Cub Issue 2016

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CUB

Volume LVIII, No. 8 • March 18, 2016 • Larkspur, CA

Redwood students happier now than in 2012 p.10

Illustration by Maxime Kawawa-Beaudan

Redwood High School 395 Doherty Drive, Larkspur, CA 94939 www.redwoodbark.org

Editors-In-Chief Rachel Schten Amanda Trusheim

Copy Editors

Review Editors

Gemma Calandra Jocelyn Overmyer Christine Watridge

Allie Forbes Alexandra Lee

Spanish Editors

News Editors

Hallie Fox Walter Gehm

Grant Barnes Lauren Blazei

Assistant Sports Editors

Feature Editors

Pascal Brassey Brendan Winters

Caroline Cummings Carolyn French

Business Managers

Opinion Editors

Tilly Friedlander Kelly Norian

Maggie Smith Alicia Vargelis

Survey Managers

Sports Editors

Shannon Donelan Jackie Judd

Josh Cohen China Granger

Lifestyles Editors Daniela Schwartz Mallory Wakida

Reporters

Advisor

Tom Sivertsen

Cooper Bouton, Roy Crumrine, Caitlin Donnelly, Kevin Gao, William Goltra, Tanner Jacobberger, Julia Jacoby, Tyler Kavanaugh, Kaelin Kragh, Jordan Overmyer, Charlie Quanstrom, Charlotte Seton, Dimitrije Stankovic, Aaron Swoiskin, Sara Wilson

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395 doherty dr., larkspur, ca 94939

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volume LVIII, no. 8

Ice Skating

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March 18, 2016

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

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www.redwoodbark.org

Marin Search and Rescue saves young girl in Tahoe from snow hole

By Roy Crumrine Cub Reporter The Marin Search and Rescue team stumbled upon a girl in distress while training in Lake Tahoe Feb. 20. The girl had been stuck in a hole for 15 minutes prior to their arrival.

The 10-year-old girl, Samantha White from Sacramento County, had fallen into a snow cave while snowshoeing down Castle Peak with her family near Boreal Mountain Resort. She sustained only minor injuries, including scrapes and bruises, before being rescued by Marin Search and Rescue.

Rescuers of the girl included Redwood students Lauren Knott (junior), Nick Forbes (sophomore), Maddie Jarrell (junior), Max Schoenlein (senior), Francesco Cico (junior), and Cole Zesiger (freshman). The Marin Search and Rescue team has 100 volunteers, 10 of which are Redwood students.

Despite not having the normal rescue equipment the team would usually use in a situation like this, the group of 14 was able to bring the girl to safety in 12 minutes.

“Normally when we go on a rescue, we have all our rescue gear with us, but because we weren't in rescue mode and were in training mode, and were climbing a peak, we had ice axes, snowshoes, three 50-foot ropes, and some carabiners,” Marin Search and Rescue manager Bob Gehlen said.

In order to increase the odds of successfully saving White, the team devised three ways to rescue the girl in case one of their options couldn’t be executed properly.

“Plan A was to pull her out via ropes, plan B was to tunnel in further down the creek and see if we could get her out that way, and plan C was have one of our stronger adult members go into the hole head first supported by another adult, grab her, and pull her out,” said Max Schoenlein, team medic and Redwood student.

The team decided to use the rope method because it was the safest option for everyone involved.

“She was at least 10 or 12 feet down, standing in kneedeep water in a rushing creek. She wasn't hurt, there was no trauma, but she was 10, very afraid, and getting cold.

She was inside essentially a snow cave with one exit,” Gehlen said.

Marin Search and Rescue stumbled upon White’s father in a nearby meadow while descending down Castle Peak.

“He was on his phone, and I couldn’t tell if there was an immediate emergency because he wasn't jumping up and down or panicking. Other than an intuition that the

Photo Courtesy of Marin Search and Rescue

MARIN SEARCH AND RESCUE team (from left to right) Francesco Cico, Nick Forbes, Adam Back, Maddie Jarrell, Lauren Knott and Max Schoenlein pose before beginning their day’s exhibition. scene wasn't quite right, I just couldn't figure out what it possible cave-in, which would threaten the girl’s life.

“Our fear was that if anybody went anywhere near this was,” Gehlen said.

After pondering whether the man on the phone needed hole, we were going to create an avalanche within the rain trap, and a very large amount of snow would probably their help, Gehlen heard him say “helicopter.”

“This alerted me that things weren't how they should fall on her and push her down, possibly trapping her be, and then he pointed down and I saw a hole in the underwater. So we had to be very careful about creating snow. It was about the width of a person. I looked down in any disturbance around this snow bridge,” Gehlen said.

According to Gehlen, Tahoe had received several the hole, which was very dark, and I didn't see anything,” Gehlen said. “Then I heard him say that his 10-year-old feet of snow a few days before, and the snow walls surrounding the hole were five to eight feet deep. daughter had fallen through this hole.”

When the team lifted White out of the hole, lead medic White’s father had alerted authorities, but the Truckee Fire Department said they could not respond for two Schoenlein looked over the girl.

“There was no trauma. We just had to warm her up hours, so Gehlen and his team decided to take immediate and get her home,” Schoenlein said. action.

Upon their arrival, White was already showing signs of hypothermia after being in the water for 15 minutes.

The Marin Search and Rescue team was afraid of a rcrumrine@redwoodbark.org

‘No Branson’ signs line Strawberry

By Grant Barnes Cub Reporter

The proposed development of a Branson campus, which could accommodate up to 1000 students as well as 304 homes at the site of a theological seminary on Strawberry Island, has met significant opposition from Strawberry residents.

The streets surrounding the current seminary location are lined with red lawn signs reading “No Branson.” Neighbors have come together in opposition of the increased traffic, the effect on the open space and the decrease in neighborhood safety that they believe the proposed Branson development could bring to the community.

“My biggest concern is the traffic. I’ve seen people getting caught in their culde-sacs at Redwood,” said Strawberry resident Steve Tenaglia. “I don’t want that to happen here.”

A traffic study conducted by the Seminary Neighborhood Association, based on presentations to the county by the developer of the project, has concluded that morning traffic would increase by 1000 percent on Seminary Drive.

The current Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary does not have enrollment close to 1000 students now, but did have upwards of 900 graduate students

in the 1980s.

Many residents of Strawberry are concerned about teenagers driving to school and possible reckless driving.

“I’ve had two people hit my rock wall,” Tenaglia said. “I’ve had a drunk kid hit a tree next to my house.”

While residents are opposed to the creation of the Branson High School, they are open to housing construction, according to Ray McDevitt, who has been a resident of Strawberry for 40 years.

“The relocation of Branson to Strawberry is a work in progress,” said Greg Swart, Branson’s Chairman of the Board of Trustees in a press conference.

“We have considered this site for a long time and moving to Strawberry is consistent with our long-term goals of increasing student diversity, interacting more directly with the Marin community and gradually growing enrollment. This new campus will provide Branson with the opportunity to respond to the needs of a 21st century education, to better prepare our graduates entering a global economy, and significantly increase our interaction with and service to the local community.”

The Seminary Neighborhood Association is responsible for printing the “No Branson” lawn signs and is the main community force in opposition of the current development.

“I’m sure you’ve seen the signs, everyone’s against it,” said Strawberry

Passion Week brings depth

By Lauren Blazei Cub Reporter

Photo by Grant Barnes

‘NO BRANSON’ SIGNS line seminary s t re e t s a s n e i g h b o r s p ro t e s t t h e development of a new campus. resident Ladan Lari.

The main points of entry to Branson would be the single lane Seminary Drive and E. Strawberry Drive. The highways leading to these roads are already used in the mornings for Reed district and working commuters.

“Eighty to 90 percent of neighbors in the area have ‘No Branson’ signs, even the renters,” Tenaglia said.

Continued on Page 2

In hopes of bringing together separate groups of Redwood students and encouraging them to share out their passions, Redwood held its first-ever Passion Week during the week of March 7.

The goal of Passion Week was to bring a positive atmosphere to campus and allow students and faculty to share what they do in their free time, according to junior Courtney Carswell.

Continued on Page 2

About the Cub Issue

The Cub Edition of the Bark is produced by the Nonfiction class with the help of the Bark Staff.

The Editors-in-Chief for this issue are Amanda Trusheim and Rachel Schten. The next regular edition of the Bark will be printed on April 8.

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Page 2 • News

March 18, 2016

Photo Survey:

If you could add one class to Redwood, what would it be?

“Cooking”

Julia Scharf freshman

“Entrepreneurship”

“Cloth Enhancement 3-4”

Aidan Rankin-Williams sophomore

John Van Liere junior

“History of Rap”

Carli Jacks senior

• ‘No Branson’ signs

Continued from page 1 In 2014, the Seminary property was bought by North Coast Land Holdings, owned by the Fasken Trust. The Fasken Family owns the Fasken Trust and has alumni ties with Branson.

North Coast Holdings has given Branson the opportunity to purchase and use the buildings of the current Seminary and North Coast Holdings will own and develop the rest of the land.

“We’re really trying to propose a project that addresses critical needs like education, mass transit and affordable housing,” said Charlie Goodyear, spokesman for North Coast. “You can’t solve all of those issues with any one project, but we think we’ve offered a pretty compelling and interesting mix. We’ve finally heard the feedback from neighbors and are happy to discuss alternatives that they may propose.”

The Marin County Planning Division deemed the developer’s application incomplete for the Branson School and 304 homes, on Jan. 15.

“The land use plans said you can have a graduate school and you can have faculty and student housing, that’s it. It doesn’t say you can have a high school and it doesn’t say you can have rental housing,” McDevitt said.

North Coast Holdings is planning on having the 304 homes grouped into connecting clusters similar to the rentals immediately surrounding the area.

The developer has been asked by the county to apply for an amendment to the Strawberry Community Plan to allow for new aspects of the development but the developers have declined to submit an amendment and are currently appealing the Marin County Planning Division’s decision.

“Nobody’s going to get everything they want,” said Josh Sale, a board member of the Seminary Neighborhood Association. “We’re not going to get all open space, [the developers] are not going to get the ultra intense development that they’re proposing in the current application, but I really believe there’s some happy

Photo courtesy of Cavagnero Associates

PROPOSED AERIAL VIEW of Branson campus on Strawberry Island. Neighbors are protesting the development due to the possibility of increased traffic and the decrease of neighborhood safety. middle ground that can be found if people of goodwill sit down at the table together and try to work through it,” The project must be approved by the County Planning Commission and then voted on by the board of supervisors, according to Sale. The county also takes advice from the Strawberry Design Review Board. This approval process could take two to three years, according to Sale.

“Nobody can stop the wheels from moving. What we’re trying to do as neighbors is pull together and say

this is not going to work for us,” Tenaglia said.

Mark Cavagnero is the architect of the project and has designed the Oakland Museum of California, SF JAZZ Center, and renovated the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. Cavagnero’s goal for the project is to create a community similar to the Presidio.

“It’s wonderful what the potential of this place could be if they do it right,” Tenaglia said. gbarnes@redwoodbark.org

• Passion Week

Continued from page 1 Leadership held events throughout the week that focused on the overarching theme of students making their passions their purpose.

These events included a passion festival on Wednesday at lunch allowing students and faculty to share their passions by creating their own booths in the small gym, a speaker on Thursday, and a drama performance on Friday where students performed practice monologues in the little theater.

Additionally, Leadership scheduled advanced performance workshop students to play on the outdoor stage each day at lunch.

However, only one band played during the week due to rain.

Each year, Leadership hosts a spirit week to draw attention to a wellness topic.

Everybody Loves Everybody week, which aimed to raise awareness about social inclusion, received negative feedback last year regarding the exact message it was attempting to promote.

Leadership decided to explore a new concept this year.

Davey Muise, the guest speaker, shared his backstory that eventually led him to follow his passion, music.

After overcoming depression and losing sense of who he truly was, Muise

Photo by Amanda Trusheim

SPEAKING IN FRONT of the Redwood student body, Davey Muise shares the story of how his passion of music brought him to the place he is in now. was able to use his love of music to help bring him out of the disheartening state he was in.

He became not only the lead singer of Vanna, a post-hardcore punk band from Boston, but an inspirational speaker for teenagers across the country as well.

“Every great person that we are forced to read about in school, or that has a Netflix show, all these people, they had

to choose greatness at some point in their life,” Muise said in his speech. “They weren’t born and just like ‘All right I’m gonna kill it now.’ They had to work at itthey had to build their dream up.”

Muise told students that once they are able to find a “shovel,” representing their passion, they can start digging out the path that will lead them to greatness. “ Yo u r s h o v e l , w e l l t h a t ’s y o u r

passion––that’s the thing in life that is always able to dig you out. It could be music, it could be art, it could be sports, it could be drama, it could be academics, it could be friendship, it could be leadership, it could be anything,” Muise said. “But see, once you dig yourself out of the place you were in, and you’re standing on solid ground, well, you’re still there holding a shovel.”

Although Carswell did hear some negative feedback about the speaker regarding his portrayal of women, she believed that overall his message worked with the week’s theme.

“If you’re truly passionate about what you’re doing, you go for it,” Carswell said, explaining the message she took from Muise’s speech.

The lunchtime event on Wednesday in the small gym was designed to bring the Redwood community together by allowing both students and staff to sign up for a booth and set up a display that represented their passion.

It was not as successful as Leadership planners had hoped due to the rain and change of location. The goal was for students to walk by the tables and perhaps become interested in a new passion.

lblazei@redwoodbark.org

Page 3 • News

www.redwoodbark.org

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Marin Grand Jury sets guidelines for concussions

By Kevin Gao Cub Reporter The Marin County Civil Grand Jury recently recommended that local schools create a protocol to help deter student athletes from the long-term health risks of repeated head injuries.

The grand jury responded to the lack of protocol when dealing with concussions among student athletes by creating five different requirements that every school should satisfy.

The official grand jury report stated that 5-10 percent of athletes will experience a concussion during an average sports season, with 47 percent of athletes having no immediate apparent symptoms after a concussive blow.

The five steps included the required payment for baseline neurocognitive testing of all high school athletes, the hiring of certified athletic trainers, mandatory concussion education for student athletes, and the adoption of protocols for reporting head injuries and for determining how long injured players should wait before returning to school and athletic activities.

The list also required collecting head injury data and compiling the data in a centralized database.

Both the Redwood athletic director and trainer believe these grand jury standards are an acceptable response to the prevalence of student concussions.

Athletic director Jessica Peisch said that an accessible athletic trainer is an invaluable resource and that Redwood is very fortunate to have Americ Alvarado.

“They [athletic trainers] help inform the parents of their child’s injuries and are able to provide proper care. In my mind, it is a great service that we have. Not every school in the county has an athletic trainer, and it’s wonderful that we are able to provide it,” Peisch said.

Alvarado said that it is good for schools in Marin to have a universal standard which they can all strive towards.

“I like the guidelines and what is recommended,

Photo by Hallie Fox

FIGHTING FOR a live ball, senior Alex Leograndis crouches in position during a lacrosse practice. so schools that want to provide something for their students have these published and researched steps to use,” Alvarado said.

Redwood currently satisfies all of the guidelines, but many other Marin schools do not, according to Alvarado.

“Some schools do not, due to the fact of funding or other resources, and are not able to offer an athletic trainer

or a facilitator for the mandatory testing recommended,” Alvarado said.

Although Alvarado and Peisch believe that the list is an appropriate standard that all schools should hold themselves to, they also question whether all schools in Marin can afford it.

“I think that it’s a standard we should hold ourselves accountable to, because it gives more safety to the students, but at the same time some other schools don’t have the available resources to provide those services,” Alvarado said.

Peisch said that some local schools may not be able to afford the expense of a certified athletic trainer.

“I feel that the schools in the county are now starting to offer the trainers and education. It has been a long time coming, because of finances,” Peisch said. “It’s another paid position, so maybe some schools needed time to figure out how to finance a trainer.”

Although Alvarado believes the standards to be fair, he feels that a major emphasis on academic education exists within a school’s budget, which might be why schools have not been able to offer these services.

“It might be harder with schools getting bigger and bigger. Their emphasis is more on academic support and education, which is totally understandable,” Alvarado said. “They want to have more teachers and more classrooms, and things like athletics are not as high on the priority list.”

As more and more schools adopt these new guidelines, Alvarado said that he hopes that they will help refine the way athletic departments deal with injuries.

“Sports are such a wonderful part of life, and injuries are part of it, but if you can show everyone the way to treat and take care of these injuries, it’s not going to ruin the rest of your life. You just have to know how to manage and treat it,” Alvarado said.

kgao@redwoodbark.org

Rustic Bakery to open new location in Tiburon this spring

By Charlotte Seton Cub Reporter Rustic Bakery plans to open a new bakery and cafe in Tiburon at Boardwalk courtyard, which was previously occupied

by Corner Books and Element Coffee & Tea in Tiburon.

Through email, Chief Executive Officer Carol LeValley said that the restaurant doesn’t have an exact opening date yet, but is estimated to open doors between early March and late April.

Rustic had first planned to open in November, however the project was delayed due to a misunderstanding with the Marin County Department of Health regarding the equipment requirements.

A f t e r L e Va l l e y r e c e i v e d t h e building permit, they were able to begin construction in November of last year.

Rustic Bakery has already started conducting job interviews for anyone interested in working at the new location.

Sophomore Emma Winkler Prins, a Tiburon resident, has already received training from Rustic Bakery and is excited

to start her job at the new bakery when it opens.

“I’m completely trained,” Winkler Prins said. “I train for sandwiches, the register, salads, phone, pastries, everything.”

Because construction is still occurring at the Rustic in Tiburon, Winkler Prins and her other colleagues are currently training at the Larkspur and Novato locations.

Even though the Rustic Bakery in Tiburon will be smaller than its other locations, they will serve the community with all its classic and well-known drinks, baked goods, and dishes.

“All the Marin people want everything organic, and Rustic Bakery will serve their needs, so I think it’s going to become a really big hot spot,” Winkler Prins said.

The bakery in Tiburon will be a small cafe, open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and will include 35 seats inside the cafe as well as 18 seats outdoors.

The outdoor space will be located near the walkway and parking lot adjacent to Tiburon Boulevard, which will serve as a community gathering space for the

Photo by Gemma Calandra

ARTISAN BREADS SIT on display in Rustic Bakery at Magnolia Ave. Rustic Bakery will be serving customers at their new location in Tiburon this spring. courtyard and entire shopping center.

Rustic Bakery currently has locations on Magnolia Avenue and Larkspur Landing Circle in Larkspur, as well as a

Novato location on Grant Avenue. cseton@redwoodbark.org

March 18, 2016 bark Page 4 • News Alumni athletes return for Hall of Fame ceremony

By Kelly Norian Cub Reporter

Alumni reunited at the Redwood Athletic Hall of Fame banquet to honor inductees from 2015 and 2016 at the McInnis Park Club on March 5.

The Redwood Athletic Hall of Fame honors former athletes and coaches, giving Special Merit recognition to individuals who have made major contributions to the athletic experience at Redwood.

This year, the Athletic Hall of Fame introduced a Special Merit Team Recognition category, awarding the 1959 boys’ swim team for being the first Redwood varsity sports team to ever win a league championship.

“In simple terms, it was awesome. I swam with some of the greatest guys that you could possibly be with,” said Bob Lewis, a member of the 1959 swim team.

He still sees his former teammates on a fairly regular basis, and events like these help bring back all the old memories, according to Lewis.

“It’s great to come back and see old friends. It’s really wonderful what everyone did to make this event happen,” said Buddy Biancalana, a member of the Hall of Fame.

Marilee Ellis Rogers, co-chair of the Alumni Association, helped put together the Athletic Hall of Fame in 2009 while preparing for Redwood’s 50th anniversary.

Rogers was part of the 1961 graduating class, and returned to teach at Redwood for 32 years.

Redwood High School was founded in 1958. Rogers and the boys’ swim team

helped to establish many of the school’s traditions, according to Rogers.

“We were involved in naming the school, coming up with the Giants, writing the school fight song, and we naming things like the Redwood Bark,” Rogers said.

In the late 1950s, swimmers would take a bus to the Tiburon Peninsula Club to practice, and the football team would have to go to the College of Marin because there wasn’t a swimming pool or football field at Redwood.

“The school itself physically was just the front building facing Mount Tam and the wing that goes down where the English and the Bark room is. That’s all that was there, and the gym,” Rogers said.

Through all of her years at Redwood, Rogers has watched students and staff reshape the culture of the school.

“It was the late ‘50s. It was all very innocent. We would have poster parties to make posters for football games,” Rogers said.

However, there was a particularly spirited crowd of Redwood students that called itself the Unknown Animals, according to alumnus Matt Brown, who was a prominent member of the group.

“We just liked to have some fun, cause a little trouble back in class of ‘87. We’d just show up, our faces painted, our hats backwards, wearing red and black, run around, and act crazy,” Brown said.

The Unknown Animals went to all of the girls’ and boys’ basketball games to support the teams, according to Brown.

“One thing led to another, and then before we knew it we had 50 to 60 people, just following the group around,” Brown

The Cico Family

Kiki Goshay

Sarah Ames

Clay & Katy Colvin

The Green Family

Anonymous (7)

The Conrow Family

Jeff Greendorfer

The Arrick Family

The Corn Family

Brendhan & Katherine Green

The Alliston-Johnston Family

Bruce & Robyn Cohen

Laura & Mark Anderson

Kristina & Steve Compondonico Francesca Greenberg

The Arnowitz Family

The Cooperband Family

Susan Gregg

Miriam Kupperman & Andy Avins

The Corren Family

The Hackett Family

Mary & Jack Barber

Beth & Chris Cummings

Dominique & Neil Halilej

The Battelle Family

Jim & Robyn Dahlin

The Belgum Family

The Dalzell-Piper Family

The Herz Family

Stephanie & Brad Bennett

The Desin Family

The Hoehn Family

Vito & Linda Bialla

Diane & Rich Dow

The Botas Family

The Dudgeon Family

Trish Brady

Mark & Janet Epstein

The Jensen Family

The Briggs Family

Wendy & Scott Ewry

Sylvia Jones

The Brostoff Family

The Finegold Family

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Sandra Fisher

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Adrienne Keller

Paul & Karen Burrous

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Marla & Tim Kelly

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Laurie Fried

Maura Thurman & Thom Calandra

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The Geitheim Family

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Todd & Susan Christman

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Therese Courtney

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Leslie Barry

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Lisa Hannah

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Cammi Bell

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Martin Khadoenouri

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Rose Gehm

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Stacie & David Cherner

The Geissberger Family

The Churton Family

Jane Mertens & Jeb Gist

said. “We would come in, and all of the schools would know who we were.”

A couple of the cheers the Unknown Animals had created caused controversy and led to a few class meetings with the principal, but it was all in good fun, according to Brown.

“Some of the best times I had were back in high school. Our class was really close and very spirited,” said Christine Choppelas, who graduated with Brown in 1987.

Choppelas was inducted into the Redwood Athletic Hall of Fame this year.

Bark Patrons

Gretchen & Drew Alden

Pavlo Gesmundo & Christine Gregorak The Gerson Family

Photo courtesy of Redwood Log

RECENTLY RECOGNIZED for being the first Redwood varsity sports team to ever win a league championship, the 1959 Redwood varsity boys’ swim team reunited for a Hall of Fame banquet on March 5.

The Hanssen Family

The Hetrick Family

The Horstmeyer Family The Jacks Family

Jill Kauffman & Tyler Johnson

Sydney & David Joyner Lisa Katz

John Kellerman

The Key Family

The Kim Family

The Klein Family

Steven & Nicole Klopukh Jill & Larry Knott

The Kopstein Family

The Kreitzman Family

She played basketball, volleyball and soccer during high school.

In addition to Choppelas, the 2015 and 2016 Athletic Hall of Fame inductees include James Connor, Aleco Preovolos, Hal Schelz, Mickey Meister, Dan Young, Greg Zunino, Gary Casassa and Michelle Isaak.

“I never knew I would get an award like this, but it is something that I will cherish for life,” Isaak said.

knorian@redwoodbark.org

The Laub Family

Bernice Kintzer & Kurt Paul

Robert Taitz

The Lentz Family

Janet Raiche & Alan Perper

The Tantum Family

John & Linnea Leonhardt

Linda & Mike Perrella

The Tholan/Fair Family

Carolyn & Michael Lewis

Lynn Soper & David Peterson

Monique Tiger

Kirby Bartlett & Lisa Choy

Robyn Finley-Pope & Brad Pope The Tully Family

Joan Lubamersky

Christine S Ramos

Susan Sellers & Peter van Pruissen

Pat Lynch

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Karen VanBrunt

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Frank J Rollo

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Carlyn & Jon Schulberg

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Karin, Scott & Alex Peters

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opinion

Page 5

Redefining success: It’s not just about the money

By Will Goltra Cub Reporter

Following my parents’ split, Gary flew in from Virginia to help my mother and sisters settle into our new apartment. A friend of my mother, Gary went out of his way to comfort and support me, listening and talking about my father without ever losing patience. At some point throughout our conversation, I told him I had never gone to a baseball game with my father before.

A couple days later, Gary showed up unexpectedly and asked if I wanted to go to a baseball game. Every moment of that day has been committed to memory, and it’s undeniable that during that period he was a temporary father figure to me; he provided a father-son experience I had lacked with my actual father. Gary’s genuine kindness touched me on a level that nothing ever had before.

Gary is your typical working-class person, and to a stranger he might not be the poster child of success. He isn’t a millionaire, and he doesn’t have a mansion in Beverly Hills. But in my mind, Gary is the epitome of a successful person because of his ability to make a positive difference in a person's life.

Every Redwood student I have met is ambitiously creating a portfolio of AP classes, club memberships and varsity letters in order to “distinguish” themselves in the eyes of universities. They believe that if they run the rat race and follow the guidelines, they’ll become rich and therefore lead a successful life. However, I believe that my peers are misled by what it means to be successful.

Success is defined by the positive impact you make on others around you and how you make other’s lives better, not by your riches.

Just the other day, I was with my friends in the cafeteria and everyone was talking about the up-and-coming AP Capstone course that will be offered to next year’s junior class for the first time.

Everyone was stressing the fact that it was a “rare” AP course that would look amazing to colleges. But never once did I hear someone say, “I think the class looks interesting,” or simply, “It seems fun.”

A lot of the activities an ambitious student does is to improve their chances of getting into a good college. But why? Is it truly for the quality of the school? While a college

education is useful, students work hard for something else: to become successful. In other words, students do all this for the long run. They do it for their future.

We use this misconception to guide us through high school, thinking that if we take these AP courses and do this, that and the other thing, we’ll become successful.

But this isn’t the case. While taking multiple AP courses can improve one’s chances of getting into a good college and later obtaining a well-paying job, they won’t have any effect on how many lives you change and how many people you touch.

Do you truly want to be remembered by how much money and convenience you had in your life? Wouldn’t you rather that people remember you by the positive difference and impact you’ve made on the world?

At Redwood, instead of just being taught the

Illustration by Asha Cummings

importance of getting good grades, students should learn to make small positive differences in the lives of people around them. These changes can come from helping another classmate out on something they're struggling in or even simply giving someone a gentle smile as you pass them in the hall.

Not just at Redwood but in all schooling systems, we have to create a focus for the students that isn’t all about work, work, work. We need to make the point that success isn’t going to be based off the work you do in school or the kind of job you’ll have in the future, but rather the positive effect you have on the world and the individuals around you. wgoltra@redwoodbark.org

Foreign languages offer more than just class credit

By Christine Watridge Cub Reporter

Hello. Bonjour. Hola. Ni Hao. Konichiwa. Hallo. There are roughly 6,500 languages spoken worldwide today, although sometimes it feels English dominates the playing field.

Yet the Bay Area is actually home to some of the most ethno-racially and linguistically diverse cities in the country, according to the consumer financial education and information service WalletHub. Redwood is currently teaching only two languages: French and Spanish. What happened to Mandarin, the most common language in the world? Or Hindi and Arabic, the fourth and fifth most spoken languages?

I admit that budgetary concerns or lack of interest may limit the availability of other language classes at our school.

However, there are many benefits to studying a second language. Students who study a foreign language also tend to score better on standardized tests, according to psychologist Ellen Bialystok at York University in Toronto. A study from the University of Chicago showed that learning a foreign language can also improve decision-making skills.

Researchers from University College London also found that learning other languages positively alters grey matter, the area of the brain which processes information.

In addition, a second language can transform travel experiences or allow for more opportunities abroad. Most importantly, it might broaden someone’s

Illustration by Christine Watridge

understanding of a new culture and create more widespread acceptance of others.

Amazing what languages can do, right?

Learning a language provides more than the completion of a class. It’s an engaging way to explore other ways of life and discover more about the world we live in.

From preschool to eighth grade I attended Lycée Français de San Francisco (LFSF), a small French school. I was practically fluent in French by the age of six because 80 percent of my day was taught in French.

In sixth grade, we started learning another language. We had the choice of Spanish, German or Mandarin. In seventh grade, we took up Latin as well.

I never really appreciated how lucky I was to have been given those incredible opportunities until I left the school.

When I arrived at Redwood, I was a bit let down to learn that lots of people only take a language to fulfill their two-year requirement.

At LFSF, I met so many people who I never would have connected with had I not been able to speak French. I have made lifelong friends and been given unique chances to explore the world.

I traveled to Mexico City for an

international French school “olympics” in eighth grade and did an exchange trip in the French Alps one winter. During my trip to Mexico, it was incredible to see students from all over the world coming together, getting along and communicating despite coming from completely different cultures.

After spending three months in France, I gained what feels like a second family, and was comfortable in this new place because I didn’t have to worry about learning the language first.

These travel experiences have shaped me into who I am and have made me more aware of the incredible world around me.

Languages can connect people across the globe, make you more open-minded or perhaps enrich your travel adventures.

Our school should do more to encourage students to be more accepting and open to other cultures. Leadership’s Kung Food Friday was a great way to celebrate Chinese New Year, and other school-wide activities such as this lunchtime event would be valuable to the student body.

So think hard about the next time you moan and groan about seventh period Spanish. You might find class much more enjoyable and worthwhile if you embrace what you’re learning and appreciate its value.

Seek out an exchange program. Go on a trip somewhere across the globe and explore the world. There are so many amazing opportunities waiting for you.

Take them.

cwatridge@redwoodbark.org

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Page 6 • Opinion

March 18, 2016

Stop systematic misogyny in the music industry

By Margaret Smith Cub Reporter

On Feb. 11, Kanye West premiered both his third fashion collection as well as his new album, “The Life of Pablo,” at Madison Square Garden. In one of his new songs, he raps the lyric, “I think that me and Taylor might still have sex/Why? I made that b**** famous.”

The lyric is, of course, very misogynistic. Kanye is saying that Taylor Swift owes him sex in exchange for arguably propelling her to fame. He portrays her as no more than a sexual object, ignoring her talent and music.

While rap does include a lot of sexism in its lyrics, it only continues a theme that has existed in music for a very long time. Recognition of women in music has continued to be a problem, whether be the artist herself or female subjects in a song. It’s high time we made an effort to combat misogyny in music.

People condemn rap music for its rampant misogyny, but this “macho-man” trope with hyper-masculine lyrics exists in older music as well as other genres. However, people aren’t exactly swearing off bands like The Rolling Stones for songs like “Under My Thumb” (“The way she does just what she’s told/ Down to me, the change has come/She’s under my thumb”).

Punk, hardcore, and country are also known for their misogynistic lyrics.

For example, the punk band Descendants has a song called “Hope,” in which the singer recites the lyric “And I’ll have it my way/You won’t have to say anyway/Cause I’ve got you/You don’t stand a chance.” This is similar to “Under My Thumb” due to the fact that both male singers are expressing how much power they have over their female significant others.

While misogynistic lyrics are definitely an issue in today’s music (“Blurred Lines,” anyone?), it arguably always has been, and some of this could be attributed to the lack of women gaining recognition for creating music.

Female artists are definitely harder to find than their male counterparts in mainstream music. Last year, bands with female musicians made up 13.5 percent of the groups performing at the popular music festival Coachella, according to Slate Magazine.

Female characters in songs have also always been a shadow of sorts. The mysterious, flighty, “girl who broke my heart” has long been sung about in many genres. A girl’s personality is hardly ever acknowledged in a more significant way than her sex appeal or inflicted heartbreak.

Illustration by Christine Watridge

Genres of music like rap and punk were created to challenge the status quo, but what are we supposed to do when songs take a more sexist and ignorant turn? At what point should we stop listening to artists that have changed the face of music just because some of their lyrics are misogynistic?

We shouldn’t be expected to turn away from these legendary, albeit misogynistic artists, and ignoring the problem obviously won’t make it go away. It’s 2016; it’s time for a change.

While it’s easy to recognize that this is an issue, there isn’t exactly one person or company to blame. There isn’t one band or musician who wrote the first misogynistic song ever, or single-handedly created sexism, so it would be unfair to single out bands or artists when there are many who contribute to this problem.

Sexism may be ingrained in the fabric of society, and for this reason, it’s not surprising that it’s seen in music.

That being said, it doesn’t give musicians an excuse to degrade half the population, which is why musicians today have a responsibility to create an example. In doing so, they have a responsibility to create not only inclusive music but also inclusive scenes.

However, it’s not that simple. The degradation of women doesn’t just exist in music, but in the rest of the world, so this isn’t a small issue with a quick fix.

I t will take a long time, but we can start by criticizing lyrics like these. We can acknowledge the sexism of musicians that have come before us, and musicians that are currently making music. And most importantly, we can support female artists and all artists whose music recognizes women as more than romantic or sexual objects.

msmith@redwoodbark.org

Digital divide leaves students behind in the classroom

By Alicia Vargelis Cub Reporter

Today the digital divide among Americans can be seen in the one environment where all students should be given equal opportunity to grow and to attain their goals: the classroom.

According to the New York Times, an estimated five million families do not have access to the Internet and are suffering the consequences of their children’s impaired education.

Education has become more dependent on technology; students must be able to access teachers’ websites to find study guides, check their grades, and view homework assignments. Students who do not have access to technology are put at a disadvantage that is detrimental to their learning.

This issue has become known as the “homework gap,” because students who do not have access to the Internet at home often struggle to successfully complete their homework, which hurts their test scores and ability to learn efficiently.

Technological advancements have benefitted education in America in many ways by allowing teachers to explore new frontiers with students instead of following traditional lesson plans. However, it is vital that we acknowledge and make efforts to fix the strain that the increase of technological dependence in classrooms has created for low-income families across America.

I have witnessed times at Redwood where teachers and administration have wrongfully assumed that all students have access to smartphones and other technological means.

In many of my classes, when students need to use a calculator or want to look up a definition and there are no calculators or dictionaries in the classroom, teachers

often tell students to “just look it up on your phones.”

During Homecoming Week, administration at Redwood asked students to vote for their Homecoming King and Queen on their phone via a website link on the Redwood website. Students who did not own a smartphone were not able to vote with the rest of the class, unless they asked the teacher in front of all their peers to use a classroom computer or iPad. Students who do not have access to smartphones should not have to feel shame during class, and the administration needs to be ready to provide easy alternatives for low-income students.

According to the New York Times, 7 in 10 teachers now assign homework that requires web access. For students who do not have Internet or cellular data service at home, this creates a huge strain.

Especially in subjects that build off previous material such as mathematics, it is vital for all students to all have equal opportunities to do homework every night, so they can be successful in their test taking and overall learning experience.

Both the Federal Communications Commission and the Obama administration have proposed subsidy programs that would expand free and affordable broadband into low-income homes.

The Federal Communications Commission has created a government benefits program called Lifeline that subsidizes telephone subscriptions and, if expanded upon as the committee is pushing for, will cover broadband for lowincome homes.

While government action is a start to fixing this national issue, teachers also need to realize the limitations of students and assist students in finding manageable alternatives to web based homework.

The classroom should be a healthy and accepting environment that promotes

Illustration by Eve Anderson

advancement and cultivation of learning.

No student should ever struggle to keep up in school and suffer consequences in their education due to their lack of access to smart phones and/or the internet.

As students, we need to be mindful of the fact that not everyone has access to technology, and teachers need to remember

that no student should be left behind in the classroom as a result of the growing digital divide.

avargelis@redwoodbark.org

Page 7 • Opinion

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Redwood High School 395 Doherty Drive Larkspur, CA 94939 www.redwoodbark.org E ditors -I n -C hief Rachel Schten Amanda Trusheim

Copy Editors

Gemma Calandra Jocelyn Overmyer Christine Watridge

News Editors

“Up next on the Real Housewives of Washington D.C.....”

Focus on the issues, not insults

editorial

It’s a campaign, not reality TV

Barks & Bites

Since January, presidential candidates have received an extreme amount of media coverage, most of which has to do with the insults candidates have been slinging at each other. The sheer audacity and number of these insults have made this election season feel more like a raucous sitcom than a presidential race. The American people are much more focused on immature defamations instead of the things that actually matter, like the candidates’ differing proposals for foreign and economic policy.

With the election process heating up, the presidential debates are becoming more and more important, causing a larger number of people to tune in. According to CBS, the mostviewed primary debate of 2016 so far had almost 17 million viewers. However, the most-viewed primary debate in 2012 only had about 7 million, according to TVNewser. This 240 percent increase in viewership seems to be occurring because people are watching for entertainment, not because they are politically engaged.

While concerns have been raised regarding many aspects of this year’s race for the White House, the most prevailing problem with this election is how rudely candidates have treated each other, especially during debates. Rather than using debates as a platform to present their individual opinions and policies, candidates have used them as opportunities to bash one another.

Republican candidate Marco Rubio recently made a derogatory comment regarding the size of front-runner Donald Trump’s hands, prompting an inappropriate moment during the Fox debate where Trump defended not only the size of his hands, but the size of another body part.

Rubio also took a jab at Trump in a different debate by saying, “If he hadn't inherited $200 million, you know where Donald Trump would be right now? Selling watches in Manhattan."

Presidential candidates should start acting like responsible adults, not like squabbling school children. If candidates can’t take the race seriously, how can we expect them to take the presidency seriously?

Others have noticed the particular harshness of this year's race, as shown by videos like CNN’s “20 insults from the CNN debate in 1 minute.” In the video, Donald Trump, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz all bombard each other with insults, very few of which actually pertain to political disagreements.

A BARK to the Wellness Center for having PMS tea. Ovaries everywhere thank you.

A BITE to English teachers who still make us handwrite essays. It’s not 1984.

A BARK to pi day. It’s okay to be irrational once in a while.

A BITE to daylight savings. If I wanted to lose an hour of sleep I would’ve signed up for Leadership.

A BARK to teacher work days.

We’re working on our sleep.

A BITE to the end of Girl Scout Cookie season. They Mint so much to us.

It is not just one party that has this issue, as both sides have been incredibly keen to use insulting language. During the Democratic debate on Feb. 4, Hillary Clinton accused Bernie Sanders of running a smear campaign regarding donations she allegedly received from Wall Street. Sanders has also had moments of inappropriate rudeness, including what some deemed to be condescending eye-rolling and hand gestures while Clinton was talking.

By definition, debates are meant to be argumentprovoking discussions, but that does not mean they should evolve into verbal cage-fights. Candidates should be focusing solely on the establishment and defense of their credibility as the potential leader of this country, not on tearing down their opponents.

However, in the recent debate on March 10, Republican candidates managed to remain civil and abstained from flinging insults at one another.

This debate will hopefully set the tone for the future and help Americans remember what political debates are supposed to look like: people debating important issues in order to gain support.

Presidential candidates should be held to the highest of standards. They should represent the most qualified and brightest politicians from both parties. If the next president of the United States is elected based on entertainment value, we deemphasize the importance of politics and the presidency.

Americans are distracted from the real issues when debates feel more like reality TV shows than displays of political ideas. The youth is being introduced to a new breed of politics that focuses on ridicule, rather than the realities of our country.

If this trend of offensive politics continues to grow, our generation could start believing that the presidential race should include cheap insults and entertaining sound bites. The current state of media and the attention we give to candidates only act to encourage the style of this baffling election cycle.

To solve this problem, Americans should ignore the candidates who refuse to act maturely, not praise them for their childishness with a tremendous outpour of support and attention.

Americans need to start supporting qualified and intelligent candidates who hold themselves to the high standards that running for president demands. Additionally, the public must look beyond the enticing clickbait that is thrust upon them and instead look towards the men and women who are prepared and capable of running this country.

A BARK to Night of Blues for starting March off on a high note.

A BITE to “Damn Daniel.” We’re embarrassed to even be printing this.

A BARK to the recent snowfall.

Looks like we’ll be *cough* taking a sick day.

A BITE to kids who come to class late eating In-N-Out. Those fries need ot go out of the bag and into my mouth.

A BARK to Saint Patrick’s Day. You can still kiss us even though we’re not Irish.

A BITE to The Bachelor. Now we know that all it takes to find true love is 12 episodes.

A BARK to the NFL for finally acknowledging the relationship between football and concussions. You’d have thought they’d repeatedly forgotten.

A BITE to everyone getting sick. Those first weeks of March just flu by.

BARKS and BITES are the collective opinions of the BARK staff concerning relevant issues. BARKS are in praise of accomplishments, while BITES criticize decisions or events.

Grant Barnes Lauren Blazei

Opinion Editors Maggie Smith Alicia Vargelis

Feature Editors

Caroline Cummings Carolyn French

Sports Editors Josh Cohen China Granger

Assistant Sports Editors Pascal Brassey Brendan Winters

Review Editors Allie Fobes Alexandra Lee

Lifestyles Editors Daniela Schwartz Mallory Wakida

Spanish Editors Hallie Fox Walter Gehm

Business Manager Tilly Friedlander Kelly Norian

Survey Manager Shannon Donelan Jackie Judd

Reporters

Cooper Bouton Roy Crumrine Caitlin Donnelly Kevin Gao William Goltra Tanner Jacobberger Julia Jacoby Tyler Kavanaugh Kaelin Kragh Jordan Overmyer Charlie Quanstrom Charlotte Seton Dimitrije Stankovic Aaron Swoiskin Sara Wilson

Illustrators Eve Anderson

Adviser

Tom Sivertsen

Have an opinion regarding anything that appears in the Bark or in gerneral? We encourage our readers to submit lettors to the editor.

Letters to the Bark should be 500 words or fewer, typed if possible and signed. They must be submitted to room 177 or the Bark mailbox in the facility. They may also be e-mailed to bark@ redwoodbark.org.

P O L I C Y: A l l e d i t o r i a l s a r e unsigned and have been approved by the majority of the Bark staff.

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Voluntarios viajan a Panamá para realizar obras de conservación Por Cooper Bouton Cub Reporter

Durante las vacaciones de febrero, 24 estudiantes de Redwood viajaron a Panamá en un viaje organizado por Global Student Embassy (GSE) y Earth Train. Algunos de los estudiantes que han vuelto de Panamá, donde construyeron jardines sostenibles, se están esforzando para hacer un programa de compost en Redwood.

Después de volver a Marín, muchos de los estudiantes del viaje se sintieron inspirados a continuar el trabajo voluntario que hicieron en Panamá. Algunos miembros del grupo quieren llevar lo que aprendieron del viaje, acerca de la agricultura sostenible, a Redwood.

Como parte del trabajo voluntario en Panamá, un miembro de GSE enseñó a los estudiantes cómo hacer compost que se puede usar como un fertilizante en los jardines.

“Nosotros trajimos la iniciativa para instalar tres máquinas grandes [a Redwood] para hacer el proceso de compostaje más rápido”, dijo Dea Edington, un estudiante en su último año, durante una entrevista traducida.

Durante el viaje, fueron a dos partes de Panamá: la ciudad de Las Margaritas y una comunidad pequeña en la reserva de Mamoní.

Primero fueron a Las Margaritas, una ciudad pequeña en el centro de Panamá con una población alrededor de cinco mil habitantes. Allí, los estudiantes hicieron planes para construir jardines y huertos en varios lugares alrededor de Las Margaritas, especialmente en las escuelas.

Luego, el grupo viajó a una comunidad pequeña y aislada en la selva de Mamoní.

“El gobierno antes daba comida a las escuelas, pero, hace un año, pararon de hacerlo, dejando la escuela sin comida”, dijo Edington.

En esta pequeña comunidad, la ayuda del gobierno era una fuente importante de comida para los estudiantes. Por eso, los jardines podrían ser un gran beneficio.

“Nuestra meta allí era iniciar la construcción de jardines para dar una fuente de comida a la escuela”, dijo Ty Kelly, un estudiante del último año, en una entrevista

Foto cortesía de Haley Paige Winslow

MORGAN GLASSER Y OTROS voluntarios de ‘Global Student Embassy’ trabajan en un jardin en La Reserva Valle del Mamoní en Panamá. traducido.

En estos jardines sembraron una variedad de plantas incluyendo frijoles y tomates.

Durante la excursión, los estudiantes no trabajaron solos, ya que los locales les ayudaron en cada proyecto.

Como la mayoría de los habitantes de las comunidades no sabían hablar inglés, muchos de los estudiantes practicaron español con ellos.

“Había diferentes niveles de español en el grupo”, dijo Kelly. “[Pero] siempre había locales trabajando con nosotros así que siempre había oportunidades de hablar en español”.

El grupo no trabajó todo su tiempo allí. También disfrutaron de la naturaleza de Panamá.

“Una de las mejores partes del viaje era cuando caminábamos por cinco horas en la selva donde no había mucho impacto humano”, dijo Kelly.

A otros les gustaron más diferentes elementos del viaje, como la oportunidad de interactuar con los locales.

“Mi parte favorita del viaje era conocer a todos los niños locales, hablar con ellos y aprender un poco sobre sus vidas”, dijo Lauren Bell, un estudiante de segundo año, en una entrevista traducida.

Muchos de los estudiantes que fueron también dijeron que les gustaría volver a Panamá u otros países centroamericanos.

Los estudiantes en este viaje fueron parte del primer grupo de GSE para ir a Panamá. Por eso, a muchos les gustaría regresar para ver como los proyectos que ellos empezaron han progresado.

cbouton@redwoodbark.org

Estudiante afronta sexismo, barreras de idioma viviendo en Ecuador Por Hallie Fox Cub Reporter

Lily Page Hartwell, una estudiante de tercer año, vivió en Ecuador por dos años y a través de su experiencia aprendió cómo ser respetuosa y no juzgar apariencias.

Hartwell y su familia se mudaron a Cuenca, la tercera ciudad más grande en Ecuador, cuando ella tenía 14 años.

Hartwell volvió de Ecuador a Marín en enero del 2015, al principio del segundo semestre. Hartwell dijo que sus padres decidieron mudarse a Ecuador de repente porque su madre tenia el ‘travel bug’.”

“Quería irse a un lugar, cualquiera-, sea lo que sea”, dijo Hartwell.

Dijo que buscó en el internet un lugar seguro para mujeres extranjeras porque algunos otros lugares a donde su familia había ido no eran seguros para ellas.

“Encontré Ecuador y nos dijo ¡‘Vamos’! y nos fuimos”, dijo Hartwell.

La experiencia de Hartwell en Ecuador le ayudó a darse cuenta de la importancia de la empatía.

“Después de haber viajado a otro lugar, y experimentando la forma en que vive la gente, es en sí mismo ‘eye opening.’ Usted tiene que asegurarse de que está dejando la mente abierta a lo que otros tienen que decir, y cuales son sus experiencias sn”, dijo Hartwell.

El tiempo de Hartwell en Ecuador también le enseñó a retener juicio de otra gente sin haberlos conocido primero.

“Pienso que formó mis opiniones del mundo en asegurar de que uno intente y mire las cosas desde distintos puntos de vista y sacando conclusiones de todas las diferentes experiencias que has tenido. Y tratar de no hacer suposiciones, porque uno nunca sabe realmente lo que está pasando en la vida de alguien más, supongo”, dijo Hartwell.

Foto cortesía de Lily Page Hartwell

UN GUÍA MUESTRA a Hartwell uno de los usos del achiote, para teñir la piel, en el bosque lluvioso de la amazonía a lado del Río Napo.

Hartwell también dijo que su experiencia le enseñó a dejar a lado las cosas pequeñas y hacer lo que la hace feliz.

La experiencia de Hartwell también le dio las habilidades para ser independiente.

Ahora viven lejos sus padres––Hartwell vive con sus abuelos y su hermana mientras sus padres viven en México.

“Lo gracioso es estar sin sus padres de repente te das cuenta , ‘Basta, hay tanto que no me daba cuenta que teníamos que hacer sólo para sobrevivir’”, dijo Hartwell.

Cuando Hartwell se mudó a Ecuador, no se le hacía difícil acostumbrarse, pero dijo que veía unas diferencias culturales, como la forma en que tratan a las mujeres. “[Hay] mucho sexismo y misoginia [que es] bastante aparente, no oculto. Es aceptado,” dijo Hartwell.

Hartwell dijo que ella misma presenció

sexismo en un barrio. Hartwell y su madre vieron a un hombre hablándole muy fuerte a una mujer y les hizo pensar que la mujer estaba en peligro, así que ellas trataron de ayudarla.

Hartwell y su madre le pidieron al hombre que se detuviera. “‘Ustedes solo son mujeres, y no es asunto suyo. Váyanse de aquí’. Estas situaciones son muy comunes en Ecuador.

Las mujeres no tienen muchos derechos, y los hombres les faltan el respeto casi constantemente”, dijo Hartwell.

En otra ocasión, Hartwell y su hermana estaban caminando en la calle y un grupo de hombres les silbaron y gritaron cosas de mal gusto.

“En Ecuador el machismo se ve en todos lados y las mujeres ya están acostumbradas a esto. Ellas se callan y

prefieren no decir nada para protegerse a sí mismas”, dijo Hartwell.

Un desafío inicial de vivir en Ecuador para Hartwell era que no podía comprender conversaciones. Hartwell asistía a una escuela privada en Cuenca.

“Era dificil acostumbrarme a las indicaciones sociales”, dijo Hartwell.

En Ecuador se enseñaban las clases en español. Por eso Hartwell no sabía lo que enseñaba su maestro la mayoría del tiempo durante su primer año. Después de dos años de escuchar y comunicar, pudo hablar con fluidez.

Como Hartwell no hablaba en la escuela en Ecuador el primer año, sus maestros asumían que entendía todo en clase. Por consiguiente sus calificaciones bajaron.

Hartwell dijo que la mayoría de su día consistía en la escuela y la tarea como en los Estados Unidos, pero había algunas diferencias. Cada día por la mañana, por ejemplo, un autobús escolar la recogía y el viaje tardaba 45 minutos porque vivía tan lejos de su escuela.

Generalmente, después de escuela en Ecuador Hartwell necesitaba ir al mercado.

Necesitaba montar a bicicleta para ir al mercado para negociar con el vendedor, que aumenta el precio si al comprador lo miraban extranjero, según Hartwell.

Hartwell dijo que le fue dificil ajustarse cuando volvió a Marín, especialmente en Redwood. Por razones administrativas, Hartwell tuvo que estar en el segundo año del colegio cuando comenzó en Redwood aunque podía estar en su tercer año.

Al principio, Redwood fue difícil para Hartwell porque tenía que escuchar al maestro y tomar apuntes al mismo tiempo––en Ecuador, se acostumbró a sólo escuchar al maestro.

hfox@redwoodbark.org

Page 9 • Feature

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Students bridge the gap in ASL classes at COM become more technical, prompting her to take the ASL class.

“The first time I ever took a real sign language class Cub Reporters was last semester,” Barry said. “I’ve just learned so much more than I had because I never had a formal way It’s 6:10 p.m. on a Wednesday night, and high school of learning it. I just wanted to learn more so it would be students gather into Patricia Sirianni’s American Sign easier to communicate [with my sister]. I also want to Language classroom. As they get seated, there is very know more about that culture.” little sound. Only facial expressions and hand movements Sirianni, both Barry’s and Fleischman’s ASL are seen from the learners participating in the class. The professor, is hard of hearing, making some daily tasks goal? To bridge the gap between the hearing and the deaf. more difficult for her. She tries to use her experiences to Over the past four years, American Sign Language help teach her students about the struggles of being deaf.

[ASL] has become the most enrolled “[My 101 class] has to put their language class available to high school earplugs in for one hour with their students at the College of Marin family. And when you have ear plugs (COM). in, you’re not totally deaf. You can Some students take ASL to hear things but it’s like being me, hard fulfill the two-credit minimum of a of hearing,” Sirianni said. “They said language class required for university wearing ear plugs was frustrating and admissions, according to Sirianni I said, ‘Yeah, that’s me. That’s deaf Those who choose to pursue people.’” the course generally gain a deeper Using earplugs changes the way understanding of the deaf culture. that most high school students are “Sometimes a high school student comfortable with learning. Sirianni comes in and takes [the course] Patricia Sirianni, also encourages students to wear because it is a requirement, and all ASL teacher earplugs during their ASL class to they do is talk. And I have to tell create a more genuine experience them ‘No, you come in here and you “From pretty much day one become deaf, your ears don’t work she’s just signing, we don’t speak,” in here. Your eyes are your ears, and you hear with your Fleischman said. “That scares a lot of people at first but eyes,’” Sirianni said.

I find that it’s almost easier that way because it sort of Redwood sophomore Talia Fleischman began teaching eliminates your possibilities to speak and it made it easier herself sign language in eighth grade, and is now enrolled for me to pick it up quickly.” in College of Marin’s 103 ASL class because she aims to According to Fleischman, the class is taught create a stronger link between the hearing and the deaf. differently than a high school class, but everyone taking This spring will mark her third year in American Sign the course is there because they chose it, similar to an AP Language class. program. Fleischman said that the lessons don’t focus on Senior Shaya Barry, another student in the College vocabulary so students begin to learn more signs as the of Marin 103 ASL class, began signing early because her class progresses. It’s all visual learning during the two sister can’t speak. Barry wanted her signing ability to hour period.

By Carolyn French and Daniela Schwartz

Your ears don’t work in here. Your eyes are your ears, and you hear with your eyes.

Photo by Daniela Schwartz

SOPHMORE TALIA FLEISCHMAN practices American Sign Language at lunch with senior Shaya Berry.

Sirianni emphasizes the use of facial expressions and constant energy required to display the meaning of the signs effectively.

“One thing about sign language is that you are always on stage. No matter where you go, when you’re signing, people will be fascinated,” Sirianni said. “In here you’ve got to have an attitude.”

bark@redwoodbark.org

Number of Facebook users decreases among underclassmen

By Kaelin Kragh Cub Reporter

Living in a society where technology is constantly progressing, it’s only natural for social networks that were once on the rise, such as Facebook, to begin to fade amongst incoming grades at Redwood.

Although Facebook is currently the biggest social networking website in the world, according to a 2014 Global Web Index survey, it was the only website to decline in the number of regular monthly users out of the eight largest social media sites.

Teenagers still use Facebook, but the social networking services of choice are now Instagram and Snapchat, according to senior Jaclyn Alvarado.

These apps, which launched in 2010 “If I got a Facebook, there would not and 2011 respectively, are likely part of be a lot of use for me, because a majority the reason why Facebook use is gradually of my friends don’t have an account,” declining.

Compagno said. “I wouldn’t be able to Although Facebook usage is decreasing friend anyone.” among Redwood teens, it is more common Compagno’s feelings demonstrate a to find senior students with an account trend among the freshmen class. because the site was far A recent Bark more popular when they survey reported that 62 were in middle school, percent of freshmen do according to Alvarado. not have a Facebook “Facebook was a account while 34 big thing when we were percent of sophomores, in middle school and at 31 percent of juniors the beginning of high and 10 percent of the school, but now it’s seniors do not have definitely beginning Facebook accounts. to lose its popularity,” Facebook was Alvarado said. launched before “Sometimes I’ll scroll Snapchat and Instagram through my feed, but I Anna Compagno, in 2004, so Compagno never post anything—I freshman was not old enough to mainly use Snapchat or have an account of her Instagram.” own during the peak In a recent Bark of its popularity which survey, 71 percent of students reported that was in 2012, according to Pew Research. they perceive the amount of Facebook use Today’s technology is as advanced as among their peers to have dropped within it’s ever been, and as a result, high school the last six months. students today are growing up in a time Given that students feel there is a where smartphone apps are extremely decrease of Facebook use among their prominent, according to Pew Research. peers, it discourages them to create an “As I got older, more and more account, according to freshman Anna [smartphone] apps came out,” Compagno Compagno. said. “I just decided to never get a

I just decided to never get a Facebook because I had other [social media] accounts.

Infographic by Anne Pritikin

Facebook because I had other [social media] accounts.”

The decline in Facebook use has also affected the way in which Link Crew communicates with the freshmen.

D u r i n g t h i s y e a r ’s f r e s h m e n orientation, Link Crew coordinator Katie Slattery said that she needed to come up with new ways for Link Crew leaders to interact with the incoming freshmen class, because she noticed a sharp decline in the number of students who have a Facebook account.

Link Crew leaders found that other

social media apps sufficed as alternate ways to communicate with the freshmen class.

“The Link Leaders used to make Facebook groups with the freshmen,” Slattery said. “Now we’ve found that using mainly group text messaging or Instagram to send out reminders for meetings and activities is working better.”

According to a Bark survey, 45 percent of students created their account while in middle school.

However, 18 percent of students have deleted their Facebook account since then.

Although Alvarado seldom uses her account, she said that she would never delete it, because it is a key resource to hold onto memories.

“My mom is always showing me pictures of herself in high school that someone tagged her in. [She] is now able to reconnect with someone that she hasn’t talked to in 20 years, which I think is really great,” Alvarado said. “But technology is constantly changing, so I think social media sites that I use now could be completely different to what I’ll actually use [in the future].”

kkragh@redwoodbark.org

How happy

Many factors may contribute to th happiness. Unhealthy foods were classified as desserts, sweets, processed foods and fast foods.

Happiness increased as unhealthy food consumption increased up to a certain point. Those who never or rarely ate unhealthy foods reported an average of 7.6, while those who sometimes ate unhealthy foods reported their happiness as a 7.9. Students who often ate unhealthy foods only reported an average of 6.7.

By Shannon Donelan and SaraWilson Cub Reporters

“I’m most happy when I’m lollygagging in class, drawing a pumpkin or something,” sophomore Michael Diamantes said.

However, drawing pumpkins in class might not be the thing that makes everyone happy. According to a January 2016 Nonfiction survey taken by 10 percent of Redwood students, many factors may contribute to the happiness of Redwood students.

The survey asked them to rate their happiness on a scale of one to ten, ten being the highest. There were additional questions about aspects of the students’ lives such as number of siblings and GPA. The objective was to find trends that show how happiness correlates to these factors.

[Note: A correlation does not necessarily mean that there is a cause and effect relationship. For example, students with higher GPAs were happier than those with lower GPAs, but this does not necessarily mean that higher grades lead to happiness, nor that happiness leads to higher grades.]

The average happiness rating for Redwood students was a 7.2. The happiest group of students was sophomore boys, with an average rating of 7.6, while the least happy were sophomore, junior, and senior girls with an average of 7.0.

GPA

GPA may matter in more than just your transcript, as those who reported higher grades also reported higher happiness levels.

Students who reported having a GPA between 2.6 and 3.5 had an average happiness rating of 7.1, while students who had a GPA between 3.6 and 4.0 had an average of 7.3. Happier still were the students with a 4.0 GPA or higher, who reported an average of 7.9.

“I feel like overall grades play a big part [in happiness],” Cicala said. “If I don’t do well in a grading period that will really get me down. But individual tests I’m good at pushing off and not really thinking about it.”

Dating Course Load Many students debate how challenging they want to make their schedule while maintaining a sound state of mind.

Students taking no AP and Honors classes reported the highest happiness levels with an average of 7.3. For those taking one to four AP and Honors classes, the happiness level was an average of 7.0. The students who were taking more than five AP and Honors classes had a happiness level of 6.8.

Sophomore Isabella Lui likes taking more challenging classes because she believes that they have more of a problem-solving aspect.

“I love solving deep problems, and in each and every one of my classes at some point or another, there is an opportunity to apply strategy, analytics, and rationality to come up with good solutions,” Lui said.

Junior Jeremy Goldwasser, who takes five AP and Honors courses, said taking advanced classes was worthwhile, despite the heavy workload.

“I think there’s a lot of personal satisfaction knowing that you’re capable of taking on a heavy workload and having some success in it. Personally, it helps a lot with self-esteem,” Goldwasser said.

Healthy Habits No correlation was found between students’ reports of drug or alcohol use and their reported level of happiness.

Yet, there was a trend between healthy eating and

Students in a relationship reported an average happiness level of 7.5, followed by those who were previously in a relationship with a reported level of 7.3 on average. Those who have never been in a relationship had the lowest happiness average at 7.0.

“Dating is fun, but it is really time consuming. Time is one of the things that really affects my happiness because it has to do with sleep. Overall, dating makes me a happier person, a kinder person, and a more compassionate person,” Lui said, even though she gets less sleep.

y are you?

he happiness of Redwood students Sleep Many parents regularly remind their teenagers to get more sleep, and according to the survey, getting more sleep may be related to students’ happiness levels.

Students who said they received fewer than six hours of sleep reported an average happiness of 6.7. Students who slept an average of seven to nine hours per night increased their rating to 7.4.

Some students who reported feeling more rested also had an increased level of happiness, such as sophomore Cora Cicala.

“I normally get seven to eight hours [of sleep] and I used to get a lot less. I noticed I’ve been a lot more energetic, and I guess happier, now that I’ve started to get more,” Cicala said.

Perceived Wealth As the saying goes, you can’t buy happiness. This holds true for Redwood students, as there seemed to be little correlation between happiness and wealth perceptions. Those who perceived their wealth to be higher than that of their peers had the lowest happiness level of the category at 6.6, while those who perceived their wealth as the same as their peers had an average happiness level of 7.4. Students who perceived their wealth as lower than their peers’ had a level of 6.8.

Middle school Even though middle school is a thing of the past, which school students attended could relate to their happiness today. Students who attended Kent Middle School were the happiest with an average level of 7.5.

Those who attended Hall Middle ranked second with an average of 7.3. Students who attended non-feeder middle schools were in the middle of the pack with an average of 7.1, then came Del Mar at 6.8, and lastly, Ross Middle School at 6.7.

Computer Time Goldwasser discussed how computers can take up significant amounts of time without users even realizing it.

“I think the deal with time on technology is that you almost don’t catch yourself when you’re using it for unnecessary purposes,” Goldwasser said.

Computers are an unavoidable part of daily life for many high school students, and screen time can add up quickly. According to the January 2016 Nonfiction survey, just under 47 percent of students spend more than three hours on the computer per day.

Those who spent three to four hours a day on the computer had an average happiness level of 7.5. Students’ happiness dropped to 6.5 when they spent more than four hours on the computer.

Siblings There was a strong increase in happiness from those who had zero siblings to those who had four. Those with zero siblings had a happiness average of 6.9 and students with three to four siblings had an average of 7.5. “[My siblings] are some of my best friends for sure.

Family is very important, not just for happiness but also for a sense of belonging,” Goldwasser said.

Infogrpahics by Roy Crumrine

Social Activity “[Making other people laugh], that’s the best thing for me. Honestly, that’s what makes me happiest in life. Seeing other people laugh, that makes me smile,” sophomore

Five years ago you were almost as happy In 2012 Bark reporter, Mari Best, surveyed Redwood students on their happiness and wrote an article based on the findings.

She found that the average happiness of the student body was 6.9.

In contrast to our survey, Best found that students who did not know their GPA were the happiest, with a happiness level of 7.8. However, in this survey, students with higher than a 4.0 were happiest.

Previously, it was found that the students who took more AP and Honors classes were happier, while those who are taking zero AP and Honors classes reported the highest happiness levels in the most recent survey.

Jackson Westbrook said.

A fairly consistent trend emerged between time spent with friends and happiness levels. Those who never spent time with friends had an average happiness of 3.3, and those who often spent time with friends had an averagehappiness of 7.5.

In 2012, it was reported that those who perceived their wealth as higher than their peers’ had the highest happiness at 8.0. However, in this survey it was found that those who perceived their wealth the same as their peers’ reported the highest happiness.

The past survey found that students from Hall Middle School were the happiest, followed by Del Mar, Kent, and Ross while this survey found that Kent students were happiest followed by Hall, Del Mar, and Ross. bark@redwoodbark.org

bark

Page 12 • Feature

March 18, 2016

ADOPTION: Family goes deeper than genes

By China Granger and Maggie Smith Cub Reporters

Aru

Lilly

Sophomore Aru Kunhardt has no Until recently, junior Lilly Kane-Dacri memory of the place she was born, nor had no memories of the place she was can she remember anything about her birth born. Adopted when she was eight months family. old, Kane-Dacri was not able to experience “I only have pictures so, you know, my the city from which she was adopted until brain’s making memories,” Kunhardt said she was much older. with a shrug.

Two summers ago, Kane-Dacri visited As an 18-month-old baby, Kunhardt the Chinese city of Chengdu, to reconnect was adopted from an orphanage in Almaty, with her past. Traveling with her parents Kazakhstan and moved to Corte Madera and a translator, Kane-Dacri went back to with her new family. the orphanage she was in and the foster Kunhardt said that when she was parents who took care of her before her younger, her adoption rarely crossed her adoption. mind but that she has recently become In 1980, the Chinese government put more interested in her birthplace. into place its one-child policy, intending “I didn’t think about it before probably for it to be a simple method of population the last two or three years, but now I’m control. It eventually catalyzed not only just kind of interested about what the a nationwide gender imbalance, but also environment is like there now and who my a shocking rise in the number of female parents were,” Kunhardt said. babies being aborted, given to orphanages According to Dr. Nancy Curtis, or abandoned. an Oakland-based pediatrician who “So many of us were abandoned and specializes in the health and behavior now adopted because of that policy,” Kanepatterns of Dacri said, referencing the internationally social impact of China’s adopted kids, going gender imbalance. “[My through different parents] just did what they stages in our lives had to do,” Kane-Dacri can affect how said. we view our past Living in Marin, experiences.

Kane-Dacri has been able “It tends to be to bridge her Chinese that when any new heritage with the American developmental culture she was raised in. stage emerges, for When was younger, she i n s t a n c e y o u a r e Lilly Kane-Dacri, was able to take Mandarin more sophisticated classes and was a part of junior now than you were the Marin Chinese Cultural in elementary Association. school, your brain According to Kanehas to work through Dacri, her parents have those same issues all over again,” Curtis always tried to integrate her into her said.

Chinese heritage and that her adoption has According to Curtis, through each always been “normalized”. stage of brain development, people begin “My parents have always been super to see the world from a slightly different open about it with me. I mean, I don’t look perspective, and for adopted children, that like them—my parents are Caucasian,” reevaluation of one’s past experiences can said Kane-Dacri. include questions about the identity of Kane-Dacri said that sometimes she one’s birth parents. faces negative stereotypes about her “I always wonder who my original adoption. parents were or what life would be like if “I think some people think I have I wasn’t adopted,” Kunhardt said. “I like issues or I’m messed up from it because exploring things and I think finding out, if the whole experience people paint out as I had the chance to meet them, would be dramatic,” she said. really cool.”

According to Kane-Dacri, there can However, these unanswered questions also be the misconception that adopting a about her past do not bother Kunhardt. child is only an option for couples who are “It’s not one of those things that I unable to have biological children. would just not go to sleep at night because Kane-Dacri explained that her parents of,” she said. were able to have children but chose to Kunhardt said that if she hadn’t been adopt her because they wanted to make a adopted, she thinks she might have taken difference. certain things in life for granted.

Kane-Dacri said that she sees very few “Now that I know I’m adopted, I feel differences between the dynamic of her like everything’s set out for me, which is family and any other. “My love for my kind of nice. I realize that I’m blessed with parents and how my parents love me is this place,” Kunhardt said. exactly the same as any other kid.”

Photo by China Granger

SOPHOMORE ARU KUNHARDT smiles Kunhardt.

with her parents, Susan and David

My parents have always been super open about it with me.

Photo by China Granger

JUNIOR LILLY KANE-DACRI was born in Chengdu, China and was adopted at eight months old.

Photo courtesy of Kali Gibbs

SOPHOMORE KALI GIBBS laughs alongside her younger brother, Kaden Gibbs.

Kali Even though her family doesn’t share genes, sophomore Kali Gibbs says that her adoption makes her family a lot more grateful for each other.

“It makes everyone more connected,” Gibbs said.

Gibbs was adopted at three years old from Florida along with her biological younger brother, Kaden, who was two.

Gibbs is especially close with Kaden.

However, a few months ago her parents broke the news that her and her brother were actually half siblings. Gibbs was mad that her parents had Kali Gibbs, waited so long to tell sophomore her, but has since come to terms with it.

“It didn’t really make a difference whether my brother and I were related,” she said. “I think the whole adoption thing made us a lot closer than any other brother and sister I know.”

Because she was adopted when she was a toddler, Gibbs said the details of her adoption and her birth mom are fuzzy.

“We didn’t really know what was happening,” Gibbs said. “My [biological] mom just said, ‘This isn’t the mom you know, but you’ll call her mom too.’”

Since then, Gibbs hasn’t been in contact with her birth mother.

“We both separately moved on,” she said.

While adoption is a sensitive subject with her parents, Gibbs is open to the idea of coming into contact with her birth mother when she is older.

One reason she’d want to meet her birth family, said Gibbs, was to get answers to some of her questions about where her physical and personality traits came from.

“Sometimes it’s frustrating because you want to have answers to these questions but there’s no way to go about finding them out,” Gibbs said. “My parents just don’t have answers to a lot of questions I have.”

According to Dr. Andrea Pinkerton, a psychologist who works with adopted families, the feeling of wanting answers is very common.

“There’s an innate longing for that information,” she said. “There’s a relief with seeing yourself connected with others.”

As far as her adoption goes, Gibbs said that there isn’t anything she would change about it.

“It is what it is. There’s nothing I can do to change it. I can’t say that I’ve ever regretted it at any moment,” Gibbs said.

My [biological] mom just said, ‘This isn’t the mom you know, but you’ll call her mom too.’

bark@redwoodbark.org

Page 13 • Sports

www.redwoodbark.org

Prep of the month: Loren Greene’s life on the ice

By Lauren Blazei Cub Reporter

The early morning light shines through the orange bars of the Golden Gate Bridge as sophomore Loren Greene and her father share the road with other early commuters at 5:30 a.m.

Wearing her usual athletic leggings and fleece jacket to cover a long-sleeve shirt, Greene sits hunched in the car, trying to cram in her final pages of homework.

Once Greene reaches the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco, she grabs her skates and runs inside to begin her day with the activity she loves most: ice skating.

Seven years ago, Greene fell in love with ice skating after accompanying a friend to a lesson.

“It’s different than running and other sports because it has such fluid motions,” Greene said.

Greene began her skating career on a synchronized skating team. It was not until three years ago that she committed to individual competition at Yerba Buena.

She decided to switch because individual competition focuses more on spins and jumps, which interested her more than the moves and edges more common to team skating.

Greene currently competes at the intermediate level, which entails performing double jumps and learning triple jumps.

Four mornings a week, Greene wakes up at 4:45 a.m. and is out the door by 5:20 a.m. to be able to skate for an hour and a half before school.

Most days, Greene has to rush out of practice at 7:20 a.m. to try to make it to first period on time, yet is frequently tardy.

After an already exhausting day, Greene returns home to finish her homework and study, knowing that the next morning consists of another early wake-up and high expectations in practice.

Photo by Lauren Blazei

LACING UP HER skates at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco, sophomore Loren Greene prepares to practice her routine. Greene has skated for seven years.

Greene said that she has tried ice skating after school, but finds that it leaves no time for homework due to the increased amount of afternoon traffic crossing the bridge.

Additionally, there are fewer people skating at the rink in the early morning, which makes it easier to have one-on-one time with her coach, according to Greene.

“I think it’s very cool that she is so invested in ice skating and that she has the motivation to wake up at four in the

morning and actually go and do that kind of exercise,” said Olivia Carol, a friend of Greene.

Although other sports also interested her at a young age, the independence of ice-skaters drew her in.

According to Greene, when playing on a team, a mistake made by one teammate affects the rest of the players and she likes to control her whole performance.

Despite Greene’s years of experience, ice skating still continues to pose

bark

challenges. If an ice skater learns a skill one day, it’s very likely that they won’t be able to perfect that skill for a couple of weeks.

“You have to keep doing it and doing it,” Greene said. “It’s what drives you, but it’s also the most annoying part.”

However, when Greene is skating across the ice her mind is clear and a sense of freedom overcomes her.

“When you’re going into a jump and you do it well, you feel super light and almost invincible,” Greene said.

Since she is now able to compete at a higher level, Greene spends most of her time perfecting new moves for her routine, which she will perform at several competitions that will take place over the summer.

“The routines are equivalent to a dance, but on the ice,” Greene said.

Most of the girls she skates with are of similar age and skill.

Many of them started skating around the same time, so the skaters have progressed together throughout the years.

Despite training with these girls and forming bonds with them, Greene must then compete against them and other girls at competitions.

She is confident that continuing the sport will be an exciting experience after hearing from friends that have pursued a similar path.

“A couple of skaters that have already gone to college really love it,” Greene said.

“They say it’s different because you’re competing individually, but you have a whole team there with you.”

Greene said that the support teammates give each other during competitions seems like a nice thing to be able to have.

lblazei@redwoodbark.org

bark

Page 14 • Sports

March 18, 2016

March Madness underdogs most likely to make a run

By Brendan Winters Cub Reporter

Every year the NCAA tournament never seizes to amaze, with the most unlikely candidates pulling off upsets and busting brackets left and right.

Upsets are inevitable in college basketball, and with 68 teams in the tournament, filling out a bracket is far from simple. Here are six teams going into the tournament with underrated seeds that have the best chances to make a deep run in March.

VCU:

The VCU Rams, from the Atlantic 10 conference, have shown that they have what it takes to write an improbable Cinderella story. The Rams, who made a Final Four run in 2011, have a tenacity on defense that is unmatched in the NCAA, and wreaks havoc on opposing offenses.

Don’t overlook the Rams this year, even though they are the 10th speed in the Western Region. VCU’s aggressive defense has proven effective, as it ranks top five in the country in turnover margin. Senior Melvin Johnson leads the Rams in scoring, averaging 17.4 points per game. With a deep bench of 10 players that all play double digit minutes, the Rams propose a nightmare formula for opponents.

Wisconsin:

The Badgers started off slow, losing three of their first seven games including an opening home game against Western Illinois. They looked nothing like the Final Four team they were just a year ago. After head coach Bo Ryan, who brought the Badgers to the tournament every year since 2001, retired in December, things

didn’t look too promising. A late season push, in which the team won seven straight games helped Wisconsin rise to number 31 in the country for ESPN’s Rankings Power Index. Interim head coach Greg Gard has given Badger fans renewed hope for this season by reestablishing the swing offense and playing hard-nose halfcourt defense without fouling, making them a tough team to beat.

Providence:

The Friars will look to rally behind the Big East’s leading scorer Ben Bentil, who is averaging 21.2 points per game, as well as standout guard Kris Dunn, who is averaging 16 points per game. The two propose a matchup nightmare for opponents, scoring just over half of the Friars’ season average of 74 points per game.

Providence won Cal: 14 of their first Undefeated 15 games and at home (18were a top 10 0), the Berkely team in the has lived up to country until their preseason dropping out hype and the rankings will look because of to continue a late season their stellar hiccup in play into the which they tournament. lost five of their Wi n n i n g j u s t last ten regular eight games in the season games. The Pac-12 last season, Friars will come into the Bears look like a the tournament as the young, rejuvenated group underdog. Last year the this year with the Infographic by Michael Benz Friars (six seed) exited the addition of local fivestar freshman Ivan Rabb from Bishop tournament early after an upset by Dayton O’Dowd and top-five recruit Jaylen Brown (11 seed) in the second round. This year, out of Wheeler, Georgia. Juniors Jabari Providence will finish the regular season Bird and Jordan Mathews have stepped 23-10 (4th place in the Big East) and will up offensively in their third year at Cal look to bounce back from last year’s weak and are deadly from behind the arc. With finish. five players averaging double digits and a Connecticut: lockdown defensive presence in the paint The Uconn Huskies are the hottest team that forces their opponents to shoot just over 39 percent from the field, the Bears in basketball right now. After finishing like their chances this year to make a deep sixth in the American Athletic Conference, the Huskies weren’t even in the discussion tournament run this March.

for an at-large bid and their only chance of making the tournament was to win their conference tournament. Behind a balanced attack of four players averaging over 12 points per game at the reins of head coach Kevin Ollie, Uconn ran the table by winning three games in three days including a thriller against Cincinnati that lasted four overtimes. Their AAC tournament championship earned them an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Two years removed from an incredible championship run as a seven seed, Ollie’s Huskies will hope to replicate 2014’s magic despite being the nine seed in a loaded South bracket that contains the number one overall seed in Kansas.

Gonzaga: The Zags had high hopes going into this season after coming up just short two years ago with a loss to Duke in the Elite Eight. Gonzaga was a preseason top-10 team with a front court that looked like one of the best in college basketball.

However,7-1 senior center Przemek Karnowski going down with a seasonending injury significantly hurt the Zags chances. Thankfully, Gonzaga’s frontcourt stepped up in Karnowski’s absence, as Kyle Wiltjer and Domantas Sabonis are averaging a combined 38.1 points per game. Vanderbilt Transfer Eric McClellan was another pleasant surprise for the Zags, after graduating WCC Player of the Year Kevin Pangos. A strong perimeter defender, McClellan won defensive Player of the Year in the WCC this year. As the 11th seed, Gonzaga will have to start off the tournament against the winners of the Big East tournament in six seed Seton Hall. bwinters@redwoodbark.org

From foils to foals, unaffiliated athletes strive for success

By Allison Fobes Cub Reporter

Walking through the halls at Redwood, it is easy to recognize athletes from their game day attire. But some students participate in unique sports unaffiliated with the school.

Sebastian Medloff

A normal week for sophomore Sebastian Medloff, a 16-year-old champion fencer, consists of hopping on a plane on Thursday, competing throughout the weekend, and then returning to his normal Redwood classes on Tuesday.

He regularly flies to Europe for competitions or across the country to compete in various events, ranging from

minor competitions to the 2016 Junior Olympics held in Ohio.

“My goal is the Olympics, of course,” said Medloff. “I am already on the national team for the U.S.” Medloff first fell in love with fencing when he was eight years old after seeing a commercial for the sport on T.V. He instantly felt the desire to look into fencing, and still remembers the moment when he told his mom he wanted to be a professional fencer.

Medloff and his family quickly found the closest fencing facility, San Francisco Fencers’ Club, where he has been practicing ever since.

Five days a week, he makes the 30-minute drive to practice with his fellow competitors and train with his coach from Ukraine.

Although Medloff knows of only two other students who fence at Redwood, he still feels that there is a large fencing community in the Bay Area. He is also surrounded by his peers at Redwood who all encourage his endeavours.

“It’s really hard trying to keep up with schoolwork a lot of the time,” Medloff said. “But I’m making it work.

It’s worth it.”

Grace Walker

Photo courtesy of Sebastian Medloff

FENCING WITH HIS opponent, sophomore Sebastian Medloff competes in matches across the country.

At 12 years old, Walker had huge dreams of success.

She was determined to be the best horseback rider in the state.

Walker worked tirelessly through her middle school years and inched closer and closer to her goal. By the time she was 13 years old, she was ranked 11th in California.

“I qualified to go to this big show in Kentucky called ‘Pony Finals,’ but I sold my pony by the time the show came around,” Walker said. “ I couldn’t get another pony, so I wasn’t able to compete.”

At a young age, she was already presented with promising options for her future.

She first discovered her passion for horseback riding at five years old after a friend invited her on a ride.

As a little girl, her love for horseback riding overpowered any fear of the horse itself.

Although Walker’s schedule is time consuming, she still continues to ride due to her love of the sport.

Currently, she is riding competitively but only gets to practice a few times per month.

“During school you’ll probably be riding three to four times a week and five to six times a week over the summer,” Walker said. “You’ll hear from a lot of horseback riders that your social life is very nonexistent

Photo courtesy of Grace Walker

JUMPING HER HORSE, junior Grace Walker was ranked 11th in California when she was 13 years old. because you’re at your barn so often.”

Even though the rigor of horseback riding limits the social life of many riders, the close-knit riding clubs and frequent competitions allow the athletes to form close bonds with those who share their common love of horseback riding.

Although Redwood’s horseback riding community is large compared to that of fencing, she feels that her peers don’t fully affiliate the sport with students in the area.

“There’s a huge community of horseback riders in Marin,” Walker said. “Most of them go to private schools, but I know three other girls here at Redwood who ride too.”

According to Walker, having a united team like that of other sports at Redwood would be impossible due to the diversity of riding styles.

There are various types of horseback riding, including dressage, western, and hunter-jumper. Each style, rider and barn have specific trainers. Riders have the opportunity to pursue different styles of riding, but very few choose to mix them.

“It would be so cool to have everyone competing together,” Walker said. afobes@redwoodbark.org

Page 15 • Sports

www.redwoodbark.org

bark

Sophomore dives into competitive MCAL pool

By Tanner Jacobberger Cub Reporter

The alarm clock reads 5:30 a.m. as sophomore Ivan Kurakin gets out of bed and prepares for his 6 a.m. weight training with North Bay Aquatics. This is just the beginning of the day for the talented swimmer with Olympic aspirations.

Kurakin swims competitively year-round and holds the Redwood school record for the 500-yard freestyle.

Kurakin’s typical day starts at 5:30 a.m. with a 6 to 7 a.m. weight training session, followed by a regular school day and ending with a two-hour swim practice from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Following in his older brother Yaroslav’s footsteps, Kurakin has wanted to be a swimmer ever since he saw his brother’s swim practices when he was five years old.

Eventually, Kurakin started swimming at age seven in Khabarovsk, Russia. “[My brother] started swimming and then I was just watching him and I really liked it.” Kurakin said. “Once I started swimming, I would never miss a practice because all I wanted to do was beat him.”

Kurakin moved to Marin at age 12 without knowing any English.

“The swimming was the easy part, but since I couldn’t understand the coaches, they would have to hold up their fingers and use hand motions to tell me what to do,” Kurakin said.

According to Kurakin, the transition was very difficult because America was so different in comparison to Russia. While he was struggling to learn English, he also had to go to school and take normal classes. “ I n o t i c e d a b i g d i ff e r e n c e i n t h e l e v e l o f competitiveness [compared to Russia]. For example, in Russia the meets would only have 200 swimmers while here [the meets] would have as many as 2000 swimmers,” Kurakin said.

Ivan is currently ranked 12th in California in his age group. He placed first in the 500-yard freestyle at last season’s MCAL meet with a time of four minutes and 45 seconds, winning first place but falling eight seconds short of the MCAL record.

Earlier in the year, Kurakin broke the Redwood school record in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of four minutes and 35 seconds, ten seconds faster than what he swam in MCALs. His goals for this upcoming season include beating the MCAL record in the 500-yard freestyle, a time of four minutes and 37 seconds, and improving his times overall

Photo by Zane Feldman-Isaksen

DIVING OFF the starting block, Kurakin competes in yet another swim meet. Kurakin has been swimming since he was seven years old. for this year’s NCS tournament. improvement since Kurakin was a freshman.

“When I was younger my brother really motivated “Ivan is a prodigy. He can be a fantastic swimmer me, but now I have Nationals and it’s hard to qualify for among the elite,” Ferroggiaro said. things and get to the top,” Kurakin said. “That’s what now Swimming for North Bay Aquatics is a big motivates me.” commitment, but one that Kurakin has enjoyed the past Since December of 2012, Kurakin has been swimming three years. for North Bay Aquatics, a club team nearby. Kurakin “Club is year round, but during Christmas break is swims year-round and practices seven days a week with when we don’t have any swim meets and we really start to the team. get into training,” Kurakin said.

During the high school swim season, he goes to one Kurakin has enjoyed swimming ever since he started.

Redwood practice each week, and the other six days he “I have this feeling when I jump into the water that I trains with North Bay. don’t while doing anything else,” Kurakin said. “I swim Although Kurakin has many physical goals for this because I am competitive, it relieves my stress throughout season, he also has other personal goals that he has set the day, and it makes me feel good about myself because for himself. it’s something that I am good at.”

“One goal that I set for myself at the beginning Kurakin’s next major competition is Junior Nationals of this season is that I’m not going to miss a single in Orlando Florida, March 14-19. practice,”Kurakin said. “This is a big goal, because I hear about national swimmers who go their entire high school career without missing a single practice.”

Head coach Fred Ferroggiaro has known Kurakin for three years and has been his coach at Redwood for the past two seasons. Ferroggiaro has seen a great amount of tjacobberger@redwoodbark.org

Track and field fuels friendly rivalry between junior twins competing for the bragging rights.

“We probably wouldn’t do track if it Cub Reporter weren’t for each other,” Vanessa said. “We just want to be better than the other.”

Not only do they share the same home, The twins compete in the same heat, clothes and DNA, but they also share one and therefore run side by side and jump similarity that many twins do not: valuable one after the other. Their scores often spots on the same varsity team. come so close that the winner of the two Juniors Angela and Vanessa Clare are varies with each meet. three-year varsity track athletes. They According to Vanessa, they received compete against each other in high jump, the exact same score in triple jump during long jump and triple jump. They also the first meet of the season. Their neckrun hurdles, however and-neck competition Vanessa runs in the fuels their rivalry.

100-meter hurdle “We’re definitely race and Angela the not competitive with 300-meter hurdle race. other people [at the The twins both find meet],” Vanessa said. success in jumping The sisters events events. During simultaneously began her sophomore year, their track careers Vanessa surpassed three in middle school, personal records at the where they competed North Coast Sectional in their first meet and meet jumping 5’ 0.00 Vanessa Clare, discovered their love in the high jump, 15’ junior for the sport.

11.00 in the long jump, After graduating and 33’ 5.50 in the from Del Mar triple jump. Last year, Middle School and Angela also set personal records at NCS transitioning to Redwood, the pair was wih a high jump of 4’10.00, a long jump unsure of their future in track. of 16’6.50, and a triple jump of 35’3.50.

“Freshman year was different [from The sisters both compete in hurdling middle school], so if Angela wasn’t there events, but Vanessa runs the 100m hurdles, I probably wouldn’t have continued,” and Angela runs the 300m hurdles.

Vanessa said.

Although they both shine in their own Today, friendly competition has turned hurdle events, their overlapping events into a full-time commitment. With a meet (high jump, long jump, and triple jump), almost every week, the twins rarely have stir even more competition spare time to relax. The first half of the While most track competitors fight for year is completely devoted to focusing on the winning title, the twins find themselves school to compensate for the second half,

By Amanda Trusheim

We probably wouldnt do track if it weren’t for each other.

Photo by Amanda Trusheim

ANGELA AND VANESSA Clare are three-year varsity track and field athletes. They find motivation in each other on the track and in school. in which they are almost fully scheduled.

During track season and preseason, the twins practice six days a week.

Their competitive tendencies don’t disappear off the track. According to the sisters, the rivalry carries over to schoolwork as well.

“I ended up taking the same [schedule as Vanessa] next year because she wanted to, and I have to keep up with her,” Angela said.

Although they take the majority of the same courses and have PSAT scores

within 10 points of each other, they do not plan on attending the same college unless they both have interest in the same school.

In the end, the Clares owe their dedication and love for track to one another.

“When she’s gone [from practice], I’m just so lonely,” Angela said. “Even though I don’t run with her most of the time, it just feels wrong.”

atrusheim@redwoodbark.org

review

Page 16

Full House reunion show disappoints, fails to recapture original

By Tilly Friedlander Cub Reporter

Remember Sunday mornings, snuggled up with a cup of hot cocoa and cozy pajamas, watching your old-school TV playing a rerun of “Full House” with a content smile painted on your face?

“Full House,” a 192-episode phenomenon, gave kids a feeling of nostalgia and sentimentality that would be nearly impossible to recapture.

However, Netflix produced a failed attempt to bring back the concept of the original with their release of “Fuller House,” a “Full House” reunion show on Feb. 26.

With its dry and cheesy humor, as well as its inability to bring any creativity to the plot, the first season of “Fuller House” proves that some TV shows should stay in the past.

“Fuller House” is a sequel to the popular ABC Family ‘90s television show “Full House,” with a similar cast to the original. However, the lack of the return of the Olsen twins for the reunion, who both played the comical character Michelle Tanner in the original TV show, was a complete let-down for returning viewers.

The first season of “Fuller House” has too similar of a plot to the original show, as it follows the love life of DJ Fuller (Cameron Candace Bure), whom the season revolves around.

In the original show, the oldest sister DJ went by DJ Tanner. In this series, Tanner has grown into a similar Atticus Finch-type character through her affectionate traits, just like her dad was in the original “Full House”.

The main character, DJ Fuller, plays the stereotypical female character of many American TV shows. Fuller is baffled in choosing between two bachelors towards the end of the season, similar to many romance-based clichéd female roles.

The reunion show begins with DJ Fuller and her family of three moving into her childhood home, which is the same San Francisco home in which “Full House” was filmed.

In addition to the return of DJ’s character, her quirky best friend Kimmy Gibbler (Andrea Barber) and her daughter move into the home as well. Stephanie Tanner (Jodie Sweetin), also from the original “Full House,” decides to return to her childhood home with Gibbler and Fuller in order to help care for her sister, DJ’s kids.

Similar to her character in “Full House,” who was known for overstaying her welcome at the Tanner home, Gibbler invites herself to move in with the sisters.

Although the show lacks a humorous script, the characters do embody their original personality traits,

Photo courtesy of Netflix

BRINGING THE GANG back together, original and new characters mix together in the Netflix original series, “Fuller House.” This photo features Andrea Barber chatting with the rest of the family. giving fans a familiar glimpse of their childhood favorites.

The show’s plot is missing depth as it fails to continue each episode’s storyline long enough to involve the viewers in the characters’ lives. In addition, the season includes distracting comments referring to the actors’ real lives which sidetrack the viewer from being captured by the show.

Throughout the season there are several references to actress Candace Cameron Bure (DJ Fuller) that address her appearance in the television show “Dancing with the Stars” in 2014 which distract from the show.

The cast of “Fuller House” openly shared their irritation with the Olsen Twins for declining to take part in “Fuller House” due to their careers in the fashion industry. At one point the airy character Kimmy Gibbler picks up her daughter’s Olsen Twin dress and says, “At these prices, it’s no wonder they don’t need to act.” She

continues with a stare towards the camera, sarcastically referencing the Olsen Twins’ choice in career.

In addition to referencing the actors’ personal lives in the show, the “Fuller House” cast also makes futile attempts at being humorous by mocking themselves. At one point, Gibbler mentions how sad it is when shows drag out an old cast for “some lame reunion show.”

Although “Fuller House” is tacky with its fake laugh tracks, it gives those sentimental fans who still long for that homey feeling a chance to take a walk down memory lane and binge watch that corny TV show we all enjoyed as a kid. It’s one of those guilty pleasures that we hate yet secretly love at the same time.

tfriedlander@redwoodbark.org

‘Whiskey Tango Foxtrot’ shows war through new lens

By Caroline Cummings Cub Reporter

“Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” is a very fitting title for this blockbuster comedy.

Using the military phonetic alphabet to spell out WTF, the title represents how the movie combines the harsh reality of war with crude humor to create a unique but constantly entertaining plot.

Based on the memoir “The Taliban Shuffle,” by Kim Barker, “Whiskey Tango

Foxtrot” follows the story of cable news producer Kim Baker (Tina Fey), who accepts an assignment in Afghanistan to escape her tedious life behind a desk in New York City.

Directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa chose to emphasize Baker ’s growing dependence on the adrenaline rush she gets from life-threatening situations. However, the development of her addiction is so subtle that it is not noticeable until Baker has to confront it.

Fey’s role of the self-deprecating, nerdy but witty middle-aged woman trying to find her way in life was a familiar part to play. The character of Kim Baker is very similar to Fey’s role in the TV show “30 Rock.”

In contrast, Baker is thrown into the middle of a violent and bloody war, and Fey does a great job balancing humor with the overwhelming fear and confusion of living in a war-stricken environment.

Her friendship with Fahim (Christopher

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

LANDING IN AFGHANISTAN, Tina Fey stars as Kim Baker, a cable news producer in the blockbuster film “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.” The movie stars Fey, Margot Robbie and Martin Freeman.

Abbott), her Afghan translator, adds a softer side to the story. They quickly become friends, and Fahim’s obvious but reserved affection for Baker adds a sweet angle to the plot not found elsewhere in the film.

For those not interested in the war aspect of the movie, a love story is also woven throughout, giving the audience a break from the violence. Baker finds herself reluctantly falling for a Scottish photographer named Iain (Martin Freeman).

The film’s use of comic relief makes the plot more approachable for those who do not want to see combat throughout the entire movie. Few scenes show graphic or disturbing violence which helps lower the intensity of an already incredibly heavy topic.

The soundtrack adds to the comedic tone of the movie. In one of the few scenes of conflict, the goofy power ballad “Without You” by Harry Nilsson plays in the background. This can come off as a little disrespectful towards the gravity of war, but it is effective in adding some comedy to one of the few serious scenes.

“Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” expertly combines humor and war. Although some parts may seem insensitive, the movie shows a different side of war and doesn’t overload the audience with graphic violence. ccummings@redwoodbark.org

bark Munchin’ and crunchin’ on Marin’s greatest grilled cheese Page 17 • Review

www.redwoodbark.org

By Allison Fobes and Amanda Trusheim Cub Reporters

Who doesn’t love a good grilled cheese? The Bark embarked on a mission to find the best grilled cheese in Marin County, and what we found was exciting. We went from restaurant to restaurant, reviewing Blue Barn, Rustic Bakery, Boudin and The Cheesecake Factory based on taste, cheese-to-bread ratio, greasiness, experience and affordability.

Boudin

Boudin is famous all over the country for its mouthwatering sandwiches and soups, and its grilled cheese was no exception. The Great Grilled Cheese had the perfect bread to cheese ratio, and there was just enough oil on it so that it did not feel dry or flaky. At first, the sandwich’s appearance was mildly off-putting due to the excess grease, but as soon as we took that first bite, all doubts washed away. Unlike the other sandwiches reviewed, The Great Grilled Cheese had the ideal ciabetta bread. The crunch complemented the smooth cheese perfectly and had the perfect density. At $8.60, this grilled cheese is well worth the price.

The Cheesecake Factory We were assuming that because of the well known name of The Cheesecake Factory, this would be the best sandwich yet. Sadly, as soon as our waiter brought us our $10.30 grilled cheese, we began to feel a sense of disappointment. The appearance of the sandwich gave the impression that it was made by simply plopping two pieces of white bread in a toaster with a few slices of fake cheese in between. Also, we constantly had to put down the sandwich to blot our hands with the napkins because of the amount of oil on the sandwich. By the end of the meal, we had piles of cheese left on the plate as well as half of the sandwich because we couldn’t bring ourselves to finish it.

Photo by Amanda Trusheim

OFFERING A FRESH take on the classic grilled cheese, Blue Barn’s grilled cheese replaces the run of the mill cheddar with a tantalizing burrata cheese that makes for a great sandwich.

Rustic Bakery

Blue Barn Conveniently located at Town Center mall, Blue Barn is an ideal lunch destination. Their fresh menu had an entire section dedicated to trendy takes on grilled cheese, which include additions to the standard sandwich such as fig jam and spicy mustard. The Burrata sandwich, priced at $10.25, was a refreshing twist on the classic favorite.

The gooey, rich burrata melted in your mouth at first bite and the flakey crust of the bread nicely contrasted the savory cheese. The bread to cheese ratio was fantastic and left us feeling content with every bite.

Bark Beats

At a restaurant where the main focus is coffee and pastries, the grilled cheese at Rustic Bakery was an excellent dish. The sandwich was tasty as a whole, but the amount of dense bread masked the decadent cheese from Cowgirl Creamery. Although the service wasn’t the fastest, the tasty appearance of the melted cheese dripping off the bread made up for it. At $12.95, the Marin Melt was overpriced for the overall lack of quality. bark@redwoodbark.org

Daniela Schwartz Cub Reporter

I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It The 1975 The 1975’s new album emphasizes exciting ‘80s style grooves, electro sounds and a touch of gospel. In the album, lead singer Matt Healy reflects on our society by adding references to social media and fame. Their first release “Love Me” shows the band’s funky personality with quirky guitar licks similar to David Bowie’s song “Fame.” In the last song, “She Lays Down,” Healy reveals a personal story by using sincere lyrics, combined with an acoustic background. The unique album name foreshadows the unpredicted twists taken to guarantee an amazing album.

Recommended: “A Change of Heart” “A Change of Heart” is a slow-tempo, electro pop ballad which reminds fans why they fell in love with The 1975. The song captures the essence of the band by using a simplistic synth line and a bouncy guitar groove. Healy’s lyrics reveal a melancholy love story. The song contrasts ‘80s and current musical techniques and references the previous album’s songs.

This Unruly Mess I’ve Made Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

Painting With Animal Collective

Vroom Vroom EP Charli XCX

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis attempt to create another notable mixtape, but topping their first Grammy award winning album, “The Heist,” proves to be a daunting task. Although filled with big name feature artists and catchy beats, this album doesn’t compare to the previous one. A few songs such as “Need to Know,” (feat. Chance the Rapper) and “Growing Up,” (feat. Ed Sheeran) exemplify the r a p p e r ’s t a l e n t , w h i l e o t h e r s l a c k substance. Each song has flowing rhythms and melodies that highlight Macklemore’s deep voice.

Looking for music outside of the generic pop and rap heard on the radio 24/7? Animal Collective’s new album “Painting With” perfectly represents a diverse type of music. Similar to Vampire Weekend, the band’s unique echoing sounds fall into the experimental-pop or psychedelic genre. The band plays a wide variety of instruments that mix effectively to create exotic tracks, while capturing the essence of indie music. At times the music can be annoying because of its electronic and repetitive patterns, such as in “Natural Selection.”

Famous for her hit single “Boom Clap,” Charli XCX now shifts to a darker, EMB-tailored theme. The songs are all fast-paced, but she includes high pitched melodies and random street noises like ‘vrooms’ to give her music a unique flavor. In the song “Secret (Shh),” Charli XCX’s voice and the instrumental track by electro music producer Sophie don’t quite coincide. The musical risks taken in this album are noteworthy, but they aren’t always successful. Electric sounds like beeps and boops highlight Charli XCX’s electric style.

Recommended: “Need to Know (feat.

Chance the Rapper)” Mixing Macklemore’s honest lyrics with Chance the Rapper’s strong melodies makes for a unique song that fans of both artists will enjoy. The song uses relaxed piano melodies with occasional gospel trumpets and the claps commonly found in Chance’s music. The simple repetition of beats complement Chance’s spectacular lyricism used in the song.

Recommended: “FloriDada” “FloriDada” is a perfect example of the the album’s aspiration to be weird.

The song instantly takes you to a surreal jungle scene. It layers many different textures to sound fun and reckless. Quirky instruments added randomly into the song sound organic and fun, and add to the silliness. The lyrics paint a quintessential summer day in your mind and leave you feeling upbeat.

Recommended: “Vroom Vroom” The song “Vroom Vroom” captures everything you want in Euro-style dance music. In the verses, Charli XCX experiments with her rapping by using playful, rhythmic lyrics. The pre-chorus, the most catchy part of the song, uses a backtrack of bass beats sounding suspiciously similar to Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy (feat. Charli XCX).”

bark

Page 18 • Lifestyles

Random Facts 6 7.2

March 18, 2016

Scouting out favorite cookie types

By Tilly Friedlander Cub Reporter

percent of students do not eat Girl Scout cookies, according to a recent Bark survey. is the average happiness rating at Redwood on a scale from 1-10.

21

is the number of years the 3-on-3 basketball tournament has occured.

34

percent of students have never skipped a class.

15

percent of students are currently in a relationship.

62

percent of freshmen don’t have a Facebook.

1000

is the percent that morning traffic would increase on Seminary Drive if Branson was built in Mill Valley.

In recent months, Girl Scouts of Marin began selling their famous cookies once again. The baking and selling of these delectable treats has been going on for nearly 100 years.

These American classics have found themselves a place in the hearts of Redwood students.

The Bark conducted a survey asking students which Girl Scout Cookie was their favorite. The survey showed that Thin Mints and Samoas are Redwood’s two favorites.

“Thin mints are probably the most popular, then Samoas, then Tag-a-longs,” said Girl Scout Makenna Fergueson.

Fergueson’s prediction was identical to Redwood’s results.

According to the Bark survey, 40 percent of Redwood students’ favorite Girl Scout Cookie is Thin Mints. Samoas come next with 35 percent of the vote and finally Tag-alongs with 13 percent.

This data varies from 2015, by Samoas being the favored cookie by .6 percent, followed by Thin Mints then Tagalongs.

Many students tend to rave about their love for Thin Mints.

“Thin mints are my favorite,” said freshman Mary Tarantino. “I remember one time I cried when someone ate my box of Thin Mints.”

Thin Mints are definitely the most beloved Girl Scout Cookie, but why might that be?

“Thin Mints would have to be my favorite because when they’re cold, like from the freezer, they just taste great. I first started eating them in third grade,” sophomore Tyler Cullen said.

Although Thin Mints seem to be the most craved variety when it comes to Girl Scout Cookies, some consumers still prefer the other varieties of flavors that the company offers.

Sophomore Brooke Christman said, “My favorite would have to be Tag-a-Longs. I like the combination of the peanut butter with the rest of it. I’ve been eating them since elementary school.”

Girl Scout Cookies are not only famous for their addicting taste. For some, they bring back sentimental feelings from childhood.

“They kind of make me think of just being young and carefree,” Christman said as she bit into a Thin Mint during lunch.

Infographic by Mallory Wakida

“We always brought Thin Mints camping,” Cullen said.

The cookies remind him of family gatherings as they were often included as a casual snack on his family vacations.

According to Fergueson, cookie sales didn’t seem to thrive as much this year compared to past years.

“I didn’t sell as many this year,” Fergueson said. “I think it might be because people are trying to eat healthier.”

Whether it’s because of their brand or simply due to their flavor, Girl Scouts Cookies are one of those traditional snacks which never fail to leave us wanting more.

tfriedlander@redwoodbark.org

Employers explain benefits and downsides to student employees

By Jordan Overmyer Cub Reporter

With summer around the corner, many students are beginning to look for work.

They put away the textbooks and look to fill their open schedules with a summer job.

However, people often don’t think about the employer’s perspectives on having high school students in the workplace.

“One of the things I really like about hiring high school students is getting them into a positive work environment for one of their first jobs,” said Cody Moody, store director of the Nugget Market located in Tiburon.

Jennifer Torres, owner of Candy Store in Tiburon said that one advantage of hiring high school students is that their schedules are generally open on the weekends, which is the busiest time for the store.

“They don’t work during the week or after school. They usually have a lot of free time on the weekends, so we tend to hire them part-time. That way, they can do their studies and still make some extra spending money,” Torres said.

Torres also said that another advantage of hiring students is that they are quick learners and very hard working.

“The original reason I choose to hire high school students was I’m a Redwood graduate as well and I wanted to give back because one of my first jobs was working at Baskin-Robbins,” said Elliott Magnuson, owner of Mag’s Local Yogurt.

“So I wanted to give kids these days the opportunity that I had when I was a high schooler.”

When hiring students, Torres said that she looks for good references, past

Photo by Jocelyn Overmyer

SENIOR CALDER OGILVIE checks out customer and bags groceries at Nugget Market. experience, and flexible hours.

Moody said that he looks for two qualities when hiring: the ability to have a positive attitude and a sense of urgency.

“When I say sense of urgency I mean someone who stays busy, someone who is constantly working hard, finding tasks to do, and moving with a purpose,” Moody said.

According to Magnuson a lot of the employees, especially females, have babysat before therefore are really good with the younger customers.

Although high school employees have flexible weekend schedules and bring a youthful attitude, there are downsides to

hiring them as well.

“It can be a problem if we have someone young working and the older person is out of the room. Sometimes customers might take advantage of the situation and say something bold or try to get away with something,” Torres said.

Torres said they always have at least one adult working in addition to a high school student.

According to Magnuson, since Mag’s is located close to Redwood, many of the employees’ friends come in because they all live and go to school close by.

“It’s very social and that can be a positive or a negative depending on if

they’re paying more attention to their friends as opposed to their job. That can be frustrating sometimes,” said Magnuson.

According to Torres, the biggest disadvantage is that high school students graduate and businesses lose them when they leave for college.

Another difficulty is that many teenagers have a hard time putting away their cell phones.

“I’ve caught employees with their cell phones in their pockets, texting behind the door, and having a hard time not responding to a message,” Torres said.

For Magnuson, scheduling high school students is a challenge due to factors such as sports, after school activities, or clubs.

“It’s a big juggle for kids this age to throw a job into the mix because it’s usually the last thing on their priority list,” Magnuson said. “Family is number one, school is number two, sports are number three, and job is usually number four.”

Magnuson goes through a rigorous process before he hires students to make sure they can balance their schedule with school and factor in a job.

“I’ve had a few that just couldn’t do that and their grades fell. They didn’t have time to work so I gave them a break but either lowering their hours or sometimes it’s not the right fit,” Magnuson said.

According to Moody, when hired, employees go into a 90-day probation period where they must perform well and show willingness to receive coaching and feedback.

“I’ve seen high school students not make it and I’ve seen full-on adults not make it. Everyone is an individual,” Moody said. jordan.overmyer@redwoodbark.org

Page 19 • Lifestyles

www.redwoodbark.org

bark

Face-to-Face: Should teachers earn tenure as protection?

Most teachers get tenure after two or three years. Is that the right amount?

By Josh Cohen Cub Reporter

Face-to-Face is a feature that allows two members of the Redwood Community to grill each other, argue, or simply converse about a relevant issue or event. We provide the topic, and they do the rest. This month’s participants are senior Clare Broderson and long-time P.E. teacher Michael Dibley. They discuss their different views on teacher tenure, which includes many questionable subtopics. Teacher tenure restricts the ability to fire teachers when the rationale for firing them is “just because.” This policy provides teachers with protections by making it difficult to fire teachers who earn tenure.

Have you ever seen a teacher that should have been fired but had tenure?

Michael Dibley: Let’s just start right off the bat here. It is not my place to judge whether a teacher should be fired or not.

I’m not an evaluator, I’m not an administrator, so I can’t answer that directly. Has there ever been a case in the history of education in our country where a teacher with tenure shouldn’t be teaching? I would imagine, probably, yes. I personally have not come across that situation at Redwood.

Clare Broderson: I totally have. Not as much at Redwood. I remember my eighth grade science teacher stressed the idea that he couldn’t be fired because he had tenure. Things like that, but Redwood not as much. I think that Redwood administration does put more effort into choosing good teachers from the get-go, other than nationally where I do think it is a problem.

How does having tenure performance of the teacher?

affect

the

work

CB: From my point of view, once a teacher has tenure,

CB: I don’t think so. You can tell that every new teacher is still getting used to things, earning their respect, and learning how to work with new students productively. I don’t think that comes in two or three years, it’s more like five to 10 years.

FACE

TO

MD: I think permanent status is granted relatively early. For me it’s more about not just the permanent status part, but the support system.

I think here we are fortunate to have the resources to support new teachers and to evaluate them.

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Michael Dibley - vsClare Broderson they don’t have incentive anymore to keep pushing themselves and be a better teacher. However the thing is if they stop trying, you can’t get rid of them.

MD: I feel like our school really supports teachers continuing their education and being up to date in current best practices. In our school district here, we get evaluated every three years after receiving our permanent status or tenure, and in that evaluation, the topic of “what have you done to continue to improve upon your teaching” is something that’s discussed.

CB: I know that, yes, California has the policy of having to renew the teaching license every five years, but that’s not the case in a lot of states. I’ve read a bunch of articles about teachers that are so excited to get to tenure and then once they get there they just stop trying. Also, it’s more expensive for a school to fire a tenured teacher than to just keep them on, even if they aren’t working.

Who should decide if the teachers should receive or keep tenure?

CB: I think students should have more of a say in it than they do right now, but of course including parents and administration. I think it’s just administration right now, but they just don’t know what it’s like in the class every day with the teacher.

MD: I believe, the decision should fall upon the principal’s shoulders, but that person, should accept, take, and seek out input from everyone: students, parents, colleagues, teacher leaders.

What change would you make to tenure protections for teachers?

CB: I think that it should be hard to fire a tenure teacher because they have earned it, but not as hard as it is. I just think that it shouldn’t cost as much as it does.

MD: Certainly there are some veteran teachers out there that could benefit from a change in environment, assignment, or potentially in a profession altogether. jcohen@redwoodbark.org

Just Dance performers spring into competition season

By Alexandra Lee and Jocelyn Overmyer Cub Reporters

It’s Saturday morning, and the soft morning light shines through the side windows of the studio as the dancers slide gracefully across the floor. Competition dance teams have been preparing and perfecting their dances to show off to judges since September.

With regional dance competitions just around the corner, competitive dance teams around Marin are rehearsing and making last-minute adjustments to their routines before they compete.

Freshmen Katy Hemphill, Bella Botas, and Rachel Cramer are three dancers who compete with Just Dance Academy.

The dancers will perform their routines in front of judges, along with teams from other studios around the Bay Area. Some soloists will get the chance to perform at Nationals if their score is high enough.

Competition season is in March and April, and the first competition occurred on the weekend of March 4.

Hemphill has been dancing for eight years, and this is her third year doing competition dance, which requires more effort, dedication, and time. “[Competitive dance] is more work because not only is there pressure to do well for yourself, but you also have these teammates depending on you to do your very best,” Hemphill said.

Cramer, who has been dancing ever since she was two and is on her fifth year of competitive dance, believes that solos, rather than team dances, offer the chance to save the dance in spite of messing up.

“It’s pretty nerve-racking for solos because you don’t want to mess up,” Cramer said.

Botas, who has been dancing since she was four and is doing her fifth year of competition, believes that being on a competitive team has added stress.

“In competition, there’s a lot more pressure to do well and when you’re actually practicing the dances they make you perfect it and the teachers are a lot harder on you,” Botas said.

Cramer agrees with Botas that there’s added pressure to be committed. “[Regular dance classes] are not as hardworking because everyone is dancing and sometimes you won’t be in all of the dance,” Cramer said. “But in competition dance you’re in the whole entire dance, and you’re working your butt off.”

To cope with the nerves, Hemphill’s team does breathing exercises together, and has recently been literally “shaking out” the extra energy and nerves before they perform.

“It’s definitely more nerve-racking backstage and in the wings, but once you actually get on stage it’s just the same piece that you’ve been rehearsing over and over so it’s muscle memory,” Hemphill said.

Hemphill also believes in having a strong positive mindset before stepping onto the stage.

“I try to think, ‘No matter what, this is really only going to affect me. So I should go out and do my best. Of course if I mess up it’s not going to be the end of the world. No one is going to remember this,’” Hemphill said.

Jenna Jones, assistant director and dance teacher at Just Dance Academy, says that while the dancers practice for about six months to get their routines as flawless as possible for the judges, Jones and the other competition teachers encourage the dancers not to focus on winning an award.

Jones believes that stage presence and the ability to captivate the audience are the most important factors of competition dance.

“Now that I’m in the audience watching, it’s more important that the girls are just killing it with the stage presence

Photo by Alexandra Lee

FRESHMAN KATY HEMPHILL and Rachel Cramer practice their competition routines with other dancers at Just Dance Academy. more than anything else,” Jones said.

Botas is a member of two advanced competition teams, and is accustomed to the process of practicing leading up the competition season.

“Especially when it’s coming up to competition, we just run the dance a lot and then we get a lot of corrections. We sit down at the end, usually before the competitions, and [the dance teacher] just gives us individual corrections to work on,” Botas said.

While performing well and receiving a decent score are desirable goals, the teams focuses on trying their best. Hemphill emphasizes that it’s not the end of the world if a mistake is made.

“Every year there’s always a person who doesn’t get the score they wished but, you’re still getting that performance experience,” Jones said.

According to Jones, to make a competitive dance team at Just Dance Academy, one must have background of jazz and ballet and must be currently taking both a jazz and ballet class.

At tryouts in early September, dancers are taught a small portion of dance which they then perform to the best of their ability. Teams are formed based on skill level shortly thereafter. “[The teachers] see you throughout the previous year and they see how much you have improved and how hard you are working,” Hemphill said.

Competitive dance is not scored like other sports with a first, second, and third place. According to Jones, everyone starts with 300 points and as the dancers perform, they get docked for certain things, such as technique. bark@redwoodbark.org

Math teacher transitions from Kona to cosines

By Tyler Kavanaugh Cub Reporter

On the lush western slopes of the Mauna Loa Volcano, a farm grows everything from coffee to avocados. On this farm, math teacher Lovelyn Sugi-Louie laid the roots for a lifelong love of mathematics.

Sugi-Louie spent her entire childhood living on a farm on the island of Hawaii.

There, she learned practical values and mathematical principles that continue to influence her throughout her adulthood.

Sugi-Louie rarely left her family's farm. When she wasn’t at school, she could almost always be found tending crops or maintaining the farm.

“You don't realize it at the time, but farming is awfully hard work,” Sugi-Louie said. “It's a 24/7 type of work, and you don't realize it as a kid growing up because so much of it is done by the adults.”

Sugi-Louie began working around the farm at a very young age. After school and during summers, whether in rain or shine, she was high in the branches of coffee trees harvesting the fruit or tending to the tree.

From a young age she had to learn the laws of physics and mathematical principles in order to complete tasks on the farm.

“We used it for money, building things, finding solutions to a problem, or just moving stuff,” she said. “It all boiled down to mathematics in the end.”

Sugi-Louie's experience on the farm drove her to be pragmatic from a young age.

“We had to come up with practical solutions. Maybe things needed to be moved, or bought, or built, and we didn't have enough money,” Sugi-Louie said.

Sugi-Louie carried her practical attitude well into her higher education, originally pursuing her childhood dream of becoming an engineer.

By her third year of college, jobs in engineering became increasingly scarce, demanding Sugi-Louie to pursue another career in mathematics: teaching.

Aside from how practical the farm was, Sugi-Louie also liked it for the sense of community it gave her with other families from all over the western side of the island.

The rough-and-tumble lifestyle united people from all over the region, creating a thriving community of farmers in the area.

Sugi-Louie considered them almost as part of her own family.

“You didn't feel insecure, you didn't feel scared, because you always had

someone to go to,” Sugi-Louie said.

Her family's farm, like many others in the region, lived in relative poverty, with most of their food coming directly from the fields and their water from a rain collector.

“I loved the farm because it made you appreciate what you had,” Sugi-Louie said.

Aside from working around the farm, Sugi-Louie avidly read books as a child. “[Reading] took me to faraway places, to places that I had no opportunity to actually see, so I read voraciously,” Sugi-Louie said.

“I would read into the dead of night when everyone was asleep.”

While Sugi-Louie’s family had lived on the farm for generations, her mother had moved to Hawaii from Japan after World War II. Sugi-Louie was close to her mother, who would tell her stories of living in the city and experiencing all four seasons.

“I grew up with my mom's story of Japan, with winters and snow and going out into the woods to hunt for mushrooms, but also her stories of growing up in wartime Japan,” SugiLouie said.

Her talks with her mom eventually inspired her to go to the mainland United States.

As soon as she got out of high school, Sugi-Louie went off to college at Eastern Washington State University.

As the eldest child in a large family, Sugi-

Louie was always teaching things to her siblings and answering their questions but never envisioned herself becoming a teacher.

“I guess I was always headed towards being a teacher, but I didn't really think of it as my first vocation,” Sugi-Louie said.

After graduating from Eastern Washington State University, she began teaching in Oahu before moving to the Bay Area, where she has been teaching at Redwood ever since.

Once she retires from teaching, Sugi-Louie hopes to return to Hawaii and experience the warm tropical weather from her childhood again. tkavanaugh@redwoodbark.org

Photo by Tyler Kavanaugh