October 15, 2014
7
Feature
Talent show embraces Hispanic culture The Spanish Club talent show, which took place Oct. 3 at 7 p.m., was hosted as a fundraiser for the club’s upcoming trip to Spain. The night was filled with performances ranging from singing and dancing to banjo and jazz. The night ended with a raffle for prizes including Spanish soccer jerseys and Sequoia merchandise.
Top: Jazz band opened the show with three performances. Right: Junior Teagan Webb was introduced to the banjo and bluegrass music at the Strawberry Music Festival, which she attends each year with family and friends. Webb remembers seeing a performer that she knew playing the banjo at the festival and it caught her eye. “I love that [the banjo] sounds so cool, [yet] it doesn’t take that much effort,” Webb said.
Top: Junior James Kiraly played a saxophone solo. Kiraly has been around music his entire life, leading him to join Jazz Club his freshman year. “I love the freedom and the idea of playing what you want and creating new music,” he said.
Right: Junior Jason Escobedo tap danced.
—Compiled by IRIDIAN VILLANUEVA
Photos courtesy of Katie Fazio
Class overcrowding leads to additional summer courses By LAUREN CRESTA and NORA FOSSENIER Staff Reporters
With a record high population of 2,115 students and an average class size of 34 some students will be forced to take science classes this summer. These classes will be held at local community colleges, including Foothill College which is almost 15 miles away. They will be paid for by Sequoia, rather than by the students attending them. The district gives each school a certain amount of money for staffing summer courses, which is based off of how many students need to take classes over the summer. Sequoia also uses money from SHS Education Foundation funds. “When I first went in my Chemistry class, there weren’t enough seats. There were people sitting at lab tables,” sophomore Gabi Siguenza said. Some larger classes have also been broken into two periods to reduce the amounts of students in one class. A fifth period Chemistry class was
added to accommodate students from other overflowing periods. Teachers find that when there are more students to teach, they have fewer chances to speak to students oneon-one and help them with individual issues, keeping them from grasping concepts or making connections. “With larger class sizes, there’s more demands on my time and energy,” Biology teacher Rebecca Rush said. “Each student will have their own questions, and it’s my job to answer them.” However, in classes such as Dance P.E., having more students can be beneficial and add to the feel of the dance. The SUHSD has received a bond for $265 million for construction projects that will help accommodate the influx of students in the coming years. “[For] long term plans and goals, we’re going to need more facilities,” Instructional Vice Principal Stephen Ready said. “I think from my office the biggest thing is that we’ll need more staffing.” Sequoia plans on adding a new building, prioritizing science labs and traditional classrooms.
Girls volleyball
Photo courtesy of Debra Carrubba
“I think we’re a really tall team, so we have a lot of strength in the offense, and we work really well together.” —Angela Hudelson, senior
Record: 4-1
For more mid-season reports, see page 8