The Crusader May 2017

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VOLUME LXVI ISSUE iv

SERVING RIORDAN SINCE 1953

ARCHBISHOP RIORDAN HIGH SCHOOL

May 2017 THE NEWSPAPER OF CRUSADER COUNTRY

Alumni named as head coaches for football, basketball teams

By Harrick Wu ’19 In the next school year, there will be two new head coaches, one for basketball and one for football, to lead Riordan’s varsity sports teams.

Coach Rich Buckner ’90, the Head Coach for this year’s varsity basketball team, will not return to coach next basketball season. When he was a student and basketball player here at Riordan, he and the rest of the varsity basketball team made an appearance in a State Final in 1990.

During his time at Riordan as a coach, he coached basketball for 20 years and was the head coach for 10 of them. While he was a coach for the varsity basketball team, they won two Central Coast Section Championships in 2008 and made an appearance in five state tournaments, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.

According to Mike Gilleran, the Athletic Director at Riordan, when looking for a new coach, the Athletic Department was looking for someone that had a positive approach, enthusiasm, solid communication skills, consistency, knowledge of basketball strategies, and is able

Head Football Coach Jay’Sen Morris ’07 and Head Basketball Coach Joey Curtin ’01. to conduct himself with Marianist principles with consistency to be the new varsity head coach.

On April 28, Joey Curtin ’01 was announced as the head coach for varsity basketball next season. For the past 10 years, he coached basketball at Riordan and also helped coach the varsity team when they won the CCS Championship.

“I’m thrilled to be able to lead the program at my alma mater, to build on the great tradition of Crusader basketball, and to work directly with the young men of Riordan,” said Curtin according to an announcement of the school’s website.

On the gridiron, Coach Kevin Fordon has stepped down from being the head coach for varsity football. Fordon stepped down because in the near future, he is getting married. This summer he plans on honeymooning, traveling around the country as much as he can, and spending more time with his family in the East Bay, which is where he is also planning on moving.

He would like to help and interact with the football team in any way possible in the future.

His door is open to any player who would like to watch a film or get coached and is planning on checking out their practices and watching their games.

“There are a lot of great student athletes that work very hard here at ARHS. I might help in the future if time and circumstances work out.”

Fordon will miss his role as a coach because he coached for 13 years.

“I will miss the boys, the Friday night lights, the long summer days, the competitive nature of the sport, and the lessons that can be taught through this great

game to a younger generation.”

Coach Jay’Sen Morris ’07, a full time teacher in Riordan’s math department and a coach for football, has been named head coach for varsity football for next season. Morris played as a defensive lineman for three years in California Lutheran University and graduated in 2011. He is currently getting his Master’s degree in Sports Management from the University of San Francisco.

Fordon feels Morris will be an excellent head coach because of several assets he possesses.

“He has been around the program the longest and knows what the Riordan football program needs.

He has a great knowledge of the game and knows how to connect to the kids. He has character and loves the Riordan community.”

Morris said, “We have a good group of talented players returning next year.

On the Varsity staff we have Coach Bell, Coach Jones, Coach Curtin, and Coach Powers all returning. I see us surprising a lot of people this year and bouncing back from last season.”

Crusader House Captains elected for 2017-2018 school year

By Harrick Wu ’19 and Roman Peregrino ’18 With Riordan itself changing dramatically next year, thanks to the introduction of the house system, it only makes sense that student leadership will change as well.

Gone are the days of class presidents and appointed positions. So too are the triedand-true monikers of dance chair and spirit chair. They are being replaced with new names and positions from the House Parliament.

Traditionally, the core student government positions have been Student Body President, Vice President, Spirit Chair, and Dance Chair. They will now be referred to as School Captain, School Vice-Captain, School Vice Captain of Spirit, and School Vice Captain of Program. It won’t just be a change in name, however.

Their roles are different now, too.

As the year came to an end, Riordan held an election on April 5 to elect students for the student government positions for the new house systems.

According to Joey Klobas ’07, who will be running student parliament next year, the duty of the School Captain will be to run Student Parliament meetings to diplomatically work with the house councils and moderators to keep Riordan’s greater school community informed. The School Vice captain will run the House of Commons (also known as the mentor groups) and report back to the other leaders.

Three students, Roman Peregrino ’18, Chang Liu ’18, and Mike’l Gregory ’18, ran for the position of School Captain.

Hunter Harrold ’18 and Sean Sheng ’18, competed for the position of Vice Captain. Estefan Granucci ’19 and Uziah Metcalfe ’18 ran against each other for the position of Vice Captain of Program. Marcus Escobar ’18, the only one who ran for Vice Captain of Spirit, won his position by default.

The duty of the School Vice Captain of Programming is to work with House Captains and Divisional Captains, to create the Department of Programming to

organize events for student life, in the way of special events. The duty of the School Vice Captain of Spirit is to work with House Captains and Divisional Captains to create the Department of Spirit to organize events for student life, in the way of spirit.

By the end of the day, the votes were counted and the elected students were announced. The number of votes were extremely close for all the candidates running for all three positions, excluding the position of Vice Captain of Spirit since only one person ran.

Next year, Peregrino will be Riordan’s School Captain, Sheng will be the Vice Captain, Granucci will be the Vice Captain of Program, and Escobar will be the Vice Captain of Spirit.

Peregrino, the newly elected School Captain for next year, will make sure that the transition to the new house system will be as smooth as possible and make sure next year will be a successful year.

“I will make sure student government runs events to the

best of its ability to make next year the best it could be,” he said.

Peregrino’s goal as School Captain is to take charge in the new system and make positive changes to make next year and the future more successful.

Peregrino foresees some challenges being the first School Captain in the new house system, but they can be overcome by working with other student leaders.

He said, “Challenges may come up because we are venturing into new territory for the school. For example, we are moving to a new system for orientation that we will have to iron the kinks out of. This can be overcome by working with the other student leaders, Mr. Klobas, and Ms. Mifsud to ensure everything runs smoothly.”

In addition to the changes up top, the structure will look very different. Underneath the core positions, lies the House Captains—three per house, one from each grade level. Below them

Please see “House Update” on page 7

2 Opinion

May 2017

The Crusader Archbishop Riordan High School

Students find new schedule beneficial, but struggle with time management Pro

Con

By Chris Peterson ’18 This past year, the new schedule has been implemented and students have finally gotten used to it. This has changed from last year, making the classes year long instead of semester long. The classes happen every other day in an A/B day block schedule.

Classes now last 80 minutes unless other events take its place. Now, instead of having four classes a day, there are only three classes a day that are mandatory. This pushes our time to arrive to school back from 7:45 to 9:00, allowing for enrichment classes that better the students. They allow for classes that teach how to build a car to other academic classes.

Harvey Sampson ’19 said, “The concept of changing our schedule was a pretty good idea.” This schedule has helped students get ahead and gives them the freedom they want in choosing classes. This schedule gives a sense of what college scheduling might indeed be like.

Classes have mostly been Common Core up to now, but recently the new enrichment classes help give others a chance of what they might want to do as a career.

This coming year, there will be more enrichment classes to choose from and it gives students the true opportunity to learn things that could help them in life and in choosing a path for a career. Those include First Responders and a higher level of popular classes like Auto Repair or Speech and Debate.

Jackson LaBelle ’17 said, “I believe that the schedule has been beneficial for those who have taken advantage of the extra time and teachers’ office hours.” With the schedule, the longevity of the classes allows for the students to get to know the teachers. Getting to know the teachers can greatly help those who need the extra help and try to work for the betterment of their grade.

Overall, I do like the schedule. It is certainly a hard change for us juniors who have gotten so used to the old schedule, but in some cases, it certainly does help. I enjoy the enrichment classes exponentially and do hope that they continue to better our school community.

1949

Editor in Chief Roman Peregrino ’18 Opinion Editor Jacob Taylor ’17 Features Editor Chris Peterson ’18 Sports Editor Greg Guinasso ’17

By Jakeclark Bennett ’18 During this school year, students saw a variety of changes at school, whether it was about the new house system, new regulations on how students spend their daily activities, or opening opportunities to get involved in the school community through student government.

One of the major changes from last semester, the new schedule change, shook how students manage their time between classes and time spent studying for those classes.

The new school schedule provided a significant change to how classes function day by day, with each student having an average of about six to seven different classes and sometimes nine classes depending on how many enrichment courses they took.

Each day is divided by A and B days, which is now given a number from one to five to assign different days for enrichment courses, which take the spot of morning classes, with required courses taking up the remaining three blocks.

However, there are problems that arise with such a rigorous schedule with subsequent classes that change day by day.

Students have to take more care in their own time management in accordance to what class they had last, then to prepare for the next day. Depending on what class you take and the nature of your instructor, a student can be easily overwhelmed with the amount of homework they have to constantly do each day.

Homework can easily pile up if the student is careless in his studies.

Including the availability of new classes, students will have more finals to study for.

Many different classes require some degree of intensive study, like terminology in Biology and Statistics, formulas in Algebra or Calculus, facts in history classes, or literary knowledge in English courses. I consider this a con because it may add more stress to a student to study for many courses as opposed to the original four from the old schedule. So in addition to more classes, they have to keep

up their own work in those classes and study for six main classes for finals.

Because of this, I personally prefer the original schedule for its flexibility with how teachers and students pace themselves for lesson plans and study plans. But for improving this schedule, it’ll be much better to have six main classes jammed into one day as opposed to four interchanging classes that change per day. This would mean that classes would be limited to around 50 or 60 minutes to keep up with the current schedule. Of course, if enrichment classes are still set to stay, it’ll be changed to the 60- minute format, starting at 8 a.m., and ending at 3 p.m.

As it stands, Archbishop Riordan High School follows a fairly decent block schedule that changes day by day. This does, however, create problems with how teachers pace their lesson plans as they meet their students on subsequent days rather than every day.

To solve this, compile the classes into one day and cut them down to 60-minute classes. Students will still have their vast options of different classes.

As for how exams will work, I believe returning the original scheduling from last year, midterms and finals, would be an excellent decision.

Although issues like stress and anxiety will still be prominent, I believe those cannot be avoided no matter what kind of schedule is devised to cater to what students need.

Improving a schedule to make it easier on students to continue to be consistent in our studies can be done multiple ways.

The current schedule increases stress and anxiety for students who need to manage their time properly in accordance to what class they have on subsequent days and an increased workload to study for. Combining all the classes into one day, while having enrichment courses continue to be subsequent would make it much easier on students in terms of time management.

Staff Reporters Andrius Appel ’19 Jakeclark Bennett ’18 Arts & Entertainment Editor Stephen Blecha ’19 Jabriel Andrade ’18 Patrick Brown ’17 Johnny Caceres ’19 Health & Technology Editor Nicolas Caracter ’17 Alexander Vallecillo ’18 Brandon Castro ’18 Fernando Delgado ’18 Photo Editor Sebastian Fazio ’18 Chris Peterson ’18 Vince Francisco ’19 Mike’l Gregory ’18 Copy Editors Jaime Hernandez ’17 Keven Ariel Munoz ’18 Ricardo Hernandez ’20 John Regidor ’18 Michael Jaurigui ’19 Michael Kay ’18 Exchange Editor Joseph Kerrigan ’18 Chang Liu ’18 Headline Editor Jimmy Velasco ’17 Adviser Susan Sutton, CJE

Rodney Martinez ’17 Shane McKnight ’18 Aidan Murtagh ’20 Henry Novicki ’18 Tomas Palpallatoc ’18 Zachary Phillips ’20 Jeremy Reyes ’18 Steven Rissotto ’20 David Rodriguez-Mendez ’18 Jeancarlos Santos ’17 Uzair Shaikh ’17 Jacob Taylor ’17 Karl Vanuska ’19 Brandon Vargas ’20 Jimmy Velasco ’17 Harrick Wu ’19

May 2017

Campus News

The Crusader Archbishop Riordan High School

3

Auto Repair class revs up interest in mechanics

By Sebastian Fazio ’18 Archbishop Riordan has been home to many innovations over the past few years. The school has been painted, a Makerspace has been built, and the renovation of the gym is well on its way. All of these additions have been created or touched up in order to give Riordan students to best experience they can possibly have.

Besides physical changes, adjustments have been made on how the school is run, evident in the house system and the new schedule. While students will see how the house system goes next year, Riordan students have had a year to process the schedule change.

While the feedback has been mixed, one thing for certain is that the enrichment courses have been a success. And only one enrichment combines the physical and conceptual changes the school introduced. That is the Auto Shop enrichment, arguably the most valuable the school has to offer.

The Auto Shop class was one of the foremost enrichments on the mind of principal Vittorio Anastasio ’84 when conceiving the new schedule. The three main reasons for creating the Auto Shop are because it delivers valuable life skills, is widely desired, and could be an aspect of Riordan different from other San Francisco high schools. This class allows students an alternative to a traditional academic class.

While it is important to take the traditional classes, it is equally important to learn skills students will need after school. It offers students another way to express themselves and get involved in the community as well.

Interest was a key reason in creating this enrichment as shown in the extremely high turnout for the class, and overall enthusiasm.

Photo by Orlando Perrotta ’88 Instructor Joe Fazio ’82 watches students work on a car during Auto Repair class.

Also, very few schools in San Francisco offer an automotive course for their students, adding to Riordan’s uniqueness and diversity for prospective students applying to high school.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics predict the demand for auto mechanics is going to increase by 17 percent from 2010-2020 creating 124,800 jobs.

In order to make this class a reality, Anastasio needed a backer who would be able to provide expertise, time, and materials for the class, and an oncampus instructor. In stepped two alums, Joe Fazio ’82, and Orlando Perrotta ’88 who have had loads of experience with auto repair.

Fazio would be considered the administrator of the class, while Perrotta is the actual teacher.

Currently, there four separate morning classes with about 15 to 20 students each. This makes up the approximate 65 students enrolled in the class. The four classes meet on either A2, B2, A5, and B5. This schedule makes it so they meet approximately once every two weeks. Other than this limited schedule, the class has offered some other opportunities for particularly interested students to get extra hands on time working on the weekends.

The shop itself is located behind the school, inside what used to be a shed for maintenance tools and equipment. After removing these items, the shed was renovated and rearranged to fit all the necessary tools and vehicles. This is also a major advantage the shop has over a normal classroom setting.

The instructors, Perrotta and Fazio, are able to directly relate and follow up on theoretical applications of tools and parts by demonstrating it in front of the students. This adds a kinetic as well as visual learning environment.

The class started off by learning those theoretical situations and how to solve them appropriately.

Then they moved on to safety procedures and technique for a shop setting as well as the proper terminology for specific tools.

Once Perrotta and Fazio thought the students were ready, each block was allowed to pick a project to work on until the end of the year. The blocks will stick with their corresponding vehicles and restore them back to their original condition before modifying them to the block’s liking.

Although they had a golf cart, two motorcycles, and a car to choose from, all current students will eventually work on the car

for basic skills and training.

According to both Perrotta and Fazio, the Automotive Program as a whole should be mostly selfsufficient. If the class is able to repair and produce quality vehicles, they will be able to put these items up for auction in various events such as the Riordan Gala. Hopefully, that should bring in revenue not only to support the program but fund additional materials, tools, and vehicles to start the cycle all over.

Another possibility for the program is a sponsorship from a group or individual. This route would rebuild the shop again, with state of the art tools and even more space somewhere on campus.

Understanding that this is the class’s first semester, the community should expect a few kinks in it. For example, the classes would do better if they were able to meet more frequently as well as acquiring more space to accommodate incoming classes and more students.

No matter what the constraints are, students should expect the class itself and demand for the class to increase as explained by Perrotta, “I expect the class to expand quite greatly from this semester’s humble beginnings. As to date, there is a basic as well as intermediate enrichment course offerings for next year.”

He added there could potentially be three separate classes related to the automotive industry.

“Current students who will be returning will have the option to begin next year in the intermediate course and those taking the basic course in the first semester next year can take the intermediate course in their second semester. I envision that as the popularity and course develops, we will eventually offer an advanced course.”

Sorgie splashes to success as sole swimmer on swim team

By Rodney Martinez ’17 For all of the great sports Riordan has to offer, swimming has not been one of them.

It is difficult to have a team when there is no pool on campus, and there is generally a lack of interest. This year, that changed thanks to one senior who wanted to represent his school in the WCAL. Ryan Sorgie ’17 enjoys participating in different activities at Riordan, but he has a strong love for swimming. Sorgie has been a swimmer for almost his entire life and has participated in competitions for about nine years, such as the Junior Olympics and Far Westerns.

This year, he took on a new

challenge and became the lone swimmer on the Riordan team.

Sorgie said, “It’s cool because I’m putting a stepping stone down in a line for other Riordan swimmers and helping the program to grow and showing that it’s a sport that has potential.”

Even though Sorgie is the sole swimmer of the team, he does not take it easy. For six days a week, Ryan does morning workouts before school (5 a.m. - 7 a.m.) and in the evening after school (5 p.m.

- 7 p.m.). Most of his training consists of different cross fit workouts and laps.

Even though swimming takes over a lot of Ryan’s life, he still enjoys it, and wouldn’t trade his time in the pool for anything.

Photo by Joseph Kerrigan ’18 Ryan Sorgie ’ 17, sole Crusader swimmer, raises his arms in triumph.

“I enjoy the commitment and and trying to be better than I was dedication it takes,” Sorgie said. yesterday, and I like the [race “I like challenging myself harder itself]. Swimming is a thrill.”

4 Campus News

The Crusader Archbishop Riordan High School

May 2017

Purple and Gold Gala exemplifies ‘It’s Our Time’ to shine

By Aidan Murtagh ’18 On Feb. 25, Archbishop Riordan hosted its largest fundraiser of the year, the Purple and Gold Gala, for a sellout crowd at Bimbo’s 365 Club in San Francisco.

The event featured a live auction, a silent auction, live music, dinner, and dancing, and all the proceeds will support our Tuition Assistance Program. This event was very successful, raising over $300,000, which exceeded expectations.

The gala’s theme was “It’s Our Time,” which represents how the school community is on the rise and how the future looks bright for our school. Riordan alumni from every from every decade attended the event, and lots of parents and faculty members were excited to have fun while supporting a good cause.

As the guests entered, there was a red carpet waiting to greet them with photographers there to take their pictures. Parent volunteers greeted the guests,

checked them in, and handed them programs and bid numbers.

Inside, there was an open bar with Mediterranean dishes such as marinated vegetables, hummus, and olives being served.

The emcee of the event was the local comedian Bob Sarlatte, who announced the itinerary of the evening and kept things light and enjoyable.

Soon after mingling, everyone took their seats, and after grace led by Father Cameron Faller, dinner and the live auction began.

The main course was roasted chicken breast, and as the crowd enjoyed their food, they could bid on various items such as vacation getaways, an adventure on the bay, a first responders VIP experience, and a dinner with Riordan’s new president.

After dinner, the dance floor opened up and the party kicked into high gear. People danced the night away to songs played by the Mustache Harbor band, whose mission is to “build a mustache

Photo by Nano Visser Tom Palmer ’ 75, Roger Smith ’ 70 , Brian Spiers ’ 75, Kevin Holl ’ 75

army and create a Soft Rock Explosion,” according to their website. The band played hits from the 1960s and 70s, and the crowd loved it. There was always someone on the dance floor as the band played, and everybody was in a festive, excited mood.

Expressing her feelings about the event, our Director of Communications Victoria Terheyden, stated, “It was great to see so many members of our

community come out to support a great cause.”

The Purple and Gold Gala was very successful, leaving many people eager to go again next year. With many donors of the community supporting our Tuition Assistance Program, the Purple and Gold Gala was both a momentous occasion for our school community and an event which truly represents that “It’s Our Time” at Archbishop Riordan High School.

Hard work adds Summer reading selection provides something for everyone up to success in Alexander Vallecillo ’18

by James L. Swanson math competition ByThe books for the summer of is the true story of

By Uzair Shaikh ’17 Many Archbishop Riordan High School students participated in the rigorous California Math League Competition.

All students were given a test during the year and then a few were selected to participate in the competition. Students who participated worked hard and prepared for this test.

The format for this competition was split up into six competitions and a point total was given for each contests. Junior Lei Chen said, “The contest does not only test people how they are good at memorizing formulas, it also tests our math skills and the way we are thinking. Most questions are not straightforward, so we have to think of a detour to know what math formula to use, and then solve the problems. That’s a pretty exciting experience.”

This gave students a numerous amount of chances to show off their skills. The results are: In first place, Lei Chen with a total of 28 points. Not far behind was Ji Luang ’18 with 26 points. In third place was Li Keye ’18 with 21 points.

Everyone who participated showed great amount of skill and determination. A bright spot was a freshman Yuchen Moa, who scored a total of 20 points, earning him fourth place. The math competition is challenging and competitive, and for a freshman to score a high score is very rare.

2017 include a small variety of novels for freshman through upcoming seniors. The Lower Division book options for freshman and sophomores include three fiction books and two nonfiction.

The Upper Division book options for juniors and upcoming seniors include three fiction books and two nonfiction books.

The freshman and sophomores may choose from either the Lower or Upper Division summer reading books. The juniors and incoming seniors will only be able to choose from the Upper Division books. According to information gathered by the school summer reading committee: Lower Division fiction books: “The Time Machine” is written

by H. G. Wells in which Time Travellers journey into the future and humanity has developed into two separate races. “Life of PI” written by Yann Martel is about the son of a zookeeper who is stranded on a life boat at sea with a hungry tiger.

“Mexican WhiteBoy” is a story of a 16-year old trying to find his identity amongst his friends and family on the baseball fields and surroundings of San Diego.

Elijah Odocayen ’20 said, “Man in the High Castle” sounds interesting because it offers an alternative history and Mexican WhiteBoy since it sounds appealing.”

Lower Division nonfiction books: “Chasing Lincoln’s Killer”

the 12 day chase of the 16th president’s killer through three states. “Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team” by Steve Sheinkin is about an unbelievably

Summer reading books for 2017

talented Native American football player and later on, gold medalist, whose team is one of the best in American history.

Upper Division fiction books: “Go Tell It on the Mountain” by James Baldwin, is about a young man living in Harlem in the 1930s with his strict preacherfather. “The Man in the High Castle” by Phillip Dick projects a world in which the Allied Powers were defeated by the Axis Powers in World War II. “Silence” by Shusaku Endo is the story of two Jesuit priests who travel to a land

that is not fond of their religion and endure tests of faith.

“Silence” sounds interesting because it shows how important Catholicism is to people, that they are willing to die for their faith,” stated José Cuéllar ’18.

Upper Division nonfiction books: “Dead Mountain: The Untold Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident” by Donnie Eichar is the true story of nine experienced hikers who mysteriously died and the circumstances surrounding their death. “Under a Flaming Sky: The Great Hinckley Firestorm of 1894”

by Daniel James Brown is another true story, this one is about two forest fires which encroached on the town of Hinckley, Minnesota trapping more than 2,000 people.

Librarian Daniel Appel commented, “I have read all of them and for Upper Division I would recommend “Dead Mountain” and “Mexican WhiteBoy” for Lower Division.”

May 2017

The Crusader Archbishop Riordan High School

Campus News

5

Alumni return to inspire Crusaders on Career Day

By Jimmy Velasco ’17 On March 10, students heard from various alumni about their professions during Career Day. Alumni spoke about their jobs and how they got to where they are right now. The different careers included law enforcement, business management, doctor, firefighter, acting, and many more.

Career Day was made especially for students to find out their future professions.

Junior Division Guidance Counselor, Vanessa Vincent said, “Career Day was created (before I was a counselor at ARHS) as a way to get students excited about their future possibilities and to get information about what the reality of a given career is and what it takes to have that particular career. We had students take a survey so they could attend sessions with speakers in fields that interested them. The vast majority of the speakers are alumni of ARHS so students can connect with other Crusaders that have already graduated as

well.”

These past Crusaders were glad to return to their alma mater to speak to students. John Feeley ’77 said, “I learned a long time ago that you should give back and I was lucky enough my brothers and I to have gone to school here, and I really like Marc Rovetti (Alumni Director) and John Ring (Development Director) who have reached out, and so I’m really happy to do anything they ask me and I’m hoping to teach you guys something worthwhile.”

Students had the opportunity to attend three career sessions with each alumnus hoping to inspire the young Crusaders.

Anthony Bryant ’81 said, “I hope to impress the students on how fun engineering is and how rewarding of a career it can be.”

Actor Tom Osborne ’05 also said, “I hope to give students inspiration to always follow their dreams even though acting is one of the hardest careers ever. Give them encouragement to keep going and pushing on forward.”

Students enjoyed the content

and information the alumni speakers offered during their sessions.

Sean Coffey ’17 said, “I enjoyed seeing the excitement and joy the alumni had when discussing their profession as they knew they were inspiring future workers and helping them get on the right track to success.”

This Career Day proved to be an enthusiastic and inspiring day for all students.

Brendan Quock ’17 said, “The thing I enjoyed most in Career Day was the different presentations that the alumni gave. It was really great and amazing to see all these Riordan graduates come back and help out their alma mater.”

Math teacher Ottilie Valverde enjoyed seeing former students, especially Derrick Kualapai ’89, who was instrumental in adding

Photo by Joseph Kerrigan ’18 Actors Joe Spano ’63 and Tom Osborne ’05 spoke to students on Career Day, March 10.

“Archbishop” to the school name.

Vincent added “I received nothing but positive feedback from the alumni regarding their experience on Career Day and interacting with students. Many said they would like to be notified when the next one takes place!”

Trio of talent joins ARHS staff spring semester

By Jaime Hernandez ’17 At the beginning of 2017, Archbishop Riordan welcomed three new staff members into the community.

One is an alumnus from the Class of 2012, Tre’Jon Bolden, who has taken a position at the Help Desk. He is in charge of all the printing and any type of technical difficulty problems students may encounter. Bolden said, “It feels cool to be back and I just want to be able give back to the school community.” Along with many of our alumni faculty, he feels confident and glad to be back.

The Riordan community has welcomed Michael So, who joined the Theology Department.

He said, “I look forward to being part of the lives of the students at Riordan as they grow from boys into men. I think Riordan is a great fraternity, and I am proud to be part of the wonderful traditions of this institution.”

He added, “Riordan’s identity as a Catholic school was a great pull for me. Catholic education has helped form mature, happy, well-rounded individuals and communities for many generations, and I am excited to be a part of this important Church ministry.”

Not only is this next gentleman an addition to the teaching staff, but he is also the newest addition to the baseball program at Riordan. His name is Cory Nelson, and he accepted the opportunity to be involved with the Riordan Crusaders after meeting with Principal Vittorio Anastasio.

Nelson said that he looks forward to building new relationships at Riordan as well being a positive role model. He plans on taking that trait and contributing it to the baseball diamond with his coaching skills. He also said that he is glad to be here and looking forward to meeting new guys and growing relationships.

Tre’Jon Bolden ’12 Technology Help Desk

Michael So Theology Department

Cory Nelson Social Science Department

Students collect flip flops for SF’s homeless In English teacher’s Deb Caterina’s junior American Literature class, the students collected 118 pairs of new flip flops as a class contest. The shoes were then donated to a center that serves homeless people in downtown San Francisco.

6 Campus News

May 2017

The Crusader Archbishop Riordan High School

Mercy wins Battle, but Riordan still triumphant

By Chang Liu ’18 This year’s Battle of the Avenues was an overall success where two schools raised $3,600 for the Huckleberry House for victims of human trafficking.

Despite a Riordan loss by a slim margin, the rally went really smoothly with exciting action and nail-biting games.

It started off with a prayer and a beautifully sung national anthem by two girls from Mercy.

Then the Riordan LIFE team presented a poster talk about the issue of human trafficking and the relevance to students.

This touched and affected many members of the audience as they sat quietly and listened to the pervasiveness of the issue at hand. Then the LIFE team urged students to sign their names on the posters to acknowledge that this pressing issue exists.

Then it kicked off with the teacher volleyball game. After multiple volleys and pristine volleyball action, the Crusader teachers narrowly lost 8-10.

Next, was the Mercy spinoff of capture the flag, rocks. Riordan students quickly ended the game with 12-0 sweep. Then, came the fun and enticing Hungry Hungry Humans. During the first round, there was tons of arm thrashing and general chaos, but when the confusion stopped, Riordan won the first round with a score of 9072 balls.

As set up for the second round went on, there was the best dance off on the West Coast that night

between the mascots: the Riordan Crusader and Mercy’s Skipper the Dolphin. Then, after another round of arm thrashing and general chaos, Riordan took another win with 100-79 balls for the second round.

After a quick intermission for snacks, the relay race commenced.

It was composed of four stages.

The first stage was to put on the other school’s basketball warmup and a dash to midcourt; then, the next leg wears drunk goggles and hula-hoops 10 times and then runs to the basket to make a layup; the last leg is with drunk goggles on a toddler scooter from one end of the court to the other. The Crusaders started off slow, but ended up with the win, beating Mercy by six scooter lengths.

During this next intermission, the two artists of both schools emerged from a room and displayed their artwork. The theme of their work was both schools coming together to help out the needy. Both were beautiful and well thought out works, and the judges came to the consensus that they preferred Riordan’s Panote Nuchprayoon ’18 to be the most representative of the two.

After another intermission, it was time for the much anticipated flag football game.

With Riordan Dean of Students Juan Zumbado ’98 as the referee, the game started. This game was a nail bitter to watch. Many tense moments and hushes from the crowd added to the excitement of the game. Though there was an

Photos by Chris Peterson ’18 The Mercy San Francisco mascot, Skipper, stands in solidarity with the Riordan mascot, the Crusader, before the games began.

Photo by Stephen Aguirre ’18 Students carry Kieran Engemann ’17 after winning the flag football game. issue with the flags, Riordan got with the Riordan DJ Club the win 14-7 and named Kieran providing the music and the hype Engemann ’17 as the MVP. for the social.

Right after this exciting game, it Midway through the social, the was time for student government points were tallied up. Each school dodgeball ball. It resulted in received one point for each person a quick and tidy game where attending, one point for each the ARHS student government reusable water bottle brought, destroyed Mercy’s student and 15 points for each game won. government.

Emerging from a room, the two Uziah Metcalfe ’18, the assistant presidents accompanied by their spirit chair, said, “I feel like respective student government there was more energy and spirt moderators announced the involved into this year’s rally points. A bone crushing loss was than any other year that I have announced when Mercy beat experienced at the benefit rally Riordan with a score of 271-281. night.”

The trophy will remain at Mercy Jamie Ramos ’17 (Mercy SF), until next time. dressed up as the dolphin, said, Next year, it has been decided “It was fun and everyone was that Battle of the Avenues will really into it, especially during no longer be a rally, but a night competitions and we won, so it’s where both schools come together all good.” in support for a pressing issue After the games, there was an that plagues our daily lives. The alma mater off. Each school sang winner will be determined by the their alma mater. Then, right on most in attendance, and Riordan que with music, the social started, will host the event.

Kai Guigona ’17 and Mike’l Gregory ’18 participate in Hungry Hungry Humans.

May 2017

The Crusader Archbishop Riordan High School

Local News

7

Community sees ray of light for reviving El Rey Theatre Story and photo by Keven Ariel Munoz ’18 A lack of funds for the Pentecostal Church, A Place for Jesus, might be bringing a new form of entertainment to an avenue near you.

According to news reports, the church has been unable to pay their rent recently and is now being evicted from 1970 Ocean Avenue building. The empty building will create the possibility for the neighborhood to open up a new movie theater. However, they must renovate the interior of the building since it is in such bad shape.

The Art Deco building was designed by renowned architect Timothy Pflueger and opened as a one house movie theater in 1931, and even housed the first ever GAP in 1986. The building is now at a crossroad.

The community wants to open the theater doors once again, long after the last curtain call in 1977. However, the building is in limbo. Some want it to be a movie theater again, others want it to house a historical museum, and still others want a complete demolition.

“Why not keep the building but make it a performing arts center?” asked Uziah Metcalfe ’18.

The pre-existing church still wants to fight for its location on behalf of the congregation. Even after their eviction, they are persisting in attempts to regain the building. But this is unlikely because of the price of the building now being boosted up to $6 million by its new owners.

Pastor Richard Gozowski told

the SF Chronicle, “We will probably be in that building until Jesus Christ comes back,” he said.

“The building owners know that and they are going to sell it back to us. They were going to tear it down and build an apartment complex, but we shared with them the vision of the church.”

Many were against the forcing out of the church.

“I don’t agree that they are forcing the church out, but I support a new business opportunity,” said Darien Thomas ’19.

The majority of the public voice yearns for the maintenance of the original movie theater.

However, this might be difficult because of the very rough state of the interior. It must be renovated before any business can move in.

College Counselor, Melissa Nagar, said, “Like the rest of the changes on Ocean, I have mixed feelings. I’m excited for the revitalization of Ocean Ave., but at the same time it’s an indication of the change in the landscape of the neighborhood and city, which saddens me.”

In the end, Ingleside is destined to have a great new addition to their community, whatever it becomes. The school community shall enjoy a historic building that has not been entered by many, other than the church members and those who attended a movie festival in 2011.

Catherine Mifsud, Dean of Student Life, said, “It should be restored into its original glory.

They should have a piano in the center to play overture music for the movies, like they do in the Castro Theater.”

“House Update,” continued from page 1

Archdiocese resusciates need for CPR

By Michael Kay ’18 The archdiocese of San Francisco is focusing on the importance of CPR training for their employees.

In the Feb. 20 edition of the Catholic San Francisco Newspaper, an article emphasizes the need to have all employees prepared in case of an emergency.

Members of the Pastoral Center have been recently trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation because of their deep respect for life.

It takes about six minutes for a lack of oxygen in the blood to kill the brain.

Jordan Fox ’18 helped save a life last year. “It was around 4:00 or 5:00 in the afternoon, during baseball season, we were with the trainer, Erin (Stovall), and we see Donny Bendo and a few of the other baseball players saying

The building at 1970 Ocean Avenue has had many lives: a Gap Store, the El Rey Theatre, and most recently, the Voice of Pentacost Church. After the church was evicted a few months ago, community members started looking to the possibility of revitalizing the glory of the historic El Rey as a theatre.

that they needed help, they were speechless. We ran out there and we saw him [the coach] was having a heart attack and I ran to get the AUD and I looked for one in the gym but it looked like it was already use, but I got it and ran as fast as I could.”

“I opened the case and Erin put the pads on him and hit him.

I walked away with coach Arias and I saw him wake up. You could tell he was revived, he was losing his breath.”

With some quick thinking, Jordan was able to save a life.

Facilities Director Scott Rea ’87 said, “I believe that it is beneficial to be trained. Although I have never used it, it is good to be prepared and one short, simple class can, and could, potentially save a life.”

are the divisional representatives, which include two people from each class in each house.

With four houses, this means there are twelve house captains, and 32 divisional representatives.

Chang Liu, a senior who previously ran for School Captain, became one of the House Captains. Liu trusts Peregrino to lead the school as the School Captain next year.

“I want to say I trust Roman and he has a genuine love for our school and respect for those who make it happen,” he said.

As a House Captain, he said his goal is like everyone else’s in the student parliament, which is to please the students on campus with the multitude of events.

Along with Chang Liu, Hunter Harrold, Angel Hernandez, and Rodrigo Cuellar are the Senior House Captains.

Zach Quanico, Patrick O’Brien, Ryan Quock, and Sean Moore are next year’s Junior House Captains. Zachary Phillips, Devin Kaya, Michael Gray, and Jules Mulwa will be the Sophomore House Captains.

Freshmen will elect their Freshmen House Captains towards the beginning of next school year.

The Provincials of the four houses will be Valerie O’Riordan, Stephanie Lundin, Christopher Fern, and Leo Magnaye ’05.

The final form of student government is the mentor leaders.

Next year, after being placed into a house, Riordan students will also be in a mentor group. Within that group, elections are held to report directly to the School Vice Captain.

Joey Klobas, Student Activities Coordinator, is excited.

“I foresee us running into issues trying to combat a government that has been in style for years, but the more the guys are point driven for the Crusader Cup and awards, they will be able to hold on it,” Klobas said.

To people thinking of taking part of the new system, Klobas said, “If you are thinking about doing it, at least speak to the person running it. Do it. Talk to people.”

8 Local News

May 2017

The Crusader Archbishop Riordan High School

City College to offer free tuition to SF residents

By Alexander Vallecillo ’18 On Feb. 6, Mayor Ed Lee stated that residents of San Francisco would be able to attend City College of San Francisco free of charge. Free City College is eligible for those who have lived in San Francisco for an entire year and does not depend upon income.

Low-income students that receive a state-funded fee waiver will also receive $250 per semester for school supplies and $100 per semester for part-time students.

The new funding will come from a tax on properties that are sold for $5 million or more. The city of San Francisco will provide $5.4 million annually for the $46-a-credit fee per student.

Just in 2012, City College was close to closing due to almost losing their accreditation. Colleges that do not have their accreditation cannot receive public funding by state law.

In 2006, City College was cautioned to fix six major problems that might cause them to lose their accreditation, and in 2012 there were 14. In 2015 there was an agreement to give the college two more years to comply with the problems.

After being threatened with closure less than five years ago,

Photos by Keven Munoz ’18 City College of San Francisco, which opened in 1935, will now be free for San Francisco residents.

the college finds itself in a new frontier with the free system.

There are many benefits.

Assistant college counselor, Vanessa Martinez said, “It would change the way I counsel some students.” “[Now it] makes it more accessible for more students and will open doors for people that did not think they would go to college,” Martinez said. “Most students are looking for a fresh start (City College does not look at their high school and SAT) and

professors only teach and do not have extra classes.”

In January of 2017 it was announced that City College of San Francisco would keep its accreditation. It was confirmed that CCSF had corrected the 14 accreditation problems from 2012.

In the opinion of Liam Thompson ’17, who will be attending City College in the fall, if it would have closed in 2012, “I would have applied to regular colleges and would have probably gone to a state school.”

Parish Green Teams advocate to save world by focusing on environment

By Andrius Appel ’19 Scientists say the world is in a bad situation regarding the environment. Global warming has continued to progress and critics say that someone like the president of the United States should do something about it.

Parish Green Teams consist of parish volunteers in San Francisco and around the world who want to help the environment around their parishes.

According to the Archdiocese, “A Green Team is a group of parish volunteers who plan, seek approval, organize, carry out, evaluate and report back on environmental activities in line with Catholic Social Teaching.

There are Green Teams by many different names at Catholic parishes worldwide.”

The goals are to: “Save money on energy, increase parishioner participation, strengthen parish engagement with the community, and most importantly, live our Christian values.”

Theology teacher John

Ahlbach said, “It’s about time. I’m surprised about the bishops not promoting them and how Donald Trump has cut the funds to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency).”

Sophomore Alfonso Hinojosa also agrees with Ahlbach in that cutting funds to the EPA is a bad idea. He said, “It is a dumb idea because we only recently began funding the environmental protection efforts made by Barack Obama.”

The areas of focus for Parish Green teams are: Parish performance, engage parishioners, finding resources, and solidarity.

Ahlbach said that environmental protection is a necessity in the United States and at Riordan.

Regardless of a Green Team or not, science teacher Michael Hickam thinks Riordan should do its part in saving the environment.

He said, “I think sorting and composting waste at school would be a great eco-friendly step to making the school greener.”

WordOnFire.org To adhere to the request of Pope Francis to be better citizens of the world, Parish Green Teams were created in an effort to protect the environment.

May 2017

The Crusader Archbishop Riordan High School

Local News

9

Bigfoot Bonanza leaves lasting imprint on San Francisco

Story and Photo by Henry Novicki ’18 75 miles north of Eureka, California, lies Bluff Creek, a camping site in one of the northern most parts of the state.

Within the foliage, rocks, rivers, and trees are many a campsite. In the late 1960s, two campers spent a few days in October in Bluff Creek, and brought a camera.

They filmed what is now the most iconic and recognizable footage of any cryptid ever. They filmed, Bigfoot.

Around 50 years have passed since the Patterson-Gimlin film was shot. And Bigfoot mania is still running wild. Running so wild, in fact that the Balboa Theatre in San Francisco hosted a Bigfoot Bonanza. Three days of panels, films and discussion about everything ranging from whereabouts to foot anatomy.

Now Bigfoot is a world-wide phenomenon. Its most cryptic start was at a local level, now Bigfoot skyrocketed into the mainstream media. Due to the footage (or lack thereof), its existence still hasn’t been proven or disproven.

So the real question is, why is Bigfoot so famous and other cryptids like the East Coast’s Mothman, or Fresno’s Nightcrawlers are not? And another question is, who around us in our day believes in the mysterious Sasquatch of the northern regions?

Riordan Spanish teacher Armando Castillo said, “People believe in Bigfoot because he’s a commodity. There’s Bigfoot beers and Bigfoot hats and all these people with cellphones and no ones taken a picture of him except for some guy in a monkey suit.”

This is true. At the Bigfoot Bonanza, there was a fair amount of merchandise including plasters of supposed Bigfoot tracks.

Bigfoot is seen as a bad omen to some Native Americans in the area, but others just see it as another creature walking the forest. So what’s the Catholic Church’s opinion on Bigfoot?

Father Cameron Faller, Riordan chaplain and theology teacher said, “The church doesn’t have an opinion.” Upon further inquiry he said, “Do I believe there could be a creature out there of abornmal height? Sure. ” But what about the people who believe? Some say they believe because it’s harmless and makes the world more exciting. Some believe because they’ve seen Bigfoot. And some just, believe.

After asking around some more, Chanel Nijmeh, Resource Specialist Program Tier 3 Coordinator said, “Bigfoot is absolutely real. We just need to look harder for him.”

So it’s up to the reader. What lurks just out of sight behind some trees or deep in the ocean?

Who knows? That’s the question.

A life size interpretation of Bigfoot greeted visitors at the Balboa Theatre.

Fake news poses threat to scholastic, professional journalism

By Brandon Castro ’18 Fake news. This isn’t very new.

Even in the early 1900s it was called “Yellow Journalism,” which is a form of journalism that’s based upon unrefined stories.

Fake news started to regain attention due to its large following during the 2016 Presidential election. Fake news stories were widely spread all over social media and other news outlets.

However, a study sponsored by economists Matthew Gentzkow of Stanford and Hunt Allcott of New York University stated that “only 14 percent (of Americans) say they relied on Facebook and other social media sites (website pop ups and cheap local newspapers) as their most important source of election coverage.”

They also stated that more than 30 million pro-Trump fabricated stories were shared, which is more the quadruple that of Hillary Clinton. In addition, a very small portion of Americans

believed the fake news stories and said that a fake news story would have to be very persuasive to have changed a voter’s mind.

In addition, fake news stories haven’t only been popular in the state-wide and national elections, but schools and communities as well. Student journalists from Townsend Harris High School (NYC) were appalled when called a “Fake News” outlet by a member of the school district administration, Fran DeSanctis, for their work on cracking open a controversial story that was surrounding the school’s temporary principal, Rosemarie Jahoda.

The students’ story exposed her alleged inappropriate conduct, mistreatment and discrimination in the school area.

By doing so, the Department of Education is publicly trying to weaken the school’s newspaper, The Classic, even though the news stories are credible.

“This is exactly what detractors do to undermine scholastic or professional journalism,” said Susan Sutton, adviser of The Crusader, and journalism teacher for 15 years.

“They try to discredit individuals or organizations they do not agree with by calling them fake. This is where readers have to do their own research to determine what is truthful, and what is propaganda or political backpedaling.”

Byrdnick.com Other cases like these show just how much these fake news accusations have affected the journalism community.

It’s become bothersome for most, but some states like California have already introduced a bill which “would require the state to establish curriculum standards and frameworks to teach “civic online reasoning” to middle- and high-schoolers,” as stated by The Washington Post.

10 Food

The Crusader Archbishop Riordan High School

May 2017

Beep’s boasts best burger on block for your buck Story and photos

by Patrick Brown ’17 Beep’s Burgers is almost a right of passage for students at Riordan, being only a short walk from the school with a wide variety of items to peruse.

Whether it’s a short schedule or just a sunny day, Beep’s is perfect for an after school snack.

Beep’s offers burgers, including a bacon cheeseburger, and other snacks such as fish and chips and milkshakes.

I visited Beep’s to see if it really is as good as everyone at Riordan said. The short answer is yes; the long answer is it is worth your money for what it offers. When you place your order, the people running Beep’s are very polite and know Riordan so they talk to you about the school or life.

The wait times are very short, and you’ll probably look at your phone while waiting so you won’t really notice the wait.

Beep’s has Bluetooth attached to the counter for a seating of five or more. Beep’s also has a table nearby that seats six so you can eat with all your friends at the same table like lunch in the cafeteria.

When I was there, I tried the fish and chips with a vanilla milkshake. The fish and chips were excellent with the perfect amount of crispiness and salt.

The French fries alone were worth the wait, and thankfully they come with every meal.

I went with fellow classmate Sean Coffey ’17 who bought the cheeseburger and fries. He said, “The burger was excellent and was well worth the wait.”

Sean is the best friend a person could have and paid for the meal.

Sean also said, “The food is a bit pricey and with it being so close to McDonalds with their cheap menu, it’s hard to really choose quality over price.”

The nearby neighborhood is full of alternatives like a very popular corner store and a Quickly’s also in the vicinity. The restaurant faced hard times with new recent competition and is glad Riordan students love the place, giving it rave reviews.

Beep’s Burgers is a point of pride for Riordan and cultural norm for students. Like Central Perk on “Friends” or the restaurant from Seinfeld, Beep’s Burgers is the hangout spot for students at Riordan.

If you ever are waiting for friends or your parents after school and have time to kill, give yourself a treat and visit Beep’s Burgers. While the food is little pricey based on proximity to McDonalds, if you enjoy food that is made with care and a measure of quality, Beep’s is well worth your time and money.

Monterey Pizza serves up monumental slices Story and photos by Zachary Phillips ’20 If you’re in the mood for a quick slice of great pizza after school, then Monterey Pizza is a place you should definitely check out. It’s on Monterey Boulevard right next to Safeway.

Not only do they have a wide range of unique pizza, but a long list of sandwiches, appetizers, pastas, and desserts. But their pizza is where they shine!

When two of our reporters checked out the place they ordered a classic pepperoni pizza slice and a custom slice called “The Palazzo Special.” This slice had pepperoni, salami, sausage, mushroom, and mozzarella cheese.

These slices are huge!

The cheese was high quality and has lots of favor. The crust was made perfectly. It was very crispy and had lots of flavor.

The restaurant has a couple of chairs if you want to eat at the restaurant; it is a small place so you might prefer to take it to go.

This place does quick and easy pizza like no others can. You should definitely check this place out if you and your fellow Crusaders are craving pizza after school.

May 2017

The Crusader Archbishop Riordan High School

Features

11

Class of 1987 celebrates 30 years of Crusader Brotherhood

By Jimmy Velasco ’17 and Jeancarlos Santos ’17 The Class of 1987 is celebrating 30 years as Crusader brothers, a great milestone together. Some of them are still vibrant members of their alma mater as members of the staff and faculty: Campus Ministry Director Alex Datoc, math teacher Ken Morris, Digital Arts teacher Viggen Rassam, Alumni Director Marc Rovetti, and Facilities Director Scott Rea. Datoc said, “My first reaction to celebrating 30 years of the Class of 1987 graduating from ARHS is, “Wow, has it been that long?”

Sometimes it feels like yesterday, when we were students walking the halls of AHRS or RHS (Riordan High School) when we were here.

I am excited to reunite with some of my classmates and share fond memories and rekindle high school friendships.”

Rovetti said, “It is very cool!

A milestone indeed. I look back and realize I am old, but not as old as the guys from 1957 who are celebrating their 60th! I remember June 6, 1987 like it was yesterday. Our class has taken the opportunity to get together at various places for dinner once a month for the past six months, which has been amazing. Some guys I haven’t seen for 30 years.

Photo by Jimmy Velasco ’17 Ken Morris, Marc Rovetti, Alex Datoc, Viggen Rassam, Scott Rea

Everyone has done a great job and I am looking forward to October 21 at The Thirsty Bear!”

Rassam said, “It is surreal. It definitely doesn’t feel like three decades have passed.”

The Class of 1987 shared many memories and had great Crusader pride as brothers.

Datoc said, “I believe what stood out with our class is that we had a lot of school spirit. I mean, I remember entering as a freshmen and there were 240 of us freshmen, and when football tryouts came around, 220 of us tried out for Freshmen Football.

Wow! I also remember a lot of us going to the “Bon Fire Rally” in our parking lot, then boarding four busses and headed out to Kezar Pavilion to cheer on our basketball team versus St. Ignatius in a CCS game. As sophomores, we looked forward to purchasing our school jackets and a majority of my classmates had a Riordan jacket. It was a sight to see in our hallways, the sea of Riordan jackets worn by the students. I believe that something as simple as a jacket, helped unite us as a class. It displayed our pride with our school, our brotherhood as a

class and, at the time, it was cool to wear.”

Each class is special in many different ways, and will always be Crusader brothers. Students will also have this special connection especially after graduation.

Rassam said, “Stay in contact with your classmates. It is much easier for your generation thanks to social media. All of you will go your separate ways to chase your individual dreams. Make sure to keep the core values taught to you at Riordan and be there for one another, when at all possible.

To be able to share memories and to be there for ups and downs is what it should be about.”

Rovetti said, “Being a Crusader is better than any fraternity in college or business organization you’ll be part of during your career. No matter where you go, what college you attend or the path you find yourself taking in life, the one question that will always arise when you meet someone from the City is: ‘What school did you go to?’ Being back at Riordan with four of my fellow classmates is also very rewarding.

It’s funny in one way now that we are adults and have families and responsibilities and on the other hand, they know things about me most people just don’t.”

Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey folds tent, closes circus Story and Photo

by Keven Munoz ’18 Earlier this year, Feld Entertainment announced the end of the greatest show on earth as a result of low ticket sales.

The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will perform one last time at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y., on May 21.

Furthermore, the company declared that the show is very expensive for the company to continue supporting it. Although they are sad to say goodbye to something that has brought smiles to many faces for more than 130 years, the company was forced to close the circus because of financial reasons that have been rising tremendously since the circus announced in 2016 that there will not be any more elephant acts.

Some relate the closing of to organizations that rallied and protested their use of animals in their show, especially PETA. Tristan Cunningham, a professional clown and advisor to the fall 2016 theater production of “Circus Olympus,” said, “I don’t support the use of animals in circus acts. [But], I don’t support the way they [PETA] went about protesting.”

She added, “At one of the shows I went to they were standing

outside with pictures of bloody animals with children walking around. The animal issue was more of an adult issue.”

The 146-year-old circus joined forces and went into the hands of Feld Entertainment about 50 years ago. The company is the producer company of many shows like Disney on Ice, Monster Jam, and Disney Live. Ever since, Feld Entertainment and the circus known for its mystical use of animals in their shows has had an endless battle with organizations like PETA who fight against all mistreatment of animals.

After the tents are taken down later this month, the family and company of Feld Entertainment will look to the future with pure optimism, only working to improve the other shows of which they operate. Many circus lovers will miss the show dearly.

Catherine Mifsud, Dean of Student Life, said, “There is a beautiful thing when you can see a communication between animals and humans.”

But others say that the circus will not be missed.

Social Science teacher Christopher Fern explained, “I’m not a big fan about making animals perform for our entertainment. If you want to go see animals, you can go to the zoo. If you want to see performers, you can always go

Tristan Cunningham, a clown by profession, juggles while members of the drama club support her.

watch an acrobat show.”

Either way, the world still lose a form of entertainment that lasted for more than a century and grew to be a big part of the childhoods of many generations.

Cunningham said, “There’s something about being silly and being willing to spread laughter as a clown. I just hope that we don’t lose that as a culture.”

12 Religion

The Crusader Archbishop Riordan High School

May 2017

Youth Day brings young to true understanding of faith

By Jimmy Velasco ’17 Thousands of young people from all over the United States came to Anaheim, for Los Angeles Youth Day on Feb. 23. This gathering was at the Anaheim Convention Center and shows just how the Catholic faith is alive in high school teens.

From a praise and worship concert to an arena mass, this event was a spirit filled day. This gathering was so large that there were two schedules to divide the groups. The schedules provided the same content, just rearranged in a different order. Youth Day kicked off the religious education conference held the day after.

The theme for this year’s Youth Day was “What are you waiting for?” which composes a strong inclination about taking action and not waiting to turn to God. The rally before mass was led by Father Rob Galea from Australia and then followed with different workshops the youth can attend.

ARHS Campus Ministry at one point had attempted to send a group to this gathering but was later canceled. Director of Campus Ministry Alex Datoc ’87 said, “I believe Riordan students should have attended Youth Day in Los Angeles to witness 14,000 youths from across the country to celebrate their Catholic faith. It is a day to get away from their everyday routine and experience so many ways to express faith.

I’ve taken Riordan students in the past and they had a great time at the liturgies, music concerts, and workshops. Many come away wanting to “Light a Fire” back at ARHS and strengthen the

Catholic faith with their brothers.”

Local youth groups from different parishes attended this gathering such as Saint Augustine in South San Francisco.

Youth Day not only influences the young church, but can ultimately inspire future campus ministry leaders.

Datoc said, “At Youth Day, there are so many different ways to express faith that reaches EVERYONE. Campus Ministry leaders will learn new ideas for liturgies and ways to engage their peers with faith that make it fun, exciting and meaningful. I am hoping that we can take a large group to Youth Day in 2018.”

Senior from Junipero Serra High School in Gardena, CA, Judith Lopez who helped plan youth Day said, “Youth Day isn’t just another Catholic conference. It’s a conference for teens that gives you a day to look back and realize how you can better yourself and your life. Youth Day has bands, mass, activities, and multiple interactive things to do. You can expect youth Day to be fun and lively, and trust me it’s worth the early wake up and the wait time.”

Another senior, Daniel Garcia also from Junipero Serra High School who also helped plan youth Day, said, “The biggest take away from my experience at youth day would be being able to experience

Recongress.org the choir that sang. Especially the priest who also sang and played guitar. He was what made Youth Day very special to me.”

Youth Day has captured the attention of many young people that it was a trending story on Snapchat titled “Catholics get Lit for the Lord.”

Pope Francis recently introduced the message for World Youth Day 2017, which will be based on Mary’s Magnificat. The message is “The Mighty One has done great things for me.” The Pope said Mary is an example of not

being afraid to take action, and young people should not be couch potatoes. He said, “Along the way, the events of our own lives come to mind, we learn the way, the events of our own lives come to mind, we learn to appreciate their meaning and we discern our vocation, which then becomes clear in their encounter with God and in service to others.”

In 2019, World Youth Day will take place in Panama, with the focus on Mary. LA Youth Day showed the strength of the young church today and for the future.

Pope Francis tweets tremendous spiritual inspiration

By Johnny Caceres ’19 Everyone has a Twitter account—even Pope Francis.

El Papa tweets inspirational posts to people online, which they read, and often re-tweet. Each day the pope posts one quote for everyone who follows him to help them get through their day. One example of his very memorable posts is, “Let us pray for the grace to never grow tired of drawing from the well of the Father’s mercy and bringing it to the world.”

The pope also posts other tweets besides quotes, like, “Please pray for my journey tomorrow as a pilgrim of peace to Egypt” and “During this week of Easter it would do us good every day to read a passage from the Gospel which speaks of the Resurrection of Christ.”

However, the pope does not have the most followers on Twitter. That goes to Katy Perry, who has more than 97 million

Staff screenshot followers.

Also, there are several world leaders that have Twitter, like former president Barack Obama and current president Donald J. Trump.

Pope Francis is not the first pope to ever tweet, that was Pope Benedict XVI. His first tweet was,

“Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart.”

Many different people around the world, estimating about more than 10 million followers or so, follow Pope Francis on Twitter

reading and liking all of his short, concise posts of inspiration or news.

Some of the students and teachers in ARHS follow the Pope daily whenever he posts his philosophical quotes on Twitter, leading them to have a much better day.

May 2017

The Crusader Archbishop Riordan High School

Arts & Entertainment

13

History Channel brings Crusades to life in new series

By Jakeclark Bennett ’18 The Crusader in the Archbishop Riordan logo is an important facet of the school’s history and symbolism as a Catholic school.

Recently, a 10-episode drama series “Knighfall” from A&E Studios has been announced, documenting the Crusades from the point of view of Templar Leader Sir Landry—played by Tom Cullen. Sir Landry was discouraged by the efforts of the Templars in the Holy Land, but his faith became reinvigorated once he caught wind that the Holy Grail resurfaced.

Other characters have important roles as well, like Olivia Ross as Queen Joan of France and Navarre, whose role is a relevant female character who is beginning to forge a powerful alliance between France.

De Nogaret is played by Julian Ovenden, serving as the right hand man to King Philip. There is also Sarah-Sofie Boussnina playing Adelina, a thief saved by

the Templar Knights. A handful of cast members are set to debut in this series.

Riordan social science teacher David Elu said, “It is an important part of the Crusades and it is important for the role of Christians in secular power. I do not know how they are portrayed;

they could be interpreted by liberating the Holy Land or whether they are oppressors of the Holy Land.”

It is a riveting tale of adventure, as viewers follow Sir Landry in his quest to guide the Templar Knights to glory to claim the Holy Grail—said to be Christianity’s most prized relic.

History Channel Deacon Joseph LeBlanc, a theology teacher, offers his thoughts on how the Crusades should be interpreted, “If you concentrate on the good things that the Crusades accomplished rather than the bad things; you’ll lose a sense of motivation for why it happened. So a balance of both the good and the bad are needed.”

WWE fans mourn Undertaker’s retirement

By Patrick Brown ’17 WrestleMania 33 took place on April 2 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida, and was the thirty-third annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by WWE. In addition to standard pay per view, it was broadcast simultaneously on the WWE Network.

WrestleMania 33 was a jointpromotion event for the Raw and SmackDown brands, the first since WrestleMania XXVII in 2011 as the brand split ended that year, but was reintroduced in July 2016. Students at Riordan High School watched the event and had a lot to say about the time honored tradition.

The students were asked about the favorite and least favorite parts of the show. Eric Cravioto ’17 said, “I was very excited for the match up between Brock Lesnar and Bill Goldberg for the Universal Championship.”

Right now, Goldberg has the belt but he won it from Brock at the last Fastlane event in February.

Matches like Lesnar vs Goldberg are one of the most viewed parts of events during WrestleMania due to their rich backstory.

Other matches during the event were more of a crowd pleasing send off for legend of the industry who wrestled for WWE for almost three decades.

Sean Coffey ’17 said, “I was more interested in the couples match between John Cena and Nikki Bella vs. The Miz and Maryse.”

Only few names hold such prestige as John Cena—he is the golden boy and the face of the current phase of WWE. The two couples had been rivals for months with the Miz and Maryse making fun of Cena and Bella for not being married and calling their relationship fake and made up for TV. The match was enjoyable, but had a predictable and storybook ending with John Cena proposing to Nikki Bella after they beat Miz and Marsye by both doing John Cena’s finishing move. This was a bittersweet moment that the fans had been waiting for for a very long time.

Jacob Saba ’17 said, “The

important event of the whole WrestleMania was the retirement match for the Undertaker, one of the most famous and popular wrestlers of all time.”

The Undertaker had been with the company for more than 30 years as a wrestler and has become a legend in his own right for his services. The Undertaker will have his hall of fame moment soon, but until then, the fans will remember the match as the one that retired the legend.

WrestleMania had many other matches, including a battle for the Intercontinental Championship won by Dean Ambrose, and Bray Wyatt lost to Randy Orton after months of a storyline where

WWE.org Randy Orton pretended to be a part of Bray Wyatt’s cult and then took it down from the inside.

The tag team championship had the return of The Hardy Boyz, who won the title after years of being off the roster. A point of ridicule is the WWE’s presented number of 75,245 people in attendance of WrestleMania 33 where many news outlets have disputed the number citing previously exaggerated attendance numbers.

WrestleMania 33 is done and is in the books. The heartbreak and surprises are what make WrestleMania an important event to the fans who come to see their heroes win or lose and support them either way.

14 Arts & Entertainment

The Crusader Archbishop Riordan High School

May 2017

Marching Band finishes year on high note

By John Regidor ’18 The first major band event of the 2017-2018 school year was the annual Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco. The event was largely televised, as Riordan received a lot of exposure and comments from excited spectators.

They performed “Crazy in Love,” written by Beyoncé Knowles, Rich Harrison, Shawn Carter and Eugene Record, arranged by Ralph Ford as well as “Pick Up the Pieces,” written by Roger Ball, Malcolm Duncan, Alan Gorrie, Hamish Stuart, Robbie McIntosh, and Owen McIntyre, arranged by Victor Lopez.

Along with the parades, the Crusader band performed at many basketball games, filling the crowd with energy and excitement.

The band was also invited to perform for the reopening of the Curran Theater in San Francisco. They played the iconic song “Seventy Six Trombones,” in honor of the founder of the theater, as it was her favorite song growing up.

The Crusader Marching Band marched in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. The entire parade route felt miles long, with twisting roads and narrow streets. The

Photos by Edwin Serrano The Riordan Marching Band performed at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

band found some difficulty in the performance. They performed the same songs they had for previous parades. Though the parade route was largely empty, band marched on nonetheless.

The Crusader Marching Band was offered an interesting opportunity to perform for a new ride that will be installed at Pier 39. The Marching Band marched through the pier as part of one of the scenes that will be shown in the ride. Though they played amazingly, their music will be

dubbed over for more favorable and copyright free music.

The 2016-2017 school year was one of the roughest and most interesting year for the Crusader Marching Band. With the departure of Scott Souza, the band faced its first full year under new leadership.

“As tough as it’s been in this transition, it was easier because of all the great kids who were taught

by Mr. Souza. It’s phenomenal what Mr. Souza did with the band and how well he had set us up so that way we should have a strong set of students. We hope to continue to grow the band and continue the tradition that Souza and former administrations have set,” said Assistant Band Director Edwin Serrano.

After his first full year at Archbishop Riordan, Assistant Director Edwin Serrano, is settling down to his new position.

“Coming in to Archbishop Riordan was something I was not use to.

I always thought of all private schools were rich and where all the stuck up boys went, but when I came to Riordan I was pleasantly surprised to see the wide rage of students that were here. It was completely different than what I

Left, the Riordan Marching Band participated in a recording for a new ride at Pier 39.

thought.

“It’s so different here because you guys get to know all the people here. Everyone knows each other. All the teachers know your name, everybody knows the custodians, and they know all the kids. That was what threw me for a loop. Even though the band is big, it still acts like a small band.

You guys still talk to each other and know each other, but for the most part you get along well.”

Drum Major Nicolas Caracter ’17 has been with the band since freshman year. “I witnessed lots and lots of thing that your typical band student should not go through. I’ve been through a few directors. Seeing all that stuff helped me grow as a leader and helped me prepare for the unknown world. Just like college, you don’t know how your college professors will be. This really prepares you for the different kind of professors you will meet, as well as leadership and different attitudes, who to follow and who to lead.”

He continued, “What you do in band goes beyond the band room. What you do in band rubs off on how you treat people in life, leading by example and striving for perfection. It rubs off everywhere. Going forward, I was focused on preparing the next generation of Crusaders for greatness, and my goal is to have sweepstake memories. I want to see everyone achieve success and greatness, I want to see a feeling of pride, and bring the spice and excitement back to ban. I’m excited to for your future.”

The Crusader Marching Band’s final concert was May 5, and its final competition was at the CMEA Festival on May 13, hosted

by Riordan.

Senior Jonah Rivera left with these parting words for his underclassmen: “You can stand on your own if you try.”

May 2017

The Crusader Archbishop Riordan High School

Arts & Entertainment 15

Nintendo flips sales script with introduction of Switch

By Jabriel Andrade ’18 Nintendo is a company that always strives to do something different which each console released. Of course, constant innovation in how we play games, doesn’t always bring out the best games.

The megapopular Wii, with over 100,000,000 units sold in its lifespan, and not so popular WiiU around 13,000,000 units sold, which shows the extremes that Nintendo goes to in order to innovate. Nintendo, instead of being discouraged from the failure, has decided to triple down with the console/mobile hybrid the Nintendo Switch.

The pre-release of the Switch was a rollercoaster of hate and hype. The original announcement, which aired in October of 2016, wanted to show gamers that they had learned from their past mistakes, promising a better online, and more third party support, or support from game developers not working at Nintendo. Thus, the initial hype, which ran on the idea of playing a game with the power of a current generation console wherever you want, The $300 price point was lower than

the competition, however the system was much much weaker than not only the soon to be released Project Scorpio from Microsoft, and PS4 Pro from Sony, but in fact it was even weaker than a vanilla PS4 and Xbox One. When news of this spread out, many including myself thought this was doom for the console. A weaker console with a lacking launch lineup couldn’t possibly be successful, could it?

At publication time, Nintendo has released that not only has the Switch sold 2,740,000 units on April 1, around a month after the initial release date, but it is also estimated to have 10,000,000 units sold by next year.

Chris Fern, moderator of R-Cade Club and owner of every Nintendo console since the N64, said, “No I didn’t expect it to do as well as it did. The price point was a hard sell for the underpowered hardware, and it felt like Nintendo can’t go back from this decision of joining console and mobile platforms.”

This was something no one expected, to compare the WiiU sold its 13,000,000 in five years.

There is really only one good reason the Switch crushed all expectations and sold as much as it did, and that’s Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Being a long awaited sequel to one of gaming’s most prolific franchises, BOTW for short, had enough hype, critical love, and nostalgia to pull in many

of Nintendo’s loyal fanbase, those who swore off the company after the last two consoles, and a new generation of Nintendo gamers.

BOTW pretty much selling the console is very much an understatement, as only 100,000 Switch consoles are reported to not have Zelda played or installed, so it’s very apparent that without this game, the Switch would be dead on arrival.

‘Flavor of Death’ cooks up funny murder mystery

By Henry Novicki ’18 Some musicals are made to make money. Some musicals are made as adaptations of old media, like “Heathers: The Musical” or “Lion King: The Musical.” Some musicals tell stories of loving and losing like “Hello, Dolly!”

Some musicals win the Pulitzer Prize for tackling topics like mental illness or AIDs, such as “Next To Normal,” which follows the story of a mother with bipolar depression and delusions and the struggles of her family, or Johnathan Larson’s “Rent,” which is about a group of poor friends in New York at the start of the AIDS epidemic in New York City in the late 80s.

However, some musicals are made because someone thought it would be a good idea. One of those is “Flavor Of Death: A Guy Fieri Mystery.”

In a seemingly small two story building a few blocks from Union Square on Sutter Street, is the Shelton theatre, which holds two theaters and multiple performance spaces. I walked through the narrow hallway that led past a stair way and into a fully functioning lounge as I waited for the show to begin.

About 10 minutes before the show started, we were led past

the bar down into the basement, which held another bar and mini stage as well as a 49 seat theatre where the show was being performed.

“Guy Fieri: Flavor of Death” is a murder mystery musical that takes place in San Francisco. A member of the planning committee is objecting the building of 140 plus story building on top of the Ferry Building called the Fieri Building. This is not a musical that takes itself seriously.

The planning committee denies her claim that the building isn’t safe because of the law of gravity and she is shunned by a clown with a TV show that instills fear and riots in San Francisco.

“She’s citing a law from four hundred years ago that the people didn’t vote for. This is fake Newtons!” People who attempt to help the planning committee worker end up getting murdered and it leads her to Guy Fieri.

The songs were simplistic and funny and aided the dialogue and story while being ridiculous enough to fit the play.

“Flavor of Death: a Guy Fieri Mystery” was featured at the Shelton Theatre near Union Square in San Francisco.

16 Sports

The Crusader Archbishop Riordan High School

May 2017

Golfers stay on course for future success

The golf team has had some struggles, and this season in particular brought about many challenges.

The Crusaders are on a 14 game losing streak, but in the final games of the season there was improvement. Their first game was a 294, but over time and with more experience, the Crusaders have seen a steady improvement having one of their final games have their best score of 252.

If the improvement continues through the offseason, next season is looking to be a good one.

Varsity golf coach Jeff Isola ’98 said, “They’ve been improving tremendously. And Matthew [Audibert] really stepped it up in

the offseason, competing in multiple AJGA events and his performance shows.”

He added, “Our four freshmen, three of which only played golf recreationally until this year, have made major contributions to the team. Ethan Daly ’20 even came close to medaling during our match against St. Francis.”

Matthew Audibert ’18 said, “I think the goal for next season is for everyone as a team to work on their own games and for all of us to improve so we can reach the potential we know we can get to.

We should be pretty competitive in the WCAL if we all improve as a team. I think to improve the team in the next couple years would be to get some more kids that are

Photo by Yearbook staff Matthew Audibert ’18

interested in playing golf and they should come out and play.

We are returning most of our team next year so I think we will definitely be stronger and a lot better.”

Evan Cosentino ’18 added, “The goals of the golf team for the rest of the season is to improve our golf game and to just have fun.

Some things that might improve the team for the next coming years are new golf talent and extra practice. Yes, things could have been different this season.

We could’ve had a different lineup in some matches and we could’ve beat Lowell, but at the end of the day we don’t have any regrets.”

Lacrosse players square up for next year

By Nicolas Caracter ’17 Archbishop Riordan Lacrosse is a recently new addition to the athletics department compared to other sports. Currently, the team is led by Head Coach Brooks Thoroughgood and coach Gabriel Artiga ’15.

The players this year are young, consisting mostly of freshmen and sophomores. There is much more room for growth in the team’s skill level. Part of that growth is their team camaraderie and Riordan brotherhood.

Leon Current ’17 said, “Being the only senior on the team was good, because I was a leader. I had to show them the right path to take.”

Current continued, “We grew better as a team as time went own. The beginning was rough and we’re decent now and always getting better.

Maxwell Lefferts ’20 said, “Our team has started off pretty slow but we’ve improved a lot, especially our goalie Alfonso Hinojosa ’19. (He had 16 saves this past game against Sequoia High School of Redwood City).

We’re getting a lot more ground balls on defense and offense, and getting a lot more shots on goal, which leads to more points.”

Jared Lindemuth ’19 said, “I started out having no experience at all and throughout the year

I’ve gotten a lot better. A lot of my brothers started out this year and we all wanted to get better. We’re finishing the season off strong.

I’ve made tons of friends; we have 26 people on our team. From the two hour bus rides and trips to practice, we have had a lot of time to bond and we get to know each other better, try our best and have fun out there.”

D’angelo Garcia ’19 said, “This season is a little rough for us since we’re a varsity team facing other varsity players, which is giving us first hand experience to what it’s like to play with high skill level people that are better than you which makes us better since we’re young and have room to grow.”

Josh Duenas ’19 said, “This is my second season playing for Riordan now. I was voted one of the three captains. The team is

Photo by Yearbook staff okay now, not many people have much experience. For the people who picked up a stick on the first day until now, they have exceeded what they were expected to do and they learned way quicker than what coach expected them to do. If they keep coming back, we will have a great team by our senior year because everyone would have been playing for more than two seasons by then. This season, every game was a bigger step towards us succeeding more because it shows us what we need to improve on and shows us what we were doing good that we took from practices.”

Hinojosa said his favorite part of the season was “improving throughout with the team and it was a great experience with my brothers and it’s nothing that I have ever felt before. Everybody

just stuck together, everybody wants to motivate each other and everybody wanted to improve together.”

This year is unique in that they have had the highest participation ever with 26 players. Previous years have had less than or equal to about 20. A common Riordan spring sports issue is field space and availability. Having a field is crucial to increase the competitiveness of the team.

This year, the team was only able to practice at Gellert Park twice a week.

The last two weeks of the season, no field was available, which led to them compromising to practicing in the City College reservoir. As a result of being able to use proper facilities, the team was much better prepared.

Current said, “The guys have shown lots of dedication. I’m excited to see these guys grow and by their senior year—they will be raw. So if anybody wants to join the team, join the team.

We will be raw. And we might take a trip to L.A.”

began the season with a riveting game against The Bay School of San Francisco, which marked their closest game of 3-4.

Dean DeLeon ’18, one of the top three players of the team, said that their inexperience as a team led to their consecutive defeats.

All of the varsity players began

playing and learning the sport their freshmen year, while most of the other teams have varsity players that have played tennis since their grammar school days.

Nonetheless, some of the players received recognition at the WCAL tournament. Lance Lopez ’18, James Schmalz ’18, and DeLeon

were all given an honorable mention for being the top three players on the Riordan Varsity Tennis Team.

Lopez said, “The team is improving. We will be training off season more which will hopefully give us more positive results next season.”

Tennis team confidently charges net

By Keven Munoz ’18 The tennis team ended their season not as successfully as they hoped for, but nonetheless left with their heads held high and begin preparing for next season.

The team had many losses throughout the season, with only two cancelled matches. They

May 2017

The Crusader Archbishop Riordan High School

Sports 17

Baseball squad boasts best season in years

By Stephen Blecha ’19 Varsity baseball this year has been doing spectacular.

The baseball team went 1014-1, with the one tie coming on a call of darkness in the bottom of the 9th inning.

The team is coming off a recent loss to Valley Christian, with the game before that being a staggering 30-0 victory for the Crusaders over Galileo.

The current leaders for batting average are Christian Gonzales (.364) and Matthew Calhoun (.325). Both are juniors. Senior Donny Bendo is the leader for RBIs with 16 in 24 games played.

Bendo and Calhoun are both also the leaders in runs scored with 10 each.

The pitching leader for ERA

is junior Travis Benham with an ERA of .46 through 15.1 innings.

Travis has given up 1 earned run this season.

On the podcast “The Brandon Ramsey Show,” Coach Ramsey talked about the game at USF vs. Sacred Heart. Ramsey said, “They’re playing good ball. These kids just wanna get back out there, get back to league.”

One highlight this season was beating St. Ignatius for the first time since 2008.

The Crusaders lost last week to Valley Christian in round one of the WCAL Playoffs, ending one of the best seasons Crusader baseball has seen in years.

Ramsey said this team is “the toughest and most competitive team in my four years here.”

Photo by Yearbook staff Michael Altman ’18 fires a pitch toward the plate at a recent game.

Track & Field members vault into CCS trials

By Roman Peregrino ’18 and Alexander Vallecillo ’18 This season for the Archbishop Riordan track and field team has been full of ups and downs.

After losing several key contributors from last season’s team, track has taken a step back in order to develop their young talent.

For that reason, the coaches are looking beyond the win-loss record, and focusing on the future.

“The season is going well,” said distance coach, Benny Willers ’08.

“We have a small team but things are coming together.”

“The team is starting to unite and get in the groove of racing,” adds Mark Ilarina, sprinting coach.

The distance section of the track team improved dramatically.

Varsity runners Trevor Paulbitski ’18, James Upchurch ’18, Michael Kilgariff ’17 and Kevin Oliva ’17 broke their personal records.

Trevor’s time of 1:59.1 for the 800 meter has him close to breaking the school record. Freshman Elijah Ocadayen shows promise, running the two mile in 10:55 while the JVs are also doing well.

The sprint section had gradual improvement. Varsity member Khaliq Latimore ’18 ran an astounding 51.46 in the 400 meter dash while sophomores Chris Balingit and Justin Zhang are not far behind, running 54.73 and 55.98 respectively. In the 100 meter dash Nicholas Milburn ’19 leads, running 11.36 followed by Julian Gregorio ’19 at 11.91.

Moving away from track, the field team has also improved immensely as the season goes on, and hopes to end it strong.

The field contingent is a very young squad, with many of the top contenders set to return next season. Field can be broken up into three main components: pole vaulting, jumping, and throwing.

Photo by Yearbook staff First up is pole vault. Pole vault is a jumping event that involves a jumper being assisted by a 12-15 foot fiberglass pole and vaulting over a crossbar. According to Riordan pole vaulter, Marcus Escobar ’18, “The event starts by the vaulter reaching maximum speed on the runway, planting their pole, and swinging vertically to reach the required height.”

Riordan is led by Escobar who set a personal best earlier in the year with a score of 11 feet, 9 inches, good for 8th in the WCAL. “The season has been very competitive for me. I’ve managed to make top 10 in WCAL, but there is always the drive to do better.”

This year has been a year of change and development for the pole vaulting team, with more interest than ever before. “Our program has changed a lot,” said Escobar. “Vaulting used to be for seniors who wanted to try and fly, but now we have turned [the program] into a full year’s worth of training, including weekends.

We even managed to recruit two girls from Mercy SF who are showing much potential.”

When asked about the future,

Escobar had this to say: “I feel like Riordan’s vaulting team will surpass Bellarmine’s, becoming the new powerhouse of the WCAL. Not because we are showing potential and grinding at practice, but because we are having fun. That’s the secret of pole vault. Sure you need speed and upper body strength, but we all have so much fun launching ourselves [in the air] and feeling the rush falling down. It’s for the craziest kids on the track team.”

Following pole vault is the jumpers.

The jumping team competes in three events — the high jump, long jump, and triple jump. High jump is the event where the jumper leaps off one leg over a bar set at a certain height, attempting to go the highest in the least amount of attempts.

The long jump starts in a sprint, followed by a leap into a sandpit with the score being determined by where the back heel lands.

Lastly, triple jump is made up of three motions (a hop, skip, and a jump) and the goal is to go the farthest by the end.

The jumping team is led by senior Xavier Caracter and junior Conrad Carrigan, who are often found at the top of the leaderboard for Riordan. While there has been some individual success, this season has left much to be desired.

“This year for the varsity jumpers has not been what we expected,” said Carrigan. “This year we don’t have any contenders that would be able to place at big meets. For me, I got injured at the beginning of the season, and have not been cleared to compete.”

While the scores might not be where the jumping team wants them to be, the development is.

“The future looks bright,” said Carrigan. “We have a good JV jump crew right now with many sophomores that will be able to

compete at the varsity level next year.”

The final group of the field team is the throwing team. According to thrower Cavan Fitzpatrick ’18, “The main throwing events we do are shot put and discus. Shot put involves using your whole body to launch a metal ball, or shot, as far as you can, while staying within certain boundaries.

Discus is the same idea, except trying to throw the disc, which is about three pounds, as far as you can while staying within the boundaries [However], discus utilizes a spinning motion while shot is more of a pushing action.”

The team captain and expected leader coming into the season was to be Tomas Palpallatoc ’18. Last season, he set the highest marks for Riordan underclassmen in all the events, and was expected to compete in WCAL finals this year. Unfortunately, he sustained an injury early in the season and has yet to return to full strength.

His loss has opened the door for newcomers like Fitzpatrick.

“The season hasn’t been going bad, but it also could be going better. There have been plenty of hopeful signs for everyone on the team throughout the season, and we just need to convert our potential to results in meets,” said Fitzpatrick.

He added, “If things keep going the way they are now, the future looks bright as most of the team will be moving on to play again next year and will have more practice and experience under their belts.”

This is the case for most members of the Riordan Track and Field Team, as this has been a year of development. It would have been easy to get down and be saddened by their record.

However, thanks to strong leadership, and promising returns, the ceiling for next season looks sky high.

18 Sports Features

The Crusader Archbishop Riordan High School

May 2017

Giants players help Team USA win World Baseball Classic

By Stephen Blecha ’19 The World Baseball Classic, a time for people all over the world to sit back and say, “Wait!

We have a baseball team? Since when?”

Of course, most of the time they do not actually have a baseball team. That is because teams in the WBC are made up of players who either play professionally in their own respective countries or in the MLB. During the month of March, from the 6th to the 22nd, was the World Baseball Classic, which is 16 baseball teams that represent their country in trying to claim glory for their team and country.

In the first round it is a group match up similar to that of the World Cup and the top two teams in each pool advance to the second round in which it is twopools with eight teams total and in Pool E combines the top two teams from both Pool A and B, then Pool F combines the top two teams from both Pool C and D.

In the first round, the teams that advanced were Israel, Netherlands, Japan, and Cuba that made up Pool E. While in Pool F it was the Dominican Republic, United States of America, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela.

When it got the semi finals, it was top team from Pool F faces against the second place team from Pool E and then opposite way for the other two teams.

Here it was Puerto Rico beating Netherlands 4-3 and the other was USA beating Japan 2-1.

Now, the majority of players in the MLB elect to play for their home country, with some examples being Manny Machado, Johnny Cueto, and Jose Bautista who played for the Dominican Republic this past year.

While the U.S.A. won this past year, it is only their first championship appearance since the tournament started back in 2006. The tournament occurs every four years, (except for the second which was played in 2009).

Team USA beat the undefeated (at the time) Puerto Rico, with help from pitcher Marcus Stroman, who had the opportunity to play for either team.

Along with Stroman, outfielder Adam Jones was also a big part in the US championship run.

Before the final game there was the hero for the USA team who had helped them in critical moments and that person was Adam Jones, the center fielder from the Baltimore Orioles.

WorldBaseballClassic.com He had a couple late inning Giants Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford home runs to help team Brandon Crawford because of USA move on.

In the final game, USA their clutch hitting, driving in 2 dominated Puerto Rico beating runs each.

Even though this was huge for them 8-0 and in the game both the USA pitching and batting was the United States because this equally great, from the pitching was their first time winning the only allowing only 3 hits and the WBC (World Baseball Classic), hitting for the USA fueled behind there is a major lack of star talent the hitting performance of Ian from players such as Mike Trout, Kinsler Andrew McCutchen, and

Please see “WBC” on page 19

Move to remove Native American mascots advances

By Jacob Taylor ’17 Changes towards traditional mascots are on the rise as protests against those that use people, specifically Native Americans, continue.

What holds a school’s pride together more than the mascot itself? It’s what student athletes look up to and what can get a school rally roaring. When someone claims their mascot is better, students turn a cold shoulder, but when someone personally disrespects the mascot, it’s personal.

Much controversy has surrounded attacks on mascots for years now. Whether it be in professional sports, college, or high school mascots, conflicts have been never ending. Much of the conflict arises from local Native American tribes and organizations fighting back.

They are opposed to mascots that reinforce discriminatory stereotypes.

The American Indian and Alaska Native advocacy organization, NCAI, and the National Congress of American Indians have long held a clear position against derogatory and harmful stereotypes. Since 1968, NCAI has launched campaigns to address stereotypes not only in sports, but popular culture and media as well.

The NCAI believes that these “Indian” mascots and symbols dishonor Native American culture and promote racism and bigotry.

According to Department

of Justice analysis, “American Indians are more likely than people of other races to experience violence at the hands of someone of a different race.”

The support for removing these “Indian” mascots and symbols has grown far and wide, with much reform taking place today. Since 1963, no professional teams have established new mascots that use racial stereotypes in their names and imagery, and since 2005, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) established an extensive policy to remove harmful “Indian” mascots. With that came many more changes in several different Associations.

One prominent example of change occurred in 1971 when the Golden State Warriors starting refraining from using Native American symbols in their logos, which were previously Sambo-esque and an Indian headdress. Like so, Daly City’s Jefferson High School replaced their Native American mascot with the Grizzlies in 2015.

Similarly, Stanford University to the Cardinal in 1972, and San Francisco’s Lowell High School changed their Indian mascot in 1988.

According to the SFGate, “Overruling the Lowell High School student body, San Francisco’s school superintendent has ordered the school to change its 60-year-old mascot, the Indian, to a less offensive one.

During a packed school board meeting, Superintendent Ramon

Cortines said he wants the mascot changed by the next school year despite a recent vote in which 86 percent of Lowell students voted to keep the Indian image.”

Though much action has taken place to help remove offensive mascots and symbols, nearly 1,000 still remain sprawled across America. And some say for a good reason.

In an article in the Denver Post, Dorothy Comer, 72 said, “I raised eight Savages, and they all turned out good.” Comer manages the Lamar Community Building, where the basketball, volleyball and wrestling teams compete.

The current Lamar High School, which opened in 1968, sits at the end of Savage Avenue.

Student-made metal sculptures, some depicting American Indians, stand guard outside.

“If you go to the high school, you’ll be amazed by the pride we have,” said Steve Knobbe, 62, a retired teacher who is an assistant football coach for the Savages. “There is nothing negative.”

“I love the word ‘savages,’ ” student Junior Ivan Villasenor said. “It shows we’re never going to give up. We’re striving for a goal — and that goal is greatness.”

Lamar High school debates that the name “Savages” is just a representation of their pride and continued effort to do their best. Some believe though that

the school, which does not identify with any particular tribe, is portraying a racist and derogatory mascot by representing “Savages” alongside an Indian in a headdress.

“This is just politics,” said 77-year-old Larry Pearson, who worked for the school district for 31 years then served on the school board for another dozen.

Supporters of keeping the mascot, like Pearson, point towards a puzzling sentiment between students at Lamar High, where 25 of the 421 students identify themselves as having American Indian ancestry. Among them is junior Perla Chavira.

“We’re high schoolers, and we’re trying to be fierce and ferocious, whether it’s on the playing field or in the classroom,” she said.

Not only did this arise in classrooms, but on a grander stage regarding the NFL’s Washington Redskins. According to a new Washington Post poll, nine in 10 Native Americans say they are not offended by the Washington Redskins name. The results, immediately celebrated by team owner Daniel Snyder, could make it that much harder for anti-name activists to pressure Redskins officials.

“The Washington Redskins team, our fans and community have always believed our name represents honor, respect and pride,” the owner said in a

Please see “Mascots” on page 19

May 2017

The Crusader Archbishop Riordan High School

Sports Features 19

Warriors return to playoffs seeking redemption

By Karl Vanuska ’19 This Warriors season is the season of redemption; after having one of the most, if not the most historic season ever in the 2015-2016 season, ended up losing in the NBA Finals to the Cleveland Cavaliers after having a 3-1 lead.

So the Warriors were looking to add somebody to help them reclaim the title of NBA Champions and what better way then adding one of the best players in the NBA today? On the Fourth of July, Kevin Durant set off the real fireworks, signing with the Warriors for two years and $54,274,505 contract.

But the Durant signing came with having to free up cap space so they ended up trading away Andrew Bogut, and not resigning Harrison Barnes, Festus Ezeli, Brandon Rush, Leonardo Barbosa, and Marreese Speights, all of whom were key bench players and made up one of the best benches in the NBA. But the Warriors did end up signing Durant and some very solid players in David West, Javale McGee, Zaza Pachulia, and trading for rookie Patrick McCaw. So with all this hype and controversy around Durant

joining an already super team, how did this season Warriors start off? Not well. They ended up losing their first game on their own court to the San Antonio Spurs and badly, the final score being 129-100. But this was the concern with all this talent sharing one ball, that the Warriors couldn’t figure out how to play together.

But all that concern didn’t last long because this team’s chemistry became one of the strongest in the league, and could be seen after experiencing a huge loss to LA Lakers on Nov. 4 and the Warriors went on a 12 game winning streak that showed the league what these Warriors could be and only lost in double OT to an impressive Houston Rockets team.

There was still the problem of beating the Cleveland Cavaliers, led by Lebron James, and on Christmas Day facing them and losing in a close game (109-108), which ended with Kyrie Irving coming up with a clutch shot to win the Cleveland Cavaliers the game.

In their next meeting, the Warriors made the Cavaliers pay with a 126-91 win. And after the game, Lebron James said: “I don’t think it’s a rivalry… It’s two great teams that have aspirations. I

NBA.com/Warriors The Warriors have been rolling through the playoffs, seeking a return to the championship and revenge for last season’s heartbreaking loss.

don’t believe I’ve ever had a rivalry in the NBA.” That is kind of underrating it, as the two teams look like they are going to face each other in the NBA Finals for a third time in a row with right now each having one win against each other.

But, it can’t be all smooth sailing in a NBA season. On Feb. 28, in a game against the Washington Wizards, Durant went down with an injured left knee with 93 seconds in the game.

This was a huge blow because he was out for almost the rest of the season, though he did come back on April 8.

The Warriors had already clinched a playoff spot at the time, but most people were worried about a potential fall.

They only fell for a short time because they started winning and kept winning and it turned into a 14 game winning streak. Fans started to speculate and came up with a crazy idea that their success came from when Klay Thompson was asked to sign a fan’s toaster because shortly after that they went on the winning streak.

Now in playoffs, they seem ready to make it to the NBA Finals and become NBA Champions. Again.

But, overall what the WBC needed was the entertainment aspect that it desperately needed.

After seeing what passion and emotion team USA had it might convince more and more players to participate in this tournament.

And players are already

thinking about joining the team in 2021 like Trout told Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times he’ll “probably” play in the next World Baseball Classic in 2021 after seeing this year’s tourney on television.

Seminoles are not depicted in a disrespectful manner in any way. They check with the Tribe for accuracy of any changes they make,” wrote Louise Gopher, a former elder in the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

Though not all schools depicting controversial symbols and mascots are under direct attack, change has caused a nationwide discussion on cultural depictions in the media and schools.

“We use the Native Americans as a toy, prop, and figure for fun.

Native Americans also have it very hard and we pick on them like a little person. They shouldn’t be used as mascots without consent,”said Archbishop Riordan student Chaya Zawadsky ’17.

Social science teacher Cory Nelson, who is from Kansas, said, “As a Chiefs fan I feel that it is not a derogatory term towards a group of people that it would have to be changed. I don’t believe that Chiefs is derogatory because a ‘chief’ is the name of a leader of a tribe. Redskin, however, is a

derogatory term.”

Not all schools’ mascots under question are Native American in nature. Archbishop Riordan’s mascot is the Crusader. Crusaders were medieval soldiers from one of the Church’s most controversial periods in which they launched a series of religious wars against Islamic rule in the Holy Land.

“The Crusader mascot is something that Crusaders should be proud of, but yet the Crusades were a bad time,” said Zawadsky.

“We should, as a community, come up with something less harmful to someone who might be offended, if someone was to ever step forward, of course.”

Nelson said, “From a historical standpoint, the Catholic religion has been very open about their conquest to expand their religious beliefs. I don’t think the Crusader mascot should be changed because it is not derogatory towards a specific group of people. It could potentially give a negative aspect, but in terms of it being changed, because it’s derogatory, no.”

“WBC,” continued from page 18 Clayton Kershaw, Madison Bumgarner, and Kris Bryant not playing for team USA. This can stem from at the time of the WBC, spring training was taking place and many players declined the invitation so players could focus on getting ready for the long

season ahead. Many people have voiced their concern over the time table of the WBC, because of how it overlaps with players’ main priorities in getting ready for Major League Baseball season.

There have been ideas to do it during winter season.

“Mascots,” continued from page 18 statement. “Today’s Washington Post polling shows Native Americans agree. We are gratified by this overwhelming support from the Native American community, and the team will proudly carry the Redskins name.”

Just as this poll reveals, relations are possible between Native American communities and school/sports associations. A prominent example of this comes from Florida State University, where after much scrutiny from the NCAA, the school found a resolution to keep their mascot.

In a statement by FSU: “We are deeply grateful to the Seminole Tribe of Florida,” Florida State University President T.K. Wetherell said after a meeting at the tribe’s Big Cypress Reservation, where he became the first FSU president to be invited to a meeting of the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s Tribal Council, the tribe’s chief governing body. The meeting ended with the Seminole Tribe supporting FSU’s use of

the “Seminole” name as well as various Seminole symbols and images, such as Chief Osceola.

With the tribe’s resolution, came rules and changes needed to retain respect for the tribe.

“That they chose to go on record and formally reaffirm that they trust us to be good stewards of their name and traditions is humbling,” Wetherell said.

“We will continue to treat those traditions and the Seminole name with honor and respect.”

Two changes that FSU made were the discontinuation of a Sioux headdress for the Homecoming king and the renaming of a booster club to the ‘Spirit Hunters,’ originally called the ‘Scalp Hunters’.

“FSU in earlier times was showing the Seminoles in feathers and war bonnets, which they never wore, and with caricature faces. We were being stereotyped with what was seen in the movies and television. Now Florida State University makes sure that the

20 Sports Features

The Crusader Archbishop Riordan High School

May 2017

Rowing smoothly gliding into mainstream sports

By Joseph Kerrigan ’18 Rowing is an older sport that is popular mainly on the East Coast, but in relatively recent years has become prevalent in West Coast athletics so much so that some of the best crew teams come from California.

In the Bay Area especially, rowing is becoming more popular every year with new teams emerging and older teams seeing a boost in numbers of participants.

Teams such as Marin Rowing Club located in Marin, Oakland Strokes located in Oakland, and Pacific Rowing Club located in San Francisco have been paving the way for young rowers to learn the sport and compete at high levels.

It seems that the appeal of rowing to young athletes is the inclusiveness of the sport, which is why varsity rower (since freshman year ) Remy Altasserre ’17 found an interest in rowing.

He also appeared at nationals his sophomore year, placing 8th best boat in the country.

“The main thing was that it seemed to be very inclusive and that everyone had a role to play on the team and that no one would be left out,” he said.

The English were the ones who brought the sport of rowing to the United States. That’s why it is such a major sport on the East Coast especially, with some of the

older colleges founded long ago with European influence.

Rowing is an intense sport despite how it may look from the viewer’s perspective. “It also takes a big degree of toughness to row a complete race without your technique falling apart, something that takes years to learn,” said Atasserre.

It takes stamina, strength, a lot of focus, many hours fine tuning technical aspects of a stroke (roughly two hours of practice for every single stroke in a race), and hours of grueling workouts. As a boat cuts through the finish line after a race on a lake or river, it looks peaceful and so in unison as if no one is really putting any force into it. However, from the rowers’ perspective they are on the verge of passing out and most of them can no longer feel their legs.

Locally, there are two current high school rowing programs in the city, Pacific Rowing Club and St. Ignatius crew team. Both programs row at Lake Merced on the boarder of San Francisco and Daly City and compete in an annual event for the honor of painting the Lake Merced dam their team colors.

Atasserre, a current rower at Pacific, competed in the duel meet multiple times and said: “It’s cool because no one else in the sport of rowing that I know of has their

Photo provided by Remy Altassarre ’17 Remy Altassarre ’17, center, rows for the Pacific Rowing Club.

own rivals practice next to them every day. I don’t know any other sport for that matter with the same level of rivalry as us two.”

Currently, the dam is painted red and black (Pacific Rowing Club colors) and will stay that way for another year because on April 26, Pacific won 5 of 6 of the races and took home the victory for the second year in a row.

Although the prize is to paint the dam for some rowers, it’s not really about that. “In the end, it really doesn’t matter who paints the dam, it’s the fact that we beat them (SI). That’s the best part,” said Altasserre.

There is no professional rowing

league of any sort in the country, or world for that matter, but it is an Olympic and international sport. The United States is fairly competitive in the rowing world and has won multiple gold medals in the Olympic Games.

In the Berlin 1936 games, ominously known as “Hitler’s Olympics,” there was one of the most notable victories for the United States rowing team as they were the underdogs to the almighty German and Italian crews. Around that time was when rowing really gained traction in the states and became a major sport on the East Coast and in some West Coast cities.

Bowling strikes chord with two Crusaders

By Greg Guinasso ’17 Bowling can be fun when bowling with a group of friends, but to two students, it is more than just a place to go for a social gathering.

Senior Clayton Miranda bowls competitively for the Junior League at Classic Bowl in Daily City. While many think that bowling is just a fun hobby, Clayton recognizes it as a sport saying, “It’s on ESPN.” Clayton bowls three games during his tournaments and has won four titles in the Youth Bowlers Tour.

His favorite memory about bowling is when he bowled a career high 300, a perfect score.

He has traveled the country, going to big named cities like New York and Chicago to participate in tournaments. While being able to bowl in another city might be cool, Clayton said, “My favorite thing was meeting other bowlers from across the country.”

The weirdest thing he has seen at a tournament is when “a ball got stuck on someone’s thumb and he threw it through the ceiling” He dreams of becoming a pro

bowler when he is older.

He said, “When I win a tournament I get scholarship money for college.” Clayton hopes to continue his bowling career at San Jose State.

As many continue to look at bowling as an activity, Clayton will continue his hard work at Classic Bowl to help him reach his goals in the future.

Clayton’s only injury has been a few blisters and a sore elbow.

Photos provided by Clayton Miranda ’17, right, and Koen Parungao ’19, left.

Koen takes bowling seriously, and also has his eyes set on bowling in college. His ideal He is working towards bowling in school to go to would be San Jose State or McKendree. college and hopefully going pro.

Though bowling may not be Another Crusader, Koen Parungao also bowls at Classic looked at as a sport through many Bowl every Saturday at 10:30pm. eyes, to these two Crusaders it’s Koen has been bowling for their passion, and something they 10 years. His favorite memory have been working at for years.

Crusaders at Classic Bowl should is from 2015 when he won the State Championship. He also has take a look around—Clayton or traveled to Chicago and his goals Koen will be there working hard are to make the Junior Team on their craft and preparing for their future tournaments.

USA.