VOL. 49, NO. 4
Page 1: FUSS Holds district-wide Talent Show. mission: sos hosts three guest speakers on student stress. crossing guard expands service to mission creek drive. Page 2: girls who code comes to fremont main library and msj club offers coding classes. students run Charity drives and fundraisers for season of giving.
MISSION SAN JOSE HIGH SCHOOL
December 20, 2013
41717 PALM AVENUE, FREMONT, CA 94539
FUSD’s Got Talent
By Grace Dong Staff Writer Fremont Unified Student Store (FUSS), a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds for the needs of FUSD schools, held its second annual FUSD’s Got Talent Show on December 7 in C-120. From 1 pm to 5 pm, students and staff members from 27 FUSD schools showcased their talents to a sold-out audience and esteemed panel
See TALENT NEWS Page 3
The Smoke Signal thanks Senior Jeffrey Chen for performing a host transfer and upgrading our website, www.thesmokesignal.org. In Loving Memory of Yoko Young: remembering Yoko’s Dance and Performing Arts director yoko young. Peer Resource T-shirt Campaign: MSJ Peer Resource distributes Stronger Than You Think t-shirts.
wallpaper from wallshd.net, photos by staff writer grace dong, layout by news editor kerrie wu
Mission: SOS unveils new stress reduction events By Megan Ren Staff Writer Mission: SOS is a campus club that focuses on helping students become less stressed and creating an open flow of communication between parents and students. Mission: SOS has hosted events such as “Surprise Stress Free Days” throughout the school year, days on which teachers are not to have tests or assign homework. This year, however, Mission SOS has included a variety of other events to its agenda, such as yoga classes and parent-student informational talks. The free yoga sessions started on November 6 and take place every Wednesday after school on the stage of C-120 for half an hour. Mats are provided for all students who attend. After a four-week trial period, participants have decided to continue these classes, with the next session starting mid-January. In an email sent out to parents and students, Mission: SOS advisor Zack Larsen wrote that these workshops will help students “learn tools that will help them with focus, concentration, memory, positive thinking, and above all stress management.”
Mission: SOS held its first parent/student outreach event of this year in C-120 from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm on December 9. This talk featured MSJ Alumni Dr. Dan R. Tzuang and Dr. Alex Huang along with Dr. Susan Song from the field of child psychiatry. Whereas last year’s talk predominantly dealt with stress-related issues, this year’s talk focused more on the mental health concerns and emotional well-being of high school students, especially in the Asian American community. The presentation started with the specialists introducing themselves and their biographies. Having personally experienced what it’s like to be students at MSJ, Tzuang and Huang were able to understand well the specific problems that plague MSJ and relate their own stories to current issues. High levels of stress among students may lead to substance abuse, and as Tzuang said, parents are rightfully concerned. The specialists hope to lower parents’ anxiety by increasing awareness of the warning signs of depression to look for in their children, such as
See SOS NEWS Page 2
staff writer megan ren
Students practice yoga at the Mission: SOS workshop, held for half an hour on Wednesdays after school in C-120.
Crossing guard expands service
A volunteer mans the crosswalk at the intersection of Mission Creek Drive and Palm Avenue.
By Michael Hsiu Staff Writer The Mission Possible Parent and Faculty Association (MPPFA), a nonprofit organization that coordinates MSJ’s crossing guard program, extended its crossing guard service to the Mission Creek area on December 2. Planning and volunteer training for the service was a task run by former crossing guard program director Roshini Kingsley, a member of MPPFA. Kingsley coordinated the crossing guard service in the summer of 2012, but was unable to introduce the Mission Creek branch of the service until this year, despite much discussion at various crossing guard meetings. Concern over recent driving accidents involving MSJ students near Mission Creek led to the dispatch of the service expansion, which had been planned a year prior but had not yet been implemented due to a lack of volunteers. Before the change, the crossing guard service only covered two crosswalks along Palm Avenue. In regards to the purpose of the extension of the crossing guard service, Kingsley said, “At the end of last school year, we had nine members of the crossing guard team including the lead leave as their children graduated from MSJ. Much work was involved in putting together the current team; during the summer of 2013, I had envisioned a crossing guard at Mission Creek Road during last summer, but due to the lack of volunteers, I was unable to achieve this
staff writer michael hsiu
goal. The recent accident near Mission Creek served as the catalyst to expedite this extension of service. Mission Possible is delighted that we can provide this extension of service to our students.” Though leadership of the program has been passed on to crossing guard program coordinators Stella Hsu, Brijesh Jain, and Mac McQuade, Kingsley hopes that this expansion of the crossing guard service will be able to ensure the safety of students travelling to and from MSJ, particularly those coming north on Palm Avenue toward the school. MPPFA coordinators recruited parent crossing guard volunteers directly through crossing guard meetings and online through MSJTalk, a Yahoo group for parents and community members supporting activities at MSJ. Before beginning the program, volunteers went through training with preparatory techniques involving both on-the-job training and also the use of written instructions. MacQuade, a Fremont Police-approved crossing guard trainer, worked with parents, using his own skills and expertise to better educate volunteers on the role of the crossing guard. All new volunteers are paired with experienced crossing guards during the first few months of their service, and are eventually paired with other newly-trained volunteers after gaining enough experience working in the field. Effects of the crossing guard service’s expan-
See GUARD NEWS Page 2