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News Talent show to fund new Mindfulness Room
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
TDAU, MHAC and Key Club collaborate on stage event
By Shruti Magesh and Dexter Tatsukawa
NEWS IN A MINUTE
By Shruti Magesh
LOCAL: Curbside Homes To fight the growing homelessness epidemic, a group of activists and volunteers near Oakland, CA built unsanctioned homes over the MLK weekend. The small homes were geared to provide housing for the homeless in the form of “curbside communities,” according to KTVU News.
NATIONAL: Kobe Bryant’s Death Retired Los Angeles Lakers player Kobe Bryant, was confirmed dead in a helicopter crash near Calabasas, California. Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others died in the crash that occurred on the morning of Jan. 26, as Bryant and his daughter were headed to Mamba Sports Academy. Following the news of his untimely death, fans gathered at the Staples Center, where Bryant played many games for the Lakers, according to the New York Times.
INTERNATIONAL: Australian Fires Over 16 million acres of land have burned across Australia. So far, the fires have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of millions of animals as well as around 29 people and the loss of 2,500 homes. The fires are largely attributed to the effects of climate change, according to the New York Times.
Coronavirus The Wuhan coronavirus claimed the lives of around 170 people in China and continues to spread across Asia. The virus affects the respiratory system and can be easily spread from contact with those that are already infected. The outbreak has been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The culmination of the efforts of Key Club, Mental Health Awareness Club and The Differences Among Us Club (TDAU) came to fruition on Jan. 31, in their joint effort to host a talent show. In addition to bringing forth student talent, the three clubs are working to raise funds for the Mindfulness Room, with proceeds from the cost of admission to go toward funding its construction and upkeep. “Collaborating … has a lot of benefits, the first of which is [that] we’re able to reach a lot more people directly, and that way we can help spread the word about the event,” sophomore and project chair of Key Club Martin Wu said. “And also … it provides a lot of different perspectives on how we want to run the event, so it’s really beneficial.” The coordinators said they also hoped the talent show would be an outlet for students to destress and maintain their mental health. “I think it’s a great opportunity for students to finally show off what they want,” senior and co-president of Mental Health Awareness Club Abby Shamelashvilli said. “Not only that, but I think this would be a great op-
Photo by Dexter Tatsukawa A TALENTED BUNCH: Performers showcased various talents at the TDAU, MHAC and Key Club talent show on Friday, Jan. 31.
portunity for students to express themselves in an artistic way, which is honestly a really good healthy coping mechanism that a lot of students don’t necessarily tend to … it’s another way that mental health and awareness can hopefully impact the community.” Senior Sasha Oberman is one of the students who participated in the talent show “I love performing and just performing in general makes me
really happy,” Oberman said. “I know there’s probably a lot of other people like that who want to show their creative outlets.” Another participant in the show was senior Prateek Anand, who performed a duet with his brother, senior Aakarsh Anand. Despite participating directly in the talent show, Anand said he also hoped to enjoy it as an audience member. “I’m hoping to see a lot of different stuff and meet new
people,” Anand said. “It’s always interesting to see people bring out different talents and personalities that you never see in day to day life.” In the theme of promoting student well-being, the proceeds from admission for the talent are also going to help fund the Mindfulness Room. Senior Katherine Bright said the idea for getting funding from the talent show came from Shamelashvili. “We were looking out for grants and stuff … she thought that would be a good way to get it,” Bright said. “We don’t have any [other] fundraising ideas right now and I don’t know if we really need them. We’re actually kind of okay with the money, but I’m looking into getting a $25,000 grant from the Cupertino Rotary Club next year.” As the Mindulness Room is already nearing its final stages of construction, the money from the talent show will help to stock up refreshments in the room. “[The room] is coming together really well,” Bright said. “It’s a big dream to me to help students on campus. I have a very emotional connection to it due to experiences I had in the past.” Bright said.
PTA Reflections encourages student expression Winners share their interpretations of the theme ‘Look Within’ through different forms of artwork, writing
By Nika Bondar Each year, the PTA Reflections Program holds a national level art contest with scholarships and artwork exhibition opportunities for the winners. The competition is comprised of multiple stages with elimination of entries at each stage. This year, sophomore Ye’ela Bronicki, junior Jane Park and senior Sabrina Kim received an award of excellence and advanced to the next stage — the Council PTA Reflections Event, according to the PTSA News. Additionally, sophomore Christine Watts and sophomore Kate Shin received an award of merit and junior Jessica Li received an honorable mention. The theme of the competition this year, “Look Within,” allowed artists to intertwine their individual passions with their artwork. Kim said she found the inspiration for her poem “Why We Dance” in classical music, specifically Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major. While trying to avoid the stress of playing in a 17-minute-long recording session of the first movement of the concerto, Kim said she took the advice of her teacher to think of some imagery to go along with the music. This would allow her to focus on the meaning of the music rather than the technicalities. “What I was trying to get out in the poem is that we go through all these different stages
and encounter so many different things, and in the end, we can hopefully emerge stronger from it and emerge victorious,” Kim said. Kim said that various music and imagery served as the inspiration for her poems. “It just kind of happened all at once … I was sitting on my bed, and then I was thinking about the music, and [about] what kind of images came to me, so I had some really specific images for some of it,” Kim said. Other students chose to simply pursue their passions, instead of looking for inspiration. Bronicki said she took many pictures from various angles, and narrowed them down to select the ones she wanted to enter in the competition. “It was like a bunch of different types — I’m not really sure how to describe them. I just tried different angles and … then [I] just chose the ones that I thought looked best,” Bronicki said. Some students opted to share a message through their art. Shin said she used watercolors to create a painting reflecting her concern with the impact of social media on teenage lives. “In the painting, I’m sitting in the chair, looking at the mirror, and I drew my face reflected in the mirror. There’s other people around me, so I used ink for them and color for myself,” Shin said. “To express how I think they are
inside the social media, and I’m looking at myself, thinking about myself.” Similar to Shin, Park said her goal was to create art that would send out both a relatable and controversial message. Her painting portrays a woman tearing apart her face with phrases describing anxiety spilling out of the tear. “I’d rather make something that’s really gross looking and not at all attractive, but still connects with people than something that’s really attractive and doesn’t necessarily inspire people or have much thought into it,” Park said. “I’m just glad that I was fortunate enough to actually win.”
Painting by Jane Park STRETCHED TOO THIN: Park’s
painting represents the societal pressures placed on current high school students.
Painting by Kate Shin MIRRORING YOUR THOUGHTS: Shin’s painting expresses her thoughts about unhealthy social media use.
PAGE DESIGN BY JANE PARK