” to premiere in November Jacob zenger

Senior Staff writer

P

aly’s performing arts program will put on a production of “The Crucible,” which will premiere on Nov. 1. The part of John Proctor, the protagonist, will be played by senior Bolton Bailey and the part of Abigail Williams, the antagonist, will be played by senior Leah Bleich. Other cast members include seniors Cara Kienitz, Aaron Slipper and Micayla Brewster.

The actors hope to bring their own touch to the characters to make this commonly performed play stand out. “‘The Crucible’ is a tricky show to be original with because it’s done so much, and with good reason: the writing is outstanding,” Bleich said.

“I’m hoping to really raise the stakes while playing Abigail. After a certain point in the show everything the characters do [could have fatal consequences], so there is a lot to get into while performing.”

With a play that covers such a violent topic as the Salem witch trials, the actors need to get into the mindset of someone from Salem and act like they would if this were happening to them for the first time.

“The general opinion of the Salem witch trials is that they were a terrible mistake that happened, but in order

to really play the characters truthfully, we as actors need to get past that in order to not seem condescending of our own characters,” Brewster said.

Other than getting into the mindset of the various characters, the actors have had to overcome the highly dated language used in “The Crucible.”

“So far we’ve had to work on getting through the language of the play and figuring out how to memorize long chunks of dialogue in big scenes, but everyone has really stepped up to the challenge and put in the time to do their part well,” Bleich said.

The actors hope that audience members will leave preconceptions about the play behind and enjoy the storyline.

“I would encourage the audience to get past the whole issue of it being an older play because it really is an interesting story,” Brewster said.

“The Crucible” is a story that escalates extremely fast: it quickly turns from a calm, slow-paced story to the hectic tradgedy that is so famous today.

“The audience should look for how the order and regularity of the character’s world falls apart throughout the show,” Bleich said. “By the end everything pretty much goes crazy, and it’s interesting to see how that happens.”

The show’s cast has been getting ready for this production since the

Acoustics (CCRMA) scientists, Day and Finley were able to document the seniors singing and transform the space to sound like a performance in the Stanford Memorial Church.

This cheerful grand opening made the center family-friendly by offering a heap of activities for the public to enjoy.

“My favorite activity [to do at the art center] is easily making the

marshmallow shooters,” junior Callie Walker said.

Besides building these marshmallow guns, activities like Mardi Gras themed mask making, sculpting, drawing and ceramic tile making that will be incorporated in artists Carlos Ramirez’s Mesoamerican pyramid gallery.

The renovated center is also reopening and offering many new workshops and classes now including Ceramics, paint-making, oil

Courtesy of Cathy Rong

Cast members (from left) Julia Sanchez, Paige Esterly, Carly King and Micayla Brewster rehearse for the upcoming production of The Crucible.

middle of September and have put many hours into perfecting all of their parts.

“Rehearsals are really long and everyone is pretty stressed, but

painting, watercolor, enameling, jewelry-making and an abundance of other intriguing selections.

The prices of these classes range from low costs around three to five dollars per session and $15 monthly, making it extremely affordable for the public.

“I would totally want to take the jewelry making workshop and the painting classes,” junior Shiri Arnon said. “It sounds like a great experience.”

School district’s academic performance index at highest point in six years API, continued from A1 according to a press release from PAUSD. The largest increases in API were seen in the subgroups of Socioeconomically Disadvantaged students, Hispanics and English

Learners. The subgroup of AfricanAmericans also saw a major increase in API. However, the achievement gap remains a prominent issue, as these subgroups lag behind Asians and Non-Hispanic Whites by over 100 points.

Town and Country Hobee’s closing HOBEE’S, continued from A1

Renovated art center offers classes

ART, continued from A1

in the week’s festivities, especially the freshmen, who will be experiencing Paly’s long-held tradition for the first time.

“When you’re a freshman, you don’t realize that Spirit Week is a big deal and people do dress up a lot and when they dress up, they go all out,” Ketchum said. “I think that as you get older, you know what to do and you [get used] to it. Everyone’s in a costume, everyone’s dressed up.”

14 out of 17 PAUSD schools raised their API scores, and the three schools that did not improve, which are Addison Elementary, Lucille M. Nixon Elementary and Palo Verde Elementary, still have API’s of over 940. These scores rank the schools as some of the best in California.

ultimately everyone is glad to be there anyway because we are all really close, good friends, and we are all doing something we really love,” Bleich said.

“The easiest and most cost effective way [to open a new Hobee’s], is by taking over another restaurant,” Hobee’s President Edward Fike said. “There are lots of opportunities.

Many restaurants our closing down due to the economy.”

Town and Country is an ideal location for Hobee’s because many people know about the spot and it is close to Paly.

Hobee’s is a common place for Paly kids to order out from, and while not many students have a sit down lunch, they still produce a significant amount of revenue for the company.

“It is always great to have Paly kids,” Fike said. “[Hobee’s loves] Paly kids. People have grown up on Hobee’s.”

Hobee’s, known for its world famous coffee cake, will be missed by many patrons who will have to visit another Hobee’s. While the restaurant will be missed, Hobee’s would not be able to stay with their current business model. “[Town and Country] needs tenants who can pay big rent.” Fike said. “Hobee’s doesn’t make enough money to pay the big rent and keep family friendly prices.”

Parking permits prices lowered, refunds available PARKING, continued from A1

of school. The students who have already purchased the $100 parking permit will be given a rebate back on what they paid.

“Its a retroactive refund,” Hall said. “So it doesn’t only apply to the 50 people who may still buy parking permits but also applies to the people who already purchased them back in August.”

“You go to the office, you fill it out [and] can get check mailed back to the home.” Hall said To activate the refund, students need to get a form from the auditors office and fill it out before Dec. 21.

The cut to permit prices will result to ASB losing around $14,000 dollars each year from its budget. However, Hall does not think that the change will affect ASB’s ability to perform the rest of the tasks that the school asks of it.

ASB is confident that this change will not have a significant effect on its abilities to fund other events like Prom, Homecoming and Spirit Week.

“We looked at things like Prom and Spirit Week as the two big chunks of money that we want to spend this year and we said is this going to affect Prom,” Hall said, “Is this going to affect Spirit Week? So far as we can tell, and we have a pretty good treasurer in Josh Madej, we think it’s going to work.”

ASB hopes that this will not be a one time thing and plans to continue this for years to come.

“By our budgeting numbers we think we can at least sustain it for a couple of years.” Hall said.

Hall thinks that this decision is beneficial all around; he is happy that ASB can help students by putting money back into their pockets before winter break and holiday shopping.

Friday, October 19, 2012

A4

The Campanile

NEWS

School Board candidates discuss potential solutions for education system

Kate apostolou/the Campanile

(From left) Melissa Baten Caswell, Heidi Emberling, Ken Dauber and Camille Townsend will be competing against one another for three spots on the School Board. Elections for the board will take place Nov. 6

Sid Venkatasubramaniam Staff Writer

I

n the months leading up to the national election, the ObamaRomney fever and unceasing political commentary often distracts us from local elections that may even have a greater direct effect on us.

In a flurry of competing policy proposals, figures and facts, the four candidates running in the upcoming November Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) school board elections went head-to-head against one another in a forum held in the Paly Library and organized by the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) on Oct. 12.

The forum, moderated by Stanford University professor of education Eamonn Callan, introduced the candidates to the Palo Alto electorate

and presented their individual stances on various issues facing the community that were suggested by members of the 30-strong audience.

The candidates consist of incumbent PAUSD board members Melissa Baten Caswell and Camille Townsend, along with newcomers Ken Dauber and Heidi Emberling, who together will be competing for three spots on the school board. Each candidate started the evening off with a two-minute introduction summarizing their experience and potential utility to the PAUSD community.

“As a veteran of 14 years of business leadership experience and over a decade of PAUSD volunteer work, I have brought strong leadership to the Palo Alto community,” Caswell said.

“In times like this we need to focus on being as efficient and effective as possible, and I believe my skills are best suited to these issues.”

Dauber, on the other hand, emphasized the overarching importance of collecting and analyzing educational data in order to develop effective policy.

“Every child is different, and schools work best when they enable individual students to meet specific needs,” Dauber said. “Only relevant data can help us make informed decisions based on the impact they will have on community, and that is what I intend to do.”

Townsend, the incumbent board president, advocated a holistic approach that addresses the fiscal issues facing the district while at the same time maintaining the district’s level of academic excellence. She wishes to redesign the curriculum to meet the needs of 21st century students “[Resolution of issues] only comes with hard work, networking

and experience of leaders like me,” Townsend said. “I know how to work with the state and staff to make budgets work while still maintaining teacher relations.”

Emberling, an active professional in the field of education, stressed the different perspective that she would bring to the board as the only candidate who is currently working in the field.

“My experience as a child development expert brings a unique set a skills to the table,” Emberling said.

“These skills can best equip the board to better design curriculum to meet the specific needs of various students.”

A consistent theme addressed by the candidates throughout the evening was the lack of a clear framework for developing policy, which has resulted in unforeseen repercussions such as those brought about by the calendar change.

“I believe one area where [PAUSD] has fallen short is the lack of visible standards that we are trying to achieve,” Townsend said. “We need to set clearer standards to create a framework that will equip us to develop policy.”

An important issue brought up was optional senior finals, which if approved, could potentially alleviate senior stress by allowing seniors to take finals after college application deadlines.

“I think that students can be a great source for input given that they are the targets of the board’s decisions,” Emberling said. “We should be open to hearing options to reduce student stress directly from the students themselves.”

With regard to the districtwide growing enrollment problem, notably at the high school level, the four candidates offered different suggestions regarding how to tackle the issue.

Caswell posited the potential success

of an increase in teacher development programs.

“Beyond a point, we cannot control the amount of funding we get, and we have to work within those constraints,” Caswell said. “Increasing professional development programs may be a good avenue because what ultimately matters is whether or not the teachers can cope with the reality of larger classes.”

The candidates also addressed the possibility of changing Paly’s graduation requirements to align them with the UC/CSU Application Requirements.

“Given the varying skills and interEvery child is different, and schools work best when they enable individual students to meet specific needs. Only relevant data can help us make informed decision based on the impact they will have on community, and that is what I intend to do.

Ken Dauber School Board candidate

ests of [Paly] students, it doesn’t seem to make sense to have graduation requirements that force students into a level of math or science they can’t cope with,” Dauber said. “However, research has shown that lower expectations are correlated with lower performance, so we need to find a balance.”

The candidates all ended on an optimistic note, voicing their shared confidence in the Palo Alto community’s ability to overcome the challenges facing its schools and the district’s ability to continue to provide a quality education to Palo Alto youth. Elections will take place on Nov. 6.

IZZY’s Brooklyn Bagels

Catering for all Occasions (650)-329-0700

Izzysbb@gmail.com

477 South California Avenue, Palo Alto, California, 94306

www.izzsbrooklynbagels.com

Strictly Kosher

The Campanile

Friday October 19, 2012

LOCAL ELECTIONS

A5

Six candidates run for Palo Alto City Council Yasna Haghdoost

T

editor- in-chief

he 2012 Palo Alto General Municipal Elections are fast approaching: on Nov. 6, the Council members for the next four years will be selected.

Marc Berman

With previous experience as a community organizer in political campaigns, Marc Berman hopes to address infrastructure and financial issues in Palo Alto. Berman is currently a corporate attorney in Silicon Valley, and plans to utilize his experiences on the infrastructure commission as a council member. “[There is] inadequacy [in Palo Alto’s] infrastructure assets,” Berman said, according to the Palo Alto Weekly. “I was happy to see the council adopt our recommendation to increase current infrastructure spending by 2.2 million dollars a year.”

Berman also voices concern with what he sees as Palo Alto’s current deficiencies with regards to public safety, especially due to the need to be prepared for future earthquakes.

“I definitely think we need a new public safety building [and] I definitely think we need to rebuild two new firehouses,” Berman said. “[I see] public safety buildings as one the top needs for city’s infrastructure.”

Mark Weiss

Concert producer Mark Weiss emphasizes his background in journalism and advertising as well as his community work as a foundation.

“I produced a series of concerts that were community oriented,” Weiss said, according to the Palo Alto Weekly. “Most of my concerts were at Cubberley Theater.”

Weiss is against the Supreme Court Citizens United decision, and his stance on the issue is reflected on the way he runs his campaign: he has not been asking for or accepting any contributions.

“It’s not one of the core issues of my campaign but I think it is relevant,” Weiss said. “I am running my campaign in a way that I think is consistent with what would be better for American democracy.”

His main focus remains land use.

“For this campaign, although I’m running a somewhat minimalist form, I am trying to focus on what I think is a very big and often under covered issue regarding land use,” Weiss said.

Liz Kniss

Santa Clara County Supervisor Liz Kniss served on the School Board, the City Council and as Mayor.

“I see Palo Alto as going in a direction that I think is maybe not the right direction,” Kniss said according to the Palo Alto Weekly.

Kniss attributes this to a change in “the character of the city.”

“We’re overwhelmed with larger buildings and certainly much bigger houses than we had seen and just a different character to the community,” Kniss said.

Regarding criticism that she is a part of the network of political insiders, Kniss cites her connections an asset were she to become Council member.

“I think part of my assets is that I do have good connections,” Kniss said. “One of the things I’ll bring to this is I know the region well [and] I know who to get in touch with... I think that’s an asset.”

Timothy Gray

With his experience as a financial consultant, Timothy Gray runs a campaign based on bringing financial issues to the forefront.

“I really want to keep it more simple and focused on financial balance,” Gray said according to the Palo Alto Weekly. “We chronically overspend and we haven’t set enough aside for our infrastructure reserves and I think that it accumulates one little innocuous amount at a time and then all of a sudden it can force a crisis.”

Fiscal responsibility seems to be a recurring theme in Gray’s platform.

“I really want to see some financial discipline before we move forward with trying to ask our children through a bond issue to pay for it,” Gray said.

Gray realizes that he will only be one Council member in nine, and that this will affect all decisions “One person is only one of nine voices,” Gray said. “So you can’t fool

Charlotte barry/The Campanile

The six candidates will be vying for an opportunity to join the Palo Alto city council for the next four years. General Municipal Elections will take place on November 6th which is just two and a half weeks away.

yourself into thinking you’re going to come in with an agenda and make a change just from one vision.”

However, if elected, Gray plans on putting his financial expertise to good use.

“I’ll probably be the worker on the Council,” he said. “They need a finance worker [and] I’m ready to do the work. I’ll probably be ready to say a few less words at the council meetings and get down to business.”

Greg Schmid

As a retired economist who also served on the School Board and chaired the Council’s Finance Committee, City Council incumbent Greg Schmid places great emphasis on Palo Alto’s finances.

“I think I bring something unique to the Council [with] my background in economics,” Schmid said, according to the Palo Alto Weekly.

Schmid cites the city’s revenue sources as currently the biggest issue.

“If you look at our tax revenue, virtually 75% of that comes from two

areas: property tax and sales tax,” Schmid said. “Both are regressive on the city. Property tax is limited by Prop 13... which means our property tax income does not reflect the true property values in town. Our sales tax is a regressive tax... it doesn’t deal with services, and services happen to be a big part of the economy that is growing the fastest.”

According to Schmid, benefits and pensions have experienced growth twice the rate of the city’s revenue.

“We cannot afford to have benefits and pensions taking an increasing share of our revenue sources,” Schmid said.”We have to... work with our workers and make sure that we can pay competitive wages to our workers, especially younger workers to attract and keep them in town.”

Patrick Burt

CEO of Vascular Access Technologies, City Council incumbent and chair of the council’s Finance Committee Pat Burt emphasizes his experience in public service.

“We’ve made a lot of progress on areas that were important to me going into serving which were first trying to have a sound foundation fiscally for our future,” Burt said according to the Palo Alto Weekly.

Burt states that Palo Alto doesn’t possess the same quality of government and bureaucracy that it had years prior.

“I had believed for some time that we had had a slowly degrading quality of our city,” Burt said. “We were still better than many cities, but not what we had been fifteen plus years ago.”

Burt has proposed for change pertaining to retirement, medical expenses and their financial effects.

“We can further increase the retirement age at which you’d be fully vested,” Burt said. “The other thing we can do still is further increase the employee responsibility toward their medical share. And as the laws exist, there are very few things that can be done that might affect retiree employees and the massive obligations that are there.”

Ballot update: CA legislative measures for upcoming election Julia Poppy Social Media Editor

E

leven Santa Clara County measures are up for vote in the General Election on Nov. 6.

Ranging from approving school district loans to reinstating local taxes, these local measures have divided the community.

If Measure A is approved it will increase the sales tax on goods and services by one-eighth of a cent for ten years. This increase is projected to result in a revenue for the county of $458 million.

“With a questionable outlook for state and federal government funding, and after ten consecutive years of substantial budget reductions to services and programs, we need to look at other revenue sources for the benefit of the community,” Board of Supervisors President George Shirakawa said.

Measure B proposes the renewal of the special parcel tax assessed by the Santa Clara Valley Water District. If approved, the tax will remain in effect for 15 years. The proceeds from the tax would go to the District’s Safe, Clean Water and Natural Flood Protection Program, which supports projects that ensure safe and reliable water.

“The district’s revenue is not sufficient to continue to supply clean, safe, reliable water going forward,” Linda LeZotte, chairwoman of the district’s board said.

Another local measure up for vote is, Measure C, which is the Palo Alto Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Initiative. If passed, this measure would approve an ordinance legalizing medical marijuana within city limits and could result in up to three Palo Alto marijuana dispensaries.

“We have a choice: capture these taxes for our city or continue to lose them to neighboring municipalities,” the petition states. “The ordinance

will tax marijuana sales and place the revenue in the city’s general fund.”

Next on the ballot, Measure D would increase the minimum wage in San Jose to $10 per hour with yearly adjustments for inflation.

Measure E would expand gambling by amending the Municipal Code in order to “allow the maximum number of Card Tables at San Jose’s two cardrooms to increase by 30 on Jan. 1, 2013 and by an additional 30 on Jan. 1, 2014; (2) allow Cardrooms to offer any form of gaming lawful in California after July 1, 2012, without additional voter approval; and (3) require San Jose to review rules for additional permissible gaming.”

Measure G, would authorize the Morgan Hill School District to borrow $198.3 million. According to the ballot, this money would go to “improv[ing] student access to computers and modern technology and provide a quality education, repair or replace leaky roofs, upgrade old plumbing, heating/cooling systems, classrooms and outdated restrooms, upgrade fire safety, maximize energy efficiency, improve handicapped accessibility, and modernize, construct and acquire classrooms, equipment, sites and facilities.”

Measure H offers to authorize the San Jose Unified School District to borrow $290 million. This money would go “to improve local schools and support academic programs, prepare students for jobs, save money and improve teacher retention by upgrading technology, classrooms and science labs, improving school safety and security, upgrading energy and water systems to improve efficiency, paying off facility leases, and repairing, constructing, or equipping facilities, sites or classrooms.”

Measure I would allow the East Side Union High School District to borrow $120 million. This money would help “upgrade computer/ science labs; improve security/ safety; repair, equip, and construct

classrooms/facilities” in the local district.

Measure J would allow Alum Rock Union School District to borrow $125 million. This measure would approve money to be spent “to improve neighborhood schools by removing mold and asbestos; fixing leaky, deteriorated roofs; replacing inefficient/ aging heating, ventilation, and electrical systems to save money; improving fire safety/ security; updating computer technology/ science labs for 21st century learning; repairing aging restrooms; and acquiring, constructing and repairing sites/ facilities.”

Measure K will exact a parcel tax of $79 each year for eight years, which would replace a similar measure passed in 2008 that is set to expire in 2013. This revenue would go directly to “attracting and retaining quality teachers, maintaining strong core academic programs in reading, writing, math and science, providing updated classroom technology and hands-on science instruction [and] keeping libraries open” in the Berryessa Union School District.

Measure L will authorize Mount Pleasant School District to borrow $25 million. Specifically, the ballot says that the measure will provide funding “to facilitate math, science [and] reading/writing programs in local elementary/middle schools by upgrading classrooms, removing asbestos and hazardous materials, repairing dry rot, termite and structural damage, upgrading wiring and fire alarms for safety, repairing deteriorating restrooms, replacing leaky roofs, and acquiring, renovating, constructing classrooms, equipment, sites and facilities.”

Lastly, Measure M would limit the compensation of El Camino Hospital District and El Camino Hospital managers, executives and administrators.

All of these ten measures are up for vote Nov. 6 in Santa Clara County.

Friday, October 19, 2012

A6

The Campanile

SPOTLIGHT

THE VIKIN

The Campanile CONDUCTED a mock election on th voted and answered a variety of questions on e their own news sources

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DESIGNED BY CHRISSIE CHENG AND BO F

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HOW DO YOUR VIEWS RELATE TO YOUR PARENTS’?

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The Campanile

Friday, October 19, 2012

SPOTLIGHT

NG VOTE

he Quad on Oct. 10 and 11. Exactly 300 students everything from important election issues to s. Here are the results.

FIELd, COMPILED BY CHARLIE DULIK

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A7

Friday, October 19, 2012

A8

The Campanile

OPINION

Administration should distribute contraceptives

sid Venkatasubramaniam Josh Arfin Staff Writer & senior staff writer

S

ome of the most taboo yet pervasive themes in an adolescent’s life are those that revolve around sex. The inherent sensitivity of such a topic makes it both difficult and awkward to approach, yet a need for reform is growing every year. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), one in every four high school teenagers is infected with an STD. Although, according to the CDC, 46 percent of high schools students in the United States have had sex in high school, condoms or contraceptives are used less than 40 percent of the time.

While sweeping the matter under the rug is a convenient course of action, the issue demands a serious treatment and calls into question the need for public school involvement in the distribution of preventive contraception.

As with any debate over policy, the first step is defining the role of the government (or more specifically in this situation, the public school districts) in controlling such behavior and the limits on their authority in doing so.

From the perspective of a school, a top priority must be to minimize the spread and propagation of unsafe behaviors.

While public schools are forbidden under state law to impose any sort of non-academic practice on students, schools advocate health and healthy activities (here at Paly, such topics are studied in the Living Skills class), and thus should take steps to promote and encourage them in this circumstance as well. This should go without question.

Our proposed course of action entails the free and easy distribution of condoms in high schools. This would mean that condoms would be available at no charge at various locations at schools, especially places discreet enough to do it privately.

The advantage of this plan is that it According to a metastudy by the Guttmacher Institute, condom availability had no effect on the how many high schoolers were sexually active or how often.

would reduce the amount of unsafe sex among high school students.

There are two commonly-cited objections to our proposal. The first is that schools should not endorse students having sex. However, simply by facilitating certain activities, schools are not necessarily endorsing them.

For example, although a school may prefer to have students bike or walk to school, it may still construct parking lots and issue parking permits to students. A public school’s job is not to support specific activities that

Michael wang/The Campanile

students choose to participate in. A school’s job is to ensure that those activities are made safe. Past the point of discouraging the practice, a school cannot change the fact that students have sex.

Given this reality, however, they do have an obligation to ensure the safety of students who choose to engage in it to the greatest degree permitted by the law. The second objection is that the availability of condoms actually encourages sexual intercourse among teenagers due to the perceived decrease in risk involved. Studies show that condom availability does not increase the amount of sex among high school

students. According to a meta-study by the Guttmacher Institute, condom availability has no effect on how many high schoolers are sexually active or how often. There is no truth to the idea that free condoms leads to more sexually active teenagers.

Easily available, free condoms do have an effect on the amount of safe sex (and unsafe sex). According to the same study, after the program was instituted, an additional 15 percent of male students used condoms the first time they had sex and an additional 13 percent used condoms every time they had sex. This reduction in the amount of unsafe sex among high school students is very significant.

While Paly may not have a big problem with STDs and high school pregnancies, a program to provide condoms would still be beneficial.

Providing condoms would show that Paly is interested in student safety.

Even if unprotected sex, and the problems associated with it, are not problems here at Paly yet, it is better to prevent these problems before they become an issue. A policy of condom distribution can prevent students from being forced to make the choice of having fun or being safe. Because many people will choose fun over safety, Paly (and other high schools) should implement a condom distribution program.

Living Skills classes need to incorporate more practical skills

Elizabeth Bowman Business Manager

T

he title “Living Skills” seems to infer that this required class will teach us useful information and skills we can use later in life, guiding us in the world beyond high school.

On the contrary, Living Skills is a course that teaches too much about what we already know and not enough about skills all of us will clearly use in life.

For example how to fill out taxes, thrive in the work force, sustain healthy interpersonal relationships or manage life crisis.

Thus, Living Skills should gear more towards teaching skills that we will all utilize later in life, such as many of the skills taught in the Work

Experience class which is an elective course.

There are some lessons in Living Skills that do have a positive impact on students.

“Living Skills did help me become more aware of social issues in America, since most Palo Alto kids live in our little Palo Alto bubble,” senior Jessica Tam said. “After learning about these issues, I did feel like I had a better understanding of where I stand in society and how to be more accepting of the rest of society because I could understand who was in it.”

Nevertheless, Living Skills could be improved in many was to also focus on topics more similar to those taught in Work Experience.

Many might assume that Work Experience, another class taught at Paly, would only be helpful as a required class for those who currently have a job (as required for the class).

Instead, it is actually an incredibly helpful class that teaches the life skills expected, yet lacking, from Living Skills.

For example, Work Experience teaches helpful skills such as how to build a resume, get a job, speak with confidence during an interview or how to do well at work. One day, we

will all leave high school and plunge into the real world, most of us getting a job, or going to college then getting a job, and this is the time in life where we need to learn the skills that will guide us.

Work Experience teaches how to sustain healthy, rewarding interpersonal relationships by explaining responsible conduct for work and life as well.

One handout that is passed out in this class promotes successful interpersonal relationships through a moving story with an analogy about trust, with a paragraph at the end saying: “If you plant honesty, it will reap trust. If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment. If you plant consideration you will reap perspective. Be careful what you plant now; it will determine what you will reap later. Think about it for a minute.”

Living Skills, on the other hand, does not address this issue as directly.

“I learned about [sustaining healthy, rewarding interpersonal relationships] and in a sense also the effects of them, but the effects, to me, were not enough to really emphasize right and wrong,” junior Kate Marinkovich said. “If they really want us to make good decisions

Alexander jenson

“Billy, if this is another question about ‘living’ or ‘work’, I don’t want to hear it.”

then they should give us more [direct information].”

In addition to teaching about interpersonal relationships, Work Experience also teaches “how to manage life crisis and make informed decisions about issues that affect personal health and well being.”

This is something that Living Skills is supposed to teach, according

Living Skills is a course that teaches too much about what we already know and not enough about skills all of us will clearly use in life. to the Paly Course Catalog.

Several of the most useful skills taught in Work Experience are those of protection and dealing with life’s problems.

This class teaches how to prevent theft and protect oneself during robbery, as well as how to avoid email scams and identity theft.

Many of these life skills, along with others such as money management, are not well known to high schoolers, and are topics that should definitely be taught in Living Skills.

“We didn’t learn about the things that we should be learning about [in Living Skills] such as how to live when you turn 18, [such as] how to pay your taxes and how to pay your bills and how to be a normal person in normal life that’s not high school rather than my morals and how much I eat everyday because I can contain myself,” Marinkovich said.

Work Experience teaches one how to deal with difficult people, tricky social situations and even how to resign from a job with dignity.

This is exactly the kind of information that is missing in Living Skills, because living skills especially does not teach one “how to manage life crisis” well enough. “[Living Skills] did not help me manage my life crisis,” Marinkovich said. “It didn’t help me at all because it did not teach me how to deal with stress.”

On the other hand, Work Experience has a speaker come in to class to talk specifically about how to deal with stress.

The speaker addresses both physical and mental exercises, such as demonstrating ways to relax before a test or stretch to release stress.

This kind of hands-on teaching would be great for Living Skills and useful for the future.

“One thing I didn’t find useful was that Living Skills didn’t go into detail about how to react in difficult situations because [Living Skills] just [taught] about [those difficult situations],”sophomore Alex Murray said. “[For example, they didn’t tell you] what to do when a friend might be a bully. I think it should be more hands on or situational. If they brought in more hands on experience from people have been there [such as] addicts to tell their struggles or pregnant teenagers I guess, [Living Skills would be better].”

Unfortunately Living Skills does not teach us these skills well enough. How to “establish and sustain healthy, rewarding interpersonal relationships” or how to “manage life crisis” is something that Living Skill claims to do, according the Paly Course Catalog, but doesn’t really teach.

Clearly, there are many life skills we do not learn from Living Skills and would love to know.

Currently, Living Skills is teaching us too much of what we already know, and not enough of what we don’t.

“I don’t really think that I learned anything I didn’t already know before,” senior Jessica Tam said, “The topics were really important, just not new.”

Marinkovich agrees and believes that Living Skills should be made into a course where students learn helpful new information which will be useful later in life.

“Overall I think Living Skills could be made a more effective course, [because] right now it is a lot about things we already know and not about the things we want to learn,” Marinkovich said.

Thus, Living Skills should change its focus and teach students skills similar to those taught in Work Experience.

Also it should give more advice on topics such as managing life crises or interpersonal relationships that many teenagers face.

Most of all, this class should teach us other skills we are yearning to learn, but do not know about.

These include paying taxes, bills, managing a budget, building a resume for the future, managing our time wisely, and managing life crisis rather than simply knowing where to ask for help.

Friday, October 19, 2012

The Campanile

OPINION

A9

Teachers should use homework sites Staff should check schedules

ALVINA ZOU Staff Writer

Walk in, sit down, class starts.

Teachers usually start the day by writing the homework on the board and allowing time for students to write it down.

However, online accessibility of school assignments and grades provides a more efficient alternative to the long tradition of copying homework during class. Posting homework assignments online allows students universal accessibility, any hour of the day—24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“I think Schoology and other online school sites are good because they save paper and you can get all your worksheets either in both hard copy and as a file on your computer,” sophomore Haley Fang said.

“So, when you lose handouts, you don’t need to go through the shame of telling your teacher you lost the worksheets.

Accessing the correct homework and schedule of the class is crucial to the success of a student in the class and can be accessed from anywhere with Internet.

“I think it’s a lot more convenient when teachers post things like homework online because it’s easier to access whenever you need it,” junior Emma Abed said. “You don’t need to worry about writing it down in class every day, and if you’re sick you can just check there to see what you missed. Since most people at Paly are online anyway, it makes sense for teachers to post things there.”

Online sites such as Schoology, Infinite Campus, Turnitin and Paly Online are sites that provide teacher and students with access to check homework, check dates of tests and

quizzes, view grades, post notes, turn in essays and download assignments.

“I actually really like the fact that teachers use Schoology,” Fang said.

“The problem is, some teachers don’t use it. They have an account set up, but they don’t post anything because they don’t know how to use it or would rather write [the assignments] on the board. [Ultimately,] you end up needing to go to different sites to get your handouts.”

Although the school prefers both teachers writing assignments on boards in their classroom and online access of important class dates and homework, it still encourages teachers to use online sites to post schedules and assignments.

“We want [teachers] to [use Schoology],” Assistant Principal Jerry Berkson said. “We really encourage it [and] it’s a goal. As a matter a fact, it’s a district goal that all teachers use Schoology, but you can’t force someone to do something.”

Both the school and teachers are working to encourage more use with the new online sites.

“There’s been a commitment on campus this year for Palo Alto High School that by the end of the year, all teachers will be using Schoology,” Assistant Principal Kathie Laurence said, “[They’ll use it as] a way to communicate what assignment there are, papers that are due, [and] attaching documents.”

Janet Shyr, one of the school’s Chinese teachers, requires her students to copy down the homework during the beginning of the class. In addition to this, she also posts the information online after.

When the students first walk into the class, they are required to copy down the agenda and the homework for the day.

After they copy down the homework, she comes around the classroom and stamps the paper in order to ensure the students are practicing their Chinese.

“I started to use Schoology this year because it was recommended by the school,” Shyr said. “It’s another way for students to look up what we did in the homework besides we

write down in class. I think you only remember and become organized by writing things down. [By doing so,] you create a memory. [When the student’s copy down the homework], it’s my way of warming up with the class. When you write things down, you think. I’m hoping by [having my students] write things down and check things online, [this will allow] my students to manage their work on their own.”

A main focus with the school this year is finding a way to merge two sites: Infinite Campus and Schoology.

“It would be really nice if we could have one application,” Berkson said. “[The purpose of] Infinite Campus was [for] final grades for the quar-

It would be nice if all teachers would either completely commit to posting everything onto Schoology, The point of [online sites are] to make everything simpler and have just one place where we can get everything for all our classes.

Haley Fang

Sophomore ter as well as attendance. I think the main purpose of Schoology was -[to prevent us from having] seventeen different website for students to go to for each teacher’s individual homework assignments [and have] one portal for [all online sites].It’s not just more organized, it’s more school and user friendly, informative, and resources all combined into one to make it easier for the student.”

For now, the students are figuring out whether the technological set up or copying homework in class is easier. The incorporation of more online classes provides for a more efficient and accessible to all students, no matter the exact place or time. Instead of worrying about copying down assignments and loosing papers, students can focus on learning the topic.

Jonathan Ziegler Staff Writer

Palo Alto is a tight-knit community brimming with helicopter parents, intense academics and stressed students.

Many students feel as though they are regulated by the many authority figures around them. Since the start of school, students are experiencing regulation from a new source.

Controversy has arisen with regards to school librarians and Academic Resource Center (ARC) supervisors checking the schedules of students to make sure they are not cutting class.

However, the right to check schedules should be allowed by any member of the Paly staff; checking students schedules should not be considered not an invasion of privacy.

“Schedule checking” has been going on since any one of us set foot on Paly campus, according to Librarian Deborah Henry.

It is important to recognize how much the Paly staff wants to help us. This goes hand in hand with the librarians, who want to uphold a pleasant environment in which we can study, learn and do homework.

By checking schedules, librarians, ARC supervisors and teachers can make sure that students are getting the most out of their education.

In addition, it is important that Paly staff have record of any students cutting class for liability.

If a student were to get hurt during a time where the student should be in class, the school can get into legal trouble.

“The first thing I do is talk to the student because I want to find out why the student is choosing to miss class,” Paly librarian Rachel Kellerman said. “Because after all it

is in the students best interests to be in class” It is important to recognize the fact that in addition to all the stress, students may feel controlled by the Paly staff. Students are not lab rats and should not be treated as such. If they are guaranteed privacy in the real world then they should consequently be guaranteed privacy in an institution. Above all, a compromise should be settled between students and Paly staff. If there is probable cause for a schedule check, then the staff member checking the student’s schedule is not at fault. In this situation, probable cause would be granted if the student suspected of cutting class is not a regular attendant of a library in a certain period.

“I would never check a students schedule without probable cause” Kellerman said.

Henry is in the library for a good portion of the day and is aware of which students are in prep or not.

“We have a pretty good idea who’s supposed to be here and who’s not” said Henry.

However, staff should not be allowed to pull students aside without justification.

We must also take this moment to recognize how much the Paly staff does for the student body. Checking students’ schedules in the library and the ARC just to ensure that we are in class learning.

“Really we are just looking after the best interest of the students, and if the students are not in class, especially with the block schedule, they are really [missing out]” Kellerman said.

It displays how much the Paly staff wants us to learn and prosper.

By checking schedules, the librarians and ARC supervisors are just trying to help us learn and maintain a positive learning environment.

If a student is supposed to be in class then it seems reasonable for the staff to make sure of that. We the students must realize that the librarians and ARC supervisors are not out to get us in trouble or whine at us for eating food in the library. They are there to help.

Cheaper parking permits incentivize environmentally unfriendly practices

HEATHER STRATHEARN Staff Writer

Thanks to the Associated Student Body (ASB), Paly student drivers will have an extra $60 to put in their bank accounts for college or, knowing Palo Alto, to spend.

Previous to this year, parking permits have cost $25 quarterly, however the price has now been reduced to $10 quarterly.

Unfortunately, this discount does not come without a negative. The decrease in price will result in ASB losing around $14,000 in revenue each year, according to ASB secretary Charlie Dulik, making it the biggest expenditure of the year. Senior members of ASB initiated this change, as it is ASB’s duty to lower prices given

the high parking permit prices and ASB has a surplus of money to use.

“Whether this practice will be sustainable is another question,” Student Activities Director Matt Hall said.

“In my opinion it might need to go up, but we can probably keep it below 100 [dollars] for several years.

Certainly the money is there for this year.”

Many students are excited about the change. However one important issue is being overlooked: this is 2012, is driving the best and greenest option for Paly to be promoting for students in this modern age?

“I think they should put some of that money towards the bike racks instead,” freshman Siddharth Srinivasan said.

However, many students are enthusiastic about the change. The students who previously could not afford a permit and were forced to walk, bike, or park elsewhere now have the opportunity to drive to school and park in the Paly parking lot.

“I think that the change is great because some students right now are forced to park further away and

end up crowding up the surrounding neighborhoods,” senior Tia Rabinovitz said.

All it takes is one look around the area right off campus to see the overcrowding from students who do not park in the school lot; however it only takes a glance at the bike racks to see the same congestion. The same problem appeared last year when bike racks were added, but with the increased number of bikers they are once again over crowded.

“I think they should spend more money on having more bike racks,” freshman Karen Bowman said. “If you come later to school and you try and find a spot for your bike, [there aren’t any] and you have to shove [your bike] in a spot where it is not supposed to be.”

In this time of extreme climate change and global warming, people have been coming together to be greener and Paly should be leaders in this change. This means with money being spent on making parking permits more available, it is our responsibility to make biking just as convenient as driving and an attempt to promote eco-friendly options.

Alexander Jenson

“Okay, seriously. Who invited him this time?”

Friday, October 19, 2012

The Campanile

LIFESTYLE O

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ere in the U.S., our consumption, albeit less, is certainly more creative. New caffeinated beverages are advertised every day. Red Rock Café in Mountain View is known to offer their signature “Red-eye” coffee, featuring brewed coffee mixed with four espresso shots. From Avitaé, a caffeinated water, 5-hour energy caffeine shots, or coffee made from cat feces called “Kopi Luwak,” there is no end to the strange caffeinated products sold in the good old U.S. of A. “I’ve had caffeinated gum before, because I was just curious, but it just tastes like gum,” senior Esha Datta said. “I prefer coffee because it tastes better.

For the past several years, more novel forms of caffeine like energy drinks and caffeine gum have been the subject of undue speculation.

Featured in brightly colored packages that often sport warnings, such products feature obscure ingredients like “milk thistle extract,” taurine, guarana and random other unpronounceables, which are popularly reported to cause

cancer, shrink male genitalia and stunt growth, just to name a few.

When held in comparison to other sugary beverages, such statements, while grossly exaggerated, do have slight merit. Caffeine is a mindaltering drug and the combination of preservatives and sugar in such products have been known to cause health complications.

“I see what it does to other people, and [personally] I don’t want to be dependent on it,” Johns Hopkins medical student Jorge Alvarado said.

“Some have neurochemical conditions where they might actually need it, but it would be up to a doctor to decide.”

D

espite the myriad of warnings out there, no drug is more widespread and accepted than our beloved caffeine. Whole countries depend on its industry, and it is ingrained in our highperformance culture. Because there are many arguments for and against its use, caffeine occupies the strange position of being both accepted culturally and considered a health hazard.

“I suppose that I wouldn’t consider caffeine to be a dangerous drug as long as one stays within safe levels and doesn’t get addicted,” senior Robert Lee said. “Similar criteria applies to my opinion of other drugs.”

R

egardless of any purported dangers, caffeine is a fixture of modern society; its status as such will not change any time soon. Whether it is through pills, coffee, soda or even gum, it holds a cherished position in many hearts across the world.

80 mg

175 mg

74 mg

34 mg

mountain dew

coffee

how much caffeine is in one serving?

Spirfiotr dWeek ummies read about it on pages B4-B5

prefrontal cortex, where higher-level computation takes place.

Interestingly enough, Scandinavian countries, which are cited as both the happiest and most educated nations in the world, also boast the highest level of caffeine consumption, with the lowest Scandinavian country Sweden still outstripping U.S. consumption by a full 100 percent at 18 pounds. Finland, declared the most educated place on Earth, consumes 27 pounds per capita.

coca-cola

urthermore, caffeine has reliably proven itself as a cognitive enhancer. Beethoven was reported to drink eight cups a day, counting exactly 60 beans in each cup. In addition to the myriad of neuropsychological effects to caffeine, it also increases oxygen and nutrient circulation to the brain’s

Caffeine (1, 3, 7-trimelthylxanthine) counters adenosine, thus blocking signals of tiredness otherwise sent to the brain

black tea

F

Breakdown of C8H10N4O2

90%

Red bull

there is probably no advice more ubiquitous. After all, why would anyone do drugs in the first place?

Addiction, organ damage, social stigmas and accelerated aging are just a few reasons not to partake, yet people still do. In fact, most do.

Our main drug of concern is sold on every street corner, in countless forms, available to anyone. The average American consumes nine pounds of it each year, and many say they cannot live without it. It is known as C8H10N4O2, or by its street name, caffeine.

Most would be reluctant to label caffeine as a “drug,” but it fits the bill of a psychoactive compound to a tee.

As an alkaloid, caffeine occupies the same chemical family as cocaine and morphine. Starting with ingestion, caffeine enters the bloodstream and crosses the normally impermeable blood-brain barrier to reach the circulatory system of the brain. From there, it acts on one of the most important chemicals in the body: Adenosine.

The body relies on adenosine molecules as its single and absolute supplier of energy. But when adenosine breaks apart, the smaller molecules inhibit brain activity and induce fatigue and sleepiness. When caffeine is introduced to the brain, it prevents adenosine from binding to brain cells, which then reverses the inhibitory effect of adenosine, negating sleepiness and cognitive impairment.

Furthermore, science shows that caffeine also affects memory pathways and dopamine transmission, which are the exact same processes that controversial ADHD medications Ritalin and Adderall act upon.

In fact, caffeine is such a powerful compound that scientists believe it was first evolved as a toxin against insects and small rodents. Humans too are susceptible to the dangers of caffeine. Five grams of cocaine is considered lethal for a 180 pound man, versus three grams for presumably benign caffeine.

“I drink caffeine every day, but I’m not in that deep. I don’t know about [it being] dangerous, but I’m sure it’s bad for you,” senior Chase Callahan said.

Yet, given the facts, why do would societies and governments throughout the world still permit it? Why do people still use and abuse it?

Caffeine has been cited by the National Institute of health as “significantly improv[ing] endurance performance and complex cognitive ability,” and is also on the list of banned substances in the Olympics.

Hillel zand

INSIDE A Brief History by Irene Ezran How to Prepare by Kian McHugh Comparing with Gunn by Ziv Schwartz

mg/serving of each, respectively

54 mg

From 2:53 p.m. to 3:55 p.m. on Oct. 10, 2012, I set aside all humility and did what all good American citizens do: argue.

I stood in front of Town and Country (along with Jonathan Ziegler for a little bit — thanks Ziggy) holding up signs protesting the closings of Korean Barbecue and Hobee’s. Both Obama and Romney can agree small businesses like these and the middle class are what will make the economy as prosperous as it was when I was in 4th grade and didn’t know basic algebra.

After getting kicked out by security, I made my way across the street and plopped my tuchus down at the crosswalk on Embarcadero. That’s when I began to think.

I thought about how 16 other people on my Facebook event said they were going to come. I realized that if I were them, I probably wouldn’t have come either. I can’t blame them because I’ll admit I felt embarrassed sitting out there looking like a hobo.

Some told me that it was a stupid idea and nothing would change, and they’re probably right. But let a guy have some fun and let loose by exercising his First Amendment rights.

Some people took my cause as seriously as my parents took me when I told them I wanted to be the first minor to be elected president of the United States when I was in 5th grade. So basically not at all. Town and Country executives most likely weren’t going to say to me, “Thank you for pointing out our flaws in closing local, family-owned businesses.”

Some people decided to fact-check my every word and pointed out flaws in my argument, but I don’t mind.

I have come to learn during my seven years living in “Shallow Alto” (pun credit to Ms. Filppu) that although we may be diverse, there are some things that make many of us similar. For one, we live in a community, for the most part, filled with wealth. For the nice couple that owned Korean BBQ, that was their only source of income. To my disbelief, some people are still unmoved.

I’m proud to be a part of the middle class in this area. I think it keeps me grounded when many living here are gazillionaires. Just think about the impact that closing a small familyowned business has. Many students see it as “I can’t get my favorite food anymore,” but for the owners, it changes their whole life. Some are spending $15+ on lunch at T&C every day. The sad thing is that they don’t even know they’re supporting a mall that forces innocent businesses to close down by saying, “Pay up. You need to add four times the square footage or you’re outta here.”

We should cherish being able to take political action at this age, no matter how small the issue. Two years from now, I’ll get a lot more crazy looks when I protest the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi because you and I both know it should be in Pyongyang, North Korea. If there’s something that bothers you, make it known and don’t let people tell you otherwise.

Wow that sounded cheesier than the ending of a Disney movie. But seriously, F da haterz. YOLO. However you want to say it.

Long live the First Amendment.

Long live the middle class. And long live Korean BBQ and Hobee’s.

Student life

Wondering what to do for Halloween?

Too old to trick-or-treat, but still want to go out? Check out these spooky spots. B2

Culture

Campy in Castro Giving you a taste of the best shops and eateries along Mountain View’s Castro Street. B8

Friday, October 19, 2012

B2

The Campanile

STUDENT LIFE

Reckless bicyclists + speeding drivers = DISASTER

How to Halloween

anna mcgarrigle

Teenage drivers are stupid, it’s a proven fact. But that said, teenage bikers may have proven themselves just as stupid. But the only difference is that one party sits inside a monstrous killing machine, while the other is armed only with a plastic shield on their heads.

Many Paly students have enjoyed the delightful privilege of biking to school at one point or another in their school careers. That same amount of students have likely experienced an adverse encounter with a car, frequently in the three blocks surrounding Paly. And more often than not, the aforementioned encounters have involved a student driver, based off of my very own experience..

The three block radius around Paly has always been a hotbed for bike vs. car conflict in the morning. As older students race over the speed limit and make daring turns en route to school, bicyclists cross the very same intersections on their two wheels with the audacity of 100 Obamas.

Already this year, two bike vs. car accidents have occurred near Paly involving student bicyclists. And guys, that is not okay. First, it’s not okay for us to drive around and putting ourselves and those around us at risk. Second, it is also not okay to bicycle around ignoring traffic rules.

According to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, “riders on public roads have the same rights and responsibilities as motorists, and are subject to the same rules and regulations.” There are over 100 fatal bike vs. car crashes in California every year, with hundreds of thousands more resulting in serious injuries, according to the DMV. For bicyclists, this means stopping at the stop sign on Churchill instead of assuming the cars will let you go.

This also means staying in your lane, which is aptly named “the bike lane”, so you do not obstruct the cars’ ability to turn while operating your bicycle.

But while bicyclists assume the same traffic responsibilities, this still doesn’t mean that the two operations of transportation are equal entities.

Cars are physical killing machines, and teenagers ages 16-19 have the greatest accident rates among every other demographic, per the DMV. Not wearing a helmet as a minor violates state law. But, failing to protect yourself around so many accident-prone drivers is more than just illegal, it’s plain stupid. As aggravating as getting ticketed by the PAPD is (and yes, I have been ticketed), they only mean to protect students biking to school by enforcing the helmet law.

But drivers are not off the hook.

The DMV says to drivers, “Respect the right-of-way of bicyclists because they are entitled to share the road with you.”

So to all the drivers out there, lets follow our rules so the bikers will follow theirs. We don’t want any of those fatal accidents, or an injury, to occur near our school community.

No matter which side of the stop sign you’re on, slow down a minute and stay safe.

Jesse Palmer/ Creative Commons

Each October, children and their accompanying parents flood the sidewalks of suburban streets in search of the candy that awaits them at each doorstep.

They are met by various Halloween decorations and frightful glowing jack o’lanterns as seen above.

Stephenie zhang Staff writer

I

t is the time of the year to start pulling out costumes, dusting off candy bowls and carving out pumpkins as the scariest day of the year quickly approaches.

Halloween is the time to see illuminated jack-o’-lanterns and translucent spider webs decorating neighborhood houses; it is the time to stay up till midnight gathering candy by reciting “trick or treat” over and over at every house in the neighborhood. This Halloween, the Bay Area community is hosting many popular and lively events to participate in.

Trick or Treating

Trick or treating is an inveterate part of Halloween culture; people of all ages are involved, children and adults—children exult in dressing up as their favorite popular character or supernatural figure and going from door to door at dusk to see their candy bags slowly fill to the top before they return home to pick out their favorite kinds to eat.

While children are out trick-ortreating, high schoolers sit at home, thinking themselves too old to participate in the “childish” fun.

Personally I still enjoy [trick or treating] because it’s a fun tradition that really anyone can take part in. It’s fun to dress up and go out with your friends, and I’ll definitely try to go again this year.

Phoebe So Junior

But the act of trick or treating does not always remain solely for the children: some in middle school or high school also spend their time trick or treating just to participate in the Halloween tradition.

“Trick or treating can be kind of awkward because adults sort of stare at you, and you can tell that they think you’re too old for it,” junior Phoebe So said. “But personally I

still enjoy it because it’s a fun tradition that really anyone can take part it. It’s fun to just dress up and go out with your friends, and I’ll definitely try to go again this year.”

Just going out to trick-or-treat can be a way to walk away from school and its obligations; some students trick or treat not just to participate in American tradition but also to take a break from school and relieve stress.

Haunted House

Tour guides lead dressed up children around indoors, using special effects and costumed people to create terrifying scenes. Around the country, many haunted houses are being set up at private homes, schools and public fairgrounds.

“There was a haunted house on a street off of Greer and I went last year with a group of friends,” So said.

“It was in someone’s backyard and homemade and was actually really terrifying, so I’ll probably go again if the family is hosting it this year.”

Many students enjoy attending haunted houses just to get a good scare, and for the local neighborhood haunted houses, visitors wait through long lines before splitting off into groups to enter the haunted house.

Screams fill the surrounding area, and attendees rave about the thrill they get from these fright-invoking attractions.

Outside of Palo Alto, in San Jose, lies the supposedly bizarre Winchester Mystery House. Believed to be haunted by the victims of the rifle, which belongs to her family, Sarah Winchester built the house with the intention never to complete it, adding to the construction of her mansion until her death. Nowadays, many people believe it to be an actual haunted house and tours of the mansion are given daily.

But for Halloween, the mansion is transformed to intensify the thrill and scare level. From Sept. 28 to Nov. 3, Fright Nights ensue. All the lights are turned off. The Winchester Mystery House gives The Curse of Sarah Winchester maze tour in the corn fields as well as the Walk with the Spirits flashlight tour in the house and tells haunted tales, making for a

Harshlight/Creative Commons

The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose is a popular destination for those in the Halloween spirit.

haunted Halloween experience for any high school student. Admission to Fright Nights varies according to the day and the time.

Also, the Santa Clara County Fairground is once again hosting The World’s Largest Haunted House, which is open every Friday and Saturday from Oct. 5 to Oct. 31.

Admission is $22 for anyone over the age of 12. This is the haunted house’s 11th year and has been expanding, with new scares, every year.

In the words of the sponsor, “enter at your own risk.”

Halloween Haunt (Great America)

Great America’s Halloween Haunt has been a popular venue for high schoolers in the past because of its thrilling and scary events. No one under thirteen is officially allowed in; however, this rule is loosely enforced.

Every year during Halloween Haunt, Great America is packed with teenagers and adults dressed up like pirates, clowns and zombies. Great America employees also dress up and

chase after visitors in an attempt to scare attendees.

“It’s really exciting to see all the employees dressed in scary costumes,” freshman Carissa Zou said. “This makes it really authentic and a great place to go for a scare.”

Many older students enjoy Halloween not for the candy but for the scare, and, according to many students, the Halloween Haunt has some of the scariest attractions around the Bay Area—the main reason older students, notably high schoolers, flock to Great America during Halloween.

The Halloween Haunt runs from Sept. 28 to Oct. 28, every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 7 p.m. to midnight.

The attractions consist of haunted mazes, scare zones, rides and shows.

The featured attractions include shows like Culture Pop and Ghostly Glow Party as well as scare zones like Madame Marie’s Massacre Manor. Admission price is $25.99 for Fridays and Sundays and $27.99 for Saturdays.

Elaine Cao Violin and Viola Teacher • Over 20 years of experience • Palo Alto studio • All ages and levels welcome

Contact (650)-776-5988 Or elainecao@yahoo.com

Friday, October 19, 2012

The Campanile

NEWS

B3

Hale, Evans debut as teachers

Gina scarpino photo editor

E

very school year, Paly always acquires new staff members, whether they are teachers or administrators. This year, Paly welcomed many new staff members into the Viking community.

Christine Hale is a new art teacher who has been brought on board to teach two periods of Art Spectrum, as well as one period of Paly’s newest art class Graphic Design. Hale first started teaching immediately after she graduated from college.

She started her teaching career at a middle school in Portland, Oregon teaching art classes.

“After [I taught in Oregon] I went back to art school in NYC to study illustration and graphic design,” Hale said. “I taught college level design classes at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York.”

For many years, Hale was a children’s book author and illustrator.

She has illustrated 20 books, along with three others that are set to come out this year. Hale authored two of her three new books.

“I started my own freelance business when my daughter was born, and continued to work as a children's book author and illustrator,” Hale said. “[In addition, I worked as] a freelance publication designer and art director.”

She had also worked as a designer and art director for several publishing companies in New York.

To Hale, working as an art director is very similar to teaching: the way that she helped illustrators is

similar to the way that a teacher helps a student.

After having years of experience, Hale has grown to adore teaching, even though she sometimes feels like a class period is not long enough to be able to provide the help to the students who need it.

“I enjoy thinking of project ideas,” Hale said. “[I] like the times I get to work one-on-one with the students.”

This year, she is especially excited to be teaching the new graphic design class that is being offered, and looks forward to helping develop the program.

Caitlin Evans, also a new administrator at Paly this year, teaches psychology. Before coming to Paly, Evans spent time in the Peace Corps and in Bangladesh for two years teaching.

“For the last ten years I have worked for non-profit organizations in international education,” Evans said. “This meant that I traveled all over the world working with teachers and students on different educational programs.”

I feel really lucky to have the opportunity to teach here and meet so many great students.

Caitlin Evans Psychology teacher

Working for these organizations, Evans taught teachers how to use technology in their classrooms, and worked for a number of non-profit organizations that run alternative schools. One of these schools holds classes on train platforms in India for

Gina scarpino/the Campanile

Christine Hale helps a student sketch using the light tables during Art Spectrum.

children who sold water or shined shoes.

“I worked on global projects to connect kids in different parts of the world,” Evans said. “I loved the work I was doing but I was traveling too much. I missed teaching in a classroom and decided it was time to go back [to that].”

Evans first realized that she wanted to be a teacher when she

taught in Bangladesh: she first realized that teaching was something she could do for the rest of her life.

“I love getting to know my students,” Evans said. “We have such diverse, interesting kids at Paly. I feel really lucky to have the opportunity to teach here and meet so many great students.”

Evans was attracted to teaching psychology to high school students

because high school is such an interesting time in students’ lives.

Along with her part time job at Paly, Evans has two sons she has to juggle taking care of.

Evans has been having a wonderful time teaching psychology to her students, and is looking forward to teaching a unit on social psychology, which is coming at the end of the semester.

Students run website on technology

angela stern staff writer

I

n the heart of the Silicon Valley, even high schoolers are a part of the expansive technology market.

At Paly, junior Freddy Kellison-Linn and senior Adrian D’Urso have created their own lucrative technology website, jailbreaknation.com.

The site features the latest news from big technology companies such as Apple, as well as many instructions and videos on how to modify iPhones and other Apple products by “jailbreaking” them.

Creating a successful website in itself is a feat, but doing so while balancing life as a Paly student is a struggle by all accounts and can be considered an even greater accomplishment.

“Essentially it’s a blog that we use to talk about news relating to mostly Apple products but also technology in general,” Kellison-Linn said.

“We have a focus on Apple products, specifically jailbreaking or hacking them and tutorials on how to do that.

We also interlink it to our Youtube channel to post video content to our website.”

Jailbreaknation.com did not evolve overnight; it has been a work in progress since 2010.

“It sort of started as just something to do,” Kellison-Linn said.

“We didn’t create it with the intent of making money or anything, it was just because we both happened to have iPod Touches at the time and were interested in them so we thought ‘Oh we should make videos and review stuff for these.’ And that’s how it started and we just sort of adapted to what people wanted and what new products we got.”

Currently, they do not have any new plans for the site.

“We don’t have anything big planned for now, but we’re constantly working on changing little things,” D’Urso said. “As for content, we’re definitely making a lot more videos as a lot of new products are being released so that’s something to look forward to. Our videos and audience have been growing: we now have almost 400,000 fans on Youtube and 200,000 on Facebook, so we’re just planning on growing the numbers and still producing content.”

The site has progressed enormously, beginning with daily site views that were in the single digits.

“We’ve grown from in the beginning when we were getting no views, slowly to getting thousands then hundreds of thousands per day,” D’Urso said. “It’s something to balance out and there’s a lot more to maintain stuff when things grow bigger.”

The website’s fan base has grown significantly, so much that the creators have expanded the site to having two to six others write for them.

However, D’Urso and Kellison-Linn are still in charge and do most of the work.

“Some of them make videos, some of them write posts about certain news items but we still maintain the server,” Kellison-Linn said.

The content of the site has improved significantly as the writers gained experience.

“We’ve sort of gotten a feel for more journalistic writing I would say, more experience with that and with what people like and don’t like,” Kellison-Linn said. “And our videos themselves have started becoming much more news angled. Originally [they were] reviews of products and apps for idevices and now its covering more news stuff and that’s just the evolution of our channel and site over time.”

Courtesy of Jailbreaknation.com

Freddy Kellison-Linn and Adrian D’Urso post major technology news on their website, Jailbreaknation.com.

On top of a full load at Paly, it is easy to see how running a website can be challenging and difficult to balance.

“Especially during junior year I haven’t been contributing as much to the site and Youtube, just because I have so much more stuff that I’ve added on this year,” Kellison-Linn said.

Despite these additional time restrictions, Kellison-Linn is determined to persevere and continue working on the website.

“I’m hoping to find a balance, maybe I’ll even have to scale back my involvement in the business this year, but I’m going to try to keep up with it as much as I can,” Kellison-Linn said.

It’s fun interacting with people and seeing how popular your stuff is.

Adrian D’Urso Senior

D’Urso believes the biggest challenge with the site is releasing content in a timely manner.

“News comes out when it does, so we have to cover it then, and I’ve had to miss classes,” D’Urso said.

Jailbreaknation.com makes a big effort to cover breaking news in technology and particularly Apple.

“When Apple releases a new product, that’s always a big event,” Kellison-Linn said. “One of us will stay home to cover that live. Other things we sort of have working around our schedules but for big releases we try to fit our schedule around that instead.”

Sept. 21 was an important day for the site with the iPhone 5’s release.

“The day the new iPhone came out, we made 20-something articles on it and a bunch of videos,” D’Urso said.

Especially in the technologyobsessed Bay Area, there is much to cover on these widely popular phones.

“There’s so much people want to read and so much stuff to cover, and people will look through all of it, so the more content the better,” Kellison-Linn said.

Looking back, the two enjoy having their own website despite of the

challenges that it has presented to them. “[Having our own website] is definitely something that sets us apart,” Kellison-Linn said.

The pay-off does not come easily.

It requires large amounts of dedication and work.

“It’s a lot of pressure just to make sure everything is right and I’m constantly checking the site even during class, so it’s something that can definitely be a burden,” D’Urso said. “It’s fun interacting with people and seeing how popular your stuff is. When we go to conventions, people will know us or want to work with us.”

The site’s popularity has gotten D’Urso and Kellison-Linn recognized in the community.

“In regular life I’ve had situations where I mentioned my site or something and people have been like ‘Oh, jailbreaknation! You run that site?’”

Kellison-Linn said. “It has enough widespread viewership that people in real life have seen it and don’t even know that we’re the ones who run it.”

D’Urso has also encountered similar situations in and out of Paly.

“That’s happened like twice at Paly for me and then when I did a live stream a little while ago, a lot of people were from the Bay Area so that was interesting,” D’Urso said.

D’Urso and Kellison-Linn recommend that any student who may be interested in creating his or her own business should certainly attempt to do so.

“It’s definitely something people should consider if they’re interested in some sort of entrepreneurial effort,” Kellison-Linn said. “We didn’t enter with the intent of making a lot of money, like I said it sort of started as something to do and then after a couple years of work it started becoming something that we could have an income off of.”

Open-mindedness is crucial to every person involved in any form of business venture, according to Kellison-Linn.

“If you’re entering with the intent of making a lot of money you’re going to get discouraged because you won’t be,” Kellison-Linn said. “Just do stuff you love and if you can make money while doing it then that’s great.”

Friday, October 19, 2012

B4

The Campanile

Y L PA

WEE T I R I P S f e i r B A y r o t s Hi

Spirit Week has changed through the years, but traditions remain the same.

Irene Ezran Staff Writer

S

pirit Week has been a tradition at Paly since 1952, when the administration created “Friendship Week” to welcome the students back to school.

Friendship Week included various activities such as skits, fashion shows and a dress-up day.

In 1977, the name “Friendship Week” was officially changed to “Spirit Week.”

According to several Paly graduates who are currently teachers, there have been many changes in Spirit Week throughout the past six decades.

Jason Fung, teacher of 13 years and 1992 Paly graduate, said that one tradition that has been lost is the Homecoming Court.

In the 90s, at the end of Spirit Week, the students went to the Homecoming football game, where Homecoming Court would be announced.

“They used to have Homecoming king and queen for all the classes, and they rode the floats,” Fung said.

Another element that changed overtime is the venue of Spirit Week, which was originally held in an amphitheater where the science building is currently located.

“We used to have this big amphitheater which was perfect for Spirit Week,” Steve Foug, teacher of 13 years and 1991 Paly graduate, said.

In addition, according to Foug, in the 90s, the spirit dances were much less impressive than they are nowadays. The dances were not oriented around the class theme, and there was not as much choreography and synchronization of the dancers.

“The spirit dance is much more elaborate nowadays,” Foug said. “I don’t remember dance teams at all.

[It’s] not like the Dancing with the Stars type of thing you guys do now.

That’s very elaborate.”

1952

reated tration c Adminis k” to hip Wee “Friends back to students e m o lc e eek” w “Spirit W d n a l o o sch n. was bor

Also, several years ago, each class did pranks during Spirit Week.

Rachel Kaci, Paly graduate from 1998 and new teacher at Paly, recalls the prank she and her classmates pulled senior year.

“During Spirit Week our senior year, we put bricks in the entrances to get into the parking lot,” Kaci said.

“People were pretty mad, but it was still funny.”

Likewise, Foug remembers several pranks, including one during his senior year when a classmate bought a highway sign with their graduation year on it.

“The California state highway signs are green in white, so someone from our class ordered one that said California Highway 91,” Foug said.

However, one issue with Spirit Week in the 90s was that the football games were immediately after school, so many athletes were not able to participate in the rallies.

“I played football and we had night games, so I was never part of the festivities,” Fung said. “I never really got a chance to be immersed in all the stuff that happens.”

Although not everyone participated in the rallies, each class was able

1984

1977

k” was hip Wee s d it n ie r F “ to “Spir changed y ll ia ic off Week.”

to work together to create a float to be presented on the last day of Spirit Week, a tradition that has been at Paly for many years.

In fact, one of Foug’s best memories of Spirit Week was the float building, where he spent many hours working with his classmates to create a float that would impress the judges.

“I was really into [float building] and I had a great time with We used to that,” Foug said. have this big However, one amphitheater of Foug’s regrets which was is not fully parperfect for ticipating in the Spirit Week, dressing up durSteve Foug ing Spirit Week.

“As a student Class of ‘91 here, I never really bought in 100 percent,” Foug said. “I was only doing it as much as my friends were doing it, and I actually do regret that. If you get 100 percent into it, it’s a lot of fun.”

Although Spirit Week has changed over the years, it still remains one of the greatest memories for many Paly graduates because of the competitiveness and class unity it promotes.

Kaci believes that one of the best parts of Spirit Week is the variety

Spirit 984 won 1 f o s s nior Cla more, ju o h p o s is still Week ar; this e y r io n and se . g record a standin

of students who participate in the lunchtime activities.

“I really enjoyed when they got a diverse group of people involved,” Kaci said. “It wasn’t the same football players or cheerleaders, it was a broad range of people joined in.”

Also, to many people’s surprise, the seniors do not always win Spirit Week. In fact, the class of 1984 won Spirit Week sophomore, junior and senior year, a record that has never been beaten. When Kaci was a senior, the sophomore class won Spirit Week. Nonetheless, Kaci and her classmates cherish their memories from their final year at Paly.

“My friends and I have very fond memories, even though we did lose Spirit Week,” Kaci said. “At the time we were mad about it, but now we look back and think it’s funny.”

In addition, according to Foug, Spirit Week is always a great time to get to know more people through the various activities and rallies.

“By the time I was a senior, I saw what [Spirit Week] did,” Foug said.

“I was now friends with people I wasn’t before in my senior class.”

Throughout the past six decades, Spirit Week has been a time that unifies each class and brings the school together. It is filled with fun and competitiveness, and for many students, it is the best week of the year.

A comparison between two rival schools: Paly versus Gunn Ziv Schwartz Staff Writer

E

very fall, high schoolers experience the same old transition; swim trunks are replaced with jeans, t-shirts turn into sweaters and flip-flops become shoes.

Students return from their glorious summer vacations to the monotonous school schedule they know all too well.

Wake up at 7:00 a.m., leave for school, survive through the day, go home, do homework, eat, sleep, repeat.

Five days a week, students endure this tedious schedule only to get two days off for the weekend, which is still jam-packed with studying and work.

However, there is something that helps students get through the tough beginnings of the school year: the final week before Halloween commonly known as Spirit Week.

Yet Palo Alto’s two high schools, Paly and Gunn, have completely varying norms and traditions when it comes to Spirit Week.

First off, at Gunn, Spirit Week is known as Homecoming due to the fact that the Homecoming football game and dance immediately follow it.

At both schools, Spirit Week is notably a very popular event in which almost all students and even staff members come to watch and be a part of the action.

Everyone who has experienced Spirit Week always looks forward to it and it helps them get through the rough beginnings of the school year.

“It’s a very exciting time,” senior Alon Cohen said. “It’s always fun uniting as a class and seeing which class is the best.”

For newer students at Paly, the concept of Spirit Week may seem slightly ambiguous. Yet the way it works is not

as complicated as it may seem. At the beginning of every year, elected class officers set up a meeting where each grade decides upon its own theme.

The themes must have some relation to each class’ particular color: freshman-orange, sophomores-red, juniors-yellow and seniors-green.

From Tuesday through Thursday there are predetermined themes ranging from seniors in togas to freshman dressed up as babies to sophomores blanketed in red.

On the final day of the week, Friday, all the classes come together and dress up in green and white to symbolize that in reality the grade differences do not really matter all that much.

During the week, at lunch and sometimes brunch there are games

and events in which grades compete for points and ultimately the class with the most points by the end of the week wins.

Some of the events include: sumowrestling, musical chairs, spirit dances and class floats, all of which are very competitive and amusing to watch.

Across Palo Alto at Gunn, one finds a completely different version of Spirit Week.

The major difference in between the two weeks is that at Gunn the over arching theme changes every year.

“Every year our Student Executive Council (SEC) gets together during the summer and has a brainstorming session,” Gunn junior class vice president Janet Titzler said. “It usually lasts about three to four hours and we first come up with the over arching theme.

This year’s is ‘California Dreamin’ and then we come up with theme days that could fit under this broad category for each day.”

Gunn has had different and creative over arching Homecoming themes ever since the tradition began.

Along with the variance in over arching themes, Gunn’s SEC has to come up with day themes for each of the classes. For Gunn’s second day of the week, the day theme that connects to the over arching theme, ‘California Dreamin,’ is regions, where the freshman are “Silicon Valley” (nerds), sophomores are “Yosemite” (hiking gear), juniors are “Central Valley” (cowboys) and the seniors are “Laguna Beach” (beach attire).

The way each grade is assigned a theme is based upon the hierarchy

Courtesy of Hans Von Clemm

Gunn High School seniors dress in school colors to emphasize school spirit and pride during their final year.

of the classes: the SEC comes up with four sub-themes and then the seniors pick first followed the juniors, sophomores and finally the freshmen.

Another difference in between the respective Spirit Weeks is that Gunn has a night rally with an entrance fee of $3 where students, parents and teachers can all congregate to view grade “Airbands” and other competitive events.

The differences between a day rally and a night rally, other than the differing times, is the length and ambiance of the rally.

“The teachers and parents do not really change the environment [of the rally],” Titzler said. “But the students do get much more into it and yell more because it is a very exciting and important tradition of Gunn’s Homecoming.”

Gunn students, however, have mixed views regarding the changing of themes every year.

“I like the competition and the variety [Homecoming] brings,” Gunn senior Gideon Wulfsohn said. “Seeing all the classes come together after being away all summer and competing against one another is very exciting and entertaining.”

Other Gunn students disagree with Wulfsohn on the variety of themes.

“I didn’t realize it made a difference,” Gunn junior Sivan Spector said. “All the things we dress up as are the same anyways.”

Since Paly has yet to change its Spirit Week theme, students enjoy the consistency of the week and would not want to change it.

“I like having the [theme] the same,” Paly senior Molly Zebker said. “You see what the grade above you does and then you get ideas from them. And I like the themes. There is no need to change them.”

2 1 0 2 K WEE The Campanile

1990s

Friday, October 19, 2012

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B5

2012

Spirit ades of c e d ix s Marks at Paly. stivities fe k e e W

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How to prepare

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Helpful tips and suggestions on ways to be ready for Spirit Week.

Kian Mchugh Staff Writer

I

Riki Rattner/The Campanile

Paly class of 2014 as sophomores, show class spirit and unity during Spirit Week by cheering at a lunch time rally on the Quad.

Spirit Week 2012: October 22-26 MON

Theme day

TUES

SALAD DRESSING DAY

WED

COLOR DAY

22 23

24

THURS

25 FRI

26

Paly’s annual tradition will begin with each classes’ specially picked themes.

Join in the festivities—dress up in accord with your class’ salad theme.

Finding Nemo Sophomores: Red Carpet Juniors: Royalty Seniors: ‘90s Freshmen:

Healthy Choice Sophomores: Ranch Juniors: Thousand Island Seniors: Caesar Freshmen:

Head to the Quad decked out in your class colors.

Orange Sophomores: Red Juniors: Yellow Seniors: Green

GENERATION DAY

Freshmen:

Freshmen:

Come out to the Quad and big gym for Thursday’s two rallies.

Babies Sophomores: Teeny Boppers Juniors: Sophisticates Seniors: Senior Citizens

GREEN AND WHITE DAY

Freshmen:

Get excited for the last day of Spirit Week.

It ends with spirit dances and floats.

Viking Spirit Sophomores: Viking Spirit Juniors: Viking Spirit Seniors: Camo

t is now time to begin preparation for one of the most important and anticipated weeks of the year. Much like homework, procrastination is not the best idea when it comes to Spirit Week. The last minute rush to throw together an outfit is not going to win you best dressed, but if you follow the tips listed below you will be set.

When it comes to putting together an outfit, one has various options on how to go about perfecting their wardrobe. The first step is to take stock of one’s own supplies. Check closets, siblings’ rooms and costume bins, and be sure to ask parents to help you on this search. Often times this search will complete outfits for specific days allowing one to create a list of the specific things he or she needs..

Once this step is complete, the most beneficial action is using the people around you for some help by asking friends from other schools, neighbors, already graduated Paly students or anyone else who seem like they appreciate dressing up.

It is quite easy to uncover eager helpers. Just be sure to be careful with whatever is borrowed because they will likely want it back in one piece.

After searching and asking around has been completed, it is time to hit the stores.

At stores like the Goodwill (4085 El Camino Way) and various other thrift shops, you will be left in awe at the bargains one can find. Costumes are generally expensive but at these second hand stores one can put together an outfit for under $10 The items seen will also open up your mind to new ideas that could revolutionize costume creation. These stores are also perfect for you freshmen and juniors who may not have that much orange or yellow clothing. $1 t-shirts and $3 sweatpants provide cheap options for a magnificent spirited outfit. After scavenging through the cheapest of locations, it is time to take it to the big leagues.

Spirit Halloween and other costumes stores will have all finishing touches needed. Accessories like hairspray and face paint can top off any color day outfit. Purchasing a costume at one of these stores is no bargain but if with the right amount of money anyone can be transformed into anything from a full on scuba diver to a knight in shining armor.

This is perfect for going all out on one specific day.

Once the necessary accessories are purchased, it is important to get ahead on school work. Paying attention in class and getting homework done is not an easy task when the entirety of the school are busy thinking of cheers and talking to friends about who won tug-o-war earlier that day. The ideal Spirit Week involves no work, so one must attempt to make it that way. No last minute essay writing should take away from a lunch rally or an after school costume planning discussion.

By keeping these ideas in mind your outfits will be supreme but there is more than dressing up to spirit week. If one helps out one’s grade with cheers, float building and encouragement to dress up not only does it boost their chances at winning Spirit Week but it also makes it more fun and competitive.

Friday, October 19, 2012

B6

The Campanile

Food

Food Challenges

Café hopes to bridge social gaps in community Josefin Kenrick Staff Writer

Blake Smith John Young

From “Chubby Bunny” to jalapeño eating contests, food challenges are ways for people to take part in American pastimes and test their nerve. How do you know if a specific challenge is bad for you?

Any challenge that results in some form of bodily harm or injury, such as stinging, burning or throbbing falls under the category of dangerous.

Don’t do it.

These challenges may seem pretty idiotic to some people, while others who enjoy venturing out of their comfort zone will be enticed by the dangerous aspects of such activities.

ICE AND SALT CHALLENGE

Disclaimer: This challenge is particularly uncomfortable and painful.

Participants should know beforehand that it is not only possible but likely to obtain frostbite, blisters and burns during this event.

In the ice and salt challenge, participants are to put a considerable amount of salt on the forearm, placing the ice on top of the salt.

The goal is to leave the ice on the arm for at least two minutes, which is difficult because salt lowers the melting point of the ice.

Since the challenge is to place the ice over the salt for two minutes, it is basically impossible unless you want some permanent frostbite stains on your arm.

CINNAMON CHALLENGE

The famed cinnamon challenge requires the participants to swallow one tablespoon of cinnamon: no more, no less.

Unlike sugar or salt, which are both water soluble, cinnamon does not dissolve in the mouth and it also irritates the throat, blocking the air passageways.

Due to the nearly nonexistent success rate and the plethora of videos featuring gagging, choking and even writhing on the floor, potential challengers may feel discouraged to try this activity.

The key to success is to have a lot of saliva stored up in your mouth before the cinnamon goes in. Of course, I wouldn’t know, because both Blake and I failed miserably. Once it’s all in your mouth, you need to make sure that you keep secreting saliva, which really helps it go down easier.

COOKIE CHALLENGE

This challenge was inspired by Dwight Howard in the “All-Star Minute” episode on YouTube. The challenge requires you to put the cookie on your forehead and use your “head muscles” to eventually place the cookie in your mouth.

This challenge has nothing to do with pain and everything to do with skill. I wiggled my eyebrows up and down to get the cookie off of my forehead. Just use your head muscles accordingly to slip the cookie in your mouth (It’s not that hard).

SALTINE CRACKER CHALLENGE

The saltine cracker challenge requires you to eat six saltine crackers under one minute.

A seemingly simple task, eating six saltine crackers is much more difficult than I had perceived beforehand. Trust me, one cracker will dry up your entire mouth, so prepare.

Before putting the saltine crackers in my mouth, I didn’t have a distinct plan or strategy in mind. If I were to try again, I would chew like crazy to secrete more saliva. Also, I would take smaller bites.

T

he fact that they survived was a miracle,” Palo Alto parent Kathleen Hughes said of her two twin boys Peter and Charlie, who were born prematurely at only 27 weeks inside the womb.

Both of the twins experienced many medical issues as infants, including surgeries and internal bleeding in the brain.

As they grew older, it was clear that Charlie would live a different lifestyle than most kids. He was enrolled in the special education program in PAUSD. Once he began middle school, Hughes realized that the school system in Palo Alto did not have many vocational opportunities for disabled students and integration at that point in time with the rest of the school community was minimal.

Hughes started to plan a place to connect the Palo Alto community, and to find a way to form relationships between disabled people and the rest of the community.

As a caterer in Los Angeles, she drew from her experience and created Ada’s Café, which is a non-profit organization whose mission is to employ and empower people with disabilities.

Ada’s Café was certified as a nonprofit business in 2008 and will open at the new Mitchell Park Library and Community Center in Palo Alto in the spring of 2013.

Hughes decided to establish Ada’s Café after launching two other successful integration café’s: Terman Tasty Treats and Gunn Gourmet.

Hughes initially came up with the idea for the cafés when her son was at Terman Middle School.

Josefin kenrick/The Campanile

Left to Right: Charlie Hughes, Champ Pederson (Paly Class of ‘06), and Kathleen Hughes catered for School Board candidate Camille Townsend’s campaign event.

Hughes was concerned with the lack of vocational training available to students.

“At that point in time the only vocational program available for students was to work at the VA [Veterans Administration] hospital,” Hughes said. “But I felt the students needed to have some more interaction with their peers and the entire school community.”

She and her husband Tony then started the Terman Tasty Treats Café, a café that was run twice a week by special education students in an effort to teach them workplace skills and provide interaction with the rest of the school.

The café was run in the morning and would serve baked goods and coffee to patrons. Peet’s Coffee and Tea donated for many years to the café and also to Gunn Gourmet Café, which was launched after the Terman cafe proved to be a success.

“Even the kids that were the most disabled were involved because they

used their assistive technology,” Hughes said.

The Gunn café operated Monday through Thursday and had an extensive menu which included breakfast burritos, banana bread, delicious coffee and more.

“It was really successful,” Hughes said of both of the cafés. “[It] helped students to grow socially and educationally.”

After Hughes saw positive changes to both Terman and Gunn with regards to community and inclusion, she wanted to make a bigger impact on the community by making a café for everyone to go to. Although Ada’s Café will not open until 2013, it has catered 50 events since 2008.

The café was named after the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and after a friend’s grandmother “Grandma Ada,” from her childhood.

“Ada was Italian, and had kinda [sic] broken English,” Hughes said.

“She welcomed everyone into her

home with a hug and a smile and she was a wonderful cook.”

Even though Ada’s Café has not opened yet, many people have already gotten involved in their business.

“We made a Facebook page and have made a social media presence,” summer intern Frances Hughes said.

Ada’s Café has four disabled adults that have committed to working, and they will begin taking training classes in Redwood City in order to receive their food handlers certificate.

“The coursework is not hard but for someone with an intellectual disability it is pretty challenging,” Hughes said.

Everyone in the Hughes family is excited for the opening of Ada’s, especially because it has been hard to find a place for them to start their business.

“The focus for us is excellent food,” Hughes said. “And it tastes even better when the guests realize that the food is part of something ‘bigger’ than what is on the platter.”

Food trucks provide unique dining experience Beth yan

Technology Editor

T

he sun hangs in the middle of the sky, making the Texan plains unbearably hot.

Squinting up at the sun to judge its position, the cowhand estimates it to be around noon. Off in the horizon is the usual cloud of dust, announcing the arrival of the lunch wagon.

Mobile dining, a practice born in the mid-1800s to provide sustenance for cowboys working far from civilization, is still thriving today. While they originated to serve cheap accessible food to industrial workers and other laborers, food trucks are quickly becoming a favorite among a wide spectrum of consumers.

Food trucks once existed to conveniently provide food to workers by traveling to the workplaces. Ironically, food truck enthusiasts today must follow their favorite mobile kitchens, mapping out their weekly routes and driving around the city to locate them.

Organizations attempt to facilitate this process by arranging regular locations and times for diners to find food trucks, thus eliminating some of the unpredictability of chasing down an mobile meal. Izelle Javellana works at Off the Grid, a San Francisco-based

organization that coordinates food trucks from around the Bay Area.

“Off the Grid organizes and promotes various mobile food events,” Javellana said. “Ultimately, we bring new life to the spaces that we choose.”

One of the greatest advantages of coordinating food truck festivals is the opportunity to offer a large variety of affordable cuisine to customers.

With the cost of a meal ranging from $8 to $12, mobile dining offers highquality meals for reasonable prices.

Each truck brings something different to the table and these events can fulfill almost any craving.

“These trucks serve a wide variety of food — they’d put any food court to shame,” Javellana said. “For those constantly on the hunt for something new, they serve everything from Filipino-Mexican fusion to Eritrean-Irish fusion. Or, if you’re not as adventurous, many food trucks pride themselves on traditional cuisine, just like something your mom would’ve cooked at home, whether it be Southern, Thai [or] Japanese.”

Since the Bay Area is a symbol of innovation and current trends, it seems appropriate that this cultural phenomenon is sweeping the area.

“People love it,” Javellana said.

“People in the Bay Area are always hungry. They want to know what’s

Emily Tran/The campanile

The Oaxacan food truck provides food for workers in a convenient fashion.

The convenience of mobile dining makes food truck events accessible.

new and hip, and food trucks fill that spot perfectly. With every new food truck comes the possibility of the newest food trend.”

So how exactly do these hungry techies track down their favorite mobile kitchens? The answer ought to be obvious, since it is so often associated with the Silicon Valley: social media.

“The best way to locate our markets and events would be to subscribe to our weekly newsletter so that you get vendors lineups for the entire week on Monday morning,” Javellana said. “[Also] like us on Facebook so that you can check our Facebook event page whenever you need details

and updates and follow us on Twitter to get up to the minute news, updates and details.”

The affordability, spectrum of meal choices and the ease with which anyone can locate their favorite trucks makes mobile dining the perfect experience for people of all ages and backgrounds.

“The beauty of food truck gatherings is that everyone is there because everyone needs to eat,” Javellana said.

“Food doesn’t discriminate. Food brings people together and because of the laid-back, welcoming nature of food truck gatherings, people are forced into these very happy, hungry interactions.”

Friday, October 19, 2012

The Campanile

FOOD

B7

Farmer’s markets provide local food and produce at two different locations

Farmer’s markets offer a variety of food options for the hungry citizens of Palo Alto seeking locally grown products of the utmost quality.

food that is not necessarily spectacular. Therefore, in order to successfully apply this strategy, one must narrow down his options, starting with the venue.

California Avenue Farmer’s Market

Julia Kwasnick Staff Writer

O

ne city. Two farmer’s markets. This is a recipe for competition even in the quaint business of farmer’s markets.

The two markets, the Downtown Farmer’s Market and the California Avenue Farmer’s Market, take place on different days, Saturday and Sunday. However, most patrons choose one market, as they only need to go to one to satisfy their needs.

Both Palo Alto farmer’s markets offer similar kinds of produce, however each location provides a number of specialty goods that can only be purchased at that location.

It is important to understand when visiting farmer’s markets that there are two approaches.

The first approach is dubbed “the free approach,” and entails going from vendor to vendor, taking samples. The free approach is the epitome of effectiveness; no money is spent and a surprising amount of food is consumed. It is difficult to attain a balanced meal with the free approach because most samples are of fruits and vegetables. The other downside is that the vendors will inevitably make you uncomfortable because they know that you are using the free approach. It is a widespread tactic, one that is best attempted whilst traveling with a large group of strangers.

The second approach is dubbed “the money approach,” and is selfexplanatory. With cash in hand, a patron of a farmer’s market must brave its long lines in order to purchase sustenance. The money approach comes with the risk of waiting in line for

Price: $$ Open: Sunday 9 a.m.–1 p.m. year- round The atmosphere of the California Avenue Farmer’s Market is that of a street fair, teeming with throngs of people who are eagerly prepared to buy overpriced produce from vendors that only accept cash. Every Sunday morning, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., this farmer’s market takes place on California Avenue. Its occurrence draws people of all kinds, from families with small children to elderly couples, as well as many local farmers and vendors.

The draw of this particular farmer’s market is that it does not focus on the produce as a high point; it has a great number of vendors who sell prepared food. The prepared food that is sold at the market has a diverse enough range, from Indian to Oaxacan to French crepes, covering most people’s taste preferences.

Unlike the produce, the prepared food at the California Avenue Farmer’s Market has decent prices, averaging at $7 per meal.

When attending the market, must-have prepared foods are India Gourmet’s Chicken Tikka Masala Naan Wrap, $7, any of Gourmet Crepes’s crepes ($4-$9), Rolli Roti’s chicken and potatoes in any size and Scream Sorbet’s sorbet ($5 for a single scoop).

As far as produce goes, California Avenue Farmer’s Market’s produce is adequate. They provide a large variety of fruits and vegetables, as well as many samples that allow potential buyers to taste the fruit they are buying. Produce is pricey, but that is

Rachel Cui/ The Campanile

Farmer’s markets give shoppers an opportunity to purchase many unique foods, and they also provided prepared foods that customers can purchase and consume while enjoying all the market has to offer.

what is expected of farms that pride themselves on being organic and locally grown.

The California Avenue Farmer’s Market is a great place to bring visitors, little children and friends because the range of food available makes it impossible for anyone to not discover something they find delicious. There is always a live band or person playing music and a balloon man that makes delightful hats for people of all ages.

Downtown Palo Alto Farmer’s Market

Price: $$ Open: Saturday 8 a.m. – 12 p.m.

May-December The Downtown Palo Alto Farmer’s Market only exists during the May to December season, ensuring that only seasonal fruits and vegetables are sold. Some of the prominent prepared food vendors, such as Gourmet Crepes and Oaxacan Foods, sell at both this market and the California

Avenue market. The Downtown Palo Alto Farmer’s Market is open on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., and takes place on the corner of Gilman Street and Hamilton Avenue; vendors at this farmer’s market only accept cash.

Both Palo Alto farmer’s markets offer similar kinds of produce, however each location provides a number of specialty goods that can only be purchased at that location.

The market highlights its vast selection of produce and specialty foods such as Garden Variety Cheese, which sells organic sheep’s milk cheese.

There is always live music, and the farmer’s market itself is both very family friendly and conveniently located in Downtown Palo Alto so that patrons can go straight from Zumba to the farmer’s market.

Parking downtown is difficult, since the lot across the street fills up

quickly. It may be advisable to park several blocks away and walk to the market.

Unlike its California Avenue counterpart, this farmer’s market is not on the main street of the area in which it occurs. However, its close vicinity to University Avenue makes it convenient for shoppers. The downtown farmer’s market is also smaller than the one on California Avenue.

The Breakdown

Both the California Avenue and the Downtown farmer’s markets are splendid; they offer a wide assortment of produce as well as prepared foods. The California Avenue market has a better selection of prepared foods, making it an ideal destination for an affordable brunch. However, the Downtown market sells more produce and specialty foods than the California avenue market, making it a good place to do grocery shopping while supporting local farms.

However, the California Avenue farmer’s market reigns supreme due to its many affordable prepared food vendors and its larger size.

Homma’s Brown Rice Sushi offers many delicious options with a use of unique and healthy ingredients The tucked away sushi restaurant provides a healthy alternative for sushi lovers within a modest establishment.

Rachel Cui Staff Writer

T

he quality of sushi, an exotic blend of rice, seafood, vegetables and sauces, relies heavily on the fusion of its taste and texture.

Because nearly every sushi dish consists of the ingredients wrapped in a bundle and served as is, the freshness of the ingredients and the chef’s ability to combine them is extremely important. It is easy to imagine the numerous possibilities of nauseating dishes due to aged ingredients and poor combinations. Fortunately, Homma’s Brown Rice Sushi possesses the components of what makes a wonderful sushi restaurant: fresh ingredients, quality rice and a unique, delectable flavor.

Homma’s Brown Rice Sushi is a hidden gem; it is located in a side alley off of California Avenue and blends in with trees and the backs of buildings. The restaurant is easily overlooked and relatively difficult to find unless one is carefully searching for it. Homma’s Brown Rice Sushi offers a small table with a patio umbrella for outdoor seating and about five tables for indoor seating.

The tiny interior of the restaurant is cramped and could probably hold up to 20 people. The restaurant’s dijon mustard tiled flooring sharply clashes with bland white walls void of any decor except for a clock and a black and white landscape photo.

Rachel Cui/ The Campanile

The spicy dragon roll is only one of the many choices of sushi available at Homma’s, all of which are wrapped in brown rice rather then the traditional method of using white sticky rice.

The tables and cushioned chairs are arranged uniformly before the chef, allowing warm exchanges between the chef and regular patrons.

Homma’s Brown Rice Sushi possesses the components of what makes a wonderful sushi restaurant: fresh ingredients, quality rice and a unique, delectable flavor.

To a stranger, Homma’s may exude a drab and largely unappealing atmosphere. However, the sushi makes up for the unimpressive environment.

Homma’s flavorful sushi, which is only offered in brown rice, compensates for the drab decor. Homma, the sushi chef, creates a fascinating combination by complementing fresh fish with moist brown rice. A variety of hosomaki (sushi with seaweed on the outside), nigiri (raw fish placed on bitesized servings of rice), uramaki (sushi with rice on the outside) and yasaimaki (vegetarian rolls) are offered on the menu, as well as soups and salads.

All dishes, except for combination meals, amount to less than five dollars, making it one of the least expensive sushi restaurants in Palo Alto. The uramaki, hosomaki and yasaimaki rolls consist of six pieces, while the nigiri consists of two pieces.

The portion sizes are on the smaller end (a perfect bite-sized piece, which means no clumsy gnawing through seaweed), so two rolls at least are recommended per person.

Homma’s Brown Rice Sushi is a two-man show, with Homma as the sushi chef and a relative taking orders and working as the cashier. One important note about this restaurant is that it only accepts cash. Due to the small staff, it takes on average about 20 minutes to be served, especially if the restaurant is backed up, so many seasoned patrons order ahead or opt for take-out.

A popular roll at Homma’s is their Una-Avo Roll ($4.20). This six piece uramaki sushi roll with barbeque eel

and avocado wrapped inside is lightly drizzled with sauce and packed with savory flavor. No soy sauce is needed to dip in because of the roll’s appetizing taste. Although eel is usually coarse, Homma manages to use the combination of eel, avocado and brown rice combination to create a delightful texture.

Another popular dish is the Tekka-Avo Roll ($4.00), which is raw tuna and avocado in a brown rice uramaki sushi style. Compared to the Una-Avo Roll, the Tekka-Avo Roll’s taste is a little duller. However, even after a bite, Homma’s love for fresh ingredients unveils itself through the tuna’s taste and texture.

The Spicy California Roll ($4.90), also an uramaki roll, consists of crab and avocado on the inside with tobiko (tiny orange fish eggs) on the outside of the rice. Although this roll is great for those who love tobiko and its texture, it could be an unpleasant experience for those who dislike the taste and juicy texture of tobiko.

For those who have not tried inari, which is rice enveloped inside of a thin layer of bean curd (tofu skin), and are looking for an unexpected flavor, the inari is a must.

Homma’s inari comes with three pieces and houses the traditional inari flavor, making the dish satisfactory, but nothing too special.

Homma’s restaurant utilizes the delicate flavors of fresh ingredients to create excellent and healthy rolls. The mouth-watering sushi certainly makes up for the restaurant’s aesthetically-displeasing decor and inefficient service. If the thought of brown rice in sushi is off-putting, push that thought away. If you have not tried Homma’s Brown Rice Sushi yet, you are missing out!

Friday, October 19, 2012

B8

The Campanile

CULTURE

1

in

2000

This edition featuring

Dana Donnelly with The Campanile’s own Charlie Dulik and Emily Tran

Clockwise from left: adam Mansour, Gina scarpino, gina Scarpino/the campanile

Castro Street, located in downtown Mountain View, is home to a variety of restaurants, coffeeshops, boutiques and other interesting stores.

Best of Castro Street Emily Lee Staff writer

C

astro Street is home to a number of locally run shops, restaurants, and cafés. In the neighboring streets there are many places to eat, along with various small businesses ranging from salons to apothecaries. Though you may be tempted to head straight for Verde Tea Cafe for Pearl Milk Tea, take the time to stop by the neighboring eateries; there is something for everyone.

Fu Lam Mum

153 Castro St Price: $$$ Perhaps the largest restaurant on the street, Fu La Mum boasts an extensive menu of all sorts of dishes, from the well-known and popular shrimp balls and mongolian-style beef, to uniquely Chinese dishes such as a soup made of a swallow’s nest.

The restaurant’s interior allows for many diners, though it does not feel crowded. The large windows allow for light to come in, giving the restaurant a pleasant and crisp feel. On weekends, the restaurant is packed, though the wait is not long. Inevitably the restaurant becomes rather noisy quite easily, but it is still worth a visit.

Shezan Pakistani & Indian Cuisine

216 Castro St Price: $$ Shezan, like Hong Kong Bakery, is not the most capacious of eateries. Try not to get too distracted by this, because the restaurant’s food is really incredible. The restaurant offers a few traditional sides that are relatively basic, such as basmati rice and naan, as well as appetizers, though these are somewhat pricey. Diners may tend to overlook the unfamiliar Pakistani items on the menu, but the more adventurous will be thoroughly satisfied.

Gelato Classico

241 Castro St Price: $$ Winner of the “Best Ice Cream in Mountain View” for several consecutive years, Gelato Classico boasts a large selection of delicious coffees, sundaes, gelatos and sorbets. The shop takes the traditional “staple” flavors and add an interesting twist of

Ava’s Downtown Market and Deli

sorts. For example, instead of offering mint chocolate chip, Gelato Classico offers Bavarian Mint. The shop itself is typically very crowded and busy.

Meager seating is provided both in store and outside, though seated patrons will feel slightly cramped. Be sure not to shy away from the opportunity to sample.

340 Castro St Price: $$

New Mongolian BBQ

304 Castro St Price: $$ This restaurant is unique in the sense that diners construct their own meals by filling bowls with various meats, vegetables, noodles and sauces, which are in turn grilled over a circular stone stove, sizzling appetizingly. Such a system demonstrates the shrewdness of the original restaurant designers.

The tables are placed in close proximity to one another, which is especially frustrating if you are seated near the entrance since there is only one way to maneuver in and out of the restaurant. Outdoor seating is also available.

Meals are at a predetermined price per diner, depending on the diner’s age, the time of day, and if it is a weekend. So, if you care to gorge yourself by eating several bowls worth of noodles, you can happily do so.

Additionally, soft serve vanilla frozen yogurt is available to all diners.

EastWest Bookstore

324 Castro St Price: $$ This is not your typical bookstore, in fact, to call it a bookstore would be slightly inaccurate. East West also offers artwork of various forms as well as a number of fascinating trinkets.

Among these are journals, jewelry, perfumes, incense, tibetan healing bowls, candles and yoga mats.

EastWest has such a mellow, spiritual vibe to it. First-time patrons often spend quite a large amount of time simply looking around and exploring the store. With a profusion of books on many different world religions and spiritual perspectives, as well as health, psychology and self-help, the store appeals to those interested in the metaphysical.

The back room of the store also hosts guest speakers on topics such as spirituality and mysticism, health and self-improvement. East West is always has something interesting going on at the store, so be sure to stop by.

Adam Mansour/the campanile

This surprisingly large grocery store is quite the curious place, offering a limited selection of products, while also featuring more obscure items like ginseng and hemp soap.

Ava’s values the quality of the products they carry over the mainstream popularity; seldom will one see the mass-marketed snack brands on the shelves.

In addition to the regular grocery store stock, there is an extensive herb and medicine section, as well as a small amount of produce. Pickier shoppers who desire gluten-free, vegan, fair trade and locally made products will have no trouble finding items that fit their particular criterion.

Ava’s also offers many more culturally attuned items that would not normally be found at a grocery store or marketplace.

Posh Bagel

444 Castro St Price: $

Emily Lee/the campanile

Catering primarily to office workers in the nearby businesses and law firms, Posh Bagel is kind of like a Starbucks. However, the amount of focus dedicated to coffee would then be substituted with a slightly smaller selection of bagels and spreads.

The shop offers fruit smoothies, crepes, paninis, coffees and desserts.

Ironically, the other items seem to be more popular than the bagels themselves. For a bagel shop, Posh Bagel opens relatively late, at 6:30 p.m. on weekdays. The smoothies are not worth trying, though the crepes are commendable.

Ginseng Korean Barbeque

475 Castro St Price: $$

gina scarpino/the campanile

Top: Shezan Pakistani & Indian Cuisine is delicious restaurant that serves traditional Indian food.

Middle: New Mongolian BBQ is a unique restaurant where diners can assemble their own dinner plates.

Bottom: Fu Lam Mum offers a variety of Chinese dim sum.

Warm and inviting, with many delicious traditional dishes, Ginseng will not disappoint. The restaurant offers diners the unique experience of grilling the food they order from their own tables, a practice not uncommon with Korean dining establishments.

Dishes include the traditional Korean bulgogi, barbeque beef, as well as tofu soup and chicken thigh. The service is quick and portions are generous.

Since it is towards the end of Castro Street, Ginseng tends to get fewer customers than those in the heart of downtown Mountain View.

The Campanile: Who would you rather be, Lo Bosworth, Hilary Duff or Mindy Kaling?

Dana Donnelly: Hilary Duff.

TC: Favorite episode of Lizzie McGuire?

DD: My favorite episode of Lizzie McGuire is probably Lizzie’s first kiss where Ronnie the paperboy and her have her first kiss and then he asks her for the ring that he gave her back when he meets a new girl at school.

TC: The fact that you have that answer ready so quickly is incredibly scary.

DD: That’s when I learned that boys are mean.

TC: Who’s your favorite teacher at Paly?

DD: Mr. Sharp. Because he doesn’t like me or teach me.

TC: Can you tell me a little bit about your fanfiction writing?

DD: I used to do a Lord of the Rings fanfiction. I was actually pretty popular, but I ended up deleting my account.

TC: Account on where?

DD: I’ll look up the message board that I used to write on.

But I had like three hundred followers on that account. And then I write Lindsay Lohan fanfiction occasionally which is inspired by a twitter account, LiLoFanFiction.

TC: If you could count the total hours you’ve spent on Netflix, how many do you think it would be?

DD: I do screen time audits.

Last week I spent 26 hours watching television online.

TC: What’s your favorite news story of the past week?

DD: Oh that’s a really good question. Probably the Justin Bieber nudes leaked because, yeah.

TC: Did you look up the nude pictures?

DD: Nope.

TC: Don’t lie.

DD: My curiosity is really limited. I’m one of those people with really small minds.

TC: Who is most dramatic, you or Thomas Zhao?

DD: I am more dramatic than Thomas Zhao. But I do a better job of hiding it. I’m dramatic on the inside TC: What are you looking forward to most about college and what are you dreading most about leaving behind in Palo Alto?

DD: I’m dreading leaving you behind, Charlie. Wow. I’ll never see Charlie again! The shirt you [Charlie Dulik] were wearing today, the purple, I have it in blue.

TC: Can we match? Actually rephrase that, when are we matching?

DD: When are we matching?

We should have a twin day. We should designate the twin day.

Why isn’t that a Spirit Week day?

TC: Because not all people have friends.

DD: (laughs) TC: Dana looks sadly into the distance before cracking up.

TC: What’s your ideal senior prank?

DD: Inez [Paraiso] I were talking about this. She wanted to raise all the thermostats to 100 degrees and lock them so no one could change it. And the school would be hot and it would be really funny.

Friday, October 19, 2012

The Campanile

SPORTS

Student-athletes use preseason workouts to get ready for upcoming seasons.

See C3

These drills we work on throughout the week help us with our upper and lower body strength.

Mathias Shmutz Senior

Adam Mansour/The campanile

Cheerleaders hold up the breaker as the Paly football players run in after halftime in the game against Henry M. Gunn High School.

Is the Paly-Gunn rivalry dead?

James Foug

Will MendenHall Senior Staff Writer Staff Writer

W

ith the establishment of Gunn High School in 1964, a new rivalry was formed. Paly was established in 1898 and became instant rivals with this new crosstown school. Throughout the years this battle for dominance has been a heated one.

“The games against Gunn were always the most intense ones,” Jeff Newman, a Paly football player and 1978 alumnus, said. “Since we had grown up playing against the Gunn students in elementary and middle school, it added extra pressure to win.”

This pressure that has kept our rivalry alive is beginning to be questioned by many Paly students, due to a lack of closely played games in recent years.

Palo Alto’s varsity football team has beaten crosstown “rival” Gunn’s varsity football in nine consecutive games.

Gunn last had a victory over the Vikings in 2003 and since then most games have been blowouts in favor of Paly.

This season, the Vikings upended Gunn 48-0, stirring a controversial debate of why the two teams even play each other.

“The football games are not competitive because they just do not have the athletes in order to compete at a high level,” junior lineman Justin Rittman said. “Physically they are just outmatched.”

Now that Paly and Gunn are in separate leagues, Paly in the De Anza League and Gunn in the El Camino League, some believe the two squads should not play each other even though it has been a tradition since the schools were established.

Gunn and Paly are the only two teams that play a cross-division game.

Over the past few years, new schools have emerged as Paly’s rivals as the competition between Gunn and Paly has declined.

“Los Gatos seems to be our biggest rival in football,” Rittman said. “We compete with them every year for a league championship and our games against [Los Gatos] are always close.”

On the other end of the spectrum, Gunn players believe the game should still

I think that every Paly sport has their own rival, for water polo ours is Mountain View. The Gunn game is more of a tradition than a rivalry.

Bret Pinsker Senior be played, but the difference in talent and personnel at this point is far from equal.

“I do believe this game should be played,” Gunn senior quarterback Andre Guzman said. “It is a fun thing for the fans, but not as much for the players on the losing side. Until Gunn’s program builds up to its highest potential, the game will still be lopsided.”

This lack of competition is felt in more sports than just football. So far this year Paly has also beat Gunn in water polo and cross country.

The boys water polo team beat Gunn this year, winning seventeen to seven.

“The Gunn game is not the most intense game of the season,” varsity water polo captain Bret Pinsker said. “I think that every Paly sport has their own rival, for water polo

Water Polo

Team starts

new traditions

ours is Mountain View. The Gunn game is more of a tradition than a rivalry. We want to beat Gunn because they’re traditionally our school rival, but we want to beat Mountain View and Los Alto more than we do Gunn. [The Gunn game is] a big game, but the other two games are bigger games.”

Pinsker said that he could not foresee the rivalry being renewed until Gunn revamped its team.

“Honestly they just have to be a better team,” Pinsker said.

“They have to beat us consistently and then we’d want to beat them. As of now we feel like we’re the better team consistently so it’s not as intense of a game.”

But Paly does not dominate all sports however. Last year Paly boys soccer team lost two to zero against Gunn. This loss brought some spark to the ever fading rivalry.

“Even though the game was not that intense it certainly helped fuel our soccer rivalry,” Gunn junior Arjun Parikh said.

“But overall the rivalry is indeed dying, mostly due to the fact we lose every year in football.”

Even though the rivalry seems to heavily favor Paly, not all students think that it is on the verge of going away.

The history that Gunn and Paly have built over the years is indeed a hard thing to forget.

“The games against Gunn are always the most exciting to watch,” junior Josh Totte said. “It’s more about the pressure of losing than trying to win. Also, its the fact that they have always been our rivals and I do not think that will ever change.”

As the seemingly fading rivalry with Gunn continues, one thing is apparent. If the intensity of the rivalry game is to continue on the current path, Paly may very well build a rivalry with a more athletically focused school, thus ending this long tradition.

The mascots of Palo Alto’s two public high schools show their strength.

INSIDE TaEKwondo

Courtesy of Palo Alto High School ASB

Blake Smith/The CampanILE

Hacky Sack

Hacky Sacking gains popularity Students revitalize game from 1970s. See C3

Students learn South Korean martial art

Check out the water polo team’s

Parkour

Accomplished fighter teaches taekwondo

intimidating cheer and more of

Parkour artists at Paly

after school hours. See C8

Small group practices acrobatic stunts around

their rituals. See C4-5

Paly campus. See C3

Friday, Oct 19, 2012

The Campanile

C2 SPORTS

Players use preseason workouts to condition, improve Athletes train during the offseason so that when the season starts students are ready to perform. This preparation helps athletes get in the right mental mindset for a successful year.

Brandon Byer Senior Staff Writer

A

lthough all high school sports are confined to one season, many athletes choose to train year-round in preparation for the start of the official season.

The off-season is an important time for student athletes to maintain and improve their skills. Nowadays many Paly athletes even choose to dedicate their summers to staying in shape in order to ensure that they are ready to get back in the game once the school year starts. As opposed to years before, workouts are starting earlier and earlier so that when their sport starts, athletes can maximize their full potential when it matters most.

For the baseball team, voluntary weight room workouts have already begun in preparation for the upcoming spring season, but soon they will begin full fledged winter conditioning which is more skills oriented. Winter conditioning includes running on the track, throwing long toss and taking batting practice in the cages.

Senior starting center fielder Sean Harvey has been working in the weight room for most of the summer and beginning of the school year, but is ready start winter conditioning.

“Currently, the team workouts consist of cardio work, as well as abdominal and balancing exercises,” Harvey said. “Winter is around the corner and that is geared towards conditioning and actual baseball activities.”

The workouts are not mandatory, but according to Harvey showing up

to the workouts shows an athlete’s commitment to the team and their dedication to improvement.

“I would say six to ten athletes come to each of our workouts, so in the winter more and more will begin show up because we want everyone dedicated to making the 2012 baseball season the best it can be,” Harvey said.

Basketball season is fast approaching and varsity head coach Adam Sax has begun to hold workouts as veterans and incomers prepare for the new season.

Workouts are great preparation for the season.

Not only because it gets us ahead and in peak shape, but also mentally because we are reminded how much of a grind the sport is.

Trenton Marshall Senior varsity wrestler

Senior guard Mathias Schmutz has been on the varsity team since sophomore year and knows that even these pre-season workouts prepare each player for the rigor of the regular season.

“These drills that we work on throughout the week definitely help us with our upper and lower body strength,” Schmutz said. “But we aren’t overloading it either so there’s a good balance of knowing when to push ourselves and when to stop.”

Almost all of the players attend the workouts each day through the week, especially the new prospective players who need to get acclimated with some of the assistants who run the after school sessions.

“These drills are important for the younger guys to go to,” Schmutz said.

“It just helps them to build a rapport

Adam Mansour/The Campanile

Senior Kenny Jones runs through a drill during an offseason workout for the upcoming basketball season.

with the staff in place and get to know what the expectations are for the season ahead.”

The varsity wrestling team also began their training in preparation for their start of the season. The team has worked on a variety of drills including running, plyometrics and time on the mat to perfect technique. One drill in particular that the wrestling team works on is called the Rambo run. This drill is a six lap run with the first four being timed, and each of the athletes are supposed to dock 30 seconds to their time prior to the start of the season. Drills like this push the

team to their limit knowing that their times must show significant improvement in order to be fully prepared for the physically and mentally tolling sport that is wrestling. This will make the players become more determined.

Senior varsity wrestler Trenton Marshall has put in a large amount of effort into his off-season training to make his senior year his best one so far.

“Workouts are great preparation for the season,” Marshall said.

“Not only because it gets [the players] ahead and in peak shape, but also mentally ready because we are

reminded how much of a grind the sport is.”

Like for the baseball team, these workouts are not mandatory; however, participation in the voluntary sessions emphasizes an athletes dedication to the sport and his teammates and gives the coaching a staff a good first impression.

“We have a great strength and conditioning coach, Tony Brewer, who prepares us very well [for the season],” Marshall said. “Everyone who comes [to training] has the same goals which is to win our league and compete [in] CCS.”

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Friday, October 19, 2012

The Campanile

SPORTS C3

Hacky sacking gains popularity at Paly The entertaining hobby is becoming a trend among the Paly Community.

Kyle Stewart Senior staff writer

R

ecently, hacky sacking has taken the Paly community by storm. At the beginning of the year, only a few students played hacky sack on campus, and now many kids have joined. Why the trend? What makes this sport so much fun?

The hacky sack was invented in 1972 by John Stalberger and Mike Marshall. Hacky sacking can also be called footbagging. It is unknown when footbagging originated but people have been playing the sport for a very long time. Only in 1972 did Stalberger and Marshall put a trademark on the little bags they made, officially naming them hacky sacks.

Essentially, hacky sacking is a sport where two or more people try to keep a little foot bag in the air for as long as possible without using their hands. The art of juggling the hacky sack is similar to the art of juggling a soccer ball: one can use every bodypart except their hands.

When people first start playing hacky sack, they simply try to keep the sack in the air, because even that simple task can be difficult for beginners.

Yet, once people become accustomed to the game of hacky sacking they will begin to learn how to do tricks, such as stalls where one keeps the sack motionless on some body part for a few seconds before continuing the rally.

In addition, there are other complex tricks within hacky sacking such

Gina Scarpino/the campanile

Hacky sacking is becoming a popular activity on the Paly campus during lunch at the quad. This game can either be played individually or as a group.

as bag daggers, lifts, loops and milk tosses.

“I think everyone thinks this sport is really fun because anyone can play it,” senior Walker Mees said. “You don’t need special equipment or shoes to play. You only need your feet and the sack. It’s really simple so I think that attracts a lot of kids to the sport because everyone thinks they will be good at it but hacky sacking is very deceiving. It’s actually quite hard.”

Although hacky sacking may be hard to master, the difficulty at the

beginning does not bother many people.

“Hacky sacking is something to do when you and a few friends become bored,” senior Taylor Boyle said. “Even if you aren’t good, it’s still fun to hacky sack. You can play with your friends as wells as carry on a normal conversation. It’s like you’re having a conversation but multi-tasking with a sport at the same time. It’s pretty cool.”

Many students at Paly have been turning to hacky sacking in the quad during lunch as a regular activity.

“I love hacky sacking during lunch,” senior Oren Carmeli said.

“Lunch is only 40 minutes so you can’t do much, but hacky sacking fills the void because it is so simple.

All you need is the sack and you’re good to go. It’s also surprisingly a really good workout too: the sack gets all your body parts moving. It’s a great warm up to start your day.”

Hacky sacks can be bought at multiple locations around Palo Alto including Big 5 Sporting Goods, Palo Alto Toy And Sport as well as the Internet. Hacky sacks are

surprisingly cheap: they range in price from $3 to about $15.

The more expensive hacky sacks generally are not better, however; they mostly just have flashier custom designs. Within Palo Alto, Palo Alto Toy and Sport is a highly regarded location to buy hacky sacks because it has really high quality hacky that are $3 each.

The popularity of hacky sacking is a growing movement at Paly that does not appear to be slowing down.

Hacky sacking brings out the best and better side of everyone.

Junior practices parkour daily Girls’ tennis team improves as season progresses jOSEFIN kENRICK KIan MCHUGH Staff writers

Charlotte Barry/the CAMPANILE

Danny Andreev side flips over the Haymarket stairs during tutorial. This is his fourth year of practicing parkour.

nick sullivan Staff writer

M

any Paly students play a sport, whether it be baseball, basketball, volleyball or water polo. Paly junior Danny Andreev does not play any of the sports available through school.

Instead, he has picked up on parkour. Parkour is a training discipline that focuses on overcoming obstacles.

Parkour athletes do this by finding the fastest and most efficient way to get from point A to point B. The sport uses a combination of movements such as running, climbing, swinging, vaulting, leaping and rolling.

Andreev’s interest in parkour first began three years ago when he became interested in learning how to do a front flip. This ambition ultimately led him to discover parkour.

“I looked up a bunch of tutorials on Youtube on how to do front flips and I found some PK[parkour] videos there,” Andreev said.

Although Andreev started doing parkour three years ago, he has only been training for about a year.

Andreev now practices around five to six times a week.

“I decided to start consistently practicing after I saw the positive impact parkour has made on other people, and also because I decided I wanted to become as skilled as other practitioners who have been practicing for a long time,” Andreev said.

I kind of get a sense of the rest of the world because many of the practitioners who practice in the Bay Area have come here from other parts of the world.

Danny Andreev Junior

Andreev usually warms up at Paly, where he trains in the sand pit and on the high jump pad. However, he mostly trains at Stanford where he has a gym membership.

“Recently I signed up for open gym at Stanford, so on Tuesdays and Thursdays I practice at the Stanford gymnastics center,” Andreev said.

Over the weekend, Andreev travels around the Bay Area to train in different places with groups and other athletes. This allows him to meet many different people from different backgrounds.

“Practicing with people from other places lets me meet many new people who come from different backgrounds,” Andreev said. “I kind of get a sense of the rest of the world because many of the practitioners who practice in the Bay Area have come here from other parts of the world.”

Training with other groups helps Andreev as a traceur as well. He is able to pick up new tricks from people with a lot of talent.

“Everyone’s style is different so by training in a group you can acquire lots of talent from others,” Andreev said. “Also training in a group makes training way more fun.

Andreev’s goals for right now are to get better both physically and mentally at the sport and see where it takes him. Right now, his main focus is just having fun and meeting new people, which are the aspects he enjoys most about the sport.

Halfway through the season, girls’ varsity tennis is doing well and has improved their record from 9 wins and 13 losses last year to 12 wins and 7 losses this year. They recently beat Castilleja 7-0 on Oct. 3 and lost 3-4 in a match to Saratoga on Oct. 4.

The team is being led by captains Sammy Solomon, Tiffany Nguyen, Aashli Budhiraja and Felicia Wang and expects to go to Central Coast Section (CCS) this year.

“I think our team is drastically improving,” captain Aashli Budhiraja said. “[The] season is going really well, [it is] a lot better than last year.”

The improvement on the team can be attributed to the team’s closeness, which has led them to play stronger than ever.

“We are playing very strong and we have creative line-ups,” coach Andy Harader said. “This has been a good season and our chances [for making it into CCS] are really good.”

The biggest matches for this year are against Monta Vista High School, Saratoga High School and Lynbrook High School. The team had a close match against Monta Vista Oct. 2 and lost 3-4.

“The most challenging upcoming game will be Monta Vista,” Wang said. “[Because] we came so close to beating them (we lost by a tiebreak) and they won states several times.”

Monta Vista High School has won Northern California championships

consecutively for over the past five years so the team is very happy with their performance.

“They are perennial league champs, CCS sectional champs and Norcal champs,” Harader said.

They also lost to Lynbrook 3-4 on Sept. 27 but the team is not letting these losses bring them down.

“Team morale is high,” Budhiraja said. “We all believe that we’re a great team. Our confidence was drastically boosted after the Monta Vista match [even though we lost].”

The team has some very strong players this year, including Budhiraja who is one of the best players in the league. “[Our] biggest strength is strength of top of the line-up,” Harader said.

“We have really solid one and two [players], and those are Aashli and Felicia. We are also strengthening our doubles.”

However, Harader believes that the players who do not play all year are a disadvantage to the team.

“The biggest weakness is [that] many players don’t play year round,” Harader said. “[They] drop rackets at the end of the season but if they played in tournaments we could improve for next year.”

CCS begins the first week of November, and the team is hoping to make it this far.

“I think we will make it into CCS this year because we are doing a lot better than last year,” Wang said.

“Last year we came so close to making it and with the amount we have improved this season it is totally possible.”

Josefin Kenrick/the Campanile

Junior Felicia Wang smashes a forehand in her match against Monta Vista.

The Campanile

Friday, October 19, 2012

C4 SPORTS

Senior Brent Schroder makes a save against Mountain View, traditionally one of the top two teams in the league. The boys’ to defeat Los Altos and Mountain View and win leagues.

Water Polo C Daniel Tachna-Fram Staff Writer

P

anna mcgarrigle/The Campanile

Seniors Brian Berry (left) and Nolan Perla-Ward (right) sport their straw hats and sunglasses. The water polo team dresses up for game day as part of their pre-game tradition.

aly holds many traditions in high regard. From boys basketball players dressing up on game days to football players wearing their jerseys to school on Fridays, there is no denying that Paly sports are steeped in tradition.

This year, the boys’ water polo team is attempting to bring a few more, albeit possibly controversial traditions to the Paly campus.

One of these traditions is the way in which the boys’ water polo players poke fun at their opponents prior to games.

It is not unusual for private Christian school’s teams to engage in a moment of team prayer before the start of each game. This act gave birth to one of the team’s newest rituals.

Rather than using one of their standard cheers such as, “Vikings on three” or “Paly on three” before jumping into the pool at the start of each

Albert lee

Boys’ varsity hopes to rebound from loss with wins over league rivals The team hopes to capitalize in key upcoming league games, working to improve its 6-4-0 league record as well as to defeat top league rival teams Mountain View and Los Altos.

Staff Writer

O

n Oct. 16, the Paly water polo team lost against Monta Vista High School 12-8, bringing the team to a 6-4-0 record in its league.

“Last time we beat them 12-8,” captain Nolan Perla-Ward said. “This time we didn’t come out as strong and we didn’t take them as seriously as we should have. We’ll take this game as a loss and get ready for our Los Altos game next week, a big game.”

Ward said that the team now knows what to improve upon.

“We need to improve on our passing,” Ward said. “Also on our pool awareness and defense. Defense especially.”

Traditionally, the water polo team has competed with Los Altos High School and Mountain View High School for the title of the league’s best team. Their first two losses were to these two high-ranking teams.

“Our losses against Mountain View and Los Altos were mainly

game, this year’s team has started doing a “Satan on 666” cheer.

Before each of their games one of the Paly captains get in the middle of the team huddle and yell, “Satan on 666!” The whole team then responds, “666 Satan!”

This tradition, which is the brainchild of senior Quinn Rockwell, began after the Paly team witnessed a particularly long prayer session prior to their game against the San Francisco based Catholic school Saint Ignatius. According to senior Brent Schroder, the Paly team figured that if Saint Ignatius could call upon an outside force, so could they.

“We knew since they had God on their side we would have to turn to some other divine force,” Schroder said.

The water polo team has enjoyed much success in games in which they have used the Satan cheer, for this reason the team has taken the cheer even farther and has created a team mindset known as “Satanism.”

The water polo team has not received any negative feedback about

their “Satan worshipping” so far, however Schroder believes that it may have some effect on their opponents.

“I think reactions to our Satan worshipping may simply cause other teams to get angry or confused by our power, thus leaving them even weaker and more exposed to Satan’s wrath,” Schroder said.

Another one of the water polo team’s traditions serves as a way to initiate new Paly freshmen into the greater student body. Every year, the incoming freshman class reports to campus a few days earlier than the rest of the Paly students for their freshman orientation. For the past two years, however, this ritual has had one rather noticeable oddity.

Accompanying all of the incoming freshmen are members of the boys water polo team wearing nothing but shoes and their Speedo swimsuits.

This new tradition has come to be known as “senior disorientation,” a fun, lighthearted way to welcome the newest class of students onto campus.

“Senior disorientation is a great way for the freshmen to be really

because of a breakdown in our defense,” captain Quinn Rockwell said. “We could have come out stronger.”

Tournaments are a one-game elimination deal. They are typically decided in the final game between Paly against Mountain View or Los Altos, the two top teams in the league.

“In the worst case scenario, we would score third in the upcoming tournament,” captain Bret Pinsker said.

So far, the team’s league record has been 6-4-0, with one loss against Los Altos, two against Mountain View and the most recent against Monta Vista; the team’s combined record of the Roche Tournament and leagues record is 8-6-0, including two losses against St. Mary’s and De La Salle.

“Our offensive improved a bit, but we still need to improve,” Pinsker said. “We lost against the top two teams, mainly because they shut down our offense. So we need to improve on offense.”

Rockwell agrees with Pinsker on the need of this change.

“We’re a defensive team,” Rockwell said. “Our offense mainly runs through a couple of key players.

Pinsker attributes the team’s victories to the coaches.

“The coaches have been good,” Pinsker said. “They teach us mentally how to do well. They get us prepared for game.”

Rockwell showed appreciation for the deeper role the coaches have taken so far.

“I love both our coaches,” Rockwell said. “Matt is the goalie coach, and it’s great to work with him directly.”

Coaches Matt and Brandon Johnson have played professional water polo in Australia for a year after playing in college.

“They’re young and easy to understand, unlike our previous coaches,” Rockwell said.

Matt Johnson returned the compliments.

“The team is good,” Johnson said.

“We get better every time we play, and with a second round of leagues coming up, we’re ready to face challenges. We’re playing with a lot of confidence.”

The Campanile

Friday, October 19, 2012

SPORTS C5

Hillel Zand/The Campanile

Hillel Zand/The Campanile

varsity team hopes to improve on their offense and maintain their defense in order

Culture plunged into how open of a school Paly really is,” Schroder said.

And the tradition seems to being doing just that.

“As soon as I saw the water polo players walking around in their Speedos I knew Paly wasn’t going to be an uptight place,” freshman Molly Kraus said.

Despite how crazy senior disorientation may seem on the surface, it serves a greater purpose.

“It’s a great way to bond as a team through the exclusive club that being in a Speedo entails,” Schroder said.

In addition to “senior disorientation” and the “Satan worshipping,” boy’s water polo players have started to “dress up” on game days, as the Paly boys basketball team does.

However the water polo players have added their own special twist.

Instead of simply wearing their team polo shirts, as boys water polo players have been doing for years, this year’s team has also been wearing straw sun hats to school on game days, and even more recently they have added a

necktie to the ensemble. Most of the student body at Paly overlooks water polo and is often oblivious to how the team is doing.

This is one of the things the water polo team hopes to change by dressing up on game days. “[By wearing the hats and ties to school] we’re trying to raise awareness for our sport, and hopefully get some students to come out to our games,” junior JJ Kadifa said.

So far this display of team unity and pride seems to be working as attendance has increased so far this season for the boys water polo team.

“We’ve had a few more people out at our games, including a couple of teachers,” Kadifa said.

Whether or not these new traditions will continue and work their way into permanent water polo culture remains to be seen, but for now the boys’ water polo players are just having fun with their new quirky rituals.

“Hopefully these traditions will continue for seasons to come,” Schroder said.

Coaches Matt and Brandon Johnson talk to their team during halftime. Both coaches played professional water polo in Australia before coming to coach the varsity team.

Hillel Zand/The Campanile

Senior Quinn Rockwell loads up for a shot against rival Mountain View. As captain of the boys’ varsity water polo team this year, he leads the team both in the pool as well as out of it, creating new pre-game traditions.

Leslie Wan

After victories, girls’ varsity improves chances at league championships Varsity works to enhance its team performance from last year by improving team organization and cooperation. The team hopes to end the season with a CCS victory.

Staff Writer

T

he girls’ varsity water polo team looks forward to seizing a spot in the Central Coast Section (CCS) tournament this year.

Despite a loss against Lynbrook High School on Oct. 16, the team had previously won against Homestead High School, Los Gatos High School and Wilcox High School, resulting in a league record of 8-3-0.

“We have been doing a lot better than last year,” senior Quitterie Collignon said. “Last year, we had only relied on two players [to score], but this year, it was really on team effort.”

The team has been improving team organization and calling out to other players, working on improving on the overall team performance. Stanford graduate and varsity coach, Spencer Dornin, believes the team has great potential to improve and defeat previous teams that they had lost to before.

“We have a really strong core of girls,” Dornin said. “If we can have

consistent passing, then we’re mentally prepared to play any team.”

The “m-drop,” a new technique that the team has recently been implementing in their games and practices, has proved to be remarkably beneficial for the team.

“It’s really advantageous,” Dornin said. “We have a really fast team that provides a lot of fast-break opportunities.”

The goal is always to win CCS and league title. It has always been a goal for the girls each year. We’re really building into the end of the year in a good way.

Spencer Dornin Coach

However, in the last game against Gunn, the team was unable to defeat their arch-rival due to a strong player on the opposing team and its own inability to score and pass well and effectively.

“The Gunn girls’ varsity water polo team surprisingly has one really impressive player,” senior co-captain Martine Leclerc said. “She normally gets like ten goals, but when our team played against her, she only scored three or four. She looked really frustrated during our game.”

The team hopes to achieve its goals of obtaining a spot in CCS and to defeat its long-time rival, Gunn.

“I think we really need to just guard her more,” Leclerc said.

“In that game, we just really needed to score and pass more,” senior Abbey Kinnaman said.

In the end, the team believes that they have the potential to defeat the Gunn girls’ varsity water polo team in their next game with them.

Furthermore, the team hopes to continue its winning streak against Lynbrook, Los Altos and lastly Gunn, and to enter CCS hoping to win.

“The goal is always to win CCS and league title,” Dorosin said. “It has always been a goal for the girls each year. We’re really building into the end of the year in a good way.”

Friday, October 19, 2012

The Campanile

C6 SPORTS

How to watch “El Clásico” with passion The ultimate guide to watching Real Madrid take on FC Barcelona in the most competitive soccer game of the year.

Elena Pinsker News Editor

S

occer is the most popular sport around the world, and the concept is relatively easy: kick the ball into the net to score a point, and whoever ends the match with the most points wins. It’s that simple, right?

If you try to watch a match, much less a clásico, without knowing the rules, you will quickly see it’s not, especially when you are surrounded by people screaming “DIVE! THAT WAS A DIVE!” and “GET ONSIDE VILLA!” at what seem like random times. Mastering the ways of the match is a laborious process, and, if you are only going to watch a few matches, one that’s just not worth it.

There are only a few things you need to know if you are going to watch an FC Barcelona-Real Madrid showdown, and learning them can save you from “that awkward moment when” everyone realizes you have no idea what you’re talking about.

1. Know who is playing

Try not to be that person who has no idea what Barça is, and who has only ever heard of David Beckham (and even that’s only because you saw the movie). This is a clásico; if you don’t know who is playing, there is no point in watching. These are the two best clubs in Spain — no, in the world — and when they go headto-head it is much more than just a football match; it is life, honor and dignity.

2. Enough with Messi v. Ronaldo

It’s great that you know two players’ names, but the clásico is so much more than which footballer is better. There are 25 people on the pitch who matter (yes, the refs matter! This is not American football; we do not use instant replay). Take out Messi or Ronaldo and either team is at a disadvantage, but take away Piqué (defender) or Xavi (midfielder) and we’ve still got problems.

Besides, we all know it’s Messi.

3. Learn what offsides is

There are a lot of rules in the game, but you only need to learn one.

“Offsides” is when a player is on the opponent’s side of the pitch and is closer to the other team’s goal line than the ball and the second-to-last defender...I lost you, I know. Think about it like this: If David Villa is closer to Iker Casillas than any of the other losers in white when Leo passes him the ball, that’s an issue. Watch a few matches and you will realize how often this happens to him. (Te queremos, offside king!)

4. Recognize a dive

In a clásico, a dive is when Cristiano Ronaldo is sitting on the pitch pretending to cry. In any other match, it’s when a player throws himself to the ground and rolls around in excruciatingly-handicapping pain so that a foul is called, only to get up and play again in two seconds. Try not to fall for this — unless he is raising his bloodied hand to be carried off the pitch on a stretcher, he is fine. There is only one exception: Lionel Messi.

That boy would not dive to save his life, so if he is down, it is time to scream and threaten to mangle whoever caused his precious body even the slightest bit of pain.

5. Learn how to celebrate

There is only one proper response when your team scores: “Goooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooolll llllllllllllll!!!!!!!” Learn it. Use it. And don’t you dare laugh at it.

Bo Field/the campanile

6. Do not blame the referees

In other words, do not be José Mourinho. Despite what he says, it is pretty unlikely that the ref has been paid to let Barça win. (Let’s be honest — they don’t need the help.) A ref is bound to make a bad call now and then, but it’s part of the game. Let the players freak out for you, because it is much more likely that the ref saw something you missed, given that he is right next to the action. The only thing worse than a ref who makes bad calls is someone who tries to correct a ref’s good ones. When Pepe gets a yellow card, it is because he deliberately tried to injure someone — not because Tito is paying the ref to do so in solid-gold cinder blocks behind closed doors.

7. Understand the tiki-taka style of play

The idea is this: there is only one ball on the pitch and if you have it, the other team doesn’t. FC Barcelona are known for their unbelievable amounts of passing and possession (think over 600 passes and near 75% possession in a single game). So when you see

a Messi to Xavi to Villa to Cesc to Piqué to Messi to Cesc to Villa to Messi passing chain, do not be surprised; the goal is just the final link in the chain. It is not a boring style of play; it is beautiful, and the reason Barça are the best in the world.

wrong. We missed a shot? It’s time to bring Villa on. Someone couldn’t get past a defender? It’s time to let Villa play. The score is tied and we’re already in extra time? Count on Villa to score the final goal. El Guaje is our lucky charm, so remember that name.

8. Know the terminology

10. It is okay to cry

A culé is a Barça supporter, and a madridista is the name of the enemy.

Step outside of the United States and you will realize it really is called football. And for the love of all that is holy, please never call him Xavi Alonso. Google the pronunciation of any name before you speak it and you will protect yourself from getting those types of looks. (A word of advice: the commentator’s pronunciation is usually wrong.)

It is not “just a game.” These are not “just some players.” There are happiness, mental health and embarrassing bets on the line, so hope for the best and be prepared for the worst. (Remember, this is Real Madrid we’re talking about. Expect them to try to kill one of us.)

9. Pray for Villa

Our baby has been injured for what seems like forever, and now that he’s back it is high time that Tito let him start. It doesn’t matter if you have no idea who he is — just shout for Villa (that’s pronounced “VEE-uh”) whenever anything goal-related goes

There is something beautiful about anything — a sport, a band or even a stupid catch phrase (#swag) — bringing a group of complete strangers together. Hopefully something in FC Barcelona’s revolutionary style of playing an age-old game has sparked your interest. Hopefully you have been shown that through the ups and the downs, the goals and the injuries, the wins and the losses, we really are més que un club.

Friday, October 19, 2012

The Campanile

SPORTS C7

Football dominates league opponent Wilcox Bowen gerould staff writer

F

ollowing a victory against Homestead High School, the Paly varsity football team continued its winning streak by beating the Wilcox High School Chargers on Friday Oct. 12, bringing its league record to 2-1.

Coach Earl Hansen and the team took advantage of weaknesses in the Chargers’ defense that they recognized from earlier years.

“We can win by running inside,” Hansen said. “We need to work harder on first and second downs to set ourselves up for third down.”

The Vikings’ strong 38-12 victory was highlighted with three passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown and a thrilling 51-yard touchdown by running back Justin Gates-Mouton.

The Vikings fell behind 6-0 in the first quarter but then came back with 31 unanswered points before surrendering an 11-yard touchdown to Wilcox senior running back Roland Luke.

The Vikings, however, ousted any further attempts at a comeback with 18-yard pass from quarterback Keller Chryst to junior Malcolm Davis sealing another Viking league victory.

The previous week, the team faced off against the Homestead Vikings on Oct. 5, just one week after they suffered a tough 24-19 home loss to Milpitas. Keller Chryst, the team’s junior quarterback, looked to bounce back after a four-interception performance and did just that.

Paly cruised to a 55-14 victory behind the arm of Chryst and the legs of running backs Matt Tolbert and Romaine Ward, who scored three and two touchdowns respectively.

Coach Earl Hansen is very impressed with Keller’s attitude.

“Keller is doing very well,” Hansen said. “He is a special talent, he pushes himself very hard in practice.”

Paly broke open the scoring with a 19-yard run from Matt Tolbert to make it 7-0 Paly. The team kept the ball rolling when punt returner Malcolm Davis returned a punt for 60 yards and a score giving Paly a 14-0 lead. Senior Erik Anderson and Juniors Romaine Ward and Tolbert

Adam Mansour/The campanile

Senior Spencer Drazovich muscles by a defender in preparation for the upcoming game against Los Gatos High.

went on to score four more touchdowns combined.

A touchdown by Chryst sealed the Vikings’ first league win after a disappointing loss to Milpitas.

Volleyball strives for postseason wins

Hillel Zand/The campanile

The Lady Vikes huddle for a cheer after winning against Homestead 3–0.

Daniel Tachna-Fram Rachel Cui staff writers

T

he Paly varsity volleyball team is trying to end this season in the same manner in which they ended the last two—by winning the state championship. This year they are trying to win with an almost entirely new group of players.

After winning the 2011 State Championship and being ranked the number one team in the state as well

as the nation by Maxpreps.com, the Vikings had eight seniors graduate, four of whom went on to for play for Division I schools. After suffering two early losses to Amador Valley High School and Sacred Heart Cathedral High School, the Vikings have rebounded and have gone 13-2 overall. This season is a stark contrast to the 2011 season. The Vikings have only two seniors on their roster, team captains Sophia Bono and Shelby Knowles.

Even more impressive is that the Vikings carry seven underclassmen

on their roster, as opposed to only four underclassmen last season.

Despite having an almost entirely different starting lineup from last year head coach David Winn remains confident in his team’s chances of doing well in CCS, and possibly defending their back-to-back State Championships.

However Winn wants the team to take the season one step at a time on the road to state championships.

“We just have to get to CCS and see what the competition is like before we can judge how states will go,” Winn said.

The Vikings are currently on top of the CCS standings with a two game lead over Sequoia High School and a six game lead over Oak Grove High School.

Despite being so highly ranked locally the Vikings have a lot of work to do if they plan on defending their back-to-back state championships, as Maxpreps.com has ranked them the number 14 team in California.

Winn and the rest of the Vikings still believe that they have a good chance to do something no Paly sports team has ever done: win the state championship three years in a row.

“We have a lot of hard-working dedicated girls, and you just never know what could happen,” Winn said.

Junior lineman Jack Anderson was happy with the win against Wilcox High School but realizes that they have a tougher opponent, Los Gatos High School, to prepare for this week.

“This is a different team this week,” Anderson said. “They are better than last week and we need to make sure to shut down their offense.”

Hansen was happy with the way that his players played, keeping themselves in the hunt for their league title.

“Our number one goal at the beginning of the season was to win as many games as we can and to win league,” Hansen said.

Hansen feels like the team still has a good chance at the league title and will improve in the next two weeks before the end of the season.

“We still have a good chance to win league, and we will get an even better feeling for it in the next two weeks,” Hansen said. “Our league is tough, I doubt any team will go undefeated.”

Cross country looks to finish season strong

Jack Paladin Alvina Zou staff writers

A

fter a strong start to the cross country season, the Paly team is working hard to maintain the intensity it began the season with.

The team is satisfied with its performances in recent meets and hopes it can continue to progress throughout the season.

“The team so far this season has been impressive,” boys varsity coach Marcus Stone said. “Not only do the upperclassmen show a ton of heart and effort into each practice and meet, but I am starting to see it in the younger runners as well.”

During the meet at Crystal Springs on Oct. 2, senior boys placed first while junior boys, sophomore boys and freshman boys placed fifth, second and first respectively. Senior Ben Hawthorne placed thirteenth for senior boys with a time of 17:22.2 at pace of 5:53. Behind Hawthorne, seniors Will Kershner, Ben May and David Williams placed fifteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth respectively.

Junior Samuel Mignot placed tenth for junior boys with a time of 17:25.1 at pace of 5:54. The Lady Vikes also placed first for seniors, fifth for juniors, second for sophomores and first for freshmen. Senior Nora Rosati placed third for senior girls with a time of 19:49.2 at a pace of 6:43, followed by seniors Chika Kasahara at fifth and Shaheen Essabhoy at ninth.

Junior Audrey DeBruine placed third for junior girls with a time of 21:04.8 at a pace of 7:08.

As the season progresses, the runners on the team continue to work diligently at practice in order to improve both their personal scores and the overall score of the team.

“The season in all is going well,” girls’ varsity captain Audrey DeBruine said. “Every runner on the team shows up for practice and is ready to run. We are always looking to improve our times. Cross country is an interesting sport because you want to improve [your times while] you are scored as a team.”

The team has faced various challenges throughout its season, but the runners are working hard as a team to overcome some setbacks that they have faced.

“So far I think we’ve been doing pretty well,” DeBruine said. “There are some strong underclassmen this year, and the upperclassmen have continued to work hard. We’ve had some issues with injuries that will

hopefully all be cleared up soon, since leagues and CCS are only about a month away.”

The mentality of running is a portion of cross country that can determine a runner’s failure.

“One of the biggest obstacles a runner must deal with is the mental toughness,” Stone said. “It is very easy to give up running, but these guys have to try and keep training hard to be the best runner they can be to finish any race they may run in.”

For now, the team is focusing on improving their times in order to prepare for qualifying for Central Coast Section (CCS).

“We need to focus on the practices so that we can get better as the season goes on,” Stone said. “We are always focusing on race times and how well we can hit those mile splits. We are always focusing on the next meet we have but we also want to make it to the CCS championships and that will only happen if we keep training meet by meet.”

Their top priority still rests on continuing to consistently practice.

“As a team our main focuses are to try to win leagues and qualify for the state meet, which requires us to place in the top two of CCS,” DeBruine said. “Until then, we just need to keep pushing each other.”

The team’s final meet will occur on Oct. 23, at the City Championships meet located at Gunn High School.

This will be the last meet before the team heads to CCS and concludes its season.

XC Meets

OCT Monterey Invite Toro Park, Salinas 19

3 p.m.

City Championships OCT 23 Gunn High School

3:25 p.m.

SCVAL Championships OCT Crystal Springs, Belmont 30

3 p.m.

CCS Championships NOV Toro Park, Salinas 10

TBA

Friday, October 19, 2012

The Campanile

C8 SPORTS

e a T Kwo n Do T uesdays

A Paly senior starts a new club to teach students the South Korean martial art of taekwondo.

(And Fridays)

Emily Tran A&E Editor

O

n Tuesday and Friday afternoons, people may stumble across an unusual sight on the Paly lacrosse field: students performing what seems to be kicks and jumps that one would typically see a stunt man do on the set of a Hollywood movie.

In early September, senior Ben Lin decided to gather a group of friends and gear, and set out to teach inquisitive Paly students the ropes of the martial art, taekwondo.

It began with a compromise between Lin and a friend.

“My sister wanted to learn how to play badminton, and I’m friends with [senior] Gavin Chan, the captain of the badminton team,” Lin said. “I talked with him and we worked something out with him training my sister in exchange for me teaching him taekwondo.”

From there, Lin rounded up gear and a few extra friends, and began teaching taekwondo to students. He teaches during the Paly boys’ varsity soccer practice in the back corner of the lacrosse field, bringing full body pads to keep his students safe from injury.

Most of the students learning from Lin are beginners in the martial art.

“Some people come only once in a while. Others come every practice,” Lin said. “There’s a beginner and advanced practice.”

Lin is a first degree black belt in taekwondo and has attempted other types of martial arts.

“I’m not a great fighter, but I qualified for Nationals in my sophomore year, and I currently train at Stanford,” Lin said.

There are many forms of taekwondo. The art may combine combat, self-defense, sport and sometimes meditation techniques.

However, there are two main branches of this martial art: traditional taekwondo and sport taekwondo.

The traditional form of taekwondo was established by the South Korean military in the 1950s and 1960s for combat training. This form specializes in strong strikes and kicks.

Sport taekwondo developed later with a slightly different focus on speed and multiple kicks.

Gina scarpino/the cam-

Gavin Chan (left), Ben Lin and Kevin Zhang (bottom right) practice their taekwondo moves after school on the upper Paly turf field. The unique Korean martial arts moves require extreme focus, flexibility and strength.

This type of taekwondo appears in the Olympic games with a competition that includes sparring. In Lin’s classes, he chooses to teach the sport branch; however, he considers branching out.

Being a black belt means you’re expected to advance the sport, and so teaching is one way of me giving back to the art.

Ben Lin Senior

“I plan to move into parkour and flashier things as supplements,” Lin said.

The two to three hour lessons seem to be simple, yet participants

describe them as invigorating and physically taxing.

Lin teaches his students standard moves such as types of kicks, blocks and strikes.

“It’s basically informal taekwondo training,” senior Jeffrey Ling said. “[Lin] teaches us how to kick and spar, and people who participate are beginners. There aren’t very many of us.”

Seniors Gavin Chan and Jeffrey Ling and junior Kevin Zhang are just some of the students who attend Lin’s taekwondo lessons. Most of them have joined for the fun of it or to learn something new.

“Some people noticed our training and wanted to join, and so occasionally people drop in and maybe stay,” Lin said. “Jeffrey Ling

just showed up one day and he’s a natural [at taekwondo], even though he only comes half of the time. He just learns kicks crazy fast.”

For Chan, he attends Lin’s classes to kill some free time and has enjoyed it ever since Lin started his lessons. “[Lin] is really good at taekwondo,” Chan said. “We had some time to burn after school, so he invited a few people to join him. He just teaches us basic kicks and exercises once a week.”

In the span of two hours, students are able to learn about the art and will practice their newly acquired moves on each other in full gear.

Lin teaches not only combat moves, but also certain types of kick jumps. Students are either placed

to fight against Lin or other participating students. Lin then helps the students focus on how they can improve their technique.

“Generally, we review what we learned the last week and practice it in the beginning,” Zhang said. “[Lin] then teaches us new material and we end with practicing the kicks on each other. It’s pretty interesting and is a good way to end the day after all of the tests and classes at school.”

Lin has found enjoyment through his lessons and is enthusiastic for his teachings in the future.

“I’m used to teaching martial arts and I enjoy it,” Lin said. “Being a black belt means you’re expected to advance the sport, so teaching is one way of me giving back to the art.”