Epic Issue 8, 2019 by the Epic

Synopsys recognizes Leung and students BY JUSTINE CHEN

s judges approached the table, each student straightened their posture and tucked back their neatly-combed hair, hoping to win over the judges with standing tri-fold panels, laptop presentations, project prototypes and months of dedication to their research. With the 2019 Synopsys Championship officially kicking off in September 2018, the Santa Clara Valley Science & Engineering Fair Association challenged hundreds of middle and high school students to address questions in the fields of computer science, environmental science, chemistry, biology and more with independent project-based research. Affiliated with the Society for Science & the Public, the fair was held at the San Jose Convention Center on March 14, where Lynbrook students sought to qualify for state and national science fairs. In recent years, Lynbrook has performed considerably well, with numerous students awarded the Grand Prize and First or Second place Award in their respective category. This year was no exception, as four won the Grand Prize, seven the First Award and seven the Second Award. In addition, more than 60 companies and private, professional and government organizations awarded students Special Awards based on each organization’s individual criteria. Several students also advanced to compete in

the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair, held in Phoenix, Arizona from May 12 to May 17, while others are also eligible to further compete in the Broadcom Math, Applied Science, Technology and Engineering as Rising Stars (MASTERS) Competition held in Washington D.C. in October 2019. In addition to the success of students, chemistry teacher Lester Leung was also awarded with the Horace Lucich Award for Outstanding Teachers in recognition of the time and care he gave to students to aid them in achieving success at the competition. “It feels good to be recognized for the work that you do,” Leung said. “But I’m more proud of our teachers for putting in the work and their willingness and commitment to the students.” Leung shares the duties of mentoring students for the science fairs with biology teacher Isaac Pallone, who teaches the Independent Study in STEM class and guides students through the research process over the course of the school year. While Pallone usually mentors underclassmen and entrants to the Synopsys competition, Leung helps students not in the STEM class, often upperclassmen, who want to submit their research to a variety of science fairs including Regeneron STS. As the teacher sponsor of six Lynbrook entrants, Leung worked closely with freshman Shailesh Senthil Kumar, sophomore Eshani Jha, juniors Raghav Ganesh and Chinmay Lalgudi

33 students won

1st

think tank

DHRITI IYER — EPIC

and seniors Jason Dong and Charles Huang, providing specialized guidance in the specific area of each student’s research. Beside helping them with their project applications, he made sure that each student was on track with the process of competing at Synopsys. “[Leung] made sure that my project stayed within the safety guidelines,” said Kumar, whose project studied the effect of quorum sensing molecules on extracellular matrix production in the Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilm. “He helped me plan out my project and ensured I finished on time. He wasn’t super strict and was fun to work with.” Despite it being his first year managing the overall science fair organization for Lynbrook, Leung was effective and detail-oriented throughout the process, looking for ways to better support students. Leung introduced the Lynbrook STEM Think Tank, in which science fair mentors listened to students’ ideas, typically those new to fairs, and gave them tips about project planning. By providing students with resources and support with their project, Leung also developed close relationships with each student throughout the process. “You tend to build relationships with the students, and it’s like a community,” Leung said. “So when you see them grow from freshmen to seniors and they’re winning these huge awards, you feel nothing but pride.”

$500

prize money GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY NEWS SECTION

Kiwanis special games: a time to celebrate unity BY ANUSHA KOTHARI

ore than 1000 special needs students from 60 schools across Santa Clara County were scattered around the West Valley College track at the Kiwanis Special Games, which took place on May 17, 2019. The event was organized by Special Games Club 1234, a branch of the international service club Kiwanis. Students ranging from first to twelfth grade participated in 18 field-day style events tailored to fit their physical limitations and were assisted by coaches, teachers, schoolmates, caregivers and other volunteers. The event gives students with special needs and their families a place where they can enjoy being around others and have a good time. “Every year, the families look forward to this event, because there really isn't anything else like it,” said Nancy Whitman, Public Relations Manager and Board Member of Special Games Club 1234. “The event has its own little community of families that build friendships and give each other support.” At the beginning of every year’s event, students represent their schools in a grand parade, similar to the opening ceremony of

the Olympics. Each school’s participants hold up a banner as they proudly walk around the stadium, and they are personally welcomed by the organizers when walking past them. “Everybody always has an amazing time watching all the schools line up,” Whitman said. “It’s a special parade because it’s so neat to see everyone really appreciating life.” After the parade, students participated in games such as the 100 yard dash, Nerf archery, frisbee throw and various obstacle courses. Students chose an activity to participate in and competed against others with similar abilities. In addition to a participation ribbon and T-shirt, every contestant received at least one of four ribbons: first place, second place, third place or best effort. Twenty Lynbrook Academy Community and Transition (ACT) students attended the Kiwanis Special Games and were accompanied by four volunteers from Lynbrook Viking Buddies club. “Encouraging [the ACT students] to play these games and then seeing the joy on their faces when they accomplish a task is super rewarding,” said junior and Viking Buddies Vice President Shubhra Dubey. It was Lynbrook’s tenth year participating in the Kiwanis Special Games. However, it

was only the second year where preparation took place in the Lynbrook ACT students’ PE Inclusive class. About three months prior to the games, ACT students practiced competition activities, such as an obstacle course, on block days in PE. “A lot of [the ACT students] became more comfortable with the course because not all of them are used to doing the obstacles,” said junior and Viking Buddies intern Julie Lee. “Practicing the course also really allowed them to be comfortable interacting with the volunteers as the volunteers would guide them through the course at the event.” Seeing, competing and bonding with others fostered community among the students and built their confidence. “Knowing that there are opportunities for [the ACT students] to participate and do well in gives them a confidence boost,” said Viking Buddies adviser and ACT teacher Garry DeGuzman. The ACT students look forward to the Kiwanis Special Games every year, as they get a chance to participate in exciting events alongside other athletes who have similar limitations. The games make every student feel special and foster a community of kindness, diversity and acceptance.

VALKYRIES //pg. 14 Anthony Huang joins dance team

MAY 31, 2019

NEWS

Retiring teachers reflect on their careers ALISHA NAIDU — EPIC

ELENA WILLIAMS — EPIC

orty-three years, seven schools and thousands of students: chemistry teacher Jon Penner’s career in education has been a journey beyond anything he ever expected. After graduating from the University of California, Santa Barbara, Penner began work at a private Catholic girls’ school in San Francisco. Over the years, Penner found himself teaching at several high schools, including Gunn, Palo Alto and Saratoga High School. During his tenure at Saratoga, Penner was promoted to assistant principal. He continued working in administration at various schools until the summer of 2007, when a friend of his informed him of an open position at Lynbrook to teach freshmen biology. Excited at the prospect of being in a classroom again, he could not refuse the opportunity to interview for the job. Penner left administration that fall and never looked back. As he returned to teaching, Penner remembered the reason he loved his job: the students he taught. “There’s just no comparison: it’s so much more fun being in the classroom,” Penner said. “I like interacting with the students. [As an administrator], I was in charge of everything, and I got really burned out. I’m so glad I ended up at Lynbrook. The kids here are wonderful. They’re smart, they’re polite and they’re responsible.” Penner is grateful that he has been able to return to the classroom for the final years of his career, but as he approaches his 70th birthday, he knows that it is time for him to retire. “My favourite memory [from Penner’s class] is sitting in the front seat in class and laughing at his chemistry jokes,” said senior Arushi Gautam. “Mr. Penner welcomes my group of friends and I to his classroom every brunch and shares candy with us along with a few stories every now and then.” Though he will miss his students, Penner tooks forward to his newfound free time and intends to make the most of it by traveling. Ater the school year ends, he will leave for St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Later in the year, he plans to visit Shanghai and Bangkok. As Penner looks back on his career, he is grateful to have made meaningful connections with so many students over the years.

Yearbook Distribution Seniors can pick up yearbooks on Friday, May 31 while distribution for all other classes are on Monday, May 3 and Tuesday, May 4. Yearbook distribution is during 7th period and after school and the location is currently undecided.

Baccalaureate Ceremony Join the seniors at their baccalaureate ceremony at the Church of the Ascension on June 5 from 7 to 8 p.m. Graduation Ceremony The Class of 2019 graduation ceremony will take place on June 7. Seniors start checking in at 8:30 a.m. and the ceremony begins at 9:30 a.m. and lasts until 11 a.m. in the Lynbrook stadium. Congratulations to the Class of 2019 for finally graduating!

Finals Week Finals will be on the week of June 3 to 6. There will be periods 4 and 1 on Monday, periods 6 and 2 on Tuesday, periods 7 and 3 on Wednesday and period 5 on Thursday. Good luck and study hard! Last Day of School June 6 is the last day of school and summer will begin when period 5 finals end at 10 a.m. Enjoy the summer off to eat good food, spend time with friends and family, travel, relax and get ready for the 2019-2020 school year starting Aug. 19! First Day of School Look ahead to another year of learning, fun and challenges with new classes, new teachers and new friends as school starts again on Aug. 19. Good luck on all your endeavors! by Sunny Li

Dear readers, We would like to welcome our two new Editors-in-Chiefs for the upcoming school year, Aileen Xue and Nicole Ong, who we believe will successfully continue the legacy of the Epic for the year to come. We would like to say goodbye to the members of the Class of 2019. Over our four years at Lynbrook, we have created countless memories, from freshman homecoming to the last rally, that we will treasure forever. Celebrate our graduating seniors with our senior issue pullout, which includes a college map and bequeathals (pg. 7). This issue, check out the pro-con story on early finals (pg.4), a feature on the librarians and their favorite books (pg.6), an in-depth article on two pseudosciences (pg.12) and a feature on Anthony Huang, a dancer who will be on the Valkyries next year. If you’re still looking for more content from the Epic, be sure to visit our website, lhsepic.com, for multimedia packages and additional stories as well. Thank you for reading our stories this year. Best of luck to all Lynbrook students, past, current and future. Have a great summer, Justine Chen and Michelle Lum

BY ARUL GNANASIVAM

hanges to Lynbrook continue into the 2019-2020 school year as the homeroom schedule changes and new campus buildings open. Starting at the beginning of the year, homeroom will be moved from Fridays to Wednesdays, and students can enjoy the newly renovated quad and cafeteria. As per the new changes, homeroom will take place Wednesdays after students’ fourth period class. Survey feedback showed that students wanted allocated time to study on Fridays, since it is a popular day for tests and quizzes. As a result, homeroom will be moved to Wednesdays; tutorial will take place every Friday in place of the current homeroom. The new homeroom will be a closed study period with the same students as each student’s fifth period class. Homeroom’s purpose is still reducing stress but feedback showed that students’ preferred to relieve stress by studying for that week’s tests. The decision to keep fifth period students together for homeroom was made by the teachers. “We got feedback from teachers that they would really like [homeroom to]

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY DHRITI IYER

Letter from the Editors

MAY 31, 2019

BY KATIE CHEN

Lynbrook implements new changes for the next year

New cafeteria will be operational.

OPINION

What if a girl in the Holocaust had Instagram?

News in Brief

BY PRANAV MISHRA AND ELENA WILLIAMS illson never expected to find fulfillment as a teacher: working as a substitute for the district was a thoughtful decision, partly because it offered more benefits compared to the jobs he had before. What surprised him was that the job was fresh, nerve-wracking and thrilling all at once. He realized that working with students would allow him more room for freedom than he had ever imagined before. “What I loved most about my job was the creativity it allowed me,” Willson said. “The school gave me an immense amount of freedom to expand the scope of the school’s art department, and the students were always incredibly enthusiastic.” Willson has seen much change over the years he has taught: he has moved from the old music wing to the old art room and oversaw the renovation of his own classroom 12 years ago. The quirky red, white and black embellishments he put up into the room give it an atmosphere of his own.P “[The classroom’s] atmosphere is really pleasant,” said freshman Lauraine Kong, an Art 1 student. “Mr. Willson always turns on classical music when we work and lets us listen to our own music. The classroom is calm, but occasionally there’s laughter coming from the tables in the back of the room, and I think that really lifts the mood.” 26 years later, Willson has taught hundreds of students and seen remarkable talent. The inspiration and energy he derives from his students have grown into him, and he is hardly ready to let it go as he moves on with the next phase of his life. Willson plans to move to his vacation home in Aptos, Calif. after retirement. From there, he hopes to spend some time for himself, figuring out how to spend this newfound freedom after all these years of work. “Being an art teacher has been a part of my identity for so long, I don’t know who I am without it,” Willson said. “[Lynbrook] has been a wonderful community of brilliant young minds, and I don’t know how I’m supposed to move on. I can’t say I’m looking forward to it, but it’s new. It’s a change. And a change is what I need.”

75 percent of the quad will be completed.

Homeroom will be moved to Wednesday.

be with their current students because they thought it would be easier to build relationships that way,” said Principal Maria Jackson. Administration hopes that this change will allow for staff to connect with the students on a more personal basis. Next year’s schedule will also be constant throughout the year to avoid confusion among students and staff. “I got to second semester last year, and [the schedule] wasn’t consistent enough for me,” said Assistant Principal Eric Wong. “You’d get to a day and be like ‘Hm… is it homeroom? Is it tutorial? I’m confused.’” Homeroom will be a closed study period for the whole year, except for a few occasions when administration or ASB will organize special activities for all students. In a survey taken during the spring semester of this year 45 percent of students advocated for student health and wellness to be the focus of homeroom. When it came to these changes, decisions made in the teacher union at the district level and students’ feedback were considered, though many students are still hesitant to welcome said changes. “I feel [the current] homeroom would be better because you get to meet more people,”

said sophomore Pranav Rathore. “The whole purpose of homeroom is to meet new people and also socialize.” Admin acknowledged that students will have different opinions on homeroom, and rather than trying to please everyone, have committed to finding a compromise that works best at maintaining the purpose of homeroom. Next school year, students will also enjoy the cafeteria as well as most of the quad, although some space in front of the gym will still be closed off. Homecoming week events will return to the quad, with the backdrop hanging in front of the cafeteria. “During homecoming, all that stuff you have to have behind the backdrop can now go inside the cafeteria,” Jackson said. “Students can do all their prep in there and then come out.” Admin hopes that the new additions can improve campus life. Administration is still committed to improving homeroom and listening to student feedback through next year to develop the program for future students. Although changes next year may be jarring at first, teachers and staff are dedicated to helping students ease into the changes and hope that they can be beneficial to everyone over time.

he year is 1944. The grim terror of the Holocaust has pervaded Europe and is headed for Nagyvarad, Hungary, where 13-year-old Eva Heyman lives with her grandparents. She leads a relatively normal life: she is elated when she receives her first pair of high heels for her birthday, she enjoys eating ice cream with her friends, she has a crush on a boy and she dreams of becoming a news photographer. All at once, her hopes are crushed as the Nazis arrive and turn her life upside down. As she crosses the gates of Auschwitz, Eva knows her life will never be the same. A yellow star is forced onto her clothes, marking her for all to see as a Jew — something less than human. Day after day, she suffers the hunger, pain and cruel dehumanization of the concentration camps until she is gassed four months before she turns 14. Eva would have been forgotten forever, her story lost in those of the millions of Jews who suffered and perished in the Holocaust, if not for the diary she used to record what was happening to her. All that survives of Eva today are 108 days of diary entries which her mother, Agnes Zsolt, found and published it before ending her own life. This diary now forms the sole connection between her horrific world and the people of the future. In a series of vignettes, the movie project turned Instagram account @eva.stories depicts Eva’s harrowing story, doing justice to her narrative as well as those of the other Jews who perished in the Holocaust. “Media is on the rise, and it is futile to try to resist it,” said literature and drama teacher Regan Rasley. “There is something special about seeing things from a first-person point of view, and even though the Eva depicted in the stories is an actress, this is a good way for people to better understand the Holocaust, especially in this day and age.”

ART ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTY YU

Seventy years later, tech executive Mati Kochavi and his daughter Maya came across Eva’s diary and felt that they had to show the world what life was like as a victim of the Holocaust. Their solution was simple—to turn Eva’s diary into a social media account with vignettes in the form of Instagram stories to reach the hearts of a generation that was beginning to forget the horrors of the Holocaust. “The memory of the Holocaust outside of Israel is disappearing,” Mati Kochavi said in an interview with the New York Times. “We thought, let’s do something really disruptive. We found the journal and said, ‘Let’s assume that instead of pen and paper Eva had a smartphone and documented what was happening to her.’ So we brought a smartphone to 1944.” The Kochavis’ adaptation of Eva’s diary into a social media account has sparked controversy regarding the sensitive nature of

the topic. However, Yad Vashem, the official Holocaust memorial center in Israel, said in a statement that this commemoration of the Holocaust is “both legitimate and effective.” Others believe that the account @eva.stories is simply in bad taste in its dismissal of the catastrophe in a crude manner. Addressing this point of view, Maya Kochavi was quoted in the New York Times, as saying, “A lot of serious movements are happening on social media,” adding that she and her father had strived to “maintain the sense of honor.” Despite the opposition, “Eva’s” account preserves her memory in the minds of this generation in a way that words on a page cannot. Although the teenager observed through the Instagram stories is an actress, the audience has the opportunity to visualize Eva’s life — the interactions she had, the way the atmosphere in her hometown changed during the Holocaust, and the incredible

hardship she endured. “Preserving the memory of the Holocaust is so important to prevent it from happening again,” said sophomore Anisha Chatterjee. “The creators of the account have implemented a good way to honor the memory of the Holocaust by, in a way, fulfilling her dream of becoming a photojournalist.” In addition, perusing each day of Eva’s life through this account in “real time” allows young people to educate themselves about the Holocaust through a familiar platform. The Kochavis recognized that without such methods of integration, the legacy of the Holocaust is at risk of being left behind, the memory of its victims fading with it. A 2018 study by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany found that two-thirds of American millennials were unable to identify Auschwitz, aconcentration camps that was responsible for the suffering of over 1.3 million. Furthermore, more than one-fifth of participants in the study had not heard of the Holocaust. “Not only is the medium an outlet for expression, but it is also an educational platform that serves a productive purpose,” said Eitan Lev Kensky, the Reinhard Family Curator of Judaica and Hebraica Collections at Stanford University. “Although this adaptation may be controversial, there is no ‘right way’ to learn about the Holocaust.” The last generation of Holocaust survivors is dying, but the world still has the responsibility to preserve their memories. With the dominance of social media culture, the integration of a Holocaust story into a media platform makes this period in history accessible to modern audiences by adapting to modern forms of communication. The account @eva.stories does just that, as its portrayal of Eva’s character makes it easy for the new generation to understand the Holocaust’s physical and emotional toll.

Food for thought: more vegetarian options needed

ach day, hundreds of students purchase lunch and snacks from the cafeteria; however, the number of students has dwindled down to approximately a hundred this year due to the relocation of the cafeteria to the snack shack, located near the football field. The cafeteria staff had to make the best of the smaller facilities, hence reducing the variety and quantity of food options significantly. This change affected all students who buy food from the cafeteria, but especially those with dietary restrictions, such as vegetarian students. With the completion of the new cafeteria next school year, better facilities will be available to provide for students’ differing dietary needs, but it is up to cafeteria staff to make sure vegetarian foods are available daily. Other changes, including clearer display of menu options and increased communication between cafeteria staff and students, will also help to better accommodate vegetarian students. People choose a vegetarian diet for many reasons, including religious beliefs or health. Currently, the vegetarian lunches sold include sandwiches, salads and pasta. However, only one or two of the total four or five daily options are vegetarian because the availability depends on what the food company delivers to Lynbrook. Despite the presence of these options, the cafeteria may run out of these foods since they can be purchased by all students; thus, vegetarian students who arrive late, for example, may not be able to purchase an appropriate meal. “By the time one of my friends who is vegetarian goes to the lunch line, there are no vegetarian options many times,” said sophomore Vijaya Kukutla. “Sometimes, even the fruit runs out and there’s just nothing to eat. She’ll try to find something, like a parfait, but there’s a difference between a snack and a meal.” Another challenge is that the snack shack’s current logistical restrictions, including its limited space to label foods and display menus, have impacted vegetarian students’ ability to purchase food. Without adequate labeling, there may be confusion about which of the available options are vegetarian.

Staff Editorial The Voice of the Epic “It's an extra question to ask, ‘what do you have that is vegetarian?’ and taking the time to ask may hold up the line,” said senior Medha Gelli. “I feel like it is kind of intimidating to go and ask every time because the menu changes every day.” The newly remodeled cafeteria may help solve some of these problems. It is set to be completed in the fall of 2019, before the first semester of school. There, the food services staff will have larger facilities where they will be able to prepare and make food on site, rather than reheating food in the snack shack, giving them more control over the quality and type of food provided to students. For example, the cafeteria staff will have a new ten-gallon soup kettle that will allow them to make soups from scratch daily, something they plan to do after noticing the popularity of soups this year. “The one major change that I'm expecting and hoping to implement is a better quality product because we're going to be able to control it and we’re going to be here every morning making it,” said Food Services Manager Jason Senior. “I'll be able to bring in the products that the other schools have

because I'll have the storage space for it again.” The space for students to purchase food will become more spacious, making it possible to clearly label vegetarian options and display menus. This measure will allow students to quickly identify the items available speeding up lines. Notifying students weekly about the menu at Lynbrook will also help them plan their meals based on the available options. Posting the daily cafeteria options and identifying the diets they are suitable for on the Lynbrook website or sending them out in the weekly newsletters are possible ways of informing students. While lunch menus are currently available on the district website, many students may not be aware of this and the actual menu for Lynbrook may differ due to the cafeteria staff adapting to Lynbrook students’ needs. Thus, it would be helpful to update and display a current menu in an accessible location on the Lynbrook website or outside the cafeteria. Students should also be aware that their voices matter in cafeteria staff's decisions. Though it is necessary for the staff to adhere to California State Regulation in regards to the type of food they can make and provide, the staff is open to incorporating student opinion. Thus, it is important that the students voice their concerns to food services staff and the administration, to ensure that students with all dietary restrictions are accommodated in the cafeteria. “I like to engage with students, especially the ones with dietary restrictions,” Senior said. “So, I would like to get more input and see what those students want to see. It is not really about me making the decision. It is about what [the students] want.” When the next school year begins, students will find a larger variety of options at the cafeteria. To make sure that students see the changes they need, they can communicate their opinions and concerns with the food services staff by talking to them in the cafeteria. By doing so, students and staff will be able to ensure an inclusive environment for all students. *The Epic voted 36-0 in favor of this stance

OPINION

MAY 31, 2019

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY CHLOE LEE

love my phone. It connects me with my friends; it keeps me in touch with my family; it can help me reach the police in an emergency; it lets me play Tetris. Whenever I discover a new, exciting feature of my iPhone, it’s pretty cool that I’m able to say, “Thanks, mom.” Like many growing up in Silicon Valley, I have always been surrounded by role models in the tech industry. My mother, who I look up to most, is an engineer at Apple. I saw firsthand what her work could create: I could hold it in my hand and say, “Thanks, mom.” And so, growing up, it was easy to equate STEM careers with “success.” Between the flyers for coding lessons at the library and the emphasis on advanced classes in mathematics, I grew up believing that the path to success was through STEM. As I heard often in my youth, to pursue anything else was pointless and impractical. Humanities didn’t make a tangible impact on the world, and there was no money in the arts. Four years ago, I was blessed by one of the most brilliant and most stubborn teachers I’ve ever had. My seventh-grade English teacher, exasperated with the Silicon Valley attitude that math and science were the most important subjects, demanded that her students treat literature with respect, regardless of what our environment told us to value. It was her fierce defense and respect for the written word that began to chip away at my preconceptions about the “seriousness” of writing. When I wrote my first short story for a school assignment two years later, I was fascinated not only by the emotions my story could evoke, but also the different messages I could convey within a one-page narrative. I found it rewarding to express my opinions about the world through fiction. Inspired, I opened a new file and began writing on my own. A hundred words turned into a thousand, which turned into ten thousand, which turned into more. Over the last two years, it’s become a habit: I now often spend my free time pouring countless disjointed snippets and stories of varying length and quality onto the digital page. Though I never shared anything I wrote, the process became part of my identity and lifestyle. I realized that writing is only impractical or pointless if I didn’t take the time to find the value in it. Writing is a way of exploring the world and understanding our place in it; like all art forms, it conveys meaning that affects the choices people make and the principles that our society values. Silicon Valley attitudes, though, have since remained the same: the sciences are valuable and the arts are not. However, two years of exploring my unlikely passion now left me with a different perspective. I believe that the Bay Area’s collective dismissal of art and literature speaks to a larger problem in our culture: we don’t value the consideration of our principles as much as personal success or technological advancement. It troubles me that we heavily prioritize asking questions about technology over questions about ourselves, and that we both actively and passively discourage the next generation from searching for the answers to those less tangible questions. Today, I consider myself lucky to be able to explore both science and writing, and I’m grateful that I have the perspective to respect both professions for what they offer society. In this bubble consumed by flashing screens, LED lights and skyscraper cities, it’s important for us to remember that while the sciences describe how we can change the world, the humanities tell us how we should.

very year on April 30, the Fall of Saigon, Nguyen wears black to honor the history of South Vietnam. He also wears a yellow tie, pin and shoes with patches of the Vietnamese flag. As a South Vietnamese American, Nguyen commemorates the Fall of Saigon, or Black April, to remember South Vietnam’s loss during the war against the communist North Vietnam; on this day in 1975, the North Vietnamese took over South Vietnam capital, Saigon. Older generations of Vietnamese individuals mourn the loss of their homeland since were forced to flee their country as refugees. “For children like myself, it’s hard to mourn something that happened before you were even born,” Nguyen said. “When my parents came to America to finish high school, they struggled as they were very young. In the end, they both met at UC Berkeley, and here I am now. I’m very fortunate to have grown up not having to question my identity. I have my culture as a source of connection to others as opposed to growing up feeling alienated by my identity and my culture.” Nguyen was raised by his parents and grandparents in America. He attended Vietnamese school every Sunday, where he learned about Vietnamese culture and became part of a community which helped him understand the customs. “Now that I’m older and I’ve been outside of the Vietnamese bubble, it’s interesting seeing how little remains of my country’s culture,” Nguyen said. “The South Vietnamese flag that I am familiar with, that I belong to, doesn’t appear in the emojis. South Vietnam’s anthem does not play when the Vietnamese team participates in any international sports. It’s strange to have that disconnect.” “My culture, to me, is more of a sense of belonging,” Nguyen said. “There are restaurants and malls and areas of San Jose where I can feel at home. This is where there are a lot of Vietnamese people and where my culture is not only accepted, but also celebrated, as it also connects us all even though we are so many miles away.”

anvee Joshi celebrates her North Indian Marathi culture by attending various festivals and parties, such as Diwali, to understand the customs involved. Between the months October and November, Joshi celebrates Diwali, a five-day festival which symbolizes the victory of good over evil and knowledge over ignorance. Everyday, her family lights a lamp outside their house and near the images of Indian deities. They decorate their prayer area, the pooja, with artistic designs, wear new clothes and exchange gifts. “I always love to celebrate Diwali because it reminds me that no matter how far away I am from India, there are still people celebrating its rich culture and others who are appreciating it,” Joshi said. “This makes me very proud of my heritage and my background.” Diwali, which marks the Hindu New Year, rejuvenates her family with a sense of freshness and increased enthusiasm. Diwali is celebrated every autumn in the northern hemisphere and every spring in the southern hemisphere as one of the most popular festivals of Hinduism. Diwali comes from the row of clay lamps that Indians light outside their homes to symbolize the inner light that protects individuals from the spiritual darkness. “Diwali is a time to appreciate the roots that I came from, what I value and what I represent,” Joshi said. “Being a North India Marathi is a huge part of who I am. A lot of my family, friends and events that I take part in are defined by my culture. My culture defines me as a person and shapes me as a being.” Joshi spends Asian Pacific American Heritage Month taking extra time to appreciate being Marathi and how much her culture has impacted other individuals.

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY FEATURES SECTION

TANVEE JOSHI

t is much more advantageous to take finals after AP exams since it allows a greater amount of time to prepare for the class’s final exams and ultimately benefits a student's GPA. For college decisions, GPA is more important than AP scores. Thus, having more time to study for final exams is usually more beneficial than taking finals early. Many AP classes give the final exam soon after they finish learning all the coursework; this gives students an inadequate amount of time to master a year’s worth of material within a few days. Taking finals prior to AP exams as opposed to during finals week usually gives students three to five more weeks to study, which is a significant amount of time to review. When a student has a borderline grade, this extra study time can make or break their final grade. In addition, AP exams serve as practice for final exams. Students study diligently for AP exams to attain a passing score that allows them to skip certain classes or acquire college credits at some universities. Based on statistics from previous years, Lynbrook students generally perform extremely well on AP exams. Last year, 92.8 percent of all Lynbrook students who took an AP exam passed, and 51.5 percent of those students earned a perfect score of 5 out of 5. After studying for AP exams and taking the AP test, students will be extremely prepared and well versed in the material. Further, it is undoubtedly more important to allow students more time to study for final exams, since a student’s GPA matters more than AP scores. While reporting AP scores to colleges is generally considered optional, it is always necessary to report GPA when applying to universities. According to the National Association For College Admission Counseling, 79.2 percent of 231 colleges ranked grades in college preparatory courses as of considerable importance, while only 7 percent ranked AP scores of considerable i m p o r t a n c e . Additionally, after admission to a college, a senior's second semester grades cannot drop significantly, or else their admission may be rescinded. AP exams serve as a practice test for AP classes' final exams, and having final exams on their typical date rather than before the AP exam allows for students to better prepare for the final exam. With colleges prioritizing GPA over AP exam scores, the extra time to prepare for a gradechanging final exam is extremely advantageous.

Writing in a tech filled bubble

MR. NGUYEN

hile early finals do subtract from the valuable time that students have to study, they make up for it by decreasing student stress and opening up the end of the school year for exploration beyond the course’s curriculum. Early finals are convenient for students in AP classes as studying for the course’s final can help students prepare for the coming exams. Since teachers hold their students to AP standards, reviewing course material for the final allows students to study earlier for the upcoming AP exam. This is especially beneficial for students who have difficulty with time management, as the final can serve as a practice test for the mastery of material that will be tested by the College Board. Teachers usually give early final exams nearly a month before the school’s allotted finals week, with some as early as the week after spring break. Although this limits the time students have to raise their grades, teachers use the free weeks after AP testing to assign final projects that give students the chance for a lastminute grade boost. Projects diversify the content taught in the classroom and enables students choose what material they want to learn. For example, In AP Computer Science A, students are assigned a project requiring them to use the data structures they have learned to build an program of their choice, such as a game or an application. In AP English Literature, students assemble a reflective portfolio in which they write letters to their future selves, share their favorite works of literature, and create a timeline of their four years in high school. Without early finals, students would have to juggle both AP and college preparatory coursework, cramming for numerous subjects and taking multiple hour-long exams during finals week. By giving final exams for AP classes prior to the AP exam, teachers r e d u c e student stress by spacing out the tests students will have to take, allowing students to relax as the school year ends. This is advantageous for student performance because students are likely to feel fatigued after a marathon of studying, which may negatively impact their exam performance. Overall, the reduced time that students have to prepare for finals and AP testing is a small price to pay for the numerous advantages that come with early finals. Early finals decrease stress, prepare students well for AP testing, and give teachers time to let students creatively explore the topics they have studied throughout the year; these conveniences tip the scales greatly in favor of implementing early finals in AP courses. ALISHA NAIDU – EPIC

BY JONATHAN YE

ELENA WILLIAMS//IN MY OPINION

tarted in 1978, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM) occurs annually every May as a way to celebrate the culture, achievements, contributions and history of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States. Some traditional celebrations include gathering with family and relatives, wearing new and traditional clothes and spending time with others. At Lynbrook, senior Tanvee Joshi, as well as staff members Thanh Nguyen and Eric Wong celebrate their Asian heritage in unique ways.

MR. WONG

BY HSINYEN HUANG

BY CHLOE LEE

Two staffers offer their opinions on early finals in AP classes

lhsepic.com

Lynbrook celebrates Asian American heritages

How early should finals be taken? s the school year comes to a close, students frantically begin studying for final exams, which are typically held during the last week of school. However, in some AP classes, teachers choose to administer finals before AP testing, which usually begin in the first week of May, so that students will be able to prepare for the AP exam along with the final. There are significant benefits and drawbacks to early finals: students can begin studying for AP exams earlier and delve into more advanced topics after the final, but at the same time, a valuable studying period is lost for those struggling to bring up their grades.

FEATURES

LYNBROOK HIGH SCHOOL | THE EPIC

fter college, Wong moved to Shanghai to work as a teacher for a few years. There, Wong was able to celebrate one of his favorite holidays, Lunar New Year. “It was absolutely psycho, like the country was on steroids,” Wong said. “I lived in an apartment complex and fireworks were going off. I could not hear the person standing in front of me because the fireworks were so loud. It was like the whole city of 13 million people were setting off fireworks.” Growing up, Wong’s grandparents introduced him to Chinese holidays, such as Chinese New Year, where he was given red envelopes, also known as hong bao, and sticky rice cakes, also known as nian gao. In traditional Chinese culture, the red color of the envelopes symbolizes good luck and is thought to ward off evil spirits. Eating nian gao is believed to promote financial prosperity and growth for the upcoming year. During Lunar New Year, Wong and his family go to San Francisco to dine with relatives. However, since Wong is a fourth-generation Chinese-American whose family is from Hawaii, he is very Americanized; Wong’s father does not speak Chinese, and his grandparents speak fluent English. “The meaning of culture has evolved over time,” Wong said. “As a kid, I thought of it like ‘whatever I’m Asian, but I want to be a part of all cultures. With my time living in China, seeing my family village, and learning about my dad’s genealogy, my culture becomes more important as I also want to start teaching my kids about it. I try to explain my culture in an appropriate way where they can value it, but also understand that they are living their own lives.” Having attended college in Michigan, Wong was able to experience a broader variety of cultural backgrounds. At Lynbrook, an Asian-centric environment where almost 85 percent of the student population is Asian, everything Asian, such as having seven boba shops in a one mile radius, seems so familiar to students. “In other places like Michigan, there are a lot of Asians, but you’re also meeting people who have never interacted with other Asians,” Wong said. “Many times with race and culture, it becomes this divisive thing. I always see [race and culture] as a chance to share and educate people because I think that is the biggest way to break down some of the stereotypes out there.”

FEATURES

MAY 31, 2019

Thoughtful book recommendations from librarians

n any given day, crowds of students go to the library to use the necessary resources that the library provides, whether it is the computers, the books or even just the welcoming space. However, what many do not see is the team of librarians hard at work to keep the library running smoothly. Whether they are working at the circulation desk, in the library’s back office, between shelves or in classrooms, librarians Amy Ashworth, Tonya Robertson and Susan Lucas work together to create a welcoming library environment for students. In addition to helping students with library resources, they have discovered several books that they have found inspiring, life-changing or simply exciting. In Ashworth’s first year at Lynbrook, she worked at the library’s circulation desk, then became the Library Media teacher the following year. She teaches students the skills of information literacy, such as how to use databases correctly and how to evaluate source credibility. Ashworth is also in charge of ordering books and doing collection reports on the library resources to determine if unused resources should be removed. However, her favorite part of her job is that she has the opportunity to teach in the classroom. Ashworth works with h i s t o r y teacher Mike Williams in

leading professional development for the staff and regularly goes into classrooms to teach students about information literacy. Last year, Ashworth hit a milestone in her career when she completed her master’s degree in Library and Information Science through an online course at San Jose State University while working a full-time job at Lynbrook. Ashworth initially found a book that she loved by watching the movie “Howl’s Moving Castle.” While watching the credits scroll by, she noticed that the movie was based off Diana Wynne Jones’ novel “Howl’s Moving Castle,” and upon reading the book, she fell in love with it. She found the novel unique, because although it is a journey novel, the young protagonist is growing up in a peculiar way, as she is cursed to be trapped in an old lady’s body while having the mind of her teenage self. Ashworth loves fantasy books in general; she encourages reading for pleasure, because she believes that reading books that may not be one of the classics broadens students’ horizons. “There are lists of books that you should read before going to a college, and students often go to it thinking that it’s a chore,” said Ashworth. “But ultimately, they wind up realizing that it’s actually a pretty pleasurable experience. I think the same thing goes for reading for fun — it helps

you to de-stress and escape in a good way.” nicely,” Robertson said. “You can look back Like Ashworth, Tonya Robertson holds a n d think of her earlier works and see how she’s grown so much the same belief about reading for pleasure. as a storyteller — that’s what’s Robertson began her career in really special about the series.” the human services field, Another face students in which she worked will see in the library is Susan with foster children and Lucas, the other Library homeless youth. However, Specialist, who began working she switched to working as a at Lynbrook in August 2018 Library Specialist at Lynbrook after transitioning from her in 2015 since it gave her more job as a graphic designer to time to spend with her family. a librarian in the Campbell As a Library Specialist, Union Elementary School Robertson District.Lucas recalls has varying that when she was in responsibilities, high school, she read a from helping novel that she did not students find appreciate then but in which has resources to deciding since found deeper meaning: “Jane Eyre” by if library materials need updating. Robertson Charlotte Brontë. “Jane Eyre” takes the reader also works with Ashworth along with a young orphan girl, Jane. Lucas and Lucas to recommend found the main character relatable, as both books to interested students. were trying to find love, acceptance and their Robertson’s favorite place in life in the face of other struggles. “I think that like Jane, our students genres include young adult fantasy fiction and historical want to find a place that fits for them,” fiction, however, she likes to Lucas said. “We kind of have expectations read from a variety of genres in order of what our perfect life is going to be and to responsibly recommend novels to it usually doesn’t work out that way, but students who may have different interests. despite obstacles on her path, Jane remains resilient. I think that having the Robertson recommends the novel “The ability to maintain resilience Cruel Prince,” the first of “The Folk of the without compromising Air” trilogy by Holly Black. “The Cruel morals or integrity is Prince” is about a young girl’s struggle something our students can to be accepted in a fairy world she is take away from the novel.” stuck in. Robertson especially enjoys The librarians are an the fantasy aspect of the story and incredibly important thinks that it appeals to everyone part of Lynbrook and, since it is a fun, wellas experts in their written and quick field, they are willing novel to read. to provide their “I’ve read insight whenever some of needed. Their Black’s earlier doors are always books, and open in case anyone the writing needs help, wants style in “The to talk or is looking Cruel Prince” for more book is so great; it TONYA ROBERTrecommendations. just flows really

BY HATIM SAIFEE

Placed right after the empowering track is “Level Up,” an uptempo pop song that immediately increases the dance factor of the album. Packed with powerful bass, continuous beats and taps on an electronic keyboard, the song is the epitome of a dance anthem. The title references a 2016 Instagram post by Ciara, featuring a video of John Gray’s sermon regarding what women should do to find a husband. The singer captioned the video “#LevelUp. Don’t Settle,” and on this track, Ciara continues her rebellion against the patriarchy, singing, “Thank God I never settled, this view is so much better.” When speaking about the motivational message of “Level Up,” Ciara told Billboard, “My mission is to inject love, and inspire and make the world dance, and this song allowed me to do exactly that.” Revisiting the retro pop roots which led to Ciara’s meteoric rise to fame in the early 2000’s, the album shifts to throwback pop with “Thinkin’ Bout You.” The song sounds like a romantic Katy Perry single playing at a disco in 2005, and its music video features a T-shirt-clad Ciara dancing with a broom. Speaking about the purpose of the song, Ciara told Source, “I’m very comfortable dancing around in my room, and letting go and getting lost in my thoughts. When it’s time to get ready for my date night, I turn it up a bit.” The album concludes with the sentimental piano ballad “Beauty Marks,” where Ciara eloquently conveys her love and appreciation for her partner, and realizes that her “scars are beauty marks.” The seven-minute long music video for the song was released along with the album,

ALL PHOTOS BY FEATURES SECTION

BY ALISHA NAIDU

Ciara turns past scars into beauty marks

ART ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTY YU

ealing with the underperformance of her 2015 album “Jackie,” parting ways with her record label Epic Records and her fiancé Future, coupling with NFL quarterback Russell Wwwilson and giving birth to their daughter Sienna, Ciara’s personal and professional life has taken many turns in the past four years. Now, the Grammy award-winning independent artist embraces her past and embodies her newfound confidence in her seventh album, “Beauty Marks,” proving why Ciara’s new music deserves louder applause. Ciara’s collaboration with rapper Macklemore, “I Love Myself,” opens the album with an R&B undertone. As the song begins, Ciara says, “The best thing I could ever do for me, is love myself.” As the title suggests, the song is about the importance of self-love. The lyrics are cheesy and the piano tune in the background is predictable, but Ciara makes an effort to make her track stand out by including a bass-heavy drum beat. Macklemore, known for his empowering rap verses, sings, “Don’t want the ‘Gram telling my daughters what beauty is,” echoing a message that many celebrities are beginning to support: social media should not define beauty. “I Love Myself” sets the tone for “Beauty Marks”: an emotional album about self-growth and acceptance, with a couple of bops tossed in.

and features never-before-seen footage of the singer’s lavish wedding to Wilson at an English castle, as well as moments right after the birth of Ciara’s daughter Sienna. The video was showered with appreciation from fans for being a “tear jerker” and showing actual emotional events, not fictional depictions of love like other music videos have. Apart from these well-performing tracks, the album also includes songs that are not terrible but aren’t quite memorable either. “Set” is a bass-heavy, uptempo R&B track which emanates a dark but strong tone, with Ciara singing unoriginal lyrics addressing her haters. “Girl Gang,” a collaboration with Kelly Rowland from the hit 90’s girl group “Destiny’s Child,” is another danceworthy track of a similar vibe, but the lyrics are meaningless with the repetition of the words “girl gang” occupying most of the song. Nevertheless, “Girl Gang” ranks high on the list of filler tracks. “Freak Me,” featuring Nigerian artist Tekno, feels like an upbeat coastal song, with the music video showcasing African culture through the vibrant outfits of the dancers and the colorful mural on the wall in the background. Although “Beauty Marks” has its fair share of filler tracks, the album nevertheless showcases Ciara’s ability to switch back and forth between R&B and pop with ease. “Beauty Marks” celebrates the wisdom that she has gained from momentous events in her life and shows that Ciara doesn’t need to continue producing the same music as she did in the past to stay successful.

s Class of 2019 president Ben Shapiro says, “We’re a very meme-y class but we make it work.” Our high school story is one of meeting challenges and overcoming them, breaking barriers and having fun along the way. As freshmen, we imagined the future in our first Homecoming skit, Past vs. Future, but we had no idea what these four years at Lynbrook would really hold: the friendships we formed, the lessons we learned, the stories that shaped our high school experiences and our identities. As sophomores, we let our talents and creativity bubble to the surface when we created the great frontier of Atlantis. As juniors we bonded together over rigorous classes and the difficulties of standardized testing. At least when they were over, we had the memes to laugh about. The night before Homecoming, we painted the backdrop as it was being hung in the quad, looking at each other with tired but proud faces. We pulled through. We made it work. Senior year was our time to shine. Entering our last year at Lynbrook, we faced a myriad of new changes: a new schedule, construction, homeroom. We knew our experience as seniors would not be

the same as the seniors that came before us, but we were determined to make the 2018 to 2019 school year uniquely ours. In our final Homecoming skit, we let light overcome darkness and gave our skit from junior year a satisfying ending. As senior year comes to a close, we remember the ridiculous challenges we took part in for The Heist, making complete memes out of ourselves. We remember dancing the night away at prom, not letting the rain dampen the mood. We come together one last time as the Class of 2019, recognizing the quirky, unique and incredible personalities that have made our class one-of-a-kind. The girls who became kickers for the varsity football team. The group of students who made Film Club at Lynbrook a reality. The 7th period class with the longest streak of guessing the right meme in Mr. Pallone’s class. The artists, the scientists, the thinkers, the creators, the dreamers, all 398 of us with unique stories to tell. The future awaits, but for now reflect on the moments that have brought us here. This is the Class of 2019: the class that overcame the challenges we were faced with and the future we will never stop imagining. These are the days we will remember.

I, Aayush Shah, bequeath dance facials to Jash, the ability to dance at the worst times to Eric and Andy, driveteam pride to Kunal, new hoodies to Shai, country singing to Elise and Aaron, and my senior shirt (and all the fiery class spirit it comes with) to JJ. I, Abinaya Anbuchelvan, bequeath my senioritis to Felicia, my ability to turn pages to Alex, a fun time at Midwest to Chamber Orchestra, my French homework to Chinmay, better music taste to Kavish, concert tickets to Dhriti, my nonexistent license to Shriya, more mathematician videos to Shounak, yellow Vans to Anitez, and all the sleep I lost to Tanika.

I, Abinaya Srikant, bequeath the Mailchimp account to Rachana, Roleplay/Written glass to Eric, lots of sleep to Amory, Ontario hats to Helen and Anika, bug-free code to Aayushi, smiles and bad math jokes to Navya, and a couple inches of height, awfully designed reg portals, and all of my love and support to Baby Cindiesel. I, Aditi Raja, bequeath my febreezed socks to Allison Li, mild Taco Bell sauce to Jessica Atmadja, my LOVE for softball to Olivia, sweatpants to Renee Mok, being Brooks’s BFF to Lydian Li, Savannah Smiles to Sarah Ho, my best friend #3 to Maya Abiram, snack money to Pranav Kadiyala, and TEA to Alaap Rag, and screams to Tim Zou.

I, Aditya Munshi, bequeath black clothing to Shriyanshu Kode, white clothing to Amay Tripathi, infinitely long handshakes to Arul Vishwanathan, predictions of the future to Ankit Saxena and Kento Nishi, and my love of space to Krithi Koodli. I, Aditya Venkatesh, bequeath MY joke to Shubhra Dubey, a thousand “break a leg”s to Calista Kerba, Gina White and the drama fam, coffee and sleep to Anna Paaske, stats tutorials to Austin Wang, lots of Ws to Wesley Sun, and the best senior year ever to Shiv Sankhavaram. I, Aishwarya Atmakuri, bequeath 3am presentations and pranks to Rachana, imaginary Backstreet Boys tickets to Cindy, endless Coffee Society runs and last minute plans to Amory, all my Ontario deca merch to Helen, my love of Cafe Lattea to Eric, my OR skillz to all the lovely OReos, my brownies to the incubator fam, entertaining science experiments to KAST kiddos, and the best four years to Anushree, class of 2023.

I, Alex Chang, bequeath hitting triples to Aaron Jew, cookie runs at Good Sam to Emily Mao, shix poles to Maximillion Toshinobu Smith Uchida, a love for any food to Fred Lee, and a better haircut to Eugene Jew. I, Allison Lui, bequeath aggressive defense to my wopo gals, jiggly cheesecake adventures to Navya, edginess to Nyna (the rebellion lives on), radishes and fanny packs to Alyssa, squishier fingers to Aaron, the ability to bike without crashing to Elissa, and a wild senior year to the 2020 class officers. I, Alvin Han, bequeath leggings for running in cold weather to the guys that actually show up to track, infinite wisdom to Justin Dong, and the skill of thinking before speaking to Shailesh Kumar Senthilkumar.

I, Amanda Wang, bequeath the mom-role of the tennis team to Pooja, a less stressful junior year to Flora and Arika, a fun-filled senior year to Nick, and my violin, albums, and whatever else she wants to Aleena.

I, Amanda White, bequeath soccer captaining to Mary, Julie, Shubhra, and Amy, a wonderful season and crazy pasta parties to Girl’s Soccer, fundraising success to Me to We (especially Nisha, Vivek, Catherine, and Priyanka), my kicking ability and endless support to Rei and Danielle, wild senior adventures to White Den, and an amazing last year (+my spanish skills) to Matthew. I, Amrit Ranjan, bequeath endless laughs and love to Amy, Austin, and Ria, my frenzy for ASB Spirit to Aneesha, Ria, Ryan, and Justin, my love for IDC to Akhil, Kanav, and Stephen, my hypebeastiness to Brendan, Anna, and Ryan, my vertical to Aneesha, my annoyingness to Zainab, my car to Nivi, and everything else to my lil sister, Bhavya. I, Amy Nishijima, bequeath Megan Yeh my taste buds so that she may overcome her gross Taco Bell addiction, Julia Michels my patience so that she can deal with Megan for another year, and Sahil Somani endless study dates without the study with all of your girlfriends. I, Ananya Manjunath, bequeath the big table at Peet’s to Kleo and Ankitha, late night Silsilay rehearsals to Shubhra and Alaap, and my undying love for Kanye to Anku <3

I, Anav Chaudhry, bequeath all my “Pro Tips” and Sour Patch Watermelon to Shreedevi Rao, my advice, strawberries, and artistic talent to Sarah Cheah, iced out chains to Swethak Annamaneni, the flattest plateau’s to Mr.Pallone, Mario Kart skills to Mr.Nguyen, and memories of myself to everyone at Lynbrook. I, Andrew Ng, bequeath another successful season to The Funky Monkeys, CAD skills and a tendency to over-design to Sam Pickholtz, JETS to Sunhoo Ahn, and the motivation to get work done to Kunal Sheth.

I, Andy Wang, bequeath my impeccable attendance record to everyone on the track team, height to Peter, better handoffs to Roy and Elyzjah, superior hairline to Derek, shamelessness to Robert Dai, long-distance talent to Cosmo and Vincent, therapy sessions to Charlie, nothing to Claire because she took the good genes already, and love to Jacky, Aref, Suvan, and everyone else. I, Angela Zhao, bequeath deep sleep and cooking skills to opposite me, Selena Zhao, less stress and HEALTH to mini me, Nicole Ong, emo kid vibes to Sanjana Narayanan, loud cheers and boba runs to Amy Sun, bananas to Amy Chatterjee, and all the tea to Kelli Yee and Isabel Moh.

I, Anika Agharkar, bequeath my trusty shades to Joshua Davis. Stay cool, cucumber. I, Anika Murthy, bequeath my appreciation for weird art creatures to Amanda Zhu, ability to rage to Ankitha & Kleo,

undying love for design to Yash Godiwala, and biiiig shoes to fill to Akul Murthy. I, Anne Pfister, bequeath my senioritis to Zainab Nasir and Claire Kim, my taste in music to Sahiti Go and a healthier sleeping pattern to Alex Chen, mes excellentes ompétences en français to Atharva, Shounak and Hali, and musicianship to the chamber orchestra at the Midwest conference. I, Annie Gao, bequeath all my work shifts to Julia Lin, APUSH homework to Judy Wu, cupcakes to Rin Ha, and two more years of high school to my little brother Benjamin Gao.

I, Annie Niu, bequeath my saltiness to Bennett Wong for leaving the trumpet section, my ability to repeat everything and mad trumpet skills to Michelle Pugh, my high intellectual capabilities to Annie Zeng, and my vocabulary that only exists of the word litty to the trumpet section.

I, Anson Li, bequeath dongs to Justin, big boy to Vincent, happy boy to Jonathan, horrible sister to Lydian, Inked Out to Shane. I, Anuroop Thomas, bequeath that the Lynbrook Football team finds success, and that the following classes at Lynbrook have a good time. I, Anusha Fatehpuria, bequeath crazy family dinners to Snigdha, west coast vibes to Bhagya, jade green eyes to Nevin, spontaneous adventures to Michael, RONR and bylaws to Anna, all of my love to Lynbrook FBLA, failed physics labs to Maya, crazy comebacks to Rebecca, and cheeze-its to the tennis team.

I, Ariel Wang, bequeath the supreme trombone section to Boen Wang, optimism and hope for the future to Vincent Shen, and sketchiness to Jennifer Cai and Mira Gowaikar. I, Arjun Kaushik, bequeath my tardiness to Sahil Somani, my height to Ryan Markert, my drumming skills to Jayson Lee, my lack of ability to keep time to Andrew Chen, my tuxedo looks to Ryan Kawamura, my acting ability to Stephen Tao, my love to Austin Chen, and my cluelessness to Aileen Mi.

I, Arul Gnanasivam, bequeath the position of Indian player of the team to Ananth, endless food to Diana, knowledge and patience to Enzo, and some more food to Ashley.

I, Arushi Gautam, bequeath my senioritis to Cynthia and Riddhi, hours of SD admin work to Cindy, Rachana, and Twisha, my tardies to Nisha, my SAT prep books to Anitez, my physics knowledge to Emily, my humor to Dhriti, Amudha, and Audrey, my math brain to Shannon, Madhavan and Hali, and my French skills to Robert, Christian, Shounak and Bernard. I, Arya Ranadive, bequeath my surgical skills and scalpels to Anya Chatterjee and Madhavan Anbuchelvan, hospital french fries to Aileen Xue, and HEALing powers to Claire Tan. I, Ashley Gong, bequeath the well being of the flute section to Hali Wu; the section fun times to Bebba Buang, Maya Belur, Katha Patel, Aarushi Mehrotra, Yixuan Liu, and everyone else; and whatever else to Bailey Gong.

I, Ashwin Pasupathy, bequeath Sports Analytics Club and all of Mr. Wright’s incorrect NBA opinions to William Chang and Vivek Iyer.

I, Atul Nair, bequeath my robotics knowledge to Jash Gada and Aayush B as they will need it very much the following years.

I, Austin Lei, bequeath Musicians Society to ASB, club membership to Musicians Society and Project Euler, 2020 BMT 1st place to Math Club, height to Huvid, memes to Dzheng, Chinese skill to Milan, Jonathan Huang to Phoebe Lin, and Phoebe Lin to Jonathan Huang. I, Azra Ferhatovic, bequeath the softball field to Elina Kulakkattolikel, and Evan Liu, ceramic skills to Charlotte Kruk, math learning skills and my top and bottom being out to Micheaela Lee, and Kaitlyn Kim, my goofiness to Diego Arias, Ta’Shona Sapp, Jake Echanove, and Rei Trujillo, my headaches to Mackinnon Chen, and an interesting four years to my sister Melisa Ferhatovic class of 2023. I, Ben Shapiro, bequeath bathroom breaks to Ankit, the B emoji to Raka, influencer fame to Akhil, parental love to Niranjan, objection skills to Andrew, Ria, Zoe, and Kanav, finger circles to Austin, pronunciation to Vijaya, gremlins to Amy, homecoming veteran medals to Anna, Michael, and Tim, stomach pains to Stephen, and 1% of Spain to Victor, Zaal, Atharva, and Nenington.

I, Brandon Qin, bequeath my tech abilities to Megan, Brendan, and Austin, Brandy and Friends to Andy, handshakes to Aneesha, nonexistent hoodies to Anna P, a successful year to FASBOs, passion for music to Mr. Lee, canned vegetables for MistaBale, and love for exploring, dancing, and chilling to Diana Xu. I, Catherine Hwu, bequeath spam musubi to Lani, Emma, and Caroline; deer and coyote sightings to XC girls; screenprinting and corsage struggles to Iris, Zixin, and Charmaine; the cover art mess to Amanda; the “debits on the left, credits on the right” song to future DECA ACT girls; and the daily job of wearing the Fitbit to Victoria.

I, Charlie Huang, bequeath the power of national HUANGS to jonathan HUANG, william HUANG, and Stanley hWang, my Freiheitsgrade and Ehrengesellschaft to Milan Ganai, my nitric oxide concentrations to Chinmay Lalgudi and Kavish Trivedi, Science Club cringery to Flora HUANG and Jonathan HUANG, the position as chairman of star parties to the new astrophysics cringers, simple harmonic motion ;) to Nathan Zhang, Jeff Liu, and Edward Lu, escape rooms to Austin Lei, the deletion of Brawl Stars to Alexander Zhang, and thermite to Mr. Leung. I, Charlotte Zhang, bequeath my art children with rad art kid vibes and the will to experiment, next year’s amazing Japanese Club officers with fab nihongo power, Vivian with my top-notch derp skills, Quindi math squad with elevated brain power (which I don’t actually have), the kids I was

TA for with confidence to do well in future biology-related endeavors, and of course to everyone my love and well wishes for all the years to come :)

I, Chloe Lee, bequeath my food adventures to Claire Chiu, gossip sessions and weird laughs to Kavya Iyer, my makeup knowledge to Nicole Ong, a sister spectacular senior year to Belinda Zhou, and 9 pm accidental sleeping times on the ground and two more years of high school without me to my little shorter sister, Elysa. I, Christina Cui, bequeath the responsibility for the prosperous future of Interact to Emma Nguyen, Kyle Yu, and Helen Hu, to whom I have granted my trust to not destroy our club.

I, Christine Lee, bequeath my crazy late night preparations to the 2019-20 Japanese Club officers, whatever is left of my hopes to the Cooking Arts Club, my wishes for an overdue upgrade for the Vertigo Literary Magazine to just become a course already, and a happy, less sleep-deprived high school life for my little brother Jeffrey Lee. I, Cynthia Chang, bequeath a box of berry cheerios to Matthew Lu, an easy app season and a burrito to Sunny Guan, my little brother to Cosmo Cao, rainbows to the crossing guard, good campers at WCEO to William Chang and Sharlene Chen, sulfur hexafluoride to Olivia Tomm, and 32452369786 gua baos and an Asian 7-Eleven to Eric Wang. I, Daniel Huang, bequeath my shooting stroke to Alex Huang and Arthur Zhou, prep books to Fred and Daphne Lee, and an ASB-free year to all clubs on campus.

I, Daniel Jang, bequeath a million pebbles to Chris Lee and Justin Yi, weekly all-nighters to Allen Chang, one hell of a good time to the tenors, and great future performances to all Lynbrook choirs!

I, Danielle Jung, bequeath successful soccer seasons to srin, nessie, tamatha, ashlee, and raymond, many fun filled first periods to julie and avni, as much common sense as I can to white den (they’ll need it), as many memes as I have to steph to help through junior year, and all the sleep I missed (but she’ll need) to joelle. I, Dave Desouza-Lawrence, bequeath extra conditioning to the football team, and a CCS victory to the boys golf team.

I, Denver Tang, bequeath less technological issues to solve for Toan, a fun senior year to Robert Sun and Elyzjah Gordan, and free flights to Lynbrook students who I have interacted with on a daily basis in the past.

I, Denver Yu, bequeath the spirit of simas to Luka Mandic and the rest of Lynbrook Soccer, sweet physics dreams to Andy Li, alpha male bounces to Justin Dong, a proper brother to Eddie Wang, tons of trophies to Jasmine Hou, and a high school diploma to Ethan Jean that he never received.

I, Dianna Shen, bequeath all of my love to the Intersections officers, El Vito to Leo Shaw, a good thesis statement to Eric Yang, Plants vs. Zombies to Victor Shen, and a good night’s sleep to Andy Li. I, Divya Nelakonda, bequeath some new photo arrangements to News 2018-19, the joy of thinking of making front page to Sunny and Dhriti, NCHS and hopefully no more karaoke socials to Belinda, a healthy back and (finally) some Jamba Juice to Diana, my name to Divya Balaji, and Mike Bundy, fat _ _ _ _, and the ability to install fonts without buttcrack to Aileen.

I, Diya Jain, bequeath hermans and many more wins to the field hockey team, much needed stress relief to Kanav, my passion and fairy lights to Antara, Bom Diggy to Jalwa ,all my love and support to Zainab, and the future of clubs to Michelle and Andy. I, Eesha Deepak, bequeath my physics knowledge to Raka Acharya, my craziness to Isha Venkatesh and Claire Chen, and all of my love to my children in Dolci.

I, Eileen Yang, bequeath the Photography Club and Yearbook Photography dictatorship to Alisha Yang, endless hours of sports team rostering to the Valhalla staff, years of passion instilled world-shaking to the Interact Club Officers, and a failed Hack Club proposal, post-gym Tea Era bento boxes, & a fulfilling stress-free senior year to Eric Yang. I, Emily Du, bequeath my sanity to Akshata Chonnad, endless “no you”s to Charles Barnes, principal positions to Michelle Pugh, and a non-jank flute to Hali Wu.

I, Emmaline Mai, bequeath jammed fingers to the guard, government conspiracies to Alicia, the care of Scratch club to Carol and Jennifer, bags of chips to the GWC officers and interns, leadership of mech to Kaylee, and dino Avengers to Nathan (class of 2025). I, Erick Shimabuku, bequeath funny stories to Mrs. Quindipan, fun times for my ceramics group, and good college apps to Darren Huang and Nathan Fang!

I, Estella Lin, bequeath bear hugs to Alex and Joonha, versatile range to Nyna and Emma, iPad drawing skills to Sophia, Relax Time to Sanjana, and a fun rest of the time at Lynbrook full of happy memories and plenty laughter to all my underclassmen friends and their future friends as well. I, Garret Wang, bequeath a stash of fondling lace to Mr. Seike, more funding for Mr. Pakaluk, sunscreen and spiderrepellent spray for my marching band buddies Cynthia Liu and Madison Bossetti, and good fortune for next year’s test takers and college applicants. Good luck!

I, Hansen Lillemark, bequeath a dying club to Maanvi Thawani, Alyssa Kim, and Pranav Kirti, my stupidity to Nick Nguyen, Vincent Peng, and Austin Chen, a Yoooo to Pramesh Karthikeyan, a jewel to Tim Zou, and APbaby to Zainab Nasir.

I, Hatim Saifee, bequeath PWITB to Aditi/sOnaLi, discounted Starbeez to NicoleOwO, dealing with SNO to Audrey and Kaylin, the future of Epic to all my Epic

shishtars, Quindi’s stories to Stephanie, #g*ytingz to Alara, religious namaazes to Zainab, more Lizzo concerts to Rhea, #skinnybrows to Kavya, wig-snatching skills to Belinda, PMT to Katie, and my Sitara singing skills to Sanjana. I, Heather Kong, bequeath my endless love and life’s work in Interact to Emma Nguyen, Kyle Yu, and Helen Hu, the wonderful future of Pre-Med to Pranav Kadiyala and Sowmya Mambakkam, my messy bedroom and three more eventful years at Lynbrook to Lauraine Kong, and my calculus review book and physics notes to Nicholas Kong, Class of 2024.

I, Hsinyen Huang, bequeath blueberry muffins to Team HBV, travel tournaments to Speech and Debate, strong wifi to Girls Who Code, an actual social to the Epic, bountiful member presentations to WiSTEM, you-know-what to Aileen, headbanging music to Enzo, burn medicine to Miss Quebec, and a good ole time to my sister. I, Iman Haq, bequeath my ability to lead a team to Shants Co., my ability to dance to Mary McLeod and Rei Trujillo, my Australian accent to Shubhra Dubey, and a memorable time in High School to my little brother Omar Haq, Class of 2023. I, Iryl Tan, bequeath mb senioritis to Sahil, wack instruments to Rahul, vine making responsibilities to Olivia, broken reeds to Eric and Roshan, rainbowness to Annie Z, snack stealing to Bennett, and pasta parties to Ivilyn.

I, Isha Sharma, bequeath better fish-themed restaurant experiences to Mrs. Loia, breadsticks to Natalie Semersky, motivation to Karisa Choi, a date with Mother Dendall to my wopo gorls, Wakanda Forever to Mr. Pallone, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” by The Tokens to Shubhra Dubey and Gloria Tan, and mom hugs to Nyna Velamuri. I, Jacob Lee, bequeath my bench skills to my volleyball underclassmen (Jonathan, Nathan, Justin, Kevin, Vincent, Ananth) and my CS skills to Aayush, Austin, Amy, and Ashley. Maybe next year, you guys got this.

I, James Jiao, bequeath late night excursions to Kunal Sheth, killer presentation skills to Niranjan Joshi, successful competition seasons to Robotics and Mock Trial, and of course a flourishing and entertaining high school experience to my sister, Angela Jiao.

I, Jamie Chang, bequeath to Trisha an endless supply of rainbows and the wooden fagotto; to Cosmo the position of principal bassoonist; to XC girls a penchant for ditching practice; and to Shubhra, Julie, Jessica my love of Viking Buddies. I, Jasmine Kuo, bequeath unbreakable sewing needles and endless midnight snacks to my little sister Joy Kuo.

I, Jason Dong, bequeath CS club to my fellow Project Euler officers and Chris, tennis skills to Pranav, science fair talent to Raghav and Chinmay, NCHS to my “brother” Justin, physics to jcheng_supastar, drama talent to Jack and Sakin’s brother, and incredible math questions to Abhinav.

I, Jeff Liu, bequeath the future of Troop 452 to Larry Peng, speechwriting skills to Joe Lin, thick gains to Steven Zhong, lab skills and menial labor to Mr. Leung, and a vibrant road ahead to all my Orenda students. I, Jeffrey Han, bequeath nothing to Gaurav Rajan, my boba addiction and growth spurt to Kelli Yee, late bedtimes to Isabel Moh, bottom row choir riser position to Austin Huang, the note E2 to Sid, 8 ball pool skills to David Ho, and procrastination habits to Yutong Liu. I, Jennifer Yang, bequeath my “strict mom discipline” to Stephen and Heidi, percussion incapabilities to Andrew, Morris, and Aileen (wink wink), essay writing “skills” to Stella and Matthew, tea to Rahul, TPMvids to Ty, black clothes to Bennett, and all my love, bread, and ill-timed jokes to the pit kids.

I, Jessica Li, bequeath an endless lookout of oxford commas and continued content workshops to Belinda Zhou and Elena Williams, #teamrafael forever to Aileen Xue, a good guitar to Esther Zhu, finding weird guitar quirks to Livia Zhu and Yucia Wong, no more Earth Science to BJ Leong, my love for calculus to Amy Yang, UCLA to Jayson Lee, my ukulele to Melody Chen and all the love and support for the Epic and next year’s Editorial Board for years to come. I, Jessie Wong, bequeath my Prius C to Val, my insanity to Georgie, Capriccio to Twisha, a stress-free senior-brain to Emily Hsu, an appreciation for page-turners to Pearl, the golf team to Elise, senioritis and chill to Carol, Elaine, and Lucy, my unparalleled music taste to Sunhoo, Gryffindorness to Doofus, and the iOS bear emoji and speedtextingthumbs to PP Pariah.

I, Jodi Wong, bequeath early Sunday mornings and cheap concerts to Emily Lu, amazing cooking skills to Valerie Kan, and very early sleeping hours to Livia Zhu. I, Jojo Chen, bequeath an eight legged jelly spider to Ashley S., all the luck I have to Roxanne C. (it’s not a lot I’m sorry), an abundant amount of soy sausages to Sanjana N, and a fun filled year of dealing with Sanjana to Maya A. I, Joshua Wong, bequeath a jar of foil-wrapped milk chocolates to Mr. Penner. I also bequeath my tattered Campbell’s Biology textbook (all 1464 pages) to Pranav Kadiyala, limited Spanish skills to Matthew Wu, Lauryn Tuo, Jennifer Kim, and Natalie Semersky, and obsession with residential real estate to Patrick Phelan.

I, Justin Choi, bequeath my entire Smash Bros legacy to Andrew Tu. Be the biggest Chad there is and get those wins, buddy.

I, Justine Chen, bequeath an abundance of Fall Rally North attendees to my favorite Key Club key-uties, fat penguin suits to Hongjie, patience to deal with Hongjie to Shreedevi, grandma vibes and craziness at soccer to Julie, cutie and creative features layouts to Medha, A Love So Beautiful and Meteor Garden to Ashley and Pranav, confidence and creativity for web to Audrey, stress-free last days of production and short pitch calls to Nicole and Aileen, cheap

doordash meals and fast passes at next year’s convention to #disneydudes (y’all know who you are!), a fun-filled senior year and relief of not dealing with Diya anymore to Zainab, cheap BTS concert tickets and all my love and support to Diana. I, Kathleen Yang, bequeath the skills to annoy Coach and frozen grapes to the girls varsity tennis team, manta rays to Sophia Wu, hugs to Hillary Chang, gossip during orchestra to Kleo Ku, beards to Raghav Ganesh, and some chickens and art skills to Vincent Peng.

I, Kathryn Huang, bequeath my senpai status to Amy Tse, 17-18 Rec hangouts to Zainab Nasir, sass to Becca Liu, optimism to Michelle Chew, guitar/singing skills to Alex Chen, mom status to Elwing Gao, assertiveness to Austin Chen, and lots of love and memories to Jonathan and Matthew Huang I, Kavitha Thirumaran, bequeath the milly rock to the volleyball team, all Marvel movies to Maddie Shao, large financial institutions to Shannon Kuo, better apparel and clapping to get open to the basketball team, successful bake sales to Me to We, and a great 4 years to Vikram Thirumaran, 2023. I, Kavya Balaji, bequeath Overture to Divya Pereira and Helina Li, tons of fun get-togethers to Anish and Ananth Pilaka, and a lot of luck to my little brother Karthik Balaji.

I, Keerthana Babu, bequeath good essays to Joseph Zhang and Shreya Sinha, my passion for French to Milan Ganai, and a fun last year in viola section to Akshaya Ramakrishnan.

I, Kelsey Lu, bequeath kpop dance moves to Ashley, successful business deals and aesthetic profile spams to Claire and Priyanka, shin guard tans to the field hockey team, and a variety of dinner options to the Epic.

I, Kerry Wong, bequeath hops and dad jokes to Derek Liu, safe driving skills and xbox sports victories to Chris Kim, friendly moths and cute salsa dancers to Nikita Sehgal, Spot It talent to Allison Li, a good time in physics to Nithya Srinivasan, and nap sessions to Harry Chu. I, Kiana Hatam, bequeath my bumblebee ring to Vanessa, my handshake skills to Tammi, my music playlist and yoga mats to Isha Rustagi and Sofia Ermakova, my unicorn tattoos to the girls on the soccer team, my spirit to next years Link Crew Commissioners, my math notes to Riya Kumari (even though she is too smart for them), and what is left of my free time for my besties Katie and Rhea. I, Krish Govindasamy, bequeath 8059 to Vincent Shen, DM to Akshata Chonnad, “where’s my money” to Erik Ji, a fun three years at lynbrook to Faith Ju, my trombone to Boen Wang, my DB90 skills to Catherine Zheng, and my goose to Phillip Lee. I, Krishnakumar Bhattaram, bequeath German Honor Society to Milan Ganai, good weather to Astrophysics Club, and my sonic screwdrivers to Karthik Bhattaram.

I, Kuhu Mathur, bequeath my inability to remember dance steps to Aayushi Jani, my Lightroom and Photoshop skills to Kanav Tirumala and Fred Lee, and my love for cooking and baking to all future Cooking Arts Clubs members.

I, Kulsoom Ahmad, bequeath college app skills to Tanav O, luck for Octagon to Arnav, Pranav, and Lakshmi, a school without construction to the class of 2024, and a corner to pray in to Abdullah A and Annamta S.

I, Leslie Hwang, bequeath insane 4-court rallies and linejudge death stares to my crazy tennis team, harder-tosearch-up trivia to my RC officers, faster dishwashing to my Cicero’s boys, unexpired snacks and fashion-forward gift-wrapping accessories to my dearest GWC gals, and all the growth (not vertically though, you can stop now) and happiness to my lil brother and best friend, Evan. I, Leslie Pu, bequeath sea otters to Mr. Pallone, Matthew F. Maury raps to Kavish Trivedi, kiddo jokes and good marine science textbooks (for beating Albany HS) to the 2019 and 2020 OSB teams, “Russian” horn playing to Ethan Lee, very interesting music to Cynthia Liu, and the legacy of (Earth) science inclusiveness to the 2019-2020 Science Club officers.

I, Mahima Sinha, bequeath my love for dishoom and all the Silsilay hype to AISA, sunny Tuesday lunches in front of the library to CSF, endless karaoke sessions to the Dolcissima girls, a gold medal in the Pod Olympics to NHS, and dancing with a happy smile (with ENERGY!) to all my amazing Jalwa babies. I, Manoj Soundararajan, bequeath Stats skills to Eric, a nonexistent drivers license to Austin C, closing abilities to Jash, hand signs to Aneesha, cute face to Aaron, DECA success to Yash and $100 to all of Lynbrook hidden in a tree. I, Margarita Sokolenko, bequeath super strength and stamina to my water polo girls in their next season.

I, Maxwell Wang, bequeath the future of film club to Chinmay, Pranay, Kevin, Michelle, and Shree, my guy Alex Tai, the best of luck on your boy scout journeys to Anthony Huang, Gavin Wong, Ian Shih, Evan Cen, William Chu, Charles Barnes, and Ethan Chang, and an epic 4 years to the new and greatly improved version of me, Hamilton Wang.

I, Medha Gelli, bequeath a great year of WiSTEM to Michelle, the leadership of JNHS, cake, and Todd to Amy, sad smiles and quirky students to Kitchen Sensei, wonderful singing to a fabulous group of Dolci gorls, successful, productive meetings to the Aletheia staff, and PG-13 nights to Patrick Phelan. I, Meera Balaji, bequeath another year of incessant emails to Niranjan, eggs to Miss Bogota, and a kit kat bar to Ankit.

I, Megan Yang, bequeath my golfing skills to Emily Hsu and Elise Jang, recruiting luck to Anton Ouyang, and a great four years at Lynbrook to my younger sisters Riley and Caitlin, Class of 2024 and 2026. I, Meghana Kumar, bequeath Paper Airplanes to Sanjana,

Audrey, Nancy, Hali and Abdullah, and four amazing years in high school to my brother, Arjun, class of 2023. I, Meghna Kaligotla, bequeath the screeching soprano section to the Perooras and glorat goose, tiring yet fun rehearsals to the entire musical cast, learning music a couple days before concerts to the DolcissiMAMAS, and a tremendous time at LHS to all the underclassmen who’ve my four years spectacular. I, Mehek Kapur, bequeath an absolutely amazing next 1-4 years to the classes of 2020-2023 :)

I, Michelle Lum, bequeath production snacks and tone-deaf singing to the Epic staff, diamonds to Cindy, Rachana and the rest of the DECA officer team, OReos to all my OR babies, red tomatoes and good luck on college apps to Hillary and Meg, status of best Wu sister to Candis, ranting over bagels to Sophia, high-pitched screams to Aleena, a year free of chem to Pooja and Linda, lineup mix-ups to Maya, pink outfits to Rebecca, Mardi Gras to Sylvain and Sarah, and our favorite Tuesday lunch club to Emily and Anisha. I, Michelle Zhou, bequeath my wOaH’s to Roxanne Chou, THE TEA to Ashley Song, complaining skillz to Megan Yeh, all the nail polish in the world to Julia Michels, my eyebrows to Megan Hong, a granted Wish to Sahil Somani, good cardboard to Aayush Seth, and screams to Tim Zou. I, Mohini Adkar, bequeath Lynbrook Drama and the International Thespian’s Society to Shubhra Dubey, Mia Mccormack, and Calista Kerba, interpretation to Nyna Velamuri, edgy memes and a terrible sense of humor to Shiv Sankavaram, the doges to Shubhra Dubey.

I, Namrata Vajrala, bequeath my baddie friends for every scream and word of support, Valhalla for all the long days, and my Spanish buddy for the dumb moments. I, Nick Chan, bequeath my love for Lynbrook water polo and swimming, head-up fly, and elite ditching skills to Wesley Sun and Austin Wang.

I, Nicole Cheng, bequeath senior team captain and uber driver to Leo Shaw, my badminton bag to Sanjana Narayanan, always being late to Tanav Ohal, mother status to Gloria Tan, 4 year TC to Naomi Lee, my life problems to Vivek Verma, and an amazing season to Amy Chatterjee, Ellen Zhang, Catherine Li and Jacqueline Wen.

I, Nicole Waring, bequeath bringing boba to track practice to Jocelyn, Jess, Andrea, Caroline, and Jiatong, “productive” hurdle workouts and obsession with Masaki to Aneesha, an amazing senior year to Zainab, recognition commission planning to Priyanka and Vijaya, shameless hypebeast status to Brendan, dinosaur chicken nuggets to Austin and Bennett, and ASB craziness to Calais. I, Nikash Walia, bequeath a good taste in memes to Mr. Fulk, my dad jokes to Rebecca Liu, a dislike for .IO games to Ian Moore, a better sleep schedule to Kunal Sheth, and a love for teaching robotics to Vijaya Kukutla.

I, Nikita Rangwala, bequeath gingerbread house decorating to Amy Tse, endless Tetris games to Stephen Yang, gallon smashing videos and many pasta parties to my soccer gals, my gaming skills to Stephanie Park, diving for days to Isabela Britton, fun political discussions to the JSA team, and my screams to Tim Zou. I, Nishita Katere, bequeath my quirkiness and commitment issues to Linda, Sophia, Pooja, Aleena, and Kavya, accounting skillz to Joella, Snigdha, and Gehna, ability to fit many tennis balls within my shorts to the team, determination to my little brother Nithin Katere, and to everyone I have met over these last four years I bequeath you the opportunities to make memories you will cherish forever. I, Noela Bae, bequeath fun Bellarmine proms to Jennifer; senioritis to Abhinav and Ian; impeccable AP style to Belinda and Elena; many gavels to Maya, Sanjana, and Vibhav; JSA Starbucks sessions to Stephen and Kanav; hotpot adventures to Ashley; La Cueva to Janvi and Lauryn; and Hsinyen’s last brain cell to Youqi. I, Nora Lam, bequeath early morning hikes to Lauren Ho, cute butts to Rhea Anand, boy talks to Joyce Chen, chipotle runs to Nikita Sehgal, life without ap chem to Aileen Xue, successful link crew lunches to Atharva Gunda, and lots of love & pasta to lynbrook field hockey.

I, PJ, bequeath my FUT skills to Luka Mandic because the boy needs help, my spot in the midfield to Ethan Israelonly two footers from here on out Ethan, my amazing biology and note taking skills to Isabel Moh, and my luck to Soham C. with library girl.

I, Patricia Wei, bequeath passion and the beauty of taking risks to Audrey and Kaylin, chill runs to Emma and Aditi, all my Paper Airplanes love to Sanjana, Audrey, Hali, Abdullah and Nancy, fun JNHS activities to Amy, Ryan, and the JNHS officer team, positivity-filled mornings to Nithya, many ganbatz to Lauren, Sarah, Kyle, Chris, Elissa, Elaine, and Alex, pato time to Kitchen sensei, and high-fives to Corban Dybdahl. And to Mr. Miller: from my first day of high school to my last issue of Epic, thank you for being there along every step of the WEI. I, Radence Tsow, bequeath my amazing washed out cello skills to my cello section, and the ease of finding a new chauffeur to Erin Tsow.

I, Risa Mori, bequeath no more stressful Tuesday nights to the Epic, all the uwus and skincare shenanigans to Nicole Ong and Aileen Xue, shoutouts to Pranav Mishra, Christy Yu and Alisha Naidu, accidental video calls to Dhriti Iyer and Kavya Iyer, foodie conventions to Claire Chiu, successful Club Info Days to Viking Buddies officers and the best of luck to Yusuke Mori. I, Rita Chen, bequeath study habits to Lauryn Tuo, awesome planning skills to future social commission, winter formal to Antara Mallick, my college application tips to Aneesha Nema, cool dancing to Nivi Madhan, loads of fun to Jeremy Steiger, and all my love to class of 2020, 2021, and 2022.

I, Riti Mital, bequeath Yogurtland and a weight room session to the Valhalla Photogs, double leaning jowlers to Victor and Andy, lemonade to Naman, one hundred gravities to Vihan, and an UNO attack to Maanvi.

I, Robyn Lee, bequeath my driving and commission snacks to Andy, Michelle, and Kanav, eternal supply of chips n dip to Roxanne, hella food to Ashley, the lu laoshi dance photo to Olivia, and my love for dance to the rest of the valks :’)

I, Rohan Goel, bequeath free TPumps to Shubhra and Alaap, chipotle runs to Stephen, the honorary office of JSA presidency to Kanav, controversial political debates to JSA, productive screen-printing meetings to Kami Apparel, a car and driver’s license to Darren, DECA clout to Bharath, Anay, and Snehith, authentic 49ers fan status to Simi, and LHS Deewani to Suchir (oh wait…).

I, Ronit Mathur bequeath hard-working officers to Chap, trees to Aileen Mi, my eyes to Hersh Panda, lighter sunglasses to Mitchell, nerdy glasses to Patrick Phelan, proper slang to Mr. Lee, many kinds of tea to Mr. Nguyen, more students to Kitchen Sensei, and a happy retirement to Ms. McCown and Mr. Richmond. I, Roopak Phatak, bequeath cross country team captain and HEI president to Pramesh Karthikeyan, fun hikes to HEI, and a (hopefully) not stressful junior and senior year to my little sister Mukta Phatak, Class of 2021.

I, Ryan Sun, bequeath competitive success to DECA and FBLA, a stress-free senior year to the Class of 2020, happiness and prosperity to Lynbrook faculty, and an eventful life to my closest friends. I, Sadhana Sarma, bequeath a successful year to the Epic, lots of love to all the Key-uties, many more header goal yogurtland trips to my soccer babes, a lifetime supply of fluffy jackets to Ankitha & Kleo, many more absurdly expensive doordashes to the disney dudes (Pranav, Enzo, Diana), and 4 years of loneliness without me to Samyu Sarma, 2023.

I, Sakin Kirti, bequeath a wonderful next two years to my brother, Pranav Kirti, CardioMed skillz to Shasta N, tons of research opportunities to Jash G, amazing Link Crew members to Jonathan H, and speedy cross country races to Pramesh K.

I, Samiksha Patil, bequeath member attendance of HEAL and Nguyen’s hi-chews to Aileen and Claire, the hotspot for the EEG to Nathaniel, Pranav, and Rohan, lots of love to Neuroscience Club, my room, common sense, and whatever I don’t take to college with me to Srushti Patil. I, Samveda Pagay, bequeath my craziness to Gehna Gupta, my awesome ditching-practice skills to Lia Seo and gina, my knowledge of the spanish acronyms─especially viera─to Nisha Ramanathan, many victorious seasons to my fellow water-polo and swim teammates, and my cocoa moons to Mr. Bale. I also bequeath Mihika Ryan the endurance to survive high school for the next two years. I, Sandy Matsuda, bequeath my crude humor to Jessica Atmadja, my legendary field hockey hits to Amy Tse, a ratlike personality to Yuzuri Ito, the biggest brain to Leo Shaw, good luck to the engage tutors and tutees, and my stealthy poking skills to the field hockey family.

I, Sean Wu, bequeath the revolution and locker to Vincent and Richard Chiu, my perfect track attendance to Charles and Alex, good food runs to Joy, college acceptance bread to Cosmo, #stanloona to the cultured Grace, favoritism to the prodigious Deeya, neither Lucky nor Shiro to Faith, and some much needed basics, IQ, sanity, and love to all the clarinets.

I, Selena Jeong, bequeath millions of Intersections intern applications to Sarah Sotoudeh, rollerblading adventures to Rhea Anand, spicy tempeh sauce to Lauren Ho, a compass to Mr. Nguyen, my stupid laugh to Mr. Williams, and finally, a nose boop to Ms. Griffin I, Selina Li, bequeath club unity and spirit to the new CSF officers, an endless supply of Lynbrook pencils and tea to ASB Recognition, Canva and publicity skills to the Aletheia staff, my impeccable Beijing accent to Amy Sun, much sleep to Amory Gao, and high fives to Lindsey Lu. I, Serena Li, bequeath my long jump to Claire Wang and Vanessa Su, my triple jump to Jocelyn Churn, fun years of wushu to Bailey Gong, and my tesla to Samuel Li. I, Shannelle Craig, bequeath an amazing, stress-free next three years to my brother, Daniel Craig, and all the luck and good vibes to the classes of 2023-2020.

I, Rahul Ravi, bequeath my children Sumeet Kulkarni, Larry Peng, Pranav Kadiyala, Natalie Semersky, and Haadia Tanveer my wisdom and knowledge. Jahmen.

I, Shannon Ding, bequeath the tech box and Chan 150 Thru 157 Effect 917 to Erik and Andrew; Web Dev’s delicious caeser cipher salads to Kunal, Aanand, and Nirmit; NCHS to Belinda and Roy; and a Dino Pet (now $49.99!) to Kavish and Jonathan.

I, Rick Zhang, bequeath top 10 leaderboards in Brawl Stars to Tim Zou, a sick art portfolio to Katherine Wang, and spontaneous naps and Injeolmi Bingsu runs to Elise Jang.

I, Shannon Liu, bequeath my late-night functioning brain and whales to Cynthia Shi, my anime knowledge to Angel Tseng, band/orchestra jokes to Keerthana Babu, and my high school survival skills to my little brother Darian Liu (don’t die).

I, Rhea Chowdhury, bequeath music memes to Phoebe, Catherine, and Sahil; my amazing shooting ability to Shubhra, Julie, Amy and Mary; stress-free freshmen orientation to Amy, Gunner, and Katie; fantastic nap periods to Michael; a lit sss to White Den; and a fun-filled four years to Ananth, Atharva, and Anika.

I, Shannon Heh, bequeath my mediocre violin skills and a stress-free senior year to concertmistress Emily Hsu, and A+ organization skills and attention-grabbing claps to my lovely GWC SJ officers/sisters.

I, Shaunak Bhandarkar, bequeath a new jacket to Joonha Hwang, a swerve drive to Sam Pickholtz, division finalists to Kunal “Sheth Wes” and the rest of the robotics officer team, the Madhira rule to Suchir Madhira, my Monopoly L’s to Ananth, Anish, and Yiling, and the “pencil pouch” that’s always in Mrs. Korsunsky’s class to Alaap Rag.

I, Shriya Reddy, bequeath all my Peet’s gift cards to Mrs. Quindipan, amazing goalie skills to Isabela Britton, beautiful art pieces to Megan Xu, cute We Bare Bear stickers to Caroline Wang, and four years of good grades and fun to my baby sister Sasya Reddy, Class of 2024.

I, Shruti Ranade, bequeath my “bad” driving to Hali, pulse to Matthew, the yawn move to Ryan, cow horns to Deeya, <3 to Soham, my mom to Anika, clean white shoes to Ananth, braids to Maria, a regular trash can to Soumya, taco bell to Pranay, the correct name to Krishna, life to Gehna, Chinmay, and Atharva, texas from your exes to Michael and Rahul, unlimited rides to lhs taara, and some beautiful stars to Isha :)

I, Sinja Sanandan, bequeath barely-scraping-by skills to Nyna, storytelling and memes no one else likes to Simi, baby-fever to Neha, Uber-driver status to Jalwa (only the useful ones that can drive), PR-pride to Intersections, epic one-liners to Rhea, and a new course schedule to Sarah. I, Som Naik, bequeath all the cellos my mad cello skills, and bequeath Mr. Richmond decades more of glorious singing and wonderful narration I, Sonakshi Khanna bequeath my penchant for missing practice to Emma Nguyen, my sunscreen to Lani Doh, and to both, gelato and pho; my essays and Marvel theories to Megan Xu, all our rant sessions to Mukta Phatak, and to all last-minute video calls Madhavan & Anya.

I, Sophie Lin, bequeath my love for Loki and marvel to Madeline Shao, and my amazing art skill to Vincent Peng.

I, Srinidhi Seshadri, bequeath the SNO struggles to Audrey and Kaylin, lhsepic.com to my fav Epic staffers, my sleep to Nicoleo (uwu), my french-english to Dhriti and Chinmay, figuring out tabroom to Vivek, my LSD love to Twisha, Cindy and Rachana, the future of Sitaara to Anitez, my college knowledge to Amudha and Shounak, smashing em sweaty ones to Amy Sun and Sanjana and all my Lynbrook apparel to Anirudh. I, Stanley Wang, bequeath JMO 6/AMO 5 to Jonathan Huang, OAR to David Hu, Lingre to Phoebe Lin, eggplant to Milan Ganai, and good poker hands to William Huang.

I, Surya Kalaimani, bequeath my tuner to the next piccolo player, ice packs to my beautiful guardlings, a Taco Bell date to my favorite junior, hugs to my best friends Felipe and Carrot, and infinite love to my little sister Archita for her journey through high school, guard, and beyond. I, Tania Godbole, bequeath the Sandpiper Lodge and the definition of hearsay to Lynbrook Mock Trial; bougie ice cream and dying inside to Raka, juniority to Akhil, fundraising and straight 10s to Becca, Stanford-worthy hand-gestures to Niranjan, and summer camps to Zoe and Kanav; peace, love, and successful mixers to Kyle, Emma, and Helen; and finally, a quad to Lynbrook. I, Tanvee Joshi, bequeath LHS Deewani to Mukta, keeping (funny) FBLA vlogs up-to-date to Nevin and Bhagya, being a Super Llama to Kavya, handling “exciting” conference registration to Michael and Sarah, and running an amazing Silsilay show to the AISA team.

I, Tanvi Narvekar, bequeath my love for medicine and Premed to Pranav Kadiyala and Sowmya Mambakkam, love for HEAL to Aileen Xue and Claire Tan, my love for education and music to my brother Om Narvekar, and the motivation for more school to myself.

I, Vennela Chukka, bequeath animals to add to Pranav Mishra’s family zoo, physics love to Gloria, Nyna, and Shubhra, and lots of BTS love to Jennifer. I, Wei Han Chen, bequeath personal Uber driver to Starr Gong, mid-day snacks to Jay Wei, excuse I should eat more to Jewel Yang, “easy” going to Mindy and chillin production days to Yearbook. I, William Yi, bequeath more competition wins to our marching band, a cool cafeteria for the underclassmen, and a joyful next two years at Lynbrook for my younger brother Justin Yi.

I, Yiu-On Li, bequeath cringey memes to Suphala Nibhanupudi, a locked box labeled “the mysteries of the universe, answered” to Ria Chaudhary (you’re not getting the key, though), a metaphorical wardrobe of metaphorical scarves to Grace Huang, optimistic nihilism to Andy “Andrés” Han, Google Slides design skills to Tanvi Krishnan, and a boba-free lifestyle to Vertigo. All the best! :)

I, Ysabel Li, bequeath AP Lit participation points to Eric Yang, a skate towel to Megan Yeh, my height to Lia Seo, my essay-editing service to Trisha Sengupta and Allison Li, early-onset senioritis and an ability to be subtle to Austin Wang, my French skills to Michelle Choi, working Expo markers to Alek Dendall, and lubricating eye drops to the Girls Water Polo teams. I, Yuriko Akeyama, bequeath captain duties to Pearl Klassen (take them to nationals!!), “asserting dominance” rights to Ashley Tsao aka OG Ash, SSS work ethic to Simi Vanwari, and driving skills to Shuntaro. I, Zayhaan Batlivala, bequeath my football skills to Ananth Pilaka and Kaden Chen, my math cramming skills to Maanvi Thawani and Pranav Kadiyala, the no chase policy to Akhil Aggarwal, hilarious Silsilay promo videos to Shubhra Dubey, and all the honor and glory of the Batlivala name to Zahra Batlivala. I, Zoe Ko, bequeath productive practices and birthday parties to the tennis team, shs to lauryn and janvi, late night romcoms to linda, terrible physics jokes to jonah, and baskit co to akhil.

ARIZONA

Annie Pan

Alvin Han

Albert Su

Rita Chen

Noela Bae

Mihir Hasan

Kathleen Yang

Sophie Lin

Annie Niu

Brandon Qin

Anurag Vedagiri

Catherine Hwu UC Riverside

Cindy Lu

Seo Hyun Park

Emily Leung Hansen Lillemark

Nick Chan

Jodi Wong

Shriya Reddy

Ian Tai

Shruti Ranade

James Jiao

Jason Dong

Austin Lei

Arizona State University

IN-DEPTH

lhsepic.com

FOMO: Are you really missing out?

Shreyas Mohidekar

University of Arizona

CALIFORNIA

Azusa Paciﬁc University Amy Nishijima

California Northstate University

Anna Qi

Garret Wang

Jojo Chen UC San Diego

Jeffrey Han

Michael Mao

Jennifer Yang

Justin Chan

Joshua Wong

Amanda Wang

Nishita Katere

Coby Chuang

Kavya Balaji

Kavitha Thirumaran

Mahima Sinha

Angela Zhao

Meghana Kumar

Nora Lam

Michelle Chen UC Santa Barbara

Krishnakumar Bhattaram

William Yi

Chloe Lee

Rahul Ravi

Leslie Pu

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Chapman University

CSU East Bay

De Anza College

Christina Cui

Darren Chou

Ashley Gong

Roopak Phatak

Justine Chen

Jamie Chang

Qianjing Chen

Ryan Sun

Nikita Rangwala

Atul Nair

Srinidhi Sesadhri

Shaunak Bhandarkar

Risa Mori

Paritosh Jha

Rohan Goel

Tanvee Joshi

Kiana Hatam

Sarah Isola

Varun Agrawal

Yiu-On Li

Christine Lee

Michelle Lum

Yuriko Akeyama

Zoe Ko UC Santa Cruz

Denver Yu

Rhea Kamath

Leslie Hwang

Angel Tseng

Arya Ranadive

Sadhana Sarma

Anjani Patibandla University of Southern California

Hatim Saifee

Caitlin Leong

Purdue University

Azra Ferhatovic INDIANA Jonathan Wu Indiana University

Shannelle Craig

Anav Chaudhry

Nicole Waring University of the Paciﬁc

Selina Li

COLORADO

Samveda Pagay West Valley College

Sonakshi Khanna

Aayush Shah

ILLINOIS

MARYLAND

The role the Fear of Missing Out plays on adolescents

Eileen Yang

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY CLAIRE CHIU

BY KAVYA IYER & DIVYA NELAKONDA

PENNSYLVANIA

Carnegie Mellon University

Middlebury College Ananya Manjunath

Ronit Mathur

WASHINGTON

Surya Kalaimani

Emily Du

Rick Zhang

Hsinyen Huang

Rishika Gogineni

Emmaline Mai University of Puget Sound

Jessie Wong

Amanda White

Robyn Lee University of Washington

Meera Balaji

Serena Li

Michelle Zhou

Kelsey Lu

Jacob Lee

LYNBROOK CLASS OF 2019 COLLEGE MAP

NEW YORK

Cornell University

Erick Shimabuku

Wei-Han Chen

Stanley Wang

Estella Lin

Maxwell Wang Massachusetts Institute of Technology Columbia University

Kathryn Huang

Mehek Kapur

MICHIGAN

Rhea Chowdhury New York University

Ysabel Li

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Indali Bora

Shannon Ding

Anson Li American University

Dianna Shen

RHODE ISLAND

Margarita Sokolenko

Carrie An Georgetown University

Rhode Island School of Design

TEXAS

Aditya Venkatesh

OUT OF COUNTRY CANADA

University of Alberta

Divya Nelakonda

Som Naik

Alicia Wu

Mohini Adkar University of Pittsburg

NORTH CAROLINA

Duke University

Iryl Tan

Ariel Wang

VERMONT

Pranav Vasu

Riti Mital

Sakin Kirti

Mohana Venkatapuram

Shannon Liu Stony Brook University

Zayhaan Batlivala

Namrata Vajrala Mount Holyoke College

Pauline Lu

Nikash Walia

MINNESOTA

Carleton College

Keerthana Babu

Sinja Sanandan University of Michigan

Arjun Kaushik

Amritanshu Ranjan

MISSOURI

Jeff Liu

Shannon Heh

Washington University in St. Louis

NEW JERSEY

Princeton University

Eesha Deepak St. Olaf College

Ishika Kamchetty

Arul Gnanasivam

Tania Godbole Johns Hopkins University

Daniel Jang University of Colorado Boulder

Justin Shin

Kuhu Mathur

Megan Yang University of Chicago

Meghna Kaligotla

Sean Wu

Dominican University of California

Foothill College

Harvey Mudd College

Pomona College Cynthia Li Emily Zhang UC Davis

San Diego State University

Anika Agharkar

Selena Jeong

Justin Choi

Jasmine Kuo

Andy Wang

Priya Ram

San Jose State University

Radence Tsow

Anuroop Thomas

Denver Tang

UC Irvine

Krish Govindasamy

Kulsoom Ahmad

Nicole Cheng

Arnav Gupta

Charlotte Zhang

Chloe Tat

Simran Nagshain

Santa Clara University

Scripps College Kerry Wong

Medha Gelli

Amol Singh UC Los Angeles

Daniel Huang

Cynthia Chang

Danielle Jung MASSACHUSETTS Dave Desouza-Lawrence Boston University

WISCONSIN Ashwin Pasupathy Isha Sharma Grace Tian Rice University Sandy Matsuda Arnav Amruth University of Wisconsin-Madison Joyce Ker Vennela Chukka OHIO University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign Case Western Reserve University Ben Shapiro Heather Kong Tanvi Narvekar NEW HAMPSHIRE Allison Lui Aditya Munshi Dartmouth College Alexander Chang University of Texas at Austin Annie Gao University of Maryland

Aishwarya Atmakuri

Anika Murthy

Patricia Wei

Abinaya Anbuchelvan

Arushi Gautam

Anusha Fatehpuria

Charles Huang

Abinaya Srikant

Andrew Ng

Aditi Raja

Stanford University

UC Berkeley

LYNBROOK HIGH SCHOOL | THE EPIC

photo of a friend on vacation, lounging on the beaches in Hawaii, and another zip lining through the tall trees in Costa Rica. A quick click of a group of friends having fun together, ordering food at a restaurant or just spending quality time at someone’s house. These simple things that show up on our social media feeds have become an integral part of daily life. However, they can invoke paranoia in others. This effect is widely known as the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO). FOMO can be brought out by other underlying causes, such as anxiety or feelings of shame or inadequacy. For those who are more insecure about their social status as well as overall reputation, seeing pictures of their peers may deepen those negative emotions. They can feel ashamed about themselves, and often feel that they should be working harder to appear more amiable. All humans have the innate desire to belong and fit in, explaining why FOMO plays such a key role in how people behave throughout their daily lives. “Our feelings are not facts, but they can feel like facts,” said school psychologist Brittany Stevens. “Especially since humans are pack animals, the feeling of being left out can deeply affect many people.” With the proliferation of portable electronics and expansion of social media application usage, FOMO has become a growing problem. People who experience FOMO are likely to value their social media as an indicator of their social success through the number of likes, comments, and tags in others’ photos and followers they

have. FOMO has been found to cause more widely used by teens with FOMO. greater usage of social media, as people However, some of these applications find it to be a convenient access point to have also started experimenting with see what their peers are doing. features to lessen the effect of FOMO. “I know of teenagers and adults that Instagram is currently beta testing a have had to delete all their social media feature that would allow a user’s likes to accounts because their obsession with be viewed only by themselves. seeing what others were doing became “A lot of times during breaks when I unhealthy,” Stevens said. stay home, I see pictures through social In 2015, the most popular social media of my friends doing all these media platform was Facebook, followed cool things on vacation and I feel sort by Youtube, Twitter of jealous, or I wish and Instagram. The I could be doing growing popularity something more of Instagram has “Our feelings are not facts, but fun,” said sophomore been attributed they can feel like facts. Since Sahil Bhatia. to its efficacy in Some social c o m m u n i c a t i n g humans are pack animals, the media users have one’s ideal self- feeling of being left out can c o n s e q u e n t l y presentation developed internet deeply affect many people.” addiction as a result through pictures rather than words. Brittany Stevens of FOMO. Social The degree to School Psychologist media addiction is which FOMO affects characterized by an individual can excessive use, to predict the social the point of losing networking service they prefer. sense of time, withdrawal, resulting in Teenagers’ use of a variety of social feelings of anger, tension, fatigue and media platforms may provide relief for social isolation. Though social media the anxiety of being unaware of what use does not always escalate to the others are doing. A study by Saleem point of addiction, many users engage Alhabash, associate professor of Public in problematic social media use, such as Relations and Social Media at Michigan checking social media while eating out State University, surveyed college with company, while watching movies students on the intensity and motivation or even while driving, and this often behind their use of several social results in real-life consequences. Teens media platforms. While on Facebook, who feel FOMO are often found to have Instagram and Snapchat, a user’s online problematic social media use, yet using followers or friends overlap with their social media more with the intention offline affiliations. However, with of relieving FOMO related anxiety can platforms such as Twitter and Youtube, inadvertently trigger FOMO by bringing content has become viewable by larger to light the events the user is not audiences. As a result, more personal participating in. social networking services, such as “I do not think anybody posting these Instagram and Snapchat, tend to serve pictures has malicious intent,” Stevens as a greater relief for FOMO and are said. “In a way, they are also susceptible

to FOMO because many students feel the need to show others they are not being left out by posting on social media.” FOMO has also been known to affect the financial stability of individuals, particularly that of millennials. “FOMO spending” can occur when an individual caves to peer pressure to make purchases despite lacking the financial resources to support it, in fear of missing out on a social experience, losing friends, being judged or feeling like an outsider. On behalf of Credit Karma, Qualtrics conducted an online survey of 1,045 U.S. consumers between the ages of 18 and 34 during February and March 2018 and found that almost 40 percent of millennials have gone into debt for the sake of keeping up with their peers. Most often, the spendings proved worthless, as twothirds of the consumers experienced buyer’s remorse, the sense of regret after making a purchase when they had spent more than they intended in a social situation. FOMO spending can be difficult to avoid, since 27 percent of survey respondents felt uncomfortable declining a friend’s suggestion of a purchase or activity that they could not afford. FOMO, often referred to as a joke, is a phenomenon that can have serious consequences, whether it be to an individual’s self-esteem or their finances. It has been made even more prevalent due to the rising popularity of sharing the best aspects of life on social media. The weight of FOMO’s impact on people has been shown to be more than a joke, since it can deeply influence the way people view themselves and the image they project to others.

IN-DEPTH

MAY 31, 2019

Politics in the digital age: from daily life to elections BY MELISSA CHEN AND KAYLIN LI

he U.S. is about to lose everything. At any moment, all electronic devices and databases could be wiped by a single virus and rendered useless, plunging the country into chaos. This is the premise of a recent political thriller, but it is not a far stretch in today’s society. Technology plays a role in almost all areas of life, and has had growing influence in politics and the government, especially for campaigning. The internet and media gives politicians instant access to a greater number of voters and more personal exposure. “Social media is a different format [of communication] that makes people more accessible,” said senior Meera Balaji. “But it’s also easier to make assumptions about what [people] are saying.” The success of former president Barack Obama’s campaign in 2007 was heavily dependent on his unprecedented use of various social media platforms. Obama had many followers on common social networks like Facebook and Twitter, but gained more on other platforms that helped him reach different communities and demographics. He had profiles on sites such as BlackPlanet, an African American networking service with job postings and political discussion forums, and AsianAve, which facilitates networking among the Asian-American community. Obama’s campaign media team helped him construct his own networks as well. One of his sites, my.barackobama.com (MyBO), allowed people to create free accounts they could use to contribute to Obama’s campaign. With the tools MyBO provided, they could form groups to plan events and organize

their local communities, as well as create blogs to post photos and messages. Two million MyBO profiles were created and volunteers using MyBO planned more than 200,000 events. “Obviously, social media makes it easier to raise money,” said social studies teacher Dave Pugh. “It’s also easier to reach more people. Once upon a time we had to print these flyers and hand them out.” President Donald Trump is known for his frequent and aggressive comments on social media, especially Twitter, to criticize the media and his opponents. During the 2016 election, however, Trump’s presidential campaign utilized Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm that collected online data to that helped Trump create targeted ads, bolstering his campaign. Cambridge Analytica used a survey in an app called “thisisyourlife” that collected not only the data of the individual taking the survey, but of the Facebook friends of the individual. While only 300,000 people downloaded the app, Cambridge Analytica eventually garnered data on more than 50 million Facebook users. Its methods of gathering the personal data of millions without permission for political purposes has raised a scandal for both the firm and Facebook. Technology can be misused to create negative impacts on both politicians and constituents. In the Mueller investigation conducted by the Special Counsel of possible ties between Russian officials and the 2016 presidential election, connections between political discord in the U.S. and Russian interference were exposed. As investigated by the New York Times, Russia’s government had, and still has, many ties to

the Soviet Union’s Committee for State Security (the KGB), which is no longer a part of Russia’s government; the KGB has spread disinformation and “fake news” through organizations such as the Internet Research Agency, which influence online discourse and are known as “troll farms.” Russian trolls often provoke arguments on social media, which widen political divisions. “It’s an old technique: divide and conquer,” Pugh said. “Technology is being used to divide the country. Putin’s up to his eyeballs in it. It started in the Ukraine, and then in the UK, sowing information that is false.” Technology itself can be inherently polarizing, as social media is programmed to cater to the user’s interests. Algorithms filter through posts and search history to display similar content, in order to attract the most interest, clicks and ad revenue. “It’s easy to receive information on social media, as well as avoid what you don’t want to see,” Balaji said. “People always find a way to read and see what they want, but social media makes it significantly easier [to do so].” Technology is incredibly powerful, and has the ability to make or break movements, politicians and careers. Social media can encourage constructive political discussions. People can bring to light concerns that would otherwise have a difficult time gaining attention. Movements can grow, give voice and support to the underprivileged and allow people to be exposed to new ideas and perspectives across the globe.

BY CHRISTY YU

cience and technology have long evolved to be based on the logic and reasoning of the scientific method, a process used to observe scientific experiments in order to answer questions. Pseudosciences, on the other hand, are beliefs and practices that are mistakenly regarded as something based on logic. Their credibility relies on confirmation bias rather than the evaluation of scientists. However, many still continue to practice these methods of divination for entertainment, future knowledge and to understand themselves.

BY CHLO E LEE

ating back to around 2000 B.C., astrology, the reading of the movements of celestial bodies, is one of the many pseudosciences that claim to predict human, social and terrestrial events. It is unclear as to who first used astrology to determine their fates, but many cultures have adapted various tales and interpretations of the astrological bodies. Ancient Chinese noblemen watched eclipses to predict good and bad times for the emperor to go to war, while Ancient Egyptians observed the patterns of how stars move across the sky year-round and made the Cairo calendar, which predicts fortunate and unfortunate days based on these observations. However, it was not until 330 B.C. that the Greeks connected and refined these observations, forming the modern version of the 12 signs of the zodiac, each of them named after a constellation. In 1500 B.C., the Babylonians had already divided the constellations into 12 signs as well, each with their own names — for example, The Lion (Leo) and The Scales (Libra) to name a few — which were later incorporated into the Greek zodiac. Horoscopes, in particular, are forecasts of a person’s future which is determined by their birth date. Currently, there are no scientific reports that support the accuracy of using horoscopes, or any pseudoscience, to determine one’s future, only that the predictions are based on pure chance. However, according to a Harris Poll in 2009, around 26 percent of Americans believe in astrology. The predictions are often vague and open to interpretation, which make it seem applicable to anyone. However, rather than constantly trying to refute the prediction, people who practice pseudosciences can easily convince people that horoscopes are accurate because the practice is often based on confirmation bias, which is prevalent in all pseudosciences.

STRATION

Astrology

ART ILLU

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY ARUL GNANASIVAM AND RACHEL WU

Fortune Telling

ortune telling has been dated back to 4000 B.C., and varying techniques were used by different cultures. Western fortune tellers tend to focus on finance, romance and childbearing, while Eastern fortune tellers use divination, the practice of fortune telling through supernatural means, to focus on match-making, marketing choices and fate. Popular forms of divination include tarot card readings, palm readings and readings of tea leaves. In the late 18th century, tarot cards were used for divinatory practices, in which a special deck of cards with symbols were dealt and placed in a specific arrangement that the reader would use to interpret the future. Palm readings, developed during the Ming Dynasty in 1368, are based on the length and shape of the creases on the palm to determine a certain aspect of a person’s life, such as lifespan. Tasseography, the interpretation of patterns in tea leaves, coffee grounds or wine sediments, originated in medieval Europe when Europeans practiced the reading of ink and wax splotches. Dutch merchants, who brought tea to the Europeans, changed the way fortune tellers made their predictions. Tasseography evolved into tea leaf reading, in which a fortune teller determines aspects of a person’s fate by the patterns made by the tea leaves in his or her cup. The crystal ball is another well known symbol of fortune telling. It first gained attention in the Roman Empire during the fifth century. Crystal gazing is the technique psychics use to see images inside the sphere and interpret their meanings. The magic 8-ball, a fortune telling toy, is also a common symbol of fortune telling and did not gain popularity until the 1950s. The user asks the magic 8-ball a yes-or-no question, and then shakes the ball until an icosahedron with various sayings shows a random answer to the question.

lhsepic.com

ditya Venkatesh was a swimmer before a water polo player. But when he entered high school, he decided to have a change of pace and joined the water polo team. One of his biggest motivations for staying on the team for all four years was his coach, Coach Aaron. “We respected coach because of who he was as a person; he meant business when it came to water polo and his attitude transferred over to us,” Venkatesh said. “The fact that he was so passionate about winning and making us better while still being able to have fun with us made him someone we wanted to play for and wanted to win for.” While the coaches inspire Venkatesh to work hard, the team dynamic allows for an environment that is not solely focused on winning and ensures that the water polo experience is enjoyable. “We work hard during practice, but the games are a lot of fun, and before [a game] we’ll go to somebody’s house and eat a lot of food,” Venkatesh said. It’s a good time.” His experience on the water polo team has not been without obstacles. In junior year, he was playing goalie playing against Monta Vista when he blocked a shot with his face and broke his nose. As a result, he had to wear a mask for the rest of the season but that did not hinder his success as a player. Despite his struggles, he will never forget his high school water polo experience. “The friends that I made, and just being able to compete is something that I’ll miss. It was a fall sport, so I haven’t played in a while now, but it was a good time.” Venkatesh believes that his team will continue to perform well after he leaves

andy Matsuda’s experience with field hockey dates back to fifth grade, when Matsuda attended her older sister’s field hockey games. She took inspiration from her older sister when she tried out for Lynbrook’s field hockey team. After joining the team, Matsuda found she enjoyed the team dynamic the most as she bonded with upperclassmen and underclassmen through the game itself as well as pasta parties to energize before games. “I think [being on the team] gave me a community that I belong to,” Matsuda said. “It helped me connect [with] more [people] and get involved with schoolrelated activities. It made my high school experience a lot better.” Matsuda has grown through field hockey as a person and team player, improving her abilities to listen and compromise. “I think in a sport, there’s multiple ways you can play the game, so everyone has different opinions,” Matsuda said. “You have to talk and come to a consensus, not just push your opinions through.” Matsuda plans to continue to play field hockey as a hobby in college. She will miss her team very much and hopes to come back to Lynbrook to watch field hockey games. “I’ll miss my current and underclassmen field hockey teammates the most, because some juniors on the team have been with me for almost all my seasons,” Matsuda said. “They’re like family to me.” Though Matsuda warns that there is a lot of running in field hockey, she believes that her underclassmen will be able to hold up and enjoy their time on the team.

Aditya Venkatesh

SANdy Matsuda

Saying Goodbye... BY DHRITI IYER AND KAYLIN LI

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY RISA MORI AND RACHEL WU

The facts, fiction and fantasy of pseudoscience

SPORTS

LYNBROOK HIGH SCHOOL | THE EPIC

ichelle Zhou has been a part of the Lynbrook Valkyries dance team since her sophomore year. Starting dance at a young age, her passion for the sport has only grown. After dancing for 14 years, joining the school team was appealing as it was integrated with the school community. The dance team is a year-round activity with 10 hours of practice every week so the dancers end up spending a lot of time together and build close bonds. “I can go to my teammates about any of my personal problems which is really nice,” said Zhou. The community they have built together is something Zhou will miss as she goes on to college. Dancing has also helped build her confidence and helped her step out of her shell a little more. The sport requires a lot of expression that is portrayed through expressions on the face and movement. “It’s helped me feel less afraid of being outgoing,” said Zhou. “Dance is a lot of expressing yourself and all the facials are kind of embarrassing but it’s interesting learning how to do them. I think it’s helped a lot with it self confidence, which is something I like didn’t expect from a sport team.” However, it was difficult for her to juggle her other extracurriculars, academics, and the dance team. After struggling with time management, she managed to figure out a schedule that fit her. Zhou plans on continuing dance when she moves on to college. She will miss her teammates and the memories they have shared together. After watching all that hard work pay off, Zhou will find it hard to say goodbye to her teammates.

rom struggling to win games and recruit new players to becoming cocaptain, Zay Batlivala’s past four years have been filled with victories and losses both on and off the football field. Despite the team’s poor track record when it comes to winning games, their determination never wavered. The team treasured the sport because of the experiences it gave them and the close community that resulted from it. “At the end of the day, all that we want to do is show everyone that we’re not going to give up because we’re outnumbered,” Batlivala said. “Obviously, we don’t like losing and everyone wants to win, but sometimes all we can do is our best.” Building close bonds between teammates was an easy task compared to removing the stigma around football at Lynbrook. Due to the team’s track record of losing games, people stopped respecting the team few people wanted to join. “I remember in my sophomore year, we were in danger of not having a team at all due to the lack of people joining,” Batlivala said. “When I first joined the team, it was something people would make fun of me for, but now I think people have come to respect the team.” Through the ups and the downs of high school football, the one thing Batlivala treasures over anything else is the close connections he has made with the rest of his teammates. “It’s weird, but I have a connection with my teammates that’s unlike any other friendship,” said Batlivala. Batlivala plans to join an intramural flag football team in college and will miss his teammates

MICHELLE ZHOU

ZAY BATLIVALA

SPORTS

MAY 31, 2019

Anthony Huang leaps over gender stereotypes BY ENZO CABALTICA

year ago, freshman Anthony Huang could not imagine himself as a dancer, much less a member of the Lynbrook Valkyries dance team for the 2019-2020 school year. But through determination and dedication, Huang has earned his place on the team and made history its first male dancer. Huang’s passion for entertaining was evident at an early age. As soon as he could talk, Huang enjoyed being the funny one in the family. Later, his mother enrolled him in kung fu lessons, which he continued until he was 12 years old. Huang credits kung fu with developing his flexibility, a skill that would become crucial when he decided to audition for the Valkyries years later. After participating in kung fu, Huang started lion dancing, an intensive art that requires communication and stamina. “My mom tells me that when I was younger, I saw a Chinese lion dance performance, and I was intrigued by it,” Huang said. “She made me join and because of the people I met there, I knew I kind of fit in. The people were really nice.” He continues to participate in lion dance recreationally, attending practice about once a week and performing for organizations and companies such as Google. In eighth grade, Huang transitioned to hip-hop, currently his favorite style of dance, after he attended a lesson held by an informal dance club at Miller Middle School. He immediately enjoyed the style of dance and began teaching himself choreography through Youtube. “I just wanted to try something new and found [dance] really fun,” Huang said. “One of the choreographies they were teaching us at the club meeting back at Miller was by Matt Steffanina. I searched him up so I could learn it, and then I browsed through the rest of his channel.” Huang continued to dance during his free time and contributed to his class’s homecoming performance by choreographing the co-ed dance and participating in the

boys dance. Being involved in homecoming made him more confident in his performing ability, and his full split during the boys dance impressed many. After homecoming ended, he wanted to continue improving his dance skills and sought other ways to keep dancing at school, eventually leading him to audition for the Valkyries. “I really love dancing, but at Lynbrook there’s only so much dancing you can do through homecoming, winter rally or powderpuff,” Huang said. “I wanted to do more, so I decided to audition.” Huang initially dismissed the idea of joining the Valkyries since he thought it was a girls-only team, but after speaking to co-captain and senior Alicia Wu, he discovered that fortunately, this was not the case. In March, Wu encouraged him to audition for the team in April, and he spent the next month training by himself. “I tried to [prepare] a month before tryouts, but I didn’t really know what I was doing,” Huang said. “It was mostly stretching myself and attempting to do turns. The skills I saw in the team were beyond what I knew, but slowly I learned new things which gave me more confidence.” Tryouts were held from April 8 to April 11, and dancers were judged on their technique for moves such as kicks and turns and how well they could perform a routine they learned on the first day of auditions. Huang knew that he lacked technical training and experience since he had never taken a formal dance class or been a member of a dance team,

so he relied on his strengths: his passion for dance and his determination, both of which were noticed by coaches Krista Stirling and Joce Satterberg. “We recognized his enthusiasm and focus throughout the week of audition workshops,” Stirling said. “In my career as a dancer, teacher, coach and director, I have always said that the motivation and drive of a person isn’t something you can teach.” Huang did not expect to make the team and was pleasantly surprised when the results were released. Next year’s Lynbrook Valkyries co-captain Roxanne Chou was especially proud. Chou befriended Huang even before auditions and is currently his “Valks sister,” an assigned partnership in which two Valks mentor and encourage one another. “His hard work and work ethic are incredible,” Chou said. “I told him that as long as you tried your best, you are going to make it, and he did.” The team, including new members, have only held four practices together so far and will continue into the summer. Some changes have been made with the addition of Huang as a male dancer. At first, the team considered changing its name from “Valkyries” to just “Valks,” but decided against it when Huang said he was fine with leaving the name unchanged. Other changes include the coaches addressing the team members as “dancers” instead of “girls” and finding appropriate apparel. Besides apparel, little else has changed. The team retains its name and will still perform hip-hop routines during football games and rallies and practice contemporary routines for competitions in the spring. Coach Stirling hopes that more male dancers will be encouraged to follow Huang’s decision to join the team. “I would love to one day compete in coed of all male divisions and welcome those who have dance background to audition for the team,” Stirling said. “If I could get more males interested, we could perform in more divisions at our competitions and nationals.”

ENZO CABALTICA — EPIC

CLAIRE CHIU// IN MY OPINION

Testosterone ruling harms female athletes

t is widely known in the athletic world that the use of hormonal drugs, like steroids, to enhance athletic performance is banned, but what about athletes who have naturally high hormone levels? In 2019, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the international governing body for sports, answered that question. It ruled that female athletes with differences in sexual development, like Olympic middle distance runner Caster Semenya, who brought this issue to the court’s attention, would have to take action to reduce their high testosterone

levels in order to compete. While the new ruling was made to promote equality in sports, its implementation has promoted discrimination against athletes like Semenya and a violation of bodily autonomy, making it unjust. As a former athlete and current fitness fanatic, I understand where this rule is coming from. The popularity of drug use in sports can be accredited to its ability to potentially help users achieve greater strength and endurance when competing. According to the World Anti-Doping Agency, an organization dedicated to the promotion and coordination of actions taken to fight drug use for ulterior motives in sports, the use of performance-enhancing drugs to increase hormone levels has increased over recent years. From 2015 to 2017, the percentage of drug positive tests rose from 1.26 percent to 1.43 percent for sports overall. For Olympic sports, there was an increase of 0.54 percent of drug positive tests. Unfortunately, naturally higher levels of hormones and high levels of hormones due to drugs cannot be easily differentiated. Since the IAAF prohibits increasing hormonal levels, it should not hypocritically encourage decreasing them. Acknowledging that increasing hormonal levels affect the body means that the IAAF realizes decreased

hormonal levels have consequences as well. Naturally higher levels of hormones in athletes create a grey area in this debate, especially when it comes to female athletes with higher levels of testosterone. With the new rule in place, female athletes who have abnormally higher levels of testosterone are prohibited from competing unless they reduce them through medication or surgery. This is insulting because it discriminates against female athletes with differently developed bodies. Furthermore, it negates the success and hard work of female athletes by insinuating that their success is boosted by their differences in sexual development. Although a naturally higher presence of testosterone is the reason why men aren’t allowed to compete with women, in most occasions, the effects of higher levels of testosterone are actually quite ambiguous. While testosterone can potentially improve athletic performance, women cannot convert testosterone into its more potent form due to not possessing the same numbers of testosterone receptors as men. As a result, the effects of higher testosterone levels in women are not as impactful to women as they are to men, making the possible advantages given to women with naturally higher levels of testosterone rather insignificant. If the

effects of higher testosterone levels are limited in female athletes, it is unreasonable for IAAF to force female athletes to regulate their hormonal levels. Because of this ruling, athletes like Semenya can only compete if they decrease their naturally high testosterone levels, forcing them to sacrifice their bodily autonomy to pursue the career which they desire. Suppressing female athletes’ natural hormonal levels with medication can cause a plethora of health problems such as muscle and bone changes, since imbalanced hormone levels make one type of hormone dominate the body. The solution to this problem is not simple, but there are more suitable methods to resolving this matter. IAAF should consult with these female athletes and hold a panel for discussing this issue, rather than setting a rule that would forever change their athletic career. Since the results of studies which have been conducted often conflict with other medical research, like ones about the ability of females to produce potent testosterone, this proves that there should be no rule regulating the bodies of female athletes like Semenya. In the future, IAAF should come to an agreement with all types of athletes on the rule, and not just those without differences in sexual development.

MAY 31, 2019

SPORTS

PHOTOESSAY

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LYNBROOK HIGH SCHOOL | THE EPIC

Last day Senior Shenanigans

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5. 1 . A i s hwa r ya At m a ku r i , Tanvee Joshi, Astha Rai, Shruti Ranade. “We went on a picnic at Vasona Park,” said Shruti Ranade. “We were about to eat when ducks started swarming around us. I drove over to the next parking lot and we finally got to eat. Though nothing went as planned, it was nice to get together as a group and do something we all wanted. It was the unexpected turn of events that ended up making memories.”

2. Danielle Jung, Rhea Chowdhury. “As senior year dwindles down, my friends and I quickly realized that we have access to a car, no school work and a lot of time to spare,” said Rhea Chowdhury. “We have been going on short day trips to anywhere within our reach from Sausalito to Monterey. This picture is of my best friend and I at San Francisco! These last few days have really helped me reflect on my time in high school and create a lot of lasting memories with my best friends.”

BY MELISSA CHEN

s the school year draws to a close and seniors prepare to depart to college, friends are saying farewell and making plans to keep in touch. Many are trying to spend as much time with each other as possible and to make their last days together special. They will take these new memories and those from the past with them as they leave.

3. Sakin Kirti, Arjun Kaushik, Aayush Shah, Hansen Lillemark. “We had to find the perfect spot for a prom proposal,” said Arjun Kaushik. “And where better than a hill? As graduation nears, we are at a point where everything is ‘the last.’ With the end of high school coming up quick I hope I can maintain the relationships I’ve made.”

4. Leslie Hwang, Selena Jeong. “This is a snapshot of my friends and I at the Garden of Eden for my 18th birthday,” said Leslie Hwang. “Whether it’s going through our bucket list or just taking spontaneous trips, I’m truly treasuring all the time I get to spend with the wonderful people around me!”

5. Rohan Goel, Amol Singh, Arnav Amruth, Aditi Raja, Nikita Rangwala. “This was in San Francisco over a random weekend during second semester,” said Amol Singh. “We felt relaxed and happy to have the free time to spend with each other.”

6. Kerry Wong, Alicia Wu. “We went to the Museum of Ice Cream in San Francisco,” said Alicia Wu. “Before we leave home, my friends and I are revisiting our favorite spots, exploring new destinations and forging everlasting memories to live these last days of high school to the fullest!” 7. Indali Bora, Selina Li, Robyn Lee, Emily Zhang. “My friends planned a birthday surprise for me.” said Selina Li. “Part of it was bringing me to brunch at Bill of Fare. I know after summer’s over I’m going to miss my friends so much, but we promised to video chat a couple times a month! I know that even if we don’t get to talk as often as we do now, we’ll still be there for each other.”